Blackwater Dirtgrain Mash Bill 08 bourbon cask; 50% malt, 35% barley, 15% oat, cask no BLA0085 (93) n23 t23.5 f23 b23.5 Light, clean and refreshing, the oak has its biggest say on delivery when its unique sweetness clings to the outside of the tongue. Good oils make this a clingy proposition despite the otherwise light character. The spices play an intriguing part being nippy yet effusive on the nose and much more relaxed and delicate representative of the limited oak on the palate. The mix of heather and ulmo honey stars, though especially when working with the intense malt. Superb – and proper for its type – soft/hard mouthfeel, all signed off with attractive mocha. 45.3% sc 1000 bottles
Blackwater Dirtgrain Mash Bill 15 rye cask; 40% barley, 30% malt, 15% oak, 12% wheat, 3% rye, cask no BLA00047 db (95) n24 t24 f23 b24 This is one complex, deeply absorbing pot still whiskey. It may be a little drier than the others, but what it loses in honey it makes up in labyrinthine complexity. If this were Bourbon, we’d be calling the nose “bitty small grains”, where the diverse grain are both shewing up individually and melding together to form delightful associations. This is not just true on the nose but also the delivery. Even the finish lasts for ever and the palate seems to be busy sorting out the sweet from the sharp, the soft from the brittle. The sugars go only so far as to provide a muted, high almond content marzipan. The speck of rye in this recipe makes an improbable mark alongside the barleys, a sharpening agent from which the barley benefits; those are the crunchy tones. The oat leads the softer front. An absolute and instant Irish classic. 44.2% sc 1000 bottles
Blackwater Dirtgrain Mash Bill 38 apple brandy cask, 40% barley, 40% wheat, 20% malt cask no BLA00051 db (91.5) n22.5 t23 f23 b23 Any lover of Weetabix will be all over this. It is the wheat which dominates both on the nose and arrival and the delivery really does conjure up the breakfast cereal in very stark form. Not as spicy as I had expected given the mash bill, except at the very end when the oak gets more heavily involved. Very well made with the complexity levels rarely bothering to get out of third gear. 47.1% sc 1000 bottles
Blackwater Dirtgrain Mash Bill 93 sherry cask; 46% barley, 35% malt, 15% oat, 4% peated malt, cask no BLA00003 db (88) n22 t23 f21 b22 Strangely enough, the least interesting and enjoyable of the four Blackwater Dirtgrains, though I suspect the cask is to blame here rather than the mash bill. There is a tanginess here that is not helpful, especially at the death, while some of the more complex moments are cut off in their prime…again though seemingly an outside interference. The delivery and oaty chewiness early on, touched by light ulmo honey, is the highlight. From then on, it’s downhill… 43.1% 1000. Bottles
