132.4 Rich, brooding and suggestive (Karuizawa 17 year old)

Distillery: Karuizawa
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 17
Distilled: 1996
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 61.7%.
Cask Code: 132.4 Rich, brooding and suggestive
Cask Type: Refill ex sherry butt.

Following on from a year ago when I reviewed the utterly outstanding 28 year old Karuizawa from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - http://stilldramming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/1321-secret-moonlit-garden-dram.html - I have also been hoarding 132.2, 132.3, 132.4 and have just recently received 132.5 from my friend in Australia, and have been quietly working my way through drinking them. With .2 and .4 nearly finished I figured I better put some notes up.

Nose: Big and fruity and much like its older brother 132.2 this could blindly be mistaken for an ex-bourbon with oodles of vanillins, and coconut and what feels more like American oak influence on this butt rather than European oak. Lemon sherbet sweets and baked and salted pineapple. Baked pears with custard. Some sharp cranberry and unripe strawberries. Some delicate smoke coming through not unlike a light Bowmore level of peating, and Cuban cigars. Milk chocolate and cocoa butter. A little lavender just like 132.2 continues the Bowmore comparisons here. Dutch caramel wafers add a further thick and rich sweetness to it. Some treacle and liquorice.

Palate: Fudge and butter scotch. Spice comes through in cinnamon buns, and fennel seeds continue the aniseedy/liquorice elements.

Finish: Floral and dry dusty which is almost Rosebank-like. Nectarines and mandarins.

132.2 Stunning panorama of exotic fruits (Karuizawa 22 year old)

Distillery: Karuizawa
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 22
Distilled: 1991
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 62.4%.
Cask Code: 132.2 Stunning panorama of exotic fruits
Cask Type: Refill ex sherry butt.

Following on from a year ago when I reviewed the utterly outstanding 28 year old Karuizawa from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society - http://stilldramming.blogspot.co.uk/2013/11/1321-secret-moonlit-garden-dram.html - I have also been hoarding 132.2, 132.3, 132.4 and have just recently received 132.5 from my friend in Australia, and have been quietly working my way through drinking them. With .2 and .4 nearly finished I figured I better put some notes up.

Nose: The first thing that comes to me is a green note which is like Jalapeno peppers and tomato salsa, and this carries through in a slight apple vinegar like note. The green apple continues but bruised and sliced with a waxiness. A little mango and passion fruit boosts up the fruitiness with just a touch of lemon. There is white chocolate and almond Toblerone. Some lavender comes through with rose water giving some nice Turkish delight connotations. The sherry influence here is light here. This is much more delicate affair then the 28 year old, and it tends to fall apart a little with water.

Palate: Tart and lively with 62.4% of course with some of those tropical fruits served up alongside vanilla and coconut ice cream, and a bite of oak.

Finish: Plenty of oak in the finish and I now feel like I have been sipping an ex-bourbon dram again. Some strawberry milkshake to finish.

Nikka from the barrel - Japanese Blended Whisky

Distillery: Nikka
Bottling: From the barrel
Age: NAS
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: N/A
Strength: 51.4%

Nose: Things open up instantly with lots of orange and cinnamon candles, and peeling tangerines at halloween. Eating Edinburgh castle rock and a raspberry ripple cone. Coconut ice cream with raspberry sauce, popcorn, butterscotch, and a little sulphury note by way of school pencil rubbers coming through. Barbeque meats with brown sauce.

Palate: In the mouth it is sweet, syrupy and chewy with the orange flavour out a packet of boiled travel sweets. This continues with orange Lucozade. Some soft marshmallow and a little menthol which hints at a touch of sherry element in there? It becomes more savoury as it goes.

Finish: Orange (suprise), long, syrupy and sugary. A little BBQ smoke coming through, paprika and chocolate cranberry.

Clynelish 1990 - 23 year old (Adelphi)

Distillery: Clynelish
Bottling: Adelphi
Age: 23
Distilled: 1990
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 54.8%.
Cask Number: 3233

Nose: Red apple, pear drops and strawberry sherbets. The strawberry continues with Campino sweets and the apple continues with toffee apples, and then with apple pie, vanilla ice cream and a bit of butter shortbread served on the plate as well. Some Snowballs from Gregg's with the coconut and a bit of jam in the middle. Yum. I'm eating all of this in an old fashioned dining room with lots of freshly polished wood with pledge.

Palate: Creamy, soft and rounded. White chocolate, a little treacle, honeyed and waxy.

Finish: Medium long with a dry apple cider, ginger root, coriander seeds, and chocolate covered hazelnuts.

70.2 - Balblair 1980 (Scotch Malt Whisky Society)

Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 10
Distilled: Dec 1980
Bottled: Sep 1990
Strength: 54.8%.
Cask Code: 70.2

Nose: Peanut butter and Peanut M&Ms. Unripe banana and orange rind. I am finding the nose very closed on this so I am adding a little water which brings out the vanilla, honeydew melon, mango and passion fruit which are those tropical notes I expect with Balblair. Some dairy fudge, olive oil, and a sharpness of green Jalapeno peppers.

Palate: Lightly tropical, creamy with some sharp wood. Olives again but in brine.

Finish: Long but quite oaky and tannic dominant. Drying with a sherbet citric fruits.

Laphroaig LP4 (Elements of Islay)

Distillery: Laphroaig
Bottling: Elements of Islay
Age: NAS
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: N/A
Strength: 54.8%.

Nose: Big and phenolic with sherry influence giving some richness to the youthful peat. Eating Christmas cake in a hospital corridor. Spicy with vanilla, coriander seeds and cinnamon. After eight chocolate mints, black tea, flump marshmallows. Savoury and sweet coming together - ham and pineapple. Burning embers on a well burned camp fire, salted beef jerky. Baked beans in tomato sauce. Red apple, cherry coke, hand soap. Coal sheds. Peat bogs.

Palate: Soil and earth, with chocolate and coffee. Black forest gateau, with peaches.

Finish: Long and medicinal, esprsso, cough syrup, fennel, cherry and strawberry.

A Quartet of sherried Balblairs

Anyone who likes whisky who knows me, knows that I am particularly fond of Balblair and I usually have several bottles at any one time being worked though. To me Balblair shines as ex-bourbon matured whisky as it is delicious spirit which doesn't needs hiding with finishing. Balblair however have always had sherried expressions available so it isn't new. Recently it seems I have gathered up quite a few sherried Balblairs, which include the 1999 first release vintage; an exclusive to travel retail, a 1999 second release vintage; a very similar release but which was on general release, the 1990 second release vintage which is an older and more mature expression, and finally a 2000 single cask vintage released exclusively for The Whisky Exchange.





Balblair 1999 (First Release)
Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Own Bottling (Travel Retail)
Age: 14
Distilled: 1999
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 46%

Nose: The first thing that comes to me is young sherry which has a red wine tartness to it. Violets and blueberries, bitter cherry and dried raisins. The sherry led fruits continue as jammy strawberry. It starts to become more dessert like with sticky toffee pudding, after dinner mint chocolates and some pumpkin spice. The sherry elements here are lively and a little raw but some of the distillery character emerges with some mango and pineapple but they are in the form of the tinned syrupy kind.

Palate: Rich with forest fruits, jam, sticky highland toffee. Some rubbery sulphuric elements come in the form of latex gloves.

Finish: Lively and a little youthful which bites a little like grapefruit but with some rich flavours of cherry, blueberry, pepper mint to accompany it.





Balblair 1999 (Second Release)
Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Own Bottling
Age: 14
Distilled: 1999
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 46%

Nose: Straight away this version of the 1999 noses differently form the first release. This is lighter on the sherry and has much more of the distillery character coming through, with evidence of either a greater portion of ex-bourbon matured malt in this vatting, or less in the finishing in general. Gala apples, banana foam sweets, white grapes, and some tropical fruits coming through but like candied versions of them. There is some vanilla led devonshire custard along side some raspberries which reminds me of a similar bread and butter recipe I used to bake. There is some nice burnt toffee and some barley showing as well.

Palate: Some young sherry elements here much like the first release which has a tartness which sours the sweetness a little but brings out a flavour profile like Dr Pepper or Fizzy cherry cola bottle sweets.

Finish: Sweeter on the finish with some barley and memories of washbacks. Pear and apple showing up some of those light distillery characteristics.





Balblair 1990 (Second Release)
Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Own Bottling
Age: 14
Distilled: 1999
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 46%

Nose: Compared to the younger 1999 releases the sherry influence here is noticeably more mature and integrated and I am smelling it as a whole whisky rather than the individual components in the vatting. Crispy red apples, and poached pears in a red wine sauce really brings those richer dessert ex-sherry elements and lighter estery led ex-bourbon elements like mango, and pineapple which show off the Balblair character, stands up alongside it in harmony rather than at a distance. A real dessert dram. Dark chocolate with cranberry, Cuban cigars, chocolate covered Turkish delight. Jolly rancher candy sweets, and some Seville oranges.

Palate: Tangy fruits, orange marmalade with cinnamon spice and some melting chocolate.

Finish: Warm and rich with some dryness from the red apple coming through. Mulled wine, chocolate covered hazelnuts.





Balblair 2000 (Single Cask Release for The Whisky Exchange)
Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Own Bottling (for The Whisky Exchange)
Age: 14
Distilled: 2000
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 53%
Cask Number: 1343

Nose: Strangely the first thing comes to my nose is a slightly vegetative note of mushrooms which reminds me of specifically Mushroom Risotto with creamy sauce and parsley. Very syrupy and saucey and I am reminded of when I was young and I used to go and visit my granny and she used to make home made chips and serve them up with some BBQ sauce. Glazed ribs continue the BBQ sauce notes. There is cherry coke, and that continues with maraschino cherries on top of a rich chocolate dessert like tiramasu with mascarpone and coffee. The rich desserts move into thick stewed berries with blackcurrants, blackberries, sloe berries and maybe some overripe raspberries. All of these reduced down into a thick jam and spread onto buttery toast, and washed down with some keemun black tea with its notes of plum and pine. There is no disputing the massive sherry dominance of this but if you work hard you can get to some of the softer lighter fruits synonymous with the Balblair character. Apple, pear, mango, pineapple etc. There are some sulphury elements some of which I find pleasant like struck match and spent fireworks, but also some rubbery ones again which probably give off the vegetative note from the start. I am pretty sensitive to sulphur though and I find it in abundance in a large variety of sherried whiskies so don't read too much into it unless you are as well.

Palate: Thick and warm like the BBQ sauce again, but also some maple syrup with gives it some sweetness, and floral notes. There is some rubber here as well. If you let it dilute naturally from cask strength in the mouth it gets much lighter and the Balblair spirit emerges.

Finish: There is a touch of smoke here which I likely from some cask charring. Sappy and resinous going back to the maple syrup again. Finally some black coffee with a little chocolate cake.

25.65 A whispered kiss (22 year old Rosebank)

Distillery: Rosebank
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 22
Distilled: 1991
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 50.0%.
Cask Code: 25.65 A whispered kiss
Cask Type: Refill ex bourbon barrel.

Nose: The description talks about childhood memories, but this one takes me on my own childhood memory of the school tuck shop with Apple Jacks, Fruit Salad chews, "a quarter of raspberry fizzballs" (do you remember them?), Pineapple Cubes and blueberry "Millions" (that was those tiny chewy little balls) and finally those little foam milk bottle gums. Some slightly more savoury notes that are like a roll and Biker crisps. More pineapple coming through in Pineapple tarts. Lots of dusty old wood notes which remind me of pretty much my old school which was just full of dusty old benches and desks, old books and jotters. Finishing off with a salted fish supper for my dinner on my way home.

Palate: Lemon, Pineapple, White chocolate, spicy ginger, pepper and aniseed.

Finish: Long, fruity and warming with more pineapple, American Cream Soda, Balsa wood models with a touch of PVA glue, and a little cardboard.

Feis Ile 2014

Not being able to attend Feis Ile 2014, I made the decision to make an overnight whistle-stop tour of Islay and visit as many distilleries as possible and pick up the festival special releases as possible, both for myself and also for a bunch of whisky blogging and twitter friends who were doing a bottle share on some of the bottles with me.

Ben's Whisky Blog
Somerset Whisky Blog
Scotch and Sci-Fi
Whisky Gospel
Whisky Israel
Shai A
Yorkshire Fellowship of the still
Livingroom Whisky

The first day I managed to go to Lagavulin, and then over to Laphroaig and then Ardbeg which was unusually shut because everyone was recovering from Ardbeg day the previous day. I then headed to Bowmore and then Bruichladdich. I managed to find a lovely camping spot in Port Charlotte right outside the old Port Charlotte (Lochindaal) distillery which was pretty apt because Port Charlotte releases from Bruichladdich have became some of my favourite whiskies. The next day it was off to Bunnahabhain and Caol Ila, followed by Kilchoman and then back to Ardbeg.

Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Feils Ile 2014
Age: 19
Distilled: 1995
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 54.7%
Cask Type: Ex sherry, european oak.

Nose: Initial hit is of the richness of rum and raisin ice cream, topped with caramel pouring sauce. Cherry coke mixing with vanilla, cinnamon, orange oil. Salted pretzels, rolling tobacco, ash and soot. There is also a earthy heat like wholegrain mustard. Turkish Delight and Rosewater. Water makes this thicker and a bigger sweetness bringing out strawberries and raspberries.

Palate: Spicy and savoury. Pork crackling cooking with coriander, cloves and black pepper. Poached pears with cream.

Finish: Long and sooty with malty biscuit coming through. Espresso, dark chocolate and highland toffee. Savoury notes coming through again with lamb and rosemary.

Comments: Well balanced and constructed. As much as I hate to love Diageo, this really is quite elegant and faultless to me.

Distillery: Ardbeg
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Auriverdes - Ardbeg Day / Feils Ile 2014
Age: NAS
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 49.9%
Cask Type: N/A

Nose: Melon, green apple and lime juice. Liquorice and sports mixture sweets. A reduced sugar sweetnees coming through as maple syrup biscuits and tinned treacle. Oak but more like the bark from an oak tree. An old wooden boat washed up at the beach with bits of seaweed, old ropes and barnicles. The peat is light here and I am getting more woodlands and coastlines than bogs.

Palate: Fruity but unripe pear and apple. Drying and slightly tannic mouthfeel, and feels a bit thin.

Finish: Medium length with white chocolate and hazelnuts. Chocolate covered coffee beans.

Comments: I do like this and I think it is hard to always keep up with Corryvreckan and Uigeadail which are both strong brand leaders. An Ardbeg for when other Ardbegs are a bit too much maybe? A summer Ardbeg?

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Octomore Discovery - Feils Ile 2014
Age: 7
Distilled: 2007
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 69.5%
Cask Type: Oloroso sherry.

　
Nose: Thick and meaty. Seared t-bone steak and gristle on a grill with burnt garlic and a plum and paprika sauce. I don't imagine such a sauce exists but if it did this is what it would smell like. Sunday morning bacon rolls. Sugar sweet marshmallows roasting on an open flame. My shoes have also caught fire, with burning leather and laces. There is road tar and engine oil dripping from an old bus. Cointreau orange liqueur and that first sip from a glass of Pepsi with a slice of orange at the top. Cinnamon, and vanilla. Mint chocolate, caramel and praline. Smoked haddock and smoked cheddar. Sweet barley emerges later on.

Palate: More carbolics that I couldn't detect on the nose. Soil, turf and moss. Tastes like chemistry class at school as if I shouldn't be drinking this. Combustion, drinking a car battery through a straw. The skin in my mouth is sizzling. Sweet and sour chinese sauce. Thick and oily.

Finish: A phenolic blast with the cinnamon and orange spices following through in what reminds me of a Halloween candle. Sharp wood. Smokey meat, cigars, melting plastic and burnt circuit boards. Powerful and full on.

Comments: This is quite powerful, and it has more of a heavy oily meatiness going on that I would associate with some Mortlachs but then with an added phenolic punch to it.

Distillery: Bunnahabhain
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Dram an Stiureadair - Feils Ile 2014
Age: 10
Distilled: 2004
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 56.7%
Cask Type: Marsala finished for 1 year.

Nose: Sharp and spirity at first, the high ABV and youth is evident and I need to add some drops of water to tame it down right from the start. The marsala wine notes are dominating with cranberry, strawberry chewit sweets and a little blackcurrent as well. The wine also gives it as vinegary note which I sadly get from many wine finishes so might just be me. Ripe peach and apricots. Cola cube sweets and Stiffy's Kola Kubez vodka shots. A little of the Bunnahabhain itself coming through with olives in brine.

Palate: Concentrated berry juice, cranberries and peach.

Finish: Medium length, but possibly just being carried by the ABV. Tangy fruit, a bit like Tamarind pulp and tomato salsa. A touch of Trifle dessert. Drying.

Comments: If you like wine finishes you may love this, but to me it seems unbalanced and the wine dominates over a young spirit. This isn't Bunnahabhain to me sadly.

Distillery: Kilchoman
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Feils Ile 2014
Age: 4
Distilled: 2010
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 58.7%
Cask Type: Fino sherry finish.

Nose: Dry apple from the fino. Rhubarb and custard sweets. Chocolate honeycomb. Tropical esters - pineapple, mango and grapefruit. Sharpness of peeling the skin from a tangerine. Lots of country side notes and I feel like I am standing in the middle of a field with bales of hay, heather in the ground and pollen in the air. Spring time. Also farmy notes of cowsheds. Pistachio nuts. Tech class (wood shop) at school, and also old wooden school desks. Coconut snowballs, biscuits, liquorice. 

Palate: Sweet and smokey with black cardamom. Fishermen's Friends sweets. Kop Kop sweets. Barley broth. Malty and earthy.

Finish: Long and creamy. Vanilla, pear and apple. Soil and leaves.

Comments: This is better than last year's Feis Ile bottle from Kilchoman. It is sweeter than I would have expected with the fino finish which is a sherry I would associate as being much dryer than Oloroso. I got a chance to try the new make as well which I will post a later review of but if anything shows that this is really good quality spirit as soon as it comes off the still. There is nothing in there that I would expect subtractive maturation to take care of.

Distillery: Laphroaig
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Cairdeas - Feils Ile 2014
Age: NAS
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 51.4%
Cask Type: 1st fill bourbon casks, Amontillado hogsheads

Nose: Lemon icing sugar which reminds me of my gran's empire biscuits. Lemon cheesecake. Creme fraiche. Scottish tablet and butterscotch. Werther's original sweets. Freshly laundered clothes and fabric softener - maybe that lemon element coming back through here again. Like a painter's studio with new canvas and watercolour paints. A bit of white chocolate toblerone. Burning incense sticks and a touch of gunpowder smoke. Cinnamon and ginger.

Palate: White chocolate and hazelnut. Baking spices.

Finish: Medium finish, another young and malty finish with fudge and cream. Falls a little flat.

Comments: Quite young and missing that phenolic Laphroaig punch I am used to, but very easy to drink and the Amontillado finish seems to integrate well.

Distillery: Bowmore
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Feils Ile 2014
Age: N/A
Distilled: N/A
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 56.1%
Cask Type: 1st fill ex-bourbon

Nose: Tinned pears with vanilla custard. Banana foam sweets. White grapes coming through like a glass of champagne with a strawberry. Getting richer as toffee crisp bars with caramel and biscuit. I am getting a note like hairspray of which I get solvent and pure ethanol. Cereal elements of oats and wheat. Bubble gum. Belgian waffles.

Palate: Vanilla with the custard being quite prominent again with a bit of white chocolate in there. There is a waxiness like yankee candles with vanilla and coconut elements.

Finish: The ex-bourbon dominant vanilla and coconut leading the way. Medium length. Baked bananas. Jalapenos stuffed with sour cream.

Comments: Another young one, and again I don't think I detected any smoke there at all? This could have been any young highland - reminds me of a young Glen Garioch in many ways.

Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Expression: Feils Ile 2014
Age: 12
Distilled: 2002
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 55.5%
Cask Type: Refill ex-bourbon

Nose: Light and fairly delicate (for a young Caol Ila anyway). Ham and pinapple pizza lending it both a sweet and a savoury note at the same time. Bashed overripe banana and kiwis. Rowntree's tooty frootie sweets. Estery and malt. Soft dairy vanilla fudge. Coastal saltiness (yes I know it is matured in the central belt) in the way of salted popcorn. The salty note again is like a salted lime after a shot of tequila. Light smoke. Is there maybe a mix of peated and unpeated malt in here?

Palate: Salty sweet. Light and fruity while still having a fairly oily and chewy mouthfeel. Ginger beer. New wood.

Finish: Medium length. Shortbread, pepper and ginger.

Comments: Quite delicate and light for a young Caol Ila. Like some of the others I have tasted this year it appears to be quite an accessible dram.
Conclusion

The winners are:

1. Lagavulin. Considering the number of bottles available, Lagavulin have both managed to cater to high demand at and after the Islay ferstival and also producing a really great quality whisky at a great price. £99 for a 19 year old at cask strength is great considering the cask strength 12 year old version goes for not much less than this.

2. Bruichladdich Octomore Discovery. This is better than the Octomore Scottish Barley and I like the Oloroso influence and the meaty savoury elements. It is a big hitting whisky for sure. Down side is the price at £150 a bottle which I feel is a bit too expensive when compared to the standard Octomore releases. It would have been nice to see this be £100 or less.

3. Ardbeg Auriverdes. Again I like this, and maybe it doesn't hold up in price and taste to some of the standard releases, but it is by no means make it any less. Again a bit expensive for a NAS release when using the Lagavulin as the benchmark.

Three peated Bruichladdichs

Recently I sat with a few very similar drams from Bruichladdich to do a casual comparison of them. These were 127.33 "Mouth-numbing mountaineering dram", a 11 year old Port Charlotte from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society; PL2, a no age statement Port Charlotte from the Elements of Islay range; and Octomore 6.1 Scottish Barley, a 5 year old heavily peated Bruichladdich.



Distillery: Port Charlotte (Bruichladdich)
Bottling: Elements of Islay
Age: NAS
Strength: 63.4%.

Nose: Light and mildly fruity, with citrus and lemon but lemon bathroom cleaner. Some unripe banana which hints are some fairly young malt in this. Light vanilla sponge cake. The carbolic notes are less than I have seen in other expressions, with the peat being exposed in more earthy farm notes which are again not uncommon in various laddie releases. There is also that sweaty sock element, which although sounds bad, is more like a good cheese. Leather couches in a freshly polished room. This has a maybe too raw and young feel which is slightly out of balance, and is the most spirity of them all.

Palate: Sharp with some sour fruit. Young malty elements and a rugged earthiness. Water drowns this a little and doesn't seem to add much to it.

Finish: Sharp oak, and some dry apple. Finish itself in general is pretty dry, and although it is fairly long the flavour dissipates before the spirit burn leaving the end of the finish unsatisfactory.

Notes: This was a little unbalanced and a little too raw.



Distillery: Port Charlotte (Bruichladdich)
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 11
Distilled: 2002
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 63.5%.
Cask Code: 127.33 Mouth-numbing mountaineering dram
Cask Type: Refill Barrel, ex-bourbon.

Nose: A lot sweeter than the PL2 with banana, pear but also some richer red fruits such as strawberry. Boot polish, and getting a little savoury with Cajun spiced meat. Lots of vanilla and coconut and the wood isn't as sharp as the PL2 and in general the nose is a lot more rounded. That cheesy note is still prominent. Honey, crunchie bars (honeycomb) and a touch feinty.

Palate: Creamy, totally carbolic, very fizzy with sherbet. White coffee and citrus fruits. Water brings out more of the earthiness and some wax.

Finish: Long and leathery. Coal tar and liquorice.

Notes: Better than the PL2 but maybe a touch unbalanced still. While I love these SMWS Port Charlottes, the best and more balanced ones to me are the ones which are coming from sherry butt maturation which lends just that little extra sweetness and richness to the raw earthiness which is dominant in these.




Distillery: Octomore (Bruichladdich)
Bottling: Distillery Bottling
Age: 5
Distilled: 2008
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 57.0%.

Nose: Raspberries, elderflower. Pineapple and grapefruit tartness. coal sheds, vanilla, bounty bars, fishing nets, menthol cigarettes, medicated shampoo, sweet marzipan, sugar coated almonds, woody notes but like fresh timber rather than old oak. A little of that rawness which was in the PL2 but missing in the 127.33 is back again. Less creamy the 127.33 but also much more malty.

Palate: Sweet and creamy. Malted milk biscuits. Trifle and tinned fruit in syrup.

Finish: Long and malty, young and raw but no overpowering spirit. The pineapple and grapefruit again, topped with vanilla ice cream.

Notes: A lot more complex than the other two and you can tell it has been put together well. Surprisingly it doesn't seem that peated though given the pre-distillation phenol level.

127.39 Intensely Tasty (Port Charlotte 11 year old)

Distillery: Port Charlotte (Bruichladdich)
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 11
Distilled: 2002
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 66.7%.
Cask Code: 127.39 Intensely Tasty
Cask Type: Refill sherry butt.


These Bruichladdich Port Chalottes grow fond on me as a no frills, no nonsense young peated punch in the face sort of experience.  If you are an Octomore fan you will enjoy these, and the Port Chalottes from the SMWS are no exception if you read my post from last year on cask 127.37 - Dinosaurs dancing to Stravinsky which has already developed an almost cult following after its success as such an amazing drop of spirit among some of my fellow bloggers and twittersphere malt maniacs. Will cask 127.39 live up to the bench mark?

Nose: Initially freshly squeezed lime with cola - Almost like a Cuba Libre rum cocktail. Lemons which seem to be a common trait in this spirit both as lemon sherbet sweets and also slightly bleachy as Lemon floor cleaner. Some bitter red apple, a little sharp pineapple but a sweetness from ripe banana. Some solvent like notes of Hubba Bubba bubble gum. The oak gives up its vanilla and dry coconut along side new wood and some pencil shavings. The sherry influence is lovely here and sadly was missing from cask ex-bourbon cask 127.33 (review coming soon) with creamy chocolate, ground almonds, glazed cherries and raspberries. Those wood notes combined with the peaty, earthy punch remind me of an old garden shed and everything you would expect it to contain, with perhaps tins of oil, diesel, oils, and paint but also old gardening gloves and wellies as well. There are also pots of soil and compost lying around. The smell of spring is in the air with greshly cut grass and farmers burning their fields.

Palate: The sweetness hits first with a real juicy fruit tang like biting into a grapefruit. Then comes the smoke, tar and oil.

Finish: Very long, syrupy and tooth coating with dessert fruits, being overtaken by TCP and tar and fading off into espresso coffee and dark bitter chocolate.

Comments: We have a winner. Is this as good as 127.37? I will need to do a side by side with the very little of .37 I have kept aside in my archive. I will be buying two bottles of this anyway and it will be available in the new outturn available on Friday 2nd May.

9.80 A rocking chair dram

Information

Distillery: Glen Grant
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 20
Distilled: 1992
Bottled: 2012
Strength: 49.5%.
Cask Code: 9.80 A rocking chair dram
Cask Type: Refill ex-bourbon barrel

A bunch of like minded whisky bloggers decided to do a bottle share for the Scotch Malt Whisky Society's "Whisky for a year" which involves getting sent out a new bottle every month for the full year, and by sharing the cost among us we were all able to get a share of each bottle to try at a relatively low cost. This allows to experience even more whisky from the society than before.

The fellow bloggers and tweeters are:

Gal (@galg) from Whisky Israel
Yoav (@yoavgel) from Whisky Gospel
Ben (@ben_cops) from Bens Whisky Blog
Tom (@TomsWhisky) from Tom's Whisky Reviews
Jon (@dvdbloke) from Scotch and Sci-fi
Matt (@mattveira) from Guildford Whisky Blog
Adrian (@mynameisgone) from Whisky Chronicle
Ansgar Speller (@ansgarspeller) from Loving Whisky
Thomas Speller (@thomas_speller) from Whisky Speller

Nose: Tinned peaches and creamy strawberry milkshake. Lots of sour apple coming through, like the the Apple Sourz shot drink you get. Apple Jack sweets. Strawberry Jam on toast. The oak is prominent as well with oodles of coconut and vanilla as you might expect. Some more chewy chocolatey caramel elements like Twix Bars and topped off with pecan nuts. A little wood char smoke is there as well.

Palate: Less fruity than I expected in the mouth but where it is lacking in fruit it makes up in wood spice. Coconut Snowballs with a jammy middle. That tangy sour apple is there as well.

Finish: Long and lingering turning a little dry with spiced apples and a touch of lime.

121.64 Maggie Thatcher at the funfair

Information
Distillery: Arran
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 14
Distilled: 1998
Bottled: 2012
Strength: 54.5%.
Cask Code: 121.64 Maggie Thatcher at the funfair
Cask Type: Refill ex-bourbon barrel

Nose: Very fresh and malty with home cooked barley broth soup. The fruit coming through here are banana, raspberry, some tangerine but that orangey note continuing with some vanilla into some summery orange sorbet ice cream. There is a young woody note of pencils, but strangely more the smell you get when you chew a new pencil. There is a yeasty element that is like new beer fermenting.

Palate: Sweet fruits, malty with that orange sorbet.

Finish:  Long with the sorbet again, finished with liquorice and aniseed.

Balblair 1950s / 1960s

Information

Distillery: Balblair
Bottling: Official
Age: NAS
Distilled: 1950s/1960s
Bottled: 1960s
Strength: 88 proof (50%)

Wow. What a surprise I had when several old bottles of Balblair appeared at auction, and one in particular which took my fancy was a bottle at the unusual strength of 88 degrees proof which is about 50% ABV. One thing which I have learned is higher strength bottles fair well over a long time in a bottle than the lower strength ones and this has been sitting in the bottle for 50 odd years. The immediate thing I noticed with this was that the fill level was high in the neck which tells me that it has been well looked after and protected from the elements of heat and light which tend to cause evaporation to the angels, and negatively affect the juicy whisky inside. After some frantic and probably out of control bidding at auction I came into the possession of this lovely bottle and I can't wait to enjoy it.

On investigation it was definitely bottled in the 1960s, but without knowing the exact age of the whisky it is hard to pin point the distillation date. I reckon the malt is between 5 and 10 years old which at the older side of the guess would put this as 1950s distillate, and it is something very special indeed to think that this was getting made in post-war Britain.

Back when this was made the production methods would have been a lot different from now with old fashioned floor maltings, cast iron mash tuns, and direct firing of the stills all which help result in a completely different type of spirit as produced today.

Nose: Very bright and fruity and the glass is overflowing with estery notes.  I am getting lots of tropical notes but pineapple stands out and it reminds me of the Lilt soft drink with an almost sharp and tart bite around the edges. Apple juice and the fruit turning more sweet like Banana foam sweets, and that soft, sweet foamy note turning into marshmallows. The sweet fruit notes are turning into  hard boiled sweets like the travel sweets you get at the airport and the candy element finishes with some soft bubblegum. There is something more savoury happening that reminds me of green olives which have been salted and covered in more olive oil. Briny and coastal! Some smoke seems to be lingering about which is a mixture of light peat smoke but also cask char smoke. Soft dairy fudge just rounds everything off nicely.

Palate: This is heavy and oily with way more than you would expect from such a young malt. It is sweet and rich, and like chewing on fruit salad sweets, and the sharpness from the fruit is enough to give a little kick alongside the higher alcoholic strength. It is waxy and honeyed and toffee.

Finish: Mouth coating with a medium length finish. There is a little young solvent spirit notes coming through, but this is big and fruity and oily and satisfying.

Comments: What can I say? Maybe not the most complex spirit in the world as it has clearly not spent the bulk its life in wood, but the spirit itself is magical and captivating and dreaming to a time when this was made is a truly special experience.

Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend

Information

Hankey Bannister Heritage Blend
Inver House Distillers
No Age Statement
Strength: 46%.

A few months ago I wrote a review of the regular Hankey Bannister and this time I am reviewing the new Heritage Blend. Inver House recently came into an old bottle of Hankey Bannister from the 20s and the master blender Stuart Harvey set out to recreate it. It has been marketed in the old style black glass which was popular with several bottles (see Black Bottle blend) at the time but stopped during the war as it was made in Germany. The black glass is really slick and aristocratic and I am a big fan of it as it kinda takes away the need to use as much caramel colourings in the whisky as well. While the regular blend is made up of 20 odd malts the heritage blend is only made up of malt coming from Inver Houses own distilleries of: Balblair, Old Pulteney, Knockdhu, Speyburn and Belmenach.

Nose: The grain dominates straight out of the bottle, and my nose is telling me Invergordon as when I was having a tour of Inver House's blending room I got to try Invergordon new make and the blender told me to look for notes of dolly mixtures in it - and this I get here. After a while the malt emerges so it is worth letting it breathe in the glass a while. Smoky notes of insence  and coal fires. Fruity elements of blood oranges, cooked apples, peach, mango and melon. Marmalade on burnt toast. Some savoury notes of bacon and brown sauce. Some birthday cake with maybe a strawberry jam and marizpan icing, werther's originals sweets and after 8 mints chocolates.

Palate: The extra abv of 46% makes itself known and is fairly weighty and rich in the mouth. Smoky and creamy butterscotch and white chocolate.

Finish: Sweet and savoury smoke with some young malty and spirity notes.

Comments: I like this mostly because of the 46% as with most common blends, the 40% can be too watery on the palate. The extra kick helps boost the drink where the younger stuff can be detected and pulls it together a bit more. It is also pretty cheap at £30 a pop, and I would say better than many entry level malts at the same price.

Black Bottle (new style)

Black Bottle Blend (new style)
Burns Stewart Distillers
No Age Statement
Strength: 40%.

Nose: Richer and more sherried than the old style. This seems more like a peated speysider than an Islay, which by all accounts is the direction they are going with it. The simple savoury notes of the new style are deeper and almost more caramelised with BBQ pulled pork, or honey glazed ham, and there is also a note that is like roast beef and mustard - but in particular the brannigan's crisps. The richness is coming through as spiced ginger cake - the sherry influence here for me. There is also a touch of deep heat muscle rub, and of those firy cinnamon jawbreaker gobstobbers they sold when I was a child. Raisins and dates, christmas trifle and dessert fruits. Butterkist popcorn.

Palate: Sweet and sherried with chocolate, nuts and some spice.

Finish: Sweet but the savoury meaty smokiness again. BBQ pork again. Longer finish and thicker lasting in the throat than the old style.

Comments: I like this but this is a different dram from the old style recipe. I don't think the two are comparable in such a way other than the name. It is really a shame they are losing the old style, but maybe with this new style are they looking to break out into the foreign market now? I think they could have taken the opportunity to bump up the ABV a little, preferably to 46%, but at least to 43% - it is going to be a long time until they get a chance again now.

Black Bottle (old style)

Information

Black Bottle Blend
Burns Stewart Distillers
No Age Statement
Strength: 40%.

Black Bottle is a name I am very aware of, even from when before I liked whisky because it is blended in my home town by Burns Stewart Distillers and is often to be found in pretty much every pub in the area. Black Bottle is an interesting blend in that this is pretty much only sold in the UK, when the UK isn't a big market for blended whisky. This is a very Islay centric dram with malt from handful of Islay distilleries, and I imagine a good bit of Bunnahabhain which of course is Burns Stewart's own little piece of the Islay world. I have decided to right up my notes for this as the brand has completely been overhauled both in marketing and also more importantly - in the recipe. I will be following this up with a report of the new Black Bottle.

Nose: This is sweet and honeyed with the initial aromas quite savoury and slightly salty with smoky bacon, worcestershire sauce, and soy sauce. There is also a distinct pickle like note which is like a picked onion you get with your fish supper, or dare I say it picked onion monster munch - which I hate and my wife loves - but I like this, and she hates whisky! hmm! A little wisp of cuban cigar smoke lingering around as well. Some smoked cheddar cheese, pepper, cloves, and on the fruitier side of things there is some red apple, and peach. Vanilla, cream fudge and Ovaltine malt drink. The grain is fairly obvious there as well of course.

Palate: Smooth and creamy, with a touch of milk chocolate with salted caramel. Slightly nutty and like chewing on a battenberg cake.

Finish: Vanilla custard with cream, a little carbolic and smokey. Medium length.

Comments: This is probably one of the best value for money blends you can buy if you like a good dose of Islay malt. Unfortunately the stocks of the old style will be getting less and replaced with the new blend. Hoard a few bottles if you can.

Ben Nevis 10 year old

Information

Distillery: Ben Nevis
Bottling: Official
Age: 10
Distilled: 2003
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 46%

Nose: The sherry is young and distinctive on this straight away. Overripe strawberries, but specifically ones which have maybe been squashed and there is a jammy, creamy note which is like Scottish pineapple tarts. I get a cereal like nuttiness which is like Kellog's Crunchie Nut Corn Flakes. There is also a liqueur-like sugary, syrup note which is like Amaretto. The minty notes coming through on the sherry alongside some oak give the impression of the traditional drink of the Kentucky Derby - that is the Mint Julep - the sweet sugar notes accentuate some bourbon connotations, but also some burnt sugar as well which is partly the sulphur side of things along side match boxes and a touch of rubber.

Palate: Not as sweet as the nose lets on with more of a drying effect. There is a thinness in the mouth but strangely at the same time that I can feel the alcohol burn from the 46% . The sweetness comes along later as the nip starts to creep across the mouth before tailing off again. There is a latex like taste as well.

Finish: A pretty long finish with summer fruits, mint and spicy coriander. Rubber at the end.

Comments: I always tempt the sulphur with sherried drams, but it is acceptable in this and the 46% definitely knocks it up a step. Quite expensive for a 10 year old though which is the bad side.