The Heart Cut

JJ Corry

November's tasting was hosted by Georgie Bell, co-founder of indie bottler The Heart Cut. Under the slogan 'small batches, big personality', Georgie and her husband Fabrizio launched the company in 2023, with the aim of directly collaborating with a wide range of distilleries across the world, to bring one-off single cask and small batch bottlings to the whisky scene. She had half a dozen selections from no fewer than five nations for us to try.

It was off to Ireland first, and whiskey bonding house JJ Corry. We had a blend of four casks together, matured or finished in a range of port and sherry, creating what Georgie had hoped would be "sunshine in a glass."

It was certainly a very easygoing start to the night. Toffee was an early tasting note, followed by citrus, especially lemon peel, then biscuits and apricots. A bit of cut grass as well. It was 48% and you can still get it for £68. As with all the others, it was a 50cl bottle, a choice Georgie told us they had made to help keep the sticker price of their bottles down a bit, and to help spread these small batch spirits out to a broader audience.

Barley

Dram two was the first of what Georgie called a 'house pour' or what will be the start of The Heart Cut's core range. Called Barley, it's an English blended malt made from five distilleries: The English, Cotswolds, White Peak, Adnams and Copper Rivet, the latter the newest on the block from Chatham in Kent. The point of this whisky was to put a focus on the grain, perhaps the unsung hero of whisky production.

This was very distinctive and summery, with a clear taste of strawberries, with a bit of creaminess too it was almost like jam and cream on a scone. There were also spicy notes in here, especially cinnamon. This was 46% and cost £48.

Westland

Next to something smoky and American. Westland in Seattle is among the pioneers of US single malt. They were even able to find a local bog in Washington State to use for their peated expressions, making them real innovators in American whiskey.

This wasn't super smoky, and there were strong hints of topical fruit and a sweetness reminiscent of fruit pastilles. Peanut butter too, as part of a nutty dryness. In fact it went very dry during the aftertaste, almost like cereal. A bit of water smoothed this out though. It was 53% and comes in at £84.

We had a short half-time break to refill our beer and other glasses downstairs at the Seven Oaks, before Georgie returned with another trio for us.

Stork Club

Whisky four took us to Germany and a rye from Stork Club, a new distillery for the club. Something else new: a whisky matured in a so-called 'Napoleon cask' using wood from some very old trees indeed, from a forest on the Franco-German border.

This was weird and great. An interesting mixture of charred flavours and chocolatey sweetness. Someone suggested it was like the slightly burnt ends of a pain chocolat. Others picked out Black Forest gateau, as well as dark chocolate, cloves and cinnamon again. Extremely memorable. £55 if you want to try it for yourself. It's 55% too.

Thomson 1

The last two drams of the evening took us to the other side of the world and New Zealand's Thomson distillery. Georgie promised us a "distinctive New Zealand style" from these, and in the first example we had a whisky fully matured in a fresh pinot noir cask.

It was tough to follow that remarkable rye, but this one brought spiced plum jam, figs and cherries. We also had a few squares of chocolate to go around, and that changed the taste again, making it all sharper. Some felt this was a little spirity, but for others it was delicious. Good for a wintertime drink.

Thomson 2

To finish there was another interesting angle. The sixth whisky was manuka smoked, using the wood native to New Zealand (and arguably better known for its honey) instead of peat.

So, not peaty but smoky. A bit like charred wood and a bonfire, with a taste reminiscent of eucalyptus or menthol. Very smoky on the nose, less so on the palate, but another gorgeous drink all round. It came in at 50.8% and it's £71.

Dram of the night voting, then. And every whisky got at least three votes, always the sign of strength in depth in a tasting. But for the first time ever, we had a three-way tie for first place. Whiskies four, five and six got seven votes apiece. No penalty shoot outs here, just a share of the non-existing spoils between Stork Club and both Thomson drams.

Our thanks to Georgie for a great tasting and for introducing us to some high-quality whiskies, and to all club members and guests for coming along.