By MrE
Just a brief background, Whyte & Mackay owns many different distilleries including Dalmore, Jura and Fettercairn so they have a wide choice of single malts to chose from when they blend them together. Any Whisky with the Whyte & Mackay name on it is a blended scotch, meaning it is a mixture of single malts from a variety of distilleries and grain whisky. Generally speaking the older and more expensive Blended whiskies have a higher single malt to grain ratio than a standard bottle at 3 years old where the grain content can be as high as 80%.
I purchased this whisky before last Christmas as both my father and I do enjoy a few drams over the festive season and i decided to get another for this year too. At a minimum age statement of 22 years you are getting a very good mix and those extra few years over the "old luxury" 19 year old version certainly have helped. All the harshness from the young grain whiskies have long since gone and the whisky that is left in the cask really have blended together. It's very smooth and extremely easy to drink, the phrase "it smells and tastes like Christmas cake" is often banded around with middle to high end whiskies yet this one can certainly pin it's name to that very phrase. As a basic guide, older whiskies tend to take less water than their younger counterparts (a few drops of water act like rain on dry ground, it releases the aromas and unlocks those hidden flavors), which is why many people add water to their whisky, at the same time it reduces the alcohol content making it easier to drink. Even at 40% alcohol it can burn in the mouth so a few drops (and i do mean only a few drops) can dramatically improve the experience. Remember if you add too much water the whisky will be ruined so best to add a drop at a time till you find the right balance!
The following are my personal tasting notes:
Nose (straight):
Very Malty and full of oak characteristics. Mellow yet warming on the nose with a small hint of spice in the background.
Taste (straight):
Smooth yet rich. No alcoholic burn and there is a very good balance between dried fruits at the front of the mouth and the spice notes that you get at the back.
Nose (with water):
The oak is more prominent yet it seems to bring the spice out too, definitely enhances it although the malty note has been suppressed
Taste (with water):
The dried fruits really shine through with raisens, orange peel and chocolate in the front of the mouth, spice note is prolonged. Again no alcoholic nip
Finish (once swallowed):
A mixture of spice and malt lingers in the mouth for around a minute, the spice persists for slightly longer. After-taste completely gone after 5 minutes.
Additional notes:
Not oilly in the mouth, easy to drink neat but chill-filtering has clearly restricted the full experience, unknown if caramel colourant has been added.
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VERDICT:
It certainly isn't cheap but you are entering the age bracket where Whisky shows it's excellence and depth, keeping in mind this is a Blended Whisky you would expect it to take longer for the blends to fully integrate into each other, yet in this that process has finished. You would swear this was a single malt if given blind and given how smooth and easy to drink it is i am going to suggest there is older whisky in the bottle (the age statement on a bottle of whisky only tells you how old the youngest whisky they've used it). So don't go thinking that it is a set 22 years old. You can tell they have used a mixture of ex bourbon and Sherry barrels in maturation and that mix has worked extremely well.
I will be knocking a star off simply as it is expensive considering it's a blended scotch and it has been reduced down to 40% alcohol (less alcohol means less flavor). At the same time it has been chilfiltered so all the natural oils will have been removed.
If they gave this a "craft" presentation i.e. bottled it at 43% or 46% and didn't chilfilter the natural oils out it would be so much better. It's fantastic as it is but as a whisky drinker for a good few years now you respect the distillers more when they mess with it less.
RECOMMENDED as a bottle to enjoy over the Christmas/ New Year period, you won't be disappointed!
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