Aberlour 10, 2010-2021, Marsala Finish, 46% – Hart Brothers

Posted on 22 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

As stated last week, Aberlour isn’t exactly on my radar. Mostly because, apart from the rocket fuel that is A’Bunadh, I don’t really care for most of the official releases. A bit too smooth, a bit too sweet, a bit too generic. Of course, there are some amazing single cask releases from the distillery’s ‘Bottle your Own’ program, or whatever it’s called there.

Which reminds me, I should review my bottle at some point. Not very punctual, since I bought it in 2013, but not less good because of it.

Image from Whiskybase

Anyway, this one popped up in a ‘recent’ tasting by De Whiskykoning. Or, I went through the samples recently, because it was last summer’s seasonal tasting.

So, Bourbon Hogshead matured, but finished in a Marsala Hogshead. An interesting take, but Hart Brothers seems to be on a finishing streak, over the last couple of years. A lot of their releases have some kind of secondary maturation. Generally I’m not a huge fan of the practice, but I’ve had some awesome surprises over the years. Let’s see where this one ends up!

Sniff:
Young on the nose, even younger than the 10 years it states. I bet the bourbon cask wasn’t a first fill one. I get a note of paint stripper and petrol. Slightly nutty with a chemical sweetness. With a bit of time in the glass it does get better, a bit richer with oak, vanilla and candied orange. Brown sugar and old oak.

Sip:
The palate is smooth with a slightly dry nuttiness. There’s a note of orange peel, dry oak and brazil nut. Cashews and honey too.

Swallow:
The finish is surprisingly sweet after the nose and palate. Luckily there’s enough oak and nuts to keep it a little bit in check. Orange peel again.

Yeah. Well. This ain’t it. The Marsala brings a nice nuttiness, and keeps the sweetness in check, but there are so many weird notes on the palate that don’t suit the whisky, that it just doesn’t work for me.

80/100

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Glen Scotia 17, 1977-1994, 57.5% – Cadenhead Authentic Collection

Posted on 20 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Unless things go horribly awry, I’ll be in Campbeltown in 9 days. Contrary to what you might expect we’re not visiting any distilleries, since time is ridiculously limited and we’re already visiting Watt Whisky. Of course, we’re visiting some shops to gawk at bottles we can’t reliably take across the North Sea due to Brexit being ridiculous.

Anyway, the main part of the trip is to Arran, where we are for the rest of the week. Climbing Goatfell, some other hikes, visiting the Isle of Arran distillery, stuff like that, is planned.

Nonetheless, I wanted to drink some things that get me in the mood of walking around Campbeltown and seeing all kinds of places that used to be distilleries. Of course, with there being nothing left from that era, we are upping the vintage significantly. Although, this whisky still was made some four years before I was born.

Image from Masterquill

I managed to get a sample of this at De Whiskykoning, and decided to try it on a quiet moment yesterday evening. I didn’t intend to drink all 5cls of it, but with things as they are, I didn’t stick to my intentions. Mostly because I find this a truly kick-ass whisky. Let’s find out why.

Sniff:
Wholemeal bread, apple skins, charcoal dust, old white oak. A light note of vanilla cream and a whiff of cheddar. Dried apple too.

Sip:
A bit sweeter before the raging dryness comes in. Oak shavings and sawdust. A mountain of black pepper. Hessian, marram grass, charcoal, dried apple peels. A touch of vanilla in the background.

Swallow:
Again, slightly sweet with pepper and vanilla. Less oak and a sudden green note.

Generally, I’m not always sure about older vintages Glen Scotia. I know they had the setup and skills to make awesome stuff, but what was actually put into a bottle down the line generally didn’t cut it. Of course, with this being from an independent bottler, things are different. And how!

It’s a very light whisky, with all tasting notes being what they are. What lifts this one up is how strong all the flavors are, and the strong note of charcoal that comes with it. It makes for a rather unique dram, even though it is kind-of true to the distillery character. Utterly interesting, and highly enjoyable. Great stuff!

89/100

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Aberlour 21, 1999-2020, 1st Fill American Oak Barrel 3856, 51.2% – OB for Poland

Posted on 18 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

This bottle is a bottling for the Polish market, selected by La Maison du Whisky, and bought by Jack Tar Holding. Obviously, I didn’t put that in the title, because it would be a three line heading.

Anyway, this sample came from the same bunch as the three great Caroni I reviewed recently, also by Jack Tar. There have been other whisky releases but I haven’t seen these online, except when checking the Jack Tar website itself. Apparently there was a set of Japanese whiskies, and a 1995 Glenlivet.

Anyway, Aberlour. A bit of a strange whisky if you ask me. There have been some real crackers from their distillery own bottlings, but they are mostly known for the two extremes that they put out on a regular basis. A very gentle and easy-going normal range, and their rocket fuel style A’bunadh series on the other end.

Image from Jack Tar

I hope (well, hoped, I’ve already tried it) this one sits somewhere in the middle!

Sniff:
Lots of gentle oak, a bit of a lemony freshness. Apple pie with lots of baked apple, crusty dough, some cinnamon. Strudel, with a bit of that weak custard that comes with it. Some mossy twigs. Wild peaches, after some time.

Sip:
The palate is quite stacked with black pepper. There’s dry oak and apple strudel. Leafy greens like ferns, some hints of moss too. Baked apple, cinnamon, brown sugar. Syrupy, and more and more spicy.

Swallow:
The finish brings quite some old oak, woth a hint of pepper too. Slightly earthy, pastry with some lemon freshness, ferns.

I remembered that Ruben also tried it and found this a very good one as well. He found lots of waxy notes, but to my they were more syrupy. Interesting how similar whiskies can be interpreted differently, but with very similar results.

In short, I find this a very, very good Aberlour. The combination of the sweeter apple pie notes, combined with the more crisp and green notes of ferns and moss really works well.

The best Aberlour I’ve had to date.

Highly recommended, and still available in the secondary market for some € 350

90/100

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Glen Spey 12, 43% – Flora & Fauna

Posted on 17 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Image from Whiskybase

The Flora & Fauna series is a long running series by Diageo, with a lot of their distilleries represented, all which don’t get to see the light of day as single malts all that often. It’s mostly based around their not-Classic Malts, with a big representation of whiskies that normally end up in blended whiskies.

Glen Spey is no exception to that with, according to Whiskybase, there only being a little over 300 known bottlings ever. For a distillery that has been around for almost 150 years, that’s a very small amount.

The current batch of Flora & Fauna releases, which came out last year, consists of eleven different distilleries: Mannochmore, Glenlossie, Inchgower, Teaninich, Linkwood, Glen Spey, Auchroisk, Blair Athol, Strathmill, Dailuaine and Benrinnes. Apart from some special releases, none of these have a regular version available. Mortlach used to be part of the series too, but with the rebranding to the ridiculously overpriced half liter bottles some years ago, they stopped adding that one to the series.

Of course, only trying one of the range doesn’t give an impression of Flora & Fauna, but we can always assess a whisky based on its merits. Let’s see what’s what.

Sniff:
Lots of barley with vanilla and lemon. Some oatmeal porridge, grist and wet malt.

Sip:
The palate shows a light touch of black and white pepper. Lots of barley and oatmeal again. Grain husks and grist both. It’s quite dry with some vanilla and a light nuttiness.

Swallow:
The finish is a bit more sweet with a touch of honey. Still mostly barley focused, baked apple and old lemon, and porridge. It’s gone quite quickly.

This whisky is okay. It’s far from spectacular, and mostly interesting because you don’t get to try many Glen Spey otherwise. I get why this is used in blended whiskies, with it’s quintessential malt whisky flavors of barley and some vanilla. Otherwise, it is quite boring.

82/100

Quite readily available between € 46 in Germany and up to € 65 in The Netherlands.

Honestly, at both ends of the price range, I think you can do better.

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Speyside Distillery, 1997-2018, Bourbon Hogshead, 47.8% – Malts of Scotland

Posted on 16 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

Speyside as a distillery is generally a fairly nondescript thing. It exists, but you don’t see it all that often, and since it is also a region, I generally have to look thrice to actually remember whether it is an undisclosed distillery, or from the distillery with the same name. From a marketing perspective, I can imagine this being a bit of a disaster.

However, a little while ago during one of the #StayTheFuckHome tastings I hosted, several people started talking about this bottling for some reason. It came quite highly recommended by several folks in the tasting, nad RvB ordered himself a bottle based on the description (or had a bottle) and decided to bottle-share it.

Image from Whiskybase

I got myself a sample and to my own surprise I actually already tasted it. Generally, these samples end up on a shelf and get more-or-less forgotten until I’m grabbing some things for a holiday or so.

Let’s see what everyone is on about!

Sniff:
Warm vanilla, pie crust, baked apple and a whiff of acidity like dried pineapple. A few minutes later, it’s mostly vanilla and pastry sweetness that remains. A whiff of straw too.

Sip:
A gentle arrival, with straw and barley. Some white pepper, some oak. There’s dried apple, apple peels. Dried pineapple, icing sugar, barley sugar.

Swallow:
The finish is a little bit more dry than before. More oak, and the dryness of dried apples. Not so much sweetness.

First of all, this is far from a bad whisky. There’s nothing to not-love, but I also have to admit I don’t see the appeal as much as the guys discussing it during the tasting. I see 90 and 89 point ratings from them, but I don’t get that high.

The dried pineapple notes are very nice, but apart from that I consider it to be a little bit too generic for a higher rating.

87/100

Still available in Germany for € 100

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Eye Land Pork 21, 1998-2019, Refill Hogshead, 48.3% – The Whisky Jury

Posted on 15 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer
Image from Whiskybase

Another one of those recent bottlers that keeps being ridiculously popular. So much so that when it becoems available in The Netherlands it’s through those more ‘exclusive’ websites that keep the middle ground between retailers and secondary market. The looks of a retailer, the prices of the secondary market. But, when you want to try something and these guys are your only option, sometimes they come in very handy.

It’s obviously not very hard to guess the origins of a whisky called ‘Eye Land Pork’, even less so when the cask number is ‘twj-ork-01’, or the first The Whisky Jury bottling from Orkney.

I got myself a bunch of samples a while ago and have tasted them. Not only this Highland Park, but also several Ben Nevises (Ben Nevii?) and some of the Secret Speysiders that were very well received last year. More on that in the near future.

Sniff:
A very Highlands-y combination of scents. Austere notes of slate, iron and basalt. A slightly funky addition of hessian and damp attics. Behind all of this there are more green notes of ferns and apples. Some vanilla too.

Sip:
The palate is surprisingly consistent with the nose, but does add some more oak than there was before. Some pepper for a bit of bite, but not too much. The ABV isn’t too high, of course. Hessian, iron, copper polish. Slightly earthy, which isn’t too surprising with the whiff of smoke on Highland Park whiskies.

Swallow:
The finish is, again, consistent with the nose and the palate. A little bit more sweet than before, I think. There’s a little bit of a more coarse, earhty note on the finish, with a hint of heather.

This is a rather classical version of Highland Park, and it just so happens that I very much like classical versions of Highland Park. One might say I’m a fan of the style. So, yes, I do like this whisky very much and wouldn’t mind having a bottle at all.

I went for a very similar bottling by Sansibar, in a recent auction. I even ‘won’ it, but the DHL delivery guy decided he wanted it for himself instead of neatly handing it over.

Anyway, great stuff! Very enjoyable and typical of what you’d expect from the distillery. All good things!

88/100

Still available at Whiskay for € 185

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Dailuaine 12, 2007, Bourbon Barrel 41.128, 58.4% – SMWS (Perverse Pineapples)

Posted on 11 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

So, I got a sample of this one based on the positive reviews it was getting on Whiskybase, by some of the people who were offering samples in my wee bottle-share group. Something-something pineapples also helped, since that’s something I really love.

Other factors that got me enthusiastic: Dailuaine, 1st fill bourbon cask, it not being too expensive. Stuff like that.

Of course, with SMWS you don’t really know what you’re getting. I find their outturn a bit erratic at best. At least, what I get to try of it, and I admit that that isn’t much. I used to be a member until the end of 2015, when whisky got so rampant and readily available that I found the entire concept of paying to be able to buy bottles utterly ridiculous.

Image from Whiskybase

For the last couple of years, SMWS have been trying to get a better foothold in The Netherlands, with Bob Wenting being an ambassador for the brand, and their generally being a lot more social media presence. When Covid hit they also started doing online tastings. But again, and to my surprise, only for members. So much for trying to get new people in. If you want me to join a tasting that already costs some € 30-odd, I’m not being for a membership too. What I expected, and am still surprised by the difference in approach, is that those tastings would happen to get more people to join the club. To sell memberships.

Anyway, back to the whisky at hand. Dailuaine. Generally a whisky that is used by Diageo for their blends, mostly in various expressions of Johnnie Walker, if I’m not mistaken. In my experience the whisky is of a rather heavy character, with a large variety of casks used. Therefore, it’s always a bit of a surprise what you’re going to get. Not unlike a box of chocolates.

Sniff:
Rich, with massive richness. Lots of vanilla, cookie dough, but a lot of spirity notes too. Barley, copper, notes of gin.

Sip:
Fairly neutral, spirity, hints of new make and oak. Not very mature at all. Some raw pastry dough, with barley, straw.

Swallow:
A sudden hints of cassis, blackberry muffins.

I have no idea what this whisky is trying to. Only with the suggestion of pineapples I can find some, but then not the fresh type. Just dried chunks, with the sugary dusting as well. Mostly, it’s just barley juice with alcohol, in my opinion. In short, I’m not a fan. Didn’t even finish my glass.

80/100

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Secret Islay 10, 2011-2021, Port Barrique, 53.3% – Michiel Wigman ‘East meets West’

Posted on 10 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

As it turns out, this is not the first Secret Islay I review this week. It is not even the first Secret Islay at exactly 53.3% ABV I review this week! Not that I review that much, but merely a funny coincidence.

Anyway, apart from the more consistent ‘They Inspired‘ series, Michiel Wigman is also bottling several other things. There was a Prometheus, a bottling to remember Operation Market Garden, non-whisky things in the ‘Precious Moments’ series, and now this East meets West bottling, which was released together with The Malt Affair from Singapore.

Once again, there is no indication to what distillery produced this whisky, but in the grand scheme of things, this sort of bottling is quite singular anyway. As in, it won’t really match any distillery’s style.

Let’s just find out what it’s all about!

Image from Whiskybase

Sniff:
A combination of Tawny port and a gentle smokiness. Older Tawny in style, with more oak influence than its younger, more fruity and familiar style. Coastal smoke with some salinity and dried seaweed. Earthy peat too.

Sip:
The palate has a rather typical Islay arrival. Quite some peppery bite, smoky peat, barley and a bit of oak. The Port is like a slightly fruity, but quite sweet and syrupy flavor chasing the whisky. They’re both present, but not really ‘together’.

However, since the Port doesn’t just appear every now and then I do find this quite interesting.

Swallow:
The finish initially leaves the port behind a little bit. It focuses more on barley, oak, smoke. Whisky flavors. Spirit flavors. There’s a touch of sweetness, but it’s not overpowering.

While the Port does make the whisky lose a bit of distillery character, and therefore makes the whisky a bit more generic, it leaves enough character to make this very much an Islay whisky. Quite a good one at that.

Much like this week’s Wu Dram Clan Secret Islay, it’s a very decent bottling, but I’m still having trouble matching the whisky, its age and its price tag.

87/100

Available for € 139 through Dutch Whisky Connection.

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Caperdonich 17 ‘Dunes An Oir’, 1996-2013, Bourbon Hogshead 13025, 58.6% – Malts of Scotland for Van Zuylen

Posted on 8 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

While this just might be the last bottle of ‘Caper’, it unfortunately is not one of the legendary 1972 vintages. For quite a long time the nineties bottlings of Caperdonicht weren’t overly popular, but with popularity soaring and stocks dwindling, newish bottlings have ramped up to hundreds of Europe too.

This particular one is still available in some semi-secondary markets. Originally this was released by Van Zuylen, a Dutch shop near The Hague. Currently some shops in Denmark, Germany and the United Kingdom still have bottles available.

Anyway, I got a bottle second hand too, shared most of it and finished the last glass of it this weekend. A very late review, with it being open for a year or so there might be some effect of oxygen on it. I doubt it, since a year isn’t that long for a bottle of Scotch.

Sniff:
Massively rich oak, some vanilla, mango and other tropical fruits. Mulchy oak, pound cake, multi fruit juice.

Sip:
The palate is a lot stronger, and drier. Lots of barley, grist, oak shavings. Some pound cake, a bit of candied lemon, a tropical sweetness.

Swallow:
The finish is much better than the palate. More complexity with old wood, fruit, spices. Still a tad nondescript.

What a weird dram. A gorgeous nose, and some lovely flavors on the palate and finish too. However, the palate is very sharp, the nose is very fruity and the finish veers towards spiciness. So, while there’s quite a bit to like, it’s very, very inconsistent. It’s like nosing one whisky, tasting another one and having the finish of a third.

Interesting, but if this is what modern (read: available) Caperdonich is about, I’d rather spend two bucks on another kind of caper, and save myself about € 400… I guess the price is warranted by obscurity more than by flavor.

86/100

Secondary market bottles through Whiskybase

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A Secret Islay Distillery 8yo, 2013-2021, PX Hogshead, 53.3% – Wu Dram Clan

Posted on 7 March 2022 by Sjoerd de Haan-Kramer

The new year has only just begun (although a sixth has already passed) and Wu Dram Clan is on a roll again. Two grain whiskies and two single malts, the latter two from Islay. I decided to get a bottle of the ‘Secret Islay’, which is really undisclosed without some hints to the provenance of the booze.

Of course, as with practically everything I’ve bought over the last couple of years, this was a bottle-share which filled up rapidly. That’s nice, because I liked to try the whisky too, without buying a full bottle. It was also a bit surprising, since it’s still an eight year old whisky for more than a hundred bucks.

Personally, I like to keep trying young Islay whiskies every once in a while, although I’m not a huge fan. Generally, not unlike this one, it’s all a bit too young. This one is a bit surprising since it’s already down to 53.3%, which is rather low for the age. The PX sherry cask has something to do with this, I guess.

Sniff:
Lots of salty smoke with hints of barbecue. Some sweet citrus, orange, vanilla, a whiff of iodine too. Charcoal and oak.

Sip:
A bit of heat on the arrival, but not too much. Some oak, charcoal, pithy orange, barbecue like smoke. After a while it’s a little bit sweeter, hints of pastry and fruit. Some chili pepper too.

Swallow:
A warm finish, very similar too the palate. Slightly sweeter, but not overly long. Orange, smoke, a hint of tarry ropes.

I’m a bit on the fence with this one. On one hand it’s nicely not-too-sharp, and the cask influence brings a bit more different flavors than I usually find with such young drams. On the other hand, the typical Islay flavors are a bit subdued by the sherry cask. There’s some smoke, but the other flavors aren’t overly coastal.

Initialy I was planning to give this dram something like 88 points, but after having the rest of my sample, it’s gone down a bit. While you can’t taste the price of a bottle of whisky, I’m having a bit of trouble with the combination of the price tag and the offered flavors.

Of course, that’s not because of the bottler or the shops, it’s just that whisky, and Islay whisky is massively popular, so getting a cask is insanely expensive.

86/100

Available for € 120 at Passie voor Whisky

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