Side by side: Blair Athol

 Blair Athol spiritual home of Bells

There's only 1 official bottling but loads of Indie releases, here I'll try five.

Established in 1798 on peaty moorland south of Pitlochry in the foothills of the Grampian mountains, Blair Athol’s ancient source of water is the Allt Dour – in Gaelic “the burn of the otter,” which flows through the grounds from the slopes of Ben Vrackie.

Closed in 1932, Blair Athol was saved during the depression by Arthur Bell and Sons. In 1949 it was extensively rebuilt, re-opened, and has been in production ever since.

This is the home of Bells, the flagship original contains 40 different malt and grain whiskies including malt from the likes of Caol Ila, Glenkinchie, Dufftown and Inchgower.

Let's try some whisky!

Dram	Flora & Fauna 12yo	2010 10yo Single Cask #300888 (Whisky Broker)	2009 9yo SMWS 68.21	Distillery Exclusive Handfill Batch 2021/002	Distillery Exclusive Handfill Batch 2022/003
Characteristics	43% ABV	55.7% ABV Hogshead	55.9% ABV Recharred Hogshead	56.1% ABV Wine cask finish	56.2% ABV Red wine cask finish
Bottler notes	A full, rich and spicy 12-year-old single malt whisky. Slightly dry on the finish with lots of sherry notes and a slight hint of minty herbal notes. An interesting whisky with an unusual sweet aftertaste. Nose: Muscat grapes and Madeira wine, brimstone in the background, even tar. Dried apricots in the foreground, and treacle toffee. Palate: Rich and mouth-filling, with a good balance. Finish: A curious sweetness is introduced at the end after the acidity and dryish finish has passed.	None	Stewed fruits greeted us with the warm embrace of ginger marmalade and an aged quality reminiscent of old Armagnac. Nutty reverberations brought elements of fine oloroso sherry that deepened with time into figs, dates and orange skin. The warm spice of nutmeg and mace encouraged us to delve into the taste that soon became a smorgasbord of nutty character. Toasted oats, pine nuts, cobnuts and chestnuts all jostled for position. Herbal hues peered through the husks as we found snippets of tart fruit and yoghurt. The finish displayed a strong sense of coconut, neatly packaged in a crate of new oak.	None	None
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up immediately and fall as quick thick legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thick legs.
Nose	Red wine, strawberries, cherries, dark chocolate. There's some  sherry soaked dried fruit, marzipan and orange zest. Very Christmassy!	Toffee, sherried dried fruit, honey, vanilla and a little brown sugar. This one is much sweeter than the F&F. There's a little almond, orange peel and some dark chocolate.	Dunnage funk to start, strawberries, raspberries, cherries and a hint of spice to come. There's sherry soaked dried fruit, marzipan, walnuts and a little citrus. More Christmassy than the F&F.	A little sour citrus to start: grapefruit segments. This changes quickly into sherry soaked dried fruit, vanilla custard and red berries: strawberries, raspberries, redcurrants and cherries.	This one goes straight into the sherry soaked dried fruit, vanilla and berry notes. It's older but a little more subdued on the nose. There's a little more earthiness here too with dates and prunes.
Palate	Thin arrival, sweet to start: a little honey, toffee and brown sugar; then immediately spicy: ginger, pepper and cinnamon. The red wine notes from the nose come through as berries and cherries. A little milk chocolate and dry citrus as the liquid disappears.	Thick warming arrival, immediately sweet with toffee and honey. There's a little cinnamon spice and then a burst of red fruit: berries and cherries. Some almonds and walnuts.  The moisture is stripped from your mouth leaving a dry prickly spice. Yummy!	Another thick warming arrival, very Christmassy with sherried dried fruit, dates and figs. There's a nice bite of spice as the liquid lingers on the tongue. A few more sips offer orange peel, toffee and nutty dark chocolate. Yummy!	Surprisingly thin arrival, sweet and fruity to start and then aniseed, nutmeg and peppery spice take over. Very oaky, a little shortbread - drying. A few more sips offer plums, berries, dried fruit and some dark chocolate. A strange metallic note as the liquid disappears.	A little thicker than it's younger sibling, immediately dry and spicy. The sweetness and fruit have all but gone. The aniseed is back again with a little nuttiness and some dark chocolate.
Finish	Short, fruity and a little drying.	Lingering nutty dryness, berries and spice.	Lingering berries, spice and dry nuts.	Short dry and spicy with a little soap.	Lingering spice, berry fruit and dryness.
Overall	The Flora & Fauna is the only distillery bottling of Blair Athol that you can buy unless you visit the distillery for a 'hand bottling'. It's at 43%, probably colour and chill filtered but is still very drinkable - just imagine what it could be at 46% and NCF? The Whisky Broker bottle was my favourite of the five, thick, warming and Christmassy, not a sherry bomb,  it wasn't even a sherry cask but there were hints of sherry or wine from the spirit - Yummy! SMWS's offering was very Christmassy too, but again only from a hogshead (I can't believe this - it must have been a sherry cask?). lovely spice notes with citrus, toffee and nutty chocolate which I'm beginning to think is the Blair Athol distillery character. The pair of hand fills from the distillery were interesting, coming from or finished in wine casks added a layer of complexity to the the ex-bourbon offerings, berries and dryness, but to be honest didn't rate as well. I've been hugely into wine casks over the last 12 months but these are enough to put you off. In summary: we need more Blair Athol, but only in ex-bourbon and preferably at cask strength!