A Visit to Blair Athol

So, I'm going to come clean here...until last week I knew next to nothing about Blair Athol. I knew they were a Diageo owned distillery and I knew that they were an important part of the Bell's Blend but that was about it. However, as I was in the area, popping in to find out more (and get another stamp in my "Friends of Clasic Malts Passport") was an opportunity I couldn't miss!

Blair Athol is one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland and stands in a lovely spot on the outskirts of the charming Pitlochry in the central Highlands region. We had a lovely drive across in the snow, down winding country roads and passing a frozen lake or two. When we finally arrived we were not disappointed!

The distillery buildings are charming and our tour started in the original malting floor (long since defunct) before moving through the normal stages of the process. The distillery has a lauter mash tun, 6 stainless steel wash backs (they replaced the wood ones a few years back), 2 wash stills and 2 spirit stills. They produce around 3 million litres of spirit, 99.7% of which is used in blends. Mostly for Bell's for which Blair Athol is said to be it's heart.

It was great to see that a large amount of cask storage for the single malt was still done on site and also fabulous to see the re-use of the old mash tun from Clynelish Distillery being up-cycled as a bar in the entrance lobby. Diageo have done a good job on the visitor experience here.

Right...OK, enough about the distillery. How was the whisky?

I must confess, as a man who doesn't like Bell's I had low to no expectations here. Turns out these self-righteous beliefs were entirely ill-founded. This is a great little dram!

The standard expression is a 12 year old which spends it's whole life in Sherry casks. It's bottled at 43% ABV and retails (where you can find it) at just south of £50. I tried this and also the distillery exclusive bottling. My notes are below...

12 Year Old Core Expression

What a cracking little whisky this is! Decent ageing and the whole time in sherry is always going to be a winner for me!

It has a lovely deep amber colour and loads to go at on the nose. I got candied peel, dark fruits and Horlicks. A proper winter warmer.

On the palate I got tons of dried fruits and cinnamon. Hints of cappuccino and cinder toffee and something a bit like boot polish??? It had a really dense and oily mouthfeel which I loved. It is a proper mouth-coater this one!

The finish is medium-long and really quite dry. It was quite nutty and malty with a dry biscuity flavour and hints of very dark chocolate

At this price tag, you really can't beat it!

Distillery Exclusive Bottling

Limited to just 4000 bottles, this specially selected whisky is a vatting of sherry and bourbon cask stock with no age statement. It is only available at the distillery and the label was designed by the staff at the site (a lovely touch). It was a perfectly drinkable whisky but absolutely nothing remarkable. The heavy influence of bourbon took away from some of the richness that the sherry gave the 12YO. It was quite pale in colour, implying either a leaning towards more bourbon in the vatting, a lack of age or both. To be honest it didn't taste especially young but the whisky itself lacked any finesse or depth of flavour. It was smooth and straightforward. If you are a fan of an older Auchentoshan, you'll probably quite like this. Overall, it was fine but I would not be looking at paying the £70 plus price tag for this. You are paying for the rarity here rather than the whisky for me.



So, to sum up...what a shame that 99.7% of this distillery's total output ends up in blends. I was most impressed by the standard 12 year old expression. It really is a shame that this dram is not more readily available. The distillery exclusive on the other hand was a bit of a let down. A pleasant enough dram but for me it lacked the depth, mouthfeel and finish of the 12YO. It certainly wasn't worth nearly twice the price, however limited it might be.

Overall, a great little day out and it was fantastic to discover a new whisky that I am happy to add to my collection. A final shout out goes to our wonderful guide, Aggie who was knowledgeable, interesting and funny throughout the tour and only too keen to chat with me afterwards about all things whisky!

Until next time, sláinte!