For the 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange a few bottlings have been released so far. I rather vividly remember some of their releases for the tenth anniversary. Back then I did a bottle-share with that Clynelish 37, Hakushu 20 and Karuizawa 1982. There were quite a few other ones too, and most of them were exceptional to say the least.
Looking at the current slew of releases they’ve done for their 20th I can start rambling about the obvious changes in ten years, mostly the prices and the average vintages are very different. Although I expected prices to be higher and vintages to be lower, to be honest. There’s quite some special stuff in there.
The most obvious other realization is that whisky has gotten more international with releases from American, Taiwan, Australia and Wales, and some rums are in the selection too. I have to admit also, that seeing the list makes me rather thirsty.
Anyway, this NAS whisky is one of the recent releases and it combines two VERY popular things in whisky: peat and sherry. Generally, that’s a recipe for success. Let’s where this one lands.
Sniff:
Well, there’s peat and sherry. The alcohol is quite harsh at first, but there’s a lot of dry and fruity sherry with slightly bitter almonds. Plums, dates, raisin twigs. The peat is quite coastal, with rope and salt.
Sip:
The palate is pretty sharp. The nuttiness is amped up, with lots of almonds and walnuts. Very dry, with lots of dried fruits. Apart from the plums and dates, there are apricots too. The coastal notes of brine and salinity, and the harbor like smells of tar and wet wood. Of course, there’s lot of thick, greasy smoke.
Swallow:
The finish is very long and drying. The bitterness is toned down, but does last long. The fruit is still present, but dialed back too. It’s more about the dryness, salinity, wood and smoke notes.
It doesn’t come as a surprise but it does exactly what the label says. There’s lots of peat and there’s lots of sherry. And it combines very well, just as you’d expect.
Maybe it’s a little bit clunky, as it does mostly those two things and not much else. Also, I think the whisky is fairly young, but that’s not a bad thing. Also, at € 62-ish this is very fairly priced whisky for its style and intensity.
Just at the end of last year the final edition of the Local Barley whiskies from Springbank was released. The final one because they announced that they’d be releasing five different ones over a five year period.
This is the second 10 year old in the series of five, with the others being 16, 11 and 9. They also used different kinds of barley for the distillation process. Last year’s 9 year was from Optic barley, as is this one. The others are from Belgravia, Prisma and Bere, where the Bere is the more interesting one, with it being one of the oldest cultivated grains in existence.
What they also changed this year is that they used port casks in the mix, instead of 100% bourbon casks (the Bere one), and a mix of sherry and bourbon casks for the others. The mix of casks is something Springbank generally does for all their non-specific releases.
Check the other Springbank Local Barley releases here:
Anyway, so far I’ve been very enthusiastic about all the releases with the 16 year old being the best one by a fair margin. Let’s see where this one sits!
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff:
Funky vanilla, with pastry cream, moldy hessian bags in a dusty attic. A whiff of smoke, and kippers. Quite coastal with some minerals, apple, slate.
Sip:
Quite some oomph, with a bit more crème brûlée. So vanilla, caramel, burnt sugar. Also the typical notes of apple, smoke, kippers, apple compote, so a tad more sweet than on the nose, and slightly less funky.
Swallow:
The coastal salinity gets the upper hand here. Fairly gentle with oak, smoke, barley, salinity, a hint of tar, apples, and some vanilla.
So, this is a bit of a strange one, if I’m honest.
When all is said and done this is a really good whisky, albeit a bit overpriced at some € 130 (give or take). It has the typical Springbank funkiness which is a very good thing, otherwise it would be REALLY overpriced.
On the other hand, this is not a whisky that will stand out if you’re just drinking it. It would still be a cask strength Springbank at a decade old, but the local barley aspect would be completely lost. You need to give it attention for it to be better than ‘just a Springbank 10 at higher strength’.
In the end, that means that, yes, I find it a very solid dram. But one that needs attention.
88/100
Springbank 10, 2009-2019, High Cattadale Farm, Optic Barley, 56.2%
When 2019 came to a close I figured I hadn’t gotten near to where I wanted to be with my samples, namely getting to a number that’s half of what it was a year prior. I figured, as these things go, I started enthusiastically, but forgot about them rather soon.
However, I recently counted everything, in all three categories (whisky, new make, other booze) and got to the following results:
Type
January 2019
January 2020
Whisky
110
49
New make
8
8
Other
30
10
These are some nice results, I even overshot by some percent and got to below half of where I started. Also keep in mind that this includes new additions to the shelf that happened over these same 12 months.
By these numbers one could state that I drank way too much, but I’d rather go for the explanation stating that I spent my money more sanely, and didn’t add as much as I did previous years.
Also, a good conclusion is that my tipple of choice is NOT new make spirit of whisky distilleries. This is kind of true, but I do find it interesting to try, but I’ve just not gotten around to it. What I plan with these samples is to spend an evening in peace trying several and writing notes, comparing one to the other. Strangely, there’s not been enough quiet moments to do so, lately.
While I’m a month late in setting some goals for 2020, I’m going to do so anyway. By the start of next year I hope to get 75% of these remaining samples out of the way, based on the total. There were 67 samples remaining, and I’m a happy camper if I can get that down to 16-ish in the 11 remaining months.
Apart from that, last year I also added a list of bottles I’m selling samples from. I’ve done that a couple more times on Facebook over the last year to get some movement happening in my collection. This will happen a few times more, although the amount of ‘random’ bottles that are open is getting lower too.
In the past, Diageo sometimes let their distillery managers select a cask from the warehouse for a line of bottlings. The most recent exercise in this was the Manager’s Choice, which was a huge flop by any measure.
Some of the whiskies from that series sold instantly, like the Lagavulin, Oban and Talisker. However, the other 20-something releases didn’t even move when they got a 50% discount.
Not that these whiskies were so bad, but they were just ridiculously expensive. Single casks, often from distilleries that had loads of single casks available through indie bottlers or Diageo itself were on the shelf for € 250, while their ‘normal’ counterparts sold for a fraction of that.
Anyway, the series of releases *before* The Manager’s Choice were ‘The Manager’s Dram’, which was released in the early 2000s. I’ve tried a few over the years, and most of them have been cracking. So, when I got the chance to obtain a sample of the Teaninich I didn’t hesitate. Not a clue where it came from, since it’s been on the shelf for ages.
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff:
Stewed apples, gentle oak, some waxy pear skin, a hint of reed. Complex, with some basil, other fresh herbs.
Sip:
Pretty sharp on the arrival, with apple, pear, some waxiness. Oak, fiery heat, some dryness. The herbaceous flavor is there too.
Swallow:
The finish loses a bit of fruit, but shows more freshly cut oak. Basil, other leafy herbs.
An absolutely gorgeous dram in my book. It shows the distillery character, it shows the oak in which is was matured, and even though it has a very high ABV it shows depth and complexity. It’s more or less everything I would want in any dram.
90/100
Teaninich 17yo, Refill cask, bottled in 2001, 58.3%
Surprisingly for such an old whisky, it’s still available at not-too-unreasonable a price (£ 225 at Whisky Business)
Last Friday the missus and I went to a beer and cheese tasting in Amsterdam, hosted by Fromagerie Kef, with beers from De Kromme Haring.
Now I know the cheese parlor for their epic cheeses which JK and I used to get for the whisky tastings at Emakina, and I know De Kromme Haring for the releases that were available at my local bottle shop.
What I knew about De Kromme Haring, which is Dutch for ‘the bent herring’, is that they use a lot of wild yeasts and do some interesting cask maturations. Their most well known beer (to me at least) is ‘The Original Smokey’, which is a smoked porter. I’ve had some others too, and like them for being quite far away from the norm.
The tasting consisted of four different beers, each paired with two cheeses. For us to find out which we liked best!
Steed of the Sea, 6.5% paired with Anneau du Vic Bilh and Boeren Leidse Sleutel
Steed of the Sea is a herbal beer made in collaboration with Jester King from Texas. On the nose there were heaps of herbs, mostly Italian in style (thyme and oregano) and some citrus notes.
It paired exceptionally well with the Anneau du Vic Bilh, which is a lactic goat cheese. The Boeren Leidse Sleutel is a typical Dutch cheese with cloves. It didn’t conflict but was a tad too strong for the beer.
Le Poisson Doré, 10% paired with Stolkse Boeren and Crayeux de Roncq
The beer is a barrel aged saison with blood orange added. It’s quite dry and waxy, with a lot of depth and virtually no carbonation. I really enjoyed the beer (and we bought a bottle) because of the gentle complexity and its dangerous drinkability.
It paired well with both cheeses, although I enjoyed the pairing with the Stolkse Boeren cheese better. This is a strong, long aged Dutch cheese and it complemented the richness of the beer well. In essence I preferred the Crayeux de Roncq as a cheese, but it didn’t pair as well with the beer.
Lactic Fantastic Plums, 7.6% paired with Twentse Hooikaas, Saint-Philippe and Lucullus
Three cheese? Yes! The latter were rather similar cheese of which they really liked one with the beer, and really hated the other. For us to find out if we agree.
The beer is a Brett Sour Ale with plums added. Not too sour but definitely some acidity. The plums added a sweet and fruity touch without making it too fruity.
The first cheese is a Dutch take on a Gruyere, and tasted very similar to the French/Swiss style. It worked really well with the beer because of the salinity and the fruitiness.
Strangely, I didn’t really enjoy both cheeses in the second pairing with this beer, although I preferred number two. My wife and I found that the first one really amplified the bitterness of the beer in all the wrong ways. Interestingly enough, the people at the tasting (most other guests and the hosts) preferred it the other way around.
The Original Smokey, 8.5% paired with Stilton Colston Bastett and Pecorino Sardo Affumatico and a surprise cheese
The Original Smokey is the smoked porter I already had before, but don’t mind trying again at all! A lot of roasted flavors from the malts, and the smoke is clearly present but not all encompassing.
The surprise cheese was an aged goat cheese with slightly caramelly flavours. It is nice on it’s own, but I didn’t really like the pairing. It diminished the beer without compensating for it.
Stilton is something I am a huge fan of on any day of the week and if it is nicely paired with a great beer, I’m a happy camper. As I was in this case. The creaminess of the cheese matched really well with the dryness of the beer and enriched both of them.
The smoked pecorino is an amazing cheese and my wife’s favorite of the evening by a mile. She had my bit too, after I had a small bite. I could have her Stilton, and both the beers, since she really doesn’t like stouts and porters.
By then we had come to the end of the tasting, but not before getting myself a refill on the saison, and getting my wife a refill on the pecorino. We had an amazing night, even though the two guys on the next table over were, as we Dutch call them ‘vinegar pissers’. As in, nothing was good enough. They didn’t like the beer or the cheeses. We wondered several times what the hell they were doing at the event.
Our conclusion: if they ever do a night of pairings like this again, we’re going to be there (calendars allowing). Great stuff, from both a great cheese shop and a great brewpub, which is on my list of places to visit.
Inverleven used to be a small single malt facility within the Dumbarton grain whisky distillery near Glasgow. It’s been decommissioned in 1991, but interestingly enough, the stills are still in use. Initially they were bought by Mark Reinier to build a new/old distillery in Port Charlotte, but never came to fruition because the main distillery in Bruichladdich took up all the money they made in maintenance.
Now, since Mark Reinier has moved on to more emerald pastures at the newly built Waterford Distillery in Ireland, the stills are back in use there.
Inverleven made a Lowlands Single Malt whisky in the decades that it was operational, but not much has been made available. Most of the output went into the blends of Ballantine’s. Most of what you might find in auctions from Inverleven looks official but is likely to be botteld by Gordon & MacPhail as a licensed bottling, with their ‘retro labels’.
So is this one. I bought it after finally trying a nice one at some point in the last decade. I don’t exactly remember whether it was because of trying something at a tasting or at a friend’s place. Some of it got bottle-shared and about half a bottle remained on my shelf for later appraisal.
And later it got. I had a glass after opening the bottle, and then put it on the back burner for some reason. A year or so later I had another glass and was hugely disappointed. The whisky had gone completely flat. Now it might not be the biggest surprise that a very light whisky, both in character and ABV, might not withstand a lot of oxidation in the bottle, but this was really crappy.
Once again, I forgot about (or suppressed) this whisky, only for it to surface very recently. I tried it again. And, to my surprise, it seemed like it had come back from the verge of death and was a lot more flavorful than it was before. Now I know that happens, according to others, but I never experienced this with a bottle of my own. I counted myself lucky and finished the remainder of the bottle in a couple of weeks, before it went bad again and maybe wouldn’t resurface.
Sniff:
Very gentle and fruity on the nose. Some dry grass and straw, very flowery too. Daisies, poppies and such. Lemon, apple, star fruit.
Sip:
Quite dry, some oak, fruit. Lemon, lemon oil, apple, with a hint of bitterness like the seeds. Some grass, straw, dried flowers behind it.
Swallow:
The finish is a bit short. Some dryness lingers, but everything else dissipates quickly.
The palate has come back to life after quite some time in the bottle. Unfortunately, the finish is a bit of a let down, which is not too surprising with a 40% whisky that’s been open this long.
The palate and nose are typical for Lowlands whiskies and show the quintessential flowery notes, with quite some fruit to come along with it. Luckily, it’s not perfumy at all, and makes for a very easy drinking, very light whisky. More of an aperitif than a digestive, since it’s not one to overpower any other flavors.
Prices for bottles like this are all over the place with Whiskybase stating € 300 (it’s a rarity after all), but in auctions it more likely to fetch € 110-140
Like last year, I’m about a month late with this post. Also like last year, things were insanely busy, both in things to do and things on my mind. Being in-between-jobs brings a lot of stress and a very strange way of filling days with mind numbing activities, and job applications. Also, especially in December with all the festivities and holidays, the kids are at home virtually all the time, so no down-time there either.
Anyway, in my previous job which lasted until the end of November, I didn’t really get around to listening to a lot of music, which means that (according to Spotify) I only listened to about a third of the amount of tracks I normally do.
The result of that is that it was a lot harder than normal to make a proper top ten, because I didn’t listen to these records all that much. Most of the +/- 15000 tracks I listened to were random playlists at home while doing something else. Listening to an album and giving it the attention it deserves is not really in the cards when playing games, or having a family dinner.
Yet, there is a list. Let’s kick things off with number 10!
#10: Billie Eilish – When We All Fall Asleep, Where Do We Go?
Honestly, I didn’t see this one coming. Mostly because it’s massively popular in the ‘popular music’ bracket, I skipped it. Until I somehow put it on towards the end of the year and it has been on a lot since. Massively catchy, but I guess most people already knew that.
#9: Vampire Weekend – Father Of The Bride
This one I did see coming. I really loved Vampire Weekend’s previous record so I kept my eye out for this one. Quite upbeat, especially for what I normally like, but sometimes you have to break the mold.
#8: Angel Olsen – All Mirrors
Yet again, one I did see coming. I loved her previous album(s) and I kept my eye out for this one. Not upbeat at all, virtually the polar opposite of the previous record, but it’s gorgeous.
#7: Old Crow Medicine Show – Live At The Ryman
Okay, three videos. Let me explain. First of all, of course if there’s something new by OCMS it’s in my list (not a guarantee, Calexico’s album isn’t in…). The second song ‘Will the circle be unbroken’ reminded me of the Belgian movie ‘The Broken Circle Breakdown’, which has quite some overlap with my preferred style of music. Also, that movie kind of wrecked me when I saw it, and it’s been on my mind since. So, that’s one to three.
Anyway. Old Crow Medicine Show played an amazing set at The Ryman, if this live record is something to go by, and I sure hope it is. Technically it’s not new music, but it’s just plain awesome and needs to be on here.
#6: The Twilight Sad – It Won’t Be Like This All The Time
I went to see this band with Anneke on my birthday in 2018 and it was a wall of sound if there ever was one. The opening act warned us about one of his songs being sad, and followed that up with ‘You’re here to see The Twilight Sad. You’re used to sad music’.
The above video doesn’t do the intensity of their performance justice, and the volume is cranked up to 11 during their shows too. There is no respite. There is no time to catch your breath in between the songs. And it is glorious.
#5: TOOL – Fear Inoculum
Tool isn’t a band you play by the track. You listen to their albums or you don’t really listen to it at all. It needs time to build up, and the way they make music isn’t something to take lightly.
Fear Inoculum is their first record in 13 years and it seems they’ve been able to pick up where they left of. In a good way. The record is amazing, and I just can’t not love TOOL.
#4: Tyler Childers – Country Squire
Well of course, there’s more country records in this list, although it’s a bit less than in previous years. I wasn’t expecting to like Tyler Childers’s ‘band record’ as much as I did. It’s a bit slick compared to what came before, but with Sturgill Simpson as producer, that can’t come as a surprise.
I went to see him live at Once In A Blue Moon last August, and it was awesome. Once again, I was a bit skeptical how he’d perform compared to previous shows I saw of him, but the worry was uncalled for.
#3: Lukas Nelson and Promise of the Real – Turn Off The News (And Build A Garden)
Yes, Lukas Nelson is the son of Willie Nelson. It’s pretty easy to find stuff on the internet where they perform together. Pretty cool, especially if Nelson Junior has the skills to have a career in music.
#2: Nick Cave & The Bad Seeds – Ghosteen
There are no single videos available, but I can recommend spending some time with the entire record.
I was slightly skeptical about this record. The Skeleton Tree turned out great, even though it’s a record wrought with pain. Ghosteen is a bit toned down in the grief section, but still goes more in the direction of poetry with music. At least, compared with about 4 or more records ago…
#1: Rammstein – Rammstein
A self titled album of a band that’s been out and about for over 20 years? Sure, why not? And if it’s as good as this, I’m game. I kind of stopped listening to Rammstein some 15 years ago for some reason. Somehow, it didn’t resonate with me anymore. On this record, however, they seem to have toned down a little bit, although that’s not the case with their amazing video for ‘Deutschland’.
This record is well loved at home, with the kids enjoying the louder kind of music too!
So, summarizing, 2019 was a lot more diverse than some years prior, with a much wider range of music being listened to the the De Haan-Kramer residence. Let’s hope 2020 continues in the same vein.
Of course, there are some honorable mentions that just didn’t make the final cut:
Swans, Sharon van Etten, Mandolin Orange, Hauschka, Shovels & Rope, Andrew Bird, Lambchop, Weyes Blood, Marissa Nadler, Aldous Harding, Bear’s Den, Damien Jurado, Rhye, Son Volt, Rhiannon Giddens, Justin Townes Earle, The National, Calexico, The Raconteurs, Willie Nelson, The Black Keys, The Cactus Blossoms, Joan Shelley, Paul Cauthen, The Highwomen, Belle & Sebastian, Hiss Golden Messenger, The Heavy, The Mavericks and Patrick Watson.
I just had this sample last week and I think I’ve been sitting on it for little over two years when I got it from MvtZ at 2017’s Whiskybase Gathering. When I had it, I didn’t bother to look it up because I knew MvtZ had given me some really old Irish whiskey samples back then.
Little did I know that this was in that same parcel too, with it being Irish, but not old at all. At least, not compared to the 1930s Jameson that sat next to it. So, in a way, I tried it blind.
Generally, I’m not too big on Irish whiskey, as avid readers know, but with some exceptions to the rule. Which is true for everything in the world of whisky. There are always exceptions to every rule. Ever.
Anyway, a single pot still whiskey from Midleton Distillery, finished in Bordeaux wine casks. Two things I ‘generally’ don’t like all that much, so that could be interesting!
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff:
Almost the middle between corn-like, sweet bourbon and dry grainy scotch. Corn syrup, dry oak, old apples.
Sip:
Again the combination of overdone sweetness and dry oak and grain. Old fruit, dusty grain and pulpy oak.
Swallow:
The finish has a bit of a spicy tinge to it, and the oak lasts very long. Very old fashioned, but also a tad simple.
What’s strange is that based on the tasting notes, I would never have bought a bottle of it. It reads like its incoherent, out of balance and overly sweet. Which it actually is, but for some reason it kind-of works. It’s a bit simple, there’s not too much depth, and I guess after half a bottle it will find its way to a bottom shelf, but it’s not bad at all.
84/100
Green Spot Château Léoville Barton, 46%, bottled in 2015, is available for just under € 50 in Germany and Switzerland. It’s about a tenner more elsewhere.
Chorlton, honestly, sounds like the polite English version of barfing, but apart from that, I had never heard of this whisky brand, and until I found these tasting notes and looked up more information on the bottling, I had once again forgotten its existence.
Anyhow… Glentauchers is always a bit of a weird one, in my book. There’s not much out there and what is available is rather polarizing. I know of a lot of people who really like it, especially their sherry bombs that have been released the last couple of years. But this is from a refill bourbon barrel. More room for a little known distillery character to show itself.
Image from Whiskybase
Sniff:
Some waxy notes on the nose, with some fresh oak. Wood shavings, corky apples, in a good way. Some red fruit eventually.
Sip:
Some bite on the palate, with a lot of cake like flavors. Some vanilla and a bit of butter. Wax, honey, oak.
Swallow:
The finish is bit mineral like, with apple and iron. Some wax again, but hardly any wood.
So, it’s a bit of a weird one. If you’d have given me the tasting notes on either the nose, palate or finish, I would have told you it was from a bourbon cask, but I wouldn’t have put them together on the same whisky. It does make it feel a bit out of whack. On the other hand, it does give you something to discover while tasting this.
It’s nice, with some very likable flavors, but not overly complex. The waxy notes are good, and prominent, which is a very good thing.
86/100
Glentauchers 20yo, bottled in 2018, Refll Bourbon Barrel, 50.9%, Chorlton Whisky. Available in Whiskybase’s Marketplace for € 155, which I find a bit steep.
In one of the scavenger hunts through the remainder of my samples I found this wee baby. A couple of centiliters from 45 years ago, bottled a rather long while ago by now. These old Bunnahabhains are a light and day difference to virtually everything that’s coming out in these days, with almost all single casks being heavily peated spirit.
I find that a shame, since the beauty of Islay’s whisky is also in its diversity, and with Bruichladdich also switching to a large chunk of peated spirit since the reopening almost two decades ago, there’s not much left. Unless you count Ardbeg Blasda as something worth drinking, because that thing also exists.
Sniff:
A very timid nose, with lots of old barley notes. Dried oranges and oak. Almonds, hazelnuts, very typical for Bunnahabhain. Slightly earthy, and some moldy paper in the attic’.
Sip:
The palate is a lot sharper than I expected with quite some chili heat from the alcohol. It’s pretty dry, earthy and has a lot of nuttiness too. Almonds, hazelnut and because of the dryness also some walnuts. Dried tangerine and orange. It gets a bit waxy later on, which fits with the oranges (the peel)
Swallow:
The finish quickly mellows with a lot of dry warmth going down. Oranges, nuts, oak and barley.
This is exactly what you want from an old Bunnahabhain. Lots of ‘simple’ notes of the grain and the oak, with additional flavors of oranges and a lot of nuttiness. The last part is typical for Bunnahabhain, and it’s gorgeous.
89/100
Bunnahabhain 1975, 36yo, Refill Sherry Cask, 53.5%, bottled by Jack Wiebers’ Whisky World, in the Auld Distillers Collection. Available at Whisky Antique for € 565