Chieftain's Glentauchers 15yo...

Chieftain's Glentauchers 15yo (46.0%): One of my top five favorite distilleries... Aged in ex-bourbon casks or in first fill sherry butts, bottled young or decades old. It is very hard to go wrong with any independent release of Glentauchers. If I had my own blending house Glentauchers would be the malt I use as my backbone malt for every blend. This bottle sitting on my desk now is distilled in July 2003, spent its entire life in a first fill Oloroso sherry butt and bottled exclusively for K&L Wine Merchants in September 2015. The cask carrying the inventory number 900236 yielded 673 bottles at 46.0%. It is non-chill filtered and bottled in its natural color.

Color: Chestnut shell. Crystal clear with fat and slow moving legs.

Nose: Candied pecans, viscous honey, pumpkin pie spices and eucalyptus cough drops. Alcohol soaked golden raisins and banana walnut bread. I was little worried about sulphur before I put my nose into the glass but there is none... A beautifully clean, viscous, candied and spicy nose.

Palate: A little thin and also maybe tad watery when it first hit the palate but it explodes with spices in a couple of seconds: Ground ginger, ground nutmeg, cloves and cardamom. It is incredibly warming and actually more savory than the nose suggested. Unsweetened dried figs and dried apricots, raspberry ice tea and cranberry juice. I can almost taste the Oloroso sherry which shared the cask: Walnut pieces, dark maple syrup and "Nuts 4 Nuts" carts, a reference my New Yorker friends would appreciate.

Finish: Long... Again baking spices: Ginger and nutmeg. Old school Italian restaurant style cappuccino and moist raisin cake slices.

Overall: Not because I am a massive fan of Glentauchers but this whisky is (was) an insane steal for 75 bucks... I never grew the habit to buy multiple bottles of a whisky even though I know that it is the right thing to do at that moment. I never do that... And now I regret it of course. Great whisky, no sulphur to mention, beautifully aged and bottled at the right time. Yes, I would love to have it bottled at a slightly higher abv just to add a little to the texture but then it wouldn't be this cheap of course. All good... Perfect autumn whisky...

Price: $75

90/100