American Single Malt | 46% ABV

Ink and single malt

As I was sitting in the tattoo parlour’s waiting area, it was glaringly obvious that I was old enough to be everyone’s father. The people getting tattoos and the artists themselves were all were roughly half my age.

But there I was, undeterred and chatty. I was getting a second and third tattoo, and I was sitting next to an affable young man in his late twenties. He was in for “finishing work”, even though – from my view – he already had more ink than a Tolstoy novel. Despite the age difference and the fact that I walked in with only one tattoo, we got along famously. For a half an hour we chatted and laughed until his tattoo artist came out and escorted Mr. War and Peace into the studio.

As I waited, people would walk by. Invariably, and not very subtly, these folks – usually in their 20s – would do a double-take seeing me sit there. As George Gobel once famously said on the Tonight Show; “Did you ever get the feeling that the world is a tuxedo and you’re a pair of brown shoes?”

As is a habit for me, I had arrived early for my appointment. So, I sat for a bit. After a while Caleb, my tattoo artist, came into the waiting area. Handshakes and warm greetings. I had been chatting with Caleb for a month – a recommendation from my friend Lou (are any of you surprised?). Caleb walked me back into the studio where he and three other tattoo artists had their stations. We talked about the tattoo designs I had come for, refined the designs, the scaling, and discussed placement. After Caleb put on the outline of the artwork on my arm, I was asked to lay on the table with my arm out so work could begin. I could twist my neck around and see about half of the room. As I scanned the room, immediately to my left was something that I would not have thought to see in a tattoo parlour. (Of course, everyone else in the room never thought they’d see a 55 year old man on one of the artist’s tables.) At an artist’s station to my left, on a small side table, there was an empty Glenfiddich 12yo bottle.

Instant icebreaker. I spoke up and got the artist’s attention, and asked why she had a Glenfiddich bottle. I may have even made a snarky remark about her not being much older than the whisky from that bottle. And in response, she may have given an even snarkier reply that I was probably older than the dirt in the treads of her shoes.

Caleb formally introduced me to Sheila, and in so doing, he said that she was, indeed, a whisky girl. We started chatting, and we got along like peas and carrots despite the fact that we were completely mis-matched from all outward indices. Sheila had three different colours of hair – pink, green, and blue – along with a myriad of piercings of ears and nostrils and an assortment of tattoos. She was probably in her late-twenties. I am 55 years old, have shortly cropped salt and pepper hair, no piercings, and prior to that day, only one tattoo.

She loved the three sided Glenfiddich bottle and thought it an interesting piece on her table, but she said that she kept it as a remembrance of the first Scotch whisky bottle she had purchased. As we conversed, she recognized that I spoke the language of Scotch malt whisky, and that opened the door to a fun chat. We talked about what she tasted previously, her preferred flavour profiles, etc. We talked about distilleries, Scotch versus American single malts, and all whisky things large and small. She asked for some suggestions, and I was happy to suggest a few bottles and expressions.

The hour and a half needed to finish my tattoos went by in a flash as whisky talk made the time fly. I sat up, admired Caleb’s artwork, and thanked him for his time and talent. I then turned to Sheila to thank her for the chat. As Caleb and I were walking out, Sheila was just getting started with a client. But, before I left, she came out to not only thank me for my suggestions, but to give me one. She had recently tried a particular American single malt, and urged me to try it. I recognised the distillery, and told her I had enjoyed a different expression from that distillery not that long ago.

Hug with Caleb, a hug from Sheila, great artwork on my arm, and I walked out with a recommendation for a bottle of single malt. One of those good days coming from places, and from people, that you wouldn’t otherwise expect.

Review

Virginia Distillery Co. Courage & Conviction, Harry Cockburn Batch, NAS – but bottle says aged at least three years, Non chill filtered, No added colour or additives, 46% ABV

US$75 (£71) paid

This was the bottle recommended by Sheila. I had previously purchased and enjoyed Virginia Distillery Co.’s port cask finished expression. I reviewed it in January here on Dramface, comparing it to the Tomatin port cask finished expression. While the Tomatin took the prize in that comparison, the American competitor held its own and was a tasty dram. So, I am intrigued with a recommendation to another expression from Virginia Distillery Co.

Nose

First scent that registers is malt. Malted barley. Oatmeal bread. A combination of well worn leather and fruit. A bit floral. Hint of creme brulee. A slight herbal note is in the background.

Palate

The initial burst on the tongue is of a good, quality single malt from Scotland. Hints of Bladnoch 11 and Oban 14. Malt. Bit on the sweet side. More honey than caramel, with a creamy background. Oak notes are present along with the sensation of the well worn leather from the nose. Raspberries and Concord grapes come into play mid-palate. The fruit is not dominant, but noticeable when it comes forward. Light. The finish is not lengthy, and it ebbs off with a bit of a tingle. The tingle, I think, comes from a smidge of ethanol bite, ginger spice, and some drying aspect which I would think comes from the cuvee cask influence. All in all, quite good.

The Dregs

We whisky enthusiasts often clamour on about transparency. If that is among the initial tests of a distillery’s worth, then Virginia Distillery Co., gets among the highest of marks. The bottle, itself, does not have significant information; it has the ABV, a small blurb on the back about the expression’s genesis, a notation that the whisky is aged a minimum of three years, and a notation that the single malt was matured in former sherry, cuvée, and bourbon casks. On the back there is a round, blue decal that is the gateway to an enormous amount of information. My decal says my bottle is of the Harry Cockburn batch, and to look for details online. I dutifully Googled the information and the website popped up. I clicked on it and volumes of information were instantly at my fingertips.

Unlike the port cask expression I had in January, I learned that Virginia Distillery Co.’s Courage & Conviction whiskey is made from North American malted barley that is distilled, aged, and bottled on location at their distillery in Lovingston, Virginia. All bottles are non-chill filtered, natural colour, with no additives. I scroll down and learn that there have been four batches of Courage & Conviction released, and mine -this Harry Cockburn batch - is the most recent.

My batch had its malting, fermentation, and distillation take place between March and September of 2016. The distillate produced between March and April 2016 was put into bourbon casks, and the distillate produced in September 2016 was put into both cuvée and sherry casks. The website’s information shows that for my batch, the dump dates for the three cask types varied from July to October 2020. It would appear, then, that my bottle is a little more than four years old, and a bit more than two years in the bottle before I picked it up.

A plethora of further information is at your fingertips as you continue to scroll down – from the number of barrels used, to the volume of distillate realised, to the fact that the cuvee casks were shaved, re-toasted, and charred, to the breakdown of the sherry casks utilised, to the Angel’s share from each type of cask, to the temperature fluctuation at the site where the barrels were ageing. Transparency with a capital T. Bravo to Virginia Distillery for providing such information and being as transparent as possible.

As to the whisky itself, this is a very nice pour. To be clear, as we are talking about transparency, when I first opened it, it was a bit sharp. Leaving it for a few weeks and coming back to it, it has opened up beautifully. With it opened up, the tasting experience makes me think I have a good quality Scotch single malt in my glass. I am enjoying a beautiful harmony of flavours thanks to the three types of casks used and the way they have been married. They all contribute well to a lovely flavour party. The only hitch – and this is being nit-picky – is the finish. The drying and tingle isn’t a problem, but selfishly, after the initial palate and the mid-palate, I was hoping for a longer and richer finish. Again, nit-picky.

Sorry to continue with the nit-picking, but is the finish (which, again, is not bad) a function of its young age? In my experience, many NAS expressions and/or younger whiskies don’t have elegance; that roundness, that quality that enables the liquid to more easily melt into its finish. Of course, I paint with a broad brush, as I fondly recall NAS bottles such as a Miyagikyo, a Balcones Texas 1, and an Indri Trini that all have more elegant finishes.

Whether the significant temperature fluctuation in Virginia would prohibit having the liquid remain in the casks longer (check out those temperature fluctuations on the website!), or whether it has been a financial decision to get good, quality single malt to market without waiting longer so as to recoup some of the investment rather than wait a few more years – I am extraordinarily curious to know what this bottle would be like if the casks were aged to six, or eight, or ten years. I am no master blender, but I would wager this would be utterly magic if they left some barrels to age longer. It is very good now, I believe it would be fantastic with a few more years under its belt.

As it is, this bottle is quite good with interesting layers of flavour. I am enjoying it thoroughly, and I am ever more intrigued to sample the full range of expressions from Virginia Distillery Co. While I score this a 6/10, please understand that this is a very high 6. I just couldn’t nudge it over the line to a seven, but it is very close.

For now, quite glad to have received the recommendation for this bottle. Sipping this, it is difficult to think that this distillery was only opened in 2011. In the span of a dozen years – and my bottle’s liquid, as said above, was distilled only seven years ago – this distillery has put out some solidly good whisky. Consider Virginia Distillery Co., as one of the up-and-comers; one to definitely keep an eye on.

Very glad to get this recommendation from a terrific whisky geek. And, it’s a wonderful reminder that whisky geeks come with all manner of hair dye, in all shapes, sizes, piercings, colours, and ages.

Cheers to you Sheila.

Score: 6/10

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