Grain whisky is always a funny one for me. The imagery I get is of a summer’s day and a barley rich refreshing drink which adds to the experience of the one day a year the sun hits the west of Scotland.

The reality for me  has always been of a jarring fight working hard to drink a single measure of this vodka-esque rough little brute. Wisedom tells me not all grain whisky is created equally so I will stick at it until something starts to resonate with me. Or I get bored.

The Bottler

The Single Cask company is another new bottler on the market. They are based in the UK but they also seem to have a whisky bar in Singapore which is a large market for scotch whisky where you will find a lot of special release events and an over stocked travel retail market.

The single cask company have a really nice website with some great and interesting picture in there shop pages where they pair there tasting notes in the pictures of the bottle. The bottles themselves incidentally follow the same kind of trend I first saw with Claxton’s of using french perfume style bottles and no presentation boxes.

There website can be found at www.thesinglecask.co.uk and Master of Malt have a large collection of bottles which seem to be sold out elsewhere www.masterofmalt.com/search/#search=The%2520Single%2520Cask&page=1&sort=_score&direction=desc&stocklevel=1 All the prices seem very reasonable as well which is always good.

The Dram

This is a well aged Invergordan with 27 years under its belt from 1988 to 2016 with a mere 278 bottles produced. All bottles are at a cask strength of 45.8% ABV and it is currently on sale with Master of Malt at £89.98 

Tasting Notes

Colour – Barley water

Nose – Slightly wet cardboard note initially with some barley water and lemon juice. Fairly standard more or less so far. However, things take an interesting turn with some charred wood notes and charcoal.

Palate – There is more of that charring and almost a smoky note to this. This is very unusual and not what I was expecting at all. The more traditional lemon acidity and apple tartness is there as well but the charring gives interest.

Finish – Yeh this is definitely got a smoky touch to it with some fire soot and burnt wood notes. A little tobacco leaf and damp leaves round things off.

Final Thoughts

This is by far the most interesting grain whisky I have ever sampled. At last an interesting grain I can get behind.