Michel Couvreur Blossoming Auld Sherry Malt

I've been a big fan of Michel Couvreur's blended malts. Now, K&L is carrying a sherried single malt from Couvreur. The new Michel Couvreur Blossoming Auld Sherry Malt is a single cask aged in a 70 year old sherry cask. It is from an undisclosed Scotch distillery. There is no age statement but K&L tells me it was distilled in 2001 and bottled this year.

Michel Couvreur Blossoming Auld Sherry Malt, 45% abv ($220)

This has a beautiful, old sherry nose with some fruit. The palate is sweet, fruity sherry with just a touch of sulfur at the end. It drinks strong for the proof. The finish has sherry and light sulfur notes.

This is a very well composed, classic sherry malt. Great stuff!

UnScotch: Michel Couvreur Peaty Overaged Malt for K&L

Michel Couvreur bought Scotch and blended and aged it in his caves in Burgundy.  Because it is aged in France, The Scotch Whisky Association will not permit it to be called Scotch Whisky, but otherwise, it's pretty much Scotch. Couvreur died a few years ago, but his whisky lives on (there's a good piece on him on the K&L blog).  This K&L bottling, Peaty Overaged Malt Whisky, is a 12 year old vatted malt in sherry oak casks (I'm not sure in whose world 12 years old is "overaged.")

You should note that the bottle has a driven cork, meaning you need to use a cork screw to remove it.  The whole top is covered in hard wax, so it's a bit challenging to open.

Michel Couvreur Peaty Overaged Malt Whisky, 12 yo, 43% ($90)

The nose has a fruity peat with apples and strawberries.  The palate is sweet and peaty without any of the fruit notes from the nose, and the finish is mildly peaty with some sweetness.

This is a really well balanced whiskey.  The combination of sweetness and peat notes make it supremely drinkable.  If this were $40, I'd drink it every day.  At $90, I won't do that, but it's still a tasty, balanced, peated whiskey.  At cask strength, I bet this stuff would be amazing (K&L Davids, see what you can do for us on that front).