Review: Valinch & Mallet - The Spirit of Art

Valinch & Mallet

The Spirit of Art

Distilled at: Bardstown - USA

Cask No: 3

Age: 3

Abv: 52,6%

Place of Purchase: Auction

Price: 84,05€

As we were in the midst of planning our bourbon tasting I happened to run in to this Valinch & Mallet's bourbon release. One good reason to get it was of course the super stylish design, but it also had gotten some good reviews. It's always nice to have a beautiful bottle, but it's even more fun when the liquid inside is also good. Rest of the tasting was designed around more traditional bourbons and this offered a good chance for a new generation distillery to show off.

Nose: Little thin nose at first. Alcohol burns with hints of citrus. Darker and rugged vanilla with some oak. This is without added water, but at this point I'm already quite sure, that water will let this open up more. As times goes by there's some Werther's Original in there. With added water the alcohol gets more space at first, but then you start to get more basic bourbon notes. It's still "darker" than a normal bourbon. Like there's some earthiness that holds up the flavours.

Taste: Cotton candy and red berries, but no vanilla at first. Not sure if it's the higher abv that holds the flavours or the young age. With added water I start to find much more basic bourbon like vanilla, caramel and fruitiness. The earthy darker feel is still there, even though it's much less present than before the added water.

After: Pepper and marzipane gives a funky start for the after taste. Some hints of cacao is also there. The after taste is also wrapped around by the earthy feeling. After added water the after the taste also gives out more familiar bourbon notes. The after taste is suprisingly long and ends in minty bubblegum that is quite suprising.

Young but quite nice bourbon. I gave quite high points for this in our bourbon tasting where this was the last in the lineup. It might be due to a quite different profile to other bourbons we had, but this has some zing to it. Not the most easy going whiskey, but I can definitely find my moments with this.