Blackadder Raw Cask English Whisky NAS 64.7%
Unpeated 5 year old/ Bourbon Cask B2 001/ Dist: 2011 Btl: Mar 2016/ Tasted: Aug 2017
Pungent and cereally to begin with. Settles to show a pleasant depth of barley, honey, toffee, heather and apricot. Although neat it is fairly alcoholic, the alcohol is very well integrated.
The palate is full and soft with apricot, barley, honey and hints of white fruit and subtle spice. Gentle notes of vanilla oak comes through on the middle and the finish is masked and mouth-watering but displays some lovely tangerine and barley.
Diluted the nose shows more of the buttery/ toffee’d oak and the honey has become quite floral in character. Beautifully balanced with a light but refreshing citrus note. The palate is slightly oilier with up front barley, straw and fruit. Lovely citric note on the middle now, which continues through the finish. A little drying tannic spice at the death but the spirit weight underpins.
Blackadder Raw Cask Peated English Whisky NAS 66.3%
Peated 5 year old/ Bourbon Cask 279/ Dist: 2011 Btl: Mar 2016/ Tasted: Sept 2017
A lovely, aromatic nose of white fruit with subtle medicinal peat and brine. Hints of barley, apple, honey and juicy citrus follow along with a touch of American oak.
The palate is quite oily and barley’d with hints of white fruit, fleshy apricot and citrus. Again the medicinal peat notes are subtle, whereas the alcohol certainly isn’t! Yep, that’s an intense middle! The peat really comes through powerfully on the finish and the combination of alcohol and citrus makes the tongue tingle.
With water the nose is heavier and oilier with less peat, however it is smokier now with hints of earth and manure. In fact it becomes pretty stinky (in a good way!) The palate is still pretty oily and like the nose, showing a little less peat. Still it’s wonderfully dense with a slight chocolaty note and hints of apple, citrus, burnt wood, earth and manurey-peat, especially in the finish.
Blackadder Raw Cask English Whisky Moscatel Cask 2007 (7 year old) 63.2%
Cask 794/Dist: Oct 2007 Btl: May 2015/Tasted: July 2016
An interesting nose of perfumed, dried grape, cereal, malt biscuits and dark honey. Very winey and cask orientated with a late herbal note.
The palate is raw and winey. Really intense with cereal, dried grape and no shortage of alcohol! The finish is seriously alcoholic and Stagg-esque in its intensity, but once it clears it leaves lingering cereal, malt and dried Moscatel fruit.
With water the nose is a little softer and possibly a tad more perfumed. It’s still very grapey though with hints of nuts, wood smoke, earth and orange. The palate pretty much remains about the same, minus the alcohol intensity! A little sweeter now, but still long, herbal and cereally. Definitely unusual!
Blackadder Raw Cask Peated English Whisky Moscatel Cask 2007 (7 year old) 63.4%
Cask 789/ Dist: Nov 2007 Btl: May 2015/ Tasted: July 2016
The aromas are similar to the unpeated cask, showing plenty of lightly perfumed, dried grape, but with the addition of a lovely combination of earthy-peat and mildly astringent-peat. Hints of herbs, burnt wood, creosote and dark grape infused honey follow. Subtle, it is not!
The palate is surprisingly soft and full of grapey, winey honey. The sweetness of the cask has influenced the peat and although it is slightly earthy, it is quite sweet. The alcohol is intense but well integrated and it becomes fairly smoky on the middle. The finish is fairly alcoholic, well, actually it’s eye-wateringly intense and sooty with some lightly medicinal herbal notes appearing along with a touch of coffee.
Water makes no change to the nose but on the palate it has become thicker and more grapey. The peat is less noticeable, although it is still there and like the unpeated cask it’s a little sweeter with lingering Moscatel notes.
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 