Glen Scotia 1992

Glen Scotia 1992. Archives. 50.4% 20yo

Pleasant nose, which is always a good start. Classic whisky with a dash of forest berries and vanilla. This cask strength whisky's nose also gives me associations of being in a whisky warehouse in chilly Scotland. As the nosing goes on the forest berries becomes more dominant.. Excellent nose, but it had to develop on me.

Palate : Faint metallic and more forest berries. When I go closer in depths with this malt it appear fullbodied and malty with some toasted oak in the finish

This is a typical example of Glen Scotia, and a better one in my opinion. I have never been a great fan of this distillery, but if you are this might be something for you

Rating 83/100

I sometimes wonder why I often get a faint metallic note on Glen Scotia's. Is this just something I make up after I saw the washbacks at Glen Scotia ?

I did often find faint metallic notes in Glen Scotia (as I do in Ben Nevis) before I saw these cast iron washbacks.

Canada

The major whisky producing countries  is Scotland, USA, Japan, Ireland, Canada and maybe India.

Where I live, and I speak in a very broad definition here, as I think of Europe, the focus is mainly on Scotland, and also a bit on USA, Ireland and Japan. Canada is more or less off the radar. Totally.

I have heard of Canadian Club only growing up. Last week when I held a bourbon tasting in a local whiskyclub, I asked if they knew any bourbons. Canadian Club was mentioned as the 2nd!. I bet if I did a poll in the street asking what country produced Canadian Club I wouldn't get 100% same answers :-)

Just to put you in a good mood, here's a little fun video, not whisky related, except it's about the symbols of some of the whisky producing countries - Scotland, Ireland and Canada included.

 My favourite Canadian Whisky Blogger, Johanne McInnis of The Perfect Whisky Match has kindly sent me the following 4 samples. I am now ready to educate myself a little on the subject of canadian whiskies and I will share my thoughts.

I start of with a couple of Gibson's, a brand owned by William Grants and Sons. It's now made in the Walkerville distillery in Windsor Canada (not owned by Grants) and current bottlings was probably distilled in the Valleyfield distillery near Montreal in Québec

1. Gibson's Finest. 12yo. 40%

The nose is light and very typical of grain whisky. The palate again reminds me of standard scottish grain whisky.  I am refering to scottish whisky often when describing other countries whiskies, as that's where my whisky heritage is. This is not as neutral as the standard scottish grain whisky usually is, there's more flavours coming through from the grains used in the mashbills, with a strong rye component. Rye is the most flavourful grain used in whisky production and gives a minty spicy flavour to a whisky. This whisky is not very intense in it's basic flavours and I see myself pouring some rather large pours to taste it. It is very smooth and drinkable. There is some small hint's of the standard flavours you expect to find in a whisky that has spend 12 years in a cask. A little butterscotch is most notable for me and the finish has a nice little hint of sweet wood berries, whatever that is ?

Rating 82/100

2. Gibson's Finest Rare 40% 18yo

This is a limited production of 12000 bottles a year according to Gibson's website, where I also stole the photo above. The first difference I notice on the 18yo compared to the 12yo is some small hints of oak wood on the nose. The palate is a lot more balanced than the 12yo and I feel I am drinking an aged whisky. Everything is again very subtle in the flavours and I again have to pour some real large pours to get the flavours of this. I am a very experienced microdrammer, usually I can get a lot from just pouring ½-1 cl of whisky, but this isn't doing it for me this morning. I am reviewing this four samples first thing in the morning before my palate has been in contact with any food so no tired palate here. Along with my previous experiences with Canadian whiskies I get the feeling that this is grain whisky I am drinking with a rye component. I am repeating myself, this is smooth, not that intense, very easy drinking, grain whisky, very typical canadian. I would say this is exactly an older version of the 12yo with a very similar flavour profile. The finish is again very nice, this time with wood infused with berries

Rating 84/100

3. Wiser's Small Batch 43.4%

Another brand produced in Walkerville. 

Great pours again to get the flavours through. The higher ABV introduces a slight alcohol burn for the first time this morning, and I had the first two to prepare my palate! This whisky has a hint of rubber on the palate, but knowing my sensitivity for rubber I doubt anyone else would find it. I never mind hints of rubber in a whisky so this is not a negative, I think it adds some complexity to this whisky. The whisky is again a typical grain but this is bit more fullbodied, the higher ABV surely helps

Rating 83/100

4. Alberta Premium Dark Horse 45%

From Alberta!. According to Davin, this is a mainly a 100% rye whisky mixed with some goodies like corn whisky and sherry casked whisky to enrich the rye base.

What a wonderful nose. The nose takes me back to some of the wonderful LDI High West whiskeys I have tried. The rye is dominant, but its embedded in a nice traditional yummy whisky/sherry nose. The palate comes through as sherried with a hint of classic dried fruits. This particular whisky is more a sherried rye than a grain whisky if I have to relate it the whiskies I usually drink. The balance between the rye and the sherry is perfect. A bit like when a peat/sherry whisky is perfect. This is something I would like a bottle of

This is the best canadian whisky I have tasted along with the Whistlepig, which has really grown on me since I reviewed it on this blog some time ago- 

Rating 87/100

My verdict is that if you are fan of grain whiskies you should explore these canadians. To me, these canadians are somewhat quite similar in style. Solid grain whiskies. They also somehow remind me of irish whiskies with a rye component, but I wouldn't be surprised if experienced irish and canadain drinkers would say that's the most stupid thing they ever heard :-)

I also find myself getting drunk while drinking these canadians. I had to pour a lot to get flavours out. Everybody talks about responsible drinking these days. I get the thought that bottling these whiskies at below 45% is irresponsible as it leads to excessive drinking. Give me 55%+ cask strengths and I will be sipping drops instead of necking big pours.

Talking about casks strength. Where are the cask strength Canadians?. I would really love to try some of these at full strength. There's million of casks maturing in Canada and I am 100% sure that if you want to make an impact into the whisky geek/entusiast world it must be possible to find one or two good casks and bottle them at full strength. It can't be that hard! When I visited Forty Creek last summer I suggested this to John Hall and he just looked at me like I was clueless. Maybe I am?, but I bet they want to sell whisky to someone like me AS WELL :-)

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

Prestige Distilleries

There's a few distilleries out there that is considered prestige distilleries by us, the whisky drinkers.

Then there is some distilleries that is considered prestige distilleries by investors/collectors

There are also some distilleries that are considered a prestige distillery by themself!

These three catagories are mostly overlapping but not always.

In my opinion prestige distilleries are based on performances in the past. The following 5 distilleries are what immediately springs into my mind

Bowmore, Ardbeg, Brora, Port Ellen and Springbank

Who didn't wish they stocked up on 60's Bowmore and 70's Ardbeg? A lot wish they bought more Springbanks in the 90's and early naughties when they had several legendary bottlings out. I do for sure.

Port Ellen Pagodas

These distilleries have one thing in common. What they bottle now is no way as good what they bottled 10-20 years ago. They might have one rare bottling occasionally at an astronomical price, but we just don't see them spitting stellar bottlings out as they used to do. There are perfectly good explanations for this. Stock and demand is the main factors here, but also change in production methods.

Nothing wrong with what they bottle today, but these distilleries has more or less gone from legends to distilleries more or less like all the other (a little above average at least, in my opinion, I'll give them that much)

The two other distilleries I mentioned are closed distilleries and we are simply just slowly running out of casks available. But again, a lot of good whiskies bottled/made in the past, not so much today!

So what is the prestige distillery or distilleries of the tenners ?. I have a hard time picking anyone out in particular. For a distillery to be a prestige disillery in my opinion they need to bottle something extraordinary regularely. Some would say that "extraordinary" and "regular" are paradoxial if used in the same context, but if we look at the five distilleries mentioned I hope you can see my point

Balvenie is a good candidate, with their tun 1401 series! Glendronach and Benriach maybe, with their semiprolific single cask bottlings ? Maybe, maybe not

A lot of big distilleries has a huge amount of casks, maybe they just choose not to bottle 50 supreme single casks a year, I suspect a few of them could...

Another good candidate is Buffalo Trace with their van Winkle and BTAC series

(Sku think they might be in a decline : Is the Buffalo Trace Antique Collection in Decline)

There is a bottling series out there which I know will get legendary status in a few years from now. I have chosen to keep quiet about it (at least online) We all know what huge mistake it was telling everybody how great Ardbeg was 10-15 years ago. I can't get it anymore now that everybody wants it :-)

But end of the day, I think the whisky market lacks bottlings that are the legends of today. There are many good bottlings out there, but they seem to be random and not particular attached to certain distilleries.

Just recently we had a "huge" stock of Caperdonich 72's and old Karuizawa, but these are also dissapearing and examples of something available in the past

I still have to search my mind to think of any distillery that can be named the "legend of today." Well, maybe the future will tell what I don't see/miss today

Jim Beam Rye

Rye whiskey is not easy to come by here in Denmark. When I have to do bourbon tastings just finding a bottle can sometimes be a little task in itself.

Here and there You can find the odd bottle, sometimes older bottlings that has been hidden on the shelf of a spirits or wine store for a few years but walking into a shop normally known for decent selection of whisk(e)y and expecting to find a bottle of rye is optimistic

The biggest producer of bourbon in Kentucky has a couple of ryes bottlings. Knob Creek Rye and this bottling here : Jim Beam Rye

Jim Beam Rye has a mash bill of 51% rye and is 4 years old and bottled at 40%

This is a very mild rye, the nose is laid back and for a spirit that has been laid on new wood, it is not very woody. At least not compared to your standard bottle of bourbon. It's dry and has an absence of sweetness, with a very laid back spicyness. I usual get a lot more mint from ryes, this is more subtle with an equal component of coconut. 

This makes for an easy drinking-sipping whiskey that won't challenge you a lot. It is also a perfect rye for cocktails and its great value for money, at least here in Denmark that is

Rating 82/100

Archives Caol Ila 30yo

The last few weeks I have been travelling the southern parts of the USA and had the pleasure of meeting josh of joshziewhisky.blogspot.com.

We did a joint review of one of the recent Archives bottlings, a 30yo Caol Ila. You can read about it here

http://joshziewhisky.blogspot.com/2013/01/cross-continental-whisky-blogger-meetup.html

on top of this I had the pleasure of tasting a range of HIS whiskies :-)

As written, I was very positively surprised by the 1997 Bowmore.. Seems like Bowmore are back on the track of the great whisky they produced in the sixties. Adding to this is similar quality of a couple of 1996 and 1997 Bowmores I had the pleasure of tasting this weekend

Del Maguey

I also had the pleasure of finally tasting Del Maguey, I am sure that even if you hate tequila/mezcal (I do) this will change your mind, at least for this particular produce. A must for any whiskyfan

Danish Whisky Blog Awards 2012

A little belated, here are my favourites of 2012, based on personal experience and something I look forward to in 2013

Distillery of the Year

Balvenie

I really want to acknowledge a distillery that choose to put out something special at fair prices. This award is based on their tun 1401 range, which is magnificient whisky, a vatting of old and older casks, some really old. So far they are on batch#6. Keep them coming please. This is almost in direct contrast to some other bottlers who can't release a single cask without going 4 digits in price, and thats in £££. Balvenie do have some unreachable bottles for us drinkers, but as long as they give us things to buy and drink at high exceptional quality I am happy. A bottling like their 15yo is another example of this distillery doing the right thing. This is a constant output of single cask bottlings. Whiskynerds like bottlings like this. Variety over consistency. Adding to this, is the tour possibilities when you visit the twin distilleries of Balvenie and Glenfiddich. They have a range of tours, some of them quite special which is nice, especially if you have travelled quite a bit to visit Scotland

Independent Bottler of the Year

Archives

Late 2011, whiskybase opened their shop in Netherlands. At the same time they released their independent bottling range named Archives. They have been very prolific in 2012 with releases, I more or less lost track of the amounts of bottlings, but they should be well above more than 20 expressions by now. One of the owners is a long time whiskyacquaintance and friend, and also a PLOWED ringleader. You might think I am biased, but I reckon that when someone are in the same attitude circles of the whisky world as I am, and they stay there, I will naturally like what they do. I didn't like everything they bottled, but the few things I didn't like was highly praised by others. I did like a lot of what they bottled though, and I especially liked their pricing policy. A 50yo North British released at around 160€ is great value for money. Add to that some spectular Littlemills as well, great Caol Ila's and a range of quite old and exciting bottlings from a string of distilleries. Ooooh, the North British was a great whisky by the way.
If you look through the blog, I reviewed several of their whiskies and there is more coming up...one day

Whisky Bottling of the year

Glendronach 1993 single cask#26 UK market exclusive 57.1%
PX sherry butt. Distilled 15 January 1993, bottled October 2012

I am very pleased that the very first thing that happened at Glasgow Whisky Festival, was that Alistair Walker from BenRiach/Glendronach asked me to taste their new UK release. This is a dream sherry bomb, totally unadultered. This is like going back in time to whiskies you loved in your childhood. Figuratively speaking. It became an instant favourite. Thanks Alistair

The nose is classic full bodied sherry. Licorise. Semidried sweet succulent fruits, plums and prunes, dades in sherry and a great spicy woodyness. All very well integrated and balanced.

The palate is a dream for a lover of whisky from an sherry cask. This is the kind of whisky you hope to get when buy a bottle from a distillery that is renowned for their sherry bottlings. The palate is a direct follow up of the nose. Your mouth get exactly what your nose promised. Licorise, wood, oily, liquid dried fruits 

The finish is looong, sweeter and I get some classical fruityness

Rating 92/100

Tasting of the year

None. I went to less than 5 tastings in 2012, of which I conducted at least half of them myselves. I won't judge my own tastings and the 1 or 2 other ones was fine tastings but nothing earthshaking.

I did participate in several, quite a lot actually, private gatherings. These were usually themed, and often the participants each brought their own contributions. I also went to a few festivals, Juul's in Hadsten, The Danish Whisky Fair, Limburg and Glasgow Whisky Festival. I enjoyed all of them very much. Next year I allready planned to go Spirit of Speyside for the 7th time since 2001 and Glasgow Whisky Festival for the 4th consecutive time.

If I have to highlight one tasting it was a private vertical of Charbay, including some presamples and the bottled beers which brews were used for the destilate. That was a very fun, different, delicious, educating, intoxicating and "event". Thanks to Adam from PLOWED and LAWS for organising that

In the world of whisky there is a few things I look forward to in 2013. A handful (or more) new distilleries in Scotland. Fary Lochan's first release of whisky. Tasting matured whiskey from Las Vegas Distillery (I hope) and finally manage to schedule Maltstock. The festival I never tried attending, but I really want to..

It's also nice to discover that I seem not to be the only one drinking bourbon in Denmark. It's nice to see that the danish whiskey scene, which can be quite introvert and conservative, finally discovering that whisky can be something else than sherry and islay

A belated happy new year. I hope I get time for some more blogging in 2013 and especially finishing what I start. The advent calendar got lost in a busy christmas schedule. One of the reasons I am busy is, luckily, that I am out and around dramming, so no complaints here :-)