Amber Lane No. 1 Noble Lane

Nose (neat): Honey, cereal, grape juice. The nose is very tight and narrow when neat and there is a sharp, spirity hit. Nose (watered): The same aromas but deeper in tone and more homogeneous. Water takes the edge off the alcohol presence but also reveals how little is going on here. After some time in the glass a golden syrup note emerges and after a considerable time the nose becomes quite attractive. Palate (neat): Hot, tingly spices, almost burning in intensity. Lots of ginger, hot cinnamon and pepper. The development does not show much change but towards the finish a shiny, copper metallic note shows up. The texture is dry and flinty. Palate (watered): Dilution tames the intense spicy heat but also strips most of the character away whilst revealing a sour, grassy and bitter presence. Finish: Medium/short. White grape juice and dry white wine in the aftertaste. With water the aftertaste turns sour. Disappointing. I attended one of the initial tastings of Amber Lane whisky a few months ago and was impressed by some of their expressions. I did note a youthful lack of depth in general, but I was still sufficiently taken by two of their range to buy one bottle of each. Mrs Cascode subsequently bought me this limited release expression and I was keenly anticipating it, but when I opened it last weekend I was dismayed by how singularly simplistic and awkward it is. The nose is average-to-good in quality but unbelievably tight when first poured. I could sense hardly anything from a glencairn pour and I had to pull out an old-school blender's glass for nosing before I could get anything out of it. The palate is nothing special and the aggressive heat masks sour grassy notes which show up under dilution, which is essential for enjoying this dram. I can only assume that the botrytis Semillon cask that was used for finishing acted in a particularly negative way, adding nothing good to the distillate and sucking away what character it did have like an oaken vampire. I would still encourage anyone who gets the chance to taste Amber Lane whiskies to do so because they make some very good expressions, but do yourself a favour and skip this one. "Average" : 77/100 (2.5 stars)