Tasting Notes: Loch Fyne: The Living Cask Batch 4

Loch Fyne: The Living Cask Batch 4 (Scottish Blended Malt Whisky: 43.6% ABV)

Visual: Clear grain. Slow thick streaks.

Nose: Viscous. Sharp lime notes and alcohol. Floral and fresh grain fields. Water adds menthol and crushed rocks.

Body: Smooth. Toffee and vanilla. Creamy lime. Cardboard underneath. Bitter charring. Bitter almonds. Water adds more bitter almonds. More water adds softer lime and creamier notes. Chalk touch. White chocolate.

Finish: Menthol. Lime sorbet. Rocks. Cardboard. Bitter almond. Water adds fudge and crushed peanuts. More water adds marshmallow. Brown bread and chalk.

Conclusion: After the awesome 1745 Living Cask I was very much looking forwards to trying this, less Islay dedicated, Living Cask. I have to admit straight up that it is a bit of a disappointment.

At its heart it seems a softly sweet, floral yet lime touched, heavily Speyside influenced whisky. It is ok, with a soft vanilla fudge base, lime high notes and floral weight – but then this kind of cardboard to harsh bitter almond underlying character roils underneath, leaving an unpleasant aftertaste as everything heads out into the finish.

Now, me being a man of the (whisky) world I figured some water would deal with that nicely – and I wasn’t exactly 100% wrong. It just took much more water than I expected. A little water makes it rough as fuck – but a lot of water and the lime notes and softer sweet notes come out, but now against a general weak low end grain whisky like character that really is not showing the whole thing at its best.

So, it is sub optimal – slightly rough spirit notes with water, slightly rough bitter notes, used with Speyside like notes that while good don’t feel special. I guess a living cask will have its up and downs, and this one is on the down side for me.

Background: So, I tried Living Cask 1745 and it was bloody lovely. A peaty Islay take on the core concept of the living cask – a cask of blended whisky that was never allowed to empty, just topped up every time it reached half way so it was an ever changing expression. So I dropped back to The Whisky Shop in Bath to grab this, the fourth batch of their non Islay ever changing Living Cask, hoping it would hold up. Put on Frank Carter and The Rattlesnakes’ Modern Ruin while drinking- I’m still mixed on the album, it is nowhere near as intense as the first album, but feels like there is still more to tease out of it.

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Tasting Notes: The Loch Fyne: The Living Cask 1745

The Loch Fyne: The Living Cask 1745 (Scottish Blended Malt Whisky: 43.6% ABV)

Visual: Solid gold. Fast thick streaks.

Nose: Pungent peat. Moss. Aubergine. Brown bread. Dried beef slices. Smooth. Dumplings. Light salt. Solid. Water makes drier. Lightly nutty amongst the peat.

Body: Smooth. Honey. Alcohol warmth. Peppered beef slices. Vanilla toffee. Smooth, mouth filling peat. Water adds caramel, more honey. Even smoother and adds light apricot.

Finish: Fruitcake. Raisins. Salt. Malt chocolate. Oily. Cherries. Port. Falling apart beef and heavy peat. Water keeps fairly similar.

Conclusion: This is bloody smooth. It is honeyed, weighty in thickness but no alcohol burn at all, just a soothing warmness. The peat is meaty and filling, coating the mouth and giving a gentle mossy smoke to everything while the sweeter notes dance. Gentle isn’t quite the right word – more it just oozes into every tastebud so easily that it feels like it was always there. In fact it works so well that I was afraid to add water lest I spoil it.

I shouldn’t have worried, all the water did was make it even smoother still and bring out more sweet character – now bringing toffee notes against the meaty broth imagery.

What is most notable about this whisky is what Islay elements it doesn’t use. There are no medicinal touches, very little salt – it just balances the sweet, thick notes with big meaty peat creating an exceptionally smooth yet booming whisky. It is so different from a lot of Islays – if actually feels like what the already good Elements Of Islay whisky was aiming for – sweet, but peaty – but this actually does it so much better.

Basically, I am very impressed. So, what flaws does this have? Well it is single minded – water soothes but changes very little. What you see at the start is what you get at the end. If you are happy with that as I was, then I can recommend this whole heartedly.

Background: I’ve been intrigued by the Living Cask for a while – a blended malt whisky where the cask is topped up regularly with more malt so it is ever changing and every varying, with some of the malt sticking around each time. A fascinating concept. So, when I saw this mini at The Whisky Shop I thought I would grab it. They had a pretty decent mini selection there – I may have to grab some more for random notes. After a quick google it looks 1745 is their original Islay only blended malt, with the other Living Casks being offshoots where other malts are added. I think. Let me know if I got it wrong please. Put on Massive Attack: Mezzanine for this. Had a feeling it would be a big moody whisky and wanted tunes to match.