The Duchess Worthy Park High Ester WPH 2015

The Duchess bottled this 2015 Worthy Park, marque WPH, as a single cask, aged seven years in ex-bourbon and held at a hefty cask strength 63.1%. WPH is Worthy Park's high-ester mark, pushing the single-estate distillery toward the funkier end of its normally polished range, so this is a louder, rougher Worthy Park than its WPL or WPM bottlings.

Distilled on pot still from molasses, it noses on glue, ester, tropical fruit and a fresh lift, with overripe fruit, banana, spice and papaya behind, the funk markers front and centre. The palate turns woody, alcoholic, pear-like and herbal over light wood, the finish woody, medicinal, mineral and spicy. At 63.1% the alcohol is forceful and not perfectly integrated, which suits its unapologetic, full-proof character. Unsweetened and bottled from a single barrel, this is a value-forward high-ester Worthy Park for funk seekers, equally at home as a bold neat pour or powering a cocktail where its glue-and-pineapple punch cuts through.