Penderyn Welsh Whisky

This bottle was given to me by my wife's parents as a Christmas present in 2011, they having decided to assist me with my obsession, and being of Welsh ancestry, thought that a Welsh whisky would be appropriate.

The truth of the matter is that her father was supposed to have brought the bottle as his contribution to our Scotch Tasting Party in early December 2011, but once they'd decided to join us for Christmas, they opted out of making two trips to our place (I don't blame them, its a five-hour drive), so he brought it as a Christmas present.

I reviewed it in February 2012 on my blog (dan-the-tax-man.livejournal.com/37255.html), but decided to revisit it as part of 'The NEAT Challenge' (connosr.com/wall/discussion/…).

So, last night I sat down with my new NEAT glass (courtesy of Arsilica Inc.), a square shot glass, a Speyside style tasting glass, and a Glencairn 'Canadian' (also known as a Glencairn 'Widebottom').

The results were interesting, and I plan on writing up the more technical details of the evening elsewhere, but the scoring broke down as follows:

NEAT - N 18, T 18, F 20, B 20 - T 76 Shot - N 12, T 12, F 12, B 13 - T 49 Spey - N 17, T 19, F 20, B 20 - T 76 Glen - N 16, T 17, F 18, B 19 - T 70

The predominate aromas were of green apple (although with the NEAT it was red apple), white wine, honey dew melon, and damp meadow (floral), although not all were present with each glass. I discovered, using the NEAT glass, that the vaguely earthy aroma that I had previously experienced but couldn't place was the not unpleasant scent of damp metal

On the palate there were no dominate flavours; rather, each glass presented a different palate, with the whisky actually feeling thicker and saltier when consumed from the Spey and Glencairn glasses.

The finish and overall balance were fairly consistent with each glass (excluding the shot glass), with the medium to long finish enhancing the whisky. Please note that the score represents an average of the three best scores from above (rounded to the nearest whole number).

Is it good? Its OK. It isn't bad, but it isn't great; I don't think that it will be something I reach for on a regular basis. On Saint David's Day? Yes. With Welsh Cakes or other sweet oat cookies? Yes. In the summer? Quite probably.