Wolfburn Northlands 46%
Btl: 2016/ Tasted: Apr 2016
A little high toned but lightly estery with hints of peach, apricot, pear and pineapple. Slightly grassy and minerally with crisp barley, white fruit, subtle vanilla oak and spice appearing.
The palate opens with the soft barley and hints of straw, slightly bubblegummy white fruit, apricot and pineapple. A gently whiff of smoke on the middle with a lively crisp mineral character. Medium length, quite citric with lingering barley and dry spice. For such a young spirit it has plenty of Highland character and should mature well.
Wolfburn Northlands 46%
Refill Bourbon
Btl: 2018/ Re-Tasted: Mar 2019
The nose is pleasantly barley’d and elegant with subtle estery fruit, salt and minerals. Hints of fresh rose petal, pear and vanilla oak appear with time. Beautifully fresh and vibrant.
The palate is fresh and barley’d with hints of apricot, pear and sweet banana. Good intensity and salty/ minerality. Hints of fresh rose petal, strawberry and vanilla come through on the middle. Long with lingering sweet-ish ginger and rose petals.
Wolfburn Northlands 46%
Btl: 2021/ Tasted: Jan 2022
A fresh and barley’d nose with hints of rose petal and strawberry mousse. Subtle apricot, banana, vanilla and plenty of salt and minerals.
The palate is fuller and displays more barley and oilier spirit character. Apple, apricot, banana skin along with subtle vanilla, earth and spice. Good intensity and length with a very salt and slightly vanilla’d finish with a touch of garden peas on the after-taste.
Wolfburn Aurora 46%
Refill Quarter Cask, First Fill Bourbon and First Fill Oloroso
Btl: 2017/ Tasted: Oct 2017
The nose is pleasantly woody and heathery with Alsace-esque apricot, apple and white fruit. The sherry is pretty subtle and sits beneath, whilst the quarter casks add a little grippy tannin.
The palate is full and fruity with apple, apricot, pineapple and pear. Gentle sherry spice comes through on the middle along with some light tannins. Good, juicy, barley’d finish with a little raw cereal (just to remind you of its age) and salt.
Wolfburn Aurora 46%
Btl: 2018/ Re- Tasted: Mar 2019
The nose is richer and showing more sherry character than the previous time I encountered it. Quite chocolaty with raw cocoa bean, subtle white fruit, fragrant barley, salt and creamy vanilla. Good balance with developing sweet malt, heather, sultana and dried currant.
Like the nose the palate displays more sherry character with plenty of salt, white fruit, and hints of coffee and chocolate. The barley and vanilla oak comes through on the middle and the finish is very long and salty with lingering barley, dried fruit and a touch of wood spice.
Wolfburn Aurora 46%
Btl: 2021/ Tasted: Jan 2022
Not as heavy on the sherry on the nose as previous with subtle dried fruit – prune and raisin. Hints of salt, white fruit, apricot and vanilla. Late cocoa bean.
The palate is soft, estery and fruit. Like the nose the sherry is subtle and adds a dried fruit nuance. Salt, minerals, citrus and subtle herbal notes on the middle along with a touch of vanilla. Long, spicy and fruity finish with a real salty flourish.
Wolfburn Langskip 58%
Fist Fill Bourbon
Btl: 2018/ Tasted: Mar 2019
The nose is a little tight with a lovely earthy pungency and hints of fresh rose petal, sweet barley, salt, peat and gritty tannins. Beneath lies some estery pineapple fruit and with time the oak becomes pleasantly charred/ toffee’d.
The palate is pungent, salty and earthy with sweet vanilla, gritty tannins, rose petal, peat and some oily, estery fruit on the middle. Slightly masked finish with a touch of straw-like barley, citrus, vanilla and white chocolate.
With water the nose becomes sweeter and more barley’d with sweeter oak notes and sweeter fruit. For all that sweetness the saltiness balances superbly. The subtle pet note has disappeared though. The palate is softer and less pungent and like the nose is sweeter, oakier and fuller, but again, like the nose the saltiness balances. Long and continuing salty with lingering rose petal, citrus and subtle wood spice.
Wolfburn Langskip 58%
Btl: 2021/ Tasted: Jan 2022
A pungent, earthy barley nose with tannin and subtle, estery white fruit, apricot and vanilla. Late salt, citrus, manure, strawberry mousse. Good balance and intensity.
An intense and earthy palate with slightly straw-like barley, strawberry mousse and vanilla. A little tight and masked finish with a lovely, juicy and barley’d asfter-taste.
Water emphasises the oak and salt. It softens and brings out more of the oily spirit character, although it’s balanced by the salt and crisper barley. The palate is fuller and oilier with again a touch more oak. Good intensity and earthiness and a long, salty, citric and spicy finish.
Wolfburn Morven 46%
Btl: 2018/ Tasted: Mar 2019
A crisp and fresh nose, which is very similar to the Northlands bottling with the addition of some subtle briny peat. A touch more citrusy and less estery than the Northlands but still impressive with a lighter rose petal character.
The palate is very salty with prominent rose petal, barley and a touch of peat. Like the nose it is quite citric and light with developing white fruit and subtle iodine notes. Long and heathery with a slightly mentholated peat note, white fruit and salt.
Wolfburn Morven 46%
Btl: 2021/ Tasted: Jan 2022
The nbose is crisp, fresh and barley’d with subtle, earthy peat, wood smoke and brine. Late citrus (lime/ lemon) and minerals.
The palate is fuller and oilier, opening with barley and subtly creamy oak. Gentle, earthy and phenolic peat on the middle with a touch of spice and salt. Long, earthy, spicy and slightly herbal finish with returning sweet fruit.
Wolfburn Small Batch No204 46%
5th release
5 years in first fill bourbon, 6 months in fresh madeira
Tasted: Mar 2021
The nose is aromatic, fresh and fruity with honeyed white fruit and hints of biscuity Madeira, salt, creamy American oak and subtle spice. With time hints of lime, gala melon and earth.
The palate is rich, full and barley’d. The oak grips a little to begin with and it is biscuitier and woodier than the nose suggests. However, there is a good depth of fruit to offset the oak dryness. Good length with creamy American oak, spice, barley, apricot and white fruit finish. Slightly earthy after-taste.
Wolfburn 10 year old (2023 Vatting) 46%
Sherry
Tasted: Apr 2023
A fresh and ozoney nose with barley, subtle boiled sweets Oloroso sherry dried fruit, malt, and subtle herbal sherry and some almost herbal hoppy notes as well. Late peat smoke, kerosene, salt and earth.
The palate opens with a touch more of the Oloroso dried fruit and salt. Hints of barley follow along with herbs, earth, green fruit and slightly astringent peat. Long finish with some drying tannins, salt and citrus, which gives it a slight austerity but the fruit balances. Lightly hoppy after-taste.
Whisky According to Chris Whiskyman 