Cask No. 9.179

Cask No. 9.179 

Cleopatra’s bath time

Speyside, Spey

The nose was garden flowers sniffed through a freshly puttied window frame, waxy lemon sweets and Vin Santo served with biscotti. The palate was definitely quite exotic – melon skins, lemon and ground almond frangipani, sherbet straws and orange oil – one panellist kept muttering about Cleopatra, freshly bathed in rose petals and milk! The reduced nose delighted us with honey, dark chocolate-coated marzipan, toffee bonbons, aromatherapy oils – including mint and rosemary  – and a Funchal flower market next-door to Blandy’s. The reduced palate was silky smooth – chocolate Swiss roll, raspberry, coconut and vanilla, with a finish hinting at oak, tobacco and grapefruit peel.

Cask: First-fill barrel
Age: 16 years
Date distilled: September 2003
Alcohol: 54.9%
USA allocation: 96 bottles