Pre-launch celebration:
World Premiere of ‘Independent Spirits’ Docuseries to Launch at Scotland’s First Independent Bottlers Festival
Thank you for joining us to celebrate the pre-launch event of the ‘Independent Spirits’ Docuseries which takes whisky fans on a unique journey through independent bottling and marks Roopa's next whisky venture partnership with BlackSmith & Jones. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is the premier independent bottler of Scotch whiskies and the bottlings poured at the event are available here along with a free membership, automatically applied at checkout.
Cask No. 9.251 ‘A barrel of flavour’
Flavour Profile: Juicy, oak & vanilla
Age: 18 years
Cask: First-fill barrel
Region: Speyside
Available: 205 bottles
Description: The delightfully satisfying nose embraced fudge, digestive biscuits and meadow flowers, while cinnamon and nutmeg dusted an apple and rhubarb crumble fresh from the oven. The spicy palate wrapped cloves and ginger in sugar syrup, cream liqueur and soft fudge, while peaches and banana were served on a biscuit base. Things changed with water as Turkish delight, alpine flowers and mango combined with greener notes of gooseberries, autumn leaves and herbal tea. The palate had softened to toffee apples, banoffee pie and tropical fruits with creamy vanilla custard, coconut shavings and bitter citrus notes that combined with cask char on the finish.
Cask No. 149.12 ‘Farmer's market sophistication’
Flavour Profile: Spicy & dry
Age: 8 years
Cask: First-fill barrel
Region: Highlands
Available: 120 bottles
Description: We were served a fruit salad, bursting with clementine, peach syrup, grapefruit and pineapple on the nose, which we splashed with brine and topped with sliced bell peppers and pomegranate. The palate was cola and vanilla, black peppercorns and mint blossom, with a dry capsicum spice to finish. Water added icing sugar sweetness to the nose, along with a fresh squeeze of lemon, a pinch of allspice, and a drizzle of honey. We could now taste set vanilla custard, flaky pastries and chilli flakes, pencil shavings and charcoal. The finish was dry, with a savoury peppery spice.
Cask No. 55.93 ‘Retronasal tasting menu’
Flavour Profile: Spicy & sweet
Age: 14 years
Cask: Refill bourbon hogsheads, First-fill Spanish oak Oloroso hogshead & Second-fill STR barrique
Region: Highlands
Available: 90 bottles
Description: We stepped into the glasshouse for a retronasal menu of orange oil, honeysuckle, teak and cinnamon-dusted apple pie. The incursion of a sprinkler system was swiftly embraced – our dram having developed well with water – delivering black grape, plum, milk chocolate and Italian meringue. The starting point for this small batch was two bourbon hogsheads of single malt Scotch whisky. One cask was transferred at 12 years old to a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead, and the other at 11 years old to a second fill shaved, toasted, re-charred barrique. The casks were then married together before bottling.
Cask No. 2.140 ‘Calorific Nonchalance’
Flavour Profile: Deep, rich & dried fruits
Age: 17 years
Cask: First-fill STR Oloroso seasoned butt
Region: Speyside
Available: 90 bottles
Description: If nosing a whisky was part of our daily calorie count, this dram would have us on a diet by now: sticky toffee pudding, vanilla ice cream, plums stewed in pine resin, and grapes pressed into honeycomb. The palate was equally impressive, with figs drizzled in balsamic glaze, ginger cheesecake, malted milk biscuits, fruit leather and sweet soy beef jerky. Water served a slice of mandarin sponge cake, with custard and orange blossom mingling with chocolate and miso caramel ice cream. After 14 years in an ex-oloroso butt, we transferred this into a first fill, shaved, toasted and re-charred oloroso-seasoned butt for the remainder of its maturation.
Cask No. 53.472 ‘Islay and jerez - twinned!’
Flavour Profile: Peated
Age: 10 years
Cask: First-fill American oak Oloroso sherry hogshead
Region: Islay
Available: 96 bottles
Description: An amazing nose brought us black bun, liquorice, rum-flambéed pineapple and oysters with lemon and tabasco-pepper sauce, plus quaint hints of engine fan belts. The palate tasted like chilli lemon prawns from a beach bonfire, dried seaweed, chewing tobacco and fernet. The reduced nose offered dark sweetness (cinder toffee, cinnamon toast and cough lozenges), diesel engines in the harbour and fishermen’s oilskins drying in the sun. The palate combined sweet smoke (burnt newspaper, clinker ash, molasses and apple strudel) with coastal references (crab cakes and old lobster creels). This is a glorious twinning of Islay and Jerez; after seven years in ex-bourbon wood, this was transferred into a first fill American oak oloroso hogshead.
5-Bottle Bundle
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