Exploring independent releases of Blair Athol
One never forgets his first time! Blair Athol was the very first distillery I visited, in October 2005. The experience was decent enough, with a basic but sufficient (Diageo style) tour of the distillery, and going home with the beautiful Flora & Fauna expression in the bag. For the whisky magazine I was writing for, I once did a recap of that visit, compared to a second visit to the distillery in 2011. Needless to say, I enjoyed being there, and of course it would be fun to visit for a third time. Maybe I will, as Pitlochry too has a nice vibe.
Let us talk about the whisky. Despite having an excellent location to lure in the tourists, Blair Athol is still rather undervalued as an official single malt. Besides the Flora & Fauna expression there is not much to wet your beak. There are some distillery exclusives, but honestly, prices for those are so out of this world that I never acquired one despite being offered by friends who stopped by at the distillery. Anyway, the malt is of course mostly produced in large quantities to give backbone to the blended Scotch Bell’s, which is indeed a rather delightful whisky to pour when you want to take your mind off things. On my visit to Blair Athol on 2011, some late 1960s casks were pointed out to me as being labelled for use in the Johnnie Walker Blue Label expression. The Blair Athol malt is famous for being malty and nutty and performing extremely well on sherry casks. We will do one of those. But how does it perform on wine casks?
Blair Athol 2011, 10 years old, bottled at 50 % abv by Uncharted Whisky Co.
First things first: Distilled in April 2011, funnily enough one month after my visit there. Maturation took place in 3 first fill red wine barriques and this produced 998 bottles when being bottled in November 2021. Uncharted names their output after famous songs, and this one was called Strawberry Fields. An indication to the taste?
Upon Sipping: Red wine barriques, but nothing in the pale yellow colour of this whisky would give that away. We can of course almost instantly deduct why this whisky has the strawberries in its name, because it opens on sweet ‘n sour red fruit indeed. Given time to breathe, notes of warm bread and dry malt husk come through. A versatile and cheerful, elated fruitiness makes you long for summer. The mouthfeel gives way for the nutty character of Blair Athol to shine. Some bitter tannins do show up, but because of great integration and balance, it works well with the more zesty elements of this Blair Athol. This is wine treatment I can live with. With a few drops of water, the liquid returns to its basic state, which is displaying lots of barley, with just that hint of zesty lemons to make it stand out in a crowd.
Word to the Wise: Not unlike some Waterford releases because of the wine treatment, but certainly shining because of this being bottled in a batch consisting of multiple casks.
Score: 85 points.
Blair Athol 2007, 12 years old, bottled at 56,1 % abv by The Whisky Cask
First things first: This Blair Athol received a finish in a cream sherry cask. I have no information on the length of the finish.
Upon Sipping: The first impressions from the glass are reminiscent of a pine tree freshly placed in the living room, even though Christmas is months ago. Then strong notes of cinnamon and old cigar boxes where you now keep pencils. The scent continues to develop. The label says “finish” but the balance and integration between distillate and cask are excellent. You start thinking about 1 year in a bourbon cask and 11 years finish in the sherry cask. Not a single off-note, beautiful classic maturation. On the tongue, bitter chocolate influences set the tone, but with a little water, some fruitiness comes through. That little bit of water is necessary to make the whisky juicier, undiluted it is somewhat dry. The finish is smooth and soft, but then drying and wonderfully warming.
Word to the Wise: With a little more natural juiciness this could almost touch 90 points. That’s impressive for a Blair Athol at just 12 years old. An excellent barrel chosen for the finish no matter how long it lasted.
Score: 88 points.