Apart from the peated Caperdonich 1998 SMoS, I’ve never tried such a young Caperdonich. Signatory and Gordon & MacPhail released some 1994’s and 1996’s and now Malts of Scotland bottled a 17 years old 1994.

Caperdonich 17 yo 1994 (53,3%,
Malts of Scotland 2011, bourbon hogshead #625, 232 btl.)

Nose: fresh and youthful with clean barley, hay and pleasant estery notes (fruity but hard to pin down, pineapple or pear candy maybe). Yoghurt cake. Crisp floral notes as well. A few lightly roasted grains. Mouth: peppery at first, then growing creamier with some vanilla and apple. Again a sweet and fruity core. Lemon peel. Oak. Aniseed and liquorice. Hints of violets. Surprisingly spicy I would say. Finish: fairly long, spicy with hints of apple cores and ginger tonic.

It may not have the luscious fruitiness or honeyed thickness of older Caperdonich, and it’s difficult to say whether it has the same potential. Anyway it’s still a solid and punchy dram albeit with a naked maltiness and some strange twists. Around € 80.

Score: 83/100