English Single Malt Whisky | 40% ABV
Score: 4/10
Some promise.
TL;DR
Subdued and woody. An overactive cask has hidden the spirit underneath
The Generosity of Sharing
It’s been a while.
Not yet long enough that sitting down to write about whisky feels foreign to me… but long enough that its absence in my life has been felt. It has been a slightly hollow, guilty feeling that has been topped up any time I’ve engaged with the whisky community that I get to call home.
I could run down the list of reasons why I’ve been pulled away from this in the last few months – but let’s be honest, you probably already know them. Life has a habit of doing that, does it not? Becoming busy in ways and at times that don’t leave enough room for sitting quietly with a dram. Honestly, it’s unacceptable behaviour from karma - and we should be collectively campaigning against it in some fashion.
However, taking a brief step back from whisky this year has been a great reminder why I fell in love with it to begin with. It’s not the endless cycles of releases, the FOMO, the rankings and the Instagram ‘hot takes.’ It’s the discussion and the discourse.
The evenings in a good bar, with even better company, discussing the world of whisky and the world outside. The banter, the friendships and… the insane levels of generosity.
I will never get used to the willingness of complete strangers to hand me a whisky across the table and say, “Here – you have to try this.”
You’ll have experienced it yourselves; it happens everywhere. I’ll never forget the moment on a double-decker bus in Glasgow city centre, when I was ambushed by a stranger – copita in hand – who had overheard my whisky-related conversation, and demanded I must try his bottle of Tasmanian whisky - freshly brought back from his trip there. Despite repeated warnings in my youth to never accept treats from strangers – I tried it, and it was alright.
Pondering upon these moments feels especially relevant here, because the bottle I’m reviewing today was donated to me anonymously… no fanfare, no obligation, just excitement and a passion to share. It came from a member of our readership community - a first! And shipped through the Dramface Deflection System.
This will be my first English whisky reviewed on Dramface. It’s exciting, because embracing something new feels like a throwback to the time when I was new to the whisky game.
To the days of discovering Scottish distilleries for the first time; bottles being unsealed, and knowing I was going to experience something new (and no doubt fall into a rabbit hole of reading everything available about the distillery on the internet). Or is that just me?!
I would think that most of us can remember the early days of our whisky journey if we look back far enough.
In fact, I recently discovered a treasure trove of digital photographs taken at the first whisky events I had ever attended. Despite the quite questionable fashion choices on show from some – ‘Hey, Ed Hardy tee shirts!’ - it was a genuine surprise to find a few familiar, if more youthful, faces of some great friends that, at the time, I would have called strangers.
When you’ve been enjoying whisky for a while, it can be easy to forget how exciting the discovery phase can be. Soaking up all the information you can at tastings, trying to get to grips with your first whisky festival – and the realisation that two spirits, made three miles apart – could taste so completely different. Knowledge and familiarity are tremendous things; however, they can sand down the edges of excitement somewhat…
Perhaps, now and again, stepping away, as I have done this year, is one way to remind yourself that these adventures can still be found.
Review
Fenspirits Single Malt Whisky, Batch W6, one of 29 bottles, 3 years old, 40% ABV
£n/a gifted by the community, available from the distillery
I was excited to take on the challenge of reviewing this bottle. For me, it’s a step into the unknown. One foot back into that ‘discovery phase’.
I have some experience with English whisky, and to be honest, so far, it’s been a truly mixed bag. For me, now, ‘English whisky’ has all the hallmarks of a child actor. It’s still figuring itself out – but it’s doing so in front of the world.
The awkward growth spurts, unexpectedly brilliant releases and perhaps an overly confident interview or two are all happening in real time, and under the scrutiny of reviewers and the community. Many will be desperate to crown it the future and many will be hoping to dismiss it entirely.
Over hundreds of years, Scottish whisky has become the established act. The veteran performer. It knows its lines and the audience knows what to expect. English whisky doesn’t quite have that luxury just yet – and honestly, isn’t that exciting?
Not every young actor becomes a star. Some English distilleries may end up making direct-to-streaming Christmas movies… but some, some may deliver or continue to deliver more – something truly special.
Which brings me neatly back to this bottle sitting in front of me now. A whisky from a distillery I know relatively little about. Given to me by somebody I know even less about. Another example of the generosity and the ‘You need to try this’ of the community.
I now pour a dram - deeply hoping for more promise than a festive rom-com starring a former Hollyoaks actor and a golden retriever.
Score: 4/10
Some promise.
TL;DR
Subdued and woody. An overactive cask has hidden the spirit underneath
Nose
Immediately, there is a notable green character here. Green pear, lemon drops and unripe banana are joined by cut grass and fresh leaves. The nose is fruit-forward, but there's also an assertive distillate presence that makes itself known.
It leans heavily into new oak volatility rather than offering anything in terms of an integrated sweetness. Pine wood, fresh varnish and something almost “chalky” sit where I might otherwise have expected vanilla, butter or biscuit.
Palate
Notably, the palate is significantly less aggressive than the spirit-forward nose had intimated. It is very gentle on the front, almost smooth, but is noticeably more subdued in overall flavour than the nose. With a bit of time, there began to emerge hints of strong tea, almonds and burnt sugar. However, it remained understated throughout.
What was strongest was a tannic aspect, consistently building with each sip at the back of the throat and a woody coating that betrayed the length of time the spirit has spent in a small barrel.
The experience, while not unpleasant, ultimately feels a little empty.
The Dregs
Fenspirits Distillery are a small farm-to-bottle distillery in Wisbech, Cambridgeshire.
This single malt whisky has been matured in an aggressive small barrel and has clearly extracted a significant amount of the oak characteristics. It’s clear the underlying spirit has struggled to keep up on the palate, but perhaps that is to be expected from it being in a twenty-litre new oak cask for three years and a day.
From their website, it’s evident that their single malt whisky sits alongside a much broader range of spirits, including multiple flavours of rums, vodkas, gins and liqueurs – and even a moonshine, a ‘bourbon’ and an amaretto.
It is a distillery that is exploring a wide range of styles rather than settling into a single identity. It’s an ambitious approach, but the result, at least here, feels uneven.
We can acknowledge the effort and skill involved in producing such a broad range of spirits. However, this whisky feels like it reflects a distillery still in the process of finding its focus rather than one that has been fully defined. We wait to see how this actor develops…
Score: 4/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. AM
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