Oban 12 Years Old Special Release 2021

Oban's 2021 Special Release was this 12 year old, a cask strength edition built to show the distillery's own character with little cask interference. It comes from the West Highland town of Oban, where the Stevenson brothers founded one of Scotland's oldest distilleries in 1794, still running on a single small pair of stills.

Maturation was in American oak, the refill bourbon style that lets a delicate spirit speak clearly. The make is built on a long ferment and an unhurried distillation through the little lamp glass stills, condensed in hot external worm tubs whose ample copper contact keeps the spirit mild, fruity and clean before the gentle wood does its work. Refill bourbon wood has already given up its most aggressive compounds to an earlier fill, so it works gently, letting the distillery character lead rather than the cask.

Bottled at a natural 56.2%, it is bright and direct. Lignin breakdown in the cask brings vanilla, the oak lactones add a creamy coconut note, and cask brings up honey, lemon and orchard fruit against Oban's clear sea air. A wisp of smoke trails a long, coastal finish that softens nicely with a drop of water.