Mortlach 12 “The Wee Witchie”

Mortlach 12 "The Wee Witchie"

We are tasting another Speyside scotch, the Mortlach 12 “The Wee Witchie”.  The first thing that jumps out at you as you look at this bottle is the rectangle shape, making it a bit unique compared to its cylindrical cousins.  Beyond bottling aesthetics, the next thing that will cause you to pause is the statement that it is distilled “2.81” times.  The fraction to the hundredth decimal place is, well, very specific.  There are six stills, three wash stills and three spirit stills, each of a different shape and size.  One of these wash stills and one of these spirit stills work in tandem in a conventional manner, the first distillation is done in the wash still and the output is transferred to the spirit still for the final distillation.  Now what happens between the other four stills is where the weird math comes into play and I had originally intended to prove out this 2.81x distillation, but then I finished my second Mortlach and I lost all motivation, but luckily this fine site will spell it all out for those interested.  However, I will note that the smallest of the three spirit stills is called, you guessed it, The Wee Witchie, which is where this bottle gets its name.  Apparently all Mortlach releases have some distillate from The Wee Witchie. 

Mortlach markets three core releases, the 12 year old “Wee Witchie”, the 16 year old “Distiller’s Dram” and the 20 year old “Cowie’s Blue Seal”.  In addition to the core releases, there are some limited editions, including an annual aged release (2019 was a 26 year old, 2020 was a 21 year old, 2021 was a 13 year old…I’m noticing a trend…) and a Game of Thrones Six Kingdoms 15 Year Old….This latter one I have mixed feelings on because I have the complete set of Diageo Game of Thrones releases (back before they were overpriced…and I have a love for the GoT books so my two worlds collided with this marketing exploit) and then this one came out after the show ended!  So I want it, but I also hated the last season of GoT so I don’t want to buy it….I’m getting off-track now…..anyways, in addition to their branded products they also supply a lot of blending stock for the Johnnie Walker bottlings.

Let’s get to the sipping.

ABV: 43.4%

How it smells…floral, some citrusy lemon rinds, wooded but more aromatic than oak, like sandalwood, some hay/dried grass.

How it tastes….toffee at the start followed by some herbal notes, like anise or eucalyptus ending in sandalwood, again more of an aromatic woodiness as compared to oaky.  The finish is sweet with dark roasted malts, not quite chocolate or coffee, but a step below roasted malt-wise.

Price…. $60

Rating...🥃🥃🥃

Final thoughts….I like this and I think it is well priced.  I probably won’t always keep a bottle of this in stock at all times, but I have gone back to this bottle a few times over the past couple of years so a 3x 🥃seems appropriate.  The official tasting notes on the website say it’s a medium-to-full bodied mouth texture, but I don’t pick that up at all, I think it is rather thin bodied…not in a negative way, but it stood out to me enough for me to make a note of it.  Compared to other Speyside scotches, I find the Mortlach 12 a bit challenging at first as the flavors aren’t straight down the fairway.  While challenging, it is also very interesting, at least to me.  Mrs. Sipper didn’t have the same impression.  It may not be the most approachable 12 year old single malt out there, especially for those that only want the big sherry-bomb or juicy vanilla notes of the more prototypical Speyside releases.  Personally, I appreciate the funkiness and look forward to trying the 16 and 20 year old versions in Mortlach’s core lineup.