Side by side : Under the radar : two indie Strathmill

The first in an occasional series about under the radar distilleries - this time Strathmill Distillery in Speyside.

There are few distillery bottlings but indie releases are fairly easy to get hold of.

Strathmill Distillery is very much under the radar, a workhorse distillery for Diageo's blends. There have been a number of OB bottlings: a 1993 release for Oddbins, a 12yo Flora & Farna in 2001 and a 25yo in 2014.

The town of Keith has a long history of milling, both for meal and weaving, two of those old mill sites have since been converted to distilleries, Glen Keith and Strathmill.

Strathmill was originally called Glenisla it was converted from a flour mill to whisky production in the early 1800s, then reverted back to being a flour mill in 1837. In 1892 is once again was converted into a distillery. In 1895 it was sold to W&A Gilbey who eventually became part of Diageo. The whisky became an integral part of the J&B blends. the only official single malt release is as part of the Flora & Fauna range first released in 2001. There is no social media or website for the distillery, not even a page on Diageo's malts.com 

In 1968 the number of boilers was doubled from two to four. The two spirit stills were then equipped with purifiers a pipe running from the lyne arm back into the body of the spirit stills (similar to the installations at Glenlossie, Glen Spey, Ardbeg and Talisker) which creates some extra reflux making the spirit lighter and adding a lightly oily character to the new make.

The distillery uses a 9 ton semi-lauter mash tun, 6 stainless steel washbacks (which are used for fermentations of between 60 and 120 hours) and 2 pairs of wash and spirit stills. The new make is transported in tanks to nearby Auchroisk for filling into casks. 

Dram	2000 14yo (Gordon & MacPhail)	2006 14yo (Whisky Barrel)
Characteristics	1st Fill Bourbon Casks 46% ABV NCF, Natural Colour	1st Fill Sherry Butt Finish 61% ABV NCF, Natural Colour 685 bottles
Distillery notes	Nose: sweet honey notes accompany fragrant aromas of pineapple and coconut. Stewed pear leads to delicate highlights of floral blossom. Taste: sweet honey notes accompany fragrant aromas of pineapple and coconut. Stewed pear leads to delicate highlights of floral blossom. Finish: Medium-bodied with a hint of menthol and citrus zest.	Fifty-one years ago Apollo 10 pioneered a full dress rehearsal for the first historic moon landing. Lunar module, dubbed “Snoopy” stopped short of landing on the lunar surface. As 'Snoopy' docked with command module 'Charlie Brown', Pilot Eugene Cernan proclaimed "Man, we is back home. Almost.” A black hole of sweet fruit cake dwarfed by rocket fudge, tobacco and rosewater. Telescopic sherry soaked raisins eclipsed by magnetic spices and a meteoric dry oak finish.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up forming an inverted crown and eventually fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Huge orchard and tropical fruit notes: pears, green apples, peaches, pineapple and banana. There's a little sweet honey, toffee, vanilla and hints of spice. There's a little citrus edge to this too - a little orange peel perhaps?	Firmly in sherry bomb territory here: blueberry jam, dates, figs, black cherries and balsamic vinegar. Sherry soaked dried fruit and a little smoke. There's some salinity or minerality here too.
Palate	Light delicate arrival, all the fruit from the nose and a little sweetness. Green apples to the fore with some zingy pineapple and orange zest. Honey and toffee give the sweetness and a lovely bite of peppery spice as the liquid disappears.	Thick sweet arrival, immediately drying. All of the fruit notes from the nose are here: blueberry jam, dates, figs and black cherries. There's a sweetness from brown sugar and treacle; a lot of wood notes, balsamic vinegar and a big bite of ginger spice. A little salted citrus leaves a dry mouth wanting more!
Finish	Short and creamy with sweet orchard fruit and a little spice.	Long dry and spicy.
Overall	So a big difference in ABV here, the 46% bourbon casks maybe pointing towards the distillery's light delicate characteristics, the sherry finish has brushed that all aside to give a sherry bomb that could really be from anywhere. That's not to say it isn't nice - 61% is a bit punch of ABV but it hides it quite well within the complexity of what I think would have been an oloroso rinsed butt. I'd like to try a higher ABV ex-bourbon to compare against the 46% buy I'm guessing it will be very similar - nice blending stock but just not my cup of tea.

Many thanks to @WhiskyResource for the sample of the Sherry Butt finish.