Cardhu - Highland (Speyside) - 12 year old 40% vol - 700 ml

The Cardhu distillery (known as Cardow at the time) was officially founded in 1824 by John Cumming - a farmer who allegedly had been involved with illegal distillation at the site for at least a decade before 'legitimising' his business. In 1839, John's son Lewis took over the reigns at the distillery.The current Cardhu / Cardow distillery isn't the 'original' one. In 1872 John Cumming's daughter-in-law Elizabeth Cumming decided to build a brand new distillery from scratch on an adjacent piece of property. Cardow was extended in 1887 and purchased in 1893 by John Walker and Sons Ltd. Yep, that's right..

Colour: straw. Nose: Something slightly metallic and mineral, grapefruit juice and a little passion fruit, praline and caramel… Goes on with orange juice, lemon pie, pastries and then something minty and slightly resinous. Hints of smoked meat… Complex and pleasant.

Mouth: simpler and more tea-ish, alas, but the mouth feel is good. Maybe a tad sugarish but other than that we have nice quince, oranges, cereals, cake… And a rather short but nicely minty finish.