Teaninich 1983, 27 Year Old, Duncan Taylor Rare Auld

Another Duncan Taylor Rare Auld sample, following on from yesterday's Mortlach.

Will this one scale new heights, or plumb those same depths? The excitement is killing me...

Teaninich 1983, 27 Year Old, Duncan Taylor Rare Auld, 45.9%

Nose: Quite fruity - a little bit stonefruit, a little bit tropical - with a touch of gunpowder first up. Some vinegar appears after a short time, along with some malt and a sweeter soy sauce. Water brings out a little more fruit again, perhaps even a hint of some red stuff.

Palate: The fruit continues through to the fore-palate initially, but as it makes its way back it becomes increasingly drier and astringent as the wood takes over. The booze makes itself readily apparent back there too, feeling every bit of its 45.9% and then some. Water doesn't add much really, if anything it oppresses further what fruit there was to begin with.

Finish: It remains pretty hot and dry for most of its length, but after a little while some of the stonefruit re-emerges underneath, but never manages to completely wrestle its way out from beneath the dry oak. As with the palate, water flattens out any extant fruit on the finish, leaving us with that dry and drying oak.

This started out quite promising on first sniff but rapidly descended into a joyless dry oak fest. I can still taste the rasping tannins as I write these notes actually.

I've not had a lot of experience with Teaninich and its flavour profile - beyond a few Compass Box blends I think - and after this wood-drenched sample I guess I still haven't.