RR85 Freeform Jazz

Description

Who can remember the last time we saw a Distillery 85 on Outturn? Been far too long that’s for sure. Distillery 85 is a complicated beast. Smack bang in the middle of Speyside, the distillery runs a clear wort, a long fermentation time, and a slow distillation process which cleans out all the sulphur, but then they use worm tubs for condensing which adds weight and complexity back into the spirit. The casking team at SMWS matured this incredible new-make spirit in a combination of refill and 1st fill ex-bourbon and ex-sherry PX casks for 15 years. Notes of smoked figs, sweet mustard, orange segments, brisket, and walnut brioche buns. Toasty and terrific.

Using burnt twigs we stirred coal tar and beech wood-smoked nectarines into a medicinal potion of chamomile and syrup. Then to the mix came figs infused with hickory smoke, sweet mustard and orange segments, before in went barbecued brisket to simmer. Our attention now turned to sticky ginger cake and walnuts in brioche buns, fresh from the oven and finished with bramble jam, coffee beans and sprigs of thyme. The starting point for this small batch was two bourbon hogsheads of single malt Scotch whisky. One cask was transferred at 11 years old years old to a first fill American oak PX hogshead, and the other at 10 years old to a refill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.