Penderyn Portwood

Nose: Toffee, cappuccino, caramel, milk chocolate, leather, intensely berry-flavoured gummy sweets, stewed prunes, a little oak. Palate: Sweet arrival with red fruits that turns quickly dry - almost astringent - highlighting citrus fruit and hot spices. The development expands on this opening spice note with a burst of spicy, tannic heat (hot cinnamon, nutmeg, clove oil, black pepper). Then a sharply-defined second wave of development arrives with mild wood flavours, brown sugar, lots of berries, red fruits and nuts. The texture is full and heavy. Finish: Medium/short, and it stops very abruptly. An oaky stewed-fruit compote on the aftertaste. A curious whisky. Not unpleasant at all but - different. The structure seems somehow strange and there is a touch of sulphur which intrudes just a little on both the nose and palate. It's not a sherry-bomb and there's not a trace of smoke. If I had to give it a name I'd call it a "jammy leather bomb", if that makes sense. With water - well, just don't do it. Even a few drops kills it stone cold dead. No nose, barely any palate. It's incredibly fragile. This was tasted from a sample that I've had for a while, which was poured from one of the early 41% bottlings around 6 years ago when a friend bought a bottle. The sample was overfilled so there was no air bubble and the cap was as tight as a drum so I'm guessing it lasted well. It's certainly an interesting whisky but I feel no desire to find a bottle - however I would like to try a sample of a more recent bottling, particularly the CS tawny port expression. The price I've quoted for it was the price in 2013. "Above Average" : 81/100 (3 stars)

NOSE Metallic grapey dark fruit, malty sweet, brown sugar, light spice and a touch of melon rind and leather. This a touch dry and leathery but the fruitiness hits heavy, yet balanced, giving it an inviting profile. PALATE Metallic grapey dark fruit, earthy (mushroom like), malty sweet, brown sugar, and a bit of cinnamon and leather. This is deeper and warmer than the aroma, but it feels a tad disjointed, like it hasn’t fully merged just yet, but it’s so dang close. FINISH Medium -> Grapey fruity, malty , brown sugar and a bit of citrus fade out tartly.

★★★★½ Wow! Comme c'est bon! On est rapidement projeté vers un septième ciel en dégustant ce sublime whisky. Un équilibre digne d'un funambule marchant les yeux fermés sur une corde au-dessus du Grand Canyon. Encore, j'en veux encore. Malheureusement, le prix va certainement m'empêcher d'en avoir toujours une bouteille sous la main.

Nose: nuts, jam, oak/wood, chocolate, plums, mild smoke, mild sea water Pallet: wood, smoke, cocoa, red berries, spice, tree bark, ginger Finish: Ginger, lemongrass, spice, Szechuan pepper, hints of wood

Nose: fruity like all penderyn Mouth: fruity, grapes, sweet and round Finish: sweet Nez: fruité comme tous les penderyn Bouche: fruité, raisin, sucré et rond Longueur: sucré

Baked bananas in chocolate on the nose. Touch of smoke, sea salt, candied plum, sugared white cherry, apple jelly. Palate has more cherry with spices, cassia bark, timber.