Each November, the renowned spirits retailer The Whisky Exchange releases a special single malt for the forthcoming festive period - A Good Old-Fashioned Christmas Whisky. The annual release tends to lean towards rich, bold ex-sherry cask characteristics and the 2023 Edition is no different. The whisky is a 15 years old single malt from an unnamed Speyside distillery and has been entirely matured in ex-sherry casks sourced from Spain. These are both first-fill and re-fill, which were then married together.
A Good Old-Fashioned Christmas Whisky 2023 Edition is bottled at 52.5% ABV and is both non-chill filtered and of natural colour. The ex-sherry casks selected have yielded just 1,800 bottles. The whisky is exclusive to The Whisky Exchange and is available in each of their stores, plus via a special page on the website - click here to access. A bottle will cost £89.95.
Our Tasting Notes
The colour is deep coppery amber and the nose is rich, bold and sweet. Aromas of raisin, date and dried fig mingle with caramel, toffee and a hint of black treacle. Further aromas of toasted almond, milk chocolate and hazelnut praline are also evident. A late scratch of nutmeg, plus hints of cinnamon bark and orange oil round things off nicely.
On the palate this whisky has a lovely oily mouth texture and is rich, bold and sweet as on the nose. The dried fruit notes hit first - think of raisins, juicy sultanas and candied orange peel plus dates, fig and Cognac-soaked prunes. Caramel-like sweetness with some hard toffee and golden syrup notes bind everything together. The combination is reminiscent of a dense fruit cake such as Dundee cake or a traditional Christmas pudding.
Extra depth and complexity is added by evolving savoury and warming spicy notes - these include the toasted nuts from the nose and plenty of mulling spices - imagine cinnamon bark, nutmeg, mace, all-spice and clove. The clove in particular adds an interesting twist at the end.
The finish is long and luscious. The sweet and dried fruity characteristics linger well with the orange oil/candied peel note developing strongly. The caramel and toffee, plus dried fruits, slowly fade to reveal the warming and earthy spices. This pulls the finish out and adds a pleasant dryness and heat.
What's The Verdict?
This year's version of A Good Old-Fashioned Christmas Whisky is delicious. Well done to The Whisky Exchange team for selecting and marrying the casks so well. The ex-sherry cask characteristics are sublime and well balanced.
This is no sherry bomb by the way although it is lovely, rich and sweet. It shows how good sherried whiskies can be with sympathetic maturation and cask usage. We were delighted to get a bottle and can think of no better whisky to enjoy with a mince pie or slice of Christmas cake over the festive period. Superb.
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