I love what comes out of Douglas Laing. Not only is the packaging for their Remarkable Regional Malts original and fun, but the contents are delicious and exciting. So you can imagine how great my excitement was when I was asked to help Douglas Laing celebrate Big Peat’s 10th anniversary, by raising a glass of the very special Big Peat 10 year old blended malt Scotch whisky.
Category: Blended Malt Whisky Page 4 of 5
Blended Malt Whisky
Whisky of the Week review and tasting notes for Blended Malt Whisky. A collection of all the interesting releases I have tried. Mainly Scotch whisky from all the whisky regions.
A whisky I have written about before in a twitter tasting, but I think it deserves its own blog post. The Douglas Laing’s Rock Oyster blended malt Scotch whisky is a firm favourite. Rock Oyster was released in 2015 as a blend of single malts from Scottish islands, including Orkney, Arran, Jura and Islay.
I have had a long love affair with Wemyss Malt releases. Since the first time I tasted Wemyss Malts in Dullstroom, I have been in love. The collection of Wemyss whisky in Wild About Whisky is extensive. They have an incredible range of Wemyss single cask releases available, and when we visited, I tasted my way through quite a few of them.
Last week I bought a bottle of Clan Denny Islay whisky. In my ongoing search for affordable and delicious bends, I have tasted some rather “interesting” blends and I have tried some excellent blends.
Two years ago, while travelling through Dullstroom, we tried some whisky from an, up to that point, unknown but intriguing-sounding bottler. Right there and then, I fell in love with Wemyss Malts.
It is unfortunately not (yet) available in South Africa. While travelling overseas, I managed to get hold of my first bottle, the Wemyss Dark Chocolate Orange single cask whisky.Now, when possible, I add more Wemyss Malts releases to my collection. I have tried the Sweet Mint Infusion and the Gooseberry Marmalade
While following the World Whisky Awards on Twitter earlier this year, I saw that the Wemyss Malts Velvet Fig blended malt Scotch whisky won in the category ‘Best Blended Malt Scotch Whisky 2015’. I had to get my hands on a bottle.
It was, however, a limited release of just 6 000 bottles, so it was quite a struggle to obtain a bottle. But, with the kind help of the ladies at Wemyss Malts, I managed to track down one of the last bottles of Wemyss Malts Velvet Fig whisky and it arrived safe and sound in South Africa during May.
Velvet Fig is made from a selection of single malts, all of which have aged entirely in Ex-Oloroso Sherry casks. This no age statement whisky is not chill-filtered and bottled at 46%. Like the rest of the Wemyss Malts Blended Malts, Velvet Fig is named after the whisky’s natural flavours and aromas. It was with great excitement that I opened this bottle.
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Wemyss Malts Velvet Fig Blended Malt Whisky Review
ABV: 46%
COLOUR: It is quite a dark coloured whisky. The rich mahogany coloured Wemyss Malts Velvet Fig makes long tears in the glass.
NOSE: Notes of sherry, fruit, Christmas pudding stuffed with lots of sultanas and dates, green apples and yes, Fig. Lots of sweet fig preserve. There are notes of fresh-cut flowers and hints of cinnamon and nutmeg in the background.
PALATE: Spicier than I expected. Without water, the spicy notes dominate with cinnamon and juicy sweet figs. It is not as sweet as the nose leads me to believe. After adding a bit of water, the spices smoothed out, and more of the fig and fruity notes take over. There still is not as much sweetness as I anticipated.
FINISH: This rich and full-bodied Velvet Fig has a long finish and end in notes of fruit and spice.
RATING: EXCELLENT
It is a surprising complex whisky. I am so glad we managed to get a bottle for our collection. Now to hunt down our next bottle from this innovative company.
I have tried various other Wemyss releases, including the Wemyss Brandy Casket, as well as the Wemyss Malts Dark Chocolate Orange. Looking around, I see that a few of the blended malts are now available in SA.
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