Cotswolds Signature Small Batch Release

5cl sample, first tasting: Intense, tropical nose. Multivitamin juice, nectarine, and an interesting mint note, like mint tea. Also pleasantly strong on the entry, without any youthful sharpness. Lovely fruit notes here too, again multivitamin and nectarine. But also a rather spicy note. Black pepper, a bit mineral, and a decent amount of dark chocolate lingers on the finish. I like the nose a tad better, and it's more balanced. But I do like it quite a bit for its presumably very young age. They really manage to pull that off these days. The wine influence works quite well here, which is by no means always the case. The bitter, spicy note on the entry and finish is perhaps a bit too much for this style of whisky. Still, a good whisky, and I tend to like it a lot, but the finish and aftertaste drag it down a bit for me. I could have given the nose and the initial attack alone an 87. I do like spice and dark chocolate on the finish, but I prefer it in older sherry whiskies that have more depth. This is the young oak from the European red wine barrels, I would say.

Very fruity and rather easy drinkable

Best English whisky. Very smooth. good spice level, dark marmalade.

Pretty simple. A somewhat generic multi-fruit juice (apple, lemon, pineapple, peach, some berries) with a touch of flowers, hard candy, lots of spicy white pepper, ginger, and not much else. Maybe hints of vanilla, toffee, herbal notes, honey, lactic funk... but this is, more than anything, a fruity, youthful, very spicy, and basically harmless dram. Because yes, it's more spicy and bitter than sweet, and also very slightly salty. Very young and alcoholic. At least it's balanced and somewhat drinkable, but violently boring. It's decent and acceptable, but so generic that I feel like I've tasted this whisky before. And that's what struck me most: that I wouldn't recognize this whisky in a blind tasting even after tasting it; it's that featureless. Their Sherry Casks CS bottling impressed me quite a bit; I would definitely recommend that bottle to anyone who enjoys sherry bombs. This bottle, on the other hand, will be forgotten, like tears in rain.

Small sample as part of the distillery tour tasting. I was impressed with this. The nose has warming spices, rich vanilla and new bread. Good flavour continuity into the palate, though it does feel slightly thin. Orange juice on the finish.

2020 Rating

Heerlijk zacht van smaak Smaak blijft mooi hangen Lekker!

I bought this on our annual pilgrimage to Keswick. As we prepare for this years visit, I thought it was time to revisit the Cotswold. Purchased at a great price from Booths, I'm looking to forward to seeing what they have next time. I don't have much experience of English whisky, but this is quite nice

Fruit and smoke on nose. Banana, butterscotch. Rich honey with added water. Smooth. Tasty.

Putting standard 40–43% entry bottles to shame A wonderfully smooth, comforting, and warm fruit profile. This is exactly what a proper introductory expression ought to deliver.

Creamy, dessrt-y, candy sweet, balanced with a touch of salt and bakery spice. Which makes a perfect dessert company during Christmas time.

Amber hue, thin and little legs, fast flow.

For a supermarket whisky this has a lot to offer. Characterful with a nice wine influence.

A little tart, sweet, soft. Not enough age.

Such a good young whisky, I am foreseeing a bright future for Cotswold.

Too young to have clear characteristics. A good start for a distillery. Their whisky needs to develop more over time.

Average

Aroma Sweet, fruity, green apple, tart taste Sweet, fruity, sour, slight tingling, grain, little spicy wood, somewhat astringent finish Medium length, sweetish, spicy

A good result for the young age (4 years). But I can't hide my youth.

Distinctive young whisky with a youthful bite. Also the somewhat peppery, not quite so round and somewhat pointed raw spirit. But the maturation and the composition of the barrels still create an enjoyable whole. The nose in particular is fine. Youth dominates in the mouth and the barrel finishes. I'm looking forward to more older examples.

Disappointed with the introduction of the red wine casks to the signature expression. The full ex-bourbon maturation sealed the deal for me personally. This is still a very nice drinking whisky, it's just a backwards step for me unfortunately.

Vault w Rob Patchett, Global Ambassador. Yellow. Nose: Dry oak, pepper, fruit. Taste: Fruit, light acid, flat, vanilla. Light body.

On the nose, rose water, clove, hibiscus flowers, tangy orange marmalade. Sweet vanilla and a hint of caramel underneath those first herbal notes. The red wine cask dominates on the nose but not in a bad way. On the palate it follows through with the hibiscus and marmalade, with bourbon cask sweetness underneath. Malt develops on the finish with bourbon cask sweetness coming through. Medium length. For £33 in the supermarket, natural colour, non chill filtered, 46%, it's great. It's young, and it's all about the cask influence but it's not boring or harsh. At this price I'll buy it again.

When our vacation in the Cotswolds took us to Blockley in the summer of 2023 (setting for the TV series “Father Brown”), a bottle of Cotswolds single malt whisky laughed at me in the small village shop. Despite the price of around 50 pounds (it's a lot cheaper here) it's a purchase I don't regret. Not only because the presentation alone makes it a great souvenir and a nice memory, but because the whisky comes across as surprisingly “mature” despite being just 4 years old. Whether this is due to the influence of Dr. I can't say that it's attributable to Jim Swan and Harry Cockburn, who both provided technical support in setting up the young distillery. But I'm definitely looking forward to the first older representative from this beautiful region of England. Aroma: Surprisingly complex and harmonious for such a young whisky. Although I haven't had my nose in glasses for long, I actually detect a lot of different notes, with the fruity sweetness of dark berries, peach and honey in the foreground, accompanied by floral impressions in the background. For me, the bourbon barrel gives off little of the typical vanilla note, but fits in neatly with the other smells. After the first sip I find the aroma even more pleasant. It takes a good 10 minutes before I take the first sip. Taste: Simply round. The 46 percent is noticeable, but gives off more power and no alcoholic spiciness. Sweet malt with spices and floral influences that sits like velvet on the tongue. Where the wood usually suppresses everything else, especially in young whiskys, here there is actually something going on in the mouth. I don't taste any bitterness. The typical bourbon vanilla is only in the background. If I had to put it all into one word, it would probably be wildflower meadow. A whisky made for summer. Finish: Medium to long, pleasant. Especially with a smaller sip you actually have something to discover here. Conclusion: A great, very drinkable, but never one-dimensional entry-level whisky that can also be recommended to more experienced malt connoisseurs and doesn't need to hide behind the Scots at all. An absolute recommendation for the current price. When the current bottle is empty - and it is still available - I will definitely buy it again.

This is a young Oxford whisky, a blend of red wine and bourbon casks. The aroma is relatively light, with alcohol and a hint of white floral notes, somewhat resembling a fruity floral scent. It's not particularly heavy. The palate is slightly spicy with a sour, astringent tannin. It's not a very sweet whisky. It has fruity notes reminiscent of red wine, followed by pepper, chocolate, and woody flavors. It's slightly oily, the alcohol content isn't strong, but the tannins aren't very pleasant, somewhat masking the traditional whisky flavors. It has a slightly herbal taste. The overall flavor profile is somewhat like aged brandy. Overall assessment: Interesting, but not as flavorful as drinking VSOP straight; it's less spicy and has less tannin, and the oiliness is more pronounced. It's also not particularly delicious, but the acidity isn't perfectly balanced.

S 8 Very drinkable & distinctive for such a young-aged whisky. [78-82] I'll gladly welcome another dram. N 26 Fresh lemongrass. Milk candy. Butterscotch. Red berries. Vanilla and baking spices flow through in the background. P 25 Rich, creamy, and zingy. Barley focused (toasted malt, barley sugar, golden syrup). Toasted oak. Peppery spices with cinnamon and cloves. A mix of juicy fruits. A touch of sour cherries. F 23 Short-mid, dry finish. Peppery, woody, malty, stonefruit sweetness.

Blind dram 6 from TSE 6 Nations Tasting Pack, 30ml, consumed May 2025. Mid tone gold. Aroma is margarine, butter, hints of ripe banana and passionfruit. A little airy and a little spiky. I feel like I can detect corn from an underlying bourbon cask more than the spirit itself. Very simplistic and generic. Body is watery+. Taste is grain-led, vanilla and bready grains, touch of plasticky wood extract, becoming just slightly bitter and ‘planky’ towards the finish. But mostly buttercandy, vanilla sweetness cut through with spirit. Waxy finish Mostly just like drinking pure vanilla. A basic dram that comes across a little on the young side and with a strong focus on simplistic cask character rather than spirit, which makes it quite generic. Okay though – sort of bang average. 3.4/81 REVEAL: Cotswold Single Malt, 46%.

It's a taste that I'm looking forward to in the future. The creamy texture and scent are impressive.

Decent, especially considering the price..