Happy Friday my whisky loving friends,
To finish off my reviews of the Discovery Road whisky range I had a sample of the Discovery Road "Smile". This is the last in the range that I'll be reviewing and finishes off from where I started which was the introduction a few weeks back. If you still need to check out the introduction you can click right here.
Discovery Road "Smile" is a 7 year old Dutch whisky made from 100% rye and, as with the others, it has been bottled at 46% ABV.
Also released in December 2013 it is described on Dominic Roskrow's website http://worldwhisky.co.uk, as "An absolute corker. This mixes spicy rye notes with a delicious toffee and milk chocolate, soft peach and apricot fruits and a red liquorice core."
Here's what I think:
Nose - Creamy biscuit, oak and vanilla. Reminds me very much of pot still Irish whiskey, specifically Redbreast. Some pine / cedar wood comes through with a touch of dried fruit and mixed spice. With some water the pine becomes a bit plastic like but in a good way. With even more time the dried fruit becomes huge.
Palate - Spicy and creamy. The pine is still evident with some menthol. Dried fruit still shows up with red apple. Also has a nice tang of what feels like virgin oak. All that water does to the palate is make it much softer.
Finish - A touch light but fresh fruit is dominant with a sherried xmas cake feel.
A top notch dram that's evidently young but packs a huge amount of flavour.
As with all of the Discovery Road range this bottling can be found on Master of Malt - http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/discovery-road/discovery-road-smile-100-percent-rye-whisky/
Well that's the whole range tasted, enjoyed and reviewed and all I can say is wow. The Discovery Road range really highlights what is to be gained by looking a little further afield when it comes to buying your drams. Dominic Roskrow really has pulled out all the stops to bring us some absolute belters and I for one can't wait to see where this journey takes us.
If I had to rate the current range in order of preference then I would have to go:
1 - Courage
2 - Smile
3 - Four Lions
But don't let this fool you into thinking that "Four Lions" is in anyway the weak link. All 3 are amazing and each has it's own personality.
Once again, huge thanks to Dom for the samples. It's been a real pleasure and an taste bud opening experience.
Until next time,
Slainte
SI
Hello, HelIo, Hello,
I know there's been a touch of neglect in my blog updates recently but you would not believe how busy I've been. Mad times.
I'll get straight back into it though with an update regarding another one of the new "Discovery Road" whiskies. This, obviously, is to follow on from the general introduction I wrote a few weeks ago which can be found by clicking here.
This update shall focus on the Discovery Road "Courage" bottling.
This is a Dutch single malt 14 year old, matured in first fill Oloroso sherry casks, and has been bottled at 46% ABV.
It was released in December 2013 and is described on Dominic Roskrow's website http://worldwhisky.co.uk, as "a big beastie of a sherried whisky, with dark chocolate, coffee liqueur, date, dark cherry and Christmas spices" All sounding good so far.
Well, yet again, onto my own tasting notes:
Nose - The instant blast as it pours from the bottle, and immediately as it sits in the glass, is that of dark chocolate coffee creams / pipe tobacco. We also have red apple, stewed seville oranges, sugary malt and freshly buttered white toast going on. As it sits in the glass the sherry takes over with all it's might with a huge dried fruit / xmas cake explosion, fully accompanied by all the spices you would expect including nutmeg and cinnamon…..Dom was not wrong with his own description.
Palate - Sweet xmas cake, more orange and gentle spice. This is rich, chewy and highly enjoyable. The dark chocolate coffee creams return with some demerara sugar.
Finish - Short - medium with a beautiful sherry cask sweetness.
This is simply delicious and highly original. It's one of the best "sherried" whiskies I've ever tasted and shows perfectly why we should all open our minds and broaden our horizons away from the traditional, safe comfort, of scotch.
As with all of the Discovery Road range this bottling can be found on Master of Malt - http://www.masterofmalt.com/whiskies/discovery-road/discovery-road-courage-14-year-old-whisky/
Well all that's left is to review the last in the range which is the "Smile" and having already tried it I can tell you it has certainly made me do just that.
So, until next time,
Slainte
SI
Hi there,
When I first got into the fabulous world of whisky an initial observation I made was that the bulk of the focus seemed to be firmly on Scottish single malts and blends…...and why not? Over many decades the scottish whisky industry has grown and expanded and as a result has gained quite a grip on whisky sales, the world over. Some would even say that it is most definitely in the middle of a golden era. However as with any interest, that any person has in any topic, we naturally begin to look further afield to seek out exciting new experiences and the world of whisky is not devoid of providing such experiences.
This is exactly what has been achieved by Dominic Roskrow as he has spent the last eight years visiting world distilleries from outside traditional areas, gaining knowledge and making contacts with distillery owners from countries as far flung as New Zealand and Sweden.
As the whisky drinking public are now pushing the boundaries and seeking those new whisky tasting experiences Dom has decided to work with his contacts to take world whisky to it's next stage and hopefully create a new, ambitious, category of whisky entitled 'New World Whisky.'
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| Dominic Roskrow |
Dominic Roskrow has been a journalist for about 30 years, a drinks writer for 22 years and exclusively a whisky writer for more than a decade. He has edited various drinks titles including Whisky Magazine and has been a freelance whisky writer for seven years.
Throughout his career he has written about whisky for a wide range of titles including national newspapers, international magazines and British drinks titles including Harpers, Drinks International, Publican at Morning Advertiser and The Spirits Business.
He has further expanded his repertoire by also writing six books on whisky including The World's Best Whiskies, 1001 Whiskies to Try Before You Die and The Whisky Opus, which in 2013 was shortlisted in the Fortnum and Mason Food and Drink Awards.
Without doubt there would be no better qualified person to seek out these new experiences for us to enjoy.
In talking about his new "Discovery Road" range Dominic explains: "There are only two ways you can make whisky, you can try and do it like Scotland does, and you will almost certainly fail. Or you can dare to be different, make a whisky which reflects your heritage and culture, and adopt local customs, grains and production methods to produce a whisky that is unique."
"That's how I see the best New World whisky - it is in a different category to Scotch or bourbon and comparing it to those categories is as relevant as comparing Aussie Rules footie to Soccer or American Football. It's not better, not worse, just different."
Dominic continues by saying that the whole point of these whiskies is to offer something new. "For many drinkers in their 20s whisky is unappealing, but whiskies from India, Australia, Texas or Taiwan have the potential to break the mould by being different and creating their own framework. Many of these whiskies are fruity and very good for cocktails. Many of them can thrive outside the traditional whisky drinking environment. The target should be vodka, tequila and gin drinkers in their 20s and 30s, not existing Scotch drinkers."
The new range was released in December 2013 with the initial offerings being an English single malt - "Four Lions", a Dutch single malt - "Courage" and a Dutch rye whisky - "Smile".
Each whisky will be bottled at 46% ABV, will be limited to under 300 bottles (there are just 215 bottles of the English malt) and will be packaged in a stylish premium bottle. The bottles can be seen below and are shown in order of "Four Lions", "Courage" and "Smile".
There also was an extremely limited edition release of the "Four Lions" which was bottled at 58% ABV.
The whole range is available online and can be found at Master of Malt by clicking right here - http://www.masterofmalt.com/distilleries/discovery-road/
Dominic has been very kind in providing me with samples of the new releases and over the next week or so I shall be bringing you all a closer look at each release along with my own tasting notes and opinions.
Well I shall leave you all now as I have, yet again, managed to write this at an incredibly late hour and am off to rest before shouting at the TV tomorrow as Ireland take on England in the Six Nations. I'm sure it'll be a belter of a game and also have utter confidence that Ireland shall prevail….well I hope they do.
Until next time though,
Slainte.
SI
NB Many thanks to Dominic and Sally Roskrow for the majority of information and attached pictures. Other information obtained from http://worldwhisky.co.uk
