Description
Marmalade Overdrive (Malt of the Month)
What an aroma neat, with popcorn drizzled in melted salted butter, heather and gorse flowers baking in the hot summer sun, pears poached in red wine and crimson marmalade on a slice of malt loaf. Juicy and fruity on the palate with the pleasing tartness of green apples in perfect balance with the silky sweetness of strawberry jelly and honey liqueur. In the finish gentle spices like cinnamon, cardamom and nutmeg that resemble the calm Caribbean Sea lapping a sandy beach. Following reduction – careful when adding water – the scent reminded us of cherry clafoutis, toffee apples and mango chutney. In the taste, a floral hint to start followed by diluted blackcurrant juice. The finish gave us white pepper.
Cask 95.62 Sugar coated mint leaves (Spicy & Sweet)
A sinus clearing waft of menthol vapour rub readied the senses for mulchy green leaves, camomile and sugar cane with creamy vanilla. Flavours however were sweet and juicy with caramelised brown sugar on baked apples and a sprinkling of cinnamon and cayenne pepper. Sweet chilli sauce then joined white chocolate and poached pears in custard. After a dash of water the minty and green freshness remained but was now joined by bakewell tarts with coconut, butter and wood char. Waxy textures from lemon skin coated the tongue alongside heather honey, pineapple tarts and banana sweets. Matured for 8 years in an ex-bourbon barrel before being transferred to a Panamanian rum barrel.
44.158 It’s all about the journey (Deep, rich & dried fruits)
One panellist envisaged a mechanic in his oily overalls eating a croissant, while another cleaned his well-used and well-loved walking boots after a full day’s hike. On the palate we had porridge with more than a drop of whisky and PX sherry, while we dipped marzipan into sherry cask-aged beer. After the addition of water, we lit a cigar and poured a glass of cloudy cider, reflecting on the dusty, hard and painful path taken that day and started to philosophise on finding purpose in solitude – the journey is the reward. Following 14 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.
Cask R9.11 Banana zip wire (Rum)
The initial nose suggested to us bananas, baked in brown sugar and drenched in caramel sauce. Then eaten next to a burning hospital! It continued to open up with smoky BBQ sauce, charcoal embers and sticky natural tar extracts. A lot of fun, we agreed. Water brought out funny notes of fermenting strawberry and pickled cherries. Sour Belgian farmhouse ales and overripe banana wrapped in bandages. The palate opened with brown bread, medicines, gauze, salted toffee, coffee and something like seawater mixed with bacon jam! Bonkers stuff! Reduction softened things and brought lightly smoked olive oil, birch beer, mineral oil and black olive bread.
Cask 16.71 Soupçon of soot (Peated)
The nose was a hillbilly honker – hay-smoked cloudy cider and beech-smoked cheese, apple skins, nutmeg and burning barns – oh, and ice cream cones for the kids. The palate had chalky textures, herbal hints, lavender and violets and tasty bittersweet flavours of apple chutney and pineapple crumble with a soupçon of soot drying the finish. The reduced nose remained curious – blackcurrant leaf and jam, toffee and Caramac sweetness, sacks of green malt in an old shack and further herbal hints of menthol and mint. The palate became sweet (pan drops) and earthy – charred lemon, tree bark, ash and pork cooked in cider.
