Supersonic Mach 3 (North Star Spirits)

Tonights tasting is North Star Spirits Supersonic Mach 3. This is a limited-edition blended malt using whisky taken from sherry casks and bottled at 55% ABV. Only 777 bottles were produced. N: Ok, no doubt about it we have a sherry cask but by Cthulhu this is thick with waxy, oily, leathery wood notes and indulgent toffees and brown sugar. This is a wood driven, heavily wood driven profile. The sherry is some jammy blackcurrant or figs and sultanas, but I’ll be damned if I can hold onto it long… wood. With time a little spice note like incense or hard woody spices come out. P: Full and somewhat oily with a fair hit of burn. The sherry is there again, but its masked by the oak. Spicy wood notes give cinnamon, tannic clove, and maybe nutmeg. With successive sips the burn subsides and the texture moves into a slightly sticky terrain. But with that stickiness is the mulled red fruits and warm Christmas jumper that is a sherried palate. Sweet, safe, and dependable with figs, sultanas, and a little menthol/aniseed. F: Medium. Tannic oak, burnt brown sugar, plump sultanas and a little orange zested mulled plums/figs. I was anticipating a sherry monster, and in someways this is. But, I’d go as far to say that this is two whiskies in one. On the one hand the sherry profile of sweet fruits, spicy wintery Christmas imagery and bright zingy pops of spice and zest are what you’d expect. But, my word thats a lot of wood. It’s not subtle, and at times its enjoyable but its also big and theres no hiding from it. I realise in recent tastings I have been finding more enjoyment in delicate floral, herbal, and light fruit notes than I have whiskies that hide behind heavy wood. I want the malt, I want the character of the distillery, not a bodega in Spain. Still, this is a curious dram well worth a heavy splash or even a bottle. Thank you very kindly @cascode for yet another generous and challenging dram. Distiller whisky taste #272 [Pictured here with a rather spectacular garnet-staurolite phyllite from somewhere in Brazil. Things you need to know about this rock: it used to be a mud, it got cooked to around 650 degrees celsius during some kind of mountain building episode, the muds rearranged into beautiful gems crystals and a very finely layered crystalline rock, someone used it to make a pretty photo of some whisky].

North Star Series 15 and 16 tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 9 March 2022. Whisky #6 Nose: Like nosing a glass of oloroso sherry in an antique shop. Antique wax-polished furniture, linseed oil, carnauba wax, cedar cigar boxes, treacle, burnt sugar, cacao nibs. Some dark fruity notes in the background but they are overwhelmed by the sheer weight of the cask influence, as if they are hidden in old camphorwood chests. Water makes the nose less intense but does not change the profile. Palate: A full, sweet, sherry and oak arrival, very similar to the nose. Spices in the development (cinnamon, allspice, tannin), dried figs, dates, liquorice root extract, a whiff of camphor. Water makes it very easy to quaff but it tends to become a little syrupy as well with sweet sherry notes floating to the top. The texture is unctuous. Finish: Long. Sweet and oaky with sherry notes that linger but oak is the final memory. I’m sure the notes above would describe a compelling dram for many enthusiasts but you have to really love intense sherry-butt maturation because the distillates are well cloaked in this one. If I were mean I could say it’s just a sherry bomb, but that would be an exaggeration and an unfair dismissal of its good qualities. It has complexity, depth and is like a big cosy blanket of rich aromas and flavours. At AUD$130 a bottle this is good value. It's a NAS and there is youthful whisky apparent, but I have the impression there is some serious whisky "of age" in the blend as well. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

(Good Spirits Co. Glasgow – Virtual Gunpowder Tasting, 5th November 2021). Nose: Caramel, burnt toffee, cinder toffee, chocolate raisins Palate: Woody, dried fruit, spices (allspice & clove), red liquorice Finish: Long finish. Leather, liquorice 1 of 777 bottles Heavily sherried, chocolate raisins & nutty. This is a great, easy drinking dram. I could drink a lot of this, although at 55% that would be a bad (bad!) idea!