Review 276. Wire Works Bourbon Barrel.

Truth be told, I wasn’t at all sure what this week’s review was going to be until Sunday evening last. I wasn’t even sure if there was going to be something to review to begin with. Not because I suddenly ran out of whiskies to try (as if), but because I wasn’t even sure I was in a mood where I could unwind, pour a glass and get up close and personal with it. Usually I have a list at hand of samples or bottles which I think will be interesting to try and I want to discuss. But as we’re dealing with a heatwave in recent days (much like the whole of western and central Europe)  with scorching temperatures climbing towards and above 35° C (about 95° Fahrenheit) here in Belgium, I wasn’t even sure I would be able to enjoy a dram of single malt whisky. I’m by no means a cocktail man, but in these weather conditions I have no issue whatsoever digging to the back of my cabinet for something a bit on the ‘meh’ side, grab me a ginger ale from the fridge and make myself a highball.  Even a generic whisky will almost always still come in useful under the right conditions. Invite a few friends over, fire up the barbie, pour everyone a nice enough highball. Happy faces all around and no one will shed a tear when you use an otherwise ignored subpar single malt or blend which only takes up space in the cabinet otherwise.

Searching for a suitable whisky to review with the list in hand I pretty much excluded anything which as much as hinted to there being sherry casks involved. One whisky caught my eye, though: a sample gifted by Nic (thanks for the sample!) from a fairly new whisky distillery in England.

Wire Works Bourbon Barrel (White Peak Distillery). English single malt, 2024 release. 53.4% ABV, NC, UCF, app. £55 - £60

 I’ve sung White Peak’s praise before here at Malty Towers. As recently as October last year in fact, when I was doing a run trough on some of the categories of the OSWA’s and picked their ‘First Release’ to discuss how ‘engaging’ or ‘exciting’ the new wave of distilleries still are post whisky boom. White Peak in particular is a distillery that is very much capable of giving just about any self-respecting scotch distillery a run for their money. From the handful of samples I got to try from them, I can only confirm that what they produce and deliver is quite impressive stuff.  If there’s one thing that’s keeping them ‘down’, it’s possibly the matter of availability. This might be due to their limited capacity (from what I understand they produce about 60,000 LPA, but have the capacity to double down on that) but definitely is down to distribution as well. Outside of the UK, they’re  still an absolute bugger to get hold, for sure here in continental Europe (there used to be a distributor for the German market, but from what I understand that collaboration has also ended).  I was being told that they were (are?) busy trying to fix that. So hopefully we will see more of them on shelves outside UK markets soon, as they are being held in high regard by a lot of enthusiasts (those that are able to get their hands on their whisky, that is).

Nose

Bring on the fruit! There’s lemon, lemon pie, lemon meringue… so, essentially it’s citrus galore here. Green apples  and, subdued  a bit because of all the citrus notes, a cereal – grainy note. Shy notes of vanilla and honey and a hint of something on the T-crossing between toasted wood and roasted nuts.. Overall a pleasant combo of sweet and sour.

Palate

To my (mild) surprise, the arrival is a tad on the feisty side. Despite this being ‘only’ 53.4% ABV, it’s rather peppery at first. Luckily this settles quickly. No clear cut notes overall, but rather a toned-down amalgamation of what the nose has to offer: some lemon, a bit of grain, hints of honey and vanilla… all intertwined as no note in particular sticks its head above the parapet. This is supposedly ‘lightly’ peated but I really need to search for it, in order to find a very faint suggestion of peat happening in the glass.  This doesn’t change much after adding a drop of water. However,  the lemon note becomes a bit more pronounced.

Finish

Very mouthcoating and clinging, a bit dry, but above all a subtle peppery note and that combo of sweet and sour.

Final thoughts

I was really into the nose here, as it’s arguably a quintessential aroma from a young single malt whisky laid to rest in a bourbon barrel. Particularly the balance between sweet and sour is appealing with a lovely combo of citrus, vanilla and honey. While the palate is perfectly decent, I did find it a bit ‘middle of the road’. Not ‘generic’ as such, but while a nice integration of the different flavours involved is something to commend them on, I also felt as if it’s not really engaging enough to get me truly excited. All the flavours announced by the nose – particularly the lemon notes in their different shapes and forms, are toned down on the palate, to a degree where it almost becomes understated. I quite enjoyed it, but will also go on record in saying that this is not the best Wire Works I’ve tried so far.