Chorlton Whisky - Four Peat Monsters

One of the smaller indie bottlers @ChorltonWhisky have released over 60 bottles each with a unique medieval style label.

Here I'm trying four of their peated bottlings:

Dram	Bunnahabhain 2013 8yo Single Cask (Staoisha)	Loch Lomond 2013 13yo Single Cask (Inchfad)	Caol Ila 2009 12yo Single Cask	Ledaig 2009 12yo Single Cask
Characteristics	59.9% ABV 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon	52.7% ABV Bourbon Barrel	57.7% ABV Hogshead	55.5% ABV Refill Hogshead
Distillery notes	None	None	None	None
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as quick thin legs.
Nose	Typical bonfire on a beach stuff: smoke, salinity and tropical fruit. Some banana, marzipan, vanilla and a faint hint of sour citrus here too.	Very vegetal to start: mouldy leaves, pine needles and iodine bandages. There's some distant smoke, a little orchard fruit and some milk chocolate.	More bonfire on a beach: smoke, salinity and tropical fruit; but this one has some berry notes, toffee and BBQ meats.	Distant smoke, tropical fruit, barley sugars, and a little salinity. This isn't as dirty as most Ledaig's I've tried - there's a little medicinal note but none of the heavy rubber or oil notes I normally associate.
Palate	Thick smoky arrival, ashy and dry before the spice bites at your tongue - pepper and ginger. There's some tropical fruit and that sour grapefruit hinted at on the nose. A few more sips offer some icing sugar dusted dried pineapple sweetness with a hint of golden syrup. Nice!	Thick sweet arrival, orchard fruit and brown sugar to the fore. The spice comes next - just gentle but building and then the smoke, again fairly gentle. The vegetal notes from the nose have gone. A few more sips offer a little citrus zest, vanilla and some	Thick sweet arrival, berries, toffee, honey and a little tropical fruit before the smoke comes in and blankets everything. There's a little salinity, dried fruit, some liquorice and a hint of BBQ meat. Dark chocolate gives a little bitter edge as the liquid disappears,	Thick dry arrival, more barley sugars, some tropical fruit and a little ashy smoke. The sweetness builds up with each sip as does the smoke. A little lemon zest, marzipan and drying icing sugar. There's a little gentle spice and a some salinity.
Finish	Lingering ashy smoke, peppery spice and a citrus bite.	Lingering dry smoke, cinnamon spice and a little baked apple.	Lingering salinity, ashy smoke and berry hints.	Long sweet dry finish with smoke, citrus and a gentle spice.
Overall	The Bunna was lovely - 8yo hits the sweet spot for Staoisha or Margadale (or Mòine as the distillery bottled peated drams are called) and ex-bourbon matures it nicely. I don't think I've ever had a bad one. A very strange nose on the Loch Lomond, very vegetal, not something I'd normally associate with them - a strange cask maybe? Once in the mouth though all the regular orchard fruit, gentle spices and gentle smoke I'd expect are here. The Caol Ila is a bit of a strange one - I've never seen a ex-bourbon cask give that kind of colour or the berry notes, I think some wine or refill sherry may have been involved? It had all of the trademark Caol Ila ashy smoke and salinity - very nice! The Ledaig was very interesting, blind I'd never have called it, but very tasty all the same! Chorlton have bottled some really good whisky, I have a bottle of the Bunna on the shelf - worth a try of any of their releases!

Thanks to @GascoyneNick & @whiskyodyssey for the sample swaps!

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