R10.1 - Carnival Concero

Scotch Malt Whisky Society

R10.1 - Carnival Conceto

25 years old. 

This is a brand new rum from the society under their new #singlecaskspirits line. There's been rums in the society for a long time but it's been quiet for a few years so I was excited to hear about some new spirits coming along as I often get bored with whisky if it's all I've been drinking. 

Nose - I was expecting a bigger punch of alcohol considering it's ABV of a meaty 63.4% - one things for sure is that this hasn't been maturing in the Caribbean for 25 years, perhaps an cask from cadenheads? Creative whisky? Or someone else who has some rum casks lying about? The strength was suprisingly restrained, and even a touch closed. There is all sorts of sticky orange business going on from Lucozade to an Old Fashioned made with orange bitters, to travel sweets that remind me of going on a plane when I was a kid. Fresh and fairly fruity and not at all in the industrial vibe that we would expect from a society rum from somewhere else such as Demerara. Kola Kube sweets, almonds, fennel and cinnamon. Whopper bars, highland toffee. This is undoubtfully a Caroni, which I've tried in many different forms over the years. The Rolls Royce of rums. The whisky lovers rum as it's been known before. 

Palate - slightly hot but again not as much as I would have thought. Sweet and cloyingly thick and syrupy. Like sooking on a weather'a original. There is a more of a heavier Demerara like quality coming through now, turning from sweet into a more diesel like vibe. 

Finish - sweet and getting dryer, with baking sources. A tiny bit of sulphur at the end but more of a gun powder, slightly phenolic edge than a rubbery one. 

Littlemill 25 Year Old - Private Cellar Edition

Distillery: Littlemill
Expression: 25 Year old - Private Cellar Edition
Age: 25
Distilled: 1990
Bottled: 2015
Strength: 50.4%

I have been lucky to have been selected to taste a very special wee whisky, a 25 year old Littlemill - Private Cellar Edition for the #Littlemill "tweet storm" (Is what the bairns are calling it these days). This is the second only Littlemill I have ever tasted, the other time being a dram of a Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling about two years ago.

Nose: The first thing that hits me is the oak, but not particularly in an over aggressive young "wood technology" way of a lot of modern designer casks. It reminds me of maybe freshly polished Mahogany in a writers study, or a gentleman's club. (I am not sure what the gender-less phrase would be for this, sorry). The club has cigar smoke in the air, and glasses of rum being sipped from chesterfield chairs.Black treacle, dairy fudge, and good old Caramac bars bringing through that sugary sweetness which is going back and forward between the sherry and the wood. There are some sugar coated fennel seeds which give it a touch of aniseed as well. I'm getting engine oil and diesel fumes and a bit of terpene phenolics which give it another dimension and just for a few moments it almost gets carbolic. There is Cointreau orange liqueur, and the syrup nose turns into Barr's Red Cola a firm childhood favourite drink of mine. Cocoa, Terry's chocolate orange. The fruit here is sherry dominated rather than spirit led with mostly raspberry and blackberries, but the lighter estery notes are not completely lost and are more just sitting a few rows behind. A touch of pineapple and grapegruit. Even though this is for many purposes a fairly heavy dram, there is still a prominent light floral layer which is dusty, sooty and a little chalky / mineral in style of other contemporary Lowlanders like Rosebank and Linlithgow.

Palate: It feels more powerful than the 50.4% ABV is saying, and the viscosity of the spirit is carrying the alcohol well and keeping it suspended. Fairly cloying, the oak is drying a little and we have really dark chocolate, pecan nuts, walnuts continuing the dry thing, cigars and some toasted oak. It feels like at times the wood char is maybe becoming a little overpowering but if you don't mind this sort of bitterness like me you'll not find it too much of a challenge. Dark roasted espresso beans.

Finish: The orange liqueur again, chocolate, toffee, soot. That pine is back again and I like it very much. Plenty of jammy berries as well.

This is very good, and if I was to give it a numerical grading (for the purposes of the tweet event) I would say it is a 92. However the price of this is just way too much for me (about £2000), but I hazard that I am not the target market anyway. I would definitely purchase a bottle and drink it if it was cheaper and I have certainly had plenty of aged rare drams a lot cheaper, but the price and the addition of a miniature with the general release means it is even less likely the main bottles will be opened up for enjoyment.

Thank you to the Loch Lomond Group, and Steve @ Whisky Wire for the miniature and it was a pleasure to get to taste another Littlemill.

Garnheath - 1974 (Carn Mor) - 41 years old

Distillery: Garnheath
Age: 41
Distilled: 1974
Bottled: 2015
Strength: 50.8%.

Now this is something special to me, and something I have been trying to get a bottle of for a few years now. This is a single grain whisky from the Garnheath distillery, which rather than being a distinct distillery was actually a set of coffey stills set within the Moffat distillery complex (Inverhouse) in Airdrie. The "distillery" was set up in 1964 alongside the Glen Flagler stills on the site of an old paper mill, and closed and finally demolished in 1986 when I was just five years old. My mum worked in the distillery as did many other locals as she grew up just a few miles from the site and subsequently I spent some years living literally at the top of the hill at the distillery. Even today I can still recall vividly the smells of the place.

Garnheath was a powerhouse grain production developed in order to compliment their malt whisky most of both which went into cheap blends destined for America and beyond (Green Plaid etc) by the Publicker Industries company based in Philadelphia. Sadly all the distilling equipment was demolished at a time of serious decline within the industry which killed of main a fine distillery.

Nose: I would be lying if I didn't say that the first blast I get right out the bottle is typical grain. Initial volatile compounds are pretty harsh on the nose, namely acetone. This however does reward letting it sit in the air for a while and relax a little. Light and buttery, and more butter fat as you would get in a Jersey milk or cream. Lightly roasted spices of coriander, cinnamon and a touch of ground root ginger. Old fashioned American Cream Soda like I used to get at my Granda's house gives a wee blast of vanilla that really shows up the slow ex-bourbon cask maturation. There are some slight seared smoky meat elements going on. It is fairly impossible but I am detecting just a very slight phenolic edge so either I am drinking way too much heavily peated whisky these days or I am just losing my marbles a bit. Over time in the glass a real sweetness has emerged and softness with no sign at all of those nose prickling compounds from the start.

Palate: In the mouth it is gentle with oodles of vanilla and camphor. Very light and easy going. A real sweet shop dram but also with a hint of ralgex / tiger balm. Do you remember fireball jawbreaker sweets? (hot cinnamon flavour) well it reminds me of those.

Finish: That ralgex and hot cinnamon coming through again with some lemon sherbet and some more ginger.

Like many grains this is not a massively complex dram, but for what it lacks in complexity it makes up in sheer easy going drinking. The romantic past of this distillery also boost up the bias here for me as well though.

SMWS 14.3 - 17 year old Talisker 1979

Distillery: Talisker
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 17
Distilled: 1979
Bottled: 1996
Strength: 64.3%.
Cask Code: 14.3

This was a bottle that took my eye at auction as independent bottlings of Talisker are as rare as hen's teeth. I shared this with some blogging friends and we split the bottle 7 ways. I have no idea what cask this is as it was bottled in the early days of the society where such information wasn't given out, or probably needed. This is when the society was maybe more just about the taste of the whisky than it is now.

Nose: Very mineral like and very like nosing a fizzy glass of mineral / soda water. It also reminds me of American Cream Soda, which is similar but flavoured with vanilla. There is Apple peel, dry and pretty dusty which has some trademarks of a fino sherry cask, but I have been unable to find out any information on the cask type or the number of bottles to give me some clues. There are also indications of well used wood, maybe even third fill and potentially this could have been malt destined for blending? Powdery dusting sugar and some old books making this musky. Some very light tobacco smoke and a tiny bit of peat comes and goes. It is possible if there was more peat in this it has weakened over time in the bottle here. I get a little cork which may or may not be down to time in the bottle and bamboo shoots. A little butter scotch that I would normally associate with grain whisky, and again well used wood that has already given off most of its more obvious flavours. Earth.

Palate: This definitely does not feel like 64.3% - Has the alcohol strength reduced through evaporation here? This would certainly tie in with the cork elements. Slightly sour, some barley, and a touch of light fruit.

Finish: Mint, hemp, and slightly floral.

This was a pretty challenging dram and unique to boot. I will need to go back to this again and further dig into it.

3.243 "Dark, smouldering flamenco gypsy" (17 year old Bowmore)

Distillery: Bowmore
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 17
Strength: 57.1%.
Cask Code: 3.243 "Dark, smouldering flamenco gypsy"
Cask Type: Refill sherry butt.

I'm not much of a PR blogger, and I struggle to find time to update this blog with the dozens of tasting notes building up in my little book so I very rarely ever get sent free whisky and I never solicit it either so it was a nice surprise to receive a little package in the mail from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, whom to be honest are probably my main source of whisky and I rarely have the need to go elsewhere. This is a sample of a special Bowmore bottling they have done for Feis Ile; that is the Islay music and whisky festival.

On Friday the 22nd of May which I know I know is technically the day before the festival starts but let's not split hairs), the SMWS are throwing a special extravaganza at Islay House. The most annoying part for me is that the general distillery offerings are pretty vanilla, and that is not saying bad, but just underwhelming for someone who knows a bit about it already, and this event would be right up my street but I won't be there for it. I rant and rave about the society and their whisky to anyone who can be bothered listening but if you can, get along to this event and check it out.

Nose: I rather like society Bowmores, and in particular the refill butt bottlings and they are becoming more of a staple purchase for me than the ever available and reliable Caol Ila! The strange thing is that I actually very rarely buy standard Bowmores out the shop so I wouldn't even class myself as a massive Bowmore fan, but yet in the context of great independent bottlings - I am. At the start this prickles my nose and is pretty closed up in the alcohol and I getting general sweetness and savouriness but nothing really discernible so I'm adding a little water to break this one open a little. I am getting teak oil / linseed oil which invokes images of polished floors and furniture in an old drawing room. Walnut whips, and roasted chestnut also lend similar notes of wood and oil. Cigarette smoke in an old man's pub (before the Scottish smoking ban of course). Fishermen's friend sweets and lavender oil which both increases the oil element but also that characteristic floral note which is in these Bowmores to varying degrees. The sherry brings some dark and overripe blackberries which brightens and livens up things which are dominated by the darker tobacco, oily, woody, leathery thing going on. Some malty biscuitness coming through as well which comes and goes in waves.

Palate: Autumn berries in a sticky jam. I get some mint chocolate, and liquorice dipped in sherbet. There is a slightly soapy, detergent element there but that's probably linked to the lavender, and you'll either love or hate it and it's certainly not as much as some other bottings anyway, but I'm the former; I quite like it.

Finish: Tobacco is back here alongside a steak that has been seared on a BBQ and slightly sooty and charcoaly. Not masses of peat coming through, but it's pretty briny. Getting a little touch of fried seaweed as well which is pleasant. 

120.8 "A surge of sweet peat" (13 year old Hakushu)

Distillery: Hakushu
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 13
Distilled: 2000
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 63.1%.
Cask Code: 120.8 "A surge of sweet peat"
Cask Type: Second fill hogshead

Nose: Is this an Islay? It could easily be take for one. This is very fresh with some lemon and lime, maybe some air freshener? Some pine backs this up. Old school carbolic soap and some olives or garlic in brine. There is some dental mouthwash but the antiseptic non minty kind. A little scallop with oil and salt. A fruitier side comes by way of dried pineapple and apple jack sweets. I get visions of garden centres with moss, grass and wood bark.

Palate: Sweet in the mouth and I get salted limes and fizzy apple. There is a spicy bit of chilli pepper, some hazelnut and new pencils.

Finish: Long, briny and earthy and is quite drying which helps accentuate the nuttiness. A sweetness develops which is like icing sugar.

124.4 "Full of Secret Pleasures" (Miyagikyo 17 year old) Japanese whisky

Distillery: Miyagikyo
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 17
Distilled: 1996
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 60.0%.
Cask Code: 124.4 "Full of Secret Pleasures"
Cask Type: First fill Pedro Ximinez sherry butt.

Nose: This is a heavier sherried malt compared to the 11.14 Yamazaki with heavy pure cocoa, truffles and truffle oil. Heavy on the liquorice with typical figs, dates, wallnuts aqnd some chocolate covered brazil nuts. Cinnamon and clove oils beef up the viscousity. Some rubberness comes through in birthday balloons. This is thick and sweet, and has a certain flatness which I don't find particularly offensive but tends to be common with some of these sherry heavy ones. All aromas together it reminds me of Buckfast Tonic Wine a drink I am fond of when I am not savouring single malt whisky.

Palate: Chocolate and ginger cake. Some candied fennel sweets that you get in Indian Restaurants and some chocolate limes.

Finish: Black cardamom brings in this barbeque smokiness, with some more of the clove. Smoked paprika. Menthol cigarette and cigar smoke blending together on a smoking terrace. There is a touch of bitter espresso in there as well.

119.14 "Raspberry Imperial Stout" (11 year old Yamazaki) Japanese whisky.

Distillery: Yamazaki
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 11
Distilled: 2003
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 53.9%.
Cask Code: 119.14 "Raspberry Imperial Stout"
Cask Type: First fill sherry butt.

Nose: Trying to not succumb to the society tasting notes, but I agree and it is big on the raspberries and this comes as thick and juicy jam on the breakfast table is also some nutella spread and some honey. There is some glazed ham full of cumin and pepper with a slice of pineapple. Whiffs of the old Scottish sweetshop classic the Chelsea whopper which is a cocoa based fudge. There is a terpene note but unlike pine which is common for me in a lot of these sherried Japanese malts it is more like Tea tree oil, and continued with some menthol vapour rub. There is also an oily note that is like standing in a car garage forecourt.

Palate: In the mouth it is thick and cloying as expected. This is like Jammy Joeys which are as the name suggests a Jammy bite sized cake with raspberry and coconut and it continues with raspberry ruffle bars. The tea tree oil and menthol is turning more eucalyptus like. There is some soreen malt loaf as well.

Finish: While this was quite cloying and I find some heavily sherried malts just too heavy and flat there is a brightness which carries through the palate and lifts it right up. Reminds me of fizzy red cola. There is some cherry and a little lavender as well.

130.1 "Dynamic and Attractive" (Chichibu 4 year old) Japanese whisky

Distillery: Chichibu
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 4
Distilled: 2009
Bottled: 2013
Strength: 61.9%.
Cask Code: 130.1 "Dynamic and Attractive"
Cask Type: First fill ex-bourbon barrel.

Nose: Strawberry shortbread, lemon fancies, fruit salad chews. Fruit pastilles'. It gets juicier as it develops with peach, lemon and papaya. Pecan nuts.

Palate: Dryer than the nose indicates. coconut milk, raspberry milkshake, coriander seeds giving it a little woodiness. Crystallised ginger.

Finish: Crunchy nut cornflakes, peanut cookies, honey and a little almond.

116.20 "Fascinating complexity and finesse" (Yoichi 26 year old) Japanese whisky

Distillery: Yoichi
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 26
Distilled: 1987
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 61.6%.
Cask Code: 116.20 "Fascinating complexity and finesse"
Cask Type: Virgin oak puncheon.

Nose: Chocolate covered raisins, raspberry sauce, teriyaki chicken, smouldering embers, seared scallops, treacle, marzipan. Freshly polished antique rooms in a country house. Freshly peated barley. Mash houses, Turkish delight and ruffle bars.

Palate: Very strange and unique and not what I expected. Baked plum tart, jam. Turns a little soapy and flowery and eventually a tiny bit of sulphur.

Finish: Sherbet, red grape, cherry, red cola.

G13.1 "A complete revelation" (Chita 4 year old) Japanese Grain

Distillery: Chita (Suntory)
Bottling: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: 4
Distilled: 2011
Bottled: 2014
Strength: 58.3%.
Cask Code: G13.1 "A complete revelation"
Cask Type: Virgin oak puncheon.

Nose: This is very spicy but seedy and woody spices like cinnamon, cassia bark, coriander seeds, fennel seeds. This is punctuated with balsawood and freshly cut timber. Very sweet and syrup like which is like Irn Bru, orange syrup or medicine. Sweet shop confectionary of pineapple cubes and soor plooms. Corn is evident and spiced kebab meat. Desiccated coconut and vanilla.

Palate: Very spicy and lively, but not too hot.

Finish: Finish not as long as I would have expected but the wood spices and orange flavours dominating and turning a touch spirity on the tail.

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.