Malt Fascination

Since a couple of years there is an annual cask of whisky bottled for the City of Zwolle. This all started when they were named ‘Capital of flavour’ (Hoofdstad van de smaak) a few years ago. For that event Hans Offringa, the Dutch whisky writer, bottled a cask of Macallan.

After that they had a couple more bottlings and I believe this was the 4th one. A 12 year old Cragganmore bottled in 2010, distilled in 1998 and bottled at 46% ABV, Bourbon cask. Apparently bottled by Signatory.

Nose:
Pina Colada! I got coconut and tropical fruit, especially tinned pineapple. Lots of sweet syrup and for some reason it also made me think of those edible violets. There’s also a very light cereal scent.

Taste:
Slightly dry in the mouth, dusty. There still some kick lingering, even at 46%, but its more like a 2 year old playing football. Also a bit of red fruit, I get strawberries.

Finish:
A nice finish, not too long and not too complex. Quite fruity again.

A nice dram, nothing wrong with it. The nose is very good with all kinds of surprising scents. Its a great dram to start an evening and start it off in a good way.

Cragganmore 12, City of Zwolle, 23-2-1998 – 18-10-2010, 46%, bourbon hogshead. No longer available, but it used to cost about € 50.

Nose: 8
Taste: 7
Finish: 7
Overal experience: 7
Price/quality: +1

Total: 30 points

Last Friday I had a couple of friends over with whom I celebrated my blog’s first anniversary. The idea was to have a blind tasting for which everyone present brought a bottle.

Of course, I had to spread a bit of gospel so I more or less forced everyone to have a Punk IPA before we started. Half an hour in, we decided it was time for the first dram. Luckily, the weather was terrific and we could sit outside in the garden.

I didn’t take too many tasting notes, partially because I knew many of the whiskies or, because I was too busy having fun!

Auchentoshan Three Wood
I recognized the bottle shape immediately, but not the expression. Fruit, woody with caramel and slightly nutty taste. Quite dry actually… Thanks SJ!

Zuidam Dutch Pot Still Genever
No new notes, you can read the review here.

Aultmore 17, Clydesdale, 55.8%, 1989-2006
Slightly chalky on the nose, with anise and some orchard fruits like apple and white grapes. The taste was rather sharp with anise, loads of liquorice and very dry. The finish was long and lingering. With quite some water a creme brulee sweetness came up with a heap of vanilla. It turned out to be a whisky finished in sherry casks for 18 months, but I didn’t pick up on that. Thanks Thomas!

Sazerac 18
No new notes, you can read the review here. Thanks Henk!

Springbank 28, Dun Bhaegan, 48%, 1974-2002
Not reviewed yet but I’ve still got a drop, so it’ll turn up here eventually.

Ben Nevis 25, Single Cask, 1984-2010, Double Matured
Also one of my bottles, my newest one actually. I’ll review it in depth at some later stage.

Bowmore 12, Adelphi, 1998-2010, 61.9%
Reviewed after my visit to the Whisky Live Leiden festival last year. Read the notes here.  Thanks JP!

Caol Ila Unpeated 8, 64.9%
Didn’t take notes since I thought I had them already. I am wrong. I will try to get a sample to get notes after all… Thanks JP!

Bunnahabhain 9 (peated), Gordon & MacPhail Reserve, 59.7%
Ronald brought this bottle and was worried it would hold its own after the violence of the previous two. While it wasn’t a kick in the nuts like the Caol Ila, it still is a very very tasty dram. I had it on my bottle sale page, but I took it off 😉 Thanks Ronald!

After that we had some other random drams and when it was around midnight we went inside to do a bottoms up with all kinds of leftovers I had sitting around. Eventually, only two bottles were emptied of which only one was mine. No success there 😉

Another dram from a distillery closed in the 1980’s. Glenury Royal was another distillery that fell victim to the recession of the early eighties, after being refurbished in 1965. At first it was only mothballed, but the decision to demolish it was taken in 1992, when things weren’t really picking up.

The dram is one of the few Official Bottlings of the distillery, distilled in 1968. There are only a few officials, and even as an indepedent bottling this one is rather hard to find. Even harder at a reasonable price.

Nose:
Rather floral and sharp initially. After a minute dusted lemon sweets come out with some wet barley in a field as well.

Taste:
The taste is rather surprising and has a lot more liquorice, lemons other citrus fruits. I also get a strong note of shaved oak.

Finish:
The finish is a bit short, but has a Chardonnay or Sauvignon Blanc feeling to it. Fresh and crisp fruits with some wood there as well.

This was my first Glenury Royal, so I can’t compare it to another bottling from the same stills, but its a pretty neat dram. I did find it quite hard to get a lot of flavours from my glass. But I do like those wine style drams. Mind you, that’s wine style, not wine finished, which I usually find rather terrible (exceptions exist, of course).

Glenury Royal 36, 1968, 51.2%, samples available from the ‘Rare Whisky Site’ for € 11,25 per 2.5 cl.

Nose: 8
Taste: 7
Finish: 8
Overal experience: 8
Price/quality: 0

Total: 31 points

The Elements of Islay series is a bottling range of Specialty Drinks Ltd., which is closely affiliated with The Whisky Exchange. They started this series about 3 to 4 years ago and have been rather successful with it, albeit that some bottlings are way more popular than others.

They bottle whiskies from almost all distilleries (there hasn’t been a Kilchoman and a Bunnahabhain yet) under semi-chemical names like Pe1, Lg2, Cl1:

• Pe: Port Ellen
• Lg: Lagavulin
• Lp: Laphroaig
• Cl: Caol Ila
• Br: Bruichladdich
• Ar: Ardbeg

The ones that have been most popular are the Pe series, of which the first one was rather affordable. Since they have been selling out fast the price has gone up quite a bit since. Affordable is a relative statement anyway. They were affordable for a sherried Port Ellen, but compared to most other brands still quite expensive…

Here I’ll review the Pe3, the third and latest bottling of Port Ellen.

Nose:
Apart from the heavy smokiness, the aroma is quite light with grass, milk and dry meadow flowers. Quite a load of peat. After the initial light scents you get more salty, briny notes of fish, the sea. Also some chalk and shoe polish.

Taste:
The taste is rather fierce with quite some alcohol burn. Iodine, briny sand and grass as well. After the initial burn has gone it becomes a lot more sugary sweet.

Finish:
The finish is not too long. Fiery with charcoal, peat and salt.

What I heard is that this was one of the last batches of Port Ellen from the seventies. A rule of thumb is that whiskies from the seventies are ‘better’ than whiskies from the eighties. This one has a lot of complexity in the nose and on the palate, but the finish was a tad short for me. A very nice dram nonetheless.

Although the first one was a very affordable Port Ellen, this one is less so. It goes for about € 270 now (started out about € 70 euroes cheaper), and that is for a half litre bottle. A regular sized one would (if it existed) go for € 378. Way too much.

Pe3, Specialty Drinks Ltd., 54.8%, samples available at Jurgen’s Whiskyhuis in Belgium, and whole bottles at Malts and More.

Edit: Its still available at Drinks & Gifts for € 245.

Nose: 9
Taste: 9
Finish: 7
Overal experience: 8
Price/quality: -2

Total: 31 points

Today, this little blog turns one year old. Its officially a toddler now.

To celebrate, I’m having a few friends over on Friday to drink a few BrewDogs and some more whiskies. A little blind tasting in which everybody brings a wrapped bottle. After that I might do a little ‘bottoms up’ tasting of some bottles that should be emptied.

The jury is still out on organizing a Twitter tasting (I still refuse to call it a Twasting), but if that’s going to happen, its going to be in October, at the earliest. Also, if all goes as planned, invitations will go out to the most active collaborators of the blog. With that I mean it will be a thank you to the most active commentors, Facebook likers, replyers and retweeters. In short, people who’ve helped this blog along.

Now, the results of one years blogging:

• 21.910 hits on the site
• 501 followers on Twitter
• about 200 new Facebook friends
• 5 Bottle-Shares, in total 54 bottles worth of samples sent out to the USA, South Africa, Israel, Spain, France, Belgium, Germany, England and the Netherlands.
• I received a few free samples for reviewing purposes
• 317 posts
• 389 comments
• little over 300 whiskies reviewed/tasted

I can only say thank you to all who read the blog, comment on Facebook and Twitter, and have helped in any way.

Tonight, I’ll taste some celebratory drams that will appear here in the near future

Also picked these beers up at Drinks & Gifts, where I chose them mainly on how cool the bottles look. They come in really old fashioned bottles, one round and one oval. At first I wanted the oval one because of the bottle. It turned out to be an organic Bitter. Next to it was the IPA, and since I was on an IPA shopping spree, I chucked that one in the basket too…

St. Peter’s Organic Best Bitter
“Not creamy” at all (see below). Slightly bitter but not as much as I expected, rather crisp and fresh. The scent is mainly crisp. A rather ‘ordinairy’ bitter, but still very good. No excessive flavours or so.

St. Peter’s IPA
A very full and complex aroma with heavy grains and cereal. A weird combination of a rather crisp and hoppy scent with a moldy undertone. Mushrooms? There’s also a timid sweetness with quite some hops and roasted malt. A hint of fruit pops up sometimes but before I can pick up what kind its gone.

A while ago, after our trip to Scotland in May, I posted tasting notes to a few of BrewDog’s terrific beers. Shortly after that I bought the IPA is Dead beer pack at Drinks & Gifts and recently I was able to get my hands on a few more of their beers at Drinks & Gifts and the Bierkoning (Beer King) in Amsterdam.

I’ll be posting a few more beers this week, since my ‘tasting notes booklet’ is getting full and I have loads of stuff to review already in there. I’m starting off with the BrewDogs today, and several other brands through the rest of the week.

Nanny State
The Nanny State beer was brewed in a reaction to people complaining about the higher ABV beers being promoted too much. Its a 0.5% ABV beer with a truckload of hops in every bottle. You taste that, and you smell that. There’s hops on the nose, followed by some hops, hops after that and hops to round it off. Its a very crisp beer but quite bitter (big surprise, huh). Not bad, but something to be aware of before you taste it!

Dogma
The Dogma beer is a heather honey ale. There’s guarana, poppy seeds and kola nut in there according to the label, but what I got was a very good sweet and spicy beer. The heather is recognizable but instead of it being a bit too bitter the honey sweetness compensates it nicely. Strangely heavy, yet crisp on the palate. The spicyness is very nice and all in all this is a 5 star beer. Everything fits, nothing lacks. Terrific stuff!

Zeitgeist
A Black Lager. The blackness usually comes from roasted malt used in the brewing process. That, in turn, makes most beers quite heavy on the palate with a cereal sweetness to it. That also happens here. The taste is an interesting combination of Stout and Ale flavours. Not my favorite but neither is it bad.

5 AM Saint
Another hoppy pale ale. This is not as hoppy as the Nanny State, but I think it is a bit more bitter than the Punk IPA. A slightly acidic scent in there as well. Very crisp and no heavy tones at all. A real fresh dram that woke me up a bit. Very, very good.

Hardcore IPA
I really wanted to try this one after trying the Punk IPA. They received a high number of awards for this brew, and I can see why. Its not as crisp as the Punk IPA, but a very hoppy dram with slightly more sweet fruity tones to it. A bit darker as well. Its a full flavour belter, but I prefer the crisper versions (5 AM Saint and Punk). It is Hardcore!

I recently finished my bottle of Clynelish Distillers Edition, the 2008 version. Since I didn’t review it yet I remembered to take notes as the last drop fell out of the bottle into my Glencairn glass.

Diageo’s distillers editions are almost all the same age as the regular variety of the same distillery with a short finish in a different cask. Lagavulin uses PX sherry casks, Cragganmore uses port casks, and so on.

This one is finished in Oloroso Seco casks, which should add another layer of flavours to the already bountiful palate of regular Clynelish. Still one of my favorite entry level whiskies.

Nose:
A rather full nose with vanilla, quite some sherry influences. Smoke, heather, those big yellow plants you find in Scotland that smell like plums and sweet dried fruit. (after some Googling, that plans is called Gorse)

Taste:
A bit singed wood, with sweet and dry fruit. Malty and european oak. Not as typical for a Clynelish as I expected, but very good nonetheless. A hint of smoke and spices, and a little salty.

Finish:
A long slightly drying finish. A little bit chalky. There’s still some bourbon cask-ness to it from before the Oloroso finish.

A very good dram, and one of the best Distillers Edition I have tasted. I might have a soft spot for Clynelish and a little bias, but this one is a good dram however you put it!

Clynelish Distillers Edition, 46%, Oloroso Seco Finish, around € 50 at Master of Malt.

Nose: 7
Taste: 8
Finish: 7
Overal experience: 8
Price/quality: +2

Total: 32 points

Jim Beam is the biggest bourbon in the world. Luckily, that has not made the people in Clermont, Kentucky lazy. Not at all. Apart from the huge range of Jim Beam products there are also several other brands available from the distillery. Think of Knob Creek, Basil Hayden’s, Baker’s and Booker’s and you think of high quality bourbons.

A long time ago I received a sample from (let’s hope I don’t mess up credits again) John Derks of Beam’s Distillers Series. A 7 year old bourbon at 45%/90 proof. Since my backlog has only been growing till about a month ago, I never got around to tasting it, but I changed that last weekend.

Nose:
The first hints I get are of traditional bourbon. A little cereal, lots of corn which makes me think of cornbread. There’s also quite some sirupy sweetness going on.

Taste:
The taste is a lot more complex than I expected with chili peppers, quite spicy and almost no sense of alcohol. Very smooth. It feels a bit viscous with whole grain bread, a hint of nutmeg and other wood spices.

Finish:
The finish gives off a nice warming glow, sweet and spicy. A bit peppery and burnt bread crust.

A very nice dram. There could have been a bit more oomph, but the smoothness here is quite appealing too. The nose was a bit simple, but the heaps of flavours you get after that makes for a pretty nice dram.

Jim Beam Distillers Series 7yo, 45%, should be below € 30 if you can find it.

Nose: 5
Taste: 7
Finish: 6
Overal experience: 7
Price/quality: +2

Total: 27 points

Next week, on August 3rd, this here blog will turn one year old! Still a baby blog compared to the whisky-blogging mastodonts like www.whiskyfun.com and www.whatdoesjohnknow.com and nowhere near the same level of ‘professionalism’.

Still, I am going to celebrate with some people that have some form of significance in my whisky experience. Like my father in law who gave me some of my first tastes of single malt. A good friend who I started the hobby with and some others from the same circle of people.

There might still be some emails going out to others, but I’m not sure who to pick and would be able to attend.

Apart from that, does anyone else have suggestions on how to celebrate?