Bunnahabhain 1987, 50.2% – Archives, Fishes of Samoa

Posted on 12 February 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

To follow up on yesterday’s cracking Deanston, I’m going through some more Archives bottlings until Friday. Today’s post goes to a 25 year old Bunnahabhain from a ‘Dark sherry cask’.

Bunnahabhain is a distillery who’s product usually goes very well with sherry casks, especially when the whisky gets quite a bit older. The top ones that a lot of connoisseurs talk about when they come out are from the 60s and 70s, but those are getting more rare, and much more expensive.

The next decade automatically becomes a point of interest for both monetary and availability reasons. Luckily, Bunnahabhain doesn’t have a bad 80s reputation like Bowmore with their FWP heavy whiskies.

Bunnahabhain 1987 Archives. Image from Whiskybase

Bunnahabhain 1987 Archives. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Slightly nutty with lots of leather and sherry influence. The nuttiness is no surprise, when tasting Bunnahabhain, I think. Quite punchy with some dried fruit, wine residue. Quite a lot of sherry, in a good way.

Sip:
At first it tastes a bit thin, surprisingly. After that initial surprise it gains in thickness and richness quickly. Barely any wood flavours but quite a bit of dried fruit. Plums, and also banana (not dried). Sweet and sugary.

Swallow:
Spicy with sweet cloves. Finally I get a bit more oaky notes. Slightly bitter too.

A very tasty whisky that isn’t overly big on its sherry notes. While the Spanish wine is definitely present it doesn’t overpower the distillery character and leaves enough room for the spirit to do its work. I really enjoy that.

Surprisingly when a whisky like this pops up and I am generally not overjoyed at first since the sherry is a bit tamed and the whisky doesn’t have a massive oomph. After I’ve had it and I think about it a bit I find that I usually really love those drams. The added complexity gives you so much more to enjoy in a bottle.

So, again, kudos for the guys at Whiskybase. They’ve picked a great cask again and I’d really like to get myself one of those bottles. What’s keeping me is that I just got allocated one of those Karuizawas from TWE. Yes, allocated.

Bunnahabhain, 1987, 50.2%, Archives for Whiskybase, Fishes of Samoa series. € 145 at Whiskybase.

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Deanston 1997, 55.8% – Archives, The Fishes of Samoa

Posted on 11 February 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Deanston is a distillery that doesn’t see much play. At least, on the bigger international blogs it pops up every now and then, but in my neck of the woods you have to put it some effort to find anything except for the 10 year old and the fairly new Virgin Oak.

Some say it’s a pretty generic whisky with a lot of bourbon cask influences, mostly outing themselves in the way of massive vanilla flavours. While I can’t really deny the vanilla punch, it doesn’t mean that we should overlook the distillery. I remember a Master of Malt bottling that was pretty kick-ass, for example.

This one came from a sample sent to me by the guys at Whiskybase. Apparently they toss in a couple samples with a lot of orders. I didn’t know that but it does make me more inclined to check their website for future purchases.

This whisky was matured in a Hogshead for 15 years before being bottled under the Archives label, for Whiskybase themselves.

Deanston 1997 Archives. Image from Whiskybase.

Deanston 1997 Archives. Image from Whiskybase.

Sniff:
Very malty at first, with the expected vanilla, but it’s not as massive as in other bottlings. Quite some oak too, especially for a 15 year old. Because of the wood influence it’s nice and spicy, with a bit of a chalky scent to it as well. Salmiak (ammonium chloride) and licorice too.

Sip:
Sweet, spicy and quite big on the alcohol. It’s a bit overpowering. The wood spices are back with nutmeg in pole position. There is a tinge of fruit, but I can’t quite wrap my tongue around it.

Swallow:
The fruity bit is getting a bit more play. Yellow orchard fruits like apples and pears. Maybe a little bit of pineapple too. Not too long.

I like this. A lot. There are a lot of flavours mingling together which makes this a very interesting dram.

It might do with a bit of water, but I generally don’t since I generally don’t. As in, if I would have added water to this one, I would have changed a parameter while assessing this whisky that I normally don’t change. It wouldn’t be fair. Maybe I should start adding water on a more general basis. Not adding water reveals the only flaw I can think of and that’s the alcohol focus on the palate.

Apart from that, the spices, oak and fruits are a terrific mix and it makes me want a bottle. Fairly cheap too, at € 55.

Deanston 1997, 55.8%, Archives for Whiskybase, Fishes of Samoa series. € 55 at Whiskybase

Sample provided by Whiskybase. Thanks a million!

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Unleash the Yeast, by BrewDog

Posted on 9 February 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Last year, to divert from the annual IPA is Dead theme (which is four beers with the same recipe except the hops) they did the same but with different yeast types. Unleash the Yeast!

Yeast is not something that people pay a lot of attention to, for example in home brewing you can more or less get lager and ale yeast. In the books on home brewing that I’ve read there is generally not a chapter on different yeast types, just some information on how fermentation works and what the effects are.

For that reason, and since I’m am usually trying to get my hands on one of each BrewDog beers (except the ridiculously expensive ones) I decided this would be fun. Last week, when my cold was almost completely gone I decided to give them a go.

Unleash the Yeast!

Unleash the Yeast!

The yeast types used are based on the type of beer that is generally made with it, but they might as well be the names of the yeasts. I find them not very indicative, since the style indicated is very broad to say the least. Belgian Trappist can be anything from Westvleteren, Orval and Chimay. Quite a variety of different beers, with different profiles. The same goes for American Ale. Bavarian Weizen and Pilsen Lager has a slightly smaller variety of products that are made with it, so those might be a bit more descriptive.

Belgian Trappist
It’s very gentle with a typical Belgian ‘ale’ profile. The hop flavours are very timid and the beer very sweet and malty because of it. Somewhere between a double and blond beer I’d say. Some dried flowers and not fruity at all.

American Ale
A LOT more focus on the hops. The bitterness is more or less the polar opposite from the Beglian Trappist one. Floral hop flavours, so a lot of aromatics. Very crisp. The barley flavours are similar to the previous beer. I find it very hard to believe this beer recipe is the same.

Pilsen Lager
Rather bittersweet and holds the middle between the American Ale and Belgian Trappist. For a lager it would have a lot of depth, but also the malty, and only slightly hoppy flavours. Dusty, and the most generic so far. It very much tastes like lager.

Bavarian Weizen
While I thought the American Ale was crisp, this one trumps it in that respect. The hoppy bitterness is present, but much more gentle than it was in the American Ale. The sweetness is very different. Like comparing a sweet apple with apfel strudel. Not that it tastes like apple, but you get the drift. Very summery.

I’m not entirely convinced of this project. If the beers are exactly the same (which it says on the label, so it’s probably so) than yeast is maybe the most determining factor in a beer’s flavour profile. I do think, however, that the beer recipe was chosen to accommodate a lot of flavour from the yeast. Clever.

It’s rather enlightening to taste those brews since the difference is so big based on only one factor. Much more different than the different hoppy IPAs from IPA is Dead. I do, however, like the IPAs better as a beer on its own.

Of this batch, the Weizen and American Ale are my favourites. The lager was too generic and the Belgian Ale just didn’t do it for me. Those were the two sweetest beers so that might say something too.

What’s going to be next in this line of projects? Exactly the same recipe except for the base malt? Anyway, I’m game!

PS: Yes, I see the irony in this post being about beer and me just having said I’ll barely be blogging about it.

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Recovering

Posted on 30 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, although I’m usually not sick for very long, if at all, this time around I seem to be stuck.

I’m trying to recover from a rather nasty cold and a minor flu, which means I’m not tasting any whisky (I’m not actually tasting anything for that matter). Also, I seem to have run out of backed up tasting notes.

What I’m trying to say is that it might be a while before regular posts on MaltFascination resume. Catch up on old posts in the mean time 😉

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Book review: Single Minded 2013

Posted on 28 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

When you’re sick and in bed, what better things to do than read of watch TV? I did both over the last days and the first whisky book I read was Johanna Ngoh’s Single Minded.

The tagline ‘a modest guide to really good whisky’ is something that appealed to me. I find myself being more interested in finding drams at reasonable prices than trying the next € 500 whisky bottle. Mostly since that expensive one better be good. There’s no real challenge, although there is the chance that someone screwed up.

Single Minded. A modest guide to really good whisky

Single Minded. A modest guide to really good whisky

In this case it means the booklet (it is a very tiny book) focuses on bottles of whisky that are affordable but have a lot to offer nonetheless. It also avoids the pitfalls of showing you all supermarket single malts that everybody knows.

While the list of bottles is, of course, different than what I would have picked (else there would be no point in reading the book) I found myself reading every page and all reasons for picking. The writing is really good and luckily consists of much more than tasting notes to the bottles chosen. The reasoning behind the pick is about the distillery, the booze and occasions on which the whisky was tasted.

Johanna Ngoh is a name that I’m not familiar with, at least not before ‘Single Minded’ but apparently she’s big in Canada as the organizer of the annual Spirit of Toronto whisky festival. She’s been writing ‘Single Minded’ as a column for a Canadian paper since 2002 so she’s earned her stripes.

The title ‘Single Minded 2013’ suggests that there will be other editions too, and while the website has not been updated yet, she has said on Twitter that the 2014 version is available. Although it will most likely be just an update on the 2013 version, since there won’t be that much changes to your recommendations in the ‘affordable’ category per year, right?

Anyway, it’s a nice read, and the first one in years that got me to read actual notes about why a whisky is in a book. It also doesn’t try to tell you which whiskies are the best ones out there on a budget. The minor chapter on more expensive drams for special occasions is nice too. In short, a lovely read. And, at $ 20 including shipping all over the world it’s not too expensive either. Recommended for beginners though, since there’s a lot in there that long running whisky fans already know.

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Wynand Fockink

Posted on 25 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Wynand Fockink is an old jenever distiller in the centre of Amsterdam with probably the most awesome name in the industry. I went there yesteday with my whisky buddy Shai, and his best friend David.

The guys both turned 30 this week and decided to meet halfway for celebrations (halfway between Israel and the USA). David also invited pianist Daria van der Bercken, who apparently is rather famous in the classical pianist scene. Me, being a classical music barbarian, had no clue who she was, so while the other guys felt kind of star struck, I could focus on drinking.

Wynand Fockink

Wynand Fockink

We actually came into Wynand Fockink for the tour of the place, and a ‘workshop’ of some sorts, but they only did those from April. So, it all boiled down to a tasting. It all was a bit unorganized which meant that I had the feeling we were freeloading on the generosity of the shop, but it was actually a paid tasting. A bit strange since there was no itinerary of any kind and you could just point and drink.

We ended up tasting only the jenevers and skipped the liqueurs.

Jonge jenever
With a maximum of  15% malt wine the rest of the alcohol is distilled from wheat and molasses. The taste is gentle but not complex. A nice drink.

Oude jenever
While the ‘old’ has to do with the old recipe, with at least 15% malt wine this stuff is still unaged. The slightly yellowish hue comes from a drop of caramel. This was more complex and had a bit more character. Alcohol from barley at not too high strength apparently just has a bit more flavour.

Superior
The superior version is aged for three years in bourbon barrels, and uses the old recipe. Again, a bit better than the previous one with again more character. Although I think it is very easy for the wood to overpower such a gentle spirit. Three years seems to be right.

Rogge jenever
The rye version. This is very much like very young rye whisky and since I really like rye whisky, this was the drink I loved most of the range. Again, not too complex, but the rye is very prominent and the grain character is rather huge. Lovely stuff.

Spelt jenever
One of the older types of grains available and mostly used in bread. This tasted more crisp and had a bit of a savoury flavour to it. Very different than the rest and really interesting if you’re into it. I’d put my money on the rye though.

Rogge jenever at cask strength
While this came at 48% instead of 38% it was way more restrained on the nose but did have some impact on the flavour. Since jenever is mostly drunk chilled (from the freezer, actually) this would work very well since it’d be able to hold it’s own.

Wynand Fockink, the shop entrance

Wynand Fockink, the shop entrance

So, a good time and we could have made more out of it. There was so much to taste that it was really hard to get a grip on what was available. But, since it was a bit of chaos when tasting, it could do with a bit more guidelines or a more knowledgeable ‘guide’.

It was lovely to meet Shai and his friend, we spent most of the rest of the evening (before they went to dinner that is) getting to know each other since Twitter isn’t much for personal conversations. I always like to meet booze-buddies. Good times.

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A beery update

Posted on 24 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Port Brewing Older Viscosity

Port Brewing Older Viscosity

When I started this blog back in 2010 I planned to blog just about anything I got my hands on, but keep the focus on whisk(e)y. Then, in 2011 I started overspending on beers to a level that I bought bottles priced at € 17 a pop.

Oak aged barley wines from a brewery near San Diego. Sounds fancy, tasted just as fancy. A beer that occupied your entire night. It’s absolutely stunning, but as I delved more into this rather overpriced spectrum of brews I kind of lost track and ended up spending more money on beer than on anything else. Sometimes € 50 per week.

So, after a year of ridiculous spending I decided to stop myself from buying expensive beers. I more or less did so, apart from the occasional Equity for Punks release from

Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Ale

Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Ale

BrewDog. The drawback of this was that I also stopped blogging about beer. I didn’t write proper tasting notes and when I did short ones I just put them in Untappd.

Also, I’ve been less focused on trying every new beer that comes to market and I simply refuse to spend big bucks on a single, regular sized, bottle of any brew.

Example: I am intrigued by Rogue’s “Voodoo Doughnut Chocolate Peanut Butter and Banana Ale” and decided to buy one. I thought I had seen it priced at € 7 at my local bottle shop. Sadly, I was mistaken and it’s double that. The Rogue beer next to it is € 7. No go. I still like to try it, but I’m just not spending that much money on such a quirky beer that I only want to try out of curiosity. I don’t even expect it to taste that good.

I still like beer though. I still like to try a lot of different ones, but I’ve become much more critical of my spending and am getting more critical on how they actually taste. In Untappd terms, I gave quite a few beers 5 stars that I shouldn’t have, but I was enthusiastic. Financially it’s very smart to be very critical. I wish that would translate to whisky.

So yes, I still like beer. I try to focus on distillates more though. So don’t expect many posts on brews unless I go to a tasting or a brewery of some kind.

Events always change the rules.

Oh, and on a closing note. By now craft brewing has gotten so big that many breweries start doing ridiculous things like that pink bottle up there. I’m not sure if they actually figured it would taste good before they started making it, or that they just wanted to turn heads. I try to avoid that kind of stuff, although it’s hard.

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Kaszebe 2011, 40%, Vestal Vodka. Experimental batch.

Posted on 23 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Apparently, making some of the most kick-ass vodka I’ve ever tasted is not good enough for the guys at Vestal Vodka. In the last pack of samples was an experimental one that was bottle aged with flakes of several kinds of wood before they were sent out.

Aging vodka in wood is something that is not done on a broad scale as far as I know, contrary to any other spirit I’ve ever heard of. In this case, putting some stuff in a barrel apparently didn’t do the trick (but who knows whether or not they’ve tried that too). So Vestal Vodka decided to put wood chips in bottles or a demijohn or so. In this case, cherry wood, bourbon barrel (so, once used white oak) and some fresh American oak and apple wood.

A weird combination if there ever was one. But interesting. Let’s taste.

Sniff:
It’s very light, even though it’s been aged for a bit with wood, with pink peppercorns. A kind of earthy, slightly sweet peppercorn. For some reason I get more hints of alcohol on this one than on the non-aged version. The scent of oak is fairly strong.

Sip:
Again, slightly spicy but not fierce. Lots of flavour but it’s a bit of a jumble here. To me at least. Some spices, wood, some red fruit (maybe apples and cherries?).

Swallow:
The finish is, again, slightly spicy with a touch of greasiness that I hadn’t found before. Rather long with spices. The sage is here, like it was yesterday.

While this is still a tasty drink I think I like the non-wood aged version better. That has more of that vodka purity that I appreciate in Vestal’s products. This feels like it’s trying to hold the middle ground between vodka and something it’s not.

I’m not sure if this’ll ever see the light of day in a shop, but if so, I still should sell properly since it’s rather tasty and still is a lot better than many of the ‘craft products’ that are quirky.

Kaszebe 2011, 40%, Vestal Vodka. Experimental batch, aged with cherry, bourbon barrel, apple and American oak chips.

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Kaszebe 2009, 40%, Vestal Vodka

Posted on 22 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Around Christmas William Borrell from Vestal Vodka contacted me again to see if I was willing to receive another two samples of his product. While I found the first ones stunning, I didn’t have to think very long or hard to say yes to that. Soon after, a white and brown spirit were delivered.

The white one was another vintage of their Kaszebe ‘terroir’ vodka. The other one a Kaszebe vodka that has been infused with several kinds of wood. More on that one tomorrow.

Another funny fact is that ‘borrel’ (with one L) in Dutch means shot or drink. So I guess Mr. Vestal Vodka couldn’t have a more appropriate name than that!

The story remains the same. Pure vodka from Poland, with hand picked potatoes from the eastern regions of the country. No strange flavourings added, no gimmicky stuff.

20140122-085500.jpgSniff:
I get some lemon at first, gentle, like a lemon curd. Strangely I also get some ‘La Vache qui rit’ cheese wedges. Not in a bad way, though. Just strange. It all smells crystal clear to me, like water in a mountain stream, with mossy rocks on the side.

Sip:
On the palate I get a little bit of peppery heat at first. Pink peppercorns. So with a tinge of sweetness, and quite a herbal flavour as well. I also get the lemon curd again, and the slight spiciness goes to sage. It makes me feel like having saltimbocca. It all is very gentle and I can imagine this vodka going very well with said Saltimbocca. Vodka and food. The way it’s supposed to be.

Swallow:
The finish continues in this streak of greatness. Slightly spicy with sage again. Or I should say herbacious. And it lasts long with that lemon curd flavour being the most important one.

I really have to thank Mr. Borrell for letting me try this. I now know for sure I’m going to get myself a bottle of this stuff. At first I really wanted the Podlasie one, and I still do, but this vintage of Kasz and is absolutely lovely. Maybe the best white spirit I’ve ever had, but then I’m talking Vestal Vodka in general.

So thanks to Vestal Vodka for sending out samples. Absolutely gorgeous stuff, this.

Vestal Vodka, Kaszebe terroir, 2009 vintage, 40%

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Bunnahabhain 1990, 21yo, Jubilee Malt 2, The Whisky Barrel, 54.5%

Posted on 21 January 2014 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

It took me a while to find specs on this bottle online, since it’s apparently a release by The Whisky Barrel, but bottled by Whiskybroker.co.uk. Rather strange. Another strange fact is that the name of the distillery is widely known (Bunnahabhain) but it’s nowhere on the label.

The bonus of a bottling by Whiskybroker is that the price is usually really good. This one initially went for some £ 60 or so, which is dirt cheap for a 21 year old single cask at cask strength.

Of course, it was bottled for the Diamond Jubilee of Queen Elizabeth II last year. As were many other bottlings. The difference is that this one is actually affordable and hasn’t quadrupled in price by now.

Bunnahabhain 1990. Image from Whiskybase

Bunnahabhain 1990. Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Salty caramel fudge at first, with some straw and pastry cream. Dry vanilla, oak but also a hint of paper.

Sip:
It’s pretty sharp and rather rich. The straw is back with backup from some floral notes. Wild flowers you find in meadows, like poppies and burdock. Still pretty salty and it has some sand flavours too.

Swallow:
The finish is creamy with vanilla. There’s fruit too, with fruit syrup from tins. Rather long.

A very decent Bunnahabhain! I actually really enjoy this whisky, which I didn’t really expect for some reason. I had a prejudice to it that was completely wrong, and I can’t even tell why I had that prejudice. Anyway, the sherry cask is sort of obvious although the typical Bunnahabhain flavours of the spirit are leading. Which is a good thing I think.

Of course, I have to give credit where it’s due. Gal brought this bottle to Maltstock last year and left it at my house since he couldn’t bring that much back to Israel without having to pay some crippling taxes. So thanks a million buddy! I’ll be enjoying it!

Bunnahabhain 1990, 21yo, Jubilee Malt 2, The Whisky Barrel, 54.5%

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