Taste: Braeval 15 Year Old Douglas Laing

Another week has flown by and its time for another mystery dram kindly provided by malt-review. For those unaware we swap a series of unidentified drams and then sit back and saviour new discoveries and hopefully a few surprises as well.

So far I've done pretty well introducing Mark to a couple of new distilleries (wait till the next bundle heads south) and he's returned the favour with this Braeval. At the time of my tasting, I had no idea about the origins of what was in the glass. I'd recommend trying this if you can with friends, bloggers or enthusiasts and maybe I'll have room to help someone out.

You can read what Malt Review said about the bottle right here. Before we move onto my thoughts; the specific bottle details:

Distillery: Braeval
Distilled: February 1998
Bottled: August 2013
Strength: 48.4%
Edition: 329 bottles
Price: expect to pay around £60

Colour: very little evident from the cask just like that Tobermory last year! Suspended in maturation.

Aroma: A really fruity nose reminiscent of the summery Craigellachie I enjoyed from Cadenheads. The first fruit is pears in abundance followed by watermelon and what I can only describe as wine gums.  An oily buttery note that is reminiscent of Wether’s Originals takes over before a finale of Cabernet Sauvignon vinegar.

Taste: that expected sweetness fails to materialise. The flavours are more from the cask wood itself with vanilla, almonds, pepper and liquorice. Unfortunately nothing else really breaks through the stranglehold of these core flavours even with a touch of water.

I really enjoyed the nose on this one making for a greater experience than the dram itself. There are so many hidden Speyside distilleries and you can appreciate this by taking a drive around the region and almost on every bend there is another distillery! I'm pleased to cross this one off my list and I'll keep an eye out for more Braeval.