Blair Athol 13 Year (2007) SMWS 68.53 “Sweet, sweet memories”

Scotch Whisky Review : Blair Athol 13 Year (2007) SMWS 68.53 “Sweet, sweet memories”

Image Credit: Whiskery Turnip, you can see his excellent review here.

Distillery: Blair Athol.

Bottler: SMWS.

Region: Highland.

Age: 13 year, distilled on January 30, 2007.

Cask Type: 11 years in a refill oloroso butt, 2 years in a first fill PX butt.

ABV: 57.1%.

Price: Courtesy of Whiskery Turnip.

Color: 0.6, Old Gold.

This whisky was reviewed blind courtesy of Whiskery Turnip.

Nose: This reminds me a lot of dessert wines but it doesn’t quite smell like sherry. I’m not sure what it might be, perhaps tokaji? It’s slightly chalky with some aromatics in the way of juniper berries and sage.

Palate: It is really, really hot (my original notes say “this is hooooooooooooooooooooot boyo”) that needed some drowning in water. It tastes an awful lot like something from either a virgin oak or some kind of STR cask. Vanilla notes are extremely heavy and dominant. You do get some more of the chalkiness from the nose as well before getting into white grapes/chardonnay. A bit of oak as well, though thankfully not a lot.

Finish: Short in length. Much like the palate, it is a combination of chalk, chardonnay, and vanilla.

Guess: Malt whisky. 60+% ABV. 5-9 years of age. STR wine cask. I’m going to go with Mackmyra as a distillery, so Swedish whisky.

Reveal: Blair Athol 13 Year (2007) SMWS 68.53 “Sweet, sweet memories”.

Conclusion: I can’t say I was particularly surprised when the acronym “SMWS” popped up on the reveal of this blind. In fact, I was more kicking myself for not having guessed a SMWS release. Overall, there’s some fun things going on here but it is rather straightforward. Wine, vanilla, and chalk is a bit of an odd combination but overall does come across as quite fun. If more of the aromatic notes from the nose were in the rest of this and it wasn’t so hot prior to dousing with water, I think I would have enjoyed this more. Rather solid though, as long as you’ve got a large glass of water handy.

Rating: 77.

Scotch Whisky Review , Highland Review , Whisky Network Review

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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