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.

Irish Off Piste

Another Zoom tasting!

Our May tasting took us to Ireland, and James took us 'off piste' by selecting a series of drams to confound our expectations of Irish whiskey.

We started in Waterford. Best known for crystal, the area's distillery has also got a burgeoning reputation for its obsession with the local terroir, including organically grown single farm barley.

Arcadian Gaia 1.1

We tasted the Arcadian Gaia 1.1. Floral and very aromatic, this tasted strong, harsh and young (take your pick), but not unpleasant. It was a thick, gloopy spirit with a meaty kind of aftertaste. You certainly know you've tasted it. It was a bit sweet as well. This bottle was 50% but was perhaps a bit on the expensive side at £77. It did taste like the price, though.

Method and Madness

Whiskey number two was the Cherry Wood from Method and Madness, a brand name attached to an experimental range of drinks from the Midleton distillery.

This was grassy on the nose. 'Purest green' as someone suggested. It doesn't taste like it smells though. It's certainly both cherry and woody, almost rotting wood or with a bit of a tea thing going on. The mouthfeel was spirity, reminiscent of grappa in fact. We thought this might work as a digestif. This got some positive noises dissipated a bit when we saw the price - 84 quid! A bit funky for some but others did enjoy it. It's 46%.

JJ Corry Flintlock

For the third dram it was something from JJ Corry, whiskey bonders who buy new make from various distilleries and age it themselves. The bottle we were trying was The Flintlock.

We got battenburg cake or marzipan on the nose. The taste came as a bit of a surprise, like fruity Vimto or something along those lines. Soft fruits all round. The finish was perhaps a bit of not very much, but overall we stuck with it and very much enjoyed it. We were trying smaller measures as it was just a 50cl bottle and that was plenty for some, but other members were keener on it, a real room divider. £95 for a small bottle seemed a bit steep though.

Kinahan's Kasc Project

Onto the fourth whiskey and it was something which offered somewhat better value from Kinahan's, in the form of their Kasc Project, which features casks made up of a hybrid of different woods.

This received some positive comments, in that it was perfectly pleasant if perhaps a bit straight down the line. We were trying batch 4 and it was noticeable (to me) how subtly different it was from batch 3, which I had half a bottle of downstairs and quickly grabbed for a bit of a back to back comparison. The best thing about this was probably the price, at just £32, lots of the club was surprised at how good it was at that low cost. It's 43%.

Two Stacks

We went to blenders Two Stacks next, for their Blenders Cut Barbados, a blend of five different whiskeys. They often can whiskey in small tins, but on this occasion we were drinking something which had come from a bottle.

This was another one which tasted strong straight off the bat, we thought either really harsh or simply a high ABV (it turned out to be the latter - 63.5%!). It stays tasted. People had this both with and without water really loved it either way. It's 89 quid.

Red Spot 15yo

We finished off the evening with something from Mitchell and Son. Best known for Green Spot, James told us this was something different.

Very pleasant, very nice, very sweet, were the consistent comments about this one. Tough to follow the heavy onslaught of the Two Stacks, and while many club members enjoyed this one, some thought it was a little boring in comparison to what had gone earlier. This was the Red Spot 15 year-old. Although good, we felt the timing of the drams held it back a touch and we might have got more out of it earlier in the evening. It's £120 and 46%.

Dram of the night was closely fought but it went to Two Stacks with 10 of the 30 votes cast. Whiskeys 1, 3 and 6 were all joint second, but all the drams had at least two supporters - the sign of a successful tasting!

Thank you to James for choosing the whiskeys and taking us through it, and to all members and guests for attending another great evening.