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Cardhu Amber Rock

Dashed Against The Rocks

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@talexanderReview by @talexander

10th Jan 2015

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Cardhu Amber Rock
  • Nose
    21
  • Taste
    18
  • Finish
    18
  • Balance
    16
  • Overall
    73

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Distribution of ratings for this: brand user

Amber Rock is a fairly new expression of Cardhu (the spiritual home of Johnny Walker). Historically, only the 12 Year Old (which I am not a fan of) was available in Ontario. I visited the distillery a few years ago (which is quite charming and surrounded by a quaint village and gorgeous Speyside farmland) where I was able to also taste one of their Special Cask Reserve releases (which I quite liked). And older cask strength Cardhus can be amazing. This one is NAS; the notes tell us it is "double matured in toasted oak casks, seasoned with sweet bourbon."

The colour is....um, amber. On the nose, quite malty with barley sugar, lemon pie and cinnamon. Banana bread, and a fair bit of vanilla and a hint of milk chocolate. Fairly straightforward but quite nice. Avoid water, which just dilutes the nose and palate.

On the palate there's a little more chocolate, with very light caramel and vanilla. A hint of banana but some indeterminate spice. Generally, I find it rather flat, with an astringent (almost winey) note in the background.

The oak comes out in the shortish finish, with more astringency. A nice nose is rendered irrelevant by an imbalance with the flavour. For me, it edges out the 12 Year Old only slightly - so makes a nice gift for someone who is a fan of Cardhu. Otherwise there's not much to recommend it.

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4 comments

@Victor
Victor commented

Interesting. Do you think Cardhu Amber Rock would taste better at 50% abv, or would it still just be flat? Sounds like you are finding BOTH the quality of the flavours and their concentration to be coming up short.

And what does "...seasoned with sweet bourbon" mean? Are they still just talking about the casks? Outright addition of bourbon to a malt whisky sounds like a scary proposition to me. They can't really be doing THAT, can they?

9 years ago 0

@talexander
talexander commented

I would guess that it would be much better at higher ABV (the 12 would probably be too, for that matter). It definitely lacks punch, and that might help punch up the flavours. The general dilution with the addition of water hints at that as well.

You can't legally add things to a single malt scotch and still call it single malt (and if you add bourbon, you can't call it scotch). The label is simply very vague but I'm guessing both maturations were in first-fill bourbon casks. The flavours reflect that, though I wonder if some sherry casks were used in the initial maturation, which would explain the "winey" notes. But the label only mentions bourbon casks.

9 years ago 0

@Benancio
Benancio commented

I'm not a fan of the Cardhu 12 either, it has a cooked vegetable taste that I don't care for. Thanks for the review on the Amber Rock. Does Cardhu have any cask strength bottles? I'd be willing to give them a try.

9 years ago 0

@talexander
talexander commented

I don't believe there are any official distillery cask strength bottlings, but I had an SMWS Cardhu that was very good. Here's my review: connosr.com/reviews/cardhu/…

9 years ago 0