Olorosum 10 Year Old is one of Atom Labs’ latest efforts and it’s safe to say, it’s proving very popular. So, here’s founder Ben Ellefsen to talk you through this superb single malt whisky from a secret Speyside distillery.
So this week’s new product is something of a monster, I’ll be honest.
We were casting around for names and identities for some casks we had with a very specific profile. We’ve got a lot of ‘secret distillery’* stock from friendly distillers who don’t want to be named, and it generally falls into one of two camps by the time we’ve given it a bit more time to mature and finished it: it’s either ‘distillery-heavy’ with real markers given to it by the spirit character, or it’s ‘cask-heavy’ with more dominance coming through from the wood it’s been matured or finished in. Olorosum, it’s fair to say, falls firmly into the latter camp.
This is a big, no-nonsense bruiser of a dram, with colossal influence from the first-fill oloroso casks it’s spent a number of years finishing in. The colour is 100% natural, there’s none of that dreaded caramel stuff anywhere near it, and (perhaps unsurprisingly given its hefty 54.7% ABV) we haven’t chill-filtered it.
This has been flying off the virtual shelves – and for good reason
Olorosum 10 Year Old: looks as good as it tastes
Presentation-wise, we hope you’ll agree it’s a good-looking pack, and the slanted wax dip gives a nice modern edge to the Deco-cum-neo-Gothic sort of label.
In terms of flavour, it’s everything you would expect from having spent a few years knocking about in a first-fill oloroso cask of excellent quality. Massive dried peel and Christmas spices on the nose, followed by a super-rich palate with not only a resurgence of the Christmas spice and fruit, but a healthy helping of oak-paneling, leather, and cigar box creeping in towards the finish.
For a shade under £60, this really is a hard one to top from any brand, distillery, region, country, or even, dare we say, spirit category.
Fill your boots whilst you can, people.
*Whilst we can’t tell you which distillery it’s from – you can rest assured that it’s a good ‘un. Not that one though. Or that one. Yep, that one. That’s the one. Obvious once you know, right?
Olorosum 10 Year Old is available from Master of Malt. Click on the link for price and to buy.
