A Christmas Sponge 29 Year WhiskySponge Edition No. 18 “Blend on the Run”

Scotch Whisky Review : A Christmas Sponge 29 Year WhiskySponge Edition No. 18 “Blend on the Run”

Distillery: A blend of many cask samples from Signatory Vintage, including whiskies from the 60s and 70s. All blend components were at least 16 years of age when blended and then matured for an additional 13 years.

Bottler: WhiskySponge.

Region: Blend.

Age: 29 Year. 13 years in the final cask.

ABV: 45.6%.

Cask Type: Finished in a first fill sherry cask for 13 years.

Price: Part of an advent calendar curated by /u/federalagents, /u/dangerousdoorknob, and myself. Bottle was submitted by /u/_asipper.

Color: 1.9, Brown Sherry.

This is the fifth installment of this year’s Christmas Countdown. You can find previous installments here.

Nose: When I hold the glass and smell it from a little further away, I get some light barbecue sauce notes. When I hold it closer, it is incredibly heavy on the sherry. There’s some brown sugar mixture as well, I’m kinda thinking of a cookie dough in process, along with a bit of fig as well.

Palate: Peat is a lot more noticeable here than it would be in the nose. It’s an old charcoal note, like what you’d expect to see outside of some old school style Korean barbecue joints in the morning after they’ve had all night to cool off. A bit of burnt ends or the bits of Korean braised beef short ribs (갈비찜/galbi-jjim) that inevitably get stuck at the bottom of the pot no matter what I do bring along some lovely meaty, savory notes. It’s a touch sour too, though I’m not sure what that is at all. The oak influence is apparent with a lot of it to go around.

Finish: Medium to short in length. You get a hit of sherry, a hit of old sherry oak, and that little bit of sourness.

Conclusion: When /u/_asipper submitted this bottle to be included in our advent calendar last year, it was one that I was entirely unfamiliar with what this was. The story goes that the folks at WhiskySponge took a bunch of cask samples from Signatory and created his own blend with them. They were all single malts of varying ages and makes but all over 16 years of age. The resulting blend was laid to marry up for another 13 years in a first fill sherry cask. That casks has certainly left its mark, the nose might be the biggest sherry nose I’ve ever had. The palate has some more depth to it all with spent charcoal and charred bits of braised short ribs. There was a weird sour note at the end that, well, soured my impression of this a little bit unfortunately. I’m not sure what it is but it felt rather out of place. Still a fun whisky with an even more fun story though.

Rating: 84.

Scotch Whisky Review , Blended Malt Whisky , Whisky Network Review

Scoring Legend:

  • 95-100: As good as it gets. Jaw-dropping, eye-widening, unforgettable whisky.
  • 90-94: Sublime, a personal favorite in its category.
  • 85-89: Excellent, a standout dram.
  • 80-84: Quite good. Quality stuff.
  • 75-79: Decent whisky worth tasting.
  • 70-74: Meh. It’s definitely drinkable, but it can do better.
  • 60-69: Not so good. I might not turn down a glass if I needed a drink.
  • 50-59: Save it for mixing.
  • 0-49: Blech.

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