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16th August 2021 |
The Oxford
Artisan Distillery is celebrating its
4th anniversary and the release of its
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #3 to
commemorate the occasion. The whisky was
initially matured in American oak casks
and then underwent a second maturation
in Moscatel wine casks, sourced directly
from Portugal.
 The Oxford Artisan Distillery, the UK’s
first certified Organic Grain-to-Glass
distillery, is celebrating its four year
anniversary and the release of its third
batch of Oxford Rye Whisky to
commemorate the occasion.
The distillery officially opened on 31st
July 2017 and the production of rye
whisky from heritage organic grains was
part of its core plan from the outset.
The first casks of rye whisky were laid
down just a few months after the
distillery opened.
For this special anniversary bottling of
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #3, the liquid
was first rested in American oak casks
and then underwent a second maturation
in Moscatel wine casks, sourced directly
from Portugal. The Moscatel (Muscat)
grapes are turned into a sweet,
fortified wine in the Peninsula de
Setúbal region. It is a particularly
aromatic grape variety with citrus,
flowery, lichee and pear flavours and
pronounced sweet fruity notes.
The Oxford Artisan Distillery tells me
that the wine cask influence
gives a floral and stone fruit character
adding a rich sweetness to the rye. With
an intriguing and complex profile, Batch
#3 is packed with notes of fruity gummy
bears, peach, apricot and banana bubble
gum, then swathes of honey and stone
fruits, touched off with white
chocolate, a zing of tea-tree then
finally nutmeg and smoky hints of
oriental BBQ.
Master Distiller, Chico Rosa comments:
"The sweet fruity flavours from the rye
spirit and the Moscatel cask combine
seamlessly in a floral bouquet of summer
gardens. Our first batch was a classic
take on American rye whisky. Batch #2
was more complex and inspired by Oxford,
and with Batch #3 I wanted to bring more
cask influence to our rye spirit. This
batch of whisky suits this season
impeccably - it breathes a wealth of
freshness and summer fruits, with such
beautiful complexity and vibrancy of
flavours, it’s absolutely lush. Perfect
to toast our first four years!"
The organic heritage grain used for this
batch was harvested in the Autumn of
2017, just after the distillery’s
opening. Made up of 90% maslin (a mix of
70% rye and 20% wheat from populations
grown together in the same field) and
10% heritage malted barley, the grain is
flattened and the resulting course
flakes are made up in to a thick
porridge. Fermentation for this batch
took place over six days in the
distillery’s bespoke 5000L Hungarian Oak
vats, using their own in-house
fermenting culture.
Double distilled in the distillery’s
truly remarkable custom-made stills,
named Nautilus and Nemo, where the
grains get baked into sticky sourdough
notes, the resulting new make spirit was
matured in virgin American oak casks for
17 months and then put in to Moscatel de
Setúbal wine casks for a period of 19
months.
Oxford Rye Whisky is described as having a full and varied
flavour profile that is impossible to
attain from commercially grown grain.
The Oxford Artisan Distillery is the
only distillery in the world to use
these populations of ancient heritage
grains; painstakingly sourced, revived
and bulked up over many years and grown
sustainably using methods last used back
in the 19th century.
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #3 is bottled at
a cask strength of 51.2% ABV and
consists of 551 bottles, it is very
boldly priced at £120,
note that you can still find Oxford Rye
Whisky Batch #2 in whisky shops for £90.
If your pockets are deep enough and you
want to taste the new young English Rye
whisky you will find it available from specialist online whisky
retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange and
Master of Malt
|
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #3 Review
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Producer's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
Floral and herbal, banana smoothie,
stone fruits, marzipan and a hint of
smoke. Dive in more and get: apple,
pear, liquorice, raisins, cream, smoked
moss.
Taste:
Gummy bears, banana gum, honey, apricot,
melon, white chocolate, nutmeg and
oriental BBQ.
Finish:
Butterscotch, tea tree, mint, muscovado
sugar and smoke.
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