Review #105: SMWS 59.58: This Ain’t no Pussycat!
The backstory of this bottle is that we purchased it sight unseen because SMWS was offering free shipping through March – and because we had plenty of pocket change (not being able to visit bars throughout the month of March due to COVID-19 quarantine ended up saving us more money than switching to Geico). The whisky is a 10-year bourbon-forward bottling from SMWS, from Teaninich distillery. I can’t remember having anything from the Teaninich distillery before so this is likely our first Teaninich review.
I assume the “ain’t no pussycat!” title means that the tasting committee also found that it was very very (very very) hot. Still, once you cut through the heat (of which there is a fair amount of), there’s some underlying nice bourbon barrel qualities to it. It’s not bad, but I think it needs more time in the barrel to let the flavors.
- Score - 7/107/10
Overall
Tasting Notes
Nose: Caramel, bourbon flambeed bananas. Strong malted honey. Aged resinous oak. Creme brulee, cream, somewhat floral, oranges.
Palate: Large hit of caramel pudding, toffee, vanilla, molasses, ginger snap cookies, orange, turns red-hot, bracingly hot at the end, some saltiness and coffee grinds linger.
Summary
Overall: 7/10. It’s barrel strength alright and super punchy. Tastes a bit like a cask strength bourbon wearing a Scotch whisky in disguise.
Quick overview of our scoring system
Additional Information
- ABV: 58.4%
- Cask: refill hogshead (ex-bourbon)
- One of 205 bottles
- Region: Highland
- Aged 10 years
About Scotch Malt Whisky Society
- SMWS is an independent bottler that sells single casks of whisky from many distilleries. They’re all cask strength bottlings with no artificial coloring.
- Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottlings are all numbered by distillery.
- SMWS is now 25 years old in America and won the world’s best whisky at SF World Spirits Competition several times.
- They’re based and headquartered in Leith Scotland, where they have one of the most gorgeous tasting rooms in the world.
- It costs a membership fee to be able to purchase their bottles. Generally SMWS’s American arm has much better deals.
- They generally release new bottlings in monthly outturn events.