Circumstance Single Grain Wheat
Organic English Whisky | 46.1% ABV
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Flavour forward whisky from a distillery doing things very differently
Doing Things Very Differently
Although I haven’t dug into the numbers, there’s no doubt in my mind that when it comes to buying whisky nowadays, we’re faced with greater choice than ever before.
Not only have hundreds of new distilleries opened all over the world during the last decade, but there also seems to be an increasingly bewildering number of new releases from the established players. Producers that once put out a simple core range – 12, 18, and 21 year old expressions, say – are now experimenting with different casks, different finishes, local barleys, different cask sizes, different yeast varieties… the list goes on.
The rise of NAS has meant that younger whisky has become more acceptable also. As such, newer distilleries are quicker – in some cases, too quick, perhaps – to bring their inaugural releases to market.
Then there are the blended malts. And the blends. Rewind the clock a mere ten years, and the likes of Thompson Bros and Turntable didn’t exist. Go back another ten years and Compass Box was still in its infancy. As enthusiasts, we’re beginning to recognise that blended whisky can be every bit as engaging as single malt whisky, and that the B-word is no longer a dirty one. Add to that the explosion of new independent bottlers that seem to have come into the marketplace over the last four or five years, and sometimes, it’s difficult to know where to put our money.
Increasingly then, the process of choosing which bottles to buy involves having to compromise. In fact, it’s often more a case of choosing which whiskies to pass on, such is the cost of whisky nowadays, coupled with the breadth of new, interesting releases that we see coming to market.
FOMO remains real, and regardless of how much whisky we buy, it’s impossible to sate it. Every day, it seems, a new release hits the shelves that generates excitement among the whisky community. Tasting all of these new expressions, whilst also continuing to buy the tried and trusted permashelf bottles, is impossible. Even if we have the budgets, we don’t have the livers.
It's perhaps because of this that it’s taken me a while to get around to trying anything from Circumstance, a Bristol based producer that was established in 2018. Circumstance is a distillery that’s been on my radar for a while, ever since Ramsey reviewed their Organic Single Grain Whisky back in July. It’s a distillery that does things differently; one whose mantra is simply ‘flavour first.’ It’s also a B-Corp producer, meaning that – along with a small number of other producers – it can legitimately claim to be carbon neutral, as well as meeting other significant social and environmental markers.
This is then, very much a modern distillery that’s not afraid to push the boundaries, and the expression that I’m going to review here is testament to that. Made using a combination of organic malted wheat and malted barley, this is a whisky that’s been matured for 42 months in cider conditioned ex-bourbon and chestnut casks. Bavarian yeast has been used in the fermentation, which lasts for fourteen days – a long time, when you consider that most distilleries only ferment for a few days.
Although it’s limited to 298 bottles, as I write this, this expression is still available. As to the price, it retails for around the £45 mark. At three and a half years old, it’s admittedly young, but if you don’t mind young, spirit-driven whisky, then that shouldn’t put you off. To my mind, it’s well worth picking up a bottle. In fact, since buying this bottle, I’ve already purchased another.
Review
Circumstance Organic Single Grain Whisky, Wheat/Barley, 2:3:1:32:42, 46.1% ABV
£45 and still available
When I was 19, I was lucky enough to live in the South West for a few years, so I know Bristol quite well. I did my degree in Bath, back in the late 90s, and when I wanted a night out, Bristol was the place to go. With its sweeping crescents and Georgian architecture, Bath is a beautiful city, but Bristol definitely has the nightlife. It’s a city that, over the years, has also had a significant cultural impact. Just look at some of the bands and music producers that hail from Bristol – Portishead, Massive Attack, Tricky, Roni Size, Stanton Warriors…Oh, and there’s that bloke with the stencils that everybody loves as well.
No surprise then that this is a whisky that isn’t afraid to be different. The label on the bottle also makes its origins abundantly clear, with a map of Bristol front and centre. It’s an attractive bottle that stands out on the shelf, and which isn’t short on information, either. The bottle itself is hand numbered – a nice touch that reminds us that this is from a small craft distillery – and we even get some info about the yeast that’s used in the fermentation.
My only gripe with it is that there’s no mention anywhere of whether it’s natural colour or whether or not it’s been chill-filtered. At 46%, it’s unlikely to have been chill-filtered, but still, it would be reassuring to have these things printed on the label. It seems strange that a small distillery, making odd-ball whisky that’s clearly aimed at the enthusiast market, would overlook these things. For now, I’ll give Circumstance the benefit of the doubt and assume that this is all natural. In future, though, it would be a nice touch if they gave us this info as well.
Score: 7/10
Very Good Indeed.
TL;DR
Flavour forward whisky from a distillery doing things very differently
Nose
The first thing I get is banana. Not natural banana, but maybe banana chews, or even that banana medicine we were given as children. It’s quite spirit-led and fruit-forward – I also get pear drops and a touch of watermelon. There’s also a little bit of milk chocolate and some spearmint – almost like the minty notes that I sometimes pick up on rye whiskies.
Not a complex nose, but definitely interesting.
Palate
The palate has a lot more going on than the nose. That banana note carries over – again, it’s artificial, but not at all unpleasant. It’s quite salty, and I also get a bready, yeasty sort of note.
Beyond that, I get liquorice, more pear drops, a little kiwi, some pineapple and some more watermelon, as well as some Golden Delicious apples. Away from the fruit, I also get pine nuts, sunflower seeds, linseed oil and pencil lead.
The most striking thing, though, is the mouthfeel. The second you swallow it, it sucks all the moisture from your tongue. The best thing I can compare it to is eating a mouthful of sloes; it leaves your tongue dry to the point of almost being numb. That might not sound like a pleasant thing, but actually, it’s quite moreish. In fact, I think the mouthfeel, along with the banana note, is probably the most interesting thing about this whisky.
It's young and it’s spirit-driven, but it’s super tasty and it’s definitely different. This would be a great whisky to pour in the summer months. Although it drinks very well neat, I imagine it would work equally well over ice, or even in a cocktail.
The Dregs
If you’d told me ten years ago – five years ago even – that I’d be eulogising a 3 year old English whisky, from a nascent distillery, that had been partly matured in cider conditioned chestnut casks, and which is made from wheat, I’d almost certainly have said that you were mad. Even today, this is not the sort of whisky that I typically buy.
The fact is that the whisky landscape is changing, though. Whilst English whisky has a long way to go before it even gets close to achieving the recognition given to Scottish single malts, there’s no doubt that it’s making some headway. In the 2024 OSWAs nominations, two of the six nominees for Best World Whisky are English. That might not sound like much, but rewind the clock ten years, and it’s doubtful that a single English distillery would have put in an appearance.
Circumstance haven’t been nominated this year, but they’ve certainly been getting noticed among enthusiasts. Back in July, when Ramsey reviewed their Single Grain expression, I was struck by the high praise that was lavished on this distillery in the comments. It seems that they already have a dedicated following, and in this day and age, where new distilleries are appearing all the time, and there are so many new releases that even the most dedicated of enthusiasts can’t keep up, that’s not something to sniff at. Getting noticed in today’s market is no mean feat.
Circumstance have done that through a combination of good value, solid presentation and innovative thinking. Put simply, they’re not afraid to be different. So much so that this year, they parted ways with the English Whisky Guild, citing the fact that some of the criteria being placed on English whisky has the potential to stifle innovation.
Whether not you believe that attempting to regulate the production of English whisky is a positive thing that will ultimately lead to higher standards, or whether you worry that it limits innovation and leads to protectionism, as Circumstance themselves do, one thing is certain: English whisky is having a moment. What’s more, those distilleries that are really getting talked about in enthusiast circles, are the distilleries that are bringing us reasonably priced, flavour forward whiskies at 46% or more.
Circumstance is one of those distilleries. Whilst it’s a shame that there’s no mention of natural colour or lack of chill-filtration on the bottle, everything else about this expression is ticking all the right boxes. Don’t get me wrong, it’s young, it’s spirit-driven and it’s a little rough around the edges, but nevertheless, it’s very, very tasty.
In fact, of the forty or so bottles that I currently have open, this three year old, £45 English whisky is proving to be, by far and away, the hardest to reach past. I was on the fence as to whether to go higher with the score, and if we did decimals here on Dramface, this would be somewhere between a 7 and an 8.
As it is, I’m sticking with a 7. This is very good whisky indeed, and well worth your money if you’re looking for something a little different. I’m looking forward to seeing what Circumstance brings us in the future, and I’ll definitely be checking out some of their other expressions.
Score: 7/10
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. FMc
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