Whisky Online Blog

…you wait ages for one then three come along all at once.

Something for the weekend?

Thank God for Dalmore! What would we do without them? For literally years, good folk, like ourselves, the length and breadth of the whisky world have been waiting to splash out on something like this. All those mundane whiskies, day in day out, piffling peat monsters, crappy cask strengths and yawnsome forty year olds. I can’t speak for all of you but I know that I have certainly been waiting with baited frustration for a worthy opportunity to spend one of the spare 100Ks I’ve got lying about the place. Obviously I could fritter away my money on such trivia as a complete collection of Ardbegs or Broras, but who wants all those dull, fiddly single casks? I could buy another yacht, but yachts are such mood things and it’s really not the season just now darling. I might even be generous and give my money to charities but how will these poor folks ever learn to fend for themselves if we just keep on giving them money? No no no… what I need is the world’s most expensive whisky, and not just that, it’s also the world’s most expensive finish, having spent essential time ‘marrying’ in a 9 litre, sherry seasoned, American oak cask. Ah I can almost taste it now, the dulcet waves of gently crashing fruit, the smudge of ancient peat, and actual trimmings of Richard Paterson’s mustache that he has personally infused with this multi-vintage, demigod of a spirit. Beautiful, all that remains is the gentle kiss of ice and soda to be added when I finally crack my bottle open and watch as it glugs hypnotically into my generous crystal tumbler. Praise be upon Dalmore for this historic trilogy.

Lord Voldalmore in his potions lab. What new prices lurk in yonder realms? How far can one man go?

To celebrate the release of this phenomenal new spirit, the world renowned whisky author, part time master blender and X factor judge Angus W. Apfelstrudel, has written these exclusive tasting notes.

Dalmore Trinitas 64 years old. OB. 41%. 70cl. Only 4  bottles. Err… I mean 3.

Colour: The bronze hue of a well fed and finely tanned Brazilian lady of the night.

Nose: Ahhh… of course, this takes me back, this is the aroma of Dalmore as I remember it during my time spent at the distillery many years ago teaching young Richard his trade, the little scamp, even at the tender age of eleven he had such a fine mustache. A perfect amber sunset of fruit, the sweet spices of arabia and other foreign shores dock into this ancient olfactory Scottish port, where the waves of blissful sweetness roll gently against a drying oaken shore. Aroma let me count thy faces, the ancient wisdom of this nose is broad and deep with wise threads of horse stable and knowledgeable whiffs of derelict highland croft houses. Beauty I have smelt thee and you are at an astonishingly reasonable price.

Palate: Well iron my trousers and call me a saxon! All manner of flavours now, eggplant, string, finest vintage nail varnish, meadow earth and buttered crumpets. If God played the stylophone it would taste like this! Heady notes of diced sultanas, carrot smoothie and something slightly vegetal like the thrice worn brazier of a medium priced London call girl. This cask must have been made from pieces of the true cross, there is something truly holy about it, now hints of swiss cheese. Then there is the peat, like a phenolic stallion in his twilight years rearing up for one final, glorious stampede. Brings to mind my days as a peat cutter and crofter fisherman in Baghdad. No need to add water to this angelic dram, my tears are in the glass already.

Finish: Nurse! Pass the kleenex!

Comments: This whisky is so good I would even have considered tasting it for free.

Score: 99/100

These notes appear in Mr Apfelstrudels new edition of The Whisky Tora which will be out in december and features scores for over 38000 new whiskies. Published by Bung Hole Books inc. it will be available from all participating distilleries for £29.99.

Fantastic. Now lets finish by bathing in the comfort of warm irony as we watch a bunch of millionaires perform a song bout the evils of money.

Ok so I haven’t updated in nearly a week and there is a good reason for this, I have been busy with quite some extensive ‘research’. Anyway now that I have recovered from said ‘research’ there will be lots to write about. I just spent a heady and joyful weekend at Whisky Fringe in Edinburgh, lots of fun, familiar faces and great drams. In fact I spent a large portion of the weekend filling my rucksack with samples of the weird and wonderful so expect many new and interesting tasting notes in the coming days and weeks. However before we get stuck into the froth of whisky fringe there is the small matter of the official launch of the new Arran 14yo that I attended at Oran Mor in Glasgow last wednesday.

The men from Arran present their new 14yo. They look very proud and quite rightly so.

It was a hot day and Oran Mor on a wednesday evening can usually be quite a cool respite for the aficionado of whisky and beer. It has become quite a staple of west end chic in recent times with its wooden panelling, ancient church interior and cask laden bar. However on this day it was heaving with the crush of Glasgow and Edinburgh’s usual whisky suspects. Obviously the promise of free drams and canapes was just too much for many to resist, me included. The drams on offer were from a small, pin sized cask that had been drawn from the warehouse earlier that day and made its journey from Arran to the bar by ferry, car and ultimately, by horse and carriage up Byres Road. The whisky was the new Arran 14yo reduced to approximately 46%, I found it very tasty but I decided to wait till I could garner a sample from the general release batch. Luckily I would not have to wait too long for that to happen.

The new Arran 14yo, lets take it for a spin.

Arran 14yo. OB. 70cl. 46%. 2010.

Colour: light gold

Nose: immediately there is lots of honey and some classic vanilla, bourbony fudge notes. This malt is starting to show some delicate signs of age, very noticeable in comparison to earlier standard bottlings. The vatting is mainly fresh bourbon barrels with some refill wood and a small proportion of sherry and the bourbon dominance really shows here. However the good news is that there are no signs of overt wood technology at play, there is a lot of sweetness and bourbon character but it is clean and honest wood that speaks. No funny business thankfully. After a minute or so some notes of damp sackcloth and dunnage appear, these seem to be very common aromas in Arran. Lots of fresh pear fruit and something slightly varnishy and resinous at the back. Its not globally very complex but like many Arrans it has no obvious flaws and is quite pretty and charming in an unassuming way.

Palate: Some sawdust at first then baked apples and custard with freshly grated nutmeg. Some hints of morello cherries, olive oil and quite a lean saltiness, almost like a sliver of pancetta. More honey and vanilla, quite concise with the nose. Towards the swallow there is a little minerality and something slightly drying, it even displays a delicate waxiness, still quite polished.

Finish: Returns to the sawdust of the palate and has some granite like earthiness as well. The finish fades very nicely, good length.

Comments: Its quite a nicely composed malt I think. It has all the Arran hallmarks of freshness and delicate island character but I still really wish they wouldn’t rely so heavily on first fill bourbon, it just ends up tasting a bit too modern for my liking. Anyway its a worthy addition to the range and its always worth remembering what an epic amount of effort that is involved in nurturing a spirit to this kind of age from scratch. Well done Arran!

Score: 84/100

The Arran 14yo gets its first airing.

From the sunny evening delight of Oran Mor to the headrush of an Edinburgh in the midst and grip of yet another festival, in which whisky was once again about to play a serious role. I was fortunate enough to have been asked by Susan Colville of the excellent Wemyss Malts to lend a hand on her stand for the weekend, seeing as this meant free entry to whisky fringe I was only too happy to oblige.

The Wemyss Malts table at the fringe. Slaving over a hot dram all day long, its a tough job and all that yackety yack.

I had never been to whisky fringe before, sadly my recent summers have all too frequently been spent out of the country, so I was pretty excited to finally make it along. Even from the more generic perspective of being behind a stand pouring drams you could still feel that this was a very laid back festival, more about fun rather than enforced whisky geekery or the occasionally stalinist whisky live approach. It was nice to just enjoy the slightly reckless hubbub rather than feel like you were missing everything. As much as I love festivals like Limburg or Oostende there is always an overwhelming sense of frustration that there are just so many amazing, rare and wonderful whiskies at these festivals that you can never try them all. It can be daunting and annoying in equal measure. The fringe on the other hand feels like an event and a set of drams you can get a handle on, I was fortunate enough to have tried most of what was on offer before so I felt free to enjoy the more unusual and newer releases at a more leisurely pace. Like all festivals it had its frantic and flushed faced moments but in general my impression was of friends enjoying an opportunity to catch up, certainly amongst the reps and ambassadors who all seemed to be on fine form and often quite relaxed themselves, not failing to join in the revelry as well as dish it out.

The dramming masses congregate at whisky fringe.

For me it was exactly what a festival should be in terms of enjoyment, it was fun, it was easy and it was well organised. I would happily go back another year as a punter but who knows where I’ll be by this time next year. It wasn’t the best stocked festival or the most richly rewarding but sadly the whisky festivals we have here in Scotland will probably never be this, it was however a ‘great wee festival’ exuding exactly the sort of charm and care free attitude that so many of the European festivals will just never have. It was a grand wee weekend all in all and the gin and tonics we poured as our half time orange special ‘drams’ on the Weymss stand were well received by several over-drammed connoisseurs, ones like this one…

Ralfy Mitchel, the brains behind the renowned 'Gin Stuff' website. Here shows his pride in a fresh G&T.

Lets finish with a couple of tastings, here are two personal highlights from the festival. A marvelous Clynelish and a compelling Dalmore.

Clynelish 1982/2010 28yo. Berry Bros. 70cl. 46%. Exclusive for Royal Mile Whiskies.

Colour: Straw

Nose: One of these uber fruity, waxy, flinty, mineraly early eighties Clynelishes that bears a striking resemblance to its early seventies forbears. A beautifully polished, delicately spiced and fruity nose. Perhaps not as rich as some Clynelish can be but its so subtle and delicate, more honey and salt develops after a while. Its surprisingly similar to some of the great 71/72′s. Very fragrant and coastal, a beautiful nose.

Palate: Lots of wax and tropical fruit, some rich toasty maltiness with a great subtly smoky dryness. Some very delicate phenols in the background. Flowery white fruit character with more of that great coastal flavour, this really is very coastal, the saltiness is surprisingly dominant. Very old school, very highland and very fresh, this really is my kind of dram.

Finish: Long, creamy, honied, some gentle vanilla, a phenolic whiff and bags of coastal freshness. Just delicious.

Comments: I love Clynelish and this is a belter. It has everything that is good about the distillery’s character and it balances it all with beautiful poise. A dangerously drinkable atlantic belter. Well done Berry Borthers yet again!

Score: 91/100

Dalmore 1990/2009. 19yo ‘Tropical Spice’. Weymss Malts. 70cl. 59.4%. Refill Sherry Butt. 767 bottles.

This is an utterly rubbish picture. Sorry, I'm very lazy.

Colour: Mahogany. Suspiciously dark for a refill butt.

Nose: Immediately very concentrated, all on red fruits, plum and damson jam, stewed fruits, bags of classic but very clean sherry character. This smells like a very good cask. Something quite dusty and robust about the nose, a little old school in many ways. A lovely balance between dry and sweet, the sherry is rich and assertive but not overly aggressive, it complements the oily distillate so nicely. Something slightly mentholated and gently spicy as well. Very entertaining nose, surprisingly easy at over 59%. Starts to show some really lovely aged character, rancio, cigar tobacco, leather and something quite meaty. A very sinewy dram. Water makes the nose more meaty and oily, perhaps with less fruit and more rustic character, more tobacco and old parchment aromas.

Palate: Very big thick concentration again, berry compote, fruit eau de vie and something unusual like celery bitters. Very oily and mouthcoating, still incredibly clean sherry, lots of dark chocolate and a faint nuttiness, some jaffa cakes as well. It shows its strength a little more boldly now, lets try with water. Water softens it for sure and unearths some malty and very spicy flavours. More jammy qualities and quite a bit of quince jelly with some mulling spices. This must have been a very active refill, the first fill must have been very short or the cask was rejuvenated somehow.

Finish: Long and warming with something like gunflints, more hessian character, even a little tarry and more meatiness.

Comments: This is one bigass Dalmore. Well worth trying if you get a chance, it knocks the spots off almost all the standard distillery bottlings in this blogger’s opinion. A joy to have such a clean sherried malt for a change.

Score: 89/100

Many great drams no doubt but spare a thought for the boys from Royal Mile who worked the event and weren’t allowed to dram at all throughout the day. Here they are commendably making amends…

Staff of Royal Mile Whiskies engaged in an intense post festival 'research' session.

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…