Tag Archives: Highlands

Edradour 12, 2010, Moscatel Cask (for Spec’s)

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This week I’m reviewing single casks of Edradour that were recently bottled for Spec’s in Texas; the further twist is that they’re all wine casks of one kind or the other. The series didn’t get off to the best start on Monday. That 10 yo Chardonnay cask had a little too much sulphur in it even for a non-sulphur-phobe like me. Water rescued it but, on the whole, it was underwhelming. Today’s cask, two years older and filled a year prior, is a moscatel cask. I don’t know that I’ve ever had a moscatel cask Edradour or Ballechin before. Let’s hope it gets the week back on track.

Edradour 12, 2010, Moscatel Cask (53.1%; for Spec’s; cask 88; from a bottle split)

Nose: Starts out nutty, beany and yeasty, just like the chardonnay cask. Some roasted malt on the second sniff and then a big wave of citrus (lime peel) and chalk. Spicier here too with time even as some sweeter fruit is teased—let’s see if water brings it out. No, not really; in fact, it washes it out. Continue reading →

Edradour 10, 2011, Chardonnay Cask (for Spec’s)

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Okay, having done a week of blended malts/whiskies from Compass Box (here, here and here), let’s do a week of single malts. This week’s whiskies are all from Edradour, they were all bottled for Spec’s in Texas, and they’re all wine casks of one kind or the other. Edradour—the tiny highlands distillery owned by Signatory—have a history of wine cask releases; both for the mainline malt, and for the peated variant, Ballechin. The base spirit is an idiosyncratic one and it’s probably fair to say that Edradour in general is more a cult distillery than a crowd-pleaser, and also that the cult is not very large. I myself have historically preferred the heavily peated stylings of the Ballechin variant to mainline Edradour—just as I prefer the heavily peated Ledaig to that distillery’s also idiosyncratic mainline malt, Tobermory. And whether it’s Ledaig/Tobermory or Ballechin/Edradour, I generally prefer sherry casks to ex-bourbon. Well, none of this week’s casks of Edradour for Spec’s are sherry casks. First up, is a chardonnay cask. It was bottled at an eye-watering strength; which is, I suppose, another hallmark of the distillery’s single cask program. Anyway, let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading →

Clynelish 1996-2015, Prenzlow Portfolio (Jack Wieber)

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Back to a sherry cask to close out this week of reviews of whiskies from highlands distilleries, and also to close out the month. We’ll go a bit further north than Tomatin, to Clynelish. It’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a sherry cask Clynelish; my last three reviews were all of bourbon casks of one kind or the other (here, here and here). Well, the label on this bottle does not specify the cask type but it was very clearly a sherry cask. It was distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2015 by Jack Wieber’s Whisky World in Germany (and it’s been even longer since I reviewed a Jack Wieber release). The “Prenzlow Portfolio” part of the name refers to the label painted by the artist, Alfred Prenzlow. I assume there were other Jack Wieber bottlings in this series with labels created by Alfred Prenzlow but I have not come across them. This is another of many bottles that I purchased almost 10 years ago but for some reason never got around to opening. Well, I finally opened it over the weekend. Here now are my notes. Continue reading →

Tomatin 11, 2006, Cask 4182

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Highlands distilleries week continues with another bourbon cask, time from Tomatin. This was also not a cask available broadly, though it was available to the public. I don’t mean to be mysterious: while Monday’s Ben Nevis was a private cask bottling, this one was one of five casks available for hand-filling when I visited the distillery in June of 2018 (see here for my account of the excellent tour my family took of the distillery). I had purchased a similar bourbon cask the previous summer as well; and since I’d liked that one a lot, there was no doubt that I was going to get another. As it happens, I filled the PX cask as well alongside this one. I’ve reviewed that PX bottle previously—only a few months after purchase. Why I waited more than five years to open this one, I cannot tell you, except that I have a stupid amount of whisky on my shelves and often lose track of bottles. Anyway, I opened this a few nights ago and have very much enjoyed my first pours of it. Now that it’s had a few days to breathe in the open bottle, here are my notes. Continue reading →

Ben Nevis 12, 2009

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September began with a week in Campbeltown with a Kilkerran trio (here, here and here). It continued with a week of island distilleries (here, here, and here) and then a week that featured an English distillery (here) and two Speyside distilleries (here and here). Let’s close the month out now with a week of distilleries in the Scottish highlands. I’ll start with a bourbon cask Ben Nevis.

This 12 yo appears to have been a private cask bottling. It was bottled to mark someone’s bat mitzvah. And as per the rear label picture on Whiskybase, it had been distilled on the day that person was born and was then bottled on the day of their bat mitzvah. It must have taken some doing to make this happen. I assume the birthday cask was identified closer to the time of bottling than of filling—otherwise you’d be taking the chance that this special commemorative whisky might turn out to be a dud. Though it’s true that young bourbon cask Ben Nevis is usually a good bet. The yield was 293 bottles from an ex-bourbon cask (presumably a hogshead) and that probably explains how a bottle ended up in the possession of the person I got a part of a bottle split from. Let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading →

Inchmurrin 13, 2007 (SMWS 112.82)

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Last week was a week of reviews of whiskies from distilleries in the highlands (Ben Nevis, Edradour and Clynelish). We’ll stay in the highlands to start this week, but only for a day. This week’s theme is whiskies matured or finished in madeira casks. First up is a 13 yo Inchmurrin (i.e fruity, unpeated Loch Lomond) that was bottled by the SMWS in a second-fill madeira hogshead. As far as I can make out, this was a full-term maturation. In the UK etc. this was given the name “I’ll beetroot to you”; in the US it was dubbed “Beat it”. Why not “Beet it”? Okay, let’s get to it.

Inchmurrin 13, 2007 (57.6%; SMWS 112.82; 2nd-fill madeira hogshead; from a bottle split)

Nose: Citrus (mix of lemon and orange peel) and oak off the top. After a minute the citrus expands and picks up some pineapple; the oak picks up some polish and there’s a slight metallic note and a leafy quality as well. As it sits there’s some pastry crust. With a bit of water it’s all about the orange peel and the polished oak. Continue reading →

Clynelish 11, 2011 (Single Malts of Scotland)

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This week of reviews of malts from Highlands distilleries has gone really well so far. I started with a 9 yo Ben Nevis on Monday. That was a single bourbon hogshead. I continued on Wednesday with a 10 yo Edradour. That was a single oloroso sherry cask. Let’s close out the week now with the oldest of the three, an 11 yo Clynelish. We’re back to bourbon maturation for this one, albeit in a barrel rather than a hogshead. I am hoping for good things—and trying not to think of the fact that I was not very impressed by the last bourbon barrel Clynelish I reviewed, especially since, like this one, that was also bottled by Single Malts of Scotland (though that one was a vatting of three barrels, not a single barrel). On the other hand, I really liked the one before that—coincidentally also an 11 yo—which I reviewed at the end of another week of Highlands reviews, almost exactly a year ago. Let’s see where this one falls. Continue reading →

Edradour 10, 2012 (for Spec’s)

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Highlands week began at Ben Nevis on Monday. It continues a little further east and south at Edradour. I had reviewed three Edradours in June of this year: two with sherry involvement (here and here) and one with marsala involvement (here). Today’s cask is a single oloroso sherry cask that was bottled for Spec’s in Texas. Let’s see what it’s like.

Edradour 10, 2012 (57.6%; for Spec’s; oloroso cask #2; from a bottle split)

Nose: Raisins, cola concentrate, roasted malt and that very Edradour nutty/beany complex. More of the roasted malt and the nuts with time. Water brings out some earthy notes but otherwise it’s pretty consistent

Palate: Comes in as predicted by the nose but sweeter. Approachable at full strength; good texture. Quite consistent as it sits; a little more salt maybe. With more time it gets a bit spicy—some pepper, some oak grip. Water emphasizes the spice, pulls out a bit of dried orange peel and pushes the sweeter notes back. Continue reading →

Ben Nevis 9, 2012 (Single Malts of Scotland)

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I enjoyed last week’s trio of Ardmore 23, 1997s from the SMWS (here, here and here). Let’s stay in the highlands to close out July and start August. First up is a young Ben Nevis bottled by the Single Malts of Scotland from a bourbon hogshead. It’s no secret that I am a big fan of Ben Nevis’ idiosyncratic profile, especially when emerging from bourbon casks. Let’s hope this one doesn’t let me down. This came to the US (not sure if it was an exclusive) and sold in the neighbourhood of $100.

Ben Nevis 9, 2012 (57.5%; Single Malts of Scotland; bourbon hogshead; from a bottle split)

Nose: Ah yes, that familiar mix of malt, yeast, salted nuts and mineral notes. On the second sniff, tart apple, gooseberry and melon emerge; toasted oak beneath the fruit. A little more acidic with time. With a few drops of water there’s quite a bit of citronella and paraffin and less oak. Continue reading →

Ardmore 23, 1997 (SMWS 66.195)

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Let’s close out SMWS Ardmore 23, 1997 week by going back a bit in their sequence. I began on Monday with cask 66.198, and continued on Tuesday with cask 66.199. Here now is cask 66.195. It too received a long finish/double maturation. But unlike 66.198 (French oak) and 66.199 (HTMC bourbon cask), this one went into a first-fill ex-oloroso cask (another barrique) for the last two years of maturation. Well, I really liked 66.197, which also spent its last two years in oloroso wood (though refill in that case). Will this one—which the SMWS named “If These Walls Could Talk”—be as good? Let’s see.

Ardmore 23, 1997 (48.7%; SMWS 66.195; 1st-fill ex-oloroso barrique; from a bottle split)

Nose: A little flat—there’s some leafy sherry and some damp oak; some sweeter fruit and some dried orange peel peep in from behind but don’t make much of an impression. Not much smoke to be found either. As it sits there’s a fair bit of citronella and the sweeter fruit does emerge (over-ripe plum, apricot jam). A few drops of water and…it sort of goes back to how it started. Continue reading →

Ardmore 23, 1997 (SMWS 66.199)

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My “Ardmore 23, 1997s bottled by the SMWS” week got off to a good start yesterday with cask 66.198. That one was matured for 21 years in a bourbon  cask and then for two years in a French oak barrique. Today I have a review of cask 66.199. This one was also matured for 21 years in a bourbon cask and then spent two years in a heavy-toast, medium-char hogshead. Were they just running out of ideas at that point? Or was there a bigwig at the SMWS screaming, “Not enough vanilla!!!” after tasting the 21 yo spirit? I guess we’ll never know. Oh yes, they named this one “Cricket in the Caribbean”.

Ardmore 23, 1997 (50.6%; SMWS 66.199; 2nd-fill HTMC hogshead finish; from a bottle split)

Nose: A mix of lemon, vanilla and mineral peat. Sweeter on the second sniff (more vanilla, plus some cream) and the lemon edges towards citronella; some white pepper and other more indistinct oak spice emerges.  With time the citrus trumps the vanilla. A drop or two of water and there’s first a floral burst and then the citrus gets a bit musky with hints of makrut lime. Continue reading →

Ardmore 23, 1997 (SMWS 66.198)

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I’d thought to do another week of Irish whiskey reviews but after the way last week’s Teeling series worked out (here, here and here), I’m a little bit wary. Let’s wait another week. In the meantime, this week I have for you reviews of three Ardmores bottled by the Scotch Malt Whisky Society a few years ago. They’re all 23 years old, all distilled on the same day in 1997 and bottled in 2021. They are also therefore adjacent casks in SMWS’ esoteric cask numbering system. Ardmore is distillery 66 in their system and these are casks 195, 198 and 199. I’ve previously reviewed 66.197, which was also distilled on the same day as these three; indeed, as per Whiskybase, they’ve released nine such casks. I really liked 66.197, which had been finished in a refill Spanish oak sherry hogshead. I’ll begin this week’s series with 66.198 which spent 21 years in a bourbon hogshead and then also received a finish or second maturation (at 2 years it doesn’t really seem like a “finish”) but this time in a refill French oak barrique. Would that have made the previous contents of that cask wine of some kind or cognac? I don’t know. I do know that the SMWS gave this the name “Serene sunset satisfaction”. Let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading →

Ballechin 10, 2010, Marsala Cask

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Let’s keep the Edradour train going a little bit longer. This week will be a week of wine-bothered peated whiskies but we’ll begin with a Ballechin—which, as you know, is the name of the peated variant of Edradour. A slightly dangerous start to the week: I really did not like the first Edradour last week and that was from a marsala cask; well, this Ballechin is also from a marsala cask. Let’s hope for the best.

Ballechin 10, 2010, Marsala Cask (59.1%; from a bottle split)

Nose: Sweet, slightly rubbery peat off the top. The rubber is in the vein of gaskets on old medicine bottles. The peat gets more vegetal/organic on the second sniff: a damp, mossy log behind which some small furry creature is rotting. As it sits a fair bit of ash comes through the smells of  damp rot and there’s some fruit behind it too (orange peel, a bit of plum); some charred meat as well. With more time the peat wallop softens a bit; the salt is more palpable here too now. Mellower still with a squirt of water; still a lot of smoke but the organic/vegetal notes are gone; the salt and the citrus come to the fore too now. Continue reading →

Edradour 2000-2016 (for Tiger’s Finest Selection)

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Edradour week began very unpromisingly on Monday with a single marsala cask bottled by a Taiwanese outfit named Or Sileis. It moved all the way up to middling on Wednesday with the 2019 release of the official Caledonia Selection. Which way will things go with today’s closer? Oh shit, did I mention this was a Taiwanese bottling as well? Can you feel the dramatic tension? This is the oldest of the trio at 15 or 16 years of age, and is from a single sherry cask. In case you’re wondering about the name, it refers to Tiger Huang, who is apparently “a famous whisky industry practitioner in Taiwan“. Is Tiger his real name or a nickname? Why can’t a nickname be a real name? What is this, an interrogation? Why haven’t you mentioned that there’s also a Taiwanese pop singer named Tiger Huang? Did she have something to do with this? And how about the “strategy and transformation leader” ex of McKinsey? How the hell are there so many people named Tiger Huang? What exactly is going on here? Continue reading →

Edradour 12 “Caledonia Selection”, 2019 Release

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This week of Edradour reviews got off to a very shaky start—putting it mildly—with Monday’s marsala cask for the Taiwanese bottler, Or Sileis. I am hoping there will be a major course correction with today’s whisky, which is the 2019 release of the official 12 yo Caledonia Selection. There’s an interesting story about why it’s called Caledonia Selection, but I can’t remember what it is and am too sleepy now to look it up. If you know, or can be arsed to look it up, please write in below. What I can tell you is that it is double matured in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks. You’re welcome. Now, let’s see what it’s like.

Edradour 12 “Caledonia Selection”, 2019 Release (46%; double matured in bourbon and oloroso sherry casks; from a bottle split)

Nose: Now, these sherry casks have not covered up the idiosyncratic Edradour character: that beany, slighly rubbery thing (gaskets on old medicine bottles) is the main note alongside the sweet sherry notes of raisins and orange peel. A few drops of water and it mostly feels a little flatter; a bit of toffee maybe. Continue reading →

Edradour 2011-2020 (for Or Sileis)

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It has been almost two years since I last reviewed any Edradour. Well, that’s not, strictly speaking, true: I have reviewed a number of Ballechins in the intervening period. (Ballechin, as you doubtless know, is the name of the peated variant of Edradour.) But it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed the distillery’s namesake brand; and so, let’s do a whole week of Edradour. First up is a somewhat obscure release. This is a first-fill marsala hogshead put out by a Taiwanese independent bottler named Or Sileis. Now, I enjoyed the old Ballechin #5 Marsala Cask back in the day; but it is also true that I generally like wine cask whiskies more when peat is involved. Peat is not involved here. Is that bad news? I’m not sure, by the way, whether this was a full-term maturation in the marsala hogshead or if it was finished in it for a period of months or years. The confusing thing is that the cask is said to have yielded 403 bottles, which is a lot for a hogshead bottled at cask strength. If you know more about this, please do write in below. Continue reading →

Blair Athol 12, 2009 (Cadenhead)

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Let’s bring this week of reviews of bourbon hogsheads bottled by Cadenhead to a close. The week started with a Glenburgie and continued with a Glentauchers. Both were bright, summery malts. For the last review, I have a non-Glen and non-Speyside distillery: Blair Athol. This is a 12 yo distilled in 2009. The last Blair Athol I reviewed was also a 12 yo distilled in 2009, and was at a very similar strength as this one—but that was a sherry butt. I liked that one but it stopped well short of excellence. Let’s see where this less adorned bourbon  cask falls.

Blair Athol 12, 2009 (59.8%; Cadenhead; bourbon hogshead; from a bottle split)

Nose: Fizzy lemon; that nutty note I often get in Blair Athol; baked apples; malt; a bit of damp oak. Continues in this vein for a while. With more time and air the acid backs off a little and lets more of the musky notes through—a floral note too now, or is that peach? With a few drops of water the acid recedes further; the nutty note and the damp oak are gone too. Continue reading →