Malt Fascination

The Reference Series by Master of Malt, part 2.1

Posted on 14 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

A while ago I got some samples from Master of Malt again. They had just released the second iteration of their Reference Series, which could also be called Whisky Homework.

I’m still slightly in doubt whether or not Master of Malt sent me those samples because they like me to taste their whisky, or because they think my reviews suck and want me to improve. I’ll focus on the first of those, but I’m not adamant on that choice.

Anyway, I haven’t looked up what the difference are between Reference II and Reference II.1, so all is based solely on what I taste in the glass, instead of information I got of the interwebz.

Reference II

I was a bit apprehensive about these samples since I’ve noticed quite often that Master of Malt’s blended whiskies, as in, the stuff they blend (which might also be blended malt) can get quite fennely, like they hadn’t cleaned their apparatus properly after running a batch of absinthe. I found it in some (mind: not all) That Boutique-y Whisky Company releases and in the first batch of Reference whiskies. A little birdy told me though, that the problem had been identified and taken care of. Which also means I wasn’t the only one.

Reference II

On the nose I find the whisky smelling young and raw, with some oak to it. I get brown sugar, a rye like spiciness and a hint of fruit. The palate has the same sugar, but also pepper, malt. There’s some fruit and spices again. It’s still young, oaky and spicy. It’s pretty nice, to be honest, but not very ‘special’ yet. Maybe some peat? The finish has a hint of sweat. Not necessarily in a bad way. It’s not very long but it is consistent.

Reference II.1

Reference II.1

The nose comes off as a bit more peaty than the previous one. Not too sure though. It’s a bit more gentle too, which makes me think it’s a little bit older. A little less raw, so to say. The wood spices are tuned up a little bit with cinnamon and nutmeg. The palate doesn’t have this added gentleness, with more spices, pepper and oak. The finish is longer, again more gentle. I get the hint of peat here as well.

Well, this is embarrassing. I looked up what the difference is between II and II.1, but it seems there’s just an added finishing in mini PX-treated casks. A third of what goes into II.1 is finished in those Sherry casks, and it does make quite a difference. The extra oak contact has made it more gentle and more spicy. I haven’t been able to find the typical PX fruitiness and sweetness, though. This might seem strange but these expected flavors weren’t always present in their Darkness series either, which Surprised Ben Ellefsen too.

I expect the sense of extra peatiness I got might have come from increased oak flavors, but to be honest, this might have just been a figment of my imagination. It happens. That’s also why Master of Malt should send whole bottles so I can try again and again, to get those weird flavors properly determined and/or crossed off.

So, yes, there is quite a difference when even a little bit of the whisky in the bottle has been finished in miniature casks. In this case it is, however, difficult to determine whether or not the change in flavor comes from the PX that the cask contained, or from the increased wood contact that bit of whisky has had. Interesting and a thought for future releases?

To end the review: I liked both of them, they only had a little of the fennely flavor, but in this case that also might be the spirit and youthfulness of the whisky. I didn’t mind at all, this time. It’s fun stuff to taste! I think I prefer the II.1 over the II, in this case, so the sherry finish works in its favor.

Reference Series II, 47.5%, 50cl, € 70 / £ 55.95
Reference Series II.1, 47.5%, 50cl, € 76 / £ 59.95

Thanks to the chaps at Master of Malt for the samples! The next two will follow shortly!

Posted in - Blended Malt | Tagged Blended Malt, Free Sample, Master of Malt, PX finish, Reference Series | 1 Comment

Whisky en Rum aan Zee 2014

Posted on 12 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This year saw the 9th edition of Whisky en Rum aan Zee (Whisky and Rum at Sea), not to be confused with Whisky by the Sea, and several other whisky festivals in coastal venues.

Since my brother in law is a rum drinker, and I am a, well, mostly whisky drinker (I love variety, let’s keep it at that) we decided it would be a good night out. The women could stay home to guard the fortress.

Our local liquor shop, Drinks & Gifts, is nice enough to organize a bus to the festival every year, so for a tenner on top of the ticket price your taxi is taken care of too. Which is great, since the venue (The IJmuiden Holiday Inn) is more or less as far from public transport as you can get around here.

We tasted a variety of rums and whiskies during the night. We focused on stuff that we really found interesting and not too regular, so there was quite the high end rum stuff happening. By high end, in this case, I mean some properly aged rums without getting into ridiculous territories of 35 year old single cask, early landed blah blah blah. Just, like the 21 year old El Dorado, or the 15 year old Borgoe. Nice rums.

Some highlights:

Borgoe rum from Suriname. Pretty good, pretty spicy

10 year old Genever, matured in new American oak. Fucking epic.

Arran White Wizard. Great stuff, but so popular it never hit the shelves

El Dorado 21 year old. Mostly sweet without much depth

Me being an idiot. Drinking the Don Abuelo Centuria. A really great rum. Depth, character, sweetness, spicy. This year we were in time for the hat.

Dos Madera. Rum finished in a PX cask. Strange, mostly gimmicky

Mulata from Cuba. Rather good. A bit thin on the palate

Ron Prohibido. Buttery on the nose, and the palate, and the finish. Just not it.

Glen Garioch 1986. Good, but not strong enough to combat the sugar rush we were having. Wrong time.

I tried a cigar. I didn’t enjoy it. I’m not a smoker. Cool picture though

Marlon with the same cigar. He enjoyed it more.

After-booze-snack. His smoked salmon is good, but not as good as Wullie’s

Apart from all this we also had:

Arran Dark Lord (the White Wizard’s sherried cohort), J.M. Rhum XO (really good with even some phenolic thingies happening), Zacapa 23 (f-ing epic rum. Maybe my favorite), Borgoe 8 year old rum (not as good as the 15, but not bad either), Flying Dutchman Dark Rum (this one didn’t do it for me), Corsair Ryemageddon (weird, not very tasty, but interesting), Wemyss ‘Tarte au Citron’ Auchentoshan 14 (really lemony, curd like, very tasty), some Ledaig bottled for the King’s Court Whisky Society (I didn’t like it), Ron Abuelo 12 (very good, as the Centurio, but much better priced), Mount Gay 1703 (meh)

Most of these glasses were shared so I didn’t feel all that hammered afterwards and the bus home went well. By looking at the list of drams available I realize I missed quite some interesting stuff, but you can’t have it all.

In short: This is a recommended festival. I might buy a passe partout next year if that’s available. Pretty cool stuff, all in all.

Till next year, IJmuiden!

Posted in - American Whiskey, - Festival, - Other Distilleries, - Other Spirits, - Rum, Arran, Auchentoshan, Glen Garioch, Millstone, Zuidam | Tagged Borgoe, Don Abuelo, El Dorado, Genever, Jenever, Millstone, Ron de Mulata, Ron Prohibido, Rum, Whiskey, Whisky, Zacapa, Zuidam | 1 Comment

Raw Spirit – Iain Banks

Posted on 9 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

It’s been a while since I finished a book. The new kid being around has kept me busy and when you’re already slightly too tired for your own good, reading isn’t the thing that’s going to keep you going.

Raw Spirit by Iain Banks

Anyway, I picked this up after a discussion about it on Twitter and I was lucky enough to find it on sale so including shipping from the UK, this book only cost me about € 4.00. That’s a hard cover book, and international shipping. Not sure how they do that, but the bigger whisky web shops should look into those transportation deals!

Now, the book. It’s written by the recently deceased Iain Banks who was a novelist. As far as I know this is the only non-fiction book he has written. There are articles and other publications, but no books.

Since it’s written by someone who generally writes fiction, you notice a very fluent way of writing from the start. In this case a rather witty and pun-loaded style of writing too. The strange thing is that I honestly can’t say this book is about whisky.

That’s pretty strange for a whisky book, but it’s not. It’s a book about driving through Scotland and getting paid to visit distilleries. Most chapters only mention whisky, if at all. The rest is about how nice the drive is to somewhere, what the best roads are and how much fun you can have with friends while doing a road trip. Also, it’s a book about drunken antics, the benefits of the Landrover Defender, crap weather and how lucrative a writing career can turn out.

Iain Banks

While this sounds strange, it does fit right in the slew of books I’ve been enthusiastic about recently, that contain stories instead of data. This one fits that bill. There is enough mention of whisky to keep it within the category, add to that a great writing style and fun anecdotes. You’re golden in my book!

To sum up this book in short, without giving too much away, it’s a bit like this:

It’s cool that a publisher wants to pay you a quite substantial amount of money to drive around Scotland in search of good whisky. Since you’re driving you can’t drink so you more or less are obliged to buy cases and cases of whisky, part of which is considered expenses. As it turns out, even after drinking drams at most distilleries, and buying bottles from even more of them, sometimes by the case, there is no perfect dram (so much for the sub title ‘In search of the perfect dram’).

If you dot that story with 300 pages of fun bits and pieces, and still manage to get paid, you’re doing it right.

I highly recommend this book, especially if you can get it ridiculously cheap like I did (pro tip: You can, here). If you normally like swapping stories, this book is for you. If you are looking for details on how it’s made, what tasting notes are to be found in which dram, look elsewhere.

I am now curious to see how some of his often mentioned other books are, so I might end up ordering some of those.

Posted in - Book | Tagged Book review, Books, Iain Banks, Raw Spirit, Whisky Book | 1 Comment

Kilchoman 2009-2014, 5 years old, PX finish, 58.3% – Exclusive for Abbey Whisky

Posted on 8 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The last of the four Abbey Whisky releases I’m doing currently. So far all’s been good and I’m doubting whether or not I’ve seen such consistent quality in a series of private releases recently.

Also, I’m doing the third Kilchoman in a short while, which is also more Kilchoman than I’ve ever tasted in six weeks. Ever. I know a couple of guys who are absolutely smitten with Kilchoman and think it’s more or less the best thing since the invention of the sandwich, but I’m not in their team. I do think they do a remarkably good job with such young spirit, but it’s not all gold and glory. Like the Port Cask Matured which completely fell apart after a little while in the bottle with some oxygen.

Anyway, I think it’s kind of risky that they finished an only 5 year old whisky in PX casks, since PX casks can easily overpower a whisky. On the other hand, when it’s only five years old it’s still pretty rough and fierce, so it might actually be smarter to do this than with a 35 year old gentle giant.

Kilchoman PX finish by Abbey Whisky

Sniff:
VERY leathery at the first sniff. I already love it. There’s furniture polish and wax coats. It’s salty like the harbor of Port Ellen, with some fishing ships, tar and smoke. Quite some smoke to be more precise. Still quite gentle though. I find it very Lagavulin-y.

Sip:
The smoke is rather greasy and soft. It doesn’t taste all that young, which is a good thing I think. Leather and wax again and comparable to the nose. It starts off gently but builds slowly to a much stronger dram. Slightly drying and I do get some flavors of lychee, and sherry. The sherry is much more prominent than it was on the nose.

Swallow:
The finish is gentle and long, slightly spicy with the greasy smoke picking up to barbecue levels. I get pork crackling (I wouldn’t know what other kind, but still) and smoke.

Let’s be short about this. If there is a Kilchoman you buy this year, make it this one. It’s such an incredibly rich dram with all kinds of very old fashioned, posh flavors. Those posh flavors have a background of fierce smoke and some spices so it nicely mingles a gentleman’s club with a peat bog. Which is great. The sherry works well for those leathery flavors and is done very well. Even though it’s a PX cask it’s never overpowering and not even that prominent most of the time.

An absolutely great whisky. In every aspect. It’s bold and powerful but never ridiculously so. A beast, but a kind one. On the wish list…

Kilchoman 2009-2014, 5 years old, PX finish, 58.3%, Exclusive for Abbey Whisky. Available from Abbey Whisky for £ 77.95 (€ 100)

Thanks to Abbey Whisky for the sample!

Posted in Kilchoman | Tagged Abbey Whisky, Free Sample, Islay, Kilchoman, PX finish | 1 Comment

Bunnahabhain 23yo, 1989-2013, 44% – Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks

Posted on 7 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another pretty well aged whisky. I’ve seen other sites starting to call whisky of some 18 to 30 years old ‘medium aged’. I still consider that pretty old. Just to keep myself from getting to ridiculously spoiled. I also think that whisky of above 30 years old is getting dangerously close to being over aged. There are some stunning very old whiskies, but I generally feel there’s a lot of them that start to decline above 30 years old, much like myself.

Anyway, Bunnahabhain. There’s not much that needs to be said about this distillery apart from some opinion. In this case, mine is that they should tone down on the heavily peated releases (much like Jura should, I think). I feel they’re losing their unique edge and position between the other Islay malts. And however you put it, I’ve yet to taste a heavily peated Bunnahabhain that can trump any of the other Islay drams. This is generalization if there ever was that. Of course most of us can pinpoint a single Caol Ila that might be worse than a single Bunnahabhain, but in general I feel there’s no need to do the heavily peated stuff.

Especially when their drams start being so vastly great at about 23 years old (or is it because the late eighties work very well for Bunna?). I tried a 1987 one from Berry Brothers and Rudd this summer which was incredible. I’ve tried others during the last couple of years that should have gotten way more attention than they did.

Bunnahabhain 23 year old by Abbey Whisky

Sniff:
It’s light and there’s a very gentle whiff of smoke. I find pineapple (or ‘ananas’ in EVERY other language), lemon, vanilla and a certain Islay-style herbaceousness. Like gentle scents of heather. It does get a bit drier and sharper after a few minutes with some pepper, oak and a typical Bunnahabhain nuttiness. Hazelnuts and almonds in this case.

Sip:
The palate is gentle with quite some heather and pepper. Those flavors are generally pretty harsh, but in this case they’re much softer than expected. Lemon curd and vanilla too, soft oak. All a bit timid. Again, a gentle smokiness and warm/stewed pineapple, pear and grapes. Nice and fruity!

Swallow:
The finish is gentle (no surprise there!) and fruity. The Islay flavors of heather with a salt and oak edge are here too. Not overly long, but not short either.

Right. I just read the page on this Bunnahabhain and found that this is a peated Bunna. I detected that on tasting it too, but I don’t think this fits in the ‘Moine’ category of heavily peated ‘randomized’ whisky. It’s much too gentle for that, and the fruitiness comes before everything.

What’s also curious is that it’s bottled at cask strength but it’s only 44%. That’s pretty low for a whisky of 23 years old. It might have been a rather porous cask, but since they only released 96 bottles, it could also be a split cask and if this was the last part to be taken out (split casks are not always aged for the same length) it could lose a bit more abv too.

Anyway, it’s a very good whisky, and as the previous two Abbey Whisky releases, at a very good price too. £ 72.95 (€ 91.25) is very nicely priced nowadays for a 23 year old whisky. Maybe I should get myself one of this.

Bunnahabhain 23yo, 1989-2013, 44%, Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks. Available at Abbey Whisky at £ 72.95

Thanks for the sample, Abbey Whisky!

Posted in Bunnahabhain | Tagged Abbey Whisky, Bunnahabhain, Free Sample, Islay | Leave a comment

Glencadam 1991-2014, 22yo, 55.3% – Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks

Posted on 5 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The second sample from Abbey Whisky. They sent me this only last week and it being a release from 2014 it’s one of the more current releases I’ve tried in a while. Generally I’m not all that focused on tasting the newest of the new drams, but this way, with people sending me stuff, it works our rather well.

I’ve got a bit of a weird relationship with Glencadam. I’ve not tried many, even less than Ben Nevis and those I haven’t tried all that often either. Mostly the output from this Highland distillery is destined for blends, and most of it is, I think, appropriate for blends. There are some stunning ones though, like last year’s The Whisky Agency 39 year old one, which was one of the top drams I tried in Limburg (the other one being a 1937 Strathisla).

Also, when I tried the regular 15 year old I really really liked it a couple of years ago, which was received skeptically by quite the few people who mentioned it to me. I just happened to love it but never got around to buying a bottle to verify my one tasting of it.

Anyway, this one is fairly well aged at 22 years old. It’s matured in a refill bourbon cask, which makes me expect a timid, maybe even shy whisky. I also expect there to be quite some chalky flavors in there, since I more or less associate that with the area Glencadam is from. Or at least, that’s what I expect from Glen Esk/Hillside too, and that’s from the same area.

Glencadam 22, by Abbey Whisky

Sniff:
Very classical in a way that more or less associate these flavors with whisky. Some vanilla and lemon. A slight spiciness too (parsley and mint I get) and quite some oak. Freshly sawn white oak, to be precise. In the background I find Scottish Tablet and toffee. The chalky notes are here, with some licorice too.

Sip:
The licorice continues here, with the flavor going more towards the root instead of the candy. Oak, with some spices too. Chili pepper and some vanilla. Some syrupy thickness with peardrops and lemondrops. The Napoleon lemon candies.

Swallow:
The finish is oaky and quite a bit sharper than I expected. Some pepper, vanilla, and pretty long lasting.

This is a tasty dram, which happens to be miles different from the Ben Nevis. Not only geographically, but also in the way it tastes, it’s almost the linear opposite of it. The oak is different and the licorice goes head on with the sherry of yesterday’s dram.

In itself, this is a pretty tasty dram and a good buy if you get it. It will not disappoint you but it is a dram you have to be ‘aware’ of. The distillery is not very well known, and the chalky, licorice flavors might not be for everyone, but I enjoy them. I’m not as raving as I was of the Ben Nevis, but I wouldn’t mind having a bottle of this either, and if I did, it wouldn’t last all that long.

Glencadam 1991-2014, 22yo, 55.3%, Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks. Available for £ 76.95, which is a VERY fair price for a whisky like this.

Thanks to the peeps at Abbey Whisky for the sample. I loved it!

Posted in Glencadam | Tagged Abbey Whisky, Eastern Highlands, Free Sample, Glencadam, Highlands | Leave a comment

Ben Nevis 16yo, 1997-2013, 55% – Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks

Posted on 4 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I’m not sure what it is with Ben Nevis. I haven’t tasted many of them and I only ‘almost visited’ the distillery. The ones I’ve tasted weren’t even all good with some truly horrendous whisky in the mix. Still, I get a bit excited when it comes to drams from this distillery. Generally I consider them a bit raw and unrefined, and definitely inconsistent. I guess I like that. Pouring a dram from something you’ve never had before and having no clue to what you’re going to get.

The flip side of that same coin is that I don’t spend money on Ben Nevis, for the exact same reason. You don’t know what you’re going to get and previous results are no guarantee of anything.

That almost visiting the distillery boils down to this. We did the Jacobite rail with friends in 2011. The weather was shite. When the steam loc tried to get back in the hills on the way back from Mallaig it couldn’t climb the tracks since those were cold and wet, and the train didn’t have enough power and grip. It took the driver 10 tries to make the hill (I kid you not) and when we got back to Fort William it wasn’t 4 PM, it was almost 7. Bummer, no distillery visit for me. And I don’t even like Harry Potter!

Ever since then I’ve had some sort of fascination for the distillery. But don’t do the train ride. Especially since: You can’t see the nice train when you’re in it. You can also not really see the Glenfinnan bridge, with the weather being as it was you could also not see the scenery. Just drive to Glenfinnan, time it well and snap a picture of the train on it.

Nice. We saw nothing of this.

Anyway, a pack of samples from Abbey Whisky came in yesterday and my eyes were drawn to the Ben Nevis right away. I needed to try it, so here that goes!

Ben Nevis 16yo from Abbey Whisky

Sniff:
Big on sherry with some strong spicy notes beneath the initial layer of sweetness. It’s leathery with a hint of engine grease. There’s bananas and dates too, but I can barely pick up any direct oak. A lot of sherry oak influence, but not oak itself. Incredibly rich, but also slightly restraint. In a good way. Is there mango too? And a slight hint of smoke.

Sip:
The palate is fierce. There’s a lot of sherry cask spiciness going on. Curry spices with coriander seeds, and many other kinds of spice. Rather drying after a couple of seconds with a clear smack of oak here. The sherry is present with a certain syrupy mouth coating feel to it. The banana is grilled now, and I still get the mango like sweetness. Some charcoal too.

Swallow:
The finish is fierce too with a very warming (almost burning) heat in my throat. Thick on your tongue to an almost sticky level. Not cloying though, that’s something else. The fruit is present, the spices are present, the oak too but is a bit toned down. It’s a long finish.

Wow. I like this one. A lot. It’s on the wishlist now. The sherry doesn’t overpower the rather raw distillery character and I have the feeling I am drinking Ben Nevis, and not just overproof Oloroso or PX. The sweet fruits combined with the Indian spices work very well for me. I also like that the oak is kept in check and I think that’s partially due to it being a Hogshead instead of a Butt.

Great stuff. Good picking by the lads and lasses at Abbey Whisky. It’s even affordable to current standards priced at £ 64.95 (some € 81.25).

Ben Nevis 16yo, 1997-2013, 55%, Sherry Hogshead, 96 bottles – Abbey Whisky’s Rare Casks, available from Abbey Whisky (obviously) at £ 64.95

Thanks to Abbey Whisky for sending a sample! Love it!

Posted in Ben Nevis | Tagged Abbey Whisky, Ben Nevis, Fort William, Free Sample, Glenfinnan, Highlands, Jacobite | 2 Comments

Bowmore Devil’s Casks II, 10yo, 56.3%

Posted on 2 October 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I think almost everybody even just remotely interested in whisky has heard about Bowmore’s Devil’s Casks releases. Last year when they released the first batch there was a run on it and within a month, the price had increased by some 400% of the original retail price.

Most shops never got around to actually putting it on their shelves. I only got my bottle (still closed so no review yet) thanks to Billy, who managed to get one for me. Or at least remind me to put in a reminder email on The Whisky Exchange’s site.

Anyway, this year they released batch 2, and the hype was no less great. It sold out in minutes and the only guys getting one after the first day got it from obscure retailers without a web shop. Now only to find one of those!

I got my sample from Ben Cops in a sample swap we did recently. We do that. We send each other samples of stuff. It’s fun. Apart from the fact that I forgot to put some in that I promised him.

A ten year old from Bowmore is usually pretty great, and one matured in first fill sherry is bound to turn heads. I was slightly skeptical at first since first fill sherry can easily overpower gentler spirits.

Bowmore Devil’s Casks II

Sniff:
It’s salty. That’s what I notice first. Then there’s a light peatiness immediately followed by a massive blast of sherry. Good sherry, though. There’s some tar, but also red fruits, strawberries. Quite some wood, more than I expected with mint to an almost toothpaste level. The peat does become slightly more prominent after a few minutes.

Sip:
The palate is fierce with lots of oak, peat and sherry. It takes a minute to settle and release more flavors. Heather, gentle herbs but also barbecue coals and marinade.

Swallow:
The finish is long and peaty, again with heather and herbs. Almost floral, even and fairly dry. The sherry is here too, but in a more timid way than I expected, but still pretty fierce.

It’s a bit of a strange one, this. It’s a remarkably sherried whisky, but because the sherry hits so incredibly hard on the nose it doesn’t really stand out on the palate and finish anymore. That doesn’t mean it’s gone though.

Albeit a bit of a strange whisky, it’s bloody delicious. As in, I want a bottle or two. I was afraid that it would just be strong, peaty sherry but there’s much more going on that I love. The balance is quite alright, and it’s much more complex and layered than I’d regularly expect from 10 year old first fill sherry whiskies.

Great stuff by Bowmore. It makes me pay attention to batch three next year, and hope batch one tastes as good as this one! It also helps that I kind of love Bowmore, nowadays. Their Tempest, Laimrig, Darkest and many other releases are just great, and great value for money.

Bowmore Devil’s Casks II, 10yo, 56.3%. It used to go for some € 80, but I expect you to pay much more if you can find it.

Thanks Ben!

Posted in Bowmore | Tagged Bowmore, Devil's Casks, Islay, Sherry Cask | 4 Comments

Port & Peat bottle share wrap-up

Posted on 28 September 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The only thing I’ve got to do with the Bottle share whiskies of the Port & Peat theme I recently bought, sampled, handed over and tasted is decide which one is my favorite and finish the bottles (read: my own samples).

I’ve been going back to the whiskies over the weekend and have come to some strange conclusions. First, a bit of background to these conclusions.

A while ago I wrote about redoing tasting notes and really ‘getting to know a whisky’. This last thing is not the same as writing notes and getting it over with. Unfortunately, that’s what we mostly do, since most whiskies come in 3cl quantities nowadays.

Getting to know a whisky is actually sitting down for it on several occasions and trying to decide whether or not you were right in your first assessment, change opinions (if only slightly) and finding and opening more layers in a dram tasted.

This is what I’ve been doing to the four bottles I had in this bottle share over the last couple of days. Unfortunately that makes me have to come back to stuff I said earlier. Especially about the Kilchoman. I’ve tried it about three times now and while my tasting notes have not changed much in a point by point way, I do feel the whisky is either 1) getting ridiculously unbalanced if open for more than a couple of days or 2) not my cup of tea after all.

Back in the initial review I stated that I thought it was a pretty good whisky. I’m taking that back. I’ve tried it again and again, and I now just don’t want to finish the rest of the bottle. It’s just peaty strawberry juice with alcohol by now. On Facebook I got a reaction from someone who didn’t like it at all on his first try. For me, it took me a little while longer but I’m agreeing with him more and more.

I just don’t like that whisky, after all. At all. Strange, huh?

The rest has stayed pretty much the same as before in my view, and that’s why I’m not fully losing faith in tasting notes right now. So, here’s the final list, from top to bottom. Sort of.

A shared first place goes to:

Longrow and BenRiach. Not much of a surprise there. I love both of these whiskies. I actually love everything about them. Their price vs quality ratio is great. Their flavors are great. They show great depth and there’s loads of things to discover, while not forcing you to do that. This means as much as ‘they’re easy to drink too’.

The only complaint about the BenRiach I can think of is that it’s watered down to 50% for consistency (I guess) and it’s not really cask strength. Apart from that, both drams are great, earthy, show port hints in restraint and have oodles of flavor. Oh, and the Longrow is salty too.

Third comes the Talisker, after all. I expected this one to be fourth. I’m not a huge fan of it, so the step between 1 (and sort of 2) to three is big. This is an okay dram, but there’s not much to it. But still, if you buy Talisker, just get the ten.

Fourth comes the Kilchoman. Apparently three years is not always enough. This one just completely fell apart over the course of a couple of days. Bummer.

So there you have it, a short update on how this one went. I’m already thinking about a next bottle share. I hope Master of Malt gets another cask of Cask Strength bourbon from FEW, then I might just do the full FEW line of products, up to and including their grappa.

Posted in BenRiach, Kilchoman, Longrow, Talisker | Tagged BenRiach, Bottle Share, Campbeltown, Carbost, Highlands, Islands, Islay, Kilchoman, Longrow, Port & Peat, Solstice, Speyside, Springbank, Talisker | Leave a comment

BenRiach 17yo, Solstice (batch II), 50%

Posted on 27 September 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The final installment of the Port & Peat bottle share and this time it’s a whisky I’ve actually tried before. The BenRiach Solstice has been around for a couple of years and it’s fairly easy to get hold of at shops, and even a wee taster at festivals is pretty easy.

So, maybe together with the Talisker Port Ruighe this is the one that most people will be familiar with. BenRiach is a distillery known for versatility. Their quality is consistently high, but they use all kinds of casks to varying degrees of success. Apart from their casks which they use both for maturation and finishing (pay attention when buying single casks!), they also vary their distilling process quite a bit with peated and unpeated batches, and some batches are triple distilled.

Of course, this means there will be expressions that you will not like as much as others, but that’s with any distillery that does this (think of Springbank, Bruichladdich and Arran). I’m usually not a big fan of wine casks and will not ever buy those without trying them first. The Port finishes and maturations have been pretty great though, and since this one is in the bottle share, and I’ve tried it before you might be able to guess the outcome of this review.

We’ve considered adding one of the new single casks to the bottle share, but since it was a quick one that we wanted to keep low in price (€ 45 for 4 x 10 cl) we decided against it. The 1984 Port Finish that just came out would add € 35 to the grand total per person, so that seemed a bit out of balance.

BenRiach Solstice 17yo

Sniff:
The peatiness is quite different from the previous three Port & Peat thingies. Where those were all coastal whiskies, this one is not and the lack of salinity stands out. I guess the casks used here were used for tawny port previously since there’s scents of hazelnut and strawberry. It’s very light and delicate behind that and floral even. There’s an earthiness here too. Dark chocolate and praline. After half an hour I suddenly get massive scents of barbecued pork. Like the bark on good ribs.

Sip:
The palate continues down the barbecue track with more oak and more meatiness. Some pepper. It’s quite strong on the port flavors, but not too strong. Between the oak and barbecue there’s a certain greasiness going on. It’s quite appealing. The combination of flavors make for a pretty gentle dram, although it’s at 50% and there’s a lot going on.

Swallow:
The finish is somewhat lighter and here it kind of shows that this is a finish instead of a maturation. The flavors of white oak show up a little bit, and the floral bits I also found on the nose show up again too. I don’t think those would’ve been present without some years in a bourbon cask previous to the finish. Late in the finish the barbecue pops up again.

In short: I like BenRiach and I like Port finished whiskies. This is a golden combination. I tried the 15 year old version a couple of years ago and enjoyed that as well. That was a bit more sooty than this one and that would have been a nice addition.

The flavors of this dram are pretty great. I think in this case a finish works better than a maturation since I think the spirit of BenRiach would otherwise have been overpowered. The port layer is just thick enough to enjoy, and have significant impact without it being just about red fruits and old, wet oak. Good stuff!

BenRiach Solstice Batch 2, 17yo, 50%. Available in many shops, with prices varying between € 63.50 and € 75. The high price is still pretty fair for this dram.

Posted in BenRiach | Tagged BenRiach, Bottle Share, Port & Peat, Port Cask, Solstice, Speyside | 1 Comment

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