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Hi, you're in the Archives, November 2006
- Part 2 |
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November
30, 2006 |
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TASTING
- TWO 1978 PORT ELLENS
Port
Ellen 27 yo 1978/2006 (51%, Glen
Denny, cask #607, 372 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: very
sharp, lemony and grassy at first
nosing, not too expressive I must
say. Gets smokier and peatier
after a moment but still no quick.
Gets then even more vegetal (grass,
green tea). Faint hints of mint.
Also wet newspaper, stones, greenish
white wine (sauvignon)? Wet straw.
I like austerity in my Port Ellens
but I must say this one is, well,
maybe overly austere. |
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| Mouth:
better, much better. Punchy, smoky,
peaty, tarry and liquoricy as it
should be. Really bold, developing
on rather subtle notes of crystallized
lemon and quince, citrons, smoked
tea, something leathery. Gets very
spicy and peppery with time (lots
of dried ginger)… Really excellent,
which is amazing considering the
rather silent nose. Finish: extremely
long, compact, peaty and ‘candied’,
with notes of bergamot and finally
loads of pepper and even curry and
mustard and a great bitterness.
Phew! Too bad the nose was so silent,
because the palate is superb. 88
points. |
Port
Ellen 23 yo 1978/2002 (56.6%, Signatory,
cask #5349, 232 bottles) 
Colour: white wine.
Nose: well, this one isn’t
too expressive either. Slightly
mashier (mashed potatoes and porridge),
with also a little more lemon but
still this cardboardiness. Maybe
a little more liquorice. Notes of
slightly rancid butter developing
after a while, salsify, crushed
leaves, raw turnips… Greener
and waxier than the Glen Denny.
Mouth: again, it’s much sweeter
but not as complex and satisfying
as the Glen Denny on the palate.
Maybe too bitter and even drying
(over-infused tea, liquorice stick,
roots). Lots of mustard this time,
curry, chilli, pepper… Almost
a malt that you could pour on a
pizza! (I have to try that!) Finish:
long, getting nicer now, with lots
of lemon, marmalade, cinnamon, curry
again. Hot and spicy aftertaste.
Not a winner but quite a beast –
and hey, it’s a Port Ellen.
84 points. |
| CRAZY
WHISY ADS – THE WAR OF THE
DECANTERS part 1 |
We’re
now entering pre-Christmas time
and of course, this period of
the year means a lot for all whisky
brands, which are all trying to
elbow their competitors out of
the way and become the perfect
Xmas gifts. This year we decided
to focus on what used to be probably
the most emblematic pre-Xmas marketing
weapons between, say 1950 and
1970: the decanters. Indeed, most
American and Canadian brands were
bottling their whiskies into sometimes
completely extravagant decanters
instead of their regular bottles.
Some of the decanters were fantastic,
others were just plain tasteless
but let’s marvel at them
via the obligatory magazine ads
many brands were running at this
period of the year, starting today
with 1951. |
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1951:
Kentucky Tavern
Treasure Island Decanter ‘This
is the year for gifts of good cheer
– Same price as regular bottle’.
With pirates printed on glass. Not
exactly classy – yet.
1952:
Old Forester ‘Presenting
America’s Guest Decanter!
– The is nothing better in
the market’. Strange
design with moulded whirls and a
handle that makes it look like a
rather cheap jug.
1953:
Old Fitzgerald
‘in Distinguished Diamond
Decanter – Choose Fitzgerlad’s
festive fifth… your key to
gracious giving! Laced with gleaming
gold and diamond-capped… filled
with the oak-ripened richness of
a bourbon flavor unique… made
in the costly old-fashioned sour
mash way to bring you the best for
gift or guest! Yours at no additional
cost over year-round fifth.’
‘Oozing’ copywriting.
1953:
Schenley ‘Famous
Whiskey Fabulous Decanter –
So right for holiday gift-giving
and entertaining…’
Design close to early 20th century
perfume bottles.
The best is yet to come –
stay tuned! |
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MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: probably one of the
very first 45 rpm's I ever bought
myself when it went out: John
Kongos with He's
Gonna Step On You Again.mp3.
I must say I still like it, especially
the guitars' sound and the 'Indian'
drumming (first I time Iisten
to it since the early 70's!)...
Please buy John Kongos' music,
he's still around! (do you hear
me, Kate?) |
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November
28, 2006 |
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| CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan |
MOTÖRHEAD
Brixton Academy, London
November 25th 2006
Ask
any one hundred rock fans to choose
the epitome of the wild man of
modern rock and roll and statistics
prove that ninety-nine will name
Lemmy Kilmister, the Burslem-born
front man of “the loudest
band in the world” Motörhead
(the name is a slang description
of a heavy speed user –
the umlaut a casual addition to
“make the name seem more
menacing”). Bad-boy Lemmy
has done it all – a roadie
for Hendrix he found his way into
psycho-space rock-combo Hawkwind,
and sang them into the charts
with ‘Silver machine’
in 1972. |
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| Sacked
following his arrest for amphetamine
possession in Canada in 1975 he
retaliated in typical style –
“It's a terrible thing to
be fired, especially for an offence
that everyone else was guilty of.
So I came home and fucked all their
old ladies. Outrageous? No, not
at all. I took great pleasure in
it. Eat that, you bastards."
He followed this with the formation
of Motörhead (he’d wanted
to call the band ‘Bastard’
but was persuaded this might limit
radio airplay time), who gave punk
a heavy-metal counterpart and whose
high-speed heavy sound (apparently)
"created speed metal and thrash
metal", whatever they may be.
And since their rise to fame and
a place in every music-lover’s
consciousness with 1980 hit ‘Ace
of spades’, Motörhead,
in their various guises, have never
looked back, never stopped recording,
and never stopped touring (indeed,
in addition to Motörhead he’s
now got a new ‘physco-rockabilly’
band, The
Headcat). He’s at number
eight in Maxim
magazine’s list of Living
Sex Legends. Wart-faced finger-poking
smoke-toking whiskey-throating Lemmy
is every mother’s nightmare. |
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But
how can that be? There are more
than a few mothers in the audience
at the Brixton Academy, many with
their sons. You see something has
happened over the past few years
and remarkable rock-survivor (quite
how he has survived is a mystery
both to Lemmy, his doctors, and
the rest of the world) Lemmy has
been transformed, transmuted, and
even transmogrified, from Satanic
stereotype to National Treasure.
Quite how I’m not sure. His
self-depreciating humour must have
helped. |
| Moving
revelations about his childhood
(he and his mother were deserted
by his clergyman father when he
was three months old) have thrown
a different light on his persona.
He’s played it up for kids
in adverts for things like Walker’s
crisps. He still loves his mum (she’s
one of the two people in the world
who still calls him ‘Ian’).
He’s sixty and shares the
same doubts as a growing part of
the population – “I
hadn’t planned to live this
long …it’s weird being
old. I don’t feel old. I will
not be old, fuck you”. He’s
campaigned in the Welsh Parliament
against drugs (well, heroin at least).
And as the Times told us a few weeks
ago, he even sponsors a hard-up
under-10s soccer team in Lincolnshire,
‘though for their sins the
boys now wear a shirt bearing Motorhead’s
Snaggletooth logo, and run onto
the pitch to the sound of ‘Ace
of spades’. Yup – he’s
just an old
pussycat really. |
| And
if Lemmy is a National Treasure
then his black-shirted audience
(am I the only one here not wearing
a black T-shirt?) are almost subject
to an English Heritage conservation
order too (even though a good many
of them are German). One in ten
are being ‘tagged’ as
they come into the theatre for future
posterity, “who knows mate”
says one, grimacing as his ear receives
its fifth piercing, “we could
become an endangered species soon”.
And for all their lagers, Jack Daniels
and Jägermeister
(it’s on promotion, being
handed out in test-tubes to the
punters, apparently it’s very
rock and roll these days, and of
course it shares a font - Lucida
Blackletter - and an umlaut, with
Motörhead) the audience are
pretty tame, are very solicitous
of the Photographer (offering her
a bite of a beef-burger was a mistake)
and don’t seem to deserve
the prodigious police presence they
have attracted. |
As
for the music – well it’s
loud, but I’m sure the Bad
Seeds at the same venue a few years
ago were louder. And of course the
sound level at gigs like this is
closely monitored – exceed
permitted levels and your licence
is gone. But let’s agree it’s
a deafening wall of sound. We’re
almost dead centre, just behind
the sound desk and would have a
great view but for the fact that
the sound desk enclosure is packed
with engineers, management (whisky
lovers may care to know that Motörhead’s
manager is the spitting image of
whisky scribe Michael Jackson) and
celebrities, including Queen’s
Brian May, who brushes past us halfway
through the first song, shielded
by his menacing security guards,
and proceeds to place his perm directly
in our line of sight. Nice one Brian.
As befits his National Treasure
status Lemmy is a true journeyman
of rock. |
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| He
stands tall, boots, legs firmly
apart, sleeves rolled up, bass slung
low and bellows “We are Motörhead.
We play rock and roll” before
the band burst into “Dr Rock”,
or maybe it was “Stay clean”,
or maybe ‘Be my baby’.
To be frank it was a bit hard to
tell through that wall of sound,
but normally by about half way through
each song you could persuade yourself
that they were all playing in the
same key and same timing, and that
the deep accompanying growl wasn’t
a fractured speaker cabinet but
rather Lemmy’s singing, if
that’s the word to use. |
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And
it was a mixed set, demonstrating
that ‘new’ Motörhead
can be just as invigorating as the
‘old’ – Lemmy
it seems gets somewhat frustrated
when their more recent work is disregarded.
There’s ‘One night stand’
from this year’s Kiss of Death,
and ‘Killers’ and ‘In
the name of tragedy’ from
2004’s Inferno, in addition
to songs like ‘Iron fist’,
and of course ‘Ace of Spades’,
‘Snaggletooth’ (the
appearance of which in a live set
has for reasons best known to themselves
got the Motörhead bulletin
boards humming), and a Thin Lizzy
tribute (that even had Brian May
raising his fist in the air), ‘Rosalie’.
In between which Lemmy and guitarist
Phil Campbell chat away affably
like comperes at a church hall fundraiser
in their vaguely Welsh accents,
Lemmy’s sounding as if his
false teeth need fixing. |
|
It’s all pretty good fun really.
We escape during the opening bars
of final song ‘Overkill’,
manage our way past the menacing
plain-clothes policemen outside
(honestly, they’re more frightening
than the fans, but maybe it’s
a Brixton thing) and back to the
car for a drive west. I’ve
got Lemmy’s words echoing
through my brain, “I don’t
want to live forever”. Well
on the basis of what we’ve
seen of Lemmy tonight that, like
Pete Townsend’s “Hope
I die before I get old”, is
clearly another line destined for
the trash-can. The old boy’s
here for the long-haul.- Nick
Morgan (photographs by Kate, Maxim) |
| Thank
you Nick. Still in a bit of a rush
here so no clever comments (pfff)
but here’s some music by Motörhead:
the all famous Louie,
Louie.mp3. Harder than Iggy? |
POETRY
AND WHISKY in New York
- The Bowery
Poetry Club is hosting
a Single Malt Scotch Holiday Poetry
Slam, at 5pm on Sunday, Dec. 10,
2006, 308, Bowery at Houston. $20
includes 6 single malts! ($15.00
in advance at virtuous.com).
This fourth annual event features
6 poets reading descriptions of
six single malts as the audience
samples the whiskeys. The audience
votes on the poets and single malts.
Door prizes include the Highlands
Tweeds Coastal Single Malt Sport
Jacket by Orvis and a one-night
stay at the luxurious Equinox Hotel
in Vermont.
Is there anything that says, “The
holidays are here,” more than
a bunch of poets sipping whisky?
Doesn't poetry sound better when
you are knocking back a stiff one?
Follow in the bar stool of Robert
Burns who wrote, “Let other
poets raise a fracas/ Bout vines,
an' wines, an' drunken Bacchus/
I'll take another Scotch please!”
It's Burns Day without the “Parade
of the Haggis.” Robert Fitterman
hosts the Single Malt Scotch Poetry
Slam. |
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| TASTING
- THREE SPRINGBANKS |
Springbank
5 yo (43%, OB for Italy, 1960’s)
It’s interesting to taste
a very young Springbank old style,
with little wood influence and ageing.
Colour: white wine. Nose: light
– not weak – in style,
starting on a mix of diluted lemon
juice, grains and smoke. Slight
hints of cologne, porridge, ginger
ale… Gets then rather flowery
(lily of the valley) and even a
little perfumy (vetiver, lemon balm)
and finally quite mineral (wet stones),
with also hints of plastic. Not
hugely expressive but quite clean
and complex considering it’s
only five years old. |
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| Mouth:
starts rather smoothly, on peppered
apple juice, paraffin and something
quite herbal (grass juice –
ever tried that?) and grows then
bolder and more assertive, with
quite some dried bitter oranges,
mastic sweets, smoked tea and coffee
flavoured toffee. Quite mature,
I guess the bottle did a good part
of the work here. Gets more almondy
with time and the finish is frankly
nutty (fresh ones) and slightly
smoky. It’s not grand single
malt but it’s very enjoyable
and quite historical, because it
shows that the great old Springbanks
were probably not only a matter
of good cask management. 86
points. |
Springbank
1975 (46%, Celtic Cross, Japan)
Colour: gold. Nose: this is really
funny, this one is much older than
the official 5 yo but its profile
is very similar at first nosing,
although it does grow much bigger
after a few seconds. Oh, yes, it’s
great and unusual, with lots of
marzipan, almond milk, Turkish delights
but also the trademark fresh coconut
plus something very maritime (oysters,
clams). Beautiful notes of tangerines,
bitter oranges, old books, vanilla
crème… More phenolic
(eucalyptus scented wax) and maybe
more complex than many old unsherried
Sprignbanks. Just superb. Mouth:
vibrant and extremely waxy at the
attack, with again lots of almonds,
a little icing sugar, dried lychees
and all sorts of crystallized citrus
fruits. Gets then superbly spicy
(lots of nutmeg and even soft curry)
and nutty (fresh walnuts). A ‘taste
of yellow’ but that doesn’t
seem to come from a sherry cask.
Really excellent, despite the rather
cardboardy notes that do appear
after a while. The finish is quite
long, still waxy and nutty (and
a little drying) but also quite
salty. An excellent variation. 91
points. |
| Springbank
28 yo 1975/2003 (50.5%, Chieftain’s
for Schotse Dagen in Ooidonk, Belgium,
cask #1891,186 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: much more spirity,
and it’s not just the alcohol,
and starting more on mineral, stony
notes mixed with lemon skin. A rather
unusual austerity here. Something
slightly smoky… It does sort
of take off after a while, getting
rather farmy but also hugely herbal.
Hints of asparagus, apple skins…
We do have a little fruit then (hints
of passion fruits and oranges) but
the whole seems to lack a little
‘extroversion’. Maybe
a little water will work, let’s
see… Well, no, that doesn’t
really work. Maybe a little more
citrus fruits but that’s all.
Strange… Mouth (neat): it’s
much more like it now, with a general
profile that’s quite close
to the Celtic Cross’. Quite
some fruit (bitter oranges, green
bananas, kumquats)… More and
more bananas… Oh yes, it’s
the revolution. It does get almost
extravagant (on all sorts of fresh
fruits and nuts) and also quite
spicy, with an added layer of complexity
brought by lots of herbal/phenolic
notes (chlorophyll, mint, eucalyptus
sweets) and again lots of wax. The
finish is long, enveloping, waxy
and citrusy… Whew! In short,
a very, very nice palate but the
nose was strangely silent. 85
points. |
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November
27, 2006 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
THE BONZO DOG DOO-DAH BAND
Shepherds Bush Empire, London, November
18th 2006 |
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I’m
standing in a queue that’s
snaking round the side of the Shepherds
Bush Empire, just like I did ten
months ago at the Pickle Factory
(actually it was much much colder
that night) when I was waiting to
see the Bonzo
Dog Dooh Da Band perform
a one-off 40th Anniversary concert.
Shortly afterwards I reported there
were rumours that the seven remaining
Bonzos were thinking of touring
– unwise as it seemed to me.
|
| Could
they ever recreate the nostalgic
wonder of that “pinch me was
I really there night”? How
could they take such a gloriously
chaotic shambles out onto the road?
And how would a group of barking
sixty-somethings (Vernon Dudley
Bohay-Nowell is 73) endure the rigours
of a rock and roll lifestyle? Well
it’s night number twelve,
the last of the tour, we’re
upstairs on the first floor (standing
in one of the best spots in the
whole theatre) of a packed–out
Bush (with a surprising and pleasingly
mixed age profile, including a few
celebrity comedians and a clutch
of Blockheads) brimming with excitement,
and we’re just about to find
out. |
| Phil
the Bonzos’ truck-driver is
next to us manning a spotlight,
which is what he does when he’s
not doing the truck thing. Phil
rates tours by trucks – he’s
just been out with Razorlight (six
trucks) and tomorrow (he hasn’t
been home since early October) he’s
off with Snow Patrol (eight trucks).
After Christmas he’s got Kylie.
He’s missing the after-show
because he’s got to get the
truck up to Bedford to unload. But
he’s enjoyed the Bonzos (one
truck) tour – “different
every night”, “what
a great bunch of old geezers”,
“they even slept for four
nights on the bus”, “I’ve
never laughed so much in my life”,
“you never quite know what’s
going to happen next”. He’s
right. |
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It’s
an expanded band – at the
core are the
Bonzos - Neil
Innes, Roger Ruskin Spear,
Rodney Slater, “Legs”
Larry Smith, Sam Spoons, Vernon
Dudley Bohay Nowell and Bob Kerr.
But there’s a four piece
rhythm section (including Andy
Roberts)
and fronting on guitar and occasional
vocals is former World Party bassist,
session man to the stars and sometime
Bootleg Beatle David Catlin-Birch.
He takes on some of the Viv Stanshall
crooning parts very well, like
song number two, ‘By a waterfall’,
where the Slater/Ruskin Spear/Kerr
brass section also announce their
intention to play – watched
with great pleasure, by the rest
of the band. There’s a lot
of watching going on – you
can see the faces of the whole
band, taught with tension and
the fear of impending doom every
time Ruskin Spear takes on one
of his gadgets (and he has trouser-press,
Theremin leg, robots, electric
torsos – the whole bloody
lot except the famous wah-wah
rabbits) melt into grins of delight
when they all work. At the side
of the stage (when they’re
not performing) Adrian Edmondson
and Phil Jupitus, who’ve
been on the whole tour, have their
eyes glued on the band. And there’s
a lot of pleasure in their own
performance – hysterical
laughter as Bohay-Nowell camps
up ‘Falling in love again’,
and when Kerr and Sam Spoons perform
the ventriloquist routine on ‘Little
Sir Echo’ – “I
was laughing so much I couldn’t
hold the camera still’ said
the Photographer. If you want
to know what Jupitus thought about
it then you can read his tour
diary, all laughter, tears
and more laughter.
At
the Astoria the set was divided
into the trad-jazz half and the
rock and roll half. Here the songs
are matched and mixed to much
better effect. And Innes is relieved
of the pressure of doing so many
of the vocals (difficult for him
as he has a fairly one dimensional
voice) by Catlin-Birch, a far
more prominent “Legs”
Larry Smith (‘Jollity Farm’,
‘Monster Mash’) and
Edmondson, who in addition to
reprising his ‘I’m
bored’ and ‘The strain’,
and the brilliant ‘My pink
half of the drainpipe’ introduced
the second half with a full version
of ‘We are normal’
and later dueted with Ruskin-Spear
on a near-perfect ‘Trouser
press’. |
| He
also played trumpet on ‘Jazz
delicious hot, disgusting cold’
– a wonderful ensemble piece.
Jupitus played a lot more guitar
(he’s following the trend
set by the cognoscenti and has swapped
his lovely Fender Telecaster for
a Gretsch), bellowed his way with
aplomb through ‘Mr Apollo’,
‘Tent’, ‘Rockaliser
baby’ and ‘Canyons of
your mind’ (in Elvis suit)
and also ‘Big shot’.
Paul Merton joined and had a bash
at ‘Rhinocratic oaths’
but couldn’t match Stephen
Fry’s Astoria performance,
and Bill Bailey sang Keynsham while
Sam Spoons juggled with boxes. Purist
(Puritan?) Bonzo fans have apparently
debated the rights and wrongs of
the star performers taking part,
but to be frank the
Bonzos would not have managed
without them – they not only
helped make up for the missing Stanshall
but gave the band an edge they would
not easily have found themselves,
and they didn’t hog the limelight.
Not even Edmondson, dressed in the
parrot suit, carefully reading the
sign ‘Crowd surfing can be
dangerous’ before launching
himself out into the elderly mosh
(“Hang on, I’m going
to find a patch where there aren’t
too many geriatrics, I don’t
want them to drop me”). |
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|
And if the Astoria was really a
‘being there’ sort of
moment, then this was a far more
satisfactory comedic performance,
a better balanced set. A more thoughtful
range of songs (so we also got ‘What
do you do’ and ‘Busted’
that were missing from the Astoria),
and some excellent comedy moments,
generally all very well timed. True
there were a few fluffed words here
or there, forgotten solos and bum
notes but overall is was as much
as anyone could have hoped for.
And to see these seven elderly,
and generally rather distinguished
looking gentlemen perform ‘Music
for a head ballet’ was a moment
to be treasured. Well – they
all were really. At the end of ‘Busted’
the band were ushered from the stage
by some unlikely looking policemen,
leaving an apparently forgotten
Bohay-Nowell playing (bizarrely)
‘Silent night’ on his
saw. Then all returned for multiple
ovations, applause, cheering and
not a few tears, after which Ruskin-Spear
returned to an empty stage for one
final, perfectly executed joke,
and that was it. Beaming smiles
all round. Phil the Bonzos’
truck-driver rushed off to pack
his truck. We went home, and accompanied
by some of Scotland’s finest
midnight wine watched the rather
disappointing video of the Astoria
gig (twice as I recall). But hold
on! There were cameras all over
the Bush. A new DVD is in the offing
– and if it’s ever released
then go out and buy it. There might
never be a next time, but on the
other hand …- Nick Morgan
(photographs by Kate and Nick's
Nokia) |
| Thank
you Nick. Sorry, I have to be quick
but here’s Monster
mash.mp3 (from the Peel sessions) |
 |
TASTING
- TWO ARDMORES
Ardmore
15 yo (45.7%, OB ‘For the
Directors of William Teachers
& Sons, 600 bottles, probably
1950’s)
Colour: coffee. Nose: what a beautiful
sherry! Starts on lots of prunes
and chocolate with the peat pulsating
in the background and gets then
very meaty, in the ‘game’
genre. Loads of roasted nuts,
thick wine reduction, blackcurrant
jam… Lots of parsley as
well. |
| A
meatiness that mingles with the
peat most perfectly, giving the
whole notes of high-end Madeira.
Gets even smokier with time, flinty,
with also hints or tar and coal.
Quite minty at that, and huge liquorice
after a while – I love this
nose, happy Directors! Mouth: thick,
creamy, ueber-minty, with lots of
strawberry jam, pepper, wine sauce
again… How thick! Almost like
alcoholised plum jam. Yet, it’s
not cloying at all because there’s
also lots of fresh fruits (strawberries,
ripe melon, mulberries) and even
hints of lemon to keep the whole
beautifully balanced, not too forget
the peat that’s maybe slightly
shier than on the nose but still
there. Fabulous whisky – sorry,
peat and sherry extract. Finish:
extremely long, concentrated, smoky,
peppery and jammy. Amazingly rich
and invading, the kind of invasion
that’s most welcome. 93
points. (thanks for
this beauty, Konstantin) |
| Ardmore
16 yo 1990/2006 (60.2%, Signatory
for Whisky Magazine France, cask
#30018, 287 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: it’s
funny how it’s got a similar
profile – once you took the
sherry away, that is. Meaty again
(more on smoked ham, that is), peaty,
with hints of white peaches and
watermelon but mostly coal, tar,
matchsticks, even lamp petrol. And
then just the same notes of fresh
parsley, lovage and mint together
with a little liquorice and maybe
strawberries with pepper. And yes,
wet dog – make that a cocker
spaniel. Plain, pure and beautiful,
perfectly ‘nosable’
without water. The mainland’s
Caol Ila? Mouth: sweet and peaty
attack, with again these white peaches
and something like pineapple sweets.
Really powerful but drinkable, although
it doesn’t seem to fully deliver
when neat, which is normal. With
water: strange, water almost kills
it, it gets almost silent (except
for notes of fresh oranges) for
a few minutes before the smokiness
comes back together with a little
pepper and apple juice. And grapefruit.
Finish: rather long, clean, fruity,
smoky and peppery. Beautiful Ardmore
– we want more versions of
it! 88 points. |
|
|
|
November
25, 2006 |
|
|
| MUSIC
AND WHISKY INTERVIEW - TIM HAIN |
| Imagine
Albert King playing with Sly and
Robbie or better yet, Buddy Guy
with the Pionneers… Wouldn’t
that have been a hit? Yeah but no
need to look for dirty mash-ups
on the Internet, or to pester your
favourite second-hand LP dealer,
that exists in real life and it’s
called Bleggae – the bounciest
blues ever! Its 'inventor' is England’s
excellent singer and guitarist Tim
Hain, master blender extraordinaire,
who also happens to know his single
malt. |
 |
Whiskyfun:
Tim, please tell
us a little more about what you
do, music-wise.
Tim
Hain: I'm a
singer, guitarist, songwriter, performer.
Currently playing out on average
3 times a week with my band ‘Sunnyside
Up’, a musical blend called
‘Bleggae’ or Blues/reggae.
My album ‘One Man Went To
Mojo’ has had very good reviews…
even in the traditional blues press. |
WF:
Which other musicians are you playing
or did you play with?
Tim:
I have two of everything, as
good musicians are busy! My mainstay
is ‘the drummer currently
known as Prince,’ who also
tours with reggae legends ‘Twinkle
Brothers’ and ‘Misty
In roots’. When he’s
not available I use Tapper, who
backs Gregory Isaacs when he’s
in England. 2 years ago Jeff Beck
was at one of my gigs, and we got
to jam, which was a big thrill. |
WF:
Which are your other favourite artistes?
Tim:
How long is a piece of string??
From Beatles to Bob Marley, Blues
to township, Ry Cooder, Freddie
King, Peter Green, Jimi Hendrix,
Black Uhuru, Toots, Bunny Wailer,
Burning Spear, Paul Simon, Thomas
Mapfumo, Salif Keita, Lauryn Hill,
Marvin Gaye, Stevie Wonder, Bobby
Womack, Smokey Robinson… |
WF:
Which are your current projects?
Tim:
Working on promoting two albums,
and working on composing a third
at my home studio. Having done over
1000 gigs off my own bat in the
last 7 years, I am now networking
like crazy to find and build a team
to work with and create a ‘brand’. |
WF:
So, when did you start enjoying
whisky? Are there any musical memories
you particularly associate with
that moment?
Tim:
At the turn of the Century,
new year’s eve 1999/2000,
I was employed to play reggae in
a castle in Scotland, they were
throwing their local dram at us:
Oban. Lovely but I had already tasted
Lagavulin and was deeply fascinated… |
WF:
What’s your most memorable
whisky?
Tim:
I can still smell the 1946 Macallan
which rounded off a whisky tasting
weekend gifted me by my non-whisky
loving girlfriend two years ago!
It smelt of oak cabinets I played
in as a boy at my grandfather’s
house, but full of lemons! Memorable
for a different reason: At a bar
in that bastion of culture known
as Chatham in Kent, I ordered a
Bowmore, with a pint of water to
keep my voice hydrated while singing.
They mixed the two! |
WF:
Do you have one, or several favourite
whiskies?
Tim:
Several. From the Islay peat monsters
which I love, Ardbeg 10 is a staple,
and Laph QC ain’t far behind,
to the sherried Macallans I cut
my teeth (a style best accessed
these days with the Aberlour A’bunadh-the
good Macs are getting expensive.)
Longmorn 15’s an exceptional
Speysider but from the 170 or so
drams I’ve tried since 2000,
there’s few I’d say
no to. Re: lighter whiskies, you
can’t go wrong with Glenmorangie
or Bladnoch. And I was recently
forced to eat my Glenfiddich snobbery
with a healthy dose of Solera 15.
Love CS whiskies - especially limited
editions! |
WF:
Are there whiskies you don’t
like?
Tim:
Errm… that’s a hard
one! |
WF:
Now, ‘If the river was whisky
baby, and I was a diving duck’
is one of the most famous and well
used whisky lyrics, from sea-shanties
to blues and rock and roll. Do you
have a favourite musical whisky
reference?
Tim:
“One Scotch, One bourbon,
and one beer.” Plus footage
I recently saw of Howlin’
Wolf bawling out another bluesman
for ruining his life with whisky!
Classic… |
WF:
Music and whisky are often though
of as being male preserves. Should
girls play guitars, should girls
drink whisky?
Tim:
They should indeed - and they do!
Bonnie Raitt is HARD! I introduced
a friend of mine to a selection
of malts one night. She has a far
better nose than me! She picked
out all the classic notes first
time near the glass. I was amazed… |
WF:
In some ways you could argue that
tasting a whisky is similar to listening
to a piece of music – you
deconstruct the two in the same
way. Care to comment?
Tim:
As long as the enjoyment comes
first… |
WF:
I once heard an eminent whisky professional
say that he tasted whisky in colours.
Do you taste whisky in music?
Tim:
I taste notes in whisky!! I
introduced an artist friend who
tasted colours… I find whiskies,
especially on the nose, evoke memories
of places and events, maybe from
childhood. |
WF:
If your favourite whisky was a piece
of music what would it be, if it
was a musical instrument what would
it be?
Tim:
Ardbeg is my mainstay, so it
would have to be a Fender Strat. |
WF:
Do you also have a favourite piece
of music to drink whisky with, or
better still, desert island dram,
desert island disc?
Tim:
Every piece of music is good
with whisky!! Desert island dram
would have to be Ardbeg ‘77
or the Vintage House Macallan single
cask I bought to celebrate my daughter’s
birth. Desert island disc would
have to be Abbey Road, Blackheart
Man (Bunny Wailer) or Electric Landlady
(whoops!) by Jimi. |
WF:
Everyone thinks of Jack Daniels
as being the great rock and roll
whisky – why not Scotch?
Tim:
JD sucks for me - far too sweet. |
WF:
And if it was Scotch, can you think
of which brand? What would be the
Scotch equivalent of rappers drinking
Cristal?
Tim:
What’s Cristal? |
WF:
Cristal is Champagne made by Roederer
and rappers love it. Well, wealthy
rappers, as a bottle of Cristal
from a good vintage like 1990 will
cost you around £200 or more.
Tim:
OK, to answer your question
I'd say the equivalent is a bleggae
artist drinking a top Speysider...in
this case an old Longmorn... a 37
year old Scotch Malt Whisky Society
bottling gifted me for my last birthday
by my dear friend Anthony Phillips,
a composer, and Genesis' original
guitarist! I did some 'sleuthing'
with the help of Mr Murrays' bible
to discover its origin, as the society
tends not to name its sources on
the bottle. Anyway, he chose this
bottle because the famous SMWS description
in red letters on the label reads
"A Rasta Malt". We figured
it was because the whisky was very
dark...and deep. Like an old Rastaman!
Like Bob Marley or Bunny Wailer
in interviews I've seen. I probably
have the last "inch" left
in England. Anyway, they pulled
out the tasting notes.
It seems two "tasters"
found "marijuana" on the
nose! Hence the name.. I found mainly
oak and sherry. The only ganja I
found was a crumb in my back pocket... |
| WF:
Yeah, I remember the rasta '7.27',
it had weedy aromas indeed. Anyway,
thank you very much, Tim, and congrats
for your new CD One Man Went To
Mojo. It's excellent indeed - to
our readers, it's available at Amazon
UK. |
 |
TASTING
- TWO NEW BLAIR ATHOLS (or is
it Atholl?)
Blair
Athol 1991/2006 (43%, Jean Boyer’s
Best Casks of Scotland)
Colour: full gold. Nose: starts
with whiffs of smoke from the
sherry wood but soon to get very
nicely fruity, on pink grapefruit,
strawberries, muscat and very
soft curry. Hints of old wood
(barrel) as well as rose jelly
and liquorice allsorts, Jell-O…
Nice pepper in the background
and also a little raw incense.
Not explosive but there’s
really something happening. |
| Mouth:
the attack is a tad limp but then
we have lots of ripe strawberries
together with a little caramel,
liquorice and oranges. Gets maltier
and more cereally with time, and
even more on sweet liquorice, raspberry
sweets. Hints of toasted bread and
muesli (with lots of fruits!). Finish:
medium long, very sweet, malty and
fruity. Interesting fruitiness in
this Blair Athol, I’d say
it’s a version that should
please any of your non-whiskyfreak
guests. 82 points. |
| Blair
Atholl 1989/2006 (43%, Whisky-Doris
The Dram)
I believe Blair Athol and Blair
Atholl are the same distilleries
;-). Colour: gold. Nose: much ‘natural’,
grainy and malty, getting very herbal
– and nicely so. Notes of
newly cut grass, green tea, clover…
Gets then fruitier, mostly on grapefruit,
pineapple, apples… Very nice
freshness. Undemanding but the balance
is rather perfect. Mouth: quite
coating but straighter and spicier
than the Jean Boyer but with again
lots of liquorice. Goes on with
quite some bergamot, white pepper,
soft paprika (a little peat?), ginger
and then grapefruits and crystallized
oranges. Much less sherry. Gets
spicier and more ‘candied’
with time. Finish: quite long this
time, still as softly spicy and
candied, with notes of bitter oranges.
Very, very pleasant. 85
points. |
|
|
|
November
24, 2006 |
|
|
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK
|
| TASTING
- THREE HIGHLAND PARKS |
 |
| Highland
Park 25 yo 1952/1977 ‘Silver
Jubilee’ (70°Proof, Gordon
& MacPhail)
Bottled to commemorate Liz II’s
jubilee. The Talisker from the same
series was great (91) so I’m
having high expectations. Colour:
pale gold. Nose: huge old bottle
effect, with lots of chamomile tea,
passion fruit and something slightly
metallic at first nosing (aluminium
pan). Beautifully mineral (wet limestone,
flints), peaty and smoky, developing
on linseed oil and paraffin, not
unlike an old Clynelish 12 yo white
label. Also fresh pineapple, citrons,
lime, getting then slightly meaty
(ham). Truly beautiful and a profile
that I got in no recent bottling
whatsoever. Mouth: ho-ho, but this
is superb! Creamy, oily, almost
thick like a liqueur despite the
low strength, with a fantastic attack
on candied lemon zest and mastic,
olive oil, beeswax and smoked tea.
Almost as peaty as, say an old Ardbeg
from the 60’s. Goes on with
notes of lemon balm, crystallized
oranges, Campari, Schweppes…
Marzipan, kumquats… So good!
Finish: not extremely long but beautifully
waxy and citrusy, with the peat
lingering in the background and
maybe hints of soft curry and pepper.
Stunning malt that probably improved
in its bottle – and highly
drinkable, at that. 94 points. |
| Highland
Park 18 3/5 yo ‘Lunar Bottling’
(45.1%, OB, 2006)
Bottled to commemorate some sort
of lunar cycle that happens only
once every 18 3/5 years –
which happened in September 2006.
A bit bizarre... Colour: deep gold.
Nose: a little less expressive at
first nosing but also more wood
influenced. Gets then more fragrant,
with notes of sandalwood, incense,
dried oranges… Quite jammy,
orangey. Very nice notes of sherry.
Quite complex, rounded, some would
say ‘meditative’. Superb
balance. Mouth: very sweet, smooth,
rounded but not dull at all. Beautiful
crystallised fruits, very ripe peaches
and strawberries, honey, apple juice,
roasted pecans, pistachios... A
certain smokiness (smoked tea).
The balance is rather ideal and
this one is pure pleasure. Long
finish, extremely satisfying, with
a slight pungency that gives the
whole a little twist. Excellent.
90 points. |
Highland
Park 1988/2003 (56.6%, Spirit of
the Isles, hogshead #707) 
Colour: white wine. Nose: a raw,
wild start on petrol and cardboard
with also lots of wax and hints
of wet dog. Kind of ‘dirty’.
Notes of walnuts, marzipan, ginger
tonic, cinchona, aspirin…
‘Different’, I’d
say. Lots of apple juice as well.
Mouth: extremely sweet, sugary…
Sweets, liquorice allsorts, apple
skin, getting then a little bitter…
A little hard to enjoy, maybe one
of these so-so casks some indies
get. Long but rather bitter finish.
Too raw I think. 75 points. |
MUSIC
- Recommended
listening - she's Eric Burdon's
current bassist (yes, she's an
Animal) and her name is Paula
O'Rourke. Today she's
doing Frozen
roses.mp3 (from her solo album
Captain Bringdown). Don't you
like her detuned voice? Please
buy her music! |
 |
|
|
|
November
23, 2006 |
|
|
| MALT
MANIACS NEWSFLASH by
Johannes van den Heuvel |
|
|
While
working on the full refurbishment
of the website I'm slowly
starting to fully realise
how much content we've amassed
over the last decade. We've
now reached a point where
it's sometimes quite hard
to find specific articles.
For a while the 'Google'
search box on the old site
helped out for a bit, but
for the new site I want
to find a seemless new navigation.
This slows down the reconstruction
a little, but I think it
will be worth it once the
new sites are live. |
| In
preparation for the launch
of the new websites we've
registred a new domain; www.maltmaniacs.org.
From now on you'll be automatically
transferred to our new server
if you type www.maltmaniacs.com
in the address bar of your
browser. For now, typing www.maltmadness.com
there will still take you
to the old 'frozen' website,
but once (part of) the new
site is done you'll find the
new Malt Madness website under
that domain. It will probably
take me months (if not years)
to get everything working
as I want, so I've published
a full archive of the current
website on http://www.maltmadness.com/whisky/.
That section will remain on-line
until the rebuild is completely
finished. |
| Meanwhile,
we're extremely busy with
the Malt Maniacs Awards 2006
- the fourth installment of
our annual competition. The
final scores from the 12 judges
(who sampled and scored some
200 samples 'blind') are expected
by this weekend, after which
the results for this year
will be calculated. Those
results will then be published
on December 1 - just in time
for you to put a few of the
winners on your Christmas
shopping list. And once again
we expect to hand out many
more silver and bronze medals
than gold - the variety that
seems to be so commonly available
at a few other 'competitions'...
In the three previous years,
out of hundreds of single
malts that were submitted
to the Malt Maniacs Awards,
only 13 managed to win a gold
medal. Expect some coments
about the 'exchange rate'
for regular medals versus
malt maniacs medals on the
awards
page when the results
are published. - Johannes |
|
| TASTING
- HIGH STRENGTH TALISKERS |
 |
Talisker
1992/2006 (58,8%, Jean Boyer One
Shot Collection)
Colour: white wine. Nose: a very
fresh and powerful start on freshly
cut apples and yoghurt, farmyard,
kelp and soaked grain. Quite sharp
and, as they say, uncompromising.
Also notes of green tea, walnut
skin and wet stone plus hints of
cider and crushed sorrel leaves.
With water: gets grassier, more
mineral, flinty… The peat
starts to shine through (smells
like floor maltings at the end of
the process) as well as sea elements
(shells, seaweed). Still quite austere
in style – which I like. |
| Mouth
(neat): great attack, direct, punchy,
peaty and peppery. Notes of small
sour apples, grape skin, liquorice
and green chilli. For big boys –
not that I’m not one but let’s
try it with water now: much sweeter,
liquoricy, getting very salty, with
also notes of walnuts, oatcake,
bread crumb… Finish: long,
straightforward, expectedly peppery
and ‘mashy’, peaty with
maybe juts hints of rubber. Superb
young Talisker, perfect hipflask
malt for winter times I think. 89
points. |
| Talisker
19 yo 1979/1999 (60.3%, Cadenhead
authentic collection)
Colour: straw. Nose: much rounder,
‘sweeter’, starting
on vanilla and newly cut grass,
spent lies… Goes on with wax,
paraffin, fresh walnuts and notes
of milk chocolate. Little peat this
time. With water: still quite round
but there are also nice citrusy
notes now, even passion fruit and
maybe green mangos and star fruits.
Good quality marzipan – not
the heavily sugared one they (try
to) sell you at supermarkets and
linseed oil. Much, much nicer with
water. Mouth (neat): rounder, nuttier
attack but there’s soon something
disturbingly bitter coming through.
Rubber bands? Extremely grassy.
Herbs liqueur (Jägermeister),
highly concentrated liquorice…
A bit hard I must say. With water:
gets more complex again, fruitier,
with something like bitter oranges,
herbal tea and metal (old bottle
effect, already?) Excellent now,
really. Finish: long, waxy, nutty
and, of course, peaty with again
a little rubber just like with the
Jean Boyer. Little pepper this time,
that is. A true swimmer, in any
case. 87 points
(with water, but just 82 neat). |
| Talisker
17 yo 1979/1996 (62.6%, Cadenhead
authentic collection)
Colour: white wine. Nose: very close
to the 19 yo , maybe just a tad
wilder and maybe peatier. Gets more
expressive after a while although
it’s still very grassy and
nutty. Notes of fresh butter and
oysters. Nicer than the older version
on the nose. With water: that’s
strange, it doesn’t seem to
be such a good swimmer for it got
quite cardboardy and even soapy
(even after a good 15 minutes so
it’s not just saponification).
Too bad – but it doesn’t
obligatorily ‘need’
water despite the 62%. Mouth (neat):
sweeter, rounder and better balanced
than the 19 yo . Quite some pepper,
curry, chilli, peat, smoked tea
and a pinch of salt. Quite drinkable
at 62% - or is it me? With water:
oh yes, it’s just perfect
now, smoother but still punchy and
assertive, with lots of oysters,
pepper, citrons, lemons, nutmeg,
paprika… Truly beautiful,
this one, and the finish is magnificently
compact, sweet and peaty, with a
more than perfect balance and all
the expected pepper. One worth looking
for… 91 points
(and thanks, Ho-cheng). |
| CRAZY
WHISKY ADS - Old Scotch and Old
Values |
|
| Recent
US campaign for Ambassador
Scotch. The baseline
reads: 'Scotch for another era'.
Well, let's just hope it's another
era indeed. (Leo Burnett Chicago) |
| |
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: a very famous blast
from the past, Julie Driscoll
(now Julie
Tippetts - she's
much more into jazz since the
70's), Brian Auger and The Trinity
doing Donovan's Season
of the Witch.mp3. Get prepared
to read more about Brian Auger
on WF in the foreseable future...
And in the meantime, please buy
his music! |
 |
|
|
|
November
22, 2006 |
|
|
| TASTING
- TWO SHERRIED 1986 BRUICHLADDICHS |
 |
Bruichladdich
1986/2006 (54.9%, OB, cask #2, dark
sherry butt, 498 bottles)
Colour: dark amber.
Nose: very aromatic, starting on
hot butter caramel and whiffs of
wine barrel, cooked strawberries
and kirsch. It’s quick to
get rather wild, animal (game, soy
sauce, balsamic vinegar), nicely
sour (wild cherries). Goes on with
ham, hints of rubber bands, then
parsley, maybe faint hints of cardamom…
|
| Also
chocolate sauce (mole), hints of
manure. One of the wildest Laddies
I ever had. Different, to say the
least. Mouth: powerful, sweet, peppery
and chocolaty at the attack, nicely
biting. Loads of bitter chocolate,
even peppered chocolate like they
make in Spain. Fruit ganache, marmalade,
praline, Japanese grilled tea, orange
salad… Gets very spicy after
a while (gingery, lots of cloves,
dry cardamom)… Aromatically
powerful, almost invading. Finish:
long and dry ‘as it should
be’, mostly on bitter chocolate
and pepper. Brilliant palate I think,
greater than the nose that was just
a tad ‘too much’. Well-deserved
89 points. |
| Bruichladdich
1986/2005 (54.9%, OB, freesh sherry
butt, 516 bottles)
Colour: dark amber – slightly
darker. Nose: much more classic,
more on coffee, cocoa, dried bitter
oranges and toffee. Very smoky as
well (burning oak), toasted, developing
on huge notes of real ale, Guinness,
ginger, nutmeg and even curry. Resembles
its sibling more and more, with
maybe more elegance. High-end empty
wine barrels, hints of dried mushrooms...
I think it’s beautiful sherried
whisky! Hints of game again, bilberry
sauce, then parsley again…
Quite fabulous, I must say. Mouth:
immensely fruity, jammy and chocolaty
again, starting on truckloads of
bitter oranges, mastic candies,
propolis, blackcurrant jelly, rum-soaked
pineapples, very ripe bananas, armagnac…
And then we have loads of pepper
and cloves, prunes, hints of Chinese
anise, dried figs… Extremely
big, thick, not ‘light’
at all which is unusual with Bruichladdich.
And an interminable finish on dried
fruits, salt and quite some rubber
after lots of ‘caudalies’
(a caudalie – don’t
know whether there’s such
a word in English – is a measure
for the finish, after you swallowed
the wine or the spirit. One ‘caudalie’
equals one second). Brilliant whisky,
that’s for sure. It seems
they bought some perfect sherry
butts at the distillery in 1986
– remember the ‘Country
Life’ bottling? 92
points. |
| And
also
Bruichladdich 12 yo (46%, OB, Second
Edition, 2006)
Nose: fragrant, fruity, with something
‘different’ from the
earlier version indeed. Slight soapiness
that’s soon to vanish and
then huge notes of gooseberries,
melons, tangerines, bananas plus
a little acacia honey and orange
cake. As fruity as it can get –
a designed whisky indeed. Mouth:
very coherent. Lots of citrus fruits,
oranges, honey, even mangos and
then quite some spices (a little
nutmeg, white pepper). Vanilla.
The finish isn’t too long
but balanced and clean, with an
enjoyable oaky dryness that prevents
the whole from getting cloying (which
it isn’t, eh). Very sweet
– much sweeter than the 10
yo - but certainly well made.
83 points. |
 |
WHISKYFUN'S
HALL OF FRIENDS INTERVIEW |
|
Hi
Gordon, where do you live
and what’s special there?
I live in the most northerly
city in England , Newcastle
Upon Tyne, a mere 50 miles
from the border with Scotland
and 256 miles from the Kennacraig
Ferry terminal! I’ve
lived here all my life and
have seen a lot of changes
in 45 years, what’s
really special is the quayside
area, over the last 10-20
years it’s went from
a really run down part of
the city to an area of major
redevelopment, mind you we
still haven’t got a
decent whisky bar...... |
| Who
or what made you discover
whisky? |
| I
always cite one person for
getting me into Malt Whisky,
a lad i used to hang around
with, Dave, it all started
back in the summer of 1984
when I’d went through
a messy relationship breakup
(I can hear Tom saying “Doesn’t
it always?”) and we’d
went off to Scotland camping
for a break. He was well into
his malts and at the first
nights stop, the Glencoe Inn
(the proper pub not the monstrosity
that’s there now....),
he asked if I wanted one.
When i replied no, he asked
why, I told him I didn’t
like the whisky I’d
been given by my parents in
Hot Toddies when I’d
had a cold, after deducing
it had been blends, he said
try this Macallan, which I
did and didn’t look
back ...... I remember having
a 1965 or 66 18 yo Macallan
in the Ferry boat Inn in Ullapool
which was tremendous a few
days later in our trip. |
| Why
do you like whisky? |
| That’s
a hard one to answer ......
I suppose because of the variety
in tastes, no two malts are
the same, unless you’ve
got a flight of speysiders.....
only kidding...... |
| Do
you have a favourite distillery? |
| LOL!
wonder which one he’ll
say? Got to be Ardbeg, I love
the whisky, we (I’m
including Mel my wife in this)
love the place, we like the
people at the distillery,
it’s got everything.
Bruichladdich is a close second
and I would say if I had to
pick a third one it would
be Glenfarclas because it’s
the first distillery we ever
toured and I defy anyone not
to try a SMWS old farclas
and not love it. |
| What’s
your favourite expression? |
| I
would say any Ardbeg circa
1972 to 1974, the UK release
of the 1974 Provenance is
still the one to beat in my
opinion. My favourite standard
release would have to be the
Ardbeg Ten, it’s the
one I go through the most
bottles of ....... |
| What’s
your best – or most
vivid – memory regarding
whisky? |
I
would say there are two, the
first would be the bottling
of my Port Charlotte bloodtub
on November 25th 2005, it
started off as an absolute
disaster, we headed up to
islay to see it being bottled,
got to Kennacraig only to
find the ferries cancelled.
Drove all the way back to
Newcastle thinking we wouldn’t
get to see it only for Simon
(Coughlin), Jonathon and the
lasses at the laddies to pull
out all the stops so we could
witness it on the webcams.
They were fantastic, moving
the cams to give us a better
view, holding signs up to
tell us what was going on.
Brilliant! They more than
made up for disappointment
of not getting across, to
say they are stars is an understatement!
The second would be Thursday
29th May 2003, an Ardbeg day
that went down in history,
where to start? A boat ride
along the Kildalton Distilleries
complete with Dolphin, Clann
an Drumma storming the festival
and the most vivid memory
of the day ..... sitting with
my wife on Ardbeg Pier in
the glorious sunshine, swans
swimming by, birds of prey
in the sky, not a care in
the world and a Lord of the
Isles in my hand ........Sheer
bliss!!!!!! |
| Is
there a specific bottling
you’re looking for? |
| Nothing
in particular, expensive one’s
cheap? |
| Are
you a member of a whisky club
and which one? |
| Hmmmm......is
the SMWS a club? My original
Spiritofislay
used to be a club before Yahoo
made it a group! Otherwise
no. |
| Imagine
you had a magic wand, what
would you change in the whisky
world? |
The
fun you could have .......
as most people know who know
me i have a pet hate of online
whisky auctions (i.e E-bay)
and the way they’ve
led to a rise in prices of
Single Malt Whisky so get
rid of any online auction
site and get the price of
the stuff down to a sensible
level because £400+
for a 1970’s Ardbeg
is getting Criminal.....
Oh and i’d get rid of
the LCBO and replace it with
something Better for Harrys’
sake ....... ;-) |
| Have
you been to Scotland? What’s
your favourite place there? |
| Is
this a trick Question ? LOL!
Frequently and Islay. If you
want a more specific place
than Islay I would say Seal
Bay just along from Ardbeg.
We like to pull up there,
get out of the car and watch
the world go by, watch the
wildlife go about their ways,
we had an amazing encounter
with an Otter there once,
caught its food, then came
and sat down not 20 yards
away from us, of course it
was the only time I didn’t
have my camera handy! |
| Do
you also, like us at Whiskyfun,
like music? Which kind? |
| I
love music, my older brother
influenced me quite a bit
when I was younger, he came
in with superb albums like
Queens Sheer Heart Attack,
Genesis - Foxtrot and he got
me into my first great love
Lindisfarne ( a Newcastle
Folk-rock band who were pretty
big a while ago....). I was
a right little headbanger
in my teens, Motorhead, Ted
Nugent, most rock bands. Was
a regular at The Newcastle
Mayfair rock nights and at
the City Hall seeing most
of the bands of the 80’s.
I’ve mellowed out a
bit since then, still love
the older rock stuff (Aerosmith
etc), but I do listen to a
lot of scottish stuff, in
particular Robin Laing, Capercaillie
and Clann. If you ever get
a chance see a band called
North Sea Gas, we caught them
at The Vaults in the summer,
they are great . |
| Do
you have other hobbies? |
| No
bit of a saddo, though I do
like tinkering with my computer.
|
| Is
there another ‘liquid’
you like, apart from whisky?
What’s your favourite
expression of it? |
| I
do enjoy an occasional beer,
especially real ale, the two
Pauls are doing a great job
at Islay ales and I love their
Summertime “Saligo Ale”
and the “Finlaggan Ale”
is wonderful. Black Sheep
is one of my tops as well
and locally Mordues “Workie
ticket”, Radgie Gadgie”
and “No.9” are
great. |
| Gordon,
anything to add? |
We only started going over
to Islay in 1999 and I must
say since our early stays
in The Lochside Hotel with
Ann and Alistair we have made
many a friend on the isle,
both Locals and Whisky lovers,
and it is always a pleasure
to return to what we refer
to as our second home and
meet up with them. Whisky
is a great friendship maker
and long may it remain so,
one of my own pleasures is
sharing a dram with like minded
people in wonderful surroundings
and long may this continue!
I look forward to meeting
up with you and the fellow
maniacs the next time Serge,
Slainte Mhath ! |
| Many
thanks Gordon (and
Mel for being so cool with
your whiskymania.) To our
distinguished readers, don't
forget to have a look at Gordon's
XLNT Spirit
of Islay website! |
|
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: it's Soup, one of WF's
most distinguished readers who advises
us to have a go at cLOUDDEAD.
It's supposed to be hip hop but
I think they're closer to Pere Ubu
if you ask me. In short, excellent.
Ah yes, music... let's try apt
A 2.mp3. Thanks Soup! |
 |
|
XMAS
SHOPPING - On Tuesday,
a miniature (not a full bottle)
of Laphroaig from the 1930's fetched
no less than EUR 1.329,17 on eBay.
But that was nothing because another
mini, a Glenfiddich, fetched EUR
2.135,03. Of course, as they say,
'The value of the Auctioned
Item is in the collectable container,
not it's contents' and 'the
container has a value that substantially
exceeds the current retail price
of the alcohol in the container'.
No kidding, that would put the Glenfiddich
at EUR 30,000 a bottle. Well,
more than that actually, the level
being very low when you look closely
at the picture... But who
counts? (thanks, Luc!) |
|
|
|
November
21, 2006 |
|
|
| CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan |
DEACON
BLUE The Hammersmith Apollo,
London, November 17th 2006
There’s
got to be a better way of doing
it than this. It’s Friday
night and we’re on our way
to Hammersmith for a bite to eat
and Deacon
Blue at the Apollo.
You must remember them –
Scotland’s finest from the
late 1980s, fifteen Top 40 singles
and five Top 10 albums (selling
over six million copies) in the
space of seven years or so, fronted
by songwriter and singer Ricky
Ross, the Dundonian who made Glasgow
his, and the band’s, adopted
home, celebrated in their first
album Raintown. |
 |
| In
1994 the decision of drummer Douglas
Vipond to quit for a TV career led
to the band’s splitting up
(and as I recall a memorable farewell
tour gig in Edinburgh), since when
Ross has pursued a solo career of
mixed fortunes. But a
reformed band in one shape or
another (guitarist Graeme Kelling
died of cancer in 2004, Vipond only
plays when other commitments allow
– as it happens he’s
here tonight) has been touring since
1999. A new album, Homesick, polarised
opinions, but tonight we’re
on safer ground as the band are
here to promote their ‘new’
album Singles, comprising sixteen
hits and three new songs. But it
must be easier than this. |
| Let
me explain. It’s about two
miles from where I live to Hammersmith
and the ViaMichelin website tells
me we should be able to drive there
in around five minutes. But it’s
Friday and our departure coincides
with a downpour of biblical proportions
so we crawl for over an hour and
a half, endure a collision with
harassed and aggressive out-of-towner
and arrive for supper at one of
London’s hidden
treasures with only about half
an hour to eat – fortunately
for us the place is deserted because
the traffic’s so bad and the
storm has closed the Underground.
Now – have you any idea what
a stressful way that is to start
an evening of open-minded reviewing?
Well, luckily Deacon Blue were more
than up for the challenge and after
an iffy start simply brought the
house down. It was third song ‘Raintown’
that brought the audience to its
feet, where it stayed for most of
the night. I was reminded just how
good some of the songs were –
‘Fergus sings the blues’,
‘Loaded’, ‘Chocolate
girl’ ‘Wages day’
– even if a few don’t
seem to have aged better than others.
And whilst I have always thought
Ross looked an uncomfortable rock-star
he has the audience in his hand,
teasing them with painful shaggy-dog
stories (I believe in French Serge,
une histoire sans queue ni tête)
one of which, the introduction to
‘Fergus’, included a
man drowning in a vat of whisky
at Tobermory Distillery (punch line
– “it took him four
hours, he came up three times for
breath”), a thought which
might interest Whiskyfun readers.
And even though he’s hoarse
his voice is as soulful as ever,
and frankly singer Lorraine McIntosh
was better than on the last two
occasions I saw here over twelve
years ago. The fans (and believe
me, they are fans) love it, they
know all the songs, all the words,
and they take over ‘Dignity’
completely, drowning out the band
when they sing the first verse and
chorus in its entirety. But you
know, I still can’t get the
traffic and rain and anxiety out
of my mind. |
| There
has to be a better way – and
there is. For fifteen quids we walked
away ten minutes after the show
had finished with a CD of the whole
thing (well – not quite, the
new songs weren’t included,
nor the Springsteen cover ‘Light
of day’, for copyright reasons).
Now I thought it was cool that I
was able to order a CD of the Who
gig at Hyde Park and get it delivered
a few weeks later – and was
surprised that you could get recordings
of their whole European
and American tour. And I was
amused that at the end of the Jim
White and Johnny Dowd Hellwood gig
a few weeks ago we were told that
we could buy a CD of the performance
if we hung around waiting for keyboard
player Michael Stark to burn them
on his laptop. |
| But
this ‘official bootleg’
thing is big business, run by a
company called Concert
Live who’ve been recording
and selling at gigs for a year –
covering bands as diverse as Gang
of Four, the Fratellis and Keane.
For Deacon Blue they are selling
just 400 copies (hmmm, collector’s
items, that’s nice) of each
gig – you can take them away
with you, or order from the comfort
of your arm chair and get them delivered
to your door. So you don’t
have to go out in the cold or rain
or traffic at all – or spend
all that money on tickets. |
 |
|
I’m sure the next thing will
be live downloadable streaming –
fantastic – and don’t
worry about missing the atmosphere,
I can send the Photographer along
with a webcam stitched to her bobble
hat (on second thoughts she might
need to take a ladder too). So Serge
the future of concert reviewing
– the armchair critic - is
upon us. Watch this space. -
Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate)
|
| Thanks
Nick! Yes, watching live gigs through
the Internet is something that'll
probably get trendier (I remember
a great Chick Corea gig at the Blue
Note that we could watch live two
years ago). But what about the audience?
Will they put a few thousands PC’s
in front of the artistes when nobody
goes to the shows anymore? Imagine
the future of rock and roll, ‘Clap
your f*ck*ng keyboards and tap your
bl**dy mouse! Hey, I can’t
hear you, is your f*ck*ing CPU awake?
Is your HD jammed of what?’
And yes, ‘une histoire sans
queue ni tête’, very
French. Literally, ‘a headless
and tailless story’, just
like some whiskies ;-). But let’s
have a little Deacon Blue live in
Glasgow with Dignity.mp3
- it's the audience who's doing
most of the job indeed... - Serge |
TASTING
- TWO NEW GLENGLASSAUGHS
Glenglassaugh
40 yo 1965/2006 (46,7%, The Whisky
Fair, Fino sherry butt, 361 bottles)
Always very interesting
to taste an old malt from a Fino
cask. Colour: gold. Nose: start
on a superb mix of fresh fruits
(white peaches, pears and pineapples)
and waxy neo-oxidative notes (walnuts,
flor) plus something like spring
water and aluminium pan. Also
kiwis? Amazingly fresh on the
nose. Develops on gooseberries,
cigar box and oriental pastries:
excellent. |
 |
| Mouth:
great news, it’s just as fresh
as on the nose. Lots of fresh fruits
again (more on oranges and grapefruits
this time) and a nice bitterness
(old walnuts, chlorophyll chewing
gum). Also hints of rose jelly.
Gets quite spicy after that (white
pepper, cinnamon, dried ginger)
and with hints of ginseng. Gets
dryer with time but never drying
or overly tannic. Finish: long,
lemony and peppery, almost like
an old Talisker, which is really
bizarre but good news. A very good
and extremely interesting Glenglassaugh,
I think I already tried this one
at another bottler’s who got
a sample and who, I believe, turned
it down. He shouldn’t have,
if you ask me – good work
Carsten and gang. 90 points. |
| Glenglassaugh
20 yo 1986/2006 (54,6%, Jack Wieber’s
Old Train Line, sherry cask #2164,
354 bottles)
I believe 1986 was Glenglassaugh’s
last year of distilling so this
one ‘should’ be moving.
Colour: amber. Nose: a rather bold
attack on the nose with lots of
caramel and nougat before kind of
a flinty sherry takes off. Lots
of dried fruits such as quince,
dates and figs, kumquats…
Quite some rubber as well, slightly
sulphury. Cherry tree leaves. Gets
then rather meaty like often with
these heavily sherried whiskies.
Notes of kirsch, plum spirit (slivovitz)…
Nice but slightly aggressive I’d
say. Mouth: big, bold, powerful,
very fruity (lots of crystallised
oranges) but again a little too
rubbery and maybe too much on fruit
spirit (kirsch). Goes on with the
usual sultanas, caramel, cooked
sweet wine… Something leathery.
Finish: long but again, a little
bitterish, rubbery… In short,
the sherry is really big but the
whole is quite harsh and unbalanced
I think. The 27 yo 1978/2005 from
Jack Wiebers Auld Distiller’s
Collection was so much nicer in
my books ! (91). I’d say 80
points for this 20 yo . |
|
|
|
November
20, 2006 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
WAYNE SHORTER AND HIS QUARTET
The Barbican,
London, November 11th 2006 |
 |
As
you know Serge, I don’t usually
have too much trouble getting these
reviews down on paper for you –
in fact you’ll remember the
only time I’ve really struggled
was when it came to trying to describe
what I judged to be the execrable
performance by Steve Harley at the
Shepherd’s Bush Empire last
year. The review was never written,
and by nominating it ‘The
Gig that was So Bad that I Couldn’t
Be Arsed to Review It Award’
for the Whiskyfun Music Awards I
received brickbats and recriminations
from Steve Harley fans all over
the world (well, one to be honest,
and if you really want to judge
which one of us was right you can
always go to the Bush
to see Steve next month, but don’t
expect to meet me there). But my
philosophy has always been to say
it how you see it – and that’s
why on this occasion I’m stumped.
Quite simply lost for words –
I was when we walked out of the
Barbican into the stinging cold
rain, and I still am. |
| My
familiarity with Wayne
Shorter comes, of course,
from the band he co-founded with
keyboard player Joe
Zawinul, Weather Report. In
1970 they picked up the baton of
jazz-rock (or probably more accurately
jazz-soul) from Joe Sample’s
Crusaders and simply redefined the
genre with a series of outstanding
albums, of which my personal favourite
remains the wonderful Heavy Weather.
Of course it was some time before
I learned about Shorter’s
jazz pedigree, both as a performer
and composer, with legends Art Blakey’s
Jazz Messengers, and then (for seven
years) Miles Davis. During this
period he also produced a number
of solo albums, of which Speak No
Evil, or so I’m told, is the
best. His tenure in Weather Report
lasted ‘till the mid 1980s,
after which he continued to collaborate
with artistes such as Herbie Hancock,
and also Joni Mitchell, having been
an almost permanent fixture on her
recordings since the late 1970s.
About six years ago he formed his
current band – featuring Danilo
Perez on piano, John
Patitucci on bass and Brian
Blade, on drums (Shorter, as
I might have said already, plays
tenor and soprano saxophones), and
they’re here tonight at a
heaving Barbican as part of the
London Jazz Festival, sponsored
by BBC Radio 3. |
| We
arrive too late for British jazz
veteran Stan Tracey so hung out
in the foyer star-spotting (well,
we saw saxophonist Andy Sheppard).
Shorter and his band are promptly
on stage at 8.45. Shorter is 73
– somewhat lacking in mobility
– and he almost wedges himself
into the curved rim of the piano,
using it as a support. That, believe
me, is the only sign of frailty
he gives. From start to finish the
vigour, freshness and fluidity of
his playing is quite astonishing,
but it is equally matched by the
playing of the other four musicians
– of whom (though they were
all so good it seems unfair) Blade
stood out particularly, switching
from deft percussive delicacy to
driving drum rhythms with none of
the awkwardness that his ‘arms
and elbows’ style of playing
might have suggested. I’m
sure the individual pieces were
compositions, (indeed I believe
we got a version of Shorter’s
‘Footprints’) and they
were clearly well-structured, but
the evening was characterised by
the performers effortlessly swapping
improvisations. And that is where
I stop because I simply don’t
have the language to describe how
complex and engrossing this exhilarating
performance was – and I’m
not prepared to cut and paste it
from the work of others. |
 |
| So
let me tell you instead what I was
thinking about whilst I floated
in this music (I should add that
the Barbican sound was perfect,
none of the irritating hiss that
sometimes bedevils gigs there).
I thought of whirlpools, the sort
that you often see in the sometimes
troubled waters adjacent to the
Great Gulf
of Corryvreckan at the north
of the Sound of Jura of the West
Coast of Scotland. Small whirlpools
circling each other and then gradually
merging to from a larger pool, circling
larger pools. It’s a bit like
viscimetry really, and the movement
of the whorls of flavour bearing
compounds that a drop of water will
release in a glass of whisky. A
hypnotic, thought-consuming, irregular
and shifting pattern, repeated with
greater or lesser intensity as the
evening progressed. I was simply
entranced, and it was a very nice
place to be. |
 |
Needless
to say I was rudely pulled back
to reality by the standing ovation
that justifiably greeted the end
of the set. It was really something
that you simply didn’t want
to end - so I’ve made a mental
note to add Shorter’s Footprints
Live and Beyond the Sound Barrier
albums from 2002 and 2005 to my
Christmas gift list, both are well
reviewed, and if they are only half
as good as this concert then they
must be worth adding to the CD library.
Treat yourself – you can buy
both for around the price of a bottle
of decent single malt and they’ll
last a lot longer. - Nick Morgan
(photographs by Kate)
Thanks
Nick - amen and indeed Speak
no Evil.mp3 (original version).
You are right, Wayne 'younger brother
of Coltrane' Shorter is a total
star. - Serge |
| TASTING
- TWO OLD OFFICIAL MACALLANS |
| Macallan
18 yo 1974 (43%, OB)
Colour: amber. Nose: starts both
fresher and fruitier than expected
as well as less heavily sherried.
It’s more flowery at first
nosing, with heavy notes of peony
mingling with tangerine liqueur
and hints of old roses. Very elegant
and very expressive, with a perfect
balance. Whiffs of smoke. Gets then
more classical with a little oak,
raisins, orange marmalade, apricot
cake… Also huge notes of ripe
mirabelle plums, faint hints of
ginger tonic and even grenadine
syrup. And ripe strawberries, blackcurrant,
prunes, a little toffee… Funny
notes of black olives. Top notch.
|
 |
| Mouth:
a beautifully dry attack, not as
sweet and rounded as expected. Lots
of tea, bitter caramel, balsamic
vinegar… Rather powerful at
43%. Goes on with notes of cake,
rum, Smyrna raisins… Not very
complex in fact but beautifully
compact and ‘crafted’.
The raisins grow bigger by the minutes
(so to speak). The finish is long,
slightly bitter, dry and clean,
with hints of calvados and a little
salt. Classy stuff anyway. 90
points. |
| Macallan
1948-1961/1981 ‘Royal Marriage’
(43%, OB)
Bottled to celebrate Charles and
Diana’s wedding. Colour: amber,
slightly paler than the 1974. Nose:
obviously older at first nosing,
less fruitful and woodier, spicier.
Maybe this one wasn’t 100%
sherry matured? Lots of vanilla
and tea, hints of nutmeg, white
pepper… Gets then honeyed
and flowery (wild flowers, daisies)
before we have quite some eucalyptus
and menthol coming through. Quite
some quince as well, furniture polish…
Top notch again, I guess they had
to do something unusual for the
occasion. But it’s not ‘Macallan’
as we knew it. Mouth: an obvious
old bottle effect at the attack,
with both something pleasantly metallic
and ‘tropically’ fruity
(mangos). Even more different now,
with something mineral, flinty enhancing
the relative sweetness (bergamot
sweets). And then we have the eucalyptus
and camphor, the pepper, the nutmeg,
the cloves… Maybe the middle
is slightly weak in fact, the finish
being not too long either but even
drier than the 1974’s, on
lots of tea and again these notes
of mangos. Looses points at the
finish but it’s still an excellent,
princely dram. 88 points. |
|
|
|
November
19, 2006 |
|
|
 |
NEW
ON WHISKYFUN: THE DAILY VIEW PAGE!
I got quite
a few complains from distinguished
readers who find that WF is too
slow to load with dial-up or mobile
connections. I agree and as we'll
have even more pictures in the future,
we have now a Daily
View Page with only the current
day's stuff. De nada ;-). |
| |
| TASTING
- TWO OFFICIAL GLEN DEVERONS |
 |
Glen
Deveron 10 yo (40%, OB, circa 2000)
Colour: straw. Nose: we’re
in ‘natural’ territories
it appears, with lots of grainy
notes, porridge, oats at first nosing.
It’s also a little metallic
and papery, dusty, getting then
rather milky and chalky. Yet, all
that is rather enjoyable and there’s
something pleasantly flowery coming
through after a while, such as hints
of lily of the valley but then it’s
back to porridge from Porridge’s.
Nothing really special but the whole
is rather flawless… Wait,
it gets quite farmy after a good
fifteen minutes, with hints of manure
and horse dung… Extreme porridge?
(with apologies to our English friends).
|
| Mouth:
hugely grainy and cardboardy, cardboardy
and grainy, grainy and cardboardy…
And that’s all. Not exactly
bad but as simple as it can get.
No possible maltoporn here, we’re
in ‘near-blend’ territories.
The finish is quite long, that is,
but always on the same notes. Yes,
cardboard and grains. The nose was
much more interesting! Drinkable.
72 points. |
| Glen
Deveron 12 yo (43%, OB for Martini
& Rossi Italy, 1980’s)
Colour: gold. Nose: yes, it’s
nicer, no doubt. Much more mature
(and it can’t be just the
extra two years) and, above all,
much fruitier. Lots of tropical
fruits (mangos and papayas, passion
fruits), getting more and more orangey
after that. Then it gets rather
phenolic – unexpectedly -,
with also rotting fruits (over the
hill pineapples), plum jam, Jell-O…
Hints of eucalyptus and spearmint…
And then a little vanilla flavoured
tea, just before, again, a certain
farminess starts to take control
(a much cleaner one, though) together
with hints of pine needles. Very
interesting, especially when compared
with the recent Glen Deverons that
are much more ‘mundane’
in my opinion. Mouth: excellent
but maybe a tad weakish at the attack…
Again these fruity notes (more on
apples and pears this time) mingling
with all sorts of nuts, cereals,
and quite some resinous notes (cough
syrup). Also a little tea…
Simpler than the nose but balanced
and enjoyable, with a medium long
finish on tea, cereals and cake
plus a wee pinch of salt. Very good
altogether. 85 points. |
| and
also... Macduff
13 yo 1990 (46%, Cooper's Choice)
In case you don’t know, Macduff
is the actual name of the distillery
where Glen Deveron’s produced.
Colour: white wine. Nose: well,
this one smells even more ‘porridgy’
than the official 10 yo . Hard to
imagine a malt that’s closer
to soaked grains, baby’s cereal,
cooked yoghurt, wet cardboard and
mashed potatoes. Okay, add to that
a little vanilla and traces of wood
and that’s it. Mouth: just
in the same style, with also something
sugarish and maybe hints of kirsch
and molasses. Long but grainy and
sugary finish, as expected. It is
to be wondered how old this cask
was prior to filling, but it’s
quite interesting to try a very
immature, yet not too young malt.
A curiosity. 70 points. |
 |
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: jazz? Classical? What's
sure is that it's very good, it's
Japan's Toshiko
Akiyoshi playing
a slice of Leoncavallo's I
Pagliacci.mp3 on the piano...
And so it swings... Please buy
Toshiko's music! |
|
|
|
November
17, 2006 |
|
|
| TASTING
- FOUR NEW OLD (and consistent)
CAOL ILAS |
Caol
Ila 25 yo 1979/2006 (58.4%, OB,
6000 bottles)
I think this was the second version
of the official 25 yo . Colour:
pale straw. Nose: one of the most
maritime Caol Ilas I ever had,
starting on unusual notes of sea
urchins, iodine, all sorts of
seashells, oysters… The smoke
is more discreet after all these
years and so is the peat 'generally
speaking'. It develops more on
cider apples, fresh butter, liquorice
sticks, violet sweets, with also
whiffs of church incense. Also
fresh turnip and salsify, hints
of manure, wet stones... The balance
is perfect. With water (45% vol.):
we have more fresh butter, notes
of lambwool, pine needles, hints
of breadcrumb, marzipan... Fresh,
clean and subtle, not too far
from a younger version, just less
round and fruity and more complex
and subtle. But that's the whole
point, I guess… |
 |
| Mouth
(neat): expressive, much fruitier
than the nose and, above all, extremely
salty. Quite drinkable at such high
strength. Goes on with lemon zests,
mastic, argan oil… Gets saltier
and saltier. With water: the tannins
awake and so does the pepper, but
there's still lots of salt. Lemon
seeds. Something of a dry martini.
Finish: rather long, nicely bitter
and resinous, with quite some liquorice
stick and notes of gentian spirit.
Maybe not as complex as its brothers
from the south shore or from Skye
but this Caol Ila still really stays
the course. 89 points. |
|
Caol
Ila 26 yo 1979/2006 (62.8%, Signatory,
Hogshead #05/848, 217 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: interestingly
different, with more cask influence.
Starts on notes of caramel and parsley,
celery… Even less peat and smoke
but more resin, fern, moss, wet
leaves… Quite some marzipan as well,
candlewax… Much less maritime than
the OB and slightly meatier (ham).
Smoked tea. Gets even meatier with
time, also notes of old books. Probably
the most expressive but not the
most elegant. With water: much more
peat now, hints of manure, wet hay,
porridge… More fresh herbs as well,
parsley, lovage… Mouth (neat): slightly
sweeter, than the OB, with notes
of sherry, something slightly sour
and again quite some salt. |
| Again,
less clean than the OB but more
demonstrative (quite some crystallised
oranges). With water: hmm, too bad,
that didn't quite work, the whole
getting a little cardboardy but
wait… it's improving again now.
Lots of bitter oranges and notes
of chlorophyll plus something smoky…
Well, it's quite hard to compare
malts that are so close to eachother.
Finish: rather long again, with
notes of something like tequila,
walnut skins… Nice bitterness and
quite some salt. Well, I'm trying
to emphasize the differences between
these Caol Ilas but again, they're
quite close actually. 88
points. |
Caol
Ila 25 yo 1980/2005 (60.4%, SMWS
#53.98)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: more
closed than both the OB and the
Signatory at first nosing, more
spirity. Develops on vegetal notes
(grass, fir buds) and quite some
wax, paraffin, fresh almonds and
walnuts… Nice notes of spring
water and fresh mint. It does
get much peatier after a good
five minutes, the peatiest of
the first three in fact. With
water: tht doesn't quite work
this time, no further developement
except kind of a cardboardiness
and a surprising fruitiness (golden
delicious). Mouth (neat): rather
sharper and more lemony, more
powerful but more austere. The
saltiness is well here again.
Quite some liquorice and pepper
- something of Talisker. With
water: it works now, the whisky
opens up, getting very classsically
'CI'. Smokiness, salt, apples,
marzipan, walnuts, oysters...
Finish: long, slightly peppery
and metallic… But the whole is
another very good old Caol Ila,
still in the same league. 88
points. |
 |
|
Caol
Ila 1979/2006 (61.8%, Jean Boyer's
Best Casks of Scotland)
Colour: straw. Nose: this one smells
rounder and sweeter, closer to cider
apples and fresh walnuts when neat.
Notes of farmyard and wet hay, flints,
grapefruit skin, fresh butter… Superb.
With water: it got much peatier,
more 'Islay'. Black pepper, oysters
and lemon, soaked grains, garden
bonfire, pu-erh tea... Maybe the
most complex on the nose but frankly,
all four are quite similar (except
maybe the SMWS that's a bit 'weaker'
on the nose - yes, splitting hairs).
|
| Mouth
(neat): the most expressive of them
all when neat, very waxy and quite
resinous. Spicy (hints of curry),
lots of old walnut, notes of fino,
green tea… quite some salt again…
Slightly biting, water really needed
now: it works again but this time,
the whisky gets slightly dryer,
more austere and also more elegant.
Something like peppered tapioca
plus crystallised quince, hints
of thyme, soft paprika, curry...
Also quite some peppermint. Beautifully
sharp and ultra-clean. Finish: long
again, maybe a little too dry now
but nicely spicy (white and black
pepper). Notes of flour (dryness).
Phew, I'm happy I managed to go
through these four similar Caol
Ilas, it was really hard to get
enough differences… Anyway, I think
this last one deserves 89
points. (Please note that
this one’s been finally released
at 46%, unlike that cask strength
sample - notes may then differ.) |
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: I don't know whether
Olivia
Ruiz is known outside
France or not but she's certainly
quite talented and I think she
deserves international recognition.
Her current hit single is J'traine
les pieds.mp3 (from La femme
chocolat)... Please buy her music! |
 |
|
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|
November
16, 2006 |
|
|
| TASTING
- TWO PEATY ILEACHS |
 |
We
just got the already famous PC5
from Bruichladdich’s (the
first official Port Charlotte ever)
and after having waited for a good
two weeks to let it recover from
bottle-shock (it was bottled on
October 24) it’s time to taste
it. The first PC indie bottlings
were very good (especially Gordon
Homer’s Bloodtub that was
brilliant albeit heavily sherried)
so I have rather high expectations.
And as I really wanted to get its
singularities, I decided to taste
it head to head with the current
Ardbeg 10 yo that everyone knows
very well. |
| Ardbeg
10 yo (46%, OB, circa 2005)
Colour: straw. Nose: rather soft
at first nosing, buttery, with lots
of soaked grain, porridge and, of
course, smoke. Notes of wet stones,
kelp, iodine. Something slightly
metallic and then quite some apple
juice and green pears. Loads of
fresh apples after that. Hints of
coal, lamp petrol and paraffin.
Really a classic. Much less ‘sweetish’
than last time I had it, so it’s
most pleasant on the nose. Mouth:
starts slightly prickly (green apples,
herbs liqueur, pepper) but gets
rapidly quite softer (apple compote,
smoked tea) and salty, slightly
bitter (chlorophyll, lemon zests).
Nice minerality, faintly cardboardy…
Gets then more and more lemony.
Finish: not too long but very lemony
and salty, with also a little un-sugared
green tea… A sure bet. 86
points. |
| Port
Charlotte 2001/2006 ‘PC5’
(63.5%, OB)
Colour: pale gold. Nose (neat):
hotter of course but certainly not
‘un-noseable’. Starts
on notes of pear spirit and kirsch
(not the cheap versions) that probably
come from the young age. Lots of
smoke after that, peat (peat smoke,
really) overripe oranges and apples,
something like very ripe melons,
then pencil lead, chocolate, hints
of geranium, sour cream and yoghurt,
milk chocolate… Amazingly
expressive at such young age and
high strength. With water (at roughly
45%): very interesting to compare
it with the Ardbeg. The latter is
really on fresh apples whilst the
PC is much more mineral (lots of
linseed oil as well). Raw wool?
Quite some cold green tea as well,
getting then minty and quite spicy
(curry?) Very interesting for it’s
different from all other peated
Islayers. Mouth (neat): powerful
but drinkable, starting on a mix
of bitterness (grape skin), kirsch
again and raw spirit, with also
something farmier, less maritime
than the Ardbeg. Lots of blackcurrant
leaves as well, tea… With
water now: good, we managed to tame
it. Probably simpler than on the
nose but extremely coherent, mainly
on pepper, gentian spirit, liquorice
sticks and chocolate… And
always lots of cold green tea (quite
some tannins despite its 5 years
of age). Finish: rather long, always
on pepper and tea, chlorophyll chewing
gum, cocoa powder and lots of peat.
In short, it’s rawer than
the Ardbeg 10, slightly more spirity
(fruit eau-de-vie) but potentially
more complex. Certainly more mineral
and vegetal on the palate as well
as on the nose. And already very,
very drinkable if you like ‘peat’,
I’m pretty sure a few more
years of ageing will propel it well
over 90 points. We probably have
a new Premier Cru on Islay! 86
points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: oldies but goldies -
We're in 1975 with French poetic
supergroup (at the time) Ange. |
 |
|
They are playing Ode
a Emile.mp3, a moving story
about an old blacksmith. God we
used to love Ange!... Some of the
members are still touring France
so, if you ever come over here,
you know what to do. |
|
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November
15, 2006 |
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|
 |
Aberlour
A'bunadh 'Batch #15' (59.6%, OB,
2005)
Some of my fellow MM's think this
was one of the best batches ever.
Colour: full amber. Nose: starts
really 'thick', rounded, just like
a fruitcake. The balance seems to
be perfect indeed. Huge notes of
liqueur-filled chocolate, sultanas
and prunes, reduced wine sauce,
with a more than enjoyable meatiness
(ham cooked with pineapple). Develops
on cappuccino, chocolate cake just
out of the oven, notes of armagnac,
blackcurrant jelly... And also these
whiffs of wood smoke. |
| Goes
on with quite some caramel, praline,
black nougat, churros, brownies…
Gets then meatier (game) and also
quite spicy (lots of cloves). Up
to its reputation indeed, more complex
than expected and, above all, extremely
compact and satisfying. The blender
who made this one deserves a medal.
Mouth: punchy and powerful but perfectly
drinkable at such high strength.
Starts on lots of toffee and roasted
peanuts as well as prunes again,
Smyrna raisins, notes of arrak (date
spirit), ripe red currants… Probably
simpler than on the nose (and frankly
caramelly) but again, perfectly
crafted. I don't know their recipe
but it works, both the oak and the
wine managing to stay just below
the limits. No rubber, no excessive
tannins, no overly jammy notes,
no sourness... Very good indeed.
Keeps developing on herbs (rosemary
and thyme) plus rather funny notes
of mentholated tobacco (Kool!) Simply
very, very good. Finish: long, fruity,
'cooked', on liqueur chocolate and
prunes… Excellent indeed. I'd really
love to be able to taste one of
these after 30+ years in its bottle.
Let's be (very) patient… 89
points. |
| Aberlour
12 yo A'bunadh 'Sterling Silver'
(58.7%, OB, 2000)
This one was bottled to celebrate
the millennium. Colour: full amber.
Nose: much more wood influence at
first nosing, less fruity. Lots
of varnish, freshly sawn plank,
green tea… There must be quite some
sherry in there but the oak really
overwhelms the whole, although it
does get much nicer after a few
minutes. Indeed, the oakiness slowly
vanishes, giving way to rather nice
whiffs of menthol, eucalyptus and
chlorophyll. But it's still much
dryer than expected. Develops on
old walnuts, madeira, mustard...
Goes on with wax polish, very old
chardonnay, leather, oxtail... Very
complex, actually, with also quite
some nougat and praline, roasted
pecans, smoked tea... But then the
heavy oaky notes are back, with
kind of a greenness. I think the
'simpler' A'bunadh #15 is pretty
nicer. But maybe the palate will
change that... Mouth: ah, this is
rather better now. Creamy and rather
oily but balanced, with a huge fruitiness
(Christmas cake) but also kind of
a sourness. Alas, it gets then more
and more tannic, sticking your tongue
onto your palate… Quite some mint
in the background but also something
bitter (rubber, chlorophyll). This
one really lacks the beautiful roundness
of most regular A'bunadhs. Finish:
long but still a little sourish
and drying. Don't get me wrong,
the whole is very nice whisky but
maybe not worth a genuine sterling
silver label? 83 points.
|
| And
also Aberlour
10 yo (40%, OB, circa 2006)
Nose: rather discreet, slightly
smoky. Gets better with time, caramel,
raisins. Slight dustiness. Mouth:
pear spirit, cider, vanilla crème,
hints of liquorice. Very drinkable,
flawless. 80 points. |
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: let's have some very
energetic soul jazz today with
the very excellent Marlena
Shaw singing Street
walking woman.mp3. And of
course please buy her music... |
 |
Check
the index of all entries:
Whisky
Music
Nick's Concert
Reviews |
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Best
malts I had these weeks - 90+
points only - alphabetical:
Ardmore
15 yo (45.7%,
OB ‘For the Directors of William Teachers
& Sons, 600 bottles, probably 1950’s)
Bruichladdich
1986/2005 (54.9%, OB, freesh sherry
butt, 516 bottles)
Glenglassaugh
40 yo 1965/2006 (46,7%, The Whisky
Fair, Fino sherry butt, 361 bottles)
Highland
Park 18 3/5 yo ‘Lunar Bottling’
(45.1%, OB, 2006)
Highland
Park 25 yo 1952/1977 ‘Silver Jubilee’
(70°Proof, Gordon & MacPhail)
Macallan
18 yo 1974 (43%, OB)
Springbank
1975 (46%, Celtic Cross, Japan)
Talisker
17 yo 1979/1996 (62.6%, Cadenhead authentic
collection)
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