70.55 The carpenter’s cocktail cabinet

Description

The freshly polished mahogany and fruit-soaked Cognac notes in this dram are exceptional. We’re also really lucky to be able to get a whisky like this from Distillery 70 — in this flavour profile, cask-strength. 12 years in ex-bourbon wood and a beautiful extra maturation of three more years in a 1st fill oloroso hogshead. Full flavours all around and reminiscent of a cognac Old Fashioned cocktail (something I’d highly recommend trying if you never have before). We have a solid allocation of this cask in Australia so plenty to go around.

In the woodworking workshop, amid the perfect grain of wax-polished mahogany and varnished veneer, sat a tin lunch box brimming with smoked ham, marmalade on buttered hot cross buns and a thick slice of orange drizzle cake. A selection of jars contained homemade ginger wine, fermenting perry and sultanas soaking in cognac. The carpenter added a few drops of water to a glass, followed by cocktail bitters, orange brandy and a gentian-infused apéritif, before agitating the mix in a freshly carved cocktail shaker with bitter orange and grapefruit. Finishing with a dash of oloroso sherry and a garnish of red berries, the carpenter sat among the sawdust for a well-earned break. After 12 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, this was transferred to a first fill Oloroso hogshead.