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