Description
Cask 72.115 Share some sunshine (Spicy & sweet)
On the nose neat we were presented with a bowl full of exotic fruits such as mango, pineapple, bananas and melon. They were accompanied by glorious spices, including nutmeg, cinnamon and ginger on the palate. In addition, orange flavours – juicy fresh orange segments, orange sherbet, orange bitters and orange muscat wine. After reduction, we found peaches and vanilla custard slices as well as kumquat jam and quince jelly. To taste, a quintessential Caribbean desert of pineapple, banana and fig flambé, topped with butter, sugar and spice, all sprinkled with rum and set aflame. Following four years in an ex-bourbon barrel, we transferred this whisky into a refill barrel that had previously matured Panamanian rum.
SM0.28 Dunnage Nougat
We found ourselves in a champagne frame of mind nosing neat, as we soaked gingerbread in the celebratory-worthy bubbly beside a classic kir royale cocktail with crème de cassis. On the palate, pears poached in pinot noir came topped with chantilly cream and vanilla custard, before a refreshing finish of elderflower sorbet. Following reduction one Panel member had torrone – Italian nougat flavoured with orange and packed with toasted almonds – in a dunnage warehouse, while others enjoyed caramelised cinnamon plantain. The taste was that of bergamot honey on creamy porridge with butter, as well as candied-and-coated-in-sugar yuzu peels.
Cask 35.339 Medicine for the soul (Deep, rich and dried fruits)
After 13 years in ex-bourbon wood, and being transferred into a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead, you get medicine for the soul. On the nose we found prunes and ripe figs, blackcurrant cordial, vanilla, sandalwood and Carmen’s tobacco factory. The palate was dry, but with a rich seam of flavours to explore – dates, coconut, toffee apples, black grapes, cherries and licking a cigar box or a flamenco dancer’s clean leather heels. The reduced nose had German Christmas cookies, treacle scones, a gypsy guitar and blackcurrant bushes growing in a humidor. The mouth-puckering but hugely tasty palate gave us citrus, kirsch, figs and new leather sandals.
Cask 4.395 Red wine and brine in the old coal mine (Oily & coastal) (Premium)
Sand and seashells crunched beneath our feet as we stepped into the darkness. Wafts of heather smoke billowed from deep below, bringing aromas of grilled pork chops, oregano and samphire sautéed in salted butter. Venturing deeper we uncovered cherries being washed along in a stream of pinot noir wine. Our faces were blackened with cocoa powder and coal dust. A dash of water released walnuts infused in rich sherry, and scatterings of orange peel on smoked salmon canapés. Our mouths were coated with a sticky mix of chimney soot and honey by the time we discovered smoked bacon, glazed sausages and praline-filled barnacle shells. At 19 years of age, we combined selected casks from the same distillery. We then returned the single malt into a variety of different casks to develop further. This is one of those casks.
Cask 16.82 A draff bath (Peated)
A deep, emphatic, bass-level smokiness at first nosing. Then we found the expected avalanche of cured game meats, scorched earth, BBQ embers, menthol tobaccos, hot sauce, charred rosemary wood and spicy smoked almonds. Like swimming in peated draff! With water we noted smoked mutton, graphite oils, pure natural tar, roof pitch and smoked mead. Hints of beeswax, peppered biltong and silage too. The neat palate detonated with malt vinegar, pickled tarragon, beef-flavour baked corn snacks, camphor and industrially heavy peat oils – something akin to pickled black garlic and paprika. With water it became more complex, with notes of star anise, pumpernickel bread, brown sauce with liquid smoke, charred artichoke and singed hessian. Loads of wee flavours popping out everywhere.
