The Chieftain’s Range BenRiach 17 Year 1995

Tasting notes:
Imagine a lime, a green onion, and a peppermint having a torrid three-way.  Ok, don’t imagine it that distinctly.  Actually, just imagine the progeny of such a union (it is possible: none of those reproduce sexually, after all ).  If you can get that in your head–and get out the imagery I started you with–then you’ll have a good read on the nose of this dram.  OK, I should add: imagine the torrid three-way  the three-pronged progeny  the mixture of the three in a sauté pan with a rare almond and orchid liqueur.  Yup, that’s it, and it’s utterly lovely.  The mouth introduces honeyed notes and a slight astringency or bitterness, as does the peppermint’s hurt feelings at not always getting to be the dominant flavor.  There’s nice, mild spice firing on the finish that lingers like the green onion’s guilt (it was brought up as a fundamentalist–whatever that means in the Scallion community).  Wow.  Give it a minute or two more, and the finish makes one thing very clear: that Scallion fundamentalism is some serious plant religion.  The post-finish is gorgeous: it’s the lime’s afterglow at checking off another item on its bucket list.
 
  

Our thanks to Sam Filmus and ImpEx for the sample!