Fettercairn 16 Year Old (4th Release: 2023)

I really like the Fettercairn brand - they manage to carefully tread the delicate line between desirable, classy whisky and price pretty well. I was lucky enough to attend Whisky Live in London earlier this year and one of the stands with the biggest crowds was inevitably the Fettercairn stand. They had a lovely selection of whiskies, including the 16 year old which is now part of their core range. This version, however, is from a few years earlier when it was being released in limited batches, let’s see what it is like.

Bottle

The Fettercairn bottle is terrific, not the shorter, more solid bottle I would typically go for and it definitely and it would definitely look at home on a modern, backlit cocktail bar but it is pretty. Tall, lovely embossing and the logo is wonderful with the distillery’s unicorn encased in a copper circle. There’s plenty of space to see the whisky itself, it looks classy and modern but also timeless.

Colour

This 2023 release, as well as the newer, 16 year old release in the core range, are all non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. Having been finished in Port pipes this dram has a lovely rich colour putting it firmly in mahogany area of the colour chart.

Nose - Fettercairn whisky is famed for its tropical notes and this dram is a prime example. It opens with a fruity, pineapple sweetness with just a hint of chocolate in there. There’s not much of a hint that the spirit was finished in Port casks yet.

Palate - The tropical notes continue here, pineapple and stewed fruits maybe stewed pineapple - it is overtly sweet but just the hint of sourness that comes with pineapple. Mix this with a nudge of sweet ginger and this is a lovely warm dram.

Finish - A lovely long finish that leaves stewed winter berries and just a little kick of ginger lingering for a while.

Overall

I really like this dram and it is no surprise that it has subsequently been added to the core range from this historic Highland distillery. After five annual releases (this being the 4th) and the success this had obviously brought Fettercairn, the 16 joined the core range in mid-2024 and I can absolutely see why. I really like the 12 year old and this is just another step in the right direction from that - it’s warmer, sweeter more tropical and really well rounded.

Whilst the regular 16 year old doesn’t have the finish in Port casks that this release enjoyed, I doubt it is missing much in terms of flavour. Maybe the Port casks have added to the deeper colour, which is lovely, I’m sure the more widely available offering would be just as good as this.