Spirits

Vintage: 1992

Region: Speyside

Bottled Year: 2022

Bottles: 198

A family-run independent bottler born in Los Angeles in 2019, The Perfect Fifth is dedicated to supplying malt enthusiasts in the USA with unparalleled fine Scotch from outstanding Scottish distilleries. Each of our whiskies is bottled from a single cask, hand-selected for quality to be bottled under The Perfect Fifth brand. We believe that whisky bottling is an art form that combines both quality spirit and arresting design.

Maclean's Nose Blended Scotch Whisky, blessed with a splendid West Coast character, offers a unique value proposition. With a high malt content of 70% – a percentage usually associated with much pricier labels – and a considerable proportion drawn from ex-Sherry casks, this whisky delivers premium quality and exceptional flavor at an unbeatable price. Further fortified by its eco-friendly packaging, the whisky is non-chill filtered and displays a natural color, contributing to its authenticity. Holding an ideal 46% ABV, the whisky is part of an initial release of 25,000 bottles, and is now making its mark across the United States. Colored burnished gold, it evokes a delightful surge of burnt citrus peel, sea salt, bonfire, nectarine syrup, and lime marmalade. The palate is taken on a flavourful journey – puffed rice, homemade rice pudding, and citrus, culminating in a whisper of Ferrero Rocher. The lingering taste of burning heather and smoked praline on the finish accentuates its excellent value. Maclean's Nose offers an indulgent Scotch experience that doesn't compromise quality for price.

Our popular single malt is 50:50 unpeated to peated whisky matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks and combines our signature coastal characteristics with peat, fruit and marshmallows.

Nose: Orchard fruit, wet pebbles on a beach, oyster shells and eucalyptus

Palate: Tobacco leaves, peppercorns, brine, hay bales and marzipan

This whisky is bottled at 46.8% ABV.

Un-chillfiltered and Natural Colour.

Samsara, meaning ‘rebirth’, is a full-bodied and fragrant blend of malts matured in ex Bourbon and ex Californian red wine casks.

Tasting: Vanilla, citrus, rich

Nose: Vanilla Cream, floral with fresh cut apples

Palate: Thick vanilla fudge, sweet floral grass

Finish: Rich, mouth coating, leading to refreshing citrus

From the distillery: Coming in at 35 PPM, the whisky has a sweeter style of smoke character owing to the mainland peat from St. Fergus used to kiln the barley. After a lengthy 160-hour fermentation, the whisky has a complex character which stands up well to ageing in virgin oak casks.

Nose: Smoldering oak embers, burnt liquorice and honey, with ginger, butterscotch and orange peel.

Taste: Cocoa, crème brûlée and toasted almonds, with cinnamon, aniseed and campfire smoke.

From the distillery: Made using mainland peat from St. Fergus, the sweet phenolic content of the whisky amounts to 35 PPM. A lengthy fermentation period of 160 hours results in a fruit-forward spirit that lends itself perfectly to ageing in the finest Sherry oak.

Nose: Cedarwood, cigar box, butterscotch and mocha, with orange peel, honey and plum jam.

Taste: Dark chocolate, smoked honey and mocha, with figs, treacle, burnt sugar and puffs of peat smoke.

From the distillery: ‘The Original’ is our classic single malt that truly champions our peated pursuit. Made with mainland peat from St. Fergus, the flavour contribution is sweeter than that anticipated of coastal peat.

NOSE: Baking spices, burnt honey and espresso, with hazelnuts, smoked almonds and butterscotch.

TASTE: Sweet peat, rich chocolate and heather honey, with cinnamon, ginger and oak-smoked sugar.

Our pioneering pink gin is sweet, flavorful and floral. Originally created for Valentine’s Day, it was loved by so many we decided to make it a permanent expression!

Our Head Distiller crafts Love Gin using raspberries and strawberries from Fife Fruits who are based at Tarvit Home Farm – just a 15-minute drive from our distillery. Alongside this, he uses goji berries, red rose petal and rhubarb root among other botanicals.

This gin has a beautiful pink blush color and packs sweet vanilla and floral notes with a fruity finish.

Eden Mill from St. Andrews presents: Golf Gin. A botanically rich spirit with a slightly saline base which is made using kombu seaweed sourced in Fife. It also incorporates other ingredients inspired by the those flavors that can be found around coastal golf courses in Scotland, such as Lavender and Pine. -Producer's website

This 'teaspooned' whisky is for all intents and purposes mostly the beloved 1989 Balvenie with that tiny amount of Glenlivet added in order to declassify the cask

From the bottler: 

Distillers can be very protective of their hard-won malts, especially those who carry the most prestigious of names. From time to time, they must relinquish the hold on their casks, when one is sold to an independent bottler, for instance. Before spirit changes hands, the distiller - green-eyed and flush with passion - will take a single teaspoon of another distillery’s single malt, and add it to the spirit in the cask. Just a dash it takes, but that whisky can no longer bear the name its distillery of birth.

The distillery of origin is a darling of Dufftown, where nine stout stills produce a spirit rich in fruit and notably honeyed. Her sister, nestled close by in the Moray countryside, is where the ‘teaspoon’ of malt originated. Though nameless, together they are a powerful and stunning pair.

Independent bottlings of spirit distilled at the Balvenie distillery are rarely found on the market, and though the distillery is notable for having experimented with different cask types, this ex-bourbon cask allows the distillery character to sing finely and clearly, while accentuating the sweet vanilla and stone fruit character.