Fettercairn Fasque

Review by: TOModera

First review of the year, and I’m feeling great!

Well, not really, I overate my face off over the Xmas holidays, but you aren’t here to hear about my fatass, you’re here to read about Scotch!

Special thanks to jleese for a sample of this one. Can’t get it in my neck of the woods, so it’ll be interesting.

Couple things I’ll be doing differently this year. Up first, I’m going to stop doing mail-dram swaps for awhile. Mostly because I’m going to the UK in April and I need to save on the cash.

Also, I received the 1001 and 101 Whiskies to try before you die books, which I’m taking as challenges. I know I probably won’t finish the 1001 one, however I still want to point out when I’ve reviewed it. So I’ll be adding a running count at the bottom of how many I’ve done.

This is not one of those whiskies though, so… I don’t know why I wrote all that. Let’s blame it on all the cake I ate.

And trust me: I ate a lot of cake.

So, to kick off 2015, we’ll be reviewing (well, I will be, you’ll be sitting there without pants) Fettercairn Fasque. Named for a country estate near the Fettercairn distillery, this is the unpeated regular bottling from Fettercairn.

Fettercairn was originally founded back in 1824, and is far from any other distillery, thus lending to their uniqueness. They take their name from the local town, situated in the Cairngorm Mountains.

Also you used to be able to buy this at Tesco in the UK, so let’s see how this upper/medium entry level vintage tastes!

Distillery: Fettercairn Distillery.

Bottler: Distillery Bottling.

Region: Highland.

ABV: 42%.

Age: Bottled in 2011.

Cask type: Unknown.

Price: N/A.

Color: Brown.

Nose: Lavender, plum, honey, stewed apples, smoke, mace (it’s the skin of the nutmeg seed), brine

Very floral at first, eventually a dull fruity flavour. Even though it’s unpeated, I still pick up a little smoke, though that may be a mix of the spice that is giving me that.

Or it could be that I just think it’s smoke. Maybe I smoked too much before having this. Just kidding, I never smoke enough.

Taste: Caramel, salt, tamarind, lemon, oak, salmon jerky

So at first, I’m really enjoying this dram. It has a deep caramel and funk to it that I’m liking.

And then the salt comes for me. In the night, like a villain. First, just a little. Then more. Then more.

And then I’m actually drinking fucking salt.

Finish: Smoke, caramel, pepper, cherry pop, a metric ton of salt

Like the taste, the finish has this nice smoked caramel with cherry….

Oh, what’s that?

Oh, it’s more salt than is typically used on the roads in Canada.

Oh that’s what that is.

Conclusion: It’s hard to rate this whisky, because I honestly really enjoyed it before the salt beat me up and took away my left shoe, alone. Cold.

The initial taste is great. The eventual salt death is horrible. So it loses points. Maybe drink it slightly quicker than normal. Or feed it to deers. Either way, I’d say pass unless you love salt and drink fast.

Final Score: 70.

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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