Part of the Connoisseurs Choice bottling series and matured in Refill Bourbon Barrels & Sherry Hogsheads.
Appearance: Light gold/White wine, fresh summer dram in looks. A thick viscous film forms with an accompanying substantial swirl mark. A few relatively uniform long medium legs quickly form and cling to the glass.
Nose: A decent heady ABV, surprisingly robust given the 43% ABV. The initial hit of lemon and cherry sherbert, icing sugar and walking into a traditional sweet shop. Cherry coke, spring water and a touch of pine freshness follow. It’s a lovely nose. The ABV is easy to acclimate to, releasing more delicate aromas including creme brulee, sweet milky tea and lemon pepper. After everything else, there’s an ever-so-slight twang of shampoo, that ‘clean’ aroma?
Palate: A semi-viscous pleasant mouthfeel, spiced vanilla warms the chest while a more citrus (lemon and tangerine) tingle on the tongue. The palate is more in tune with the ABV than the nose. It retains that spring water quality from the nose, like when you pour some into a used whisky glass and drink it. The lemon pepper is a consistent note but is now accompanied by black pepper and clove. I’m not a huge fan of the palate, it’s a tad lacking and ‘meh’ I’m afraid.
Finish: Short to medium in length. Bitter lemon with an astringency that I’m not fond of. Some grapefruit, shampoo and pepper too.
Overall: Not to my tastes. A bit too much of the citrus and that spring water edge just took away from the liquid in my opinion.
