Malt Fascination

BenRiach 2005-2014, 9yo, Peated, Virgin Oak finish, 58.7%

Posted on 27 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

My father in law has a developed a taste for Virgin Oak matured (or finished) whiskies. Over the years he’s gathered a few here and there with the idea of hosting a tasting for us at some point. That hasn’t happened yet, but I wanted to have a contribution to that event available too.

When BenRiach released this one last year I was interested right away, since I also tried one that was a couple of years older at the distillery. That one has been bottled for Denmark in 2013 and I don’t think there’s a web shop that has it available. It isn’t even in Whiskybase.

Anyway, this youngster had been waiting to be opened for a while and I decided to do just that this week. I don’t really know why I thought it a good time to open a bottle again, but it turned out to be a fine experience. One done with a bit of TLC.

Sniff:
There’s a lot of peat. It hasn’t had time to be tamed in oak yet since it’s not even ten years old. The virgin oak shines through with big hints of vanilla, but also has some floral scents. Plants, freshly sawed oak, and a hint of milk. Some heather too. The smoke has a much more mainland character than Islay whiskies.

Sip:
The palate is very dry but not too sharp, even without water. Smoke and warm oak. Vanilla, cookie dough, heather and plants. Peat, earthiness. The oak is quite different than I’m used to.

It reminds me of the tree trunks around our school yard. The brushes were thick and wet, which caused a layer of green, thin moss to grow on the north side of the trees which smelled a bit like this whisky. I don’t generally get those flashbacks based on scent, but this is one of them. I had to look it up on Google image search, but the trees were poplars.

Swallow:
The finish is somewhat greener and long. Plants and wet moss and tree trunks again. Wet oak, a lighter smoke, freshly chopped down trees.

With all the moss and swamp-like flavors and earth going on it is a bit of a dirty whisky. Maybe it’s because of the moss-on-poplar scent, but I really like this one. I know it’s not a ridiculously great whisky, but it sure is tasty and displays some interesting flavors that I’ve not come across all that often before. In that way it’s a very interesting addition to my collection and at the price it cost me (some € 65 I think) I’m happy I made the purchase.

It obviously also helps that I rather like BenRiach. I’m not much for wood finishing in all kinds of wine casks, but the virgin oak direction I find highly interesting. The fact that this one is peated too also helps. Not that I’m still very much in love with peated whiskies, but in this case it gives me a new experience.

BenRiach 2005-2014, 9yo, cask 3781, Virgin American Oak finish, 58.7%. Available at Master of Malt for € 70.80

Posted in BenRiach | Tagged 2005, BenRiach, Cask Strength, Peated, Single Cask, Speyside, Virgin Oak | Leave a comment

A weekend in the Ardennes with the in-laws

Posted on 25 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The radio silence on every bit of media except some ‘Facebook liking’ was caused by a weekend in Belgium, nearby Durbuy. I’m not entirely sure if you can call a Friday to Wednesday period a weekend though.

My mother-in-law and father-in-law (the latter being largely responsible for getting me into whisky) organize a family weekend every year and a half or so. It started with some anniversary about five years ago and since then we’ve gone back to the same spot a couple more times.

There’s a lot of good stuff about the weekend, but as with many festivals, I’m going to stick to some photo updates from my phone.

Emptying a staple on the first night.

Farmers in Belgium charge per kilo for ‘rape’

Snow!

Quite some beers during dinner

Unpredictable pool situations

With an even more inexplicable result

Pulled Pork.

No comment. This was from one day (8 people involved)

Good pickings. Quite the luxurious cabinet

Another game of pool with Westvleteren, and baby monitors.

And some heel slaying #1

And some heel slaying #2

Posted in - News and Announcements | Tagged Holiday | 1 Comment

Auchentoshan Silver Oak, 21 year old, 51.5%, Travel Retail ‘only’

Posted on 20 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Yeah. Auchentoshan. The darling distillery of Toshan Man Mark Dermul. He’s also the guy I bought this sample of. I’ve had some good ones, but there are also some lesser ones and when this one came out a couple of years ago I thought it was a good idea to try and understand why Mark is such a huge fan.

He has admitted it’s not the best whisky in the world but he still clings to his fascination for it and, obviously, there are some awesome ones out there. He even manages to do an annual birthday tasting of just Auchentoshans for an entire evening. That seems like a tough one to keep interesting to me.

Anyway, this Silver Oak release from 2012 was done for Travel Retail and consists of American bourbon casks and some Oloroso sherry casks.

The triple distillation should give us a rather clean and fruity dram, if my memory serves.

Sniff:
It’s crisp right away with lemon and grassy scents. There’s some daisy, flowers (more general) and straw. Quite meadow like. A hint of oak and some minerals too.

Sip:
The palate shows some more oak and has a hint of white pepper that comes with the alcohol. I get hints of iron and apple, with flowers. It’s rather dry and sharp and doesn’t show a lot of age or wood influence. As in, there’s the flavor of wood, but it doesn’t taste ‘old’. Grass and straw, with some curry spices (turmeric and such).

Swallow:
The finish has more minerals even. More iron, apple treacle with the tin. Oak, slate. Weird.

I am not a fan. Far from it even. I don’t mind any of the flavors and none of those in particular would turn me off of a whisky, but in this case they just don’t work for me. I think the mineral and iron like flavors are not backed up by anything substantial and it just steers the dram in the wrong direction.

Also, the increased alcohol didn’t do anything for the dram apart from making it somewhat less drinkable. So, not being a fan is an understatement. I really don’t like this one. A bummer, since I generally appreciate a delicate Lowlands whisky, but I think in this case they wanted to make this one pretend to be something it’s not.

Note: The 21 year old bit I only found out after writing this review. Somehow I didn’t pick up on that. I think it doesn’t show in the whisky at all.

It’s not cheap either, clocking in just over € 100. Quite a lot actually, but it’s not a young whisky, even though you don’t really taste the age. There are some semi-new Auchentoshans out there, though. I did really love the NAS Auchentoshan’s Solera thingy. It being 21 years old does explain it a bit though.

If you want a cask strength Auchentoshan, I’d suggest you look elsewhere. Bummer.

Auchentoshan Silver Oak, 51.5%, Travel Retail ‘only’. Available at € 110 at Whiskybase.

Posted in Auchentoshan | Tagged Auchentoshan, Cask Strength, Lowlands, Mark Dermul, Silver Oak, Travel Retail | Leave a comment

Mars Komagatake, The Revival 2011, 58%

Posted on 19 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

With a name and age like this you would be inclined to think this is some joke from Glenglassaugh. Or maybe GlenDronach, but then it would have to be older. Five times older to be precise.

This sample was a surprise from Shai who participated in some bottle share I didn’t know about. I was part of a Google group for a while but I couldn’t say ‘no’ enough and ended up spending lots of money on not-really-wanted samples.

This three year old would most likely have been one to skip though. I am wont to pass on the most interesting samples for some reason. A bit like buying bottles that sometimes are sub par to what I could have gotten for the same amount of money.

But anyway, I have this one sitting here. I should have tried it a while ago, like some others I have in store. I hope to go through them in the coming months, as said before. So far, it’s going quite well and I’ve actually emptied more samples than I’ve added to the stash. I consider that a good thing.

The Shinsu Mars distillery in Japan (duh) has been closed for a while between 1992 and 2011. Quite strange since the place was only founded in 1985. This whisky is the first release since the reopening and has a low level of peat (8ppm).

Shinshu Mars Revival 2011. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
The peat is discernible but quite light, as is the spirit itself. There is not much cask influence but the balance between oak, spirit and peat is nicely done. There’s a grassy note with some light vanilla notes and a scent of heather too. The peat is a bit like burning straw. The alcohol is not pungent at all.

Sip:
The palate has more alcohol than the nose, but still is quite light, even though it’s bottled at 58%. The peat is still grassy and straw like, with hints of heather and apple. There’s a certain minerality as well. Slate, iron, that kind of stuff.

Swallow:
The finish shows the youth of the whisky most, with more spirity notes. Not overly sweet, but there’s some unrefined alcohol, and a certain feel of cloying sugars. The alcohol is still light and it’s a slightly dry whisky, but again, not overly so. The bourbon influence is light with vanilla, lemon, puff pastry and some baked apple.

A strange one, this. Actually it’s quite awesome for something this young. There’s quite a lot going on and absolutely nothing to complain about. Obviously it lacks a bit of depth and complexity, but all flavors that are present are well integrated.

In Japan when it was released it used to cost some € 80 and it currently is available in Europe for € 130 (La Maison Du Whisky has it). This being a Japanese whisky I am actually surprised the price isn’t higher than this.

To summarize this. I love this dram. It’s not overly complex but dangerously drinkable and has some really nice flavors that belie its age. Getting a sample is highly recommended!

Mars Komagatake, The Revival 2011, 58%. Available at LMDW for € 130

Thanks to Shai for the sample! Loving it!

Posted in - Japanese Whisky, Mars Komagatake, Shinshu Mars | Tagged Bottle Share, Free Sample, Japan, Komagatake, Mars, Revival, Shinshu Mars | 2 Comments

Springbank Vintage 1996, Single Cask 263, 54.9%

Posted on 17 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Generally, when you think of a Fino cask matured whisky you’re not imagining a really deep brown dram. In this case, that would make you wrong.

Generally, when you think of a single cask from a distillery, bottled by themselves you’re not imagining an affordable dram. In this case, that would make you wrong.

Well, it used to at least. That last statement was true in 2009 when I bought this bottle. It’s bottled for the Hanseatische Weinhandelsgesellschaft in Bremen, Germany. It was put in the cask in 1996 and bottled in 2009 to make this 12 or 13 years old.

I got this when I got back from our first holiday in America, in the first couple of days after coming home. The Whiskykoning shop in Den Bosch still had two. I bought both of them based on a hunch that this one just might be nice. I wasn’t wrong.

Unfortunately, I just removed this one from my available samples list since I’m about to empty it. I’m glad I still have it since I’m need of a dram after two long days of just meetings!

Springbank 1996. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
European oak and some yeasty fino hints far behind that. Dried fruits, but the lighter kind. Peaches and apricots. Some autumn leaves and a slight earthiness. Chocolate, mole and leather notes. Quite an interesting nose, to say the least.

Sip:
The palate is dry with some juicy dried fruits behind it. The alcohol is pretty fierce and burns in a rather peppery way. Much like chili pepper. There is a certain syrupy texture behind it, but it also slightly coarse. Leather, oak, autumnal and earthy.

Swallow:
The finish is warming and has more of the fino notes I found earlier. It’s still very earthy, autumnal and has an almost mushroom like flavor. Raw mushrooms. Also dried fruits and a certain meatiness. The finish turns slightly more sour with the yeasty flavors getting some more room.

This is an awesome whisky. Awesome as in, I think it’s a stellar dram and one of the best Springbanks I’ve had. And not to brag, but I’ve had some kick-ass Springbanks a couple of years ago. It’s been more quiet recently.

There is a bottle of this for sale on Whiskybase, and I suggest spending some money on it. Even at the current price of a hundred bucks, it’s quite worth it. As in, very, very much worth it.

Springbank Vintage 1996, Single Cask 263, 54.9%. Bottled for the Hanseatische Weinhandelsgesellschaft in Bremen, Germany. It used to go for € 67.50 back then but has gone up to slightly over € 110

Posted in Springbank | Tagged Campbeltown, Fino cask, Hanseatische Weinhandelsgesellschaft Bremen, Private Cask, Single Cask, Springbank | 9 Comments

Glenmorangie Ealanta, 46%, 19 year old Virgin Oak, Private Release

Posted on 16 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Every time Glenmorangie release a new Private Release the internet buzzes with reviews of it, and generally the bottling sells out really quickly. So far the only ones that didn’t sell out fast were the Sonnalta and the Finealta. And to be honest, they were quite awful and uninteresting respectively.

Then some things happened with Artein, which was an interesting dram but bored quickly. Next up was Ealanta. A 19 year old virgin oak release from two years ago. I was very skeptical at first since 19 years in new oak sounds like you’re about to drink liquid oak.

Fortunately, this is not the case. Unfortunately, I didn’t buy a bottle.

Glenmorangie Ealanta. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
On the nose this is a rather crisp whisky with hint of vanilla, creme brulee and lemon. It’s smooth with quite some oak without it overpowering the whisky. Wax, pine resin, honey and mint notes are next, and after a while I’m even getting some cigar tobacco.

Sip:
On the palate the whisky is consistent with the nose but slightly drier. The oak is more pronounced (still not overpowering, though). Honey, dried apple and cracker black pepper. Some Scottish tablet too, and butterscotch.

Swallow:
The finish is, if possible, better than the palate. It’s smooth and rich with lots of flavor. Long with butterscotch, honey, oak and creme brulee again.

This really, really is a gorgeous whisky. I love every sip of it and haven’t found anything to put me off or make me slightly less raving. I generally love a good bourbon cask and white oak is the main flavor of that. So, white oak, minus the bourbon still works fine for me.

I was a bit scared that this whisky would be a bit one dimensional and plain. I was wrong. I love this stuff and I really wish I had gotten myself a bottle or two when it was still available and affordable.

Glenmorangie Ealanta, 46%, 19 year old Virgin Oak, Private Release. Now some € 220

Posted in Glenmorangie | Tagged Ealanta, Glenmorangie, Highlands, Private Release, Tain, Virgin Oak | 2 Comments

Hielander Whisky Festival 2015

Posted on 15 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I realized a while ago that this 5th edition of the Hielander Whisky Festival is also the fifth time I’m there. So so far I didn’t miss a single one. I think this is something to keep up.

This year, like two years ago I went there with my in laws. We spent our time drinking, eating and chatting to random people we happen to know. And some we don’t. A lot of friends were met, and a lot of drams were had. I only took wobbly pictures of the ones I bought, but since there was four of us we had quite a couple more.

Of the ones that are not in the pictures:

We tried the Glenmorangie 18 which is an awesome dram. I know I had it before and I knew it was good. Now I want a bottle. I love it when a distillery has an affordable 18 year old which also is great.

There were also more Kintra drams, which were good. I picked a young Tomatin which was a bit immature, but the 23 year old Blair Athol was nice.

Signatory bottled an 18 year old Clynelish at 56.4% for which the hunt it on. Most sites have already sold out but that was a great one.

I also got to try the Glen Moray 25 year old Port Cask, which I hope to review more in depth in a short while.

A slightly too young Tomatin

A very good Grain. I love this kind of stuff.

This didn’t do it for me. Quite the lack of flavor. Bummer

I knew I liked Armorik’s Millesime, this was just to prove a point. Great stuff.

I’m still not in love with this range of Balvenies

The wobblyness starts in full. This was an awesome dram. On the wishlist

This one used to be on my wishlist but got ditched after being there for a year or two. Good stuff though.

I think I had this before. Awesome dram. Really packs some flavor

A mix of casks from the 1990s. This Distillery Only was great.

My favorite of the afternoon. SOO much flavor. Checking auction sites now.

We had a steak and a beer afterwards, at a rather crappy restaurant. Good fun though

So the result of the festival is that I’m a couple tenners lighter. Also that my wishlist has grown significantly. Luckily, not many of the drams are really expensive. As in, I could even buy some of them. Which I might.

Thanks HK, MS and RS!

Oh, and the haggis was great again. I should also have gone back for the smoked salmon, but I decided to buy another dram instead. Both would have been a good idea at the time!

Posted in - Grain Whisky, - Japanese Whisky, - World Whisky, Armorik, Arran, Balvenie, Blair Athol, Cambus, Clynelish, Dailuaine, Glen Garioch, Glen Moray, Glenmorangie, Mortlach, Tomatin, Yoichi | Tagged Armorik, Arran, Balvenie, Blackadder, Blair Athol, Cambus, Clan Denny, Clynelish, Dailuaine, Distillery Only, Dutch Connection, French Whisky, Glen Garioch, Glen Moray, Glenmorangie, Grain Whisky, Hielander, Hielander Whisky Festival, Highlands, Japan, Jurgen's Whiskyhuis, Kintra, Lochranza, Millésime, Mortlach, Samaroli, Signatory, Speyside, Texelse Brouwerij, Tomatin, Uisge Beatha Taich, Warenghem, Yoichi | 4 Comments

Zuidam Zeer Oude Genever, 10yo, Red Wine cask

Posted on 13 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This is a rather special one. A couple of years ago (almost five, by the looks of it) Drinks & Gifts organized a trip to Zuidam distillery together with DH17. A couple of drinks shops in The Netherlands thought it was a good idea to team up. It was.

The biggest drawback is that Zuidam is as far south as you can go if you exclude the province of Limburg, and that meant a three hour bus drive with not a soul I know. Back then that was especially true since I had just moved into town. Shockingly, not much has changed in that respect.

Anyway, the trip was awesome. We tried some great booze there varying from liqueurs to jenever, gin, single malt and rye whisky. I didn’t try too many of the liqueurs since I figured those to not sit too well with all the stronger drinks.

On the way back we got a goodie bag from Jolanda of Drinks & Gifts. The bag had some items in it that I don’t remember. Also, it had a 5cl bottle of this, and an order list (on which I ticked the box next to the one year old pot still Jenever).

The fun fact about this sample is, by the way, that it never got an official release, as far as I know. The ABV is not stated on the label but I guess it’s some 40%.

Sniff:
The oak influence is quite noticeable with the heaviness of red wine. The genever is very light on the nose since it mostly stays behind the oak and wine influences. It has an old, attic like scent to it with lots of dust and old boxes. The grapes do go a little bitter if you sniff it for a while. Actually, there’s a lot going on but not much of it I generally attribute to genever.

Sip:
The oak manifests as a huge dollop of vanilla syrup. There’s oak and cassis lemonade. The red wine is present here too but in a lighter way. Not as heavy as on the nose. Again, not too much genever. There’s some grains, some fruit and some dryness.

Swallow:
The dry feeling together with the vanilla flavor lasts longest. It’s slightly fruity (red fruits) and very sweet.

A strange thing this. It is a tasty drink however you put it. However, I wouldn’t generally call this a genever since there’s just not enough flavors of juniper and spices and herbs. Most of what I get it white oak (was it white oak?) and red wine influences. Interesting.

Zuidam Zeer Oude Genever, 10yo, Red Wine cask, distilled on 11 February 2000.

Posted in - Other Spirits, Zuidam | Tagged Baarle-Nassau, DH17, Drinks & Gifts, Genever, Jenever, Zuidam, Zuidam Distillery | Leave a comment

Dry Fly Washington Wheat Whiskey, 40%

Posted on 12 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Dry Fly Distilling is another distillery in the state of Washington. And another distillery I didn’t visit when I was there. We were in the USA for four weeks in 2011, and we could have spent them in Washington alone without ever getting bored.

However, since we’re not there often we wanted to pack as many highlights as possible. We ended up seeing Olympic NP, Mount Rainier, Glacier NP, Yellowstone NP, and then some random bits in getting to San Francisco. The distilleries we did visit were St. George in Alameda and High West in Park City.

Anyway, this sample was sent to me by someone, but I don’t have a clue who. Sorry.

Again, anyway, Dry Fly make a Wheat Whisky first and foremost. They also have other products including a bourbon, gin, vodka and a triticale whiskey. All interesting and the vodka and gin are not surprising, especially not for an American distillery. They all seem to be doing that for the initial cash flow.

At the time I tried this I didn’t know the ABV, and I didn’t really pick up on it either.

Sniff:
Mostly floral with a hint of alcohol. Ethanol, but also sawdust. Slightly drying with some fruity flavors of apple and star fruit.

Sip:
The palate is rather gentle and light, with some syrupy sweetness. The syrup tastes like the stuff you get with cans of fruit salad. Sugary, thick. There’s some spice and a woody dryness. Floral again too. Like a meadow, and not overly specific.

Swallow:
The finish is rather alcoholic. Sweet and sharp, dry and not very long.

It turns out the 60% does show more in flavor than in heat or burn. I guess this whiskey is rather young and the lack of depth shows that. The floral flavors are quite surprising and you don’t find them often in American whiskey, although of the big brand bourbons, I guess Four Roses sometimes has that.

EDIT: As it turns out, the particular whiskey I had doesn’t show on their website anymore and I had the Washington Wheat, which is 40%. It explains why I missed the burn of the high ABV. The flavor of alcohol is still there, obviously.

Anyway, a nice dram but I’m not a huge fan. As said, it lacks a bit of depth and the flavor of alcohol could benefit from a while longer in oak. But, as with the Woodinville, I’m very interested to find out where this is going. In a couple of years or so, I’d love to try again.

Dry Fly Wheat Whiskey, 60%. Available at The Whisky Exchange at £ 55.95

Posted in - American Whiskey, - Wheat Whiskey, Dry Fly Distilling | Tagged Dry Fly Distilling, USA, Washington, Wheat Whiskey | Leave a comment

Woodinville Limited Edition 2011, #2936, Batch 1, 46%

Posted on 10 February 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Well this is weird. I can’t put an ABV in the header of this post since I don’t know it. I also cannot find it online anywhere. (Updated now)

I got this sample from pro whisky writer Hans Offringa so I asked him whether he knows more about the sample. Unfortunately, I got it from him at Maltstock 2013, so the bottle is probably long gone and so might the information.

I think there also might be a batch 2 sample somewhere, but searching for that would surely wake up the kids so I’m going to leave that for another time.

The Woodinville distillery is located near Seattle in Washington’s wine country and mostly known on this side of the Atlantic thanks to the nifty ‘Age your own’ kits that were available last year. I went on holiday in the area a couple of years ago but out itinerary didn’t get us all that close and I already got my wife to go and visit two distilleries and a couple of breweries. Adding a third distillery was not really a viable plan back then.

The Woodinville whiskey packaging by Lovely Package

Sniff:
The nose is light with a lot of wood influence and scent. The wood, however, is quite gentle. There’s some pepper and corn syrup, but also some cardboard like scents. I do get cherries too, and their stones (that bitter flavor you get from those). Dusty and young.

Sip:
The palate is a tad thin, but spicy and a tad dry. There’s the corn syrup again, with chili and crushed black pepper. Some hot salsa verde too. It becomes a bit more syrupy if I let it swim for a couple of seconds, and also that slight bitterness comes around again.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly more crisp, but apart from that rather comparable. Slightly bitter, some cherries, cherry stones and cardboard.

I assume at this point that the whiskey is rather young since the distillery hasn’t been running for very long yet. And especially since this whiskey is taken from a bottle a year and a half ago, the whiskey can only be about one year old. For a one year old, it’s pretty awesome!

Regarding it’s age, this is a rather cracking dram. I think it could have done with a slightly higher ABV since a bit more oomph would’ve been nice, but if they keep going at it like this, we might have a winner on our hands in a couple of years.

I’ll update this post if I get more information.

Update from Hans Offringa: 8 gallon barrel, bottled at 46%

Woodinville Limited Edition 2011, #2936, Batch 1

Thanks to Hans Offringa for the sample!

Posted in - American Whiskey, Woodinville | Tagged Bourbon, Hans Offringa, Maltstock, Washington, Woodinville | 1 Comment

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