NZ Whisky Co 1988 Vintage 25 Year Old

Spirit Name: Spirit Type: Rating:	NZ Whisky Co 1988 Vintage 25 Year Old Single malt 86/100
ABV:	52.8%
Region:	New Zealand
Body:	Full
Intensity:	Medium-high
Texture:	Medium-creamy
Balance:	Near perfect
Best served: Age:	Neat 25 years
Theme(s):	Vanilla, white chocolate, cocoa, licorice, walnuts, hazelnuts, cherry cola, Dr Pepper, lime rind, polished leather, nectarine, yellow peach, soft oak, creamy, chocolate milkshake, cinnamon, grassy, dewy, mud cake, fudge, caramel, ripe berries, apricot jam, orange peel, dried apricots, crushed nuts, mild maple syrup, menthol
Summary:	This whisky explodes on the palate with oak notes that are softened by white chocolate, caramel and vanilla as sweet and tart apricot jam, berries, syrup and crushed nuts lead to an oak driven and medium-dry finish of vanilla, apricot jam and orange peel
Tasting notes:	NZ Whisky Co has acquired casks of whisky that have been distilled on the South Island of New Zealand at the Willowbank Distillery in Dunedin, and each cask provides its own unique story pf New Zealand whisky. This particular expression was distilled in 1988 and it sat maturing in New Zealand for 25 long years, until it was bottled at cask strength as a single cask offering. This means that this whisky is not cut down with water, which ensures that the pure snowmelt originally used to make this whisky remains untainted - after all, this snowmelt from the Southern Alps of New Zealand has been filtered through the Great Moss Swamp and it would be a real shame to mix it with another water source. Great thinking NZ Whisky Co!  Nose: This whisky is dense in the glass, and its aromas are forcefully blunt rather than piercing. It is very complex, which is evidence of its long maturation in a high quality oak cask. Almost immediately the aromas of freshly polished leather rises up, interlaced with sweet stone fruit (nectarine, yellow plums) and dark berries. The tartness of the fruit balances the sweetness, as a creaminess develops with white chocolate drops and mixed fried fruit. As the whisky rests, the white chocolate develops into milk chocolate thick shake and, would you believe, cherry coke... and that cherry cola intensifies and then more closely resembles Dr Pepper. Chocolate coated licorice then develops with mud cake layered with cinnamon, whipped cream, dried apricots and crushed walnuts and hazelnuts. Within all that complexity also chimes a dewy and grassy, pristine and wet forest like, note with gentle shades of oak... this is never ending, and each nosing brings something different.  Taste: Big sharp oak surges of oak and cocoa are mellowed by creamy vanilla, white chocolate and caramel. The sweet caramel lingers on the palate with fudge cake and the bitter buzz of cocoa acts as a counterbalance to the sweetness – a sweetness that changes form on the palate, from white chocolate and honey coated hazelnuts to ripe berries with maple syrup and crushed nuts and then to apricot jam. The oak keeps the sweetness in line, whipping it into line when it risks taking over.  Finish: The apricot jam lingers with shavings of orange peel and nuances of subtle vanilla softens the oak which leaves a medium-dry finish and the gentle shine of menthol – this is beautiful!
Likes:	Highly complex and uncut, which provides for a thoroughly enjoyable whisky that can be explored for hours
Dislikes:	At first the oak is a powerful force, but its dominance diminishes on consecutive tastings. Once open for a while, this whisky loses some of its flavour.
Price:	£131 (UK) - Amazon.co.uk $300 (NZ)