Happy World Whiskey Wednesday! Today I am celebrating the start of the Chinese New Year (albeit one day too late) with a special Whiskey sent to me by my good mate The Whiskey Nut; The Goalong Liquor Whiskey, Special Small Batch Whiskey. While the name is quite a mouth full, there seems to be next to nothing about the whiskey floating about the web. I mean, I found a few pieces of info on Alibaba, but the Goalong website itself redirects me to a different whiskey when I click on the Special Small Batch. What I can find is that it consists of Corn, Wheat and Grain (unspecified), out of a UK invested factory in Hunan, China. That’s it. It also has a grade of AAAAA if anyone can inform me of what that means. As this was a blind sample I was sent, it was interesting to try, however I can’t say I am any wiser than I was before now that I know what it is. Any, what’s in a glass of this.

(Credit to Whiskey Nut for the photo)

On the nose I got quite a bit, and some contradictory. Floral notes start the nose, before touches of mossy iodine, bandages and a medicine cabinet. Maybe that was the bottle it came in however, as it soon opened to papaya, damp soil, touches of black pepper spice and wet leaves before jumping into a bowl of custard dotted with shavings of sandalwood and bubblegum. Interesting and though confusing, but definitely intriguing.

Now the palate was completely different, and more than anything else reminded me of a Speyside Lowland cross. Banana slices fall down upon sweet grass shavings, flowers coming back again, this time dusted with caster sugar. More fruits come through, gnashi, red apples chunks, green apple peel and pears before fudge and butterscotch. Barley sugars, sweet watermelon, refreshing spearmint all come through as well. A long finish end the palate, creamy apple pie that lingers well, with star anise and cinnamon custard coming right at the end to round out the whiskey.

If it seems as though I wrote a bit much on this whiskey, it’s because the whiskey was a bit much to me. Looking back on it, I am surprised that all of that could fit into a glass, so I do have a few questions I would like to ask someone from Goalong should I ever meet them. What is the mash bill? What is the unspecified grain? How long is the ageing, and in what? Are there any additives? And the most confusing part to me, why the Irish spelling of Whiskey? But, I mentioned last week about preconceptions with whiskey. And I think that this is the whiskey I would have had firm opinions about had I known what I was drinking. I have not had a good track record with Chinese Whiskey. In the end, all that matters was how much I wanted another glass of this. And yeah, I did. It was good, and got me thinking about all manner of notes. A good whiskey at what appears to be a stunning price (though minimum purchase order looks to be 10,000, so maybe not right now), it is something I could see myself drinking again. And if I ever make it to China, I probably will. Happy World Whiskey Wednesday guys, and Happy Chinese New Year.