The second Armorik whisky of the night and the only distillery that conquered two spots on the FrenchWhiskyTT event! A single cask at 11 years old is, for such a relatively new whisky, nothing to be ashamed of and it being matured in an Oloroso sherry butt might just make this even more interesting.

Armorik is distilled at the Distillerie Warenghem in Brittany. Brittany is one of the places in France that is the most like the United Kingdom. This happened over the last 1500 years when they shared quite a bit of history and were conquered by England and France a couple of times.

The Millésime series started in 2012 with their first edition to celebrate the 25th anniversary of the distillery. This years edition was released in Februari of 2013.

Armorik Millésime 2002-2013

Sniff:
A bit of dryness from the start, but quickly followed by tinned fruits and syrup. Fresh orange as it opens up a little bit. I also get straw, oak and chalk. It needs a bit of time in the glass as it opens up more and more. An indicator for cask strength?

Sip:
Quite some pepper on the palate, with dry (but not dried) apple. There’s a bit of citrus in a rather generic way. Also black pepper with a strange combination of crispness and a certain fatty oiliness in your mouth. Also some cut grass.

Swallow:
The finish is sweet and sharp with again the notes of apple., oak, ginger, citrus, barley and cut grass.

This is a very, very good whisky. The complexity is rather high and there are lots of flavours to be discovered. I have not detected many flavours stemming from the sherry cask, but I don’t care since it was delicious anyway! I am seriously considering buying this, if I can find it.

Armorik Millésime, 2002-2013, Single Cask, 56.3%. I don’t think it’s available anymore.

Thanks to Franck for the sample and for including me in the Twitter Tasting!