Single Cask | 43% ABV
Score: 5/10
Average. In a good way.
TL;DR
Average in a nosing glass; perfect in a flask
Message in a flask
Fly fishing and whisky have become an inseparable couple since my first fishing trip to Scotland.
I spent the first couple of days driving around carefully, on seemingly the wrong side of the road, on my way to the surrounding rivers to fish for brown trout, and to discover the charms of Edinburgh.
Of course, as any proper fly fisher must, I was also obsessively searching for the best fly fishing store and making several trips to said place. I found such a place at “Gamefish” on Howe Street. Nestled among the surrounding artificialities of a city was a place full of feathers, flies, rods and guns. And a silver flask with an accompanying trout on it. Obviously I had to buy it.
I believe flasks in Switzerland, where I come from, or Germany where I currently live, have a completely different meaning than in Scotland. They are mostly connected to borderline alcoholics who seem not to be able to abstain from alcohol on their way to the bar to meet their peers. Anyways, up until I was almost thirty years old, I never owned such a thing, and drank my whisky from a Glencairn, as it apparently should be drunk.
But I have to admit that a flask opens up completely new territory and possibilities for enjoying whisky. The possibilities of whisky and the demands of a sip from a flask are utterly different from, if not even opposed to, your usual preferences.
Before I jump into the physics of drinking whisky from a flask, there are two rules to this game: the first one is that this type of drinking should be restricted to the great outdoors, since any consumption on the streets, in the office, or among even the most liberal sorts of people will certainly earn you worried looks - and life’s big question: “Are you okay?”.
Second, since we established the place of this form of consumption, there is a rule I try to follow even more religiously: only drink when the clouds are dense and the rain is coming down. I gave in to the temptation of taking a big sip of whisky after a two-and-a-half-hour breath-taking hike up a steep valley in the burning mountain sun, and fell asleep on a hot rock for several minutes… hours? Anyway, being woken up slightly confused and hungover by an incoming storm-front and lashing winds is not something to look forward to, several hours from your car. It really seems to have opposing effects in different kinds of weather; warming and fuelling in the cold and wet, tiring and gruelling in the sun.
For me there is an optimal scenario for taking out the flask. To endure the brutal weather fly fishing can expose you to - like pouring rain trying to enter any spare millimetre of your rain jacket, approaching thunderstorms, storms and snow. Nothing beats the illusionary feeling of warmth from a nice dram in these conditions. I also feel the intoxicating effects of alcohol can almost diminish in such conditions. Having a couple of drams at home while reading a book or watching a series can make you feel slightly tipsy pretty fast, as you notice when you stand up to top up your glass at the whisky shelf. In nature, it seems to fuel the motor that keeps you going in such conditions, and warms the shell from the inside. Just be careful not to take it over the edge, as it is steep and not gradual like at home.
So, whether I find myself in a boreal forest hunting a stream for its brown trout, in the lochs of the north-western Scottish Highlands or in the depths of winter trying to find the blue within all the white, I never fail to have my silver trout flask from Edinburgh with me.
Not every whisky tastes good out of a flask, and your common choices will be thoroughly mixed up. It’s like finding a new aspect of an old thing, like figuring out that you can not only fly fish for trout, but also for pike. A new world with its own rules. Whisky from the flask, in my opinion, should be one-dimensional - in a good way; not too expensive, obviously single malt Scotch, non-chill filtered and without added colouring. Here is one of my own flask favourites.
Review
Classic of Islay, NAS Single Cask, Cask No. 302643, Bottled in 2024, Selected and bottled for Jumping Jack Productions, 43% ABV
€35 paid
This bottle was recommended to me in my local, very charming, Berlin whisky store WHISKY-KABINETT. When I opened the bottle and tested it on a couple of occasions, the very one-dimensional notes and lack of complexity disappointed me.
As I got used to it and got half through the bottle, I started realising that complexity is not always what I actually want and started looking forward to just having an easy-going dram, knowing what I would get and could realistically expect. At the price I paid, as a single-cask, non-chill-filtered whisky, it is more than worth the money. And it just has about everything that makes a good flask-style whisky for me. The review for the whisky, however, is in the glass.
Score: 5/10
Average. In a good way.
TL;DR
Average in a nosing glass; perfect in a flask
Nose
Very distinct and overpowering bonfire smoke, a newly lit bonfire, somehow fresh and green with grassy and malty notes. If it were a piece of music, it would somehow play a couple of notes higher than your usual Islay whisky.
There is a certain freshness to the smoke. It reminds me of opening a barn full of different grains and hay. The smoke fights brutally against the dry fresh and green notes, but not in a disharmonious way, they marry together well and form a single, distinct note.
Palate
Very malty and different from your common Islay. It feels less dirty with only a hint of maritime, salty or oily notes. A fresh, slightly sweet mouthfeel and lots of malt. If I had to explain to someone how malt tastes, then this would be it.
In my opinion the malt is more present than the peat at this stage, and forms the single strong dimension of this whisky. All the other notes come up sporadically, and only if you really search for them with all your imagination. Somehow the roughness of the whisky is contradicted by its smooth edges.
The Dregs
I like this whisky, but just find that it does not have its right place in a nosing glass under the sterile circumstances in which many, including myself, try to decipher our whisky in today’s fashion.
If your purpose is to enjoy a complex whisky and discover its many facets, borders, edges and limits, you will surely be disappointed by this one. But sometimes a whisky is just a whisky, and a whisky is just a drink. And I completely respect and cherish that, especially at this price point.
It urges us to take a less sophisticated, less scientific approach to things and maybe focus more on the conversation or the fishing than the fine nuances of the whisky. And that, although I am also a detail-obsessed whisky fanatic, is a down-to-earth attitude we should encourage more in our daily lives.
Score: 5/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. KF
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