Time for the first review of a whisky from my collection.
Oban 14yr old:
Having visited the distillery myself, I have a bit of an affinity with Oban. This is the flagship whisky from suprisingly one of the smallest distilleries in Scotland. Part of the reason that it is so much smaller than other distilleries despite being a very well known brand around the world is that 100% of it's output is sold as single malt in contrast to other distilleries that sell a lot of their whisky to blenders to continue it's life anonymously as part as a blend. They also only (afaik) only produce two expressions, the main one being the 14yr old, and the other being the Distillers Edition, which is created by taking the 14yr old and aging it for another 6-9 months in a sherry cask (review will come soon). The most suprising fact that I learned on the distillery tour was that the 1m bottles of whisky that they produce every year are made by only 7 people that work in the distillery.
Appearance: Light amber
Nose: A malty sweetness with some honey and a just a hint of peat smoke.
Taste: Rich and smooth, the sweetness of the malt continues through in the taste, and is joined by a woody flavour. The hint of smoke is also still there in the taste.
Finish: Woody, sweet and slightly spicy. The peat smoke also becomes more apparent in the finish.