Review #134 - Filey Bay Flagship
A few months ago, we had a chance to attend a tasting event led by one of the co-founders of the Spirit of Yorkshire distillery, David Thompson. We walked through a variety of the distillery's offerings: this entry level Flagship, a STR cask finish, a peated cask finish (their distillate is entirely unpeated), an Oloroso single cask, a Fino single cask, and the Yorkshire Day annual limited release. Their bright, crisp spirit style allows the casks involved to showcase their unique flavors very effectively.
Spirit of Yorkshire actually started as a beer brewery on a farm, located in the Filey Bay area of Yorkshire, England. One interesting thing about the their single malt whisky is the way it's made - due to specific wording in the current iteration of the English single malt rules, copper pot still distillation can be combined with column still distillation, as long as it's all malted barley.
There's no age statement on the bottle, similar to many younger distilleries, but during our guided tasting, David mentioned that the average age of the whisky in these bottles is just under 7 years old, so it's far from the youngest new single malt. Maturation for this release is a majority of ex-bourbon casks, although those details aren't specifically disclosed, either. Another nugget from the tasting session - they use Old Forester bourbon barrels for their maturation.
Filey Bay Flagship
England - Single Malt
Price Paid: USD 74 (2023)
Current Locally Available Price: USD 70 (2023)
Age Statement: NAS
Strength: 46% ABV
Cask Makeup: Ex-bourbon casks from Old Forester
Details: Not chill filtered, no color added
Tasting Methodology: Reviewed 3 times over 2 months; bottles at 30%, 40% (blind tasting), and 10% (blind tasting) fill levels at times of review. Tasted in a Glencairn glass each time, rested 10-15 minutes
Nose: Fresh and bright is the overall feeling - light tropical fruits of pineapple, melon, and guava, along with baking notes of biscuits, yeast, vanilla, and cinnamon. This has a nice spirit influence in it - cleaner and mildly sharp, and more fruits soon arrive: dried mango and tons of peach, which gradually changes to bubblegum. The oak is soft but dry, and we end with butterscotch.
Palate: Medium mouthfeel; it's warm and silky, strong and crisp. Sweeter notes of butterscotch, honey, and burnt sugar, but also nutmeg, cardamom, dry wood, and sharpness from lemon. The peach fruit comes back with a vengeance - it starts to take over, with notes like ripe peach, peach ring candies, and sugar. Slightly tropical at times, with creamy vanilla.
Finish: Medium length, with more of the sweet baking notes from the palate: brown sugar, cardamom, vanilla, and then peach schnapps. Drying oak and tart lemon balance out the sugary flavors, and clove and peppercorns back that up. At the end, lingering notes of oats and honey.
Final Note: This is nice - a good example of bright, ex-bourbon single malt at a relatively young age. Not the most complex, but the light, tropical fruits were a delight, and it's probably the strongest peach note we've ever gotten in a whisky. Not the cheapest, but this seems to be in the ballpark with a lot of other standard releases from new age single malt distilleries.
Our Average Rating: 6.5 / 10
In the current whisky landscape of increasing prices and variable quality, we've added a value rating to our reviews that relates to the score and the available pricing of each whisky. This roughly equates to a 0-10 scale; no reviews so far have exceeded a score of 10, although it is technically possible for the formula to produce a value rating higher than 10 with a high enough score and low enough price.
Value Rating: 6.24
