Omar Single Malt Sherry Cask

One pour and done – Misses the mark

DISTILLERY	Nantou Distillery
REGION	Nantou City, Taiwan
AGE	NAS
STRENGTH	46% ABV (92 Proof)
MASHBILL	100% Malted Barley
MSRP	$45 on K & L but $83 – 95 elsewhere

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GLANCE

Clear with medium intensity. Dark gold with a earthen clay hue

NOSE

The sherry influence is very evident as expected! Clean and light to medium intensity. Toffee, caramel candy, notes of ripening mango, and banana peel but its mixed in with this machine oil or glue note. Some spices and fruit citrus oils (maybe orange?)

PALATE

Medium sweetness and water texture. Light to medium flavor intensity. Light plum (more raw) with notes of pear, dough, and oak. There is a consistent ethanol/medicinal/metallic bitterness that develops stronger as the liquid goes over the palate.

FINISH

Short and simple. The bitterness, metallic note follows through on the finish. Some generic dark fruits and drying.

CLOSING REMARKS

Omar comes to us from the Nantou distillery which is nestled in the mountainous central interior or Taiwan. The whisky is met with intense tropical aging similarly to what is seen with whiskies in some parts of India. They are generally aged for 4-5 years with an angel share average of 6-7%. Their long fermentation helps produce the fruity distillate.

From Malt-Review.com

“The barley Nantou uses are sourced from England and Scotland. Most of their non-peated barley is from England. The majority of the peated barley comes from Scotland. Fermentation takes place in stainless steel washbacks for 72 hours. On average 24 hours longer than most Scottish distilleries! Yes! The yeast is a French distilling variety and the resulting wash is around 7 – 8% abv.”

“True to Scottish style, Nantou has 4 pot stills with 2 wash stills and the remaining are spirit stills. The wash stills yield a spirit of 30% abv. The 2nd distillation yields a new make spirit that has 60% to 75% abv. I didn’t know this, but Taiwan has whisky legislation. So, Nantou is required to water down the new make to lower than 60% abv, before putting it into casks.”

As, I continue to expand and try more world whiskies I was excited to try Omar for the first time after hearing such great things about Kavalan. Though they are separate distilleries Kavalan was putting Taiwanese whisky on the map. Omar whisky had significantly lower price of entry into trying Taiwanese whisky for the first time. So, I acquired a bottle on the whim and was excited when the nose was enticing and had me intrigued to taste the spirit. This is where the wheels fell of the wagon. Though there were some nice fruity flavors/spice trying to develop, the bitter/metallic taste kept cutting through and was honestly the dominating “flavor” from the end of the palate to the finish. At most big chain liquor stores this bottle gets sold closer to $100. This is not even a buy for me at $45. Maybe for some the off putting taste will not be such a large issue but for me it was quite significant. I will keep a lookout for other products coming from Nantou and see if it changes my mind on Omar whisky. Cheers!

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