Liquid Log Entries 101 - 109 (2002) 100 - 31/12/2001 - MISSION STATUS
- What have I learned during phase 1 of my mission? - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Log Entry # 100 - December 31, 2001 Exactly five years after I started this Liquid Log, we've arrived at entry #100. This seems like the perfect occasion to look back and reflect on what I've learned since I started my
quest for the perfect single malt.CLICK HERE to jump to the 'Special Report' I've written for the occasion. It features my tasting notes on the 'Amsterdam Ardbeggeddon' - a mega-tasting session with 14 different Isaly malts.
(Scroll down to read about my first tastings in 2002.) - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Log Entry # 101 - January 1, 2002 Last night - or rather this morning - my brother Franc and I enjoyed the remains of two bottles of Ardbeg (10 & 17 OB's) during our traditional new year's hike through the woods. A thick
blanket of snow and a full moon; perfect conditions to kick off my 'Scotland by Dram' project. We emptied the bottles well past midnight, so my year 2002 started with Ardbeg. After a good night's sleep I felt ready to continue my
virtual journey tonight. For those of you that have just tuned in: After several fun 'projects' last year, I've come up with a new challenge for 2002. On the I prefer to go about things as systematically as possible, so I selected four malts from the top of The bottle of Arran NAS
(43%, OB, sherry casks) was an oldie. I picked it up in June 2000 when I started my Reserve Stock. With a rating of 61 points it's one of those malts that failed to impress me. Perhaps that's not too surprising considering this whisky inside the bottle is very young - the distillery was founded in the mid-1990's. They say youth has its virtues - let's find out if that's true.
The Aultmore 11yo 1985/1997
(43%, Signatory Vintage, distilled 9/10/1985, bottled 9/1997, oak butt #2904, bottle #468 of 484) has enjoyed the hospitality of my shelves for over a year now. It was my first bottle from this low-profile distillery. The nose was fruity and slightly oily in the start. Quite restrained. It's still a little grainy, but not as much as before. Some citrus. Taste: Very clean; no sweetness whatsoever at first. Malty. A little peppery - something I didn't detect earlier. Dry finish. Conclusion: The rating of
71 points
stands, but only because the '1 Year Trial Period' is over. The taste had a surprising peppery bite I hadn't noticed before. If it had been still in the race, it might have gone up to 72 points. Not sweet enough to score higher, though... Analysis: No more Aultmore.
The Allt-A-Bhainne 1989/1999
(50%, John Milroy Millennium Selection, matured in oak casks) is a single cask bottling - at least that's what the label claims. It doesn't specify a cask number or a bottle number, though. I've never understood what's the use of single cask bottlings when they don't give any information about the cask. All it tells us right now is that other bottles with the exact same label might be completely different. Nose: Oily and smoky. Sweetish. Eucalyptus. Tea? Rich; opens up further after a minute. Fresher over time. A big splash of water doesn't have a lot of effect. Taste: Malty. Slightly oily as well. Sweetish at 50%. Seems much 'thinner' when diluted, but still sweet. Conclusion:
78 points. Pleasant enough, but not overly impressive at first sight. Analysis: A few extra years of ageing might have lifted it over the 80 points limit, but as things stand right now it sticks at 'recommendable'. It's
notably better than than the James McArthur 12yo I tasted a few years ago but I still feel my 45 Euro's could have been spent more wisely. Ordinarily, it would have reached my middle shelf with this score, but there's just too much
good stuff in my collection right now. As a result, the Allt-A-Bhainne is condemned to my bottom shelf - at least for now. Finally, I opened the Aberfeldy 1978/1996
(59.3%, Scott's Selection, matured in oak casks). A younger Ultimate bottling I tasted last year didn't manage to overly impress me - 70 points is nothing to get too excited about. This version comes in a very nice 'leather' box, is very light in colour and produced a very good 'plop' when I opened it. Nose: Wow! Powerful. Lots of fruit, lots of perspective. Fruit cake? Slightly dusty. Complex with more sour/vegetable notes after time. Strangely enough, some water seemed to dim the nose a little. Taste: Sweet when sampled by the drop. Overwhelming with bigger sips. Fresher with water, but the sweetness remains dominant in the finish. Chewy. Intriguing development in the mouth, lasting very long. Conclusion:
83 points. Analysis: Bloody decent stuff! I look further to investigating this one further in the future. Back when my shelf was overpopulated with the cheapest malts I could find 83 points would have earned it a position on
my top shelf. In these days of plenty it moves to my middle shelf, pushing the Oban 14 to my bottom shelf. OK, that takes care of the planned part of the evening. I poured my first dram of Aberlour in 2002 (the exceptional Aberlour A'bunadh) and started to figure out where tonight's exploits have left me as far as 'Scotland By Dram' and the 'Second Chance Challenge' are concerned.. - - - Shorthand Still Reviews (A) Let's see which distilleries I can cross off my list; Aberfeldy
(Midlands) - I've sampled a younger bottling last year (Ultimate 9yo 1991; see log entry #88) and tonight's tasting takes care of the 'second opinion'. And let me tell you that opinion has improved considerably. The 1978 CS version is much better than the Ultimate. So much better in fact, that I was tempted to raise the still score from a measly 2 stars to 4 'Highly Recommendable' stars. After careful consideration I concluded that a malt of this age and strength (and price, I might add)
should perform well. Four stars should be reserved for serious overachievers. That being said, another good Aberfeldy bottling could earn it 4 stars. Aberlour
(Speyside) - The dram of Aberlour A'bunadh I'm enjoying while I write this takes care of my obligations as far as the 'Scotland by Dram' project is concerned. And since I've sampled several consecutive bottlings of the 10yo in the past as well I can forget about Aberlour when it comes to second chances. Bottlings of the 10 varied between 77 and 80 points and the A'bunadh (no batch number) scores 89 points - reason enough to generously award 4 stars to Aberlour. With 5 other versions in my reserve stock I'll have plenty of time to find out if all bottlings live up to the same standards. Lucky me!
Allt-A-Bhainne
(Speyside) - After a few unremarkable tastings with a James McArthur Allt-A-Bhainne 12yo back in 1997 (70 points; see log entry #2) I've tried my 'second opinion' version tonight. My opinion has improved a little, but not enough to lift it to 4-star status. Good, but nothing to go too crazy about.
Ardbeg
(Islay) - Located on the Hebridean Isle of Islay and established in 1815. Apart from the two versions I sampled this morning I've 'officially' sampled two other bottlings so far. These Ardbegs scored remarkably well, and so did the many other versions I've tasted 'unofficially'. Islay is my favourite island in the whole wide world and Ardbeg is one of my three favourite Islay distilleries - the other ones being Lagavulin and Laphroaig.)
OK - four 'A' distilleries down, five more to go; Ardmore (Speyside), Arran (Isle of Arran), Auchentoshan (Lowlands), Auchroisk / Singleton (Speyside) and Aultmore (Speyside). The bottle of Arran I emptied tonight was the first one I ever tried, so I'll need to sample another version later for the Second Chance Challenge. The same goes for the Aultmore. Ardmore, Auchentoshan and Auchroisk need a second chance as well. Status Scotland by Dram / Second Chance Challenge: Only [83/48] distilleries left to 'visit'. - - - mAddendum 101A - 'Bottomline Ban' My malt madness may have calmed down a bit, but I still need some kind of system to prevent me from bankrupting myself on liquor
in 2002. As I've learnt the hard way, a complete 'Big Ban' doesn't work very well for me. During the ban that lasted for 7 months (see
log entry #98
for details) the purchase-pressure kept building and building, resulting in a highly combustable situation. Unavoidably, things finally exploded into major malt madness mayhem. When the smoke cleared up a few days later, I found myself 32 bottles richer and a few thousand Euro's poorer. That's why I've come up with a cunning new mechanism; the 'Bottomline Ban'. Sounds cool, eh? But what does it mean? Bottom line: the number of unopened bottles in my
reserve stock
on 31/12/2002 should not exceed 100. With a grand total of 125 unopened bottles right now and a small shipment coming in from Hamburg in a few weeks that seems doable, provided I show the utmost restraint in picking up new bottles.
- - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Log Entry # 102 - January 19, 2002 German correspondent Klaus
and his malt buddy Michael visited my humble abode twice before and returned for another session tonight. They muled over a shipment of 13 new single malts from Weinquelle
in Hamburg, which made them extra welcome. I'll get back to the new additions to my reserve stock later on; first I'd like to tell you about the events that took place at the 'Amsterdam Ardbeggeddon Reprise'. Halfway through our first dram, Arthur from the whiskysite joined us. Like Michael, he was reluctant to translate his impressions into ratings at first. Fortunately, Klaus and I (with weight and experience on our side) managed to persuade them. Here's a 'by the numbers' review of tonight's events.
1 - Macallan 18yo 1982 (43%, OB) Pointy conclusions: 2 - Pittyvaich 18yo 1976/1995 (43%, Signatory Vintage) Conclusions:
Before we had finished our glasses the food arrived. 3 - Dallas Dhu 10yo (40%, Gordon & MacPhail) Conclusions: 4 -
Highland Park 12yo 1988/2001 (43%, Ultimate) Conclusions: And this is where things got REALLY interesting. We decided to do a H2H2H (a Head-to-Head-to-Head-tasting) with three different versions of Caol Ila. All contenders were distilled in 1989, but after that they got treated very differently. On the table before us were: 5 - Caol Ila 1989/1999 (43%, Mackillops Choice) The Mackillops Choice bottling (bottle no. 71 from cask no. 1804) was muled over by Klaus and Michael last year. Klaus was
crazy about it and convinced me to purchase a bottle as well. It has been hiding in my reserve stock for a long time but I finally opened it a few weeks ago to find out if I wanted to order a spare bottle. It scored 85 points on
its opening night, enough to make it to my latest shopping list. The Signatory Vintage bottlings were both part of a new range of unchillfiltered malts bottled at 46%. The packaging is very nice; the bottles with simple (yet
informative) labels come in attractive silver tubes. Malt 6 (bottle 643 of 868) was distilled on 18/12/1989, matured in re-fill Sherry Butt no. 5377 and bottled on 30/06/2001. Malt 7 (bottle 364 of 654) was distilled on 22/02/1989,
matured in Bourbon Barrels no. 774 and 775 and bottled on 30/05/2001. You may have noticed that the bottlers have managed to extract 868 bottles from a single sherry cask, while they needed two bourbon barrels to fill just 654
bottles. This isn't too surprising when you know that the average sherry cask is much larger than the average bourbon barrel. As a result, the sherry-matured Caol Ila is a single cask bottling, while the other one isn't.
OK, let's get back to the tasting notes. Pointy conclusions: This tasting was a tough one. For one thing, the bottles were freshly opened. Some bottles change considerably after they are opened, especially in the first few weeks. This means my conclusions are preliminary to some extent. And there's another complicating factor. I used to prefer the heavily sherried Islays (Lagavulin 16, for example) over the 'bourbon' style, but lately I've come to appreciate the latter more - the more 'transparant' bourbon character is really growing on me. Especially in this comparison, the sherry finished version fell a bit short. At first there are not many differences in the nose, but after 10 minutes the bourbon version wins. The taste is better as well. They used a re-fill sherry cask; maybe it was a 'tired' second- or third-fill cask - I imagine a first-fill bottling would have performed much better. Around 22:00 PM Arthur
had to leave for another venue. He was travelling by bicycle and had to ride for more than 10 kilometres to reach the centre of Amsterdam. It was rather cold, so Klaus, Michael and I were glad we could stay indoors. We decided to express our solidarity with a dram of...
8 - Laphroaig 15yo 1985/2000 (50%, Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask) Conclusions: 9 - Saint Magdalene 19yo 1979/1998
(63.8%, UDRM) Conclusions: OK - on to the next top shelf malt... (You may notice the notes will become increasingly sketchy...) 10 - Springbank 21yo (46%, OB) Conclusions: 11 - Port Ellen 18yo 1981 (43%, McGibbons Provenance) Conclusions: 12 - Aberlour A'bunadh (59.6%, OB, no batch number) Conclusions: Finally, we arrived at the last documented tasting of the evening, an intriguing H2H sampling of two 'official' Glendronachs; Conclusions: Hurray! - 14 malts down... We matched the number of drams from Davin's latest visit. Making notes after
14 drams would be a little bit pointless, but the tasting didn't stop there. Quite the contrary - while Klaus and Michael explained to me how to play 'Diablo II - Lord of Destruction' on-line (great fun!) we sampled a lot of other
malts as well. At this point, our choices started to diverge but I tasted: At the start of the evening Klaus and I had to use all our persuasive powers to get Michael to declare scores
for the malts, but at the end there was no stopping him. Long after Klaus and I had given up all our ambitions for serious sampling and restricted our comments to 'nice' and 'very nice', Michael kept on rating. After every dram,
his face got a puzzled expression that lasted for a while. Then it would open up in a broad 'Eureka' smile while he delivered a rating - not unlike a midwife delivering a baby. My malt-o-meter stood at 20 by the time we got to sleep. This was an evening well spent; I'll worry about the status of 'Scotland by Dram' and the 'Second Chance Challenge' later. See my added note for the details of the loot Klaus muled over. - - -
mAddendum 102A - First Shoppings for 2002 I've made some calculations and I figured my wallet could stand another shopping spree. Klaus was kind enough to bring
over some 'pleasantly prized picks' from Weinquelle in Germany. The Euro has finally arrived, so it was the first time we didn't have to worry about exchanging Deutschmarks for Guilders and vice-versa. My shopping list looked like this: Aberlour A'bunadh Batch No. 6 (59,6%, OB, 70cl) ¥ 58.30
Ooh, boy. I'm a happy camper! Thirteen bottles richer and a little over 500 Euro's poorer. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Log Entry # 103 - February 16, 2002 Last week my brother Franc and I visited France for some serious skiing and some far less
serious writing for our e-zine 'Weird Planet Magazine'. (I cunningly planned my 'retraite' in Val d'Isere to avoid the festivities around the Dutch royal wedding and my own birthday...) After an exhausting day of skiing, we kicked
back with a good glass to discuss assorted topics. Those 'good glasses' were mostly filled with pastis or absinthe, but we managed to finish two bottles of whisky as well. The first one was the 'Ye Monks'
(40%, blend, distilled by Donald Fisher from Edinburgh) Klaus brought it over from Germany and Franc and I emptied the bottle in France. It's a bit of a curiosity; a 75 cl bottle with some strange kind of plastic anti-alcoholics device installed in the neck of the bottle. It took several minutes to fill a glass! The label claims it's 'a curious old whisky'. Well, it wasn't so 'curious' after all - a pretty standard blend with hints of smoke and citrus in the malty nose at first. Opens up after a while, becoming quite expressive for a blend. The taste is soft and quite sweet. Faint fruit. Slightly grainy on the palate, but not bad at all. Good, solid centre. Salty finish. Sal-ammoniac? 'El Monje' receives 51 points; it has a high 'Instant Re-fill Factor'.
We picked up the Glen Turner 8yo Special Reserve
in France. I've misplaced my notes, but if memory serves it's a vatted malt bottled especially for the French market. It performed rather well and Franc and I assigned scores in the lower 60's. (I'll add my tasting notes if and when I find them.)
OK - On to the actual topic of this log entry. Tonight, Franc came over to finish some writing and some
bottles. During last month's 'Germaniacs' session we opened 2 Caol Ila's without properly making room on the shelves. One of the little chores I've planned for tonight is restoring law and order in my collection. To make room for
the new arrivals, two bottles have to go. After careful deliberation, we chose the two official bottlings of Glendronach in my collection. Last month's H2H-tasting of Glendronach 12yo 'Traditional' (43%, OB, 70cl) and
Glendronach 15yo '100% Sherry' (40%, OB, 100cl) produced some interesting results, so I wanted to repeat the experiment. The cork of the 15 started to fall apart, so it's a good thing the bottle will be emptied tonight. Nose:
Both have lots of sherry in the nose; but they are very different kinds of sherry. The 12 smells more like the actual sherry's I've tasted (mostly cheap ones like Sandeman), while the style of the 15 is quite similar to other
malts that are usually described as 'heavily sherried' - Macallan and Aberlour OB's for example. The 12 showed some soy sauce and seemed very dry, while the 15 had more wood and burnt caramel. It was slightly sweeter as well, but
only because the 12 had no sweetness at all - at least not at first. Franc described the 12 as 'nicely balanced', although he found the nose too dusty. The same with the 15; even more so. The nose of the 15 has more stamina and
seems more 'alcoholic', although it actually has a lower alcohol percentage. Taste: Both are very good. The 12 had some distinctly sherryish elements on the palate as well. Dry with a menthol freshness. It seems much sweeter than
the 15, because the woody, tannin-rich character of the 15 pushes the sweeter elements aside. Franc felt that the Glendronach 15 showed a lot of similarities with the Macallan 12, although it lacks most of the sweetness. After
adding some water I noticed a distinct tobacco flavour in the 15 while the 12 showed more citrus and toffee sweetness. Conclusions: As far as I'm concerned there's no reason to change my ratings. Both are very enjoyable malts that offer good value, but the 15 has considerably more depth and stamina, even with big chunks of cork in
it. Still, it amazes me that the nose of the malt that has been partly aged in bourbon casks smells more like actual sherry to me than the version that has matured for 3 more years, exclusively in sherry casks. Maybe I simply
haven't sampled enough sherries to make an informed judgement. I vaguely remember some sherry tastings with rare and exclusive sherries that seemed to go more into the direction of the Glendronach 15, but I'm just not sure. After
a generous re-fill of our glasses, both bottles were empty. Two more victims of my malt madness, I guess. On the bright side, this gave me the opportunity to move the new Caol Ila's to my top shelf. This means the F&F Benrinnes
15 is ((temporarily?)?) 'demoted' to my middle shelf - another indication that the average quality of the bottles on my shelves is steadily improving. Maybe I'm finally learning how to liquidise my assets efficiently and
effectively... The night was still young, so we went for another H2H: The bottle of Longmorn Glenlivet 12yo (40%, G&M, 70cl) on my middle shelf had only two drams left in it, so replacing it with the fresh
Longmorn 15yo
(45%, OB, 100cl) from my reserve stock would give us a chance to compare two other Speyside siblings in their teens. Nose: At first sight, the 12 seemed oilier while the 15 was more spirity. No wonder, considering it's bottled at 45% while the G&M comes in at just 40%. Probably considerably less actually, because the cheap tin cap of this bottle had been damaged and a lot of illegal breathing has been going on. The 12 became quite soapy after 5 minutes - not very pleasant. The 15 showed more late fruits and citrus after a while. Taste: The 12 started quite flat with a peppery undertone on the palate. A light maltiness after a while. Almost watery. Not the 15, though... A big burn with lots of development. A deep, satisfying sweetness. Boy, we have a winner! The 15 is a very good, well-balanced single malt. I can't really say the same about the 12 - I might even have to decrease the score.
Conclusions: The rating for the last few drams of Longmorn Glenlivet 12yo was considerably lower than the
82/83 it scored when I first 'opened' the bottle on December 1 2001. I blame excessive evaporation for its quick deterioration. I won't change the final rating of 80 points, though - it's a nice rating in the middle of the
score-bandwidth. The Longmorn 15 replaced the Longmorn 12 on my middle shelf, after which we embarked on a game of chess that quickly became so exciting that I forgot to take notes for the rest of the evening.
So - that's it for the report on this particular session. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Log Entry # 104 - February 23, 2002
One of the bottles the Germaniacs brought over from Hamburg last month was a small bottle of Tomintoul 14yo
(43%, OB, 33.33cl). The design of the label is very similar to the 10yo I tried last year. It looked so vulnerable and helpless between all the big bottles that I decided to take affirmative action - I opened and emptied the bottle in a special 3-week 'bypass operation', avoiding all the hassles that come with passing a bottle through my shelf system.
Tonight, I decided to finish the last 3 to 4 drams in the bottle. Hmmm - now what?
Hmm - and I figured I might as well finish with the 5cl miniature of Glen Scotia 14yo (40%, OB) Geertjan Uytenboogert sent me. He though this particular bottling was much better than previous batches and wanted to hear my opinion about it. Well, of course, I'm glad to help out - especially if it means free drinking... Fourteen years can be a difficult age. I have to admit I'm not to sure about tonight's
findings when it comes to the Oban and Glen Scotia. I emptied quite a few glasses of the Tomintoul before I got around to them an was focussing on a new article for Malt Maniacs during the tasting. I won't consider them 'officially
sampled' and get back to them in the future. So, where does that put me in the 'Scotland by Dram' project? - - - mAddendum 104A - Status Review 'Scotland by Dram' Ah - All my great plans to go about this systematically (read: alphabetically) were thwarted last month when Klaus
and Michael lured me into a lengthy detour across
a dozen different distilleries. Since I last checked, I could cross 12 more active distilleries off my 'Scotland by Dram' list; - Caol Ila All these distilleries are relatively familiar; I've tasted at least two different bottlings from each one. That means they are not on the list
of my 'Second Chances Challenge'. I'll try to get back to my 'organized' A-Z system in the future, so I'll publish my shorthand distillery reviews when I get there - alphabetically speaking. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Log Entry # 105 - March 2, 2002 I've got some big events planned for the near future; events that will have a notable
impact on my collection. First of all, there's the upcoming Lagavulin Extravaganza. One of the side-effects will be the removal of the two Lagavulins (16 OB and 14 MurMac) from my top shelf. And then there's the March JOLT where I
will open five new bottles from one single distillery; Aberlour. All these fresh bottles will need a spot on my shelves, so it's time to make some room. I'll spare you the mathematical details, but the bottom line is that I have to
remove two bottles from my shelves to prepare for this month's events. I went for two bottles that were almost empty anyway - the Glenmorangie Madeira Wood Finish and the Dalmore 12. And there's a good reason they're almost
empty; both are highly accessible single malts that can be enjoyed during all seasons and under all circumstances. At the same time, they offer enough intriguing details to keep the demanding malt maniac satisfied. Especially the
Dalmore 12 has a high 'Instant Refill' factor - I opened the bottle only four months ago. Time to say goodbye - after I've made some closing notes. (Mind you: I'm no advocate of smoking cigars during a tasting - only after!) The Glenmorangie Madeira Wood Finish
(43%, OB, 100cl, bottled +/- 1998) was one of the better incarnations I've tried. The variations between different batches of the Glenmorangie special finish range can be considerable. This litre bottling scored an average of 83 points at previous tastings - an enjoyable malt with a special wood finish that offers an interesting new perspective on the way single malts 'should' taste.
Person: Vincent Van Gogh The Dalmore 12yo
(43%, OB, 100cl, bottled +/- 2001), on the other hand, still delivered in spades the last time I tried it. The Dalmore isn't quite as characteristic as the Glenmorangie Madeira, but it's one of the best all-round malts I know in the 'highly affordable' price bracket. A litre goes for +/- 30 Euro's here in Holland.
Person: Winston Churchill Hmmm - the clock said 22:30 when I had taken care of my 'shelf management' duties. I wasn't tired yet, so I shifted my attention to
two miniatures that ended up in my collection 6 months ago when I broke my 'Big Ban'. I started with the Glenturret 12yo
(40%, OB, 5cl, bottled +/- 2000). Tastings of a big bottle about two years ago didn't really excite me that much. The text on the little cardboard box claims Glenturret is the oldest distillery in Scotland. Hmmm... Person: Sissy Spacek The last malt of the evening was the miniature Highland Park 12yo
(40%, OB, 5cl, Bottled +/- 2000). This miniature came in its own tiny round tube. A few months ago, the packaging of HP12 of the big bottles changed to a square box
and I suspect they've changed the packaging of the miniatures as well. This means this is an 'old' bottling - although all the other (litre) bottles came in at 43% instead of 40%. Person: Claudia Cardinale That's it - I'm full... I can cross Glenturret and Dalmore
of my 'Scotland by Dram' list, and this 'new' bottling of the Dalmore 12yo takes care of the 'second chance'. (See my mAddendums for other adventures in maltland.) Status Scotland by Dram / Second Chance Challenge: Only - - - mAddendum 105A - Islay Shopping Spree Shortly after my previous log entry, Ton Overmars managed to lure me to his shop once more with a very special offer; 1 litre of Laphroaig 10 C/S for just 39.95 Euro's! That's more than 10 Euro's off the regular price for a malt that scores 91 points on my personal hitlist. Reason enough to drop by, I thought. Five seconds after I walked into the store I knew I wouldn't be able to leave with just one or two Laphroaig OB's - a couple of irresistible new Islays had just arrived on Ton's shelves. Everything went hazy for a while and when I regained my senses I stood outside with: Ardbeg 10yo 1991/2001 (46%, Murray McDavid, 70 cl) - 49 Euro's
Subconsciously, I'd restricted myself to Islay malts this time. - - - mAddendum 105B - Port Ellen Official Bottling
There's a new bottling in town that everybody's talking about and I just had
to have one - even though the price is WAAAY over my budget at +/- 200 Euro's. I'm talking about a rare official bottling of Port Ellen. The Port Ellen 22yo 1979 (56.2%, 2001 bottling, no. 3942), to be precise. In this case, only 6000 bottles were produced.
Even when I discovered that Ton Overmars had secured a few bottles for 'just' 180 Euro's a pop, I couldn't justify buying it - not to my wallet and not to the other bottles in my collection. I've decided on respecting certain
price ceilings this year; a soft 50 Euro's limit for the relatively 'average' malts (pardon my French) and a hard 100 Euro's limit for those genuine 'Special Occasion' malts. Buying this Port Ellen would mean breaking yet another
one of my own rules. But that's when I got creative. But what whisky to choose?
Oh, I don't know... How about that official Port Ellen? - - - mAddendum 105C - Loch Dhu 10yo Those of you who've read the harrowing reports about my previous encounters with the infamous Loch Dhu 10yo may find this hard to
believe, but since a week I am the proud owner of another bottle. The Loch Dhu is very probably the worst single malt Scotch whisky ever produced (my personal score: 11 points), but even the mediocrest of malts becomes a
sought-after prize as soon as they stop making it. And that's the case with Loch Dhu. The Mannochmore distillery that produced it finally came to its senses and decided to cease production. The unique 'ashtray' style of Loch Dhu
had a few fervent fans, but the general consensus seemed to be that it's not very good - to put it mildly. It's also the whisky that people get most excited about on my 'Public Warnings' page. So - How did this bottle arrive on my shelves? I gladly accepted. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Log Entry # 106 - March 31, 2002 Over the last three months, I've been neglecting my duties as far as my 'Scotland by Dram' project is concerned. With only 9 months left, I've still got 64 distilleries to 'visit'. I'd better hurry up! To start things off again, I dropped by 'De Still' with the plan to sample drams of Ardmore, Arran and Aultmore. All these distilleries needed a second chance and I had no bottles in my current collection. I started with the Ardmore 11yo 1990/2001 (46%, Signatory Vintage).
Then I asked for an Arran malt.
My last dram at De Still was the Aultmore 1989/1999 (50%, John Milroy Golden Strength). Well, That's three suckers on a row! The Auchentoshan Three Wood
(43%, OB) is matured in three different casks; American Bourbon, Spanish Oloroso Sherry and Pedro Ximenez. The bottle has been in my reserve stock for almost two years now; ever since my collection of bottles began to significantly exceed my drinking capacity. I sampled the Auchentoshan 10yo over five years ago and wasn't particularly impressed (68 points). Since then, I've found a few Lowlanders that have significantly improved my opinion about this region; Bladnoch and St. Magdalene.
Now we will find out if my new-found love for Lowlanders includes Auchentoshan. Well, that was a very pleasant surprise! OK - Three months after I started my 'Scotland by Dram' tour, I finally have visited all the distilleries starting with 'A'. Only 25 more letters to go. Before I
get to Shorthand Still Reviews and Still Scores, I had to remove two other bottles from my shelves to make room. The Aberlour 10yo
(40.0%, OB, 100 cl, bottled +/- 2001) was opened only last week for the our second Malt Maniacs JOLT (see added note). The event had a significant effect on the contents of my shelves; after the smoke had cleared there were 5 different bottles of Aberlour on my shelves. More than enough, I would think. Time to remove my least favourite from my shelves.
The Allt-A-Bhainne 1989/1999
(50%, John Milroy Millennium Selection, 70cl, oak casks) was opened in January, especially for the 'Scotland by Dram' project. With a score of 78 points, it performed reasonably well, but I'm systematically trying to get rid of 'A' bottles.
Ordinarily, I would have emptied the Aberlour and Allt-A-Bhainne straight away, but now I'll save them for the 'Midsummernight's Dram'
Extravaganza in June. (More about that later..) On the table: Conclusion: Both are smashing malts, only different. - - -
Shorthand Still Reviews (A)
Ardmore
(Speyside) - The Ardmore Distillery (established by William Teacher in 1898) lies in Aberdeenshire, in the far Southeast of the Speyside region. In fact, it's so far off the beaten Speyside track that it could be considered a Eastern highland malt. Ardmore malts are an important part of the 'Teacher's' blend I like so much. Official bottlings of Ardmore are rare, but I've managed to taste two independents; the 1981/1995 (40.0%, G&M) and the 1991/2001 (46.0%, SigV).
Arran
(Arran) - This is one of the youngest distilleries in Scotland; production started in 1995. It's the only distillery on the isle of Arran, to the east of Islay and Campbeltown. The only widely available bottling is a version without an age statement, first released in 1998. I've sampled two incarnations of this bottling; one distilled +/- 1999, one distilled +/- 2001. The bottled spirit should be 5 or 6 years old by now; too young to mess with the big boys.
Auchentoshan
(Lowlands) - The 10yo OB was the first Lowlander I ever tasted and I wasn't particularly impressed. I've waited many years to try another bottling and after sampling the 'Three Wood' I wish I had sooner. Further investigation may be required.
Auchroisk / Singleton
(Speyside) - Until recently, Singleton (of Auchroisk) bottlings were quite rare in Holland. More and more different versions are becoming available now. The distillery lies just Northeast of the Speyside heartland, not far from Strathisla and Aultmore. It was founded in 1974; the first single malt bottling was released in 1986.
Aultmore
(Speyside) - The Aultmore (Gaelic for 'big burn') distillery was built in 1896 by Alexander Edward, owner of Benrinnes. It is located a little north of the town Keith, near Strathmill and Strathisla. It's used mainly for the 'Dewar's' blends, but every now and then a single malt bottling appears. With scores of 71 and 72 points for the two versions I've tried, I can't justify awarding this distillery more than 2 points.
Where does that put us in this year's challenge?
- - - mAddendum 106A - Aberlour JOLT On March 23, 22:00 GMT, the second International Malt Maniacs JOLT
(Joint On-Line Tasting) started. It ended many hours (and many drams) later. This time around, we focussed our attention on Aberlour, a Speyside distillery that proved to be something of a hidden gem. The malt maniacs managed to sample more than a dozen different bottlings of Aberlour in a single 'virtual' session. I sampled six different bottles; five of them freshly opened:
I actually had a pretty bad nose day during the JOLT itself, so I'll have to organise a little 'Aberlour Reprise' to investigate further. If I have the time, that is. I'd really like to do a big 'Hopalong H2H' with these malt
a.s.a.p., but Aberlour is one of the distilleries I've already crossed off my 'Scotland by Dram' list. I should really be focussing on the 66 distilleries I still have to 'visit' this year. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
Log Entry # 107 - April 1, 2002 After the wintery Laphroaig JOLT (Check it out!!!), the temperatures have been rising steadily
here in Holland. Spring in in the air, everything is turning green and it looks like the Islay season is winding down. Normally, I welcome the warmer weather with open arms, but this year I would have liked winter to hang around
for a while longer. Why? Well, I had planned on finishing the winter season with a massive Lagavulin H2H extravaganza. The distillery produces one of the ultimate cold weather malts and I wanted to conduct my experiments under
perfect Islay conditions. I usually sample a number of different malts on a single night, but for this exercise I envisioned a much more intensive approach. I had already prepared a tight schedule to open and empty 10 official,
independent and bastard bottles of Lagavulin within the course of a month. I imagined concentrating all my tasting efforts on a single distillery for several weeks might produce a few interesting new insights, especially because I
would get to sample the bottlings in different combinations and under different weather conditions. Sadly, my megalomaniac plans were shattered when I slammed into the wall of reality. Trying to execute my original plans (emptying 10 bottles) within a week would very probably lead to new health problems, so I
decided on a new approach. For tonight's tasting, I will collect all the different Lagavulin bottlings in my reserve stock (except the 1980 and 1984 'Distiller's Edition'), open them and sample them in small quantities alongside
the two versions on my top shelf. After I'm done, I'll temporarily remove all these bottles from my shelves and put them away safely. In November or December I'll dig them up again to find out how they perform after they've had a
long breather. Before I get to the actual tasting report, I'd like to address a couple of other issues concerning Lagavulin. Because the 'standard' 16yo bottling has been my number 1 malt
for over 10 years (it was pushed from the pole position of my Top 10 only a few months ago), I've been closely monitoring 'the buzz' about this Islay distillery. And there has been a lot of buzz lately. For those of you who are a
little behind on current affairs I've gathered some facts, opinions and rumours about Lagavulin; 'NEW' LAGAVULIN 16yo IN HOLLAND
A few months ago, a new batch of Lagavulins
has reached our shores that has a slightly different packaging from previous ones. It's impossible to find out exactly when this whisky was bottled, but I'm guessing somewhere in 2001. The 'Classic Malts' seal has moved to the bottom of the box. The Royal seal with the text 'By Appointment to Her Majesty the Queen...' at the top of the label has been replaced by a little picture of a boat and the text 'Lagavulin Distillery, Port Ellen, Isle of Islay. The label at the bottom of the bottle used to state 'White Horse Distillers Glasgow', now it says 'Port Ellen, Isle of Islay'. The changes are subtle, but I checked the old, empty bottles in my 'History' cabinet and they all had pretty much the same design - even the litre bottles and my very first (75cl) bottle. This means this is the first significant change in packaging in at least 10 years. I'll call the old version 'White Horse' and the new version 'Port Ellen'.
Does the fact that the Royal seal has vanished mean that the distillery or their owners (White Horse) have lost their Royal Warrant when it was reviewed? And if so, does that mean the sensible tastes of Queen Elizabeth have
picked up on the changing character profile of Lagavulin 16? If the preference for peat is hereditary, her majesty could very well be a secret Islay lover - it seems Prince Charles is rather fond of Laphroaig and even granted the
distillery a Royal Warrant a few years ago. PRICES & AVAILABILITY IN EUROPE If the British Royal household is anything like the Dutch, they won't be actually paying for their single malts. The Dutch Royal family has been leeching off the population for centuries and
still does so today, even though they are amongst the wealthiest families in the world. The taxpayer has to cough up their multi-million Euro salaries, while Royal Warrant holders are expected to deliver to one of their many
palaces for free - sending a bill for delivered services or good is considered just 'not done'. We commoners have to pay for our drams, though... That shows I should really stop my whining. The character of Lagavulin 16 may be slightly slipping (more about that later), but it still offers lots of 'bang for your buck'. In
most countries, it's considerably cheaper than comparable malts like Ardbeg 17 or Laphroaig 15. I guess everything below 50 Euro's could be considered a fair price for these excellent single malts. Besides, I should count myself lucky that I'm able to pick up a bottle whenever I want. I've been hearing disturbing gossip about the possibility that Lagavulin 16 might be phased out of the European market, perhaps to be replaced by a new, younger version. Although I'd welcome the opportunity to try an official bottling at a different age, I don't see why the producers would need to stop producing this critically acclaimed malt if they want to bring a younger version to the market. Bowmore has certainly proven that a range of malts of different ages can me marketed successfully, and so have Ardbeg and Laphroaig in more recent years. Why would Lagavulin be any different? I think an 'official' Lagavulin 10 or 12 could very well coexist alongside the 16. It's hard to distinguish fact from fiction when you ask people in the whisky industry about issues of quality and availability. Most of the time, you get the standard
story about increased demand, limited capacity and rigid quality control. At the end of the day, most of us will just have to wait and see what will be available on the
shelves of our liquorists next year - and at what prices. BATCH CHARACTER DIFFERENCES
Strictly speaking, there's no such thing as 'the' Lagavulin 16.
And that's assuming the 'production specs' that can
be influenced remain constant. Rumour has it that they have been playing around with the phenol levels in the malt used for Lagavulin (more about that later), while the individual casks that are selected by the master blender are a major factor as well. Lagavulin 16 isn't a 'single cask' malt, so every batch is a vatting of multiple different casks. This allows the master blender to change the character of a commercial malt over time. Of course, the blender has a limited choice; the truth of the matter is that he'll just have to make do with the casks that are available at any given time.
So, even before they changed the packaging of Lagavulin 16 to the current design there were differences between batches. The general consensus seems to be that Lagavulin 16 has been 'dumbed down' intentionally over the years.
When I discovered the 16 around 1990, it used to be an extreme, almost aggressive malt. Peat was the defining element, but it was beautifully balanced by lots of other elements as well. The whisky in these bottles would have been
distilled before 1975. For a long time, I didn't detect a lot of notable differences between bottles, but around 1999 or 2000 I started to notice a few distinctive changes. The character started to shift in the direction of the
1979 Pedro Ximenez 'Distiller's Edition' that was introduced around the same time here in Holland; more sherried and lighter on the peat - more sweet, less salt. The character of the 'old' 16 OB was more extreme in its peatiness
- more like the Laphroaig 10 OB (43%). Or at least, the Laphroaig 10 as it was a few years ago. I haven't sampled nearly as many bottles of 'Phroaig 10 as I have of Lagavulin 16, but I've sensed some softening in this malt as well.
So far, the changes seem to be not as significant as what's been happening to Lagavulin, but it's cause for concern anyway. What's happening to all the massive peat monsters? INTERNATIONAL CHARACTER DIFFERENCES To complicate things even further, 'commercial' malts are sometimes vatted in different
'profiles' to suit the tastes and whims of different markets. In Italy, for instance, they seem to appreciate young malts more than in other parts of the world. To accommodate national preferences, Macallan bottles a 7 years old
version just for the Italians. I'm not sure this is the case with Lagavulin, but the tasting evidence suggests it. A Japanese bottling I once tasted was unusually salty, while a USA (?, 75cl) bottling seemed much sweeter. So,
it's entirely possible we're talking about 'different' single malts when we discuss 'the' Lagavulin 16yo. 'INDEPENDENT' LAGAVULINS Of course, you don't have to worry about batch differences with most (reputable) independent bottlings. Often, details like distillation date, bottling date and cask type are
mentioned on the label. Sometimes you can get more useful information from the labels of 'bastard bottlings' than from official distillery releases. In fact, you don't see many 'reputable' independent Lagavulins like the Murray
McDavid 14yo 1984/1999. Most of the malts on tonight's menu are 'bastards', rumoured to be young Lagavulins. Dun Bheagan, Finlaggan, Fuaran Ila, Ileach... Who comes up with these names? It seems young Lagavulin bastards are
flooding the market. You won't hear me complain about it, but it makes you wonder how some 'industry officials' can maintain the myth that rising prices for Lagavulin 16yo are caused by 'limited stocks' - something beyond their
control. If Lagavulin 16yo will actually prove to be scarce around 2010, won't selling off large amounts of casks at knockoff prices around 2000 have something to do with that? PEAT & PHENOL LEVELS One of the
factors that shape the final product is the phenol level of the malted barley used during the first phases of the production process. Decisions about phenol levels have to be made before the whisky is even distilled, so when we notice changes in today's Lagavulin 16 the causes for these changes lie in the past. Well, some of them at least - there are many different factors at play here, throughout the entire production process.
- Size and shape of the stills Of course, nobody knows the exact 'magic formula'.
Anyway - once more I'm getting side-tracked.
It's very hard to find out the exact details about these matters - I may get back to this topic in the future if I can find more reliable data. For now, I'd like to point out that the perceived 'peatieness' of a single malt whisky
depends on much more than just the 'chemical' phenol level. So even if we would be able to collect more reliable data on this topic we wouldn't be able to accurately predict the outcome (= the malt in our glasses more than sixteen
years later). SALMIAC
If I had to pick one word to describe the current Lagavulin 16, it would be 'smoky'. Fortunately, I have thousands of words at by disposal - but even then it's often very
hard to accurately express what my senses are experiencing. A few weeks ago, I've received an interesting message from Finnish malt lover Janne Suominen about this topic. 'I read a while ago that us Finns are among the few
salt liquorice loving nations on this planet alongside with the Dutch, and I wonder if this is reflected on the "national taste" in single malts. At least my friends seem to veer towards the Islay-taste, which might be
considered to feature some characteristics familiar to salt liquorice lovers. Since most creators of taste diagrams are from nations where salt liquorice is just a myth, it does not find its way into the whisky vocabulary. So I
kinda wondered if the Dutch whisky lovers ever use the term "salt licorice" instead of, for example, "medicinal"... I have converted many whisky hating Finns to malt lovers with Laphroiag, and they usually
exclaim that the stuff tastes like tar liquorice, and end up loving it. Tar liquorice is, as you might have guessed, salt liquorice with tar added to the mix...hot and warming, just like a good Islay. If someone likes Talisker or
Laphroiag, that person is usually a friend of tar liquorice as well. Is tar liquorice available in Holland?' No, it isn't, but Janne generously sent me some. It's called 'Terva Leijona' and comes in two flavours, 'Salmiakki'
and 'Lakrits'. The candy was packaged very nicely - classical and stylish. The Salmiakki was very nice - not unlike Dutch 'drop' (liquorice candy) but with some fruity elements as well. Salt and sweet. Yes, I can detect the
tar in the background! The Lakritsi seemed definitely more 'eucalyptical' in the foreground. Maybe some menthol? Not as sweet - or rather a different kind of sweetness. I've found salt liquorice or salmiak (sal-ammoniac) in some
malts, while others showed sweet liquorice/licorice root or a more fruity impression which reminds me of 'Engelse Drop' - I think the English word is 'Licorice All Sorts'. Now I have a new 'reference aroma'. I've always associated
tar with road/roof coverings, but now I can start looking for tar. Phew! I'm getting quite thirsty, how about you? The battle orders for tonight: 1 - Lagavulin 16yo New These were the malts - here are the results: 1 - New Lagavulin 16yo (43 %, 'Port Ellen', bottled +/- 2001, 70cl) 2 - Old Lagavulin 16yo
(43%, 'White Horse', bottled +/- 1999, 70cl) 3 - Old Lagavulin 16yo (43%, 'White Horse', bottled +/- 1994, 100cl) 4 - Lagavulin 14yo 1984/1999 (46%, Murray McDavid, 70cl)
OK - It's time to move on to the 'Battle of the Bastards'. 5 - Fuaran Ile 1991/2000 (46%, Macleod bastard bottling, 70cl) 6 - Dhun Bheagan 8yo (43%, Maxwell bastard bottling, 75cl) 7 - Finlaggan NAS 'Old Reserve' (40%, Vintage bastard bottling, 70cl) 8 - The Ileach NAS (40%, Highlands & Islands SWCL bastard bottling, 70cl) 9 - Vintage Islay 5yo (40%, Vintage bastard bottling, 70cl) 10 - Vintage Islay 5yo C/S (58.4%, Vintage bastard bottling, 70cl) That was nice... Overall conclusion:
Amazingly enough, these were the first Lagavulins I sampled this year. - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - Log Entry # 108 - April 6, 2002 OK - after a 'Lagavulin' detour, I've finally arrived at
'B' on my virtual tour of Scotland. Why not start with the Islay trio (Bowmore, Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain) while the temperatures are relatively low? Yeah - why not. Two of my rugby team-mates (Arend & Dennis) had joined me to watch the game and enjoy some drams. After my mission |