53.431 “The stuff that dreams are made of” (Vaults Collection)

Description

Some of you may remember that a couple of months ago we released Cask 53.432 Take a step back in time…well this is quite literally the sister bottling of that, not just because of the sequential cask code, but because it’s the other half of the sherry butt. Our whisky team like to have fun (whisky should be fun, after all) and they like trying different things, so after 27 years of maturation in an ex-sherry butt, the spirit from this famed Islay distillery was split — half was put into an ex-rye cask for four more years (.432), and the other half was put into a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel for four more years, and that’s the cask we have here ‚ Cask 53.431 “The stuff that dreams are made of”. These two casks are different, yet both unmistakably 53s. Seafood bonfire on a wet beach with smoked banana and medicinal ointments. It’s not often you’ll have the opportunity to sample two bottlings with such maturation journeys side by side — available on its own or as a duo bundle with its sister cask.

Like opening a hamper of succulent smoked shellfish, this is “the stuff that dreams are made of”, with a lot more smoke on the palate neat than expected from the nose. We found bananas smoked in cedar wood with chocolate and pistachios next to palm trees in flames and, in the finish, medicinal ointments. Following reduction, we were seated in the dining room of a historical tea clipper voyaging across the Atlantic, enjoying key lime-smoked mojitos while puffing on cigars. At 27 years of age, we split the content of one sherry butt into two barrels. In addition to this first fill ex-bourbon barrel we also filled an ex-rye barrel to create an intriguing duo of releases.