Tasted at Oban Distillery, April 13th 2025. Nose: Good oak cask, stewed peaches and apricots, light malt, vanilla, a faint mist of mint and a flurry of distant smoke (but this is not at all a “smoky” whisky). Palate: Gently spicy (mild, sweet ginger), oily cereal. Stone fruits and preserved citrus peel. A little honey. The texture has good weight. Finish: Medium. Grassy cereal notes with sweet chilli and ginger spice. There is a faint briny quality to the aftertaste. This batch of Distillers Edition is sweeter and more luscious than any I have tasted previously. The nose is pleasantly woody and also seems to have greater maturity than previous editions. The last edition I tasted (the 2020) lacked any smoky character and that is still very shy here. The 2020 was drier and more suited as an aperitif whisky. This edition is an after dinner dram, and it also reminds me slightly of Hazelburn 10. My rating for Oban Distillers Edition remains unchanged. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)
About this bottle
The Distillers Edition Collection from Diageo is an limited annual release of single malt Scotch whiskies. Each of the whiskies are double-matured in a cask seasoned with a different fortified wine selected to compliment the mature whisky. These finishing casks are made with heavily-charred new wood cask ends and recharred American oak casks which are then seasoned with the fortified wine for a month. Then the mature whisky is recasked into the seasoned casks for up to six months. For the Oban Distillers Edition, the mature whisky is Oban 14 Year and the fortified wine is Montilla Fino sherry. Available in the US as of April 2023. (SRP $95)
How it tastes
Measured across 14 flavor axes. Tap a note to find other bottles that lead with it.
Reviews
Showing the most detailed of 5 parsed reviews.
The nose is rather subtle, with just hints of grain, honey, and fruit. The palette is equally subtle, featuring mainly char notes supported by caramel and cinnamon. The finish is wonderfully smooth, with woody and char notes. This scotch is really easy to drink.
The nose is subtle and hard to place, but reminds me of eggnog; baking spices like nutmeg and sort of creamy and sweet. The taste is grains, cinnamon, and some char.
No water required. Slight bite, but the flavor is delightfully subtle that ice/water would drown it.
Vanilla on nose. Boozy atart w lots of oak and spice. Strong finish noozy, smoky.
Tastes like this
Closest flavor profiles across the whole catalog.
