Side by side: Bimber's Underground Release No. 6

@BimberLondon have released their latest batch of Underground themed bottlings.

Release No. 6 includes Wimbledon, Stratford, Oval, and Wembley Park. Bimber were kind enough to sent me some samples to review - let's see what they are like!

Bimber release regular single cask bottlings under the banner The Spirit of the Underground Series  which celebrates one of the great engineering projects of the past 200 years.

"For The Spirit of the Underground Collection, Bimber’s team have selected from our finest London single malt whisky casks.

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Each individual bottling reflects both our craft and our passion, revealing a highly individual, but perfectly balanced merger of aroma and flavour that signifies the apex of Bimber.

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Produced with consummate skill and an unwavering commitment to quality, each release celebrates a different station on London’s Underground network and presents a unique piece of the city’s history.

The journey is just as important as the destination – thank you for continuing to share ours."

Release No. 6 connects to a sporting location:

Wimbledon	Stratford	Oval	Wembley Park
Wimbledon station was first opened in May 1838, but it wasn’t until June 1889 that the District Railway opened at Wimbledon as part of an extension from Putney Bridge. That station was entirely rebuilt on its current site for the opening of this service. Since its opening, the station has been synonymous with the Wimbledon Tennis Championship – the oldest and most prestigious tennis tournament in the world. Lines: District	Stratford station was opened in June 1839 by Eastern Counties Railways. Central line services commenced in December 1946 extending the line from Liverpool Street station in new tunnels that had been delayed due to the Second World War. The station is located close to the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park, which hosted the 2012 Summer Olympics and Paralympics. The site hosts a variety of world-class sporting venues, including the London Stadium, London Aquatics Centre and Lee Valley Velodrome. Lines: Central, Jubilee	Oval station was opened in December 1890 as part of the City and South Railway – the first deep-level Tube line. Named after the world-famous cricket ground just a short walk from the station, oval was originally designed with neo-classical details from architect Thomas Philips Figg. The station was modernised in the early 1920s and then again in 1997/98 when internal decorative tiling featuring imagery of a variety of cricketing stances was added. Lines: Northern	Wembley Park station opened in October 1983 – three years after the Metropolitan Railway (MR) has been extended from Willseden Green to Harrow-on-the-Hill. The world-famous stadium – then known as ‘Empire Stadium’ was first opened to the public in 1923. The ‘cathedral of football’ hosted its first event in the same year – The FA Cup final between Bolton Wanderers and West Ham United. Lines: Jubilee, Metropolitan

Dram	Wimbledon	Stratford	Oval	Wembley Park
Characteristics	Vino de Naranja Cask Finish #310/5 298 bottles 56.6% ABV	Fino Cask Finish #267/16 325 bottles 58.5% ABV	Moscatel Cask Finish #282/22 307 bottles 57.6% ABV	Marsala Cask Finish #300/10 305 bottles 58.3% ABV
Distillery notes	NOSE: Sweet charred oak and delicate vanilla join notes of fresh orange. Hazelnut and chocolate support alongside candyfloss sweetness PALATE: Tangerines, quinces and blood orange marmalade sit alongside split vanilla pods and layers of milk chocolate and gooey caramel FINISH: Honey and caramel fade into chocolate orange	NOSE: Poached pears and apricot halves are enlivened with nutmeg and ginger spices alongside nuttiness PALATE: Fruit-forward with apricots, plums and pineapple, developing into toasted cereals, chopped nuts and asides of minerality FINISH: Lingering spices and sweet fruit peels	NOSE: Pineapple chunks are joined by cooking apples and peach tarts alongside notes of filter coffee and chopped nuts PALATE: Chocolate and piped vanilla buns sit with orange jelly, orchard fruits and delicate brown sugars FINISH: Fading sherried fruits and balanced ginger spicing	NOSE: Oranges and clementines sit atop of gooey honey, marzipan and integrated nutmeg spiced oakiness PALATE: Zesty orange and lemon segments are invigorated with pronounced nutmeg, clove and ginger spice alongside chocolate-dipped almonds FINISH: Sustained spice and char with fading citrus fruits
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line in the glass, form tiny beads which fall as slow thin legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Bronze in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line in the glass, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin oily legs.
Nose	A slight mustiness gives way to thick cut orange marmalade, toffee, honey and vanilla ice cream. There's an interesting plum note, some Nutella and a hint of berries and cherries.	Green apple, a little chalk and a little salinity. There's some sweetness from honey and caramel alongside marzipan and a little lemon zest. Smells very 'dry'	Another with a slight mustiness some tropical fruit and marzipan. Charred pineapple, peach and kiwi. There's some sweet orange peel, honey and dried fruit.	A rich spice mix to start: ginger, nutmeg and cinnamon. Honey and orange juice alongside white chocolate covered almonds.
Palate	Thick sweet arrival coating the mouth with orange and toffee. The ABV makes itself known leaving the mouth dry as the liquid disappears. A few more sips offer berries and cherries from the nose encased in milk chocolate with a hint of coffee. There's a lovely nuttiness and some orange zest before again leaving the mouth dry with cinnamon spice.	Again a thick mouthcoating arrival but there's not much sweetness in this one. Dry vegetal notes, salinity, green olives and camomile tea alongside some lemon cheesecake. There's some dry black plum skin, marzipan and hints of digestive biscuit. Ginger spice and citrus peel left on the tongue as the liquid disappears.	A very weird arrival, thick and sweet followed by thin, oily and spicy! Very dry. Brown sugar and honey offer sweetness with some orange followed by ginger and cinnamon giving the spice. Tart pineapple and grapefruit round things off as the liquid disappears.	Thick bitty orange juice to start, ginger spice and a little honey. There's a lovely chocolate marzipan note, red berries, dry cinnamon spice and a hint of salinity. The liquid dries the mouth like icing sugar wanting you to take another sip. Lemon zest lingers on the tongue as the liquid disappears.
Finish	Lingering orange, toffee and cinnamon spice.	Lingering ginger spice, lemon and salted almonds.	Long the spicy with sour citrus and cinnamon.	Medium length citrus and spice.
Overall	Vino de Naranja, or orange wine, is produced with white wine macerated with orange peel and wow do them orange notes shine through - loads of expensive thick cut orange marmalade all the way through this dram and some lovely dry spice. Yummy! The Fino was very dry, hardly any sweetness but with a salinity that any coastal distillery would cry out for! Loads of spice and vegetal notes easily identify the cask type. The Moscatel was a bit of a weird one, fruity, sweet and spicy with a little tart note. I've had a Peated Moscatel from Bimber before and that was yummy - this one is less so. The Marsala had some lovely orange and spice notes with hints of dried fruit and berries. a lovely dram! Bimber say that each of these drams spent 3 years in their 'finishing' cask so a double maturation rather than a finish. I think they've maybe masked too much of the distillery's fruity character but they are all still yummy drams!

Unfortunately the ballot for these releases has just closed, hopefully like me you'll win the bottles you've put in for. If not I'm sure they will soon be available on auction sites. I went for the Marsala and Moscatel but after these samples I wished I'd gone for the Vino de Naranja.

Huge thanks to Bimber for the samples, lets hope I get the bottles I picked in the ballot!