I got a random sample from the team at Exile Casks. (Someone probably made a mistake on their mailing list.)

Their previous bottling - The Trojan - has sold out. And this isn't labelled, so it's safe to assume that it's something new and exciting! The Exile Casks website refers to a bottling called The Wanderer coming soon. But as there was no note in the box, I'm not going to assume anything...

The nose is a big, joyful bundle of flavours. A hint of PVA glue first, then vanilla, cinnamon and orange peel, a freshly opened pack of currants and finally in the background there are hints of liquorice, sandalwood and camphor wood. The mouthfeel is decent with a little cling, and quite drying. (This whisky feels like it's at 50% or over based on the mouthfeel...) The body has vanilla, cinnamon, hard toffee, dried apricot and artificial peach flavouring, then a hint of the exotic woods that were in the nose. The finish is long, but dry - dried apricot and vanilla with a hint of cinnamon, camphor wood and orange peel.

Water brings out thick, exploding whorling that lingers for an eternity at the bottom of the glass. Truly joyful for the viscimetrists amongst us! The nose now has no trace of the PVA glue, liquorice or the currants - it's vanilla ice-cream, apricots, orange peel, lime-flavoured Opal Fruits (Starburst? What's that?), kiwi fruit, hard pears and red apples - and just a hint of pine-scented air freshener. The body has similarly opened up - no liquorice, less toffee, and the orange peel and lime hints from the nose have joined the apricot and peach for one hell of a party. A faint hint of pine sap and a touch more of those exotic wood notes than before, but then it moves nicely into the finish - which is not quite as dry as before, and has gained hints of oranges and red apples.

A wonderful dram. It rounded off a warm, humid day quite nicely, and I'm looking forward to being able to buy a bottle or twenty. Purely to discover, liberate and enjoy, of course...

4.5/5