The first of the two sample sets, single malt scotch whisky, has arrived and been tasted, my guesses were returned and Oliver announced the results today. The methodology was quite simple – we needed to guess distillery, age, abv and the specific expression. 25 points would be given if we got the expression (and thus everything else) right, with 5 points each for the others (with 0.5 of a point removed for each 0.5% of the ABV or year that we were out).

The whiskies were all recent official bottlings (no independents) from working distilleries that listed their age to give us a chance to guess what they were. To make sure that there were no pointers as to what the whiskies were Oliver only charged us a down payment on the drams to start with so that we couldn’t work backwards to find out a total cost (although he did reassure us that it wouldn’t be more than €500 in total for the 5 bottles) and labelled them up with coloured stickers so as not to imply any sort of tasting order. Cunning man.

Anyways here are my raw tasting notes (edited for poor spleling), guesses (and the tasting order I chose from dram colour alone) and what the whiskies actually were:

Yellow
Colour: Light Gold
Nose: Grass, fresh cut apple, honeysuckle, flowering hedges, sour fruit chews, perfumed wood, rose wood(?), lemon zest, lemon butter sauce, joss sticks, damp green leaves. Buttery biscuit (base?) + spice, flower petals, light cherry, marzipan as it sits in the glass.
Palate: Light and oily, syrup hit to start, then sour wood, some vanilla, light sweet cream, building tannins, green sticks + dry wood. Nice, but not as good or deep as the nose.
Finish: Stony, sour wood, fresh cur wood develops. Tannins linger with Granny Smith apple skins.
I guessed: Bladnoch 20yo 46%
It was: Loch Lomond 1966/2011, 40%
Points: 3 (abv)

Green
Colour: Light Gold
Nose: Butter, fruity wood, spicey peach stones, damp pine forest floor, earth, damp car blankets, butter burns off to reveal a more savoury nose with light cinder toffee sweetness.
Palate: Piney smoke, bracken, pungent earth, hot (cask strength?), tar, background minerality, underlying smoky caramel, more cinder toffee.
Finish: Mossy bonfire stones, damp burnt wood, light sour apple tannin.
I guessed: Tobermory 10yo 46.3%
It was: Caol Ila 12yo Unpeated, 57.6%
Points: 4 (age)

Orange (aka Red)
Colour: Mid Gold
Nose: Fake butter, damp wood, spiced cream, dired strawberry pieces, buttered caramel popcorn, white chocolate/caramac/Milky Bar, sour rhubarb develops.
Palate: More butter, sour fruity wood underneath sherry wood. Hints of cinnamon and clove, oily mouthfeel, raisins and vine fruit.
Finish: Tannins, yet more butter, apple skin, some fruit and damp fruity wood, spiky sherry wood lingers.
I guessed: Glenfarclas 21yo 46%
It was: Glenfarclas Premium Edition Oloroso Sherry Casks 1993/2011, 46%
Points: 5 (distillery) + 5 (abv) + 3.5 (age)

Black
Colour: Light Bronze
Nose: Mud, pine compost, woody anis, sweet butter, stony underside, sweet mentholated smoke, sweet butter develops. More herbal and vegetal as it sits. Dark choc and earth – loam? Some red fruit, cherry?
Palate: Sweet spicy sherry, hot (cask strength?), vanilla, red fruit, cherry, marzipan, tarry smoke.
Finish: Sweet butter, trodden leaves, menthol smoke.
I guessed: Benriach 17yo Solstice 50%
It was: Auchentoshan 1999 11yo Bordeaux Matured, 58%
Points: 2 (age) + 1 (abv)

Blue
Colour: Dark Bronze
Nose: Pine cone infused butter, beaten too long curdled vanilla cream, wood ash, apple, menthol, cola bottle gummi, fruit chews, red fruit, rough cognac, green rhubarb, some sherry fruit underneath everything.
Palate: Wood smoke, rich sherry wood, rubbery edges, hot (cask strength?), cloves, earth.
Finish: Sweet raisin, cloves, fruitcake, wood smoke, sour fruit skin.
Guess: Bunnahabhain 25yo 50%
It was: Benrinnes Friends of the Classic Malts 23yo, 58.8%
Points: 4 (age) + 0.5 (abv)

From Oliver’s results it seems I was one of only two participants who managed to guess a distillery correctly: Glenfarclas. It was my most certain guess, albeit for the wrong expression, and I managed to guess it fairly solidly which seems to be the only reason I got on the leaderboard. The rest ranged between 2.5 and 4.5 which looks to be a fairly usual score for a vaguely informed guess. The other thing I noticed is that my tasting notes generally are more accurate than my guesses – the two bottlings that I’ve tried before (the Auchentoshan and the Caol Ila) both have similar notes to what I have written before (apart from the smoke in the Auchentoshan…). Which at least gives me some confidence in my palate.

So, in conclusion – blind tasting is just as random as you might think, at least at this level. Now to await the freestyle round…

Oliver has written up more about the results over on Dramming.

Yes, after two years of schmoozing the assembled masses of the whisky industry Andy and Jason managed to lever a number of sample bottles of new make spirit out of the hands of the distilleries for a bit of a special evening – tasting blind, as usual, whiskies and the new make spirits that they started out as.

The pairs were served together, to allow appreciation of the similarities and variances in the aged and unaged spirits. The first new make had a buttery nose, with ground coriander, lemons and yeasty bread. To taste it was sour with crunchy pears and peach. The accompanying aged dram was light and floral on the nose, with sweet grain, hints of sherry and a touch of farmyard. On the palate it remained light, with a little bit of fruit, lots of cream, and some grain. It finished with woody spices and pleasant oak. The mask came off the bottle to reveal that it was Glenmorangie 10 year old. I’d gone for a while without having tasted the 10, but had tried it recently at the Whisky Lounge festival in Brighton (a good time was had, even from behind the Glenmorangie/Ardbeg stand were I was stationed for the day) and was more favourable towards it than I remembered being. It’s light and easy drinking and you can see why they sell so much of it.

The next new make had a slightly fizzy nose, with pear, grain and a little bit of generic fruitiness. To taste it was sweet, with some charcoal and fruit, and a minerally backbone. The whisky had spiced pear on the nose, with caramel digestives, brown bread and browning apples. To taste it was creamy, with cinnamon, sweet and sour apples, woody spice and a touch of linseed oil. It finished with more apples, both flesh and skins. I was quite surprised to guess this correctly, with the label coming off to reveal that it was Glenfiddich 12 year old. As I’ve written before I wasn’t a fan of the distillery until recently, letting the memory of bad old bottles and whisky snobbery get in the way of actually tasting the stuff. I still don’t think it’ll change your life, but it’s a decent dram.

The third new make had a nose of lemony grain, caraway seeds and pungent farmyard – bits of silage and a hint of cowpat. It started off tasting sweet, but quickly faded away to not a lot. The whisky was a different matter, with a spicy nose of sherry fruit, parma violets and iced fruitcake. To taste it was spicy, with apples, spiced spongecake, bananas and a touch of tannin, finishing with more parma violets. This was a bit of a conundrum, with the assumption being that it was a refill sherry cask matured whisky, but the label came off and it was revealed to instead be from the Isle of Arran – a single cask whisky from a bourbon barrel, to be exact. A tasty whisky that showed not only how much the wood lends to the spirit, but also how different every cask can be.

Number four came as a trio rather than a pair, with a mystery dram poured in between the whisky and new make. The spirit had a nose of citrus and caraway, with a hint of coffee ground bitterness. To taste it was very light, with only really a hint of sweet grain, and finished very hot. The second glass had a nose of butter icing and lemon, and a soft creamy taste that continued into the finish – we assumed, correctly, that this had been in a cask for at least some time. The whisky was quite different to the middle dram, with a nose of charcoal dust and sherry, carbonised bacon and young raw spirit. To taste it had sweaty leather, lots of sharp wood, pungent raisins, ground coffee and a lingering finish of new make spirit. The presense of an intermediate dram meant that this wasn’t much of a surprise – it was Glenglassaugh First Cask, a three year old whisky bottled at 59.1% that was some of the first distillate to be produced after the distillery changed hands back in 2008. The middle dram was their Fledgling XB, matured for a year in bourbon and sold as part of their spirit drinks range,. I’ve tried some of the older Glenglassaugh’s and I very much hope that their new spirit continues to develop towards that style, as I wasn’t a fan of the First Cask (or their new three year old Revival).

The next new make was very different – crunchy and green on the nose with pungent grain, and a spicy taste with lots of pear. The whisky was again different, with a nose of balsamic vinegar, raisins, Garibaldi biscuits, marzipan and damp forest floors. To taste it had sour cream and sweet fruit laid against a muddy background, finishing with cream, spice and a touch of menthol. The label came off and the bottle was shown to be Glenrothes 1995, a recent entry into their range of vintages that was bottled last year.

The penultimate new make started our decent into the smokier end of things, with a nose of sour fruit, light smoke and a hint of ham. It was sweet to taste, with mint, hay, tobacco, tea, tar and a young spirit caraway tang. The whisky had smoked peanut butter, coal stoves, lime and brine on the nose. On the palate it had coal dust, mango, sweet spicy fruit, extra strong mints and a burny hit of alcohol. It finished with a sherberty fizz and fizzy fruit chews. The big reveal showed it to be Lg3 from the Elements of Islay range, a rather excellent range bottled by my employers. I can’t possible mention which distillery Lg3 comes from, other than that it is on Islay, but the new make we tried beforehand was from Lagavulin.

The last new make of the night had a nose of smokey limes and a sweet mineral heavy body. The whisky’s nose started out with sweet fruity pip sweets and flowers, and moved on to glacé cherries, medicinal peat, freshly unwrapped bandages, germolene, turkish delight and candied lemons. To taste it had smoky coal, sweet syrup, more flowers, mint and a creamy, oily texture. It finished with the lime and coal smoke of the new make’s nose. For the last time the whisky was revealed and turned out to be Ardbeg 10. I don’t know whether to blame my knackered taste buds but this was not how I remembered Ardbeg 10, with none of the big vanilla that I associate it with coming out, replaced by a much more delicate and interesting set of flavours underneath the smoke. More investigation needed.

Anyways, with the whisky over there was only one thing left to do – eat cake. And cake there was.

Expect more Whisky Squad writeups when I get round to them. There were three sessions in April and I’m already a month behind, but as I’m missing the next one (my second one missed since I started going from #4) I might have a chance to not only finish up but also write about something else for once…

Lack of piccies courtesy of frantic note writing and talking toot with the lovely people of The Squad. Ho hum. Luckily Charly was on hand and took some rather pretty ones – they’re over on her blog.

Glenmorangie 10yo Original
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 40%. ~£25

Glenfiddich 12yo
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 40%. ~£25

Arran Cask Strength Bourbon (I think this was the 1998)
Island Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 57.8%. ~£45 

Glenglassaugh First Cask
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, CS%. £90 

Glenglassaugh Fledgling XB
Scottish Barley Spirit, 50%.  ~£13 for 20cl

Glenrothes 1995
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 43%. ~£45

Elements of Islay Lg2
Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 58%. ~£45

Ardbeg 10
Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky,  46%. ~£35

Despite it being such a big name in the world of whisky I’ve not had much exposure to Highland Park. I’ve knocked back a few drams over the last few years, bought a bottle of their duty free only 1997 vintage (which I initially hated but returned to after 6 months to discover that my palate had changed enough that I loved it) and tried a couple of older versions of their whisky (which is the reason why I have a 1990s bottling of their 12 year old on my ‘Special Whisky’ pile) but don’t really have much of an idea of their current range. As such, an offer to try the 12, 15, 18, 25 and 30 as well as the new Thor wasn’t really something I could turn down.

We kicked off the night with the 12 year old, the entry level expression and a mainstay on bars for years. On the nose it had salted lemons, a whiff of charcoal smoke, crunchy green apples, tropical fruit chews, unripe mango, beeswax, honey, dusty wood and fruity dark chocolate – maybe chocolate limes? It developed in the glass, picking up more fruit and slowly cutting the citrus notes. To taste it started off with syrup sweetness, quickly moving on to sour and creamy wood, with more tropical chews, pineapple and smoked orange rind. It finished with smoky wood, malt syrup, green pine cones and woody spice.

Next was the 15 year old, which is on its way out in the UK, soon to only be available in the USA and Scandinavia. On the nose there was strawberry ice cream, rhubarb and custard sweets, floral meadows, sweetened grapefruit juice, a touch of honey sweetness, tropical fruit squash, sour cream and cocoa – or as @LRWhisky put it:

#HPTT #HighlandPark15 On the nose I get chocolate cheese cake, smoked pears #Mmmm

March 28, 2012 7:31 pm via Twitter for iPhoneReplyRetweetFavorite

@LRWhisky

LivingRoomWhisky

To taste it had rich vine fruit (not tomatoes, as a curious @lizbonline queried, but grapes of varied levels of raisin-ness), linseed oil, sweet citrus, tinned pineapple (complete with a metallic tang of the tin), creamy malt and a wisp of smoke. It finished with more tropical fruit (fresh mango) as well as some dusty wood and crushed charcoal.

We then moved onto the 18 year old, another one of the longer running members of the range (released back in 1997). On the nose it had lots of fruit – green apple, tinned pineapple (again with a touch of metal tin), kiwi and lime zest – as well as sweet pastry and floral notes, all backed up by coal smoke. On the palate it was big and sweet with sour coal dust matched by limes, bitter green herbs, rhubarb, a touch of marzipan, some menthol and a bit of cinnamon spice. It finished long, with nutmeg, clove and lemon sherbert, before fading to dry wood.

Next was the 25 year old, made up of more sherried whisky than most of the rest of the range (about half) and demonstrating what a properly active sherry cask can do to HP’s spirit. On the nose there was a pile of sweet and sticky fruit: figs, stewed apples and plump rummy raisins. Along with that there was marzipan, rich sweet pastry, wax furniture polish, some dry wood and a hint of cooling spice – mint/menthol/clove. To taste it started with a thick wedge of rich dried of fruit before a big whiff of struck match. Underneath that was woody smoke, soft brown sugar, some spicy cinnamon and woody liquorice. Again the finish was long, with marzipan, clove and cedar cigar boxes. The big thing for me in this dram was the way the wood was handled; as I said at the time:

#HPTT the 25 year old is a very old skool tasting whisky - not the sort of thing you get much of around these days. Elegant wood.

March 28, 2012 8:25 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@cowfish

Billy Abbott

Next was as close to the top of the regular range as we were going to get (as sending out £85 a go 40yo minis as part of a Tweet Tasting was probably a bit much to ask, and the 50yo is £9k a bottle) the 30 year old. On the nose it was sweet and floral, with some sour fruit (unripe peaches and mango, and lime zest), sweet buttery pastry, marzipan, cola bottles, sticky cherries, plum jam and a hint of metal. To taste it had sweet marzipan and sherry fruit up front, shot through with sour spices and wood. There were also Cinnamon Grahams, good maraschino cherries, polished wooden floors and big woody spice. It finished spicy, with nutmeg, ginger, soft brown sugar and dark unfinished wood.

We then went for our last dram of the night – the recently released and vaguely controversial Highland Park Thor. The “controversy” was due to a combination of three things: its relatively young age – 16 years; its price – £120; and its packaging – a nice looking rustic bottle wrapped up in a wooden cage of viking longboat prows. I wrote about Highland Park’s love of the special release over on the work blog recently and gave my opinions on the matter, but in short: not everyone who buys whisky just cares about the liquid and many people are happy to pay a bit extra for pretty packaging.

Anyways, tasting notes: On the nose it was quite spirity to start with, giving way to brine, lime and apple skin, tingly ginger, woody spice, earthy smoke, forest floor leaves, green herbs and a hint of mint. On the palate it was hot and spicy, with more ginger and cinnamon, muddy smoke, salted caramel, oranges and lemons. Adding water totally changed things, with a few minutes of resting after addition helping even more, calming the spice and producing more polished wood and sweet fruit – apples and bananas. It finished spicy, with lots of cinnamon, as well as floral notes, soil, lightly smoked wood and liquorice root. As that fades apple skin tannins and sweet marzipan linger on. Not as big and ‘oomphy’ as I remember from my last tasting of it, but I had just tasted my way through five not un-heavy drams.

At the end of the night Steve asked us all what our favourite had been. As I said at the time:

@TheWhiskyWire For me it's been the 18 - excellent balance of fruitiness, light smoke and rich sherry. Now I need to try the 21yo... #HPTT

March 28, 2012 9:21 pm via TweetDeckReplyRetweetFavorite

@cowfish

Billy Abbott

They’ve just rereleased their 21 year old whisky (at 46.5%, as it used to be before it was dropped to 40% and then discontinued outside of travel retail due to a continued stock shortages that meant they couldn’t supply the whole market) and if it sits, as I hope, between the 18 (not quite enough Good Wood for my liking but lots of great fruit) and the 25 (too much sherry but lots of tasty woody notes) then I might have found a new favourite dram.

Many thanks to Steve Rush (@TheWhiskyWire and @TweetTastings) and Daryl Haldane, global brand advocate for Highland Park, who took over the @HighlandPark twitter account for the night. Steve has some tasting note highlights from the evening over on his blog, and you can find a few more writeups around the web – Whisky Discovery, Glen Untitled, Living Room Whisky. I also have a transcript of the tasting along with the various tweets leading up to it, thanks to my magic ‘format a bunch of tweets vaguely nicely’ script – if you want to read through everything that was said you can find it here.

Highland Park 12
Orcadian Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 40%. ~£30

Highland Park 15
Orcadian Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 40%. ~£40

Highland Park 18
Orcadian Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 43%. ~£60

Highland Park 25
Orcadian Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 48.1%. ~£140

Highland Park 30
Orcadian Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 48.1%. ~£200

Highland Park Thor
Orcadian Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 52.1%. ~£120

The whisky in question is the first release of Glenfiddich 50 year old, made by vatting together 9 casks from 1937 and 1939 with 500 full sized bottles filled on July 26 1991 – a time when Jamie was working as a tour guide at the distillery. They released a second version in 2009 but this was the first, one of the miniatures produced at the same time and sat around for 20 years before we got try to try it.

It’s rather restrained for something quite so old and pricy. Apart from the silk lined box…

Miniatures aren’t well known for their seals and this one had most definitely had some evaporation, with the alcohol loss probably taking its the strength from its initial 43% to below the magic 40% limit to legally be whisky. However this is much more than just the liquid, it’s very much a slice of history. The casks were selected to honour the lives of distillery founder William Grant’s two children and the whisky in them was distilled during the years preceding the Second World War, with 1937 and 1939 coincidentally being often given as the starts of the war in Asia and Europe respectively. The style of whisky is very much different to Glenfiddich in modern times, with peat still being used to dry barley in those days, and this is by 1 year the oldest (by distillation date) whisky I’ve had the privilege of trying, beating the 70 year old Glenlivet from 1940 that I poured for a masterclass at last year’s Whisky Show.

Anyway, enough virtual fluffing – what did it taste like?

Nose: Ever changing in the glass – lots of layers. Elegant old wood, light marzipan, grassy fields, flower beds, glacé cherries and a hint of smoke, aged from pungency to a light muddiness.

Palate: Soft tropical fruit, creamed apples and pears, light muddy smoke, polished lightly coloured wooden panelling, orange zest, Fry’s dark chocolate orange creams.

Finish: Very light but long lasting – creamy wood and old polished floors slowly turning to a really tasty dark bitter wood with burned orange peel and orange oil. As the bitterness fades the light end of the polished wood and a little bit of fruit hangs around for even longer.

There’s not much more to say. It had obviously been open for a while, with a drop in the intensity of flavour and an increase in ‘dustiness’, but even so it was an impressive dram, reminding me of many of the old woody flavours I’ve found in older bottlings of whisky as well as the rounding of the flavour that bottle aging can achieve. On top of that the old style of the original spirit is something that yet again reminds me that looking for cheaper 70s bottlings is something I need to spend more time on: later in the day I had another taste of the Glen Garioch 1971 that TWE bottled last year, as well as their more recent 1978 bottling which brought home how much the styles of whisky have changed – the former was much more smoky (unlike the latter), but with that smoke gentrified by its years in wood.

The big problem with trying something like this is the realisation that there’s a good chance nothing like it is going to come your way again any time soon.

At least one of us was dressed for the occasion. I also need to practice smiling.

Many thanks are due to Jamie Milne and Jonny McCormick. It looks like it’s my round until the end of time…

Glenfiddich 50 year old (1st Edition)
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 43%. Price is whatever comes up at auction, but the last one I’ve found went for $38000 US ≈ £24000 for a 70cl bottle. This is now officially the most expensive whisky I’ve tried.

First up – a preview tasting of whiskies with the folks from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society.

In the last couple of years the SMWS have been upping their public exposure, starting with an occasional open evening during the Edinburgh festival and now running regular public nights and actively recruiting members. Part of this is their arrival at whisky shows, with stands at every major UK show in the last year, including this year’s Whisky Live London. As with last year’s Whisky Show they decided to invite a few favoured souls along to an evening of meat and whisky beforehand to preview some of the drams they were taking along, and yet again I managed to get on to the guest list.

As with last time the plan was quite simple – assemble in Bistro du Vin Clerkenwell‘s Whisky Snuggle (still maybe the most stupid name for a room I’ve ever heard), drink whisky and eat things that were once part of a cow. Bistro du Vin, part of the Hotel du Vin/Malmaison group, are partnered up with the SMWS to provide guests/diners who are members of The Society the chance to have a few drams, and have a range of whiskies and space set aside in some of their locations. Hence the Whisky Snuggle. That name really does make me twitch.

We started off, as is tradition, with a lowland whisky, 25.62 – Classy and Attractive, a 20 year old from Rosebank, closed since 1983 and since converted into a Beefeater restaurant. On the nose it had honeysuckle, light honey, sugared almonds, turkish delight, porridge, lime zest and a hint of dustiness. To taste it had creamy citrus – the middle of lime cream chocolates – dusty oak, parma violets, lemons, and a touch of smoky wood and cedar lined cigar boxes. It finished sweet and fruity, with juicy strawberry appearing as it faded.

Dram number two was 104.13 – An Angel Fallen to Earth from Glen Craig. Glen Craig isn’t actually a distillery, it’s the name given to spirit distilled at Glenburgie in the 1970s using Lomond stills. These are stills with a regular pot still at the bottom but with adjustable plates in the neck and a moveable lyne arm to allow the distiller to modify the character of the spirit. Hiram Walker, owners of the distillery at the time, installed a pair of Lomond stills so as to be able to produce a wider range of spirits to satisfy the demands of the blending industry. However, they the blenders preferred their regular whisky and they removed the stills in 1981. Since then the SWA have declared that Single Malt Scotch Whisky has to be produced using a regular pot still without any spangly attachments, meaning that not much Lomond distilled whisky is produced these days other than at Loch Lomond distillery, who lend their name to the still type.

Anyways, the whisky is increasingly rare these days and I’d not managed to try one from the distillery before. On the nose it had rosewater turkish delight, digestive biscuit crumb crusted lemon tarts, milky cornflakes and dusty wood. To taste it was oily, with cream, parma violets, sour oak and some polished wood. It finished slightly astringently, with cloves and dry oak.

We took a break after the first couple of drams to go and meet the chef and our dinner. Hotel du Vin dry age their meat on site in a special freezer and in order to get the best out of the process they buy slow grown British beef. It’s some of the best beef they can get without turning to ridiculously priced imports (USDA prime beef is incredible, but scarily expensive due to the roundabout route it takes to get to the British market) and comes from Lake District Farmers. They use 29 month old beef, as after that it is illegal to sell the meat on the bone, and then age it on the bone for between 2 weeks (for fillet) and 4 weeks (for rib and sirloin). It’s dry aging, leading to a large amount of waste as not only does the meat contract as it loses moisture (and thus size and weight) but also picks up fungus, which aids in the aging process but needs to be trimmed.

We had a few beefy bits to eat over the space of the evening, starting with a carpaccio (taken from the rump) topped with a fillet steak tartare. This was followed up with a main course of porterhouse steak – an American cut T-bone from the rump end, giving a larger fillet piece than the traditional British version. The Clerkenwell branch of Bistro du Vin has been open for about a year now and they’ve settled in well – the steaks are well cooked, the meat is tasty and other than their portions of chips being too large for my tiny appetite (ahem) it was all good.

No pictures of the whisky, I’m afraid. Just lots of piccies of beefs…

Next dram on the list was 121.50 – Xmas cake and Afghan Coats, a 9 year old sherry monster from Arran. When I first joined the society I’d pick up every Arran bottling untasted but after a couple of less than stellar whiskies I’ve dropped back to trying every one before I consider buying them – I’ve not bought one in a while. On the nose this was filthy, with dirty engine oil and diesel (I’ve never smelled two-stroke, but this is what I imagine it’s like), Vicks, cherry menthol and rich raisiny wood. To taste it was pure big dirty sherry, with a decent amount of struck match sulphur, and the Christmas cake of the name studded with black liquorice, leather, dark chocolate and burned wood. It finished long, with big woody spice and sweet raisins hanging around and slowly turning bitter. One for sherry heads and a bit much for me at a full strength of 61.3%.

We then moved on to 93.50 – Hot Embers at the Gates of Hell, a lightly coloured dram from Glen Scotia, Campbeltown’s ‘other’ distillery. While Campbeltown used to be the centre of the whisky industry back at the turn of the 20th century it’s now been reduced to a couple of distillers, with most of the focus being on Springbank (along with the Longrow, Hazelburn and Kilkerran they also produce). I’ve tried a few society Glen Scotias and none of them have really stuck in my memory. This one had a big smoky nose, metallic and pungent like emptied briny fish tins. After my nose got used to the kick from that I found some caramel sweetness and a bit of smoky lime hiding underneath. To taste it started with sweet citrus and aniseed, before being quickly swamped by hammy smoke. The finish was heavy with minerals, gravelly and dry, sweetened up with some spicy aniseed balls. Again, a bit much for my liking, definitely needing water (which I didn’t get round to adding) and not as complex neat as I’d hoped.

We took another break at this point to try a bit of cheese and some dessert. The 93.50 was a bit much for the Brezain that I nibbled on, as being a cheese wuss meant the Bleu de Gex also on the cheeseboard was a step too far for me, but the 121.50 worked well, cutting through the fat of the cheese without swamping its delicate nutty and smoky flavour. The 121.50 was also the winner when it came to dessert, with chocolate sorbet, chocolate pavé and honeycomb rather well complimented by the dark fruit and sherry wood.

The ‘official’ last dram of the night was something I was rather impressed by, 29.109 – Oak and Smoke Intensity, a 20 year old very sherried Laphroaig. While you get some sherry in most Laphroaig expressions I’ve not tried a fully sherry matured one, let alone one as dark and heavily influenced as this one. On the nose there was pungent extra strong cherry Strepsils, a crisp mineral smoke, damp forest floors, some sugary sweetness and very dark chocolate. To taste it was rich and spicy, with the predictable raisins, leather and cocoa joined by cracked black pepper and smoky charcoal dust. It finished long, with a burnt oak chip smokiness, smoked cheese and fruity dark chocolate. Over the top and rather impressive, one that I may have to investigate acquiring, although it not being on their website implies I might be too late.

Helen, who invited me along for the evening, wasn’t going to let us finish with that whisky, chosen by SMWS London rooms manager Joe, and had brought another one along to rival it, 33.something – an Ardbeg whose name and number I didn’t catch…we had been drinking for a while by then (Update: Helen just mailed me to let me know that it was 33.115 – Man that’s braw, which she translates as “Squire, I do believe this to be a very good dram indeed”). It was lightly coloured and quite a contrast to the previous dram – a nose of smoky menthol, gooseberries, sweet lemons and raisins, with tropical fruit hiding underneath all the rest. To taste it was big and gravelly, with loads of smoke overpowering the rest of the flavours, although a little bit of citrus fruit poked its head round the corner. An interesting one this, although again a bit much for me (I think my recent sticking to 40-46% whisky has killed my ability to drink cask strength), a sherry cask matured whisky (although almost certainly 2nd or 3rd fill) without much sherry to it, letting the spirit’s character (which Ardbeg has in spades) come through rather than being swamped by the cask.

Anyways, many thanks to Helen, Joe and John for hosting the evening and the folks at Bistro du Vin for filling me with steak. Alwynne of Miss Whisky has also written up the evening, as has Tim Chester of thirtyoneseventyfive.

25.62 – Classy and Attractive (20yo)
Lowland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 54%. £86.60

104.13 – An Angel Fallen to Earth (36yo)
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 50.6%. £155 (sold out)

121.50 – Xmas Cake & Afghan Coats (9yo)
Island Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 61.3%. £42 (sold out)

93.50 – Hot Embers at the Gates of Hell (20yo)
Campbeltown Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 58.6%.

29.109 – Oak and Smoke Intensity (20yo)
Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 59.2%.

33.115 – Man that’s Braw (11yo)
Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 55.4%.

Nice day for it…

So, Irish Whiskey. The session was led by genuine northern Irishman (despite the doubts that his accent seems to inspire in people – west country?) and, unfortunately for him, work colleague of mine, Mr Tim Forbes, veteran of the booze industry and lover of Irish whiskey. With a Cooley session on the cards within a couple of weeks Tim stuck with whiskies that he was fairly certain wouldn’t appear in that tasting. However, due to the nature of the Irish distilling industry that isn’t a particularly big choice, as there are only three distillers and four distilleries in the country. There were many more back in time and there are efforts to expand that number again in modern times, but the the industry contracted back in the first half of the 20th century and consolidation allowed the remaining companies to survive until the present day.

In the early 1900s the irish distilling industry was beset by a number of problems, which Tim provided a short list of:

• Civil War
• The introduction of bonded warehouses, adding costs to production and maturation of whiskey
• Prohibition in the USA
• A trade war with the UK
• A rise in Blended Scotch Whisky, a lighter style that was more geared to the palate of the time than the heavier Irish whiskey

The irony of the last point is that blends relied on light grain whisky, produced in continuous ‘Coffey’ stills, named for their inventor – Irishman Aeneas Coffey, one time Inspector General of the Excise. He modified the design of Robert Stein’s column still, patented his new invention in 1831 and then shopped it around the Irish distillers. They didn’t want it, so he went to Scotland. The rest, as they say, is history.

The various Irish distillers contracted through merger, intermarriage and closure, eventually ending up with a pair of companies – the latest incarnations of which are Irish Distillers and Bushmills, the former in the south the latter in the north. Irish Distillers is now part of the Pernod Ricard empire and Bushmills Diageo, and in 1988 a new independent appeared – Cooley. They started a second site in 2007, reopening Locke’s distillery (originally founded in 1757 and one of the many sites that claim to be the oldest distillery in the UK, if not the world) and using it distill small amounts of spirit while keeping it as their visitor centre. However, in 2012 Beam Inc, owners of Jim Beam and other assorted brands, bought out Cooley bringing all (legal) Irish Whiskey production into the hands of the multinationals. This isn’t necessarily a bad thing, although there are unsettling rumours about the gutting of Cooley’s range that have started alarm bells ringing.

However, ownership apart there is some very interesting whiskey coming out of Ireland. There has been some big investment by Pernod Ricard over the last few years which has paid off, with Jameson storming the USA and dragging the rest of the category with it. William Grant’s, owners of Glenfiddich and Balvenie, have also got in on the act, buying the Tullamore Dew brand from PR, although it is still made by the former owners under contract, and they are relaunching it around the world as I type. Lots of interest and, despite the small number of production sites, a big range of whiskey to try.

There are three distinct styles of whiskey currently being produced in Ireland. After maturation they’re often blended together, helping expand the range of whiskies and flavours available, but everything starts from the three. The first two are obvious if you know Scotch whiskies – single malt and single grain. Both are produced in the same fashion as their Scottish relatives and share characteristics with them. The third style is uniquely Irish – Single Pot Still.

The name is quite confusing, seeing as single malt has to be produced in pot stills by Scotch Whisky Association decree, but production is a mix of grain and malt distillation techniques. It’s a mixture of grains, using malted barley, unmalted barley and a variety of other grains, which is then all distilled in a pot still. By SWA definition this is a grain whisky, as the addition of any non-malted grain to the mash makes it such no matter what type of still is used to distill it, hence the new designation.

The genesis of Single Pot Still whiskey (once called Pure Pot Still, but rebranded due to issues of using the word ‘Pure’ on labels in the USA) comes in part from tax, as so many things in the whisky industry do. There was a tax levied on malt in the 1830s and in an effort to avoid paying so much the amount of malt in the mash was reduced – some was still required to kickstart fermentation, but over time the changed recipes became a distinct style within Irish whiskey.

These days the types of distillation are divided up amongst the distilleries, with Cooley doing malt and grain, Bushmills malt and Midleton, the Irish Distillers distillery, pot still and grain. In a similar fashion to the Scottish distillers they buy from each other to fill the gaps in their ranges and get the various styles and flavours of whisky they need to produce their vattings.

First of the evening was a whiskey that Tim described as ‘a smoky blend’. We were trying them all blind, as usual, but I had a good idea of the list, having discussed the various whiskies with Tim over the proceeding weeks at work. On the nose it had a rubbery smoke, with coffee, prickly raw grain and sweet, creamy porridge oats. To taste it was hammy, with cream, more porridge and sweet caramel, finishing with a puff of smoke and sweet grain. The label came off to show that it was Inishowen, a Cooley made Irish blended whiskey, made from single malt and grain spirit. It’s not a particularly well known brand, but it was rather tasty, combining the traditional creamy grain character of Irish whiskey with a touch of smoke.

The next whiskey had a nose of gravel, tropical fruit (pineapple and unripe mango), linseed oil, green rhubarb and sour gummi strips. Note of the night goes to Pooja, who described it as being like ‘A well full of frogs, in India’. To taste it was sweet and creamy (those words might get a bit repetitive by the last dram) with oil and a touch of dried fruit. It finished with more raisins and a nice bit of well balanced wood. The paper was peeled back to show that it was Bushmill’s Black Bush, the distillery’s most famous blended whisky. It uses their own single malt whisky and is rounded out with grain whisky produced at Midleton.

The third whisky started of a bit shakily with a hint of the butyric on the nose – aka ‘smells like sick’. That burnt off quickly to be replaced by sour apples, rhubarb and custard sweets, and lychees. To taste it was like a malted milkshake, with raisins, stewed apple and a pleasant touch of citrus, finishing with porridge and sugared lemons. This was revealed to be Locke’s 8 Year old, a brand once produced at the distillery now known as Kilbeggan and now made by Cooley, the new distillery owner. This is a single malt whiskey, but Cooley also produce a blend under the same name, something that we suspected wouldn’t be allowed in Scotland. The SWAs reach isn’t quite all-powerful, yet.

The fourth whiskey had a bit more fruit to it, with its nose adding some blueberries to the typical cereal notes, as well as malty Shreddies, malt loaf, banana bread and some unripe green bananas. To taste it had a light creamy custard edge with raisins, rich fruit, sponge cake and a sweetness that nodded towards liqueurs. It finished spicily, with cinnamon cream and vanilla. This was the whiskey I’d been waiting for, as it’s my favourite Irish whiskey of the moment – Jameson Select Reserve Small Batch. Produced at Midleton, this was our first pot still whisky of the night, although it is blended with grain. This is about 75% single pot still, with lots of first fill bourbon and sherry casks in that proportion to give a much richer flavour than in the regular Jameson. Top stuff and one that I will be drinking to celebrate St Patrick’s this evening, if all goes to plan and I can grab a bottle.

The fifth whiskey was massive let down, not due to the dram itself but because none of us got to try it – it was corked. While we often hear of wine being corked it’s not so common to hear about it happening to whisk(e)y and there’s a reason for that – it doesn’t happen anywhere near as often. Unfortunately this penultimate whiskey, Tim’s crowning glory of the tasting, was tainted and was obviously wrong. It was meant to be Power’s Johns Lane, produced at Midleton and named for the old Johns Lane distillery were Powers used to be produced before all production was moved under one roof in 1974. It’s a single pot still whiskey and picked up Jim Murray’s Best Irish Whiskey award in the 2012 Whisky Bible – an impressive feat considering it was released around the time that Jim stopped taking entries for the book. Annoyingly, I’ve only tasted a couple of heavily oxidised samples that I really didn’t take to, but there’s a non-corked bottle on its way to Jason and Andy at the moment, so hopefully I’ll get a taste at a future Squad night.

I had a sneaking suspicion as to the identity of the last whiskey – on the nose it had popcorn, wine soaked wood, crunchy apples, green melon and cream, with a meaty middle. To taste it had cream, raisins, rice pudding, rich sweet wood, cinnamon and Chelsea Buns, finishing with sugared raisins and spiced malt loaf. It was, as expected, Redbreast 12 year old Cask Strength, one of the most eagerly awaited whiskies of the last year. It appeared at Whisky Live Paris last autumn and Tim managed to grab a few bottles, the remains of one of which ended up on my desk and became my go to Friday-evening-at-work dram. After months of waiting our delivery of it has finally arrived and should be appearing on the Whisky Exchange website next week. All that I’m waiting on now is a price, as we’re expecting it to be quite expensive…

Anyways, a top tasting and further evidence that we should prop Tim up in front of a crowd more often. There are three sessions in April for the Squad and two of them still have some places left – Whisky Cocktails with the folks from Monkey Shoulder and Indian whisky and food with Dishoom and Amrut. There’s also a second birthday bash, but that’s predictably sold out. Hopefully there will be cake…

Jon, George Grant and the shiny pagoda’d entrance to the visitors centre

I’ve always had a soft spot for Glenfarclas. They’re first distillery I visited, at the age of 5, and one that I’ve almost always had a bottle from somewhere nearby. I’ve not visited in over 20 years so I was rather keen to see if a) I could remember what it was like and b) if it had changed much. The answers were simple – not really and I have no idea, but suspect not.

The distillery is in one of the most heavily populated areas of Speyside, distillery-wise, with Cragganmore a stone’s throw away, and Glenlivet, Glenallachie, Aberlour and the various distilleries of Dufftown a few minutes drive down the road. As with many of the older distilleries their history starts off with some illegal distilling, although they don’t know when the place was founded – they have a painting from 1791 showing the distillery in an operational state and records talking of two distilleries in the area in the 1780s, but the first solid date they have is 1836, the earliest documentation of a license to produce whisky. The Grant family bought the distillery in 1865 (for £511 and 19 shillings) and still own and operate it today – Chairman John Grant is the 5th generation and Sales Director/Brand Ambassador George Grant, who ran the tasting and showed us around the distillery, is the 6th, both still actively involved in the day to day operation of the company.

For one of the smaller players in the distilling industry they have a fairly large level of production, producing over 3 million litres of alcohol per year. They now buy in their malt (unpeated), having closed their floor maltings in 1971, and do a large 16.5T mash in a huge 10 metre diameter mash tun, which George thinks might be the largest in the industry. After mashing they ferment the wort for 3.5-4 days to produce a wash with restrained fruit and a lot of malt. They have three pairs of stills (the third set having been installed in 1973) to distill the wash, all six direct fired with gas. Even though the stills are designed with heavier bottoms to cope with the direct flame from the gas burners they still only last for about 25 years – at £130k+ per still it’s something you need to save up for.

Ian McCaskill’s cask is bigger than Prince Andrew’s, showing the Scottish reverence of weather predicting ‘shamans’ over royalty

60% of their spirit is filled into sherry casks, helping to produce the rich whisky that the distillery is known for, with the remaining 40% filled into what they call ‘plain’ casks – either ex-bourbon or fourth fill sherry casks (or earlier fills that are knackered), the latter no longer imparting enough of their traditional sherry character to be included in the sherried 60%. All of their spirit is matured onsite, with 29 warehouses and 55k casks with vintages from 1953 until the present day.

The tasting, a couple of days after the tour, was a run through their core range of whiskies, as well as a glimpse of their range of single cask ‘Family Casks’, as narrated by George Grant. George has been working in the whisky industry since his twenties, starting out at Inver House (so as to be able to ‘make my mistakes elsewhere’) and is now running around the world showing off Glenfarclas to anyone who sits still for long enough.

The Fiddlers wasn’t officially open yet, with the season officially starting in early March, but as part of the series that Jon runs for his Loch Ness Whisky Parliament tasting club (hopefully he’ll start writing the blog again soon…) he managed to get George in a couple of weeks before they opened the doors properly.

Fiddler’s opened in 1991 and the Beach family took over in the mid-1990s, turning it into a go-to place for whisky fans near to Loch Ness. The range of whisky is quite scary, with Jon’s own collection (including many Port Ellens, which he has worryingly encyclopedic knowledge of) and leftover bottles from the Parliament tastings occasionally crossing over with the bar stock to give some rare gems hiding on the shelves.

We started off the tasting with Glenfarclas 15, bottled at 46%. George is a man full of stories (of varying levels of believability) and, as with almost every other whisky of the night, this one had an explanation behind it, especially the strength. The 15 year old appeared at a time when George’s grandfather was in charge and younger whisky was the norm. He went to do his yearly Christmas bottling for friends and family and discovered that when bottled at full strength the cask he’d chosen didn’t have enough to go around everyone. So, rather than opening another cask he decided to dilute the whisky, and, finding both 40% and 43% lacked the punch he was after, settled for 46%, which balanced his eye to thrift with keeping the whisky’s intensity of flavour. From that single cask the 15 year old was developed and the strength stayed the same – the rest of the range, other than cask strength bottlings and the 40 year old are bottled at 43%. On the nose the 15 year old had sugared raisins, honey and a big cinnamon spicy hit. To taste it was buttery with brown sugar, allspice, more cinnamon and the rest of the brown ground spices hiding at the back of the cupboard. It finished long, with sweet grapes, more spice, brown butter and the ever present cinnamon tingle.

Next was the Glenfarclas 21. On the nose it had caramel and raisins through the middle, with orange pith, the beginnings of old rancio, and forest aromas of bark, earth and damp leaves. To taste it was oily and sweet, with less complexity than the nose, zeroing in on brown sugar, stewed orange segments and lightly spiced syrup. The spice lingered into the finish along with a soft citrus tang. A drop of water opened out the body a bit, softening the syrup hit and bringing out more fruit, with apples, apricots and blackcurrant leaves, as well as a bit more crunchy caramel sweetness. A different style to the 15, looking more to the world of liqueurs than rich sherried whisky, but still along the same lines.

We then moved on to the Glenfarclas 25, a step back to the richly sherried style of the 15 – a nose of sweet dark sherry with a meaty edge, a hint of menthol, more rancio than the 21 and citrus tinged caramel. It was oily on the palate with honey, brown sugar, rich spice, butter and the direct nutty sweetness of white nougat. The flavours lingered into the finish, developing olive oil, orange and a slightly dusty cardboardy hint before it faded. A drop of water softened the taste a bit and brought out some lemon boiled sweets on the nose. Again quite sweet but backed up with more of the sherry spice and richness that Glenfarclas are known for.

Next to be poured was the Glenfarclas 30, until March 2010 the oldest entry in the regular lineup and described by someone in the room as ‘like Christmas cake, blended’. On the nose it had lemon oil, ginger bread, glacé cherries, and oranges studed with cloves, ready to mull wine. In the mouth it was, predictably after the last three drams, oily, with brown sugar, allspice, cinnamon, butter and elegant old polished wood. The wood continued into the finish, joined by a mouthful of woody spice – anis, cinnamon, clove…

The penultimate dram of the night was George’s baby – the Glenfarclas 40. Put out a couple of years back it has an RRP of £300, a number chosen, according to George, because it’s the most you can take out of a cash machine in one go. It’s bottled at 46% like the 15 year old rather than at a higher ‘cask strength’ so that it’s easier for them to keep producing it and keep it as a regular in the range – the first batch came out at 48% before dilution, so it’s not much of a drop. On the nose it had a mix of armagnac and bourbon – caramel, grapes, forest floor bracken, old brandy rancio, sticky cherries, orange, stewed raisins, nuts and a hint of Germolene. To taste it was slightly dusty, but backed up by big wood, raisins, creamy marzipan, cinnamon and long stewed apple. The finish was long, with big dark sweet wood, perfumed polished wood and bittersweet dark caramel. A dark old sherried number, but restrained and still elegant in its execution.

The final dram of the tasting was the Glenfarclas 1990 Family Cask Release V. The Family Casks are a range of single cask whiskies released in 8 tranches, so far, selected by the family and bottled at cask strength. They vary from old and intensely sherried whiskies to relatively young bourbon cask matured drams, the latter the sort of thing that you don’t often see from Glenfarclas – I tried one of their 1979 plain cask matured whiskies while at the distillery and it was stunning, although unlike anything I’ve tried from them before. This one came from a sherry butt and you could tell, with a big spicy nose of Bakewell Tarts, old wood, sweet oloroso sherry, sticky maraschino cherries (real ones, not the bright red cocktail cherries you normally see) and a savoury streak – brown sugar crusted ham, maybe? To taste it was hot and spicy, as you’d expect at cask strength, with intense cinnamon and fruit cake notes, as well as marzipan, salted caramel and black liquorice. The finish was woody, with bitter anis and polished oak, as well as a touch of sweet Turkish Delight. An impressive dram that shows what they can do with pure sherry cask whisky.

A few of us were staying over at Jon’s B&B over the road from Fiddlers and we hung around for a few post tasting drams. It may have been a slightly late night and I don’t remember all of the tasty things I tried, but Andy Simpson, of Whisky Highland, took a piccy that jogged my memory a bit – ta muchly chaps.

Many thanks to Jon for organising things and also his dad and sister, who took on chauffeur duties and got me not only around distilleries but also to the station early enough on a Sunday morning to catch my train home. Many pints/drams are owed.

Glenfarclas 15
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 43%. ~£40

Glenfarclas 21
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 46%. ~£60

Glenfarclas 25
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 43%. ~£100

Glenfarclas 30
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 43%. ~£125

Glenfarclas 40
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 46%. ~£300

Glenfarclas 1990 Family Cask Release V
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 56.5%. ~£200

We were back in The Gunmakers and slightly taken aback by the upstairs room’s transformation – the reorganisation and addition of furniture has created a perfectly sized space for fitting in a whole group of Squadders without resorting to darkened corners or consensual lap sitting. On that latter point we were again bereft of a Darren, as the (obviously minimal, in my unhelpful opinion) effort of setting up a new London distillery meant that he was elsewhere, and I had been promoted/drafted in (my words/Jason’s words) as a member of ‘The Management’ for the session. The conceit this time was simple – Jason, Andy and I had each chosen a pair of drams that we like to present to the group. Andy, competitive chap that he is, also brought in an extra element – at the end of the session a vote would be taken to choose the favourite whisky of the night. As usual the whiskies were tasted blind, and each presenter did some presenting on his whisky, which may have shown a bit more about our competitive nature than was wise.

The gang

First up was Andy and his iPod (I think it might have actually been a Zune, the pervert). Taking a leaf from the Book of St Heston he accompanied his presentation with track 47 of ‘Relaxation for Hippies’, or some other such album – The Sound of Breaking Waves. On the nose the whisky was pure toffee popcorn and salted caramel – potentially an aftereffect of having Butterkist for dinner the previous night, or maybe a psychosomatic introduction thanks to Andy’s soundtrack, but in any event it was rather nice. To taste it had more salted caramel, dark wood, lemon and a touch of menthol/liquorice cutting through the sweetness. A drop of water brought out even more caramel, leading into a finish of woody spices and green leaves. A top dram that I’d been looking forward to trying again since seeing the line-up – Arran 10 year old Cask Strength. When I started out on the latest chapter of my whisky obsession a few years back Arran was by far and away my favourite distillery and this dram reminds me why – sweet and spicy but balanced with some darker woody flavours to stop it going over the top.

Next was Jason with a very lightly coloured dram, unaccompanied by music. Jason let on that this was a slightly more difficult to find whisky than the others on the card for the evening as it was a distillery only bottling – an excellent idea by the distillers to almost guarantee a purchase in the giftshop by visiting whisky geeks. This one was selected to be a distillation (pun not intended) of the distillery’s character: On the nose it had fizzy sherbert, dried apple rings, anis, creamy vanilla, alpine scented floor cleaner and a whiff of smoke; to taste it had brine, pepper, chilli, beeswax and candied lemons, with water introducing some tropical fruit Chewitts; it finished with more brine, fragrant wood and liquorice root. This was the dram I was most looking forward to, as it was the only one I’d not tried before and I’m visiting the distillery this week – Clynelish Distillery Only Cask Strength. It’s a vatting which they’ve had on sale their for a few years and I’ll definitely be picking up a couple of bottles – one of them for someone at the session who found out my travel plans.

Next was my first selection, a very different beast to the two previous whiskies, very dark in colour and obviously the product of a sherry cask. On the nose it was massively sherried, with raisins (specifically the sugary ones that you can pick off the top of a fruit cake) and slightly sour wine galore. Along with that there was milk chocolate, the fruit cake that sat under the raisins, custard and cream. TO taste there was medium-sweet oloroso, cream and even more fruit cake, with some anis and menthol balancing the sweetness. It finished with spicy wood, ginger cake and lingering liquorice root. An excellent whisky that I’ve underestimated in the past, prompting my choosing it – Glendronach 15 Revival. I went to a tasting of their range last year (as written about on the work blog) and having pretty much dismissed them beforehand I was shocked by how much I liked their spirit. The current owners haven’t been around that long and have spent the last 6 years investing heavily in excellent casks to bring back the distillery’s former reputation for excellent sherried spirit – from this example it’s certainly paying off.

Number four was Andy’s next selection, another darkly coloured sherry beast. This time it was accompanied by some light jazz and talk of relaxing in leather armchairs around the fire – a suitable atmosphere for the dram. On the nose it had sweet spice, caramel and treacle toffee, an earthy hint of the farmyard, cherries and anis. To taste it was big and spicy, with cinnamon and cloves prickling the tongue. Along with that there were cinnamon danish pastries and dark chocolate leading to a woody and warming finish. I was doing pretty well on whiskies I like at this point, with this one being the first single malt that I knew by name and one that I’ve always had a bottle of in the cupboard until recently, when it was replaced by a single cask Glendronach. It was the most well-known high proof sherry bomb in Speyside, Glenfarclas 105. I first experienced this on my first trip up to Scotland that I can remember – the first holiday to the timeshare resort where I am currently sitting, almost 30 years ago (although the conservatory I’m sitting in now was at the time a wooden terrace generally used for storing sledges and hiding my brother’s mittens). We went to the Glenfarclas distillery for a tour and afterwards my dad tried a dram of the 105. He offered it to the five year old (almost six. It mattered back then) me and I couldn’t get it any closer than a couple of inches from my mouth, the smell was so strong. Happily I’ve got over that youthful physical limitation.

Next on the list was my second contribution – a pale whisky that opened up the third style we would be trying, smoky. Unfortunately I was too busy knowledgeably waffling about the whisky (well, being a bit pissed and drunkenly giving away too much information about it at least) to write tasting notes, so here’s some from last time I tried it:

On the nose it had a sweet peaty, cracked stone minerality and lime – ‘Chopped limes on a muddy pebble beach’ as my notes read. It also had some fresh coal smoke, metallic sardine tins (sardines in oil and not ketchup, of course) and red fruit – a very clean and crisp nose that added a bit of mud as it sat in the glass. To taste there was salted cream, lemons & limes, green wood and pungent Manuka honey leading to a coal fire with an edge of black rubber. It finished with surprisingly fruity strawberries and lime, smoked ham, coal dust and sour lemon infused butter. As that disappeared there was a lingering pepper and black plimsoll rubber.

I don’t remember it being quite so rubbery this time, but to sum up it’s a very clean peaty whisky, with lots of minerality, crisp coal smoke and soft citrus. It was Compass Box’s Peat Monster. I wanted to bring along something different and this was the only non-single malt whisky of the night (as well of one of two non-cask strength ones – the other being my Glendronach). A blended malt with whisky from Laphroaig, Ardmore and Ledaig in the mix, it combines three quite diffent types of peatiness from three quite different areas (although their peated malt could all happily come from the same source – there isn’t much in the way of terroir in malt these days due to the large maltsters supplying most of the industry). It’s not as much of a monster as the name would suggest, but it’s big and smoky but without some of the pungency that puts many off peaty whisky. A great dram, but I would say that.

Last of the night was Jason’s second choice, another peaty dram but one that went towards the darker side of smoky malts. On the nose it started with fresh grass, anis, a hint of metal and waxed fruit (Jason’s note of ‘Tinned fruit salad’ hit the nail on the head), crushed seashells (the clean briney note in the middle of a seafood stock), sweet lime, muddy peat and seaside bonfires. To taste there was more peat than smoke, with a nice earthy base, malt loaf, seaside pebbles, lime skin, gravel and closed cast iron stoves. It finished quite dirty, with gravel, smoky tar and sweet wood. Another interesting dram and, similarly to Jason’s first choice, one that isn’t quite so common – Lagavulin 12 year old (2009 release). Lagavulin is more well known for its 16 year old (one of the most praised of Diageo’s regular bottlings) and a few years ago they started producing a bottling of 12 year old whisky as part of their yearly Special Releases. Most of the other whiskies in the range change yearly, but the Lagavulin has been a constant member since its first appearance as one of the reasonably priced entries in the lineup.

With the drams drunk voting slips were passed around, and an independent adjudication panel (Dave) was set up to count the results and announce the winner. I felt that this was slightly unnecessary, as my agreement with Jason and Andy before the session was that I would happily support the idea of a vote as long as it was fixed such that I won. However, counting done, it was not to be, with Andy’s Glenfarclas 105 taking the (purely honour based) prize for favourite of the night. Dave did a bit more statistical wrangling and pointed out that while the Glenfarclas had won, every whisky we’d tried had been marked as both favourite and least favourite by at least one person within the group. Which was nice.

Anyways, the March St Patrick’s tie-in Irish whisky sessions (including one next week led by m’colleague Tim) are now sold out, as is next weekend’s blending school with Chris Maybin down at Compass Box HQ. As ever keep an eye on the website and Twitter for last minute dropouts, they do sometimes happen.

Arran 10 year old Cask Strength
Island Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 54.1%. ~£45

Clynelish Distillery Only Cask Strength
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 57.3%. ~£45

Glendronach 15 year old Revival
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 46%. ~£40

Glenfarclas 105
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 60%. ~£40

Compass Box Peat Monster
Blended Malt Scotch Whisky, 46%. ~£35

Lagavulin 12 year old (2009 release
Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 57.9%. ~£65

Anyways, January’s second session took us back to a previous venue, The Scotch Malt Whisky Society‘s London rooms. However, rather than just begging the space (and the lend of the glasses) we were joined by their Brand Ambassador John McCheyne who brought along a selection of drams, the ability to talk about said drams and the promise of 10% Off! if we bought any of the bottles.

I’ve been a member of the SWMS for about 3 years (I think I just paid my 4th yearly membership) and have often been a big fan of their whiskies, however part of the nature of the beast is their unpredictability: The Society bottle only single cask whiskies at cask strength. No finishes (although I was sure I remembered one, I think it was instead a/several Glen Moray wine cask matured whisky/ies…), no colouring, no chill-filtering and, until a couple of years back, no fancy bottles. The Society has had a bit of an overhaul in the last couple of years, with the new bottle livery, the revamping of the Society magazine, the upgrading of the London rooms to be prettier and the tweaking of their website to not be entirely hateful to techies. I miss the old bottles (as the 1978 Caledonian grain whisky that I almost bought in the most recent ScotchWhiskyAuction will attest…along with my love of grain whisky and the year of my birth) but things have become more shiny in recent times. Anyways, the whisky:

We tasted everything blind as usual, although as the Society bottlings are all numbered and given an ‘appropriate’ name rather than the distillery name it wouldn’t have helped too much. First up was Laurel, Meadowsweet and Honeysuckle. On the nose it had butter icing, stacked grass, lots of vanilla and coconut, and a hint of Hall’s Mentholyptus. To taste it kicked in with a lot of sugary sweetness, but with a charcoal burnt bitterness sitting behind everything. In between there was sour wood, toffee and green wood. It finished with more charcoal and some bitter wood. The number was revealed to be 97.21, showing it to be the 21st cask from Lowlander Littlemill and, by coincidence, also aged for 21 years. Littlemill is now closed and just to make sure it was not only dismantled in 1996/7 but the remains caught fire in 2004 (with the traditional rumours of dodginess) meaning that it’s very much gone. As far as I know this was my first dram from the distillery.

Next on the list was Church Pews and Hymnbooks. John made a few hints (concerning the Duke of Sutherland) which, along with the nose, gave away the distillery (and probably removed any chance of me properly tasting it blind). The nose started off thin but strong, getting heavier and initially smelling of dark cinder toffee. That subsided as it sat in the glass to give a familiar scent of wax, foam bananas and sweet apples. Along with that it slowly picked up some musky wet dog and some muddy vegetal notes – quite changeable in the glass. To taste it was creamy, with fake strawberries, honey and beeswax slowly turning to spicy dark wood and liquorice. A drop of water helped open it up a bit, bringing out more spice and some cloves. It finished quite long with some menthol, bananas and more beeswax. It was no surprise when the label showed it to be 26.77, as distillery 26 is one I remember – Clynelish. This was matured in a second fill bourbon cask for 27 years (rather beating my estimate of 18) and I rather liked it. But then again, I’ve not found a Clynelish I didn’t like. Yet. In other news I’m visiting the distillery in a few weeks and I’m rather excited, despite the 6.5 hours on trains and hour or so of walking it’ll take me to get there and back…

Dram three was called Old Friends Remembered. John’s hint this time of ‘this is a distillery that doesn’t bottle very much single malt’ wasn’t particularly helpful so I went into this one properly blind. On the nose it had meaty sherry, pine, swimming pools, caramel, fallen leaves and the edge of rancio savouriness. To taste it was hot & spicy, with vanilla, cherry, lemon butter and marzipan, although overall still quite savoury. Water brought out some sandalwood soap and more caramel. It finished with sweet butter and lingering pine. This was revealed to be 73.44, a 29 year old from Aultmore, distilled on the 21st of April 1982 and matured in a refill sherry cask. Most of their output goes into the Dewar’s blends, owned as they are by Dewar’s owners Bacardi, and as far as I can tell there aren’t any current official bottlings available, so you’ll need to look to the independents to try any. Which explains why this is the only 2nd whisky from Aultmore that I remember tasting.

Fourth on the list was Unusual and Highly Enjoyable, a statement that was quickly examined. Firstly, it was pink:

Jason and I tried to organise an evening of pink whisky once. We didn’t get very far.

So it fulfilled the first part – Unusual. Secondly: Highly Enjoyable. This was not universally agreed, with a number of exclamations around the room at its vileness, although there were also a good number of quiet “that’s nice”s. On the nose it was quite meaty and fruity, with stewed strawberries, raisins, cinnamon, and sweet peaches and plums. To taste it burst on to the tongue with a sweet but tannic port taste, giving away the cask it matured in, before moving on to fake fruity chews, cherry chocolate and a sherbet fizz at the end. Water balanced things out a bit more and brought out more of a berry sweet and sourness. It finishes with red boiled sweets, marzipan and a lingering sugary sweetness. Not one for me, thanks to the sweetness, but the label came off to reveal that it was 123.7 from Glengoyne. This was a bit of a shock for me and my more geeky brethren as Glengoyne is a fairly traditional distillery in its outlook as far as we knew and we didn’t expect any pink whisky shenanigans from them (although a bit of an internet search showed a comment from distillery that they’re playing with port casks). As The Society doesn’t do finishes this was completely matured in a port pipe, although at only 10 years old the spirit hadn’t be totally overcome with porty flavours. A Marmitey whisky around the room, with a fairly even split in the end.

The last whisky of the evening was Old Lace and Lavender Hand Cream. Again John dropped in some facts, although they confused more than helped – this distillery has the world’s shortest railway, at 30ft long; it also has the longest foreshots run of any distillery (the run of the spirit still before the spirit is saved for being filled into casks) at 45 minutes. On the nose it had tarred ropes (a bit of a classic Islay tasting note there, and one I’ve never felt the urge to use before now), sweet smoke, ash, freshly unwrapped bandages, pears and a touch of dentist’s surgery. To taste it was dry but with a fruity sweetness, as well as tarry peat and cracked stone. Water added some more sweetness and lemons, and the finish was initially sweet and floral, moving through liquorice and glazed ham to coal and tar. The label was peeled back to show that this was 29.106, a Laphroaig, not a great surprise but showing a different side to the distillery than the official bottlings.

And that’s that for another month. There are two more Squads arranged for February, both sold out, and there should soon be announcements of March’s sessions, all themed around the events of March 17th… Keep an eye on the site.

97.21: Laurel, Meadowsweet and Honeysuckle (Littlemill)
Lowland Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 54.7%. ~£80

26.77: Church Pews and Hymnbooks (Clynelish)
Highland Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 55.1%. ~£90

73.44: Old Friends Remembered (Aultmore)
Speyside Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 53.7%. ~£90

123.7: Unusual and Highly Enjoyable (Glengoyne)
Highland Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 59.6%. ~£40

29.106: Old Lace and Lavender Hand Cream (Laphroaig)
Islay Single Cask Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 57.3%. ~£50

Anyways, this will be an abbreviated post as I was too busy waving my arms around to write tasting notes and my brain doesn’t store information anywhere near as well as my army of notebooks. So here are my speaking notes and some piccies.

Update: There are now also ‘tasting notes’ courtesy of Mr Matchett. Each whisky is also matched with a computer game…

First up Sullivan’s Cove Double Cask.

Aren’t Australians a happy bunch

Australian whisky matured in a mix of American and French oak.
Distillery was founded in 1994 in Hobart, Tasmania.

Chris says:
Game: Santa vs Super Mega Worm
Nose: Foam bananas
Taste: Gone off after a bit. Creamed corn

Next Three Ships 10 Year Old.

It’s very pretty there

Distilled at the James Sedgwick Distillery in Wellington, South Africa.

The whisky is named for the three ships in the exploratory fleet of Bartholemew Diaz, discoverer of the Cape of Good Hope.

The distillery is named for the founder of James Sedgwick & Co, a purveyor of fine boozes and cigars founded in 1850. It was purchased by the company in 1886, having formerly been a brandy distillery, and took its current name in 2003.

They also make some other Three Ships single malt expressions and Bain’s grain whisky, and Knight’s, Harrier and Three Ships Select Reserve which are Scotch/South African blends.

Chris says:
Game: Max & The Magic Marker
Nose: Brazil nuts covered in magic marker pen
Taste: Doing sherbet off an oak table through the liquorice straw
Comment: Very moreish

Dram 3 – Hammer Head.

This is the only attractive picture I’ve found of the distillery

Distilled at the Stock distillery in Pradlo, acquired by Stock Spirits in the last few years. It was distilled in 1989, shortly before the fall of the Berlin Wall and the Velvet revolution (November/December 1989) which led to a democratic Czechoslovakia and the break up into the Czech Republic and Slovakia. The distillery was established in 1928 and was nationalised in the 1980s, seemingly making spirits for high ranking communist party members.

It’s made using Czech barley and matured in casks made of Czech wood.

The story is that it sat undisturbed until 2009 when someone from Stock spirits went to check on the contents of the warehouses they just bought and tried some, assuming it would be nasty. It wasn’t. It was released to travel retail in 2010 and is now on general sale, although not in large amounts.

It takes its name from the nickname of the mill bought in shortly before making the whisky – a large and noisy hammer mill.

I’ve written about them before.

Chris says:
Game: Minecraft
Nose: Oily and muddy and fizzy
Taste: Herby and minty like absinthe
Comment: Like a thistle that grew underground

Number 4 – Kavalan Classic.

Ian Chang walks past some casks…

Very young Taiwanese whisky – aged for about 3 years in a mixture of 6 different cask types. The first whisky released by the distillery and hopefully typifying the style, with mango as the key fruity note.

The distillery was opened by the King Car group, run by Mr TT Lee (always referred to that way whenever I’ve spoken to people from Kavalan), in 2006 and is in the north east of Taiwan in an area that used to be called Kavalan, also the name of the native people of the area.

Dr Jim Swan, distilling consultant extraordinaire who helped set up Penderyn, took up the challenge of developing the spirit – made especially hard by the extreme temperatures which leads to 15-20% angel’s share per year. The spirit and short maturation work well in the environment, picking up a lot of ‘maturity’ in three or four years.

The distillery is open to visitors 365 days a year – they had 1 million visitors in 2010 and 2.6 million by October 2010. In comparison, Glenfiddich draw the most visitors of the Scottish distilleries and has about 100,000 per year.

Their whiskies are not currently available outside of south-east Asia, so we were rather lucky to get a sample bottle.

I’ve mentioned the Kavalan Classic previously.

Chris says:
Game: Wipeout Fusion. Taiwany so that would make it Leisure Suit Larry.
Nose: Curdled ice cream
Taste: Kim Basinger’s feet in 9 and a half weeks. Mild cheddar from Sainsbury’s

Whisky 5 – Millstone Peated

There’s not a lot of piccies of the Zuidam chaps. I hope this is them…

Made in The Netherlands, and matured for over 5 years in a mixture of new American oak, ex-bourbon and ex-sherry casks. The fermentation stage of production is much longer than for many whiskies, to which they attribute the fruity character of the spirit and finished whisky.

Made by Dutch distiller Zuidam in their facility on the Belgian border. More famous for their liqueurs and genever but increasingly known for their whiskies, especially their rye. A fairly young distillery, founded in 1975 by Fred van Zuidam, they aren’t doing bad for newbies.

Chris says:
Game: Dead Space or Heavy Rain (if you let Shaun Mars die [Despite Chris's assumptions I did not let Shaun die. Grab me in person and I will talk for a while about Heavy Rain... - Billy]). Davey says Chuckie Egg
Nose: Baby sick
Taste: Cheesy and wrong
Finish: Cheese omelette well done

The final whisky – Kornog Taouarc’h Trived.

There’s something beautifully mad about French distillers

Peated French whisky from the Glann ar Mor distillery. Peated to 35ppm (similar levels to Caol Ila & Lagavulin) and matured in American oak. Kornog means west and Taouarch’h means peat. I have no clue what Trived means, but they also do Pevared, which is matured in Sauternes casks.

Glan ar Mor means ‘by the sea’ in Breton and the distillery is on an old farm. The weather is a bit nicer than in Scotland and the whisky matures a bit faster thanks to that. It’s an old school distillery, with flame fired small stills, worm tubs and wooden washbacks.

Chris says:
Game: Rise of the Robots
Nose: Smoked pear
Taste: Lux soap
Rating: 39/100

The thing that most pleased me about the session was that while every whisky had at least one person who didn’t like it, they all also had at least one person who did. The Three Ships pretty much came out as top by the end of the night (with the empty bottle either being a sign of favour or a sign that we didn’t hide it as fast as the others) but all of the others were Good Whisky, dispelling at least some of the myths about the quality of whiskies from outside of the major producing regions.

And that’s that. There’ll be more sessions in March (along with the one tomorrow and the other two in February) and at least a few them should end up on here.

Many thanks to Cat and the folks at Albannach for looking after us and letting us have their shiny tasting room for the evening.

Sullivan’s Cove Double Cask
Australian Single Malt Whisky, 40%. ~£55.

Three Ships 10 Year Old
South African Single Malt Whisky, 43%. ~£45.

Hammer Head
Czech Single Malt Whisky, 40.7%. ~£40.

Kavalan Classic
Taiwanese Single Malt Whisky, 40%. Unavailable in Europe.

Millstone Peated
Dutch Single Malt Whisky, 40%. ~£55.

Kornog Taouarc’h Trived
French Single Malt Whisky, 46%. ~£65.