Next up in our “revisit” evening was a cask strength single cask whisky from Kavalan, part of their Solist line.

We sampled completely blind, revealing only after much debate and speculation.

Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S090608029A Bottle No 269 of 485 58.6% (Bottled 2017.10.02)

• Colour – The colour was remarkable – so dark it was more like coffee with a rich ruby hue than whisky!
• Nose – Pure sherry, coffee, lots of rummy, plummy notes, complex, chocolate, dark fruits, weighty, kept thinking of chocolate covered raisins, sweet spices, caramel toffee
• Palate – Unexpected. Packs a punch – and not in an entirely good way. Sulfur, rubber – as in burnt rubber tyres, dry bitter, tannic, lentil, neem
• Finish – Spice sherry
• Water – Completely changes – much more coherent, the bitterness a bit tamed, the red fruits came out even more

To be honest, we really struggled with this one. It had elements of a few different familiar whiskies but not when put together. And it just didn’t work somehow either. The nose was so incredibly promising but the palate…. frankly seemed “forced”. The colour also had us puzzled – it was so dark to provoke speculation that something was decidedly different.

With the reveal there was surprise! Particularly as we’d just sampled a Kavalan Solist Sherry mere months earlier.

Generally we’ve all had very positive experiences with Kavalan Solist – with the Sherry being their signature rich, complex, robust whisky. However this one simply didn’t hit the mark for us.

This was by no means our only brush with this particular whisky… however that’s the thing about Kavalan Solist Sherry, each cask is unique.

What do the Kavalan folks have to say?

• Colour – Dark and mouth-watering raisin
• Nose – Clean and complex with multi-layers of dried fruit, nuttiness and spices with some marzipan and vanilla touches to it as well
• Palate – Rich, oily and full with pleasant dried fruit and spices that linger on in the mouth plus a hint of fine coffee

Here are a few others sampled over the last year or so….

• Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S081229026 Bottle No 421/527 55.6%
• Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S090102020 Bottle No 258/511 57.1%
• Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S0906080388 Bottle 098/522 57.8%
• Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask S1001200358, Bottle No 025/507 57.8%

Here is what else we tried in our “revisit” evening:

• Johnnie Walker Green Label 15 year 43%
• Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength “Kilchoman 2017 Tour” 60%

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