Wolfburn Morven Single Malt Scotch Whisky

REGION: Highlands, UK 
SIZE: 700ml / ABV: 46%

On the nose, the complexity of cool smoke and fresh orchard fruit gets in early, and there’s almost an echo of quality Mezcal before you’re hit by a swathe of fresh sea air and digestive biscuit with malty overtones. Floral notes abound, with golden raisins and light spices woven into the supple, textured mouthfeel. Pungent malty flavours open up on the palate, which is bright and mellow with soft, tongue-coating smokiness and clear honey sweetness enveloping the finish.

Morven takes its name from the highest peak in Caithness, a mountain surrounded by open moors and wetlands from where peat has been cut for hundreds of years. Wolfburn’s original 19th century distillery was largely fired by peat, and so this lightly-peated malt reflects the distillery’s history. With a level of peat at 10ppm, this is just enough to complex Woflburn’s plump, round spirit with a delicate wreath of smoke, but not enough to overshadow its dominant house character. (For reference, Ardmore and Talisker both come in at around 10-14ppm, Bowmore and Kilchoman at 20-25ppm, and the Islay heavy-weights clock in between 35-55ppm). Maturation was in a combination of Islay quarter casks and ex-Bourbon casks, for approximately four years.