Still Waters Stalk & Barrel Single Malt - Cask 1

This was the first cask released out of Still Waters Distillery which operates just outside of Toronto, Ontario - the first craft distillery of Ontario and the first single malt producers on a commercial scale coming out of Ontario. It spent a little over 2 years in new wood before being finished in a bourbon cask for a year, coming out of the cask and into the bottle at about 3.5 years old, at cask strength (62.3%).

Though I have had this bottle since it was released, I finally decided to open it up this fall.

Nose: Follows the general Stalk & Barrel Single Malt characteristic oily, slightly grassy notes ( a bit like the fresh grassy notes of chamomile). The fruitiness comes in apple and pear form - but the notes are a bit more in the form of bakes apples of pears (e.g. apple crumble), with some raspberry and apple jam notes as well. The oak in this one is greater than found in the other expressions of similar age, not surprisingly, as this one spent time in new wood unlike its siblings. Of the three casks I've tried, this one seems to have more bourbon influence than the others - which is interesting because it spent the least time in a bourbon cask. The earthiness in this one is a bit more than in the other two casks I compared it to (8 and 12). But there's also a bit of unfortunate nagging bitterness as well. 82%

Taste: Moderate vanilla, and a bit of creaminess, with bourbon notes and lots of baked fruit and nuttiness. There's also the defining oily, slightly floral quality and baked apples stuffed with nuts and honey. Of the three casks I've tasted, this one is my favourite partially because of the greater earthy and bourbon notes. 87%

Finish: Spicy and a bit drying, with an impressive amount of oak for the age. This one definitely has dried fruits (raisins and apricot) to a capacity none of the casks I tried do. There's also vanilla in larger degree than I saw in either the nose or the palate, and even a bit of spearmint! And oak and apple come forth...amazing the oakiness here in a three year old whisky. The finish is much bigger in the cask strength expressions, I find. 87%

Intrigue: I like this whisky at cask strength a lot more than at 46%, which they also supply. The style isn't my favourite for a malt, but it has grown on me the more I have tasted it - and now, for whatever reason, I am finding more flavour in the malt than I did at first. It's too pricy for me to regularly stock (100$), but I will enjoy the rest of this bottle - for sure. 90%

Weighting the nose 25%, taste 35%, Finish 15%, and Intrigue 25% the overall grade is 86. For a direct comparison to other casks see my post at: whiskywon.wordpress.com/2014/10/…