Penderyn: Sherrywood (Wales Single Malt Whisky: 46% ABV)
Visual: Moderate gold spirit, with mainly slow thin streaks forming, but a few thicker and faster.
Nose: Caramel. Honey. Custard. Notable alcohol presence. Soft lime. Sherry soaked sultanas. Turmeric. Pencil shavings. Water adds more citrus. Still an alcohol tingle. More sultanas.
Body: Dry honey. Brandy cream. Warming alcohol. Malt chocolate drinks. Sultanas. Custard. Dry spices. Water adds lime jelly. Plums. Madeira (ironically indeed). Lots of custard and caramel. Oddly a thicker feel. Sour dough.
Finish: Sultanas. Drying. Malt chocolate drink. Thai seven spice. Dry sherry. Water adds plums. Fruit syrup. Some oak.
Conclusion: Ok, first of all, when I added water I got Madeira notes from this, the sherry wood expression, and the Madeira oak is the main Penderyn release. Odd, amused me, and possibly ironic, possibly not even Alanis Morissette ironic.
Anyway, again the Penderyn spirit seems far superior to my first experience with the distillery about a decade ago. It is now smooth, but with a bit of extra thickness that I usually associate with whisky that has aged in warmer climes.
Which sure as fuck did not happen here as it was made in Wales, just saying.
It is a much sweeter dram than the Madeira one with lots of caramel and custard notes and against that the sherry aging brings lots of dark fruit, but also just enough grounding spiciness with it.
There is more showing here in an odd clinginess of the spirit that I was not a fan of all that time back when I first tried Penderyn, but that has been very much relaxed so is only a minor touch in a sweet, spicy sherried dram, that, while not stand out, is still remarkably solid. There is a kind of brandy cream, spirity character (a side note, what is it with Penderyn and having spirit notes of a different type to what it was aged in?) and water brings out lime and citrus notes that feel like they may be part of the base spirit, so there is also some room to play here.
Overall another case of Penderyn surprising me these days by being far better than I expected.
Background: So the second of the minis from the three pack of Penderyns I grabbed from the Whisky Shop. I was more impressed than expected with the first Madeira mini I tried, so went into this sherry aged version with higher hopes. Sherry is more common in Whisky ageing, though far less common that bourbon wood, which I was surprised not to see in the three pack as it is by far the most common wood used for aging whisky. Went back to Miracle Of Sound’s Level 11 for backing music. His song “A Long Year” has not become less relevant year after year, unfortunately.
