Ready for some sippin’?
Last Wednesday nights @TweetTastings, which was once again ably hosted by Steve from The Whisky Wire, featured the fruity delights of The Whisky Cellar!
The goodies sampled were four whiskies and one rum:-
- The Easy Sipper North British 11 Years Old
- Brig O’ Perth Blair Athol 11 Years Old
- Pintail Linkwood 14 Years Old
- Pintail Mannochmore 14 Years Old
- Pintail XO Panama Rum 14 Years Old
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 #TheWhiskyCellar on Twitter.
The Whisky Cellar range is available to buy from: Master of Malt, Whisky Castle, Aberdeen Whisky Shop, Cork & Cask, Top Whiskies, Vino Fandango and House of Malt.
So, what did I think?
Here are my tasting notes … and the ones which were my favourite on the night!
Tasting Notes – The Easy Sipper – North British 11 Years Old Single Grain Scotch Whisky (46.4%)
The Easy Sipper — the brand was the 2020 ‘lockdown’ brainchild of our owner, Keith Bonnington, who imagined a sharing whisky that celebrated the reconnection of kindred souls after all social contact was temporarily put on hold nearly 3 years ago — this would be a sweet, easy-sipping dram for everyone to enjoy together. A love of late-1960s/early-70s psychedelia pop-culture led us to create a non-conventional whisky brand identity that wouldn’t look out of place on the front of a Grateful Dead or The Beatles album cover.
Matured in exclusively first-fill American Oak ex-bourbon barrels and produced in batches of around 500 bottles.
First-Fill Ex-Bourbon Barrels # 317443 & 317444 (11 years old)
1554 bottles
46.4% alc.
RRP £39.00
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Nose: Lovely, sweet tropical fruits with blood oranges, lychees, pineapple and toffee – smashing! Afterwards there follows pears in custard with sugared almonds. Palate: Basically the nose! Sweet tropical fruits with blood oranges, lychees, pineapple and toffee then pears in custard with sugared almonds – remarkable! Finish: Dry, spicy, oaky finish with lots of pepper and some chilli – kinda moreish! |
Tasting Notes – Brig 0′ Perth — Blair Athol 2011 11 Years Old ‘Vino de Color’ Sherry Cask Finish (54.7%)
Brig 0′ Perth — established in 1896 by Matthew Gloag & Son (months before their Famous Grouse brand) and bottled in the basement of the family grocery store at 20-24 Atholl Street, Perth (Scotland), The Whisky Cellar acquired the brand from its previous owner, Edrington, in 2019. Predominantly bottled as a Blended Scotch (our 125th Anniversary Blend was launched in December 2021), we will release occasional Single Malt (single cask) bottlings and this is our first foray.
Vino de Color, a mix of unfermented Pedro Ximinez grape juice and dark sherry is one of the oldest styles of Spanish Sherry wine, intensely sweet and syrupy. Casks of this type hardly ever come up for sale and, when this 150 years old cask did, we snapped it up. A mere 3-months in the cask has taken the weighty Blair Athol spirit into extreme ‘Sherry Bomb’ territory.
Vino de Color Finish # 3078 (11 years old)
467 bottles
54.7% alc.
RRP £75.00
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Nose: Warning: Heavy black treacle ahead! Plus, add in some cherries in sugar, sherried fruit cake and a little mint. A surprising note was the powerful, rich, demerara sugar – thick and sweet! Palate: Sweet and luscious with heavy demerara sugar and sherry. Finish: Strong, dark coffee with cherries and spicy pepper. Overall: Very much a ‘Sherry Bomb’ dram! |
Tasting Notes – Pintail — Linkwood 2008 14 Years Old Manzanilla Sherry Finish (53.5%)
Pintail — the home of the ‘funky wine cask finish’, and another ‘heritage’ brand, Pintail was a Matthew Gloag & Son stable-mate of Brig 0′ Perth, launched some 35 years later (1931) initially as a Dry Sherry. Advertised in high society publications such as Tatler through the 1940s and 50s, the brand won international awards for its superior quality as the perfect “11 o’clock to serve to guests before lunch and during meals”.
We acquired the brand last year (retaining the original black bottle — white label look with the Pintail duck in flight refreshed on every label) for a variety of Scotch whiskies finished in interesting ex-wine casks (mainly sweet wines) and also any non-Scotch wines and spirits we select to bottle.
Ex-Manzanilla Sherry casks aren’t commonly used in the secondary maturation of Scotch (though increasingly so in recent years) but we just love how the full 12-month ‘finish’ in this cask has create not a `sherry bomb’ in style but rather a delicate, floral-sweet malt with a beautiful saline, almost sea-salty hint. Linkwood’s inherent fruit-forward style works perfectly in tandem here.
Manzanillo Finish # 9067 (14 years old)
309 bottles
53.5% alc.
RRP £75.00
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Nose: Quite woody with forest fruits, oranges and lemons. It’s a succulent sweetness with hints of blackcurrant and toffee, musky and oaky accompanied by thick jaminess. Palate: Very “Tooty Fruity” fruity with creamy chocolate and some licorice. Finish: Enjoyable pepperiness to complement the fruity sweetness and the kick of chilli at the end is also very attractive! |
Tasting Notes – Pintail — Mannochmore 2008 14 Years Old Tokaji Aszu Finish (55.1%)
Tokaji Aszii, the famous highly prized Hungarian sweet wine is one of the oldest known European wines, going back to the Roman times of 300AD.
These wines are deliciously floral and fruity-sweet in style typically with apricots, nectarines and ripe peaches and a touch of honey, taking the deliciously fruity-floral Mannochmore character to new heights after a 6-month long ‘finishing’ period.
Tokaji Aszb Finish # 3075 (14 Years Old)
289 bottles
55.1%
RRP £80.00
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Nose: Coffee and cherry syrup with peaches, hints of vanilla and shades of citrus plus some woodiness. I also got a strong burst of sweet stout with fantastic malt and cereal. Palate: Ooh! That’s nice! Sweet and fruity with cereal, creamy malt and some citrus. Finish: Spicy coffee with strong, dark chocolate – a wonderful palate! |
Tasting Notes – Pintail — XO Single Origin Panama Rum 14 Years Old (54.0%)
Our first ever Rum bottling is this excellent two-barrel (American Oak ex-bourbon) vatting of a Single Origin 14 Years Old from Panama. We’ve gone with a higher strength at 54% (‘overproof in Rum terms) as it helps to carry the full flavour of this premium spirit.
A true sipping Rum.
Barrels # 51 & 79 (14 Years Old)
548 bottles
54.0%
RRP £85.00
Tropical notes of grilled pineapple and lime zest are balanced with gingery, biscuity spice tones and hints of soft vanilla and toasted
oak.
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Nose: Pineapple, ripe bananas and sugared fruits. Palate: Rich vanilla with cooked pineapple and bananas and dates. Finish: Spicy and oaky. |
My Favourites On The Night
REALLY hard to choose but …
1. Brig O’ Perth Blair Athol 11 Years Old
2. Pintail Mannochmore 14 Years Old
Such a collection of outstanding flavours!
Many thanks to Steve at The Whisky Wire (@TheWhiskyWire / @TweetTastings) for a great evening and The Whisky Cellar (@whisky_cellar) for sending the samples, the cracking T-shirt and without whom!
My fellow Tweet Tasters on the night were:-
@TheWhiskyWire @MaltMusings @whiskyodyssey @scotchjak @whiskygraeme @FiShoop @KiltedDrammer @Whisky_And1 @PadWhisky @ocdwhisky @StillSurreal @DavidBircham @PhilScott101 @awhiskybond @RealDramRob @LeaskPatrick @CEVokins @rodbodtoo @pswhisky @WhiskyWizard31 @whiskyRubhach @ingo74 @Jotterface @MrEdwardMilner
