Mortlach 16yo Flora & Fauna

Mortlach 16yo Flora & Fauna

Region: Speyside

ABV: 43.0%

Price: £195.00 (Current Market Value)

Released as part of the original Flora & Fauna range introduced in 1991, this 16-year-old Mortlach single malt was matured in selected sherry casks and bottled by Diageo. This expression is now discontinued.

Nose

Palate

The palate opens with lots of runny caramel, dark chocolate, apple sauce, toffee bon bons, a little candied ginger and a warming cinnamon and pepper spice leading onto the finish. It starts quite sweet, but finishes off with a drier, slightly bitter oak flavour. The mouthfeel is decent for the ABV, there's still a good bit of oiliness here, and we're getting some fresher red fruits coming through on subsequent sips. The alcohol feels integrated, and is more of a raw ginger warmth than straight alcohol burn. 

Nose (with water)

The reduced nose has a bit more zingy upfront, a touch of fresh citrus, but all of those brown sugar and caramel notes are still there. There's also a few of those fresher raspberries and a touch of strawberry appearing now too. 

Palate (with water)

The reduced palate loses a bit of texture but becomes super sweet, lots and lots of candied ginger, caramel sauce, some apples dusted in cinnamon and some buttery crumble topping. Interestingly it feels like the finish is now longer, and there's a nice sweet and nutty sherry flavour that lingers on.

Conclusion

This is a dram that we've wanted to try for quite a while, and fortunately a good friend opened a bottle recently so we were able to grab a sample. We're big Mortlach fans and this dram lives up to the hype. It's not perfect, but it's a well crafted release that manages to maintain the bold, oily character of the distillery with a layer of sweet and spicy sherry on top. If only we'd managed to get a few bottles way back when...

Score: 7.5/10

Value

Would have been dirt cheap when it was in production, but the secondary market price is quite expensive for what it is.

• 10 - Perfection. One in a million
• 9 - Outstanding. Exceptional whisky.
• 8 - Great. Would seek this out.
• 7 - Good. Quality whisky.
• 6 - Above average. Happy to have a dram.
• 5 - Average. Drinkable whisky.
• 4 - Below average. Passable.
• 3 - Flawed. Noticeable negatives.
• 2 - Defective. Significant faults.
• 1 - Offensive. Pour it out.

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