Christmas Countdown 2020 #17: SMWS 143.1 “Sea buckthorn tea time” Copperworks Distilling Co. 3 Year

Distillery: Copperworks Distilling Co.

Region: Washington

Age: 3 Year.

ABV: 60.0%

Cask Type: New Oak Barrel #2 Char

Color: 1.7, Burnt Umber.

This is the 17th installment of this years’ Christmas Countdown. You can see the entire 2020 series here or the 2019 edition here.

This particular review was done blind.

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Nose: (according to the wife) Black tea leaves along with sugar and milk. It almost smells like boba tea.

Palate: Quite strong. It’s very rich and sugary. There’s a bit of cream along with more of those black tea notes. It’s less like boba here and more like tea you’d expect in any English household. There’s a little bit of spice that pops in the end, I can’t quite pick out what it is.

Finish: Long. It’s a mix of sugar and spice.

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Guess: Scotch whisky from the Highlands, maybe? Greater than 55% ABV, on the young side so I’ll guess around 10 years. The makes me think it was finished or aged in a very wet sherry or port cask but I get flavors of neither.

Reveal: SMWS 143.1 “Sea buckthorn tea time” Copperworks Distilling Co. 3 Year American Single Malt Whiskey.

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Conclusion: I would not have ever guessed American single malt, mainly because they aren’t particularly common. This one though is quite nice though. It is a tad simplistic and a bit of a one note wonder but for what it is, it is very tasty. If you like your tea with a lot of cream and sugar, I think you’ll like this one. Would I buy a bottle? Not for the $95 price SMWS was asking.

Final Score: 81.

American Whiskey Review #82, American Single Malt Review #4, Whisky Network Review #359

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Scoring Legend:

• 96-100: The perfect dram, nectar of the gods.
• 90-95: Near perfect, there is something truly special about this whisky.
• 85-89: Amazing, will always try to keep a bottle of this in my collection (if feasible).
• 80-84: Very Good, maybe only one minor nitpick about the whisky keeping it here.
• 75-79: Good, quite enjoyable to drink.
• 70-74: Solid, wouldn’t go out of my way to get it.
• 60-69: Meh, still drinkable.
• Below 59: If you have a bottle of this, start cooking with it instead.