As opposed to being an entirely different beast, this PX finished Fettercairn clearly presents similarities to its standard 12 year old cousin. The underlying character of malty, yeasty, fruitiness is present and correct – and it’s still interesting – offering more stimulation than many run-of-the mill 12 year old bottlings. But, whether the Pedro Ximenez finish has actually elevated the experience is, to my palate, open to question. That's understandable, as you do not want to anger a distributor or brand in such a way that they refuse to provide you with subsequent samples. But what is the possible downside then?

Fettercairn 16-year-old - Ratings and reviews - Whiskybase Fettercairn 16-year-old - Ratings and reviews - Whiskybase

Contrary to popular belief, single malts are also 'blends', but there is a huge difference with blended whiskies: a blended whisky has whiskies from different distilleries blended together, whereas a single malt whisky is a blend of casks which contained the same type of distilled malted barley, and the casks all came from the same distillery. Fettercairn distillery was founded in 1824 by Alexander Ramsay, owner of the Fasque Estate beneath the foothills of the Grampian Mountains. Following the Excise act of 1823, Ramsay converted an old Corn Mill on his land into a distillery but was sadly unable to make a success of it. By 1829 he had lost his fortune and his estate, distillery included, was sold to the Gladstone Family. I could also start talking about deliberate acts to drive prices up by making whisky less available or 'market-exclusives', but that would muddle up the point I'm trying to make here. As the Fettercairn12 is celebrated as the ' re-launch' of the brand, it might be interesting to read up on the distillery's public image. Fettercairn 12 is priced on average at around 50 euros online.This, to me, is an acceptable price for a 12 year old whisky, although slightly above what I personally would spend.Well, according to the sleuth, this expression is merely 40% ABV, is chill filtered, and is very expensive. But are these points we can put in the "negative" list? Let's find out! If that is a bit much, here's the gist: chill filtration makes sure your whisky does not 'fog up'. It removes the fatty acids, proteins, and esters from the whisky, and these are responsible for your whisky turning less translucent. We may sell, license, transfer, assign or in any other way dispose of the Service (including Members) to any third party without any notification to you, e.g. (but without limitation) in connection with any reorganization, restructuring, merger or sale, or other transfer of assets. It may not be a massive price jump but it is a jump nonetheless, and when you consider that Springbank and Ardbeg, the two nearest in price are bottled un-chill-filtered at 46%, while Fettercairn is diluted to 40%, the difference looks all the more dramatic.

FETTERCAIRN 12 YO Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 70 cl

You are responsible for all activities through your account. You are responsible for the accuracy of the information you provide to us in relation to your account, and for updating it where necessary. You are not allowed to create multiple accounts. We may terminate or temporarily suspend your account to protect you, ourselves or our partners from (suspected) identity theft or other (suspected) fraudulent (e.g. false, misleading, deceptive) activity. You have the obligation to keep your login credentials confidential. You shall not authorize any others to use or access your account. A single cask whisky is exactly that: whisky from one cask from one distillery. If the amount of casks you use is limited, your price per bottle will rise as well. Distillation at Fettercairn is still a process of evaporation and condensation – so, as my friends would suggest – exactly the same as everywhere else. However, not only is the distillery’s cooling ring unique, it’s also an integral part of what makes Fettercairn unique – both in terms of industrial innovation and also as a key contributor to their spirit character and whisky style. It’s these differences which keep me visiting distilleries - time and time again. And if we want our whiskies to have marked differences in aromas and flavours, and not become a homogenised corpus of liquid, it’s these differences which should be celebrated. Fettercairn is a distillery who’s differences are more visually apparent than most. An open-topped mash tun (always fun to see in operation) produces a cloudy wort – this results in a more malty, nutty and spicy spirit style as opposed to a clear wort which centres on sweetness rather than cereal character. But, perhaps the biggest alteration from the norm comes with Fettercairn’s stills.

Recent Tastings

Since Sir Alexander Ramsay established the distillery in 1824 we’ve been going to extraordinary lengths to capture the purest expression of our whisky’s character. Located in the foothills of Scotland’s Cairngorms, we don’t just use crystal clear mountain water as an ingredient, we drench our stills with it, cooling the copper so only the finest vapours rise. Official tasting notes: However, the Gladstone family were hands-off owners (fun though it is to imagine ‘The People’s William’ getting to grips with distillation).Allowingthe distillery to be run by tenants, they retained ownership until 1923. A short period (mostly in mothballs) under the control of Ross & Coulter ended when Fettercairn was sold to Associated Scottish Distilleries (ASD, the Scotch arm of National Distillers of America which, at its height, owned Bruichladdich, Glenury Royal, Glen Esk, Glenlochy, Benromach and Strathdee). Nose: Fruity, apricot, peach, plum, raspberry, floral, rose, turkish delight dusted with icing sugar, yeasty, ginger and orange marmalade on toasted malt loaf/soreen. Whiskybase B.V. (“Whiskybase”, “we” or “us”, company details below) offers a whisky enthusiasts online platform that provides its members access to the most comprehensive, transparent and trusted resource of whisky bottles and allows and stimulates its members to contribute information about whisky bottles to the platform (“Service”). If any provision of these Terms is held invalid, the remainder of the Terms shall continue in full force and effect.

Review // Fettercairn 12y Single Malt - A unicorn worth Review // Fettercairn 12y Single Malt - A unicorn worth

Nothing in the Terms shall exclude or limit our liability for fraudulent misrepresentation or for death or personal injury resulting from gross negligence or willful misconduct by us. For this review, I'm going to look my gifted unicorn in the mouth, and by doing so, will talk about chill filtering, ABV percentages, and supply/ demand. There's a phrase in the whisky community that is used to describe those special bottles that are very hard to find and are therefore incredibly expensive. 'Unicorn expressions' have an almost mythical status, as plenty of people in the community want to turn their fantasy of tasting, or even owning, such an expression into reality. For this review, I am not going to claim the Fettercairn 12 is a 'Unicorn expression', although it has a unicorn on its label. I am, however, going to put it to the test: is this an expression worth chasing, or not? Some consider chill filtering to be a process during which the flavour of the whisky changes. The residue, especially the esters (little molecules providing for flavours and aromas), is removed.

The reason I'm starting my review in such a manner is because, while I was preparing for my tasting session, I was getting conflicting information: people that I consider ' those in the know' concerning whisky, told me that the Fettercairn 12 was, I paraphrase, ' not worth it', 'too expensive', and 'a stinker'.