The Wemyss “Winter Larder” 20 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
50 ml spice pantry bottle
Tasting notes:
On the nose, it’s nice ripe melon, the smell of a dragonfly beating its wings against the sides of an oak barrel–no, a woven rush basket. The rest of the nose is a salted raincoat whose wearer holds prunes in her armpits. Under the Raincoat? Under the Armpits?
Behold the deep, rich, Sherry power on the mouth! Then the power shifts from Sherry to charcoal and then to a cherrywood-smoked loofah (unused, of course). During the momentary power vacuums, really ambitious prunes assert themselves and try to stage a coup. And they have some badass in them. The Wolves of the Supermarket.
The finish is drool-inducing. It draws us out like a foreboding scream in the woods does teenagers in horror movies. Or like a non-herbaceous spit poultice that replaces the liquid it removes with melted caramel. Actually, what it leaves behind is richer than that: it’s cantaloupe cognac with bacon. By “with bacon” here, I mean in the mash and as a side dish. And that’s a side dish of three–count ’em, three–pieces (or rashers). That cuts down this dram’s Bacon number dramatically.
Rating:
The Wemyss “Winter Larder” 20 Year Old Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky is the target of my summer workouts–Fortunately, by this point in the summer, it’s gone from “Winter Lardass” to this kinder, gentler term. OK, you might’ve preferred not to hear about that, but you have to admit that it’s much wittier than “cold weather pantry.”
–Our thanks to Karen Stewart and Wemyss for the sample!
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