Origin: Speyside (Scotland)
Type: Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Gradation: 51.3%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Bourbon
Chillfiltered: No
Additional Coloring: No
Owner: Atlas Company
Price: € 70.00 on Atlas Whisky Shop
Official website: atlascompany.it
Vote: 85/100
After last year’s ferocious dinosaur (of which there are still some specimens in the wild), Atlas Company has recently launched the first bottling of a new series, the Kosmos Collection, which will see more bottles added over the coming months.
It begins with Arkhè, the Greek term for the firstborn material from which everything originates and in which everything will return, a very demanding name for a whisky, but after all from Lorenzo Lutti you can’t expect anything less than epic.
Single ex-Bourbon barrel of a Tamnavulin, aged 10 years and bottled without added coloring or chillfiltration.
If you see at the bottom of this piece, the only Tamnavulin I’ve tried so far hasn’t exactly thrilled me, but considering who selected the barrel for Atlas, I’m sure it’s quite another music.
Tasting notes
Straw yellow in the glass.
It debuts herbaceous on the nose, with floral touches of honeysuckle, on a soft pillow of peach, vanilla, marzipan, honey, lemon drop. In the background, cereals and a slight note of wax. Caressing and delicate, despite the gradation not exacly gentle.
It becomes more lively on the palate, with a pinch of ginger that revives the senses, still wrapped in sweet but not cloying shades of yellow fruit (peach, apple, pineapple), vanilla, honey, almonds and hazelnuts, freshly baked bread, lemon. Cereals and herbaceous impressions on the background, with a thin touch of bitterness that cleans the mouth with every sip.
Medium long and dry finish of hazelnuts, pineapple, cereals, dried apricot.
A classic and clean whisky), which doesn’t want to amaze with wonders and pindaric flights but does its job well, playing on the balance and taking you back to a the origins of Scotch, what some would call a daily dram that, however, too often is associated with anonymous and harmless distillates. Here is a whisky that does whisky well, with decisive kindness.
Reviews of Tamnavulin whisky in the blog:
Tamnavulin Double Cask
Reviews of Atlas whisky in the blog:
Atlas Company Whiskysaurus Rex