Penderyn: Madeira (Wales: Single Malt: 46% ABV)
Visual: Pale gold with fast, thick streaks from the spirit.
Nose: Shimmering alcohol. Plum pudding/Christmas pudding. Vanilla toffee. Brandy cream. Madeira cake. Water adds crusty white bread.
Body: Quite smooth. Vanilla toffee. Madeira cake. Chocolate. Fudge. Slight apples. Water adds more apple and makes lighter. Oak. Custard. Light smoke like element.
Finish: Praline. Light charred oak. White chocolate. Nutty. Slightly drying. Slight apple. Water make more apple. Oak. Light smoke. Dry sherry.
Conclusion: This is better that I expected. Years ago, many years ago, I tried Penderyn Madeira shortly after it first came out. I think it was the only release available at the time and it was kind of rough. Since this came with the three pack of minis I thought I would give it another go and … it is kind of decent now!
First impressions were not the best with a very spirity aroma that seemed to promise a rough dram below it. However even here there is a dark Christmas pudding and brandy cream style that seemed to show more promise than before.
The first sip the was a real surprise in how smooth it was, the Madeira influence now obvious but with some chocolate notes there that somehow feel more grounding than sweet. There were even a few apple notes which I always appreciate then out into a nutty touched finish.
Like this it is actually pretty decent – smooth, decent dark flavours with still a touch of vanilla toffee sweetness and a few brighter notes to help it shine. For the sub 40 pound price point of a bottle it is doing pretty darn well now.
Anyway, so water ruins all that. Which is odd for a 46% abv whisky, normally those few extra points of abv give it some room to play. Water really hurts it, lowering the dark fruit notes leaving a generic oaken set of notes and a general sulfur touched empty style. Not an utter write off but very much worse than before.
So, over the years they have made a decent dram for the price, just don’t let any additional water near it.
Background: As mentioned in the main notes I tried Penderyn, as far as I know still the only Welsh whisky, many a year ago. Now I have some bottles I am trying to resist opening that are hiding in my cupboard at the mo, so grabbed a three pack of Penderyn minis from The Whisky Shop as things new to try without breaking open one of the big bottles. Went with this, the Madeira aged version first as it was the one I had tried before, so seemed a good starting point to see what had changed in the intervening years. Madeira is not a common one for aging whisky, so it is double unusual that the Madeira is the most common bottling I have seen of Penderyn and I would consider it their core bottling. A very strange choice. Since this was a throwback to a whisky had a while ago I went further back with music, listening to the best of Mel and Kim album again.