Whisky Online Blog

If I’m honest I find John Martyn quite hard work sometimes. I know this is not a popular viewpoint, his music has spun a captivating web round the ears and hearts of many people over the years. My problem was that I never really came to terms with all his output, while I find several of his early albums enchanting and his musical progression fascinating, I struggle to really enjoy his latter day style of using his voice as a musical instrument. When deployed with subtlety on the right song it can create an incredibly haunting sound but I found much of his performances tended to overemphasize this in later years. My problem stems more from frustration because when he was at his peak Martyn could conjure up demon banishing noises of enthralling beauty. He was a fairly unique guitar player and vocalist whose songs displayed highly original ideas about melody and structure. For me one of the most uncompromising but balanced examples of his music is Small Hours.

Released on 1978′s One World album it is an experimental, evocative and consciously captivating piece of music, not just another far out folk tune to light up a joint to. His performance here is one of studied and subtle textures, he dampens and stretches his voice around the words but they are still discernible as he weaves them so dexterously between his delayed and echoing guitar phrases. Its easy to imagine yourself drifting away to this song, lost on a rippling bed of soothing sound, but I think it demands something more of you. It is a song of such sensitive and acute observation it craves to be listened to, to be consumed by conscious ears, sifting through every beautifully pronounced note.

Laphroaig 30yo, the slightest whiff can reduce grown men to slavering wrecks.

Laphroaig 30yo has been discontinued for several years now, however it is still available here and there and I would urge you to try it while it is still feasible to do so. It makes a perfect partner in many ways for the song, the subtle overlap of peat, sherry, fruit and oiliness makes for a mesmerizing dram. It does the same overlapping layers of beauty trick that the song does and you can see how the mutual demand for attention and detail complements each other. Blink and you might miss something.

Chicken Shack there and Christine Perfect (later Christine McVie) singing I Would Rather Go Blind. An early example of the resonant, soulful beauty of Christine’s voice, of all the versions of this song available it is hers that, for me, is most affecting. It is different from the songs she would go on to pen herself during her tenure in Fleetwood Mac although her voice is unmistakable and lends the song a familiarity it would otherwise lack. There is something quite affecting about a resonant female voice in the lower register like Christine’s, not just the soulfulness of it but its expressiveness, its natural individuality and sense of emotional exposure. She was underrated in Fleetwood Mac and her early career is largely unknown so if you haven’t heard it then enjoy and dig around on youtube for other examples of her songs with Chicken Shack and her early album under the Christine Perfect name, they’re worth rooting about for.

These old blends are some of the best value whiskies on the market.

If you’re looking for interesting examples of ‘old style’ whisky at fair prices then old blends are the way forward. Still available at excellent prices considering what’s inside the bottle, they are well worth seeking out. Names like Black & White, Haig, Dimple, Usher’s, Ballantine’s, White Horse, there are great examples of all these famous names and more, ranging from the seventies right back to the forties and beyond, although the older they get the more expensive they become. These whiskies display evidence of a different style of whisky making, a world of floor maltings, local peat, week long fermentations, coal fired stills, worm tubs, old re-fill wood and beautiful, sulphur free sherry casks. They are often dry and dusty at first, displaying lots of waxy, mineraly, flinty, fruit characters, elegant peat and a rare softness in the mouth. Of course there is also the theory of bottle aging affecting these spirits (a theory I subscribe to). Its the idea that the spirit further matures inside the glass, through micro crystalline reactions with the glass itself and through a glacial paced oxidative reaction with the headspace in the neck. Old bottle effect (OBE) can be noticed in heightened dusty, cardboardy and metallic notes in the glass, sometimes this will wear off and leave a beautiful soft, fruity spirit behind however it can sometimes have a negative effect. Whisky can be out of condition or corked just as can happen more frequently with wine, bad reactions with the seal, over oxidisation or any number of negative chemical reactions can render a whisky anywhere from slightly off right through to downright unpalatable. Characteristics are butyric, excessive soapiness, mustiness and dirty cardboard aromas. However it is rare that a whisky is completely dead and even rarer that these old bottlings are not fragile and beautiful creatures, liquid nuggets of bottled history. The Haig Dimples were bottled throughout the twentieth century and examples from the forties, fifties and sixties are still easily found, all the bottlings I’ve been fortunate enough to try have been exemplary and enchanting. They are just the sort of thing to have with such soulful, emotionally nuanced music as Christine’s.

Glenlossie 1938, something rare and special indeed.

Whisky Online has been lucky enough recently to acquire quite a few rare and unusual bottles. After some deliberation about prices and selling options we decided that it would be a lot more fun to start selling these bottles as samples. Selling samples seems to be catching on these days, largely due to the efforts of a certain crazy Belgian by the name of Luc Timmermans and his mouthwatering online bar Whisky Samples. Luc has made so many great old bottles available for people to taste that many of us would otherwise never be able to try and it is in the same spirit that we have decided to open a few of our more obscure bottles to sell as samples. Whisky is there to be drunk and this way more people get to taste these glorious old bottles and they don’t just sit and gather dust on a shelf somewhere.

Who wants to see these bad boys rot in some garage? Lets share the love...

Anyway, the first bottle we decided upon was the Glenlossie. Here are my tasting notes:

Glenlossie 1938. 43yo, rotation 1981. G&M Connoisseur’s Choice. 40%. 75cl.

Colour: Tazmanian honey

Nose: The fruit in this practically overflows from the glass as soon as you pour it. Highly polished nose, an antique furniture shop with beeswax and preserved lemons. There is a wall of all kinds of fruit behind these initial polish notes, guavas, bananas, mango and some crisp green apples which is really unexpected in such an old bottling. There are faint metallic hints, gunmetal, engine oil and the most beautiful delicate peat, its so fragile but so glorious at the same time. Very typical of these old pre war distillates, you can smell the same thing in the Macallans, Strathislas, Glen Grants and Mortlachs from the same years.

Palate: There is still surprising bite after so long in cask then in bottle at only 40%. The oak is clean and dry and fades around the mouth very gently. Maybe a tad weakish in the mouth at points but the flavours are consistent with the nose, beautiful fruit character. Some cocoanut and the same ethereal, oily peat as on the nose. So clean and perfectly poised, with a shimmering minerality. I could go on but I think there’s maybe no point, its just great old whisky.

Finish: Poetic…

Comments: We were worried when we acquired this that it would be a fake, we had never seen this bottling before. Having tried it however there is no way this is a fake, unless someone refilled the bottle with 1938 Macallan or something of equal provenance. Its not the best of the old pre war whiskies but its certainly up there in my opinion, its beautiful old whisky of a style and from an era that are long long gone. I feel it is such a privilege to try these whiskies because there will come a time when they are all gone.

Anyway 92/100 for this baby.

If you want to try this lovely stuff for yourself then you can get it here.

This is one the 3cl sample bottles that the Glenlossie has ben decanted into.

Obviously there will be more juicy things opened in due course so keep an eye on the blog and the website. Oh and Slante!

As I write this I am sitting in a shop that is doing its best to morph into the world’s first walk in microwave. Should I be working? Probably. Should I be drinking this beer under the counter? Probably not. Do I care? Nope.

Cold Beer. Two words that are to me this hot evening like a bubbly, well hopped symphony.

So it is with a fair measure of weary trepidation that I meander into the quagmire of this latest post. For I have decided that I will add my two farthings to this great big Hornet’s nest of a debate that Chivas have stirred up. When I say stirred up what I really mean is they’ve take a nest of Hornets, put it in a re-fill hogshead for at least 12 years till they’re really pissed off, then rolled it down a hill and released it as a special surprise bottling at this years whisky live. Its safe to say that everyone has aired their dirty laundry over this one. The whisky blogosphere has gone into indignant overdrive, some applauding and some bitching furiously about Chivas’ latest promotional, marketing thingy. Anyway before we go any further, here is the offending ad…

Now firstly lets get one thing clear, there are loads of shit whiskies in this world. There are young shit whiskies, ones that taste like nail varnish strained through a sock-full of pear drops. There are of course also a shed load of shit old whiskies, ones that are akin to a tannin smoothie garnished with a twist of sulphur. So obviously regardless of age there are badly made, badly matured whiskies. Now on one hand I have issues with what Chivas have said, specifically this bit from their PR bumf “One of the greatest influences on the flavour of whisky comes from maturation. Much of the complexity of Scotch whisky comes mainly from its time in oak casks in Scotland; with outstanding spirit and excellent wood management, it follows that the longer the maturation period, the more complex the whisky” Well that’s plainly a big pile of gibberish, yes of course good casks are important and when expertly handled in conjunction with great spirit there is the potential for fantastic whisky at a variety of ages. However it doesn’t mean that whisky can just keep on improving with age, the spirit of most distilleries declines in cask after 30-40 years. Distilleries that produce spirits that can age exceptionally and consistently are rare, Glen Grant, Strathisla, Macallan, Dalmore, Longmorn, Glanfarclas and maybe Balvenie spring to mind but there are many that simply fade out after too long. Wood inevitably conquers all, given enough time it consumes all traces of distillery character and complexity.

Bottled at around 45 years of age this is probably one of the finest 'old' whiskies ever bottled. But for this beauty how many 45yo, over oaked duds have there been?

However part of me really does sympathise with Chivas on this one, I don’t think their point is to get everyone to believe that older is better, just that no age statement, designer, youngsters dressed up in premium branding are not the way forward. I agree with this sentiment, there have been a plethora of NAS overpriced young bottlings in recent years, with quality and price very out of sync. There are exceptions of course, Chivas’ own A’bunadh, Longrow CV, Caol Ila Cask Strength and Laphroaig Quater Cask, although those are all either bolstered by peat or sherry. There is obviously the problem for many companies now that they have insufficient stock as well, the demand for premium malts, single casks and the increase in independent bottlers have all put a big strain on supplies of aged malts.

Glenmorangie has been holding the flag for a different attitude towards premium whiskies, that of the NAS designer, cuvée style malt.

I tend to lean toward supporting Chivas on this one because, for me personally, the best whiskies tend to be between 12 and 25 years of age. There are many older malts that I love but they become quite hit and miss after they get past 30. There are barely a handful of bottlings I can think of under ten years of age that would be considered great bottlings. But then there is the issue of bottle aging seeing as most of the ones I can think of were bottled some time ago. However I don’t think we need to open a big can of worms to go with our already ungainly Hornet’s nest.

A handy visual metaphor for the bottle aging debate which we'll tackle another day methinks.

Obviously this is very much IMHO, everyone enjoys different styles of whisky. I remember when many of the very young heavily peated malts started appearing, they were fun but I think the novelty is starting to wear off now. We’ve all grown up a little, they’re like cannabis, something you flirt with giddily as a young student but that you ultimately grow out of. However maybe that analogy isn’t so good, I don’t want to compare the finest aged whiskies to class A drugs, who wants to inject 1937 Strathisla when you can drink the stuff? Lets forget that one. Sometimes it is very refreshing to enjoy a young malt, their zingy, vibrant, youthful characters can be nourishing and fun. However I can’t help but feel that they just don’t stand up to their slightly older counterparts. I love complexity, balance and depth of flavour in whisky (who doesn’t?) and this just cannot be developed without time. No amount of wood technology can sufficiently accelerate the process and too long a time, even in great casks, can just as easily undo all a spirit’s luster. As I said before there are many dreadful whiskies of all ages, but there are also many great whiskies of all ages, its just that in my experience the greatest ones have had a little bit longer in the cask to come to their full potential. I suppose in the end we arrive back at that old chestnut “Its all about balance”, yawn. Sod whisky, I want another frosty beer…