Bimber Distillery Initial Release - The 1st Release

Unless you've been off planet for the last few years you can't have failed to notice the seemingly never ending release of initial releases from new distilleries, both in Scotland and the rest of the world.

This time were looking at one of the very latest from @BimberLondon - let's see what it's like!

So I started talking about initial releases and over the last 6 years or so these have includes the likes of Daftmill, Wolfburn, Cotswolds, Annandale, Kingsbarns, Eden Mill,  Glasgow, Lakes and Spirit of Yorkshire with many more either already distilling or close to starting. There will soon be even more choice in the market vying for our hard earned cash!

I was grateful to be picked for the recent Bimber TweetTasting and tried four of their 3yo drams, the presentation and quality shone through - I don't think anyone had anything but positives to say!

To survive in this market you need to standout - both with your packaging and of course more importantly the quality of your liquid. So let's see how Bimber stacks up!

Official notes:

The First is composed of a selection of our finest Pedro Ximenez casks filled in 2016 (our first year of production), that have been carefully selected by our Founder and Master Distiller Darius Plazewski. Darius hand-picked these specific casks because of their exceptional characteristics – they’re elegant and layered, but still totally reflective of Bimber’s light, accessible and fruit-forward style. And remember, Bimber doesn’t use industry standard seasoned wood – all our sherry casks were used for several decades in Jerez soleras.

Only 1000 bottles of our historic London whisky have been produced. Each is bottled at 54.2% ABV and presented in an individually numbered, hand-crafted, oak box created by our on-site coopers. 

Nose: Pronounced, fresh and expressive. Stewed apples are joined by ripe red berries, charred mandarin segments and plump raisins. Natural sweetness from soft toffee merges with crumbly shortbread and crushed walnuts, whilst nutmeg and clove spices provide a balanced intensity.
Palate: Full-bodied with a viscous mouthfeel. Flame-scorched orange peels and jammy berry fruits are enriched with sultanas and sponge cake. Creamy vanilla toffee is enlivened by ginger and pepper spicing, whilst dark chocolate and leather offer further delectable depths.
Finish: Lingering pepper and nutmeg spices are sweetened with demerara sugar and bolstered by a touch of charred oak.

My thoughts:

Appearance: a lovely dark gold in the glass, bubbles when poured hint at the high ABV of 54.2%. Gravity defying swirls for a crown of beads around the glass before they finally fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: Huge fresh sherry notes jump out of the glass, strawberry jam, dried fruit and burnt toffee. There's some citrus and digestive biscuit after a little while in the glass. The citrus hints at orange and lemon but there's also a sour note - grapefruit?  Icing sugar suggests a dryness, a little spice note is also developing.

Palate: Thick syrupy arrival, very sweet but again that sour citrus note - yummy! Mouth coating leaving a sweet and sour tang in the mouth as the liquid disappears. There's some spice hinted at from the nose but not as strong as expected - mild chilli.The burnt toffee is back alongside the icing sugar, a dryness developing as more sips are taken. The sour grapefruit note intensifies as you drink more - it's yummy!

Finish: The burst toffee is there initially then red fruit, sour citrus and sweet sherry notes linger. Again not much in the way of spice but it's lovely and warming.

Overall: A cracking dram, part sherry bomb, part sweet fruit basket and that lovely sour citrus. As I explained at the beginning I'd tried 3 of their work in progress 3yo whiskies but this isn't like any of them, they were good but this is better.

Many thanks to @BimberLondon for the sample.