May was going to be a month of single malt Scotch reviews but it turned more specifically into a month of reviews of sherry cask single malt Scotch whiskies. Things kicked off with an Ardmore 1977-2003 bottled by Scott’s Selection; next up was the 2011 release of the Glendronach 21, Parliament; last week I reviewed the 2018 release of the Springbank 15. And here now is a review of a Ben Nevis 22, 1991 bottled by Signatory. Whiskybase lists seven different casks of Ben Nevis 22, 1991 bottled by Signatory, but only two were at cask strength. This is one of the two. I’ve actually reviewed it before, back in 2020. That review was of a sample that had come to me from Michael Kravitz of Diving for Pearls (whose reviews I hope you are all still reading). I have to admit I had forgotten that I had already reviewed this but I’m always happy to re-review whiskies, especially when the first set of notes had come from a sample. Well, I really liked it back in 2020 from the 2 oz sample bottle and—spoiler alert—I can tell you that I really like it now that I have my own bottle open. These notes are being taken from the fourth pour from the bottle. Let’s get right to it. Continue reading
Category Archives: Signatory
Teaninich 10, 2007 (Signatory for Binny’s)
This week of reviews of malts from highlands distilleries began on Monday with a young release from a new distillery I had never tried before: Ardnamurchan. It continues today with a malt from a much older distillery: Teaninich. I’ve not reviewed so very many malts from Teaninich either—there is not a massive amount of it about—but I’m always happy to have encounter one of them in my glass. This one is another single cask bottled by Signatory for Binny’s in Chicago. It’s a hogshead, which is good news as that austere northern highlands style that Teaninich is part of shines best from bourbon casks. Anyway, let’s see if it’s shining here.
Teaninich 10, 2007 (58.5%; Signatory for Binny’s; hogshead 702710; from a bottle split)
Nose: A sweet arrival with cereals and apple; some wet wool in there too. On the second sniff there’s some honey and some simple syrup; behind it there’s some hot tarmac and some wet stones. With time the simple syrup trumps the fruit. Water tames the simple syrup a bit and brings out some cream. Continue reading
Glenlossie 9, 2008 (Signatory for Binny’s)
Here to close out the month in booze reviews is another Speyside malt, and another bottled from a hogshead by Signatory for Binny’s in Chicago (see here for Monday’s Mortlach). Let’s get right to it.
Glenlossie 9, 2008 (59.2%; Signatory for Binny’s; hogshead 10520; from a bottle split)
Nose: A lovely fresh mix of honey, lemon, cereals, toasted oak and a bit of freshly cut grass. On the second sniff the lemon is joined by tart-sweet apple and some pineapple. As it sits, there’s sweeter fruit (peach). , A few drops of water and the peach expands, picking up some Korean pear.
Palate: Comes in as indicated by the nose but in a brighter, more acidic avatar. Hot but approachable at full strength; oily texture. The fruit gets sweeter here too with time. Continues in this tasty vein. Okay, let’s see what water does for it. It pushes the acid back a bit and emphasizes the sweeter fruit and the oak. Continue reading
Mortlach 11, 2009 (Signatory for Binny’s)
After weeks of reviews of Islay whiskies, rums and mezcals, let’s close out the month with a couple of Speyside malts. First up, a young bourbon cask Mortlach bottled by Signatory for Binny’s in Chicago. Mortlach in its official incarnation is known for sherry cask-matured whisky and that’s also the guise in which it usually shows up from indies as well. And so I’m always happy to try bourbon cask versions. Let’s get right to this one.
Mortlach 11, 2009 (55.1%; Signatory for Binny’s; hogshead 306532; from a bottle split)
Nose: Honey, toasted cereals, lemon, toasted oak, dried leaves. On the second and third sniff the toasted cereal moves towards heavily charred toast and the lemon moves towards lime. As it sits the lime gets muskier—more in Makrut lime territory now. With time there’s some sweeter fruit (blueberries). A couple of drops of water pull out some pastry crust and push the citrus back. Continue reading
Highland Park 15, 1999 (for Binny’s)
I failed to mention in the preamble to Monday’s review of the Highland Park 12 for the Little Lebowski Urban Achievers that all this week’s reviews will be of whiskies from Highland Park. Consider it now mentioned. Monday’s review was from a firkin (a smaller than normal cask), which had previously held sherry. Today’s review is of a 15 yo matured in a bourbon barrel (ignore what it says on the sample label). It’s from a parcel of Signatory casks, all bourbon barrels, with proximate numbers. It was bottled for a Chicago outfit called Vintage Wines (which Google tells me is now permanently closed). Michael K. of Diving for Pearls informs that bottles of this barrel hung out on the shelves at Binny’s in Chicago for at least two-and-a-half years. Is that because most people go to Highland Park for heavy sherry? Well, I do like a good bourbon cask Highland Park. Let’s see if this is one and if it will make this week’s Highland Park streak so far a positive one. Continue reading
Caol Ila 9, 2010, Small Batch #7 (Signatory for Kirsch Import)
The first whisky reviews of 2024 were both of peated whiskies last week: a very nice Croftengea 12, and an Ardmore 23 that was not as nice at all. Let’s keep the peat flowing this week, with a trio of Caol Ilas. Hopefully, they will put us back on a positive trajectory. First up, is a young small batch release from Signatory that was put together for the German market from two refill butts and three refill hogsheads. Let’s see what it’s like.
Caol Ila 9, 2010, Small Batch #7 (47.1%; Signatory for Kirsch Import; two refill butts+three refill hogsheads; from a bottle split)
Nose: Phenolic, inky peat with green bell pepper, as is not unusual with sherried Caol Ila. On the second sniff there’s some lemon and some brine to go with the ink as well as some more savoury notes. As it sits there’s more coastal notes (shells, more brine) and an open jar of kalamata olives as well. Softer notes emerge with more time (vanilla, milky cocoa). A few drops of water bring out more vanilla. Continue reading
Glenlivet 15, 2006 (Signatory for Binny’s)
Speyside week began on Monday with a bourbon cask Dailuaine bottled by Signatory for Binny’s, and continued on Wednesday with the 2019 release of the Craigellachie 23. I liked both of those a lot. Here now to close out a week is another cask bottled by Signatory for Binny’s. This is a 15 yo Glenlivet and it’s a single first-fill sherry butt. It’s one of several high-octane sibling casks bottled by Signatory. And I mean high-octane: this is nearly at 64% abv. Let’s see what it’s like.
Glenlivet 15, 2006 (63.8%; Signatory for Binny’s; first-fill sherry but 900788; from a bottle split)
Nose: Unsurprisingly closed at first but after a bit of airing there’s rich notes of raisins and orange peel plus a lot of salted nuts; a very slightly rubbery note as well (rubber gaskets on old medicine bottles). With more air there’s more fruit: apricot jam to go with the orange peel; some butterscotch as well now. With a few drops of water the apricot and butterscotch expand dramatically and there’s some cherry in there too now. One more drop and there’s some plum. Continue reading
Dailuaine 12, 2007 (Signatory for Binny’s)
There was quite a lot of peat to close out June; so let’s start July on a milder note. First up, a trio of Speysiders—and first among them, a single bourbon hogshead. This was bottled by Signatory for Binny’s in Chicago and I’m really looking forward to it. Before shipping changes, and then my waning interest in buying whisky intervened, Binny’s was one of the premier US-based sources of interesting whisky. Their single cask program was always well-priced, interesting and usually the baseline quality was high. I’ve lost touch with it for some time now and so can only hope the standards are as they used to be. Well, I don’t know why I’m going on as though I haven’t reviewed any Binny’s releases for years and years—I just reviewed a few last month! But for whatever reason, this Dailuaine reminds me of what used to be a steady annual stream of good whisky put out without fuss or noise by Brett Pontoni and his team. Let’s hope it doesn’t let all my nostalgia down. Continue reading
Caol Ila 15, 2007 (Signatory)
Caol Ila week began on Monday with a nice 7 yo bourbon barrel whisky bottled by Single Cask Nation. It continued on Tuesday with a very good 10 yo single refill sherry butt. Here now to close out the week is the oldest of the trio: a 15 yo from Signatory that received a two year “finish” in a first-fill oloroso butt. Two years seems more like double maturation territory. It’s not clear, of course, if this was a product of re-racking multiple casks into the first-fill butt or if the cask/s re-racked were all sherry casks to begin with. It’s a brave new world of single cask whisky we live in—or to be exact, have lived in for some time. Alright, let’s get to it.
Caol Ila 15, 2007 (53.7%; Signatory; finished in first-fill oloroso butt 204; from a bottle split)
Nose: Raisiny sherry with not much sign of smoke or peat at first sniff. On the second sniff, there’s the smoke: dry woodsmoke with a lot of salt around the edges. Mild phenols emerge as it sits; the woodsmoke and the raisins merge and move in the direction of pipe tobacco. More of the pipe tobacco with water. Continue reading
Strathmill 12, 2009 (Signatory)
Unheralded Speyside distillery week comes to a close with only my second ever review of a malt from Strathmill, and the first to which I’ll be assigning a score. The only other one I’ve reviewed was a much older malt that I had only 20 ml of (I rarely assign scores to anything I’ve tasted less than 30 ml of). I liked that one but didn’t love the little bit I had of it. Now this 12 yo, I have 60 ml of. I’ve not had very many more Strathmills than I have previously reviewed and so I have very little sense of what to expect from this. I do know that I quite liked Monday’s Dailuaine (review here) and I liked Wednesday’s Inchgower even more (review here). Given that all three were bottled by Signatory, I’m choosing to be optimistic about this one. Well, I guess the suspense is going to be dispelled in just another minute. This entire introduction has been a waste of your time.
Wait, I do have an interesting nugget: this was put together from two first-fill hogsheads and yet the outturn was less than 300 bottles. Were these leaky hogsheads? Or did half of the spirit remain in a cask? If you have any idea or an educated guess, let me know in the comments. Continue reading
Inchgower 11, 2007 (Signatory)
This week’s whisky reviews, I remind you, are all of malts from unheralded Speyside distilleries; they were also bottled by Signatory. The week began with a Dailuaine 13, 2007 that was bottled for Specs in Texas. It continues today with an 11 yo Inchgower, which I think was just a regular release in Signatory’s Unchillfiltered Collection series. There are actually at least three Inchgower 11, 2007s released in this series that were all bottled in 2019 from proximate casks. I am sorry to inform that I don’t know which of those this sample is from. At the time that I acquired it I did not think to check and at this juncture I no longer remember who the source was and so cannot ask them. But maybe it’ll be representative of at least those casks. As to whether it’ll be representative of the distillery is a more complicated question. Most of Inchgower’s production goes into Bell’s, or at least it used to. Other than the 14 yo in the Flora & Fauna series, Diageo has released very few official Inchgowers in recent years. It is therefore one of many Scottish distilleries known far better through indie releases. Such have been all the other Inchgowers I’ve reviewed—which, oddly, have also all been older whiskies: the youngest before this one was a 20 yo. Anyway, let’s see what this is like. Continue reading
Dailuaine 13, 2007 (Signatory for Specs)
This will be a week of reviews from unheralded Speyside distilleries; it will also, as it happens, be a week of reviews of whiskies bottled by Signatory. Let’s begin with a 13 yo from what is probably the best-known of the trio: Dailuaine (the other two are Inchgower and Strathmill). This was bottled for Specs in Texas. There’s not too much information about it online. Specs’ listing (it is still available) gives no detail. Whiskybase indicates that it’s been put together from several hogsheads for a total outturn of 1152 bottles (no wonder it’s still available). There’s only one rating on Whiskybase with an accompanying review. The review actually makes the whisky seem quite intriguing to me but the rating is pretty low. I’m curious to see what I make of it—for what it’s worth, I’ve liked all the Dailuaines I’ve reviewed; of course, that’s no guarantee. Anyway, as this whisky is still available, my review is not actually untimely, even though it comes more than two years after it was bottled. There is no need to thank me. Continue reading
Laphroaig 15, 1998 (Signatory for The Whisky Exchange)
This week of reviews of sherry cask Laphroaigs began with the 2022 release of the official 10 yo Sherry Oak. That one is a sherry finish. It continued on Wednesday with a 13 yo refill sherry cask, distilled in 1998 and bottled in 2011 by A.D. Rattray. We’ll end the week now with another refill sherry butt filled with spirit distilled in 1998. This is a 15 yo bottled by Signatory for The Whisky Exchange in London. There were quite a few of these casks filled in 1998 bottled around that time. This is from cask 700393. I’ve actually previously reviewed cask 700394. That one was another 13 yo and was released by Van Wees in 2011. My understanding is that a lot of Van Wees’ casks came from Signatory in those days and so it’s not a surprise that the numbers are adjacent. Anyway, I really liked that 13 yo—and, for that matter, I quite liked cask 700348 as well, which was also bottled by Van Wees. Will another two years of aging make this 15 yo even better than those two? If only things worked that way. Anyway, I opened this bottle earlier this week and so I know that it’s certainly not a disappointment. At 60.8% abv and almost 10 years in the bottle, however, that first pour was a bit tight. And so these notes are being taken from the third pour. Continue reading
Clynelish 11, 2008 (Signatory UCF)
This week of reviews of malts from Highland distilleries began with a 10 yo Loch Lomond/Inchmoan. Let’s go further north now to Clynelish in the northern highlands and add a year to the age. Unlike Monday’s Inchmoan, which was made with wine yeast used in the fermentation process, there is nothing, as far as I know, out of the ordinary about this Clynelish. It was released by Signatory in their Unchillfiltered Collection. Signatory released a few of these 11 year olds from the 2008 vintage and I’m sorry to say that not having realized that before this evening I failed to ask the source of my samples for more specific cask information—and now I can’t remember who the source of my samples was! As always, getting old is a lot of fun. Anyway, of those 2019 releases were from bourbon barrels and so we know what the cask type is. Anyway: bourbon cask Clynelish is almost always a good thing and Signatory has always been a good source of Clynelish casks. And so I am hopeful that this will not disappoint. Let’s see. Continue reading
Unnamed Orkney 14, 2006 (Signatory)
Okay, let’s bring to an end this week of reviews of recent’ish releases in Signatory’s Un-Chillfiltered Collection. The week began on Monday with an Ardmore 11 that was matured in ex-Islay casks. It continued on Wednesday with a bourbon cask Glenrothes. Both those casks were unusual expressions of those distilleries’ profiles but neither got me very excited—though I did like them both. The final whisky for the week is more in line with the distillery’s official profile: this is a Highland Park from a refill sherry butt. Yes, it says it’s an “Unnamed Orkney” but unless word emerges that casks from Scapa are also being sold under these “Unknown/Secret Orkney” appellations, it’s safe to assume these are all Highland Parks. I did a whole week of Highland Park reviews last month (here, here and here). I liked two of those quite a lot and was only a bit disappointed by the one official release in the lot (though I didn’t think it was bad). Let’s hope this one is more in line with the two indies from the last go-around. Continue reading
Glenrothes 11, 2010 (Signatory)
From Ardmore in the eastern highlands we move a bit north and a bit west to Glenrothes in the Speyside. Like Monday’s Ardmore this Glenrothes too was bottled by Signatory in its Un-Chillfiltered Collection series and was also matured in a bourbon cask—albeit, unlike that Ardmore, this was not an ex-Islay cask. And like the Ardmore this is a recent release—both were bottled in 2021. Bourbon cask Glenrothes is not very common—most of the official releases from the distillery, past and present, have involved sherry casks in the vattings. As a result, Glenrothes is one of those distilleries—Highland Park is another—whose official profile is associated with sherry maturation, and it is to the independents we must go to get a sense of what their spirit is like when matured entirely in bourbon casks. I think I’ve mentioned before that I rather like bourbon cask Glenrothes and also that I have samples of a few ex-bourbon Glenrothes bottles on my shelves. And I think I may also have been promising reviews of those samples for almost as long as the blog has been active. Well, if I like this one maybe I’ll actually get around to digging those out and reviewing them as well. Continue reading
Ardmore 11, 2009 (Signatory)
Last week featured malt whiskies from three different Indian distilleries (Kamet, Amrut and Paul John). This week will feature malt whiskies from three different Scottish distilleries. In a further connection, they’re all bottled by Signatory—and to be more specific, they were all bottled in Signatory’s Un-Chillfiltered Collection. Bottles in this series, usually but not always at 46% abv, were a major part of my malt whisky education more than a decade ago. I lost track of them for a while after that but was very glad to see a bunch of recent releases in the series on the shelves of a local liquor store in early May. I bought two of those and both will be reviewed this week. First up, is an Ardmore 11, 2009. I am—as is no secret—a big fan of Ardmore’s peated profile, with its emphasis on pepper, mineral notes and fruit. I didn’t realize until I got home that this cask might not display those qualities. Why? Well, because the label says “Bourbon Barrel after Islay” which I take to mean an ex-bourbon barrel that had previously held Islay whisky. If a heavily peated one, those notes might easily overpower Ardmore’s more delicate profile. Did that in fact prove to be the case? Read on. Continue reading