Hogshead Indie is back with some amazing new bottlings and I was lucky enough to receive a sampleset with their entire new range. Including this Hogshead Lowland 9! I will be posting a review for each dram every single day this week, but what makes these tasting notes a little less ordinary is the fact that I tasted everything blind!
I was invited to join a live tasting where the whiskies were announced, but unfortunately I couldn’t make it. But the bottles we received only had sample numbers on them. 1 through 6. The rest of the information was announced during the live tasting. Which gave me the idea to taste and write my tasting notes blind as well! Only after posting my guesses online were the whiskies themselves revealed to me.
My guess for the first sample was a Lowland whisky, ex-bourbon, 8 years old, bottled at 55% and that it could perhaps be an Ailsa Bay. As it turned out I came pretty close as this Sample number was a 9 year old (secret) Glenkinchie, aged in a refill hogshead and bottled at 48%!
(Blind) Tasting Notes: Hogshead Lowland 9
Stats:
Distillery: Glenkinchie
Age: 9 year old
Bottler: Hogshead Indie
ABV: 48%
Chill-Filtered: No
Natural Colour: Yes
Nose:
Loads of freshly cut grass, moss, and yellow grapes with notes of green apples and just a little bit of farmyard funk. But also vanilla, kardemom and a whisper of cinnamon.
Palate:
Luscious amount of vanilla approach you from the very first sip. Paired with an almost buttery mouthfeel and copious amounts of popcorn, apple syrup, maple syrup and charred liquorice root. Much more of a punch than I expected from the nose!
Finish:
The finish is long and fiery. With some slight tannic influence on the sides of the tongue, leaving the mouth rather dry. Marmite, candied orange peel, and dried green apples come to mind as tasting notes.
