anCnoc Flaughter

Thanks to /u/Throzen for this one.

I’ve had my misgivings when discussing anCnoc in the past. I’ve gotten them mixed up with another distillery that sounds the same but is spelled differently. Coming from a country who’s football (US) had 9 total teams and two the same, you’ll understand how I’m easy to fool.

anCnoc Flaughter is named after a tool used in peat cutting. Specifically it’s a spade used in peat cutting. The spade is used to cut away the richer and root filled layer of peat.

This version is the third most peated, behind the Cutter and Tuskar, in front of Rascan. All of them are NAS, and all of them have their PPM in peat. It’s certainly an interesting idea, and more peat is always something I welcome.

EDIT: It’s come to my attention that anCnoc measures their peat level AFTER distillation. As such, please be careful when comparing their PPM level with any others on the market who measure theres prior to distillation. As that won’t make sense.

The entire collection is limited edition, aged in ex-bourbon casks, and bound and determined to teach us baby handed Scotch nerds something about tools that would probably maim us if we tried to pick them up.

Let’s see how this offering goes, shall we?

Price: Not currently available at the LCBO (according to their website)

Region: Highland

Abv: 46%

PPM: 14.8PPM

Colour: 5Y 9/4

Nose: Cocoa, coconut, hay, almond, pear, lemon, butter

Cocoa is the key note here. In comparison with the Cutter, there’s more of a balanced nose here. The peat actually smells like it’s balanced.

Also you can pick out the anCnoc flavours here. The lemon, butter, and dry aspects crop up nicely.

Taste: Smoke, weak lime, turkey, club soda, cocoa

There’s little going on here for taste. It’s very mineral forward. Some meat. Barely anything, like 4 inches in front of me.

Smoke is more pronounced here.

Finish: Banana, sweet potato, earth, smoke, peanut

Ends with earth and sweet. Basically different combinations of each. Not really my thing.

Conclusion: Where as the Cutter was super strong and the peat took over, badly, this has the right amount of peat and not close to the right amount of time in the cask.

The earth aspects are out in force for the peat. The smoke shows up eventually, and isn’t welcome. It’s not bad, just not great. I appreciate trying it, but I’m glad these are a limited edition, for the sake of the distillery.

69/100

Scotch reviews #545, Highland review #93, Whisky Network reviews #907