'A SPEYSIDE DISTILLERY' 2001 18YO - CADENHEAD VIRTUAL OPEN DAY 2020

In September 2019, independent bottler Wm. Cadenhead did their first dedicated Open Day event - just for them called Cadenhead in the Courtyard.
This was a new type of event to make up for them having to share the Kilkerran Open Day during the Campbeltown Malts Festival in May. This day also gave Cadenheads the opportunity to feature only their bottlings and tastings and also release some bottlings only for this day, also. It was great fun and an event to look out for in the future.

This year the Campbeltown Malt Festival was, of course, canceled due to Covid - and so was the planned Cadenhead in the Courtyard even for September 2020.

Instead, a virtual festival was arranged, which each brand having its own virtual Open Day and a release of a virtual festival bottle.

The one offered on the Cadenhead Virtual Open Day was the bottle featured in the review below... it's only named 'A Speyside Distillery' which, with Cadenhead, usually means the family-owned distillery in the Valley of the Green Grass - and I'll go out on a limb here and go along with that.

It's not that Cadenheads never bottle anything with this particular distillery name on - but due to legal reasons, they can only bottle 2 or 3 a year if I remember correctly. I'll shortly be reviewing one that carries the GF name.

It's also not only Cadenhead that is limited to this and this distillery that imposes restrictions on names. Its widely seen across the whisky industry.
Other examples are names like Williamson & Leapfrog for Laphroaig and when the label says 'An Orkney Malt', you have a Highland Park.

On to the review...

Glenfarclas Distillery Visitors Center, September 23rd 2016 © The Malt Desk

'A Speyside Distillery' 2001 18yo 52,3% (dist. xx.10.2001 - bott xx.10.2020) 1 ex-bourbon + 1 ex-sherry cask, 552 bottles, Cadenhead Virtual Open Day 2020

Nose:

OK, I'm guessing that if you get this straight out of a newly open bottle you'll wrinkle your nose...
My bottle has now been open for a couple of weeks and the nose has certainly come to life with notes of malt barns, damp slightly bitter/sweet wood notes, brown sugar, cracked peppercorns and a slight sour note.
Various wood spices start to dominate a bit along with more dry and sweet sherry influence and a hint of milk chocolate bars.

All quite well - even though it doesn't seem to swim well

Taste:
Much better (without water, that is)

The sherry notes are coming through very clearly - though, I'm having a hard time determining if the wood spices that follow are from the bourbon or the sherry cask used.

I'm getting quite an active bourbon cask in the background (I might be wrong) then sweet and spicy, nutmeg, caramel, dark honey, a hint of dark chili-infused chocolate, drying cinnamon, powdered ginger, and hint of orange peel.

It's all very pleasant, but it's like it wants to allow both the bourbon and sherry cask to have their say but it's not allowing either or both to shine - it's like it has not had time to marry properly before being bottled.

This is not -by any account- a bad whisky scoring an 85/100
I just expected a bit more of this - especially given the circumstances surrounding this release.

85/100!