As with the other bottlings in the series, there's a story connected to the name and supposedly Thorfinn was the greatest of them, which is why this bottling came last. Marketing/storytelling at its best ;-)
Priced at €1000, I really glad to have the opportunity to taste this is its way above my whisky budget threshold - in fact its more than double the amount I've ever paid for a whisky.
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| The Mighty Ring of Brodgar on Orkney Mainland - August 5th 2009 © The Malt Desk |
Colour is nutty brown
Nose:
Initially on sherry/dark fruits, lovely spicy European oak influence here. Also other fruits in play here - brown banana, overripe oranges, then hardwood and eucalyptus notes accompanied by some herbal notes along with a puff of smoke. The wine/dark fruit notes are the dominant notes, though.
Taste:
Gentle arrival turning spicy almost immediately. Again herbal and winey and a little phenolic even. A very heavy sherry profile with just a hint of something dirty (yes, the s-word - but then I'm very sensitive to this). Mid-palate it produces some similar tropical fruit notes also found in the 'Ragnvald'-bottling only to return to an almost px sherry/madeira style sweetness, chocolate and cigar box notes. On the finish a little tropical fruit comes out again, but dries off quickly.
This is very spicy and has some burst of oak that I sometimes feel goes a little over the top. It's multi layered for sure, and I feel the work of some younger very active sherry casks in this one, that sometimes take over the show a bit - mind you its purely a guess and strictly my own opinion, but there's not doubt its still very good whisky.
I was splitting hairs with this one and the 'Ragnvald' as the best of the 3, but after tasting the 'Thorfinn' again, I'm gonna declare it a tie...
As mentioned above, its priced at around €1000 in travel retail
89/100!
Official sample provided by Highland Park
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