Tasting Notes: Compass Box: This is Not a Luxury Whisky

Compass Box: This is Not a Luxury Whisky (Scottish Blended Whisky: 53.1% ABV)

Visual: Deep gold with fast, thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Toffee apple. Noticeable alcohol but not burning considering the abv. Light chalk. Crushed medical tablets. Light tart grapes. Water makes smoother. Apple crumble. Honey. More water adds what feels like a smoothed out tequila note.

Body: Toffee apple. Raspberries in brandy cream. Caramel. Warming alcohol presence. Plums. Crushed paracetamol. Quite thick feel but smooth. Water makes for more toffee. Fudge. Lightly chalky. Shortbread. More water makes lemon fresh.

Finish: Brandy cream. Toffee apples. Rum air. Crushed paracetamol. Tingling. Lightly waxy. Water adds raspberry liqueur. Slightly dry and slight brown bread. Rye crackers.

Conclusion: Ok this is very smooth considering the high abv, you definitely have it showing some polished whiskies in there (Note: During writing this up to put online I looked at what was in it and oh yes there is – see the background for more info)

Initially I was struck by the balance between a sweet toffee apple aroma and a contrasting chalk to crushed paracetamol kind of restraint. It may not sound nice when said like that but the balance between the two side really managed to show things off to their best, sweet, yet not overwhelming.

This follows through in the entirety of the whisky, through body and finish – showing a huge range of sweet notes. You get lots of fruit, from darker plums, through raspberry into more sweet apple, all soaked in brandy cream and rum. In a way it feels like a whisky take on the worlds oddest trifle – yet always marked against that dry, crushed medicine pills restraint.

When you reach the end in the finish it still has a huge range of flavour but also a waxiness that helps the flavours grip for a very long time. Often I find very old whisky can feel a tad light, but that slightly waxy grip means that is not a problem here (Also probably helps that its has such young whisky as **gasp** 19 years to help give it more weight).

Water helps even more, generally it just rounds everything out a little, but after a while a fresh lemon comes out which just revitalises the whole thing.

Overall this “Not a Luxury Whisky” is indeed a great whisky and very impressive.

Background: So, I spotted this at The Dark Horse a while back and kept meaning to try it and do notes on it. Finally poked my head in after seeing a play at the local theatre and got down to work. This is not a cheap dram there, but considering you can find 5cl bottles being flipped for about 100 quid online they have it very reasonably priced for what it is. Original 70cl bottles went for about 150 pounds but there were only 4,992 bottles so it was a treat to get to try it. Basically the bottle is deliberately simple, against the fancy whisky inside – by which I mean 19 Year old Glen Ord, 30 Year Old Caol Ila – then 40 Year Old Girvan and Strathclyde on the grain side. When I tried it I thought it was a vatted malt, but nope, full on blended whisky – another thing challenging expectations as some people look down on anything with grain whisky in it. Dark Horse is a place I keep meaning to hit more often , great place with really friendly staff.

Tasting Notes: Bushmills: Black Bush 80/20 PX Sherry Cask Reserve

Bushmills: Black Bush 80/20 PX Sherry Cask Reserve (Irish Blended Whiskey: 40% ABV)

Visual: Quite dark apricot skin to gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Plum pudding/Christmas pudding. Ginger spice. Charred wood. Raisins and sultanas to eccles cakes. Light sugar dusting. Touch of smoke. Water adds a touch of apricot.

Body: Light up front. Shimmering mouthfeel. Red grape juice. Soft citrus. Ribena. Malt chocolate. Thai seven spice. Charred touch. Dry fruitcake. Water adds apricot touch and more fruitcake.

Finish: Slight lime. Metallic air. Digestives. Ribena. Blueberry. Light charring. Crushed bourbon biscuits. Thai seven spice. Water makes for a small amount of sulphur and smoke. Suet to mice pies.

Conclusion: This is another whisky where it warmed on me about a week after I opened it up. So many whiskies are not at their best from a freshly opened bottle. Though that new appreciation for this goes way back down as soon as I add water to it. Ok, lets dig into that.

When I first opened this it felt like the younger Bushmills spirit didn’t have the weight to handle the PX ageing. The normally delicious PX barrel ageing notes coming across slightly rough in the lighter spirit.

A bit of time to air really helped that – the aroma really picked up with plum pudding, dark fruit in general and a measured dose of spice. I didn’t want to get my hopes up too much here but it seemed far more promising.

The body initially seemed disappointing again, light at the front with some of the shimmering Bushmills texture and light citrus, but lacking the promising character from the aroma. A a few moments held on the tongue, or after enough sips for the flavour to build up you get the change. Now you get more blueberry spice and fruitcake which leads into similar in the finish. Like this it isn’t better than Black Bush per se, just different and enjoyable in that different way. It is less immediately rewarding but with heavier and richer notes when they come.

Water ruins that, reducing the good notes and making it a little bit sooty and sulphurous weakening the spirit a bit.

So, not bad, Black Bush is great standby of a whisky at its price point and while this version is slightly more expensive and not better as such, it is different and with a bit of time to open up a fine whisky.

Not a must have, a few flaws but I’m enjoying it a lot more than I initially expected.

Background: This was not bought at at duty free, despite supposedly being a travel exclusive. I did see it at duty free but KLM cancelled part of my flight back from Japan and ended up sending me via Aberdeen so I could not buy any of the tasty duty free specials as my last part of my flight was UK to UK. Also they are claiming not to owe me compensation for that screw up. Tossers. Anyway, thankfully it is not 100% travel exclusive as I found it and another one available from whisky websites, so I now have it. This is Black Bush but with an 80% Malt aged in a PX sherry barrel 20% grain mix, hence the name. I dunno what the break down was on original Black Bush but I presume less than 80% malt and was in an Oloroso sherry cask. Standard Black Bush is very nice for its cheap price point, and at duty free this is similarly quite cheap so I had high hopes. Unfortunately not at duty free is a tad more expensive. Grrr. Darn cancelled flight. Music Wise I went With Jack Off Jill: Teenage Humid Mediocrity – always been a Jack Off Jill fan but had not picked up this one until recently.

Tasting Notes: Clonakilty: Single Batch

Clonakilty: Single Batch (Irish Blended Whiskey: 43.6% ABV)

Visual: Pale grain colour, with fairly slow puckering coming from the spirit.

Nose: Vanilla. Crumpets and butter. Light wholemeal bread. Lime in a zesty fashion. Light menthol. Water makes a tad more neutral and a touch of grain spirit style.

Body: Smooth and light. Strawberry. Vanilla fudge. Orange crème sheen. Lightly oily. Toasted teacakes. Toasted marshmallows. Light cooked grains. Light lime. Water makes cleaner, more citrus notes and more buttery.

Finish: Vanilla. Cream. Cooked rice. Toasted marshmallow. Water makes for a similar experience, with a touch more gentle menthol.

Conclusion: This is a very easy going, very smooth, take as is and don’t add water whiskey. Trust me, there is no need for water here, all it does is make the flavours kind of lighter. I mean even with water it isn’t bad, it is still very drinkable, but it is a better whiskey neat.

Neat it is just thick enough, it is smooth, very smooth and quite light and easy going but managing to avoid coming across as empty feeling.

It has got a gentle sweetness of toffee and vanilla, with some citrus notes laid over, but they are matched with a kind of toasted bready and toasted marshmallow character that managed to make it feel, well not heavy, but more substantial that the deliciously smooth character would otherwise.

Nicely complementing the bready notes is a light buttery character, subtle neat and works well – but it becomes more evident with water to a degree that I feel it hurts it slightly. I much prefer the subtle character it adds neat.

Overall this is a lovely, easy drinking, Irish whisky. Nothing quite makes it a top end must have, but it is very satisfying to drink as is and a nice one to relax with.

Background: Independent Spirit did a Clonakilty tasting a while back, and very nice it was too. I was a bit burnt out at the time so didn’t do any notes at the event, but they did also give us a mini to take home. Which is what this is for me. So I decided to do notes on it, so I had a least some record of the event. So here it is. I have to admit I can’t remember much of the info picked up at the tasting, mainly that is was tasty, so not much to put here. This is listed as double oak so most likely aged in both bourbon and sherry casks. Was still listening to the same UK Subs album as in the last tasting – there were a lot of tracks to appreciate on that album so I had to give it a good few spins.

Tasting Notes: Bushmills: Caribbean Rum Cask Finish

Bushmills: Caribbean Rum Cask Finish (Irish Blended Whiskey: 40% ABV)

Visual: Clear gold. Fast, thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Noticeable alcohol. Spicy. Dark rum. Sugar cane. Strawberry. Rhubarb touch. Cake sponge. Water makes cleaner.

Body: Smooth. Light lemon cakes. Dry grain alcohol. Strawberry. Red raspberries. Toffee. Sweet, dark rum. Vanilla. Water makes smoother. Adds grapes. Soft lime. Cherries. Brown sugar.

Finish: Alcoholic jelly touch. Red fruit medley. Dry rum. Brown sugar. Treacle touch. Alcohol air in general. Water makes burnt brown sugar. More clear rum. Dry rice.

Conclusion: This is rum finished, rather than fully aged in a rum cask like the Travel Exclusive Steamship edition. This is a blended whisky with grain whiskey in it unlike that Single Malt Steamship, and the classic 12 Year Caribbean Rum finish travel exclusive Bushmills. It is a no age statement whisky, similar to the Steamship but unlike the 12 year.

So, with all that said, you would expect the Steamship Rum edition to be superior and probably closer to the classic 12 year right? Yet, somehow it is not. Which is a long way around saying that this blended rum cask finish is pretty cool.

So, let’s get the bad side out of the way first. I’m not sure how much grain whiskey was used in this, but the neutral, rough grain kind of spirit is evident here. Not a great look, especially in the finish where it hangs around. Water mutes that but also takes down the vibrancy of the whisky a bit. So, the choice, especially for the aroma, is slight grain alcohol tingle or a more muted character.

That said, this feels pretty joyous despite its flaws. There are light citrus notes that are familiar to the Bushmills spirit that are evident there – lemon and lime notes particularly make a show. Now these citrus notes are by far not the main show, this is very much about the rum finish, but it does show one of the reasons I prefer this over the fully rum aged version – it gives more room for the native Bushmills character to show alongside the unusual ageing and give more complexity and range to the whiskey.

The rum is very present but not overwhelmingly dominant, showing as a mix of red fruit, rum itself obviously, and burnt sugar. Lovely and vibrant, yet the base Bushmills character gives that fresh contrast and make it pretty smooth overall despite the grain rough edges.

So, to no surprise, the 12 year old single malt Caribbean rum finish that now only exists in my idealised memories of it, is better than this. However, this, nearly 20 years on, is still slightly cheaper than that was – and we have had a long time of whiskey getting more expensive in the mean time. It is a heck of a lot easier to get than that was and , oh yes, this still exists – unlike that one.

So, go in expecting the grain edges, a slight rice in the finish and accepting it won’t be a classic and you will find a fun rum finished Bushmills. One that will do as a stand in while I plead for them to pull their damn finger out and remake the proper 12 year single malt take again. It is far from perfect, but a decent price point for a fun dram, so it does the job for me.

Background: Ok, this one has some background indeed, as has been hinted at in the main notes. The travel exclusive 12 Year Caribbean Rum Cask Finish Bushmills Single Malt was one of my first real great whiskeys I tried. So, since that was only available for a short time, I have spent the years since trying to find something similar. So, when I found this, a blended no age statement Bushmills, with that cask finish, at Independent Spirit I had to grab it and give it a try. Since it was calling back to a more innocent age I went with The Eels: Beautiful Freak as music. Loved that album and hadn’t listened to it for a while.

Tasting Notes: Walsh Whisky: Writer’s Tears – Copper Pot

Walsh Whisky: Writer’s Tears – Copper Pot (Irish Blended Whisky: 40% ABV)

Visual: Deep gold. Fast, thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Smooth. Honey and toffee. Honey nut cornflakes. Shreddies. White grapes. Butter on crumpets. Fresh cut apples. Water adds trail mix and dried apricot. More green fruit.

Body: Smooth. Honey to golden syrup. Moderate thickness. Only gets warming if held for a while. Bready late on. Apples to apple pie. Pear to pear drops. Malt chocolate. White chocolate. Water adds more white chocolate and some grain like rough edge.

Finish: Malt drinks. Honey on toast. Margarine on crumpets. Chocolate cake. Apple pie. Water adds slight rice and grain rough edges.

Conclusion: Ok, this may be just because it is what I was told, but I can 100% believe that this is Bushmills whiskey in here. In fact a very short and sweet description would be that this feels like a better take on the charred bourbon barrel travel exclusive Bushmills I had a while back.

It is smooth, but with a bit more grip that I expected in an Irish triple distilled whisky, especially at 40% abv. Also it is, to paraphrase a comment used to recommend it to me, much juicier in how the cask influence feels. The green fruit feels bigger, the sweetness as well, and just in general juicier that most of this style.

It has a mix of the juicier and more natural feeling fruit notes, and a more artificial, sweeter notes. Apple vs apple pie and pear vs pear drops being the most notable examples. It is an interesting and refreshing mix.

There is a lovely, sweet honey base, but also a bready and margarine savoury thickness which gives a mix of weight and easy drinking sweetness. Nothing too heavy, just a bit more weight than usual.

Now, there are some bad points – for one somehow water really doesn’t help here. It brings out the more grain edged, rougher, dry rice kind of character that was hidden when it was neat. Thankfully it isn’t a huge issue, as it is smooth enough neat – it doesn’t need water and that is lucky as water just makes it a little worse.

So, what we have so far is smooth, with nice thickness – lots of show from both the sweeter bourbon ageing, and the more fruity spirit character. It is a really solid set.

It may seem expensive for a blended Bushmills based whisky, but it compares well to the ten year in quality – and shows a very different aspect by concentrating on the bourbon ageing. It is better than the bourbon cask version aged before, doing that thing’s main point better than it ever managed.

Overall a lovely easy drinking dram.

Background: So, I have it on good authority that the whiskey for this is sourced from Bushmills, of which I am already a fan. This is a mix of single pot still and single malt whisky, both triple distilled as is common in Ireland, then aged in charred bourbon casks. Fairly simple, and what I was looking for as I wanted a nice easy drinking whisky. I will note that this was described as feeling like it had a “Juicier” cask than some other of the whiskies I was looking at, and that did seem to hit home when I did notes, so I will admit I may have been influenced by that. This was bought from Independent Spirit and drunk while listening to Noctule: Wretched Abyss, a Skyrim influenced black metal album from the lead singer of Svalbard. I’m a huge fan of Svalbard so was definitely going to check this out. It is heavy and awesome.

Marks and Spencer: Kenmore: 5 Year Blended Scotch Whisky

Marks and Spencer: Kenmore: 5 Year Blended Scotch Whisky (Scottish Blended Whisky: 5 Year: 40% ABV)

Visual: Deep, slightly reddened gold. Very fast, thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Caramel. Neutral spirit alcohol. Vanilla. Pencil shavings. Dry rice. Orange skin.

Body: Smooth front quickly into burning alcohol. Dry rice. Caramel. Cherries. Vanilla fudge. Light smoke. Dried beef. Water makes smoother, more dried rice.

Finish: Dry rice. Alcohol air. Dry stir fry veg. Soot. Rough. Dry bamboo. Charring. Water adds more rice and makes peppery.

Conclusion: This is pretty rough – though with a few oddly smooth notes amongst them. Neat it is pretty alcohol touched. It is not too bad on the nose – fairly neutral in the alcohol feel there amongst sweet caramel and vanilla notes. Nowt too complex but decent, if fairly basic.

The first sip comes in smooth vanilla toffee … for about two seconds … then nope, alcohol burn as fuck. I was pleasantly surprised for those two seconds before the burn cut in, and then it leads out into a finish that is way too rough.

Still, no worries, it is a young blended whisky and there are some good notes in there – orange in the aroma and cherries in the body, a touch of smoke as well against caramel and vanilla toffee. I know how this works, young whisky just needs a drop of water to open it up, right?

Turns out the answer is fuck no.

Dry bamboo, stir fry and rice notes are prevalent – along with a rough general alcohol air. Though I will say at least the alcohol fire is doused with water. Unfortunately everything else is significantly worse – especially in the unpleasant, long lasting dry bamboo finish.

Neat it has hints of adequacy – sweet, subtle soot and smoke, some fruit. Hints, but unfortunately with far too much alcohol that makes most of it hidden. Water kills the fire, but makes it shit.

Avoid.

Background: This was a kind gift from a colleague at work for Christmas. Many thanks. Despite how much I slagged it off. Still many thanks. I notice it lists caramel as an ingredient, which explains how it looks so dark for a 5 year old whisky. Not much else to add. I put on Siouxsie and the Banshees to listen to while drinking, felt like something a bit strange, joyous and alternative.

Tasting Notes: Teeling: Stout Cask

Teeling: Stout Cask (Irish Blended Whiskey: 46% ABV)

Visual: Clear golden touched grain colour with fast thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Honey. Strong alcohol. Lime touches. Thick chocolate. Crushed palma violets. Caramel. Raisins. Raspberry yogurt. Spicy rum. Coffee. Water adds slight menthol note.

Body: Smooth. Caramel. Port. Cherries. Honey. Smooth chocolate liqueure. Chocolate toffee. Water adds grapes, spiced orange and cake sponge. Smoother chocolate. Praline.

Finish: Chocolate. Fudge. Trifle. Sherry. Cherries. Light oak. Milk coffee. Water adds praline and nuts.

Conclusion: So, this is the second stout aged whiskey I have tried in recent weeks, and damn this is bloody lovely. I think that this has still had rum ageing, and that may be part of what makes it so great. I’m not sure if it is that, the slightly higher abv, or what, but this has much stronger whiskey style at the base that the stout has just added to rather than being dominated by the stout. That extra bit of character from the whiskey means this is far more complex that the already nice Jamerson’s stout aged expression I tried, and this all just comes together for something special.

Up front it is honey sweet, with raisins and spicy fortified wine notes that are very recognisable as Teelings. It is a tad strong in the alcohol neat. But that is very easily soothed over with a few drops of water.

Behind that is a very smooth chocolate liqueur character – very stout like, especially the sweeter of the imperial stout takes. I’ve seen chocolate notes in whisky before, but never so clearly used in counterpoint to the sweeter, lighter main whiskey,.

It’s wonderful – easy drinking despite the slightly higher alcohol strength, even with the slight rougher elements neat, and that is perfectly sorted with a drop of water. There is that wonderful Irish whiskey smoothness and honey sweetness, but the multiple unusual barrel ageings lets it run the range from light Irish citrus notes, spicy rum notes and the dark chocolate stout notes. The spicy rum works well, with the stout it create a real rum barrel aged imperial stout character, and definitely shows the spicy extra character to the main whiskey. It feels like those rum notes act as a stepping stone between the two sides of the whisky – making what could be separate quality Irish whiskey and stout elements become a smooth progression of flavours.

Sp. basically you get the smoothness of a good Irish whiskey, the complexity more associated with the Scottish whisky from the barrel ageing, and together it works so well.

Not stupidly expensive, very high quality, highly recommended.

Background: So, I’ve enjoyed past experience with the Teeling range of whiskeys – and this one caught my eye as something a bit different – from a quick google it starts with Teeling Small Batch as the base, Irish Whiskey that has been finished in rum casks. Some casks that had been used for ageing Teeling Small batch were given to Galway to age Galway Bay 200 Fathoms Imperial Stout beer in. These casks were then given back to Teeling and Teeling Small Batch whiskey was then put back in for a final finish to gain notes from the Imperial Stout. Whew. Think I got that right. Anyway, did notes on this after seeing Epic Beard Men live, so was listening to their new album “Season 1” which you can download free from – http://epicbeardmen.com/. I’m a big fan of B. Dolan, and his work with Sage Francis here makes for some tight tunes. This whiskey was another one grabbed at Independent Spirit.

Tasting Notes: Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye

Crown Royal Northern Harvest Rye (Canadian Blended Whisky: 45% ABV)

Visual: Light gold.

Viscosity: Fast thick streaks.

Nose: Rye crackers. Light orange. Menthol. Peppermint. Vanilla. Water adds coconut, white chocolate and light praline.

Body: Vanilla toffee. Rye crackers. Coconut. Slight bitter chocolate. Light smoke. Water makes much smoother and slightly more oaken.

Finish: Brown bread. Vanilla. Peppery. Menthol. Peppermint. Buttery shortbread. Tropical fruit. Coconut. White chocolate. Quite dry and with an alcohol air. Water makes more oaken and more menthol, with some charring to it.

Conclusion: This is one of those ones that ends up as a tale of two whiskies. Initially it shows a dry, spicy rye kind of thing; Lots of rye bourbon styling, while this is a whisky it has both the rye and a light set of orange crème notes that are definitely a call to bourbon style.

However, under those dry notes is a light vanilla sweetness matched with some white chocolate character. Items that usually would be very sweet notes, but since they are delivered so dryly they instead just add more of the flavour, with just some sweet hints to them as well.

Neat it has a light amount of menthol to peppermint that is fresh, however it doesn’t seem to match the other elements well. Thankfully even a few drops of water removes this, leaving more influence for the dry spicy and peppery backing.

Even like this is still has some slight vanilla sweetness – just enough to keep it from getting too wearing. Now this leaves me in a bit of a bind – usually very dry whiskies aren’t my thing – however even as such I can respect the complexity this has and the range it brings. Even with that the character makes it far from easy drinking so I’m more appreciating it that fully enjoying it.

So, a complex but just slightly harsh edged whisky. Enjoyable, chocolate backed dry coconut and peppermint spice – it is good, but not great.

Background: Now, recently Independent Spirit did what they called their “Mediocre Whisky tasting” Now the first whisky was this – what Jim Murray listed as his best whisky in the world for 2016, so you may have guessed they were being a tad flippant there. It was an amazing line up of very hard to find whiskies – including Hibiki 17 and Yamazaki 12, amongst some others – the notes of which will be turning up in the next few days. Now, accepting that Jim Murray’s picks may be slightly…political shall we say, I was still very interested to try this. A blended whisky made with 90% rye. Because of the tasting environment my notes may be a slight bit shorter than normal – hopefully they should still make sense.

Tasting Notes: Spencerfield Spirit Co: Pig’s Nose

Spencerfield Spirit Co: Pig’s Nose (Blended Scottish Whisky: 40% ABV)

Visual: Bright gold.

Viscosity: Fast thick streaks.

Nose: Shredded wheat. Hint of smoke. Honey. Apricots. Water does little to change.

Body: Light. Honey and vanilla custard. Stewed apricot. Sweet lime. Light alcohol influence. Water adds more apricot and some peach. Slight salt. Slight dried beef.

Finish: Slight peat smoke and dried beef taste. Honey. Dry oak. Similar with water.

Conclusion: How does water make a whisky taste thicker? I’ve run into a few like that recently. I mean, I know practically that if the water is a thicker liquid than the whisky then mixing the two will result in a thicker liquid than just the whisky alone – well barring the two not mixing. I’m fairly sure that is not the case here. Whisky is more viscous than water in all cases that I am aware of, yet somehow it feels thicker with it. Go figure. Anyway…

So, yes, neat this feels very light- a simple apricot style fruity thing. A tad more smoke than usual in your standard blended whisky, but not an extreme amount. Just an extra bit of spice in the dish, metaphorically speaking. Still, despite that very simple when taken without water.

Water – well it is interesting. For one, as indicated it feels thicker than before. How? Why? I do not know why whiskies keep doing this. Anyway, it makes for a better texture and brings out light smoke and salt in the mid body. Still sweet dominated, but with a tad heavier backing.

Even like that it feels, well, like a basic level single malt. Both a complement and a criticism when I say that. It doesn’t have the rough edge of some blended whiskies – and with water it is done well enough and mixes enough elements that it reminds me of the charm of a single malt, with the sweet character of a blend. There is not much more to it than that – it has the very basic level feel of a single malt but none of the character that would make it stand out. Basically it has the feel and the basic flavour set, but no wow to it.

So, a competent blended whisky, but no more than that. No point that makes it stand out.

Background: Grabbed as part of two pack from Independent Spirit (The other is a blended malt which I saved for later). It was fairly cheap, so I thought worth a shot – I have run into very good
cheaper whiskies before, and terrible expensive ones – so always worth checking these out. Drunk while listening to The Eels: Electro Shock Blues – some good happy music for enhancing drinking. That is a lie, it is in no way a happy album – the first song is about the lead singer’s sister’s suicide for example. But it is a very good album.

Tasting Notes: The Tweeddale: 14 Year Batch 5

The Tweeddale: 14 Year Batch 5 (Scottish Blended Whisky: 14 year: 46% ABV)

Visual: Pale yellowed grain.

Viscosity: Fast streaks.

Nose: Light. Husked grains. Wholegrain cereal. Water does little to change.

Body: Very smooth. Honey. Light grapes. Very mild alcohol character. Smooth lime cordial. Water makes bigger toffee and bigger body. More water adds vanilla custard and slight lemon meringue.

Finish: Light malt drinks. White grapes. Key lime pie. Water makes more toffee character and chocolate eclair toffee sweets. Apples.

Conclusion: This is 46% abv? No way! The character actually reminded me of the Irish Whiskey style with its sweetness and lightness of drinking character – not a 46% abv blended scotch at that. I’m having my expectations kicked away a lot recently.

Oddly water actually gives it more body, not less, bringing out a big toffee and a more traditional whisky character. The world is topsy turvy today.

Aside from that I’m mainly getting gentle honey sweetness and soft lime and such green fruit flavours. The aroma does very little, with or without water – just slight grain and cream – so, generally, the body onwards is left to do all the heavy lifting and work.

Despite its light character water is vital for opening up the main body. Seemingly a too light Irish whiskey wannabe neat, as water comes in the toffee and green fruit become more present and more varied – going from toffee, to toffee eclair sweets, and from grapes to lime, apples and so on.

The description of this mentions that an Islay cask was used to add some smoke to it – I’m not really getting it myself – Having read it I can kind of apply it to the notes that exist, but that is kind of cheating. Before I read it they came across more like the grain whisky influence that any peat influence.

So, is it good, and from that, is it worth it? Erm,give me a mo to check how much this is going for and I will let you know. Ok, official price seems to be mid 40 quid, but available for mid to late 30s. I wouldn’t drop the official price on it, but at under 40 – yeah I would say it is worth that. It blends the easy drinking style akin to Irish whisky with a good solid Scotch weight of flavour. Not overly complex, more a general sipping whisky, but very well done as that – especially at getting such a smooth character at an above average abv, while still giving a satisfying flavour. So, sits well in the niche it has carved for itself.

Background: Bias Warning: This sample was given to me by Independent Spirit for doing notes on, they also kindly provided the photo of the bottle as I did not have my camera on me at the time. Many thanks. This is a blended whisky made with 50% grain and 50% malt – from 1 grain whisky and 8 malts. Drink while listening to more of Pulp. Yes I am on a Pulp kick at the moment. The bottle it came from is one of 1200 bottles.