May 5, 2015

Little duos, today Blair Athol

I’ve always found Blair Athol quite summery, and always liked the very pretty distillery and its people. Black fungus? What black fungus? And guess what, we won’t have many today, but they’ll all be written with only one ‘L’.

Blair Athol 1991/2014 'Foraged Fruit Fool' (46%, Wemyss Malts, barrel, 330 bottles)

Forages fruit fool? Why not! Now we don’t taste price tags, but the price is very high (around 150€ a skittle). Colour: pale gold. Nose: it’s a very sweet, almost sugary malt on the nose. Apple crumble, pineapple pie and all that. On the other hand, there’s an impeccable freshness that rises to your nostrils, with some fennel, cut apples, melons, peaches, cherries and even a hint of orange squash. Summery indeed. Mouth: excellently fruity, between a basket of ‘western’ orchard fruits and quite some citrus. Pink grapefruits and greengages spring to my mind. Very nice, fresh and fruity combination. Also ripe gooseberries and papayas. Excellent body, the strength is perfect, water is superfluous. Finish: medium length, clean, just as fruity, with added touches of mint and a drop of cough syrup, probably from the cask. Comments: a very easy, fruity, yet complex and very satisfying summery Blair Athol. Some sides reminded me of the fabulous old official 8yo black label. Or was that a 10? SGP:641 - 87 points.

Blair Athol 20 yo 1993/2013 (59.1%, The First Editions, sherry butt, cask #ES9990, 541 bottles)

I’m not 100% sure sherry butts always work with Blair Athol’s style – although I seem to remember we’ve tried one or two great ones. Let’s see. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s refill, most probably. All for the better, and yet there is this sourness, between apple juice and, perhaps, old balsamic vinegar. Vanilla-flavoured yoghurt, broken branches and roots, new wood, rubbed mint leaves… I do not find many fruits but maybe is that the high strength. With water: some wood dust, wet branches… But also pleasant notes of leaven, dough… It’s malt, after all. Mouth (neat): ah, now we’re talking! A perfect marmalade with bitter oranges, touches of ginger, a few raisins and a dash of white pepper. This works very well. With water: scrap that, it works extremely well. Fruit eaux-de-vies aged in elegant oak. Pears, melons, plums… Finish: medium length. More citrus fruits. Comments: one of these malts that, in my opinion, work much better on the palate. SGP:641 - 82 points.

Check the index of all Blair Athol I've tasted so far

Pete McPeat and Jack Washback