It’s in the town of Brora which in turn is carefully positioned on the east coast trainline up to Wick, making it an obvious choice for the train user. The fact that it took me about 3.5 hours to get there from Aviemore and involved me getting the first train in the morning and the last train at night is by the by. As is my missing of my connection at Inverness due to the train running late and having to blag a spot on the sleeper train to avoid sleeping on a bench in the station.

Walking up the road from the station to the distillery took me about 30 minutes of slow meandering and there was a pavement almost all the way – no need to dodge tankers of new make spirit while running up the hard shoulder of the A9…

Guess the distillery…

The history of Clynelish is not only the history of two distilleries, both of which were originally known as Clynelish, but also quite confused. The following is cobbled together from what Claire Fraser, the knowledgeable brand home manager (who was very honest about the fact that there are many stories), told me, along with my various online and paper resources.

The first distillery was built on the site in 1819 by the Duke of Sutherland, better known for his role in the Highland Clearances. The distillery itself was in part a response to that, giving a place on the coast with employment for displaced Highlanders and also somewhere to sell local grain. The distillery was leased by various people before being bought and expanded by James Ainslie & Co, a blending company, in 1896. By 1912 Ainslie had gone bust and John Risk, already a major shareholder, bought the rest of the distillery and continued production. John Walker, yes that John(nie) Walker, bought into the company which led to it coming under the control of Scotch Malt Distillers in 1930, one of the companies that eventually went on to become Diageo, the current owners.

In the 1960s SMD decided that they needed a more modern distillery on the site and built the current facility, known as Clynelish A (or occasionally Clynelish 1), in what has become known as the ‘Waterloo Street’ style, also seen at Caol Ila and Glen Ord, amongst others. Clynelish A came online in 1968 and the old distillery, now renamed Clynelish B, ran in tandem with it for 6 months before closing. Also in 1968 there was a severe drought on Islay, causing serious issues with supply of the traditionally smoky whisky that SMD needed for their increasingly popular blends. To help meet the shortfall they restarted Clynelish B in 1969 to produce smokey spirit, renaming it Brora. The reopened distillery continued running past the end of the drought, as SMD took the opportunity to rebuild Caol Ila to the same design as Clynelish, and it eventually closed down in 1983, one of the many casualties of the contraction of the industry at the time.

…and to the right of the last picture, Brora.

Clynelish has become a favourite amongst many whisky geeks, myself included, but Brora has acquired a legendary status over the years. The distillery is long closed and as the whisky has got older it’s become one of the cult brands in the single malt world. It was never intended to be released as a single malt, being merely a smoky component for blending, but some attention via the Rare Malts series and a love of the spirit within the industry has seen a few bottlings appear over the years, most of them highly rated.

Clynelish itself didn’t really see the light of day as a single malt in recent times until 2002, when a Flora Fauna bottling was released. Since then it’s appeared as a 14 year old as part of the Classic Malts range, a special edition 12 year old for the Friends of the Classic malts, and as a Managers’ Selection bottling, as well as being a standard go to distillery for independents.

Production at Clynelish is fairly standard, these days using unpeated malt from Glen Ord and an 80 hour ferment to produce a fairly fruity wash. The 6 stills are based on the Brora stills, although their sizes are reversed – the spirit stills are, in a departure from the norm, larger than the wash stills, taking two runs of the wash stills to fill. The distillation stage is the first point where you start to detect Clynelish’s distinctive waxy notes, an aroma that has a variety of stories around it. The way they tell it on the tour is that they have a greasy residue that builds up in the various receiving tanks and that on the few occasions they have cleaned it all away the waxiness has disappeared. These days they still do a bit of cleaning, but make sure they leave a bit of the goo behind to keep the signature flavour.

After distillation all of their spirit is tankered away to the main Diageo facility at Stirling where it’s put in casks and then sent around to the various warehouses that the company owns in Scotland – they like to spread the stock around between their warehousing facilities so as not to keep all their eggs in one basket. They have over 6000 casks maturing on site at the moment, with all of their warehouses as part of the old Brora site, just down the hill from the new distillery. They used to fill casks just opposite the warehouses, with two filling stores still in place but unused – one for Brora and one for Clynelish – and there’s a now disconnected pipe joining the old site to the new for that reason (as seen on the right of the Brora piccy above).

Their tasting room and library is down in one of the old Brora buildings, next to the closed still room where the stills are in still in place – the whole site is protected by Historic Scotland and they couldn’t do very much work on it even if they wanted to. Along with the Clynelish 14, Distiller’s Edition and Distillery Only bottlings (the latter of which we tried at the last Whisky Squad) Claire also brought out a pair of Broras, the 2009 and 2010 editions from Diageo’s yearly Special Releases.

The warehouses go back quite a way…

Along with Port Ellen, Brora has become one of the standards in the Special Releases, not selling quite as well as the Port Ellen (you can still find most of them at around their original price, which is not the case with PE) but definitely the second jewel in the crown most years. I’d tried last year’s release but hadn’t had an opportunity to try the earlier ones. I’ve still not tried all that many Broras, so any chance I get…

First was the Brora 2009, 30 years old and very much in the traditional Brora style. On the nose there was a burst of farmyard to start – wet hay, a bit of silage and some smoke. This was followed up with the expected waxy note as well as lots of fruit – cherry lips and pineapple kubes. To taste there was some smokiness backed up with more pineapple and cream, and an underlying earthiness with some leafy forest floor elements. It finished long, with gravel, sweet wood and coal dust. This is the sort of dram that shows me why people seek out Broras – all the bits I like from Clynelish with a farmy edge and a nice smokiness.

Next was the Brora 2010, also 30 years old and not quite as big as the 2009. On the nose it was pure fruity sweets, pineapple kubes and Haribo gummi, along with cream, wax and a touch of brine. To taste it continued the sweet motif, with soft tropical fruit, orange boiled sweets and a lick of citrus smoke. Wood came out a bit more in the finish, with some anis and a hint of dusty cabinets. More towards the Clynelish end than the 2009 and not quite so interesting for it. Still eminently quaffable, although maybe not worth £300 a bottle to me.

Whiskies drunk and distillery-only-bottling bought I tromped off back down the road to the station. While I missed picking up some Capaldi’s ice cream, a must according to everyone I know who’s been to Brora, I did manage to stop in at The Sutherland Inn for a swift dram before my train. Manager Leon is a bit of a whisky collector, as the bottle of 70 year old Glenlivet facing the bar and the stacks of bottles dotted around the place demonstrate, and it’s well worth a visit if you’re nearby.

I did the Taste of Brora tour and you can find details of the the various tours they offer on their website. There are some more pictures up on Flickr.

Brora 30 Year Old (2009 Release)
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 53.2%. ~£300

Brora 30 Year Old (2010 Release)
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky, 54.3%. ~£300

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

Domu888 on twitter (Dominic Edsall in real life) asked me a while back what my top 10 whiskies under £50 were. I fired off a few off the top of my head but said that I’d need to have a think about it. Well, thinking has been done so here’s a list, in no particular order. A thing to note is that this is all distillery bottlings – sticking in independents would hurt my head too much:

Laphroaig Quarter Cask, 48%, ~£30: Cheap, cheerful and very full of flavour. LQC, to give it initials that may have a different meaning to two readers of this blog, is young Laphroaig which finishes its maturation in small ‘quarter casks’ which are a quarter of the size of the regularly used hogsheads. This smaller size changes the wood/spirit ratio in favour of the wood, upping the rate of maturation of the whisky and sticking on a ‘growth spurt’ at the end of its time in wood. This does mean that they can bottle their whisky younger, but it also adds a nice chunk of sweet woodiness to the whisky, which works well with the phenolic tang of the Laphroaig. It’s bottled strong and isn’t chill-filtered, and still comes out at about £30 a bottle, which is rather good. It’s also on offer in Tesco quite often, which doesn’t hurt.

Clynelish 14, 46%, ~£30: My default whisky at home, although it is currently replaced by the Distiller’s Edition which we had on special offer at work. Clynelish has recently started rocketing in popularity, in part due to Serge Valentin and John Glaser talking about how much they like it. Not much goes to single malt production still, and the 12 and 14 years old versions are the two that are generally available. While the 12 is good, and cheap, the 14 is my favourite of the pair – waxy, sweet and fruity with a hint of the sea. Pretty much a whisky made for me and one that seems remarkably good at luring people into the world of less well-known distilleries.

The Glenlivet 18, 43%, ~£40. This one is a steal – less than £40 for an 18 year old is something you just don’t see (and a quick search on TWE has it as the only 18+ whisky for under £40). Age isn’t the be all and end all of whisky selection, but this one has aged well and benefited from its time in the cask to produce and well rounded and tasty whisky – big, rich and fruity with a slab of The Glenlivet’s creaminess.

Nikka from The Barrel, 51.4%, ~£25 for 50cl. A small bottle so not quite as good a deal as it first seems, but an excellent one all the same. A blend of whiskies from Nikka’s distilleries, sweet and elegant with quite a big alcoholic punch. Quite bourbon-like in character and good for mixing as well as drinking neat (or even, sacriligeously, with a chunk of ice). And to cap it all, the bottle is REALLY pretty.

Tweeddale Blend, 46%, ~£30. I wanted to make sure there was a blend in this list, but I was torn between which one to choose – I could go for a traditional ‘one up’ blend like Bailie Nicol Jarvie, one of the more premium named blends, like the more expensive Chivas Regals, or even one of Compass Box’s two. In the end I’ve plumped for this one, as I like the story and the guy behind it. Basically, Alasdair Day decided to recreate a blend originally put together by his great grandfather, using the original recipe from his notes. I’ve tried it a couple of times and rather like it, and they released their second batch a couple of days back – time for a taste and compare I think…

Longrow 10 Year Old 100 proof, 57%, ~£45. Another one that used to be my default, before the Clynelish swept it away, and one that I feel slightly naked without a bottle of in the cupboard. Longrow is, missing out a couple of production details, the peated version of Springbank. It has that slightly briney Springbank note as well as a nice smoky hit, although not an overwhelming peaty blast. I’ve gone for the 100proof for two reasons: 1) This way you can water it down a bit depending on your mood, leaving it concentrated and strongly flavoured if you want; and 2) it’s cheaper per millitre of alcohol…

Ardbeg 10, 46%, ~£35. I’m rather liking Ardbeg again at the moment, as my previous sherry obsession fades in favour of a nice chunk of peat – I generally find I’m liking one end of the extreme whisky spectrum at a time, and it seems that peat is in again for me. This is big and mulchy, with smoke, mud and a slab of vanilla from the first fill casks they used to mature a lot of it. I’ve heard tales that it’s not as good as it used to be, but it’s still a top bit of peaty beast without the medicinal nature of Laphroaig.

Compass Box Hedonism, 43%, ~£50. Right on the limit this, sometimes tipping over the £50 but often on or under it (especially in Waitrose). I like grain whisky and this is one of the best out there, a blend that gives a masterclass in what the flavours of well looked after grain should be. It still varies in my estimation, but it generally sits very near the top. Stepping outside of the £50 limit, if you find £199 burning a hole in your pocket then the Hedonism 10th anniversary edition bottling is awesome – I’m still thinking about it 6 months after I tried it…

Old Pulteney 12, 40%, ~£25. While checking the price on this one I found that it seems to be currently sold out at both Master of Malt and The Whisky Exchange – it sells rather well, as you can tell. It’s a big and briney dram which I recently tried while wandering around the distillery up in Wick (the most northerly I’ve ever been). The range gets expensive very quickly, with the 17 year old next on the list and breaking the £50 mark, but this is eminently reasonable and also very tasty.

Aberlour A’bunadh, ~60%, ~£35. Bottled at full proof and varying in strength from batch to batch (the current one is #34, as I write) this is a massively sherried dram from Aberlour. They don’t give an age statement, but from what I hear it’s about 8 years old, a scarily small time to pick up quite this much from a cask, with loads of dry fruit and rich woodiness hiding behind quite a big alcoholic kick. It’s been, along with my now departed bottle of Glenfarclas 105, my sherried dram of choice over the last 6 months. I look forward to my sherry head returning…

Please let me know your suggestions in the comments below.

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.

To start us off Colin pulled out an extra aperitif from his bag. Keeping the whisky secret, as usual, he matched this with a Maltesers easter bunny and instructed us to munch, sniff and sip our way through the first glass. On the nose there wasn’t a lot, with high alcohols and a hint of sweet wood. The lightness continued into the taste, but with a bit more to it than the nose – a hint of rubber, sweet orange and marmelade, a little bit of ripe vine fruit, and a sour, bitter wood finish. A drop of water brought out apples and pears, icing sugar and orange cream. Noone had much of an idea of what it might be and it was revealed to be Cameron Brig. Made at Cameron Bridge grain distillery near Leven in Fife, this is one of the only commercially available bottlings of single grain whisky on the market, although it’s not particularly easy to find. I’m a fan of older grain whiskies, but haven’t tried any younger ones before this – I can detect the flavours I like from grain whiskies in there, but they are masked by the youngness of the spirit (it’s not got an age statement, but I suspect it’s not particularly old or matured in active casks). Give this a couple more years in a barrel and I suspect it’d be right up my street.

Dinner was then run in and scoffed, leading us on to our first pair of whiskies. #1 was quite a dark bronzed gold colour and had a dry nose with an underlying meatiness, hints of sherbet lemons, dry oxidised sherry (Spanish style Amontillado?), yeast and a lick of smoke. To taste there was bread, dry fruit cake, caramel, dark chocolate, a touch of smokey spice and a sweet woody finish. Water homogenised the flavours into something sweet and bready – a red grape jam sandwich?

Number 2 was light gold and a bit more aggressive on the nose, with TCP, a bit of peat smoke, sherbet lemons, sweet fruit and a bit of sticky toffee – Colin identified that last flavour as being like Blue Bird hard toffee that he used to eat when growing up. To taste it started with sweet syrup and moved through sour fruit to a sour, lingering wood ash finish and a bit of a boozey burn. Water calmed down the booze, sweetened up the middle a bit and added a bit of muddy mulch to the finish.

The concealing labels came off to reveal that #1 was Johnnie Walker Black Label and #2 Caol Ila Distiller’s Edition. The connection was that the light smokiness in the first comes, in part, from a slug of Caol Ila in the blend, along with some Talisker and whatever else Diageo have in the smokey section of their extensive warehouses. Black Label is a fairly decent blend and does what it sets out to – have a bit of everything at the same time as being worryingly easy to drink. The Caol Ila was one that I’d not tried before, initially thinking it to be the cask strength version I tried at the Whisky Lounge Independent’s Day tasting. However, it was a bit sweeter than I remembered and that fits with the production method – the spirit is finished for 3 months in moscatel casks, adding a bit of wine fruit to the mix. Surprisingly, based on it’s current status as an increasingly respected Islay whisky (including winning a bunch of medals over the last few years at the San Francisco World Spirits competition, including ‘Best Single Malt Scotch Whisky’ for the Distiller’s Edition this year), before 2002 there were only independent bottlings, with 99% of its production going into Diageo’s blends. They released a 12, 18 and 25 year old back then and the range has continued to change and increase since, with the distillery now undergoing expansion to keep up with ongoing single malt demand.

To start the next pair number 3 had a rather ‘industrial’ nose, with me picking out a light rubberiness and the rest of the table chipping in with motor oil and burning tires. Along with that were lemons, brine, marzipan and a general savoury umami. To taste there was salt, more rubber, white pepper and raisins, leading to a sweet fruit finish. Water calmed things down, with butter, bread and hot cross buns appearing.

Number 4 was announced as being 14 years old, which was enough to convince me that I knew the whiskies and what the connection was. In the end I got the right distillery, but didn’t get the expression right for this one. On the nose it was rich and fruity, with wax, bananas, pineapple and glacé cherries. To taste there was lots of woody spice, rich fruit and woody smoke, with salt, a peppery burn and a lemon sherbet finish. Water simplified things to a syrupy sweetness with a hint of pepper.

When the bottles were revealed it wasn’t a surprise that number 3 was Clynelish 12 year old but I was taken aback that #4 wasn’t the regular 14 year old, my favourite everyday whisky of the moment, but was instead the Clynelish Distiller’s Edition. I’ve written a bit about the distillery before, but since then it’s very much become one of my faves. I’ve got a half bottle of the 12 year old in the cupboard, will have another bottle of the 14 next time I go on a whisky buying run, and now have the distiller’s edition firmly stuck in my brain. Similar to the Caol Ila, it is a sweeter and richer version of the regular bottling, having been finished in oloroso sherry casks.

The final pair started off with number 5 and a plate of fruit cake to accompany the drams. On the nose it was quite light, with sweet cream and butter, and a bit of red fruit. To taste it was woody, with the fruit and cream from the nose leading to a sour, but buttery, wood finish. Water didn’t help it much, knocking out a lot of the flavour and leaving it just syrupy and sweet.

Number 6 had a bit more, with a nose of sweet grass, vanilla, light cream, unripe grapes, plums, stewed fruit and a hint of cheese rind. To taste it was quite green in the middle, with nettles and leaves, starting with a salty butter and ending with a gravelly minerality and quite a lot of alcoholic fire. Water killed the burn leaving the butter and gravel, and introducing some sweet and salty shortbread.

Again the connection was easy to see on the reveal, with the bottles being The Singleton of Dufftown 15 year old and Dufftown 1997 Managers’ Choice. I had a bottle of The Singleton of Dufftown shortly after it came out and wasn’t that impressed, but it seems that the mix of my changing tastes and their gradual changes to the bottling over the years have matched it more closely with my likes (especially as this is a different bottling to the regular 12 year old – thanks to Jason for pointing that out in the comments). The Singleton range has a different distillery for each territory it’s released in, with Europe having Dufftown, the US Glendullan and Asia Glen Ord. The Manager’s choice is rather more interesting – a single cask selected by the manager of the distillery as a ‘distillation’ of what their spirit is about and bottled as part of a rather exclusive range of pricy bottlings. The Dufftown bottle of the range is from a rejuvenated cask, where they plane down the staves of a tired cask and retoast them to give the barrel a bit more life, and with this whisky coming in at 11 years and 11 months old and picking up a good chunk of flavour from the wood it seems to work.

So, another Whisky Squad done and a successful second expansion into the big room. Next week’s one is back in our cosy upstairs cupboard and is all about Highlanders, courtesy of Berry Brother & Rudd’s Rob Whitehead. Keep an eye on the Whisky Squad twitter feed and website if you’re around on May 5th as last minute spots do have a habit of popping up…

Cameron Brig
Single grain Scotch whisky, 40%. ~£20

Johnnie Walker Black Label
Blended Scotch whisky, 40%. ~£25

Caol Ila 1996 Distiller’s Edition
Single malt Scotch whisky, 43%. ~£50

Clynelish 12 year old “Friends of the Classic Malts”
Single malt Scotch whisky, 46%. ~£30

Clynelish 1992 Distiller’s Edition
Single malt Scotch whisky, 46%. ~£30

Singleton of Dufftown 15 Year Old
Single malt Scotch whisky, 40%. ~£40

Dufftown 1997 Managers’ Choice
Single cask single malt Scotch whisky, 59.5%. ~£200

Many thanks to Alan for letting me use his piccies after I singularly failed to take any that worked…

Whisky #1 was Ballantines 17 year old, recently rated by Jim Murray as the highest scoring whisky for 2011 in his yearly Whisky Bible
with 97.5 points. Ballantines the company started out like many blenders as shop, opening in 1827, and by the mid 1860s had started blending whiskies for their customers. The brand was acquired Pernod Ricard in 2005 and isn’t all that well known in the UK. However, they are big around the world and increasingly so in the UK, with their premium blends (such as the 17) appearing more often as they get praised.

On the nose I got PVA glue, pear, unripe green grapes and sherry dipped sponge cake (a combination of vanilla, acetone + biscuits). It had a very tight palate, with an initial sweetness moving quickly to dry wood and a lingering grainy finish. It was buttery without an oily mouth feel and had sharp apples, cedar/teak/old cabinets, sour apple sweets and a little bit of lime. Water brought out some vanilla, bitter dark chocolate and lemon peel.

Whisky #2 was a Signatory Bladnoch 1993 16 year old. This comes from the most southerly distillery in Scotland, situated near Wigtown in Dumfries and Galloway in the south west of Scotland – latitude-wise it’s just south of both Newcastle and Carlisle. The distillery opened in 1817, closed in 1949, reopened in 1957, closed in the 1990′s and then reopened again in 2000. This whisky was distilled in 1993, before the last close, and is in a similar but different style to current production, which started being standardly bottled as an 8 year old in 2009.

This whisky comes from independent bottler Signatory, founded in 1988 as simply a bottler and expanding into distillery ownership in 2002 with the purchase of the distillery with maybe the smallest stills in Scotland – Edradour. According the internets, the name Signatory came from a plan to produce whiskies with a label signed by a celebrity, but they sold out their first bottling before they organised the signature and abandoned the idea while keeping the name.

On the nose it had light vanilla, unsweetened pineapple, cut grass and a touch of woodiness. To taste it was light with some sweetness, coconut, linseed oil and floral notes. Water added in some more grassiness and more vanilla.

Whisky #3 was Glenfarclas 15 year old. Despite this being the distillery I have visited most often, thanks to yearly visits to Scotland and it being one of the closest distilleries to where we stayed, I’ve not tried the 15 year old until recently. Glenfarclas was founded in 1836 but has been run by the Grant family (not to be confused with the other Grant family, the ones who own Glenfiddich and Balvenie) since 1865. They normally use a chunk of sherry wood in the maturation of their whiskies and this one is no exception – on the nose there’s rich dried fruit, hints of pedro ximinez, dark rum and cognac. To taste it has more of the dried fruit and raisins, dried orange peel and rich fruit cake in between. Water rolls out more sweetness and adds even more thick richness.

Whisky #4 was Clynelish 14 year old. I wasn’t sure about including this one, as it’s a distillery that’s not quite so well known and there are many more Highland whiskies I could have chosen. However, in the end I went for it because I really like it – it was my Christmas whisky this year and it’s in my hipflask. I’m rather pleased I did, as it seemed to be rather liked by the tasting group as well (and tales of its almost permanent special offer status at Waitrose didn’t hurt). The distillery is in Brora, up the east coast of Scotland from the Dornoch Firth, about 1/2 the way to John O’Groats. It’s the second distillery to be built in Brora and operated as Clynelish 2 from its building in 1967 until the older distillery was renamed from Clynelish to Brora in the 1970s. Brora closed in 1983 and the remaining stock is in much demand, but with a minimum age of 27 years (that being how long it was since spirit was last produced there) it’s getting rarer and closer to the point where it will be going bad in the barrel rather than continuing to add good flavour.

On the nose this had wax (as is traditional with Clynelish whiskies), brine, sweaty boiled sweets, a hint of meaty smoke (burning beef?), creamy vanilla and some leather. To taste it was initially sweet turning to sour wood by the finish. It had vanilla, mint, menthol, unripe red grapes and tannic wood to finish. Water added some more sweet and sourness and a touch of sherbert – a bit like Refresher chews.

Whisky #5 was Lagavulin 16 year old. Distilled on the south coast of Islay, a concentrated whisky production area with 8 distilleries squeezed into 240 square miles of island just off the west coast of Scotland near the Kintyre peninsula. It has distilleries to either side, with Ardbeg to the east and Laphroaig to the west, all three of them known for producing heavily peated whiskies, which is the style of most of the distilleries on the island.

On the nose this has coal and campfires with sweetness hiding underneath. To taste it has a big smokiness, sweet mulchy peat, rich dried fruit and spicy fruit cake. Water rolls back some of the smoke bringing out more fruitcake and and vanilla. A big one to finish and a nice contrast to the almost smoke-free others.

I also brought out some new make spirit. It was Glenglassaugh Clearac, which is unpeated spirit that’s watered down to 50% before being bottled and sold – not quite the 70%ish spirit that comes straight out of the still. It’s quite sweet to smell, with caramel and lemons, and simply flavoured, with citrus sweetness and cereal notes. It shows quite nicely how much the wood maturation of whisky adds to the flavour.

Anyways, that was it. I was quite pleased with the whiskies – they contrasted nicely and gave a nice overview of the range of flavour available, which was the point of the tasting. There was only one person that really needed to be converted to liking whisky – Kirsty, who organised the tasting. She wasn’t quite a total convert but did acknowledge that there was a chance that she might find a whisky that she likes, which I’ll take as a victory.

Ballantines 17 Year Old
Blended Scotch whisky, 43%. ~£30 from Master of Malt.

Signatory Bladnoch 1993 16 Year Old
Single malt Lowland Scotch whisky, 43%. ~£35 from Master of Malt.

Glenfarclas 15 Year Old
Single malt Speyside Scotch whisky, 43%. ~£35 from Master of Malt.

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

Lagavulin 16 Year Old
Single malt Islay Scotch whisky, 43%. ~£40 from Master of Malt.

Glenglassaugh Clearac
“Spirit drink”, 50%. ~£15 per 20cl bottle from The Whisky Exchange.

Many thanks to Kirsty from The Alma for inviting me along and to Darren at Master of Malt for making sure that I got the whisky in time, even offering to bring it up to London from Tunbridge Wells for me if the post let me down

(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

The society is a private members club who along with the three UK tasting rooms, flats in Leith, overseas branches and a website, bottle and sell single cask whiskies. Currently they do a couple of releases of new whiskies each month, ranging from a couple of bottlings up to larger numbers depending on what they have, with members having a chance to drink the whiskies by the dram in one of the tasting rooms as well as buying bottles in person or online. I was invited to taste six bottles from the new list (which is a big one – 41 new whiskies) with Jean-Luc and Pierre from Connosr, and Joel and Neil from Cask Strength. I think I was a late substitute for local boy Dave Broom, who is currently drinking tasty things abroad, but if so that’s a bit of a compliment. I’m taking it as such, whether true or not.

The slight strangeness to the invite was that instead of being at the London SMWS rooms, where tasting organiser Joe McGirr is manager and all five invitees are based, it was instead at the Hotel du Vin in Brighton. The SMWS is partnering with Hotel du Vin and Malmaison to add a ‘SMWS Snuggle‘ to many of their hotels, offering a selection of society whisky for members, and the Brighton branch is one of those that has one. It suited me, as it was a good excuse to take a half day from work and go to commune with the sea – a chunk of my family are from the Brighton area and I haven’t been down to the seafront for ages. Unfortunately I didn’t factor in either the vaguaries of British weather or the recent clock change and trudged along the beach in the darkness and rain, but some communing was done.

I arrived at the hotel a bit early, chased out of the street by the wet weather, only to find that due to the lack of resilience of British trains to rain (which, of course, we never have here in the gloriously sunny UK) everyone else was running late. Not a problem, as the hotel has a rather tasty beer menu and some Boon Gueuze made it’s way down my neck. Eventually SMS’d tales of Haywards Heath turned into materialised whisky drinkers and the tasting got started.

Firstly a word on the SMWS bottlings – they aren’t marked with distillery names. For a stated reason of ‘not wanting to dilute the distilleries’ brands by attaching their names to non-standard bottlings’, and an unstated one of adding mystery, they are instead marked with two numbers – a distillery code and barrel number. Each distillery keeps the same number over time, so it is easy to work out which is which with either a good memory or handy list, and the barrel numbers are incremented as the society puts out more bottlings. I’ve started to remember my favourite (121 – Arran, 27 – Springbank, 29 – Laphroaig…) but with 128 distilleries on the list from around the world (there’s some Japanese and Irish in the mix) I’m still working on it. Along with the numerical identification each whisky is also given a unique name, some of which are rather ‘creative’. ie. mad.

The first whisky of the night was 26.68 – Morph and Minty. This is an 18 year old Clynelish matured in refill bourbon casks and bottled at 52.9%. On the nose it had chalky Refreshers, polished wood, peppery spice, vanilla and roses. It had a woody taste around the sides of the, mouth with the fizziness and flavour of the Refreshers from the nose, floor wax and a refreshing sweetness. A few drops of water brought out more wax and coalesced the general sweetness into some rich pineapple. The call from around the room was that this was quite a typical Clynelish, at least for the single cask bottlings, and it was very much my favourite of the night. This may well be my Christmas dram.

We then moved on to 71.33 – Chutney on Hot Wood. This is from Glen Burgie, a distillery I only know as an entry in the SMWS list. It’s been around (officially) since 1829 (starting up in 1810 according to the internets) and was originally called Kinflat. It closed in 1870 and was reopened in 1878 with its current name. Things continued (with stills being added and replaced, and the distillery changing hands) until 2004, when the old distillery was demolished and a shiny new one built in its place. It’s owned these days by Pernod Ricard (who also own Chivas Regal, Glenlivet, Strathisla and a few more) and its production is almost exclusively used in blends, including Ballantines. There have been occasional official bottlings but most single malt that comes out of the distillery is via independent bottlers, like the SMWS. This one was from a refill sherry butt aged for 20 years, bottled at 57.4%. On the nose it was strange, with an eventual consensus of old food tins coming up – at the time I reckoned it was a bit like a part washed sardine tin, but I’ve just had another sniff and I’m thinking stale baked bean tins instead. Anyways, it had a metallic note, with blood coming up in descriptions around the table, a big Bovril meatiness, resinous wood, creme brulee, granny smith apples and BBQ sauce. To taste it was hot and powerful without water, with Branston Pickle (the chutney flavour of the title), Worcester Sauce, pepper, green wood, cream and slightly fruity custard. Water helped things along with coconut, sweet wood, vanilla, raisins, and hints of liquorice, citrus and mint appearing in the mix. I got to take home the generous remains of this bottle, hence my chance at a second pre-release sniff, and it’s still a very strange whisky. I think I quite like it, but I can’t be sure.

Next up was 128.1 – A String Quartet of Flavours. Quite a special one this, as a .1 whisky is the first society release from a distillery, in this case Penderyn. Penderyn are quite protective of selling their casks so a single cask independent bottling is not something you often (maybe ever) see, making it surprising that the SMWS not only have this bottling but also a .2. They are famed for being the only Welsh distillery, and are based in the village of Penderyn in the Brecon Beacons, producing whisky from a mash made offsite at the Brains Brewery in Cardiff. I’ve tried a few of their whiskies over the years and as yet I’ve not been much of a fan, with everything from a recent taste of the Sherry Finish to a shot of their first malt (which I now forget the details of) in a pub at the end of a drunken night not quite tickling my tastebuds. This one was matured in a first fill port barrique and is bottled at 55.6% at a mere 6 years old. It poured very dark, looking a bit like a PX, and had a nose that matched up – christmas pudding, caramel sauce, rich fruit and, less expected, popcorn. In the mouth it had a buttery feel and a taste of burned sweetened butter, with bread and butter pudding, and port with the grapey astringency removed. Water killed the richness quite quickly, but a drop brought out some marzipan in the up front flavour and more wood in the finish. This is the nicest Penderyn I’ve tried as yet, but there was still something to it that didn’t quite appeal to me. I’m suspecting it must be a subconscious anti-welsh prejudice.

We then moved on to 27.85 – Manly and Penetrating. This one is from Springbank, one of my remembered numbers, and was 12 year old matured in refill bourbon casks and bottled at 58.8%. On the nose there were damp, musty leaves, lemon sherbert and malt syrup. To taste it was spicy and astringent, with dusty wood, meaty tannins, spicy sour fruit and a long sawdust finish. Water softened the woodiness, bringing out a buttery mouthfeel and more sour fruit. Despite my love of Springbank’s official bottlings this one joins my list of SMWS ones that I didn’t like – it was too woody for me and didn’t have enough of the Springbank saltiness to make up for it.

Next was 29.91 – Bovril and Neeps. 29 is another one of the numbers I remember – Laphroaig. This one was a 12 year old from a refill sherry butt, bottled at a scary 63.8%, making me suspect this was put in the cask a bit stronger than the 63-64ish% that the industry usually uses. On the nose it was sweet and smoky, like bbq sauce. This was discussed around the table until we decided exactly what it reminded us of – pulled pork from Bodean’s. Woody, smoky and sweet with a meaty undertone. As it sat in the glass the smoke thickened adding a whiff of tarred ropes. To taste there was stony coal dust with raisins and toffee, all covered over with a leathery dryness. Water calmed down the smoke and brought out more of the sherried wood, bringing in fruit and a more creamy mouthfeel. The taste on this one didn’t really match up enough with the intriguing nose for me, but it’s worth a try for the smell alone. If you can’t find any just go and eat some porky BBQ instead.

Our final whisky of the night was 33.96 – Chocolate Caviar. 33 is one of the numbers I should remember, especially as my taste is coming round towards smoky whisky again – Ardbeg. This one is a 10 year old from a refill sherry butt bottled at 56.9%. On the nose it had sweet orangey peat with stoney coal and a light woody smoke, To taste it had cream and coal ash, meaty peat, burnt sugar and a long TCP finish that kicked in a few seconds after swallowing and hung around for minutes. Water revealed some ginger, more fruit and some liquorice. As with many single cask Ardbegs this one was a bit of a punch to the face – big and smoky with some good citrus sweetness. Maybe not for me, as my tastes haven’t quite got back this far up the peat tree, but I suspect that won’t matter – Ardbegs sell out quickly at the SMWS.

Unfortunately I had to run off a bit early, as I was off to stay with some friends one town over and the last train that would get me in at a not entirely anti-social hour left earlier than the last London train. I left the others pouring their Chocolate Caviar over creme brulees and ran (well, walked slightly faster than usual) up the hill to the station. Despite its rather unappealing name, the Whisky Snuggle is a very nice room and Hotel du Vin’s Brighton branch lives up to the expectations I established on a visit to the one in Bournemouth last year – friendly, with an impressive drinks list even without the SMWS bottlings. We got to have a look at some of the rooms and despite the fact that the beach front telescopes that some of them had installed were pointed in unuseful directions, the fact they were a) installed and b) next to bathtubs that sat incongruously in the middle of the rooms added to the (good) madness of the design. I also saw my first triple bed, alongside a shower cubicle that it was agreed could fit at least a five-a-side football team, if not most of a rugby team.

Most of the new list is available, having come out a couple of Friday’s ago, but the Penderyn has already, predictably, sold out. As I got the last bottle of the 126.1 and tried the 127.1 I can’t really complain…

SMWS 26.68 – Morph and Minty
Single cask highland single malt whisky. 52.9%. £58.30 from the SWMS site

SMWS 71.33 – Chutney on Hot Wood
Single cask highland single malt whisky. 57.4%. £56.20 from the SMWS site

SMWS 128.1 – A string quartet of flavours
Single cask Welsh single malt whisky. 55.6%. £49.50. Sold out online, there might be some in the tasting rooms.

SMWS 27.85 – Manly and Penetrating
Single cask Campbeltown single malt whisky. 58.8% £53.30 from the SMWS site

SMWS 29.91 – Bovril and Neeps
Single cask Islay single malt whisky. 63.8%. £48.70 from the SMWS site

SMWS 33.96 – Chocolate Caviar
Single cask Islay single malt whisky. 56.9%. £33.96 from the SMWS site

Many thanks to Joe McGirr from SMWS London for inviting me along and to Dave Broom for being out of the country…

Joel and Neil have a post about the evening over on their site, written in their usual inimitable style.

If anyone is thinking of joining the SMWS then let me know – I’ll talk you into it. They also have a referral scheme and any aid in funding my whisky habit is gratefully received.

The evening was centred around making our own blended whisky but first we got to hear about the Compass Box approach to blending and taste a few samples of finished whiskies, all of which are no longer available (either by being discontinued or having their recipes noticeably changed). First up was an early version of Asyla, the ‘standard’ Compass Box blend, from August 2002. It’s 50% grain whisky, from the Cameron Bridge and (now closed) Cambus distilleries, and 50% malt, with the malt coming mainly from Linkwood with a bit of Glen Elgin and Cragganmore. The big noted difference about this whisky is that all of its components come from first fill barrels (an uncommon enough situation that it may well be the first modern commercial bottling to have done so), so have taken on more of the wood characteristics than they would have in a more reused barrel. On the nose it’s quite light with fruit, pepper and some vanilla, and to taste it has bananas, green apples and a touch of caramel, with a rubbery finish – very nice but maybe a bit light for me. The recipe has changed over the years, with availability issues meaning that the Linkwood has been slowly replaced by Teaninich over the years to today’s no-Linkwood version. The theory behind it is quite simple though – grain for vanilla sweetness, Linkwood/Teaninich for perfumed fruitiness, Glen Elgin for some more fruit and Cragganmore for a ‘meatiness’. The main difference between this strategy for blending and the big batch blends is that generally Compass Box aim to take a single whisky and build the flavour around it – in the case of the Asyla it’s the Linkwood/Teaninich flavour that is complimented by the light grain flavours and the slightly more obvious (hence their smaller concentration) Glen Elgin and Cragganmore influences – rather than build consistency and ‘complexity’ by adding lots of whiskies together.

Next on the sample list was Juveniles, named for the Juveniles wine bar in Paris. This one comes in at 44% (as requested by the owner of Juveniles, to be ‘like the elephant gun’), was bottled in 2002 or 2003 and is now discontinued. This one is built around Clynelish, a whisky whose name appears quite often when John talks about his recipes. It provides a waxy, oily fruitiness as a base which is then built on with Glen Elgin, for fruit, and Glen Ord, for some smokiness – it’s about 1/3rd of each, all first fill again. On the nose it’s oily with pepper and red fruit and to taste it has that oiliness along with a chunk of smoke and fruit, finishing off with charcoal.

Last of the pre-blended whiskies was Eleuthera, which I am quite pleased to have got a miniature of from John’s sample sack, which has also now been discontinued. It’s one of Compass Box’s attempts to make an easy drinking but still smoky whisky, like the Peat Monster in idea but not quite as peaty. It’s 80% Clynelish (1/2 first fill and 1/2 refill) with 20% Caol Ila to add some smokiness, as a little bit of Caol Ila goes a long way. On the nose it has sweet peat, salt, pepper and a little bit of fruit. To taste it has warm smoke, woody spiciness and a some nice fruitiness. It’s rather good and one that I wish I’d found before it disappeared.

Next we moved on to the task for the evening – making our own whisky. We were told to think about what sort of dram we wanted to make and were let loose upon tasters of our 5 potential components:

• Port Dundas – grain from a recently closed distillery, made in 1991 and recently drawn from the barrel. On the nose it had vanilla, coconut and biscuits, and added toffee and caramel in the quite delicate taste, giving a combined effect of fruity caramel digestives. Which was really very nice indeed.
• Clynelish – a predictable addition to the list and very welcome, this was provided by the SMWS rather than from the Compass Box stocks – it was very good, with John expressing disappointment that the society didn’t have a spare bottle to sell him. On the nose it was salty with sour fruit and sherbert lemons, with the taste turning towards salty preserved lemons. Water brought our a fragrant wood polish flavour and some spice.
• An unnamed vatted malt – from the Compass Box stash, this was a barrel with new wood french oak heads that will go on to make up Spice Tree, a mix of Clynelish, Teaninich and Dalhuaine. It had a bit of sweetness and caramel on the nose but opened up to a rich woody sweetness with dried fruit on the taste. Water worked well, bringing out vanilla from the wood and a chunk of spiciness. If Spice Tree tasted more like this then I suspect I would have a case hidden somewhere in the house (I got a chance to taste one of the older Spice Trees later on and it did used to taste more like this, but they are now moving towards a more refined style which while very nice isn’t quite as much to my rather unrefined taste).
• Ardmore – aged somewhere between 10 and 13 years this was brought in as a potential peaty element. On the nose it had salty wood and tasted of smoky fruit. Water softened the smoke and brought out some vanilla. Nice, but not one for my blend.
• Laphroaig – an 11 year old that Compass Box have held for a number of years (and that was lovely at 7 years old) this was our more extreme peaty component. It smelled of sweet mulched peat and had a flinty peaty taste. A nice Laphroaig, but a bit of a beast.

I decided to pinch the idea from some of the Compass Box range and build my blend around Clynelish, bringing in some of the sweetness from the Port Dundas and then ‘enriching’ it with the Spice Tree. Armed with the idea, a pipette and a measuring cup I did a few test drams, gradually dialling out the Spice Tree until it didn’t come through too much. I ended up with 50% Port Dundas, 45% Clynelish and 5% Spice Tree, although as there was a little bit of space in the top of the bottle still there may be a little bit more spice tree in the mix than that suggests.

On the nose it has bananas, pineapple, candied fruit and a hint of salt. To taste it starts with a burst of red fruit and moves on to tropical fruit with a vanilla-y wood finish. A drop of water changes things quite a bit, with some more oiliness appearing on the nose and in the taste, along with a rubberiness to the finish. Unsurprisingly, I rather I like it, almost as if someone made it just for me. John advised us to leave it for a few weeks and then to try it again as the flavours should develop – I’ve always been slightly dubious about this, but I’ll give it a go and report back…

Anyways, a thoroughly enjoyable evening. I must remember to keep an eye on the events list – there’s been a change of manager at the SMWS London rooms (with former boss man Darren now at Master of Malt) and it looks like there might be some interesting things coming up.