Appearance – This whiskey is light to mid Gold in colour, it’s very viscous, it beads up on the swirl line, and has slow thick teardrop legs.
Nose – I’m getting hand rolling tobacco, black cherries, some dunnage, a lightest touch of menthol, and for the first time on the nose of a whisky, I’m getting some sulphur/ phosphorus.
Palate – Initially there’s a loverly oily mouthfeel, then black peppercorns, black cherries, cigar/damp leaves, an earthiness, cinnamon, bitter ginger, some salt, milky coffee, and again that sulphur/phosphorus, newly spent match heads and/or freshly spent cap gun caps, the salinity does persist.
Finish – The finish between short and medium in length, and straight away the salinity comes forward, and not far behind it the sulphur appears, then oak, dark fruits, cigar leaves, it does have some nice depth tbh, and some tannins finish it off giving bitter dark chocolate but very little drying.
My thoughts – I am an advocate for Single Grain whisky, I have tasted some really nice ones, but the sulphur/phosphorus running through this whisky did take centre stage for me, and I really don’t like it. Of the 20+ tasters who drank this on the evening only a few of us seemed to pick up on the sulphur, it was my first time in a whisky to be honest, so others might find it a more enjoyable dram than I have.
Would I buy a bottle? – Sadly this time it’s a no for me, I find it difficult to get past the sulphur/phosphorus notes.
Thanks to – The Blind Tasting Consortium (Twitter), use #BlindDrams to find tastings on Tweetdeck.
