Tis the season of advent calendars, and the latest craze is to fill them with booze. Now, I’ve not actually got one – I do work for a drinks company in direct competition with the folks who make the calendars, after all – but everyone else with a whisky blog does and I feel left out. So, I’m going to write about a different whisky every day in advent, and as I don’t have an actual calendar, my whiskies should be different to everyone else’s. Here’s the first: Amrut Single Pedro Ximénez Cask #2697.
I first tried this back at Maltstock in 2013, at an excellent class led by Ashok “I’m really not James Bond” Chokalingham, Amrut’s excellent brand ambassador and all-round nice chap.
He dropped this and some other single casks into his tasting as a sneak preview, and despite them appearing on the market back then, there are still a few bottles left. Fortunately, I had one to hand, and decided that this would be the first of my advent whiskies.
Nose: An intense sweet and savoury sherry cask assault. It’s the classics: sticky raisins, roasted meat, marzipan and cherries (Cherry Bakewells, without the royal icing), nutmeg, cinnamon and a hint of liquorice. However, there’s more to it than that, with buttery frosting, fruit jelly, green leaves and behind it all, some stewed rhubarb – sweet, sour and very fruity.
Palate: Initially very grainy – a punch of freshly crushed barley and rolled oats – which is a shock after the nose. However, the sherry doesn’t sit in the wings for long, and rich wine notes and layers of tingling spice quickly roll in. It’s got a lot of bitter barrel char notes, but they are carefully balanced by dried fruit, bittersweet dark chocolate and a background of sweet and sour red berries.
Finish: Liquorice and blackcurrant jam, fading away to leave a leafy, mint choc chip end.
This is, as you might expect from an Amrut whisky aged in an active PX cask, it’s a bit over the top and very intense – it’s only four years old, but the cask lost 39% of its volume in that time. However, as a first dram of advent, with the remains of Storm Clodagh blowing around outside, it felt appropriate. Silly, sherried and full of fruit – some from the cask and some from the spirit. A good start to the month.
Amrut 2009 PX Sherry Single Cask #2697. Bottled September 2013.
Indian Single Malt Whisky, 56.5% ABV. ~£90. Exclusively available in Europe.
@cowfish Good idea, might join you in that!
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true Billy but with these advent calendars they are small drams and everyone knows, Whisky is not just for christmas, there should be some left over for boxing day…
Better still why don’t you send out 24 samples of what you try to your mates 😜
Because I have no clue what I’m going to be trying 🙂
RT @cowfish: Everyone else has a whisky advent calendar, so I’m going to do my own. Day #1: @AmrutSingleMalt PX Cask #2697, https://t.co/ks…
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Advent calendar my bum. Love the good old chocolate ones. The whisky one is cute but at let’s say about £180 it is the equivalent of a pretty nice bottle or two…. Agreed Billy. Love your work
It’s a good product, whether you pay for it or not – me not being able to write about it is just a good excuse for me to actually do some writing on my blog for once.
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What is an advent calendar? I work through the calendar the whole year with booze 😉
RT @cowfish: Everyone else has a whisky advent calendar, so I’m going to do my own. Day #1: @AmrutSingleMalt PX Cask #2697, https://t.co/ks…
@cowfish I don’t 😟
RT @cowfish: Everyone else has a whisky advent calendar, so I’m going to do my own. Day #1: @AmrutSingleMalt PX Cask #2697, https://t.co/ks…
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a bottle a day… good luck and wish you a merry liver function test:))
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@Amrutsinglemalt launches #spectrum 005 ! https://t.co/0PPDlGOf3n
RT @whisky_fr: @Amrutsinglemalt launches #spectrum 005 ! https://t.co/0PPDlGOf3n
@cowfish @Amrutsinglemalt Brilliant idea. Virtual Advent
RT @whisky_fr: @Amrutsinglemalt launches #spectrum 005 ! https://t.co/0PPDlGOf3n
RT @whisky_fr: @Amrutsinglemalt launches #spectrum 005 ! https://t.co/0PPDlGOf3n