Bruichladdich "Friends of Bruichladdich" Single Cask Whisky Review!

Or to use it's full title, Distillery Micro-Provenance Series, Single Cask, Cask Evolution Exploration!

Which all boils down to this being a single cask official bottling of Bruichladdich, fully matured in a first-fill Oloroso sherry cask, selected and bottled exclusively for the Facebook group "Friends of Bruichladdich" and it's 4,000-or so members. Bruichladdich don't do many private bottlings these days, at least certainly not like they did in the past, but it seems that they made an exception for this group of die-hard 'laddie fans, which is spearheaded by two of their largest private customers and frequent visitors to the distillery. This bottling seems to be a slight extension of Bruichladdich's micro-provenance series, which are a series of single cask bottlings that are often matured in unusual cask types, and are only sold in tiny numbers through the distillery's own website and physical store. Although there are some exceptions, those have mostly been released in series' of three 200ml bottlings, the most recent being the Bruichladdich MP7 (Micro-Provenance number 7) series, but they can come from either the un-peated Bruichladdich spirit, the heavily peated Port Charlotte spirit, or the super-heavily peated Octomore spirit. This particular bottling is a little different, though. This was a single cask that was selected by and bottled for the aforementioned Facebook group founders, in full-sized bottles, at a retail price of 175 GBP. Which isn't exactly cheap, particularly if you're then having it shipped overseas and are at the mercy of your local customs agency, but for what you're getting here that's a decent price. Needless to say, it sold out very quickly regardless!

One of only two Islay distilleries that produces an un-peated single malt as it's core range, Bruichladdich don't offer a sherry cask-matured whisky as part of their core line-up. They tend to focus on either the standard bourbon casks or wine casks instead, usually of the French variety, and that's basically been the case since the distillery's resurrection circa 2001. But like the other un-peated whisky produced on Islay, Bunnahabhain, sherry cask-matured bottlings of Bruichladdich can be fantastic, and they're usually found in the arsenals of independent bottlers such as Gordon & MacPhail, Signatory Vintage and some of the smaller companies. A sherry cask-matured official bottling is all but unheard of, unless one has the coin required to splurge on a few of the 1990 vintage bottlings that were released in the last couple of years, or is lucky enough to get their hands on a distillery-only Valinch bottling. On that note I must admit that the one example that I've been lucky enough to try, the 25-year old 1990/25, was a truly delicious whisky. Most serious whisky enthusiasts are partial to what is commonly referred to as the "sherry bomb", a.k.a. a heavily-sherry cask-influenced whisky often from the likes of Glendronach, Aberlour, or Glenfarclas. Islay whisky is very rarely found in this guise, even more rarely in official bottlings from the distilleries and their owners. So convincing Bruichladdich to sell this single Oloroso cask to a what is effectively a Facebook group must have been quite the task, particularly since the distillery is now owned by Remy Cointreau. That's not to say that the new-ish corporate owners have been restrictive, in fact it seems quite the opposite in Bruichladdich's case with plenty of new investment and no corporate pressure, cost-cutting or shortcuts at all, but you'd have to assume that buying a single cask of mature whisky would've been far easier under the distillery's previous private owners. Regardless of how it happened, it's a great thing and both concerned parties have done very well!

So, what we have here is a 15-year old single cask Bruichladdich from an Oloroso sherry cask, which I would assume came from the distillery's preferred sherry Bodega, Fernando de Castilla in Jerez, Spain. There's plenty of information to be found on the label as well, such as the exact date of distillation (22 May 2003), the barley variety (Optic), plus the warehouse and the exact location within that the cask was kept in (Warehouse 12, location C5). It was bottled at a substantial cask strength of 63.1% ABV on 15 October 2018, and of course is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured - like all malts that leave the distillery gates on the shore of Loch Indaal. It's important to remember that Bruichladdich are one of the few Islay distilleries that mature all of their whisky on the island, and are one of only two Ileachs that bottle their whisky on-site at the distillery. It's also worth noting that Bruichladdich do not reduce the strength of their new make spirit before filling it into casks, where the majority of Scottish malt distilleries dilute down to 63.5% before filling. Which is why some cask strength bottlings of Bruichladdich can carry serious ABV numbers that are significantly higher than most similarly aged bottlings from other Scottish distilleries. The sample for this review came from a very generous fellow whisky nerd who was lucky enough to get hold of a bottle of this very precious whisky. The opportunity to try a single cask official bottling of Bruichladdich is not something that happens everyday, let alone a sherry matured example, so this is a special one!

Bruichladdich Single Cask for Friends of Bruichladdich, 15 year old, 63.1%. Islay, Scotland.
Distilled 22/5/2003, matured in a single Oloroso sherry cask, bottled 15/10/2018. Exclusive to the Friends of Bruichladdich Facebook group. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Very dark amber. Has to be the darkest Bruichladdich that I've seen to date!

Nose: Ooh, it's a big one! Loads of leather, dried fruit and raspberry dark chocolate. Musty & nutty dry sherry, some baked red apple, red liquorice and a slight salty tang. There's a bit of nose prickle, but it's 63.1% remember! Chocolate mousse and a little dried orange come through further on.

Texture: Yep, still a big one! Medium-heavy weight, thick & creamy in feel, loads of flavour and a little heat, but not in an overly harsh or rough way.

Taste: Sherry bomb! Big boozy dried fruit, lots of that lovely raspberry dark chocolate again, and a bit of sharp chilli-like heat although it fades fairly quickly. Some orange liqueur, more leather, and a bit of a musty 'rancio' note found in excellent quality dry fortifieds, reminiscent of cured meat, salted almonds and a bit of mushroom. Delicious!

Finish: Long! A little boozy heat, but behind that is a truckload of flavour - chocolate mousse and that musty rancio note again, more orange liqueur and salted almond. Some dark grape must and a little dank earthy dunnage note - that mushroom & salted nuts again. Very tasty.

Score: 4 out of 5. Not miles away from a 4.5 score either

Notes: It's a big, boozy sherry bomb of a 'laddie, and it's a great whisky! Boat loads of flavour, plenty of character and loads of complexity. A really interesting dram this, and it shows a more aggressive and dirtier style of Bruichladdich that is very rarely seen, and is really enjoyable. I love those leathery dried fruit & raspberry dark chocolate notes too, and that musty & salty rancio tang. I did try adding a little water after the tasting & scoring, and while it did tame the beast slightly I have to say I prefer it neat. The sheer volume of flavour and character on offer here are well worth that touch of spirit-y heat. If only Bruichladdich would bottle something like this more often!

This single cask wasn't a cheap proposition for the overseas buyers, particularly with local customs charges taken into account, but I have to say it's well worth it for the unique experience that this whisky offers the Bruichladdich fan. Very well done to the duo that managed to pry this excellent cask out of the distillery's hands, and thanks to Bruichladdich for letting them have it, and for their continued excellent work! Long live the Friends of Bruichladdich.

Cheers!

Lagavulin 12 Year Old 2014 Whisky Review!

My bottle of this tasty number is nearing it's end now, and I somehow never got around to reviewing it! So let's correct that before it's too late...

The 12-year old is the annual bottling of unadulterated cask strength Lagavulin that is released as part of Diageo's "Special Releases" series each year. It's the purist's choice when it comes to Lagavulin single malt, being bottled at cask strength, non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, although the latter two points now also apply to the 8-year old that has since joined the distillery's core range. But back in 2014 when this 12-year old was released it was essentially the only option for an unadulterated Lagavulin, unless you had access to the distillery-only Jazz Festival or Feis Ile bottlings. Like all of Diageo's annual Special Releases there is no published information on the number of bottles released, but when it eventually made it to Australia there was a large amount of this 2014 bottling floating around, and that stock lasted for quite some time. Rumour is it was over-ordered, which unfortunately meant that we were deprived of any official importation of the 2015 and 2016 releases of the 12-year old. Which is a real shame, because both were excellent, not to mention the 2016 release being the commemorative bottling for the distillery's 200th anniversary. A couple of enterprising retailers parallel imported (bypassed the local importer / distributor) a small amount of both releases, which despite significantly higher prices was very much appreciated by the distillery's thirsty Australian fans. Things seem to be looking up however, since there was a very small amount of the 2017 release officially imported, which I've reviewed here, and the 2018 release has become available quite recently.

As venerable and dependable as Lagavulin's flagship 16-year old bottling is, it is held back by chill filtration, added colouring and the relatively low bottling strength of 43%. Although to be fair that's better than the 40% minimum ABV that Diageo could've gone with, and that some competing distilleries did - and do - go with. Those who've been lucky enough to attend one of the fantastic warehouse tastings at the distillery may have come across a 16-year old single cask Lagavulin at cask strength, which is made even more special by it being drawn straight from the cask by the legendary Ian McArthur. But the 12-year old bottling is actually obtainable, so in my opinion could well be the sweet-spot for refill cask-matured Lagavulin. I am yet to taste a "bad" release in this series, in fact all have been entirely delicious and notably different from each other, which is great to see. I'd have to say the 2013 and 2016 bottlings are my favourites to date, but you really can't go wrong with any of them. This whisky easily stands alongside Laphroaig's 10-year old Cask Strength (reviewed here and here) and the other high-strength Islay staples, and it wipes the floor with quite a few others!

When it arrived in Australia around four years ago this 2014 bottling of the 12-year old could be found for around $150-170 AUD, which even back then was brilliant value for money. The 12-year old was largely unheard of on these shores at the time, which coupled with that rumoured over-order meant that stocks lasted for a considerable amount of time. Years, in fact. But the whisky fans eventually caught on and it's now practically impossible to find at retail. Lagavulin 12-year old is always matured in refill American oak ex-bourbon casks, which when combined with the lack of artificial colouring gives it a beautiful very pale colour and a spirit-led flavour profile, not to mention a fantastic oily, chewy texture thanks to the bottling strength and lack of chill filtration. The 2014 release was bottled at a cask strength of 54.4% ABV, the lowest of any release of the 12-year old to date, by 2% ABV in fact. Not that 54.4% is anything to sneeze at, of course!

Lagavulin 12-year old 2014 release, 54.4%. Islay, Scotland.
Matured in refill American oak ex-bourbon casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Pale gold. Lovely!

Nose: Sweet, oily and peaty. A sharp, crumbly and vegetal peat, alongside brine, sweet vanilla cake frosting and some lightly sweetened lime juice. Some good quality olive oil, fresh sea scallops, and a little clean mineral engine oil. More time brings out dried strawberries, more brine and lime juice, and adds a bit of lemon zest.  

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, oily, smoky and surprisingly dry. Hardly any heat for the strength.

Taste: Massively peaty & smoky, a dirty & ashy bonfire smoke alongside that dry & crumbly vegetal peat. More quality olive oil, a little petrol (but in a good way!), black pepper and dried seaweed. Charred driftwood and some partially-melted salted butter.

Finish: Long. A little sweeter, with that fresh shellfish sweetness and a hint of that vanilla frosting around the edges. The peat is still big & dry & vegetal, and it's turning slightly bitter here as well. There's more brine and bonfire smoke, but this time the bonfire was given a few splashes of petrol to help it along. Great stuff!

Score: 4 out of 5.

Notes: You're going to have to like peat, and the dirtier- and drier-side of Islay whiskies, but if you do you're going to love this one like I do. Masses of flavour, masses of peat, and plenty of texture and character. I really love that olive oil note too, I don't remember finding that when this bottle was freshly opened. Possibly the after-effect of some of that Lagavulin dirty engine oil & diesel character receding with air? Only some of it has faded though, there's still plenty to be found, which works beautifully in these whiskies. In fact this bottle has held up very well considering it has been open for over a year, although I did sporadically use Argon gas preserver over that time, which may have helped. Either way it's no less peaty or powerful for it.

Like all of the good Islay malts this Lagavulin transports you back to those Hebridean shores on the other side of the world. On a cold, damp day with flashes of peat smoke and salt hanging in the air. Even if you've never physically been, your imagination will take you there. I must admit that I do prefer the other releases that I've tried over this 2014 bottling of the 12-year old, but you can't really go wrong with any of them. It'll be a sad day when this particular bottle is finally relegated to the graveyard. Let's hope Diageo keep these releases going for many years to come!

Cheers!

Compass Box Hedonism Whisky Review!

"Hedonism" - the pursuit of pleasure & self-indulgence. An ambitious name for a blended grain whisky perhaps, but we're about to find out...

It's been a while since I last mentioned Glasgow-based whisky blender & rule-bender Compass Box, a few years in fact, last appearing when I reviewed their very nice Peat Monster blended malt. Unfortunately that's mainly because we don't see the vast majority of their bottlings in Australia, with almost all of their releases being exclusive to a certain large retailer. Since that last review Compass Box have caused a bit of a stir, in a positive way, by bringing light to the issue of "transparency" in Scotch whisky, specifically with regard to age statements. The issue arose when Compass Box started releasing the full details of the component whiskies in their blends, and stating the age and proportion of each component whisky. The problem with this is that according to the SWA regulations, an age statement can only declare the age of the youngest whisky in the bottle. So for example a whisky that is a blend of 10-year old and 20-year old spirit can only have an age statement of 10 years, it can't legally state "a mix of 50% 10-year old and 50% 20-year old whisky". So Compass Box had to modify how they were doing things, and you can now need to email them requesting the age details of their blends.

That said, they still publish plenty of detail on their whiskies, just not the actual ages. A quick look on their website will give you access to the typical recipes for each bottling, often also naming the actual distilleries involved, which for one reason or another is not something you see very often with blended whiskies. This 'Hedonism' bottling for example typically contains 66% grain whisky from Cameron Bridge Distillery, a massive Diageo-owned grain spirit plant located in Leven, and the remaining 34% grain whisky coming from Port Dundas, another massive Diageo-owned grain spirit plant located in Glasgow, which closed in 2011 and has since been demolished. The majority of this blended grain whisky was matured in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels, with a small component being matured in refill American oak hogsheads. It's also naturally coloured and non-chill filtered, which is great to see considering it's bottled at 'only' 43% rather than the more usual 46% ABV for a naturally presented whisky.

Personally, I'm not really a big fan of grain whiskies. I usually find them to be too light, both in texture and flavour, and often also too sweet for my tastes. Although they can be fantastic if aged for a long time in good casks. Truthfully I've only had a couple that actually impressed me, one of which was an oddball 27-year old cask strength Sauternes-finished single grain bottling from the SMWS (G8.7), and the others have been over 25 years of age. That said, I haven't tasted a Compass Box whisky that I haven't liked, so I have high hopes for this one. Let's give it a whirl.

Compass Box Hedonism, NAS, 43%. Blended Grain Scotch Whisky.

Make-up varies by batch but typically 66% single grain whisky from Cameron Bridge Distillery, 34% single grain whisky from Port Dundas Distillery. Mostly aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks. Natural colour, non-chill filtered.

Colour: Pale gold / white wine. 

Nose: Light. Milk chocolate and dried  / desiccated coconut, reminiscent of a 'bounty' chocolate bar. A little sweet vanilla icing, and a hint of pencil shavings under the typical spirit-y acetone note found in most young grain whiskies. Becomes a little floral with more breathing time. 

Texture: Light & clean. Slight heat and raw spirit but not overly harsh. 

Taste: Grain spirit & acetone, not in a harsh way though. A little more pencil shavings & desiccated coconut, and there's chocolate again but it's more of a cocoa powder now. A bit of a let-down here after the nose, to be honest. 

Finish: Short. A little spirit heat initially. More acetone and coconut, hints of tropical fruit underneath. Mango nectar but without the thick texture. A little more cocoa powder too, and a touch of something a little bitter. 

Score: 2 out of 5.

Notes: Not undrinkable, but not really my cup of tea, and I probably wouldn't have named it after the pursuit of pleasure. I remember liking it more on the first try though, so maybe the sample has oxidised a little since then. It's definitely lighter now than I remember it being. That bounty bar chocolate & coconut note is very pleasant, in fact it's definitely the highlight of the whole experience. Still, it's nice to try something different every now and then, and re-assert my love for malt whisky... 

I still like what Compass Box are doing, and what they stand for. They're trying new & different things and they're being open about it, where permitted, and they're breaking new ground at generally reasonable prices. But for my tastes, at around $100 AUD, this one cannot compete with the single or blended malts that are around the same - or even a lower - price level. But if you're a fan of lighter, cleaner drams or perhaps even white spirits, this one will probably be more up your alley than it is mine. I do think it'd make for a nice summer's day dram though, or maybe even a highball. 

Cheers!

Highland Park Full Volume Whisky Review!

It's been a while since I reviewed a Highland Park, and - despite being a bit of an outlier - this just happens to be one of the best HP official bottlings that I've tried in a long time!

Why is this whisky an outlier? Because rather than the usual Highland Park maturation method of various types of Oloroso sherry cask (American or European oak, first-fill or refill etc.), Full Volume has been matured only in first-fill ex-bourbon casks. That might put some old-school Highland Park fans off, but it shouldn't, because this expression has been bottled at a higher strength than the vast majority of their official bottlings, which tend to be 40% or 43% ABV. Despite the name though, Full Volume has not been bottled at cask strength, but rather at the odd strength of 47.2%. So not really full volume, just a higher volume than normal! And although this whisky has been chill filtered, the details on the side of the outer box clearly state that it was filtered at 4 degrees Celsius, which is the upper limit for chill filtration. When was the last time you saw a distillery quote the temperature that a whisky was chilled down to prior to filtering? It certainly doesn't happen very often! With different temperatures and other factors like the grade of filter (fine or coarse) and pressure used, determining how much of the oils, fats & proteins are actually stripped from the whisky during chill filtration, this whisky is essentially less chill filtered than most chill filtered whiskies. But I do have to ask, since this whisky was bottled at over 46%, why bother chill filtering it at all? Why not just barrier filter it, keeping it a more natural product? Particularly when a few of Highland Park's many limited releases are already non-chill filtered. When a large number of distilleries are bottling most or all of their products without chill filtration these days, it seems an odd choice. Especially for a whisky named 'Full Volume'.

Speaking of which, that name is actually a reference to the electric instrument musician's skill at tweaking an amplifier and equaliser to avoid distortion, and achieve the desired tone and volume. Highland Park have drawn the comparison between this and the skill of their master blender when creating a whisky, and as you can see below they've gone all out with that theme on the whisky's packaging. The outer box represents an amplifier and equaliser, and there's even a set of tuning knobs on one side that are meant to give an idea of this whisky's profile, including a volume knob - also found on the bottle's front label - that is turned up to 11 in a nod to Spinal Tap (but it's not cask strength, remember). Something else that is a bit strange is a few of the details that are printed on the other side of that outer box. There you'll find information like the exclusive use of first-fill bourbon casks, and the sizes of those casks (200-litre barrels and 250-litre hogsheads), but also extra and rather unusual details like the exact number of casks in the vatting (a not insignificant 481), the exact filling dates of those casks (6 different days in mid-1999), and that those casks were "filled at strengths of between 63.6% and 63.7%". Kudos for adding more information than usual, but I really don't see why that's relevant, when the vast majority of whisky is filled into casks at 63.5%, and like I've mentioned once or twice already this isn't a cask strength whisky, so the filling strength back in 1999 has very little bearing on the final product. Maybe I'm nitpicking here but it does seem like an odd thing to mention, particularly right there on the side of the box! Likewise that number of casks, it's not exactly a small figure and means that this limited release can't really be that limited after all. Particularly since it was bottled two years ago and is still easy to source. But luckily the packaging does also state that this whisky is naturally coloured, and while this Highland Park doesn't exactly have an age statement, it does have a year of distillation, 1999, and a year of bottling, 2017, making this a 17-18 year old whisky.

Before we get into the whisky itself, let's have a quick recap on Highland Park. Owned by the Edrington group, the distillery is located in Kirkwall, on the 'mainland' of the Orkney islands north of the Scottish mainland, and has been there since 1798, although it's first license wasn't granted until 1826. They floor-malt a portion of their barley, and that portion is peated to around 20 ppm with local peat from Hobbister Moor on Orkney, which is largely comprised of heather. That floor-malted peated barley is then mixed with externally-sourced un-peated barley, usually at a mix of around 20% peated and 80% un-peated. After double-distillation in their four stills the distillery fills the majority of their 2.5 million litre annual output into Oloroso sherry-seasoned casks, with the rest going into ex-bourbon and a few other types. They also marry, or rest, each new vatting for at least a month before bottling, to allow the whiskies to "harmonise". I can't find any information on what vessel that happens in, so I'd presume it to be stainless steel vats, which of course is no bad thing for that purpose. Highland Park produce a massive range of expressions, and on their website you'll currently find a frankly ridiculous 39 different bottlings listed as their current range of single malts. Naturally some of those are old vintage bottlings, plus the standard core range of the 12 and 18-year olds, but there are also a huge number of non-age statement, marketing-heavy, viking-themed expressions with very little real information published that are, honestly, a little tiresome. In fact they're a little hard to keep up with, even in the age of the internet and social media. Making them even harder to keep up with is the fact that many of those are also travel retail (duty free) exclusive and/or are only sold in certain countries or regions, and on that note Full Volume was actually exclusive to the US when first launched, and is only sold in travel retail in Australia, and has only been available there for a year or so. It's priced at $129 AUD, which is quite reasonable for a 17-18 year old limited release whisky at a decent strength, but I can't help but wish that it was more widely available for those who don't frequently travel overseas. I know that most of the above sounds a little negative or even cynical, which is not really intentional, I'm just calling it as I see it. I'm still a fan of Highland Park's work, particularly when bottled at cask strength. But the main thing of course is that this is a tasty and good value whisky. So let's find out, shall we?

Highland Park Full Volume, 17-18 year old, 47.2%. Orkney, Scotland.
Distilled 1999, bottled 2017. Fully matured in first-fill ex-bourbon casks, lightly peated. Chill filtered at 4 degrees, natural colour. Travel exclusive in Australia.

Colour: Semi-pale gold.

Nose: Very nice! Vanilla custard, russian fudge (lighter style sweet fudge), lots of lemon peel and some dried apricot. That dry heathery peat is there, like burnt herbs, and a subtle hint of heather honey as well. Some lightly spicy charred wood (cinnamon & pepper), and a couple of dried apples in the distance.

Texture: Medium weight. Richly flavoured with a generous pinch of pepper, lightly waxy.

Taste: More wood spice and more dry heather-y peat, some beeswax (natural honeycomb with the honey drained out), and a bit of orange. Drier than I would've guessed from the nose, which wasn't massively sweet either in the scheme of things (not a criticism by any means). More burnt herbs (that peat showing itself again), and more lemon peel, plus that vanilla but it's vanilla paste here, and it's definitely drier to boot.

Finish: Medium length. More black pepper, vanilla paste, still-smoking burnt herbs and that floral heathery peat. But it's soft overall once that pepper note subsides, with more beeswax, fudge and lemon peel.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Notes: Quite a tasty dram this! And definitely one of the best official bottlings of Highland Park that I've tasted in recent times. Plenty of flavour, and more peat is evident than in most HPs, particularly at this age level, which I'd say would be down to the ex-bourbon casks being a little less dominant than the sherry-seasoned ones that are HP's modus operandi (M.O.), and also the higher bottling strength. I'm digging that vanilla, lemon, heather & pepper combo too, it works very well and those flavours are nicely balanced, which of course is the whole premise behind this whisky, showing off the balancing skills of the blenders. And all the marketing and other little niggles aside, I think it does achieve that.

I can't help but wonder what this whisky would've been like at it's actual full volume (cask strength and completely non-chill filtered), but that would've put the price up, and it's pretty reasonable at the $129 AUD mark. Particularly when you consider that the asking price for the standard Highland Park 18-year old, which is only bottled at 43%, is $200-250 AUD these days. Which despite being a nice whisky is one of the most expensive 18-year old core range / standard official bottlings on the market at the moment. But then if Full Volume had been released to the general market rather than travel retail, that price would probably have increased. On the flip-side that doesn't make it particularly easy to get hold of a bottle, so it's a bit of a Catch-22. Definitely worth grabbing a bottle when you're next going through an international airport, though!

Cheers!

Hazelburn Rundlets & Kilderkins Whisky Review!

A cask strength, 10-year old, small cask-aged Hazelburn, and the third & final instalment in the Rundlets & Kilderkins releases. Bring on the (sexy) funk...

Hazelburn is the triple-distilled and un-peated spirit produced by Springbank Distillery in Campbeltown, named after the Hazelburn Distillery which closed in 1925. A few of the original distillery's buildings still stand, the majority of which now form a business park 300 metres down the road from Springbank. Hazelburn only makes up 10% of Springbank's annual production, while 80% goes to the namesake Springbank spirit which is lightly-peated and 2.5-times distilled, and the heavily-peated and double-distilled Longrow takes up the remaining 10%. Bear in mind that Springbank have a maximum annual production capacity of around 750,000-litres of spirit, a positively tiny amount compared to most operating Scottish distilleries, so there really isn't a lot of Hazelburn produced. There's also less spirit produced thanks to that triple distillation, where the un-peated wash is run through each of Springbank's three stills (pictured above) in series, starting with the direct-fired wash still, then the worm tub condenser-equipped first low wines still, and the shell & tube condenser-equipped second low wines still. Which means it's a lighter and more refined spirit, at a higher alcohol level with a spirit / heart cut average of 75% ABV when it leaves that third still. Triple distillation is associated more with Irish whiskeys these days, and only a few Scottish malt distilleries have dabbled in the practice, with Auchentoshan in the Lowlands being the only Scottish distillery to triple-distill the entirety of their production.

As a result of triple distillation and also the lack of peat used in the kilning of the applicable malted barley, Hazelburn tends to be a lighter, cleaner and more refined whisky than the Springbank and Longrow malts. So there's generally less Campbeltown "funk" to be found in these bottles, but if you play your cards right (cask strength required, in my experience) you'll still find it. Personally, and like many Springbank fans I suspect, I do tend to prefer Springbank & Longrow, so my experience with Hazelburn isn't on the same level, but I have had a couple of excellent expressions in the past. The winner so far was a refill Sauternes cask-matured Springbank Society bottling, which I'm not likely to ever come across again, unfortunately. It's hard to argue with the statement that the finished product tends to be less "Campbeltown-y" than the other Campbeltown malts (Kilkerran and Glen Scotia included), but it's still a Springbank, which means that everything other than growing the actual barley itself is done on-site. From malting, milling, fermenting, distilling, maturing and bottling, it all happens at the distillery. And for 100% of the distillery's production. Which is certainly not something you see everyday!

This particular Hazelburn is the third and final instalment in Springbank's Rundlet's & Kilderkins releases, following on from 2012's 10-year old Springbank release, and 2013's 11-year old Longrow release (reviewed here). A rundlet is a 68-litre (approx.) cask, and a kilderkin is an 82-litre cask, compared to the 200-, 250- and 500-litre casks commonly used for Scotch whisky maturation. Smaller casks equals more surface area contact equals more cask influence, so these whiskies tend to drink well beyond their modest age statements. This 10-year old Hazelburn (not to be confused with the regular 10-year old expression) was bottled at a cask strength of 50.1% ABV, and of course is non-chill filtered and naturally coloured like everything that comes out of Springbank's narrow driveways. While both the Springbank and Longrow releases consisted of 9,000 bottles apiece, there were 12,000 units of the Hazelburn released, which is a significant number, but I was nevertheless surprised to see this whisky still available in Australia here in mid-2019. Why? Because it was bottled over five years ago, way back in early 2014! It's still quite reasonably priced as well at around $165 AUD, and while Hazelburn doesn't quite have the cult following of the distillery's other two products, I can tell you now that it is a serious bargain. Get in quick folks, and tell them Peated Perfection sent you!

Hazelburn Rundlets & Kilderkins, 10-years old, 50.1%. Campbeltown, Scotland.
Un-peated triple-distilled single malt from Springbank Distillery. Fully matured in re-coopered 68-litre rundlet and 82-litre kilderkin casks. Cask strength, non-chill filtered, natural colour. 12,000 bottles, released 2014.

Colour: Gold.

Nose: Oily, lightly cheesy, slightly herbal & earthy. Olive oil, baked red apples, semi-sweet herbal honey. Some brine, damp earth (dunnage) and white pepper. Lemon oil, and some light fresh oak - reminds me of balsa wood. Some damp malt and a little marzipan with more breathing time.

Texture: Medium weight, oily & surprisingly savoury. A little peppery, but not in a harsh or overly spirit-y way.

Taste: More olive oil, more white pepper, and more light fresh oak. A lighter version of the classic Campbeltown "funk"as well, that damp earthy dunnage warehouse & old dusty farmyard / barn note. Dryer than the nose, not a sweet whisky by any means. Still has that lemon oil note in the background.
  Finish: Medium length. Getting quite dry here with more pepper and light oak, before that olive oil, lemon, baked apple and dunnage earthy-ness come through. Those apples are powdery now though. More clean olive oil and light brine to finish.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Notes: A very tasty dram, and probably the richest and most 'Campbeltown-y' Hazelburn that I've tasted to date. And also one of the best. It's definitely miles above the standard 10-year old, although at cask strength and with small casks involved that could be expected. Considering the relatively small jump in price over that entry-level bottling, and considering that this one was bottled over five years ago, it's a bit of a hidden gem. If you find Springbanks too funky and a little too wild for your tastes, give Hazelburn a try. And if you prefer a dryer, oily, richer style of malt then this Rundlets & Kilderkins is the one to go for. Personally it's not on the same level as the Longrow version, but since the base malts are so different that's probably just down to personal preference rather than overall quality.

Yet another tasty single malt from Campbeltown's finest, and a real bargain at the still-current pricing here in Australia. Just don't expect the remaining stocks to last long. It's still a hidden gem at the moment, but people are catching on to that sort of thing very quickly these days!

Cheers!

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019 Whisky Review!

A new Cairdeas release is always exciting, but this year's just happens to be even more so. This is a cask strength version of Laphroaig Triple Wood!

But before we get into the details and the review, I have a point to address. If you go searching online for information about this particular Laphroaig, 90% of the regurgitated press releases listed in Google have stated an incorrect bottling strength in their articles. This cask strength whisky was not bottled at 51.4% as you'll read on most of those sites. I actually fell for this myself when this bottling was first officially announced and social media quickly became flooded with dozens of slightly-altered versions of the same short article, and thought that strength was unexpectedly - and disappointingly - low for what is a relatively young whisky. But all is not lost, because they got it wrong: the actual strength of this little beauty is a substantial 59.5% ABV. Which puts it among the highest strength official bottlings of Laphroaig in recent history! If memory serves it's only been beaten by the US bottling of the 10-year old Cask Strength Batch 008 (reviewed here), which hit 59.9%. So there's definitely nothing to be concerned about here when it comes to bottling strength, and this promises to be a rather intense whisky!

Now, onto the juicy bits. Like 2017's release from the home of some of Islay's peatiest whiskies, this year's Cairdeas (Gaelic for "Friendship") bottling, which is released annually to coincide with the Islay festival a.k.a. Feis Ile, is a cask strength version of a core range / regular expression of Laphroaig. Some may find this a little less thrilling than an exotic cask finishing like the majority of recent Cairdeas', but for Laphroaig fans - myself included - the opportunity to try an old favourite at it's natural cask strength is extremely exciting. It also means that both pricing and availability are kept at reasonable levels, which is no bad thing for those who can't spend a week on Islay in June each year because they just happen to reside on the other side of the planet. The 2017 Cairdeas was a cask strength version of Laphroaig's Quarter Cask, at 57.2% ABV rather than the usual 48%, with 32,000 bottles released. This year's bottling is a cask strength version of Triple Wood, which is also normally bottled at 48%, and shares most of it's maturation method with the aforementioned Quarter Cask expression. Both are a vatting of 5-11 year old first-fill ex-bourbon casks, and are then finished for around 7-months in re-coopered 125-litre quarter casks which are also first-fill ex-bourbon. That's where the journey ends for the Quarter Cask expression, but as you can probably guess by the name, Triple Wood takes a third step before it can hit the road: a second cask finishing, or triple maturation if you prefer, in ex-Oloroso sherry European oak butts (500-litre casks) for around two years. Both of these core bottlings are non-chill filtered and reportedly naturally coloured, as is the delicious travel-exclusive PX Cask expression which swaps out the Oloroso casks in the Triple Wood for sweet Pedro Ximinez sherry casks.

This cask strength version of Triple Wood follows exactly the same cask recipe as the standard release, right up to the bottling stage, including the lack of chill filtration & artificial colouring. 36,000 bottles have been released at a price of 63 Euros, or approximately $104 AUD at today's rate. But due to our unfortunate geography Australians are then looking at another $73 AUD in shipping on a single bottle order. You could of course buy two bottles to spread the shipping cost a little further, but you'll then be up for $108 in shipping. And of course either way you'll most likely be hit with our ridiculous duty, tax and GST charges from Australian Customs, because how dare you bring spirits into this country you peasant, plus the extra charges from the usual freight company just because they can. By my calculations those charges would come to around $83 on a single bottle order (around $63 to customs and $20 to the courier), which makes this a $250 bottle once landed in Australia. All of which of course has nothing to do with Laphroaig or the people that made this whisky, but doesn't make for a cheap proposition. Especially considering that the regular version of Triple Wood retails for around $120 AUD on our shelves. But like the annual bottlings of Cask Strength 10-year old these Cairdeas bottlings are not officially imported to Australia by the national distributor, and they haven't been since at least 2015, so importing it yourself is essentially the only option. It's very tough for a Laphroaig fan to say no to something like this and then watch the bottling slip through your fingers, thanks to the fear of missing out and all that. For you peat-heads not in Australia that are not lumped with our truly horrible duty & excise rates, particularly for those in the United States which are usually - maybe even unfairly - treated to obscenely low pricing on high strength Laphroaigs, I hope you realise how lucky you are!

But that's enough aimless whingeing / yelling at clouds for this post. We have a cask strength Laphroaig to review! I was lucky enough to get a sample of this tasty number from Dan Woolley, Beam Suntory's National Whisky Ambassador for Australia, who recently just happened to get married among the casks in the famous No. 1 Warehouse at Laphroaig, a few days prior to working at the distillery during Feis Ile week. As you do!?! Congratulations to Dan & his lovely wife Billie, and many thanks for the sample. Let's get to it!

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019, Triple Wood Cask Strength. NAS, 59.5%. Islay, Scotland.
Vatting of 5-11 year old ex-bourbon casks, finished in 125-litre ex-bourbon quarter casks for approx. 7 months, then finished in 500-litre ex-Oloroso sherry casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 36,000 bottles.

Colour: Dark amber.

Nose: Rich, sweet like a dark toffee, and lightly salty. Toffee almonds, drying seaweed, baking spices and a nice dry minerality, like wave-washed volcanic rock. Warm brown sugar, maybe even treacle, and a little orange peel with a light, dry vegetal peat in the background. Extra breathing time brings out more orange and some sugary vanilla paste.

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, rich & syrupy. Warming but not harsh or hot, even at nearly 60%.

Taste: Dried fruits macerating in syrup, and there's lots of orange peel now. Some dry, ashy smoke, more drying seaweed, and some more dry spices - cinnamon and clove in particular, and a bit of aniseed behind. That treacle note is there, as is some dark chocolate.

Finish: Medium-long length. Warming with those spices, and that orange peel is even more evident here, in fact it's more of an orange zest now. There's more dark chocolate, but it's fruit & nut chocolate here with a few raisins & almonds mixed in. That dry mineral saltiness returns, with more aniseed and a puff of that dry vegetal peat.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Notes: A very rich & condensed whisky this, no question. There's plenty of flavour, but there's not a huge amount of Laphroaig's peaty or medicinal DNA showing itself. Very little, in fact. There is loads of orange and chocolate though, particularly on the palate and finish, and it's very drinkable for the (substantial) strength. It is recognisable as Triple Wood, but with almost everything dialled up to 10, particularly in the texture and richness departments. But I did say "almost everything", because the peat and smoke have been subdued and kept in the background. Which only goes to show the power of those sherry casks!

So despite being "only" a cask strength version of a regular expression, once again Laphroaig have brought a different whisky to the table for this year's Cairdeas. Which is entirely the point after all, and as we could've safely expected it's a very tasty one. Definitely one that fans of the distillery, and of richly flavoured whisky in general, will want to get their hands on. Despite the difficulty and expense required to do so in many parts of the world. Given the choice between this and 2017's cask strength Quarter Cask, personally I would probably go for the latter, but then I tend to prefer the regular Quarter Cask to the regular Triple Wood anyway, so that's not really a surprise and should be taken with a grain of salt.

As a bit of a footnote, some may want to know how it compares to the regular 48% ABV version of Triple Wood. Well, at least I did! Given the substantial difference in strength you'd expect the standard version to be relatively mild in comparison, and it definitely is. In fact when poured immediately after it's big brother it's actually very light and almost watery, which is not something that I'd normally say about almost any Laphroaig, and demonstrates just how rich and flavoursome this new Cairdeas release is. Now if they'd just hurry up and release this year's 10-year old Cask Strength, I could finally place my order...

Cheers!

Signatory Vintage Clynelish 21 Year Old Whisky Review!

Back after a few week's hiatus, with a cask strength Clynelish from Signatory's "Un-Chillfiltered Collection", bottled for The Whisky Exchange, fully-matured in a refill sherry cask!

I'm a fan of Clynelish's standard 14-year old bottling (reviewed here), and of the distillery's waxy & fruity character. It's not often seen in sherry casks though, so this independent bottling from Signatory Vintage promises to be very interesting. Signatory is based in Pitlochry, around 90 minutes' drive north of Edinburgh, on the same site as Edradour Distillery. Both are owned by Andrew Symington and his brother Brian, who started Signatory in 1988, and purchased Edradour from Pernod Ricard in 2002 before consolidating everything on the one site. Signatory celebrated their 30th anniversary last year with the release of a number of very old single cask bottlings, such as a 35-year old Port Ellen and a 50-year old Bunnahabhain, which although extremely expensive are beautifully presented and highly desirable.

Highland distillery Clynelish isn't often seen in official bottlings, like many of Diageo's large workhorse distilleries there are only two regularly available expressions, a 14-year old (reviewed here) and the Oloroso sherry-finished and surprisingly scarce Distiller's Edition. Both are bottled at 46% ABV, which Diageo should be commended for, but if you're chasing a higher strength version you'll either need to find one of the bottlings from Diageo's annual Special Releases, which in Clynelish's case tend to be non-age statement bottlings at substantial prices, or you'll need to look to the independent bottlers. Companies such as Gordon & MacPhail, Cadenheads and of course Signatory Vintage will often have cask strength Clynelish bottlings available, since the goal of any independent bottler should be to either showcase distilleries that don't often get the chance to shine on their own, or to showcase more common distilleries in different styles, whether by age, cask type or more natural presentation, or ideally a combination of the three. There are quite a few (relatively) new independent bottlers coming onto the market as well, but for various reasons some of their prices can border on the ridiculous, while the long-established companies mentioned above, among a few others, tend to keep things at a more reasonable level.

This bottling of Clynelish is a 21-year old single cask, exclusive to London's The Whisky Exchange, one of the largest physical and online specialist whisky stores in the world. Between their two locations in central London and their huge website they have a huge range of whisky, including a huge number of old & rare bottlings, and often a large range of exclusive bottlings, often of the single cask and cask strength variety. They tend to be of very good quality and generally sell at reasonable prices as well, but of course it's luck of the draw as to what will be available from the stores at any given time, and some bottlings sell out very quickly, although stock does tend to last longer in the physical stores than it does on the website. This Signatory bottling of Clynelish was hand-picked to mark the 2018 10th anniversary of The Whisky Show, an annual London whisky expo put on by The Whisky Exchange and parent company Speciality Drinks, who are also behind the Elements of Islay, Port Askaig and Single Malts of Scotland independent bottling labels. It was distilled in December 1996, matured in a single refill (presumably Oloroso) sherry cask, number #11390, and bottled in August 2018 at a cask strength of 52% ABV. Naturally (pun intended) it's non-chill filtered and naturally coloured, and 517 bottles were released, now completely sold out. The sample for this review came from a private swap with a generous fellow whisky geek. Tasting time!

Clynelish 21-year old, Signatory Vintage, 52%. Brora, Scotland.
Bottled for The Whisky Exchange / 10th Anniversary of The Whisky Show. Distilled 12/1996, bottled 8/2018, matured in refill sherry butt, cask #11390. 517 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Amber.

Nose: It does have that Clynelish waxy and floral fruit note, but there's also quite a lot of dry Eastern spices, a lot of orange peel and some woody cologne (aftershave). There's also some dried apricot and nectarine, plus a bit of peach, a little salt, and an interesting meaty fatty-ness, like some cold grease on last night's roast, or even lard. Very interesting!

Texture: Medium weight, oily, warming and spicy but not hot or harsh.

Taste: Spicy and quite mineral to start, warm wood spices with dark chocolate syrup / dessert sauce, more orange peel, and more dried apricot & peach. That waxy note that we all expect from Clynelish is there but it's surprisingly subtle, it's only in the background here. Some white pepper too behind that dried fruit & citrus.

Finish: Medium length. The white pepper continues, as does the stone fruit, and that greasy fatty-ness from the nose comes out in force here. That turns into a clean vegetable oil, plus some marzipan (sweetened almond paste) and a mouth-watering mineral salinity.

Score: 3.5 out of 5.

Notes: A very interesting, maybe even challenging, dram here! It's not what I expected really, there's more wood spice, more orange and certainly more fatty-ness, but it definitely works. There's quite a lot going on in this whisky, especially on the palate & finish, and it does take extra concentration to decipher. That greasy fatty note is particularly interesting, although it could well be an evolution of the Clynelish waxy character, since this is the oldest Clynelish that I've tasted to date. So, a tasty and interesting whisky as we can expect from The Whisky Exchange, and also Signatory Vintage, of course!

I still think Clynelish is one of the best examples of a Northern Highland malt, particularly when sampled at cask strength like this bottling, although I can't help but wonder if an ex-bourbon cask at this age and strength may have shown off that character a little better. Which means I now need to hunt down one of those! Although comparing a single cask whisky to another doesn't always work, they're totally unique, which is all part of the fun.

Cheers!