Double dipping tonight. Two up from the relative newcomers ‘Cotswolds’. Opening the evening proceedings is a cask strength sherry cask expression. Local SW England barley and matured in a combination of American and Spanish oak hogsheads and butts, seasoned with Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez sherry. Bottled at a respectable 57.4% ABV. N: Warm and toasty this oozes stewed fruit and gentle spices. Apple, ginger, clove, plums, blackcurrant, dates. This is Christmas cake, no argument about it. But, despite what sounds like a sherry bomb, this isn’t. The fruits and spice come through with deftness and lightness that leave room for toasty malt and a slightly burnt brown sugar, is there a slightly dry bitter coffee note also? I think so, yes. P: Rich, plump, nicely oily, and plenty of ABV prickle. Black pepper spiciness rules the roost, but get past that and there is nutty dark chocolate, heavy blackberry jam, and brown sugar crunch. F: Medium-long. Black pepper builds from the palate into a lingering pepper-zing, but there are also juicy dark berries and figgy jam. The high ABV slightly masks the youth of this malt. Things are a little to aggressive and the promise of the underlying malt given by the nose doesn’t quite make it through. Water is the secret then. A fairly hefty dash and there is gentleness to be found in the palate. Vanilla, maybe a honied note and definitely some fresh orange spritz come through from the loss of the overwhelming black pepper. Whilst the ABV drops away the youth is revealed, the depth of character isn’t there and the texture falls to a slightly granular ‘fractured’ expression. Tempered with time and slightly calmed I think this has potential to be a lovely and somewhat restrained sherry cask, but it isn’t quite there yet. Distiller whisky taste #285 [Pictured here with a lovely chunk of the Cotswolds. The Cotswolds area is defined by Jurassic limestone bedrock that is quarried for the golden-coloured Cotswold stone with the highest point at Cleeve Hill a meagre 330 m high. Most of the Cotswolds hills are made of Oolitic limestone, a limestone made of small rounded calcite grains called ooids. These formed in shallow, warm waters like those found today around parts of the Caribbean Sea, where calcium carbonate is deposited from sea water due to evaporation. The round grains grow in size as they are gently rolled to and fro by waves, in water only a few metres deep]. Cotswolds running scores: Single malt: 4/5 Sherry cask strength: 3/5