Virtual tasting: Elixir Tasting with BCWS

The Black Country Whisky Society are a small group with big ideas from Greater Birmingham. They've been going for around 18 months and successfully held a number of tastings before Covid-19 put a stop to meeting together. So like most groups they went virtual.

Their tasting are sometimes opened to non-members and I was lucky enough to get a place on one from Elixir Distillers.

Elixir Distillers are an independent bottler, part of The Whisky Exchange group of companies, although called distillers they don't actually distill anything but do have plans for a distillery on Islay. Their brands include Single Malts of Scotland, Elements of Islay and Port Askaig. 

We each paid £25 for 6 x 20ml samples delivered and on the night a Zoom session was organised. Julie Hamilton and Edel O’Keeffe from Elixir led us through the tasting, sharing insights into each distillery and their whisky.

An interesting part of the tasting, which initially I didn't like, was to split the attendees up into smaller groups - each in its own 'Zoom Room' for 5-10 minutes to discuss each dram. The idea being that 'it was like sitting round a small table, with mates, in a pub'.

I was initially sceptical about this, but it worked seamlessly and after a couple of goes of discussing a dram with different people I really enjoyed it and made a few new friends! After 5-10 minutes we all went back to the main Zoom where Julie told us a little about the distillery and dram we had just tried.

What did we try:

From the Single Malts of Scotland small batch range, a marriage of 4 to 6 ex-borbon hogsheads bottled at 48%, were Parcel (Release) 2 of Clynelish 8yo & Linkwood 12yo, from Parcel 3 a Benrinnes 13yo. From Element of Islay were Bw8 at 51.2% and Cl13 at 54.6%. We finished with Port Askaig's 12yo 2020 Spring Release a 45.8% Caol Ila.

My brief thoughts on the drams:

Clynelish 8yo, 48% (SMOS Reserve Casks Parcel 2) 

Orchard fruit on the nose follows through to the palate with a peppery spice kick at the end.

 

Benrinnes 13yo, 48% (SMOS Reserve Casks Parcel 3) 

Tropical fruit notes with a little milk chocolate on the nose, similar on the palate, a little drying, with a gentle spice note the end. 

 

Linkwood 12yo, 48% (SMOS Reserve Casks Parcel 2) 

Orchard fruit on the nose, turning a little more tropical on the palate with a gentle spice note the end. 

 

Bw8 16yo, 51.2% (EoI Bowmore Batch 8) 

Easily the best Bowmore I've had in a long time, gentle smoke, a little fruit and a little salinity.

 

Cl13 NAS, 54.6% (EoI Caol Ila Batch 13) 

Lovely typical smoky Caol Ila with bbq and the beach steak and seaside notes.

 

Port Askaig 12yo, 45.8% (Spring 2020 Release) 

Again a lovely typical smoky Caol Ila if anything let down by following it's stronger Element Of Islay stable mate.

 

A nice set of drams, with the Caol Ila NAS coming out on top for me followed by the Benrinnes, Port Askaig, Bowmore, Linkwood and finally the Clynelish.

Many thanks to Martin, Mark & Rich at BCWS for organising, Julie & Edel for running the tasting and the rest of the tasters for an enjoyable night. Our final pick for the best of the night went to the Caol Ila.

Sample packaged up ready to send!