Sampling The Fettercairn 12 & 28 Year Olds – Tropical Fruit Heaven!

Fettercairn 12 & 28 Year Olds

We drench our stills with crystal-clear mountain water, cooling the copper so only the finest vapours rise for collection.
– Fettercairn Distillery

These are the words of Fettercairn Distillery who employ a unique ‘cooling ring’ on their stills. In the 1950’s they found that pouring water down the still cooled the copper, increasing condensation inside so only the lightest vapours could rise for collection. So they fashioned a copper tube around the top of the still to continually douse it with water. Unique in Scotch whisky-making to this day!

Founded in 1824 by Sir Alexander Ramsay and one of the first to apply for a distillation license he very wisely hired former illegal whisky makers to be his first stillmen as they were the only ones with the necessary skills required to produce a quality whisky.

Fast forward to today and in celebration of their new product line Fettercairn has sent me two samples – the 12 and 28 year olds to try.
Many thanks to fettercairnwhisky.com (@FettercairnWh) for them!

So, what did I think? Here are my tasting notes …

Tasting Notes – Fettercairn 12 Year Old (40%)

Aged 12 years in American White Oak ex-Bourbon casks. Retails for approximately £39 to £45.

Nose: Spicy orangy fruits, crisp, green apples, pears and sweet marzipan.

Palate: Thin mouthfeel with sweet tropical fruits.

Finish: Some smooth spice with a little bit of dryness at the end.

Overall: A nice dram that delivers a great flavour and doesn’t disappoint. A stronger abv would have been rather Yummy I think!

Tasting Notes – Fettercairn 28 Year Old (42%)

Aged 28 years in American White Oak ex-Bourbon casks. Retails for approximately £399 to £550.

Nose: Slower to give up it’s treasures but when it does it’s worth the wait. There’s rich fruit cake with hints of sherry, rich tropical fruits and papaya.
Gorgeous, strong hits of banoffee pie topped off with creamy vanilla fudge make this a nose to be remembered!

Palate: Thin mouthfeel with sweet hints of the nose above – especially lovely tropical fruits. Flavours of citrus and some woody notes.

Finish: Black pepper that gives a warming long finish.

Overall: I’ve heard that it’s chill filtered and coloured which, I think, is a shame as at this age and price it would be nice not to have this. I’m sure it also degrades the palate.
The abv of 42% gives it a rather thin mouthfeel – cask strength would have been much more appreciated – I think it would have packed much more flavour – and you can then add as lttle or as much water as you wish.
Notwithstanding, a fine dram though a tad expensive.

Fettercairn is available to buy from these Merchants:-