Penderyn Sherrywood
(46%, OB 2008, June 08 sample)

Nose: interestingly different. All sorts of fruits, from fresh mirabelle / damson and oranges to dried prunes. There’s also an artificial fruitiness to it, but it’s nicely integrated. Some green apples. Hints of freshly cut herbs and peppermint. Also a distinct butter-nuttiness (almond butter, praline, hazelnut). Pleasant. Mouth: sweet attack (banana and quite a lot of Spanish ‘membrillo’), but not very powerful. Slightly Irish in that respect. The oloroso sherry is not really noticeable as such. Quickly growing spicier (ginger, nutmeg, a little pepper). Finish: rather short on damp wood, powder sugar and honey.

Much more balanced than the standard version. Sweet and soft. Still youngish but the sherry helps to mask its age and adds depth. It would be difficult to compare this to Scotch whisky, because Penderyn has a profile of its own. Let’s see how this evolves in the following years. Around € 50.

Score: 82/100

At the moment there are three core expressions. This standard Penderyn is matured in bourbon barrels and finished in madeira casks. There’s also a sherried and a peated version, together with a few limited editions such as a “rich madeira” bottling.

Penderyn ‘Madeira finished’ (46%, OB 2008)

Nose: fruity and mildly perfumed. Big notes of white wine and oak. Some juicy vanilla as well. Slight apple and peach. Not bad. Stranger, dusty notes as well, mixed with hints of new-make (artificial banana). Let’s say it’s different. Mouth: malty with a few young bourbon notes: pine wood, sweet vanilla. Blood oranges. Also lokum (turkish delight) with rose water. Hints of bubble gum that are not really integrated. Gets spicier towards the finish. Finish: honeyed and sweet. Creamy toffee.

Well, I think this Penderyn would have been a lot worse without the Madeira finish, because underneath is basically rather immature whisky (probably around 4 or 5 years). With the wine, it’s more interesting but really focused on sweet notes and a bit mono-dimensional. Young whisky is already sweet and a Madeira cask exaggerates this. I’m sure a sherried version (reviewed tomorrow) will offer more flavour variation. Around € 40.

Score: 74/100

Please note that there seems to be a significant batch variation in Penderyn releases. Even though the bottles look identical (apart from a bottling code), Jim Murray scores the April 2007 batch 76/100 and the June 2007 batch 95/100 with everything in between. Maybe I had one of the lesser batches (my 5cl sample didn’t mention a batch code).