Simple whisky from the big boys

The big boys in the whisky business tends to focus on 40% mass market whisky or silly overpriced whiskies in excessive packaging. But there's a few bottlings out there worth a notice for those of us who like to add the water ourselves and releases sold at a sensible prices!

Time for 4 short reviews:

1. Glenfiddich 15yo 51%, Distillery Edition


Going through Schiphol I spotted this whisky on the shelves of a whisky speciality store.  1 liter at 45 euros. I couldn't resist the temptation and bought a bottle

Nose : Dark fruits and candy toffee and a touch of red wine/ grapes

Palate : this whisky is rather complex. fruity, grapes, nutty and woody. Quite hot (alcohol) and a somewhat bitter finish.

Finish : short to medium

Rating 82

2. Balvenie 15yo Single Barrel 47.8%
6/3-95 -> 31/3-10 Cask number 2800

The 15yo is an "endless" set of releases which all are around 15 years old, but slightly older casks have been seen. It's not cask strength as the they all have been reduced to 47.8% as bottling strength. The whiskies are from different casks but very similar in styles

The nose is reminding me of armagnac and apples which are dominant, then a hint of citrus and malt

Palate : a very light dram, with speyside-nuts, some maltiness, and a hint of citrus

Finish : Medium

Rating 84

3. Glenlivet Nadurra 16yo batch 1110L 55.1%
Natural Cask Strength

Nose : Vanilla, Woodspices, joining together in a warming welcome

Palate : Fruity (banana?), vanilla, spicy, what a pleasant mouthfull. This whisky got loads of pleasant wood extracts. I wonder if any of the french oak casks went into this as this is more like the french oak than the standard 12yo

Rating 87

Lagavulin 12yo 56.5% bottled 2010


Walking trough Edinburgh Airport last around a year ago I picked this up at 41£


Nose : Heavy Peat, Earthy


Palate : Clean Peat, Malty, Some sweetness, cod-liver oil that isn't fishy (Don't ask, I can't explain it myself)


Finish Medium-Long, the peat lingers


Rating 87


Old fashioned peaty whisky, this just reminds of the way Laphroaig were when I first tasted a peaty whisky back in the nineties. Or maybe how I was back than. It's good to be back


End of the day, 4 nice no-nonsense bottlings of good quality whisky, and the last two are now on my favourite shelf

Tormore 1994/2007, Gordon & MacPhail, 59.9%

Tormore is another of the very low profile distilleries. Only a couple of official bottlings are around, and the whisky is not highly sought after amongst the independent
bottlers, but still, some bottlings do occur and with my (lacking) knowledge of this distillery’s products in mind, I think it’s time to try one:

Tormore, 15.09.1994/17.05.2007, Gordon&MacPhail’s Cask Strength Collection, casks 8350+8352, 1stfill sherry butts, 59.9%

Nose:
starts on lemon grass followed by buttery notes and burnt hay. There’s a
certain spicy toffeeness coating the whole thing which makes it kind of
fulfilling. Resin, sweet candy, liquorice and coffee comes in and add
complexity to what is becoming quite a lovely and characterfull nose for such a
young whisky. After a few minutes the butter steps forward and gives a creamy
feeling. There is also a sharp and fresh nature to this dram like a room that
has just been cleaned with Ajax – I mean this positively. If the palate is in
the same league, we’re in for a treat. Let’s see..

Taste:
burnt sugar, sherry and rather a lot of wood. Wood soaked in good sherry that
is. The wood isn’t overpowering but present all the way from when the first
drops hit the tastebuds to the long and drying finish. A special combination of
freshly cut grass and black coffee. Not as complex as the nose but very
lovable. Strong, yet elegant. Punchy, yet sensitive. Immensely interesting
whisky from well selected casks. A pleasant surprise!

Rating: 89

Those damn collectors, BRIC and feckin ebay

Whisky is getting more expensive, and NOONE is happy about it. Except the few thousands that lives of selling the stuff of course. So what are the reasons for this pricejump. Well I don't really know but I have some thoughts why it could be so and some are very obvious

1. More people drink quality whisky. This isn't just the BRIC countries, Brasil, Russia, India and China, entering the premium market. As money has started rolling in in these countries, a lot of people, as these countries has HUGE populations are getting more money in their hands. And they buying cheap local booze and replace it with more expensive "premium" spirits (for some reason a bottle of spirit is more expensive than a bottle of booze)
Well, this has mainly affected the blend market. Johnnie Walker is extremely popular in asia. The price of better blends hasn't really gone up where I live so if I want a bottle of Johnnie Walker Black I have no reason to complain.

But a lot more is drinking quality single malt whisky in the traditional markets, and with single malts being such a relative small part of whisky the business, a rise of consumers in this field is something that can be felt.

2. Some whiskies ARE getting rare. Quite a lot of distilleries were closed in the early eighties, Port Ellen, Brora being the most famous but also Dallas Dhu, Coleburn, Convalmore, Banff, Glen Albyn and St. Magdalene. Rosebank, Imperial, Caperdonich are later closures. According to Malt Whisky Yearbook, there is approximately 28 closed distilleries with bottles on the market. Most of these will not reopen. And their whiskies are getting rare. Some of them very rare. And some are very good and very popular. This will of course cause a price jump. Demand and availability. Add to this distilleries with large gaps in production years, resulting in big holes in stock. Ardbeg and Springbank just to name a couple.

3. Price as a marketing tool. Like it or not, whiskies are brands, just like Heineken, Nike and Levi's. And there's a bit of a dogfight being the "finest" distillery out there. It seems like they all want a "THE" in front of the distillery name and a 10000£ 50yo in a bullet proof display cabin in the visitor centre. Our whisky is the most expensive and that by all logic means its also the best..

4. We are fashion muppets. Like it or not, whiskies are brands, just like Heineken, Nike and Levi's. And consumers are slaves to fashion trends, and so are whisky consumers. Popular Names, Fancy Boxes and Crystal Bottles sells just as well as the actual quality of the whisky. I've seen people looking on a designed bottle package with the same adoration in their eyes as when they look on their newborn child. And when Highland Park release their overpriced King Cucumber the 4th special release the internet is drowning with fans moaning they can't get hold of a bottle (those feeckin ebayers bought them all). Shut the fuck up, it takes 5 minutes internet research to find a brilliant bottle from some lesser known distillery, or one of those weird german independant bottler with home made labels, that is a lot better whisky, cheaper, but unfortunately doesn't come with any bragging rights.

But in the end I have a painful suspicion that the main reason for whisky getting more expensive is

5. Drinkers, like me, hoarding. I buy a lot more than I can drink. I got "a few" bottles in my stock (IT*S NOT A COLLECTION). I have continuesly bought more than I can drink. So have more or less everybody I know in the world of whisky. The amount of bottles stocked up on the shelves of whisky drinkers outnumbers the numbers of bottles that collectors have in their collections. Tenfold. I bet you!
Off course the limit between drinkers and collectors is blurred, but I tell you something. The next whiskycrash will come the day us drinkers decide to drink what we have in our cabinet and stop buying!

Me and a whisky collection. Not mine though!

That said, I don't like ebayers making profit of releases from last week. It's just bad whisky karma !. But hey, we live in a capitalist society and they only take advantage of the fashion slaves, don't they ?

Every Year I make a new year resolution not to buy more whisky bottles and drink less. I did so this new year. It didn't go very well, I allready ordered three bottles. But now it's over. No more purchases!!

Until I get one more whiskycupboard, I am out of space

Happy New Year. May your drams in 2012 be as good as the ones I had in 2011 :-)

Mortlach - hit or miss?

Mortlach is a distillery that has caught my eye with some excellent bottles in the past and also caught my eye with some, well, not so excellent bottles. I know several whisky enthusiasts who have Mortlach among their top distilleries, but for me so far it's been either hit or miss. It's been a while since I had a Mortlach - time to put that right with one of the most popular releases from the Flora & Fauna series, the 16 year old Mortlach, which I actually never tried before. I bought this bottle in 2010 at Blair Athol Distillery and at the time they had plenty. Those days are surely over... For good measure let's oppose it to another youngish Mortlach, a 1991 from Gordon & MacPhail.

Mortlach, 1991/2004, Gordon&MacPhail, 10th Anniversary bottling for Danish wine shop Vinens Verden, Slotsgade, cask 7863, refill sherry, 43%

Ok, the colour suggests that it is indeed a sherry cask. Unfortunately caramel has probably been added so nothing to read from that and besides, what does colour tell us about the quality of a whisky? You're right, absolutely nothing!

Nose: boiled fruits, lemonade and figs. Then comes some dark notes of sweet cherries. Add to that orange peel and apple pie and you have an entertaining albeit not spectacular nose.

Taste: Again boiled fruits, also dried fruits and some citrus. Not really complex and fades a bit fast but hey, it's well made and has no flaws.

Rating: 81

Mortlach 16yo, Flora & Fauna, 43%

Nose: starts on candied apples and apple juice, peach and walnuts. Orange notes of dried oranges, delicious fruits at full speed forward. Very confident and lively. After a few minutes coffee and sugar join the party. Let's see how this one tastes.

Taste: first some sherry followed by dark coffee and a little unexpected peat! Dried fruits, orange chocolate and prunes. Gets drier in the medium length finish that ends in dark chocolate, flint and bonfire smoke.

Surely a fine dram which I' sure would have hit a couple of extra marks had it been bottled at, let's say, 50 %.

Rating: 87

Concluding comments: These two Mortlachs are not in amongst the best I've tasted from this distillery, nor are they in the hat with the not so good Mortlachs that have come my way. Let us say that they are in the group of the interesting and entertaining Mortlachs which is not bad.

Lars

World Whiskies - Happy New Year

As the new year is rolling in over the globe over the next 24 hours lets have a look at whisky from around the globe

Whisky is a popular dram. Distilleries are popping up all over the world, Personally I have always regarded Scotland, USA, Ireland and Japan for the classic 4 whisky countries which have a long tradition of making whisky of all kinds. Many would argue that Canada belongs to this list, and I don't really have an opinion if it does or not, I simply lack experience in canadian whiskies

But the world is coming. Amrut from India has already made it to the stars of whisky

World whiskies doesn't have the same reputation as whisky from the countries mentioned above, and there's a couple of reasons for that.

Some world distilleries simply make crap whisky and/or

Some distilleries bottle whisky that's too young

But that's not something particular for world whiskies. I could say the same about some whiskies from Scotland. But let's leave the bad ones.

This blog post is my personal recommendations of whiskies from around the world worth having a look at. The list isn't complete as I haven't tasted everything out there.

Let's start in America!

McCarthy's Oregon single malt whiskey

Single malt whiskey from Portland in Oregon, made at Clear Creek Distillery
This is a peated malt made on Holstein still's one a one-run distillation (with a twist)
Read more here : http://www.clearcreekdistillery.com/whiskey.html
A delicious peaty dram, well worth a look

Charbay

Charbay is a winery and multidistillery in the hills between Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley just north of San Francisco in California. Marko Karakasevic is a somewhat excentric distiller who decided if he had to dsitll beer, it has to be the best beers, so Charbay whiskeys is made from bottle ready IPA's, stouts and the likes. This isn't the cheapest whiskeys on the market and its not easy to find either as the releases has been few over the years

Read more here : http://www.charbay.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=WHISKII7

Moving over to Europe now :

France:

Glann ar Mor

Still

A Bretagne distillery in France keeps the celtic connection up, and with a double distillation, live flame heated, onion shaped pot stills, worm tubs and wooden wash backs this is as traditional as it can be.

Lars reviewed the peated version, Kornog here:
http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/kornog-glann-ar-mor-distillery-france.html

Distillery home page here : www.glannarmor.com 

Czech Republic:

Hammerhead

A Czech distillery in Pradlo decided to make some whisky in 1989, right before the velvet revolution. The casks were forgotten in the mild turmoil that created the czech republic and the whisky was "rediscovered" in 2010 and bottled as a 21yo. The new owners , The Stock Spirit Group, were really surprised by the quality of this spirit, and it has been availbale for bargain prices in duty frees

Taiwan:


Kavalan

Kavalan is a Taiwanese whisky, the distillery was started in 2006. Several expressions has been released, Kavalan, Concertmaster (port finish), Solist (single casks of various types) and King Car (un-chill filtered, 46%). The whisky is sold mainly on the chinese markets and is really hard to get in Europe (and the US)

Last, I believe that Australia is an up and coming whisky producing country, but I simply haven't tasted anything under proper circumstances recently, but I did try Lark whisky at Glasgow Whisky Festival and it's for sure something to keep an eye on as well

Canada : Look out for Forty Creek whisky from the Kittling Ridge Distillery

Beer hunter, Whisky chaser. A book review by Peter

First Blog by Peter
Hi this is my first take on a review on this page.
Before starting the review I had better introduce myself
I am an anorak (just as the other guys reviewing on this page. My specialty/interest is whisky books and Rosebank whisky (feel free to send me samples to review ;-) )
I have chosen to start with a review on the late great Michael Jackson's memorial book, Beer hunter, Whisky chaser.

Beer Hunter Whisky Chaser
Not a book by Michael Jackson, nor is it about the man (well not a lot anyway). But a book written as a tribute to him. (And as a money maker for the Parkinson Disease Society, UK). For that alone it gets a few stars extra!
Now I am both a whisky fan and a beer fan, so this book should be great for me! It is, but only in whisky terms. Apparently I'm not used to read a lot about beer, other than recipes for making it, so I'm a bit lost reading those parts of the book.
Because of that, the whisky parts will have to Carry the price. Luckily it does. Charles MacLean's analysis of the renaissance of malt whisky is the star of the book in my view. And the rest is not bad either.

For diversity the book gets an 85
For the whisky, it gets an 85 as well
For the charity, it gets a 92
Total 87

RIP
Michael Jackson

PS, if you want to see why you should buy this book and support The Parkinson Disease Society, then just check this YouTube clip and see the last interview with MJ. That ought to convince you if you have not all ready bought a copy.



Peter

Last drams of 2011 part 5

Old Grand Dad 100 proof bottled in bond 1982

To me, the bourbon terms sometimes seems odd. Bottled in bond means a vintage whiskey and straight means the whiskey is minimum 4 years old :-)

(read more exact definition here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_in_bond)

The Old Grand Dad is today a Beam brand, and uses a special high rye mash bill different from the other Beam whiskies. The whisky is named after Basil Hayden, the original distiller Raymond Haydens grand-dad. The name is also known from Beam's Basil Hayden's bouron which also uses the same mash bill.

Nose : Shoe polish, rye, liqeur

Palate : Wow, pure rye heaven. It's very smooth and hasn't got a lot of wood. Is this OBE ? (old bottle effect). I do find slight similarities to this and AH Hirsch 16, and the AH Hirsch 16 did spend around 1½ decade in stainless steel tanks. One thing is sure, I am glad I have been stocking up on bourbons bottled last century. I get more from this. Mint, licorise, floor varnish, rye, vanilla, but this is also one of the least woody and smoothest bourbons I have tried

Finish : medium-long

Rating 91

Thanks to Mike Ly for the sample