[50.0%・3 Years Old・Distilled in 2016・Bottled in 2020・Official Bottling ・Limited Release of 8,640 Bottles]
Nose:
Unfortunately not quite enough cask impact, which is obviously a problem for a barely legal whisky, Feels rather rawer and dirtier than the Bannow Island Edition 1.1 with minerals, wee green fruits and burnt toast.
Palate & Finish:
Burnt toffee, some fresh fruits really struggling to show, clearly not meant to be served just yet as things remain rather untouched.
Some of that awkward sweetness carries on in the finish.
Thoughts:
Hard to drink neat. I suppose you can’t spell terrior without error.. really a disservice to the distillery’s campaign of going full transparent.. the whisky is only as good as what the distillery claims if it is actually objectively a worthy dram, the extra labouring is futile otherwise.
Perhaps Ballykilcavan releases will get better in time, perhaps they won’t; perhaps this will end up being a vindication rather than an experiment for the sake of experiment, perhaps I’d rather be drinking something else..
-Nicholas
