Malt Fascination

Image from The Whisky Exchange

Back in the day when I was still very susceptible to any trend in whisky that came along, combined with professional reviews like Murray’s, Broom’s, Valentin’s and many others I thought I had found a new whisky Valhalla with Amrut. I had a cask strength version very early in my whisky ‘career’, and since then bought a bottle of the first peated version, one of the first Blackadder Amruts and a bottle of the first batch of Fusion.

Since then I’ve become a bit more picky when it comes to Amrut, partly because they increased their prices significantly (€ 45 for their first Cask Strenght, now new releases are around € 80 I think). Understandable, but they’ve priced themselves out of the ‘ah, what the heck’ range by doing so.

They’ve earned the right to do it with bottles like the Two Continents and the Intermediate Sherry Matured, but in some cases I find it over the top (think Amrut 100, and Kadhambam).

Sniff:
Complex swith a lot of different corners of the spectrum. Fruity, spicy, woody. There’s an almost savoury spiciness to it, with hints of peach skins, nectarine. It’s a bit thin though, but that might be because the bottle has been open for years.

Sip:
Somewhat thin again, but it feels oxidized instead of thinly flavoured. Scorched wood with a similar fruitiness as on the nose. I get curry spices too that make me think of garam masala, but I’m not overly familiar with that…

Swallow:
The finish has a bit more oomph to it than I expected and is a bit more alive. The complexity is very prominent here.

Before, I really, really liked this bottle and have recommended it to many people. Especially since it came at about € 35 at first. Now, after it has been open for some 4 years it’s not as good. I feel it’s oxidized quite badly which is a shame. Not truly rateable because of that.

Still, based on recollection, this is a very fine dram, and still very affordable. You just have to finish the bottle in 2 years or so. Can’t really see the problem in that!

Amrut Fusion, 50%, OB, available at € 50 at Master of Malt.

Earlier this week I received a box containing two samples of Springbank in the usual Master of Malt fashion. Waxed lids and rice paper labels and such. There was supposed to be a letter, but that was forgotten. Explanation followed a few days later.

I decided to taste them right off the bat. Springbank used to be one of my favorite distilleries, but there have been some releases with weird finishes that were below par. Shiraz, Madeira, Rum and other things that didn’t really fit my palate.

The Springbank Society releases have been slow coming the last few years too so my collection of Campbeltown whisky has been slowly decreasing from almost 20 bottles to only a few at the moment. Let’s see if these might change a few things!

Springbank 1993, Cask #482

Sniff:
Definetly Springbank, with minerally, salty flavours of liquorice and some wood influence. Bread crust, basalt, sand and sea water. A slight hint of aceton and a very crisp scent of what I can’t describe any other way than ‘winter air’.

Sip:
Sharp, but smooth in flavour. Sugary and sweeter than I expected. Almost something rummy like molasses. The salty notes hit later and the minerals are gone. Sweet honey liquorice.

Swallow:
The finish is smooth at first but has a flavour boost after a few seconds, just before it settles. Liquorice, sugary sweetness that wasn’t on the nose.

I still find their sample service the best available

Springbank 1993, Cask #129

Sniff:
The cask influence is abundantly clear and I would put my money on a sherry cask. Maybe refill. So sherry, dry and salty but not as minerally as the previous one. The sherry fruitiness is present but more bitter in the way of peals and peach and nectarine stones. It does get sweeter with hints of chocolate and a hint of mint.

Sip:
Sharp, dry, not too spicy and maybe a little thin. Quite some alcohol I’d say. Sherry, christmas cake, allspice, tropical fruit and a rather bitter fruit at that. Not too woody but again, becomes more sweet if you give it time.

Swallow:
The finish is bitter on my tongue, but sweeter on the other parts of my mouth and throat. Fruit and a light spiciness. Somewhat more wood than previously.

So, I’d put my money on these being a Bourbon cask and a Sherry cask. I like the sherry cask a lot, but I absolutely adore the bourbon cask! For some reason I consider it to be a quintessential Springbank with all flavours you would want.

Yesterday I received an explanatory email stating that one of the samples will be bottled by Master of Malt in the not too distant future. If it turns out to be the bourbon cask, I’m buying a bottle or two. Absolutely delicious!

Bottlings like these might just put Springbank back near the top of my list, if they just stay away from the freaky finishes…

I have no idea to the ABV, expected price, or anything else. I just hope Master of Malt keeps me in the loop as to when they’re released!

Full disclosure: Both samples were supplied by Master of Malt for reviewing.

Yesterday my wife asked me on GTalk whether I had ordered stuff online again. After the default reaction of ‘shit, she found out!’ I released I actually hadn’t ordered anything and this must be another surprise pack!

A single sample was included and it was Master of Malt’s own Benrinnes 14 that was there. A lovely orangy colour greeted me when I picked it up and I couldn’t wait to try it, also because I barely have any experience with Benrinnes save a couple.

Sniff:
After pouring a small glass I get lovely scents of sugared orange peels and other candied citrus fruits. That was about a meter from the glass. After putting my nose in I got more of that. A lot more. Also some toasted oak and what we call ‘Moscovian fruit’. Those little cut up bits of random candied fruit you sometimes find in cakes and Christmas cake. Also some sweet spices and some oriental like chai or something. The alcohol is rather smooth with tropical fruit juice and later also almond paste leading the way. Furniture lacquer too.

Sip:
Sharper than the nose makes you expect, but in line with the 57.8% ABV. A bit spicier too, but all in a good way. Warming and a little dry with a classic spiciness, almond paste and the rather big load of sweet citrus. There’s chocolate too and that makes me think of those orange wedges in a dark chocolate coating.

Swallow:
The finish gets more friendly quickly and really lingers on the sugared orange peels and dark chocolate, plus the almond paste. I get a touch of nutmeg too. There is a certain Indian curry style to it that I find appealing, but that’s in it’s rightful background place.

As they say on their website, this is an awesome whisky. That’s true. It’s very different from the other Benrinnes I know well but there are also some similarities in the style. Master of Malt states this is a heavily sherried whisky. Not so sure about that, but that’s mostly because with heavily sherried I think of ‘the other Benrinnes‘, and that was in an entirely different category.

For a change in recent reviews, this one is actually still available, and affordable!

Benrinnes 14, Master of Malt, sherry cask, 14yo, 57.8%, 1998-2012, available at Master of Malt for € 69.90

Sample provided for reviewing by Master of Malt.

When at Maltstock, Billy from the Whisky Exchange let us taste a dram from a new Karuizawa series called Spirit of Asama. I don’t know if I remember correctly, but I think this it a range of new vattings from Karuizawa based on the stock of Number One Drinks.

It will probably not consist of the really high end thirty something sherry bombs but a more gently styled vatting of casks. I think there still will be some sherry casks, but not the deep brown ones that everybody wants but cannot afford.

A while after Maltstock I got a pack of samples from the same Billy and The Whisky Exchange containing that same Spirit of Asama sample, and another one. The first is at 48%, the second at 55% ABV. Apart from that I don’t know much about them (yet).

Karuizawa Spirit of Asama 48%

Sniff:
A much lighter style of sherried Karuizawa (by the colour and the scent). Quite friendly with old leather, shammy like. Wet wood, sweet with over ripe fruits. Papaya and mango. On the brink of rotting fruit sweetness, just pleasant on the nose but on the brink of being too much. It does get less cloying and less sickly sweet after a while. The typically Japanese style of wood spices are present too. Sandal wood and such.

Sip:
It’s a bit sharper than I expected and more spicy too. Red cinnamon, pepper corns, ginger. Also some grilled tropical fruit and sweet apple as well.

Swallow:
The finish gives me a bit of dry sherry like notes. There’s some chocolate, raisins, cashew nuts. Not very long though.

Karuizawa Spirit of Asama 55%

Sniff:
It starts of rather comparable to the 48%, with some fruits and the shammy leather. It quickly goes in a different direction with more feinty scents of mushrooms. There still is that fruity sherry base for the leather and mushrooms though. Also a tad minerally, not-too-sweet peach and sweet apples. I prefer this to the 48% so far.

Sip:
The flavour profile is rather light with lots of fruit, sweet spices. Some papaya again. The fruitiness gets a bit more crisp like the tinned fruit salad you can buy from the bottom shelf in the supermarket. Sugary syrup too, with some spices. Almost no wood influence.

Swallow:
The finish isn’t the best I’ve ever had, with a medium length, rather sweet with the syrup and fruit salad again.

Weird. I expected to like the stronger version better than the 48% one, but I think I will chose differently. The first one I thought to be a bit more coherent and not so strangely diverse as the 55% one. The last one started off very interestingly but I think it didn’t pull through in the end game.

Depending on what they’re going to cost these might be very cool introductions to what Karuizawa is about, if you’re unwilling or unable to spend the £ 200 on the really old, really good casks.

They’re not up on the website yet, but both will be for sale at The Whisky Exchange.

A while ago I reviewed a sample of this whisky’s baby brother. The Millburn 1974-2000, by the same bottler. While that was a good whisky it had way too sharp an alcohol edge, from my point of view. With water the flavours improved quite a lot, and in retrospect I might have been a bit harsh in my judgement.

Anyway, this older version of a very similar cask is reviewed now. I had this in my own collection since its release in 2008. At the time it was the most expensive whisky I had ever bought and apart from two or three exceptions it’s still right up there.

Sniff:
Sweet with a ‘dirty sherry’ or a sherry refill edge. This is mostly from the wood itself, since the cask has been used for bourbon, according to the label. Sweet citrus, lemon curd. Also rye bread, bread crumbs with quite some spices. Ginger, brown sugar, allspice and some old sugared coconut like a Bounty bar.

Sip:
Spicy with some pepper and toasted oak. Dry rye bread again with grilled fruits. It softens quite quickly with loads of thick and sweet vanilla. Some unexpected tropical fruit as well.

Swallow:
The finish is very smooth and very warming. Lots of fruit with sweet citrus again, and some tropical stuff like peach. There is a lot going on here, very complex and very flavourful.

Unfortunately, these tasting notes were made at the last possible moment. That means the bottle is now completely empty. Big bummer since this was one of the highlights of my collection. The thick layers of vanilla and other bourbon-cask-influenced flavours were so pronounced that this is exactly what I love about old bourbon casks.

It’s a lot more a gentle giant than the other Millburn and this has my preference bigtime.

Millburn 1974-2008, Blackadder Raw Cask, 55.1%, ‘From an oak hogshead’. It used to cost around € 180, but according to Whiskybase I’ve paid too much.

I’ve been virtually absent from the Internet for the last couple of days. Almost no Facebook, Twitter or Email. I didn’t even write a proper blog post apart from the most recent review. I had some posts planned that have been postponed.

All with good reason of course!

Most of you who regularly check my Facebook page and saw some updates about 5 months ago know that my wife Anneke was hatching our firstborn and about an hour after we went to bed on Thursday her water broke. Not even 7 hours later our daughter was born.

We’ve named her Ot.

The 2nd Karuizawa from the newest batch of The Whisky Exchange releases. This one is a more traditional sherry cask, which is the style that put Karuizawa on the map. It sold out in hours so it’s long gone by now. I don’t think anyone who got a sample of this got their blog post out in time!

The popularity of this distillery keeps growing and that means the initials prices of a bottle keep rising. I think The Whisky Exchange is very reasonable with the starting price at £ 200. Still a lot of money, but compared to the more recent Diageo Special Releases, or Highland Park’s Orcadian Vintage…

Sniff:
Sambal sauce, the fried kind (I believe it’s called Sambal Badjak) with wood pulp, cork trees and sour cherries. Japanese plum wine, dark chocolate, light Christmas cake and stewed strawberries. With added water it gets more accessible, but the scent profile stays rather similar.

Sip:
Loads of fruit, dry and spicy as well, with quite some alcohol and it’s very hot. Red fruits, quite some sharp wood flavours. Sharp spices as well as allspice. Kahlua, pepper, a bit smoother and typically Japanese and sherried Karuizawa with some H2O.

Swallow:
The finish is long and shows alcohol, chocolate liqueur, forest fruits. It feels a bit thick and syrupy with Christmas cake, allspice and with water it shows some Jalapeño peppers…

While this is a stunning and more traditional Karuizawa in all senses of the word, my preference of the two released by The Whisky Exchange lies with the bourbon cask. Lately my preference in general is there and it’s the odd one out which shows that Karuizawa could be anything else then sherry bombs. And be ridiculously good at that too!

This one is a stunning whisky nonetheless and well worth the 200 quid it went for. I’m kind of scared it’s going to pop up on auction sites soon and skyrocket in value. There is something to say for it since it’s a very complex and intriguing dram!

Karuizawa 1984, First Fill Sherry Cask #4201, released by The Whisky Exchange and sadly no longer available at the price of £ 200

Recently I received a package of samples containing some new releases from The Whisky Exchange. In there were some elements of Islay (to be reviewed) and some Japanese drams. Four Karuizawas to be exact.

Image from Whiskybase

Since I tasted my first Karuizawa after a guess buy of the first Noh release I was hooked. Back then they were more or less affordable and not sold out in 30 minutes after being released. Those were the days…

This one, however, is a very strange one since it’s a bourbon cask. Karuizawa is famous for their ridiculously good sherry casks. Also they (if I’m not mistaken) used Golden Promise barley, so they were quite like Macallan in the old days. Of course, the Japanese bit makes it quite different.

Sniff:
Very rich with an odd combination of mint, leather and lots of dry wood. Very spicy, saw dust and cinnamon sticks. Also some furniture polish.

Sip:
Full and not too sharp. Karuizawa usually comes in weighing above 60 % ABV. It’s a bit hot though, so that might be a Japanese thing instead of purely an alcohol thing. Chili pepper, peppercorns, wood, leather wax, leather, mint, cinnamon and a hint of crumbly old paper. Quite some small hints of dark forest fruits. Brambles, cherries, strawberries. Some citrus fruit as well, but very faint.

Swallow:
The finish is almost endless with heaps and heaps of flavour. Furniture lacquer. Light hints of strawberries, wood. A strange note that reminds me of the woody stalks of bushes, not trees. More ‘twig’ than ‘trunk’, if that makes any sense.

For the odd one out, this being a bourbon matured dram, it’s bloody terrific. If our whisky club hadn’t released a BenRiach 1976 this week, I’d have bought this. I guess they’re almost gone and the only reason it’s still available is the maturation and ABV, I guess.

There is layer upon layer of flavour so this will keep you busy and it doesn’t come cheap at £ 179. Every pound is worth it in my book.

Karuizawa 1982, 1st fill bourbon cask matured, cask #8497, 46% £ 179. Only available at The Whisky Exchange.