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u/ALaccountant 2d ago
Where can you buy this? Available in US? I’ve heard great things about Cadenheads
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u/jamie_r87 2d ago
I think they’re one of the best independent bottlers. Available via link on their email announcements. You’d have to check the website for shipping destinations.
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u/milk-water-man 2d ago
As a mini bottle collector I couldn’t bring myself to open these. As a scotch lover I don’t think i could stop myself.
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u/milk-water-man 2d ago
Are those prices for mini bottles or fifths?
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u/YouCallThatPeaty 2d ago
Thanks for the write up, they are so useful, especially as you do them prerelease when everything is still available. Unsurprisingly I've already enquired about the Kilkerran. Have you got a sample of that HP 8? If not, I'll see if I can find some in the stash
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u/jamie_r87 2d ago
I’ve got a bottle of it somewhere! Just not cracked into it yet
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u/YouCallThatPeaty 2d ago
I think you'll like it, it's very different from the OB series of HP
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u/jamie_r87 2d ago
Yeah it was well received so picked a bottle up at the festival a few months after release but not got into it yet. I really liked the warehouse tour bottle as well.
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u/YouCallThatPeaty 1d ago
The warehouse tasting bottles were awesome. Best value distillery exclusives I've ever seen
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u/jamie_r87 2d ago
Aultmore 18 years old Bourbon Hogshead 52.5% Nose: plantain, icing sugar, tinned peaches and pineapple cubes, slight rum estery note, after a while the slight funky tropical character starts to come through. Mouth: tropical fruitiness with some papaya, guava and yellow melon, creme anglais, fondant fancies, slight waxiness in the finish along with some sherbet lemons. Really solid and tasty bourbon cask with a bit of age behind it. Nothing to not like about this. £85 for 18 year old single cask seems good value to me.
Enigma Speyside 12 years old Bourbon barrel 58% Nose: starburst, again quite a tropical nose with some um bungo and rubicon juice, vimto, a slight minerality Mouth: tangfastic haribo, candy sticks, rye bread, tangerine segments, creme brûlée topping, a little pepperiness in the finish. Another decent bourbon cask whisky, the nose in particular is lovely and comes across as something much older than it’s reported 12 years. £55 is a good price as well.
Balmenach 11 years old Bourbon old Cognac hogshead since 2019 57.9% Nose: a slightly meaty arrival, brown sugar, fresh plums, baked apples, Mouth: gravy granules, brandy snaps, vanilla essence, crystallised ginger, slight nutty note, rising bread dough, jelly sweets. One of the better balmenach I’ve tried, the meaty note is something I’ve noted with their distillate, it works quite well with the cognac finish here. £60 is another good value dram.
Knockdu 13 years old Rum barrel since 2019 54.1% Nose: musty and funky, apple cider vinegar, rum n raisin fudge, nut brittle, potting shed, tomato plants Mouth: that slight musty funky vinegar note remains, goji berries, pink wafers, overripe banana, toffee apples. I think this one will take some time to get my head around, it’s really interesting and atypical in a good way (to the point that I’d contemplate a bottle just to explore it a bit more). Not really what I was expecting and one to ponder.
Blair Athol 15 years old Refill oloroso hogshead since 2022 60.9% Nose: treacle tart, dry rye crackers, cocoa powder, mocha Mouth: walnut, Brazil nut, garam, coco nibs, nutmeg, wood spice. Quite an active refill cask, there is a predominance of drier wood notes and I’m wishing there was some sweeter fruitier notes to add a bit of balance. It’s quite tasty as is that being said. I’ve a suspicion there was a need to finish it though.
Glenallachie 12 years old Oloroso butt 65.8% Nose: prunes, grated milk chocolate, nutmeg, mincemeat, glacé cherries, dried apricot. Mouth: apricot and nectarine and brown sugar, bread and butter pudding, cherries, honey comb and amaretti, calpol. The last two outturns are highlighting the difference between full maturation vs a finish. This is a good sherry cask, all well balanced and integrated and not a bomb as such either. £65 is a bargain. Don’t think you’d go wrong with this one.
Ord 19 years old Oloroso hogshead since 2020 51.8% Nose: bovril, brisket, port reduction, dark chocolate Mouth: much brighter than the nose suggested it’s would be, kahlua, Turkish delight, star anise, pink strepsils, dried red berries and currants. Nose made me think this was going to be on the more brooding side of sherry but the palate went in a different direction. Quite fun. £85 for the age statement is pretty good, I think I’d go for the glenallachie though.
Kilkerran 5 years old Refill oloroso hogshead 61.4% Nose: roast lamb, tobacco, over brewed tea, biltong, burnt ends Mouth: salted caramel, dry ash, wet rope, curly wurly, prosciutto, sesame snaps, Heather honey. I’m presuming this is heavily peated distillate though it doesn’t expressly say it on any of the info I’ve seen. It’s very nice to be honest, and I’m not the biggest fan of the heavily peated series. The single cask stuff on the other hand seems to work well. I didn’t try the 8 year old cask (yet) previously put out by Cadenheads but this is up there with one of the best HP kilkerran releases I’ve tried (next to the warehouse tastings cask). £60 is quite an easy sell really.
Overall thoughts. There isn’t a bad whisky in this batch, they all have their charms. Personally I find the Aultmore, kilkerran and Glenallachie those most appealing. The Blair Athol and balmenach are the weaker members of the pack but of course individual tastes vary.