Cardhu is another of Diageo's quiet workhorse distilleries that sees the vast majority of its production go towards the Johnnie Walker blends. In fact this particular distillery was chosen to be "The Home of Johnnie Walker" for the tourists, with its visitor's centre acting as that of both the distillery and the blended whiskies. Quite a few of the larger commercial blended brands do this, and the cynic in me says that it's only done to make sure that those brands don't miss out on the tourist dollars, and in the same vein, to associate those large commercial blended whiskies with an actual distillery. Originally named Cardow, this Speyside distillery is located near Knockando, around a 30-minute drive south of Elgin, and was officially licensed under the Excise Act in 1824, although at that point it had already been operating as an illicit farm distillery. It was purchased by John Walker & Sons in 1893 - which later became DCL, and then later Diageo, although Cardow whisky had already been used in the Johnnie Walker blends prior to the purchase. Cardow Distillery was responsible for DCL's first foray into single malts in 1965, which was renamed Cardhu - meaning "Black Rock" in Gaelic, and the distillery was re-named to match in 1981. These days their 3.5-million litre production capacity is produced through ten washbacks - eight wooden and two stainless, which is interesting - and six stills, and roughly 70% of their production goes to blends, with the remainder sold as single malt.
What's most interesting about their single malt output was a controversial move to a vatted / blended malt in the early 2000s, which was labelled as a 'Cardhu pure malt' and had very similar packaging - including their unique semi-square bottle, to the earlier single malt. This change came about because the distillery couldn't keep up with the strong demand that was coming both from the blenders and their own customers. So they blended some different single malts together, and named the product 'Cardhu Pure Malt', which combined with the very similar presentation to the single malt was considered misleading - the customer was now buying a blend, not a single malt, but that blend was labelled as a distillery bottling and packaged almost idenitcally. This controversy was partly responsible for the current SWA regulations concerning the term "blended malt", rather than the vague 'pure malt' or confusing 'vatted malt'. Cardhu was re-launched as a single malt in the mid-2000s, and again the packaging & presentation was hardly changed - and it's still largely the same even today. Cardhu single malts tend to fly under the radar in Australia, but they're very popular in Europe and particularly Spain, with the 12-year old, 15-year old and 18-year old (all bottled at 40%, chill filtered and artificially coloured) forming the core range, plus the very forgettable Game of Thrones release, of course. Speaking of forgettable, the distillery's flagship 12-year old offering is pleasant enough, a typically sweet, easy Speysider, and it's probably the only example of Cardhu that many malt fans will have come across - yours truly included.
But what we have here is far more interesting. Although there was a 21-year old cask strength bottling released a few years ago as part of Diageo's annual Special Releases, the 14-year old bottling from the 2019 Special Releases that we're looking at today is the first cask strength Cardhu that I've ever laid eyes on. It's also far, far more interesting than the distillery's core range, because this is a non-chill filtered, naturally coloured Cardhu, with an age statement, that has been finished in Amontillado sherry casks for two years prior to bottling. Amontillado (pronounced "Ah-mont-ee-aah-doh") sherry is a dry style of fortified wine that is roughly halfway between a Fino and an Oloroso, where it starts life as a Fino, but the protective layer of "flor" yeast & bacteria is either intentionally killed off or dies naturally during maturation, so the wine then oxidises like an Oloroso would. It is typically a golden colour and is a nutty, herbal / vegetal and acidic & dry in flavour. We don't often see Amontillado casks used in whisky production - Glenkinchie Distiller's Edition and this excellent Laphroaig Cairdeas from 2014 are/were the only widely available Scottish examples that come to mind - although their use does seem to be on the rise. So this 14-year old Cardhu is a very interesting proposition! There were only 4,860 bottles produced of this one, quite a low number for a Diageo release, at a cask strength of 55.0% ABV, and the Australian pricing is quite reasonable at around $180 AUD. I must admit that I wasn't sure about the new packaging of 2019's Special Releases, but it has grown on me since - particularly that of the Talisker & Lagavulin bottlings, and while I'm not sure about the brown, this one is also nicely understated. This cask strength Cardhu is still readily available at the time of writing, probably because the distillery isn't as lusted-after as many of the other bottlings in 2019's batch of Special Releases, but - spoiler alert - this is actually quite the hidden gem. Let's see how it goes!
Finished for two years in Amontillado sherry casks. 4,860 bottles released, part of Diageo's 2019 Special Releases. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.
Colour: Yellow gold w/amber tinges.
Nose: Rich, sweet & spicy. Fresh sweet apples in sweet, thick syrup, marzipan (almond paste) and apricot. Slightly floral, with buttery fresh golden oak, lemonade soft drink (7-Up) and a nice salty, lightly funky tang. Vanilla-spiked icing sugar, spiced red apples and one little black jelly bean come through with more time.
Texture: Medium weight, lightly oily, full-flavoured, rich & spicy. Warming and slightly dry, but no heat.
Taste: Sweet apples again for a split-second, then drying with lovely spices, clean oils, black pepper and dry (savoury) honey-roasted nuts. Some more buttery fresh oak, slight ginger here too. Some dried leafy herbs - sage, burnt rosemary? A little drying minerality too, almost salty.
Finish: Medium-long length. OK now it's not almost salty, it's just salty. Lovely drying, mineral and almost chalky saltiness. Then that hint of aniseed and more buttery oak, but it's drier now with more ginger. Then red apples again, but they're stewed now with some cinnamon sticks and cocoa powder thrown in.
Score: 3.5 out of 5.
Notes: Very impressive! Almost surprisingly good, and this is now the second time that I've tasted this Cardhu so it wasn't just a shallow first impression. This whisky is a bit of a hidden gem if you ask me, and it helps that it's coming from a very quiet distillery. The nose on this 14-year old is particularly lovely - sweet, rich & expressive, an easy nose to get lost in. The palate and finish are much drier and more spicy (not hot or harsh, just spicy flavours) in comparison, but are still very enjoyable with plenty of character. And there's always something fascinating about a dram that doesn't taste like it noses, regardless of which aspect of the experience is the better. Although I've only tasted three of the 2019 Special Releases to date, surely this Cardhu has to be one of the surprise hits in the bunch. I didn't expect much from it, and I'm happy to say that I was wrong! Flavour, richness and character, and a very reasonable price to boot.
If, like myself, you've only tried the standard 12-year old Cardhu so far and were left wanting, this cask strength Amontillado finish will completely change your perception of the distillery and what it can do. It's still available in Australia at the time of writing, and I'd recommend giving it a go!
Cheers!
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