Nose: A bucket load of raisins, currants and sultanas. Black cherry liqueur. orange jus injected oak, cherry chocolate, prunes, stewed rhubarb, merlot, oak, beef stock cubes and menthol. Expressive.
Palate: A sweet spice attack. Rhubarb, prunes, cocoa, raisins, currants, blackcurrant jam, sweet orange, pecans. Brazil nuts. Peanut butter, butter menthols and some drying oak.
Finish: Medium length with a sweet/dry combo of the flavours on the palate. Balanced and complex.
Last Word: For me this a benchmark for affordable sherry cask matured whisky. Even better than the 2011 version which I rated highly.
Rating: 91/100
Do you know what kind of age profile the whisky is? Is there much variation from year to year?
As far as my research leads me to believe the minimum age of the whisky in these is 10 years with some older stuff in the mix. There is not a lot of variation in these, usually very good to excellent at least the 3 versions I’ve tasted.
Une merveille..
And great value. Hope you get a bottle and good luck with your blog.
Merci a bientô
Émilien
This sounds good. Thanks for the heads up Brian, after some searching i just got (today) a few bottles confirmed with my name on. Looking forward to receiving them. 🙂
Well I hope you open one Pete and let us know your thoughts : )
Okay, looking forward to your tasting notes!
I would be interested to hear how the Sherry Cask NAS stands up against the 18yo. 91 points is a very high mark. Still, is it any match for the 18yo?
Hi Pierre,
Well I’d give a good batch of the 18 90/100. I don’t think the style is directly comparable though. The 18 being a mix of 3 different cask types, with each having it’s own influence on the 18. Mind you I recently spent some time with a dram of the 18 at a bar in Kuala Lumpur, and it had a strange flatness compared to batches I’ve tried from years gone by. I wrote tasting notes on it and will publish them at a later date, so watch out for it.
Regards
Brian