Circumstance: Single Grain Whisky 1:10:1:2:37 (English Single Grain Whisky: 3 Years: 44.5% ABV)
Visual: Light mossy greened off white spirit. Fast and thick streaks come from the spirit.
Nose: Cooked rice. Vanilla. White bread. Lightly peppery. Water brings out wheat flakes and more white bread.
Body: Lime jelly. Vanilla. Peppery. Light oak. Toffee. Present tingle of alcohol. Fatty butter. Water adds more vanilla. Makes it smooth in general with still an alcohol prickle. Strawberries and jelly babies.
Finish: Peppery. A light heat to it. Drying. Grain alcohol. Brown bread. Mild chilli seeds. Fatty butter. Water adds malt chocolate, and lightly nutty. Rustic style saison feel. Cooked rice.
Conclusion: I was a tad nervous with this one – young and single grain – both things that are not automatically bad but can lend to a less polished experience if not done well, and in combination I was worried it would act as a force multiplier.
So, how does it do?
Neat it is kind of bland. Not a good start.
So, yeah, neat it has a kind of cooked rice touch to the aroma, noticeable if not excessive prickle of alcohol along with fairly standard vanilla notes. The main character of note comes from a light peppery character and a fatty butter touch. It is a bit of character but still very simple – not smooth enough to be a easy drinking grain experience, and definitely not rewarding to examination.
Water does help a bit – more toffee like notes, less alcohol, if still a bit prickly. It does feel smoother in general though. The biggest change is in the finish which gains a nutty character and a yeastie feel that reminds me of the more rustic saisons (however I will admit that I am convinced I must be imagining that as I know they used saison yeast to make it – so hard to get over these mental influences – still imagined or not that is what I encountered)
Overall it isn’t that impressive – with water there are some interesting notes but not enough to warrant a purchase – especially as it seems to have a roughly 100% mark up when people resell it these days. Hopefully later releases will build on the interesting notes and make for a much better whisky, but right now not worth grabbing.
Background: This is the first whisky distillery to be made in Bristol for a long time, and their inaugural release of that as well so darn I was tempted. I was also worried, it is single grain and young, which can be a bad combination, but I figured it was worth a risk just to see how it goes. This lists saison yeast as the choice for making this, which seems an unusual choice and an interesting one. It is 37 months old, aged in first fill bourbon casks – first fill is probably a good call considering how young it is. At one of 518 bottles I was chuffed to be able to grab this from Independent Spirit before they ran out of their allocation. Music wise I went with Lesbian Bed Death: Born To Die On VHS. If you are wondering why THE BAND IS CALLED “LESBIAN BED DEATH” AND THE ALBUM IS CALLED “BORN TO DIE ON VHS”. Hopefully that answers the question.
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