Whisky Online Blog

After a long run of nothing but tastings on the blog I feel increasingly inclined to return to my roots a little more. Maybe it’s something to do with it being a new year, who knows? I think nothing but tastings and reviews can become a little dry over time and it’s always nice to mix things up a bit. I haven’t written about film for a quite some time on these pages. In fact I haven’t given ‘film’ in its own right the attention it deserves, or that I have always felt compelled to bestow upon it, in my day to day life this past year. I was busy being in other places, then I was busy thinking constantly about whisky from the moment I returned (when am I not though), and then there were the inevitable distractions provided by music and all the people, instruments, gigs and sessions that come lashed to and spinning with it. So I have neglected my other great passion in life this past year, that of cinema going, film gorging and general celluloidial ravagings. I didn’t see nearly as many films as I would have liked and I missed many that I wanted to see, I’m still catching up quite a bit. There are a number that I did see that I found particularly profound and brilliant and these are the ones I feel compelled to write about in the coming days/weeks. One of the best films I saw was at a cinema in New York. It was a modern cinema, the kind that feels more like a sweet shop that just happens to show films. An old building that stands vacant and sad in the noise of the city, its innards and soul lobotomised by merchandise and hollowed by the spoons of profit margins. But a cinema nonetheless, one that still had the decency to switch out its lights and play a film with the correct focus and an audio track pitched in sensitive synchronisation with the picture. The film I saw was The Guard.

The Guard was directed by John Michael McDonagh, the brother of Martin McDonagh the man behind the equally great film In Bruges. Fittingly the films themselves feel like siblings in many ways. The spirals of philosophy, ruminations on human nature and wide open endings all lurking beneath a blackly comedic veneer are cornerstones of both films. As is Brendan Gleeson, a man with a face like the inside of a kettle and the ability to automatically improve any film by 22% simply by being in it. He’s a man we’re more accustomed to seeing in supporting roles, flexing is characterful jowls and munching down huge chunks of scenery while pasty famous people flounder attempting to wrench whole scenes back from his loot sack. So it is a rare treat to see him carrying a film here, and carry is no understatement. The film is brimming with fantastic actors giving brilliantly nuanced turns, Don Cheadle, Liam Cunningham, Mark Strong, David Wilmot and Fionnula Flanagan all deserve special mention here. But it is Gleeson’s film entirely, he moves through it with a majestic and glorious waddle, creating in his wake a character of extremes, wit, nuance, charm and complexity. He plays Sergeant Gerry Doyle, a police officer who’s chief concerns are, in no particular order, laziness, prostitutes, harvesting drugs from deceased boy racers, healthy disregard for rules and regulations and casual racism. The film hinges around his dealings with an FBI agent (Cheadle) who arrives in town to investigate drug trafficking, and their subsequent investigation. The plot is almost an excuse around which to hang the characters and their various virtues and vices, each of them offering a window or a mirror into a different corner of humanity.

Brendan Gleeson as Gerry Boyle in The Guard

The greatness of the film lies in the unknowable gaps between performance and moment, those hidden niches of the film where it somehow becomes even greater than the sum of its parts. I saw it in a room full of happy, popcorn chugging Americans in the heat of a New York summer evening. I’ve never been to Ireland but the common ground between the characters of Irish and Scottish people and their landscapes made me a little thirsty for home. But perhaps the film’s greatest power is its most simple and obvious one, it is achingly funny. It treads a fine line between crudity, wit and character driven comedy that is wonderful enough but, best of all, it doesn’t pander to an audience, it has a great awareness of where audiences are these days in terms of humour. The film lays out a smorgasbord of political in-correctness and instead of shying away from the obvious race jokes, swearing and lunacy, it embraces them. It’s the extreme teasing kind of humour shared between friends comfortable enough to call each other the foulest names under the sun and relish every exchange. It’s a rare film that manages to avoid all the pitfalls of crassness in these kinds of humour and retain its deeper streak of nobility, warmth and genuine connection with its spectators. At least that’s what I imagine happened in European cinemas, the American audience I shared it with gasped at the mention of the word cunt.

I normally find a whisky to match the film or song I’m nattering about in these kinds of posts. In the case of The Guard I’d much rather pick an Irish whiskey, the film really does have a strong Irish identity and I’d like to doth my dram to that but sadly I have zero examples of Irish distilling to hand. So we’ll just have a completely unconnected and pointless tasting instead with a sample that landed on my desk this morning, one that I’ve been quite excited about now for some time…. a new dark sherried Caol Ila. Islay is pretty close to Ireland right…?

Thanks to Hasse for the sample and Magnus for providing such an easily stealable photo on facetube.

Caol Ila 2000-2011. G&M Exclusive for Magnus Fagerstrom & Slainte. Fresh sherry hogshead. 302 bottles. 57.9%. 70cl.

A big thankyou to Hasse for sending me this sample.

Colour: Indian Rosewood

Nose: Sharp at first and full of smoky bacon, puy lentils, tcp, bandages, buckets of hot tar, menthol, toothpaste, hints of molasses, demerara and muscovado sugars and brown bread. Quite a powerhouse of a nose and very far from shy, an extroverted Caol Ila. Develops these wonderful notes of crushed mint leaf, mint julep and mojito (not that I’d say this was ideal mixing whisky). The alcohol softens quite nicely after a little time and more of these smoky bacon, meaty sherry notes come through with hints of green peppercorns in brine, medicine, fish nets, motor oil and quite a modern sherry quality. That’s not to say the sherry is dirty, it has more of this very modern, thick meaty character to it. Quite dense, sinewy, earthy and robust with notes of struck flints and fruit resin (what?). Lets try with water… with water it becomes much more elegant with a surprisingly complex medicinal structure and a richer earthy quality. A little more classical maybe, the peat and the sherry really are perfectly integrated now.

Palate: Neat it is no less big than on the nose. Initially a big sweet peatiness comes through with more sea salt, smoked bacon, fried pancetta, aspirin, turmeric, hessian, concentrated peat oils, damp sackcloth, glazed cherries, cocoa and cola cubes. The sweetness is quite fascinating, it’s almost greasy in its manifestation with a few more slightly dirty/earthy qualities coming through now. Notes of beef jerky, erasers, pencil lead and cannabis. With water: now there is more earthy, leathery, meaty qualities, it becomes much drier and these notes of salt are still pronounced but joined in droves by mineral notes, lemon juice, camphor, mixed spices, liquorice, touches of lavender and wood smoke. There is a prevailing dirtiness in the background that is a borderline hindrance for me.

Finish: Long, drying, salty and full of earthy, herbaceous, chocoaltey sherry and some green chewy peats.

Comments: Not as great as I was hoping from the darkness of the colour but this is still an excellent whisky with a great integration between distillate and cask, or peat and sherry to be more blunt about it. Sherried Caol Ilas are bloody hard to find and can be spectacular (James MacArthur London Scottish anyone?) this is not up to those standards but it is a great dram and if you’re in the mood for something big and flavoursome then you could do a lot worse than this beast. I think two or three more years in cask would probably have propelled it past 90. If G&M still have any of these sherry hoggies maybe they could sit on a few of them for a while and trckle them out from 15 onwards? I know I know, just an idea.

Score: 87/100

Well that wasn’t particularly suited to the film I suspect but it was a great dram and as such would probably go fine with The Guard if you happen to be out of Redbreast. Not that matching whiskies to films should be taken too seriously mind you. I’ll let you into a little secret, don’t tell anyone this by the way, we’ll keep it just between ourselves, but the thing is, this whole matching whiskies to films or songs business, well, it’s just a bit of silly fun really. I know, shocking right? Remember not to tell anyone, I don’t want to loose street cred now.

After the Managers’ Choice Caol Ila last week lets have a go at some much older, much more fairly priced expressions from the same distillery. Caol Ila is arguably the most consistent distillery on the planet, you can find stunning examples of it at almost any age from any era in its recent (last 40 years or so) production history. In these days when peated whisky has become somewhat boring due to all the modern stuff not holding a candle to all the old, rare and incredibly unobtainable stuff, Caol Ila offers one of the final outposts of affordable but top notch aged, peated malt. Today we’ll have three different 30 year olds.

Caol Ila 1979-2009. BBR. cask 4412. 53.1%. 70cl.

Colour: Immediately fantastic coastal notes with some really big pristine aromas of green tea, salt, lemon juice, minerals, seaweed and mercurochrome. Silky, green peat qualities with notes of heather and old kreel nets in the background as well. Lovely green fruits underneath it all. The nose is very crisp and fresh with all the coastal qualities coming through in vivid HD. With water there are loads of soft fruits coming now with further notes of sheep’s wool, eucalyptus, germoline and oysters.

Palate: Luxuriously oily and fruity with a great mix of coastal and medicinal aspects, bandages, tincture, hospital gauze, TCP, iodine, all kinds of medical elements to it. More notes of various teas with lots of different dried herbs as well. With water there is more silky saltiness and notes of dried seaweed but also some bubblegum, hessian and tar.

Finish: Long, remaining coastal and very fresh.

Comments: Flawless old Caol Ila, delicious, complex, well balanced and effortlessly drinkable. This was sold for something like £75 when it came out, well done the great people at Berry Bros for that one. I preferred it without water but I think that was a mood thing.

Score: 91/100

Caol Ila 1979-2010. BBR. casks 4604/4605. 55.6%. 70cl. (No picture but for all intensive purposes it is identical to the above image.)

Colour: More closed than the 09 bottling, but it is rather beautiful with similar notes of green fruits, green tea, medicine and coastal aromas. It feels a little looser at first nosing, not as concentrated as the previous one. Given time it unfolds some beautifully delicate medicinal notes with more obvious aromas of manure, stables, baled hay and granny smith apples. More farmy than the 09 bottling but not quite as zingy with its coastal qualities. Water makes this one even more farmy with more notes of engine oil, hay and then putty and wax.

Palate: Unexpected first notes of green olives, brine, kelp and sawdust. Then black tea, putty, germoline, spices, minerals and hints of Orangina and cranberry juice. With water: Ahhhh! It became really coastal, lots of oysters and lemon juice with more kelp, kreel nets, wet pebbles, seashore and saline notes. More subtle hints of tea, bread, peat oils, almonds, a little vanilla, malt and dunnage.

Finish: Long, lemony, saline, with dried peat, smoke and fish nets.

Comments: Brilliant but not quite as brilliant as the first one.

Score: 90/100

There was a third 1979 Caol Ila by Berry Bros but I haven’t been able to find a sample in time so we’ll have something different instead. This bottling was still only an advance sample at the time this sample was scrounged.

Caol Ila 1980-2010. Dewar Rattray. cask: 4679. 58.8%. 70cl.

Colour: Straw

Nose: Big and oily with sharp notes of fresh lemon juice, kippers, brine and freshly baked bread. Then further notes of linseed oil, camphor, minerals and toast. Quite an intense salty streak running through it, very powerful stuff, not as delicate as the Berry bro offerings. With water it becomes a little more similar to the Berry Bros bottlings, more ‘in line’ shall we say. Some green fruits, a little grassy, yet more really crisp saltiness and some waxy lemon rind.

Palate: Again very big and oily with a sweet, almost mentholated peat quality. Lots of sharp, arid coastal qualities, very briny and citrusy with some really interesting metallic notes as well. Some floral notes in the background and a little vanilla, this is otherwise quite a difficult Caol Ila, more demanding and austere than the previous two in my opinion. With water there is lemon balm, limoncello liqueur, greengages, tincture, oils, more gristy peat flavours and a little earthiness.

Finish: Fairly long, very intense and focused on mouth tingling coastal flavours.

Comments: This one is quite different and globally much more difficult than the other two, however it is still delicious and does reward a it of patience very nicely. One of the saltiest drams I’ve had in a while.

Score: 90/100

Further proof of Caol Ila’s mind bending consistency and ‘across the board’ quality.

Yesterday’s post about the Caol Ila Managers’ Choice seemed innocent enough to me at the time but it sparked quite a bit of blether on the whisky-online Facebook outpost. Much of this chatter was concerning the prices of the Manager’s Choice series of casks and the old quality versus price argument. Well, I have to agree these bottlings are too expensive for what they are, I’ve tried a few and none of them really justify their price tag, not even the big hitters like the Caol Ila or Clynelish. That said, the price is understandable in many ways, bottling twenty something single casks from each of their distilleries is not really in Diageo’s best fiscal interests and they evidently put a lot of effort into getting them right. Obviously to them the money spent is as much on PR as it is on niche, nerd-pleasing bottlings. So we don’t have to agree with the pricing but then again we don’t have to buy them either. As everyone has already pointed out there are official bottlings and independent options from many of these distilleries that are often both superior and cheaper. As always the fun is in rooting out the wee gems, sorting the wheal from the chaff, or the malt from the grain if you want an elitist and snobbish ‘malternative’ sentiment. So today lets continue to half-heartedly poke the slumbering heifer of controversy with another stab at the MC series. We’ll do another of the big four, ie Lagavulin, Caol Ila, Clynelish and today’s choice… Talisker.

Talisker 10yo. OB. 2010. 45.8%. 20cl.

Colour: Gold

Nose: Wet forest flora and lots of coastal seashore freshness. Quite austere in many ways for a standard bottling with lots of minerals, lemon juice and graphite coming through. Big whiffs of grassy peat and steel wool with sheeps wool and fresh grass, then the classic pepperiness comes bounding out. Little medicinal notes of tincture, tcp and bandages with lovely oily background notes.

Palate: Oily, coal smoke and gristy green peats come first with notes of grapefruit, hessian, white flowers, stone fruits and engine oil. Green peppercorns, smoked haddock, plasticine, blood oranges,  cranberry juice, pencil shavings and paint. Becomes steadily more herbaceous with notes of chives and wax with a little spice.

Finish: Great length and pretty big on coastal notes, camphor and pepper.

Comments: One of the best standard bottlings around, supremely drinkable but if you’re in the mood to pay attention it’s a pretty challenging whisky as well. The MC definitely has its work cut out.

Score: 89/100

Talisker 1994-2009. OB ‘Manager’s Choice’. Cask 7147. Bedega Sherry butt. 582 bottles. 58.6%. 70cl.

Colour: Warm nose full of fresh butter, parsley, honey and flecks of salt that get bigger and bigger with time. Leafy and herbaceous with notes of sorrel, mint, wet earth, seashore, pebbles, oil and graphite. Like the Caol Ila yesterday this one smells much older than it is, in fact it reminds me a little of the official 30yo’s.  Flowery minerals and sharp notes of grapefruit and white pepper. The nose is much more concentrated and compact that the 10yo. Lets add water… now it’s just more leafy, more mineraly and more citrusy.

Palate: Buttery and chocolatey with after eight mints, orange marmalade, coriander, digestive biscuits, cereals, lots of peat smoke, greengages, fried chicken breast with a wholegrain mustard sauce (what a stupid tasting note). Surprisingly palatable at full strength but lets do the aqua thing all the same… With water there is some more intense notes of green peppercorns and more zingy citrus notes. Not too far from the 10yo in its ‘reduced’ profile.

Finish: Really similar to the 10yo now, maybe some more up front flavours of vanilla and bit more mouth-coating.

Comments: It’s top-notch stuff for sure but for me it’s still the same score as the 10yo. So one is £30 and the other is £300. I’ll let you draw your own conclusions from that but at least the quality is consistent.

Score: 89/100

Tomorrow: something that’s less likely to annoy people. Maybe.