Strathisla 16 year 2006/2022 Cognac Butt Finish Distillery Exclusive

Nose: Chocolate pudding, malted milk, grape jelly, honey, caramel sauce, vanilla, cinnamon, tropical fruit juice concentrate. Palate: Sweet arrival with grapes, raisins, and dark chocolate as main flavors. Development includes toffee, prunes, and coffee with a resurgence of grape and fortified wine in the late palate. The texture was oily. Finish: Medium/Long. Sweet grapes, raisins, hazelnuts, and a pinch of mixed spices leading into a dry aftertaste. This distillery exclusive expression, distilled and filled into ex-bourbon barrels on February 9th, 2006, matured for most of its 16 years in those casks before being re-racked into one ex-cognac butt. Discharged on December 1st, 2022, it yielded 840 half-litre bottles. The whisky was not chill-filtered and likely uncolored. A very fine whisky showcasing good cognac cask finishing, the cognac heritage subtly present but not dominating the malty character. It is opulently sweet and rich neat, but water added ginger and allspice for excellent balance. I preferred it slightly diluted. Our group of 8 was split between this and the distillery exclusive 15 year old for our favorite drams of the tasting. I found them equally delightful, but would choose the 15 year old if forced. Like the 15 year old, this was a cellar door exclusive but likely no longer available. “Very good”: 86/100 (4 stars).

We made a quick stop to create our own Chivas Regal Blend at their Speyside home, the beautiful Strathisla Distillery, and one of the highlights was a very rare 16-year-old expression, finished in a Cognac Butt. This was bottle 515 of only 840, distilled on February 9, 2006, and bottled on December 1, 2022. The strength is a lovely 54.4% ABV. On the nose, it's quite complex: Peaches & sawdust, Vanilla meringue sweets, marshmallow. Tobacco & peaches. A rounded coffee with a toffee flavor. Pineapple and dulce de leche. Toffee & grass. Wonderful. On the palate, Tobacco, grass, toffee, pineapple. Sugary. Very grassy. Hay. The finish is all about Peaches. Salty and sugary. Overall, this was a very interesting surprise from Strathisla, which in previous expressions I've found to be overly nutty. The higher ABV truly benefited this dram. My score for it is 90 out of 100.