This week's BoW comes from my liver's spiritual home: Scotland. Well, more accurately that'd be Islay, Scotland - but close enough. A fairly recent addition to Glenlivet's bottling roster, Nadurra (gaelic for natural) is an excellent introduction to several of my favorite stylistic touches. Plus, it's more accessible than similar whiskey's I might personally prefer - availability, fiscally, and pallate-wise.
First off, Nadurra is cask-strength, meaning it's bottled just as it comes out of the aging barrel (spirits are normally cut with water to homogenize alcohol content). Such whiskey's are potent, and I'll be the first to recommend adding a little water yourself to dig the flavors out from beneath the ethanol. But the best thing about cask-strength is you can work your own magic with (clean, room-temp) water and explore all the flavors to your preference. Most whiskey "opens" as you add water; I recommend trying any glass straight and adding in increments to see what you find.
Secondly, this is non-chill filtered. Personally, I find such whiskeys a bit cleaner (though one might think the opposite would be true). It's certainly paler in the glass than Glenivet's other offerings, and underneath the 58% or so alcohol, I find the flavors a bit more delicate. Also note this is a Speyside whiskey, and a much truer expression of the area than the standard 12 year bottling, or the 15y French oak.
Okay, so my notes: the nose is definately full of toffee - to be expected with ex-bourbon barrel aging - but there's also a hint of vanilla, and a floral note I'd prolly be able to name if I wasn't too manly to know about flowers. It's very light on the pallate; there's a decide pecan-like nuttiness and some whole cream. Verdict: 7.5/9
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