Another new single malt distillery and another stop in the Lowlands. After Glaosgow’s Clydeside and Glasgow Distillery, it is time to head to the Kingdom of Fife. Away to Kingsbarns specifically to review their now-discontinued Dream to Dram. Why review a discontinued whisky you may ask?
TL:DR: A very promising young whisky, fruity rounded and true to its Lowland origin. One that makes me look forward to what Kingsbarns will deliver in years to come.
Score*: 6, Good Stuff
The Elephant in the room glass: reviewing discontinued whiskies
Let me get the possible issue with this review out in the open immediately. Today I am reviewing a discontinued whisky. Kingsbarns announced that Dream to Dram would be discontinued and replaced by the Doocot in June of 2023. So why not review the Doocot instead?
My excuse, and I will stick to it to the bitter end, is the extremely slow timing that some releases, especially from new distilleries, need to get to markets outside the UK. When, earlier this year, I decided to grab one of Kingsbarns bottles, my local retailers offered a choice between Dream to Dram and the sherried Balcomie. No Doocot in sight back then. It is more widely available now, even though some online retailers still stock the older discontinued bottle. So while the Dream to Dram in review today might be discontinued, it is still available to purchase, which might be justification enough.
There is another justification. And, in my mind, a more logical one. When looking at new distilleries that have not reached that idealised 10-year-old mark for their whisky, what are we really looking for? We might be looking at the whisky in the glass in its own right, as a complete product, but more often than not we are looking for a promise. We are trying to see if that liquid in our glass has hints of “greatness” (however you want to define that), even when it might be a bit youthful and simple right now. And in that context, a bottle like Dream to Dram is a time capsule of that journey. And that, I would argue, gives more sense to a review like this one.
Before the review of Kingsbarns Dream to Dram, let me provide a little history for this young distillery.
A quick recap on Kingsbarns: the story so far…
The distillery was founded in 2013 on the site of a derelict farmhouse by the Wemyss family, who also own the Independent Bottler by the same name. Distillation started in 2015 with a strong focus on sourcing barley from the local farms in the East Neuk of Fife.
There is a focus on using long fermentation, 72-120 hours, employing a “custom” blend of brewers and French wine yeast. The distillation is kept at a low rate to maximise the fruity style of the spirit. The new make spirit is aged predominantly in first fill Bourbon casks, with some STR, sherry and ex-peated casks.
At the time of writing, Kingsbarns core lineup is made of the Doocot, similar to today’s Dream to Dram in review but older, aged in 1st fill Bourbon and STR casks, The Balcomie (Bourbon and Oloroso), The Coaltown, aged exclusively in ex-peated casks plus the Bell Rock, a cask strength aged 70% in Oloroso and 30% in Bourbon and the Falkland made entirely from barley grown less than 6 miles from the distillery. The Falkland also helps us guess the cass proportion in the Dream to Dram and Doocot. According to the distillery this has a bigger STR cask aged spirit proportion at 20%. I guess it is safe to imagine that Dream to Dram/Doocot have no more than a 10-15% proportion of STR spirit.
P.S. Just as I was editing this post Kingsbarns just announced the release of their new Distillery Reserve 2024 a cask strength whisky fully aged in Oloroso Sherry Casks.
And now enough chit chat, off to the review of the Kingsbarns Dram to Dram.
Kingsbarns Dream to Dram
Specs
Price paid: €52.40
Bottled date: 23/04/22
ABV: 46%
Natural colour: Yes
Non-chill filtered: Yes
Casks Used: First-fill Bourbon and STR. No proportion is given, but see my comments above for a good guesstimate.
Tasting Notes
Colour: A pale straw, like unoaked white wine
Nose: The aromas are not overly complex and show just a touch of youth, but what they are is rich and pleasing. The cask influence is very evident with a strong Bourbon character with STR accents. And at the core, the quality of the spirit shows itself. The nose opens on golden delicious apples, ripe pears, some ginger and cinnamon spice, a rich natural vanilla backbone and some fermentation-driven bready notes. As the whisky opens up the STR influence is more noticeable as well as some additional complexity with aniseed, some hay, and white flowers.
Taste & Finish: The theme of Dream to Dram showing a rich but not overly complex and a tiny bit youthful character continues on the palate. Notes of apples, bread, some mild barley notes, a touch of ginger, clove and some oakiness.
The finish is medium, very much on sweet Bourbon-driven notes of apple, pear, powdered sugar, and lots of vanilla.
Score*: 6, Good Stuff
As a standalone whisky, the Kingsbarn in today’s review is a lovely gentle sipper, with tons of bourbon character and some “modern” fermentation-driven bready notes that immediately declare its belonging to the new wave of independent distilleries. Will it rock your world? Probably not. Will you enjoy it? You betcha. On the other hand, if I take this as a promise of what is to come, I am excited. If Kingsbarns manages to pack so much in a young NAS whisky, I can only fantasize about how this could be with the extra complexity that age will bring.
* Scores are based on the scoring scale used by Dramface, slightly modified to allow half-points
Next… some more Lowland with another “old” whisky from a new distillery. Stay tuned
After writing my tasting notes, I always find it interesting to look at other opinions. Here are a few other reviews of Kingsbarns Dream to Dram I enjoyed:
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