A little about Fettercairn, well its a distillery - we all know them don't we? Nice place, nice views, dunnage warehouses, quite quiet - it doesn't look like you get the bus loads of people like you do at some distilleries, the car park only has about ten spaces! (when I was there anyway) however! this distillery wears a jacket!
Its a water jacket! As you can see these are quite short stills but using this water jacket to cool the stills gives the effect of a tall still. Giving a light and fruity spirit. Interesting? Well I have never seen one before and im not aware of anyone else using one. I am of the understanding the jacket is used nearly all the time during production, it would be interesting to try a whisky where the jacket had not been used and compare it to one where it had.
Onto the whisky, well Fettercairn for the most part is reasonably new to the single malt market, previously most of their stuff was going into blends. The presentation of the brand looks good to me, bottles look nice, packaging is simple but bright. There is no mention of colouring or chill-filtering which unfortunately normally means these things have been used but Fettercairn have been kind enough to send me (and many others) these samples so lets try the whisky before we judge it.
Matured in ex-bourbon casks.
Colour
Polished gold
Nose
Honey, green fruits - apple, juicy ripe pear, buttery vanilla, green grape, barley sugar, fresh cut grass
Palate
Similar to the nose - honey, apples and pears comes together it give a nice sweet barley sugar. Vanilla, light citrus, straw, a touch of toffee, dark chocolate with a hint of coffee
Finish
Medium length, chocolate, wood spices, sour grapefruit stays with you for a little while
Overall
This really is a light, fresh and fruity whisky, that water jacket has worked well. At £40 its there or there abouts. An easy drinker, you can sit and enjoy it without thinking about it to much, yet it maintains a decent complexity. I do not find it watery, however the mouth feel is a little thin.
I think the 10 - 15 year old, £30 - £50 is a tough market for a distillery to be in and they need to make sure they stand out. If they are aiming this at the supermarkets, I think it could do well although I will admit I am not clever enough to know how you get someone to take your product off the supermarket shelf and not one of your competitors. If its for the whisky enthusiast, there are some tweaks which could help it.
Score
C out of 7.35
Matured in ex-bourbon casks
Colour
Highly polished oak
Nose
White grape, tropical fruits, raisin, milk chocolate, toffee, menthol, chalky sweets. Hay and warm dough, some citrus
Palate
Liquorice, juicy green fruits, quite a bit of wood spice, honey, vanilla, fruit cake, dark chocolate with a touch of coffee, fudge, under cooked dough
Finish
Medium - Touch of the wood spice and lots of that dough and some raisin milk chocolate
Overall
Its more complex than the 12, quite a bit more going on but it certainly has its similarities to - the fruityness comes through on this one to. I think this one edges it for me but only just. At £450ish this seems to be aimed at the top end of the market. This would benefit greatly! from more abv and at that price it really does deserve it.
Score
B- out of 7.75
Conclusions
I must admit to being slightly confused by these bottles, with the probability that colouring and chill-filtering has been used and the low abv, why send it to whisky "nerds" (not that I am complaining here!) knowing that we normally disapprove of these things. Maybe I am not the target market which is fine but if they are going for the supermarket market - its difficult and the prices may be on the high side for that. Or maybe they just want to gather opinions, which is a good thing!
If they are going for the whisky nerd: I am in no position to tell a distillery what they should or should not be doing, they are making good whisky and these bottles show that but maybe it could do with being shown off a bit better. In my opinion, lose the E150a the chill-filtering and up the abv. And the distillery is a lovely place, its an interesting distillery with a great story, which could be "pushed" a bit more. There is good information on their website (www.fettercairnwhisky.com) but maybe more use of social media, which isn't bad to start with but there is space to improve there.
I will admit, off the back of trying Fettercairn I have bought a independently bottled single cask, 10 year old, cask strength, no colouring and iv kept 15ish ml back from each of these samples to do a little comparison. While I did edge towards the 28, given the price, if you are in the market for one of these - go with the 12.
Its always nice when folk send you things and are interested in your opinion so thank you to Fettercairn for the samples and I commend them for asking for feedback.
Its good stuff, it could be great stuff.
:)
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