Sampling Borders Malt & Rye Blended Scotch Whisky – The Taste Of Things To Come!

WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye Blended Scotch Whisky

Last Wednesday nights @TweetTastings, which was once again ably hosted by Steve from The Whisky Wire, gave us a great opportunity to savour a brand new dram and to experience it amongst friends!

Only 5,988 bottles will ever be sold in the UK

The dram in question was WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye Blended Scotch Whisky which is the first Blended Scotch Whisky to leave the Scottish borders in 185 years!

To create this whisky, The Borders Distillery distilled a small batch of rye spirit and matured it in the same fresh-fill bourbon casks as their malt.

Each bottle of WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye, which is the first Scotch whisky blend from The Borders Distillery to be entirely distilled at its Hawick based site, is individually numbered. Only 5,988 bottles will ever be sold in the UK.

If you want to catch up on what all the tweet tasters had to say you can view their comments by searching for the hash tag #TheBordersDistillery on Twitter.

So, what did I think?

Here are my tasting notes …

Tasting Notes – WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye (40%)

The Borders Distillery Ð Workshop Series

WS:01 Borders Malt & Rye
Blended Scotch Whisky
ABV: 40%
Cask: Bourbon
Comprised of: 63.8% Single Grain Ð 36.2% Single Malt
£40.00

Nose: Not sure I’ve seen a paler dram! Very tropical on the nose with apples and toffee. This morphs into delightful apple pie & custard. Later on the sweetness is balanced by some cereal & biscuit.

Palate: Dry on the palate with cane sweetness and fruit. Lemon citrus then comes to the fore quite forcefully.

Finish: There’s some creamy spice and little bit of coffee and it all finishes warmly.

Overall: I wish the ABV had been higher – it would have given more flavour options but it’s a grower though! A progressively moreish dram that works well on the palate.

The great thing though is the chance to sample a developing and exciting brand – good things to come I think!