Alligator, Black Art, Thor and a Scapa

Last night I had a few drams at the Cockney Pub in Århus. Here's 4 short reviews

1. Higland Park Thor 16yo 52.1%

Nose: Light, fruity, apple-pears, a very plesant nose, but not typical Highland Park
Palate: Dark fruits, light peat, sligth rubber emerges from the initial lighter fruitness
Finish: Medium
A bit unbalanced, the slight rubber puts me off a bit
Norm Dam: "one of those whiskies you can give a lady instead of a cognac"

Rating 81

The two fellows in the bar, said I should have got the Black Art instead, Norm warned me and said it was just another ladies whisky. Let's see

2. Bruichladdich Black Art 21yo 1989 49.7%

Nose: Fruity and delicious
Palate: latex, again some sligt rubber, dried fruits, this whisky seems flat to me in the sense that it has no edges. This tastes like there has been several casks involved. Finishing tends to cut of edges. Very drinkable and balanced, but not really my style
Finish : Longer

Rating 83

3. Ardbeg Alligator 51.2%

Nose : Intrigueing nose, reminds me of Uigeadail actually. The complexity hits me, its clearly we are one step up from the prior whiskies. Peat and wood with a nice vanilla spicyness in the background
Palate: Peat and charcoal(light), This whisky feels round and balanced initially but
Finish : The youth is expressed with a slightly rough an roasted finish

Alligator has been matured on extra charred casks, which are named alligator casks throughout the industry as the charred wood looks like alligator skin. This extra charring is clearly present in this whisky which has a note of burned wood, most clearly present in the finish

Rating 86

4. Scapa McKillops Choice 1989 54.4%  14yo


I wasn't really gonna get a fourth, what can possible follow a heavily peated Ardbeg ?. But then I spotted this on the shelf which was whisky of the week. So I decided to relax with this, and I have to admit I wasn't that analytical drinking this. The young guy next to me, dressed up as a 2 meter tall green irish leprechaun, was going on about this Grand Marnier finished whisky he really liked but couldn't remember the name of. Maybe it was the Black Art :-).


Often Scapa is a somewhat anonymous dram, but this was rather pleasant with signs of maturing on a good cask. It was a combo of lighness and wood spicyness which I think was really well balanced and I really enjoyed this final dram before joining the didley-dees with a pint of Guiness (and a Jaipur..)

Rating 85

5 Peated Whiskies

Well, time for a flight again, it has been a long time. I had a look through my open bottles and found 11 I haven't blogreviewed before, and as there were 5 peated amongst, I decided to have a go at them.

I love the smell of peat in the morning.

The Agenda

Being a long time peated whisky drinker, I have found that I sometimes, or very easy get immune to peat, so if I say a whisky isn't too peaty, don't trust me! (necessarily)

1. The Hakushu Heavily Peated 48%

A Japanese distillery with a range of different stills. This makes them capable of producing different styles. Another expansion of possibilities is to use peated malt.

Nose : The peat isn't dominating, but it's present, fruity, like the fruitiness of apples and pears.

Palate : Very drinkable, easy going and delicious, also somewhat subtle in its expression, making me think of older Islay's more than the younger smack-in-your-face ones. The peat emerges into a spicy vanilla lemony finish, which is very delicate. 

Finish : Short/medium with the sugarly lemon being dominant

Comment : I wouldn't have named it Heavily Peated, it's much too delicate for that description. This is a NAS whisky, but if i'ts young it seems like the hotter climate of Japan has matured it very well. I am glad I chose this as the first whisky of the day, it would most likely not benefit from following other whiskies, peated or not.

Rating 85

2. Bruichladdich Mòine Mhòr 3D 2nd Edition 50%

This is a vatting of different styles and ages of whisky distilled at Bruichladdich supposedly from three different decades and three different peating levels

Nose : Some peat, and some solvent like immaturity is just present if you look hard enough

Palate : Feels warm in the mouth, with a lot of wood, spice and lemon under the peat.

Finish : Medium

Comment : This has got some punch, not due to the peat alone but also from the youthness of the whisky, or some of the whisky in the vat. This is really well vatted together and an enjoyable dram

Rating 83

3. Lagavulin "Available only at the distillery" bottled 2010 52.5%

Nose : Sweet, spicy, fruity, dark fruits

Palate : Great full bodied mouthfeel and texture. The sweet PX  mixes real well with the peat, but the sherry influence is a lot lot less than in the DE Lagavulins. Peat and vanilla in the end

Finish : Long and very spicy

Comment : This has got some leftover casks for the 91 DE batch in it. PX finished. Bottling Lagavulin at full strength is a very clever idea!

Rating 88

Finally a couple of Ardbegs bottled in 2010

4. Ardbeg 1994 Cadenhead 16yo 55.6%

Nose : A lot of imminent immaturity on the nose, acid like. Not the best nose

Palate : lemon, peat, classic Ardbeg'ish, but the cask didn't have the strongest influence, seems younger than 16- After the nose that did put me off the nice peat-lemon combo is welcoming. The acidity is still here

Finish : Medium

Rating 78

5. Ardbeg 1994 Cadenhead 16yo 57.0%

Quite similar to the above

Nose: Slight acidic as well, but less than the above

Palate : More wood, texture and body, lemon again and a hotter immideate finish 

Finish : Medium-long with a hint of coconut

Rating 80

Comment : Mark from Cadenheads told me to get the Laphroaigs instead as he thought they were better. But I wasn't going to Laphroaigeddon. I should learn to listen to advice from wise people

A flight of 5 peated malts

1. Ardbeg SuperNova 2010 60.1% (L10 070)
 Anoraks can discuss peat ppm values forever, something that started around when Bruichladdich decided to got all-inn with peat in barleys and produced Octomore (80ppm) and later Octomore with even more peat. Some claims that there is a theoretical limit below these values for peat content.
 Here's a few things about ppm, peat and whisky :
ppm stands for parts per million and is measure to describe small contents of whatever... When it comes to peat its the phenol contents, as phenols gives malt whisky its peated/smoky taste.
 ppm values given are for the content in the barley. The ppm value actually diminish in distillation, so even though Ardbeg uses the most peated barley for their standard produce, the newmake of Laphroaig has a higher ppm value than the ppm value for Ardbeg new make. Phenols must be breaking down when a whisky mature, as the ppm value goes down as whisky mature in the cask as well. This is no exact science and sometimes you get old whisky that are surprisingly peaty
The ppm value for this Ardbeg supernova is given on the bottle as 100ppm, opposed to the standard 50-60ppm for Ardbeg. I am not sure how much difference this will give in the newmake, but the fact that this is younger than the Ardbeg 10 will add to the relative peat difference as will the fact that this is cask strength
Now back to the whisky : The first thing I note is that this doesnt actually seem to be that peaty. I don't get the chok-effect that Ballechin gave me (heavily peated Edradour)
This doesn't have the sweetness I got in SN2009, I find it a lot more one-dimensional (actually described as a deeper, earthier character on the bottle compared to SN2009, In which I agree)
My comments : Dry, peaty, newmake - I prefer the SN2009
Rating 85


2. Ardbeg Rollercoaster 57.3 (L9 344)
I've been a member of the Ardbeg committee since around it started (I think I got number 389). In the early days I had pleasure of acquiring almost all of their releases, but the bottlings out the last years hasn't been the same (everything was much better in the good ole' days). Legends like the 23yo-ish sherry casked Ardbegs, Kildalton, 21yo, early 70's single casks etc. are now in my collection of empty ardbeg bottles. Recent bottlings has also been a heavy lift in prices unfortunately. Guess we shoulkd't have told everybody how good Ardbeg is 10 years ago ?.
The Rollercoaster is a bottling to celebrate the 10th year anniversary of the Ardbeg Committee. Its a vatting of casks distilled every year from 1997 to 2006, making this a 3yo technically. Young Islays has become a catagory of its own the last decade. It's very popular, the world is full of peatjunkies. So offcourse every distillery and every IB is having something in this catagory.
Ardbeg probably had the most, but this is more to the fact they only distilled regularely since 1997 so their main stock has been young whisky
This is one of the best young Islays I had, far better than any of the AVY, VYA, Still Young, Almost There etc., seems like they kept their best casks!
My comments : citrus, peat, complex (I need that T-shirt), the different cask vintages in here works together like a rollercoaster
Rating 85



Note : SN2010 is 80£, Rollercoaster 50£. These are high prices, a lot of people refuses to pay 50£ for a "3yo", but I think the whisky got the quality to justify this is bit. I find it lot better than the SN so in the Ardbeg catagory it's good quality for money!

3. Bruichladdich : Port Charlotte Cuairt Beatha PC6 61.6%
Finished in Madeira Casks
First impression is that this is a slight sourness, which lessens as you take the first sips. Still very detectable in the nose unfortunately. This seems quite fierce, and I do admit I often have problems with finishes. This is no exception. I don't find that the peat and the madeira works together here.
Rating 65


4. Brora - Old Malt Cask cask 2294 50% 23yo Nov. 1982
First I'd like to point out that if you look for peated in a Brora, go for something distilled in the early-mid 70's. But the lack of peat in this won't let me take it of todays vertical. This is from a sherry cask, but it isn't overpowering. But the nose and palate doesn't lie. It's woody in the good sweet way I often see, and absolute adore, in old Brora's and Clynelish', is it the mix of this and peat that make 70's Brora's outstanding ?. The nose is a delightful sweet spicy mix with a big flowery/honey touch. The palate is sweet, prickly, and sherry-woody
My comments : sweet, sherry, prickly, flowers, spicy
Rating 89



5. Glen Keith 33yo old 1971 Lorne MacKillop D&M Aficionados' Club 43%
Glen Keith is the neighbour of Strathisla in Keith, and has been silent since 1999, functioning today as filling store and technical center. This is a sample of an american bottling I got from plowed-exile Rodger Howard. 
This is surprising me with its peat!, not something you expect from a Glen Keith. I also find citrus in this one. A lot, this is probably one of the most citrus-lemon whiskies I had. Which is good, cause I like that. It reminds me Ardbegs the same age and vintage. The intensity is high so I suspect not much or no water at all has been added to reach the 43 ABV. This is pure joy to me
Rating 89


Edit summer 2011: I am pretty sure the sample bottle was contaminated as when I tasted this directly from the bottle there was no peatyness AT ALL, fact is that I tasted something else and I don't know what and I wonder if Rodger does :-)


Real Rating 82