Blair Athol 21, The Old Malt Cask, 1995-2017, Sherry Butt ref. HL14245, 366 bottles, 48.9% abv.

The OMC product line was supposedly a monthly release and then it became quarterly... but shops seem to just stock them at random times. Or maybe this only happens outside of UK?

Nose: rum and raisins, chocolate, salted caramel, herbal, complex (at one point I smelled steak). Well balanced, nothing stands out but you can smell a variety of aromas. Unfortunately with significant time the aromas fade to a mellow butter pastry.

Palate: steak sauce? Worcester sauce? Like eating french pastries or an English meat pie or black pudding pie? With significant time, the texture is more thick, more sweet, but still a type of steak sauce, a little sweet, a little sour, a little bitter.

Finish: short, meaty, caramel, chocolate.

Amazing! I was so perplexed with the flavors since at many points of the tasting I thought I tasted steak sauce related flavors. Sometimes it's like a chocolate caramel dipping sauce, sometimes it's like a fatty piece of American steak. Always impressed with Blair Athol, just wish this bottling had more meat to offer. Had this at @wood_side_bar in Seomyeon, Busan, South Korea.

Grade: C+

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

🇭🇰 🇺🇸(LA, SF) -> 🇯🇵 (京都, 東京) -> 🇰🇷 (서울, 부산)