FLAVOUR HUNTERS FESTIVAL 2023
This exclusive range of ‘Rare Releases‘ and Single Casks were produced for our Flavour Hunters Festival in May 2023.
“We have a great collection for festival season this year, a mixture of outstanding single cask bottlings complemented by seven small-batch products. Working with between five and 10 different casks in each case gave us the chance to experiment with different flavours. It also allows us to share these whiskies on a more global scale – after all, festivals are all about bringing people together and we want to be able to do that in slightly larger volumes this year.
“They are also all bottled at cask strength, and each one has its own ‘cask bill’ recipe – a different selection of casks that we’ve worked to put together to create something interesting and special.”
Euan Campbell, SMWS Head of Whisky Creation
Spirit Notes
Gorgeously sweet and syrupy peat aromas at first nosing, it was an immediate hit with the Panel. With a little time we also found gallons of natural tar extract, iodine drops, bacon jam and smoky black coffee aromas. The sweetness of long-aged PX sherry mixed with hessian, cocoa and peat embers in a sooty hearth – just gorgeous! With water it became superbly resinous and aromatic, giving off intricate notes of sawn rosewood, smoked paprika, homemade spiced ketchup, lanolin and herbal cough syrups. A waft of pure peat smoke from a kiln. The palate had plumes of damp wood smoke, dusty coal embers, sweet peat smoke, BBQ sauce, chilli glaze and root beer cordial, followed by more iodine, antiseptic, eucalyptus oils and salted liquorice. Water brought out complex hardwood resins, dried herbs, cured meats, tart red fruits and long-aged balsamic vinegar. Gorgeously earthy, peaty and deeply complex, this is a dram to savour deep into the night … After 11 years in bourbon wood, we transferred this whisky to a first-fill PX hogshead for the remainder of its maturation.
| Special bottlings | Festival 2023 |
|---|---|
| Profile | peated |
| Cask No. | 53.447 |
| Cask(s) | 1st Fill Ex-Bourbon Hogshead, 1st Fill Ex-PX American Oak |
| Region | Islay |
| ABV | 57.6% |
| Age | 14 years |
| Distillation Year | 2008 |
| Outturn | 277 bottles |
