Description
Finn Thomson Blair Athol 12 Years Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Sitting in a wine bar in Milan in November ahead of Milan Whisky Festival I found myself reaching to my bag to test one of my latest innovative cask samples. This was a single cask of Blair Athol that had spent 6 months lying in a Passito di Caluso wine cask. As I sipped the new sample I compared it to the wine itself, trying to fully understand how the intensely sweet and fruity wine has integrated with the meaty and nutty style of this Blair Athol single cask.
Passito di Caluso is a sweet Italian dessert wine from the Piedmont region. It has a production process that goes all the back to 500 BCE when the Ancient Greeks would pick the grapes from their September harvest and increase their sweetness by sun-drying them before fermentation. Nowadays it is a much more uncommon method but the 'Passito' style of wine is a hidden jewel amongst the world's
sweet wines.
Blair Athol is the perfect candidate for a cask like this. Not easily overwhelmed by active casks, we get a rich combination of the raisin and date flavours of the wine alongside the savoury notes from the whisky. The sophistication and elegance of Italy meets the ruggedness of Scotland in an intense burst of flavour, each sip a celebration of this
collaboration between two of Europe's drinks producers.
Story
Finn Thomson is a Scotch whisky independent bottler that is 300 years in the making. Since James Thomsons illicit potstill in the 1700s, the Thomson family has pursued a different element of whisky through the ages – distilling, blending, trading, selling – helping to shape the very story of Scotch itself.
With three centuries of family whisky history and personal tutelage from some of the most respected names in the Scottish whisky industry, Finn may stand on the shoulders of giants. But the weight of decision rests on his own.
Finn is responsible for calling the moment when a whisky’s flavours are at their finest; quirks and eccentricities at their most beguiling. Whether it’s a decades-old cask from the family collection or an entirely new creation, this is art as much as science. Wood, water and weather have had their say. The only guides that count now are taste, scent and intuition.
Origin : Scotch
Type: Whisky
Distillery : Blair Athol
Bottler : Finn Thomson
Vintage : 2012
Bottled : 2025
Age : 12 Years
Cask Type : Passito di Caluso
Cask Number : 17006
Number of bottles : 255 bottles
Alcohol : 57%
Bottle Size : 700 ml