April Tasting Sessions – Pour & Sip
April’s Pour & Sip featured a great array of whiskies. We travelled all over the world, from Israel to America, all the way back to Scotland. The experience included single malts, single grains, and a rye whisky – so a real mixed bag.
This subscription continues to develop our whisky horizons and as always, our tasting notes and thoughts are below!
Tasting session one:
| Name | Distillery | Origin | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Classic Single Malt | Milk & Honey | Tel Aviv, Israel | 46% |
| Few Rye | Few Distillery | Illinois, USA | 46.5% |
| Arcadian Gaia 1.1 | Waterford | Waterford, Ireland | 50% |
Classic Single Malt
Nose: caramel, peaches, creamy, honey, sea air and cocoa
Palate: creamy, baking spices, dark fruit, flapjack, doughnuts and dark fruits
Finish: lots of honey, cask pepper and dark chocolate covered walnuts
Aged in a mixture of STR and virgin casks, this whisky is full of character, with a hint of peppery spice on the finish. This is a great whisky to start the evening on, it was smooth, rich and had plenty going on. Letting it sit for a while allowed it to open up even more. It will certainly be one that we add to the collection as something a little different.
Few Rye
Nose: orchard fruits, leather, cut grass and hints of eucalyptus
Palate: apple pie, banana bread, black pepper
Finish: pepper to cinnamon pear and oak
On the live tasting we had Paul from Few Spirits introduce the distillery and also the process for making this rye whisky. They have a grain to glass production, which they are incredibly proud of – as they should be! I would thoroughly recommend having a look at their website and seeing how they do it. I really enjoyed this whisky and was quite similar to the Deanston we had the month before. Its mahogany colour and rich nose really does wonders for this whisky and letting it breath only emphasised the craftsmanship in this dram.
Arcadian Gaia 1.1
Nose: melted butter, cream soda, spearmint, nutmeg and porridge
Palate: brine, oily, crème caramel
Finish: lemon peel and black pepper
This was an interesting whisky however not one I will be going back to. Given the nosing and tasting notes above I really enjoy everything it offered on their own (barring porridge!!). Despite this I really didn’t enjoy it, it didn’t seem to come together and had a strange smell on the nose which I couldn’t quite work out – a bit like warm seaweed at the beach.
Tasting session two:
| Name | Distillery | Origin | ABV |
|---|---|---|---|
| Glaswegian | Whisky Works | Glasgow, Scotland | 50.2% |
| Cu Bocan Signature | Tomatin | Highlands, Scotland | 46% |
Glaswegian
Nose: apple, pears, cinnamon, brown sugar, buttery popcorn, vanilla, tropical fruits
Palate: ginger biscuits, citrus, apple, oak pepper, apricots, peaches and cream
Finish: oak pepper and dark chocolate
Matured in ex-bourbon casks this whisky is great! Despite having a punchy ABV it’s smooth and isn’t harsh on the palate. Lots of fruity and buttery notes throughout this dram made it very enjoyable to drink. Nevertheless, it’s price point means it won’t be making an appearance on our shelves anytime soon. (Unless anyone fancied gifting us a bottle!)
Cu Bocan Signature
Nose: apple, citrus peel, buttery caramel, wood smoke, vanilla, brine and tobacco
Palate: paprika, baking spices, creamy, campfire smoke, red fruits
Finish: praline with hints of ash smoke, a long lengthy finish
Now Tomatin aren’t exactly known for their peated whisky but, this is great! My favourite one from the April box, it offers plenty and is a very pleasant dram. It’s age statement is a nine year old but you could be mistaken for thinking it is a little older. It is aged in 60% bourbon, 25% Olorosso and 15% American Virgin Oak casks. This combination gives bundles of flavour and some great nose character. Tomatin is a great distillery and hopefully they do more peated whisky in the future.
Four months in and we’re still finding these boxes intersesting and exciting – surely a good sign. It’s very enjoyable having our palates tested with single grains and rye whisky, without having the commit to a full bottle every time. As always there were a number here that we really enjoyed and the odd one that wasn’t quite for us.
You can check out our previous reviews below.
- Pour & Sip – January 2021
- Pour & Sip – February 2021
- Pour & Sip – March 2021
- Pour & Sip – April 2021
- Pour & Sip – May 2021
- Pour & Sip – June 2021
In the meantime don’t forget to leave your comments on the whiskies we have mentioned and leave us some recommendations!
The Dram Duo 
2 thoughts