Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask is a similar concept to the Jameson Cask Mates where whiskey is finished in ex-Beer barrels (which are also ex-Bourbon barrels). The brewery responsible for “seasoning” these barrels with their beer is Firestone Walker and the beer at hand is their Double Barrel Ale. Taking its name from the woman who helped get Adam Firestone and David Walker together to make some beer, it’s a three way confluence of Kentucky, California and Scotland.
In their words: Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask
“A collaboration with Tullibardine and Firestone Walker, Polly’s Casks is an innovative whisky – the first ever single malt Scotch to be finished in a cask that has previously aged beer. 60 of Firestone Walker’s Double DBA casks were shipped to the Highlands of Scotland to help finish the maturation of Tullibardine Highland single malt in the Ochil Hills of Perthshire.
A whisky with no peers, Alexander Murray Polly’s Casks is absolutely uniquely nuanced: the influence of beer on the finished product is amazing. Matured in ex-bourbon casks and used beer-filled bourbon casks.”
The actual age of the Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask hasn’t been released, but we do know that the Tullibardine malt was aged in the ex-Beer barrels for one year. The cynical side of me thinks that means it spent 2 years in ex-Bourbon and then 1 year in ex-Beer because when you don’t tell people the details we automatically think the worst. Though sporting a price of $100 gave me some hope that it was going to be older than Tullibardine’s 5-years-old $40 entry level whisky.
At the very least I was hoping we’d be getting a Tullibardine The Sovereign that was finished for an extra year in an ex-Beer barrel, but that doesn’t seem to be the case as we’ll see in the Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask review below.
On an interesting side-note, the Tullibardine distillery was once a brewery and was supposedly patronized by King James IV in 1488 on the way to his coronation. So in a way the Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask has brought Tullibardine to a nearly full circle. To be a truly full circle Tullibardine would need to make the beer that was aged in the barrels, but we’ll play by the rules of horseshoes and hand grenades for now and call it “close enough”.
Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask Info
Region: Highlands, Scotland
Distiller: Tullibardine
Bottler: Alexander Murray
Mashbill: 100% Malted Barley
Cask: ex-Bourbon and ex-Firestone Walker Beer Barrels (Double Barrel Ale)
Age: NAS
ABV: 40%
Price: $100*
Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask Review
EYE
Nearly clear
NOSE
Light and fruity, it’s like a breeze through an orchard in fall. A whiff of something fruity with bits of hay, vanilla, new make, waxy cocoa, waxy banana taffy and the merest touch of something earthy.
PALATE
Dried stone fruit (apricot-peach hybrid), hay, vanilla, spirit, waxy cocoa licorice and something that reminds me of buttered bread. Like the nose, the palate is a touch earthen. I enjoy the aroma a bit more than the nose, but both are so light and delicate.
FINISH
An almost non-existant puff of lemon rind, vanilla, dried fruit and hay-like malt.
BALANCE, BODY & FEEL
It’s hard to call it balanced, but it’s also hard to call it unbalanced; it’s so light it’s hard to make a call. Light bodied and simple, it drinks like water.
OVERALL
The Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask is so light that it’s hard to fully get a read on it. It’s vastly lighter than the Tullibardine Sovereign or the Tullibardine Aged Oak Edition. The nose is light, farmy and bears little resemblance to the previously mentioned Tullibardines. The palate and short finish follow suite with that light farmy character coming through with a spirity kicker. The only note I can tie the DBA and AMPC together with is that waxy cocoa licorice (Chocolate Twizzlers). Though I found a similar “candy cocoa” note in both of the standard Tllibarindes, so it’s hard to say.
I’m a fan of the Jameson Caskmates so I was hoping for more of an experience like that, but the Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask doesn’t really carry a sense of the Double Barrel Ale character. It’s almost like they washed the barrels out before filling with the Tullibardine new-make.
Maybe they need to use wetter, newer barrels; maybe they need to use a more mature single malt; maybe they need to age it longer in the beer barrels; maybe they need to bottle at cask strength to preserve as much character as possible – or at least at 46% & NCF; maybe the answer is “all of the above”. The Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask just needs more of something… possibly everything.
SCORE: 76/100 (C)
*Disclosure: This Alexander Murray Polly’s Cask was graciously sent to me by the company for the purposes of this review. The views, opinions, and tasting notes are 100% my own.