Cask Intro
HTMC (Heavy toast, medium char) are four letters that have been well represented in the Society’s cask profile since 2016. In 2014, head of whisky creation, Euan Campbell, was debating the virtues of toasting levels in casks with a distillery manager from the Highlands. He decided to place several orders for casks with custom toasting and charring to create whiskies with deeper character, spices and a creamier texture.
Want to know more? Read all about it here.
Tasting Notes
The nose was a picnic by a log cabin, delivering plum pie and ice cream, oranges and hot chocolate. The initial palate was a whole walnut in the mouth before other flavours developed – dried dates and apricots, liquorice allsorts, custard tart and granola; all finished off with the tingling heat of stem ginger, nutmeg, cinnamon and cardamom. The reduced nose evoked perfumed wardrobes, eastern rug shops and dubbined boots, plus some raisiny halva and pavlova with custard. Marmalade, peaches and coffee arrived on the palate, with the heat now reduced to humbug level. Eight years in ex-bourbon wood preceded extra maturation in this first fill HTMC hogshead.