Fermentorium Distilling Co. Government Street Whisky Double Barrel
43% ABV - British Columbia, Canada
Nose: Very sweet, with a good dose of citrus, kumquat, and candied apple. There is some Jolly Rancher hard candy, lemon-orange, and white cake swirling around somewhere too.
Taste: The sweetness continues to deliver making this a delightful dessert. Sweet candy, cream soda, light wood, and vanilla. Development brings citrus, candy corn, and… milkshakes. Great texture.
Finish: The sweet part of the wheel leads the finish where I see the first hints of malt and stout character, with milk chocolate. Medium length.
This is a dangerously drinkable single malt. It is really impressive how sweet the Fermentorium Government Street Double Barrel is, and it doesn’t go over the top–it is a definite dessert dram. The use of ex-Bourbon ex-Beer barrels (see details below) adds quite the element! Besides the Jameson Caskmates Stout Edition, I don’t think that I’ve tasted another whisky quite like it. This whisky might not be for everyone, but everyone should at least give it a try.
Fermentorium Distilling Co. is an off-shoot of Phillips Brewing & Malting Co., which is one of my favourite beer brands! I recently moved to Vancouver Island and was thrilled when I saw this on the shelves after my inaugural visit… Interestingly, there is not much marketing (any marketing) for this as far as I can tell–not even their website lists it. Guess what street the Phillips Brewery is on? Yup! Government Street.
The first release by (Phillips) Fermentorium was Small Talk. I reviewed it earlier this year, and I was hoping to one day see another release with more age or a different vein of experimentation–and we sure do have the latter here (the two are barely comparable; you would think they are from different distilleries).
When I was in the shop purchasing this whisky, I was told that Government Street was actually distilled before Small Talk (if not bottled too), but for whatever reason the Small Talk whisky hit shelves first. I’ll continue to visit the brewery every so often to see if they have new releases. I have not seen this one in stores, yet Small Talk was available more widely. Very intriguing that the second release doesn’t seem to be as big! Oh, and my hat is off to the new bottle shape and design. It’s a huge improvement.
Details: Double Barrel: Barrel #7 (Bourbon Barrel / Cascadian Dark Ale, Filled 4/14/2015) and Barrel #17 (Bourbon Barrel / Imperial Stout, Filled 5/12/2015). Bottle #270.
Tasted 28 October 2020. (Posted 16 November 2020.)
