Taste: Discovery Road Four Lions 46%
Time for the 2nd of the Discovery Road trio and it’s an English whisky. Recently I enjoyed the duo of debut releases from Adnams and the capital is returning to distilling with the London Distillery Company. Exciting times in prospect south of the border, especially if we consider the quality of recent releases from the trailblazing St George’s Distillery in Norfolk.
Discovery Road have 2 releases from St George’s available currently, both under the 4 Lions name tag. The difference? Well, one is bottled at 58% and limited to just 45 (signed and numbered) bottles whereas the sample I have here is from the 46% ABV release and although limited in keeping with the artisan premise of Discovery Road, is not restricted to such a finite number. In the Discovery Road Dutch whisky taste review I wrote about where these samples came from and you can read that here.
Now back to St George’s. I’ve been meaning to focus more on this distillery in 2014 along with Laphroaig – the nearest I came a New Year resolution. Marks & Spencer have an exclusive bottling which has caught my eye and generally St George’s whisky has good distribution. It is hard for some traditionalists I suppose to get over the fact that England can produce excellent whisky. Admittedly the iconic image of St George and the dragon isn’t a major selling point for some in Scotland. However it is all about the contents within.
Distillery: St George’s
Strength: 46%
Additional: taken from 4 50 litre casks, unknown age
Colour: Pick a watered down golden yellow vibe.
Nose: even as I was pouring the 1st measure apples were instantly recognisable. Upon closer inspection there are almonds, peaches, pears, bruised mint and continuing my theme of unusual suggestions an element of Birds Eye custard - the original powered stuff. So a stimulating if limited nose and overall pleasant.
Taste: Even at 46% this feels like a young feisty malt, the strong edition must be a knock out ABV. Some honey, roasted nuts with an oily texture coating the tongue. The sweetness comes in the form of silky caramel with some bananas chucked in - resulting in a dram that you can enjoy with ease.
I actually prefer this over the aged Dutch Discovery Road release given the choice. It might be younger and show some limitations on that front however I was quite impressed by the overall flavours and complexity it offers. Yes, it is priced above some of the staple St George's releases and having experienced this sample I'm eager to check out more of this English whisky.