These "Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire" whiskies are small batch mystery single malts from Atom Brands, the independent bottler owned by UK retailer Master of Malt, which they've dubbed the "& Whisky" brand. Look, I like an ampersand as much as the next guy. But this might be a bit much...
This is Atom Brands' take on a Port Askaig / Scarabus / Finlaggan series of mystery bottlings, although rather than solely consisting of Islay single malts like those examples, in this "& Whisky" range there are also Highland single malts, blended whisky from different distilleries, and even blended whiskies from different countries - Islay single malt blended with Canadian corn whisky, for example! Atom / Master of Malt also produces the Boutique-y and Darkness ranges of independent whisky bottlings, alongside a couple of gin and rum brands. There is & has been a large number of releases in this "& Whisky" series, ranging from an NAS at 40% ABV to a 45-year old single grain whisky, plus a few oddities like a Canadian corn whiskey and even a blend of Islay single malt & Canadian corn whiskey! Most of these releases don't seem to make it to Australia, but Sydney-based online retailer Barrel & Batch seems to have the largest range on these shores. The local contact here is Brand Ambassador Simon McGoram, an industry stalwart who previously had a long tenure with Diageo, and was the source of the two samples. They were leftovers that were provided with no obligation to review, but this is my first go at their "& Whisky" range, so I thought I'd take a closer look. We have one 12-year old Islay and one 18-year old Highland to look at, both heavily peated single malts and both cask strength, and both quite reasonably priced.
Thanks to the scale of production most, but not all, anonymous Islay single malts will be Caol Ila. With a huge annual capacity of 6.5-million litres of spirit, it's producing double that of Laphroaig, which is the next inline on Islay in terms of size. But that's not to say that Caol Ila doesn't make fantastic whisky, because they absolutely do! Most of the distillery's production goes into owner Diageo's blended whiskies, but when it comes to single malt this is easily one of the more consistent malt distilleries in Scotland, and plenty of independent bottlers take advantage of that. So the 12-year old Islay single malt from "& Whisky" that we're looking at here is most likely a Caol Ila. The 18-year old that we're looking at after that is much more difficult though, because it's from the Highland region. It's heavily peated, which helps narrow it down a little, but there are still many options - especially if you include the islands, which aside from Islay are part of the Highlands region. To my mind that leaves Ledaig (Tobermory), Knockdhu (AnCnoc), Ardmore, Ben Nevis, Ballechin (Edradour), Glenturret, Loch Lomond, and Cu Bocan (Tomatin). Obviously it won't be Ardnamurchan or Wolfburn since they've only recently had their tenth birthdays, and this whisky is 18-years of age. Mystery malts like these can be a bit of a gamble, since there's often no provenance given at all. At least in this case we have a good age statement and bottling strength, but without having tasted the liquid before purchase, the only real source of reassurance here is knowing the bottler's previous work. In this case I've never tried the "& Whisky" series, but I've had a few bottlings from the Boutique-y and Darkness brands which have been tasty. As always though, the proof is in the tasting. It's the liquid that counts!
First up is the Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire 12-year old Sauternes finish, which is a cask strength single cask Islay single malt bottled at 54.4% ABV. Sauternes is a sweet wine from the Bordeaux region of Southern France, which can work very well with peated whisky - Kilchoman and Port Charlotte/Octomore in particular. Sauternes is a sweet wine produced from white grapes that are affected by the naturally-occurring botrytis cinerea fungus which infects the fruit and consumes its water, concentrating the sugars within. Yields are low and fermentation takes a long time thanks to the high sugars, with the resulting wine often aged in casks for a decade or more. Typically Sauternes casks will add white (grapes, melon) fruit, honey, and sweet citrus flavours, generally they're only used for a short finishing period, but occasionally for full maturation. On paper those flavours wouldn't necessarily be your go-to pairing for a smoky & peaty coastal whisky, and like many cask finishes it doesn't always work! We don't know how long this "& Whisky" has spent in Sauternes casks, or which distillery it came from - chances are it was Caol Ila, of course. Pricing on this one is around $200 AUD, which isn't unreasonable for a 12-year old single cask Islay in this day & age. 413 bottles were released in late-2023, still readily available here in Australia. Just to be confusing, I'm writing this one up before the 18, but I tasted them in the opposite order since this one is a younger Islay. Let's see how it goes!
Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire 12-year old Islay, Sauternes Finish, 54.4%. Islay, Scotland.
Anonymous Islay single malt, finished for unknown period in Sauternes sweet wine cask. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 413 bottles.
Colour: Amber. I'm not sure now if these are natural colour, both have a bit of the "fake tan" glow to them... Hopefully my suspicions are wrong.
Nose: Peaty, sweet, fruity. Chunky muddy coastal peat, sweet but under-ripe fruit: bananas in particular, bit of apricot and touch of nectarine, all in vanilla syrup. White pepper, drinking chocolate mix / sweetened cocoa powder, bit of fresh tar. Damp freshly mowed grass, and lemon peel.
Texture: Medium weight. Big peat, ashy, embers, sweet. No heat.
Taste: Peaty & sweet. Big muddy coastal peat, burnt honeycomb in cooking chocolate / compound chocolate. Those under-ripe fruits plus some pineapple here, and vanilla syrup again. Touch of oily olive brine heading into the finish.
Finish: Medium length. Thins out a little here, maybe some youth showing through under the cask finishing. Still a nice muddy chunky coastal peatiness, warm woodfire embers & charcoal, white pepper, and a bit of that olive brine again. Those sweet under-ripe bananas and burnt honeycomb again, but with the peat running underneath. Touches of passionfruit & apricot around the edges.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: Feels significantly more mature than the 18-year old - Whoops, I suppose that was a spoiler for the next review! Oh well, I might as well double-down then, the 12-year old is the winner in my book! The level of cask influence from the Sauternes finish is just right if you ask me, I wouldn't want any more or less sauternes impact in this style of whisky. Is this a Caol Ila like most of the anonymous Islays? I don't know of course, but I can certainly see it being one. That grassiness and lemon peel is a bit of a giveaway, although I don't recall having a Sauternes cask Caol Ila before so it's tough to guess. I suppose I can tick that box now! Caol Ila's spirit does seem to work with just about any cask, as long as it's not an extremely aggressive sherry cask which would overwhelm any spirit!
Next we have another anonymous single malt from Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire, an 18-year old cask strength which seems to be a semi-regular release - this example is from Batch 2. This one is from the Highlands region which also includes the islands, which makes it impossible to pin down. Based on a quick sniff, out of the list of possibilities above I'm discounting the Island distilleries since the only possibility for this style would be Ledaig, and it isn't dirty or industrial enough in my opinion. Plus Tobermory/Ledaig has never stopped an indy using the distillery name, as far as I can recall. I'm guessing it's either AnCnoc, Glenturret, or Loch Lomond. AnCnoc is the given name for the official bottlings from Knockdhu Distillery, and they do produce some peated bottlings, but I can't recall how long they've been doing so - 18-years is an unlikely possibility, plus that distillery is located in the Speyside region, although the official bottlings are labelled as Highland single malts as Speyside distilleries are permitted to do. So Loch Lomond or Glenturret? Maybe! Mainland peated malts from the can be a little hit & miss in my opinion, and I'm yet to taste one that can compete with the equivalent from Islay or the Islands. But we shouldn't be judging a book by its cover...
Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire 18-year old Highland, 54.8%. Highlands, Scotland.
Anonymous Highland single malt, heavily peated. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 606 bottles.
Colour: Amber. Again, unsure on colouring but it does look slightly suspicious - hopefully I'm wrong.
Nose: Sweet, meaty, surprisingly peaty & smoky! Loads of burnt smoky bacon, charred pepper steak, touch of aniseed & woody herbs. Runny caramel sauce, wood smoke and chunky earthy peat alongside. Salt-laden driftwood, bitter orange peel, touch of mushroom-y earthiness underneath.
Texture: Medium weight. Oily sweet, spicy, meaty. Distracting spiky spirit heat, but not overly harsh.
Taste: Meaty again with more burnt bacon, charred pepper steak, with more green peppercorns now. Sweet vanilla & caramel sauce. Some green chilli flakes & that aniseed again. Less wood smoke here, but it's still there, plus some sweeter orange, and that mushroom-y earthiness underneath. Spiky alcohol heat on the roof of the mouth.
Finish: Medium length. Spiky heat carries over. More green chilli & green peppercorns, and a little coppery metallic edge. More bacon, caramel sauce, plus sweet orange around the edges. Mushroom-y earthiness and aniseed in the background.
Score: 3 out of 5.
Notes: Plenty of flavour here, including a lot of sweetness. It's also quite meaty, but not in a Mortlach or worm tub sort of way, more in a bacon-y, peppery, smoky way which leads me to think that this is a Glenturret. Especially with that slightly metallic edge on the finish, although I do sometimes find that in Inchmoan / peated Loch Lomond as well. Either way my money is on mainland rather than Ledaig, but I'm only guessing. That spiky spirit-y heat on the roof of the mouth is a little distracting, and it seems to anaesthetise the palate a bit which is a shame. But there's enough peat, meat, and sweet to carry it. That would've been a better title for this one; Sweet & Meat & Peat. Atom Brands' marketing department, I'll take my commission via bank transfer thanks!
Cheers!
