Sheep Dip

I did an Advent Calendar made up of samples I had acquired over time, chosen by my wife, amongst all of the samples in my whisky shelf.

We’re onto Advent Day #2. What will it bring? I’m hoping candy. But probably not.

All of these were done blind, poured blind, and then took the Bird Box challenge. Maybe. I don’t really know.

Let’s see how it tastes, shall we?

Price: Not currently available at the LCBO

Region: Blend

Abv: 40%

Colour: 2.5Y 7/10

Nose: Butterscotch, earth, lemon, brine

Starts out with some strong butterscotch, but then falls off. Lighter, earth, simpler flavours. It’s young, but there’s some aspect that’s saying it’s older.

Like, there’s something, but then it stops. A start and then stop, like learning stick for the first time.

Taste: Lemon candy, caramel, cinnamon

Sweeter, light, and citrus. Lots of sweets going on. Less rich, less butter, and thankfully less earth.

Bit of spice. Lighter mouthfeel. Guessing it’s younger now. The lemon candy is almost interesting.

Finish: Bay leaf, cumin, lemon, brine

Oh, hey, it’s the earth again, but more in that way that you think that when you’re falling down and going boom.

Lots of earth and herbal. Yet there’s still a bunch of lemon candy.

Conclusion: Alright, mostly lemon candy and rough earth. I’m pretty sure it’s a blend by the end. There are parts that pop up and yell complexity, but you could get that from younger drams at times. This seems like that blend.

So it’s a blend, mostly malt, not bad. It does a lot of that lemon aspect. If you’re ever looking for something to have more citrus and less malt flavour, this may be for you. Overall I found it too young, yet none of the graininess from other blends (surprise, surprise given what it was).

63/100

Guess: Young blend, 40%, Sheep Dip?

Actually: Sheep Dip

Yay, I got one! That brings me up to… getting one right! Sheep Dip is a blend of 16 malt whiskies all ranging from 8-years-old to 21-years-old. My father once went to a tasting where he was told that whiskies are named after where the water went through before being used to distil whisky. That’s not the case. Ever. It’s just a funny story.

The term “sheep dip” comes from where you let your sheep go into a dip of fungicide and insecticide to preserve their wool. Said chemicals are not used in whisky after, certainly not this one.

Perfectly reasonable blend, you’ll reach for this if you’re interested in less of those rougher grain notes but don’t want to spend a bunch.

Scotch review #1058, Blend review #91, Whisky Network review #1649

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