Corsair Small Batch Triple Smoke Single Malt
Another gem from Corsair
0 887
Review by @jerryclyde
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall87
Show rating data charts
Distribution of ratings for this:
This is an "American malt whiskey distilled from cherry, beechwood, and peat smoked barley." It is another of those new, innovative releases from Corsair Artisan Distillery in Nashville, TN (they also have facilities in Bowling Green, KY). According to Derek Bell, Head Distiller, three batches of malted barley are each individually smoked using three smoke sources: peat, cherry and beechwood, and are then put through the mashing and distillation processes. The resulting product is quite nice.
Bottle: Batch no. 97, Bottle 555
Color: Medium amber (but hazy)
Nose: Wood smoke, peat and stone fruit. Vanilla. It reminds me of a chipotle-apricot jam I once made. Fruit notes begin to take prominence over the smoke the longer you spend nosing this whiskey.
Palate: A somewhat light body with a nice buttery mouth feel. Initially sweet with a few spices buzzing around mid-palate. The peat smoke comes through on the palate more than the wood smoke. Drying wood tannins and vanilla arrive late.
Finish: Not overly long but those fruit-smoke notes hold on for a while.
Notes: I know that the small artisan distillers have to keep the bottom line in sight, but I sure wish that this could have been bottled at a higher proof (maybe 45%?). 40% thins out what could have been an amazing whiskey.
Your concluding remark sums it up for me too, except I must have been much more bothered by its thinness. I don't have my notes handy, but I recall thinking "smoky water" and pegging it around 70. It might be greta with less dilution.
Since you mentioned the three-way smoking process: Do we know when they combine the spirits? It sounds like it's three separate spirits coming off the still—do they mature them separately and then blend them for bottling? Or do they mature together? If it's the former, I wonder if they have any plan to release single components, like just the cherry-smoked whisky.