A pale golden spirit, the sherry cask has not imparted too much colour, but age might be a factor too in that. This particular bottle is marked December 09 so maybe this review is a little late... A touch of sherry on the nose, but the overriding aromas are similar to the normal Madeira bottling which suggests to me they are part of the distillery character they include apples, coconut and mown grass (the green green grass of home in my case).
There is a bit too much alcoholic bite for my liking but it is a young whisky. It’s less sweet than the Madeira cask, more bittersweet with a rich flavour of honey and some fruit (apples and peaches). The finish is a modest affair, long but the flavours are a bit muted, bittersweet and touch fruity.
A friend of mine raved about this stuff, but maybe he got a bottle from a better batch than I. The small batches produced by this distillery make its whisky quite variable. It’s an enjoyable dram and possibly a more grown up whisky than the Madeira cask version, and while I usually like dry whisky, there is not enough going on to score this particular bottle highly.
It's a very small distillery so they obviously can't market all their wears everywhere, which is a shame when there is demand.
Interesting . . . . . This one is hard to find if nigh impossible in USA, especially Oregon. A very informative review. Thank you!