The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar - Door Number 3

Each day in December until Christmas Day we are opening a door on The Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar and posting our tasting notes on our blog.

Inside door number 3 we've found the first whisky in the calendar from Italian independent bottler Samaroli. This is a blended malt, this time, called 1996 Samaroli Spey 19 Year Old. It contains a mix of Glentauchers and Benriach single malts and is bottled at 43%.

On the nose there's honey and a delicate floral note. Lemongrass, soy sauce...it's all gone a bit Thai.

On the palate we get fizzy lemon sweets with a hint of milk chocolate.

The finish is fairly gentle with more of the same sweet lemon theme followed by mocha at the end.

With water the nose becomes a touch more meaty, the palate just softens up a bit (it is only 43%) and the finish becomes more chocolatey.

This is the lightest and most accessible whisky so far. Very easy to drink and probably one to start your evening with.