Malt Fascination

About a million years ago I threw in an extra mini Bottle-Share with the Malts of Scotland samples. This one was just the Rosebank 21 releases by Diageo last year. I’m ashamed I never got around to tasting it before now.

Rosebank, of course, has been closed since the early 90’s and new bottlings are become more rare with each passing year. They’re up to the 19 and 20 year old ones now and I think it will start to run out before long. You also see that reflected in the prices. The independent bottlings of Rosebank (a lot of them from Douglas Laing) are shooting up in price from about € 90 two years ago to € 150 recently. The only reason people are accepting it is that the whisky they produced in Falkirk is so bloody good.

Nose:
Spicy and a fizzy feel on the nose at first, then the typical grass and lemon kick in. Vanilla with a little burn to it with coconut, lemon juice and a very small hint of cleaning products. You only get that if you really take a long slow inhale with your nose in the glass.

Taste:
At first it feels a bit thin and volatile and quite sharp as well. It’s a bit sweeter than it is on the nose but it has loads of flavour. Wood, white oak, saw dust, straw, ginger, banana are all added to the list of grass, lemon and vanilla. A lot of things to explore here.

Finish:
The finish is lemony with biscuits. It last for quite a while and has a hint of aceton, white pepper and freshly shaved white oak curls.

Well, it’s a Rosebank! And one of the better ones I’ve tasted. A bit on the expensive side at € 180 to € 200, but very, very good. It’s a bit more gentle than some of the other older Rosebanks (ie. Rosebank 25 and the Rare Malts 1981) but that only helps in enjoying it. I like it when some flavours are quite prominent but you can discover lots more if you want to.

Rosebank 21, 1990 – 2011, Diageo Premium Release, 53.8%, € 201 at the Whiskykoning.

Since I’m currently doing the second Bottle-Share with SMWS bottlings, and I was driving past Roosendaal last week, I thought it was about time to pay the Dutch head quarters a visit.

I followed my GPS like a pro and arrived in Roosendaal about an hour after leaving work, and drove into town through some industrial area. My thought of encountering a nice, old fashioned house dwindled quickly. For some reason Google got the address wrong, which I figured out when I drove into the parking lot of a DIY store and the phone shouted “You have arrived at your destination”. I missed it by about 3 buildings so this was quickly rectified. To my surprise, between transport companies, construction yards and big warehouses, I found a 60 year old farmhouse at the correct address!

When I went in I met Leon straight away and we got talking about their bottlings right away. Apparently he agreed with me that the previous list didn’t offer much, but the current one was a LOT better. Upon stating that, he poured me a 37.51: “The Saloon of a Classic Yacht“. Terrific sherried whisky, with a whopping ABV of 60% at 18 years. Remarkable for a Scottish dram! Depending on what I encounter in the 10 bottles I picked up, I might regret not getting one of those!

Before I could say anything he poured me an “Every Flavour Beans” right after and I fell in love with old Glen Moray all over again. Absolutely stunning stuff. I am very happy that that one is indeed in the Bottle-Share! The taste starts off as ‘old whisky’ but behind that there is so much to discover, I just might need a bottle to do that!

After that, I had to get on with driving to Vlissingen for our weekend away, so we left, but I sure know I’m going back there and it won’t take a year before that happens!

PS: Yes I was driving, and no, I didn’t drink too much. About 2 cl of whisky is not even one beer (and that was counting both drams).

This weekend I went to visit my dad’s holiday cottage in Zeeland for the first time and of course, I had to bring some whisky with me to enjoy. Apart from that other booze related stuff happened too. So, a bit of a general post today.

SMWS Bottle-Share:
When driving to Vlissingen, we have to go past Roosendaal and in Roosendaal the tasting room and Dutch headquarters of the SMWS is located. This meant that it would be very practical to pick up the bottles for the Bottle-Share and so I did. I also tasted two of their newest drams. “The Saloon of a Classic Yacht” is reminiscent of old Macallans on the nose, but a lot drier on the palate. A very good dram, but unfortunately not in the Bottle-Share. The “Every Flavour Beans” is in, and that is one damn fine whisky. I had the taste in my mouth for a few hours, so that was great! Thanks Leon!

The Bottle Finishing Project:
This is what I’ve called it. I’m trying to finish quite a few bottles that have been sitting open for a long time with a little bit of whisky in it. Still have about twenty left overs to go, but this weekend kicked out the Longrow CV and the Glenfarclas 25. I’ll probably finish a couple more this week. Apart from that I managed to finish about 20 samples this weekend (not on my own, of course) which cleans up my sample shelf nicely.

Beer:
Unfortunately, although we almost drove past it, I didn’t visit the Emelisse brewery in Kamperland, but that is on the role for next visit to the cottage. I did visit the shop of Café De Mug in Middelburg and bought some craft beers. They’ll show up on Untappd some time this month. I picked up a few Gueuzes, since I’m trying to ‘understand’ this style of beer a bit better.

Food:
We went for a massive lunch at De Kromme Watergang, one of the few restaurants in Holland with two Michelin stars and had an absolutely terrific afternoon. I asked for wine pairings with my food and the four wines poured were the first glasses of wine I had this year (how’s that for a change…). Highly recommended!

I’ll be posting about the Bottle-Share this afternoon, and will probably start filling the samples later this week. I’m also sending out some other samples I’ve traded and bottles I’ve sold so I’m keeping busy cleaning up my to-do list!

Another single malt to check off the list of ‘distilleries to taste stuff from’. Also mothballed in 1983 and slowly demolished in following years, the site now holds a supermarket. Of this single malt not much is available since even independent bottlers barely ever release a cask of this stuff. Read more about it here.

I’m not going into specifics of this distillery or how bad it is that a lot of them have been demolished in the ’80s and ’90s, that might be something for another post!

Nose:
Light and grainy with a scent of greasy butter. There is some vanilla and notes of sherry with some light woody undertones. A tad stale and toasted wood.

Taste:
Dusty, sweet and fairly full flavored. There are some spices and a bit of fruit syrup which makes for an odd combination. A little one dimensional.

Finish:
This is a true mix of flavors, but it doesn’t last very long. Fairly sweet and most of the spices are gone immediately. I do get some cinnamon and clove.

Weird stuff. It keeps evolving throughout tasting it with a very different nose, palate and finish. This does make me doubt its consistency. At first it tasted a bit similar to yesterday’s Glenflagler, but it went in a different direction when the sherry notes came through.

North Port-Brechin, 1982-2010, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur’s Choice, Refill Sherry Butt, 43%, used to cost around € 90.

This is a weird one. Quite the old sample of this whisky from the now closed distillery. Just as many others it shut down its stills in 1985 and never started again. The weird thing is that the label says ‘All Malt’, although everything indicates that it came from one single distillery.

Nose:
It smells like a blended whisky. In a way that usually makes it more complex, but in this case it’s kind of boring. It’s quite grainy with a sharp edge to it. Not in alcohol or anything, but the grains are fairly course. Also some white pepper.

Taste:
It’s palate is thin and slightly peppery. It does build up a bit with some more vanilla but it still stays thin. There is a slightly thick creaminess to it, but that’s a wee bit odd with the thinness of the rest.

Finish:
The grainy sharpness from the nose is back in the finish but apart from that it’s (you guessed it) thin and short. It does go a bit chalky and dusty toward the quick end.

Well, it’s checked off my list, but I’m very happy I didn’t buy my own bottle from an auction. I was planning on doing that at some point but that would’ve set me back about € 100. It just doesn’t offer enough. Not bad whisky or so, but not interesting either.

Glenflagler All Malt, 5 years old, 40%, about € 100 on auctions I think.

Thanks Martin!

Since I went there for a tasting last Saturday, I automatically visited this whisky specialist that is fairly close to Krommenie. They’ve been there for little over a year and things are going well for them, according to their FAQ behind the counter.

Their inventory is about 99% whisky, with the rest filled up by the occasional bottle of rum, calvados and armagnac. What they do differently is that almost everything in the small store is bottled by independent bottlers. Apart from Bruichladdich, Kilchoman and Glenglassaugh there are no official bottlings in the shop. This makes for a bit of awkward browsing at first, but if you know whisky a little bit you get used to it quickly. I would expect it to be a bit of a barrier for new whisky drinkers and people buying gifts, but apparently that isn’t really the case.

Joeri and Peter, who run the shop, have been long time whisky enthousiasts and started the shop as an expansion on their hobby. Collection is only manageable till a specific point in time and budget. What they have in the shop is mainly imported by Whisky Import Nederland and Bresser and Timmer. It makes it easy for Glen Drammór to work with not too many people and since those two companies have the most bottlers in their range, I think it’s a fairly smart choice.

So, in the end. My opinion is that it’s a fine shop with many good drams. In their inventory they’ve clearly gone for quality over quantity and it seems to work out so far.

Glen Drammór
Peperstraat 5
1441BH Purmerend

That was the theme of the tasting I went to last Saturday. Joeri and Peter from Glen Drammor in Purmerend hosted this tasting with bottles that held a special place in their hearts or that they were really interested in. They called it the € 1000 euro tasting, mostly because € 1160 euro tasting didn’t have the same ring to it. Of course, it’s the combined value of the bottles.

Invergordon 37, 1972, First Cask, 44%
A very light and perfumy grain whisky from the Highlands that had many aromas of flowers, peardrops, lemondrops and vanilla. Almost no wood on the nose. In the background there was a hint of chamois leather (how’s that for specifics). On the palate it’s a little bit sharper than expected at 44%, still quite light and a bit spicy too. Crushed black pepper and chilis. I think I get a hint of nuts. The finish is more sweet and crema catalana, flowers and coconut.

Dufftown 30, 1978, Alchemist, 46%
A very expensive Alchemist whisky. Alchemist being one of my least favorite bottlers, I was a little bit skeptical. On the nose it smelled dry and chalky with some paper, licorice, straw and old sherry with nuts. The sherry is almost savory. The palate is way sharper than everyone expected with lots of old sherry, dry and tingling. It has pickled fruit with chilis too. The finish went back to the licorice with some wood (I would have guessed white oak, which would be wrong) and almost no fruit.

Glen Grant 37, 1972, Berry’s Own Selection, 51.8%
This was a weird whisky. It is drawn from a sherry cask, but lacked all the European Oak scents and flavors. My and Joeri’s guess was that it came from an American Oak sherry cask. Fresh and reasonably fruity but also a tad of pickled fruit. Plums, chocolate mousse and walnuts too. On the palate it starts fairly sharp but becomes much more friendly than the previous 46%er. The finish is fresh, long and I even think to get a hint of salt (?). A little bitter towards the end, but not in a bad way.

Springbank 37, 1970, Chieftain’s, 43%
Why did the idiots at Chieftain’s water this down? I really don’t understand that. Apart from that, terrific stuff. It took some time to open up and it was a very good thing to taste this after the break. It’s very smooth, with salt, barley, wood, a hint of Dutch cheese, salmiac and licorice. In the background some fruity things are happening. The flavor is light as well, and crisp, salty but becomes more and more sweet with peaches and vanilla. Very complex and very hard to pinpoints the flavors. The finish is a little dry and chalky with some cardboard and cereals. The last flavor I got was pineapple.

Glenlivet 31, 1978, Adelphi, 53.9%
Breadsticks and again a savory sweet sherry variety. A little fruity with some aceton on the nose. Good, but not overly exciting (Glenlivety). The flavors is sharp and dry, sweet and fruity, quite spicy with some fruit syrup. I even think I get cactus flavors. The finish is sweet, full and long with fruit (I get strawberry).

Caol Ila 31, 1979, Berry’s Own Selection, 53.1%
Very light and quite austere at first, the peat has been calmed by the wood. I do still get some rope, sea weed, salt and it has the typical Caol Ila milky and oily flavors. Also some lavender which reminds me of Bowmore. The palate is quite sharp and shows much of the scents back in its flavor. Very smooth and subtel actually. The finish is full and floral, salt and the smoke is more prominent here than on the palate.

Extra sip: Bunnahabhain 1973, Celtic Heartlands, 46.1%
A single sip from this exquisite bottle gave spicy bunnahabhain with curry spices. Very atypical. Crisp and a little thin. Wood, heather and warming pepper. Also courgette (strange) and then light sherry. Maybe a tad too thin?

(I’ll add pictures tomorrow, can’t find the cable to my phone)

Since I’ve decided to start tuning down my collection a while ago I took some steps to accomplish that. It started with making a whisky shelf in a cupboard in our living room where I could put some bottles I want to finish. After that I hosted a ‘bottoms up‘ tasting and I sold and traded some bottles. Now, I’m trying to sell a few more.

I’m doing this not because it is shitty whisky, but simply because my taste has changed over the years and my interests in whisky has as well. Before I tried to buy more of every bottle I liked or tried to complete series, but I now see the folly of that.

I also bought some bottles through other people that are pretty collectible and rare, and when I had the chance to taste them somewhere (not from my own bottle, mind you) I found I didn’t like them. So here’s the list:

• Kilkerran ‘Springbank Open Day’ 2009, 48.5%, € 90
• Ardmore 12, Douglas of Drumlanrig, 46%, Bottled for Whisky Live Leiden 2008, € 50
• Four Roses Small Batch 2010, € 20
• Bladnoch 6 Bourbon Matured, Distillery Only, 20cl, 57.3%, € 25
• Caol Ila 1993, 14yo, Blackadder Raw Cask, 55.7%, € 75
• Springbank Marsala Wood, 9yo, 58%, € 60
• Longrow CV, 20cl, 46%, € 15
• Talisker 12, Friends of the Classic Malt, 45.8%, € 60
• Clynelish 12, Friends of the Classic Malt, 46%, € 40
• Kilchoman 3, Spring 2010, 46%, € 60

If you’re interested, please let me know! I’m sure we can work something out!

Yesterday I had a package delivered at work stuffed to the brim with BrewDog bottles. I missed out at Christmas, but this time I did get some Shareholder exclusive beers.

The main issue I have with ordering BrewDog’s beers is the shipping costs of € 25 to The Netherlands. Luckily, through my booze endeavours I’ve come to know a couple of guys here and there. There, in this case, being London. Billy was able to receive the bottles for me and when a second batch of beers was released a week or two ago I decided it was time to ship the combined stuff over. That saved me about € 35 in total.

Since a couple of my friends have become very enthousiastic about beer I might be able to act as a beer hub myself in a little while. Very handy.

This, unfortunately, means that my booze budget for April is fully gone now and I still have about 4 weeks of month ahead of me. I’ll be drinking these brews slowly!

Oh, the bottle on the left is a 20cl version of this Jade Absinthe Verte. I still have the bottle from St. George spirits, but I don’t want to open that yet. However, I do want to try some absinthe, and some cocktails made with absinthe, like ‘Death in the PM‘. This solved that issue.

Bottle-Share VI was planned to consist of The Whisky Agency whiskies, and the list was expected to show up during the second half of February. Unfortunately that didn’t happen so I decided to go ahead and change things around a little bit and put in a SMWS Bottle-Share. The Whisky Agency list will probably show up tomorrow, with my luck.

Late in 2010 I also did a Bottle-Share of SMWS bottlings. The styles of the whiskies varied wildly, as did the results, but because of that I remember that one as being one of my favourites. Well, that may not be entirely true since I only think of the Bladnoch one as being NOT one of my favourites. Let me put it this way: I like the SMWS.

Unfortunately for you who only read this now and didn’t see my Facebook/Twitter/Email messages, there are no spots available anymore, but there’s bound to be another one shortly.

The whiskies:

• 76.83: Cocktails after rugby, Speyside, First Fill Sherry Butt, 15 years old, 57.1%
• 35.51: Every Flavour Beans, Speyside, First Fill Barrel, 33 years old, 53.6%
• 7.65: A Balm for the Soul, Speyside, Second Fill Sherry Butt, 21 years old, 55.2%
• 26.82: Soft Light at Sunset, Highlands, Refill Sherry Butt, 15 years old, 57.9%
• 93.50: Hot Embers at the Gates of Hell, Campbeltown, Refill Hogshead, 20 years old, 58.6%
• 33.109: Delightful intensity of sherry and smoke, Islay, Refill Sherry Butt, 11 years old, 55.6%
• 29.102: Cowboy’s Campfire Dram, Islay, 13 years old, 64.1%
• 23.71: A Cheese Board in Surgey, Islay, 9 years old, 65.9%
• 5.29: Freesias crushed by an escaping car, Lowlands, Second Fill Hogshead, 11 years old, 60.6%
• R5.1: Mint Humbugs, Refill Hogshead, RUM!, 9 years old, 81.3%

For some reason I am very curious to that rum, especially since the only booze I know at such a strength only exists to get hammered very fast with cola. This one should have some actual flavour to it.

I think the set is well divided between regions and styles and the names are interesting enough to make me very curious. I’ve tried an old ’35’ before and really really loved it. The only reason I do not own that bottle is because my creditcard didn’t work when I was at the member’s place in Queenstreet, Edinburgh.