Origin: Yorkshire (England)
Type: English Single Malt Whisky
Strength: 59.2%ABV
Ageing cask: Ex-Sherry PX
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Spirit of Yorkshire
Price: € 120.00 on Morisco Spirits
Official website: www.spiritofyorkshire.com
Vote: 88/100
When a distributor believes strongly in the producers in their portfolio, one of the ‘dreams’ they aim to realise as soon as possible is to obtain an exclusive edition for their own country.
And Cuzziol, in the figure of Dario Crisci, wholeheartedly supports the farmers/distillers of Spirit of Yorkshire, to the point of having recently obtained a single cask distributed only in Italy.
And what a single cask! A hogshead former Pedro Ximénez sherry cask (very full, judging by the colour), filled in March 2017, which after five years (and one month) gave birth to this bottling dedicated precisely to Cuzziol.
Tasting notes
All the sherry emerges from the glass but it’s not the classic “bomb” in which the fortified wine entirely covers the distillate, between the blankets of berries (currants, blackberries, cherries), blood orange, candied sour cherries and nutmeg emerges a wave of sweet Biscoff warmth with veins of macaroon and a pregnant vegetal note that creeps through the aromas. Full but not cloying, even with rough traits of leather and an umami evocation in length. No alcohol.
More pointed and fiery on the palate, with an opening with strong spicy inclinations of black pepper, cinnamon and ginger, ushering in a sparkling season of cola gelée, blood orange, liquorice, caramelised apple and waves of chocolate and coffee. In the background, leather smeared with very ripe fruit, with the outcropping of lacquered wood and sweet Ovaltine-type malt. Dense and almost chewy, after the first sip it hides dangerously the far from negligible alcohol content.
Long finish with vegetal veins on malt, red fruits, chocolate, caramel, coffee and spices.
The union of malt and sherry proves successful, the dreaded PX indulges in the embrace with the distillate following a different path for the sherried, richer and less decadent, leaving room for subtleties that other young whiskies cannot (or won’t) imagine.
Hats off, once again, to the solidity of a product that promises smashing with the passage of time.