Check out E-pistle 10/12
for the shocking pictures and sordid details.
The Arran people promised to report back to us, but that's not likely to happen any time soon.
Finally, Ho-cheng has written a glorious E-pistle about his adventures earlier this year at
Bruichladdich Academy.
E-pistle #10/11 - I Finally Fell In Love With Bowmore
Submitted on 15/08/2004 by Ho-cheng Yao, Taiwan
Bowmore is probably the only distillery on Islay I don't like that much. Bowmore Legend NAS (43%, OB, 200ml bottle) Bowmore 12yo (43%, OB, 200ml bottle) Bowmore Mariner 15yo (43%, OB) Bowmore 17yo (43%, OB, 200ml) Bowmore 21yo (43%, OB) Bowmore 25yo (43%, OB)
Bowmore 30yo Sea Dragon Black Ceramic (43%, OB) Bowmore 32yo 1968 S.P. Morrison 50yr Anniversary (45.5%, OB, 1860b.) Bowmore 35yo 1968 Celtic Heartland (40.6%, Murray McDavid, 722b.)
Bowmore 33yo 1968/2001
(46.2%, Signatory vintage, cask#1431, 218b.) Bowmore 35yo 1968/2003
(42.05%, Peerless, Cask#124, 201b.) It is not common that we have a clear champion at the end of a tasting session. Ho-cheng Yao
It's really not on purpose; I got four bottles of different vintage 1968 Bowmore in hand.
Over a private tasting event several months ago, I talked about the fact to my friend Stephen, who is a real Bowmore lover. He was very surprise to
know I "collect" Bowmore. It's sound a little bit funny to me, as I don't really want to put them into my collection. So, without thinking, I said: 'Let's open them all at once.' Well, as usual, the result of one-bottle-one-guest
policy soon becomes a vertical Bowmore tasting fest. Five of us got 11 bottles, though some of them are 200ml's. Participants included Stephen, Bird, House, Denis, and myself. House brought his girlfriend, but didn't drink too much. We started
with the youngest and built our way up to 1968.
These 200ml bottles were sold as a experiencing combo pack. I remember spotting them in some duty-free shops. Stephen told me that the
Bowmore Taiwan agent gave them as promotion gifts. For us, it was a good choice to have a NAS OB bottle as the start of the vertical tasting. The Legend shows clear Bowmore characterists: Sea, Peat, Sulfur, a little bit of Iodine? Color: Light
yellow. Strong, young, robust, finished longer than I thought. I think the major component comes from 10yo. I remember I tasted this malt several years ago but I didn't write down the notes. In my memory, this one is a quite average bottle and
not easy to drink that time. I wonder if I changed my taste or this one comes from an above average batch. I actually quite like it. Though the bottle has been opened for over 6 months, Stephen believe it performs better than just opened.
Score: 82 (Stephen: 80, House: 80, Denis: 78, Bird: B-~B+).
Color: Golden Brown. By only looking at the color, you would image this one contains lots Bowmore signature Sherry cask,
however, I didn't nose or taste any sherry-like things. This is a quite fruity, soft malt. If you breathe deeply, you even find something like mint. Quite strange. Finished bitter. Not even any Bowmore style at all.
Score: 76
(S: 83, H:78, D:82, B: B-).
Brown color, a very nice malt. You can't stop to have one more dram immediately.
But, just at the time I feel that, wait a minute, what's the sticky feeling I have. I
think that's caramel. Not surprising, but a little bit too much. It becomes oblivious when adding some drops of water. I would recommend this one to the Islay beginners, but probably not real Bowmore lovers. Originally I gave it 80 points, but
later I drop 2 point to indicate my feeling about caramel. For some reason, it reminds me of Glenfiddich 15yo Solera Reserve.
Score: 78 (S:84, H84, D:84, B:B).
Color: Golden Brown. Very beautiful nose, straight deep link winds by the sea, reminds me the Bowmore harbor.
Citrus fruit, seaweed, peat. Very signature Bowmore style but in a light way. Finish too weak.
Score: 83
(S:82, H:80, D:82, B:B) Stephen thinks it performs better when it was just opened. It's gone now.
As I have tasted this bottle before, I didn't pay too much attention this time.
A little bit lack of complex than I remember. Stephen agree it need some time to open up.
Score: 83 (S:86, H:85, D:83, B:B+).
This is the standard glass bottle. Not the old blue ceramic
bottle. Color: Amber. Clear sherry nose at first. Balanced with seaweed and peat. Silky like taste. Finished nice, long, but ends dry. A good example of Bowmore Sherry casks.
Score: 84 (S:83, H:85, D:83, B:B-~B).
Golden color. Attracting beautiful nose. By no doubt what a first class 30yo malt must perform. Very complex layers. Peat, seaweed, tropical fruits. Lots nose to be
discovered. However, the palate is too soft and weak. From nosing to tasting, you'll have some unbearable feeling drop. I wonder if the ceramic let go too much alc. A little bit disappointing at the end.
Score: 87
(S:86, H:87, D:86, B:B).
This is the bottle to celebrate the 50th anniversary of the original Stanley P Morrison company. And was personally selected by
Brian Morrison. It also state that it comes from the last whisky to be distilled under the watchful eye of the late, great JamesMcColl. Color: golden. It must be bourbon casks by nosing. Citrus fruit, heather, peat, mint
again! Very touching, no talk for quite a long time, everybody enjoyed it. Denis is good at wine but quite a beginner at Single Malt. He adds a very good comment: How can it performed so smooth like an old bottle but still give you
the feeling it's so young and active? I think that's also what I found in this malt. You feel it contains all the characters of old malt but you found it very refreshing and still full of power. You feel the malt want to
demonstrate its unique personality. You know immediately this is the winner by no doubt. I love it.
Score: 93 (S:94, H:92, D:90, B:A~A+).
The three Celtic Heartland bottles was selected by Jim McEwan to celebrate his 40 yrs working in the single malt industry. Not very fair for this good malt. A kind of simple heather nose after the wining OB 1968. Yellow color.
Light in style. Simple but charming. I think Jim still did quite a good job. After all, he didn't have too many casks to choose from.
Score: 90 (S:90, H:90, D:89, B:B+~A-).
Color: yellow golden. I think this one should be a refill sherry hogshead. Some clear seaweed with peat and sherry. A little bit too "heavy" after the previous two bottles. Not
quite match my memory. Stephen, Bird and I have tasted this bottle at the shop before, we all agreed this one needs some time to open up.
Score: 86 (S:85, H:88, D:87, B:A-).
Yellow color. Originally I heard this one comes from the same batch as Celtic Heartland. However, after the tasting, I can clear said it's not. This one has more mellow feeling, quite thick
body. Sweet, but not coming from sherry cask for sure. Finish long and firm. Score: 90 (S:88, H:88, D:87, B:B+).
The 1968 S.P Morrison 50 yrs anniversary bottle is truly an exceptional one. I finally fell in love with Bowmore.
And more over, considering it's price. I bought it at whiskyauction site for around 200 euro.
Even consider the currently market price of 350 euro, it is still a value choice among the OB vintage Bowmore.
Bowmore lovers can really considering put some money on it.
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E-pistle #10/12 - Dial 'F' For Fake
Submitted on 16/08/2004 by Johannes van den Heuvel, Holland
I
actually should be working on a fresh E-pistle about the 'borderline personalities' issue, but there have been some interesting developments that forced me to dedicate this miniature E-pistle to a more pressing matter first. Yesterday our
Taiwanese maniac Ho-cheng Yao reported on a very interesting bottle he had noticed on the shelves of 'Drinks Wines & Spirits Co. Ltd.', Taiwan's largest chain of liquor stores. It was the Arran 1982/2002
(57%, 'OB'). Well, well... that's very interesting, because to the best of our knowledge the very first spirit flowed from the stills at Arran on June 29, 1995 - some thirteen years later.
Obviously, we were intruiged - and not quite sure if Ho-cheng wasn't just imagining things...
So, we politely suggested to Ho-cheng to either check with his therapist or provide us with some hard evidence.
Well, he didn't waste much time. This morning I found these disturbing hard-core pictures in my inbox;
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We didn't waste a lot of time and forwarded the pictures to Euan Mitchell of Arran Distillers. The people who produced this fluky fake were obviously not too bright - to put it very mildly.
Nevertheless, this discovery is far more disturbing than you might imagine. This was a dodgy fake, but what if this is only the
dim-witted tip of the iceberg distracting us from 'better' fakes that enter our shelves completely under our radar? An unsettling
thought for sure... Or, to take things from code yellow to code orange; could this whole 'fakes' phenomenon be on the rise? Well, I'm
afraid that might very well be the case. Last year I found a 'Glen Albyn 10yo' bottled and sold bij Noord's Wijnhandel in Amsterdam.
The store is conveniently located at the Flower Market in the centre of the city, but I've only been there once or twice because the
proprietor seemed like an ill-tempered and untrustworthy fellow. I wasn't quite sure when I found the bottle and decided to take a
chance. After checking the history of the distillery and the contents of the bottle I soon became convinced I got F'd in the A... But then again, the whole 'fakes' problem might just as well be a phenomenon of limited significance. Basically, I don't know enough to make any meaningful statements just yet. Okidokie, that's it for now - I've got an entry for my
Shocking, isn't it? From a distance it actually looks quite authentic.
It comes in a posh wooden box and it has red tin foil around the cap, just like my bottle of the 'unchillfiltered'.
They even copied the typeface of Arran's logo and Arran's use of the phrase 'Single Island Malt Scotch Whisky'.
That being said, there are some other things about this bottling that seem positively suspect. There's the use of the odd phrase 'Distillation in 1982' instead of the more common 'Distilled in 1982'
and there are some strange typo's like 'Strling' instead of 'Stirling'.
Euan reluctantly had to confirm our worst fears: this was most definitely a 'fake' bottling.
First of all, if you're going to fake a malt whisky, you might as well try to fake a decent maly whisky. To the best of my knowledge
Arran has failed to produce anything remotely decent ever since they went into production. The only reason I can think of for the
fakers selecting Arran is that there's a good chance that customers won't taste the difference between 'the real thing' and some locally distilled fire water. What's more, if they would have only checked the
The Glen Albyn was the only really 'suspect' bottle with claims to a respectable heritage I've encountered so far. One out of more than
700 single malts sampled & scored isn't a bad score - assuming I haven't been fooled. And apart from the big Macallan fraud that was
uncovered thanks to Dave Broom's relentless investigations, I haven't heard of any other 'high profile' fakes yet.
This seems like a perfect opportunity to mobilise 'the public' for a search for possible other infestations of fakes. Yes, that's you! Do
you have a (suspected) fake bottle in your collection or have you seen one in a store? Please try to make a few detailed (digital) pictures and
Sweet drams,
Johannes - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
E-pistle #10/13 - Surprise in the Park
Submitted on 17/08/2004 by Peter Silver, USA
On a hot summer Saturday, just recently, my team and I were at work as usual. Normally we work from 9:30 am to 7 pm, but
since it had just been Friday the thirteenth, everyone needed to come in and we stretched our hours to start at 8:30 am. We
actually ended up working until 8pm, since our last patient was delayed in traffic. It was 2pm and we had just finished our lunch time.
I looked out the window at Washington Square Park and noticed some very odd people milling about. There was a crowd of at least
fifty people, some dressed in white jackets and chef's hats, others were wearing large dunce caps. Some were dressed like circus
clowns and one person had a large paper mache horse head on. There was an upright piano mounted on a six foot high rolling cart
and a woman was playing it. Lots of bunches of blue balloons filled the northwest corner of the park. Peter Silver - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
I called over my dental assistant and my office manager to the window to witness this spectacle and we all wondered what
the heck was going on. By then it was 2:10 and our 2 pm patient hadn't shown. After a phone call, we found from his wife that he
had most likely forgotten about the appointment. This, of course, after a text message to his phone the day before and the morning
of his appointment, but what can you do? I decided that with five more hours of patients coming up, we could all use a little stroll, so I gathered up my team and we rushed across the street to see what was up.
Just as we were arriving, the pianist was being pushed into the center of the park along a long pathway and a large crowd of
people were following along. The people in chef's hats and dunces' hats were herding them along, saying things like, "It's a party and
we have gifts for you!" At least six were holding up big signs that said "Don't open your gift yet! Whatever you don't open it yet!"
My eye was caught by one young lady holding a sign who was barely wearing a bikini top with pants. When I went to ask one
organizer what was going on, a lovely busty lady in a corset shoved her goods in my face and said, "Come along, it's a party!". Ok, that was enough for me. We followed along.
The long train of people, led by the piano, rolled around the center fountain and ended up at the Washington Square Arch.
Beneath the arch were about eight more co-conspirators, each surrounded by a large pile of wrapped boxes, some small, others large.
As we approached, they began to hand them out to everyone. The woman at the piano reminded us not to open them until we were
told to do so. Then she announced that this was a party for everyone and launched into "Happy Birthday". We all sang along as
instructed, smiling and looking at each other in bewilderment. We were a group of about one hundred or so complete strangers who just happened to be in the park or passing by at that time. What was going to happen next?
Then, seconds later, she screamed, "OK, open your presents!" Each of us, like children tore at the paper and cardboard and
found inside, a fully loaded water gun! Some were hand guns and others were full fledged machine gun pump style guns (super
soakers). The instigators started first, and then everyone joined in – shooting water at everyone! Within seconds, all of us were
screaming and laughing and shooting at everyone! Even the paper mache horse was shooting people! My team took great pleasure in
soaking me and I returned the favor. After about ten minutes, when everyone's gun was empty, the crowd dispersed. As we headed
back to our office, I remarked that we were probably one of the few dental practices in Manhattan that were fully armed!
Later that night I got to thinking, what if it had been my birthday and I could have any whisky, what malt would I pick? An
old Springer, another Talisker 25 year old, what malt would be my dream gift? 62 year old Dalmore, Black Bowmore, nah, those are
more collector's items than actually being able to afford to drink them. Perhaps some malt from some obscure distillery that I never
heard of? Well, I figure that if a distillery is that obscure, it probably was never great or it would still be around. Maybe some of the old Longrows I never got a chance to try. That would be quite nice, I think.
Actually, what is comes down to is, I do really like surprises when it comes to malts. The other night two friends came over
and each brought a malt for me to try. The first was a Bruichladdich 15yo 'Valinch' (59.9%, OB, Cask #930, Distilled 8/24/1988,
Bottled 8/16/2003). It was selected for the visit of the Middle White Pig Society. Up to this point I have tried about six different
Valinches, including the one I currently own. They have all been very good, some slightly better than others. The nose of this one
completely blew the others out of the water! It was huge! I got vanilla spice, sherry, marshmallow, honey and heather. I could have
been happy just nosing it all night. The palate was round, rich and voluptuous with all of the nosed elements balanced perfectly. The finish was long and wonderful. I gave it 92 points.
The other surprise was a mystery malt. I nosed it carefully. There was honey and vanilla and something that was familiar. I
knew that I had tasted malt from this distillery before, but couldn't place it. There wasn't a lot of peat or too many distinguishing
characteristics that could help me place it. The familiarity of it nagged at me as did the glint in the eye of my friend who had brought
it specifically for me. I took a sip and got honey-rich sherry with a lot of tongue coating. The finish was medium with a delicious
touch of dark chocolate. It was hot to the taste and needed some water to tame it. After a few fruitless guesses my friend admitted
it was from Campbeltown. This is not Springbank I said with great certainty, because there were no Springer characteristics. Nope,
he said, it's from the other distillery. You mean Glen Scotia, I said incredulously? Yep, he said smiling, since he knew I didn't like Glen Scotia. The Glen Scotia 11yo 1992/2003
(62.1%, G&M, Refill Sherry, Casks #89 & #92) is without a doubt the best Glen Scotia I have ever tasted! It is currently available at Loch Fyne Whiskies for about $60. I gave it 82 points
. It still had a hint of the regular Glen Scotia that I really do dislike. But my eyes were opened to a whole new take on Glen Scotia.
So, when it all comes down to it, I guess that for my "birthday" I really do like a surprise or two when it comes to malts.
Hmmm, maybe a super soaker water gun filled with malt…..
E-pistle #10/14 - The Fake Hunt Continues
Submitted on 18/08/2004 by Serge Valentin, France
Fakes are a problem, both for the brands and the consumer, not to mention the collector.
You had faked Van Goghs, faked Rolex watches, faked Vuitton bags and then there was this Macallan story, revealed in Whisky
Magazine by Dave Broom. Some companies also started to re-use some old and mythic brand names a few years ago, like Invergordon did with Ben Wyvis or W. Grant with a vatted Ladyburn. Much more recently, you had this Taiwanese Arran fake story our fellow Maniac Ho-cheng pulled out of his hat.
That was not to be the end of it. In Whisky Magazine's latest issue,
in the Collector's Corner section, you have a bottle of Loch Dhu 8yo,
supposedly sold in the USA, parts of Europe and duty free shops.
According to Whisky Magazine, this bottle was bought in Japan.
Strange, very strange...
Let's have a closer look at the bottle: first, it really isn't any close
to a 'contemporary' design such as the former 10yo's. A surprising
case of dichotomic design policy! Not too good for brand consistency,
to say the least, and I can't see why marketing wizards like Diageo
would make such mistakes. If you're #1, it's for some good reasons.
Furthermore, no serious and sane bottler would ever use such an odd
label layout and amaretto-like bottle for a Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
So, in my view it just couldn't have been Diageo's work, even if the
way the stopper is sealed indicates this wasn't made on a kitchen
table, but with a proper bottling and labelling equipment.
Yes, this could well have been a fake.
Imagine, in the Collector's Corner?
Paranoia? The only way of being sure about all that was to ask Diageo themselves,
wouldn't you agree? That's what I just did 'unofficially'. Yes, I asked a few people at
Diageo about this bottle and they confirmed that to the best of their knowledge it
was not a Diageo product (or any other UD/UDV product for that matter).
I think you should read 'fake'...
By the way, don't you think the bottle to the right looks similar to the fake Loch Dhu?
The brand is called 'Elmer T. Lee' and its bottle could very well be the same, doesn't it?
I spotted this particular picture on The Whiskystore's website (www.thewhiskystore.de).
Ancient Age-Buffalo Trace doesn't belong to Diageo, and nobody would imagine they
made the fake. So, I guess the fakers used some emptied bottles of Elmer T Lee.
Or at least some bottles coming from the same glass factory. (Thanks, Horst.)
Addendum:
Some voices in America suggested that the bottle could in fact have been
a genuine
bottling older than the well-known Loch Dhu 10yo, even if UDV is the owner
of the brand in the US. Both Diageo and Dave Broom have got all the info I/we got and
are seemingly investigating. In my opinion, the Loch Dhu 8yo isn't a fake actually, just
another malt whose name hadn't been registered properly.
That might explain why Diageo could register the brandname later on.
But maybe I'm wrong.
The fake hunt continues...
Okay, next one? Serge
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E-pistle #10/15 - Ileachs Walk the Plank for Glengoyne
Submitted on 01/09/2004 by Davin de Kergommeaux, Canada
Ahoy Me Hearty's!! You never know what's going to happen next at Feis Ile but the invasion of Islay by the pirate ship Taora at the
height of the festival is completely unprecedented. Manned by honourary captain Leonard Russell, First-Mate Iain Weir and whole
crew of young swabs from Glengoyne, the cheeky pirates dropped anchor in Port Ellen harbour and began pouring their unpeated
drams right in the heart of peat-reek country. Seeing our own Charlie along with Dave Broom and a host of other whisky luminaries
taken prisoner by these dastardly marauders was more than we Maniacs could bear so we boarded ship ourselves in a successful attempt to liberate, if not our mates, at least some outstanding drams.
Over the years Glengoyne has vacillated between being a Lowland and a Highland malt.
We were only just settling in to our second or third dram, when Iain asked if we'd like to taste some cask samples they were
considering for future release. Samples A, B, C and D were duly poured, nosed and tasted. All were good, really good, with B and C
standing out as excellent. These will be released late summer as single cask bottlings, and are well worth the effort to find them. Please Iain, save a couple of bottles for us, and do enter them for a The real stars of the evening though were two separate 31yo Glengoynes, vintage 1972. As Serge opined; "I really liked Glengoyne's guerilla marketing operation on Islay.
Yes, Serge, I agree, kind of surprising to see Glengoyne at the ISLAY festival. Glengoyne is completely unpeated yet here it was on
proud display right in the home of big, peated whisky. We all love big whiskies, and there is nothing like peat to make a big whisky
even bigger. But I'm starting to get the idea that lots of peat also makes whiskies just that much easier to access. After all, it's so
obvious, it doesn't take much to figure it out. As much as I love the big peat monsters, and I really do, sometimes it seems behind
each grungy layer of peat smoke we get that much closer to the essence of a great dram. I hope my palate is reaching a stage of
development where it can tell a great Glengoyne from an average one and appreciate it. As Nick Hornby might say, drams undressed like that, without a stitch of peat on them can be daunting though – you have to work them out for yourself.
The crew from Glengoyne also included a bevy of young pr-types who besides being delightfully charming seemed to know quite a bit
about whisky. Afterwards, us old married guys teased each other about 'lost opportunities' aboard the Taora but it was all good fun
and we left with a promise to stop by the distillery on our way back to Glasgow, where something special would be waiting for us in
the shop. Dutifully, we three exhausted, but honourable, honourary Ileachs added a stop in the Lowlands to our itinerary and were
rewarded with a personalized tour of Glengoyne along with ample samplings and then came away with a bottle of Glengoyne Scottish
Oak tucked under our arms. The Scottish Oak is a bottle I've long coveted so thank you ladies, and here's what we think of your little gift: Glengoyne 16yo 'Scottish Oak' (53.5% OB, Bottle #A2964)
A blender's list from the 1970s clearly lists Glengoyne as a Lowland, but they tell us the dividing line runs right through the distillery.
Distilling takes place in the Highlands and maturation across the street in the Lowlands. Of course no mention is made that the line
dividing Highlands from Lowlands has moved several times in history nor that it follows not a natural, geographical division but an
arbitrary one designated solely to maximize tax revenues. Anyway, Glengoyne is most definitely not from Islay nor anywhere near
Islay, but here they were, big as life, comfortably ensconced on the yacht, Taora, with whisky flowing and people talking.
The first,
Glengoyne 31yo 1972/2003 (56% OB, Cask #2970, Distilled Sept 1972, Bottled Oct 2003), had all the expected rich malty
notes of Glengoyne supplemented with lovely dried fruit notes like prunes. On the nose the maltiness was underlain by an essence of candy mints. Score: 93 points. The second, Glengoyne 31yo 1972/2004
(57.9%, OB, Cask #2968, Distilled Sept 1972, Bottled Feb 2004) had a sweet cotton candy nose that is so often associated with much younger malts. On top of this were hot toffee and
lovely clover blossoms. This nose was a bit more subdued than the other one. Behind all the malty, nutty notes, the palate again showed a spectrum of dried fruit. Score, 94 points
this time, but it really was a toss-up between the two. Also of note is a new Glengoyne 12yo cask strength, unchillfiltered and bottled at 57.2%. It was also here, aboard the Taora, where we met author, Joel
Leimer, who talked to us about his upcoming first novel, Humanetics. We're watching for it Joel.
Imagine, the less peated malt sort of attacking Islay's peated soldiers! They even made a special bottling of the 10yo, labeled as the
'Pirates' Whisky'. I also have some fond memories of us all playing music aboard the Taora. Clown's trumpets, kalimbas, jew's-harps, kazoos… That was fun, if not really music ;-)."
Nose: Lovely, fresh and nutty. The oak is noticeable, but sweet behind a fruity and mildly sherried malt.
Fruit and sherry both develop into more dominant aromas, then adding water, the nose becomes a bit fresher.
Hints of sawdust waft in an out. Most, most promising.
Palate: Sweet, hot and spicy. It's much sweeter and fruitier than expected. Very nice Christmas spices.
Wow! Very nice. Quite complex – it keeps developing. Already it's silver medal material at least. Something medicinal but not smoky
sneaks in adding more complexity. Ozone? Fresh. The sherry develops over time and more and more fruits come out. Dried, dark
fruits like prunes begin to emerge along with lots of long-lasting spice. Is there chocolate and roasted grain in there? I think so.
Often the spiciness of younger Glengoynes has an almost chili pepper element to it but there's no chili pepper in this one. The
spiciness of the Scottish Oak is just as hot, but much sweeter than chili peppers. Adding water diminishes the spiciness but brings out
new fruit and enhances the sweetness. Now Christmas candies and Christmas spices emerge. If the definition of complexity is you
taste a whisky three times and each tasting offers something different, then this is complex whisky. It's great stuff which finishes very long, spicy, fruity, and sweet. After enjoying the finish I raised the score from 89 to
90 points. It's a gold medalist on my palate with so much complexity and the long finish just keeps getting better and better.
But what about Feis Ile itself?, you may ask. Davin
The full report will be published on these pages shortly.
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E-pistle #10/16 - Heather & Cream - Bourbon Matured Malts
Submitted on 01/09/2004 by Craig Daniels, Australia
Earlsof Zetland Malt Tasting Club: Monthly Roundup – August 2004
Mea Culpa – I got it wrong on two of the whiskies we tried. My suspicions about being mistaken about the wood used in at least one
of the offering were borne out, and some very experienced palates also found some sherry in the Benromach. I won't argue, because
I'm not confident that I can always pick sherry, especially when it's a refill American oak barrel. I think it is pretty safe to say that
the Scapa 12 is sans sherry, that the Royal Lochnagar has at least a few sherry barrels in the vatting and the consensus speculation on the Benromach is that there is sherry wood in the mix.. Scapa 12yo
(40%, OB) - Nose: Lots of creamy notes with honey and some fresh sawn wood notes. Malt and honey on the palate
with a hint of salt taffee. Pretty good wood but not as clean as the blind and a briny hint in the tail. There's a richness there that I
don't recall from previous bottlings and the consensus around the table was that it was one of the better Scapa 12's we've come across. Score 80 points. Royal Lochnagar 12yo
(40%, OB) - This is a nice whisky with lots of malty notes and a big chunk of creaminess although less
honeyed than the Scapa. I like the caramel toffee in this one and there is definitely that hint of dates and raisins that signals first fill
oloroso sherry in the nose. Probably not great on the value for money scale, but an interesting malt to keep on hand for the malt
fancier who hasn't explored this part of the highlands. I like it more than the score suggests. And I know I deride 'label drinkers" but I'm very partial to the packaging of this whisky. Score 81 points.
Benromach 18yo (40%, OB) - I know there were comments about sherry wood in this one, but it must be a blind spot for me as I
couldn't persuade myself to find it. Mind you I can't find it in young Bowmores either and I'm assured that a percentage of their malt
is definitely put into sherry wood. I guess if the sherry shows up anywhere it is in that slight hint of tropical fruit (guava, mango or
rockmelon) that nestles in nicely with the malt. Anyway to settle any arguments I did e-mail Derek Hancock and here's what he said
"Benromach 18yo has always been predominantly sherry wood matured. We are vatting first and second fill sherry casks together, and
our warehouse manager advises that there would be both American and European wood involved." Whoops – how wrong can a poor
soul be? I thought the nose was pretty classy, but I couldn't get too enthused overall. Some of the wood in the end palate and
finish seemed a little tired. It's a nice, well made whisky but it didn't tango on the taste buds for me. Score 83 points. Glenmorangie 10yo
(40%, OB) - was the blind and I nailed it early. Not because I was overly confident but that there wasn't
anything else on the list that I thought it could be. It wasn't Irish and it definitely didn't have any sherry. Also it has that curious
mixture of vanilla, powdered sugar and is ever so slightly briny and herby, with a whiff of pine needles. The spirit is beautifully
supported by the wood and the whole package is exceptionally clean. When Jim Murray waxed lyrical about this whisky about a year
or so ago, I thought ho-hum but I must admit, while I don't think it is great, it is a remarkably faultless dram and certainly a better overall proposition than the wood finishes. Much better than it was a decade ago. Score
80 points. We couldn't let the occasion pass us by without at least an acknowledgement, although it kind of makes you think when medal counts
compete with body counts for space on the front pages of the world's newspapers. This month we're having a look at spirits from
around the world (and at the time of writing I don't think Mexico, Guyana or Ireland have any gold medals yet. I don't know anything about these spirits apart from the Clontarf which is…. Nah I won't spoil the fun...
Next meeting: 25 August 2004: "The Olympiad – Spirits from Around the World". I suppose that we can't really let the opportunity slip
to acknowledge the world's biggest sporting event when it lurches around every 4 years. However, it's really just an excuse to try something different and trust me, these are seriously different.
Clontarf Single Malt (Ireland) – I've only tried this once and that was as a blind – I got it right, but it was a lucky if educated guess. I
figured that any Irish that had been triple-distilled and then charcoal filtered was going to be light with a relatively mild flavour profile.
I also think that a lot of whisky marketers have been seduced by the prevailing wisdom that young spirit drinkers want the kick
without the flavour, hence the supposed popularity of white spirits in certain market segments. I've always been a tad wary of that
argument as I wonder whether they factor in the price, not only in venues as well as retail shops and wonder about who is serving
what to whom. Anyway the guys that put Clontarf together have swallowed the "bland is better" argument, hook, line and sinker. I
think it is better than Bushmills 10 but is not a real competitor for white spirits as the price is 2-2.5 times a bottle of branded vodka,
gin or white rum. It would be interesting to see what their market research tells them about their 'youth' brand in a few years time! If you want a decent Irish, buy Black Bush and save yourself $10-20.
Patron Reposado Tequila - Mexico 1968 – probably the first Olympics I actually remembered, largely because I was a very active if
very amateur philatelist and the Mexico games had the coolest stamps and one of the better logos – nice big Aztec carved stone
wheel. Moving along to 1975, and my first and at the time foresworn only encounter with tequila. I've not had tequila since this
particularly nasty 'out-of body' experience in my teens at a drive-in with my later to be brother -in-law, something execrable on the
screen and something equally revolting in the bottle. I never thought you could get paranoid on alcohol until that night and I couldn't
tell you the brand even if I was subjected to Guantanamo style interrogation. Anyway I reckon that the lemon and salt was always a
ruse to hide the taste of the stuff. I'm assured that the one we're cracking is much, much better and for all our sakes, I sincerely
hope so. I'm told that the stuff I'm likely to have ingested is the tequila equivalent of some el cheapo supermarket blend with no known similarity to single malt scotch.
Demerara Rum 26yo (Guyana) – I confess that I have a problem with rum. Actually I should say I have a problem with one particular
rum; Bundaberg! I actually don't like it - (nah, don't like doesn't tell half the story). I find the taste unacceptable, even with cola and
can only drink it when it has been used to marinate fruit and then only when diluted by vanilla icecream. It's the only gustatory use
for Bundaberg that I could recommend. I can drink Captain Morgan, but would prefer a blended scotch, which is apposite as you hear
plenty of people who say when introduced to good single malt whisky that 'I don't like whisky' when the sum total of their experience
is with the $19-22 price leader in the local bottle-oh, usually with a bad hang-over or 'out of body' experience like mine with tequila.
No wonder it's hard to get people to try new things when their experience is usually unpleasant. Who says we humans don't learn
from experience. I think humans learn very well and then the politicians conspire to forget for all of us. I have tried great rums that I
would rate against very good cognacs and slightly below armagnac but not in the Desert Island Dram class of a coveted single malt
scotch. But a nicely matured rum that has been made with care and attention is a revelation and a joy to behold. Craig Daniels
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Last Meeting's Report Card: "Heather & Cream – Bourbon Matured Malts"
E-pistle #10/17 - Feis Ile 2004
Submitted on 12/09/2004 by Davin de Kergommeaux, Canada
Feis Ile, the Islay Festival of Malt and Music, has been run by the distilleries of Islay and Jura since 2000.
The distilleries take turns having open days with their own special events. This year, the festival began for the Maniacs, with a midnight tour of Ardbeg, led by manager Stuart Thomson.
Olivier: Well, we had in fact the choice to do the tour with Stuart Thomson or his wife.
Since we're serious maniacs, we went with Stuart…
Serge: Yeah, I guess Olivier means 'Malt' Maniacs.
Ardbeg
As the crowd gathered, Ardbeg welcomed us with drams of their 10yo.
Bottles of Ardbeg Uigeadail (54.2% OB) and the
Ardbeg 6yo 'Very Young'
(58.9% OB) made the rounds as well. Both were splendid whiskies (as is the
10yo), although the VYA is still a bit green. Probably it's one of the least
interesting Ardbegs of late. The chlorine bleach notes were a bit off-putting,
and a chemical undertone competed with a relatively mild peatiness which was
leafy, like bonfire smoke. The earthiness was wonderful, of course, but the
whisky was very, very hot. The Uigedail on the other hand was a big peaty
Ardbeg, with typical tropical fruit sweet and sourness, lots of smoky peat and
burning spiciness, but still sweet and fruity on the palate. Stuart told us the
Uigedail is a vatting of 10yo and 13yo casks with one cask from 1975 thrown
in for good measure. I guess that makes it unrepeatable. In my books the
VYA scored a respectable 84 points
while the Uigedail stunner came in at an
even more respectable 92 points. Excellent whiskies, but nothing compared
to what lay ahead for us later in the tour.
Olivier: I do like the VYA quite a lot, but one has to be prepared for a peat electro-shock, and I do agree the other ones are superior.
I also heard Stuart saying that the 10yo has in fact very old casks into it, older than in the 17yo!
But it is the younger that gives the age statement….
Serge: I kind of agree with Davin, I don't like the VYA too much.
Adding the 'for discussion' signature is fair enough, but I think maturation is important, even regarding Ardbeg. Sure, it's the first
bottling of a 'Glenmo' distillation, but I'm not sure it'll give us good hints as to what the 'new' output will be, once matured.
Lit by candles alone, the after-midnight atmosphere at Ardbeg was eerie, but that did not deter the intrepid Maniacs. Here and there
ghostly apparitions confronted us, but none as memorable as the poor sod slumped on a chair in the warehouse. We must have
startled him, for suddenly he sprung violently to life. Judging by Stuart's reaction this was not part of the tour, but after a few gasps
we all chuckled and set about to slow our racing hearts with maturing Ardbegs drawn directly from the cask. At Ardbeg they use
mainly Jack Daniel's casks which they purchase for about 15GBP each. Whether it's cask quality or the weather, the angels only
manage to get about 1.4 to 1.6% each year, which means even the older Ardbegs hold their abvs quite well. It was a fino sherry cask
of unknown origin, though, from which Stuart drew one of the best whiskies of the festival. The 1975 fino cask revealed in subtle
complexity, but robust flavour, walnuts, marzipan, licorice and dark chocolate. Oh, to find a dram with even one of these and this one
had four, showing themselves in alternating waves. The peat was mild on the nose and hints of wintergreen wafted in and out. The palate was sweet but quite peaty with barnyard flavours and a stimulating, sweet spiciness.
Wonderful whisky scoring well into the mid-90's.
Olivier: The tour was informative but quite long; it was about 2:00 AM when we entered the warehouse. Don't forget that Serge and I
left early to take a plane to Glasgow via London, and then drove to Islay. That 1975 from the cask definitely woke us up - absolutely
fabulous. (96pts for me). Followed also a 1990 bourbon cask (at about 62%) that was like bonfire of peat on the palate. (92pts)
Serge: Yes, I envy Davin. I was flat dead when we made it into the warehouse.
I'm afraid I couldn't really get all of these 'Fino 1975' subtleties… I don't remember if Olivier and Davin carried me out of the distillery
when we left, around 3:00 AM (or was it 3:30?) but if you did, guys, thank you very much!
D: Well, yes, it was a longish tour, but there was never a dull moment and it was all our questions that kept Stuart talking, to say nothing of the dramming at both beginning and end. And guys, if it was 3:00 for you when we left Ardbeg it was 3:00 in my time zone when we rose next morning to dram with Ho-Cheng.
Bruichladdich
Sunday was Bruichladdich's open day, and quite a fest it was.
The day began early with the arrival of Ho-Cheng at our house
in Port Charlotte. Fresh from a week at the Bruichladdich Academy,
Ho-Cheng was bursting with enthusiasm. We had each brought a
few (hundred) tasting samples with us and devoted this morning
to Springbank, including some pretty old ones. Winner overall was
the Springbank 1966/98 'Local Barley' (54.4% OB) with an
average score of 93 points. It was prophetic that a Local Barley
should be the general favourite, for soon we were at Bruichladdich
discussing barley culture with a local farmer who had supplied
Bruichladdich in past years.
Olivier: We actually did a Springbank bonanza tasting that morning.
My other winners of the day were the 21yo and 25yo parchment labels.
What a nice way to start a Sunday. Unfortunately, later that day I tasted
the worst whisky of the entire week: a Port Ellen 24yo Port Finish (55pts).
Serge: Oh yes, I agree completely: that was a great Springbank session.
Find my notes and our ratings at: www.whiskyfun.com/ArchiveJune04.html#100604
The Laddie is experimenting with growing barley on Islay again, and has also been working on an organic product. We tasted new-make of the standard and the organic Bruichladdichs, and were surprised at the huge difference between them. We were more than favourably impressed with the fruitiness of the organic new-make. Mmmm. Under new management, Bruichladdich has become a distillery to watch. Cask selection alone has taken what was an average product at best, and turned it into a real competitor in the connoisseurs' market. One of my favourite whiskies of the festival was a Bruichladdich I almost overlooked. Listen to this: one of my favourite drams was standard 10yo Bruichladdich diluted with water and served in a unique Bruichladdich tumbler. This tumbler is quite the invention, for rather than having straight sides, it gently bows out, allowing it to capture the subtle aromas of the malty Laddie it contains. An outwards turn of the tumbler's lip delivers the whisky right onto the tip of your tongue where the sweet malts just explode with flavour.
Olivier: I won't comment on the organic farming and distillation influence on the new-make now, this will deserve a real paper of its
own in the future, but it is my personal conviction that IT DOES MATTER.
Serge: The difference between the organic and 'regular' new makes was huge indeed, to the point that I wondered whether it could
have all come just from the barley. The organic one didn't have any of these grassy/feinty/farmy aromas usually associated with a
new-make. It could well have been a very good fruit eau de vie! And, speaking of barley, Mark Reynier just told me that Bruichladdich had indeed harvested their own barley this year. No idea yet when it will be malted though.
Each distillery does something special for the festival, and Bruichladdich was the most unique. Along with the standard distillery tour and tasting - well, a tour led by Richard Joynston can hardly be called 'standard', but… and our tour was even more unique as it was conducted by our own Ho-Cheng - the folks at the Laddie had gone to lengths to make this a festival for the local people as well, and they came out in droves. But then Bruichladdich, we are told, is still the most popular whisky on Islay. It was at Bruichladdich where we met our barley farmer. This is where, in the beating sun, we listened as kilted musicians from the Islay Pipe Band marched and piped. And this is where we met Nick Morgan, the guy who brings us, inter alia , the Rare Malts. Nick and Serge are great Brora fans, and their discussion was most enlightening.
Serge: Nick is one of these whisky personalities who can actually talk about… whisky, which is pretty good news. The bad news is that he confirmed that the Port Ellen distillery will never, ever be reopened – or when chicken will have teeth?
Olivier: It was possible to visit the distillery. As Bruichladdich has the only Islay bottling line, I was curious to look at their equipment.
In fact, there are some differences between a wine and a spirit bottling line: alcohol isn't as fragile as wine. I do appreciate the
concept of Distillery-bottled, because it does certainly involve much less manipulation of the casks, pumping and many more
operations that could involve a loss of aromatics in the process. So, bravo Bruichladdich for this clever (and costly) innovation.
Inside, two special casks had been set aside for those who wished to fill their own bottle.
Along with their standard range, Bruichladdich has a number of special editions, none more interesting than the 1984 Weapons of Mass
Destruction bottling. George Orwell wrote the classic 1984 a few miles away, on Jura, and from that book, the 'Lads' took the line "Big
brother is watching you" quite seriously when they learned recently that the US military was using the Laddie's web-cam to spy on the
distillery. Well, if the Yanks were watching the web-cam on open day they must have been green with envy at not being there in
person. It was a fairground atmosphere with good food, good entertainment, good weather and great whisky. Weapons of mass inebriation perhaps.
Serge: I really liked the fact that Bruichladdich really is the Ileachs' distillery.
Nowhere else you can meet the butcher, the island's policeman or some
fishermen, not to mention many retired distillery workers and, of course…
the distillery's actual owners. Having said that, the Bruichladdich open
day is a Sunday, so… I also liked the distillery's new vehicle:
a genuine Morgan cabriolet.
D: Oh Serge, you had to remind me of that Morgan. Back in the olden days
when I had nary a care I had my own little Morgan – a 1953 Plus 4 Flat Rad,
one of only 35 build that year. A beautiful little beast it was, and I eyed
the Laddie's with envy. Mine was destroyed by a tornado that swept
through Woodstock, Ontario in 1979. Here's a photo so maybe the
folks at Bruichladdich can be little bit envious themselves.
Laphroaig Laphroaig operates its own floor maltings to about 20% of their It was here, in the bar that we got talking to author, Charlie MacLean, and began a day of surreal adventures unparalleled in whisky
annals, beginning with tea and sandwiches at Laphroaig, then on to Ardbeg for lunch with Dave Broom and some people from
Ballantynes including master blender Robert Hicks. Talk about being in the right place at the right time! But then that's the Islay
Festival, isn't it? It seems no matter what you do you are always in the right place at the right time. 
It was a beautiful day at Laphroaig, though he tour was pretty
standard and allowed lots of time for questions and answers.
Here runs the shortest railway on Islay - just several yards
from where peat is dumped in the yard, to the kiln just inside.
Kind of an in joke me thinks. Behind the distillery, the guide
suddenly stopped and pointed across the sea to where Ireland
was just visible. "If you can see Ireland," he told us, it's going
to rain; if you can't see it, it's raining." Typical Islay humour,
but it turned out he was wrong, for our whole week unfolded
under beautiful blue skies.
malt with the balance coming from Port Ellen Maltings. On the floor,
their barley takes about six days to sprout and goes into the kiln to
be dried at about 45% moisture. It is this moisture that provides initial
purchase for the peat smoke that passes through the drying barley for about
12 hours. Another 18 hours follows in the kiln with drying heat until the barley is ready to be ground into grist for mashing. The worts
spend about 55 hours fermenting in a washback with the wash coming off at about 8% alcohol. An interesting tidbit we picked up
here is that they use poplar wood rather than oak for the bungs as poplar does not expand in contact with the whisky and so makes for a more reliable seal. Afterwards we tasted the stunning Laphroaig 17yo Feis Ile
(55.2% OB), a special release for the festival. Although the nose was quite closed it gave off lovely wafts of mild, mild peat. Vanilla followed and some real bourbon notes
developed. Over time, the peat sprang to life. The peat was hot and sweet on the palate. If I could read my writing, I'd tell you more, but it scored an easy 96 points
. One of the great whiskies of Islay this 17yo Laphroaig.
Serge: Oh yes, that 17yo was something. I couldn't help notice that they sold it for £165, which is expensive, mind you. By the way, the Ardbeg for the festival was priced at £150… I think they all try to stop speculation by putting some really heavy price tags upfront, but I'm not sure it'll work…
Lagavulin
We had long discussions on yeast, fittingly enough over 
We'd missed our scheduled tour of Lagavulin the day before,
so Dave and Charlie offered us a personal visit. Dave and
Charlie take turns, by month, conducting a whisky school
and part of the curriculum brings the eager students to
Lagavulin, so they know all the nooks and crannies.
After a short walk along the little, brown-watered creek
that supplies Lagavulin, our visit began with Islay-sized
drams, what Krishna would call "Patiala Pegs." Then we
meandered through with Dave, Charlie and stillman,
Pinkie, stopping here and there to taste and talk.
the mixing vat. Lagavulin uses commercial yeast and has
changed yeasts from time to time with no apparent ill effects.
Yeast is such a major contributor to flavours in wine that there
are businesses specializing in developing and producing "designer
yeasts." These yeasts do remarkably effective jobs of producing
certain desired flavour profiles in the wine and some are even matched to specific grapes. Of course the best wine makers, and beer
makers too, use naturally occurring yeasts, but this is not the case with whisky. Pricing and availability seem to be the major deciding
factors in buying yeast for whisky making. It seems odd that Lagavulin could change yeasts from time to time with no effect on the flavour, but we heard this several times from people in various distilleries.
After a leisurely ramble through the distillery, it was back to the office for
some blind tastings with manager, Donald Renwick. Donald had assembled
a flight of younger Lagavulins and we had a great time trying, more often
than not successfully, to guess the ages. Well, only Donald (and probably
Pinkie) knows if we really did guess right, but they certainly made us feel
good about our noses. All good fun and great whisky.
Serge: I recall Pinkie – I think he's more than just a stillman, – perhaps
the distillery's #2 – telling us he would offer us a puncheon of the oldest
Lagavulin they have lying there, a 1964 if memory serves. One condition
though: the cask was free for… anybody who would manage to lift it and
carry it out – not just roll it. Of course we proposed we'd do that collectively
and share the whisky then, but the offer was reserved for one and only one
volunteer. Olivier tried, and almost managed to do it, and we could spot a
little sweat of fear on Pinkie's forehead. Bah, no problem, let's just wait
a few more years and the angels will help us make the puncheon lighter.
Please, Diageo, don't bottle this one before… fifteen years or so!
Port Ellen Maltings
The maltings are not generally open to the public, but for Feis Ile all rules relax and the doors swing open.
We don't often think of it, but these are living barley seeds the malters start with and part of the natural germination process involves
lyses, a natural enzyme-induced, rupturing of the cell wall. This allows another natural enzyme, maltase, better access to the
starches inside the cells where it converts these starches into sugars. In nature the sugars are really intended as food for the young
barley plants, but yeasts love them too and once the germinating barley has been killed by heating, it's shipped to the distilleries
where the sugars are extracted in the 'mashing' process then fed to yeast organisms – the process we know as 'fermentation'. It's an
industrial process, malting barley, and the tour was short, but the tasting afterwards made up for it with ample and assorted drams and a seemingly endless supply of little canapés made up by a local woman.
It's a rare opportunity and highly recommended. Malting is not just a matter of wetting the barley and waiting for it to sprout.
Rather, the barley is wetted in three stages in large steeps, first soaking for about 8 hours, then 5 to 7 hours in air, then 8 more in
water, two in air then more water. Throughout the process blasts of air are sent through the geminating barley for five minutes each
hour to drive off carbon dioxide which would kill the young sprouts. From the steeps the grain enters Boby generating drums, huge
cylinders that turn mechanically to keep the rootlets from getting tangled. Once germinated, the barley is killed by drying using an
oil-fired heat source. Peat is added to the fire in various amounts to flavour the malted barley.
The best ones were filled with succulent Islay crab meat.
Serge: I enjoyed the tour a lot, especially the end, when we could taste several
malt whiskies made with malt from Port Ellen – and not only from Diageo's distilleries.
Pouring us some Port Ellen OB was mighty generous, and yes, there was all this
excellentfood made by a lady who's working there.
Extremely friendly people, these Port Ellen Maltings workers!
If each distillery tries to have its own unique events for its open day, then Port Ellen Visiting Islay taught us a lot about the huge number of variables that contribute to the Nowhere was this more vividly demonstrated than in a comparative nosing of new make spirits. Isle of Jura
Willy Tate, the former distillery manager, took some umbrage at At Jura two mashes combine in a single washback, then are split up for distillation in two wash stills.
We also had been wondering about the contribution of water to flavour.
Maltings was no exception. By agreement, in order to keep jobs on the island, all the
distilleries on Islay (and Jura) buy their malt from Port Ellen Maltings.
In the control room specific settings for malt destined to each of the distilleries are
marked on control panels. This ensures the controls are set the same way each time,
but also gives a good visual of the differences among the malts made for the various
distilleries (and some off the island as well).
individual flavour profiles of each distillery's output. Different yeasts, different barleys,
different water, longer processes, shorter processes, level of peating and cask
management are just some of a huge range of influencers.
The folks at the maltings had set up samples from Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Ardbeg, Bowmore, Jura, Laphroaig and Lagavulin.
These ranged from muddy, dirty and smoky aromas right through to sweet and fruity. The biggest surprise of all, though, was the new
make from Laphroaig which was not clear, but cloudy white. Smelled like Laphroaig alright, but it looked more like ouzo.
The Ileach are a generous people so it is no surprise that Jura
distillery (on Jura) gets honourary status at the Islay Festival.
Thus, on Wednesday we drove to Port Askaig and boarded the
ferry over to Jura. Jura is quite distinct in geography, from Islay.
Best known for its stags (5,000 deer, 200 people, 1 distillery,
a promotional sign said), Jura is divided into five estates.
The distillery is best known for its ten year old malt, not one to
line up for. However, Jura had a surprise waiting for us - a new,
very peated whisky which at 5 years of age is really quite lovely.
It certainly put the VYA Ardbeg to shame. Serge had brought
with him a 3yo version of the same whisky which they released
in Japan, and it too was quite tasty scoring a whopping 91 points.
Olivier's questioning why the foreshots and feints don't accumulate
if they are always re-cycled. We never did get an answer, but we did learn that he might tell Olivier to "Fuck off" if his questions
persisted. All in good fun of course and Willy was an engaging guide and generally quite willing to divulge all the details.
Our experience tasting the organic versus the non-organic spirit at Bruichladdich had set us searching all week for clues about how
the various ingredients used can nuance the eventual flavours of the whisky and here at Jura Willy told us that yeast, in truth, plays a
major role "if you know what you're doing." About ten years ago, Willy told us, Jura switched to using a South African yeast. The
effect was quite favourable, Willy said, as the new yeast introduced new floral notes to the flavour profile.
All the advertising bumpf goes on and on about pure water flowing for centuries over peat bogs and so on, and how this is the
essence of flavour in a malt, but truth be told, and flavours in the water used for mashing would be lost in distillation (no matter how
it starts out, distilled water is flavourless). A greater influence on flavour would be the water used for diluting new-make down to
62.5% abv required by law when filling the casks. At Jura this is done using the same local water as is used for the mash. The water
is sterilized using UV light, but it is not de-mineralized so all the local minerals, salts, dissolved peats, deer pee and impurities really do
have a chance to contribute, unaltered, to the final flavour. These are the little nuggets we were looking for on our tours and at Jura,
information flowed though we never did find out what happens to all the feints and foreshots, but we'll keep asking until someone
explains or Willy really does tell us where to get off. Some other distilleries told us they discard them periodically. After an informative tour, one of the best of the week, I'd say, we headed in to taste some truly outstanding Juras.
Serge: I must admit I still don't get it myself. If they don't trash the foreshots after a while, I can't imagine how a natural re-re-re-distilling process can sort of 'destroy', or even alter the deadly methanol. But I'm neither a chemist, nor a professional distiller myself…
Bowmore
The good news coming out of Bowmore is that some of the new releases are starting to lose the cloying perfume that has infected
them for the past few years. When tales of "FWP" circulated on the internet a few years back, Bowmore threatened to sue, but there
is just no denying it. Earlier Bowmores we tasted, including an amazingly great 12yo from some years ago, showed no sign of perfume,
but for the past few years it has been so horrible, that many of us have just stopped buying Bowmores. Well, this year's 17yo has the
perfume now, but from what we tasted, the Legend is clear again. Perhaps it was something working its way through the system. If
you love the 17yo, as many people do, buy some old stock now. The new ones are not nearly as good if they're anything like what
we tasted on Islay. Similarly, if it holds true to form, the 21yo will be next, so again, stock up if you need some to carry you over the rough years coming.
The stills at Bowmore were nicely polished and varnished to give what Serge called a "Disney" look. It was clear a lot of money had
gone in to making the distillery tourable and photogenic, which seemed to make it somehow less authentic. At the start of the tour,
minis of Bowmore 12 were distributed in large plastic bags so we'd have something to keep our hands busy while walking around the
distillery. Afterwards, we tasted a very perfumed cask strength Bowmore followed by the 12yo. Serge and Olivier managed to get
other drams, but I was not so lucky and left my 12yo sitting on the bar - the cask strength was punishment enough. Bowmore
attracts a lot of seniors who are passing time as they wait to die, and that's the kind of tour you get: Disinterested, perfunctory with
no reason to linger. Very much not Islay-like. Bowmore is located right in the heart of the town of Bowmore and the tour was quite crowded. I suspect they might do a much better job when Feis Ile is not in full swing.
Islay is a small place, so across the week of the festival, you continually run
into the same people again and again. By the time we got to Jura the festival
was in its fourth day and the questions had gone from merely interested to
quite perceptive. At Bowmore, however, this was not the case. Bowmore is
the best set-up distillery on Islay for tours, but they have become a real
production line and the folks at Bowmore seem rushed to keep a schedule.
Although questions were encouraged, after two or three, our guide made it
clear we had to move along to the next station. Bowmore's floor maltings
were fascinating and the crowd was quite engaged. It was a good learning
experience, especially being able to compare these traditional maltings to the
industrial process we had seen at Port Ellen where large cylindrical steeps are
used. Here we not only saw the sprouting barley spread out on the floor, and
learned how to turn it, but were invited to walk right into the maltings and smell,
feel and taste the germinating seeds. This was the real thing and the highlight of the tour.
Serge: I think Bowmore didn't recover from Jim McEwan's departure yet.
You like the whisky or you don't, it's up to you, but the distillery itself is really far from the friendly Islay atmosphere. It's all too
'professional', too polished, and yes, it could well become IslayDisneyland. It's really a place where you can meet many visitors you'll never meet at Ardbeg or Bruichladdich, not to mention Bunnahabhain or Caol Ila.
Let's put it this way: Bowmore is now a place for Joe Sixpack!
Caol Ila Know why Oregon pine is used for the washbacks at Caol Ila? It's because it doesn't have any knot holes. Caol Ila is not the prettiest distillery on Islay, in fact it's the most industrial looking. The view from inside the still room is majestic
though, looking out across the Sound of Islay to the Paps of Jura. The tour at Caol Ila was conducted by Donald Renwick, who we
had met a few days earlier at Lagavulin. There is no doubt that Caol Ila is a workhorse distillery. Their annual output is about 3.5
millions litres a year. Of these only 20,000 litres, or less than one percent, is sold as single malt. The rest is destined to be blended.
They do have worts though, and those washbacks look like they've turned lots of worts to wash.
Serge: Agreed it's industrial looking, but these huge stills in their giant showcase are really spectacular, whereas the place itself is absolutely beautiful. I really liked the fact that we could taste some unpeated 'Highland Caol Ila' which goes only for blending. Too bad, if you ask me, because it's really clean and most enjoyable as an all-natural and un-aromatized malt.
Bunnahabhain
Distillery house styles they are a-changin' for the good news at Bunnahabhain is that in addition to their wonderfully "Speyside" 12yo,
mid-winter experiments with a heavily-peated Bunny have hit the market in the guise of the Moine, a cask strength peated
Bunnahabhain released for the festival. Half-sitting on a stone window ledge in the distillery's courtyard sipping the Moine is the
closest thing to a halcyon moment a malt aficionado could hope for. The nose is very peated, but also citric with vegetable and
barley mash notes. The palate is very muddy and very peaty. Sweet and sour and licorice combine with a new-make fruitiness.
Wonderful whisky, it scored 88 points. A 33yo Bunnahabhain cask sample scored even higher - well into the 90s.
Though it is keeping up with demands of the market, Bunnahabhain maintains a traditional, local feel, despite the presence for the
festival of a whole slew of folks from the head office of Burns Stewart. On the side of tradition are the washbacks installed in 1965
and still going strong. Like Jura, their new make spirit is diluted with unfiltered local water before being filled into casks. And attention
to detail includes using two strains of yeast, one of which starts work immediately while the other picks up the fermentation process later on. It has a hand-crafted feel, Bunnahabhain, and its whisky has a hand-crafted flavour.
Bunnahabhain is a beautiful little distillery and people go out of their way to make you feel comfortable and at home. The tours were
large but well accommodated and no question went unanswered. They keep busy, these folks, for the weekly production cycle at
Bunnahabhain begins at 10:00 Sunday evening and runs 24 hours a day until the week ends at 5:00 Friday afternoon. "Come back
after the festival when we're not so busy for more personal service" they would say, but I can hardly imagine how they could be any more accommodating.
Serge: Oh yes, distillery manager John MacLellan is a great guide!
I have fond memories of the five or six Bunnahabhain-laced hamburgers we had on the pier there. Yes, each...
Visiting Bunnahabhain was the perfect cap to an amazing week of whisky and new whisky friends.
Are you thinking of visiting Feis Ile (a.k.a. 'the Islay Festival of Malt and Music') yourself some day?
Based on our experience in 2004, here are the highlights and the not so highlights:
1. Bruichladdich
A must; all the whisky stuff to keep the maniacal happy (tastings, tours, special bottlings, do it yourself bottlings, pipe band)
combined with a real home-county-fair-like atmosphere, well attended by interesting and engaging locals. Plan to spend the day.
2. Ardbeg
The midnight tour is very interesting and they are in no hurry to get you on your way.
Lots of whisky to taste including some very, very special drams drawn right from the cask.
Expect 3 to 4 fascinating hours.
3. Isle of Jura
A surprise awaits you if you're most familiar with Jura from their 10yo or nas versions.
Stunning, highly-peated youngsters lie hidden here as does a really relaxed tour. I tried to buy a mini of the Superstition, but they wouldn't sell it to me. "You'll get a free one at the end" said Margaret in the shop.
4. Bunnahabhain
A real down home welcome by people hugely interested in their distillery.
Special festival bottling and lip-smacking Bunny burgers. An interesting tour of a lovely distillery.
5. Port Ellen Maltings
A must if you've not visited a maltings before. Great tasting session afterwards including free drams of Port Ellen and two other
Diageo whiskies. Well, they said two, but they kept 'forgetting' to take our tickets. History buffs should walk around behind the maltings and visit the silent distillery.
6. Lagavulin
From word of mouth an excellent tour with an interesting blind tasting of various younger, but excellent Lagavulins.
A very pretty location.
7. Laphroaig
A pretty standard tour, and they were just a bit cheap with samples of the festival bottling, especially given that among us we bought 4 bottles. In my opinion it was the best of the bunch festival bottling though.
8. Caol Ila
A workman-like industrial distillery, probably the least interesting to look at, but the one with the best view from the distillery. No
outstanding tasting samples although we paid 12GBP to taste. Best surprise was the non-peated Caol Ila they've been turning out. Let's hope for an OB sometime soon.
9. Bowmore
The Malt Maniacs will return to Islay for Feis Ile 2005. See you there? Davin - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - -
f you're really bored here's a way to kill an hour. Uninspired tour given by unpleasant tour guide followed by Plain-Jane tasting. It's
like someone at head office told them they had to do it. Better to walk out the pier and look at the lovely setting of what is probably the most-photographed distillery on Islay.
E-pistle #10/18 - Bruichladdich Academy 2004
Submitted on 15/09/2004 by Ho-cheng Yao, Taiwan
What is a dream trip for a single malt lover? Soaked in single malts for one week? Not really.
Though I haven't visited any distillery before, at the time I know Bruichladdich Academy, I know my dream is about to come true.
Saturday, May 22, 2004
It's not the first time I travel alone, but it's the first time I travel alone on a non-business trip since I got married 8 years ago. I have
to thank my wife for giving me this opportunity to fulfill my single malt dream. At this Saturday evening, when all people around me are crazy about Michael Jordan's first visit to Taipei, my distillery trip starts.
I have never been to Scotland before.
In the past few years, I had planned my single malt trip several times; however, none of them really worked out. The reason was quite
simple: when you have little children like me, a distillery tour seems not a really good idea for a family trip. Therefore, my travel plan
was delayed year by year. At the time I learned about the Bruichladdich Academy program, I told myself: this is the time; I got to do
it right now. Fortunately, with my wife's support, I can finally visit Islay. Many of my friends asked me: we can understand you choose
Islay for your first distillery trip, but why Bruichladdich? I think it all makes sense if you have tons of questions about single malt but
have no one to go for at your homeland. Being able to work in a distillery for one week would be a great experience. Making single malt
will not be "books" anymore. And, you have to admit one thing: how many distilleries will offer this kind of opportunity for common
people like you and me? We are just malt lovers; we are nobody. Considering all these reasons, I think 1,300 pounds for one-week distillery working experience is really cheap. At least, it's worth it for me.
Sunday, May 23, 2004
Bad start. After the 24-hour flight, I finally made to Glasgow, but my luggage didn't arrive with me as expect. When you need to
transfer through busy airports like Bangkok and London, this kind of shitty things does happen. After checking into my hotel, I still had
2 hours to do some emergency shopping. Luckily, besides the necessities, I was able to locate the gifts for my family. On the way
back to the hotel, I even bought an ice cream for myself, and my mood seemed to cheer up by the lovely orange-chocolate ice cream. Still have jetlag.
After some simple food and the famous Belgian "Hoegaarden" Beer, I went to sleep early.
But it's weird that the hotel recommend me this one.
Monday, May 24, 2004
Got up early at 3:00 AM, it's already 10AM in Taiwan. It was a lovely sunny morning, so the pilot only took 20 mins to get to Islay. As it was 30 mins earlier than the scheduled arrival time,
the pilot decided to take us for a touring fight around the island. We passed by Ardbeg, Laguvulin, Laphroaig, Port Ellen Malting, then
passed the airport, and flew to Laggan Bay back and forth several times. Finally the plane got the permission to land. People always
say it's so touching when you first see Laphroaig on the fairy arriving Islay. I have to say the same thing as I overlooked above to
see these distilleries; it's unbelievable when those "labels on the bottles" become real buildings in front of you.
Lynee McEwan picked us up. She is Master Jim McEwan's daughter. Roger, my Swedish classmate, arrived at the same flight with me.
Roger has a business to hold tasting events for people. This is his second trip to Islay. Lynee also works for Bruichladdich right now.
She told us there are three other classmates from South Africa arrived one day earlier and have started their "work". There's another
Scot that will arrive later at noon by fairy. It didn't take long to arrive Bruichladdich from the airport. Our Academy House is right
behind the distillery. It is an old cottage house; Bruichladdich renewed it during the distillery off-season. Lovely country inn style.
Lynee showed us our rooms, and gave us our Academy uniforms. Then she asked us to find Jim later. After a short rest, Roger and I got changed and headed to the distillery office. The office is on the second floor, not too difficult to
find. We broke in several office rooms and finally found Jim. Jim was on a telephone call, so he asked us to sit down to let him finish
it. We sat in front of his desk, at that moment, I felt like I was back to be a college boy in my professor's office. Well, if you also travel half the world and finally see the master, I bet you'll be as nervous as I was.
Jim finished the conversation, turned it off and was ready to have some talk with us.
Oh my! I am sure I know some of the answers but you can't be seriously to ask a Taiwanese amateur to memorize the Scottish malt
history. He asked us to take our memo books out and to start writing down some facts. When he finished his brief history lesson, he
said: "Reading is important. You got to know how whisky came to this stage. You got to know it!" I began to think that the history I
read on books may be just some boring stuff for me, but it's what makes the whole industry today. Living in a whisky world like Jim, whisky history is not just boring stuff.
After the scary conversation, Jim was back to be an interesting master.
The concept about mashing is quite easy. It is a process to squeeze out all the sugar containing in the malt. What really surprised me
is that all the procedures here are manual. Before I came here, I knew Bruichladdich wants to maintain as traditional as possible, but I
didn't realize how traditional it is until now. This kind of practice almost all relies on the mashman's experience. Though you know how
much malt and water you add in, you also know there are exceptions from time to time; if you don't extract the same sugar level each time, the fermentation later, or the "washing" they called, would become a disaster.
I remember I was very nervous not only because of the all human-work process but because of the conversation with Jim. I mean,
who can actually act normal if you really step on your dreamland and talk with the real Master you only know from books or
magazines. It was the Mashman Allen, who calmed me down. Allen didn't talk too much; he is a very nice young man who knows all
the tricks about his work. He answered every question I asked, slowly but clearly. He didn't want to pretend he knows everything, in the contrary, he asked Jim later when he wasn't sure how to answer my question.
This is the first week they change the mashing capacity from 7 tons of malt to 5 tons.
I don't want to go through all the details as I know it does not really interest all of you readers, but I have to tell you that Jim really
wanted us to memorize all the numbers and procedures, and those all appeared in the test we took at the end. I guess it's strange if you look at yourself as a "student", but it makes sense if you look at yourself to be a "mashman".
The wort goes to the wooden "washback" and stays After 6 hours of hard work, it came to the valuable warehouse tasting. Warehouse tasting Session 1 in Warehouse #2.
Immediately after walking into Warehouse #2, you'll see those small casks, normally called "octave".
The warehouse tasting was more than a common tasting session, it was a wonderful class to teach us how to recognize different
casks and years. If you haven't had a chance to join a warehouse tasting, you got to beg somebody to let you sneak in sometime in
the rest of your life. The big excitement is not only from the feeling you "steal" from the cask, but also from the smell, the atmosphere you get during the event. Here are the casks we tried! Bruichladdich 1986 First fill Sherry butt:
Caol Ila 1990 Second fill Bourbon Hogshead: After tasting the two, Jim wanted us to vat these two malts with 60-40 ratio and to taste again.
Lochside 1966 Hogshead:
Bruichladdich 2002 Octave: Before we ended this session, Jim showed us the experiment he conducted on the port finish. No need to mention the 5-course dinner, no complaint! I miss all the fine meals I had there.
Called back office for some boring stuff. I started reading the only book I brought: Malt Whisky by Charles MacLean.
After two hours reading, I finally got my Full English Breakfast and then headed to the airport.
Obviously, We knew who he is, he knew who we are; it was not really the self-introduction thing. After a few words, he cut to the
point: how much do we know about the whisky production? He talked a little bit about the production, and then mentioned the final
exam at the end of the week. It was a mistake we asked what would be in the exam. He turned seriously and said: "You'll be able to
answer those questions if you really pay attention during this week. But, I also ask you to read books I put in the living room of your
academy house. You need to find out some of the answers from those books, questions like how many distilleries still survive today?
how many surviving distilleries are there in Speyside region? What does the year of 1494 mean? What does the year of 1881 mean?"
He showed us around the distillery, introducing people to us. We also met the other three poor working classmates from South Africa.
The academy can take up to 6 students per week. Each student will work in turns to go through all the process in the distillery. My
shift for today should be "mashing". My classmate Andy is up for the first shift, I'll join the second shift at 11:30.
I was very surprised to learn from Allen that they made this change only because previous students complained about not being able
to go through all the process by the old schedule. Jim figured out by reducing the mashing capacity, he would be able to work with
academy students two rounds per day. Though, it means the distillery needs extra teamwork to adjust the change and to make sure
everything goes smoothly to maintain the production. This change did result in some problems. As the malt reduced from 7 tons to 5
tons, you might think you just need to reduce the time proportionally. However, in the real world, it was not as easy as simple
numbers; everything just didn't turn out exactly. Jim came back several times to check all the data. It's amazing that Allan discussed
with Jim how to adjust the mashing speed only by looking at the clearness of the liquid the people called "wort".
After the mashing, the remains, called "draff", are going to
be fed to the cattle. Mark Reynier, managing director of the
distillery, told us an interesting story during the week.
Mark said he encountered an old island farmer one day.
This old man held his hands for quite a long time and cried:
"It's so wonderful you bring Bruichladdich back alive!"
Then he said: "My cattle are so happy Bruichladdich is back.
They love Bruichladdich! You know, I did an experiment on
them: I put the draff from Bruichladdich, Caol Ila, and
Laphroaig separately, then I opened the gate.
All of my cattle ran to your draff immediately!"
Well, I can only say they hate peat.
therefor at least 65 hours to finish the fermentation.
During this process, adding yeast is something you need
to be very careful. You certainly want to maintain the fruit
flavor comes from the yeast, but you also want the fermentation
to go as scheduled. That's why there are two kinds of yeast being used.
Olivier, one of the maniacs, has questioned about the necessity to add yeast in the fermentation process. He said: "If you really want
to create a local flavor malt, you probably want the barley to bring all the flavor into the alcohol. Anything added is not necessary." I
think he really makes some point. There sure is part of flavor we can try to extract from local barley, and we should set that kind of
high standard or expectation to Bruichladdich. After all, it's Bruichladdich itself to stand as "independent", not like the large multi-national monsters.
The Academy Guidelines we received only states ONE master class at the end of the week and does not guarantee it would be held by
Jim McEwan. Thus, when Jim asked us to meet at the warehouse at 4:30pm every day, we thought we got it wrong. We asked him again: "Everyday?" Jim smiled and said: "You deserve it."
These small casks are normally owned by shareholders or distillery employees. As the wood flavor would go into the malt very quickly,
these casks are seldom kept long and will be opened during special occasions. Jim's two daughters own their own casks just for fun.
It's not hard to understand we tried Bruichladdich first at the very beginning.
But a first fill sherry is somewhat surprising to us. Afterall, besides the 12yo sherry cask specially bottled for US market, Bruichladdich
never released sherry casks to the market. (There were some specially bottles, though.) Though already 18 years old, heavy sherry is just at the right level, you can nose ripe apple, cream cake, along with heavy sherry. 90 points.
Just next to previously cask, Jim taught us how to recognize different casks just by looking at the shape. This young malt didn't effect
by the wood too much, medium level peat brings out vanilla, coconut, chocolate and a hint of smoke. Very refreshing! 90 point.
I was very surprised to experience Jim's magic as the vatted one actually performed better.
It contained the heavy sherry taste but the finish is quite refreshing.
As I am quite a "single cask" believer, I actually went back to think about "vatting" again.
Probably vatting different malts is not that evil. This vatted malt will probably be bottled later this year. 92 points.
A rare distillery only operated from 1957 to 1992.
Almost 40 years old but still refreshing, not even tired at all.
I think it would be able to cask for a couple of years. 92 points.
Of course we need to try the malt made by the new team. Warehouse #2 does not contain the new cask they made after they took
over. Jim opened his daughter Lynee's cask. As mentioned earlier, though only at 2 yo, the woodiness goes into the malt quite fast. It's almost felt like a 6 yo malt, contains Bruichladdich unique complex fruitiness.
Though not yet balanced well, it still shows lots of potential. 76 points.
It's interesting to see only with 7 days in the port pipe, it already has clear port taste and nose.
No wonder 6-month probably would be the maximum period for port finish. Jim said only 36 hours in the port pipe, the color would
change significantly. Amazing! Bruichladdich had no plan to do the finish at that time, but with the experiment I saw, it probably won't
take long come out with something new. By now, Bruichladdch just release the news of the new Mouvedre finish.
Almost as good as any gourmet country inns.
Tuesday, May 25, 2004
At the time we arrived, Bruichladdich just opened it's own cooperage! Our job today is to move those new-filled casks to the right position.
Moreover, since the casks are stocked over other casks, you certainly want to put the youngest ones at the bottom and the older
ones at the top. Thus, it's kind of moving back and forth work. I am quite glad to have experienced Master Cooper John with us.
Just by saying moving this and moving that, he easily grouped different casks to save us lots of energy. 2:00PM, Jim walked in with gloves. He said, "OK! Time to do some exercise." After a whole day's hard work, our second warehouse tasting finally came. Master Cooper John told us about the "legend" of
warehouse #6. After we begged several times, Jim decided to take us to warehouse #6 today. And it's truly fantastic, too! Highland Park 1979 First Fill Bourbon Hogshead: Caperdonich 1968 Third Fill sherry Butt: Bruichladdich 1972 refill Bourbon Hogshead: Bruichladdich 1965 Cask#505 refill sherry Hogshead: Each of us took another serving of Bruichladdich 1965 before we left. That's about day 2. The only thing I want to mention here is the dinner we had with Jim and Simon, along with several distillery
guests at night, was very warm and funny. Jim had endless jokes and stories, and this thought comes to my mind: you got to be as talkative as Jim to be a malt master.
My shift is cask and warehousing today. Last night I learned from two other
classmates that they didn't expect to have such heavy duty work all day long.
They filled almost one hundred casks and had to move them all to the warehouse.
There are three of us on the same shift today. After breakfast, we headed down
to the filling hall, but found no one there. Five minutes later, Jim showed up and
drove us to warehouse #11, where the two coopers have started their work earlier.
Thus they officially become the third distillery to have their own cooperage on site.
The other two are Glenfiddich and Balvenie. Master Cooper John, who is one of the
remaining 4 coopers in Islay, will train the young apprentice cooper Peter to take
over this difficult task. It's another surprise that there are only 7 apprentice
coopers being trained right now in Scotland, and only 214 coopers to maintain
all these casks.
It sounds easy, but represents lots of work. Bruichladdich still uses traditional
3-layered storage method. In short, this method simply stocks casks layer by layer
with two thick sticks in between. Think about it, the size of casks are not exactly
the same. When you put different casks in one layer, the height of that layer would
not be even. Thus, you'll need to spend a lot of time choosing similar casks and
adjusting them in order to maintain each layer at the same height.
Without saying too much, he jumped up to the third layer with me to adjust the casks. I was a little bit shocked cause Jim was more
like an office guy as in my image. People forget he was trained as a cooper at the very beginning. For the next 2 hours, Jim worked
with us to the end. That's the most impressive memory I had during the week. Well, maybe many people has the chance to join Jim's master class, but how many people would have the chance to move casks with him so closely?
That's really something!
Our first tasting is quite amazing. Highland Park has always been one of my favorite distilleries.
However, most OB bottling contain more sherry casks. People sometimes forget the beastliness of Highland Park bourbon cask. This 25
yo cask has quite distillery character but balances quite well with the wood. Complex and finish long. 94 points.
Bottled under Chivas Brother Group, very hard to find bottlings from this distillery. This distillery is located next to Glen Grant, so it
should have similar characters. However, this cask has quite an unique high alcohol volume. This is strange to a 35 yo malt. I believe
this cask is the same batch as the one in the mission II series as Jim also mentioned this on the tasting note. Straight from the cask,
it shows unbelievable complex noses if you add a little bit of water. Some of my classmates even think this one is the best malt they had during the whole week. 94 points.
Back to old Bruichladdich again, I still think Bruichladdich goes with bourbon much better.
This is the standard old Bruichladdich. Simple but last forever. 93 points.
The only 1965 left here. Alcohol volume dropped to 42%. Only 100L left. The most gentle, smooth malt I have ever had in my life.
This is what you said beyond distillery but speaks out by itself stuff, my favorite one during the week. 97 points.
We sat outside the warehouse, with the dram! Nobody wanted to talk, because our dreams really come true.
Wednesday, May 26, 2004
Tour day! All of us got on Mark's car. Our first stop was the Port Ellen ruins to take some pictures. It is truly sad when a Port Ellen lover like me stand there listening Mark
talking about the stories of Port Ellen. I can understand big companies like Diageo want to be more "economy" on production. But I
also believe every distillery is special. It is sad to see a distillery with history just tore down to be ruins.
Then we headed to Laphroaig for the wonderful distillery tour. The distillery guide explained in detail of the whole process, and I finally
saw the floor malting myself. Don't forget malting is the only process that Bruichladdich is not doing it in house right now. But who
knows, when Bruichladdich has even plant it's own barley, I think a floor malting should not be too far away. Laphroaig has made the
whole process computerized. Clean, nice, friendly. I guess most of the tourists will fall in love with this place. However, what in my
mind now is that I'm lucky it's not Laphroaig to set up the Academy. I came such a long way to work for one week in a distillery, I don't want to find out if the only thing I need to do is only just write down the numbers!
After I received my "Friends of Laphroaig Certificate" and my free miniature we headed to Ardbeg for some serious fans' shopping. The
Ardbeg lady was so kind to treat us "The Ardbeg Very Young", "Ugdeadial" and "Lord of Isles". It was not surprising to see the
comments for the latter two. But it is interesting that most of my classmates think the Very Young is definitely only FOR DISCUSSION,
while Roger and I believe it shows some PROMISE for the future. Later, we stopped at the Kildalton Cross for a picnic lunch and went
Peat Cutting. Cutting peat on a sunny day is quite lovely. By using the right tool at the right place, you certainly don't need too much energy on it. And of course great photos to take home!
Just before we went back to the Academy House, we finally got the chance to see the secret water source.
Ready for our personalized Islay tour: distilleries, Celtic Cross, birds, and lots of fun.
Inside information: Bruichladdich actually use three different water sources. First, the spring from the hill used in Mashing and
Washing. Second, the stream beside the distillery is used for distillation. Then, another pure spring at a remote farm are used for
diluting at the bottling line. We haven't had the chance to see the first two, only have some look for the bottling water. It's unpeated and it's crystal clear. Very sweet!
Thursday, May 27, 2004
Day 4: Distillation Day
To make it simple, you can image that you use steam to heat up the wash, which comes
The Middle cut contains lots of the flavor, as soon as it becomes less clear; the flavor is gone at the same time. Most single malt fans
know the pot still shape affects the Spirit a lot. However; it is also very critical for the distillation speed. The slower you distill, the
better the whisky you get. Most of the modern distilleries have made it standard practice to decide the middle cut by alcohol
content. However, it is more precise if you can nose it by the experienced stillman and/or the distillery master. This is exactly what
they are doing at Bruichladdich. As I watched Master Jim walking in with his white master gown on, I wondered what's happened?
Then, Jim handed over the key to open the spirit safe to start nosing it. After s couple of samples, he finally decided it was time for
the middle cut. (And it's an honor I did the middle cut that round.) The same nosing process repeats every 10 to 20 minutes during
the collecting process. Some people may find it kind of stupid, as people always believe to rely on "numbers". However, my personal
experience, nothing is better than your nose. If you expect your customers to appreciate the flavors in the malt, you have to respect
the people to decide what will be inside the spirit to be matured in the future. And this is also the reason why Jim always believes people is the most important factor to making whisky. Warehouse Tasting Session 3
Time for some old casks again. How about the list below: Macallan 1969 Refill Bourbon Hoggy Score 90 Though I generally like Macallan more, I have to admit the Glenlivet performs better this time. The Glenlivet clearly shows more layer
and it's quite a lovely Speyside malt. Port Chalotte is another surprise, by the time we taste it, it just passed 3 years and officially
become scotch. Only 3 years old, the smooth, the peat, the nose, most people would think it's an Ardbeg or Laphroaig 10yo. A
shinning star is about to be in the market. Want to taste it? Will maybe not so easy if you are not an Academy student, but I heard
there will be a vatted malt at the year end, containing some of the Port Chalotte. It might be a chance to have some sneak preview
for the peated version. As for the 1964, Jim told us it will be bottled as the 40yo later this year. Hope they don't charge it at a sky high price. I have to buy one for myself. And it seems they don't have any older casks in hands.
I was quite lucky to have my own personal shift for distillation.
Though I already know every step in the process is equally important for the whisky, I still
feel a little bit exciting about today's work. Bruichladdich has two Wash Stills and two Low
Wine Stills. If you are familiar with the distillation process, you probably know that at least
two to three distillations are needed to make whisky. Most of the single malt distilleries distil
twice, a few use three distillations like the Irish whisky.
from the fermentation earlier. As the alcohol evaporates quicker than water, you can collect
it as higher concentrated alcohol, called Low Wines. Low Wines typically have an alcohol
percentage of around 23%. After going through the same process again, we can collect
the result, called Plain British Spirit. The most critical point in the distillation is the timing
for the MIDDLE CUT. Most single malt fans know the terms very well, but it is still quite
an honor when you do the cut by yourself. Most people could probably imagine that making
whisky is not as simple as just collecting alcohol, it is even more important to collect the
"heavy fat" along with the alcohol. It is the fat make the alcohol special. The first thing
comes out of the second distillation is call the Foreshots. Foreshots contain some dust inside,
as soon as the liquid become crystal clear, you can start to collect them. After it becomes less clear,
you stop the collecting and let it flow back into the receiver waiting to mix up with the new wash for next run.
Glenlivet 1968 Refill Bourbon Cask 2842 Score 92
Port Chalotte 2001 Refill Bourbon Barrel Cask #1 Score 90
Bruichladdich 1964 Bourbon Hoggy Score 94
Friday, May 28, 2004
Day 5: Graduation
Though I was on bottling shift, I actually didn't have the chance for the work. After the visit, we came back for the final exam.
For me as a single malt fan, Bruichladdich was just a "brand" before I came here, but it is now become a "life". Ho-cheng
P.S. - A few words about the Islay Festival: I think people would most wonder what the maniacs do when they meet each other. The Islay Festival is a dream coming true for most single malt fans.
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The major reason is that my classmate can't go for the distillation because someone forgot to open the river gate, they have no water
for the distillation. As half of my classmates will be affected, Jim decided to take the chance to show us their Port Charlotte
warehousing and to talk about his dreams for the future Port Charlotte Distillery. And of course, we also take the chance to taste some young vintage Port Charlotte and Octomore.
Many people had quite some doubts about the Octomore.
As the most heavily peated ever malt in the history, Octomore may not
actually be the best tasting malt. But as Jim said, they want to make the
history. In my opinion, Port Chalotte has better tasting, but Octomore is
not that un-acceptable as most people thought. And certainly don't think
Octomore will remain at the same as what they released.
Remember, Jim likes to lead the industry!
So, please expect new records on the peated level.
It is not so easy, but all of us passed! And surprisingly, they asked all
employees to attend the ceremony. We are all awarded as Single Malt
Ambassador. I still remember I was so moved when I saw all of them come
to share the happiness with us. It is my dream to work inside a distillery,
but I actually know what it means now I went through the whole process.
And not only Bruichladdich, but all the malts. Now, when I drink the single malt, I can't stop imaging the people who made it. To work
in a single malt distillery may be the dream vacation for most single most fans. It is certainly true for me, but the most important, I think it opens a door to let me love it in different ways.
Well, I couldn't image it until I met Serge, Olivier, and Davin on the following Sunday morning.
At first, we thought we could have a Sunday brunch together, but I didn't expect there would be no bus on Sunday and certainly no
taxi on Islay. But the good news is: people are very friendly and they would love to give you a ride if possible. With some rides and
walks, I finally managed to get to the Maniac House in Port Charlotte. The three "old" maniacs had enjoyed the Ardbeg midnight tour
right after they arrived the island. And the tour lasted until 4:00 in the morning, Serge was so kind to get up "earlier" to have a coffee
with me. After we walked by to the Maniac House, I experienced my first Maniacal Shock. I took out my ten samples ready to share
with the others, I found there were already more than 150 samples sitting there. Oh my god, no wonder these people are the maniacs.
(And luckily, I am one of them now.) No need for me to tell you how good the twenty malts were that we tasted within 24 hours; you can read
But do remember, besides the distillery visits, most people enjoy the festival because they enjoy it with friends. It is good to walk in
the sunny light along the Islay trail. It is even better when some of the good friends can share some nice drams by the sea.
E-pistle #10/19 - Breaking News from WhiskyLive Paris 2004
Submitted on 15/09/2004 by Serge Valentin, France
Fellow malt maniac Olivier joined me for this one-day event, and as soon as we
Anyway, after some very good smoked salmon went down the hatch – yum! – we decided to enter the Napoleonian Palais Brongnard.
Yes, pumps and circumstances, but I can't think of a more appropriate place for a whisky exhibition, except a distillery, of course.
Many distilleries and bottlers were there, except the ones that don't work with La Maison du Whisky. A pity, for sure, but we can't
blame LMW for that, and there were enough exhibitors to keep you busy for… at least ten hours. But we only had six hours in front of us, s
After the Distillerie Clacquessin in 2002 and the Stalinist Palais de Tokyo last
year, WhiskyLive Paris took place at the Paris Stock Exchange (Palais Brongnard)
this year and I have to say it was all perfectly organised. The place is ideally
located – not too far from main organiser La Maison du Whisky – and with all the
good restaurants nearby, one could expect to spend some very good time there.
That's exactly what happened.
reached the Place de la Bourse, we felt we shouldn't enter the exhibition and
start to taste whisky on an empty stomach. Most luckily, there was a free
table at Bon2's terrace, so we decided to have lunch there, under the Parisian
sun. That was a good idea, because we were soon to be joined by Andrew
Symington and Iain Henderson, both in excellent shape despite their strange
blue Edradour overalls that made them look like Martians, as Bon2 is a trendy
and most fashionable restaurant. But they didn't seem to care, and they were
bloody right, if you ask me. No need to say that we chatted a lot – and I deeply hope
I didn't bother them too much with my endless string of babble and questions about whisky.