Whisky Online Blog

I have been busy these last few days so imagine my surprise when I emerge from my cocoon of bluster to find everyone sniggering about some newfangled urine based whisky, or ‘Pissky’ as it has been affectionately dubbed. Indeed it has even prompted some deeper philosophical musings of the relationship between whisky and art and even the old chestnut “What is Art?” I have nothing to add to the general chatter, everything witty that could possibly be said has probably already been said by Tim and Serge, what’s more I don’t have the energy to think about the implications of whisky made from juiced grannies right now. One thing is for sure though, I’m in no hurry to try it, the very thought gives me the willies (so to speak).

Joni Mitchell in 1968.

Most of my recent posts have been quite tasting driven since I cleaned up at Whisky Fringe so I’m quite keen to get back into doing some music and whisky parings. Listening to some Joni Mitchell the other day I was moved to do some digging on the tube of you, I wasn’t surprised to find many great videos, as is common for any major artist, but I was still blown away to find this one in particular.

I, like many other occasionally sane people, have a wealth of love for Joni Mitchell. There are many great songwriters and musicians in this world, the problem is that in order to achieve their influence and legend they have to compromise by being a colossal twat in their personal lives. Millions love Lennon and McCartney but they don’t have to deal with their egos, tantrums and general mentalness on a one to one scale. They can sit back and let their music score the pockmarked plateaus of their lives to great emotional effect. Joni Mitchell seems to be one of the few people who actually manages to transcend this rule and has retained a shade of humility and genuine humanity about her. In short, she comes across as a lovely person. However this is just a base attraction, it really is her music that hooks you in. There are so few truly genuine voices in this world, voices that have no artificially implanted vibrato, voices rich in naked honesty, voices that are instruments in their own right. Joni is one of those rare creatures that can stand so unassumingly and casually then she just opens her mouth and this sound comes out, its a rare and breathtaking thing to behold. Those songs she plays in the video are among her most popular but they are also some of the best examples of why she is brilliant. She is a performer who truly understands the idea of the song as a communicative device, she writes very beautiful, evocative lyrics but the expressiveness of her voice seems to bypass all potential boundaries of language. She is one of the few artists where all you need to understand her are a working pair of ears. Here is another one of my favourites from 1970.

She is a mesmerising performer to watch. Her little quirks of humour, a fleeting grin here and there and then back to some deep, focused boil of beautiful sound as she finds new subtle angles on her familiar melody lines. She is also an often overlooked guitarist as well. She is one of the greatest exponents of the alternative tuning on the guitar, throughout her career she must have used upwards of a hundred tuning variations. She is a master of taking a sideways view of melody, the hidden potential in otherwise familiar chords wrought from strings at different tensions and resonances, one of her greatest hallmarks is that it is impossible to sound quite like her. She is one of those musicians that you almost don’t want to share, there isn’t much that needs to be said about her, little to be defended or argued, she’s just Joni Mitchell and she just needs to be listened to. She transcends the arenas of arguments and pub debates that haunt the legend of other famous bands and artists. Sometimes you don’t want to prattle on about what you’re listening to, its much better just to listen to it.

The Bowmore Bicentenary. The 'Joni Mitchell' of malts?

When I do these matching things I usually try and pick whiskies that are not impossible to get hold of/afford/try. However on this occasion I don’t care, I doesn’t matter to me if this bottling is in the realms of possibility for anyone to get. In fact it doesn’t even need to be able to see the realms of possibility, this bottling might as well read to you like bottle number 0 of 0, available only through selected retail outlets. On the moon. This is pointless and verging on cruel but its Joni Mitchell and sometimes you just need one of those whiskies that shuts you up a bit. When you listen to Joni she tends to have that same effect of disengaging your vocal chords for you, the Bowmore Bicentenary is something of a whisky equivalent. Distilled in 1964 and bottled for the distilleries 200th anniversary in 1979, there are several versions available, I’ve tried two different ones so far and I would score them both 94/100 minimum. There is cask strength version too but, in an unusual inversion of bottling strength lore, it is reputedly not as good as the others. More importantly, it is one of those very rare drinking experiences that can change the way you think about whisky. It is whisky of such bewilderingly intense flavour and complexity that people trying it tend to be left more than a little speechless. I watched several people trying it at the Limburg whisky fair the other year and they were visibly occupying a different space to the rest of us, it was as if the thronging mass of nerderati around them had just melted away and they were tripping through a daze of tropical fruit and salt laced, heaven sent phenols. There is something about this whisky, its ability to be so soft yet at the same time bearing such a weighted depth of flavour. its the same sense of awesome humility you get when confronted with anything so perfectly crafted and beautiful. It is whisky that banishes all bullshit, all petty conversations about eras and bottling codes and tax stamps. It suddenly makes all these things irrelevant, just as the simple sound of Joni Mitchell singing and casually strumming a guitar can stop you dead in you tracks and you realise there is no need to say anything, these things exist and we all know how wonderful they are, we don’t need to say anything, to try and put such things into words can only spoil them. So I’ll shut up and we can finish with another video.

Not to be confused with the Queen of The He-Brides.

I first met David Wood on a rather brisk night on Islay back in summer 2005. We both happened to be staying for the night at the Bruichladdich accommodation and one of the first utterances he sent my way, laden with the dead weight of a solid northern English accent, was: “Alright Angus, d’you wanna try our bottlings?” Now normally I might have been taken aback by such a sentence but this was Islay and here the context of any conversation surrenders itself so easily to the lurking subject of whisky. So I just grinned stupidly and said “Wow! You do your own bottlings? Brilliant!” Five minutes later I was tucking into a 35yo Strathisla, following somewhat unwisely on the heels of a mind-blowing 12yo Laphroaig.

David Wood, the brains behind the small but inimitable Queen Of The Moorlands Whisky co.

The Queen Of The Moorlands is the name given to the whisky part of the Leek based business The Wine Shop. Its a small, independent wine and spirits merchants run by David and his wife Leonie, David takes care of Whisky and beer and Leonie handles the monolith that is Wine. Its a set up that has worked well for them and for their customers as they seem to go from strength to strength every year. Not hung up by setbacks but not crazily ambitious either, it is a small company that clearly grows slowly on a solid foundation of understanding and passion. The whisky bottlings started life as something different for them to offer their customers, they already had a large range of whiskies and it seemed the next logical step up. However the way they did it was not particularly ‘by the book’.

Bruichladdich 1991. QOTM. Edition XX. 70cl. 52.8%.

Colour: gold with a touch of green.

Nose: Fresh, invigorating, lively, classic Bruichladdich. Lots of green fruits and coastal interplay. Some sweet spicy vanilla from the bourbon but still quite aromatic and interesting. Quite a pungent wee Bruichladdich, lots of oiliness and brine. With water there are some beautiful floral aromas, wet pebbles on a shore, water seems to make it even fresher.

Palate: Initially its sweet cereals, vanilla and camphor oil, then it becomes quickly drying and salty. Citrus and greengages with some big chewy spice notes. I sense this may need some water. With water its all olive oil and buttered toast, more green fruit hanging around in the background and still quite fat and oily. There is also a lovely fragrant, lanolin soap character after a while.

Finish: Long and suddenly quite peppery with a lovely polished aftertaste and a final briny prickle.

Comments: Shame they’ve given up doing this kind of bottling at Bruichladdich these days.

Score: 88/100

The Earl Grey inn, a sadly departed Jewel in the crown of Staffordshire.

If the above image does not fill you with visions of concrete urinals, walls of old whisky boxes and an elderly woman grumpily watching trashy British saturday night television while fortifying herself with Gin and cigarettes then I think it is safe to say, you never visited the Earl Grey Inn. This, now tragically closed establishment, was an eccentricity of epic proportions. To walk inside you would be enveloped into a windowless rainbow of grey and yellow, a world of ancient whisky boxes stacked high up walls that puckered under the stains of decades. You would be led in across a carpet untainted by cleaning products, an aged relic that wore the grease of a thousand familiar footsteps, the wreckage of spilt pints and half sucked cigarettes with grotty pride. Here you could order mystery pints from unlabeled beer taps that would fill your glass with an earth liquid like some frothy Bovril tribute band. Here you could have shots of old Macallan 25yo for £2 then relieve yourself after in the concrete mezzanine that lay out back past further ancient cardboard mazes. Truly a place to drink. It was here that the first Queen Of The Moorlands bottlings were selected by Dave and his friends and customers. Not the usual way these things are done but then its fitting considering that these are often pretty special whiskies. I attended one of these sessions back in 2006 and I must admit it was wonderful. There was none of the usual hooha that goes along with these kind of selection sessions, no brightly lit clean rooms with white surfaces, water jugs, tasting notepads and spittoons. Here was a hole at the back of the pub lit with candles, in worrying proximity to thirty year old cardboard boxes, and a decrepit 40 watt corner lamp. Here were pints, drams and northerners. This was something different, something joyous, and I think that same spirit of fun has never left these bottlings.

Glenglassaugh 1984. QOTM. Edition VII. 70cl. 53.8%.

Colour: Mahogany

Nose: There is plenty of sherry character but it is quite soft and not overpowering, instead it lets quite a lot of elegant fruit character come through. There are some gunflints and earthiness but it is more on forest mulch and wet leaves rather than off notes, it provides a little muscle I feel. Its very well balanced with the sherry, it wears its strength quite lightly, there is almost no nose prickle. More notes of sultanas, aged brandy and tobacco, then some figs and fresh banana bread with a lovely hint of walnuts and maple syrup. Water seems to magnify its forest flora and leafy characters, just like that earthy fresh smell when you walk through the woods after heavy rain. Delicate rancio and spice aromas also.

Palate: The palate is still quite soft but the sherry is a little more apparent and tannic now, some more lovely nutty characters, hazelnuts and pecans. Its surprisingly clean really, I was expecting some sulphur but I really can’t find any. Its just on the brink of too heavy for me but it treads the line so delicately that I find it really quite entertaining. More fig rolls and syrupy characters, now comes lots of dark chocolate, like a sponge cake or something. Lets see how it swims. More soft fruitiness, old pipe tobacco, dry and delicate spiciness with a little walnut oil. Some quite determined notes of aged balsamico and more meatiness than when neat.

Finish: Long, clean and retaining that moreish flinty stewed fruity combo, still has lovely poise.

Comments: Its been a long time since I tried this whisky and its much better than I remember. I really like how it just wavers on the line of being too chunky and heavy and every time you think its going to topple over it moves back and throws something fresh at you. I think its really classy stuff and the best Glenglassaugh I’ve had in a long time.

Score: 89/100

David likes to pour his drams in arty black and white in order to lend his whiskies a certain aura of decadence.

Despite the Earl Grey being closed now (rip) David is still busy traveling around the north of England and frequently to Scotland, promoting his Whiskies. He has one of the healthiest attitudes to whisky I’ve ever encountered in a merchant in that he has genuine passion but without any clouding sense of snobbery attached. If you happen to visit his stand at one one of the many shows in England at which he exhibits or attend one of his terminally laid back tastings, you will be encouraged not only to try many delicious drams but also to contribute to, ask and opine about what you are drinking. David’s strength has always been to let the whiskies do the talking first and foremost, he believes in education and face to face contact with his customers and this attitude of honest and straight talking has kept him and his whiskies on safe ground. If you get a chance to visit his shop it is well worth it, just as it is if you take the time to meet him and sample his wares on one of his regular pilgrimages to Islay, especially during the festival when he is the only independent bottler to provide a festival bottling.

One of David's finest finds, the infamous 'Blacksmith's Bowmore'.

Bowmore 1991. QOTM. Edition XVIII. 70cl. 57.7%. Fresh Sherry Hoggie.

Colour: Amber

Nose: Its striking how this resembles a completely different older style of Bowmore than the stuff that preceded it by only a couple of years or so. Its so clean and fresh with some gorgeous, understated tropical fruits. The sherry is present but its so fruity and light, it has completely integrated itself with the house style of the distillery. Really coastal and vibrant, light citrus, fresh oysters, brine, tar and fishnets, just lovely. Some beautiful peat oils also, the nose is amazingly soft and outspoken for the strength. Now orange blossom and marmalade with yet more fruit, guavas and mangos, amazingly there is also still a hint of malt under all that, a dusty, smoky maltiness. After a while it becomes slightly mentholated as well. Water makes the nose brighter, fresher and more mentholated.

Palate: Stupendously oily and mouth-coating. Its almost like nothing happens for a few seconds and then BANG! All that fruit and peat is all over the place. Was this really distilled after 1974? More immense coastal character, I’m almost afraid to add water to this, lets wait. The size of the whisky seems to mask the level of alcohol, this is really what Islay whisky is about to me, the intensity of flavour but also the balance and complexity, the way it dances between peat and fruit like this, just heartwarming. Now it becomes very tarry and mentholated with lots of smoky salty flavours. There are flavours of kippers, olive oil, hessian, paraffin and something sharp like lemon juice and gooseberries. Lets try water now, just a drip. More fresh coastal flavours and a really gentle thread of green fruit. It also becomes earthier and the peat takes on a rooty, dense quality, its still really oily. This swims very well, water softens it but doesn’t diminish its beauty at all.

Finish: Very long. Leaves you trying to scrape the peat oil off the roof of your mouth with you tongue. Gently drying and tropical with more sinus clearing menthol traces.

Comments: If ever there was an example of how much Bowmore improved in the early nineties then this is it. I really love it. Well done Bowmore and well done Dave and co for bottling it. I think I might have to actually find and buy a bottle of this one, I’m imagining it after thirty years of bottle aging.

Score: 91/100

David presents his wares at one of his annual Islay festival tastings.

The whiskies that I’ve selected for tasting in this post, as you might guess from my rather enthusiastic tasting notes above, are some of my favourite Queen Of The Moorlands bottlings. They are not all as glorious as the ones I am fortunate enough to have here but they are, in my opinion, some of the most consistent releases by any independent bottler. The thing that marks them as special is that they are not an essential part of David and Leonie’s business, David has done nearly 40 different bottlings in the last few years but for every ten bottlings chosen he rejects hundreds of samples. This is one of the hallmarks of consistently interesting and delicious bottlings, freedom. The freedom to say no is so important and is so often forgotten when it comes to independent bottlers. There are several companies who’s main source of income is independent bottlings of whisky. If they happen upon the opportunity to buy a cask of Brora or Port Ellen for example then they will more than likely bottle it because it will sell on the strength of the distillery name alone, regardless of the actual quality of the whisky. I won’t share with you the list of whiskies Dave has rejected but it contains some names and ages that might baffle other bottlers. Having the freedom and the strength to say no is often the greatest of assets to an independent bottler, you can taste as much when you try Dave’s whiskies.

The 1998 Laphroaig aka: The Beast!

Laphroaig 1998/2007. QOTM. Edition XXIII. 287 bottles. 70cl. 55.3%.

Colour: white wine.

Nose: A big peat trough. Very peaty, ashy, lemony and iodiney(?) just like all these excellent young, modern Laphroaigs. Very austere and minerally, lots of coastal aromas, oysters and lemon juice, crab meat, wet pebbles, seaweed. Then there are the classic Laphroaig medicine notes, lots of mercurochrome, iodine, tcp and germoline, it really reeks of hospitals. Water reveals a little more floral white fruit character but it is still filled with medicine and a really deft oiliness. Freshly ground sea salt and vinaigrette.

Palate: It really is wonderful to see the house style laid so straight and bare like this, there is almost no wood on display at all, a hint of sweetness and vanilla but its only fleeting. The rest is bandages, oil boiler sheds, raw peat, bonfire smoke, gentian root and sharp lemon juice. This is a very big and bold young Laphroaig, I imagine this is what you might get if you distilled the carpet from The Earl Grey. With water there is again a little touch of white fruit and more saline vinegar characters but on the whole its remarkably stable, perhaps a little fresher and free than when neat. Some smoked haddock and cullen skink flavours after a while with some mashy cooked veg elements as well. A meal of a dram, pass the knife and fork!

Finish: Quite long and with lots of turfy, wet peat and medicinal seaweed lurking about.

Comments: I love this young, naked style of Laphroaig and thankfully, like Bowmore, there are plenty of them around these days. Its not the most complex of drams but everything is so profoundly delivered and intense that it more than makes up for it.

Score: 90/100

I case you're wondering, the Gaelic on the stencil means "Its not easy". Take from that what you will.

Dave’s whiskies are not particularly widespread in their availability, this is certainly deliberate to an extent as he wants to focus the majority of sales through his own business. If you’re looking for them then the latest releases can be found on David and Leonie’s website and there is also a nice little back catalogue here at whisky online. There are also usually quite a few of Dave’s peatier offerings floating about the Islay Whisky shop if you find yourself in Bowmore of an afternoon. The most important thing is that you try them if you get the opportunity as they are exceptional, worthwhile and consistent whiskies. They are about a passion for whisky, a sense of fun and enjoyment and they don’t take themselves too seriously, an attitude we could all do well to remember from time to time. Lets finish with one of my favourites (well it is my blog after all). Queen Of The Moorlands 1982 Caol Ila for the 2008 Islay festival.

The 1982, sadly there were only 60 bottles of this glorious old sea monster.

Caol Ila 1982/2008. QOTM. Edition XXVI. 70cl. 61.9%. Bottle 22 of 60.

Colour: Gold

Nose: Hot and appley at first, stewed apples with custard and lots of smoked tea (early grey). The alcohol tones itself down after a few moments and it suddenly burst into full on Caol Ila mode. Its just so typical of Caol Ila from the early eighties, its almost impossible to find a bad one from 82 or 83. Green, grassy and laden with candied fruit, greengages, toffee apples, plum jam and pear liqueur. It becomes coastal and medicinal in equal measure after a little while with really lean saline and germoline aromas, there is also something farmy and oily about the nose, like a well oiled engine in a barn (oh dear lord!). With water its like a smoked ham with honey and eucalyptus notes coming through as well. Even more briny and salty now.

Palate: Pow! So that’s where all the alcohol was hiding, quite sweet at first with all the peppery heat but it also brings some absolutely delicious peat oils and more drying medicine. A little bit of a chocolate orange as well, anyway lets add a wee dash of water…now we’re back to tea only this time its green. More green fruit flavours, lashings of them in fact. Another drop of water and its still going, just keeps on engaging every part of the palate. This Caol Ila dances with water like a flying fish. Its really green but so intense and aromatic, it becomes kind of herbacious now but still very salty and invigorating. This is one of those whiskies that you could pour over for hours. Ok enough tasting notes, you get it by now.

Finish: Very very long. No teeth brushing for me tonight.

Comments: Ok I feel the need to reiterate, not all of Dave’s bottlings are this good, we’re not in Italy in the eighties (sadly). There has been a little bit of cherry picking on my part for this post but I wanted to give you an example of how good these whiskies can be. This Caol Ila and the Bowmore in particular are probably two of the best examples, there was also the long gone Strathisla and THIS Laphroaig that are up on the same level. But really you should try some of these bottlings for yourself, they are brilliant. Sadly this Caol Ila is a miniscule bottling of only 60 bottles so inevitably its just as frustrating as it is beautiful. Still, there’ll always be another beautiful dram somewhere down the line, after all that’s what keeps us all going isn’t it?

Score: 91/100

I have already written about my love for both St Magdalene and Lochside so they need little reintroduction from me here. These are another couple of samples I liberated from whisky fringe (courtesy of  the very generous folks at Douglas Laing). Suffice to say that I thought it might be interesting to do a little head to head with these two whiskies as they both represent quite old school ‘Highland Style’ whiskies. I know St Mag is technically a lowlander but its complex, often very dry and minerally house style really reminds me of these oily, waxy old highland style spirits. Likewise Lochside seems to display this character quite often as well albeit with a perhaps a little more expressive fruitiness. Anyway I love both of them and, both being closed, they are sadly missed. Both samples are from the very latter eras of production in their respective histories so I suspect that they may not shine as brightly as older examples but who knows? I’m still excited to try them both.

The Lochside 1991. Pale yet inviting. Like an albino supermodel?

Lochside 1991 18yo. Douglas Laing OMC. 289 bottles. 50%. 70cl. Refill Hoggie.

Colour: Straw gold.

Nose: Immediately flinty, slightly mentholated and fruity with some lovely clean malt underneath. There are hints of that classic Lochside tropical fruit character coming out now, bits of melon, mango and pineapple, a delicate fruit salad really. Some tart citrus aromas as well, very delicate and beautifully composed nose this. It doesn’t seem to develop too much further but what is there holds together really beautifully and is so aromatically delicious that it doesn’t really matter, a minimalist poem of a nose. Some delicate wisps of oily hessian and coal now, also something like waxy honeycomb as well. A fragrant floral aspect develops after a while as well. I wouldn’t want to touch this with water, it seems so fragile yet composed.

Palate: Very dry and savory on the palate at first with freshly baked whole meal bread and lemon rind. Then becomes delicately sweet towards the swallow. Seville orange marmalade and some simmering spices, there is also a slightly unfortunate flavour of rotting orange peel but its not too overpowering, in fact given time it disappears. There are also some rather pleasant flavours of nutmeg and delicate vanilla, pastry, licorice and a slight herbaciousness. My only real qualm is that it lacks more of that Lochside trademark fruitiness.

Finish: medium length but quite warming and leaves a pleasant dry fruitiness behind.

Comments: I feel the palate let this one down a bit but the nose is still gorgeous. A pleasant Lochside that shows snapshots of its glorious past and just how amazing it can be when it wants to be. I suspect like all distilleries it suffered from the modernisations of the late seventies and eighties. Anyway I think its worth…

Score: 88/100 (mostly for the nose)

The St Mag 1982. This one looks rather inviting too but I can't think of anymore supermodel analogies. Or maybe I just don't want to?

St Magdalene 1982 26yo. Douglas Laing OMC. 511 bottles. 50%. 70cl. Refill Butt.

Colour: Pale gold

Nose: Rich, oily and pungent with grassy and nettle like aromas, almost like a sauvignon. Wonderful mineral and fruit complexity. Sweet peas, orange blossom, engine oil, gasoline, paraffin wax, its just laden with aroma this one. Its becomes even more aromatic the more time you give it, now almost more like a Riesling with some dense honied and gentle tropical notes. Damp sheep’s wool, farminess and something slightly coastal as well, citrus and sea-breezes. Porridge oats and other cereals, a clean toastiness with just a scraping of butter. Some aged characteristics also like old books, leather armchairs and a little tobacco leaf. Enough of this, its great, time to taste it…

Palate: Its just a big bucket of oil and fruit really. Very rich and mouth-coating with a beautiful dryness and minerality. Lots of orange blossom, honeysuckle and more petrol characters. Flinty but also delicately honied and slightly briny as well. This is a difficult one to handle and keep track of but boy is it worth it. There is that beautiful preserved lemon waxiness and olive oil combo that is common in these old school whiskies, then more lean maltiness and cereal character. Its also slightly meaty in a bizarre move sideways. Just great whisky.

Finish: Long, drying, fruity, oily, aromatic and beautiful.

Comments: This is a perfect example of a more old school, highland style of whisky. It is a million miles away from what we are told these days is a ‘traditional Lowland style’. This whisky would chew up a modern Glenkinchie or Auchentoshan like wet rice crackers. Its big, its oily, its very fruity and its dry, it tastes like old sheep fanks and engine oil, its just beautiful. However it is also incredibly unsexy, a difficult style of whisky to know what to do with and a difficult whisky full stop. Its the kind of whisky that makes you work for its nuances, its austere and difficult to know, it demands something of the drinker. For me this is why I love these kinds of whisky, they energize the mind as well as the palate and bring out a greater shared experience between those who drink it. Its quite moving to taste these spirits because they aren’t really made like this anymore and as they become rarer and fade away, they just seem to taste better every time.

Score: 91/100