TVLINE | So you’re not the only one who has props. I am not a Scotch girl. But here is my “Men in Kilts” Scotch glass, and if you’ll indulge me, will you walk me through my first tasting of The Sassenach?
[Once Heughan gets past his surprise, he’s all in, starting with the bottle’s stopper.] That is real cork that we’ve sourced from Portugal, cut off a tree. There’s so much in that. I like cork because it holds the flavor. It smells amazing. I don’t want any artificial nonsense in there. It’s so beautiful, the whole process of even growing it, and then harvesting cork is so interesting, but I think even the sound it makes is so evocative.
TVLINE | I love how you’re like, “You’ve just sped through the most important part, but whatever.”
[Chuckles] You can pour some, and then we’re going to smell it. Pour a large measure. I love this. Jamie Fraser would have — [Side-eyes the small amount I’ve tipped into the glass]
TVLINE | Is that not enough? I want the training-wheels version for me.
Meager. But that’s OK, because it’s rare stuff. OK, so you’ve poured from our bottle, which is designed essentially like a decanter. It’s also designed around what I loved about the Asian blends, but you know, obviously Scottish. We’ve got our unicorn on there, which is the national animal of Scotland. I literally was involved in every part of the process, from the labels to the bottles. Anyway! OK, so you’ve poured it in. You’ve got a beautiful glass, a nosing glass. You should be able to swirl it around first. [We discuss the alcohol by volume, which is 46%] I wanted that, because I like the weight on your tongue.
I like the flavor profile; it’s intense. [Instructs me on how to smell it, and as many times as we’ve talked over the series’ run, I’m fairly certain Heughan has never said “nostril” once, much less as many times as it comes up here] You’ll get the barley in there, you’ll get a lot of fruit flavor, dried fruit, fruits, butterscotch, apricot. This is a blend. It’s based on a 21-year-old organic grain, single grain, and then a mix of a 12- and a 9-year-old single malt. So it is a blend, the most awarded blend in its class. It’s beaten every other Johnny Walker nonsense, all of the other rubbish out there. The ones that are priced, you know, three times the amount of ours, in blind tastings across the world.
Give it a taste. Go on. [I do what the man says] I know you don’t like Scotch. Now, the first taste is gonna be aggressive on your tongue, because your tongue is getting 46% alcohol. It’s gonna feel warm. It’s gonna go down. The finish is gonna be long. The second taste is where you’re gonna taste it, because your tongue is like, “OK, I know what’s going on.”