This the first review I have done from Wolfburn. I have had bottles of others of tried samples of them and never really written anything about the distillery. I have to admit I didn’t like the first few releases from the distillery which included a quarter cask expression and a sherry finished expression. Both of which to me were just too young and too expensive to represent value for money. Perhaps this new No.128 expression will be different?

The Dram

The No.128 is called such because they are all from warehouse 1 and stow 28 in that warehouse. The entire release is made from 100 litre barrels all of which were first-fill ex-bourbon. The resulting small batch is of 6000 bottles each of which is available still for nearly £80. For that you get natural colour, natural filtering and 46% ABV.

Tasting Notes

Colour – pale yellow

Nose – a very sweet initial nose. Lots of esters and acetone notes with fresh coriander. The nose is also generally more than a touch yeasty.

Palate – A twist of black pepper removes the sweet element from the palate and makes the texture somewhat prickly. It is also sadly quite thin and watered feeling even at 46%. The theme of the nose continues with yeasty and fruit boiled sweets.

Finish – A short and clean finish as expected from the thin texture is confirmed on the swallow. Quite bitter and more than a little citrus.

Final Thoughts

There was a lot of fanfare about Wolfburn when it first opened. The reviews were great and the distillery understood the craft market well. On actually tasting there under matured whisky though I have always wondered what all the fuss was about. This edition is just another one in a long line of boring, forgettable and underwhelming releases from the distillery. If the distillery lasts for a few more years perhaps things will get better but at the moment it feels like a business needing to sell whisky quite honestly before it is ready. Regardless of how hard they try to speed up the maturation process.