Scapa 16yo The Orcadian

Scapa is the little brother to Highland Park on Orkney in the far north of Scotland, unfortunately they have discontinued this whisky, but thanks to a cheeky twitter comment @MaltMentalist offered to send me a sample - how could I refuse!

Pernod Ricard, Scapa's owners, are the company that discontinued the Glenlivet 12 in favour of the NAS Founder’s Reserve, unfortunately they've done the same think here replacing the 16yo with the NAS Skiren. They do have a funky sideways scrolling website but the 16yo doesn't appear on it anymore.

Whisky : 16 year old
Characteristics : 700ml, 40% ABV. Coloured.
Distillery's info : "From the sanctuary of the Scapa Flow a smooth yet full-bodied malt aged in Orkney for 16 years this golden malt delivers a sweet and silky smooth heather honey taste perfectly balanced with delicate spice"
Price : Discontinued
Colour : Pale Gold (Coloured)
Nose : Heather and honey with a little sea salt - quite powerful.
Palate : Very creamy - vanilla and soft soft fruit - peach?
Finish : Quite long creamy vanilla.
Overall : A lovely creamy dram, quite different from the Highland park whiskies from Orkney, you still get the familiar Orkney heather on the nose but as Scapa don't use peated barley there's no smoke to be found. Some have said there is a faint trace from the water but I couldn't detect any! A very impressive dram which is worth looking out for on the back of a shelf in an old whisky shop somewhere!