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August 11, 2020 |
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Little duos, today funky
Glen Scotia OB vs. IB |
We’re in Campbeltown, where Springbank (and Glengyle) is catching all the light. It’s true that Glen Scotia was often to be found on the lower shelves in our supermarkets, often in white label just like Littlemill and other stuff from Glen Katrine’s. Those were the days. |
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Glen Scotia 18 yo (46%, OB, +/-2019) 
Sadly, looks like this baby was finished in sherry, which I’d never do with my flagship 18 were I a brand owner (which thank God I am not), but I’ve heard good things. Now doesn’t gold kill on labels? Whole different matters, I agree… Colour: gold. Nose: it’s gently cake-y, brioche-y, between a panettone and a kougelhopf I would say, with tiny spicy touches (mustard? Caraway? Star anise?) Now those spicy touches tend to grow and grow and grow, and to come to the front. Mustard and honey sauce anyone? That may come from wood, I’m not quite convinced this far. Mouth: good, spicy again, on the same elements (mustard and such) plus marmalade, oak dust, cinnamon and white pepper. I think the wood feels a little too much. Finish: medium, spicy. Curry, mustard, oak. Comments: nah, the oak’s too prominent for this little taster, and the spices rather too loud. And the label too golden (S., shh…) Quite a disappointment here at WF Towers, although I would understand why they did so much and many ‘wood treatments’. Just not my thing.
SGP:351 - 74 points. |
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Glen Scotia 10 yo 2008 (58.4%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #93.122, ‘Baldrick’s Cosmic Tardis’, 236 bottles)
Right, with a name that nods both at Black Adder and at Frank Zappa (his Cosmic Debris) we cannot not be interested and attentive here, while still wondering what they’re smoking at the SMWS’s headquarters. Peat, perhaps? Colour: straw. Nose: phoo! Gym socks, rotting pineapple, long-forgotten Munster cheese, young durian, last year’s yoghurts, fino sherry… Well, so far, so whacky. With water: lavender and violets, fifty-fifty, more rotting oranges, cloves, assaulting cheeses. I can’t tell you which ones, I’m no cheese expert, by far (but I could start a blog, ha-ha). Mouth (neat): kid’s mouthwash, Schweppes Strawberry, glue, raspberry vinegar, dry Madeira, Ras el Hanout, cumin… Ahem… With water: a bit more civilised. Cheese, caraway, marmalade, cassis jam. Finish: long. I suppose we’re meant to mention turnips here and now. The aftertaste is quite nice. Comments: let’s be serious, this is very funny (eh?) and intriguing, it’s just that the hyper-yeasty flavours are so unusual that you cannot not wonder whether someone’s not added ‘stuff’ to the barrel. Or to the distillate. O-M-G.
SGP:452 - 75 points
(frankly, this funky whisky is almost un-scorable). |
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August 10, 2020 |
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Little duos, today Glen Grant OB vs. IB |
While remembering that the true star in the early days of collecting whisky in Italy was not Macallan, but Glen Grant, which used to command much higher prices, as famous collector and merchant Giuseppe Begnoni once told me while we were sharing gnocchi fritti in a small locanda somewhere in the hills overlooking Bologna. But why am I telling you this? |
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Glen Grant ‘Rothes Chronicles - Cask Haven’ (46%, OB, 1st fill bourbon and sherry, travel retail, +/-2019) 
Some pretty expensive NAS for travel retail, where have we seen this set-up before? Colour: white wine (great). Nose: flints and lemons (great). Seriously, a very good surprise, with something of the older Glen Grants, with some smoke and an obvious minerality, beeswax, custard, touches of mashed potatoes (the genuine recipe, half potatoes, half butter), then rather lime and angelica. Very smart composition – and I’m not saying this just because I like it, mind you. You sure get the vanilla from 1st fill oak, but they managed to keep it polite and well-behaved. Mouth: a big-bodied, flinty, chalky start, then lemon zests, some unexpected salt, green tea, gooseberries, a smokiness for sure, oils and waxes, grasses… Was this smokier distillate a one-off or has it become the norm at Glen Grant? Could be, since this is NAS, so probably very young (as no one would bottle some old whisky as NAS – I know some say they do but come on – talking about the youngest whisky in a blend here). Finish: long, maltier and breadier, and certainly pretty excellent. More chalk, lemon, and waxes. Comments: surprise surprise! I suppose with the demise of air travel, these tenser babies will soon find a path to regular shops.
SGP:561 - 87 points. |
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Glen Grant-Glenlivet 23 yo 1992/2016 (53.1%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon, 414 bottles)
I may have missed this one until now. It’s a blend of a barrel and a hogshead. Colour: straw. Nose: it’s a lighter, tarter, zestier style, rather all on lemons, limes, rhubarb, greengages and gooseberries – so pretty all green fruits – but it’s also got a medicinal side, with bandages and embrocations, as if one of the casks was ex-Laphroaig or something. It’s a lovely nose globally. With water: a little coconut coming out, vanilla, barley syrup… Mouth (neat): it’s grassier, more on cider apples as well, lemons, green walnuts and almonds, touch of salt yet again and just a wee thimble of lamp oil, or graphite oil or something. With water: gets lighter and fruitier. Touches of pear this time, poire cider… Finish: medium, well composed, fresh, limey. Comments: almost a tie, I would say. It’s not usual that an OB would manage to have talks with a lovely Cadenhead.
SGP:561 - 86 points. |
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August 9, 2020 |
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Today young Cognac
I mean, relatively young. You may expect more cognacs and armagnacs on Sundays in the coming months, and consequently, less rum. Because when you try some new or unknown cognac or armagnac, what you get is some cognac or armagnac. I mean, you don’t always need to constantly be on your guard, whereas with rum, there are high odds that what you’ve got in your glass is fake, made-up, tampered with, or just a sad lie.
Old ad for Hine. Stags don't only belong to Scotland. >>
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Hine ’H by Hine’ (40%, OB, fine champagne, +/-2019) 
Remember a fine champagne is a blend of grande and petite champagne, so not a ‘single terroir’ cognac. We’ve tried the H quite some years ago already and had thought it was very okay, just a little weak (WF 79). These dreadful 40% vol. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s very fruity, emphatically so, fresh, with wee resinous touches beyond the peaches and the melons, namely almonds (marzipan) and pine nuts. Fruit peeling, banana skins… Mouth: good arrival, fruity, on plum jam and melon liqueur as well as the expected raisins, then fruit peel again, before it would start to nosedive and become a little dry and grassy. Finish: short, and that’s the problem with many a brandy at 40% vol., they don’t last the course, which is frustrating when the distillate is rather lovely, as it is here. Comments: I’ll say it again, 43% please. That’s a minimum.
SGP:551 - 80 points. |
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Camus ‘Caribbean Expedition’ (45.3%, OB, 4500 bottles, 2020)
This one will be available on September 1 from the brand’s website. Some 4 yo cognac was shipped to Barbados in 2018 on a sail ship, a trip that lasted 45 days, before the cognac reached Foursquare Distillery where it spent one more year in ‘tropical’ condition, then was shipped back to France (well, I hope) prior to bottling. Interesting stories that remind us of Cos D’Estournel’s ‘retour des Indes’ and of other such experiments that had been done before with various spirits. I remember a whisky that had been shipped to Australia and back, for example. Colour: deep gold. Nose: that’s the problem with nice stories, you cannot not think of them, of the waves, of the ocean, of Foursquare… And you’re soon to find bananas and oysters. In truth this is a fresh young fruity cognac of excellent quality; perhaps, indeed, is it a tad more tropical. Mangos beyond the usual peaches? Maybe… Mouth: the profile is extremely similar to that of the H, it’s just a tad earthier, perhaps a little more profound, and probably a notch more complex. Peaches, bananas, heather honey, honeysuckle, elderflower syrup, papayas… What really makes a difference here is the strength, which is just perfect. Finish: hold on, don’t I find a little tar? And a little salt? And a little… rum? And a little liquorice? The aftertaste is a little grassy and bitter(ish). Was this baby re-racked in newer wood before shipping? Comments: the cognac is excellent and the story superb. Do they take humble bloggers on board next time?
SGP:551 - 86 points. |
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Maxime Trijol ‘XO Classic’ (40%, OB, +/-2019)
A well-reputed house, but boy is this flat bottle ugly. This is not 1985 mind you, and Cindy Lauper’s enjoying a well-earned rest (I hope!) Colour: amber. Nose: light, whispering, almost evanescent, but subtly floral, on wisteria, lilies and orange blossom. A lovely earthiness too, ceps, humus, then roses… In truth this nose is stunning and pretty feminine (that’s what we used to say twenty years ago, it’s now become highly sexist, a judgement I ought to agree with). Mouth: oh perfect, just way too light. Perfect liquorice, melon skin, tarte tatin, roasted apricots, wee touches of menthol… But it is too light by today’s standards. They should stop murdering these beautiful casks, if you ask me. Finish: is there even a finish? Fruit peel, spent tea, and that’s it. Comments: why? I know the general public’s afraid of higher strengths, but I believe it would be easy to start to educate those fine people. And to prevent whisky people from walking away. What a waste of great cognac!
SGP:551 - 80 points. |
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Fins Bois 2010/2020 (46.8%, Grosperrin, folle blanche, organic, 217 litres)
Pure folle blanche is very rare in Cognac, less than 1% of the production. Remember it’s the seminal varietal! What’s more, I’m happy to try some youngster by Grosperrin, they’re rather well-known for their stupendous old glories. Colour: gold. Nose: rosewater, orange blossom water, apricots and nectarines, honeysuckle, a hint of peony, blood oranges… Well I just love this. Mouth: indeed, this is pretty perfect, and rather in whisky territories. Some perfect notes of violet-flavoured liquorice (we had some that were called Zan), pistachios and almonds, touches of resins, then rather more oak, while it would become a little bitter. Eating pipe tobacco. Finish: long, leafier, a little bitter and drying indeed. Comments: it became more rustic over the minutes, and I’m not a fan of the bitterish finish, but other than that, we’re already flying well, well above the average production in Cognac.
SGP:561 - 85 points. |
We’ve got several brand new oldies by Grosperrin, but I thought this little VSOP was most intriguing… We’ll have their oldies next time! |
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Grosperrin ‘Cépages V.S.O.P.’ (42%, OB, Grande Champagne, +/-2020) 
Remember VSOP means that the younger component is at least 5 yo. This is a blend of three varietals, ugni, folle blanche and colombard, which have been vinified separately, but distilled together. Colour: gold. Nose: whisky territories indeed, with a wood that’s a tad more in the front (pencil shavings), and a distillate that’s relatively lighter and less, say emphatic than usual. Perhaps not a nosing wisk… I mean cognac? I find it pretty shy. Mouth: ah, no, cancel that, this is excellent, fruity and firm, feeling more than 42%, with delicate Thai-style spices (basil, lemongrass, light chilli), then peaches and apple skins. Tends to lose steam though, not sure 42 are enough. Banana skin. Finish: rather short. Tea and fruit peel. Comments: absolutely and utterly excellent, it’s just that we still need a little more oomph. Especially when you add no glycerine, boisé, caramel or other unnecessary make-ups, like Grosperrin do. Or rather, do not do.
SGP:451 - 84 points. |
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August 8, 2020 |
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Angus's Corner
From our Scottish correspondent
and skilled taster Angus MacRaild in Edinburgh |
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| Death by Highland Park: Part III |
| You’d think we would actually be dead by now. But it takes more than a few thermonuclear strength HP casks to bring down Whiskyfun Edinburgh! Not sure when our next Highland Park session will be after this, but I might try to source some slightly more forgiving examples for that one. |
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Highland Park 14 yo 2004/2018 (62.4%, OB for Belgian Vikings, cask #6116, refill sherry puncheon, 559 bottles) 
Colour: deep gold. Nose: some rather harsh and rough alcohol to begin, you have to dig a little to get to rye breads, dry earth, roasted nuts and things like cornflour and tree bark. Rather a dry and tough one. With water: performs the necessary ‘loosening’ so now there’s a more generous and easy breadiness. Also notes of sunflower seeds, hummus and pollen. Pretty good actually. Mouth: the arrival in the mouth is much nicer than the nose suggests, much more gloopy, sweet and syrupy with these lovely notes of golden syrup, sultanas, fruit loaf and mead. Some wood spices, soft tannin and matcha. You could also include cloves and a little gingerbread. With water: a little drier again now with a sense of dried wildflowers, pollens, canvass and various herbal teas and things like bergamot and a light sootiness. I find it actually rather complex. Finish: good length, quite earthy, rich, bready and getting a little more smokiness and gentle peat. Comments: This one really grew on me, I’d say you can pretty much dispense with the neat nose and quickly reach for the pipette. Which raises the question, why do Edrington insist on bottling these beasts at natural strength? Time and again in these sessions the impression I get is that they don’t really start singing until reduced by even a few degrees. Anyway, it’s this very kind of attitude that is probably why I’m not ‘employed’ in the whisky industry.
SGP: 462 - 87 points. |
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Highland Park 15 yo 2004/2018 (60.3%, OB ‘Distillery Exclusive’, cask #1938, 1st fill American oak sherry puncheon, 572 bottles) 
Colour: light amber. Nose: a light and leafy sherry that tiptoes and flits to begin with. Rather mineral and showing graphite oil, putty, limestone, hessian and mulchy earthiness. There’s also a touch of botrytis and raisiny sweetness which I love! Evolves this kind of hessian and dessert wine combo. Very attractive. With water: fragrant, leafy smoke, tobacco leaf, mint tea, lapsang souchong with lemon peel and some older, dried out sweet wines. Mouth: sweet dark fruit cordials, strawberry wine, hessian, chocolate sauce, mole, herbal bitters, and even some old school, ‘dark’ Orkney peat. Really impressive and quite superb actually. A lot going on with notes of roasted Brazil nuts, bitter chocolate, rancio, hessian and five spice - some coffee too. With water: eases into this very herbal, earthy, mineral and elegantly bitter profile now. Lots of black pepper, strong dark teas, miso, chocolate, coffee and walnut oil. Finish: long and brilliantly herbal, softly peaty, sooty, earthy, mentholated and full of wee notes of walnut, rancio and tobacco. Comments: It’s not hard to see why they chose this as a distillery exclusive. Totally adore the many wee call-backs to a more ancient style of HP.
SGP: 563 - 91 points. |
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Highland Park 12 yo 2005/2018 (62.7%, OB Texas Edition, cask #3600, refill sherry butt, 600 bottles) 
Colour: lightly sooty, nutty, slight notes of salted caramel, black tea, umami and some rather fragrant and enchanting notes of herbal broths and infusions. Perhaps a wee flicker of peat smoke too. Noticeably ‘easier’ upon first nosing than many of the others I’d say. With water: camphor, hessian, cooking oils, even a little paraffin. Gets big, chunky and even slightly mechanical. Still a few wee glimmers of sweeter golden syrup on brown bread coming through. Mouth: good attack, very rich, nutty, leafy earthiness, pumpernickel, figs, a little natural tar and these common notes of graphite and mineral oil. Perhaps even a wee hint of clean rubber. With water: nicely balanced, some natural sweetness with sultana and raisin, also menthol tobacco, a little balsamic and some black tea with sugar. Also a touch of tar liqueur. Finish: medium and with a lot of breads, light dark fruit notes and quite a bit of medicine too. Comments: If I were Edrington, I would also be afraid to give the good folk of Texas anything but the best!
SGP: 562 - 89 points. |
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Highland Park 12 yo 2005/2017 (63.8%, OB for Russia, cask #3787, refill puncheon, 570 bottles)
No doubt the perfect tipple to sip while interfering in Western elections, managing hundreds of Twitter troll-bot accounts, undermining democracy or just nonchalantly cyber attacking auction houses that provide meaningful employment to dozens of people in less affluent bits of Scotland. But anyway… Colour: amber. Nose: one of these immediately earthy, nutty and gingery ones. There’s also bouillon, suet, marrow, dunnage, hessian and some stewed dark fruits. Still a bit of graphite and carbon paper too. With water: a little softer and more overtly fruity now, baked apples, sultanas, figs - still a sense of ‘stewed’ fruits with some brandy notes as well. However, I also find things like cola cubes and hessian cloth. Very good! Mouth: lean, bitter, chocolatey, lots of coffee, roast nuts and anthracite. Feels very ‘European’ oaky - could that be some fans of social democracy at Edrington ‘trolling’ Putin with their choice of quercus? (Angus, you talk such rubbish!) With water: rich, bready, nutty, lots of olive oil, some praline, toasted walnuts, dried herbs and peppery black tea. Finish: long and getting very meaty and thick now. Lots of pepper, dense earthiness, hessian and some herbal cough medicines. Comments: Lucky Russia! But seriously, this one was very good, wonderful concentration and depth of flavour while not being too over the top.
SGP: 662 - 89 points. |
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Highland Park 12 yo 2005/2018 (64.5%, OB for K&L Wine Merchants, cask #3294, refill hogshead, 253 bottles)
Colour: amber/mahogany - ok, I’m guessing that would be a refill ‘sherry’ hogshead? Nose: roast walnuts, miso, soy sauce, umami paste, herbal broths, meat stocks, bone marrow, camphor, ink, hessian, natural tar. Totally superb nose and a pristine, pretty old school sherry. A wonderful tango of leathery, earthy and salty! With water: more open and more generously fruity. Lots of dense dark fruits, but also things like lime and strawberry jam. Still this wonderfully nervous and resinous, salty sherry. Mouth: salted prune juice! Natural tar liqueur, herbal cocktail bitters, more soy sauce, iodine drops, camphor, bitter molten chocolate with chilli, salted Dutch Liquorice and many more wee umami, herbal and deeply earthy qualities. With water: many red fruit cordials and jams, black tea, sweetened children’s medicines, lemon cough drops, pipe tobacco and more things like miso and umami broths. Finish: long, deeply earthy, chocolatey, peppery, warningly spicy, some lemon curd, salty umami and a nicely herbal aftertaste. Comments: Someone at K&L Wines clearly has a dossier on their local Edrington rep.
SGP: 662 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 13 yo 2005/2018 (60.8%, OB for Viking Line ‘Batch 4’, cask #1294, 1st fill American oak sherry puncheon, 623 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: a lovely soft and inviting sweetness of golden syrup, banana bread and date syrup. Also dunnage, walnut oil, fig and cough syrup. Easy, direct and very attractive - like all good Vikings. With water: cloves, pollens, salted honey, olive oil cake and tobacco leaf. Elegant and deep but with a pretty effortless light touch about it. Mouth: again this impression of syrupiness upon arrival. Emphatic notes of herbal cough syrups and other rather ‘textural’ medicines. Lemon infused olive oil, putty, tar, embrocations, umami broths, liquid seasonings, elastoplasts, vapour rubs. Really excellent. With water: heather honey, wildflowers, gorse, pollen, salty sherry notes and sandalwood. Gets increasingly coastal in fact with some nicely bitter citrus pithy qualities and more herbal touches. Finish: long, wonderfully fresh, herbal, medical and still with these persistent heathery and honeyed qualities. Pure HP character singing loud and clear. Comments: Another really top notch selection. The unifying characteristic of all these ones which reach the 90 mark in my book is that they have combination of clear distillery character and an approachability and easiness about them which sets them apart.
SGP: 663 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 12 yo 2006/2018 (63.3%, OB Daner ‘Edition 4’, cask #3030, 1st fill European oak sherry butt, 623 bottles)
Colour: deep amber. Nose: one of these sherry casks which immediately displays these notes of polished hardwoods, rosewood, mahogany etc. Lots of roast coffee beans, pot pourri, rosewater, litchis, salted liquorice, natural tar and soy sauce. A wonderfully resinous and saline sherry profile. With water: more rosewater, Turkish delight, rose syrup, baklava, lime pith, olive oil and tarragon. Even things like aniseed boiled sweets and fennel seed. Mouth: pure chocolate sauce! Wee inclusions of smoked chilli, dried thyme, tar liqueur, dark fruit cordials and some pretty strong black coffee. Also ink, more soy sauce, more liquorice and more salty, leathery, earthy sherry. Wonderfully thick in texture too. With water: date syrup, pomegranate molasses, rum ’n’ raisin ice cream, incense, dried wildflowers and more thick chocolatey and herbal notes. Finish: long, wonderfully earthy, chocolatey, gamey, leathery, herbal and gently sooty, some smoked meats in the aftertaste. Comments: Is it just me, or is quality improving as we go up the years? Better cask options from these years? Better distillate? I feel in this instance things were undeniably helped by a top notch sherry cask.
SGP: 672 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 12 1/2 yo (56.9%, OB for The Whisky Vault 10th Anniversary, cask #500122, sherry seasoned firkin, 57 bottles, 2019)
This is actually a batch of the official Highland Park 12 year old at marrying strength which was re-racked into one of these wee firkin sherry casks for a few extra months. If you don’t know The Whisky Vault they are a very cool wee indy retailer based in Leeds, Yorkshire and worth checking out - especially if you like old bottles. Colour: deep gold. Nose: leafy, floral, honeyed and elegant to begin. Once again you get these impressions of flower honey, rosewater, Turkish delight and coconut scented gorse flowers. Here there is also a layer of bready richness too. Brown bread spread with salty butter and honey. Some heathery beers in the mix too. With water: doubles down on olive oil, herbal broths, salted mixed nuts, dried herbs and heather ales. Mouth: cooking oils, camphor, herbal butter, dried seaweed, rose syrup, lime cordial, umami paste, olive oil cake. Whatever cask trickery has gone on here, I have to say it has worked a treat. Some herb-infused breads with sea salt (focaccia?) and many cooking oil notes. Also some mineral oil and limestone. With water: salty, oily, herbal, slightly more lemony, more coastal and even rather waxy now too. Terrifically textural whisky. Finish: long, wonderfully herbal, lemony, oily, coastal, sandalwood and still with these lightly floral and honeyed qualities. Comments: Edrington, seriously! Can we not just have a more widely available 12yo marrying strength bottling in this vein? I find this almost worryingly good.
SGP: 662 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 13 1/2 yo (55.2%, OB for Pär Caldenby, cask #700052, quarter cask, 151 bottles)
Another one of these private editions of marrying strength 12 year old, this time re-racked into a quarter cask for a little longer and bottled exclusively for The Laird of Smögen! Colour: pale amber. Nose: a few notches leaner and drier but still rather focussed on sandalwood, herbal bitters and a nicely salty freshness. Lots of heather flowers, lime pith, flints, mineral oil and putty. A pretty direct and beautifully coastal freshness underpins everything. With water: creamier, more honeyed, a little more custardy vanilla and more fragrant sandalwood. Mouth: big punchy salinity, bitter herbal extracts, salted liquorice, thyme, miso, camphor, mineral oil, old school shilling ales and more things like fennel, tarragon and pure heather. Gorse flowers again with this coconut edge, preserved lemons and various medical ointments. God dammit! With water: chalky, bitter lemon, grapefruit pith, bay leaf, gentle medical embrocations, olive oil and more old school ales. Finish: long and with quite a few salted peanuts, hessian, olive oil, herbal cough medicine and green tea with lemon. Comments: I get the impression that HP12 at marrying strength is some pretty serious juice. These wee finishes seem to really serve the HP distillate very well, you get the feeling everything is concentrated and heightened. A great surprise.
SGP: 662 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 9 yo 2010/2020 (63.7%, OB for Dornoch Castle 20th Anniversary, cask #2051, 1st fill bourbon barrel, 232 bottles)
Can it really be 20 years since Dornoch received its first shipment of red trousers and gilet jackets? Colour: pale gold. Nose: pah! Wonderfully fresh, bright, sunny, lemony and with just the right balance between natural barley and cask sweetness. This is really lovely, lots of verbena, chalk, waxes, sea air, sandalwood and light flinty notes. With water: develops a nice juicy fruit edge with some fruit salad juices, tinned pineapple and coconut notes akin to gorse flowers and a little heather honey. Mouth: superb arrival, lovely balance between sweetness, medicine, herbs, light waxes, natural cereal notes and a pretty clear and vivid coastal quality. Pure, top quality, modern Highland Park with everything in its place. A nice streak of light peat running beneath as well. With water: really great texture and balance now. Punchy herbal and heathery notes, natural and quiet textural sweetness while still remaining nicely coastal, herbal and medical. Finish: long, lemony, bright, slightly minty and super fresh! Comments: top notch distillate from a perfect cask. Love the feeling of sunshine and freshness that practically climbs out of the glass here. Kudos to the Thompson crew for a very natural and down to earth selection. More of this sort of thing please Mr Edrington!
SGP: 562 - 90 points. |
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I have to say, I’m more than a little discombobulated by that last session and the way it kind of accelerated towards a comfortable ’90’ cruising altitude. There are a few conclusions I would draw from these past couple of week’s sessions. Firstly, Highland Park remains one of the great distillates in Scotland. Even the most boisterous and assertive of sherry casks can’t quite mask its idiosyncrasies and that is something that will eternally gladden my heart. I’d also say that Edrington seem to really know what they’re up to with casks, not just with fillings but also with these we re-racking projects they do - but then you would hope that would be the case. I’d also speculate that the quality of these HP releases seems to increase or ‘level out’ towards these more recent bottlings. Whether that is indicative of a wider trend or just ‘luck of the draw’ I couldn’t yet say, but it’s an interesting takeaway from these rather bonkers sessions. I think it also feeds into a wider modern phenomena where many whiskies seem increasingly able to hit that kind of 89/90 sweet spot of quality, but to go beyond is becoming inversely rarer and rarer. I would argue this is indicative of a wider and deeper industry understanding of what creates a solid, baseline of uniformity and high quality. Whether that is a good thing in the long run if its effect is ultimately to all but eradicate these spikes and peaks of truly stunning beauty in whisky is still up for debate. If every whisky simply lands on 89/90 points in terms of quality is there really any joy left in whisky? Any sense of excitement, anticipation or the thrill of a sense of discovery? Are we seeing a triumph of the technical over the soul? |
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These whiskies can be pretty tiring in some respects, but these big sessions remain at heart fun and ultimately deeply instructive. If there’s one thing I would humbly ask of Edrington, it is to please give us more of these examples where the HP distillery character is preserved and thrust front and centre. Highland Park remains one of the few distillates that is still truly, cerebral and evocative - for me, as a drinker, that is always where its ultimate pleasure will be found. And if we are to preserve this notion of ‘truly great’ whiskies going forwards, it cannot be done purely by good casks alone. I still believe distillate is the stronger propellant of beauty in whisky. |
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Ok Olivier, next time can we make it 20cl samples of every different Dragon bottling please? |
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August 7, 2020 |
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Simply more undisclosed or blended malts. If you don’t mind. We’ll kick this session off from where we left yesterday’s, with Malts of Scotland. |
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Mystic Speyside 2000/2020 (47.3%, Malts of Scotland, Warehouse Dram #27, blended malt, cask #MoS20019, sherry hogshead, 175 bottles) 
What, mysticism now? I can get no clue from that name, I am sorry. It’s true that when you compose a blend, by dint of tries, you do sometimes get mystical, fly with the eagles and talk to the Gods (what?) Colour: gold. Nose: cakes, chocolates, tobacco, peonies, dried figs, black raisins, walnut wines, pipe tobacco, and a good glass of Macallan Cask Strength. Mouth: really very sweet, as if some PX was involved here, or perhaps moscatel. That’s really very loud. Behind that, some coffee, earthy gunpowder, and truckloads of sultanas. Finish: long, very sweet. Almost Trockenbeerenauslese. Comments: wow, sweetness through the roof, this was done without fear. It’s very rare that there would be this much raisiny sweetness in a malt whisky. I’m not a huge fan myself, but I know quite a few friends who would sell father and mother for this kind of bottle.
SGP:841 - 78 points. |
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Cask Speyside 10 yo (46%, A.D. Rattray, bourbon, +/-2019)
A single malt in a shiny bottle that no one will miss. Glad to hear from A.D. Rattray’s. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: bread, mint, aniseed, dough, baker’s yeast, grist, weissbeer, fresh baguette. See what I mean? Mouth: average in the better meaning of that word, on sweet barley, cider, wine gums, manzana liqueur… It’s sweet, rounded, uncomplicated, not mindboggling, doing its job. Finish: medium, very sweet. Candied pineapple, that’s sometimes a little cloying. Comments: not bad and extremely loyal and honest, but as I sometimes say, I won’t remember it forever. A tad too much of the sweet side for me.
SGP:641 - 79 points. |
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The Classic Range ‘Batch 2’ (44.2%, Berry Bros. & Rudd, sherry cask, +/-2019) 
The Islay just kills, but I’ve never tried the ‘Sherry Cask’, so now’s the time. I’m a fan of what they do at BB&R’s, they have this kind of understated, slightly posh way of doing things that should inspire many loudmouths from all around the world. Even politicians who don’t drink! Colour: deep amber. Nose: concrete and saltpetre at first, then roasted pine nuts, chestnuts, and a blend of well-roasted coffee beans and chocolate pods that have just been torrefied. A very pleasant proposition, not very common. Mouth: but yes! More coffee, orangettes, thin mints, 90% chocolate, dried dates and figs, coffee liqueur (I’ve decided to take it easy with quoting brands), and touches of tarry black liquorice from some of the most extreme Dutch liquorice makers. But yes! Finish: long, superb, extremely well-constructed, chocolaty and coffeeish, with the most perfect balance. Comments: wow, have they added some 1940s Glenlivet or something? At not even 50€, bang-for-your-euro, guaranteed. Genius.
SGP:551 - 90 points. |
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Oishii Wisukii 38 yo (47.4%, Highlander Inn, blended malt, European oak sherry cask, 2019)
Who’s this gentleman with a kind of stick on the label? A famous chef? A no less famous drummer? I like it that on the website of that famous Inn, they would have made it clear that, I quote, ‘Oishii Wisukii simply means "Delicious Whisky" in English’. I think I need to practice my Shakespeare, but anyway, love love love these people and hope we’ll be able to get back to Craigellachie very soon. Colour: rich amber. Nose: yes, more please. Chocolate, old oloroso, fern and moss, cigars, miso, prunes, crushed blackberries, black earth, drops of old cognac, sour cherries, and, wait, notes of old Pomerol. Not making this up, I swear. No, no names, any château. Mouth: wow, this is powerful, both sweet and dry, very rich and yet not cloying, with clearly a brandy-like touch, some menthol, black raisins, some kind of flower liqueur perhaps (clear notes of eglantine), and an obvious Jerezian side. Some of the best V.O.R.S. in Jerez, only (even) heavier. Yep that’s ‘Vinum Optimum Rare Signatum’, how posh is that? Finish: long, rich, sweet, thick, everlasting. Comments: no, seriously, what does ‘Oishii Wisukii’ really mean? But loved this one, even if it was a tad ‘sweetish and thickish’.
SGP:651 - 90 points. |
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Blended Malt Scotch Whisky 45 yo ‘Batch 2’ (45.6%, Hunter Laing, for Taiwan, cask # HL 54376, 2018)
I would have never said, ten years ago, that we would try these many bottlings for the Far East. Japan had been big for decades and we tried a fair share of their bottlings, but Taiwan, China and Hong Kong are just growing and growing on the worldwide whisky scene. I may have to learn mandarin sooner or later, my friend, which I would do with much pleasure, I’m sure I would easily reach the level of a 2yo baby after only five years of incessant efforts. Colour: mahogany. Nose: who the hell would blend a 45 years old and not even use a crystal decanter with a brass stopper? First up, coffee with wild raspberry eau-de-vie, Alsatian style. That’s 2/3 vs.1/3. I mean, 2/3 coffee vs. 1/3 eau-de-vie. That’s sorted. Then, the most profound chocolateness, something distinctively Macallan – I am absolutely not saying this is Macallan, mind you – and a luminous blend of very old oloroso with the finest old triple-sec. A drop of umami sauce, one of hoisin sauce, and one of soy sauce for good measure. That’s a lot of sauce. Splendid. Mouth: perhaps a tad jumbled now, we have to wait before all the chocolate, coffee and fruity spices find their spots, but it’s rather a bed of roses after that, with just a touch of rubber, all the rest being absolutely perfect. Including the fruitcakes, jams, chocolates and clove-y spices. And it does not taste old. Finish: long, with a little more flints and gunpowder, as well as truffles. Other than that, cinnamon and cloves. Comments: Edrington stock? We’ve also known some old Bunnahabhains that had been like this, remember B. had been part of E. for a wee while. Anyway, just rambling on... By the way, let it breathe.
SGP:561 - 91 points. |
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Malt Can Heal 27 yo 1992/2019 (50.6%, Dramfool, bourbon barrel, 247 bottles)
This cannot not be Macallan. Colour: white wine. Nose: bubblegum all over the place, nail polish, girlz shampoo, lacquer, then canned peaches and pears, soft liquorice, Turkish delights and orange blossom water. With water: more on custard, as expected, butter croissants, cakes, tartes (mirabelle)… Mouth (neat): very creamy, sweet, with some melon and more bubblegum, wine gums, liqueurs… (I’m thinking of Parfait Amour)… With water: a tad more on the citrusy and grassy side, with a bag of lemon drops and jellybeans. Pasion fruits, icing sugar. Finish: medium, fruity, with a little more oil (grape pips) and a little paraffin. Comments: I agree this could heal, but please keep this bottle away from children. It’s a very good malt whisky but quite strangely, it’s also got a lighter, almost grainy side, rather in the style of some Irish. Now I remember we used to find that in other rare ex-bourbon Macs too, a long time ago when Macallan had to be sherried.
SGP:751 - 86 points. |
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Speyside Single Malt 43 yo 1973/2017 (46.8%, Club Qing & Shinanoya, Hong Kong and Japan, sherry butt, 125 bottles)
Why I haven’t tried this one before, I couldn’t tell you. Expectations are super high. Colour: white wine (rather chardonnay). Nose: ah yes, what a parcel of casks that was! Beehive, honey, beeswax, pine resin, overripe apples, old Trappist beer, then copper coins and hints of mushrooms, cigarette tobacco (pack of Camels), touches of damp earth…A sublime, very complex nose from the end of the golden era. Mouth: more of all that, for a long time, plus a few tropical fruits rather mangos in this case. Notes of mead. Everything’s perfect and well in-sync. Finish: medium, fresh, very beehive-y, honeyed and with a wee glass of artisanal cider. A little leather in the aftertaste. Comments: now what does Little red riding hood do in this story? Is that related to the fact that there are quite a few Big bad wolves within the whisky industry?
SGP:651 - 91 points. |
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August 6, 2020 |
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Bag of Bastards
(Another bag of blended or undisclosed malts) |
I find them more and more puzzling, even embarrassing, those new blended malts. Sure many are simply superb, but you’re never quite sure whether they’re really blended or not, meaning if they aren’t simply single malts in disguise (code name: teaspoon) instead of the results of the patient work of some extremely talented and multimedalled Master Blenders who are almost as famous as Jagger and on first-name terms with Bob. I mean, Dylan. Let’s see what we have… |
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Royal Duke Club 17 yo ‘Batch 01’ (46.2%, Gleann Mor, Taiwan, blended malt, sherry, 498 bottles)
As a Frenchman, I couldn’t possibly encourage anything bearing the Duke of Wellington on the label, but I do promise I won’t take that into account now. Well, I’ll try. But wasn’t Wellington rather Irish? Colour: amber. Nose: I swear I’m not finding a little gunpowder just because of Wellington, neither am I unearthing some lovely cakes, pastries, roasted raisins, malt and touches of earth because of him. I find this rather old-Macallan in truth, say in the style of the late 1970s. Lovely chocolate and cappuccino too. Mouth: a tad rougher than expected, but the sherry does its job very well, with some candied cherries, the obligatory Mars bar, some maple syrup, roasted malt and nuts, walnuts, coffee-schnapps, a little pipe tobacco, touches of cloves, and that delicacy that all whisky enthusiast just cherish, Christmas cake. Good body, 46-50% always work very well in my book. Finish: rather long, drier, more on walnut wine, bitters, cinnamon and chocolate cake… Ginger and pepper in the aftertaste. Comments: very good, Nelson. I mean, Wellington.
SGP:451 - 87 points. |
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Aerstone 10 yo ‘Land Cask’ (40%, OB, William Grant, single malt, +/-2019)
This was launched as a ‘budget’ single malt for Tesco. It’s good that it would come with an age statement, but the ABV screams ‘cheapo’. It is, in fact, one of the several styles made at Ailsa Bay at Girvan. Let’s see… Colour: light gold. Nose: some farmy peat, a little mud, some grist and a touch of vanillin. Well, this baby does not tear you apart, that’s good. In a way. Mouth: extremely light, with some smoke, a touch of apple and lemon, notes of smoked ham, and perhaps a touch of iodine. There is something of the lightest Laphroaig 10s – not the current production mind you. Frustratingly light body. Finish: short, leaving a feeling of smoked water. Comments: peat is good but when there’s only peat (plus a little barley), that’s not quite enough. A little disappointing, typical 75-pointer in my book, hope they’ll also do a kind of high-proof version, without dropping the age statement.
SGP:444 - 75 points. |
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Aerstone 10 yo ‘Sea Cask’ (40%, OB, William Grant, single malt, +/-2019)
This should be Ailsa Bay as well, but not at the price of Ailsa Bay. What’s a sea cask by the way? Did they use floated wood? Stored this on an island? On some shore? Now let’s not forget one of the industry’s talking points, ‘Scotland is integrally coastal’. Aye aye. Colour: light gold. Nose: I like this better. It’s a fine, balanced, easy malt whisky, on barley, vanilla, bread and caraway/nutmeg. I always like it when it’s this close to bread and barley, even when it’s not complex. Mouth: yes, it’s pretty pleasant, what a shame that it hasn’t got much watts, and that it is dragging itself along with little enthusiasm. Wee touches of brine, that’s nice – is that the ‘sea’ part? Finish: short, but really okay as far as flavours are concerned. Comments: good potential here. 43% would really be welcome.
SGP:4541 - 79 points. |
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Secret Speyside 32 yo 1987/2020 (45.8%, Whisky Sponge, refill hogshead, 229 bottles)
This one’s supposed to stem from ‘The second least amusing distillery in Rothes’ and given that some salmons are adorning the lovely label featuring Jon Beach (of Fiddler’s fame) and father Dick, we do believe here at WF Towers that it couldn’t quite be Glen Grant, Caperdonich, Glenrothes or Glen Spey. Which leaves us with just one choice, unless we’re wrong. Having said that, I don’t think we’ve ever seen some 1987 from ‘that’ distillery, so I wouldn’t be too sure about all that. Other tricks have been played in the past. Colour: white wine. Nose: pretty contemplative, as Greek malt lovers would say, fresh, led by tiny herbs and even salads (rucola, dill, mint) and a mild earthiness that makes us remember our last walk in the woods. Mosses, fern, mushrooms, old stump, also a tiny-wee acetic side (old Jerez vinegar). It’s all delicate and attractive, the exact opposite of that ruthless brute nicknamed ‘The Sponge’. Mouth: crikey, someone’s distilled chenin blanc yet again. Indeed this is zingy, fresh and refreshing, rather on lime, with touches of tuffeau (that chalky stone they have in Loire) and lemon honey. No oak in the way, just a few spicy elements, a hint of ginger ale (slight fizziness) and some granny smith. Finish: medium, still refreshing. Lemon, kiwis and ginger. Comments: so my understanding is that they have secretly planted chenin blanc in Rothes, a few years before 1987. Now why there’s Port Ellen’s old filling head in a corner of the label, I couldn’t tell you.
SGP:551 - 90 points. |
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Highland Single Malt 2014/2020 (65.7%, Or Sileis, Taiwan, first fill sherry hogshead, cask #3534, 342 bottles) 
Is it even 6? Colour: reddish amber. Nose: one has to be careful with these murderous strengths, you could easily burn your nostrils and then need at least 12 hours to let them get back to normal. What you obviously get is a bourbony side, but that’s just the strength, as well as notes of varnish, butterscotch and Starbucks’ whacky coffees with hazelnuts inside. So yeah, not quite coffee. With water: always let them mingle with oxygen after reducing… zzz… zzz… Right, earth, porcinis, crude chocolate, cigars, old balsamico, more earth… This oozes of smartness. Mouth (neat): same feeling of bourbon, cellulose, caramel, sucrose… Water’s needed, obviously. With water: very good. I’m not sure the sherry would have left the distillery markers come through, so I won’t even hazard a guess, but this liquid cake just works, even if it’s probably not as complex as on the nose. They never are anyway, you’re right. Some kind of earthy organic chocolate bar made by an world-conscious urban mob (wot?) Finish: rather long, chocolaty, slightly leafy. Touches of flinty grasses and leather in the aftertaste. Comments: a Scottish Kavalan, that’s funny! Like this a lot and yes, I’ve seen the age.
SGP:561 - 88 points. |
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Images of Speyside ‘Bridge of Avon’ (53.2%, Malts of Scotland, cask #MoS20011, 365 bottles)
The bridge of Avon? That’s in Ballindalloch on the A95, which leads us to… Tormore? Or Glenfarclas in the opposite direction… Cragganmore is off the path. But let’s not speculate any further… Colour: rosé wine. What happened? Nose: rosé wine, really. One of those thick rosés they make in Southern Rhône, full of red berries, especially raspberries, but also cassis. Some clafoutis (that’s a kind of pie we make with cherries). That’s right, pure liquid clafoutis. With water (we’re having blush wine in our glass this time): it’s balanced, fruity, fresh, not as dissonant as we could have feared, and still in whisky territories. Nectarines and red peaches this time, as far as fruits are concerned. Mouth (neat): there is a feeling of premix but no off notes that I can get. I cannot not think of clafoutis once again. With water: right clafoutis and preserved peaches (perhaps those small flat red ones that are all the rage in my town, is it the same at your place?) Finish: medium, fruity, summery. How fitting. Comments: I doubt you could do much better with red wine – except drink it, of course. Now as for the distillery, well, we found bupkis!
SGP:751 - 85 points. |
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Images of Ayrshire ‘Burton Railway Viaduct’ (53.2%, Malts of Scotland, cask #MoS20004, 384 bottles)
Sweet Vishnu, all the work we have to do with Google Maps – do Goole Maps pay their taxes, by the way? What, Burton upon Trent in Staffordshire? But that’s just north of Birmingham, not in Ayrshire! Oh let’s just try this little baby… Colour: gold. Nose: a lighter texture and some pretty good active oak, with leaves, teas and fruit peel, then quite some sunflower oil and a few flowers. Fine and nice. With water: butterscotch just everywhere. Mouth (neat): punchy and really very good. Stuff from Girvan’s? Ailsa Bay again? Very nice, creamy arrival (limoncello, brioche, vanilla), while the middle is a tad weaker. Let’s try it with water: enter butterscotch once again, Walker’s shortbread, thein flower syrups, mullein, elderflowers, woodruff/waldmeister… In French we call it aspérule or reine des bois (queen of the woods). Finish: medium, cake-y, nutty. Café latte. Comments: only good things to say about this little baby, even if it seems that the cask did the larger part of the job.
SGP:451 - 85 points. |
Seven, that’s enough. We’ll have many more bastard malts in the very, very near future, as they’re creeping in like zombies in a Walmart these days… |
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August 5, 2020 |
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August 4, 2020 |
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More than enough Miltonduff – part deux |
Looks like we missed a younger one yesterday. Nothing is perfect at Château Whiskyfun... |
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Miltonduff 2007/2018 (55.2%, Malts of Scotland, Marsala hogshead finish, cask #MoS18031, 307 bottles)
Right, a Marsala finish. I have to say I’ve always found it strange that good whisky people would never tell us what kind of ‘Marsala’ that would have been. There are so many different ones! Same with Portugal’s Madeira by the way, or with Spain’s Malaga… Colour: apricoty gold. Nose: a tad buttery at first, then floral (peonies, geranium) and rather doughy. Fresh brioche, raisins, raspberry ganache, dried apricots. Not extremely likely, but certainly not unpleasant. With water: a hint of gunpowder, pink pepper, perhaps blood oranges… Mouth (neat): a little hot, then sweet and peppery. Raspberry pie, blueberry muffins, black pepper, cloves and caraway… All that doesn’t quite sing in unison (it’s not The Platters) but again, it’s not unpleasant. With water: grenadine and more cloves and nutmeg. Blood oranges as well. Finish: medium, on red berries, grenadine and pepper. Comments: these funny combinations seldom work in my book, but this one did, despite its relative unlikeliness.
SGP:651 - 83 points. |
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Miltonduff 21 yo 1998/2019 (49.7%, Chapter 7, bourbon hogshead, cask #10142, 238 bottles)
Colour: white wine (Burgundian chardonnay). Nose: I like this style that’s rather on mashed sweet potatoes at first, then pineapples and citrons, cider apples, walnuts and tangerines. It's all a little fermentary, in the style of some reasonable orange wines, which I just love. Let’s check the palate. Mouth: oh wow! Love this, with all the doughs, fermented fruits, beers, tiny herbs, various oranges… Notes of violet sweets too, savagnin… Long story short, I utterly love this and would happily quaff a bucket of it. Finish: rather long, superb, earthy, mineral, mentholy, fermentary, fruity (hops)… Tangerines in the aftertaste, can’t beat this. Comments: but wow! To be honest I wasn’t prepared for this. Pink grapefruits, can’t beat that either. This, is ‘new wave’ whisky. Well, I hope so.
SGP:661 - 91 points. |
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Miltonduff 20 yo 1999/2019 (50.7%, The Whisky Exchange, hogshead, cask #5015, 222 bottles)
This one straight from Boristown, where the whiskies and their people – and perhaps the rock and roll - are better than all the rest. Colour: white wine. Say sauvignon blanc from eastern Loire this time. Nose: Danishes, sponge cake, biscuits, honeysuckle and elderflowers, jojoba oil, lady’s moisturiser, then hops and tobacco. Soft and fragrant this far. With water: rhubarb wine! Mouth (neat): flower syrups in abundance. Elderflowers, mullein, courgette… Not something very usual in whisky, mind you. With water: rhubarb again, greengages, pinot blanc, white currants, gooseberries… Finish: medium, on tiny grasses, herbs and berries. Sorb, perhaps? Comments: this is a very subtle and elegant one, with some very well-behaved wood. Another lovely well-sourced middle-aged Miltonduff.
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
Same house, same vintage, what do you say? |
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Miltonduff 20 yo 1999/2019 (52.2%, The Single Malts of Scotland, hogshead, cask #5014, 236 bottles)
And a twin cask, at that! Shall we just copy-and-paste the previous note? Colour: white wine (slightly darker than its sister). Nose: we’re more on mosses, grasses, more on ‘a walk in the woods with the dogs’. Notes of burnt wax too, and consequently, rather less easy-easy fruits and flowers. Mouth: we’re much closer to the other cask. Perhaps more citrus? It’s always fascinating to be able to taste true twin casks that were probably filled within the same minute in one of Pernod/Chivas’s huge bottling plants. Well I tend to like this one a little better, although, no, wait… Finish: medium, fruity, citrusy and then on all white and green fruits from our gardens in in good old Europe. Comments: this is becoming a little complicated, but this whisky is excellent for sure.
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
I think it’s time to have a last Miltonduff, after all we’re not one of Chivas’s blenders. Do they also try dozens of Miltonduffs like we just did? Are they well paid? |
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Miltonduff 25 yo 1989/2015 (51.2%, Maltbarn, bourbon, 156 bottles)
This one for glory. Colour: straw. Nose: mashed potatoes and porridge, then mead and biscuits. Also raw wool and old magazines, a little rainwater, ink, parsley and lovage… With water: a little dust. Mouth (neat): hints of plastic, then burnt fruit cakes. That’s bizarre. With water: sourdough, cardboard… Finish: same. Comments: can’t be. Wrecked sample, I would guess. That’s life – oh and while I’m at it, never let any spirit stay in contact with any plastics for more than a few months. Ne-ver.
SGP:372 - -- points. |
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August 3, 2020 |
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More than enough Miltonduff |
Proud of that headline, for once! Anyway, Miltonduff is not quite a blue chip, unless you remember the sometimes fantabulous old official 13 years old. That’s right, the Milton-duffs. But many little names have been doing huge progress lately and are given more exposure since the inflated brands (no names needed) have virtually disappeared from geekier shelves. That’s rather worrying when brands would rather cater for the unlearned, don’t you agree? Anyway, let’s see what we have… Perhaps first a little aperitif? |
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Miltonduff 1984/2014 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, licensed label, refill bourbon barrels)
A rather famous half-official label by G&M. It’s pretty old but since it was bottled at a low strength I thought we’d have it as #1. Colour: gold. Nose: starts very floral and honeyed, which is awesome. Honeysuckle and heather honey, marmalade, biscuits, Jaffa cakes, geraniums and wisteria… This is what, in the old days, we would have called a ‘feminine’ whisky. Mouth: very nice arrival, rather on quince and orange jams, but it’s got this gritty, very drying oak that gets in the way. As if you would have forgotten about your little Darjeeling in your old teapot – since yesterday. Tannins, sawdust, cardboard, bags of cinnamon… Finish: medium and just as drying, but some fine notes of pineapples do come through now. Comments: this is a little surprising, last time I had tried this one informally, I had thought it was real good. I may try it again… in a few years.
SGP:551 - 80 points. |
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Miltonduff 9 yo 2008/2017 (52.6%, Duncan Taylor, sherry octave finish, cask # 8316503, 82 bottles)
I suppose this will be fully cask-driven, as usual with these little octave bottlings. I would say doing a finishing in an octave is the nearest thing to using oak chips, except that it’s perfectly legal, and rightly so. Colour: light gold. Nose: typical, with ginger at first, then cinnamon and leather, with some vanilla and whiffs of geranium. Perhaps a touch of mustard with curry. Unusually oaky, but pleasant. With water: behaves very well, becoming fruitier and even fresh. Roasted bananas, rum… Mouth (neat): it was all well-controlled, even if it’s really going towards bourbon. Wood spices, roasted raisins, vanilla, cinnamon, white pepper, oranges… With water: what’s this witchcraft? I’m finding this really good – yes, Serge at the keyboard. Good balance between fresh tropical fruits and oak spices. Finish: medium, on bananas flambéed and pancake sauce. Comments: Duncan Taylor have become masters at this game and have, in my opinion, almost created a brand new category, a proper alternative to STR.
SGP:651 - 85 points. |
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Miltonduff-Glenlivet 11 yo 2007/2019 (56.6%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 180 bottles)
This should be the exact opposite of the Duncan Taylor, that is to say a fully naked, all-natural Miltonduff. Colour: white wine. Nose: bone-dry, hyper-austere, ultra-grassy and chalky, with only green pears and apples at the fruit department. Oatcakes. All right then… With water: yellow peaches! Hurray, that’s always a winner! Mouth (neat): there’s something to be loved in this kind of hot naked style. Riesling, cranberries, chalk, grass, blackcurrants, lime juice. You could almost prepare some cocktail with those ingredients, but it would be easier to buy a bottle of this little ‘duff by Cad’. With water: not many changes, really, and it didn’t even get any easier. What a waste of water. Finish: long, a little more on sweet barley. Preserved peaches again in the aftertaste, I say ‘bravo’. Comments: one of these little all-natural distillate-driven gems that Cadenhead do bottle from time to time.
SGP:651 - 88 points. |
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Miltonduff 10 yo 2009/2020 (46%, James Eadie, Small Batch, first fill bourbon, 576 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: this one’s bizarrely petroly and musty at first sniffs, as if one of the casks had previously contained some peater, which is obviously not the case since this is first fill BB. Otherwise apple juice, melon, muesli and plantains, plus barley syrup of course. Mouth: very bright and fruity, with quite a lot of oak (coffee and chocolate) but also a fine range of fresh fruits, williams pears, apricots… It’s not complicated whisky, but it does its job with dedication and faith (what?) Finish: medium, fruity, syrupy. Some wine gums for sure. Some rosewater in the aftertaste, muscat, gewurztraminer (no, no umlaut in Alsatian)… Comments: fruity, cool, and very good. The exact definition of a 85-pointer in my little book.
SGP:641 - 85 points. |
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Miltonduff 8 yo 2009/2018 (60%, The Golden Cask, cask #CM245)
Colour: white wine. Nose: we’re reminded of the Cadenhead. Chalk, vanilla, apple juice, wee touch of smoke, paraffin and ethanol, naturally. With water: peaches and lemons, with touches of ground coffee. Mouth (neat): creamy and syrupy, with ripe bananas and pineapples, but that may be the high alcohol. It ought to be the high alcohol. With water: pure fruit syrup, peaches again, pears, bananas… Eau-de-vie de Barley? When will LVMH launch such a perfume? Nicola Sturgeon could be the égérie/the muse. And why not, since Penelope and Charlize are busy elsewhere in the group? Finish: medium, ueber-fruity. This much fruitiness is almost too much, almost cloying. Comments: sure it’s not Brora 1972, but it’s loyal, faithful and honest. Honestly.
SGP:741 - 84 points. |
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Miltonduff-Glenlivet 11 yo 2008/2019 (56%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, bourbon hogsheads, 1116 bottles)
This one from 4 casks, so singularities may have been erased this time. Colour: white wine. Nose: the AC was clearly superior, this is rather a fruity, easy, syrupy one. Sugarcane, green bananas, ripe plums, pancake syrup… With water: whiffs of fruity ale now. Sweet dough, brioche from this morning, apple peel… Mouth (neat): in a way it is spectacular. A true fruit bomb, full of very ripe plums, bananas and pineapples. It is almost some liqueur, you would almost believe someone’s added a lot of muscovado sugar, which was obviously not the case. Unless, unless… I am joking. With water: still sweet, but with fine herbal notes, peelings, some hay… Finish: medium, thick and syrupy. Is it possible to make some liqueur out of bamboo shoots? More sweet ale in the aftertaste, IPA… Comments: I still prefer Cadenhead’s single cask, by far, but this one really doesn’t cheat either.
SGP:751 - 85 points. |
Good, we’ve got two or three older ones but I would suggest we do them tomorrow, agreed? |
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August 1, 2020 |
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Angus's Corner
From our Scottish correspondent
and skilled taster Angus MacRaild in Edinburgh |
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| Death by Highland Park: Part II |
| I just noticed that I am recording notes for this session exactly one year and a day after I published the first of these rather ambitious tasting line-ups. I had originally assumed last year’s session would be a one off, but then a certain sizeable Alsace wine grower with a taste for Highland Park furnished me with an even bigger pile of these official single casks. |
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Add to that the fact I was already accumulating a few other HPs of my own for a more modest session and there you have it: time for a sequel. These HP single casks can be pretty hard work, but let’s not allow that to deter us. We’ll go forwards haphazardly by vintage/age, but first: a couple of older aperitifs to acclimatise. |
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Highland Park 18 yo (43%, OB, 1990s)
From one of these rather dark vattings in the old cylindrical bottles. Colour: deep orangey gold. Nose: wonderfully old school, easy, leafy and earthy sherry. Many nuts, chocolate, praline, rancio, leather and some sea salt. Quite a while away from the current batches, and you really get the impression that they may have put some older stocks in the mix. Gentle and aromatic notes of dried herbs, medicines and hessian. All very classical and enticing. Mouth: superb richness upon arrival. Big, fatty, salty, nutty, leather, earthy and full of tobaccos, dried mushrooms, figs and this superbly mineral and nervously saline sherry. Emphatic, precise, punchy and just brilliant. Finish: Long, warming, again with all this chocolate and nuts, wee touches of lemon, more dunnage earthiness and more salty old rancio sherry. Comments: Little wonder these batches elevated HPs name during that era and won just about every award going. It just oozes class and easy, sinewy charm.
SGP: 662 - 92 points. |
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Highland Park 19 yo 1985/2005 (54%, Signatory Vintage ‘Cask Strength Collection, cask #2911, hogshead, 296 bottles)
Always intriguing to try whiskies from ‘my’ vintage. Colour: straw. Nose: bone dry at first nosing, could almost be the purest, most mineral and chiselled of Loire sauvignons. Grasses, green herbs, apple peelings, mineral oil, putty, lime pith, chalk. Highly austere but extremely pure HP. In time it becomes a little more scented with beach pebbles, citronella wax and sandalwood. With water: a little leafier and more herbal. Putty, fabrics, wet cereals, hessian cloth. Mouth: big arrival, all on hot cider, grass, apple peelings, tarragon, flints, chalk, soot, lime infused cooking oils and white pepper. Punchy, similarly austere and with a pretty crisp coastal accent. Almost petrolic and saline. With water: softer, more oily, herbal, coastal, chalky and medical. Still rather pure and chiselled in style. Finish: good length, very dry, salty, flinty and with bags of taut minerals, bath salts and dried herbs. Comments: The flip side of the HP coin from the OB 18yo. This is a pretty brutal and tough example of HP but the quality is pretty high.
SGP: 363 - 87 points. |
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Highland Park 15 yo 2002/2017 (56.9%, OB for NOR’EASTER, cask #3249, refill sherry butt, 546 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: golden syrup, brown bread, wet leaves, chalky rocks, medicines, clay and limestone. Fresh, inviting and relatively easy. Also you get an immediate impression of distillery character, which I’m all for. With water: a clean and precise earthiness, nicely punchy olive oil notes, more of these wet leafy, damp forest aspects - things like moss and ferns. Then some increasingly saline qualities like crushed seashells. Mouth: herbal, wormwood, soot, some rather syrupy medicines, putty, camphor and rather a nice mix of coastal freshness and warm freshly baked breads. With water: fatter, slightly greasier and meatier but still with wonderfully medical and herbal aspects. Still rather sooty and with oily sheep wool and camphor. Cod liver oil and seawater. Finish: long, brightly herbal, some honey and mead, lemon barley water and heather ale. Comments: This one feels oddly like many of these great indy versions of HP from refill that are floating about today’s market. Which is great as the distillery character remains front and centre and perfectly balanced with the sherry.
SGP: 562 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 15 yo 2002/2018 (58.3%, OB for HKexcl, cask #2123, 1st fill American oak sherry butt, 523 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: a kind of glowing sweetness from the American oak, but it sits very well alongside darker fruits, coconut oil, golden sultanas, black Chinese tea, banana bread with chocolate, miso, camphor and a very light and fragrant heathery peat. Lots going on and quite excellent at first. With water: slightly direr and more playful with bread notes, pastries and some fruit jellies. Mouth: again the wood is assertive but just about kept in check by other forces. Lots of warm spices, cherry liqueur, strawberry jam, charcoal, black pepper and cured meats. Paprika, lime cordial and liquorice. With water: a little more natural, more leather, camphor, oily rag, dry roast peanuts and putty. Some pine resin and cloves too. Finish: long, herbal, getting rather mentholated and with a fair bit of hardwood resin, natural tar and various fruit liqueurs. Comments: You feel the wood, but it’s high quality and again enough integration has happened to bring round everything out in a luxurious and cohesive fashion.
SGP: 652 - 89 points. |
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Highland Park 14 yo 2003/2018 (59%, OB for Sweden ‘Ltd Edition 2018: 1’, cask #6147, 1st fill European oak sherry butt, 575 bottles)
Colour: ruby amber. Nose: indeed, it is true what they say about European oak, this is deeper, spicier and more dominated by bitter chocolate, liquorice, wood spices, treacle, cherry jam and Turkish delight. Excellent! With water: more of these treacle notes, plum pudding, caraway, salted liquorice, strawberry liqueur and soy sauce. A tug of war between sweet and salty. Mouth: big arrival, all on winter spices, mulled wine, camphor, pine resin, natural tar, pecan pie, rosewater and verbena. Powerful, drying and pretty deeply earthy. With water: very savoury now, lots of umami seasonings, Maggi, black tea, mutton stock, camphor and roast chestnuts. Finish: long, deeply earthy, bitter herbs, black pepper, cured meats, strong tea, wormwood. Comments: It’s immensely good whisky but it’s a little monolithic at the same time. You can’t help but feel another four years or so in the cask would have brought just the right amount of harmony. But hey, Macallan ‘visitor experiences’ don’t pay for themselves.
SGP: 572 - 88 points. |
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Highland Park 15 yo 2003/2018 (59.9%, OB for Sweden ‘Ltd Edition 2018: 2’, cask #4462, 1st fill American oak sherry puncheon, 600 bottles)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: back to the American oak again with all this golden syrup mixed with coconut milk, vanilla sponge cake with spices, gorse flowers, heather honey and lemon infused olive oil. I have to say, I think I find these American oak HPs a little easier and more accessible, but that’s probably because they hit their stride at a younger age compared to the European oak examples. With water: brighter, fruitier and rather juicy with these notes of fruit salad syrups and bubblegum. Also some cloves and brown bread. A few medical touches too. Mouth: herbal teas, lemon curd, dried thyme, limoncello in mineral water, rose syrup, hessian, mint tea and some gentle tobacco leaf notes. With water: jasmine tea, rosewater, lime syrup, herbal cocktail bitters, coal dust and hessian. Some dunnage earthiness and black pepper. Finish: long, full of brown breads, toasted seeds, peanut brittle, salty honey, heather flowers and a little vanilla cream. Comments: Someone at Edrington was choosing very good wood in the early 2000s it seems. These casks are all quite active and punchy but they are super clean and work well with the distillate. The Americans are definitely easier to get along with than the Europeans in this case, which is arguably the only situation in which you could ever write that sentence (love to my American pals ;)
SGP: 651 - 89 points. |
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Highland Park 12 yo 2004/2017 (65.3%, OB for BevMo!, cask #6737, 1st fill European oak sherry butt, 360 bottles)
Colour: orangey gold. Nose: wooft, quite a departure, this one really gives the impression of real bodega funk! Salty, nutty, balsamic notes with leather, bitter chocolate and not a little rancio. Pickled walnuts, olive tapenade, soot, leaf mulch, old pipe tobacco in a leather pouch and salted liquorice. Totally superb nose, love it! With water: grasses, hay, silage, a drier earthiness and some hints of treacle and pumpernickel bread. Mouth: once again, these note of pickles, leather, tobacco, a whole forest mulched and pulped, some camphor, rubber fishing wellies and mechanical grease from a bike chain. Getting very meaty and full of umami, broths, bouillon stocks and pickle juices. Hey, I forgot it was deadly rocket fuel strength! With water: hugely fat, peppery, greasy, meaty, spicy and with many dark fruit jams, rancio, salty liquorice again, dark chocolate and herbal bitters. Finish: long and probably getting a tad too rubbery / meaty now - we’re approaching Mortlach territories, but with more of these pleasing pickled walnut vibes. Comments: What a monster. I really love this one, you feel immediately that it was an older style of sherry cask, or at least a cask which had contained a more curious style of sherry. Now, some of these meatier aspects will probably be rather divisive depending on where you stand on such things in sherried whiskies. Some parts are really worth 91 for me, but on a technical level it’s probably a bit too extreme. But what a character nonetheless!
SGP: 572 - 87 points. |
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Highland Park 13 yo 2004/2018 (63.5%, OB for Glasgow Airport Duty Free, cask #6569, refill butt, 660 bottles)
Woohoo! Glasgow! Maybe not the duty free bit so much though. Colour: gold. Nose: refreshingly refreshing, as they say in Glasgow (what?), as in lots of more aromatic, coastal distillery character. Drier, leaner, more linens, wet rocks, chalk, canvass, heather ales, old shilling beers, wet pebbles and wee hints of cooked vegetables. Could be an indy bottling really. With water: really nice now, honey cake, olive oil, freshly chopped parsley and soda bread. Some salty butter to spread on it too. Mouth: nicely syrupy and fat in the mouth upon arrival. Cooking oils, pasta water, elastoplasts, clay, ointments, herbal cough medicines and salty liquorice. Nicely natural. With water: cooking oils, cereals, baking parchment, ink, dried tarragon and miso. Getting very salty and oily now. Quite a savoury and appetising style. Finish: good length, rather greasy and ever so slightly rubbery, but also still very bready, rich, oily, savoury and salty. Comments: Indeed, a refreshing change and a much more vivid take on the distillate. It’s just that you are left with the feeling that this would have been so superb given another few years in cask, don’t get me wrong it’s already very good but I feel a cask like this could have evolved into something a lot more fascinating. That wee rubbery note in the finish lost it a point or two I think.
SGP: 472 - 87 points. |
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Highland Park 13 yo 2004/2018 (64.9%, OB for Duty Zero Hong Kong, cask #5424, refill butt, 644 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: salted caramel, butterscotch, pumpernickel bread, caramelising brown sugar, dunnage earth - different again this one. Continues with many roast nuts - macadamias, Brazil, walnuts, pecans - kirschwasser, plum wine and things like jasmine tea and five spice. With water: deeper, drier, more peppery and more profoundly earthy with many bitter herbs, tobaccos, leather and aged teas. Mouth: ouch, the heat. But also some very lovely and hyper clean sherry flavours of strawberry wine, damson jam, prunes, balsamic, treacle pudding and hessian. Lots of strong black teas with sugar as well. With water: much easier now with H2O. In fact quite beautiful, lots of chilli jam, red fruit cordials, exotic hardwood resins, natural tar, mint syrup, treacle and dark chocolate sauce with sea salt. Finish: long, resinous, earthy, saline, very warm and full of wee wood spices and dried herbs. Pot pourri, incense and some old dried out herbal medicines. Comments: Water is obligatory here, but this one is really a winner.
SGP: 562 - 90 points. |
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Highland Park 13 yo 2004/2018 (65.4%, OB for Vinothek Massen - Luxembourg, cask #5975, refill butt, 619 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: slight initial balsamic acidity, then honey cake, toasted hazelnuts and freshly baked brown bread. There’s also some firm earthy notes underneath along with chopped walnuts, bouillon stock and celery salts. Dry, lean and slightly vegetal in a pretty attractive way. But you do get the impression the alcohol is masking a few things here. With water: some nicely bitter herbal extracts, black pepper, various roots and aged pu erh teas. Quite dry and leafy still. Mouth: phew! It’s rocket fuel but it’s tasty rocket fuel. Lots of roast nuts, candied fruits and various fruit cordials. Some blackcurrant jam, dried cranberries and fruit loaf. Crying out for water though… With water: this is still really quite powerful and hot. Chilli pepper, natural tar, black pepper, crushed aspirin, dry earth, soot, hessian. It’s an out and out beast. Finish: long, very spicy, dry, earthy, herbal, sooty and with plenty of bitter herbs. Comments: The flavours are all very nice but it just feels a bit too tough I’m afraid. This one really feels like it could have done with more years in cask. The alcohol heat doesn’t make room for too much pleasure I’m afraid. Now, technically it’s fine…
SGP: 472 - 85 points. |
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July 2020 |
Serge's favourite recent bottling this month:
Cragganmore 48 yo 1971/2019 (43.7%, OB, Prima & Ultima, first fill sherry, cask #2301, 352 bottles) - WF93
Serge's favourite older bottling this month:
Springbank 21 yo (100°proof, OB, +/-1970)- WF95
Serge's favourite bang for your buck this month:
Springbank 10 yo (46%, OB, +/-2020) - WF90
Serge's favourite malternative this month:
Neisson ‘XO Full Proof’ (50.8%, OB, Martinique, +/-2019) - WF91
Serge's Lemon Prize this month:
Linkwood 21 yo 1997/2018 (51.5%, Douglas Laing, Old Particular, cask # 12574, 314 bottles) - WF73 |
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July 31, 2020 |
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Linkwood with little wood |
Ooh that’s smart! Indeed (no it's not, S.), shouldn’t we try a few Linkwoods, as they come to the table? I think we’ve got plenty in both the archives and in the ‘newly arrived’ boxes… |
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Linkwood 12 yo 2007/2020 ‘Reserve Cask Parcel No.2’ (48%, Elixir Distillers, hogsheads)
The label tells us that the angels’ share has been of 24.33%. Aren’t they good at math? This is a vatting of four casks. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: awesome, smoky and fruity, very fresh, tense, bready, herbal, with fresh carrots, with touches of ham that are usually rather to be found in ex-sherry. Smoked kiwis and greengages, what’s not to like? Mouth: in Alsace we say ‘hoppla’, which means that there’s nothing to quibble about. More smoked ham and various green fruits, gooseberries, granny smith, rhubarb (I know it’s the stems that we’re eating, love them and have plenty in my garden), green pepper, earth. Finish: long and earthier. Comments: upper-echelon bottling, marvellous freshness and high-precision work inside.
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
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Linkwood 12 yo 2007/2020 (54.9%, Single Malts of Scotland, hogshead, cask #804457, 276 bottles)
This should be similar. Colour: muscadet wine. Nose: strike. Pure, crystalline bready barleyness, with whiffs of coal smoke and crushed bananas in porridge, with a dollop of honey and whiffs of yellow flowers. Perhaps roses as well, I’ve often associated Linwood with roses, not to sure I was always right. Some pink grapefruits. Mouth: creamy and barley-y. A little grey pepper, cherries, bread, panettone, scones and then bitter oranges. Superb clean and balanced fruity distillate, very pure and easy to quaff. Excellent. Finish: rather long, with nots of bitter almonds, then citrons and a little muesli. Lemony aftertaste. Comments: at the very heart of proper malt whisky, without any make-up. I find this luminous and I could drink this all day. I said I could, neither that I should and nor that I will. I know I haven’t even added any water.
SGP:551 - 88 points. |
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Linkwood 12 yo 2007/2020 (56%, Golden Cask, bourbon, 276 bottles)
This one too should be similar. Colour: straw. Nose: punchier and harsher, but this time we’ll make good use of water, I promise. Hops, lemon zests, baker’s yeast, porridge, sour cream, yoghurt, dough… We shall see. With water: raw wool, ideas of bleach, washing powder, chalk, aspirin… Mind you, I do enjoy this style. Mouth (neat): akin to the Elixirs this time, creamy and lemony, blade-y, but this time a little rawer. Limoncello and granny smith. With water: ah yes lovely, fruitier, you’d almost believe you’re having a Lagunitas. Finish: same, for a good length of time. Comments: sharp and very good. Linkwood deserves better exposure, after G&M had pushed it alongside Mortlach. I agree, that was a long time ago.
SGP:461 - 86 points. |
Good, are we truly ready for some genuine Linkwood madness, Old-Whiskyfun-style? |
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Linkwood 10 yo 2008/2018 (57.4%, James Eadie, oloroso finish, 615 bottles)
This baby was finished in oloroso for twenty months. I believe J. Eadie are very, very good at producing young modern whiskies of high – if modern indeed – quality. Colour: well the finish doesn’t show in the colour. Gold. Nose: it’s rawer, more from the country, with more petrol, grist, skins, hay, and only then the expected butterscotch and Mars bars. With water: fresh baguette and focaccia. We’re in the core. Mouth (neat): rich, creamy, on a lot of custard, triple-sec, peppermint liqueur, marmalade and… slivovitz. True eau-de-vie de barley. With water: excellent and smart. A tiny touch of oak shavings, perhaps, but other than that it’s a bed of orange blossom and elderflowers. Right, or syrups and liqueurs made thereof. Finish: rather long, clean and bright, yet syrupy. Oranges and ginger. Comments: was that oloroso cask STR-ised? Whatever, the end result is pretty perfect. I told you, masters of this (relatively) new game.
SGP:551 - 87 points. |
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Linkwood 27 yo 1990/2018 (50.3%, Signatory Vintage 30th Anniversary, cask #9735, hogshead, 233 bottles)
I’ll confess that we’re keeping some of Signatory’s 30th anniversary bottlings for ‘later’. After all, pleasure is also in waiting, Or in climbing the staircase – right. Having said that our pal Angus already tried it for these modest pages and liked it rather a lot. Colour: gold. Nose: phooh, this works. Bitter almonds, quince jelly, putty, fresh paint, roasted pistachios, marzipan… What does the people want? With water: strange, I’m finding linoleum and ‘a lost Saturday afternoon at Ikea’s’. Couldn’t find much worse… Mouth (neat): strange and relatively good. There’s a herbal fragility I would say, some coconut water in excess I would add, and an unexpected feeling of ‘sour spices’. What’s happening? With water: plastics and cardboards. No.
Finish: no, this can’t be the real thing. Comments: when I see all these friends filling samples with plastic caps (any plastic + booze situation is a total mess, really) I feel sad. This is a good example, this baby got totally wrecked within less than two years. De profundis etc.
SGP:151 - no points. |
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Linkwood 21 yo 1997/2018 (56.9%, Signatory Vintage, The Whisky Embassy Bonn, refill sherry hogshead, cask #4239)
This is German. Love Bonn, love the valley, love the vineyards, love the people (S., that was lame at best!) Colour: gold. Nose: as we all know, there’s good sulphur and there’s bad sulphur. This is good sulphur, umami-y, flinty, full of walnuts, paraffin, suet and… leatherette. With water: ah nice, on new leather jacket (or boots, as you like) and pickled fruits and vegetable. Tiny maize, for example, gherkins, onions... Mouth (neat): it is a little uncertain, too peppery, too sulphury, too dry, too petroly, too leathery, and yet pleasant and quaffable. Water should help us. With water: not too sure. Truffles and Schweppes, zests… Finish: medium, still a little sulphury. Comments: it’s extremely hard to score this kind, as some would claim that the sulphur is an asset, while others will insist that it’s a flaw. I would remain cautious…
SGP:362 - 75 points. |
No luck with Signatory today – last time that happened that was around 1925. Excuse me, 1924. But let’s go on… |
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Linkwood 21 yo 1997/2018 (51.5%, Douglas Laing, Old Particular, cask # 12574, 314 bottles)
Haven’t heard much from DL’s lately, certainly hope they’re doing fine! I know, Covid, Boris and stuff. Of course we emphasize! Colour: white wine. Nose: tense, slightly smoky (coal), vegetal, dry, with a tiny touch of soap. That cannot be right. With water: touches of yeast, then grapefruits and paraffin. Okay. Ish. Mouth (neat): ah rather good, on grapefruit jam and tight chalky white wine. With water: sadly it wouldn’t quite swim. Gets a little cardboardy. Finish: medium and average. Comments: no, a little too hard and probably rather unnecessary. No, not a matter of wrecked sample this time, for sure not. Hey DL!?
SGP:352 - 73 points. |
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Linkwood 27 yo (54.6%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society for Whisky L.,, ‘A truly engaging experience’, #39.166, 152 bottles, +/-2018)
According to the name, this was bottled when the SMWS crew responsible with finding the names switched from regular peyotl to pajateros. Gotta love them anyway. Colour: gold. Nose: whiffs of sunflower oil at first, then rather warm praline and some kind of earthier brioche. A little uncertain this far, I would say. With water: we lost it. Between yesterday’s breads and tomorrow’s Chicken wings, plus cardboard. Twenty-seven-years-old-Linkwood, really? Mouth (neat): nah, this is very good, punchy, rich and crisp at the same time, on spicy breads and auntie’s old peppermint liqueurs. See what I mean? With water: it's okay as long as you do not add more than half a drop of H2O. Otherwise, just forget. Finish: good when neat, appalling when reduced. Comments: I just couldn’t manage this one. My fault for sure. Some sides were pretty great though. To whom should I send my postcard?
SGP:461 - 77 points. |
Looks like this session is going south. One last try and off to Netflix (a.k.a. the end of civilisation, but indeed stinky amazon prime is even worse – no they don’t deserve any capital letters)… Good, heavy artillery please!... |
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Linkwood-Glenlivet 21 yo 1956/1977 (45.7 G.L., Cadenhead, black dumpy)
From when that old lady was still at the helm at Cadenhead’s in Aberdeen. Oh yeah, and ‘GL’ means Gay-Lussac, so pretty much % vol. A.B.V. Oh and ‘black dumpy’ sure isn’t any official terminology. Colour: white wine. Nose: but naturally. Soot, tar, marrow, old copper coins, toolbox, beach sand, tin box, toolbox, a Jaguar engine (straight 6) and a pile of old magazines in an old attic in and old house in an old town in an old country. Mouth: these are tough, probably too paraffiny, too cardboardy, too meaty and too metallic, but that’s exactly what we enjoy in these very unlogic early black dumpies by Cadenhead. Where else are you going to find artichoke liqueur seasoned with brass and aged in fibreglass containers? Nowhere! Finish: medium, dry, on difficult vegetable. Eggplants, parsnips, swedes, salsify… Comments: honestly, this was tough. Even good old Jaypee Sartre wouldn’t have touched it. Hemingway? Probably…
SGP:361 - 76 points. |
Conclusion: better choose your Linkwoods clean, young and crisp. Yep, Serge at the MacBook. |
PS: it is always pretty stressful to the taster when you encounter such a string of, say moderately impressive whiskies, because invariably, you start to wonder whether you, instead of the spirits, are having a problem. That’s where benchmark/reference whiskies come handy as well, as they represent a good way of checking if everything’s okay with your nose and palate, especially if you haven’t become over-sensitive – temporarily - to some main flavours, especially bitterness, which can happen rather often in my experience. |
(Molto gracias, Angus, Roger) |
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July 30, 2020 |
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We haven’t tried many Auchroisk but some have been good. |
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Auchroisk 22 yo 1996/2018 (46%, Orcines, France, hogshead, cask #1976, 266 bottles)
By The Whisky Lodge in Lyons/Lyon. Colour: white wine. Nose: some pure gristy and barleyish malt whisky, full of porridge and crushed bananas, with touches of tar and ashes in the background, then a little aniseed and rubber. Rather a fuller Speysider this far, I would say, the age sure doesn’t show. Mouth: I totally understand why a blender would need this rather oily malt whisky that’s got oils and spicy herbs aplenty. Bitter leaves, banana skin, soot, graphite oil, touches of angelica and liquorice root… Seriously I haven’t tried many Auchroisk al natural, and I am rather pleased. It is not ‘just another Speysider’. Finish: medium, rather on some pretty unusual waxy grasses. Or seaweded? Wakame? Comments: very good and interesting drop, recommended. I should have tried it earlier – been lazy again.
SGP:452 - 86 points. |
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Auchroisk 27 yo 1991/2019 (48.7%, Valinch & Mallet, bourbon hogshead, cask #19-2701, 291 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: this one’s more on bonbons, wine gums, Jell-O, then cassata and stewed fruits, with a good proportion of rhubarb. Very different. A whiff of wood smoke coming from the background as well as some sour dough. Mouth: a similar feeling, with an oilier structure and touches of rubber, artichoke… It remains rather on doughs and sweets. Finish: nice, rather oilier and waxier indeed, so that may be a marker. It was about time we improved our list of Auchroisk markers. Comments: another one that’s very good, it was just a notch sketchier than the 1996. I would drink this!
SGP:461 - 84 points. |
And now one of those young wrestlers by James Eadie… (I suppose it’s a wrestler…) |
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Auchroisk 12 yo 2007/2019 (59.4%, James Eadie, first fill bourbon, cask #80595, 291 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: they’re doing a super job, really. You’ve got this waxy, paraffiny, almost plastic side, then the grist and the porridge, then a sourness (natural yoghurt), then banana skins, touch of aniseed, umami sauce, earth, dried porcinis… I have to say I rather fond of this. With water: bread baked in the fireplace or something. Some spearmint, citron, auntie’s lemon curd… Mouth (neat): high power, ridden with aniseed, menthol and sour cream, then baguette dough, bananas, pastis and fresh mushrooms. Some grapefruit keeping it sharp. With water: a little rubber, absolutely not a problem in this context. Gherkins. Finish: long, sweeter, more on triple-sec and limoncello, but with a grassier and bitterer aftertaste. Comments: they really have a house style at James Eadie’s, I’m not sure many indie bottlers could say that too. Try some of their whiskies, I believe we should buy a few and cellar them for thirty years or so, and then open them while listening to Madonna’s latest.
SGP:561 - 87 points. |
It was a very satisfactory session. To me, at least. |
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July 28, 2020 |
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July 28, 2020, Whiskyfun is eighteen |
I'm really glad that Angus accepted to pen down something for us today. Our Scottish friend has been an invaluable asset to this wee website for quite a few years already, thanks mucho Angus, over to you... - Serge
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Angus's Corner
From our Scottish correspondent
and skilled taster Angus MacRaild in Edinburgh |
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| The ‘fun’ line between innocence and cynicism |
| Serge has asked me to write something about Whiskyfun for its 18th birthday. So, in true ‘Whiskyfun disclaimer’ fashion: please be aware that I am writing this more from the perspective of a whisky lover and a ‘fan’ of Whiskyfun - less as a ‘late era’ contributor. |
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So, 18 years of age! In whisky terms this website is now entering the ‘mature’ bracket. Whereas in human years it is finally legally allowed to buy itself a celebratory pint. Let’s just call the nearly 19000 tasting notes for whiskies, rums, Cognacs, brandies and other spirits ‘practice’. |
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What’s for sure is that Whiskyfun is now old enough to incite pause for thought, when we hear ’eighteen years’ most of us can cast our minds back to what we were doing (I was in school!) and wonder what on earth happened to those intervening years that evaporated like so much angel’s share through the pores of daily life. |
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Much has changed since 2002: we live our lives now in an almost constant state of exhaustion from the relentlessness of upheaval. Society, politics, the environment - this pandemic. We have grown used to impermanence, flux and a sense that if there was a time before all this of stability, continuity and consensus, it was real all too briefly - an oasis of time now ticked dry. The world we live in today is not the one into which Whiskyfun was born back in 2002 - something as true of whisky as it is of the more serious aspects of our lives. |
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2002 was still firmly in Whisky's ‘age of innocence’, an era that is glanced back at in a convoluted gush of nostalgic adulation, jealousy and a pinch of revisionism. Perhaps what is most important, and often easily lost amidst the clattering virtue signaling and grouchiness of much contemporary whisky discourse, is that it was a time when the internet itself still smelled fresh. It was populated but more sparsely so; still a frontier that held promise, excitement and a sense of optimism. |
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What you might define as ‘Phase One’ of Whisky’s collision with the internet began in 1995 with Johannes Van Den Heuvel’s Malt Madness and the various scattered ‘forums’ and ‘conversations’ between people who gravitated around this fascinating drink. Whiskyfun (which let us not forget originated on Malt Madness), I would argue, blew the whistle on ‘Phase 2’. |
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 Serge with Johannes Van Den Heuvel (circa 2004)
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Whereas Malt Madness pro-actively started a process of connecting threads and joining dots, Whiskyfun instead reflected a culture that was still fledgling and ill-defined. It was conversational and irreverent in tone, you could be eavesdropping on some whisky nerds giggling about whisky and jazz in a pub - writing in English with a French ‘accent’. |
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It formalised tasting notes but kept the language of description direct and unfussy. It popularised, and to a degree standardised, scoring as part of a shared system of communication and maintained a regular and reliable stream of meaningful content. |
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I would argue that the effects of this were not immediately apparent. The early years of Whiskyfun were very much characterised by jokes about bottles of 1976 Ardbeg being laughably expensive at £170 and the adventures of a posse of pals called the Malt Maniacs. In 2002 an Ardbeg wasn’t so profoundly more hallowed than an Ardmore, a position we are almost pre-conditioned to reflexively assume today. |
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While Whiskyfun undoubtedly reflected a culture, it wasn’t long before it also began to inform that same culture. As the style of writing and recording notes and scores became slightly more detailed, defined and elaborate - the SGP being introduced in November 2007 was, I would argue, a pivotal shift - so the increasing readership began to take notice of these ‘reviews’ and include them in their considerations about whisky. And - let’s not kid ourselves here - their purchases too. |
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Perhaps more than any other site Whiskyfun played a key role in proliferating knowledge and establishing a consensus about whisky that was independent of, and divergent to, the officially sanctioned industry narratives of the time. It is the medium of the internet that has shattered and reshaped whisky and its associated culture. However, if high speed broadband, social media, online auctions, new platforms of exchange and immediate communication are the techno-nervous systems that rewired us all, Whiskyfun’s content provided some timely lifeblood to flow throughout these new systems. |
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There are criticisms to be made, and plenty who have made them, that Whiskyfun scores carry silly weight or that it helped inflate the desirability of certain types of whisky into distantly isolated financial reach. However, there are some key considerations to bear in mind about these critiques. Firstly, Serge did not set out to achieve an end goal with Whiskyfun - it is a site devoid of ‘agenda’ in that sense. The power of this ‘wee’ website is that it has never forgotten the other, most important, part of its name: fun! It remains deeply uncommercial, it has never become more than a hobby for its creator, and it still manages not to take itself or its subject too seriously - while also maintaining a strong level of consistency in its critical approach to spirits. Crucially, it was also always honest about what it found in the glass while never making any presumptions to express some kind of absolute ‘truth’ about any particular spirit. |
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Indeed, given the lurching and disquieting world of 2020 we now live with, there is power and comfort in the unchanging, low-fi permanence of Whiskyfun - both in its content and aesthetic. Because it remains, give or take a few additions and tweaks, at heart the same as it was in 2002, it is understandably a source of daily amusement, reliability and joy to whisky lovers across the world. It states its opinions clearly, does not concern itself with whisky fashions - in fact I suspect Serge would argue it remains deeply un-fashionable in many of its opinions - and continues to revel in an unashamed love of the one thing that still unites us all. Which in 2020 is sadly the real rarity. |
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In 2020, Whiskyfun’s more revolutionary capacity is arguably complete, or certainly finite. It is penalised by Google due to its refusal to ‘play ball’ with today’s web rules but remains sustained by a growing and loyal audience of whisky literate readers. I suspect the extent of the effects of its upheaval are pretty limited in nature from here on out. |
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Today’s whisky world is one of endless debates about what ‘type’ of scoring system is better. Moaning continually about the dreaded ‘flippers’ and prices - sometimes with good reason; other times with blatantly congealing jealousy. In 2002 Japan was on the ascendancy and there was a lot of chatter about how Scottish single malts were naff compared to what they used to be - a situation arguably inverted in 2020. Some of Whisky’s narratives are cyclical, while others linear - the topic of terroir evolves in ways I haven’t the space to touch on here. On one hand, whisky in 2020 exists in an era of profound cynicism. But on the other there are better and more deeply considered things being written and discussed about whisky than ever before. Unsurprising when you consider just how much bigger whisky’s world and population of admirers is now. You can sense it is a subject and a product on the cusp of something brighter and better in my view. |
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I believe Whiskyfun has played an important role in the evolution of whisky culture and community over the past 18 years. If it has a role to play in the coming decade, in my view it is not one of leadership, but of reflection again. To try to shut out the noise for a few quiet moments, to inhale and to think deeply with an open mind about what these many new spirits are telling us. What messages are being smuggled through by new generations of keenly inquisitive minds that take issue with homogenisation and mediocrity and demand something better of this great drink - wherever it is being made. Whiskyfun, after 18 years, has nothing to prove. But as long as whisky matters to enough people and as long as we love whisky, it will always have something to say. Hopefully it will continue to say those things with depth of thought, but only a pinch of seriousness. |
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At least, that’s what I think anyway. Serge may disagree entirely. - Angus |
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And on that note: battle mode initiated! |
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WF 18th Anniversary Mega Session |
| SPRINGBANK, SPRINGBANK! |
| From Alsace and Edinburgh at the same time, a true cross-border session so probably a big, costly mess. You shoot first, Monsieur l'Ecossais! |
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Serge has suggested we do a kind of ‘Springbank battle’, where we will retaliate back and forth with different examples. He also then proceeded to tell me he had mostly samples of amazing old rarities he picked up at the Whisky Show Old & Rare. So, please excuse me while I just slip into my Kamikaze officer’s uniform… |
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Springbank 14 yo 2003/2017 (57.1%, OB for 30th Anniversary of Cadenhead Edinburgh shop, ex-Guadeloupe rum barrel, 186 bottles)
This seems like a good jumping off point. I admit Guadeloupe rum is a tad scary, but this being full term maturation it could be ok… Colour: pale gold. Nose: slightly austere at first nosing, grass, chalky medicines, hessian, sunflower oil and some encroaching mechanical notes like WD40 and bicycle chains - I suppose that must be the rum speaking. It’s not jarring or loud in any way which is good news I think. With water: easy, lean, mineral, lightly medical and feeling all quite oily and gently coastal. Keeps this slight chalky edge which retains freshness well. Mouth: plenty coastal Springbank juiciness! Very oily, lemony, briny and fatty but also still with these medicinal and mechanical accents. I think in this instance the rum has reached a kind of ‘full integration’ which is great news and works very well. Some cactus, sandalwood, salted honey, brine and camphor. With water: indeed, the oiliness is more emphatic now. Superb salinity, pepperiness (almost Taliskerish) minerals, some herbal infused olive oil, and actual olives in brine too. Some salty liquorice and more sandalwood. Wonderfully fresh, vivid and coastal. Finish: Long and focussed on medicines, gauze, soft tarry notes and wee mechanical things like brake fluid or oily old rags. Comments: I have to admit, this was something of a surprise. I had it around 88 but then water really propelled it forwards. Definitely bring your pipette to this party! And the rum is really pristinely integrated, great and worthy selection for an Edinburgh whisky institution.
SGP: 463 - 90 points. |
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Serge: ha-ha-ha, Springbank in rum? Like that old ‘Green’ Springbank? Well played but actually, I was having some recent, ‘simpler’ and ‘purer’ Springbanks as well, it was just a little trick in the spirit of Whiskyfun… Like this baby from their core range… |
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Springbank 10 yo (46%, OB, +/-2020)
Not too sure this one was bottled in 2020 but if it wasn’t, that would be late 2019. Utterly loved the 10 last time I tried it three or four years ago, that’s why we’re having this one now, in this unusual context ;-). Colour: light gold. Nose: A fireplace the next morning, full of ashes, tar and soot, before it would gear towards manzanilla-y aromas, that is to say mustard, green walnuts and seawater. Would please pass the langoustines? The oak was not inert either, as we’re also finding touches of yellow curry, vanilla, and a wee blend of caraway and anise seeds. Mouth: wonderfully salty, coastal, ashy, sooty and waxy. It’s a rough style, as always, one from the countryside. Lemon and bitter orange, tar, liquorice, mustard, ink and plasticine, and a whole bag of fresh walnuts on your tongue. Quite some cinchona too, tonic water, bitters… It’s not impossible that these newer batches would display a little more active oak than before, not too sure. Finish: rather long, dry, still sooty, salty and ashy, rather with walnut skins and green peppercorn in the aftertaste. Comments: lovely lovely lovely, perhaps just a notch less ‘blade-y and vertical’ as previous batches (circa 2015).
SGP:362 - 90 points. |
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Ok, ok, it appears I have been lulled into a ‘false sense of purity’ (Angus, quit while you’re behind!) Let’s see what a logical next step could be… |
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Springbank 18 yo (46%, OB, rotation 2019)
I’m told this batch is composed of 88% bourbon and 12% ex-port wood. Colour: bright straw. Nose: quite elegant at first, wet rocks, sheep wool, carbon paper, sunflower oil. Also this familiar, gentle medicinal profile which includes crushed aspirin, gauze, bandages and rather subtle embrocations. I’d also add that it’s nicely mineral and fresh. Mouth: a little more grizzly than the nose suggested, some rather farmyard qualities and then it swings back towards honey, heather beer, miso, ink, waxes and mineral oil. Extremely easy and I would say pretty well balanced. Lots of medicine again, more cooking oils - olive oil now - gentle notes of seawater, herbal ointments, putty and hessian. Finish: medium and with a lot of medical, mineral and coastal flavours in the aftertaste. Comments: Perhaps not as thrilling as previous batches but this is still devastatingly confident whisky. And I love that it really feels like ‘pure Springbank’. Blind I wouldn’t have spotted any port lurking within. I think something the good folk at Springbank don’t get enough credit for is their skill at putting these kinds of batches together and balancing these different wood types.
SGP: 562 - 90 points. |
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I see, so we want something pure, but yet with a little seasoning. You could, indeed, achieve that by adding a small proportion of ex-sherry, Port or Madeira wood, but you could also just use a good old refill sherry cask. Also simpler when you’re into single casks! |
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Springbank 19 yo 2000/2020 (50.8%, The Whisky Kingdom for Wu Dram Clan, refill sherry hogshead, cask #669, 249 bottles)
I’ve heard this was good, and I hear like a wolf! (yeah yeah, S.) Colour: straw. Nose: when it all starts will olive oil and brake fluid, you know you’re on the right train, knowing that this is a Springbank that’s actually a tad ‘Longrowy’, so rather more petroly, chalkier and smokier than usual. Add a handful of barley and one of beach sand at high tide, plus the usual raw wool (or old tweed jacket), and there. With water: rather tenser and earthier, also more on dough, ink, tar… A reaction that’s not unseen with clean Springbanks. Mouth (neat): superb, starting with these wee ‘chemical’ notes that always work (but only in Springbank ;-)), plus limoncello, paraffin, grist, dough and cracked pepper. It’s a little ashy too. With water: gets rather bitterer. More paraffin, beer, soot, and certainly more leaves. Perhaps not the best swimmer ever, better keep it neat. These whiskies are hard to reduce properly anyway. Finish: long, rather fat and oily, with some bitter wax, lemon marmalade, and the usual sootiness. Comments: terrific Springbank, as expected, but keep your water for watering the geraniums.
SGP:363 - 90 points. |
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The amazing Serge Valentin: eyes of the earthworm! Ears of the cuttlefish! Speed of the Sea Anemone and smells like a badger! (You can get away with more in ‘virtual’ sessions when you’re not ‘within reach’ I believe.) Anyway, seeing as we are talking sherry and single cask, let’s stick with the officials and try this one… |
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Springbank 24 yo 1994/2019 (46.2%, OB for UK, sherry hogshead, 294 bottles)
This one caused quite a stir when it came out I believe, although I think that was more to do about the predictable scramble for bottles and resulting tsunami of disappointment that ensued. Anyway… Colour: amber. Nose: expressively earthy and full of toasted nuts at first. Peanut brittle, waxed canvass, sultana, mushroom broth, camphor, linseed oil and soy sauce. I have to say, this is impressively fresh, clean and full of old school, sherried richness that you don’t find too often with Springbank’s sherry casks. Lots of lean mineral qualities and motor oil emerge in time, while also getting more towards leaf mulch and tobaccos. Very impressive! Mouth: ah ok, here’s where it falls down a bit I think. Feels a little too faded and ‘light’, rather a lot of balsamic, stewed fruits, some light acidity, a few fruity medicines and strawberry scented pipe tobacco. Very nice but you feel it has been captured on the way down rather than on the way up. Still nicely nutty and a bit chocolatey and overall very clean and still showing some lovely earthy qualities. Finish: medium, earthy, nutty, mulchy, oily and with more wee notes of old vinegars and herbal wines. Comments: The nose was gorgeous, but I feel the palate crumbled slightly. Now, it’s still a very quaffable old Springbank. But I would say one for the tumbler rather than the copita. Serge takes the lead…
SGP: 652 - 87 points. |
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Crikey, apparently our whisky lemur up there in Edinburgh is trying to play it sneaky, laying a weaker card on the table to try to make us lower our guard. But I too have read The Tortoise and the Hare, so not so fast Mr. Angus.... |
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Springbank 22 yo 1995/2018 (44.3%, Svenska Eldvatten, refill sherry hogshead, cask #498, 137 bottles)
Our good friends in Sweden are always releasing very interesting bottlings, and when I use the word ‘interesting’ that’s not political correctness. Colour: dark gold. Nose: what, carrots and cinnamon? That’s very unusual indeed, we’re almost wandering throughout the Atlas mountains. Then gentian, wine acidity, cigars, umeshu (Japanese plum wine, more or less) and turnips/celeriac. At times this feels almost like cold vegetable soup seasoned with natural vanilla. Very interesting indeed, but curious about the palate, no need to say… Mouth: loads of fun in there, although the taster would sometimes wonder ‘why?’ and ‘how come?’ More carrot cake, IPA beer, celeriac and turnip, even eggplant, sour wines, tonic water, Campari, then some Indian spices, curries, earl grey, drops of Worcester sauce, tobacco, leather… In fact, this one’s pretty loco, deviant and sometimes dissonant. Captain Beefheart playing the Osmonds (younger readers, even though they’re shameless tax evaders, Google is your friend). Finish: long and sour. This is where it’s revealed that it’s the cask that was totally crazy. Big tannicity in the aftertaste. Comments: very deviant. Good fun to be had but to be handled with much care, it’s not unlike tickling an old lion – not that I’ve ever tried, but my cats give me a good idea.
SGP:462 - 85 points. |
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Serge always references cats when he is bluffing. Let’s keep our cards close to our chest and shift gears ever so slightly… |
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Springbank 24 yo 1993/2018 (52.7%, SCOMA 40th Anniversary, cask #14, refill sherry hogshead, 300 bottles)
In case you don’t know, SCOMA is a legendary and very influential whisky shop in Germany that was responsible for importing many great and important names (including Springbank and Cadenhead) back in the era before single malt enthusiasm was widespread. Indeed, you could argue they played a pivotal role in European whisky enthusiasm. Colour: deep gold. Nose: it’s certainly one of these more ‘left-field’ 1993 Springbanks. Lots of flinty notes, mineral oil, graphite, ink and stewed fruits like sultana and prune. It evolves more along this profile with more earthiness, leaf mulch, tobacco, gun oil and hints of various brown breads and dark grains. It’s definitely getting more recognisably ‘Springbanky’ with time. With water: dried mint, ink, miso, umami broths, animal furs, turmeric, dried flowers, waxes. Quite complex and individualistic. Mouth: nice arrival, very clean but quite punchy and powerful. Very bready, earthy, mineral and slightly gamey and saline. Salted almonds, game salami, rye bread, dried tarragon, mineral oil and coal dust. A fascinating ‘teeter’ between weird early 90s and more the assertive, classical style they were transitioning to at the time. Also, it should be noted, this is a very good sherry cask. With water: beautifully complex and ‘broad’ now. Mushrooms, wild herbs, flowers, nuts, breads and more mineral, medical and rather emphatic oily things like camphor, vapour rubs and herbal cough medicines. Really vibrant and superbly fresh now. Finish: long, wonderfully mineral, nutty, saline, oily, herbal and medical. Extremely Springbanky and brilliantly fresh and complex. Comments: It’s like we began in 1993 and ended up at 1995 within the space of the same whisky. Terrific and fascinating distillate in a top notch sherry cask. I’m very happy SCOMA could find such a fun and enjoyable wee glory for their 40th! Great selection folks.
SGP: 473 - 92 points. |
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I see, some kind of counterattack. I’m sure our friend believes he’s played a decisive tactic and that he’s going to win this one. But remember what good old Napoléon said after Austerlitz, 'The greatest danger occurs at the moment of victory’… Indeed we’ve got what ought to be a very secret weapon… |
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Springbank 25 yo 1993 (47.3%, Exclusive Malts, Creative Whisky Co., 1 bottle)
Indeed, this is bottle One of One and guess what, it’s been opened (obviously, since we’re trying it). So this is a worthy representative of yet another whisky category, bottles that have been proven extinct, a.k.a. B.P.E.. Consequently, hoarders and flippers: please go your way! Colour: gold. Nose: cheese and gym socks at first, that’s not unseen in some vintages of Springbank. Iron fillings and old tools aren’t unseen either, and neither are leatherette, heavy menthol, new electronics and rucola salad. Is it a crazy Springbank? Yes it is, but let’s prepare for the palate… Mouth: starts dissonant in the way we like it (ground coffee, mustard and cranberry juice, anyone?), gets then very peppery and cardboardy, with sour and sweet wines, brine, and just the right amount of plasticine and straight plastic. Some of the sherried officials from similar vintages were a bit like this, except that they were having more sulphur. This one remains kind of civilised. Finish: marmalade, ginseng, and ‘sucking pebbles’. Comments: totally mad. Well, you don’t see these every day, for many reasons.
SGP:372 - 85 points. |
Well, looks like I’m getting behind with this whole madness… |
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Oh dear, how embarrassing. In the immortal words of General Charles de Gaulle: “Somebody order that guy an Uber!” Or was it ‘pass the Speyburn’? |
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Meanwhile, we shall remain in the notoriously treacherous 1993. |
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Springbank 27 yo 1993/2020 (51.3%, Whiskybroker for It’s All About Springbank, cask #26, refill bourbon hogshead, 200 bottles)
How very funny that bottlings are now being done for themed Facebook groups. What a time to be alive! Colour: bright straw. Nose: extremely pure and at the same time with this typical ‘unusualness’ of 93 Springbanks. Lots of canvass, bailed hay, cooking oils, funny old medicines, herbal liqueurs, chalk, putty, waxes, hot clay, aged mead and yellow flowers. Highly characterful whisky, in the best sense. With water: really doubles down on chalk, fabrics, pebbles, flints, lanolin, paraffin and white coastal flowers. Gorse, pollens and olive oil too. Mouth: pow! Superbly lean and medicinal. Herbal medicines, beach pebbles, waxes, citronella candles, oily cereals, mineral oils, camphor and a nicely salty peatiness. Wonderfully flinty, oily, lightly vegetal and showing many wee medical embrocations and things like fermenting lemons and brine. With water: lemon cough drops, linseed oil, horseradish, camphor, tar, bandages, seawater, preserved lemons… terrific! Finish: long, briny, lemony, oily, medicinal and waxy. Also wee notes of salty honey and dried herbs like thyme. Comments: I’ve just checked and I am indeed a member of the IAAS group on Facebook. Guys, please send 6 bottles to Whiskyfun HQ, Flipper Street, Leith… Anyway, terrific selection. I just loved the purity and the freshness of this one. There’s much been said about these slightly more usual 93s but perhaps all they needed was time? This one was close to being 93 points, but we don’t do partial scores here at WF (my eyes are not yet orange and my hat not yet Panamanian) so 92 it remains!
SGP: 462 - 92 points. |
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Well, this is really getting tough, these youngsters have got no shame, no respect and no decency. Wait, where have I put my enlarged edition of Sun Tzu's The Art of War again? Found it… Blah, blah, blah, blah.… Ah there, let’s try a blitzkrieg! |
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Springbank 21 yo (100°proof, OB, +/-1970)
A bottling of legends, probably late 1940s-very early 1950s distillate, bottled at 57% vol. Remember, all you have to do to convert UK proof to ABV is to divide by 1.76, if I’m not mistaken. So in this case, 100/1.76=… right, err, 56.8%. Whatever, less math, more old Springbank, that’s our new motto! Colour: white wine (hurray). Nose: bang bang bang, this is as smoky as an Islay from the south shore, and as sooty and concrete-y (oh come on, S.!) as an Old Clynelish. It’s been chiseled by masters, this is all distillate-driven, extremely medicinal as well (huge peppermint and pine resin) and just filled to the brim with chalk and clay. I also love these whiffs of old floor-cloth – I know I need an analyst. With water: superlative, pure, incredibly well carved, immaculate, tense, vertical… (I think that’ll do). Mouth (neat): oh the power! Elderflower syrup, rhubarb juice, Austrian riesling (see I’m no chauvinistic Alsatian), limestone and flints, grey pepper, graphite oil, peat, seaweed and oysters… Oh well, please call the Anti-Maltoporn Brigade, we've been friends for eighteen years. With water: that’s the thing with the greatest whiskies, the more water you add, the bigger they get – up to a certain point, naturally. That’s exactly what’s happening here, while proper lemons and grapefruits are starting to take over. Finish: endless, pure, vertical, mineral, lemony, salty. What’s more, the proportions are exquisite. Comments: in these very rare cases, the whisky is the boss. All you do is trying to follow its path. Amazing Springbank!
SGP:465 - 95 points. |
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Nurse! He’s found the sharp knives again… |
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In truth, I was wondering when this one was going to show up. Now, I cross my heart, hope to die (well…) and stick a Caol Ila in my eye that this note for the very same whisky was actually written a good two months ago. I know we shouldn’t be in the habit of doing the same whisky like this too often, but I feel this is a special whisky and a special occasion. |
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Springbank 21 yo (100 proof, OB, UK, circa 1970)
Bottled around 1970 so should be distilled in the very early 1950s or before. And don’t forget 100 proof in the UK = 57.1%. This is bottle I’ve been chasing and dreaming about for years. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: really another era of whisky production. This rather fat and greasy nose that feels almost viscerally textural. Clay, petrol, oily sheep wool, lanolin and some pure, brutal and pretty chalky medical aromas. Develops the most astoundingly pure medical aroma with the leanest of peat profiles. Cereals, chimney soot, kiln air and the rather fermentary note of distillery wash and carbolic acidity. It’s also rather tangy with things like horseradish, mustard powder and various shades of ground pepper. Humbling and pretty astonishing whisky. With water: the very definition of purity in malt whisky. Putty, clay, ointments, embrocations, raw seawater, petrol, mineral salts and bandages. Mouth: immense arrival. Camphor, metal polish, soot, waxes, tar, iodine, peat, crushed seashells and the most brutal, raw and powerful medical embrocations imaginable. Utterly uncompromising, direct and powerful whisky. Unlike anything else. Cereals, chalk, acidity, flint smoke, ink, fabrics and paraffin. Another whisky that you could just go on with forever. With water: astonishing. Extraordinary. A Venn diagram of medicine, salinity and waxiness with a clarity of personality and a level purity, precision and power that is heart-stopping. Finish: long, bone-dry, austere but also charismatic in the extreme and still touching on these core aspects of purity, medicine and raw, controlled power. Comments: 21 years old and pale as a young Chablis. What’s kind of sad about this is that today this is an almost ideological clarion call of a whisky: the epitome of sculpted distillate, paired back wood and time. But back when it was bottled it was probably just what was available at time of requirement. This is what I talk about when I say ‘old style’ whisky. The closest to this I can think of is 1960s era Clynelish, although this has its own, rather brutal and unflinching style of precision, purity and power. In the end, it stands solitary as its own thing. A poetic old whisky that leaves you speechless with its singular and monolithic style of beauty.
SGP: 464 - 96 points. |
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But let’s shift things in a somewhat left-field direction if you please… |
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Springbank 50 yo 1919/1970 (66.3 proof, OB for UK)
There seems to be a fair bit of confusion about these bottles out there, not helped by the existence of the tall calligraphy label bottle which now sells for ‘houses’ or multiples thereof and various conflicting information about cask numbers and overall numbers of bottles. Not to mention the existence of a number of refills and fakes of this one now. However, I’m confident about the origins of this sample. Colour: gold. Nose: unquestionably an ancient style of malt whisky - we’re really more in the realms of Victorian distilling with this one. That is to say deeply scented with pure waxes, metal polishes, vapour rubs, herbal cough medicines, coal scuttles dust, old cracked leather, sheep wool oils and many deep and compelling mechanical and oily complexities. Lots of dry medical ‘vaporous’ aromas with many dried our wee herbal and liqueur-ish touches. Also old pressed wildflowers kept within very old books. Some cedar wood cigar boxes and various wee mineral oil notes and hints of animal furs and grease. Complex despite being only 37.8% abv. Mouth: dusty initially, very herbal and focussed on bouillon stocks, salty old umami broths, dried out waxes and things like old boot and metal polishes. More impressions of sheep wool and a lot of camphor, hessian and putty. Almost painfully old style; a complete departure from almost anything to do with modern whisky. Indeed, these animalistic and ‘fatty’ attributes being to rise. Barbour grease, more mineral oil, rapeseed oil and hints of natural tar. There’s sweetness too, but it’s like some very leathery and salty aged mead mixed with ancient Sauternes. Finish: medium, which is impressive really, you do feel it has perhaps lost some steam (did it really have ‘steam’ to begin with when bottled?) but there’s a lot of dry earthiness, dusty pollens, ink, bone dry herbs such as tarragon and wee touches of fennel, medicine and this persistent mineral/waxy aspect. Comments: The perfect example of a whisky where the technical score and the emotional score are an ocean apart. I think it’s safe to say that this was left too long in the cask, but at the same time it retains a very vivid impression of an utterly different era of ingredients, process and people. And I would still add, most importantly, that despite these slightly weaker parts, it remains a deeply pleasurable and fascinating whisky to drink.
SGP: 462 - 88 points. |
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By Keepempure and Noagenodeal, Gods of whisky, a double, this is getting very complicated. And didn’t our fearless friend just knock down one of the very few truly sacred cows of malt whisky? I mean, that 1919 was in Michael Jackson’s very first Malt Whisky Companion, if I’m not mistaken! No respect indeed, but this is not quite over, believe me… And I can start messing with some potential liquid idols too… |
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Springbank 28 yo 1967/1996 (46%, OB, Germany)
Let’s push it all with this little one by the owners. Not sure this baby was only for Germany by the way, but many bottles carry ‘German’ stickers. You know, with words such as ‘Schnapps, das war sein letztes Wort’ usw. Jo-king. Colour: gold. Nose: oh wow, herbs, wee roots and flowers this time. That is to say the usual gentian, chicory, gorse, dandelions, buddleia, then a waxier base – as we said – and some kind of precious mead. Let’s say it, this is pure ambrosia! And I suppose it’s the cask that added some fresh whiffs of fern, undergrowth and young moss. Whiffs of plasticine too – the receivers? (enough with your conspiracy theories, S., there are enough idi… I mean, mad people around.) Mouth: it’s dry, very waxy, probably too dry actually, with too much cardboard perhaps. It is lovely whisky, but I believe oxygen has taken its toll here. Teas, dried things, paper, stale coconut water… But it does improve, with more honey, candied fruits… Finish: rather short and waxy. Comments: indeed I’m going to give a slightly passable(ish) score to a glorious old Springbank, but I’m sure it’s a matter of bottle and not a matter of bottling. The nose was stunning.
SGP:231 - 80 points. |
Oh looks like Angus is using heavy artillery yet again… And without saying a word! |
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Springbank 1972/1991 (59.0%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #27.17)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: it’s surprisingly close to some refill matured mid-90s examples in some ways with these big notes of soft green fruits mixed with waxes, seawater, olive oil and camphor. Extremely pure, rather medical, punchy and very coastal. Pristine distillate! With water: just exquisitely chiselled, powerful, pure and saline. Raw petrol soaked into sheep wool, hessian, paraffin, ink and still a few glimmers of green and yellow fruits - although they lean more towards the exotic now. Mouth: wow! Petrol mixed with seawater and lemon juice and then smoked. Some particularly saline cured meats, serrano ham etc, and also mint julep, iodine, citronella wax, tar, very grassy olive oil and many sharp, very precise medicines and embrocations. Fermenting honey, aged mead and sandalwood, some dried seaweed flakes in ramen broth and pure, briny pickling juices. Amazing! With water: stunning! Immensely dense in texture, thick, fat, gloopy waxes, salted heather honey, lemon oil, tar, vapour rubs and herbal cough syrups. Majestic! Finish: wonderfully long and full of this particular saline honey quality, beach pebbles, chalk, peat, waxes, medicines and herbs. Comments: We don’t know these vintages as well as their 60s siblings I think, but it seems these early 70s ones, while different, can be no less stunning. This one was just devastating in its power, focus and depth of concentration. Quite simply, some of the greatest distillate ever made.
SGP: 464 - 94 points. |
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Okay, let’s strike back once more (with the energy of despair, I don’t think I’ll ever manage to catch up anyway…) |
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Springbank 33 yo 1967/2000 (50.9%, Blackadder, hogshead, cask #1562, 220 bottles)
No need to remind you, I suppose, that 1965-1967 were legendary vintages at Springbank’s. Did you ever try any of those ‘Local Barleys’ or ‘West Highland Scotch Malt Whiskies’? They were the post-WWII Lafites or Latours of whisky! Colour: gold. Little sherry, even better! Nose: oh this waxiness! Why were so many malts waxier than they are today? I have my theory, that may have been, as I’ve suggested above in the note for the official, because they were using cast-iron receivers and weren’t really washing them out like if there was no tomorrow between two seasons, which did let the waxes and oils build-up and stay on the rough walls and impart all their goodness. As I said, just a theory. Anyway, superb clean and complex nose, exceptionally fresh, waxy indeed, with many herbs and fruit peelings, pollen, touches of camphor, honeys (clover), then the most beautiful assortment of old apple varietals. Very beehive-y. With a drop of water: waxy earth or something. Immense and so subtle, and so far from contemporary wham-bam-see-my-casks whiskies. Mouth (neat): shock full of beeswax, pine resin, late-harvest riesling, quince and apricot jams, apple compote, precious honeys and no-less precious marmalades. Beautiful tension underneath, very Springbank. With water: all things oils and waxes in the front, with flying colours. Finish: medium, very waxy, honeyed, on ripe apples and peaches. Dry cider and a lovely earthiness in the aftertaste. Comments: never clean the receivers unless some imprudent tourists from Northern Europa drowned in them. But is that legal? I’m sure Boris will let you do that, but then of course, not my business…
SGP:561 - 92 points. |
All right, Edinburgh fell silent, it’s true that it’s 7pm already at time of writing, they must be in bed. So I’m doing the accounts here in Alsace and, wait, it seems that our friend managed to smuggle one more Springbank than me into this session while I wasn’t watching! How unfair is that? What’s more, I thought we could as well push this to eighteen Springbanks since this is our eighteenth anniversary. Let’s see what remains in this vast field of debris… Oh wait, Edinburgh is answering now… |
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Not so fast Serge! En garde… |
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Springbank (?) 26 yo 1969/1995 (51.7%, Signatory Vintage Decanter, sherry, 790 bottles)
Colour: light amber. Nose: bam! A whole punned of apricots and peaches stewed in some luscious old Armagnac. Prunes in juices, figs, strawberry jam, ancient balsamic and a full bodega of rancio. Pretty exquisite stuff and almost certainly some glorious old 60s Springbank. Wonderfully leafy, elegantly earthy and harmoniously fruity - depth, concentration and balance all in check. With water: huge now! Bags of shoe polish, old leather, game meats and rather hefty old school medicines. Lots of old ointments, pressed flowers and herbal cough syrups. Some aspects also really converge beautifully on old Cognac territory with these specific peachy, dark fruity rancio aspects. Mouth: stunningly dense, darkly fruity, earthy and mineral. Full of this leafy and very mulchy style of sherry riddled with tobaccos, hessian and stewed dark fruits. Also leather, game meats and freshly ground coffee. Moving more towards savoury umami and meaty tones over time. Textbook, exquisite old stuff from Campbeltown. With water: herbal bitters now, of the cocktail variety. Brown bread, banana fruit loaf, bitter dark chocolate, kirsch and more of these punchy, herbal liqueur and medical qualities. Some wonderfully bitter Seville orange marmalade and various exotic spices and teas. Finish: Superbly long, resinous, nervous salty sherry, olive oils, camphor, hessian and many more wee herbal touches. Comments: I’ll be damned if this isn’t that 69 Springbank. Totally stunning stuff!
SGP: 662 - 93 points. |
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Blimey, yet another sneaky attack from Dùn Èideann, this is getting dangerous. But anyway, since in the true words of Taylor Swift, “Nothing safe is worth the drive”, let’s counterattack once more… |
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Springbank 20 yo 1995/2015 (53%, SCOMA, refill port, cask #42, 537 bottles)
Didn’t our friend try some superb Springbank by SCOMA just a few minutes ago? This one’s been double-matured in a refill port butt and spent 5 years in Campbeltown and 15 years on Islay. That’s right, whisky and logics. Colour: rich gold. Nose: starts very medicinal, with a touch of sulphur (stone) and otherwise aspirin and bandages plus tangerine liqueur. Add some coal smoke and notes of ‘old garage’ and I’m sure you get the picture here. I suppose the tangerines came from the port cask. With water: ha, flints, cabbage, limestone, truffle, plasticine, ointments, Vaseline gauze… Mouth (neat): shakes and wobbles a wee bit right at the arrival (smoked tangerines and new plastic, well…) but a reassuring balance is soon to be found. Olive oil, tangerine liqueur, bitter oranges, mercurochrome and aspirin (this would cure just anything), plasticine, walnuts… With water: be moderate with your water, it could become too ‘plastic’. Otherwise, perfectly waxy and medicinal. The port was well-behaved. Finish: rather long, with a wee sourness that’s not unpleasant (mashed turnips) and indeed touches of sulphur. Comments: totally fun, very well done SCOMA, even if it was not a very ‘idiosyncratic’ Springbank.
SGP:562 - 89 points. |
Good, I believe we’re at 17, one more and we are done. I think we’ll play it fair and in a spirit of peace and harmony, with this little new one… |
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Springbank 22 yo 1997/2020 (55.4%, OB, Private Cask for HMMJ, refill sherry, cask #582, 191 bottles)
I believe it’s good to put an official end to this madness with a private cask bottled for four friends, rather than with some superfluous brandola. Not that Springbank are doing much of that anyway… Colour: pale gold. Nose: mangos, Vicks VapoRub, tiger balm, new plastics, cranberries, charcoal, bandages, lemongrass. Typical and harmonious, whatever you may think. With water: unstoppable. You may call 202-456-1111, that’s the Anti-Maltoporn Brigade. No, don’t, it’s the White House. Mouth (neat): oh very good! But who added the mezcal? H, M, M, or J? Let’s say you take a jar and pour 1/3 proper white mezcal (joven), 1/3 manzanilla anada by the crazy Callejuelas, and 1/3 middle-aged ex-refill Caol Ila. Shake well, and there, you’re on. Now I agree buying a bottle of this, should that be possible, would be easier to do. In theory. With water: smoked lemons and plasticine, I buy that. Finish: long, waxier, smokier, with superb lemony notes and wee touches of grassy oils. Oh there, olive. Comments: wow, nothing to throw. Super well done, HMM&J. But between us, while no one’s listening, tell me who-the-hell added the mezcal?
SGP:563 - 92 points |
Quick, let’s do the math…. |
Let’s call that a draw since we don’t do decimals anyway. |
And so the winner is… Whiskyfun! Thank you all, happy 18th birthday Whiskyfun. |
(With thanks to Andy, Angus, David, Emmanuel, Hideo, Jon, Lucero, Phil, Sukhinder and all our other friends who keep supporting little Whiskyfun!) |
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July 27, 2020 |
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The Time Warp Sessions,
today Glencadam 35 years apart |
A quick and easy little session today, let’s have a little fun before tomorrow’s anniversary tasting (we’re turning 18 tomorrow). Hopefully… |
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Glencadam 10 yo (46%, OB, +/-2020)
We last tried this little ten from Brechin around five years ago and thought it was really very pretty good (that doesn’t make much, sense, S.) WF85. Colour: white wine. Nose: totally on grist and soot at first, then lemon juice, granny smith and a little mint. It’s petty chalky at that, with good power and sharpness, and touches of pear cider. A sooty chalk tends to dominate after a good five minutes, which is right up my alley. As I remembered it (well I’ve been reading my old notes, which I don’t do often). Mouth: it’s full bodied, rather all on bread dough and lemon juice at first, then more fruity sourness (green apples, maracuja?) plus the expected chalk and rather more pepper than expected. Very solid, sharp, a little austere, lovely. Finish: long, on barley, dough, lemon and always this sootiness that I’m finding a little more in the front than with earlier batches. A drop of Campari. Perfect clean ex-bourbon maturation. Comments: Glencadam’s supposed to be rather light since the swan’s necks are clearly ascending, but no. Ha. Score unchanged.
SGP:461 - 85 points. |
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Glencadam 1975 (43%, Sélection La Maison du Whisky, 75cl, +/-1990)
An early independent bottling by La Maison du Whisky and a bottle that’s really hard to come by. I’m not even sure I’ve ever seen it before. Colour: light gold. Nose: we do find similar traits, especially this sootiness and the green apples, but it’s also a tad rounder, as if the casks were a little more active, which the colour would confirm. Lovely little touches of ripe mangos and papayas, orange blossom, a few metallic notes (od tin box), then orange blossom, ear grey, chamomile tea, elderflower syrup… Awesome freshness, lovely floral side, not quite a profile that’s often to be encountered these days. Mouth: really very similar, on herbal teas, orange blossom water, these metallic touches yet again (silver spoon), and a rather panettone-y ending (mi scusi). A little light because of the 43%, but we’re more than OK with that in this context. Finish: medium to short, this time a little more on hoppy beer, IPA-style. Comments: I’ve been having it at more than that, but the finish brought us back to the same score as that of the 10. It’s a very good score.
SGP:551 - 85 points. |
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July 26, 2020 |
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A word of caution
Let me please remind you that my humble assessments of any spirits are done from the point of view of a malt whisky enthusiast who, what's more, is aboslutely not an expert in rum, brandy, tequila, vodka, gin or any other spirits. Thank you – and peace! |
Theoretical French Malternatives |
So exactly not French whisky, mind you, rather Cognac and Armagnac. The latter is not, contrarily to rather awkward sayings, ‘Cognac’s little brother’. |
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Domaine du Hourtica 1980 (42%, OB, Bas-Armagnac, +/-2018)
This is a small estate located in la Bastide d’Armagnac, with the vineyard in the very east of Landes in Bas-Armagnac. These good people, just like the Cognac folks, tend never to state when their juices were bottled, which is becoming more and more a no-no, especially with vintage bottlings. Anyway… Colour: full gold. Nose: a few varnishy touches at first, never a bad sign mind you, then a very classic, coffee and peach-led development, with more varnish actually (cellulosic, of course), preserved mirabelles and kirsch-soaked raisins (almonds, stones). Nice and pretty dry so far. Mouth: quite some oak at first, it’s even a tad biting and too tannic, with too much black tea. Sadly there’s no recovery over time, this baby remains rather too drying for me. A shame because any scrupulous taster will notice that some fresh peaches and apricots are trying to pop out. Hard. Finish: medium, peppery, tannic, very oaky and drying. Comments: no luck this time. Too bad, the nose was very pretty. I’ll try other vintages, I’m sure this one is not representative of this lovely house.
SGP:261 - 70 points. |
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Fontan ‘Hors d’Âge’ (42%, OB, Bas-Armagnac, +/-2017)
This one too is single-estate. Colour: amber. Nose: another style of Armagnac, first on many jams (plums, apricots) and a pack of Jaffa cakes, then rather chocolate and mint – that’s right, thin mints. Easy and fresh, not mindboggling but really pleasant. Mouth: good juice, rather fresh, more on ranges indeed, then plums and raisins. There’s something quick and easy in this style, it’s what we sometimes call ‘a good postprandial spirit for a good little restaurant’. No one will ever complain and the prices are very fair. Finish: medium, with touches of spices (cinnamon, white pepper) over more apricot jam. Comments: good and very drinkable.
SGP:551 - 79 points. |
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Lous Pibous 1999/2017 (54.7%, L’Encantada, for K&L Wines USA, Bas-Armagnac, 342 bottles)
Lous Pibous estate is located in Mauléon d’Armagnac and this is 100% folle blanche, Cognac’s historical varietal that had been eradicated by Phylloxera Vastatrix (the latter had come from America, not China, Mr. President.) Colour: amber with bronze hues. Nose: perfectly dry, almost austere, rather on peach skins and pine resin at first, terpens, then quince jelly and walnut cake. Hints of coffee and tobacco too. Cuban cigars – isn’t it only natural that our American friends would have selected it then? With water: amazing cough syrup and wee fermentary touches, ala Jamaican rum. Vicks’ very best cuvée. Mouth (neat): awe. Extraordinarily mentholy, camphory and fruity. And spicy. Some kind of high-brow mulled wine, shock-full of stewed peaches, cinnamon, grated liquorice, said menthol and said camphor. Hard to resist, frankly. With water: a bit trickier, since water may bring out the most resinous side of this baby. Better keep it neat, I say. Finish: long and perfect with no, or only one drop of water. Earth, old walnuts, mint, tobacco, ground coffee beans. Bingo. Comments: huge character and personality, this is not ‘regular’ Armagnac, however good regular Armagnac can be. Well done yet again, Encantada.
SGP:671 - 90 points. |
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Domaine de Baraillon 1995/2019 (44%, OB, Bas-Armagnac, folle blanche)
This is one of the very best houses, making armagnac the traditional way. For example, they distill and fill at 52% vol. and never add any caramel, neither do they reduce their spirits. So, when it’s 44%, it’s 44% ‘natural’, no tricks or fake decimals here. Colour: amber. Nose: rather more oak than expected (dry pipe tobacco, black tea) and really a lot of chocolate and ganache, then apricot coulis and a drop of miso and earth, with a growing umaminess (apologies). This little bastard (reiterated apologies) takes its time. Mouth: almost brutal at first, pungent, full of earth, ueber-ristretto, bitter chocolate (like 110% cocoa - ha) and paprika. Good news, the fruits are chiming in after just ten seconds (still, that’s ten seconds) especially sloe and damsons, but the bitter chocolate and the coffee are keeping the upper hand all along. They could almost make a decaf’ version of this little baby. Finish: long, dry, on more or less the same flavours. Comments: no coffee needed with your digestif, it’s ‘inside’. More seriously, love this fairly brutal one, but it is a little segmenting. I am in the right segment, I think.
SGP:462 - 90 points. |
We usually do five ‘malternatives’ but I believe we’ll go up to six, because I’d like to try another Baraillon. Don’t look so happy! |
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Domaine de Baraillon 1973/2019 (47%, OB, Bas-Armagnac)
Our dear friends in Belgium seem to rather love Baraillon, but it’s true that they tend to really care about what they put into their mouths. For example, their shrimp croquettes are the best in the world (read my lips!) Colour: dark amber. Nose: chocolate again, old rancio, walnut liqueur, then beef stock, a newly opened box of Cuban cigars, pine resin, and just crème de menthe. All that sings in unison, this is almost, err, Gladys Knight and The Pips (high in 1973). Mouth: funny that there would be a soapiness at first (bordering waxy essential oil), and rather a lot of pine resin to boot, but some very earthy and rooty notes keep it balanced, while almost no fruits make it through. In short, this is cough syrup. An extreme profile, you do need to like them very ‘resinous’ and ‘bitter’. Even more segmenting, reminding me of that crazy digestive drop called Underberg. Finish: long and indeed, herbal and bitter. Comments: more Black Sabbath than Gladys Knight and The Pips, after all. Hyper-segmenting and a tad un-Baraillon in my book.
SGP:281 - 80 points. |
Didn’t we say we would not only do Armagnac? |
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Héritage de René Rivière ‘Autour de 1913’ (40.5%, Malternative Belgium, Borderies, 2020)
The Belgians! They drink our best Champagnes and quaff our best Cognacs, mind you, which we cheap Frenchies always forget to do ourselves. Where do we write to complain? Brussels? Joking, we just love them. By the way, this old Borderies was transferred to demijohns in 1981, so technically it is, very, very roughly, a 70 years old. Colour: full gold. Nose: before world war one, imagine! By the way, should you like to listen to some splendid selections of old music from all over the world, you may check this extraordinary website called radiooooo.com. Listening to some +/-1910 French chansons while trying this baby just adds another dimension. Old-style melon liqueur, overripe apples, quinces, yellow and white flowers (honeysuckle!), light acacia honey, a touch of mushroom, a whiff of wood smoke, and a good glass of very old Meursault, how does that sound? It’s pretty light, subtle, certainly complex, and perhaps a tad fragile but only the palate will tell. Let’s proceed… Mouth: indeed it is soft, a little light, pretty floral yet again, and rather all on herbal teas, from the usual chamomile to orange blossom and just green earl grey. Some tiny notes of bergamots and kumquats after that, drops of moderately liqueur-y sweet wines (say late-harvest riesling), then touches of old herbal liqueurs that were all the rage when this was distilled, absinth/wormwood, verbena, mullein, then a little turpentine and angelica. It remains a little fragile all along but would just never hunker down. Like all those men and boys who were about to be send to the trenches. Finish: not very long, but still fresh, herbal, and fruity. This is life, till the end. Comments: it is moving, really. The people who distilled this lovely juice probably died in the following years. From a bullet, a piece of shrapnel, gas, typhus, or from the Spanish flu epidemic. Keep wearing your masks if you’re not an idiot – but I believe very few idiots read Whiskyfun anyway (bragging a little bit, I know). Very lovely and delicate old Cognac.
SGP:441 - 91 points. |
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July 25, 2020 |
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Angus's Corner
From our Scottish correspondent
and skilled taster Angus MacRaild in Edinburgh |
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| Dalwhinnie, Benrinnes and Glenlivet |
| Three distilleries in focus today, some generally more characterful than others, although all have produced some remarkable distillate over the years. Thankfully we will ‘go backwards in time’ with each of them to varying degrees today. |
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Dalwhinnie 8 yo (40%, OB, UK, early 1980s) 
A somewhat forgotten about iteration of Dalwhinnie from before the days of the 15yo and the Classic Malts. Colour: gold. Nose: rather nice but feels a tad biscuity and tea-ish, which to me is a sort of low abv/caramel/old bottle vibe. Now behind that there’s also some pleasing notes of shoe polish, a little peat, some putty and a little malt extract sweetness. Mouth: definitely a bit flat at this strength and you can really feel this rather sickly caramel spectre rising up swiftly. Still more sweet digestive biscuits, sooty notes, metal polish and a vaguely rooty and earthy but still pretty light peat. Some cooking oils and roast root vegetables in honey. Finish: short, buttery, biscuity and slightly fatty - indeed Dalwhinnie did used to be a slightly ‘fuller’ distillate. Comments: This is one of quite a few older official bottlings from this era which are fun and ‘instructive’ to taste but they by no means set the world alight.
SGP: 452 - 74 points. |
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Dalwhinnie 16 yo (43%, Gordon & MacPhail for Sestante, 1980s)
Sestante, remember them? Colour: gold. Nose: waxes and many kinds of polishes: shoe, furniture, metal etc. Linseed oil, putty, canvass and some gentle notes of old herbal liqueurs. Very find and very much ‘old school’. With a little time it evolves nicely towards honeys and tinned fruits while still remaining charmingly unsexy. Mouth: very good, lots of olive old, menthol tobacco, waxes, putty, lime pith, orange marmalade and generally beautiful old school flavours. Some herbs and medicines arrive in time. It just misses a few notches of richness that a higher ABV would have delivered. Now, it’s still dangerously quaffable with all this liberally scattered honey and wax everywhere. Finish: medium, biscuity, sweet, waxy, heathery, honeyed and with some nice herbal tea notes. Comments: A fine drop that feels rather old fashioned in both bottling style and flavour. A few degrees more and it would probably have reached 90 quite easily. Feels decidedly like good, old school, ‘honest’ malt whisky - certainly more ‘honest’ than rebottling old Macallans into lamp shade decanters. But that’s another story.
SGP: 662 - 85 points. |
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Dalwhinnie 20 yo 1962/1982 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice)
One of the great travesties of whisky in my humble view is that G&M didn’t bottle this series at a higher strength. Thanks again to Mark from Cheaper By The Dram for this sample. Colour: pale gold. Nose: really up a gear from the Sestante in terms of waxiness, metal polish, soot and general fatty oiliness. Stunningly mineral, greasy, mechanical and at the same time full of honey, pollens, vapour rubs and camphor. There’s also these wonderfully fresh notes of wildflowers, tinned peaches and some dried apricot. Mouth: indeed, the strength kind of hurts it here, superbly medical, biscuity, rich, bready, oily and herbaceous but also a few wee hints of cardboard enter into the fray and flatten things a little. Still some glimmers of cereal, putty and lemon infused olive oil. Finish: medium, waxy, pretty herbal, rather honeyed and with a nice lemon rind note and plenty of soft teaish qualities. Comments: Such a frustrating whisky in some respects. The nose was totally beautiful, whereas on the palate you immediately you feel it has been harpooned by the bottling ABV, and probably not a little caramel as well. Still, fascinating to think there was ever a time where it was considered acceptable to treat a 1962 20yo Dalwhinnie in such a way. Now, having said all that, it’s still a highly delicious old highland dram - you just can’t help but imagine what it would have been like above 46% for example.
SPG: 562 - 87 points. |
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Benrinnes 23 yo 1995/2019 (51.1%, Cadenhead ‘Small Batch’, 3 hogsheads, 708 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: honeys, herbs and breads! Direct, rather pure and extremely characterful. There’s also a pretty emphatic ‘malted barley’ quality sitting rather weightily underneath everything. Not super complex, but definitely rather super (Angus, get a grip!) With water: there’s a more defined spiciness now with rye bread, cinnamon and white pepper. Some waxed baking parchment and cooked cereals. Mouth: a notch lighter than the nose might have suggested but still pretty great with lots of freshly baked croissant and white bread, honey glaze, dried apricots, herbal teas and things like white flowers and a hint of lychee. With water: more of this freshly baked and glazed patisserie vibe. Some furniture polish, malt extract and a little vanilla custard. Finish: good length, a little fresher and greener with more natural barley sweetness and a rather juicy aftertaste - whatever that means! Comments: It’s to be wondered why Benrinnes isn’t more of a ‘thing’. It’s very often terrific distillate. A little more complexity would have propelled this one past 90; maybe time in bottle will achieve that in this instance.
SGP: 561 - 88 points. |
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Benrinnes 1974/1988 (56.7%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, #36.5)
1974 was supposedly the first year of Benrinnes’s dalliance with partial triple distillation, which remained until 2007. Colour: gold. Nose: very immediate and appealing notes of apricot jam, flower honey, figs in syrup, soft waxes and things like green tea, lemon peel and sandalwood. One of these rather old school, emphatic distillates that feels kind of ‘highlands’ in character. With water: big impression now of hardwood resins, furniture wax, linseed oil, hessian and oily sheep wool. All the good stuff basically. Mouth: superb arrival, all on olive and mineral oils, putty, lime curd, more waxes, shoe leather, tea tree oil and other funny ‘tertiary stuff’. Rather earthy, oily, waxy, a nice herbal bitterness and excellent weight in the mouth. With water: pine sappy, mineral, extremely fatty and with a palpably gooey waxiness now. Still these wee subtler notes of heather flower, honeycomb, pollens and a light sootiness. Rather a lot of cough medicine now too. Finish: long, satisfying peppery, oily, still this wee bitter herbal quality and a rather rooty earthiness. Comments: Terrific old school malt that showcases the wonderful ‘fatness’ that Benrinnes can often display when ‘on form’. I wonder how much of this character can be ascribed to the distillation technique versus the worm tubs? Although, I suspect there were quite a few other ‘things’ going on back in 1974 that contributed to this final character. Either way, this was a real treat!
SGP: 562 - 91 points. |
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Benrinnes 21 yo 1974/1995 (55%, Signatory Vintage for USA)
Love love love this series of labels by Signatory. Although, I find it curious that they put notably less info on their US market releases than the UK ones. Interestingly, this one was distilled in the same month as the SMWS, so quite likely a sibling cask. Colour: deep gold. Nose: very different to the SMWS! This is much grassier, greasier and rather more austere. Lots more clay, anthracite, earth, dried leaf mulch, kilned pottery, very lightly medical notes of aspirin and petrichor (damp forest) notes. Quite a departure from the SMWS, but still pretty excellent. With water: these medicinal and spicy aspects are accentuated now. More medicines, ginger wine, camphor, hessian and still a little grassy olive oil. Mouth: ok, back towards the SMWS one now, more fruit jams, exotic fruit teas, waxes, pollens and things like old leather, black pepper and even some vegetal hints including horseradish. Indeed, the whole is rather punchy, peppery and warm. Big, hefty and a pretty textural whisky. With water: rather classical development now with more menthol tobacco, eucalyptus resin, herbal toothpaste, mouthwash, cough mixtures, mineral oil, vapour rubs and more hessian and wax. Finish: long and hugely mentholy and medicinal. Bitter herbs, more green ginger wine, bandages, cocktail bitters and some sharper green herbs like parsley. Comments: Similarities and differences. This one is great, but it’s a tad more monolithic and powerful than the SMWS. Now, in all honesty, I had kind of expected the Signatory to triumph.
SGP: 472 - 90 points. |
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Glenlivet 8 yo (70 proof, Gordon & MacPhail, early 1970s)
Colour: light amber. Nose: a super soft, easy and extremely ‘G&M’ style of old school sherry. Bags of leather, truffle, game meat, mushrooms, tobaccos and rancio. Also quite a few layers of tropical fruits, coconut and umami seasonings. Given blind I might just as well have said 21 years old. Mouth: just gorgeous, leathery, bright, fruity, walnutty, earthy, densely rancio-heavy sherry. Some mint leaf, sultanas, fig syrup, a little cocoa, strawberry wine, walnut oil, putty, camphor, herbal resins… It’s got the full kit! Finish: medium and pretty concentrated on chocolate, earth, roasted chestnuts, figs and herbs. Comments: Hard not to be bowled over by this humble wee beauty. One of those old bottlings where you just can’t help but wonder about the veracity of the age statement. The strength also doesn’t feel too low here, the fatness of the distillate and heft of the sherry add more than enough stamina to carry the lower abv.
SGP: 661 - 91 points. |
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Glenlivet 12 yo 2007/2019 (66.3%, Signatory for The Whisky Exchange, cask #900171, 1st fill sherry hogshead, 309 bottles) 
The ABVs on this parcel of casks are always pretty scary, but quality generally seems to be high. Colour: orangey amber. Nose: hot yes, but within that there’s quite a lot of spiced orange liqueur, marmalade, hardwood resins, putty and a little Turkish delight. Although I do also feel a wee bit of bite from the oak. One of these rather effective but assertive modern sherry casks. Goes on with some pencil shavings, green pepper and boiled lime sweets. In time it also becomes a little more floral and showing some red fruits. Lots to enjoy within this admittedly very modern style. With water: understandably lighter and revealing a little more in the way of marzipan, treacle and spices like ginger and cinnamon. Mouth: ooft. I’m tempted to write ‘notes of my own dissolved tooth enamel’ but I wouldn’t do such a thing. Quite a bit of wood shaving, black tea, pink peppercorns and hints of pot pourri and black coffee. With water: more of these notes of resins, black tea and hardwoods. Fir wood, sandalwood - lots of wood! Also spiced orange marmalade, cloves, nutmeg, orange cordial and some fruit chutneys. Finish: rather long and little more towards dark fruits in syrup, cured meats and black office coffee. Comments: Quite a bit going on here and a fair bit of interesting evolution, but the wood is teetering on the brink of being too much for my taste. Not sure it wouldn’t have been better bottled at a lower ABV? Water is certainly obligatory here. Funny how the SGP is the same as the G&M 8yo but they remain worlds apart.
SGP: 661 - 84 points. |
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Glenlivet 22 yo 1973/1995 (56%, Signatory Vintage for USA, sherry)
Love, love, love these old ‘inkpot’ dumpies. Colour: amber. Nose: quite a world of difference again, really all on leather, chocolate, roasted nuts, camphor, pollens, dried strawberries and cured meats. Also a fair bit of coffee, tobacco and some fig jam and dates. Deep, dark and very ‘old school sherry’. With water: much more peppery and spicy, some ginger, dried chilli, biltong, roast chestnuts and hessian. Mouth: bitter dark chocolate melted down with strawberry jam, more old leather, pipe tobacco, beef stock, black pepper and a few glugs of strong herbal teas. Rather rooty, slightly medical and very earthy. With water: still quite a bit of hot pepper, smoked chilli, smoked herbs, more leather, camphor, a glimmer of cereal and some sort of spiced treacle cake. Finish: long, leather, chocolatey, peppery, gamey and very earthy and quite dry. A rather mineral side emerges. Comments: Quality is very high, as expected, but some parts remain a tad too ‘rough and ready’ to get over the 90 hurdle in my view.
SGP: 562 - 88 points. |
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Glenlivet 35 yo 1966/2002 (68.6%, Scotch Malt Whisky Society #2.43, sherry)
What was that I was saying only a couple of notes ago about scary ABVs? Colour: amber. Nose: well, this actually rum. Deep and highly earthy old demerara rum. However, to that you could also add some waxed canvas, sultanas, carbon paper, sooty coal scuttles and in time many dried wildflowers, crystallised exotic fruits and wee hints of some kind of herbal infused wax. Gets also pretty salty and leathery with more than a little rancio. Quite amazingly approachable really. With water: pretty huge now! Big, medical-accented, dark, gingery old rum but also showing these notes of salty liquorice, hessian and herbal bitters. Mouth: ok, yes, ouch. But… but… also the most beautiful of wood spices, incense, pot pourri, cinnamon, turmeric, waxed canvass, pressed wildflowers, five spice, spiced honey cake, madeira fruit loaf, some kind of ancient calvados and fir liqueur. Also these wee natural tarry and concentrated cough medicine notes. Mothballs? Complex, concentrated and superb! With water: ooft! Someone has lobbed an H2O grenade and now there’s roots, flowers, earth, leather, tar, medicines, herbs and rancio everywhere. Massive, monolithic but hugely complex and enjoyable. Keeps developing and evolving with further single drops of water. Many dried citrus peel notes and crystallised exotic fruits still. Finish: extremely long, drying, leathery, very salty and showing some pin-sharp, perfectly bitter herbs, cedar wood, fir wood and natural tar. Some animalistic gamey notes and bitter espresso too. Comments: I have to admit, when I opened this bottle I was not nearly as impressed. It’s been open almost a year now (I think) and the development with a bit of air really has worked wonders. One of those whiskies that doesn’t make sense but, despite everything, emerges victorious. What I love the most is how endlessly entertaining and evolving it is.
SGP: 663 - 92 points. |
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Glenlivet 1958/1968 (cask sample)
I know, what use writing notes for a 1 of 1 old cask sample? Well, I totally adore these old ‘artefact’ things so please indulge me, just for the record… Colour: straw. Nose: chiselled minerals, petrol, waxes, chalk, pebbles, white flowers, flints and some hints of plain, raw cereals such as oatcakes and freshly malted barley. The crossroads where ‘natural’ meets ‘old school’. With water: doubles down on this medical edge, notes of bandages, clay, embrocations, white pepper, gauze. More pure barley notes and some mineral oil. Mouth: wonderfully pure, medicinal and showing an almost crystalline waxiness. Minerals, petrol, starched fabric, lime, barley water. Totally brilliant, whisky for lovers of aged dry white wines. With water: terrifically fat, waxy, mineral and medical - almost greasy in texture now. Olive oil, grass, chalky medicines and lemon tea. Finish: long, punchy, medical, waxy, mineral and oily with some wee herbal notes. Comments: At times you could almost think old Giaccone Clynelish. I love to try such old cask samples because they give you a totally unvarnished glimpse into general distillery / malt whisky character of that era. Who knows what became of this whisky but more than likely it vanished into a blend, but it’s consistent in style with many of the great old OB un-sherried Glenlivets. So these characteristics we classify as ‘old style’, I would argue, were not the result of ‘cask cherry picking’ of the time, but were rather just the style that era produced. Now, of course a single sample doesn’t prove a thesis - for that we need to sit down over a pint or six. Anyway, totally brilliant, extremely ‘pure’ old style malt whisky.
SGP: 463 - 93 points. |
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