Oban 12 Year Old from Diageo's Special Releases 2021 is a cask-strength West Highland malt, matured only in ex-bourbon and refill casks. With no sherry in the mix, the salty, fruity distillery character comes through clearly.
About This Whisky
This bottling is 12 years old and bottled at natural cask strength, 56.2% ABV. It was distilled in 2008 and matured in ex-bourbon and refill casks that had been freshly recharred, which adds sweetness and a little spice without covering the spirit. The 2021 Special Releases ran under the Legends Untold theme. Compared with the standard 14 year old, this shows more salt, wax and orchard fruit at full strength.
Tasting Profile
- Nose: Sea spray, wet pebbles and ripe red apple, with pear, a little wax and soft pastry.
- Palate: Concentrated and lively, with malty sweetness, citrus, orchard fruit and a salty, mineral grip.
- Finish: Long and warming, with pepper, coastal dryness and a hint of oak.
Serving & Food
Try it first neat, then with a teaspoon of cold water, which softens the alcohol and brings out pear and green olive. Oban is a harbour town, so seafood fits: grilled scallops, oysters, or crab with a squeeze of lemon.
How to Enjoy
Oban fans who want to taste the spirit at full strength, and seafood lovers after a coastal malt for the table.
Product Details
Distillery: Oban
Series: Diageo Special Releases 2021
Age: 12 years old
Region: West Highland, Scotland
Distilled: 2008
Cask: Recharred ex-bourbon and refill casks
Style: Natural cask strength single malt Scotch whisky
ABV: 56.2%
Volume: 700mL
About the Distillery
Oban came before the town it is named after. Brothers John and Hugh Stevenson built the distillery in 1794, and the fishing port grew up around it. The name comes from the Gaelic for "little bay". The site is boxed in by the cliff below McCaig's Tower, the harbour and the streets around it, so it has never had room to grow, and it remains a very small distillery with an output of well under a million litres a year.