Bimber means moonshine in Polish so I'm reliably informed by the company's website. If you'd like to find out more about this new London distillery, head over to their site: https://www.bimberdistillery.co.uk
Not only is there very little point in simply paraphrasing the details here, but outbound links also help with SEO ;-)
So far, I've only heard good things about the quality of the spirit being produced at Bimber Distillery. On the basis of these samples, I'm not one to disagree. This is truly tasty stuff and, had I tasted them blind, there's no way I would have considered them to be so young. In fact, I recently tried a fair number of drams whilst judging for a recent whisky awards and, even in the over 21 years category, there were quite a few which didn't come close to these in quality.
Much has been said about Bimber's pricing strategy - check out Adam's great piece on Malt from October last year.
At the time of writing, there hasn't been an official announcement re the first release from Bimber and its, all important, price tag. However, I did receive confirmation that the first release will be in September and that it'll be a limited release and bottled at higher strength. Details should be announced soon so let's reserve any judgement until then.
Here's a selection of various casks samples which were drawn at 34 - 35 months. So, just short of officially being whisky:
Nose: light and crisp; lemon juice and lime cordial; this is really quite soft without the harsh notes I've come to expect from some new make
Palate: plenty of red fruits with strawberry notes in particular coming through
Nose: only very slight peat notes; slightly ashy; red fruits in the background
Palate: the peat comes through on the palate but still subtle; a nice wee puff of smoke emerges just before the finish; this is more smoky than peaty for me and is nicely balanced
Nose: slight nose burn; sandalwood; hint of incense; strawberry jam; maple syrup
Palate: silky texture; this is peppery and takes quite a bit of water; slight red fruit flavours start to emerge; it's quite dry and the finish is quite short
Nose: slight cereal note; hints of green apple; red fruits; unripe banana becoming more like foam bananas after a while; slight hint of pine; subtle note of damp wood
Palate: subtle pine (but we're not talking Rampur here!); bubblegum and more bubblegum; quite dry into the finish which is long; this seems very well balance
Nose: slight malt note; hints of raisins and a slight figgy note; doesn't come across as a PX cask as it seems way more subtle
Palate: thick texture; slight rubbery notes; malty sweetness; powerful start to the finish but then ends abruptly
Nose: petrol notes; rubber; malt; raisins; after a while hints of pine emerge
Palate: sherry (sorry!); a bit rubbery; seems more about the cask than the spirit
Overall, I simply can't fault the quality of these drams at such a young age. My favourite, by far, was the ex-bourbon cask; it just seemed to show a lot more of the spirit character and had a lot more going on with it as a result. I'm interested to know how much the first Bimber release(s) will be. I thought I was pushing the boat out paying 40 quid for the Cotswolds Founders Choice (which is also very good, by the way) so I'm hoping they won't have such hefty price tags that they'll just be snapped up to be admired unopened.
Huge thanks to Ronnie Grant, H.M The King of Fife, for passing these samples on to me. Much appreciated.
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