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14th July 2021 |
The Oxford
Artisan Distillery releases Oxford Rye
Whisky Batch #2
 Following the inaugural
release back in April this year comes
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #2. The English
rye whisky was produced by the new
small English micro distillery using ancient
heritage grains, grown by the
distillery’s certified organic and
regenerative farming partners. These
grains require no pesticides, fungicides
or herbicides, supporting sustainability
and biodiversity in their fields.
The first batch of The Oxford Artisan
Distillery’s inaugural rye whisky, Batch
#1 sold out on the day of its launch and
this Batch #2 is expected to sell
quickly also.
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #2, bottled at
47.4% ABV, is said to have the
distillery’s classic Oxford Rye
house-style: herbal and floral with
creamy butterscotch notes, nutty and
spicy banana bread, but with an elevated
sweet wine flavour of berry jams, dried
fruits, leather and tobacco.
The whisky in this batch was matured in
virgin American oak casks and freshly
emptied Vintage Port casks. Having spent
many years in production the Port casks
bring the very best characteristics of
Portugal’s famed Douro wine valley to
the Thames valley, and the character of
Oxford’s only Rye Whisky.
Master Distiller, Chico Rosa comments:
"The goal with this whisky was to bring
you to Oxford; which for me is rye
fields and old libraries. It’s herbal,
nutty and cured. Like our diverse fields
of grain, this is a diverse experience
of sensations."
Adding: "The first release was our pure
expression of rye - virgin oak, fruity,
with a herbal and bready character. With
this batch, I wanted to highlight a
different side of our rye - the herbal
nuttiness and rye goodness, while also
bringing a decadent and musky hint of
Vintage Port. Showing their years the
Port casks add a layer of complexity,
without overtaking, only complementing."
To create this expression, the grain
ratio was 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 –
which was harvested in the summer of
2017. The grain was not milled, but
instead flattened in a very loud,
eccentric traditional mill from the
1920s. The resulting course flakes were
then made up in to an 8,000L watery
porridge.
Spring fermentation - which has
delivered richer fruit characters
compared with Batch #1’s winter
fermentation - was undertaken in 5000L
Hungarian oak vats. The porous oak helps
the distillery to have a consistent and
stable in-house fermenting culture,
allowing microflora to give fruitier
flavours and creamier notes. The mash
was then double distilled in the
distillery’s bespoke custom-made stills,
named Nautilus and Nemo, where the
grains get baked into smoky sourdough
notes. Then finally, the new make spirit
was matured in virgin American oak casks
and freshly emptied Vintage Port casks.
The third batch of Oxford Rye Whisky is
scheduled to be released on 31st July to
celebrate the distillery’s fourth
anniversary, meanwhile
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #2, a release
of 973 bottles with a RRP of £95 will be available from specialist
online whisky retailers such as
The Whisky Exchange and
Master of Malt
|
Oxford Rye Whisky Batch #2 Review
|
Producer's Tasting Notes:
Nose:
Aniseed and violets with an incredible
herbal freshness and a touch of banana
and praline leading to toffee. Red
apples and hazelnut, peppery.
Taste:
Creamy butterscotch, strawberry jam and
blackcurrant with raisins, cobnuts and
walnuts, honey and ginger cake.
Finish:
An intensely sweet and spicy finish of
banana bread, berries, tobacco, leather
and peppermint with creamy caramel
wrapped in an old dusty leather, library
book.
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