Ardmore 1996-2013, 43% – Gordon & MacPhail

Posted on 30 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another one from the ‘The Wood makes the Whisky’ campaign. It’s bottled under G&M’s retro label series, in which they bottle whiskies with labels used by the distilleries decades ago.

A 16 year old Ardmore (or maybe 17, that’s not disclosed) means that it’s a decently aged peated highlander. Some sources name it a Speysider, but just like GlenDronach they officially fall just in the Highlands.

It’s not a distillery I’m hugely familiar with, although I’ve tried quite a few over the years. Normally, the whiskies from Ardmore are a bit middle of the road, even though they are ‘peated’ Highlanders. Peated is, of course, subjective and it means something entirely different than it means on Islay. On islay Bowmore is considered lightly peated at 25 ppm phenol or so, while Ardmore sticks to 12 to 14, if my sources are correct.

Sniff:
A diesel like hit of smoke hits me first. Behind all that is a layer of old fashioned oak, with hints of barley. Quite sweet with some dried fruits, peaches and apricots. A slight hint of glue behind it all, but not in a bad way. It adds a bit of contrast. Some licorice too.

Sip:
Like with the earlier Speyburn, there’s quite an old fashioned oakiness about this. Again, it results in a rather peppery palate. The smoke adds a bit of sweetness that’s interesting, but never overpowering. The sweetness also has a bit of dried peaches.

Swallow:
The finish goes back to the diesel kind of smokiness. Slightly oily and thick too, but with a hint of pepper and a good bit of oak. Not much fruit here, except for a minor hint of peach. Quite long, and the smokiness lasts.

I enjoy the smokiness in this one. It’s, once again, quite old fashioned and the smoke is big and oily. Very different from the far more briny kind of Islay smoke. Good stuff, and it shows that Ardmore is actually quite an interesting distillery.

While that sounds very positive, there’s a big side note. A lot of goodness is in this whisky. A different kind of smokiness, some good old fashioned flavors, a combination of peat and sherry, and so on.

However, I think this one is all a bit, well, average. I tried this little over a week ago and can barely remember it, while yesterday’s Speyburn is still fresh in my mind (I tried that in the same sitting). I think the problem with this Ardmore is the same as with many others: it’s just a bit forgettable.

84/100

Ardmore 1996 – 15/11/2013, Refill Sherry hogsheads, 43%, Gordon & MacPhail. Available for highly varying prices (€ 62 to € 82)

Thanks to Gordon & MacPhail for the sample!

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Speyburn 1991, 46% – Gordon & MacPhail

Posted on 29 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Upon launching their ‘The Wood makes the Whisky‘ campaign, Gordon & MacPhail have sent out quite a few samples to bloggers around, well, Europe I guess. In the past I’ve reviewed a couple of them, but it was about damn time I did some others. They don’t send samples out to be kept quiet about, right?

I initially thought this bottling was done for La Maison du Whisky in Paris, but upon doing some more research, I find it’s a regular release in the Connoisseur’s Choice range. Speyburn is not a big name in whisky, although the guys from the currently-under-construction Dornoch Distillery seem to like it. At first I thought they were joking, but I’m not so sure anymore.

What Speyburn does is focus on malt. And being old fashioned about it. Maybe because they don’t do many fancy high exposure releases they’re a bit of an underdog. If I had known about this dram before, that would have changed for me.

Sniff:
Very malty, that’s the first thing that will surely hit you. Then you get minor hints of oak and dried apple. Ever so slightly minty as well, and maybe some crumble pastry. Very old fashioned and quite rich, even though it’s not overly complex. What’s awesome about it is that it’s completely unpretentious, and it reminds me a lot of ‘whisky’. As in, it’s more or less the quintessential scent of whisky, and that’s great.

Sip:
Tingling with peppery hints. Mostly black pepper, maybe a bit of white for added heat. Malty again, including wet husks and hay like notes. Slightly more oaky than on the nose. Crumble pastry, apple, dried apple. The pepper keeps building and makes the palate surprisingly hot. After a couple of seconds a wood and straw dryness sets in.

Swallow:
The finish feels a bit oily at first, but quickly comes back with a more mellow version of the palate. Malt, oak, some minor fruity hints and pepper. Quite a long finish, but it’s mostly the dry barley and pepper that linger.

I really, really love this dram. What helped, maybe, is that I went in completely without any expectations since I don’t have any positive or negative prejudice about Speyburn.

This one just works. And it works well. As said in the tasting notes it’s more or less the base flavor of whisky with lots of malt, and slightly minor hints of oak and fruit. The combination of flavors is spot on and makes for an awesome sipping whisky.

Still, while being fairly straight forward, there’s just enough to discover to keep you occupied for a while. Simply spot on.

90/100

Some others like it quite a bit less than I did, however (whiskyfun, whiskynotes)

Speyburn 1991-2015, 46%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur’s Choice. Available for € 131 at Best of Whisky in The Netherlands

Thanks to Gordon & MacPhail for sending this sample. Much obliged!

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Benromach 2006-2015, 61.8% – Handfilled at the Distillery

Posted on 24 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

When I was at the distillery in November last year, there was a bourbon cask available for hand filling. This is not that cask. This is the (comparable) cask available at the distillery at the beginning of 2015.

The handfilled Benromachs are, as far as I know, always bourbon casks of a fairly young age. They know people are willing to spend when at a distillery since they get away with asking £ 60 for a bottle. And for that money you also have to bottle it yourself.

Still, when I’m at a distillery, things have to be very odd indeed for me to not pick up the handfilled that’s available. The main reason, obviously, is having tasted it and not liking it. Or having spent too much already.

So, an eight year old Benromach from a bourbon cask. That means it’s distillate from under the G&M management. Let’s see how this one fares with their principles of old style distilling!

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
It’s really sharp, but that’s not surprising at almost 62%. Light tones of oak and vanilla. It’s quite green too. Mossy trees, green barley, that kind of stuff. Earthy with barley and a light hint of spices. It does need some time to open up but when it does it becomes a bit better balanced and a bit more rich. Pear peels and star apple.

Sip:
The palate is where this whisky drops the ball. Because of it being so young and so high in its alcohol, there’s not much else to discover. It’s very light and dry and sharp. Vanilla, oak, vanilla and pepper.

Swallow:
The finish is also very light with lots of vanilla again. Slightly flat and not very long.

As you might have guessed, I’m not a huge fan of this one. From my point of view, when making such a single cask available, it should represent what you’re trying to achieve with the distillery and the plan behind your production regimen. I don’t think they’ve done that here.

The whisky is ridiculously sharp, hot and dry because of the alcohol. This is not necessarily a problem, but if you only let it mature for eight years, those alcohols can’t lose their rough edges yet. I think this could have been something if they let it sit in a cask for a couple of years more. Like, til it was 15 years old or so.

Benromach 12/06/2006 – 19/02/2015, Bourbon cask, 61.8%. Handfilled at the distillery in 2006. While this is sold out, handfills at Benromach go for £ 60

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BenRiach 1995-2014, 18yo, Port Puncheon, 53.5% – OB for Whisky Weekend Twente

Posted on 23 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Those private casks for festivals and clubs always go in waves. Over the last couple of years it has been Bowmore, GlenDronach, Ledaig, Glenfarclas en also BenRiach. Now, with BenRiach it’s not very surprising since they always do a lot of single casks and private bottlings, but around 2013/2014 almost every festival and country/importer seemed to have their own bottling hitting the shelves.

Of this one I got a sample last year and it has been patiently waiting in a box with all its brethren. I only now looked it up and found out it was from a Port Puncheon instead of a sherry cask.

It was bottled for the Whisky Weekend Twente festival, in the east of The Netherlands. It’s one of the smaller festivals, and surprisingly (or maybe not so, in a market that’s stretched thin) there are still bottles available at decent prices.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Really rich and heavy, with a cloyingly sweet warmth. Dark bread and leather, maybe slightly rubbery even. There is some fruit in there, but it takes forever before to show up. It’s sweet and tropical when it does. Mango, banana, papaya.

Sip:
The palate is really feinty. There were some indicators of that on the nose, but it continues here. A whiff of peat with oak and that heavy cloying sweetness again. Some cracked black pepper. It’s dry and heavy, and surprisingly sharp for an 18 year old. As in, it starts smoother but builds up some bite.

Swallow:
The finish continues down the same alley as the palate, with a focus on the feinty flavors. There’s flavors of dry oak and alcohol. Big, heavy and rich.

It’s a bit of a weird one, this. I don’t get any indicators of port. At least, it could just have just as well been sherry. There’s some fruit on the nose, but the overall focus is on the feinty notes. Oak, alcohol, leather, peat, pepper. It’s all very heavy and sort of dirty as well.

Having said that, it’s a dram that I would not regret buying had I done so, but now that I’ve tasted it, I know I won’t rush over to any web shop and chuck it in a digital shopping cart. The price is right for an 18 year old, and I know there will be enough people liking this, but I think I’d get tired of it far earlier than I would finish the bottle.

84/100

BenRiach 1995 – 02/2014, 18yo, Port Puncheon 3696, 53.5%, OB for Whisky Weekend Twente. Available at DrankGigant for € 84.50

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Glen Garioch 21, 43% – a retry

Posted on 21 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

When I was at the Hielander Whisky Festival in 2015, I tried a Glen Garioch 21 year old as my final dram of the afternoon. At least, I seem to remember it as my final dram.

Anyway, I loved it. It was a thrilling drink and it had the typical combination of highland peat, spices and subtlety. I needed to try it in a more sober state of mind, so I got myself a sample from someone on Facebook.

That was, to say it mildly, not the whisky I remembered (review of that sample here). Was I so far off my marks that I remember a FWP-y dram that fondly? Was I drunk? I needed proof, so I contacted the guys who I got the dram of at the festival and I got myself a new sample at Maltstock.

So, here we go for a retry.

The interesting bit is that they’ve changed the label a couple of times over the years. There also has been a special edition to commemorate the birthday of Queen Elizabeth II. The one I tried earlier was bottled about ten years ago. I think the one I’m about to review here is from the same label period, but has been bottled about a decade earlier.

So, from the dreaded eighties distillate (at least in Morrisson-Bowmore whiskies) we move back a decade into the seventies. That should make a huge difference in quality, but ‘should’ never brought us much unless it’s been tried and proven.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
It’s quite pungent and far less gentle than the previous one. Quite smoky and malty. There’s a significant hint of black pepper and oak. Ever so slightly floral, but without any of the FWP stuff from the eighties. Old oak, some spices and wax. Rich and complex.

Sip:
The palate is somewhat lighter than I expected, but the age shows nicely. Oak and pepper. A light smokiness with some bitter spices and a bit of sweet, dry malt.

Swallow:
The finish is more floral than before, but also shows more malt and straw. Quite rich and long, with hints of oak, malt, and beeswax.

Well, this is in an entirely different league. The previous one was quite hideous, in my opinion. This one isn’t. It’s also not as epic as I seemed to remember it, although if I would have gotten this in an auction I’d be quite satisfied.

The balance is pretty great and luckily they didn’t get that FWP infection here. So no cheap perfumy hints that remind you of fabric softener here! The other flavors might be similar, although I think the smoke, oak and malt work better in this one than in the more recent bottling.

Recommended if you can get a sample, and I might be looking for it in an auction. If I ever get it, I’ll share it 😉

88/100

Glen Garioch 21, 43%, bottled in the late nineties.

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BenRiach 1985-2010, 25yo, 48.1% – Liquid Sun for Japan

Posted on 18 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Back in 2010, when I bought this bottle I wasn’t entirely sure about my purchase when I finally got it in. A random BenRiach from a random bottler, from a random cask. Should I have done this?

I kept doubting for quite a while before I decided to finally open the bottle last summer during my Blog Birthday Bash with a dozen or so fellow drinkers. It was received positively and I was happy again.

BenRiach from a good bourbon cask can be awesome, but it can also be quite mediocre. Which is obviously the case for all whiskies from all kinds of casks, but in this case the label just said ‘Bourbon Hogshead’, with no information on the times it had been filled before. Generally that means refill, and sometimes these don’t impart any flavor at all if they’ve been used too often.

This one, however…

Really enjoyable. A bit younger tasting than it is

Really enjoyable. A bit younger tasting than it is

Sniff:
A bit of vanilla, but it’s not overpowering everything else. Lots of fruit and straw with pineapple and apples and pears. Quite some oak, but again, not overpowering. Slightly milky and creamy. Late in the game I get lychees too.

Sip:
The palate is light, but rich in flavor. As in, the flavors are light flavors, but there’s a good lot of them. Vanilla and chalk at first. Then some licorice, pineapple and apple. Lychee, straw and grass come back too. I get Granny Smith flavored candies too.

Swallow:
The finish is surprisingly dry with chalk and straw. There’s oak too and barely any vanilla here (woohoo!). Quite long, with some hints of sawdust.

By now the bottle has been emptied. I used in said tasting, sold and traded a few samples and had quite some drams from it myself. It was gorgeous. There were some hints of vanilla but they weren’t overpowering so it was acceptable.

The fruit from the spirit and the interaction with the oak worked wonders and the result was a fruity and fairly timid dram. The dryness from the straw and chalk flavors added a bit of depth.

In short, I really loved this whisky. Liquid Sun apparently know what they’re doing, which is not surprising since it’s part of The Whisky Agency.

89/100

BenRiach 1985-2010, 25yo, 48.1%, Bourbon Hogshead, Liquid Sun for Japan. Available on the Whiskybase Marketplace for € 220 now

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Bowmore, Bw5, 50.2% – Elements of Islay

Posted on 17 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Although there’s no official age on the bottle, and most distillers want us to be led by flavor nowadays, The Whisky Exchange has disclosed the youngest whisky in this bottling is from 1996. At the time of bottling, this made it 19 years old.

So, a 19 year old Bowmore, heavily lead (most likely) by mid nineties distillate. That means I should like this with my fandom of Bowmore from that era, right? I’m somewhat less of a fan of the prices that bottlers are asking for 1995-ish Bowmore nowadays, with non-cask strength versions often clocking in at € 150.

This one was at that price point too, but it stands out a bit less since the bottle is only 50cl.

In general, the Elements of Islay range has bottled from pretty good whisky. A lot of it is quite young, by my estimation, and some are not all that interesting (Br, Bn, Ar), I also know quite a lot of the others that I really loved, mostly from Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Port Ellen and Port Charlotte.

Sniff:
Very crisp, grassy smoke. Wet straw and hay too. I also get ‘litterbox’, which in case of Bowmore is a positive thing, like the next ammonia note is. Star apple and a light smokiness. It’s floral too, but only slightly perfumy. Very gentle.

Sip:
Again, that crisp floral smoke is back. Some ammonia again, and some oak. Star apple, normal apple. Light, but complex and spicy.

Swallow:
The finish is gorgeous and full. Complex with hints of heather, oak, smoke, star apple, hay and some spices.

This is exactly what I hoped it would be. Absolutely gorgeous flavors, even if you don’t get overly thrilled by litterbox and ammonia. In this case, trust me, it’s what made Bowmore famous, in a good way.

The combination of those scents, with the light smoke and the fruits makes this an incredibly well balanced whisky with lots of flavors to discover. If Bowmore at around 20 years of age starts tasting like this from now on, they are on to something.

In a way, these mid nineties Bowmores are a bit reminiscent of sixties Bowmore. They’re obviously nowhere near as good, but the same flavor profile is coming back a bit. They needed that after the atrocious eighties and the FWP horror that came out of that decade.

It also makes Bowmore stand out from the crowd. They seem to be carving out their own little niche of Islay, with them not hopping on the big peat bandwagon. By that I, obviously, don’t mean the blended whisky from Douglas Laing, but the ‘let’s bottle every drop of really peated firewater we can get our hands on trend’ that seems rampant at the moment. I think only Lagavulin is also in that little club.

I’m not trying to diss other distillers on Islay, but with so many releases coming out it’s hard to find the good ones. At least from Lagavulin I can simply buy everything I like since it’s always good (so far), and from Bowmore that is becoming more and more the case too.

Anyway, rating this:

90/100

Bowmore, Bw5, 19 years old, 1996 and older, 50.2%, Elements of Islay. Available from The Whisky Exchange at £ 84.95 (for 50 cl)

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Old Hermitage Rye Whiskey Reserve, Pre-prohibition rye whiskey

Posted on 16 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I’m no buff on old American whiskey, but if I get the chance to try one I will. This, however, is only my second sample of such a dram.

A couple of years back I wanted to get into bourbon a lot more, but that was before prices rose to ridiculous levels. Back then you could get a Pappy 15 for under € 200, and the Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye was only € 65 in the shop.

But, a whisky buddy of mine, MZ, got in touch with Joshua Gershon Feldman of ‘The Coopered Tot‘ who is big on old American whiskey and the history that comes along with it. He got a sample of this sent to him and was kind enough to share it with me. Well, we traded, my Glen Grant 1950 for this. A good deal, if I may say so.

What Joshua could tell me is that this bottle is bottled by W. Bixby, which only started bottling Old Hermitage after 1909 (before that it was H.B. Kirk). He also knows of bottlings from 1915 and beyond that have a capsule on the top. This one didn’t have a capsule. That averages out at it being bottled in 1912 or so.

It was distilled by Hermitage distillery in Frankfort Kentucky, which didn’t make it past prohibition. In those dark days it was converted into a chair factory. The facility was razed in 1945.

Sniff:
Soft rye notes, with bread and a sweet hint of corn. Slightly burnt crust of a loaf of bread. It’s spicy and maybe minty. There’s a certain roundness that is remarkable, and it feels quite old.

Sip:
A lot sharper than expected (no ABV is on the label), and rich as well. Sharply spicy. Rye, mint and pepper (both black and red). Quite a lot of oak influence with some corn sweetness too. Charcoal, and syrupy sugar. After a few seconds I get honey coated almonds, those rock hard ‘candy’ bars.

Swallow:
The finish mellows quickly and is very smooth. A lot more focus on the rye and its spices. Long.

This is something remarkable. The previous experience I had with pre-prohibition whiskey gave an awesome nose but had gone completely flat on the palate. This one shows no such tiredness. While it does feel old, it feels old by means of there being surprising amount of depth and it doesn’t feel very manufactured.

The corn is quite sweet, but the focus is on the rye throughout. The mint and pepper spices work really well and are for more balanced than they normally are nowadays, I think.

Quite a league apart from anything I’ve tasted before. Not necessarily better than everything else, but vastly different. Highly recommended if you can try something like this sometime.

93/100

Old Hermitage Rye Whiskey Reserve, Pre-prohibition rye whiskey. Probably over € 1000 now.

Images and background information: Josh Feldman.

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Coleburn 1983-1998, 15yo, 43% – Signatory Vintage

Posted on 15 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Coleburn is one of those obscure Speyside distilleries that hasn’t gotten very popular even though it’s closed and every bottle from the place is limited. That has worked for almost all other distilleries, but this one.

So, when I got a chance to trade some samples with a guy from my town, and this one was in the bunch, I took it. I like to get to know these older whiskies from yesteryear before they are all gone or too expensive to get my hands on.

Anyway, Coleburn. Situated on the road between Elgin and Rothes, we drove past it last November. Unfortunately we couldn’t see the place since it’s behind a tree line and the only thing you get to see from the main road is a few houses that are, I guess, part of the old distillery complex.

Coleburn was part of the United Distillers conglomerate until its closure in 1985, when they also closed a lot of other distilleries. The slump of the eighties wasn’t kind on the Scottish whisky industry, as you probably know.

Let’s see if they were right to do so!

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Ooh! That old Highland scent that I’ve also found in eighties Clynelish and Inchgower. It happens to be something I really, really love. Old wood, with some sweetness to it. Old leather, and other really classic notes. Furniture polish and resin.

Sip:
The palate is a little less exciting. The flavors are also very old fashioned which is quite charming in its own way. Oak, furniture polish, dried apple and some nuts. The resin is here too, which is a good thing.

Swallow:
The finish is surprisingly rich for a whisky at 43% (it also wasn’t the first dram of the evening) with some hay, pepper and menthol. Resin, pine wood and needles.

Seriously, this is a really good dram. It’s not overly complex although the finish does add some really nice flavors that were far less pronounced on the palate and nose. I love these old and old fashioned notes that can be quite prevalent in Highland and Speyside whiskies.

The resin and other pine notes make the finish a bit more interesting than it would have been otherwise, so a bit of extra points there. The only negative I can think of is that it’s not as layered as I would like it to be.

88/100

Coleburn 15yo, 20/04/1983 – 30/09/1998, cask 209, 43%, Signatory Vintage.

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Springbank 2000-2015, 15yo, Port Cask, 50.9% – OB for Awico

Posted on 14 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I generally like Springbank, both for their whisky and the way they’re doing business. Most of their stuff has an age statement, most of their whiskies are at least sort of affordable.

They also do quite a few private casks. Our club had a Longrow club bottling a few years ago, and I’ve tried some other private casks over the years. On Facebook someone was selling part of his collection of Springbank 2000 Port Cask bottles, and I made sure to snatch one up, for a bottle share of course.

Obviously these are not the cheapest of bottlings, but they tend to show a rugged version of Springbank, which I happen to like. My favorite private bottling of the distillery still is a 10 year old bottled for The Ben Nevis club in Alkmaar (if I got my facts straight).

Anyway, a port cask sounded interesting, and I love Springbank. Cask strength, some age, all things to like!

Sniff:
Despite Port casks not always being overly clear in a whisky there is a certain, undeniably Port influenced mustiness in this whisky. It’s really heavy and big because of it. Stewed cherries and berries, quite a bit of oak and also dry leather. A sweet syrupy scent as well. In the background I get some mineral like scents, like corroding iron and slate.

Sip:
Big, heavy and sweet with stewed red fruits. The heavy kind like blackberries and cherries, not like strawberries and such. Oak, sugar syrup, some nuts as well. Maybe more nutty than leathery. Musty though, and that iron like note makes it sharp.
After a while I get cracked black peppercorns too. Those add to the strong wood notes.

Swallow:
The finish is quite big and has some dry notes. Walnuts, dry port. Not necessarily the flavor, but the texture. The flavor has those nuts later, and oak. The fruit is gone, and the sweetness is more like spiced cake. A fairly long finish with an ever so gentle note of smoke.

Not my favorite Springbank, and maybe not even my favorite Port matured Springbank, but a fair try nonetheless. Interesting at the price it was going for through the secondary market. The € 200 on Whiskybase would mean overpaying, by a fair margin.

The sweet notes are interesting since they’re a bit fruity, but also quite nutty and woody. The mustiness is not unexpected, but it might be a bit too forward.

83/100

Springbank 05/2000-07/2015, 15yo, Port Hogshead, 50.9% – OB for Awico. Available for € 199 at Whisky Hort in Germany

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