Lakes Distillery Steel Bonnets (2018)
The first ever blend of an English whisky with Scottish whisky, that’s what Steel Bonnets is. Or at least, that’s what Lakes Distillery claim. A quick Google search seems to confirm that claim. The whisky comes in a tin, but that’s not why it is called Steel Bonnets. There’s a whole story there, which you can read about here. No sense in me repeating a marketing story, right?
Without further ado, here are my thoughts.
Lakes Distillery Steel Bonnets (46.6%, OB, 2018)
Nose: Plenty of malted barley notes, as well as a good amount of smoke. Young (metallic) and quite intense. There’s some pineapple sweetness and pear skin in the background, as well as a hint of freshly spliced oak, cloves and vanilla.
Taste: Extremely malty, with some sweet smoke, vanilla and unpleasant plastic-y notes. A tad sour, although I find it hard to place. Some mild spices as well, and slightly drying too.
Finish: On the shorter side, especially considering the peat-y aspect of this whisky.
Score: 78
Decent enough, and the abv at least gives it some body. However, I’d be remiss to mention the price of this whisky, which sits comfortably at 65 pounds per bottle. That’s a lot of money, and you wouldn’t need to look far to find much better value for your money.
Sample provided by Lakes Distillery
Thijs is a spirits writer and accredited liquorist from The Netherlands. He runs the blog Words of Whisky and contributes to a number of Dutch and international publications.
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