Stalk and Barrel Cask #5 (60.3%): I know it's been a while since I posted my last review but every year May is being a perfect storm for me. A lot of deadlines to meet, end of the spring semester and the height of spring allergy season... Anyway, I am back and believe or not with another sample from the #DavinTT2 Canadian Whisky prize basket. This one is a single malt from Still Waters Distillery. You can find my notes about their 1+11 and Cask#3 releases back from August'13 here on tire-bouchon as well. It is aged entirely in ex-bourbon barrels. Color: Bright, polished yellow gold. Like an oak aged Chardonnay. Nose: Citrusy: Lemon zest, kumquats and clementine. Spruce needles and rosemary. Crystallized ginger and acetone. Adding water helps to get some sweet notes like pine honey and sour worms candy. That acetone/nail polish remover smell is still pretty much dominating the whole scene though. Palate: Oops... Shouldn't taste it without water: Massive burn on the tongue. All I could taste was lemon cologne after a few seconds. Let's have a break... Even adding quite an amount of water it is still pretty hot on the palate. Pine cones, saw dust, a little burnt ginger candy and grilled green banana peppers. Hot stuff... Finish: Mostly recovering slowly from the massive alcohol burn on the palate. Cracked black pepper corns and lemon zest. Overall: For some reason I was expecting a more mature spirit than the other Still Waters releases. It is very harsh and still very young. Cask#3 was definitely more enjoyable... This one tastes almost like a cask sample. I wonder why they decided not to wait and bottled it. Definitely not for the faint hearted.
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