Origin: Yorkshire (England)
Type: English Single Malt Whisky
Strength: 46%ABV
Ageing casks: Ex-Bourbon and ex-Moscatel
Chillfiltered: No
Added coloring: No
Owner: Spirit of Yorkshire
Average price: € 90.00
Official website: www.spiritofyorkshire.com
Vote: 83/100
Launched in March 2020, as always in a limited release of 6,000 bottles, it was the first to feature a finishing for Spirit of Yorkshire whisky, in this case barrels that had contained Spanish moscatel wine for ten years, and has since been released in three batches, the last of which in late 2022.
I taste this bottling from a miniature, presumably from the first batch.
Tasting notes
Very fresh and crisp nose, plenty of white fruit (pear, banana, peach, white melon) sweetened by brown sugar, with marzipan, lime, bitter orange marmalade and a touch of ginger and cinnamon. On the background, softer notes of custard, melted butter, acacia honey. Over time, an idea of packaged bread emerges.
In the mouth it’s warm and pungent, black pepper, ginger and a pinch of aniseed crushed with cinnamon introduce the fruity part that picks up the thread of the nose with a greater incidence of pineapple and peach, more brown sugar and a lively vegetal vein that lingers throughout the drink. There is a hint of red fruits (currants, gooseberry), with a lively citric note, while the creamy and soft part remains in the background, in a subdued tone.
The finish is quite long and spicy, with candied ginger, lime, vegetable notes, green apple, brown sugar.
The marriage of the young Yorkshire distillate and the finishing doesn’t seem to me to be very successful, the influence of Muscatel is a little too exuberant and tends to overpower the fruity richness of the whisky, giving it a sourness that is at times excessive. Still enjoyable dram, but less so than other expressions of the distillery.