Wemyss Floral Trellis Single Cask Scotch Review

By Richard Thomas

Rating: B+

Whenever Wemyss issues another batch of single cask scotches, I have two consistent questions about each expression: where is it from, and how closely does it match its creative name. The latter is always a kind-spirited game for me, because I know it can’t be easy to continually come up with new, interesting and descriptive names for these things, not when you have a line as busy as that of Wemyss’s Single Cask.

Floral Trellis is a 1988 distillate (making it a 26 year old) from Tormore. That is a youngish distillery, opened in 1960, and also an architecturally noted one. The building is granite masonry, and it is endowed with a clock tower that plays different Scottish tunes every quarter-hour. Other points of interest for Tormore is that the original owners were the company behind Long John blended scotch, and they have a time capsule out front intended to be opened in 2060 that contains a tregnum of that Long John.

This particular aged single cask from Tormore yielded 286 bottles at the usual Wemyss 46% abv.

The Scotch
The whisky starts out with its rich gold color, and that isn’t a bad thing to look at in a nice glass. In terms of living up to that “Floral Trellis” billing, the nose is arguably the most important part, and there it’s not very flowery. Dry wood was what hit my nose to start with, followed by deep spice, dried hibiscus and apples. Pleasant yes, floral not so much.

On the palate, the liquid had a buttery texture and delivered flavors of apple and ginger, a woody, pepper note that gave it a bit of pucker, and a note of sweet tobacco coming on at the end that transmitted straight on into the aftertaste. That leads to the finish, which was surprisingly light, but with a long afterglow.

Overall, I think Floral Trellis is probably a good name for it, despite its lack of a floral quality. That is because I decided this particular Wemyss Single Cask would make a lovely summertime sipper, and that is when one enjoys things like Floral Trellises.

The Price
What I found was that Wemyss Floral Trellis was going for £106 ($171). As I mentioned, I think this is a nice scotch for warm weather, so if you pick a bottle up, put it away until next year.