Happy 2019! I haven't been updating my blog lately and hopefully want to backlog my old reviews so I can update this site a bit more for the year so I'm going back to an old review of a bottle that I won at an auction here in Toronto a few years prior!
When I bought this young Strathmill I discovered that this was quite an old release of the distillery through the Gordon and Macphail independent bottling company that hasn't been in the LCBO since 2002. When it was in the LCBO it retailed for just under $40. Strathmill is a small distillery owned by Diageo and it primarily makes malt whisky for the Justerini and Brooks blended scotch whisky. It became a distillery out of the remains of a corn mill in 1891 during the 1890s scotch boom and is one of the 3 distilleries lying in Keith, the other two being Strathisla and Glen Keith who are owned by Chivas. The distillery produces 1.8 million liters of whisky out of 2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills every year which pretty much solely goes into blends. Strathmill has only produced 1 distillery bottling (apparently) in recent memory which was a 12 year old Flora and Fauna series release by Diageo that was very much panned by some reviewers on this sub.
However this single malt is not a distillery bottling, it is an independent bottling by Gordon and Macphail under the Connoisseurs Choice label and is bottled with no color added at 40% ABV. What's also interesting is that this single malt was distilled during Strathmill's 100th birthday so in a way this is definitely a celebratory whisky for a little known distillery so lets take a look and see what it has to offer.
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Age: 10 Years
Region: Speyside
Cask Type(s): Oak Cask, assuming ex-Bourbon
ABV: 40%
Number of Bottles: Not Available
Maturation Time: 1991/2002
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- Color: Dark amber
- Nose: Vanilla, citrus, sweet oak, raisin, woodspice
- Taste: Apples, vanilla, grapes, nice amount of cinnamon, ginger, grass
- Finish: Long with smoky fruits, treenuts and honey
Didn't expect too much from this being 40% but wow is this some surprisingly solid juice. It's not going to WOW you by any means but this is a really great whisky. Its not excellent but it comes very close, would love to try Strathmill at cask strength someday.
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