Whisky Review – By “Somewhiskybloke”
Whisky Review - By "somewhiskybloke" Introduction Marcus Parmenter, aka, "somewhiskybloke" produced an article about us and our whisky soon after our inaugural launch. Here it is in full. You can...
Whisky Review - By "somewhiskybloke" Introduction Marcus Parmenter, aka, "somewhiskybloke" produced an article about us and our whisky soon after our inaugural launch. Here it is in full. You can...
Marcus Parmenter, aka, “somewhiskybloke” produced an article about us and our whisky soon after our inaugural launch. Here it is in full. You can see the original version on Marcus’ site here https://somewhiskybloke.com/2021/03/03/henstone/
2021 has had a wild start. There hasn’t been much to celebrate yet, though taking the time to find something is fun (for example the 30th of January was the anniversary of The Peace of Munster between Spain and the Netherlands). What gives more cause for celebration though is when a whisky reaches maturity. January had some of that too, so for this World Whisky Wednesday let’s look at a promising young English distillery.
Recently Henstone distillery in England celebrated their whisky coming of age, and the first bottles shipped around the country to those eagerly awaiting another chapter in England’s whisky revival. I was unlucky to miss the initial sale despite my excitement about it, but after emailing Henstone and begging asking if they had any left, they were kind enough to invite me on the second round of their virtual whisky launch.
If you think about it, in the last decade over two dozen distilleries have sprung up and you could count on one hand which have been less than spectacular. Those that remain have constantly delivered product above and beyond what we have expected of England, and while some say that they have learnt from their northern and western neighbours what is becoming clearer every day is that they have seen the direction whisky has moved over the past few decades and every distiller has reached the same conclusion ‘huh. What if I did things differently?’
From new techniques to new crops, to returning to the old ways and bringing in historical grains English whisky has captured that essence of discovery that the country so readily attributes to itself, but with the whisky it’s not just posturing, it has the follow through to routinely and consistently push towards new flavours, new ideas and new horizons for whisky.
Whacking that email link at 6.55PM I sat down to look, listen and furiously scribble notes and immediately noted a few names on the call, Amy Seton, Dan Humphries, Richard Foster, all people well respected through the English whisky industry. 45 minutes and half a bottle of whisky later and I’ve got a pretty good idea about Henstone, so let’s dive in and discuss the latest English whisky producer.
Henstone Distillery nests in Oswestry, that’s in Shropshire for those who don’t know there geography and that’s in England for those who know it less. Chris Toller, with fifteen years in telecoms, and wife Alexandra Toller had a few conversations with Shane and Alison Parr who run the nearby Stonehouse Brewery, and the idea for the distillery came from simple discussion between the two families.
Glorious, glorious Hilda
You could say it’s ‘Just Hatched’?
After three years the first batch was ready on the 11th of January 2021, with their launch seeing a sell-out of their whisky in only 16 hours, fairly impressive for such a small distillery. The first and second batches were young ex-bourbon barrels, just three years of age each and Henstone have mentioned they are leaning towards a Speyside style, light and fruity. So what were the general thoughts of those involved? As a general note as well all those below are fantastic and I would highly recommend giving them a follow on Twitter, I’ve even hyperlinked their profiles for you. Just give them a click.
Daniel Humphries, Summerton Whisky Club – ‘I decide on a whisky quite simply, it’s a yes or no, would I like to drink more. From the first taste the answer was yes, there’s a smoothness and creaminess to it that I really do enjoy, and I want to get back into and taste some more. It’s young but it’s not obviously young… I can’t wait to see where this goes in two, five years times, hopefully they can get some more spirit and you can age it to a five year old will be really interesting to see because you’ve got something really good here… whatever you do next will be really interesting.’
Amy Seton, Birmingham Whisky Club – ‘…I will agree with dan certainly it’s a very fine whisky, I likened it to a light highland I think… Pear droppy whisky, so I got kind of notes of lemon curd, parma violets, a hint of cloves on the nose, and then a creamy taste with lightly stewed apples which I didn’t get last time. One of those whiskies that you do have to hunt around for some flavours, starts off quite delicately but there’s quite a lot going on if you spend time with it. Congratulations guys.’
Richard Foster, Exploring English Whisky – ‘…this is a really dangerous whisky, it’s easy to drink, its light, its fruity… my first nose I got red apple peel, shiny red fruit, cream soda, really kind of nostalgic, almost like a coke float with that great vanilla-y ice-cream on that sweetness… Dairy milk fruit and nut bar going on in the middle of the tongue. A little drop of water really opens up that chocolatey ness and nuttiness, a lot of nuttiness on the tongue. That’s really exciting… They’ve done themselves proud.’
The fact that the bottle is empty should give you some clues on my thoughts.
Ohhh I like that finish, passionfruit, apricots and ginger. It’s puckering but the flavour pulls along with it, it nicely balances so when the roof of the mouth dries it allows the lighter flavours to hit and get that lovely summer fruit.
If this had been a whisky launch for a massive distillery it could have felt self-serving, but that’s not what Henstone are. Henstone are four folk at a distillery making something they’re clearly passionate about, and the launch of the four of them at the distillery was brilliant. They were honest, heartfelt, excited to hear what people thought and were eager to answer anything and everything people threw at them. But for the screen in front of us all it could’ve been a night at the pub with mates, everyone eagerly listening to what they had to say.
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