Scallywag Blended Malt

When most people think about quality blended scotch they instantly think Compass Box, and rightfully so, but Douglas Laing is also putting together some great stuff as well. Here we have Scallywag, a malt blend using only Speyside single malts, namely Macallan, Mortlach and Glenrothes (any others are not named specifically). Matured in both sherry and bourbon casks, bottled at 46% ABV, chill filtered and most likely has colorant added making it an amber gold. I can confirm that it is chill filtered because I made my wife a whisky and water with it (about a 5:1 water to whisky ratio and 2 ice cubes) and even after 20 minutes it remained clear as apple juice. The nose is full on sherry but not overly so, very Macallan-like or a more intense Famous Grouse. Red grapes, raisins and figs. Sherry oak, wood smoke (but not peat). Vanilla, semisweet chocolate, lots of fruitcake. Tobacco, leather, salty, raspberry chocolate. Definite signs of both well aged and youthful stock. After a little time the Mortlach worm tub profile starts to take form with those meaty/mineral notes. The Glenrothes components come in as well with a more honeyed profile. Honeysuckle, plums, melon rinds and dried apricots. Brown sugar, toffee, caramel and a malty biscuit note at the bottom of the glass. The palate is sweet sherry and lots of spices, but not too spicy. Very light peat and wood smoke. Dark chocolate, tobacco and leather. Vanilla, allspice and pepper. It’s all Macallan at first, then more of a Glenrothes feel with a pop of citrus peel, stone fruits and honey, oak and biscuits. More of that Mortlach meaty/mineral funk from the nose. Cinnamon, nutmeg and lots of fruitcake. A medium bodied mouthfeel that is a bit thin and creamy. Mouthwatering The finish is long with sweet sherry, baking spices, fruitcake and dry. When I first opened this blend I was not impressed. It seemed overly spicy for 46% and the Mortlach profile was too strong. There are only a handful of distilleries that use worm tubs that I actually like, Talisker, Edradour, Oban, Old Pulteney, Springbank to a lesser extent but they are growing on me, so that funk was just too much. It reminded me too much of Craigellachie which I am really not a fan of. The first half of the bottle was used for trading samples and once they were poured I let it sit a few months. Going back to it, things really improved. As I made my way towards the end of the bottle it really became a very solid dram. If you are a big Mortlach or Sprinkgbank fan and like sherried scotches then I would highly recommend this one, but I would say to work through it more quickly to maintain that profile. At $70 the price is a bit high, but I would say it still is worth it. A solid 4 Cheers

Nose: Sherry, malt, raisins, tablet (a fudge-like Scottish sweet), toasted cereal, roasted nuts, a little orange zest and a smidge of vanilla. Crisp, clean oak cask. It has a full-bodied richness of aroma but no intrusive sulphur. Adding water brings out orange juice notes and slightly mutes the nose, but it's good either neat or watered. Palate: Sweet but firm arrival with stewed dark fruits, toffee, lots of malt extract, dark chocolate and espresso. Like the nose it has a fresh, crisp presentation. At first you think it will be a stereotypical “Christmas cake” sherried malt but suddenly the development jack-knifes and is overturned by a peppery explosion. The texture is good but not heavy. A dash of water tames the spices just a bit, reveals a little more complexity in the late development and adds a creamy quality to the mouthfeel. Finish: Medium. Sherried fruits sitting on a wave of pepper, chilli and hot ginger that slowly fades into a malty, dark fruit aftertaste. Adding water leaves the aftertaste a fraction sweeter. A good blended malt and an excellent example of just how good such blends can be. This is an exemplar of great sherry maturation and combination. Apparently (according to the Douglas Laing site) it contains Macallan, Mortlach and Glenrothes (among other sherried malts) and frankly I’d rather have it than the introductory versions of any of those named brands. Well, OK – maybe not the new Mortlach 12 - that's pretty nice. The bottle has the words “Small Batch Release” on the label but don’t think this is just meaningless marketing speak. This genuinely is a batch product and although the quality has been consistently high across the years the profile has drifted and recent batches have been spicier than it was on introduction. This tasting was from a bottle with the code “L 02 02 18 / Batch 15” (2018) that I bought in early 2020 and it is definitely one of the spicy ones. It responds very well to gentle dilution. A half teaspoon of water does not spoil anything but mutes the spiciness just a fraction, makes it a little more cohesive and lengthens the finish. A dash of water also immediately brings out a beautiful haze – this absolutely has not been chill-filtered, and I’d say it has only had very light barrier filtration. Bravo. This is a recommended dram for neat or diluted sipping, or for mixing where the spicy notes will work excellently against sweet flavours. Regular retail in Australia is $110 which is very reasonable. My bottle was $85 about a year ago on special and a bargain at the price - I should have bought several. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 rock-solid stars)

Tasting: 13/23 We'll have to see how this goes. I enjoyed Rock Oyster, but The Epicurean sadly didn't do it for me. N: I get some nice sherry sweetness on the nose. There's fig and some lightly, slightly oily caramel with a faint hint of buckwheat produced by the kind of youthful maltiness. This is somewhere between a young (10 to 12 year) Aberlour and a young Glenfarclas, which is a nice place to be, honestly. There's some of that Glenfarclas vegetal funk but it's also somewhat mellower like Aberlour, though it lacks the characteristic floral side of the fruitiness. There's a bit of bite from the alcohol and this is clearly quite young, but it isn't bad. P: This is harsher than Aberlour 12 is, but it's also richer with some more personality and the harshness could be explained by the higher ABV. I get that fig and caramel with the.dash of buckwheat. There's more of an orange flavor to the sherry here, though it loses that sort of rose enhancement that brings out the red fruit in Aberlour 12. A bit of that vegetal flavor makes it through, which helps with the richness and gives this a bit more personality than Aberlour. The youthful alcohol is quite noticeable, but not entirely bad. F: The light fruitiness and some alcohol remain. There's a bit more alcohol bitterness as well. It's largely a more muddled version of the palate with more alcohol. It's not a very exciting finish. First impression: this is a surprisingly successful dram! It's a real stand-out from Speyside in the budget price range. The flavor is decently complex despite it being a blend, yet it doesn't taste overly young. This has more smoke and funk to it than Aberlour 12 does, but it isn't funky to the extent that younger Glenfarclas tends to be. It's pretty complex and balanced. It might not taste all that old, but it does taste well executed. Aberlour 12 does have more sweet fruitiness though. This emphasizes dark dried fruits (e.g. prunes) less than Glenfarclas 105 does, having more of a young tawny character. At times, I think I prefer the clean execution of Aberlour 12, but this is always quite close in quality. Really, I think that it's a very situational call. I can imagine this being as low as a 12, but really I see it at more of a 13. With Aberlour 12 at a 13, I think that a 13 is most appropriate for this. I can definitely imagine a 14 for both this and Aberlour 12 in the future, but I don't see how either would reach a 15. At $30-35, this would be easy to recommend. At $55, it's a tougher sell. I don't think I'd buy a bottle at that price.

*Scotch Speyside blend *ABV: 46% *Bottler/blender: Douglas Laing & Co. Ok, i admit that my mind becomes a bit more precautious when i read blend on a label. But when i see its blended by Douglas Laing who also made Big Peat, Timorous Beastie and The Epicurean my worries turn to curiosity. This might also be the bottle that gets the most attention from my non whisky drinker-friends. I recon it had some sort of impact on me buing it as well. Nose: Instant sherry surrounded by fresh ginger, citrus and cinnamon. Some sweetnes from figs, raisins, dried apricots and plums. Just like Big Peat this one have these fusel oil/yeast notes when its newly opened. It makes me wince a little and im trying to associate this note with something more pleasant. It usually goes away after few days so its not a major problem. The aroma here is otherwise concidered a pretty classic scotch id say. Palate: Sweet but tad undemonstrative sherry what turns to grain and nuts on the sides. In the back we got slightly bitter cocoa beans and sprinkles of nutmeg and cinnamon. Maby some dry tannins in the cheeks. Some where on the palate i also get a more cocky Glenmorangie 10. I recon that confirms the classic and malty scotch feel i get. Finish: The sherry lingers accompanied by easy charred oak in the back and by the way this is the only thing that reminds me of bourbon. Spiky baking spice resides for a while. Overall: Id say its a descent blend. Better than a lot of them out there. I would probably recommend this to someone who wants to try something new outside the classic box of JW Red Label, Famous Grouse and Grants. Another whisky who is similar to Scallywag would be Spearhead from Loch Lomond. Its a great single grain alternative if you’re not a fan of sherry notes.

Septembre 2024 - Nancy Robe abricot clair Nez alcoolisé des whiskys Bad game avec un fond de miel 1ere bouche désaltérante et crystalline, il rafraîchit délicatement mon cerveau déjà bien attaqué par les molécules d'EtOH... 2ème bouche mielleuse et onctueuse. Comme une caresse délicate pour venir parfaire la première bouche salvatrice. Pellicule pimentée sur la langue, de la chaleur en poitrine, un arrière goût industriel Pas certain d'être en état de juger ce whisky avec beaucoup de pertinence. Pas de coffre, un whisky pour femme indécise. Il est meilleur au goût qu'au nez. Un whisky délicat, pas mauvais, on dirait une contrefaçon de whisky japonais. Dégusté à domicile en écoutant les élucubrations de Dooz Kawa... Dernier présent que la baronne m'avait offert, ce whisky moyen de gamme n'est pas à la hauteur de son souvenir. Fuzati me fait de l'oeil mais je ne déraperait pas, je vais plutôt privilégier la dégustation d'un whisky digne de ce nom pour honorer la mémoire de sa vertigineuse beauté...

Speyside from a different angle, a vatted malt combining some well-known names, created by an independent bottler. I found this a bit of a roller-coaster flavour ride but overall more good than bad. So... The nose. Sherry, sweet but not unctuous, not quite harsh but the alcohol and toasted barrel kick is moderated by cinnamon and toffee. The mouth... Toasty, touch of malt. Spices, hot and sweet at the fore. More toffee. Caramel at the back of the mouth. The char is not hiding, adding a bitter note. There are a lot of tastes here but balanced is not necessarily how I'd describe it; this is almost a creature of extremes. Aftertaste... That bitter touch and a wash of sherry have a battle but there are no casualties. Scallywag is not the least bit shy. It has the energy of the cute doggo whose image it identifies itself with. In fact, it is noisy and a touch excitable but likeable if not loveable. Despite limitations , this drinks well.