Side by side: Two 'plain' ex-bourbon drams from The Sipping Shed

A recent tasting by #TheSheds of five @TheSippingShed releases allowed us to taste two ex-bourbon drams, one from Linkwood and one from Loch Lomond.

Let's see how they compare!

@TheSippingShed was founded in 2014 by Dan Hipshon. Discussing his romantic idea of bottling single casks with friends in his kitchen one evening and before he knew it he had a business partner and talented friends offering their services. They bought their first casks and released a blended whisky called VatOne (a blend of Tamdhu, Glengoyne, Glenrothes and everyone's favourite family run Speyside that doesn't like to be named). Since then they've gone from strength to strength with 9 releases to date and 3 following soon.

We tried the whiskies as part of a zoom tasting where Dan took us through some of his whiskies!

You can argue that ex-bourbon maturation gives you the pure distillery characteristic for a whisky and I'd agree! There are some provisos though: was it ex-bourbon or ex-rye - most distilleries don't tell you; how high was the char level on the cask - again most distilleries don't tell you...

Dram	Linkwood 11yo Single Cask 804348	Glenshiel 10yo (Loch Lomond) Single Cask 800942
Characteristics	59% ABV Bourbon hogshead 267 bottles	59.4% ABV 1st Fill bourbon 102 bottles
Distillery notes	Fresh and exciting yet elegant and wonderfully structured. Everything you want from a Single Malt Speyside whisky! Soft stone fruit sweetness is perfectly balanced with gentle spice and a hint of liquorice. This whisky has a superb oily waxy texture that adds extra depth to the experience. A drop of water opens everything up and releases more fruits, floral notes and oak spices. It’s like an old fashioned sweet shop, but for adults only at 59% abv cask strength. 11 years in one single bourbon cask has imbued this whisky with the superb quality Linkwood distillery is celebrated for. No wonder Master blenders try and keep it all for themselves! Nose: Open up this fabulous bouquet with a dash of water. Fruity initially with peach and apricot with a touch of grapefruit keeping it fresh. Wine gums, a hint of raspberry and subtle mint add to the sweetshop aromas of hard candy. Palate: Elegant with a delicious core of stone fruits and candy sweets. Some creamy highland toffee and a barley sugar sweetness, along with those sweetshop flavours, followed by gentle liquorice and a touch of spice and a hint of grapefruit for balance. It’s oily and slightly waxy giving a lovey feel in the mouth. Finish: Satisfying and moreish with the fruit fading to spice.	Glenshiel 10 year old Single Malt Scotch whisky from an unnamed Highland distillery. Matured exclusively in a first fill bourbon barrel imparting lashings of vanilla, toffee and coconut. Give this one a little time to develop in the glass and you’ll be rewarded with the aromas of apple crumble and thick custard mingling with soft spices. A light oiliness on the palate adds weight and soft dusty oak spice balances the sweeter elements. Delightful! Nose: Floral with juicy apple skins, toffee and spice. With a little time the nose becomes more open with vanilla, coconut and toffee notes and tinned peaches in the background. A dash of water softens the nose and delivers a delicious home cooked apple crumble with a hint of chocolate, doused in custard. A little dusty oak from the first fill bourbon barrel Palate: The palate follows through on the nose and adds some gently malty notes and oak spice. The light oiliness from the distillate combines beautifully with the vanilla from the cask to deliver lush custard notes. A touch of heather, gentle spices and dash of cappuccino balance the sweetness perfectly. A dash of water brings out more juicy fruit, vanilla and coconut. Easy to drink yet so much to explore. Finish: A medium length finish that moves from spicy to juicy and back again. A touch of heather adds a pleasant dryness at the very end.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Very pale gold in the glass, I'm guessing a refill hogshead. Swirls leave a thin line in the glass which slowly beads up and falls as slow thin legs,	Pale gold in the glass, swirls leave a thin line in the glass which slowly beads up and falls as slow thin legs,
Nose	Huge tropical fruit notes: pineapple, mango, peach, kiwi and banana; there's a little vanilla custard and some raspberry jam. A little time and air offers a gentle sweet citrus and some pine-y forest floor notes.	Bounty Bars to start - coconut, milk chocolate and and a little vanilla. There's some stewed orchard fruit notes: apples and pears; and a little honey. A little time and air and this turns a little unusual - there's some berry and toffee notes you might associate with sherry cask maturation.
Palate	Lovely sweet syrupy arrival, lots of ginger spice bite from the high ABV leaves the lips tingling. The tropical fruit from the nose is here - it's like the syrup you get in a tin of fruit salad. There's a some toffee notes along with a little sour citrus grapefruit. Nice!	Another sweet arrival - but this one is more honey like, not as much spice as the Linkwood even though it's a similar ABV. The milk chocolate from the nose is back but the coconut has all but disappeared. The orchard fruit has turned a little tropical and comes with vanilla and a little citrus. Nice!
Finish	Lingering tropical fruit, ginger spice and a little grapefruit.	Lingering orchard fruit, honey and citrus.
Overall	I've been impressed with all the bottles I've tried from The Sipping Shed right back from my try of their Ardmore Oloroso back in early 2020, a week or so before Lockdown started. As I get older and further into my whisky journey I'm finding that I'm tending more towards 'plain' ex-bourbon maturation as my go to dram. The fruit, vanilla and citrus notes that they give just tick all the boxes for me. These two drams are all but plain - loads of fruit, vanilla and citrus in both, the key difference seems to be the spice, loads in the Linkwood and just a little in the Glenshiel. I've tried to find out the distillation style of the Glenshiel, assuming it's from Loch Lomond, there are a few possibilities - it shares some characteristics with Inchmurrin - so maybe the straight necked pot stills? At the time of writing both of these are still available on the Sipping Shed website - give them a go - you won't be disappointed!