1 June 2012

The Whisky Wire English Whisky Tweet Tasting


On Wednesday evening we set out on our latest Tweet Tasting adventure, this time exploring the dramming wares of The English Whisky Co. Our intrepid team of international tweet tasters we’re yet again called into action for a real eye opener of an evening. Though closed eye may be more of an appropriate way of putting it, as for this particular event we decided to make it a blind tasting affair.
All our tasters received four samples of English whisky, with nothing on the label to indicate what was inside except for them being numbered from 1 to 4. On the night we sampled in numerical order, and it wasn’t until after we had all nosed and tasted each dram, that its identity was then revealed.
The bottles we sampled on the night were:
Bottle No1: A 5 year old unpeated whisky, that David Fitt (Chief Distiller) drew from a single cask and cut to 46% vol.
Bottle No2: A new whisky that David has been working on for sale into duty free and USA export markets. Made primarily using first fill bourbon casks with peated whisky from red burgundy wine casks, 46% vol.
Bottle No3: Heavily Peated Chapter 11, 46% vol.
Bottle No4: A 4 ½ year old heavily peated whisky, that’s been fully matured in a Sauternes wine cask. This sample was drawn from the cask at a full strength of 61.7% vol.
Talking of David Fitt, it was great to have him taking part on the night, tweeting in on the action and answering all the English whisky based questions that were raised through the tasting.

Here are a few of the tweeted tasted highlights from the night:

Bottle No:1
@TableForOne_PV Smells of an Indian summer and pink soap.
@BumpyTheChemist Waxy & sweet. Apples and a little nip of new make on the nose, very nice.
@TheWhiskyWire Smoked pears with a subtle suggestion of cardamom.
@S_Rob A mix of soft floral notes; violet & camomile again surrounded by soft vanilla and hobnob like cereal. A little yellow apple.

Bottle No:2 
@TheWhiskyBoys Wet barley, Ovaltine, new wooden furniture, dry bark and raw green veg.
@WhiskyDiscovery Initially faint wood smoke, light fish oil, light soy sauce, lime tang which is followed by sweet vanilla.
@MrMDMaloney Even with a drop of water this still tastes peppery and tickles my nose.
@Galg Peppery , rubbery with some eucalyptus.
 Bottle No:3

@S_Rob Ah those kiwi notes I associate with young (modern) Bowmore. Some preserved lemons and smoked almond.
@KirstyPryde1 Smooth on the tongue with a bite at the back of the throat, spicy green pepper, freshness, peat and lime.
@TheWhiskyBoys Black roasted coffee, bitter grapefruit, drying, smoke signals, bacon on a beach barbeque.

Bottle No:4

@TIA568B Very young, very malty, very fruity, slightly cereal another really interesting nose, is this one at cask strength?
@Galg I’m getting a lot of that Cinnamon spicy gum I used to love when I was a kid.
@RodBodToo Nuts with a sweet sticky syrup. Not pecan pie, more buttery than that.
@LRWhisky Palate is meaty with some chilli heat, mouth-watering, rich fruits. Love this!


*Images have been produced for illustrative purposes only

As ever these are just a moreish morsel of all the tasting tweets from the night. For a full low down head over to Twitter and feast your eyes via hashtag #EWCTT.
Following on from the tasting we’ve teamed up with The Whisky Exchange to offer our readers a 10% discount off all English Whisky. To take advantage of this offer please use promo code (EWCTT2012) Offer expires at midnight on June the 5th.
A huge thanks to everyone who took part or followed this week’s event. There are plenty more Tweet Tastings to come, so if you would like to be one of our Tasters, register your interest and contact details now by emailing via the contact tab marking the subject line ‘Tweet Tastings’.

For more information on The English Whisky Co visit: englishwhisky.co.uk
Until next time Happy Dramlaxing!