Shelter Point Smoke Point Batch 2

Tasting Notes

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: vanilla custard, canned pineapple and chewy malt; bright citrus, cleam smoke and lightly salted caramel; doughy with melons and dried apricots.

Palate: waxy with chewy malt, lush vanilla and soft fruits; nutty, more salted caramel and clean ashy peat smoke; citrus, melons and dried apricots; doughy and warming with oak spices.

Finish: warm, coating and spicy: still nutty with more chewy malt, ashy peat and salted caramel; fruits and vanilla. 

Comment: you could look at this as peat for beginners, or those only wanting a touch of it; but really it is just a blanced component in a malt which opens up with time, revealing more and more layers with each and every sip.

Producer Description

“Batch 2 of Shelter Point’s only peat influenced whisky. This single grain smoky delight has been aged in American oak ex-bourbon casks for 5 years and finished in casks previously used by a famous Islay distillery for over a year and a half. The whisky is made from malted and unmalted barley and picks up influences of bourbon from the American oak cask and peated whisky from the ex-Islay casks. Sweet, smoky and complex, this whisky is perfect for a dram by the fire.”

Producer Tasting Note

“Smoke Point whisky is sweet, medicinal and smoky on the nose with barley sugars, iodine and campfire. The palate is sweet caramel, vanilla and sea salt, with peated warmth comforting the soul. The satisfying finish is a delicious combination of creamy pudding and a brand new first aid kit.”

Distillery

Originally written by Evan for blog posts relating to our 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar.

Located on a farm halfway between Comox and Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Shelter point has been laying down spirit in casks to eventually become whisky since June of 2011. They grow and harvest much of the barley used from their own farm.

Patrick Evans is a third-generation farmer whose family has been farming in the Comox Valley of British Columbia since the turn of the 20th Century. He is now joined in the business by at least one of his three daughters and his son-in-law Jacob. Patrick purchased the land that is now Shelter Point Farm and Distillery in 2005. Situated along the coast of Vancouver Island where the Oyster River meets the sea, it was formerly a University of British Columbia research farm with a large dairy barn. That dairy barn now serves as cask warehousing and barley storage.

Construction on the distillery began in 2009, with the first spirit running in 2011. As with many other new and small-scale distilleries, white spirits provided some cash flow until the first whiskies were ready for sale. The first single malt, a 5-year-old, was released late in 2016. It was a big hit.

In a somewhat backwards move compared to other craft distilleries that have popped up in the time since Shelter Point began making whisky, the distillery just started releasing their own Shelter Point Gin in the summer of 2019.

Consistent distillation and constant experimentation are to be the name of the game for Shelter Point Distillery. They have been releasing very good single malt whisky since 2016, and the lineup has grown to include limited batches in different styles since then including both wine cask finishes and peated cask finishes among others. There always seems to be something exciting going on at Shelter Point, and we feel very fortunate to get as many of their releases as we do at Kensington Wine Market.