Skip to content
  • Home
  • Whisky Top 10
  • Tasting Notes
  • About Thijs
  • Contact
  • Home
  • Whisky Top 10
  • Tasting Notes
  • About Thijs
  • Contact
logo
wolfburn no 128

Blind Tasting #2: Wolfburn No. 128 (2017)

8 December 2017 0 comments Article Highlands, Scotland, Tasting Notes, Wolfburn

The first day of the Blind Tasting Competition wasn’t a smashing personal success, so for the second day I hoped to regroup and get a decent score. In the end I did, notching 40 out of a maximum of 100 points, which is a fine score. However, guessing the right distillery was still a tad too ambitious.

To be honest, I hadn’t much of a clue when nosing and tasting this dram. Because of a perceived sourness my mind immediately wandered to Ben Nevis and Tobermory, both of which I associate with such an aroma. I also knew that because of the light smokiness it was very unlikely it would turn out to be either of those. Since I couldn’t come up with another guess, I ended up going for an 18-year-old Ben Nevis bottled at 46 percent. Which was wrong, of course. This is what it ended up being.

Wolfburn No. 128 (46%, OB, 6.000 bts.)

Nose: Starting off on sweet notes of cookie dough and merengue, but quickly turns into a strange mix of sour cherries, wet rope and some blue cheese even. The tiniest sliver of smoke.
Taste: A wonderful, soft smokiness that I barely registered on the nose. Some subtle spices, like cloves and cinnamon, and also a gentle nutiness and light notes of milk chocolate. However, the sourness does also appear on the palate somewhat.
Finish: Lingering spices, a whiff of smoke. Medium in length.

Rating: 78

So, a Wolfburn matured in first fill ex-bourbon quarter casks. I can’t say I found this to be an exceptional whisky. To me it lacked a certain balance, especially on the nose. I don’t know, just not exactly for me.

The malted barley for the Wolfburn No. 128 is lightly peated at 10 PPM. And it is only three years of age. Especially the last part was surprising, as I guessed it to be quite a lot older. But also the cask type was an eye-opener. Because of the subtle spices and the type of wood influence, I expected at least some European oak would’ve been used.

Still, because I guessed the right alcohol percentage and also had the whisky region right, I at least scored 40 points. Not too bad at all. Onward and (I hope) upward.

Thijs Klaverstijn Kingairloch 3
Thijs Klaverstijn

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.

Tags: blind tasting competition, highlands, NAS, no. 128, wolfburn

Leave a Reply Cancel reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

  • Facebook
  • Instagram
  • Tumblr

Most popular posts

  • Glendronach cask (flickr ti yab) GlenDronach Is A Lot Older Than The Label Says
  • caol ila 2008 12yo torsten paul rogers whisky company Caol Ila 2008 12 Years (Roger’s & Torsten Paul Whisky Company)
  • tamnavulin sherry cask edition Tamnavulin Sherry Cask Edition (2020)
  • waterford single farm origin ballymorgan 1.1 Waterford Ballymorgan 1.1 (2020)
  • double-v first release Tomatin 2011, Miltonduff 2008 & Ledaig 2009 (Double-V)

Recent blog posts

  • Upcoming: Blind Tasting Competition
  • Sexism & Misogyny in our Whisky Community
  • Monologue: Waterford’s Mark Reynier on Biodynamics & Terroir
  • Why The Whiskybase Gathering Should Be On Your Bucket List
  • Visiting Ballindalloch Distillery: Tradition & Patience in Speyside

Copyright Words of Whisky 2018