Wemyss Vintage Malts Single Cask Release ‘Kirsch Gateau’ 1991 (23 year old) 56%
Dist: 1991 Btl: 2014/ Tasted: Oct 2015
Nose: Huge first fill Oloroso aromas with green olives, raisins, fig, green nuts and oxidised fruit. With time it becomes quite herbal and treacly with a subtle fragrant smokiness.
Palate: A palate thumping, all encompassing sherry monster. Treacle mingles with hints of dark chocolate, coffee, light smoke, salt and gritty tannins.
Finish: Mouth-watering due to the alcohol and herbal with lingering sweet treacle and crystallised citrus.
Conclusion: One sniff and it confirms that there is going to be zero distillery character here. However it is completely blemish free.
Wemeyss Single Cask ‘East Neuk Dunes’ 1990 (25 year old) 46%
Dist: 1990 Btl: 2016/ Tasted: Oct 2016
Nose: Extremely young, manurey and a little feinty with a touch of sweet barley, subtly phenolic peat and malt biscuits.
Palate: Less intense on the peat front as there is more oak and barley. Still youthful and lightly feinty on the middle with the oak becoming quite milky.
Finish: Short and alcoholic, which is a surprise given its abv. Intense and salty with a juicy orange after-taste.
Conclusion: The oak hasn’t fully removed the unwanted impurities, but left any longer the oak would have probably overwhelmed the palate. As this was tasted blind I’m amazed that it is 25!
Wemyss Vintage Malts Single Cask ‘Oysters with Lemon Pearls’ 1988 (26 year old) 46%
Dist: 1988 Btl: 2014/ Tasted: Mar 2015
Nose: Lightly oiled and perfumed with hints of orange Muscat, citrus, pineapple, honeydew melon and barley. A light sawdusty oak note appears with time. Beautifully exotic and complex.
Palate: A beautifully soft and succulent palate of juicy barley, apricot, pineapple and melon with an enticing sliver of citrus and stony notes. Lovely dusty oak with hints of violets comes through on the middle.
Finish: Long and juicy with the oak beginning to dry but the fruit counters. Lightly coffee’d and mineral after-taste.
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 