This bottling from a decade and a half ago comes from the Creative Whisky Company, then run by David Stirk. Since it’s been sold there have been no bottlings as far as I know.
Strathmill is one of those distilleries that don’t pop up all that often and don’t have a big fan base. Whether that is because there’s not that much that’s available, or there is not a lot available because there’s not a huge fan base is something I don’t have an answer for.
I got a sample a while ago, and decided to give it a go yesterday. Public holiday, nice weather, sitting in the back yard in the sun, and having awesome (hopefully) whisky. The only thing that would have worried me, if I had checked before I tried it, would be the wine cask.
Sniff:
Very old fashioned and very barley forward. Oak, porridge, dried apples, straw. There’s also some hessian and old casks and wet soil.
Sip:
A very gentle palate with lots of barley, porridge, hessian and a good helping of oak. Dried apples, sawdust, slightly funky.
Swallow:
A long but not awefully intense finish. Very grain forward with some oak.
Run of the mill, in a way. It does what whisky at this age, and from that era should do. But due to the age, it’s also quite special. The wine cask isn’t all that noticeable. I picked up mostly flavors that can come from any oak and distillery. Still, it’s a very good whisky, that does all these things very well.
88/100