Glenglassaugh 2009-2015, 58.1% – Hand bottled at the distillery

Posted on 11 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Even though we didn’t go there in November, when we were staying in the north of the Speyside, I did happen to find myself with a sample of the then available Hand Bottled whisky. A good whisky buddy of mine brought it over from his trip in the same period.

While Glenglassaugh is both and old and a new distillery, their new whisky is still very young and the bigger releases have failed to impress me. It’s been ages since I tried some of the older bottlings from before 1984. They were rather affordable some years ago but prices have skyrocketed for the Eastern Highlands distillery.

When my buddy told me I could get a sample of a new Glenglassaugh I wasn’t immediately excited, but I know he knows his whisky (he’s got a massive Longmorn collection, focusing heavily on the sixties and seventies) it made me trust his judgement.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Very sharp on the nose. Ridiculously big on the fruit. Dried, mostly. Peaches, plums, dates. All quite familiar, but in an interesting way. Lots of tannic oak influence too, with some white grapes and granny smith if you take a bigger sniff. Carmel apple, with slightly burnt caramel.

Sip:
The palate is very thick and sweet, very caramel like. But also there are huge notes of oak and rather hot alcohol. Carmel apple, but mostly focus on the caramel. Very sweet with milk chocolate and mocha. After a few seconds a hit of chili pepper sets in, and then it gets dry.

Swallow:
The finish shows the youth of the whisky best. The rich spirit comes through more than before, but the caramel, date and plum notes are still huge. The oak manifests as dryness and some tannins.

This is a weird dram. The flavors are quite mature on one end, but the spirit and untamedness of the oak comes through in a big way too. The fruit is incredible, and I wouldn’t mind trying more of this than just a sample.

If you don’t like whiskies that taste hot, stay away from this one. The alcohol makes itself known and the young age at which this was bottles doesn’t mellow it out either. It surprising that this comes from a Hogshead and not some quarter cask or anything a lot smaller than 250 liters.

Hugely interesting, and very delicious. There’s a lot more flavor than I expected there to be and it’s all delicious.

87/100

Glenglassaugh 05/03/2009 – 2015, Oloroso Sherry Hogshead, 58.1%, Hand bottled at the distillery. It went for € 55 but it might not be available anymore.

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English Whisky Company, Peated, 55.2% – OB for The Whisky Exchange

Posted on 10 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I am a lazy slob.

So, that’s out there. Now you know. I am lucky enough to sometimes receive some trade samples for reviewing purposes, but my organizational skills are so poor that they become mixed up with all other samples. The result is often that I don’t review them in a timely matter or completely forget about them.

This happens to be one of them. What also didn’t help is that I’ve not been drinking much peated whisky over the last couple of months. Somehow I’m just not in the mood for it when I’m at home.

But, last Tuesday I decided it was high time to get some samples reviewed and out of the way. I’ve been picking the 3cl ones first, since I can finish them in one go without ending up with lots and lots of half emptied samples clogging the shelves. Any excuse, right?

This whisky was released somewhere in September or so last year, and Billy A. was kind enough to bring me a sample of it at Maltstock. He also brought the unpeated version, which I thought was awesome. Let’s see how the more popular peated one holds up.

Sniff:
Fairly strong smokiness on the nose, with lots of barley as well. A bit Ardbeg like, and by that I mean a very crisp and clean smokiness. Grass and some daffodils. In the background I’m getting some scents of sizzling bacon and maybe some hints of coffee. Quite sharp, but that’s not all that surprising.

Sip:
The first thing I get, even before the smokiness, is straw. The brittle kind, that gets dusty and smells like grains as well. So lots of barley, followed by that clean smokiness I got on the nose too. Some oak, and I’m not getting the bacon I found before. A bit sharp, but the sharpness is not very defined. White pepper like.

Swallow:
The finish might be even more sharp than the finish. The smoke is present too and it’s a bit sweeter than before. Didn’t expect that, and it’s going to sponge cake instead of fruit or anything else. Fairly long, but also quite simple.

I know a lot of people really loved this whisky when it came out. I think most people liked it more than the non-peated version that was also available (which I really loved). I still think the unpeated one is my favorite. This is a very good whisky, though. If you like the somewhat more gentle Ardbegs with the barley and straw forward flavors and things not being all about the smoke, this is a great buy, at a decent price.

I like the simplicity of the dram. There’s not much going on in the way of layeredness or depth of flavor. But, sometimes that is what you want. This one does barley, straw and smoke. And it does it tremendously well. Recommended stuff, this!

86/100

English Whisky Company, Peated, 55.2%, OB for The Whisky Exchange, still available for £ 62

Thanks to The Whisky Exchange for giving me a sample, sorry for the delay!

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Ailsa Bay, 48.9%

Posted on 9 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This, like last week’s Ladyburn, is a sample I got from Kevin Abrook during his Masterclass at Maltstock. Ailsa Bay is the newest malt whisky distillery in the William Grant & Sons company.

Ailsa Bay is built up as part of the Girvan complex, and was created to supply malt whisky for their Grant’s blended Scotch. I don’t think they initially planned to focus on it as a single malt whisky, but the first official expression was released a little while ago.

Mr. Abrook already brought us a sample of it in September so we could try it early. It might have changed slightly over the months before the official release, but the style should be very, very similar.

Image from ScotchWhisky.com

What’s interesting about Ailsa Bay is that they can make a lot of different spirits because of their setup. The styles are estery, nutty, fruity and heavily peated. This one is of the last kind.

This fact also makes it a very atypical Lowlands distillery since the regional style that has developed over the years is nowhere to be found. The aim of the distillery was to replace The Balvenie as part of their blends, since that distillery is becoming so popular for single malt purposes. The still have the shame shape as the ones in Dufftown.

Image from The Green Welly Stop

Sniff:
Smoke and peat, bigtime. Spirity too with some light spices. Quite sharp with some custard and ashes.

Sip:
The palate is sharp and some power to it. More than 48.9% made me expect. Quite hot with the alcohol. Smoke is actually the only flavor I’m getting. A tiny touch of barley, some oak. Very simple.

Swallow:
The finish shows a bit more depth and to the hints of smoke a whiff of diesel is added. Somehow it reminds me of Mezcal. Short and sharp.

This might not seem much of a review. However, I tried getting everything from the sample I could. There’s just not much there. I think the whisky does have potential but needs some more time in oak before it becomes a lot more interesting. Which it can.

The flavors show mostly smoke and the smoke is covering a lot of other things up. It’s not as refined or ingrained in the liquid as similarly aged Islay whiskies can be.

So, an interesting look into what they’re doing at Ailsa Bay and since it’s available for £ 51 I think it’s a nice and affordable way to get to know a distillery. What I hope they will do is release a similarly aged and similarly matured set of all four styles so we can compare the estery, fruity, nutty and heavily peated ones side by side. Now that would be awesome!

80/100

Ailsa Bay, NAS, 48.9%. Available for £ 51 at The Green Welly Stop.

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Auchentoshan 1990-2014, 23yo, 47.7% – Archives (Indian Ducks)

Posted on 7 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Auchentoshan and me have a bit of a weird history. Not a long one, mind. When I started my whisky journey and bought loads of starter whiskies, I really like Auchentoshan 10. Since there was so much out there, there weren’t many bottles I bought duplicates of, except for Lagavulin 16. So it was a couple of years before I got my hands on another Auchentoshan.

That was an 18 year old Sherry cask, which was quickly followed by the 17 year old Bordeaux cask, and the 16 year old Bourbon cask. After that, they’ve only come by in some bottle shares, or when I got a sample for reviewing.

A while ago, when Whiskybase’s 1972 Invergordon was released I ordered those. Whiskybase are a bunch of nice guys and they toss in a sample or two from their own Archives series most times. This time, it was this Auchentoshan.

Sniff:
Lots of straw and hay, some vanilla and grass. Quite spirity for a whisky of this age. Warm apples, but also some flowers, wild flowers. It get more and more perfumy as I let it sit.

Sip:
Sweet at first, and quite rich. Then I get white pepper and perfume. Oak, and flowers. Fairly sharp for the reasonably low ABV. Dry and dusty.

Swallow:
The finish is dry and dusty, and rather chemical. Sweet, with oak and perfume.

The nose started out pretty nice with straw and grass hints. Something you’d expect from a properly aged Lowlands whisky. Unfortunately, the dreaded perfumy notes come in after a little while. That seems to be something that’s plagued Morrisson-Bowmore in the eighties and to some extent, the early nineties. A shame, really.

So, as you might guess from the above paragraph, I’m not really enjoying this one. The perfume scents and flavors get the overhand quite quickly, and they don’t go away give time.

Obviously, if you happen to like those perfumy flavors, I know some people do, this is a great bottling for you. As for me, I’ll skip…

79/100

Auchentoshan 11/11/1990 – 09/2014, 23yo, Hogshead, 47.7% – Archives (Indian Ducks and Their Allies). Available from Whiskybase for € 135

Thanks to Whiskybase for putting the sample in with an order! Great service!

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Ladyburn 1974-2015, 40yo, 40.9% – OB for the Asian Market

Posted on 4 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Like all other whisky fanatics, I don’t have much experience with Ladyburn. This is purely due to a lack of availability, and the prices of what is available. The distillery closed in 1975 so you can imagine that now, 41 years later, not much is going around.

Ladyburn was a part of the Girvan distillery in Ayrshire, in the Lowlands. Much like Inverleven was part of the Dumbarton distillery and Kinclaith was part of Strathclyde.

All these distilleries closed down eventually, so from a longevity point of view it seems to be unwise to build a single malt distillery inside of a grain distillery. This is interesting since little under 10 years ago William Grant & Sons built the Ailsa Bay on the Girvan plant.

This all made the tasting at Maltstock where I got this sample all the more interesting, since it was focused around Girvan, the grain whisky and both the new and the old malt distillery. The next review will most likely be the Ailsa Bay whisky that has just been released. At Maltstock we got a nice preview of that.

So, a 40 year old Ladyburn which might very well be the last one I ever taste. Who knows. Anyway, it’s not often I get the chance so I was quite delighted with Kevin Abrook’s masterclass.

Not the exact bottling, but ‘Image from Whiskybase’

Sniff:
Slightly papery at first, but that might also be because the sample has been sitting for a while. After that there’s lemon and shammy leather. Lots of soft oaky notes. Some baking spices, but restraint. Restraint seems like a good descriptor for this whisky. Some chalk, but not gritty. A very light note of cold brew coffee in the background. Really well made and well balanced.

Sip:
Hints of white pepper, with some white oak too. Lemon, apple, slightly milky (sherbet?) and a tiny bit of sweetness. Some powdered sugar. A hint of leather behind it all. The milkiness turns a bit creamy, or the fruit syrupy. Great, but light flavors.

Swallow:
The finish shows more typical ‘oldness’ that white oak can show. The light spirit is not completely gone, I think, and it’s really well integrated with the oak. A long finish with slightly sweeter fruit, and some milkiness again.

Oh yes. Oh Yes! This is a really great dram.

If you’re into lighter whiskies, in a typical Lowlands style, this is a great one to seek out a sample of (I can imagine a bottle being too expensive at € 1500 or so.

The more heavy notes on the nose mellow out well throughout tasting this without the whisky feeling unbalanced or out of whack. There’s still a lighter note of leather on the palate and there’s a new milky note that becomes more prominent on the finish. As weird as leather and milk sound, it works like a charm (both come from the same animal, so…).

91/100

Ladyburn 1974-2015, 40yo, Refill Bourbon cask, 40.9%, OB for the Asian Market. RRP was some £ 1500, if I’m not mistaken.

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Craigellachie 2006-2015, 9yo, 64.6% – Hielander Whisky Festival 2016

Posted on 2 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This year saw the sixth edition of the Hielander Whisky Festival. A nice festival that I’ve managed to go to every year, and I hope to keep that up for a while.

Apart from being in a nice and spacious venue, without too many people crowding the stands, there is also a festival bottling available. So far I’ve never bought it, but with the annual Emakina whisky tasting just one week later, we (a colleague and I who host that tasting) thought it a good idea to pick this one up.

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of Craigellachie, but I can also not say I dislike them. There’s plenty of it going around but it’s not on my radar and I don’t think I’ve ever spent money on the brand before. Kind of strange how that works out.

This one, most likely from a refill bourbon cask if you ask me, is a youngster and a bruiser. It’s clocking in at 64.6%, so I wonder what it was casked at, but it must be at almost 70% or so.

Because of the young age and the ridiculous ABV I wasn’t sure what to expect. And to be perfectly honest, I wasn’t expecting a lot.

Image by Rob VergouwSniff:
Big and dry and meaty. There’s even some woodsmoke in there. A tiny bit of vanilla and lots of dry barley. It reminds me of barley stores in distilleries I visited. Very light, and the alcohol is not as prominent as expected, by a long shot. Bready too, but generally quite light.

Sip:
Here the heat came in full strength. Really strong, really hot, quite dry. Dry steak without frying it, pepper and salt too. Very dry and hot. It’s quite insane (and there’s already some water in it).

Swallow:
The finish shows the youth of the whisky with quite some spirit. Not much oak or refinement. Here I suddenly get some red fruit. Sweet strawberries or cherry jam.

A bit weird. Not quite appealing to be honest, with mostly a focus on the alcohol. Quite youthful and there’s some spirit flavors, obviously. Lots of heat from the alcohol that doesn’t dissipate quickly or with a drop of water. I feel a bit like the alcohol is the main selling point, and I’m not a huge fan.

Having said that, it’s not a bad whisky either. I think it should be a bit tamed, or get some additional maturation. Point is, I know quite a few people liked it, but it’s just not for me.

78/100

Craigellachie 23/10/2006 – 02/12/2015, 9yo, 64.6%, Hielander Whisky Festival 2016. It sold out before the festival, but came at € 85 (including two Glencairn glasses)

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Irish Single Malt Whiskey, 1988-2015, 26yo, 46.3% – The Whisky Agency for Taiwan

Posted on 1 March 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

For the last two years old Irish whiskeys have been making name for themselves. They more or less came out of nowhere, and I think the first major release was done by Adelphi with their Limerick whiskey.

Since then all bottlers have jumped on the bandwagon with varying success. I think the high times for this have already come and gone since prices have soared over the last year, with 20+ year old releases coming in at some € 150 at first, but by now another hundred bucks have to be spent to get something comparable, and often younger.

That’s not necessarily a bad thing, as long as you can try before you buy and if they’re really, really good. Unfortunately, after tasting through quite a few of them last year, I’m not overly convinced all that glitters is gold.

My favorite one is a release from Daily Dram from a sherry cask. I don’t have a bottle, but I did manage to get my hands on a sample of another sherry cask by The Whisky Agency, released in Taiwan.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Sweet at first, but turns herbaceous and spicy after a few seconds. Quite green with some sappy sweetness. Green malt and oak, quite distinct. A slight candy sweetness after a while again, but still with crushed leaves and moss. A bit of barley too, but not too much. Behind this it’s all quite typically Irish.

Sip:
Rather sweet with some spices behind it again. A hint of chili spices and some dry oak. The greenness is gone and it focuses more on barley. A hint of vanilla, and some other spices too. Baking spices, but I’m not sure which.

Swallow:
The finish is pretty intense with some spices and herbs. Peppery, but also leaves of some kind. Dry oak leaves as well as herbs. Quite dry, with oak and vanilla. Quite long and dry, with barley and that typically Irish lightness and sweetness.

Good but not great. I’m not picking up on the sherry, at least not as much as I would like and overall it’s a bit on the chemically sweet side. I think that’s one of the biggest pitfalls of Irish whiskey, that they’re too sweet.

In this case it’s not bad either, since there are loads of nice and interesting flavors to discover, but all in all, it didn’t really convince me.

87/100

Irish Single Malt Whiskey, 1988-2015, 26yo, Sherry cask, 46.3%, The Whisky Agency for Taiwan.

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White Oak 14 and 15 years old – Eigashima Shuzo distillery

Posted on 25 February 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Eigashima is a Japanese whisky distillery that I know mostly of their Eigashima releases in those small dumpy bottlings. However, they also have their White Oak brand which releases some single malts now and then, mostly limited edition that never really show up in Europa. ‘Really’ meaning that some people might buy them for auctions or they end up in shops, via all kinds of intermediaries.

What’s also interesting is that they use the White Oak brand to release both blended whiskies and single malts. Most Japanese distilleries, or companies at least, do something similar, but use different brands.

In this case, this means that if you want to buy a bottle of White Oak or Eigashima whisky, you should pay attention to what you’ll be getting!

I got samples of these two drams as part of a payment for a bottle of Hanyu I sold last year. I only got around to them last week when I felt like emptying some sample bottles again. I should do that more often, since there’s so much just waiting to be reviewed and the amount of wee bottles only seems to grow. First world problems, right?

White Oak 14 years old, White Wine cask finish, 56%

Sniff:
Very typically Japanese with huge flavors. Loads of leather and quite farmy. Putty, quite chemical, sulfur, massive. Cows. Iron.

Sip:
Strong, sulfur, with loads of oak. Quite Japanese. Leather, furniture polish, and quite farmy. Iron and mineral, flint,

Swallow:
Again, massive flavors. Oak driven, but not overly long. Wood, sweet, black cherries.

I’m not picking up on the white wine, except for maybe the dryness of it. But again, that could also be explained by any other cask used. Nevertheless, it’s a fairly great dram. Huge, bold flavors that might not be to everyone’s liking, but if you like ‘Japanese whisky’ as a category, this’ll do nicely.

Luckily, this kind of stuff is right up my alley!

89/100

 

White Oak 15 years old, Mizunara cask finish, Japanese market, 58%

Sniff:
Even more influenced by the oak. Lots of sharp sherry. Slightly bitter, baking spices. Really sharp with chili pepper. Almost hurts my eyes when I sniff the glass.

Sip:
Oak, sherry, lots of dried fruits. Bitter, but with dates and figs. Some prunes too. Then, more oak. Very dry, very strong, and quite bitter. The Japanese oak is noticeable.

Swallow:
Good finish. Really dry, really bitter, lots of fruit and mountains of oak.

Where the 14 year old had huge bold flavors, this is a kick in the nuts. The flavors are bigger and trump the other whisky quite easily. The 2.5 years finish in Mizunara is quite clear from the oaky bitterness and big wood flavors.

This is an awesome whisky. And it reaffirms my belief that I should pay more attention to Japanese whisky again, even though prices are ridiculous. Point in case: this 500ml bottle is available for € 400…

But still:

90/100

Both great whiskies, with one just being a little bit greater than the other. Ridiculously good stuff from this rather unknown Japanese distillery. Now, to keep my eyes peeled for new releases…

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Glenrothes 1990-2015, 24yo, 55.7% – Cadenhead’s Small Batch

Posted on 24 February 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another indie Glenrothes. That means there’s a chance I’ll actually like this. That’s overly cynical, but the general complaint from whisky lovers is that Glenrothes doesn’t do higher ABVs and focuses heavily on the ‘entry’ market by making just those overly friendly, lightly sherried whiskies.

In short, I never bought a bottle of official Glenrothes. And unless they change their regimen, I’m not likely to.

The indie bottlings however, can be quite epic. Especially if there’s some age to the whisky. Glenrothes can handle age quite well. This one is 24 years old, and from fresh sherry casks by the looks of it. The info only says ‘Sherry Butts’.

Ever since Mark Watt took over at Cadenhead’s they’ve been releasing some really good whiskies. Somehow I’ve not gotten around to buying any of them, but with the enormous amount of releases happening every month, that’s not too strange either. You just can’t get them all.

Sniff:
Mountains of sherry, with lots of fresh fruit. Peaches and nectarines. Some gentle cinnamon and caramel. Soft oak and a great not overpowering sweetness.

Sip:
Sweet caramel sauce. Quite a bit more fierce than I expected. Lots of fruity sherry (plums are added to the peaches and nectarines) but also some baking spices. The baking spices get more prominent, and the oak more pronounced after some swimming.

Swallow:
A rather powerful finish that’s more intense than I expected. Lots of oak and spices, but still quite fruity. Ever so slightly bitter, and quite long.

This one clearly migrates from mostly fruity on the nose to spiced and oaky on the finish. The palate nicely ties those two parts together. It works really well, and makes for an excellent whisky.

It is one for the sherry heads however, since the spirit is overpowered by the oak, but this being Glenrothes that’s not overly surprising. But, it’s a great one that I wouldn’t mind having a bottle of.

90/100

Glenrothes 24, 1990-2015, 55.7%, Sherry Butts, Cadenhead’s Small Batch. Sold out, but available in the Whiskybase Marketplace for some € 220

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Peat, Blended Malt, 59.3% – Elements of Islay

Posted on 23 February 2016 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Yesterday a surprise sample came in from London. It was sent by Speciality Drinks Ltd. I was going to say The Whisky Exchange since in everyone’s world they’re the same thing, but Billy keeps hammering at the difference during Maltstock and every other opportunity he gets.

Apart from companies within companies and their naming conventions, they also bottle some rather nice whiskies. I recently bought, shared and tried the Bw5, which is a 19 year old Bowmore if I’m not mistaken.

Since they’re doing all Islay distilleries and have been at it for a couple of years, there have been quite some hits, and there have been some misses too. Fortunately I’ve not had too many of the misses, but not all of them receive high marks. But still, a lot of them do. I fondly remember some Pe, Lg, Lp, Pl and Bw releases.

Now they’ve come up with this, their first blended malt in the Elements of Islay range. The cynical me is thinking they just threw together some leftovers from previous bottlings and some of their other brands (Port Askaig, Single Malts of Scotland).

But, when I think of it a bit longer, I guess they put in some more thought than that. While I might always like everything they put out, I do know they are going at it with a quality first point of view.

Sniff:
Full and clean peat on the nose. Slightly salty, with pear skins and burning straw. Rather smoky, but all very clean. A dry smokiness. After a while there’s a slight fishiness that develops. Like dried, smoked fish. I also get a strong scent of peat. Not in the regular way, but like you’re in a peat store and not in the kiln.

Sip:
Not as sharp as the ABV made me expect. Clean smoke and peat again. Some oak, but not much. Straw, some grass, a bit of vanilla sweetness too. Becomes more smoky after a while, and peaty.

Swallow:
The finish is gentle and smooth. Some vanilla and some sweetness. Some smokiness but slightly less than before. Quite a long finish.

This is a good whisky. It does exactly what you expect it to do, and I think it does it better than some of its counterparts. As in, I’ve never liked Big Peat, for example. There are big flavors in this one, but they are all very clean, and very straight forward. Apart from the cleanness (not cleanliness, that’s something else), there aren’t many surprises, but sometimes that’s fine.

What I find most interesting is that there’s so much peat scent and flavor, while the actual smokiness is kept in check. That doesn’t happen all too often.

So, a very well made blended malt from Islay, that also comes at a decent price? £ 35 for a bottle is very acceptable in today’s world of overpriced whisky. Kudos to Speciality Drinks and Oliver Chilton for getting this released!

87/100

Peat, Blended Malt, 59.3% – Elements of Islay. Available from The Whisky Exchange for £ 34.95

Thanks to Speciality Drinks Ltd. for sending a sample!

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