Equipo Navazos La Bota 89 Whisky Grain, Bota NO

Bottled in 2018. 46% abv. This comes from the sister cask to the extraordinary La Bota 66 de Malt Whisky that we shipped a few years ago. In this case the new make is a grain Whisky, grown and pot-distilled in Castilla la Vieja in Northern Spain. Its age is estimated at around 14 years, of which the past seven have been spent in a single solera cask that previously stored a very old, dry Oloroso.

This is a magnificent and super-fine spirit with tobacco and roasted grain notes and a gently smoky, peaty edge. Then there’s a lovely, honeyed sweetness, which lends the spirit an almost Bourbon-like quality without the overt vanillin. The spicy, saline and fully integrated close is as smooth as a baby’s bottom. Another incredibly intense yet classy spirit—unrepeatable, of course, as it’s a single cask release.