Dalwhinnie Winter's Gold, 43% abv.

Depending on which source, 2015 Winter's Gold is supposedly whisky distilled in the Winter time, or made from wheat harvested in the Winter.

Nose: honey, red apples, bosc pears, hint of ginger spice.
Palate: earthy tobacco, an oaky bitterness, oily, relatively smooth, alcohol sourness is more prevalent with more sips, a hint of cereal oats? One-dimensional, basically like wet brown paper bags from a rainy day. No sweetness, no smokiness.
Finish: short, that slight bitterness remains.
Dry glass: dried candlewax.

As usual the Dalwhinnie nose makes me think it's going to be sweet, floral, and fruity, but does a complete 360 and gives me a common taste profile of old tobacco and wood, stuff that I, in my amateurish opinion, usually experience from the more readily available bottles and/or OBEs. Mind you this is a newly opened bottle. I honestly don't think it's bad, but not a fan of too much tobacco wood/lotus leaves. Or is this multi-directional tasting experience the state-of-art now? I can dig that. I feel almost all single malts have this effect though, but some make it more pronounced than others, while some deliver it better than others. I guess Dalwhinnie is not for me.

Grade: C

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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