Review #4: AD Rattray Cask Islay

Like many blended scotch brands, AD Rattray was known to us first as a favored rum blend brand while drinking through the rums at Smuggler’s Cove. We were excited to find this (very reasonably) priced bottle at K&L Spirits and scooped it up immediately.

Quick overview of our scoring system

Review

Tastes likes it noses. There’s a light bandage component weaved in with honeysuckle, cantaloupe, and lemon. The taste is rather delicate for an Islay (rather than the strong peat of a Laphroaig). Light end notes move from nice sweetness back into bandage territory. It tastes like what it’s advertised to be: a gateway into Islay for non-Islay drinkers. However, it may not be punchy enough for true peat fiends.

Additional Information

• ABV 46%
• “Cask Islay” originally was released as a blended whisky but now is a single malt from an unnamed (trade secret) Islay distillery and aged in ex-bourbon and ex-sherry barrels. Some guess Caol Ila.

More Info on AD Rattray

• AD Rattray was originally named “A Dewar Rattray” after the ancestor of the founder Tim Morrison but the company lost a legal battle with Dewar’s whisky
• AD Rattray also produces the inexpensive Bank Note blended scotch ($22/Liter!)
• Morrisons are a whisky family: Tim is the son of Stanley Morrison who purchased Bowmore in 1963 and owned it until 1994. Tim Morrison and his brother purchased Auchentoshan in 1984