April 2011 - part 2 <--- May 2011 - part 1 ---> May 2011 - part 2

This should be quick, most of these unlikely ‘eastern’ whiskies that I could try so far have been utter crap. An this is no opinion this time, it’s a fact. By the way, Printer’s is made by Stock Pizen near the city of Nepomuk, where they seem to use wood chips to malt the barley. I think it’s the same provenance as Hammer Head’s.

19 to go...

Yes, we’re in tiny Switzerland today. We’ll go to Appenzell, in the northeast, then to Biel in western Switzerland and then to Argau in the northwest.

The Löcher brewery in Appenzell.

Next time we're heading east. Strange whisky countries, I tell you... 20 to go, stay tuned!

MUSIC - Recommended listening: the haunting voice of Mali's Mamani Keita in the superb song called Nani. Beware, it's highly addictive! Please buy Mamani Keita's music...

We gently flew over Scotland and went straight to Sweden to have a few Mackmyra today. I know it’s controversial whisky but I must say I enjoyed most recent batches (while the first ones were, ah-hum, sometimes a bit bizarre).

23 to go, were shall we go next time? We'll see, stay tuned...

MUSIC - Recommended listening: what to listent after these Macmyras? Why not the great Charlie Parker blowing some Swedish Schnapps? The sound is excellent as this was recorded around 1950. Please buy the genius' music!

Bonus Preview: six newish 1990 Laphroaig

Will this be boring? I mean, there's plenty of 'phroaigs around these days and many are similar, which sometimes makes such a tasting session a tad... yawn ... zzz... But hey, this is 1990 and most 1990s I could try so far have been pretty brilliant so let's not deny a good thing and behave like a spoilt child!

I know what you're thinking just now: 'but why does the bugger keep tasting all these Laphroaigs if they're more or less all the same?' The answer is easy: because I like them a lot. Brilliant stuff and I cannot not hope that after twenty or thirty years in glass, they'll also display the amazing complexity that's to be found in the old 10s and quite a few others. Remember, phenols can be unstable... for the better!

After the NAS, the 12s with their nice surprises and the new Single Pot Still that were brilliant, let’s have a bunch of older Irish today if you don’t mind. But why would you?

Famous advert for Bushmills, 1970, USA. Don't we all like the Janis Joplin glasses?

All right, mixed feelings here but some of all these these Irish have really been to my liking. Especially the Power’s 12 and 12yo John's Lane were almost revelations. My favourite has been the brand new Midleton Barry Crockett, don't miss it! Anyway, time to move on to the East. Scotland? Are you kidding? 26 to go, stay tuned!

MUSIC - Recommended listening: the first time I had a go at Daniel Knox's music I couldn't avoid thinking of a darker Neil Hannon (the singing is amazingly similar) and sometimes of Richard Hawley and then it just kept growing on me. Truly haunting music, as What have they done to you now will show you (it's on 'Disaster'), so please buy Daniel Knox's music and attend his gigs, he'll be touring the UK, Ireland and the US in May (many thanks Jonathan).

The NAS versions haven’t been very convincing in my opinion, but you have to start somewhere, haven’t you. Let’s see whether these little twelves will be more convincing or not…

Advert for Jameson's, 1974. Controversial, already (nobody agrees on these kinds of claim - or were they only playing with the 'e'?...)

BONUS: two new Single Pot Still Whiskeys from Midleton

While I was already done with my ‘Irish tastings’ (there will be more in the coming days) I flew to Cork to discover Midleton’s new Single Pot Still whiskeys that were just launched on Thursday. As you may already know, it’s the new ‘appellation’ for what was formerly known as ‘pure pot still whiskey’. I’ve heard the main reason for this move was some kind of US regulations that seem not to like the word ‘pure’ anymore.  Same in Europe by the way, you cannot write for example ‘pure honey’ anymore because honey must be pure. If it’s not pure, it can’t be called honey anyway so the word pure is now seen as misleading. Don’t we all love pure bureaucracy?
I could taste several new ‘SPS’ while in Cork and all ranged from very interesting to quite excellent. Here are the two newest bottlings, while more will be introduced later this year (such as, I’ve heard, an older Redbreast – maybe…)

More globally, a few wild ideas I had while in Cork:

Irish Distillers seem to be willing to push ‘heavier’ whiskeys now that they sold Bushmills to Diageo two or four years ago, while there are rumours that Cooley and their malts are in the process of being sold ‘in a certain way’ to another big player (maybe William Grant, who are already behind Tullamore Dew – but rumours are only rumours of course). In that context, it makes sense that single pot still whiskeys would be used as flagship ‘heritage’ Irish whiskeys by specialists Irish Distillers-Pernod Ricard, ‘against’ the malts that are being made elsewhere in Ireland and that many may still see as only ‘Scotch-like whiskies’.

The new or newly designed single post still whiskeys that I could taste, either  readily bottled versions (Redbreast 12, Green Spot, Powers John’s Lane, Midleton Barry Crockett Legacy) or cask samples (fully matured in Madeira, virgin oak or refill sherry) were all rather potent whiskies, all quite ‘contemporary’ in their styles and displaying fairly active yet rather complex wood influence that should please most Scotch aficionados. As a friend said, they are now whiskies that you can comment on while chatting with chaps, not only whiskies that you’re sipping while chatting about just anything else (or something like that).  In short, more ‘whiskies to taste’ than ‘whiskies to quaff’. Yes, whiskies for us.

I’ve been very surprised to see many high ranking Irish Distillers execs being involved in the one-day launching event, not just ‘brand ambassadors’ and ‘nearly retired masters of just anything’, if you see what I mean. Even the very engaging CEO Alex Ricard was involved, gave speeches and chatted and shared drinks with the thirstiest whisky writers (isn’t that a pleonasm?)

Another huge surprise was that they managed to bring out truly ‘artisan’ or ‘crafted’ whiskies out of the gigantic distillery that’s Midleton, with its cathedral stills. In my opinion, that’s another proof that with whisky, the equation small = craft = beautiful while big = industrial = ugly is pure codswallop, as many big Scotch operations already showed us. Now, the opposites are just as untrue, of course, both notions being simply unrelated in my view. Ha, the Internet’s modern myths…

If a certain Madeira-matured single pot still Irish whiskey ever comes out (they wouldn’t tell, but I think I’ve spotted a few winks here and there) and whatever the brand name, don’t miss it. Hmm, I’m wondering if I won’t set up a petition ;-)…

Right, now I guess I should say something negative, so let’s do it. The only thing I didn’t like too much (beyond the rain) was that they would comment on the whiskeys and give you readymade tasting notes while letting you taste the new babies. I prefer to be able to taste them without any suggestions, that’s why I covered the official notes with my lousy iPad and just didn’t listen to the yet-very-knowledgeable-and-oh-so-engaging David Quinn while tasting the whiskeys (and doing that in reverse order to make sure I wasn’t influenced). I think what works best, even if that means more time, is to let the audience taste the whiskies in silence - dead silence not de rigueur! - for a few minutes and only then talk about them. But, hey, nitpicking again.

All right, already some excellent surprises with the Irish I could taste so far and it’s not over, as we’ll have some older ones next time. Unless Irish whisky doesn’t age well?... We’ll see… 31 to go, stay tuned.

MUSIC - Recommended listening: it's always great to listen to some jazz trio music where both the drummer and the bassist are having real fun. It's certainly the case in Richie Beirach's rather unusual (for Beirach) piece called Tokyo (from the CD 'Methuselah', 1975). Frank Tusa is on bass, Jeff Williamson drums. Please buy Richie Beirach's music!

CONCERT REVIEW
by Nick Morgan
Cee Lo Green
Shepherd’s Bush Empire, London, March 29th 2011

Under normal circumstances I would struggle to imagine what I had in common with ‘larger than life’ Cee Lo Green.  This remarkable singer, who, following his triumphs with Mighty Mouse and Gnarls Barkley, last year produced The Ladykiller, a simply wonderful soul album whose vocal style and arrangements hark back to what we all like to imagine was the Golden Age of the late sixties and early seventies.  I simply don’t have the voice, song-writing skills or the jewellery. 

What I have got is a stinking head-cold, sinusitis to boot and  bad enough to mean that it’s only the rare opportunity to see someone of Green’s talents that have got me up from my sick-bed.  Cee Lo has a cold too, as his people seem to have been quick to point out to reviewers of his earlier UK shows.  Perhaps not as bad as mine (that’s retrospective self-pity for you but it was my birthday as well) but it has an evident effect upon his voice and might also account for the relative brevity of the show.

Ebony Bone

Mr Green finally took the stage at around 9.30, the impatient audience (did I mention that the Empire was packed?) immediately setting its frustrations aside and letting its love ring out for Cee Lo.  It’s lucky they were in a forgiving mood, for sadly his vocals were not up to full strength. Beginning with ‘The Ladykiller’ and ‘Bright Lights’, a few things were quickly evident.  His band were very loud, and more hard-edged rock and roll than soul.  Not to say they weren’t good: the bass player in particular could have walked into the Ramones, but they weren’t quite the best foil for someone who was struggling to find full voice.  And, as a rocking four-piece (I am, by the way, obliged to say that they were women dressed in painfully tight outfits) it was left to inadequate keyboards and computers to provide the backing arrangements and vocals, which sounded frankly tinny.  In fact the Empire’s sound system wasn’t at its best, and as the engineers tried to help out the vocals with every trick they could (often too much echo), the sound quality went somewhat awry.

All that being said, Mr Green has a wonderfully powerful and joyous stage presence, and an obviously irrepressible enthusiasm for his songs and indeed, for his audience.  He performed a selection from The Ladykiller album, ending in a predictably climactic ‘Fuck you’ (here at last were lyrics that the whole audience could deliver with a practised professionalism), threw in a few Gnarls songs (‘Smiley faces’, ‘Gone daddy gone’ and ‘Crazy’) and finished with an odd reprise of Lou Reed’s ‘Perfect day’, all to an increasingly frenzied acclaim.  And I’m not sure that anyone felt particularly cheated when he left the stage after only an hour.  As far as I was concerned it meant that I could get back to my bed, and the very serious business of feeling sorry for myself. – Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate)

Listen to CeeLo Green on myspace

Time to try a bunch of lower-shelf Irish today. Maybe we'll then have some older ones...

Advert for Jameson's, 1965, United States. Strange teaser...

All right, those were the ‘bottom shelf’ Irish, we’ll try to have some older (and supposedly better) ones next time, including two brand new Single Pot Still whiskeys that I could taste while in Cork on Thursday… 35 to go, stay tuned.

I think Penderyn is in good progress. I’ve never been a fan of the early ‘Madeira’ versions but a sherry version that was bottled in 2008 was much more to my liking (WF 80). Let’s try these two newish bottlings…

Next time we'll try something that isn't very far from Wales... 40 to go, that's halfway, Stay tuned!

MUSIC - Recommended listening: more soulful music by WF favourite Abdullah Ibrahim. It's live, it's called Anthem for the new nation (it was South-Africa of course) and it's just irresistible. Please buy all of Abdullah Ibrahim's music...

After Canada, the USA, Brazil and Africa we’ve crossed the Mediterranean and are now in Spain, in Segovia to be precise, where they make the famous DYC whiskies (a brand now owned by Beam Global). DYC stands for Destilerías Y Crianza and we all remember that the company used to own the sadly missed Lochside Distillery in Scotland. It’s a little unclear whether DYC are still adding Scotch whisky to their own blends, as was their practice when they were owning Lochside, but let’s try a few now… Oh, by the way, I think Spain is still the #3 export market for Scotch in volume, after my compatriots who still down 130 Mio bottles per year and the USA (around 100 Mio if I’m not mistaken).

A fantastic and very funny old advert for a previous version of DYC's 8 year old. "After 8 years of nurturing, it's very hard to part from it."

Mouth: really in the style of the Pure Malt but it’s got a bigger punch and more oiliness, probably thanks to the use of fresher American oak. Yet, it’s no vanilla bomb at all, rather a fruits and spices affair. Pink grapefruits, ginger, nutmeg, apples, gooseberries, white pepper… Touches of honey as well, vanilla… It’s all rather sweet and easy but with good body and a firmness from the spices. It’s good. Finish: medium long, on the same notes. Comments: this would easily compete (or even defeat) with many easy/soft Scottish malts, such as Glenmorangie 10 and several others, but sadly, I don’t think they used any old Lochside casks here ;-). Anyway, felicitaciones for this! SGP:441 - 81 points.

All four were very interesting whiskies because they show that some southern countries are more into pale, light and fresh whiskies that should go better with hot climates than, say, your average sherried 1972 Ardbeg at cask strength. Anyway, let’s move on, but shall we stay in Europe or not? We’ll see, stay tuned, 42 to go… (and gracias, Franco!)

MUSIC - Recommended listening: they sound like nobody, MMW aka Medeski, Martin & Wood! Let's listen to their Church of Logic (from their album Combustication) and then buy their very, err, different music. I like it a lot.

CONCERT REVIEW by Nick Morgan

Alabama 3 Acoustic

Dingwalls, Camden Town, London, March 17th 2011

The acoustic tendency of the Alabama 3 have released a new album: There will be peace in the valley …when we get the keys to the mansion on the hill.  It features the usual suspects being Larry Love, guitarist Rock Freebase and harmonica player Nick Reynolds, with Devlin Love on vocals. 

Adding a pleasing tenderness and rich texture to the band’s sounds are string players Gill Morley and Ellen Blair.  The eleven songs (with lyrics mostly by Larry Love, although Devlin contributes ‘Miss Martell’s Lament’ and ‘The Ballad of Mr Daniels’) cover the usual gamut of the Alabama 3’s spectrum, from cod-revivalist religion through politics and protest to profound pacifism.   Trains, train tracks, whorehouses, whiskey, the devil, pestilence, Seasonal Affective Disorder and even property developers appear in due order.   Drug-laden innuendo and references abound; there is some artful borrowing (“Blood on the tracks, tracks of my tears, from the dark side of the spoon, to those golden brown deals …”), and some impossible rhyming (“Wanna spray paint the city with situationist graffiti”).  The result is a tidy piece of work.  And the band, minus Ms Love (who is replaced by Aurora Dawn on vocals), and plus one fiddler, are playing at a surprisingly full Dingwalls, Camden Town’s famous music venue.  But not before a pared-down ‘acoustic’ version of the Woodentops, fronted by a mesmerising (and frankly slightly intimidating) Rolo McGinty, play a memorable set, and encourage vast numbers of quids to be donated to the Red Cross for their relief work in Japan.  Good stuff.

Whilst no-one can deny that the sharp, black, Johnny Cash-suited presence of Larry Love provides the chemistry for the show, it would be wrong to ignore the huge contribution of guitarist Rock Freebase, whose astonishingly percussive open-tuned guitar, with or without slide, is the engine room for the band.  Essential lubricating oil issues from Reynolds’ tasteful harmonica playing and Storm’s powerful vocals.  And as on the album, the ‘string section’ provides an added dimension to what can otherwise at times sound like a one-trick pony. 

But it is all about Mr Love, whose gravelly vocals only seem to get better with time.  His expletive-laden meanderings covered a characteristically wide range of subjects (including, perhaps not as surprising as it seemed at first) rugby football and refereeing (which also crops up in the lyrics of new song ‘Muleskinner blues’), reflections on the fucking roll and roll fucking industry, the Woodentops, and the late Smiley Culture.  You may or may not know that this largely unsung British reggae pioneer, whose records such as ‘Cockney translation’ and ‘Police officer’ paved the way for the work of grime artists like Dizzee Rascal, died in what are still unexplained circumstances following a police raid on his home just two days before this gig.  Love dedicated the show to him.

Starting with ‘That’s the way love is’ and ‘Rush’, the set moved seamlessly between new material and crowd pleasers such as ‘Up above my head’, ‘Speed of the sound of loneliness’, ‘Let the cage bird sing’, ‘U don’t dans to techno’, and of course ‘Johnny Cash’.  By this time the audience, fuelled by jugs of pink wine and pints of lager, were in, so far as their largely advancing years allowed, a dancing frenzy, conjuring up the image of a geriatric jook-joint secreted amongst the large villas in the leafy streets of middle-class Camden.  Even Mr Love seemed to show his age as he cautiously tried to stand on his chair during ‘Johnny Cash’. 

Listening to the set, and subsequently the album (which you can only buy at gigs or on-line) I began to wonder if I didn’t  prefer, for its joyous simplicity, genuine roots feel  and irresistible rhythms, this acoustic incarnation of the Alabamas to their full, and full-on, electric band.  Led from the front by Mr Love with a brilliantly-judged (or accidental) mixture of outlaw aggression, outsider politics and artful humour, these acoustic gigs simply never disappoint, and their simplicity is a reminder of what live music should be all about. - Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate)

Listen to Alabama 3 on myspace

So we crossed the Atlantic and are now in Africa... The Three Ships are well-known in Europe but there's also a surprise...

Afripac Whisky (40%?, OB, Gambia?) Too bad there’s very little literature about this shady brand on the Internet… I don’t really know where and how it’s made. Colour: orangey. Nose: typical of many cheap whiskies that one can find on the lower shelves in some supermarkets and not only in Africa, that is to say not really offensive or disgusting on the nose but ridden with burnt wood and cardboard. This one has also a little rancid butter and touches of liquorice. Roasted chestnuts. Much less a disaster than expected, I must say. So far. We’ve nosed worse. Mouth: again, we’ve tasted worse, and this has the advantage of lacking any sorts of attack and of being extremely short. Raw alcohol infused with oak chips and maybe some sort of honey. Burnt toasts and cloves, cheap strawberry liqueur. Finish: none. Comments: provided this isn’t poisonous (if WF isn’t updated before Monday, you’ll know it was), I’d say it’s kind of potable. Not the utter horror I was afraid it would be. SGP:120 - 19 points (thanks for this worthy experience, Morten, Arve and Ragnhild)

I agree, chosing Africa was no sure bet but the Three Ships show great progress in my opinion. Anyway, where shall we go next time? Stay tuned! (I don't know myself, to tell you the truth.) 46 to go...

They make whisky in many unlikely countries but I had never heard of a Brazilian whisky. Mind you, the Union Distillery has been distilling whisky for decades (as well as cachaça, obviously!) Let’s try one…

Mouth: fruitier now, with a good attack on fudge, touches of coffee and strawberries. Tarte tatin, butterscotch, vanilla… What’s quite impressive is that it doesn’t really drop, I had expected a weak middle but it’s not really the case here. A pleasant nuttiness as well. Finish: not long of course but clean, rather toasty. Roasted peanuts. Comments: no ‘tropical style’ whisky at all (you know, Vietnam, Thailand and such), this could have been made in Scotland. I’ll give it one ore two more points because of the excellent surprise. SGP:441 - 80 points.

PS: I’ve also tried a cask sample of a peated 2yo by Union Distillery. It was really amazing with a perfect combination of pears and straight peat smoke, well in the clean style of, say the peated Bunnahabhains when they were very young. One to watch when it’ll be available! Our friend Stijn will soon import these babies into Europe, you may check his page on Facebook.

49 whiskies to go on our '80' mission. I think after Canada, the US and Brazil, we may change continents... So, go west or east? Stay tuned... (and thanks, Stijn)

Now, I had promised that we wouldn't only focus on foreign whiskies, so time to put my words into action...

Previews: ten recent old malts, only high flyers

Okay, ten, maybe that’s enough for today but we’ll have more very recent oldies in the coming days if you don’t mind…

MUSIC - Recommended listening: I sometimes use 'argan oil' as a descriptor for some whiskies, so why not listen to this highly rhythmic slice of music by the crazy Brazilian percusionist Cyro Baptista called... Argan (and it's on his CD 'Banquet of the Spirits'!). Please buy Cyro Baptista's music.

Around the World in 80 Whiskies
#24-30: and yet another flight of American whiskies

Let's attack the monsters today... As you know, in Kentucky, the alcohol content of the whiskies sometimes goes up with age because of the dry and hot climate...

Booker's 7 yo (63.35%, OB, Jim Beam, bourbon, small batch, +/-2009?) Not sure when this was bottled either. Colour: deep gold. Nose: frankly, at such strength, I do not manage to detect any differences with the previous one. With water: they’re different now. This is pretty fruitier, with more coconut and bananas (yet, it’s not rum!) and rather less oak. More honey too. Mouth (neat): once again, little variations. Maybe a little more liquorice than in the ’63.2%’? It’s also a wee tad less ‘green’ but that maybe my imagination. Curry. Wait, some huge liquorice now! With water: sama as the ’63.2%’ at this point – almost. Bags of liquorice allsorts. Finish: long, very liquoricy. Its almost salmiak – without the salt. Comments: these whiskies are obviously similar but this one is a tad rounder and more mellow – although mellow really is the wrong word here. Okay, one extra-point. SGP:561 – 85 points.

We’ll have two indies now, indies being very rare with bourbons although it seems that many American brands are selling bourbons that they didn’t actually distil themselves, which does make them independent bottlers in a certain ‘Scottish’ way, doesn’t it. Or blenders?

Okay, maybe it’s time to bring the Staggs onto the table! We’ll have three of them… Our American friends keep raving about them and it’s true that I really liked the only one I could try so far, the 2009, despite its hugely extractive profile (can whisky be ‘too much?’) I’ve also noticed that in America, these bottles coming out every year are like royal marriages in Europe, big events!

George T. Stagg (70.6%, OB, Buffalo Trace, Bourbon, bottled Fall 2005) Colour: deep gold. Nose: not far from the 2006 but this one seems to be a tad more on plums, and less on tangerine liqueur. Huge sweetness, though. Also very nice notes of verbena and lemon grass after a while, late harvest pinot gris… (well, when you got used to the strength.) With water: an avalanche of herbal notes as well as some ‘clean’ manure and maybe even a little hors dung. Settles down after, say ten minutes, becoming fruitier and also a tad sootier and more metallic. Charcoal. Mouth (neat): this is really strong, any drop is a cluster bomb. With water: rather richer and fruitier than the 2006 but not really more complex. Same notes of bitter oranges, with quite some cinnamon from the wood. Finish: same as the 2006’s. Comments: marginally more to my liking because of the more ‘tertiary’ nose. Excellent stuff anyway but you have to like oak. SGP:651 - 87 points.

George T. Stagg (68.8%, OB, Buffalo Trace, Bourbon, bottled 2002) Colour: deep gold. Nose: is this jam? Even sweeter and fruitier than the others, maybe a little fresher as well. A fruit salad. Both seem fruitier than the 2009, that had more tobacco, meat and leather, although this one does display such notes after a few minutes. With water: my favourite! More complex, more polished, more elegant. Camphor and lemon, a little musk, vetiver (big), sugarcane, mint leaves, hawthorn… Superb. Mouth (neat): the oak is louder here. More spices, earth… But gosh, it’s strong! With water: we’re closer to both the 2005 and the 2006 but I’m afraid water makes it a little too cardboardy for my taste. How do you handle a whisky at +/-70% vol. when it doesn’t take water too well? I’m asking you! Finish: long, rather dry. Some mint but also a huge tannicity. Tea and cardboard. Comments: what a shame, I really loved the nose but the palate didn’t quite work for me because of its immense oakiness. But really, what a nose! SGP:471 - 84 points.

Conclusion: if you add the Canadian to the Americans,I think we just had 30 North American whiskies. My favourites have been Kentucky Crown 16 yo (WF 90), Thomas H. Handy 2010 (WF 89), Sazerac Rye 18 yo 1983/2001 (WF 89) and Kentucky Vintage (WF 88). But friends, this time we’re done with the Americans, I promise. You may have noticed that I’ve sorted them more or less by ascending alcohol content, so please be sure that I won’t find any other bourbon or rye that’s above 70.6% on my shelves. So, next time we’re heading south… South? Yes and it’ll be whisky, not rum! 50 to go, stay tuned…
(with heartfelt thanks to Allan, Angus, Antoine, Carsten, Ho-cheng, Konstantin, Tom and Olivier for all these wonderful American whiskies.)

MUSIC - Recommended listening: just some straightahead yet excellent bop by the late Jackie McLean. It's called Condition Blue and that was on Mr. McLean's Capuchin Swing album (1960). Please buy Jackie McLean's music!

Around the World in 80 Whiskies
#19-23: yet another flight of American whiskies

I told you, I'm feeling quite comfortable among all these bourbons and other American whiskies so why not have another five before heading south (yes, south)? I’ve chosen only whiskies bearing ABVs between 50% and 60% this time…

This is an in-store poster for Fighting Cock. Would be a hit in France, remember the rooster is our national emblem.

Kentucky Crown 16 yo (53.5%, OB, Bourbon, Willett, +/-1990?) Sorry, I couldn’t find any picture of this rare one so if you do have one, please email it to me, thanks! Colour: amber (just to prove me wrong, aaargh). Nose: slightly harsh at very first nosing but I like these notes of roasted chestnuts and toasted bread quite a lot. Some heavy honey too (chestnut again). With water: becomes gamy, in the style of some old sherried Scotch. Beef jerky, prunes… Also whiffs of clay and chalk, loses steam a bit. Mouth (neat): thick and rich, reminding me of these fantabulous old Willett single cask (vintage 1984). Maybe they’re the same whiskies? Orange zests, tonic, cinchona, lemon grass, touches of smoke, pipe tobacco, liquorice… Wow wow wow. I guess our American friends have already scoured the whole country in search of this marvellous old baby… Indeed, it’s exceptional whisky and it beats the Staggs and Sazes in my book. With water: indeed, even if I like it a little better without water. Water made it a little drying/cardboardy, just a little. Finish: long, more sappy and resinous. Some mint, liquorice, pine resin… Comments: it’s got a few very minor flaws that will prevent me from going over 90, but what a marvellous whisky! Can you still buy this? SGP:653 - 90 points.

Update: got a picture of the label, thank you! It seems that Kentucky Crown 16yo was actually made at the old Willett distillery. What's bred in the bone will come out in the flesh!

MUSIC - Recommended listening: French king of jazz accordion Richard Galliano plays Dum Dum Dum (from his CD 'New Musette', 1991), with some great guitar by Philip Catherine. Please buy Richard Galliano's music.

April 2011 - part 2 <--- May 2011 - part 1 ---> May 2011 - part 2