[Review] Bimber - King's Cross St Pancras 58.5%

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After the Macallan edition 6 and the Yamazaki 12 from the 1980’s, @mark_littler_ltd is sharing the Bimber King’s Cross St Pancras from their Spirit of the Underground series.

As with the previous bottles, this one is going to go on a little journey to meet many whisky reviewers. It’s already stopped @swedishwhiskygirl @nononsensewhisky and @thisiswhiskywednesday so make sure to check their take on this bottle!

Now let’s focus on this incredibly tall bottle from London’s Bimber distillery.

I discovered Bimber through samples sent by the distillery about 2 years ago. Nobody had heard about them but I thoroughly enjoyed these 3 year-old whiskies, with the virgin oak being my favourite. Fast forward 2 years, Bimber’s popularity has exploded, bottles sell out in no time and I’ve still not managed to pick one up.

Their latest releases are based on London Tube stations with 4 already out. So far they’re all ex-bourbon single casks. This one was bottled in May 2021 at 58.5% from cask 129 with only 259 bottles available.


My tasting notes

Nose: Fruity and slightly spirity, citrus, lemon, barley sweetness, oak and vanilla, fizzy sweets, sour jelly, hints of pine and cedar wood


Palate: Sweet and sour, bitter, quite astringent, oak spice, under-ripe grapefruit, getting more and more bitter after each sip, verging on acidic. With a bit of time in the glass I get a bit more caramel, vanilla and some resinous notes but it’s still sucking moisture out of my mouth!


Finish: Very drying with grapefruit bitterness and pine sap. Nothing too memorable…


With water: The nose is sweeter and less artificial with added oak and toffee notes. The palate gets more sour jelly and cedar notes, still spicy though. The finish gains in sweetness a little but there’s still a grapefruit rind bitterness.


I definitely recognised some of the Bimber vibe I encountered and liked in the samples 2 years ago, however, I am glad I didn’t try to buy one of these. It isn’t a bad whisky but at £125 a bottle there’s definitely way better out there. I also liked the fact Bimber were trying to deter people from collecting/flipping their bottles but they seem to have lost this spirit in the underground…


Slainte all!


Thanks again to Mark for sharing these bottles and allowing us to try whisky we would probably not have tried otherwise!

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