This whisky, which is technically undisclosed and named as ‘From the northernmost distillery on Islay’ is, of course, a Bunnahabhain. The entire fact that it’s from the late eighties and unpeated made that clear without any further thought.
I got sent the sample last week by Nils Reinaerts, who has been a member since forever. I joined the club for a little while back when I moved to Krommenie. However, with Haarlem being relative close (except when trying to get there without a car) I cancelled my membership after two years of not joining any activities.
Anyway, late eighties Bunnahabhain, from a first fill sherry cask should be good, right? I’ve had a few in the past that were well worth their money. Of course, that money has increased over the years and this bottle now sets you back € 215. Compared to some other releases that’s not too bad, but it’s not exactly cheap either.
Oh, on a side note, the low ABV of 42% is still cask strength. It must have been some porous staves in that cask.
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff: It starts with a good combination of cask and grain. Quite a lot of barley, straw but also some fruit. Old, drying oranges, apricot. The sherry adds some spices too, I’m getting clove and cinnamon.
Sip: The palate is rather dry with a lot of fruit and grain again. Quite some oak, more than on the nose. Soft oak notes, with some complexity from the sherry. Dried apricots, nuts and baking spices. Slightly earthy later on.
Swallow: The finish is suddenly a lot more fruity, with grainy notes in the form a rather not-sweet pound cake. Slightly buttery, with a earthy and salty note.
Well, this is quite cracker. It’s exactly what you hope Bunnahabhain from this age to be. Fruity and slightly dry, with a good balance between really good spirit, and a, luckily, not too active cask.
I like the fruity notes that aren’t too prominent, and not too sweet. The barley is still prominent. A very, very good pick!
Last Friday I participated in the first virtual tasting for Adelphi and Whisky Import Nederland. The tasting was hosted by the Dutch importer and joined by Alex Bruce and Connal Mackenzie from Adelphi.
We tried five different drams, four ‘whiskies’ and one armagnac. Whiskies is between quotes since one of them was technically still a spirit, at just two years old.
Let’s do tasting notes first!
The Glover, 5th batch, 4yo, 54.7%
We started with the most recent batch of The Glover. This whisky is only four years old and consists of two casks of 6 year old Chichibu, and two casks of 4 year old Ardnamurchan. One of the Ardnamurchan casks is peated, so a whiff of smoke is bound to be there.
Sniff: Lots of dry grain, with notes of barley. Pretty light with hints of oak, straw. Dried apple, apple peels, pear peels. Sponge cake too.
Sip: At first it is quite smooth and gentle, but it builds with some heat from the alcohol. Hints of apple, pear, straw, barley and oak. Slightly coastal with a touch of salinity.
Swallow: The finish shows a bit more of the spirit, without neglecting the few years in oak it had. Warming and smooth, with a touch of vanilla.
Throughout it is the tiniest whisp of smoke. Supposedly there’s a lot of lemon and citrus in there, but I can’t find it. Maybe some lemon pith on the palate.
Not overly complex, but it tastes much more mature than expected from a four year old. The biggest problem this whisky has is that it costs € 170. Technically you can’t taste price, but for a five year old, it’s ridiculous.
86/100
Ardnamurchan 2017-2019, 2yo, 1st Fill Sherry casks, 57.4%
One of the Ardnamurchan releases Adelphi has been doing for the last few years. It’s very young but does contain some actual whisky. The cask make-up is quite complex, but they’re trying to blend towards something that’s like their aimed-for product.
Sniff: Smooth spirit, with lots of sherry cask influence. Lots of dried fruits, some baking spices. Very cakey, Christmas cake, raisings, angelfood. More earthy than smoky. Slightly meaty like cured ham.
Sip: The peat is much more clear on the palate, as well as the youth and the sharpness. Still quite a lot of sherry with dried fruit. Plums, dates, raisins. A slight bitterness like raisin twigs, date stones. That meaty note is here too, hammy.
Swallow: The finish shows a bit too much sherry, with loads of dried fruit. Luckily, a few seconds later the smoke, earth and feinty spirit. Some charcoal, even.
While this is very young, once again the casks make themselves known and it tastes much more mature than just two years old. Going by this sample, Ardnamurchan is a distillery to keep an eye on when their first official release will be coming out later this year!
86/100
Bas Armagnac France 1994- Scotland 2020, 25yo, 55.1%, AM1/20
Sniff: Not even too typical for a fruit distillate. Lots of wood, with some fruits. Quite rich on the floral side. Certainly some glue. Some mint, later on.
Sip: The palate is very gentle, after the Ardnamurchan, with lots of dry, old oak. The glue comes through next, with hints of perfume. Creme Brulee, for a bit. After a while the fruity spirit starts coming through. Fermenting grapes.
Swallow: The finish is much more typical for Armagnac with lots of fruit, fruit spirit, fermenting grapes, and quite some glue.
The one non-whisky in the tasting. It’s a bit of a strange armagnac. As in, it’s quite gentle compared to the whiskies surrounding it, but it didn’t taste like most 25 year old armagnacs I’ve had. There certainly quite a lot of wood influence but it’s not as dominant as I expected.
It’s rather complex with lots of directions it goes in, but in the end I found the glue notes and rather heavy pot-pourri a bit too much for me. Once again, this comes in at the very high price of € 190. I’m not entirely sure how that is justified. In France, even older armagnacs like this are a lot cheaper.
85/100
Linkwood 2008-2020, 11yo, First Fill Oloroso Hogshead, 54.7%
Sniff: You have to fork bits of this into your nose, that is how massive and solid this is. Beef and marinade, with candied orange, walnuts, dates and plums and raisins. Super rich.
Sip: The palate starts of with chili peppers and lots of oak. Lots of dried dark fruits with heaps of ‘sea banquet’, milk chocolate and mocha.
Swallow: The finish is quite hot, with a decent afterburner. Meat and marinade, with certain umami notes.
There’s no balance to this. It’s interesting for sherry heads, but there’s no Linkwood left over. There’s no spirit, no ‘beeriness’, which I normally associate with Linkwood. It’s one of those whiskies that I’d initially rate highly, but would get bored with quite quickly.
87/100
Caol Ila 2007-2020, 13yo, First Fill Oloroso Hogshead, 50.8%
Sniff: The barbecue-y style of Caol Ila! Not for everyone, but I like it. Diesel smoke, soot, charcoal. Some iodine smokiness, kippers, umami.
Sip: Cigars, bbq pork belly, charring marinade, hot and cold at the same time.
Swallow: The finish suddenly shows leather and diesel smoke, with lots of furniture polish and charry pork.
As with the Linkwood, there’s not much balance here, but I think Caol Ila can handle that much better. The solid sooty smokiness fights back a little bit and shows the style of the distillery at least a little bit, through the sherry that has almost overtaken the entire dram.
This is quite a good and enjoyable dram, and a solid end to the evening!
87/100
I was especially impressed by the Ardnamurchan. In style I think it goes a bit towards what Benromach is doing, and I love that distillery. This is very promising for future releases. The Glover was rather impressive too, for just five years old.
However, reviewing this tasting, a few nights after it has happened leaves me with some strange impressions. First of all, the event itself was pretty awesome, with lots of fun anecdotes and stories by the Adelphi guys.
It wasn’t as interactive as I’d hoped, but with 50 people in a Zoom call, that might be impossible without it turning into a shouting match.
Then there’s the price of the bottles. Adelphi has always sat at a slightly higher price point than its competitors, but that always translated into better whisky. It was worth it. I think now, the prices have increased more rapidly than they should have, and I don’t think the quality level has risen with it.
It’s all nice and dandy to have a very solid five year old blended malt whisky in your inventory, but that should never cost € 170. I don’t even think it should cost half that. The same goes for the Armagnac.
The level of quality doesn’t match the price, which once again proves that tasting before buying is a very clever thing to do. Apparently I’m a deviant in thinking this since all bottles had sold out before the tasting even started.
As with practically any 1996 Ben Nevis, and any WhiskyNerds bottling, you’re in for a treat. Now when these two forces combine, expectations get incredibly high.
I recently received this samples from Floris and Bram, the WhiskyNerds themselves, and I was able to secure a bottle with a little bit of help from ‘De Whiskykoning‘. Quite a few of them are sold through ballots, since there are only 75 bottles of this stuff, and at least ten times as many people want it.
My bottle has been shared and it took all of five minutes to fill up, so there’s no more where that came from either.
As far as I know, this is from the same batch as the recently released The Whisky Agency bottling (not reviewed yet, but had I a drop and it’s gorgeous). Strangely, those 75 bottles are either a split cask, or it happens to be a cask that was rather leaky. With the ABV being only 46.1% the last bit would not be impossible.
Of course, I asked this question (two minutes ago) and the answer is yes on the split cask. However, even to the WhiskyNerds it is as of yet unknown who owns the rest. Keep your eyes out for cask 954 from 1996, if you want…
Before diving into this sample, my hope is that it’s more fruity than the Whisky-Doris sherry cask, since there the cask had a bit too much influence compared to the normally fruity spirit. That one was very, very good too, but I prefer bourbon casks.
Sniff: It’s quite spirit driven, but the cask has added notes of straw and white oak. It’s quite dry, but has notes of dried apple peels, apple cores and grape twigs. There are quite some hints of things visible around the distillery: moss, slate, heather. After a while it gets slightly sweeter (but still, this is not a sweet whisky) with hints of white grapes, and some floral notes.
Sip: The palate is, not unexpected, very gentle. Some tingling hints of black pepper, but further there’s oak and heather. Apples, pears, grapes, and straw. The floral notes and the minerals are more subdued here. After a while the black pepper starts building a bit more. A whiff of mint and star fruit when I let it sit for a few minutes.
Swallow: The finish is a bit more fruity and a bit richer. More hints of oak and straw, with dried apple and heather again. I am getting moss and dried flowers too. Apples, unripe pears, fresh leaves.
It’s a very different whisky to what I was expecting. Much more gentle, and more ‘Fort William’-like, and not as fruity as I would have guessed. That is absolutely not a bad thing, since it is a very classical whisky with lots of gentle, old fashioned flavors.
It is absolutely a winner, but one to start a night with, instead of one to end it with. The spirit is king in this whisky and after a few other drams I would guess this is too gentle to stand-up, or at least it doesn’t shine to its fullest.
An awesome pick, and I’ll gladly go through more of this, with my part of the bottle-share!
91/100
Ben Nevis 1996-2020, 23yo, Bourbon Hogshead 954, 46.1%.
A sample was kindly sent to my by the WhiskyNerds. The bottles never hit the shelf, since they sold out instantly. It used to clock in at € 200.
Yesterday I was out on the hunt for a new car. This has nothing to do with whisky except that I got near Rotterdam and picked up some bottles from Whiskybase. After that I drove to Den Bosch to visit Whiskyslijterij De Koning for another pair of bottles and quite some samples, for two online tastings. That still has nothing to do with what I want to write about here.
What it triggered, however, was that I finally had some time to myself, and after about half an hour you find the peace and quiet to do some thinking. Go where the mind takes you, so to say. Without trying to sound too ‘new age’, here’s where my mind took me:
This blogging thing is confusing my priorities in whisky.
Yet more bottle-shares…
Why?
Because if I would want my blog to be more relevant, I have to blog about whiskies that are relevant. And that generally means new stuff, or ridiculously old stuff. Generally, I do the bit in the middle.
However, if I want to blog about new stuff, I find that I would have to review samples right away. Right when they come in, preferably very soon after they’re released. With the commercial samples that I sometimes get, that’s not a problem since they’re generally about 2 to 5 centiliters and easy to finish in one sitting.
But, with all these weeks at home, no commute and generally not much time spent elsewhere, I’ve come to do (too?) many bottle shares. What I realized is that when I review a sample, even if I have 10 centiliters to go through, the sample loses its value after writing the review.
A few months worth of caps.
This, of course, is a mindset and not an actual issue, but still. I’ve found that oftentimes, after penning down my tasting notes I just drink the rest of the sample like it’s a bottom shelf blend. I still enjoy it a lot, but I don’t cherish it.
The result of this weird mindset of mine is that some reviews I write here actually cost about € 25, when that’s the price of the sample. This is something I should change.
Especially since I don’t generally care about the hits my blog gets too much. I’m not marketing it, and I’m certainly not monetizing it. I started this whole charade from a desire to keep track of what I’m tasting and hopefully protect someone out there from buying shit whisky if I happen to find one.
Of course, this nonsense is fueled by a desire to not have a hundred samples lying around, and actually have some space left in the house for, you know, kids and such. But, I’ve noticed that I sometimes barely remember drinking something amazing, except for when I was writing the tasting notes. Where did the other 7 centiliters of that sample go?
This is a bit of an odd moment to realize this, with about nineteen of my own bottle-shares pending, and yet to be reviewed. Also, there’s a few more coming up in the next month or so. Add to that that I have about 30-ish samples for online whisky tastings to go through, and some 30 or so samples from earlier purchases that just sit there.
The revelation/worry I had about devaluating samples like this was triggered by tonight’s Adelphi / Whisky Import Nederland tasting. I’m in that and I am looking forward to it, but I reserved a set of samples before proplery enquiring about the price.
When I found out the set would be € 70 I was quite shocked, but I considered Adelphi’s premium price bracket and the fact that they’ve got some amazing bottles, I was slightly soothed. Of course, it didn’t turn out to be 30+ year old stuff, but rather younger stuff, with the youngest being 2 years old spirit from their own Ardnamurchan Distillery.
The price was justified by the samples being 5 centiliters. For a tasting. I’m not sure about anyone else, but I will NOT be drinking 25 centiliters of whisky in a tasting. Or any event. (You wouldn’t be, Sjoerd, there 5cl of Armagnac and 5cl of not-yet-whisky in there…)
Thank God I knew a guy who wanted half of the samples so we could split the price. Else I’d be drinking most of these samples in a late night Youtube session where I learn how to build a canoe out of Legos and chewing gum. Or something else you end up watching because of some inexplicable algorithm.
What to do about it? First of all, screw the hits I get on a daily basis. I shouldn’t care about this, since it doesn’t matter for this blog. Second of all, accept that samples are going to take up space. Third, drink the stuff, but appreciate it properly. Take some time away from computers and phones and TVs.
This last one is a bit of a weird one since I also appreciate my booze most when writing about it, and forcing myself to appreciate and assess it properly. Oh, I’m never going to get out of this, am I?
Michiel Wigman, for those of you that don’t know the man, is a very famous Dutch whisky collector. He’s been one of the founders of ‘Dutch Whisky Connection‘ and is lovingly known as ‘Mr. Springbank’ to whisky fanatics across the globe.
If you’ve ever been to a whisky festival in The Netherlands or Germany, you’ve probably seen his stand filled to the brim with the mose fantastic old bottles, varying from a few Euro per centiliter, to sometimes five tenners for a drop of liquid gold.
Every time my and my in-laws go the the Hielander Whisky Festival in Alkmaar, we always agree to ‘end up’ at his stand. However, over the years, ending up has changed from ‘the last half hour’ to at least an hour and a half.
Anyway, it’s safe to say I know to trust the man and his palate. Only one dram of the dozens and dozens I’ve bought from him was disappointing (an Old Guns blend from the 1970s).
One thing changed in early 2020, though: There suddenly were bottlings of casks selected by Michiel Wigman. Of course, I had already spent all my money on random stuff I now don’t even remember, so it had to be a bottle-share. By the time I had arranged that, the ‘Secret Highland’ had sold out and I only got a sizeable share of the Teaninich 19.
I didn’t want to miss out on future releases, so I signed up for the participation programme, and last week two new bottles were delivered: A ‘Secret Speyside’ from 1993, and this 15 year old Croftengea. Peated Loch Lomond, from someone like Michiel Wigman. It’s short to say I was surprised. My experiences with anything from Loch Lomond (except a few Inchmurrins, also bottled by friends) has been quite the let down. Often the spirit is watery without much flavor to it.
And now, the man with, maybe, the palate I respect most, selects a cask from exactly that distillery. Might my prejudice be wrong?
Sniff: The peat is very timid for a 15 year old, heavily peated whisky, with mostly earthy aromas. Briny, dried sea weed, a beach bonfire. There’s a hint of goat’s cheese, some unfamiliar spiciness and star fruit. Rather crisp, with hay and menthol.
Sip: The palate is gentle, and sits just under 50% (my sweet spot, I think). There’s a hint of vanilla, with earthy peat and some coastal flavors behind it. A slightly cheese like flavor again, not unlike pecorino. That sharpness, with quite a lot of salinity. Eel grass, sand. Quite beach-y.
Swallow: The finish is slightly more highland like, with more oak and more fiery peat. Bonfire and a hint of charcoal. Barley ears, white oak and nice, salty smoke.
I didn’t really know what to expect, but I think this is a whisky that tastes a bit more mature than I expected. It’s not unlike 18-ish year old Talisker in style, and since that’s something I quite like, I’m a happy camper.
It’s quite complex, with the combination of coastal style with highland influences (or the other way around). Very enjoyable indeed! And a good pick by Mr. Wigman!
Bladnoch is a troubled whisky, from a troubled distillery. If memory serves it was bound for demolishment when it was sold by Diageo to Raymond Armstrong, who then tried to revive it but had to go through lots of legal hoops with the previous owner. Then it closed down some 15 years later because of personal reasons in the Armstrong family, only to be bought by an Australian investor who planned to use the whisky for blending. Eventually single malts reappeared at eyebrow-raising-prices.
Then the spirit itself. It’s not without its problems. In many ways it’s inconsistent with buttery off-notes, ranging from a strange creaminess to sometimes plain old baby vomit. Other times, the stuff was simply insanely interesting and even very good.
I wanted to do this bottle-share to see where things stand now. I hadn’t had any Bladnoch since the club-bottling-selection for the Usquebaugh Society’s 25th anniversary, over five years ago.
What also triggered me is to find out where it stands in times of ‘technically’ supreme spirit, with no technical flaws, but also no interesting outliers (both positive and negative). Bladnoch is something unique in the world of whisky, and something that should be celebrated. Or at least, that’s what I’m trying to find out.
The four whiskies I got for this bottle share are the following:
Bladnoch 10, Bourbon Cask Edition, Celebrating 200 Years, 46.7%
Bladnoch 12, Sherry Matured, Sheep Label (bottled around 2008?), 55%
Bladnoch 15, 2005-2020, Manzanilla Cask, 51.5%
Bladncoh 27, 1990-2017, Bourbon cask, ALOS, 49.4%
I picked these for because I found the sherry and bourbon casks interesting, and they were available at shops which I consider ‘friendly local bottle shops’, although local means ‘not a big international seller’. Also, the range of ages, the spread between old OB, new OB and an indie added to me liking this share. It’s a nice spread, so to say.
Tasting notes then!
Image from Whiskybase
Bladnoch 10, Bourbon Expression, 46.7%
Sniff: Slightly funky in a creamy, milky way, with notes of puff pastry. Apples, pears, a hint of vanilla. A slightly meaty note as well.
Sip: Quite intense with hints of pepper and oak. Slightly coconutty. Notes of orchard fruits, apples, pears, star fruit. Even though there’s that milky notes, it’s quite crisp, with some leafy herbs.
Swallow: The finish is very similar to the palate, with less creamy notes, replaced with hessian and straw. Still a bit pastry like.
85/100
It’s quite a decent dram, and while it has that slightly strange creaminess that makes Bladnoch stand-out, it doesn’t overdo it. The drawback is that this clocks in at at least € 50, and that’s just too much for what it is.
Sniff: Light with a slightly earthy background. There’s straw and grass, with some dried fruit added by the sherry cask. Dates, apricots, almonds. There’s a whiff of puff pastry and pastry cream. Slightly buttery, which is an interesting, and typical off-note for Bladnoch.
Sip: Very dry and, even though it’s 55%, the arrival isn’t too brutal. It gets a bit hot with the alcohol, but nothing exorbitant. The dryness brings some bitterness too, with almonds and date stones. Fruity, and pastry like, but also slightly buttery and a whiff of weirdness like old books and leather. Strangely, it gets rather blackcurrant like after a while.
Swallow: The finish is less dry, and more fruity. A bit more clean, so to say. The sherry casks make themselves known with lots of fruit, both forest fruits and dried fruit. Some bitterness remains.
87/100
Honestly, I remembered this as being far less interesting, but it’s quite lovely. I might have it mixed up with an eight year old released around the same time (which was atrocious). This one is rather complex and a very enjoyable dram. Quite fierce, but with a nice pay-off in fruits, buts and slightly creamy notes.
It’s currently available for € 100 at some places, and it’s worth that. Especially since it’s pretty old stuff.
Bladnoch 15, 2005-2020, Manzanilla Cask, 51.5%
Sniff: Lots of barley and oak, with sherry behind it. Creamy with apricots, clove and cinnamon. A slight whiff of coastal salinity.
Sip: Quite dry on arrival, with some chili heat. Surprisingly fruity, with apricots, peaches and baking spices. Cinnamon, clove, black pepper.
Swallow: The finish lives up with, again, a great combination of fruit and spices. A hint of salinity goes well with the apricots and peaches, and the black pepper. Not a very long finish though.
87/100
A very recent bottling that only showed up in The Netherlands last week, so distilled by the previous owner, but bottled by the current guys in charge. Again, a nice and fruity dram backed up with some creamy notes, with barley and a hint of oak. The finish was fairly short, which is a bummer.
What is also a bummer is that this stuff sets you back € 170, and as with the 10 years old, that’s just too much. A 15 year old whisky, from a distillery that has yet to make name shouldn’t be this expensive.
Image from Whiskybase
Bladnoch 27, 1990-2017, Bourbon cask, Antique Lions of Spirits, 49.4%
Sniff: Very gentle on the nose with all timids notes. Oak, barley, lemon balm, corky apples, pastry cream. Very light, floral and grassy. Very Lowlands-y.
Sip: Again, very timid and typical Lowlands flavors. Straw, dried meadow flowers, dandelion, buttercups, poppies. Also black pepper, barley ears, dryness.
Swallow: The finish continues on this timid road. Lots of barley and oak, lots of straw, some dried flowers.
87/100
A bit too old and therefore the cask seems to have taken over. What’s interesting is that I don’t find too many of the buttery notes in here.
In a way this whisky covers a lot of Bladnoch, distilled by Owner A, largely matured by Owner B, and then bottled fairly recently, when Owner C was running the place. Of course, it’s bottled by an independent bottler, so that’s not entirely accurate, but still. Never let technicalitiies stand in the way of fun trivia like this.
ALOS is an expensive bottlers, with an insanely high reputation, but as with last week’s Springbank, I’m not convinced yet. Keep in mind that this stuff sets you back some € 225… Solid whisky, don’t get me wrong, but I think there are more enjoyable drinks to be had for significantly less money.
So that’s that. Four rather different Bladnochs, all getting to comparable levels of enjoyment. I didn’t find any that were as shit as some were back in the day. Luckily.
The biggest drawback is the price point at which they come in. I think the changes of ownership haven’t helped in many ways. These kind of shenanigans often push up the price since the seller wants money in the bank and the buyer wants to earn their money back.
Also, even though it might lead to inconsistent results, I would prefer Bladnoch to be more unique and diverse, and unpredictable. There are almost no distilleries left that vary so wildly, and in my book, variations like this indicate an old fashioned distillery, that’s not swayed by modern genericness.
Having said all this, I’ll gladly finish all of these whiskies and thoroughly enjoy them. But after that it might just be another five years before revisiting Bladnoch again. Although, I could always plan a trip to that part of Scotland!
When I saw the price tag on this one I had to check whether there was a typo there. The ‘cheapest’ one clocks in at almost € 450. For a twenty year old Springbank.
The danger of such ridiculously expensive bottles is that you start seeing the € 300 indie bottlings as affordable options…
Anyway, I got a sample of this from whisky buddy Nils at Best of Wines / Best of Whiskies, on a recent order. I also tried it at Hielander Whisky Festival where I actually bought a sample of this, but of course, at a festival you don’t take notes. I’m glad I actually get to review this properly.
This whisky was bottled at 48% and I strongly doubt whether that’s just a higher strength or a cask strength bottling. It matured in a sherry cask, but apart from that there’s not much info.
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff: The not-cask-strength ABV (my guess) makes itself known in the way that this is a fairly timid whisky. There’s a complex nose of the Springbank funkiness, but there’s also some fresh apples and grapes. The sherry adds mostly spices and a touch of bitterness. There are some dates in the background. A whiff of something meaty too.
Sip: The arrival is very gentle, with a hint of dryness but virtually no heat. Quite fruity, with dates and plums, but also stewed apples. A bitter touch from the sherry cask along with baking spices. Clove, cinnamon, black pepper. The dryness increases with time, as does the bitterness. Almonds, plum stones.
Swallow: The finish goes more towards the sherry than the nose made me expect. There’s lots of dried fruit going on, as well as baking spices. A hint of the feinty Springbank spirit, but the sherry cask is getting the overhand.
I feel, especially towards the finish, that the cask got the overhand and trumped the spirit. Which is a shame since anything ‘trump’ isn’t good, and Springbank’s spirit is already kick-ass. A bit of an overactive cask, I think.
Still, this is a cracking drink, but not as good as I hoped it to be. What also doesn’t help is that THIS COSTS € 500! That’s just way too much for what this is.
With all that is happening in the world of whisky, there are fewer and fewer whiskies that truly have a singular character. There’s more and more homogenization happening with bulk bought barley, generic yeast strains, and even (in Diageo’s case) making stills more generic for easy repairs and maintenance.
While all these things have massive benefits for a distillery as a business, it decreases the options for the same distillery to be a truly unique entity in a world of mass produced whisky.
Some distilleries still break that mold in some ways, and I keep realizing that I veer towards these distilleries more and more. I think, and I might be wrong, that Ben Nevis is one of those distilleries.
That doesn’t necessarily mean that everything that comes from the Fort William distillery is good, but at least it’s interesting. It gives you something to think about and investigate, if you so please.
Let’s see if this one, released by German bottler ‘Whisky-Doris’ in 2018, is one of those singular whiskies I hope it to be.
The whisky has matured in sherry butt 1056, and bottled at cask strength the way it should be bottled: without chill filtration or caramel coloring.
Sniff: There sherry is laid on this whisky in a very rich manner. Ben Nevis is already a rich whisky, and the syrupy fruitiness that is added by the cask makes it more so. Apricots and peaches, with some cinnamon and clove added to it. Lots of oak, and while the label doesn’t say it, I wouldn’t be surprised if this matured in European oak.
Sip: The palate is rather gentle on arrival, although there’s a good dollop of cracked black pepper coming through right after. The fruitiness is still there, with syrupy sweetness, peaches, apricots. The oak makes itself known with a bit more dryness than on the nose. Some more spices are coming through too, dryer cinnamon, pepper.
Swallow: The finish is rather gentle, and warming. Lots of stewed stone fruits again. Baked peaches, dry oak. Lesser notes of cracked black pepper again.
This is a really solid dram. Even though the Ben Nevis character of its traditional slight funkiness and notes of old book cases and hessian got pushed back a little bit. The spirit carries the cask really well, and I would have been even more thrilled if it was the other way around.
88/100
Surprisingly, this is still for sale at Whiskybase, for € 165, which is a fair price for a whisky like this.
Ben Nevis 22, 05/1996-12/2018, Sherry Butt 1056, 50.6%, Whisky-Doris, The Nose Art
Once more, Tom van Engelen shares his take on things going on in his world of whisky. This time he covers, to the surprise of approximately no one, Feis Ile that’s not happening.
Of course, a not so surprising subject does not a boring article make!
The year 2020 will go down in history as the annum in which we cancelled everything. What the Champions League is to football lovers all over the world, the Islay Festival of Malt and Music known as Feis Ile is to whisky enthusiasts. Either of these things being cancelled was unimaginable, but it happened in 2020.
As whisky goes, I had some discussions with friends about the idea of festival bottlings for a festival that is not happening. Me, for instance, I have all 11 standard Caol Ila Feis Ile bottlings that ever came out. As I don’t see a 2020 edition becoming reality, my collection will have a sad gap all of a sudden. First world problems, I know.
Only a handful of distilleries did put out “Feis Ile 2020” bottlings. I guess they had it bottled a while before the cancellation of the festival became reality, or maybe they intentionally wanted to offer something to compensate for the loss. In any case, there was a Kilchoman Feis Ile 2020 announced and that’s in my glass right now. I blinked so I missed the bottle for sale, but managed to secure a sample. Let’s see if I have something to cry about.
First, let me warm up with the Kilchoman Inaugural Release
Image from Whiskybase
Kilchoman 3 years old, Inaugural Release 2009, 46% I have just a few centilitres left in my reference drawer. Released in 2009 at only 3 years of age, it was a bourbon matured whisky with a finish of a few months in Oloroso sherry casks.
Sniff: Putting your nose in the glass makes you travel to a pebbled beach, sanded by wind after a long day in the sun. The peat in this youngster is remarkable subdued, probably by the sweet layer of sherry.
Sip: The attack on the tongue is with 46% abv still quite hefty. Swallowing results in a compact, peated finish with lingering warmth.
After more than 10 years I still wonder if that sherry finish suggested by consultant Dr. James Swan was wise. Today my verdict is: yes! I stand with my score that I put in on Whiskybase:
85/100
MaltFascination: Apparently I reviewed it twice, with similar results, albeit somewhat less positive rates. (here and here)
Kilchoman 12 Years Old, Feis Ile 2020, 54,2%
Image from Whiskybase
What triggered my interest in this expression is the fact that it is a rather mature Kilchoman at 12 years of age. Besides that, the label states this was solely matured in ex-bourbon barrels. So, it should be a rather pure expression, which is how I like Kilchoman best.
Sniff: It needs some time to open up. I was about to put it away for a few moments when the movement of the glass caused some barn smells. Dry hay, mud on the ground, freshly cut grass. A slight fruitiness. Oh dear, a lot on offer, if you are willing to be patient. Adding a little water makes it easier to get past the alcohol, but no new impressions.
Sip: The seemingly pleasant ABV does still seem to block the subtleties of this dram. That’s a shame. Mostly very hot and spicy on the tongue and a vanilla sweetness that keeps the peat in balance. With water a lot more fruity flavors. Then the chocolate and coffee flavors come to the surface. Excellent, but not much surprise beyond that.
Swallow: Impressive, a very pure and straightforward farmy goodbye. You really taste the malt, which gives an indication about how active the wood was (not too dominating). This part of the tasting benefits most of adding some water. It makes it a delicious peaty beast to go a few rounds with on the mat.
85/100
A very decent dram from a interesting batch of just 2630 bottles. I can’t deny being a little disappointed. It seems to promise a lot at pouring it in the glass and the age raised my expectations.
Turns out that Kilchoman reaches high quality standards at quite a young age. Extra years in the cask does not seem to offer a lot more on balance or complexity. Compared to a Lagavulin 12 or a Bowmore at that age, Kilchoman does not deliver the same fireworks. But, truth be told, it does invoke a farm feeling, and this is what Kilchoman is marketed as. With that in mind, this Kilchoman is a very honest and authentic dram.
About Tom van Engelen
I’m a writer in a variety of fields and have a soft spot for whisky, mainly malt, mainly from Scotland. In other times I enjoyed a stint as editor-in-chief of one of the first whisky magazines in the world. When not sipping a good glass I like to write some more, read, watch 007 movies or listen Bowie music. I’m engaged to Dasha, I have a sweet daughter and I live somewhere between the big rivers in the middle of The Netherlands.
Since yesterday was Laphroaig’s day on Feis Ile (if I’m not mistaken), I decided to do a very private version of that, by finally drinking this sample of a 20 year old bottling from Cadenhead.
It’s a mix of two bourbon hogsheads that was released in 2018, and if Cadenhead, and the age statement are things to go by, this should be good.
Let’s dive right in!
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff: There’s a lot of smoke from the get-go. Quite earthy, brine like and medicinal. Band-aids and such, sea spray, some burning embers. Baked apple, straw and dried flowers.
Sip: Very dry on the palate and quite hot on the arrival. Charcoal, sawdust and hessian. Dried heather, some corky apple and smoke. A lot of smoke, with salty brine, boats and ropes, some band-aids. Straw too, with a hint of a syrupy sweetness behind all the violence.
Swallow: The finish doesn’t really taste 20 years old, but there is some classic Laphroaig in there. Lots of smoke and earthy peat, with straw, oak, and charcoal. The medicinal tinge is pushed back a little bit, but the finish is warming and long.
With modern Laphroaig there is often the complaints that it has lost a lot of its uniqueness and complexity over the decades. I guess that is true, with this having only a minor touch of the medicinal scents and flavors that were so prevalent in times gone by.
Having said that, this still is a fairly cracking dram. The combination of a very strong spirit, flavor wise, and 20 years of aging resulted in a potent drink that shows the best of a heavily peated spirit, and time to marry it with the influence the casks can give. Great stuff!
89/100
Laphroaig 20, 1998-2018, 2 x Bourbon Hogshead, 54.3%, Cadenhead. Available in NL for a whopping € 350
Malt Fascination 