Decadent Drinks Old Pulteney 13yo Equinox & Solstice Spring 2022 & Decadent Drinks Equilibrium One 10yo

Decadent Drinks Old Pulteney 13yo Equinox & Solstice Spring 2022

Region: Highlands

ABV: 48.5%

Price: £75.00

This small batch release of 830 bottles was created from the mix of two 1st fill and one refill bourbon barrels. All distilled in 2008, and matured for 13 years.

Nose

Sticking our noses in this, and closing our eyes, we’re on a windy beach eating chocolates and strawberries. Actually as we leave our nose in the glass we realise this is very strawberry forward. The chocolate is very light and milky. We’re also getting some lime cordial, hay bales and tinned pineapple. Behind the sweet, fruity notes we get some fresh oak, chalk and a little earth. Going back after some air, there’s some saltiness appearing and maybe even some olive oil. It’s a very very pleasant nose.

Palate

A big hit of salt, orange and ginger cake, some bitter oak notes and a fair amount of alcohol warmth. There’s some white pepper, cardamom and a salty/sweet balance on the finish, which has a pretty good length. A lot more of a savoury palate than the nose suggested, and possibly a little too hot, but still quite nice.

Nose (with water)

There’s a meatiness that’s appeared, roasted chicken skin perhaps. We’re getting some white sandwich bread, but we’ve lost all of the fresh fruity aromas we got before. It’s deeper, woodier and more earthy, some mushrooms but there’s still a custardy sweetness in the background.

Palate (with water)

It’s a little fizzy now - cola bottles or popping candy. The palate is a bit thinner now, less mouthfeel, similar to if you’d mixed double cream and water together. Going back we’re getting a some dirt, lemon peel and cinnamon chewing gum. The finish has roughly the same length, following with custard cream biscuits.

Conclusion

This is an interesting dram. The initial nose surprised us, we got a lot of tropical fruit and sweetness that we didn’t expect, then the palate came along with a much more savoury and salty flavour than we were expecting. We’d avoid adding water, as we don’t think this brought much to the dram. Overall good value, interesting and quite delicious.

Score: 8/10

Decadent Drinks Equilibrium One 10 year old

Region: Highlands

ABV: 52.0%

Price: £113.00

This release is a vatting of a first fill sherry butt of Edradour 2010 and a refill hogshead of Ballechin 2003.

Nose

A meaty BBQ sauce, Chinese 5 spice, it’s incredibly savoury and deep. The smoke reminds us of burning car tyres, for us not our favourite type of smoke. Saying that, it does balance well with the richer aromas. We’re getting bandaids, antiseptic, and curry leaf. Going back to it we get some well aged jamon iberico, throat lozenges and prunes.

Palate

The sherry dominates on the palate, BBQ meats, smoked raisins, picked cabbage, black pepper, burnt coffee with a little too much sugar, 85% cocoa chocolate and a touch of marzipan. It’s earthy, freshly wetted forest floor following onto a long, bitter, smoke-led finish.

Nose (with water)

Now we’ve burnt the iberico ham… the smoke is much more prevalent, but there is still a good amount of sweetness akin to chocolate coated raisins. There’s still a strong backbone of sherry here, you’d have to drown it to get rid of that. Some of the more medicinal aromas have receded however, which for us isn’t a bad thing.

Palate (with water)

Some charred oak, toasted peppercorns and a heavy dryness now. For us there’s more ash, soot and it’s lost some of the balance it had before. It’s a little like we’re drinking an ashtray. We can get a little cherry and chocolate at the front of the palate but for us it’s just too smokey, ashy, burnt and peppery.

Conclusion

This is one for the smokers out there. It’s rich and smokey, some will absolutely adore it. Is a monstererous sherry bomb for a decent price. Personally it wasn’t our favourite dram, but we can appreciate the style and for that we’ll give it an 8/10.

Score: 8/10

• 10 - Perfection. A whisky that we’ll remember forever.
• 9 - Amazing. We’d pay through the nose for a bottle.
• 8 - Great. Pick this up at RRP.
• 7 - Good. Happy to have a dram or two but wouldn’t buy a bottle.
• 6 - Passable. Would accept a dram, but wouldn’t seek it out.
• 5 - Poor. Would drink if it was the only option.
• 4 - Bad. Maybe it can be saved by ginger beer?
• 3 - Awful. It can't be saved by ginger beer.
• 2 - Pour it out
• 1 - We’ve never tried a whisky rated this low and hopefully never will.

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