| |
Home
Thousands of tastings,
all the music,
all the rambligs
and all the fun
(hopefully!)
Whiskyfun.com
Guaranteed ad-free
copyright 2002-2017
|
 |
|
| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
| |
|
| |
| |
April 20, 2018 |
|
  |
Some fun with young Fettercairn |
The Galeries Lafayette in Paris used to run some publicity that used to say that ‘there’s always something happening at the Galeries Lafayette’. Well, the same could be said about the (slightly unlikely) Fettercairns… |
|
Fettercairn ‘Fior’ (42%, OB, +/-2016) 
The first inceptions of this little NAS was rather funky (WF 77 in 2011). Colour: white wine. Nose: cooking Madeira, leaves, burnt wood, mustard, walnuts, ink, cardboard, cocoa, toasted brown bread, rocket salad… Mouth: sweeter and rounder than expected, but there’s always this weird sourness, more dry Madeira, notes of barley sugar (as if that had been added, but that’s impossible), butterscotch, more cardboard, leather and cigars, lavender sweets… It is weird, but not quite as weird as it used to be, IMHO (as we used to say when the Web was still free). Finish: medium, toasty, with some maple syrup, green pepper, and walnut wine. The aftertaste’s a little buttery. Comments: I find it rather better – or am I softening?
SGP:451 - 79 points. |
|
Fettercairn 10 yo 2006/2017 (52.6%, Wich, Sujet, Madeira finish, cask #107660, 420 bottles) 
An 8-month finishing in Madeira was done here. Colour: pale gold. Nose: granted, doing a Madeira finishing to some Fettercairn sounds a bit like adding walnuts to walnuts, and indeed walnuts are ruling the show here, before more ink, carbon, vegetal earth, plasticine, Bakelite and new leatherette start to join in. How very Fettercairn! With water: cardboard, old magazines, mud. Mouth (neat): creamy, almost fat, bitter, plasticky, then with notes of grenadine, walnut wine, soy sauce, tobacco… It really is a loco dram. Almost forgot to mention bone-dry Madeira. With water: a tad sweeter and rounder, better defined, with nice notes of orange-filled chocolate and raisins. Wasn’t it sweet Madeira, after all? Finish: long, with this typical butteriness. Comments: they managed to further increase the Fettercairness here, no small feat. Perhaps try with Ardbeg next time? Forgot to add that I find this baby pretty good, one of the better Fettercairns in my book.
SGP:561 - 82 points. |
|
Fettercairn 8 yo (40%, La Maison du Whisky, Tartan, +/-2015) 
LMDW’s budget series. Not sure they still make them… Colour: white wine. Say Chardonnay. Nose: nosing your inkwell, into which you would have added some custard and a little orange juice, as well as some walnut oil. Some crushed chalk too. Mouth: I have to say I’m finding this pretty good, its even got some kind of ashy smokiness, plus some Demerara sugar and, as expected, some walnut stuff (cakes, wine, oil…) It’s full of character and yet I don’t find it as dirty as others. Finish: unexpectedly long, salty, with some walnut-flavoured fudge and a wee glass of Manzanilla. Comments: a great surprise, I could quaff this while watching TV – which I don’t do much, having said that. Netflix whisky?
SGP:462 - 85 points. |
|
Fettercairn 8 yo 2006/2014 (46%, Douglas Laing, Provenance, cask #10571)
Indeed some weird old stuff is to be found in WF’s sample library… Colour: very pale white wine. Nose: ink, carbon paper, lemon juice, apple juice, pears, nutmeg, ashes. A tad unlikely? You bet. Mouth: sweeter, very sweet actually, rather clean (but Fettercairn can’t be crystal-clean), with a lot of barley water the smallest kipper in Rotterdam or Hamburg. Really a lot of barley water, slightly smoked. In truth I find this sweet maltiness really sexy. Finish: rather long, and rather adorably earthy. Love the roots and the sweet mustard in the aftertaste. Comments: will you believe me? I find this humble Fettercairn totally excellent. Tell your friends it’s Brora 1975 and no one will tell you otherwise. Yes, Serge speaking, sound in body and mind. Hell and putrefaction, I should have tried this baby three years ago…
SGP:452 - 87 points. |
|
Fettercairn 12 yo 2001/2014 (48%, Distiller’s Art, 346 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: nice, rounder, not as well-chiselled as the surprising 2006, and to tell you the truth, a little too discreet. Butter, dairy cream, porridge, ink, fermenting grass… Well, young Fettercairn as in young Fettercairn. Mouth: not quite, not quite. A hotchpotch of soot, plastic, Fanta, cardboard, bitter herbs, and limejuice. Finish: same for a pretty long time. Bitter sugar, does that exist? Earthier and smokier aftertaste. Comments: not as bad as it sounded, not at all. It’s just that the 2006 nearly killed it.
SGP:452 - 78 points. |
More Fettercairny craziness? Your wish is my command… |
|
Fettercairn 23 yo 1993/2017 (50.7%, Cadenhead, Authentic Collection, bourbon hogshead, 210 bottles)
So, petrol? Paint thinner? Brake fluid? Fixative spray?... Colour: straw. Nose: it’s as if someone had smoked barley without even malting it. Some Manzanilla, ashes, yak butter, carbolinium, rancid cream, old books, new car, supermarket Muscadet… And then timberland after a flood. Bakelite again. With water: vinyl records, plenty of them. Sun Ra’s complete collection. Mouth (neat): I don’t even manage to make up my mind. Do I hate this or do I love it? Some plain weird earthy, painty development. Petrol station stuff, lemon juice, icing sugar, ink, pinesap, dark tobacco, engine oil… Ha! With water: Schweppes Lemon is back. What did you expect? Finish: more cardboard and walnuts, for a pretty long time. Comments: this is becoming a tad difficult.
SGP:352 - 82 points. |
So a very last one before we call this a proper tasting session… |
|
Fettercairn 28 yo 1988/2016 (50.6%, Antique Lions of Spirits, 292 bottles) 
No it’s not true that I’ve been postponing this whole session. All right, I did procrastinate a wee bit… Colour: white wine. Nose: interesting, and that’s proper aging at play. Pumpkin seed oil, apricots, orange cake, citron liqueur, barley water, more pumpkin seed oil, much more pumpkin seed oil… And argan oil. That, I enjoy a lot. With water: ooh careful, water may blow this baby off the road. Please only add one or two drops, or it’ll get extremely cardboardy. Mouth (neat): no! I mean, yes! Limoncello matured in oil barrels. More or less… Totally love this. With water: wax, avocados, Brazil nuts, lamp oil, honeycomb. But then and again, do not add too much water… Finish: medium, with more typical inky notes. Almost paint. Comments: a malt like no other malt indeed, almost another kind of spirit. Barley mezcal or something… (yes I know, no sense at all)… But I loved it.
SGP:452 - 90 points. |
I’m sorry but I couldn’t do more than seven Fettercairns today. There may be more… next year, if God lets me live (who?) |
|
|
| |
|
|
|
|
|
|
