Spanish Whisky Club

Hola! It’s been a while and to be honest… we agree! We’ve got some reviews waiting to be drafted, so we’ll try to catch up. And why not start with the fairly unknown Spanish Whisky Club.

After we heard of this club and got intrigued, we contacted Jan Vistisen, president of the Spanish Whisky Club, to chat about their products. He was just as excited as we are and has sent us some samples, and not to forget… a full bottle of the 10 year old!!
That deserves a “Thank you” from our side 🥃🙏.

First we’d like to summarize the five reasons on what makes this Spanish Whisky from Destilerías Liber truly unique:

Best water source: Melted ice of the Sierra Nevada Mountains;
Ideal temperature: Between 5 degrees in the winter and 25 degrees in the summer;
Unique location: Dry mountain micro climate. The distillery is on the lower western slope of Mulhacen – at 3479m it is the highest mountain in Western Europe;
Seismic activity: These movements are epic because the contact with the wood is essential to good spirits;
Demanded casks: Liber has original old PX casks.

Weblink for full info: https://www.bestspanishwhisky.com/

We did agree on writing our honest and objective journey on these whisky’s (as you might expect from us), so let’s explore!

10 year old @ 59% ABV – PX 1st Fill

Nose: Full on the wood and sherry notes. Spices, raisins, yogurt, mint and licorice root.
Palate: Gunpowder, woody and a bit dry on the palate. Maybe a bit too high on the ABV too.
Finish: Medium length with burned rubber and slight fruit notes.

Score: 72 / 100

Nose: Caramel (“hopjes” for our dutch readers), sour peaches and whipped cream.
Palate: Spices, cinnamon, star anise, licorice and raisins.
Finish:

Score: 73 / 100

12 year old @ 60% ABV – PX 1st Fill

Nose: Gingerbread (Snelle Jelle for our dutch followers), sulfer, some fruit like plum and again wood notes.
Palate: Dry with lots of red fruits, vanilla and caramel.
Finish: Sweet and bitter, but with a sour note on the end of the finish. Also something I dislike but can’t really describe.

Score: 72 / 100

Nose: Sweet red fruits, gingerbread and sulfur.
Palate: Spices, dark fruits, figs and plums.
Finish: Raisins and spices.

Score: 71 / 100

14 year old @ 59.9% ABV – PX 1st Fill

Nose: Too much sulfer, gunpowder, rotten concrete, tobacco and some red fruits.
Palate: This one is difficult with a lot to dislike… Some spices and chocolate keeps it somehow on track.
Finish: Medium, with some tropical fruit notes.

Score: 67 / 100

Nose: Sweet candy, licorice root, cane sugar and sulfur.
Palate: To much “off notes” to properly taste it… ouch 🥴.
Finish: Sulfur, rotten mushrooms and white pepper.

Score: 54 / 100

16 year old @ 59.6% ABV – PX 1st Fill

Nose: Straight up yogurt, cherries and blackberries.
Palate: Flavor is good, spices, a gentle and nice touch of gunpowder, chocolate mousse and slight charcoal.
Finish: Longest finish out of four and quite nice too.

Score: 76 / 100

Nose: Creamy fruit (soft red fruits), some maltiness and a whiff of burned wood.
Palate: Burned caramel and raisins.
Finish: Nice spiciness and dark fruits.

Score: 77 / 100

This wasn’t an easy tasting for us. We really took our time, worked around with a lot of water and tried it B2B also. Some of the bottlings, like the 10yo and 16yo were getting better along the long road…
They really need time to open up and need some water. We don’t really know what’s wrong with it, because these bottles got all the ingredients to be interesting and tasty. Maybe the casks are to active (1st Fill), or the New Make Spirit has got too much sulfer in it. A (re)charred Bourbon Barrel would scratch some of those notes out, but these PX Puncheon didn’t do the trick.
The 14yo was really off… Unfortunately, because the 16yo is quite promising. So what would be our final verdict on these? It’s tough to say, because we really like the “project”. Like we said, all the ingredients are there. Maybe it would be interesting to taste this spirit on a ex-Bourbon Barrel too, just to see if the sulfer notes are refined. For example, we don’t mind some meaty, musty drams (Mortlach, some Deanston’s etc.).