Price: £325
Purchased From: SMWS London
ABV: 53.4%
‘Dawn’s Embrace’ is a 34-year-old from distillery 50. This was a combination of 13 ex-Bourbon hogsheads into a single refill Bourbon hogshead with a total of 247 bottles. I first tasted this alongside some of the other Creators Collection bottlings when I last visited SMWS in London. This was the clear winner for me amongst the other releases so I took one home with me as it wasn’t released in Australia at the time (it was later in the year though). The colour on this is fantastic – deep, rich and golden. I’ve only had a handful of releases from this distillery but I can usually pick it on the nose since I always get a certain note (it’s the first one mentioned).
Nose
Intense but in a good way. Buttered popcorn, toffee apples, strawberry jam, vanilla. A touch of elderflower.
Taste
Medium body but an amazing creamy mouthfeel. Fresh baked pastry, more toffee, almonds, honey. The finish is more fruit dominant – peaches, lychees, orange, kiwi fruit and a touch of oak.. It’s quite a unique dram that transitions really cleany between the start and finish.
Conclusion
This has been bottled just in time; it’s intense but not overpowering. Water wasn’t needed but being 30+ years old in maturation it needed quite a bit of time in the glass to settle. This is an amazing release, a wonderful, creamy journey every time a dram is poured.