A couple of new Wemyss malts single casks

Just last week Wemyss have release their first batch of new single casks for 2013, consisting of 4 new casks:

“Summer Orchard” – a 12 year old from Linkwood distillery, Speyside
“Billowing Embers” – a  15 year old from Bunnahabhain distillery, Islay
“Mellow Mariner” – a  20 year old from Ardmore distillery, Speyside
“Fruit Bonbons” – a  23 year old from Glen Garioch distillery, Highland

before we go on, I am sure you have heard that Wemyss are going to set up a new distillery at Kingsbarns, which is very exciting. Here’s a wee news item from STV about that.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=KUXH4wSlya0

We’ll start with two of those today: the Bunnahabhain and the Glen Garioch .

“Billowing Embers” – 1997 vintage 15 yo Bunnahabhain , 46% abv

There are a lot of 1997 vintage bunnas that are heavily peated, as this is the year they have started producing some heavily peated malts in addition to the mildly peated expressions we’re grown to know from that distillery. I had quite a few lovely examples of such peated Bunnahabhains and was looking fwd to this one too.

Nose: Young peat with some Rubber, and also quite  fruity with pear drops and sugar and  do not forget : Smoke.

Palate: Lots of ash and peat, then some pepper. further sipping reveals  Sweet peat , BBQ pork and campfire then some Soot and  Grilled meat.

Finish : Ash and grilled pork and some Bacon.

Lovely Islay kind of stuff. Can’t go wrong here, while not ground-breaking it offers a bit of everything Islay style.

Score: 84/100

“Fruit Bonbons” – 1989 vintage   23 yo Glen Garioch , 46% abv

Nose: chocolate filled with kirsch. A lot of old and wood varnish. Library shelves and grandfather clock sort of. Cherries.

Palate: sweet and nutty. With quite a bit of old wood influence. Dark chocolate. Rum and chilly. A touch of candied grapefruit.

Finish : chocolate bonbons filled with rum. Wood.

A very different animal from the Bunna . Very deep and lovely melange of chocolate. Dark Chocolate cherries and berries.

Score: 89/100

official samples provided by Wemyss Malts.