Our friends at Impex, sent G-LO a healthy pour of the Chapter 7™ 19 YO Highland Single Malt. Chapter 7™ is an independent bottler's brand that was founded in Switzerland in 2014. Initially, they bottled single casks from some of Scotland's lesser known distilleries. The distilleries had provided a good bit of their output for some of the more famous blends but hadn't bottles much under their own name. Now, Chapter 7™ has expanded their focus to include not just the malts from Scotland, but malts from Ireland and grain whiskies as well. Chapter 7™ has even begun to take distiller output and vat the malts and create their own blends . Chapter 7™ editions are bottled at cask strength and are non-chill filtered to present all of the characteristics of the whisky untouched.
Here's what Impex has to say about the Chapter 7™ 19 YO Highland Single Malt ...
The marriage of two selected casks from an undisclosed Highland distillery, aged for over 19 years.And here are our impressions...
- Appearance : Liquid gold in a glass! Or at least that's what G-LO thought (he just loves his douchey flourishes!). I'd put it as more of a Mott's apple juice.
- ABV : 56.2%
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Aroma
- Limpd : Alcohol vapors, light menthol, vanilla and an odd wood aroma. The woody aroma is not quite barrel char; more like a sap. There are some candied fruits (a bit like orange slices) and some pears.
- G-LO : A good bit of alcohol vapors at first, but that subsides pretty quickly. Once you get past that, things turn fruity and lightly spiced. Bananas Foster, vanilla, clove, cinnamon and some dried dark fruit.
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Taste
- Limpd : For 56.2% ABV, this was nowhere near as hot as I had expected. Don't get me wrong, there's some heat, but it is just so well-balanced. That either speaks to the 19 years it took to mature or I may have a problem. Medium mouthfeel with some peppery hotness upfront. Nice mellow sugars in the middle and a somewhat drying and subtle heat in the long finish.
- G-LO : Definitely has some heat! Medium mouthfeel with a bit of oiliness. Quite dry from start to finish with lots of dark fruit and baking spice notes coming through. Long lasting, dry finish with lots of lingering spiciness.
The Verdict
- Limp : Since I'm not a big fan of the Highlands (I'm more of a Speyside/ Campbeltown kind of guy), I wasn't expecting this to be so good, as much to my surprise, this was really, really nice. The overall flavors and balance are just fantastic!
- G-LO : Mmmm, mmmm, mmmm (G-LO says this a lot these days. Use your words, G-LO!)! This stuff is just good. A little heat, some sweetness and a lovely bit of fruit. This was a multi-faceted and delicious dram. Bravo!
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