Glasgow Distillery: Delicious Urban Whisky

Posted on 21 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

On the way to Campbeltown for a ridiculous tasting with the ‘Springbank Stallions’, Tom also visited Glasgow Distillery. Here’s an impression

It was time for me to get back to Scotland too, after a few dark years of lockdown. On our way to Campbeltown we managed to peek inside the Glasgow Distillery. It is not open for visitors but nerds gonna be nerds. We had a delightful tour in this very hands-on operation on a very sobering industrial complex, just a few miles from Glasgow Airport. Here, they don’t care about the make-up, it’s underneath that counts.

Glasgow makes a few versions of their malt. The production is split in three parts: unpeated and peated traditionally double distilled spirit, and triple distilled. This output can all be tasted in their standard range. Which we did to conclude our visit. Here is a quick impression.

Glasgow 1770 Triple Distilled – 46 %

First fill, refill and virgin oak matured. Around 3 years old. On the nose lots of yellow fruit, banana is very dominant, interestingly enough the wash smells the same, we just discovered. On tasting it’s very Irish, slightly alcoholic but also smooth. The departure is a bit hot. Easy going, nice everyday dram. Score: 79.

Glasgow 1770 The Original – 46 %

First fill matured, then finished for 6 months in Virgin Oak. They like virgin oak a lot at Glasgow. The label says Fresh & Fruity and that’s exactly what it is. The nose is modest, the taste is much more talkative. Sweet, rounded, very fruity but also a hint of black pepper and other spices. Classic Scotch, amazing quality at 3 years of age. Score: 81.

Glasgow 1770 Peated – 46 % (50ppm)

Virgin oak matured with a finish in PX casks. Very industrial and promising on the nose. Gasoline, charcoal. Upon tasting it comes across a bit harsh, and at the same time this smooth character that seems to be the Glasgow DNA. Nice kick on the finish. Score: 80.

The standard range is already one Glasgow can be proud of. The variety of products is also impressive. For whisky nerds who want to be challenged a bit more, there are numerous single cask or small batch bottlings. We tasted an unpeated Sauterness finished expression and a Golden Beer Cask Finish that were both reaching to mid-80s scores. These are also bottled at a higher age, around 6/7 years old. Glasgow is a distillery worth following while it gives meaning to Urban Distilling, reminiscent of the vibe I get from Teeling Distillery.  

About Tom van Engelen

Tom is a whisky enthusiast since the beginning of this millennium, not only savoring the taste of the drink but also the soul of it. Malt whisky from Scotland therefor remains his favorite focus. As former editor of the oldest Dutch whisky magazine he found a passion in writing about whisky too, with a mild preference for the nostalgic. He lives between the big rivers of the Netherlands with his wife Dasha, daughter Sasha and cat Amour.

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Two sort-of new rums by The Duchess: Uitvlugt 27 and ‘Savannah’ 19

Posted on 20 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

A while ago I got two samples from rums released late last year by The Duchess. The Dutch bottler regularly puts out awesome rums and when I got these I planned to review them soon-ish, but things happened and life got ridiculously busy.

As in, for the last couple of weeks I’ve mostly been publishing tasting notes I’ve written months ago, just because I barely get around to anything. It’s a good thing I’m quite thorough in not throwing out old notes, I guess.

But anyway, two rums released in 2022. One Uitvlugt from Guyana, distilled in 1995, in a Port Mourant still. Wooden still, that means, which is not something that happens in the world of whisky. For a variety of reasons, but it has proven to make for interesting rums.

The other is a rum from La Reunion from Savannah Distillery, although it’s not saying that on the label. The website of Best of Wines isn’t really making it a secret though.

Let’s dive in!

Uitvlugt 27, 1995-2022, Bourbon cask 36, 56.9% – The Duchess

Image from Best of Wines

Sniff:
Very funky with lots of sugar cane juice. Oak, leather, some green mosses, molasses. The works. Burnt caramel, slightly charry and hints of beurre noisette. Very yeasty, the brewed sugary wort has clearly left a mark.

Sip:
The palate continues down the same line, but brings a bit of heat. Sharp oak and red chilies. It mellows pretty swiftly and goes back to funkiness. Yeasty chocolate and buttery and hints of slightly burnt molasses.

Swallow:
The finish is very similar to the palate. More mellow, but very long with lots of those yeasty flavors.

It’s exactly what you hope old rum is like. Lots of sweet and funky notes. And with rums like this it is absolutely not ‘just sweetness’ like you would expect from a sugar based distillate, or any mainstream rum. Lots of weird things are happening and the buttery notes work well with the yeast and chocolate flavors. Cool stuff!

89/100

Available at Best of Wines for € 240

La Réunion 19, 2003-2022, Cask 5, 67.2% – The Duchess

Image from Best of Wines

Sniff:
Very oak focused and initially, caramel and dark molasses. Not very green and therefore not very sugar cane like. Dark cherries, dark oak, golden syrup.

Sip:
The palate is dark with oak, black cherries and molasses. Red chilies and quite some heat after a while. It does mellow, but it takes quite some time. Lots of oak, all the way through.

Swallow:
The finish is largely the same as the palate, albeit a bit more mellow. Quite warming, and long, but it does get a bit more narrow towards the end with the focus on the oak.

My sample stated 57.2, but the website states 67.2. I’m not sure which is correct, but I would assume the website has been checked more meticulously. There’s heat, of course, but not as much as I would expect from something that is over two thirds alcohol. Lots of great fruity flavors are showing up, and it’s more sweet than the Uitvlugt. Good stuff, but the alcohol does push some notes back that would have made it a bit more complex, I’d imagine.

87/100

Available at Best of Wines for € 139

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Ben Nevis 17, 1998-2016, PX Sherry Cask Finish, 46% – Alba Import

Posted on 17 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, Ben Nevis from 1995 and 1996 is considered to be among the best there is, currently. In a way that makes it easy to focus on something, but you can also investigate if there’s such a big difference with these highly regarded vintages, compared to other vintages that are pretty close.

Image from Whiskybase

Hence, this 1998 Ben Nevis, shared by Tom, of guest post fame. From a (to me) unknown bottler, from a PX cask. And not at cask strength. Strangely, this makes it almost everything that the great ones from 2 or 3 years earlier are not. Let’s go!

Sniff:
Funky sherry, some vanilla, pastry cream. Some tropical fruit, the overripe kind. Mulchy oak, sweetened oatmeal. Cigar leaves, stewed strawberries.

Sip:
Quite sharp for a 46% whisky, with a bit of bite from oak shavings, and a bitter note from date- and cherry stones. Funky-fruity, the overripe stuff. Mulchy oak with an earthy note, some grain and wood pulp.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly less funky, and veers back to that strawberry from before. Oak shavings, sawdust, bitter fruit stones.

The vanilla on the nose was a bit of a surprise, but at the time I didn’t know it was a sherry finish instead of a full maturation. On top of that, the sherry is a bit weird with the overripe fruit aromas happening. Not always a good thing. The combination of overripe fruit, with the mulch feels a bit forced. Apart from that, there are quite a lot of nice notes as well. The strawberry and cigar leaves always work well for me. The slight bitter note of fruit stones does too. So, some good and some lesser things are happening.

85/100

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Lochside 23, 1981-2005, Port Hogshead, 56.7% – Cadenhead’s Authentic Collection

Posted on 16 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Every time I review a Lochside whisky I expect it to be the last. I might have to get some more samples from Teun before it’s too late!

This one didn’t come from Teun though, but from Jason B. Standing. He sent me a couple of samples about a million years ago and when going through these and my older reviews right now, I decided it was as good a time as any to post it.

Image from Whiskybase

So Lochside. A closed distillery with general consensus being that 1981 is their top vintage. I’ve had quite a few of these over the years with some being extremely epic, and some being ‘merely awesome’. Let’s see where this one sits!

Sniff:
Rich sherry but almost no bite on the nose. Very gentle indeed! Figs, dates, plums, the darker dried fruits. In the background there’s a whiff of menthol and some cigars.

Sip:
The palate has a little bit of bite on the arrival, with some red chilies. Dry oak with a bit of bitterness. Dried fruits too, the darker ones like on the nose. Freshly cracked black pepper, but all of this with a very syrupy texture.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly more focused on the fruits. The peppery heat dissipates quickly and apart from the already found dried fruits, there’s also some strawberries with a whiff of aged balsamic vinegar too.

Initially I didn’t recognize this directly as a port cask. It could just as well have been a sweeter sherry. The strawberries and balsamic vinegar should have given it away though! It’s quite a lovely flavor, and the menthol and cigars on the nose only add to the experience! A really good whisky indeed!

89/100

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Bladnoch 20, ‘Beltie Label’, Bourbon Cask, 55%

Posted on 15 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Bladnoch is a weird distillery. Especially these releases from a decade or more ago are very unique and not always in a good way.

Currently, under new ownership, the distillery is still releasing its own product with its own flavor profile, although it has become a bit more ‘normal’ over the years. These older bottlings tend to be freakish, in a similar way to older Bruichladdich bottlings breaking the mold.

Image from Whiskybase

In the case of Bladnoch that tends to come forward with flavors like cream and butter, with hints of acidity that are unique to the distillery. It definitely is not everyone’s cup of tea, and unique is not always better. But, I tend to quite like these oldies. Of course, there is some utter trash among the bottlings, so let’s find out where this one sits!

Sniff:
Milky, yeasty, and sulfury in a ‘boiled vegetables’ kind of way. Wet barley, fenugreek, a light kind of cheese and ammonia. It’s a unique kind of dram, so to say.

Sip:
Very dry with lots of oak. Creamy, a touch of vanilla, porridge (that wet barley note), fenugreek and cheese. After a while it’s a bit more sugary with simple syrup, butter cream and icing sugar. Barley, oak.

Swallow:
The finish is very consistent and quite fiery at first. A dry bite of oak and green malt. Very consistent with the palate.

While this sounds horrible, it’s actually quite a tasty dram if you’re okay with a unique taste on Scotch. As said before, Bladnoch used to do its own thing, especially under the Armstrong ownership, and they’ve become a bit more middle-of-the-road since. Unfortunately, if you ask me. Fortunate, I guess, if you ask the share holders.

Absolutely not an easy drinker, but with some attention it’s really cool!

88/100

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Williamson 2010-2020, Refill Barrel twj-Lph01, 52.2% – The Whisky Jury

Posted on 14 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

And yes, of course this is Laphroaig. Williamson is a regular name for undisclosed Laphroaig, named after Bessie Williamson, the distillery manager at Laphroaig from the Second World War to 1972, with her also being owner of the place since 1954. She was the first female distillery manager in Scotland.

Anyway, The Whisky Jury is a new bottler in the same line as Wu Dram Clan and WhiskyNerds, Michiel Wigman and several others aiming to bottle only the best of what is available. Their Ben Nevises sold out instantly and have, as far as I have tried them from samples, all been epic.

Image from Whiskybase

Of course, with them being insanely popular, it means their bottlings are very hard to get and often end up being ballotted out instead of being available for regular purchase.

Let’s see if it all makes sense, shall we?

Sniff:
Massively peaty, with a veritable mountain of peat. Earthy, sea-weedy, salty and briny. Cooked pear, some bready notes, a bit of a pastry sweetness. Washed-up wood on beaches, quite classical. Not an ‘engineered’ whisky.

Sip:
Quite gentle on the palate. There’s a bit of a tingle, but it’s not fierce. Some black pepper, dry oak, lots of coastal notes. A whiff of dried lemon and lime. Lots of earthy, and briny peat, but it’s not overly forced on the smokiness.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly more lemony, with a whiff of black pepper. Oak, sea weed, some grapes, but also some candied citrus fruit.

What I love is that it really is a typical Islay whisky without any weird cask usage and trying to hard to be something else. It’s a very clear and straight forward approach, and I love it. The combination of yellow citrus, peat and pepper works really well. I really love this one!

89/100

Available in the secondary market for about € 225 at the time of writing.

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Old Pulteney 15, 1997-2013, Bourbon Cask 1077, 58.3% – Hand Bottled at the Distillery

Posted on 10 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Even though I went to visit Old Pulteney in October, and bottled two bottles when I was there, I’m reviewing a different one. This one was bottled by Thijs (of Words of Whisky fame), all these years ago and has been sitting on my shelf for ages.

Of course, as things work with samples, there’s a ‘last in, first out’ system. So, when new samples arrived this got pushed to the back, and was completely forgotten about until recently. Well, to be honest, it was still forgotten, but found. Not remembered.

Image from Whiskybase

So, bourbon cask Old Pulteney. The type of cask that works best with that spirit, if you ask me. But then again, that goes for most distilleries and most whiskies. It’s a 15 year old, which is a good age at which the new make has sufficiently matured and the alcohol has mellowed, but it’s not typically so old that the cask dominates everything.

Sniff:
Hay and salt from the get go. Some lemon and vanilla custard too. Marram grass, sandy beaches. After that I start getting white pepper and oak. More vanilla after a while.

Sip:
It’s pretty sharp on the palate, with a lot of white pepper and heat. Very light on the oak and vanilla, a very light palate. It mellows after a little while and you get a very straight forward Old Pulteney with quite a lot of fruitiness on top of the coastal salinity. Some apple, white grape, pineapple.

Swallow:
The finish is rather gentle, with the fruit being present still, and the grassy, hay like notes being slightly less pronounced.

A very decent dram. Not spectacular, but one that is highly drinkable. The ABV holds that back a little bit, it’s a tad sharp on the palate. But the fruity notes are quite lovely. To be fair, this is textbook Old Pulteney, and that’s quite a good thing!

87/100

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Aberlour 12, 2006-2018, Barrel 102, 56.8% – Archives

Posted on 9 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

An older review today. Lately I’ve been emptying some bottles and a LOT of samples, ever since the beginning of the year. A couple dozen that I’ve gone through since were not reviewed here yet, and I even found some that I apparently reviewed in the past but hadn’t remembered.

So, today, a 12 year old Aberlour from Archives from back when I apparently didn’t just buy anything from Archives that falls within my price range.

Image from Whiskybase

Aberlour tends to be on the sweet side, and I tend to like sweet whiskies slightly less than the more hearty ones. However, when Aberlour is good, it is quite glorious. Let’s find out where this little Speyside whisky sits!

Sniff:
Very modern, very oak forward. Hints of vanilla and baking spices. A whiff of coconut, dry as well.

Sip:
The palate is rather strong, and fairly generic. It still does tick all the boxes of a whisky that should be popular. Lots of oak for a 2006 vintage, lots of vanilla and sponge-cakiness.

Swallow:
The finish is more complex with a shift to more spices, more wood influence without it being all about wood itself.

This whisky tastes like a very modern, very generic bourbon cask matured single malt. There’s quite a lot of vanilla and coconut, some to-be-expected spices and pastry notes. Nothing out of the ordinary, and it could also have come from a handful of other Speyside distilleries. It’s absolutely not a bad whisky, just quite generic.

And it’s modern. By that I mean it tastes a bit like it was made to taste like this with early-on cask selection. Getting a very active cask for new make spirit to direct it into a direction like this that has many fans. Contrary to randomly selecting casks when they’re ready and taste great.

85/100

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Peatside 10, 2011-2021, ex-Madeira Cask 5541, 53.2% – Kintra Whisky

Posted on 8 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Instead of ‘Tomorrow’ this review shows up 6 days after the previous Kintra Whisky. This one is an undisclosed whisky from a peated distillate. If memory serves even the bottler, Erik Molenaar, doesn’t know the distillery this whisky was made at.

Image from Whiskybase

Suffice to say that it’s not an Islay peated whisky, and personally, I wouldn’t be surprised if it turns out to be a Benriach, due to that fitting the character and the use of unorthodox casks.

Sniff:
Upfront there’s heathery smoke with a bit of salinity, but it’s not overly coastal. White chocolate with a hint of of rosemary. Hay and straw, a little bit of charcoal too.

Sip:
Pretty sharp and not with a lot of aging to it. Lots of sharp alcohol, surprisingly so for the ABV. Peat, some salt, straw, heather, rosemary. Almost no sweetness.

Swallow:
The finish is a lot softer. Quite short, with mostly smoke and barley.

It’s quite sweet, due to the Madeira casks, which shouldn’t come as a surprise. The heathery smoke is quite nice and the herbaceous notes are too. Quite a ‘French’ dram from a flavor perspective. With this costing about € 60 it’s well priced too, but if that would be a tenner or two more expensive I wouldn’t be as happy.

As in, it’s a nice whisky for its price point, but it’s a bit lacking in complexity to be more expensive.

85/100

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Lagavulin 11, Charred Oak Casks, 46% – Offerman 3rd Edition

Posted on 7 March 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, finally these have become available in The Netherlands. The previous two batches weren’t and that annoyed me to no end.

Me, in a non-specialist bottle-shop
Image from Whiskybase

And yes, I’m a bit of a Nick Offerman fan, and not just because of Ron Swanson in Parks and Recreation. Based on his books, and some of the talks he did (see Youtube for that) he’s a champion and we should have more people like him being celebrities instead of socialites like The Kardashians.

Anyway, Lagavulin. Celebrity involvement. Let’s go!

Sniff:
Apart from the obvious rich, peaty smoke, there’s a bit of a roasty note. Dark grains on top of earthy smoke and coastal salinity. Some vanilla and charred wood in the background.

Sip:
The palate brings a bit of bite, but is slightly more thin than I expected. Charred oak, roasted malt, beach bonfires. Quite earthy with a slightly sooty smoke.

Swallow:
The finish veers back to a more rich approach. Still dark, sooty and smoky, but with a hint of vanilla syrup. Quite long with a bit of black pepper on the back of your tongue.

I like that the charred oak gives a new dimension to the whisky without it diminishing the original character of Lagavulin. Especially since I tend to really like that character. And yes, in the final score there might be a point for Nick Offerman, but I think it’s a really good special edition of an already great single malt.

88/100

Still available for just under € 100

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