White Heather 15 Year Old Blended Scotch Whisky (700ml)

"Love blends when the grain don't feel at all – and when the woods behaved, which was the case here. Super good." - whiskyfun.com

An old whisky label, revived in 2022 with the release of a 21 year old. The White Heather brand was discontinued in the 1980s as the industry consolidated. It was subsequently acquired by Glenallachie in 2017, along with the MacNair’s Lum Reek Blended Malt brand. Master Blender, Billy Walker has put his own unique spin on White Heather, sourcing single malt and grain whiskies from the Highlands, Islay and Speyside. The new 15 Year Old contains both peated and unpeated malts along with grain whisky, however the malt content is on the higher side at a considerable 47 percent. After time in sherry butts and American oak barrels, the blend was re-racked into Pedro Ximénez and Oloroso Sherry puncheons as well as American virgin oak casks for an additional three years. Also notable is the fact that it was bottled at 46% without chill filtration, which is unusual for a blend.

“This has been a real passion project for me”, says Walker. “It takes me back to my first forays in the industry and allows me to select and blend whiskies from across Scotland in order to achieve the intended flavour profile. I hold a strong belief that interest in the Premium Blend category is growing, and we very much want to be at the forefront of it with White Heather.”

Other reviews... Billy Walker and gang, when they bought Glenallachie, also got this legendary old brand the Aberlour folks had been taken care of in the 1950s and 1960s. Those old square bottles of White Heather, with their white labels and even when young (5, 8)  were just stunning and up there with the very best blends ever bottled. This new White Heather shelters different whiskies, naturally, but the proportion of malt remains very high (47%). The Northern Highlands are having the upper hand. The whole has been finished for three years – so rather second maturation - in active casks (PX, oloroso, virgin American oak).  Colour: apricot gold. Nose: malty indeed, and rather in the stye of the lovely Hive, with some honey, pancake sauce, even icewine, sweet flowers (buddleia, mullein, white clover…), a little sweet rum, some raisins, triple-sec… and guess what, no obvious grain. But grain's pretty silent anyway, is it not. There's a little Islay inside but I do not get it (while some charming person at the parent company doesn't seem to get it either). Was it Bunnahabhain? Bruichladdich? Mouth: still malty, very classic, on more pancake syrup, butterscotch, millionaire shortbread, vanilla cake, marzipan and macaroons, nougat, beeswax (here we go again)… And just a tiny salty tang that may, or may not, suggest some 'peat'. Finish: medium, rather more coastal indeed. A little ginger, honey, and something a little Orkney-y. Lemon in the aftertaste. Comments: love blends when the grain don't feel at all – and when the woods behaved, which was the case here. Super good. We'll try a bunch of Glenallachies soon, by the way. 86 points - whiskyfun.com

...Not having benefitted from tasting it head-to-head with its older brother, I'll carefully state that the White Heather 15 Years sits at an equally high level. And maybe I would even prefer it, but not by enough to actually give it a higher rating. This is a well-balanced, easy sipper without it ever becoming monotonous. - wordsofwhisky.com