The Fisherman's Retreat - Edition No. 7

How does a whisky legend Jim McEwan selected 8yo @Bruichladdich matured in a Yalumba Octavius Red Wine Cask and bottled at 50.4% sound?

More importantly - where would you find such a dram?

The Fisherman's Retreat is nestled in the Twine Valley on the edge of the Pennine hills, 3 miles east of the town of Ramsbottom and around 15 miles north of Manchester. It's a family owned and run restaurant pub with a Whisky Shop on site, open since 2006 it stocks over 500 whiskies, they also sell online here!

I've reviewed a few of their limited edition bottlings here, this time I'm looking at their Edition No. 7 which was matured in 1st fill Yalumba Octavius Red Wine Casks, the same casks as used to mature the Arran from Edition No. 4 - so what do we know about them?

The Yalumba Winery was established in the Barossa Valley in South Australia in 1849 by Samuel Smith a gardener from England working for one of  the Barossa’s Valley's founding families.

Photos: Yalumba.com

He bought 80 acres of his own land in 1852, planted his own vineyards and released Yalumba’s first wine in 1853. Robert Hill-Smith, the fifth generation of the family, chairs the company’s board.

Yalumba The Octavius sells for around £100 a bottle, it uses Shiraz wines sourced from a number of very old vineyards in the Barossa Valley, matured in 90-100 litre American oak 'octaves'. The wood is seasoned at the winery for 8 years before being made into casks by their own coopers. This extended seasoning stops the wine from being overwhelmed by the oak. It is the only red wine in the world that is matured in such small casks.

Distillery notes:

The Edition 7 was distilled on 24th August 2011 the spirit had been matured in 1st fill Yalumba Octavius Red Wine Casks. The whisky was then hand bottled on Islay at Kentraw Farm in September last year by the owner of The Fisherman’s Retreat Hervey Magnall along with his good friend and whisky legend Jim McEwan. 

This edition, of 199 bottles, will be released on the 1st November, 100 bottles will be available in the online shop.

        

My thoughts:

Appearance: 50.4% ABV, NCF, Natural colour, I just couldn't get the light right for my photo - but this whisky is pink! Think of a pale rose wine! Swirls leave a hairline crack in the glass, ages pass before beads form and fall as slow thick legs.

Nose: Cranberry juice, rhubarb, warm berry and current notes - blackcurrants, blackberry, raspberry, strawberry. There's a hint of toasted oak and mixed fruit jam, maybe some aniseed? All the time the ABV is biting at the nose.

Palate: Thick fruity arrival, more of the berries from the nose along with lots of spice. Wow this is complex - the more you hold it on your tongue the more it reveals - dry apricots and pears give an orchard fruit note, nutmeg and cinnamon a Christmas spice note. Very drying.

Finish: Lingering dry berry notes with a hint of orchard fruit, spice and toffee.

Thoughts: The small cask size has obviously had a huge impact on the whisky - I don't think there's much of the Bruichladdich style left (cereal, grassy, honey, brown sugar with a little toffee) - the red wine has completely taken over - that's not a bad thing - it just makes it a completely different dram. The old wine gives almost port like character to the whisky and in my book that's yummy!

Many thanks to @FishRetreat for the sample!

Geeky stuff:

Fisherman's Retreat Releases
Edn	Distillery	Year	Age	Cask	ABV
7	Bruichladdich	2011	8yo	Yalumba Octavius Red Wine	50.4%
6	Bruichladdich	2007	12yo	Rivesaltes French Wine	50.4%
5	Port Charlotte	2008	10yo	Château Haut-Brion	54%
4	Arran	2013	5yo	Yalumba Octavius Red Wine	54%
3	Bruichladdich	2008	7yo	Ex Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Yalumba Muscat	65%
2	Arran	1997	15yo	First fill Ex-Sherry Hogshead	53.8%
1	Bruichladdich	2007	5yo	Ex Buffalo Trace Bourbon & Yalumba Muscat	59.6%