Malt Fascination

Lately I keep hearing more and more positive things about David Stirk‘s Creative Whisky Company. More bottlings that are getting higher scores all over the place and this Glengoyne is a bottle that I heard very much about at club meetings and such.

Exclusive Malts is one of the three series of David Stirk with his high end bottlings. There is also the Exclusive Range with more standard independents at 45% (usually between 4 and 15 years old) and there is the Exclusive Cask range, where David finishes the casks he bought in different casks, varying from Bourbon to Gaia Barolo wine.

Nose:
It starts of with a lot of warm over ripe fruit, just on the brink of becoming moldy. I smell pineapple, tangerine and yellow kiwi. There is also a hint of chili pepper to make it a bit more exciting.

Taste:
Quite spicy with more of that chili pepper. Again, lots and lots of fruit and not too much wood influence of the sherry cask. There is some wood, but not the tannins and dried fruit you normally get. Again lots of yellow fruit, but also including some sweet citrus.

Finish:
Long. Longer. Longest. The fruit gets more overpowering, or just the other flavours dissipate more quickly. Then, at the moment you think its one, there is one more burst of fruits all around your mouth.

This is one hell of a dram. Usually I save half a sample to taste it again later, but that didn’t happen in this case. One of the best drams of the last couple of months, and the best Glengoyne I have ever had.

Glengoyne 37, Creative Whisky Company Exclusive Malts, 1973, 48.7%, about 150 euros, I only found it available at Whizita in Germany.

Nose: 9
Taste: 9
Finish: 10
Overal experience: 10
Price/quality: +2

Total: 40 points

Sample supplied by Teun.

Drinks & Gifts, a liquor shop in Krommenie organized a tasting yesterday with seven independent bottlings imported by Whisky Import Nederland (WIN). WIN imports a lot of bottlers and the official releases of Kilchoman and Glenglassaugh and some other spirits like Cognac.

They wanted to give an impression of the whiskies available in their portfolio and Jolanda of Drinks & Gifts wanted to show what she can provide as a liquor shop (with an increasing focus on whisky).

Royal Lochnagar, Exclusive Range, 9yo, 2000, 45%
This dram was an easy starter, but not a bland one. Lots of fruit and a little malty. The alcohol starts our rather prominent but decreases quickly. A little vanilla as well. The finish is a little dusty and some malt again.

Craighellachie, Old Malt Cask, 14yo, 1996, 50%, Red Wine Cask
Quite dry with lots of tannines on the nose. Some tropical fruit and oak, but quite some spices. Gets even more spicy towards the end. The taste is very dry and quite some alcohol. The finish is quite long and spicy, but its rather dull, especially taste.

Tamnavulin, Blackadder Raw Cask, 16yo, 1993, 57.6%
Spicy with orange zest and a lot of mint on the nose. Quite spicy with a lot of tropical fruit, sherry influences and wood. There is a very good balance and a nice sweetness to it all and everything comes together nicely.

Clynelish, Berry Bros & Rudd, 13yo, 1997, 56.8%
Honey, Bees wax, a lot of vanilla, caramel, sticky toffee pudding and that’s just the nose. A bit dry on the palate with some wood, vanilla, creme brulee and cinnamon. The finish is unexpectedly peppery, loooooooong and a lot of honey again. A typical Clynelish with a slight note of smoke and saltiness, but there’s just a lot going on!

Tobermory, AlcHemIst, 16yo, 1994, 46%
Malty but a quite flat and bland. Some wood and vinegar. The taste is thin with the same notes as on the nose. The finish lives up a little bit with some fruit and a bit of vanilla.

Ledaig, Berry Bros & Rudd, 5yo, 2005, 61.1%
See this review of it. No changes to the rating but some addition to the flavours: Leather, smoke and a smell of rotten meat. Like a dead cow that’s been out in the sun for too long. Nasty.

Bowmore, First Cask, 11yo, 1999, 60.9%
This Bowmore is a bottling by WIN themselves, with their own label. Vanilla, coconut, apricot, some sweet smoke, heather and some honey. The palate offers is very nice with sweet flowers. Quite dry and a little FWP, but not too much and just very deliciously sweet. The finish is quite perfumed with again some sweet peat smoke.

And as a little extra, Jolanda of Drinks & Gifts gave us a sample for broadcasting her tasting (on Twitter by Tom, pictures by Robert and this blogpost):

Laphroaig, Exclusive Cask, 12yo, 50.1%
Sea weed and ropes as well as some light fruitiness on the nose. The taste is more salty and quite dry on the palate and the finish is rather short with some freshness added to it. The fruit lingers longer than the smokiness which is a nice surprise.

A great tasting with some nice speeches by Marcel Bol, by WIN and nice conversation with Tom, Ronald and Robert, as well as with Jolanda, of course! Unfortunately I can’t participate in the tasting on the 4th of April with Jan Beek of Van Wees, which is hosted by Jolanda as well.

Last week I participated in an American Whiskey Tasting in Den Bosch at De Whiskykoning. The ‘Whisky King’ is a specialist retailer with heaps of whisk(e)y on display ranging from the very cheapest Red Label to the most expensive 1939 Linkwood at 2.500 euros. So you bet you can find a bottle to your liking and budget there!

Apart from the range of bottles in store there are also a lot of tastings held at Friday nights. Last year there were ‘recession’ tastings consisting of ancient Springbanks, 30 year old whiskies, 25 year old whiskies, so pretty awesome!

Hirsch Selection Special Reserve Corn Whiskey, 45%
Very light on the nose with less sweetness than I expected. Corn bread. The taste gets sweeter and sweeter with every minute, but the finish turns a little bitter. Apart from the sweetness its a rather thin whiskey, watered down a bit too far. The finish also has some chilli pepper. Not my cup of tea.

Dickel Barrel Select 2006, 43%
Very sweet with lots of brown sugar, banana and caramel. The taste is, again, lighter than expected, with some white oak shavings and quite some tannines. The finish is very very short. After half an hour it gets more and more herbal like soup or bouillon. The nose is good but the rest was a bit off putting.

Jefferson’s Reserve batch 66, 45.1%
The nose has a lot to offer with clove, cocoa, cookie dough, banana and in the end, buttered toast. The taste has quite a lot of rye and a hint of pepper. Less dry than I thought it would be. The finish turn more fruity. A very very nice dram with a lot of complexity and it doesn’t go bad in the end!

Eagle Rare 10, 45%
Very nice, but reviewed earlier (to a lesser rate than I remembered)

Blanton’s Barrel Proof (barrel 132), 65%
Anise, sugared jelly candy (is this a Dutch thing?), sugar and licorice. The taste is VERY strong (at 65% ABV, so no surprise), dry, very cloying and wood. The finish offers peppers, sambal, spices and tobacco.

Rittenhouse Rye 23yo, 50%
Quite crisp with a lot of rye, coffee, chocolate and mocha. The taste is very complex, dry and with quite some cereal. The finish has some sour rye (or acidic) with clove, a light sweetness and a little bitterness. Its a struggle to get much out of it, since there is a LOT going on. I think I spent an hour with this dram and could spend many more. Very very good.

So, a very nice tasting with a good build up. The Rittenhouse was terrific, as I expected after having tasted the 100 Proof and the 25 year old. Love to buy one of those older ones, but clocking in at 200 euros, they’re a bit expensive.

Jack Daniel’s is a whiskey and/or distillery that I usually steer clear of, since the early days got me hammered on their no. 7 a few times too many. It was the default option if we could stomach any more beer on Saturdays, but I was able to trade for this sample a while ago and thought to give it a try.

Jack Daniel’s is mostly called a bourbon, but it isn’t one. Its a Tennessee whiskey, meaning that the entire process is the same as in bourbon, but its filtered through a thick layer of charcoal before being put in the barrel. This is known as the Lincoln County Process.

Nose:
Its a very strange smell, with all the characteristics of bourbon in the nose, but the cloying sweetness is gone. A little bit thinner and lighter as expected too, which might have the same filter as a cause. There is still a lot of corn, spices and a hint of tobacco.

Taste:
The same goes for the taste. Same profile, with the thickness removed from it. I get brown sugar, some spices again, but it all is very very smooth and easy drinking.

Finish:
Here things start to get weird. I finally get that typical Jack Daniel’s taste (which I don’t like) but there is more going on. The Jack Daniel’s taste I usually associate with garbage bags and burnt rubber. The good things are cinnamon and candied apple.

At first I was rather enthousiastic about this whiskey, right up until I swallowed a sip and that finish kicked in. While the overall picture is a lot better than JD’s #7, and I kind of liked the nose and the taste, I don’t really want to go back to this…

Jack Daniel’s Silver Select, 50%, about 50 euros at De Whiskykoning.

Nose: 7
Taste: 7
Finish: 2
Overall experience: 4
Price/quality: -1

Total: 19 points

Danny Boy is an Irish blended whiskey, produced by Cooley, which is one of the few independent disitllers in Ireland. Apparently it has been a hit in the United States and now trying to conquer Europe. There is not too much info about it. I only tasted it because a friend (who’s name is Danny) gave me a sample to try.

Nose:
A very nice combination of light scents of cereal, honey, vanilla and coconut. Although the smells are very light, to combination gives  a very warming and full aroma.

Taste:
Slightly more peppery than the nose with some sweetness to it. I didn’t expect this from an Irish blend, for some reason. The same profile is displayed as was on the nose. Vanilla, coconut, honey sweetness.

Finish:
This is more typical Irish, similar tastes as I found in Green Spot. Is that the age showing? The cereal notes become a little bit dusty.

This is a very good blend. I haven’t tried many affordable blends over the last couple of years, but this is one that deserves to be tasted, and I can’t imagine people disliking it with a passion. The flavours are all very smooth and gentle. The nose and the taste are best, since the finish turns a bit spirity and dusty. But this is a young blend, so don’t expect stellar results…

Danny Boy, Cooley Irish Blended Whiskey, 40%, 25 euros at The Whisky Exchange.

Nose: 8
Taste: 8
Finish: 6
Overal experience: 9
Price/quality: +2

Total: 33 points

Teaninich, again a rather unknown Highland whisky that usually spends its life in a variety of blends. Every now and then its bottled as a Single Malt, usually by an indipendent bottler. Diageo does not often bottle this under their own label, apart from a Flora & Fauna edition and last year’s Manager’s Choice.

Nose:
Quite spirity with a bit of a young smell to it. Its more salty than sweet with quite a lot of malt. There is also a dusty feel to it. Some ginger too.

Taste:
Spicy with quite a fierce alcohol burn in it. Not dry, however, which surprises me. Later you get some fruit like melon. This is a very slow starter but it does get a bit better if its been in the glass for a good fifteen minutes.

Finish:
The finish is actually a step back from the taste. Back to the spirity character with a lot of cereal. Its also very short.

A whisky that needs a few more years in a cask before it really starts to shine. This one is a bit of a let down. Of course, not everything you drink can be a terrific dram, although I keep trying.

Teaninich 10, 14-12-1998-15-06-2009, Gordon & MacPhail Reserve selected by Van Wees, 58.4%, Samples available at Pats Wine & Whisky. About 45 euros.

Nose: 4
Taste: 5
Finish: 4
Overal experience: 5
Price/quality:  0

Total: 18 points

Glenesk, another one of the many that closed during the 80s of last century. Its also known as Hillside distillery, which is the name Diageo used on some of their Rare Malts. During its history is has also been known as Highland Esk Distillery, North Esk Distillery and Monstrose Distillery.

Nose:
The other Glenesks I’ve had were bourbon cask matured, but this one is from a sherry butt, which means the nose is totally different from what I know by these guys. Salty sherry, nutty with some fruit. I also picked up cucumber. A combination of sweet and savory which I am usually not too fond of. Also some marispan.

Taste:
The taste is very spicy with lots of pepper and salt. Also some fruitiness here, but it cannot beat the savory taste in any way.

Finish:
Now you get more into the typical realm of sherry casks with a sweet finish. Some woodiness and a bit of fruit. In the end a short revival of bitter chocolate.

A pretty nice whisky with a lot of strange combinations in flavours and smells. Usually I am not too fond of these sweet and savory things, but in this case it works out pretty ok. Quite nice, but not great.

Glenesk 24 – 1983-2008 – 52.1% – Duncan Taylor Rare Auld – 112 euros at Jurgen’s Whiskyhuis and samples available from Pats Wine & Whisky.

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

Total: 32 points

Yesterday the third Twitter Tasting of Inver House Distillers was held. This time, anCnoc whiskies were put to the test. The guys from Alambic Communications / Edinburgh Whisky Blog mailed around some samples to all participants and while not all of them arrived in time, some of the participants were ill, the tasting was a success in my opinion.

anCnoc 12, 40%
The nose of the anCnoc 12 starts of with heaps of yellow fruit, a bit of straw and some maltiness as well. Dried apples stand out the most to me, although others were raving on about peach. I got the peach on the palate instead of in the nose. After a while it gets much dryer in your mouth with some grassiness. The finish gives a little bit of vanilla and lemon before fading.

anCnoc 12, 40%, available at Master of Malt for about 30 euros.

anCnoc 16, 46%
The 16 year old starts of with a lot of custard in the nose. After stepping awar for a minute and nosing it again theres buttered toast. The taste is more complex with some woody spices like nutmeg. Also quite a lot of pepper. On the finish the spicyness continues but its a little bit less dry than the 12 year old.

anCnoc 16, 46%, available at Master of Malt for about 50 euros.

anCnoc Vintage 1996, 46%
As my friend Gal put it: A slap in the face. There is ever so slight a rubbery note. But most of the smell is peanut butter, cashew nuts. Also some nutmeg and clove. Very different from the previous two drams. The mouthfeel starts of oily but turns dry after a few seconds. It reminds me of pretzel M&Ms, since there is some saltiness as well. The taste makes me think of some of the old racked warehouses where the earthen floor has soaked up gallons of whisky from leaky casks. After smelling it again a few minutes later it gets a typical sweet maple syrup and bacon smell.

anCnoc Vintage 1996, 46%. Not available yet.

Mosstowie is a rather unknown ‘distillery’. I quote-unquoted that, since its not really a distillery, its more a brand. Mosstowie was the spirit distilled in Miltonduff’s Lomond Stills. Nowadays, Miltonduff creates only pot still whisky since the Lomond Still were removed in 1981. Until last year, spirit distilled in a Lomond Still could still be named Single Malt whisky, but the SWA (Scotch Whisky Association) had that changed, to much unhappiness from the people at Loch Lomond.

Nose:
A bit salty with some licorice, wet grass and leaves on the forest floor in autumn. A bit musty, damp and earthy I mean by that. There is also a bit of American oak in there, but rather old casks I guess. Quite sharp.

Taste:
The taste was a big surprise for me with full vanilla and coconut, dark chocolate, while still being light and grassy. Highly unusual to me.

Finish:
The flavours of a good bourbon cask are apparent with vanilla, some lemon and a little less coconut than in the taste. There is also some spicyness in there. Cinnamon maybe.

Its a bit of an odd one, this Mosstowie. I expected the saltiness since I encountered that before in Mosstowie. The rest of the flavours are mainly created by the cask influencing the whisky inside. The grassiness was a nice contrast to the chocolate and vanilla flavours. There is just this strange balance between the smells of the whisky and the taste of it. Not that either of those is bad, but you just don’t expect this taste after nosing it.

Mosstowie 32, 1975-2008, 48.5%, Duncan Taylor Rarest of the Rare. Samples are available at Pats Wine and Whisky in Groningen.

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

Total: 32 points

Banff is a Speyside distillery that has been closed since 1983. I never tried one of their whiskies before, and I am trying to taste something from most distilleries that have been operational since World War 2. I know this is rather impossible, since Malt Mill was active until 1962 and also a distillery like Kininvie seems to be quite hard to get a dram from!

Banff is no longer operational and all buildings have been demolished or have burnt down. During the war it was used as an air force base for the RAF and bombed by a Junker bomber. Major renovations were started in 1946 in order to restart production at the distillery but it was finally closed in 1983.

Nose:
The smell give a sense of age right after putting your nose in the glass. However, there is not too much wood influence. At first the nose seems a bit thin, watered down, but there is a rather typical smell. The light alcohol tinge disappears quickly and it becomes a bit more sweet.

Taste:
It starts of with a bit of pepper but still quite light and a bit warming. Its a strange combination of flavours and mouthfeel. It comes off as a Lowlands whisky, with a slight grassiness. There is also some cake and a bit of toffee.

Finish:
It starts of with a bit of a bit of a lazy sweetness that takes its time to appear. Yes, it still starts with something that is slow to appear. In the end it turns a little bit more peppery and a little bitter.

This is a strange whisky. It doesn’t resemble anything I have tasted before and I am not sure where to find a similar taste or profile. Is that a bad thing? I don’t know. There are some things that I like, but I am not really thrilled. Its a nice dram, though.

Banff 29, 1976-2005, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice, 40%, about 110 euros, but cheap 1cl samples are available at Pat’s Wine and Whisky in Groningen.

Nose: 7
Taste: 7
Finish: 6
Overal experience: 7
Price/quality: 0

Total: 27 points