Cardhu 15 Year Old

Producer's Notes

• Appearance

  Deep old gold.

• Nose

  Slow to give of its secrets, with mere hints of a fruity richness and spicy complexity to come. A swirl of the glass releases enticing, clean vanilla notes and tropical fruit. Soon, fruits are dried (light fruit cake with flake almonds). Adding water brings out typical Speyside character, and makes the nose slightly more acidic. Late on, at last, greater depth and complexity: sweet, spicy and rich, finishing with dense toffee and toasted coconut.

• Body

  Light to medium.

• Palate

  Slow to venture forth and quite viscous straight. Cooling, then peppery and lightly charred. Growing richer, still sweet, but now with toffee and chocolate; burnt sugar on a Crème Brûlée. With water, less viscous and sweeter with almost no acidity; very pleasant and easy to drink.

• Finish

  Smooth, light and slightly drying, with attractive bitter chocolate notes. Not over long, with a hint of faint smoke at the end.