Our first release of a peated, sherry cask. This initial release has very light smoke but all the classic flavour and aroma you would expect from a sherry cask.

Nose

I have never been in one, but what I would imagine the reading room of an old fashioned gentlemen’s club to smell like. Old books, soft warm leather, coffee grounds, bitter chocolate, soft aroma’s of cigar smoke. Hints of mint and walnuts. Rich fruits, think ripe dates and sticky prunes.

Palate

Dry, the coffee grounds are there along with the chocolate. Very soft, rich and oily. Light smoke and again the sticky prunes and dates come through. Hints of toffee and ginger spice. There must be a joke here somewhere about having a bit of ginger spice in your mouth but I’ll leave that to others!

What I say:

Celebrating St George’s Day on 23rd April and our recent publication focussed on English Whisky I fished around in the back of our whisky archive to find something fitting. Out I pulled this bottle of amazing hue, promising some wonderful sherried delight and a little surprise also!

Colour:

Dark umbruous or autumnal russet brown (15/20), slow-moving fine tears leave ultra-fine legs

Nose:

Sherry! Rich and full, leathery and tannic, toffee, walnut, cocoa powder, dark chocolate and coffee beans/grounds, slight hint of sulphur like spare bicycle innertubes, sweet sun-dried raisins, fig, date, molasses, cola or more specifically cherry cola, fermented ginger root, marmalade on rye or brown bread toast, malt loaf/Soreen, fruity maraschino cherries, red grapes, red berries and smoke!

Taste:

Smooth but full-bodied, sherry forward but with a lightness of spirit (I called to mind some young heavily sherried Kilchoman), toffee, dried fruits, tannic leather & tea, cinnamon and ginger woody spices, cola, dates, dried fig jam, light milled cereal barley flour, slightly floral, coffee grounds, dark chocolate and cigar smoke.

Finish:

Long, spiced and tannic, fruitcake or loaf, (drier), dried fruits fig and raisin, slightly drying, wisps of smoke.

Overall:

What a wonderful dram, light in spirit and some of the body elements belies the youthfulness (reportedly this is 6 years old going on 7). A beautiful balance of light smoke and heavy sherry with tonnes of chocolate and fruit, it actually took me a moment or two to find the smokey nature in this but as soon as I hit it I was transported to sherried Kilchoman’s and a wonderful sherried Ben Nevis I sampled recently and couldn’t praise this whisky highly enough!

Score: 90/100

Don’t take my word for it:

Bloggers submit a link to your review