English Whisky 7yr - Waxhouse Whisky Edition #6

53.9% ABV, Virgin American Oak/1st fill-PX - specially bottled by Waxhouse Whisky

The St Albans boys at Waxhouse Whisky have done it again and now have a sixth release under their belt. This one is another whisky from England - namely The English Whisky Co.

Having spent most of its life in an American Virgin Oak cask, it was then transferred into an ex-Pedro Ximenez cask to give it a sherried finish. And judging by the colour, it must have been quite an active PX cask.

I've said this before, but searching out independent bottlers can be really exciting, as they tend to do limited runs, are very picky about what they bottle, and the quality vs. price ratio is generally very much in the favour of the consumer. They also have a habit of luring you into new and untried distilleries that can broaden your horizons.

Appearance: Dark honey with thick oily legs.

Nose: Gentle fruity spirit that's followed by a cavalcade of nuts, Cherry Cola, and freshly sawn wood. Held in the glass a bit longer and there are heaps of raisins, sticky blackcurrant jam, moist & lightly perfumed fruit cake, pepper, and milk chocolate. It's a big nose with lots of sweetness. That ex-PX cask must have been mightily wet and active.

Palate: If I thought the nose was sweet, the delivery on the palate takes it up a notch. The immediate flavour is big sweetness with a lovely supporting peppery crackle. There are bags of sweet sherry (if you can actually bag sherry without it leaking all over the floor), with thick cherry juice that was picked up on the nose. Some slight woody/oaky tannins briefly appear before being eclipsed by the sweet PX influence.

A second sip delivers burnt caramel and rich, moist raisins.

Finish: Sweet, warming, and completely mouth-coating.

Water adds... Lighter fruit on the nose, and a little bit of woody dryness on the palate.

Conclusion: If you have a sweet tooth, you will love this. It's exactly the kind of after-dinner digestif that finishes a meal off nicely. It's a sipping whisky and not a throw it down the neck whisky. I also think this is vying for first place with their Linkwood (Edition #3). And I really love that Linkwood release.

Big, sweet, and brazen. Well done chaps.

Available for around £75 at various retailers (at the time of writing)