Old Master Spirits 1972 Armagnac Review!

Yes, they've done it again! This new release is almost a decade older, with a negligible price difference. Although it's not quite that simple this time. Read on!

Old Master Spirits' previous release was their first Armagnac bottling, a 1982 vintage Bas Armagnac. Now just over a month later they've followed it up with a 1972 vintage Bas Armagnac, albeit with one crucial point of difference. This forthcoming release was distilled in 1972 and bottled in 2022, but the age statement is 39-years, not 49-years. And that's not a mathematical error, Deni and David have done this on purpose! This single cask armagnac was transferred from a French oak cask to a glass "dame-jeanne" (a.k.a. a demijohn - pictured below in its wicker basket) just over a decade prior to being bottled. This is a very common practice in brandy production, where unlike in Scotch whisky this glass storage period is legally considered to be part of the maturation time and is almost always included in a cognac or armagnac's age statement. The ideas behind transferring the spirit from a cask or casks to these large inert glass vessels are obviously to stop any further wood influence, but also to essentially stop evaporation due to the volume of liquid and/or the ABV dropping during maturation. Given a decade in glass that storage period will have still made a difference to this spirit, primarily with the amount of oxygen present in the vessel. It's hard to tell from the below image, but these dame-jeannes are rarely more than half-full, and are closed with a regular cork & piece of hessian, so while they don't breathe like a wooden cask they're not completely sealed. In the interests of transparency the team at Old Master Spirits have decided not to include this glass storage period in their age statement with this release, just like it wouldn't be included in a Scotch whisky. So the 39-year age statement here refers to the length of time that this armagnac spent in it's single French oak cask, despite it being bottled roughly a decade later. Obviously a 49-year age statement would've made this bottling easier to sell, and they also could've chosen to remove the age statement altogether and just printed a vintage & year of bottling on the label for the same effect. But they've chosen to go with transparency, just as you'd expect from this small, quality-driven operation.

I've covered the basics of armagnac and it's production in the recent review of Old Master's previous release (see here), and that of it's cousin cognac back in April (see here). So I won't repeat that in this review, suffice to say that this latest bottling from Old Master is also from the Bas Armagnac AOC, the largest and most common region in armagnac production, and is again bottled at natural cask strength, non-chill filtered, and without any added colouring, sugar, or boise (wood flavouring), all of which are permitted in armagnac production. So this armagnac has been bottled 'au naturel', just the way it should be! This armagnac is also from the same producer as the previous release, Chateau Bordeneuve a.k.a. Baron de Sigognac, named after their most prolific cellar master. The Chateau is roughly halfway between Bordeaux and Toulouse in the south-west of France, with every step in production carried out on site from harvesting the grapes through to distillation, maturation and bottling. The grape varieties in this latest release are different to the previous bottling, with this one being made from Baco and Ugni Blanc grapes. Distillation was again a single run through this family owned armagnac house's traditional armagnac still, with it's short column and tightly-packed worm tub condenser, far removed from a modern continuous / coffey / column still.

This 1972 vintage single cask Bas Armagnac has been bottled un-diluted at a natural strength of exactly 46% ABV, with a tiny yield of 151 x 500ml bottles, following 39-years of maturation in French oak and 10-years of storage in glass. With such a low yield we can see why Chateau Bordeneuve chose to transfer this precious liquid into glass - otherwise it might've evaporated completely! With the age of this spirit and such a low number of bottles you'd be forgiven if you expected the pricing to be on the expensive side. But that's not how Old Master Spirits operates - this 1972 vintage single cask armagnac is going to retail at just $299 AUD. It's safe to say that a single malt whisky of this age could sell for ten-times that amount, so this is a serious bargain for such a rarity. Much like the last armagnac release, I would not expect it to last long at all. Sign up to Old Master's mailing list here , and keep an eye on your inbox - this armagnac will be released on the 20th of October. It'll also make for an interesting comparison with the 1982 bottling - in fact, since I'm so generous, I'm going to do just that after reviewing this latest edition on its own! Why not?

Colour: Dark bronze. 

Nose: Sweet, rich & floral. Quite fresh & lively for such an old spirit! Creamy Russian caramel fudge (made with golden syrup & condensed milk, and actually a British invention rather than Russian!), raisins & dried currants, touch of dried apricot, and a drop of orange oil. Dried leafy herbs, a touch of boot polish, and warm oak.

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Creamy, rich & very soft. No heat whatsoever. 

Taste: Juicy oak, floral spirit again with more raisins, dried currants and creamy Russian caramel fudge (again, that's British and not Russian!). More dried leafy herbs, and a surprising drop of rich vanilla bean ice cream in the background. 

Finish: Medium length. Dried apricots & currants, and a touch of that orange oil again. Some treacle, and warm baking spices. Something a little rum-like in the background too, i.e. an aged Caribbean rum. 

Score: 4 out of 5, but closer to a 4.5 (again, bearing in mind my limited armagnac experience).  

Notes: Another delicious bottling from Deni & David! Which shouldn't come as a surprise. What does come as a surprise though is how light on its feet this armagnac is for something that has spent nearly four decades in French oak and then a decade in glass. I wouldn't quite call it a delicate spirit, but it's certainly no heavy wood monster. Like almost any aged spirit only the best casks would be allowed to age for this long, while keeping an eye on the levels of wood influence and tannins, and also the evaporation. Being able to store your spirit in inert glass vessels is certainly a big advantage there, and kudos again to Deni & David for choosing to leave that extra decade out of the age statement with this bottling. Very delicious stuff this, no doubt helped by being presented properly and at a very reasonable price. 

In comparison to the previous O.M.S. armagnac bottling, the 1982 vintage, this older sibling is lighter, sweeter & more floral, less wood-driven and more complex. It's important to remember that both spent the same amount of time maturing in oak, although the subsequent 10-years in glass could've helped this 1972 vintage in that regard. In all honesty, between the two I would go for the 1972 vintage, disregarding any other factors. But there's no denying that $299 AUD is a seriously good deal for any spirit of this age, distilled nearly half a century ago, let alone when it's a single cask armagnac of this quality. Highly recommended for any brandy fan!

Thanks once again to Deni from Old Master Spirits for the sample for this review, and for bringing this delicious armagnac to Australia at such a reasonable price. I can't wait to see what they come up with next!

Cheers!

Lady of the Glen Ledaig 10yo Whisky Review!

This was something of an impulse buy, although the packaging did make me hesitate! Ledaig is generally decent, but sometimes average; often good, and sometimes incredible. Hopefully this is one of the latter!

Lady of the Glen is a small, privately-owned independent bottler based in the town of Dunfermline, just north of Edinburgh. This relatively new bottler was founded in 2012, although that could be considered teenaged with the recent explosion in independent bottlers around the world. Volumes are tiny in this case, with most releases being both single cask and cask strength. Their bottlings are rarely seen in Australia, seemingly only as "direct" or parallel imports by Melbourne retailer Nick's Wine Merchants. The name 'Lady of the Glen' supposedly refers to a ghost that has been known to roam the grounds of Stirling Castle, while the colouring & floral pattern on the packaging are apparently paying homage to the Scottish wildflower. I have to say though, in my opinion the packaging is absolutely hideous, the outer tube in particular looks cheap and shiny, and the labelling looks like it was typed-up on MS Word and subsequently printed on a 20-year old inkjet. This is among the worst outer packaging that I can recall seeing in recent years, and I'd prefer it if they'd ditched the tube altogether like many brands are doing these days, which would save them a few dollars and in this case would probably see sales increase. The bottle itself is aesthetically passable at least, but they've sadly re-used the same label on the bottle, and it's really not a good look when you're paying the same prices as you do for other equivalent bottlings. I know, appearance isn't everything, it's probably the least important factor, and it's the quality of the whisky in the bottle that actually matters. But when it's this ugly and chintzy, one can't help but notice!

So if that's the case, why did I buy this whisky on face value? Well, mainly because it's a single cask Ledaig, bottled at cask strength, with an age statement, and without chill filtration or added colouring. Also because it has been finished in a refill port cask, which is an unusual cask treatment for Ledaig, and is still relatively uncommon in Scotch whisky. Most port cask Scotch whiskies use full-size port pipe casks, which hold 550-600-litres - as opposed to the use of port casks in Australian whisky, which tend to be 20, 50 or maybe 100-litres, but that's a topic for another discussion. This Ledaig has been finished in a refill port barrique, which is a general term for a wine hogshead of around 225-litres. Personally I've only had one port cask influenced Ledaig previously, and while that cask was first-fill and fully-matured rather than "only" refill and "only" finished, it was a truly brilliant whisky, probably one of my favourite Ledaigs to date. Which is why, hideously nasty packaging aside, this Lady of the Glen bottling still managed to catch my eye! Pricing was around what you'd expect to pay for this distillery and these specs in Australia, at $199 AUD. Luckily I was then able to split the bottle with a friend, which negated more of the risk and helped get it over the purchasing line. 

Ledaig of course is the peated spirit produced by Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull. The name is pronounced either "Le-chig" or "Le-chayg" or "Lay-chig" depending on who you listen to, and means "safe haven" in Gaelic. The distillery name has alternated between Ledaig and Tobermory over the years, with Ledaig being the area of the town of Tobermory where the distillery is located, opposite the famous colourful harbour pictured above. The distillery was founded in 1798, but has spent a large part of its 220+ year history with the doors closed - almost half of that period in fact, including two separate closure periods of 40-years. The last major closure ended in 1993 when the distillery was purchased by Burn Stewart, who also own Deanston and Bunnahabhain distilleries, and are now owned by South African company Distell. The majority of Distell was recently sold to Heineken, but that sale did not include any of the malt distilleries or whisky brands. There have been two pauses in production since, one in 2012 due to water shortages, and again in 2017 - for over two years - while major maintenance and upgrades were carried out. This Lady of the Glen is a 10-year old single cask, distilled in 2011, finished in a refill port barrique, and bottled in January 2022 at a cask strength of 56.5% ABV, without chill filtration or added colouring. Let's see how it goes!

Lady of the Glen Ledaig 10-year old, 56.5%. Isle of Mull, Scotland.

Distilled 2011, finished in refill port cask, bottled Jan 2022. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. Cask #7006, 339 bottles. 

Colour: Pale amber. 

Nose: Surprisingly soft initially, but opens up quickly with thick, dank, earthy & muddy coastal peat, plus some olive brine, charred lemon, and black pepper. Sweeter notes of freeze-dried strawberries, fresh orange peel, aniseed and burnt honeycomb (a.k.a. cinder toffee in Britain). Some heathery peat smoke, roasted nuts, and sour citrus around the edges. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Oily, big salty, muddy, dank peatiness, slight sour & bitter vegetal notes too. No heat at all. 

Taste: Sweet & fruity entry, before a big whack of that salty, muddy, dank peat takes over. Heathery peat smoke, sweet salt-crusted BBQ seafood, orange peel, touch of thick BBQ sauce as well (sweet & spicy). Roasted nuts, more burnt honeycomb (a.k.a. cinder toffee) and aniseed. 

Finish: Long length. Slight vegetal bitterness underneath that dank & muddy peat, with aniseed, blowtorched orange peel, and charred oak. Olive brine, charred lemon and a touch of dried raspberry around the edges, with that dank peatiness powering through alongside. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Definitely a great Ledaig! I'm glad the packaging didn't actually put me off in the end - maybe that was a lesson that needed refreshing in my mind. This may not be the most complex example of the spirit, it's still relatively young after all, but it has everything that I love in a good Ledaig. That dankness and muddiness, the powerful peat & salt, plus the underlying sweetness, with plenty of flavour & plenty of length. Just what the doctor ordered. Like the standard 10-year old official bottling, this Lady of the Glen Ledaig will have no problem standing up to the bigger names from that other Scottish island which gets most of the attention. The port cask influence is difficult to detect here, save for those subtle berry notes, but I'd say it's also added sweetness and depth without shouting about it and taking the spotlight, which is exactly what you want from a refill cask finish. As much as I like a good sherry-influenced Ledaig, and the spirit does seem to suit sherry casks very well, it's actually refreshing to see something different being used, with a cask treatment that is a off the beaten path. 

So, quite the surprise sleeper here from what is certainly an obscure independent bottler. And it'll easily put more expensive Ledaig bottlings, both official and independent, to shame. Well done Lady of the Glen, but I still wish you'd ditch the outer packaging!

Cheers!

Waterford Hook Head Irish Whisky Review!

No, there's no "e" in this Irish whisky - although the "e" is optional, and makes no difference. This is Waterford, the young Irish single malt distillery from Mark Reynier, former co-owner & co-resurrector of Islay's Bruichladdich. Maybe that's why there's no superfluous "e"?

It's no secret that Reynier was against the decision to sell Bruichladdich to Remy Cointreau back in 2012. Hard to believe that was nearly a decade ago! Reynier's independent bottling company Murray McDavid was part of the deal as well, leading to him parting ways with the Scotch whisky industry entirely after more than sixteen years in the trade. He then turned his attention south, to Ireland, where the whisky/whiskey industry is in the midst of a slow resurgence. Having come from a successful distillery that is & was renowned for its young, fresh, barley-driven single malt Scotch whisky, he is now making young, fresh, barley-driven single malt Irish whisky. But there's much more to Waterford. Reynier was determined to continue the innovative concepts he'd helped drive at Bruichladdich regarding transparency and the terroir & provenance of their whisky and its ingredients, particularly regarding the barley. But with Waterford he has taken these concepts to a much higher level with much more detail. The distillery has access to 19 different barley varieties grown on 35 different farms, all within Ireland. Most Waterford releases are single farm origin single malts, meaning that each batch was distilled from one crop of barley from one single Irish farm, kept separate throughout the entire production process. Which is about as much provenance as you could possibly get in whisky, and this is a practice that only a few distilleries in the world can manage - most of which are much smaller in size. 

Waterford Distillery is located in the city of Waterford in south-east Ireland, around two hour's drive south of capital city Dublin. The site was formerly a Guinness brewery, built by Diageo in 2004, although there has been a brewery on this site in Waterford since the late 17th century. This is a very modern distillery though, both in terms of aesthetics, and approach, and equipment. Rather than the traditional mash tun used in malt whisky, Waterford boasts one of the few mash filters used in the entire industry. This high-tech piece is a more efficient modern method of separating the wort from the mash, and is something more commonly seen in breweries, but also in grain and/or rye whisky distilleries where traditional mashing is much more difficult. A much finer grist with a higher flour content can be used in a mash filter, resulting in more fermentable sugars in the wash, and it's also a much faster process - there's no need for multiple rounds of water like there is with a mash tun. The distillery's mill is quite a technological thing as well, it's actually a 'hydromill', essentially meaning that the grain is milled under water for better efficiency. These extra steps with milling & mashing are designed to give more grain & barley character in the Waterford spirit, coupled with higher efficiency. Malting is not done on site, but happens just an hour's drive north at a commercial facility in the town of Athy. Maturation doesn't happen on site either thanks to spatial restrictions at the distillery, which is what often happens when your distillery is in the middle of a town, but the Waterford warehouses are close by, closer to the ocean on the southern coast. As you'd expect from Mark Reynier's background, everything else is also done properly. Distillation is slow, spirit cuts are narrow, and bottling is done at 50% ABV without chill filtration or added colouring. It's almost like he's had some success with that recipe before...   

Not all of Waterford's single malts are single farm bottlings, but this one is. This is Waterford Hook Head Edition 1.1, making it the first Waterford bottling distilled entirely from barley grown at Hook Head farm, which can be found ten miles south-east of the distillery, right on the coast. Keeping with that ethos of traceability & terroir, all Waterford single malts have a "terroir code" printed on the back label, which when entered into their website gives you just about every piece of information you could possibly want - maybe even a little too much! The Propino barley used for this bottling was grown by Martin Foley on Hook Head farm and was harvested in August 2015. It was distilled in the sixth week of 2017, and matured for 3-years, 8-months and 26-days before 30,066 bottles were filled in February 2021. So it's a young whisky, but the distillery was only founded in 2015 after all. That terroir link on the website also gives an extreme amount of information on the farms soil and the local micro-climate, and also the yeast variety used (Mauri) and how long the wash was fermented for: 142 hours in this case. It also gives you a list of every cask number that went in to the vatting, along with the type of cask, the volume filled into each cask, and the previous contents where applicable. In this bottling we have 46% first-fill ex-bourbon casks from Heaven Hill Distillery, 22% virgin American oak casks sourced from Kelvin Cooperage, 15% French wine casks from Margaux, and 17% Vin Doux Naturel (VDN) fortified wine casks - mainly marsala hogsheads, but also a couple of sherry butts. Phew! That does seem quite a heavy and intense cask recipe for a whisky that wants to show off as much barley provenance as possible, but then it is also quite young, so I'm sure that'll balance out. 

There are a few different bottlings of Waterford to be found in Australia, most are priced around $160 AUD. But I found this Hook Head 1.1 - well actually it was recommended to me by Dave at Gold Coast bar The Scottish Prince - on the shelves at our largest liquor retail chain for just $120 AUD. It seems to only be stocked at their large "precinct" stores, and there are only two of those in my state, but they'll deliver from their online store. At this price it was hard to argue!

Waterford Hook Head 1.1, 3-years old, 50%. Waterford, Ireland.

Propino barley grown on Hook Head farm, harvested August 2015. Distilled 2017, aged in 46% first-fill ex-bourbon, 22% virgin American oak, 15% French red wine and 17% fortified wine casks, bottled Feb 2021. 30,066 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Simultaneously sweet & bright, and earthy & spicy. Sweet fruit, Allens snake lollies (so tropical fruit jubes), pear nectar, and a touch of juicy sweet white grape. Steeping (damp) barley, a little spearmint around the edges. Clean, fresh soil, touch of lemon rind. Creamy peppercorn sauce, sweet vanilla and toasted oak in the background. 

Texture: Light-medium weight. Clean, spicy & earthy. No heat at all. 

Taste: More peppercorns, fresh soil, and some toasted almonds. Not as sweet as the nose, heading towards dry, and more malty & spicy. The pear nectar and sweet white grape are still there, but more in the background along with the creamy & sweet vanilla. Lemon rind, acidic & lightly bitter, and a touch of white peach. Very slight hints of salinity around the edges.  

Finish: Short length. Balanced between the earthiness, pear nectar and creamy vanilla, drying out quickly with more toasted almonds, bitter lemon rind, dry grass and some pickled ginger to finish. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: Hides its youth quite well, until the finish at least. The sweet pear and ginger spice are usually tell-tale signs of course, but they actually seem to work well here, balanced by the malty earthiness and sweet fruit. It does come to a halt in the finish though, turning dry while fading very quickly. I'm sure that'll be remedied with some more age, hopefully adding a little more depth as well. But at $120 AUD, and at 50% ABV and without chill filtration or colouring remember, the value is definitely there in this Waterford. At that price level it's far from a disappointment, in fact it's a very enjoyable fresh, light whisky with a good touch of character, particularly from those earthy notes which were quite unexpected. Certainly does feel like there's plenty of "terroir" on show here. I look forward to more Waterford in future!

Cheers!