Two Port Charlotte Valinch (Cask Exploration) Whisky Reviews!

What's a Port Charlotte Valinch, you might ask? They're hand-filled Port Charlottes, filled straight from the cask in Bruichladdich's shop at the distillery! Aside from the inevitable online auctions and private secondary market, the only way to get your hands on one of these whiskies is to get yourself to the distillery shop on Islay. Having done so myself, believe me when I say it's definitely worth the trip!

All but one of the island's distilleries (I'm looking at you, Ardbeg!) offer either a distillery exclusive or hand-filled bottling (plus Feis Ile bottlings if your timing - and luck - are spot on), with even giant Caol Ila now offering hand-filled 200ml bottles for purchase in their shop, in addition to their distillery exclusive bottling that was released in 2017. Laphroaig offer hand-filled 250ml bottles as part of their two top-tier distillery tours, the "Distiller's Wares Tour" and the "Water to Whisky Experience", where you taste three whiskies straight from the cask in their warehouse, and then choose your favourite to bottle and take home. Lagavulin have a distillery exclusive bottling and often exclusive Feis Ile or Jazz Festival bottlings, and Bunnahabhain usually offer both hand-filled and distillery exclusive bottlings, often taken from unusual cask types. Kilchoman usually have a high-level distillery shop exclusive single cask bottling, while Bowmore offers distillery exclusive hand-filled bottles, again if your timing is right, although you don't actually bottle those yourself. And I should add that most of these exclusive bottlings are quite reasonably priced.

But there aren't many that can match Bruichladdich's Valinch offerings, where there are usually two casks to choose from, an un-peated Bruichladdich and a heavily-peated Port Charlotte (40 ppm). Or you could also get both, of course! A valinch by the way is a long tube-shaped siphon used to draw liquid from casks through the bung hole. These single cask bottlings are sold in 500ml bottles, usually for around 70-75 pounds, and are filled straight from the tapped casks in the distillery shop. There's no need to do a distillery tour to purchase, although I do recommend both that and the fantastic warehouse experience if you're making the journey. Adding to the allure is the fact that these Valinch casks are often unusual, most commonly being a wide variety of red wine casks (in typical Bruichladdich style), but also dessert wine, white wine, virgin oak, and of course sherry and bourbon casks have been released. The Bruichladdich releases are titled 'The Laddie Valinch', and are often named for distillery staff members, while the Port Charlotte releases are titled "Cask Exploration", and often have a Gaelic name. Obviously these whiskies are always bottled at cask strength, and are never chill filtered or artificially coloured, and the quality level is usually very high.

The two that I'm looking at today are Port Charlotte Cask Exploration 07, which was released in mid-2016, and Port Charlotte Cask Exploration 12, which was released in early 2017. Cask Exploration 07 is a 9-year old Port Charlotte that was fully-matured in a Rivesaltes red wine cask, cask number 1653, which yielded 393 bottles at a huge ABV of 64.7%. Rivesaltes is a style of sweet fortified wine, usually red, produced in the south-west of France, and it's often left outdoors in glass containers to stabilise before being filled into casks. Cask Exploration 12 is a 9-year old Port Charlotte that was fully-matured in a Barolo wine cask, cask number 1739, which yielded 436 bottles at 59.9% ABV. Barolo is a red wine from northern Italy, made from Nebbiolo grapes, and is often quite heavy and tannic wine. Port Charlotte often gets overlooked by some whisky fans, with either the un-peated Bruichladdich or the super-heavily-peated Octomore getting most of the attention. But Port Charlotte is a little bit of a sleeper, nicely smoky & sweet, which should work well with these first-fill red wine casks! The samples I'm reviewing came from a fellow whisky nerd, who sourced both bottles from a popular UK auction site. Let's get to it...

Port Charlotte Cask Exploration 12, 9-years old, 59.9%. Islay, Scotland.
Distillery exclusive hand-filled. Distilled 9/2007, released 2017. Matured in a single first-fill Barolo Italian wine cask, cask number 1739, yielded 436 500ml bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Gold.

Nose: Quite shy, even after breathing time & warming. Nicely dirty & funky though, with dried sour red & citrus fruits, some 'laddie lactic funk but in a more dirty & drier way than usual. A little floral & heather-y sweetness, and some dry earthy peat in the background.

Texture: Medium weight, quite dry and peppery, a little heat but not a huge amount for a 9-year old whisky at nearly 60% ABV.

Taste: More peat here, quite dry as well with that peppery spice. Still not a lot of peat though, more of a dry earthy-ness. Certainly not at the level of smoke that I've found in other cask strength Port Charlottes. Some thick stewed fruits and that dirty funky-ness in the background.

Finish: Medium length, a little hot and peppery again. A little cologne and stewed fruit, and it is tannic, but they're more wood tannins than wine tannins to my palate.

Score: 3 out of 5.

Notes: Not a big heat for me to be honest, the funky-ness and fruit are a nice touch but that dry peppery spice is too dominant and doesn't play nicely with others. I did add a little water after the tasting notes, just to see what happened, and as you'd expect it dialled down the pepper and dialled up the sweetness, bringing it more towards the lactic sweetness that Bruichladdich is famous for.

Port Charlotte Cask Exploration 07, 9-years old, 64.7%. Islay, Scotland.
Distillery exclusive hand-filled. Distilled 8/2006, released 2016. Matured in a single first-fill Rivesaltes French wine cask, cask number 1653, yielded 393 500ml bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Full amber. Much darker.

Nose: Much richer & fuller. Loads of dark chocolate and shredded coconut, toasted oak and some lanolin (sheep's wool grease used in skin creams) which is very interesting! Some sweet & musty dessert wine, can't quite put my finger on it so I assume it's the Rivesaltes showing itself. There's a little peat smoke as well, but only a trace.

Texture: Rich & funky. medium weight, far less hot than the Barolo cask despite the added 5% ABV.

Taste: More chocolate! Fruit & nut semi-dark chocolate, and a little more of that lanolin and shredded coconut, and the toasted oak. Some dried fruit, and a touch of dry earthy peat.

Finish: Medium length. A little spice initially, then that sweet, syrupy & musty dessert wine, more lanolin, dried stone fruit and a flash of earthy peat.

Score: 4 out of 5.

Notes: Very nice! Totally different to the Barolo cask, as it should be of course, but it's much richer, and more mature in my humble opinion. Really enjoyable, and I'm loving that lanolin note that I don't remember finding before to this degree. It's a big whisky of course but it's not hot or aggressive with the alcohol being well hidden, and the flavours carry through very well. Great stuff.

Overall Notes: Two extremely different whiskies! Both a surprisingly light on the peat and smoke, in fact they're very different animals compared to the other cask strength Port Charlottes that I've tried at a similar age. But that's the beauty of single cask whiskies of course, no two are the same, as nature intended. There's no denying how special these drams are, being hand-filled single cask Port Charlottes that have come from that cosy haven of a shop / visitor's centre at the distillery, there's no more where they came from. And being matured in usual cask types just adds to that allure, which is often the case with these valinch bottlings from Bruichladdich.

Obviously the Barolo cask and I didn't quite hit it off, and the Rivesaltes cask absolutely smashed it despite the not-insignificant jump in strength. I suspect that given these two in a blind tasting I would've guessed the latter to be older than the former, which isn't the case, I'm assuming it was just a more active cask. Nonetheless, knowing where these whiskies came from takes me right back to that grey, rainy "dreich" day on the shore of Loch Indaal, when the rain started as I arrived and stopped as I departed, and I wouldn't trade that experience for anything. I can't wait to get back there again in a couple of month's time!

Cheers!

Signatory Vintage Mortlach 14 Year Old Whisky Review!

My first Mortlach review! I've tasted a couple of excellent independent bottlings from this mysterious distillery, but this is the first fully ex-bourbon cask matured example that I've taken a close look at. Should be interesting!

Mortlach Distillery has quite the cult following, mainly thanks to its weighty, meaty, sulphurous character, which is quite unusual for a Speyside distillery. Mortlach is located in Dufftown, a couple of minutes down the road from Glenfiddich & Balvenie, and was actually the first legal distillery in the town when it was officially founded in 1823. A century later Mortlach was purchased by the John Walker & Sons company, which was publicly listed in the same year, and would become part of Distillers Company Limited (DCL) two years later, which then became United Distillers, and is now part of Diageo. The name Mortlach (pronounced "mort-lack") stems from the village and abbey of the same name that preceded the current town of Dufftown, which was established in 1817. Interestingly, in the 1880s Mortlach's distillery manager was none other than William Grant, who in 1886 decided to leave his place of employ of over 20 years to found a little start-up distillery by the name of Glenfiddich...

Mortlach's main claim to fame is its unique distillation regimen. Since 1897 or so, the distillery has carried out 2.81-times distillation through its six stills, each of which is different to the next. So not double- or triple-distillation, but 2.81-times distillation, and it makes Springbank's 2.5-times distillation method seem simple in comparison! To help us along, wash still no. 3 and spirit still no. 3 work as a pair like they do in most other distilleries, where the low wines produced by the wash still are sent to the spirit still for their second distillation, and the foreshots & feints from that run are recycled back into the wash still for the next run. So we can discount those two stills for now, but I'm afraid it gets much more complicated from there! If you're not feeling it so far, I suggest you skip the next paragraph...

The short version (because it's actually even more complicated) is that the hearts (middle cuts) from wash stills no. 1 and no. 2 are combined and filled into spirit still no. 2. Then the foreshots and feints (heads and tails) from those two wash stills, no.1 and no. 2, are mixed with the combined foreshots and feints from spirit stills no. 2 and no. 3, and filled into spirit still no. 1, affectionately known as "wee witchie". But just to make things more difficult, that "wee witchie" still is actually run twice per spirit run, but no cuts are taken from the first go around, the whole distillation is fed back into the same still to be distilled again. So some of the final spirit has only been distilled twice, some more than three times, and some has been distilled four times, and someone more intelligent than myself has calculated the end result to be a 2.81-times-distilled spirit. That meaty, weighty character is also helped along by short fermentation times, downward-angled lyne arms on all stills (some more than others), and the use of worm tub condensers for less interaction with copper, which in turn removes less sulphur from the spirit. Phew!

Like many of Diageo's distilleries, the vast majority of Mortlach's three million litre annual production capacity goes into blends, and for quite some time the only way to taste Mortlach as a single malt was to source an independent bottling, most often from Gordon & MacPhail, who's 15- and 21-year old regular bottlings are both very tasty. Until a few years ago there had only been a handful of official bottlings of Mortlach, most notably the 16-year old Flora & Fauna bottling, but a range of new expressions debuted in 2014. That range was and still is controversial, largely because all expressions were only sold in 500ml bottles at steep prices, and the only expression bottled at a strength higher than 43.4% ABV (an odd choice to begin with, but a traditional strength for the distillery), named "Special Strength" was exclusive to travel retail (duty free) stores. What also didn't help is that the only age statements in the range were an 18-year old priced at $285 AUD, and a 25-year old priced at over $1,000 AUD. And they're only 500ml bottles, remember! But Diageo aren't silly, and they've recently discontinued that range and re-launched Mortlach for a second time, while addressing a few of those issues.

In comparison though, Gordon & MacPhail's 21-year old Mortlach sells for around $220, and the 15-year old can be found for around $130 AUD, both in full-sized bottles. Since independent bottlings were largely responsible for the distillery's reputation, in my opinion they're still the way to go to experience Mortlach as a  single malt. I've also tasted a couple of very good cask strength bottlings from Signatory Vintage, but the subject of today's review will be a little different to those, since it was bottled at 43% ABV. This is a 14-year old bottling that was distilled in 2002, matured in two ex-bourbon hogshead (250-litre) casks, and was bottled in late 2016 without added colouring, and apparently without chill filtration, although you won't find that stated anywhere on the packaging. The sample for this review came from the Australian importer & distributor for Signatory Vintage, The Whisky Company.

Signatory Vintage Mortlach 14-year old, 43%. Dufftown, Scotland.
Distilled 9/2002, matured in two ex-bourbon hogsheads (refill, I would say), casks 12598 & 12599, bottled 12/2016. Natural colour, unknown chill filtration.

Colour: Pale gold.

Nose: Loads of sweet, runny honey, sweetened lemon juice and a little dry oak. Vegetal sulphur - meaty, slightly waxy over-cooked steamed root vegetables. A little spicy & lightly floral cologne, and a few green apples around the edges.

Texture: Nice for 43% ABV. Medium weight, lightly meaty, and a slight touch of heat.

Taste: Quite a bit dryer here, with more spice and dry oak, and that lightly meaty vegetal sulphur, particularly the root vegetable note. The honey & lemon juice are still there, but they've been pushed into the background.

Finish: Short length. The sulphur note carries through, with a little black pepper added to the mix, and the lemon juice returns. Then a little dry spice, before the honey returns alongside some nutty oak and powdered aniseed.

Score: 2.5 out of 5.

Notes: That may not be a huge score, but it's still a passing grade remember, and this is still an enjoyable whisky. The nose is definitely the highlight, with that sweet runny honey and lemon juice working very well together, and the sulphur doesn't dominate. Also bear in mind that this isn't the nasty rotten egg, vulcanised rubber and burnt match-style of sulphur that can easily ruin a whisky, it's lighter and much more pleasant than that. It's also there by design, it's not an accident or an oversight, and it's what Mortlach is known for! It definitely adds weight and depth to the experience as well, and it sets this distillery aside from most of its Speyside neighbours.

That said, in my opinion the palate and finish on this whisky do let the whole show down. Being matured in refill ex-bourbon casks gives this dram a very different character to the big, meaty and savoury sherry cask-matured whiskies that Mortlach is renowned for, and I would say there's more of the actual spirit character on show here. But I must admit, given the choice between the two, I would go for the 15-year old Mortlach from Gordon & MacPhail, which is largely matured in refill sherry casks, as a good example of the distillery style, despite it being a little more expensive than this Signatory bottling. But it's always fun to try a different take on a distillery's style, and that's what you're getting here.

Cheers!

Springbank 1997 Batch 1 Whisky Review!

These older 'vintage' Springbank bottlings can be a little hard to keep track of, and there's not usually a great deal of relevant supporting information to be found on the subject. But they're Springbanks, so they're usually very tasty!

Springbank would have to be the most "old school" and traditional whisky distillery in Scotland. They're the only active malt distillery in Scotland that floor-malts 100% of their barley requirements on-site, they're still using a direct-fired wash still, and they mature and bottle 100% of their single malts on-site. But alongside that, the distillery produces three different brands of single malt under the same roof, the triple-distilled & un-peated Hazelburn, the 2.5-times distilled & lightly-peated namesake Springbank, and the double-distilled & heavily-peated Longrow. They are also utilising a huge variety of cask types to great effect, with a plethora of limited releases being matured, not finished, in unusual cask types such as ex-madeira, burgundy, tokaji, calvados, rum and a range of different sherry casks, among others. All of which could certainly be considered less "traditional" and "old school" in modern whisky circles, but we should (and most of us do) love them for it!   

The vintage releases from Campbeltown's finest seem to have been mostly released in the early 2000s, and were often simply labelled with the year of distillation, e.g. 1997 vintage. All were quite limited, and many were also private or exclusive bottlings, often from uncommon cask types, which is why auction prices vary massively. I've reviewed the 2001 vintage bottling before (here), and while it was an enjoyable whisky, it didn't quite live up to my expectations for an older bottling of cask strength Springbank. That one was an 8-year old that was bottled in 2009, and there were rumours that it was matured in smaller sized casks, but I couldn't find any solid or even opposing information on that. But what we have here is a little different, and thankfully there's a little more information this time!

The subject for tonight's review is a 10-year old Springbank, distilled in 1997 and fully matured in re-charred sherry butts (500-litre casks), with 11,000 bottles released in June 2007, at a cask strength of 55.2% ABV. And being a Springbank, naturally it's non-chill filtered and naturally coloured. Rather confusingly, and this might help explain why these vintage bottlings aren't being released much anymore, there were two different Springbank 1997 vintage bottlings, both matured in re-charred sherry casks. They were known as Batch 1 and Batch 2, but you won't find that anywhere on the bottles or the packaging, so it's very confusing. They do have different bottling / batch codes printed on the bottles though, and they were bottled at different strengths. The 1997 Batch 1 that I'm reviewing weighs in at 55.2%, while the 1997 Batch 2 was bottled at 54.9% ABV. This sort of thing is an issue for all distilleries bottling under vintages, particularly Glenrothes and Balblair, who also have to add batch numbers to their bottlings when the same problem arises (e.g. 1990 Second Release). Seeing as this Springbank was bottled over 10 years ago it's going to be a little hard to get hold of, but can still be found at auction and the occasional specialist store, obviously at inflated prices. Let's get to it!

Springbank 1997 Vintage, Batch 1, 55.2%. Campbeltown, Scotland.
10-year old, matured in re-charred ex-sherry casks, bottled June 2007 at cask strength. 11,000 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Deep gold.

Nose: Sweet, musty, fruity and malty. Tinned tropical fruit in syrup, rich white dessert wine. Dusty old oak and dank earthen-floored (dunnage) warehouses, but it's less "funky" than the regular 10 & 12-year old Springbanks. A little salty & oily brine, light drying spices, and a couple of black jelly beans.

Texture: Excellent. Medium-heavy weight, rich & oily. Drying, with a little heat, but no roughness.

Taste: Rich, fruity & spicy. Baked stone fruit here with a pinch of sea salt, dry, smoky & spicy oak with a little dried citrus - lemon & sweetened grapefruit. More of those dank old dunnage warehouses, black pepper & a few drops of that dessert wine, and that black jelly bean again.

Finish: Medium length, but only just. More black pepper & syrupy dessert wine initially, then a hefty handful of dry spices - cinnamon and aniseed, and more pepper. Quite drying actually, light tannins here too with a little touch of heat from the ABV. The fruit does return, but it stays on the edges while the spices dominate, which is a bit of a shame.

Score: 3.5 out of 5, but only just.

Notes: The nose is fantastic on this young Springbank, and the palate is great as well, but the finish was a bit of a let-down for me. It's too dominated by the spices, and they dry everything out and call it a night a little too early. The nose and initial palate do make up for it though. The sherry isn't particularly noticeable in this one, save for that grape/dessert wine note perhaps, but the spices have been amped up, and I can only put both of those points down to that re-charred European oak. Lovely sweet and fruity nose with a rich & spicy palate, with a pinch of Springbank's trademark "old school" brine & dirty dank-ness that us Campbeltown-lovers can't get enough of.

I'd love to do a side-by-side with this and a fresh / first-fill sherry cask Springbank of a similar age, or maybe one of the older all-sherry batches of the 12-year old Cask Strength like this one. They'd be very different of course, and I suspect the 12-year old would take the win, but it'd be a very educational - and enjoyable - way to spend an evening.

Cheers!

Three Kilchoman Single Cask Whisky Reviews!

I mentioned in this previous Kilchoman review that there are a huge number of bottlings that we don't see in Australia. Although that is certainly improving with the current importer at the helm. But there are a myriad of exclusive expressions out there, and thanks to the same Kilchoman-obsessed mate of mine that shared the sample for that review, here are three perfect examples!

Kilchoman do release quite a large range of single cask and private cask bottlings, often sold exclusively to particular retail stores or private groups all over the world, mostly in Europe. It's a great idea, and I assume it's a handy source of extra income for the young distillery. Some of the larger distilleries will do this on occasion, but at a much larger cost and generally not on such a small scale, whereas Kilchoman are helped by the fact that they have their own bottling line on-site. Obviously these single cask or small batch bottlings aren't easy to find if you're not in the UK or Europe, so there won't be much chance of finding them in Australia. I'm afraid most will just have to live vicariously through me for this one! That said, there have actually been two single cask Kilchomans bottled exclusively for Australia, organised by the official importer, Baranow's. The first of those was a very tasty PX sherry finish, and the other a sherry-finished 100% Islay bottling that I'm yet to taste.

Two of the three single cask bottlings that we're looking at today did come from a popular online auction site based in the UK, which of course caused Australian customs to have a field day and get some more funding for the government's weekend travel expenses. Not forgetting DHL of course, who make sure they always get their oversized piece of the pie. But that's just the price we have to pay to get these rarities, or even regular bottlings that were / are not imported here, on our shelves down under. The third bottling we're looking at came from an Australian online store who I assume parallel imported (bypassing the official importer) a few bottles from a European re-seller. That one was an absolute bargain, and was around the same price as we pay for the regular Cask Strength & Loch Gorm expressions in Australia. Needless to say, it sold out very quickly from that online store.

Our subjects for today's review are actually very, very different. All are single cask bottlings, all were bottled at cask strength, and of course all are non-chill filtered and naturally coloured since Kilchoman doesn't do any of that rubbish. On the menu this evening we have a 3-year old ex-bourbon cask that was bottled for Germany (presumably organised by the German importer), which also happens to be the only old-shape Kilchoman bottle that I've ever seen in the flesh. Next up is a 5-year old ex-Oloroso sherry cask that was bottled exclusively for a bottle shop in The Netherlands, which is the bottling that I picked up in Australia. Last but certainly not least is a 10-year old ex-bourbon cask private bottling that was bottled for "The Pedigree Chums of Durham", which I believe is a reference to the modern-classic gangster movie 'Snatch'. This also happens to be the first 10-year old Kilchoman that I've tasted, and they're still a very rare thing, although there have now been two 11-year old distillery releases (the 2018 Feis Ile bottling, and a distillery shop-exclusive single cask), and one 12-year old private single cask. I tasted these in the order they're listed in, since I'd already acquainted myself with all three and knew roughly what to expect, and all were given the same amount of time to breathe (covered). The order was in the interest of palate-preservation, since the 3-year old is a proper Islay beastie! Let's get to it!

Kilchoman 10-year old single cask, 57%. Islay, Scotland.
Private bottling for "Pedigree Chums of Durham". Single ex-bourbon cask, number 14/2006, 246 bottles. Distilled 4/2006, bottled 5/2016. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Semi-pale gold.

Nose: Soft, sweet and coastal. Brine, bitter licorice, coastal peat, driftwood (salt-soaked old wood). Salted toffee, vanilla custard and sweet, light tropical fruit.

Texture: Light-medium weight, soft & warming. More peaty than the nose suggested. No alcohol heat at all.

Taste: Coastal peat, more vanilla custard, and a soft bitterness, but it's more of a bitter oak here. Some ashy smoke, and lemon oil around the edges.

Finish: Medium length. Starts with that bitter oak and ashy smoke, some more lemon oil, then the coastal, salty peat returns with some spices in tow.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Notes: Very nice stuff. Certainly a refined and more dignified Kilchoman, which we can expect since it's roughly twice the age of most of their other expressions. It also has less overt cask influence, in terms of previous contents, than most of those other expressions, which makes it quite balanced and sophisticated. Plenty of Kilchoman fans, including myself, love their younger whiskies, and this is certainly a different animal to those, but there's no drop in quality, not that we'd ever expect there to be from this brilliant little distillery.

Kilchoman 5-year old single cask, 58.2%. Islay, Scotland.
Exclusive to Bresser & Timmer bottle shop (Netherlands). Single ex-Oloroso sherry cask, number 559/2011, 348 bottles. Distilled 9/2011, bottled 11/2016. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Amber.

Nose: Sweet, fruity & chocolate-y. Slightly plastic-y as well (light sulphur, perhaps), but not unpleasantly so. Loads of smoked fruit & nut semi-dark chocolate, sweet dark stone fruit, plasticine (play-dough), and a little earthy peat.

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, rich and slightly meaty, lightly sulphured. No spirit-y heat.

Taste: Lightly meaty, more smoked fruit & nut semi-dark chocolate, a littler rubber, and acrid wood smoke. Cooking spices and some scorched woody herbs, particularly rosemary, and dried sage.

Finish: Medium-long length, spicy and smoky. Nutty, dry sherry with more of that plastic-y note from the nose, but it's not off-putting, for my palate anyway. Some smoked salt, dark stone fruit and a little mushroom-y umami meaty-ness.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Notes: Very tasty. Darker in character, more challenging and more powerful (which is to be expected). That plastic / rubber note may put some people off, but it doesn't spoil the show, it's more of an interesting sideways glance than an unpleasant confrontation. And it does add to that savoury / umami character on the palate. And the masses of smoked dark fruit & nut chocolate more than make up for it.

Kilchoman 3-year old single cask, 60.5%. Islay, Scotland. 
Exclusive to Germany. Single ex-bourbon cask, distilled 12/2006, bottled 3/2010. Cask number 363/06, unknown number of bottles (not numbered). Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Extremely pale white wine.

Nose: Oh yes! Very coastal, and quite peaty. Some aniseed, a little sour citrus, sweet earthy peat, and a slightly spirit-y tingle, but not harsh or rough in any way whatsoever. A little medicinal as well, reminds me of an industrial / workshop hand cleaner actually, that sort of oily gel-type hand cleaner. Which might not sound appetising, but it's very enjoyable!

Texture: Heavy! Big, thick and peaty. Massively peaty actually, but very drinkable, and the peat doesn't let any spirit-y heat show itself at all.

Taste: Well, hello there! Very peaty, a sweet crumbly peat, and some lovely ashy smoke. A little sea salt and fresh tar, quite medicinal too (unusual for a Kilchoman) with more of that industrial hand cleaner. In a good way, trust me!

Finish: Long. Still hugely peaty, coastal and lightly medicinal.Some iodine and newly-opened cotton-wool swabs. Sweet peat, and a little fresh citrus (lemon & lime).

Score: 4 out of 5.

Notes: It's right up my alley admittedly, and I don't think it't suit a beginner, but wow is it tasty! If a young, cask strength Caol Ila (think Port Askaig 100 Proof) ran away with a young, cask strength Ardbeg (think Renaissance), this would be the resulting love child! If you like young, peaty Ileachs, this would suit you just fine. And it's remarkably drinkable for just three years of age, at 60.5% ABV. The magic of Kilchoman right here...

Overall notes: Three very, very different whiskies here. If this were a blind tasting I'm not sure I would pick them all as Kilchomans, in fact I'm quite sure that I wouldn't. Which is both the beauty of single cask whiskies, and the beauty of this versatile little distillery. The 10-year old is refined and softly-spoken, but it can still handle itself. The 5-year old is the more overtly-cask influenced of the three, but that sherry cask hasn't dominated the spirit, and nor should it at such a young age. And then that brash and boisterous 3-year old comes charging in, a take-no-prisoners young Ileach that packs a real peaty punch and ticks a lot of boxes for this Islay-lover. That one is the best demonstrator of what this distillery can do at such young ages, and let's keep in mind that it's only just old enough to be called whisky!

These are all tasty drams, and all have plenty of character, but I'd have to award the 10-year old and 5-year old equal second place, with the 3-year old winning by a sizeable lead. The sheer variety of these, and other single cask bottlings that I've come across, is fantastic. Kilchoman are doing some fantastic work, they're the quiet young upstart on the whisky isle (until Ardnahoe opens!), and we love them for it!

Cheers!

Ledaig 18 Year Old Whisky Review!

A delicious sherry-finished Ledaig that is old enough to buy itself a dram. Yes please.

Everyone loves an underdog, and I'm a big fan of Ledaig (pronounced "li-chig"). Produced by Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull, it's a delicious heavily peated whisky that can give the Islay heavyweights a real run for their money. And it seems to work beautifully with a good sherry cask, with some very good sherry-matured and sherry-finished independent bottlings appearing in the last couple of years. My pick of which was the 10-year old cask strength from Signatory Vintage (reviewed here) which was very popular, and I believe there are now 11-year old versions which I'm sure will find their way down under shortly.

But the official bottlings tend to be a little low-profile in comparison, and they're often passed over in favour of more trendy brands & distilleries. The entry level 10-year old Ledaig (reviewed here) offers very good value for money, and sits comfortably in the same league as old favourites like Ardbeg 10, while beating stalwarts like Laphroaig 10 & Lagavulin 16 thanks to their low bottling strengths, especially if you also factor in pricing. Actually even without prices factored in it still gives them a thrashing from the enthusiast's perspective, thanks to the Ledaig being bottled at 46.3% without chill filtration or added colouring. Which are things that only a couple of the entry-level Islays can boast about, and only one of those (the Ardbeg) is at a similar price point. Ledaig (pronounced "Lid-chig") can be just as medicinal and peaty as most of the Ileachs, and more so than Talisker, but it's still very much the underdog compared to both its Hebridean neighbours to the south & north.

That low level of visibility probably isn't helped by the fact that there are only two Ledaig official bottlings that are reasonably easy to get: the 10-year old, and the 18-year old that I'm looking at today. Although the latter now seems to be getting more scarce. There are no non-age statement expressions to fill the gaps, and the price difference between the two is very substantial which certainly wouldn't help. The 10-year old can be found for around $80-90 AUD in Australia, while the 18 will set you back at least $200-220 AUD. The distillery looks to be pumping out a lot of new limited releases at the moment, both of un-peated Tobermory & Ledaig, and all with age statements (which is impressive), but none of those have officially landed in Australia as yet. I would assume that's partly because of the pending shortages since the distillery is currently not producing any spirit, and won't be for almost another two years while the site undergoes substantial refurbishment. Strangely though that does not include any steps to increase production capacity, with the visitor's centre being the main recipient of the renovations.

The Ledaig 18-year old that I'm looking at today has spent most of its life in ex-bourbon casks, before being finished in Oloroso sherry casks. There are no official figures on how long it spent in those sherry casks, but I would guess around 12 months. Like its younger stable-mate mentioned above it's bottled at 46.3%, without chill filtration or added colouring. Like at least 99% of Ledaig & Tobermory whisky it was matured on the Scottish mainland, since the distillery's warehouse was sold off and converted to apartments during a downturn in the 1980s, although it's still a noticeably coastal whisky despite that. The bottle that my sample came from, thanks to a generous fellow whisky nerd, was from Batch 2. Batch 3 seems to have been released in Europe, but hasn't surfaced here yet as far as I've seen. Tally ho!

Ledaig 18 Year Old, 46.3%. Isle of Mull, Scotland.

"Wonderfully" peated whisky from Tobermory Distillery. Matured in ex-bourbon casks, finished in Oloroso sherry casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. Sample from Batch 2. 

Colour: Amber.

Nose: Soft, sweet and briny. Takes a while to open up, but it's worth the wait. Briny, with seaweed, sweet licorice, and lovely soft vegetal peat. Raspberry jube lollies (think red frogs), brine, sweet sultanas, and lemon juice around the edges. A little leather, and a slight hint of berry-flavoured bubblegum in the distance.

Texture: Nice. Medium weight, lightly oily and vegetal. Warming, but no harshness or spirit-y heat at all.

Taste: A little dryer and much more peaty than it was on the nose. Vegetal, earthy peat, more brine and seaweed, and chewy salted caramels. Sweet licorice straps, a little spicy wood smoke and a touch of musty oak. 

Finish: Medium length. More peat again, but it's more spicy and earthy now, and it comes & goes in waves before tapering off. Becomes sweeter with more raisins and raspberry lollies, licorice straps and leather again, and light brine and smoke carry through. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Very nice stuff. Such a great balance of peaty, sweet and coastal notes. It does take a while to relax and open up, particularly on the nose, but once it does it's a lovely experience. Many of us peat-heads yearn for the perfect combination of peat and sherry influence, and only a few distilleries can actually pull that off without one of those things dominating the other. But this Ledaig does an excellent job of it, and it doesn't lose that musty, dirty Ledaig style that distillery fans adore. It is milder here than in younger expressions of course, but that's absolutely to be expected after 18 years of maturation, including a finishing in active sherry casks. 

Great stuff, and well worth seeking out, although the local pricing is a bit of a push in my opinion. Particularly when those cask strength independent bottlings I mentioned above come in at a similar, if not lower, price level. Not at 18-years of age, though. So if you're looking for an island malt with a good balance of sherry & peat, this should definitely be towards the top of your list. 

Cheers!

Ardbeg Renaissance Whisky Review!

A rather rare Ardbeg, and only my second venture - so far - on "The Path to Peaty Maturity". Ardbeg is still one of my favourite distilleries, and it was the first major stop on my pilgrimage to Scotland last year. So this review is very exciting for this particular Ardbeg-head!

As Ardbeg fans will know, the distillery was brought back from the brink of extinction in 1997 by The Glenmorangie Company (now owned by LVMH), when it purchased the down-trodden and neglected distillery from Allied Distillers. The previous two decades had not been kind to Ardbeg, being closed or "mothballed" from 1981 to 1989, when it came under the umbrella of Allied Distillers, who also owned Laphroaig in the same period. But under their ownership Ardbeg was only producing spirit for two months of each year, operated mostly by Laphroaig staff in the quieter periods of the year, between 1989 and 1996, when the distillery was again closed.

Around a year later Glenmorangie came to the rescue, and immediately began getting the distillery back up to scratch. The buildings and equipment needed a great deal of work, and a number of changes were made before the first distillation run under the new owners took place a few months later in June of 1997, before production shut down for another 6 months soon after for further maintenance & repair work. Ardbeg's whisky had already started to gather a cult following at this point, no doubt helped by the scarcity at the time, and the distillery's revival saw the quick introduction of the much-lauded 17-year old and 1978 vintage bottling, while work commenced on a new visitor's centre and the now famous Old Kiln Cafe. That work may sound unremarkable now, but remember that this was two decades ago, and the whisky world (and Islay) was a very different place! Thanks to all of that work and subsequent efforts, there's absolutely no questioning Ardbeg's future now, in fact expansion plans were announced earlier this year, and the well-deserved cult following that the distillery now enjoys is no secret.

After production started up again in 1998 and ramped up towards the turn of the millennium, Ardbeg embarked on a special project, and a clever strategic move. That move was a series of official bottlings that commemorated their spirit coming of age, which enabled the Ardbeg fan to follow their spirit as it matured, with the final goal being the first 10-year old Ardbeg that was distilled under their ownership. The 10-year old Ardbeg expression had already been released around the year 2000, and Uigeadail followed a few years later, but they were bottled from existing stock that was produced under the previous owners. Known as "The Path To Peaty Maturity", there were four separate releases in this series, all limited releases that were distilled in 1998. All were matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, and all were bottled at their true cask strength without added colouring or chill filtration. Oh, and that old still (pictured above) that you may have seen in Ardbeg's car park was still in use when these bottlings were distilled. So these are rather special whiskies, and are basically the only way to sample progressively maturing Ardbeg in perhaps its purest form. I've been lucky enough to review some older releases of Ardbeg before, the favourites so far being the incredible Supernova bottling from 2009, and a 22-year old independent bottling of 1975 Ardbeg from Gordon & Macphail, but neither of those are representative of how Ardbeg as we now know it. So this series is very special to us Ardbeggians!

The "path" started in 2004 with the now-unobtainable "Very Young", which was a 6-year old Ardbeg. Obviously that is now the most difficult to source, and you'll need to resort to overseas auctions to find one. And you'll need a clear credit card. The second bottling was "Still Young", an 8-year old Ardbeg bottled in 2006. That one can still be found in specialist retailers, and you'll be looking at around $500 AUD. I had the pleasure of tasting it in London last year, and it was very, very good. Young, gristy (malty) Ardbeg with plenty of peat & citrus. The third bottling was "Almost There", a 9-year old Ardbeg bottled in 2007. That one is a similar story, a couple of specialist retailers still have stock, and you're looking at around $450 AUD to own one. The last bottling in the series was named  Ardbeg Renaissance (referring to the revival of the distillery), a.k.a "We've Arrived!" as per the timeline on the packaging, which as you can probably guess is 10-year old Ardbeg, bottled in 2008. It can also still be found, and you'll be looking at around the $500 AUD mark again. And it's the subject of tonight's review!

Now at this point you may be thinking "but it's just 10-year old Ardbeg, I can get that for $75!". Of course you can, but you probably can't get one that was bottled a decade ago, matured in all first-fill casks (the modern 10 year old is a mix of first-fill and re-fill casks), and most importantly you definitely can't get one that was bottled at cask strength, 55.9% ABV in this case. And for what it's worth, the original retail price from the distillery was - wait for it - a whopping 41 pounds sterling, which is around $73 AUD. For a limited edition, commemorative bottling of cask strength Ardbeg with an age statement. Times really have changed in the last 10 years! To my knowledge there has only been two other bottlings of cask strength Ardbeg 10, one of which was exclusive to Japan that was bottled in 2003 (so distilled pre-Glenmorangie), and the second was the first release (and only the first release) of a bottling named "Ardbeg Mor" that was bottled in 2007 (so likely also pre-Glenmorangie spirit), which only came in a massive 4.5-litre bottle! So this Renaissance is pretty damn special, and the anticipation is high for this particular Ardbeg fan! I was lucky enough to find an open bottle on a recent trip to Perth, and just had to bring a sample home to review. Let's do this!

Ardbeg Renaissance "We've Arrived", 10-year old, 55.9%. Islay, Scotland.

The first 10-year old that was distilled under Glenmorangie ownership. Distilled 1998, bottled 2008. Matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, bottled at cask strength. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Pale gold, but significantly darker than the regular 10-year old.

Nose: Ooh, nice! Loads of brine, and a little drying seaweed, and a generous serve of sweet vanilla ice cream with dark chocolate shaved over the top. Sweetened lime juice, black jelly beans (aniseed / licorice flavour), and black pepper corns. A little salt-crusted driftwood, and some old marine rigging, as in those tarry old ropes that Ardbeg are noted for. 

Texture: Lovely. Medium weight, lightly oily, smoky, sweet & warming. A slight touch of heat on the edges, but in a very pleasant way.

Taste: Sweet, floral entry, then it explodes a half-second later with a big whack of dry, spicy peat and ashy bonfire smoke. That fades relatively quickly but doesn't let go completely, and then there's more vanilla ice cream, more brine, and a decent pinch of cracked black pepper. Then some bitter oak, a little ginger, and dried woody herbs. 

Finish: Long. That spicy peat, ashy smoke and black pepper carry through, the black jelly beans come back, and there's that light bitterness again. Then the brine and vanilla ice cream return and hang around to the end, with flashes of more ginger, and a little citrus along the way.

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: As expected, it's pure, unadulterated Ardbeg, and it's beautiful! Renaissance is very much like the 10-year old, but with the volume turned up quite a bit, and the sweetness turned down quite a bit. The nose on this one is just outstanding, and it is slightly reminiscent of that '09 Supernova. But only slightly. The bitterness on the palate and finish is a little surprising, almost hinting towards a cask-strength Lagavulin actually, but it does add depth and doesn't get in the way of the rest of the show. Don't go looking for any fancy cask influence or weird & unusual flavours here, that's just not what this story is about, but every now & then it's nice to get back to basics to recalibrate and rediscover.

In fact it's been a while since I last tasted such a pure, clean expression of Ardbeg that hasn't been messed with in any way, and getting back to the "original recipe" is like reconnecting with an old friend. That classic combination of sweet, peat and brine, plus the black pepper & lime juice, is Ardbeg in its purest form. These "Path to Peaty Maturity" bottlings are mostly collector-fodder now, and I can certainly understand why, since they're effectively a permanent marker on the Ardbeg timeline, but the two that I've now tasted also make for tasty dramming. This one may not push any boundaries or attract much attention from the whisky "glitterati", but if you're an Ardbeg fan you'll want to get your hands on a dram of this one at some point, even if only to tick it off the list, or for a fleeting glimpse back to the end of the beginning for the Ardbeg that we all know & love. But it also won't disappoint when it comes around to tasting time. Now I need to track down a dram of the other two stops on the "path"...

Cheers!

Signatory Vintage Bruichladdich 26 Year Old Whisky Review!

I think this might actually be my first encounter with an independent bottling of unpeated Bruichladdich. And it certainly won't hurt that it's a cask strength, 26-year old single cask...

Which actually also makes this the second-oldest Bruichladdich I've ever tasted! The oldest so far was a 28-year old ex-bourbon 'laddie, drawn straight from the cask during the warehouse tasting at the distillery last year (detailed here), which was exceptional. This independent bottling from Signatory Vintage is from a similar era, but is from a refill sherry cask and is slightly higher in strength, so it should be quite special! It's from Signatory's Cask Strength series, which are mostly single casks, and all that I've tried so far have all been very enjoyable (highlights to date are this Ledaig, and definitely this Port Ellen!). Signatory Vintage would have to be one of my favourite independent bottlers, and their official Australian importer The Whisky Company is doing a great job of bringing us quality bottlings, either from uncommon distilleries or different styles of whisky from old favourites, which is exactly what a good independent bottler does!

This whisky was distilled in 1990, which is the same era that most of Bruichladdich's mysterious Black Art official bottlings were distilled in, at a time when the distillery was owned by Invergordon, now part of the Whyte & Mackay liquor company after a takeover in 1993. That decade was not kind to Bruichladdich, which had been producing on a reduced basis through the 1980s and early 90s, before being closed down altogether in 1995. The distillery then sat silent for six years until it was rescued by Mark Reynier and his group of investors, along with the legendary Jim McEwan, who nursed the distillery back to health, and the distillery has been going from strength-to-strength ever since. In fact they far-surpassed anything that previous owners have accomplished, and Bruichladdich is now unquestionably one of Islay's finest. The Black Art series was very cask dominated though, and used a variety of unusual casks, whereas this is a single refill sherry cask, presumably Oloroso. So it should be quite a different experience.

Independent bottlings of Bruichladdich, along with the distillery's heavily peated Port Charlotte and Octomore brands, are becoming more common these days, reportedly due to a large amount of privately-owned casks being sold off just prior to the distillery being purchased by Remy Cointreau in 2012. But a 26-year old bottling is far from common, particularly one that was matured in a sherry cask, in this case a single 500-litre refill (meaning that it had been used for whisky maturation previously) sherry butt, cask number 172. It was distilled on the 26th of September 1990, and was bottled on the 19th of July 2017, with a yield of 508 bottles at a cask strength of 56.0% ABV. Being a Signatory Vintage Cask Strength Series bottling of course means that it is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, and you've got to love those very pretty decanter-style bottles. The sample for this review came from the aforementioned Australian importer, The Whisky Company. Let's get to it!

Signatory Vintage Bruichladdich 26-year old, 56.0%. Islay, Scotland.

Single cask #172. Distilled 26/9/90, matured in a refill sherry cask, bottled 19/7/17 at cask strength. Non-chill filtered, natural colour, 502 bottles. 

Colour: Amber. 

Nose: Ooh very nice, and very interesting! Darker in style than I expected, but in a great way. Musty and nicely spicy, with toffee apples and baked pears, some juicy golden raisins, and waxy candied lemon. Dark chocolate and spicy old (but not tired) oak. A little spicy cologne, some leather, treacle, and a hint of musty dunnage warehouses.  

Texture: Excellent. Medium weight, waxy and lightly oily. A slight touch of heat, but nowhere near 56% ABV worth. 

Taste: Delicious! There's almost a Campbeltown-like "funky" musty-ness to it, but more towards dank dunnage warehouses than the Springbank farmyard note. Love it! There's more dark chocolate, more treacle, a little salt, and more spicy oak, X-mas spices. Some waxy citrus, more juicy golden raisins, and even an unexpected puff of dry wood smoke!

Finish: Long length, warming. That delicious musty note carries through, that old musty oak and dank dunnage warehouse note. Then a little spicy wood smoke, fades quickly into some dates, more golden raisins and waxed lemons. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Wow, extremely impressive stuff here. Very nearly a 4.5 score in fact. And quite a different whisky to what I expected! That musty note is outstanding, almost Springbank- or sherried Tobermory-like, which is right up my alley. Really love the waxy-ness as well, and that apple, pear & citrus clearly show that the cask has not dominated the show here, despite it obviously being quite active. There were quite a few surprises in this whisky that I would not normally associate with Bruichladdich, which is one of the hallmarks of a great independent bottler if you ask me, and that little puff of wood smoke was quite unexpected! 

Great work as usual by Signatory Vintage. This isn't a cheap whisky if you're just looking at the dollar figure ($380-ish AUD), but for a cask strength, 26-year old single cask it offers excellent value for money, and it's priced very, very well compared to the current official bottlings of Bruichladdich of a similar vintage. Which is yet another hallmark of a great independent bottler! Get it while it lasts folks.

Thanks to Craig from The Whisky Company for the sample of this one, it was gone all too soon!

Cheers!