Armorik Millesime Matured for 10 Years
Three French Whiskies - Part II
5 291
Review by @talexander
- Nose22
- Taste24
- Finish23
- Balance22
- Overall91
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Armorik is the single malt brand from Warenghem, who also make the Breizh blended whisky. This was from a sample bottle (courtesy of Johanne McInnis) so I don't know much about it other than it was fully matured for 10 years in sherry cask #3261.
The colour is a dark gold. On the nose we have much deeper, richer oak with Angostura spices, eucalyptus, stewed blackberries and shiraz. Tons of wood smoke on this one - this has huge sherry cask influence. Black pepper. Oversteeped tea leaves. Arugula. Pine needles! Very earthy. Water brings out more smoke and spice. Very unusual - strange combination of medicinal, herbal and oaky (maybe a bit too oaky).
On the palate it's a hot, wild combination of more Angostura, cayenne pepper, aloe and thick oak. Extremely fruity with berry compote. Huge spice - this sherry monster is really a mouthful - especially with some water. Almost peaty. Again, very unusual but quite fascinating.
The medium-length finish is black cherries, cloves and sage, followed by some late-arriving charred oak. Pam hates this one, but I find it very interesting - vaguely reminds me of a Bowmore Devil's Cask (also fully sherry matured for 10 years). Jim Murray scores this is 92. Love it or hate it (and I like it a lot), you won't find anything quite like this anywhere else.
Nice review, it sounds like quite a roller-coaster of flavours and I am intrigued. I know the first few years of production at Wareham they were using lightly peated malt but have since switched to unpeated only.
Sadly the few Armorik releases I've tried have been hot messes, yet the way you describe this one sounds like they do have gems. I remember @markjedi1 who also had a positive video review of their products.