At some point I promised my wife that I’d stop doing bottle-shares for a while. I suck at keeping promises like that.
Here’s another two:
Irish single malts
Irish Single Malt, 12yo, The Nectar of the Daily Drams, 52.9%
Irish Single Malt, 14yo, The Nectar of the Daily Drams, 51.5%
10 cl of each for € 26, 5cl for € 13.
15 cl available.
BenRiach 25yo
BenRiach 25yo, 50%
BenRiach 25yo, Peated, 46%
10 cl of each for € 50, 5cl for € 25
35 cl available.
Please let me know if you’re interested!
Most people know I love Clynelish. Luckily, there have been a lot of awesome bottlings over the years varying from a couple years to a couple of decades old. In the last couple of years, the more recent bottlings that have been very popular have mostly come from 1997.
That means to me that when a new one from 1997 pops up, I want to try it. I missed this one initially, but since Serge sent me samples of his bottlings for the Liquid Art label, I get a chance after all. The obvious and massive drawback is that it’s long since sold out.
Generally, my preference goes towards bourbon matured Clynelishes, since sherried ones can quickly get gluey. I’ve tried a couple that were just plain weird and in which the waxy notes really didn’t combine with the sherry. On the other hand I’ve also tried The Whisky Exchange’s 18 year old, heavily sherried Clynelish from last year’s retro labels. That was a stunner.
This one then. There’s not too much info about it online, apart from it being a 1997 Clynelish. It doesn’t even say whether this is from a sherry or a bourbon cask, but if I had to guess it would be a sherry hogshead, or another cask made of American oak.
Sniff:
I think I get a clear sherry influence, with some added ‘greenness’, like yesterday’s Glen Elgin. With this that develops slightly different with a scent not unlike cooked vegetables. That’s a form of sulphur, if you care. It becomes more sweet after a couple of minutes with slightly spicy sherry. Spiced sponge cake.
Sip:
The palate is light but sweet and hot, with a flavor like manzanilla sherry (but what do I know). There’s oak and furniture polish. Dried plums and dried apricots, syrupy. But also with a hint of vanilla cream.
Swallow:
The finish becomes even sweeter and has flavors that remind me of Schwarzwalder Kirsch (Black Forest Cake). The German cake with black cherries. It’s a long finish.
I just read up on other reviews of this, but it seems Ruben and Serge and I have vastly different palates. Quite intersting, actually. Serge states it’s very waxy and while that wasn’t a note that was overly prominent to me, I do agree there’s some wax. He also notes a hint of clay, and that’s what I found interesting. Clay and sherry is probably what makes for that green note that sherry casks can sometimes display. I found it in my Auchentoshan 18, but when I last tried it last week I couldn’t really find it anymore.
Having said that, it means that whisky does change quite a bit in the bottle after there has been some air let in. Quite interesting!
Regarding the whisky. It’s good. I had to get used to that vegetable/clay note at first, but that doesn’t mean it’s bad. Far from it. I actually quite love this and, as with yesterday’s Glen Elgin, if it would have been available I’d buy a bottle.
The more gentle flavors from the sherry, combined with the big fruitiness of the whisky is pretty awesome. A kick ass pick by the guys at Liquid Art.
Clynelish 1997-2014, 53.3%, Liquid Art. € 95 upon release but long gone.
Thanks to Serge for the sample!
Liquid Art is a fairly new bottler from Belgium. A whisky guy I met a couple of times at Maltstock (Serge Reijnders) is part of it and was kind enough to send me some samples recently.
I just checked their website and they seem to be doing well since of their four current bottlings, three have already sold out. Not strange with two of those being a 1987 Bunnahabhain and a 1997 Clynelish. Those two will be reviewed shortly.
I’m not sure what it is with Glen Elgin. It’s one of those whiskies that’s always under my radar, even though almost all of the ones I tried were good to great. They seem to be a distillery that doesn’t get much shelf space in The Netherlands. I might have to visit them when I am in Scotland in November (yes, that has finally been booked).
Anyway, the Liquid Art labels are pretty ‘in your face’ with screaming colors that look more of modern art than of anything classically associated with whisky. This one shows a stag beetle in purple. While that is something completely different from what I’m used to, I kind of like it.
Sniff:
It starts of with straw and sawdust, then the heat of white pepper. It has a certain ‘green’ scent to it with plants, wet wood. There’s a light touch of hazelnut, oak and acorns. Later I get hints of dry leaves and autumn.
Sip:
The palate is very sharp (much sharper than <50%) with lots of peppery heat (the white pepper kind, so little flavor from that part), leafy herbs and plants, that green thing again. Acorns, autumn leaves. Quite spicy with again that hazelnut hint, Brazil nut as well this time.
Swallow:
The finish is rich and mellows quickly with flavors of oak and a hint of vanilla. Warm and long.
I wanted to state that this is a very classic whisky, but I’m not sure whether that’s true or not. That greenness is not something you come across often, and while it’s something unexpected, I really liked it. The flavor of oak was very specific too, in the way that I crossed out ‘wood’ for ‘oak’.
I really enjoy this whisky, I even tried it with water since I thought the palate was so sharp. Unfortunately that took something away of the green flavors in favor of more generic bourbon cask flavors of vanilla and pastry. While those flavors are nice, you can find them in practically any whisky so I enjoyed it more neat. Much more.
What’s even more interesting about this whisky is that the price was initially set at 75 bucks. For a 19 year old single cask I find that rather cheap and wish I had gotten myself a bottle.
Glen Elgin 19yo, 1995-2014, 49.3%, Liquid Art (Stag Beetle label). Sold out but went for € 75
Thanks to Serge for this sample. I loved it! You don’t have a bottle left for me, I take it?
Another sample I traded with whisky buddy Martin. Another one to open my eyes to my own mistakes. Strangely enough, I just read a post by ‘My Annoying Opinions’ on regretting not buying better whisky when it was still available. He states there is quite a lot of so-so whisky sitting on his shelf because he was more focused on getting a huge collection of different stuff on the shelf instead of buying quality. That.
Not that I, again, change my buying pattern. That would be far from credibly since I planned to do just that quite a few times before. Currently I’m on a ‘buy affordable stuff that’s good’ tour, and it suits me just fine. I will, however, check auctions for strange bottlings like Glenlochy, or Inverleven or Convalmore and such to pop up. Buying current things for current prices can always be reverted to as a back up.
As it turns out, I like old whisky. Not necessarily whisky of great age, but whisky as it was made in the 1970s and 1960s. In The Whisky Sponge’s recent April fools post in which he wrote a serious piece about the dumbing down of whisky he states that in yonder year whisky was far more diverse. Far more ‘of the land’ than it currently is.
Every time I taste a truly old dram (again, that Convalmore, Inverleven, this Glenlochy, but also old Glenugie and that 1968 Bowmore) I come to find I love particular flavors in those whiskies that you don’t find anymore nowadays. Or at least, they’re few and far between. Bowmore is getting that a bit again (the recent Rock Pool, or even the 100 Degrees Proof has a bit of that old style dirtiness in it). Some old Clynelish, Brora and Inchgower have that too.
Unfortunately, with current releases of such old whisky, the prices are WAY out of my league, plus by now those whiskies are so old that the wood completely dominates those flavors in most occasions. Especially if European oak was used in the maturation of said spirits.
Anyway, Glenlochy. Long gone, another victim of the 1983 closures. This one is a bottlings from a couple of years ago by Duncan Taylor under a label that correctly sets expectations on the price: Rarest of the Rare. Currently, the value sits at some € 400 according to Whiskybase, but I don’t have a clue how current that is, and how it performs in auctions.
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff: Sharp, hot, peppery and old. Dirty old. The good old. Dusty attics and dried, crumbly paper. That old Bowmore kind of sharpness that borders on ammonia. Curry spices, masala style if that is a thing. Green, wet tree bark. (The north side of a tree, if you know what I mean). Sip: The palate is sharp, but slightly less so than expected. Still hot and peppery though. Chili peppers and cracked black peppercorns. Dirty with a slight chemical note. That tingling ammonia feeling again (a guy I know would describe this as cat pee, but be in awe at the same time). Lemon candy, dry and lots of oak. Slightly sugary, brown sugar. Swallow: The finish is dry too, with that brown sugar again. Oak, pepper, lemon and long. Also, I get a strange flavor that reminds me of sponge. Not cake, just the thing you use when cleaning the car. This is an awesome whisky. Absolutely terrific and it surely packs a punch at 27 years old. I had expected it to be more tame than it actually is, but this is not necessarily a bad thing. The dirty flavor and scent is gorgeous, but there is so much more happening here that deserves attention. What also deserves my attention is my desire to own a bottle of whisky that tastes like this. The dirtiness, the lemon, the chemical whiff, the spices and the pepper. I love it all. The combination works great and it shows what a good bourbon cask can do (if this is a bourbon cask, but my money is on that). In short, this is the style of whisky that I need to add to my collection. Glenlochy 27yo, 1980-2007, 54.8%, Duncan Taylor, Rarest of the Rare. No longer for sale but used to go for € 400 a while ago.
Back in 2008 this whisky was released. Apparently the release was kind of a mess, since the price at which is became available was completely wrong initially. As in, while the RRP was set to some € 80, the first couple of cases were sold at just over half that. Luckily, I managed to get myself a couple of bottles, and some friends bought some too.
Back then there was still a Friends of the Classic Malts series. I’m not entirely sure when it stopped, but I do know that after this one there has been a Clynelish, and there’s been a Cragganmore but that might have been released earlier. Anyway, I’ve not seen a new one in The Netherlands for quite a couple of years. It was interesting though. A slightly different take on Diageo’s standard bottling of said distillery. I remember the Clynelish, Talisker and this one too.
Add to that that Lagavulin is one of my favorite whiskies and this one is a winner. Especially since I bought it at half price. That’s always good.
Sniff:
Rather typical of Lagavulin with a strong hint of thick wood smoke, more that than peaty. Also, there’s a hint of orange and Lapsang Souchong tea. The sherry influence is quite a bit stronger than in the normal 16 year old. It’s more on par with the Distiller’s Edition. The spirit is still recognizable, but there’s also a hint of wood.
Sip:
Strong, peaty, still quite young but also a strong oak influence. It wouldn’t surprise me if there have been some quarter casks in the mix or so. Orange and mandarin, peat, slightly salty. Quite delicious.
Swallow:
The finish gets even more fierce. The 48% is recognizable. As in, you feel it’s stronger than the regular 43%. It’s fairly long and the burning wood, peat and smoke notes are strongest. The orange and tea are still there, but subdued.
This, actually, is a gorgeous dram. While it now costs some £ 250 at TWE I would understand this being a hundred bucks nowadays. After looking it up at Whiskybase, I found that it’s still available in The Netherlands for some € 120. Prices vary, to say the least.
Apart from it being gorgeous, this was a fun release. It shows a slight variation on the rather one dimensional Lagavulin theme. Gorgeous whisky, just was standard release and the rest is premium. They’ve just tweaked this one enough to be interesting (younger, more spirity, stronger and more sherry).
The flavors are gorgeous, albeit not overly complex, but I generally don’t expect mountains of depth and complexity from a twelve year old. This one does what you expect it to do. And it does it well. Now, I’m off to finish the bottle.
Lagavulin 12, Friends of the Classic Malts, 1995-2008, 48%. Prices vary wildly so check Whiskybase.
Last year a friend of mine bought this Arran based on the good reviews Arran was getting in general. He was happy with this bottle and spared me a sample. By these means I can review yet another Arran!
Another sherry cask, just like Tuesday’s single cask bottling for Whisky In Leiden 2015, even another Sherry Hogshead. This one is slightly older though, at 16 year old instead of 14 years old, but two years are not a given for much more wood influence.
Last year, and this year, I’m not going to Limburg for the Whisky Fair because of conflicting plans and the last time I was there in 2013 it was WAY too crowded on the Saturday, which dampened our spirits quite a bit (pun intended). It was so crowded that you could barely get to the stands to see what was what so we ended up not tasting that many good drams, unfortunately. Well, until 5PM that is, because then people went out for food and we could drink a 1937 Glenlivet, and some really awesome Glenturrets, Glencadam by all kinds of bottlers.
Anyway, this one then. By the looks of it you wouldn’t expect too much sherry influence.
Arran 16yo for The Whisky Fair. Image from Whiskybase
Sniff:
The rather typical clean scent of barley that you come across often in Arran. I don’t think I mentioned this before but it’s always there in the background. Slightly mineraly and a scent of wet iron. The sherry is pretty heavy on the nose with dates and plums (opposed to Tuesdays slightly lighter notes). I didn’t know about it being American Oak but the scent tells you it is. Also pineapple, dried pineapple and some coconut.
Sip:
The oak is quite pronounced on the palate with lots of fruit and a big dollop of coconut. Quite sharp with chili peppers. Also the pineapple and dates are back. Minerals too, oak, and something greasy or at least thick and syrupy.
Swallow:
The finish clearly shows oak and chili pepper. Fruit, crusty bread and it lasts quite long.
My thoughts? This whisky is yet another step towards my fandom of Arran. They seem to have the longest uninterrupted streak at SMWS and the same is starting to happen here. I love what they’re doing in Lochranza and so far, I’ve loved everything I tried from them over the last couple of years. I’m a fan. I might even start collecting the stuff. In a way.
The fruits are slightly heavier in this one that in Whiskysite’s 14 year old, but they’re nicely counterbalanced by the American Oak and the combination of coconut, pineapple and the dried heavy fruits of the sherry works very, very well. In short: It’s awesome. But I like Whiskysite’s one slightly better.
Arran 16yo, 1997-2014, 50.1% – OB for The Whisky Fair 2014. Available at Whisky Fässle in Germany for € 79.
Bulleit Rye is a 95% rye whiskey from the United States, bottled (and blended) by Diageo. It’s one of their few American Whiskey brands but their working on more market share at the moment with their Orphan Casks series and other projects.
Currently there is no Bulleit Distillery and the contents are a mix from other places, stating Lawrenceburg, Indiana as its place of origin. That screams LDI to me, but as with many of LDIs products, it’s all pretty good.
The point of this is to say we don’t know a lot about this whiskey. It doesn’t claim to be a straight rye whiskey, so it could be very young (under four years old) or it can contain a tiny amount of flavoring, or both.
What matters, in the end, is whether it tastes good.
Bulleit Rye. Image from Whiskybase
Sniff:
It’s surprisingly crisp for a 95% rye whiskey, or any other rye whiskey for that matter. Loads of cereals on the nose, and it does smell young and sharp. Sharper than expected at 45% ABV. There’s quite some baking spices, all spice, ginger snaps and a hint of apple too. A touch of pepper pops up if you give it some time.
Sip:
Mostly spicy with pepper, allspice with loads of ginger. Apple, pear skins. Sharp and crisp as on the nose. It does get a bit sweeter after a couple of seconds of swimming.
Swallow:
The finish is extremely cereal like. Here the rye flavor pops up, I didn’t really get it before. Spices, apples, pear skins, ginger. Cookie dough and shortbread.
Another thing I don’t usually add to reviews is this. I brought this on our family weekend in February to make Sazeracs. This is by far the most awesome whiskey I’ve ever used for that, and by now there’s been a few. Sazerac, Dutch Rye, Rittenhouse (both the regular one and the Bottled in Bond) and probably some others I’ve forgotten about.
This one is great because of its fierceness and the crisp flavors. Absolutely gorgeous, and ridiculously tasty and moreish.
This whiskey in general is pretty good for the € 30 or so you’ll send on it. Prices vary wildly from € 27.95 to € 36.95 which is a lot as a percentage. Anyway, if you’re even remotely into rye whiskey, I think this is a staple you’ve got to at least have once and see where you can go with it. It works in cocktails, it can stand up to a chunk of ice and it works neat as well. I’m getting a new one as soon as it’s empty, which it almost is. It goes fast if you churn out 15 Sazeracs, all using 3cl of it.
Bulleit Rye, 45%, € 30 at De Whiskykoning.
When the year started I announced how much smaller my collection had to be by the end of the year. Then, as more people were planning such escapades there was a twitter hashtag with updates on emptied bottles. I posted there too but haven’t in a while.
March, obviously, was not spent detoxing but things went as they also do. With a dram here and there. I managed to go through some samples and some bottle ends, sometimes by hilariously underestimating how much booze fits in the bottom centimeter of a bottle, and thereby drinking quite a bit more than I anticipated.
By sometimes drinking too much on a school night, I managed to finish:
(Apparently, I forgot to review the Hibiki and the P&M…)
Also, I went through some samples. Some commercial ones and a couple I traded or bought myself. In both categories were some awesome ones with one review pending for tomorrow.
Let’s say it hasn’t been a bad month. My whisky collection is shrinking nicely and almost needs a shelf less than it did when the year started. Of course, I’m nowhere near completion and that still is going to be challenging. But, when I finally get around to hosting that Bottoms-Up tasting I’ve been planning it should all work out, or at least help tremendously!
Also, just to rub it in. Some of these whiskies are bloody awesome. I’ll miss the Clynelish and GlenDronach most I think. And of some of those samples I wish I had a bottle…
A rather stunning whisky shop in Leiden has been running its own festival for a couple of years. Every year, of course, accompanied by a festival bottling. I seem to remember a cracking Clynelish from a couple of years ago (split cask), and this year they’ve just released a bottling from my new favorite distillery (that’s a growing list, yes), Arran.
They decided to have a sherry hogshead bottled (#2000/128) in February, just 14 days before it would turn 15. This most likely has to do with the deadline for the festival, and apart from a number it probably doesn’t change a thing.
Somewhere in my mind there’s a slightly nagging little voice that tells me I would have prefered a bourbon cask but that is just based on one pair of bottlings done last year in October by Van Wees, the Dutch imported of Arran. They then released ‘The White Wizard’ and ‘The Dark Lord’, respectively from a bourbon and a sherry cask. That bourbon cask is awesome. I still haven’t reviewed it, but I wish I had bought more than half a bottle…
Anyway, a new bourbon cask is bound to arrive in The Netherlands and I’ve already been in touch with the importer to secure a pair of bottles from it. Fingers crossed for success on that front.
This one then. A sherry hogshead so I expect a combination of sherry and American oak goodness. 55.7% is pretty steep, but nothing unmanageable.
Sniff:
It’s quite mellow and waxy at first, with a hint of peaches on syrup behind it. Some hessian and pepper follows. Quite sharp with nice dried fruits, but those notes are rather faded. I find this surprisingly waxy, especially for an Arran. Some honey, beeswax. Quite sweet so no candles or anything like that.
Sip:
The palate is surprisingly soft at first, but there’s quite a lot of black pepper that starts biting after that. It’s still waxy but less so and there’s a touch of sherry and bitter caramel now too. Still quite sweet and fruity. Peaches, apricot and plums. The oak is quite light and the fruit gets bigger and bigger if you let it swim for a while. Mostly peaches and apricots after some 15 seconds.
Swallow:
The finish is heavier on the oak. The oak, peaches and wax make for a syrupy after taste. There’s also sweet caramel and it goes quite far to ‘stroopwafels’. But with extra flavors. Dessert like and really drinkable. Much more gentle than the peppery heat that suddenly popped up on the palate suggests.
I expected much more sherry, much much more. There’s just not that much of it, which I like. It’s a sherried whisky alright, but it’s not doling out raisins and dates and figs everywhere. It’s more the gentle hint of fruits with some peaches and apricots in the mix. Mostly behind that you’ll find American oak goodness like beeswax and honey. Surprisingly, no vanilla.
The dessert like caramel on the finish is lovely too and even though there’s lots of different flavors going on it doesn’t feel all that chaotic. It’s more like progression from A to Z. In short, this is a lovely dram. And for ‘just’ € 60 it’s very affordable for a cask strength, limited release from a distillery themselves (that not being an Indie bottler).
Get one while you can!
Arran 14yo, 24/2/2000 – 10/2/2015, 55.7%, Private Cask for Whisky in Leiden 2015. Available only from Whiskysite.nl for € 60
The last one of the three samples I got from Wemyss, and if the online availability is anything to go by, this is a cracker. It was released last week on Thursday or Friday and has already sold out. And that at € 150 a pop.
Bowmore has been in a love/hate relationship with me for a long time. When I started with whisky I was never a fan, except for the occasional bottle. In general I didn’t think much of it for quite a while. When I started with whisky a decade ago, most ‘aged’ Bowmores were still from the 1980s and as you might know, that wasn’t a very popular period for Bowmore to be from.
In those days, even though the tour guides will tell you nothing has changed in 200 years, the whisky was hideously perfumy. Laundry detergent and softener, mountains of lavender and violets. Just no. It’s not for nothing they’re described as having too much FWP (French Whore Perfume).
Recently, more or less anything that was distilled after 1990 and hasn’t been finished in some weird wine cask, has been awesome. From their more or less 6 year old 100 Degrees Proof, to Tempest, Devil’s Cask and Laimrig. It’s all A-level whisky. Let’s see where this one sits!
Sniff:
The name ‘The Rock Pool’ does not need explanation with this baby going the way of sand, salt and minerals. Very much rocks on the beach. There’s quite some peat but it is light in kind. Not all encompassing. Heather is there too and a slight hint of lavender, but nowhere near 1980s levels. Apart from the ‘crisp winter morning’ scents of the rock pool, there’s also something warming with a tiny hint of bourbon cask maturation quintessentials. Some caramel, vanilla and pastry.
Sip:
It’s pretty sharp on the palate, but that’s no surprise at 57.2% ABV. The minerals are here too, backed up by the Bowmore style of peat. Heather, salt, marram grass/sand reed, but the minerals lead the charge. The pastry and caramel are a bit stronger here, but the vanilla isn’t. Cookie dough, with a touch of sugar.
Swallow:
The finish is slightly more wood driven with the puff pastry and cookie dough being more prominent. It’s rather long with hints of salt, heather and minerals sticking around, as does the peat.
This is a gorgeous whisky. When I found out about the price tag I was bummed out since I reckoned that would be too much for any 19 year old Bowmore, but today I regretted to find out it has all gone. Maybe just as well, since my wishlist is already nigh endless.
The minerals and heather flavors are no stranger too Bowmore, but it generally is much more wood driven and I like the fact that this one isn’t. I normally don’t mind for, say, The Tempest since that screams ‘American Oak’, this one is much more timid in that area.
The flavors are just gorgeous, wintry and crisp. I think they suit the distillery very well and I hope to find many more of this kind of Bowmore. This stuff is just awesome.
Bowmore 1995-2014, 19yo, 57.2%, ‘The Rock Pool’, Wemyss.
Thanks a million to Wemyss Malts for sending this!
Malt Fascination 