Full heavy weight nose with rich vanilla and complex fruit and oak. Surprisingly dry following the nose, but big oily flavours with a rich rye finish featuring toffee apples, burnt sugar and hints of mint.
Delivery Charges
*Local Free Delivery: SL3 and SL4 postcode (Windsor/Datchet)
*Local Free Delivery: All SL (Except SL7), HP9, GU25, TW18, TW19 & TW20 postcodes. (Min. 6 bottles or 1 Hamper or 1 of our selected Wine cases purchased)
- England and Wales £12.00
- England and Wales Free Delivery (Over £200 purchased)
- Northern Ireland £30 (All BT postcodes)
- Scotland £15.00 (EH, FK, G, KA, KY, ML, DG and TD postcodes)
- Scottish Highlands and Islands £ 30.00 (All AB; DD; HS; IV; KW; KA27-28; PA; PH; TR21-25; ZE postcodes)
More Information
American Whiskey
With the large influx of Scottish and Irish whiskey drinkers, the country’s knowledge of distillation was taken forward and naturally favoured whiskey. However, this unusual mix of Presbyterians and Catholics were not made welcome in the puritanical north-east and they initially settled in Pennsylvania and the Carolinas. These pioneering colonists soon found that, whilst barley was ideally suited to British and Irish soils and climates, corn and rye would be much more rewarding crops in their new land. Couple this with a natural disposition for independence and rebellion, and it is not surprising that American whiskey branched off in a totally different direction both in terms of production methods and taste.
Once small scale production was established, containers in which the spirit could be sold were required. Barrels made of oak took the whiskey to market and charring the inside of the barrels was believed necessary to prevent contamination. The first recorded guildsman cooper, John Lewis, started work in 1608. The north-east was still drinking rum and so whiskey went west. It soon became apparent that the further away the market, the more impressive the whiskey and so, legend has it, that maturation in charred oak casks evolved.
George Washington’s crushing of the Whiskey Rebellion—an anti tax demonstration—forced many whiskey distillers inland to Kentucky and its surrounds; a blessing in disguise as nature had given this region everything required for good whiskey-making. Corn flourished, water supplies were abundant, oak forests provided wood to fire the kilns and to make barrels, hot summers with high humidity and cold winters—both ideal conditions for the maturation of this type of whiskey—and finally the rivers that provided a route to market. Bourbon County—named to thank the French for their assistance in the revolutionary war against the British—was established in 1785 and in the 1820’s the term bourbon whiskey was coined.
CEREAL BASE When a particular grain is mentioned on the label it means that the whiskey is made from a minimum of 51% of that grain.
SINGLE BARREL Whiskey from a selected barrel; the barrel variation in Kentucky is so great, that the blenders are always on the lookout for that special barrel.
SMALL BATCH Any small selection of barrels chosen by the master blender, quite frequently blended across the floors these whiskies will be the result of barrels specially selected to complement one another’s strengths and to ultimately provide the best quality, most complex and well-balanced whiskey possible.
AGE STATEMENT/VINTAGE If under 4 years old, the age must be stated, if over 4 years this is the length of time in barrel. The vintage year is the year of distillation.
BOTTLED-IN-BOND (BIB) A single distillery product, from a single season of distillation, aged for a minimum of 4 years in a government-supervised warehouse and bottled at 50% abv.
SOUR MASH Made from a ferment that has had a percentage of a previous fermentation added to it; can boost the fementation and gives a level of consistency from batch to batch.
PROOF The American term for the alcohol measurement. 200 proof is 100% alcohol
