Description
Have you ever had a Belgian-style quadruple dark brown beer, or a German doppelbock – if you have you know it! For the uninitiated, you'd find complex aromas of dates, raisins, figs and plums combined with a malty sweetness and, to be different, a distinct dark smokiness. On the palate, this whisky gave the Panel ripe strawberries served with either a smoky balsamic caramel dessert sauce or a smoked chipotle tabasco sauce – take your pick. With the addition of water, we had Cumberland sausage shashlik in a tangy tomato and paprika-based sauce featuring curry powder, honey, garlic and thyme. This was perfectly accompanied by a traditional pint of heavy, a full-bodied, richly flavoured Scottish 80 shilling. Following 21 years in an ex-bourbon hogshead, we transferred this whisky into a first fill Spanish oak oloroso hogshead.