Tasted completely blind, mystery sample provided by a TWS member.
Amrut Peated Portpipe 5 Year Old Single Cask #2712
Music: F. Kreisler – Liebesleid & Liebesleid for Piano Rachmaninoff’s Arr., Chopin Piano Trio op.8
Region: India
ABV: 59%
E150: No
Chill-filtered: No
Container: Glencairn Neat, took a good 45minute of rest, kept opening up.
Colour: Amber
Nose: Quite mellow on the nose, not too intense. Started off with a touch of sourness, and a bit of wax, which disappeared after. Malt, honey, toffee, hint of citrus, tiny hint of salt, some red fruits, perhaps touch of spice? Some funk appeared for a few seconds, and disappeared right after.
“If I approached at an angle, I get a hint of milk chocolate/floral sweetness to it” – I actually typed that earlier, so let’s go with that too.
Palate: Quite a bit of heat on the palate, malt, nuts, salt, raspberry, oak, touch of citrus and plum. A bit dry and tannic in the back end.
Not too complex on the palate, but the flavours are bold and punchy.
Finish: Long finish, oak transition into spicy peppery finish, and a touch of sweetness and oaky dryness on the back end.
Rather nice lingering finish, long and peppery, with some sweetness to round things off.
Score: 87/100
Overall a rather enjoyable dram, very nice aromas, bold flavours, and a nice finish, well balanced. Very conflicting with where this whisky came from.
I suspect this has some sort of cask finish, not sherry cask, but nothing apparent to me at the moment. Initially it reminds me of Irish whiskey with the waxy aroma, but that went away. Then it reminds me of Amrut with the malt aroma. There is that hint of salt on the nose and palate that throws me off, what world whisky has this saltiness, or am I just imagining things??
It doesn’t appear to be a sherry bomb, none of that orange and cinnamon stuff going on. Yesterday I poured myself a dram of Tomatin 14 Portwood, it doesn’t have that confectionery of sweet strawberries aroma of the Port cask finish either. Could be a blend of cask which would explain my confusion, doesn’t have vanilla influence of bourbon casks. Confused.
Guess: 50-55% ABV, Single Malt, Some sort of wine cask finish, probably leaning towards a shorter port cask finish rather than sherry. Given that only a few countries produces single malt whisky, I am guessing Amurt with a short cask finish.
Reveal: Amrut Peated Port 5y Single Cask #2712, 59%, from Jan 2011 to Feb 2016 (Apparently it’s Port finish)
Aftermath: I had a dram of PC12 2-3 hours before this, that was peated, this I don’t exactly detect peat, at least nothing like the Islay peat. Perhaps that explains the small funk I got?