WE USE 100% MALTED BARLEY AND A LONGER FERMENTATION PROCESS OF 92ISH HOURS. OUR CONTINUOUS DISTILLATION PROCESS HAPPENS WITHIN A COPPER COFFEY STILL. NOT A POT STILL. WE MATURE IN EX-BOURBON BARRELS, WHICH ADDS TO OUR SWEETER, LIGHTER, MIXABLE FLAVOUR. FINISHED IN TRADITIONAL AND INFRARED TOASTED BARRELS FOR 6 MONTHS, TO BRING OUR HAPPY ENDING TO LIFE.
Spearhead Whisky
Appearance
A nice mid gold in colour here, with a lovely thick swirl line on my stemmed tulip glass, and slow thick legs. #TheWhiskeyChaps
.@LochLomondMalts SpearHead Single Grain Whisky Appearance: Honey gold/white dessert wine. A viscous film coats the glass & a chaotic tide mark morphs into many short medium legs. After a time these legs reach further down the glass, forming a corrugated effect. #thewhiskeychaps
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃🇺🇦 (@whiskeychap) June 9, 2022
Nose
It does a fizzy nose for 43% ABV, and as well as dried apricots, I get lime, botanical notes, my mash potato thing too. #TheWhiskeyChaps
Wood wax, and an evergreen boughs thing too. #TheWhiskeyChaps
Nosing the Spearhead single grains – mentioned fresh apples and pear drops, a little citrus, barley sugar, fresh grapefruit, good whack of vanilla, maybe some cinnamon #thewhiskeychaps
— Whiskytip – Duncan (@whiskytip) June 9, 2022
Palate
The palate is definitely zesty/spicy/fruity, and it slowly builds. more lime, apricot crowns, chocolate lime sweets now I think about it, and cocoa powder. Light cough candy/ aniseed, blackcurrants and touch of grapefruit zest too #TheWhiskeyChaps
Me neither, will have to look for some now 😆 #TheWhiskeyChaps
— Dram it Mick! 🇺🇦 (@StillSurreal) June 9, 2022
Finish
Medium length in general, the sweetness with peat is just edging it here for me, I don’t usually get that tbh. White fruits all day long, with dark chocolate at times, and grapefruit pith right at the end, nice and Smokey too. #TheWhiskeyChaps
THe finish for me is that grilled pinapple freshness and a slight maltiness. Not overly long, more a medium length. Cracking dram, liking what I've tried tonight so far!! #thewhiskeychaps
— Whisk(e)y Chap 🏴🥃🇺🇦 (@whiskeychap) June 9, 2022
My thoughts
Some of you who know me from Twitter mainly will be aware of my enjoyment of grain whiskies, not so much the aged grain whiskies that have sat in tired old casks for years (though some of these are good to be fair, but now command silly prices in my opinion), but the newer grain whiskies. I’m more interested in this type of grain whisky, of which this is great example.
This is a fresh summer type of dram, which i could see some mix, but for me it’s a great sipper that’s quite zesty, it certainly isn’t lacking flavour. We don’t have a complex dram here, but coming in at under £30 it’s not aimed to be, it’s simply a great value dram that can be enjoyed and replaced without remortgaging your house, not something easily found these days.
Well done Michael Henry on again creating a lovely whisky, and i usually say i’d be happy to have one in my whisky cupboard, well this one is already there, and i’m thoroughly enjoying it.
A big thank you goes out to Duncan – @whiskytip for joining us with his tasting notes for this whisky, and for allowing me to use his tweets in this review. And to @LLBlender – Michael Henry, Master blender at Glen Scotia, Loch Lomond and Littlemill distilleries for joining us with his tasting notes and answering questions we put to him during the tasting that this whisky was a part of.
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