anCnoc Cutter

Ended up buying this sample from Flaviar as part of the Peatty pack.

So I’ve reviewed anCnoc recently. Very recently, I would say. And while I don’t love anCnoc, I’ve only really had some of the low-mid range stuff.

So Knockdhu (the distillery) has a new range. The Peaty range. Each of them are NAS, each of them are at different peat levels, and each of them are named after tools used to cut the peat during the process of finding the peat.

Seems like a good way to differentiate them… kinda. I mean, sure, I, /u/TOModera know the difference between a Cutter and Flaughter, but does the average person who has busy things to do and wasn’t left out of the really good schools for this knowledge?

So anCnoc Cutter is the first one of the line-up I’ve had the chance to review. This is the heaviest peat whiskies of the bunch, coming in at 20.5 ppm.

But what does that mean? Well, Ardbeg is 55ppm. Bruichladdich (other than Octomore and Port Charlotte) is 3-4 ppm. Talisker is 25-30 ppm. Longrow is 55ppm. Octomore 6.1 is 168ppm. Port Charlotte is 40ppm.

So 20.5 falls in the middle there. This is the most peatiest, yet it is still lower than Talisker or Caol Ila (30-35). So it’s not that peaty. However I’m interested to see what a Highland that has cereal notes tastes like with peat. Because from what I’ve read, that’s basically Caol Ila.

EDIT: It’s come to my attention that anCnoc measures their peat level AFTER distillation. As such, the above comparison means nothing. Though it’s a nice piece to read.

Let’s see how it tastes.

Price: Peated Whisky? Available in Canada? What, and give the lower people the chance to revolt against Canadian whisky? I think not!

Region: Highland

Abv: 46%

Colour: 5Y 8/4

Nose: Lots of peat, cocoa, pear, brown sugar, butter, hazelnut

Okay, this has a lot of peat smell. And not “Smell it across the room” lots of peat, more so “unbalanced like a 300 lb gorilla on one side and a worm on the other” kinda unbalanced.

Hell, I’ve been on a ship that nearly fell over that was more balanced.

What I’m saying is: There’s a ton of peat, and it’s hard to dig past it. Dig I did, and it’s nice, yet the peat just keeps butting in like a guy with an anal fetish.

Taste: Lemon pepper, lots of peat, caramel, yeast, anise, salt

Oh, that’s nice, some lemon pepper… and what’s that? Oh, a metric ton of peat.

Fuck I’m sounding like I don’t like peat. Note I am a peat head, but this is just pure peat.

Finish: Peat, iodine, orange rind, cinnamon, asparagus

Less peat this time. Still peat though. And some citrus, a little earth, and… seriously, it doesn’t really matter. A lackluster finish.

Conclusion: Skip this dram. I don’t know what’s wrong here, to be honest. It’s not as much peat as other whiskies I’ve had, it’s a good base dram… maybe the age? I’m thinking it’s the age.

And really, that’s too bad. I think given some time to mellow out the different aspects, this could be good. Heck, great. However that’s not going to happen, because NAS and impatience.

68/100

Scotch review #334, Highland review #55, Whisky Network Review #499