The blending of whiskies from different countries is nothing new. Ages ago this was done with American and Irish whiskeys, and in more recent years Bruichladdich mixed their product with some Irish whiskey as well.

Now, under the flag of Fusion Whisky there is a batch of new ones. The Glover was the first, mixing Scotch and Japanese whisky. Next was The E&K was a mix of Indian and Scotch, and now two new ones are out.

The Winter Queen is a mix of Dutch and Scotch whisky, and the Brisbane (not unexpectedly) mixes Australian and Scotch whiskey.

What I don’t really get is ‘Fusion Whisky’ pushing their name in all press releases, while the box shouts ‘By Adelphi’ on the front. Anyway, the font size on the front label and positioning of that label is a dead giveaway too. It’s an Adelphi product. Adelphi generally releases cracking booze, so expectations are high.

The Winter Queen (more on the name of it here) is a mix of Glenrothes, Longmorn and Zuidam whiskies. My expectations were that this whisky is a fruity sherried take on the high spiciness of Zuidam.

Sniff:

The nose makes good on that promise. Insanely spicy and almost rye whiskey like, which certainly comes from the Zuidam part. Then there’s sweet, fruity sherry with a lot of oak. I guess the sweetness and fruit scents are from the Speysiders. Apricot, peach and cherry stones.

Sip:
The palate is relatively sharp with a lot of oak, and again a lot of spiciness. And with a lot, I mean a lot. Quite some fruit too. The rye-like Zuidam influence with the apricot and peach works wonders. Rather bitter with almond and cherry stone.

Swallow:
The finish continues down the same road, but adds more flavors of ground tree bark, crusty bread, fruit and barley.

Well, this is a cracker. I certainly love what they’ve done with the mix of the whiskies. It’s like the fruit and spice really builds on each other and elevates both flavors to a new level of intensity.

Apart from this being a gorgeous whisky (I love rye whiskey, which helps), I really like that Adelphi, whoops, Fusion Whisky, is experimenting with the blending of whiskies from different countries. It opens up a whole lot of new possibilities. Also, now I want to try the other ones too.

It’s still regularly available for about 140/145 euros.

90/100

The Winter Queen, 9 years old, Sherry and Bourbon cask, 52.7%, Fusion Whisky