December 10, 2015

Little bags of whisky
Today Highlands malts

Let’s see what we can find… Rummage rummage rummage… Oh, yes, this new baby!... Now we know how these freewheeling sessions start, but we never quite know how they’ll end…

Glendronach 'Peated' (46%, OB, 2015)

I don’t quite know what to think. If all distilleries start to make all kinds of whiskies, I hope no one over there beyond Hadrian’s Wall will dare using the word ‘terroir’ again. And what a concoction, it’s peated malt, NAS, and it’s finished in oloroso and PX. A shame, I’d have loved to try this without any make-up. Excuse me? Anything positive to say, you ask? Yeah, sure, it’s Glendronach. Colour: straw (hurray!) Nose: young smoky malt. Reminds me of Bunnahabhain’s first Moines. Some sweets. Can you smoke marshmallows? Mouth: good. Orange sweets and peated malt. Good. Ashes. Good. A touch of brine. Good. Finish: medium. Good. Oyster juice and lemon. No obvious PX (hurray, because peat and PX are dissonant in my opinion – just my opinion). Good. Comments: good. Seriously, this is very quaffable, easy, simple, unquestionably good. Maybe just not very ‘needed’, unless the only brand you’re buying is Glendronach. And you’ve got every rights to do so, of course. Next, a peated Auchentoshan? Noh, don’t tell me they… ;-) SGP:445 - 78 points.

Another example…

Glenturret ‘Peated Edition’ (43%, OB, 2015)

The Whisky Shop already had a peated Glenturret. I thought it was fine. Colour: straw. Nose: much breadier than the Glendro, with much more, well, porridge, baker’s yeast, mineral oils, coal, earth… But it’s also lighter. A different style for sure. Mouth: more complex than the Glendronach, dirtier and wackier as well (but that’s the distillate), with more vegetables (French beans, perhaps) and then more ginger, sea fruit, putty, ginger, a touch of mustard… Acceptable body. Finish: short to medium, very ashy, quite salty. Okay, it triggers salt. A feeling of rye in the aftertaste. Comments: feels more ‘craft’, and more deviant (greatly so), and simply more interesting. Now, if you need peat, there’s always Islay ;-)… SGP:345 - 81 points.

Ooh, this is becoming a peated Highlander session. And why Not? Let’s do that!

Isle of Jura 12 yo 'Elixir' (40%, OB, +/-2015)

What’s quite bizarre and scary is that you may find this expression at several strengths. No, not just 40/43%, also at 46% vol.! Sadly, it’s the one at 40% that we’re having on the tasting table. Colour: orange. That’s E150A, no doubt. Nose: there is a little peat, but very little. Other than that, it’s soft, cake-y, with raisins, milk chocolate, brioche… In fact it’s one the most brioche-y malts I’ve tried this year. Mouth: more peat, and a rather lovely profile.. for breakfast. Coffee everywhere, Kahlua, salt, sweet mustard, cardboard, rubber, cinnamon, oranges… This idiosyncratically Jura! Finish: medium, stone-y, mustardy, salty, yeasty, leathery… Comments: I know, sounds awful, and yet it’s not, not at all. It’s got something that the others didn’t have, to this extend: presence. A great dram, really, but I now want to try the one at 46% vol. Next time! SGP:453 - 84 points.

Ballechin 'Sauternes Cask Matured' (46%, OB, 2015)

The 8th release, apparently. Fully matured in Sauternes hogsheads at Edradour. No need to say that they’ve never heard of hogsheads in Sauternes, so I guess these casks have been custom-made somewhere in Scotland. How, I don’t quite know (Sauternes-treated hogsheads or reconstructed barriques?) Colour: gold. Nose: isn’t it amazing how Edradour changed over the recent years? Great progress made, and this is another example. Forget about any excessive plums, pineapples or raisins, this is balanced, rather soft for a peater, and rather on lapsang souchong and cocoa powder (Van Houten’s). That, we cannot not like. Mouth: rather more exuberant, with more apricots and pineapples, but the peat does manage to balance that, bringing even notes of kippers and oysters. Yes I know where Pitlochry’s located. Okay, there’s one mirabelle, but it’s a small one. Finish: rather long, smoky, never vulgar, and actually rather more on herbal teas. Honeysuckle? A touch of citrusy curry. Thai food? Bitterish lime in the aftertaste. Comments: progress is continuous at Edradour. Only the aftertaste was a little less thrilling. SGP:555 - 84 points.

Benromach 2006/2015 'Peat Smoke' (46%, OB)

67ppm and first fill bourbon, that’s a lot. Not first fill bourbon, eh. We had tried the 2000/2007 version, and found it very very fine (WF 82). Colour: pale white wine (hurray). Nose: there, machine oil, greases, rocks, concrete, beach sand, textile, vanilla… now it’s not utterly expressive, I’d even call it shy boy. Mouth: I think I prefer the normal Benromach. This is very fine, and the smoke’s fine, and so are the pineapples and apples, but I don’t find it extremely cohesive. Or coherent? There’s a sweetness in the background that’s a little disturbing. Jelly beans? Other than that, nothing to complain about. Finish: rather long, rather ashy, rather kippery, but there’s a wee lack of… of what? Of depth, perhaps? Comments: better than what you might think, it’s just that I was expecting (even) more. I really prefer the regular range (5, 10, CS – lots of love) because it’s got more… depth? Oh and I don’t think that, as I could read elsewhere, this is the Ardbeg from the north. SGP:546 - 80 points.

Little bags of whisky Today Highlands malts

Little bags of whisky
Today Highlands malts