Nose
Very herbal, nettly and vegetal with pure Amontillado-esque sherry. Salty and edgy with a profusion of walnut, almond and pecan, dark honey and vanilla laced fruitcake.
Palate
Still very nutty but less herbal and funky than the nose with plenty of coffeed tannins, caramel, salt and dried treacle fruitcake. The alcohol adds a balance to the sweetness. \n
Finish
Intense, salty and nutty with the funky character returning. \n
Starting life as a small site with two stills, the number has since doubled. Its style also appears to have shifted on at least two occasions from the overtly fruity manifestations of its earliest guise to a more cereal-accented make in recent years. A peated variant, bottled as Old Ballantruan, is also now part of the portfolio. Its growing presence in the malt category will hopefully convince more people of its undoubted quality.
The distillery was built in 1965 by a pair of whisky-broking firms, Hay & MacLeod and W. & S. Strong, before being folded into the Whyte & Mackay stable in 1973. It remained part of the blending firm until 2000 when it was purchased by Angus Dundee where it performs dual functions as provider of mature spirit for contract blends and under its own guise.
*SHIPS FROM JANUARY 6TH ONWARDS
