Flaviar Awards 2021 – Whisk(e)y Tasting Notes
As part of the second part of our Flaviar subscription this year, we were able to chose the Flaviar Awards 2021 tasting set. This included an invite to attend their awards evening, to join with others and discuss the various drams.
Hosted over Zoom, the event had over 100 participants! We opted to spotlight the speakers and focus on their guests, before interacting with the other participants at the end. There were five drinks in total for the evening, however, we only took tasting notes on the whiskies below.
The Winning Whiskies
Uncle Nearest – 50%, NAS
Despite only opening in 2017 there is a lot of history behind this distillery. The whiskey is named after the formerly enslaved Nathaniel ‘Nearest’ Green, who taught a young Jack Daniel the craft of distilling – how epic! A Tennesse whiskey, it follows the same production rules as bourbon but adds the Lincoln County process; which includes sifting the whiskey through layers of maple charcoal.
Nose: very wood, soft, caramel, orchard fruits, earthy, hay, dried grass, vanilla, coco and chocolate, very light pepperiness
Palate: earthy, charcoal, dried grass, vanilla and caramels, pepper spice, apples, light fruit, and rye spice
Finish: oily texture, but light and not too long lasting, the sweet oak sits with you, toffee and caramel builds over time
Given the higher ABV this was a very smooth dram, it feels refined, grown up, and impressively flavourful!
Westward Whiskey – 45%
Set up in 2004 this distillery was founded in a time where there was limited craft distilling happening the US. Additionally, the concept of an American single malt was also not as popular as it is today. The whiskey we tried was aged in white oak barrels.
Nose: flowery, fresh oranges, jolly ranches, candy, sweet lemon, orange starburst, apple sour candy, definitely a funky note somewhere
Palate: like apple candies that have been left out in the sun
Finish: not particularly rich, relatively toothless
This whiskey was very different to other whiskies that I have nosed, and was an interesting experience. It really evoked memories of childhood sweets, and being in old fashioned sweet shops. Unfortunately, however, it wasn’t for me on the palate.
Bruichladdich, The Classic Laddie – 50%
An Islay whisky – this is the dram that I was most excited for throughout the evening. Especially given that this is an unpeated Islay whisky.
Nose: malty, fruit, vanilla, apple, maritime salt, sweet, barely, butter, buttered toast, creamy
Palate: lovely and sweet, apple and other orchard fruits, green fruit, slightly slaty, charred wood, oak, and peppery spice
Finish: white pepper spice, woodiness comes through, vanilla sweetness, well rounded in the mouth, the spice builds over time
We added a slight drop of water to this dram which really bought the sweetness to the front of the mouth. Despite being unpeated, it still tasted like an unapologetic Islay whisky – which I love! I think there is a high chance that a bottle of this will be making it’s way onto our shelves soon.
This was a slightly different experience for us, and one that was a nice bonus of our Flaviar membership. We always enjoy getting introduced to new whiskies, even if they don’t end up being to our flavour palates.
The Dram Duo 