85.94 Rich Dark And Sumptuously Sweet

Scotch Malt Whisky Society cask 85.94, Rich, Dark And Sumptuously Sweet, is a 14 year old single cask single malt Scotch whisky from the Glen Elgin distillery in the Speyside region (SMWS distillery code 85). Distilled on 2 March 2010, it spent 11 years in ex-bourbon wood before transfer to a first-fill STR oloroso barrique. It was bottled at cask strength, 58.5% ABV in a 700 ml bottle, with an outturn of 280 bottles, and the Society files it under its Deep, rich & dried fruits flavour profile. Fruit cake, hazelnut chocolate and pumpkin pie fill the nose, and the robust palate offers wine-soaked oak, fig rolls and caramel before a cinnamon and menthol finish; water deepens it with fig, pomegranate molasses and chestnut. Like all Society bottlings, it is presented without chill filtration.

Nose: Sultana-rich fruit cake, hazelnut milk chocolate, nutmeg-spiced pumpkin pie and acorn-fed ham; water adds treacle toffee, gingerbread and marmalade on burnt buttered toast

Palate: Robust, with wine-soaked oak, fig rolls, caramel and grilled pineapple; water brings ripe fig, pomegranate molasses, soda bread, roasted chestnut and root beer

Finish: Cinnamon, burnt leaves and strong menthol lozenges

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