Side by side: Fettercairn's Warehouse 2 Batches

Over the last couple of years @FettercairnWh have been releasing bottlings labelled as "Warehouse 2" - a selection of small batches featuring interesting combinations of the casks matured within its walls.

Let's try them!

I've written about Fettercairn's unique distillery here, this time we are trying the 4 releases from their Warehouse 2 small batches.

Fettercairn has 14 dunnage style warehouses on site, Warehouse 2 is the one you'll visit on a tour.

These bottlings are trying to show some of the huge range of casks stored in the distillery's warehouses and the types of whisky that can be matured. They are all about showing the impact of the wood on the spirit rather than the spirit itself. The first Batch was a marriage of 5 different cask types:

Lets see what they are like:

Dram	Batch No 001	Batch No 002	Batch No 003	Batch No 004
Info	49.7% ABV Natural colour, NCF D: '10, B: '21 Port pipes (40%), ex-Bourbon barrels (35%), Tevasa  Sherry barrels (10%), Vasyma Sherry butts (10%) & unseasoned Vasyma barrels (5%)	48.5% ABV Natural colour, NCF D: '09, B: '21 FF ex-American Rye & Bourbon barrels	50.6% ABV Natural colour, NCF D: '15, B: 3 Mar '22 Ex-Bourbon Barrels (57%),  French Red Wine Barriques (27%) & Rum Barrels (16%)	48.8% ABV Natural colour, NCF D: '14, B: '22 FF & 2F American and Hungarian oak casks
Distillery notes	Nose: Melon, pear and honey with vanilla and ginger notes. Taste: Enjoy creamy coffee, grapefruit, spiced apple and cinnamon.	Nose: Sweet honey, sugared almonds and soft spices married with tropical fruit notes and sweet vanilla. Taste: Layers of tropical and citrus fruits, sweet cassia bark, moist ginger cake, warming maple syrup and roasted Arabica coffee.	Nose: Warm honey, Alphonso mangos, brioche, cocoa, subtle forest fruits and waves of rose water. Taste: Passion fruit, papaya, red berries and grape must harmonised with sugared almonds, patisserie spice and heather honey.	Nose: Notes of Madagascan vanilla, poached pears and cracked pepper. Taste: Toffee, honey and rich nuttiness. Vibrant yet elegant balance of honey dew melon, passion fruit, burnished citrus and sweet oak wood.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a hairline crack in the glass, bead up very slowly and fall as slow thin legs
Nose	Dunnage funk to start, some vanilla, and orchard and tropical fruit: pears, pineapple, melon, apricots, peaches.  There's some cherry and dried fruit  hints here too. We then get brown sugar, coffee and some milk chocolate.	Again a little dunnage funk, tropical fruit and some coconut milk. Honey and lemon zest suggest sweetness and some citrus fizz to come. There's a little more spice on the nose of this one but not a lot.	Marzipan and honey to start - a lot of sweetness. Vanilla, pineapple and some coconut. There's some red berry hints and a little peppery spice.	Again marzipan and honey to start, this one has more tropical fruit notes: pineapple, banana, kiwi and melon. There's some bready notes, citrus and a little hint of red berries.
Palate	Sweet arrival, tropical fruit and honey to start with then a lovely bite of ginger spice. The fruit from the nose is here along with some stewed apples with cinnamon and dried fruit smothered in vanilla custard. There's a little orange zest and a bite of sour grapefruit as the liquid disappears. A little drying. Nice!	Dry fruity arrival, not as sweet as Batch 001. There's some tropical fruit, a little citrus and a few different spices: ginger, cinnamon, pepper. Lemon zest gives a fizz and icing sugar covered pineapple coats the tongue. Dark chocolate and coffee give a little bitterness as the liquid disappears.	Thick sweet arrival with pineapple and red berries to start. There is an immediate bite of ginger spice and some sour citrus before the mouth is left dry, wanting more! The marzipan notes from the nose come back with a few more sips - nutty sweetness. There's some toffee and a little herbal note before dry spice takes over again as the liquid disappears.	Thick sweet arrival, tropical fruit and honey citrus with a little ginger spice. Just a minute that's what I'd call the distillery character - where's the cask influence? Well to be honest there isn't a lot more - maybe some red berry hints, maybe a little cherry? A few more sips and there is a little salinity giving a dryness. Lovely!
Finish	Medium length dry spice, honey and tropical fruit.	Lingering cinnamon spice, citrus and a little dry icing sugar,	Lingering dry spice, almonds and citrus.	Lingering dry spice, citrus and a little honey.
Overall	A very interesting set of drams, I'm sure a lot of work went into putting the mixtures together! The distillery character wasn't as lost as I though it would be - tropical fruit, honey, citrus and a little spice shone through on all of the drams, the maturation adding a layer of complexity. Batch No 004 was the closed to distillery character - a lovely dram and to be honest my favourite of the four - why mess with what's good already?

Purchased as part of a bottle split not from my good friends at @WhiskyPioneer - we just use their brilliant bottles!