Mars Maltage "Cosmo", b.2019, Manzanilla Sherry Cask Finish, 42% abv.

Interesting that it's blended but also finished in manzanilla. These maltage are blends from the Mars Shinsu distillery with some undisclosed Scottish distilleries. Generally, an underperforming product line since 2015, but let me see.

Nose: quite yeasty, raw bread, malt notes, hints of grapes and apples in there. This does not bode well.

Palate: light body, initial palate starts fast with some metal, burnt wood?, polished apples, and transitions into a mid palate with some honey, nickel, the background has that yeasty dough, wood, toasted wood shavings, with time its more of a fruity oil and light cognac flavor set, back palate is more rich with an emphasis on a sort of fruity wood oil, lightly toasted bread, honey is more defined, hints of spiced raisins, more sherry oriented here. What happened?!? Went from zero to hero in 5 seconds flat.

Finish: short to medium and complex, pencil shavings with the lead, burnt bread, burnt meat, hints of strawberries, berries in general, semi-dried grapes, tomatoes, a lot of coffee liqueur, coffee cake, a complex array of chocolate, light vanilla, hints of maple but perhaps closer to simple syrup, almost tiramisu-like. Wow.

Interesting pour! Started off boring and typical but ended extremely well, exceeding the pseudo-expectations suggested from the beginning of the tasting. What a finish, it had all sorts of flavors that you rarely get in whisky. Too bad I can't ignore the aromas and base.

Image courtesy of Eric Yee.

Eric Yee

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