Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Age:  10 years
Abv:  43%
Natural colour

Bottle Notes
“Only ever matured in the finest oak casks, our signature TEN YEARS OLD single malt delivers delicate forest fruits and creamy malt, a touch of smoke and rich, lasting sherry notes.”

Nose
A bit of a buttery malt (okay, creamy, like the bottle says).  Berry fruits – blueberry, mild blackberry, mild raspberry.  Smoke is elusive – the barest hint, a light and sporadic brush every now and then.  However, it does become more noticeable much later in the dram.  I get the occasional sense of leather.

Palate
Full with malt, and the berry sweetness waves from a distance.  Overall a sweet mouthful. Later sips continue to deliver a full mouth feel and a fruit and berry sweetness.  As with the nose, the smoke becomes a bit of a presence near the end.

Finish
The sweetness lingers, leaving threads of a butterscotch candy.  An oily mouthfeel is pleasant, but does not seem to carry the flavours.

Final Thoughts
I picked this up on a yellow tag sale, and overall it hasn’t been a stand-out.  It’s fine, politely pleasant.  However, it doesn’t shine in any one area, and it doesn’t pull my attention when I peruse the shelf for a dram.  I haven’t had an unpleasant dram yet, but also not had a dram of note.  As I tasted tonight, it seemed like the initial (light) strength of the malt and berries faded over time, and then there was a smoky character that came through.  But overall, quite light in nose and palate.  Primarily sweet (slight) and a decent mouthfeel.  The natural color is actually pretty striking, a solid, glinting copper.

Deerstalker Limited Release
Speyside Single Malt scotch whisky
Age: 20 years 1 month
Distilled:  8 Dec 1994
Bottled:  7 Jan 2015
Distillery: Braeval
Cask number: 159164
Bottle number: 34 of 276
Matured in ex-bourbon barrel
Unchill filtered, natural colour
48% abv

We’re going back to the well in this, the first edition of my Revisited series!  The tasting notes I post here are always for a point in time – that particular tasting of that particular dram, on that particular evening.  I thought it would be interesting to revisit some whiskies, see if time, air or palate maturity changes my experience at all.

I think it is fitting to start with this Deerstalker Ltd Release 20yo – a whisky that hasn’t garnered any favours with me.  I opened this bottle in May 2020.  Coming up on two years old, the bottle is currently just under half full.  My original tasting note is from October 2020, so let’s see if a year or so changes my experience!

Nose
Light, malty, fruity.  A slight acidity – perhaps a citrus note?  Yes, lemon or young orange rind.  Perhaps some tart blackberry notes.  Mostly pleasant tonight, but faint.  The lead notes are malt and a slightly acidic citrus.  Overall, definitely enjoying the first nosing.  I start to catch some faint toffee notes, and can eventually pull forth a Werther’s hard candy.  Later in the dram, the sweet fruits continue to press forth, and I get more berry sweetness.  It continues to delight, and it seems to have grown stronger.  Near the end now, the malt has become infused with spices – vanilla, black pepper.

Palate
Fruity, almonds.  An oily grab on the tongue, coating with a light sweetness.  As the dram progresses, the profile remains consistent, but a bit of a harsh streak of alcohol starts to appear.  Faint though, and not off putting.  On later sips, I start to think maybe not an alcohol note, but some dimension of the almond – a bit bitter perhaps, but some of that nutty profile right behind it.  Still with the berry sweetness (faint but stronger in later sips).

Finish
Carries on with the palate, quite a lovely, sweet fade.  There’s a burn in my chest from the first sip, I think speaks to the spirity nature of this one.  The oily mouthfeel really keeps the sweetness lingering for quite some time, a very decent, long finish.  Later in the dram, the finish seems to be getting even better – it lingers on, and on.  

Final Thoughts
What a difference a year and a half makes.  Tonight this whisky was challenging, and delicate, but with care it was quite an enjoyable experience.  The subtleness I noted from before is still present, but the character seemed to grow in strength as the dram progressed.  The alcohol profile I noted before seemed very muted, barely present at all in fact.  I was able to pick out many lovely notes, and there was even a slight evolution of the dram as it progressed, which I always enjoy.

I’m very glad I didn’t give up on this one and just finish off the bottle as a mixer.  I’ll keep the rest of it on the shelf and maybe crack it open in another year or two, in the RE-revisited series.