Whisky Review: Timorous Beastie 21 Year Sherry Edition

While much of Douglas Laing's regional blended malts series is NAS, there have been a number of limited edition releases with bigger numbers on them. While many sell out quickly, this one has hung around.

This is composed of Highland malts that have been, as the name suggests, aged in sherry casks for at least 21 years then bottled at 46.8% without coloring or chill filtration.

I purchased this sample from Dramtime.nl

Timorous Beastie 21 Year Sherry Edition

Nose: rich, moderately sweet sherry, juicy raisins, thick malt, green herbs, a little vanilla and American oak, cinnamon, sulfur. After adding a few drops of water the sherry becomes creamier, but it remains mostly the same.

Taste: a little hot up front, sweet sherry, fading into bittersweet with some vanilla and a little bit of oak near the back, with a light sulfurous overlay throughout. After dilution the flavors become a little brighter and the alcohol heat retreats, but it's otherwise much the same.

Finish: lingering alcohol heat, sherry residue, light American oak, following by a fairly long sulfurous note

While this is a big step up from the 10 Year, there's nothing here that makes me want a whole bottle. It's a reasonably competent, older sherry-driven malt, but it lacks the complexity I would want at this price point. While there's nothing explicitly wrong with it, with the possible exception of the sulfur (which tastes to me more like it's coming from the casks than from the spirit), there's also nothing pulling me in. Douglas Laing has also put out an 18 Year Sherry Edition out that is still available right now, but given what I've gotten from the two samples this week I'm in no rush to try it.