A blend of two tasty whiskies has resulted in the ultimate winter warmer: it’s Seaweed & Aeons & Christmas Cake & Cinnamon, and it very much does what it says on the tin.
The &Whisky brand is all about whisky that isn’t complicated or intimidating. To make sure the complexity is in the spirit itself, not the messaging. No long-winded tale of a lost family recipe revived or any of that nonsense. It’s no-fuss, tasty whisky, that lets you know what to expect on every label.
The very name of the brand, &Whisky, comes from the fact that expression is simply called after what it is. There’s ampersands all over the shop. Take the original Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire 10 Year Old, for example.
You’ve got seaweed, a significant flavour driver found in the peat used to dry barley on Islay, then aeons because of how long it takes peat to form. Do you know how much time that is? Ages. Or, aeons. Then digging, because the only you’re getting that that peat from the earth is to grab those shovels, and then fire. The whisky tastes smoky because the barley is dried by burning peat. Simple, right?
Say hello to our new arrival
Seaweed & Aeons & Christmas Cake & Cinnamon
So, you might be able to guess what to expect from the latest release Seaweed & Aeons & Christmas Cake & Cinnamon. In fact, eagle-eyed whisky lovers among you will note that it sounds a lot like two &Whisky products have come together here, Seaweed & Aeons & Digging & Fire and Christmas Cake & Dark Chocolate & Medjool Dates & Cinnamon.
Well, that’s because you’d be right. Either using the teleporter thing from The Fly or the power of blending, the &Whisky makers have taken two individual components and brought them together to create something that’s greater than the sum of its parts, an exact 50/50 blend of Islay and Speyside single malt whiskies.
Seaweed & Aeons & Christmas Cake & Cinnamon is very much aiming to be the best of both worlds in one whisky, and that’s a difficult balancing act. Initially, I thought the Seaweed side of things was overpowering the Christmas Cake half, but actually, the initial burst of Islay is more like a runway than a roadblock for the array of sweet, right, and fruity notes of the Speysider. Once again, the label tells you what you need to know about a whisky that’s reasonably priced, has a neat label design, and goes down a treat.
Seaweed & Aeons & Christmas Cake & Cinnamon is available from Master of Malt. Click here to buy, the tasting note is below.
Nose: Mince pies, shortbread, salted butter, sea spray, spiced hot chocolate, and roast chestnuts.
Palate: Toasty cinnamon, earthy peat smoke slowly building with a meaty hint underneath, layers of sweet dried fruit revealing themselves along the way.
Finish: Smokiness lingers, with simmering touches of cassia and clove.
