Whyte & Mackay The Thirteen tasting

On Thursday, Oct. 1st the Hamilton Whisky Society convened it’s weekly tasting. We had our library and several guest bottles visiting for the evening but everyone was excited to try the new Whyte & Mackay The Thirteen blend which I’d won from Richard Paterson’s poetry contest. It does not seem like W&M has much, if any, distribution in California so it’s a rarity on the Western shores of the United States of America. In fact, most members of the Society had never heard of it before. This was our first exposure to the Whyte & Mackay brand and we felt fortunate to try this blend.

The Hamilton Whisky Society usually focuses on single malt whiskies from Scotland so it’s not often that we get exposure to blended whisky and it was a real eye opener. This was a much richer blend than what I’ve experienced from other brands. The Thirteen is rich and smooth. Lots of sherry and cinnamon on the nose. The palate conveys a complexity I’ve missed in other blends. The  sherry and spice from the nose plays across the tongue and reveals layers of  nutmeg, allspice, cloves and a slight woodiness.

We tasted The Thirteen side by side with The Dalmore Cigar Malt.  The Cigar Malt  has more fruit and less spice than The Thirteen but they share enough of the sherry and spice to draw a pretty straight line between some of the components in the Cigar Malt to The Thirteen. This side by side tasting clearly identifies The Dalmore influence on The Thirteen.

I’m looking forward to trying other blends from Whyte & Mackay as well as malts from The Dalmore, Jura and anything else Richard Paterson has up his nose… um, I mean sleeve.