Malt Fascination

Dailuaine is quickly becoming a favourite distillery of mine, for reasons unknown to me. Its not even that all samples of them I’ve tried recently are great, but most of them have some allure to me, like they represent an old style of whisky from years gone by.

Nose:
A little alcoholic with old fashioned aromas. Wood with honey and fruit, dried peaches and some nuts to round it off. The wood is clearly European oak and it has the good drying. There is some sweet orange as well.

Taste:
Full on sherry assault, with wood spices like cinnamon and clove. Old polished leather and the peel of walnuts. Lots of candied fruit for the necessary sweetness.

Finish:
There is something crisp in the finish as an extra layer to the flavours described above. Its a long finish that is a little dusty and dry.

This is a very nice whisky! I like the combinations of the flavours and its a sherry dram that I really enjoy. Lately I found myself veering towards bourbon matured whiskies but this just might get me back on the sherry bottles for a bit.

Dailuaine Flora & Fauna, 16yo, OB, 43%, available for 40 euros at Master of Malt.

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

Total: 34 points

Yesterday the Spring Tasting was organized again by the Whiskykoning in Den Bosch. The spring tasting focuses on whiskies from the Lowlands region and always promises some nice whiskies from closed distilleries, since it is very hard nowadays to fill a tasting with whiskies from running Lowlands distilleries. That should change in a few years since there are some distilleries being rebuilt!

Auchentoshan 2000, Duncan Taylor NC2, 46%
It started quite malty, but with some nice added smells of dried flowers and a little crispness. The taste was slightly alcoholic with cereals and a bit spirity. The finish diminished quickly with cereal again and slightly musty. Licorice remained.

Bladnoch 8, Distiller’s Choice, 46%
The smell started of with old warm breakfast cereal, some banana and lots of moldy bread. The taste was surprisingly acceptable after the hideous nose. More fruity with a slightly citrussy finish.

Bladnoch 18, OB, 55%
Full, earthy and creamy, with pastry cream and some light American oak. The taste was also very full and soft, with some fruit and quite drying. A long finish with lots of smooth vanilla.

Glenkinchie Distillery Only, 59.3%
Lots of sherry influences here. This distillery only is said to fit in Diageo’s range of left over casks from their Distillers Edition, so Amontillado it is! Peaches and some aceton/paint stripper. Anise and warm cherries. Later the smell turns to sugar syrup and caramel. The taste is a little dusty, slightly drying with some tannines, old dried peaches and other fruit. The finish is long, fruity and turns a bit more spicy with clove and cinnamon.

Rosebank 12, SMWS, 10-1978 – 10-1991, 58.9%
Woohoo! Now we’re talking! Ancient Rosebank is always to my liking… The nose has a little hint of rubber that quickly dissipates, and what remains are cherries, lots of European oak, sweet spices, raisins, mixed nuts and a little burnt caramel. The taste is sweet with lots of fruit and a little delicate flower hints. It finishes on sweet pastry dough, stewed fruits and apple pie.

Littlemill 20, 07-03-1990 – 14-10-2010, First Cask by WIN, 56.2%
The nose starts on those wet breakfast cereals you are used to in Littlemill, although not as bad as the Bladnoch 8. It has a bit of sour milk, vanilla and light caramel as well. The taste improves to carbonated water, malt and a little more yellow orchard fruits. The finish has fruit flavored milk and some sweet citrus.

St. Magdalene, 09-1982 – 11-2010, Old Malt Cask, 50%
A bit of a slow starter with some light licorice, cereal, some pepper and a hint of wood. The taste becomes way more fruity with lots of orchard fruit and apple pie. The finish has more of that sweet dough. Very nice, but a difficult one to describe. Runner up to the Rosebank!

To check another whisky off the list of the 101 whiskies to try before you die, I traded a sample of Bailie Nicol Jarvie with John Derks. BNJ is known as the Glenmorangie blend, since that is the biggest Single Malt in this blend, apparently.

Nose:
A little more mature and complex than I expected with vanilla, some light coconut smells and a bit of lemon. I do think that the malt percentage compared to the grain percentage is a bit low, since the grain whiskies are far more prominent. The minty of Glenmorangie is detectable, however.

Taste:
The taste lingers a bit between juicy sweet and dry. There is a lot of cereal in the taste with again some vanilla, but without the minty hint. Also quite malty.

Finish:
The finish a bit random with peaks in all directions. The crispness of a good grain whisky, some heavier notes as well, a little yellow tropical fruit too.

Quite a strange whisky, and not entirely to my liking. However, when you reckon this bottle sets you back about 20 euros, its a very good deal compared to other blend in that categorie.

Bailie Nicol Jarvie, 40%, available at Master of Malt, among others.

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

Total: 25 points

Yesterday I cycled to an Adelphi tasting in Driehuis, hosted by Richard Blesgraaf of liquor shop Zeewijck, Marcel Bol of WIN and Alex Bruce of Adelphi themselves. I was a bit late since for some reason I am highly unable to find my way on a bicycle.

There were a couple of new releases to be tasted, as well as a few not-single-casks that I had tried previously. I didn’t change my opinion on them so I will just link to those whiskies.

Adelphi Private Reserve Blend

Macallan1993, 17yo, 53.7%
Full sweetness on the nose with tropical fruit and fruit syrup. I also sniffed out some parsley, but that might be me. Later some custard and a bit of wood. The taste has some pepper and is quite thick and mouth coating. A long finish with quite a beefy flavour to it.

Highland Park 1995, 15yo, 55.4%
Light smoke, straw, farm yard. A little sweet and some fresh apple and pear. Later I smelled lemon curd. The taste was full with quite some smoke, hessian bags (we found out yesterday what that is…), wood salty wood, maritime. It got a lot fuller when you added a bit of water. The finish was smoky as well, with the fruit completely gone but more of those farm yard or stable flavours.

Liddesdale

Fascadale

Caol Ila 2001, 9yo, 60.7%
The nose was very volatile, oily and clean. Milky, some dairy smells. Salty but becomes more sweet after a minute. Caramel and dry grass. The taste was rather sweet but the 60% alcohol is felt very well and it was hard to get through it. A light taste with some pepper, smoke and a little bit of fruit. The finish is again very alcoholic with no new flavour additions.

Breath of Islay, 1999, 11yo, 55.7%
This Lagavulin was not a typical one with sweet peat and smoke on the nose with some caramelised bacon as well. Then some apple pie. Later it gets a bit of a factory smoke. The mouth gave more toffee and salt. Quite smooth actually, apart from the slight alcohol burn on your tongue. The finish is long and sweet with grilled paprika and bacon again.

Quite a nice tasting with a lot of familiar faces. Too bad none of the whiskies really ticked all my boxes.

A while ago a game was hosted by Glen Grant on Facebook, in which you could earn points with a group of friends to win a trip to Scotland for four persons. A well respected club member of the Usquebaugh Society started a clan in this game and invited a lot of nice people. Of course, the first idea that was posted was to organize a clan tasting. Nothing more than a BYO tasting for members of our little group. Teun has a pretty nice place to do such things so a location was not a problem!

Of course, we wouldn’t be proper Usquebaugh Society members if we didn’t already start the tasting on the train there, so the first couple whiskies were tasting en route, the rest in Teun’s basement, the SM cellar…

Ardmore 12, Douglas of Drumlanrig,  Whisky Live Leiden (for 2008?), 46%
Lightly smoky with a little medicinal hint. Some dry grass and sugary sweetness. Lemon zest. The taste feels a bit dusty and quite alcoholic for a 46%, again that sugar flavour. The finish is short and a little too light. Not my cup of tea.

Bunnahabhain 18, OB for Feis Isle 2010, Pedro Ximinez cask, 51.4%
Nice and fruity with some chocolate and sherry wood. The taste is more herbal with lots of heavy overripe fruit and not as much wood as in the nose. The finish is not a bit surprise but very good at what it does. Again a lot of fruit.

Some blended whisky from the Elzas, France.
No notes, bad whisky

Mortlach 17, 1992, Exclusive Cask, Creative Whisky Company, 51%
A Port hogshead finish that had a lot of influence on the whisky. Buttery and heavy fruit. The taste is less influenced by the Port. Quite beefy and not as sweet expected.

Glen Garioch Founders Reserve, 48%
Thin with some light peat smoke. A little bit leathery. On the palate its more peppery and spicy with a sugary sweetness. The finish offers some fruit. A rather mixed dram, but not really great.

Glen Grant 30, 1972-2002, Kruger Schloss Whisky, 55%
Lots of dried fruit on the nose with European oak as well. The taste is very dry but again, very full of fruit with leather and wood. A very nice and heavily sherried whisky.

Glen Elgin 17, 1991, Blackadder Raw Cask, 57.8%
Thin and a little volatile. Sugary sweetness and some fruit. The palate has a lot of cereal, musty wood and overripe fruit. The finish gives off old sherry, spices, wood. Quite long but its a bit of an odd combination.

Linkwood 1983-2009, Royal Mile Whiskies, The Gathering of Edinburgh, 46%
More alcohol than expected at 46%, and less flavour. Malty and slightly drying on the palate with a short finish.

Glendullan 12, SMWS 84.12, Party in the Vinyard. 59.3%
Cereals and vanilla, coconut and a little perfume on the nose. The taste burns your tastebuds initially and keeps increasing. Very fierce. The finish is a bit sweeter with sweet vanilla again.

Caol Ila 12, 1998-2010, Whisky Club Groningen,  46%
Very clean, crisp Caol Ila. Clean with some rope, tar, sea weed and iodine. Also some pastry dough. The flavour is light and salty, quite dry as well. The finish is a tad oily, salty and grassy. That kind of grass you find on the edges of the beach. Typical Caol Ila. Not bad at all.

Glen Grant 27, Bladnoch Forum, 2008, 53.2%
Nice thick sherry influence, typical of older Glen Grant. Quite a lot of wood some dried peach on the nose. The taste has a lot of tannines but is still quite fruity. The finish is not really exciting, dry and chalky.

Glen Grant 27, Bladnoch Forum, 2008, 54%
Very herbal and only after a while a leathery taste comes through. A lot more weight than the previous version of the Bladnoch Glen Grant. Wood spices as well. The taste is again quite dry but less fruity. The finish starts of with a slight alcohol burn but mellows nicely into a more fruity variety.

Longmorn 1996-2010, Berry’s Own Selection, 56.7%
At first I thought to smell sherry, but that was hard to find after a minute. Hard candy, apple, vanilla and malty. The taste has a lot of alcohol, wood, new oak shavings. Brown sugar, vanilla and light fruits. The finish is quite long, soft and becomes a bit more sweet with more vanilla.

As you can see with this tasting (and yesterday’s report) there was absolutely no plan to taste whiskies in a specific order. A complete mixture of cask strength and lower alcohol whiskies, no order in casks and peat levels. This makes for a fun and spontaneous tasting, but can be quite annoying when you just had a Caol Ila and spot a nice Lowlander afterwards. The fun thing was that there were a lot of Glen Grants available at this Glen Grant Clan tasting.

In the end, our clan won the competition on Facebook and four of us are going to Glen Grant in autumn. Unfortunately, I am not one of those four…

Otopoets is a car polish company in Hilversum, ran by the son(s) of Dick de Jong, who is one of my whisky friends. Every year he organizes a BYO tasting there for as many people as possible, all from the Usquebaugh Society. This year was the fourth event, and the first one I attended.

The idea is simple: Everyone brings one or two bottles of whisky they like to share with the rest and everybody can taste what they like. Since there were about 50 people, the amount of bottles came close to a hundred. Of course, I didn’t taste them all…

This year there was a little extra thrown in by the Society, since the new club bottling had to be picked before the tasting started. Everybody sat down and was given three cask samples of an undisclosed distillery. The first sample had some nice toffee and caramel notes but apart from that, not much happened. The second sample started on similar notes but developed a nice fruitiness which gave it a lot more complexity. The last sample was very alcoholic with some minor notes to compensate for that. It was (for me at least) the worst of the set. In the end the second sample was picked as the new club bottling and it turned out to be a 15 year old Cask Strength Glenfarclas, which will be bottled soon under the official privately selected Family Cask label by Glenfarclas. Goody!

The tasting itself:

Highland Park 11, First Cask, 59.4%
Very heavy on the nose, old wood, dried fruit, leather. The taste was warming and fruity with peach. The finish was a bit short but quite nice with candied fruit and fruitcake.

Tomatin 1984-2006, Daily Dram, 43%
Light and fruity, cereal on the nose. The taste is a little thin with some icing sugar and light fruit again. The finish offers yellow fruit, some vanilla and has a silky feel to it.

Lochside 1981-2000, Murray McDavid, 46%
Full frontal fruit, mostly soft tropical fruit like papaya and mango. The taste has yellow fruit is and quite creamy. ‘Creme patisserie’. The finish is a little sharp but again with a lot of fruit.

Dailuaine 1989-2007, The Ultimate, 46%
Lots of cereal, light and rather one dimensional. A little dry too. Not much happening.

Aultmore 16, 1990-2007, Dewar Rattray, 57.9%
Heavy sherry wood, wet casks, the whisky is suppressed a little bit. The taste offers more heavy whisky flavours with some grain, leather and oak influence. The finish is better with a little less sherry to dominate it all.

Dailuaine ‘Adieu Lina’ 1973, Daily Dram, 47.6%
Nice and fruity. It smells old with some mustiness to back up the fruit. The taste has a lot of old over ripe fruit as well, quite dry. The finish is another fruity explosion with papaya and melon.

Yamazaki Puncheon, 48%
Lighter than I expected from a Yamazaki. The typical Yamazaki complexity is there but not as pronounced as it can be. American oak influences with a little vanilla and some sweet citrusy notes. A little dull.

Glenglassaugh 1973, OB Family Silver, 43%
Again a pretty fruity dram. Also quite old fashioned with some leather and light sherry wood influences.

Glenfarclas 21, 43%
Light and creamy. A little thin with some fruit, a more modern whisky than some of the previous drams I tasted. The taste is somewhat more full bodied with sweet pastry. The finish has some light sherry wood influences, reine claude prunes and apricot.

Kavalan Solist, Sherry Cask, 58.7%
Pretty mature for such a young whisky (around 4 years old?) but some sharp edges to betray himself. Pepper, incredibly fierce with some serious alcohol bite to it. A lot of European oak and some fruit. The finish is more creamy with red fruit but rather short.

Kavalan Solist, Bourbon Cask, 58.2%
The nose is has some gluey notes and some coconut and lemon. The taste is full but not overly specific. The finish has some cloying sweetness that sets me off a bit.

Clynelish ‘Kleine Licht’ 11yo, 56.1%
Very fresh with crisp lemon, some bees wax on the nose. The taste has honey, heather, a little saltiness and also that Clynelish waxiness. The finish has a nice balance, but is not really long. Some fruit.

Wild Turkey 12, 50.5%
Overripe fruit and corn syrup first. The taste is pretty full with some alcohol, tobacco and other dried herbs. The finish is too much on the dried herbs with some vegemite flavours.

Bunnahabhain 27yo, 1978, Signatory Cask Strength, 55.6%
Spicy sherry, rather smooth for such an ABV, but also a little herb paste. The taste is more heavy with herbs and wood. The finish shows all the alcohol that’s in there.

Clynelish 14, Clydesdale, 60.4%
The nose is rather calm with a little waxiness. The taste has a serious amount of alcohol, also that waxiness, honey and pepper. The finish has way too much alcohol. A typical Robin Tucek choice?

Royal Brackla 16, 1992-2009, Cadenhead, 54.7%
Some artifical banana flavour with a lot of alcohol and quite some cereal.

Not all tasting notes are as good as I like them to be, but what do you expect with this many whiskies. The more elaborate notes were also the whiskies I deemed more interesting… It was nice to finally try some Kavalan’s of the well reviewed series. I nosed the standard edition last year and wasn’t too thrilled by it. The Adieu Lina and the Glenglassaugh Family Silver were the winners of the afternoon and evening!

To close this week that started with a good whisky tasting in which a David Stirk bottling was tasted, I’d like to close of with a somewhat more available bottle. The Exclusive Range is the cheaper variety of his series and there are some gems in there!

I tasted two Macduffs, one I brought to a tasting a while ago, a 9 years old. Another guy brought another 2000 vintage, but 10 years old. A nice head to head was necessary of course!

Macduff 2000, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Range, 9yo, 45%

Nose:
It smells somewhat old fashioned with leather, some wood and quite a heavy smells. It gets a bit lighter and more fruity after a few minutes.

Taste:
Its a mix of the heavy flavours and the fruitiness that I found in the nose which makes for a nice old fashioned dram from a good sherry cask. The influence is not too heavy, just how I like it.

Finish:
The finish adds some nice flavours of caramel and is quite fierce at first. After a moment it gets a bit smoother and more herbal.

Very nice, rather unexpected for a ‘random’ 9 year old but it has some very nice full bodied flavours. There is nothing negative to say about this whisky. Its just very good, but not stellar.

Macduff 2000, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Range, 9yo, 45%, available at Drinks & Gifts for 43 euros.

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

Total: 35 points

Macduff 2000, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Malts, 10yo, 45% for the Bonding Dram

Nose:
This smells somewhat lighter than the previous one. There is also some sherry wood influence and a very nice smell to it. There is a lot of tropical fruit in the nose.

Taste:
The mouthfeel is a lot fiercer than I expected. A lot more spicy and more wood influence than I expected again. There is a sweet spicyness with fruits and peppers.

Finish:
The finish has a nice flow in it. It starts pretty spicy and gets smoother and softer with every second. There is some dryness and again quite a lot of fruit.

The surprise of the quality of this dram was not as big as with the first Macduff 2000 since it was the second. Although, it is of course nice that your expectations are lived up to. Another sherry cask, but with a different character. More spicy and less leathery than the first.

Macduff 2000, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Range for The Bonding Dram, 10yo, 56,5%, available at The Bonding Dram for 50 euros (discounted from 60 euros).

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

Total: 34 points

The Exclusive Cask series is a different series by David Stirk in which he finishes whiskies usually in all kinds of odd casks. In this case he used a Gaja Barolo cask which is almost never used for whisky. I have only encountered a Longrow 7 yo (very very good) and the odd Edradour (very bad). There also is a Bruichladdich, but I think there hardly is a cask finish that Bruichladdich hasn’t used.

Nose:
Very much the character you expect from Glencadam. Quite minty, with a kind of dustiness. There is a slight hint of the wine cask but that is very much in the background and not in any way overpowering the distillery character.

Taste:
Vanilla, pepper, yellow fruit with lemon, grapefruit and some more sweet influences as well. I can’t really place it without making guesses.

Finish:
There is quite the spicy finish but also quite light. Its not extremely long but nice flavours keep popping up for a while. The barolo wine is hard to place here.

When I taste Glencadam I expect a fresh Highland character, whatever that means. A bit similar to Teaninich, not as herbal as Highland Park and not as waxy as Clynelish. More vanilla and light fruits without too much wood influence. That is exactly what I got here so I think the finish didn’t add too much. Just a little edge in the nose.

Glencadam 32, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Cask, 1977, 48.7%, available at Drinks & Gifts in Krommenie for 135 euros.

Nose: 9
Taste: 9
Finish: 8
Overal experience: 8
Price/quality: +1

Total: 35 points

Another report on a good Exclusive Malt by David Stirk. I had the opportunity to taste some of his great bottlings. I promise I’m not a fanboy, since I think most of the standard range (Exclusive Range) are usually not too exciting. The Exclusive Malts, however, is an entirely different story. I have, for later this week, an Exclusive Range review that undermines my previous statement, by the way.

Nose:
The nose starts of with a blast of dark chocolate and that smell lingers. There is also somespicyness, like mole (which goes very well with chocolate). There is also something fresh like anise in there.

Taste:
There is some banana flavour in there. Not specifaclly banana, but artificial banana flavour, like you find in candy or yogurt. Also some chili peppers.

Finish:
The finish is pretty long with again some chocolaty notes and again that spicyness. Quite light, but a very nice and lingering taste that’ll just make you sit back and enjoy some more.

This is a very good dram of a distillery that you don’t encounter all too often. It has a set of very nice flavours and smells that I’ve not come across all too often. I had this at the “Otopoets tasting” a while ago with a lot of club members. Unfortunately it was the last drop out of the bottle…

Tamdhu 26, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Malts, bottled for WWW, 1984, 50.1%

Nose: 9
Taste: 8
Finish: 9
Overal experience: 9
Price/quality: +1

Total: 36 points