Millburn 1975-2001, 25yo, 61.9% – Rare Malts

Posted on 17 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Millburn is one of those distilleries that you don’t come across often. I think most bottlers have had a bottle or two in their day, but it’s never been a high roller. I only ever had one bottle of an awesome 33 year old by Blackadder, and tried some samples here and there.

Apart from that I’ve tried another Blackadder, and some Rare Malts editions. There might have been others but those were from before I started blogging. That means it’s more than five years ago, and not well documented (not at all, to be honest).

I drove past the distillery two years ago when holidaying near Inverness. The distillery is a restaurant now, called The Auld Distillery. Apart from the fact that the buildings are interesting to spot, I don’t care much about ‘walking the premises’ when there’s not much to see anymore. Brora, for example, is different since most things are still there and you actually walk the ruins.

Anyway, Millburn. A blender’s whisky, as were most when the closings of 1983-1985 happened. This one fell victim to the economic troubles of the early eighties which, in a way is surprising. They still needed blenders whiskies, and this distillery was fairly large and well located close to water and main roads.

Image from Whiskybae

Image from Whiskybae

Sniff:
A massive drop of fennel at first. Surprising, since I generally don’t find it in whisky, especially not in whiskies which have some reputation. In this case it’s not a bad find though. It’s a bit like a few of the Boutique-y whiskies, but not as first and all-encompassing. Alcohol, mint and oak. After a couple of minutes it gets a lot better and the fennel wears off. Freshly herbal with mint, peppermint oak and fresh barley.

Sip:
The palate is dry and sharp (as most of the Rare Malts are). There’s crusty bread, barley, oak and no fennel. Some vanilla, some black pepper, alcohol, pear peels, but mostly spicy.

Swallow:
The finish is very classic and old fashioned. Barley, oak, alcohol, bread and dried mint leaves. Tea, some vanilla. It mellows rather quickly.

It’s a bit of a weird whisky, this one. The fennel at the start takes some getting used to, but it’s not too bad. After that it becomes a very classic style whisky with lots of barley and oak. The kind you find more in the Rare Malts series (Hillside and Glen Mhor come to mind).

As with many of the Rare Malts, the ABV is high, and it’s a hot whisky. As in, there’s quite some impact from the alcohol. If you expect this it’s not too bad, but it is a bit much. It can do with some water, but I’m afraid it drowns quickly. The flavors aren’t very big and rich to begin with.

So, concluding, it’s a very nice whisky, but not one for daily drinking (especially not at current prices). It takes some time to properly appreciate this, but it can really shine if you know what to expect and are able to enjoy that.

Millburn 1975-2001, 25yo, 61.9%, Rare Malts. Available for € 650 at Best of Wines. (probably cheaper in auctions)

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Glengoyne Cask Strength Batch 3, 58.2%

Posted on 15 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This review deserves an introduction.

A while ago I was interviewed for Dutch whisky magazine ‘Whisky Passion‘. The interviewer (also a blogger) was writing an article on whisky blogging versus ‘old fashioned’ whisky writing. He also interviewed Mark Dermul, and told me he was planning to make the article into a short series with other bloggers as well.

To get some interaction between print and digital media going he also gave Mark and me a sample of this whisky to review and publish our notes on the same day. Which, obviously, is today.

Now, to not make an ass of myself, I tasted this whisky twice to make sure I got as many notes and references as possible, and to see how consistent I am. I know I’m not all that consistent, based on my Rosebank 25 experiment a year ago.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
The first you’re going to notice is the sherry. As with most Glengoynes there’s a lot of it. Not in a ridiculously overpowering way, but there’s a lot. Some spices and a heap of dried fruits. I get peaches, apricots, plums and dates. I’d put my money on Oloroso sherry. There’s a strange hint of something cheese like, in a good way. That might be the yeasty quality of the sherry. The spices are mostly black pepper, and I get a hint of flint.

Fun thing, I got the dark dried fruits (dates and plums) in the first try. The peaches and apricots in the second.

Sip:
The palate is more gentle than I expected of a 58%+ dram. Lots of fruit and sweet sherry again. Some spices, baking spices, pepper. Apricot, peaches and plums again. Very sweet, very fruity, very tasty. I’d say they used some old and new casks in this to get the combination of strong spirit and old sherry together. Slightly creamy.

Swallow:
The sherry is very prominent here. Full and sweet, more of a PX style than Oloroso. Creamy, dried fruit, pastry cream. Quite dry and long.

Almost every distillery is releasing a NAS cask strength whisky nowadays. GlenDronach is also doing things right, according to all the reviews, and I think Glengoyne is a worthy competitor. The style is different but the sherry and high powered ABV works very well in this case.

The whisky is incredibly fruity, with enough spices and oak to balance it out a bit. If you don’t like sherry, this isn’t for you, though. I do like it. And I do like this dram. A lot. Especially the gentle dried fruits and surprisingly smooth palate make this whisky a cracker.

Glengoyne Cask Strength Batch 3, 58.2%. Prices are around € 50-55 in The Netherlands

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Caol Ila 27, 1983-2011, 53.1% – Whiskybroker.co.uk

Posted on 14 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This is one of those samples of which I had totally forgotten it existed. Recently when we moved some furniture around I had to shift some boxes and decided to go through a bunch of samples. This is one of them. I don’t mind finding the odd Caol Ila from the early eighties.

In a way, this is whisky distilled in a period in which Caol Ila was trumping Port Ellen, according to Diageo’s predecessor. They decided to close Port Ellen in favor of Caol Ila, in any case. Of course, the fact that Caol Ila was a far newer plant with higher efficiency and more option for expansion will have had something to do with it.

I think I got this sample from GJR in a trade years ago. I also think it might have been swapped for some Bladnoch Forum samples of old Caol Ila. I used to have a 25 year old and a 30 year old from those guys. The 30 year old is nearing its end and I finished the 25 year old a couple of months ago.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
The main things that hit me right away is salt, brine, heather and smoke. The brininess makes it almost fishy. There’s also some dryness and a hint of milk chocolate. Slightly milky and oily as I’d expect from Caol Ila. Gentle smoke, and quite Port Ellen like with hints of shammy leather and Napoleón lemon candy.

Sip:
The palate is relatively sharp with white pepper, and dry shammy leather. A slight sweetness is here too, but it’s almost overpowered by the salty, sandy notes. An Islay beach, so to say. Some light bitter notes of coffee, old smoke, old Islay. Oily hints again.

Swallow:
The finish is long and a tad more simple. Smoke, heather, brine and classic Islay peatiness. Restrained peat at that.

I love old Islay whiskies. The restrained smoke, the lightness of it with the almost ‘Lowlands’ character behind all the salt and peat flavors is generally great. This is no exception.

In short, this is a great, great dram. It might not have the same fan base as Port Ellen, but Caol Ila is not a whisky to scoff at, especially from the early eighties or even older. I love this stuff. Also keep in mind that this stuff sells for far less than Port Ellen, especially from Indie bottlers.

Caol Ila 27, 1983-2011, 53.1%, 12/10/1983 – 21/03/2011, Hogshead #4819, Whiskybroker.co.uk

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Dumbarton 1986-2011, 51.5% – Scott’s Selection

Posted on 13 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Dumbarton is one of those grain distilleries you don’t across often. You don’t across any of them often, but compared to the others, Dumbarton is kind of obscure. They’re only getting more obscure anyway, since the plant was demolished in 2005 after being closed in 2002.

Apparently there’s also an official bottling, so all others (28 of them) are indies varying from the early sixties to 1987. However you put it, this is rare stuff.

I had already forgotten that Inverleven, on which I blogged a while ago, was inside the Dumbarton complex. Those guys made things complicated.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
There’s lots of vanilla and quite some oak. Especially for a not-too-old grain whisky the oak is quite prominent. Light, sweet and a tad spicy. Clove, and something dusty like an old attic. Some hint of alcohol and it’s a bit more sharp than I expected. Spiced cake, that brown Christmas cake stuff. I don’t get any fruit, though.

Sip:
The palate is nicely spicy with a touch of alcohol heat. Some white pepper, sponge cake and vanilla. Soft apple is there now, with lots of oak. It’s sweet with a hint of brown sugar.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly thin with a bit of heat from the alcohol at the start. Vanilla, sponge cake, some spices. Not a very exciting finish.

This is an interesting dram. While for a grain whisky it’s not very old, a lot of them clock in at 40-something years old, it does show some depth on mostly the nose. The palate is pretty good too, and it’s just the finish that I think lets me down a little bit. It’s a bit generic, to be honest.

The nose shows a most depth but even there it’s not overly surprising. It is, however, a good combination of flavors. Good, but not great.

Dumbarton 1986-2011, 51.5%, Scott’s Selection

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Jura 18, 1992-2010, 52.8% – Duncan Taylor Rare Auld

Posted on 12 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Thank goodness they still exist! Jura bottlings from indie bottlers that are not heavily peated!

I have been trying to get hold of a good Jura bottling without any peat in it, but it seems I’ve missed my moment when the Bresser & Timmer 1988 TWA bottling came out. I should’ve gotten that. Nowadays, every time an indie Jura comes out it’s another heavily peated one. I don’t like that. I like to taste more of the distillery character.

The same goes for Bunnahabhain, by the way. Apart from those really old ones there so much heavily peated stuff going on that I just stopped caring at some point.

Anyway, when I saw this one sitting on MZ’s shelf I knew I wanted to try it. Mostly because Jura is an underdog and I don’t get to try many of their bottlings. Especially properly ages ones without peat in them, as said. I like to search for good ones. Some distilleries do that to me. Wake up that ‘I want to like a whisky from an underdog’ feeling. Fettercairn is another one.

Anyway, 18 year old Jura. Not heavily peated. Let’s go.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
It’s heavy, feinty and oily. Just what you expect from Jura. Because of additional oak influence it’s miles ahead of many younger official bottlings. The bourbon cask influence is clear, but not overpowering everything. It just evens out the roughness Jura sometimes has nicely. Old oak, rags, dirt, copper polish, oiled steel. Also some corky apple, molasses, treacle and a very light touch of smoke. Some straw in the end.

Sip:
The palate gives me a lot of sugar. Maple syrup maybe? Oak, barley, some alcohol bite and it’s sweet. Very sweet. The engine / steel / copper polish scent is gone. Old apples and pears.

Swallow:
The finish show a bit more depth than the palate with something heavy. Leather, among other things. A lot of sugary sweetness till. Barley sugar. Some honey and it’s quite long.

This whisky can be reviewed in two ways. On its own it’s an interesting dram that mostly shines on the nose. After that it’s far less interesting and calms down to a more easy going, slightly too sweet dram that has drawn too much sugar from the oak.

In another light, if compared to the regular affordable Juras out there, this really shines in all possible glory. Most official bottlings up until the ‘several hundred bucks’ bottles are just not very interesting, if they’re actually any good at all. The Boutique Casks seem to be the exception but I’ve not had them yet.

The nose of this whisky is really awesome. The sweetness is present there too, but with all that feinty stuff going on with oiled steel and copper polish I’m really loving this. I could nose this for an hour straight (I did). It’s a shame the palate doesn’t live up to the expectations.

Jura 18, 1992-2010, 52.8%, cask 5917, Duncan Taylor Rare Auld

PS: It’s funny how standardized the label is. Not one centimeter apart it says both “Matured in oak casks” (plural) and above it is “Single Cask”.

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Longmorn 1976, 32yo, 54.7% – Wild West Whisky Fest

Posted on 11 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Right. The Wild West Whisky Fest. As far as I know this was a short lived whisky festival in Belgium, finding its roots in the VCWC (which is the bottler, sort of) meaning the Van Compernolle Whisky Club.

I believe the name of both the festival and the club is part of some inside joke which I read about years ago and haven’t heard of since. I don’t really care enough to start digging through the annals of the internet to find out either. Lazy me.

I got this sample a couple of months ago from club buddy BvdP when he came by to collect a sample of my SMWS Mortlach. Kind of him to do so, since he was buying the sample!

Anyway, old Longmorn. I’ve never spat in that and I’m not about to. Most of the times you get to try this it’s fairly awesome. Sometimes a bit woody but I can handle quite a bit of oak. Let’s see where this one goes.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
It has quite some bite with lots of oak. Just on the verge of being too oaky, but not quite there. Light caramel and baked apple. Cinnamon, brioche buns and brazil nuts. It does get a bit drier after a little while with toasted oak. Some peach and apricot too.

Sip:
Again, that bite. For a 32 year old it’s pretty high on ABV, but in a good way. I get oak and spices. Marshmallow! Nuts and toasted oak, cinnamon, apple. Burned sugar and caramel, a slightly bitter note too. Honey and heather.

Swallow:
Here the more recognizable sweetness of well aged Longmorn is more clear. Brioche, honey. A bit of bitterness from the oak and a pith like flavor. Quite nice! Again, some peach, apricot, plum and that hint of baked apple is back too.

Well, damn. This is a really, really good dram. Not to say great! It ticks all the boxes old whisky needs without being overly ‘library like’. I enjoy that flavor of old books and leather as well, but it tends to overrule a lot of the depth in some drams and here it’s barely even present. So, a 32 year old that’s still feeling young. Like me last year.

As said, it’s a great whisky. I love the combination of wood spices, fruits and maltiness (the brioche buns). Even the strange and not-often-found marshmallow flavor is nice. All in all, a great pick from our southern neighbors!

Longmorn 1976, 32yo, 54.7%, cask 5895, VCWC for Wild West Whisky Fest. No clue to the current value.

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Glen Garioch 1990-2015, 25yo, 56.7% – Usquebaugh Society

Posted on 10 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

As I’ve probably mentioned earlier, our club is celebrating its 25th anniversary this year. On March 11th 1990 two whisky drinkers from The Netherlands decided it was time to bundle their strengths into a club. The Usquebaugh Society was born.

Now, in it’s 25th year we’re the biggest whisky club in The Netherlands with a slowly rising number of members currently sitting just over 400. The 25th anniversary needed to be celebrated.

Apart from all kinds of events through the year (a heap of small tastings on March 11th, a whisky party in June, a whisky dinner coming up in September) there also had to be a bottling. We do that every year and this year was going to have to be special.

The age was the easiest thing to focus on so we set ourselves a few parameters:

  1. The whisky had to be an exclusive bottling for us
  2. The whisky had to be distilled in 1990
  3. OR the whisky had to be 25 years old (which could also be a 1989 vintage)
  4. The sample for tasting had to be a bottle

The last one is always proving to be difficult since most tasting samples are much smaller than that and not everyone is willing to make an exception. We ended up with four samples:

A Bladnoch 25 (first place contender), this Glen Garioch 25, a Strathmill (atrocious stuff, this one) and a grain whisky from, I believe North British. The last one turned out to not be an exclusive so that didn’t really have a chance.

The Glen Garioch it was. For the club I’ve sent out some samples and it’s getting great reviews. So far Ruben, Oliver and Mark have written about it and it’s scoring either 87 or 88 points which makes us very happy!

Sniff:
Some alcohol at first but it’s soon replaced by heaps of caramel and a tinge of salt. Quite buttery (Wherther’s Original) with a tiny hint of lactic acid, in a very interesting way. I get apples, lychees and not a lot of oak for a 25 year old. A hint of old leather shoes at the end.

Sip:
The palate brings sawdust, alcohol and pepper, caramel and butter. Caramac bars. Sweet and salty at the same time. A bit of fruit, banana and peach. A bit more oak here, and tree bark.

Swallow:
The finish steps up the oak again, with soft tree bark. Salted caramel and slightly burned butter. Banana and other sweet fruits.

It’s a funny thing, picking a cask for bottling. I’ve done this with a heap of others for the club a couple of times now (this year we were with 40, last year with 60) and it’s not getting easier. What happened every time so far is that I’ve liked the bottling better after it was bottled than when selecting it. I guess tasting a whisky for review make me a tad less critical than when I have to actually influence the final pick.

So, when it was selected I was slightly enthusiastic, but not more. Then I tried it again in June at our annual whisky party and I like it a whole lot more. I’ve tried it a couple times now and it’s really growing on me. It’s not the most complex dram ever bottled, but it sure as hell is a tasty one!

The score of 87 or 88 seems justified to me!

Add to that that it’s 25 year old single cask Glen Garioch, bottled at cask strength for a hundred bucks, and I’m a happy camper. Glad I got one. I might get one more (this means it’s still available, here)

Glen Garioch 1990-2015, 25yo, 56.7%, cask 7937, Usquebaugh Society. Sitting at € 99

Insider trading: The number of bottles on the label is wrong. There’s 228 instead of 288.

Posted in Glen Garioch | Tagged , , , , | 4 Comments

Prichard’s Tennessee Whiskey, 40%

Posted on 7 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

It’s a bit of a long story for Prichard’s in The Netherlands. They’ve been trying to get a foot hold for a couple of years now with stands at festivals and a couple of liquor shops supporting them. Unfortunately for them, so far it’s not been getting them much.

Apart from the odd newsletter and some exposure on festivals, I’ve not heard or seen anything of them. No shelf space, no people actually buying a bottle. I tried some of the whiskey a couple of years ago, but I don’t remember it sticking with me. I think I tried the bourbon, rye and single malt.

Anyway, I found a sample of their Tennessee whiskey in my stash. I don’t remember who I got it from or when, so it might have sat there for years.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
It’s very sweet, almost like a liqueur. It reminds me of JD’s Tennessee Honey. So, a lot of honey that is. Also some corn sweetness and sweet oak. I also get a note of mint. A somewhat deeper, heavier note in the background. Hessian or something.

Sip:
The palate is a bit more spicy than I expected. A bit of black pepper, cinnamon, ginger. Again, a LOT of honey and a bit of oak. The heavier note is gone, as is the mint.

Swallow:
The finish is practically the same as the palate, but maybe a bit drier and slightly less sweet.

I’m not sure what to think of this. In a way it’s a tasty drink, but it wouldn’t surprise me if this was a liqueur. It’s not, obviously. As a whiskey, I think it’s a bit too sweet and a bit too simple. I can imagine this becoming quite nice if it is allowed to pick up some more bitterness from the oak.

So, I’d say this is a work in progress with potential. In its current state I wouldn’t spend money on it, though.

Prichard’s Tennessee Whiskey, 40%. Available for € 45 at DH17

Posted in - American Whiskey, Prichard's | Tagged , , , | 1 Comment

Glenlossie 1992, 21yo, 54.4% – SMWS (46.26 – Killer Bee Surf Wax)

Posted on 6 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I’m not 100% sure where they’re coming from but I’ve got quite a lot of SMWS samples lined up. Most are from bottle shares done by BC, but some come from elsewhere. Anyway, generally I like the whisky with a miss sometimes in the mix.

From all distilleries that I can have, I had a Glenlossie sitting in the cupboard. It might have been a couple years since I last had a Glenlossie and it’s not a distillery that’s on my radar. Not sure why, but I guess because there’s not much coming from there in the form of single malts.

Anyway, ‘Killer Bee Surf Wax’ promises wax and honey. Let’s see what they’re up to.

Sniff:
It’s rich and woody with lots of straw, hay and grass. Quite some dough and malt with a touch of vanilla and pound cake. Somehow I found this one to be a bit tough to dissect. A bit Mortlach-y.

Sip:
The palate is dry with dough and malt again. Oak, vanilla and lemon, pastry dough, sand dough. It’s sweet with brown sugar and a hint of pepper. It’s rich but gets sharper if you let it swim.

Swallow:
The finish isn’t overly long with more vanilla than before. Still bread dough and shortbread. Maybe a touch of Scottish tablet. More smooth than the palate.

I’m not entirely sure what to think of this one. Well, I know the name doesn’t make sense once again. I think the case with this whisky is that it’s forgettable. I tried it last week and I didn’t even remember trying it until I saw the tasting notes in my booklet.

The flavors, when reading back, are nice enough but not in a way that it’s a highly unique whisky. Somehow, that happens a lot with SMWS. The booze is not often bad, most of it is good and sometimes there’s a truly great one in there. But, there’s also a lot of things that are quite forgettable. Shame, but not strange if you bottle over a hundred casks per year, and have been doing that for more than three decades.

Glenlossie 1992, 21yo, 54.4%, Refill Ex-bourbon Hogshead, SMWS (46.26 – Killer Bee Surf Wax). It used to cost some 100 bucks.

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Highland Park 1986, 25 years old, 54.1% – Malts of Scotland Amazing Casks

Posted on 5 August 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This is bound to be a good one for multiple reasons.

First, it’s a Highland Park. Second, it’s from Malts of Scotland AND they’re calling it an Amazing Cask. Third, it’s 25 years old, which seems to be a rather sweet spot for Highland Park.

This whisky was picked in 2012 by Thomas Ewers and Luc Timmermans. Mr. Ewers is one of the guys behind Malts of Scotland and Luc Timmermans used to own the brand Thosop, has some ancient Glenfarclas to his name and is now very involved in the Eiling Lim bottlings (Eiling Lim is his wife). Two lads with some good hooch to their name.

I was able to get a sample from whisky buddy MZ, after I went to his place for a night of awesome drams. I tried it then, but wanted to do a proper review and therefore liked to try again.

Image from Whiskybase

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
The nose starts with oak and straw. There’s a light hint of smoke with some herbs and leaves. A touch of heather and grass come next, with a hint of crusty bread and dried thyme. Chalk, apple and pear show up later, after a couple of minutes.

Sip:
The palate is still pretty sharp, after 25 years. Dry with white pepper and some alcohol burn. Light smoke, light vanilla, some herbs. Heather, straw, and quite some oak. Later it becomes a bit more sweet with hints of pear.

Swallow:
The finish has a bit more vanilla than the palate had, but the oak and heather are still present. Not dry, but still quite herbaceous. Pretty long.

I think the name ‘Amazing Cask’ is well earned. This is a great whisky from a distillery that lives up to its name. In a way this isn’t the most complex Highland Park I’ve ever had, but the balance of it is just awesome. None of the flavors overpower others, and while there is some bite to it, it’s not burning too much. Just enough to make you realize you’re drinking a cask strength whisky.

This, once again, is one of those whiskies I didn’t buy when it came out, even though I knew I probably should have. Somehow, Malts of Scotland is not really on my radar, and again, it should be. Their normal level of bottling is pretty good, and if a brand that’s above average starts shouting things like ‘Amazing Casks’ I think I should pay attention.

But, to put things in perspective… It’s currently available in Germany for € 350. That is too much for this. It’s a great dram, but not in those leagues, I think. The initial price was some € 160 which was a steal.

Thanks to MZ for the sample! I loved it.

Highland Park 1986, 25 years old, 54.1%, Malts of Scotland Amazing Casks. Currently available for € 350

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