Nc’Nean Rum Cask
2017 Official Single Cask | 51.4% ABV
Some Rum With My Whisky
Most of us have distinct preferences when it comes to cask types. Many folks declare that they’re bourbon cask people. They prefer not only the flavours that bourbon casks impart, but also celebrate the ways in which these casks often let the spirit itself shine through without covering it with overtly heavy cask influence.
Many others have no trouble announcing that they’re sherry bomb heads. They enjoy the richness that Oloroso, PX, or other sherry casks can deliver which can complement the spirit brilliantly – when done well. If I go downstairs to the bowels of the whisky dungeon here at Fort Drummond and flip on the light to illuminate a scene which looks increasingly like the final shot of Raiders of the Lost Ark, I appear to have more sherried whisky than not. Quite a bit of peat-n’-sherry at that.
Although recently I’ve been buying more bourbon cask whiskies (is my palate changing? Gasp!), truth be told most of what I drink probably has some sherry influence. As that great philosopher Popeye once said, I yam what I yam.
You don’t really hear people saying “I’m a rum cask fanatic.” While rum casks aren’t nearly as prominent as ex-bourbon or ex-sherry casks, you do see them used semi-regularly in Scotch whisky. Yet there’s not all that much discussion out there about the merits of ex-rum casks in Scotch whisky, compared to more conventional casks.
Truth be told I’ve had mixed experiences with rum cask whiskies. In theory, I love the idea: the very few rums I’ve tried have been interesting and quite good (including a recent Foursquare). Thick molasses/treacle, sweet, layered, and earthy. I love the idea of these qualities transferring seamlessly over to single malts. Yet, my experience doesn’t quite reflect this.
I had a few samples of an indie Deanston rum finish a few years back which was terrific, which is perhaps not surprising – Deanston’s spirit is so malleable that it usually adapts well to whatever cask it finds itself in (a Highland Caol Ila, in that sense). A dram of the rum-finished Talisker Special Release from a few years ago now was far from my favourite Talisker. On the other hand, Glen Scotia’s Double Cask Rum Finish is fine dram – thick, sweet, and creamy. I’ve also had a couple of rum-finished Ardna’s – the AD/Rum Cask Release and a single cask. The AD/Rum Cask was fine but far from mind-blowing (although Dougie liked it a bit more than I did), while a peated single cask was a full-flavoured banger. Dallas, Dougie, and Earie have all explored other uses of rum casks, with a variety of opinions.
The Scotch Whisky Association rules around casks specify that Scotch whisky can “only be matured or finished in casks that had previously been traditionally used in the industry – bourbon, sherry, rum, wine, beer to name just a few.” However, when some producers were “caught” using casks that had previously matured wine, beer, or ale made from stone fruits, the SWA amended the rules to restrict these casks, as well as those that had added flavouring or sweetening after fermentation and/or distillation. Cider casks are also out.
While there is some healthy debate over what casks could be considered “traditionally used in the industry,” there’s probably little question that rum casks fit this description. Rum of course played a huge role in that wee project known as the British Empire, and many of those casks passed through the docks in Glasgow and Edinburgh when sailors and other travellers from the West Indies introduced the spirit to the UK.
Glasgow itself has a fascinating history with rum that I can only skim over here, but speaks to how deeply the history of rum is bound up with Scotland. Dave Broom offers a quick-n’-dirty history of rum in Glasgow, which begins in the 1600s with imports from the West Indies colonies, mostly sugar. Such was the quantity of sugar (at that time, harvested with slave labour) being imported that rum distilleries opened up around the city in places such as Candleriggs, Gallowgate, and Stockwell Street.
Once the tobacco trade with the American colonies ended after the War of Independence the sugar and rum trade only increased. Walking around the Merchant City area of Glasgow today you can still see some of the grand mansions built from the vast wealth that trade created. If you’ve ever walked out the east entrance of Glasgow Central station then you’ve walked along Jamaica Street, which was opened in the late 1700s at the time when the rum and sugar trade with the West Indies was at its height.
With rum being produced in so many places today it’s often unclear where “rum casks” used for our beloved aqua vitae come from given the variety of rums out there. A bit of digging online reveals that perhaps this is due to various trademark and association rules. Our online whisky neighbour Malty Mission gives a helpful overview of some contemporary categories of rum in a review of some recent bottlings, for those of you who might be rum-curious.
Review 1/3 - Drummond
Nc’Nean Single Cask Rum Finish, Aon Cask 17-234, 2017 vintage, 51.4% ABV
£85 mostly sold out
Today’s Nc’Nean bottle is from a single cask, distilled in July 2017 and bottled in March 2024, making this nearly 7 years old and first matured in ex-bourbon before being moved to a “British ex-rum cask” which itself had previously held madeira. We’re also helpfully told that this is, as with all of Nc’Nean’s bottlings, natural colour and unchillfiltered, with this particular bottling resting at a very drinkable 51.4%, fermented with Anchor and Fermentis yeasts. I’ll confess that I have not contacted them to confirm, but a “British ex-rum cask” would suggest a cask that previously held rum produced in the UK, rather than the Caribbean or elsewhere.
When our fearless leader Wally got on the bullhorn to the Dramface WhatsApp Writers Group that Nc’Nean had sent this bottle as a freebie and that it was available without strings or expectations, I put my hand up. I don’t have too much experience with the distillery outside of a review Ramsay and I did late last year of the core release and the Quiet Rebels-Gordon single cask. We both liked those bottles, even while conceding that they were young malts with perhaps some ways to go yet with some really promising potential.
Not wanting to hog all of the fun, especially with a freebie, I asked Ramsay and Hamish if they’d like some samples to make this a trio review – and they happily obliged to accept that burden. On we go with a rum-finished Nc’nean…
Nose
Light and mellow. Lightly floral, lightly creamy, and something of a slightly herbal funk. Stewed fruits alongside some more distinct sharper, brighter fruits.
Palate
Much more expressive on the palate than on the nose. Barley sugar, sweet and creamy but also with an edge. I wouldn’t call it a jaggedness, but there’s clearly some youth showing through. The floral quality from the nose comes across on the palate as a more grassy quality. Both the stewed fruits alongside brighter fruits from the nose blend with the creaminess.
There’s no information to suggest notable cask charring, but I’m nevertheless getting a lightly charred quality. Nice texture and mouthfeel: some thickness delivering the creamy aspects. If you give me another dram, I would almost say that I’m picking up a very distant hint of the madeira that this cask held before the rum – not an explicit red berry quality, but more of the kind of texture you get with madeira casks. This makes for some nice complexity to explore, and speaks well for both the quality of the cask to deliver these layers, and for the spirit itself to absorb these layers in a way that even an average punter like yours truly can pick up.
The longer it sits in the glass the creaminess becomes more prominent and seems to marry more with the other flavours. As I sit with this through the evening, it opens up considerably to fuller, creamier, and fruitier flavours.
The Dregs
A huge thank you to the fine folks at Nc’Nean for giving us the opportunity to try another one of their single casks.
As with the previous single cask Nc’Nean I tried, I’m enjoying this. Yes, it’s still young spirit, but it’s good stuff that I’m savouring and which reveals itself more the longer I sit with it, which is always a sign of a quality malt. There are layers here to pick apart from the spirit side, the cask side, and how they’ve cooperated pretty well to deliver this dram.
The creamy quality is probably the key distinctiveness here that we get from the rum finish, alongside the mix of both stewed and bright fruits (similar to what I get on the Glen Scotia), and it’s good. Neither the bottle nor the distillery website state how long of a finish this was given, but it feels like it was perhaps on the shorter/cautious side.
Retail on this is around £85. That’s a lot of money for any whisky, including for a young one like this. But as we’re discovering with the new distilleries, age isn’t everything, and we should reprogram our brains a bit to think about the experience we’re buying rather than a number. I was somewhat tempted to give this a 7/10 based on flavour experience alone. But, as I don’t really know how to score without taking price into account, it’ll be a solid 6/10 instead.
To be fair, this is in line and competitive to what Ardnamurchan, Raasay, Kingsbarns, and other new distilleries are charging for their single cask releases. This is where the market is – for better or worse – for these kinds of releases.
Nevertheless, this bottle demonstrates that Nc’nean is coming along nicely even as it’s a bit youthful – just as some Ardna’s and Raasays and Kingsbarns are youthful. It doesn’t put me off as there’s plenty here to like, but it does remind me that Nc’Nean has a lot of potential that we’ll be seeing come to fruition – and maturity – even more over the next few years. I know I’ll be paying attention.
Score: 6/10 DD
Review 2/3 - Ramsay
Nc’Nean Single Cask Rum Finish, Aon Cask 17-234, 2017 vintage, 51.4% ABV
£85 mostly sold out
Nose
Butterscotch, vanilla and apple with some orange and lemon citrus notes. There is a musty, earthy quality and a vegetal note in the background, along with freshly sawn wood. It’s a nice nose and a pleasant start.
Palate
It’s bright and fruity with lemon polish and orange zest, touches of apple peels, charred oak, brown sugar and peppery spice. Artificial sweetness comes in later as does a solvent note, which are notes I often find with rum casks. It doesn’t ruin the dram by any means, but it isn’t a positive for me either.
The finish is drying, with coconut, vanilla cream, oak and continuing peppery heat across the tongue.
The Dregs
This is an enjoyable whisky without being anything special. Those artificial sweetness notes from rum casks are always a bit of a red flag for me, but this is on the lower end of the scale compared to some others I have tasted, such as Cù Bòcan’s 12yo.
I would have been tempted by a 6 if this was a sub-£50 bottle, but at £85 it is much harder to recommend. I preferred the Quiet Rebels : Gordon bottle we reviewed several months ago.
As Drummond has mentioned already, this is a single cask and £85-90 seems to be the price point many new distilleries have gone with for this type of release, including Ardnamurchan, Raasay and Kingsbarns. The problem is Glasgow manage to do their single cask and very small batches for £59. If they can do it I am left thinking why should we be expected to pay such a high premium for single casks when clearly it doesn’t have to be that way?
They may be an outlier in doing so, but it shows it can be done and I’m much more likely to take a punt on those. If I am paying the best part of £100 it would always be a try before I buy scenario. The Nc’Nean is also only 51,4% ABV, which suggests it has been watered down too.
I don’t think you would be disappointed if this was on your shelf, but you might be disappointed if you were to dwell on what else you could have spent £85 on.
Score: 5/10 RT
Review 3/3 - Hamish
Nc’Nean Single Cask Rum Finish, Aon Cask 17-234, 2017 vintage, 51.4% ABV
£85 mostly sold out
My first direct experience tasting some Nc’Nean (that wasn’t part of a blend), so I was excited and delighted to take Drummond up on his sample share on this bottle.
Single cask offering, using some unique yeast variances and ex-rum casks that are from the Caribbean…let’s go. This is very unique and certainly a bottle that would tempt me into buying with those details stated.
Nose
Heavy tones of toffee and fudge. Banoffee pie covered in whipped cream. Such a decadent sweetness here, with spice. Reminds me of fruit loaf, raisins, figs and dates. A mixture of chopped walnuts and a sprinkle of nutmeg. Slight savoury note of honey roasted carrots and buttery mashed potatoes. A little lick of chunks of rock salt and beef stock.
Palate
Bright and sweet straight off the starting line here with the first sip. That sip seems to have fallen off a cliff and leaves me a bit wanting.
Thinnish mouthfeel, let’s try that again.
Going back I can tease out some brown sugar, slightly burnt honeycomb and those toffee hard candies. Dark roast coffee beans, with a hint of salinity. The sweetness and coffee mixture turns into chocolate lime sweets which is quite nice. More sips helps improve the experience for me but I wouldn’t say it’s overly complex compared to what I was getting on the nose. It turns a little malty. Some hints of a herbaceous nature there, more green notes but not a lot. I’m leaning towards cut grass and wet rocket leaves. I’m finding it hard to tease out more of that sweeter aspect that I’d expect from a rum cask, but it’s not there.
A decent mouthfeel overall. Coating the tongue but it does fall short on any distinctive lingering note with a short to medium finish.
The Dregs
I wouldn’t pay the £85 asking price for this bottle, but given it’s a single cask offering with some differing selling points to the make up, I understand the stance from Nc’Nean on pricing. Huge huge thanks to Drummond for the sample. Delighted to have tasted this.
The nose, to me, was a much better experience than the palate and I was very keen to get stuck into this dram after those initial sniffs.
It did fall short of my expectations which was a disappointment. However, I can see what’s going on here with the distillery approach and the flavour profile they’re seeking. It’s not a bad whisky, just not one for old Hamish here. Given the price I'd be a little miffed at my own experience, but keen to hear what others thought. It feels to me like a real marmite dram. It’ll have its lovers and its haters, but that engagement is what we all love about new and exciting distilleries as they release their own liquid.
This one was not for me, but it has certainly piqued my interest on any future Nc’nean releases to see what else is in store and how they’ll shape up their bottle pricings for any new releases.
Score: 5/10 HF
Tried this? Share your thoughts in the comments below. DD