Cotswolds Sherry Cask

Peppery menthol, young, newmake, unbalanced.

Notes from an online blind tasting ... Great part. Totally surprised me. Comes over older.

Lovely expression from Cotswolds. The sherry is very prominent and it's a beautiful drinker even neat. N: Brown sugar, cherries, figs, dates, sultanas, cinnamon, espresso, Christmas spices P: Very strong and lively, what's on the nose follows on the palate but add some roasted almonds and some blood oranges F: Peppery, spicy, long and finishes with dark red fruits

Find it good and very pleasant, even if the aromas are only hinted at. He looks older, but he desperately needs the volume percentages for this, otherwise he would go under. I clearly liked it best on its own - 06/03/2023

Tasted at a Helder's meets WIN tasting 26-10-2021

The best one out of three Costwolds (others Harvest and STR). Again youth nose and bright palate with good intense sherry By bright I mean ABV (gets smoother with time) and fruity new make which is still prominent And medium to short finish with raisins and plums

Very similar to GlenAllachie 12 (candy + sherry), Omar Sherry Casks (fresh fruit + dirty sherry), and Aberlour A'bunadh (spicy sherry). A honeyed and floral CS sherry bomb, with tons of milk chocolate and fruits. Creamy and waxy texture. Very sweet, medium-dry, and not as spicy as its competition (although still very spicy compared to everything else). Aroma: Fresh, intense, and fruity. Sweet fruit candy (strawberry, mango, green apple), milk chocolate, intense flowery honey, cinnamon, black pepper, toffee, a touch of vegetal (mint), and earthy notes. It’s definitely young; you can tell this was newmake not too long ago. Still, the nose is incredibly inviting. Taste: Very spicy and sweet, with medium astringency. Definitely hot, which isn’t bad if you appreciate it in the context of the other notes, in my opinion... it has such a nice punch. It’s much more sherried than the nose might suggest. There’s a lot of young sherry oak, fresh fruits, and actual honey, all inside an entire flower shop coated in milk chocolate. Then, some dates, toffee, brown sugar, cinnamon, toasted almonds, a touch of cereal, coffee, and licorice, with more earthy, toasted, and vegetal nuances pervading everything. The texture is very nice—creamy and dense. Finish: Medium, sweet, toasted, and astringent. Intensely fruity and oaky, with toffee and coffee dominating over the honey and milk chocolate. Some coffee beans and vanilla. This is the kind of whisky that wakes you up and then knocks you down. If you don’t like them young, hot, spicy, and moody, there’s nothing here for you (I’m talking about sherry bombs, of course). On a more serious note, this can easily compete with the classic sherry-punch-providers, accessible CS sherry bombs like Glenfarclas 105, Arran Sherry Casks CS, Tomatin CS, Old Perth CS (blended malt), and Aberlour A'bunadh, especially resembling the latter in my opinion. So, if you like those, you might want to give this a try. It falls on the sweet, honeyed, floral, and gentle side of the spectrum, without sacrificing the spicy, hot, oaky, and astringent punch that characterizes these types of bottlings, creating an interesting contrast. It is very young, though, so expect the typical fresh fruit, herbs, and cereal notes typical of 3-5 year-olds, and other not-so-agreeable stuff. As with any of the bottles mentioned, the sheer amount of pleasant, balanced, and characterful flavors they managed to impart in such a short time is astonishing. This feels damn solid.

Fruit forward, sweet, zesty sherry notes - like an alcohol soaked orange cake. Easy drinker.

Vault w Rob Patchett, Global Ambassador. Golden. Nose: Lightly spicy, fruit, dish. Taste: Fruity, vanilla, bland, slightly spicy, no sulphur.

Doesn't get better with time. The fruity spirit is nice, but it's just way too hot both in the nose and palate because of the youth. Also, you can dissect the wet sherry from the base spirit way too easily, it doesn't feel integrated yet.

Blind tasting

Nose: pineapple, mango, white peach, waxed leather, prunes, candied cherry, citrus zest, blond tobacco, old wood. attention to alcohol present.87 Taste: astringent, oily, honey, vanilla, caramel, candied cherry, sweet bitterness of burnt caramel, alcohol well integrated in the middle of the different aromas and less aggressive than on the nose.87 Final: tobacco, leather, slight bitterness of burnt caramel.86

A young English distillery whose whiskys work young.

Cotswolds Sherry Cask 57.4%. 25ml sample from a distillery tasting pack. I’ve had this sample at least 18 months, consumed Sep 2022. Mid tone amber. Aroma is rose petal infused toffee, rich bourbon char, caramelised, hint of oak, some Tunnock’s caramel wafer dialled up to 11. Wow, I really like the aroma. Body is watery. Taste is simple but nice, pointed, again caramelised and toffeeish. Not much alcohol heat given the strength. A soft biscuity note. I didn’t want to water it down as it drank so easily at bottling strength. The palate is quite simple but it drinks really well. The nose is really good – the sort of dessert whisky nose I’d seek out in a good American whisky. Just slightly lacks the complexity on the palate that would have taken this into the top tier. Still, this is impressive. Good spirit in a good cask. It’s not a silly sherry bomb. If they can keep this standard up when they release older whisky, they’ll have a customer in me! £70 a bottle is not too bad and I’d seriously consider paying that. 3.625/86

Really warm whisky, with a long finish. Easy to drink, treacherously so if you aren’t careful due to the heavy percentage which you don’t immediately notice.

Solid, nothing more, it's a shame I have 5 bottles.

In a private Cotswolds tasting organized by two Finnish whisky enthusiasts and directed by Rob Patchett from the distillery, this whisky was the winner of the all tasters poll, leaving behind a PX single cask, an Oloroso single cask, a peated cask, and two 46% batch releases. It's easy to understand why, since this one has a rounder and more full profile than either of the sherry single casks. However, I feel that as good as this is, I still like my Cotswolds with a bit less obvious cask touch, like the batch releases, because they are more singular whereas this is "just" a good young sherry whisky.

Aroma Nutty, chocolate, cherry, leather, pepper. WOW very complex taste Sweet, nutty, dark chocolate, dark fruit, leather, very astringent with water finish Long, sherry notes, ginger spiciness

Small sample as part of the distillery tour tasting. Not enough to allow water to be added, which of course might well improve the experience, so treat this rating as a lower limit. This was the highlight of the line-up for me. The nose is pleasingly classical with walnuts and bags of raisins, plus dried banana. The mouthfeel is unctuous and chewy, leading to a fairly long, peppery finish.

astonishingly ripe, young whisky. Surprisingly tasty.

Nose: Marmalade, vanilla, macerated oranges Palate: Dundee marmalade, bitter almonds, Finish: Bergamot and vanilla, damson jam

Spicy nose, dry sherry on dried grapes, dusty and roasted caramel, some dry wood Malty, peppery, vanilla mouth; a zest of bitterness then the more pronounced sherry just after on black fruits (date, cherry in brandy) Peppery finish, sherry on the raisin above all

Nose: Red berries, sweet cherries, toffee & fudge, some green herbs, hint of sulfur, slight cinnamon and blueberries. Taste: The nose is repeated, with hints of pepper, slightly astringent. Finish: Relatively short, some sherry sweetness, a little ripe pineapple, warming. Not bad at all, pretty well incorporated sherry cask NAS malt at high abv.