Three wee Knockdhu


February 17, 2023

Three wee Knockdhu

A.K.A. AnCnoc or An Cnoc. Not a lot to add.

AnCnoc 'Peated Edition Sherry Cask Finish' (40%, OB, +/-2022)

Why you would do a finish on such a whisky, I don't quite know. Not happy with the make? Something that went wrong with the peated malt? Too immature? Bah anyway, it's just an NAS at 40% vol., so stakes should be low anyway. Colour: gold. Nose: nice, in fact, with tobacco and autumn leaves, walnuts, some hay, touches of mustard, cassis leaves, cigarettes, and something akin to… Laphroaig Lore (with apologies both to AnCnoc and Laphroaig). Mouth: light and rather thin, sooty, peppery and pretty ashy. Green walnuts and a little salt, plus rather a lot of oversteeped black tea. Little depth and not much oomph., but as they say, it does go down effortlessly. Finish: short, ashy. More black tea and more walnuts. Almost no aftertaste. Comments: pleasant, I'm just not sure the whisky world really needed some NAS peated AnCnoc at 40% vol. that was finished in sherry. Not any boxes ticked.
SGP:354 - 75 points.

Knockdhu 16 yo 2006/2022 (54.2%, Hidden Spirits, cask #KNO622, 298 bottles)

Oh, I'm seeing this one too was 'heavily peated'. Having said that, I've noticed that Distilleries that usually don't do peat (but Knockdhu started more than 20 years ago, as far as I can remember) would usually call anything remotely smoky 'heavily peated'. Colour: straw. Nose: butter, proper mashed potatoes (50% potato, 50% butter), mustard, limestone, parsnip, garden bonfire (and light compost), leaves, stalk, stems… Indeed it's not that peaty this far, it's rather pretty grassy. With water: more on porridge, ink, soot, fruit stones… Mouth (neat): huge peppery and grassy smoke. Looks like they've burnt grapefruit skin. Fruit peel, a little green rubber, lemon zests… its rather toughish this far. With water: some lemon marmalade coming to the front, but it would remain extremely grassy. Touch of verbena and touch of dill. Green banana skin. Finish: rather long, grassy, still a little austere. The smoke is not huge. Comments: very good, yet rather a tough boy that would have reminded us of Glen Spey or Glendullan.
SGP:365 - 81 points.

Knockdhu 16 yo 2006/2022 (51.5%, Chapter 7, bourbon hogshead, cask #6, 334 bottles)

They have it in their 'Monologue' series, well we certainly hope it's going to be more talkative than its siblings. Colour: white wine. Nose: I'm not sure this one's heavily peated, we're rather having a whole jug of a blend of sauvignon blanc and rhubarb wine in front of us. Plus some chalk, limestone, flints, porridge indeed, lime juice and natural yogurt. As we sometimes say, 'it's rather a blade'. With water: even nicer. Wonderful raw malt, grist, chalk, sourdough… Mouth (neat): very good porridgey arrival, appropriately sour, peppery, limey and yoghurty. Then green tea, some honeysuckle, grapefruit juice, brioche dough, green banana flesh (not skin)… With water: all very good, if a little austere. Cider, green apples, grapefruits, greengages, gooseberries, green tea… Finish: rather long, tight, peppery, doughy, green, grassy… Some green tannicity in the aftertaste. Comments: well, it just totally crushed the peaters. Remember that since almost no one's still using proper kilns, peat has become just a flavouring agent that no one actually needs for malting purposes. In the case of lovely Knockdhu, I believe peat remains very unnecessary, just like jalapeno on potato crisps. Well done Chapter 7.
SGP:461 - 87 points.

(Gracias, Tom!)

Check the index of all Knockdhu we've tasted so far