In this tasting @Tomsdram sent out 3 blind whisky samples to @MCDrammer, @whiskeychap and myself, we had to try and work out what they were. Twitter follow buttons can be found at the bottom of this summary.
Blind Dram #1
Appearance
Deep gold with amber in colour, nice thick swirl line and thick oily legs. #thewhiskeychaps
Nose
Nice ABV, cream soda, pine needles, wood shavings, earthy, smells spicy. Darker fruits with icing sugar, tobacco leaves and dark treacle. #thewhiskeychaps
It’s becoming dusty, old leather, Sherry notes? #thewhiskeychaps
There’s also a very subtle sulphur/burnt match smoke scent. I would say sherry or, maybe, wine cask at this point. #THEWHISKEYCHAPS
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃 (@whiskeychap) August 26, 2021
Palate
Super mouthfeel, and this seems familiar too. Lovely and spicy, got to be Sherry cask, ginger, cinnamon, cardamom, black liquorice, black coffee and pepper, with dandelion and burdock. #thewhiskeychaps
I’m going to add strawberries here, a touch of Pepsi max cherry too, and becoming spicier, is this a scotch Tom? #thewhiskeychaps
Finish
Quite long, lovely and warming, real chest warming and mouth tingling. Loads of baking spices, 5 spice, alcohol laden Christmas pudding.
My thoughts
Super dram to kick off this blind tasting, lots of Sherry cask aromas and flavours. Very robust and deep, spicy and chest warming, a bottling i’d definitely purchase.
And blind dram #1 is
Blind Dram #2
Appearance
Damp straw in colour, decent swirl line that beads up quickly, with slow medium thick legs. #thewhiskeychaps
Nose
Another good ABV, foresty this one, with red berries in the background initially. It’s a little dusty, bitter lemon, chippies workshop all day, and cereals too. #thewhiskeychaps
There’s also a perfume note with this one, and some floral notes, royal icing too. Lighter this one, quite easy going. #thewhiskeychaps
Nose: Average hit of ethanol. Light smoke and BBQ meats, some sweet saltiness, like popcorn. Honey nut cornflakes, barley and lemon zest. After some time the sweetness becomes more like icing sugar. #thewhiskeychaps
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃 (@whiskeychap) August 26, 2021
Palate
Spicier than I expected and definitely Smokey, seared pineapple, bitter lemon, ginger again, hot cinnamon kids sweets, scotch again Tom? #thewhiskeychaps
White pepper, dried apricots, grapefruit/pomelo like @MCDrammer said on the nose. #thewhiskeychaps
Finish
Again quite long and warming, definitely chilli and orange zest, espresso, lovely mouthfeel too. #thewhiskeychaps
Dram 2
— Tony Pancakes (@MCDrammer) August 26, 2021
There is some grungy funk on the finish too#thewhiskeychaps
My thoughts
After a strong sherry cask dram this one comes across rather gentle on the nose, but the palate makes up for it for me. There’s first fill bourbon cask spiciness here, it’s smokey too. I really enjoyed this one, i do love bourbon cask whiskies, @whiskeychap didn’t really like it so it’s not one for everyone, if you like first fill bourbon spice this could appeal to you.
And blind dram #2 is
Blind Dram #3
Appearance
Deep gold heading into chestnut, nice thick swirl line, and super syrupy thick legs. #thewhiskeychaps
Nose
Higher ABV this time, lots of wood treatments here, dusty old leather chesterfields, slight menthol note, possibly cask strength I’d say, my nose hairs are history. #thewhiskeychaps
Just like the hairs on your bonce?
— Tom Healy (@TomsDram) August 26, 2021
Palate
Sooooooo much spice, wow, and no sulphur, woooooow. Black tea, Garibaldi biscuits, black liquorice, cask char, raspberries, cranberries, dates, figs, peppercorns, hot cinnamon, lots of oak too. #thewhiskeychaps
Dram 3
— Tony Pancakes (@MCDrammer) August 26, 2021
P. Masses of sweet barrel char, then a while packet of starburst fruit. The high abv dries your mouth first, then the deluge of fruit floods in with some pepper spice to finish.
Lovely stuff.#thewhiskeychaps
Finish
Very long and again chest warming, spicy and really lingering, and much like the palate, with perhaps a touch of salinity near the top of my tongue, very nice indeed. #thewhiskeychaps
Full on from start to finish. And the actual finish is no exception. Chilli heat builds, red berries, honey, orange……… it;s all there is a huge way #thewhiskeychaps #Ihavenoideawhatitisthough
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃 (@whiskeychap) August 26, 2021
My thoughts
Now this is a right rollocking mouthful of sherry cask goodness, an absolute belter in my humble opinion. It’s lovely and spicy and is very long indeed. I would 100% buy a bottle of this, and it’d be gone far too quickly 😆.
Yes!!!!!
— Tom Healy (@TomsDram) August 26, 2021
And blind dram #3 is
Overall tasting thoughts
Well Tom managed to spoil us this evening. Great choices for the tasting, that really made me think very hard, and we made some good guesses too concerning abv, cask type, regions and distillery. But best of all we had a good time and enjoyed ourselves. Thanks for sending these out Tom, your a gent 🙏.
Thanks to @Tomsdram for the blind samples, and to @MCDrammer for joining us for the tasting. @MCDrammer is also owner of the Spirit of Birmingham distillery, the best of luck with that, and we’re all looking forward to their whisky in the future 🥃
Follow @Tomsdram Follow @MCDrammer Follow @SpiritofBrum Follow @thewhiskeychapsAnd now for something completely different.
Continuing my whisk(e)y and music thing, songs iv’e listened to either during my tasting or review. I hope you enjoy this one.
