Peat Reek Blackadder Raw Cask

22 Dec

Peat Reek Blackadder Raw Cask, NAS, 60 %

An exciting and mysterious whisky on the test bench today. Peat Reek is an ongoing series from the independent bottler Blackadder. Every year sees new releases of single cask bottlings of Peat Reek. Sometimes they carry an age statement, sometimes not. Blackadder does not reveal the distillery on these bottlings, but it is an Islay distillery, and it is most assuredly a peaty whisky.

The Peat Reek Blackadder Raw Cask that I have now tested has the cask reference PR2014-05, which I assume means this is Peat Reek cask number five released this year. My wife has previously reviewed a Peat Reek released in 2009.

This particular release was bottled in July 2014, and the outturn was 180 bottles.

The Peat Reek Blackadder Raw Cask will be made available to buy in Norway in January, at a sales price of NOK 957 (item number TBA).

If you are curious about the independent bottler Blackadder, I urge you to also have a look at the Malt Maniac Awards 2014. Blackadder won several medals.

Nose (22/25): Sweet and well-rounded peat smoke. Very well integrated. Some (forbidden) fruit going on, as well as bread crust and maltiness. Soft.

Taste (22/25): Smooth - slithering down my throat very easily. Pepper and dry wood smoke.

Finish (21/25): White sugar, camphor, ashes, and salt. Dry at first, then turning drier still towards the end. Medium long and warmish. A few sips in it develops further and I detect fruit drops and licorice on the finish.

Balance (22/25): A very nice dram, and quite hard to nail down which distillery this is from. there are a few it is obviously not from though. After rummaging through our open whisky bottles, and doing some reference nosing and tasting, I must say I am leaning towards a Port Charlotte at 6-8 years or possibly a rough, young Ardbeg. I would love to hear what you readers think, if you have tried this or any other Peat Reek recently.

Score (87/100)

Bottle image from The Whisky Specialist.