SMWS Festival bottlings 2019

Here is my review of 5 SMWS festival bottlings.

A festival in front of my laptop

SMWS 93.109 - Let Them Eat Hake

8yo 59.7%

Cask filled 1 April 2010 - 1st fill barrel ex-bourbon

(Peated)

SMWS, Scotch Malt Whisky Society, is an independent bottler that uses number codes to identify distillery and cask. 93.109 is cask number 109 bottled from their distillery number 93. Distillery number 93 is Glen Scotia

This was bottled for the Campbeltown Malts Festival, which takes place from 22-24 May

The nose is warm and welcoming. Sweet and meaty with medium fruity touch of peat.

This whisky is extremely oily the the extend it feels like actual drinking oil. It's dominated by a touch of both peat and salt, with warm almost olive oil flavour. No, not really, but the viscosity gives me that association. Later comes  a little meaty-ness and the finish is medium with some vanilla.

Rating 88/100

SMWS 10.169 - Obsidian Salmagundi

9yo 60.6%

Cask filled 22 October 2008 - 1st fill hogshead ex-oloroso

(Oily & Coastal)

This is the 169th cask bottled from Bunnahabhain, SMWS distillery number 10

SMWS operates with 12 colour coded flavour profiles. I have added them in paranthesis.You can also see the colour codes on the bottles on the bottles. The vertical line and age statement has a dark blue-green colour. This colour is the catagory "Oily and Coastal"
Colour coded flavour profiles is probably a good idea, but for me personally I have a hard time setting up a new system to box my whisky into it. I allready have a system and it's hard to learn old dogs new tricks.

This was bottled for the Islay Festival, Feis Ile, which takes place from 24th May to 1st June

The nose is dominated by the oloroso sherry notes and some sweet wet wood notes, likes the smell of just unbunged casks. Whisky does smell different from a cask than a bottle.

This is a sweet,  a little sharp, sherry dominated flavour. It's not a sherry monster, but one of those delicate woodforward sherry whiskies. As I often find in Bunnahabhain, the spirit have quite some maltiness

The finish is long and this whisky remninds me of drinking straighth from the cask

Rating 88/100

SMWS 7.216 - Champagne and Crepes Suzette

14yo 58.9%

Cask filled 17 November 2003 - 1st fill ex-bourbon 

(Juicy, Oak & Vanilla) 

Beside the number codes, each bottle also carries a name for the whisky. This whisky has the name "Champagne and Crepes Suzette". Let's see how it fares. I really dislike Champagne, but I love Crepes Suzettes. Number 7 is Longmorn from Speyside and this was bottled for the Spirit of Speyside festival which happened in the beginning of May

The nose is very dominant on vanilla. Vanilla whisky. Tasting it, I immidiately get a lighter and less oily whisky compared to the other ex-bourbon, the 93. It's a bit simple and one dimensional, it's good that that one side is vanilla. The only other thing I can find is a very faint soapy note

The finish is medium and doesn't reallt add much to this whisky

Rating 84/100

SMWS 30.106 - Succulent, Scintillating, Substantial

21yo 57.2%

Cask filled 17 April 1997 - 2nd fill butt ex-PX

(Deep, Rich & Dried Fruits)

SMWS is an independent bottler and you need to be a member to get access to their bottlings. They were founded in Edinburgh and have two locations in Edinburgh and one in London. Beside that they have chapters and partnership bars all over the world. I can sometimes be seen helping pouring craft beers at the one in my hometown. "Mig & Ølsnedkeren" in Aarhus, Denmark

Number 30 is Glenrothes. This was also bottled for the Spirit of Speyside festival

The nose is a classic sherry bomb. I am very sulphur sensitive, but I have to really dig into this to find the faintest hint of rubber. Or maybe not. There is also a faint hint of balsamic vinegar. 

The palate is huge sherry bomb, with a lot of licorise. Add a faint hint of rubber and balsamic vinegar. It's super dry as some dark sherry bombs but more on the fruity side. 

The finish is rather long and spicy

I am probably not the biggest fan of heavily sherried whiskies but I can drink this one. If you are a sherry whisky fan I suggest you check this out. if you can find it

 Rating 87/100

SMWS 29.261 - An Evil Dutch Dentist's Dram

21 yo 50.3%

Cask filled 1st fill hogshead ex-oloroso

(Old & Dignified)

Being a member in Denmark we have these great opportunities every 2nd month to taste all the new bottlings (usually around 14-16 bottles) at outturn casual days events set in various bars around Denmark. It's always good to try a whisky before you buy.

Distillery number 29 is Laphroaig. And this Laphroaig is also a Feis Ile bottling

The nose is sweet, sherrried and very peaty

On the palate I get eucalyptus, hint of red berries and loads of peat and it's quite light on the viscosity surprisingly. 

The finish is long with medicinal notes

Rating 88/100

You can find a decoding of the SMWS distillery codes here:

http://www.whiskynyt.dk/index.php/whisky-faq?id=1626

Is Jack Daniels a Bourbon?

YES

Grindlay's Selection

Here are five whiskies from Grindlay

Dalriada Blended Scotch Whisky 40%

Dominated by grain, quite perfumy. Will appeal to Bowmore fans that doesn't like peat.  After a nit the perfumyness gets a bit soapy. Easy drinking and this kind of flavour could appeal to some

I like that this below 25£ blend is natural colour

Rating 77/100

The 4 remaining bottles are all single cask releases and natural strength

Ben Nevis 1997 52.6%

I also find this a bit perfumy, but not soapy. I also get the burned hair sense I often pick up in Ben Nevis, but for this bottling it's quite faint. That said this is very drinkable and fans would describe this as a whisky with character. The perfumnyess get's a tad bit too much for me at the end of the dram

Rating 82/100

Glentauchers 1996 54.5%

A full bodied, flavourful malt, but also on the delicate side fruity side, with a nutty finish

Rating 85/100

Dailuaine 1996 57%

Very nice and delicate whisky. The nose is how you wish your next whisky is going to smell. It got the oldstyle bubblegum thing, that I so rarely see these days. Very nice

Rating 89/100

Craigellachie 2006 64.1%

Strong. Kinda grainy. A bit newmakey, which appears as a bit of sourness. For the lovers of young malts

Rating 78/100


Thanks to Grindlay's for the samples. More info about the bottlings on their own website here:

http://www.scotlandgrindlay.com 

A short guide to Del Maguey for whisky drinkers

Today I am moving into a subject I don't know a lot about. I went to a Del Maguey event organised by the danish importer, Juul's Engros, and tried to learn a bit. The event was a promotion for mainly local cocktail bartenders. It was hosted at the Mikkeller bar in Aarhus, and I managed to get an invitation from the boss of the Mikkeller bar. Drinking a lot of beers sometimes pays off 😈

The Mikkeller Bar has a limited (very) selection of spirits, but there is 2 bottles of Del Maguey on the shelf there, which is about a fifth or sixth of the total selection of spirits. It is a beer bar after all.

I have always been a big fan of the Del Maguey mezcals I have tried.

Del Mageys is one of the top, if not the top bottler of Mezcal.

The line-up

Mezcal is a mexican spirit made from agave . Agave is a plant that looks like a mix of artichokes and cactus. Like the artichoke, it's the heart of the plant that is used.

The best known version of mezcal is tequila, which is often mass produced and not very good. That said, quite a lot of excellent tequilas do exist. Tequila is made from blue agave, while mezcal can be made from any agave. Tequila is sometimes barrel aged, which mezcal (normally) isn't.

After harvesting the agave is roasted in a  small earth pit by hot stones for a period of days, which varies from producer to producer.  Beside some geographical restrictments (which overlap), this is the main difference between tequila and other mezcals. Tequila is often just pressure cooked.

I guess the cooking/roasting breaks down the starch to sugars. The roasting will give mezcal a slight (sometimes more than slight) smoky flavor.

The agave is then milled and fermented, with wild airborne yeast. At this point of production the only other ingredient is added, which is water. After fermentation the mash is distilled. The stilltype can vary, Clay and copper potstills is the normal, and as I understand it, it's a double destillation (normally). Hybrid stills do exist, so single destillation mezcal dom exist and I taste one further down this post. No water is added to Del Maguey after destillation, so the ABV is controlled by running a relative longer tail than compared to normal whiskyproduction.

Del Maguey (maguey means agave) is a range of mezcals produced by small family owned producers in the Oaxaca state in Mexico. This is basically farm distillers. The difference between the different mezcals comes from a range of parameters, here is some of them:

Agave variety
Soil
Altitude
Roasting time
Fermentation time
Still type

At the event I tasted the following:

Chichicapa

Chichicapa had a distinct smoky flavor and would appeal to whisky drinkers who like Ardbeg

Minero

Minero is made on clay potstills and I guess the abscence of copper is why Minero is a bit rougher, sulphury (vegetaby) and has intense flavour. This Mezcal will appeal to whisky drinkers who like Ben Nevis and Glen Scotia. One of the other participants, the cheese maker from Arla Unika, bought a bottle of this to use as ingredient in a cheese. Because it was the most intense mezcal we had that day. He was right. And it makes sense to choose this as a flavour ingredient

San Luis del Rio - Azul

A lot of sources says Mezcal's isn't made from blue agaves. They are wrong as this is. The Azul is sweeter and nice and will to whisky drinkers who like sweeter highlanders/speysiders. Think Glencadam (I did)

Barril

A dry (but also kind of sweet) mezcal. Earthy, citrusy and smoky. This and the Chicicapa were the two I found most smoky. Chicicapa was a tad bit sweeter. This will appeal to whisky drinkers who like Longrow
 

San Pablo Ameyaltepez

The lighest of the bunch. I found this a bit synthetic tasting, but still nice. I wonder if I thought so, becasue I was told this mezcal was single distilled on a hybrid still 😀

This will appeal to whisky drinkers who like grain whisky.

Pechuga

Pechuga is a rare speciality version of Minero. Pechuga means chicken. The Minero is distilled a third time. 100 liters of Minero is mixed with 100 kilograms mix of wild mountain apples and plums, plantain red bananas and pineapples, almonds and uncooked white rice. In the neck of the still the vapour of the 24 hour destillation will pass through skinless chickenbreast with bones

The result is a spicy and very complex spirit. This will appeal to whisky drinkers who like really old and delicate whiskies. Who doesn't ?

As with old and delicate whisky, this is not cheap.

Barrel aged - Santo Domingo Albarradas

This is Santo Domingo Albarradas aged for 1 year and 7 months in a Stitzel-Weller Barrell that held bourbon for 20 years. Labeled as Stitzel-Weller but presented as Pappy van Winkle. Probably because noone know what Stitzel-Weller is, and everyone knows Pappy. Except you and me off-course.

This particular cask was bottled for Maison du Whisky.

This was simply delicious. I need to source out and try the non barrel-aged Santo Domingo Albarradas to see what flavours this barrel gave to this mezcal. It has a distinct medicinal flavour I associate with pre-prohibition bourbon and ryes. I guess this will appeal to whisky drinkers who likes pre-prohibition bourbon and ryes.

100% Tobala

For some odd reason this is one of my favourite labels ever

Made from wild Tobala agave. Intense and very flavourful and the perfect finish to tasting 9 mezcals. This will appeal to whisky drinkers who like single cask, cask strength whiskies.

Big thanks to Lukas from Mikkeller for edging me in on this, and thanks to Del Maguey and Juul's Engros for hosting this.

On purpose I didn't litter this post with a lot of technical details, but the geeky reader can benefit a lot from the official website of Del Maguey

http://delmaguey.com/

A couple of Teelings

The Revival 13yo
46%

This whisky has been matured for 12 years on ex-bourbon casks, and then finished in ex-calvados casks

The nose is delicate, fruity and has a bit of dry wood. The palate has got a lot of calvados to it. Think dry applejuice. Still adds a slight sweetness to the whisky. Easy drinkable. I am a purist, som prefer my whisky to taste like whisky and this is just a little bit too much calvados for me

Rating 84/100

Teeling 24yo
46%

Matured on ex-bourbon with an ex-sauterne finish

I am probably not the right person to review a whisky finished on ex-sauterne as sauterne (a sweet french dessert wine) tends to give whisky a...yes, sweet or very sweet taste

This particular whisky is very sweet and tastes a lot of sauterne. It's full bodied and sweet. The nose is delicate and sweet. The palate is nutty and sweet. To be fair the the bold nuttyness dominates the sweetness. It's has a long, quite intense and sweet finish

if you are into sweet whiskies this is something for you. It's hard for me to give this is a score as for me there is a difference between bad whisky and then whisky that I don't personally like. This is not a bad whisky, but it's not my style at all

Rating 82/100


Thanks to Teeling for the samples. (Photos stolen from the Teeling website)

New release from Fary Lochan

Fary Lochan Forår Batch 2 
47%

or

When a whisky distillery moves beyond "promising"

With the first of spring hitting us Fary Lochan is releasing their second "Spring" version of their malt whisky. Forår is danish for spring

"Forår" means Spring so this should be over

I really like the nose of this whisky. It's light, delicate and very moreish. Here are my tasting notes


Colour: Pale yellow

Nose is delicate malty, with notes of vanilla, honey and lemon pudding. Behind there is a faint note of the signature Fary Lochan nettle smoke. In a nutshell, this is lemon nettles.

Palate: A light viscous spirit with an earthy touch. Nutty and malty. A crisp freshness is added with the light smokiness and it all finishes out with notes of lemon and green apples.


Fary Lochan is still maturing and this is their oldest expression to date. the whisky is still not 5 years old and the youth is not very obvious in this bottling but there is a faint hotness to the palate. The minimum age for whisky to be bottles is 3 years old and with an increasing stock of whisky maturing it seems that Fary Lochan can go out and pick something good. This is my favourite danish whisky to date. Particular the fantastic nose is the reason for this.

Rating 85/100

Thanks to Fary Lochan for the sample

(Photo stolen from Fary Lochan fb-page)

Loch Lomond Single Grain

45%

Loch Lomonds new bottling is a NAS single grain. It is bottled at 45%
according to the promotional material the grain used is excluselively malted barley. it is also mentioned the whisky is matured in american oak casks. The reason this is not considered a single malt, is that malt whisky requires a specific distilling equipment (pot stills). This whisky is distilled on a Coffey still and is best compared to to Nikka's Coffey Malt

The nose is extremely fruity and citrusy. with a hint of newmake. The palate is is more of the same fruity character. This whisky reminds me of the malt whiskies seen from numerous new distilleries that uses hybrid stills. Makes sense since both are not double distilled but single distilled. The palate is fruity, citrus - pineapple mix. it is a little bit hot. I also get a faint note of shaved pencils or cardboard box. It's a nice dram, the biggest problem is that it doesn't taste like whisky. Nor does it taste like the grain whiskies I have tasted before The flavour that og grain whisky is usually based on cask-induced components. This whisky for sure has a flavour that is spirit driven.

Easy drinkable, somewhat different to what Scotland otherwise has to offer. Fruity, almost eua-de-vie like and just a little hot on the prefinish. It's a bit hit or miss if a whiskydrinker would like this style or not. After a bit I get a little worn by this unusual flavours so I think it's omething you have to get used to drink. In short, this whisky is delicate, fruity, weird and the weakest point is the finish

Rating 82/100

Skotsk Whisky - uden farve, uden filter

af Peter Kjær og Lars Gregersen

En ny whiskybog. På Dansk. Skrevet af Danskere

(You can find the english review HERE)

Det er ikke så tit man ser whiskybøger på dansk. De fleste whiskybøger er skrevet på andre sprog, og de oversættes typisk ikke til dansk. Her har to danskere, der begge arbejder med whisky til daglig, kastet sig ud i at skrive en bog om skotsk whisky. Forfatterne er Peter Kjær (Krut's Karport, en whiskybar i København) og Lars Gregersen (LAGO, vin- og spiritusimportør)

Bogens forfattere

Hvis man gerne vil gøre sig klog på de forskellige destillerier i Skotland er man nødt til at gøre det hårde, men fornøjelige, arbejde at smage sig igennem de ca. 110 destillerier der hver især findes i et hav af aftapninger. Men hvis man vil tilegne sig en generel baggrundsviden er en god whiskybog et godt sted at starte. Skotsk Whisky er et rigtigt godt sted at starte. Her er god baggrundsviden. Bogen er velskrevet og letforståelig, men samtidig fyldt med masser af fakta og specialviden. Dette gør at bogen er god at læse både for begynderen og for den meget erfarne whiskyentuiast.

Bogens kerne er 5 kapitler om Skotsk whiskys historie, Beskrivelse af hvordan både malt og grain whisky fremstilles, Skotsk whiskys geografi og om det overhovedet giver mening af snakke om en sådan, En branche beskrivelse, samt gode råd til hvordan man egentligt kan smag på en whisky.

Spændende kapitler, hvor forfatterne kommer på den rigtige side af meget af den alt for ofte forekommende marketingdrevne ”litteratur” som kan læses eller høres når man bevæger sig rundt i whiskyverdenenes afkroge.

Kapitlerne er krydret med en række interessante interviews af både danske og skotske branchefolk, forfatttere og en enkelt kendt dansk whiskysamler. Det er ganske enkelt fremragende læsning. Man har formået at få langt de fleste der interviewes til ikke at gå i marketingmode, men derimod spændende at fortælle om hvordan der arbejdes i whiskybranchen og og også dele nogen af deres personlige holdninger til en række emner.

Skotsk Whisky bevæger sig ofte grundigt ind på områder som andre whiskybøger let hopper henover. I kapitlet om branchen er der f. eks. en god gennemgang af hvad uafhængige aftappere er, samt en meget grundig beskrivelse af hvad størrelse SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) egentlig er.

SWA har været udsat for en del kritik de senere år. Ikke noget forfatterne direkte kommer ind på, men i interviewene nævner branchefolkene perifært nogle af de ting de gerne så anderledes.

Man har valgt ikke at skrive om markedet for skotske whiskyer i Danmark. Det skyldes nok at forfatterne selv er en del af markedet som henholdsvis importør og indehaver af en whiskybar. Interviewene bærer heller ikke præg af at man har valgt folk hvis produkter man selv forhandler til dagligt, hvilket er med til at give bogen integritet.

Mit eneste kritikpunkt i bogen er at man konsekvent burde holde sig til den danske stavemåde ”whisky” og ikke skrive ”whiskey” såsnart man snakker om bourbon. Men jeg ved at det helt sikkert vil irritere en del hvis man havde valgt at gøre det, men folk lærer det nok en dag :-)

Alt i alt er bogen et must for enhver dansk whiskyentusiast, og klart den bedste whiskybog jeg har set fra danske forfattere. Nogle vil måske mene at konkurrencen her ikke just er særlig stor, men denne bog er faktisk så god, at det er en skam at folk der ikke kan dansk, ikke umiddelbart kan læse den.

I katagorien af whiskybøger der behandler skotsk whisky generelt er det rart at se en bog der vægter emnerne lidt anderledes, hvilket gør bogen til et godt supplement på hylden selvom den er godt fyldt op med whiskybøger i forvejen.

Bogen forventes i handel medio oktober

English review of "Skotsk Whisky -uden farve, uden filter.

by Peter Kjær and Lars Gregersen

(Læs den danske anmeldelse HER)

A new whisky book. In Danish. Written by Danes.

The title translates to ”Scotch Whisky -no colour, no filter” and it it probably gives better sense in danish as ”no colour” also can be read as ”no bias”

It is not often one sees whisky books in danish. Most whisky books written in other languages ​​are typically not translated into danish. Here, two danes, who both work with whisky, has taken this step into writing a book about Scotch. The authors are Peter Kjær (Krut's Karport, a whiskybar in Copenhagen) and Lars Gregersen (LAGO, a wine and spirits import company)

The authors

If you want to learn the differences between the various distilleries in Scotland, you have to do the hard, but enjoyable job, of tasting your way through the approximately 110 distilleries, each of which is available in a huge range of bottlings. But if you want to acquire a good general background knowledge, a good whisky book is a great place to start. ”Skotsk Whisky” is such a book. The book offers good background knowledge and it is well written and easy to understand, but at the same time filled with lots of facts and special knowledge. This makes the book a good reading both for the beginner and for the very experienced whiskyentuiast.

The book's core is 5 chapters on Scotch whisky's history, Description of how both malt and grain whisky is produced, Scotch whiskys´ geography and whether it makes sense talking about such, a trade description, and finally an advice on how to actually taste and enjoy a whisky.

Exciting chapters in which the authors appear on the right side of the often seen marketing driven "literature" which can be read or heard when you move around in the whiske world.

The chapters are scattered with a number of interesting interviews with both danish and scottish whisky professionals, that is, other authors, brand ambassadors, blenders, managers etc. including a well known danish Glenfiddich collector. It is simply excellent reading. The authors manages to get the majority of the interviewed persons out of marketing mode, and into exciting talks about how to work in the industry, and also share some of their personal views on a variety of topics.

”Skotsk Whisky” do cover areas that other whisky books usually skips or cover very ligthly. In the chapter about the industry, there is a good description of what independent bottlers is, and a very thorough description of what SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) actually is.

SWA has been subjected to some criticism in recent years. The authors don't cover this directly, but it is mentioned peripherally in some of the proffesionals interviews, and a few things they would like to see changed is mentioned.

The authors have chosen not to write about the scene of Scotch whisky in Denmark. This is probably because the authors themselves are part of this, respectively importer and owner of a whisky bar. The people chosen for interviews are all from companies the authors doesn't represent here in Denmark, which adds integrity to the book.

My only criticism of the book is that it isn't consistent on how to spell ”whisky” but changes the spelling to ”whiskey” as soon as the whisky concerned is bourbon. But I know that it would certainly irritate others if they had chosen to do this... but people will learn some day :-)

Overall, the book is a must for any danish whisky enthusiast, and clearly the best a whiskybook I've seen from danish writers. Some may think that the competition here is not exactly very big, but this book is so good that it's a shame that people who do not speak danish is not immediately able to read it.

In the category of whiskey books dealing with Scotch whisky in general, it is nice to see a book that approaches the topics a little different, which makes the book a good supplement on the shelf even if it's well stocked with other whisky books.

The book is expected for sale mid-October

Hudson Baby Bourbon

46%

Pot Distilled from 100% New York Corn

There is a lot of mashlike notes on the nose. A woody, grainy mix.

The palate has a varnish woody stamp mixed with a grainy base. This is a young whisky from Tuthilltown distillery. They like to age their whisky on various small casks and some of the casks are laid next to the hot potstill. Surpriingly for a young whisky there is not a hot spirit note, so it's very drinkable. The youth can't be hidden, with the grainy taste and the maturation method has given this a strong wood/oak flavour. Persoanlly I am a fan of oaky flavoured whiskies (to a limit)

The finish is short-medium and then I get a little hot spirity taste. Ending with a heavy vanilla touch

Quite drinkable and one of the better offerings from the many new american whisky distilleries

Rating 82/100

Highland Park Ice

Highland Park Ice is a limited (as opposed to to a regular continuing) release.

It's 17yo and is bottled at 53.9%

The bottle comes in this wooding casing, which I can only describe as a catastrophe designwise (It's fucking ugly), but as I never really cared about packaging I prefer to let the whisky speak for itself

The whisky is warm and prickly. A bit hot on the approach, but I really like the powerful vanilla note that instantly hits me.The nose is really wonderful, delicate ex-bourbon whisky with an abundanec of vanilla notes. The vanilla nose gives this whisky a sweet first impression. On the taste I get a prickly almost Talisker like spicy punch as the first impression. There is a nice underlaying level of peatyness, that always lure in the background. This is on a level that will satisfy both peatjunkies and people who normally stay away from peated whiskies

The finish is long, and some bitterness hits me in the end

A very nice dram, that will appeal to fans of coastal style whiskies (salty, vanilla, prickly i the keywords for this style)

Rating 86/100

A quick search on the internet I find this is priced at around 200£ which I think is at least 120£ too much. But you get a piece of wood with it.

Thanks to Holm & Bertung for the sample

Jameson approached Amager Bryghus - Green, Green Bansheee

Usually whiskybrands are very protective about their brands names. But Pernod Ricard approached the danish brewery Amager Bryghus (Amager Brewhouse) and asked if Amager could do some things with a set of Jameson casks.

Amager had a visit of a group from Pernid Ricard, and after tasting some beers and agreement was made. Early 2016 eight casks (both ex-sherry and ex-bourbon).were delivered from Midleton (where Jameson is made today) and they were filled with an imperial stout. A stout is a dark beer and imperial versions of beers is used to describe a beer that is very strong in alcohol and flavour.

The stout has been maturing in these eight casks for the last 4 months and here is the result:

11% ABV

So what's in it for Amager? Amager more or less got known in the big world of craft beer by making collaboration brews with some of the best breweries in the world. Beer entusiasts know that a world class brewer only will make collaboration brews with the best. This is not a collaboration brew, but working together with Jameson is just another step for Amager. And very important, it secured delivery of totally fresh ex-whisky casks to the brewery. The shorter time there is from emptying whisky from a cask to filling it with beer, the better the prior content will affect the beer. The wood is still soaked in whisky and the the longer you wait, the casks will dry out. Casks are expensive and distilleries tends to use casks until they have nothing left to contribute to new spirits anymore. Ex-bourbon casks have only been used once for whisky and then nothing else, while ex-whisky casks had bourbon, sherry and whisky in them more times.Having direct connections to a distillery or bottler that matures whisky could potentially give you access to a lot better casks and not just something they can't use anymore.

What's in it for Jameson? It's a smart move. Craft beer is a big thing. Roughly said, you can say that craft beer is dominated by a younger consumer base, and not as male dominated fanbase as whisky. While whisky today seems to be mainly for old men (like me), the beer scene is having a wider approach. It's a market segment that suits Jameson very well. And Amager is not chosen randomly. There is more than 7000 breweries in Europe. On ratebeers top 100 there is just 18 european breweries, with the remaing being from USA apart from 3 canadian.  3 of these 18 is danish. 2 of these 3 breweries are gypsy breweries, and the last 1, the only top danish brewery that brews in Denmark, that is Amager

So how is the beer?

Malt: Pilsner, Munich, Melanoidin, roasted barley, chocolate, light chocolate, cara-pilsner, cara-aroma

Hops: Herkules, Columbus, Chinook

Yeat: US-ale

A thick oily pour with a minimum of head. The nose is sweet and stoutish with a clear presenece of whisky. The fist thing I notice is the abscence of what I consider the biggest occuring off flavour in stouts, which is a slight acitidy or sourness. To me, this absence is an indication if a brewery can make a stout or can't. It is present in most stouts unfortunately. This is a very thick and oily beer. The carbonation is medium-low. When it comes to beer, the difference between ex-whisky casks and ex.bourbon casks is level of vanilla and sweetness infused in the beer. The casks has given this stout a wood flavour, that goes very well with the roasty flavours from the barley. Adding to that there is a nice whisky note in the taste as well. This is a very thick and oiliy beer. with some of the slowest swirl velocity I have ever seen. This is my first time reviewing a beer, but here we go

Oilyness. Very high
Roast flavour: High

Whisky flavour: Medium

Hop: It is masked by other heavier flavours, but it emerges about halfway through the beer and gets dominant on the finish
Sweetness: medium
Drinkability: It goes down easy and is very moreish

On my 100 scale for whisky I would give this 92

On untapped I give 4.5 (closer to 4.75)

This is one of the few beers I have seen with an official whisky brand on the label. on the back of the beer you find the official Jameson and Amager labels side by side

The only other example of an official whisky label on a beer label is the Bowmore beers from Islay Ales. With whisky companies being so afrad of their brand labelings being destroyed by other companies, I never understood why Bowmore went into collaboration with Islay Ales. The result was a big disaster, and the two examples I have tasted were amongst the two worst beers I have tried. I remember a group of 6-8 of us, trying to share a bottle in Lagavulin Hall at last years Feis Ile, and we weren't able to. Apart from these two examples I don't know of any other beers with official distillery names or whisky brands on the labels, please enligthen me if you have encountered any. So far, these two examples have produced one stellar beer and one (acual a range) of disasters. I know that Bowmore have stopped their collaboration with Islay Ales, and I just wonder why it took them so long

PS: In my opinion we got 3-4 more world class breweries located in Denmark

Kavalan Solist

I covered Kavalan before. In 2013 I visited Taiwan and tasted a range of their products

http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.dk/2013/10/visiting-kavalan.html

This time I am covering to newer Solist expressions. And I do it with a guest post from another danish whisky blog, followed by my own short notes for a couple of the Solists

A TRIO OF KAVALANS

Hi, my name is Carsten followed by a surname that’s completely unpronounceable in English, so I won’t even bother writing it. I’m a Dane in my mid-thirties (let’s keep it at that) and I live in a town called Odense. I have been drinking whisky for the better part of a decade and I’m also a whisky blogger. I have a blog at www.whiskyflasken.dk, but alas, that’s completely unusable to most of you since my blog is also in Danish. Feel free to drop by though or contact me through my Facebook page.

A couple of weeks ago Steffen, the fine gentleman that usually roams these pages, asked me if I would like to write a guest review here on the Danish Whisky Blog and, since he also said that he would supply the whisky, I had no problem accepting his offer. It’s nice to write in English once in a while and perhaps make some new acquaintances. Enough small-talk… Let’s get to the whisky!

Kavalan, which is actually called Yuan Shan Distillery, is a Taiwanese distillery, that’s located in Yilan County just a little south of the capital, Taipei. The distillery is named after the indigenous people who originally inhabited the area where the distillery is located. Kavalan is owned by King Car Group, which is a big Taiwanese food and drink producer. The founder of King Car Group, Tien-Tsai Lee, had a dream of producing a world class whisky in Taiwan and the planning started in 2002. The actual construction of the distillery did not start until 2005 and it was completed on December 31, 2015.

To help them in the process Kavalan hired Dr. Jim Swan as a consultant. Dr. Jim Swan has served as a consultant for many new distillery projects in the last decades including Penderyn, Annandale and Kilchoman. On March 13, 2006 the first new make flowed from the stills and on December 4, 2008 the first bottling, the Kavalan Classic, was released to the public. Since then the distillery has released many different bottlings, but the most iconic of them are probably the Solist series, which consists of a range of single cask releases, matured in various types of casks. Kavalan has received many awards for its whisky, including taking the top honors in the Malt Maniacs Awards 2014.

When the distillery was built it had two sets of stills consisting of two wash stills with a capacity of 12,000 liters each and 2 spirit stills with a capacity of 7,000 liters each. That gave Kavalan a yearly output of about 1.5 million liters of alcohol. However, with the huge success that Kavalan has experienced the need for more capacity quickly became evident. In 2015 a further six stills were installed and the capacity was increased to 4.5 million liters per year and, here in 2016, a further 10 stills will be installed and the capacity will be doubled to 9 million liters of alcohol. There are two huge, five stories high, warehouses on site and most of the casks mature standing up on pallets. Due to the warm climate the amount of evaporation is quite high and the greedy angels grab up to 15% per year.

Today, we will taste three different Kavalan Solist bottlings. The first is from a bourbon cask, the second is from a port cask and the third is from a sherry cask. Let’s go!

Kavalan Solist Ex-Bourbon Cask, 57.1%, Cask B100723021A, 4 Years Old

The distillery character of Kavalan is said to be quite tropical and that definitely shines through on the nose. It’s very fresh with pineapple, mango, bananas and some coconut water. There are lots of vanilla and some nuttiness, which almost translates into marzipan. Some lime in the background together with some pepper. With a couple of dashes of water, the nuttiness becomes more apparent and so does the vanilla. Fortunately it never loses its fruitiness and it’s actually quite nice with water.

The taste is sweet to begin with. Lots of banana and mango paired with some chocolate, but the sweetness does not last long. The wood is really asserting itself mid-palate and the whole thing gets rather hot and peppery. Once again it’s much better with water. The sweetness continues for much longer and it’s fruitier and creamier. The oak is still present, but the hotness and the pepper are almost gone.

The finish is quite long with more tropical fruits, some chocolate and more pepper.

85/100

This is quite a nice bottling from Kavalan. It’s not the most complex of whiskies and it certainly is very oak-driven, but not so much that the distillery character is gone. The nose is wonderfully fresh and you can almost imagine yourself sitting on a tropical beach. I do find it a bit too hot on the palate without water, but luckily it takes water really well. It actually reminds a little of a 25 YO Glenrothes I had earlier this year! I have no problem recommending this bottling, as long as you’re willing to experiment a little with the water.

Kavalan Solist Port Cask, 58.6%, Cask O090617023A, 6 Years Old

This is quite spitiry on the nose in the beginning, but it quickly settles down. There are a slew of berries, including strawberries, raspberries and cherries together with some sweet oranges.  There’s also a lot of underlying spiciness like cinnamon, vanilla and it’s quite nutty.  A little bit of brown sugar and some toffee. It you add some water the sweetness really stands out and it becomes a little buttery.

In the beginning of the palate there’s a lot of sweet fruitiness. Again it’s the berries that dominate. Then there’s some dark chocolate and a lot of cinnamon. It becomes really spice, with lots of oak influence and your mouth starts to dry out. Water takes the punch out of it a bit, but all the flavours are still there. The development does become a little longer and the chocolate stands out more together with some orange peel.

It has a long after aftertaste with chocolate, cherries and cinnamon. Very nice!

88/100

This is a really nice and very balanced whisky. The nose and the palate are well connected and you taste pretty much what you expect after nosing it. It’s spicy in a very nice way and the cinnamon and the chocolate will stay with you for quite some time after swallowing it. The water takes away some of the punch, but it does add a bit more character, so once more I recommend experimenting with the water.  Good work Kavalan!

Kavalan Solist Sherry Cask, 58.6%, Cask S060821017, 6 Years Old

This first thing I notice is a lot of rich dried fruits. This is definitely a sherried whisky! Raisins, cranberries and cherries. It’s also very spicy with cinnamon and vanilla. There’s a dark sugary and chocolaty sweetness to the nose together with a lot of nuttiness. Water emphasizes the chocolate and the cranberries in a big way. It’s much better with water.

There’s a very spicy arrival on the palate and I’m not getting a lot of the dried fruits. It’s quite sharp and peppery with lots of oak. A little bit of chocolate shines through, but it’s just too hot. After adding some water everything improves a lot. Now I get the dried fruits and it’s much less sharp and peppery. Chocolate, cinnamon, toffee and a little bit of orange.

Nice long aftertaste with coffee, raisins and dark chocolate.

84/100

The sherry is all over this one and I do feel that that it’s just a bit over the top. Sherry matured whisky needs time to settle down and interact with the cask over time. I know that the climate is different in Taiwan, but quick maturation, however good it is, is still not a substitute for long maturation and I really feel that it shows in this bottling. The nose has all the right characteristics, but it not very deep and mysterious.  The palate is simply too hot and even though the water helps a lot it’s still my least favourite of the three. But I also know that this kind of whisky has a big audience and Kavalan will sell every bottle they produce.

Time to sum up… Kavalan is really on to something here and I would love to taste some of their standard bottlings, to see how they stack up against these single cask bottling. As I’ve mentioned already they are all very oak-driven, but that not necessarily a bad thing. The bourbon matured bottling is a tropical explosion and I could drink this all day while just relaxing in the garden. The port matured one is my absolute favourite of the three, but I’m a sucker for port matured whisky, so that’s no big surprise. The sherry matured bottling did however disappoint me a little bit. It lacked depth, was not very complex and somehow it just felt rushed. One thing that these Kavalans have in common though is that they all take water very nicely and they all need in my opinion.

I look forward to following Kavalan in the future and there will plenty of opportunity for that given their recent expansions. Thanks to Steffen for letting me take over his blog for a while. It was fun tasting Kavalan for the first time and the whisky certainly didn’t disappoint. Now I just need to find myself a bottle of Kavalan Solist Port Cask.

Thanks to Carsten for his reviews and comments about Kavalan. Here is my own take on two of the Solists

Kavalan Solist Ex-Bourbon Cask, 57.1%, Cask B100723021A, 4 Years Old

Nose: A very fruity and floral nose. Sweet apples and pears on a bed on vanilla. A hint of marcipan

Palate. The attack is sligtly hot, but the finish is smooth. This is a sweet whisky, with an abundance of vanilla. The whisky is thick and oily. The finish has some bitterness and citrus notes emerges

Rating 86/100

Kavalan Solist Port Cask, 58.6%, Cask O090617023A, 6 Years Old

Nose: A tiny hint of sulphur, followed by a typical port nose. The ex-bourbon is rather sweet, and this is also sweet, but not as sweet as you would expect a port casked whisky to be

Palate: Sweet, faint rubber, and very dominant port influence, but not very sweet, which makes this a little different to other port whiskies. The dominant note is dried fruits, notable raisins, so the grape influence is big

Rating 83/100

I am usually not a big fan of port whiskies, but this offering is not too bad for me. I guess it's because it lacks the usual abundance of sweetness which is not my thing. Being very sulphur sensitive I pick of little hints of rubber, but I am sure this will go unnoticed by the vast majority.

Starward

New World Whisky Distillery in Melbourne use the brand Starward for their whisky

It's a NAS whisky, made from australian barley, and matured in Apera casks. Apera is an australian sherrystyle wine, which I have never heard of before. The barrels have been re-toasted, and to my knowledge this isn't done with sherry casks normally

From this video it can be seen that New World Distillery is quite small and that they use stills very similar, but smaller, than a typical scottish single malt still

Starward 43%

Fruity, licorise, medicinal, children vitaminpills

This is easy drinkable and being a NAS whisky from a rather new distillery this is surprisingly "mature" in taste and easy drinkable. Probably a combination of the climate and the retoasted barrels. It reminds me a bit of Amrut. It's quite oily and fullbodied. The medicinal touch reminds me of something I sometimes also find in very old malt whisky bottlings from the 50s to 70s

The fist taste is the fruityness, this is a tasty mix of tropical and dried fruits. Then comes the medicinal-licorise part and finally the finish is medium long and very licorisy.

Rating 86/100

In cinclusion, this is a fruity complex whisky, with the only sign of it's youthness being a little alcohol burn. Easy drinking and delicious

Distill of Diageo has recently invested an undisclosed amount of money in Starward. This is their 2nd investment in a small world distillery. The first was 10£ million in danish Stauning

Thanks to David Keir for the sample

You can find the location of the distillery in my map section

Blind tasting 26 whiskies in December

This December I took part in a whisky advent calendar.

A group of 6 danish whisky entusiasts each hosted 4 days from December 1st to December 24th

The total ended up to 26 whiskies, as there was a couple of double dram days. Each whisky was tasted blind by the 5 others and our thoughts and possible guesses was posted on a danish whisky forum

Here is how the panel rated the 26 whiskyes. The score is an average of 5 peoples ratings. The score in brackets is mine. If there is no score in brackets, I was the host of the day

Blind tasting is always fun as there is no prejudice. I am pretty sure people might score whiskies different if they know the label.

1. Balvenie Tun #1401 batch 2 50.6% 90.6 (88)
2. Amrut Intermediate Sherry 57.1% 89.4
3. Laphroaig 25yo OB 2009 51% 88.6 (89)
4. Bruichladdich 3D Moine Mhor 2nd Edition 88.2 
5. Miltonduff 1987 Riegger's Selection 26/5/87-20/5/10 56.7% 88.0 (85)
6. Glenkinchie 1987 Cadenhead 18yo 55.6% 87.8
7-8. Macduff Cadenhead Small Batch 24yo 53.3% 87.6 (89)
7-8. Glen Keith Signatory 21yo 1/10/92-21/10/13 59.5% 87.6 (88)
9. Caperdonich Signatory 17yo 9/7/94-20/10/11 57.0% 82.2 (82)
10. Four Roses Small Batch Limited 2015 54.3% 87.0
11. Bunnahabhain 22yo Botled by Bladnoch 20/10/89-17/5/12 50.2% 86.8 (88)
12. Vatted Islay 1992 Norse Cask 16yo 56.7% 86.6 (87)
13. Linkwood SMWS 39.97 23yo 45.7% 86.4 (92)
14-15. Linkwood SMWS 39.108 10yo 61.7% 85.4 (84)
14-15. Girvan Berry Bros 1989-2008 46% 85.4 (82)
16-17. Yellow Spot 12yo 46% 85.2 (81)
16-17. Port Ellen 25yo Norse Cask 1983 53.6% 85.2 (83)
18. Bruichladdich 12yo 2nd Ed. 46% 85.0 (83)
19. Glenfarclas 2004-2013 Ermuri 55.8% 84.8 (84)
20. Caol Ila 1998 Feis Ile 2015 57.3% 84.6 (84)
21. Lot 40 83% 83.2 (82)
22-23. Balblair 20yo AD Rattray 30/4/90-26/5/10 59.1% 82.6 (78)
22-23. Longrow Red 11yo Fresh Port Casks 51.8% 82.6 (81)
24. Macallan OB 10yo Cask Strength 58.6% 82.0 (58)
25. Signature 75 proof (42.8%) from Goa 80.8 (81)
26. Glenglassaugh Torfa 50% 78.8 (79)

Here is some of my remarks. I was very glad I rated 39.97 92 blind as it was my whisky of the year 2014, when I rated it 90. It wouldn't have looked good if I rated it low eighties. The Macallan 10yi cask stregth split the field. 3/5 described it as smelling and/or tasting "rotten". 2 of those 3 actually found that positive or semipositive. I didn't and rated it 58 as it was one of the worst sulphured whiskies I have ever tasted. Peculair, as all the other times I have tried a Macallan OB 10yo Cask Strength, I really liked it.
The two highest scores went to India, as the Amrut Intermediate Sherry received a 94 and a 95
I was the lowest rater of the 6, as my average was 83.1. If you remove my 58 score I would still be the lowest rater. It doesn't help that I am very sensitive to sulphur. This just makes some whiskies terrible and undrinkable to me.
The highest rater had a 87.7 average

24 Bars in Aarhus - part 24

Fermentoren Aarhus

Fermentoren is my regular. It's a craft beer bar that opened spring 2014 in Aarhus. It changed the beer scene in aarhus.

Fermentoren has 22 fast rotating taps.

Here is how one half of the blackboard looked on a random day in November

and here is a photo from 22nd December:

Fermentoren have beers from the best danish breweries on:

Fermentoren (their own brewery, made by one of the owners), Dry and Bitter (made by another of the owners), To Øl, Mikkeller, Amager and many more. A lot of the beers are from good danish breweries, but you can also find beers from other Scandinavian countries, Germany, Netherlands, Belgium, Italy, UK, USA and probably more

There is also a big selection of bottled beers.

Once or twice a month Fermentoren has tap takeovers, where the focus is on one brewery (usually), but there has also been country themed tap takeovers.  

The music is my favourite playlist in Aarhus. Classic rock style. But played low volume so it doesn't interfer with chatting what-so-ever. 

Except for the blackboard lightning, all the light in bar is provided by candles. It's a cozy, rustic bar, with old wooden furnitures and old sofas. There is even an 80s style arcade machine in the corner.

Fermentoren has a small spirit selection with mainly whisky and rums, but also gin and mezcal

Here is todays photo of the whiskies

There is no food in Fermentoren, but if you ask nicely, you can usually bring some take-away in. There is an abundance of places to buy food in neighbourhood

22 taps

Fermentoren is the sister bar of the original Fermentoren in Copenhagen. Fermentoren Aarhus has a facebook page

24 Bars in Aarhus MAP

Cozy bar, great music, fantastic beers, nice knowledgeable staff and a lot of really nice regulars. What else can you ask for ?

.

24 Bars in Aarhus - part 23

Highlanders

Highlanders is THE whisky bar in Aarhus. 

Highlanders have a big selection of whisky. Most OB's can be found. It's also SMWS partnership bar, so there is a big selection of SMWS whiskies as well. The bar also hass a particular big selection of Kavalan. Beside whiskies there is also a big selection of rums

Some of the whiskies at Highlander

Highlanders is not just whiskies, they also have a good selection of beers. There is about 13 different beers on tap

Beside the tap list there is also a huge selection of bottled beers. As there is not a lot of rotation of the beers on tap I often dig into one of the bottled beers when I visit

Highlanders often hosts whisky tastings and rum tastings. As an SMWS partnership bar there is a bimonthly casual day where members can come down and taste and buy the whiskies of the new outturn.

The food at Highlander's is pub food de luxe, and it's very good

Highlander's has a website here

24 Bars in Aarhus MAP

I recommend this place, no matter if you going for a beer or a whisky

24 Bars in Aarhus - part 22

Krofatter's mad- og ølbar

Krofatter's is a new beer and dapas place (danish tapas)

Er den apostrof korrekt dansk ?

There is 10 taps of beers from Syndikatet and Coisbo. It's nice to see a place that offers beers from alternative breweries 

The selection and variety of beers is good. Unfortunately 3 of the taps were off when I visited.

7 taps of Coisbo

My choice of beer was a 5th Avenue lager and later Four, a russian imperial stout. The first was good, but the latter lacked a bit of sweetness and was a bit too much on the acidic side. Not the best balanced russian imperial stout I have tried.

Beside the 10 taps, there is also a bout 30-40 bottled beers to choose from

The food is exciting and not like anywhere else, but also very expensive as the portions is very small. But Tapas is supposed to be small, I think they forgot to adjust the prices to the sizes of the portions

I would say the style of food appeals to men and the sizes of the portions appeals to women or men that isn't very hungry

Krofatter's has a website here

24 Bars of Aarhus MAP

It's unlikely I would go to eat here again, but I will probably pop in for a beer very occasionally