Old Master Spirits 44-Year Old Armagnac Review!

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!  

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 XXO armagnac bottling, 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!

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 here 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! 

This latest example is due to launch on Thursday the 25th of May (this week). Head here for more details, or sign up to Old Master Spirits' mailing list here. 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 here 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 non-chill filtered, natural colour, and nothing has been added. Enough talk, let's see how it goes! 

Colour: Dark, burnt toffee. 

Nose: 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.

Texture: Light-medium weight. Sweet, oily, oaky, soft & warming. No heat whatsoever. 

Taste: 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. 

Finish: 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. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Easily.  

Notes: 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! 

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! 

Cheers!

Smokehead Rum Rebel & High Voltage Whisky Reviews!

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.

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; Glengoyne, Tamdhu 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 NAS 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 age statement 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. 

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 chill filtration 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...

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. 

Smokehead Rum Rebel, NAS, 46%. Islay, Scotland.

Undisclosed Islay single malt, finished in Caribbean rum casks. Unknown colouring or chill filtration. 

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: 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. 

Texture: Light-medium weight. Rich, syrupy, gently coastal. Slight touch of heat but pleasant. 

Taste: Dried green banana (banana chips), big pinch of sea salt, brown sugar, green chilli flakes, and vanilla buttercream icing / frosting. 

Finish: 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. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: 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. 

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!

Smokehead High Voltage, NAS, 58%. Islay, Scotland.

Undisclosed Islay single malt. No information given on distillery, age, cask type, colouring, or chill filtration. 

Colour: Amber. Certainly some E150a here I'd say. 

Nose: 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. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, hot, ashy & metallic, and cloyingly sweet. Noticeable heat

Taste: Big ashy smoke, fades into that rusty metal again, artificial vanilla syrup, sugary toffee. Distractingly saccharine and cloying. Sweet orange cordial. 

Finish: 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. 

Score: 2.5 out of 5. But only just. 

Notes: 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.

Overall Notes: 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. 

Cheers!