The Speyside distillery is the story of a labour of love by the now-retired George Christie. The distillery building itself was hand-built by a local dyker over a period of 25 years. Distilling since 1990, the firm filled this cask – number 1051 – in September 1996 and bottled it at its natural cask strength of 59.4% in 2011.
With no chill-filtration or added caramel, the neat whisky is the colour of rolled gold and retains the character of this nascent brand. Far superior to the Drumguish and similar 40% ABV bottlings from this firm, this edition for Peatlings is only 252 bottles from a single barrel.
On the nose, one detects notes of honey, barley and even spearmint. On the palate there is an intense richness of warm butterscotch, finishing with a flutter of burnt butter.
With spring water added, other aromas come into play, such as golden syrup, and a subtle digestive biscuit tang. Overall, there is more roundness than can be found in a lowly 40-43% drink, and is well worth the wait for Peatlings to find their first single malt whisky to bottle under their own name.
Slà inte, Scott.
Regular followers of Scott on Spirits Please note Scott is off to Australia until the end of Feb but he will be back in March for another memorable tasting.
