Hopscotch is a release from Mad River that is produced in collaboration with breweries on the East Coast. Batch 3 of hopscotch is a collaboration with 14th Star Brewing Co. in St. Albans, VT. This is a bottle that I tried blind, and then was given the reveal afterwards.
Hopscotch Vermont Single Malt is on the higher end of craft whiskies for sure and with a few more years (and/or the use of large barrels) to let the oak round it out it could be a stellar whiskey.
Though sometimes nutty — almost like an amontillado sherry — the whiskey doesn’t pull any punches, finishing with power, at the expense of elegance and nuance.
Super sweet - lots of apples, pears, peaches and blueberry. Sweet, mega fruity, and that's almost it. Some ethanol, faint heat, light pepper. Mouthfeel is thin to medium.
Finish:
Short, a bit hot, but quickly wisps away. Sweet, lots of peach, apple, pear, a honey dew note that is super unique.
Overall:
This tastes young, mega fruity, sweet and fragrant. I think this may be another brandy or calvados, but it's really pleasant. I like it a lot and can only imagine the cocktail opportunities as well. Head on the chopping block I'm going to guess this is a younger calvados, around the 7 year mark, 42% ABV. I'm prepared to be very wrong.
Score:
80
By t8ke
Our in house critic rates spirits on a scale of 0-10 (10 best) and is aggregated the same as external sources