Cardhu Gold Reserve - ohne GP

Volume: 0.7 litres | Alcohol content: 40% | Chill filtration: Yes | Colouring: Yes

Special Features:

Toasted oak casks are specifically selected for Cardhu Gold Reserve. Blender Matthew Crow uses them to create a sweet, full-bodied malt with a spicy finish. Cask selection is central to this Speyside expression.

Sweet fruit, dark chocolate, toffee and spices shape its character. Compared with the classic twelve-year-old Cardhu, Gold Reserve is fruitier and warmer. Its soft texture brings together this sweetness and a drier counterpoint. The whisky is bottled at 40% alcohol; this version contains 0.7 litres and comes without gift packaging.

Tasting Notes:

• Nose: The nose opens gently with sweet tinned fruit salad, waxy red apple skin or orange and grated apple, alongside pear and barley sugar. Icing or marzipan and citrus sweets add to the aroma, possibly over a gentle malty cereal note. Creamy toffee and milk chocolate emerge, followed later by pineapple, ripe banana, ice cream and homemade lemonade. With more time, tropical fruit returns, possibly accompanied by a very distant hint of smoke. With a little water, the nose remains restrained; the waxy note increases and the apple becomes more distinct.
• Palate: On the palate, the whisky is more robust and drier than the nose suggests. The initial sweetness is followed by crisp orange zest and mineral dryness, then cedarwood and delicate cocoa. Dry oak also recalls sponge cake, accompanied by a little cinnamon. Water makes the flavour sweeter and less spicy; the texture remains soft and mouth-filling.
• Finish: The medium-length finish brings warming, peppery heat. Subtle traces of menthol, velvety cocoa and grassy, herbal notes accompany it. A little salt and distant almond and apple notes linger in the dry aftertaste.

Distillery/Bottler:

Cardhu is located in Knockando, near Archiestown and Aberlour in Scotland's Speyside region. John and Helen Cumming founded the distillery in 1824. Helen and later her daughter-in-law Elizabeth played decisive roles in its development: Elizabeth secured Cardhu as a trademark and had a new distillery built. Cardhu has also long been an important malt in Johnnie Walker blends.

The distillery draws water from springs on Mannoch Hill and the Lyne Burn. Its general production methods include lightly peated barley malt and a fermentation of around 75 hours, which supports the distillery's fruity character. For Gold Reserve, this is followed by the targeted selection of toasted oak casks.

Facts: