Single Cask Nation The English Whisky Co. 9yo (61.8%): Today I have one of the latest bottlings of Single Cask Nation on my desk. It is a nine year old English single malt whisky sourced from St. George's Distillery near Thetford in Norfolk. It is distilled in October 2007 and aged exclusively in a first fill Sauternes Barrique which yielded 218 bottles when bottled in April 2017.
Color: Dark amber, chestnut honey...
Color: Dark amber, chestnut honey...
Nose: Baklava syrup with cinnamon and warm bourbon pecan pie. Struck matches, wet fallen leaves, moist forest floor and white wine vinegar. A little bit too close to the sulphury dark side, almost on the verge of being unpleasant... I will try to let it air for a while and come back later... Definitely better after five minutes. Still sulphury. but more manageable. Dark honey, sage leaves and cooked prunes and raisins. Dried figs and hand moisturizer. Walking by a Nuts 4 Nuts cart on a side walk: Burnt sugar, roasted nuts and frying oil. Adding water helps little more. Chalky now with raw honey, cookie dough and apricot paste. Still getting matchbooks and cheap vinegar, but...
Palate: Honey, hard boiled eggs and white wine vinegar. Quite hot obviously at this abv. A few drops of water later: Salted roasted nuts, unripe peaches and Nestle Crunch cereals. Yeasty and tart... Lambic beer, roasted almond ice cream and red pepper flakes. Didn't see the saltiness coming from the nose but it has a quite salty palate. Not like a sea spray but more like table salt.
Finish: Dry, spicy, tart and long... Vinegar and red pepper.
Overall: Well, honestly I don't remember any whisky I really fell in love coming out of a Sauternes cask and this bottle is not an exception. Yes, I still keep trying to find one because I like Sauternes wines quite a lot and there are many people who are absolutely in love with these whiskies but somehow it never quite works for me. On top of it I also developed a much lower threshold for sulphury whiskies in years. At the end it's not really my cup of tea but it is totally because of personal preferences. More like "It's not you, it's me..." kinda situation. You should definitely give it a try when you have the chance though and I would like to hear other opinions about this bottling. On the other hand I don't think that I will have a problem to sip this whisky once in a while but it sure will take a longer time then usual to kill it.
Price: $105
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