There’s two ingredients for this  blend: First, I like to one-up people. Second, I saw some tasting notes describing Glen Elgin 12yo as ‘obscenely fruity’. Put those ingredients together and you get me trying to make Glen Elgin fruitier. Is this a good idea? Probably not, but it should be fun!

First, I’ve added the Fruitifier™: Elijah Craig. Then, to give it another little kick, a dose of Deanston Virgin Oak, which I hope will make a marriage between the other two because of it’s single malt spirit and bourbon-y production in virgin oak casks.

I’m tasting this blend after letting it marry for almost 2 weeks. The nose delivers close to what I had in mind: undistinguishable massive fruit which slowly unravels into a myriad of components: lemon, oranges, strawberries and raspberries. These fruity fireworks are supported from a safe distance by notes of malt and vanilla.

The taste is mouthwatering, with a sour-sweet fruity theme and more than a little vanilla. When tasted neat it somewhat dissapoints because of a pronounced spirity quality, but when a few teaspoons of water are added and it is left for 20 minutes or so, the blend mellows out and the different fruit-flavours become more distinguishable, with even a hint of red wine at the end. The taste continues into the medium-long finish, ending in malt.

This is a powerdram, without any question. It seizes the taste-buds and doesn’t let go. Is it good though? I’m not quite decided on the subject. The vanilla (from the Deanston) is a little too overwhelming and I feel it can be even more one-dimensionally fruity (which, in this case, would be a good thing). For those reasons I’ll continue tinkering with it and will give it 3 drams for now.

Do you have a favourite blend? Let me know and I may feature it in a future blog-post. Also, and comments on this blog are welcome through the comment system or twitter. See ya soon!

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