Today is Christmas and billions of people around the world celebrate the the holidays season with Christmas and New Year Eve in tow. So let’s go ahead and review a matching (in spirit) dram for the holidays season: Wemyss Malts Velvet Fig.

Velvet Fig is a NAS (no age statement) vatted malt, meaning it’s blended using only single malts, aged entirely in Oloroso Sherry casks. It’s a limited edition as only 6,000 bottles were produced.

Happy holidays to you!

Wemyss Malts Velvet Fig (NAS, 46%, £38.95)

Nose: At first it’s malty and with some young spirit notes (almost new make). Then comes the sherry impact with light sweetness of dried fruits glazed with vanilla. After a minute or two, there are indeed sweet figs, dates, and the smell gets more sherried with cloves, dash of cinnamon and heavy concentrated nutmeg (almost bitter), then another wave of malt and vanilla (must be some active american oak casks in there) and chocolate.

Palate: Bittersweet, espresso grounds and nutmeg, darker than what felt on the nose, sweet dried fruits and raisins, light x-mas cake spices, mild oak.

Finish: Medium length with concentrated yet mild sweet nutmeg, figs and plums.

Toughts: Once you get over the initial malty young notes, Velvet Fig proves to be a great vatted malt. It’s balanced whisky and not too sherried or heavy. Quite a good festive dram.

(Official sample provided by Wemyss Malts)