tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-39536531781264803422024-03-19T18:48:51.006+10:00Peated PerfectionPeated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.comBlogger436125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-40460610890595771392024-03-14T17:30:00.000+10:002024-03-14T17:30:52.016+10:00Old Master Spirits 48 Year Old Armagnac Review!<div style="text-align: left;">Another single cask brandy from Old Master Spirits! These guys are really making a habit of releasing well-aged armagnacs and cognacs at extremely reasonable prices, and they certainly don't skimp on quality or value for money. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamlyGFjkqNDkzVSgW9JcLhDOuHG8E3zE0Rp7pcYRgw24VLuOCNhVYvtHrF2hTVmVcuhgX1X2ce6ysSHYqO_uSB6YjceEkRQ0hlfVRVslk5rGAhkbm097sNizYWfgsqksfj0aOc3iFDeD7xfz4p-Uz19WjOeCBoD58BlBu4qjPwy7W6rk5a3vPtDLrXq97/s800/garreau%201974.jpeg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="450" data-original-width="800" height="225" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjamlyGFjkqNDkzVSgW9JcLhDOuHG8E3zE0Rp7pcYRgw24VLuOCNhVYvtHrF2hTVmVcuhgX1X2ce6ysSHYqO_uSB6YjceEkRQ0hlfVRVslk5rGAhkbm097sNizYWfgsqksfj0aOc3iFDeD7xfz4p-Uz19WjOeCBoD58BlBu4qjPwy7W6rk5a3vPtDLrXq97/w400-h225/garreau%201974.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">This upcoming release from <a href="https://www.oldmasterspirits.com.au/" target="_blank">Old Master Spirits</a> is a 48-year old single cask armagnac from producer Chateau Garreau (pictured above) in the Bas Armagnac region of south-western France. Chateau Garreau was officially founded in 1919, although the land has been used for viticulture since the 17th century, and is currently owned by fourth-generation family member Carole Garreau. The Chateau's armagnac stills date back to 1919 and 1932, with this single cask being distilled on the original still that was installed in 1919! Whereas cognac is required to be distilled twice in a pot still, most armagnac is distilled a single time in column stills, but they're nothing like what we whisky geeks know as the huge column stills used in grain whisky production. These armagnac stills are smaller and squatter in shape, and far more rustic in design rather than the giant industrial efficiency of a Coffey still, or a modern column still producing neutral spirit. For further reading I've covered more of the differences between cognac and armagnac <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/08/old-master-spirits-1982-armagnac-review.html?m=1" target="_blank">here</a>, there's more to it than merely location! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Bas Armagnac denomination is the créme de la créme of the official armagnac regions, the equivalent to a grand champagne cognac. Maturation is of course in French oak, but can also include time spent in glass demijohns (large glass bottles), although when giving their spirits an age statement Old Master choose to only include the time spent in oak. Which is not the case with the vast majority of brandy producers and bottlers, who will gladly include the time spent in glass in their "age" statements. This Old Master bottling of 48-year old armagnac was fully matured in a single French oak cask sourced from Gascony, and was aged in Chateau Garreau's unique underground cellar, with earthen walls & floors giving humid & stable conditions that are favourable to long-term maturation. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This cask strength Armagnac from Chateau Garreau is being released on Thursday 14th of March on the <a href="https://www.oldmasterspirits.com.au/garreau-1974" target="_blank">Old Master Spirits website</a> at an absolute bargain price of $269 AUD, in a 500ml bottle at a cask strength of 51.2% ABV. If you're also of a 1974 vintage, that's an absolute bargain for a "birth year" spirit of any description, less than a tenth of a similarly-aged whisky would likely set you back. This armagnac was distilled from Baco & Ugni Blanc grapes in 1974, and was aged in a single French oak cask for a whopping 48-years before being bottled in late 2022. It is entirely naturally presented, being cask strength, natural colour, and <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a>, which is far from the norm with brandy of any description. Thanks to some shipping delays and other considerations it is being released this week, with only 152 bottles available. Not only that, but this is the only armagnac that Old Master plan to release in 2024. Don't sleep on this one folks! Let's see what it tastes like, shall we?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6glw9kJH9zLRBENoyTtXQl7fVZ7JTnZWPc2RTvOiC6uS6VbjiQk_hwhnSlOtUurZn1mH9xduHfihQ16AYJtq-KRVZ_-QyvNFzeTn7qppRUaY6TcTbZuwEO6AYWANkCi0U8xWJcTOYHO7ALMQIx7fZvPcXPIUNlmilv1TilbTVNUox6x1gB6WU7uPGRPBC/s664/garreau%201974C.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="664" data-original-width="442" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6glw9kJH9zLRBENoyTtXQl7fVZ7JTnZWPc2RTvOiC6uS6VbjiQk_hwhnSlOtUurZn1mH9xduHfihQ16AYJtq-KRVZ_-QyvNFzeTn7qppRUaY6TcTbZuwEO6AYWANkCi0U8xWJcTOYHO7ALMQIx7fZvPcXPIUNlmilv1TilbTVNUox6x1gB6WU7uPGRPBC/s320/garreau%201974C.jpg" width="213" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Bronze. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Rich, sweet, and savoury. My kind of dessert! Dried leafy herbs (sage & rosemary), sweet juicy sultanas, and rich spicy oak giving cinnamon & clove. A little ginger ice cream on sticky date pudding. Sweet crispy pastries baked with stone fruit and sugar crystals. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Light-medium weight. Rich, silky, sweet & savoury, lightly astringent (drying). No heat whatsoever. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Rich & densely flavoured with more dried leafy herbs, more wood spices, and more sticky date pudding. Silky toffee sauce adding sweetness. More stone fruit pastries, some roasted hazelnut & chestnut behind that. Bitter dark chocolate comes through heading into the finish. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Quite possibly the longest finish I've found in a brandy to date! More dried leafy herbs, a touch of bitter orange oil, soft leather, and dried stone fruit (apricot & cherry). Dark chocolate with that herbal note carrying through to the end. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Just delicious. Remarkably easy-drinking, but without sacrificing texture or length, particularly on the finish. Brandy doesn't often come close to the texture, length, or complexity of a malt whisky, but these Old Master Spirits bottlings certainly do! This might be one occasion where I'd actually consider having a cigar with this armagnac, which is not my thing at all, particularly with whisky. But something tells me that it would be a fantastic flavour experience with a brandy of this quality. Then again, it's a 48-year old armagnac, so let's just leave it alone like the producers did! It's a fantastic experience on it's own anyway, with a great balance of sweet & savoury to spicy & fruity. Really enjoying those herbal notes as well, which I don't recall getting in an armagnac to this extent before. Great stuff!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Thanks to Deni & his brother in law for the sample for this review, and for continuing to bring us these delicious brandies & other spirits at such reasonable prices!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-14772860564798652992024-02-18T20:16:00.000+10:002024-02-18T20:16:56.869+10:00Ardbeg BizarreBQ Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">Finally getting around to reviewing Ardbeg's lower-priced limited release from mid-2023! Funnily enough - like most of their special releases from 2023 - it's still readily available at RRP over six months later. Times have clearly changed for Islay's loudest distillery...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDUXWTflZ2kdyrqGIl4DJ8yOv2dR1205-nWSWwp5hz09HeqB0O-UsNUNccQTHes22gNT4_LkV5PFaNBmErhCDQnoscAEbuI28sNbBEitNW1WatYFRobAjMp9oa6N0bnRrYTZL4bJ7wEhTkh7r4tuw8R1yXlrXuFqgxJmmv0wYkURvfAFcOa5vLGmdsh1A/s4664/IMG_4013.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3859" data-original-width="4664" height="331" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgTDUXWTflZ2kdyrqGIl4DJ8yOv2dR1205-nWSWwp5hz09HeqB0O-UsNUNccQTHes22gNT4_LkV5PFaNBmErhCDQnoscAEbuI28sNbBEitNW1WatYFRobAjMp9oa6N0bnRrYTZL4bJ7wEhTkh7r4tuw8R1yXlrXuFqgxJmmv0wYkURvfAFcOa5vLGmdsh1A/w400-h331/IMG_4013.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm roughly six-months behind the curve with this review. Ardbeg BizarreBQ has already received positive feedback from many, but then fell off the radar very quickly. Having already tried it a couple of times thanks to friends, and since it's still widely available at the original RRP - here in Australia, at least - I think it deserves more attention. So here we are! This isn't an Ardbeg Day / Feis Ile (Islay Festival) release, but it's not a core range bottling either, it's just a limited release. Ardbeg have really ramped up the special and/or limited releases in the last few years, with the words "special" and "limited" no longer holding the water that they once did. BizarreBQ is a limited release, but we don't know how many bottles there are in that release, and even now it doesn't seem to be particularly scarce, six months down the track. But that certainly doesn't mean it's not a good whisky. With global economic changes and the post-pandemic shift in drinking habits, the vast majority of limited release & mid-range Scotch whisky isn't flying off the shelf like it once did. I've singled out Scotch there, but that also applies to Australian whisky. In fact it applies to almost everything that is not Japanese whisky! Thanks to many naïve consumers that umbrella term still covers the stuff that isn't really Japanese and also the stuff that isn't really whisky, but it's really the proper stuff from the likes of Nikka and Suntory, and some smaller operations, that continues to skyrocket in price. Whether single malt or blended. End rant, let's get back on track!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">But before we do that, I was recently treated to a dram of Ardbeg Renaissance that was released back in 2008, the first 10-year old Ardbeg that was distilled under Glenmorangie ownership since they purchased the distillery in 1997. Renaissance was the final instalment of the four-part "Peaty Path to Maturity" series, which were all fully matured in ex-bourbon casks, were bottled at cask strength, and had both vintages and ages clearly stated. Shared between three whisky-loving mates who had all been major Ardbeg fans until a few years ago, this very special dram invoked the same reaction from all three of us; "Oh how the mighty have fallen". Well, in all honesty we may have used some more colourful language, but words to that effect! An Ardbeg with decent age, quality casks, fully natural presentation including actual cask strength, and no ridiculous marketing bullshit. The time-proven Ardbeg recipe that would fall apart around a decade later when the marketing department took too much acid and decided that distillery fans needed at least five limited and/or "committee" releases every year, each with a higher price tag and a lower ABV than its predecessor. Meat pies, web comics about some sort of secret agent - no I haven't read any of it and frankly I'd rather drink Wee Beastie, which is really saying something - and myriad limited releases which had interesting unique selling points on paper, but ended up being major disappointments. Ardcore comes to mind in particular there. That's not to say there haven't been some tasty whiskies among the increasing numbers of releases from Ardbeg - the decent but overpriced 13-year old "Harpy's Tale" for example, and the 1<a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2019/10/ardbeg-traigh-bhan-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">9-year Traigh Bhan</a> which is sadly very overpriced and has been since the second batch was released in 2020 - by my reckoning the Australian pricing has increased by $100 with each new batch, all with identical specifications. They're now trying to retail Batch 4 for a ridiculous $499 AUD, and surprise, surprise; it's not moving. Even the distillery's long-standing core range NAS releases Uigeadail and Corryvreckan have jumped in pricing to a point beyond most people's comfort levels. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">There has been one recent exception to this trend, though; <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2021/12/ardbeg-8-year-old-for-discussion-whisky.html" target="_blank">Ardbeg 8-year old "For Discussion"</a> which was released back in 2021 for a very reasonable price. If you ask me, this has been the new benchmark in quality & value for an Ardbeg official bottling ever since. As far as quality vs. price I'd peg it as the pick of Ardbeg's "committee releases" since Dark Cove was released back in 2016, possibly challenged by the higher ABV committee versions of 2018's Grooves and 2021's Scorch. 8-Year Old For Discussion is a permanent release so it's still widely available, and has actually become more affordable in the years since it's release - current pricing on the Ardbeg Committee Australia website is just $115 AUD with a branded tumbler glass. That's an absolute steal, only $20 above the local pricing for the standard 10-year old. BizarreBQ might just be another exception to the Ardbeg trend at a similar strength and a similar price point to the 8-year old, but it's quite a different whisky. That benchmark 8-year old bottling was fully matured in refill sherry casks, which is quite unusual for Ardbeg. BizarreBQ is even more unusual, being matured in three different cask types: "double charred oak" (which I take to mean refill ex-bourbon hogsheads that have been re-charred), Pedro Ximinez sweet sherry casks, and experimental "BBQ charred" casks which were apparently charred over a brazier. Beyond that, Ardbeg is being very cagey with the details on this one. We don't know the proportions of these different cask components, and we don't know how long the whisky spent in any of them, nor do we know the overall age. We don't know if these cask types were used for finishing or if they were fully matured separately and then married together, which was standard operating procedure for Ardbeg until only a few years ago. The BBQ link is a marketing exercise "collaboration" between Ardbeg and an American BBQ chef who goes by "DJ BBQ". That collaboration only began in 2020, which leads me to believe that at least those BBQ charred casks were only used as a finish, if not the other cask types as well. Which isn't necessarily a bad thing, by any means, but it would be nice to know. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">The chosen ABV for this one is 50.9%, which is not cask strength - when did we last see an official bottling of Ardbeg that was actually stated to be cask strength? Or even one that was at a believable cask strength? If you discount the stupidly expensive single cask official bottlings, if I recall correctly that would be Ardbog from 2013? Corryvreckan and Uigeadail are bottled at consistent batch strengths, although they're certainly high enough for anyone. The Ardbeg Day / Feis Ile releases seem to be dropping in ABV every year, in opposition to their pricing and in some cases also their quality. BizarreBQ is very reasonably priced though, at $145 AUD, and as mentioned it's still readily available. The real question is; is BizarreBQ worth the extra $30 over the current AU pricing for the 8-year old? Let's find out, shall we? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKfQb8skUbRwAcLYO4blJyI7hra7_6t5icVNJx7BnQq49B6RIlfoGUK5tFHmpHbSHEFx1OiJ7qyg71jqS6msPTrelGPhtkhEJHYuCvBlT0s-ooCtrBgf9t6RPRMidWlgp2rNQ7OCwPQSHj_IXhXjNI_CUCzKRxhwpEEaOs7svixoa741x4LO4Y9eD7wLR/s4800/BizarreBQ.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="4800" data-original-width="2000" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhmKfQb8skUbRwAcLYO4blJyI7hra7_6t5icVNJx7BnQq49B6RIlfoGUK5tFHmpHbSHEFx1OiJ7qyg71jqS6msPTrelGPhtkhEJHYuCvBlT0s-ooCtrBgf9t6RPRMidWlgp2rNQ7OCwPQSHj_IXhXjNI_CUCzKRxhwpEEaOs7svixoa741x4LO4Y9eD7wLR/s320/BizarreBQ.jpg" width="133" /></a></div><b>Ardbeg BizarreBQ, NAS, 50.9%. Islay, Scotland.</b><div>Matured/finished in "double charred oak" casks, (presumably re-charred ex-bourbon hogsheads), PX sherry casks, and "BBQ charred" casks which were charred over a brazier. Non-chill filtered, assumed natural colour. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Copper. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Sweet, smoky, coastal. Tangy sweet & sour sauce, drying salt-laden seaweed, and a thick & spicy fruity BBQ sauce. Warm ashy wood smoke, lemon juice, and smoked pork ribs. Blowtorched herbs (rosemary & thyme), touch of grilled stone fruit & caramelised pineapple. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, sweet & spicy, warming & smoky. No heat at all. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>More wood smoke, thick & ashy, and more spices - smoked paprika. Big squeeze of fresh lemon juice. Touch of sweet shellfish (BBQ'd again) and those smoked pork ribs again. Some charred wood (hickory?), more grilled stone fruit & caramelised pineapple in brown sugar. That sweet & spicy BBQ sauce again, plus a few whole black peppercorns. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Soft earthy peat, more lemon juice, touch of aniseed. Hickory wood, touch of black cherry in the background. Blowtorched herbs & black peppercorns. BBQ sauce and grilled stone fruit to finish. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Notes: </b>Extra tasting / nosing note just for the Aussies: BBQ Shapes, but from before they changed the recipe and ruined them. This Ardbeg is really quite delicious, and it's a nice departure from their usual flavour profile without going too far like most of the recent "experimental" Ardbeg day releases. While they're very tight-lipped about the details on those "BBQ charred casks", the BBQ notes are there in spades. That's within the usual peated whisky wheelhouse at least (particularly in some Port Charlottes and also some mainland peated malts), and BizarreBQ doesn't feel undercooked (pun intended) like most of those special releases from the last few years. In fact I'd say this is on par with the 8-year old For Discussion, and that both of these semi-limited but still widely-available releases are better than any of the Ardbeg Day bottlings since Dark Cove Committee Release back in 2016. Both are also significantly cheaper and represent far greater value for money, if you ask me. Good stuff! </div><div><br /></div><div>More of these please Ardbeg, and less of the marketing bullshit - web comics very much included. </div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-44731518278166493772024-01-11T18:24:00.000+10:002024-01-11T18:24:21.578+10:00Talisker Parley Wilder Seas Whisky Review!<div>Talisker "Parley Wilder Seas" is not to be confused with "Talisker x Parley" which was a 44-year old cask strength release that went for a rather insane $7,000 AUD. Instead this is a $145 AUD non-age statement Talisker bottled at a higher strength than their usual default, and it's been finished in cognac casks, which is a first for Talisker.</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNU4IIeymvlKTihtAlHm74bWnRoi-IR70fhY2TylyMhKarKV2vYYW-kJ6K9hghkSYlduMiI7SaZQoz0D_v5ZH4H1ZtSdbLbjGgA1MscMJPVyFl6pKsppEPXmnpRKlYyfYPiPqKE3oxQ8fi34GCBPkPNLkV_H1-fUuNEqT0XYMyGbkvOIJeEQvSazLix4mm/s1481/talisker.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="369" data-original-width="1481" height="100" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgNU4IIeymvlKTihtAlHm74bWnRoi-IR70fhY2TylyMhKarKV2vYYW-kJ6K9hghkSYlduMiI7SaZQoz0D_v5ZH4H1ZtSdbLbjGgA1MscMJPVyFl6pKsppEPXmnpRKlYyfYPiPqKE3oxQ8fi34GCBPkPNLkV_H1-fUuNEqT0XYMyGbkvOIJeEQvSazLix4mm/w400-h100/talisker.png" width="400" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div>I've been lucky enough to try that 44-year old, and it is - perhaps unfortunately - delicious. Why are both of these Taliskers called "Parley", then? That would be down to the environmental group "Parley for the Oceans" that Talisker has partnered with, which is all about cleaning up, restoring, and protecting the world's oceans. The word "parley" was made famous by Pirates of the Caribbean as part of the - apparently real - pirate code, basically meaning to negotiate or discuss terms during a battle while under ceasefire. Parley for the Oceans has partnered with a few different brands in different projects, most notably Adidas which involved using recycled plastics collected from the oceans, and closer to home they're involved in the efforts to restore & protect The Great Barrier Reef. In Talisker's case the project is all about "rewilding" 100-million square kilometres of kelp (seaweed) forests - Diageo's contribution being £3 from every bottle of Talisker Parley Wilder Seas sold, plus awareness and "exposure" I suppose. £3 may not sound like a lot, and it isn't. There are 17,940 bottles in this Talisker release, so that's around £53,000 in total from the world's largest drinks company which reported £4.6-billion in profit last financial year. Is this just another green-washing, lip service, "look how environmental and cool our corporation is" marketing exercise then? Possibly, but the awareness and "exposure" is probably worth more to Parley for the Oceans than the dollar figure, and to be fair that's where the deal could've ended, so maybe we shouldn't complain too much. The environmental aspect does go a step further here since this particular Talisker bottling uses a 100% recycled glass bottle which was made using biofuel. The bottle and packaging does actually look great, significantly better than the redesigned packaging on the regular Talisker range if you ask me.<br /></div><div><br /></div><div>Talisker is the more famous of the malt whisky distilleries on the Isle of Skye, although it's now one of two since Torabhaig came online. Talisker is probably Diageo's biggest peated single malt brand, more so than Lagavulin as far as the casual whisky consumer is concerned, particularly if they don't like heavy peat. Talisker is medium-peated to around 20 <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-this-peat-stuff-anyway.html" target="_blank">ppm</a> using mainland peat, with their malted barley coming from Diageo's Glen Ord Maltings plant near Inverness. The distillery makes plenty of noise about their coastal location affecting their flavour profile, but this is a contentious subject since most of their whisky is matured on the mainland at Diageo's centralised warehousing in Scotland's central belt. Many Taliskers do have a coastal flavour profile and a great salt & pepper character, particularly the venerable 10-year old and some of the cask strength Special Releases. Also the NAS 'Dark Storm', and the discontinued '57 North' if you can find it. Quick digression here - let's not forget that regardless of where the maturing casks are stored, these coastal distilleries are mashing/fermenting/brewing on site. In my amateur opinion this is another possible source for some of these coastal characters that is hardly ever talked about. What Talisker should make more noise about is their surprisingly traditional production methods, from wooden washbacks, to purifiers on the spirit stills, and most importantly worm tub condensers. Talisker is often left off people's lists when they're looking at this more traditional piece of equipment where the spirit vapours are condensed into liquid more slowly and with less copper contact compared to the modern shell & tube condensers. That's all in the name of a heavier and more textural spirit, in some cases quite sulphurous and 'meaty'. The cynics can say what they like about Diageo, but they certainly seem to value these more traditional production methods in many of their distilleries - and they don't try to fix what isn't broken like many other companies do. </div><div><br /></div><div>On to the whisky itself, then! This is a <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/06/does-age-really-matter-age-old-question.html" target="_blank">non-age statement</a> medium-peated Talisker, nothing unusual there of course, and like their core range it's been dosed with e150 artificial colouring and is <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtered</a>. Strangely it's bottled at 48.6% ABV rather than their usual 45.8%, which is apparently only chosen as a historical throwback, being 80 degrees Imperial proof. So there should be a fair amount of flavour to play with here. Aside from that, the other main point of difference is the casks used. Parley Wilder Seas is finished in XO cognac casks, XO meaning "Extra Old" so a minimum of 10-years in oak - have a read <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/03/old-master-spirits-xxo-armagnac-review.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more information. Specifying cognac casks means they must be French oak casks that have held double-distilled brandy from the Cognac region of France, but we don't know which brand or appellation, and we don't know how long that finishing period was. As far as I'm aware Diageo doesn't directly own a cognac brand, but they do have a 34% stake in LVMH which of course owns Hennessey that could well have been the source of these casks. We're seeing plenty of cognac casks used in Scotch whisky these days, and some in the wider world of whisky as well. In my experience the results can be fantastic, particularly with peated whisky. Here in Australia this release was exclusive to The Whisky Club subscription service, who received the entire country's allocation from Diageo just like they did with the Lagavulin Offerman releases. I'm not a member of this service, so the sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky geek. Let's see how it goes!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgKxWdt8jXqJ0qk6hA2IflYxOgb4dpn1gqOBNi4EaGiebsP9BP3uDlm6HOBdQiY6TNaPNIuEmZDrhNj_WFjLFIbQGgFK1yORP4wgz5_IHT2JiJfBmFQVkx4sjfoylV0vPXIiCnYJqC2nq2Gw-m9FQ7mRgUYEm3wvyAWp7om9D4iduEdFdV_QlS8HxIdBb/s595/talisker%20parley.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="595" data-original-width="280" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEihgKxWdt8jXqJ0qk6hA2IflYxOgb4dpn1gqOBNi4EaGiebsP9BP3uDlm6HOBdQiY6TNaPNIuEmZDrhNj_WFjLFIbQGgFK1yORP4wgz5_IHT2JiJfBmFQVkx4sjfoylV0vPXIiCnYJqC2nq2Gw-m9FQ7mRgUYEm3wvyAWp7om9D4iduEdFdV_QlS8HxIdBb/s320/talisker%20parley.jpg" width="151" /></a></div><div><br /></div><div><b>Talisker Parley Wilder Seas, NAS, 48.6%. Skye, Scotland.</b></div><div>Medium-peated, finished in XO ("Extra Old", minimum of 10-years in oak) French oak cognac casks. Chill filtered, artificially coloured. Bottled March 2023.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Amber. Maybe a little less neon orange glow than some Taliskers, but it's hard to say.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Quite Talisker-y, the cognac influence seems fairly subtle. Salted caramel sauce with extra sea salt flakes, and green chilli flakes. Salted butter, soft ashy peat smoke, and some oxidised (browning) red apples. Wood spices and a touch of dried orange peel around the edges. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Light-medium weight. Buttery & creamy, lightly smoky, and quite flat. Slight heat. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>More salted caramel sauce with extra salt flakes, more salted butter too. Warm green chilli flakes and a bit of metallic damp copper/brass. Red apple again, touch of sultana, and more wood spices. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Short length. Sultanas & salted caramel continue, then turns quite earthy - think fresh soil. Green chilli flakes and a couple of pink peppercorns. Touch of bitter lemon to finish. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>2.5 out of 5. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Notes: </b>Despite the higher ABV and the extra cask treatment, unfortunately this Talisker still feels quite flat to my tastes. It's a contentious subject, but I'm putting this flatness down to chill filtration and added caramel colouring - possibly more so the latter. Both of these artificial processes are totally unnecessary in this Talisker. Why go with a higher ABV than usual, but then cancel that out by chill filtering it? This could've been a proudly naturally presented product, or at least stated to be non-chill filtered like the travel exclusive bottling Neist Point and some of the 8-15 year old Cask Strength special releases. I know it's a mass-marketed product and it's a large release, and the majority of that mass-market will naively gravitate towards darker whisky. But then why go with the higher ABV at all? My guess is they were trying to get the cognac influence to show through more, which is still quite subtle to my tastes. Aside from the fleeting appearances of some orange, sultana, and wood spice, it's hard to pick. That's not necessarily a negative by any means, a well-integrated cask finishing is usually something to be celebrated, having not stolen the show from the distillery character. However, I'd still be reaching for the standard 10-year old Talisker over this limited release. </div><div><br /></div><div>Short of some of the cask strength special releases and the sadly discontinued 57 North, if you ask me Talisker 10 remains the best example of what this distillery does best. It also hasn't inexplicably jumped in price like many of Diageo's core range / flagship bottlings - RIP Lagavulin 16. How they can justify that ridiculous jump in price with no change to the whisky whatsoever, is entirely beyond me. I'm voting with my wallet, and I hope you do the same. Talisker 10 is currently a whopping $80 AUD less than Lagavulin 16 here in Australia, despite being a higher ABV (45.8% over 43%). Easy decision there, folks...</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-7365140995788860502024-01-10T20:28:00.039+10:002024-01-18T17:39:42.442+10:00Signatory Silent Stills Brora 18 Year Old Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">Starting 2024 off with a bang... An 18-year old Brora! This cask strength single cask rarity was distilled in early 1983, the year the distillery closed, and was bottled in late 2001 when yours truly was only finishing high school. Very, very special!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcY2AN3fj9egdmCe0CHCWhgrG-uBCH3ZzQOV4a4qtCD04fE-GMpMMEBTcfzIre2of4Og3QdTfyR_rKo3tt_1i6dW7TZ7GnZJd8iAYuhmJ7LE8_WLUTGFWI30Ic37mFzh99-pbJH3L8kjSNKge2utEo612BFQCBnCyubXO6w_72Ta7-pJ9H991JBEFKJ83L/s927/brora.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="696" data-original-width="927" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgcY2AN3fj9egdmCe0CHCWhgrG-uBCH3ZzQOV4a4qtCD04fE-GMpMMEBTcfzIre2of4Og3QdTfyR_rKo3tt_1i6dW7TZ7GnZJd8iAYuhmJ7LE8_WLUTGFWI30Ic37mFzh99-pbJH3L8kjSNKge2utEo612BFQCBnCyubXO6w_72Ta7-pJ9H991JBEFKJ83L/w400-h300/brora.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Brora is one of DCL/Diageo's trio of famous closed distilleries that have now been rebuilt, along with Islay's <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/08/port-ellen-30-year-old-douglas-laing.html" target="_blank">Port Ellen</a> which is yet to reopen and Falkirk's <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/04/rosebank-30-year-old-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Rosebank</a> which has recently reopened under the ownership of Ian McLeod Distillers. Brora and Port Ellen both met their demise in 1983 when DCL (predecessor of Diageo) closed over fifteen of its distilleries due to a downturn in demand and an oversupply of stocks, while Rosebank lasted a decade longer and was closed due to the investment required to bring it inline with modern standards and regulations. All three of these highly-lauded whisky brands have attracted very expensive pricing as the remaining stocks continued to dwindle, with ages and apparent scarcity steadily increasing with every mention. Most releases are now beyond the reach of your average whisky enthusiast, having been propelled into the realm of the collector and the investor - for those in Australia, you're now looking at multiples of a thousand dollars for any official bottling. Diageo saw this happening a long time ago, and while they'd surprisingly sold the remnants of Lowland distillery Rosebank to Ian McLeod back in 2017, later that year they announced that Port Ellen and Brora would be rebuilt and reopened. Hopefully they catch the remainder of the whisky boom before the old stock runs out and the famous brand names start to fade away - then again in the age of the internet they probably never would have. While the other two distillery sites had to be built from scratch and Port Ellen is still under construction over five years later, Brora required the least work and the least investment with even the original stills remaining in place. Brora Distillery reopened in May 2021 following thirty-eight years of slumber, including three-years of rebuilding & refurbishment work. This included refurbishing the original stills and their worm tub condensers.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The distillery was originally built in 1819 under the name Clynelish, located in the village of Brora in the eastern Highlands, roughly 75-minutes drive north of Inverness. Then DCL opened a newer, larger Clynelish distillery in 1968 across the road from the original, which was then shut down for a year before reopening under the name Brora Distillery, after its namesake village. From 1969-1973 Brora produced heavily peated spirit for the owner's blends while Caol Ila was being rebuilt and Islay was going through a severe drought, and from (roughly) 1973-1983 Brora produced lightly peated and unpeated spirit, before meeting its end in the dark times of 1983. The spirit from this era varies in style and profile, but the best Broras that I've been lucky enough to try have a distinctive farmyard style and oily texture, while some have also been lightly smoky & industrial. While Diageo have taken as many steps as possible to recreate the original profile, including those worm tub condensers, it'll be fascinating to see how the new spirit turns out. Since the first casks will officially become whisky in mid-2024, we may not have to wait too long! It's obviously an extremely rare thing to find a young Brora that was distilled pre-closure, and after so long in bottle a comparison would be largely pointless, while more recent bottlings have all been 35-40 years of age so won't be comparable to the new spirit. But I'm sure comparisons will be made regardless, and I look forward to hearing about them!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Brora that I'm reviewing today is quite a different story from the current aged stuff. This is an 18-year old Brora, and it was bottled over twenty-two years ago! A Scotch whisky with an 18-year old age statement is never anything to turn your nose up at, but that makes this particular Brora the youngest example that I've ever tasted by well over a decade. I'm sure it wasn't any cheaper as a result - the sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd who purchased and opened this bottle to celebrate his 40th birthday in January 2023. That means that this is a "birth year bottle" for the owner, having been distilled in the year he was born, but that's not all folks - it was distilled on his actual birthday, as in the exact date. Incredible! Aside from being one of the most legendary closed Scotch whisky distilleries of all-time that was bottled twenty-two years ago, and a single cask & cask strength example at that. This is a special thing, and it was extremely generous of him to share it! That's the default setting for this gent though, some of the rarest whiskies I've reviewed here have been courtesy of his generosity and his friendship. You know who you are; thank you and happy birthday! Yes, I've decided to go one step further by posting this review on this person's birthday - which also means I'm posting this review exactly forty-one years after it was distilled!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When this whisky was bottled in September 2001 - when yours truly was only about to graduate high school - there'd have been little hope of Brora ever re-opening, and while there was far more stock around than there is today, it was still finite. This is an independent bottling from Signatory Vintage, released under their 'Silent Stills' range of single malts from closed distilleries. This particular single cask release, a refill hogshead designated Cask #40, was distilled on 18/01/1983 and was bottled on 03/09/2001, with said cask yielding 294 bottles at a cask strength of 52.9% ABV. Naturally it is <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a> and natural colour. As you can see below the presentation is very nice, and includes a miniature of the same whisky so you don't need to open the full bottle straight away - which is an excellent idea. Let's see how it goes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOoLMTsD_6_v9A-DwwEJtSSjBT9AU1tjmuR3ppiGAIs4P8NUNFpIkn6u2g93Zv_ZYKnicPV8_MNBBwqsDq3lfrFGkJj5qnmYUy9yb2DEolWuMkET8EGaS2KKFgXY0mcBdVC-1K0mtFINZIDPIBLQWJqz-Jam3sA95Iic-5oD3rdUESiuVMzODYh0umR-3O/s747/silent%20stills%20brora.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="747" data-original-width="481" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgOoLMTsD_6_v9A-DwwEJtSSjBT9AU1tjmuR3ppiGAIs4P8NUNFpIkn6u2g93Zv_ZYKnicPV8_MNBBwqsDq3lfrFGkJj5qnmYUy9yb2DEolWuMkET8EGaS2KKFgXY0mcBdVC-1K0mtFINZIDPIBLQWJqz-Jam3sA95Iic-5oD3rdUESiuVMzODYh0umR-3O/w258-h400/silent%20stills%20brora.jpg" width="258" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Brora 18 Year Old, Signatory Vintage 'Silent Stills', 52.9%. Highlands, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Distilled 18/1/83, matured in a refill hogshead cask #40, bottled 3/9/01. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 294 bottles. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Pale gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Very dusty, farmyard-y, oily, and malty. Dusty hay in a (clean) earth-floored barn, light olive oil. Candied lime peel, touch of dried orange rind, and the most mouth-watering rich malt biscuits you've ever smelled. Creamy milk chocolate, dried ginger chunks, hints of yellow stone fruit behind. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, malty, waxy. Quite clean & light in style here, but not light in flavour. Slight heat but nicely integrated and very pleasant. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Quality light olive oil, milk bottle chewy lollies (confectionary), dusty hay & malt biscuits again but they're much lighter here. Sweet flaky pastry, more creamy milk chocolate & dried ginger chunks. Lime peel and orange rind again, but less candied and more bitter this time. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Malty & gingery, more milk chocolate and that yellow stone fruit comes through from the nose, with peach & nectarine in particular, maybe a little apricot as well. Touch of barley sugar sweetness, waxy red apples, and almond meal (ground almonds). Natural lime cordial to finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5, but close to a 4.5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>No, that's not an insanely high score, but it's still a very high score for this tight-arsed amateur reviewer! This is much cleaner and lighter in style than any Brora I've come across so far, particularly light on the oily funky characteristics that I love in this legendary distillery, and in comparison I prefer the "funkier" styles. But this is still absolutely delicious. If a great teenaged bourbon cask Hazelburn and a great teenaged Bruichladdich had a baby, this would be the delicious result. Surprisingly clean & light in style as I mentioned, but not in flavour or character by any means. That oily, malty, farmyard character is fantastic, although there's much less of it in this example but it's still there. It's important to remember how much the distillery's flavour profile changed in the last decade or so of production, the 1980s distillate seems to be lighter and cleaner in style with little-to-no peat, than I've found in Broras that were distilled earlier and/or aged for significantly longer. Heading more towards Clynelish in style over the final couple of years I suppose - which doesn't detract from the quality at all, or at least it definitely doesn't in this case. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This may not be the most complex Brora that I've tried, but it's important to remember that it's 10-20 years younger than the contemporary releases that were either distilled earlier or aged much longer, or both. So direct comparisons are basically impossible and largely pointless. This younger & cleaner example is really quite delicious, and it's a very special piece of whisky history. I suppose we'll get to see what young Brora will be like in a few years time, but it won't be the same, that would be impossible. Thanks again to the generous owner for the sample, and happy birthday again!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-69763434623697737622023-12-17T18:50:00.003+10:002023-12-17T18:52:36.100+10:00SMWS Maverick Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">A small batch 12-year old single malt from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, released to celebrate their 40th anniversary. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxRX0yj362hS1NOTbdOWhlQzWSQ8nvU5dBFKq1qBSj7RBDfdcMLh_7spJylrwdV2D01HSUVAjUBiwEpTpNKZWWvTd68FQUnua06MeLfhRNV-OGNBMRsoyw0JqiXQTYDTB2_cZDcvTs1K0H_RGninz91bOAezueM-OvFzDYDdzj0pqRuYAhWO1SifVW9gh/s490/smws.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="121" data-original-width="490" height="79" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiBxRX0yj362hS1NOTbdOWhlQzWSQ8nvU5dBFKq1qBSj7RBDfdcMLh_7spJylrwdV2D01HSUVAjUBiwEpTpNKZWWvTd68FQUnua06MeLfhRNV-OGNBMRsoyw0JqiXQTYDTB2_cZDcvTs1K0H_RGninz91bOAezueM-OvFzDYDdzj0pqRuYAhWO1SifVW9gh/s320/smws.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Independent bottlings can be a minefield, and while I certainly appreciate what they do and the considerable following that they have, in my experience "The Society" is no different. Whether it's one of the extremely high highs or one of the surprisingly low lows, by their very nature the SMWS is actually more susceptible to these variances. Yes, of course personal preference plays a huge role here and cannot be underestimated. But since the SMWS' modus operandi is to bottle single cask spirits, whether they be whisky, rum, gin, or brandy, they don't often have the luxury of blending / marrying / vatting casks together. Or at least they didn't, until they started doing more small batch single malts and blended malts a few years ago. The main appearances here are the "Heresy" series of blended malts and small batch single malts, and the "Festival" bottlings of single malts. As much as us whisky nerds love to find exceptional single casks, it's important to remind ourselves that that's exactly what they are; the exception. Many independent bottlers do prefer to release single casks, but most of those are much smaller than the SMWS, with far less pressure put on them in comparison. Of the millions of casks that are filled with malt whisky every year around the world, only a very small portion will ever be bottled as single malt, and a much, much smaller portion will have a chance of being bottled as a single cask. Off the top of my head, I'd guesstimate less than .1 of a percentage - i.e. less than 0.1%. And of that 0.1% that do go on to be single cask single malts, a good portion are going to be duds. Even if the spirit is good and the cask seems good, the result may not be. Nothing is guaranteed in whisky. I'm tempted to go on another rant about cask investments here, but I'll resist for now...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in 1983 by Englishman Pip Hills - who is the 'maverick' that this whisky refers to - initially as a private syndicate which purchased casks of single malt from distilleries and bottled them as-is, with no dilution, artificial colouring, or chill filtration. Famously the first distillery was Glenfarclas, which of course carries distillery code 1 in the SMWS coding system. This operation eventually turned into a successful independent bottling business, which 40-years later boasts over 35,000 paid members and shows no signs of slowing down. That year of founding is significant, because while the 1980s were a miserable decade for Scotch whisky, 1983 in particular was about as dark as they come, at least in 20th century terms. Following huge downturns in demand and some other factors, there were mass distillery closures and lay-offs, with many now-legendary distilleries closing their doors forever. Yes, the three most famous names are being reopened or have reopened and they get all the attention, but even among one company, DCL (now Diageo), nearly twenty malt whisky distilleries were closed in the first half of the 1980s, and nearly a dozen distilleries closed in 1983 alone. So that was some good & lucky timing from Pip Hills, since if the industry had been in a "boom" like they have been for the last decade or so they'd probably have told him to get stuffed. Just like many distilleries and distillery owners are saying to independent bottlers right now. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">'The Maverick' is a 12-year old single malt that was sourced from an unnamed distillery in the Speyside region. It was initially matured in ex-bourbon hogsheads before being filled into first, second, or third fill Spanish oak Oloroso and PX sherry casks for the final 2.5-3 years of maturation. 2,098 bottles were released at 50% ABV, which is the "go to" strength for most of the SMWS' blended malts and small batch single malts. Naturally this single malt is <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a> and natural colour. That's finishing period is a very healthy one, but the addition of second & third fill sherry casks in that finishing period is also an interesting point - there's a good chance this'll still be quite a spirit-driven whisky. And that's a good thing! </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdd7ZDK7jjeBF4W5FYfVn39WN8QVdC8Mi93teGVAHDJcwTv2Bc93S5P7NMo5vLfttA_xH1fqBuwqjnrd56TuCFuk3WjjwSYWi3F-EoTLf0JKXV12YWI_v2oRgsqlN9bfmz1CTJ1_XAzcfzCcttl0zZEt-N30FjBPhJyvdMkGrVG2nHC8jgch_mTh1BlMSP/s651/maverick.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="179" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjdd7ZDK7jjeBF4W5FYfVn39WN8QVdC8Mi93teGVAHDJcwTv2Bc93S5P7NMo5vLfttA_xH1fqBuwqjnrd56TuCFuk3WjjwSYWi3F-EoTLf0JKXV12YWI_v2oRgsqlN9bfmz1CTJ1_XAzcfzCcttl0zZEt-N30FjBPhJyvdMkGrVG2nHC8jgch_mTh1BlMSP/w110-h400/maverick.jpg" width="110" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>SMWS 'The Maverick', 12-Year Old Unnamed Single Malt, 50% ABV. Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Matured in ex-bourbon hogsheads and finished in first, second, and third fill Spanish oak Oloroso & PX sherry casks. 2,098 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Amber.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Spicy, nutty, fruity. Waxed bitter oranges & red apples, wood spices (cinnamon, nutmeg), creamy vanilla fudge. Nutty fresh oak, stewed stone fruit, rich tea biscuits. Touches of double cream & leather. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Nice grip in the mouth, a tad on the dry side. Spicy & nutty. No heat.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Stewed stone fruit again, more leather, fresh oak, spicy & nutty. Dried orange peel, double cream, waxy red apples. Touches of marzipan & vanilla fudge. Pinch of ginger heading to the finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Wood spices, dry nutty oak, leather, and stewed stone fruit again. More marzipan, waxy red apples, and double cream. Touch of sultanas and more rich tea biscuits to close the show.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Nicely balanced sherried whisky, and certainly not a one-trick "sherry bomb". The Maverick is more on the drier, spicier, nuttier side of sherry-influenced malts, but that's absolutely fine by me. Maybe I'm reaching a little here given this bottler's history with the distillery, but I could see this being an anonymous Glenfarclas. Plus the SMWS has had plenty of ex-bourbon Glenfarclas releases in their regular coded single cask range, so given the flavour profile here and that it's a sherry finish, it wouldn't surprise me at all. For a $220 AUD single malt at 12-years of age and 50% ABV, I'd say it offers solid value here in 2023, and it won't disappoint any fans of sherried Speyside / Highland whisky. The cask finishing has certainly been well managed, there's a good balance to the sherry influence. I don't find any overtly PX notes in this one, maybe they've added a bit more richness and sweetness, but it's much more Oloroso-forward rather than PX-forward, to my tastes. Again, fine by me! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is a great approachable, relatively affordable way to celebrate the 40th anniversary of the SMWS. Yes, there are cheaper 12-year old single malts out there at similar strengths, but again this is still a reasonable offer in the ongoing madness of 2023. Particularly when the flavour of the month (year) for such things is to release some mega-expensive "luxury" decanter made from pure Martian vibranium which is permanently encased in the hollowed-out tusks of the world's oldest narwhals, which were sustainably slaughtered for the occasion. Which would then sell for $150,000, of course. There have already been more commemorative releases from the SMWS for their 40th anniversary and I'm sure we'll see more before the year is out, but doing both high-end releases and this mid-range small batch bottling is just the way such things should be done. You still get the "halo effect" of the mega-expensive stuff, but us regular people can still partake in the celebrations by actually drinking the stuff.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-80622825039188707722023-11-26T19:50:00.003+10:002023-11-26T19:50:50.093+10:00The Hearach Single Malt Review!<div style="text-align: left;">After an eight-year wait, it's finally here... The first whisky release from Isle of Harris Distillery! They may be more famous for their very successful gin, but that's set to change!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwUt7EqfglghZ3XvaJtGmGRc8YQnKd5BFrJfsqG64zd85SKHcKXlEyqiXdd4IF-UcigtOzDpDqSNATQxnq7pi2Jo0uXrqQvlhPIQ72ce5xAGVRaD7lEeyqzjTn8thjK3Ji0ZCtRlH9v8QoUXkAZZ29eZ7ylxuaWoSAs93NnGZBObKqBzNPUeZF993iMGV/s816/isle%20of%20harris.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="526" data-original-width="816" height="258" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjRwUt7EqfglghZ3XvaJtGmGRc8YQnKd5BFrJfsqG64zd85SKHcKXlEyqiXdd4IF-UcigtOzDpDqSNATQxnq7pi2Jo0uXrqQvlhPIQ72ce5xAGVRaD7lEeyqzjTn8thjK3Ji0ZCtRlH9v8QoUXkAZZ29eZ7ylxuaWoSAs93NnGZBObKqBzNPUeZF993iMGV/w400-h258/isle%20of%20harris.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Hearach is the Gaelic word for a native to the Isle of Harris, like an Ileach is to Islay. A different approach to just naming it "Isle of Harris Whisky" I suppose, which will help to to separate the newly-established whisky from the long-established gin brand. The success of that gin has undoubtedly helped this small privately-owned operation take its time with their first whisky release, which has been in the works since the distillery was established back in September 2015. Rather than being a gin distillery that dabbles in whisky, this is a whisky distillery that also makes gin, which means that they didn't need to push a whisky out the door on its third birthday for cashflow reasons. Instead they could make sure the whisky was exactly where they wanted it to be before releasing it on an almost-unsuspecting fanbase. Rather than doing a pre-release bottling for "founding members", or some one- or two-year old spirit releases to keep people's attention, or releasing a couple of hundred "halo effect" bottles at an exorbitant price, the launch of The Hearach single malt was kept relatively quiet until only a few months ago. Rather than a single cask or a small batch bottling for their first release, tens of thousands of bottles have been launched at an age of 5-7 years, at 46% ABV, and crucially at a very reasonable price. Waiting more than seven years after establishing the distillery would not have been an easy decision, and I'm sure there was pressure from some internal and external parties to release it sooner, and also to do more releases. But this is not a distillery that rushes things or one that takes shortcuts. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Harris is a small island in the Outer Hebrides with a population of under 2,000. The stunning-looking island technically shares the same landmass as the Isle of Lewis to the north, with the official name of the island being "Lewis and Harris", but they're usually referred to as two separate islands. Lewis to the north is much larger both in population and geographically, with the main town of Stornoway being the largest in the Hebridean islands with a population of 8,000 people, whereas Tarbert, Harris' main town and ferry port, is home to less than 600. While only an hour's flight north-west from Glasgow or a 1.5-hour ferry from Skye, Harris is still a small and remote island, only really famous for Harris Tweed fabric. But that has started to shift since Isle of Harris Distillery, the island's first legal distillery, was established in 2015. Today the distillery employs over 50 permanent staff, which is significant in such a small community and is in stark contrast to many of the larger corporate distilleries in Scotland. The distillery's gin is produced on separate equipment to the whisky, although both use copper pot stills that were made in Italy. The two smaller stills are only used for malt whisky, with casks filled on-site and matured on Harris in a mix of both dunnage & racked warehouses. There are five wooden washbacks, using a split fermentation time of either 72 or 120 hours, and all malt whisky so far has been lightly peated to 12-15 <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-this-peat-stuff-anyway.html" target="_blank">ppm</a> using Scottish malted barley sourced from Bairds in Inverness. That obviously means mainland peat rather than local peat, although there's talk of using the latter for a heavily peated release in future. Regardless, there's no mistaking the coastal influence in The Hearach. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">As you'd expect from the design of the Isle of Harris Gin bottle, no shortcuts have been taken with the presentation or packaging of their first whisky release. Famous London-based design company Stranger & Stranger was responsible for the design and packaging of both products, in consultation with the distillery of course, and as you can see from the images below The Hearach bottle does share some broad similarities with the "straked" design of the Harris gin bottle. The whisky bottle is a squat almost-square shape, and the fully recyclable outer packaging is beautiful - it's even been debossed to resemble the gneiss rock that is found on the island. There's even a rather nice booklet (we need more whisky booklets!), and a branded thick cardboard coaster included, which was made from the excess cardboard used in the making of the outer packaging. As much as we whisky geeks try to argue the opposite, little extra details like these really do make a difference!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePI1YZ5dPbOiAvvwqL9nY2AT5j2TRJZ1yk4n62-ZeRF2U_HNqDfwsCPpUFmCXGTZelh0vltUISv4yKI0gQj4SKNXbXZDG0LzMbjTS2hOjvXvkhW_b8RDHijJc-w9vbFg_llM8MTiDRxM6iFziaYAuySBtujsBgtUJoC4Zrpc5P_xEBA9xd3t1PiJVMaD9/s1920/Hearach2.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1446" data-original-width="1920" height="301" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgePI1YZ5dPbOiAvvwqL9nY2AT5j2TRJZ1yk4n62-ZeRF2U_HNqDfwsCPpUFmCXGTZelh0vltUISv4yKI0gQj4SKNXbXZDG0LzMbjTS2hOjvXvkhW_b8RDHijJc-w9vbFg_llM8MTiDRxM6iFziaYAuySBtujsBgtUJoC4Zrpc5P_xEBA9xd3t1PiJVMaD9/w400-h301/Hearach2.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I suppose we should talk about the whisky itself at some point! As mentioned above The Hearach is a lightly peated 5-7 year old single malt. It's been matured in 85% ex-bourbon casks from Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace, 11% ex-Oloroso sherry casks, and 4% ex-Fino sherry casks, all matured separately and married together for a minimum of 12-weeks. It was bottled at 46% ABV and is of course non-chill filtered and natural colour. Eight different batches of the first release were released simultaneously in October 2023, with each batch consisting of around 12,000 bottles. Combined together that's a massive first release, which allows The Hearach to get into as many hands as possible at quite a reasonable price. The only notable difference between the batches is the marrying time after the casks are disgorged - largely because the distillery bottles everything on-site, so the bottling stage was always going to be a bottleneck (pun intended) for a release of this size. For Batch 1 that marrying period was 12-weeks, which increased with each until Batch 8 was married together for nearly 22-weeks. There'll naturally be some variance between batches of course - the batches are identified by a code printed on the paper seal across the closure, with all labelled as 'First Release' followed by the batch code. We'll be getting Batch 2 in Australia, with stock expected to arrive in early December thanks to the usual delays that often happen with international shipping. Pricing is expected to be under $175 AUD, which is very reasonable for a 700ml bottle of 5-7 year old single malt at 46% ABV, let alone for the first whisky release from a respected distillery. Thanks to those shipping delays the bottle I'm reviewing is from Batch 7, while the stock that arrives in Australia in December will be Batch 2. As mentioned, aside from the minor natural batch variation the only actual difference between these batches is how long they casks are married together prior to bottling. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Before we get into the actual review, a quick disclaimer. I do work part-time for Alba Whisky, the Australian importers for both Isle of Harris Gin and The Hearach single malt. I don't normally review any products that we import or distribute, which is quite the challenge when some of them are fantastic! While I'd never let this skew my opinions or reviews, I decided to keep the two "halves" separate, purely so there is absolutely no chance of a conflict of interest or any questioning of my motives / integrity in either direction. But I'm making an exception here, because this is a brand-new release which has not technically landed in Australia yet, only some advance stock, and that advance stock is not the same batch that we'll be seeing down under. As always, my review is entirely my own honest opinion, and is completely unbiased. Plus this is a brand-new first whisky release that has been long awaited, and we need to know what it smells & tastes like! So let's do just that...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1B3oFUoxz7rYbLvKpKkz0nUwSYzogo3nhUceZO2cruUV58TaMy4PmVQ7arPoeh5Ysv7yqij_E9CNy0ArCYAf3YAg2-Hk9_WQgnSVk12In8SQByXDTdkrKbtbOqI0OdoacwObyxEmr5xwi_8Oaqg97aHv6dgVOnCknbU8ZGwR0N2tTts57TtWJja38N86/s606/Hearach.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="606" data-original-width="419" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjm1B3oFUoxz7rYbLvKpKkz0nUwSYzogo3nhUceZO2cruUV58TaMy4PmVQ7arPoeh5Ysv7yqij_E9CNy0ArCYAf3YAg2-Hk9_WQgnSVk12In8SQByXDTdkrKbtbOqI0OdoacwObyxEmr5xwi_8Oaqg97aHv6dgVOnCknbU8ZGwR0N2tTts57TtWJja38N86/s320/Hearach.jpg" width="221" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>The Hearach Single Malt, Isle of Harris Distillery, NAS, 46%. Harris, Scotland.</b><div>Lightly peated 12-15 ppm, matured for 5-7 years in 85% ex-bourbon, 11% ex-oloroso sherry, 4% ex-fino sherry. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. Approx. 12,000 bottles per batch - Batch 7 tasted. <br /><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Pale-medium gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Oily, fresh, coastal & fruity. Warm sand, oily builder's putty, salty damp rock pools, fresh red apples. Soft & delicate earthy peat smoke, fizzy lemonade soft drink/soda. Maybe a touch of ginger beer. Lovely sweet biscuity maltiness comes through with more time, along with dried lime peel and a touch of dried banana chips. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Lovely oily & viscous texture for the age. No heat at all. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Oily, malty, sweet. Flash of rich honey, then dried banana chips, sweet red apples, and crumbly light caramel fudge (Scottish tablet). Some sugared almonds, and that fizzy lemonade soft drink/soda again. Caramel wafer biscuits, soft earthy peat smoke running underneath. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. That gentle soft smoke carries through, then some acidic (sour) lime zest, those banana chips and red apples again. More caramel wafer biscuits, some apricot jam underneath which is interesting. Nice damp draff (spent barley) notes rounding things out. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. Easily. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>As first releases go, The Hearach is extremely impressive! In fact it's extremely impressive in it's own right, first release or not. The complexity & depth at just 5-7 years of age is quite remarkable, particularly on the nose. The palate shows more sweetness and less of that coastal character than the nose, but it also has a lovely viscous texture to it that is quite surprising & really enjoyable. I'm assuming that viscosity is at least partly coming from the spirit itself, which is a good thing! I shouldn't be surprised really. As we're constantly being reminded in this wide world of whisky, age is just a number!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Local pricing on The Hearach is very reasonable, especially considering that it's a full-size bottle at a relatively decent age - not the minimum legal age of 3-years. That's the advantage of doing such a large quantity for your first whisky release, of course. The Hearach does hide its relative youth extremely well - there's a great mellow, even-paced balance to this dram. A "crowd pleaser" I'd say, but not by the usual bland & boring definition, more that there's something for everyone. Keep an eye out for this one when it finally lands down under!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Congratulations to The Isle of Harris Distillery on their first whisky release, and here's to many more in future! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div></div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-90414940834860934482023-11-12T18:05:00.006+10:002023-11-12T18:05:54.504+10:00Ardbeg Heavy Vapours Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">My first taste of the 2023 Feis Ile release; a "de-purified" Ardbeg. This another two-for-one review; featuring both the standard boxed release at 46% and the "naked" Committee Release at 50.2%. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKFrgXiYYsRfwfivIB10S41JvFKbun0AiZMVQn5mkdF3UeP1YY5NR_8a8U0vcSF8BCoGD7MW7PG2cb4qIK4ot-knajB0n31SvC9cL0znEu-DvqZJINU1T34KN7mWxfM9GhyTU_C4Z2hrQw8ODliPzwge5LO3EnZU5xUf-vd-FKu95pikS03d7C751GttE/s5184/IMG_0495.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhwKFrgXiYYsRfwfivIB10S41JvFKbun0AiZMVQn5mkdF3UeP1YY5NR_8a8U0vcSF8BCoGD7MW7PG2cb4qIK4ot-knajB0n31SvC9cL0znEu-DvqZJINU1T34KN7mWxfM9GhyTU_C4Z2hrQw8ODliPzwge5LO3EnZU5xUf-vd-FKu95pikS03d7C751GttE/w400-h300/IMG_0495.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I'm trying to avoid being too negative and cynical here, but Ardbeg are trying to fix what most definitely was NOT broken with some of their recent limited releases. They've been mucking around with fermentation times, heavily roasted barley, and now the stills themselves, instead of just giving us a cask strength 10-year old or sticking to their tried & tested formula of different cask types married with "regular" ex-bourbon casks. Alongside Laphroaig, Ardbeg basically pioneered releasing widely available bottlings for the Islay Festival / Feis Ile. That started way back in 2012 with the first Ardbeg Day release, at a time when the other distilleries were still doing very small batches or even single casks that were only available from the physical distillery shops during the festival. Before anyone shouts "what about El Diablo and Alligator?" from the rooftops, they only released 1,200 bottles of the former PX-matured rarity in 2011 compared to 12,000 bottles of Ardbeg Day the following year, and while <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2016/06/ardbeg-alligator-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Alligator</a> was fantastic it wasn't a Feis Ile / Ardbeg Day bottling. The other distilleries have mostly caught up on this act since, although most releases are still only available from their own shops and/or websites, while Ardbeg continue to ship their commemorative release to selected countries all over the world. Most of the Ardbeg Day / Feis Ile releases have been variations on a basic theme, featuring their regular spirit either partly matured or finished in some exotic type of cask, ranging from <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2015/01/sherry-not-just-for-your-grandparents.html" target="_blank">manzanilla sherry</a> to rum. The ABVs continue to drop every year, but availability has improved, although pricing has increased substantially. That's the case with any distillery over that timespan, though. Lately Ardbeg seem to be focussing on more "experimental" whiskies that have been altered at the early stages of production rather than only in the final stage (maturation). You could argue that they've been doing this sort of thing for a while, from the unpeated Blasda to the super-heavily peated Supernova, but those were merely changes of peating levels on the malted barley and/or the source of that barley, rather than significant changes to the production of the spirit itself.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Which (finally) brings me to my point. 2023's Feis Ile / Ardbeg Day release, 'Heavy Vapours', has done just that. Ardbeg's main point of difference among the Islay distilleries - particularly both neighbours - has always started in its production regimen. Aside from more technical things like still sizes & fill levels, lyne arm angles, and spirit cut points, there are two main points of difference in their spirit production process. First is the partially-longer fermentation made necessary by the 23,500-litre washbacks which aren't matched / balanced to the size of the wash still, which has a capacity of 18,000-litres but is filled to 11,000 litres. So half of each batch of wash stays in the fermenter / washback while the other half goes through its first distillation. Prior to their recent expansion Ardbeg only had a single pair of stills, so this choke point was unavoidable, but they haven't said whether this partial-extra fermentation still takes place post-expansion where they now have two pairs of stills and have effectively doubled their production capacity. We won't see the results from this expansion for a few years yet, but I would hope that they've just increased production while keeping these quirks in place. The second and perhaps more important point of difference at Ardbeg is in the spirit still/s. Both the old and new spirit stills are fitted with purifiers, which are small copper drums that are attached to the lyne arms. The idea here is that heavier vapours travelling along (in this case, up) the lyne arm/s will be "caught" in this purifier which then channels them back into the body or neck of the stills for re-distillation, which in theory - all other things being equal - results in a lighter spirit. While plenty of other Scotch whisky distilleries use purifiers Ardbeg is the only one on Islay, and this is believed to be the main reason that Ardbeg's spirit profile is something of a contradiction, being balanced between heavy, oily & peaty, and relatively light, fruity & sweet. This is still a heavily peated southern Islay malt, using 55 <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-this-peat-stuff-anyway.html" target="_blank">ppm</a> malted barley, but it's not as heavy as it could be if these two things, the partial extra fermentation and the purifier on the spirit still/s, didn't happen. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As you've probably guessed by the name, for this year's Feis Ile release Ardbeg have blocked off that purifier, theoretically allowing those heavier vapours to travel up the lyne arm into the condenser to become spirit. So unlike the lacklustre <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/05/ardbeg-fermutation-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Fermutation</a> release which was basically an attempt to salvage the results of an accident, Heavy Vapours was created purposefully. More of a "what if?" than a "what now?". I'm trying to keep an open mind here, and an experimental heavier, thicker Ardbeg sounds promising on paper. But that purifier is there for a reason, and it's a crucial part of what makes Ardbeg Ardbeg. You don't see Bruichladdich cutting their still necks in half to see what would happen, and you don't see Lagavulin fitting a reflux onion / boil ball to their still necks to see what would happen. But Ardbeg have never been afraid to muck with things, and this time they've targeted the purifier. In theory this change would also allow more sulphur and more phenols to get through to the new make spirit. Aside from this change in production we don't have a lot of other information on this whisky, other than a quote from Bill Lumsden stating that this experiment was only done once, twelve years ago. So we can assume that Heavy Vapours is around 10-11 years old. We don't know what casks they've used, we only know that the purifier wasn't used, and that the two versions - the standard release at 46% ABV and the Committee Release at 50.2% ABV - haven't been <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtered</a>. That's all she wrote. The marketing department did have time & space to include some bullshit about "Agent 46", which is something to do with the ridiculous web comic that they're trying (and failing) to get us all to read. Seriously, Ardbeg marketing department, it's not going to happen! That space could be put to much better use - even by leaving it blank...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Just like my previous Ardbeg review, the more recent <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/10/ardbeg-anthology-13-year-old-whisky.html" target="_blank">'Ardbeg Anthology Harpy's Tale'</a>, Heavy Vapours is still readily available in Australia, in both of its iterations. Which is unusual compared to a few years ago, but not unexpected. At the time of writing, on top of Tales of the Harpy and BizzarreBQ and another overpriced batch of Traigh Bhan, Ardbeg have just released another special release, Anamorphic. Which many people, quite rightly, don't seem to give a shit about. Moving right along, we'll do the boxed general release version first, then the "naked" committee release at the higher strength. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYcRJXveyB-vwGC368BW6Uod1oamr_o4IOX0MyaKP2NqhBOp7YqfqlANJlaM2Zx-sE2buE6e6UGKC7VOa-vpqOtZwkzC8iw8C5Ai7DdNn5os29vj3rji06ZP2O0ZL9g08bAp0jfJWwzOXr0BTiYLtdm1uLjAI0RMk15zj_UNnEU4zAerRrscV2BqYl0_F/s794/heavy%20vapours.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="794" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjTYcRJXveyB-vwGC368BW6Uod1oamr_o4IOX0MyaKP2NqhBOp7YqfqlANJlaM2Zx-sE2buE6e6UGKC7VOa-vpqOtZwkzC8iw8C5Ai7DdNn5os29vj3rji06ZP2O0ZL9g08bAp0jfJWwzOXr0BTiYLtdm1uLjAI0RMk15zj_UNnEU4zAerRrscV2BqYl0_F/s320/heavy%20vapours.jpg" width="227" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Ardbeg Heavy Vapours, NAS, 46%. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Distilled without using the purifier on the spirit still, rumoured to be around 11-years old. Non-chill filtered, assumed natural colour. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Very, very pale gold.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Immediately very young. Hot tar & bitumen, hot industrial plastics, burning leafy & woody herbs. Aniseed jube lollies (not liquorice, the clear aniseed jellies/jubes), some old natural rope, and chunky, earthy, muddy peat. Freshly chopped red chillies, and a little under-ripe pineapple. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium-heavy weight. Quite oily, & viscous. Peaty & youthful. Touch of heat but the viscosity carries it well.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Big oily & chunky peatiness, industrial & slightly muddy. Hot tar & bitumen again, more red chillies but they're dried this time rather than fresh. There's a syrupy sugary sweetness to it, and it's entirely from the spirit itself rather than any cask influence (which is almost non-existent). Sharp lime juice and canvas / hessian sacking heading to the finish. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Still considerably peaty, still raw & industrial. Hot industrial plastics, burning herbs, thick oily & dank peat. Black pepper, lemon oil, and a little cardboard. Throw a couple of Szechuan peppercorns in there too. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3 out of 5. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Not sure I believe that unofficial quote about this being 11-years old. Older than Wee Beastie yes, but I'd say 8-years old, or maybe 7. Those of us who tasted Ardbeg Very Young, Still Young and Almost There back in the day will know that there's absolutely nothing wrong with young Ardbeg on paper, but unlike those early releases Heavy Vapours has seemingly spent all of that time in very tired, very inactive refill casks. Third or fourth fill hogsheads at a guess. Which I suppose is fine by me, including active casks in the mix would potentially hide the difference that deleting that purifier has made. Thankfully the heavier, oilier peatiness and more viscous texture carries the youthfulness nicely here. I'd put the peat levels on par with some of the later 2014-on Supernova bottlings (not the originals from 2009 & 2010), but in terms of character there's a rather different peatiness to Heavy Vapours. That lime juice, black pepper, tar, and old rope is all very Ardbeg spirit, but it does definitely feel heavier, peatier, and more viscous. That could be because it's an entirely spirit driven whisky, which is not a criticism provided there's enough maturity and texture alongside, which I think there is in this case. Just. Fans of Lagavulin 8-year old will find this familiar, just with a little less depth and complexity in comparison. Only peat lovers need apply, and even then you may need to be in the mood. But I'm enjoying this one more than I expected to!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Right, on to the big one; the Committee Release at 50.2%. As usual, this one was a similar price to the regular version at the lower strength, and doesn't come with a box. Gone are the days when the committee releases were bottled at cask strength, the gap between the two versions seems to get closer every year. They're also sold at regular retailers these days, rather than only from the Committee website and promptly selling out. In theory this higher strength version should be heavier and oilier than the regular Heavy Vapours at 46%. But there's only one way to find out...</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeswKGFeDZZLwjRLS-XQ5X-rcO4VsJ5NYnJ04aIXtjSRQfNP_BJJVbz3oGsQlXWQnfT0PIrVsV6Q7RMh5OcrCDMLY3lJBr9qMzHcVwYwxTNW_wq-PwO3lI3br28M_GVl4hn3fUGNeWnB2v2ohF0VGUnMDDfnJTOmUcFlbOB9o0rh4WtD-53RhSJEOO1FeA/s778/heavy%20vapours%20CR.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="778" data-original-width="257" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgeswKGFeDZZLwjRLS-XQ5X-rcO4VsJ5NYnJ04aIXtjSRQfNP_BJJVbz3oGsQlXWQnfT0PIrVsV6Q7RMh5OcrCDMLY3lJBr9qMzHcVwYwxTNW_wq-PwO3lI3br28M_GVl4hn3fUGNeWnB2v2ohF0VGUnMDDfnJTOmUcFlbOB9o0rh4WtD-53RhSJEOO1FeA/s320/heavy%20vapours%20CR.jpg" width="106" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Ardbeg Heavy Vapours Committee Release, NAS, 50.2%. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">As above. </div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Very pale gold again. No difference to my eyes.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Bigger & punchier, still very youthful and raw, if not more so than the 46%-er. More red chillies, plus some clove oil, and industrial hot plastics. Syrupy sweetness but it's also floral - which is unexpected. Disinfectant, tar, warm gravel & sand. Black pepper, and chunky, earthy peat that is drier & more vegetal. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Raw and punchy, a bit of a bruiser. Rougher and hotter, but not overly so. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Big peppery, jagged entry. Definitely sweeter than the 46% version, a syrupy floral sweetness, with more clove and lemon oils as well. Dry earthy peat, with more roots & plant matter to it. A little under-ripe banana behind all that. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Szechuan peppercorns & clove oil, bitter woody herbs, a little powdered aniseed and more hot plastic. Boiled root vegetables, flash of something a little metallic too. Touch of cheap cooking chocolate. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>2.5 out of 5. And only just. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Fascinating that it feels both sweeter and more floral than the 46%-er, and also less peaty. That's not what most would expect from a higher ABV version of the same whisky, where that peatiness is hidden behind a higher ABV. But it certainly can happen with oily, peaty, spirit-driven whiskies. Also with some peated new make spirits for that matter, where water is needed to bring the phenolics out. The committee release version certainly feels younger and more raw & jagged than the 46%, which I suppose could be expected. While the standard version will appeal to fans of Lagavulin 8-year old, this 50.2% committee release is catering more to mezcal fans. Particularly the unaged, dirty, and industrial mezcals. Maybe the Committee Release is just too young, at least to my tastes. The 46% standard bottling is notably superior in my book. There's only been one previous instance where I've preferred the 46% version of an Ardbeg Day / Feis Ile release to the higher ABV Committee Release - which was back in 2017 with Ardbeg Kelpie. Unfortunately the 46% version of Heavy Vapours isn't any cheaper than the committee one, and it's also less "collectable". But if you're planning on drinking it, don't chase the higher strength this time. No, I didn't expect to be saying that either!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">The "bigger picture" point to consider here is that Lagavulin 8-year old is half the price of both of these Ardbegs, and it's bottled at 48% rather than the 46% of the standard version of Heavy Vapours. Which is why I still say that Ardbeg shouldn't be trying to fix what isn't broken, obscuring their distillery's points of difference in the process - if we want a heavier, oilier, peatier & less fruity version of Ardbeg, then we'll just buy Lagavulin! Like most of the good distilleries Ardbeg's spirit character is unique, with the almost-contradictory bright & fruity sweetness that balances the oily & maritime peatiness. But if you do away with most of the former points and boost up the latter points, I'd say you're starting to emulate some of your competitors. I like an experiment as much as the next whisky geek, but I'll be glad if this experimental Ardbeg is only a one-off. Stick to the tried & true formula Ardbeg, it's why we love you!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com5tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-67476527049419307722023-10-22T18:46:00.000+10:002023-10-22T18:46:53.185+10:00Old Master Spirits 55-Year Old Cognac Review!<div style="text-align: left;">Another single cask brandy with a serious age statement from Melbourne-based duo Old Master Spirits! These guys really are spoiling us...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIB9O8N8O0_6d1CuStr2Ju7LoCe2zflL0YFYiK9FbGuZxLhCQaw_ABzESopWTsSmh79TZBG-xMgmDLC05wQn4eb6E46UnO48rE2Ox-tx8HDHDCNzoTZK7HjS4JRiwttVdswnLLX8k1NeehulbA9O2OV1DLqQPUEWkWweEM8HIJr1IbFH4nHhmtv5LW1CY/s2400/Old%20Master%20Spirits2.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1600" data-original-width="2400" height="213" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNIB9O8N8O0_6d1CuStr2Ju7LoCe2zflL0YFYiK9FbGuZxLhCQaw_ABzESopWTsSmh79TZBG-xMgmDLC05wQn4eb6E46UnO48rE2Ox-tx8HDHDCNzoTZK7HjS4JRiwttVdswnLLX8k1NeehulbA9O2OV1DLqQPUEWkWweEM8HIJr1IbFH4nHhmtv5LW1CY/s320/Old%20Master%20Spirits2.png" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div>Old spirits are often taken for granted, so let's get some perspective here. 1968. Well over five decades ago. The Vietnam war is at its peak, Martin Luther King has been assassinated, we're still a year away from landing on the moon, and I'm still sixteen years away from being born. Meanwhile in south-western France, this cognac was being distilled and filled into a cask, where it would stay for the next 55-years. Longer than many readers or their parents, or even grandparents, will have been alive. Absolutely crazy to think about. Even more so when you see the price - $299 AUD in a 500ml bottle. Yes, a 55-year old single cask cognac, naturally presented and cask strength, at a similar price to many Australian whiskies, many of which are also 500ml bottles and are only 2-3 years of age. That's just as crazy to think about as the 55-year age statement. Sure, you could point to our ridiculous tax system as the culprit, but all brandies still attract an excise of $93.44 AUD per litre of alcohol - $7 lower than other spirits, because the Australian government loves the wine industry and hates everyone else. Don't get me wrong, many of those Australian whiskies are delicious, and I don't intend to entirely turn to the dark side anytime soon. But this 55-year old cognac is a totally different proposition to whisky in terms of value for money, and spirits geeks always love an underdog. Frankly, this cognac too cheap - in fact it's $65 cheaper than <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/04/old-master-spirits-51-year-old-cognac.html" target="_blank">this</a> 51-year old cognac that Old Master released 18-months ago. I don't see how they're still doing this when the rest of the spirits world has gone mad with price increases! That's what happens when two drinks geeks take on a passion project and decide to show us what we've been missing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtnc9sTolgmwDQBRBy7Z_poWlJ2kOoyTv6O7tYqEgmuIrVogQ5sM8qtZdB8VDwzYtCM6r-RrJWVSdGn9CH67_mg6Vq4os_qnSaK48htR9UyPe3maWuwsVUQtoecYKGL2FSEeFwiur8vJr7aQq3VftWujFsYr-czyYoD2_6GqMqtMkv130-V6FQusOj3cP/s623/peyrot%201968.jpg" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="623" data-original-width="504" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmtnc9sTolgmwDQBRBy7Z_poWlJ2kOoyTv6O7tYqEgmuIrVogQ5sM8qtZdB8VDwzYtCM6r-RrJWVSdGn9CH67_mg6Vq4os_qnSaK48htR9UyPe3maWuwsVUQtoecYKGL2FSEeFwiur8vJr7aQq3VftWujFsYr-czyYoD2_6GqMqtMkv130-V6FQusOj3cP/s320/peyrot%201968.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>As a quick refresher, cognac is essentially a brandy that is made in the Cognac region of south-western France. It can only be distilled from a few legally permitted varieties of white grapes that are generally fermented for 2-3 weeks and produce a dry, highly acidic white wine that was never intended for consumption as-is. The wine must then be distilled twice in copper pot stills, and it must be aged in French oak casks for a minimum of two years before bottling at a minimum of 40% ABV. One murky area here is the inclusion of ageing in glass vessels in your age statement, where the spirit is taken out of cask and filled into inert glass demijohns / demijeannes to stop further wood impact, and to stop further evaporation. In this case though, just as with all Old Master bottlings to date, the entirety of those 55-years was spent in an oak cask. The vast majority of cognac is blended, particularly the big name brands, and just like whisky it will often have added e150 spirit caramel colouring. Another legally permitted additive in cognac that is thankfully not found in whisky is 'boise'. This is essentially wood flavour essence or wood syrup, made from boiling wood chips in sugar syrup, that is added to many cognacs for flavour purposes. Just like the all too common practice of adding sugar to rum, this process is artificially flavouring the spirit. Really, if your spirit needs additives for flavour, you're either cutting corners or doing something wrong. Mostly making a rough & nasty spirit, using tired old casks, and not letting it age properly. A quality cognac doesn't need such rubbish, especially when presented properly - i.e. at a decent strength above the minimum 40%, and without chill filtration or added colouring or flavouring. The independent bottling that we're looking at here is a prime example, albeit an extreme one since it's 55-years of age! But this is a single cask, single vineyard cognac, unblended and unadulterated. Just what the doctor ordered. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This Old Master Spirits single cask cognac was distilled at Cognac Peyrot Francois, a small privately-owned producer five hours south-west of Paris in the heart of Cognac's Grande Champagne Cru appellation, the "crème de le crème" of the six cognac production regions. This single 25ha vineyard, known as "Les Bergeronnettes" (The Wagtails), was founded in 1893 and is currently in its fourth generation of family ownership. This 1968-vintage cognac was distilled by Mathilde Peyrot-Barret, grandmother of the current owners and daughter of vineyard founder Jean-Baptiste Peyrot. The vineyard began producing its own cognac in 1956, with the current alembic brandy stills being installed in 1967 - yes, the same stills that produced this 55-year old cognac are still in use today! This 1968 vintage cognac was distilled from Ugni Blanc grapes grown on vines dating back to 1928, and then spent its entire 55-years in Peyrot's cellar maturing in a single French oak cask before being bottled at a natural cask strength of 44.3% ABV. The cask was sourced from the famous Limousin Forest in central France, and yielded just 141 x 500ml bottles after its 55-years in oak - so just over 70-litres of cognac, i.e. not a lot, but that's to be expected after more than half a century in cask. Unlike most of the name brand cognacs and brandies, this independent bottling from Old Master Spirits ticks all the boxes that spirit geeks want - cask strength, natural colour, <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a>, and no additives - no 'boise' wood flavouring, no sugar, no e150, no shenanigans. Single vineyard, unblended, and straight from the cask to the bottle, au natural. This 55-year old cognac is being released on Thursday the 26th of October 2023 - sign up to the Old Master mailing list <a href="https://www.oldmasterspirits.com.au/mailing-list" target="_blank">here</a>, or see <a href="https://www.oldmasterspirits.com.au/release-9" target="_blank">here</a> for more info. Happy hunting!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhro0uWbyvY-5TS_D7LUswtm3G07TIp6s3j1Hz_w6ZDJjZpwGoOxvsgeLMb6aByT5u0j_RwM-nbQPyLjRSaaZTipuR2bl17uTbVYS8hYqxRJ9b_3mIrnxAQO7C5-U-ZutGrnORzxKy-kk0N1XpTvZ5_ylBtN8mH0IL5TtnTAi5B9-FXx5V8oKN4YLVsYR52/s1888/peyrot%201968%20bottle.png" imageanchor="1" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1888" data-original-width="1600" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhro0uWbyvY-5TS_D7LUswtm3G07TIp6s3j1Hz_w6ZDJjZpwGoOxvsgeLMb6aByT5u0j_RwM-nbQPyLjRSaaZTipuR2bl17uTbVYS8hYqxRJ9b_3mIrnxAQO7C5-U-ZutGrnORzxKy-kk0N1XpTvZ5_ylBtN8mH0IL5TtnTAi5B9-FXx5V8oKN4YLVsYR52/s320/peyrot%201968%20bottle.png" width="271" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Old Master Spirits 55-year old Peyrot Cognac, 44.3%. Cognac, France. </b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Distilled 1968, fully matured in single Limousin oak cask, bottled at cask strength. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, no additives. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Rich mahogany.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Rich, sweet & fruity. Stewed stone fruit - apricot, plum, touch of yellow peach. Juicy sultanas, old leather armchair, dark chocolate mousse. Warm baking spices, touch of bitter orange peel, roasted chestnuts. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Rich, sweet, and juicy. No heat whatsoever. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Sweet stone fruit, both dried & stewed here. Apricot & plum again, with more raisins, and dark chocolate mousse. Sweetened espresso, rum & raisin fudge, and a touch of acetone-like floral sweetness. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Dark chocolate, baking spices, orange peel. Sweet raisins in syrup and oily furniture polish take over, with a little vanilla essence. Warm nutty oak, plum pudding, and woody cologne. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>4.5 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Extremely moreish, and absolutely delicious. Great balance of fruit, sweetness, and oak. This would have to be my favourite cognac to date, and also my favourite brandy to date. I can see why the Old Master Spirits team had to jump on this one as soon as they'd tried it. What a find, and what a buy! I've said it before and I'll say it again; any 55-year old single cask spirit for $299 AUD is an absolute steal, and deserves to be more widely appreciated. An equivalent whisky would easily be 20-times that amount, if not more. The same goes for the big cognac brands - which are all blended, and bottled at 40% ABV, and most are artificially coloured and have added flavouring. Natural cognacs like this one need no such rubbish. They're still hidden gems, but they can't stay that way forever. The more they increase in popularity, the more the pricing will start to creep. Am I helping by writing about it, then? Probably not... Don't miss this one if you're a brandy fan. And if you're unsure, split a bottle with a few friends to share the cost. You won't regret it! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks to Deni from Old Master Spirits for the sample for this review. Once again my horizons have been broadened! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-47531957512771191522023-10-08T18:03:00.006+10:002023-10-08T18:03:57.228+10:00SMWS 29.285 (23 Year Old Laphroaig) Whisky Review!<div>A 23-year old single cask Laphroaig from the SMWS' prestigious "Vaults Collection", titled "Fabulous Fusion". It spent 20-years in an ex-bourbon cask, then was secondary matured / finished in an STR ex-sherry cask for a further 3-years. That's something different, especially for a whisky of this age!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyA-rLRNLrcPvPVRXXfskD9tC1E4ZyJn-2LtAInKbGQ_NCfYOTFAohHu8SN2IwjKqwzNI2AQkv7Xm8sxJBYD79MtRZ6GI1G4uHsuYMy4eEpvptzMZ22KPCqH621GmAa-sBWM8bWkhBHRdZfulLqX5RFeE6lvjfrOeMpmFiZja4-ulwjxvX--1K6rhi4h2G/s5184/IMG_0611.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjyA-rLRNLrcPvPVRXXfskD9tC1E4ZyJn-2LtAInKbGQ_NCfYOTFAohHu8SN2IwjKqwzNI2AQkv7Xm8sxJBYD79MtRZ6GI1G4uHsuYMy4eEpvptzMZ22KPCqH621GmAa-sBWM8bWkhBHRdZfulLqX5RFeE6lvjfrOeMpmFiZja4-ulwjxvX--1K6rhi4h2G/w400-h300/IMG_0611.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a.k.a. the SMWS or "The Society", have never been afraid to play around with different cask types, whether for cask finishing or for full maturation. There aren't many independent bottlers who'd be game to play around with a 23-year old single cask Laphroaig, most just wouldn't take the risk of it going backwards or letting the cask influence go too far. But cask strength Laphroaig tends to hold up well to assertive casks, possibly better than any other Scotch whisky. Their spirit seems to easily withstand full-term maturation in Oloroso or even PX sherry, which is not something I'd say about any other Islay make. With these cask-heavy Laphroaigs the results can still be excellent. In this particular case, the Society have done something a little unusual. Rather than the usual refill bourbon maturation or oloroso sherry finish, this 23-year old single cask Laphroaig has been finished in an STR cask that was seasoned with Oloroso sherry. The STR (shaved, toasted, and re-charred) cask treatment was pioneered by the late Dr. Jim Swan, but is usually carried out on ex-red wine casks rather than sherry seasoned ones. What isn't made clear is whether this was an ex-sherry cask that was given the STR treatment or an STR cask that was then seasoned / re-seasoned with sherry, but given the wording on the front label below, "first-fill ex-Oloroso barrique", I'm going to assume it was an ex-sherry cask that was then given the STR treatment. The STR part of the equation is only mentioned at the end of their official tasting notes. "Barrique" by the way is a generic French word for "barrel", so it doesn't tell us anything specific about cask size, but the term is most often used in the wine industry to refer to 220-250-litre casks, so broadly similar to a hogshead. What we do know is that this whisky spent 20-years maturing in a single ex-bourbon hogshead (250-litre) cask before being transferred into that STR ex-sherry cask for a further 3-years. </div><div><br /></div><div>Older Laphroaigs can be absolutely fantastic, both in official and independent bottlings. Rather than the assertive peaty & medicinal flavours found in the younger examples, when it hits roughly 20 years of age it can take on a more fruity, citrusy (particularly grapefruit in the good ones) and sometimes tropical profile, and in 25 > year old examples that's often joined by sweet & soft floral notes that are worlds apart from the standard 10-year old official bottling. However, just like every distillery in the whisky world, age alone is no guarantee of either quality or maturity. Some of the "old guard" may look down their noses at a significantly aged single malt that has been finished or secondary matured in an additional cask, but that's a very narrow view. Sure, sometimes a cask finish is done to give a lazy or under-par whisky a kick in the pants, to get it up to scratch and thus get it out the door. But this practice is also done to add complexity and/or additional flavours to that aged whisky to help set it apart. Often when done well the result is more than the sum of its parts, particularly when it's allowed to evolve over a decent period of time, rather than being thrown into a wet cask for a few months prior to bottling. </div><div><br /></div><div>Aged whiskies like this one are inevitably going to become harder & harder to find for the independent bottlers, particularly from the desirable distilleries and even more so the desirable Islay distilleries. Which of course means they'll become more & more expensive for both the bottler and thus for the customer. And they're already far from cheap, of course. You'll struggle to get a 20+ year old Laphroaig for less than $700 AUD from most independent sources let alone an official bottling, and another decade of age could easily double that figure. One exception is the recent run of 28-30 year old "unnamed" or "mystery" Islay bottlings that have popped up lately, from the likes of The Whisky Jury, Port Askaig and Thompson Bros, many of which seem to be anonymous Laphroaig. These can be had for sub-$1,000 AUD, which is still a big chunk of money for a bottle of whisky, but is unfortunately quite reasonable in the ongoing madness of 2023. As a comparison for those playing overseas, the 30-year old Laphroaig "Ian Hunter Series" official bottling is priced at $2,500-3,000 here. As for this SMWS single cask example, I can't find any Australian references to a retail SMWS members price for 29.285, but I'd assume it was similar to todays pricing for these 'Vaults Collection' bottlings which ranges anywhere from $900-3,500. As we've talked about before, the SMWS bottling code 29.285 means it's a Laphroaig, distillery code 29, and the 285 means it was the 285th cask of Laphroaig that the SMWS has bottled. The sample for this review came from a generous fellow whisky nerd who opened this bottle to celebrate his 40th birthday, and it went down a treat. Let's see how it goes this time around!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNL4ip1VVOYj3M2U8f1pceYvGrC8EO8n5NqxfGyR1-agX3bF99SnYFSrPnCBL7fap1Dfbcpffvbfb7tnYU_tiw5JdcQjjkeqgJPySgHciM9WdhmGEdxWtHDkjBh6xEEhMDV60MmJWCUzQSaqYtNaAQev2TQH_RKlGTEoMFekcatOOnFYkkJm8MxOylHlE/s579/smws%2029.285.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="579" data-original-width="403" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhuNL4ip1VVOYj3M2U8f1pceYvGrC8EO8n5NqxfGyR1-agX3bF99SnYFSrPnCBL7fap1Dfbcpffvbfb7tnYU_tiw5JdcQjjkeqgJPySgHciM9WdhmGEdxWtHDkjBh6xEEhMDV60MmJWCUzQSaqYtNaAQev2TQH_RKlGTEoMFekcatOOnFYkkJm8MxOylHlE/s320/smws%2029.285.jpg" width="223" /></a></div><div><br /></div><b>SMWS 29.285, 23-year old Laphroaig, 55.2%. Islay, Scotland.</b><div>Distilled 13/5/98, matured in ex-bourbon hogshead for 20-years, secondary matured in single first-fill STR Oloroso sherry cask for 3-years. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 194 bottles, released mid-2022. <br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Bronze.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Rich, dense, earthy, sweet & spicy. Thick chai & cinnamon spiced caramel, cigar box, old leather, earthy mushroom. Bitter orange around the edges. Getting quite meaty with more time - Chinese BBQ pork? With sweet dark soy sauce. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Medium-heavy weight. Rich, thick, spicy, meaty, lightly peaty. Slight heat. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>Big, rich & powerful entry. Thick spiced caramel, BBQ pork with sweet dark soy sauce. Touches of that earthy mushroom & bitter orange. Furniture polish, cigars, Chinese five-spice mix. Touch of dried red chilli. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Soft old leather, more mushroom, spicy charred wood, hint of sweet lemon. Thick sweet soy, maybe even hoisin sauce but not as sweet. More dried red chilli. Finally the peat gets through, dry, earthy & spicy peat, with a big dose of sea salt. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Notes: </b>Big, big whisky! Mega-rich, dense, and powerful. Simultaneously sweet, earthy, meaty, and spicy, and certainly not shy. There's something very "Asian BBQ" about it, which is intriguing. There are still some shades of sherry cask as well, but with a much bigger wood impact - which is exactly what you'd expect from this cask treatment. Totally different to any Laphroaig that I've had before, particularly at this sort of age. Is this too much cask influence though? It's probably close to the line, but hasn't quite gone over it. At least to my tastes. Like I said above, Laphroaig can seemingly stand up to just about any cask treatment without losing its identity, probably better than any other Scotch whisky. And this 23-year old is just another example of that. If you'd put a Caol Ila or Bowmore etc. through this treatment, chances are there'd be no distillery character left at all.</div><div><br /></div><div>They say Guinness is "a meal in a glass", right? Well this SMWS Laphroaig is a Chinese BBQ banquet in a Glencairn. </div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers!</div></div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-35220996313778450552023-10-02T17:22:00.004+10:002023-10-02T17:22:57.422+10:00Ardbeg Anthology 13 Year Old Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">"A sauternes cask influenced Ardbeg! One please! Oh wait, what? It's $240? And 46%? OK, let me call you back..."</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNUF7GQSJ5AwFDvlT6HacywoS_oZKKdW8a00FCSoXAV1Yhuu35GWTPMZ-Z_j-TiBsIMxGbPEhtUZg1EvkO4bkBz5z18gSUg9SKQ9lmxz5u5-CFEpQVThIQytdzBtHTDO_AV6YJpvjvjhi7Ko5tesmH_9W5nMlK7S0FOCr7xLVgPxod6Q_RFwCdzpGDXDi/s5184/IMG_0542.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjNNUF7GQSJ5AwFDvlT6HacywoS_oZKKdW8a00FCSoXAV1Yhuu35GWTPMZ-Z_j-TiBsIMxGbPEhtUZg1EvkO4bkBz5z18gSUg9SKQ9lmxz5u5-CFEpQVThIQytdzBtHTDO_AV6YJpvjvjhi7Ko5tesmH_9W5nMlK7S0FOCr7xLVgPxod6Q_RFwCdzpGDXDi/w400-h300/IMG_0542.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Despite the Ardbeg limited releases coming thick & fast in the last couple of years, the excitement surrounding this Ardbeg Anthology "The Harpy's Tale" was significant. Not only does it have an age statement of 13-years, it is the first in a new series of bottlings, and it is influenced by - but not 100% matured in - a cask that Ardbeg have never used before. We all knew it was going to be expensive, and to be fair it could've been worse. The sticking point for many came with the ABV, which is "only" 46%. I have no issue with 46% ABV myself, that's often the sweet spot for many single malts, and of course is also the official threshold that negates the need for <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a>. But ABV does have to be taken into account when a large chunk of the competition at this price point (e.g. Lagavulin 12, Octomore 13.1, among others) weighs in significantly higher. Even in Ardbeg's own current line-up of semi-limited releases you have the 8-year old 'For Discussion' at 50.8% and the more recent 'BizarreBQ' at 50.9%, both of which are roughly 40-50% cheaper ($115 and $145 respectively) than this 13-year old. They're also very tasty, and arguably offer better value than even the regular core range Uigeadail and Corryvreckan do at their current prices. Let's be realistic, it's 2023 and this new 13-year old is a limited release Ardbeg, it was always going to sell regardless of price or ABV. They could have priced it at $300 or upwards - if it had been bottled at 50% they probably would have - and it still would've sold. Aside from attracting less tax/excise, bottling at the (relatively) lower strength also means there are more bottles to go around. The interesting thing is that despite being released last month, at the time of writing this whisky is still available on the Ardbeg Committee website, and probably in local retailers as well. The same applies to Heavy Vapours, the 2023 Feis Ile/Ardbeg Day bottling which was released back in May, even in the higher strength Committee Release version. Not long ago that would certainly not have been the case, these releases would be be long gone. Perhaps the number of bottles in these releases and/or the local allocations are larger than they used to be. Or maybe it's a sign of the times. Or maybe Ardbeg have alienated some of their fan base with all of these special releases...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Slight digression here; that 8-year old 'For Discussion' at $115 AUD from <a href="http://ardbegcommittee.com.au">ardbegcommittee.com.au</a> is an absolute bargain, and if you haven't bought one already then you really should. If memory serves it was $130 when it was first released a couple of years ago, which was already a great buy, but at $115 it's currently less than the local RRP for the core range 10-year old bottling. I wouldn't necessarily say that the 8-year old is a better whisky than the 10, but unlike many of the releases in the last few years it's certainly on par with it, and is nicely differentiated from it - being a higher ABV and being matured solely in sherry casks. I've reviewed it <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2021/12/ardbeg-8-year-old-for-discussion-whisky.html" target="_blank">here</a> if you'd like more details. Let's get back on topic!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This 13-year old is the first release in Ardbeg's new 'Anthology' series. They haven't said how many releases there'll be in the series or how often they'll be released, and "anthology" is just a fancy term for collection/compilation, so there aren't any clues there. They have told us that these releases will all be influenced by unusual cask types, meaning unusual for Ardbeg. In this case they've used sauternes wine casks, which can work brilliantly with peated whisky if you ask me, and is certainly something new for an official bottling of Ardbeg. Sauternes is a sweet white wine from the Sauternes region of southern France where the grapes have been affected by the botrytis fungus, which is also known as "noble rot". In basic terms this concentrates the sugars in the fruit, with the resulting sweet wine generally having flavours of sweet white & yellow fruit, balanced with some acidity. Some of these wines can also be quite "funky", particularly with age, and can also get very expensive. The interesting thing with this new Ardbeg is that it hasn't been 100% matured in the sauternes casks, nor has it been finished in them. This whisky is a combination of both ex-bourbon casks and ex-sauternes casks, both matured separately and vatted / blended together for bottling. That's significant to us Ardbeg nerds because it's what they used to do with most of their special / limited releases, up until <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2019/03/ardbeg-drum-committee-release-whisky.html" target="_blank">Ardbeg Drum</a> hit the shelves in 2019 which is when cask finishing became more prominent. In theory the separate maturation method should give us more distillery character and more balance, which does seem to be the case with some of those pre-2019 examples. We don't know the proportions of each cask type that went in to this bottling, nor the number of casks or bottles that were released, but based on smell & taste they haven't been shy with the sauternes influence. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Oh, and what about the name "The Harpy's Tale"? Well, as we've come to expect from Ardbeg, it's a piece of mythology that has nothing to do with the distillery, or the island, or the whisky. A harpy is a half-bird, half-man creature from Greek or Roman mythology, basically a giant bird with a human torso and head. Supposedly Ardbeg have named this whisky after the harpy because it has a combination of sweet and smoky flavours, and a harpy is a combination of bird and person. Moving right along... Actually no. Dear Ardbeg, why couldn't you just give the marketing department the day off and call this "Ardbeg Sauternes Cask"? Or "Ardbeg Sweet Wine Cask"? Or even "Ardbeg Noble Cask"? I get it, it's supposed to add a bit of fun, but the extra fluff & flannel is totally unnecessary with something like this that actually has a genuine unique selling point. OK, now let's move along...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXewjqv8O-YLPyAKj06Ri4QR9FZKGZ2x36E3mnUIhQukZhsrqu-fSo3Ylt543y3G9liuN7mIKHy7JhvTUFkg61DN227c08lP9x902GEuyHt40sFOud_7TZmV5bcyqQsuy3_tOLIKgpWHXpXjrF3mss2UAtNoYuTfI0UoAqzdHmDMvcddsaVyRLPBDCPe5W/s699/Ardbeg%20Harpy.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="699" data-original-width="445" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgXewjqv8O-YLPyAKj06Ri4QR9FZKGZ2x36E3mnUIhQukZhsrqu-fSo3Ylt543y3G9liuN7mIKHy7JhvTUFkg61DN227c08lP9x902GEuyHt40sFOud_7TZmV5bcyqQsuy3_tOLIKgpWHXpXjrF3mss2UAtNoYuTfI0UoAqzdHmDMvcddsaVyRLPBDCPe5W/s320/Ardbeg%20Harpy.jpg" width="204" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Ardbeg Anthology 13-Year Old "The Harpy's Tale", 46%. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Fully matured in both ex-bourbon and ex-sauternes sweet wine casks, proportions unknown. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Sweet, spicy, and a little nippy. Touches of white wine vinegar acidity, sweet honey, and dried woody herbs. Sweet fruit - pineapple, lychee, white peach, touch of sweet banana. Green grapes and white pepper. Tar, hessian (sack cloth), and ashy smoke underneath. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, sweet, herbal. Slight heat but pleasant. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Sweet fruit again, white peach nectar / juice. Touches of spearmint and white pepper around the edges. Bitter lemon peel, olive oil, more white wine vinegar, and dried woody herbs. Tarry smoke, hessian cloth again, and some fresh cut wood. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium-long length. Still a little nippy here. Juicy sweet fruit again with that peach nectar, pineapple, and lychees in syrup. Olive oil and lemon peel again, touch of aniseed & powdered ginger. Tarry smoke, more fresh oak, and fruit syrup to finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Certainly does what it says on the tin (box)! The extra sweetness from the sauternes is immediately obvious, with that "white" fruit in syrup. Nicely oily in texture and taste as well. Seems a little rough though, that nippy heat is unexpected at a decent age and (relatively) lower ABV. Almost like the alcohol isn't fully integrated despite the use of active casks. And the texture isn't quite enough to cover it up. Still, I'd say this was a successful experiment! It's hard to resist comparisons with the two reigning masters of sauternes casks; Bruichladdich - e.g. Port Charlotte SC01, Octomore 4.2/10.2/12.2, and some of the Micro Provenance single casks - and Kilchoman - e.g. the Sauternes Matured from 2016 and the Sauternes Finish from 2018, and countless single cask releases. All of those listed were higher in ABV and are/were similarly priced to this Ardbeg when they were launched, albeit years ago now.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Still, this 13-year old is pleasantly fruity, very sweet but not cloying or overwhelming, and softly peaty & smoky with the distillery signature still intact. Which is what we're all looking for in a sauternes cask peated whisky. I have no doubt that being married with ex-bourbon casks has helped keep the cask influence in check, and if you ask me, it would've become overly sweet had they gone with 100% ex-sauternes. So, recommended, yes. But not entirely sure it's worth $240...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com4tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-58753026407231525382023-09-17T18:06:00.002+10:002023-09-17T18:06:48.771+10:00Bakery Hill Blunderbuss 2022 & Metamorphosis Whisky Reviews!<div style="text-align: left;">Two recent additions from Melbourne's quiet achievers, Bakery Hill! We have the second release of Blunderbuss, their stout cask finish, and Metamorphosis, their first Muscat cask finish, which is peated!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheC51tQ2gBCgxAQ_j_VvCLzr0tEjwiufPH2os10sIJ8yOonZCC4fhvxP_v0WdBo3ANRiKuu-wGt7MPeIePDiQt6MzHKIPQK06VaWw-jXOHnkPAu-gSVckNpdYRZxy4NDuwteEuVj1liweJF9rFkVL1tb9Nmf5LXFfzzu2GoTc9zwX0PEVnAoY2qhSntKgE/s724/bakery%20hill.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="689" data-original-width="724" height="305" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEheC51tQ2gBCgxAQ_j_VvCLzr0tEjwiufPH2os10sIJ8yOonZCC4fhvxP_v0WdBo3ANRiKuu-wGt7MPeIePDiQt6MzHKIPQK06VaWw-jXOHnkPAu-gSVckNpdYRZxy4NDuwteEuVj1liweJF9rFkVL1tb9Nmf5LXFfzzu2GoTc9zwX0PEVnAoY2qhSntKgE/s320/bakery%20hill.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><b><i>Distillery founder David Baker & son Andrew.</i></b></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Once largely unknown outside of their home state of Victoria, Melbourne's Bakery Hill is finally starting to make significant waves in the Australian whisky scene after more than 23-years of hard work. I've gone through more of the distillery's origins and points of difference in <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/07/bakery-hill-blunderbuss-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">this</a> recent review, but for many years David Baker and his team were focused on building a solid core range of regular expressions, of consistent quality, at a time when most of the Australian industry were only concerned with the latest limited edition or single cask. Bakery Hill only release single cask bottlings across their entire single malt portfolio, but somehow still manage to keep a level of consistent quality that many larger distilleries would envy! From day one they also focused on retaining the distillery character and spirit character in their whiskies, via the use of larger format ex-bourbon casks, at a time when most of the industry was only concerned with producing the darkest, sweetest - and often youngest - cask driven whisky that they could. Sadly that's still the case for many of our distilleries, where a combination of very clean new make spirits, very active and/or small format wine casks, and of course the Australian climate, deprive their whiskies of any spirit signature or distillery character in no time at all. Thankfully that approach is changing in the wider industry these days! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Aside from these two important points of difference, this tiny operation has always offered reasonable pricing and solid value for money, despite their tiny production capacity. Even here in 2023 where many Australian & Tasmanian whiskies are selling for (or at least asking for) exorbitant prices, Bakery Hill's three core range whiskies - Classic Malt, Double Wood, and Peated Malt - sit at $170 AUD or less, while the two regular cask strength bottlings - Classic Malt and Peated Malt - are at $220 or less. That may sound like a high figure for those playing overseas, and yes they're 500ml bottes, but here in the great southern tax land that's firmly in the mid- to lower end range of the smaller producers. For comparison's sake, Lark's entry level 'Classic Cask' retails for $200 in a 500ml bottle at only 43%, jumping to $250 for their core range Cask Strength, and both are around 5-year olds of age from a much larger company - they're even listed on the Australian stock exchange. Even Bakery Hill's limited releases, which like the core range are all single cask bottlings, are kept at that $180-220 price level, including the two that we're looking at today. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">First cab off the rank in this two-for-one review is the second release of Bakery Hill Blunderbuss, which is a stout cask finish. I've reviewed the first Blunderbuss release <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/07/bakery-hill-blunderbuss-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">here</a>, which hit the shelves in mid-2020, and once again with the 2022 release there's more to this story than a simple beer cask finish. This unpeated single malt first spent six years in an ex-bourbon barrel - already practically middle-aged for an Australian whisky - before spending two further years in an ex-stout cask from Melbourne's Hop Nation brewery. That would be interesting enough on its own, but the stout cask in this case was an ex-bourbon barrel which had previously matured a batch of Bakery Hill's peated single malt - for over a decade! So this cask was an ex-bourbon barrel which then matured Bakery Hill peated single malt, then matured a batch of Hop Nation's 'Kalash' Imperial Stout, then went back to Bakery Hill where it was filled with six-year old unpeated single malt to give us Blunderbuss. Which brings us to the differences between 2020's first edition and this 2022 second release! While the first spent one year in the stout cask for a total age of seven years, this second iteration has seen that finishing period extended out to two years, giving it a total age of eight. The other difference here is in ABV, with the 2020 coming in at 52.0% and this 2022 weighing in at a hefty 58.0%. While the distillery has sold out of this release it can still be found in a couple of other Australian retailers, and both releases were priced at $220 - it's tough to find anything that hasn't jumped in price between 2020 and 2022, so that's commendable. I definitely enjoyed the 2020 edition, but this one promises to be more intense!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaL0sLKUKL8GNqIePNJ9HIPKMruAQ095ivYMlaIPq92Hk7vMAvjLwrnccX_x1uv9PLbp0G-MbVh84Gy4Z_lL-1KnyEWYCkX6MYmHsLtjJypi8YoBm_en4rI4bmTJAwJlWVl7uD38hRY_q_5gSjoRJNwJaViuezdBwr466j6mIqSnK76Yqdm_gHcOwHljqe/s781/Blunderbuss%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="781" data-original-width="307" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaL0sLKUKL8GNqIePNJ9HIPKMruAQ095ivYMlaIPq92Hk7vMAvjLwrnccX_x1uv9PLbp0G-MbVh84Gy4Z_lL-1KnyEWYCkX6MYmHsLtjJypi8YoBm_en4rI4bmTJAwJlWVl7uD38hRY_q_5gSjoRJNwJaViuezdBwr466j6mIqSnK76Yqdm_gHcOwHljqe/s320/Blunderbuss%202022.jpg" width="126" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Bakery Hill Blunderbuss 2022 Edition, Stout Cask Finish, 58.0%. Melbourne, Australia.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">8-year old unpeated single malt matured in an ex-bourbon barrel for 6-years, finished in an ex-Hop Nation stout cask for 2-years. Stout cask was previously an ex-bourbon barrel which had matured Bakery Hill's peated single malt for over a decade. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 250 bottles.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Amber. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Malty, rich, toasty & "stouty". Rich burnt caramel, treacle, and fresh double cream. Fresh chocolate porter beer with foamy head. Touches of sweet tropical fruit & honey underneath. Lemon curd, passionfruit cream, and freshly roasted coffee beans. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Rich & warming, toasty & roasty. Slight heat but carries it well. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>More treacle, chocolate porter beer, and a lovely roasted maltiness. Fresh vanilla marshmallow, strong sweetened coffee with cream. Puffs of earthy peat smoke running underneath. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Becoming fruitier with pineapple juice, passionfruit cream, and lemon curd. Dark chocolate mousse, some crystallised ginger, and coffee grounds. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Another big, rich, stouty, Blunderbuss of a whisky! There's definitely more stout influence here than in the first release from 2020, which is to be expected since it's spent twice as long in the stout cask. It hasn't gone too far though, there's still that sweet tropical fruit, citrus & honey from the spirit and from the original cask. The higher ABV doesn't seem to have done any damage either, carrying itself nicely at that significantly higher strength. I must admit though, while there's not much between them I have to give the win to the first release, and yes I did try them side-by-side just to be sure. The first release just feels a little rounder and more complete, but they're certainly very similar as far as flavour profile and character. Which is to say, they're both very tasty! Now on to part two...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAE0qR7E3Qv3RxOKllqJ417Zq_VjHUy5c9MU9mXn8bELkjY_l3PzHKYXtgSsn5dvOJCI1NB6AU4YNxnBXFQE2lwZwzAPm4fwEptpALTpKf2aDsn5sEDzi0e5ADxayM9eKC9OS81CM6UKHWvi-wRkADLpuF1nDJk17-liP0pNve0i_42LqYVNLQZyCTpMmn/s790/Screenshot_20230709-095123~2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="790" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgAE0qR7E3Qv3RxOKllqJ417Zq_VjHUy5c9MU9mXn8bELkjY_l3PzHKYXtgSsn5dvOJCI1NB6AU4YNxnBXFQE2lwZwzAPm4fwEptpALTpKf2aDsn5sEDzi0e5ADxayM9eKC9OS81CM6UKHWvi-wRkADLpuF1nDJk17-liP0pNve0i_42LqYVNLQZyCTpMmn/w200-h194/Screenshot_20230709-095123~2.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Next up, the latest limited "seasonal" release from Bakery Hill, titled Metamorphosis. Quite the fancy title, but David was a chemistry teacher after all... The word essentially means "to change physical form or structure", e.g. from a caterpillar to a butterfly, in this case referring to the cask finish completely changing the profile of this whisky. Bakery Hill Metamorphosis is a peated single malt, distilled from heavily peated Scottish barley sourced from Baird's on the mainland. The vast majority of peated Australian whisky is made from imported peated malted barley, often mixed in with unpeated Australian malted barley to reduce the peat level, since our commercial maltsters won't entertain the small volumes required by our distillers and won't risk tainting any future batches of malt intended for their corporate brewery contracts. This Bakery Hill was distilled in 2014 and aged for 6-years in an ex-bourbon barrel before being finished in an ex-muscat fortified wine cask for 2-years, and was bottled in 2023 at 48% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. Muscat is a grape variety, but in Australia the term generally refers to a sweet fortified wine also known as a Liqueur Muscat or Rutherglen Muscat after the main producing region. It's broadly similar to a port or tawny in style, rich & sweet, often aged in French oak for a decade or more and typically bottled at 17-18% ABV. These muscat casks are becoming more commonly used in Australian whisky, with larger producers such as Lark, Starward, and Morris all releasing muscat cask whiskies recently. The cask used for Bakery Hill Metamorphosis was a single French oak muscat cask sourced from an unnamed winery in north-eastern Victoria. This release is still available from the distillery website and from a couple of Australian retailers, going for around $190 AUD. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCj5jJLYo-_JPg9TYjyrp9TOJIYwqdPFZEWhAG2DGgIMf_55VOwS4oS-gtpplr8pIIxmtIlSDlDFJ3mJijgjKeXHtnh3f0STqZ2tRCbwsC0QpxmYktTqnTOSeUELvkU3rKn5XmtDKRl0LaZvNjWnyfgbMwR7oO-Ry9OtWvU6bxUDdgZTLRWESkKEKNnU_Z/s743/Metamorphosis.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="743" data-original-width="303" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiCj5jJLYo-_JPg9TYjyrp9TOJIYwqdPFZEWhAG2DGgIMf_55VOwS4oS-gtpplr8pIIxmtIlSDlDFJ3mJijgjKeXHtnh3f0STqZ2tRCbwsC0QpxmYktTqnTOSeUELvkU3rKn5XmtDKRl0LaZvNjWnyfgbMwR7oO-Ry9OtWvU6bxUDdgZTLRWESkKEKNnU_Z/s320/Metamorphosis.jpg" width="130" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Bakery Hill Metamorphosis, Muscat Cask Finish, 48.0%. Melbourne, Australia.</b><div>8-year old peated single malt matured in an ex-bourbon barrel for 6-years and finished in a French oak ex-Muscat fortified wine cask for 2-years. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 290 bottles. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Pale gold.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Big peat! Ashy, dry, bitter, earthy peat with touches of burnt fatty bacon and charcoal briquettes. Nicely acidic too, with lemon zest, white grapes, and a little green banana. Hint of creamy vanilla underneath. Sweet stone fruit coming through with more time. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Surprisingly peaty, sweet & fruity. No heat. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>Big ashy, dry, earthy, bitter peat again. That burnt fatty bacon too, plus a pinch of black pepper now. Green banana and white grape again, but sweeter here with some fairy floss / cotton candy, candied lemon, and sweet dried orange. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Still peaty, but becomes more creamy, citrusy and fruity here. Touch of salt, and tart green apple around the edges. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Notes: </b>Very tasty, and surprisingly peaty! It's been a while since I last tasted Bakery Hill's standard peated single malt, but I don't remember it being this peaty, even at cask strength compared to the 48% in this Metamorphosis release. The muscat cask is nicely integrated as well, not over-sweet & wine dominated like some of the other muscat cask Australian whiskies that I've tried. Instead this just adds some extra sweetness and fruitiness without overtaking the spirit or overdoing the sweetness. Not the most complex dram perhaps, but it's firing on all cylinders and will hit the spot for any lover of peated malts - which is not something I'd say about many peated Australian whiskies. Very well done. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Overall Notes: </b>More great work from this small team of quiet achievers. These two and the first Blunderbuss release are my first experiences of cask finished Bakery Hills, previously I'd only tried the Classic and Peated both at 46% and at cask strength, which are all straight ex-bourbon cask maturation. And I'm very, very impressed! The balance between the finishing cask influence, the original cask influence, and the spirit character is excellent. Which again is not something I'd say about many Australian whiskies where the cask often dominates completely. That shouldn't come as a surprise to anyone though, since Bakery Hill has always been about balance between cask and spirit, patient maturation in more supportive cask types rather than dominant ones, and in larger size formats as well. Which means allowing both aspects to shine, and creating a whisky that is greater than the sum of its parts. And that's the name of the game!<div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks to the distillery's Andrew Baker for the samples for these reviews, and for all the hard work that he & his father David have put into their whisky over the years. There's a new larger distillery in the works at the moment that is much closer to Melbourne itself, which will certainly help Bakery Hill get more attention. Here's to more of their delicious whiskies in the years to come!</div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-54677168031123804532023-09-03T19:41:00.000+10:002023-09-03T19:41:04.196+10:00Glenallachie Future Edition 4-year Old Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">4-year old Glenallachie? 60.2% ABV? The first release of a Glenallachie single malt that was distilled during Billy Walker's ownership? And the first-ever distillation of a peated spirit at Glenallachie. This'll very interesting!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzz09CeR16xLNdHKl4qoVc3yqUPlaEE8YlP4C2G2bDJLuEIb-y5mw-Zh42FJ8hWzdnFn1ISuivYuptoonshKKpxR3XYZ2cC_lPd7Pf2BuIjd8DdbnvZVaKyY29hFzLGD2Vlod3-qmNLigWcKO-y_3v3OCf8HJ6EupTASuHAsvBIH-9geN8lfon_QAOlimI/s792/glenallachie.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="343" data-original-width="792" height="174" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhzz09CeR16xLNdHKl4qoVc3yqUPlaEE8YlP4C2G2bDJLuEIb-y5mw-Zh42FJ8hWzdnFn1ISuivYuptoonshKKpxR3XYZ2cC_lPd7Pf2BuIjd8DdbnvZVaKyY29hFzLGD2Vlod3-qmNLigWcKO-y_3v3OCf8HJ6EupTASuHAsvBIH-9geN8lfon_QAOlimI/w400-h174/glenallachie.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Speyside's Glenallachie Distillery is looking like it'll be another Billy Walker success story, much like Benriach, Glendronach, and Glenglassaugh (to a lesser extent) that came before it. This legendary Master Distiller now has his own cult following, having rescued those three distilleries from their previous owners and then brought them out of the shadows, with the once largely-unknown Benriach and Glendronach now sitting comfortably among the most highly regarded distilleries in Scotland. The revival of these two distilleries under Walker & Co. was so successful that American corporation Brown Forman purchased them in a package deal along with third wheel Glenglassaugh, paying a whopping £285-million for the trio of distilleries back in 2016. Billy Walker didn't rest on his laurels for long, purchasing Glenallachie Distillery from Chivas Brothers (Pernod Ricard) in late 2017 with two business partners, and forming The Glenallachie Distillery Company. As you'd expect from Walker's past performance with rescuing neglected workhorse distilleries from corporate blended whisky machines, he did the same here. Glenallachie was largely unknown as a single malt outside of a couple of official bottlings and some scattered independent bottlings, with most of the 3-4 million litre annual production going into Pernod's blended whiskies like Chivas Regal and Clan Campbell. This is a relatively young distillery that was built in 1967, essentially designed to quickly & efficiently produce a light spirit destined to be used as blend filler. With only two pairs of stills that large production capacity was achieved by quick fermentation and quick & efficient distillation, all in the name of pumping out spirit that would be blended into oblivion and reduced to 40% ABV. One interesting point equipment-wise is that the condensers on the stills, which are the modern shell & tube type as you'd expect, are actually mounted horizontally, which is something I've never seen before. This was supposedly done since the distillery was designed to be gravity fed in the name of energy efficiency, and also to give more control over the condenser temperatures. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Soon after Mr. Walker & Co purchased Glenallachie they extended the fermentation times out to 160 hours and drastically slowed distillation in search of a quality new make spirit. This cut that 3-4 million litre production capacity down to 800,000-litres, with actual production currently sitting at around 500,000. The GlenAllachie brand - note the change to a capital 'A', which is a hallmark of Billy Walker's rescued distilleries - was re-launched as a single malt in mid-2018, with the core range featuring 8-15 year old whiskies and beyond, mostly finished in a number of different cask types ranging from virgin oak to ex-rye whiskey casks and many, many more. As you'd expect from the owners Glenallachie whiskies are now bottled at 46% ABV and above, and are <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a> and natural colour. There's also a range of single cask bottlings and small batch wood finished limited releases, which is another trademark of Billy's. In my experience so far Glenallachie is certainly quite heavy on cask influence, which is no surprise considering these releases were all distilled under the previous owners and probably needed a helping hand to get them up to par. That's often the case with these rescued / resuscitated distilleries. So far I've only tried the flagship 12-year old and a couple of different batches of the 10-year old Cask Strength, which in all honesty haven't exactly wowed me. I do hear that the 15-year old is the highlight of the core range, so I'll keep an open mind as always, but the 10-year old cask strength in particular was surprisingly rough and hot, even after adding water. That track record could be about to change though, since the Glenallachie that we're looking at here is the first release of spirit that was distilled under the current owners, so with the longer fermentation time and slower distillation put into practice. And it's also the first peated spirit ever released by the distillery! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Glenallachie 'Future Edition' is a 4-year old single malt that was released to celebrate Billy Walker's 50th anniversary in the whisky industry. There was also a 'Present Edition' and a 'Past Edition' released at the same time, both aged for 16-years, with the 'Present' being finished in virgin Mizunara (Japanese oak) casks and the 'Past' being fully matured in sherry casks. This 'Future Edition' was distilled in 2017-2018 and bottled in August 2022 at 4-years of age, and at a cask strength of 60.2% ABV. 10,000 bottles were released, taken from a mix of ex-bourbon, ex-rye, and virgin oak casks that were matured separately and vatted together. Aside from the casks, the long fermentation, and the slower distillation, the obvious point of difference here is the peat. This is the first peated Glenallachie ever released, in this case using mainland peat from St. Fergus on the east coast of Scotland, with the malted barley apparently peated to 80 <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-this-peat-stuff-anyway.html" target="_blank">ppm</a>. That's a surprisingly high figure, but I'm not sure if this release was entirely distilled from that peated barley or if there was some unpeated malt / unpeated spirit included in the vatting. For a 4-year old whisky this bottle was on the expensive side from day one, priced at £80 RRP in Great Britain, which would be the equivalent of around $220-250 AUD once landed here in Australia. But it's the first peated Glenallachie ever, it's taken from the first distillation runs under the new owners, and it's bottled at cask strength, so that's understandable. As you'd expect it sold out quite quickly, and it was never imported into Australia. Some local retailers have parallel imported small quantities, and their attempted pricing is frankly stupid. Circa $550 AUD stupid. Unsurprisingly that retailer still has stock available, and let's hope it stays that way. The sample for this review came from a fellow whisky nerd who imported a bottle straight from Europe, and generously sent me a sample to take a look at. Let's do it!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-UIDQOpgI3Gm7lyvXbZy9yaPL6utQ84WvIsTe2V3q9m0klb0mirTNcN1o7fGp-4SFQfVWZZH9Ba-rQSVemGuheozsMnM0NH7eqN3_FFgDIGmRLEYt-wZJQCWkc71frVP9-2xsOaXgzDWajwF94-a4rAnlJuSGY6N41daDn_NXeU2YwOroM6eKZYxxiMmD/s697/glenallachie%204yo.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="697" data-original-width="564" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEg-UIDQOpgI3Gm7lyvXbZy9yaPL6utQ84WvIsTe2V3q9m0klb0mirTNcN1o7fGp-4SFQfVWZZH9Ba-rQSVemGuheozsMnM0NH7eqN3_FFgDIGmRLEYt-wZJQCWkc71frVP9-2xsOaXgzDWajwF94-a4rAnlJuSGY6N41daDn_NXeU2YwOroM6eKZYxxiMmD/s320/glenallachie%204yo.jpg" width="259" /></a></div><b><div><b><br /></b></div>Glenallachie 'Future Edition' 4-year old, 60.2%. Speyside, Scotland.</b><div><div style="text-align: left;">First release distilled under Billy Walker ownership, first peated Glenallachie ever released. Mainland peat, 80 ppm but unsure of % of peated malt used. Distilled 2018, matured in ex-bourbon, ex-rye, and virgin oak, bottled August 2022. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 10,000 bottles.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Sweet, smoky & fruity. Quite sweet in fact. Brisket burnt ends, charcoal briquettes, chemical fire starters (hexamine / kerosene). Cold wood smoke, cinnamon sugar, fatty smoked bacon. Touch of rubber bandaids, fried banana drizzled with thin honey. Sweet nutty oak, red apples, and black pepper. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Light-medium weight. Syrupy texture, sweet & smoky. Quite hot & sharp. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Sharp & hot entry, with burnt bacon and hot ashy wood smoke. Cinnamon flavoured syrup, touch of strong milk coffee, black pepper, and over-roasted nuts. Sweet oak, baking spices, touch of juniper around the edges. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. More cinnamon flavoured syrup, over-roasted nuts, and a touch of fresh rye bread. Sweet red apple, maple syrup, black pepper, and burnt bacon. Flashes of those bandaids & charcoal briquettes to finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Well it certainly is very interesting. The nose is excellent, although certainly on the sweet side there's a nice balance with burnt BBQ meats and wood smoke. The palate and finish lean away from the BBQ notes a touch but become really very sweet, with those cinnamon flavoured syrup notes bordering on sickly for my palate. It's also rather hot, and even aggressive at times. I know this is only a 4-year old whisky, but I always find the Glenallachie 10-year old Cask Strength to be hot & aggressive so I can't help but draw parallels here. Granted this "Future Edition" is substantially younger but unlike the 10-year old it's substantially peated, which would usually help to calm / hide some rough edges in the spirit. I have no doubt that Billy Walker knows what he's doing with the longer fermentation and slower distillation, so the spirit probably just needs more age to round it off. Which will hopefully negate the perceived need for virgin oak involvement, which has to be responsible for most of that almost-artificial syrupy sweetness that isn't really floating my boat. I'm not being an ageist here though, I've had some brilliant whiskies around this age or even younger - e.g. some Kilchoman single casks, Kilkerran Heavily Peated, even some Octomores - that didn't need another day of maturation. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This spirit is certainly one to watch though, at least with a few more years under its belt. But for the love of god, don't pay $500 AUD for this 4-year old whisky. It's not worth that in any way, shape or form. Frankly I'm not sure if I'd buy it at the 85 GBP recommended retail either, which would probably equate to $220 AUD or so once it landed here in Australia. I know Billy Walker has his devout following in the whisky enthusiast world, and rightly so given what he pulled off with Benriach and Glendronach. Glenglassaugh too, to a lesser extent. But this 4-year old Glenallachie is really only a progress report, and it should be treated as such - a core range based on this spirit with some decent age should be excellent. Let's see what the future holds!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div></div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-72328575411005434242023-08-20T18:24:00.006+10:002023-08-21T07:17:53.922+10:00Thompson Bros Speyside 30 Year Old Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">A cask strength 30-year old single cask from an anonymous Speyside distillery, brought to us by Thompson Bros, the independent bottlers & distillers behind Dornoch Distillery. May as well take a quick look at the state of the independent bottling market while we're at it...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85tn4eGU8hvV65GAX5GL24SodgXJjgYkuBHOkiIkv0kve08DjpPnlJHjNTpOpVq4jdY0oVC9jiKnPJ0foezyxiQq1gaOlRV0q5rXJ2wMEay_Vti2lhJIyZ61oK-RjUi9z3GFWq8sIWWmvotGe0Ke2INIO9Vg7deohIVGK_0GRCW2omBotiFsHWoofViA8/s5184/IMG_1219.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEi85tn4eGU8hvV65GAX5GL24SodgXJjgYkuBHOkiIkv0kve08DjpPnlJHjNTpOpVq4jdY0oVC9jiKnPJ0foezyxiQq1gaOlRV0q5rXJ2wMEay_Vti2lhJIyZ61oK-RjUi9z3GFWq8sIWWmvotGe0Ke2INIO9Vg7deohIVGK_0GRCW2omBotiFsHWoofViA8/w400-h300/IMG_1219.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: center;"><i>Well, maybe...</i></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Is it just me or are there a lot more mystery distillery malts around these days? And also more "teaspooned" blended malts for that matter. There are certainly a lot more independent bottlers around these days than there were ten years ago, and all of them now have a much harder time when it comes to finding decent casks at reasonable prices. I have no doubt that this explosion in the number of small indy bottlers is a major factor here, but it's not the only factor. Yes, more bottlers probably means more brokers, which is also why we're getting more "mystery malts", but let's not forget the rise of the dastardly "cask investment scheme" which sees often-naïve investors pour their cash into what they're told is the latest hot commodity with guaranteed safe returns. There's a reason they're called investment <i>schemes</i>, people... Not all are treacherous of course, but many have already been proven to be suspicious, or even fraudulent to the point of criminal charges and international press. On top of these factors, more distilleries and distillery owners - including some of the largest in the industry - are now restricting external supply or ceasing it altogether. Many of those distilleries & companies are now happy to sell casks to wealthy private clients instead, at ridiculously exorbitant prices of course. Take Diageo's Prima & Ultima releases for example, or that insane cask of Ardbeg that was sold to a single Asian buyer for a record-settingly stupid sum of money. How anyone could possibly interpret all of those regurgitated press releases as positive is far beyond me. They were a harbinger of doom. When all of those websites clicked their publish buttons they were helping bring on the end-times for reasonably priced casks of aged whisky. The only people who should've been happy with that piece of news were the LVMH shareholders and the company's leadership. That happened over a year ago now, and in hindsight it may have been one of the harbingers of doom for the "traditional" whisky drinker. Just like distilleries and their marketing teams now watch the secondary market and - quite rightly, to a point - want their extra share of the profit pie, upon reading these articles those same distilleries and their marketing teams would've immediately starting seeing dollar signs scrolling behind their eyelids like Neo sees the cascading code in The Matrix. Personally, I hope that cask springs a leak! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These factors and the continuing boom in single malt whisky means that casks of are becoming vastly more expensive and more difficult to obtain, and none of this is good news for any independent bottler from the latest Taiwanese "hobby bottler" sole operator to the likes of Adelphi and Gordon & MacPhail. Speaking of which, I'm sure we've all seen about three hundred articles about G&M "ceasing independent bottling" recently so I won't go into it too far, but something needs to be clarified in order to avoid a misunderstanding and create a panic. Funnily enough this was not properly discussed in most of the mainstream circles where clicks drive their revenue. G&M is one of the few independent bottlers who solely buy new make spirit from distilleries to fill into their own casks, as opposed to the usual method of buying maturing / mature stock from brokers and/or private cask owners. Yes, G&M is stopping this practice as of next year, but that doesn't mean the independent bottlings will stop anywhere in the near future. They could still have enough casks in their massive warehouses to keep multiple future generations sated. Think of it this way; the final batch of new make spirit that G&M purchase from distillery x in 2024 and then filled into a cask then starts at zero. It must spend three years in cask to even become whisky, so we're already at 2027, and from there it could go on ageing for decades. Both Benromach and The Cairn distilleries are quite small, with a combined annual capacity of less than 2-million litres of spirit, and G&M don't plan to release anything from The Cairn until it reaches twelve years of age, which means roughly 2035. That should give you an idea of the timescale that we're looking at. The company's independent bottlings range from from 7-years to 80-years from a plethora of different distilleries. Remember that record-setting oldest single malt ever, the 81-year old Macallan that broke G&M's record-setting oldest single malt ever, the 80-year old Mortlach? Right, well would you like to guess where Macallan obtained that cask of 81-year old Macallan? It wasn't from their own warehouses... Having been lucky enough to visit the G&M warehouse complex in Elgin, let me assure you that we'll see plenty of their independent bottlings well in to the future. They'll inevitably start to taper off as the mature stock is bottled and isn't replaced with new spirit, but a lot of us won't have to worry about that eventuality, if you catch my meaning... </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">But we aren't here to talk about G&M or Ardbeg, we're here to talk about Thompson Bros.! Simon & Phil Thompson started with a whisky bar in the Dornoch Castle Hotel that is owned by their parents, found roughly an hour's drive north of Inverness in the Highlands. The pair quickly establishing the hotel bar as one of the leading whisky bars in the region, which helped them establish their own independent bottling operation. Thompson Bros was founded in 2015, then successfully crowdfunded their own distillery. Housed in the hotel's old fire station, Dornoch Distillery began producing new make spirit in 2017 and released its first single malt in late 2020. With traditional "old school" production - using organic heritage barley varieties, brewer's yeast, and even direct-fired alembic stills - and tiny production volumes of under 20,000 litres per year, this is essentially the new Daftmill, but with a more experimental side. As far as Thompson Bros independent bottlings go, most are cask strength single casks of single malt Scotch whisky, along with some blended malts and blended whiskies, plus some brandy and a few other oddities. Pricing does seem to be quite reasonable, even here in Australia where that's certainly a rarity. Thankfully the local importers Select Spirits - brought to us by the legendary Kelvin & Yao from the brilliant Elysian whisky bar in Melbourne - are very even-handed with their pricing and their stock allocations. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This particular example is a 30-year old single cask of single malt from an undisclosed Speyside distillery - so not from the actual Speyside Distillery, but from another distillery within the Speyside region of Scotland. It was distilled in 1990 and bottled in 2021 at a cask strength of 50.4% ABV, with a single refill American oak cask yielding 278 bottles. As with everything that Thompson Bros release it's non-chill filtered and natural colour. There are two main rumours regarding which distillery was responsible for this whisky, with most saying Glen Grant, but this is unconfirmed (**edit: Glenlivet has now been added to the list!). Most independent bottlings of Glen Grant - the only Scotch whisky distillery that is owned by Italian company Campari Group - are bottled as anonymous Speysiders, save perhaps those from G&M which has a very long-standing relationship with this distillery. There have been a few independently bottled Glen Grants released at similarly advanced ages recently, which combined with the flavour profile makes me believe those rumours surrounding this bottling from Thompson Bros. Pricing in Australia was $399 AUD, which is extremely reasonable for any single malt in this age bracket here in 2023. To give some perspective for the overseas readers, most 30-year old official bottlings of single malt are priced locally at $1,000 AUD and upwards, and most of those are only bottled at 40% or 43% and are chill filtered. So this Thompson Bros. bottling is something of a bargain! Let's get to it.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMH0Pgple7Ve_U7IbiiqP09AGeL3wZhUwjeKKxWFq1GEemwADBM0j6wfB4RD82mgySy2V5CMJn3nWQlXdsSfRnDhVaLe-jWlWkLLY-isjbFcmzsinME9hDUvYE0HQuNuPrZmDGIIAVUMw99UMUmJoH-kxfkWlal2aPjA1mnThwSy0oUlI0JeKQ-MWzl7rz/s740/thompson%20bros%20speyside%2030.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="740" data-original-width="440" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiMH0Pgple7Ve_U7IbiiqP09AGeL3wZhUwjeKKxWFq1GEemwADBM0j6wfB4RD82mgySy2V5CMJn3nWQlXdsSfRnDhVaLe-jWlWkLLY-isjbFcmzsinME9hDUvYE0HQuNuPrZmDGIIAVUMw99UMUmJoH-kxfkWlal2aPjA1mnThwSy0oUlI0JeKQ-MWzl7rz/s320/thompson%20bros%20speyside%2030.jpg" width="190" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Thompson Bros. Speyside 30-year old, 50.4% ABV. Speyside, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Undisclosed distillery in Speyside region. Distilled 1990, bottled 2021, matured in a refill American oak cask. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 278 bottles. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Medium gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Lovely relaxed & mature freshness. Malty, fruity & sweet. Fresh red apple skins, white peaches, beeswax, malt biscuits, touch of white pepper. A little sawdust, vanilla pudding, oat cakes, subtle hint of liquorice. Crystallised ginger, and a touch of leafy green herbs with more time. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture:</b> Medium weight. Nicely oily, slightly waxy, sweet & fruity. Great balance. No heat at all. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Delicious malty, sweet, waxy, and fruity entry with waxy red apples, vanilla pudding, malt biscuits, and powdered ginger. Touch of sawdust, white pepper, and powdered ginger. White peaches & beeswax again heading into the finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Tinned orchard fruit in sweet juice (not syrup), white pepper, and powdered ginger again. Then the beeswax, fresh red apples and malt biscuits return. Sweet fruit juices, malty & sweet to the end. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Lovely fruity, waxy, and malty Speysider. Touches of sawdust and ginger from the cask, but on the whole it's delightfully spirit driven after three decades in a refill cask. The nose is nicely complex, less so on the palate and finish, but there's still plenty to keep you entertained in that lovely relaxed, patient, contemplative style that quality old Speyside malts do so well. For the price, given this is a 30-year old cask strength single malt from a single cask, this is a no-brainer. As to the distillery responsible, as said above the two main rumours were Glen Grant and Fettercairn. I'm yet to try any old Fettercairns, and the old Glen Grants that I've tasted were all sherry casks, so I can't be sure, but my money is still on Glen Grant. Particularly when there have been quite a few similarly aged Glen Grants released by other independent bottlers recently, which probably means a broker has gotten their hands on a parcel of 30-year old casks. That lovely malty fruitiness and a near-perfect balance of cask influence & spirit character at this age make this anonymous Speyside single malt a real winner.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'm yet to taste anything from Thompson Bros that has been anything less than lovely, and this is no exception. Great stuff!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-56313163481324471732023-08-13T18:10:00.000+10:002023-08-13T18:10:10.397+10:00Deanston 18 Year Old Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">I'd been wanting to try Deanston 18 for quite some time, and then I came across an older brown label bottling and was left underwhelmed. Hopefully this more recent redesigned bottling will change my mind!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaX8pBNZHMx9xTK04BAMbHyclLuXZbj_eoUu4lqm6e_a20t0uXUIeIg59b1q4UYw2Sn34nvXsOvvAJqI0S5KjuJujvYHtokc6cWjOUoPWenCs5E-TfITUcsMOnHT9AfbT7X2ko0rwY_SrNGffPHmu_1a1mD_2mqb0F9Kf4XNu-tA4U4Knxc-LvppBs3z7/s5184/IMG_3296.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgmaX8pBNZHMx9xTK04BAMbHyclLuXZbj_eoUu4lqm6e_a20t0uXUIeIg59b1q4UYw2Sn34nvXsOvvAJqI0S5KjuJujvYHtokc6cWjOUoPWenCs5E-TfITUcsMOnHT9AfbT7X2ko0rwY_SrNGffPHmu_1a1mD_2mqb0F9Kf4XNu-tA4U4Knxc-LvppBs3z7/w400-h300/IMG_3296.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Despite a slight resurgence recently, Deanston is still wildly underrated by whisky fans. Always playing third fiddle to owner Distell's other two distilleries; Islay's Bunnahabhain and Mull's Tobermory which get more attention. Which is a little odd when you think about it, because Deanston is arguably more "mainstream" in its style of whisky, and also in its marketing approach. Tobermory is better known amongst enthusiasts for its dirty peated alter ego Ledaig, pronounced either "Lay-chig" or "La-chayg" depending on who you listen to, while Bunnahabhain love their beautiful but difficult Gaelic names with whiskies like Toiteach, Stiuireadair, Ceobanach, and Aonadh. No, none of those sound anything like they're written! You won't find any of those Hebridean hijinks over at Deanston on the mainland, located in the namesake village found roughly 40-minutes north of Glasgow. This is a more modern and conventional distillery that was only founded in 1965, making it 167-years younger than Tobermory and 85-years younger than Bunnahabhain. Deanston Distillery didn't even last two decades from its initial birth, becoming one of the many distilleries that shut down during the dark times of the 1980s. It remained that way until 1991 when it was rescued by Burn Stewart Distillers, which would later become part of South African company Distell, the current owners. Deanston is yet to reach its 60th birthday but the site itself isn't short on history, with the distillery and surrounding village dating back to the late-1700s when it served as a cotton mill, with the village initially built as housing for the mill workers and their families. The mill was originally powered by water wheels fed by the River Teith that runs alongside and serves as the distillery's water source, while hydro-electric turbines were installed in the 1940s which still provide the distillery's power today. Which would have to make this one of the earliest sustainable Scotch whisky distilleries to be built in the modern era.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">When it comes to the whisky, Deanston is again more modern and more conventional compared to the two other Burn Stewart / Distell distilleries. No dry, nutty, hard-edged characteristics like Bunnahabhain, and no dirty, sulphurous, funky characteristics like Tobermory/Ledaig - aside from the occasional sulphured sherry cask of Deanston, at least, which are generally only seen in older independent bottlings. This is a fruity, malty spirit with a good viscosity which lends itself nicely to ex-bourbon casks of just about any description, although they also use a variety of more exotic casks for both finishing and full maturation. I don't think there's such a thing as a "typical" Highland region style of whisky these days, particularly with the islands included as per the SWA regulations. But if you subscribe to the traditional idea of a Highland malt being a drier, spicier whisky in comparison to the traditional lighter, sweeter & fruitier idea of a Speyside malt, then Deanston doesn't really fit in to the Highland pigeonhole. I suppose it's geographically closer to the Lowlands anyway, so let's just add it to the growing list of flavour outliers in the official Scotch whisky regions. Deanston was in high demand from blenders for quite some time, although there's now much more attention given to single malt official bottlings, with a plethora of limited releases that are often finished in some exotic cask type. I have to say though, in my experience those are very hit & miss, and the expensive older examples should ideally be tried before buying. In some cases there's a waxy quality to Deanston's single malt which seems to be particularly evident in teenaged whiskies that have been matured in active ex-bourbon casks, much like that other waxy distillery in the Highlands region; Diageo's Clynelish. This waxy character in Deanston is attributed to an oily build-up in the feints receiver, again much like it is at Clynelish, and I'd argue that it's actually easier to find the wax in a modern Deanston than it is in a modern Clynelish. Case in point is the 18-year old Deanston that we're looking at today. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">It was initially launched in the previous Deanston line-up with the drab-looking brown labels, then was discontinued for a time, and was re-launched circa 2016 after the brand had undergone a complete redesign. I have to say the new designs are a massive improvement visually, and the whisky seems to have improved considerably as well. The flagship Deanston 12-year old is matured in ex-bourbon casks, but it was never specified whether they were first-fill or refill, or a mix of both. Likewise the previous brown label version of the 18-year old, which was labelled as "bourbon cask finish" - so we can safely assume that it was matured in refill casks and finished in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, or at least finished in more active ex-bourbon casks. As stated above I've tasted that version before and it didn't impress, coming across as both too oaky and also a little under-matured. This more recent white label version, however, states that it was aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, and given that wording - and the difference in flavour profile - I'm assuming that means it has been fully matured in those first-fill bourbon casks rather than merely finished. Whatever they changed, it's certainly worked. All Deanston single malts do clearly state that they're <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a>, and their single malts are bottled at a minimum of 46.3% ABV. Let's get to it!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrAAlaSi4gWunptcMprpMdk04RrjXtJPHTGI1nI5WnTpD0rIfj_fxvtjFga8GuFx1cSrkyJRQ6O1RZ1lPQpQaOkc1OxH5bB2ufXguhNtY7QvYZSFEgUBvcDIgW-Rzdkm2UIfXe5v8uMQfOtS6sVAlSw_MjxnSS9rsWLjQldi5NGOMM_P0HXZrQgusfOVFW/s843/deanston%2018.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="843" data-original-width="563" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgrAAlaSi4gWunptcMprpMdk04RrjXtJPHTGI1nI5WnTpD0rIfj_fxvtjFga8GuFx1cSrkyJRQ6O1RZ1lPQpQaOkc1OxH5bB2ufXguhNtY7QvYZSFEgUBvcDIgW-Rzdkm2UIfXe5v8uMQfOtS6sVAlSw_MjxnSS9rsWLjQldi5NGOMM_P0HXZrQgusfOVFW/s320/deanston%2018.jpg" width="214" /></a></div><br /><b>Deanston 18-Year Old, 46.3%. Highlands, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Matured in refill ex-bourbon casks, finished in first-fill ex-bourbon casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Soft, malty, fruity, waxy. Some oak spices (mild ginger) as you'd expect, but quite clean and not a "bourbon cask bomb" by any means. Rich freshly malted barley, and waxy orchard fruit - red apples, oranges, touch of brown pear). Some golden syrup / treacle, vanilla bean, black pepper, and sweet ginger biscuits (with the pieces of crystallised ginger in them). </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Waxy, malty, soft & fruity. No heat at all. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Rich malty entry. More of those sweet ginger biscuits, vanilla bean, and waxy oranges & red apples. More ginger & black pepper here, and some dried currants too. Touch of nutty fresh oak, and honeyed nectarine heading into the finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Waxy orchard fruits again, more so the red apples here. Ginger and black pepper still there but easing off into the fruity & malty side. Flashes of green apple and lemon peel as it winds down.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. Close to a 4 though - i.e. 7/10.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Definitely a massive improvement over the old brown label version that I'd tried previously. This is probably the waxiest Deanston that I've come across so far, I certainly don't remember getting any of that in the 12-year old, so maybe it's a little like Clynelish in that regard where the waxiness seems to come out more in the teenaged years and beyond. Since most modern Clynelish isn't as waxy as it used to be - in fact many contemporary bottlings aren't waxy at all - I'd say Deanston 18-year old is a viable alternative. Especially when you consider the crazy prices people are trying to charge for independent bottlings of Clynelish these days!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">At $180-200 this Deanston used to be considered expensive for an 18-year old single malt, but here in 2023 it's not as bad as many of the competitors - ahem, Glengoyne 18 - and at least it's bottled at 46% and non-chill filtered, unlike many of the competitors - ahem again, Glengoyne 18! All in all, this is a very nice waxy Highlander that won't be too "out there" for newcomers, but still has enough character to keep the hardened enthusiasts entertained. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-52136360484840786522023-07-30T17:53:00.000+10:002023-07-30T17:53:04.433+10:00Bakery Hill The Blunderbuss Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">A unique limited release from one of Australian whisky's quiet achievers, Victoria's Bakery Hill Distillery. This is easily my favourite beer/ale/stout cask influenced whisky to date!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXggRvdvaO3zVQhtINjpXLxtVUmDjDWEdaWVPOUMWwpRXeC6DQMV2khzeFc3eXzFwYI7UWLqruDr4SS7o-GlbbZ5f1QizMMf8YuzDI5vfX7wKlQ8U5MK0hpLxtgHHw2_JSwXg1gmZOUCXl76Akg6V1b58RY4SQ7qVCTT6S3xjwSbGEX0XKNfaW68H20c9J/s790/Screenshot_20230709-095123~2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="768" data-original-width="790" height="194" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjXggRvdvaO3zVQhtINjpXLxtVUmDjDWEdaWVPOUMWwpRXeC6DQMV2khzeFc3eXzFwYI7UWLqruDr4SS7o-GlbbZ5f1QizMMf8YuzDI5vfX7wKlQ8U5MK0hpLxtgHHw2_JSwXg1gmZOUCXl76Akg6V1b58RY4SQ7qVCTT6S3xjwSbGEX0XKNfaW68H20c9J/w200-h194/Screenshot_20230709-095123~2.png" width="200" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Despite being overshadowed by Melbourne stablemate <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2017/08/starward-tenth-anniversary-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Starward</a> and the more glamorous Tasmanian brands, Bakery Hill Distillery has been around since the Australian whisky industry was in its infancy. In fact if I'm remembering the timeline correctly this was the first malt whisky distillery to open on the mainland of Australia since the 1980s, and it was only the fourth Australian malt whisky distillery (after Cradle Mountain, Lark, and Sullivan's Cove) to be established after Bill Lark's famous epiphany struck in 1993, kickstarting the Australian whisky industry as we know it. Founded in Melbourne's outer eastern suburbs by chemistry teacher David Baker in 1999, Bakery Hill Distillery's first three expressions were released back in 2003, including the first peated Australian single malt, even attracting attention from a certain infamous hat-wearing whisky writer a couple of years later. Even in those early days Bakery Hill stood apart in our fledgling industry by favouring ex-bourbon casks for maturation, primarily from Jack Daniels (let's just call it bourbon), when the majority of our producers were focussing on ex-wine and ex-fortified wine casks that were much more plentiful on these shores. Just as important was Bakery Hill's use of larger-format and full-size casks, initially 50-litre and then 100-litre, 200-litre, and 225-litre (recoopered) capacity, at a time when our producers were leaning heavily on the 20-litre casks that unfortunately then became synonymous with Australian whisky - thankfully that trend is shifting now. I'd argue that Bakery Hill was ahead of that curve right from the start, and they've only been filling full-size casks for quite some time now, letting the spirit itself have more of a voice. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Being made from charred American oak rather than French oak, and having previously matured a spirit rather than wine or fortified wine, means that the influence of both the wood and the previous contents on the spirit is more supportive rather than aggressive, and they allow for slower and steadier maturation than a smaller French oak ex-wine cask would. Obviously this is still an Australian whisky so the climate still has a large part to play in the maturation process, particularly in Melbourne where the weather swings from one extreme to the next, but opting for a less aggressive wood type in a relatively large format helps to balance out this effect rather than accelerate it. I'd argue that this more conservative approach to cask types and maturation has kept Bakery Hill out of the spotlight in comparison with some of the louder & larger players in the industry who lean almost entirely on cask types and wood influence for both their flavour profile and their marketing. That's another thing that has unfortunately become synonymous with Australian whisky, but thankfully it's another trend that is slowly changing! Despite a minor expansion and increase in production around 5-years ago, Bakery Hill is still a very small distillery, even by Australian standards. But David and his son Andrew are soon relocating to a new site close to the Melbourne CBD which will also feature a cellar door and tasting bar. It'll also allow for a proper increase in production giving them more scope for limited releases and also more capacity for export.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">These days Bakery Hill's whisky is generally aged for 6-7 years in full-sized ex-bourbon casks, and those three initial releases; unpeated ex-bourbon cask Classic Malt, unpeated virgin French oak-finished Double Wood, and ex-bourbon cask Peated Malt, still form the distillery's core range. Interestingly Bakery Hill only bottles single casks, even in these core releases at 46% ABV, so no two batches will ever be exactly the same. There are also cask strength releases of both the Classic Malt and Peated Malt available on a regular basis, and there have been a number of limited releases in the last few years that have finally given this tiny distillery some well-deserved attention. The Bakery Hill release that we're looking at today was one of the first of these limited releases, hitting the market back in mid-2020. Bakery Hill 'The Blunderbuss' was a collaboration with Melbourne brewery Hop Nation, who acquired a freshly emptied ex-bourbon cask that had matured Bakery Hill's Peated Malt for over a decade, and promptly filled it with their 'Kalash' Imperial Stout. After ageing the beer for 3-4 months, the cask was emptied and sent back to Bakery Hill, where it was promptly filled with unpeated 6-year old ex-bourbon cask single malt which was left to mature for another 12-months. So an unpeated Bakery Hill whisky that was finished in an ex-stout cask which had previously matured a peated Bakery Hill whisky!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stout cask finishes are becoming more popular in whisky production as are ale / beer casks in general, with some big "old world" names like Teeling, Jameson, Glenfiddich, and even Lagavulin dipping their toes in the water recently. Barrel-aged beers are usually filled into refill casks, typically ex-whisky or ex-whiskey, and only for relatively short periods of 1-2 years at most. The lower ABV of the liquid is gentler on the wood than a spirit would be, so in theory the barrels should have plenty of life left in them once the beer is emptied out. Not all stout beers/ales are barrel aged, but all are made from high percentages of heavily roasted barley, which provide the characteristic dark colour and dark / burnt caramel and coffee flavours that tend to come through in the resulting whisky. The term 'Imperial' only refers to a higher alcohol content, typically 9-10% ABV (roughly double that of a typical full strength beer), originally to slow spoilage and prevent freezing during shipping. Since we're talking about names, why "The Blunderbuss"? A Blunderbuss is basically an ancient shotgun with a short barrel and flared muzzle, but what an old gun has to do with this whisky I couldn't say - something to do with the flavour profile perhaps? Or like the guy printed on the label it could be linking back to the Hop Nation 'Kalash' stout which refers to Kalashnikov - as in AK47. There was a second Blunderbuss release from Bakery Hill in 2022 which spent two years in the ex-stout cask rather than one, and it was bottled at 58.0% rather than 52.0% like the first release that we're looking at today. I was lucky enough to nab this 2020 bottling at auction for a very reasonable price, below the original retail pricing in fact. So I had to crack it open!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRej0M7uRNghcw4eUbKaFoj20jHZc39-kvtZPrSND5My3wgJdBJcuoLbKo7_FaoDVYc03W-cHA44WLM9DG6UVW_PPe4jqz05UHVTP-P6qxuTJr2eQUhL8Mb8AZd9iIhrZf-gA5Sd4QW67mpRr_6lk-mi8voOkmcSsyhX4akwTC6QjFre5EPkOQXJjJLfTR/s1348/Screenshot_20230709-095226~2.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1348" data-original-width="1080" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRej0M7uRNghcw4eUbKaFoj20jHZc39-kvtZPrSND5My3wgJdBJcuoLbKo7_FaoDVYc03W-cHA44WLM9DG6UVW_PPe4jqz05UHVTP-P6qxuTJr2eQUhL8Mb8AZd9iIhrZf-gA5Sd4QW67mpRr_6lk-mi8voOkmcSsyhX4akwTC6QjFre5EPkOQXJjJLfTR/s320/Screenshot_20230709-095226~2.png" width="256" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Bakery Hill The Blunderbuss, NAS (see below), 52.0%. Melbourne, Australia.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">7-year old single malt matured in ex-bourbon cask for 6-years, finished in ex-stout cask for 12-months. Stout cask had held beer for 3-4 months, after maturing peated Bakery Hill single malt for 10-years.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Full gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Malty, fruity, and rich. A little nippy too. Thick burnt caramel, thick honey, touch of coffee grounds, and passionfruit curd a.k.a. passionfruit butter (sweet & tangy). Brown butter, vanilla cream, under-ripe tropical fruit (banana, guava, pineapple). Heavily roasted malt behind, and a tiny puff of earthy peat. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium-heavy weight. Rich, malty & creamy. Minor heat, warming. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Thick roasted malt again, more coffee grounds and burnt caramel. Dark honey, same under-ripe tropical fruits again, and some mocha (coffee & chocolate) ice cream. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Bitter dark chocolate, more roasted malt, and a touch of that passionfruit curd / passionfruit butter. Touch of spicy wood smoke comes out with the vanilla cream, honey, and coffee grounds. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. Only just over the line, though.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Still my favourite stout / ale cask finished whisky to date. It's a little boozy and rough around the edges at times, but the sheer volume of flavour more than makes up for it, as does the balance between the stout cask, the original ex-bourbon cask, and the lovely citrusy & malty unpeated spirit. Worth remembering that this is only a 7-year old whisky too, and it's been matured in large format casks which is not the norm in Australian whisky. While I'm yet to taste the second Blunderbuss release I can guess why they've given it that extra year in cask, although that could mean that it's too heavy on the stout influence, whereas the level of cask influence in this original release is bang-on for my tastes. That mix of bitter chocolate, roasted malt, and burnt caramel from the stout cask, the honey and vanilla from the original cask, and the hint of peat from the original contents of the ex-stout cask, and then the tangy citrus and creamy maltiness from the unpeated whisky all add up to one very flavoursome Bakery Hill! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Stout drinkers should love this one, including the one-time stout drinkers like myself who can't stomach the stuff anymore! It's a different style of whisky than anything I've tasted before from these shores, which is certainly a breath of fresh air. No more fortified or red wine cask single malts here please, let's cash-in on our massive craft beer industry and put those beer casks to work!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-43556727224703771812023-07-16T18:08:00.006+10:002023-07-16T18:08:55.744+10:00Adelphi Breath of Islay 12 Year Old 2010 Vintage Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">A mysterious "undisclosed" Islay single malt from independent bottlers Adelphi, fully matured in a second-fill ex-sherry quarter cask. And I'm told that, for once, it's one of those rare mystery Islays that is NOT a Caol Ila!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkH05Dm39n-j7HO9wrHfo4yTsyjlTkHFIFVukywjPn7Ep_egjofWcirlwj0xmEEH-mNe3HhHfwOSaEuw1IzdHuWJHjnKNfV1wWnNLCAnqPQq25czGZZzMnNHNkirj0YSMMwPX4h6B4e2NuO33IuuYTKRBaEdhEgjgWUafC5HX0gFefYa2M_zdQl5CXskL/s5184/IMG_3679.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="240" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgdkH05Dm39n-j7HO9wrHfo4yTsyjlTkHFIFVukywjPn7Ep_egjofWcirlwj0xmEEH-mNe3HhHfwOSaEuw1IzdHuWJHjnKNfV1wWnNLCAnqPQq25czGZZzMnNHNkirj0YSMMwPX4h6B4e2NuO33IuuYTKRBaEdhEgjgWUafC5HX0gFefYa2M_zdQl5CXskL/s320/IMG_3679.JPG" width="320" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Adelphi has always had a cult following in the world of independent bottlings, even way down here in Australia. Founded thirty years ago in 1993 this relatively small bottler is named after the long-dead Loch Katrine Adelphi Distillery that was located in Glasgow and ran from 1826 to 1932. These days Adelphi remains privately owned and is run by Managing Director Alex Bruce, and like a growing number of independent bottlers now has its own distillery; Highland distillery <a href="https://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/12/ardnamurchan-cask-strength-paul-lanois.html" target="_blank">Ardnamurchan</a>. Considering this remote west coast distillery has only been operating for nine years or so and they took their time with their initial releases, the distillery has already gained a well-deserved cult following. They produce both peated and unpeated spirits with great character and a distinctly coastal edge, and they're also committed to renewable energy, to natural presentation, and to reasonable pricing. Definitely one to watch! As far as Adelphi's independent bottlings things are continuing as normal for now, although like all independent bottlers they're starting to feel the pinch when it comes to sourcing whisky and sourcing casks at reasonable prices, although it should be a little easier in their case with such a long career and such a high reputation. Many distilleries are no longer selling to brokers or independent bottlers due to the massive demand for their official bottlings, or at least drastically reducing the amount that they sell, all of which pushes up the prices of what is available. There are even rumours around that some of the giant "workhorse distilleries" that currently form a large chunk of the independent market will be following suit in future. Scary times ahead? Possibly, but remember that Scotch whisky has always been unpredictable in the long run. Almost all of the large companies have expanded their distillery's production by large amounts in the last few years, and the number of new & upcoming malt whisky distilleries in Scotland today is staggering. It'll be interesting to see what happens once their stock comes of age and hits it stride, and the extra stock from those expanded distilleries becomes available. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">There are plenty of "mystery distillery" bottlings out there, even if you focus solely on Islay. Some are "teaspooned" blended malts - where a cask or casks of a particular single malt has a bottle (sometimes even less) of a different distillery's whisky tipped in, meaning that it's no longer a single malt and can't be labelled as such. Plenty of the mystery Islays are single malts though, and while some are more mysterious than others, sheer mathematics means that these are often undisclosed bottlings of Caol Ila. Don't worry, I haven't forgotten about Johnnie Walker - which is where the vast majority of Caol Ila's production goes - or Diageo's other blends, and there'll also be filling contracts for blended whiskies owned by other companies. But given Caol Ila's 6-million litre production capacity and the relatively tiny number of official bottlings that are released by Diageo, and the abundance of declared / disclosed independent bottlings that are on the market, it stands to reason that their probably responsible for most of these mystery Islays. There's still no shortage of Caol Ila out there - for now. That aside, just because most of these mystery bottlings are Caol Ila certainly doesn't mean that they're all Caol Ila. And I have it on good authority that this particular Adelphi mystery Islay single malt is actually not a Caol Ila! A few of the island's nine distilleries insist on any independent bottlers abstaining from using their distillery names, which has resulted in some imaginative labels and names over the years, and some non-so imaginative. Sometimes this is because a cask or casks don't fit the distillery's perceived quality standards or flavour profile, but more often these days it's because the distillery's owners do not want the brand to be associated with what is effectively someone else's whisky. And that's probably the case here. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Adelphi's "Breath of the Angels" series of mystery / undisclosed bottlings first launched in 2007 to accommodate distillery & brand owners who did not want their name used on independent bottlings. This series of sporadic releases is separate into regions, so far being Speyside, Highlands, Isles, and Islay. But that's pretty much all the information that you get, the rest is up to you. As with all Adelphi single malts these are single cask bottlings that are bottled at cask strength, <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a> and natural colour. The 'Breath of Islay' bottling that we're looking at today is a 12-year old that was distilled in 2010, and it was bottled at a cask strength of 51.9% ABV with a yield of only 110 bottles. Why so few? Well that's because it was fully matured in a second-fill Oloroso sherry quarter cask - 125-litres in capacity, a quarter the size of a 500-litre sherry butt - that had previously been used at Glenfarclas Distillery in Speyside. So it was a second-fill cask, meaning less cask influence than a first-fill cask, but a small cask, meaning more cask influence than a larger full-size cask. 12-years is a long time to mature a whisky in a quarter cask, and it's certainly left it's mark on this whisky. Let's see how it goes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQyG4AR_s1g9vYcn9UJXiMUcQmMmwy9xrcLnqiUep2xnYj-_QW3p3az7GiKEF9tYa6-qxqb2IYt20qJmUUUD1WU04l2o9siCZ0jvB5Pa9D8QWUetCIePiURmIfomUyMaVa69kx0Dr021su_lvUz-i02szbs2WTp-ZW6I5IIkiZD1O9EMX0TBvMXv9uAot/s840/adelphi%20islay%2012.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="840" data-original-width="480" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiFQyG4AR_s1g9vYcn9UJXiMUcQmMmwy9xrcLnqiUep2xnYj-_QW3p3az7GiKEF9tYa6-qxqb2IYt20qJmUUUD1WU04l2o9siCZ0jvB5Pa9D8QWUetCIePiURmIfomUyMaVa69kx0Dr021su_lvUz-i02szbs2WTp-ZW6I5IIkiZD1O9EMX0TBvMXv9uAot/w229-h400/adelphi%20islay%2012.jpg" width="229" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Adelphi 'Breath of Islay' 2010 Vintage, 12-Year Old, 51.9%.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unknown Islay single malt, fully matured in second fill ex-Glenfarclas ex-Oloroso sherry quarter cask (125-litre). Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 120 bottles. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Bronze. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Rich and quite sherry forward, with a pinch of gunpowder sulphur and that slight "flatness" that I usually associate with the dread "s word". Thankfully that breathes off, leaving x-mas fruit cake, orange zest, and sweet cherry cola. Touches of salted dark chocolate and fresh seaweed behind that, slight coastal qualities trying to poke through the sherry influence. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Richly sherried, sweet, lightly peaty & smoky. No heat at all. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>That gunpowder sulphur and sweet cherry cola again. More x-mas fruit cake but with extra raisins and some dried figs thrown in. More smoky here than on the nose, a dry ashy peat smoke that helps to balance the sweeter notes from the cask. Touches of sweet plum jam and orange zest around the edges. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Dry ashy peat smoke carries through with a little gunpowder sulphur again, and some buttery toasted oak. Plum jam, orange peel, and sweet cherry cola. Dried stone fruit to finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes:</b> Very sherry forward, which is to be expected from 12-years in an ex-sherry quarter cask. But this was a second-fill ex-sherry quarter cask, so it was clearly still packing a punch! The underlying spirit has had a tough time keeping up (or fighting back) over that 12-years. While the peat & smoke are still there they've been beaten down to Bowmore levels, and I have it on good authority that this isn't a Bowmore, and that the spirit was heavily peated. That gunpowder sulphur and the slight "flatness" that I attribute to mild sulphur are something that I do sometimes find in Glenfarclas, and I have to assume that's come from the cask since none of the Islay distillery's spirits are generally particularly sulphurous. I don't mind the gunpowder / struck match side of sulphur in the right whisky, and it suits the style of this heavily sherried Islay. Thankfully it's far away from the god awful vulcanised rubber & rotten egg gas style of sulphur that I absolutely cannot stand. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Do I have any guesses as to which distillery this Adelphi came from? I don't think it's from the southern three based on smell & taste, and I'm told it's not a Bowmore or a Caol Ila. Which leaves peated Bunnahabhain, Kilchoman, or Port Charlotte/Octomore. I don't think it's a Port Charlotte or Octomore either based on smell & taste, so that narrows it down considerably. Regardless, it doesn't fit right in to any of the distilleries' flavour profiles with that big sherry influence, so it doesn't really matter which distillery it came from. Which is probably why it was allowed to go to Adelphi and be bottled as a mystery malt. And there's nothing wrong with that!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-27832708333749195762023-07-09T17:53:00.001+10:002023-07-09T17:53:29.565+10:00Cadenhead's Kilkerran 11 Year Old Single Cask Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">A cask strength single cask independent bottling of Kilkerran from Cadenhead's 'Authentic Collection'. When is an independent bottling not an independent bottling? Well, when the whisky is great, does it matter?</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIZFjdy0GrMlC73stcM8HJjdDhb_WAVAE0ZM744skDPpTpm8qrgQufVG0oSxJ8L6B6qaUkxfLAy6wafy6jp2szpYK4usa6oYbN1WfBXPpPNSvq8F5xk8u4OO26Av4yRQEZcaylNVh1k_qiXrMxm0Qalv2O_9wHeD86QWjY0DAmKo7m_9cSPEOKMS74g/s5184/IMG_3501.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjmIZFjdy0GrMlC73stcM8HJjdDhb_WAVAE0ZM744skDPpTpm8qrgQufVG0oSxJ8L6B6qaUkxfLAy6wafy6jp2szpYK4usa6oYbN1WfBXPpPNSvq8F5xk8u4OO26Av4yRQEZcaylNVh1k_qiXrMxm0Qalv2O_9wHeD86QWjY0DAmKo7m_9cSPEOKMS74g/w400-h300/IMG_3501.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div>Both Cadenhead's and Glengyle Distillery (producing Kilkerran whisky) are owned by Campbeltown's J&A Mitchell, which makes this one of those rare occasions where both the distillery and the independent bottler are part of the same company. Is this still an independent bottling, then? Technically I'd say no, but it really doesn't matter. Plenty of independent bottlers own their own distilleries these days, such as Gordon & MacPhail with Benromach and Adelphi with Ardnamurchan, and both of those examples do also bottle their distilleries' single malt under their independent bottling labels. In this case Cadenhead's are allocated just one cask of each of J&A Mitchell's four single malt brands; Kilkerran, Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow, per year. Most are bottled as part of the 'Authentic Collection' which is the series of single cask bottlings that are exclusive to the Cadenhead's stores, particularly the flagship store in Campbeltown, down the road from Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries. In fact most of these bottlings are pre-sold to Cadenhead's VIP customers before they're even officially released, but that's another story! I've only been lucky enough to visit Campbeltown once, back in 2018, so I obviously didn't purchase this 2021-bottling from said shop. It was an auction purchase, and while not exactly cheap - around $270 AUD once DHL and Australian Customs had had their way with me - it's not unreasonable considering the rarity of such a thing. Is it worth the extra ~$100 over the 8-year old Cask Strength official bottlings (OBs) here in Australia? That's a tough question. But it's different to those, and it's also delicious, which is the main criteria. <div><br /></div><div>I'm sure Kilkerran single malt needs no introduction if you're reading this review, but that may change when it comes time to talk about Glengyle Distillery. The "newest" of the three operating distilleries in Campbeltown when it opened back in 2004, this was the first "new" Campbeltown distillery to be built in over 130 years. Note the quotation marks in that sentence though, which has nothing to do with the three new Campbeltown distilleries that are in the planning stages. I've used quotation marks there because Glengyle Distillery was actually reopened after a hiatus of nearly 80-years, on the same site as the original which ran from 1872-1925. Having housed a number of different business ventures during that slumber - it was even a rifle range at one point - and having since fallen into disrepair, it took nearly 4-years after the site was purchased to get the distillery up & running. Going even further, the current owner of J&A Mitchell, Mr. Hedley Wright, is the great-nephew of the founder of Glengyle Distillery, William Mitchell, who along with his brother John had purchased Springbank Distillery in 1837. 35-years later the two brothers had a falling out which resulted in John purchasing his brother's share of Springbank, and William founding Glengyle Distillery just a few hundred metres down the round. </div><div><br /></div><div>So the big question is, why isn't Glengyle Distillery's whisky brand named after the distillery? That's because the Glengyle brand was owned by another company whose asking price was too high, so J&A Mitchell decided to go with a regional brand name instead. The original settlement at Campbeltown was named "Kinloch Kilkerran" in Gaelic, which roughly translates to "Head of the Loch by the Church of Saint Ciaran" in English. Glengyle is a more modern & more conventional distillery than its older brother Springbank, with only two stills that are heated by internal steam coils and are fitted with shell & tube condensers. Aside from a few experimental distillation runs, Kilkerran single malts are "only" double distilled, and the majority of spirit production - which is a tiny amount - uses lightly peated malt that is floor-malted down the road at Springbank. The exception there is Kilkerran Heavily Peated, which now uses commercially malted barley sourced from Inverness shire. There have also been some experimental triple distilled releases, mostly bottled for the Campbeltown Festival / Kilkerran Open Day, but it's unlikely they'll ever be permanent given the distillery's tiny output and the reduced yield that comes with triple distillation. </div><div><br /></div><div>The Cadenhead's bottling of Kilkerran single malt that we're looking at today is an 11-year old single cask that was distilled in 2009, was fully matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, and was bottled in early 2021 at a cask strength of 56.5% ABV. As with all J&A Mitchell-owned single malts it's non-chill filtered and natural colour. I'm a massive fan of ex-bourbon cask Campbeltown whisky regardless of distillery, and a 100% ex-bourbon cask Kilkerran isn't as easy to find as you might expect. The 12-year old, 16-year old, and Heavily Peated all contain some sherry casks to varying degrees, so the only (relatively) readily-available example would be the recent 8-year old Cask Strength 2023 release that is yet to arrive in Australia. The first three or four batches of 8-year old Cask Strength Kilkerran (bottled late 2018 and earlier) were ex-bourbon though, and they were fantastic. Let's see how this older example fares!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOfoKJ1tm4aNqfka4zHJ7BJIEXmVnEtBHCAO9GUTpygFizHCrSrsjfjdeJGUlAbjLVh7XzbQpIfaD409JRrGXeAwVc4Ruo0NNjehNlyhxRmnawlrBTCdPVJF-hj0xP7ZuVuYs9AqyQmSNSP6_Bb75CXK4UHR1Ue7O6NDD8DrKNE6o2k5g5xWfUO0QaA/s634/cadenheads%20kilkerran%2011.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="634" data-original-width="367" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiUOfoKJ1tm4aNqfka4zHJ7BJIEXmVnEtBHCAO9GUTpygFizHCrSrsjfjdeJGUlAbjLVh7XzbQpIfaD409JRrGXeAwVc4Ruo0NNjehNlyhxRmnawlrBTCdPVJF-hj0xP7ZuVuYs9AqyQmSNSP6_Bb75CXK4UHR1Ue7O6NDD8DrKNE6o2k5g5xWfUO0QaA/s320/cadenheads%20kilkerran%2011.jpg" width="185" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Cadenhead's Kilkerran 11-year old, 56.5%. Campbeltown, Scotland.</b><div><div>Cadenhead's 'Authentic Collection'. Lightly peated, distilled 2009, matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, bottled 2021. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. </div><div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Pale gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Lovely. Waxy, mineral, acidic. Fresh candle wax, hessian sacking cloth (i.e. bung cloth), warm waffle cones without the ice cream. Freshly squeezed pineapple juice (the real stuff), touches of lightly burnt honeycomb / cinder toffee, salted fatty cured meats, and dry seashells. Dried mango skins, candied lemon peel & packed earth barn floors (with straw covering) with more time, plus a puff of ashy peat smoke.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, waxy, sweeter than the nose but still quite acidic. No heat. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>More lightly burnt honeycomb / cinder toffee, fresh candle wax, and that acidic pineapple juice. A nice light helping of dry ashy peat smoke now. Slight flash of rich vanilla bean custard (think creme brulee). Packed earth barn floors with straw covering again, candied lemon peel, and sweetened malt biscuits. Dry seashells and clean machine oils heading into the finish.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. More malt biscuits & freshly squeezed pineapple juice, candle wax, melted salted butter. Touches of white pepper & bitter woody herbs. Flashes of vanilla bean custard again but fleeting. More dry seashells and hessian cloth / sacking towards the end. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. Very close to a 4.5, though. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Right in my wheelhouse, this one. Absolutely love this style of whisky; oily, mineral/maritime, acidic & malty in equal measures. Ex-bourbon cask Campbeltown malts seem to excel at this profile, and I can't get enough of it. Take the recent <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/02/springbank-12-cask-strength-559-whisky.html" target="_blank">55.9% ex-bourbon Springbank 12 Cask Strength</a> for example, and also the excellent <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/01/tailsker-8-year-old-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Talisker 8-year old from 2018</a> - albeit with more sweetness and more wood influence in that example. It's worth noting that I've had this bottle open for nearly just over 6-months now, and it's become slightly smokier, more acidic and a little drier over that time. The green fruitiness (melon rind, as I recall) and vanilla that were there have receded substantially, but it's still dynamic, even after that time open this Kilkerran can't sit still. It's still changing in the glass, even after the usual 10-minute resting period after pouring. Which is a wonderful thing!</div></div></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">I'd say this 11-year old Cadenhead's bottling is noticeably less cask-forward than those ex-bourbon official Kilkerran 8-year old releases from a few years ago. While I wouldn't exactly call those cask driven and while I love both styles, this 11-year old feels more on the oxidative and interactive side of maturation rather than the additive side. More spirit driven, maybe a little more divisive. And just as delicious!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-4825289516270925282023-07-02T18:06:00.001+10:002023-07-02T18:27:53.352+10:00Bruichladdich Regeneration Project Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">Bruichladdich's first single grain whisky, Islay's first single grain whisky since the term came into existence, and the first Scotch whisky to include Islay-grown rye. This should be interesting!</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuipzVvjFvIXqp9rJ90AEH9Dpb0iX36zGx1SrU_J-NO6P6wMGGBicMgkWUkg4yTs8Ux5vjkvKQb8W9VD4lLos794MPqkJty4omJCKZG6VTXRwrXQdGWSAEh42g7y6hDUi3lNBVJEgyv4OpWMeRmgD1vh1BJ_d65VQjAg5AuZEEyBx2dLOPt2VuieaK7Q/s5184/IMG_0710.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiuipzVvjFvIXqp9rJ90AEH9Dpb0iX36zGx1SrU_J-NO6P6wMGGBicMgkWUkg4yTs8Ux5vjkvKQb8W9VD4lLos794MPqkJty4omJCKZG6VTXRwrXQdGWSAEh42g7y6hDUi3lNBVJEgyv4OpWMeRmgD1vh1BJ_d65VQjAg5AuZEEyBx2dLOPt2VuieaK7Q/w400-h300/IMG_0710.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">I've seen plenty of confusion about the term "single grain" out there in the whisky world, even recently from a certain beloved YouTube reviewer, and I've gotten into plenty of online arguments about the Scotch whisky definitions in general. So let's clear it up right now! Many seem to misinterpret the term as defining a whisky that is made from one variety of grain, which is wildly incorrect. Just like the term "single malt" does not mean one type of malted barley and actually means malt whisky made at one single distillery, "single grain" does not mean one type of grain, it means grain whisky that was produced at one single distillery. The word "single" only refers to the whisky being made entirely at one "single" distillery. In Scotch whisky, anything that does not meet the definition of a single malt - which can only be made from 100% malted barley and must be distilled in pot stills - or a blended whisky that is a blend of whisky from different distilleries - whether a blended malt whisky, a blended grain whisky, or a blend of malt & grain whisky - can only be a single grain whisky. It may help to think of these Scotch whisky definitions as being a process of elimination. Does it meet the criteria for a single malt Scotch whisky? No. OK, is it a blend of Scotch whisky from different distilleries? No. Well then it's a single grain Scotch whisky. At present there is no other legally recognised category in Scotch whisky, and to go outside these categories would mean you could not label your product as Scotch whisky or even as whisky, since Scotch whisky is the only whisky that can be made in Scotland. If you're unsure, have a read of the Scotch Whisky Association's <a href="https://www.scotch-whisky.org.uk/media/1519/swr-guidance-for-bottlers-and-producers.pdf" target="_blank">Scotch Whisky Regulations</a>. Looking at some examples; if your Scotch whisky is made from 100% malted barley at one single distillery but it is distilled in column stills, it is then a single grain Scotch whisky (this is Scotland, not Australia or England). If your Scotch whisky is made from 99% malted barley and 1% unmalted barley and is distilled in pot stills at one single distillery, it is then a single grain whisky (this is Scotland, not Ireland). If your Scotch whisky is made from 100% malted rye and is distilled in pot stills at one single distillery, it is still a single grain whisky. And if your Scotch whisky is made from 55% unmalted rye and 45% malted barley and is distilled in pot stills at Bruichladdich Distillery, then yes, it is a single grain whisky! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Enter Bruichladdich's The Regeneration Project Single Grain Scotch Whisky. Apparently they did initially want to call it "The Rye Project" but the SWA objected to this since it wasn't distilled from 100% rye grain. Personally I think they missed a huge opportunity by not calling it "The RYEgeneration Project". Sure, that may have still raised some eyebrows at the SWA, but let's not forget that this distillery used to have "The Dog's Bollocks" printed on it's packaging! Come on Bruichladdich, you used to be fun... "The Regeneration Project" was the brainchild of Islay farmer Andrew Jones and Bruichladdich's Production Director Allan Logan. Jones had been growing barley for Bruichladdich at Coull Farm on Islay, but decided to add rye to his farm's crop rotation in an effort to improve the health of the soil and reduce the need for fertilisers and other augmentation. Barley is quite an aggressive crop as far as its effect on the soil, and it's also quite picky if you want to get a decent yield. Rye is much less picky and also replaces some of the nutrients that the barley crops have stripped from the soil, hence "regeneration". There have been three "Project" releases from Bruichladdich so far, all distillery exclusives (website or physical shop). These began with "The Ternary Project" in early 2021 which was a vatting of all three single malts that are produced at the distillery - unpeated Bruichladdich, heavily peated Port Charlotte, and super-heavily peated Octomore. At an absolutely ridiculous £275 and without an age statement, I'm not surprised that it's still available - in fact all three of these "Project" bottlings are. Next was "The Biodynamic Project" released in late 2021, which was a 10-year old that was distilled from biodynamic (basically organic) English grown barley. To my knowledge that's the first and only time since the reopening in 2001 that Bruichladdich have made new make spirit that was not distilled from Scottish barley. Which seems a bit of a shame - we can't blame Remy Cointreau for that either, it was distilled in 2010 during the Reynier era. And that brings us to today's subject, The Regeneration Project single grain whisky, bottled in early 2023.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">While still a rarity, this Bruichladdich single grain is not the only single grain Scotch whisky to use rye in its mashbill, nor was it the first released. Highland distillery Arbikie was the first to release such a thing, and Fife distillery InchDairnie has since added to that. But this Bruichladdich is the first single grain whisky to be made on the island of Islay since the term was coined, and there will be more of it from Bruichladdich in future. Three distilleries making relatively tiny amounts of whisky will not be enough to get the SWA to add a "Rye Scotch Whisky" or "Scotch Rye Whisky" category to their regulations, but that could certainly change in future if there's enough demand - particularly if one of the large corporations takes an interest in the potential for a new category. Bruichladdich have played it a little safe with this first appearance of their single grain whisky, in that they've used 55% unmalted rye grain in the mashbill, with the remaining 45% being malted barley that was also Islay grown. Back in 2017 the distillery did experiment with different percentages, starting with the 55/45 ratio but trialling a 70/30 mix - which wreaked havoc on the ancient equipment used at Bruichladdich. Rye is a difficult grain to work with, particularly in mashing where it can take much longer to mash and can cause problems with drainage and cleaning. This of course makes it more costly to work with than barley, and in this case using unmalted rye means that you're getting significantly less enzymes in comparison to a 100% malted barley mash, meaning there are less fermentable sugars available in the mash, which means a lower alcohol yield in the wash and subsequently in the spirit. Since rye had never been used at Bruichladdich before, the production team also had to play around with the fermentation times and distillation cut points, and also the filling strength when it was being filled into casks. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Regeneration Project is a 5-year old single grain whisky, distilled in 2017 from 55% unmalted rye and 45% malted barley, all grown on Islay, and it was matured in a combination of first-fill ex-bourbon casks and virgin American oak casks. Interestingly those virgin oak casks were not charred prior to filling, they were only toasted in an effort to limit the level of wood influence in the whisky and let the spirit itself, and therefore the grain itself, show through. But if that was the goal then why use virgin oak casks at all? I'm assuming that was to give the maturation a boost and get the whisky ready at a younger age, so hopefully we'll see different cask types used in future older examples. The Regeneration Project was bottled at a diluted strength of 50% ABV in March 2023, with no <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a> or added colour. There were only 1,800 x 700ml bottles released in this batch and it was only available from the distillery's website or from the physical shop on Islay. Pricing was a rather staggering £125, plus shipping and local charges for those of us that are playing overseas - in Australia with our dastardly customs department, the final cost landed at your door would be around $350 AUD. Which is a huge chunk of money for a 5-year old whisky at 50% ABV, even one this unique. But that's the price of entry to try the first Bruichladdich single grain whisky, and the first Bruichladdich ever made with rye grain. Funnily enough there still seems to be stock available on said website at the time of writing, but the sample for this review was generously donated by David from Australian whisky retailer <a href="https://theoldbarrelhouse.com.au/" target="_blank">The Old Barrelhouse</a>. Let's see how it goes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAvfcGlIZmW3LXETE2QXuOW0zXYPXOLN6xZwXRoYWYEoge2rS61AxhoOhWEgVChkHIi-twTF6FU271NWDhIOGla6ZGRUA2ixzJED_QFu81uU1QGJyZRoXkpbCkj02jINX2uiJZKmSKPuzmIuoBADfqiFuCgQwU0Rga-S-VpDSJS0OGKoivR0fbEdMPGw/s720/Bruichladdich%20rye.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="720" data-original-width="335" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiAvfcGlIZmW3LXETE2QXuOW0zXYPXOLN6xZwXRoYWYEoge2rS61AxhoOhWEgVChkHIi-twTF6FU271NWDhIOGla6ZGRUA2ixzJED_QFu81uU1QGJyZRoXkpbCkj02jINX2uiJZKmSKPuzmIuoBADfqiFuCgQwU0Rga-S-VpDSJS0OGKoivR0fbEdMPGw/s320/Bruichladdich%20rye.jpg" width="149" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Bruichladdich 'The Regeneration Project' Single Grain Whisky, 50% ABV. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Distilled 2017 from 55% unmalted rye and 45% malted barley. Aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and toasted virgin American oak casks. Bottled March 2023 at 5-years of age. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Amber. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Spicy, sweet, oaky. Rye spice (i.e. toasted rye bread), sweet fresh oak, touches of intense spearmint and cayenne pepper. A little eucalyptus / tea tree, and nutmeg too. Sweet tinned peaches, dry pie shell pastries, vanilla essence. Dried bitter orange peel, and a touch of maltiness further in. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, very sweet, oaky, spicy. Slight heat. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>More sweet tinned peaches, plus some apricots in syrup, and a little blueberry as well. Powdered ginger, buttery pastry, sweet toasted oak, and sweet vanilla essence. The rye influence is much harder to spot here than it was on the nose, obscured by the oak and the sweetness. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. More spearmint, cayenne pepper, and eucalyptus. Aniseed, and more powdered ginger. More sweet oak, and vanilla essence. Dried orange peel again, milk chocolate and sweet tinned peaches to finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>2.5 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Interesting. Too sweet for my tastes, and also a little strange! The spicy rye character shows through nicely on the nose to start with, but it faded with breathing time and was obscured both on the palate and in the finish, which is a shame. Overall this is really quite a sweet whisky, which I assume is down to the virgin oak involvement, and I'd have preferred a 100% ex-bourbon maturation instead. That would've showed more spirit character, but I'm not sure if that was the goal with this Bruichladdich release, it feels like they're trying to ease into it with that aggressive virgin oak sweetness. Then again even with that virgin oak it still comes off as a little feisty and youthful, so maybe we'll see more spirit character in some older releases in future. Personally virgin oak isn't my bag, particularly in unpeated whiskies, and if I'm having a rye whisky/whiskey then I want to the rye to show all the way through, otherwise I don't see the point. So bear that in mind if you've scrolled straight to the score! I can see lovers of American-style rye whiskeys liking this one with the extra sweetness and the lighter rye grain influence that seem to be in their wheelhouse. In my view as a malt whisky lover this Bruichladdich single grain is quite a strange one; it's obviously unlike any other Scotch whisky that I've come across so far, and in all honesty it's not one that I'd rush out to buy. I'm sure we'll see more adventurous variants in future, hopefully with some more age and also less cask influence - or at least hopefully without virgin oak!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Kudos to Bruichladdich for having the guts to do produce Islay's first single grain whisky. If any of Islay's malt whisky distilleries were going to do it, it was always going to be these guys! And if it helps support Islay's grain farmers and their barley crops then I'm all for it, and I look forward to trying more examples in future. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-12782394235467656222023-06-25T18:02:00.001+10:002023-06-25T18:02:49.500+10:00Talisker 11 Year Old 2022 Special Release Whisky Review!<p>The one bottling in the 2022 Diageo Special Releases that immediately caught my eye. Why? Because it's a reasonably-priced, cask strength, ex-bourbon cask Talisker that is natural colour and non-chill filtered. Which is a winning formula! </p><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFh-10y1KIywYZiukdFVTJzCMGO_HFG4tkS0BjrSPlk-wgVuo-7LgNiz4VjLk4odEHwTANh6bAGdtfWrUrzoXB20SAeQPOvUaotfgjYrGg3uDsNjCa-tsxn8ZX9mNYenrO7sErL_gWv8Y718feqZADeaGHZJSbY6qzfOOl7d31ZJJWEQGhY-6Oy80y3Q/s538/talisker.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="421" data-original-width="538" height="250" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhFh-10y1KIywYZiukdFVTJzCMGO_HFG4tkS0BjrSPlk-wgVuo-7LgNiz4VjLk4odEHwTANh6bAGdtfWrUrzoXB20SAeQPOvUaotfgjYrGg3uDsNjCa-tsxn8ZX9mNYenrO7sErL_gWv8Y718feqZADeaGHZJSbY6qzfOOl7d31ZJJWEQGhY-6Oy80y3Q/s320/talisker.jpg" width="320" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The packaging has stepped even further into the cartoon realm with these 2022 Special Releases, which as usual have arrived in Australia just under a year after their release in Europe. There are quite a few departures from the norm in this latest batch; adding virgin oak casks to the venerable Lagavulin 12-year old, adding a PX & Oloroso sherry finish to a 12-year old Clynelish with a hefty price tag, and releasing a 26-year old single grain whisky from Cameronbridge Distillery which retails for a very ambitious $599 AUD. What is not a departure from the norm perhaps is a very expensive non-age statement Mortlach release, this time featuring not only virgin oak casks but also two different varieties of sweet fortified wine cask, and retailing for $420 AUD. It's great that Diageo is giving Mortlach some well-deserved attention, but if I can speak for the whisky nerds of the world, all we want is a teenaged Oloroso sherry matured/finished Mortlach, with an age statement, that allows the distillery to live up to its legendary moniker of "The Beast of Dufftown". The 2023 Special Releases were recently unveiled in Britain, and thankfully both the packaging designs and the cask treatments have seemingly been dialled down. Despite the size of the company, Diageo certainly does seem to react to customer feedback, or even predict it! Besides all of that, these are still cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour releases from some of Diageo's most highly regarded distilleries, many of which are among Scotland's best. But I'm getting off topic here, we should be talking about Talisker! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">From the outset there were two bottlings in the 2022 releases that immediately appealed to me, not only because they're the cheapest / most reasonably priced of the bunch! These were the 10-year old Oban that was finished in Amontillado sherry casks, and the 11-year old Talisker that we're looking at here. We've been treated to some delicious Taliskers in the Special Releases over the last five years; starting with the fantastic <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/01/tailsker-8-year-old-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">8-year old from 2018</a> that was matured in heavily-charred first-fill bourbon barrels, then a delicious <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/08/talisker-15-year-old-cask-strength.html" target="_blank">15-year old in 2019</a> that was matured in re-charred refill ex-bourbon barrels, followed by a slight departure in 2020 with an <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2021/04/talisker-8-year-old-rum-finish-2020.html" target="_blank">8-year old rum cask finish</a>, and then the 8-year old refill cask from 2021 that was taken from their "smokiest reserves". When the news first appeared about this 2022 bottling I was rather excited, partly since it was a little older at 11-years, but mainly because it was matured in bourbon casks. Specifically, the packaging states: "Lightly peated stocks from ex-bourbon casks". However, as is sometimes the case with Diageo's Special Releases, some of the press release blogs & also plenty of retailer websites seem to have gotten a little confused, and are stating that this whisky was matured in both ex-bourbon casks and ex-wine casks. Both the packaging and Diageo's official whisky site (malts.com) don't mention wine casks in relation to this Talisker, and to my palate there's no overt wine influence in the whisky itself. Furthermore, I can't see Diageo adding wine casks to a Talisker special release, which would be quite a big deal, and then neglecting to mention it on either the packaging or on their own website.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Being the whisky pedant that I am, I had to find out! So I reached out to Ewan Gunn, Diageo's Senior Global Brand Ambassador, to ask if he could confirm. Ewan was very helpful when I reached out to clear up the confusion that surrounded the brilliant <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2021/04/cragganmore-12-year-old-special-release.html" target="_blank">2019 12-year old Cragganmore</a> special release, where many sources were wrongly stating that it was merely matured in ex-peated whisky casks, rather than the spirit itself being distilled from peated barley. Come to think of it there was a similar issue with the <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/08/talisker-15-year-old-cask-strength.html" target="_blank">15-year old Talisker</a> released in the same year, which some had misinterpreted as being fully matured in virgin oak! That time Colin Dunn, Diageo's Whisky Brand Ambassador for Western Europe, came to the rescue and helped clarify that this was certainly not the case. This time Ewan has once again been extremely helpful, and even went so far as to contact the actual blender who signed off on the vatting for this release! Said blender confirmed that this 11-year old Talisker was matured solely in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and there was no wine involved.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Many whisky cynics like to think of Diageo as some faceless & soulless corporate monolith, and that its employees have all been enslaved towards the ultimate goal of global domination. In my experience that's really not the case, the staff that I've come across at the company's distilleries in Scotland have all been warm & welcoming, and passionate & professional. Now we have some pesky small-time whisky blogger in Brisbane, Australia, contacting Diageo's senior brand ambassadors in Britain and questioning details on whiskies from the previous year/s. Rather than being told to go away or being ignored completely, both of these gentlemen have promptly gone above & beyond to find the answer/s and set the record straight. Both Ewan and Colin deserve to be commended for their fantastic work that to my mind exemplifies what a brand ambassador should be. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">So, we have an 11-year old cask strength Talisker from the Isle of Skye. It has been fully matured only in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and bottled at 55.1% ABV without <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a> or added colour. Retail pricing in Australia is around $190 AUD, which is very reasonable in this day & age. Summarising Talisker in twenty words or less; lightly peated, wooden washbacks, purifiers on spirit stills, worm tub condensers, sea salt & black pepper, coastal & delicious. Side note before we get to the review, you may have noticed that this 2022 release states that it's from "lightly peated stocks" while the 2021 8-year old stated "from our smokiest reserves". Talisker only makes one spirit which is peated to around 20 <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-this-peat-stuff-anyway.html" target="_blank">ppm</a>, so these labels are referring to the flavour profile of the casks that were in the vatting/blend, rather than a different peating level in the spirit itself. Tasting time!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcid8p3hT_xSPMDouxY-5xXnUUV673tcxRRGw0KesGNsK3eJ3mQuGnLG2DsUK9S59y2WCfr-1Oo50Pcs27RnOXzezO9RPdFsLUDbMU8iVBsM0V5ryeX24IajA5rTHsatw2XfxKPXW-EoxzW-iA0L_m-NSSTV1HFooRHhvsZb6WqcPOxNG5w4Jfzfkp-w/s566/talisker%2011%202022.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="315" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjcid8p3hT_xSPMDouxY-5xXnUUV673tcxRRGw0KesGNsK3eJ3mQuGnLG2DsUK9S59y2WCfr-1Oo50Pcs27RnOXzezO9RPdFsLUDbMU8iVBsM0V5ryeX24IajA5rTHsatw2XfxKPXW-EoxzW-iA0L_m-NSSTV1HFooRHhvsZb6WqcPOxNG5w4Jfzfkp-w/s320/talisker%2011%202022.jpg" width="178" /></a></div><div><br /></div><b>Talisker 11-Year Old, Special Releases 2022, 55.1%. Isle of Skye, Scotland.</b><div>Fully matured in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill (no wine casks involved). Non-chill filtered, natural colour.</div><div><br /></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Gold. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Fresh, fruity, and briny. Green olives in oily & salty brine, crumbly & sharp mature cheddar cheese, sweet vanilla fudge, and warm sandy beaches. Touch of tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice. Green chilli flakes (trademark Talisker), golden malted barley, sweet lemon zest, and dry & ashy wood smoke. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, spicy, smoky. Slight heat but it works. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>More tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice, and sweet lemon zest. Sweet vanilla fudge fades quickly into table salt, white pepper, and those green chilli flakes. Dry wood smoke with hot ash, and a touch of melted salted butter. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Long length. Mild green chilli flakes and warm sand carry through, with the melted salted butter and olive brine following along. That ashy wood smoke is softer now, more of an undercurrent. Golden malted barley, tinned fruit, sweet lemon, and a flash of almond frangipane (almond pastry cream filling) to finish. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. Just over the line maybe, but it's there.</div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>An easier, lighter take on young cask strength Talisker. But there's no loss of distillery character, and the cask influence is kept nicely in check. That blender mentioned above has certainly done a good job with this one, if you ask me. It's possibly a little sweeter than expected, probably that lighter style showing through, but there are good doses of the trademark Talisker salt & pepper and that green chilli fruitiness that I love in the good examples of the make. It's still undeniably coastal as well, despite the widely lamented mainland maturation for the vast majority of Talisker spirit. Both Talisker and Caol Ila are great examples for the "terroir" and "there's no salt in whisky" arguments, with good talking points for both sides of the debate! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Getting back to this 11-year old Special Release, it easily beats both the 2021 and 2020 8-year old releases if you ask me, and I'd put it on par with the 2019 15-year old. It's different in style to all of those of course, but quality-wise this 2022 release is a serious player. That said, it can't hope to square up against the 2018 8-year old, but there are few who can. That was almost a freak of nature, and it was released nearly 5-years ago now in a very different whisky world. It's still my favourite Talisker of all time (even over the cask strength 25-year old, but don't tell that bottle's owner) so it's not a fair comparison. That said, this 11-year old is probably the closest in style of all the subsequent Talisker Special Releases to date, and at ~$180 AUD here in 2023 it's holding up very well. Talisker fans will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div></div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-41714613323022702292023-06-18T18:16:00.003+10:002023-06-18T18:54:48.033+10:00Whisky in Isolation The Joy of Six Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">An independent bottling of Australian single malt from one of our newest. High strength, natural presentation, relatively reasonable pricing, different and/or unusual cask treatments to the official bottlings, and highlighting lesser-known distilleries. Which should be independent bottling 101!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpzxYSdVNLIm9F0afi6euvwlJ_AL2cRxc13FCpGTNnr5Q3PFRWQdTnqWF-eg9FiMbFVeeK0TwuUn4XdvN8iMLM_Td7C5WUrH0wodcxwPBtyl9PYrEoU9a65xE6WJvBoqP72fT0FBKbPGBbcKVNx4R-nT5LsOVZ0gSFrhdmLDjHsodYdkiKlW9uDlsZA/s322/whisky%20in%20isolation.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="322" data-original-width="301" height="200" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhHpzxYSdVNLIm9F0afi6euvwlJ_AL2cRxc13FCpGTNnr5Q3PFRWQdTnqWF-eg9FiMbFVeeK0TwuUn4XdvN8iMLM_Td7C5WUrH0wodcxwPBtyl9PYrEoU9a65xE6WJvBoqP72fT0FBKbPGBbcKVNx4R-nT5LsOVZ0gSFrhdmLDjHsodYdkiKlW9uDlsZA/w187-h200/whisky%20in%20isolation.jpg" width="187" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">Like the name suggests and like many passion projects, Whisky In Isolation was born of the pandemic. Deep in the throes of lockdowns and isolation in early 2020, Melbourne-based proprietor Justin Farmer was inspired & encouraged by his wife to pursue his passion for whisky in earnest. That initially began with a blog under the Whisky in Isolation name, but soon blossomed into filling casks with spirit from various distilleries, experimenting with different finishes on maturing whisky, and playing around with vatting / blending casks of mature whiskies. The first Whisky In Isolation bottling titled "Nearly New York Sour" (in homage to the cocktail) was released in mid-2022, and there have been another three releases since. The subsequent releases have been sourced from VIC's Kinglake Distillery, Tasmania's Hobart Whisky / Devil's Distillery, and now Victoria's Chief's Son Distillery. Four releases in under 12-months is not a bad run for such a tiny operation, and the plan is to stick to similar volumes for the foreseeable future - meaning, all going well, there should be another three releases coming in the remainder of 2023. Justin has partnered with a number of small distilleries for future releases, both in Tasmania and on the Australian mainland, with a simple but effective goal in mind: "just great whisky". All bottlings to date have been around the same relatively reasonable price point, which has helped Justin gather quite the following in such a short period of time. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This fourth release from Whisky In Isolation is from Chief's Son Distillery, a small operation located on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, around an hour's drive south-east of Melbourne. Chief's Son was founded by husband & wife team Stuart & Naomi McIntosh back in 2013, which practically makes them middle-aged in terms of the continuing (for now) boom in Australian distilleries. Chief's Son single malts are double distilled in a single copper pot still that is heated by an internal electric element, which is quite a common thing in Australian whisky production despite the extra manual labour that it involves. Stills don't come cheap, after all! Another common thing in Australian whisky production is the sourcing of wash from local breweries rather than brewing / fermenting on site, which is a cost-cutting, risk-reducing, and time-saving measure that would not be legally permitted if we were in Scotland. You could argue that doing this also helps with consistency, but my counter-argument is that that's a negative rather than a positive. You're effectively losing a large chunk of individuality and potentially personality in the finished product, particularly if multiple distilleries are using the same brewery and the same specifications. Even some of the biggest names in the industry take advantage of this method (some would say "loophole"), and Chief's Son are no exception. They do take it a step further though by specifying a number of different types of brewer's malts, or at least different specialty roasting levels, in their mash bills. These range from pale malt to crystal (think Benromach Cara Gold) and chocolate malt (think Glenmorangie Signet), while small amounts of peated malted barley are sourced from Scotland. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The Whisky In Isolation bottling that we're looking at today is the oldest Chief's Son whisky bottled to date, at 6-years and 6-months of age. That may sound young on a global scale - probably because it is young on a global scale - but that's almost middle-aged by Australian whisky standards where many releases are only aged for the legal minimum of 2-years before they're pushed out the door. New expression The Joy of Six has been fully matured in small format first-fill French oak ex-apera fortified wine casks that were sourced from the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Apera is basically our take on a Spanish sherry, generally approximating an Oloroso style, although they tend to be lighter in style than you might expect from a traditional Oloroso sherry. Being first-fill and small format French oak casks though, I'm sure there's going to be plenty of both fortified influence and wood influence here. Small format casks in Australian whisky generally means 20-litre or 50-litre casks, or somewhere in between. These tiny casks combined with our warm and highly variable climate can wreak havoc on maturing spirit, particularly given the aggressive nature of French oak that is the most commonly used species in our industry - which is essentially dictated by the local table & fortified wine industries who have the first go at the casks before selling them on. The saving grace in this case is blending (a.k.a. vatting, still a single malt) these small casks of Chief's Son whisky together, playing around with the flavour profile, and also adjusting the ABV for the best results. In this case a few 20-litre casks were vatted together, and the ABV was reduced slightly to 54.25% because that's where Justin felt this whisky was at its best. It is of course <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a> and natural colour, and retails <a href="https://www.whiskyinisolation.com.au/products/chiefs-son-distillery" target="_blank">here</a> for $195 AUD in a 500ml bottle, with a tiny outturn of 105 bottles. As mentioned above, that's a perfectly reasonable price in Australia compared to much of the competition - both in independent and official bottlings - particularly at this age and ABV. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">For those familiar with Australian whisky, I know what you'll be thinking here, particularly if you've spied the colour below. "20-litre first-fill fortified wine casks for 6.5-years in Australia, so we're probably in for another overly sweet, overly wood-driven whisky, right?" Well I wouldn't be so hasty, since those specialty malts used at Chief's Son seem to balance out the impact of the fortified wine casks, and also because Justin has selected and vatted these particular casks for a reason. The bottle of The Joy of Six for this review was kindly donated by Justin, with no strings attached. So let's see how it goes, shall we? </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxYyUKANBLQcGrHPJBLh15zX8UjfVloBadtbzMwGST1uCvu-_0lvFfDIe2lVuS-4g__tVnMytUEw786F0I2UJohxuRyDgT1u8QFaCH9tpq5OGbdXSVLCpqEeNtIrMrkO22ewpU8GWqXKEPL-Q5gZthe01nNXibnAzFHkqx8X-MoPUoyjWao6pi9_IUw/s566/joy%20of%20six.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="566" data-original-width="306" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjaxYyUKANBLQcGrHPJBLh15zX8UjfVloBadtbzMwGST1uCvu-_0lvFfDIe2lVuS-4g__tVnMytUEw786F0I2UJohxuRyDgT1u8QFaCH9tpq5OGbdXSVLCpqEeNtIrMrkO22ewpU8GWqXKEPL-Q5gZthe01nNXibnAzFHkqx8X-MoPUoyjWao6pi9_IUw/w216-h400/joy%20of%20six.jpg" width="216" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Whisky in Isolation "The Joy of Six", 6-years old, 54.25% ABV. Victoria, Australia.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Distilled at Chief's Son Distillery in Somerville, Victoria. Vatting of 2 x 20-litre first-fill ex-Apera (sherry style fortified wine) casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 105 bottles. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Polished dark brown. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Sweet, woody, toasty. Treacle, sultanas, sweetened ginger, and soft liquorice. Lightly burnt toast, bitter orange peel, and fresh Christmas pudding with the skin on. Even a flicker of marzipan and rich buttercream icing. Well-toasted oak, milky coffee with a dash of vanilla syrup, and soft leather. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Syrupy in texture but less sweet than the nose, more toasty & roasty. Warming, no heat at all. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>More treacle, sweetened ginger, bitter orange peel, and toasted oak. Currants rather than sultanas here, and coffee froth/foam rather than syrup. That buttercream icing and soft old leather again, with some ginger toffee fudge. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Ginger again, spent coffee grounds, sweet toasted oak, and cinnamon. Ginger porter (dark ale) too. That soft old leather shows again, plus a little oily wood polish, and toffee fudge. Turning slightly astringent towards the end with tea leaves - that'll be the tannins showing themselves, without going too far. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. Not too far from a 4, in fact. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Lovely complexity for a relatively young whisky that has been matured in small first-fill casks, which is a surprise. There are still shades of the Chief's Son official bottlings in places, but this independent certainly seems more rounded and more mature in comparison - which makes sense, since this is the oldest Chief's Son bottled to date. The sweetness and wood influence are both immediately obvious, but they're actually well balanced and measured, neither is allowed to steal the show. The tannins that we expect from small French oak casks don't show up until late in the finish, and they don't get into the full bitterness that many similarly-aged whiskies do. Which is a very good thing. Those ginger & fudgy notes are delicious as well. Makes for a great winter warmer!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This is still a very "Aussie" style whisky of course, in terms of sweetness and wood influence. But it's on the great quality end of the spectrum that isn't all about raw oak and using overly sweet fortified wine or other shenanigans to hide an undercooked whisky. Think modern Heartwood, Highwayman, Iniquity, Launceston, that sort of thing. Add the extremely competitive pricing at this age and ABV, and you're onto a winner. This is my first Whisky in Isolation bottling, and it's very impressive stuff. Already looking forward to the next one!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Thanks to Justin for the bottle for this review. It'll be thoroughly enjoyed and widely shared!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-84285088783043887002023-06-04T18:05:00.000+10:002023-06-04T18:05:04.409+10:00Longrow Red 15 Year Old Pinot Noir Whisky Review - Plus a Bonus!<div>The latest (in Australia) early-2022 release in the Longrow "Red" series of wine finished / matured heavily peated Springbank spirit, plus a bonus review of its close relative. The Longrow Open Day 2020 special release!<br /></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpmKLZ_mnWwkn8OeT21mk7R9lVTS8tgrxyO3S5XjmoPN-viskA0ush-t698Sccle280aQSlUAhbMcUXIK64CuQaD6MlX8ZKlWgyU14LIJEHNTTkTFmGHyDydxzCRNy3wrnUq3ts1FfS6surM5Hhi5GH2NJwQ7u6ydeDJ0UUFsbwtI9nkkX811hXuLgA/s5184/IMG_3488.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjMpmKLZ_mnWwkn8OeT21mk7R9lVTS8tgrxyO3S5XjmoPN-viskA0ush-t698Sccle280aQSlUAhbMcUXIK64CuQaD6MlX8ZKlWgyU14LIJEHNTTkTFmGHyDydxzCRNy3wrnUq3ts1FfS6surM5Hhi5GH2NJwQ7u6ydeDJ0UUFsbwtI9nkkX811hXuLgA/w400-h300/IMG_3488.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div>I have a complicated relationship with the Longrow 'Red' series of red wine cask bottlings. I'd almost go as far as calling them hit & miss, at least for my tastes. So far my picks of the series have been the 10-year old <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/02/longrow-red-10-year-old-refill-malbec.html" target="_blank">refill Malbec finish from late 2020</a> and the 11-year old refill Pinot Noir finish from early 2019, although I'm yet to try the 11-year old first-fill Port Cask matured from 2014 or the brand-new Tawny Port bottling that was recently released in Europe. As you can guess from those two winners, most of the first-fill wine cask finishes in the Longrow Red series have left me cold, ranging from decent, to good, but not great. So I'm clearly preferring the refill casks with less wine influence and more of the distillery character on display, and getting outside of the Red series, the <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2019/03/longrow-14-sherry-cask-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">14-year old Sherry Cask</a> (yes, that was all refill casks!) and <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2021/09/cadenheads-longrow-11-year-old-port.html" target="_blank">this</a> incredible refill port cask from Cadenhead's have definitely reinforced that preference. I'm still wishing they'd give us a cask strength ex-bourbon matured Longrow aged in the early teens, which as far as I'm aware doesn't exist outside of the Springbank Society releases or some market-exclusive single casks. Whether all refill or a mix of first-fill and refill casks, I suspect such a thing would be outstanding. But strangely ex-bourbon seems to be the least-common cask type for this heavily peated Campbeltowner, excluding the 46% ABV core range bottling anyway. Even a cask strength version of that "entry level" NAS Longrow would satisfy my curiosity, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon since there isn't enough out there as it is. Springbank can't keep up with the demand for even their core range bottlings of their three brands, and it's important to remember that the heavily peated Longrow and unpeated Hazelburn brands each account for only 10% of the distillery's annual production. </div><div><br /></div><div>I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Longrow might be heavily peated by Springbank standards, but this is not an Islay whisky. If you were to only look at everyone's favourite phenolic figures, at 55-60 <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/05/what-is-this-peat-stuff-anyway.html" target="_blank">ppm</a> Longrow does sit comfortably on the higher end of the scale. But if you go in expecting something as smoky and/or peaty as a Laphroaig or an Ardbeg, there's a good chance you're going to be disappointed. This is a heavy, sulphurous, funky spirit by design, being double distilled through Springbank's direct-fired wash still and then the worm tub condenser-equipped first spirit still. The spirit cut points for Longrow are also quite wide and quite late (69-58% for us geeks), giving it a divisive profile. And the peat itself is sourced from the Scottish mainland, generally from the east coast. The same mainland peat is used for the Springbank malt and also the majority of the malt used at sister distillery Glengyle (producing Kilkerran whisky). Speaking of which, the same peated caveats apply to Kilkerran's Heavily Peated range, which also uses mainland peat - don't expect an Islay experience there either! Despite the numbers Longrow's peat character is more of a dirty, earthy, softly smoky style, closer to an Ardmore than an Ardbeg, but in a heavier, dirtier style that is really quite unique. <br /><div><div><br /></div><div>Getting back to the task at hand, this Longrow Red 15-year old is the early-2022 release, the latest to make it to Australia. An 11-year old Tawny Port bottling has since been released in Europe, bottled in late 2022, which I assume (no guarantee) will make it to Australia later this year. This early-2022 release was matured for 11-years in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished for 4-years in fresh (Springbank-ese for first fill) pinot noir casks sourced from Valli Vineyards in central Otago, New Zealand, which is roughly in the centre of the South Island's lower half - not far from Cardrona, as it happens. This is the third Longrow Red to date that has been finished in pinot noir casks; the first was a 12-year old released in 2015 which had a one year finish in first-fill NZ pinot noir casks, and the second was the aforementioned 2019 11-year old which had a 3-year finish in refill NZ pinot noir casks - sourced from the same vineyard as this 15-year old 2022 release, in fact. As usual this Longrow Red was bottled at cask strength, 51.4% ABV, without <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a> or added colouring, with 9,400 bottles released. Retail pricing here in Australia was $270-300, and inevitably many will have been flipped for profit (by both retailers and retail customers) in short order. Let's see how it goes!</div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzRuPLbzLVTdYSaCHCl5nCfc5rIvS8WVV-a9em3E-eGDfLfYGhrG8GtYAksThNHDZ7SHxCjKTnYGxyOxpKM6hgK1kjc8YwhmDutb0gqXddsyBBE4Yw4wsLCdBDk1sLJVN9gCMxCLKnEeid5zyz7BfPSO9zzwTAKdpf_y6w3b960SZ3cilgb1nA27QAw/s586/longrow%20red%2015.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="586" data-original-width="248" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjBzRuPLbzLVTdYSaCHCl5nCfc5rIvS8WVV-a9em3E-eGDfLfYGhrG8GtYAksThNHDZ7SHxCjKTnYGxyOxpKM6hgK1kjc8YwhmDutb0gqXddsyBBE4Yw4wsLCdBDk1sLJVN9gCMxCLKnEeid5zyz7BfPSO9zzwTAKdpf_y6w3b960SZ3cilgb1nA27QAw/s320/longrow%20red%2015.jpg" width="135" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Longrow Red 15-Year Old Pinot Noir Cask, early 2022, 51.4%. Campbeltown, Scotland.</b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Matured for 11-years in ex-bourbon, finished for 4-years in first-fill ex-NZ pinot noir red wine casks. 9,400 bottles released Feb 2022. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Bronze. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Fruity, earthy, rich & sweet. Buttery toasted oak, stewed plums & black cherries, dried apricot. Brown sugar butter caramel, and wine tannins (red grape skins and cold black tea). Old leather, and gravy powder. Touches of spearmint & white pepper around the edges. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, buttery, fruity. No heat. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>More buttery toasted oak, leather, grape skins & cold black tea (tannins). Touches of white pepper & gravy powder. Stewed stone fruit & dried apricot again but some berries here too, blackberry & blueberry jam. Touch of dark chocolate too, but the wine is doing the heavy lifting here.</div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Short-medium length. More cold black tea, buttery caramelised oak, leather & stewed berries & cherries. Earthy peat & dirty smoke coming through towards the end. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>An enjoyable Longrow Red, sweeter & fresher than I generally find these releases. Too winey for my tastes though, and the funk is very restrained - barely there at all, in fact, and the trademark earthy peat & dirty smoke don't show up until very late in the third act. So red wine lovers will probably enjoy this one if they aren't fans of Longrow's dirty, sulphury side. But anyone can make a red wine-forward whisky, while only one distillery can make Longrow. Quite a bit of fresh oak influence in this 15-year old too, which seems to push the sweetness up. Like many of these Longrow Red bottlings, I think there's too much wine and too much cask, and not enough distillery character. We need more refill casks in this series please Springbank! How about some ex-bourbon cask Longrow releases too, while you're at it? Lose the "Red" part of the equation and give us the ex-bourbon maturation without the wine finishes. To quote the disco era; "we want the funk". To paraphrase another; "won't you take us to funky town?". </div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div>And now, the bonus round! </div><div><br /></div><div>The Open Day 2020 Longrow bottling is a vatting of two first-fill Pinot Noir casks and two refill Malbec casks, all fully matured and aged for 10-years. Springbank's Open Day bottlings are released for the annual Campbeltown Festival, so they're the equivalent of a Feis Ile bottling. There's usually a Springbank, a Longrow and a Hazelburn, plus a Kilkerran from sister distillery Glengyle, and they're generally a small batch of 3-6 casks sold only from the distillery shop. Thanks to the pandemic though the 2020 Campbeltown Festival had to turn virtual, and it didn't take place at all in 2021, while things have since returned to physical normality in '22. That virtual festival in 2020 meant that the Open Day bottlings were more widely available than usual, and could be purchased directly from the distillery's website for shipping within Europe. I was able to get a bottle on the secondary market which wasn't cheap, but it was more reasonable than some of the more "sexy" bottlings from the same distillery that are still attracting ludicrous pricing on the same websites. Longrow Open Day 2020 was fully matured in 2 x first-fill Pinot Noir red wine casks and 2 x refill Malbec red wine casks, all at least ten years old, with the four casks yielding 1,284 bottles at a cask strength of 53.7% ABV. Malbec is the heavier of these two wine varieties with more tannins, with pinot noir being on the lighter side in comparison. So I'm already thankful that those Malbec casks were refill. Tasting time!</div></div></div><div><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAjGu9-vjegDnPEJ5O2BshvUWI-teGkHMoSgLbaJjjEVBjYhvhpUo6_I_hnAX0gh8sFIZOCi4j3iiC2fNI1BG-dDkOmmjPOWe0kJgTbD1c8OnJYXgl_DxAkmxHWMwd2K9p9rvtvnjW0hPG-b-yhMbXubh3F5hJUFOAmusCuRHJvG7f0uUflWQKClI2Q/s594/longrow%20open%20day.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="594" data-original-width="228" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhsAjGu9-vjegDnPEJ5O2BshvUWI-teGkHMoSgLbaJjjEVBjYhvhpUo6_I_hnAX0gh8sFIZOCi4j3iiC2fNI1BG-dDkOmmjPOWe0kJgTbD1c8OnJYXgl_DxAkmxHWMwd2K9p9rvtvnjW0hPG-b-yhMbXubh3F5hJUFOAmusCuRHJvG7f0uUflWQKClI2Q/s320/longrow%20open%20day.jpg" width="123" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Longrow Open Day 2020, 10-years old, 53.7%. Campbeltown, Scotland.</b><div>Vatting of 2 x first-fill pinot noir wine casks and 2 x refill malbec wine casks, bottled for Springbank 'Virtual Open Day' 2020. 1,284 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. <br /><div><br /></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Bronze. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Rich, thick & meaty. Loads of dark chocolate & dried raspberry. Blueberry & sour black cherry. Touch of spearmint around the edges, a little powdered ginger there too. Boysenberry ripple ice cream, but light on the vanilla. Earthy peat, roast meat drippings (pork?) & gravy powder, soft wine tannins. Rich toffee fudge & black pepper. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Medium-heavy weight. Rich, earthy, meaty & fatty. No heat at all. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>Lightly smoky, earthy & meaty. More dark chocolate, rich toffee fudge, sour black cherry, and dried raspberry. Powdered ginger & spearmint around the edges again, plus a pinch of black pepper. Creamy boysenberry ripple ice cream again. Touch of coffee grounds in the background. <br /><br /></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Long length. More meaty roast meat drippings & gravy powder, and earthy, dirty peat. Slight touch of dried orange. Rich chocolate, turning creamy & lactic. Soft grape tannins again, and more blueberry. Creamy chocolate to finish. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Notes: </b>A deliciously earthy, meaty, Longrow that sits almost entirely on the savoury spectrum - more of these please! The wine influence is still obvious of course, but it's less dominant / overbearing than it is in some / most of the regular "Red" bottlings, including the one above. The trademark Longrow earthy peat & dirty smoke signature is very much in the background, or rather it's very well integrated, and the dirty Campbeltown "funk" diesel notes that we all love are still quite soft in this one. But it's no less delicious as a result. I'd rank it slightly above my favourite of the Longrow Red bottlings to date, the 11-year old refill Pinot Noir finish from 2019. It's not really a direct comparison though because this Open Day bottling isn't part of the Red series. Those releases tend to be finished in one particular type of wine cask, while this Open Day bottling was fully matured in two different types of wine cask, and crucially they were a mix of both first-fill and refill. Which has certainly helped retain the distillery character without going over the top with the wine influence. Good stuff!</div><div><br /></div><div>Cheers!</div></div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-44395093070749226982023-05-21T17:32:00.004+10:002023-05-21T17:37:17.106+10:00Old Master Spirits 44-Year Old Armagnac Review!<div style="text-align: left;">Another old "malternative" brandy from Old Master with a bargain price. This latest release is a single cask of Bas armagnac that was distilled way back in 1978, with an age statement of a whopping 44-years! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipmhSWk7B3BSZmp8IqTjNBpcLU-bcFFOj7HswOzI_2HJDiAyr1vymNZ6HqPTtBCnAE-D7b2TeklH7LCO3mpCt9U6wxmHt5KeTA6rzO9jsk6t0smFzuqlKQd7ivo43Uir2IEsYmfJ_PMAVYXFfEK0itwI6caF7LCGDMf5tr465AN-7hH948V7lrKh4AJw/s1352/dNsy_dhQ.jpeg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="901" data-original-width="1352" height="266" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEipmhSWk7B3BSZmp8IqTjNBpcLU-bcFFOj7HswOzI_2HJDiAyr1vymNZ6HqPTtBCnAE-D7b2TeklH7LCO3mpCt9U6wxmHt5KeTA6rzO9jsk6t0smFzuqlKQd7ivo43Uir2IEsYmfJ_PMAVYXFfEK0itwI6caF7LCGDMf5tr465AN-7hH948V7lrKh4AJw/w400-h266/dNsy_dhQ.jpeg" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">I'm starting to think Old Master Spirits are just teasing us with these old brandies! Both the age statements and the attached pricing are truly remarkable from any whisky drinker's perspective. From a 63-year old cognac to the recent <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/03/old-master-spirits-xxo-armagnac-review.html" target="_blank">XXO armagnac bottling</a>, if you were to look at an equivalent whisky the pricing would make most feel nauseous. Age aside, all of the Old Master bottlings so far have been great quality and very reasonably priced - particularly when compared to an equivalent whisky. Yet another example is this forthcoming release, a 44-year old single cask Bas armagnac. What would an similarly aged malt whisky cost, here in the ongoing pricing madness of 2023? You'd be looking at a starting price of $3,000-$4,000 AUD on these shores, and far beyond for the "luxury" brands. We all know that armagnac doesn't carry the prestige or profit margins of an old single malt whisky, but you'd still expect such an old spirit to be over $1,000, right? Wrong! This single cask, cask strength, naturally presented 44-year old armagnac is going to sell, at retail, for $249 AUD. Which is an absolute steal. Needless to say, $250 AUD doesn't get much in the whisky world these days. For those playing overseas, here in the great southern land of tax, that's the going rate for a Glendronach or Glengoyne 18-year old, it's significantly less than we're charged for the 18-year old releases from Talisker or Highland Park, and is less than half the price of a Macallan 18. None of those whiskies are bottled at cask strength, and all but one are chill filtered. I know we're not comparing apples to apples there, in fact we're comparing grapes to malted barley. But to see a 44-year old spirit of any sort selling for roughly the same price as those examples is difficult to comprehend!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">To date this Melbourne-based duo have also dabbled in Australian single malt whisky from Tasmania, Australian rum from New South Wales, and even PX sherry itself. Naturally (pun intended), and unlike most of their commercial distant cousins, all of these releases have been non-chill filtered and natural colour, and no extra sugars, flavourings or wood extracts have been added at any stage. I've gone into the shady - but sadly perfectly legal - additive practices in the brandy industry <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/04/old-master-spirits-51-year-old-cognac.html" target="_blank">here</a> in my first cognac review, so I won't delve into those deceptive depths again in this review. Suffice to say there are no such shenanigans or flashy marketing & packaging here, just quality spirits released with natural presentation and at good prices. That's the way Old Master do it, and that's the way their customers want it! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This latest example is due to launch on Thursday the 25th of May (this week). Head <a href="https://www.oldmasterspirits.com.au/release-8" target="_blank">here</a> for more details, or sign up to Old Master Spirits' mailing list <a href="https://www.oldmasterspirits.com.au/mailing-list" target="_blank">here</a>. This eighth release from Old Master is a Bas Armagnac from Domaine De Papolle, a small armagnac house (pictured above) that is a 90-minute drive south of Bordeaux in south-west France. Distilled in 1978 from 100% Baco grapes, it was aged entirely in French oak - as per the legal requirements for armagnac (see <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2022/08/old-master-spirits-1982-armagnac-review.html" target="_blank">here</a> for more info) - for 44-years prior to bottling at the natural cask strength of 40.3% ABV. Age isn't everything of course; it doesn't always mean maturity, and on the flipside it can mean a spirit is too far gone. But that's certainly not the case here! As I've mentioned above, this armagnac is <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">non-chill filtered</a>, natural colour, and nothing has been added. Enough talk, let's see how it goes! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRh4iX3T3WSuv0XTC1eRNaOem7UFbxkAGm2oSpM6oYMkD6hcZukpsdtkzJPwJ8qD7ppuaQ5KeyWsPdhGxxZkDWIOwlhCLERpfgc4zMGynSyxiqMO4wFNn4NtEYeQUYgoSbLh8sntRzE5PTXr8KJVzE1oU-EUpnCxfDw6Oo6tADiT6sBKOne5z23fPzMg/s1528/old%20master%20armagnac%2044yo.png" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="1528" data-original-width="314" height="400" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiRh4iX3T3WSuv0XTC1eRNaOem7UFbxkAGm2oSpM6oYMkD6hcZukpsdtkzJPwJ8qD7ppuaQ5KeyWsPdhGxxZkDWIOwlhCLERpfgc4zMGynSyxiqMO4wFNn4NtEYeQUYgoSbLh8sntRzE5PTXr8KJVzE1oU-EUpnCxfDw6Oo6tADiT6sBKOne5z23fPzMg/w83-h400/old%20master%20armagnac%2044yo.png" width="83" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Dark, burnt toffee. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Sweet, oaky, spicy. Surprising vibrancy & depth for such an advanced age! Medjool dates, treacle, warm nutmeg & cinnamon. Herbal touches of dried sage & dried bay leaf. Strong Vietnamese coffee (sweetened with condensed milk), dried pineapple, polished pine furniture. Dried bitter orange peel around the edges.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Light-medium weight. Sweet, oily, oaky, soft & warming. No heat whatsoever. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Soft & sweet entry, with treacle, black tea, that Vietnamese coffee (with condensed milk), and oily furniture polish again. Some currants and dates, dried bitter orange peel, and that bitter herbal note of sage & bay leaf (both dried). Touch of that dried pineapple adding a little acidity for balance. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Long length. The treacle, oily furniture polish and currants carry through. Touches of rum & raisin ice cream with a dash of vanilla, and a crumbly dark chocolate fudge. Black tea and orange peel return, with that curious dried pineapple note again. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. Easily. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>What a treat to nose & taste something so old - no offence intended to any readers of a similar vintage! I can comfortably say this is the most complex armagnac that I've tasted to date, and probably the most dynamic as well. It's constantly changing with time, air, and temperature, and there's a surprising depth & length on offer considering the natural cask strength of "only" 40.3% ABV. Admittedly this 44-year old armagnac is approaching the upper limits of my preferences as far as wood tannins and oak influence, but it never goes over the line. In my amateur opinion, they've pulled this armagnac from the cask at exactly the right time! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Just like some of the old G&M bottlings in the whisky world, this armagnac is further proof that a 40% ABV spirit doesn't have to be light & thin, particularly when it's not been chill filtered. The difference here of course is that it hasn't been reduced / diluted down to the legal minimum strength of 40%, rather it's naturally come down to a cask strength of 40.3% during maturation. Which is an important distinction, and quite a rare thing even at an advanced age. This rarity is an absolute bargain at the retail pricing of $249 AUD. Do not miss this one folks! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-72165357512786037512023-05-14T18:32:00.005+10:002023-05-14T18:32:47.572+10:00Smokehead Rum Rebel & High Voltage Whisky Reviews!<div style="text-align: left;">Another "mystery" rum cask finished Islay single malt, this time from Ian McLeod Distillers, plus their cask strength regular bottling for the sake of comparison.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD-t6YrNYrIhpbgxSn2g7TVhe802grEnmnINBzJITwj65rPNYK1LJ6Qlweftg3IazrX_gIyZpJyUA9DVZASQkPFsWNMwtPayXrNPpAVXOqRwHRuG4_CfSnT2Xyccoxrw4YrhXF-dQFwGTC2TVzwhW2IZY8xAbmCiTqfvlxTasS2QsMoKI_lm-rRteKBw/s5184/IMG_0937.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjD-t6YrNYrIhpbgxSn2g7TVhe802grEnmnINBzJITwj65rPNYK1LJ6Qlweftg3IazrX_gIyZpJyUA9DVZASQkPFsWNMwtPayXrNPpAVXOqRwHRuG4_CfSnT2Xyccoxrw4YrhXF-dQFwGTC2TVzwhW2IZY8xAbmCiTqfvlxTasS2QsMoKI_lm-rRteKBw/w400-h300/IMG_0937.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;">From the 30-year old Rosebank from Ian McLeod, to a rum finished mystery Islay Port Askaig from Elixir Distillers, to a rum finished mystery Islay Smokehead (Caol Ila). The timing worked out rather well! It's been a long time since I tasted anything from Smokehead, in fact if memory serves neither of these two expressions existed when I last had a close look at the brand. Ian McLeod has certainly grown as a company since those early days, now with three malt distilleries under their belts; <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/03/glengoyne-18-year-old-glengoyne-legacy.html" target="_blank">Glengoyne</a>, <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/08/tamdhu-batch-strength-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Tamdhu</a> and Rosebank. They also have half a dozen blended whisky brands in the stables, plus some gin and rum, and a couple of undisclosed / mystery single malt brands. For those of us in Australia most of these bottlings can only be found at Dan Murphy's, while some of the limited releases are more widely available. The Smokehead brand was launched back in 2006 with the namesake <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/06/does-age-really-matter-age-old-question.html" target="_blank">NAS</a> bottling, which if memory serves was initially 40% ABV - I could be wrong, but it's currently bottled at 43% regardless. They've branched out significantly since those early days, and there's now a stout cask finish, a tequila cask finish, a sherry cask finish, and the rum cask finish & high strength bottlings that we're looking at here. None of these whiskies carry an <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/06/does-age-really-matter-age-old-question.html" target="_blank">age statement</a> and none will tell you which distillery they're sourced from, although all are single malts from one distillery on Islay, and as far as I can find they don't switch between distilleries like some of these mystery bottlings. Obviously like the majority (but not all) of undisclosed Islay single malts Smokehead is most likely Caol Ila, being the largest distillery on the island and the easiest to source for independent bottlings. But Ian McLeod is being tight-lipped about the details, preferring to focus on basic tasting notes and cask finishes instead, not to mention the very "rock & roll" marketing angles & packaging designs. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">The two whiskies I'm reviewing here came from a sample pack of 3 x 50ml samples featuring the standard Smokehead, Rum Rebel, and High Voltage expressions. This pack can be found for around $30 AUD on these shores, which is a good deal considering that these whiskies are bottled at 43%, 46%, and 58% ABV respectively. I must admit the Australian pricing on the full-size bottles is quite reasonable as well; $80 for the standard bottling, $107 for the rum cask finish, and $113 for the high strength. Presumably that's because they're unofficially exclusive to our largest retailer, so there's no real competition on the market since any opposition would struggle to match the pricing. The whiskies themselves are probably quite young, but young Caol Ila can be very enjoyable when it's been looked after. Hopefully that's the case here. Unfortunately neither of these Smokehead bottlings mentions <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a> or added colouring, and European labels do carry the dreaded "Mit Farbstoff" ("with dye" in German) artificial colouring warning required by the German additive regulations. I realise that the hardcore whisky geek is not the main target market for these whiskies, but would it really hurt to be a little more open? Even if it was only on the website rather than the packaging itself. Surely since these whiskies are bottled at 46% and above there'd be no need to chill filter them, but Ian McLeod don't deem it necessary to tell us. Which is the same issue I had with Glengoyne Legacy at 48%, where the first batch stated that it was non-chill filtered, but it was omitted from the subsequent batches. On the other hand the company's single malts from Tamdhu Distillery do declare that they're natural colour and un-chill filtered (where applicable) on their labelling and packaging, so why not implement those declarations across your whole single malt range Ian McLeod Distillers? It think it's time you got on the transparency train with both feet, rather than just the one toe...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">We'll start with the 'Rum Rebel' Smokehead, which is bottled at 46% ABV. We don't know an age, we don't know a distillery, we don't know if it's coloured or chill filtered, but we do know that it's been finished in Caribbean rum casks for an undisclosed period of time. A rum cask finish isn't as rebellious these days as it was a few years ago, but I suppose the packaging and design are about as far from the tweed & tartan Scotch whisky crowd as you can get, so that's the cause they've chosen for this rebel. Let's see how it goes. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfJ6Zuda-245CXCfA_SNUQZThKnAItfV-OynXXjFyvufew0923WqRxnZrHiSgFiwEAIRHGaBpjAGIlV2VruJ5FmVBUijRWykFTPFlBfVAs9fHA48McLsUFDX0h79q3v_heCC1gaGYhqtsbSuKSGBFpfUD9IQqJnAnarq-Wv-9kPuwwFcx7s8DIvERkw/s651/smokehead%20rum%20rebel.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="651" data-original-width="321" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEiSfJ6Zuda-245CXCfA_SNUQZThKnAItfV-OynXXjFyvufew0923WqRxnZrHiSgFiwEAIRHGaBpjAGIlV2VruJ5FmVBUijRWykFTPFlBfVAs9fHA48McLsUFDX0h79q3v_heCC1gaGYhqtsbSuKSGBFpfUD9IQqJnAnarq-Wv-9kPuwwFcx7s8DIvERkw/s320/smokehead%20rum%20rebel.jpg" width="158" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Smokehead Rum Rebel, NAS, 46%. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Undisclosed Islay single malt, finished in Caribbean rum casks. Unknown colouring or chill filtration. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Fresh, sweet & coastal. Salted butter out of the fridge, vanilla essence, green peppercorns. Fatty smoked bacon, uncooked. Touches of sweetened lime juice & green banana, even banana chips. Drying muddy oyster shells, and warm sea salt. Gentle ashy smoke around the edges. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Light-medium weight. Rich, syrupy, gently coastal. Slight touch of heat but pleasant. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Dried green banana (banana chips), big pinch of sea salt, brown sugar, green chilli flakes, and vanilla buttercream icing / frosting. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Short-medium length. Syrupy sweetness, with the cold salted butter and uncooked fatty smoked bacon returning. Dried oyster shells, green chilli flakes and that dried green banana (banana chips) to finish. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Certainly sitting on the sweeter side of the spectrum for malt whisky, and the rum casks have definitely made their mark, albeit without going too far and dominating the spirit. I'd say it's quite a well balanced whisky in fact, not particularly complex but easy drinking and enjoyable. Solid value for money as well. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">On to the big brother, the (only) high ABV version of Smokehead, dubbed High Voltage. There's no mention of cask strength on the packaging or website, nor is there any mention of cask type so it's presumably matured in refill hogsheads. As with the previous one there's no mention of colouring or chill filtration. Based on appearance I'm certain that is has been dosed with E150, and while it'd basically be pointless to chill filter a whisky bottled at 58% ABV we don't know what they don't tell us. Let's see how it goes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpg88qHcybAfGQa7yzgxXfWiT56RgUQnV9iBESiyEr-iMdqzz-f8DoxfK3ZzMo71M2ewfmL_aQitv3OrMQW_XCsjaExIqc7phRGdZiTfyviApmXiFFp_KDqTdNRalEAgia3-fY1SM4OXaxynmpk3Fr4pC7_PEZskdm8XNxW_oALBJmkRROgFRW46_fmQ/s646/smokehead%20high%20voltage.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="646" data-original-width="319" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEjpg88qHcybAfGQa7yzgxXfWiT56RgUQnV9iBESiyEr-iMdqzz-f8DoxfK3ZzMo71M2ewfmL_aQitv3OrMQW_XCsjaExIqc7phRGdZiTfyviApmXiFFp_KDqTdNRalEAgia3-fY1SM4OXaxynmpk3Fr4pC7_PEZskdm8XNxW_oALBJmkRROgFRW46_fmQ/s320/smokehead%20high%20voltage.jpg" width="158" /></a></div><br /><b>Smokehead High Voltage, NAS, 58%. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Undisclosed Islay single malt. No information given on distillery, age, cask type, colouring, or chill filtration. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Amber. Certainly some E150a here I'd say. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>Orange citrus, metallic, gently smoky. Fresh orange, damp rusty metal (e.g. old iron sheeting in the rain), black pepper and cayenne powder. Burnt bacon, toffee, gentle ashy smoke, touch of acidic pineapple and blowtorched herbs. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Oily, hot, ashy & metallic, and cloyingly sweet. Noticeable heat</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>Big ashy smoke, fades into that rusty metal again, artificial vanilla syrup, sugary toffee. Distractingly saccharine and cloying. Sweet orange cordial. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Spirity heat carries on for quite a while, spiky. Some rough casks in the mix here I think. Still has that artificial sweetness too. Sweet orange cordial, smoked bacon and gentle ashy smoke underneath. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>2.5 out of 5. But only just. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Too cloyingly sweet for my tastes, and also noticeably hot & rough - which is unusual for a Caol Ila. That strange metallic note is a little distracting too, and I get the impression that this whisky would actually taste quite bitter and even hotter/rougher if it wasn't so sweet. I'm not sure where that distracting level of extra sweetness is coming from either, Caol Ila's spirit is naturally quite sweet but I don't recall tasting any that have taken it this far, to the point where it comes off as saccharine, artificial and almost chemical. I'd almost think there were some cheap sweet wine casks in the mix here, but I'm sure they'd make more noise about it if that were the case. Granted, Smokehead High Voltage is cheaper than the opposition on the high strength mystery Islay shelves, e.g. Port Askaig 100 Proof, Scarabus Batch Strength, and Finlaggan Cask Strength, but in my opinion this Smokehead can't match any of those in terms of balance, complexity, and just outright quality.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Overall Notes: </b>Well I'm obviously preferring the Rum Rebel between these two. And by a larger margin than the 5-point scoring system can get across. Sure, both aren't particularly complex whiskies, but that's not the goal here, and it's not uncommon in young Caol Ila either. These Smokehead releases are sweet, straightforward, gently smoky, crowd-pleasing whiskies at reasonable prices, and there's definitely a big market for such a thing. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-11511449838952663212023-04-30T18:09:00.003+10:002023-04-30T18:09:27.210+10:00Port Askaig 9 Year Old New Zealand Exclusive Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">A New Zealand exclusive Port Askaig single cask bottled for Whisky Galore / Dramfest. And it's a rum cask finish, which means this is probably a rum cask finished Caol Ila. And that's quite the rarity! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpQ4OHoFw3mb_t0eR8lA8w-QUQ81SHFUqk1sp9dpASynp6eayGO-1g-6u-Bnziv594VjSAo1a0lorurXw8rsDTuM79rb5_wYS5292IJC2v24eNWvaWXzu1F1R_kFwtDL5QOFDKQjVA7b7wDsTKuHIzJa4_3YsZ71-AzHVKgp645G2Ni3Dg-k4unuMfA/s5184/IMG_0464.JPG" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="3888" data-original-width="5184" height="300" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEgDpQ4OHoFw3mb_t0eR8lA8w-QUQ81SHFUqk1sp9dpASynp6eayGO-1g-6u-Bnziv594VjSAo1a0lorurXw8rsDTuM79rb5_wYS5292IJC2v24eNWvaWXzu1F1R_kFwtDL5QOFDKQjVA7b7wDsTKuHIzJa4_3YsZ71-AzHVKgp645G2Ni3Dg-k4unuMfA/w400-h300/IMG_0464.JPG" width="400" /></a></div><br /><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: left;">Port Askaig is one of the independent bottling brands from Elixir Distillers, formerly owners of The Whisky Exchange, which is now owned by Pernod Ricard; and now the owners of Tormore Distillery, which was formerly owned by Pernod Ricard. Funny how these things pan out...Aside from Port Askaig Elixir also brings us independent whisky bottlings like Elements of Islay and Single Malts of Scotland and also Black Tot rum, with their own Islay distillery named Portintruan under construction just outside the village of Port Ellen. The Port Askaig brand only consists of Islay single malts, but is technically one of the "mystery" undisclosed single malt Scotch whiskies. There is no Port Askaig Distillery, but there is a distillery in the village of Port Askaig that goes by the name of Caol Ila. Not all Port Askaig bottlings are Caol Ila mind you, but the two permanent bottlings in the range, the 8-year old at 45.8% and the delicious <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2016/07/port-askaig-100-proof-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">100 Proof</a> at 57.1% ABV (110 Proof and bottled at 55% in the US) are. The rest of the Port Askaig bottlings are limited releases to varying degrees, sometimes Caol Ila and sometimes from other distilleries, even including 45-year old unpeated Bunnahabhain in the past. Since Caol Ila is Islay's largest distillery with a capacity of over 6-million litres (ramped up from 4-million a few years ago) and is underutilised as a single malt by owner Diageo, it is therefore one of the easiest to source for independent bottling and/or blending. So it stands to mathematical reason that the majority of the anonymous & undisclosed Islay independent bottlings will be Caol Ila, regardless of which label they're wearing. That's certainly not a negative though, this distillery produces fantastic whisky, and if it weren't for the independent bottlings it would be difficult to experience "proper" Caol Ila as a single malt. There are rumours that Diageo are going to slow or even stop the on-selling of Caol Ila to brokers and independent bottlers, but let's just hope that isn't true. If it is, they'd better pick their act up and give this distillery the attention it deserves; i.e. bring back the cask strength!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Why am I reviewing a New Zealand exclusive bottling when I'm not in New Zealand? Well, firstly because a generous resident of NZ sent me a sample. But also because this is a rum cask finished Port Askaig, which is the first time I've seen such a thing in the southern hemisphere. Which means there's a strong chance that this is a rum cask finished Caol Ila, which is the first time I've seen such a thing - Google tells me it's been done before by a couple of much smaller independent bottlers, but I'm yet to see any of those examples, let alone try them. We don't see many rum cask finishes from Islay in general, but in my experience it can work beautifully with peated whisky when done well. Ardbeg have dabbled in rum finishes in the past with 2019's (lacklustre) Drum release and the (much better) <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2019/03/ardbeg-drum-committee-release-whisky.html" target="_blank">Committee Release version</a>, while Kilchoman have released some excellent rum finished single casks. Further afield some larger producers have started delving into rum casks recently, including Diageo with their special release <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2021/04/talisker-8-year-old-rum-finish-2020.html" target="_blank">Talisker 8-year old in 2020</a> and more recently the Cardhu 16-year old special release in 2022. With more traditional finishing casks (i.e. sherry) constantly becoming scarcer and more expensive, and with the large corporates now buying Spanish bodegas to secure their own cask supplies, we'll continue to see more unusual cask maturations and/or finishes in Scotch whisky, from mezcal to cognac and further afield. This shift has been spurred on by the changes made to the Scotch whisky regulations back in 2019. Crucially, oak is still the only permitted wood type, and the previous contents must be barrel aged in its traditional production, i.e. you can't throw some vodka or gin in a cask and then finish your Scotch whisky in that cask, because those spirits are not traditionally barrel aged. If you do you can't label it as Scotch whisky, and you can expect a visit from the SWA. Which is a good thing; without these regulations you'd have chaos. Look at what's been happening in Australian whisky with soft drink casks and Christmas mince pie casks for the worst case scenario, let alone just about every producer adding more unnecessary sugar to their whisky by throwing their 2-year old spirit, often already too sweet and too woody, in maple syrup casks...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">This Port Askaig rum cask finish is a single cask New Zealand exclusive, selected and bottled in "collaboration" with Whisky Galore in Christchurch - the importer, distributor and retailer behind the biannual Dramfest whisky festival. This is a 9-year old whisky, matured for 7-years in a refill bourbon cask and then finished for 2-years in a first-fill rum barrel, bottled at a cask strength of 58.2% without <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a> or added colouring. There's essentially no point in talking about price with this one since New Zealand plays by a different set of rules to Australia, but I can't help it. Retail pricing is just $112 NZD, the equivalent of around $105 AUD or $70 USD. That's an incredible price for a cask strength single cask Islay, let alone an exclusive bottling. Other reasons & factors (of which there are many) aside, the New Zealand government charges almost half the amount of alcohol excise on spirits than the Australian government does here - currently $60.54 NZD (around $57 AUD) per litre of 100% alcohol vs. $97.90 AUD (around $104.50 NZD) per litre at 100% alcohol. And the rate there is increased every 12-months there, as opposed to every 6-months here. Sigh. While we're on the subject, in the U.S. according to the TTB site their federal spirits excise rate is just $13.50 USD... per GALLON (that's 3.78L) at 100% alcohol. That's not including any tariffs or state taxes, which are significant, but even so, double sigh. Moving right along, it's time for a dram...</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6HYhozpt_KOpH8VM9qowddfawPq30TCX_ZnlQT6Djkwdq8ewrPAxajhbx1qUdYgwijgEu36bXDxj_BL1lwcqt6_i97nvWaEstwyBqVwy4hRYnCSp1tr9IiqPGHWdzly2IVvnjKHpO2ZNIbRemfDtS9AV1XLeuvOAKHU7vWA2RuI6cYvpv9VINpsTzzw/s544/NZ%20port%20askaig.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="544" data-original-width="316" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj6HYhozpt_KOpH8VM9qowddfawPq30TCX_ZnlQT6Djkwdq8ewrPAxajhbx1qUdYgwijgEu36bXDxj_BL1lwcqt6_i97nvWaEstwyBqVwy4hRYnCSp1tr9IiqPGHWdzly2IVvnjKHpO2ZNIbRemfDtS9AV1XLeuvOAKHU7vWA2RuI6cYvpv9VINpsTzzw/s320/NZ%20port%20askaig.jpg" width="186" /></a></div><br /><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Port Askaig 9-Year Old, Rum Cask Finish Single Cask, 58.2%. Islay, Scotland.</b></div><div style="text-align: left;">Exclusive to New Zealand. Anonymous Islay single malt (likely Caol Ila), distilled 2013, matured in refill bourbon for 7-years, finished in first-fill rum barrel for 2-years. Cask #4432. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Colour: </b>Pale gold. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Nose: </b>A little sharp, vegetal, ashy, and sweet. Grassy malt with a touch of smoked ham (Caol Ila's calling card), thick boot polish (paste/cream, not liquid), and slight aniseed. Chilli salt, smoked pork rinds, and sea spray. Bandages and a hint of oyster shells around the edges. There are some subtle tropical fruits - banana & papaya, I'd say - with a light caramel syrup, but the rum cask certainly isn't shouting at me. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Texture: </b>Medium weight. Syrupy, ashy, sweet & grassy. No heat, nicely warming. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Taste: </b>More thick boot polish & chilli salt before Caol Ila's sweet grassy spirit comes through, bringing a wave of ashy smoke with it. The light caramel syrup & banana around the edges again. Bandages on the exhale. There's certainly a denser, more syrupy sweetness here than your typical Caol Ila, but it's still quite a subtle influence. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. The ashy smoke and sweet syrup (maybe even cane juice?) continue, then the chilli salt - but it's green chilli now rather than red - and boot polish make a fleeting appearance. Grassy malt and a tough of woody (bitter) herbs & aniseed. There's possibly a slight "rum funk" underneath that syrupy sweetness, e.g. overripe banana and brown sugar, but that could be the power of suggestion. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Score: </b>3.5 out of 5. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><b><br /></b></div><div style="text-align: left;"><b>Notes: </b>Well the rum cask influence is certainly subtle, but that's not a negative. In fact this is a great example of a cask finish done well, where it integrates with the spirit rather than dominating it, boosting some aspects (sweetness in this case) and adding an extra flare without becoming distracting or obstructive. Most rum cask finished peated whiskies that I've tried do seem to lean that way, unlike some other cask types that seem to want all the attention for themselves. Casks aside, this is another tasty Caol Ila from Port Askaig / Elixir Distillers who certainly know their way around the spirit from this Islay workhorse. As one of Diageo's dependables the spirit is extremely consistent, but it does need to be handled with care by bottlers. Along with Elixir, Gordon & MacPhail and Signatory Vintage are in that same grouping I think. Diageo are up there too, they just don't want us to know they are. Their Feis Ile bottlings and distillery exclusives tend to be great spirit-driven Caol Ilas. Whereas some other bottlers think it's Laphroaig and end up bashing it over the head with cask influence - especially if first-fill sherry is involved. This rum cask finish Port Askaig is a great example, and it's an absolute steal at the NZ pricing.</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com2tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-3953653178126480342.post-71700741122162838962023-04-23T18:24:00.001+10:002023-04-23T18:24:22.524+10:00Rosebank 30 Year Old Whisky Review!<div style="text-align: left;">The legendary Rosebank, the recently rediscovered gem of the Lowlands region. New owners, new releases, and (eventually) new spirit!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ftd-TktIG6cvuUWIuqMBKHCWoTFaKyvDbOvqGLKyTIHfum0bmPE71MlcUWmzFCHhjHPkbJeSOUy-tCqXEbF8j5i5-UT7u3dNksRU1Bziz5jfoGelZY2p4dzq4gbU3931iu_g6VuPn-Ko7y6UirtnSX3EW9i0ixuqZEjGToJ7sjiHnU-itiPIkqOjKQ/s890/new%20rosebank%20stills.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="469" data-original-width="890" height="211" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEj0Ftd-TktIG6cvuUWIuqMBKHCWoTFaKyvDbOvqGLKyTIHfum0bmPE71MlcUWmzFCHhjHPkbJeSOUy-tCqXEbF8j5i5-UT7u3dNksRU1Bziz5jfoGelZY2p4dzq4gbU3931iu_g6VuPn-Ko7y6UirtnSX3EW9i0ixuqZEjGToJ7sjiHnU-itiPIkqOjKQ/w400-h211/new%20rosebank%20stills.jpg" width="400" /></a></div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Before you ask, yes, this is an expensive bottle of whisky, and despite only being a 2021 release it's largely sold out. At $3,000 AUD on these shores when it was released a couple of years ago, it was already out of many whisky drinkers' reaches. My own included. That was a high price when this whisky was released nearly three years ago, but in the sorry state of affairs that is the current global whisky market, $3,000 for a 30-year old cask strength official bottling from a closed (but re-opening) distillery is actually reasonable. I know that's quite a bitter pill, but it's true. As an example the most recent of Diageo's Port Ellen releases, a 40-year old batch of 1,380 bottles, is priced at $12,500 here in Australia and £8,000 for those in the UK. </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Unlike Port Ellen, Rosebank managed to survive the wholesale slaughter of the early 1980s. In fact it was more highly regarded at the time, but that wasn't enough to save it from the accountants red pen. The doors were closed in June 1993, over 150-years after they'd first opened, when Diageo-predecessor United Distillers elected to close the distillery rather than spending two million pounds on necessary upgrades. Here in 2023 three legendary dead distilleries are being rebuilt and reopened, in fact Diageo's Brora is already up & running after nearly four decades spent gathering dust. Port Ellen is still under Diageo's ownership, but the site required the most work out of this dead distillery trifecta, compounded by its remote location and also the pandemic. Rosebank was slightly better off since the distillery buildings were still standing on the original site in Falkirk roughly 45-minutes north-west of Edinburgh, but the resurrection has been very long-winded, and at the time of writing the distillery is still under construction. Falkirk is now more widely known for it's "Falkirk Wheel" rotating boat lift and the Kelpies sculptures, but to the more devout whisky lovers it's still known as the home of Rosebank. Once the new distillery is finally up & running, it will be again!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Owing to its convenient location on the banks of the Forth & Clyde Canal, the neglected & unloved Rosebank site was sold to the government group that managed the country's waterways. The distillery buildings soon fell into disrepair, and the copper stills & mash tun were partially stolen (cut apart and stolen over a period of days/weeks) by metal thieves in the late 2000s. Diageo still owned the Rosebank brand and sporadically released some of the remaining casks as official bottlings, including a Flora & Fauna bottling that was launched in the late 1990s and concluding with a 21-year old cask strength in 2014. Rosebank was & is quite a unique distillery among the Lowlanders since it used 100% triple distillation combined with worm tub condensers; the former giving a lighter and more floral character, and the latter giving a textural, more robust character. In late 2017 Ian McLeod Distillers managed to purchase both the brand and the remaining stock from Diageo, and also bought the distillery site and buildings from British Waterways. Ian McLeod are behind <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2023/03/glengoyne-18-year-old-glengoyne-legacy.html" target="_blank">Glengoyne</a> & <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2020/08/tamdhu-batch-strength-whisky-review.html" target="_blank">Tamdhu</a> distilleries and own independent bottling brands such as Smokehead and Sheep Dip. In late-2019 they set about building a brand new Rosebank Distillery on the original site, while keeping some of the original structure where possible, although building works didn't actually commence until the early 2021. As you'd hope and expect they've installed the same brewing & distillation equipment that the original distillery had, with wooden washbacks, three new copper pot stills built to the original specifications (pictured above), and of course those crucial worm tub condensers. The new stills were installed in mid-2022, with eight new wooden washbacks following a few months later, but the new distillery still hasn't fired into life here in April 2023, over five years after the new owners purchased the distillery. Surely it can't be far off now! </div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">In the meantime Ian McLeod has been releasing the old stock that was purchased from Diageo, obviously distilled prior to the distillery closure in 1993. So far that's included two large batch releases; a 30-year old in late-2020 followed by a 31-year old in late-2022, plus a travel exclusive 1990 "Vintage Release" and a couple of single cask bottlings. We're looking at the 30-year old bottling in this review, titled "Release One" which was distilled in 1990 and released in late-2022. It's a vatting of 62% refill sherry butts and 38% refill bourbon hogsheads, yielding 4,350 bottles at a cask strength of 48.6% ABV and bottled without <a href="http://peatedperfection.blogspot.com/2014/09/what-is-chill-filtering-chill.html" target="_blank">chill filtration</a> or added colour. This 30-year old "Release One" bottling is sold out in Australia, but the 31-year old second release is readily available for the same price. Supposedly that second batch will be the last official bottling until the new distillery finally kicks into life, which probably means there'll be a commemorative bottling released when that happens. I've been lucky enough to try a few examples of Rosebank thus far, but this 30-year old will be the oldest to date thanks to a generous fellow whisky geek. Let's see how it goes!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><a href="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkbGG_VvpPbvNCEfMVpk0X98eQj11-0OrK5mB5fT2p33Zz40bGj9hNAGHim8B3IKaiIJJfdQDj5CfdCQKxeUwuiqUEwtv3CtB-h39812VXzKUwIDoTAUsgCt36s2jepgCOTUPXDiTIBQRO7MnUOKnmbiJlculfN4Cs9UbtTC934MiSIVsxkqykdJTKw/s726/rosebank%2030.jpg" style="margin-left: 1em; margin-right: 1em;"><img border="0" data-original-height="726" data-original-width="482" height="320" src="https://blogger.googleusercontent.com/img/b/R29vZ2xl/AVvXsEhLkbGG_VvpPbvNCEfMVpk0X98eQj11-0OrK5mB5fT2p33Zz40bGj9hNAGHim8B3IKaiIJJfdQDj5CfdCQKxeUwuiqUEwtv3CtB-h39812VXzKUwIDoTAUsgCt36s2jepgCOTUPXDiTIBQRO7MnUOKnmbiJlculfN4Cs9UbtTC934MiSIVsxkqykdJTKw/s320/rosebank%2030.jpg" width="212" /></a></div><div class="separator" style="clear: both; text-align: center;"><br /></div><b>Rosebank 30-year old "Release One", 48.6%. Lowlands, Scotland.</b><div>Triple distilled, 62% refill sherry butts, 38% refill bourbon hogsheads. Distilled 1990, bottled 2020. First "global release" (non-single cask) from new owners. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 4,350 bottles. </div><div><br /></div><div><b>Colour: </b>Full gold. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Nose: </b>Fresh, floral, malty. Sweet thick honey, oat cakes, sweet floral perfume. Lovely rich maltiness, candied lemon & sweet orange rind. Powdered ginger, tinned fruit in syrup. Soft spicy & nutty oak further in. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Texture: </b>Medium-heavy weight. Rich & oily. Malty, fruity, no heat at all. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Taste: </b>More thick sweet honey, rich warm maltiness, lemon peel & orange rind (less sweet here). Tinned fruit in syrup again - peaches in particular. Those sweet & floral notes are around the edges here, it's more about the malt & citrus on the palate. Not overly complex perhaps, but lovely.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Finish: </b>Medium length. Black pepper fading into powdered ginger. Damp porridge, before the orange rind & lemon peel kick in again. Tinned fruit - peach again, maybe some pear now - and that warm maltiness to finish.</div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Score: </b>4 out of 5. Close to a 4.5, though. </div><div><b><br /></b></div><div><b>Notes: </b>Another delicious Rosebank. No surprises there! What is surprising though is how fresh & malty this whisky is after 30-years in oak. And that's the beauty of Rosebank, the magic is in the contradictions - triple distillation for a lighter spirit, but worm tub condensers for more weight & texture which help it withstand longer ageing. Refill casks too of course, which is a winning recipe with any Lowlands whisky at an advanced age. No need for any fancy cask finishes or extra wood influence, absolutely nothing needs covering up or enhancing here! I suppose given the choice I'd like a little more length on the finish and maybe a little more complexity as well, but I'm picking nits again. This whisky has certainly been put together very well. Great balance, lovely freshness & clarity. </div><div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">I look forward to the "new" Rosebank releases in a decade or so - hopefully the distillery is up & running soon so that milestone is brought a little closer. Thanks to the generous bottle owner for this sample!</div><div style="text-align: left;"><br /></div><div style="text-align: left;">Cheers!</div></div>Peated Perfectionhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/15097923659171547780noreply@blogger.com0