One Cask At A Time - First release

One Cask At A Time is a new independent bottler based in Edinburgh, they sent me a sample set from their first release to review.

Let's give them a try!

It's always interesting to see what a new indie bottler puts out as their first release, and as releases go this one looks pretty impressive, but let's see what the liquid is like?

Dram	Ben Nevis	Glentauchers	Auchentoshan
Characteristics	2012 11yo Single Cask #1487 CS 56.1% ABV	2009 15yo Single Cask #800682  CS 56.9% ABV	1998 26yo Single Cask #980100161 CS 59.2% ABV
Bottler notes	Aroma: Clean nose with fresh fruit, pear, and caramel nuances, underpinned by subtle woody notes. Taste: Reflects the nose with a sweet and woody profile, hints of pear and caramel, and a touch of earthy oak.​​	Aroma: Mild, fresh nose with light estery Speyside notes of bubble-gum, pear drops, and acetone. Trace of white grapes; water adds a chalky note. Taste: Surprisingly sweet with fruity-flavoured boiled sweets and light citric acidity. Medium-length finish with a warming fruit pastille aftertaste.	Aroma: Fresh and clean nose with light prickle. Fruity top notes of lemon zest, unripe melon, pineapple, and faint florals. Trace of butterscotch with water. Taste: Light texture, fresh and sweet start, lightly acidic mid-palate, and tart, medium-length peppery finish with lingering tingling pepper.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Very pale gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an while to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.
Nose	Toffee apples, stewed orchard fruit and a little citrus.	Orchard fruit, honey and a little acetone. Some milk chocolate honeycomb notes.	Melon, lemon and caramel. Citrus peel and milk chocolate.
Palate	Thick meaty arrival, packs a punch: honey sweetness, dry smoke, grilled steak. There's a little soapiness, some toffee and a dry smoky spice as the liquid disappears.	Thick sweet arrival: honey orchard fruit and a little caramel. Stewed apples and pears give way to pineapple and mango. A little drying, some acetone off notes and a peppery spice as the liquid disappears,	Thick sweet oily arrival: a little acidic to start but turns sweet. Honey, toffee and bitter lemon. There's a really strange off note with this one as each sip disappears: slightly metallic, mouldy apples and caramel sauce?
Finish	Short, sweet and spicy with toffee apples around a bonfire.	Lingering orchard fruit, dry spice and a little acetone.	Lingering apple, honey and acetone with a strange metallic note,

Dram	Highland Park	Ledaig	Aultmore
Characteristics	1996 27yo Single Cask #816 CS 43.2% ABV	1993 30yo Single Cask #252 CS 42.3% ABV	1990 33yo Single Cask #5923 CS 43.5% ABV
Bottler notes	Aroma: Mild, savoury nose with maritime notes of seaweed, dry sand-dunes, salt crystals, linseed oil, and a hint of banana. Taste: Slightly oily mouth-feel. Salty start, sweet undertones, white pepper, toasted oak, and a touch of peat-smoke in a warming finish. ​​	Aroma: Light and fresh with a faint maritime hint, complemented by subtle notes of fresh fruit, strawberry, and cut grass. Taste: Delicate and understated, offering a gentle sweetness, light woody undertones, and a touch of caramel. The finish is smooth, with lingering hints of oak barrel and cut grass.	Aroma: Mild nose-feel, clean and sweet with fruity apple, hints of balsa wood, linseed oil, and a suggestion of cappuccino coffee. Taste: Creamy texture, sweet mid-palate with pineapple, banana, caramel, vanilla essence, and a touch of milk chocolate in the finish.
My thoughts:
Appearance
	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin oily legs.	Light gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.	Mid gold in the glass, swirls cling as a thin line, take an age to bead up and fall as slow thin legs.
Nose	Gentle heathery smoke, dried seaweed and a little tropical fruit : grilled pineapple on the beach..	Fresh cut grass, lemon zest, berries and a hint of distant smoked kippers.	Fresh fruit bowl, sweet honey and lemon zest.
Palate	Surprisingly thick arrival, a little soapiness, immediately sweet and juicy - there's tropical fruit, honey and a little salinity. Peppery spice and a little dryness as the liquid disappears is the only suggestion of peat smoke on the palate.	Again surprisingly thick arrival, berries and cherries to the fore here, some tropical fruit and peppery spice. Very drying. Vanilla, rum & raisin ice cream and some milk chocolate hints. The spice lingers as the liquid disappears.	Thin sweet arrival, a little oily and a little soapy. Tropical fruit notes of banana and kiwi - nothing too overpowering. No spice to talk about but a little drying. A little chocolate chewing nuts, vanilla and some almond hints.
Finish	Short and sweet with tropical fruit and a little citrus zest.	Medium length with berries and tropical fruit.	Short and sweet with almonds and banana.
Overall	I couldn't get any information on maturation casks for any of these drams, the website talks about "single oak cask" but nothing more, the PR company who sent me the samples were able to confirm that they are all ex-bourbon. The Ben Nevis was easily my favourite of the six, meaty and a little smoky - yummy! The Glentauchers didn't fair very well, typical orchard fruit notes  gave way to almost new makey hints and acetone.  The Auchentoshan wasn't great either it had a really strange acidic off note. My least favourite of the six. I'd not have guessed Highland Park trying this blind, it was a very delicate not a typical robust HP dram. Lot's of tropical fruit and salinity would have pointed me elsewhere. The Ledaig wasn't easily recognisable either - again very delicate, none of the lovely robust tarmac, burnt rubber and creosote notes you'd usually expect. The Aultmore was another delicate dram, could have been from anywhere! The last 3 were fairly old drams at very low ABVs, I gave them a fair amount of time in the glass to open up. each was very delicate and not typical of the distillery character we are maybe used to. Enjoyable enough but not drams I'd buy a bottle of. The Auchentoshan was just not nice, Glentauchers seemed much younger than it's 15 years. The Ben Nevis was easily the best of the six, showing the age isn't always the best when it comes to whisky.

There's been a lot of 'interesting press' around these release - google it - good from the non-whisky 'influencers' and not so good from the whisky 'influencers'. For the record I wasn't invited to the launch and only offered the samples to review. Above is my fair review of the liquid hopefully without any bias. Also interestingly I've not seen any other reviews of the actual whisky...