Wolfburn Father’s Day Edition 2022

This is the third release in the Father's Day series. It is a Wolfburn at cask strength (as clearly stated on the label), a vatting of both bourbon and sherry casks, of which 1,840 bottles were released in 2022. I scored a sample at SITS, the best whisky festival in the Benelux.

Rather maritime nose on sea breeze and wet rocks, with the sweetness of malt sugars, apples and overripe pear and a (very light) hint of caramel and grapefruit. The peat is slightly sweet and sour and unfortunately reminds me a bit of pit smell for a moment.

Nice and full and rich on the tongue, but immediately very hot. Both of the alcohol percentage and of the wood spices. Think nutmeg, white pepper and licorice. Reminds me of the smoke of a bonfire. The second sip is already much better. Both the white fruit and some more exotic varieties such as peach and even mango appear, supplemented with orangettes (that makes up for a lot for me) and even some sticky toffee pudding (that makes up for a whole lot for me). The third sip even makes it darkly sweet, really. Brown sugar, fried banana and almond shavings. And all this in a wonderfully smoky jacket.

The finish is very long where the fruit integrates nicely with the dark sweet sugar and soft peat smoke.

This was a true three-stage rocket with a nose that struggled to convince, while the taste evolved very quickly in the right direction and with a very satisfying finish.