Side by side : Cooper King

Cooper King CKdistillery in Yorkshire has been distilling since 2019 releasing small batches of their whisky.

 Here I'll try five.

Cooper King have sourced their the custom-made 900 litre copper pot still from Tasmania and use 100% Yorkshire barley combined with pure Yorkshire water in a 5+ day fermentation period to produce a "distinctive malt spirit unlike any other in the UK".

I've written about their history before here!

Their website gives full details of each bottling, a geek's heaven, and something I think more distilleries should so. For example the  Transatlantic is described as:

As you can see these are very small batch releases and most sell out on the day they are released. Thanks to a bottle split by @newdramrising I was able to try 5 of their first 6 releases!

Let's see how their whiskies taste:

Dram	The First Edition	Transatlantic	Single Cask	Double Matured	Embers
Characteristics	44% ex-bourbon / 22% refill sherry / 19% ex-red wine / 15% ex-cognac 48.1% ABV	67% ex-red wine NEOC / 14% ex-red wine / 12% refill bourbon / 7% ex-malt whiskey 48% ABV	100% first-fill ex-Cognac cask 53.2% ABV	5 months in new French oak, then transferred to a FF ex-Armagnac cask for a further 3 years, 5 months 52.1% ABV	68% ex-dark fired bourbon / 32% ex-red wine NEOC, finished in ex-bourbon 49% ABV
Bottler notes	The First Edition is the starting point for the Expedition Series of releases; a journey of discovery through the finest casks in our warehouse. This release of only 589 bottles is from a vatting of 6 small oak casks from our early distillations and is the first publicly available whisky to be launched from the distillery.	Premium Bordeaux wine casks bring notes of toasted oak, cocoa and stewed fruit, whilst the tannins integrate wonderfully with our complex and fruity spirit. Using different cask-toast levels creates a rich depth of flavour, reminiscent of our time exploring bold, wine-cask matured whiskies in Tasmania. Finally, we rounded off with layers of vanilla and cinnamon from Kentucky bourbon casks.	For this expression, we selected a small, first-fill Cognac cask in which to age our spirit for full-term maturation. This dram rewards you with its floral bouquet, alongside hints of wood polish and candied orange. Oak spice follows on the palate, softening to toasted nuts and rich, lingering malt. A splash of water reveals buttery lemon shortbread, fudgy vanilla and with a little patience, those delicate floral aromas of chamomile and fresh linen appear.	Five months in new oak imparted that remarkable colour, along with a rich bouquet of oak spice and cedar wood. Moving the spirit into an Armagnac cask allowed for a gentle continuation to maturity. A generous helping of creamy vanilla and muscovado sugar softens the spice, giving way to baked peach and cherry blossom.	The intense hickory smoke from the casks has softened over time. A gentle wood smoke and earthiness remains, reminiscent of evenings enjoyed with friends around a campfire. This is a vibrant and evocative whisky, perfect for enjoying fireside – be that in the great outdoors, or beside a cosy hearth.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up and fall as quick thin oily legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up and fall as quick thin oily legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up slowly and fall as slow thin legs.	Dark gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up and fall as quick thin oily legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thick line, bead up and fall as quick thin oily legs.
Nose	Young and spirity on the nose with some complexity from the cask make-up. Stewed apples, lemon meringue pie and a little herbal note.	Hedgerow berries, vanilla and orange zest. A hint of smoke or cask char and a lovely note of  peach.	A little spirity, lots of orchard fruit some orange peel and a little herbal influence.	Thick and meaty, the orange zest note is back. You expect a sherry bomb from the colour but there are no sherry notes!	Burnt toffee, dark chocolate, faint citrus zest.
Palate	Thick spicy arrival, orange marmalade, honey and toffee apple. There's some cinnamon spice and an interesting dry herbal note - probably from the Cognac cask?	Thick sweet arrival: loads of berries and cherries, a little liquorice and some gingerbread. A little cask char and quite drying as the liquid disappears with some oak tannins. A little cinnamon spice to finish.	Thick sweet arrival, very dry. There's some orchard fruit, herbal hints and a forest floor pine needle note. It's a little powdery. I'm not keen on this one - it's the Cognac - a little sour note at the end.	Thick meaty arrival, orchard fruit and some forest floor notes. Very dry. The expected dried fruit and berries just aren't there - it's more tropical fruit and oak - lovely.	Thick juicy smoky arrival, very drying. There's berries, golden syrup, brown sugar and some toffee. Very juicy on the tongue before the dry smoke takes over.
Finish	Long dry and spicy with some orange marmalade and toffee.	Lingering dry spice and tannins with some berry notes.	Long dry spicy finish with some orchard fruit and herbal notes.	Lingering sweet spicy finish with tropical fruit notes.	Short dry smoky finish with oak spice and caramelised fruit.
Overall	At around 3-5 years old all of these drams were good, a couple a little spirity, but all showed lovely distillery notes: orange, dry spice and fruit. All of these drams were at 48%+ a lovely drinking strength, I didn't fell the need to add water at any stage. The Embers came across really well as smoky - but this was from a charred cask rather than peated barley - a lovely fireside dram. My favourite though was the Transatlantic - but I am a bit of a sucker for wine casks at the moment! Again charred casks imparting a little smoke to balance things nicely.  Some great work from Abbie and Chris and I can't wait to see what they come up with next as their spirit matures even more!