Next up in the Society’s Bushmills account comes a 2nd fill ex-bourbon barrel with 17 years of maturation under its belt. View on SMWS
Nose: The label doesn’t lie – there’s certainly lemon here. But, much of it feels more cream-based rather than being explicitly tart and citric. Lemon sponge, lemon meringue pie and lemonbalm (I’ll stop there). Backing this up is crumbled biscuits, tempered white chocolate and a good dollop of bees honey. The addition of water brings out some underlying maltiness as well as waffles, iced buns and refined sugar.
Taste: A creamy arrival with preserved and soured lemons adding some tang to a base of vanilla custard, flan cases and rolled pastry. There’s more fizzy and recognisable citrus here – and its backed up by some lovely garden floralness – peony, sunflowers and cut grass. Reduction adds a whole new level of fruity expansiveness – peaches, apricots, pineapple, ground chocolate and some interesting ‘greener’ notes of nettles and ferns.~
Finish: Medium with honey-sweeted tea, dry oak and delicate hints of minerals.
Lemons ahoy! The fruit constituent of this Bushmills feels a little one dimensional (whilst still being quite delightful) – until its reduced - then a much wider array of sweet orchard flavours are allowed free reign. Either way, quality distillate matured in a cask that allows it to shine naturally.