Description
Dunnage nougat
What a tale of oak and fire we have here! We selected a wonderfully fruity Speyside single malt, which was maturing in bourbon hogsheads. We moved the whisky into a variety of custom coopered casks. In American oak we had new oak hogsheads made with a heavy toast and a medium char, and new oak barriques with a heavy toast (no char) and a medium plus toast (a little lighter, again no char). In French oak we opted for barriques in the same toasting specifications as the American barriques.
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 59.86 The beneficence of bees
The initial nose was dominated by bakery notes, from well-fired rolls and treacle scones to sugar buns. We also got heather honey, peach melba and new cask staves. The attractive and inviting palate had us smacking our lips to the sweet flavours of dark chocolate coconut bars, digestive biscuits, rice pudding and chocolate-coated brazils; the finish was a warming flourish of black pepper, chilli and cardamom. The reduced nose encountered iced caramels, marshmallows and sugared almonds, perfumed candles and pine sawdust. The palate now combined waxy honeycomb and iced gingerbread with liquorice, linseed oil, paprika and oak.
RW3.7 Chocolate habanero
We were preparing a Jamaican jerk sauce with chocolate habaneros next to rum raisin oatmeal cookies while eating figgy brownies with cacao nibs and Egyptian Dukkha spice sprinkles using pistachios and rose petals next to a variety of Middle Eastern spices. Water added distinct aromas of vanilla and chocolate next to coffee beans, tobacco and gooseberry jam while the taste was now soft and smooth like a cup of Turkish coffee served from a copper Cezve with a sweet Borek – a pie stuffed with chocolate or honey, pistachios and apricots. Following three years in a new charred oak barrel this whiskey was transferred into a Black Ops stout barrel that was previously a freshly emptied bourbon barrel.
Rare Release 149 Furtive gherkin
The Panel were immediately plunged into scrubbing an old barbecue grill. But on the side were lemons, buttery samphire, tangy pickles and chutney, and crackers with sea salt and black pepper. We also got whiffs of smoked ham and a summery coastal tang. Reduction brought out delicate threads of smoke, distant beach bonfire embers, engine oil and kippers smashed on to toasted brioche. When neat, the palate was sweetly lemony and smoky, with fish pâté, pickled cornichons, charred fennel, jalapeños in brine and clam broth. Water added layers of texture and thickness in the mouth, while bringing out gristy porridge notes, and other elements including lavender honey and a gherkin lurking in a dirty martini.
Cask 66.238 Blackbeard’s booty
Oooh-aaargh – Captain Blackbeard’s cheroot-slavered, rum-soaked whiskers shook as canons fired from the ship’s deck – quick, fetch the apothecary! Battle over – time for barbecued prawns on the beach. The palate gave us sugar-coated fennel seeds, jellied liquorice, banana fritters, cough sweets and “drinking piña colada from a farmer’s welly boot” – only distant memories of gunpowder. The reduced nose had engine oil, putty, vanilla fudge and “wiping up spilled rum with a chamois cloth”. The eminently quaffable palate now combined garibaldis and brown sugar with sweet smoke, tar and ash. After eight years in ex-bourbon wood we transferred this into a refill Trinidad rum barrel.
