Penderyn 9 Year Single Malt Welsh Whisky (Jack Rose bottle, ex-Oloroso cask)

 I've been dying to try Welsh whisky for some time now. I am something like 15% Welsh according to Ancestry.com, and that 15% includes my name, ha! There are quite a number of Welsh distilleries these days, but Penderyn is probably the best known, at least here in the US. According to Wikipedia, It is distilled in the village of Penderyn, Rhondda Cynon Taf, in the Cynon Valley, from which the brand takes its name. Here is a particularly good explanation of what makes Penderyn unique.
This bottle of single malt was aged nine years in an Oloroso butt, and bottled at cask strength - 59.98% ABV. Most Penderyn is bottled at 46%, so this is a nice surprise. No chill filtration, no coloring. I am extremely curious!! Something odd: the cardboard box it came in says bottle 194 of 280, but the bottle says 135 of 280. Unsure how that mismatch occurred. Either way, the bottle was unopened, and it's clearly from the same cask, so who cares? Let's dig right in:

Nose: Very rich sherry here: the neck pour is all orange, orange peel, orange oil. Honey sweetness, paired with stone fruit sourness: peach pits, mango pits. A deep, dry, and surprisingly resonant nuttiness (almonds, walnuts, cashews). Flowers like honeysuckle. A very slight (and oddly pleasant) sourness, that follows up on the mango/peach note. Hints of stewed red fruit. Generally a very lovely sherry-forward nose.

Later in the bottle, there is a distinct note here that I find extremely difficult to define, but is like a savory BBQ sauce with back pepper in it. Or, almost like salt-and-peppered raw tomato, at times. Or, pushing the boundaries even further, like what you smell when you inhale over a Bloody Mary (!). Vegetal celery maybe, or celery salt. 

It's ... kind of amazing. I've never smelled this before in a whisky. The closest guess I can come up with is that it's the interfacing of some sulfur in the spirit with the nuttiness and stone fruit from the cask maturation. 

With water: Mostly the same, a little more balsamic vinegar comes forward. 

Mouthfeel: Thick, chewy. 

Palate: Ahhh... nice. Sweeter than the nose, but not by too much: toasted nuts with cinnamon (almond again). Sweet-and-spicy oak tannins. Curry powder (!), like garam masala. Figs and dates. Raisins, dripping with honey. This is as rich as any Scotch whisky I've had that was matured in sherry oak, including cask strength Macallans. Really top quality sherried whisky here. Chocolate, and brown sugar. Occasionally I get the merest, barest hints of that Bloody Mary note, but it's quite far back. 

With water, that stone sour note becomes a tad more prominent, especially with larger sips. Mango stone. 

Mouthfeel: Medium to long, mostly spicy oak and hints of honey and mango. Quite nice. 

Verdict: Just a lovely single malt whisky. Penderyn have done themselves proud, this is great stuff. Kudos to Jack Rose Saloon in Washington DC for selecting this cask for bottling with their name attached - it's well worth it. This features every major sherry flavor turned all the way up - any lover of sherry will appreciate this in spades. Highly recommended.