Clynelish 16, Four Corners of Scotland, 49.3%

Posted on 25 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

About 11 months ago I visited Clynelish distillery with the male section of my in-laws. We’d been planning a trip to Scotland for years, but everybody kept having kids (me included) which meant leaving the family to fend for themselves for a couple of days was not really appreciated.

So, last year, it finally happened at the end of October. We visited the northern Highlands and made our way to Clynelish, Balblair and Old Pulteney. Of course, the idea was to pick up a bottle everywhere, and so we did. Unfortunately, Clynelish didn’t have a hand-fill available but they did have this one.

A small series including a Glenkinchie, Caol Ila and Cardhu as well as this Clynelish, bottled at cask strength, only available at the distillery at a steep price, but an even steeper price in the secondary market.

Image from Whiskybase

The bottle was shared in my bottle-share group, and the rest was quietly sipped by myself. Last week I decided it was time to get through the last couple of centiliters in the bottle.

American Oak Hogsheads, a slightly higher strength. Clynelish chosen to reflect the typical style of the distillery. Can’t go wrong, can it?

Sniff:
Incredibly waxy and very typical of Clynelish. Light, with some sweet heather, a bit of vanilla. It’s rather dry, with hay, oak shavings, dry barley too.

Sip:
The palate has a bit of a dry bite. Resin, wax, grape seed bitterness. Heather and marram grass too. Very Clynelish, a bit like an amped up version of the regular 14.

Swallow:
The finish brings a bit of fruitiness, like stewed strawberries. A long finish with waning oak and lingering wax.

This does exactly what you want it to do. It is quintessential Clynelish with a huge focus on the heather and wax notes that make the distillery so popular. Rather spectacular whisky.

90/100

Available at the distillery (at least it was in June, according to others) and in the secondary market at hugely inflated prices

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Ledaig 15, 2005-2021, Refill Hogshead, 52.7% – Catawiki

Posted on 21 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another one of the CataWhisky releases that were done last year! There were minis given away to loyal customers and some bottles divided among people they know (and I assume, like…).

This Ledaig is one of the three (out of five) smoky whiskies. The others were an Ardmore and Secret Islay. I didn’t get the Ardmore and the Secret Islay hasn’t been reviewed yet.

Image from Whiskybase

Ledaig then! It’s made as the peaty Tobermory, in the town of the same name on the Isle of Mull. I’m hoping to visit there in the spring of next year, but that’s not a given yet. Getting the right days off is a bit of a thing for the misses, and the longer it takes, the less accommodation is available there.

Anyway, back to the whisky. The label is once again a wood carving by Hans Dillesse, who is a popular whisky label designer for independent bottlers in The Netherlands.

Sniff:
Quite a timid smokiness after a few minutes. It starts off quite heavy, but it mellows rather soon. Grassy peat, some coastal salinity but nowhere near Islay levels of coastal scents. A farm note as well, with wool and hay.

Sip:
The palate is far more woody, with hints of hessian and dry bark. Hay, oak, salinity. A slightly medicinal note as well.

Swallow:
The long finish goes back to smoke, smoked (but not yet fried) bacon, hay and grassy peat.

This is exactly what Ledaig is known for. Big smoky notes, much like Islay whiskies. Because it’s already 15 years old it’s mellowed a little bit, but hasn’t lost too much of its intensity. A decade or so ago Ledaig was quite a clean whisky after being way too funky before. Now it sits somewhere in the middle and that gives it a lovely depth. Thoroughly enjoyable!

88/100

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Das gestohlene Schiff Part XIV, 16 yo, Bourbon Cask 0421, 58% – Jack Wiebers Whisky World

Posted on 20 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Image from Whiskybase

‘Das gestohlene Schiff’ or ‘the stolen ship’ for people who are not familiar with the language of our eastern neighbours is an Orkney whisky without the distillery being disclosed. Also known as Highland Park.

I have no idea what the idea behind the title of this dram is, and honestly, it is such a random thing that I can’t muster the energy to look it up. Let’s just say it fits the pirate theme that Jack Wiebers often employs nicely. Why there is a dog on the label instead of a ship is a mystery to me.

Interestingly, the label says 16 years old, but the Whiskybase entry mentions 14. I guess someone got mixed up because of the ‘part XIV’ thing.

Sniff:
A very old-style whisky with a hint of acidity and some varnish. There’s lots of malted barley, a hint of rubber and sneakers. Old apples in the background too.

Sip:
Quite a sharp arrival, with lots of alcohol. Heaps of barley, dried apple, star fruits, a hint of bitterness too.

Swallow:
A long finish, with pepper and alcohol. The longest lingering flavor is the alcohol sweetness, and a bit of a star fruit acidity.

A bit of a strange one, with enough character to be quite interesting. Some age to it, but the breadth of flavors is a bit limited.

86/100

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Ardbeg BizarreBQ, Experimental Barbecue Casks, 50.9%

Posted on 19 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

OK, so I didn’t write anything really informative about the casks in the title, but this is how Ardbeg markets this one. As one who doesn’t shy away from some good old barbecue, this peaked my interest.

What they mean by this newfangled term is that they charred the casks insanely heavily. Normally, there are four levels of charring, with a very light one on level 1, and level 4 being called ‘Alligator Charring’, this one steps things up a little bit more by ‘double charring’ it.

This expression was made by a collaboration between someone who calls himself ‘DJ BBQ‘ and Bill Lumsden of LVMH (Ardbeg’s mother company).

Image from Whiskybase

The other casks used are PX sherry casks, and regular charred oak casks. There is no information on the percentages of one cask versus the other, and I don’t think that matters a lot. We’re here to find out if it is any good, and whether it differs enough from the regular expressions!

Sniff:
There’s sherry, smoked eel, tar, coastal grasses and sand dunes. Very Ardbeg, so to say. Quite intense with peat and black pepper. There’s also a lot of charcoal and wood, ash.

Sip:
Lots of char, with PX sherry sweetness and dried prunes and dates. A hint of orange liqueur, with ash and a hint of tarry ropes, marram grass.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit less diverse, and focuses even more on the woody notes. Still sweet and slightly fruity, but mostly coastal smoke, oak, ash and char.

So, yes, the charring is clearly noticeable and while it does force a lot of woody and wood driven flavors onto the whisky, it’s not as straight forward as, let’s say, Laphroaig Quarter Cask. It’s quite sweet, but the sweetness is offset by the charry notes and the coastal peat flavors. All in all, I found this one dangerously drinkable, and went through my part of the bottle quite quickly!

87/100

Prices vary wildly, but start at £ 75 in the UK and about € 100 in Europe.

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Spica 40, 1980-2020, European and American Oak Barrels, 44.8% – North Star Spirits

Posted on 18 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

It’s not often anymore that whiskies as old as this one pass my palate nowadays. So, sometimes you just have to indulge when they do. Last weekend I decided to empty this one because the level was getting quite low. Of course, I underestimated how much there was still in the bottle and I ‘borrowed a little bit of happiness from the next morning’.

It was a good night though!

This blended whisky is 40 years old. At the time I purchased it, it was slightly older than I was. Not anymore though. There is no information on what is in the blend, but I don’t think that is too much of an issue.

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
This is not your typical blended whisky. There’s so much happening, even though it’s mostly cask. There’s a lot of woodiness, but it’s not fierce. It’s subtle. Apart from that there’s lots of fruits. Dried mango, apricot, cherries. A clafoutis like sweetness. There are other notes for even more complexity to push this up to ridiculous levels. Some salinity, some heather, some spices. It’s all there.

Sip:
Again, this is subtle and complex, with lots of things going on and even some intensity. However, it’s not sharp at all. There is quite some oak at first, with white pepper behind it. Then there’s dry fruits with some slightly acidic bite. Green apples and star fruit and such. Dry oak, dry barley. Lots of dry notes, and that is right in my wheelhouse.

Swallow:
The finish is rather gentle, but leaves the intensity behind on your tongue. Lots of barley and oak and clafoutis like pastry notes again. The fruit is slightly less pronounced than it was on the palate, but the pastry is a bit more prevalent.

Holy shit. I remembered this being good, but it had been a while since I gave it a spin. I think this is a ridiculous whisky. There’s so much happening and none of it gets lost in the blended, which sometimes is the case. Yet, it’s mostly cask but not entirely. Which makes it even more interesting.

Some really great blending happened here, and now I wish there was more of it.

92/100

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Invergordon 43, 1973-2017, 50.3% – The Whisky Agency for Birthdays United

Posted on 14 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

“Birthdays United”… Right.

Anyway, very old grain whisky. It’s one of those things that I used to be very thrilled about a decade ago, but that has waned quite a bit. Not necessarily because it’s not good, but mostly because I don’t find it interesting.

Why, you ask? Well, first of all, all you get it cask notes. And in a way that’s a good thing because young grain whisky tends to be not very good (yes, there are exceptions). And because it is distilled to around 94% ABV there’s virtually no distillery character to be found. So, whether this comes from Invergordon or North British or Strathclyde barely matters.

Image from Whiskybase

Of course, if you want to make statements like that, you have to reconfirm that opinion every now and then. Maybe my palate has changed, maybe this is one of the exceptions to the rule.

Also, don’t get me wrong, I’m not saying this style of whisky isn’t ‘good’. I am saying I (personally) find it not very interesting.

Sniff:
Quite a lot of vanilla, with some sea breeze crispness. A very modern aroma with a lot of cask influence compared to the spirit. Unripe banana and baked apple. Pastry cream and sugary pastry.

Sip:
The arrival is a bit thin and, again, leans very heavily on the vanilla and a candy-like sweetness. Wine gums (the white/yellow ones), a chemical sweetness. Banana and baked apple, puff pastry with egg-wash and sugar.

Swallow:
The finish is largely the same as the palate but has a bit of a white pepper and copper bite to it. Mostly sweet and candy like.

A very typical one for the age bracket it’s in. Rather sweet, almost nothing to be found that cannot be traced back to the cask it matured in. Still, it’s rather drinkable and pretty decent, but it confirms the rule that I don’t find them overly interesting.

86/100

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Ardmore 14, Bourbon Barrel 703864, 56.8% – Mythical Beasts

Posted on 13 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

While Mythical Beasts is a series, the bottler is Spiritfilled. Interestingly, Spiritfilled doesn’t have any other brands than Mythical Beasts, so that’s something curious.

Image from Whiskybase

A bourbon cask Ardmore at 14 years old should be good. I have a soft spot for the peated Highlander and think they’re really leaving their mark on the whisky world the last couple of years. This particular one doesn’t have a vintage year or a clear year of bottling on the label, although it was added to Whiskybase earlier this year. That would set the year of distillation in 2008, most likely.

They’re being imported in The Netherlands by SPIRITS Services, but I’ve not seen shops that have this line yet. Let’s see where this one lands!

Sniff:
A whiff of smoke on a backdrop of clean barley notes. Slightly grassy and rather crisp with hints of moss and fern. A bonfire on the beach, so smoke, charcoal and a bit of a sea breeze. Heather too, with a slight floral note.

Sip:
The palate packs a punch with lots of very dry smoke, sawdust and white pepper. It turns to soot and heather quickly after, with a good amount of oak. A touch of grass, barley and hay plays second fiddle.

Swallow:
The finish stays dry but has a surprising sweetness that holds the middle between (too) ripe fruit and custard. Quite smoky, quite long.

It does exactly what you expect it to do, and that’s something I am quite partial to. I love the dry notes in combination with moss and ferns, especially when it feels like it fits. So, yeah, good Ardmore. Not overly complex, but drinkable and rather lovely.

86/100

So far it’s only available in the UK at £ 75

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Glenrothes 10, 2010, Hogshead 4131, 46% – Canmore

Posted on 12 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another single cask bottling from Canmore, the whisky series from Charles Edge in London.

Glenrothes is one of those distilleries that I find very uninteresting in regard to their official bottlings (and yes, there’s amazing old stuff, I mean the core range). However, a lot of independent bottlings have proven to be very worth wile. As in, one of the most recent additions to my collection is a nice 19 year old sherry cask from Claxton’s.

This one, though, is from a bourbon cask. Contrary to all five whiskies in their core range. I believe there was the Alba Reserve some years ago, but virtually everything else is a sherry cask. So, interesting from that regard!

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
A very grain forward and green Glenrothes. A very Glen Elgin like whisky, to be honest. Mossy, with ferns and some minerals. Not something I’ve ever had in a Glenrothes, as far as memory serves.

Sip:
Dry with green hints of moss and ferns. A bit of bite with hints of white pepper. There’s oak shavings, barley and straw.

Swallow:
A long finish with lots of green, spirity notes. Quite intense and a bit more harsh than expected. Some oak shavings.

It’s interesting to have a spirit like this, because it’s so unlike almost all Glenrothes out there. In a way it’s just a lot of spirit notes, but I can’t shake the feeling that the cask has done some strange magic here too.

Having said that, it doesn’t taste like it was done. By that I mean it tastes like it’s been bottled too young, with the wood and spirit just starting to get used to each other. The spirit notes are mostly alcohol driven, and that’s not overly great, even at just 10 years old.

80/100

Available in the UK for £ 58

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Amrut Bagheera, Batch 1, Sherry Cask Finish, 46%

Posted on 11 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Apparently, Bagheera is Indian for panther, and until this whisky came out I didn’t know that. To me it was the panther in The Jungle Book, and nothing else.

Anyway, this whisky, released three years ago is an Amrut, which to me means that it is one of the really well made Indian whiskies. Maybe the best of the 2 or 3 distilleries in the country that I know of and have tried.

Image from Whiskybase

This one comes without an age statement, but knowing it’s an Indian whisky and how quickly booze evaporates from casks there, it can’t be more than 4 or 5 years old. But, because of the insanely fast evaporation, maturation happens more quickly too. So, I was quite curious to know this one, and used in an online tasting a few years ago. Yesterday I finished the last bit in the bottle, so it’s about time for a review!

Sniff:
The sherry cask trumps all spirit, with a LOT of yeast driven sherry flavors happening. Honestly, it’s not bad at all, it’s just very cask driven. I guess, based on my experience, that Amrut adopts casks very well. There’s some dried fruit, but not a really rich sweetness. It’s more like apricots and peaches than it’s dates and prunes.

Sip:
The palate brings a bit of bite, even after another (higher strength) dram. The sherry is very present, with dry tree bark, some yeast and almond flour. Also there are hints of apricot and coconut husks. A whiff of a peppery bite too.

Swallow:
The finish is largely the same but does bring a bit of a barley note. It’s quite long and warming, with lots of wood driven flavors.

A nice daily drinker, with more to offer than I expected. But, in the end, it’s pretty straight forward and slightly simple.

Currently, with this clocking in at just under € 60 it is easier to do worse at that price than it is to do better.

84/100

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Glen Garioch 12, First Fill Bourbon Cask, 46% – Canmore

Posted on 8 September 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Until very recently I had not heard of King Canmore, or the whisky brand with his name. The company behind the brand, Charles Edge, was also new to me. By what I see on Whiskybase that’s not too surprising since their first bottlings are only from 2021.

They kindly sent over a handful of samples for reviewing purposes, from the UK, which was my first post Brexit booze shipment, and the first run in with a little bit of taxes in that regard.

Apart from a couple of single casks, Canmore also releases some blended whiskies which I will review at a later date.

Canmore was king of then Scotland in the eleventh century. I’m not entirely sure how thing worked back then, because there seem to have been a lot of ‘first kings of Scotland’ and I read somewhere the Canmore was considered that as well. Even though he inherited the title from his father.

Anyway, the whisky. Glen Garioch is a bit of a strange one. They have had some insanely good whiskies in the past, suffered from the Morrison-Bowmore Soapy decade in the 1980s, stopped peating in the early nineties and have not been able to fully capitalize on the huge surge of single malt whisky afterwards. That last bit is very much from my perspective, mind.

The output from the distillery is not always consistent and can go in many directions in regard to flavor and aroma. Let’s see where this one sits.

Image from TopWhiskies

Sniff:
There’s this scent of unrefined spirit. As in, even though it’s 12 years old, it’s not unlike some far younger spirits. Now Glen Garioch can be a bit unrefined, but this is slightly weird. After a few minutes it gets significantly better and starts showing some notes of pastry, straw, oak and a hint of leather.

Sip:
The palate opens up really nicely, with notes that fit the Canmore theme of white pepper and dry oakiness. There’s a bit of a vanilla and pastry sweetness. There’s coconut husks, straw.

Swallow:
The finish continues down the same line but adds flavor of sherbert and parma violets. Not out of the ordinary for a distillery owned by Morrison-Bowmore (now part of Beam-Suntory).

So, a strange one indeed. The initial aromas coming from the whisky were not very promising, but that cleared up hugely after a minute or so. There are some nice pastry notes that add some sweetness but not too much. Quite a solid whisky, to be honest.

85/100

Available from Charles Edge for 68 quid, also from TopWhiskies

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