Danish Whisky Blog Awards 2015

This is my awards of 2015

2015 was a great whisky year for me. Many private gatherings, from Las Vegas, Netherlands, Limburg to Islay and Aarhus. Many of these has been while visiting other countries for Whiskyfestivals. This year I went to Limburg, Feis Ile and Maltstock. SMWS Casual Days at Highlanders whisky bar in Aarhus is now a regular event for me as well

My awards are very personal in that sense I can only award whisky I have tasted, and I can only award events I participated in.

As usual there is just 4 catagories, And just 4 awards. No medals to please everybody and not 100 awards for the same reason. Here we go:

Tasting of the year

Juuls wineshop in copenhagen hosted a fantastic Gordon and MacPhail tasting, which I was lucky to participate in while visiting Copenhagen

The tasting included several bottles of what I would describe as whisky from yesteryear. I don't see a lot of whiskies like the one served here being bottled anymore. The tasting list was

Glenlossie 1995 Connoisseurs Choice 46% Bottled 2013
Linkwood 25yo Distillery Label 43%
Mosstowie 1979 43% Bottled 2010
Longmorn 1973 Distillery Label 43% Bottled 2012
Mortlach 1971 Disrillery label 43% Bottled
Clynelish 1997 Connoisseurs Choice 46% Bottled 2013
Brora 1978 46% Bottled 2013
Caol Ila 2004 60.1% Bottled 2015

Brora was as good as you hope a Brora would be. The Linkwood 25 was also fantastic, but the supreme whisky of this tasting and the reason for the reward was the Longmorn 1973. Old style sherry, leather, a hint of medicinal and one of those whiskies that candidates for the best I ever tasted

Dereck Hancock from Gordon and MacPhail hosted the tasting. He is down to earth and presents his whiskies with the honesty they deserved

So this this was a genuine fantastic tasting with great whiskies.

Independent Bottler of the year

Canadian Whisky seems to be the theme here in 2015, but believe it or not, I decided this award last summer around July. So don't blame for ridin' a Justin Bieber Wave

Canadian whisky can be hard to find outside noth america. but we do have the occasional independent canadians here. A lot have been bottled by Cadenhead. But despite Cadenheads brilliancy, this awards goes to Whistlepig who doesn't just isn't one of the best independent bottlers of canadian whiskies, but their standard bottling is also one of the best canadian whiskies available. In my opinion.

Rumours are that Whistlepig will start their own distillery in Vermont. Or maybe allready have. This means that Whistlepig some day in the future might not be canadian whisky anymore

Distillery of the year

Laphroaig. 

So why Laphroaig ?. Normally I am not that excited by Laphroaig, it's just a distillery like most others. But at Feis Ile I thought their offereings clearly outshined anything I tasted from the other distilleries. These three bottlings particular

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015
Laphroaig 15yo
Laphroaig 21yo

I thought they all three were like a timetravel back in time, back to when whisky was much better than today. The fact that a distillery releases awesome bottlings at affordable prices is also something I think is seldom seen these days.

So the Laphroaigs of 2015 outshined anything else coming out from Scotland

There was a couple of couple of distilleries I felt was getting up there and deserves an honoury mention, and that is Benromach and Arran, but that's another story

Here is my opinion of the Cairdeas 2015

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 51.5%
Should be around 12 years old according to Laphroaigs distillery manager John Campbell

Nose: Intense. Salt. Sweet Peat
Palate. Very salty. I normally don't find salt in whisky and some people says there is no salt in whisky. Citrus. Oily Harbour. Fish. Tar. Ropes. The main features is oily, peaty, salty and citrus

Rating 91/100

Whisky of the year

Four Roses Limited Edition Small Batch 2015 release 54.3%

Four Roses, A distillery that just seems to do everything right
This is a blend of OBSK 16yo, OESK 5yo, OESK 14yo, OBSV 11yo

E stands for 20% rye recipe and B is the 35% rye recipes
K and V is yeast variety
K is the yeast described as: light spicyness, light caramel and full-bodied.
And V is light fruityness, light vanilla, caramel and creamy

Here is my notes

Nose: Sweet. Cakes. Mint. Spicy
Palate:  Toffee-caramel. Wood. Liquid Candy. Butterscotch
The finish is long, a sweet and has a bit of floor varnish woodyness

This is a very easy drinking bourbon

It's a warm, spicy, woody sweet dram that is very complex and it puts a big smile on my face. Unlike most scotch single malts I need a bigger pour to get the most from this dram. Maybe I should get myself some more bottles, as this won't last long

Rating 92/100

This whisky is simply my best buy in 2015. Fantastic

Glen Calder 1949 40yo

Glen Calder 40yo 1949 40%

Glen Calder is a Gordon & MacPhail Blend

Nose : Bold and warming, sweet, tropical fruit bomb, quite intense

Palate: Very very oily, faint hint of rubber, maybe it's just a rubberesque oily viscosity. Very tropical and fruity, followed by the nice dry woody spicyness only seen in very old whiskies

Finish : long and warming, spicy and dry

Comment: I don't think a lot of water was added to get this down to 40%

Rating 90/100

Lochside and Glenury Royal

These samples has been sitting on my shelf for more than 1½ year, I think its time.

Gordon and MacPhail is one of the worlds oldest and also one of the worlds leading independent bottlers. Historically it had and has a tradition of getting their own casks filled at distilleries and then maturing them in their own warehouse in Elgin.

Gordon and MacPhail's shop in Elgin

1. Lochside Gordon and MacPhail 1981-2005 43%
The nose is slightly musty, old, fruity - plums in brandy. The palate adds some sweetness, nutty flavour and almonds, with berries like cherries and plums. Wood spices emergens near the finish which is a well balanced mix of sweet woodspices and fruityness
A delicate dram that doesn't really suffer for being bottled at 43%
Rating 91
Lochside was located on the east coast of Scotland in Montrose. Last destillation in 1992.  It's demolished


2. Glenury Royal Gordon and MacPhail 1984-2010 43%
I know when you taste one whisky straight after another, what you mainly get is what really differes from the first. The thing that hit my face with this one is that's its slightly drier and doesn't have the same level of fruityness as the Lochside. It got a lot of hazelnut. I never had a whisky before with this much hazelnutflavour. Not bad. Unless you don't like hazelnut! There is a little tiny hint of peat as well. The finish is longer, dominated by the hazelnuts and again sweets wood spices
Rating 91
Glenury Royal was located on the east coast of Scotland in Stonehaven. Last destillation in 1985. It's partly demolished, partly turned into flats. It's rare even for a distillery closed after 1983

A couple of great drams that has some similarities, especially in texture and oilyness, the initial likelyhoods just go down two separate ways. What makes this drams great is that the many years in the wood hasn't overpowered the fruity or nutty flavour of these whiskies, which are the dominating flavours here. Compliments to Gordon and MacPhail for bottling these drams at what seems to be the exact perfect time

Halloween Beer and Jazz Festival 2010

If you like whisky then festivals, tastings and fairs are a great opportunity to go out and try some whiskies. For me its an opportunity to try a lot of whiskies. I really wan't to try everything out there, and it's not possible to buy a bottle of everything, who's got the rooom, and the money for that ?

I don't !

Halloween Beer and Jazz Festival is organised by Århus' local real ale pub : Cockney Pub. Beside having a great selection of ales and beers, they also got a nice malt whisky section. A decent turnaround and an ongoing changing line-up which makes this a desirable whisky pub. And the prices are affordable as well!

I have visited Cockney Pub earlier

Mike Wilson, Cockney Pub

4 days of jazz and blues music, and 40 beers/ales, what else can you ask for ?. Whisk(e)y off course :-)

In Denmark, we have 3-4 major operators as whisky agents/importers. One of them is Juul's from Copenhagen. This year Juul was manning the whiskystand at the Halloween Beer and Jazz Festival

Nikolaj Jørgensen from Juul's and a couple of happy visitors!

Juul's are the importers of Gordon and MacPhail (includes Benromach), Springbank, Arran, Chieftains, Murray McDavid, Glenglassaugh, Glencadam, Elements of Islay etc. Beside this they have their own bottlings, in the past there was the PING series, more recently the FLYING series and the LINE series

Apart from this they have a rum selection that matches their whisky selection and also a lot of Cognac's

This was a great opportunity to dig into some set groups of whisky and do some research. As I did attend Juul's mini whisky fairs in Hadsten spring 2009 and 2010, I had the background research well and solid done, it was time to look for new bottlings, and also sections I missed or omitted before.

First subject was the Arran selection. I've been through most of this before. Juul's is actually one of few places  left on the earth where you still can buy the legendary Arran Peacock, which is one of my all-time favourite whiskies!. Today I was aiming for the bottling released to celebrate Arran's 15 year jubilee. An approximately 11yo amontillado finished cask strength. I don't like wine, and I don't like wine finishes. I didn't like this sherry finish either and was just glad I didn't have to purchase a bottle to try this. Next one up was the 14yo new OB which was a much better whisky and I enjoyed that one! 

Next Section to look at was the Springbank/Longrow/Hazelburn

Kilkerran - Hazelburn - Longrow

Springbank

I wasn't particular sure on some of these, couldn't 100% recall which I tried and which I didn't try before. Just to be safe I went through the following : Springbank 12yo, Springbank 2001, Longrow 18, Springbank CV

All great malts. I am not sure Longrow will ever do it for me when it comes to peaty malts, I actually like Springbank better when it got a peaty touch

I also had to test one of my old time favourites, the Springbank 100 proof. Seemed like it changed, didn't seem to have the same delicate ex-bourbon character as I remembered. I'll research this in less than a fortnight hopefully. Nikolaj Jørgensen from Juul's did produce a couple of samples as well. Juul's will very shortly, begining of November, release a couple of single casks for the danish market. A Hazelburn 56.4% 8yo ex-oloroso cask, and a Springbank 14yo rum wood. I particular like the Springbank, but if you are fan of ex-sherry whisky I bet you will love the Hazelburn!

Next part I had to look at was the Gordon and MacPhail's. I allready tried everything from Benromach so I ventured over to their new releases

Gordon and MacPhails line up

Imperial 1994, Glenburgie 1990 and Balblair 1996, all at 46% and bottled 2010. 3 magnificient drams

A section I avoided was the Murray McDavid section. Almost all of these had a weird finish. I know there will be 1 or 2 of them I would like, but I can't be arsed to go throgh 10 of them, of which I would probably dislike 5, 3 will be indifferent and the last 2 I would like.

A couple of them caught my attention. Port Ellen 1982, 27yo, Chateau D'Yquem Finish, Murray McDavid Mission, 48.6 - No I didn't try it, it just reminded me that Plowed just had a discussion last weekend about the pronouncination of this. It was a agreed on a general concensus that it must be pronounced "dick'em"! 

Well, I got around to taste a peated Bunnahabhain 2005 and Ledaig 5yo (sherry cask) from Murray McDavid, both very good drams and surprisingly young. Yet another proof, that whisky doesn't have to be 10-12 years or older to be worth drinking

Specialty Drinks, a label by The Whisky Exchange has a series called Elements of Islay

Apart from Port Ellen, this is all no-age-statement young Islays

Elements of Islay

I REALLY liked the Lg1, but also the Br1 and Ar2 fell has my thumbs up. This series is allready legendary and if you're a fan of young Islay's here's something for you

This fair, albeit being mainly a beer and jazz event's does attract quite a few of the local whisky entusiasts, over the weekend I met around 10. I did drag some of them with me myself, and its always nice to sit down and talk about whisky while drinking them. 

Here's 4 of them, the 5 of us just had a minor plenum discussing the origin of a blind sample served to us, we couldn't really agree on the region!

Blind sampling is hard but fun

Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Islay or Island??. 

Well I think I was the winner. I guessed on Arran which is an Island Whisky, and last time I looked NEW ZEALAND was an Island.....

It was a Lammerlaw 12yo 40%, a nice dram which only suffered from a low ABV imo. No one had a clue guessing this :-)

Thanks to Nikolaj from Juul's for this educating experience

Flying, Elements, Glen Garioch, Glencadam, Glenglassaugh, Murray McDavid, Chieftain's

From the Chieftain's Choice I selected a 15yo Tomatin and an Ardbeg 11yo 46%, I particular liked the Ardbeg 

Bourbon Time

I don't know that much about bourbons so it has been area I have been researching quite a lot here in 2010. This weekend I a chance to taste a Wheat Whiskey. Bernheim Wheat Whiskey which I really enjoyed. Also Georgia Moon Corn Whiskey (Aged less than 30 days) and three versions of Old Fitzgerald, last three also from Bernheim Distillery in Louisville Kentucky. I particular liked Fitzgerald's 1849, a charcoal filtered bourbon.

This was a long weekend, and also a fun weekend. Juul's brought a couple of boxes with "leftovers" and you could aim for one of these by the fishing pond method

Glenallachie 1969-1987 on the hook

Some of the dregs

From the dregs boxes I was blessed with the fortune to taste the following

Caperdonich Connoisseurs Choice 1968-2004 (yum yum)

Highland Barrel no 4255 Ian Mcleod, sample,  1996-2008 59.9% 

- could be this : http://www.juuls-vinhandel.dk/get/20896.html

Craigellachie Hotel, Craigellachie Distillery 1982 57.7% (Best dram of the weekend)

Speyburn Connoisseurs Choice 1977-2006

Aberfeldy Connoisseurs Choice 1988

Glenallachie Connoisseurs Choice 1969-1987

Ledaig Connoisseurs Choice 1990

Glen Spey Connoisseurs Choice 1995-2007

Arran Robert Burns 250th

Old Potrero (A 2½yo Rye malt Whiskey from Anchor Distilling Company, SF, California)

Potential purchases ?

Lg1, Balblair, Glenburgie and Imperial from G&M, Old Fitzgerald 1849, 14yo Springbank single cask rum wood soon to be released and probably a few more :-)