A straight up refill ex-bourbon barrel for this 8 year old AnCnoc (Knockdhu).
Nose: Creamy toffee sits with an assortment of fruits – jammy red berries, ripe cranberries alongside under ripe plums and greengages. Running throughout, marzipan, chocolate covered biscuits, hot house vines and moist earthiness. Water adds creaminess – yoghurt and crème patisserie along with further earthy notes of mossiness and damp limestone.
Taste: The arrival is bright and enlivening – red and black berries together with lemon jellies, and tart grapefruit. The mid-palate delivers crumbled biscuits together with earthiness from ferns and bracken and a twist of pepper. Dilution favours the cask, adding vanilla cream and toasted cereals.
Finish: Medium with a combination of dry and water earthiness, and green leafiness.
Another Dramble name-sake bottling – I’m going to have to speak to the copyright lawyers at some point. Purely in terms of the liquid though, this An Cnoc presents a solid combination of fruitiness and earthiness which work together well. Nothing too challenging, but a decent choice from the cheaper priced bottlings in this outturn.