The six PLOWED bottlings

Here is a list of the 6 PLOWED bottlings, the labels has been retrieved from the COLA site.

Bottled in 1999. Fantastic old Springbank. This is a favourite PLOWED bottling by a considerate fragment of the group.

Another Classic. Early 70's Ardbeg by Douglas Laing. Say no More. Another favourite. Bottled 2001
Dave Broom and Michael Jackson disagrees HERE 

Brorageddon. The best Brora I have tasted. My favourite of the PLOWED bottlings. It's even a candidate to the best whisky I have ever tasted. 

Bottled 2003. First label to include the slogan "Self-styled whisky connoisseurs" It wasn't meant as a compliment when a Bowmore rep. adressed Bushido, after an enquiry about the tasting notes he had discovered in recent bottlings, which he described as FWP

LAWS reviews it HERE

Port Ellen from 2004. This one divides the group. Some like it (a lot), some don't. I am not a big fan

LAWS like it , HERE 

The last of the Old Malt Cask quartet. A Laphroaig bottled in 2006

Serge reviewed this one and liked it here

The latest addition to the range and the first OB, a 1986 BenRiach bottled in 2009, which again combines peat and sherry. Another bottle that split opinions, seems like it need some time in the glass/bottle

Conclusion? Don't drink with PLOWED if you're pregnant

7. December Longrow 12yo 57.6%

Distilled June 1996
Bottled April 2009
Fresh Fino Sherry Butt

Hit or miss. The words "miss" is something I often have to label Springbank bottlings when they try to go alternative with Gaja Barolo, Red, Tokaji or whatever barrel they happen to destroy their fine destillate with. I might not be pleased, but plenty of fanbois around jumping up and down in joy whatever crap they release. Maybe I am just a conservative boring purist, lets see how this sample fares, its a bottling for Springbank Society in 2009, bottles usually worth climbing a few fences to get!

Some of the stills at Springbank

Here is the verdict:

Nose sweet, with hints of rubber, the rubber is well packaged into the sherry sweetness, its a bit like opening a new box of wellingtons

The whisky is quite dry, with a good mix of latex and peat. The whisky is very oily, which kinda amplifies the rubber latex feeling, with the dryness and peat kicking in. While I don't reckon this is a bad whisky, it's actually quite well-balanced, but I couldn't sit around drink a lot of this. I don't mind the rubber kind of sulphur but I prefer some sweetness to balance it out. This is a malt in the catagory : Interesting

The finish is long, starts of hot and burning but ends up nice and with a lot of peat and fianlly a bit of sweetness

Rating 83/100

Springbank 12yo OB /2010

Springbank 12 yo OB /2010, 54.6%

Nose: Creamy and sweet. Whipped cream and a hint of smoke. Grass and some mojito (?). Also some ginger and chili in there.

Taste: Oily and sweet with vanilla and oak as the dominant forces - in a positive way that is. A powerful yet elegant whisky. Smiling Springbank all the way :-)

Rating: 89

My friends left some dregs at my house

I got nice friends

They left some dregs at my place, so here's 4 short easter reviews

A couple of old miniatures

1. Mortlach 50yo Juuls Anniversary Bottling 41.7% Gordon and MacPhail

Nose : fresh spicy sweet fruit mango and citrus

Palate : Classical old Gordon and MacPhail. Pine wood, more mango and citrus, absolutely wonderful. Whisky like this is what makes life's worth living. I do enjoy these flavours that is only pressent in very old whiskies. GandM 

Finish : Long and delicious with a hint of vanilla custard hitting at later stages

Note : This whisky REALLY benefits from being a morning dram. My fresh palate combined with the great subtleties of this dram makes this an outstanding moment

Rating 95

2. Springbank 37yo Chieftains 46%

Nose : VERY NICE :-), I am still a bit hyped from the Mortlach!. I reckon this is again from a ex-bourbon cask, probably the 2nd fill. Faint hints of citrus on a background of sweet wood spices

Palate : malt, spice, wood, quite powerfull, followed by an impact of those spicy wood notes I only get from old whiskies and I really like that

The finish is medium

Rating 91

3. SMWS 59.37 Teaninich Nov 83-Jun 08, 55.8% 24yo

"For lazy lotus eaters"

Nose: A typical whisky nose with a hint of sweet glue and honey

Palate : Delicious intense concentrated honey. I am allergic to honey but like it so glad to have this notes in whisky. I don't get any lotus. 

Finish  : medium

Rating 83

4. Glen Keith Càrn Mòr 1990 19yo cask 13676

The lightness of this whisky is really clarified following the other 3. Huge stills or lowlander in style. This a gentle apeterif style whisky. This is more like an Armagnac than a whisky. The style is apples and pears. Lovely

Rating 82

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 :-)

Jørn's Springbank

It's great to have friends... it's great to drink whisky. Whisky have brought me a lot of friends, and there's nothing like dramming with a group of friends or exchanging samples with friends. One of my friends is a bit different from the others..instead of bottles of whiskies, he is into purchasing casks..well maybe not instead of bottles, but "as well" as bottles :-)

Jørn G Pedersen is a great guy, that apart from swapping samples with me enjoys golf and whisky, which is a great combination when holidaying in Scotland. Not being a golfer myself I have to let do with whisky only.
Some of the drams I'll be writing about in the future will be things I got from him and that I really look forward to taste.

Jørn was one of the few guys out there who was smart and lucky enough to get hold of a casks of Springbank when they had a window open in the cask selling house. It's not really an option anymore. This cask was shared purchase of his Golf Club, and I think it's under Jørn's influence it was bottled at cask strength and thanks for that. After purchasing a bottle, he said that if shared that at Limburg he would give me another one. I remember leaving the dreg with Teun (of http://www.maltstock.com/) to share around Netherlands.. I hope it was received well.

1. Springbank OB Private Bottling Fresh Bourbon Barrel #261 10yo 59.9%

Distilled 01.10.1999, Bottled November 2009

The nose is sweet, créme brûlée, slightly peaty

palate : remarkable peaty, woody, full bodied, creamy and oily. Whiskyjuice. It's "darker", heavier than what you would expect from a fresh bourbon barrel Springbank if you expects anything like the 100 proof (EU-version) or the Bourbon Wood expression. 

The peatyness surprises me a lot. It makes me think Longrow influence. I know that Springbank is made lightly peated, but this is more. Not Longrow but close I say. If it was a 2nd fill cask I would have put my money on that it contained Longrow before (or Laphroiag!). But it's first fill. My best guess is that this is the run they did straight after they did a Longrow run. I know from people in the industry that they spend quite some efforts cleaning out the system after they have been running peaty batches to get ready for nonpeaty batches. I've always thought they should make some lightly peated stuff this way, and maybe Springbank have been doing this!

This is great stuff and I really enjoy the oilyness and the peat of this Bourbon Springer. Well done Jørn or maybe just a congratulations with the luck of getting a cask like this. Thanks for letting me try this :-)

Rating 90