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.

Rye Hard 2: Rye Harder

The full line-up

January's lockdown tasting had club member Tim bring us the long-awaited sequel to his Rye Hard tasting of ryes with, what else, but Rye Hard 2: Rye Harder.

And we went straight in with dram number one. This was a bit woody, almost like a furniture sort of smell contributing to a lovely nose. But the views got a bit more mixed once we actually tasted it. There was sweetness, a bit of spice too, but if anything we were a little disappointed with the palate, which went dry and then bitter quite suddenly. It got sharper with water but, as Tim revealed, there wasn't actually enough rye it in it to be a rye, so it was in fact a bourbon.

Woodford Reserve

There was also a bit of dark chocolate around, which was explained by the fact it did have chocolate malted rye in it. It was the Chocolate Malted Rye Bourbon expression from Woodford Reserve. It's 45.2% and costs £80. Certainly distinctive and we were glad to have tried it, but not something anyone rushed out to buy at that price.

Next was a bit of a surprise as we had an English rye, prompting the inevitable chorus of "I had no idea English rye was even a thing". Well, it is, and this one has been produced by Suffolk brewery Adnams. This had boozy mixed fruit on the nose, almost like a Speyside. Someone even said it reminded them of Drambuie. It was certainly a bit orangey on the palate too, citrussy, spicy but almost smooth. "Would be great in an Old Fashioned" someone suggested.

Adnams Rye Malt

The aftertaste was very citrussy too, and it had a long, slightly dry finish. There was a bit of a consensus around the word 'unusual' which is no bad thing. The bottle simply called Rye Malt, is 47% and is not bad value at all at £45.

The third dram of the night didn't have quite as much on the nose as the previous two, although some members thought that changed a little bit with a splash of water. It was unmistakably a rye but was perhaps a bit undistinguished compared with the ones we'd already tried. It smelt sweet but the palate was very short and didn't taste of all that much, beyond a bit of spiciness that didn't really stick around. A pleasant enough, easy drinker though.

Templeton Rye

This was the Templeton Rye Small Batch, from Indiana. It was 40% and cost £39 for a 75cl bottle, although this particular expression is no longer available.

Dram number four got an immediate response: "Do you not think it smells of straw?" There was definitely a bit of the giraffe house going on, although at the same, I thought a bit of steamed pudding as well. Deeper and richer than some of the others we'd had during the tasting, it was rich, lovely and sweet on the palate, with a bit of spiciness coming through as well. Apple pie was another tasting note that plenty of people agreed with.

New Riff Straight Rye

We were drinking New Riff Straight Rye, from Kentucky, made with 95% rye and clocking in at 50% ABV. It's £60 and was a clear favourite so far for most of the drinkers.

The last of our five drams also had the highest rye content, at 100%. Apples were again in evidence, along with pear drops (Editor's note: after this discussion of pear drops I went to the trouble of buying a bag for the first time in years - it turns out they taste nothing like whisky. What a con). There was caramel on the finish too although it wasn't as sweet as some of the others. Oily and toffee notes got a few shouts as well. It punched up on the flavours, and it might have been a bit sharp for some club members.

Reservoir Rye

It was the Reservoir Rye Virginia Rye Whiskey, at 50% and £99. A bit pricey, despite being obviously a quality drink.

Which brought us to the dram of the night voting. Only the third one didn't attract any support, but it was the New Riff which took the honours with 14 votes, to 10 for the Reservoir Rye and seven for the Adnams.

Thanks to all club members and those on the waiting list who joined us via Zoom for another successful lockdown tasting, and in particular to Tim for selecting the whiskies and guiding us through it. We'll have to do a part three one day!

Another Zoom tasting!