Oban 24 yo 1989 / 2013 #748 47.8% vs Oban 12 yo Special Release 2021 56.2%
Oban 24 yo 1989 / 2013 #748 47.8%
A naked Oban, with character shining though the glass. Light honey, a single green kiwi, toasted oatcakes and naked cereals. Unsurprisingly, a thin and fluid salinity pervades the whisky reminding you the coast is never far away. Algae, slight glue notes, moist moss on sodden bark chips and sheets of nori round out the high toned and somewhat sharp picture. So, certainly not a big boned whisky but it is true to itself, a whip thin but sinuous body dances like the glitter of a sunlit sea over the tongue, wispy but spirited. 88 pts
Oban 12 yo Special Release 2021 56.2%
The oak effect is much more pronounced here. Generous lathering of coconut shavings, thick cream dosed with vanilla and sugar, molten caramel, butterscotch candy, cinnamon sugar clove and cedar boxes. It’s almost, well, bourbon-y. Unfortunately the wood steps too close into pencil shaving territory. Under the wood however, distant salt and algae call out, straining to be heard. Here and there smatterings of honey, and a rather hot malt pop up. Where it can be heard, the whisky does share marked similarities with the 1989, but the whole is unfortunately dominated by the casks. Oban does not bear well under excessive wood. 85 pts
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