Shelter Point Double Barrel 2020 Batch#5

Tasting Notes

Andrew's Tasting Note

Nose: mixed wild berry jams, Strawberry Twizzlers and quince paste; soft leather, crisp oak spices and grassy malt; then more berry fruits... loads of berries! 

Palate: soft and very fruity; bam... so frruity; more wild berry jam, Strawberry Twizzlers and quince paste; grape Hubba Bubba and yet more fruits: plums, blackberrie and blackcurrant; soft leather, licorice and wraming spices.

Finish: long, warming and lush; layered with berry fruits and gentle spices; late vanilla, honey and malt... where did that come from?

Comment: I like this a lot more than I thought I would; the fruity notes are almost over the top, but they are held in check; lovely stuff!

Producer Description

“Our fifth Double Barreled whisky is a special collaboration with Vancouver Island’s renowned Coastal Black Winery. We hand-selected six of our finest Single Malt & Single Grain whisky casks and finished them in French oak wine barrels, previously home to Coastal Black’s Blackberry Wine. Aged in our American oak for 6 years, and then finished for 75 days in flavourful French oak, Shelter Point Double Barreled Whisky is a sensational marriage of spirits.”

Producer Tasting Note

“The nose reveals a deep, rich plum preserve with dark cherries, chocolate covered toffee and treacle. On the palate we found black forest cake, hazelnut and juicy wine gums with oak and forest berries. The long finish is warm and peppery with cherry pie and salted caramel.”

Distillery

Originally written by Evan for blog posts relating to our 2019 KWM Whisky Calendar.

Located on a farm halfway between Comox and Campbell River on Vancouver Island in British Columbia. Shelter point has been laying down spirit in casks to eventually become whisky since June of 2011. They grow and harvest much of the barley used from their own farm.

Patrick Evans is a third-generation farmer whose family has been farming in the Comox Valley of British Columbia since the turn of the 20th Century. He is now joined in the business by at least one of his three daughters and his son-in-law Jacob. Patrick purchased the land that is now Shelter Point Farm and Distillery in 2005. Situated along the coast of Vancouver Island where the Oyster River meets the sea, it was formerly a University of British Columbia research farm with a large dairy barn. That dairy barn now serves as cask warehousing and barley storage.

Construction on the distillery began in 2009, with the first spirit running in 2011. As with many other new and small-scale distilleries, white spirits provided some cash flow until the first whiskies were ready for sale. The first single malt, a 5-year-old, was released late in 2016. It was a big hit.

In a somewhat backwards move compared to other craft distilleries that have popped up in the time since Shelter Point began making whisky, the distillery just started releasing their own Shelter Point Gin in the summer of 2019.

Consistent distillation and constant experimentation are to be the name of the game for Shelter Point Distillery. They have been releasing very good single malt whisky since 2016, and the lineup has grown to include limited batches in different styles since then including both wine cask finishes and peated cask finishes among others. There always seems to be something exciting going on at Shelter Point, and we feel very fortunate to get as many of their releases as we do at Kensington Wine Market.