Thompson Brothers SRV5
Thompson Bros bottling #3
7 990
WReview by @Wierdo
- Nose~
- Taste~
- Finish~
- Balance~
- Overall90
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Distribution of ratings for this:
- Brand: Thompson Brothers
- ABV: 48.5%
The third bottle I have open from Thompson Bros is this bottle of SRV5 (Station Road Vat #5). It is a blended malt, with the constituent malts being at least 8 years old. The Thompson Bros use a Solera Vat system to create it where a 1200L vat is filled with malts and once they have married together around 800L are drawn off and bottled before new malt is added to the 400L or so remaining in the Vat.
There is a video on how they produce it here:
My bottle is from batch 2 (the batch number is on the back label in tiny writing) I opened this bottle in May or June when I was isolating in my bedroom with my second bout of covid. Luckily this time my sense of taste and smell had escaped unscathed. So binge watching netflix on my laptop I cracked the cork on this.
The colour on this is fairly light. I believe it is made up from bourbon cask matured malts.
Nose - (neat) quite bright and floral, jasmine, some subtle orange notes, peaches a grainy note. Strangely, the nose actually makes me think of a Japanese whisky like Hibiki.
Palate - Dry, slightly sour a hint of peat on the development, barley sugar, cornflakes, digestive biscuits, some waxiness. The finish is long and drying.
With water - With the addition of water the arrival and development merge together. There is some additional sweetness which makes me think of honeydew melon. For me I much preferred this whisky neat. Even though it is 48.5% abv it is very drinkable neat. Water doesn't enhance it and in fact to my palate diminishes it.
Overall
In my notes for this review I have written one sentence 'excellent bang for the buck'. This bottle cost me £35. I've already brought a second bottle (batch 5). It has just the right amount of complexity that you can pour a glass and sit down in front of the TV and not think too much about it but still enjoy an interesting, moreish whisky. It would also be a perfect whisky to give to a malt snob who thought that blends were inferior. This would make them reassess their opinion!
It is available from their website and shop and a few retailers around the UK (not sure about availability further afield) and at the price I would confidently recommend it to anyone.
@Wierdo - You've got me drooling at 8am on Sunday morning! Sounds like a lovely drop, thanks for the review.