this whisky wednesday being the second (and technically last) wednesday of the official lunar new year celebration period, i felt that there was no better whisky to feature than this exclusive festive bottling by The Single Cask in celebration of the Year of the Ox.
The Single Cask is no stranger to special edition labels, especially with their memorable red and green "whisky you a merry christmas" editions from last year. this one in particular is a lovely celebration of the lunar new year, with the auspicious greeting gong xi fa cai and an amazing design in red and gold.
this is the second bottling selected by co-owner Kwek Yi Xian, officially stated to be a 15-year-old Kildalton, though it and the cask reference (ADBG008) subtly point to a very established distillery in the area which cannot be named for certain reasons. independent bottlings of this distillery aren't easy to come by though, which only increases the rarity factor even further.
in the bottle, this is a lovely soft amber colour that goes beautifully with the bright red and gold label. even if the hints as to the distillery name weren't clear enough, the first sniffs from the glass point strongly towards its heritage with a characteristic strong smokiness married with sea salt caramel. the nosing on this one is simply fantastic, with slight hints of orange and other citrus coming out at intervals to add a different dimension to the smoke.
on the palate, a strong sooty smokiness dominates the delicate balance between sweet citrus and refined sea salt. the citrus comes out closer to the finish, a juicy orange that's all manner of ripe sweetness and without the bitter zest. adding a couple of drops of water also brings out a lovely nuttiness that goes superbly with the orange, and this finishes as strongly as it began, with the characteristic strong smoke taking an elaborate bow alongside its supporting cast of sea salt, citrus and smooth hazelnut.
with only 304 bottles ever produced worldwide, i found myself extremely fortunate to have been able to secure a full bottle purchase for myself - this fifteen-year-old independent bottling Kildalton truly is an amazing whisky to bid farewell to the old year and start off the new one on the right notes (sweet, salty, smoky and everything else in between).
slàinte!
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this review is of a product that i had purchased at regular price with my own money. i wasn’t asked to review this as a condition of purchase and didn’t receive any incentives for writing this. i’m not affiliated with The Single Cask or Ardbeg, and as always, all opinions remain my own.
all information correct at time of publishing.
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