Balblair, Strathmill, Tullibardine, Ledaig (G&M for Kirsch)

Gordon & MacPhail launched 4 single casks unique to Kirsch Import in Germany. All of them are Connoisseurs Selection bottlings from refill casks. We strive a few refill bourbon casks after which a peat / sherry combo.

Most of them are nonetheless accessible in a number of German retailers. Get in contact with Kirsch in case you can’t find a bottle.

Balblair 1997 (54,1%, Gordon & MacPhail ‘Connoisseurs Selection’ for Kirsch Import 2023, refill bourbon barrel #1884, 153 btl.)

Nostril: the form of energetic bourbon wooden that highlights the fruitiness. Purple apples, inexperienced bananas, gooseberries and a touch of coconut. Mild hints of unripe mango. Then minty notes, plus hints of chalk and clay. Mild floral touches, orange peels and a few Belgian white beer.

Mouth: contemporary inexperienced apple and inexperienced banana, with a peppery increase and hints of grapefruit and lemon zest. When the peppery kick is gone, it strikes in direction of honeyed notes and creamy vanilla custard. The wooden was nonetheless pretty energetic, including hints of aniseed and natural parts in the long run.

End: pretty lengthy, fruity and spicy, with extra grapefruit and a grassy trace.

A barely tight Balblair with a pleasant fruitiness and a very good dose of wooden spice. Such casks are good however whether or not they’re 15 or 30 years doesn’t make an enormous distinction typically.

Strathmill 2008 (56,9%, Gordon & MacPhail ‘Connoisseurs Selection’ for Kirsch Import 2023, refill bourbon barrel #804815, 141 btl.)

Nostril: candy pear galore with hints of mango. Hints of vanilla cake and buttered popcorn. Barely unique. After the candy and fruity onset, it will get grassier and gingery, with hints of bitter orange and grape pips. Even a whiff of glue. Good.

Mouth: fairly pure, filled with inexperienced pineapples, lemons and clementine peels, in addition to banana pores and skin. Then there’s a chalky facet and extra of the grassy hints. Just a little white pepper. Then again to grapefruit and hints of ginger and aniseed.

End: fairly lengthy, with vanilla sweetness but additionally a agency natural facet and the bitterness of grapefruit zest.

A pleasant apéritif whisky, together with the marginally bitter edge that wets your urge for food. Strathmill is commonly matched to somewhat energetic bourbon casks in my view, and it typically works. Rating: 86/100

Tullibardine 2008 (58,2%, Gordon & MacPhail ‘Connoisseurs Selection’ for Kirsch Import 2023, refill bourbon barrel #21603506, 263 btl.)

Nostril: a floral fruitiness now. Apple blossom, gorse flowers and buttercups, together with inexperienced apples, lemons and pears. Only a trace of brioche dough or sourdough, banana skins and lightweight minty notes. A light-weight maltiness.

Mouth: brilliant citrus notes once more, together with bananas, just a little pepper and a few good apples. A drop of limoncello. Then a really average IPA bitterness once more (am I too delicate to this?)  which is countered by some honey.

End: medium size, with delicate oak spice and lingering vanilla sweetness.

Total a reasonably traditional bourbon cask, in my view, simple to love. Pretty candy and fruity, with a pleasant floral contact. Impartial bottlings aren’t all the time ‘deviant’ casks, : this type of whisky wouldn’t misstand within the distillery’s core vary. Rating: 86/100

Ledaig 2001 (57,7%, Gordon & MacPhail ‘Connoisseurs Selection’ for Kirsch Import 2023, refill sherry butt #279, 465 btl.)

Nostril: good figs and raisins, together with milk chocolate and the everyday sooty Ledaig smoke – some meaty notes, nothing soiled although. Tarry ropes. Then hints of glazed ham and Lapsang tea, in addition to baked apples with brown sugar. Gingerbread and scorched orange peel as nicely. A fairly nice marriage of peat and sherry.

Mouth: roasted meats with some natural notes, tobacco leaves and liquorice. Black peppercorns. Then blueberry jam and black cherries, although the peat is extra outstanding than the sherry right here. Hints of toffee, cocoa and antiseptics. Delicate peat smoke with a giant savoury edge and hints of salted liquorice. Earthiness in the long run.

End: lengthy, nonetheless salty / savoury and smoky with black pepper and raisin sweetness within the background. Late aniseed too.

As a lot as I just like the candy fruitiness of a very good bourbon cask (three good examples above), that is the one which stands out. The sherry works rather well – particularly the nostril is sort of glorious. That stated, not likely in sync with the season, so I recommend you retain this closed for some time. Rating: 89/100