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16th November 2018 |
Review of the new
sweet peated Lowlander Ailsa Bay Release
1.2 Sweet Smoke.
 Ailsa
Bay Release 1.2 Sweet Smoke is a
new whisky from William Grant &
Sons, it follows and replaces the
inaugural release of Ailsa Bay launched back in
early 2016 and for this new 1.2 Sweet
Smoke release the folks at William Grant
has tweaked the recipe for the peated
Lowlander and have launched it with a
new look bottle design.
The
Ailsa Bay distillery in Girvan on the
west coast of South Ayrshire, Scotland went into production
back in 2007, and as you know, as whisky matures it is
constantly evolving, this has given
Master Blender Brian Kinsman the ability
to adjust the recipe for what goes into
the Ailsa Bay single malt. Brian has
been able to put together Ailsa Bay
Release 1.2 Sweet Smoke using some of
the older maturing stock to develop the
flavour profile of the whisky further.
The result of Brian's tweaking of the recipe, they tell me, is a liquid
that is more mellow and complex with a
similarly unique balance of smoke and
sweet. This change is expressed in a
change of SPPM (the unique measure of
Sweetness Parts Per Million) of 19 up
from 11 and a change in PPPM (the
measure of Phenol Parts Per Million in
liquid form) to 22 up from 21.
Bottled at 48.9% ABV and with a RSP of
£55 the new Ailsa Bay Release 1.2 Sweet
Smoke will be available in Australia,
Finland and the UK. Limited
numbers of the original Ailsa Bay launch
pack will still be available for a short
period from specialist whisky shops so
if you want a bottle don't hang around.
William
Morrison's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
A lovely sweet vanilla infused gentle
smoke, just a wee hint of grassiness, gentle
candied orange, a touch of honey.
Taste:
A delicious smooth delivery of clean
sweet peat and creamy vanilla toffee, a
candied mix of pear and lemon, a little
peppery oak spice isn't far behind.
Finish:
The sweet vanilla and peat linger on a
while before bowing out to leave a
little citrus fruit and lovely mildly
drying oak spice.
Comment:
I loved the inaugural release from
Ailsa Bay back in 2016 and this 1.2 is
every bit as good, I would say that it
has an extra
maturity about it which has simply added to the
pleasure, the oak is playing a bigger
part than it did in the first release. The
innovative Ailsa Bay
distillery simply disregards traditional whisky region
styles as we know them and has produced
an outstanding peated Lowlander.
On a side note, after pouring myself 3
healthy drams of this new Ailsa Bay
Release 1.2 Sweet Smoke to review it, I
poured myself a dram of the new
Aerstone Land Cask 10 Year Old which
was also recently released by William
Grant and without a doubt these two
whiskies are very much related and all I
can say is, if your budget allows grab
yourself a bottle of the new Ailsa Bay
but if your pockets aren't so deep I
would say grab yourself a bottle
of the Aerstone Land Cask, you will not
be disappointed by either.
Perhaps what makes the Ailsa Bay 1.2
stand out above the Aerstone is its
bottling strength of 48.9% ABV which
certainly adds to its flavour and
overall pleasure experience.
William Grant has dabbled in the past
with peated whisky with their brands but
I can now say without a doubt William
Grant now produce a couple of quality peated
whiskies in the form of Ailsa Bay
and Aerstone, if this is your style of
whisky, you will not be disappointed.
SMW Score
94/100
The new Aerstone
whisky I mentioned has initially launched in
Tesco supermarkets only but you
will find the new Ailsa Bay Release
1.2 Sweet Smoke and while stocks last,
the original Ailsa Bay release available from specialist online whisky
retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange,
The Whisky Shop and
Master of Malt
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