Oban 14 Year Old

Olive gold in colour. A full, rich, almost oily malt. The bouquet is immediate and confident; rapidly gaining intensity. Warming and sweet: oily, waxy and nutty, balanced by delicate ripe orchard fruits. Then, lighter notes of an almond fruit cake sit atop a denser layer of Christmas pudding. Behind, malty cereal notes are offset by aromatic orange. Much later: traces of brine and smoke, a little menthol and pine resin. The palate brings a dense coating, spicy too; sweet, yet menthol- fresh. Filling and warming, with the comforting chewiness of rich fruit-bread and hints of orange zest and clove, before growing drier, still minty, with crisp green apple. Less dense and fruitier with just a little water, which allows the classic Oban fruit, malt, and maritime hints free reign until the balancing, drying spice returns. In a word, long. Quite syrupy at first, then drying, with elegant coating tannins rich in dark chocolate character. Later, pine-fresh finish.

Oban Distillery takes its name from the town where the Highlands meet the Islands. Two brothers, the Stevensons settled here in 1778 and greatly enriched the hamlet, as it was then, with their business activities ranging from slate quarrying to shipbuilding. In 1794 Hugh Stevenson built the Oban Distillery, hiring an experienced Lowland distiller to manage the whole operation and distill oban single malt scotch. Nestling beneath the steep cliff that overlooks Oban, one of Scotland's oldest sources of single malt whisky is but a stone's throw from the sea. This coastal location is accurately reflected by the character of the Oban 14 year old single malt whisky. At Oban Distillery you can see the distillers at work crafting a rich, sweet malt whisky with a subtle hint of sea salt and peaty smokiness.