Bakery Hill Double Wood Single Malt

Nose: Apricot juice, prune juice, malt, honeydew melon. There are a lot of sweet fruity and syrupy aromas here and it has a plush, full quality. There are some leathery, spicy notes as well but they are subdued to start with, gaining prominence over time. Palate: Sweet but somewhat flinty arrival that is malty at its core, but surrounded by grippy, almost hard tastes. After the unapologetically sweet and fruity nose the initial palate is a little surprising, but then you remember this has French oak influence and it makes sense. There is not a lot of development but definitely some intense marmalade and golden syrup notes, which become dominant (over-dominating, actually). The texture is good. Finish: Medium/short. Golden syrup and malt are the final memories. There is a little metallic bitterness in the aftertaste. The nose fools you into thinking this will be a sweet whisky but it's actually drier than expected, but not at all unpleasant. The finish is a little short. I tasted this immediately after the Cask Strength version of their "Classic Malt" and it suffered in comparison. I'd be interested to know what the "French oak casks" actually were - maybe they are refill ex-apera casks? They don't taste like virgin casks. I'm swiftly coming to the conclusion that Bakery Hill needs to be at considerable strength to tell its story properly, and I can't help but wonder what this expression would be like with 10-12% more abv. At lower strength (and we're still talking 46%) everything I've tasted from them has seemed lacking in presence. The nose was, for me, absolutely the best part of the experience and although the palate was good the golden syrup note is too prominent and gave it a one-note character. I'd equate this to their standard Classic Malt, and it is really just a variation on that theme. Neither of them approaches the Cask Strength expression, which is not simply more intense, it has a lot more complexity. "Average" : 79/100 (2.75 stars)

Pleasant dried fruits (more apricot) and subtle tone of dark chocolate on the nose. Mellow smooth fruit cake palate. Only thing which let this dram down was a near non-existent finish.

This dram was number 2 on my flight of whiskies at the distillery with the founder David. He started laying down casks 18 years ago, starting with 50 litre, and then 100 and now the std 200 size unchanged from the Jack Daniels distillery where currently sourced. Initially they went a third each way with Heaven Hill, Woodfords and JD but now I believe they stick with the later. This dram they finish in French oak for several months (from memory). I really liked this dram, the french oak adding additional richness and spiciness, caramel come through and the green apple fades away. He mentioned that other than this one they are Ex-bourbon / american oak casking all the way and don't do sherry etc finishing. Would be interesting to see them try though.