Knockdhu 8yo 58.9% ABV (Infrequent Flyers).

This 8-year-old Knockdhu 2013 came from a first fill bourbon barrel, which yielded just 210 bottles at 58.9% and is the only bottling in this late 2021 outturn from Alistair Walker that hasn’t been finished in a wine or virgin oak cask.

Appearance

Damp straw in colour here, the medium thick swirl line drops a handful of very thick legs on my Glencairn. #thewhiskeychaps

Nose

Different bottler but similar on the nose, definitely distillery character coming through again. I’m getting more red berries with this one though, old style pink hubba bubba chewing gum, it’s juicy, and perhaps a little more vegetal too. #thewhiskeychaps

A bag of the old tutti frutti sweets that would make your jaw muscles ache as a kid, icing sugar dusting, I’m thinking a pie, something like rhubarb that goes rather sweet when cooked. #thewhiskeychaps

Palate

Nice oily mouthfeel, and again lots of ex bourbon barrel spices, mixed with lots of fruits, lots of fruits, from citrus to raisins, milk chocolate, black coffee, Eccles cakes, flat cola, cigar leaves, and a little drying. #thewhiskeychaps

Liquorice torpedo sweets ana literally that old style pink hubba bubba bubble gum. Though the palate is quite spicy it really is juicy. Great spirit and a great cask, a super palate for me. #thewhiskeychaps

Finish

Quite long, and staying fruity/spicy all the way through. The spices are darker in nature at the very end, black pepper and star anise, coffee grinds, and chocolate coated raisins. #thewhiskeychaps

My thoughts

This Knockdhu was the last of four independently bottled Knockdhu’s @whiskeychap and i tasted on one of our @thewhiskeychaps tastings. It was also the only one from Alistair Walkers Infrequent Flyers whisky bottlings. In general Infrequent Flyers tend to release a lot of Ex Sherry cask whiskies, so this one being from a 1st fill Ex Bourbon barrel is a little unusual, and rather welcome.

As a lover of independently bottled whiskies (there are a few exceptions found through experience), iv’e come to really enjoy their whisky. Their official distillery releases are rather good too, Ancnoc 12 year old being amongst the best entry level whiskies out there in my humble opinion. They get quite pricey the older the whisky is though, but the indies mostly find fantastic casks to bottle, at very reasonable prices.

This particular bottling is without doubt one of the best indie Knockdhu’s i have had the pleasure to taste. Every now and again an Ex Bourbon barrel of whisky, from any distillery, makes its way to bottling, and they are glorious, an absolutely unbridled pleasure to imbibe. For me, this is one of those bottlings. I know the Knockdhu whisky dna in general, it can be fruity sweet, pastry like, and sometimes a little foresty also. This whisky is so much more than i thought it would be, i knew what to expect, but its much bigger flavour wise, i’m smiling typing up its review. Just out of interest i looked up another very reputable whisky review, and they were on the same page as i am with this dram.

It’s an absolute belter of a whisky for me. It may not be for others who like to look for more exotic casks than the humble Ex Bourbon barrel, but i’d 110% have a bottle in my whisky cupboard.