Cadenhead's Kilkerran 11 Year Old Single Cask Whisky Review!

A cask strength single cask independent bottling of Kilkerran from Cadenhead's 'Authentic Collection'. When is an independent bottling not an independent bottling? Well, when the whisky is great, does it matter?

Both Cadenhead's and Glengyle Distillery (producing Kilkerran whisky) are owned by Campbeltown's J&A Mitchell, which makes this one of those rare occasions where both the distillery and the independent bottler are part of the same company. Is this still an independent bottling, then? Technically I'd say no, but it really doesn't matter. Plenty of independent bottlers own their own distilleries these days, such as Gordon & MacPhail with Benromach and Adelphi with Ardnamurchan, and both of those examples do also bottle their distilleries' single malt under their independent bottling labels. In this case Cadenhead's are allocated just one cask of each of J&A Mitchell's four single malt brands; Kilkerran, Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow, per year. Most are bottled as part of the 'Authentic Collection' which is the series of single cask bottlings that are exclusive to the Cadenhead's stores, particularly the flagship store in Campbeltown, down the road from Springbank and Glengyle Distilleries. In fact most of these bottlings are pre-sold to Cadenhead's VIP customers before they're even officially released, but that's another story! I've only been lucky enough to visit Campbeltown once, back in 2018, so I obviously didn't purchase this 2021-bottling from said shop. It was an auction purchase, and while not exactly cheap - around $270 AUD once DHL and Australian Customs had had their way with me - it's not unreasonable considering the rarity of such a thing. Is it worth the extra ~$100 over the 8-year old Cask Strength official bottlings (OBs) here in Australia? That's a tough question. But it's different to those, and it's also delicious, which is the main criteria. 

I'm sure Kilkerran single malt needs no introduction if you're reading this review, but that may change when it comes time to talk about Glengyle Distillery. The "newest" of the three operating distilleries in Campbeltown when it opened back in 2004, this was the first "new" Campbeltown distillery to be built in over 130 years. Note the quotation marks in that sentence though, which has nothing to do with the three new Campbeltown distilleries that are in the planning stages. I've used quotation marks there because Glengyle Distillery was actually reopened after a hiatus of nearly 80-years, on the same site as the original which ran from 1872-1925. Having housed a number of different business ventures during that slumber - it was even a rifle range at one point - and having since fallen into disrepair, it took nearly 4-years after the site was purchased to get the distillery up & running. Going even further, the current owner of J&A Mitchell, Mr. Hedley Wright, is the great-nephew of the founder of Glengyle Distillery, William Mitchell, who along with his brother John had purchased Springbank Distillery in 1837. 35-years later the two brothers had a falling out which resulted in John purchasing his brother's share of Springbank, and William founding Glengyle Distillery just a few hundred metres down the round. 

So the big question is, why isn't Glengyle Distillery's whisky brand named after the distillery? That's because the Glengyle brand was owned by another company whose asking price was too high, so J&A Mitchell decided to go with a regional brand name instead. The original settlement at Campbeltown was named "Kinloch Kilkerran" in Gaelic, which roughly translates to "Head of the Loch by the Church of Saint Ciaran" in English. Glengyle is a more modern & more conventional distillery than its older brother Springbank, with only two stills that are heated by internal steam coils and are fitted with shell & tube condensers. Aside from a few experimental distillation runs, Kilkerran single malts are "only" double distilled, and the majority of spirit production - which is a tiny amount - uses lightly peated malt that is floor-malted down the road at Springbank. The exception there is Kilkerran Heavily Peated, which now uses commercially malted barley sourced from Inverness shire. There have also been some experimental triple distilled releases, mostly bottled for the Campbeltown Festival / Kilkerran Open Day, but it's unlikely they'll ever be permanent given the distillery's tiny output and the reduced yield that comes with triple distillation. 

The Cadenhead's bottling of Kilkerran single malt that we're looking at today is an 11-year old single cask that was distilled in 2009, was fully matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, and was bottled in early 2021 at a cask strength of 56.5% ABV. As with all J&A Mitchell-owned single malts it's non-chill filtered and natural colour. I'm a massive fan of ex-bourbon cask Campbeltown whisky regardless of distillery, and a 100% ex-bourbon cask Kilkerran isn't as easy to find as you might expect. The 12-year old, 16-year old, and Heavily Peated all contain some sherry casks to varying degrees, so the only (relatively) readily-available example would be the recent 8-year old Cask Strength 2023 release that is yet to arrive in Australia. The first three or four batches of 8-year old Cask Strength Kilkerran (bottled late 2018 and earlier) were ex-bourbon though, and they were fantastic. Let's see how this older example fares!

Cadenhead's Kilkerran 11-year old, 56.5%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Cadenhead's 'Authentic Collection'. Lightly peated, distilled 2009, matured in a single ex-bourbon barrel, bottled 2021. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Pale gold. 

Nose: Lovely. Waxy, mineral, acidic. Fresh candle wax, hessian sacking cloth (i.e. bung cloth), warm waffle cones without the ice cream. Freshly squeezed pineapple juice (the real stuff), touches of lightly burnt honeycomb / cinder toffee, salted fatty cured meats, and dry seashells. Dried mango skins, candied lemon peel & packed earth barn floors (with straw covering) with more time, plus a puff of ashy peat smoke.

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, waxy, sweeter than the nose but still quite acidic. No heat. 

Taste: More lightly burnt honeycomb / cinder toffee, fresh candle wax, and that acidic pineapple juice. A nice light helping of dry ashy peat smoke now. Slight flash of rich vanilla bean custard (think creme brulee). Packed earth barn floors with straw covering again, candied lemon peel, and sweetened malt biscuits. Dry seashells and clean machine oils heading into the finish.

Finish: Medium length. More malt biscuits & freshly squeezed pineapple juice, candle wax, melted salted butter. Touches of white pepper & bitter woody herbs. Flashes of vanilla bean custard again but fleeting. More dry seashells and hessian cloth / sacking towards the end. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Very close to a 4.5, though. 

Notes: Right in my wheelhouse, this one. Absolutely love this style of whisky; oily, mineral/maritime, acidic & malty in equal measures. Ex-bourbon cask Campbeltown malts seem to excel at this profile, and I can't get enough of it. Take the recent 55.9% ex-bourbon Springbank 12 Cask Strength for example, and also the excellent Talisker 8-year old from 2018 - albeit with more sweetness and more wood influence in that example. It's worth noting that I've had this bottle open for nearly just over 6-months now, and it's become slightly smokier, more acidic and a little drier over that time. The green fruitiness (melon rind, as I recall) and vanilla that were there have receded substantially, but it's still dynamic, even after that time open this Kilkerran can't sit still. It's still changing in the glass, even after the usual 10-minute resting period after pouring. Which is a wonderful thing!

I'd say this 11-year old Cadenhead's bottling is noticeably less cask-forward than those ex-bourbon official Kilkerran 8-year old releases from a few years ago. While I wouldn't exactly call those cask driven and while I love both styles, this 11-year old feels more on the oxidative and interactive side of maturation rather than the additive side. More spirit driven, maybe a little more divisive. And just as delicious!

Cheers!

Bruichladdich Regeneration Project Whisky Review!

Bruichladdich's first single grain whisky, Islay's first single grain whisky since the term came into existence, and the first Scotch whisky to include Islay-grown rye. This should be interesting!

I've seen plenty of confusion about the term "single grain" out there in the whisky world, even recently from a certain beloved YouTube reviewer, and I've gotten into plenty of online arguments about the Scotch whisky definitions in general. So let's clear it up right now! Many seem to misinterpret the term as defining a whisky that is made from one variety of grain, which is wildly incorrect. Just like the term "single malt" does not mean one type of malted barley and actually means malt whisky made at one single distillery, "single grain" does not mean one type of grain, it means grain whisky that was produced at one single distillery. The word "single" only refers to the whisky being made entirely at one "single" distillery. In Scotch whisky, anything that does not meet the definition of a single malt - which can only be made from 100% malted barley and must be distilled in pot stills - or a blended whisky that is a blend of whisky from different distilleries - whether a blended malt whisky, a blended grain whisky, or a blend of malt & grain whisky - can only be a single grain whisky. It may help to think of these Scotch whisky definitions as being a process of elimination. Does it meet the criteria for a single malt Scotch whisky? No. OK, is it a blend of Scotch whisky from different distilleries? No. Well then it's a single grain Scotch whisky. At present there is no other legally recognised category in Scotch whisky, and to go outside these categories would mean you could not label your product as Scotch whisky or even as whisky, since Scotch whisky is the only whisky that can be made in Scotland. If you're unsure, have a read of the Scotch Whisky Association's Scotch Whisky Regulations. Looking at some examples; if your Scotch whisky is made from 100% malted barley at one single distillery but it is distilled in column stills, it is then a single grain Scotch whisky (this is Scotland, not Australia or England). If your Scotch whisky is made from 99% malted barley and 1% unmalted barley and is distilled in pot stills at one single distillery, it is then a single grain whisky (this is Scotland, not Ireland). If your Scotch whisky is made from 100% malted rye and is distilled in pot stills at one single distillery, it is still a single grain whisky. And if your Scotch whisky is made from 55% unmalted rye and 45% malted barley and is distilled in pot stills at Bruichladdich Distillery, then yes, it is a single grain whisky! 

Enter Bruichladdich's The Regeneration Project Single Grain Scotch Whisky. Apparently they did initially want to call it "The Rye Project" but the SWA objected to this since it wasn't distilled from 100% rye grain. Personally I think they missed a huge opportunity by not calling it "The RYEgeneration Project". Sure, that may have still raised some eyebrows at the SWA, but let's not forget that this distillery used to have "The Dog's Bollocks" printed on it's packaging! Come on Bruichladdich, you used to be fun... "The Regeneration Project" was the brainchild of Islay farmer Andrew Jones and Bruichladdich's Production Director Allan Logan. Jones had been growing barley for Bruichladdich at Coull Farm on Islay, but decided to add rye to his farm's crop rotation in an effort to improve the health of the soil and reduce the need for fertilisers and other augmentation. Barley is quite an aggressive crop as far as its effect on the soil, and it's also quite picky if you want to get a decent yield. Rye is much less picky and also replaces some of the nutrients that the barley crops have stripped from the soil, hence "regeneration". There have been three "Project" releases from Bruichladdich so far, all distillery exclusives (website or physical shop). These began with "The Ternary Project" in early 2021 which was a vatting of all three single malts that are produced at the distillery - unpeated Bruichladdich, heavily peated Port Charlotte, and super-heavily peated Octomore. At an absolutely ridiculous £275 and without an age statement, I'm not surprised that it's still available - in fact all three of these "Project" bottlings are. Next was "The Biodynamic Project" released in late 2021, which was a 10-year old that was distilled from biodynamic (basically organic) English grown barley. To my knowledge that's the first and only time since the reopening in 2001 that Bruichladdich have made new make spirit that was not distilled from Scottish barley. Which seems a bit of a shame - we can't blame Remy Cointreau for that either, it was distilled in 2010 during the Reynier era. And that brings us to today's subject, The Regeneration Project single grain whisky, bottled in early 2023.

While still a rarity, this Bruichladdich single grain is not the only single grain Scotch whisky to use rye in its mashbill, nor was it the first released. Highland distillery Arbikie was the first to release such a thing, and Fife distillery InchDairnie has since added to that. But this Bruichladdich is the first single grain whisky to be made on the island of Islay since the term was coined, and there will be more of it from Bruichladdich in future. Three distilleries making relatively tiny amounts of whisky will not be enough to get the SWA to add a "Rye Scotch Whisky" or "Scotch Rye Whisky" category to their regulations, but that could certainly change in future if there's enough demand - particularly if one of the large corporations takes an interest in the potential for a new category. Bruichladdich have played it a little safe with this first appearance of their single grain whisky, in that they've used 55% unmalted rye grain in the mashbill, with the remaining 45% being malted barley that was also Islay grown. Back in 2017 the distillery did experiment with different percentages, starting with the 55/45 ratio but trialling a 70/30 mix - which wreaked havoc on the ancient equipment used at Bruichladdich. Rye is a difficult grain to work with, particularly in mashing where it can take much longer to mash and can cause problems with drainage and cleaning. This of course makes it more costly to work with than barley, and in this case using unmalted rye means that you're getting significantly less enzymes in comparison to a 100% malted barley mash, meaning there are less fermentable sugars available in the mash, which means a lower alcohol yield in the wash and subsequently in the spirit. Since rye had never been used at Bruichladdich before, the production team also had to play around with the fermentation times and distillation cut points, and also the filling strength when it was being filled into casks. 

The Regeneration Project is a 5-year old single grain whisky, distilled in 2017 from 55% unmalted rye and 45% malted barley, all grown on Islay, and it was matured in a combination of first-fill ex-bourbon casks and virgin American oak casks. Interestingly those virgin oak casks were not charred prior to filling, they were only toasted in an effort to limit the level of wood influence in the whisky and let the spirit itself, and therefore the grain itself, show through. But if that was the goal then why use virgin oak casks at all? I'm assuming that was to give the maturation a boost and get the whisky ready at a younger age, so hopefully we'll see different cask types used in future older examples. The Regeneration Project was bottled at a diluted strength of 50% ABV in March 2023, with no chill filtration or added colour. There were only 1,800 x 700ml bottles released in this batch and it was only available from the distillery's website or from the physical shop on Islay. Pricing was a rather staggering £125, plus shipping and local charges for those of us that are playing overseas - in Australia with our dastardly customs department, the final cost landed at your door would be around $350 AUD. Which is a huge chunk of money for a 5-year old whisky at 50% ABV, even one this unique. But that's the price of entry to try the first Bruichladdich single grain whisky, and the first Bruichladdich ever made with rye grain. Funnily enough there still seems to be stock available on said website at the time of writing, but the sample for this review was generously donated by David from Australian whisky retailer The Old Barrelhouse. Let's see how it goes!

Bruichladdich 'The Regeneration Project' Single Grain Whisky, 50% ABV. Islay, Scotland.

Distilled 2017 from 55% unmalted rye and 45% malted barley. Aged in first-fill ex-bourbon casks and toasted virgin American oak casks. Bottled March 2023 at 5-years of age. Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Amber. 

Nose: Spicy, sweet, oaky. Rye spice (i.e. toasted rye bread), sweet fresh oak, touches of intense spearmint and cayenne pepper. A little eucalyptus / tea tree, and nutmeg too. Sweet tinned peaches, dry pie shell pastries, vanilla essence. Dried bitter orange peel, and a touch of maltiness further in. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, very sweet, oaky, spicy. Slight heat. 

Taste: More sweet tinned peaches, plus some apricots in syrup, and a little blueberry as well. Powdered ginger, buttery pastry, sweet toasted oak, and sweet vanilla essence. The rye influence is much harder to spot here than it was on the nose, obscured by the oak and the sweetness. 

Finish: Medium length. More spearmint, cayenne pepper, and eucalyptus. Aniseed, and more powdered ginger. More sweet oak, and vanilla essence. Dried orange peel again, milk chocolate and sweet tinned peaches to finish. 

Score: 2.5 out of 5. 

Notes: Interesting. Too sweet for my tastes, and also a little strange! The spicy rye character shows through nicely on the nose to start with, but it faded with breathing time and was obscured both on the palate and in the finish, which is a shame. Overall this is really quite a sweet whisky, which I assume is down to the virgin oak involvement, and I'd have preferred a 100% ex-bourbon maturation instead. That would've showed more spirit character, but I'm not sure if that was the goal with this Bruichladdich release, it feels like they're trying to ease into it with that aggressive virgin oak sweetness. Then again even with that virgin oak it still comes off as a little feisty and youthful, so maybe we'll see more spirit character in some older releases in future. Personally virgin oak isn't my bag, particularly in unpeated whiskies, and if I'm having a rye whisky/whiskey then I want to the rye to show all the way through, otherwise I don't see the point. So bear that in mind if you've scrolled straight to the score! I can see lovers of American-style rye whiskeys liking this one with the extra sweetness and the lighter rye grain influence that seem to be in their wheelhouse. In my view as a malt whisky lover this Bruichladdich single grain is quite a strange one; it's obviously unlike any other Scotch whisky that I've come across so far, and in all honesty it's not one that I'd rush out to buy. I'm sure we'll see more adventurous variants in future, hopefully with some more age and also less cask influence - or at least hopefully without virgin oak!

Kudos to Bruichladdich for having the guts to do produce Islay's first single grain whisky. If any of Islay's malt whisky distilleries were going to do it, it was always going to be these guys! And if it helps support Islay's grain farmers and their barley crops then I'm all for it, and I look forward to trying more examples in future. 

Cheers!

Talisker 11 Year Old 2022 Special Release Whisky Review!

The one bottling in the 2022 Diageo Special Releases that immediately caught my eye. Why? Because it's a reasonably-priced, cask strength, ex-bourbon cask Talisker that is natural colour and non-chill filtered. Which is a winning formula! 

The packaging has stepped even further into the cartoon realm with these 2022 Special Releases, which as usual have arrived in Australia just under a year after their release in Europe. There are quite a few departures from the norm in this latest batch; adding virgin oak casks to the venerable Lagavulin 12-year old, adding a PX & Oloroso sherry finish to a 12-year old Clynelish with a hefty price tag, and releasing a 26-year old single grain whisky from Cameronbridge Distillery which retails for a very ambitious $599 AUD. What is not a departure from the norm perhaps is a very expensive non-age statement Mortlach release, this time featuring not only virgin oak casks but also two different varieties of sweet fortified wine cask, and retailing for $420 AUD. It's great that Diageo is giving Mortlach some well-deserved attention, but if I can speak for the whisky nerds of the world, all we want is a teenaged Oloroso sherry matured/finished Mortlach, with an age statement, that allows the distillery to live up to its legendary moniker of "The Beast of Dufftown". The 2023 Special Releases were recently unveiled in Britain, and thankfully both the packaging designs and the cask treatments have seemingly been dialled down. Despite the size of the company, Diageo certainly does seem to react to customer feedback, or even predict it! Besides all of that, these are still cask strength, non-chill filtered and natural colour releases from some of Diageo's most highly regarded distilleries, many of which are among Scotland's best. But I'm getting off topic here, we should be talking about Talisker! 

From the outset there were two bottlings in the 2022 releases that immediately appealed to me, not only because they're the cheapest / most reasonably priced of the bunch! These were the 10-year old Oban that was finished in Amontillado sherry casks, and the 11-year old Talisker that we're looking at here. We've been treated to some delicious Taliskers in the Special Releases over the last five years; starting with the fantastic 8-year old from 2018 that was matured in heavily-charred first-fill bourbon barrels, then a delicious 15-year old in 2019 that was matured in re-charred refill ex-bourbon barrels, followed by a slight departure in 2020 with an 8-year old rum cask finish, and then the 8-year old refill cask from 2021 that was taken from their "smokiest reserves". When the news first appeared about this 2022 bottling I was rather excited, partly since it was a little older at 11-years, but mainly because it was matured in bourbon casks. Specifically, the packaging states: "Lightly peated stocks from ex-bourbon casks". However, as is sometimes the case with Diageo's Special Releases, some of the press release blogs & also plenty of retailer websites seem to have gotten a little confused, and are stating that this whisky was matured in both ex-bourbon casks and ex-wine casks. Both the packaging and Diageo's official whisky site (malts.com) don't mention wine casks in relation to this Talisker, and to my palate there's no overt wine influence in the whisky itself. Furthermore, I can't see Diageo adding wine casks to a Talisker special release, which would be quite a big deal, and then neglecting to mention it on either the packaging or on their own website.

Being the whisky pedant that I am, I had to find out! So I reached out to Ewan Gunn, Diageo's Senior Global Brand Ambassador, to ask if he could confirm. Ewan was very helpful when I reached out to clear up the confusion that surrounded the brilliant 2019 12-year old Cragganmore special release, where many sources were wrongly stating that it was merely matured in ex-peated whisky casks, rather than the spirit itself being distilled from peated barley. Come to think of it there was a similar issue with the 15-year old Talisker released in the same year, which some had misinterpreted as being fully matured in virgin oak! That time Colin Dunn, Diageo's Whisky Brand Ambassador for Western Europe, came to the rescue and helped clarify that this was certainly not the case. This time Ewan has once again been extremely helpful, and even went so far as to contact the actual blender who signed off on the vatting for this release! Said blender confirmed that this 11-year old Talisker was matured solely in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and there was no wine involved.

Many whisky cynics like to think of Diageo as some faceless & soulless corporate monolith, and that its employees have all been enslaved towards the ultimate goal of global domination. In my experience that's really not the case, the staff that I've come across at the company's distilleries in Scotland have all been warm & welcoming, and passionate & professional. Now we have some pesky small-time whisky blogger in Brisbane, Australia, contacting Diageo's senior brand ambassadors in Britain and questioning details on whiskies from the previous year/s. Rather than being told to go away or being ignored completely, both of these gentlemen have promptly gone above & beyond to find the answer/s and set the record straight. Both Ewan and Colin deserve to be commended for their fantastic work that to my mind exemplifies what a brand ambassador should be. 

So, we have an 11-year old cask strength Talisker from the Isle of Skye. It has been fully matured only in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill, and bottled at 55.1% ABV without chill filtration or added colour. Retail pricing in Australia is around $190 AUD, which is very reasonable in this day & age. Summarising Talisker in twenty words or less; lightly peated, wooden washbacks, purifiers on spirit stills, worm tub condensers, sea salt & black pepper, coastal & delicious. Side note before we get to the review, you may have noticed that this 2022 release states that it's from "lightly peated stocks" while the 2021 8-year old stated "from our smokiest reserves". Talisker only makes one spirit which is peated to around 20 ppm, so these labels are referring to the flavour profile of the casks that were in the vatting/blend, rather than a different peating level in the spirit itself. Tasting time!

Talisker 11-Year Old, Special Releases 2022, 55.1%. Isle of Skye, Scotland.

Fully matured in ex-bourbon casks, both first-fill and refill (no wine casks involved). Non-chill filtered, natural colour.

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Fresh, fruity, and briny. Green olives in oily & salty brine, crumbly & sharp mature cheddar cheese, sweet vanilla fudge, and warm sandy beaches. Touch of tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice. Green chilli flakes (trademark Talisker), golden malted barley, sweet lemon zest, and dry & ashy wood smoke. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, spicy, smoky. Slight heat but it works. 

Taste: More tinned peaches & pineapple chunks in juice, and sweet lemon zest. Sweet vanilla fudge fades quickly into table salt, white pepper, and those green chilli flakes. Dry wood smoke with hot ash, and a touch of melted salted butter. 

Finish: Long length. Mild green chilli flakes and warm sand carry through, with the melted salted butter and olive brine following along. That ashy wood smoke is softer now, more of an undercurrent. Golden malted barley, tinned fruit, sweet lemon, and a flash of almond frangipane (almond pastry cream filling) to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Just over the line maybe, but it's there.

Notes: An easier, lighter take on young cask strength Talisker. But there's no loss of distillery character, and the cask influence is kept nicely in check. That blender mentioned above has certainly done a good job with this one, if you ask me. It's possibly a little sweeter than expected, probably that lighter style showing through, but there are good doses of the trademark Talisker salt & pepper and that green chilli fruitiness that I love in the good examples of the make. It's still undeniably coastal as well, despite the widely lamented mainland maturation for the vast majority of Talisker spirit. Both Talisker and Caol Ila are great examples for the "terroir" and "there's no salt in whisky" arguments, with good talking points for both sides of the debate! 

Getting back to this 11-year old Special Release, it easily beats both the 2021 and 2020 8-year old releases if you ask me, and I'd put it on par with the 2019 15-year old. It's different in style to all of those of course, but quality-wise this 2022 release is a serious player. That said, it can't hope to square up against the 2018 8-year old, but there are few who can. That was almost a freak of nature, and it was released nearly 5-years ago now in a very different whisky world. It's still my favourite Talisker of all time (even over the cask strength 25-year old, but don't tell that bottle's owner) so it's not a fair comparison. That said, this 11-year old is probably the closest in style of all the subsequent Talisker Special Releases to date, and at ~$180 AUD here in 2023 it's holding up very well. Talisker fans will not be disappointed. Highly recommended.

Cheers!

Whisky in Isolation The Joy of Six Whisky Review!

An independent bottling of Australian single malt from one of our newest. High strength, natural presentation, relatively reasonable pricing, different and/or unusual cask treatments to the official bottlings, and highlighting lesser-known distilleries. Which should be independent bottling 101!

Like the name suggests and like many passion projects, Whisky In Isolation was born of the pandemic. Deep in the throes of lockdowns and isolation in early 2020, Melbourne-based proprietor Justin Farmer was inspired & encouraged by his wife to pursue his passion for whisky in earnest. That initially began with a blog under the Whisky in Isolation name, but soon blossomed into filling casks with spirit from various distilleries, experimenting with different finishes on maturing whisky, and playing around with vatting / blending casks of mature whiskies. The first Whisky In Isolation bottling titled "Nearly New York Sour" (in homage to the cocktail) was released in mid-2022, and there have been another three releases since. The subsequent releases have been sourced from VIC's Kinglake Distillery, Tasmania's Hobart Whisky / Devil's Distillery, and now Victoria's Chief's Son Distillery. Four releases in under 12-months is not a bad run for such a tiny operation, and the plan is to stick to similar volumes for the foreseeable future - meaning, all going well, there should be another three releases coming in the remainder of 2023. Justin has partnered with a number of small distilleries for future releases, both in Tasmania and on the Australian mainland, with a simple but effective goal in mind: "just great whisky". All bottlings to date have been around the same relatively reasonable price point, which has helped Justin gather quite the following in such a short period of time. 

This fourth release from Whisky In Isolation is from Chief's Son Distillery, a small operation located on the Mornington Peninsula in Victoria, around an hour's drive south-east of Melbourne. Chief's Son was founded by husband & wife team Stuart & Naomi McIntosh back in 2013, which practically makes them middle-aged in terms of the continuing (for now) boom in Australian distilleries. Chief's Son single malts are double distilled in a single copper pot still that is heated by an internal electric element, which is quite a common thing in Australian whisky production despite the extra manual labour that it involves. Stills don't come cheap, after all! Another common thing in Australian whisky production is the sourcing of wash from local breweries rather than brewing / fermenting on site, which is a cost-cutting, risk-reducing, and time-saving measure that would not be legally permitted if we were in Scotland. You could argue that doing this also helps with consistency, but my counter-argument is that that's a negative rather than a positive. You're effectively losing a large chunk of individuality and potentially personality in the finished product, particularly if multiple distilleries are using the same brewery and the same specifications. Even some of the biggest names in the industry take advantage of this method (some would say "loophole"), and Chief's Son are no exception. They do take it a step further though by specifying a number of different types of brewer's malts, or at least different specialty roasting levels, in their mash bills. These range from pale malt to crystal (think Benromach Cara Gold) and chocolate malt (think Glenmorangie Signet), while small amounts of peated malted barley are sourced from Scotland.  

The Whisky In Isolation bottling that we're looking at today is the oldest Chief's Son whisky bottled to date, at 6-years and 6-months of age. That may sound young on a global scale - probably because it is young on a global scale - but that's almost middle-aged by Australian whisky standards where many releases are only aged for the legal minimum of 2-years before they're pushed out the door. New expression The Joy of Six has been fully matured in small format first-fill French oak ex-apera fortified wine casks that were sourced from the Barossa Valley in South Australia. Apera is basically our take on a Spanish sherry, generally approximating an Oloroso style, although they tend to be lighter in style than you might expect from a traditional Oloroso sherry. Being first-fill and small format French oak casks though, I'm sure there's going to be plenty of both fortified influence and wood influence here. Small format casks in Australian whisky generally means 20-litre or 50-litre casks, or somewhere in between. These tiny casks combined with our warm and highly variable climate can wreak havoc on maturing spirit, particularly given the aggressive nature of French oak that is the most commonly used species in our industry - which is essentially dictated by the local table & fortified wine industries who have the first go at the casks before selling them on. The saving grace in this case is blending (a.k.a. vatting, still a single malt) these small casks of Chief's Son whisky together, playing around with the flavour profile, and also adjusting the ABV for the best results. In this case a few 20-litre casks were vatted together, and the ABV was reduced slightly to 54.25% because that's where Justin felt this whisky was at its best. It is of course non-chill filtered and natural colour, and retails here for $195 AUD in a 500ml bottle, with a tiny outturn of 105 bottles. As mentioned above, that's a perfectly reasonable price in Australia compared to much of the competition - both in independent and official bottlings - particularly at this age and ABV. 

For those familiar with Australian whisky, I know what you'll be thinking here, particularly if you've spied the colour below. "20-litre first-fill fortified wine casks for 6.5-years in Australia, so we're probably in for another overly sweet, overly wood-driven whisky, right?" Well I wouldn't be so hasty, since those specialty malts used at Chief's Son seem to balance out the impact of the fortified wine casks, and also because Justin has selected and vatted these particular casks for a reason. The bottle of The Joy of Six for this review was kindly donated by Justin, with no strings attached. So let's see how it goes, shall we? 

Whisky in Isolation "The Joy of Six", 6-years old, 54.25% ABV. Victoria, Australia.

Distilled at Chief's Son Distillery in Somerville, Victoria. Vatting of 2 x 20-litre first-fill ex-Apera (sherry style fortified wine) casks. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 105 bottles. 

Colour: Polished dark brown. 

Nose: Sweet, woody, toasty. Treacle, sultanas, sweetened ginger, and soft liquorice. Lightly burnt toast, bitter orange peel, and fresh Christmas pudding with the skin on. Even a flicker of marzipan and rich buttercream icing. Well-toasted oak, milky coffee with a dash of vanilla syrup, and soft leather. 

Texture: Medium weight. Syrupy in texture but less sweet than the nose, more toasty & roasty. Warming, no heat at all. 

Taste: More treacle, sweetened ginger, bitter orange peel, and toasted oak. Currants rather than sultanas here, and coffee froth/foam rather than syrup. That buttercream icing and soft old leather again, with some ginger toffee fudge. 

Finish: Medium length. Ginger again, spent coffee grounds, sweet toasted oak, and cinnamon. Ginger porter (dark ale) too. That soft old leather shows again, plus a little oily wood polish, and toffee fudge. Turning slightly astringent towards the end with tea leaves  - that'll be the tannins showing themselves, without going too far. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. Not too far from a 4, in fact. 

Notes: Lovely complexity for a relatively young whisky that has been matured in small first-fill casks, which is a surprise. There are still shades of the Chief's Son official bottlings in places, but this independent certainly seems more rounded and more mature in comparison - which makes sense, since this is the oldest Chief's Son bottled to date. The sweetness and wood influence are both immediately obvious, but they're actually well balanced and measured, neither is allowed to steal the show. The tannins that we expect from small French oak casks don't show up until late in the finish, and they don't get into the full bitterness that many similarly-aged whiskies do. Which is a very good thing. Those ginger & fudgy notes are delicious as well. Makes for a great winter warmer!

This is still a very "Aussie" style whisky of course, in terms of sweetness and wood influence. But it's on the great quality end of the spectrum that isn't all about raw oak and using overly sweet fortified wine or other shenanigans to hide an undercooked whisky. Think modern Heartwood, Highwayman, Iniquity, Launceston, that sort of thing. Add the extremely competitive pricing at this age and ABV, and you're onto a winner. This is my first Whisky in Isolation bottling, and it's very impressive stuff. Already looking forward to the next one!

Thanks to Justin for the bottle for this review. It'll be thoroughly enjoyed and widely shared!

Cheers!

Longrow Red 15 Year Old Pinot Noir Whisky Review - Plus a Bonus!

The latest (in Australia) early-2022 release in the Longrow "Red" series of wine finished / matured heavily peated Springbank spirit, plus a bonus review of its close relative. The Longrow Open Day 2020 special release!

I have a complicated relationship with the Longrow 'Red' series of red wine cask bottlings. I'd almost go as far as calling them hit & miss, at least for my tastes. So far my picks of the series have been the 10-year old refill Malbec finish from late 2020 and the 11-year old refill Pinot Noir finish from early 2019, although I'm yet to try the 11-year old first-fill Port Cask matured from 2014 or the brand-new Tawny Port bottling that was recently released in Europe. As you can guess from those two winners, most of the first-fill wine cask finishes in the Longrow Red series have left me cold, ranging from decent, to good, but not great. So I'm clearly preferring the refill casks with less wine influence and more of the distillery character on display, and getting outside of the Red series, the 14-year old Sherry Cask (yes, that was all refill casks!) and this incredible refill port cask from Cadenhead's have definitely reinforced that preference. I'm still wishing they'd give us a cask strength ex-bourbon matured Longrow aged in the early teens, which as far as I'm aware doesn't exist outside of the Springbank Society releases or some market-exclusive single casks. Whether all refill or a mix of first-fill and refill casks, I suspect such a thing would be outstanding. But strangely ex-bourbon seems to be the least-common cask type for this heavily peated Campbeltowner, excluding the 46% ABV core range bottling anyway. Even a cask strength version of that "entry level" NAS Longrow would satisfy my curiosity, but I don't think it'll happen anytime soon since there isn't enough out there as it is. Springbank can't keep up with the demand for even their core range bottlings of their three brands, and it's important to remember that the heavily peated Longrow and unpeated Hazelburn brands each account for only 10% of the distillery's annual production. 

I've said it before, but it bears repeating: Longrow might be heavily peated by Springbank standards, but this is not an Islay whisky. If you were to only look at everyone's favourite phenolic figures, at 55-60 ppm Longrow does sit comfortably on the higher end of the scale. But if you go in expecting something as smoky and/or peaty as a Laphroaig or an Ardbeg, there's a good chance you're going to be disappointed. This is a heavy, sulphurous, funky spirit by design, being double distilled through Springbank's direct-fired wash still and then the worm tub condenser-equipped first spirit still. The spirit cut points for Longrow are also quite wide and quite late (69-58% for us geeks), giving it a divisive profile. And the peat itself is sourced from the Scottish mainland, generally from the east coast. The same mainland peat is used for the Springbank malt and also the majority of the malt used at sister distillery Glengyle (producing Kilkerran whisky). Speaking of which, the same peated caveats apply to Kilkerran's Heavily Peated range, which also uses mainland peat - don't expect an Islay experience there either! Despite the numbers Longrow's peat character is more of a dirty, earthy, softly smoky style, closer to an Ardmore than an Ardbeg, but in a heavier, dirtier style that is really quite unique. 

Getting back to the task at hand, this Longrow Red 15-year old is the early-2022 release, the latest to make it to Australia. An 11-year old Tawny Port bottling has since been released in Europe, bottled in late 2022, which I assume (no guarantee) will make it to Australia later this year. This early-2022 release was matured for 11-years in ex-bourbon barrels before being finished for 4-years in fresh (Springbank-ese for first fill) pinot noir casks sourced from Valli Vineyards in central Otago, New Zealand, which is roughly in the centre of the South Island's lower half - not far from Cardrona, as it happens. This is the third Longrow Red to date that has been finished in pinot noir casks; the first was a 12-year old released in 2015 which had a one year finish in first-fill NZ pinot noir casks, and the second was the aforementioned 2019 11-year old which had a 3-year finish in refill NZ pinot noir casks - sourced from the same vineyard as this 15-year old 2022 release, in fact. As usual this Longrow Red was bottled at cask strength, 51.4% ABV, without chill filtration or added colouring, with 9,400 bottles released. Retail pricing here in Australia was $270-300, and inevitably many will have been flipped for profit (by both retailers and retail customers) in short order. Let's see how it goes!

Longrow Red 15-Year Old Pinot Noir Cask, early 2022, 51.4%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Matured for 11-years in ex-bourbon, finished for 4-years in first-fill ex-NZ pinot noir red wine casks. 9,400 bottles released Feb 2022. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Fruity, earthy, rich & sweet. Buttery toasted oak, stewed plums & black cherries, dried apricot. Brown sugar butter caramel, and wine tannins (red grape skins and cold black tea). Old leather, and gravy powder. Touches of spearmint & white pepper around the edges. 

Texture: Medium weight. Oily, buttery, fruity. No heat. 

Taste: More buttery toasted oak, leather, grape skins & cold black tea (tannins). Touches of white pepper & gravy powder. Stewed stone fruit & dried apricot again but some berries here too, blackberry & blueberry jam. Touch of dark chocolate too, but the wine is doing the heavy lifting here.

Finish: Short-medium length. More cold black tea, buttery caramelised oak, leather & stewed berries & cherries. Earthy peat & dirty smoke coming through towards the end. 

Score: 3.5 out of 5. 

Notes: An enjoyable Longrow Red, sweeter & fresher than I generally find these releases. Too winey for my tastes though, and the funk is very restrained - barely there at all, in fact, and the trademark earthy peat & dirty smoke don't show up until very late in the third act. So red wine lovers will probably enjoy this one if they aren't fans of Longrow's dirty, sulphury side. But anyone can make a red wine-forward whisky, while only one distillery can make Longrow. Quite a bit of fresh oak influence in this 15-year old too, which seems to push the sweetness up. Like many of these Longrow Red bottlings, I think there's too much wine and too much cask, and not enough distillery character. We need more refill casks in this series please Springbank! How about some ex-bourbon cask Longrow releases too, while you're at it? Lose the "Red" part of the equation and give us the ex-bourbon maturation without the wine finishes. To quote the disco era; "we want the funk". To paraphrase another; "won't you take us to funky town?". 

And now, the bonus round! 

The Open Day 2020 Longrow bottling is a vatting of two first-fill Pinot Noir casks and two refill Malbec casks, all fully matured and aged for 10-years. Springbank's Open Day bottlings are released for the annual Campbeltown Festival, so they're the equivalent of a Feis Ile bottling. There's usually a Springbank, a Longrow and a Hazelburn, plus a Kilkerran from sister distillery Glengyle, and they're generally a small batch of 3-6 casks sold only from the distillery shop. Thanks to the pandemic though the 2020 Campbeltown Festival had to turn virtual, and it didn't take place at all in 2021, while things have since returned to physical normality in '22. That virtual festival in 2020 meant that the Open Day bottlings were more widely available than usual, and could be purchased directly from the distillery's website for shipping within Europe. I was able to get a bottle on the secondary market which wasn't cheap, but it was more reasonable than some of the more "sexy" bottlings from the same distillery that are still attracting ludicrous pricing on the same websites. Longrow Open Day 2020 was fully matured in 2 x first-fill Pinot Noir red wine casks and 2 x refill Malbec red wine casks, all at least ten years old, with the four casks yielding 1,284 bottles at a cask strength of 53.7% ABV. Malbec is the heavier of these two wine varieties with more tannins, with pinot noir being on the lighter side in comparison. So I'm already thankful that those Malbec casks were refill. Tasting time!

Longrow Open Day 2020, 10-years old, 53.7%. Campbeltown, Scotland.

Vatting of 2 x first-fill pinot noir wine casks and 2 x refill malbec wine casks, bottled for Springbank 'Virtual Open Day' 2020. 1,284 bottles. Non-chill filtered, natural colour. 

Colour: Bronze. 

Nose: Rich, thick & meaty. Loads of dark chocolate & dried raspberry. Blueberry & sour black cherry. Touch of spearmint around the edges, a little powdered ginger there too. Boysenberry ripple ice cream, but light on the vanilla. Earthy peat, roast meat drippings (pork?) & gravy powder, soft wine tannins. Rich toffee fudge & black pepper. 

Texture: Medium-heavy weight. Rich, earthy, meaty & fatty. No heat at all. 

Taste: Lightly smoky, earthy & meaty. More dark chocolate, rich toffee fudge, sour black cherry, and dried raspberry. Powdered ginger & spearmint around the edges again, plus a pinch of black pepper. Creamy boysenberry ripple ice cream again. Touch of coffee grounds in the background.  

Finish: Long length. More meaty roast meat drippings & gravy powder, and earthy, dirty peat. Slight touch of dried orange. Rich chocolate, turning creamy & lactic. Soft grape tannins again, and more blueberry. Creamy chocolate to finish. 

Score: 4 out of 5. 

Notes: A deliciously earthy, meaty, Longrow that sits almost entirely on the savoury spectrum - more of these please! The wine influence is still obvious of course, but it's less dominant / overbearing than it is in some / most of the regular "Red" bottlings, including the one above. The trademark Longrow earthy peat & dirty smoke signature is very much in the background, or rather it's very well integrated, and the dirty Campbeltown "funk" diesel notes that we all love are still quite soft in this one. But it's no less delicious as a result. I'd rank it slightly above my favourite of the Longrow Red bottlings to date, the 11-year old refill Pinot Noir finish from 2019. It's not really a direct comparison though because this Open Day bottling isn't part of the Red series. Those releases tend to be finished in one particular type of wine cask, while this Open Day bottling was fully matured in two different types of wine cask, and crucially they were a mix of both first-fill and refill. Which has certainly helped retain the distillery character without going over the top with the wine influence. Good stuff!

Cheers!

Old Master Spirits 44-Year Old Armagnac Review!

Another old "malternative" brandy from Old Master with a bargain price. This latest release is a single cask of Bas armagnac that was distilled way back in 1978, with an age statement of a whopping 44-years!  

I'm starting to think Old Master Spirits are just teasing us with these old brandies! Both the age statements and the attached pricing are truly remarkable from any whisky drinker's perspective. From a 63-year old cognac to the recent XXO armagnac bottling, if you were to look at an equivalent whisky the pricing would make most feel nauseous. Age aside, all of the Old Master bottlings so far have been great quality and very reasonably priced - particularly when compared to an equivalent whisky. Yet another example is this forthcoming release, a 44-year old single cask Bas armagnac. What would an similarly aged malt whisky cost, here in the ongoing pricing madness of 2023? You'd be looking at a starting price of $3,000-$4,000 AUD on these shores, and far beyond for the "luxury" brands. We all know that armagnac doesn't carry the prestige or profit margins of an old single malt whisky, but you'd still expect such an old spirit to be over $1,000, right? Wrong! This single cask, cask strength, naturally presented 44-year old armagnac is going to sell, at retail, for $249 AUD. Which is an absolute steal. Needless to say, $250 AUD doesn't get much in the whisky world these days. For those playing overseas, here in the great southern land of tax, that's the going rate for a Glendronach or Glengoyne 18-year old, it's significantly less than we're charged for the 18-year old releases from Talisker or Highland Park, and is less than half the price of a Macallan 18. None of those whiskies are bottled at cask strength, and all but one are chill filtered. I know we're not comparing apples to apples there, in fact we're comparing grapes to malted barley. But to see a 44-year old spirit of any sort selling for roughly the same price as those examples is difficult to comprehend!

To date this Melbourne-based duo have also dabbled in Australian single malt whisky from Tasmania, Australian rum from New South Wales, and even PX sherry itself. Naturally (pun intended), and unlike most of their commercial distant cousins, all of these releases have been non-chill filtered and natural colour, and no extra sugars, flavourings or wood extracts have been added at any stage. I've gone into the shady - but sadly perfectly legal - additive practices in the brandy industry here in my first cognac review, so I won't delve into those deceptive depths again in this review. Suffice to say there are no such shenanigans or flashy marketing & packaging here, just quality spirits released with natural presentation and at good prices. That's the way Old Master do it, and that's the way their customers want it! 

This latest example is due to launch on Thursday the 25th of May (this week). Head here for more details, or sign up to Old Master Spirits' mailing list here. This eighth release from Old Master is a Bas Armagnac from Domaine De Papolle, a small armagnac house (pictured above) that is a 90-minute drive south of Bordeaux in south-west France. Distilled in 1978 from 100% Baco grapes, it was aged entirely in French oak - as per the legal requirements for armagnac (see here for more info) - for 44-years prior to bottling at the natural cask strength of 40.3% ABV. Age isn't everything of course; it doesn't always mean maturity, and on the flipside it can mean a spirit is too far gone. But that's certainly not the case here! As I've mentioned above, this armagnac is non-chill filtered, natural colour, and nothing has been added. Enough talk, let's see how it goes! 

Colour: Dark, burnt toffee. 

Nose: Sweet, oaky, spicy. Surprising vibrancy & depth for such an advanced age! Medjool dates, treacle, warm nutmeg & cinnamon. Herbal touches of dried sage & dried bay leaf. Strong Vietnamese coffee (sweetened with condensed milk), dried pineapple, polished pine furniture. Dried bitter orange peel around the edges.

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

Taste: Soft & sweet entry, with treacle, black tea, that Vietnamese coffee (with condensed milk), and oily furniture polish again. Some currants and dates, dried bitter orange peel, and that bitter herbal note of sage & bay leaf (both dried). Touch of that dried pineapple adding a little acidity for balance. 

Finish: Long length. The treacle, oily furniture polish and currants carry through. Touches of rum & raisin ice cream with a dash of vanilla, and a crumbly dark chocolate fudge. Black tea and orange peel return, with that curious dried pineapple note again. 

Score: 4 out of 5. Easily.  

Notes: What a treat to nose & taste something so old - no offence intended to any readers of a similar vintage! I can comfortably say this is the most complex armagnac that I've tasted to date, and probably the most dynamic as well. It's constantly changing with time, air, and temperature, and there's a surprising depth & length on offer considering the natural cask strength of "only" 40.3% ABV. Admittedly this 44-year old armagnac is approaching the upper limits of my preferences as far as wood tannins and oak influence, but it never goes over the line. In my amateur opinion, they've pulled this armagnac from the cask at exactly the right time! 

Just like some of the old G&M bottlings in the whisky world, this armagnac is further proof that a 40% ABV spirit doesn't have to be light & thin, particularly when it's not been chill filtered. The difference here of course is that it hasn't been reduced / diluted down to the legal minimum strength of 40%, rather it's naturally come down to a cask strength of 40.3% during maturation. Which is an important distinction, and quite a rare thing even at an advanced age. This rarity is an absolute bargain at the retail pricing of $249 AUD. Do not miss this one folks! 

Cheers!

Smokehead Rum Rebel & High Voltage Whisky Reviews!

Another "mystery" rum cask finished Islay single malt, this time from Ian McLeod Distillers, plus their cask strength regular bottling for the sake of comparison.

From the 30-year old Rosebank from Ian McLeod, to a rum finished mystery Islay Port Askaig from Elixir Distillers, to a rum finished mystery Islay Smokehead (Caol Ila). The timing worked out rather well! It's been a long time since I tasted anything from Smokehead, in fact if memory serves neither of these two expressions existed when I last had a close look at the brand. Ian McLeod has certainly grown as a company since those early days, now with three malt distilleries under their belts; Glengoyne, Tamdhu and Rosebank. They also have half a dozen blended whisky brands in the stables, plus some gin and rum, and a couple of undisclosed / mystery single malt brands. For those of us in Australia most of these bottlings can only be found at Dan Murphy's, while some of the limited releases are more widely available. The Smokehead brand was launched back in 2006 with the namesake NAS bottling, which if memory serves was initially 40% ABV - I could be wrong, but it's currently bottled at 43% regardless. They've branched out significantly since those early days, and there's now a stout cask finish, a tequila cask finish, a sherry cask finish, and the rum cask finish & high strength bottlings that we're looking at here. None of these whiskies carry an age statement and none will tell you which distillery they're sourced from, although all are single malts from one distillery on Islay, and as far as I can find they don't switch between distilleries like some of these mystery bottlings. Obviously like the majority (but not all) of undisclosed Islay single malts Smokehead is most likely Caol Ila, being the largest distillery on the island and the easiest to source for independent bottlings. But Ian McLeod is being tight-lipped about the details, preferring to focus on basic tasting notes and cask finishes instead, not to mention the very "rock & roll" marketing angles & packaging designs. 

The two whiskies I'm reviewing here came from a sample pack of 3 x 50ml samples featuring the standard Smokehead, Rum Rebel, and High Voltage expressions. This pack can be found for around $30 AUD on these shores, which is a good deal considering that these whiskies are bottled at 43%, 46%, and 58% ABV respectively. I must admit the Australian pricing on the full-size bottles is quite reasonable as well; $80 for the standard bottling, $107 for the rum cask finish, and $113 for the high strength. Presumably that's because they're unofficially exclusive to our largest retailer, so there's no real competition on the market since any opposition would struggle to match the pricing. The whiskies themselves are probably quite young, but young Caol Ila can be very enjoyable when it's been looked after. Hopefully that's the case here. Unfortunately neither of these Smokehead bottlings mentions chill filtration or added colouring, and European labels do carry the dreaded "Mit Farbstoff" ("with dye" in German) artificial colouring warning required by the German additive regulations. I realise that the hardcore whisky geek is not the main target market for these whiskies, but would it really hurt to be a little more open? Even if it was only on the website rather than the packaging itself. Surely since these whiskies are bottled at 46% and above there'd be no need to chill filter them, but Ian McLeod don't deem it necessary to tell us. Which is the same issue I had with Glengoyne Legacy at 48%, where the first batch stated that it was non-chill filtered, but it was omitted from the subsequent batches. On the other hand the company's single malts from Tamdhu Distillery do declare that they're natural colour and un-chill filtered (where applicable) on their labelling and packaging, so why not implement those declarations across your whole single malt range Ian McLeod Distillers? It think it's time you got on the transparency train with both feet, rather than just the one toe...

We'll start with the 'Rum Rebel' Smokehead, which is bottled at 46% ABV. We don't know an age, we don't know a distillery, we don't know if it's coloured or chill filtered, but we do know that it's been finished in Caribbean rum casks for an undisclosed period of time. A rum cask finish isn't as rebellious these days as it was a few years ago, but I suppose the packaging and design are about as far from the tweed & tartan Scotch whisky crowd as you can get, so that's the cause they've chosen for this rebel. Let's see how it goes. 

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

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

Colour: Gold. 

Nose: Fresh, sweet & coastal. Salted butter out of the fridge, vanilla essence, green peppercorns. Fatty smoked bacon, uncooked. Touches of sweetened lime juice & green banana, even banana chips. Drying muddy oyster shells, and warm sea salt. Gentle ashy smoke around the edges. 

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

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

Finish: Short-medium length. Syrupy sweetness, with the cold salted butter and uncooked fatty smoked bacon returning. Dried oyster shells, green chilli flakes and that dried green banana (banana chips) to finish. 

Score: 3 out of 5. 

Notes: Certainly sitting on the sweeter side of the spectrum for malt whisky, and the rum casks have definitely made their mark, albeit without going too far and dominating the spirit. I'd say it's quite a well balanced whisky in fact, not particularly complex but easy drinking and enjoyable. Solid value for money as well. 

On to the big brother, the (only) high ABV version of Smokehead, dubbed High Voltage. There's no mention of cask strength on the packaging or website, nor is there any mention of cask type so it's presumably matured in refill hogsheads. As with the previous one there's no mention of colouring or chill filtration. Based on appearance I'm certain that is has been dosed with E150, and while it'd basically be pointless to chill filter a whisky bottled at 58% ABV we don't know what they don't tell us. Let's see how it goes!

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

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

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

Nose: Orange citrus, metallic, gently smoky. Fresh orange, damp rusty metal (e.g. old iron sheeting in the rain), black pepper and cayenne powder. Burnt bacon, toffee, gentle ashy smoke, touch of acidic pineapple and blowtorched herbs. 

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

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

Finish: Medium length. Spirity heat carries on for quite a while, spiky. Some rough casks in the mix here I think. Still has that artificial sweetness too. Sweet orange cordial, smoked bacon and gentle ashy smoke underneath. 

Score: 2.5 out of 5. But only just. 

Notes: Too cloyingly sweet for my tastes, and also noticeably hot & rough - which is unusual for a Caol Ila. That strange metallic note is a little distracting too, and I get the impression that this whisky would actually taste quite bitter and even hotter/rougher if it wasn't so sweet. I'm not sure where that distracting level of extra sweetness is coming from either, Caol Ila's spirit is naturally quite sweet but I don't recall tasting any that have taken it this far, to the point where it comes off as saccharine, artificial and almost chemical. I'd almost think there were some cheap sweet wine casks in the mix here, but I'm sure they'd make more noise about it if that were the case. Granted, Smokehead High Voltage is cheaper than the opposition on the high strength mystery Islay shelves, e.g. Port Askaig 100 Proof, Scarabus Batch Strength, and Finlaggan Cask Strength, but in my opinion this Smokehead can't match any of those in terms of balance, complexity, and just outright quality.

Overall Notes: Well I'm obviously preferring the Rum Rebel between these two. And by a larger margin than the 5-point scoring system can get across. Sure, both aren't particularly complex whiskies, but that's not the goal here, and it's not uncommon in young Caol Ila either. These Smokehead releases are sweet, straightforward, gently smoky, crowd-pleasing whiskies at reasonable prices, and there's definitely a big market for such a thing. 

Cheers!