It’s time for my Zodiac sign with Seven Seals’ The Age of Leo – NAS and with an undefined period of time spent in a Pedro Ximenez cask. Bottled at 49.7% and with 365 bottles available - this one is available from Master of Malt for £67.95.
Nose: Dark berries and reduced plums sit with fig rolls and well-stepped Christmas pudding packed full of currants and cherries. Straight-forward but certainly effective. Reduction presents a far more brooding nose with burnt ginger cake, molasses and treacle.
Taste: Similar to the nose, but far more expansive. Chocolate-covered cherries join fresh cranberries, redcurrants and a swig of pineapple juice. Plump raisins and a thick slice of chocolate cake sit alongside lacquered oak, chopped walnuts and almond and a drizzle of macadamia honey. Water sweetens things up with brown sugars and raspberry chews alongside a far bolder oakiness.
Finish: Medium to long in length with tropically-tinged fruit cake together with persistent candied nuts.
Zodiac signs with aligned flavours is a tough ask – particularly as where in the world you are affects the season you’ll be presented with in any particular month. Here in the UK, August is very much summertime – and yet Seven Seals’ The Age of Leo presents far more as a winter whisky. Friends Down Under – Leo is most certainly for you. Irrespective of the tenuous link – the liquid here is of high quality with controlled and prominent sweet, sticky sherry throughout. Just a shame the nose is a little simplistic. But the palate is excellent.
Review sample provided by Highfern