It’s day 6 from the Boutiquey Whisky Company Advent Calendar.. And we have this 26 year old north British single grain..

The North British Distillery Company was established in 1885 by Andrew Usher, William Sanderson and John Crabbie. They built the Distillery on the outskirts of Edinburgh and started producing spirit in the September of 1887, with just under 1 million litres produced in the first calendar year and 3.6 million litres within the first full year of production.

Like so many of the distilleries the war affected production with several years of low production the distillery did not return to full production until 1955, a few years later ( 1961 ) the production levels were hitting 13 million litres.

As with most of the spirit produced at grain distilleries North British grain whisky is sold on for blending, luckily these days whisky fans are starting to see the importance and value in single grain and blended grain whiskies..

This North British 26 year old batch 5 from independent bottler That Boutiquey Whisky Company has an outturn of only 144 bottles and comes with an abv of 50.4%, is Non chill filtered and naturally coloured..

Nose.. This starts of with a strong acetone aroma before toffee, butterscotch, chocolate and Manuka honey show up, Citrus peels and raw ginger can also be found..

Palate.. Spices, vanilla and toffee notes go into a battle of spices v sweetness for the dominant flavour..

Finish.. Oak and spice.

Thoughts.. I am a little torn on this one, as much as I want to love it, I find myself questioning what I’m tasting.. This has an ever changing nose and palate and just when you think it’s there it changes back to it’s alter ego.. Perseverance is needed here …

Retailing for £83.95 over at Master of Malt..