Blair Athol 1995 – Manager’s Choice

Highland Single Malt, 14 Years,
54.7% ABV, $315

With this one, I’m caught up and back on schedule!

Honey, ginger, caramel and pepper on the nose. Candied ginger, vanilla, orange, pepper and a bit of oak on the palate. It takes quite a bit of water to tone down the alcohol burn, then there are notes of vanilla, apple and clove to complement the candied ginger. That’s about it. I’m surprised that this one doesn’t have more to offer at the price. The taste ends with a mild oak and fades quickly. It’s good, but not spectacular.

The bottler notes:

The Blair Athol edition of Diageo’s recent Managers Choice range of single casks from every distillery in their arsenal. This was distilled in 1995 and bottled in 2009 from cask number 5989. Each bottle is individually numbered.

Blair Athol 22 Year Old 1989 Cask 2928 – Dimensions (Duncan Taylor)

Speyside Single Malt, 22 Years,
49.9% ABV, $137

A lot of alcohol in the nose, but there’s also a salty vanilla and orange with just a hint of flint. The vanilla becomes more prominent after a few breaths and a bit of caramel begins to show itself. On the palate, a sweet, salty vanilla that transitions to a citrus taste accompanied by a long bold burn. As the burning fades (and it takes a while), a bitterness of oak remains with just a hint of char. This one definitely needs some water!

With the addition of water, the flavor becomes more of spices… ginger, nutmeg and pepper. The nose starts showing some charred oak with an ever evident burn of the alcohol… that aspect doesn’t seem to let up. With more water, a distinct corn aroma appears… a sweet, syrupy kind… corn syrup, I guess. The flavor becomes more salty and sweet with an intense caramel note. The alcohol finally fades a bit quicker, but there’s a distinct bright peppery finish that displaces the bitterness that was there before. It’s still noticeable, but the balance is much better.

Here’s the description from Master of Malt:

A spicy Speyside malt distilled at Blair Athol in May 1989. It was aged for 22 years in cask 2928 before bottling at natural cask strength in March 2012.