Raasay Unpeated Virgin Chinkapin Oak Cask (Skotchtoberfest #12)

As far as I know, this is the first exposure to chinkapin oak (as least where they specify it), and one of few if not the only of a Scotch aged only in virgin wood. I’m interested in how this, and the peated one tomorrow, go.

Raasay Unpeated Virgin Chinkapin Oak Cask, Island (Raasay) Single Malt, 63.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from unpeated malt and matured for 27 months in a virgin chinkapin oak cask Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Dark and red fruits. Sweet overall.

Taste: Malty, spicy. Quite hot, really. It’s unfortunate as it hides something interesting that the heat renders too fleeting for me to get a read on it.

Finish: Bubblegum. Woody and tannic. Medium-short.

Interesting, and overall a positive first exposure to this wood. It’s not as together as it could be (expected given the nature of what it is, of course), but I can say I’d love a proper bottling of this style of spirit. Particularly aged long enough to mute that ethanol without taking away what I was trying to find on the palate. I think it’s also the first time I’ve gotten an obvious and strong bubblegum note in a whisky.

Score: 75

Musical Evocation: Rob Zombie – “Sick Bubblegum”