FACTS
anCnoc (Gaelic for 'The Hill') whisky is produced at the Knockdhu distillery, Banffshire in the Speyside region of Scotland. The distillery was founded in 1893 by John Morrison who bought the land from the Duke of Fife in order to produce whisky for Haig's. After several springs were discovered on the southern slope of Knock Hill, the land was seen as a prime site as it was also located near abundant sources of barley and peat and was in close proximity to the knock station on the Banff branch line of the Great Northern Scottish Railway, between Aberdeen and Elgin.
The distillery was the first malt distillery built for the Distillers Company Ltd. and remained in continuous production until 1931, when it was forced to close due to the economic depression. The distillery was re-opened and mothballed a few more times and in 1988, it was sold to Inver House after which production resumed in 1989. Until 1994, the whisky was known as Knockdhu but after this date, the name was changed to anCnoc in order to avoid confusion with another distillery, Knockando.
Knockdhu uses stills based on their original designs as well as worm tubs and the whisky is matured in dunnage warehouses in both American and Spanish Oak casks. More recent expressions from the distillery, include a 12, 16 and 22 year old with the latter two being replaced by an 18 and 24 year old around 2014, and the range also includes a 35 year old expression. In 2003, the distillery, once again, started producing a more heavily peated range of whiskies, including Peatheart (40 PPM) and various travel retail exclusives and other brand specific exclusive bottlings, like the one being reviewed today.
Whisky/ Year: anCnoc 13 year old (2005 - 2018) Peated Single Cask
Whisky Type: Single Malt
Distillery/Owner: Knockdhu Distillery (Inver House)
Country/Region: Scotland (Speyside)
Cask Type: Bourbon
Age: 13 Years Old
ABV: 57.6%
Chill Filtration: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Price: R1700 / $120 / £90
TASTING NOTES
Colour:
Pale Gold / Yellow Gold
Nose:
Begins with some salinity and moves on to light, fresh, and fragrant peat with Lapsang Souchong tea and ash. I then get a blast from my childhood with Wick's bubblegum (musk flavoured) and fruity wine gums. The fruitiness then turns woody with wood oil and pine needles. Add a drop of water and it will eek out some more fruit and a touch of pepper
Palate:
Hugely oily and mouth-coating. The peat gets heavier and is now more pronounced like bonfire smoke. There's chilli, a little acetone and tree sap and once this passes, some stone fruits appear. There's also a herbal note, like pine needles. With water, the palate becomes sweeter and the chilli tones down
Finish:
Medium in length and quite tannic. The oiliness coats the tongue for a long time, even after the peat has disappeared
P.S.
Thank you to Whisky Brother for the sample of this lovely dram and what a good cask choice from the WB team. You don't often find a peated anCnoc (at least in South Africa) and this whisky doesn't disappoint. Naturally, water will release additional flavours but even at 57.6% abv, it is refined and easy to drink without water. If a peaty, oily, fruity, herbal dram sounds like heaven to you and you'd like to try something out of the ordinary or less peaty than traditional Islay's (16.7 PPM), hop on over to Whisky Brother at www.whiskybrother.com to get yours now as it's very limited (just 224 bottles) and highly recommended.
SCORE: 7.5/10
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