Old single grain whisky week began on Monday with a 43 yo North of Scotland, distilled in 1973 and bottled by Gordon & Company. I quite liked that one. The series continued on Wednesday with another 43 yo distilled in 1973, this time an Invergordon bottled by the Whisky Agency. I didn’t like that one quite as much. Let’s end the week with a whisky distilled a year later in 1974 but three years younger than the others at 40 years of age. It’s also unlike the others in that it is an official release: not from the distillery per se but from Diageo who own the distillery and made this 40 yo part of their special release slate in 2015, calling it “The Cally”. It’s not, therefore, a single cask but a vatting of several bourbon hogsheads. I could be wrong but I think it might have been the first time a single grain whisky was part of the special release slate. If I am wrong about that, I trust someone will write in and let me know. If I remember to check later, I’ll look it up myself and amend if necessary. Anyway, let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading
Tag Archives: Whisky
Invergordon 43, 1973 (The Whisky Agency)
This week of reviews of old single grain whiskies got off to a good start on Monday with a North of Scotland 43, 1971 bottled by Gordon & Company. Let’s see if the streak continues with this Invergordon, also 43 years old but distilled a couple of years later. The bottler is the Whisky Agency, once one of the biggest names in independent bottling in Europe. Now that I’ve stopped buying whisky from Europe, I’m no longer sure which bottlers are still active or as active as they used to be. Is the Whisky Agency still a big name? This is not my first review of an old Invergordon, by the way. I’ve also reviewed another 1973, a 39 yo bottled by Malts of Scotland, another German bottler that was a big name back in the day. No idea if they’re still as active either. I do know I didn’t care very much for that 39 yo. Let’s see if this 43 yo is any better.
North of Scotland 43, 1971 (Gordon & Company)
Alright after a week of brandy reviews (Armagnac, Calvados and English cider brandy), let’s go back to Scotland for some whisky. But instead of my usual regimen of single malt, this will be a week of reviews of single grain whiskies; and pretty old ones at that. First up is a 43 yo, a North of Scotland distilled in 1973 and bottled by Gordon & Company. I reviewed a grain whisky from Teeling this summer and a few years ago I reviewed another from Nikka; but it’s been a while since I’ve reviewed a Scottish grain whisky. More than eight years, in fact. Coincidentally, that one was a North of Scotland bottled by Gordon & Company as well—though a 42 yo distilled in 1971. I was not overly impressed by it, and, frankly, I don’t believe I’ve ever been very impressed by a grain whisky. But there’s always a first time for everything and I’m hoping this one will exceed my expectations. I do feel nostalgic as I get into it; not on account of the whisky but because of the sample bottles. These are a pair of 20 ml sample bottles from Whiskybase. I’d purchased them back when I used to purchase whisky from Europe—a lot of it from Whiskybase. I haven’t done so in many years now. Shipping became too expensive and whisky became not just expensive but stupid. And, indeed, I don’t think Whiskybase even ships to the US anymore. So it goes. Continue reading
Clynelish 1996-2015, Prenzlow Portfolio (Jack Wieber)
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
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
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
Glenallachie 10 CS, Batch 6
Let’s close out non-island distillery sherry cask week with another whisky from a Speyside distillery. After an 11 yo Craigellachie, here is a 10 yo Glenallachie. This is Batch 6 of their 10 CS release—I’m not sure what number it’s up to now. I rather liked both Batch 2 and Batch 3 and am hopeful that this will be good as well. Like those batches this one—a large release at 39,000 bottles—has been put together from a hodge-podge of cask types: PX and oloroso puncheons, rioja barriques, virgin oak casks of one kind or the other. That’s a lot. What does it add up to? Let’s see.
Glenallachie 10 CS, Batch 6 (57.8%; from a bottle split)
Nose: A quite nutty, slightly beany arrival. On the second sniff there’s some orange peel and some sharper notes (yeast? chalk?); some palpable oak too behind it all. More of the orange peel with time but there’s also a touch of bitter oak extract. Water pushes the bitter notes back a bit and pulls out some cherry. Continue reading
Craigellachie 11, 2011 (Single Malts of Scotland)
This week of reviews of sherry cask whiskies from non-Island distilleries got off to a promising start with a young whisky from the new’ish English distillery, Bimber. For the second review of the week, we are back in Scotland, up in the Speyside, at Craigellachie. Craigellachie—like Mortlach—produce an atypical Speyside spirit. Both distilleries are among the few that still use wormtubs to condense their spirit; as a result both produce a heavy, meaty/savoury spirit. Sherry cask maturation can emphasize those qualities, and in the case of Craigellachie in particular, can bring out an organic, farmy note. Such was the case, for example, with a 15 yo bottled for K&L a couple of years ago. It’s a non-cookie cutter profile for sure. This particular cask, a single sherry butt, was bottled by the Single Malts of Scotland in 2022. That label is now operated by Elixir Distillers, which was spun off from the Whisky Exchange a few years ago; because I am old and resistant to change, I still think of it as a Whisky Exchange label. Get off my lawn. Continue reading
Bimber Oloroso Cask, Batch 3
Last week’s whisky reviews were all of sherry cask whiskies from island distilleries (Tobermory, Bunnahabhain and Highland Park). I’ll keep the sherry cask theme running this week but we’ll move away from island distilleries. In fact, today we’ll move away from Scotland altogether. Bimber is an English distillery, located in London. I have to confess that I hadn’t really heard of them before I went in on this bottle split. What’s the point of being a whisky blogger if I don’t know about new distilleries, you might ask. But as I’ve been saying over and over again for quite some time now, it’s been a long while since I stopped paying attention to whisky marketing and other industry news. Indeed, with the exception of Michael K’s Diving for Pearls, I no longer even read any whisky blogs with any regularity. And so it’s no surprise that I didn’t know about Bimber. For all I know, there’s 15 other London-based distilleries now. Anyway, Bimber are new’ish—their first casks were filled in 2016 and their first release was in 2019. This, the third release of a batch of oloroso-matured spirit, came out in 2020. They’re a small outfit and they make their malt whisky from barley grown on their own farm; I’m not sure how large their capacity is but their website indicates that their approach is that of a craft distillery. Well, let’s see what the whisky is like. Continue reading
Highland Park 12, 2006 (for Binny’s)
This was a week of reviews of sherry cask whiskies from island distilleries. It started on Monday on the Isle of Mull, with an idiosyncratic official Tobermory 17 that I enjoyed despite the clear presence of sulphur. I enjoyed Wednesday’s Bunnahabhain 12 from A.D Rattray even more, despite the stupidly high abv. Here now to close out the week is another 12 yo, another official release, and another whisky at a very high abv. This is a Highland Park selected by Binny’s in Chicago and bottled in 2019. It was matured in a first-fill European oak hogshead. Was this an European oak butt that was broken down and rebuilt as a hogshead or two? Or was it a purpose-built hogshead that was then treated with sherry to turn it into a “first-fill” cask? I expect the second is probably closer to reality but don’t really know. If you know more about Highland Park’s cask program for these high octane sherry cask releases that they’ve been pumping out over the last half-decade or so, please do write in to the comments. Continue reading
Bunnahabhain 12, 2009 (A.D. Rattray)
The theme for this week is sherry cask whiskies from island distilleries. The week got off to a good start on Monday with a funky, idiosyncratic Tobermory with more than a bit of sulphur mixed in. That was a 17 yo. Today I have for you a review of a Bunnahabhain 12. No, not the official 12 yo but an independent bottling of a single sherry butt. The bottler is A.D. Rattray and the cask was filled in 2009. There’s more than one of these Rattray Bunnahabhain 12s around. Well, there’s at least one more. While Whiskybase does not have an entry for the cask I’m reviewing (900020), they do have one for cask 900037. It was also a sherry butt, and, like this one, it was bottled at a very high strength: 66.7% abv. If you can believe it, cask 900020 had even more alcohol in it at 67.3%. That might make it the highest strength Scottish single malt I’ve ever had. I’m not in general a fan of whiskies being bottled at these crazy strengths but there certainly is a market for that kind of thing—especially in the US, where this seems to have been released (I’m sure it’s all gone by now). Bunnahabhain’s sherry cask spirit has also been known to have a fair bit of sulphur in it—I’m thinking o my last bottle of the OB 12 yo, which furred my mouth a fair bit—though that was a long time ago. Hopefully, this won’t be in that vein. Let’s see. Continue reading
Tobermory 17, 2004
After a week of Kilkerrans that began well (here and here) and ended not as well, here is a week of reviews themed not on distillery but on cask type. This week’s reviews will all be of sherry cask-matured whiskies, and for a secondary filter they’re all from distilleries located on different islands. First up is a Tobermory.
I have a checkered relationship with Tobermory. I’ve not enjoyed very much of the spirit bottled as Tobermory (the name for the unpeated whisky made at the distillery). On the other hand, I’ve liked a lot of the Ledaig I’ve had (the name for the peated whisky made at the distillery). In particular, I’ve liked a lot of the heavily sherried Ledaig I’ve had. Well, this Tobermory is from a single oloroso cask. Is that a good sign? Let’s see. Continue reading
Kilkerran 15, 2004 (for Denmark)
Kilkerran week has gone very well so far. It started on Monday with Batch 6 of the Heavily Peated, which was in line with the high quality of Batch 4 and Batch 5. It continued on Wednesday with one of the 15 yo casks released in 2019 to mark the distillery’s 15th anniversary. That was the bourbon cask released in the UK. Here now is another of those commemorative 15 yo casks. This one was released in the Danish market and has a somewhat unusual composition. The spirit in it spent 10 years in a port pipe before being put into a refill bourbon hogshead for another five. (There were three of these port–>refill bourbon casks, by the way: another one went to Germany and the third to Italy.) Normally, in the case of double-matured malts you see the first maturation in bourbon casks before the spirit hits the cask that held the much heavier spirit. Well, if the results are good I guess it doesn’t really matter in what order the maturation happened. Let’s see if that is indeed the case here. Continue reading
Kilkerran 15, 2004 (for the UK)
This week of reviews of Kilkerran (the name of the whisky distilled at the Glengyle distillery in Campbeltown) began on Monday with Batch 6 of their Heavily Peated series. I rather liked that one (as I had Batch 5 and Batch 4 before it). The releases in the Heavily Peated series are, of course, all NAS. The other Kilkerrans I am reviewing this week both have age statements; And, if not for the 16 yo—which I reviewed earlier this year—at 15 years of age, both would handily be the oldest Kilkerrans I’ve yet reviewed. Both are part of a batch of single casks of various types that were bottled in 2019 to commemorate the distillery’s 15th anniversary. Most of these were bottled for specific markets. (One even came to the US; I shudder to think of how much would have been asked for it, given the premium we have to pay for anything the importer, Pacific Edge, brings in.) This one, a single refill bourbon hogshead was for the UK market. Let’s see what it’s like. Continue reading
Kilchoman Madeira Cask, 2022
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
Inchmurrin 13, 2007 (SMWS 112.82)
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)
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