[WHISKY TASTING] Stronachie 18 Y.O. Small Batch – Lost in Time, Not in Spirit 🥃
The Highland distillery Stronachie has since long been closed and the only things that remain are some ruins of stone walls outside the small community of Forgandenny in Perthshire. A few years ago, however, the bottling company A.D. Rattray decided to try to recreate the legendary whisky by seeking out an active distillery that is capable of producing a whisky that is comparable to Stronachie. A.D. Rattray managed to get hold of an old bottle from 1904 that was used as a reference as they sampled whisky from hundreds of different distilleries in Scotland. In the end, the choice fell on the Benrinnes distillery in Speyside. The original Stronachie distillery was established in the 1890 at the height of the whisky boom, but had to be closed already in 1928 due to the economic crisis and was mothballed shortly thereafter.
Stronachie Single Malt 18 Y.O. Small Batch
A.D. Rattray has chosen to only make small batches, that is, no large quantities are made to always taste exactly the same. They rather produce smaller quantities and focus on creating the best possible vatting every time. This particular batch ( L15/8787 ) comprises a vatting of six different 18 yo bourbon hogsheads and two 19 yo sherry butts.
ABV: 46%
Age: 18yo
Distillery: Benrinnes
Region: Speyside
Independent bottler: A.D. Rattray
Cask type: Bourbon Hogsheads & Sherry Butts
Price: ~59 USD / 0.7L
Natural color & non-chill filtered
Appearance: Pale gold.
Nose: Scent-wise, it feels like a pretty light and classic Speyside whisky with notes of bright fruit and shades of faint sherry. Green apples, pears vanilla and coconut. I also get some floral notes of buttercup and dandelion together with clove.
Palate: Whoa, very peppery and spicy! The apples, pears, vanilla and coconut from the nose are there to light things up together with fresh peaches. It feels quite "Glenlivet-y", although more spicy. A bit closed fresh out a new opened bottle, so allow it to breathe for 15 minutes. Not much difference with water added, other than that the spiciness decreases.
Finish: Medium-long with oak bitterness and notes of coffee, toasted almonds and cocoa. I can also discern a very faint streak of smoke, so I guess some of the malt has been somewhat peated.
Conclusion: A quite straight-forward, fruity and classic Speyside malt with few surprises. Obviously it adds somewhat to the experience that you know it's based off of an over hundred year old whisky. I'd say a score of 85 points out of 100 is fair.
Excellent work dear friend @steemswede thank you very much for all this information
Happy Easter to you and all your loved ones
Thank you @jlufer! Happy Easter to you and your loved ones too!
Hi @steemswede, I just stopped back to let you know your post was one of my favourite reads and I included it in my Steemit Ramble. You can read what I wrote about your post here.
Thank you, appreciate your kind words!
Yours is one of two posts related to whisky/whiskey within a few minutes, although the other is much more tangentially related and very much less Scotch: https://steemit.com/life/@badquakerdotcom/a-little-story-about-nothing