I recently had the absolute pleasure of attending a Henstone whisky tasting night.
The event was held at my (very) local Tasting Room @ Chester Beer & Wine – an excellent set of hosts, as always – and it was, in fact, our second attempt at having this night. Only 3 months prior, the evening had to be postponed due to Oswestry being foot-deep in snow – a far cry from the 28 degree heat outside the store on this night.
Anyway, scene setting aside, this was an evening where we intended to taste the 4 single malts currently available by Shropshire’s foremost whiskymakers.
In a change to expected proceedings, rather than being hosted by Henstone’s Henry Toller, it was in fact led by co-founder, master distiller, and (Henry’s) dad Chris Toller.
After the usual formalities of sitting down, greeting the neighbouring drinkers, and awaiting the latecomers, it wasn’t long before CBW owner Sam got proceedings underway by introducing Chris, and then letting him fly. And fly he did. We were given advanced warning that the man could talk. But how. It didn’t take long to get into the foundation of Henstone and Chris’ very evident passion for distilling.
In a further change to proceedings, we did not taste any whiskies straight away, but instead we launched into their vodka – a fantastic move as it got everybody talking and limbered us up as the spirits got darker and tastier. As such, the notes below are fairly concise as I just wanted to enjoy the night and not get bogged down with capturing every sensation and ignoring the people around me, who were equally having a good time:
Vodka – distilled using a wheat base spirit mixed with a little bit of their own barley spirit added that would otherwise go on to become whisky! The vodka is then filtered through charcoal to smooth out the whole experience and is bottled at 43.7% ABV. And what an experience to start the night with. A very clean and light drop, but with enough of a wheat/barley roundness to make this both unusual to what’s on the market, and very more-ish.
Rosé Gin – two things to immediately note here: 1) it is rosé – with the accent – and not rose, 2) it is indeed gin and not yet whisky – but there is another nod to their whisky-making style here, as their London Dry style gin has been aged briefly in new American oak barrels before being bottled at 44.9% ABV. Personally, this was bit of a revelation for me as I do enjoy the occasional gin, but this felt like something new again, and more in my style. The result is a well-balanced mixture of herbal and floral influences but with an underlying vanilla flavour and soft body that made me want to pick up a bottle for the summer months ahead. It wasn’t just me thinking that either, as it has recently just won Best In Britain in the The Gin Guide awards! Interestingly, they have also just released a “Shrewsbury Gin” in collaboration with Shrewsbury’s Gindifferent bar, as well as making waves with their Strawberry & Pink Peppercorn Gin – a flavour created by Chris’ daughter Flo.
New Make – next up was baby whisky – a sample of the new make spirit fresh from the stills and without any barrel aging, and as such, you can’t yet call it “whisky”. What was apparent – after the initial sting from the off-the-still 65.4% ABV spirit – was the delicious backbone forming their whiskies: a lovely apple and pear fruity 1-2-1 combo, up against a really light gristy profile. Whilst these samples are (generously) poured out by Chris, he goes into lots of details about their whisky making processes and experimentation, and the one that stood out for me was how he rubs a little bit of the spirit from the stills onto the back of his arm for texture and smell to know when to start and stop the “cut” between the heads and the tails on the spirit run.
Old Dog Corn Liquor – we’re still not quite at “whisky” yet – 4 drinks in – as we now try their “Bourbon Equivalent” spirit. Whilst this spirit has been aged for 2 years and made from a corn-heavy mash, the spirit cannot be called bourbon as it it does originate from the USA. What we have however is a bourbon-adjacent spirit which has been matured in new American oak casks and bottled at 41.5% ABV. The result is a sweet and softer spirit (at least compared to the others tasted so far) with strong vanilla influences and a toffee popcorn sort of flavour. The name itself comes from a local pit cave in Shropshire and as we savoured this measure, Chris regaled us with a story about his little run-in with DEFRA about the non-US nature of this otherwise delicious corn liquor.
Ex-Bourbon Single Malt (Batch 7) – as the fifth drink is poured on this whisky tasting, we now come to something that can be called whisky, and it is their flagship expression. Solely matured in 200 litre ex-bourbon barrels from Jim Beam, this single malt whisky is a mixture of several barrels which have been maturing away in Oswestry for 3-3.5 years, to be finally bottled at 43.8% ABV at its natural colour and without chill-filtration. How do I know all of this? Well, firstly Chris told us. Secondly, the exact details of every release is available on their website here. I believe that this was Batch/Release 7 of the Ex-Bourbon Cask Aged whisky. Here we have that base spirit’s apple and pear flavours at the front (and still a touch of the spirit itself) joined by a strong creamy vanilla note, and some later light/young oak flavours too. A real demonstration of the influences of oak when thinking back to the new make spirit tasted just before.
[For more detailed notes on their ex-bourbon barrel single malt whisky – specifically Batch 2 – click here]
Ex-Oloroso Single Malt (Batch 2) – the next whisky poured saw a big leap in flavour profiles. Here their signature Jim Beam barrel-matured spirit has spent its final 8 months in dry oloroso sherry quarter casks (125l) before being bottled at 46% ABV, and the impact is considerable. The apple and spirit profiles are still present but are now really padded out by a big raisin and orangey set of flavours. The oak spices are joined by classic Christmas cake spices of ginger, cinnamon, and nutmeg.
Ex-Pedro Ximenez Single Malt (Batch 2) – the 3rd whisky of the night has followed a similar path to the Ex-Oloroso finished whisky, as this release has also seen the initial 3yo spirit matured in Jim Beam ex-bourbon casks before then being transferred to quarter casks, which this time have previously held Pedro Ximenex sherry. The final spirit is bottled at 46% ABV, and again saw that base profile being really filled out by rich fruity flavours, with more orange and oak influence this time around. A real lip-smacker of a finish too. I could have spent a lot more time with this, but duty called, as we turned to the final whisky of the night…
Ex-Peated Single Malt (Batch 1) – As with the previous two finishes, this releases also takes the same 3yo ex-bourbon matured whisky and explores the influence of a quarter cask finish – this time with an undisclosed peated Islay cask finish for the final 8 months before being bottled at 46% ABV. The impact is stark. Moving back from the rounded out flavours of the two sherry casks, we return to a focus on apple, pear, and vanilla, but now with the unmistakable waves of peat smoke thrown into the mix. As ever, the peat smoke nose immediately divided the room, and the taste even more so. What I find incredible though is just how strong the influence of the peat is on a whisky that has never seen a peat brick in its life. As an occasional Islay drinker, I was totally on board with this and the acrid/TCP-style Islay smoke worked well with the vanilla body and was more reminiscent of younger Laphroaig and Caol Ila releases.
As the room continued to talk about the classic “to peat or not to peat” question, we are reminded by Chris that these last 3 limited edition batches each started their lives out the same way but for their final 8 months in differing casks. That is a stark reminder about the importance of cask selection, variety, and experimentation. And with great results.
When talking about future releases or cask options, Chris noted that their first age statement whisky is now available for pre-order – a 5 year old ex-bourbon cask due this August. He also noted that there are already a selection of casks earmarked for the 10 year milestone. Exciting times ahead.
The event was billed as an evening with Henstone – but in reality this was an evening with Chris Toller. And I would pay to attend it again. Yes, his son was meant to speak but due to the circumstances it was left to the distillery’s brainchild and dad to do the job, and I’m glad that is what happened. Why? Because it’s the first time that I’ve ever actually been at a tasting presented by the distiller themselves and it was great to hear the passion behind it all and not get the feeling of ongoing salesmanship. [ed: Sure, Chris was selling his wares ultimately AND a bottle was purchased, but fair play to the guy.]
Moreover, I was sold by him and the future of Henstone. He can talk. At length. He even admitted that he can talk too much and his kids tell him off for potentially revealing trade secrets (though he was guarded around exact quantities etc) but he couldn’t help himself and we were all too happy to listen.
Speaking of his kids, this really did seem like a friends and family affair: the project started out with their friends, whilst he makes the spirits, his wife helped design the labels, and both his son and daughter work with him in the distillery and in sales. I liked that part of their story too. I also liked the honesty about his prior inexperience (coming from a career in telecomms) and how he experiments to make drinks that ultimately he likes. A real passion project. Whilst he did mention some figures here and there, you got the idea that there was not too much science going into the project. There were tales of arm licking. The smell of cabbage. The very manual way of gauging the fill level of the barrel. Awesome.
I should also mention that this is not solely a Toller venture, as the Henstone project was also founded with Alison and Shane Parr of Stonehouse brewery – where the Henstone still (named Hilda) gets it wash from! Stonehouse beers were actually available on the night from the shop downstairs. Usually mine’s a Sunlander, but their recent Twisted Citra release (a hazy IPA) was absolutely superb. There are some fine tastebuds and drink-making skills here.
So what’s next for Henstone? Making their own mash and experimenting with barley and yeast types? Extra storage? Extra cask experimentation? We have seen here that the longer maturation is clearly yielding more complexity and the cask choices are bringing many delicious products to the table.
Finally, the 8 drinks above are not their complete range! They have several other gins, a rum, a nonpareil (brandy-adjacent), and more irons in many fires. For me, the eyes will be firmly set on the 5yo to see just where that bourbon maturation is taking that base spirit.
All in all, a fine selection of spirits and a really good running order to experience the journey and benefits of cask aging!
M
Sample disclosure: The multiple samples here were received as paid of a paid, ticketed event at Chester Beer & Wine, through which a lot of these spirits are available. For now though, all notes are intended as an honest, fair, and independent review of the drinks enjoyed on the night and not as a promotion. Please drink responsibly. Please drink wisely.
whisky unplugged 