Cardhu 5 Year Old John Walker and Sons 1980s Wax & Vitale Import - 40% 75cl

Cardhu is the Speyside home of Johnnie Walker, and the distillery contributes much of its production to the world-famous blend.

So much so in fact that the Cardhu brand was turned into a vatted "pure malt" for a brief period in 2002 to ease pressure on its stock, but quickly reverted back to a single malt in 2004 following widespread criticism.

The incident saw the rewriting of the rulebook for single malt whisky, and the birth of the term "blended malt," adding some infamy to the Cardhu history books in the process.

This is a 1980s bottling of the 5 year old age-statement for the Italian market. Cardhu was one of a number of DCL distilleries that were licensed to John Walker & Sons in the 1980s due to its importance to their blends, along with high profile names like Talisker and Mortlach.

This was common practice at the time, and continued until the company's subsequent iteration, United Distillers, began to restructure by withdrawing these licenses and reclaiming control over the distribution of its single malt portfolio.

Please note as this is a vintage whisky, conditions of bottle/label and liquid level can vary.

Nose: Sweet, full and vibrant, with fresh fruit notes - balancing citrus notes of tangerine and lemon turn into a rich, smooth maltiness with toffee.

Palate: Sweet and spicy, with fresh-toasted oak. This then dries up with a balancing tangerine sharpness, before soft, smooth fruit syrup emerges with a soft oak intensity never far away.

Finish: Relatively long and creamy, spicy-sweet. Drying cocoa, dark chocolate, toasty oak, with a lingering note of citrus.