Wolfburn Ex-Bourbon Quarter Cask for The Nectar

When I visited the Spirits in the Sky festival last November, this bottle was on the table at Wolfburn. I could not find much more information than what the label says about this. It is an ex-bourbon quarter cask that was bottled at cask strength for The Nectar, Belgian importer of Wolfburn and also organizer of this great festival.

Wolfburn's typical DNA immediately appears on the nose: white fruit, citrus peels, icing sugar and a soft touch of peach with some licorice and white pepper. Here, under a soft layer of smoke, there is still something sweeter that reminds me of pineapple and banana, with some almond paste in the background. Beautiful and fresh. By adding a few drops of water, the nose shows many more earthy notes and a surprising touch of white chocolate appears.

Great body. Immediately candy-like sweet as from banana chips and Superman logos (peach flavor), which immediately gets a big smoky kick under the ass. The peat becomes unmistakably large and gives this malt a lot of strength. That does not alter the fact that a subtle salty edge and some wood shavings can show themselves. Pepper makes things ignite. This is a powerhouse. Diluted it loses some of its punch, logically, and it becomes (even) sweeter, but also a little sharper.

The finish is long, smoky and a true battle between sweet and salty flavors. Very good, even diluted.

Great cask selection by The Nectar, as we are used to from them by now.