Review by: The Muskox
Even after trying 1000 scotch whiskies, there are a few active distilleries that I still haven’t tried. Here’s one of them! Kininvie is part of the Grant complex of distilleries in Dufftown, and is often disparaged as “a shed behind Balvenie”, which… is kind of true. These OBs are pretty much the only Kininvie single malts I’ve ever heard of. All of this is to explain that, no, of course I didn’t correctly guess this blind.
As per my blind tasting policy, my tasting notes, score, thoughts, and guesses are all locked in before the reveal. For this dram, I had no idea what I was being poured, aside from that it was a scotch whisky of some kind.
Distillery: Kininvie.
Bottler: Official bottling.
Region: Speyside.
ABV: 44.2%.
Age: 23 years. Distilled in 1990. Bottled in 2013.
Cask type: Hogsheads and sherry butts.
Price: N/A, sample.
Color: 0.3, Pale gold. Natural Color. Non-chill-filtered.
Nose: Sweet and rich. Loads of creamy coconut. Sweet toasted flavours of orgeat, browned butter, sunflower seeds, vanilla, and honey-dipped pretzels. More and more fruit emerges as the whisky sits – citrus, kiwi, banana. Floral notes, hibiscus blossoms, hot peppers and lemongrass.
Palate: Medium texture, proof seems low. Very fruity on the arrival, a variety of sweet tropical and citrus juices and more lemongrass. Juicy malt on the development, along with some old oak, honey, and fresh flowers. Orange and stonefruit on the back end.
Finish: Medium-long, fruity and tangy. Pineapple candies, lemonade, nectarine, and green apple. Sugar-dusted donuts and more honey. Toasted seed-bread slathered in butter.
Possible SMWS bottling name: “Smoothie Hall of Fame gift shop”
Conclusion: That’s a great whisky, and very much to my taste. The fruit is just bursting and fresh and sunny and juicy, and not even overly sweet to my taste. The complexity took a little while to appear, but there’s some. For a lower proof, there’s plenty of flavour.
I have a feeling this could be an OB. I’m not really sure how to gauge the age – there’s an oak note here, but it’s otherwise very fresh and fruity. Could this be a closed Lowlander? Oh wait, maybe it’s a Daftmill. The combo of fruit and malt and nuts and butter would check out from my previous experiences with them. Aren’t there slightly older Daftmills out there now? The only thing that doesn’t quite work is that the proof might even be a bit too low… Oh well, I don’t have a better guess.
Final Score: 85.
Post-reveal thoughts: Cool! I’m glad this was blind, since I clearly need more practice. Maybe writing down “old oak” as a tasting note should tip me off that this is an old whisky… Anyways. That was fun.
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 