This is the second Dram Good Club box from That Boutique-y Whisky Company which again includes a little something from That Boutique-y Rum Company added for good measure.
Once again, this Dram Good Club selection offers something new. I mentioned in a previous post that one of the things which puts me off whisky subscription boxes is that there's a fair chance I've already tried, and possibly even bought, the whisky it includes. So, with the exception of one of these samples, they were all new to me.
The exception was the Cotswolds 3 years which I'd tried at the Whisky Fringe in August this year. To be fair though, whereas a whisky festival is a great place to discover a new whisky, the environment doesn't really lend itself to taking the time with it that it may (or may not!) deserve. So I was more than happy to try this again.
With five drams in total, here are my thoughts:
Glengoyne 17 years - Batch 1 - 49.1% - £174.95
Single malt Scotch whisky with a release of 1204 bottles.
Nose: red apple; hint of Golden Syrup leading to a toffee apple note; pencil sharpenings and a note of damp wood; freshly squeezed orange juice; Mr Kipling Cherry Bakewells; the almond note increases after a while in the glass.
Palate: slightly oily; hints of Cointreau liqueur chocolates and Fox's Crunch Creams; a touch of ginger with a hint of cloves; fairly bitter and dry into the finish although a slight honey note does appear for a short time. With water, it becomes more oily and the dryness in the finish increases; there's more ginger together with some custard and blackcurrant notes with just the tiniest hint of aniseed.
Cameronbridge 39 years - Batch 7 - 44.6% - £199.95
Single grain Scotch whisky with a release of 278 bottles.Nose: furniture polish leading to a polished coffee table; honeycomb (as in cinder toffee); banana fritters with butterscotch sauce; grilled pineapple; strawberry laces; there's a note of old leather in the background as well as a slight hint of petrol.
Palate: creamy texture; there's stem ginger on the tip of the tongue; a hint of marmalade; stewed apples and custard; this is slightly dry and bitter into the finish but not overly so.
Cotswolds Distillery 3 years - Batch 1 - 50.4% - £58.95
English single malt whisky with a release of 1785 bottles.
Nose: red apple; poached pears in chocolate sauce; Love Hearts in the background; wet grass; flaked almonds; Werther's Original sweets.
Palate: thick texture; dark chocolate ginger creams; toffee apples; hint of cloves; marmalade which becomes more bitter into the finish; drying with hints of grapefruit in the finish.
Balcones 3 years - Batch 2 - 51.2% - £69.95
Texas single malt whisky matured in a Tequila cask for 3 years with a release of 212 bottles.
Nose: black cherry; blackberry jam; raisins; slight hint of church incense; hint of strawberry appears after a while; cinnamon swirls.
Palate: dark chocolate; hoisin sauce; rum and raisin ice cream; fresh ginger; hint of cloves; fresh honeydew melon; kiwi; duck and plum sauce; quite dry and bitter into the finish with a touch of heat akin to rocket.
Labourdonnais Distillery 5 years (rum) - Batch 1 - 49.8% - £51.95
Mauritian Rum with a release of 1200 bottles.
Nose: Covonia cough mixture; coffee beans; some kind of herbal tincture!; aniseed balls; liquorice root; in the background, there's a hint of those firelighter things you use to start a barbecue.
Palate: aniseed balls; liquorice allsorts; Covonia; Camp Coffee; banana fritters; tiramisu.
Overall, this Dram Good Club box delivered the goods. The Glengoyne was easily my favourite of the selection closely followed by the Cameronbridge. I enjoyed the Cotswolds offering but I think I still prefer the proprietary bottling even though it's bottled at a lower strength. The Balcones was interesting and would be something I'd like to include in a tasting lineup just to get people chatting. And you don't need to be Mystic Meg to predict a new tequila cask matured / finished Scotch whisky from Diageo to hit the shelves soon. My least favourite of the bunch was the rum; too much like cough syrup for my palate.
If you want to find out more about each one, click on the links. Full transparency; they are commission links. Also, just bear in mind that the prices are for 50cl bottles but I'll leave you to do the maths.
