Welcome to episode 11 of the show. In this episode i’ll be looking at sherry casked whiskies and asking the question – ‘Do they have balance?’ I have chosen the Aberlour 10 year old, the Bunnahabhain 18 year old and the Springbank 10 year old ‘Rundlets & Kilderkins’ bottlings. As per usual if you keep watching beyond the credits there are the usual humorous out take or two.

In this episode we’ll be turning Japanese! I’ll be tasting two whiskies from Suntory, the Hibiki 12 year old blend and the Hakusu 12 year old single malt. I’ll be comparing them with the two single malts from Nikka, the Yoichi 12 year old and the Miyagikyo 12 year old. I hope you enjoy the show and I look forward to your comments. Don’t forget to keep watching beyond the credits for the usual humorous out take.

Dear Whisky Customers

Welcome to the latest newsletter. I mentioned in the last newsletter that we have a youtube channel, which a number of you have been watching and I’d like to say a big thank you for doing so. It’s this that has taken up a large chunk of my time, but rest assured I still have been tasting a number of new whiskies to hopefully tempt you with!

We kick off the newsletter with an answer to the Buffalo Trace question which has been vexing me for some time since I reported to you in the last newsletter that the distillery had taken the decision to bottle the standard Buffalo Trace bottling at 40% as opposed to 45%, and now I have an answer for why that has happened and I’m still as disapointed!
The search for a replacement for that bottling is over for the time being, although that hasn’t stopped me tasting more Bourbons though! If you have a look at Episode 9 of the Good Dram show you’ll see me tasting three of those.

Next up is a piece about Inverhouse distillers. As we are now buying the An Cnoc, Balblair, Old Pulteney and Speyburn whiskies directly from them we have been able to pass on the savings to you! I really enjoyed revisiting the Old Pulteney bottlings and I can’t thank Inverhouse enough for supplying me with a number of samples, including the rather magnificent Old Pulteney 30 year old. So an Old Pulteney tasting was called for with Keiron my compatriot in arms. We also included a couple of other bottlings from the distillery as well as one of the few privately bottled offerings from Gordon & MacPhail.
Hopefully in due course I’ll be doing an episode of the show all about Old Pulteney, but as I have so many whiskies that I want to taste for the show I have no idea just when that will be! So I guess it’ll be a case of keep watching this space.

Now back in February (yes it seems like a long time ago!) Dewar Rattray released some new bottlings, three of which I reviewed in Episode 6 of the Good Dram show, and here is my full report. In March there were some new releases from both Douglas Laing and James MacArthur to report on. However the bulk of the issue is taken up with my report on the World Whisky Awards 2012, which I was invited to be part of as a judge. I feel very proud and extremely grateful for being given the opportunity to be part of this highly influential and worldwide competition, and given the number of my tasting notes that were used in Issue 103 of the Whisky Magazine I must have done something right!

The final round of judging in London coincided with Whisky Live London, so there were a number of brand ambassadors and whisky luminaries in the hotel and I’d like to say a big hello to Andy Davidson of Glencairn Crystal and Margaret Mary Clarke, the brand ambassador from Old Pulteney, with whom I enjoyed a few drams with in the bar after the judging had finished. It certainly was good to finally meet the Whisky Magazine’s editor Rob Allanson and put faces to a few other people that I had only communicated via telephone and email. So all in all some great whisky and some great company, which is what whisky is all about!

So I hope you enjoy this edition of the newsletter and keep watching the show! Oh and don’t forget to get hold of a copy of Issue 103 of the Whisky Magazine!

And definitely don’t forget to visit our website www.gauntleys.com or look us up on facebook.

BUFFALO TRACE – THE ANSWER!

Out of the blue a few weeks ago the sales rep for Buffalo Trace popped into the shop unannounced. This gave me the opportunity to interrogate him over the sorry state of the standard Buffalo Trace bottling and the why’s and wherefore’s. It would transpire that the distillery have been planning this move to 40% for some time and thus commissioned their UK distributors to make some enquiries.

As the bulk of Buffalo Trace’s sales are to the on trade, the UK distributors took what can only be described as a rather narrow remit for this research. Basically put they asked a number of London bar tenders and cocktail monkeys if they preferred the 40% bottling to the 45% bottling, and you can obviously guess what the outcome of that was. To them the abv made no difference to their cocktails at all.

Did you approach any specialist retailer and ask for their opinion I asked.

Ah, er, no was the reply! He didn’t exactly say that the off trade’s opinion was irrelevant, but he may as well have done so. Now I know that at the end of the day, money talks and if your biggest market decides they can happily live with an inferior product, which they’ll basically swamp with a load of other ingredients anyway, what do you think they are going to do.

I suppose the ‘sales guff’ would be about repositioning the Buffalo Trace brand and promoting the Eagle Rare brand for the off trade, but it feels to me that the Yanks are basically sticking two fingers up at us (the neat drinking Bourbon aficionados) because we don’t want to drown a beautiful spirit with other stuff.

Also have you noticed the complete lack of noise from the distillery about this? I mean if they think this is such a great idea, why do it in such a shifty way? I’m sure that if they made some kind of public statement then they would be vilified by the ‘whisky press’, but at the moment It would appear that I’m the only one commenting about the fact that they have destroyed a once great Bourbon.

Anyway the search to find a replacement continued during February and March. The Johnny Drum ‘Black Label’ which I remember tasting a long time ago, although those notes have been long lost was worth a shot but it was far too sweet and sickly. The interestingly named Old Crow was just a poor man’s version of  Jim Beam’s ‘White Label’ – enough said!

Diageo’s Bulleit was ok if a bit on the simple side and as for Markers Mark, it was so unexciting I almost fell asleep tasting it! So although not exactly 100% perfect the Old Grand-Dad will take its place next to the Jim Beam ‘Black Label’ in the range and to be honest for price it is excellent value for money. Whilst we’re on the subject of Bourbon I had heard rumblings that the latest single barrel bottling  (the 2001) from Evan Williams wasn’t up to its usual high standards, and I’m afraid that I have to agree with that assessment. Although not a bad bottling it would appear that it’s a bit on the flabby side with not enough rye to balance the corn and oak. I asked the rep if they had been tinkering with the mash bill and was told that was not the case. Maybe however chose this cask was having a bit of an off day.

Johnny Drum ‘Black Label’ 43%
Tasted: Feb 2012
A very, very sweet nose, verging on being rather sickly. Lots of sweet corn, toffee’d oak with hints of dried coffee and liquorice. The toffee starts to develop a bit of a burnt note and some gentle, earthy rye puts in an appearance, but not enough to balance out the sweetness.

The palate is soft, opening with the burnt toffee and sweet corn. Lacking somewhat on the middle with a short, bitter finish. Finishes with an over sweet, cotton candy character and leaves a very sweet mouth coating.

Old Crow 3 year old 40%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A Historic brand, which was originally distilled in the Old Crow distillery in Kentucky from around 1872 until 1987 when it was bought and closed by Jim Beam Brand, however the formula and production was changed in the 1960 when the then owner National Distillers refurbished the distillery. Nowadays it is essentially Jim Beam ‘White Label’ and I would imagine as far removed the Bourbon beloved of (allegedly) Mark Twain and Hunter S Thompson as can be imagined.

The nose displays plenty of sweet, thick and fat burnt corn and a smidge of candied wheat and some buried spicy rye. The burnt sugar character is overwhelming and it’s a bit too flabby and flat.

The palate isn’t much of an improvement on the nose. Burnt, sugary, fat, oily corn with acerbic, intrusive alcohol. Hollow with a touch of oak, rye spice and oily cereal marc on the finish. Just like the nose that burnt sugar character is overly pervasive and definitely reminds me of ‘White Label’.

Bulleit Bourbon 40%
Distilled at Four Roses Distillery for Diageo
Tasted: Mar 2012
A soft, agreeable, chunky rye led nose with an earthy almost pseudo peated note and a sub-strata of sweet oak, plus hints of burnt toffee. With time it becomes quite floral with hints of violet. Quite a polished nose.

Soft and chunky on the palate. Very subtle, almost to the point of being non-descript. The soft oak and soft corn oil blankets the rye and leaves the palate feeling a touch simple. Good length with the crisp, spicy rye attempting to come through on the finish but are eventually seem off by the bittering oak.

Old Grand-Dad 43% – (web price £27.27)
Tasted: Mar 2012
Another historic, high rye content brand. Originally produced at the Old Grand-Dad distillery situated at Hobbs Station in Kentucky from 1882 until its closure during prohibition. Production was then switched to the K. Taylor Distilling Company distillery at Elkhorn Forks near Frankfort with the brands sale to National Distillers (who incidentally re-named the distillery ‘Old Grand-Dad). Like Old Crow the brand was bought by Jim Beam in 1987 and the distillery closed. It’s believed that Old Grand-Dad and its variants (Basil Hayden) are the only brands Beam makes that use a different mash bill and yeast

Initially the nose is a tad shy but there’s no mistaking the clarity of the sharp rye grains. Quite complex with caramelised citrus, burnt toffee and a touch of fat corn, but it’s the buzzy rye that impresses. Relatively light with a touch of unobtrusive oak.

Soft on the palate, opening with the slightly burnt, sugary corn with the rye kicking in on the middle. Seriously mouth-watering with a long violet tinged finish. Still fairly young and displaying some youthful cerealy marc like notes and just enough oak to give it structure and a dry, wood spiced finish.

Well balanced with the sweetness of the corn lingering enough to offset the bittering oak at the death.

Maker’s Mark 45%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A soft and polished nose. A bit non-descript with a touch of honey and plenty of soft oak.

The palate pretty much mirrors the nose. Easy going, unassuming but ultimately unexciting.

Jim Beam Black Label 8 year old 43%- (web price £25.87)
Tasted: April 2009
Gentle yet pungent aromas of earthy, animally liquorice, dried fruits and moist fruit cake. Very layered, it continues to open up to display a complexity that I wasn’t expecting. The soft oak is restrained and balanced by a crisp grainy note.

The palate begins with a slightly floral note and pure corn oil followed by peanut brittle and toffee, which has been slightly burnt at the edges. There’s lashings of dried fruit, figs, spices, brown sugar and violets. Good earthy length and a vibrant piquancy with just the right amount of bitterness imparted by the oak. The oak is wonderfully subtle, forming a backdrop for the corn and rye to shine. A million times better than the frankly horrid white label!

Evan Williams 2001 (9 year old) 43.3% – (web price £31.68)
Barrel 802
Dist: Oct 2001 Btl: Apr 2011
Tasted: Feb 2012
The nose is full on creamy toffee. The oak surges onward with a wave of spice followed by some high toned rye in its wake giving the nose a touch of austerity. Mind, however hard it tries to balance out the toffee’d oak and corn it is on a hiding to nothing I fear!

Nestled in amongst this is a slightly manurey note but that cream toffee character is ever present and unfortunately it lacks the crisp focus of the 2000 vintage.

The palate opens with some soft and fluffy corn, and again plenty of cream toffee. Bitter oak and rye does come through on the middle, making for a rather abrupt, austere and woody conclusion.

In saying that it has a lovely spiciness though as well as hints of violets, earth and spicy marc-like notes in the after taste. Unfortunately this bottling is nowhere near as complex and interesting as the 2000 vintage.

FOCUS ON INVERHOUSE DISTILLERS

From 1988 to 1997 after a management buyout Inverhouse Distillers became a major force in the whisky industry with the purchase of Balblair, Balmenach, Knockdhu, Pulteney and Speyburn distilleries. Their commitment to marketing their distilleries worldwide led to them being awarded the Queen’s Award for Export Achievement in 1992.

In October 2001, Inver House entered a new chapter when it was purchased by Pacific Spirit (U.K.) Ltd, a global beverage company with close ties to Carlsberg Asia and the TCC Group companies. Being part of a larger group will ensure the company’s continued success in an increasingly competitive market place.

So for this edition of the newsletter I’ll be focusing on two of their distilleries – Balblair and Pulteney. I must say a big thank you to the company for supplying me with a number of samples for this tasting.

BALBLAIR

It was only after its purchase by Inverhouse Distillers in 1996 from Allied Domecq that Balblair has gone from strength to strength, winning a number of medals in various global competitions. Although it is only now that I have had the good fortune to taste any of the distilleries own bottlings.

Over the years I have tasted a few private bottlings, mainly from Dewar Rattray and I have found it to be a pleasant Highland malt. Just like at Glenrothes they don’t bottle age statements but prefer to bottle the exclusive vintages because, as they say “Every Balblair Vintage is strongly individual, a unique essence of a year, captured in a bottle”

As you can see from my notes I was very impressed with both the 2001 and 1989 vintage bottlings, but if pushed I would opt for the younger of the two as it has a beautiful freshness.

Balblair 2001 ‘1st Release’ 46% – (web price £34.95)
Tasted: Feb 2012
A crisp, clean and slightly grassy nose. Wonderfully endowed with green fruits. Slightly gristy with some perfumed white floral notes. Extremely pure and beautifully fresh with a soupcon of ever so slightly sweet barley. Lightly oiled with just a suggestion of spice. An absolutely divine nose!

A soft and gentle honeyed barley start. Like the nose the palate is superbly clean and fresh with a gentle oak note drifting in and building pleasantly as does the barley. A slightly mouth watering middle leads to a cut grass finish. Beautifully layered with the wood ever so slightly bittering the finish.
Balblair 1989 ‘2nd Release’ 43% – (web price £53.02)
Tasted: Feb 2012
A touch oilier than the 2001 with a greater degree of oak evident, adding hints of toasted caramel. Still exquisitely clean with the perfumed note found in the 2001 attempting to come through. Late notes of white pepper, a touch of heather and some peppery spice emerge.

A gentle opening with the toasted caramel oak up first. Fuller and oilier than the 2001 with a beautiful, shimmering clean depth of mature barley and a touch of honey. Lovely depth and length with a pleasant mouth filling quality. Long, with a slightly peppered spice finish and a touch of mentholated green fruit (gooseberry?) in the finish.

Other Bottlings we have in stock are:

Dewar Rattray Balblair 1991 (19 year old) 46% – (web price £38.27)
Sample at 61.1%
Bourbon Cask 3294
Dist: 1991 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Oct 2011
A beautiful, mature nose. Slightly gristy with plenty of brusque citrus fruit along with hints of earth and lightly coffee’d spices. Superb depth with a slight perfumed top note.

Intense and juicy on the palate. Quite earthy and alcoholic but there is a lovely dollop of mature honey and toasted coffee beans on the middle. The combination of alcohol and bitter oak masks the finish.

With water (an approximation of what it will be like at 46%). Oooh that’s a stunning nose! Dipping in all manner of luscious honey aromas. A delightful tangerine/ orange note has now appeared along with hints of clove and cinnamon. The brusque citrus and granity notes balance wonderfully. The palate is luscious and super smooth now. With the alcohol now in check it allows the sumptuous orange fruit and spices to shine and the palate to fill out. That gentle mature honey now coats the mouth and offsets the bitter oak on the finish.

This is an absolute steal at this price!

OLD PULTENEY

The Pulteney distillery was stablished in 1826 by James Henderson. It has the distinction of being the most northerly distillery on the Scottish mainland. It stands in the suburbs of Wick, about eighteen miles from John O’Groats, in a rugged, windswept, sea-pounded area, and it is that influence that can be found in spades in the distilleries whisky.

It’s other claim to fame is that it’s wash still had to have its top cut off because it was too tall for the stillroom! I imagine somebody got a real roasting for that cock-up!

Since it was purchased by Inverhouse Distillers in 1997 sales have gradually increased and the 12 year old has always been a favourite of mine, although having not tasted it since 2004 it does seem to have put some weight on!

I first tasted the 17 year old in 2005, about a year after its launch and I felt that the use of sherry casks had blunted its windswept, coastal character somewhat, and I postulated that the casks may have been stored on the mainland, well away from that briny, sea-air. I also thought that it was a little bit on the sweet side.

However 6 years on from my last tasting of it and I can say that it has come on in leaps and bounds. It’s a lot more complex and wonderfully balanced.

What can you say about the 21 year old? It’s simply stunning and a worthy winner of Jim Murray’s 2012 Whisky Bible, whisky of the year. The 30 year old, launched in 2005 is seriously impressive as well, and rumour has it that they are planning to release a 40 year old later this year, so hopefully a sample will be coming my way!

To finish up this tasting I tasted a 15 year old sherry cask from Gordon & MacPhail, which was all sherry and no trousers as they say, the travel retail bottling the Isabella Fortuna, which appears to suffer from the malaise of many other travel retail bottlings. Need I say anymore?

And lastly a half bottle called Row to the Pole. All I can say is that if I’d rowed all the way there and found that waiting for me I would have been seriously disappointed and that’s putting it mildly!

Old Pulteney 12 year old 40% – (web price £25.80)
Re-Tasted Feb 2012
A superbly deep and herbal honey accented nose with barley, gristy spices and layers of soft, fleshy sub-tropical fruit, malt and a deft coastal note. Like a number of malts this seems to have put on weight and become fuller since I lasted tasted if. Wonderfully complex with a light coffee/ cocoa note and a distinct citrus twang.

Full and honeyed on the palate with plenty of malty goodness! Very clean barley arrives with a lovely sugar dusting. Quite a zesty, coastaly, tangy middle leading to a lovely long finish with hints of mocha and bitter dark chocolate notes. Again fuller than I remember it but still extremely good!

Old Pulteney 17 year old 46% – (web price £49.85)
Re-Tasted: Feb 2012
Rich, deep and luscious aromas of sweet refill Oloroso seeped fruit along with a touch of pear, citrus, light toffee, peat and dusty spices. Enveloping and multi-layered with some beautiful sweet barley mingling with some fishy/ briny notes. A stunning nose! Majestic and complex.

A faultlessly clean palate which starts quite subtly with the toffee’d rich fruit showing first along with hints of toasted barley, dried, zesty citrus and a wonderful, building coastal intensity which breaks on the tongue like waves on a rocky shoreline. A majestic depth with shards of honey, cocoa and lightly sweetened soft fruit. Very long with some dried spices, oak and salt. Wonderfully balanced with a slight oily finish.

Old Pulteney 21 year old 46% – (web price £89.15)
Tasted: Dec 2011
A deep, mellow and mature nose. Seriously rounded with a multitude of aromas – Camphor tinged; salty-malty-makula honey mingles with fresh

green, cucumber, lime rind and seeped exotic fruit. Seriously deep with hints of old wood/ hickory and surprisingly, given it’s age some gristy barley. With time more of the coastal character asserts itself.

Full and wonderfully gentle on the palate, wave after wave of lightly honeyed, mature, tropical fruit breaks over the tongue. There is a beautifully delicate line of smoke and coastal notes which weaves its way through followed by some demerara flecked malt. Stunningly deep and full, yet light on its feet, with the alcohol adding a piquancy. Very, very long and gristy with delightful hints of oak and spices. For a malt this light it lingers impressively and signs of with a breath taking herbaceous finish.

Old Pulteney 30 year old 44% – (web price £122.00)
Tasted: Mar 2012
The nose is crisper, harder and a touch lighter than the 21 year old, but there it is showing a tad more of the maritime characteristics. Still stunningly complex, the aromas gently unwind to show salt encrusted barley, white fruits and macula honey along with some superbly mature, sawdusty oak and a brief meandering smokiness. Yes the oak does grip a bit more given its extra time in the cask, thus the aromas are not quite as voluptuously tropical as the 21 year old, but definitely a bit more spicier though.

The palate displays a greater degree of mature, sawdusty oak, but the wonderful sub-tropical lychee, pineapple and white pear fruit is still there. Again maybe not as exuberantly fruity as the 21, but it is still wonderfully clean and maritime led, especially on the middle. Ooh, now the fruit lets go and explodes onto the touch with a serious juiciness! Stunning length. Gentle barley and a touch of herbs shows through the fleshy fruit and the oak adds a controlled white chocolatey bitterness. Stunningly balanced finish, again a tad firmer than the 21 year old but no less impressive.

Gordon & MacPhails Old Pulteney 1995 (15 year old) 60.5%
First Fill Sherry Cask 1565
Dist: Aug 1995 Btl: Mar 2010
Tasted: Mar 2012
A big, leafy, liquorice infused Oloroso nose with no shortage of alcohol. A very clean cask with dried fruit, lightly toasted nuts along with a touch of marzipan but minus any distillery character as expected.

The palate opens with a profusion of nutty, leafy Oloroso. Loads of tannins, chocolate, alcohol and more alcohol. More chocolate, and more alcohol. Quite a creamy finish though, once the alcohol has passed.

A drop of water makes very little change to the nose. It’s still all sherry cask, although more soft raisinated fruit, toffee and roasted coffee aromas have appeared. The palate has now become very luscious and creamy full of pure Java coffee……… but still no distillery character!

Old Pulteney WK499 Isabella Fortuna ‘2nd Release’ 46%
Tasted: Mar 2012
The palate opens with some cream-coffee, fleshy apricot along with a touch of earthy-peat and gentle maritime notes.

It’s pleasant enough although the aromas are very unfocused and sort of hint at something tropical but never quite get there. Given this is a travel retail bottling I get the feeling that this is a vatting of some young and old spirit that isn’t good enough for the standard distillery bottlings.

A straightforward, unchallenging palate showing more than a touch of caramel. Some gentle fruit and spice mingles with some creamy oak, but the oak has a tired demeanour. Rather lacking in depth with some confected moments.
The finish is very maritime but it again it reinforces the belief that there is some tired old spirit here.

Old Pulteney ‘Row to the Pole’ 46% 35cl
Tasted: Mar 2012
Aromas of old, burnished wood and clean sherried dried fruit are killed  stone dead by caramel. This is not a guess as it states that caramel has been used on the label. If you have a bottle, give it a shake and you will see a layer of caramel appear on the surface like an oil slick. Maybe there’s a touch of something tropical underneath, but maybe I’m just imagining it!

The palate is flat, artificially sweet with some dried fruit, buckets of caramel, a bit of alcohol and some bitter oak. Flat and very, very disappointing.

FEBURARY DEWAR RATTRAY

Well, well, well. A tail of two Dufftown’s. As you would expect I left it until the last, fearing the worst one took a deep breath and………. Was stunned! It was actually rather good! Yes there still was a touch of the ‘industrial’ about it but there was plenty of mature honey and oak to offset it. So I though ‘I’ll have a case of that’.

However after placing the order I was told that due to ‘allocations’ I could have any. Now I thought I had suddenly stepped into the Twilight Zone or some alternate dimension as I couldn’t believe that I was aggrieved that I couldn’t have any Dufftown! All very bizarre it has to be said.

However they sent me a sample of the sister cask, and would you believe it? It was even better! And a tad cheaper as well! After all that I needed to have a sit down in a darkened room!

Aside from that they have bottled a lovely old unfettered, bourbon casked Bruichladdich and a sumptuous Balmenach, again aged in bourbon.  And Oh My God that Bunnahabhain is to die for! Just go to our youtube channel to see the video!

Dewar Rattray Clynelish 1997 (14 year old) 59.2%
Sherry cask 6893
Dist: 1997 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
A slightly high toned but pleasant nose of grassy white fruit, a suggestion of honey and a distinct fresh tea leaf aroma. It must have been aged in a very well used sherry cask as the oak adds maybe just a touch of light coffee, tobacco and one assumes the tea leaf character.

Dry and quite alcoholic on the palate to begin with. There is a touch of lightly honeyed apricot and white fruit with a granity freshness. It mellows towards the middle as some oak vanillins arrive as well as a beautiful dusting of sugar. Very long with a hint of the tea leaf character. Definitely needs to be diluted though.

With water it definitely opens it out as the spirit becomes oilier with some macerated cherry and more honey. Showing some maturity now along with a touch of grist, barley and liquorice-malt. Very pleasant with a late perfumed orange note. The palate has become lighter although it is still quite densely fruity and like the nose slightly oiler in texture. The barley really shines now and takes centre stage with a deft dusting of sugar. Beautiful oily-honeyed finish with hints of coffee, botrytised chenin blanc fruit and a hint of botanicals.

Dewar Rattray Benriach 1991 (20 year old) 54.9%
Bourbon Cask 110683
Dist: 1991 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
Aromas of manure and dried straw. Quite earthy with dark treacle-malt and liquorice. With time it develops and aromatic manurey note. However intermingled is a fizzy, vinegary, slightly cardboardy note. One feels that age has caught up with the spirit.

Soft and quite malty on the palate with plenty of treacle coated fruit, mature oak and drying tannins, add in the alcohol and it is very drying. Slightly murky on the middle with hints of floral old marc and pepper. Again there is that slightly perfumed manure note and a touch of old coffee. It’s definitely old but thankfully doesn’t have the ascetic quality of the nose.

With water the nose becomes dusty/ musty and old with the spirit creaking even more. On the palate it is watery and sugary. It has to be said that there are some pleasant peppery old marc notes with a rose water and heather finish. The after taste is still sugary though.

Dewar Rattray Bruichladdich 1992 (19 year old) 46% (website price £54.07)
Bourbon cask 3802 – sample at 56.1%
Dist: 1992 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
A sumptuously mature nose. Classic, old skool laddie! Maritime laced apricot, apple, greengauge, honeysuckle, salty-honey and a distant peat note.

The palate is quite earthy with some mature straw like notes interwoven with apricot, honeysuckle, light coffee’d oak and honey. Gently coastal on the middle, yet wonderfully juicy and luscious. Excellent length with some glorious spice/ heather-honeyed mature fruit interplay all delightfully sugar sprinkled.

With water (an approximation of what it’ll be like at 46%) The nose has become extremely fresh and fragrant now. It seems a bit younger with more green apple and more, pure salty-honey. The gentle, creamy oak vanillins have been released along with some herbal/ bog myrtle notes. A beautiful nose! The palate has really come to life now. Beautifully sugared fleshy fruits layered with moist honey as some glorious, gentle coffee spices drift in. The oils build making it a wonderful mouthful of classic, mature laddie.

Dewar Rattray Glen Grant 1991 (20 year old) 55.3%
Bourbon cask 130760
Dist: 1991 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
Intense, gristy barley, sawdust and earth to start with a slight white vinegar note which shows everything is not ok here. A tad industrial with a hint of wood spices.

Soft on the palate, opening with some mature, herbal, granity honey and juicy macerated apricot fruit with hints of old tinned pineapple. Quite alcoholic and short with a gristy finish and hints of white vinegar.

With water some pleasant orange fruit emerges, yet it is still quite herbal and gristy. The aromas are very mature with some earthy nuances and that vinegar note just hanging around at the edges. Although it hasn’t fallen apart like I thought it might it is still a bit long in the tooth. The palate is a bit vague and watery with noticeable dried out wood tannins, however some pleasant sugar coated honey fights back. Good length with hints of sweet spice in the finish. A definite improvement with water but not enough to make me want to buy it.

Dewar Rattray Balmenach 1983 (28 year old) 54.5% (website price £73.85)
Bourbon cask 2413
Dist: 1983 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
Oh what a nose! Deep and moist with plenty of sawdusty oak along with a splash of honey. Mature, yet edgy soft fruit mingles with coffee, liquorice. Beautifully balanced a fresh edge to the aromas with some herbal moments too! With time a touch of lavender and violet appears, but those wonderful mature oak aromas envelope and bind, but it never becomes over oaked.

Softly oiled and like the nose it opens with the sawdusty oak and crushed, fleshy fruit. Light spices, demerara sugar and herbal notes join in on the middle. Superbly deep and succulent, although the dry alcohol does mask the finish a bit as does some late dry wood notes. I’m expecting this to shine with a drop of water.

And I was right. Diluted the nose now displays a wonderful perfumed orange note. It’s incredibly light and ethereal now! Pure liquid heaven with a shot of toasted Java coffee and moist, mature honey. On the palate it’s spices to the front! Still juicy and maybe a tad less intense but wonderfully soft and lingering. A delightful mouthful of light honey and oak.

Dewar Rattray Aberlour 1989 (22 year old) 51.1%
Bourbon cask 245100-479
Dist: 1989 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
A dense and oily nose with hints grass and dried straw. Very venerable, almost too venerable with plenty of toffee-malt, oak and a slight perfumed white flower note at the edge. With time there is some light granulated sugar, white liquorice and beeswax.

The palate is very sweet. Lots of granulated sugar followed by the mature oak and coffee’d spices. Lots of tannin too, especially on the middle along with some herbal notes. The funny thing is that it sort of pauses, like gathering a breath before finishing with an almost minty freshness.

I must say I’m in two minds about this and out of curiosity I added a drop of water and it all fell apart. I did think it was maybe a tad old and quite fragile and dilution confirmed those fears as it became oily, confected and slightly watery with the spices unfortunately turning a bit cardboardy.

Dewar Rattray Glenlivet 1977 (34 year old) 48.2% (website price £94.18)
Bourbon cask 13174
Dist: 1977 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
A dense and woody nose with herbal spices by the bucketful. It takes some time to open but when it does it displays a myriad of mature, musky, herbal honey, green cardamom and gentle oak. Relatively light in character but wonderfully deep and mature with late hints of floral barley, cinnamon, pepper, leather and a touch of manure. Extremely complex but you will need some patience for it to show its full complexity.

The palate opens with a flirtatious but brief sweet-ish honeyed moment before the oak arrives dragging a good dollop of herbal spice notes with it – cinnamon, clove, oiled leather and tannins. Quite a woody finish which does bitter out towards the end, but that brings pure cocoa bean and sandalwood too! It is seriously good and although it does finish a tad on the bitter side the natural oils do attempt to stop it being over dry. Either way once you had a dram of this you’ll definitely want another!

Dewar Rattray Bunnahabhain 1974 (37 year old) 43% (website price £108.51)
Bourbon cask 13174
Dist: 1977 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
A seriously tropical (kiwi, greengage, banana, orange) and gristy nose with an abundance of sweet, luscious honey and beautifully fragranced oak. There’s so much tropical fruit that one would be forgiven for thinking that you were nosing an Arran. Just like Arran there is not a huge amount of coastal character but the depth is frightening to say the least. With time the lightly perfumed oils emerge as does a hint of light, Guatemalan coffee. Is this really 37 years old? The only real give away is a slight maturity to the oak and honey aromas.

Juicy and joyously tropical on the palate, a mouth watering array of apricot, papaya and citrus. Gentle oils roll across the tongue tinged with a touch of Guatemalan coffee. Oooh, now the wood spices kick in and the oils intensify towards the middle. And did I mention the spices? Oh my god! Delightful and gentle, throwing up cinnamon dust and plenty of demarara sugar, light toasted nuts and some herbal nuances. Stunning length with hints of loam and old heather. Stunning, majestic and seriously good!

Dewar Rattray Dufftown 1976 (35 year old) 58% (unfortunately sold out)
Bourbon cask 7743
Dist: 1976 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Feb 2012
A big, brawny nose of bruised honey and succulent dried fruit. There is still an undeniable touch of the industrial about this (farmyards and manure).However it is very complex with some fleshy almost agave notes followed by roughly, burnt coffee grains, but, and this is the big but, that lovely mature honey and oak is keeping all that industrialness warped up in a blanket. Although every now and again it does yell ‘I’m a Dufftown goddamn it!’ But damn it’s good! I think I need to sit down!

The palate opens with some hard barley with a gentle industrial note. Burnt coffee grains and a forest full of tannins follow. The oils and alcohol build in intensity along with an almost floral marc-like note and a touch of

decaying straw. My god it has an alcohol punch at the finish. A rough and ready Dufftown with enough mature honey to round off the edges!

Diluted the nose becomes a tad cleaner and leaner, but the coffee notes have become quite herbal now. In fact you might be forgiven for thinking this was from a refill-sherry cask given the abundance of herbal notes. The palate is ever so slightly watery and a touch confected, again revelling in that herbal pusedo-sherry character. Very oily now with the hard as nails barley more prominent and a serious amount of pepper on the finish. Still it is actually quite enjoyable, and definitely not dull!

Dewar Rattray Dufftown 1976 (35 year old) 58% (website price £102.62)
Bourbon cask 7742
Dist: 1976 Btl: Feb 2012
Tasted: Mar 2012
Oh my God. Surprisingly cultured and distinctly un-industrial! Those are definitely words I never though would come to mind when tasting a duffer! The aromas are quite dense and herbal with no shortage of mature honey, liberally sprinkled with icing sugar. There is a hint of roughly sawn, slightly damp timber which morphs into an earthy kind of character and there is even a slight violety note. Now eyes closed you could almost mistake if for an old Glenrothes, albeit from the wrong side of town!

Soft, gentle and quite oily on the palate, opening with plenty of wood tannins and sweet wood spices. Now at this point it could have become mouth puckeringly dry, but…… it doesn’t! The sumptuous, mature, herbal honey puts a stop to that and it evolves into a lovely macerated, liquorice mouthful. A bit piquant and edgy on the middle but a lovely barley light sugar comes back, mingles with some garnity/ mineral notes. Only in the after taste does it reveal that’s it’s a Dufftown, but only in a controlled, earthy, un-musty, un-industrial, un-murky fashion! Good grief! This is a superb old duffer! Is this a fluke? Who knows, just buy it and enjoy this very unlikely experience!

MARCH DOUGLAS LAING

Just the one bottling from Douglas Laing to report on. A special bottling of Royal Brackla for the upcoming celebrations for Queenie. It was pleasant enough but I thought I’d pass on it.

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Royal Brackla 1999 (12 year old) ‘Royal Jubilee Bottling’ 50%
Bourbon
Code: OMC2123
Dist: Oct 1999 Btl: Mar 2012
Tasted: Mar 2012
The nose opens with some pleasant dusty spices. Cinnamon coated luscious, oily apricot, honey and nut kernel with hints of citrus and vanilla oak.

The palate is with dusty spice, lightly oiled honeyed apricot and a distinct walnut note in the finish along with a touch of bitter chocolate.

MARCH JAMES MACARTHUR

I’m sorry Arthur, but a bit of a mixed bunch this month. The Aultmore was very good. Everything that you would want from a Speyside malt was there in abundance. The same could be said for the Laphroaig. It’s a bit sweeter than the 12 year old they bottled a couple of years back, and you certainly couldn’t fault the quality of this dram, and I’ll definitely stock this one as soon as stocks of the 12 year old have gone.

Unfortunately the Highland Park, as I said in my notes just didn’t say Highland Park to me and the Strathmill when tasted neat wasn’t as exuberant as you would expect although when diluted it was a bit more juicer.

James MacArthur Old Masters Aultmore 1997 (14 year old) 54.8% – (web price £52.41)
Bourbon cask 3592
Dist: Dec 1997 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
A lovely, gristy and crisply honeyed nose of wonderfully fresh citrus. A text book Speyside aroma. The palate is crisp and gristy, again with some lovely granite infused honey along with hints of citrus and grass. Long and mouth-filling with a touch of straw in the finish. A lovely aperitif malt.

A drop of water bring out the natural oils on the nose but does subdue it a little. On the palate it softens and rounds allowing the barley to shine along with a touch of creaminess from the oak, which balances the crispness quite well.

James MacArthur Old Masters Highland Park 1998 (13 year old) 57.5%
Bourbon cask 5790
Dist: June 1998 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
A lightly peated and earthy nose with some high toned citrus, sweet barley and a touch of oak. It seems younger than 13 years old as the spirit has a slight neutral-ish quality to it. With time hints of boiled sweets emerge along with some manure.

The palate opens with the sweet barley and malt, followed by hints of oak and light earthy-peat. Some light marc-like emphasises its relative youth and the alcohol masks the finish.

A drop of water brings out that neutral spirit note along with a pleasant sugar coating to the citrus on the nose and the palate. To be honest it doesn’t really say HP to me and I think it could have done with re-racking into a more active American oak cask and given a little more time.

James MacArthur Old Masters Strathmill 1990 (21 year old) 54.1%
Bourbon cask 101112
Dist: Oct 1990 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
A mature nose, redolent of straw-like citrus fruit along with malt and a touch of dark toffee. Quite an earthy nose and not displaying the usual exuberant orange fruit.

The palate opens with sugar coated citrus, white liquorice, straw and earth. Quite mature and like the nose, not as expressively fruity as you would expect from this distillery. The combination of alcohol and oak tannins give a somewhat austere and bitter finish although a touch of marzipan appears.

With water the nose becomes lighter, and now some silky orange fruit appears along with a touch of honey. Lightly perfumed now too. The palate is sweeter and juicier and although it is more like Strathmill now with some light honey it still retains a bit of a rough edge and the oak still bitters the finish.

James MacArthur Old Masters Laphroaig 1998 (13 year old) 56.2%
Bourbon cask 700234
Dist: Dec 1998 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
Quite a sweet, cough sweet nose, with sweet barley and sweet peat. Slightly medicinal with a touch of coastal character and smoke.

A sweet and tarry palate with the liquorice malt leading off. Relatively lightly peated with some syrup coated dried fruit. Quite an alcoholic and smoky middle leads into a slightly briny finish. The peat although light lingers well.

A drop of water bring out some natural caramel and a greater degree of coastal character on the nose. The palate, whilst still sweet now displays some gristy, sweet barley with a touch of smoked kipper. Full and robust with a malty, bacon fat middle and a long, mouth coating peat-oil finish.

THE WORLD WHISKY AWARDS 2012

Firstly I’d like to say a big thank you to Rob Allanson, editor of the Whisky magazine for asking me to be a judge for this competition. All I can say is that it was loads of fun. Yes you could say that I drew the short straw in the first round where I was asked to Judge the Blended Scotch Whisky, but I really enjoyed it and there were a few surprises when I eventually found out what some of those samples were, but I’ll expand upon that later.

In round two of the competition I tasted a number of the individual sub-category winners, with the top scoring ones going through to the final round, which meant a trip down to London. That was good fun and it was pleasant to put some faces to names. It was quite an illustrious judging line up in London and it included David Stewart from Balvenie, with whom I had an interesting conversation with after the judging was finished about just what happens to the odd dodgy cask.

Also a big hello and thanks to Joel Harrison, Whisky Tasting Ambassador, writer for caskstrength.net and the whisky magazine and all round nice guy, who took us for a dram, or my case a beer (as I was dying for one!) at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society bar.

Finally I ought to mention that all these whiskies were tasted blind, and it’s only now that the competition has finished I get to know exactly what I had been tasting.

But let’s talk blends………

ROUND 1 – BLENDED WHISKY

12 Years and Under

I had a lot of fun tasting these blends, mainly because many of them I had never tasted before and to be honest I’ve always wanted to have a good go at a wide range of blends.
For those of you that like to know these things, the way my scoring goes is that 5-6 is average, but dull, 6-7 is average, but ok, 7-8 is good, 8-9 is very good and 9+ is the dog doobries!

So in my world anything less than a 7 and you can forget about, which means a definite no to Ballantine’s, Grant’s and Dewar’s 12 year old offerings as they were pretty dull offerings. A few like the Islay Mist 8 and 12 year old were ok, if a bit straightforward.

To be honest it was mainly the palates that let these blends down as a few had reasonably complex noses but as soon as they were in the mouth it was all a bit ho-hum.

So on to the surprises. The last time I tasted Johnnie Walker Black Label, my tasting notes read:

“The nose to be honest is somewhat homogonous and smells, well, like whisky! That may sound a bit of a daft thing to say but apart from some hints of black pepper and crisp grain, not much else leaps from the glass.

The palate is very much like the nose. Somewhat straightforward with plenty of caramel/ vanillins and a touch of spice. It’s obviously a well made blend but to me it seems pretty innocuous stuff.”

I guess I must have just tasted a bottle from a duff batch, and that’s the rub, so to speak. Many of these blends are produced in such large quantities that from time to time you are going to get batch variation, so it would appear that I managed to catch JW Black on a good day! So I guess you can’t argue with it winning the Best Blended Scotch Whisky 12 years old and under category. I guess that’ll keep Diageo happy!

Both the Cutty Sark and Chivas regal 12 year olds were very good, but ultimately it was the Black Bull 12 year old which stole the show, and it has to be said that Duncan Taylor have set the bar pretty high when it comes to the quality of their Black Bull range.

It’s a shame that we don’t deal with them anymore, but you can find their bull in a number of places!

SCORE – 9.2
Duncan Taylor Black Bull 12 Years Old 50%
Tasted: Jan 2012
There’s no shortage of earthy sherry casked, luscious/ oily dried fruit on display with a seriously intense depth of malt, gentle peat, orange, clove, charcoal and a late hint of balsamic, which maybe from the grain interaction. Very enjoyable. Almost perfection!

The palate is soft and juicy opening with dates, sultana and sherried dried fruit in abundance. The grain dutifully follows but it’s pretty submerged beneath the malt, but it finally flows out in the finish.

A superb length. Very long and warming with the grain trailing sweet spices along with a gentle nip. Seriously oily and unctuous.

SCORE – 8.6
Johnnie Walker Black Label 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
An expansive and juicy nose opening with burnt wood, toffee and plenty of rich sherry, with some grain pleasantly nipping. Really pleasantly honeyed with some coffee’d moments along with the crisp grain adding a freshness. Lovely.

Soft and coffee’d on the palate. Loads and loads of soft mocha and pure Colombian! Quite full but simpler than the nose would suggest.

Good length with the creamy grain coming through. A superb nose and a well balanced palate.

SCORE – 8.5
Chivas Regal 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
Quite a dense nose with some honey along with hints of tropical apricot and kumquat. Slightly perfumed and showing more maturity than one would expect at this age. Very heavy on the malt content with late notes of peat, burnt wood and finally some creamy grain. Excellent.

The grain is more noticeable on the palate and definitely in control. Pleasantly fresh with some subtle honey. Again a bit straightforward.

Lovely length with the grain taking on a creamy nuance along with a touch of spice. A lovely blend, very harmonious, although the palate does lag behind the nose.

SCORE – 8.3
Cutty Sark 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
Quite an oily and malty nose with a reasonable dollop of Islay in the blend. Burnt wood, coal, treacle, tar, liquorice and dark honey aromas are all present. Very complex with a slight perfumed edge. Definitely enjoyable.

Full, sweet and malty on the palate. There is a lot less peat and a lot more grain and a lot less complexity. With time it becomes quite confected but it has a pleasant intensity though.

Good length with the peat clinging on and finishing with a spicy, salty endowed citrus fruit. Scores highly due to its nose rather than its palate!

SCORE – 7.4
Islay Mist 12 Years Old 40%
Bottled by MacDuff International
Tasted: Jan 2012
The nose is a tad muted and oily and takes awhile to get going. Quite malty with hints of dried fruit and nuts (I’m guessing a smidge of sherry cask in there!) The grain is well integrated and there are late hints of fish and orange fruit.

Rather firm on the palate as the grain kicks off, but there is some malt beneath. It starts to fill out with a
touch of honey, but the grain is the dominant factor.

Good length with a soft, herbal/ botanical grain finish and a slightly peated after taste. A pleasant, complex nose but again a very ordinary palate.

SCORE – 7.2
William Lawson’s Scottish Gold 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
An interesting nose! Hints of tar and fish mingle with some sub-tropical fruit and maybe a smidge of sherry. Late hints of unsweetened breakfast cereal – It’s just like putting your head in a mash tun! After some time the grain puts in an appearance.

The palate is a total contrast to the nose. Soft, slightly sweet and very homogonous. Apart from some soft grain notes not much else pops up!

Good length however with a sweet grain finish. A very interesting nose let down by the dull palate.

SCORE – 7.1
Bailie Nicol Jarvie 8 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
Quite a deep and honeyed nose with hints of sawdusty oak, malt and some floral, sweet grain.

Soft and grainy on the palate. A lot less honeyed than you would have expected after the nose but it’s pleasantly mouth filling if a tad simple.

Quite a sugary finish. Good nose, again let down by a simplistic palate.

SCORE – 7.1
Islay Mist 8 Years Old 40%
Bottled by MacDuff International
Tasted: Jan 2012
Oily and dense nose with plenty of fish oils, peat and brine. Straightforward but deep aromas, again it feels like it has quite a high malt content. Late notes of burnt wood.

The palate is not as expressive as the nose. Some light peat and herbal notes mingle with ash on the middle and some late grain.

Ok length with a smoky/ ashy finish. A pleasant blend, quite fresh and straightforward but well made.

SCORE – 7.0
Gordon & MacPhail Speycast 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A soft, citrusy and gristy nose with what appears to be quite a high percentage of malt. Beautifully fresh with hints of caramel and perfumed grain.

Soft and a touch homogenous on the palate, probably caramel dampened. Quite full and malty however with the grain coming in rather quickly.

Ok length, quite grainy with a citrus twist. A pleasant malt let down by a dull palate.

SCORE – 6.9
Dewar’s 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A very reticent and hard nose of crisp grain and brittle honey. With time the phenolic peat arrives, Pleasant if a bit straight- forward.

The palate is surprisingly soft and not surprisingly rather innocuous. Hints of peat, crunchy grain and pepper.

Ok length. A bit vapid to be honest with the crunchy grain coming through with a slight sugary coating. Pleasant nose, dull palate, just about average.

SCORE – 6.8
Grant’s 12 Years old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
Yet another uninspiring nose! Very muted with practically no character whatsoever. Maybe there’s a touch of sweet honey and floral grain if you sniff hard enough.

I’m struggling to discern much here. Bland and homogenous. Good length with a tart finish. Another very dull blend.

SCORE – 6.8
The Tweeddale Blend 12 Years Old 46%
Bottled by Stonedean Ltd
Tasted: Jan 2012
A very grainy nose, but of the creamy variety. I’m guessing that there is just a minisucle proportion of malt here. To be honest it’s just like an oak aged vodka.

A soft, dull palate which is predominantly creamy grain. Ok length with a bit of a bite in the finish. Grain whisky or oak aged vodka? You choose!

SCORE – 6.7
Ballantine’s 12 Years Old 40%
Bottled by Chivas Brothers
Tasted: Jan 2012
Not much on the nose. Maybe some creamy grain and pepper notes, but that’s about it.

Soft and innocuous on the palate with some caramel and creamy grain. Maybe some late sugary notes. Ok length with some late smoke. In conclusion – Dull, dull, dull!!!

13 to 20 years old

Now I can’t say that I’ve ever heard of James Martin’s but it’s magnificently good, and the Art Deco packaging looks impressive too. I can’t find any mention of this blend in the UK so I wonder if it’s an export only bottling?

The Grant’s and Cutty Sark 18 year old were pleasant if flawed as was the Islay Mist 17 year old. But the biggest surprise was the Chivas Regal 18, which when I tasted it last time I said:

“The nose opens with some slightly muted sherry. Quite oily with a sub-industrial-dufftown character (could that be some rough old Tormore and Glenallachie?). Ok there is some sweetness and a slight floral note which tries to off set that character but it’s really hard going.

The palate is mellow and straightforward. Again it’s quite hard and industrial, slightly sweet, slightly sherried, and pretty innocuous with not much discernible character, well apart from that dufftown-esque disposition. The grain is well hidden and gives a pleasant bite to the finish”

Ah, batch variation! Don’t you just love it? Well not where the Ballantine’s 17 year old was concerned as this time it was a very big disappointment.

SCORE – 8.9
James Martin’s 20 Years Old 43%
Bottled by Glenmorangie
Tasted: Jan 2012
A lovely, deep nose of mature sherry cask. Liquid orange and sharp citrus playfully weave their way through hints of burnished wood, smoke, tar and liquorice. Superb depth and complexity with a sprinkling of muscavado sugar. The grain is buried beneath the sheer weight of malt but it adds a delightful perfumed floral note.

The palate shows some splendid maturity with slightly toasted oak and dried fruit by the bucketful. The building tannins are countered by some muscavdo sugar and light oils. Wonderfully piquant and mouth watering.

That piquant burst leads into a sweet/floral grin finish but the malt and cask keep the grain in check so that it adds just the right amount of freshness.

In conclusion – a superb, complex blend. A serious mouthful of dried sherry fruit, but wonderfully balanced.

SCORE – 8.3
Grant’s 18 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
Deep and subtly sherried aromas of burnt wood, bog myrtle-peat and ripe, smoky fruit. Luscious and reasonably mature with just a hint of grain.

The palate is quite oily with the grain laced sherried fruit showing first. Soft and densely fruity with hints of peat and smoke. Moderately mature.

Ok length with a crisp, botanical, violety finish. Very expressive but one could argue that it’s a bit one dimensional and over reliant upon the Islay component. However it is rather pleasant though.

SCORE – 8.0
Cutty Sark 18 Years Old 43%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A fragrant and charming nose, full of soft citrus and grassy notes. The grass and grain do give it a slightly austere feel but it is well balanced by some
mature honey and oak. Late smoky note appears.

The palate is quite austere and brittle. A profusion of grain, which buries the malt component. Some citrus and mature honey begins to show. Pleasantly weighted and entertaining.

Quite a fresh but creamy finish with a touch of coal dust. A pleasantly fresh and relatively integrated blend.

SCORE – 8.0
Islay Mist 17 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A slightly soapy nose of confected sherry, liquid orange, clove and no shortage of buzzy spices. Quite deep, rounded and robust with dried fruits and some late orange blossom honey, but the grain adds a pleasant perfumed edge.

The palate opens with burnt wood and plenty of tart grain. Very dry and tannic with the malt attempting to assert itself.

The finish is pretty austere as the grain kicks in, although it lingers well with some pleasant sweet moments and lingering malt. A lovely blend, great nose, reasonable palate, lovely finish.

SCORE – 7.6
Chivas Regal 18 Years Old Gold Signature 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A lush nose of subtle sherry along with hints of coffee and orange fruit. Quite dense but a bit simple. Late hints of burnt wood, toffee and brief smoke attempt to enliven as does some just noticeable, floral grain.

The palate is very much like the nose, full, dense and sherried with coffee/ mocha and some floral, sweet grain. For 40% the alcohol is quite piquant and cleansing.

Good length with a pleasantly crisp and clean finish. A well made blend, just lacks the complexity of the previous three.

SCORE – 7.3
Dewar’s 18 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
Soft, perfumed sherry cask aromas mingle with herbal orange. Quite evocative with a slight phenolic peaty note, but that is kept under control by the thick slabs of malt. With time some burnt wood and crisp grain asserts.

Soft, sweet and juicy on the palate. Plenty of dried date and raisin along with a semblance of peat, but that is kind of muted by the oils. Again for a 40% abv the alcohol is quite piquant and I have to say that the palate fails to live up to the nose.

It’s a bit short and predominantly grainy barley on the finish and leaves a sugary after taste. In conclusion – a great nose but a so-so palate.

SCORE – 7.2
Ballantine’s 17 Years Old 43%
Bottled by Chivas Brothers
Tasted: Jan 2012
A huge, leafy, fresh Oloroso nose. Spotlessly clean with hints of earth, manure, chocolate drops and a sherberty sweetness. With time some crisp grain arrives.
Soft and slightly watery to start until the oils get going. All the flavours appear to be sherry cask derived, although there isn’t a blemish in sight. Not quite as expressive as the nose would suggest.

Good length with the crisp grain drying the finish. Again a pleasant blend, just lacking some input from the spirit and a bit too heavy on the sherry.
21 years old and over

So here is where we start to get the serious scores, and so we should as these bottlings attract a serious price tag. For me the Hankey Bannister 40 just shaded the Black Bull 40. Both are exceptional bottlings but I just loved the profusion of old grain in the Bannister. As I said in my tasting note that the purists would prefer more malt input, so after all the scores were in it was the Duncan Taylor 40 which took the award for Best Blended Scotch whisky and well you can’t argue with that.

Once again I was very impressed with Glemorangie’s James Martin as well as the Hankey Bannister 25 year old. Both the Ballantine’s 30 and Hankey Bannister 21 year old were pleasant enough, and you wouldn’t be upset if you were given a bottle of either of them.

As for the rest, well they all displayed flaws of some sort or another and I think my scores reflect that.

SCORE – 9.4
Hankey Bannister 40 Years Old 44%
Bottled by Inverhouse Distillers
Tasted: Jan 2012
A dense and seriously mature nose. Venerable Cambus(?) grain kicks off the proceedings with some rum like dried fruit and hints of polished wood. The malt is definitely taking a back seat and underpins all the wonderful old grain. Stunningly honey glazed with mature citrus oils and a plethora of dusty spices. Seriously stunning!

The palate mirrors the nose, leading off with the gentle rum like dried fruit and mature grain. Slightly edgy with the malt again subservient. The dried fruit increases in intensity towards the middle with some dark toffee and molasses like moments. Wonderful complexity of dried grape, fig, prune, liquorice and old American oak adding to the excitement.

A mouth wateringly spicy finish with a mature citrus twist and a lovely dried grape sweetness. And a lightly oiled, mature honey after taste.  In conclusion – I love this. However given that it is predominantly old grain I don’t think it would appeal to everyone and the purists would probably want to see more malt input, but for me it’s the best!

SCORE – 9.0
Duncan Taylor Black Bull 40 Years Old Deluxe Blend 40.2%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A seriously earthy spice led nose, underpinned by some elegant, mature sherry. Quite leafy with camphor, smoke and no shortage of sherry wood spices. Stunning complexity as the nose continues to evolve, now showing some delicious crystallised orange fruit and demarara sugar. Finally some burnt wood and toasty oak appears as does a smidge of citrusy grain. Beautiful!

The palate is quite brittle to start with but it soon gets into the gentle perfumed, spicy sherried groove. Very dense but with verve and sinew, which is added by the edgy but sweet grain. Some straw dried grape adds a touch of balancing sweetness and tannin adds structure.

Full and very long showing dusty spices and a touch of marzipan, but finishing with the dried grape/ sultana note. An all round stunning blend – complex and inviting.

SCORE – 8.8
James Martin’s 30 Years Old 43%
Bottled by Glenmorangie
Tasted: Jan 2012
A big nose of mature, leafy Oloroso, pine, clove, cinnamon, chocolate and coffee. All cask derived but extremely luscious. Some hard edged grain and smoke pokes through with time.

A soft and quite sugary entry with the leafy Oloroso adding a mouth filling boldness. Good complexity and seriously juicy with hints of sultana, grape and a slight Cognac-esque rancio. Wonderfully mature with a touch of hard grain.

Lovely length with some sweet American oak vanillins flooding in on a seriously spicy wave. Along with lingering juicy, dried fruits.

In conclusion a pleasant nose, slightly one dimensional palate but it all seems to happen on the finish with a riot of wood flavours.

SCORE – 8.5
Hankey Bannister 25 Years Old 40%
Bottled by Inverhouse Distillers
Tasted: Jan 2012
A beautiful mature nose of mature honey and sawdusty oak. Luscious and deep with a distinct old Glenrothes/ Grant character. The aromas continue to evolve with some light but floral orange and spice evident. With time it becomes more perfumed.

The palate is quite sweet and honeyed but the grain adds a lovely crispness which balances. Full and juicy with a beautiful depth.

Long with a citrus and spice finish along with the barest hint of grain. A lovely blend that’s dangerously drinkable!

SCORE – 8.4
Ballantine’s 30 Years Old 43%
Bottled by Chivas Brothers
Tasted: Jan 2012
A dense nose, over brimming with mature sherry wood aromas – dried fruit with hints of liquorice and spice. A lovely depth it has to be said and spotlessly clean with a soupcon of creamy grain.

Full and reasonably deep on the palate, opening with some gentle refill (?) sherry and malty notes. There is a pleasant albeit brief touch of sweet honey and a lovely zesty freshness to the middle along with hints of creamy grain.

Good length, quite crisp and dry with a dusty after taste. Pleasant but not exactly earth shattering.

SCORE – 8.3
Hankey Bannister 21 Years Old 43%
Bottled by Inverhouse Distillers
Tasted: Jan 2012
A subtle, beguiling and floral nose. White flowers and floral grain mingle effortlessly. Some lovely, crisp granity Highland notes appear along with some mature honey. It takes awhile to open up but it shows some complexity and late creamy oak.

Soft, juicy and succulent on the palate. Gentle honeyed fruit fills the mouth with a beautiful granity edge and some brown sugared moments. Very full bodied with the grain well hidden.

Very long and crisp with the grain peeping through on the finish and ending with a brief smoky nuance. All in all a lovely, mature blend.

SCORE – 7.7
Cattos 25 Years Old 40%
Bottled by Inverhouse Distillers
Tasted: Jan 2012
Quite a high toned and citrusy nose with perfumed Satsuma, ginger, dried fig, clove and raisins. I suspect that there’s a smidge of sherry cask in the blend. With time it becomes quite fruitcake like with hints of mature honey, smoke and sweet grain.

The palate is austere, crisp and granity, which to be honest was quite unexpected give the nose. Nowhere near as elegant as the nose with some burnt caramel encroaching.

Medium length with the sweet grain predominant. In conclusion – A lovely nose, but a disappointing palate.

SCORE – 7.8
Royal Salute 21 Years Old 40%
Bottled by Chivas Brothers
Crisp and fragrant aromas of honeyed barley and sawdusty oak. Hint of mint, white flowers and perfumed lily add to the elegance. Lovely depth and complexity.

The palate is light and a tad dusty with hints of honey but the grain powers through the light malt component.

The finish is again predominantly grain orientated and it’s a bit innocuous to be honest. A shame as the nose was very promising.

SCORE – 7.4
Grant’s 25 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Jan 2012
A dense, oily and slightly industrial nose. Quite deep but slightly muted with hints of dark malt and light treacle. Maybe there is a hint of burnt wood and smoke.

The palate is quite tannic and hard. Again slightly industrial in character with an abundance of grain which just adds to the hardness.

Good length but predominantly grain. I can’t say that I’m a fan of the nose and the palate seems incomplete somehow.

SCORE – 7.2
Ballantine’s 21 Years Old 43%
Bottled by Chivas Brothers
Tasted: Jan 2012
Quite an oil dampened although there’s no denying the depth. Mature smoky honey mingles with a touch of sherry wood. The grain nips at the edges and with time it becomes quite dusty and spicy with a sort of incense like note.

Full and oily on the palate. A bit on the homogenous side with hints of burnt caramel and toffee.

Reasonable length, but like a number of the other blends the finish is all about the grain.

WORLD WHISKY AWARDS 2012 – ROUND 2

THE INDIVIDUAL SUB-CATEGORY WINNERS

So onto round two of the competition. I received a box with some of the individual sub-category award winners. So in order to get this far in the competition is definitely an accolade in itself and they had to be carefully considered as the winners would be crowned as a category winner.

Best Lowland Single Malt

So it was a shoot-out between the Auchentosahan Valinch, winner of the best No Age Statement sub-category and the Auchentosahan 1999, which was the winner in the 12 year sand under category and although my preference was for the Valinch it was the 1999 (11 year old) which one and went through to the final round of judging. In fact I was that impressed with the Valinch bottling that I decided we would stock it.

SCORE – 8.9
Auchentoshan Valinch 2011 57.5% % – (web price £41.00)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A soft, floral nose of white fruit along with a hint of grass and softly sugared marc-like notes. Develops aromas of almond and cinnamon. Lovely depth. With water it becomes less complex and more subtle.

Palate: Opens with soft barley and crisp honey with a touch of sugared almond and marc notes. Intensely alcoholic which leads into rose water and Turkish delight. With water it becomes softer and oiler, showing a tad more maturity now and some dried grass notes.

Finish: Long, with some late spice and lingering rose water notes. Conclusion: A lovely, charming Lowland. Probably a vatting as with water it definitely shows some maturity.

SCORE – 8.6
Auchentoshan 1999 (11 years old) 58%
Bordeaux Cask Matured
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A clean, leafy, herbal Oloroso-esque nose displaying plenty of dried fruit, which moves in a boiled sweet direction. A touch of mature honey and late hints of vanilla/ marzipan with some delightful peppery spice at the edges. Water brings out a slight damp earth note.

Palate: Oily and quite tannic with what appears to be sherried spice (tasted blind) and ground coffee. The piquant alcohol makes the mouth water. All cask, but pleasantly clean. Water emphasises the oils.

Finish Good length with a boiled sweet/ confected finish. Conclusion: Pleasant, clean, just lacking some distillery character.

Best Campbeltown Single Malt

So it was the Hazelburn 12, winner of the 12 years and under sub-category against the Springbank 18 year old, winner of the 13 to 20 year old sub-category and the Springbank duly took the honours. Both of these are fabulous malts an very different to each other, but I just love old Springbank and the sheer quality of the 18 year old just had to take it through to the next round

SCORE – 8.5
Hazelburn 12 Years Old 46% – (web price £48.02)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Lovely complex aromas, which are initially of oxidised white pear, fleshy apricot and banana along with hints of brine and ozone. Plenty of toffee’d ice cream oak vanillins follow. With time the oak becomes slightly sawdusty and some mature honey emerges.
Palate: Lightly oiled with the toffee’d oak showing first. Slightly fishy with some brine notes coming through. There is definitely some maturity at play here but the oak is the dominant theme.

Finish: Good length with a coffee, dry, slight tannic finish.

Conclusion: A very expressive nose, but the oak dominates that palate.

SCORE – 9.2
Springbank 18 Years Old 46% – (web price £69.95)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A dense and woody nose which is quite leafy and herbal to begin with followed by mature barley and some seriously fishy aromas. The dry/ herbal/ earthy peat comes through all wonderfully wrapped in a cod liver oil soaked tarry notes. Very expressive and complex, showing a pleasant degree of maturity and finally a hint of bog myrtle, violet and dark chocolate coated orange.

Palate: The palate begins like the nose – dense and oily along with some dry, slightly tannic old sherry wood adding hints of nuts, coffee and cocoa. The mouth coating fish oils build wonderfully and there is a fleeting heathery/ violet note, which to a certain degree subdues the peat but it does makes a brief tarry appearance.

Finish: Very long and quite woody with a briny, parma violet aftertaste. (

Conclusion: A beautiful old Campbeltown malt, distinctly old Springbank!

Best Highland Single Malt

Now this is a tough category. I have to say that the quality of these sub category winners was exceptionally high. So we had the best no age statement Glenmorangie Signet against the best 12 years old and under winner the Glen Garioch, which was a lot better than the last time I tasted it. Also we had the winner of the 13 to 20 year sub-category, the very wonderful Old Pulteney 17 year old and finally the rather magnificent Speyburn 25 year old, winner of the 21 years and over category and the eventual winner of the Best Highland Single Malt category.

The bad news is that the distillery have no more stock of this fabulous whisky, but I would imagine given that it won this accolade another bottling will be forthcoming soon. If it is then watch this space.

So my scores on the doors were as follows:

SCORE – 9.5
Speyburn 25 Years Old 46%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Stunning aromas of molten, mature honey by the bucketful with herbal nuances. The oak has a slight sawdusty character and adds some beautiful mature, creamy vanillins. The spices are seriously riotous and with time a musky perfume note arises.

Palate: The liquid, mature honey glides over the tongue. Very full with some majestically developing oils and barley. The alcohol and granity notes keep the oils and full fat vanilla sweetness in check. Sheer poetry!

Finish: A stunning length with hints of violets and lavender emerging and those beautifully sweet vanillins lingering.

Conclusion: A seriously symphonic malt!

SCORE – 9.2
Glenmorangie Signet 46%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Beautifully fragrant aromas of orange, tangerine, mature honey and a gentle kiss of oak, which adds some divine spicy moments before the Bourbon-like notes really take hold. A seriously sumptuous nose with a hint of bitter chocolate and burnt wood.

Palate: Soft, succulent and wonderfully moist citrus begins the proceeding, followed by some gentle honey and crunchy barley. The oak builds just like it does on the nose coating the mouth in a toffee’d veneer, but the granity notes balance.

Finish: Lovely length, again with the oak vanillins in the ascendancy. (1.7)

Conclusion: A beautiful malt with plenty of mature honey along with a lovely fresh edge.

SCORE – 8.9
Old Pulteney 17 Years Old 46%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Generous and fruity with a delightfully exuberant tropical character, it’s all apricot, kumquat, guava and banana all wrapped in moist, mature honey and oak. Gentle spice notes accent and some sumptuous dried fruit arrives with time as does a touch of botanical spirit.

Palate: A lot less generous in the fruit department with a greater emphasis on the granity, herbal honey and hard, mouth-watering barley fruit. Gentle oak underpins and supports adding a gentle spice note.

Finish: Quite juicy now, still mouth-watering with the herbal, spirit notes returning.

Conclusion: The nose is stunning, but the palate doesn’t quite have the exuberance of the nose. However it is still wonderfully deep and subtle.

SCORE – 8.3
Glen Garioch 12 Years Old 48%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Quite oily with a slight burnt coffee note. Pleasantly complex with a touch of heather along with a slight perfumed white flower note and a touch of earthy with a light peat. Quite a lithe nose with some developing honey and a lovely mineral-fresh edge.

Palate: The palate opens with a crisp, granity start, followed by toasted caramel and earth notes. Subtly fruity but distinctly mineral in character.

Finish: Good length with a citrus twist in the finish and a slightly perfumed aftertaste.

Conclusion: If this was a wine it would definitely be called a ‘vin de terroir’.

Keep an eye on the website as I will definitely be adding the Glenmorangie Signet and the Glen Garioch 12 to the list of single malt whiskies that we stock

Best Island (Non Islay) Single Malt

Now I have to say I was really looking forward to tasting these sub category winners. I don’t think it would have been too presumptuous of me to think that there was going to be an old Talisker and an old Highland Park amongst the sub-category winners, and my mouth was literally watering with anticipation.

So it was Talisker 57o North, winner of the no age statement sub-category against the Highland Park 12 year old, winner of the 12 year old an under sub-category against the Scapa 16 year old, winner of the 13 to 20 year old sub-category and the rather magnificent Highland Park 1971 (40 year old) winner of the 21 years and over sub-category.

I doubt that you’d be surprised to hear that it was the Highland Park 1971 (40 year old) which took the Best Island Single Malt crown, it was amazingly complex. The biggest disappointment was the Highland Park 12, which for many years has been a go to malt for me with a consistency that you could metaphorically hang your hat on, but I have notice that it is becoming a lot more variable quality wise, which is a very big shame.

Oh well, such is life. In the meantime I’ll just wallow in the glow of the fact that I got to taste from one of the 657 bottles released, which has a price tag approaching £2300. Yes, these are the things that whisky dreams are made of!

And the fact that my tasting note for the Talisker appears in the awards section in issue 103 of the whisky magazine. Obviously my note for the Highland Park 40 was just a bit too long?

SCORE – 9.8
Highland Park 1971 (40 years old) 46.9%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: The nose opens with a tidal wave of mature, Oloroso sherry with some serious exotic depth. Succulent coffee soaked dried fruit – prune, plum and sultana follow. Soft wood spices meld into dark chocolate and a slight coastal note adds some freshness. Monumentally deep, pretty much faultless with a sprinkling of demerara sugar, sandalwood and incense.

Palate: Lighter, more elegant on the palate. Gentle mature, dried sherry fruit, citrus rind, almonds and walnut are bound together by a light coffee/ hickory note. The deft complexity is frightening as a touch of oxidised apricot, earth, liquorice and the most gentle kiss of peat smoke emerge. Like the nose some coastal notes add a lovely degree of freshness.

Finish: A stunning finish boasting mature honey, demarara sugar along with hints of parma violets.

Conclusion: This malt oozes age, complexity and mellow charm by the bucketful!

SCORE – 9.3
Talisker 57o North 57% – (web price £58.23)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A juicy, coastal imbued nose of barley along with hints of boiled sweets and sugared almonds. Some fairly prominent peat pushes through as does some peppery notes. A lovely depth.

Palate: Succulent, honeyed, muscavado sugar coated citrus fruit and vanilla fills the mouth. The alcohol powers through with a distinctly herbal edge, and
finally some mocha laced gentle peat smoke drifts in.

Finish: Very long with more than a soupcon of peppery spice!

Conclusion: Superb stuff. A serious wake up dram!

SCORE – 8.5
Scapa 16 Years Old 40% – (web price £52.23)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A deep and honeyed nose. Quite herbal and woody with hints of salty spice and liquorice. The fruit is slightly tropical in character, hinting at some age and there is no shortage of beautiful, sweet oak. Good complexity with hints of coffee malt and the spices becoming quite grainy with time.

Palate: Lighter than the nose would suggest with a very faint musty note. Quite firm as well with just a touch of light honey and fish oils.

Finish: Good length, rather confected and sugary with hints of parma violets.

Conclusion: A lovely, deep nose, it’s a pity the palate couldn’t quite live up to it.

SCORE – 7.8
Highland Park 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: An ever so slightly musty, herbal and woody nose with a touch of spicy marc and sweet barley. With time some hickory and herbal peat appears.

Palate: Lightly oiled with some youthful marc-like notes. Again slightly musty with a touch of burnt caramel.

Finish: Soft and quite sweet.

Conclusion: Pleasant if a tad unfocused

Best Islay Single Malt

The biggest surprise was that there appeared to be no entrances in the 21 years old and over sub-category! For the life of me I can’t understand for the life of me why none of the Islay distilleries put forward an old bottling. Oh well, such is life!

So we had the winner of the no age statement sub-category, the Bowmore 13 year old ‘Maltmen’s Selection’ against the Lagavulin 12 year old, winner of the 12 years old and under sub-category and the Lagavulin 16, winner of the 13 to 20 years old sub-category.

And the award went to the Bowmore, as it just edged the Lagavulin 16 year old.

SCORE – 9.1
Bowmore 13 year old ‘Maltmen’s Selection’ 54.6%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Pungent, dense, , rich aromas of Oloroso sherried fruit, bog myrtle and herbal peat. Quite dark and malty with treacle-toffee and liquorice. A drop of water brings out some fragrant orange fruit along with a touch of mature honey. Superbly complex with the emphasis now on the rather pleasant spicy/ cindery notes.

Palate: Dry, dusty and quite alcoholic. Gentle yet pungent peat mingles with some juicy sherried fruit, liquorice, treacle and tar. Water makes the palate lusciously fruity and a tad sweeter. The sherry has become more nutty in character and slightly toasty too!

Finish: Good length with the sherry notes lingering and a touch of burnt wood creeping in. Dilution allows some coastal notes to come through as well as accenting the spices.

Conclusion: Gently peated and rather wonderful!

SCORE – 8.6
Lagavulin 12 Years Old 57.5% % – (web price £72.65)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A leafy, herbal and briny nose with hints of sweet barley and gentle coastal peat. Given time the aromas become icing sugar sprinkled and a slight medicinal note emerges. Quite gentle and reserved. Diluted it is less complex but some lovely luscious citrus emerges.

Palate: Slightly oily, opening with some gentle white fruit with a touch of vanilla oak. Alcohol dominated with some herbal peat. With water the palate is a tad vague but still quite sugary.

Finish: The peat finally comes rushing through and finishes with a seriously mouth-watering coastal finish. With water more herbal, bog myrtle notes appear.

Conclusion: Wonderfully intense when neat although it becomes a tad vague diluted.

SCORE – 8.9
Lagavulin 16 Years Old 43% % – (web price £48.82)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A lovely mature, slightly tropical, flambéed banana and refill sherry wood nose. Lightly toffee’d with some gentle, old peat and vegetation. Slightly medicinal with alcohol soaked bandages.

Palate: Full of wonderfully Demerara sugar coated mature fruit. Gentle and mellow with a slight coastal character and gentle, mature peat.

Finish: Long and subtle with no shortage of salty herbal notes and a touch of green wood in the finish.

Conclusion: A lovely mature Islay.

Best Speyside Single Malt

Just like the Highland category, this is definitely a tough one, given the plethora of differing styles. But just like all the other categories the standard of these sub-category winners was very impressive. Yes event the Dufftown! This whisky has obviously undergone a miraculous transformation, as the last time I encountered it in 2008 my notes read as thus:

“A pungent and oily nose with some obvious sherry cask influence. Uncompromising (to put it nicely) and rough around the edges.

The palate is intense and malty with obvious sherry character. It’s spirity and alcoholic; not exactly what you would call a malt with finesse. A drop of water makes the nose slightly soapy and emphasises the oils. Although it lessens the alcohol burn it still short and a bit rough. At least it seems to have lost its rubbery note, so I guess it’s an improvement after all?”

I’m stunned. First a couple of excellent private bottlings and now this! I mean it’s still no show-stopper, but I gave it an 8.5 for goodness sake!

Anyway, enough of that. So, we had the Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 2, winner of the no age statement sub-category, the Singleton of Dufftown 12 year old, winner of the 12 years old and under sub-category along with the Aberlour 16 year old, winner of the 13 to 20 years old sub-category, and finally the stunningly good Glenfiddich 40 year old, winner of the 21 years and over sub-category.

And the winner was……………. No, no, no, not the Dufftown!! It was of course the Glenfiddich 40 year old. With a price tag of close to £2000, you would hope so.

SCORE – 9.7
Glenfiddich 40 Years Old 43.6%
Btl: 2011
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A dark, brooding, malt and molasses nose with bucketful’s of beautifully mature honey, violets and sawdusty oak. There is a beautiful fresh, almost old grain edge. Deep, luscious and complex with hints of oily prunes, raisins, lightly toasted spice, manure and burnt, decomposing straw.

Palate: Quite sweet and full, opening with the old coffee grains and wood notes followed by juicy dried fruits and dark berry notes. Lightly oiled with no shortage of mouth-coating mature honey, however the gentle alcohol nip adds freshness and balance.

Finish: Stunning length which lasts for minutes leaving a silky, coffee spiced aftertaste.

Conclusion: Stunning!

SCORE – 9.3
The Balvenie Tun 1401 Batch 2 50.6%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Sumptuous and luscious sherried fruit mingles with some beautiful oils, demerara flecked malt, raisins, sultanas, sun dried grape and evocative, floral honey. With time hints of vanilla, light coffee and an almost rye like nip appear.

Palate: Succulent, juicy dried grape, liquorice and honey lead the way. As the oils build the Demerara sugar balances. Extremely full in the mouth with a stunning intensity and gentle
elegance. With water it shows more maturity

Finish: Long with a pleasant nip from the alcohol and a dry, spicy finish. With water there are more earthy notes now.

Conclusion: A beautiful vatting.

SCORE – 8.5
Singleton of Dufftown 12 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A dense and dramatic nose that seems older. Quite woody and malty with earthy honey and dried fruit. It develops some herbal nuances as some botanical spirit emerges. Underneath there is some light but juicy fruit.

Palate: Soft and rather caramelised – crème brulee, creamy toffee and yet more toffee.

Finish: Good length with a continuation of the toffee-caramel theme. Some herbal notes and late spice.

Conclusion: A lovely nose but the palate is rather too oak dominated.

SCORE – 8.9
Aberlour 16 Years Old 43% – (web price £45.75)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: A bit on the shy side but pleasantly dense followed by a huge hit of coffee grains and mature, manure/ earthy fruit. Very natural, rounded and classy with a late milky/ creamy note.

Palate: Softly spiced, malty start with lightly oiled ginger notes and a touch of dried fruit and developing granity notes. Some juicy barley sugar balances.
Finish: A bit short and surprisingly alcoholic. Chewy barley finish.

Conclusion: Classy and pleasant nose but I would have expected a bit more from the palate, maybe the alcohol is a touch too intrusive.
Best Irish Single Malt

You know what. The Bushmills 21 year old, the winner of the 21 years and over sub-category must have been highly scored by the other judges, because on my findings it was definitely lagging well behind the Tyrconnel 18 year old single cask, winner of the 13 to 20 years old sub-category, the Tyrconnel 10 year old sherry finish, winner of the 12 years old and under sub-category, and the exceptionally good Connemara NAS cask strength bottling, which won the no age statement sub-category.

SCORE – 9.0
Connemara Cask Strength 57.9% – (web price £46.43)
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Crisp, floral and grassy nose with citrus and crushed barley. Wonderfully fragrant with hints of menthol and background oak. Quite phenolic with herbal peat and manure along with a lovely bracing freshness. Water makes the peat more noticeable along with tarry, rubbery nuances.

Palate: Opens with lightly oiled, earthy/ dusty toffee and gentle, building peat. Quite Sauvignon Blanc-esque with grassy fruit and building oils and a touch of smoked meat. With water it becomes softer with more emphasis on the Sauvignon like fruit and the oak is more assertive.

Finish: A lovely, tarry finish with a serious herbal aftertaste.

Conclusion: A lovely, peated cask strength Irish whiskey, could only be Connemara!

SCORE – 8.6
Tyrconnell 10 year old Sherry Finish 46%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Full and sweetly peated with a touch of burnt wood. Plenty of succulent orange/ tangerine, thick malt and barley give it a beautiful depth and richness. With time a hint of brittle honey and sherry cask appears.

Palate: A soft, caramelised start. Gently tarry with liquorice and malt notes are followed by a touch of sherry wood and very gentle peat.

Finish: A reasonably fresh finish with the gentle peat lingering and a touch of burnt wood in the aftertaste.

Conclusion: A pleasant nose and palate, but it does trail off a bit.

SCORE – 8.9
Tyrconnell 18 year old Single Cask 46%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Full of edgy, fleshy apricot, citrus and white liquorice. Underneath there  is some honeyed breakfast cereal, barley and oak. Lightly oiled and with time it becomes quite perfumed with a honeysuckle note quite prevalent. Intriguing and complex.

Palate: Soft and full of fleshy white fruit, apricot and green banana. Lightly honeyed with hints of sweet oak.

Finish: Long with the caramel oak notes lingering and a lovely juicy aftertaste.

Conclusion: A lovely, well rounded malt.

SCORE – 8.5
Bushmills 21 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Feb 2012
Nose: Full and juicy with a touch of malt extract and tar. Some mature fruit mingles with chicory and fennel. Quite edgy and brittle some seriously heavy spice notes developing.

Palate: Soft and caramel sweet. Rather oak dominated and toffee’d.

Finish: Good length with a pleasant spice burst but the oak returns.

Conclusion: Quite a pleasant, shy nose, which takes a while to open but a rather caramel flattened palate.
Of the other sub-category winners that I didn’t taste and made it through to the final round were:

Best Grain Whisky – Greenore 18 year old 40%.

Best Whisky Liqueur – Dunkeld Atghol Brose.

Best American Rye Whiskey – Sazerac 18 year old 45%

Best American Non Bourbon Whiskey – Bernheim Original Straight Wheat Whiskey 45%

Best Bourbon Whiskey – Eagle Rare 17 year old 45%

Best Blended Malt Scotch Whisky – Wemyss Vintage Malts ‘The Hive’ 12 year old 40%

Best Non Scottish Blended Malt Whisky – Nikka Taketsuru Pure Malt 17 Years Old 43%

Best Blended Scotch Whisky – Duncan Taylor Black Bull 40 year old 40.2%.

Best New World Blended Whisky – James Sedgewick’s Three Ships 5 year old 43%.

Best Canadian Blended Whisky – Wiser’s 18 year old 40%.

Best Japanese Blended Whisky – Suntory Hibiki 17 year old 43%.

Best Irish Blended Whiskey – Kilbeggan 18 year old 40%

Best New World Single Malt – Kavalan Solist Fino 58%

Best Japanese Single Malt Whisky – Suntory Yamazaki 25 year old 43%

Best Irish Pot Still Whiskey – Powers ‘John’s Lane Release’ 46%
THE FINAL SHOWDOWN!

And so to London for the final round of judging. For any of the whiskies to make it this far was a definite achievement in itself, literally as it would turn out a one box of samples failed to make it, thus, on the day we were unable to taste the Duncan Taylor Black Bull 40 year old 40.2%, James Sedgewick’s Three Ships 5 year old 43%, Springbank 18 46%, Bowmore Maltmen’s 54.6% and Glenfiddich 40 Years Old 43.6% became lost somewhere between Norwich and London. The saving grace was that they had been tasted by the judges that were not present so I would imagine that Rob Allanson, editor of the whisky magazine and our gracious master of ceremonies used some rigorous mathematical formula to compensate.

I have to say that it was a big thrill to be amongst some of the luminaries of the whisky industry, including Dr Jim Swan, who advises on practically every new distillery built in the world, David Stewart, the master blender from Balvenie, Joel Harrison and Neil Ridley from caskstrength.net, Sukhinder Singh owner of The Whisky Exchange, Jonny McCormick, the whisky writer and Billy Leighton, brand ambassador for Irish Distillers, to name a few.

But you want to hear about the whiskies!

WORLD WHISKY AWARDS 2012 – ROUND 3

World’s Best American Whiskey

So I started in my usual slow and deliberate assessment of the first flight of the three American whiskies, but by the time I had started on number two I realised that pretty much everyone else had finished! I realised that I had to step up my game and speed of assessment. This of course wasn’t a problem, but it meant that one had to work more on initial gut feeling rather than deliberate appreciation.

After comparing my scores against those I had tasted in round two it was evident that I had scored all of them a bit lower. Maybe it was down to having to evaluate them at such a speed. I mean it only took 2 hours to judge the 17 whiskies that were there. However I definitely stand by the marks I gave.

So the world’s best American whisky is the Eagle Rare 17 year old. However as you can see from my scores I had that down in third place. Personally I didn’t think it showed well on the day and I believe that it was out shone by the Sazerac 18.

But I can only assume that more of the judges were taken by the relative ‘freshness’ of the Eagle Rare, as opposed to the heavily oxidised and oaked style of the Sazerac.

SCORE – 9.2
Sazerac 18 Years Old (? Fall 2011 Bottling) 45%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A stunningly beautiful, mature nose. Redolent of aged, oily Armagnac-esque dried fruit – prune, raisin. Wonderfully soft an aromatic with a good proportion of rye [obviously!] and some lovely mature oak adding plenty of peppery spices.
A venerable and gentle palate. The oak and spirit are in perfect harmony. The Rye soars majestically above a bed of oak and corn. Beautifully weighted with plenty of cinnamon laced dried fruit.

Very long with some peppery, old marc-like notes.

SCORE – 8.0
Bernheim Original Straight Wheat Whiskey 45%
Tasted: Mar 2012
Plenty of high toned grainy wheat with hints of burnt toffee’d corn. Big and weighty, this is a real slab of a nose, which is as far removed from subtly as it gets! Plus there’s no shortage of sweet oak vanillins

The palate is soft and supple, opening with the burnt toffee’d corn and gentle (ish) spices. Again quite wheaty with just a hint of rye to balance. Dries towards the finish as the oak begins to bitter but some oils try to counter.

Long with the rye now showing through adding crispness and making the finish feel a touch austere.

SCORE – 7.9
Eagle Rare 17 year old (? Fall 2011Bottling) 45%
Tasted: Mar 2012
The nose opens with plenty of rich oak and buzzy rye, black pepper, violets, toffee and a late fat corn note. The rye holds the balance rather well. A drop of water makes the nose seem very youthful and oily and pushes back the rye to reveal some floral wheaty notes.
The palate is mouth puckingly dry, all wood spice, liquorice and alcohol. The oak is strangely subdued but the rye comes shooting through like an arrow. With water it’s a bit disappointing to be honest, like the nose it seems pretty young with some marc-like notes

Good length, given the intensity of alcohol with marzipan and toasted oak.

World’s Best Blended Whisky

So the award went to the James Sedgewick’s Three Ships 5 year old 43%. As I didn’t taste it on the day I can’t pass comment on it. However of the ones I did taste they were all very impressive, as my scores show. So all I can say is that the Three Ships must be exceptionally good to have won.

I had a feeling that one of these was the Hibiki as it really does have a unique aroma, as it is finished in casks that once held plum liqueur and I must say that once encountered it is never forgotten.

SCORE  – 9.2
Wiser’s Canadian Whisky18 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Mar 2012
The nose displays plenty of high toned floral grain which has a lovely edgy quality but supported by some good oak and malt.

The creamy oak opens the proceedings followed by some lovely soft, floral grain and chunky malt. Showing some maturity with the grain definitely showing a few years. Wonderfully complex with some unobtrusive oak.

A lovely, spicy, grainy finish. Probably showing a bit too much grain for the purists.

SCORE – 9.0
Kilbeggan 18 Years Old 40%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A heavy nose of caramel coated baked fruit, plums and spicy blueberry. Very interesting. With time the oak becomes pleasantly creamy.

The palate is soft and juicy but initially the natural caramel has thrown a blanket over the flavours. Gentle and soft with some discernable baked fruit and grain nipping at the edges. It takes awhile to get going but when it does it’s quite majestic.

Good length with a touch of wood tannins and spice.

SCORE – 8.9
Hibiki 17 Years Old 43%
Tasted: Mar 2012
An edgy and mature nose, with plenty of dried fruit. Quite venerable with the cinnamon sprinkled fruit (plum, apple, raisin) taking on a stewed demeanour. Stunningly deep with hints of old sherry and grain but balanced by some oily malt.

Soft and gentle on the palate, opening with the mature grains, which build beautifully. The oak sort of feels like it’s holding the enthusiasm in check. Very oily with the gentle stewed dried fruit and spice coming through.

Good length with a pleasant grainy bite and a woody finish.

World’s Best Blended (Vatted) Malt Whisky

I’m afraid that this really was a no contest. The Taketsuru won it hands down. It was so far ahead of ‘The Hive’ that it was practically on another planet!

SCORE – 9.0
Taketsuru Pure Malt 17 Years Old 43% – (web price £77.35)
Tasted: Mar 2012
A beautifully deep and fragrant nose of perfumed orange fruit with a castor sugar coating. Quite gentle with some mature, sawdusty oak, apricot, orange blossom honey. With time the oils really get a rollin’!

The palate is slightly milky and creamy to start, but the sheer weight of gently honey seeped apricot is breath taking. The sawdusty oak builds as do the oils to give a wonderful mouthful. Lovely depth with some late wood spices.

A long, tingly, spicy finish.

SCORE – 7.0
Wemyss Vintage Malts ‘The Hive’ 12 year old 40%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A fat and flabby caramel dampened nose. There is some soft apricot, a touch of straw and some late mature notes, but that about it.

The palate is quite sweet. Rounded and flabby with caramel and toasted oak. A pleasant depth though. Ok length, soft and caramelised.

World’s Best Grain Whisky

Well this was an even bigger no contest as there was only one to taste. It’s a good job it was the Greenore 18 year old, which is absolutely fabulous!

SCORE – 8.9
Greenore 18 year old 40% – (web price £68.28)
Tasted: Mar 2012
A big, banana fritter of a nose, with liberal amounts of toffee syrup. The nippy sweet grains balance the avalanche of oak and some corn fatness. This is no shrinking violet!

Full and toffee’d on the palate, which is no surprise as there’s plenty of sweet oak, but it’s not as enormous as you would think, those wonderful nippy grains add some elegance and some juicy dried fruit adds depth.

Stunning length. Juicy, oily and voluptuous , but that grainy nip never lets it become too overblown.
World’s Best Single Malt Whisky

This really was a tough one. I keep wondering that if the Glenffidich 40 year old had been present would it I have scored it close to the 9.7 that I gave it in round 2. Who knows?

All I can say that for me it was a titanic battle between the Speyburn and the Highland Park. I think the Speyburn edged it because the Highland Park, although a stunning whisky was bittering out on the finish. Was I being a bit too picky? Well when you have to judge two such differing malts, it’s the small things that at the end of the day make all the difference.

As it turned out it was the Yamazaki 25 year old that took the crown, even though I had it down in fourth place. Let’s be honest, it’s a stunning malt, but on the day it was the purity of the Bourbon casked Speyburn that did it for me. The Yamazaki is a sherry monster, a very clean and exceptional sherry monster and it is a style of whisky that is either up your street or not as the case maybe.

I also thought the Powers 12 year old ‘John’s Lane Release’ was exceptional too, so much so that I have added it to our Irish selection. At the time I thought it had an almost grainy nip, as my notes attest to. Now knowing that it is a pure Pot Still Irish it all becomes clear.

As for the Auchentoshan 1999 and the Kavalan Solist Fino, neither of them were in the same ball park, or country, or universe as the rest!

SCORE – 9.4
Speyburn 25 year old 46%
Tasted: Mar 2012
An oily and mature nose, quite granity with straw and green fruits. Seriously complex, layered and inviting with some lovely sawdusty oak .

The palate is gentle and full with sugar crusted apricot, straw and juicy honey. The flavours envelope the palate, with the delicate sugars balancing the oak which underpins and supports. Wonderfully deep, yet a touch linear (am I being a bit picky?), but it does what it does amazingly well, it just goes on and on and on.

Lovely length, gently lingering, finishing with some grippy wood spices but that beautiful green fruit notes stays to the very end. Very Impressive.

SCORE – 9.3
Highland Park 1971 (40 years old) 46.9%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A dense, balanced  and venerable nose of mature sherry. Stunningly spicy with some beautiful dried fruit with a gentle, perfumed top note of bluebell and violets. Complex and deep with an oily, malty, chocolatey core.

It glides like an angel on the lounge. Stunning, juicy dried fruit, dark nuts, malt an explosive sherry spice coat gently but effortlessly. Gently perfumed with hints of cocoa and bitter chocolate laced tannins.

Good length, finishing with a continuation of the bitter, tannin, chocolate theme. Is the malt flagging a touch, but with such maturity I guess a price must be paid.

SCORE – 8.9
Powers 12 year old ‘John’s Lane Release’ 46% – (web price £40.16)
Tasted: Mar 2012
A lovely nose of sweet American oak with plenty of fleshy apricot and banana. It’s a veritable fruit salad of a malt! Liberally sprinkled with a dusting of cinnamon.

The palate mirrors the nose, opening with the sweet oak and followed by some voluptuous, sub-tropical fruit. There is an almost grainy nip, which balances the mouth filling sweet fruit rather well.

Long and oily, basically a continuation of the palate.

SCORE – 8.8
Yamazaki 25 Years Old 43%
Tasted: Mar 2012
A huge, oily and intense nose of venerable Oloroso sherry, showing plenty of cinnamon and nutmeg wood spices along with lavender and musky/ floral Armagnac-esque dried fruit. Stunningly good but the sherry has swamped any spirit character.

The palate is thick and juicy and Oloroso’d, just like the nose – A serious sherry monster! Wonderfully mature with an abundance of wood spices and dried fruit. Stunningly deep and elegant.

Long, with a floral/ lavender, pot pourri and spice finish.

SCORE – 7.6
Auchentoshan 1999 (11 years old) 58%
Bordeaux Cask Matured
Tasted: Mar 2012
An edgy nose of dried, spicy fruit with a slight perfumed or possibly sulphured note. A bit odd, confected, boiled sweets and some old-ish wood spice. Water makes it a bit weak and oily.

The palate is rather alcoholic, dry and austere. Tannic and sherried, verging on the sulphured, oh and there’s a touch of dried fruit. Water makes it a tad dull

An intense and alcoholic finish with some peppery marc notes in the finish.

SCORE – 7.3
Kavalan Solist Fino 58%
Taiwan
Tasted: Mar 2012
An intense, oily and slightly ascerbic marc-like nose. Extremely young with some confected boiled sweet like fruit and a touch of slightly dirty straw. Water just makes the nose oily and simple

The palate is pretty simple. Burnt caramel, dried fruit and lots of alcohol. With time it develops some old-ish marc, boiled sweets and straw notes. Water makes it a tad watery and confected. [I think I was being a bit generous with the score!]

Short, alcoholic with a slight perfumed finish.
GENERAL ROUND UP

Speyburn Bradan Orach 40%
Tasted: Feb 2012
A fresh, slightly high toned nose. Quite gristy with a touch of grass along with some pleasant honey flecks.

The palate is soft, a touch subdued with some pleasant malty moments, however it feels a tad hollow. The light honey comes back on the finish as does a slight herbaceous/ grassy note.

Green Spot (new packaging) 40% – (web price £40.16)
Tasted: Mar 2012
I can safely say that the only thing that has changed about this malt is the packaging. The nose displays all that wonderful pot still hardness, which to me comes across just like the nip that you get from a good rye whisky. Wonderfully spicy with stewed apple, toasted caramel oak and the most juiciest barley freshness imaginable. With time a gentle floral note emerges too.

Gently oily on the palate, yet still full flavoured and soft. Stunningly deep with spicy apricot and stewed apple, lightly sprinkled with a cinnamon dusting and again that rye like, grainy nip which does make the middle a touch on the austere side. Lovely length with some dry barley and toasty oak on the finish and just like on the nose a slight floralness to end with.

Gordon & MacPhails ‘Connoisseurs Choice’ Royal Brackla 1995 (17 year old) 46% % – (web price £36.06)
Refill Sherry
Dist: June 1995 Btl: Aug 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
A slightly perfumed and very subtly sherried nose. Pleasantly soft and rounded with hints of barley, cream soda, spice and earth.

The palate opens with a pleasant degree of citrus fruit which gives it some verve along with a sharp edge. Gentle barley and subtle sherry notes follow. Quite full with plenty of sweet, fleshy fruit and balancing piquant alcohol. Good length with a hint of vanilla and spice in the finish. Excellent value for money.

Springbank 10 year old ‘Rundlets & Kilderkins’ 49.4% % – (web price £58.73)
Sherry
Tasted: Mar 2012
Whoa! This is a monstrous nose. Deep aromas of chocolatey sherry with heavy overtones of dark Latakia tobacco, warm toffee, fish oil and parma violets. With time the aromas become rather manurey and earthy with a damp peat character becoming prevalent. Quite oily and malty with moist treacle topped almond fruitcake, but the salty/ briny character gives the aromas a distinct edginess. Stunningly aromatic and complex with late brittle spices and perfumed orange notes.

The palate opens with a density of moist, date and walnut fruitcake, dark honeyed malt, lazy treacle coated dried fruit and parma violets. I’ve not come across such a lazy nose in a while – It really makes you do the work! There is a lovely brightness and intensity to the fruit, which covers the youthful cereal note. Seriously chlorinated peat, alcohol and wood tannins dry the mid palate but this is countered to some extent by the thick, dark, molasses-like malt. Fairly short due to the combination of brine, alcohol and tannin but the finish is very smoky with the Latakia tobacco in full flow. This is a serious sherry hit, cranked up to 11.

With water the fish oils aromas come out to play as does some slightly brittle but sugared barley, salty fruit and peat smoke. The sherry is less intense now and creates a backdrop for the other aromas. On the palate it is even more
languid, and the wood is more splintery and more in control (if that’s possible!) Liquorice coated fleshy plum, ginger and buckets of bitter 90% cocoa chocolate. The finish is longer now but woodier, which isn’t a surprise!

Kilchoman ‘Machir Bay’ 46% % – (web price £37.47)
3, 4 and 5 year old Bourbon matured spirit with the 4 year old finished in Oloroso for 8 weeks.
Tasted: Mar 2012
A pungent, Ardbeggy peated and heavy wood notes kind of nose. Very complex for such a young spirit with a seam of rich Apricot fruit and layers of bog myrtle-peat, salt and sweet, gristy barley.

The palate opens with the sweet, gristy barley followed by light coffee, vanilla and gently oiled peat followed by hints of fish and brine. Very full with the Oloroso finish adding just the right amount of sherry wood to intrigue and add gloss to some beautiful tropical fruit, spice and herbal moments. Lovely length with a faultless bitter/ sweet balanced finish and a long, dry peat after taste. Again compares favourably with Ardbeg in style.

Douglas of Drumlanrig Aberlour 1999 (12 year old) 46%
Bourbon Cask 7643
Dist: Nov 1999 Btl: Nov 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
Aromas of high toned white fruit, apple and cinnamon. Quite appealing, lightly honeyed with a slight sugariness along with hints of creamy oak. The palate is soft and a touch spirity. Plenty of herbal notes abound with some latent honey, banana and a touch of grass. Slightly gristy and sweet on the middle. The oak really grips and bitters out the finish, adding a smidge of white chocolate.

Peat’s Beast 46% % – (web price £TBC)
Bottled by Fox Fitzgerald
Tasted: Mar 2012
A vatting of Benriach, Laphroaig, Coal and Ardbeg
Quite a sweet and phenolic nose of young, crealy ‘phraoig leading off, but tempered by some Coal Ila.  Quite a gentle beast with hints of bog myrtle-peat, manure, creosote, wet tar, liquorice and rubber. Gently coastal with late burnt wood and a touch of Arbeg-esque blood orange.

The palate opens with a brief granulated sugar note before the very young, oily, peppery, tarry peat arrived. Quite a bracing coastal middle balanced by a malty sweetness (from the Benriach?) leads into a long citrus and tar finish. Lingering peat.

A beast? Well a few years ago it probably would’ve been considered heavily peated, but with Octomore, maybe freakisly raising the bar for peat levels, this really is just a moderately hairy chested beasty.  A pleasant beasty at that though.

Berry Brothers Glencadam 1990 (21 year old) 56.6%
Bourbon Cask 5982
Dist: 1990 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
Quite a woody, maturing nose of perfumed orange. Slightly balsamic but quite spirity and alcoholic. There’s a touch of creamy oak along with some stewed apple and mint.

The palate opens with the creamy/lactose oak followed by buttered fruit, orange and gentle spices. Like the nose it is quite woody with some mouth puckering alcohol on the middle. The oak returns on the finish. Personally I think this would have been better bottled about 5 years ago as the oak has gone over the top.

A drop of water really opens the nose. Some orange fruit emerges with pollen like honey as the oak retreats. More spirit character now with some lovely granulated sugar moments along with toffee-apple and cinnamon. The palate has become a tad watery, but the oak is still in charge. Like on the nose there are some gently sugary bits and the spirit tries to battle against the oak with a hint of orange blossom but it’s destined to lose that.

Berry Brothers North British 2000 (11 year old) 46%
Bourbon Cask 4312
Dist: 2000 Btl: 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
Slightly starchy and milky nose of sweet grain and creamy oak. Very simple. Reminds me of Chase vodka but aged in oak!

The palate is soft and creamy/ milky with some gentle, sweet, starchy grain but predominantly oak – toffee caramel. Good length

Douglas McGibbon Provenance Glen Garioch 2000 (9 year old) 46%
Bourbon
Dist Autumn 2000 Btl: Summer 2010
Tasted: Mar 2012
A youthful, gristy, cerealy-marc like nose with hints of boiled sweets. It reminds me of young ‘toshan. The palate is pleasant enough, slightly grassy with some light marc and boiled sweets. Very granity with a developing spiciness and a touch of heather-honey. Ok length if a tad short.

Douglas Laing Directors Cut Port Dundas 1981 (30 year old) 59.5%
Code: DL7600
Dist: Jan 1981 Btl: Nov 2011
Tasted: Mar 2012
High toned, crisp and very grainy aromas. The grain aromas float above a bed of beautiful, mature American oak which imparts hints of violet, rich toffee, caramel, crème brulee and coffee.

The palate opens with the sweet grain followed by the oak, which starts to bitter but is rather well held in check by some fabulously sweet, tropical plum and apricot fruit. Mouth watering alcohol gives the finish quite a kick.

With water the nose becomes richer, fruitier and pleasantly evocative with hints of banana. The palate has become velvety soft and creamy with some rum like dried fruit now showing. Lovely length with the creamy oak returning.

Octomore 04.2 (5 year old) ‘Comus’ 61% % – (web price £98.95)
Sauternes Matured
Tasted: Mar 2012
A wonderfully intense nose of briny cereal, oat cakes, ozone and those unmistakable Laddie aromas of apricot, white fruits and apple float above a dense core of rich Sauternes honey. The peat has a rich, full character opening with a pure loam/ earthiness before moving into damp leafy earth and freshly extinguished embers. Seriously deep! Seriously good!

The dry, young, cerealy, pure spirit and alcohol hit the palate first. Yes I think we’re in for bit of a wild ride here! Very complex, the character unfolds in non-stop waves, now there’s coal dust, light tar; white liquorice followed by intense crunchy barley, malty, sweet digestive biscuits. Then we’re into the heart of the spirit (the peat) – light treacle, creosote, rubber, burnt, almost scorched earth, then wet leaves and damp, loamy earth. Damn, that’s an unbelievable hit. It’s like a speeding bullet, the flavours arrow into tongue. The last time I experienced such a profound intensity was when tasting the Stagg! Very long, mouth-coating oily finish, exiting with a salty finale.

With a drop of water, the nose becomes a tad gentler, with more fish oils and perfumed white flowers and violets showing. The peat has become beautifully placid now, which allows the purity of this spirit to stand out. On the palate the sweetness from the Sauternes has diminished somewhat leaving the apricot and fleshy apple all wrapped up in an unsweetened barley mix. Definitely more subtle now as the peat softens too. It’s less of an all out attack and more of a gentle meander now, with a touch of grippy oak at the death.

Chris Goodrum

Episode 9 is the American Road Trip in which I’ll be tasting three Bourbon Whiskies. Those being the Old Grand-Dad, The Evan Williams 2001 (9 year old) and the daddy of them all the George T Stagg 72.4% (144.8 proof). Don’t forget to keep watching past the credits there’s another humorous out-take!

In episode 8 I’ll be tasting a peated Speyside Whisky, the Tomintoul with a peaty twang and an unpeated Islay, the Caol Ila 10 year old ’2009 Unpeated’ 65.8%.

In episode 7 I’ll be tasting the latest Bruichladdich Octomore release called ‘Comus’ against a sample of the new make Octomore Spirit.

Hi All

Episode 6 of the show is now live on our youtube channel. In this episode I’ll be tasting three new single cask bottlings from A.D Rattray, those are the Glenlivet 1977 (34 year old) 48.2%, the Bunnahabhain 1974 (37 year old) 43% and the Dufftown 1976 (35 year old) 58%

Dewar Rattray Bruichladdich 1992 (19 year old) 46% (website price £54.07)

Bourbon cask 3802 – sample at 56.1%

Dist: 1992 Btl: Feb 2012

Tasted: Feb 2012

A sumptuously mature nose. Classic, old skool laddie! Maritime laced apricot, apple, greengauge, honeysuckle, salty-honey and a distant peat note. 

The palate is quite earthy with some mature straw like notes interwoven with apricot, honeysuckle, light coffee’d oak and honey. Gently coastal on the middle, yet wonderfully juicy and luscious. Excellent length with some glorious spice/ heather-honeyed mature fruit interplay all delightfully sugar sprinkled. 

With water (an approximation of what it’ll be like at 46%) The nose has become extremely fresh and fragrant now. It seems a bit younger with more green apple and more, pure salty-honey. The gentle, creamy oak vanillins have been released along with some herbal/ bog myrtle notes. A beautiful nose! The palate has really come to life now. Beautifully sugared fleshy fruits layered with moist honey as some glorious, gentle coffee spices drift in. The oils build making it a wonderful mouthful of classic, mature laddie.

Dewar Rattray Balmenach 1983 (28 year old) 54.5% (website price £73.85)

Bourbon cask 2413

Dist: 1983 Btl: Feb 2012

Tasted: Feb 2012

Oh what a nose! Deep and moist with plenty of sawdusty oak along with a splash of honey. Mature, yet edgy soft fruit mingles with coffee, liquorice. Beautifully balanced a fresh edge to the aromas with some herbal moments too! With time a touch of lavender and violet appears, but those wonderful mature oak aromas envelope and bind, but it never becomes over oaked. 

Softly oiled and like the nose it opens with the sawdusty oak and crushed, fleshy fruit. Light spices, demerara sugar and herbal notes join in on the middle. Superbly deep and succulent, although the dry alcohol does mask the finish a bit as does some late dry wood notes. I’m expecting this to shine with a drop of water. 

And I was right. Diluted the nose now displays a wonderful perfumed orange note. It’s incredibly light and ethereal now! Pure liquid heaven with a shot of toasted Java coffee and moist, mature honey. On the palate it’s spices to the front! Still juicy and maybe a tad less intense but wonderfully soft and lingering. A delightful mouthful of light honey and oak.

Dewar Rattray Glenlivet 1977 (34 year old) 48.2% (website price £94.18)

Bourbon cask 13174

Dist: 1977 Btl: Feb 2012

Tasted: Feb 2012

A dense and woody nose with herbal spices by the bucketful. It takes some time to open but when it does it displays a myriad of mature, musky, herbal honey, green cardamom and gentle oak. Relatively light in character but wonderfully deep and mature with late hints of floral barley, cinnamon, pepper, leather and a touch of manure. Extremely complex but you will need some patience for it to show its full complexity. 

The palate opens with a flirtatious but brief sweet-ish honeyed moment before the oak arrives dragging a good dollop of herbal spice notes with it – cinnamon, clove, oiled leather and tannins. Quite a woody finish which does bitter out towards the end, but that brings pure cocoa bean and sandalwood too! It is seriously good and although it does finish a tad on the bitter side the natural oils do attempt to stop it being over dry. Either way once you had a dram of this you’ll definitely want another! 

Dewar Rattray Bunnahabhain 1974 (37 year old) 43% (website price £108.51)

Bourbon cask 13174

Dist: 1977 Btl: Feb 2012

Tasted: Feb 2012

A seriously tropical (kiwi, greengage, banana, orange) and gristy nose with an abundance of sweet, luscious honey and beautifully fragranced oak. There’s so much tropical fruit that one would be forgiven for thinking that you were nosing an Arran. Just like Arran there is not a huge amount of coastal character but the depth is frightening to say the least. With time the lightly perfumed oils emerge as does a hint of light, Guatemalan coffee. Is this really 37 years old? The only real give away is a slight maturity to the oak and honey aromas. 

Juicy and joyously tropical on the palate, a mouth watering array of apricot, papaya and citrus. Gentle oils roll across the tongue tinged with a touch of Guatemalan coffee. Oooh, now the wood spices kick in and the oils intensify towards the middle. And did I mention the spices? Oh my god! Delightful and gentle, throwing up cinnamon dust and plenty of demarara sugar, light toasted nuts and some herbal nuances. Stunning length with hints of loam and old heather. Stunning, majestic and seriously good!

Dewar Rattray Dufftown 1976 (35 year old) 58% (website price £102.62)

Bourbon cask 7742

Dist: 1976 Btl: Feb 2012

Tasted: Mar 2012

Oh my God. Surprisingly cultured and distinctly un-industrial! Those are definitely words I never though would come to mind when tasting a duffer! The aromas are quite dense and herbal with no shortage of mature honey, liberally sprinkled with icing sugar. There is a hint of roughly sawn, slightly damp timber which morphs into an earthy kind of character and there is even a slight violety note. Now eyes closed you could almost mistake if for an old Glenrothes, albeit from the wrong side of town! 

Soft, gentle and quite oily on the palate, opening with plenty of wood tannins and sweet wood spices. Now at this point it could have become mouth puckeringly dry, but…… it doesn’t! The sumptuous, mature, herbal honey puts a stop to that and it evolves into a lovely macerated, liquorice mouthful. A bit piquant and edgy on the middle but a lovely barley light sugar comes back, mingles with some garnity/ mineral notes. Only in the after taste does it reveal that’s it’s a Dufftown, but only in a controlled, earthy, un-musty, un-industrial, un-murky fashion! Good grief! This is a superb old duffer! Is this a fluke? Who knows, just buy it and enjoy this very unlikely experience!

Just to let you know we have just received stock of the latest bottling of Octomore.

I’m still waiting for a sample to arrive from Bruichladdich but given the quality of the previous bottlings I’m sure this is going to be stunning.

£98.95