Poit Dhubh 21 Year Old Gaelic Malt Scotch Whisky

The 8 year old of Poit Dhubh (see the review on this blog) impressed us so much that we needed to get a hold of some more, and since the only one available to us in Nova Scotia was the 21 year old, the 21 year old was what we got a hold of. It's a lot more expensive, coming in at $139.81 as opposed to $50 for the 8 year old. The 8 year old impressed us and the 21 year old impressed us too. However, did it impress us 2.8 times? The truth is, although the 21 year old is really good, we think we actually prefer the 8 year old. We do recommend trying the 21 year old. It's a damn fine scotch. Perhaps it's more of a special occasion scotch.

There's a lot of complexity with the 21 year old, which presents itself at 43% and comes in a more Scottish (European?) 700ml bottle rather than the Canadian (North American) 750ml. It also prides itself on being unchilfiltered, which is something to look for.

The nose begins with dark fruits, apples and cherry and a charry smoke scent that's much stronger than the 8 year old. There's also spice and a hint of ginger. After drinking it, we let it sit for a while, and let the liquid settle at the bottom of the glass (as we are now in the habit of doing). This final few drops brought out something unique, a sudden intense caramel and burnt sugar smell and stronger elements of cherry, while the smokiness faded away. A definitely interesting effect.

The palate is sort of amazing. There's a whole range of flavours that swirl and mix. It's hard to even focus on one as another comes rushing in. There's chocolate and leather and more ginger, this time definitely hot fresh ginger that burns the mouth in a pleasant sort of way, while an underlying candy sweetness adds its flavour and evens it all out.

We came across something new in this drink as there is a kind of hotness to this scotch that we've never quite experienced before. Not quite hot and not quite spicy, but something that gives the feeling of both. We noticed it more in the 21 year old, but it's there in the background of the 8 as well.

The finish has a very satisfying touch of smoke. It's really the perfect amount of smoke, enough to establish itself, but not enough to become overbearing. It's subtle and gentle. And to compliment it perfectly, there's more fruit, specifically apple that gives it a contrasting sweetness.

This Scotch is good and as it ends up, it is better than the 8 year old, but sometimes people are weird, and even though we know its better, the 8 year old is the preferable dram. Having this, and saving it for sporadic sampling will be a welcome occasion however.

Poit Dhubh 8 Year Old Gaelic Malt Scotch Whisky

Poit Dhubh 8 year old gaelic malt scotch whisky is a blended scotch that is everything that Johnnie Walker Black Label should have been. Poit Dhubh comes across as a well blended scotch with character and a nice variety of scents and tastes. What first drew us to it was that it stated it was unchilfiltered. We figure that the only reason a scotch would hide something from its label is because they are ashamed of it. Let's have more honesty in labeling. Let all scotch makers say if they chilfilter or not, let them all say if they add colour or not. If you add colour or chilfilter something but are ashamed of it... then maybe just don't do it in the first place.

The first smell that comes across with this scotch is malt. We're now thinking we can sort of understand the smell of younger scotches. And younger isn't always bad, young can have a fresh youthfulness to it, more fuller malty smell and taste. This particular smell and taste disappears a little with age.

There's a slight smoky texture in the nose (one of us thought this was sort of a peaty smokiness, but the other disagreed. You can't always have full agreement in scotch tasting, but that's ok.) The smokiness blends with earthy notes and toasted nuts, and some gentle sweetness. We're thinking that there's some scents in there from some sherry casks. There's a little subtle fruitiness as well and a bit of iodine if you really search for it.

The delicious taste of malt comes out in the palate too, with subtle smoke and burnt oak lingering in the background. Hot ginger, mixed with sweet caramel gives this scotch added complexity. A tiny hint of dark chocolate adds to the overall flavours

This we found particularity interesting: The smell of the malt and then the taste of the malt gives a strange sort of effervescent feel. Now let's get this straight, there is absolutely no effervescent, but there's this weird sense of it. It defies logic and reason; the taste of the malt gave the brain this sort of sense of effervescence.

The finish carries on the slight smokiness of the palate, but in a non-intrusive way. Pleasant in all regards, with gentle apple sweetness.

We're sold on this as a really good blended scotch. If you need proof that blends can hold their own against single malts than give this a try. Would we purchase this again? We already have. Of course, it's a little more expensive than your run of the mill blended scotch ($50 Canadian in Nova Scotia) but it's well worth it.