One Quick Dram: AnCnoc Rutter Whisky Tasting Notes

Photo Credit: thegreenwellystop.co.uk

AnCnoc is the official name of the whisky produced by the Knockdhu distillery. The pupose for the name change is the similarity of the distillery name to the Knockando.

The distillery has a new line of three peated whiskys, one of which is exclusive to the Swedish market (I have no idea why, but the good news is that it’s actually not the best of the bunch, so I hope for my Swedish friends that the other expressions are available there too). The expressions in the series are named for three tools used in the extraction of peat: The rutter, floughter and the tushkar.

The series’ peat level puts them mid-range (roughly double the ppm in Talisker 10 and roughly half the ppm of the Ardbeg 10 – see the Whisky Intelligence post making the comparison here)

My friend Yoav Gelbfish of the Whisky Gospel blog has shared the three samples of the peated series with me, and I thank him for that share and point you to his post on this whisky.

AnCnoc Rutter – 11 ppm  (46% ABV, NCF, NC)

Color: Gold, quick legs.

Nose: Vanilla and peat, sour fruit (kiwi and star fruit), highland peat, not maritime.
With water: Spirity, new make-y and some detergent comes through.

Palate: Almost rude on the palate, the young whisky is still there in force. There is no smoothness on the palate, with the sweet notes mixing with the peat.

Linger: Long with mild sweetness for a peated linger, some detergent, but not in an unpleasant way.

This is an interesting whisky, but not one that rises above the “interesting”. Happily, there’s more to wait for with the Flaughter.