Travelling around the world from my tasting room


April 3, 2020

The Confined Sessions
Travelling around the world from my tasting room

I know, not the most unusual idea in this time of confinement at home. I suppose all ‘bloggers’ and journos are doing this too these days… With books, movies, music, whiskies, food, wine, beer… How about South Africa -> Japan -> Sweden -> India -> Ireland -> England -> Taiwan -> USA -> Israel -> France.

Three Ships 7 yo (55.1%, OB for Whisky Brothers, South Africa, Moscato cask finish, 716 bottles, +/-2020)

This baby stems from Distell’s James-Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington, near Cape Town. Probably a very good starting point, despite the muscat finish… Colour: gold. Nose: as we always say, vive la difference! No muscat or moscatel or moscato in sight though, rather quite a lot of toasted brown bread, Jamaica coffee, touches of lapsang souchong, and just barrowloads of cocoa. Very dry, pretty much what I like. Oh and perhaps, if I may, unsweetened rooibos? With water: no real changes. No problems. Or perhaps a little more bread dough? Leaven? Mouth (neat): perhaps some muscatel, but I’m getting no loco rose petals, extreme litchis or, well, straight muscat grapes or wine. Rather cinnamon rolls, chocolate, pink grapefruits, coffee and oranges. With water: very good. Wholegrain bread with bits of candied fruit and raisins inside. Finish: rather long, back on chocolate, coffee, bread and black tea. Or yeah, rooibos. Comments: I say as long as the wines don’t feel too much, they can do all the craziest finishings they like! Very good, this crafty little Three Ships, and well done Mark and gang.
SGP:462 - 86 points.

Akashi (62%, OB, Eigashima, Japan, 394 bottles)

Akashi (62%, OB, Eigashima, Japan, 394 bottles)
It’s all written in Japanese here, so I couldn’t quite tell you much about this little White Oak, but I’m sure some Japanese friends will tell us more on social media. Colour: deep gold. Nose: impressive. Papaya cake, acacia honey, mirabelles, halva, pear tarte and maple syrup. Anyone against this should be locked up. Well, we almost are actually, but I love this nose. With water: the bready smells come out. That’s like when Frank Zappa starts the guitar solo in any tune. Mouth (neat): not whisky, rather a sin. Vanilla cream, honey, Cointreau, maple syrup, Mandarine Impériale, raisin rolls, cupcake, sponge fingers… With water: rather exceptional. I’m sure this is young, but the maturity is perfect. Custard and cakes all over the place, cereals, scones… Finish: long, rounded, creamy, cake-y, wit this orangey signature that just always works. Comments: Chichibu and Akashi, and perhaps Mars, when not ‘bastardised’ with unlikely woods and wines or whatever they can put their hands on, sure have become the leaders of J-whisky these days. Well, that’s my take. So guys, what is this exactly? Vintage? Age?
SGP:551 - 90 points.
Update: it's a 4yo Cabernet Franc finish, distilled 2015, bottled in 2020, 61%abv, 394 bottles, selected by Stefan Van Eycken and Hideo Yamaoka (Ghost Series no.14).

Mackmyra 2016/2019 (53.6%, OB for Dirty Dicks, Sweden, peated oloroso, cask #15-1108)

Mackmyra 2016/2019 (53.6%, OB for Dirty Dicks, Sweden, peated oloroso, cask #15-1108)
What what what? Was this authorised by the Swedish government? Colour: gold. Nose: say some lapsang souchong poured over white asparagus, fresh croissants, garden earth and fresh tree sawdust in a Swedish forest. With water: dairy cream, yoghurt, heavy custard, then juniper, cloves and caraway. We’ve moved towards aquavit, it seems. Mouth (neat): peculiar, unusual, very pine-y and ridden with honeydew and deep-smoked salmon. Never tasted something like this, it’s quite some concoction. Fir wood cask? With water: goes a little too far from me, too extractive, acrid, pine-y… I would say just do not add any waters of any kinds to this baby. Finish: a feeling of having quaffed essential oils, or sauna stuff. But some sides are funny, should you enjoy anything resinous. Comments: fun stuff. Perhaps not the very definition of ‘balance’ if you ask me but there, it’ fun. It hates water, by the way.
SGP:284 - 75 points.

OK, a wild card for Sweden…

High Coast 5 yo ‘Atmosfär’ (46%, OB, for SAS, Sweden, bourbon, 2148 bottles, 2020)

High Coast 5 yo ‘Atmosfär’ (46%, OB, for SAS, Sweden, bourbon, 2148 bottles, 2020)
Remember, High Coast is the former Box Distillery. This is exclusive to SAS airline’s business class. Not the best timing I suppose but hey, good news for us unintended pedestrians. Colour: gold. Nose: it’s fresh, with good sweet oak, barley, sweet ale, oranges, apricot bread, cassata and orangettes (candied orange zests). Mouth: really good, malty, barley-y, on oranges, milk chocolate, Jaffa cakes, custard, soft nutmeg and ginger, blueberry muffins, and a tiny touch of eucalyptus. Modern malt whisky made properly. Finish: medium, on butterscotch, bonbons and green tea. Comments: a good example of a proper new-wave malt whisky made with the good specs, and using good wood.
SGP: 551 - 85 points.

Rampur ‘Signature Reserve’ (43.9%, OB, India, decanter, cask #1292, 150 bottles, 2019)

Rampur ‘Signature Reserve’ (43.9%, OB, India, decanter, cask #1292, 150 bottles, 2019)
A celebratory bottling that came out in 2019. Colour: deep gold. Nose: a curious, but pretty sexy blend of wood and furniture dusts and polishes (wax, wood…) with tropical fruits (mangos first) and pink pepper, hops, violets, wee hints of rosewater, honey…. Mouth: very good, very fruity, tropical, with even pineapples beyond the usual mangos and passion fruits. Juicy fruity, touches of pomegranates… It’s really extremely fruity, with a small sappy side growing in the background. Pine sap. Finish: medium and extremely fruity. Some kind of fruity wood in the back, hard to describe. Tropical wood? Comments: extremely good, demonstrative and exuberant. Could be that Rampur would be the most ‘Indian’ of them all Indian malts as far as flavours are concerned, the others being a tad more ‘world’. Or yeah, ‘Scottish’ (Amrut, Paul John…)
SGP: 741- 86 points.

Teeling 27 yo 1991/2019 (44.1%, OB for The Whisky Exchange, Ireland, rum cask, cask #10678, 160 bottles)

Teeling 27 yo 1991/2019 (44.1%, OB for The Whisky Exchange, Ireland, rum cask, cask #10678, 160 bottles)
In theory, and just between us, this should stem from those casks that Diageo had sold before they got rid of the distillery. We’re talking about Bushmills, but indeed, pure speculations… Colour: gold. Nose: bananas mangos maracujas guavas oranges tangerines prickly pears. Long story short, vitamins. Mouth: incredible. bananas mangos maracujas guavas oranges tangerines prickly pears. Long story short, vitamins. Finish: medium, a tad more citrusy. Comments: bombastic fruitiness. Why the owners, be them Pernod Ricard or later Diageo, never released such single casks while they were at the helm remains one of whisky’s most mysterious, err, mysteries.
SGP:741 - 92 points.

English Whisky Company 11 yo 2007/2019 (49.8%, North Star Spirits, UK, Burgundy red wine, 330 bottles)

Fear not! Colour: apricot. Nose: reminds me of Signatory Vintage’s first Port Ellen finished in pinot noir. Or was it Pomerol? Used matches, gunpowder, truffles and gas, then cassis leaves and buds. Not the easiest nose ever, that’s for sure. Mouth: some fun to be had here. Manure, cabbage, cork, cherry stem tea, black olives (really), leek, salsify… What a strange juice, really. Finish: long, bitter, dry, on more black olives, tapenade, Jägermeister, lapsang souchong… Comments: some crazy mutant juice produced in England. I’m sure you could make a fantastic spritz out of it, but just don’t use Krug. English bubbly would work well, I’m sure. Peace…
SGP: 374- 72 points.

Kavalan 2006/2014 ‘Golden Gate Sunset’ (58.6%, OB, USA, Taiwan, sherry, cask #S060710001, 479 bottles)

Kavalan 2006/2014 ‘Golden Gate Sunset’ (58.6%, OB, USA, Taiwan, sherry, cask #S060710001, 479 bottles)
We have hundreds of Kavalans to taste. Really. One day, after the virus, we’ll do the mother of all Kavalan tastings, I swear, cross my heart! In the meantime… Colour: ristretto coffee. Nose: coffee, chocolate, patchouli, camphor, furniture polish, Chinese prune juice. I keep forgetting the name of that sauce that our Chinese friends are serving with Peking duck. Getting old, perhaps… With water: pretty sublime. Extremely well balanced, on more of that sauce (Chinese friends, help!) and the most complex chocolate there is. Blackberry ganache, mole sauce, grilled steak, humidor, walnut stain… Oh wow! Mouth (neat): fabtastic prunes, cigars, chocolate, coffee, Corinth currants… With water: just amazing. Bitter oranges, chocolate, turmeric, old Armagnac, mocha, proper oloroso… Finish: long, beautifully dry, all on tobacco, coffee and chocolate. Comments: we’ve always been wondering how they were doing this. The fact is the end result is just amazing.
SGP:362 - 91 points.

Ransom WhipperSnapper (42%, OB, USA, Oregon spirit, +/- 2019)

LOL, this is 1 years old ‘on average’. But this is Oregon, baby, the wild wild West! 80% maize and 20% barley (both malted and unmalted - naturally). No rye in this mash bill, apparently. All right, just for the fun of it… Colour: deep gold. Nose: butter, custard, geraniums, juniper, kippers, baby’s milk, sawdust, and really a lot of nutmeg. It’s nutmeg galore! Mouth: between Norwegian aquavit and Danziger Goldwasser, with a lot of stale cream in the background. Sour, difficult, unlikely. An old bottle of Bailey’s Irish Cream and some readymade custard in Tetra Pak. As a whisky, pass. Finish: forget. Oak spices on probation. Comments: it’s funny, it’s nice-ish and friendly, but frankly, it isn’t very good. I’m not even sure you could use it in a cocktail, it would probably wreck your Manhattan. And I think I’m being kind.
SGP:341 - 40 points.

Milk & Honey ‘Founder’s Edition’ (57%, OB, Israel, 1000 bottles, 2019)

Milk & Honey ‘Founder’s Edition’ (57%, OB, Israel, 1000 bottles, 2019)
We’re in Tel Aviv now. This was matured in bourbon and STR, and then finished in, cough, PX. Any distiller’s friend, all over the world ! (perhaps just not in Spain, ha-ha). Anyway, the M&Hs I could already try have all been pretty much to my liking. Colour: pale amber. Nose: you do feel something’s been going on with the woods, as I’m rather finding notes of cranberries, a pack of orange drops, some kinds of fruity spices, Easter sugar eggs (how timely), raspberries and grenadine and old barrique. Very bonbony! With water: the old barrique tends to try to have the upper hand. Mouth (neat): big, on green pepper, turmeric, raisins, leaves, more raspberries, and perhaps kumquats. A lot of ginger from the oak in the background. With water: water works well and would rather favour the bourbon. I shall not complain. Touch of salt too. Finish: rather long, leafy, with more ginger and turmeric – in short oak spices. Having said that, it’s not too, say ‘unpredictably funny’. More custard and butterscotch in the aftertaste – see, bourbon! Comments: not my preferred style (the one for LMDW was pretty great last year) but I think it’s a very fine malt and that they coped well with the acrobatic handling of the casks they’ve chosen.
SGP:651 - 82 points.

Good, back home and we’re done.

Eddu 2004/2019 (45%, OB, Pure Malt, 654 bottles)

Yes we’ve spared you Bastille or Brenne. De nada. Now this is unusual, as it’s old malted buckwheat from the Distillerie des Menhirs in Plomelin, in the Finistère, in Brittany. Finistère means ‘the end of land’. They’ve only done a few casks of malt at the beginning of their venture, so this is very rare. To tell you the truth, I didn’t even know you could malt buckwheat. Colour: gold. Nose: you would believe you’re nosing a crêpe, with some wheat, buckwheat, some good bread, touches of oranges, gooseberries, perhaps kiwis, then puréed chestnuts and a spoonful of Cointreau. Quite a lot of Cointreau, in fact. There’s an unusual kind of breadiness, pretty pleasant I have to say. Mouth: really very funny, and really very unusual. Calvados, pear eau-de-vie, kirsch, brioche, then orange blossom, oriental pastries and once again a touch of kiwi. Finish: the thing is, I find this pretty un-whisky, but really very good. Nice vanilla and baked butter pears in the aftertaste. Poiré (pear cider). Comments: a very good surprise, and more proof that good whisky does not always have to taste like Clynelish. I mean, Macallan.
SGP:741 - 86 points.