Whisky Review: Whisky-Doris A Speyside Distillery 23 Year 1992/2015

Single malts from unnamed or obviously pseudonymous distilleries are one of the great mysteries in the whisky world. Most of the time though a bit of detective work can track down the source. In the case of bottles labeled "Probably Speyside's Finest" or "A Speyside Distillery" the finger usually points towards Glenfarclas, which is one of the few distilleries that normally bars independent bottlers from using their name. This is especially true when the casks are ex-bourbon rather than the ex-sherry that forms their house style, which might give consumers a mistaken impression of their OBs.

This whisky was distilled in December 1992, filled into a bourbon hogshead, then bottled in November 2015 at 48.7% without coloring or chill filtration.

This sample was purchased from the WhiskyBase Shop.

Whisky-Doris A Speyside Distillery 23 Year 1992/2015 Cask #7376

Nose: lots of berry esters, banana, peach, melon, orange, moderate American oak, clean malt, vanilla, floral, green/black tea. After adding a few drops of water it becomes more malt-driven, the fruit recedes a bit, the oak is amplified, and some honey/caramel notes come out.

Taste: moderately sweet malt with berry, peach, and citrus notes up front, a little coconut in the middle, fades through light oak tannins through spices (cardamom?) and vanilla malt at the back. After dilution the fruit notes spread across the palate but become less distinct and the oak it muted.

Finish: berry, citrus, moderately tannic oak, clean malt

This is a really nice example of an ex-bourbon cask that was filled with quality spirit and allowed to age for a good but not excessive amount of time. It's not flashy, but the nose especially shows some nice flourishes. As currently priced the quality level isn't quite high enough to make me pull the trigger, but if it was about 20% less I might be wiling to bite.