Blogger burn-out

Posted on 26 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I already announced something on Facebook and Twitter earlier today.

I have gotten tired of continuously being on the edge of my seat for new whisky releases, writing tasting notes of stuff that comes out or has been/is no longer available for ages.

I want to get back to simply enjoying whisky, sharing experiences with friends and going to tastings. It feels more and more like a job instead of a hobby and while I wouldn’t mind being part of the industry, the way things are now I’m getting a bit overwhelmed and underwhelmed at the same time.

Overwhelmed by the amount of time I spend on Facebook, Twitter, whisky sites and browsing shops. Underwhelmed and disappointed by the vast amount of energy it costs me, not to speak of the money sink a hobby like this is.

This energy drain is something I find hard to deal with. There’s too many releases that I find interesting and after I’ve spent my cash and something more interesting comes out, I already regret buying the previous bottle.

So, what I’m going to try and do for a while is lay low. Trying to visit less shop sites, not reading bottle-share offers for a bit, and blog less about whatever is happening on the whisky related internet.

My reasons for this are two fold:

Personal in which I have to find a way to get out of my own sphere of negativity and get rid of the feeling of blogging being a chore instead of a hobby. Personal in which I really have to start saving some money for other upcoming expenses instead of burning everything on bottles and samples. Personal in which I find I have more than enough whisky that I like to drink but to which I don’t get by the sheer amount of sample I ‘have’ to review.

Outward in which I find the whisky fabric being very negative at the moment (although I agree with the negative arguments for about 99% of the time). Outward in people bitching to each other on items of blogger integrity and people’s opinions. Outward in me being weak and wanting to buy more than I can.

Of course, I have only myself to blame for owning more whisky than I can drink in a decade. Still I feel like an idiot for having this big a collection. I want to limit my buying too.

Currently I just buy random things that seem interesting at the time. I want to set some new rules for myself:

– I’m only buying if I would also find the whisky worth it if it costs € 10 more
– I’m only buying if I want to open the bottle when it comes in. (I have too many bottles ‘that seemed interesting at the time’)

Of course, I will keep my blog updated with things I find interesting, reports of tastings and trade sample reviews if I get any. Other than that, I’m just going to enjoy the stuff I’ve bought over the years.

Sorry if this rambling seems incoherent. I’m trying to make sense of it as well, and I’m trying to get my bearings again in this tumultuous hobby environment. Feel free to comment!

Posted in - News and Announcements | 6 Comments

Springbank 12, Cask Strength, 2013 edition, 53.1%

Posted on 25 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

I started to type up this whisky review vigorously, when I decided to see how this bottling compares to the earlier one I had tried, about a year ago at De Whiskykoning.

As it turns out, it’s exactly the same release, which made me remember that when we ordered it for the Emakina tasting a couple weeks ago, we had to change batch numbers since the one we wanted was out of stock.

Still, I did a small comparison on the tasting notes, and I’m pleased to say that the notes I took were very similar between both versions. I didn’t get the cheese note this time, and wrote down hay some more. But apart from that, I should have known.

Anyway, a nice chance to look up an older release, which still is ridiculously good.

The drawback of not writing this post, is that I don’t have any notes left to write down quickly…

Posted in Springbank | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Glen Garioch 23, 1990-2013, 49.9% – Signatory Vintage

Posted on 24 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

When we held the whisky tasting at Emakina (my work) we had loads of fun. But, since I was hosting the tasting with a buddy, I didn’t take any notes since I didn’t want to come off too geeky (who am I kidding, right).

What I did do to compensate for that was take some samples of the remaining bottles and try them at home over the weekend.

This Glen Garioch was the oldest of the bunch and we picked it since I generally like Glen Garioch, it was rather old, it was affordable and not that high in alcohol, although it was cask strength.

Glen Garioch 23, from the Emakina tasting

Glen Garioch 23, from the Emakina tasting

Sniff:
The scent reminded me of old fashioned highlands whisky. More in the style of the 1970s than the 1990s. It’s very lightly peated with a lot of maltiness. Also lemon, lemoncurd and hay.

Sip:
The palate is lightly spicy but a little thin. It becomes a bit more dry and again has that lemony flavour. The hay is back too, but with a touch of oak and grass.

Swallow:
The finish has more oak and malt than the palate. It loses its freshness now. Not too long.

While this whisky is an exercise in nuance it does lack a bit of ‘rememberability’. As in, it’s a nice whisky with some good crispiness. On the other hand, it’s a bit simply and slightly uninteresting. A bummer, since I had high hopes for this. So, in short: A very nice drinking whisky, but not a highlight.

Glen Garioch 23, 1990-2013, 49.9%, Signatory Vintage. Available at DrankGigant at € 91.75. Samples from Master of Malt.

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Karuizawa Noh, 1980-2013, 59.2%, cask #3565

Posted on 21 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Like yesterday’s Mars Shinshu whisky I got this in a trade of some samples I did with a fellow Usquebaugh Society member last Sunday when we were at the Zuidam distillery to select our next club bottling. More on that later, but now this Karuizawa.

I’m trying to go through samples that come in quickly, since the stash upstairs of unopened samples that have been sitting there for over a year is huge. I don’t think samples get any better over time since they’re lids are usually not as good as complete bottles.

Also, when I get trade samples (the rare occasion that such a thing happens), like the 60 year old from Master of Malt, their purpose is also to get some traction for their release so them sending me samples is also done to get publicity. That’s not going to help a year after it sells out, so I try to do those quickly.

However, with me doing some abstinence every couple of weeks (for a couple of days) doesn’t really help. So, if your sample has not been reviewed yet, it’s coming. At some point.

Why this rambling? Because I don’t have anything useful to say about Karuizawa that hasn’t been said before. Everybody knows I love the whisky. Everybody also knows that it’s usually pretty far outside my comfort zone and budget.

Karuizawa Noh 1980. Image from Whiskybase

Karuizawa Noh 1980. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Massive sherry, but not in a gentle fruity way. There’s rancio, wine stone, slightly salty sherry. Also dried fruits. Very intense. After a short while I get coal, diesel and wood smoke. It’s not as sharp as some old Karuizawas and I like that. Some light spiciness with basil and menthol.

Sip:
On the palate it’s sharper than I expected. Dry and biting with a dried fruit intensity. Lots of oak and quite some sherry again. In a wine like way this time. Chocolate, alcohol, diesel. Even some nutmeg and tree bark. The wet, green kind.

Swallow:
The finish is also typical of Karuizawa in its flavours. I get Japanese plum wine, smooth and sherry like. Slightly salty again and some red fruits. I think strawberries and balsamic vinegar.

Contrary to yesteday’s Mars Shinshu (I keep typing Mars Volta…) here the palate and finish aren’t inconsistent. They just keep adding things to what was already there. I love that. There’s a lot to discover here and it won’t bore quickly!

Unfortunately, the price is at about £ 1000 / € 1200 now, according to Whiskybase, so this is a one time occurrence for me. Luckily, I saved a bit.

Oh, and on the whisky again. I really love the fruit backed up by the diesel and coal flavours. It sounds weird, but it’s gorgeous!

Karuizawa Noh, 1980-2013, 59.2%, cask #3565. Even in auctions it’s going over € 1200…

Thanks to Bart P. for the sample!

Posted in - Japanese Whisky, Karuizawa | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Shinshu Mars, 1992-2004, 43%, cask #1124

Posted on 20 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

That’s a nice way to be introduced to a distillery you haven’t tried before. Trade a sample, and have it turn out to be a single cask as well! A split cask, by the looks of it on Whiskybase, since it’s in there twice and the cask number is the same.

Anyway, I don’t know anything about this distillery, and I hadn’t tried their whisky before last night. They’ve been around at least since 1983 since the oldest whisky on Whiskybase is a 1983 bottling. The 25+3 years old. Not sure why they call it that, though.

Since I don’t have much to say unless I start looking it up on wikipedia, I get right on to the tasting notes.

Shinshu Mars 1992. Image from Whiskybase

Shinshu Mars 1992. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
The nose is rich with sherry, right from the start. Dates and figs are very prominent and it has an aroma of Oloroso sherry, or maybe a gentle PX. Although it’s a 43% whisky the nose has quite some alcohol on it. The sherry is very lovely and not too sweet.

Sip:
The palate is gentle and smooth, but has quite some oak to it and is not as fruity and sweet as the nose suggested. There’s some pepper and the sherry flavours are very late to the party.

Swallow:
The finish goes in a rather nutty direction. Confit fruit and brown cake, but slightly drying.

While I like each bit of tasting this whisky, I do feel it’s rather inconsistent. There’s fruit on the nose, some spices on the palate and it goes more cake-y in the finish. If tasted blind I would not have guessed this to be a single cask, but rather a quite inconsistent blend.

Is it a bad whisky? No, far from it. The scents and flavours are very nice, but not great. The inconsistency just makes it a bit harder to just sit back and enjoy it since the flavours are all over the place.

Shinshu Mars, 1992-2004, 43%, sherry butt #1124 bottled for Espoa.

Posted in - Japanese Whisky, Shinshu Mars | Tagged , , , | 2 Comments

Bourbon Whiskey, our native spirit – Bernie Lubbers

Posted on 18 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Bourbon Whiskey, our native spirit. By Bernie Lubbers

Bourbon Whiskey, our native spirit. By Bernie Lubbers

Another book on American whiskey from the pile. I don’t remember where I picked this up and I can’t find it on my main book supplier (play.com) so it might have come from anywhere.

Anyway, this book is, like The Kings County Disitllery book, part personal story, part history of the drink and part ‘other information’. Of course, there is the mandatory chapter on what bourbon is and how it’s made. There’s a lot of information about reading labels too. . In this case, the other information is about places to go in Kentucky, when you’re on holiday there (very tempting in itself).

The personal story about how Bernie grew up, his environment and how he became a ‘Bourbon Professor’ after having been a comedian for two decades is interesting and a good read. He’s very open about his father’s drinking, how he didn’t like bourbon until later and that his mother gave him a beer when they were watching the moon landing (at the age of ten). It’s nice to read about people growing up in what, to us, is another culture.

Bernie Lubbers

Bernie Lubbers

The chapter on the production process is a bit of a simplified one, while still being interesting to people who have read a book or two on it (like me). What I learned is that the first distillation run is done unfiltered with the grains still in the mash. Well, actually the mash is distilled, not just the wort. Anyway, it’s pretty interesting. Some differences between each major distillery is highlighted to showcase the different products a little bit too.

The chapter on reading bourbon labels is something I have never encountered before. It takes the legal requirements that are in place for labeling bourbon and explains what it actually means when it’s on a bottle, and then takes about two examples of each variable to highlight is. What you should think of are the words Kentucky, Straight, Bourbon, Whiskey, bottled in bond, ‘distilled and bottled by’, and so on. While I got the just after a few examples, it is still an interesting take on things.

I only leafed through the part on traveling Kentucky. While I find that highly interesting and it’s quite high on my bucket list, I didn’t read it just yet. Mostly since it’s been a crisis and there’s a high chance quite some venues, bars and restaurants no longer exist, it’s also because I’m not likely to remember all of it when the information will come in handy. I’ll just pick up this book again when it’s about to happen!

All in all, a very interesting read that covers just about all aspects of the world of bourbon. The historic bit is a bit short with most of the information being from during and after prohibition. It’s rather light and focuses more on being a complete guide with different angles than being an in depth handbook on how the bourbon industry works.

If you’re interested in bourbon and you’re not sure where to start, or want to know more about it when you know a thing or two on Scotch, this is a very good place to start. Highly recommended!

Bourbon Whiskey, our native spirit. Bernie Lubbers.
Available from Amazon.co.uk for £ 12.19

Posted in - American Whiskey, - Book | Tagged , , , , , | 3 Comments

Gerston, 46% – Lost Distillery

Posted on 17 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The third and last bottling from The Lost Distillery Project. This time it’s about the Gerston release, from a distillery by that name in Caithness.

It started it’s life as a popular farm distillery but was replaced by ‘Gerston two’ in 1886 to produce 10 times as much whisky due to popular demand. This second distillery lasted for only 28 years since they were unable to recreate the spirit from Gerston one.

In those days not much was understood of the process of making whisky, compared to now. This is extremely clear in the differences between both Gerston distilleries. The first one had a local water source and used peat from around the distillery. The second distillery still had the rights to the water source but was located much farther away, and didn’t use peat at all. Further more they changed the barley, the washbacks, the stills and even switched from peat fired stills to much bigger steam heated stills.

Anyway, a bit of randomness is what’s this distillery’s style. By the style of the whisky, I feel they’ve gone for the more popular Gerston one style.

Gerston by Lost Distillery

Gerston by Lost Distillery

Sniff:
It’s dry at first, with a clear scent of unmalted barley. Light smoke and not very salty. There’s some vanilla, barley. It all feels a bit coarse on the nose. Rather dry. It’s comparable but slightly different to the Stratheden.

Sip:
It tastes a bit dirty, compared to the other two. There’s oak, vanilla and moldy dirt. Earthy, with some salt, smoky. Pretty sharp with white pepper.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit warmer and again has that moldy touch. Not very long.

While I considered the Stratheden to be Arran like, this one is more Springbank style, with that dirtiness going on. I enjoy this style a lot. Anyway, again, we’ll never know whether or not this actually tastes like Gerston, but it is a tasty, old style whisky.

The similarities between the Stratheden and Gerston are rather obvious, and the Auchnagie differs more, although the Gerston holds the middle between them. It’s a very tasty dram and at the price, it’s also a good change of pace for a while.

Gerston, 46%, the Lost Distillery Company. Available at DH17 at a discount. Currently € 53.50

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Auchnagie, 46% – Lost Distillery

Posted on 14 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The second whisky of the three that are available now. It’s also the second of the three reviews of them. The first one, the Stratheden, was very Arran like. I liked it quite a bit.

In that post I wrote that The Lost Distillery Company recreates the whisky based on descriptions of the spirit produced in certain distilleries. Apart from what is written down about the spirit, they also take the production process in account. According to the website they look at ‘the 10 key components’. I nicked this from their site.

  • Era. This gives clues about the production process that was used during that period.
  • Locality. There was a strong regional style back then.
  • Water. Minerals, calcium and such.
  • Barley. Is there phenol in there? Which strains, and from where.
  • Yeast. Currently seen as not very influential, this was different back then.
  • Peat. Did they use it, and which type was it?
  • Mash tun. How was it made and with what? Controlled, material, style.
  • Wash back. Almost all were Douglas Fir. Currently some still are.
  • Still. Shape and size were and still are important.
  • Casks. Ageing was not often done, but oak was used to transport.

So, ten different aspects taken into account. They could be on to something, right?

Auchnagie Distillery was situated a couple miles south east of Pitlochry. It was located in Tulliemet and the distillery was later known Tullymet Distillery. The water pool constructed above the distillery caused ample water to be available and still exists today.

They used local peat, water as their power source, and quite some technical information is known from Alfred Barnard’s writings.

Auchnagie by Lost Distillery

Auchnagie by Lost Distillery

Sniff:
Quite heavy on the nose, more so than the Stratheden. The peat is quite present, some apple, lemon and lots of barley. The barley is quite crisp but the bere character is not something I pick up. Pretty dusty.

Sip:
The palate is a lot more dusty and chalky than I expected. The peat is present and almost on a level of some of the lighter Islay whiskies. The barley is biggest other flavour with not much fruitiness going on. I do get some ginger however.

Swallow:
The finish is rather strong, with a coarse peatiness and grain chaff. A chalky texture remains with biscuit like flavours.

With this whisky combining quite some different styles and also being rather complex without it being overwhelming, it’s a very tasty dram. I really like that the bready, biscuity flavours are there, without them making this whisky taste too young. It’s a very well put together blended malt and I really enjoy it. Well done, chaps!

Auchnagie, 46%, Lost Distillery. Available at DH17 at a discount. Currently € 53.50

Posted in - Blended Malt, Auchnagie | Tagged , , , , , | 4 Comments

Speyside 60 years old, 42.2% – Master of Malt

Posted on 12 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Last Friday Master of Malt released their 60 year old whisky. They have had a line of undisclosed Speyside whiskies for a while now, including a 30, 40 and 50 year old. This is the top end of the line, at least for now.

Usually, when the distillery is not disclosed, and it is a Speysider, people guess it’s a Glenfarclas. In this case, that guess is as good as any and I too think it is.

Master of Malt sent out samples to a group of bloggers for a big announcement on Friday, with several tasting notes popping up all around the whisky world wide web. Unfortunately for me DPD was screwing up big time on the delivery end. They first tried last Tuesday, but it took them another week to get the parcel actually delivered. Not being able to find the building I’m working in seems odd. Especially since I’ve seen DPD delivering there more often.

Anyway, the 60 year old. It’s a cask strength bottling with only 42.2% alcohol left. That’s not a lot, but still higher than some other forty year olds, so it must have been a pretty good cask, with tight grains to prevent most of the alcohol from seeping out.

They promote it as being the cheapest 60 year old single malt on the market, and I think they are right. With the way things are going this is actually quite a steal at £ 1000. Highland Park 40 is more expensive. The 50 is ten times more expensive so I cannot imagine what a 60 year old would cost. The same goes for most other distilleries that are in this league.

Since Gal is more or less in a third world country he also didn’t receive his parcel until this week so we decided to have our own little Twitter Tasting tonight. Here’s the results:

Master of Malt 60 year old Single Malt Whisky

Master of Malt 60 year old Single Malt Whisky

Sniff:
It’s really woody, but in a different way than most Japanese whiskies are. The flavours are really thick, but gentle. It’s rather fruit with baking spices too, like fruit cake. Not as spicy as regular Christmas cake though. The oak is soft, old and gentle. It does have something crisp going on, which I think is pine resin and pine trees. In the official tasting notes it says tomato stems and I can see why they said so, although I would never have though of it myself. It also has an absinthe like bitterness.

Sip:
The palate is a bit strange too, in a good way again. Mostly it’s sweet fruit and bitter wood, but here it’s the other way around. There’s a star fruit bitterness going on, with soft vanillins from the oak making up for it. Some peaches and grape pith. I do have a strawberry lemonade and 7Up thingy too. Some parsley and licorice later.

Swallow:
The finish goes on a bit like this, but focuses more on the sweet and bitter than on the complex end of the deal. Grape pith and raisin stems too.

Then the biggest surprise: The finish has HUGE notes of weed. I haven’t encountered this in many whiskies (exactly one, but then I didn’t recognize it), but here it’s huge. Very strange, but not bad.

This is an awesome whisky, and I am really glad DPD managed to deliver the parcel after all. I would have been pissed off if I’d missed this.

The complexity on the nose and palate are incredible, and the combination of bitter fruits and soft, gentle oak are very, very good. There’s a lot of familiarity in this dram, but on the other hand there’s enough novelty to keep you busy too. For a long time. A long time is what this dram deserves.

Speyside 60 years old, 42.2%, Master of Malt. Available at their shop for £ 999.95

Thanks to Master of Malt for the sample. Much, much obliged.

Posted in - Other Distilleries | Tagged , , , , | Leave a comment

Stratheden, 46% – Lost Distillery

Posted on 11 March 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Lost Distillery is a project of, as the name suggests, lost distilleries. Not that it is going after casks from Brora, Port Ellen or even more rare stuff like Kinclaith and such. What it tries to do is something completely different.

The guys at Lost Distillery are trying to recreate whiskies from distilleries closed some hundred years ago. This they are not doing by distilling according to similar recipes, but by blending to recreate descriptions from that time.

The remnants of Stratheden Distillery in Auchtermuchty. Image from Whisky Etc.

The remnants of Stratheden Distillery in Auchtermuchty. Image from Whisky Etc.

Some influences in the whisky can be determined by distillery set up and location, others by tasting notes and markets where the whisky was popular. Of course, this is quite some marketing talk, but I find it interesting nonetheless. It is far too easy to start flaming these guys for trying to do the impossible and since it’s about whisky, I’m willing to give it a shot.

Stratheden distillery was located in the Kingdom of Fife in the town of Auchtermurchty. It closed in 1926 after being open for 97 years. It was run by 3 generations of the Bonthrone family and was located in the middle of town with several building dotted around the town center as the distillery grew. They supposedly used Bere barley, which makes for a bit of a different style of whisky, based on recent experiments by Bruichladdich and Arran. There’s a lot more on the distillery here.

Stratheden by Lost Distillery. Image from DH17

Stratheden by Lost Distillery. Image from DH17

Sniff:
The first thing that I noticed is the malt and barley, as well as that it’s probably a rather young whisky. Very lightly peated, but only a hint of smoke. Some apple, pear and even some mint notes. The scent is quite pronounced, but not pungent. It’s rather sweet and does have a bit of an Arran style (which is nice).

Sip:
The palate starts off rather dry and coarse. Slightly smoky again, with the returning hints of apple, this time with pear skins. Some oak and rather dry, with a minor bitter note. It does have some white grape skins too, as well as demerara sugar and vanilla cream.

Swallow:
The long finish has hints of warm apple strudel and pear skins. Some nuts come through here, Brazil and hazel. Vanilla, charcoal and pineapple juice too.

I didn’t know what to expect of these whiskies at all, but if this one is an average for the other two bottlings, I’m a happy camper. It certainly does have an old fashioned feel to it, although whether or not it measures up to the old distillery we might never know.

The light apply notes with hints of peat and sugar really reminded me of Arran, which is a good thing. It’s complex enough to keep you busy for a bit, but not difficult. Good stuff!

Stratheden, 46%, Lost Distillery. Available at DH17 at a discount. Currently € 53.50

 

Posted in Stratheden | Tagged , , , , | 2 Comments