Release The Trojan Tweet Tasting

So the always busy and every charming Neil and Joel have taken on yet another new project, and it’s exciting.   They are now bottling some rare findings at cask strength which will be released in very limited numbers.

Read the official press release, which can be found further down this page.

This is very exciting, Neil and Joel have a wealth of experience and I expect anything hand selected to be pretty special, so I was delighted when I was invited to take part in a tweet tasting, or two mystery bottles.

Ok so the hashtags seemed to jump around a bit all over the place, so I ended up doing my own thing and hoping for the best but if you want to try and find them look up #exilecasks #Releasethetrojan and #DiscoverLiberateEnjoy

The Trojan

Distilled in 1990 at 57.1% ABV from a refill hogshead, The Trojan is a 25yo speyside  which will be released at the end of the month.   Limited to 306 bottles at a price £65 per 50cl bottle.

Nose: 

It immediately has a wonderful musty smell which reminds of being in a vintage clothes shop.  The mustiness has an old paper note and soft leather, think well thumbed books in an old book shop with leather chairs.

There are some punchy oak notes before fresh doughy bread notes, with red apples and tinned peaches soon following.  A slightly resinous notes with sawdust, and balsa wood, with some fresh saplings.

Milk chocolate and heather honey add more sweetness before some earthy notes from pumpernickel bread come through.

Palate: 

Vanilla fudge creaminess, with milk chocolate covered pears.  The burnt sugar crisp of an exceptional creme brulee adding a wonderful burnt sweetness.

A richer polished mahogany note is soon to appear, which is drying yet still sweet.  With dark, ripe plums, cherries and red apples in abundance, with blood oranges and rhubarb adding a sharp notes, which works perfectly with the sweetness.

The red apples start combining with some raspberries, cherries and a touch of rhubarb

Finish: 

Dark fruits, cereal sweetness and toffee sauce encircle the palate, it’s viscous and chewy.  The rhubarb keeps making itself known and there are occasional moments of spice, but more then anything it’s the vanilla sweetness which is last to leave.

Overall thoughts: 

Remarkably well rounded, after the initial kick from the alcohol prickle, and the spice of the peppercorns, the cherries and raspberries combine with the rhubarb and oranges, which make this dangerously drinkable.

The creamy toffee notes and the silken milk chocolate are the last to leave and it definitely leaves you wanting more.

Bottle number two:

Is as yet unnamed and has come from a 200 litre refill American Standard Barrel, this is not yet bottled, but was born

09.04.1992 with the price to confirmed next month.

Nose: 

Floral with rose hips, geraniums and ferns, with gentle pear, cocoa butter and lemon icing sugar and creamed coconut.

As it continues to open there is boiled milk, homemade rice pudding with stewed apples on the side with heaps of nutmeg, before sweet, freshly fried banana fritters & rose essence.

Palate: 

Spicy at first, black pepper, pink and green peppercorns and plenty of mace too.  There’s no denying the alcohol prickle, and it soon makes your lips tingle.  Then the fruits come in, with papaya, guava and mango first up.  There’s a touch of lychee which the spice really enhances.

There’s a creamed coconut sweetness and combined with the wood spice, the tannins and some gentle tikka spices, it’s not unlike a mild curry.

Finish: 

Long and sweet, there’s plenty of vanilla, but the tropical fruits aren’t ready to give up their position just yet.  Surprisingly the spices are first to fade, and you are left with wonderful, rich tannin’s, the wood influence is gentle with the silkiness of coconut flesh.

Overall thoughts: 

If pushed I think this one could be Irish, it just has that creaminess and green notes that immediately remind me of Cooley’s or Middleton.  Very hot to start with the 55.5% ABV really making itself known.

It’s obviously come from a fantastic cask regardless of where it’s from, and this is one that I could quite happily drink all night.

London based Caskstrength Creative, run by drinks writers Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley are about to release their new project which has seen them travel the length and breadth of Scotland to unearth the uncommon.

The writers turned detective as they took on the role of cask hunters on a journey of discovery searching out the most unusual of all whisky casks, the ones that had just got forgotten, destined for blends that no longer exist, set aside for customers that went out of business or that had simply fallen off stock records.

Each one has a unique story to tell of its journey from the day it was filled to the day that our intrepid hunters found them quietly slumbering at the back of warehouses or in dusty corners.

Under the banner of Exile Casks they are now liberating these extraordinary single casks and releasing them to be enjoyed at last.

The single casks will be released in a small bottlings at cask strength in 50cl bottles and Neil and Joel are amazed at what they have found.

“We really did not know what to expect but we discovered some real heroes, whiskies with extraordinary personalities that reflect the unusual journeys each cask has been on”.

Exile Casks celebrates these heroes and we are delighted to make them available for a lucky few to enjoy.”

The first Exile Cask Bottling will be available on March the 31st Available only to order online here.

You can find out more about these bottlings on the website or on twitter on @ExileCasks or @WorldofSpirits.