Review by: dustbunna
Oban is fascinating to me, being a floral, coastal, very lightly peated spirit from a distillery with worm tub condensers— it always has the potential to cover the middle-ground, bit-of-everything flavor space nicely. Unfortunately, the cores haven’t really been exciting for some time— the 14yr is one of the Classic Malts, whose success Diageo seems unwilling to disturb. The 18yr was the earliest bottle of Oban I had in the cabinet, and I found it lovely but cut rather short by its 43% bottling strength. IBs are laughably scarce for this distillery— it is Diageo’s smallest by volume that hosts a Classic Malt, and thus even though 100% of their production goes to single malts, they are still quite protective of it.
So, a new Oban doesn’t come along terribly often— but one that’s high-ABV and doesn’t cost hundreds of dollars? Where do I sign up? This 12yr was part of last year’s Special Releases, the first one from Oban since 2018’s cask-strength and eye-wateringly expensive 21yr. It was matured in a mix of first-fill and recharred refill bourbon barrels— and as a side note, even if that doesn’t sound too exciting from a marketing standpoint, it’s nice to see Diageo being a bit more transparent about their bread-and-butter casks.
Distillery: Oban.
Bottler: Distillery bottling.
Region: Highlands.
ABV: 56.2%. Cask strength.
Age: 12 years. Bottled in 2021.
Cask type: First-fill and dechar/rechar ex-bourbon casks.
Price: $125 USD.
Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Bottle open across approx. 4 months, notes taken leisurely across that period. Bold notes taken beneath the shoulder, regular-formatted notes taken further into the bottle past the halfway point.
Nose: very fragrant ~ oranges, minerals, honey, wax, malt, honeycomb, water brings out chocolate toffee and butter toffee, roses, biscuits, dead leaves.
Palate: thick and full-bodied ~ floral up front with orange blossoms, cherry blossoms, subtle smoke, salt, candle wax, wood spice, water brings out the smoke as well as more honeycomb and malt, in time all of these amplify and expand without water.
Finish: medium-long ~ more oranges and orange blossoms, lingers on faint smoke and floral notes, cut stems, and a bit of vanilla cream— quiet, but really stays with you.
Conclusion: Years ago I was served a chai latte in a Chicago coffee house that had the most delicate leaf I’ve ever seen drawn in the foam, barely visible by its textured imprint. I could hardly see it, but it was exquisitely beautiful once I noticed it. That image perfectly fits this whisky for me. At first, this Oban is pretty hot— to the point where I was a bit worried at the tight neck pour about where it was planning to go— but I learned that 1) not jamming my nose into the glass helps a lot in this case, and 2) 3-4 drops of water quiet it down nicely (and it can also take more to unveil other layers without losing its prettiness.) This whisky is especially delicious after a few months to air out– I found water unnecessary going into the second half of the bottle, and the balance was excellent between the different floral, mineral and honeyed notes, with extra dimension from the hints of smoke and salt.
This takes my favorite qualities from both of its older core-range brethren and amps it all up, retaining the quiet complexity but allowing room for some structure and pop from the higher ABV. I’ve waited a while to try a higher-strength Oban, and I have to say this one delivered the goods. It’s a subtle profile that rewards patience and attention, and as a caveat, it does far better by itself than in a flight (it’s so delicate that any other robust spirit easily overwhelms it side-by-side.) It’s not attention-seeking or shouty, and definitely won’t be everybody’s cup of tea, but I enjoyed this enough to buy a second bottle to open down the road— a rarity for me these days, with so much good whisky out there to taste.
Final Score: 91.
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.
Malt Runners 