Strathisla 15 year 2008/2023 Single Cask Distillery Exclusive

Tasted after a tour at Strathisla Distillery on May 1st, 2024; whisky #2. Smell: Raspberries, cranberry juice, strawberries, red apples, green apples, pear juice, vanilla, cinnamon. Taste: When enjoyed neat, it is sweet, rich, and creamy. Features a prominent strawberry note, milk chocolate, white chocolate, and stewed red plums. The texture is smooth and oily. Aftertaste: Moderate to brief. Berries stewed with subtle spices and served with chocolate. This distillery-exclusive bottling was distilled and placed into an ex-bourbon barrel (cask 211804) on February 29th, 2008, and removed on September 11th, 2023. The barrel yielded 312 half-litre bottles, with my tasting sample coming from bottle 157. The whisky was not chill-filtered, and while I cannot confirm if artificial coloring was added, its pale straw hue suggests it was not. It is a wonderfully rich and indulgent spirit with impressively controlled alcohol content. I would never have guessed it was bottled at a mid-50s alcohol percentage. It doesn't require water, but a few drops reveal notes of white pepper and ginger, enhancing its creamy texture even further. It is delightful either way. I was slightly disappointed with the new 11-year-old expression (the first one we sampled), but this cask-strength 15-year-old, the second tasting in the sequence, completely restored my confidence in Strathisla. It is simply delicious and, more importantly, enjoyable. It's a cellar-door exclusive but also available for purchase online. When it came to selecting our favorite dram of the afternoon, the tasting group of 8 from my tour was divided between this and the distillery-exclusive 16-year-old (which I will review next). Personally, I found them both equally pleasing. Rating: "Very Good" - 86/100 (4 stars)