This week’s whisky reviews are all of malts that were matured in madeira casks. I rather liked Monday’s Inchmurrin. Today we add some peat to the mix with the 2022 release of Kilchoman’s Madeira Cask. This is quite a bit younger than the 13 yo Inchmurrin, being just over five years of age. This is not one of Kilchoman’s 100% Islay releases and is peated to 50 ppm. There were 17,000 bottles released, which is why they call it a “limited edition”. As it happens, the last Kilchoman I reviewed was also from madeira casks—though in that case it was a finish and not a full-term maturation. Regardless, I quite liked that one. It was two years older than this one (and a single cask) but I thought it punched well above its age. This is a vatting of 46 fresh madeira hogsheads and it’s unlikely that they’d all be of equal quality. Let’s see if the averaging worked out well and if I like it as much as the previous. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Peated
Ardmore 23, 1997 (SMWS 66.195)
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)
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)
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
Caol Ila 22, 1990 (Mackillop’s Choice)
This week of Mackillop’s Choice releases comes to a close with the oldest of the trio: a 22 year old Caol Ila. Monday’s 19 year old Scapa was very good; Tuesday’s 20 year old Bowmore, less so….Hopefully, this Caol Ila will give the week a good ending. Let’s see. By the way, unlike the other two (or, for that matter, the three I reviewed in May—here, here and here), it was bottled at 46%.
Caol Ila 22, 1990 (46%; Mackillop’s Choice; from a bottle split)
Nose: Mineral peat, olive brine, a touch of lemon. On the second sniff there’s ashy smoke and more of the coastal complex (kelp, oysters). More “green”/vegetal notes as it sits and then some sweeter notes (wet stones, apples). Softer with a drop of water: smoked cream.
Palate: The smoke starts out sharp but turns sweet as I swallow. A good drinking strength; rich texture. As it sits, there’s a mix of soot, coal and ash on the smoke front, more of the wet stones, and some cracked pepper. Water emphasizes the pepper. Continue reading
Bowmore 20, 1983 (Mackillop’s Choice)
My second week of reviews of releases from Mackillop’s Choice got off to a strong start yesterday with a 19 yo Scapa (see here, here and here for the reviews from the first Mackillop’s Choice week back in May). We’re now on shakier ground for the second review. It’s of a Bowmore that’s a year older than the Scapa but was distilled right in the thick of Bowmore’s dangerous decade: the 1980s. Much—though, it must be said, not all—of the whisky distilled in this period at the great Islay distillery has been marred to some degree or the other by a soapy, artificially floral character.
The problem had begun to sort itself out by the end of the decade—and was mostly gone by the early 1990s—but today’s whisky was distilled in 1983. Will it be an exception or an exemplar of everything people dislike about Bowmore from that era? Only one way to find out. 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
Caol Ila 10, 2007 (G&M for Binny’s)
Caol Ila week began yesterday with a 7 yo bottled by Single Cask Nation from bourbon barrels. The second Caol Ila of the week is slightly older at 10 years old and was bottled by G&M from a single refill sherry butt for Binny’s in Chicago. I’ve had a number of excellent sherried Caol Ilas of this general age from G&M—see, for example, this one. Then again, I’ve also had some that were less excellent—see, for example, this one. Let’s see where this one falls.
Caol Ila 10, 2007 (59%; G&M for Binny’s; refill sherry butt 311989; from a bottle split)
Nose: Ah, very nice notes of sweet pipe tobacco off the top with ashier smoke coming up from below. On the second sniff there’s some orange peel and some biscuity malt, even as the ashy smoke expands. With time there’s a hint of apricot as well and also a bit of savoury gunpowder. With a big squirt of water there’s a fair bit of butterscotch and then more of the savoury gunpowder. Continue reading
Caol Ila 7, 2015 (Single Cask Nation)
Last week’s series of reviews of wine-bothered, peaty whiskies ended with a 16 yo Caol Ila with a moscatel finish. Let’s make this week all about Caol Ila, beginning with a much younger release put together from refill bourbon barrels—no wine in sight.
Caol Ila 7, 2015 (57.1%; Single Cask Nation; refill bourbon barrels; from a bottle split)
Nose: Bright carbolic peat mixed with lemon and brine. Sweeter on the second sniff with cereals and a bit of vanilla. The brine expands with each sniff and there’s a mild “green” vegetal note as well—green bell pepper. After a while there’s a nice balance of carbolic peat, acid and sweeter notes. With a few drops of water it’s sweeter still and the peat moves from carbolic to a little more phenolic/inky. More salt too now. Continue reading
Caol Ila 16, 2006 (Infrequent Flyers)
This week of reviews of wine-bothered peated whiskies got off to a rather rocky start on Monday with a 10 yo Ballechin from a marsala cask. Things looked up significantly with Wednesday’s Kilchoman for Spec’s which had received a madeira cask finish. That one was three years younger but balanced the peat and the sweeter wine notes well. Here to close out the week is a Caol Ila that is almost as old as the other two put together. This is also a finish, this time in moscatel casks. If I recall correctly, the Caol Ila Distillers Edition—is that still a regular thing?—is also a moscatel finish; but I’m not sure what connection that might have to a 16 yo moscatel finished whisky released by an indie bottler: perhaps something left over from a Feis Ile or Distillery Exclusive experiment? If you have any ideas, please write in below. The bottler in question is the Alistair Walker Whisky Company, who put out all their releases under the Infrequent Flyers label. While the company is relatively new, Alistair Walker has been around in the whisky world for a while. He’s the son of Billy Walker, ex of Benriach/Glendronach, now at Glenallachie. Indeed, he was the source of the information on Glendronach’s “single cask” practices that led to this post, early in the blog’s career. Of course, none of that has anything to do with this whisky but I got a bit of a kick out of it when I found out. Continue reading
Kilchoman 7, 2011, Madeira Finish (for Spec’s)
Next up in wine-bothered peated whisky week is a young Kilchoman. This is a madeira finish that was bottled for Spec’s in Texas and released in 2019. (The cask number is 763/2012 but this was distilled in 2011.) I don’t know that I’ve ever had a madeira finished Kilchoman—though I have enjoyed madeira finishes/double maturations from other distilleries (Springbank most prominently). Let’s hope this one is better than Monday’s Ballechin.
Kilchoman 7, 2011, Madeira Finish (56.8%; for Spec’s; from a bottle split)
Nose: Sweet peat off the top (pipe tobacco) and quite a bit of ash; a slight vegetal note as well (bell pepper). On the next few sniffs the sweet notes include charred pork; some dried orange peel behind as well. With time the peat backs off and quite a bit of vanilla emerges. A squirt of water and there’s a big hit of cream and coffee cake; a little bit of apricot as well under all that. Continue reading
Ballechin 10, 2010, Marsala Cask
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
Benromach 9, 2011 (for Binny’s)
This week of Benromach reviews has gone quite well so far. It got off to a good start on Monday with Batch 1 of the Benromach Cask Strength. And things improved further with Wednesday’s review of an 11 yo bourbon hogshead bottled for Binny’s (the Cask Strength was also 11 years old). The last whisky of the week is the youngest at 9 years old. It was also bottled for Binny’s and is from a first-fill sherry hogshead. Hopefully, it won’t break the hot streak. Let’s see.
Benromach 9, 2011 (60.6%; first-fill sherry hogshead 719 for Binny’s; from a bottle split)
Nose: Leads with nutty, slightly salty notes with a bit of butterscotch running under them. The high strength is damping things down, of course, but this is not as peaty off the top as the bourbon cask. On subsequent sniffs the peat is more apparent: slightly rubbery with hot stones/tarmac and some milky cocoa. With more time some fruit begins to poke through as well: plum, orange peel, a bit of apricot; after more airing, there’s a fair bit of lime as well. With a few drops of water the fruit come all the way to the front, the apricot leading the way; the salt turns to rock salt. Continue reading
Benromach 11, 2010 (For Binny’s)
Benromach week continues. On Monday, I reviewed the first batch of the current Benromach Cask Strength, an 11 yo put together from bourbon and sherry casks. I thought it was quite good but well short of great. Today, I have for you a review of another official 11 yo. This is a single bourbon barrel, distilled in 2010 and bottled for Binny’s in Chicago. There was a time when Binny’s shipped all over the US, and they played a major part in the years that my whisky mania was approaching its peak. Now it’s been several years since the Binny’s supply got choked off for people residing elsewhere; I now barely buy any whisky from anywhere; and its been a while since my relationship with whisky collecting/amassing passed the manic stage. Now I am slowly drinking down what I amassed just short of a decade ago and not mourning too much the missed opportunities to try releases not available in Minnesotsa. Will this cask of Benromach make me melancholy? Let’s see. Continue reading
Benromach 11, 2007, Cask Strength Batch 1
Last week’s theme was peated whiskies from Islay’s south shore. The week got off to a good start with a young Laphroaig and picked up with the 2017 release of the Lagavulin 16 and then had a disappointing end with the 2020 release of the Ardbeg Uigeadail. We’ll stick with peated whiskies this week but move off of Islay and go all the way up to the Speyside, to Benromach.
Benromach is a rare Speyside distillery that is known for its peated malt, which is made not as a one-off, as at some other distilleries, but as the norm. I’ve reviewed a few recent Benromach releases in the last couple of years and have generally liked them all a fair bit. This includes Batch 04 of the Benromach Cask Strength, which was an 11 yo distilled in 2009 and put together from a large number of bourbon and sherry casks. Batch 1 was also 11 years old and also put together from bourbon and sherry casks, though I’m not sure how many went into the vatting. Unlike subsequent batches, this was released in the US. Will this sample make me regret not paying attention at the time? Let’s see. Continue reading
Ardbeg Uigeadail, 2020 Release
Let’s close Islay week with another classic, this one from the third of the South Shore distilleries: Ardbeg. I’ve previously reviewed three releases of the once-beloved Uigeadail: the 2007 and the 2011 and 2014 releases (the latter two side-by-side in a blind tasting). As with the Lagavulin 16, there’s been a narrative of decline for the Uigeadail for a while. And it’s true that the rich sherry character of the early releases faded after a while. That said, back in 2015 I quite liked the 2014 release, and liked it more than the 2011. But that was almost a decade ago. This 2020 release will bring us more or less to the present day and might help me decide whether to give in to the voice that has been telling me for some months now that I should really take a flyer on the current Uigeadail and Corryvreckan releases. So far it’s been losing to the more rational voice that reminds me that I still have unopened bottles of both from the early 2010s and should get to those first. But if this one is very good I may have to thumb my nose at rationality yet again. Continue reading
Lagavulin 16, 2017 Release
This week of reviews of whiskies from distilleries on Islay’s south shore began on Monday with a young Laphroaig. Let’s go a mile or so down the road for the second, to Lagavulin. This is the 2017 release of the 16 yo. I’ve previously reviewed the 2012, 2013 and 2014 releases. I’ve since lost touch with this classic release, which really seems like a shame. Back in the mid-2010s there was already a bit of a narrative of decline around the Lagavulin 16, but I liked the 2014 release a lot. Will I like the 2017 release as much? Will it make me want to open the bottle of the 2018 release that my spreadsheet tells me is somewhere on my shelves? Let’s see.
Lagavulin 16, 2017 Release (43%; from a bottle split)
Nose: A characteristic mix of phenolic peat and organic notes (rotting leaves, damp wood). On the second sniff there’s salt, some sweet orange peel and a bit of woodsmoke. The woodsmoke expands with each sniff. With time the sweeter notes move in the direction of vanilla and cream, and there’s some milky coffee in the distance too now. A couple of drops of water soften it further, emphasizing the creamy note (smoked cream?). Continue reading