Mortlach 28 y/o - SMWS - Funky Massage Whisky - 51,1%
Photo taken somewhere in Stuttgart
It's fascinating how often the guys from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society hit the nail on the head with their funny names and descriptions of their single casks. So in this case, let's lean back, put on a record and wait for the massage to start.
Colour: Bright straw despite so many years of maturation (good sign for us).
Nose
Like a squirrel, we found a stock filled with roasted nuts, hidden in rotten sandalwood. Mostly macadamia and almonds, almost like marcipan and almond butter. There is also an interesting soapy note of lavender and rosewater with some drops of highly concentrated beetroot juice, which you sometimes find in organic supermarkets. As so often the SMWS used refill bourbon casks. According to this and to the light colour after all those years we strongly believe we're experiencing the pure distillery character of Mortlach with a gentle touch of wood in here. How beautiful and perfumy.
With water: Very sweet development to overripe pears and apricots and even more perfume.
Palate
The entrance is dense with a light body and a dusty dryness of old lemon peels and marcipan. It's not sweet at all, more on the bitter side of life.
With water: And now the sweetness suddenly turnes up the heat. It's almost ester-y now (with funky greetings from Jamaica).
Finish
Long and dry, with a very intense bitterness of old lemon and grapefruit peels, with spring flowers crushed by new tyres on fresh asphalt (poor flowers).
Rating
We never had so much soap in our whisky to date. As most people know, soapy notes are often declared as off-notes. But what happens when a distillery or independent bottler takes an off-note and turns this into something unique, odd and beautiful? Isn't this true mastership? Beside philosophy, this fellow brought a lot of fun.
