Blair Athol 8-year-old (D.2011, B.2020) Hepburn's Choice / 46%/ 0.7l

Hepburn's Choice is a line of whiskies from the Langside Distillers portfolio, founded in 1948 and now a subsidiary of Hunter Laing & Company.

Its patron is William Hepburn, the maternal grandfather of the Laing brothers, a diplomat and a great whisky connoisseur. Hepburn's Choice editions come from single casks, are bottled at 46% ABV, without chill filtration and with a natural colour. The Blair Athol presented here, distilled in 2011, spent over eight years in a hogshead wine cask, and was bottled in 2020 in an edition of 389 bottles. Blair Athol Distillery, based in the southern Highlands, is equipped with two pairs of stills and produces around 2.8 million litres of alcohol per year, most of which goes into Bell's blends.

Aroma : barley malt, vanilla, sponge cake, multi-berry jam, orange peel, roasted chestnuts, a pinch of pepper, notes of tobacco and oak.

Palate: sweet breakfast cereal, raisins, red berries, sugared peanuts, toffee, vanilla, notes of cinnamon, white pepper and oak.

Finish: medium long, malty, with notes of roasted grains, red berries, toffee, cinnamon, cloves and oak.