Gauntleys has been highly commended once again in the 2013 Icons of Whisky ‘Whisky Retailer of the Year Single Outlet’ award in the Rest of the World catagory.

We are justifiably proud of this achievement and hope that we can win it next year!

GAUNTLEYS WHISKY NEWSLETTER NO55 – NOVEMBER 2012 

Dear Whisky Customers 

Welcome to the latest edition of the newsletter. As this will be the last one before Christmas, I would like to thanks you for your continued custom as well as wishing you all a pleasant festive season. 

Right, down to business then! We kick of this edition with the inaugural Gauntleys Whisky Awards for both distillery bottlings and Independent bottlings. So in September I looked back over the whiskies that I had tasted over the year and selected my top 12 in each category, which you will find on page 2 and 3, unless of course you are reading this on-line! 

If you have read the latest edition of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, then the topic that has raised his blood pressure is the continued use of sulphured whisky casks in the industry. I asked Jesus Barquin, the man behind the excellent Equipos Navazos range of sherries if there was an alternative to the use of sulphur candles for sterilizing casks after use. He mentioned that there was some talk of using ozone, but as yet there has been no studies conducted into its use. I would have thought that looking at using sulphur dioxide might be an option as that is widely used in the wine industry for sterilization, however that has to be used with caution as well as I have tasted numerous bottles that have a whiff of sulphur do to heavy handed use of it. 

So, I would have thought the answer is rather obvious. If you are spending hundreds of pounds on buying an empty sherry butt, then a few pounds more to buy the contents seems a no-brainer to me. I guess the main question is what to do with the sherry afterwards. Well as most casks destined for the whisky industry will be seasoned with what is called ‘Raya’, which is an inferior style of Oloroso, which is mainly used for sweetening cream sherry; it could be discarded, or re-used to refresh sherry casks at the distillery. Yes it might make the finished whisky a bit more expensive but I’m sure the consumer would be prepared to pay a little more, safe in the knowledge that the whisky hasn’t been ruined by sulphur. 

Another option would be to ship whisky out toSpainin say American oak casks and then fill it into fresh sherry butts when it arrives at the Bodega. As a number of distilleries have contracts with various sherry Bodega’s to supply them with casks, this shouldn’t be difficult to arrange. The only downside to this, apart from the additional shipping costs would be that ageing their whisky in Spain may have an affect upon the spirit that could distinctly alter the character of said whisky, but as most whisky filled into ex-Olorosos casks has absolutely zero distillery character whatsoever I can’t see that being a huge issue. 

Plus if the Bodgea is in Sanlucar de Barrameda orPuerto de Santa Mariaon the coast then any salty character in the spirit wouldn’t be lost as some of the finest, salty Fino sherries can be found resting in Bodegas in both of those towns. 

This practice would also allow distilleries access to a wide range of sherry butts other than the ubiquitous Oloroso. I have tasted some exceptional Fino’s, Manzanilla’s and Amontillado’s bottled by Equipos Navazos that have such a sublime complexity that I imagined a distillery would kill to acquire one of those casks. So there you have a few thoughts of mine on how to alleviate the over use sulphur and hopefully the preponderance of sulphur ruined whisky that is being bottled. 

What annoys me more than a sulphured sherry casked whisky is the continuing disparaging view of the travel retail market by the whisky industry. Yes you can argue that some distilleries bring out lavishly boxed expressions for that market, but many view it as excuse to dump dreadful casks, because they wrongly believe that real whisky drinkers don’t buy their whisky in travel retail emporiums. Well they do! 

So that leads me on to page 6, where you will find two bottlings that have jointly won this months ‘Axis of Evil Award’ for dodgy bottlings. One because it is frankly a sulphur ruined mess and the other is typical of some of the dreadful spirit bottled as a travel retail ‘exclusive’. Both distilleries concerned should be ashamed that they have released such rubbish. 

Right, rant over with! On pages 7 to 12 you will find my report on this year’s Independent Bottlers Challenge, which was promised in the last issue of the newsletter. Elsewhere in the newsletter you will find me notes on the releases from Douglas Laing and Dewar Rattray over the last couple of months along with my tasting notes on some American whiskey (page 15) and Irish whiskey (page 18) that have passed my way recently, plus as always my round up of everything else, which starts on page 18. 

And finally, back to the Good Dram Show. On page 14, you find my notes on all of the bottling’s from the Penderyn distillery, which I reviewed in Episode 29 of the show. So all that’s left is to wish you all a very happy Christmas and that I hope that you will find that Santa or one of his little helpers has filled your stocking with an exceptional bottle or two!

As you all know I’m not particularly given to the routine scoring of whiskies, unless I’m judging a competition of course, but the boss said. “Why don’t you do a top 20 whiskies for the website?” “Go on, it’ll be a bit of fun!” 

So. I gave it some though and had a look back through this year’s tasting notes and decided that it would only be fair to do two lists, one for Independent bottling and one for distillery bottlings. 

Looking back through this year’s dramming, I can safely say that I have been fortunate to taste some truly outstanding distillery bottlings. Being part of the judging team for the World Whisky Awards certainly meant that I was exposed to some seriously excellent whiskies, and obviously that was the starting point for compiling the top 12. We have also started to source more of our distillery bottlings direct from the producers, which has again given me access to samples of some superb bottlings by the likes of Balblair, Tomatin, Glencadam and Pulteney to name a few. 

A number of you will already know which was my standout bottling of the year as I posted the results on to the blog on our website, but for those of you that don’t, scoring a very respectable 9.8, it was the …… 

Balblair 1965 (43 year old) 52.3%

All I can say is that it is a truly stunning whisky, and I am very grateful to the distillery for sending me a sample. It narrowly edged out the Glenfiddich 40 year old and the Tomatin 1982 (28 year old) and they weren’t bad either!

Balblair 1965 (43 year old) 52.3%

Single American Oak Sherry Cask

Dist: Mar 1965 Btl: 2008/Tasted Sept 2012

As many of you will be aware from reading my newsletters I get to taste a whole lot more Independent bottlings than distillery ones, so I took as my starting point this years Independent Bottlers Challenge notes and worked through each months bottlings until I had whittled them down to a manageable amount. I can safely say that all the Independents that we work with have bottled some exceptionally good drams, so there was a lot of head scratching and cogitating in order to finally select the stand-out bottlings of 2012 but I think that there 12 stood out. 

Eventually one rose to the top, and that, scoring 9.8 points was………… 

Douglas Laing Directors Cut North British 1960 (50 year old) 57.1%

Bourbon/ Code: DIR0017/ Dist: Jul 1960 Btl: June 2012/ Tasted: June 2012

There are some whiskies that have such a complex nose that it takes quite a while to unpick them, and this is one of them. The aromas are ever changing and kaleidoscopic in character. Without a doubt this is the finest old grain whisky I have had the pleasure of tasting. 

The nose opens with a serious intensity of herbal oak, which has an almost Oloroso cask richness. Oily, viscous, liquid dark toffee and molasses follow. There’s liquorice coated dried fruit by the bucketful along with hints of tobacco. The grain nips rather pleasantly adding spice and balance. As it opens up the oak takes on a big, Bourbon-like sheen (in fact if I didn’t know what it was you would be forgiven for thinking this was an old Bourbon as there is a definite old wheat/ corn/ rye complexity going on here!) Oh and it positively reeks of maturity. There’s a touch of camphor, lime and dark tea leaves now along with some slightly creamy Colombian coffee and a touch of chlorine. Damn, this is truly stunning! 

Wonderfully soft and mature on the palate with oak vanillins and tannins, shot through with some gorgeously spicy grain. Hints of toffee, liquorice, mocha and burnt wood follow. The silky dried fruits have a rum-like quality to them along with a more Cognac-esque rancio. The oils build trying to counteract the grains as they hammer the mid palate. Wow, this is a serious hit! Buckets of warming spice and sweet dried fruit are deposited on the tongue. Hugely concentrated and amazingly long with a silky, cocoa bean after-taste. Yes it’s expensive, but it’s a monumental dram! 

It was pushed hard by the Dewar Rattray Bunnahabhain 1974 (37 year old) 43%, which I raved about in episode 6 of the Good Dram Show but in the end that wonderful old grain deserved to be my Independent Bottling of 2012.

The final results were as follows: 

1. Douglas Laing Directors Cut North British 1960 (50 year old) 57.1% (9.8)

2. Dewar Rattray Bunnahabhain 1974 (37 year old) 43% (9.6)

3. Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Tomintoul 1971 (40 year old) 50% (9.5)

4. Douglas Laing Directors Cut Dufftown 1982 (30 year old) 51.7% (9.4)

5. Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Inchgower 1982 (30 year old) 50% (9.35) 

6. Mackillop’s Choice Highland Park 1991 (21 year old) 52.7% (9.3)

7. Dewar Rattray Strathmill 1989 (22 year old) 58.6% (9.25)

8. Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Aultmore 1982 (30 year old) 50% (9.2)

9. Douglas Laing Directors Cut Bunnahabhain 1991 (20 year old) 49.6% (9.15)

10. Douglas Laing Directors Cut Glenallachie 1972 (40 year old) 56.8% (9.1)

11. Whiskies of Scotland (Single Malts Direct) Isle of Arran 1999 (12 years old) 53.1% (9.05)

12. Mackillop’s Choice Highland Park 1988 (23 year old) 50.8% (9.0) 

Whilst we are talking about Independent bottlers, you may have seen that we have now started stocking some bottlings from Mackillop’s Choice, which I reviewed in the last newsletter. 

The ones I have chosen are the Tormore 1990 (22 year old) 52% £86.95, the Caol Ila 1981 (30 year old) 56.9% £127.95 as well as the Highland Park 1991 (21 year old) 52.7% £92.95, which I thought would make an excellent addition to the range. 

And still on the subject of Independent bottler’s I was contacted by Blackadder International the other day as they are keen to work with us again. As you may remember we did stock some of their whiskies a few years ago but back then as we were not selling anything like the quantity that we are today it was hard to make the minimum case orders up, so when unfortunately we let them go. Anyway I hopping that they will send me some samples of their current range, and maybe, who knows, I may well have to find some more shelf space, or floor space! – If anything comes of this then obviously you will be the first to know. 

Rum! As per usual if you are reading this on whisky Intelligence then you won’t be reading this bit! 

Back in April of last year I was introduced to the rather excellent Ron Zacapa Centenario Solera 23 40% which blew me away, so when a good friend gave me an unlabled bottle which contained some dark liquid I was intrigued. From the first nosing I could tell that it was a rum, but not any old rum, a relatively old and complex rum. 

Now I could say that I nailed it in one but that would be stretching the truth somewhat! I guessed that it could have been from eitherBarbadosorTrinidadgiven the richness and it must have been in the range of 15 to 20 years old. As it turns out I was wrong on the location as Ron Zacapa is produced inGuatemala, but there or thereabouts with regards to the age. I must admit that I didn’t really detect any of the finishing cask, but I can say it is absolutely stunning! 

Ron Zacapa Centenario XO Solera Grand Reserva Especial 40% – (website price £101.95)

From spirits aged between 6 and 25 years aged in a combination of ex Bourbon, Sherry and Pedro Ximinez casks before being finished in ex-Cognac casks.

Tasted: Aug 2012 

A soft, venerable rancio of dried fruit, demerara sugar with a slight herbal spirit note. Lovely depth of candied fruit, dark treacle with a distinct liquor like character and a late wood smoke note. With time some agricole-esque herbal grainy spirit notes appear along with a touch of camphor which floats above the dense dried fruit core. 

The palate is extremely luscious with plenty of mature but edgy dried fruit. Full of coffee, treacle, dark honey along with a lovely aged rancio. Very full and mouth coating with liquorice and a late agricole-esque herbal note The alcohol balances well and just about offsets the rich sweetness. Very long, finishing quite crisp and clean with hints of dark toffee and dark chocolate. Very complex and well balanced. [tasted blind] 

Matusalem 15 year old Gran Reserva 40%

Tasted: Sept 2012

This was not what I was expecting. I was under the impression that Matusalem was a big, robust, sweet Rum in theEl Doradostyle, but it wasn’t! Initially the nose is very slightly spirity with plenty of sub-agricole/ grain-esque notes followed by hints of tobacco, liquorice and some dried fruit lingering at the edges. With time some sweet oak vanillins appear. 

The palate is quite dry and again initially dominated by the sub-agricole/ sweet-floral grain character. Slowly it unwinds to show a pleasant complexity of sweet dried fruit – prune and sultana on the middle along with hints of pure vanilla pod. Quite elegant and again not what I was expecting. Good length with a woody tobacco leaf and peppery spice finish along with a light oak bitterness. 

As our main rum supplier has been out of stock of the rather fabulous Haitian Barbancourt 8 year old for most of the year the rum I thought it was about time I looked for a replacement agricole. I remember reading that there was an allegedly excellent agricole produced in Martinique by theTrois Rivieresdistillery and upon tasting both the 5 year old and the single cask bottling I was blown away. Unfortunately the 5 year old isn’t as inexpensive as the barbancourt, but if you love a good agricole then you should definitely give it a go. 

Trois Rivieres 5 year old 40% – (website price £57.85)

Tasted: Sept 2012

A seriously intense and pungent nose. Aromas of thick liquorice and loads of Bourbon oak greet the sense. The argicole rancio puts me in mind of a good rye whisky with the buzzy spice and medicinal camphor freshness. Really complex and intriguing with some late pepper, iodine and bandage notes. 

The palate is lighter than the nose would lead you to believe, but no less complex. There is more of the agricole rancio with a touch of spice and buckets of medicinal camphor, followed by hints of liquorice, rubber and thick cane sugar juice. Very long with the Bourbon oak, which until now just added weight coming through pleasantly and a return of the vegetal dried fruit. Superb stuff! 

Trois Rivieres ‘Fut Unique – Single Cask’ 44.8% – (website price £87.40)

Missouri Oak cask 124/ Dist: Oct 1998 Btl: 2008/ Tasted: Sept 2012

A deep, dark, brooding nose which displays a pungency akin to a peated Rye Whisky with a light medicinal vegetal rancio. Stunningly deep and thick with herbal liquorice coated dried fruit, vanilla and a touch of wood smoke. 

The palate is lighter and subtler with more of the herbal agricole spirit showing and less of the oak. Hints of dusty, damp dunnage floors mingle with that beautiful spicy rye like notes. Seriously intense and mouth-filling with a fair degree of wood tannins, which are to certain extent balanced by the liquorice and sweet dried fruit. Exceptionally long, with a powerful medicinal, band-aid, iodine, and dry, dusty spice finish. Absolutely stunning. Monumental stuff! 

Back in September I received an email from a pr company called Love Drinks, asking if I’d like to taste a sample of theEl Dorado21 year old. 10 guess what I said! 

Anyway the advertising spiel said that “El Dorado 21 year old scored the highest mark ever to be awarded to a rum (98/100) at the 2007 Beverage Tasting Institute of Chicago & has won ‘Gold Best in Class’ at the 2006, 2007, 2008, 2009, 2010, 2011 International Wine & Spirit Competition alongside a Gold Medal at the International Rum Festival in Canada.” 

Did you know that they had an international Rum Festival Canada? No me neither, but I digress! So having tasted the 15 year old some time ago I was more than willing to give the 21 year old a shot. And guess what. It’s amazingly good! It takes the 15 year old and really turns up the complexity. Yes it isn’t cheap, but if you love your dark rum’s it is definitely worth trying. 

El Dorado 21 year old 43% – (website price £85.85)

From Spirits aged between 21 and 25 years. Distilled in wooden Pot and Continuous Stills

Tasted Oct 2012

A stunning, dark and unctuous bouquet of liquorice, mocha, tobacco and dark spices along with an uplifting light vegetal spirit note. Very venerable with a touch of sawdusty oak coming through along with notes of iodine, molasses, dark toffee. Seriously deep and multi-layered. 

The palate is rich and dark, displaying liquorice, raisins, tobacco and a light dark chocolate note before moving into sweet dried fruit, bitter dark coffee. Very mouth-filling with a middle redolent of barky/ woody spices and walnuts. The molasses and demerara sweetness balances the bitterness adroitly. Very deep and exceedingly long, finishing with a lingering, slightly herbal spirit note and a slightly floral after-taste. Absolutely stunning! 

A COUPLE OF NEW ‘PHROAIG’S 

I was recently given a sample by a good friend of the new travel retail bottling of Laphroaig, which replaces the Triple wood, as it has become part of their regular line-up and quite pleasant it is too. The sample came in an unlabeled bottle so I had absolutely no idea as to what its contents were. I deduced that it was anIslay, possibly a Laphroaig and possibly a vatting as it appeared to have both young and old components. I definitely didn’t realise it was a PX finish as it is well integrated and came across as quite a sweet ‘phroaig! So hats off to Laphroaig for creating something rather pleasant for the travellers. 

Another good friend gave me a sample of this years Laphroaig Feis Ile bottling, this time I knew exactly what it was. It was ok to be honest. The oak had definitely gotten hold of the spirit and as you will see from my notes it had blunted the peat character and does bitter the finish somewhat, but it was still an enjoyable ‘phraoig. 

Laphroaig No Age Statement ‘Pedro Ximinez Finish 48%

Travel Retail 1ltr

Matured in Maker’s Mark casks then 7-9 months in quarter casks, followed by 12 months maturing in Pedro Ximenez sherry casks.

Tasted: Aug 2012

A pungent, oily nose of rock pools, rubber, brine and plenty of pure marzipan. Lightly medicinal peat with a touch of tar along with some youthful cereal notes. Very full and rounded with a late manure and earth note. Very entertaining with the PX cask adding a slight sweetness which is definitely in the background and adds a sweetness and fullness top the nose. 

The palate is soft and quite sweet and sticky with gentle, slightly medicinal; peat, bog myrtle and salt cutting through the oak and PX sweetness. Quite dense and softly fruited with a touch of spice. Long, slightly mouth-watering finish with a serious herbal finale. 

It has a reasonable degree of alcohol, 46%?, probably 10-12 year old Laphroaig or a vatting as there feels like there is some mature spirit at its core [tasted blind] Good length with the peat smoke entwined with the sweet PX fruit. Quite a sticky finish which is almost but not quite cloying. 

Laphroaig Cairdeas Origins 51.2%

Bourbon Casks and Quarter Casks

Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Nov 2012

I believe this is a 50:50 vatting of 13 to 21 year old spirit matured in Bourbon Casks with 7 year old spirit aged in Quarter Casks. It’s an interesting if slightly curious nose. By ‘phroaig standards it’s very subtly peated and fairly heavy on the creamy oak, which maybe dampening the peat to certain extent. However it still has plenty of iodine, fish, brine and midnight violet notes. You can definitely see the core of mature spirit at work here along with the younger spirit adding a touch of creamy barley and porridge oats. 

The palate is soft and creamy as the oak shows first. It certainly has a mature fullness along with a fresh, youthful edge. Like the nose the peat is slightly blunted but does show some medicinal character along with notes of barley, iodine and tar on the middle. The oak grips and bitters the finish. Along with the salinity it makes for a rather dry ending. In saying all of that it is still a very enjoyable dram.

So this months ‘Axis of Evil Award’ for dodgy bottlings is shared between these two releases, both for the same reasons. That reason is – wholly inaccurate and misleading ‘official’ tasting notes. 

The first, the Glendronach 19 year old is just a sulphur ruined mess. Now you can sort of forgive a minor sulphur blemish, but for the life of me I can’t see why a distillery that prides itself on its sherry matured bottlings let this one get through its quality control checks. The distillery’s tasting note reads like this: 

Nose: An avalanche of honey, vanilla and sultanas.

Palate: A magnificent combination of honey, figs and raisins, followed by oak-wood and spices. 

The reality of tasting it is shall we say somewhat different and it makes me wonder if whoever came up with these tasting notes for both whiskies were living on another planet or tasting something completely different! And I really wouldn’t recommend that you buy either to find that out! 

Glendronach 1993 (19 year old) 54.2%

Sherry Cask 487/ Dist: Feb 1993 Btl: July 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012

A very sulphured, eggy nose with some Oloroso dried fruit, cardboardy spice and fusty notes. 

The palate is so sulphur ruined its untrue; yes there is some dried fruit, sweet prune and musty wood spice but essentially all one can taste is fusty sulphur! Surly the distillery could have picked a better cask to bottle, and to think this is retailing for £76……….. You are having a laugh! 

Next up is theHighland Park‘Leif Erikson release. Now what angers me most about this bottling is that it is yet another example of the whisky industry jaundiced view of the travel retail market. It seems to be of the opinion that ‘proper’ whisky drinkers don’t buy their whisky in airports! 

It would appear to me that the travel retail market along with the miniature market is seen as a dumping ground for ropey old casks. Don’t these distilleries realise the damage they are doing to their brands, when they foist this utter rubbish off on to the general public or are they too arrogant to care? Anyway the ‘official’ tasting note for this the whisky from the marketing bods at Edrington describes it thus: 

Nose: A honey-tinged sweetness of orange blossom on the nose with suggestions of vanilla, spicy dried oak, mango and melon.

Taste: Soft vanilla and sweet barley on the palate with a hint of grape. Finish: A finish of Muscovado sweetness balanced by wisps of Orcadian peat smoke. 

Highland Park ‘Leif Erikson Release’ 40%

Sherry and Bourbon seasoned ex-American oak

Tasted: Oct 2012

A rough and ropey nose, with plenty of wet cardboard and earthy, murky almost sulphourous notes. Is this reallyHighland Park? It seems to me that someone has replaced the contents with Tobermory! 

The palate is equally as poor. Wet cardboard and murky citrus with a touch of honey. This is so rough it’s unbelievable! Was it matured in Leif Erikson’s jock strap? There’s no fruit, no depth and finishes with a bitter acerbic note.

As promised in the last newsletter, here is my report from this year’s Whisky Magazine Independent Bottlers Challenge. This year I was given the Campbeltown and Islands (Non Islay) categories to judge along with the journalist Lucy Britner and Michael Foggarty owner of the iconicDublinpub L. Mulligan Grocer. As you probably know we have to taste each whisky blind, the only information we have is the age and the alcoholic strength. We then have to score them out of 10 and do the tasting note in the whisky magazines style.  

As you can see for the 12 years old and under category we would appear to have marked both whiskies pretty much the same. Neither bottlings were going to set the world on fire but I think that the Cadenhead’s bottling definitely edged it.  

CAMPBELTOWN 

 12 YEARS OLD & UNDER 

 My Score – 7.3 

Medal Awarded (GOLD) 

Cadenhead’s Duthies Glen Scotia 12 year old 46% 

July 2012 – Refill Sherry (?)  

Nose: Initially the nose is quite woody, but those aromas dissipate quickly to leave a dense, fleshy apricot along with hints of herbal marc and youthful cereal giving a key to its age. With time some soapy refill sherry aromas appear.  

Palate: Again slightly woody and quite creamy with subtle apricot and salt. Fairly straightforward, but a good depth.  

Finish: Good length with a slightly spicy and salty finish.  

Conclusion: A relatively pleasant malt, but for me a tad too young.  

My Score – 7.0 

Medal Awarded (SILVER) 

Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Glen Scotia) 93.45 An Unusual Sweetie Shop 11 year old 57.6% 

July 2012 – Refill Sherry(?)  

Nose: Intense, high toned and slightly soapy aromas of apricot, salt and what appears to be some light refill sherry spices. With time hints of earth and malt vinegar appear. Water brings out some pleasant orange and peat notes but emphasises the soapiness.  

Palate: Dry and woody but pleasantly sweetly malted. Mainly refill sherry notes – liquorice, treacle and spice. Water softens the palate and the sweetness has become rather granulated sugar like. A bit simpler now though.  

Finish: Dry and quite tannic on the finish but pleasantly mouth-watering. Water lengthens and emphasises the salt and light peat.  

Conclusion: Another relatively pleasant, young Campbeltown malt. A bit soapy and insubstantial with water.  

13 – 20 YEARS OLD

Again it would appear that we were in agreement as to which were the standout three bottlings in this category. The Cadenhead’s Longrow was excellent and in my opinion head and shoulders above the competition. The Malts of Scotland Geln Scotia was ok; like I said in my conclusion it was all sherry, but very clean sherry. TheBerry’s Springbank was an average, if slightly raw expression, but again the sherry was exceptionally clean.  

My Score – 8.9 

Medal Awarded (GOLD) 

Cadenhead’s Longrow 13 year old 55% 

July 2012 – Bourbon  

Nose: Intense, pungent and fishy. Cod liver oil mixed with earthy peat and a touch of medicinal iodine. It could almost be anIslay, in fact it reminds of Bowmore in its fishy guise! Really complex with hints of kerosene, coal dust, brine and light apricot. Very pleasant, Water makes the aromas cleaner and less peaty but still fishy! Some juicy orange is now released.  

Palate: Dry and a touch on the alcoholic side. Earthy and smoky with plenty of peat, tar, light toffee and salt. A drop of water makes the palate fuller and fruitier by softening the alcohol. The peat is less intense but it’s still quite robust and mouth-filling.  

Finish: A reasonable length with a return of the medicinal notes and a dry, slightly bitter ending. Dilution lengthens and makes the finish a lot sweeter. It now shows a touch ofparmaviolets and gentle smoke although the oak still bitters slightly.  

Conclusion: Wonderfully complex and intense, could only be Longrow (delete that if I’m wrong!) 

 My Score – 7.3 

Medal Awarded (SILVER) 

Malts of Scotland Glen Scotia 1992 (20 year old) 51.9% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: A dense, leafy, first fill Oloroso nose. Redolent of onion skin, earth and malt. Robust and deep, but for the purist (me!) lacking distillery character. Very woody with hints of dried fruit and vanillins. Water gives the aromas an intimation of fishiness but not much else.  

Palate: Very dry, very wood and very tannic. Quite brawny with earthy-coffee sherry, a touch of dried fruit and smoked meat. Dilution makes the palate softer and sweeter. Showing more dried fruit now along with a light sulphur twang and green wood.  

Finish: Slightly floral marzipan coated dried fruit. Slightly chocolatey but like the palate very dry and bitter. With water it is still very dry and a touch less complex.  

Conclusion: All sherry and no trousers. A bit dry, bitter and alcoholic.  

My Score – 7.1 

Medal Awarded (BRONZE) 

Berry‘s Brothers Own Selection Springbank 1994 (16 year old) 55% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: Quite dense, herbal and woody aromas with hints of ripe orange, chocolate, liquorice and camphor.  

Showing some maturity and a slightly fishy, salty twang. With time a slightly medicinal  note appears along with some phenolic peat.  

Palate: Gentle and slightly woody on the palate. Gentry sweet sherry fruit mingles with liquorice, chocolate and a touch of darkly roasted coffee. The spirit is a smidge on the raw side and has quite a grainy feel to it, but some light honey just about balances.  

Finish: Good length which is basically a continuation of the palate. Slightly salty with a dry, woody after-taste.  

Conclusion: Again a pleasant malt, just a bit raw on the palate though. 

So on to the rest – a sulphur tainted SMWS Springbank and a homogenous and insubstantial Springbank from Single Malts Direct. Pass! 

My Score –  6.8 

Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Springbank) 27.97 Glazed Cashews and Lemon Lollies 13 year old 57.6% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: Stinky, slightly sulphurous and raw first fill Oloroso aromas. Hints of chocolate and no shortage of alcohol. With time there is a slight fishiness and a suggestion of peat. Water brings out plenty of raisinated fruit, earth and loam. Thankfully that sulphur note has dissipated. Slightly oily now with warm spice notes.  

Palate: Sweet, malty and all wood – Liquorice, treacle and wood tannins by the bucketful. Water makes the palate mirror the nose and also brings out a touch of burnt wood.  

Finish: Very intense and spicy with a slight herbalness and a dry after-taste. Water doesn’t make much of a change maybe brining out a touch of violets but not mitigating the tannins.  

Conclusion: Raw sherry an no distillery character. To be honest the palate is a bit dull when diluted.  

My Score –  6.7 

Whiskies of Scotland (Single Malts Direct) Springbank 15 year old 56.6% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: A dense, toffee’d sherry nose. Slight herbal with some very pure, lush orange fruit along with hints of earth, manure, peat, tarred rope, salt and rough vanillins. Water flattens and makes it somewhat homogenous.  

Palate: Soft, toffee’d sherry with a chocolatey edge. Over endowed with wood spices but the intrusive alcohol stops any further evolution. A drop of water makes it rather watery and insubstantial.  

Finish: Alcoholic with very butter, green wood notes. Water brings out a touch of peat and sweet honey.  

Conclusion: Neat it is overly alcohol dominated, but insubstantial when diluted.  

21 + YEARS OLD  

And here is where we disagree, although not on the best bottling it has to be said. The Scott’s Selection Glen Scotia, although not exactly brilliant, as you can see from my tasting notes, but it was just about good enough to take the gold medal. How the other two judges scored the grubby, tannic and alcoholic Single Malts Direct Glen Scotia above the only very slightly blemished Wemyss Glen Scotia I have no idea, but that’s whisky for you! 

My Score –  7.9 

Medal Awarded (GOLD) 

Speyside Distillers Scott’s Selection Glen Scotia 1991 (21 year old) 53.8% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: Aromas of earthy, musty spice, walnuts and raisins. Quite perfumed with hints of honeysuckle, herbal marc and a slightly soapy note. Still quite complex with hints of green nut shell, light peat and a late appearance of some bright orange fruit and fishy notes. Water makes it lighter and less complex.  

Palate: The palate opens with light coffee, dusty spices and gentle wood tannins. Lightly peated with earth and some mature sherry cask infused citrus. Lightly oiled with the earthy peat building rather pleasantly. Water makes it a touch lighter, like the nose but brings out some lovely demerera sugar sweetness, but the herbal marc-like spirit is more evident too.  

Finish: A lovely mature finish with tannins becoming quite dusty and herbal spirit showing its age. Water does actually length the finish, the dried fruit lingers and is joined by a light violet note.  

Conclusion: A lovely, venerable sherry cask. Not exactly perfect as the spirit is creaking a little bit, but maybe one is being a bit too  picky?  

My Score –  6.5 

Medal Awarded (SILVER) 

Whiskies of Scotland (Single Malts Direct) Glen Scotia 1991 (21 year old) 55.1% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: Intense, high tone, manure, slightly dirty sherry aromas with hints of boiled sweets and herbal marc-like spirit. The alcohol prickles and the overall impression is that it is too old and too spirit. A drop of water makes if slightly oily and fishy but doesn’t really improve it.  

Palate: Dry, tannic, woody and old. Lacking any semblance of complexity. Diluted it is slightly sweeter but again lacking in the complexity stakes.  

Finish: Quite an alcoholic finish, boiled sweets and herbal spirit. Water just emphasises the boiled sweet, confected, sherry sweetness.  

Conclusion: Very disappointing. This should’ve been bottled years ago!  

My Score –   7.5 

Medal Awarded (BRONZE) 

Wemyss Vintage Malts (Glen Scotia) Strawberry Ganache 21 year old 46% 

July 2012 – Sherry  

Nose: Pungent aromas of Amontillado-esque dried fruit. A seriously aged rancio of green nuts, liquorice, treacle, molasses and dried grape along with a slight sulphur note.  

With time it becomes slightly floral with the dried grape taking on a luscious sheen. Hints of earth but as expected not a lot of distillery character.  

Palate: The palate is quite gentle with green nuts, salt, treacle and plenty of dried grape and sultanas. Quite juicy and complex with the wood spices building to a crescendo. Very slightly sulphured with a touch of earth.  

Finish: Long with plenty of dried fruit along with a hint of violets, light cocoa bean and bitter oak on the finish.  

Conclusion: All sherry, albeit quite mature sherry, looses a few points for the slight sulphur blemish.  

The Whisky Magazine finally applies their own scoring system to the medal winners and the highest scoring bottling company is then awarded the overall regional category trophy. For the Campbeltown region that honour this year went to Cadenhead’s, so congratulations to them.  

ISLANDS (NON ISLAY) 

12 YEARS OLD & UNDER  

It would appear that we were all broadly in agreement as to which were the top two bottlings in this category. The Single Malts Direct Arran was simply stunning and even though it was tasted blind I was pretty sure it was anArran. I mean there are not too manyIslanddistilleries to choose from and not too many that have that broad, luscious, fruity character. Silver went to the SMWS Arran. As sherry casks go it was clean and pleasant.  

It was the bronze medal spot that we appear to have disagreed on. Personally I thought the Malts of Scotland Ledaig had the edge. Good grief, It’s a Ledaig! Where was the wet cardboard? Ok it was slightly inspid when you added a drop of water but by and large it was quite entertaining. The Chieftains Choice Jura was ok, but lacking personality and seemed rather oak dominated.  

My Score – 9.0 

Medal Awarded (GOLD) 

Whiskies of Scotland (Single Malts Direct) Isle of Arran 1999 (12 years old) 53.1% 

July 2012 – Bourbon  

Nose: A simply stunning nose! Very juicy with some straw-like apricot and tropical fruit opening, followed by loads of brine, manure and sweet vanillins. Slightly creamy with a touch of orange fruit. All that lovely, deep fruit contains the alcohol very well.  

With time it becomes quite perfumed and sumptuous. With water it becomes a touch more aromatic and possibly even juicier! So luscious and wonderfully balanced. Seems older though.  

Palate: The palate opens with plenty of rough edged barley, but a light honey drizzle sorts that roughness out. Really full and fleshy with an abundance of luscious tropical fruit and hints of crumbly spices. With water the barley takes on a lovely sugared sheen, and maybe it has calmed some of the tropical pyrotechnics, but it’s still lovely.  

Finish: A beautiful length showing some buttery, almost oaked chardonnay like notes on the finish. With water the oak is lessened a touch. 

Conclusion: A lovely, big, juicy, tropical malt. Absolutely stunning! (PossiblyArran?) 

My Score – 8.0 

Medal Awarded (SILVER)

 Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Arran) 121.51 Amazing Waves of Sweetness 9 year old 61.3%

July 2012 – Sherry 

Nose: Leafy, dusty, spicy Oloroso to begin with. Very clean with hints of dried fruit and perfumed peat. With time it becomes very perfumed. Water makes it a bit flat but brings out a treacly denseness. 

Palate: The palate opens with juicy, dried apricot, raisins and dried plums. Quite earthy with hints of liquorice and dark chocolate. Water flattens it just like the nose but it still retains some juiciness and treacly richness.

Finish: Quite mouth-watering alcoholic, but pleasantly spicy. With water it becomes longer with a beautiful golden honey sheen, gentle peat note and some wood tannins. 

Conclusion: Surprisingly for such a high abv it’s not at all spirity on the nose, there’s not a huge amount of discernible distillery character but the sherry is very clean. 

My Score –  7.1 

Medal Awarded (BRONZE) 

Ian Macleod & Co Ltd Chieftains Choice Isle of Jura 10 year old 46% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: Very powerful and pungent aromas of cereal marc. Quite alcoholic for 46% with a semblance of apricot fruit. With time it becomes quite oily with a slight fishiness and cream custard oak. Water just shows up its immaturity but does make it a bit fishier. 

Palate: Like the nose it has plenty of youthful cereal along with a slight greenness to the barley and hints of boiled barley sugar sweets. 

Pleasantly full with the creamy oak adding a bit of body. Water makes the palate oak dominated – toffee and caramel. 

Finish: Reasonable length but all barley and alcohol. Diluted it finishes with some crunchy sugar coated vanillins and light honeycomb. 

Conclusion: A bit immature. It seems not to have developed much character yet, or maybe it never will due to the first fill American oak? 

My Score – 7.4 

Malts Of Scotland Ledaig 2005 (9 year old) 53.6% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: A very pungent, raw nose of earthy peat and brine. Youthful and alcoholic. With time some slightly soapy, graphite and farmyard aromas emerge. With water there is a faint wet cardboard note. Still quite fishy and youthful. 

Palate: Lightly oiled cereal and gentle(ish) earthy peat. There is a touch of sweet barley husks but it’s extremely young. With water it becomes a bit watery, although some creamy oak has emerged. 

Finish: Ok length with a vegetal peat finish. Water makes it pleasantly sweet with a touch of smoke and violets. 

Conclusion: Relatively entertaining neat, but slightly insipid when diluted but a pleasant finish. In fact it all comes through on the finish, but that cardboard note seems to imply it’s a young Ledaig. 

13 – 20 YEARS OLD 

Once again we all seemed to be in agreement as to the medal winning bottlings. As a number of Independent bottlings ofHighland Parkcan be disappointing it was good to see that the SMWS Highland Park was far from that. It was a lovely whisky, showing some maturity and complexity. 

The silver medal quite rightly went to another Highland Park, from Douglas Laing, which could well be the bottling that they sent me a sample of in July, code: OMC2174, which as you know I decided to buy. We still have some stock of that bottling and the price is £68.95. Even if it’s not the same bottling, which I’m fairly certain it is, even though the tasting notes differ slightly, then it is equally as good! 

Bronze went to a shock, horror…. A Ledaig. Mind as I said in the tasting note it is pretty much all about the peat and sherry cask, but hats off to malts of Scotland for unearthing an enjoyable cask. 

My Score – 8.3 

Medal Awarded (GOLD) 

Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Highland Park) 4.157 Buttercup Meadows & Heather Moor Burn 15 year old 54.4% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: Quite a malty nose with a touch of balsamic, manure and slightly earthy peat. A lovely bracing, coastal freshness balances the old wood and fishy notes. With time a semblance of juicy orange fruit appears along with some creamy vanillins. Water brings out a lovely, light tropical banana and apricot. Quite full now, less briny and peaty but still wonderfully evocative. 

Palate: Gentle and mature, with the palate mirroring the nose – manure, light earthy peat, old wood, malt and balsamic notes. Water allows the mature fruit to emerge with a lovely honey coating. Really well balanced with some gentle wood spices and sugared moments. 

Finish: Good length with a slight butyric note and a touch of herbal spirit. Water lengthens, bringing out a gentle pepper note and emphasising its herbal character. 

Conclusion: A lovely oldIslandmalt, which does appreciate a little drop of water.

My Score – 8.2 

Medal Awarded (SILVER) 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Highland Park 1996 (15 year old) 50% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: An intriguing nose of succulent apricot and light, earthy peat. Showing some maturity with some lovely sugar coated barley. 

That light peat note languidly rifts in and out and with time a touch of citrus and woody spice notes appear. 

Palate: The palate is very juicy and sugar coated. Like the nose some gentle, earthy peaty rifts in along with salt, spice and wood tannins. Again showing some maturity and a lovely depth. 

Finish: Long and spicy with a mouth-watering coastal finish. 

Conclusion: A lovely mature malt, showing a lovely balance of flavours. Very harmonious. 

My Score – 8.1 

Medal Awarded (BRONZE) 

Malts Of Scotland Ledaig 1998 (14 year old) 61.2% 

July 2012 – Sherry 

Nose: A big, leafy, Oloroso and alcohol dominated nose. Some astringent, fishy notes attempt to counter the abundant dried fruit. Gently peated with a touch of manure, charcoal and rubber emerge with time as the Oloroso subsides a bit. Water does make the aromas seem a tad thinner and emphasises it’s stinky, manurey character. Seriously enjoyable though! 

Palate: Quite gentle but pungent. Burnt toffee and rubber mingles with the sherry wood. It’s a bit hard going to be honest with all that alcohol and wood tannins. A drop of water thankfully softens and does emphasise the peat and dries fruit but makes it feel a touch homogenous. 

Finish: Quite a sweetly peated finish. Mouth-wateringly intense give the high abv, but still reasonably long with some lingering peat smoke. Water lengthens and brings out a slight sugar coating and bonfire note. Still quite peaty! 

Conclusion: Neat it could be mistaken for anIslay. If one was being over critical it is all about the peat and sherry, but the sherry is exceedingly clean. 

So on to the rest. Both the Cadenhead’sArranand Single Malts Direct Jura were average whiskies, each with their good and bad points. The other Jura bottling from Ian Macleod was I’m afraid a bit old and grim. 

My Score – 7.6 

Cadenhead’s Arran 15 Years Old 56.9% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: A mature nose of straw, manure and dunnage warehouses, but there is also some pleasant, slightly perfumed white fruit, barley and honeysuckle notes. Very deep with a light, earthy peat note. With water a gorgeous liquid orange character emerges, but it does simplify it however. 

Palate:  The palate opens with the creamy/ milky oak followed by straw, earth, barley and mature fruit. Water makes it slightly watery and a tad homogonous, but still quite pleasant though. 

Finish: Very dry, alcohol and slat laden finish. Pleasantly juicy with a citrus after but it definitely need diluting. With water it’s ok. 

Conclusion: Quite an impressive, mature malt when neat, although the alcohol does mask the finish, but it becomes rather homogenous when water is added. 

My Score – 7.4 

Whiskies of Scotland (Single Malts Direct) Isle of Jura 1998 (14 year old) 53.8% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: The nose opens with plenty of earthy, straw-like fruit. Wonderfully fragrant with hints ofAssamtea, wood, balsamic vinegar and malt. With time some dusty spices and a suggestion of peat appears. With water the aromas are less complex and it seems very old. 

Palate: Soft and supple on the palate with macerated fruit, old wood, straw and intense, biting alcohol. With water the palate is gentler, fuller and slightly creamy, the reduction in alcohol has allowed the straw-like yellow fruits to make an appearance. Lovely maturity with hints of mature honeycomb and wood polish. 

Finish: Short and alcoholic, although there is a pleasant citrus and maple syrup note in the after-taste. With water it lengthens and brings out a touch of salinity. 

Conclusion: A relatively pleasant, mature malt. It tastes rather like an old Lowland with a slight coastal nuance. 

My Score – 6.5 

Ian Macleod & Co Ltd Chieftains Choice Isle of Jura 14 year old 43% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: Rather mature and earthy with old fruit and cereal. Hints of light pea, straw and oak. With time there is a slight perfumed note but it’s all a bit tired. 

Palate: The palate is a bit sugary, but there is more fruit than the nose suggests. Still old with cereal husks, straw and earth.

Finish: Good length with a mouth-wateringly spicy finish and a slight pepper note. 

Conclusion: Possibly a bit long in the tooth. Lacking fruit to offset the alcohol but a pleasant spicy finish. 

21 + YEARS OLD 

To be honest any of these three bottlings could have won the gold medal as the quality of all three was exceptionally good, which is one of the reasons I decided to start stocking the Mackillop’s Choice range. As you can see from my score I favoured that bottling ofHighland Parkover the Scott’s Selection and Single Malts Direct, but like I said all three were exceptional expressions of that distillery. 

My Score – 9.0 

Medal Awarded (GOLD) 

Speyside Distillers Scott’s Selection Highland Park 1989 (23 year old) 51.4% 

July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: A stunning depth of luscious, sub-tropical fruit – apricot. kiwi, lime and cereal all coated in a wonderfully light golden syrup. Broad and unctuous, this is a sublime nose! With time some creamy oak emerges along with a light floral note and some herbaceous character. 

With water the aromas become incredibly succulent, the tropical fruit aromas have been turned up to 11. Very complex with some juicy orange and hints of thyme now. Stunning stuff! 

Palate: The palate opens with the gently, softy tropical fruit mingling with the creamy oak and gentle, powdery spices. The oak takes on a delightful crème caramel character towards the middle, but the alcohol adroitly balances all that richness. A drop of water unfortunately only emphasises the oak. 

Finish: Very long with some salty, citrus notes. Water just emphasises the oak, just like the palate. 

Conclusion: A stunning malt neat, so there really is no need for water. It really seems timeless!

My Score – 9.3 

Medal Awarded (SILVER) 

Mackillop’s Choice Highland Park 1991 (21 year old) 52.7% 

Cask 8091/Dist: Dec 1991/ July 2012 – Bourbon 

Nose: Initially the nose is quite barky and woody with plenty of spice, malt and balsamic notes, but given time in the glass it settles down. Now some creamy oak emerges along with hints of violets and linseed putty. Wonderfully mature with a developing citrus seam. 

Palate: Gentle and again quite wood to begin with but the sheer weight of fruit following is more than able to stand up to those wood notes. Fleshy apricot, banana, Satsuma are joined by some light peat smoke, which although wispy does build rather pleasantly as does the creamy oak. A sublimely balanced palate! 

Finish: Very long with a touch of barbequed meat, gentle spices and a delightful salty twang. 

Conclusion: What can you say? Absolutely stunning stuff. Old Highland Parkperhaps? (again delete that if I’m wrong!) 

My Score – 9.0

 Medal Awarded (BRONZE) 

Whiskies of Scotland (Single Malts Direct) Highland Park 25 year old 52.7% 

July 2012 – Sherry 

Nose: Gentle, slightly perfumed, mature, first fill Oloroso aromas of juicy dried fruit cake with a delightful citrus rind note. Very complex with a lovely rancio of dates, lightly toasted raisins and prunes, coated in a light walnut syrup. Very clean, complex and very classy with some late charred wood and those spices becoming very dusty. A beautiful, mature sherry casked malt. 

Palate: The palate opens with some gorgeous, liquid, dark toffee, dates, prunes, raisins and liquorice, but a lovely, sharp, citrus twang balances. Wonderfully mature with a plenty of oxidative character. It does become a little drying as the tannins bite but that is to be expected at this age. 

Finish: Long finish, flecked with a touch of coal smoke and salinity. It becomes quite fresh as the salinity mingles with the citrus character. Beautifully balanced with a lovely violety after-taste. 

Conclusion: A lovely, mature, sherry cask. 

Thus the Islands (Non Islay) trophy went to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. 

DOUGLAS LAING SEPTEMBER BOTTLINGS 

It appears that September was a quiet month for Douglas Laing, with only two new bottlings in the Old Malt Cask Range both of which were pleasant expressions of those distilleries. 

The same can be said for the three new Provenance bottlings as well. The two sherry casks ones, the Aultmore and Blair Athol were very light on the sherry character. In fact if I didn’t know I would have thought that the Aultmore had been aged in ex-Bourbon casks. 

Again both the malts bottled in the Premier Barrel range were quite pleasant, with theHighland Parkbeing exceptionally good. However as the OMC shelf was pretty much full I had no room for them. 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Ardmore 1996 (16 year old) 50%

Bourbon/ Code: OMC2146/ Dist Feb 1996 Btl Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012 

A crisp and quite phenolic nose with hints of smoked meat. Slightly gristy with some high toned ‘toshan-esque candied rose petals. With time some dry peat smoke appears and turns quite sooty. 

Lightly oiled palate with some sweet apricot, a touch of cereal, honey and a hint of rose petal marc. Quite sooty on the middle with a long slightly ashy and citrus finish. 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 2000 (12 year old) 50% 

Bourbon/ Code: OMC2194/ Dist June 2000 Btl Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012 

A rounded and quite creamy nose. Densely fruity with some sweet peat, tar and a hint of creamy vanilla. 

The palate is lightly oiled and quite milky/ creamy in character. Gently peated with a lovely dollop of thick honey on the middle. Very long, spicy, ashy finish with a lightly salted after-taste. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Glenallachie 2000 (11 year old) 46% 

Bourbon/ Code: PRV0915/ Dist: Oct 2000 Btl: Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012 

Fresh, soft aromas of white stone fruit, peach, apricot along with a touch of Satsuma and straw. 

The palate opens quite sweet with some sugar coated citrus and white fruit along with a touch of vanilla. Relatively piquant middle leads to a slightly grassy, light honey and rose petal marc finish. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Aultmore 2000 (11 year old) 46% 

Sherry/ Code: PRV0783/ Dist: Nov 2000 Btl: Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012 

Soft toffee dominated aromas with maybe a hint of grass and citrus but those notes are buried under the weight of toffee. Surprisingly I thought this was from A Bourbon cask. 

The palate has lots of pure butter toffee. Quite oily but the piquant alcohol clears the dampening toffee to reveal a lightly spices, citrus and grassy finish. Like the nose I don’t seem to get much in the way of sherry character. Oh and the toffee returns on the after-taste. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Blair Athol 1999 (12 year old) 46% 

Sherry/ Code: PRV0935/ Dist: Dec 1999 Btl: Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012 

A light but firm nose. Full of slightly gristy barley and citrus. Pleasantly deep with a slight alcohol prickle and hints of caramelised sugar and green fruits. Not much in the way of sherry cask influence though.  

The palate is quite light, but very sugary with hints of soft fruit and barley. Quite full with a gentle building spice note. Good, fresh length with a lightly honeyed, slightly fudgy finish with a continuation of the spice theme. Pleasant. 

Douglas Laing Premier Barrel Royal Lochnagar 1997 (15 year old) 46%

Bourbon/ Code: PBR0015/ Dist June 1997 Btl Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012

A light, citrusy and grassy nose. Slightly gristy with light honey and mineral notes. It seems younger than its age statement. 

The palate opens with some sweet barley along with a touch of grass and hints of vanilla and rose petals. Light and youthful but with a pleasant spicy finish and late perfumed flowers, especially on the after taste. 

Douglas Laing Premier Barrel Highland Park 1996 (15 year old) 46%

Bourbon/ Code: PBR0016/ Dist Sept 1996 Btl Sept 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012

Quite a dense nose with a touch of earthy, dry peat and hints of heather. Pleasantly honeyed with a slight tropical fruit note emerging. With time some clove and black pepper aromas appear, and all in all it’s rather complex and pleasant. 

Full on the palate and slightly creamy. It feels younger with a touch of cereal and it seems a little less complex than the nose would lead you to believe, but it has a good depth of tangy fruit, light, earthy peat along with a touch of white flowers and a fresh, almost Caol Ila-eqsue costal finish. 

DEWAR RATTRAY SEPTEMBER BOTTLINGS 

It was also a sparse month for Dewar Rattray bottlings as well and as their shelf was looking rather depleted I opted to take all of them bar the Glentauchers, which was a little on the neutral side when neat and a little over oaked when diluted. However theArran16 year old was beautiful when diluted, which is probably why they chose to bottle it at 46%. The Glen Keith was good neat but really opened up once a drop of water was added and was now showing a lovely degree of complexity. 

When I nosed the Glen Garioch I did a complete double take. Now Glen Garioch can often be quite herbal and heathery, but peated? So doing a little research I discovered that when the distillery was reconstructed in 1973 after being sold to Stanley Morrison Ltd by DCL they did apparently start using more peat, but I have only found hints of it in previous distillery bottlings, unlike this cask! 

Dewar Rattray Arran 1996 (16 year old) 46% – (website price £42.89)

Bourbon Cask 235 – sample at 55.1%/ Dist: 1996 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

A lovely fragrant nose of summer meadows, barley and a touch of tropical fruit. With time it becomes quite earthy with a slight balsamic note. 

The palate is soft with plenty of maturing, straw-like barley and fleshy apricot. Slightly spicy with a developing earthiness. The alcohol masks the finish a tad but some juicy citrus peaks through. 

With water (an approximation of what it will be like at 46%) Very juicy and evocative on the nose now. A lovely melange of tropical fruit – pineapple, guava, mango and creamy American oak. Hints of barley emerge as does a honeyed sheen. The Palate is succulent with plenty of barley, sprinkled with granulated sugar. Gently creamy oak followed by a lovely citrus burst on the middle. Long with a balanced bitter/ sweet and spicy finish. 

Dewar Rattray Glentauchers 1996 (16 year old) 58.5%

Bourbon Cask 1176/ Dist: 1996 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

Quite neutral on the nose, almost like an oak aged vodka with a slight floral note and some creamy oak. 

The palate follows the same theme, neutral spirit and creamy oak. There is a touch of sweet barley and some earthy spice on the finish. 

With water the nose does open up a bit to display hints of perfumed white flowers. Gentle and delicate with hints of minerals and lime. The palate is quite oily now and a bit subdued as the oak has come forward and become quite creamy. Gently spiced middle with a mineral and flowery finish. 

Dewar Rattray Glen Keith 1993 (19 year old) 55.4% – (website price £56.99)

Bourbon Cask 97114/ Dist: 1993 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

A lovely deep and aromatic nose, exuding sweet barley and fruit. There’s a slight peaty note hanging around along with hints of rose petal marc, dunnage and American oak. 

The palate opens with some crystalised fruit, sweet barley and hints of dunnage floors. Pleasantly mature and piquant. Very long with the peat become rather sweet and slightly oily on the finish. Really impressive depth. 

With water the nose becomes very juicy, redolent of Satsuma and orange. Very fragrant now with a beautiful liquid quality to the fruit. Now showing more maturity an the oak adds notes of tobacco and coffee- spices. The citrus also shows on the palate, lightly sweetened and intertwined with the sweet barley. Like the nose the oak comes through with a large dollop of coffee-spice. Ending with a gently protracted finish. 

Dewar Rattray Glen Garioch 1991 (19 year old) 54.6% – (website price £58.40)

Bourbon Cask 4454/ Dist: 1991 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

My god that’s peated for a Glen Garioch! Earthy and spicy with hints of dark chocolate and coffee. Very unusual! The peat slowly becomes more perfumed in character and hints of crystalised violets appear. Lovely maturity with hints of bracken, heather and barley. 

The palate is oily and full of earthy/ decomposing heather- peat, old wood and spice. Wonderfully mature middle; it’s a serious mouthful of mature orange, herbs, peat, malt, coffee and spice. Very long with a touch of perfumed white peach and barley coming through on the finish. 

A drop of water lightens the aromas, there’s still plenty of wood notes – hickory, tobacco and spice but the tangerine/ orange fruit receives a serious boost and the peat is still there too! The palate is much the same but the emphasis is more on the wood notes than the fruit, but the peat becomes rather pleasantly sweetened. 

I’d like to say a big thank-you to the Penderyn distillery for sending me samples of their latest bottlings, which you can watch my review of here – http://youtu.be/w4RIzsJe_9Y 

As usual all their current releases are top quality and as you will see from the video and my notes, finally I’m detecting a touch of maturity in theMadeirabottling. The current peated bottling is very good, with more of a distinctIslayfeeling to it. As I postulated in my notes there maybe some ex-Laphroaig casks at work here. The biggest improvement was in the Sherrywood bottling, which has had a tendency to be somewhat confected in style, but the current release has a lot less of that character. 

And finally to the newest release, the Portwood, which being a vatting of spirit aged in American oak with some aged in ex-Port Pipes has a beautiful balance and is definitely worth trying!. All the bottlings are currently in stock on the website and in the shop. 

Penderyn Portwood 41% (website price £31.36)

Btl: Apr 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

The nose opens with the aromas of sweet berries, barley and earth followed by hints of rose petals, milk chocolate and a core of thick honey. As it is quite light on the finish with a lovely elegance I would presume that it is a vatting of some spirit aged in American oak with some aged in Portwood. With time some lovely, sweet spice notes emerge. With time it becomes strongly aromatic with a slight perfumed top note. 

The palate is soft and slightly sweet opening with plenty of ripe red berries, milk chocolate, dried fruit and spicy/ winy notes. Lightly honeyed on the middle as the spirit comes through with a hint of rose petals. Lovely length with the spice notes returning along with some slightly drying oak. Again a lovely balance. 

Penderyn Madeira 41%

Btl: June 2012/ Tasted: Oct 2012

The nose is younger and crisper than the 46% bottling. There is less of theMadeirainfluence, like I have found on previous tastings which allows the crisp apple and rose petal distillery character to be more prominent along with some lovely barley and creamy, fudgy oak vanillins. 

The palate opens with that fudgy oak, accented by a light biscuityMadeiranote. The spirit character comes through with the crisp apple, rose petal and barley on the middle before some lovely sweet, perfumed honey appears. Finally the Madiera returns adding a touch of dried fruit and spice to the finish. 

Penderyn Madeira 46% (website price £36.06)

Btl: May 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

An elegant and quite floral nose with plenty of sweet barley followed by rose petals and chunky biscuityMadeira. Lovely balance with a late earthy note. Do I detect some encroaching maturity? It is certainly weightier than I remember and it definitely doesn’t have as much of that youthful rose petal marc character. 

Soft and delicate on the palate, opening with juicy, malty barley and just a touch of rose petal. Very harmonious with a weighty Madeira core. 

Gentle spiced apricot and minerals on the middle. The oak does encroach and bitter the finish a tad, but not overly so. Just like the nose it does feel if they are using older spirit in their vatting. 

Penderyn Sherrywood 46% (website price £39.25)

Vatting of Bourbon and dry Oloroso casks.

Btl: Feb 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

The nose is quite floral with a touch of perfumed violets and plenty of rose petal along with delicate dried fruit, subtle leafy Oloroso and honey. Showing some maturity with a lovely depth and just a subtle sherry character. With time some sweet orange and praline notes become apparent. 

Soft an gentle on the palate, opening with some creamy barley and honey, followed by some rose petal notes on the middle and finally gentle dried fruit, liquorice, dark chocolate and toffee. The rose petal spirit character returns on the finish along with plenty of biting spices. I have to say that this has improved tremendously as there is a lot less of the boiled sweet/ confected sherry character of previous bottlings. 

Penderyn Peated 46% (website price £41.99)

Vatting of Bourbon and ex-peated Scotch Whisky casks.

Btl: Feb 2012/ Tasted: Sept 2012

The nose opens with a plethora of sweet, briny peat followed by crisp green apple, citrus and vanilla. The nose displays a lot more peat character than the last time I tasted it and is distinctlyIslayin tone. I would hazard a guess that some ex-Laphroaig casks were used as there are some medicinal and tar notes. 

The palate is soft, gentle and quite youthful, opening with honey, lightly baked apple, crisp green apple an vanilla. There is more of the rose petal spirit character on the palate and the peat is subtler an more earthy in character. Very long with some sweet smoke coming through along with a touch of brine and light spice. Lovely after taste – lightly oiled creosote. Wonderfully fresh and very enjoyable.

To a certain extent with regards to spirits, you get what you pay for and American whiskey is no exception. At the bottom of the spectrum you have cheapies like the JW Dant, which is fine as long as you don’t have high expectations of what you will find in the bottle and in the case of the Echo Spring, plenty of coke to drown it with! 

Which brings me rather nicely on to the new Jim Beam Black Label. I was a little worried about this as the age statement had dropped (by 2 years) and the price had gone up. With apprehension I poured a dram and was assailed by visions of it tasting like the White Label!!!! However……. It would appear that loosing a couple of years has done this no harm at all. I thought the old 8 year old Black Label was excellent value for money and I can safely say that the new bottling is as well. After the fiasco of Buffalo Trace I breathed a sigh of relief! Business as usual at Beam then! 

I can definitely say the same thing about the Stranahan’s as well, business as usual that is. Yet again I’m really unimpressed with this. It’s young and very one dimensional – all young corn and oak. Now, maybe given some ageing it will develop some complexity and harmony, but right now it has neither of them, and to find that out you’ll have to part with almost £60. Hmm, I think not. 

Whilst we are talking about being unimpressed, let me introduce you to the Parkers Heritage Collection 10 year old Cognac Finish, produced by the Heaven Hill distillery, and let me relieve you of something close to £80 at the same time. Actually let me save you the bother as it is really not worth it. As you can see from my notes it appears to be really young and distinctly disjointed. 

I bet you are thinking that I have tasted nothing of note, American wise for this edition of the newsletter, but fortunately I have! The Jefferson’s 17 year old by the McLain & Kyne Distillery is a beautiful, mature Bourbon, full of character and depth, which as you can see from my notes reminded me of the Eagle rare 17 year old. 

Talking about Buffalo Trace leads me on to the final whiskey, the Hancock’s President’s Reserve, which is a single barrel Bourbon bottled by Buffalo Trace and, well, it’s, er, interesting?! – Well, just take a look at my notes on the next page and you will understand! 

Echo Spring 40%

4 year old Bourbon from Heaven Hill Distillery

Tasted: Sept 2012

Aromas of sweet, milky coffee with plenty of sweet, toffee’d popcorn and a touch of burnt caramel. 

The palate is soft and watery with an abundance of youthful spirit and burnt caramel. Some dilute corn, earth and spice appears on the middle but there is no real finish to speak of and it just dies with a slightly sweet aftertaste. One to drown in coke I guess. 

J W Dant Special Reserve 40%

By Heaven Hill

Tasted: Oct 2012

The palate opens with plenty of sweet corn with a slight cereally character. It’s all very pleasant with just enough rye and wheat notes along with hints of green fruit. All quite subtle and it does take some time to unwind but the aromas are quite appealing. Eventually some lazy toffee, vanilla and citrus arrive. 

The palate is a touch on the watery side with some fat, oily corn, but my god one is assaulted by a forest load of bitter oak. The fruit shows a distinct oxidised/ Armagnac-like character but there is also some slightly youthful cereal, caramel and toasted spice. I’m guessing that this is a vatting of extremely old (and slightly knackered?) and extremely young spirit because it is just so unbalanced. As this retails for around £20, it seems with regards to Bourbon you really get what you pay for. 

Stranahan’s Colorado Whiskey 47%

Tasted: Sept 2012

Young, soapy and hot on the nose. Extremely corn fat with hints of sweet shaving cream. The nose reeks of toffee coated banana, although a hint of earth, spice and lime attempts to put in an appearance but all that banana and corn see’s it off. 

The palate is soft and surprisingly watery. Again it’s all popcorn, toffee, banana and oak. Distinctly unimpressed! …………………. Again! 

Parkers Heritage Collection 10 year old Cognac Finish 50%

Heaven Hill Distillery

Tasted: Sept 2012

A very corn fat nose with corn, corn and yet more corn! Yes there are some hints of dried fruit and earth but add in the overwhelming amount of marzipan oak and the Cognac finish doesn’t stand a hope! 

The palate opens quite sweet and watery slightly spicy with some muted corn, which is surprising and lots of bitter oak. It’s very disjointed and if I had been tasting this blind I would have sworn that the spirit was only about 3 years old as it displays a great deal of violety, rose petal marc-like characteristics and certainly hasn’t integrated with oak at all.. I would assume this has spent around 6 months ‘finishing’ as I certainly didn’t really detect much in the way of Cognac notes. 

Jim Beam Black 6 year old 43% – (website price £26.25)

Tasted: Oct 2012

A soft and pleasantly well balanced nose. A bit light-ish but there’s a core of un-burnt caramel with some lovely buzzy rye, plenty of violets along with a touch of light herbal/ medicinal notes. Actually this is a very appealing nose. With time hints of chocolate and dried fruit appear. 

The palate is like the nose, relatively light but very well balanced. It opens with caramel drizzled banana fritter with just enough rye to give it an edge. But hang on that rye is gaining in intensity and really dominates the middle. Lovely length with the rye hanging around until the end but joined by a touch of dried fruit, violets, liquorice, chocolate and pure vanilla. The after-taste is quite dry, spicy and woody. Frankly my dear, I’m rather impressed! 

Jefferson’s 17 year old ‘Presidential Selection’ 47%

McLain & Kyne Distillery

Tasted: Sept 2012

Quite a lovely, mature nose displaying plenty of spicy rye, earth, pepper, cinnamon and liquorice. With time some marzipan coated dried plum and some light, sweet smoke notes appear. Very full, juicy and succulent with a lovely balance between the sweet oak and spicy rye. 

The palate is soft and pleasantly mature and reminds me of the Eagle Rare 17, but without the black pepper notes maybe? Anyway, it’s seriously full and spicy with plenty of grippy rye, rose petals and spicy oak tannins. Very intense, and did I mention the marauding rye and spice? Well it verily bites yer tongue! Add in a fair degree of bitterness from spending that length of time in oak and it’s an immense mouthful. Thankfully there is a touch of earthy/ soil-like sweetness present which just about balances the bitterness and a long, violety finish. Superb American Whiskey! 

Hancock’s President’s Reserve 44.45%

Single Barrel Bourbon byBuffaloTrace

Tasted: Oct 2012

Now this has a lovely nose. Plenty of aged, rich, spicyRyewith a profusion of violet notes. As this doesn’t have an age statement I would guess that the spirit is somewhere in the 12-15 year old range. The corn underpins the rye with an almost barley-like richness. As it warms up the mature oak arrives with hints of leather, polished oak and a touch of sawdust. 

The palate leads off with the rich oak vanillins and more of the fat corn. The rye adds a lovely balancing spiciness but the oak bitters quite hard on the middle and really dries it out. 

There’s also a slight mature Stilton cheesy note on the finish which could be from some rogue bacteria, which isn’t as bad as it sounds because it sort of adds to the funkiness! ( Note – This was the last one of the evening, so make of that what you will!). 

So in conclusion – a lovely start, a rather old bitter middle and a stinky sock finish! Is that a metaphor for life? Hmm!! 

DOUGLAS LAING OCTOBER BOTTLINGS 

Just like last month it was a quiet month for releases as far as Douglas Laing was concerned, however they have more than made up for it in November! However those will have to wait for the next newsletter. 

Anyway, back to October and first up a 16 year old Macallan, which in my opinion was too old and not as pleasant as the 18 year old we have in stock (OMC2153 from April 2012). Both the Inchgower and the Allt-A-Bhannie were pleasant, but lack of space meant that once again I had to pass on those. 

Likewise the three new releases in the provenance range were pleasant, the most surprising being the Tobermory, which by Tobermory standards was quite drinkable, but there’s no getting away from that distillery character! 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Macallan 1996 (16 year old) 50%

Bourbon/ Code: OMC2196/ Dist Mar 1996 Btl Oct 2012/ Tasted Oct 2012

A mature if rather old nose of baked apple and some dusty, sweet spices. There is a touch of slightly sweet fruit but it seems a bit too old to be honest. 

The palate is much like the nose opening with some malty, baked apple and balsamic notes. Quite spicy on the middle with a sliver of vanilla and a slightly spirity finish, which again seems to hint that it may be a bit long in the tooth.

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Inchgower 1995 (16 year old) 50%

Bourbon/ Code: OMC2195/ Dist Dec 1995 Btl Oct 2012/ Tasted Oct 2012

Quite a mature nose of dusty spice and subtle sherry with hints of linseed and wood polish. 

The palate is quite lively with a lovely touch of mature orange fruit, dusty spice, tobacco and leather. Plenty of old wood comes through on the middle along with a subtle sherry sweetness. Slightly tart and tannic on the finish with a touch of chilli hotness and dried leaves. 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Allt-A-Bhannie 1991 (21 year old) 50%

Sherry/ Code: OMC2199/ Dist May 1991 Btl Oct 2012/ Tasted Oct 2012

A rich, sweet and nutty nose showing some hazelnut kernel, juicy sherry and hints of malt, liquorice, dark spices and balsamic. With time it becomes quite herbal. 

The palate is sweet and malty, quite full bodied and rather spicy. Sweetly sherried with plenty of tannins and a touch of marzipan. It’s livened up by a shot of tart citrus on the middle, which as it fades allows the oak notes of cedar and tobacco to return. Quite pleasant with some late Oloroso leafiness. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Auchentoshan 2000 (11 year old) 46%

Bourbon/ Code: PRV0934/ Dist: Sept 2000 Btl: Oct 2012/ Tasted Oct 2012

A high toned nose of barley and confected rose petal marc. With time some pleasant castor sugar notes arrive along with a touch of earth, citrus and cut grass. 

Lightly oiled and toffee’d on the palate. The sugars build along with the citrus and oily rose petal notes. Quite piquant on the middle and finishing quite sugary accented by some pepper notes. It’s actually quite pleasant for a young ‘toshan. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Glen Moray 1999 (12 year old) 46%

Bourbon/ Code: PRV0801/ Dist: Oct 1999 Btl: Oct 2012/ Tasted Oct 2012

The nose is quite honeyed and earthy with a touch of rose petal marc, dusty spice and surprisingly a touch of peat. 

The palate is light and slightly toffee’d with vanilla, spice and earth. It opens out rather pleasantly to show a rather honeyed and golden syrup middle, flecked with barley. Good length with a touch of sweet violet and some earthy spice. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Tobermory 2006 (6 year old) 46%

Sherry/ Code: PRV0936/ Dist: July 2006 Btl: Oct 2012/ Tasted Oct 2012

Young and a bit spirity, displaying the usual distillery character of wet cardboard, although in mitigation the cardboardy notes are quite light, but still there nevertheless. It’s a bit disjointed, like it hasn’t quite fully married with the sherry cask, but it has some pleasant dark sugar, spice and treacle moments. 

Soft on the palate, opening with some murky peat notes and again a faint cardboardy note. Quite dry and tannic on the middle with some leaden sherry character. Short but relatively spicy finish with an oily. light tar and violet after-taste. By young ‘mory standards it’s relatively pleasant. 

THE AXIS OF EVIL AGAIN! 

Back in August I had a tasting with my good friend Keiron, who said. “Let’s taste a couple of members of the Axis of Evil!” Sadist I thought, as quickly he produced a couple of 5cl miniatures, but then on second thoughts I realised that it had been at least a couple of years since I had last tasted the Tobermory 10 year old and the Deanston 12 year old, so keeping an open mind as always and ones fingers crossed and the slops bucket close to hand!!! 

Well both still display their respective ‘distillery characters’ and there are still a number of other whiskies that I would choose to drink before them, but I have to say that both of them had improved in quality, not enough to see them do a Tuli, as they say, although in saying that the palate of the Deanston is still incredibly hard going! 

Tobermory 10 year old 46.3%

Tasted: Aug 2012

Quite malty on the nose, but the ‘distillery character’ is still evident. Slightly sherried, slightly oily and slightly metallic with some youthful cereal and a hint of lemon and herbs. 

The palate is soft and slightly cardboardy, yet not as much as previously. It seems a bit fuller with a touch of malt, sweet barley and spice. Although it is still a tad on the industrial side I do believe it has improved. 

Deanston 12 year old 46.3%

Tasted: Aug 2012

A light, slightly fruity nose with just a suggestion of wet cardboard. Quite an alcohol prickle with hints of youthful cereal and coffee. With time the cardboard note becomes more evident. 

The palate is full and malty but still quite industrial. There is some sweet, but grubby sherry notes along with a touch of dried fruit. Piquant alcohol gives way to cardboard and coffee. I think the nose has improved a little but the palate is still really hard going.

Have you heard of Dun Leire Irish Whiskey? No, me neither, but then as I shop at Tesco I wouldn’t have come across this 8 year old Irish malt whiskey bottled for Sainsbury by the Cooley distillery. It’s never going to set the world on fire, but as it retails for less than £19 I suppose you can’t complain. 

What I can complain about is the Connemara no age statement 46% that I tasted recently. It was an awful bottling. I love Connemara and I have always found this particular bottling to be very consistent in its quality, so I was stunned by how poor this particular bottling was. 

I also tasted the Powers Gold Label bottling, which was rather caramel flattened. It was a shame really as underneath is some rather pleasant spirit. And finally I got around to tasting theKnappogueCastle1995 even though it’s been around for a few years now! I know thatJim Murrayis a bit critical of it, because he had a hand in the original bottling and he has a point, the oak is encroaching more now, but in saying that I still enjoy it. 

Dun Leire 8 year old Irish Malt 40%

Distilled at Cooley for Sainsbury

Tasted: Oct 2012

A crisp and relatively edgy nose of brittle toffee with hints of slightly plasticy marzipan and lightly toasted caramel. Quite pleasant for the price with a late citrus note. 

The palate is quite full, opening with some apricot and barley with hints of hazelnut and marzipan, which like the nose displays a rather plastic demeanour. Reasonable length accented by some nippy spices and finishing with a lightly bitter, grassy finish. 

Powers Gold Label 40%

Tasted: Oct 2012

The nose is quite sweet, oily and toffee’d with a touch of sweet grain along with a smidge of pot still. However it’s rather horribly dampened by caramel. 

The palate is soft, toffee’d and creamy with a burnt edge to the caramel. It hints at some floral grain on the middle with the pot still crispness and some sweet barley trying to come through on the finish. Ultimately it succumbs to the caramel, which is a shame because underneath that is some pleasant sprit.

Connemara No Age Statement 40%

Bottling Code: L12117/ Btl: June 2012/ Tasted: Oct 2012

Hmm, this is not an impressive nose. Dry peat is intertwined with wet cardboard, linseed oil with a suggestion of citrus. 

The palate is slightly sweet and cardboardy. The dry, dusty peat comes through but that cardboardy note refuses to budge. One thinks the cut was taken to early and some fusel oils have crept in as there’s some murky coffee and rubber on the middle along with a touch of bog myrtle. A short and bitter finish. I’m stunned! I’ve always enjoyed this whisky and I have found the quality to be pretty consistent. One thinks they slipped up here – big time. 

Knappogue Castle 1995 (12 year old) 40%

Dist: 1995 Btl: 2007/ Tasted: Nov 2012

Full and oily aromas of unsweetend pineapple chunks and oily banana skin along with some edgy barley and a herbaceous note. There is quite a bit of sweet oak vanillins but the spirit just about balances them. 

A soft delivery of creamy apricot, banana and brittle toffee. The crisp, slightly spicy spirit comes through on the middle but as Jim Murray says extra oak has made inroads into the clarity of the spirit over the years as the original bottling of Knappogue Castle was designed to extol the virtues of young (8 year old) spirit. Thus this additional oak makes the finish quite bitter but in saying that it is still quite a charming dram. 

No newsletter would be complete without mentioning Bruichladdich. The other day I tasted the new 22 year old, but as I’ve been rather busy compiling this I haven’t had a chance to type up my tasting note, but I will say that it is stunning, so if you love old American oak aged ‘Laddie, then get hold of a bottle sharp-ish as we only have a few left. 

I also had the opportunity to taste the new Islay Barley release, which is rather youthful but quite pleasant and the Port Charlotte ‘Peat Project’, which reminded me of the 2011 multi-vintage bottling ofPort Charlotte. I also finally got around to tasting the 1984 ‘Golder Still’, only 5 years after its release! 

Bruichladdich 2006 (6 year old) ‘Islay Barley’ 46%

Bourbon/ Dist: 2006 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Aug 2012

A crisp, yet pungent nose of cereal with a touch of rose petal marc. Delicate and salty with hints of honeysuckle, malt, earth and rich apricot. The aromas have a lovely natural feel to them and with time there is a light peat and farmyardy note. 

The palate is lightly oiled with sweet cereal and straw. Nascent honey is intertwined with some white flowers and rose petal notes. Intense and mouth-watering middle with a continuation of the delicate rose petal marc notes. Good length with a dry, salty, slightly peaty finish. Like the nose it has a distinct natural, albeit youthful feel to it. 

Bruichladdich 1984 (23 year old) ‘Golder Still’ 51%

Bourbon Squat Hogsheads/ Dist: 1984 Btl: 2007/ Tasted: Oct 2012

 The nose has plenty of sweet American oak as expected, with more than a nod towardsKentucky. Although the oak is very much the dominating factor there are hints of very soft, mature, floral spirit and brine lapping at the edges. 

The palate is soft and maybe not showing quite as much oak as the nose, but it’s still there! And very creamy too. Now some lovely soft honey comes through with a touch of brine and light earthy notes. Pleasantly piquant on the middle which cleanses the palate and leads to a crisp apple and spice finish with just a touch of bittering oak. 

Port Charlotte ‘The Peat Project’ 46%

Bourbon/ Peated to 44ppm/ Tasted: Oct 2012

A young and cerealy nose with hints of tar, bog myrtle-peat and rubber. It’s very reminiscent of the 2011 multi-vintage bottling ofPort Charlotte, which was just as windswept and coastal. However where that bottling had some bolstering from the oak, this one doesn’t, which makes it appear to be a bit straightforward, but in saying that it is what it is. 

The palate follows the nose – very youthful with lightly oiled cereal, opening with the marine-peat before some dry, dusty peat smoke appears. There is a little bit of oak character with some sweet barley and more smoke. Young, un-evolved but unpretentious. 

Nikka Miyagikyo 12 year old

Btl Code: 16J22C/ Re-Tasted: Sept 2012

A beautifully dense nose of liquorice coated dried fruit. Ultra clean and quite abounding with sweet sherry character. Very complex though with hints of sweet thick cut orange marmalade and malt. Given time you could cut the thickness of these aromas with a knife! A delicate thread of peat smoke along with some juicy grape, sultanas and spices winds its way through. Sublime! 

Clean and elegant on the palate. Opening with the dried fruit and a touch of prune along with sherry spices, mal and, dark toffee. Not quite as thick as the nose would suggest, with the sherry being slightly gentler but it’s still wonderfully deep showing some gentle sweet peat smoke, raisins and liquorice. The finish is a tad on the austere side, which is a combination of the alcohol and a lovely firm citrus note. Personally I think it’s wonderfully balanced and I love that fresh finish although the oak does bitter ever so slightly. 

Suntory Yamazki Puncheon 48%

Aged in a 480 litre Puncheon/ Tasted: Oct 2012

The nose is youthful but overloaded with bright tropical banana and apricot with floral overtones of honeysuckle and gorse. The oak has a gentle vanilla ice cream character and it comes across quite Spey like (American oak aged Linkwood?) with a touch of barley and grass. Wonderfully fresh and fragrant. 

The palate opens with some earthy, honeyed, green banana and hints of grass. It’s a bit tannic to begin with which is surprising but then the spices kick in and the oak really bitters. Good grief my lips are puckering and my eyes are watering! Damn that’s almost painful! When that bitterness subsides it does finish with a return of the honey and grassy notes. So much for ageing in a larger oak cask to play down the oak character! I’m guessing that this must have been a new American oak Puncheon. In saying all that it is a serious impressive dram! 

Balvenie Craftmans Reserve No1 ‘The Cooper’ 59.4%

Dist: 1996 Btl: 2012/ Tasted: Aug 2012

Exclusive bottling for Warehouse No 24 members of two European oak sherry butts of 15 year old Single Malt, casks 10142 and 17949

A rich, soft nose of Oloroso dried fruit, liquorice, juicy dates and raisins. Slightly perfumed and floral with a smidge of vanilla and plenty of crumbly spices. It seems to have some maturity [tasted blind] with a late sugared/ sweet orange note along with some earth and a slight medicinal/ camphor note. Stunningly deep and clean. 

The palate is luxuriously soft opening with liquorice coated raisins and sultana along with some juicy but bold Oloroso notes. The spices build pleasantly on the middle with a touch of burnt wood and smoke along with hints of treacle and oxidised fruit. Slightly mouth-watering, cask strength? 50%+ abv? [again tasted blind!] with a bitter chocolate coated orange finale and a rum and raisin like after taste. 

Diluted the nose is slightly more perfumed with hints of honey and citrus now the sherry impact is lessened. Still very deep, treacly and malty. The palate displays some lovely, light coffee as well as being gentler and like the nose displaying a more honeyed citrus character. Slightly herbaceous on the middle and relatively tannic on the finish. 

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Royal Brackla 1999 (11 year old)

Refill Bourbon Hogshead 6819/ Dist:1999 Btl: Autumn 2010/ Tasted: Aug 2012

A youthful, earthy, cereal nose with a touch of pepper and some perfumed rose water. Slightly sugared and relatively straightforward but pleasant. 

A youthful palate with soft cereal and a touch of rose petal marc. Again a bit on the simple side with a slight pepper note in the finish. Again pleasant in an unassuming way. 

Dalwhinnie 15 year old 43%

Bourbon & Sherry(?)/ Tasted: Aug 2012

The aromas are fuller and richer than I remember. It appears that some sherry is now being employed. Quite fruity with some gentle macerated apricot and apple with a sprinkling of cinnamon. The aromas still retain a fresh almost saline like edge. Lovely depth with a touch of herbal honey and a developing fragrant note. 

Full, soft and rich. Gently spiced and softly honeyed. There’s a bit of barley, a bit of sherry and a touch of granite but it’s strangely lacking character and dare I say it – it’s become rather homogenous. Still quite pleasant but it would appear that has befallen the same fate as Bunnahabhain. Over use of sherry has stripped it of its elegance and character. 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Glen Ord 1989 (21 year old) 50%

Refill Sherry Butt/ Code: DL 6538/ Dist Jan 1989 Btl Sept 2010/ Tasted: Aug 2012

The aromas are quite malty and full with crystalised orange. A touch of grist and cereal. With time it becomes rather oily with some subtle sherry notes and a touch of liquorice. Quite elegant and mature with a lovely barley sweetness and a sawdusty oak character. 

Full and slightly creamy on the palate, opening with sweet barley and cereal along with some castor sugar sprinkled tangerine and orange. Gentle sherry drifts in on the middle along with some spice and liquorice. Good length with a creamy, malty, treacle finish and a castor sugar after-taste. 

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Bowmore (11 year old) 50%

Sherry Butt/ Code: DL 7791/ Dist Jan 1989 Btl Sept 2010/ Tasted: Aug 2012

A pungent nose of burnt wood, rubber and dusty peat. Quite rich with plenty of liquorice/ toffee coated toasted dried fruit and leafy camphor notes. Quite meaty with a whiff of barbeque smoke, soot and a light sulphur note. 

Full and tarry on the palate with molten toffee, liquorice and a touch of sulphur. Robust and old fashioned with astringent coastal peat and plenty of smoke. Good depth with sweet malt, burnt wood and camphor notes in the finish. It’s a shame about the slight sulphur blemish though. 

Signatory Bowmore 1997 (14 year old) 58.3%

Bourbon Hogshead 1904/ Dist: June 1997 Btl: Mar 2012/ Tasted: Aug 2012

Milky and honeyed aromas. Lightly coastal with hints of cereal and light peat. Quite fresh with a touch of lemon and some herbal notes. The cereal character become more prevalent with time. 

Dry and dusty on the palate, a combination of both coal and peat dust followed by some milky oak. Quite a piquant, smoky middle with hints of lemon and bog myrtle. Good length with a hint of tar and liquorice in the finish. 

With a drop of water the aromas become more youthful and cereal. Slightly thinner now the oak has receded. Slightly sweeter on the palate.  Still dusty but less smoky which allows the lovely lemon note to come through. Quite mouth-filling now with a touch of barley. Lovely sweet peat finish. 

Edradour 2003 (9 year old) Bourbon Cask ‘3^rd Release – Natural Cask Strength’ 57.6%

Bourbon – Limited Edition of 2068 Decanters

Dist: 2003 Btl: 2012/ Tasted Sept 2012

A soft, youthful nose with what appears to be plenty of new oak vanillins. Very buttery and full with hints of apricot, white fruit and a lovely citrus seam. However the oak is the dominant them, which with time becomes quite custardy. 

The palate mirrors the nose. Very full and very oaked – toffee, fudge and caramel, again with a hint of white fruit and a fresh citrus note. Slightly tropical middle with banana, apricot and sweet spices. Good length with the oak lingering. 

A drop of water emphasises the butter and citrus on both the nose and palate. 

Arran 1998 (10 Year Old) ‘250th Anniversary Robert Burns’ 43%

Bourbon/ Dist: 1998 Btl: 2009/ Tasted Sept 2012

The nose is quite full with the expected, slightly tropical apricot and banana aromas. It’s not as exuberantly fruity as some youngArran’s as the fruit has a more straw-like demeanour. With time some crystalised fruit, dusty spice and orange blossom notes become apparent. 

The palate is very much like the nose with plenty of straw-like fruits, which gives it an impression of greater age. Quite minerally with some lightly tropical fruit skin notes on the middle, which leads into a slightly oily, vanilla custard finish. 

Ian MacLeod’s Dun Bhegan Ardmore 1999 (12 year old) 53.5%

Chateau Palmer Finish/ Cask 91771/ Tasted: Sept 2012

The nose has quite a considerable amount of dry, dusty earthy-peat mingling with some straw-like raspberry and strawberry. Very heavy on the wine cask. 

The palate is soft-ish, alcohol aside! Very intense and full of straw and earthy peat. The alcohol is omnipresent and really dries out the middle but the wine finish adds a touch of red fruit, principally on the finish, but the alcohol really hinders any further development. 

With water the nose opens a bit and it shows a better balance as the wine notes are subtler now and some sweet barley and liquorice emerges, but the intensity of the peat isn’t diminished. The palate is fuller, thicker and juicier and like the nose shows a better balance. Still quite firm and woody with the tannins drying now rather than the alcohol. However the wine finish adds some ripe fruit sweetness which counter balances to a certain extent. Still it’s still a bit on the short side, but it’s still peated though! 

Monkey Shoulder Batch 27 40%

A vatting of Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie

Tasted: Sept 2012

The nose is quite sweet and soft. Slightly malty with the rounded Glenffidich fruit prominent along with a good dollop of creamy oak. Very easy going with an almost sweet grain-like nip, which I assume must be the Kininvie(?) 

The palate is soft and sweet-ish with plenty of creamy vanilla and ‘ffidich fruit. Again it has an almost sweet grainy nip to it which builds and gives it a rather blend like feel. Slightly smoky on the finish along with a touch of bittering oak. A pleasant quaffer. 

St Georges Distillery Chapter 12 46%

Sherry Cask 0872/ Unpeated/ Tasted: Oct 2012

A pleasant, softly sweet nose of brown sugar and clean leafy Oloroso. The sherry pungency develops into dried fruit, liquorice and camphor along with some intertwined malty notes. The spirit itself can just about be discerned and it has an almost crystalised feel to it. 

Oh dear that gun flint/ sulphur note wasn’t noticeable on the nose, but it is on the palate! The alcohol is quite piquant and it gives the middle a sort of hollow feeling, but the flavours are all back loaded, coming through on the finish with a touch of brown sugar sprinkled dried date, walnut and sherry spice. There’s not much in the way of distillery character evident but the after taste is all about the mouth-coating, chewy treacle. 

A drop of water lightens the sherry aromas, bringing out a touch of burnt wood, earth and toffee. The palate has now been stripped down. Now there is some slightly oily, rose petal spirit character showing, but the sulphur taint is still unfortunately still noticeable. Lovely finish, all smoked bacon and rum like dried fruits and treacle. If it wasn’t for the sulphur this would have been a lovely sherry cask. Lets hope they release a cask that hasn’t been tainted. 

Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 15 year old 43%

Refill Sherry/ Tasted: Oct 2012 

The is quite sulphured, which is a shame because underneath is some luscious orange, milk chocolate, malt, a hint of balsamic and a slight whiff of peat smoke. 

The palate is dry, leafy and sulphured with some dried fruit, orange, spice and plenty of tannin which shortens and dries out the finish. 

Morrisons ‘The Best’ Brandy XO (5 year old) 40%

The best huh?!? Err. I think not! There’s a smidge of dried fruit, cinnamon and vanilla but it’s overwhelmed by the burnt caramel aromas. 

How can I put this? The palate is horrible, with absolutely no redeeming characteristics at all. Dry, bitter with wet cardboard and dried grape. Yes there is a touch of vanilla and sweet caramel but it’s buried by the murky almost sulphurous notes. 

Purity Vodka 40%

Produced from Swedish organic winter wheat and barley. Distilled in an 158 US Gallon pot still.

Tasted: Oct 2012

A full and creamy nose, with a lovely, grainy bite. For a spirit that was apparently distilled 34 times it has a surprising degree of character, mind, being unfiltered has not removed the slightly wheaty and vanillery notes. 

The palate is soft and almost icy clean to begin with. As it warms it becomes wonderfully creamy and vanilla’d. Quite oily and full bodied with a pleasant grainy bite. Good length with a long, creamy, slightly salty finish. 

Chase ‘The Finest’ Raspberry Liquor 20%

Tasted Sept 2012

An intensely earthy nose of over-ripe raspberry. Quite sweet and slightly smoky. Thick and aromatic with just a slight hint of spirit. 

Relatively sweet, over-ripe, macerated raspberry. Thick, unctuous but well balanced as the spirit takes the edge off the sweetness. Slightly smoky finish. 

Chase ‘The Finest’ Blackcurrant Liquor 20%

Tasted Sept 2012

A super ripe Ribena-esque blackcurrant nose. Very full, gently sweet with a slightly more prevalent spirit note. 

Thick and coating palate, full of pure Ribena-esque blackcurrant. Quite full with a balancing citrus spirit note although it does finish a bit sweeter than the raspberry liquor.

Regards

Chris Goodrum 

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Tesco Highland Malt 12 year old 40%

Tasted: July 2012

A hard and industrial and youthful cereal accented nose, positively reeking of burnt caramel with a hint of sulphur and cardboard. If you sniff hard enough then some malt can be discerned. 

The palate pretty much mirrors the nose, quite non-descript, light and cereally with a bit of malt but mainly burnt caramel. Finishes quite spirity. Yes it’s only £20 but you definitely get what you pay for! 

Tesco Islay malt 12 year old 40%

Tasted: July 2012

An oily, slightly youthful nose. Broad and slightly peaty with hints of earth and medicinal notes. It could be rich, oily Caol Ila. Good spirit with a slight perfumed note. 

The palate is light and barley sweet with a touch of youthful cereal. Quite oily with a touch of oak and medicinal character. However the entry does seem to meander somewhat and you could argue it’s a tad too soft and insipid, but to be fair it all seems to come to life on the finish when the sooty, coal dust and peat come through. For £21 you definitely can’t complain about it. 

Douglas of Drumlanrig Ben Nevis 1996 (12 year old) 46%

Refill Sherry Butt 4827

Dist: 1996 Btl: 2009

Tasted: July 2012

Another youthful, cereally marc-like nose with a touch of nascent honey and a hint of orange fruit. However it would appear that the spirit really hasn’t developed much in the way of distinctive character. 

The palate is very much like the nose. Youthful. There is a touch of honey and there is a granity edge to the palate along with some slightly musty, earthy notes but again not much in the way of character. 

Douglas of Drumlanrig Highland Park 1997 (13 year old) 46%

Refill Bourbon Hogshead 6551

Dist: 1997 Btl: 2010

Tasted: July 2012

The aromas are a touch on the industrial side and slightly youthful with some cereal notes. A bit thin with plenty of wood notes and a touch of tropical fruit and banana. 

The palate is very cereally, and again a bit on the industrial side. Some sweet barley does compensate a little along with a touch of hay and digestive biscuit. The industrial notes return on the finish. 

McDonalds Traditional Ben Nevis 46%

Bourbon/Sherry(?)

Tasted: July 2012

This is a single malt from Ben Nevis made up of present style Ben Nevis mixed with some more heavily peated Ben Nevis. The purpose is to replicate the style of whisky sold in the 1880s. 

The nose opens with the classic distillery character of rich, bready notes and malt, followed by a touch of manury peat, buttery oak, shaving foam like banana and some gentle sherry notes. The aromas do have a sort of edgy, rustic kind of character and there is definitely a youthful component with plenty of developing cereally notes. 

The palate is soft and rusticated with a touch of burnt caramel up first. Youthful but pleasantly rounded with some rich, bready, apricot fruit and a touch of peat. The peat note rumbles on, becoming rather coal smoke like towards the finish with a reasonable degree of phenols and earth. Ever so slightly bitter on the finish, but not excessively so. In conclusion a lot more interesting on the palate than the nose. 

Loch Fyne Inverarity Limited Edition Blended Whisky 12 years old 40%

Limited Edition of 3000 Bottles

Dist: 1997 Btl 2009

Tasted: July 2012

A soft and relatively straightforward nose. Slightly industrial with some pleasant honey, malt and a creamy graininess. With time it develops a slight floral note. 

The palate is fairly full and soft, opening with a touch of caramel along with some gentle honey and soft fruits. Slightly cerealy with again a creamy graininess and a banana/ apricot note in the finish. It reminds me of Johnnie Walker Black Label – soft and rather corporate. 

The Macphunn ‘November 2009’ 18yo 57%

Sherry

Dist: 1991 Btl: 2009

Tasted: July 2012

The fourth cask (610 bottles) of a single sherry-matured Speysider at cask strength bottled for Sir Charles Maclean of Strachur, Loch Fyne. 

A fusty, edgy, cardoardy nose. Quite industrial with more than a hint of Italian bitter cherries. Quite sulphur tainted and only just on the right side of nastiness! I’m afraid that not even the pleasant sherry wood spices save this nose! 

The palate is edgy and fusty, full of sweet treacle and dried fruit. Again sulphur and cardboard notes mingle with a touch of smoke, spice and dried fruit. The palate is marginally better than the nose with a slightly raisinated finish with a hint of violet. Apparently this had a £74 price tag! 

Hart Brothers Glenrothes 1969 (33 year old) 46.8%

Sherry

Dist: Oct 1969 Btl: Jan 2003

Tasted: July 2012

Aromas of edgy, honeyed barley mingle with soft vanillins. Slightly grassy and very fragrant with a distinct oxidised dried fruit and sherry wood rancio. The sherry notes though are quite relaxed and reserved allowing a late white flower and violet note to appear, finally some lovely, granity honey notes come through. An exceptional nose! 

The palate is quite oily, opening with marzipan and more American oak like in character with gentle tannins and spice. The wood does grip slightly on the middle but some dense, mature, slightly tropical apricot counters. The dried, sherry rancio does come through towards the end brining with it some delightfully nutty vanillins. Lovely complexity and a very long finish displaying cinnamon coated apple notes. An amazing dram which has aged really well and even more amazing that it has lasted the ravages of time, seeing as it was a 5cl miniature!  

Littlemill No Age Statement 40% 5cl

Tasted: July 2012

A slightly spirity nose of marshmallows and grist along with some sweet American oak vanillins. Slightly grassy with some oxidised dried fruit. The oak becomes rather creamy and starts to dominate the nose. 

The palate is very much like the nose, soft, vanilla’d and very creamy. There is a touch of grass and a slight gristiness however. A shade on the innocuous side, which is probably why this was bottled as a 5cl miniature, but a good length with some sweetness and a touch of bitterness from the oak on the finish.  

Suntory Yamazaki ‘Bourbon Barrel’ 48.2%

Tasted: Aug 2012

An immediate hit of American oak. Densely packed oak vanillins mingle with some rich barley, a touch of apricot and some light grassy notes. There is even a thin seam of peat and with time it does become quite aromatic with hints of lime emerging as well as a light tropical sheen. 

The palate opens just like the nose with the dense, grainy, but soft oak tannins, liberally coated with some vanilla oils and a distinctly Bourbon character. A short, but intense alcohol burst clears the palate and leaves room for the light barley, citrus and grass accentuated middle. Again delicately peated and earthy with the oak bittering the finish a tad. 

A drop of water brings out some lush orange as the oak retreats and on the palate it’s now pure vanilla pod with some gentle, crumbly spices. The oak although still bitters the finish. I have to say that hand on heart it’s not quite up to the standard of the Hakushu Bourbon Barrel. 

Bruichladdich 2006 (6 year old) ‘Islay Barley’ 46% – (web price £39.50)

Bourbon

Dist: 2006 Btl: 2012

Tasted: Aug 2012

A crisp, yet pungent nose of cereal with a touch of rose petal marc. Delicate and salty with hints of honeysuckle, malt, earth and rich apricot. The aromas have a lovely natural feel to them and with time there is a light peat and farmyardy note. 

The palate is lightly oiled with sweet cereal and straw. Nascent honey is intertwined with some white flowers and rose petal notes. Intense and mouth-watering middle with a continuation of the delicate rose petal marc notes. Good length with a dry, salty, slightly peaty finish. Like the nose it has a distinct natural, albeit youthful feel to it. 

Chase Distillery, Late Harvest Raspberry Vodka 40%

Summer 2012 Release

Tasted: June 2012

The nose is quite sweet, with plenty of jammy, over-ripe raspberry fruit. Quite soft with hints of milky spirit beneath. 

The palate starts with some raspberry conserve, followed by the creamy, milky, starchy spirit. Very full with some soft spice on the middle and a pleasant, creamy finish. My only concern is that it doesn’t quite have the crispness of say a grain spirit to offset all the jammy fruit sweetness. 

Chase Distillery, Summer Cup 20%

Summer 2012 Release – Summer Berries and Elderflower

Tasted: Aug 2012

 The nose exudes ripe, red/ black fruits along with a pungent elderflower note. Very full and slightly herbaceous with a slight perfumed soapiness. 

The palate is juicy and sweet with plenty of red/ black fruit and elderflower. Quite sweet and sticky with only a slight spirit note. Long, slightly scented and slightly soapy. Personally I think it could have done with being bottled at a higher abv to balance the almost cloyingly sweet fruit.

Chris Goodrum

Hello and welcome to the latest episode of the show. In this episdoe I’m revisiting the Arran distillery. As the distillery kindly sent me a couple of samples I thought it was the decent thing to do, thus I’m tasting the new-ish 12 year old cask strength, the Devils Punchbowl against two independent bottlings, a 13 year old AD Rattray and a 12 year old Murray McDavid Chateau Margaux finish. Sadly there are no out takes at the end because I’m getting too good at this video malarky! Sorry!

Incidently if you have a look at the Arran page, you will see that we have a special offer on the range that we currently stock.

Hi. Welcome to the latest episode of the show. In this episode I’ll be looking at four bottlings form the Kilchoman distillery, the new distillery on Islay. I have chose the Spring 2011  release, the 2006 vintage, the Machir Bay and the 5 year old Sherry cask. As usual there is an out take after the credits! Enjoy!

Dear Whisky Customers

Just a quick post to let you know that I have acquired a few bottles from the ‘Bruichladdich Futures’ Series that I reviewed back in newsletter No51. I have two bottles of X4, two Organic and one of each of the Testarig and Islay Grown, so it will be a case of first come, first served.

Bruichladdich Future – Trestarig 2005 (6 year old) 46% £55.95
Triple distilled from Publican Barley
Bourbon Cask
Dist: Aug 2005 Btl: Apr 2011
Bottle No: 1075
Tasted: Nov 2011
The nose opens with a lovely, delicately sweet floral note. As expected it’s quite gristy with plenty of fishy, costal hints. Laddie’s new make can be quite biscuity and there is plenty of that evident here. There is not a huge amount of oak but what there is imparts some burnt caramel and a touch of butter. The aromas remind me of ‘Toshan, but cleaner!

The palate is soft and quite rich in character with plenty of sweet digestive biscuits with light hints of pepper and caramel. There is a pleasant spicy bite on the middle with hints of burnt wood and linseed oil mingling with the biscuity notes. The barley sweetness holds all the way through and it finishes with the barest of coastal notes.

Bruichladdich Future – X4 2005 (6 year old) 64.6% £79.95
Quadruple distilled from Oxbridge Barley
Bourbon Cask
Dist: Mar 2005 Btl: Apr 2011
Bottle No: 1285
Tasted: Nov 2011
Quite a refined and high toned nose, but like the Trestarig there is plenty of sweet barley and biscuity notes. Obviously not as rich as the Trestarig but showing a touch more wood notes.

The palate is sweet and gristy and (no surprise) alcoholic! In saying that it possesses a lovely softness in the mouth but given the abv it does finish short but spicy with just a touch of sweet digestive biscuit.

With water the nose possibly becomes a tad sweeter along with hints of green apple and violets, still quite biscuity but the oak has vanished. On the palate the light, natural oils are more prevalent and just like the nose the oak has disappeared but it’s still wonderfully spicy.

Bruichladdich Future – Islay Grown 2004 (6 year old) 46% £55.95
Distilled from Publican, Oxbridge and Optic Barley
Bourbon Cask
Dist: Dec 2004 Btl: Apr 2011
Bottle No: 0982
Tasted: Nov 2011
Lightly phenolic with sweet peat and rose peatl notes mingling. Ever so slightly confected with hints of sweet digestive biscuits. With time some soft, ultra-ripe tropical pineapple appears. To me it puts me in mind of a peated ‘Toshan. Really intriguing!

The palate is light and gentle with oodles of sweet barley and delicate Spey-like grassy notes and some green apple. The light phenolic notes of the nose do not seem to appear on the palate but it has a lovely, fresh, mouth-watering, slightly perfumed finish.

Bruichladdich Future – Organic 2003 (7 year old) 46% £55.95
Distilled from Maris Otter Barley
Bourbon Cask
Dist: Dec 2003 Btl: Apr 2011
Bottle No: 2599
Tasted: Nov 2011
A surprisingly spirity, high toned and edgy nose, but I’m afraid that there is not a lot else, maybe some sweet orange and fishy peat, but this is way too young and displays absolutely no wood interaction. It definitely doesn’t display and fatness, which could be down to the organic barley having smaller grains resulting in less sugar after fermentation?

The palate is soft and gentle with a distinct milky character. Pleasantly round with some sweet barley but overall quite straightforward and dare I say it a bit bland and short. I would have expected some grist and biscuitiness but there is none of that present.

Maybe this is a more ‘natural’ whisky, but one thing is for sure it definitely needed more time in the cask. Another thought is that given that this is organic the low wines tank would have to have been cleaned of all non-organic spirit, thus this could have been the product of the first run, ie, without any feints or foreshots from any previous distillation being added, thus the level of congeners in the spirit would have been a lot less than a spirit that was say distilled during the middle of a run. I could well be wrong but it’s a thought?

Regards

Chris Goodrum