rum cask matured Archives

Whisky #587: Glenfiddich Fire & Cane Single Malt

November 7, 2021 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Glenfiddich Fire & Cane Single Malt. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 43%. Tasted at Whisky a Day HQ, $80 (bottle).

Colour: Brightly polished brass.

Nose: Fresh apricots, dried dates and a whiff of smoke. Campfire smoke, as distinct from peat.

Palate: A thin mouthfeel is the first thing you notice. Not a good sign. Toasted banana bread, black currant pastilles, passionfruit syrup and the juices from the bottom of of bowl of fruit salad. Nice flavours, just a shame you just have to work quite hard to get it all.

Finish: A slightly salty, cane flavour. Like sucking on a fresh saxophone reed. Salted caramel notes in the fade.

Comments: Fire & cane & disappointment. It’s billed as a “smokey whisky finished in sweet rum casks”, but fans of either style will likely be a little underwhelmed. It’s like the flavours have been dialled down too far through the dilution to 43% ABV. I can and do enjoy whiskies at 43%, however this one is a little too watery. You can’t help but wondering in the desire to appeal to a wider audience Glenfiddich have gone a little too far.

Whisky #585: Westward Whiskey Single Malt Rum Cask

October 20, 2021 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

Westward Whiskey Single Malt Rum Cask. Oregon, USA. ABV: 62.5%. Tasted at Whisky a Day HQ, $135 (bottle).

Colour: Deep copper.

Nose: Fresh pine needles and juicy sweet raspberry chewy lollies. A hint of camphor and old timber boxes stuffed with blankets that you discover as a kid at your grandparents’ house.

Palate: Oak-forward but creamy sweetness. Like sucking a touch too long on an ice cream stick that’s still got a few remnants of sweet salted caramel ice cream on it. Bold alcohol-wise, but it’s not quite as big as you might expect a 62.5% ABV drop to be.

Finish: Like your first teenage rum hangover, this one hangs around for a long time. That delicious salty sweet balance keeps dancing across the tongue, with some caramelised pineapple rings cooked on the bbq to top off proceedings.

Comments: Fruity, creamy, salty and sweet…the flavours here pack a punch to back up the cask strength ABV hit. There’s nothing worse than a high strength drop that is all heat and doesn’t have the flavours to back it up. The Westward Whiskey Single Malt Rum Cask is a little bold and brash, but as an American single malt that’s probably quite fitting! A very decent drop.

Whisky #98 – Balvenie Cuban Selection 14 Year Old Single Malt

June 16, 2014 by Whisky a Day Leave a Comment

by Balvenie Cuban Selection 14 Year Old Single Malt. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 43.0%. Tasted at home, $130 (bottle).

Colour: Deep golden honey.

Nose: A little more abrupt than I was expecting; a fair whiff of alcohol along with some orange peel notes.

Palate: Lots of vanilla and sweet oak. Much smoother than the nose suggests. Lots of flavour complexity, gentle spices and a bit of peppery heat at the front of the palate.

Finish: Sweet spices, not too much heat. Flavours stick around longer than the warmth, especially the sweet notes.

Comments: As a keen ~~pirate~~ sailor with a penchant for a nice rum, I was rattling my cutlass with excitement to crack open this bottle that has spent some final time maturing in barrels that previously held Cuban rum. I really liked it, especially the palate (not so much the nose). It’s not a world-beater but certainly a great whisky to have in the collection at home which offers something a little different to others.

I was perhaps expecting something a little more unusual, I would have expected the extra maturation in rum barrels to have a more significant impact on the whisky’s flavour profile, making it sweeter especially. In hindsight, maybe I was expecting some more spiced rum flavours coming through, but perhaps given that Cuban rum tends to be lighter than other Caribbean rums it’s perhaps not so surprising.