Old Master Spirits 1972 Armagnac Review!

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

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

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

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

Colour: Dark bronze. 

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Cheers!

Lady of the Glen Ledaig 10yo Whisky Review!

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

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

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

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

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

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

Colour: Pale amber. 

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

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

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

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

Score: 4 out of 5. 

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

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

Cheers!

Waterford Hook Head Irish Whisky Review!

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

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

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

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

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

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

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

Colour: Pale gold. 

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

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

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

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

Score: 3 out of 5. 

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

Cheers!

SMWS "Festival" Three-Way Whisky Review!

"Festival Three-Way" actually sounds a bit like an SMWS bottling label, doesn't it? But no, this is a three-for-one review of three different SMWS bottlings from their 2022 "Festival" releases. 

Why am I putting the word "Festival" in quotation marks? Well, because the concept is a bit of a stretch, in my anal-retentive / anorak opinion, and an unnecessary one at that. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, a.k.a. SMWS or "The Society" is an independent bottler, who sources casks and/or spirit from distilleries, brokers and other companies from around the world. To be fair, many other independent bottlers also release special bottlings for various whisky festivals, and they often host events during those festivals where they launch or at least feature these particular bottlings. For 2022 the SMWS has released six single malt whiskies as "Festival" bottlings, covering each of the official Scotch whisky production regions, while also doubling-up on Islay. They also departed from their standard operating procedure of (mainly) single cask bottlings by releasing all of these whiskies as vattings / batches of single malt, each consisting of 1,100-2,600 bottles. I have no issue with that myself, although some of the Society's more dyed-in-the-wool members might. Single cask releases are extremely variable since no two casks are ever exactly alike, and while that natural inconsistency forms a large part of the appeal of single cask independent bottlers like the SMWS. Releasing small batch bottlings / vattings of single malts instead gives their blenders a chance to work their magic, and when done well the result can become more than the sum of its parts. A cynic might think that those blenders have just thrown some casks together and hoped for the best, or even that some (or all) of those casks weren't up to the standard required for a single cask bottling. But that's not likely to be the case here given all of these SMWS "Festival" bottlings featured the same cask types, and all carried age statements. So it's more likely that they found / were offered larger parcels of casks from a broker or brokers, were able to play with some of them in the blending room, and then release them simultaneously around May/June 2022. 

The three SMWS bottlings that I'm reviewing here are from two different regions; the Highlands represented by an 18-year old Glen Garioch (a.k.a. distillery 19 in SMWS code), and Islay, represented by both a 17-year old Bowmore (a.k.a. distillery 3) and an 8-year old Caol Ila (a.k.a. distillery 53). All are cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour, and with age statements. Unfortunately these "Festival" bottlings don't have cask details printed on the labels like the rest of the SMWS range, but a quick google search remedies that - just like a quick google search remedies the code system that the Society uses! Speaking of which, for obvious reasons these small batch bottlings don't have cask / bottling codes like the single casks do, they only have the distillery code and their typically evocative SMWS names; in this case "Hazelnut Bubble Gum", "Fruity Time Travel", and "Throw The Cork Away!". There's also some rather abstract artwork in place of the usual tasting notes and cask information. Yes, I would've preferred the latter instead. Let's get this three-way underway! 

And my apologies for the whiskybase.com images. 

Glen Garioch, pronounced "Glen Geery" is a largely underrated distillery, particularly here in Australia where Beam Suntory's importer - a tiny little company called Coca Cola Amatil - chooses not to bring any into the country, at least on a regular basis. Just like they don't bring us any Laphroaig Cairdeas or Cask Strength 10-year old, or any age statement Ardmores, or any special release Bowmores... A few enterprising retailers do parallel import some Glen Garioch official bottlings, mainly of the core range, but if you're looking at a Glen Garioch single malt in Australia, it's probably an independent bottling. The distillery actually got some financial investment and media attention recently, both possibly for the first time in its 225-year history, when the floor maltings were reinstated and the wash still was converted back to direct-fire heating. Obviously it'll be at least a few years before we see any of the results in liquid form - if any make it to Australia at all - but it's still exciting to see. This SMWS Glen Garioch release for the 2022 "Festival" is an 18-year old, distilled in February 2003 and matured in first-fill ex-bourbon barrels, and dubbed "Hazelnut Bubblegum". Pricing for this one was around $270 AUD, which I wouldn't exactly call a bargain, but isn't terrible considering what this independent bottler and many others are now trying to charge for "sexier" distilleries at similar ages. 1,128 bottles were released at a cask strength of 55.6% ABV. 

Colour: Medium gold. 

Nose: Nutty, dry, minty & oily. Dry-roasted hazelnuts & almonds, new stone pavers, spearmint bubble gum & fresh grapefruit rind. Hints of clean earth and toasted oak. Time brings out strawberry & cream lollies (Allens), some dry wood spices and a flash of bitter dark chocolate. 

Texture: Medium weight, oily, dry & spicy. No heat at all. 

Taste: Dry-roasted nuts again, but adding a few peanuts this time. Touch of savoury honey and dried mint, unsweetened bubble gum. Fresh grapefruit rind around the edges. Clean malty oils and drying wood spices. 

Finish: Short length. More malty oils, wood spices, and dry-roasted nuts. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: This is actually the second time I've tried this whisky, and while my palate was definitely the worse for wear on the first occasion I also think it's opened up considerably since then. Never forget folks, breathing time, both in the bottle and in the glass, can have a huge effect on many whiskies! This is a lovely spirit-driven, dry & oily dram. It's not hugely complex, but it "does what it says on the tin" - Hazelnut Bubble Gum is definitely a fitting name. The nose is certainly the star of the show, and the palate doesn't disappoint, but the finish does. Unfortunately it just doesn't have the stamina or staying power that I would've liked. Hard to believe this whisky has spent 18-years in first-fill bourbon casks too, there's no vanilla, caramel or coconut to speak of, and it's very much spirit-led. But that's not a complaint by any means, merely an observation - whatever those casks did or didn't do, they've let the spirit shine through nicely. Official bottlings of Glen Garioch do tend to be quite wood- and/or cask-heavy, so this is a refreshing change of pace! 

Next up, Islay's Bowmore. This one is named "Fruity Time Travel", a 17-year old that was distilled in April 2004 and matured in second-fill ex-bourbon hogsheads. There have been a raft of 17-year old Bowmores released recently by almost every independent bottler in the industry, all from refill casks, which makes me think that either the distillery sold off a heap of casks, or a broker released a big 'parcel' of stock at once. That doesn't mean that they're not great casks or great bottlings of course, although they certainly aren't / weren't cheap, ranging from $350-500 AUD on these shores. This SMWS example was slightly more reasonably priced at $350, which is still a good chunk of money, but is just under what now seems to be the going rate for anything decent from this distillery. Bowmores tend to lean into their tropical fruit flavour profile around this age, particularly when matured in first- or second-fill bourbon casks, so once again the name of this SMWS bottling is quite fitting. As they often are, at least when the tasting panel hasn't had too much coffee - or too many drams - that day! This batch bottling consisted of 1,326 bottles at a cask strength of 57.0% ABV. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Medicinal, fruity & buttery. Tiger balm ointment, black pepper, old bandages & voltaren gel (topical gels for muscle pain). Mango skins, coal dust, cold burnt toast and a touch of sweet pineapple.

Texture: Medium weight. Buttery, medicinal, peppery. No heat at all. 

Taste: More juicy mango skins, melted salted butter on burnt toast, briny seawater and more old bandages. Coal dust, black pepper, and more voltaren gel. Touch of sweet & acidic juicy pineapple. 

Finish: Long length. More melted butter on burnt toast, black pepper, coal dust, and acidic pineapple juice (unsweetened this time). Mango skins, and a touch of guava. Medicinal ointments and briny seawater to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: Delicious medicinal, peaty, fruity Bowmore. There's a surprising amount of peat still kicking along here, and very little cask influence, letting the spirit do its thing. This would have to be the most medicinal Bowmore that I've tasted, and one of the saltiest / briniest too for that matter. Still expensive, yes, but great stuff. Official bottlings of Bowmore, please take note! Leave your spirit alone, present it properly - higher ABV, non-chill filtered and natural colour - and without a ridiculous marketing story, a stupid-looking decanter or some fancy wine cask finishing (or, god help us, virgin oak), and it can still be magnificent. Or for an easier option, just bring back the Tempest / Dorus Mor series...

And last but not least, the second Islay bottling in the bunch, the Caol Ila. While still not exactly a bargain, at $199 AUD this was one of the cheaper bottlings in the "Festival" line-up, and the equal-youngest at 8-years of age. It was also the only cask finished / secondary cask matured bottling of the six (although another was triple cask-matured), with initial maturation in ex-bourbon hogsheads before being transferred to first-fill American oak oloroso sherry hogsheads for "more than two years". In my experience Caol Ila in first-fill sherry casks is much better served as a shorter finish/secondary maturation rather than full-term maturation, which often overwhelms the spirit and can leave it almost entirely devoid of character. Which shouldn't be the case here! 2,677 bottles were released at 58.4% ABV.  

Colour: Amber. 

Nose: Dirty, deep & rubbery. Soy sauce, beef stock cubes, and bonfire smoke. A big pile of drying kelp and salt-laden driftwood. Fatty bacon, cigar ash, salted caramel fudge. Spicy peat further in, and a touch of ginger. 

Texture: Heavy weight. Dirty, salty & pungent. No heat at all. 

Taste: More soy sauce & beef stock cubes, fried mushrooms, salted caramel fudge, and dried seaweed with extra salt. A little rubber (bicycle inner tubes) and fatty, oily bacon. Salted dried lemon behind. 

Finish: Long length. More salted caramel fudge, seaweed, black olives, and a touch of yeasty bread. Black pepper, bacon rind, and salted dried lemon. Dirty bonfire smoke to finish. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. Only just over the line, though. 

Notes: Right on the border of the sherry casks overwhelming the spirit in my amateur opinion, and approaching the line of being a little too dirty, at least for my tastes. Mega salty too, and quite funky. Sherry influenced Caol Ila is often dirty, but I can see this one being quite divisive. At times this one feels slightly too youthful, but then perfectly mature at others, and I wouldn't have wanted any more input from the sherry casks. I don't mind a dirty, funky Caol Ila at all, but I'm not sure I'd be throwing the cork away here. In my book this is more of a final dram to finish a night or to close a session. There'll be plenty who disagree with me there, though!

Overall Notes: Three totally different whiskies, of course, and even the two Islays are worlds apart. I can see why they chose to include both in their "Festival" release line-up. The Bowmore is a clear winner from these three examples if you ask me, and it's a great example of what the distillery / spirit can do when it's left alone, and when it's properly presented. If only the distillery owners would realise that... Oh well, at least we have the independent bottlers to save the day!

Cheers!

Old Master Spirits 1982 Armagnac Review!

Another non-malt first for Peated Perfection, once again courtesy of Old Master Spirits: My first Armagnac review! This isn't just any armagnac though, in typical Old Master fashion this is a 39-year old single cask. These guys don't do things by halves! 

Armagnac is often thought of as cognac's poorer cousin, which is an unfair and very incorrect assessment. Just as cognac is a type of white wine-derived brandy from the Cognac region (AOC/DOC) of south-western France, armagnac is a white wine-derived brandy from the Armagnac region of southern France. To think of armagnac as being inferior to cognac would be like thinking every single malt Scotch whisky is better than any other single malt whisky; it's just not the case, and blanket statements & misconceptions like that only serve to give you tunnel vision. Cognac is certainly the "sexier" of the two cousins though, largely thanks to the marketing efforts of the big cognac brands. It's not my preferred music genre by any means, but I can't say I've heard any rap lyrics bragging about an expensive armagnac, or seen any armagnac brands being thrown about in their videos. But then I can only name one armagnac brand off the top of my head. Marketing is a funny thing! Armagnac is often cheaper than an equivalent cognac, which might benefit the discerning drinker, but doesn't help its comparative image as far as glamour and "luxury" goes. Much like cognac, armagnac is split into different production regions within the area of the AOC, with Bas Armagnac being the largest and most commonly seen. Haut Armagnac and Armagnac Tenareze are the other two official appellations, both of which are considerably smaller and rarely seen in comparison. "Bas" is pronounced "Baz" and translates to "low" in English, but that only refers to a lower altitude above sea level and certainly not quality. "Haut" is pronounced "Ugh" and translates to "high" for the same reason, and "Tenareze" region is believed to be derived from "Route of Caesar", as in the Roman Emperor.     

Aside from geography, the main difference between these two brandies lies in the distillation, where cognac must be double-distilled in copper pot stills by law, armagnac is typically produced in a column still - although as you can see from the image below, they're a far cry from the massive industrial column stills that we know from the world of grain whisky and other mass-produced spirits. These rustic copper stills are known as 'Alambic Armagnacais', where a dry acidic white wine is continuously fed into the still for distillation, but on its way down it also serves as the cooling liquid to condense the spirit vapours back into liquid as they leave the column - as with cognac, this happens in a tightly-packed worm tub condenser rather than a modern shell & tube design. A single distillation run in these short columns with a small number of plates (typically less than ten) produces a far less refined spirit than a modern column still, and results in a much lower spirit strength, often just 50-60% ABV. While pot stills are also legally permitted for armagnac production, their use is very uncommon and is considered untraditional. Aside from the distillation, armagnac also uses some (but not all) different grape varieties to cognac, most commonly the ugni blanc and baco varieties, while like cognac maturation happens in French oak, but matured spirit is often transferred to glass demijohns for storage, which is considered part of the maturation and can be (but is not always) included in any age statements. Also like cognac, armagnac producers are permitted to add caramel colouring, sugar, and 'boise', the liquid wood extract which adds colour and flavour to the spirit. Thankfully the latter two are used less often in armagnac than in cognac, but it does still happen with some mainstream brands. Also much like cognac, the vast majority of armagnac is blended together using spirits from different distilleries / houses, although single vintage bottlings are more common in armagnac, with any age statement referring to the youngest component in the spirit. 

Much like the two cognacs I reviewed here, this independent bottling from Melbourne's Old Master Spirits is a single cask, single producer armagnac, bottled at cask strength and without chill filtration, and without any added colouring, sugar, or flavouring. This is a 39-year old Bas Armagnac from Chateau Bordeneuve, who label their official bottlings as Baron de Sigognac, named after one of their prolific cellar masters. This 'Armagnac House' is privately owned by the Gausch family, and dates back to the 1800s. They only produce Bas Armagnac, and every step of the production process happens on site, from harvesting the grapes - primarily ugni blanc and baco varieties, grown on site - to pressing, fermentation, distillation, maturation and bottling. Speaking of maturation, Baron de Sigognac only use French Limousin oak casks, mostly refill but also including some virgin oak, which are matured in a stone-walled, earthen-floored cellar dating back to 1840. This single cask bottling of Bas Armagnac was distilled in 1982 from 65% baco, 25% ugni blanc, and 10% folle blanche grapes, and has been matured in French oak for the full 39-years. The cask yielded 122 x 500ml bottles at a cask strength of 47.6% ABV, and it'll be released on Old Master Spirits' website on Thursday the 25th of August (2022). Pricing is extremely reasonable for a 39-year old single cask spirit at just $249 AUD - imagine what that figure would look like if this was a 39-year old single malt! Let's see how it fares.  

Colour: Dark bronze. 

Nose: Rich, weighty & dense. Warm wood spices, juicy sweet oak, sweet floral spirit around the edges. Sweet orange, lightly acidic. Soft old leather and fruit & nut chocolate further in. 

Texture: Medium weight. Sweet, spicy & nicely oaky. No heat whatsoever. 

Taste: Juicy sweet oak, touch of bubble gum, warm wood spices. Sweet grape syrup, more soft old leather & sweet orange. 

Finish: Medium length. Wood spices, dark chocolate, old leather & toasted oak. 

Score: 4 out of 5 (bearing in mind my limited armagnac experience). 

Notes: Dessert in a glass. Lovely stuff! Not a huge amount of complexity maybe, but what it does it does extremely well, and it's ridiculously easy drinking without being overly woody - this armagnac has spent 39-years in French oak, remember! By far the best armagnac I've tasted to date, and I have come across quite a few - more than I have cognac, so far at least. This Bas-armagnac proves, again, that Old Master Spirits really know what they're doing. They're waiting for the right cask of the right spirit to come along when it's ready, without any commercial pressures or greedy shareholders pushing them in any direction. And they clearly have some great connections. They're all about quality spirits and reasonable pricing, and it seems to be working wonders for them! 

This is definitely one to look at for if you're a brandy and/or cognac/armagnac fan, and it won't last long with only 122 bottles at $249 AUD. For a great quality 39-year old single cask spirit of any description, that's some serious value for money!

But that's not all folks. We have another 'malternative' for dessert. An Australian rum! This is a single cask dark rum, distilled at Black Gate Distillery in Mendooran, New South Wales, and again bottled by Old Master Spirits. This is a sugar cane molasses rum, double-distilled in Black Gate's direct-fired copper pot still (pictured below) and aged for three years in a single French oak ex-shiraz wine cask, sourced from Huntington Estate Wines in Mudgee, New South Wales. Just 84 bottles were available, priced at only $115 AUD, and I've said "were", because they sold out in less than an hour a few weeks ago. So you probably won't be able to buy this one! I'm not going to score this rum since it's my first semi-official rum review, and it's already sold out regardless, but I was very curious to try it, and I had to share the results!

Colour: Copper. 

Nose: Dark, rich & heavy. The molasses is there, and there's a big dollop of "rum funk" - acetone, oil paints, over-ripe banana. But there's a lovely rich caramel fudge too, and it's quite fruity underneath with plums, sweet apricots in honey, some artificial strawberry syrup and oily furniture polish. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Rich, funky & fruity. Very slight touch of heat. 

Taste: Mint, dried plum, black tea leaves, caramello koalas (caramel milk chocolate) and some eucalyptus. The over-ripe banana and solventy "funk" are these again, but they're more in the background here. 

Finish: Medium length. Leather, over-ripe banana, mint and more caramel milk chocolate. Touch of that oily paint and a little burnt toffee to round things out.

Notes: Certainly a funky rum, with a good whack of "Australian-ness" to it, but in a good way. I'm far from an expert on the subject, but I'd say this Black Gate rum from Old Master Spirits is skirting the line between a funky Jamaican rum and an Australian dark rum, plus the added fruit from the wine cask. And it does work well! As I said above, I'm not a huge rum fan personally, the molasses sometimes gives me flashbacks to a darker and rougher (in terms of drink!), pre-whisky era of my life, and a faint whiff of one particular brand is often enough to send me running for the hills. I've only come across a few rums that I've enjoyed in the last ten years or so, mainly of the Caribbean variety - one SMWS Caroni, one Master Blender's Reserve blend from Black Tot, and a Havana Club special release that was matured in ex-Bowmore sherry casks - so that last one probably doesn't count! 

Black Gate's spirits are intentionally "rough around the edges" in terms of character, probably a result of the hot climate maturation and also the direct-fired still, which gives them plenty of substance, both in texture and in character. Young, rich and powerful, and packing a flavour punch, and this rum is no different. It's been rounded nicely by that wine cask maturation though, even after a relatively short period of time, giving it an extra fruity edge without taking over completely. This is certainly an Australian whisky drinker's rum, and a funky one at that!

Thanks to Deni from Old Master Spirits for the samples for these reviews, and for his open & professional communication once again! Be sure to sign up to the mailing list on their site for the launch of the armagnac and future releases.  

Cheers!

Ardbeg Ardcore Committee Release Whisky Review!

Heavily roasted / chocolate malt in an Ardbeg? Consider my curiosity piqued. Although the official tasting note / marketing snippet from Dr. Bill Lumsden, "like biting a spiky ball", which is not exactly tantalising!

As much as I still love the distillery, Ardbeg's special releases have always been hit & miss. Actually, let's say they've always been a rollercoaster ride. To be fair, for a long time the highs were quite high with the likes of Ardbog, Dark Cove CR, Grooves CR , while the lows like Auriverdes, Kelpie and Drum weren't really that low in the wider whisky world scheme of things. But since those earlier days the waters have been muddied by the regular addition of more & more special releases in addition to the "Day" / Feis Ile bottlings, and the pricing on those has sky-rocketed in comparison. Take Arrrdbeg and the recent Fermutation for example, which were both lacklustre whiskies with greedy price tags. Then the distillery redeemed itself with the 8-year old "For Discussion", which was both great quality and great value for money, and is still readily available. On the other hand we've seen three batches of the 19-year old Traigh Bhan hit the shelves, where while the quality is great the local pricing has increased by $100 AUD each time, for an identical specification - the third batch is now $500! Like I said, a rollercoaster ride. For the distillery's relatively small output of around 1.25-million litres of spirit per year - although that recently climbed to over 2.4-million litres with the new still house - and considering the constant & significant demand for the core range offerings in the 10-year old, Uigeadail and Corryvreckan, Ardbeg does manage to release a huge amount of different limited releases. And most don't seem to be very "limited". Let's not forget that they continue to release two different versions of their Feis Ile / Ardbeg Day releases every year, and have done since 2015, with the higher strength un-packaged & modestly labelled Committee Release soon followed by larger amounts of the 46% ABV standard version with its more elaborate labelling & packaging. In Australia at least, the stock of both does seem to be hanging around longer & longer with each year that ticks over. I can't say if that's down to larger amounts of bottles in the releases or just a larger local allocation of stock, but I suspect it's also because many whisky enthusiasts have a bit of Ardbeg fatigue these days. Then again, any losses there have probably been taken up by the increased number of flippers, speculators & investors that the pandemic has spawned, and Ardbeg is always near the top of their lists!

Personally, I'm still falling victim to some of these releases, so I can't knock the distillery team for doing their jobs well. The production seem to find/design a unique selling point each time that is both appealing to the long-term Ardbeg fans and the novices, and even some of the cynics. The distillery's corporate marketing team then run wild after taking their daily dose of LSD, resulting in stories about sea monsters, hippies, dragons, and punks, and other totally unnecessary crap that has nothing to do with the whisky itself. The real USP with these Ardbegs is usually just a case of throwing some different casks in the vatting, or occasionally they play with the spirit itself instead. With this 2022 Ardbeg Day release "Ardcore", they've played with the spirit again, but this time with the barley itself. I'm sure most of us are familiar with Glenmorangie's very successful Signet expression, which uses roasted malt a.k.a "chocolate malt" as an unknown portion of its mash bill. That roasted malt is similar to what a brewer would use to make a porter or a stout, and it gives Signet chocolate & coffee flavours in the spirit itself. Glenmorangie is Ardbeg's sister distillery, with the same "mad scientist" Dr. Bill Lumsden overlooking "whisky creation" at both sites, so it was almost inevitable that Ardbeg would do something similar one day. And that's essentially what we have here, an Ardbeg that was "created with roasted black malt", which is even more heavily roasted than the chocolate malt used in Signet. Much like Signet, we don't officially know exactly how much of the malted barley was roasted - although according to Distillery Manager Colin Gordon via YouTube, that proportion was 25%. It's virtually impossible to use 100% heavily roasted malt in a mash bill since it creates problems with milling and mashing, and particularly with fermentation - after being kilned the black malt is extremely dry, and there's much less fermentable sugar available for the yeast to feast on, so it has to be mixed in with regular malted barley for the sake of proper fermentation and a decent yield. Also according to Colin Gordon the remaining 75% of the malted barley used in Ardcore had a lower peating level than Ardbeg's standard 55 ppm specification, and I'm only speculating here, but that could also mean that it didn't come from Ardbeg's usual source, Port Ellen Maltings. 

As is often the case with these limited release Ardbegs, we don't know what type of cask/s Ardcore was matured in, or how long it has been left to mature in those casks. Presumably it's all ex-bourbon casks, and I suspect most (if not all) of those were refill. I also suspect it's quite a young whisky, based on smell & taste, and also the colour, which is paler than the 10. I'm guessing we're looking at less than 8-years here. And maybe that's why Ardcore is being described as "the most hardcore Ardbeg ever". We're looking at the Committee Release version of Ardcore here, which was bottled at 50.1% (but not cask strength), is non-chill filtered and natural colour. Local pricing on the Committee Release was reasonable at $225 AUD, while the standard version at 46% is less reasonable at around $230 AUD - and it's still readily available. Let's find out just how spiky this ball is!

Ardbeg Ardcore Committee Release, NAS, 50.1%. Islay, Scotland.

Ardbeg Day release 2022. Distilled from 25% heavily roasted black malt, 75% malt peated to less than Ardbeg's usual 55 ppm. Unknown cask type/s but presumably refill ex-bourbon. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Very pale gold. White wine. 

Nose: Definitely very young, sweet and quite raw. Settles & opens up with extra breathing time, but it's still very young & raw. Dark cocoa powder, new plastic tupperware, milky caramel espresso (i.e. with a shot of caramel syrup added), glue, aniseed & charcoal briquettes. Burnt rubber, hot tar, new bandaids & hot smoky peanut oil. Some green banana, smoked pear and lemon rind around the edges.   

Texture: Light-medium weight. Oily & juicy entry but it thins out & fades very quickly. A slight heat but not harsh, and fades quickly. 

Taste: More caramel espresso, but no milk this time. Charcoal & tar again, plastic, new rubber and a touch of aniseed. Soot & ash, smoked pear, and a touch of salted bitter lemon. Hot smoky peanut oil and a touch of toffee stout in the background. 

Finish: Short length. Aniseed & caramel espresso, but with milk again this time. Turns creamy with a little vanilla, unripe pineapple, rubber pencil eraser and hot peanut oil. Tar, bitter charcoal & lemon rind. 

Score: 3 out of 5, but not miles away from a 3.5. 

Notes: So we haven't been entirely punked with the Ardcore Committee Release, but it was close. Thankfully it did open up with extra breathing time, but there are definitely shades of the very lacklustre Wee Beastie here. That plasticky sweetness and the pear notes seem to show the youth and immaturity, which are also present in that 5-year old example. Thankfully Ardcore does have more character than Wee Beastie, but I don't think it's much older. I understand why Ardbeg would want to fill this into mostly (if not all) refill bourbon casks and to bottle it young, since they want that black malt to show through as much as possible, which means keeping the spirit front & centre in the finished product. Personally I would've preferred a few slightly older first fill bourbon casks be thrown into the mix, which would've helped give it some more weight & depth, and a longer finish, in my amateur opinion. Even if they were casks of "regular" Ardbeg mixed in with the 25% black malt spirit. That used to be the standard procedure with these special releases, they'd be vattings of "regular" bourbon cask Ardbeg married with whatever cask that year's point of difference was. But the distillery seems to have moved away from that practice now, even giving us a cask finish at one point (Ardbeg Drum) - which has historically never been the case with Ardbeg, they were always marriages / vattings of separately matured casks, even in the core range.

Still, Ardcore Committee Release is a pleasant experience, more so than Wee Beastie if you ask me, and that black malt does show through with the extra caramel, aniseed & rubber notes. There's certainly a noticeably lower peat influence compared to regular Ardbeg, which makes sense given the lower peating level of the malt used for the 75% peated malt, in addition to the 25% unpeated black malt in the mash bill. It's certainly not my favourite Ardbeg Day / Feis bottling, and as usual, the biggest enemy of any limited release Ardbeg is the Ardbeg core range. That's fine at the original retail pricing on the committee release since they're aren't too far apart, but I wouldn't be paying more than that on the secondary market given the difference in quality. Despite the swings in quality & flavour over the years, Uigeadail and Corryvreckan are still forces to be reckoned with when you need an Ardbeg fix. And frankly I'd take a dram of either of them, or the 10-year old, over this Ardcore. 

Cheers!

Bunnahabhain 12 Cask Strength (2021) Whisky Review!

Bunnahabhain has finally brought us a cask strength version of their core range 12-year old, which suddenly appeared soon after ex-Ardbeg/Glenmorangie Brendan McCarron joined the team as Head Distiller. And now it's landed down under! But that's not all, folks. This is a 2-for-1 review!

First, a confession: I've never been a huge fan of the standard Bunnahabhain 12-year old. Yes it's decent value for money, and it does typify the distillery's character, but there are many other whiskies at the same price point that I'd choose ahead of it. As much as I love the drier, gingery, nutty style of unpeated Bunnahabhain, the 12-year old has always seemed a little austere, and rough around the edges. I'm not saying I'd turn down a dram if you're buying, but I don't find myself wishing that I had a bottle on the shelf - possibly because there's always another Bunnahabhain there to satisfy the craving. But despite that, any cask strength version of a distillery's core range bottling is going to pique my curiosity, and this is no exception. Supposedly this is going to be an annual release, with this first 2021 edition hitting the European shelves late last year and arriving in Australia around May this year. Local pricing is not unreasonable at around $165 AUD, or around $50 above than the standard version at 46.3% ABV, and from my external perspective the stock does seem to be selling quickly - I'm a bit late to the party with this review, but hopefully there's still some around. Both versions of the 12-year old are fully matured in ex-sherry casks, although in my opinion the vast majority if not the entirety would be refill, which is very much the standard operating procedure at Bunnahabhain since it suits their spirit style very nicely. 

I wish more distilleries would release cask strength versions of their core range products. Some do this on a sporadic basis, but most don't bother at all, or they only give us a younger NAS cask strength bottling instead. Let's imagine a readily-available cask strength version of Ardbeg 10, Glendronach 18, Lagavulin 16, or Talisker 10. Yes they'd obviously be significantly more expensive than the standard versions, but if these hypothetical whiskies were presented properly like this Bunnahabhain is, i.e. they were natural cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour (looking at the hypothetical Diageo two there), I suspect they'd be fantastic. Why don't these imaginary beasts already exist? Probably because the increased pressure on maturing stocks would hurt the availability of the standard versions, and sales would go backwards as a result. Any company would be very hesitant to take that risk with such a large chunk of their balance sheets, particularly the larger corporations with their return-hungry shareholders. But it's also possibly because the distillery and/or their parent company doesn't have the flexibility in their bottling halls to be fiscally practical, or perhaps the whiskies' flavour profiles don't quite work at cask strength without significant alterations to the blends/vattings, also requiring increased costs. None of those possible roadblocks have stopped Bunnahabhain though, and it shows that owners Distell are listening to the market and also listening to their staff, and are giving us whisky nerds exactly what we want!

There are a couple of points of difference with Bunnahabhain over those distilleries targeted above. This is a lesser-known distillery with less demand on its core range product than those hypothetical examples that I mentioned, and therefore there's less risk on Distell's part. On the other hand this whisky is probably going to win over plenty of new customers who have otherwise overlooked the distillery's official offerings in favour of a readily-available alternative. And by that I mean, the independent bottlers. Bunnahabhain's large annual output of 2.5-million litres of spirit, with roughly 80% of that being unpeated and 20% being peated, is much more than they currently need for their own bottlings, including the sizeable chunk that goes into their blended whiskies like Black Bottle. So they also sell a large amount of spirit and casks to independent bottlers, and aside from perhaps Caol Ila this is probably the easiest Islay single malt to find in an independent bottling. They're generally in unpeated sherry cask-matured form, are often bottled at cask strength, and they're regularly released by just about every independent bottler of Scotch whisky on the market. And that's obviously not the case with any of those hypothetical other examples that I mentioned above. So, this situation presents something of a challenge for this cask strength official bottling of Bunnahabhain; it essentially has to compete with a plethora of cask strength independent bottlings of Bunnahabhain! Yes, this is a cask strength (55.1%), non-chill filtered and natural colour limited release that is fully matured in sherry casks, but so are many of those independent bottlings. Let's see how it fares, shall we? 

Bunnahabhain 12-year old Cask Strength (2021), 55.1%. Islay, Scotland.

Unpeated, fully matured in sherry casks (presumably mostly refill). Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Amber. 

Nose: Very Bunnahabhain, immediately familiar. Ginger cake (think softer gingerbread, not hard biscuits), salted roasted nuts (walnut & almond in particular), and dried stone fruit. Black cherry jam, orange rind and a touch of treacle. Cocoa nibs (bitter dark chocolate), raisins and soft leather further in. 

Texture: Medium weight. Rich & spicy, dry & nutty. Slight heat but very pleasant. 

Taste: More ginger cake, treacle toffee, black pepper, salted roasted nuts & cocoa nibs - headed towards cocoa powder here actually. More black cherry jam, soft leather & dried fruit - prunes, figs, nectarine, and bitter orange.   

Finish: Short-medium length. Salted walnut & almond again, more ginger cake and a touch of vanilla cake batter. Raisins soaked in spiced syrup (cinnamon & clove) and a slight touch of black pepper. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Black forest cake with handfuls of ginger & salted nuts thrown in. As you'd expect, this really is the standard 12-year old with the volume turned up a few notches. But I find this cask strength version more drinkable than the 46%-er that it was based on, and I'd also say it's more rounded, less spicy & peppery, and maybe a little more "sherried". But it's not a sherry bomb or cask-led whisky at all, there's loads of distillery character on show, and it has just about everything you would expect and could want in a refill sherry cask Bunnahabhain. It may not have the "wow factor" of some of the independent bottlings that it'll inevitably be compared to, but that's to be expected for a cask strength version of the distillery's core range / flagship bottling. This is a solid showing that will easily beat the standard 12-year old any day of the week, and at a reasonable price as well. Certainly worth trying & buying if you're a Bunnahabhain fan - and who isn't? 

Now for Part 2! No, we're not throwing an independent bottling into the ring as you might expect for comparison, this is another cask strength official bottling, but a slightly more limited release of 14,000 bottles... this is Bunnahabhain 'Aonadh', which is pronounced "Oon-ock". They do love their unpronounceable Gaelic names at Bunnahabhain! The word means "union" in this case. This is a 10-year old unpeated Bunna', distilled in 2011, and it's a marriage of fully-matured sherry casks - again, presumably mostly refill sherry - and some port cask finished Bunnahabhain, bottled at a cask strength of 56.2%. I can't say I've tried a port influenced Bunnahabhain before, and I'm guessing we'll be looking at a sweeter, richer, spicier style, although we don't know how many port casks were included in the vatting. This one is also still available at the time of writing, obviously at a higher price than the 12. 

Bunnahabhain Aonadh, 10-year old, 56.2%. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 2011, vatting of port cask finish and sherry cask full maturation. 14,000 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Copper. 

Nose: Fuller, slightly richer & slightly sweeter. Ginger syrup, black pepper, and honey-roasted nuts. Stewed rather than dried fruit in this one, with sultanas, currants, and plums. Spiced syrup with cinnamon, nutmeg & some sage - think mulled wine without the wine!

Texture: Medium-heavy weight, rich, thick & spicy. But there's also a definite heat and a little harshness.

Taste: Ginger syrup, figs & dates, raisins & currants. Thick butter caramel & honey-roasted nuts, with some spicy oak. That spiced syrup & leafy sage from the nose again, plus a big pinch of black pepper. 

Finish: Medium-long length. Stewed fruit & spiced syrup carry through, as does the ginger and thick caramel. Slight roughness & spirit-y heat running underneath. Black pepper, a touch of black olive, and some yeasty sourdough starter around the edges. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: It's a little rougher and less rounded than the 12 Cask Strength, and it feels a little hurried and a little muddled in comparison. Which is not what I expected to find in Aonadh, particularly based on the nose. There's still a good dose of distillery character on show, but I feel it's been muted & muddled by those port casks being added into the vatting. I suppose the idea was to add some extra richness and some extra sweetness, but adding more first-fill sherry casks could've done that too, or maybe some PX, both of which are well proven to work with the Bunnahabhain spirit. While it's not really fair to compare pricing on this limited release to the cask strength 12-year old, Aonadh is also another $60 AUD, or nearly 30% more, over the 12, and that doesn't add up in my book. It's a close call between the two on the nose, and Aonadh does have more length on the finish, but that's about it. These two cask strength Bunnahabhains are much further apart than I expected, and I know where my money would be going! 

Cheers!