The Cadenhead’s Creations range consisted of small batch blends, blended malts, and blended grains, with a maximum of 3 casks used in each blend. Sometimes, these were single cask releases. Featuring an old style dumpy bottle, this range saw twenty releases until 2019, when it was stopped. The Creations range included a variety of ages and the strength of each bottling was determined solely by taste. The Cadenhead Creations range was known for being particularly innovative and interesting among Cadenhead’s releases. These bottlings were not chill filtered or artificially coloured. We’re reviewing today one of them, the Creations 1996 Light Fruity Syrupy.
Creations 1996 Light Fruity Syrupy Cadenhead’s Review
Creations 1996 Light Fruity Syrupy is a vatting of Ben Nevis, Blair Athol and Tomintoul. They started their maturation separately, but then were vatted together in 2007. Then, they were left to marry for about twelve years, before being bottled in June 2019 at 45% ABV but without chill filtration nor artificial colouring. Long sold out obviously.
Colour:
Amontillado sherry. Strangely, thick legs form and descend before beads are even formed.
Nose:
Neat: You are immediately struck by the tropical fruitiness reminiscent of the 1996 Ben Nevis. The aromas of pineapple and mango are prominent, but there is also a hint of stewed apples. Further into the nose, you may detect the buttery richness of a croissant, along with the floral notes of wild flowers and fresh hay. Finally, the nose is also marked by a hint of liquorice.
Palate:
Neat: Fruity arrival, good texture, with a soft sourness. Traces of rubber, lightly oaky bitterness, but the fruits are also here with green apples, roasted pineapple, lemon. There’s also something herbal, some old leather, and liquorice.
Finish:
A tropical and crisp fruitiness, estery, with pineapple and green apples lingering for a long time, through a light ashy smokiness and the fresh fruitiness lingers, with a light ashy smokiness and a fresh vegetal note of liquorice.
Comments:
Very fruity, with a large Ben Nevis influence, especially on the nose (I don’t have that much experience with Ben Nevis to be honest, but the nose made me immediately think of a Ben Nevis 96 I have). The palate is fruity as well but some other flavours like the leather and the herbal notes balance it, even though I could find traces of rubber. Despite the slightly low ABV, there’s a good mouthfeel. And despite the long finish, this evaporates dangerously quickly from the glass. A slightly higher ABV and no rubber would have pushed it above 90, but it still deserves an excellent rating.
