Filey Bay Double Oak #1 - 46%
Distillery notes:
Filey Bay Double Oak #1, Special Release, is a distinctive and unusual single malt, created by maturing our single malt whisky in both ex-bourbon and virgin oak casks. The virgin oak brings fruity and spicy notes, whilst the ex-bourbon casks balance this with vanilla and toffee flavours.
The selection process started with sampling a cross-section of first-fill ex-bourbon casks laid down in the winter of 2017-2018. From a potential 150 casks, only a handful was selected, all highlighting key characteristics that we felt would work well with the new oak casks.
With such new and active oak, the casks needed sampling, nosing and tasting frequently to ensure balance was maintained in the overall whisky. Our Whisky Director Joe was checking these casks monthly at first, then week by week, as their influence on the whisky grew.
Tasting notes: Fruity and spicy with flavours of cream soda, banana bread, pineapple sweets and toasted oak.
Appearance: Yellow gold, forms an inverted crown which quickly falls as thick legs.
Palate: Baked apple with a little cinnamon, banana, roasted pineapple, maple syrup, almonds, and a light mocha note.
Finish: Worn leather and maple syrup, mocha, caramel also makes a brief appearance at the close together with a grassy note.
Summary: There's a lot to like in this whisky, on the nose the pineapple cube note is both unmistakeable and delightful. With notes of maple syrup, banana and roasted pineapple, it feels like a spicy tropical pudding. It’s unusual and distinctive, which will help it stand out from the crowd in an increasingly competitive market.
One of the Filey Bay Special Release bottlings, only 2000 bottles produced and currently available at £70. In that respect the price feels reasonable, it's certainly interesting and anyone looking to explore English whisky could do a lot worse than this.
If you would like more information on the range of Filey Bay whiskies or the Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery please visit the company website.
This sample was part of a 3 dram selection for a TweetTasting session organised by @TheWhiskyWire and the Spirit of Yorkshire Distillery. All opinions are my own.
