Dining

Maple sweetness and Oloroso define new Cotswolds Round Hill Harvest English whisky release

Cotswolds Distillery Harvest Round Hill and glass

A new limited-edition English single malt brings together ex-maple syrup and Oloroso casks with a subtle hint of peat.

Introducing Cotswolds Distillery’s Round Hill Harvest, the fifth expression in its popular Harvest Series.

Comprising 1,200 bottles, the release marries whisky matured in ex-maple syrup casks with Spanish oak Oloroso hogsheads.

The resulting dram is rich and full-bodied, with deep sweetness, orchard fruit and a whiff of smoke. It’s bottled at a punchy 55% ABV.

The Harvest Series pairs each annual whisky with artwork depicting the Cotswolds countryside. For Round Hill Harvest, the gift tube features a painting by local artist Jeffrey Pratt showing Round Hill, near Traitor’s Ford. The landscape has particular significance for Cotswolds Distillery founder Dan Szor, who was inspired to establish the distillery after seeing fields of golden barley growing near his home.

The Luxe Review has had an early sample of the release, and it’s quite the flavour bomb…

The whisky is rich and full-bodied, with deep sweetness, orchard fruit and a whiff of smoke…

Cotswolds Distillery Round Hill Harvest tasting notes

Inspired by Pratt’s painting, Cotswolds whisky maker Alice Pearson selected and married ex-maple syrup casks with Spanish oak Oloroso hogsheads. This union is immediately apparent on the nose, which offers aromas of sweet maple syrup and ripe fruit. 

The palate is similarly bright and lively, with salted caramel, toffee apples and sweet bacon snacks. The mouthfeel is warm and oily.

“ I find that many landscapes can have a subdued and calm feel, but this painting has an injection of fun and wonder which is supported by the composition as well as the use of flashes of bright colour.” says Pearson. “I wanted to make a whisky which reflects this, one that combines careful, technical composition with a splash of unpredictability and a relaxed, fun feel.” 

Cotswolds Round Hill Harvest Single Malt Whisky sells for £110. It’s available exclusively from the Cotswolds Distillery website, the distillery shop and satellite stores in Broadway and Bourton-on-the-Water.

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Glenmorangie has released its oldest-ever whisky, a 50 year old single malt made with some of the last batches of barley malted in the distillery’s own floor maltings before they were decommissioned in 1977. The whisky is limited to 149 bottles, each presented in a bespoke porcelain vessel created by American ceramic artist Peter Pincus.…

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About Steve May

Creator of Home Cinema Choice magazine, and Editor of The Luxe Review, Steve muses and reviews for Trusted Reviews, T3, Home Cinema Choice, Games Radar, Good Housekeeping, Louder Sounds, StereoNet and Boat International. He’s also the editor of professional home cinema website Inside CI. He's on Twitter/X, Tiktok and Instagram as @SteveMay_UK