Category Archives: Whisky Reviews & Tasting Notes

Port Ellen (OMC) Cask #6397 Review

7 Replies

Port Ellen (OMC) Cask #6397043

50% abv

Score:  92.5/100

 

The most knowledgable chap I know when it comes to Port Ellen insists that the true embodiment of the distillery’s character is best found in the Douglas Laing bottlings from about 1983.  Anywhere from 22-27 years old.  Who am I to argue?  The guy has more Port Ellen stocks than Wilt Chamberlain had notches on his bed posts.

This Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Port Ellen from 1983, the year of the distillery’s closure, is an absolute killer.  This is the distillery at the top of its game.  Vibrant…defined…balanced…exceptional.  It is releases like this that have helped escalate Port Ellen into the stratosphere.

I’m somewhat in awe of the perfect seesaw act happening here.  There is an interplay between fruit and phenol here that relies on the bottler finding that elusive spot in the maturation process between young and old.  This PE is perfectly centered.  Almost as bewildering is the fact that the finish here is like one long sustained note.  Something akin to the perfect melodies on Miles Davis’s flawless ‘Kind Of Blue’.  Usually as a whisky fades, the finish goes through stages of evolution and the denouement is a mere hint of the magnificence of the preceding crescendo.  In this case, it sorta seems like the crescendo is simply having the volume slowly…ever so slowly…turned down until ultimately you strain to hear that same sustained beauty.  Brilliant.

This Port Ellen came from a refill hogshead that managed to produce 199 bottles at 50% abv.  Very low numbers, but fortunately I do know of a not-so-dusty shelf in a friend’s basement where two more bottles of this PE rest in peaceful slumbers.  Hopefully, long after my bottle is empty, I’ll one day get to try again, as this is one of my favorite Port Ellens to date.

Nose:  Nice mild phenols at first.  Some peach and pears in syrup.  Orange and lemon.  Tar.  As it develops there are bigger notes of dry smoke and dunnage.  Somewhat dusty.  Briny seaside notes.  Delicate, yet the billows of smoke become ever more pungent and impressive.  Mature and lovely.  An absolutely great Port Ellen nose.

Palate:  Oh, wow…what an arrival.  First the playful smoke…then apples.  Lemon and smoked white fish.  Licorice.  The hallmark of mature Islay malt whisky.  Long, long, long finish.  Beautiful and glides through with no off notes or decline in quality as it fades.  Amazing dram.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Port Ellen 1982 25 y.o. Cask # 2847 (Signatory) Review

Leave a reply

Port Ellen 1982 25 y.o. Cask # 2847 (Signatory)005

57% abv

Score:  87.5/100

 

Here’s an interesting Port Ellen.

It’s also a great whisky to illustrate a prevalent misconception out there.  The misconception that a distillery’s storied reputation means that all of their whiskies are/were exceptional.  Port Ellen holds an almost mystical cache among nearly all of us whisky geeks, and I’m not arguing against that.  I’d simply like to make the point that Port Ellen is held in the esteem it is for more reasons than purely quality of the dram.

Port Ellen was a good whisky.  There’s no denying that.  It does need to be taken into account though, that Islay whiskies have been very much in demand for years now, and the lure of a rare Islay malt from a distillery that closed almost three decades ago?  How can you resist that call?  Most releases you’re liable to get your hands on (if at all) are in the mid twenties to early thirties age bracket.  Generally speaking (very generally…not saying this is a rule) older whisky is better than younger whisky.  So…here’s what  we end up with:

Good whisky + appeal of scarcity + age = 3/4 of the Port Ellen mystique.

The other 1/4?  For me anyway is that this is a glass of history.  Every drop consumed is one less in the world.  There is something infinitely heartbreaking about that.  Each time I sit down to a dram of Port Ellen it is an occasion and gives pause for relection.  And that plays right into why we love single malt whisky.

Make no mistake…I love Port Ellen.  I adore the malt and the tale behind it.  But I also love honesty, and it is important to let others know that not all Port Ellen releases are ‘holy grails’ or ‘white whales’.

This is a 25 year old Signatory single cask release.  It was matured in a refill sherry butt and arguably boasts the most sherry influence I’ve ever seen levied on a Port Ellen.  The bottle says ‘matured in a refill sherry butt’.  Note the word ‘matured’, as opposed to ‘finished’.  I can only assume the whisky spent its entire life in this butt.  417 bottles were pulled from the cask after 25 years in wood and the whisky itself was still at a healthy 57%.  This is a flawed Port Ellen, for sure, but really still quite enjoyable.

Nose:  A touch of sulphur right off.  Raisin tart.  Far off cherry and a little orange.  Leather and tobacco.  Camphor.  Somewhat barn-y.  Deep smoke that, with a swirl, expands exponentially.  Wet rocks.  Some burnt notes atop the peat.  Citrus.

Palate:  Smoke.  Again…you can taste a bit of sulphur and ash.  Cherry and plum stand out amidst juicy sherry notes.  Chocolate.  Some licorice and iodine.  Granny Smith apple and smoked wood chips in tandem.  Wet hay.  Really, really nice finish, lingering on fruits and…yeah…more smoke.

Extra half mark is for such a deep and resonant finish.

The sulphur note is a little tough to get around, but fortunately it is cushioned in a vast assortment of velvety fruit notes and some rather typical and comforting sherry familiarities.

And hey…it’s Port Ellen.  Isn’t it always going to be enjoyable?  This is history in a glass, people.  You’re drinking the intangible.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

anCnoc 16 y.o. Review

1 Reply

anCnoc 16 y.o. ancnoc16

46% abv

Score:  85.5/100

 

This distillery seems to be quite heavily championed in the ‘underground’ whisky circles.  Whether or not it deserves this flag-waving will ultimately be decided by you, hopefully supported by a few notes below, but let’s cover a little business first.

anCnoc is not a distillery.  It is the name of the whisky produced at the Knockdhu distillery.  A similar approach has been taken elsewhere (think Glengyle producing Kilkerran), but in the case of anCnoc it is in support of a rather odd rationale.  Apparently the powers that be (owners Inver House, that is) decided that the name Knockdhu was a little too close, either phonetically or in terms of readability, to another Speyside distillery, Knockando.

Not sure about you, but I don’t confuse quite that easily.  A name change over this?  Really?  In an industry that so prides itself on tradition and historicity?  Whatever, I guess.  So long as the juice in the bottle is quality stuff they could call it ‘Hobo Bath Water’ if they like.

By the way…proper pronunciation is ‘anock’.

The anCnoc 16 is now fairly readily available ’round here.  For a while we were limited to the 12 year old flagship expression, but it seems the 16 is now quite adeptly settling in as a welcome invasive species.  Nice to have a compare and contrast release from the distillery.  Vertical tastings (multiple releases from the same distillery) are the best way to assess the true character and inherent quality of the distillery’s output.  Two releases does not a vertical make, but at least there is a point of comparison.

anCnoc 16 is a malt that fills many of the holes of the 12 (or at least offers a counterpoint), while at the same time still being slightly outshone by some of the surprisingly vivid highlights of the 12.  Some of the fireworks act from the 12 year old has dissipated a little here in the 16, but where the excitement has faded, the balance has become a little more stable.  This is a creamier dram than the 12 but whether or not you necessarily find it a better drink for it…who knows.

To me, this whisky borders on what I would blindly guess as a Lowland malt, and yes…I belive is slightly more charming than the 12 year old.

Nose:  Creamy.  Floral (freshly picked meadow flowers).  Custard and white chocolate.  Pepper.  Blueberry.  Lemon and orange.  Hints of carrot cake.

Palate:  Caramel drizzled fruit in a bowl of milk…served up in front of the breakfast bouquet.  A few bourbon notes.  Medium finish and slightly better than the 12, which tends to ‘grain out’ a bit in the end.  Do note though…this does still have a bit of that bitter barley fade.  Knockdhu is really not the best distillery when it comes to the finish on their whiskies.

Having said that…I look forward to trying more from the distillery.  Especially at advanced age, if possible.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  anCnoc

Isle Of Jura 21 y.o. 200th Anniversary Review

Leave a reply

Isle Of Jura 21 y.o. 200th Anniversary420

44% abv

Score:  81/100

 

I recently went through a lot of Jura (makes me sound like an alcoholic, doesn’t it?), drafting up tasting notes and pulling together some thoughts.  Many expressions were vast improvements over what I recall from past years/editions, but I found that several of the young ones, in particular, really sparkled for a variety of reasons made clear in those individual reviews.

As I started to work my way through the range I built up a modicum of excitement that some of the older editions would be great.  These preconceptions are never, ever, a good idea.  This 200th anniversary edition 21 year old Jura was just such a case in point. 

Sadly, excepting a brilliant and home-y leather note I fell in love with on the nose, the rest of the components fell a little flat or outright disappointed.  I liked the overall nose enough at first, but the longer it sat in the glass, the less appeal I found.  Maybe that’s just me.  (note to self…drink faster…don’t let whisky sit for long).

So…some news, both good and bad.  The bad?  That an aged malt, with a heftier price tag than many others, is not all that great a dram.  The good?  That you can get some younger Isle Of Jura releases that are great and are much more pocketbook friendly.  This 21 ain’t a bad whisky.  I’m just saying you take your money in a slightly different direction with this distillery and opt for one of the great Boutique Barrels expressions.  Neat stuff there. 

Nose:  Opens up with a nose rich in leather and deep ribbons of caramel.  Lots of caramel.  Quite floral.  Some burnt cinnamon.  Dried (very dried) fruits.  Quite a decent nose really.  Unmistakably Jura, but somewhat slightly flawed.

Palate:  Rather sharp and bitter.  Salty.  Almost acrid.  Grains are big.  Dries rather quickly.

81 score is primarily on strength of the nose.  Unfortunately this one kinda falls down when it comes to the palate.  Needs much time to open.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

GlenDronach 1972 38 y.o. Cask 718 Review

Leave a reply

GlenDronach 1972 38 y.o. Cask 718barry's place pics 145

51.5% abv

Score:  87.5/100

 

The 1970s were glory days for GlenDronach.  In particular, the early to mid seventies.  Some great new make spirit hit some great sherry butts and the end result…happy consumers.

There was a rather incredible run of casks from 1972 numbered in the low 700s (this one we’re speaking to now is #718) that were…simply put…awesome.  One was a Malt Maniacs award winner…another I believe earned some Whisky Mag accolades…a third was selected for a store here in Calgary, and was an absolute stunner.  I’d love to try more from this run but odds get slimmer each year of that happening.

Sadly, though, they can’t all be immaculate.  The spirit that was filled into these sherry butts would have likely been from the same distillation run, but being bottled as single cask releases means that the distiller is at the mercy of the wood.  And sometimes…that wood is not completely free of blemish.

Cask #718 is just such a one.  I’m not sure if it is over-cooked (too long in the cask) or simply had a bit of a dud home for its 38 years in the warehouse.  Either way, what we end up with is a good whisky that should have been great.  When you’re spending these kinda dollars (or pounds…or euro…or what have you) and buying a 38 year old whisky…’good’ sometimes isn’t good enough.

Make no mistake, however, I did enjoy this one.  A couple of off-kilter notes throw it far enough off course to not live up to its siblings, but still delight in its own ways.  The expected tropicalia is still present, but honestly…this one is right on the edge.  Maybe just toppling over.  Good thing it was pulled and bottled when it was. 

Nose:  Caramel.  Black current.  Some rather surpising meaty notes.  Putty.  Almost an egg-ish note.  Kinda sharp and bitter.  Still some tropical fruit notes, mango in particular.  Quite some grapefruit.  There is a definite ‘off’ note in here though, that throws everything out of wack.

Palate:  That ‘off’ note carries through to the palate as well.  Kinda like a black current cough drop meets egg.  (WTF?!)  Plum and some bold-stroke grapefruit.  Bitter chocolate and coffee.  Quite tart.

Something odd with this one.  Fortunately, it is anomalous.  The others I’ve tasted in this run of casks (low #700s)  have been brilliant. 

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

BenRiach Horizons 12 y.o. Review

Leave a reply

BenRiach Horizons 12 y.o.horizonsmood1

50% abv

Score:  89/100

 

Horizons was the counterpoint to the first edition of BenRiach’s Solstice.  Light…fruity…very vibrant.  While we loved the Solstice for its heavyhanded and brash delivery, this one is a much more restrained affair.  It allows the spirit to shine through a little more purely, and softens the edges of youth through a sweet Oloroso finish.  Being triple-distilled – in and of itself an anomaly outside of Ireland and the Lowlands (and yes, yes…Springbank’s Hazelburn) – also contributes to its exuberance.  Quite a pleasant and remarkable BenRiach well outside the standards of the range. 

This release was limited in number, much like the Solstice, but sat on shelves a wee bit longer than that one.  Not due to any sense of inferiority, I would argue, but simply because the Solstice was such a unique offering, being rather heavily peated and at least partially matured in a port pipe.  Yeah…it made for a slightly bumpy malt, but one I do cherish.

The duality of the Horizons/Solstice expressions provides a rather neat perspective on the capabilities of a distillery that is really coming into its own over the past decade or so.  The whisky is great…the marketing clever…the packaging lovely.  Did I mention the stocks of older malts that figure into the equation as special releases?

Nice young release from a rock solid distillery.

Nose:  Beautifully sweet and wine-rich.  A soft pillowy sherry note that can only be oloroso sweetness.  Bourbon-rich, big Maker’s Mark synthetic cherry notes.  Sour ju-jubes.  Cinnamon buns.  Nice spices and fruits coming together here.  I really like the nose on this one. 

Palate:  Sweet fruit candy.  Delicious deep spice.  Cadbury’s Galaxy bar on arrival brings an element of creaminess and smooth drinkability even at 50%.

I remember being kinda underwhelmed with this one first time ’round.  Liked it a bit more second time around (which was a hefty sampling session).  And still a little more this time.  I know where there are a couple more bottles of this one.  Think I’ll scoop one up before it’s too late.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  www.whiskyintelligence.com

Bowmore Laimrig 15 y.o. Review

22 Replies

Bowmore Laimrig 15 y.o.015

54.4% abv

Score:  91.5/100

 

In late 2012, a few mates and I spent about a week or so on the Hebridean Isle of Islay, non-soberly carousing our way through the distilleries, whisky bars and restaurants.  And…uh…pretty much anywhere else we could drink (legally or otherwise).

Late one eve, just before last call in Bowmore’s legendary whisky bar, Duffies, the manager, David, bought me a dram of something special.  Very special.  So special, in fact, that it ended up being my favorite dram of the trip.  And trust me…there were a lot of good drams on that journey.

The malt David picked for me was a Bowmore Feis Ile 2011 limited release of the Laimrig 15 y.o.  Now…just to clarify…this was not the regular release of Laimrig, but one specific to the annual whisky and music festival on Islay, Feis Ile.  Sadly…for all my begging, pleading, cajoling and threatening (well…not really the latter), I was unable to procure a bottle of this.  It apparently sold out within hours of release, so my chances of scoring one weren’t good, but you can’t blame me for trying.  I’ll now shamelessly use this forum to ask again…if anyone has a bottle they’ll part with, please drop me a line.

The release we’re reviewing here is not that particular one, but is still a helluva dram.  Big and rich fruits meet machinery-esque flinty and industrial notes meet the smoke and brine we’d expect from Bowmore.  This is a return to old school Bowmore.  We’re veering away from the florals of recent years and moving back into the fruit-rich sherries that made for magical releases from this distillery through the 60s and 70s.  Yum.

There’s a lot going on with this whisky…and that’s a good thing.  I love it when I can sink into a dram for an hour or so and just…escape.  I think I could pick flavor threads out of this for hours.

Nose:  Chocolate covered cherries.  Nice jammy fruits.  Tobacco, leather and shoe polish.  Lightly smoked pork.  Flinty and oily.  Some coal and peat smoke.  Smells like evening walks on chilly nights on Islay…smoke lingering in the oceanic air.  Some rubber.  Raisin and eucalyptus.

Palate:  Plum and grape juice.  Again…rubber.  Smoke.  Slightly tarry.  Salty.  A little bit of pomegranate.  Cough drops/throat lozenges.  Slightly pithy.  Very, very drinkable.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Caol Ila 22 y.o. A.D. Rattray Review

Leave a reply

Caol Ila 22 y.o. A.D. Rattray

57.7% abv

Score:  92.5/100

 

Caol Ila, by nature, is a fairly delicate spirit.  To those that have been around the block a time or two, this may seem almost counterintuitive.  To those that have been around the block more than just a couple of times, you likely know exactly what I mean by ‘delicate’.

So how does a whisky that peats its malt to about 30ppm (maybe a little higher?), much like its sister distillery Lagavulin, retain a ‘delicate’ character?  Really not sure, to be honest, but it is true that despite all of the billows of smoke and peaty underpinnings, the whisky somehow manages to exhibit a rather surprisingly light and brittle citrus character.

Again somewhat contrary to what most might expect in a ‘delicate’ malt, Caol Ila is one of the more oily-bodied drams you’re likely to encounter.  I think it is this latter characteristic that allows the spirit to be so malleable in its various releases.  Independent bottlings, in particular, are very subject to enormous variation.  Most, of course, also boast high enough alcohol content to not require chill-filtration, allowing the fats and oils to remain.  Flavor coagulates, then clings to all nooks, crooks and crannies of the mouth.  When you have a spirit that retains viscous pockets of flavor in this manner, you’re bound to have an end product that can adapt to many a nuance and deliver it in strength and confidence.

This 22 year old Caol Ila is from a barrel that was selected and bottled exclusively for Calgary’s Willow Park Wines And Spirits.  Great cask selection, I should add, as this is one of the best Caol Ila’s I’ve yet tasted.  The flavors herein are absolutely not typical of Caol Ila OBs (original bottlings from the distillery), but are bold, balanced and beautiful.  I love this whisky.

Nose:  Wow what a nose.  Lovely tightrope walk between white fruits and aged mellow peat.  Some eucalyptus and a little pepper.  Smoke and nice rich chocolate.  Some nice baking spices too.  Somehow still mellow and showing very restrained peat.

Palate:  Love the way the sweet and tangy notes arrive and spread across the tongue.  Smooth and a little waxy.  Chocolatey and fruity.  Some orange-y notes.  Sweettarts candies.  Oak at just the right age.  Delicious and holding the perfect linger.  Typical Islay green apple ebb and fruit skins on the back end of this one.

Go see Dave Michiels down at Calgary’s Willow Park Wines And Spirits for this one before it’s gone.

         

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Pat

Isle Of Jura Boutique Barrels 1999 Review

Leave a reply

Isle Of Jura Boutique Barrels 1999009

55% abv

Score:  87/100

 

Mmmm.  Jura takes on Islay.  Not in terms of heft, but profile.  This is a malt that bears all the hallmarks of the peated beasts from Islay, but also doesn’t quite wedge itself into any one particular distillery’s mold.  It has a hint of that tangy Ardbeg citric note…a fair lot of the farminess so redolent in many of the Bruichladdich peat monsters…an elegance typified by the slightly more advanced aging Lagavulin uses to great effect…and the iodine medicinal edge of a Laphroaig.  Neato.  We like.

Having said all of that…this most closely reminds me of some sherried Caol Ila indies I’ve tried.  All of which would have likley been peated to Diageo’s usual Lag/CI specs of 30-35 ppm, I believe.  According to the bottle, this sits squarely in that phenolic range.

This is a young whisky, for all intents and purposes (11 years, I believe?), but that’s a good thing.  When you want to taste the true might of peat smoke, you want it young.  Peat is exceedingly sexy as it ages, but loses its pungency.  For those with a nose for the billows of hellfire and ash…this will be a malt you want to get your paws on sooner than later.  It fires on all cylinders in these regards.

Though it says ‘Bourbon XU Cask Finish’ I would not be at all surprised to find out there are some sherried casks in here before it gets that ‘finish’ they refer to.  There is a sweetness here that is not completely defined by the vanilla-heavy and spicy bourbon influence.  It’s more of a deep rich dried fruit sweetness.

An extra point or two for uniqueness.  One or two off for a slight topheavyness.  Should be a wash, but ultimately leaves us with a fairly high scoring Jura release.  I like this one.  Quite a lot.  Strong competing notes…but it works.  Harmony through dissonance.

Nose:  Peat and smoke.  A little cola.  Lemon and orange juices.  Some dark figgy fruits and a lot of hefty spice, pepper especially.  Kinda cheese-y (sharp cheddar and Parmesan Regiano).  Mild burnt notes…maybe rubber.  Tarry and iodine-rich.  Very barnyard and farmy.

Palate:  Of course the peat and smoke are first.  Sharp cheeses again.  Smoke.  Weedy and floral.  Nice finish.  Long and very vibrant.  Shines all the way through.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Isle Of Jura Boutique Barrels 1993 Review

Leave a reply

Isle Of Jura Boutique Barrels 1993014

54% abv

Score:  89/100

 

Jura Vintage ’93.  Bottle says Sherry JI Cask Finish.  If anyone can share what the JI means…please do.

I have to confess right up front here.  I did read Serge’s of this whisky over at his site Whisky Fun.  Occasionally the power of suggestion can be overwhelming, and we find ourselves being subconsciously led without even really knowing what we’re following, let alone why.

Where I’m going with this one is…

Serge mentions raspberries, and I simply can’t wrap my head (or nose) around this one without being drawn back to that note.  It’s a very unique nuance, and incredibly defining in this whisky.  Not only that…it’s really quite lovely.  Kinda makes me marvel this isn’t a Speyside malt from one of the sherry heavyhitters.  Either way…I could drink this frequently.  Very frequently.

Big, big, big sweet Oloroso is stamped all over this one.  The effects of this sort of maturation or finishing on malts are often irresistable to me.  From the nose to the palate, these whiskies leave me salivating.  Other sherries work, of course, but Oloroso and single malt were meant to be together.  Bonnie and Clyde…Mickey and Mallory…Sid and Nancy.  That sort of story.  Each walked their own path through this world, but when they finally came together…nothing was the same afterwards.

Nose:   Sweet honeyed florals and a touch of dunnage.  Jammy notes.  Raspberry, by the buckets.  Quite some fresh fruit here.  Freshly ground dark roast.  Hay…like following the swather on the farm.  Match (but not sulphur), and maybe even a faint waft of smoke.

Palate:  Juicy, but slowly dries along the back sides of the tongue, like arid ground swallowing rain.  A lot of honey, and quite some spicy bourbon-ish notes.  Oak and barley follows all in a rather dry finale.  A little too hard a thump on the landing here.  Takes us into a dry herbal territory, not far off the finish of somethign like an anCnoc.  Would prefer a more refined ebb and fade, but beggars can’t be chosers.  This is a really good dram.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt