Stillhead Single Malt Hungarian Oak Finish
45% ABV - British Columbia, Canada
Nose: Loads of spice: baking spices, clove, nutmeg, cinnamon, wood spices. Faintly astringent with caramel malt flavours.
Taste: Overall the taste is packed with spices, sweet malt and caramels. There are some fruits in the mix, but difficult to pinpoint them—fresh orchard fruits.
Finish: Moderate to long with spices, citrus, and oak.
I really enjoy trying new local single malt whiskies when they are released—it’s been great to see the slow emergence of more and more distilleries in British Columbia, Canada. This bottle, in particular, was a prize giveaway by Trenny & C (look them up on YouTube; they have great videos and are incredibly entertaining!)
Overall, I’m not getting much in the way of complexity from Stillhead Single Malt Hungarian Oak Finish. I understand this to be one of the first or early batches of single malt whisky, so I suspect it’s the youthfulness of the spirit exhibiting most of the tasting notes. I’ll term it as "an excellent preview of things to come."
Stillhead Distillery may be better known to you for their Wild Blackberry Gin and Apple Brandy—both of which I still have to try myself! Their whiskies are released in small batches throughout the year and are likely found only in and around Vancouver Island. I really like seeing distilleries experiment a lot in the early years as they search to find their flagship single malt… I’m looking forward to following the progression of Stillhead whisky!
Details / Tasting Notes (Official): Bottled 138 of 265. This is a single cask release, made from 100% BC malted barley aged in an ex-bourbon first fill Jim Beam barrel for 2 years. Then finished in a char 3 almost new Hungarian Oak barrel for 1 year, providing notes of honey, cinnamon, toasted oak, and cocoa.
Tasted 16 October 2021. (Posted 24 October 2021.)
