Just a dash: Dundee cake explosion

This whisky was so very nearly from distillery 125, until a teaspoon changed its fate. 'Teaspooning' is the act of mixing a minuscule amount of one single malt into another. This allows a distillery to sell its whisky to other blenders and at the same time ensures that it will never be bottled as a single malt bearing the distillery name – it becomes a blended malt. Unsurprisingly, these whiskies are so remarkably close in character to their main distillery of origin that they are well worth bottling in their own right. This expression was created by marrying two American oak oloroso hogsheads. Prior to sherry maturation, the whisky was matured in ex-bourbon hogsheads for 19 years. The detonation of Dundee cake and brandy butter left a varnished cabinet coated with toasted almonds, golden sultanas, raisins and treacle. Then came a tropical aftershock. Peaches, apricots, dried cranberries and salted toffee flew in all directions. Quince paste and coconut cream then melted into marzipan and toasted oak. With water, the shock wave hit poached pears, passion fruit and figs, each one ricocheting off chocolate swiss rolls and mango pudding. With some ripe papaya and jam biscuits we quickly found ourselves disarmed, but ready for a finish of red apples, menthol and the sweet fragrance of honeysuckle.