It’s a yearly tradition for The Whisky Exchange to come up with a Black Friday deal. Last year they found a remaining parcel of GlenDronach 15 Years, this year they have an exclusive bottling, something special with an unbeatable price. I’ve had a sneak peek.
It’s an undisclosed Speyside single malt from a “family-owned distillery”, you know… It was bottled from a single sherry butt in October 2017 at 16 years of age.
Undisclosed Speyside 16 yo ‘Black Friday’ (54,6%, The Whisky Exchange 2017, sherry butt, 582 btl.)
Undisclosed Speyside 16 yo ‘Black Friday’ (54,6%, The Whisky Exchange 2017, sherry butt, 582 btl.)Nose: starts on dry, old-style Oloroso notes, including figs and raisins, as well as some spices like cinnamon and soft pepper. Then it becomes sweeter and fruitier. A little vanilla and red berry candy. Baked apple. Butter pastry. Rich and aromatic, really good.
Mouth: rich again, but malty and much more spicy. Plenty of pepper, hints of cloves. Orange and lemon zests, berries, plums, a little coffee-schnapps. Liquorice and herbal liqueur. Less sweet and fruity than on the nose.
Finish: long and rather drying, with hints of Brandy de Jerez, apple peelings, raisins and clove.
I like the nose much better than the spicy, dry palate, but overall this is simply a rich sherried Speysider. The price (€ 69) makes this an attractive deal and a perfect daily dram. Available from The Whisky Exchange of course.
Score: 86/100
Update: sold out in 15 minutes or so… you had to wake up very early for this. Even TWE’s announcements via e-mail and Facebook came way too late. Perhaps 3 bottles per customer was a bit too much?