The Whisky Exchange releases an April Fool’s bottling today (of which I’ll probably publish my review later), but also this Speyside Single Malt 1989. It is a bottling from the Thompson Brothers exclusive to TWE.
This 1989 vintage comes from an undisclosed Speyside distillery – Phil Thompson has no clue where it’s from. It was originally sold as blending stock and the original vatting was reracked into different refill bourbon barrels, where it sat for four years before bottling in February 2022. I already tried a sister vatting last year.
Speyside Single Malt 32 yo 1989 (51,4%, Thompson Brothers for The Whisky Exchange 2022, refill barrel, 255 btl.)
Nose: a profile we’ve seen before, but it never tires me. A soft fruit salad at first, showing peaches and yellow plums, but also bananas and papaya. Some biscuity notes and meadow flowers. A layer of beehive notes appears as well: beeswax, nectar, honey. Subtle vanilla and canvas. This takes me back to the 1970s.
Mouth: nice hints of polished wood up front, with more biscuits and creamy fruits (apples, payaya). Subtle sourness too (gooseberries). Then a slightly fragrant touch of potpourri appears before it turns towards nutty notes (almond cake), soft hints of tobacco leaves and more waxy/resinous notes.
Finish: quite long, on vanilla biscuits, citrus honey and hints of coconut.
This is a complex, delicate and dangerously drinkable old-style single malt. Perfectly in line with previous releases, you really can’t go wrong with these excellent casks. Now exclusively available from The Whisky Exchange.