Kilkerran Work in Progress 5, 46%: Bourbon vs. Sherry wood

Posted on 13 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Ever since Kilkerran turned 3 years old they’ve been releasing their Work in Porgress bottlings every year. The first official and regular bottling of Kilkerran will be released when it’s ten years old, together with the bottlings the early investors will get. I believe they get 6 differently matured bottles with a slew of sample to taste before opening.

This year Kilkerran (from the Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown) released two instead of one bottling to display the early differences between sherry and bourbon wood used for maturation. This year’s editions are, logically, 9 years old (Logically because it’s the sixth  fifth release and the first one was 3 5 years old).

Kilkerran Work in Progresses

Kilkerran Work in Progresses

Bourbon cask:
It’s pretty thick and rich on the nose with leather. It’s fairly simple with a hint of cheese. The palate shows more fierceness than I expected, but is lighter too. Some lemon and coconut. The finish isn’t very exciting and pretty short. It mixes the heaviness of the nose and the unexpected freshness of the palate. With a drop of water it becomes much more salty to a level that it’s almost fishy.

Sherry cask:
The profile has the same backbone as the bourbon variety, but is even heavier. The sherry influence brings a certain nuttiness which happens more often in young sherry releases. It’s kind of sharp with hints of mustiness. The palate is sharp too, but quite rich. The sherry is very present with dried apricots and other fruits. The finish of this one mellows quickly but lasts longer.

While I expected the bourbon cask to get more of my liking, that didn’t happen. I didn’t find that whisky very exciting and the strange heaviness is not something I enjoy in this whisky. The sherry cask has a lot of similarities on the nose but improves as you continue tasting it. I didn’t enjoy the scents very much, but the flavours are rather lovely.

A very interesting experience, but not one that convinces me to be overly enthousiastic about Kilkerran yet. I think I remember the first Work in Progress bottling to be younger, but a lot more enjoyable. We’ll just have to wait to see what next year brings when the 10 year old comes out!

Kilkerran Work in Progress 5, 46%, bourbon cask. At De Whiskykoning for € 45.50
Kilkerran Work in Progress 5, 46%, sherry cask. At De Whiskykoning for € 47.00

These were the two drams I missed when I was late to the tasting two weeks ago. I finally caught up now and can continue tomorrow with the French Whisky Twitter Tasting hosted by Franck Debernardi from La Cave de Cobalt.

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Longrow Red, 11yo, Australian Shiraz Cask, 53.7%

Posted on 11 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

While we thought we finished the tasting with a couple of cracking drams, there came out another bottle to supplement them all. Well, we didn’t finish the tasting with some cracking drams, the entire tasting consisted of it. Maybe apart from the first two, but we’ll see that in a review somewhere during the weekend.

De Whiskykoning pulled this one out as he just got it in and we could try it if we liked. At the moment of tasting we didn’t know what he poured, but one of the guys at the tasting randomly commented ‘It tastes like a Longrow or something’. He was right. Kudos!

I don’t think we can actually say this whisky is finished in a wine cask since it spent 5 out of 11 years in it. This is what we should call Double Maturation I guess.

Longrow Red, 11 year old. Double Matured in an Australian Shiraz Cask

Longrow Red, 11 year old. Double Matured in an Australian Shiraz Cask

Sniff:
The wine is clear from the get go. The peat is too. Usually this combination works very well, if the wine used is red. It is. It’s rather full on the nose with the oak making it a rather complete appearance too.

Sip:
Where the nose was quite full and rich, it kind of falls short here. It all feels a bit thin and watery. The flavours are very simple, with some salty peat smoke and wine, as well as oak.

Swallow:
A very short finish. Maybe it’s because we tasted this after these really big sherried drams, but it just doesn’t cut it.

A nice surprise and my first experience with Longrow Red. I never tasted last year’s version. While I was kind of enthused by the concept, I’m going to pass this one and save my money for a nicer dram. A lot of other people at the tasting liked it quite a bit, but it’s not for me.

Longrow Red, 11yo, Australian Shiraz Cask, 53.7%

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Highland Park 25, 2013 edition, 45.7%

Posted on 10 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The final dram in the Highlands & Campbeltown tasting at De Whiskykoning! According to The Ultimate Spirits Competition this whisky is perfection. They scored it 100/100 points. So let’s all buy this, stop blogging and never drink anything else, right!

I have the feeling that Highland Park 25 has become much more sherried over the last couple of years since in my memory they 25 year old about 6 to 8 years ago was a lot lighter in colour. I do remember from last year’s Blind Tasting Competition that last year’s release was really heavily sherried too, maybe even more so than in 2013.

Anyway, any big competition that awards something as subjective as whisky the perfect score loses all credibility. It’s all based on flavour after all. What are you going to do when you taste the Highland Park 30 next year, or they improve something that you didn’t see coming?

Highland Park 25 in it's near empty glory

Highland Park 25 in it’s empty glory

Sniff:
Slightly sweet with barley and fruits. Stewed fruits I guess, but also some dried ones. Fruit jam with puff pastry. It does have a slight bite but still feels a bit thin.

Sip:
The palate continues on the same track. It’s very gentle, very easy going. The fruitiness never gets really big. The wood and barley flavours never get really big. There’s not a lot of spiciness going on. It’s all very delicious though.

Swallow:
On the finish we go back to the fruit jam. Strawberry, apricot. Also winegums.

My tasting notes are not the best. At this point during the evening we were all too busy ridiculing the Ultimate Spirits Competition.

Anyway, if this whisky is perfect, than perfection is rather boring. It’s a very delicious dram, but with such a high score there is no one, apparently, at the USC board that finds something to object to in this whisky. Which means it’s not really exciting either. It’s a bit too friendly to me. There’s nothing to talk about apart from all flavours being rather mellow. Not my favourite whisky, not even of the evening.

It is quite pricy though. A few years ago I saw Highland Park 25 around somewhere between € 125 and € 150. I think that was around 2009. Now it’s almost € 300, so if you want this, be prepared to break the bank!

Highland Park 25, 2013 edition, 45.7%, € 285 at De Whiskykoning

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Highland Park Loki, Valhalla Collection, 15yo, 48.7%

Posted on 9 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

After the recent review of Highland Park’s Thor, I got around to trying the follow up, Loki. I tried at De Whiskykoning‘s autumn tasting a week or so ago and found this trickster god to be tricky indeed!

After Highland Park’s Magnus collection a few years ago they followed that right up with the Valhalla collection with even more elaborate kindling to surround the bottle. In travel retail they came out with vintages a few years ago and that has already moved to the Highland Park Viking Warriors collections.

Apart from the fact that they replaced series ever so quickly, they are also moving towards the viking theme more and more. I’m curious to find out what they have in store after the next two in the Valhalla collection.

Where the Thor was a bourbon matured Highland Park, Loki is drawn from sherry casks. In the case of Highland Park I don’t usually have a preference for bourbon or sherry casks, although the distillery seems to have a clear preference for the more brown variety.

Highland Park Loki

Highland Park Loki

Sniff:
Light and fruity at first, quite subtle. There’s a peatiness present that is typically different from the Islay style of peating. Honey, bees wax, plums and dates.

Sip:
This is where the tricky part begins. I didn’t know the ABV during the tasting and would have sworn this would be around 56% or so. It turns out it’s only at 48.7%. That is strange in two ways: 1 is that it packs a lot more punch than the average 48% dram, and 2 is that at 15 years old you would expect a lot more ABV to remain in the cask. Anyway, the palate is fairly dry but builds up in flavour quickly. Sweet with oak and pie pastry. The Christmas cake flavours of plums, dates and honey are still present too.

Swallow:
The finish is long with quite a fruity flavour. Some spices here too, cinnamon, clove, I’d say allspice. Christmas cake again.

Where I was no fan of the Thor bottling and found it rather bland and boring, this one is absolutely great. Still ridiculously expensive, mind, but really delicious. The punch it packs is an extra here since it can take some water, and it has lovely fruity flavours that combine well with the slight peatiness and wood scents present.

Highland Park Loki, Valhalla Collection, 15 years old, 48.7%. It’ll set you back € 165 at De Whiskykoning.

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Springbank 12, Cask Strength, 2013 edition, 53.1%

Posted on 8 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The annual release of Springbank’s Cask Strength edition is something that sneaks by me most of the time. I’m usually a big fan of Springbank but this release usually isn’t on my radar for some reason. That means I’ve not tried many, as I’ve not tried many of their 100 proof that was available before it was replaced by the 12 year old Cask Strength.

Since it’s an annual release that’s no longer at 100 proof (57.1%) the ABV varies per edition and so far has meandered between 52.2% and 58.5%, so quite a range there. I think the batches are fairly small but there’s no number on the bottle as far as I know.

Springbank 12 Cask Strength, Batch 5, 2013

Springbank 12 Cask Strength, Batch 5, 2013

Sniff:
A tiny hint of rubber at first, but definetly not in a bad way. Slight hints of peat smoke and ridiculously moldy and musty. There’s plenty of mushrooms, books in a badly insulated attic and smoked cheese.

Sip:
The palate is rather rich with the musty flavours dominating. Quite some barley and ancient dust. Dry, old wood and a big punch from the alcohol.

Swallow:
Suddenly I get some hints of pear and barley too. Dust and oak. A long finish with a hint of cheese again.

While the tasting notes suggest this whisky is a combination of all kinds of off-notes, I absolutely love it. It’s a very old fashioned combination of flavours and scents dominated by the feeling you’re in either an attic or a basement. At least in a storage space where no one has been in a decade or two. Very old fashioned.

The combination of flavours works really well for me, and when you realize this stuff costs about € 50 per bottle, I’m a happy camper too. Bottle ordered!

Springbank 12, Cask Strength, 2013 edition, 53.1%. £ 50.71 at Master of Malt and I believe € 53.75 at De Whiskykoning, but currently sold out there.

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Glengoyne 21, 2013, 43%

Posted on 7 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Right after last week’s posts about the rather awesome Twitter Tasting by Douglas Laing and The Whisky Wire, we’re diving right into another tasting. This time one I physically attended in Den Bosch at De Whiskykoning. At least, I was there for the largest part since I was half an hour late due to me leaving work late (beer) and trains also not helping.

The theme of the tasting was ‘Highlands & Campbeltown’ which is a recurring theme in autumn (spring = Lowlands, summer = Speyside, winter = Islay).

Since I was half an hour late for the tasting I missed the first two drams (Kilkerran Work in Progress 6, both the bourbon and the sherry wood), but I got those as a sample from Rob and will taste them this week, so I can put in the review at the end.

The first dram I tried was the new 21 year old Glengoyne. I reviewed the previous one a while back and was interested to find out how they differ.

The new Glengoyne 21 year old

The new Glengoyne 21 year old

Sniff:
The sherry cask is obvious not only from the colour. The nose gives you sherry, a lot of fruit and chocolate. Apple pie even, with alcohol and tannins. The fruitiness is of the dried apricot and plum kind.

Sip:
On the palate it stays rather dry (in a very delicious way) with cocoa and coffee. The fruit is present too but in a rather generic way. Some sherry too.

Swallow:
It is still dry, of course, with dried peaches and chocolate. Even a hint of orange wedges. Pretty long.

Although it is quite a dry kind of sherried whisky, it is an utterly delicious one. The fruitiness with not only sherry influence but also some sherry flavour is really nice. I was surprised to find the apple pie notes on the nose because I usually associate that more with bourbon casks.

Anyway, a great opener for the evening and it set the bar high. The price went up since I bought the previous edition about five years ago, which was to be expected. But, compared to a lot of other 21 year old distillery bottlings, € 107.50 seems fairly reasonable.

Glengoyne 21, 2013 edition, 43%, matured in, I believe, Oloroso sherry casks. € 107.50 at De Whiskykoning.

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Bowmore 25, 50.2% – Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Posted on 4 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

And then pièce de resistance of the evening, the number five dram: Bowmore 25.

Well, I guess that was the idea but as everyone knows in the industry, Bowmore 25 that is released now, is distilled in the mid to late eighties. That means FWP. French Whore Perfume.

Kind of risky to put in a whisky like this because beforehand this was going to put people into two camps, with a very tiny group of people in the middle.

I applaud the courage of Fred and Cara to do this, even though I already announced yesterday that the Glen Scotia was my favourite. That already says a lot, and kind of defines in which of the Parma Violet camps I am.

Bowmore 25, if you're into Parma Violets...

Bowmore 25, if you’re into Parma Violets…

Sniff:
Peat & Smoke at first, with cream and barley added. It starts of as slightly floral, but that soon picks up till it hits washing detergent concentrate level. Lavender, but also salt, chalt and those dreaded violets. Also an interesting note of oak leaf lettuce.

Sip:
It’s rather sharp, even though it’s 25 year old and ‘only’ 50.2% abv (we didn’t know this at the time of tasting). It’s kind of biting, with bitterness and flowers. FWP galore and some oak. Again the cream and barley combination, rope and salted caramel.

Swallow:
In the finish the FWP and parma violet rampage pump the volume up to eleven and even the ones that were slightly in doubt are convinced were talking older Bowmore here. It mellows rather quickly but lasts quite a while.

As expected the Bowmore 25 had some people ravingly enthousiastic, but other (me among those) were kind of bummed out. A mixed feeling of incredible gratefulness and ‘no. just no.’ ensued. It’s not everyday that someone sends you a sample of something this expensive and old.

Therefore, a million thanks to Douglas Laing and Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire for this sample, the other samples and letting me participate in it.

The stats of this dram:

Bowmore 25, 50.2%, Refill Hogshead, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular. It’ll set you back € 325 in the only shop I’ve seen it at so far.

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Glen Scotia 21, 51.5% – Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Posted on 3 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The fourth and almost final whisky of the Twitter Tasting turned out to be a Glen Scotia. Glen Scotia is a bit of a hit & miss distillery for most people, but the last couple of years there have been some solid hits across the board from a lot of different bottlers. SMWS and Kintra come to mind.

Usually seen as Campbeltown’s ‘other’ distillery, it didn’t have much of a reputation of its own until a few years ago when there were some indie bottlings starting to pop up. It’s a bit of an ugly duckling with the distillery being a pure factory, without allowing visitors in (and therefore, no reason to polish the stills, for example).

With the revamp of their bottles last year into some eye catchingly ugly designs they are getting some more attention. Not only because of the designs you cannot miss, but also since they have fair priced official bottlings that supposedly taste very good (this is a hint, Glen Scotia, send me samples!)

The new range from Glen Scotia

The new range from Glen Scotia

Glen Scotia 21 by Douglas Laing's Old Particular

Glen Scotia 21 by Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Sniff:
It starts of rather light and fruity with quite some oak. It turns more heavy and mature with a scent of beurre noisette, or burnt butter. Then I got cigars, red and black berries. The oak becomes more prominent but not in a dominating way. Furniture polish, old leather, very posh. I also get lacquer and varnish and the plastic bag that dried fruits come in at the supermarket.

Sip:
Gentle with white pepper and dried fruits. Sweet, leathery and wine gums. The posh oak and leather armchair feeling is back. A very deep flavour in a very gentlemanly way.

Swallow:
Again sweet with a lot of good oak influence. A tad plasticy like that dried fruits bag or a wine gum bag. Some sherry too I’d guess.

This is friggin’ awesome. An absolutely delicious whisky that made my wish list immediately. There’s so much going on in such a gentle but fierce way (if such a thing is even possible). A lot of very old fashioned posh flavours. An absolute stunner and the highlight of the evening to me.

Glen Scotia 21, 51.5%, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Again, thanks to Steve Rush and Douglas Laing for the samples and the tasting!

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Glen Ord 16, 48.4% – Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Posted on 2 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Or, Old Perpendicular according to The Whisky Sponge. I tried to do some research into old and new perpendicularity, but I couldn’t find much differences. I had to give up at some point so there’s no actual result there.

What I did find is the big difference between perpendicular and not perpendicular:

Not perpendicular at all

Not perpendicular at all

Perpendicular

Perpendicular

The third whisky of the evening was the signal that we were halfway. Normally a Twitter Tasting of four whiskies lasts about an hour or so. We were already an hour in and I think that signals how thrilled people were thusfar. I have to admit, this was turning out to be quite a nice event!

Glen Ord 16. Old Particular

Glen Ord 16. Old Particular

Sniff:
Cheese, the yellow Dutch kind. A bit spirity in a way that you get some distillery character, not as in a lack of maturation. The crust from cheese to be more specific about that. Some basalt or slate, a hint of diesel. Rather earthy, with moldy walnut, barley and banana.

Sip:
Dusty, chalky. Also sweet with some vanilla, slightly bitter in a fruity way. Pretty rich with liquorice, lychee and soot.

Swallow:
Oak and green fruit, with a gin-like spiritiness. Some feinty machine oil.

It turned out to be a Glen Ord whisky, at 16 years old and again bottled at 48.4%. This, I admitted right away is the most full and complex Glen Ord I’ve ever tried. Mostly when you get Glen Ord, if you ever do so, you find not so interesting whiskies that have a fairly simple combination of flavours. There aren’t many independent bottlings out there since not many people find the distillery that interesting. That is, if stuff like this comes out more often, it would be nice!

I like the combination of gin-like spiritiness, feinty diesel and light fruitiness of apples. For some reason that’s a great pack of flavours. I don’t have a clue what the price is going to be, but I expect it to be somewhere around € 80.

Glen Ord 16, 48.4%, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Again, thanks to Steve Rush and Douglas Laing for the samples and the tasting!

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Caperdonich 18, 48.4% – Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

Posted on 1 October 2013 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The second whisky in Douglas Laing’s Old Particular Twitter Tasting. Another blind sample so we could assess the whisky on its merits instead of on name and fame. A good call for such a tasting, if you ask me!

During this tasting Cara Laing sat in on Douglas Laing’s Twitter account and tried to keep up with about 20 people going mad on their keyboard. I don’t think anyone kept up with all the tweets flying around but at least we all tried. She was present to disclose all samples to us after we had tasted them. Also, she was there to give some more information on the newly formed version of Douglas Laing and its whiskies.

Fred and Cara Laing

Fred and Cara Laing

Sniff:
A very meaty whisky from the start, with steak and beef jerky on the nose. Also some almond milk and granny smith apples. Pear peel, menthol and leather. I got some carambola or as it is known across the world: star fruit. It gets a bit sweeter after a while and after ten minutes a waxiness shows up.

Sip:
Sweet and meaty again, with a certain kind of beef marinade I can’t figure out. Sweet and savoury at least, with curry sauce. It’s quite waxy and sweet with red apples. Not too sharp by the way.

Swallow:
The finish doesn’t do much for me, but there’s some strawberry, that marinade is back too. Sweet with a star fruit freshness. Slightly bitter and not too long.

This turned out to be Caperdonich, Glen Grant’s demolished brother. It had been quite a while since I tasted one and I barely got around to tasting all the +/- 19 year olds that were released over the last couple of years. This is a nice one. Especially the nose and palate are interesting. The 48.4% abv works for me as well. A bit higher than usual but not cask strength.

All in all, a lovely whisky with lots of things to explore, but also one you could just sit around and drink. I don’t feel all whiskies are good for that, but this one ticks all the boxes.

Caperondich 18, 48.4%, Douglas Laing’s Old Particular

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