Gold Cock 20yo
Czech Single Malt Whisky | 49.2% ABV
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Good whisky is good whisky, no matter where it’s from
I have no justification for buying this
As interested and curious as I am about whisky wherever it is made, albeit with a strong bias towards Scotch, I know absolutely zilch about Czech whisky.
I’ve been to Prague and I really recommend a visit. It’s a fascinating city with some fantastic architecture, great tales and history a-plenty, while also being vibrant and modern with plenty to see and do. But otherwise my exposure is limited.
On one other occasion I visited the Czech Republic for a skiing vacation somewhere in the mid-nineties when I was sixteen or so. Let’s just say that visiting the Czech Republic’s mountainous area not even a decade after the Iron Curtain had fallen was a peculiar experience for someone who’s accustomed to skiing resorts in the Alps.
Anyway, when thinking in clichés: much like the Scots have their whisky, the English their gin, the French their wine and the Germans their schnaps, I always assumed the Czechs had their lager, or ‘Pils’, named after the city of Pilsen in the namesake region of the western Czech Republic. It borders Germany, where this type of lager originates from.
Sure there will always be people making vodka or another spirit or liquor of sorts because wherever there’s an abundance and surplus of grain or fruit, you can be sure someone will try and turn it into booze. So while I would be absolutely expecting the Czechs to produce some local vodka or distillate or whatever it is you turn into firewater, the concept of Czech single malt was absolutely unknown to me.
And that’s pretty much exactly why I pulled the trigger when I saw this one on an auction site. Now, just in my previous review, I said I’m trying to be more scrutinous when purchasing whiskies, I know, but there’s also the whisky curious explorer in me that needs very little encouragement to try something a bit out of the ordinary or, in this case, potentially even downright off the wall from time to time.
Besides, I am under no obligation whatsoever to make sense to you. Or myself, for that matter. The last thing we need is to all start being reasonable when justifying our whisky purchases. Bottom line for me is: for the relative bargain price this actually cost me, I wouldn’t let the opportunity to add a twenty year old single malt whisky to the cabinet go begging, regardless of the provenance.
Review
Gold Cock 20yo, Czech Single Malt Whisky, floor-malted, un-chill filtered, natural colour, 49.2% ABV
£72 paid at auction, inc. fees etc.
The Czechs may indeed not be renowned for their malt whisky. In fact, recent editions of the Malt Whisky Yearbook mention only two Czech distilleries, one of which is indeed Rudolf Jelinek’s Gold Cock.
If we take a closer look beyond the country of origin - and the potentially puerile brand name - you’ll find there’s much to tick the enthusiast boxes. So much so, that what they do and how they do it actually reads more like a manual that many Scottish distilleries might aspire to.
Boxes such as: sourcing local Moravia two row barley to produce their whisky? Check. In-house floor maltings? Check. Barrels prepared by a local cooperage? Check. Bottling the end product un-chillfiltered, without adding colour and at an interesting ABV just close to 50%? Check, check and Czech.
And while this whisky is a novelty to me, the producer did ring a bell. Indeed, Rudolf Jelinek as a player in the Czech booze business isn’t exactly small beer, quite the opposite in fact. The distillery was officially founded in the late 19th century, but dates back all the way to the 16th century. It is, by far, the best-known producer of wine and fruit spirits, particularly plum brandy, in the area and Jelinek’s ‘Kosher Plum Brandy’ is distributed all over the world.
As a brand, Gold Cock obviously doesn’t have that same pedigree or recognition as some of the other liquors and spirits produced there, but it has been around since the 1970’s. My bet is that those early batches are perhaps not the stuff you’d want to seek.
However, in its current incarnation, both the brand and the distillery are under control and management of Jelinek and, while such a thing isn’t a guarantee of quality, it’s at least a confirmation that production, branding, quality control and so on are now being closely monitored. I mean, this isn’t just a couple of Czech friends mucking about in a shed, it’s Czechia's premiere booze producer in charge.
Score: 6/10
Good stuff.
TL;DR
Good whisky is good whisky, no matter where it’s from
Nose
Spices! A lot of them, in fact. Sweet baking spices, ‘speculoos’ (the stuff you probably know as Biscoff cookies) with some cinnamon, a bit of clove and vanilla, and vanilla oil. Blackberry and blackcurrant, with a touch of leather. I can’t help but think maybe this has seen the inside of some of those fruit brandy casks as well. Overall a lovely sweet, softly bitter aroma with a certain green funky element to it. The end result: a lovely balance of spice and fruit.
Palate
Oily, as in a leathery texture with vanilla notes. Still a lot of spices and fruits, albeit more dried fruit now. There’s a dry but quite full texture. Towards the back of the palate, notes of treacle and caramel; then things turn increasingly salty and woody, which develop into a quite nice, quite long finish.
The Dregs
The nose on this one is excellent, the palate just plain good. Overall this makes for a very decent and utterly enjoyable whisky. For a twenty year old single malt you might argue that there perhaps could be a bit more complexity and it would benefit from revealing some extra layers, but we need to bear in mind that this isn’t a Scotch single malt.
There is some ‘Scottishness’ to it in terms of style and flavour, but then again, it’s also quite different. From a country which has little to no tradition (as far as I’m aware of, at least) or a reputation to live up to when it comes to whisky, this could have been a lot worse.
No, in fact: scratch that. Good whisky is good whisky regardless of where it’s from. And this is just that; good stuff. When we add in the price to the fun factor (I believe the RRP is somewhere around €75/£67) I feel it could perhaps merit an extra point, were it not for the fact that I feel good whisky doesn’t merit an extra point for coming with an interesting price. Rather the other way round: whisky, be it good or bad - could lose a point for being unjustifiably expensive.
Would I absolutely want to replace this once it’s gone? Not necessarily. Would I buy it again should the opportunity present itself? Very likely. After all: we’re talking about a very decent, interesting twenty year old (it bears saying a third time) single malt with a two-digit price tag, presented with all due care and attention and a lot of integrity.
What’s not to like?
Score: 6/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. EA
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