Smoke Filled Lungs – Rock Island Sherry Ed.

I already reviewed quite a few bottles from Douglas Laing’s Regional Malts series. The standard expressions are a great way of tasting the different styles and regions of Scottish malts. However, there is even more to discover! Douglas Laing also releases special versions of the blended Scotch whiskies. Today, I am taking a closer look at the Sherry Edition of the Rock Island bottling.

Previously known as Rock Oyster, but rebranded as Rock Island, the series reflects the influences of the different islands on the whisky’s taste. The parts of it come from the islands of Arran, Islay, Jura and Orkney. After blending of the different single malts, the whisky is finished in sherry casks. In the end, the whisky is bottled at 46,8 % ABV without colouring or chill-filtration.

Smoked sherry fruits

I already enjoyed the regular Rock Island bottling. For me it has the right amount of smokiness while at the same time providing some deeper and more complex flavours. Since I am a big fan of sherry-cask whisky, I absolutely love the Sherry Edition. The finishing adds a lot of dried fruit notes in the form of raisins and dried cherries. At the same time, the smokiness is not weakened. In fact, they are as powerful as with the regular bottling.

Variations of smokiness

Well, the Rock Island Sherry Edition would have been great in all sorts of cocktails. Nevertheless, I combined it with even more smoky notes. I guess, I was kind of inspired by the “Five Point Palm Exploding Heart Technique” cocktail as well as the “100-Year-Old Cigar“. In the end, I paired the Rock Island with Mezcal, cold drip coffee liqueur, Lapsang Souchong syrup and a tobacco bitters. Of course, you could use a smokier Mezcal here. Since, the Rock Island also has a balanced smokiness, I decide to use the fruity and also balanced Mezcal Local.

You might expect to be the drink quite spirit- and smoke-forward. However, in fact the drink is well-balanced and relatively smooth. Of course, you will notice some smokiness. However, the coffee liqueur mellows the individual aromas and incorporates them into the flavour profile. On top of that, the Lapsang Souchong syrup also adds decided smoke notes. All in all, I enjoyed the cocktail very much and can imagine sipping it in the winter or even on colder summer days!

*The fact that I received a product reviewed in this article for free, did not – in any way – influence the rating of said product. The whisky was provided by Bremer Spirituosen Contor and the liqueur by Heiko Hoos.