Category Archives: Whisky Reviews & Tasting Notes

Tamdhu 42 y.o. (A.D. Rattray) Review

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Tamdhu 42 y.o. (A.D. Rattray) Review003

43.8% abv

Score:  92.5/100

 

Good friends and good whisky.  These two things, in tandem, have formed an integral part of my social sphere for the past few years.  The two go hand-in hand for a multitude of reasons, not the least of which is the inspired conversation that evolves from the neck of a fine old malt.  In vino veritas, I’ve said on more than one occasion to more than one of my mates.

At a recent closed club gathering, a select handful of the Collective damaged the hell out of an exceptional single cask A.D. Rattray bottling of Tamdhu.  A 42 year old dram.  Sometimes, in the spirit of humility, it’s imperative to take a moment and reflect on the fact that you’re drinking a piece of history.  Great men and women of ages past are only now getting the recognition so well deserved.

I’ll spare you the mundane distillery details here, and simply let the whisky speak…

This is dessert at Gramma’s place…late night fireplace contemplation…rest breaks on deep forest hikes…reading old copies of classic books…last drams of the night with the few favored friends.  It’s odd, but this whisky is nostalgia bottled.  It takes me places.  And honestly…I’m a little sad to come back.

The thing about a whisky like this…the inclination is to zealously guard your prize and ruminate on many a night ahead of glorious sipping, but the true and proper way to enjoy a bottle of this caliber…open it and drink it with friends.  Make some memories.  They’ll last a lot longer than the whisky will.  On that note…thanks, Lance.  Slainte Mhath.

Nose:  Oh wow.  Old wood…and young paint.  Lovely cask notes.  Very creamy and ‘icing sugar-ish’.  Beautiful fruits.  Pineapple, cherry, orange, mango.  Love that tropical profile.  A little bit of mint.  Whipped shortbread and flaky pie crust.  Exceptional nose.

Palate:  There’s the woods.  Oh…here come those latex notes.  It tastes a little floral, before it suddenly tranforms, chrysalis-like, blooming into all sorts of sweet soft fruits.  Oranges and tropical notes.  Very tight oak.  Not too much cask influence, which is rather surprising at this age.  Mature and sweet.  Very enticing.

* One final, and very important note…this is an extremely affordable malt, but made in very limited quantity.  Less than 100 bottles in existence, and bottled exclusively for Co-op Wines And Spirits.  For anyone so enticed at this point…be quick.  It won’t last long.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

GlenDronach Cask Strength (Batch 1) Review

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GlenDronach Cask Strength (Batch 1)004

54.8% abv

Score:  91/100

 

Oh man…how we’ve waited for this one.

If ever there were a possible contender to knock Aberlour a’bunadh off its pedestal and steal the title of ‘favorite young cask strength sherry bomb’…this would have to be it.  Affordable, immense and immediately endearing.

GlenDronach is doubtless one of Speyside’s finest distilleries.  Their output is almost uniformly high…they produce some exceptional young whiskies…and further…their older whiskies are among the best available.  More on the older whiskies in other reviews though.  We’re here for a young’un today.

This expression is set to be small batch release type whisky, much like the aforementioned a’bunadh.  12,000 bottles in this case, and all sold out within three weeks.  Impressive start.  The folks at GlenDronach must surely feel a sense of justified vindication.  This whisky is a mix of Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez matured malts.  Yep…very sweet, as to be expected.  Age?  Who knows.  Youngish though.  And that works.

I should note here…it’s nice to see GlenDronach following on the heels of Auchentoshan and others in acquiescing to consumer demand and offering up that bold flavor stroke of cask strength and non-chill-filtered.  Not that we ever really worry about a lack of flavor from GlenDronach.  Excepting their 12 year old flagship expression, their releases are all 46% or higher.  Brilliant!  We’re not greedy or anything; we simply understand that alcohol is the vehicle for delivering flavor.  A simple equation: higher alcohol = bolder taste.

Complex dram, this.  And very impressive.  Give yourself a fair bit of time to work through this one.  It will continue to unravel as the clock ticks, releasing a swirling eddy of nuances.  These are the fun sort of whiskies we love; multi-dimensional, deep and thought-provoking.

From this humble reviewer to Billy Walker et al…many thanks.  Keep up the great work, folks.  Looking forward to batch 2.

Nose:  Cherry and strawberry jam.  Orange marmalade.  A hint of mint and pepper.  Chocolate.  Very sweet.  Spicy, but I think a tad less heavy-handed on the spices than the afore-mentioned a’bunadh.  Dried fruits covered in crystalized sugars.  The soft smell of suede.

Palate:  Juicy at first, but slightly tannic and quick drying.  A little pithy and rich in high content cacao.  Maraschino, dark dried fruits (raisin, plum, fig) and hints of old Demerara.  Again…very sweet.  Into tobacco and damp woods.  Now the spices are nipping at the tongue.  Long and long and long.  A finish I’m very fond of.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Ardbeg Lord Of The Isles Review

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Ardbeg Lord Of The Islesbarry's place pics 038

46% abv

Score:  93/100

 

“One dram to rule them all, One dram to find them,
One dram to bring them all and in the drunkness bind them”

The ‘one dram’ here…a thing of legend now.  Apparently at one point this beautiful old Ardbeg actually sold for a decent price.  Nowadays, a combination of the distillery’s cult status and the machinations of unscrupulous collectors manipulating the secondary markets have driven this one well beyond the budget constraints of most of us punters out there.  Getting your hands on a bottle of this ‘precious’ will likely cost you either a second mortgage or a divorce.

Such is the nature of the beast, unfortunately.

Lord Of The Isles was launched in 2001, and was released in small numbers through 2007.  Depending on when you bought, the whisky in the bottle could range between 25 and 30 years old and contain Ardbeg from 1974, 1975 and possibly 1976.  Older Ardbeg, particularly those between ’74 and ’77 are held in extremely elevated esteem.  Rightfully so, though that is of little comfort to those of us who want to drink the stuff yet can ill afford current market value.  If you can somehow get your hands on it…do not hesitate.  The Lord Of The Isles is quite possibly the second best Ardbeg I’ve yet tasted (behind the glorious 1977).

The whisky is mild by today’s Ardbeg standards.  Recent releases have been an assault on the senses…blindingly strong…immensely flavored…and nostril burning (and that’s why we love ’em!), but the Lord Of The Isles is much more akin to the lighter fare like Kildalton, 17 or Airigh Nam Beist.  Assuming, of course, those lovely drams were allowed a slightly longer period of maturation.  Don’t expect a featherweight, a la Ardbeg Blasda, however.  This is still a fairly smoky and tarry dram.

A final note…love the packaging.  The box was apparently inspired by the Monymusk Reliquary, an 8th century Scottish reliquary (ummm…simply put…a container to hold relics), quite possibly designed and built by Ionan monks off the West coast of Scotland in the Hebrides.  Cool stuff.

Nose:  Very soft fruits and a wonderful ‘old cask/latex’ note.  Soft sweet candy.  Vanilla and a touch of chocolate.  Scone.  Very mild on the peats you’d expect in an Ardbeg.  Quite organic (if that makes sense) in carrying some earthy notes like teas, grass and herbals.

Palate:  All that typifies Ardbeg (and was absent on the nose) puts in an appearance now.  Peat.  Smoke.  Tarry…sooty..ashy.  Some citrus.  Still very subdued and sophisticated.  Brilliant dram.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

 

 

Aberlour a’bunadh (Batch 37) Review

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Aberlour a’bunadh (Batch 37)007

59.6% abv

Score:  89.5/100

 

Time to settle in with another batch of our favorite young cask strength sherry bomb.  No sherried malt out there packs anything near the pound-for-pound punch power of a’bunadh.

This whisky, for those not in the know, is Aberlour’s small batch (but likely not as small as in early days, I imagine) beefcake.  The distillery releases a few editions each year, of slightly varying strength and quality.  The quality variance, in my experience, is relatively small however.  I’ve tried many batches, from the early teens through the mid forties, and found them to be remarkably consistent.  Yes, there are flavour differences, but those nuances and subtleties are what make the malt beautiful and keep us coming back.

Gaelic for ‘the origin’, a’bunadh is Aberlour’s attempt at producing an old school style malt similar to that which would have been produced in early days.  Hence…the origin.

For the newbies out there…this is not liable to be one of the first whiskies you reach for at your local retailer – unless you’ve been doing your homework, that is – but I promise you it will be a game-changer when you do finally grab a bottle.  It is immense enough to open up an entire world of possibilities in the whisky world, but also approachable enough that nearly anyone should be able appreciate its sweet, sweet depths.

So let’s check in on a’bunadh.  Last batch reviewed was 28.  This is 37.  Most recent I’ve seen on local shelves is 44.  Though I’ve tried many of the other batches, they haven’t been in the right controlled setting suitable for review.  No fear though.  Many more to come in the future.

Oh yeah…did I mention…at a whopping 60% (give or take) this whisky is always an asskicking heavyweight.

Nose:  Gooey, stringy toffee or caramel.  Coffee…much like a Caramel Macchiato or something.  Figgy.  Touch o’ brimstone, if you get my drift.  Fudge with a touch of cherry.  Oranges.  Clove, cinnamon, nutmeg.  Oak and honey.

Palate:  Unmistakeable.  Spicy.  Caramelized sugars and deep threads of caramel.  Plump figs and other mixed dried fruits.  Again a bit of cherry.  Alcohol-soaked cherry, that is.  Very syrupy.  Almost cough syrup heavy.  Brazil nut…walnut…hazelnut…or some mix thereof.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Rosebank 18 y.o. (OMC) Review

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Rosebank 18 y.o. (OMC)021

50% abv

Score:  86.5/100

 

Rosebank was yet another casualty of a rather callous and heartless whisky industry.  It drew it’s last dying breath in 1993.

Every now and then rumblings come along hinting at a Lazarus act with this rather legendary Lowland distillery, but they always amount to nothing more than just that.  No true true quakes…just the foreshocks.

There are some rather interesting bits of gossip out there too.  Conflicting tales of 2002 sales, stolen equipment and a 2013 rumour once again speaking to Diageo’s possible sale or reopening of Rosebank.  Call me a skeptic, but I think ATW will continue to roll forward on the assumption that Rosebank is gone.  Finished.  Over.  Sad, but likely much more rooted in reality than the alternatives.

The Lowlands are famously known as a region built on light, herbal, floral and grassy malts, most often triple distilled.  At the moment there are a mere six distilleries producing in the region, two of which are yet to release a proper distillery bottling.  Rosebank has the distinction of being the ‘Port Ellen’ of the region; quality whisky from a distillery now decades in the grave.  The distillery has continued to grow in the esteem of collectors and hoarders (much like Brora or Port Ellen), even though the malt…may or may not quite justify the hype.  Personally, I’ve yet to make up my mind on that one.

This expression in particular is a rather fine example, if not quite spectacular, of the light and fresh distillate you’re likely to encounter in most Rosebank expressions still out there.  It is a Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask release from a few years back.  Not quite cask strength, but I’m more than ok with the OMC 50% standard.

Good release from a fine distillery.  R.I.P. Rosebank.

Nose:  Meadowy, perfumed and floral.  Eucalyptus and sour candy.  Grapefruit pith.  A little peach and some orange fruit.  Unsweetened pastry dough.  Dirt.  Tart cranberry.  Acidic.

Palate:  Delivery is similar to an anCnoc.  Over-steeped tea.  Bitter and drying.  Hay notes and white pepper.  Grass.  MacIntosh apple.  Very light.  Quite pleasant.  Not really a fan of the finish here though.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Amrut Cask Strength (Limited Edition September 2007) Review

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Amrut Cask Strength (Limited Edition September 2007)014

61.9% abv

Score: 91.5/100

 

Limited Edition 2007 release.

Oh wow.  Uh…I think maybe I need a moment alone to collect myself.

This is so much more than the standard Amrut Single Malt on a steroid rampage.  This is awe-inspiring, really.  Truly as singularly focused and massive as the mighty Himalaya, from which this distillery draws its waters.

So…while not simply content to be the beefier big brother to the standard release, this does in fact have all the hallmarks that immediately announce the familial lineage.  Spice, orange, chocolate and doughy notes.  As soon as I pick up on those now familiar friends, I can settle in in relative comfort and begin the sensuous journey of unraveling another one of these foreign and exotic beauties.  I can’t hide it and don’t try…I love Amrut.

Do rest assured however, my shameless adoration and rooftop-shouting is not at all recognized by the distillery or the industry in any way (ahem…what I mean is…no, I’m not getting kickbacks).  I’m just a shameless shiller, really.  Find something good and do your best to share it with the world.  Religions have been founded this way.  Hmmmm…Amrut as religion.  Services like that I’ve no qualms about attending more than once a week.

Anyway…I’m a bit of a flavor whore, as you may recognize by now.  Big, bold and long-lasting are immediate selling points for me.  Tag-team that concept with one of my favorite distilleries and…hey…you’re bound to find a happy guy sipping whisky in my back yard.  The notes and nuances we get to magnify with each Amrut release at cask strength are simply out-of-this-world.  These folks from Bangalore are blazing their own trails and have built a brand unlike anything available anywhere else in the world.

I toyed with an extra half point, but will leave it at 91.5+.

Nose:  Cinnamon, bread dough.  Exotic sweets (think Indian desserts).  Faint, faint, faint echoes of tropical fruit notes.  White and milk chocolates.  Maybe Glossette raisins.  Just a drop of each rum and smoke.  Hint of dunnage warehouse.  Mature decades beyond its years.

Palate:  Enormous arrival.  Oranges.  Big cinnamon and clove notes.  Straight on into creamy chocolate.  Then fresh scones, orange zest and papaya.  Flavor is an explosion like oral fireworks.  Not as much finesse as say…the Herald, Two Continents or Intermediate Sherry, but this is a whisky flexing it’s muscle, not trying to be dainty.  Yum.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Amrut Herald Review

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Amrut Herald019

60.8% abv

Score:  91.5/100

 

Apologies for what may seem like lazy reviewing here, but I’m gonna sit back with my feet up (and my dram of Herald in hand) while you navigate a paragraph or two from the Amrut website itself.  After that…I’ll step back in and share a little bit of my own personal feelings on this dram.

Here goes…

“This single malt travelled almost close to 5000 miles to touch the finishing line. Unpeated malted barley sourced at the foot of the Himalayas, Initially distilled and matured in the city of Bangalore, India (3000ft above the sea level lie at the heart of the Mysore Plateau with a Geographical coordinate of 12� 59′ 0” North, 77� 35′ 0″East).

After the thirsty Angels of Bangalore have had their sumptuous share and the aged spirit has qualified to be called as whisky, the barrels were moved to an un thinkable location; Helgoland (167 ft above sea level with a average humidity of 82.9%); a small German Archipelago in the North Sea with a Geographical coordinate of 54� 10′ 0″ North, 7� 53′ 0″East). The whisky was matured there for a further period. The sharp contrast in altitude, humidity and temperature have had an impact on the maturing whisky and led it to an extra ordinary finale.”

Cool stuff, that.  This distillery thrives on such innovation.  The really neat part is, though, that while there have been several other very innovative distilleries out there (Bruichladdich, Arran, etc), none have met with the success rate that Amrut has.  Every new release is a treat and has me scurrying like the proverbial rat for the cheese.  Can’t help it.  This whisky is almost aphrodisiacal for me.  (Lucky wife I have, huh?  Now if only she’d believe that!).

Nose:  Typical Amrut spice profile.  Creamy.  Almond.  Swiss milk chocolate.  Raspberry.  Botanicals.  Vanilla.  Spruce tree.  Yellow sugars.  Lime.  Uber smooth and delicate, and like all releases from this distillery…the climate has induced an accellerated maturation that allows this young whisky to swagger with a confidence well beyond the years it can actually boast.

Palate: Cinnamon and almost rum notes.  Deep ribbons of chocolate.  Blood orange and grapefruit pith (the latter is quite fleeting).  Jam-filled scones.  Oh, yeah…and bloody big!!

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Amrut Single Malt Review

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Amrut Single Malt014

46% abv

Score:  88/100

 

Everybody has to start somewhere.  I simply wish they would suspend their snobbery and ignorance for a while and stop reaching for Glenfiddich, Glenlivet and Johnnie Walker for first sips and affordable gifts.

Of all the single malt players on the world stage right now (those distilleries outside of Scotland, that is), I believe Amrut is really the only one producing an affordable, quality, entry level whisky.  And it’s a doozy.  Miles more intriguing and complex than the afore-mentioned malts and blends, and, for that matter, most other comparable young whiskies.  The fact that Amrut single malt is out of India should delight, instead of causing consumer hesitance.

I’m only one guy, but I can say in all sincerity that second to Ardbeg, this is consistently the best and most exciting distillery in the world.  Controversial statement?  So be it.  Try it for yourself and see.  …And those of you with deeper pockets than others…reach for the more high end Amrut expressions.  They will simply knock your socks off.

What we’re looking at with this entry level malt in the Amrut range is the young base spirit, rapidly matured in the unforgiving Bangalore climate, and exhibiting a profile dissimilar to anything else I’ve tried.  The Amrut fingerprint is instantly recognizable, from this whisky on through the rest of the releases.  And while this may be lacking some of the innovative magic Amrut consistently manages to display in their more pricey releases, this is an astounding place to start.

Nose:  Exotic spice blend.  Salty bread dough and sugary barley notes.  Slivered almonds.  Orange zest.  Old cocoa powder.  Wood shavings.

Palate:  Cinnamon buns with icing.  Orange.  Very ‘wet’ and juicy.  Cocoa again.  Very spicy.  Cinnamon and cardamom.  Maybe the vaguest hint of chai.  Delicious…refreshing.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Glenfiddich 15 y.o. Solera Review

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Glenfiddich 15 y.o. Solera008

40% abv

Score:  86/100

a
Don’t be put off by the name Glenfiddich. There is a reason it is the world’s leading single malt. Many malters cut their teeth on this whisky, then for whatever reason, turn their backs on its streamlined simplicity as they start branching out into the wide world of malt. If this is the case with anyone reading this, I recommend a suspension of snobbery for a brief moment or two and to give the 15 year old Solera a shot.

It is truly astounding what 3 more years in the cask and a unique vatting can do to a whisky. The Glenfiddich 15 Solera is absolutely a different beast than its younger kin.

The Solera vat in question is used to marry the casks together which constitute the 15 year old. These casks are American bourbon, Spanish sherry and new oak. The Solera ‘feed from the top, pour from the bottom’ system allows the whisky to be continually blended and ensures a high level of consistency. Not only consistency, but also to theoretically allow the end product to contain some whisky older than its years.  Nifty, but with the amount Glenfiddich produces, I can scarce believe that much of the spirit sits around long enough in the vat to actually accumulate older malt in its constitution.

It is hard to pinpoint just why this is so much better than the 12 year old. It is simply bolder, more refined and has a swagger that the 12 does not even pretend to.

Nose:  A hint of tobacco and spice. Apple, of course. A big young fruity Speyside kick, though mostly made up of a sour berry tang. This has its jagged corners rounded off with a honeyed floral character. Also some chocolate and mild-tempered sherry. None too atypical of most other rather pedestrian Speyside malt, but maybe slightly better composed.

Palate:  Rather bold.  That tart fruity tang hangs in there.  Met with apple and cinnamon spice.  Even though the body is fairly light, the finish is relatively long and surprisingly oaky.

Overall…well worth the extra few dollars over the 12 year old, and gets the extra points for a lack of seams and a rather flawless composition.

         

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt

Bruichladdich Waves Review

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Bruichladdich Waves

46% abv

85/100

 

Another of the younger ‘Laddie releases that came out in the late 2000s as a contemporary of the Links, Peat, Rocks and Resurrection.

From what I understand, this was all new distillate from the revived distillery, containing no older malts, and bottled at (or around) 7 years of age.  To be expected, it is a little sharp and feisty, but that’s ok by me.  It has a youthful personality and vibrancy that is at once charming and refreshing.

We, in these local Calgary circles, demolished more than one bottle of this juice over the last couple of years.  Hmmm…more than several bottles, actually.  Hey, what can I say….we were simply doing our part to support the distillery as it worked to come back online.  Purely an altruistic endeavour.  😉

‘Waves’ went the way of the dodo mid 2012, so if you’re at all curious about this one I would suggest you hit the shops ASAP, as it is likely bordering on distant memory.

Interestingly, the Bruichladdich website had this to say last year: “Waves, a young version of Bruichladdich, was an accident. It started life destined exclusively for the Italian market, it was never intended as a stand alone bottling, and was ultimately incorporated in to the trilogy of bottlings along side Rocks (unpeated) and Peat (clearly peated) as a half-way house between the two.”

Oh well…like many of the ‘Laddie releases, it was fun while it lasted.

Nose:  Wine and whisky…whisky and wine.  Tiny hint of sulfur.  Whiffs of peat and smoke on the water.  Touch of bittersweet chocolate.  Dried cherries.

Palate:  Wine and crab apple.  Sea water saltiness and a little citrus.  A wine-ish familiarity…almost as if the Redder Still met the Resurrection.  One thing I do often find with young wine finishes…the palate almost never lives up to the nose.  Same case here, but not a bad disconnect.  The ooomph of 46% is the perfect vehicle here.  Fairly lingering on some nice tart clingy notes.

Throw back a mouthful and let it crash against your tastebuds.  I think that’s what Jim and Mark intended with this one.

 

– Reviewed by:  Curt

– Photo:  Curt