Tasting Notes: Bushmills: Causeway Collection: 1991: Madeira Cask

Bushmills: Causeway Collection: 1991: Madeira Cask (Irish Single Malt Whiskey: 30 years: 50.2% ABV)

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

Nose: Big. Christmas pudding. Sherry trifle to sherry cream. Lots of raisins and sultanas. Suet. Crushed almond. Orange skin. Water adds sugared almond notes.

Body: Thick and sticky. Lime zest. Sultanas. Malt loaf. Orange skin. Suet. Sugared almonds. Lemon zest. Toffee. Water makes oily and more nutty.

Finish:Raisins. Sticky. Malt loaf. Drying. Suet. Dry fudge. Water makes spicier. Turmeric and paprika. Slight liquorice.

Conclusion: Whew, this is the biggest I have ever felt a Bushmills get, and previous Causeway collection releases were pretty big!

Neat it has a booming aroma, detectable from far from the glass. It is thick and sticky, but with no real alcohol burn – lots of alcohol weight, sure, but no burn. It has lots of dark fruit notes, Christmas Pudding like – with lots of the spirity cream notes to go with it – which is not unexpected for a whiskey that has spent so darn long in odd Madeira casks like this.

What is unusual though, is that you can taste the orange, lemon and lime citrus notes that I always associate with the house character of Bushmills Distillery. Somehow they have not vanished beneath 30 years on Madeira wood. They are not heavy notes, and not always present, but they are there- fresh bright notes against this sticky dark fruit beast.

Water does not really help, but nor does it make it bad, it just feels not quite as good. It makes it a more gentle and more generic sweet and nutty whisky, a bit more spicy with that was which is generally not my favourite style in a whisky. So my advice is to keep this one neat – even at 50% abv it doesn’t need the water to be easy to drink – the Bushmills character and 30 years of ageing does that wonderfully already.

It isn’t my favourite of the three Causeway collections I have now tried – that is a toss up between the 2000 and the 1997 with the 1997 being just in the lead at the moment, but every single one I have tried has been amazing – so this is still incredibly impressive.

This is a genuinely great dram that I unfortunately can not normally afford – even the 1997 is out of my normal price range and the 2000 is a stretch to grab! Still, due to this wonderful set I got to try them all and this is still a wonder of matching high abv with smooth character, and dark fruit with citrus notes.

Silly expensive normally, but that is the whisky industry these days, still a great dram.

Background: So, same as in Bushmills 16 and 1997 notes before “Ok this is incredibly good value. I picked up a set of mini Bushmills from The Whisky shop. It had 3 cl of Bushmills 10,16,21, Causeway Collection 2000 Port cask, 1997 Rum cask and 1991 Madeira cask. For 30 quid. The 1991 Madeira cask goes for 695 quid a bottle, which works out at just short of 30 quid for 3cl of that alone! I have no freaking clue how they sell this for 30 pounds. Any which way, a must grab for me. “ So this is the 1991 Madeira cask mentioned there, so, worth the cost of the box alone. I still cannot get over how they managed to do this set for such a low price. I’ve been a Bushmills fan for ages, but these Causeway bottlings have generally been outside my price range so was very happy to give them a try here. Music wise I went with Laura Jane Grace: At War With the Silverfish for audio backing.

Tasting Notes: Adelphi: Akkeshi: 3 Year: Cask 1011

Adelphi: Akkeshi: 3 Year: Cask 1011 (Japanese Single Malt Whisky: 3 Year: 57.8% ABV)

Visual: Very pale grain colour. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Light salt. Alcohol strength. Soot and cigarette ash. Peat smoke. Moss. Smoked kippers. Slight vanilla. Lightly medicinal. Burnt marshmallow. Water adds toasted teacakes.

Body: Toffee. Alcohol strength. Burnt beef. Caramel. Moss. Peaty. Malt chocolate. Vanilla. Dry smoke. Smoked beef. Strawberry crème. Water adds golden syrup. Smoked bacon. More moss. Cherries.

Finish: Burnt marshmallow. Mossy. Soot. Mild lime cordial. Alcohol tingle. Vanilla. Water adds smoked bacon and sweet toffee syrup.

Conclusion: Ok, there is no way a 50% plus abv, 3 year old whisky should be this smooth. Ok, it does have a noticeable alcohol weight, warmth and a prickle, but compared to what you would expect from a dram like this? This is silk smooth by that measure. I mean apart from the peat natch, this is a freaking peat bomb.

While it has a slight salt and medicinal style that calls to having slight Islay influence that is definitely not the main point – but more on that later. But on the peat, yeah this is peaty, definitely emphasises by its youth so there has not been time for the peat to be lost. There is kind of kippers in the aroma but more into smoked meat in the body, going from more beef like neat, into smoked bacon with water, and with ash notes just lying around that. So, yeah, big peat, as I say really taking advantage if its youth to just punch out all the smokey strengths.

Like, if you want a comparison for intensity this feels like a somehow smoother despite being younger take on Ardbegs Wee Beastie for peat punch (Though this is significantly more expensive), offset slightly by vanilla notes from its time in the bourbon. A simple but effective style.

Water just mixes this all up. SO MUCH!

Like, the peat is still intense and the vanilla/toffee/etc sweet notes take on a watered down golden syrup style around the edges but more importantly the bright fruity notes come out, and not only the green fruit notes I would expect from a young whisky like this.

There are hints of strawberry and cherry, subtle but present. Is this the sign of the distillery character under the peat? Is my mind making shit up to compensate for the range of intensities it has just been hit by? No idea, but whatever the reason it made for delicious spirit.

When I first tried this a few weeks back I was viewing it as an excellent peat bomb, fantastic for its age, but, you know what you can get better for much cheaper. For example the aforementioned Wee Beastie. I was going to say only get this if you love trying new Japanese whiskies as you know that unfortunately, like most Japanese distilleries, new releases from this Distillery are just going to go up and up in price from here. So, while this is a great example of their whisky, generally I would recommend a cheaper dram.

Now, after it has had some time to air and I have returned to it a few times… well it is still mostly that, but the quality of the spirit, combined with that huge peat, it may just be worth the marked up price for such a young whisky. Maybe. Not sure but maybe. It is very good.

Background: Ohh this is exciting. While I was in a cool hotel whisky bar in Nikko, one of my fellow travels tried a dram of Akkeshi’s blended whisky and said it was very nice – at the time I presumed them to be the name of a blender and didn’t realise they were a distillery turning out their own single malts as well. So then this turned up at Independent Spirit I was very interested. A heavily peated expression, from Adelphi who tend to be a phenomenal independent bottler and at decent prices. Now about that price, despite this being three years old it was around the hundred pounds mark, which is a heck of a lot for a three year old whisky, even a cask strength one like this, however I’ve seen how much darn Japanese whiskies like Chichibu end up going for, with their new 10 year old being over a thousand pounds, so I figured this may be my only chance to try before it went out of my price range so decided to grab. On that age, this was distilled 2018 and bottled in 2023, yet is three years old? At best guess this spent some time travelling between Japan and UK in a contained that did not count for ageing which is why it is 3 year old despite that obviously not 3 year range of dates. One of only 253 bottles from cask 1011 which was a first fill bourbon barrel. Whew that is a lot of text, anything else? Oh yeah for a young peaty dram like this I wanted big music so went with Napalm Death: Apex Predator, Easy Meat.

Tasting Notes: Bushmills: Causeway Collection: 1997: Rum Cask

Bushmills: Causeway Collection: 1997: Rum Cask (Irish Single Malt Whiskey: 25 Year: 46.2% ABV)

Visual: Pale yellowed gold. Medium thickness and speed streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Sherry trifle. Fresh cut apple. Raisins. Vanilla custard. Smooth. Green grapes. Water adds peppery character. More green grapes. Cleaner.

Body: Honey. Slight thickness. Mango. Green grapes. Clotted cream. Raisins. Brandy cream. Slightly drying tannins. Apple. Water adds more mango. Dried banana and toffee.

Finish: Brandy cream. Raisins. Figgy pudding. Slight oak. Vanilla custard. Peppery. Mango. Water adds dried banana. Green grapes and dry fudge.

Conclusion: The Causeway Collection continues to massively impress me. I mean, at the bloody cost for a bottle it damn well should! But often expensive whiskies can be quite the let down. This manages to dodge that (and, again while a full bottle is expensive this six pack of minis is a freaking steal)

This is nothing like what I expected a rum cask whisky to taste like – while there are spirity cream and raisin notes that are familiar the main character showing through is the green fruit that I love as the Bushmills base character but now enhanced by mango that makes it unusual and exceptionally fruity.

Despite a (admittedly comparatively low) cask strength this is super smooth, but the extra abv does give a nice bit of grip that some Bushmills can lack.

While I prefer the sheer intensity of the 2000 Port Wood Causeway bottling, the smoothness and complexity of this one cannot be overstated. It is one of the most unusual Bushmills I have had, while still showing its base character and as that it is one of the most rewarding I have had from them.

Absolutely excellent, rather than overwhelm the base spirit with the unusual ageing this manages to just that fruitiness in a new direction that works magnificently.

Background: So, same as in Bushmills 16 notes “Ok this is incredibly good value. I picked up a set of mini Bushmills from The Whisky shop. It had 3 cl of Bushmills 10,16,21, Causeway Collection 2000 Port cask, 1997 Rum cask and 1991 Madeira cask. For 30 quid. The 1991 Madeira cask goes for 695 quid a bottle, which works out at just short of 30 quid for 3cl of that alone! I have no freaking clue how they sell this for 30 pounds. Any which way, a must grab for me. “. I still can’t get over how this was only 30 quid for the set. Only the 1997 left to do notes on after this. The Bushills 12 Year Caribbean Rum finish was one of my favourite whiskies all those years ago when you could still get it, so I have had a soft spot for rum cask Bushmills ever since. A competitively low cask strength on this one – at just over 46% it is similar to some of the more robust standard whiskey bottlings you can find – guess the angel share was nasty for this one. Went with Fear Factory: Demanufacture for backing music, big music for big whiskey.

Tasting Notes: Kilkerran: Heavily Peated Small Batch

Kilkerran: Heavily Peated Small Batch (Scottish Campbeltown Single Malt Whisky: 59.2% ABV)

Visual: Pale light gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Oily. Peaty. Apples. Smooth yet lightly medicinal. Grassy. Slight apricot. Water makes slightly more obvious medicinal.

Body: Honey. Golden syrup. Tannins. Slight tea bags. Apricot. Peaty. Smoked meat. Raisins. Water adds green grapes. Fatty butter. Red grapes. Vanilla.

Finish: Dried meat. Smoked meat. Generally meaty. Raisins. Water adds vanilla and more smoked meat.

Conclusion: Ohhh this no longer feels like a work in progress like the peat in progress releases, this feel like how a peated Kilkerran should do. As mentioned in the background it seems peat in progress and small batch heavily peated are often released during the same years, so this isn’t the natural endpoint of those, but still, this feels like a finished product and a worthy one at that.

Initially coming across as just oily and peaty, as you acclimatise to that you start to realise there is a sweet, apricot like set of notes along with both red and green grapes working there in the background. Such a fruity range behind an impressive level of peat. Even more so, behind all of that there is still that traditional grassy Campbeltown character helping give it some savoury grounding.

It makes it feel much more polished than my previous encounters with Kilkerran peated expressions. There is usually that peat meets grassy character, but this has much more. You need a touch of water to really get the best of it, a lot of the notes are hard to grasp when neat, but with that the lovely, more fruity range comes out.

A genuinely good release. If the end point of the peat in progress leads to anything similar to this I will be happy indeed.

Background: So, previously I have tried Kilkerran peat in progress, which seemingly was the peat equivalent of the work in progress early whiskies they released of Kilkerran while they only had young whisky available so were not ready for standard bottlings. This is not peat in progress, this is small bath, so does that mean they have finally reached a time they can release a standard bottling of peated Kilkerran? Apparently, nope, these small batches have been released for a while. So what makes this small batch and not peat in progress? No idea. Ah well, I’ll take any excuse to try some more Kilkerran. This was the final of the whiskies in Independent Spirit’s Burns night whisky tasting. Saving the big peat bomb for the end. Despite having had a lot of strong and strong flavoured whiskies in the night I did my best to try and turn out decent notes. Hope you like them.

Tasting Notes: Ardnamurchan: Cask Strength Release 2023

Ardnamurchan: Cask Strength Release 2023 (Scottish Single Malt Highland Whisky: 58.1% ABV)

Visual: A light, clear yellow gold. A mix of slow and fast medium thickness streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Dried beef. Slight dry custard. Light smoke. Fresh dough. Cake sponge. Sour dough. Water adds apples.

Body: Honey. Lots of meaty peat. Smoke. Lightly medicinal. Light apple. Water adds raisins. Makes oily. Apples and pears come out. Apple pie and sugar dusting. Nut oils.

Finish: Smooth medicinal style. Some vanilla. Oily smoke. Methanol candles air. Water adds apple pie and sugar. Praline.

Conclusion: Ohhh, this is nice and has such a great nose. Neat it is pretty intense with dried beef and smoke, slightly medicinal which surprised me, a smoother take on the harsher whisky notes. It is slightly closed due to the strength but still very nice.

Water then changes that massively. Still a good bit of peat, but sweeter and smoother. There is absolutely lovely apple pie sweeteness, yet with raisins dashed through it, a mix of lighter and darker fruit around the smoother peat character.

There is now such a range of flavour, still with a touch of those medicinal notes and still notable smoked meat, but now so much more open, sweeter and chewier with that. It has the sweet, it has the rich, it has the peat, and even that medicinal touch, it feels like it is ticking all the boxes of what I want from a whisky.

A freaking massive with with a massive range. Another banger from the ever improving Ardnamurchan distillery.

Background: Ardnamurchan has really been earning my respect over the past few years – from their early interesting batches they have been getting steadily better and better with nearly every release. Pity they use blockchain stuff, which always seems like a solution looking for a problem that has not already been sufficiently fixed by much more environmentally friendly methods. Ah well. Anyway. Fourth drink in the recent independent spirit Burns night tasting. I was surprised to find out this uses 87% Peated malt, I was expecting the cask strength alone to give it weight, but to find a peated dram as well gave a bit of extra excitement to this one. By this point I had tried a few drams, but still tried my best to turn out semi decent notes.

Tasting Notes: Thompson Bros: Dailuaine 2016

Thompson Bros: Dailuaine 2016 (Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 7 Years: 57.1% ABV)

Visual: A deep gold whisky with slow puckering from the spirit.

Nose: Caramel to twix. Honeycomb. Light wisp of smoke. Oily. Heather. Wood shavings. Light black cherry yogurt. Water adds blueberry.

Body: Strong! Thick fatty butter. Drying. Dried blueberries on digestives and shortbread. Water adds rich plums. Fruitcake and fudge.

Finish: Dry oak. Ash. Fatty butter. Drying. Dried blackcurrant. Dried blueberry. Shortbread. Water adds plums. Fruitcake. Dark rum. Slight cloves.

Conclusion: Oh this opened up so much with even just a touch of water. Neat it is very strong – the aroma just punching out sweet caramel to honeycomb along with some dark fruit. All this is just accentuated for the better with that drop of water.

Neat the body was kind of closed for me, others in the tasting enjoyed it, but I found that, due to the strength, it didn’t really show itself to me. Like this is had a kind of fatty butter quality and just hints of the dark fruit the aroma promised. Now water makes it what it should be, bringing out full on plums and caramel that makes the whisky shine here.

Then as we head back into the finish you get real dark fruit packed into a variety of biscuity flavours. Again, good neat, but expands massively with water. Top and tail this whisky is good at any point, but the body really needs water to show itself.

With water this is epically fruity, with plums, fruitcake, everything making it really dark, heavy and delicious, with spirity leanings thrown in. At this point, now it has opened up, it is amazingly rich and rewarding – a dark xmas dessert style whisky, covered with spirits.

Like this it is a genuinely great whisky. Enjoy just a touch neat to see how it is like that, then dive in with the water and really appreciate it.

Background: Another one from Independent Spirit‘s Burn night tasting. This is an independent bottling from Thompson Brother’s who have been very much impressing me with their bottlings and their own, very hard to get hold of, whisky. This is a bottling of Dailuaine, not one you see much. At the tasting we were told all the badgers on the bottles was a nod to the Flora and Fauna bottlings of Dailuaine – which is a nice touch. This is one of 1006 bottles and was aged in an oloroso hogshead. As always with tastings I did my best to turn out decent notes despite the range of alcohol being consumed and limited time. Apparently Dailuaine uses stainless steel rather than copper condensers, which is an oddity and probably explains a lot about the unusual nature of this spirit.

Tasting Notes: Loch Lomond: Single Grain

Loch Lomond: Single Grain (Scottish Highland Single Grain Whisky :46% ABV)

Visual: Pale. Light yellow grain. Fast, thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Apples and pears. Light polish. Oats and other cereals. Soft vanilla. Waters adds grapes and bubblegum.

Body: Light alcohol prickle. Bubblegum. Lemon drops. Unleaven bread. Water adds mineral water. Pear drops. Slight rougher alcohol.

Finish: Lemon drops. Alcohol air. Peppery. Sesame seeds. Water adds mineral water notes.

Conclusion: I am, mixed on this one, let us say. First impressions were great. As I got in and got the first whiff of the aroma I got lovely fresh bright green fruit with a soft cereal set behind that. It smells like it will be so easy drinking, with a lot of promise of maybe something more. There is a light alcohol prickle but that doesn’t mar that promise too much and I’d expect water to smooth that out.

Sipping it for the first time is when things get weird. It is still lovely and drinkable with a mix of lemon drops and an interesting and unusual bubblegum character – but now there is a slightly rough alcohol character to it. Only slightly so, but it results in a slightly odd whisky feel that doesn’t quite appeal to me.

The way out in the finish is better, lemon drops again now with a peppery underline that helps ground it. So overall a mixed whisky with some good points.

Water, well I had hoped it would settle the rough alcohol issue. Instead it brings out a minerally ..erm..mineral water character, a touch that I am never really a fan of, except in very small amounts. Though this does lower over time, which helps let the more fruity notes come out.

It gets better over time definitely, but still a mix for me. Some lovely apple, pear, lemon drops and such notes. Lots of good stuff now, just not 100% for me, still some sign of the bits that don’t work, however very much reduced. Definitely will be 100% the whisky for easy drinking for some, and still an interesting one for me.

Background: So, Single Grain Whisky, what do you think this was made with? A mix of cereals? Nope, despite being a grain whisky this is made with 100% Malted barley, however since it is made in a column still it is a grain whisky despite that. Interesting. First of five whiskies in a very good Burns Night’s whisky tasting at Independent Spirit. There is also a peated version of this, taking advantage of the fact it is malted barley to make the rare peated single grain. I have to admit I have that one on my list of something to try at a later date. As always with tastings like this I had more scattershot notes than normal but I did my best.

Tasting Notes: Bushmills 16 Year

Bushmills 16 Year (Irish Single Malt Whiskey: 16 years: 40% ABV)

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

Nose: Pencil shavings to dry oak. Gin. Tart grapes. Light menthol. Dry cumin spice. Water adds shortbread and mild ginger.

Body: Tingling. Apples. Dry Madeira cake. Green grapes. Suet. Dry oak. Turmeric spice. Water adds more sour grapes and orange skin.

Finish: Dry oak. Milky chocolate. Light earthy spice. Water adds lightly oily. Slight bitter character. Suet.

Conclusion: This feels like the spicy take on Bushmills, if that makes sense. With the ageing used I was expecting the dark fruit to be dominant, and while those notes are there, what seems to really define it is the range of spice it shows.

There is distinct apples and green fruit notes that, along with the sheen to the spirit, feels like the base Bushmills character showing. It has a slightly light feel, which Bushmills often does, but with a suet character and Madeira cake showing those darker fruit notes I allude to earlier and that does help offset the lighter side.

What really shows though is a bunch of gently dry to earthy spice notes that make this a much more grounded dram than I would usually expect from a Bushmills. It is decent enough, but spicy drams have rarely been my favourite style and often goes against the easy drink Bushmills character I enjoy. That may be why this is the Bushmills expression I have returned to the least.

Fine, but not really my thing.

Background: Ok this is incredibly good value. I picked up a set of mini Bushmills from The Whisky shop. It had 3 cl of Bushmills 10,16,21, Causeway Collection 2000 Port cask, 1997 Rum cask and 1991 Madeira cask. For 30 quid. The 1991 Madeira cask goes for 695 quid a bottle, which works out at just short of 30 quid for 3cl of that alone! I have no freaking clue how they sell this for 30 pounds. Any which way, a must grab for me. I’ve already done notes on 10, 21 and Causeway 2000, so this is the first one I tried which I had not done notes on yet. The 1991 and 1997 are still to try. I am a huge Bushmills fan, they were one of the first whiskies I properly got into back in the day. Then ten year is no longer the favourite it once was, but still a dram I enjoy. I’ve not had the 16 year much, it is matured in Oloroso sherry and bourbon casks, then finished in port pines for nine months. Went with Misfits: Walk Among Us as background music for this.

Tasting Notes: Isle Of Harris: The Hearach: 1st Release

Isle Of Harris: The Hearach: 1^st Release: HE00002 23 (Scottish Island Single Malt Whisky: 5 Years: 46% ABV)

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

Nose: Juniper. Madeira cakes. Green grapes. Vanilla. Alcohol air. Water adds tart grapes. Menthol.

Body: Green grapes. Raisins. Boozy alcohol. Fruitcake. Cherries. Vanilla fudge. Slight custard. Sherry soak raspberries. Slight sour grapes. Water brings crushed grape pulp. Crumpets. Cough syrup.

Finish: Dry fudge. Green grapes. Sherry soaked raisins. Water adds slight sour grapes. Honeycomb. Crumpets. Palma violets.

Conclusion: Well, this is another one that changed a lot with time to air. Initially it seemed, well, fine, a touch alcohol touched with youth but generally fairly standard. It felt like a kind of Highland like whisky with no real stand out elements. Good for its age but nothing special.

Soooo … time has changed it quite a bit from then. I don’t think I can see the whisky I would have described like that any more.

Now it still has the alcohol evident from its youth, though less than you would expect for 5 years old and 46% ABV. There is a base of toffee and fudge sweetness but that is where the resemblance to the spirit before ends.

Instead there is now a strange grape and juniper character that is slightly sour and slightly sweet in a mashed up fruit way, creating a fresh and odd character.

Then you get darker fruit, with Madeira and sherry soaked fruit, making a little dance through the thing. Not a heavy showing but just giving a richer character so the odd sour sweet grape notes don’t dominate and become unwelcome. Over a longer drink the fresher notes still can get a bit much, but they work for a single dram.

I’m not 100% sold on it yet, water opens it up but some cough syrup like unwelcome notes also come in. It has promise but is not a must have as is, just an interesting oddity so far.

Background: This is the first release from a new Distillery and, I don’t think I’m being unfair to say the really are trying to get the most out of their first release. As well as being a first release, they have split it up into eight different batches, each with different codes – I presume to get the real collectors hunting for HE00001 23 which would be the very first batch. Me I’m happy with batch 2, which is, as far as I am aware, the lowest batch released outside the distillery itself. Looking at the web site, it looks like each batch is made with identical ingredients, barrel ageing, etc, with the only difference being bottling dates and exact number of bottles in the batch size. Unless I missed something. At 5 years old it is held for a bit longer than a lot of new distilleries first release – which often come at the three year age that is the legal minimum. Still quite young. Ageing is mostly in Bourbon casks with 21% in Heaven Hill and 64% of Buffalo Trace, with a much less at 11% of Oloroso and 4% of Fino for the sherry. No chill filtering or colouring. This was grabbed from Independent Spirit before this batch quickly vanishes. Drunk while listening to Butcher Babies: ‘Til The World’s Blind. I found the band as a warm up for Fear Factory and very much enjoyed them – though they overloaded the mic wires and blew it out twice. Amusing for us, probably less so for them as they tried to fix it. The box for this looks super pretty but is very impractical – if you grab it wrong when picking it up the whole thing will fold open and ditch your precious whisky to the ground.

Tasting Notes: Penderyn: Peated

Penderyn: Peated (Wales Single Malt Whisky: 46% ABV)

Visual: Pale greened grain body. Slow thick streaks from the spirit.

Nose: Soot. Dried beef slices. Touch of salt. Water makes lightly medicinal and cleaner.

Body: Soot. Vanilla toffee. Light alcoholic lime jelly. Light salt. Moderately thick texture. Slightly oily. Dried beef. Charred meat bits. Water make slightly medicinal and more lime touches. Cleaner. Fudge. Red apples.

Finish: Alcoholic lime jelly. Soot. Dried beef slices. Slightly oily and sticky. Slight charring. Vanilla toffee.

Conclusion: I find this quite interesting in that, for the most part, it is quite a clean take on a peated whisky. It reminds me somewhat of the peated Ardmore take on the style – slightly highland influenced. However there is just a touch of that thicker, chewier, slightly clinging Penderyn style that I have started considering the distilleries’ house character.

Initially I found it odd that it also had a slightly salty, lightly medicinal note – something that especially came out with water. It is not a heavy note, but is not something I would associate at all with Wales, and more with the island and especially Islay style of whisky character. However, since originally writing these notes and before uploading I found out that the peat here comes from it spending time in ex Islay whisky casks rather than from having the malt be peat smoked, which explains a lot! I had worried I was being massively psychosomatically influenced in my tasting. Anyway, yeah that subtle take on the Islay character can be seen here, lightly adding to a much more gentle, sweeter and closer to Highland like character of a Welsh whisky.

The odd thickness of Penderyn still comes across, that subtly oily, clingy, slightly sticky character and gives a unique take to what would otherwise be a fine, but slightly generic whisky.

It is solid, a few apple and lime like fruit notes round it off, adding to a gently sweet and thick Penderyn base and that Islay cask influence making for something recognisably Penderyn but a but more peatier, saltier and more medicinal than you would expect, just gently so.

A gentle sipping take on a harsher style of whisky. Not a must have, but not bad for the price and probably goes better in a session than most peaty whiskies. Again Penderyn surprise me with how far that have come from their early, terrible days.

Background: Third and final of the Penderyn set I got from The Whisky Shop. I had grabbed them as a) something to have between opening new large bottles of whisky so to pace them out and b) to return to Penderyn after a long gap as when I first encountered the distillery I was not too impressed and wanted to see how they had changed. So far I have been very surprised with the quality of the whisky compared to when I first encountered it. As mentioned in the notes, this is not traditionally peated, instead being initially aged in bourbon casks, then given extra ageing in ex Islay whisky casks to provide the peat. An unusual method, though I have seen a few other new whiskies do similar. I did not know this when I first did the notes, so finding that out explained a lot. Also the quick googling I did to find that out also told me this whisky has a Kosher certificate – dunno how common that is, not heard of it before, but if that is relevant to you, there you go. Apparently only 5000 70cl bottles of this are released a year. Not sure how many minis they do on top of that.