BrewDog/Lost Abbey Lost Dog – a collaboration between BrewDog and Lost Abbey, a ‘monastically inspired’ brewery just north of San Diego in California. It’s a rum cask aged Imperial porter, produced during a visit by the Californians about a year ago. It’s a big dark beer, but held up to the light has a deep red colour. On the nose it had sticky red berries, massively sweet caramel and a little bit of burnt toffee – a nice but unsurprising nose that could have come off many sweet dark beers. To taste it was rich, laced with port fruit, and had a light fizz that cut through the sweetness. It finished with thick malt syrup sweetness, a burst of smoke (like a fire in a chocolate malt bin) and a very long lingering fruitiness – cherries, raisins, fake rhubarb. I tried this on tap previously at BrewDog Camden and it’s just how I remember it – a big sweet dark beer with some interesting fruit on the finish. The bottled version also comes in a pretty box.

Auchenthoshan Valinch – I’ve had this on my tasting stack for ages because the lid was stuck. I finally took a pair of pliers to it the other day and cracked it open. It’s Auchentoshan’s no-age-statement Classic bottled at cask strength, something that their fans have been asking about for a while and which they finally released last year. On the nose it’s young and spirity, with crunchy peach, lemon travel sweets, sweet pastry, vanilla sugar, green peppercorns and floral candles. To taste it has wax polish, sour green fruit (apples, crunchy pear, limes), young floral spirity notes and woody spice. A drop of water calms things down and brings out some vanilla cream. It finishes with lime skin and sour wood, adding in apple skin tannins and apple chews as it fades away. It is very young tasting and when I first tried it I wasn’t a fan. However, my tastes have recently started hitting out towards the light and floral end of the spectrum, and this is now much more towards where my palate is at the moment.

anCnoc 1998 – a newbie from the folks at Inver House (new enough that we don’t have it at work yet). I rather like the regular 12 and 16 year olds from anCnoc but haven’t been a massive fan of their vintage releases in the past. On the nose this was big and lemony, with fizzy yeastiness, Tangfastics, fizzy chewitts, green grapes, apple chews, fennel tops, tall grass and waxed fruit, and it got sweeter as it sat in the glass. To taste it was soft and creamy with green apple, light cinnamon spice and some green rhubarb. The rhubarb lingered in the finish, along with some pepper and sour green wood. It’s a very drinkable dram with some good fruit and spice. It’s not a game changer and doesn’t fit in with the regular anCnoc releases but is perfectly decent whisky.

Bowmore Tempest Batch #3 – this is the sample that reminded me I hadn’t done a quick tasting post in a while – I’ve had it for ages (Sorry DK). It was rather loved at work, with m’colleague Tim choosing it as his Christmas whisky, but I’d not got round to doing more than have a swig in the office. On the nose it has old bonfires, unripe fruit, brine, tarred ropes, damp dark wood and floral hints. To taste it had upfront wood smoke and charred wood, with sweet muddy peat, pears, some young spirity flavours, and sweet and sour fruit. It finished quite sweet, with syrup, spicy wood and some lingering hammy wood. I wouldn’t pick it as a favourite, although it does do a very good job of balancing smoke and sweet fruitiness.

The Spirit of Broadside – a weird one this, Adnams’s Broadside (tasty beer) distilled at their new(ish) distillery and then matured for a year in new oak. So, one year old, hopped, sort-of whisky. I went along to the launch and had some thrust into my hand. On the nose I got powdered rubber tire inner tubes, balloons, ginger, hops, marmite, raisins and lots of childhood memory smells – the scent of brewday on the other side of town to my school when I was growing up. To taste it was oily with caramel sweetness, pine, juniper, oranges, fresh cut ginger root, stewed apple, garam masala and cardamon. It finished sweet, with ginger, real maraschino cherries and lingering hops. Definitely not a whisky and interesting, although I have no idea where it fits in the world of spirits.

Copper House Limoncello – After I’d tried the Spirit of Broadside I had a glass of this handed to me. On the nose it was pure fresh cut lemon – enough so that I asked John McCarthy, the Adnams distiller, whether he’d used any more of the lemons than the traditional zest. He hadn’t, having bought horrendously expensive zest, but the nose still managed to get whole lemon juiciness into it somehow. To taste it was syrupy and oily, with buttery lemon and some zesty bitterness. Well balanced and not too sweet.

La Fée Parisienne - a sample given to me by the excellent Ryan Alexander at Barcamp London after myAbsinthe session. According to the internets this is almost a traditionally made absinthe – distilled rather than compounded using oils. However, it does have one definite additive – colouring. It’s a shocking fluorescent green and it louches to a quite impressive green as well. Before adding water it’s very spirity, with the alcoholic base coming out almost as strong as the anise, which is very strong, and almost swamping the few bitter herbals that are noticeable. After dilution (1:3 absinthe:water) the nose is still anis heavy, with a bit of seediness (like the seed at the middle of an aniseed ball) and a little bit of green herb bitterness. It tastes very sweet and syrupy, like melted aniseed balls, with a little hit of wormwood bitterness, and finishes with some mulchy grass and even more sweet aniseed balls. An unsubtle absinthe with lots of sweetness (I switched to Jade Edouard after this and it was incredible how bitter it seemed in comparison, when normally I find it naturally sweet) and a scary colour. It’s not bad though and is reasonably priced.

Glendronach 8 year old, bottled 1970s, Italian Import – A rather special dram this, acquired by m’colleague Tim, opened and shared around the office. It’s Glendronach from before the days that they became known as the sherry kings. Well, the time before the most recent time they became known as sherry kings, anyway. On the nose it doesn’t want to give up much, but has a chunk of sour tropical fruit – passion fruit, unripe rhubarb and mango – as well as a little bit of syrupy sweetness. To taste it’s nowhere near as sweet as the nose suggested, with polished wood, apricot, anis spiciness, cinnamon and acres of beautiful, old, elegant woodiness. It finished warming and spicy, with apples and a mineral edge, as well as more well aged wood. This is a proper old school whisky, the sort that I’d not even realised existed before I started working at TWE. The nose has all the marvellous tropical fruit that has got me looking for old bottlings of young whisky in auctions and the palate is dry with the Good Wood that I capitalise when I write about it. It seems that another few beers have been added to the ‘drinks to buy Tim’ list.

Thanks to DK at Margaret and Lukas at Alembic for the samples of Auchentoshan and Bowmore, and anCnoc respectively; and to Alice from Westgate for inviting me along to the Spirit of Broadside launch.

The weekend took place at an old Cub Scout lodge in Nijmegen, near the German border, and the plan was simple – turn up, bring whisky, put the whisky on one of the tables provided, share, talk toot and maybe sleep. A few companies had organised tastings, including my employers who had commented “do you want to do a tasting?” when I tried to blag some whiskies from our tasting cupboard to take along for the table, and I ended up showcasing some upcoming releases in the Elements of Islay range. There was also the promise of music and a BBQ, but mainly it was focused around sitting down with a bunch of new friends and drinking, talking and generally contemplating whisky.

I didn’t take all that many notes, as I was too busy talking, being tired and generally bewildered by the sheer amount of interesting whisky on offer, but on Saturday afternoon I decided to be ‘professional’ and get something down on paper. Here’s what I tried:

King’s Court Choice Tamdhu – A bottling done for the Dutch King’s Court Whisky Society at 53.5% and pushed in my general direction by a few of their members. On the nose it was big, with diesel, baked beans, heavy caramel, treacle, lime skins and cheese rind. To taste it was full of spiced orchard fruit, refresher chews and and a rich baked bean savouriness. It lingered long on the finish with a tasty chunk of spicy apple pie. Maybe a bit too much for me, but one that I’d like to try again with a bit of water.

Wasmund’s New Make - A new make spirit also pushed at me by the KCWS folks, along with the following aged version, this is a malted barley American new make rather than the usual unmalted grain based fare. On the nose it was very gluey, with wood polish, cinnamon and heavy varnish. To taste it was simpler, with orchard fruit, a meaty richness and some hammy smoke. The fruity flavour becomes less surprising when you realise that the malt was smoked over apple and cherry wood.

Wasmund’s Single Malt Whisky - The aged version of the previous whisky, this is only 14 months old so not really whisky yet in the eyes of the SWA. However, it’s from the USA where you can call anything made in the correct manner whisky, with the rule being that it’s not ‘straight’ until 2 years old and you have to list the age if it’s under 4. I think. They have lots of rules. Anyways, on the nose it was a woodier version of the new make – glue, spice, wood polish and a whole heap of freshly cut timber. To taste it was big and spicy, with lots of wood, more varnish and, strangely, no vanilla. Too much wood for me, but very interesting to see the development.

Laphroaig Cairdeas Ileach 2011 – The one whisky that I tried all weekend that I own, although I haven’t opened it yet. Cairdeas is the name Laphroaig give to their yearly Islay Festival bottlings and while I haven’t yet made it to the island they offer a few bottles of it to the Friends of Laphroaig through their website – I’ve fortunately managed to grab a bottle for the last 4 years. I’ve not opened last year’s yet either, but the other two were rather good and from what I’ve heard this year’s is the best of the lot. A nose of smoked fish, Dr Pepper fruit, dry grass and cracked mud. To taste it had sweet smoke, a hint of empty sardine tins and lime pith leading into a sweet wood and wet smoke finish. It’s got some of the fruit that I’ve found in the older bottlings of younger Laphroaig that I’ve tasted recently through work (the mid-90s 10 year old tasted like lightly smoked passion fruit – a bit of a revelation compared to today’s version) but didn’t have that much of that on the palate, replacing it with metallic smoked fish and citrus, which is fine by me. These bottles do seem to command silly prices so this one will sit in my collection for a bit, at least until I’ve opened and finished the 2010 Cairdeas ‘Master Edition’…

Aberlour 8 year old, bottled 1970s – One of the things we have at work is a lot of old bottles of whisky. And I mean a lot. One of the first that I noticed while wandering the shelves was the 1970s Aberlour bottlings, packaged in a dumpy square bottle, and having tasted their more recent versions I’ve been wondering what they were like. This one was one of the 50% releases for the Italian market and according to our site they go for a fairly reasonable £175. I was quite lucky to get a taste of this as it was left out by the guys from Full Proof, who had brought along some of their whiskies to buy by the dram. They wandered to the tasting table and quietly put this and the following whisky down and then wandered off. A few of us saw the arrival and descended on the bottle immediately and as quietly as it appeared it was taken back inside and hidden away. On the nose it had honey & lemon, cinnamon & cloves. To taste there was a light caramel, gentle sherry wood, cream, vanilla and cinnamon. The finish was long with sugar, spice, white grapes and perfumed wood. Not a dram to set the world alight but just one that tasted really nice…

Glen Grant 21 year old, bottled 1970s (maybe 1980s) – This one was left on the table for longer than the Aberlour and picked up mixed reactions. I’m not sure if it’s a 70s or 80s bottle because by this time the booze was starting to kick in and I didn’t check the back label, which would have told me a bit more (the way that ABV and volume are reported are two of the easiest ways to start dating a bottle, especially between 70s and 80s). While not everyone was keen I rather liked it. The nose had rose Turkish delight, general floral notes, chocolate, cream and star anis. To taste it had butter, more cream, cinnamon, cake batter and a hint of green leaves (drunkenly written down as ‘Greensleeves’…).

Burn of Speyside – An interesting dram with an interesting story. Wm Grant’s don’t like selling their casks in such a way that people can independently bottle it and as such they ‘spoon’ their whisky – pouring a teaspoon of one of their other malts into each cask that they sell on for blending so that they can’t be bottled as single malt, legally having become a blended malt. Each of the combinations from their various distilleries has a different internal name, of which Burnside describes Balvenie spooned with Glenfiddich. So, back in the early 2000s a shipment of casks of Balvenie sunk in the New Waterway and then sat underwater for a bit, with the insurance company writing them off and noone really wanting the expense of getting them back. A Dutch company eventually stepped up to the plate and retrieved them, bottling them and then releasing at a ridiculously low price (~€15). However they made one mistake – they labelled it as being Balvenie with a spoon of Glenfiddich in. Grant’s fiercely protect their brands and demanded that the company change their labels immediately. As you can see from the picture (click it to embiggen), they did. With a biro…

On the nose this one was quite fiery, with lots of malt and spice and not a lot of complexity. To taste it was sweet with butter, fruit shortcake and a touch of wax. The finish was spicy with cinnamon, drying woodiness, cream and vanilla. A rather nice little dram going to show that young Balvenie can be nice, although the chance of seeing any appearing from the distillery is probably far fetched.

Gold Cock 12 year old – I rather liked the Hammer Head from the Czech Republic so when I saw that there was another brand from the country I jumped at the chance to try some. The fact that we got about 30 minutes of ‘Grab the cock’, ‘How does the cock taste’, ‘Have you seen the cock?’ and other such ‘jokes’ out of the name was a drunken bonus. I first picked up their 3 year old blend and was surprised to find it entirely full but with the seal broken. One quick sniff showed me why it hadn’t been touched – really not good. This wasn’t an auspicious start to my Gold Cock experience but I soldiered on to the 12 year old. On the nose there was oak leaf, caramel, butter and honey. To taste there was cream, syrup, minty menthol, corn flakes, fake butter and sour wood. My overall assessment was ‘not quite as bad as you might have initially through, but still pretty awful’. I’ll stick with the Hammer Head for now.

Schwarzer Pirat – One distillery I’ve been trying to find something from for a while is Germany’s Blaue Maus. You don’t see (m)any of their bottlings in the UK and I’ve not been so interested as to try importing one, so it was good to be able to try this one from their stable. On the nose there was hot melting plastic, fake butter and sickly caramel. To taste there was plastic, bitter burning plastic fumes, more nasty fake butter and just generally nothing of merit – actively vile. I won’t be importing any of Blaue Maus’s stuff for now, but I might give another one of their expressions a chance. If someone else tries it first…

Glen Scotia 12 year old, 1980s – Another older bottling that I’ve been eyeing up at work. Glen Scotia is a distillery that I’m never entirely sure about – I like Springbank’s fare in general but Glen Scotia’s similar but different style is one that I’m up and down about. On the nose this one had a hint of the farmyard with mulchy grain and smoke, as well as a touch of wax. To taste it had minty menthol, sweet grain, ground granite, sweet apples and custard. The finish was bitter wood overlayed with a bit of cakey pastry. Not bad at all.

Bruichladdich 15 year old, 1970s – Another one from the Full Proof chaps and one that seemed to be left on the table with little notice. I’ve not tried any older Bruichladdich’s and with the imminent (now just passed) 10th anniversary of their reopening of the distillery and release of the Laddie 10 (and hopefully the simplification of their range to manageable levels – it’s hard work stocktaking the Bruichladdich shelf at work…so many almost identical bottlings in identical tins) this was a perfect one to end my notetaking on. On the nose it had a weird but winning combination of ham and Turkish delight. To taste it had sweet & sour fruit, coal dust and stone, with a finish of ham and bitter berries. My notes were getting shorter, but this was a rather nice dram to end my conscious whisky appreciation on.

Tickets for next year’s Maltstock are already available and I’ll certainly be going if I can. I’ll just make sure to sleep before I go…

Many thanks to the organisers for an excellent weekend – I’ve got at least two more posts to write about the weekend when I get some time to sit down and pick over my notebook, and those will barely scratch the surface. Thanks to the lovely people who came to my tasting and didn’t point and laugh too much, and to my excellent quiz team, who somehow managed to come second in the uber-geeky quiz: Jason B Standing, Neil Ridley, Ben Ellefson (who works for some random web development company and makes up stuff about traffic cone thieves…) and Menno and Ras (I think – I am rubbish with names) from WhiskyBase – We Heart Master of Speciality WhiskyBase Squad will return… Ben and Neil have got posts up about the weekend and even Ben’s is worth reading…

BrewDog Alice Porter: I’ve got some bottles of this but the Holyrood 9A had it on tap – it was a draft stout with a nice balance of chocolate and bitterness.

Black Isle Porter – bought in response to my instruction of ‘get me something that isn’t Alice Porter’ – quite Guinnessy, but with a bit less coldness, more sweetness and less bitterness.

BrewDog Imperial Wheat – my first beer at BrewDog Edinburgh and the start of the night where I drank my way through the entire guest menu. I hurt the next day. This was a solid strong wheat beer, tasty but not massively interesting.

Stone Oaked Arrogant Bastard – this is where my memory started failing me on that first night, but I vaguely remember something a bit hoppy and fruity, with the regular fruit leaf flavours that I get from oak aged beer.

Stone Sublimely Self-Righteous Ale – no clue. I only know what I drank that night thanks to making notes in my iPhone for later uploading to Untappd…

Mikeller It’s Alight – quite a dry and pond watery beer. Reminded me of King & Barnes Sussex in ye olden dayes, which is actually a compliment. It may have tasted like swamp water, but it was my local swamp water.

Mikeller Big Worse – this was the beer that finished me off. I have vague memories of big hops, fruit and a craving for a kebab…

Orkney Northern Light – found at The Bow Bar, a pub famous for its whisky and next door to where my mate Will was doing his show. A rather tasty golden ale that I’ve been looking forward to having again after drinking a lot of it last time I was in Scotland.

West St Mungo – Back to the Holyrood 9A for a pint with Will after his show, which was a special occasion as Will has given up drinking beer in recent times. He broke his self-imposed ban to have a brace of BrewDogs and I started off with the St Mungo, which has been much recommended to me by Mr Standing. I didn’t particularly like it – an overly malty lager that felt a bit cloying.

BrewDog Trashy Blonde – probably my favourite BrewDog beer and the one that they reckon tastes better on cask than keg. They’re right – all the taste of the bottled and kegged version, but with the lighter fluffier texture you get from natural carbonation.

Mikeller Exotic Punch – a strange thing for Mikeller: a straight forward and quite nice beer with no scariness or insanity to it. Nicely balanced hops and malt with a bit of citrus. Tasty.

BrewDog Hello My Name is Ingrid – another that I’ve had in bottles and one that I hoped they’d make again. It was good in bottle, even better on tap – big and fruity, with sour cloudberry (which they add to the conditioning tank) coming through along with the hops. I may have gone back for another taste of this one…

De Molen Op & Top – my least favourite of the beers I tried at BrewDog, dry and not particularly interesting.

The barman asked me if I was sure. I was. And drunk.

Mikeller 1000 IBU – I may have been drunk when I ordered this beer. Despite the International Bitterness Unit scale breaking down much above 100 this is still billed as being 1000 IBUs and it tasted like it. Massively hoppy, but purely with citrusy hop oil flavours rather than the mulchy hop that you get from other super hoppy beers. I shared the beer with Mr Standing and I’m pleased I did – it was starting to hurt by the end of the bottle.

8 Wired iStout – bought as an accompaniment to the 1000 IBU and at first I was worried that the residual destruction of that beer would mask this one’s flavour. I needn’t have worried – this was a massive stout with a perfect balance of coffee and chocolate flavours. I need to try some at a time when I hadn’t just worked my way through the guest beer menu. Again…

Stewart Edinburgh Number 3 – my first beer this trip from local brewer Stewart and it was a stout, the perfect breakfast as I sat down to watch some friends of my step-brother run through their show. I loved it but the lunchtime Fringe crowd are a conservative bunch and didn’t quite appreciate the combination of surreality and self analysis that is Brice/Stephenson. I also enjoyed the beer – a tasty stout with a nice creamy mouthfeel.

Stewart Pentland IPA – once I started on the Stewart beers I tried to keep on them, and the Canons’ Gait (nearest venue to where we were staying and centre of PBH’s Free Fringe) has a solid range as well as 10 gins. The Pentland IPA was a standard British IPA, by which I mean pleasantly hoppy but not on the scale of the current craze for hop monsters. Tasty and a nice reminder that you don’t need to remove the back of your head with hops to enjoy a beer.

Williams Seven Giraffes – lots of the venues had decent beer, which is surprise after my experience of London shows, and The Queen’s Hall, where we went to see Henry Rollins, was no exception. They had a range of Williams beers, including their blonde ale on tap, and the Seven Giraffes was great – a nice hoppy ale. Perfect accompaniment to listening to a hyperactive 50 year old man with a constant lust for new experiences.

Simon Munnery waiting for the table of four to arrive at his food free restaurant

Deuchars IPA – it wouldn’t be a complete trip to Edinburgh without a pint of Deuchars – despite its singling out by the BrewDog boys as an example of the boring ales that they are trying to destroy I rather like it. Similar to the Pentland: foamy, dry, fruity and quite nice. I had it at The Whiski Rooms while wandering between gigs (a show on the beach at Portobello for four of us ‘eating’ at Simon Munnery’s restaurant, La Concepta, and then some magic with time travelling Victorians Morgan and West), along with one of my only whiskies that I had on the trip (the only one outside of the SMWS rooms).

Connoisseurs Choice Lochside 1991, bottled 2010 – a rather Clynelish-like nose of candle wax and salted caramel, apples and vanilla; a palate of vanilla, cream, red fruit and woody cinnamon; and an interesting finish of pine, menthol and sugar syrup. I looked in the shop half of The Whiski Rooms but they didn’t have any…luckily we do have some at work and I’ll be grabbing a bottle soon (and writing a description for the website).

Mikeller Texas Barrel Ranger – a barrel aged version of the Texas Ranger and annoyingly one that I have no memory of.

Mikeller Koppi IPA – I tried this twice, once on tap and once from bottle. The beer is a single hop coffee IPA with a variety of different hops and coffees and the next day when I asked they couldn’t remember which combination the one on tap had been, although they thought it was probably the same as the one I had in bottle – Tomahawk hops and Odoo Shakiso coffee. The bottle one was rather nice, balancing coffee bitterness and hoppy bitterness, but the tap one was excellent – lots of chocolate flavours from the coffee and a beautiful sour berry hop that worked perfectly. I’ll be keeping an eye out for more of this.

And that was that for boozes. I also went to see some shows, including a couple of booze related ones, although not as many as the number of different beers I drank. Edinburgh is excellent for interesting beer.

BrewDog/3 Floyds Bitch Please – a collaborative brew from BrewDog and Chicago’s 3 Floyds. Harking back to their older special edition brews, this is a oak-aged barley wine, reminiscent of the Devine Rebel they made with Stone (although not a patch on the Devine Rebel Reserve) and their own Tokyo. It poured a deep red with a creamy coloured head and a had big wood smoke nose with a hint of rubber and stoney mud. To taste it was coffee and dark chocolate to start, with a bit of very dry tannic red wine. As I worked through the glass it got slightly fruitier, with some malty sweetness appearing, as well as some black liquorice and some of the blackberry leaf fruitiness that I associate with barrel aged beers. I’ve got a couple more of these and I’m going to leave them to think about things for a while – I suspect this one may develop in the bottle.

Redemption/Kernel No.2 – my first beer of the night at last week’s Day of IPA at The Euston Tap. The Tap isn’t the biggest of pubs, built into one of the small gatehouses outside Euston station as it is, and as you’d expect from an IPA festival at one of the top craft beer pubs in London it was rather full. Anyways, being a fan of both Redemption and Kernel I jumped at this one, having missed out on cask Kernel beer every time I’ve had a chance of grabbing it in the past. This seemed to be a happy mix of Kernel and Redemption’s styles – big and malty with some comparatively restrained hops at the end. It was orangey in the middle and finished with a nice bitter mulchiness.

BrewDog Abtrakt:06 – the latest in BrewDog’s “release once and never again” Abstrakt collection, this time a triple dry hopped imperial black IPA coming in at 11.5%. This was one of the few kegs of AB:06 that BrewDog filled and I got in a half at the Day of IPA as early as possible to make sure I got some before it went. It was a very dark beer, in both flavour and colour, full of fruity black coffee and coffee grounds. As it warmed in the glass it developed some syrupy raisin sweetness but was dark and bitter, with the bitterness hiding most of the fruity hops that were hiding in the background. They reckon that it’ll age well, but I’m not sure how well the overpowered hops will hold up over time.

Auchentoshan Bourbon Matured 1975 – After replying to an email from the PR company looking after Bowmore and Auchentoshan I got a little parcel through the post containing a pair of sample drams. This first one is a 35 year old from Auchentoshan, bottled after 35 years maturing in ex-bourbon casks. With an out-turn of 500 bottles at 46.9% (which may well be the undiluted strength) I suspect this is a marriage of at least 3. It had a sweet nose of vanilla wood, lemon butter, green leaves, heather, floral scented candles and bourbon. To taste it started with some sour fruit (gooseberry?) and moved through a buttery wood middle to a long finish, with leaves (green tea and berry bushes), cardboard and tannic edges.

Bowmore 1982 – The second dram from the PR folks, this is a 29 year old whisky matured in Bowmore’s No.1 Vaults, the below sea-level cellars where most of the distillery’s on-site whisky lives. On the nose this started off quite vegetal – with leaves and a hint of peaty forest floor. This was joined by bubblegum, cinnamon and a bit of floral air freshener. To taste it started with boiled sweets (Tom Thumb Drops?) and quickly moved into floral territory, with woody pot pourri sitting in the middle. The finish was quite long and was very air freshener-like – as if you’d sprayed some and then accidentally walked through the cloud with your mouth open. It reminded me of the 21 year old Bowmore Port Cask I tried at Whisky Live this year, and neither of them are really whiskies for me.

Berry’s Own Selection Clynelish 1997 – at the last Whisky Squad Rob from BBR brought along a little sample of something that he thought we might like. He was, as ever, correct, although as I’ve yet to have a Clynelish I didn’t like it was a bit of a shoo-in, even if he did make me taste it before telling me what it was. On the nose this had wax (giving away its origins almost immediately – this was definitely a Clynelish), sweet fruit, pencil top erasers, Love Hearts, bubblegum and peppery spice. To taste it had sour fizzy fruit sweets and sweetened cream leading to a caramel covered woody finish. Water brought out milk chocolate, green apples and more sweetness in the finish. I didn’t get my whisky mule to grab me a bottle last time he was visiting the shop (although he did grab me some of the crazy Karuizawa from the last Squad) and I’m starting to regret it as there aren’t many/any bottles left…

Sheppy’s Tremlett’s Bitter – Last year almost every member of my family gave me booze of some kind. It’s as if I’ve got a reputation, or something. Anyway, my mum and step-dad nipped down the road to a local farm and grabbed me some cider, living in Somerset as they do. They picked up a selection pack of ciders from Sheppy’s, a few miles away from them on the south side of Taunton. The first one I got out of the box was a single apple cider – Tremlett’s Bitter. It’s a bittersweet apple with a big chunk of tannin, which pretty much describes the cider. On the nose it was sharp and medicinal, with some malic acid sourness and the traditional cider ‘hint of farmyard’. To taste there was an initial burst of sweetness that quickly turned to sour apple skins, which hung around for a tannic finish.

At the London Cocktail Society Christmas party we were all handed a slip of paper. Mainly I noticed the bit on it which said ‘fill this in and win some gin’, but there was also space for you to write in what you thought your three favourite gins were – thought being the operative word. The lovely folk of the LCS tabulated results, ran whatever numbers they wanted to run and produced a list of the top 5 gins according to the tastes of the party goers. However, rather than just tell us they decided to do a bit of brain tweaking and put on a blind tasting of the winners to see what we thought when not confronted with the baggage of pretty bottles and brands. Hosted at gin loving bar Graphic, of Juniper Society fame, we were presented with 5 plastic cups, unmarked apart from a coloured sticker so that we could match them up later. As hoped they all tasted rather different, although my notes are rather light (and mainly from memory).

• Hendrick’s – Nice and spicy, good flavour, hints of sweetness.
• Sipsmith – this one mainly sat in my mind has being the most ‘gin-like’. Solid juniper, quite dry and nicely balanced.
• Bombay Sapphire – very lightly flavoured. Most repeated comment – ‘Is this a vodka you’ve slipped in as a joke?’.
• Number 3 – the most complex flavoured with lots of juniper, clove, cinnamon, pine, butterscotch and a bunch more. My favourite
• Tanqueray 10 – quite piney (which I think is the juniper coming out) and complex. My second favourite after the No. 3.

Along with that I also went to a Beefeater Gin evening at the Juniper Society (turning Graphic into a bit of a regular haunt), including some cocktail making as well as a talk through the creation of Beefeater with master distiller Desmond Payne. All three of Beefeater’s gins that I tasted (as well as the five above) are distilled gins, meant that the botanicals are added to neutral spirit before redistillation, rather than the cheaper cold compound method of having flavourings added to neutral spirit without redistilling. London Dry Gin has recently been defined as ‘a type of distilled gin’ in a similar fashion to Plymouth, although with a larger number of producers than the single distiller of the latter style.

• Beefeater London Dry Gin – The botanicals in this are fairly traditional – juniper, Seville orange peel, coriander, angelica root and seed, almonds, oris root and ground liquorice root. Beefeater’s other trademark is that the botanicals are steeped in the alcohol for 24 hours before distillation to allow for greater infusion. The nose started with bitter orange and finished with some spicy coriander and liquorice. To taste it had a fruity juniper middle and some sweet liquorice at the end.
• Beefeater 24 – A new premium gin recipe put together by Desmond, in comparison to the regular London Dry recipe which hasn’t changed significantly since the distillery’s opening in 1820. The secret ingredients in 24 are tea, both Chinese green tea and Japanese sencha, as well as a bit of grapefruit in with the other peels. It was inspired by the lack of quinine sources in Japan, leading to the use of green tea as a gin mixer rather than tonic water. The nose started off grassy with a big citrus middle. The taste was less sweet than the London Dry, with some bitter wood and a hint of tannin.
• Beefeater Winter Gin – a special edition gin put out last Christmas, this added nutmeg, cinnamon, and lime and orange peels to the mix. While the London dry and 24 were noticeably different but similar, this was a total change – a nose of Christmas spice and a taste of almost gingerbread. Luckily it seems that there are a few bottles of this around still, although my urge to drink it neat might well lead to destruction.

On top of those two events I also had a couple of miniatures of gin knocking around that I’ve been meaning to taste for a while:

• First up, I was sent through some samples of Edgerton Original Pink Dry Gin. This is distilled and bottled in London and is mainly a distilled gin, although with pomegranate added afterwards to give it a distinctively pink colour. Botanicals-wise this has juniper, coriander, angelica, orris root, sweet orange peel, cassia bark and nutmeg. The idea seems to have come, according to the bottle neck tag bumph, from the old idea of pink gin (gin with a dash of bitters, turning it pinkish, rather than the long drink of that with lemonade that you will normally find these days) but taking it in a slightly different direction. On the nose it has quite a lot of juniper, with some spiciness that I suspect is from the coriander and nutmeg. To taste it’s quite sweet, with a burst of fruit (it might be sweetened pomegranate, but that could be my expectations), orange and a quite flat finish with some sour woodiness. Most of all though, it is very pink indeed.
• Lastly is Hayman’s Old Tom, which came in my goody bag from the previously mentioned LCS Christmas party. Old Tom is an, appropriately, old style of gin that is currently being revived by a few manufacturers, including Hayman’s. It’s similar to a London dry gin but, earning the former it’s ‘dry’ tag, is slightly sweetened. Hayman’s is a new gin with history, using a recipe from James Burrough’s recipe books (the founder of Beefeater and great grandfather of Christopher Hayman, current Hayman’s chairman) from the 1860/70s, and it seems to have kickstarted the rebirth of the style as a commercial proposition. On the nose it has quite a bit of juniper (which is slightly redundant when talking about traditional gins) and a little bit of sweetness. To taste it is noticeably sweet, with a hit of sugar syrup, which helps bring out lemony flavours. Mainly it’s overpowered by the sweetness.

So, that’s a gin roundup for now, and I didn’t even include the genever tasting I went to at the most recent Juniper Society. But as we were told several times on that evening – Genever is not Gin.

Many thanks to the LCS for putting on events and giving me goody bags, Sarah and Adam at Graphic for feeding me gin on Mondays, and Daisy at Ian Scott for sorting me out some samples of Edgerton’s. Also thanks to James Hayman who pinged me a mail telling me what I’d got wrong about the history of his family’s gin.

Hendrick’s Gin
Distilled gin, 41.4%. ~£25

Sipsmith London Dry Gin
London dry gin, 41.6%. ~£30

Bombay Sapphire
London dry gin, 40%. ~£20

No 3 Gin
London dry gin, 46%. ~£35

Tanqueray 10
Distilled gin, 47.3%. ~£35

Beefeater London Dry Gin
London dry gin, 40%. ~£15

Beefeater 24
Distilled gin, 45%. ~£25

Beefeater Winter Gin
Distilled gin, 40%. ~£20

Edgerton Original Pink Dry Gin
Distilled gin with pomagranate, 47%. ~£30

Hayman’s Old Tom Gin
Old Tom gin, 40%. ~£20

Ballards Odd Couple (8.9%, Harvest Ale) – One of my Christmas present beers, picked up by my Dad from The Beer Essentials in Horsham as part of a bag of interesting looking bottles. I’ve keeping this one as I’ve rather liked previous things I’ve got from Ballards and a sunny evening on the day the clocks go forward felt like a good time to open it. It poured a deep red with no head and minimal fizz, looking more like a young tawny port than a beer, deep reddy brown and starting to lose its translucency. On the nose it was big and savoury, and my notes say simply ‘Cherries and Bovril’. To taste it started with a big sour fruit and meandered through green hops, more meaty Bovril (definitely Bovril rather than Marmite) and finished with a bit of fresh juicy cherry with a hint of sour unripeness.

Marks & Spencer Wiltshire Rum Beer (5%, Best Bitter with added Caribbean Rum) – I got this one as a swap for a bottle of Monsieur Rock and I think that my swapping buddy got the better deal. This is a blend of Wadworth 6X and rum, upping the normal 4.3% strength of the beer to 5% and adding a bit of rum related flavour – it’s regular bottled 6x, a dry medium bodied best bitter, with a hint of extra sweetness in the middle and a bit of raisin and fruit cake on the finish. Not my favourite and not as sweet as I was hoping – half of this went into the beef stew I’ve cooking and I added a couple of extra shakes of Lea & Perrins after tasting the beer. To add a bit of spice to the rest of the glass of beer I poured in a shot of Gosling’s Black Seal Rum, which further filled out the dry gap in the middle of the taste, adding a chunk of raisin, accentuated the maltiness of the beer and lengthened the finish to be a lingering mix of malt and sweet rum. There’s definitely a place for ‘grogging’ rum with beer, but you need a bit more than Wadworth added to make it special, in my opinion. However, I’ve heard that the laws about mixing spirits and beer are on the strict side, so I suspect that might have had something to do with Wadworth’s reticence as well.

Master of Malt Highland Park 13 year old Single Cask (57%, single cask Highland single malt Scotch whisky) – One of a pair of Drinks by the Dram that I got as an unexpected present from the folk at MoM at Christmas, this has been sitting on my tasting shelf amongst the last batch of drams that I bought from them and got forgotten until I did a bit of tidying this afternoon. This one is a bit on the light side for a 13 year old, looking a bit like a medium white wine, but has a much more oomph in the nose – peat, fruit cake, lightly roasted meat, butter and a bit of straw. To taste it’s sweet and sour, starting with a burst of sweet grapes and hard candy but quickly turning to sour grapes, tannins and caramel, with a finish of mulchy floral peat and sweet wood. At 57% it’s a bit prickly and a couple of drops of water killed the burn and revealed candied lemons and floor polish in amongst the initial sweetness, and lengthened the finish.

Master of Malt Caol Ila 30 year old Single Cask (57.4%, single cask Islay single malt Scotch whisky) – the second of the Christmas drams and one that’s kept its strength over the years of maturation (I suspect they filled the cask a bit stronger than usual), also picking up a bit more colour than the Highland Park. On the nose it had lightly muddy peat smoke underneath creamy vanilla, bananas and nail polish. To taste it was big and fruity to start, with green apples and light raisin sweetness before rolling through a very strange middle of menthol, sour liquorice root, liquorice pastilles and “tannic hot tarmac” (the sensation and flavour you get as you walk past some workmen laying a new road and breathe in), and finishing with stony peat coupled with a touch of barely ripe grape. A couple of drops of water helped this one come together a bit, with the sweetness mixing with the menthol and liquorice to give a big old-school sweet shop middle, but keeping the long peaty mineral finish. I’m really not sure about this one (although I suspect I like it a lot), but it’s rather interesting.

This post has been brought to you by occasional breaks to go and chop, fry and stir bits of a beef stew, and Nerf Herder’s self-titled and ‘How to Meet Girls’ albums. I never saw them headline a gig, but they are amongst the finest support band I’ve ever seen. Here’s their tribute to Van Halen. Many thanks to the lovely folk at Master of Malt for pinging me the pair of drams – much appreciated.

Berry’s Own Selection 1997 Clynelish – my first whisky of the evening was predictably a Clynelish (my new favourite distillery) and from the Berry’s stand (my new favourite shop). On the nose it was floral and, inevitably (to the point that I’m not even sure it’s really there or if it’s my brain inserting it), waxy with buttered Fruit Salad chews and butterscotch. To taste it was sweet but astringent, with big tannic wood and sweet lemons. Water turned some of the wood into butterscotch and brought out more citrus.

Bowmore 16 year old Port Finish – one of the peat plus port wood whiskies that seemed to be the underground craze (well, there were two) at the show. On the nose it had muddy peat, caramel, well roasted beef and flowery hand soap. To taste it had big astringent peat with restrained smoke, pulled pork and a mustardy heat. I didn’t get to add water as I was talking to some people on the stand, but I think it could have done with a drop to pull out some more flavours.

Teerenpeli – Finnish whisky. First distilled by brewer Teerenpeli in 2002 and released as a 5 year old in 2008 and a 6 in 2009. Their website’s all in Finnish, so I don’t know much more about them. I’m not entirely sure how old the one I tried was but the chaps on the stand were lovely. They were so nice that even though I wasn’t asked I stuck a couple of whisky tokens (the currency of the Whisky Live shows which noone seemed to want to take this year) into their jar – the nice man told me that any money they got from them would go to charity. The nose had boiled milk, egg custard and sour fruit. To taste it had rich cream with spice, malt and raisins. A bit like a bowl of museli.

The Glenlivet 1964 – grabbed from the The Glenlivet Guardians balcony after I signed my life away to their mailing list. It was something I’d been meaning to do for a while as they send you a pretty key to stick on your keyring that gets you into the special Guardians lounge at the distillery. On the nose it had marzipan, pencil shavings, sweet butter, cream, cinnamon and butterscotch. To taste it had rich buttery wood, sweet dry wood, shortbread and spongecake with a dry finish. Water added more butter and more spice, leaving it soft and oily. The lady on the balcony poured me a rather generous sample of this and it lasted me for a good long while (through dinner, chatting with people from some of the stands and wandering around a bit) – I rather liked it. In the end I necked the end of it before grabbing a dram of something that I no longer remember. I knew nothing about it until I looked it up online the next morning, at which point I discovered that at £1000 a bottle it was the most expensive whisky I’ve ever tasted and the sample I tried would have cost me in a bar significantly more than my ticket to the show. It was really good, but maybe not £1000 good, but if you’re paying that much for a bottle of whisky you’re probably not caring about the price.

Compass Box Flaming Heart – my penultimate whisky of the night (the last was some Pappy Van Winkle 20 year old, but as I was being herded out of the door by then by some CIA-lookalike guys in suits with ear-pieces my notebook stayed in my pocket) this was the only whisky on the Compass Box stand that I hadn’t tried at the previous evening’s Whisky Squad. It was poured for me by the lovely Chris Maybin, who conducted the previous night’s tasting. On the nose it had muddy peat, light burning hay and orange peel. The taste started sweet and the moved through spicy caramel to a smoky fiery end. Water brought out more Clynelishy-ness (wax and salt), fruit in the middle (mango and pineapple?) and burnt wood over the end. My final tasting note of the night was ‘Butter and ash’. Unfortunately this is the also the whisky that me and Mr Standing wittered about in the Connosr Whisky Pod. Since then I’ve deliberately tried not to use the word ‘nice’ and the suffix ‘-ness’ (apart from the one above in Clynelishy-ness. That was deliberate). I hope you appreciate the effort that has required.

This blog post has been brought to you by the remains of my second Whisky Tasting Club box (blog post to appear shortly), a Cohiba Siglo 2 cigar, the windiness of my balcony and an amusing eBay posting.

Berry’s Own Selection Clynelish 1997 (bottled 2010)
Highland cask strength single cask(?) single malt Scotch whisky, 56.8%. £45 from Berry Brother’s & Rudd.

Bowmore 16 year old Port Finish
Islay cask strength single malt Scotch whisky, 56.1%. ~£60 from The Whisky Exchange.

Teerenpeli 8 year old (I think that’s what I tried, thanks to the WTC blog)
Finnish single malt whisky, 43%. No idea on price or anywhere you can buy it other than in Alko in Finland.

The Glenlivet 1964 (first release)
Speyside cask strength single malt Scotch whisky, 45%. Sold out, but was ~£900 from Master of Malt. Second edition ~£900 from The Whisky Exchange.

Compass Box Flaming Heart (10th Anniversary Edition)
Blended malt whisky, 48.95%. ~£65 from Master of Malt.

Jura 10 year old – I won this as part of the Jura website’s weekly pub quiz. I’ve knocked back a fair bit of Jura in my time, but don’t think I’d ever tried the regular 10 year old. On the nose it had caramel, a hint of wet peat smoke, vanilla, apples, floor polish and an underlying meatiness (chicken?). To taste there was toast, sweet wood, pine, vanilla cream, pepper, rhubarb and lime skin, wrapped up with a dry wood finish. Water added more vanilla, more sour wood, more woody spice and white pepper on the finish.

Zuidam 5 Year Old Dutch Rye – I grabbed this in my first batch of drams and it sat around for a while before I got round to trying it. Zuidam are a Dutch distiller who started in 1975 and they make genever, gin and liqueurs along with their whisky. This is a whisky made predominantly with rye, unlike Scotch’s barley and bourbon’s corn, and from my experience of US rye I was expecting something spicier than a bourbon.On the nose it was very bourbony, with some sweet spicy pear underneath and a floral note on top. To taste it started very sweet, with more pears, squishy sultanas and oats. Water expanded the vanilla sweetness, bringing out milk chocolate, sweet wood and more sultanas – maybe a touch of rum and raisin fudge? It can take a good slug of water and calms to a very sweet dram.

Campbeltown Loch 30 Year Old – regular Campbeltown Loch is an inexpensive blended whisky put together by J&A, the owners of Springbank. This one is a rather more special bottling, with all the whiskies coming in at at least 30 years old – something that appealed to my Springbank and Longrow loving tastebuds. On the nose it was florally sweet with a sour edge – rose water, turkish delight, linseed oil, sour grapes and the air around a brewery on malting day (beefy maltiness) all made an appearance as well. To taste it had a syrupy sweetness to start (strawberries and apples), quickly disappearing behind a layer of wood caramel and fading to a warm dry woody finish. Water brought out some vanilla sweetness in the beginning, with underlying spicy wood. The finish was bolstered with a chunk of custardy vanilla and raisins.

Edradour 2003 Port Cask Matured – I’ve not tried much from Edradour but I quite like their ‘we have the smallest stills in Scotland’ claim, so have been meaning to for a while. I chose this one due to a hole in my whisky tasting knowledge when it comes to port cask finished whisky. The cask had definitely had some of an effect on this, with the whisky sitting rather pink in the glass. On the nose it had candy floss, refreshers, bubblegum and hint of spicy wood. To taste there was linseed oil, sweet wood, sherbet lemons, and a bitter wood finish with sherbet ‘sparkles’. It tasted stronger than its 46%. Water revealed a hint of creamy vanilla on the nose and much more on the taste – pine, light custard, perfumed raisins, foam strawberries, milk chocolate, smoky struck matches and a hint of citrus leading into the still woody finish.

Chichibu Double Matured New Born Cask No.446 – Chichibu is one of the newer additions to the rapidly ramping up Japanese whisky industry, opening in 2008. As such none of the spirit produced is quite whisky yet, and this sample was matured for about 2 years, first in a bourbon cask before being moved to a new american oak barrel to finish (hence the Double Matured moniker). On the nose it had pine floor cleaner, lemons, cola bottles, foam shrimps, bananas, creamy vanilla and damp wood. To taste it was very hot, with spicy wood and creme patissier. Water calmed it down (it was bottled at 61.3%) and the woodiness became very perfumed, with lots of sweet fruit down the sides of the tongue (red rope liquorice?), liquorice root and a fragrant but astringent woody end. Creamy but with a sour edge from the wood. This was very interesting and has added Chichibu to my ‘try whenever possible’ list.

Jura 10 Year Old
Single malt Jura Scotch whisky, 40%. ~£25 from Master of Malt.

Zuidam 5 Year Old Dutch Rye
Dutch rye whiskey, 40%. ~£60 from Master of Malt.

Edradour Port Cask Matured
Single malt Highland Scotch whisky, 46%. ~£40 from Master of Malt.

Campbeltown Loch 30 Year Old
Blended Scotch whisky, 40%. Out of stock, but was about £45 from Master of Malt.

Chichibu Double Matured New Born Cask No.446
Japanese grain spirit, 61.3%. Out of stock, but was about £60 from Master of Malt.

(Yes, this is a tissue thin excuse for not being bothered to write my normal levels of obsessiveness, but give me a break, I’m still tired from all the sleeping)

BrewDog Eurotrash: picked up at the same time as my recent lot of Punk X, this is one of BrewDog’s prototypes that I hope appears more widely. It had the traditional BrewDog muddy hoppiness on the nose, but with an underlying sweetness that I wasn’t expecting. To taste it had a nice chunk of hops but was very much more a fully flavoured continental style beer – hints of Leffe and other big malty golden beers from the other side of the channel. It wasn’t quite as big as those beers, but was nicely balanced between hop bitterness and malty sweetness – one I’d like to get some more of.

Orkney Dark Island Special Reserve 2009 – I picked this up for Christmas 2009 but forgot I had it and have had it sat on the side ever since waiting for an occasion to crack it open. I went for it on Christmas day this year and was very pleased I did – it was rather special. It poured very thick and dark, pretty much opaque even when held up to my brightest lamp. On the nose it was heavy, with Marmite, slightly squishy apples and warm orange peel. To taste it was clinging with defanged Worcester sauce (not quite so astringent or salty, but still big and fruity with a meaty umami behind that), braised red cabbage with apples and vinegar, and a finishing mineral note. It had notes of my favourite heavy beers of the year, combining the strange fruitiness of Gale’s Prize Old Ale with the chocolate notes of Brooklyn Black Chocolate Stout and the bitter richness of Kernel London Porter. I just wish I’d bought two bottles…

Clynelish 14 Year Old – picked up from Waitrose as my Christmas whisky this didn’t get much of a look-in on the day itself, although it has become my new favourite hipflask whisky now that I’ve run out of Longrow Cask Strength (which I need to find some more of). As is usual at Christmas it was sillily priced at £25 (I also picked up some The Glenlivet 18 and Aberlour A’bunadh batch 31 a few days later for similar prices – no more whisky buying for me for now) and is definitely worth more than that. On the nose it has the traditional Clynelish waxiness, with brine, sweaty boiled sweets, creamy vanilla, leather and a touch of meaty smoke – my note says ‘burning beef?’. To taste it’s initially sweet turning to sour wood by the finish. There’s vanilla, mint, menthol and sour sugar to start, and unripe red grapes and tannic wood to finish. Water adds more sweet and sour fruit to the start as well as a prickle of white pepper. Again, my slightly drunken notes add ‘more lemony if you burp’. I’m pleased with this bottle and it’s on my list of things that I should always have in the house.

Boisdales Mortlach – this is one I tried after the The Glenlivet tasting with Caskstrength, which I found to be rather pleasant. On a random wander into The Vintage House I saw a row of bottles of it hiding in their rather excellent independent bottlings selection and for £37 couldn’t really say no. On further inspection I noticed a familiar name on the back of the bottle – Berry Brothers and Rudd’s Doug McIvor, as they selected and bottled this for Boisdales. It’s the colour of golden syrup and the nose continues that feel with salted caramels backed up with a hint of smoke, shiny polished wood and lemons. To taste it has a big sweet caramel with raisins, cinnamon and allspice, balanced by unripe grapes and wood polish. The finish is short with sour wood and a hint of smoke. Water doesn’t change much, bringing out a little more sweetness and lengthening the finish. Easy drinking and very tasty, I suspect some more of this maybe sitting at the back of my cupboard soon waiting for next Christmas.

Hankey Bannister 12 Year Old – part of a Christmas care parcel from Lucasz over at the Edinburgh Whisky blog on behalf of Inver House. This is part of a range of blended whiskies that are now distributed by Inver House, although not all that easy to find in the UK, that stretch back to 1757, when Hankey Bannister & Co was founded in London to provide drinks to the locals. The 12 year old is the second in their range, with their Original sitting beneath it and 21 and 40 year olds above it. I’ve had a look and can’t find it easily available on the web in the UK (although TWE have the 40 year old available for £360 per bottle…), but it pops up abroad and in duty free from time to time. On the nose the 12 year old had acetone, pear drops, muddy smoke, apples, vanilla and a underlying meatiness. To taste it was quite delicate, starting with a quick burst of pine and moving through tannic dryness to fruity sweetness and a light creaminess. The finish was quite light and long with sweet wood and digestive biscuits. Water didn’t reduce the flavour very much and brought out more red fruit fruitiness and creaminess. It has the nose of a blend and is easy to drink like a blend but doesn’t have a heavy graininess like you get with some blends. Not stunning, but not bad.

anCnoc 16 Year old – anCnoc (with crazy capitalisation) is the brand name that is now being used by the Knockdhu distillery, also owned by Inver House, to distinguish it from similarly named Knockando. On the nose it has pink foam shrimps, refreshers and vanilla, with a slightly sweaty salty note behind the sweetness. To taste it was astringently woody with fizzy sherbert and woody vanilla leading to a sugary woody finish. It could take a good chunk of water bringing out sour Skittles, more creamy vanilla and a big sweet and sour fruitiness. I wasn’t a fan of this neat, but water brought out the some balancing sweet and sour fruit that I rather liked.

Anyways, welcome to the new year and here’s to twelve months of interesting imbibing.

Many thanks to Lucas and Inver House for my Christmas parcel. There were also a couple of Old Pulteney samples, but as I’ve written about those before and there’s a Twitter tasting coming up soon I’ve left them to one side for now.

BrewDog Euro Trash
Prototype golden ale/blonde beer, 4.1%. Not generally available.

Orkney Dark Island Special Reserve 2009
Orcadian dark ale, 10%. Not generally available.

Clynelish 14 Year Old
Highland single malt Scotch whisky, 46%. ~£30 from Master of Malt

Boisdales Mortlach 1991 (17 years old)
Speyside single cask single malt Scotch whisky, 46%. ~£37 from The Vintage House

Hankey Bannister 12 Year Old
Blended scotch whisky, 40%. ~£25 from Loch Fyne Whiskies

anCnoc 16 year old
Single malt Scotch whisky, 46%. ~£40 from Master of Malt

Sambrook’s Junction – Grabbed at The Draft House Westbridge after I a) not only said that I would turn up to the regular Thursday night beverages evening with my college drinking buddies but b) also suggested a pub. These are both very rare events. I rather like the Junction, having tried it at a couple of other places, but this was the best I’ve tried yet (which as it’s only a few minutes walk from the brewery and the hub for post brewery tour beers isn’t entirely unexpected). It’s a dark ale with a nice balance of malt and hops leading to a fruity, wine-like finish. Good.

York Guzzler – The second of the three beers on tap at The Draft House (I can’t remember the third, but it was something I’d already drunk lots of before). This was a golden ale with a big chunk of bitter hops, almost to the point of going soapy but not quite. It was nice and citrusy on the finish and I could have happily sat and drunk it all night.

Brewdog TM10 – Found at The Rake on my way to Whisky Lounge London (their twitter feed tempts me with tales of what beer they have on and I was just walking past…), this is a beer brewed in honour of the 10th anniversary of the Tate Modern (hence the name). It’s rather good – a lightly hoppy reddish ale with a big slug of fruitiness. Happy birthday Tate Modern.

Purity Pure Gold – Supped at The Bridge House (a pub that London.pm seem to like and that I need to return to) after Whisky Lounge (as drinking whisky all afternoon was obviously not enough). It seems that Adnams are putting Purity ales into some of their pubs, which is a Good Thing as this was a really nice light golden ale with a bitter citrus zing. I would normally have described it as ‘hoppy’, but was informed that the H-word (as well as malty, the M-word) has been banned as a flavour description by Melissa Cole of Taking the beard out of beer. I will try and obey from now on.