A wind of change

Posted on 15 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

A wind of change for me at least, and on a mental level.

I am getting tired of having a whisky collection.

Boom! There it is. I used to like to have as many bottles of goodness when I still had an in-home office where I had a desk, lots and lots of cupboards for my bottles to be on display and a small sitting area.

I cleaned out that room in favor of our daughter and set up shop in a much smaller room (from 15m2 to 5m2 or so). The desk was out since I wasn’t working from home anymore, only one chair remained and if I pushed the bottles close together everything just fit in.

Then our son came along and that room, too, was needed for more ‘sensible’ purposes. Now my closed bottles sit in boxes in the attic. I can barely reach them because of all the unused toys and other clutter that’s heaped up in there.

I do not like this.

I liked having the bottles where I could see them and even then I wanted to open them all and have a massive tasting. This, of course, doesn’t really fit with the have-less-bottles-open project I’m working on (regularly referred to as ‘drinking’). Now it just sits there. Waiting for a the right moment to open them which might be never.

Of course, I want my little stash for when I am old or have something awesome to celebrate in a decade or two. There’s a nice Brora in there, some Rosebank, and some others. But mainly, I don’t like to have the attic full of almost forgotten booze.

I am noticing the benefit of having less bottles open, which is a bit more speed with which I finish them. This made me open one or two bottles from upstairs again.

Another benefit of not having many bottles stored is that you don’t get to spend much on stuff you want but are not going to drink anyway. As said on my bottle-sale page, for some of them the moment has simply gone.

Of course, the most simple solution for this would be to stop buying bottles and drink what I have first. My wife is an avid supporter of this, but I like buying booze. I like the idea of something new. Really new, which I have not yet owned for years.

Obviously this should not matter because an unopened bottle is an unopened bottle. When I pick up something old from auction it’s new too. But still, I like something new. A quite materialistic outlook if there ever was one.

For this reason I’m pruning my collection a little bit and have again sold some bottles. I’m trying to sell some more. I’m also trying to buy a bit less or share the bottles I buy so I have to open and drink them. This happened a lot at the end of last year and I like that. That way I got to open all the TWE Show bottles I bought, and Whiskybase’s GlenDronach and quite some more.

So that. I’ve come to a point at which I don’t like having a large collection of all but forgotten booze in the attic. I want to be a whisky drinker, not a hoarder.

 

Oh, and please, no comments about how I could give it all to you. That’s not how this works.

Posted in - News and Announcements | 12 Comments

Balcones Rumble, 47%

Posted on 14 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

By going through my samples last week or so, I found some tiny vials of golden liquid that I had completely forgotten about. This Balcones Rumble was one of them, which is a shame. Not only because there might be a tasty beverage inside, but also because it would have been fun to review the ‘Rumble’ when things were really rumbling at Balcones.

There has been a lot of media exposure on the shit that went down in Waco, Texas between master distiller Chip Tate and his other board members. In the end it seems it came down to art versus money and that’s never a pretty thing.

Everybody sued everybody else, which once more seems to be a normal thing to do in the United States. I think that, when two people are fighting, two people are at fault. But in this case it ended up with Chip Tate leaving the company and setting up a new distillery in the city. More booze for everyone, right?

Balcones Rumble is a unique spirit. I’m not sure what to compare it to, but I think it holds the middle between rum and brandy since the distillate is based on both sugars and fruits. Interesting, that!

Sniff:
On the nose I get an oak influenced rum, but the oak influence reminds me more of whiskey than of brandy, somehow. It’s sweet with sugar and some spices. There is a subtle hint of a smoke flavor (not actually smoke, like in an Islay whisky) that reminds me of barbecue and grilled pork. Not unlike Balcones’ Brimstone has.

Sip:
The palate is very rich and sweet (no surprise with this consisting of honey, figs and sugar). It’s more dry than I expected and slightly tingling. A bit of white pepper. The sweetness is very syrupy like honey of fig syrup. More fruit, but all very sweet. A bit of banana.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly sharper than the palate was, dry and oak, with that greasy barbecue flavor that I also found on the nose. Again, the oak reminds me of whiskey and rum.

I’m not entirely sure what to think of this. It’s interesting, it’s rather tasty and it shows more depth than I expected, but I think I’m a rather ‘exact’ person. I work in IT and like puzzles, and such. That means I like to categorize things and this one is very hard to categorize unless you diver to the ‘other’ category.

This is quite smart from the Balcones guys. Like their Brimstone, you can’t really compare it to anything else and for craft distillers that is a golden goose I think. Most craft distillers that try to do what the big boys are doing in Kentucky won’t really make it since you’re just not going to shell out that kind of money for a random bourbon. Brimstone is in a league of its own. This one might well be too!

So, interesting, but since a bottle of this is about € 85, I find it way too expensive. These kind of ‘brandies’ should be much cheaper, in my opinion. Most booze should, but this is too ‘random’ to warrant that kind of price tag.

Balcones Rumble, 47%, batch R12-6; 2012-12-20.
Available at Master of Malt for € 85 / £ 65.50

Thanks to Gal for leaving the sample after Maltstock!

Posted in - Other Spirits, Balcones | Tagged , , , , , , | 6 Comments

GlenDronach 21yo, 1993-2014, Cask #23, 52.1% – OB for WhiskyBase

Posted on 13 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

When this bottling was announced I knew right away that I wanted it. Somewhat strange because not all my experiences with GlenDronachs are that good and I’ve had at least one single cask from 1994 that I just didn’t like all that much.

Then, when the price was announced I started doubting whether or not to buy one since I find 135 euros nothing to scoff at, for a bottle of booze. At first I thought it was an expensive bottling but after comparing the vintage with other recent releases of 1993 it seemed to be in line with this so I had to come up with something else.

In the end whisky buddy Ben C. turned out to be a willing target to share this one with. I think I could have found plenty of others, but since we were doing a massive trade it was likely to just add this one on top of everything else.

Anyway, GlenDronach, decent age, Oloroso Sherry Butt. Here it goes.

GlenDronach 21 for Whiskybase. Image from Whiskybase

GlenDronach 21 for Whiskybase. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
If I think back to the recent Glenlivet I tried, this is more or less in the same line, albeit slightly heavier. There’s some oak but it’s not overpowering in any way. The flavor of seville oranges and candied orange prevails. The alcohol starts coming through after a short while, but still, not in a bad way. There’s some rum like sugar behind it all too. The cask and spirit play well together!

Sip:
The palate is sharp with some heat from the alcohol. Not from chili peppers this time. The fruit is more the candied kind than the fresh ones, although the fresh oranges are not entirely discarded. Dried peach and apricot. There is a hint of leather and old armchairs behind it all. Quite delicious.

Swallow:
The finish has a sudden hit of dried fruits and maybe a syrup of mint. Oranges, dates, peaches. Dried fruits galore. Quite long, with some slightly dry oak too.

Well, yes. Just yes. This is a delicious whisky. The kind of GlenDronach from an Oloroso cask you hope for when you open one. The flavors are deep and intense and while this might not be the most complex whisky you’ll ever taste, it is just delicious.

You don’t want all whiskies to be complex, do you? Sometimes it’s just a really good night for kicking back and drinking something utterly delicious. That’s what this one is for I think. It might be a tad expensive, but I wasn’t talking about a school night, was I?

GlenDronach 21yo, 1993-2014, Cask #23, 52.1%, OB for WhiskyBase. Sold out by now, although it lasted surprisingly long.

Posted in GlenDronach | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

The annual Bottom’s Up tasting at De Whiskykoning

Posted on 12 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This year I was invited again to join the Bottoms Up tasting in Den Bosch. Yesterday was the date and after a nicely long train journey I walked through my old home town to get to the shop just in time. The table was nicely set again.

There was no opening speech or anything and we just tucked in. Of course, there was quite a bit of mystery whisky on the table to which it is always a risk stating you like it. Some of the mysteries are epic whiskies, others are crap stuff he can’t get rid of otherwise, but you might just have an off day and expect the Islay cask matured Jenever he had lying around to be a Port Ellen and proclaim it’s the best of the afternoon…

Here’s a short overview of what was had (sorry for the shitty photos, I should learn to take my time):

This turned out to be leftovers from tastings, so a blended malt.

This turned out to be leftovers from tastings, so a blended malt.

Really old St. Magdalene. Gorgeous stuff!

Really old St. Magdalene. Gorgeous stuff!

Ardbog

Ardbog

Nice, but not something to make me love Australian Malt

Nice, but not something to make me love Australian Malt

Big and typically Ben Nevis with some lovely strange flavors

Big and typically Ben Nevis with some lovely strange flavors

Oh Yes! A very, very good Caol Ila

Oh Yes! A very, very good Caol Ila

Very surprising and very good. Some iodine flavors without much smoke.

Very surprising and very good. Some iodine flavors without much smoke.

Maybe just a tad over oaked, but very drinkable for something that states 'Ancient Old' and 'Deluxe' on the label

Maybe just a tad over oaked, but very drinkable for something that states ‘Ancient Old’ and ‘Deluxe’ on the label

Meh

Meh

Way too heavy and rich. Just too much of a good thing

Way too heavy and rich. Just too much of a good thing

On of my favorites. Big and rich Mortlach, massive flavor.

On of my favorites. Big and rich Mortlach, massive flavor.

Of course, I missed out on some other jewels since there was just so much to choose from. It’s an epic afternoon, as it is every year! Now, how to get myself invited next year…

Posted in - American Whiskey, - Blended Malt, - Japanese Whisky, - World Whisky, Ardbeg, Bakery Hill, Ben Nevis, Caol Ila, Clynelish, Craigellachie, Glenburgie, Glenfarclas, Glenlossie, Linlithgow, Mortlach, St. Magdalene | Tagged , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , , | 4 Comments

Glenlivet 1998, 15yo, 54.8% – Signatory for Whiskybrother

Posted on 10 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

It doesn’t happen often that I get to review a Glenlivet. I’m not entirely sure why that is because there’s plenty of their booze out there, but it’s just one of those big brands that I somehow never drink. Glenfiddich and Macallan are others, although Macallan is, I think, slightly more available on the indie market, albeit expensive.

Marc Pendlebury

Marc Pendlebury

A while ago, Marc Pendlebury, the proprietor of the Whiskybrother shop in Johannesburg (their Twitter account), South Africa, asked me if I would be interested in reviewing their own single cask Glenlivet bottling, from Signatory. I guess the question in this message was redundant since he could have just asked for my address right away. Of course that peaks my interest!

There’s several reasons for that:

  1. I find it cool when a whisky buddy becomes a professional by opening his own shop
  2. It’s a single cask by Signatory
    Signatory have been on a roll lately with one cracker after another, at least the ones I have tried.
  3. It’s a Glenlivet
    As said, I don’t try them often. Not nearly enough at least.
  4. Free booze 😉

This particular one is matured in an Oloroso Butt and yielded 413 bottles. I was surprised to find that South Africa uses 750ml bottles, like the United States. Then again, for some obscure reason the spirit bottle size in Europe changed away from the global standard in 1992. We’re the deviants here. (Trivia: This only applies to spirits. Wine, and big beer bottles are still 750ml)

Sniff:
Well, it’s Oloroso for sure! Loads of dark fruity sherry on the nose. Christmas cake, with candied orange. Some dried plums and dates. Some apricot too, I think. A minor note of polished furniture, so oak and leather, and some wax. Quite some candied orange in there, and maybe some milk chocolate.

Sip:
The palate is surprisingly gentle, sweet and fruity at first, with some added dryness and kick from the alcohol after a second or two. The oak is rather dry and it takes some time for the sherry to be more identifiable. The orange notes are back, as are the dates. It’s quite syrupy but also brings some heat, which is a nice combination. I think I’m also getting some cappuccino notes, but I’m not sure about that. Coffee flavored chocolate maybe.

Swallow:
The finish goes right back to the huge Oloroso notes I also had on the nose. Massively fruity with the oak and dryness playing second violin here. It’s sweet, it’s quite fiery too, but I’m liking this! A rather long and fruity finish.

This is close to being over-sherried, but in the end the whisky luckily stands up for itself. It brought some oak, dryness, and fire to this otherwise sweet and fruity dram. Without that, it might have fallen flat, but this way it’s pretty awesome!

A good pick from Marc and Signatory (and some friends of his, I assume). This is a very tasty whisky, with massive Oloroso notes and a recognizable Speyside characther.

Highly recommended.

Glenlivet 1998, 15yo, 54.8%, Oloroso Sherry Butt, 413 bottles, Signatory for Whiskybrother. Not sure on the price, but I’ll ask Marc

Full disclosure: This sample was given to me free of charge by the Whiskybrother shop. I do honestly love this. Thanks guys!

Posted in Glenlivet | Tagged , , , , , , | 2 Comments

Templeton Rye, 40%

Posted on 9 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Templeton Rye. The whiskey that is NOT from Templeton, Iowa, as they long tried to make you believe. Last year there was a lot of fuss about this brand as it hid the origins of the whiskey, even though the American law states that this is mandatory if the whiskey was distilled elsewhere.

Chuck Cowdery did some extensive reporting on this on his in depth blog, and it was also covered on WhiskyCast. Of course there was some mainstream attention too, but I haven’t followed that since the above media outlets were quite extensive in their coverage.

During the WhiskyCast about it, another rather shocking truth came to light that almost nobody knew about, but which was written in law for a long time. It is allowed to have flavorings in American whiskey. In this case there is some too, made to specification and make the whiskey taste more like its pre-prohibition namesake.

In the end the labeling was changed by Templeton, and things died down a little bit. But even still, knowing that there’s flavoring in this I’m ever so slightly skeptical. I approached this dram too see whether it’s a tasty drink, not as to see if it’s a good whiskey. There’s a difference there.

Templeton Rye. Available at The Whisky Exchange

Templeton Rye. Available at The Whisky Exchange

Sniff:
It’s rather spicy, obviously, but not in a way that I’m familiar with. Not very typically ‘rye whiskey’. Very green and fruity, with star apple and the peels of unripe bananas. It’s got a slightly burnt rye bread scent too. Then I got a scent which took me some time to properly pin down and I’m still divided between radish and horse radish.

After a couple of minutes of breathing the green fruit dissipates a little bit and the spices go more towards allspice, rye bread and oak. More typical, so to say.

Sip:
The palate is dry and spicy, even slightly hot with sambal ulek. It keeps getting drier with the rye and radish again. Or maybe it’s horseradish. There’s some oak here too, to keep the spices in check.

Swallow:
The finish is where it becomes slightly unbalanced with the oak being almost not noticeable and the radish flavor becoming more prominent. The more chili like flavor is pushed back a little bit too. Still, it’s not bad at all.

So, what this boils down to in the end is a flavored whisky from Indiana. The flavoring, or the specifics of its distillation and maturation have made this dram quite different from other MGP-I whiskeys. Having said that, it’s a rather tasty one at that.

Still, knowing that there can be flavorings in non-straight whiskeys and this one uses that feels a bit like I’m being tricked. Whiskey interests me because of the rather simple recipe and huge variety that can still be achieved with it. By having flavorings in it, I feel the craft of the product is somewhat diminished because of it.

In one of the WhiskyCast episodes Mark Gillespie reads out a comment he got based on the interview he had with the guys from Templeton: What they’ve basically done is built a whiskey brand that stated they distill their whiskey, but in the end they outsourced the distilling because distilling is hard. I believe it was Scott Spolverino who said that.

Anyway, it feels a bit silly to want to be in distilling but not distill because it’s tough.

But still, a tasty drink, nonetheless.

Templeton Rye, 40%. It’s available from The Whisky Exchange for £ 49.95

Posted in MGP-I, Templeton | Tagged , , , , , , , | 1 Comment

Glen Keith 1992, 21yo, 51.5% – Archives (Fishes of Samoa)

Posted on 8 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another Archives bottling from the Fishes of Samoa series. The guys at Whiskybase are using this label theme for quite a while, contrary to The Whisky Agency for example, who only have a theme for some four bottlings each time.

Anyway, apart from the fish on the label, it’s all about this whisky inside of course. Glen Keith is a whisky that’s generally not really on anyone’s radar for all I know, except for a couple of 1970 distilled ones that came out some four years ago. Those were insanely good.

The recent Blind Tasting Competition had a Glen Keith from The Perfect Dram bottler that might just be the highest scoring dram of the competition. It was one of my (and quite some others) favorites. Unfortunately, that one is gone and will most likely not be highly auctionable, like many independent bottlings.

Glen Keith is a distillery that has been mothballed for quite a long time since 1999, but has recently started production anew to supply single malts for the blends of Chivas Brothers and Pernod Ricard. Generally, the distilleries producing mainly blend components are not too highly regarded (except some, of course) but Glen Keith might just be one that’s going places.

Let’s see what this one is about!

Glen Keith 21 by Archives. Image from Whiskybase

Glen Keith 21 by Archives. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
It’s rich and malty with sweet bread (brioche style), vanilla and cookie dough. Some baking spices like nutmeg, cinnamon and clove. Apple pie! Rather rich and gentle. Warming, and quite well timed in this period of the year!

Sip:
The palate is surprisingly dry with more focus on the spices, warm apfel strudel (with the vanilla sauce of course). Some dry coconut bits and white oak.

Swallow:
The finish is slightly more ‘average’ but still quite tasty! It’s got good influences of the bourbon cask with vanilla and bread, nicely influenced by spices. Quite long with cookie dough lasting.

While this is not as good as The Perfect Dram (the name says it all, right?), this is still a very tasty dram. The depth is not vast, but there is enough deliciousness to find in the simple bourbon cask flavors. I can see this working as a blend component but I’m glad they bottled this as a single malt. Especially the sweet maltiness with the baking spices make this is a rather drinkable Apfel Strudel.

Glen Keith 1992, 21yo, 51.5%, Archives, Fishes of Samoa. Available at Whiskybase, obviously, for € 95

Full disclosure: I got this sample for free from the guys at Whiskybase. Thanks a lot!

Posted in Glen Keith | Tagged , , , , , | 2 Comments

Benromach 10yo, 100 Proof, 57%

Posted on 7 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Last year Benromach relaunched and revamped their line of whiskies. While the distillery was never on my map before that, I’ve found out that their 10 year old is a real cracker. I’ve also heard very positive things about the other releases (Organic, Peat Smoke and 5 year old).

When the 100 proof version of the ridiculously good 10 year old was announced I knew I wanted one. So, when it appeared in the shop at De Whiskykoning, I got one. As I’m still in a challenge to decrease my amount of open bottles I decided to not open it yet, but just before Christmas Gordon & MacPhail / Benromach decided to send me a sample of it anyway, by means of seasons greetings. I love them for it.

As far as I know, we’ve technically got the same whisky, at an elevated ABV. The website doesn’t state the cask make-up of this whisky, so I assume it’s also 80/20 regarding bourbon and sherry casks, with the same 1 year finish in first fill oloroso.

Benromach 100° Proof Bottle

Benromach 100° Proof Bottle

Sniff:
The first thing that stands out is the grandeur with which this whisky presents itself. Even without the high ABV this would be in your face (in a very, very good way). It’s very old fashioned with spices and overripe fruit. The alcohol hits then, but after that there’s a hint of smoke. More a machine smoke than a peat fire, though. As far as I know, this is a style reminiscent of the 1960s of single malt. Quite meaty too, later on.

Sip:
The palate is intense with quite some alcohol burn at first, but the richness of the whisky soon overpowers that. Christmas pudding, stewed fruits, sherry, spices, spiced sponge cake. Also beef and dried plums. There’s quite some oak and a slightly greasy texture.

Swallow:
The finish shows that machine smoke again. Quite a dirty kind of smoke, but oh so tasty. Oil, engine grease, diesel, awesome! The rest is back with a vengeance too, with sweet spices, ripe fruit and oak.

I know I bought a bottle, but I just might pick up another one very soon. This is awesome stuff, especially at the low price point at which it sits (some € 60). This is just so, so very good. All the flavors I love in whisky are stacked together, without the oak reigning supreme. There’s enough room for the rich spirit to shine and the combination of casks makes for a great, great set of flavors.

This one, together with the 10 year old might just make Benromach one of my new favorite distilleries, and if the trip to Scotland with my mates is happening later this year, it will surely have a spot in the itinerary.

Take note, distilleries and brands. It is possible to make great whisky at a decent price nowadays.

Benromach 10 year old, 100 proof, 57%. Available most everywhere but Whiskykoning sells it at € 61 (and there’s a 5% discount for Usquebaugh Society members). Master of Malt has it at £ 46.45

Full disclosure: Benromach sent me a sample of this, and their 10 year old for Christmas. Thanks a million for it, guys and gals!

Posted in Benromach | Tagged , , , | 6 Comments

Another resolution regarding samples (+ three reviews)

Posted on 4 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I forgot to add one more resolution in the earlier post.

In one of my cupboards filled with whisky related crap there is a huge box of samples. Most of what’s in there is very random and has been sitting there for ages. I know it at least contains some rum, jenever, absinthe and tequila. Of course, there’s a boat load of whisky in there too that I have all but forgotten about.

My added resolution for 2015 is to go through that stuff and finish it. A lot of stuff in that box has been traded for, bought or gotten for free from bottlers, shops or distillers. I made sure to review the ones I got from commercial outlets at some point but there’s still quite some scraps in there that need to be finished.

Also, back when Ian Buxton’s first 101 whiskies came out some years ago I tried to try all of them and by now I think I’ve had about 98 of them. The missing ones are the most expensive ones. At least Highland Park 40, Johnny Walker Blue King George V and Hibiki 30 are not checked off. I might forget one but I think I’ve gotten very close to that. Well, I did get very close in trading for samples that were in the book but I never got around to trying quite a few of them.

Those samples are still sitting there without me caring about them. At least, maybe not in the way I should care about them.

So I took it upon myself to start reviewing all the stuff that’s in the box, in short and concise reviews that have short notes and a bit of opinion, and I guess I will combining them to get things over with. Of course, I will not let them get in the way of the regular reviews, and if stuff is really uninteresting, I’ll just skip it all together.

So, in short, the resolution is to get things out of the way. Here’s the first three reviews.

Wambrechies Single Malt, 3yo, 40%
The nose is young and spirity, in a raw way. I think I get some smoke and big notes of grain and green malt. It’s rather okay and actually better than I expected, even though it feels quite unfinished. The palate is raw again and very consistent with the nose. It’s very gentle on the taste buds in a way of intensity, but the rawness does make for an experience. Almost jenever like because of its youth, with some sugar syrup in the mix. The finish is tingling and longer than expected.

This is a very farmy single malt that is in a way similar to Abhainn Dearg, but where the Isle of Lewis Distillers go wrong, they do it right here. The distillery is one that traditionally makes genever but has been making whisky for some years now. There is also an eight year old, according to Whisky Opus (Thanks, Google Books!)

Dewar’s Signature (btl. ref. AA17710), 43%
This blend by Dewar’s feels surprisingly rich at first, but not too high in alcohol (I had to look up the ABV). The richness stands out if I compare it to other blends I know like Johnnie Walker and Famous Grouse. There’s a hint of sherry but rather mellow, with coconut and barley from the grain whisky. Since it has some water added it does feel a bit thin after a while. The palate is very gentle with grain and a touch of black pepper. It’s all relatively sweet and ‘safe’. A touch of orange too, maybe? The finish is surprisingly peppery with finally some oak showing with pepper and sweetness. Also slightly bitter and a hint of sherry. Surprisingly long.

I reviewed this blind, except the name of the whisky, and this was written before looking up anything. If I compare it to what I know about luxury blended whiskies, this might be an expensive one in the league of Johnnie Walker Blue Label. That is not to say I’m overjoyed by this whisky since I find this one not very expressive. On the nose the grain is watered down and I do feel you can smell that. It’s lost some of its intensity.

On the other hand, that is probably what they were aiming at. If the goal was to get a luxury and rather rich blended whisky out there that gives an alternative to the more well known blends, Dewar’s have succeeded. It’s just not my cup of tea.

Dewar’s 12 year old, 40%
And the third whisky, the second Dewar’s and maybe even my second Dewar’s ever. I don’t think I ever had one before. On the nose the 12 year old is very spicy and there’s quite some wood influence. Grainy and floral too. It’s got a bit of everything, but no discernable sherry influence. Quite nice. There’s no smoke, but I do think I get some ashes. The palate is spicy too, no surprise, with oak, pepper and red cinnamon. Behind this layer of spice there isn’t much else showing and it feels a bit watery. The grain whisky influence is very light, I think. The finish continues down the same path but shows more spices than before. Potter’s and licorice all of a sudden. Pretty sharp.

I prefer this one to the Signature, to be honest. The spices are fierce, but it does give it some character. I think this is mostly because at 12 year old the grain whisky is still rather strong and intense. Quite nice, but not much more interesting than, let’s say, Johnnie Walker Black Label, or the older Famous Grouse expressions.

That’s the first three done. Some 100 more to go or so.

Posted in - Blended Whisky, Dewar's, Wambrechies | Tagged , , , , , | Leave a comment

Happy 2015!

Posted on 2 January 2015 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, this year starts with the obligatory post with new year’s wishes and some resolutions (1600×1200 will do nicely, so that tedious joke is out of the way too).

Last year did not really go out with a bang since both kids had a rather tenacious cold that prevented us from visiting friends and boozing with those folks. What we did instead is put them to bed early and had some whiskies with my father in law. We ended up drinking some high quality booze in the form of old Springbank 21, Lochside 1981 and Sazerac 2013. This just to make some folks jealous, and make me feel less bad about having to change our plans.

Anyway, in good tradition of the internet and the less digital world before that, we’re doing New Year’s Resolutions. With that comes the annual look back to the old resolutions, and that’s what’s going to happen first.

The old list of thing that I wanted to do in 2014:

  1. Bring down my amount of open bottles from 92 to 65. DONE!
  2. Host a Bottoms-up Tasting and the 4th Blog Birthday Bash. DONE!
  3. Go to Hielander Whisky Festivaland Maltstock. Maybe also to Whisky & Rum aan Zee. Partially DONE. I did go to the Hielander and Whisky & Rum aan Zee festivals. I didn’t go to Maltstock.
  4. Visit the Whiskybase Shop, and Van der Boog.
  5. Visit Brouwerij De Molen.
  6. Organize a trip to Speyside with some friends.
  7. Brew some beer.
  8. Do at least one Bottle-Share. DONE!
  9. Stick to my budget. In a way at least. I blew through my budget quite quickly, but with selling quite some bottles in the last couple of months, I think I kept it within means.

So, what happened with the things that are not done on this list? Anneke’s pregnancy, that’s what. We found out late last year that this was the case and that we would be expecting our second kid somewhere in August, if things went all right. They did. This meant not many trips anywhere, including Scotland and Maltstock. Scotland was a financial hassle this year, and Maltstock happened three weeks after Moos was born, so that was simply out of the question.

Brewing is the only one I don’t have an excuse for. I just didn’t give it enough priority to get it done. I should have been able to. I had all the equipment and ingredients lying around, but I just couldn’t be bothered with it at the time. I did regret it every once in a while, mostly because I didn’t want to be spending huge amounts of budget on beer.

So, on to the new year then!

My resolutions that have something to do with booze and this here blog are quite similar to last year’s. Or, I have talked about them before in, for example, the amount of open bottles post and the review of Distilled. These ones are at least:

  1. Bring down my amount of open bottles from 65 to 40.
  2. Host the 5th Blog Birthday Bash.
  3. Go to Hielander Whisky Festival
  4. Go to Maltstock.
  5. Go to Whisky & Rum aan Zee.
  6. Visit the Whiskybase Shop.
  7. Visit Brouwerij De Molen.
  8. Organize a trip to Speyside with some friends.
  9. Brew some beer.
  10. Do at least one whisky Bottle-Share.
  11. Do a bottle-share with Mezcal, preferably Del Maguey stuff.
  12. Stick to my budget.
Del Maguey's single village Mezcal

Del Maguey’s single village Mezcal

There are some things that could be added to the list if I get around to it, like visiting Belgian Owl Distillery and the Westvleteren monastery/brewery. Those have been on the wish list for quite a while but I never seem to get around to them. Now I already know I’m going for a weekend in Belgium twice the coming year, maybe even three times. This means there should be some options to fit those in.

Apart from what’s on this list, there also are the regular non-booze things on my personal agenda, like finishing about a million different chores in and around the house. Go on a holiday and some weekend with the family, and one with the misses (Venice, baby!)

And then there are the other booze related things that are not even on the list but are going to happen. Like there are at least two tasting at De Whiskykoning, there are the regional tasting for the Usquebaugh Society and quite some other events. These events will most likely have to do with the 25 year anniversary of the whisky club. Pretty cool, if you ask me!

I’m also going to host a tasting at work again, like last year. I’m also going to be in charge (read: responsible) for the timely delivery of four editions of our club magazine. Then there’ probably a couple of things I’m not even remembering at the moment.

All in all, it’s probably going to be a nice year if things go anything like I’ve planned, even if I only can tick off half of my plans come December. I’m looking forward to 2015!

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