Until a few years ago I used to purchase whisky occasionally from auctions in the UK and somehow accumulated a number of Caol Ila’s releases for Feis Ile, the annual Islay whisky festival. They’ve been sitting on my shelves ever since; it’s time to start opening them. For no particular reason, I’ll start with the 2017 release which was a 12 yo bottled at cask strength. The twist was that it had been double matured in amoroso sherry casks; and not just in any amoroso sherry casks but ones that had previously been used to make the Talisker Distillers Edition. I could be wrong but I think Diageo did that kind of a thing with a bunch of their distilleries either that year or around that time. I have a vague memory of there being another Diageo distillery’s whisky that had been double matured in casks that had previously been used to make the Caol Ila Distillers Edition. Or maybe I dreamed that up—it’s been a long time since I paid attention to this kind of thing. In this case, this complicated maturation process means the amoroso casks would have contributed not just the sweet/savoury character of the original contents but also some of Talisker’s brand of peppery peat. Let’s see what it all adds up to. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Peated
Talisker 14, 1994, “Manager’s Choice”, Take 2
If you’re a long-time, particularly dedicated reader of the blog [you are not], you might feel a sense of deja vu. Yes, I’ve reviewed the Talisker Manager’s Choice before. Almost five years ago, in fact. I loved it then. So why am I reviewing it again? Well, my initial review was of a sample from a friend’s bottle, and now I’ve finally gotten around to opening my own bottle (which I’d referred to in my previous review). And so I am curious to see how close the two experiences—one from a 1 oz sample taken from the end of the bottle’s life and one from the fourth pour from a freshly opened bottle—will be. I’ve not re-read the original review before taking these notes. Okay, let’s get to it.
Talisker 14, 1994, “Manager’s Choice” (58.6%; bodega sherry European oak cask; from my own bottle)
Nose: Very recognizably Talisker off the top with peppery peat and salt. Sweeter notes come up from below (pipe tobacco) along with beef bouillon and savoury gunpowder. Gets earthier as it sits with mushrooms—more specifically the liquor from soaking dried shiitake mushrooms. With more time there’s some orange peel in the mix and a touch of butterscotch as well. A few drops of water and the salt and orange peel combine and turn to preserved lime; a hint of apricot jam in there too. Continue reading
Port Charlotte 7, 2002 (Whisky Doris)
The third whisky review of the month is of a malt that is considerably younger than the previous two (a Strathisla 30 from G&M and a Bunnahabhain 33 from Whisky Doris). This Port Charlotte was distilled in 2002 and bottled from a single bourbon hogshead in 2010, a few months shy of its eighth birthday. The bottler again is Whisky Doris. I purchased it not too long after it was released and it has sat unopened on my shelves for almost a decade and a half for no good reason. I opened it in November and took a large sample with me to Delhi to both drink there and review. Here now are my notes.
Port Charlotte 7, 2002 (63.5%; Whisky Doris; bourbon hogshead 1171; from my own bottle)
Nose: The usual lactic notes off the top: scalded milk, parmesan rind. Big phenolic smoke too, of course, of course, along with sweeter coastal notes: shells, rotting kelp. Some apple as well. With some air some cream emerges. More cream with a few drops of water and the smoke expands as well. I think this might need a little more water as it still hits my nostrils hard. Yes, a second splash and it’s now just mellow enough: big smoke and cream still and some of the lemon from the palate emerges as well. Continue reading
Laphroaig Cairdeas 2024, Cask Favorites
Well, I finally found the 2024 Cairdeas in the Twin Cities. I don’t mean to suggest that it had been hard to find until now. For all I know, it’s been out and easily available for a while. It’s just that I had not looked. But a week ago I stopped in at South Lyndale Liquors to buy some salumi (yes, I now go to liquor stores to buy cured meats) and when I took a look at their single malt whisky section, there it was. $85 was the price, I believe—quite reasonable in the current market. I noted two things of interest right away: 1) this is the first Cairdeas since 2011 (at least) to be packaged not in a tube but in a box; 2) it has an age statement. Personally, I prefer tubes to boxes but, really, who gives a fuck? The age statement is interesting though. Not just because it’s 10 years old but because of the way it’s supposed to have been put together. Apparently, this year’s Cairdeas is comprised of whisky from casks of the previous cask strength Cairdeas incarnations of the Triple Wood and PX releases. Why is that interesting? Well, the Triple Wood Cairdeas was released in 2019 and the PX in 2021. So either they’ve vatted leftover Triple Wood casks that were a few years older than 10 years of age with PX casks that just hit that number or the Triple Wood Cairdeas was very young indeed in 2019. Well, I guess that’s not really very interesting. More interesting, or rather, amusing, is that Laphroaig is now apparently approaching the Cairdeas releases the same way I approach bottles I’m not terribly enthused about finishing once they enter the home stretch: by mixing them together and hoping for something more interesting than the originals. Let’s see if that’s what we have here. Continue reading
Lagavulin 19, 1995 for Feis Ile 2014
I still haven’t gotten my hands on a bottle of the Feis Ile release I was expecting to review this fall. I am referring, of course, to the 2024 Laphroaig Cairdeas. For all I know, it’s been in Minnesota for a while: I just haven’t stopped in at a liquor store for a while—if you’ve seen it around somewhere locally, please drop me a line. In the meantime, here’s a review of a Feis Ile release from ten years ago. You are welcome. This was Lagavulin’s release for 2014. The total release was of 3500 bottles, which tells you a number of casks were involved—as your average sherry butt holds between 475-500 liters. Those casks were all European oak sherry casks and were all filled on January 30, 1995, which would make this whisky 19 years old. When sherry cask Lagavulin is good, it’s really, really good. Such were the 2013 and 2015 Feis Ile releases, both of which I’ve reviewed on the blog (here and here). I’m also remembering the 12 year old Lagavulin for Friends of the Classic Malts, which was also a 1995 distillation and which might also have been from European oak casks (I’m too lazy to go down to the whisky lair and check the label on my last surviving bottle). Anyway, let’s see what this one is like. Continue reading
Laphroaig Cairdeas 2011, Ileach Edition
It’s Laphroaig Cairdeas season in the United States of America and accordingly I have for you a review of the Laphroaig Cairdeas. In my helpful way, it’s not a review of the 2024 Laphroaig Cairdeas but of the 2011 release. It’s not my fault: the 2024 Cairdeas is not in Minnesota yet. Or at least it wasn’t in the closest Total Wine when I checked a couple of weeks ago. But I had two unopened bottles of the 2011 Cairdeas on my shelves and was somewhat surprised to discover that I’d not previously reviewed it on the blog, despite having gone through at least one bottle, if not more after launching the blog in early 2013. Anyway, no time like the present. The 2011 Cairdeas, the so-called Ileach Edition—a reference to then-distillery manager and native son of Islay, John Campbell—was the first edition of the Laphroaig Cairdeas to come to the US. It was also the first one I ever tasted and purchased a bottle of. It was right in my wheelhouse: young, bourbon cask Laphroaig. In 2013 the distillery began to go down a path of wine finishes and double maturations for the Cairdeas releases, pausing only in 2015 when they put out the outstanding bourbon cask 200th anniversary release. I’ve liked some of those later releases but I’m looking forward to renewing my acquaintance with this more straightforward expression of the distillery’s classic profile. Continue reading
Caol Ila 22, 1990 (Archives)
Okay, after a week off, let’s get back to the booze reviews. My most recently bottle is this Caol Ila 22, 1990 bottled by the Whiskybase shop to mark the first anniversary of their Archives label. (There were a few other anniversary releases as well but I can’t recall off the top of my head what they all were.) This was from a single bourbon hogshead and Whiskybase only got 130 bottles from it—I don’t know where the rest went. Well, the Whiskybase database lists four other Caol Ila 22, 1990s, three of which were released in 2012 along with this one. None are at the strength of this release but two were diluted to 48% and 46% respectively. So it’s conceivable that one of those might have been the destination of the rest of this hogshead. As it happens, I reviewed one of those two just over a year ago (this Mackillop’s Choice release at 46%) but it has a different cask number. So too does the Ian Macleod Dun Bheagan release at 48%. So there are either more Caol Ila 22, 1990s out there than are listed on Whiskybase or the rest may have gone into a vatting or a blend or aged further for a later release. If you know more about this, please write in below. Anyway, I opened the bottle last week and here now are my notes from the fourth pour. Continue reading
Longrow 11, 2001, Rundlets & Kilderkins
Next up in my restarted “Open Them and Drink Them” campaign is a Longrow released before I’d started this blog. This is an 11 yo distilled in November 2001 and released in January 2013. It was part of Springbank’s Rundlets & Kilderkins line that saw releases from all three of their single malt variants: Springbank, Hazelburn and Longrow. I reviewed the Springbank Rundlets & Kilderkins very early in the blog’s life. As I already made a hilarious joke in that review about the name “Rundlets & Kilderkins”, I’ll spare you this time and inform you—in case you don’t know—that rundlets and kilderkins were two type of old-timey small casks. Where a sherry butt approaches 500 liters in volume and a bourbon hogshead contains 250 liters (200 in a bourbon barrel), a kilderkin holds 80 liters and a rundlet only 60. This means far greater oak contact over the course of the spirit’s stay in the cask. And I believe the Longrow Rundlets & Kilderkins matured entirely in the small casks, just as the Springbank version had. Well, the Springbank Rundlets & Kilderkins was not overwhelmed by the oak contact and I am happy to tell you that the same is true of this whisky. I opened my bottle a few days ago and have been quite enjoying it. Here now are my notes. Continue reading
Lagavulin 11, Offerman Edition, Rum Finish
This whisky is obviously not from the stash of long-accumulated bottles that I am supposed to be opening, drinking and reviewing these days on the blog. It’s just that I wasn’t able to keep myself from picking up a bottle when I saw it at our local Costco last week. I’ve quite enjoyed the preceding Offerman Editions of Lagavulin 11 and so it seemed to be a good bet. As you may recall, the very first Offerman Edition—which was released in 2019, I think—did not have any cask complications associated with it. The second edition—which came out in 2021, I think—received a Guinness cask finish. Meanwhile, the third edition featured maturation in casks that had been shaved down and re-charred. I didn’t like the third one quite as much as the first two but all have been interesting variations on the Lagavulin profile and not gratuitous celebrity cash-ins. The fourth edition—only just released in the US—sees the whisky get a rum finish for eight months. Let’s see how it compares to the others. Continue reading
Bowmore 15, 1992 (Douglas Laing)
No, I haven’t already rolled back my commitment to slow the pace of my whisky reviewing and to restrict it only to bottles that have lain unopened for years in my stash. It’s only that I still have a few samples left over from before I left for Bombay in early January and I may as well get through all of them as well. And so here’s a Bowmore 15. This was distilled in 1992 and bottled in 2007 from a refill hogshead by Douglas Laing in their Old Malt Cask series. Back when this came out a lot of whisky geeks were still very wary about Bowmores distilled in the early 1990s. This was on account of the proximity to the long problematic preceding decade at the distillery. As I’ve noted before on the blog, my random sampling suggests that by the early 1990s most of those problems had been worked out. Indeed, I’ve had quite a few rather nice indie Bowmores distilled in the early 1990s. That’s not to say, of course, that there aren’t casks from that period that still bore/bear traces of the major problems of the distillate in the 1980s, particularly a strong soapy note. Let’s hope this cask is not one of those. When teenaged bourbon cask Bowmore is good it’s very good indeed, with that unique mix of smoke, fruit, florals and coastal notes. Let’s see where this one falls on the spectrum. Continue reading
Talisker 10, “Map Label”, 90s Bottling
As you may recall from my post to start this month, for the foreseeable future I am going to be posting fewer booze reviews on the blog. This is due to a desire to drink down the many bottles in my stash accumulated over some 15 years. The plan is to open a bottle a week and gradually drink it down—with the occasional help of friends. The first bottle I opened as part of this campaign was the Littlemill 23, 1990 from Archives that I reviewed last week. That was a fruity bourbon cask. As I currently already have a few open bottles of heavily peated whiskies and a couple of sherried whiskies, I decided to next open a mildly peated whisky. Accordingly, bottle 2, which was opened last week is a Talisker 10. Not a recent one though. This is the so-called “map label” which was released in the 1990s (as far as I know). Perhaps there’s a bottle code somewhere on the bottle that would narrow the specific year down but I’m not terribly enthused about looking for it. If anyone knows when the map label was launched and discontinued, please chime in below in the comments. What I can tell you is that I have been enjoying this bottle very much and am already beginning to feel melancholy about its inevitable demise in a few weeks. Here now, from the top quarter of the bottle, are my notes. Continue reading
Kilchoman 10, 2006, for Clauso & Friends
One more review to close out the week in Islay whiskies and the month in whisky reviews. Like Monday’s Bowmore and Wednesday’s Ardbeg, this Kilchoman is an official release. It is not, however, one that was widely available: it was a single cask bottled for a private group, one of several casks from 2006 and 2007 that were privately bottled. The cask was a bourbon barrel. Bourbon barrels always make me worry about the possibility of too much vanilla etc. in the whisky, but, on the other hand, I do also really like bourbon cask Kilchoman; and so I’m also quite looking forward to this one. Let’s see where it falls.
Kilchoman 10, 2006 (57.9%; for Clauso & Friends; bourbon barrel 112/2006; from a bottle split)
Nose: A big wave of peat off the top, and it’s a mix of phenolic notes with charred woodsmoke and toasted cereals. On the second sniff there’s ink and more coastal notes below that (kelp, brine). Continues in this vein with some added sweetness (a touch of creme brulee). A few drops of water pull out quite a bit of citronella and meld it with the medicinal notes and the creme brulee. Continue reading
Ardbeg 12, 1999, “Galileo”
I said on Monday that I’d be closing out the month with a week of reviews of single malt whiskies. I forgot to say that they’d all be Islay whiskies. On Monday I reviewed a relatively recently released Bowmore: the second release of the Bowmore Vault Edition. Today, I have a review of an Ardbeg released almost 12 years ago: the Ardbeg Galileo. This was Ardbeg’s special release for 2012, back when Ardbeg’s Feis Ile releases had just begun to take up residence in the realm of the ludicrous. The silly story attached to the Galileo was that a small amount of the whisky that went into it was sent into space at the end of 2011, purportedly to see how well it would mature in zero gravity conditions. Because that naturally was and remains a very relevant question for any contemporary distillery: as you know, we are on the verge of running out of gravity on Earth. Well, at least we can be secure in the knowledge that a corner of Islay will be prepared. It was also a controversial release among a sector of whisky geeks then on account of the ex-marsala cask content. This was clearly also well before proliferating cask folly made marsala cask maturation seem positively old-fashioned. Continue reading
Bowmore Vault Edition, Second Release
Alright, let’s close the month out with a week of single malt whiskies. And as the blog’s 11th anniversary was yesterday, let’s start with a Bowmore. [My first-ever review was of the lowly Bowmore Legend, and so I’ve marked every anniversary with a Bowmore review.] This is the second release of Bowmore’s Vault Edition and hit the market back in 2019. The Vault series was apparently intended to showcase different aspects of Bowmore’s character—I’m not sure if it’s still on the go—and the second edition emphasized peat smoke. It was matured in bourbon and then sherry casks. No word on age but the price on release was £70. This was down from the first edition’s original asking price of £100, which I guess might mean that even in the inflated market of recent years, drinkers are not uncritically buying up every official release from a name distillery no matter what ludicrous price is being asked for them. That said, I’ve no idea what the prices asked for later releases were. Let’s see if I like this one more than the Legend all those years ago. Continue reading
Ardnamurchan AD/ 04.21:03
March began with a week of reviews of single casks from Ben Nevis (here, here and here). Let’s keep things in the highlands for a second week. This week’s reviews, however, will be of whiskies from three different distilleries. First up, a release from a distillery I don’t have any prior experience with: Ardnamurchan. It is actually located only about 45 miles from Ben Nevis, a little to the southwest. It’s owned by Adelphi, the well-known independent bottling concern. The distillery was constructed in 2013—this is around the time, I think, when a number of the major independent bottlers began to get into the whisky production game, as the continued supply of casks from the usual sources began to look more questionable in the future. The first batch of spirit at Ardnamurchan was distilled in 2014. I believe the first official single malt was released in 2020, at the age of 5. If I’m understanding the release numbering system correctly, the one I’m reviewing today is the third release and came out in April, 2021. As to whether this is a year older than the 2020 release or distilled a year (or more) later, I don’t know. I do know that it’s a vatting of 65% ex-bourbon, 35% sherry (px and oloroso) casks and that it contains equal partsof peated and unpeated spirit. I am very curious to see what it’s like. Continue reading
Port Charlotte 16, 2001, The Heretic, Feis Ile 2018
Okay, let’s close out peated Islay week with one from Bruichladdich. This 16 yo Port Charlotte was bottled for the 2018 edition of Feis Ile, the Islay whisky festival. It is a vatting of the last five casks that were filled during the 2001, which was the first year that the peated Port Charlotte distillate was produced at Bruichladdich. It was given the name “The Heretic”, which I think refers to the fact Bruichladdich had not historically made peated whisky. The cask types that went into the vatting include ex-bourbon, ex-rum and ex-French wine. At only 1300 bottles, this was a true limited release. Let’s see what it was like.
Port Charlotte 16, 2001, The Heretic (55.9%; for Feis Ile 2018; from a bottle split)
Nose: The familiar Bruichladdich/Port Charlotte sour milk but it’s mixed here with sweet cereals and carbolic peat and lemon and the whole is rather nice. On the second sniff there’s some bacon fat in there too. On the third sniff the bacon fat turns to a freshly open can of smoked sardines. Some butterscotch in there as well. Water amplifies the butyric notes at first but it burns of leaving a mix of cereals and ash. Continue reading
Caol Ila 14, Four Corners
Here is the second of this week’s reviews of peated whiskies from Islay. (See here for Monday’s review of an indie Laphroaig.) Today I have for you a 14 yo Caol Ila that was matured in a mix of refill and freshly charred hogsheads. This is an official release, part of a Diageo series named Four Corners. The series also includes releases from Glenkinchie, Cardhu and Clynelish. Together these are said to form the four corners of Scotland (let’s not look too closely at an actual map), or at least of Diageo’s Scottish portfolio map (let’s not look too closely at an actual map). This might put you in mind of Diageo’s old Classic Malts lineup but I believe this series may also have something to do with all four distilleries having recently been refurbished in a major way. I could be wrong: as I’ve noted before, it’s been years since I’ve paid attention to whisky industry news. The most shocking thing about the series though is that all four releases not only have age statements but are also in their teens. And all are at cask strength. I’m not sure what’s gotten into Diageo. Well, nothing too drastic as the prices were rather keen—obviously no lapse on that front. Anyway, let’s see what this is like. Continue reading