53.389 Goodnight and joy (Vaults Collection)

Description

Sometimes, the delay in receiving bottlings from the UK means we get bottlings well after they’ve picked up some of the biggest accolades overseas. Cask 53.389 Goodnight and joy picked up a whopping 94 points in the Ultimate Spirits Challenge just recently, so we’re doubly glad to have picked up a small allocation to share around with members this month. Aged for 30 years exclusively in refill sherry, this special Vaults Collection release showcases a blockbuster of a bouquet combining classic Islay notes of smoldering campfire, salt-crusted stony seashores, worn saddle leather, and preserved citrus with a comforting dollop of sweet cream and baked orchard fruits.

A haunting and evocative nose that brimmed with undulating and soft notes of seawater, green olives, red diesel, mercurochrome, Fisherman’s Friends, eucalyptus throat sweets, peppered mackerel, natural tar extracts and smoked German beers. The kind of aroma you could go on picking notes from for hours. Water brought the warmth of mustard seed, gorse, heather ales, dried wildflowers, smoky struck minerals, aged Geuze beers, salted almonds and steel wool. Beautifully complex and intricate. The neat palate unspooled like a morass of salted mead, herbal vinaigrette, smoked olive oil, hot smoked sardines, salted butter, chicory, fish sauce, petrol and fresh oysters smothered in lime juice. Reduction brought a hyper-fresh and pure, almost crystalline minerality. Salinity, petrol jelly, crushed aspirin, sun-dried seaweed, rock pools encrusted with fizzing barnacles and simmering pasta water.