Meet The Heart Cut x Barley. It is the bottler’s first core release following 21 independent pickings from various distilleries.
The brand’s USP over the last two years has been this: working with whisky makers worldwide to release one-off single cask and small-batch bottlings. It’s a showcase of everything from small innovative producers in unexpected locations to internationally renowned brands, going beyond Scotch to find the right casks, which means those that house great tasting whiskies and have stories that basically tell themselves. Which is super handy when you’re a whisky writer reviewing them.
The Heart Cut founders are power couple Fabrizio Leoni and Georgie Bell. The duo use their considerable combined expertise and experience to lead a brand to consecutive victories at the Global Icons of Whisky Awards for Independent Bottler of the Year in both 2024 and 2025. So, things are going well.
You can buy The Heart Cut x Barley here.
Just in: The Heart Cut x Barley
The story behind The Heart Cut x Barley
The question is, what next? A first core release is the answer. Namely, a small-batch English blended malt shaped by over 5,000 whisky drinkers and in collaboration with five English distilleries.
The Heart Cut x Barley is the first release in a new grain-led core series that celebrates the building blocks of whisky: barley, corn, and rye. It features stock from five of English whisky’s leading lights: The Cotswolds, The English, White Peak, Copper Rivet, and Adnams. The blend is bottled at 46% ABV, non-chill filtered and of natural colour, so each element is presented without adulteration.
Sounds great, but what exactly did you mean when you said it was “shaped by over 5,000 whisky drinkers?”
What an excellent question, imaginary reader. And thank you for your many personal and heartfelt compliments about this blog.
Who wants to try an English blended malt?
The Heart Cut Whisky Matchmaker
Well, The Heart Cut made a Whisky Matchmaker. It’s a profiling device that poses a series of flavour-led questions to pair drinkers with their perfect whisky from The Heart Cut’s range.
But the results also inspired the upcoming new releases, with each edition crafted around these profiles. Very sneaky, very clever. I like it.
For The Heart Cut x Barley, comforting, fruit-forward flavours are at the heart of the blend. So it’s a whisky made for those who select these preferences. Although who doesn’t like fruit? We’re sure this will appeal to many of you.
Heart Cut founders Georgie Bell and Fabrizio Leoni
A Love Letter to English Whisky
“We’ve spent two years listening to thousands of whisky drinkers tell us what they love, and The Heart Cut x Barley is our answer”, says Georgie Bell, Co-Founder of The Heart Cut. “It’s a blend built around the flavours people actually ask for, but it’s also a celebration of what’s happening right here in England. These five distilleries are doing incredible work, and we wanted to bring their voices together in something delicious, sippable and mixable.”
This new release has several things I like. One is the showcasing of English whisky. Great whisky is made across the world, but credit where it’s due, England has built a whisky scene to be proud of. There are over 50 distilleries now making whisky across the country, with more on the way, and enough stock of worthy quality and age to get blending with. It’s lovely to see brands doing so.
Sound Englishman, God of War NPC, and global advocacy manager at Cotswolds Distillery, Rob Patchett, had this to say: “Collaboration is at the core of what makes English whisky so exciting right now. Being part of The Heart Cut x Barley allows us to celebrate the diversity of English single malts while contributing to a whisky that truly captures the character and quality of what’s being made across the country.”
English whisky in all its diversity is showcased here
The Heart Cut x Barley review
As English whisky goes, The Heart Cut x Barley features some of the very best to do it. These are five distilleries I rate, with Adnams the only one I haven’t seen personally. I can speak greater to the commitment to quality I’ve seen at The Cotswolds, The English, White Peak, and Copper Rivet, personally. But I’m assured by fellow scribes and whisky lovers that Adnams lives up to this standard. Certainly, the whisky tastes like it does.
The final thing I like about this whisky is that it is a blended malt. I like blended malts. When married masterfully, the right blend is an incredibly complex drink. Single malts give distilleries the spotlight, but when you see how a whisky plays with others, you get another sense of its grace and quality.
Here we have a whisky in harmony. I was able to pick out some familiar faces: the bright and cereal-led character of The English Distillery and the vibrant fruit of Copper Rivet. In fact, it’s so fruity and sweet, it’s almost like putting your face into a pavlova (classic English pastime, I understand). If that appeals to you, this is a whisky you’ll like. It’s priced accessibly enough, too. Nice work all round.
Here’s what we thought of The Heart Cut x Barley
The Heart Cut x Barley Tasting Note:
Nose: Ripe berries and meringue make this a sweet Eton Mess of a nose, with marmalade, shortbread, and cinnamon-heavy porridge making this a very British whisky indeed. There’s strawberry yoghurt, fireplace embers, and honey in the backdrop.
Palate: Now we’re into peaches and cream territory. The palate is malty and supple with lots of vanilla sweetness accompanied by more raspberries, orange zest, and baking spices.
Finish: The flavours become maltier, more chocolatey as they settle, with more bright citrus and cinnamon for good measure.
