Whisky : St. George Single Malt; Batch 16

Country/Region : US/California

ABV : 43%

Cask : Ex-Bourbon, French Oak, Port, Sherry

Age : 4 year (4-10 year vatting)

Nose : Fruity and rich— dark cherries, hard grape candy, dark caramel, and pipe tobacco soaked velvet upholstered furniture.  Lovely notes of rich mahogany wood and supple leather.

Palate : Light body with rich notes of pastries, sugar and toast.  Light roasted coffee, malty toasted bread, olive oil and herb focaccia bread, and sugary kouigan-amann pastries.  Dried floral notes build over time along with the floral quality of Earl Grey tea.

Finish :  Medium length with pressed lavender flowers and a bit of fruity melted candy.

Score : 6

Mental Image : Redwall Mouse Elderflower Liquor

Something Similar : Fettercairn 11 Year SMWS 94.5 (similar olive oil, florals, malt, more earth)

Something Worse : Linkwood 29 Year SMWS 39.180 (similar tea/floral earl grey, more fruits)

Notes :   I was told to expect something weird from this dram— and boy it was pretty strange.  Loaded with florals and verging on rose, this embodied high tea in a flower garden.  However, the mental image on this comes from my wife, who loved Redwall as a kid and imagined this was a floral Mouse distilled spirit.  It was weird, but it was pretty delicious.  I loved the blend of toasted— not quite charred— notes along with malt and pastry.  I look forward to trying more of the St. George single malts in the future and I love their longtime contribution to single malt distillation in North America.

If I could change anything about this dram, I wish there was a bit more body to it.  It feel pretty light across the palate and did not linger nearly as long as I wanted it to.  I would love to try this at a bit higher abv., just to see how that changes things.  Overall, it is a solid dram with an interesting and unique flavor profile.