Tasting Notes: Fettercairn – 7 Years Old (Dramboree 5 – The Whisky Shop Dufftown)

Fettercairn distillery has had an interesting history, being based near the revered Fasque estate in Eastern Aberdeenshire, which lends its name to a whisky I’ve owned previously – comments here. The distillery was established back in 1824 in an old corn mill, and has been largely operational since. Owned by Whyte & Mackay, the majority of its whisky goes to blends – presumably the Whyte & Mackay Special Blended Whisky championed by Richard “The Nose” Paterson. With their Fasque and Fior ranges seemingly being the most readily available single malt expression, this whisky appears to be a rare chance at an aged expression and was an independent bottling made for the 5th Annual Dramboree gathering available at the famous Whisky Shop in Dufftown.

46% ABV

Nose

Vanilla pods hit you straight off. There’s a very gentle booze-nose on this, despite being a relatively young whisky. Slight smell of soft fruits after the vanilla blast – more melon than citrus fruits though. Overall, the smell reminds me more like a good white rum.

Taste

The vanilla disappears quickly for a strong orange/citrus flavour. Really quite strong flavours in fact after that soft nose. They seem to keep getting stronger too.

Finish

Pretty peppery and potent. It seems to give me a little heartburn just like the Fettercairn Fasque did too (what do they do that causes this?!?). Is there a little smoke in there too at the end?

Verdict

Quite the journey for the senses on this one. Something they do seems to get me choked up too (physically, rather than emotionally). A touch of water to take out that sting out though and this is a very, very pleasant dram. Really fresh tasting and the initial soft, sweet and delicate fruits suckered me in before dealing out some pretty hefty (and peppery) punches. The nose belies the strength of the taste and finish. Strong delivery. I wonder if it is just the young age that causes that though. Either way dashes of water did help. Lovely dram overall and a great example of an independent bottling. Just a shame that it won’t be readily available in the future – a great treat and inspired find by the folks @TheDramTeam

Side Note: These tasting notes were made after tasting the above miniatures. There are no filters on the picture and you can see the big difference in colour between the 7yo and 20yo. The difference is kinda crazy because you would have thought that it would have been the other way around based on how long they had been in a barrel. Hopefully it hasn’t received the swirl of the caramel stick! I’m not sure which barrels were used but the 20yo is one of the clearest whiskies I’ve ever seen – particularly at that age! Tasting notes on the older sibling available here.

Sample disclosure: Indie bottling made available through an indie dram subscription. All samples received through The Dram Team subscription. All notes are intended as an honest, fair, and independent review of the whisky itself and not as a promotion. Please drink responsibly. Please drink wisely.