78.68 Olde Funkey Butte

Olde Funkey Butte is Scotch Malt Whisky Society cask 78.68, a single malt Scotch whisky from the Ben Nevis distillery (Society distillery code 78) in the Scottish Highlands. Distilled on 5 November 2013 and bottled at 9 years old, it matured in a second-fill oloroso butt. Like every Society release it was bottled at natural cask strength, in this case 67.3% ABV in 700ml bottles, with no chill filtration, and the cask yielded 439 bottles. The Society's tasting panel places it in the "Deep, rich & dried fruits" flavour profile. SMWS labels carry a number rather than the distillery's name, because a single cask often tastes quite unlike the distillery's usual house style.

Nose: Dark-fruit chutney, HP sauce, bruised apple, ginger wine, orange peel, mulling spice and leather, with brown bread, treacle cake, tobacco and black miso.

Palate: Herbal and darkly earthy: soot, game, leather, bitter chocolate, cough mixture, salted liquorice and tar; water adds ginger, brazil nut, pepper, pipe tobacco and red chilli.

Finish: Tar, aged Armagnac and stewed dark fruit with a rancio note.

Serve: Taste it neat first, then add a few drops of water; at 67.3% ABV a little dilution opens up further aromas, as the Society's panel found.