It’s exciting to see what Cooper King develops into when we are talking whisky. Their New Make tasted really good and it is now up to the casks whether they are chosen carefully and fits the spirits.

The choice of casks for this Maturing Malt, which I have had the pleasure of tasting, comes from MB Roland distillery in Kentucky,USA. The casks that have previously been used for Bourbon corn whiskey (1st fill bourbon, 2nd fill corn whiskey) have been used. It is slightly smaller barrels of 100 liters, of American oak and with a char Nr. 4.

Maturation on smaller barrels means that it goes faster because there is more contact between the spirit and the wood. I will write more about that at a later date.
Char No.4 means that the barrel has been burned inside. It has been burned for 55 seconds which gives a somewhat raw surface, therefore it is also called “Alligator Char”. It gives a good sweetness to the spirit. More on that later.

Back to the 15 month old “Maturing Malt”.
A lot has happened in 15 months and it gives a completely different taste experience compared to the New Make. A little alcohol has disappeared, from 60% to now 59.7% not much, but still enough to give you a different mild experience, yes of course you get the power and the taste that it is young spirits we are dealing with.

You can see the colour change from the all nutral coloured New Make on the right to the Champagne yellow Maturing Malt on the left side.

The influence of the casks has begun to take shape and we get some sweet cream caramel and a feeling of freshly cut wood. Imagine you have just cut firewood, you are standing with a piece of oak or beech wood and sniff it. It’s a lovely scent. There are also notes of pepper, lime and something reminiscent of spruce needles or resin, which I do not think I experience so often, but it leads the taste a bit to barrel-aged gin.
The tast is pleasant and surprisingly soft when we take age into account. It increases in intensity and gets nice and warm with floral notes and ginger jam in a wonderful combination of good notes of barley.

I think the cask selection has been just fine and it will be exciting to taste the next spirits and whisky comeing from Cooper King.
They have revealed that they have some exciting cask lying. Some which have contained smoked bourbon, softer Corn whiskey and Cognac casks. It will also be exciting to taste what comes from the casks that come from Tasmania – and as they write; “We Haven’t heard of others in England and Scotland who have matured on casks from that part of the world yet”. I have tasted whisky from Tasmania and if you like good whisky, that is a corner of the world at look at

𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮: (4.5/6)
Definitely a distillery to keep an eye on. A well-made new make and with the small barrels that provide good maturation conditions, I am pretty sure it will be interesting whisky in the future.

🅼🆈 🆁🆃🅸🅽🅶 🆂🆈🆂🆃🅴🅼

– 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧
– 𝘼 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙛
– 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 – 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢
– 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙙 – 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮
– 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣
– 𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩

I loved new adventures and when I was offered the opportunity by a buddy to taste New Make from English Cooper King Distillery it was hard to say no.

The Cooper King distillery was founded in 2016 by Abbie Neilson (scientist) and Chris Jaume (chartered architect), but it did not quite start here.
2 years earlier they “pulled up their tent poles” (𝑡ℎ𝑎𝑡’𝑠 𝑎 𝐷𝑎𝑛𝑖𝑠ℎ 𝑠𝑎𝑦𝑖𝑛𝑔, 𝑎𝑛𝑑 𝐼 𝑑𝑜𝑛’𝑡 𝑡ℎ𝑖𝑛𝑘 𝑖𝑡 𝑖𝑠 𝑡𝑟𝑎𝑛𝑠𝑙𝑎𝑡𝑎𝑏𝑙𝑒…. ) in England and traveled to Australia. This is where the whisky adventure started – The dream started and they took work at Tasmanian Sullivans Cove and have been taught by Bill Lark.
Hop on over to Cooper King’s website and read their funny story.
I hope one day I will have the opportunity to visit the distillery located just outside York in England – and then you will get more stories.

In short, some of the things that make Cooper King Distillery a fun and interesting distillery are the following:

2 people’s desire for new adventures becomes a reality through passion and hard work.
Adventures, experiences and education go hand in hand.
They have built the distillery themselves.
⇢ Their pot-still is built in Tasmania and shipped to England.
They use local raw materials.
Cultivates old traditions.
Focuses on our green planet and sustainability.

Their New Make tastes great and I think it can only be good as finished whisky.
If we go all Geek for a little while; The barley they use is of the type Maris Otter heritage two-row barley. It is floor malted at Warminster Malting, which is also English and not that far from Stonehenge (about 30 km)
The fermentation time is 6-7 days and they use a distiller’s dry yeast. The wash is distilled twice in their Tasmanian 900 liter copper pot still.

𝙄 𝙬𝙞𝙡𝙡 𝙜𝙞𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙝𝙞𝙨 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮: (4.5/6)
This a well made spirit that is worth keeping an eye on in the future – do let’s what happens in the casks chosen.

🅼🆈 🆁🆃🅸🅽🅶 🆂🆈🆂🆃🅴🅼

– 𝙀𝙭𝙩𝙧𝙖𝙤𝙧𝙙𝙞𝙣𝙖𝙧𝙮 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙙𝙚𝙛𝙞𝙣𝙞𝙩𝙚𝙡𝙮 𝙖 𝙠𝙚𝙚𝙥𝙚𝙧
– 𝘼 𝙗𝙚𝙖𝙪𝙩𝙞𝙛𝙪𝙡 𝙬𝙝𝙞𝙨𝙠𝙮 – 𝙊𝙣𝙚 𝙛𝙤𝙧 𝙩𝙝𝙚 𝙨𝙝𝙚𝙡𝙛
– 𝙂𝙤𝙤𝙙 – 𝙈𝙖𝙮𝙗𝙚 𝙢𝙮 𝙚𝙫𝙚𝙧𝙮𝙙𝙖𝙮 𝙙𝙧𝙖𝙢
– 𝙉𝙤𝙩 𝙗𝙖𝙙 – 𝙄’𝙡𝙡 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣 𝙨𝙤𝙢𝙚 𝙙𝙖𝙮
– 𝙄𝙩 𝙬𝙖𝙨 𝙛𝙪𝙣 𝙩𝙖𝙨𝙩𝙞𝙣𝙜, 𝙗𝙪𝙩 𝙄 𝙢𝙞𝙜𝙝𝙩 𝙣𝙤𝙩 𝙙𝙤 𝙞𝙩 𝙖𝙜𝙖𝙞𝙣
– 𝙇𝙚𝙩’𝙨 𝙟𝙪𝙨𝙩 𝙨𝙖𝙮 𝙄 𝙝𝙖𝙫𝙚 𝙩𝙧𝙞𝙚𝙙 𝙞𝙩