39.281 Decadent Dark Chocolate Cheesecak

Scotch Malt Whisky Society cask 39.281, Decadent Dark Chocolate Cheesecake, is a single cask single malt Scotch whisky from Linkwood in Speyside (SMWS distillery code 39). Distilled on 20 July 2005, it spent 14 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead before being transferred to a first-fill hogshead with a heavy #4 char, and was bottled at 17 years old. It was bottled at a cask strength of 57.6% ABV, with an outturn of 212 bottles. The Society files it under its Deep, rich & dried fruits flavour profile. Bread-and-butter pudding, crème brûlée and cinder toffee lead on the nose, and the palate suggests a spruce-brewed stout with toasted marshmallow and candied nuts. Water darkens everything towards blackcurrant jam, pumpernickel and the namesake dark chocolate cheesecake. Like every Society bottling it is bottled at cask strength without chill filtration.

Nose: Bread-and-butter pudding, crème brûlée, cinder toffee and chocolate brazil nuts; water turns darker with blackcurrant jam, blackberry crumble and pumpernickel

Palate: Spruce-tip stout, toasted marshmallow and candied nuts; water brings dark chocolate cheesecake with raspberries and coffee liqueur

Finish: Chocolate-coated blackberries

Serve: Neat, then with a few drops of water to open up the aromas; at full cask strength it rewards patience.