
November 22, 2016

William Grant’s best stuff?

I agree that headline was very bad and lousy, I have the utmost respect for William Grant. Now what we’ll have today will be quite unusual, as it’ll be single (or almost-single) malt whiskies from theirs that do not disclose the names of their distilleries of origin. Yeah, for a change…

Wardhead 1997/2015 (60.5%, A Few Barrels, cask #191, 205 bottles)

As you may know, Wardhead is the name of teaspooned Glenfiddich, as Burnside is teaspooned Balvenie. Now I’ve never met any teaspooner at any Scottish distilleries or warehouses. Imagine a guy carrying a teaspoon, opening thousands of casks and pouring one wee dollop of another malt into each of them! Where do we apply to that kind of job? In truth, these are probably the only blended malts that are actually singles, while in general, we’re rather seeing blended malts that are trying to look like singles. Colour: pale gold. Nose: reminds me of the older official 15 yo cask strength. Caramelised pears and caramelised apples, sprinkled with ale and maple syrup. With water: more cereals and bread. And even more ale. Mouth (neat): excellent! Pure barley eau-de-vie plus natural vanilla and touches of oranges. Sure it’s not complicated, but boy it works. With water: sweet barley, stewed pears, and apple liqueur. Finish: medium, on the same notes, plus perhaps touches of oranges. Oranges often show up in the finishes. Comments: simple yet absolutely perfect. Exactly my own definition of an 85-point whisky. SGP:541 - 85 points.

Rare Cask Reserves 25 yo 1990/2016 ‘Paradise 2’ (52.9%, OB, William Grant, sherry wood, cask #3515, 558 bottles)

An elusive official cask selected by Giuseppe Begnoni of Whisky Paradise in Bologna, most probably the largest whisky collector in the world at time of writing. Nah, forget about the other ‘largest collections in the world’ that are to be seen here and there in Scotland and elsewhere, total bollocks. Now, what’s the distillery here? Colour: amber. Nose: I can see why Giuseppe would have selected this baby. It’s utterly classical and typical sherried Speyside whisky, ridden with bitter chocolate, pipe tobacco, walnut wine, amaretti (of course), parsley and marrow, and bacon. Plus, perhaps, the fumes from a ’62 250 GTO. Right, right, or a ’63 model. With water: yess! Gunflints, bread, malt, chocolate sauce (mole), and last night’s crushed cigars in the ashtrays. Yeah I know, a gentleman never crushes cigars in the ashtray. Mouth (neat): magnificent. Marmalade, dried goji, figs, toffee, cranberry juice, prunes, and tobacco-ish chocolate. A timeless classic, as they ay at Deutsche Grammophon’s. With water: and it swims so well! Some kind of precious sauce made out of raisins, triple-sec, ginger, gravy, and honey. Bon appétit. Finish: long and rather orange-forward once again. Always good news. Comments: this could have been distilled in 1940, or 1959, or 1960. And bottled in 1970, or 1980, or 1990. Perhaps not in 2016. Very perfect, and I have to add that with this amount of sherry, I’m not fool enough to try to hazard a guess wrt the name of the distillery. SGP:652 - 91 points.

Oh well…

Rare Cask Reserves 37 yo 1978/2015 ‘Paradise 1’ (55.4%, OB, William Grant, sherry wood, cask #5756, 276 bottles)

Rare Cask Reserves 37 yo 1978/2015 ‘Paradise 1’ (55.4%, OB, William Grant, sherry wood, cask #5856, 276 bottles)

This was the very first bottling within William Grant’s Rare Cask Reserves series. And this one too was selected by Sig. Begnoni. Colour: coffee/mahogany. Nose: some black Christmas cake, really. Dazzling. I say no more. With water: grouse and fern. There. And a box of Cuban cigars. Mouth (neat): wow. Prunes, chocolate, Corinth raisins, artisan coffee liqueur (not the commercial junk), chewing tobacco, dry toffee, crème de menthe, strong black liquorice, salt. Why would you need any more lousy literature from this humble taster? With water: it is time to call the anti-maltoporn brigade, for this is exceptional sherried whisky. Finish: long and very chocolaty. The dryness in the signature is just very perfect. Comments: in general, words such as ‘rare’, or ‘reserve’, or ‘old’ on a label are just bad news. Not today! This is one of the most fantastic sherry monsters that came out since two or three years. Not that I’ve tasted all of them of course, but… SGP:462 - 93 points. (cask # updated, thanks Brian)