Flavour map – Break out of your routine and let your taste in whisky lead you to a whole new batch of flavour

The best thing about following a flavour profile over a particular brand or whisky style is that you are continually surprised. Choose any of our five flavour profiles, and you’ll dive headfirst into a warren of new releases and fresh ideas – all linked by a common flavour profile. 

As whisky drinkers, we are incredibly loyal, but that can also keep us cornered within a small batch of whisky makers that we trust and love. Following your palate allows you to encounter new bottles at every turn.

We categorise our whisky in many ways, but one of them is flavour. We have five flavour profiles that allow us to group releases that have common and complimentary taste experiences.

Sweet Treats: honey, vanilla and cream

Floral Blooms: grass, barley and heather

The Lighter Side: oak, citrus and nuts

An Array of Richness: dried fruits, chocolate and spice

Holy Smokes: peat, sea and smoke

You might always choose a rich and complex whisky like Dalmore 18, for example. It’s elegant and stuffed with flavour and you want that experience every time. 

An easy way to find an alternative is to browse the shelves of our Array of Richness section. Here, you’ll find lots of alternatives that you might not otherwise stumble upon – the Mortlach 21 Special Release 2020, for example, or Red Spot. Either of these is a superb alternative to a Dalmore 18. 

But you might also discover one of our rarer bottles, a treat for any collector. 

HERE ARE FIVE LESSER-SEEN BOTTLES FROM OUR SHELVES, CHOSEN FOR THEIR FLAVOUR PROFILE.

SWEET TREATS
AUCHRIOSK CONNOISSEURS CHOICE 2009, WINE FINISH

This is a deliciously rare entry in the Sweet Treats category. Distilled in 2009 at the Auchroisk distillery in Speyside, it’s been finished for two years in Cote Rotie casks. This is a French red wine made from Syrah and Viognier grapes that are co-fermented to create a wine that is rich and sweet and somehow creates co-dependent aromas of barbecued meat and floral blooms.

In this bottling from Gordon & Macphail, this aroma and its flavour are transferred to the wonderfully vanilla-heavy ex-bourbon matured Auchriosk whisky. One of the reasons we don’t hear from Auchriosk often is that it is largely focused on creating whisky for blends but it does retain a certain portion of its output for other its own label and independent bottlers.

On the nose, you will find red berries, fudge and cinnamon, while the palate delivers lots of herbs, liquorice and sweet summer fruit. You’ll get layers of coffee and ginger as it moves towards the finish. 

FLORAL BLOOMS

CARDHU 11 SPECIAL RELEASE 2020 

This classic Cardhu was a sellout when launched as part of the 2020 Diageo Special Releases series that year. 

Matured in three American oak casks: refill, new and ex-bourbon, it sits perfectly within the Rare by Nature theme of that series. It also matches our Floral Blooms category with its spicy notes on top of honey and fresh fruit with lots of herbal notes on the nose.

Cardhu is a Speyside distillery that works hard for Diageo, producing whisky for Johnnie Walker, but its own label output has received steady acclaim. Known for its smooth, balanced and silky texture it is a classic Speyside whisky.

The Cardhu 11 offers lots of herbs and citrus on the nose with delicate notes of moss and honey. The palate follows with layers of buttery spice and malt, leading to a deliciously warm white pepper finish.

THE LIGHTER SIDE

FERCULLEN 21

This is a wonderful release from the Irish distillery in Powerscourt, Co Wicklow and the oldest in their collection. 

Triple-casked in bourbon, oloroso, and Pedro Ximenes sherry it’s been carefully curated to remain within the lighter side of the flavour profile but with an incredibly elegant approach. The bourbon-matured portion constitutes 70% of the whiskey, while the superb oloroso and PX sherry notes are controlled by reducing their portion of cask maturation to 20% and 10%, respectively.

On the nose, you’ll discover honeydew melon, lychee, rich vanilla fudge, pear drops and soft leather. The taste offers vanilla fudge with dried fruits, dark chocolate with orange oil and cracked hazelnuts. The finish combines sweet fudge, candied cherries, fruit cake and drying spices.

Bottled at 46%, this is a wonderfully complex but light whiskey that is full of flavour.

AN ARRAY OF RICHNESS

TOMATIN 36, BATCH 6

After nearly four decades in wood, this superb release from Tomatin has pulled all the richness and flavour it possibly could from its oloroso sherry butts and ex-bourbon cask maturation. 

This bottle is part of Tomatin’s Prestige Collection and is a small batch released matured in the distillery’s famous warehouse number 6. Bottled at 46%, this bottle is batch 6 of the series, which is currently in its 11th iteration.

Stuffed with flavour and personality, you can expect a vibrant, fruity and floral nose with notes of tropical fruits and lots of spice. On the palette, you’ll discover rich, sweet and oaky flavours wrapped up in heather honey and roast chestnuts. The finish is wonderfully developed with waves of dark fruit and winter spice. 

Holy Smokes

Caol Ila 24, 175th Anniversary Edition

The seashore is the big identifier in any Caol Ila release – fish oils, shellfish, burnt seaweed, and iodine. These are the big flavours that give this Islay whisky its identity and place it firmly in the Holy Smoke flavour category.

This 24-year-old has big boots to fill, created as it was to mark 175 years since the distillery opened. It’s a meaty and flavour-packed release that also celebrates the honey and heather personality of the distillery’s traditional output.

Bottled at 52.1%, you can expect lots of aroma including smoke, burnt pastry, lots of herbs and creamy vanilla. The taste doesn’t disappoint smoke fans either, with lots of peat, spice and salt winding its way through to the finish

Click here for more of our flavour-led releases