Blair Athol 11, 2011-2023, Refill Bourbon Hogshead 308910, 56% – Dràm Mòr

Posted on 4 July 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Yet another Dràm Mòr whisky from the recent batch of samples they sent over. This time it’s a Blair Athol from a bourbon cask. Matured for eleven years since 2011, so a very recent bottling.

Image from Aberdeen Whisky Shop

Blair Athol, in my experience, is a rather rich and gentle highland whisky that would not be misplaced if distilled in Speyside. It tends to be a bit more sweet and syrupy than many others, but that also makes it stand up to wood influence quite well.

I visited the place in 2017 and had an amazing one-on-one tour there, followed by an amazing tasting. To my surprise there’s no post on that visit on the blog, so I must have used it for an article in the club magazine I was editing in those days.

Anyway, a Dràm Mòr single cask, once more!

Sniff:
A bit of vanilla, straw, candied lemon. Hints of citrus, white oak. Notes of straw as well.

Sip:
The palate is quite sharp, the alcohol makes itself known without being too much. Lots of straw, barley and a heap of lemon. Some pineapple syrup too. Vanilla and sugar.

Swallow:
More fruity and less sharp. Lots of lemon, candied and syrupy.

This is a very clean bourbon cask. It does exactly what you expect and hope it will do, and that is being that bourbon cask influenced Scotch, without being all about pastry and vanilla. The richness of the spirit really holds itself well here.

87/100

Available for about £ 70 at Aberdeen Whisky Shop and € 88 at Genuss am Gaumen in Austria

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Blair Athol 12, 2009-2021, Hogshead 304771, 55.8% – Fable

Posted on 3 July 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, the last of my Fable bottles. When I reviewed the second batch I got in for a tasting, things didn’t look too well. I thought the first bunch of bottles was awesome, but after the second one I am thinking I might have been over enthusiastic. Of course, they’re long gone, so I guess we’ll never know for sure.

Image from Whiskybase

When doing the second batch, I didn’t review the sherry cask Blair Athol for some reason. I did review the other five from bourbon casks. All rather similar, fairly bland whiskies with not many aspects to fall in love with. I guess the disappointment hurt the most.

Anyway, Blair Athol then. From a sherry cask. With another pretty label too. Generally, I think Blair Athol stands up to rich cask influences rather well. The spirit is quite tolerant without losing character all that quickly.

Sniff:
The nose has lots of milk chocolate and some dried fruits too. Plums and dates and apricots. Chocolate cake, warm barley.

Sip:
The palate has a bit more to offer. Dry heat, with lots of oak and a bit of barley. The dried fruit is present here too, but there’s a little bit more to discover in the oak and grain. Some pepper as well.

Swallow:
A rather hot finish, with some sherry cask notes. Lots of oak and dried fruit.

It’s all a bit shallow. Nice flavors but a very generic sherry cask whisky. Somehow, the Blair Athol whisky itself is playing third fiddle after the cask, and then more cask.

It still is quite an enjoyable dram, but it’s more a drinking whisky than a whisky to investigate. And for over a hundred bucks for a 12 year old Blair Athol, that’s just a bit too steep.

85/100

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Longmorn 10, 2011-2022, 52.4% – Michiel Wigman ‘They Inspired’ (part deux)

Posted on 30 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, back in April I reviewed Michiel’s latest escapade by tasting his Longmorn 10 from 2011. As said in that post, I should have added water but I didn’t, even though I was specifically instructed to do so.

Michiel being Michiel, he couldn’t let that stand and sent me another sample so I could try it properly.

From a conceptual standpoint this is a quite interesting situation. In essence, a cask strength whisky is whisky in its purest form, and not diluted to an ABV that either a master blender or finance department finds best for the spirit. The idea is also that you can dilute it to whatever ABV you prefer to drink that specific whisky at.

In this case, however, there is a certain amount of water necessary to open up the whisky properly and get it to shine. So, should water have been added beforehand, to make sure everybody gets the most out of this dram? And if so, how much? It’s almost getting philosophical, but I think in situations like this, where even the most avid advocates of cask strength whisky say it needs a drop of water, you might as well go ahead and add it.

Anyway, retrying the whisky…

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Heaps of fruit on a pastry background. Pineapple, pear, apple, even banana. Surprisingly, the strong notes of barley keep the sweetness in check.

Sip:
Quite a fiery arrival, with white pepper and sharp notes of fresh oak shavings. Tropical fruit comes after. Pineapple, unripe mango, a bit of banana. A hint of white bread or toast too.

Swallow:
A long finish. It gets a bit more sweet with notes of vanilla and honey. The fruity notes are a bit more timid now, although the sweetness isn’t.

Well, this sure makes a LOT of difference. Miraculously so, I might add. Generally I refrain from adding water to stay at the level of purity I like. Also because I’m a lazy SOB and don’t want to get up to walk to the kitchen for every dram.

Where in its undiluted form this was a fairly straightforward whisky with some vanilla sweetness, a bit of fruit and mostly barley notes, with a drop of water or two this becomes a genuine fruit bomb and, especially on the nose, the yellow fruit jump out of the glass.

The finish goes back a little bit to what it was without water, but the nose and palate are truly amazing. And not just because of the change the added water made, but simply because it’s a gorgeous dram.

90/100

And yes, a difference of three points from 87 to 90 is huge.

Still available for € 205 at Dutch Whisky Connection

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Linkwood 13, 2008-2022, Hogshead 306520, 52.1% – Catawiki

Posted on 29 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Much like the Glen Moray of a little while ago, the Linkwood is another bottling that is not for sale through ‘regular’ channels. And by regular, I mean any. If you want to try this, you have to be in the know, or spend a boatload of cash on Catawiki to get a sample from them.

A nice incentive for us whisky nerds that are spending money anyway… You might as well get something extra for it.

Anyway, Linkwood, from Speyside. A bit of a mixed bag compared to many distilleries. Some are ridiculously good, some are utter trash. Within the ‘Noord Holland’ section of the Usquebaugh Society (of which most of us are no longer a member, but we still do tastings every now and then) there still is a running joke about a Linkwood we had years ago. It was a remarkable whisky that stayed with us, and not because of how good it was…

Image from Whiskybase

So, it is with that in mind that I approach every Linkwood nowadays. Although, I have to admit there have been some belters, and when Linkwood is true to the distillery character it sometimes has a bit of a beer like character which I really enjoy. So, let’s find out!

Sniff:
Buttermilk, lactic acid, butter. That kind of stuff. It veers towards Caramac bars. Slightly herbaceous with hints of pine and resin.

Sip:
The palate brings a bit of vanilla and milky caramel, without going in the direction of buttermilk and lactic acid. Quite hot, with pepper and alcohol bite.

Swallow:
The finish shows that thick caramel and cream again, with Werther’s original. ‘Boterbabbelaar’.

This is a tough one. On one hand it does something fairly unique, with a sharp focus on lactic notes that are not all that common. On the other hand, it’s not necessarily better for it.

When I hosted a little tasting with the four whiskies from the CataWhisky series I had available, this one caused a lot of discussion. Some people really enjoyed it, more so than the Glen Moray. But for me, the Caramac bars in liquid form didn’t do it. Can’t win them all!

82/100

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Glen Garioch 10, 2013-2023, Ex-Islay Whisky Hogshead, 57.1% – Dràm Mòr

Posted on 28 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Generally, by the time I read things like ‘ex-Islay Hogshead’, a brand has lost me. I fail to see the reason to finish whisky in casks from another distillery. Luckily, I tried this when I only knew the ABV and the distillery, and not much else. I guess there’s a benefit to trying things blind after all.

With Glen Garioch being part of Suntory, as well as Bowmore, I’d expect this to be an ex-Bowmore cask, but with it being Beam Suntory for a couple of years now, it could also be Laphroaig. Then again, I doubt it matters a lot, although there are different levels op peating between the two distilleries. If memory serves, Bowmore goes up to 25ppm in the malted barley, and Laphroaig doubles that to 50ppm.

Image from Dràm Mòr

Anyway, Glen Garioch. A distillery with very mixed results. Epic bottlings from long ago, then very perfumy stuff from the 1980s, like Bowmore and Auchentoshan, and in the mid-nineties they stopped floor malting and they stopped using peat. I guess that makes it hard to spead about a distillery character or style, if things have changed this massively over the last four decades.

This one, being distilled in 2013, is obviously from a more consistent period in which less things changed. Dràm Mòr bottled the ex-Islay cask earlier this year and kindly sent a sample over for reviewing.

Sniff:
Orange, tea, a bit of vanilla. A slightly funky note too. Parma violets and a bit of milky sherbet. A minor whiff of smoke in the background.

Sip:
The palate brings those same notes, but the alcohol adds some bite. Sherbet, parma violets, vanilla. Some oak and a bity heat.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit less rich and less syrupy. Still has the same flavors. The lack of thickness in texture makes the flavors a bit more pronounced.

Quite interesting and idiosyncratic, which is something I would want from a Glen Garioch. I didn’t know what to expect, obviously, and I came a way very positively surprised. Currently, this bottling is only available in Scotland, but if it pops up in The Netherlands, I just might get myself one. I really like these off-the-beaten-path whiskies.

87/100

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Arran ‘The Bothy’, Quarter Cask, 56.2%

Posted on 26 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Image from Whiskybase

Last week I reviewed the sherry cask Arran I used in the tasting at work. This time it’s the bourbon cask’s turn in the lime light.

Trying to show contrasts in whisky, I figured going for a sherry versus a bourbon cask makes the most sense. I prefer to not go too far with all kinds of weird casks that are being used nowadays. Not necessarily because they’re bad, but because they tend to be seen as much more irregular, and therefore, for beginners, less relevant.

Anyway, Quarter cask, bourbon cask, NAS. We know the drill by now.

A bothy, by the way, is a small farmhouse or shed used by field workers.

Sniff:
Very typical scents of active bourbon cask. Sugary vanilla, oak and a crisp lemony note. It’s quite fierce on the nose with alcoholic bite. More yellow fruits emerge, with apple, unripe pears and white grapes.

Sip:
Lots of bits from the get-go, but not too much to overpower everything else. Apple pie and lemonade. So, sweet vanilla and pastry, baked apples and candied lemon. Tarte Tatin, with woody notes. A little bit of a grapeseed bitterness.

Swallow:
The finish shows the youthfulness of the whisky most. Less wood and fruit, more alcohol and bite.

The finish makes it drop a point or two, but the nose and palate are quite lovely. It’s very typical bourbon cask, and luckily doesn’t focus too much on the vanilla. Nice fruity notes with a lovely lemon note that works very well.

85/100

It seems to have sold out in The Netherlands, but is still available in other countries, starting at € 42

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Raasay 3, Batch R-01, Rye & Chinkapin & Bordeaux casks, 46.4%

Posted on 23 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, this turns out to be a re-tasting. I had completely forgotten that I had already tried and reviewed this whisky in 2021. With my sample not being empty and just sitting on the shelf for a year or 2, it turns out things can completely be gone from memory.

Before publishing this review I decided to check my blog to see if I hadn’t tried it before, or maybe Tom had. Just to make sure I don’t make an ass out of myself. ‘Ass turning’ is limited with at least finding the review. I then chose to go ahead anyway, since it’s interesting to see how things hold up when their initial hype has waned a bit.

Batch R-01, or their initial regular release. I’ve had the pleasure of tasting some of the spirit that one of their marketing people brought to festivals in the past, before it was three years old and had only been in bourbon casks. I was quite impressed with it.

Now, their initial release has been done (and quite a few subsequent ones as well), and for some reason they decided to use a sizeable mixture of casks. I never really understand that, but that’s nothing new.

What I am wondering about is whether the Chinkapin is virgin oak. Because contrary to rye and bordeaux casks (which is about their previous contents), Chinkapin is about the tree. It probably is, but it’s a bit inconsistent.

Image from Whiskybase

Anyway, ‘yet another new distillery’, with hopefully a youthful spirit that has somewhere to go in 10, 15 years.

Sniff:
Some rich on notes of baked apple, vanilla and white oak. A bit of dryness, with straw, coconut husk. A very light, slightly acidic smoke.

Sip:
Quite a sharp arrival. Black pepper, acidity and earthy peat, seaweed. A hint of salinity, soft apple, barley. Vanilla and a bit of oak too.

Swallow:
The finish retraces the palate and has all the same flavors.

Slightly more rich than Talisker and Torabhaig, but otherwise quite comparable. So on one hand their loyal to their region, which is a good thing. On the other hand, they’re not doing anything off the beaten path, which makes it stand out less.

I think compared to before it has opened up a little bit and shows a bit more diversity in flavor. However, the rating is still a bit lower than it was, since the hype is gone. Two years ago new distilleries were a bit more novel than they are now.

Quite telling, to myself, that I am more susceptible to hype about whisky than I gave myself credit (or debit) for…

83/100

Still regularly available for about € 60 in The Netherlands

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Arran Sherry Cask, bottled in 2022, 55.8%

Posted on 22 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Like the previous BenRiach, this one was used in a whisky tasting. I pitted it against is NAS sibling from bourbon casks, called ‘The Bothy’. I’ll review that one shortly.

Apart from being on Arran last year, there’s not much to say about the whisky. There’s no age stated, nor a lot of other information. If Arran does the typical Arran thing, it’s drawn from an American oak sherry casks and since it states ‘Sherry Hogshead’ that is extremely likely to have happened.

During the long weekend a month ago, when it was Pentecost/Whitsunday, I took this and the bourbon cask on our camping trip and they were very well received, very similar to when I hosted the tasting.

Let’s find out if this one also holds up to a bit of scrutiny!

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
Arran is really creating a style for themselves. The fact that I know this means that they’ve been at it for a while. There’s baked apple and the thick dried fruit notes of sherry with the more vanilla and coconut notes of American oak. Very typical indeed.

Sip:
The palate brings quite a bit of a peppery punch because of the higher ABV. The dried fruits, dates, plums, are very present. There’s some baked apple too, but there’s not much left of barley or ‘pure’ spirity notes. A very active cask approach, which also is rather typical for the distillery.

Swallow:
The finish is much more gentle than the palate, and brings some surprising notes. More wood, some charcoal from the cask’s charring. There’s a whiff of balsamic vinegar and much more oak than before.

A colleague stated ‘this one is Christmas, and the other one is summer’. I couldn’t agree more. She definitely got the idea of the different casks, if you ask me.

It’s a bit too simple to warrant a higher score, but this is very drinkable stuff that is well worth the € 50 / € 60 being asked for it!

86/100

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BenRiach ‘The Twelve’, Bourbon & Sherry & Port Casks, 46%

Posted on 20 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Another BenRiach I used for a tasting at work last year. A tasting where 22 people emailed me to join in and only 9 showed up. Yes, I’m still annoyed by that.

Image from Whiskybase

Anyway, I used this BenRiach to compare unpeated and peated whisky. The contrasting bottle was also a BenRiach, but a smoky one. It worked, and it wasn’t too confronting for whisky noobs to get the smoky version, compared to what a Laphroaig would have been.

This whisky matured in a mix of Bourbon, Sherry and Port casks. So in regards to flavor it can go in any direction.

Sniff:
Lots of sweet pastry, yellow fruits and quite a bit of honey. There’s a bit more grainy dryness after a few minutes. Apple, dried pineapple, coconut.

Sip:
A very consistent palate, with honeyed fruits, a very timid note of charcoal. Pound cake, warm butter, coconut.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit more dry. More grain forward, slightly woody and with lots of sweetness.

The bourbon cask is the one that’s most present, but my guess was that that was the majority of casks anyway. The combination of wood makes for a rather sweet whisky with heaps of bakery aromas and flavors going on. I feel the spirit gets lost in the woods, a little bit.

I was far more impressed by the smoky twelve.

82/100

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Tullibardine 8, 2015-2023, 1st Fill Oloroso Hogshead, 53.7% – Dràm Mòr

Posted on 19 June 2023 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Image from Best of Wines

To be completely honest, I don’t have too much experience with Tullibardine. There are only four reviews of a dram from the distillery on the blog, in almost 13 years. I know that I really enjoyed the 12 Barrels one from a couple of years ago, but somehow I’ve never reviewed that.

Apart from that, the distillery is a bit of a blind spot. Although, that also has to do with the few expressions that I’ve tried. Most of them didn’t wow me. So when Dràm Mòr sent over a sample I was curious, but not immediately excited.

After just looking it up on Google Maps I think I should really visit the place at some point. It’s quite accessible from a lot of places in Scotland, and since I’ve been to Islay twice and have visited Old Pulteney in Wick, I think a distillery that’s actually near things should not post too much of an issue. Maybe next year, we’ll see.

Sniff:
The initial scent brings an interesting whiff of corn like notes. Sweetness, richness, corn starch. This could pass for a bourbon, and I don’t mean bourbon cask matured Scotch. A bit of a fig and date like fruitiness starts coming through after that with hints of toffee too, but it stays surprisingly like it’s from Kentucky.

Sip:
The palate stays in this area of flavors. It’s quite dry but stays big and rich. The fruity sweetness that comes up after a few seconds is nice, and tastes like date syrup and pastry cream. A bit of a pecan note too.

Swallow:
The finish shows that it’s not bourbon most. There’s dry oaky notes and lots of specific sherry. Not just rich sweetness, but very sherry indeed. Dates, raisins, figs, plums. A hint of barley in the background.

This is highly interesting and surprisingly ‘American’. If you would have given this to me without telling me what it is, I don’t know what I would have made of it. The dried fruits always come through but mostly in second place. The finish is a bit different and makes it a ‘true’ Scotch.

Pretty cool stuff, and rather unique in a good way!

87/100

Available for € 71 at Best of Wines

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