[60.3%・779 Days Old・Bottled in 2016・Dark Valley Bottling・Single Cask Release of 32 Bottles]
Nose:
Heavily sherried but tilted towards the meaty side of things, it’s thick but perhaps a tad burdensome; black pepper, squid ink, gun powder and dark chocolate all in the mix. There is a hint of earthy peat smoke with the oak gradually becoming rather overbearing. Blackcurrant jelly with wee mint infusion in time to lighten things up a little.
Palate & Finish:
Fortified wine-esque with the dried muscats gently caressing at first; followed by an explosion of Cadbury chocolate & sticky toffee along with some scarring hot spices hammering on the mid-palate before a blackcurrant cough syrup note is released.
A brush of peanut butter to go with a vague floral note in the finish.
Thoughts:
It’s always a coin toss with 20 litre casks, and the Raven’s Rest is perhaps an example of a cask that has deviated from the cask owner’s wishes and became something rather peculiar all together; still, I imagine there will be a few folks who think this is a thrilling dram.
-Nicholas
WhiskNick 