The Character Of Islay Whisky Company has recently expanded its range to include a blend and 2 older age statement whiskies as well as the popular Aerolite Lyndsay, a great opportunity for Steve to organise a @TweetTastings!
Hinch Distillery are just finishing their Distillery with the first spirit expected to flow during the summer. As with a lot of Irish distillers they've bought in casks of Irish whiskey to mature and blend themselves.
My thoughts:
Appearance: Green Isle, a 40% blend, mid gold - the darkest of tonights 4 drams, swirls cling and fall as slow thin legs. Initial nose: Smoked apples!
Nose: lovely gentle smoke, green apples, nutty cereal notes and a drying note. Hints of toffee and honey. Nice! A few swirls and a little air and the honey sweetness starts to jump out of the glass. The smoke seems to have faded into the background with a little maritime salt taking its place.
Palate: smooth syrupy arrival, a little oily maybe? The honey is there along with some orchard fruit and more of the salt. As the liquid disappears the smoke starts to come through and stick to the tongue - really liking this!
Finish: dry earthy smoke and a little honied orchard fruit. Bargain for £25
My thoughts:
Appearance: Aerolite Lyndsay 10yo at 46% a pale gold single malt from Islay. Swirls cling and fall as slow thick legs. Initial nose: Huge maritime smoke
Nose: Beach BBQ - well salted smoky steak with a fruity edge. There's a little tropical fruit sweetness coming through along with some nuts.
Palate: A thick almost syrupy arrival, fairly sweet but with a sour citrus note. It's mouth coating with lingering tropical fruit notes before the blanket of maritime smoke covers everything leaving an oily yet dry feeling in the mouth.
Finish: long lingering dry smoke with a little honey sweetness and hints of charred pineapple - a yummy dram!
My thoughts:
Appearance: Grace Ile a 25yo 48% dram. Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling before falling as slow thick legs. Initial nose: smoky white wine.
Nose: smoky chardonnay - very fresh. Tropical fruit, some citrus and a gentle blanket of smoke. Again there's a maritime note - reminds me a lot of older Caol Ila drams - Yummy!
Palate: Smooth creamy arrival - liquid smoke but very gentle, a bite of ginger spice and loads of charred pineapple. Lemon sherbet fizzes on the tongue and dances down your throat through the smoke rings. Y U M M Y !!!! A little time in the glass opens this up - it deserves it - 25 years in a cask has done wonderful things to this liquid but maybe it's just been diluted a little too much? A little thin? 50% or 54% would have put this in my top 5 for the year. In at 8
Finish: Short fruity finish with a little oak, smoke and vanilla.
My thoughts:
Appearance: Fiona Macleod a 33yo 46.3% pale gold dram, swirls cling and fall as slow thin legs.
Initial nose: Fireside wet dog.
Nose: Interestingly the smoke is a bit more prominent on the FM33 than the GI25 pointing to different distilleries? Is 46.3% a hint towards Bunnahabhain? Smoke, wet dog, tropical fruit and tinned syrupy peaches (thanks @WhiskyWizard31). There's some bbq notes here too - chilli and honey chicken and some grilled pineapple. Nice.
Palate: Thick spicy arrival, chalky sweets (parma violets @thedramble) tropical fruit and syrup. The smoke is gentler on the palate than the nose. As the liquid disappears that param violet chalky sour note is left on the tongue. Nice!
Finish: short smoky orchard fruit with a little honey sweetness.
The Character of Islay Whisky Company was started in September 2019 by Atom Brands, owner of Master of Malt.
Lets see what they were like:
My thoughts:
Appearance: Green Isle, a 40% blend, mid gold - the darkest of tonights 4 drams, swirls cling and fall as slow thin legs. Initial nose: Smoked apples!
Nose: lovely gentle smoke, green apples, nutty cereal notes and a drying note. Hints of toffee and honey. Nice! A few swirls and a little air and the honey sweetness starts to jump out of the glass. The smoke seems to have faded into the background with a little maritime salt taking its place.
Palate: smooth syrupy arrival, a little oily maybe? The honey is there along with some orchard fruit and more of the salt. As the liquid disappears the smoke starts to come through and stick to the tongue - really liking this!
Finish: dry earthy smoke and a little honied orchard fruit. Bargain for £25
Other Tweeter's thoughts:
Appearance: Aerolite Lyndsay 10yo at 46% a pale gold single malt from Islay. Swirls cling and fall as slow thick legs. Initial nose: Huge maritime smokeNose: Beach BBQ - well salted smoky steak with a fruity edge. There's a little tropical fruit sweetness coming through along with some nuts.
Palate: A thick almost syrupy arrival, fairly sweet but with a sour citrus note. It's mouth coating with lingering tropical fruit notes before the blanket of maritime smoke covers everything leaving an oily yet dry feeling in the mouth.
Finish: long lingering dry smoke with a little honey sweetness and hints of charred pineapple - a yummy dram!
Other Tweeter's thoughts:
Appearance: Grace Ile a 25yo 48% dram. Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling before falling as slow thick legs. Initial nose: smoky white wine.Nose: smoky chardonnay - very fresh. Tropical fruit, some citrus and a gentle blanket of smoke. Again there's a maritime note - reminds me a lot of older Caol Ila drams - Yummy!
Palate: Smooth creamy arrival - liquid smoke but very gentle, a bite of ginger spice and loads of charred pineapple. Lemon sherbet fizzes on the tongue and dances down your throat through the smoke rings. Y U M M Y !!!! A little time in the glass opens this up - it deserves it - 25 years in a cask has done wonderful things to this liquid but maybe it's just been diluted a little too much? A little thin? 50% or 54% would have put this in my top 5 for the year. In at 8
Finish: Short fruity finish with a little oak, smoke and vanilla.
Other Tweeter's thoughts:
Appearance: Fiona Macleod a 33yo 46.3% pale gold dram, swirls cling and fall as slow thin legs.
Initial nose: Fireside wet dog.
Nose: Interestingly the smoke is a bit more prominent on the FM33 than the GI25 pointing to different distilleries? Is 46.3% a hint towards Bunnahabhain? Smoke, wet dog, tropical fruit and tinned syrupy peaches (thanks @WhiskyWizard31). There's some bbq notes here too - chilli and honey chicken and some grilled pineapple. Nice.
Palate: Thick spicy arrival, chalky sweets (parma violets @thedramble) tropical fruit and syrup. The smoke is gentler on the palate than the nose. As the liquid disappears that param violet chalky sour note is left on the tongue. Nice!
Finish: short smoky orchard fruit with a little honey sweetness.
Other Tweeter's thoughts:
No comments:
Post a Comment