Day 7, the luckiest of days so far!!

OMG, OMG, OMG!!! Lucky 7 today for this Lassie and I am so excited to share this one with you all. I truly wish I could do so much more than share it virtually. If Jonathan has bottles of this left, I am recommending this as one of my 2016 whisky discoveries!!!  Yes, I am truly excited about this one.

Let me give you some context as to what my level of excitement is all about. I had heard some pretty amazing stories as well as reviews of Samaroli whiskies and it's not something we get to see much of in Canada. It's one of those "unicorn" whisky moments, where you think to yourself, wow... I hope I get to try some of these whiskies some day. Mr. Samaroli is an icon in the whisky world who quickly developed a reputation for being one of the best noses outside of the UK. In his time, he amassed a very large collection of whiskies from many of the great distilleries, including quite a few that don't have usually have official distillery bottlings.

When I opened that little door this morning it was very difficult not to contain my exuberance. My other great little memory about this particular whisky: Allt a Bhainne (Pronounced Alte-VA-Nia) is that I was fortunate enough to get a full visit of this distillery on my last trip to Scotland. It isn't usually open to the public, and very rarely do we get to see official whisky bottlings. 



It's not the prettiest of Scottish Distilleries as it was built in the 1970's. Most whisky drinkers dont' even know of its existence, other than if you might know that the whisky made there mostly goes into blends. I've had a chance to taste a few of the independent bottlings of Allt a Bhainne as well as sat with one of the managers the day of the tour and tasted a few interesting samples including their new make. It was a great morning spent learning about this distillery and speaking to many people who had worked there for 25-30 years.

Samaroli Allt a Bhainne, 8 year old, bottled at 43% ABV. Ex American Hogshead. Cask 900853.

Colour: This barely has any colour at all. It's as light as a fine white wine.

Nose: Another honeyed custard splendour. It's delicate and quite aromatic. There is a backdrop of lovely floral notes, like clover or evening primrose. It's quite decadent.

Palate: Soft, silky and sublime... It's a creamy lemon tart with fresh homemade pastry. There's even a bit of fresh lemon zest in the corners. 

Finish: Warm, doesn't linger but finishes like a bit on the citric side (sort of like the pith of a white grapefruit) and then your mouth waters. 

This is probably one of the best Allt a Bhainne's I have ever experienced. So far day 1-6 did not dissapoint however, I really made this dram last. I tried it in small little sips, often leaving it for 30-45 minutes at a time. It didn't matter how many times I left it there, it didn't change much and if anything the palate got more and more pronounced. 

I wil be contacting Jonathan and Cindy to see if they have full bottles of this available as it's truly a gem, and I dare say it will easily make my top 10 drams of 2016. 

If you want to see what Jonathan thought about dram day 7, please check out his website at:

Www.singlemalting.com


I can't believe it's already been a full week of draming!? Can't wait to see what is next. I do hope you will join me on tomorrow's discovery.


Cheers!!

Lassie