Adelphi Blended Scotch Whisky 40% 700ml

This whisky is matured using a solera vatting system, with an apparent high percentage of well-aged malts and grain from Speyside, Islay and Campbeltown. Being in a solera, there would be an argument that there is some old whisky in the mix, as it is unlikely to be fully emptied before being topped up.

Nose : Burning leaf fire smoke, wood ashes and dusty earth are coming out initially, but this isn’t a peat monster, its quite delicate. Sweet citrus, with lemon zest, demerara sugar and vanilla cream coated tinned peaches. There’s some polished mahogony, sheeps wool, licorice root and smoked, salty bacon.

Palate : Sweet orange marmalade and honeyed vanilla sponge start off proceedings, before the peat quickly makes itself known and adds a nice savoury and smoky seasoning, with some bacon frazzles, and whispy bonfire smoke on a salty sea breeze. Then raisins, bitter chocolate, gingery spice, slightly bitter oak, and a nutty creaminess. There is a lot more of the licorice from the nose, but this time it reminds me of black jack chew sweets. All the while, the savoury sea air and light smoke lingers. The sweet notes become almost bubblegum.

In the finish, some freeze dried raspberries, vanilla cream, more of the savoury meaty notes, more of the leafiness, a touch of lingering smoke and salt.

Conclusions : This isn’t the simple low cost blend you’d expect for the money. There’s a journey of flavours and sensations which make it a much more intriguing dram, with a nice balance of sweet and savoury with the peat and fruit notes. For the price I’d thoroughly recommend you try it. When you take into account the price point, it deserves an above average score. Worthwhile whisky at this price can be hard to find.

The label of this bottle depicts a cartoon from Punch magazine in 1853, in which then Chancellor of the Exchequer and future Prime Minister William Gladstone is dancing over an ear of barley, after passing a law which stated revenue could only be raised on whisky left in the cask after maturation, not the original fill level. This paved the way for whiskies to be matured for much longer, as the dreaded Angel’s Share was a little less of an issue. [review from whiskypad.com]