These are my tasting notes and thoughts for this whisky before it was revealed what it was.
A limited single cask release from Kingsbarns Distillery, distilled on the 8th September 2016 and matured in American Oak Bourbon Barrel #1610871 before being bottled in 2019.
Whisky Hammer
Appearance
Damp straw in colour this dram, it has a thick swirl line and drops several very thick legs.
Nose
Initially I found lots of dunnage with this dram, with wood wax, and tree bark, the ABV is quite high too. As it sits it becomes fruity sweet, tropical fruits in general, then dustiness and milk chocolate. This drams aromas are constantly changing, now I’m getting cream soda, then I’m getting recently oiled cricket bat.
More time and I’m getting Jammy dodgers, a touch of Turkish delight, sweet mustard, and Rich tea biscuits, time to taste.
Palate
Mouthfeel is nice, and it’s a spicy/earthy combo with fruits around the edge. It’s becoming syrupy actually the more I sip it, and the fruits start to turn darker. It has 1st fill bourbon cask spices, and it has some sherry cask notes too. I’m getting vanilla, cinnamon, white and black pepper, dark chocolate, espresso, dates and figs.
Waiting brings more of a syrupy feel. I’m going to say it’s developing into white fruits, gooseberries, and green grapes, reminds me a little of Old Rhosdhu from Loch Lomond distillery in some ways. Just as I say that an almost sulphur ish note pops up.
Finish
The finish is long side of medium in length for me, it’s stays quite spicy actually, and syrupy, must be around 55% ABV. Dark chocolate ginger biscuits come in at the end, with molasses, almost rum and raisin, and something like tannins, that bitterness right at the end.
My thoughts
This dram confused me in some ways, as i said in my palate notes it has notes of Old Rhosdhu amongst other distilleries. My best guess would be a cask strength non peated single malt from Scotland, !st fill ex bourbon cask, could have sherry cask in the mix. i found it a very enjoyable dram, with plenty on the palate.
This whisky came in a set of blind samples from my twitter whisky friend Peter – @uk_whisky, peter as well as ourselves can be followed using the buttons below.
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