Speyburn Rum Cask Finish

 Speyburn Rum Cask Finish

Speyburn Rum Cask Finish	Data Sheet
Owner:	Inver House
Barcode:	5010509883948
Price:	NIS 150-180 in Israel, £32 in the UK
Available in Israel	Yes
Alcohol:	40% abv
Age	NAS (estimated at between 5-7 Years old)
Cask Types:	The spirit was initially matured in Ex-Bourbon barrels and then re-racked into Rum barrels.
Non-Chill-Filtered:	No
Natural Colour:	No
Kashrus Issues:	None
Kosher Certification:	KF London

 

Introduction

I wrote an article back in November 2024 about the new rebranded Speyburn core-range line up and mentioned there how happy I was that most of the new range meets my requirements to go on my “Kosher Single Malts” list. The only questions that I had was (1), were these bottlings coming to Israel in the near future, and (2), would Inver House, who have a working relationship with KF London Kashrus organisation, be purchasing kashrus certifications for this range. I am so happy to announce that both these questions have been answered in the affirmative. At least part of the range is available now in Israel and they all bear the KF London symbol on the back of the label. 

I have already given a description of Speyburn Distillery here and given my opinion of the new packaging and artwork design of this core-range here, so, I won’t duplicate the information but simply refer you back to the article links given above.

The QR-Code

The QR-Code brings you to the official website page for this expression.

Kashrus Certification

KF Kosher London appears prominently both on the back of the box as well as on the back label of the bottle. KF Kosher are of course AKO's newest members. Berachim Haba'im.

As mentioned in my article about anCnoc 12, Inver House's policy was to only include the hechsher on bottle labels bound for the US market. It's nice to see the hechsher now printed on bottles for the UK and Israeli markets. 

Mashkaot Mendleson Wine Store

I actually picked up this Speyburn bottle of “Rum Cask Finish” from what I consider to be one of the best whisky specialist shops in Israel, namely Mashkaot Mendleson. They have a great online website and delivery is fast and reliable. They seem to have a lot of stuff there which other stores don’t have. I am particularly impressed with their extensive stock of M&H bottlings which rivals the distillery shop itself. Up until March this year, I’d been ordering online since I live some 2 hours drive from Ra'anana, but circumstances had unfortunately brought me to the town for a levoiyah (funereal) and heading home, I happened to notice that I’d just passed the shop, so decided to stop and browse around. That ended up being a rather expensive decision! (Ha Ha!) As well as this Speyburn, I also bought another Glen Scotia Single Cask Bourbon Barrel Israel Edition and a M&H Kosher Madeira Cask from their limited edition "Art and Craft" series.

 

Speyburn Rum Cask Finish Tasting Notes

Appearance

The first thing you notice is that simply awful luminous like orang-y colour indicating heavy use of E150a Caramel Spirit colourant. That’s a real shame. The standard excuse which is used for adding E150a is that it puts of punters off who they say will see a difference between one bottle on the shelf and the next, as if they were selling washing-up liquid or Tomato ketchup. I don't believe this is really a problem. Even if it were, a simple note on the back of the box which reads something like this would do the job:

"Note: Due to the fact that every cask is unique, colour will vary from batch to batch." 

There we are. Problem solved!

Legs or tears are virtually non-existent. I swirled this Speyburn around my Copita Glencairn for several seconds and then looked for how quickly the tears ran down. By the time I had finished swirling and put the glass up to my eye, there were no evidence of any tears. Just a few remnants of whisky in the form of what looked like glass water stains.

I found this interesting. Yes, I wasn’t expecting an oily whisky due to the fact that the liquid is chill-filtered and diluted down to minimum legal 40% abv. I found it interesting as on the palate, it doesn’t seem to have a thin viscosity. I wouldn’t call it full bodied by any means but it’s certainly not watery. However, I am jumping ahead of myself. Let’s continue with the aroma.

Nosing

I have to say this Single Malt has a really-really nice aroma. There is a genuine scent of sweet soft milky fudge caramelised American Oak Barrels. I say “genuine” as, unlike some increasingly prevalent lab engineered American oak casks these days, there is no “aspartame” artificial sweetener smells about this.

Intensely Aromatic. Vanilla cake Sugar, sweet soft spices and Pina Colada. I looked up how to make Pina Colada:

Pineapple Juice. Check! There’s loads of pineapple like tropical juices in this whisky.

White Rum. Check! White Rum has been described as a combination of vanilla and citrus, tropical fruits and lemon vodka. That’s all in here.

Coconut Cream / Coconut Ice-cream. Check! Definite aromas of coconut cream here.

A basket of Tropical Fruits.

Sweet Honey.

Golden Delicious Apples. Golden Sultanas in caramelised syrup.

Vanilla cream.

On the Palate

Surprisingly viscous for a 40% abv product. It has a nice rich a body to it despite indications from the lack of tears.

Golden sultanas in syrup. Moist vanilla cake, stewed golden apples, tropical fruits, lashings of honey and golden rum.

The Finish

Sweet rum, caramelised apple, golden sultanas and vanilla cake with soft oaky notes.

Conclusions

This is a really nice budget level whisky and far more complex than I would have imagined. I really enjoyed my time with it and if I see it again at a good price, would unquestionably purchase it again.

It’s also absolutely fascinating to compare this to my review of the Ardnamurchan Rum Cask. That, as those who have already read my previous article would know, is characterised by its very dry savoury “Unami” nature.

In total contrast, the sweet molasses/sugar cane like flavour profile of this Speyburn Rum Cask Single Malt is exactly what you would expect from a Rum Cask Finished whisky, except that this Speyburn is missing that slight sulphury burnt matchstick scent and taste you often get with many Rum cask matured Single Malts. (I’m thinking for instance of the Balvenie Caribbean Cask 14-Year-Old).

That sulphury note becomes somewhat prominent once the spirit has been sitting in the cask for 10 years or more. I would guess that this whisky, although excellently crafted, is no more than 5-7 years old?

Despite the restrictions related to keeping the price down for this budget Single Malt, I think that the distillery has done a sterling job at producing a really tasty whisky.

I give it my unreserved recommendation. I can’t think of anyone except a real whisky snob who’d not really enjoy sipping on this one. I doubt whether it would win any awards and like all Speyburns, it will be ignored by most whisky drinkers. Nevertheless, if you see it in the shops and fancy a really nice and interesting dram which involves zero challenge, I wouldn't hesitate to pass over your credit card.

Speyburn is not one of the cool distilleries but please don’t pass this over. As far as its rivals within the same price-range are concerned, such as the Glenlivets, Glenmorangies, Auchentoshans etc, this is in my opinion, a superior product.

I just wonder, given that the flavour profile is so similar to Pina Colada, whether this Rum Cask Finish Single Malt wasn’t in fact produced with Cocktail mixing in mind?

What a pity they insist on pouring in so much Caramel colourant. Actually, with each batch varying slightly in colour, and not every bottle having a generic budget-level orang-y Irn-Bru® tint to it like all the rest, this might perhaps set it apart and increase sales? Just a thought.