World Whiskies - Happy New Year

As the new year is rolling in over the globe over the next 24 hours lets have a look at whisky from around the globe

Whisky is a popular dram. Distilleries are popping up all over the world, Personally I have always regarded Scotland, USA, Ireland and Japan for the classic 4 whisky countries which have a long tradition of making whisky of all kinds. Many would argue that Canada belongs to this list, and I don't really have an opinion if it does or not, I simply lack experience in canadian whiskies

But the world is coming. Amrut from India has already made it to the stars of whisky

World whiskies doesn't have the same reputation as whisky from the countries mentioned above, and there's a couple of reasons for that.

Some world distilleries simply make crap whisky and/or

Some distilleries bottle whisky that's too young

But that's not something particular for world whiskies. I could say the same about some whiskies from Scotland. But let's leave the bad ones.

This blog post is my personal recommendations of whiskies from around the world worth having a look at. The list isn't complete as I haven't tasted everything out there.

Let's start in America!

McCarthy's Oregon single malt whiskey

Single malt whiskey from Portland in Oregon, made at Clear Creek Distillery
This is a peated malt made on Holstein still's one a one-run distillation (with a twist)
Read more here : http://www.clearcreekdistillery.com/whiskey.html
A delicious peaty dram, well worth a look

Charbay

Charbay is a winery and multidistillery in the hills between Napa Valley and Sonoma Valley just north of San Francisco in California. Marko Karakasevic is a somewhat excentric distiller who decided if he had to dsitll beer, it has to be the best beers, so Charbay whiskeys is made from bottle ready IPA's, stouts and the likes. This isn't the cheapest whiskeys on the market and its not easy to find either as the releases has been few over the years

Read more here : http://www.charbay.com/ProductInfo.aspx?productid=WHISKII7

Moving over to Europe now :

France:

Glann ar Mor

Still

A Bretagne distillery in France keeps the celtic connection up, and with a double distillation, live flame heated, onion shaped pot stills, worm tubs and wooden wash backs this is as traditional as it can be.

Lars reviewed the peated version, Kornog here:
http://danishwhiskyblog.blogspot.com/2011/07/kornog-glann-ar-mor-distillery-france.html

Distillery home page here : www.glannarmor.com 

Czech Republic:

Hammerhead

A Czech distillery in Pradlo decided to make some whisky in 1989, right before the velvet revolution. The casks were forgotten in the mild turmoil that created the czech republic and the whisky was "rediscovered" in 2010 and bottled as a 21yo. The new owners , The Stock Spirit Group, were really surprised by the quality of this spirit, and it has been availbale for bargain prices in duty frees

Taiwan:


Kavalan

Kavalan is a Taiwanese whisky, the distillery was started in 2006. Several expressions has been released, Kavalan, Concertmaster (port finish), Solist (single casks of various types) and King Car (un-chill filtered, 46%). The whisky is sold mainly on the chinese markets and is really hard to get in Europe (and the US)

Last, I believe that Australia is an up and coming whisky producing country, but I simply haven't tasted anything under proper circumstances recently, but I did try Lark whisky at Glasgow Whisky Festival and it's for sure something to keep an eye on as well

Canada : Look out for Forty Creek whisky from the Kittling Ridge Distillery

Beer hunter, Whisky chaser. A book review by Peter

First Blog by Peter
Hi this is my first take on a review on this page.
Before starting the review I had better introduce myself
I am an anorak (just as the other guys reviewing on this page. My specialty/interest is whisky books and Rosebank whisky (feel free to send me samples to review ;-) )
I have chosen to start with a review on the late great Michael Jackson's memorial book, Beer hunter, Whisky chaser.

Beer Hunter Whisky Chaser
Not a book by Michael Jackson, nor is it about the man (well not a lot anyway). But a book written as a tribute to him. (And as a money maker for the Parkinson Disease Society, UK). For that alone it gets a few stars extra!
Now I am both a whisky fan and a beer fan, so this book should be great for me! It is, but only in whisky terms. Apparently I'm not used to read a lot about beer, other than recipes for making it, so I'm a bit lost reading those parts of the book.
Because of that, the whisky parts will have to Carry the price. Luckily it does. Charles MacLean's analysis of the renaissance of malt whisky is the star of the book in my view. And the rest is not bad either.

For diversity the book gets an 85
For the whisky, it gets an 85 as well
For the charity, it gets a 92
Total 87

RIP
Michael Jackson

PS, if you want to see why you should buy this book and support The Parkinson Disease Society, then just check this YouTube clip and see the last interview with MJ. That ought to convince you if you have not all ready bought a copy.



Peter

Last drams of 2011 part 5

Old Grand Dad 100 proof bottled in bond 1982

To me, the bourbon terms sometimes seems odd. Bottled in bond means a vintage whiskey and straight means the whiskey is minimum 4 years old :-)

(read more exact definition here : http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bottled_in_bond)

The Old Grand Dad is today a Beam brand, and uses a special high rye mash bill different from the other Beam whiskies. The whisky is named after Basil Hayden, the original distiller Raymond Haydens grand-dad. The name is also known from Beam's Basil Hayden's bouron which also uses the same mash bill.

Nose : Shoe polish, rye, liqeur

Palate : Wow, pure rye heaven. It's very smooth and hasn't got a lot of wood. Is this OBE ? (old bottle effect). I do find slight similarities to this and AH Hirsch 16, and the AH Hirsch 16 did spend around 1½ decade in stainless steel tanks. One thing is sure, I am glad I have been stocking up on bourbons bottled last century. I get more from this. Mint, licorise, floor varnish, rye, vanilla, but this is also one of the least woody and smoothest bourbons I have tried

Finish : medium-long

Rating 91

Thanks to Mike Ly for the sample

Last drams of 2011 part 4

Karuizawa 1967 cask 6426, 58.4%
The Whisky Exchange 10y online anniversary, bottled 24/8-2009

The colour and looks of this whisky reminds me of balsamico.

Nose :

Boiled in fruit, leather, and a bit of the inside of a pair of wellingtons.

Palate

Extremely oily on the verge of being gritty without being it at all. Dried fruits, Ris a lamande cherry sauce, a long finish. A drop of water brings up wood notes , and a little sweetness, a sweetness you would have thought would have been there from the start, but this is actually a surprisingly non-sweet sherried whisky. Very unlike any other whisky I have a tasted, an exceptional good dram, the leather taste is dominating, and leather is usually something I pick up in Lagavulin and old Ardbegs. No noticeable peat or smoke in this Karuizawa

Rating 89

Last drams of 2011 part 3

Tamnavulin 40yo Single Malts of Scotland 40.4%

Nose : apple-shoe polish. A very delightful nose, not that intensive, but one of those whisky you can keeo going on nosing. This is like a girl in a summer dress.

Palate : This is a very fragile dram. A composite of apples with some spicy wood parts, which gives away the old age of this malt. Its very moorish, but also so delicate and fragile that it will have trouble following any other dram.

Finish : medium with a some bitterness

Tamnavulin is a Speyside distillery located up the hills behind the Glenlivet distillery also on the Glenlivet estate. The distillery is owned by Whyte and Mackay and reopened in 2007 after have being mothballed for 12 years.

Rating 86

Tamnavulin anno 2007

The old mill used to host a visitor centre

Last drams of 2011 part 2

Laphroaig Quarter Cask 48%

Quarter Cask  is a No Age Statement Laphroaig. It is regular Laphroaig that has received a finish on quarter casks. Quarter Cask , having a quart the size of a normal cask, hence the name, has a larger surface to volume ratio. This results in larger wood impact to the spirit, well some would call this a slightly speeded up maturation

Nose : sweet, peaty and floral.

Palate : Again quite sweet, with some floral notes and a background of peat

Finish : Long and peaty

This is a dram for peat lovers. The peat is dominating, but its a very delicate and drinkable whisky, despite its young age and relative high ABV. Recently I found a lot of the Laphroaigs distillery bottlings sligtly floral, opposed to independent Laphroaigs. It's all a matter of taste but personally I prefer the independent bottlings of Laphroag out there, with the 10yo cask strength being on the same level

It's no where floral on the same level or same kind as many associate with Bowmore, especially Bowmore from a few years back!

Rating 83

Last drams of 2011 part 1

Caperdonich 1972 Hart Brothers 30yo 50.1%

The nose is warm, meaty and a bit confined.

The palate is rough, bitter, musty and dusty, without any sweetness. Not an atypical Caperdonich thou. 

The finish is long with a nice bitter-vanilla

Rating 84