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KWM 2021 Whisky Calendar Day 9: Tullibardine 500 Sherry

Posted on December 9, 2021

by Evan

RECAP TASTING REMINDER: If you are interested in joining us via Zoom for our 5-day recap tasting, the next one happens on December 10th @ 7 PM Calgary time.  If you have not already done so, you can sign up to be emailed the Zoom link for these tastings here. You will also be able to find these tastings on Facebook Live and recorded for posterity there as well.

We took a day off from sherried whisky yesterday, but we are now back at it for Day 9 with the Tullibardine 500 Sherry Cask Finish!

Tullibardine Distillery is located in the southern Highland town of Blackford, just north of Perth. Its nearest neighbours include the Glenturret Distillery which is a 25-minute drive north on the A822 and also Deanston Distillery which is a 20-minute drive west on the A9. The distillery sits on the site of a series of breweries that date back more than 500 years. In 1488 King James IV, then aged 14, paid a visit to a brewery in Blackford to purchase beer for his coronation.

Tullibardine Distillery itself was founded in 1949, making it was the first distillery to be built in Scotland after the end of World War II. The distillery was sold by architect and Founder William Delme-Evans in 1953 to a company named Brodie-Hepburn LTD. That company was purchased by Invergordon distillers in 1971, which in turn was purchased by Whyte & Mackay in 1993. The distillery had been operating for four and a half decades but was mothballed in 1994. Tullibardine remained closed and silent until it was purchased along with some ageing stock in 2003 by an independent consortium of owners. It was quickly revised and began production once more while much of the older stock was released in vintages. If you have been into whisky for more than a decade, you might remember seeing various vintages including 1988, 1993 and 1994 on the shelves until around 2011 when the distillery once again changed hands: this time to current owner Picard Vins & Spiritueux.

Image from Tullibardine Whisky Distillery Facebook page

The French company did a complete relaunch of Tullibardine's whisky line in 2013 that remains mostly unchanged to now. The core of the range consists of four no age statement bottles: The Sovereign which is matured in first-fill ex-Bourbon casks, the 225 which is finished in Sauternes casks, the 228 which is finished in red Burgundy casks, and the 500 that we are tasting today which is finished in 500-litre ex-Sherry butts. A 15-Year-Old expression recently joined the 20-Year-Old and 25-Year-Old as the age-stated releases in the lineup.

Now, back to the Sherry Cask Finish that we have in front of us today. To me, Tullibardine is typically very cereal-driven and malt-forward in style and often carries some starchy root vegetable notes along for the ride (think sweet potatoes and yams), so I am looking forward to seeing if those show through in this official expression. At 43% this likely won't be like the sherry bomb we had a few days ago with the Glenfarclas 105, but how is it?

Tullibardine 500 Sherry Cask Finish - 43%

Evan’s Tasting Note

Nose: Tight-grained and toasted oak and wood spices up front leading to toffee and fruit notes. Applesauce, butterscotch, baker's chocolate, peanut shells, light roast coffee, and baked potato skins.

Palate: Smooth and delicate entry at 43%, but still a bit of spice evident and the palate gets richer with time. Sweet potato fries, more butterscotch, some cinnamon heart candies, boozy tiramisu, and warm apple cider.

Finish: Juicy and sweet with a dash of warming spice. Those cinnamon heart candies stick around and mingle with the butterscotch.

Comment: Would love to see this at a higher ABV, but at the same time I would have no problem reaching for another dram of it as it is, At any rate, it is balanced and shows light wine and sherry notes that don't drown out the Tullibardine DNA.

There you have it! The starchy notes could be all in my head since I was looking for them. Or because I am hungry. Who knows? I hear a bag of potato chips calling my name, so I will sign off and see you all tomorrow for Day Ten!

Cheers,
Evan
evan@kensingtonwinemarket.com
Twitter and Instagram: @sagelikefool

This entry was posted in Whisky, Tastings, Whisky Calendars, KWM Whisky Calendar 2021

 

 

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