9yo refill sherry butt from Arran tonight. I always have high expectations of these bottles from distillery 121, the very first SMWS bottle I ever tried was a stunning Arran and it convinced me to join.
Afghan coats eh? Nope, no idea where that’s coming from!
Dark and beguiling this, heavily spiced, meaty, chewy and full bodied. Wonderful nose of sherry oak, molasses and moss.
Treacle sponge certainly. Struck matches? Funnily enough, I sort of get that vaguely sulphuric, slightly acrid, slightly smoky hint but I doubt I’d have identified it ad s struck match, to be honest I still wouldn’t.
It’s a decent dram but it’s not as well balanced as some arrans I’ve tried. A wee bit of a letdown.
Here is a chance to become involved from the very start, plans for a new distillery near to the Home of Golf (St Andrews) are well under way.
Paul has been chatting to Doug Clement, asking some questions on your behalf, some a wee bit awkward we thought, but needed to be asked.
DOUG; Hi Paul, Thanks for getting back. Some answers for you.
PAUL; Doug, can I say at this moment, £1.8m costing seems a low amount. DOUG; We are using the proven “Lark” craft distillery model rather than the traditional start up distillery model others have recently used which is very cost effective and efficient. Our distillery plant and renovation/construction costs have been fully costed and tendered. LARK DISTILLERY VIDEO
PAUL; will everything be secure and cosher? DOUG; there can never be guarantees but we have fully costed things conservitally and used conservative visitor numbers and sales. All interested parties interested in the investment opportunity please ask any questions to Colin Botfield; corporate finance advisor, at colin.botfield who deals with new investors. Quote from investment site; Kingsbarns Distillery is a new yet traditional craft visitor distillery by the home of golf, St Andrews, at Kingsbarns, Scotland. EIS tax relief, inheritance tax relief, low cost business model, growing market demand, excellent location, experienced management team and full planning permission makes this an attractive long term proposition.
PAUL; what style of dram will you be aiming for? DOUG; Style – we will mainly maturing in small single quarter casks sherry and port. The whisky will be lightly peated using bill larks innovative post peat smoking techniques whereby one peat smokes the dry malted barley rather than the green unmalted barley. So a lightly peated, full bodied, rich, oily malt with a big finish will be our style although our flexible “lark” distillery set up it will be easy for us to change our style if required. Thus we will be breaking free from the light floral lowland lady apertif style that is most common in our lowland region.
PAUL; can we bring you whisky visitors? DOUG; We can use our distillery mill restaurant and bar and private members room bothy as the clubhouse, and play special (golf) events during the year at the places I’m a member at, Crail and St Andrews. I also have good links with Kingsbarns having worked their since the course opened. There is no doubt that golf followed by an evening of whisky tours, tastings, music, dinner and stories in our fabulous venue will work! We have done it before a few times at Cambo House for 100 people and it was amazing!
Well, there you have it, an intro to a brand new distillery (no yet built!) Go and find out more by looking at www.kingsbarnsdistillery.com for lots more info.
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Worldwide online dedicated whisky club, free to become a member. www.angelswhiskyclub.com
Instead of the usual score from 100 (nose 25, palate 25, finish 25 and balance 25) my system is based purely on enjoyment levels.
1. Well, it’s whisky so I’ll drink it.
2. OK but nothing to shout about. I won’t be offended if you ask for a dram and put lemonade in it.
3. An enjoyable dram, close to being really good. Maybe one or two little things that stop greatness.
4. Fantastic stuff, right up there. A great dram with no flaws.
5. The very best I’ve ever tasted. A whisky that excels on every level, one with huge flavours but delicate balance and shows a level of complexity that you can study for hours.
