The Singleton 12yr old Easy and Mellow 40% ABV.

A bottling that’s a perfect introduction for those who are new to single malts, the Singleton of Dufftown Malt Master’s Selection was created by The Singleton master of malts Craig Wilson. He hand-selected and blended the whisky before it was maturated in European and American oak casks with three variants; ex-wine, ex-sherry and ex-bourbon.

Master of Malt

Appearance

Mid gold with an orange hue, with a medium thick swirl line and slow thick legs.

Nose

Straight away I get cherries, almonds and marzipan, I really like that. Balsa wood and royal icing quickly follow, and a gin type botanical note slowly comes to the fore. 

The wood becomes more aromatic, the marzipan and almonds keep coming, cereals and grains join in too, and there’s definitely an evergreen boughs thing going on, it’s a little foresty.

Palate

The palate initially is different to the nose. It’s a little spicy, and I’m thinking grapefruit, guava, and a flavour that reminds me of seaweed charred cask, it’s reminding me of a couple of whiskeys from very innovative Irish whiskey (amongst other drink) distiller.

The almonds are coming through, even macadamia nuts, and then the spices begin to increase. Cardamom and root ginger, joined by nutmeg, high cocoa content dark chocolate, chilli’s, and something akin to molasses or black treacle.

Finish

Short to medium in length, and as well as the palate notes there is a fresh mineral water flavour. The spices still continue also, and I’m thinking cask char and black liquorice.

My thoughts

This is a whisky iv’e been meaning to try for some time now, having not committed myself to purchasing a bottle, but when the chance of getting a sample through a sample swap i jumped at the chance.

For some reason i has originally decided to just try the sample but not review it. That soon changed on tasting it, and luckily the sample was generous enough for me to go back to it a 2nd time. The reason for changing my mind was that this whisky offered more than i expected, at 40% ABV both the nose and palate had lots going on, and to be honest i really enjoyed doing tasting notes for it.

As a self confessed Whisk(e)y nerd i am lucky to get to taste a wide range of them, from entry level drams up to single casks at cask strength. Recently i have enjoyed finding good entry level Whisk(e)ys, like the anCnoc 12yr old, this Singleton is another one i have enjoyed. Coming in at £32-ish it’s very accessible, though i will say i would love to try a higher ABV version too.

A very generous sample of this whisky was sent out to me by Jade and Charlie – The Whiskey Hoarders, they can be followed on twitter using the @Dram_aholics button below.

Bottle image: Malts.com