Kavalan Peaty Cask – Distillery Exclusive

58.6% Cask #R100104023A

Appearance: Medium amber, Fast & thin oily legs.

Nose: Delicate fruit with waves of buttery toffee. A faint whiff of creamy strawberry ice cream flows in, and is followed by a timid sweet fruity white wine. And there’s honey on toast in the waiting on the side-lines. No sign of peat.

Palate: This is 58.6%? Really? That’s surprised me as it’s incredibly well behaved! Creamy sweetness and a gentle chilli-infused toffee tingle immediately start to dance around on the tongue in perfect harmony. It then transforms into a more bitter spicy-sweetness that reminds me of eating the caramelised top of a crème brûlée. It’s really surprised me how a whisky with this ABV can be so mellow and laid back, and not be totally overpowered by the spirit. It’s just full of flavour. The fruit detected on the nose isn’t so apparent on the palate, but the creamy toffee is there in abundance.

Finish: Long & sweet, leaving the mouth coated with that crème brûlée bitterness. There’s now more a a fruit presence (mango & banana), plus a lick of fresh coconut and nuttiness. As for the peat, I’m really struggling to detect it as it’s so far in the background. But let’s not forget that this whisky was matured in a cask that contained peated whisky, and isn’t a whisky made from peat-infused malted barley, so there’s a huge difference.

Conclusion: Again, I am genuinely loving what Ian Chang and the team have created here. It’s a whisky that traverses multiple tastes and disciplines, and stands up on it’s own. And in the beautiful smaller 30cl embossed bottles – decadence in abundance.