London Distillery Company New Forms Moscatel English Single Malt Whisky, 70cl

New Forms is a trio of single cask releases from The London Distillery Company, each one taking the distillery's single malt and finishing it in a different cask. This is the Moscatel edition: London single malt finished for 8 months in a first-fill moscatel sherry hogshead #9008, bottled at 61.6% Alc. and limited to 345 bottles.Eight months in a first-fill moscatel hogshead has brought caramelised orange, poached stone fruit and orange blossom, the sweet, aromatic side of sherry, with nutty oak to balance it.Nose: Caramelised orange peel, tart lemon and brown-butter poached peaches, then baked apple dusted with icing sugar, a sweet dessert-wine note, caramel and dusty oak. Palate: Rich and oily brown butter, bright citrus, tart peach and nectarine, then orange blossom, burnt toffee, cinnamon and a warming hit of ginger. Finish: Nutty toasted oak (almond and walnut skin), bitter citrus peel and warm spice, with a last breath of poached nectarine.In our view the moscatel cask gives the richest, most dessert-like of the three; it is the one we would open after dinner. At 61.6% Alc., add a decent splash of water; it lifts the orange peel, poached peach and toffee.The casks behind New Forms were filled at the original London Distillery Company, London's first whisky distillery in over a century when it began distilling in 2011. Whisky maker Matt McKay now chooses and bottles that stock in small releases. Tasting the three New Forms side by side is a rare chance to see how much a single cask finish changes one spirit.