A number of new distilleries have come on stream over the last few years - some with lots of publicity and some with hardly any. I've talked about some of them in my Newer Distilleries series, the latest of which talked about Kingsbarns. Well today I'm going to compare the standard 3 year old releases of two of them Kingsbarns and Cotswolds.
We have to remember that both of these are the initial releases from the distilleries and only 3 years old (but not labelled as such), they are both priced at around £45 for a 700ml 46% ABV dram. A similar price to Wolfburn's first release Northland a couple of years ago and a bargain compared to the £126/£168 that Annandale are asking for theirs and £68 that Glasgow want. It will be interesting to see what Lakes and Spirit Of Yorkshire distilleries come out with later this year!
| Dram | Cotswolds 2014 Odyssey Barley | Kingsbarns Dream To Dram |
| Characteristics | 46% ABV, Natural colour, NCF | 46% ABV, Natural colour, NCF |
| Distillery info | We use traditional production processes and equipment to produce our Cotswolds Single Malt. Locally-grown malted barley is milled and then mashed in our 0.5-tonne mash tun, mixing the milled grain with hot water to produce worts. Yeasts are then added. We run the fermentation for more than 90 hours in order to generate plenty of fruity flavour compounds alongside the alcohol produced. Then the distillations begin. First, in the wash still (Mary), and a second in Janis, our spirit still. In the spirit run, we only select a small section – the heart cut – which is taken unusually early in the distillation to capture the fruity notes and avoid the heavier, rougher elements that appear at the end of the run. The end result is a light, colourless, fruity new make spirit. This is diluted to 63.5%ABV and put into casks to mature. This release has been aged for just over three years, and is bottled non-chill filtered, with no added colouring, at 46%ABV. Nose: Notes of honey and butterscotch layered with light fruits (peaches & apricots), a hint of marzipan. Palate: Strong notes of tannin-rich malt, oils and dark sugar with lots of spice, caramelised Seville orange marmalade. Finish: Long and resinous, with dark red fruits and a hint of treacle. | The East Neuk enjoys high levels of sunshine, good soil and not too much rain, which creates the perfect growing conditions for barley. Every drop of Dream to Dram is made from barley harvested in these sun-soaked fields. The addition of pure, rich mineral water drawn from an aquifer 100 metres below the Distillery adds to the local character and light, fruity flavour profile of the whisky. A long, slow production process in copper pot stills is at the heart of distillation: a 3 – 5 day fermentation period, wash stills that run for 8 hours and a slow running spirit still with high cut points. That will never change and the stills will never run any faster. Maturation is primarily in high calibre first fill bourbon casks (90%), sourced exclusively from Heaven Hill in Kentucky by Isabella Wemyss, with the remainder maturing in shaved, toasted and re-charred wine casks. All Kingsbarns casks are matured in warehouses not far from the distillery in Fife. The natural elements on Kingsbarns Distillery’s doorstep, combined with superior wood choice and long, slow fermentation give Dream to Dram its remarkably complex and distinctive Lowland character: light, intensely fruity, floral and balanced, with colour and richness coming from the wood. On the nose there is banana, pineapple syrup and summer berries, with a slight herbal note. There is soft toffee, custard pastry and redcurrants on the palate, with a finish of ginger syrup. |
| My thoughts: | ||
| Appearance |  | |
| Orangey gold colour, swirls fall as slow thin legs | Pale gold, swirls cling to the glass and fall as slow fat legs | |
| Nose | Sweet acetone notes with oranges and peaches - it's hinting at it's young age but it's not rough at all. Sweet honey and a little toffee. After a little while in the glass the orange notes intensify, | Meaty new make jumps out straight away - it's definitely a young dram. There's some tropical fruit notes and a little honey. After a little while in the glass, the new make fades and the fruit comes to the fore. |
| Palate | Slightly watery arrival, immediate spice notes on the tongue. Nuts, oak, malt, orange marmalade. A few more sips reveal brown sugar and toffee, there's also a malty note to it - lovely! | Lovely thick, almost syrupy, arrival with tropical fruit notes, icing sugar and vanilla. There's no hint of the new make from the nose - this definitely needs some time to breath before trying it.There's not much in the way of spice - the drying of the vanilla and icing sugar put paid to that. |
| Finish | Long and warming with a lovely spicy kick, some red fruit and that strong orange note. | Medium length, this is where the spice comes out and a little honey sweetness. Loads more of the icing sugar. |
| Overall | An interesting pairing, one of England's latest and one of Scotland's latest - overall I think I prefer the dram from South of the border, but that could be because I've drunk more of it, only on the 2nd try of the Kingsbarns and it's growing on me. I think the Cotswolds has the nose and finish but Kingsbarns has the palate - I'm a sucker from tropical fruit and icing sugar! I love trying new whiskies and both a bottle of each of these as soon as they came out. The Cotswolds was a really nice dram and the bottle didn't last very long - I don't think the Kingsbarns will either. I'd kept the Cotswolds sample to try alongside a Lakes release but I've just about given up hope of them releasing an affordable whisky..... | |
So as well as the distilleries mentioned above, who released whisky at 3 years old to try and make some return on their investment, other distilleries such as Lakes, Eden Mill and Arbikie are yet to release a 'standard' whisky even though they have been distilling for over 3 years. Now whether that's because they don't have the same financial pressures, the quantity available, they don't think their whisky is ready (or good enough) or some other reason only time will tell.
Looking back over the last few years we've had releases from Kilkerran, Kilchoman, Ailsa Bay and Aerstone which have been released at 10yo and younger (most as NAS), most of which have been very good.
There are of course all the other distilleries which routinely offer young NAS drams and with other distilleries such as CooperKing, Clydeside, Lindores Abbey, Ardnamurchan, Ardnahoe, amongst others, coming online over the next few years there's a lot of competition out there!
No comments:
Post a Comment