Milk & Honey - Elements Series - Sherry - 46%
Photo taken somewhere near Stuttgart
This vibrant youngster from the brand new Elements Series by Milk & Honey distillery from Israel is a long awaited release for us to be honest. Their Founder's Edition we were fortunate to taste in London last year, really left us stunned and curious for more. It is 100% matured in Tel Aviv, where the annual average temperature is at 20,2° C. For comparison, in Kingston (Jamaika) it's 10°C. Except for humidity, we can absolutely speak about tropical ageing here.
Nose
Oh my, this is good. Upfront it's sweet and heavily fruity. We get dark fruits like sultanas, black currants, raspberries and strawberry jam, seasoned with a lot of fresh herbs like sage, basil and green pepper. It could definitely be a quite sophisticated summer dessert and almost seems pretty close to some old Glenfarclas. But there are also slight floral and soapy notes, reminding us of some old cognacs, which adds depth to the whole picture.
Palate
The entree is less powerful and sweet than the bouquet, but still pretty good. It's well balanced and light bodied with a very oily texture. Flavourwise we get sultanas, raspberries and blackberries, combined with a slight cocoa and coffee bitterness. Really nice. Again, even if the complexity isn't high, this tastes older than it actually is.
Finish
Medium long. Lingering on the palate for quite some time a spoon of raspberry jam on chocolate bread, like Grandma used to treat us with (today's hipsters prefer avocado on their bread instead).
Rating
What the heck. How good is this for such a young age? Since they started producing in 2015, this stuff can be maximum 5 years old. Of course it would be lovely to try that fellow in cask strength, but with this being M&H's first regular Whisky Series we must congratulate Tomer Goren for this felicitous start. You definitely made us hungry...pardon..thirsty for more.
