July 2010
The Forty Seventh Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." Why ? because i can !
It's Summer !
A bit of a Summer special this month , Seeing the sun has finally decided to shine here in the North-East i decided it would be nice to sample what some would call summer drams . After gathering the usual suspects together i decided to retry all the Bladnochs i have , After all Bladnoch is a nice , light , summer dram ! Bladnoch is a cracking example of the remaining Lowlanders , indeed , even of the closed ones ! We here in Newcastle class Bladnoch as our local distillery , even though there is a closer one (Glenkinchie is about 98 miles drive , Bladnoch just over 130 ) , quite a lot of people from this area visit and buy the nectar . Mel and myself have been visiting Bladnoch for a good few years now , we come to know the owners and staff very well , What Raymond and Florence have achived with this distillery since recommissioning it in the year 2000 has been amazing . They always give you an excellent welcome at the distillery , The Bladnoch Range has been superb and reasonably priced and their Forum Bottling line is starting to get legendary........
So to the Drams , they range from some of the early bottles that was filled with casks bought back from Diageo through the excellent 1992 26xx Parcel to the first releases of spirit distilled since the re-opening.......
Current Bottles available to buy at Bladnoch.co.uk
The Bladnoch 12 in various stages of draining.....
| Bladnoch 8yo | |||
| Year - 2001 | Age - 8yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Golden Syrup | |||
| Nose - Very intense Bladnoch nose , Fresh cut grass , meadows , malty , a touch of toffee and lemon. | |||
| Taste - A lovely oily mouthfeel , vanilla , toffee , touch of lemon again . | |||
| Finish - Long and very refreshing , clean and citric . | |||
| Comments -A wonderful summer malt , light but very refreshing and not wimpy ! | |||
| Bladnoch 8yo Sherry Cask | |||
| Year - 2001 | Age - 8yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Pale Amber | |||
| Nose - Again very intense on the nose , this time with sherry notes , dried fruits and Christmas cake .Dry sherry , toffee brittle , there’s a bit of a nutty note to it . | |||
| Taste - Very strong on the palate , the sherry dominates , typical Christmas Cake sherried malt . | |||
| Finish - Long , dry and Creamy toffee with roasted nuts . | |||
| Comments -Distilled 3rd March 2001 , Bottled 20th January 2010 from Sherry Butt no.28 . A strange Bladnoch , the sherry butt totally dominates but it’s not too bad a dram , i’ve had a lot worse sherry casked malts over the past year or so , saying that i prefer the Ex-Bourbon casked version . | |||
| Bladnoch 13yo "Distillery Label" | |||
| Year - | Age - 13yo | ABV - 40% | |
| Colour - Light Gold | |||
| Nose - Very fresh , Lots of green fruits , Grassy with barley . Slight Toffee (creamy fudge ) note . | |||
| Taste - Extremely grassy on the palate , a touch of Lemon , very relaxed across the mouth . | |||
| Finish - Not very long but a hint of pepper , lemon and malt . | |||
| Comments -For 40% it is quite a bit oily in the glass , good legs as well . A nice relaxed Bladnoch doesn’t really seem like 40% apart from at the finish . | |||
| Bladnoch 13yo "Beltie Label" | |||
| Year - | Age - 13yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Ripe Barley | |||
| Nose - Real lowland notes on the nose , Very grassy , fresh cut meadows , a hint of Barley and Lemon . A nice oakiness to it as well with a drop of vanilla . | |||
| Taste - Loads of green fruits , Citric and a huge spiciness to it . | |||
| Finish - Hellishly Long and Spicy . Lots of malted barley . | |||
| Comments -The nose hides a bit of a monster on the palate and finish . An incredible Bladnoch ! | |||
| Bladnoch 15yo "Sheep Label" | |||
| Year - | Age - 15yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Light Gold | |||
| Nose - Again a typical lowlander at first , Grassy , barley , citric but then there’s more than a hint of pepper and is that eucalyptus ? Eventually it does return to the lowlands...... | |||
| Taste - The palate screams Lowlands , Grassy , green fruits , barley touch of lemon...... | |||
| Finish - Very spicy on a long finish mixing with a nice lemoniness . | |||
| Comments -This one is really oily in the glass , definitely ZZ Top..... Another really good Bladnoch , they just seem to improve with age . | |||
| Bladnoch Forum Bladnoch 15yo " Jamaican me crazy mon " | |||
| Year - | Age - 15yo | ABV - 57.4% | |
| Colour - Golden Syrup | |||
| Nose - Incredible Golden rum nose , very sweet , honeyed , bananas , a touch of meadows in the background . | |||
| Taste - Very smooth across the palate , more Bladnoch in the mouth than the nose , green grass , malt and green fruits . | |||
| Finish - long , chewy and sweet , loads of honey with spices . | |||
| Comments -From Cask 5146 , Finished for 18 months in a Jamaican Rum Cask , Better than the Cognac finish in my opinion , nice easy drinking . | |||
| Bladnoch 15yo (Sheep Label) Cask 2615 | |||
| Year - 1992 | Age - 15yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Amber | |||
| Nose - Yer typical Christmas Cake in a glass loads of Dried fruits , spices and a very good hint of lowland grassiness . Not overly sherried . | |||
| Taste - A lovely feel on the palate , the sherry and the spirit intermix wonderfully , a near as damn perfect sherried whisky..... | |||
| Finish - and wonderful ! , what more can you say ! | |||
| Comments -Distilled 15th July 1992 , Bottled 28th February 2008 . Bottle No. 341 of 550 . A cracking dram , Raymond was so lucky to get hold of this parcel . | |||
| Bladnoch 15yo (Sheep Label) Cask 2616 | |||
| Year - 1992 | Age - 15yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Amber | |||
| Nose - Pretty much the same as the previous cask , a good mixture of the sherry and the lowland spirit . | |||
| Taste - Another really nice sherried Bladnoch , more pronounced on the Christmas Cake Dough and a nice texture over the palate . | |||
| Finish - A lovely long , warm sherried finish , bags of Cake dough , spices , dried fruits . | |||
| Comments -Distilled 15th July 1992 , Bottled 19th June 2008 . | |||
| Bladnoch 15yo (Sheep Label) Cask 2617 | |||
| Year - 1992 | Age - 15yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Amber | |||
| Nose - this one seems a bit more pronounced in the sherry department from the last time i had it . A very nice dried Sherry nose to it , Still the Grass and citrus come through as well . | |||
| Taste - Another well balanced sherried whisky , Christmas cake , sherry and lowland grassiness in perfect harmony ! | |||
| Finish - Long and drier than the previous casks . | |||
| Comments -Distilled 15th July 1992 , Bottled 28th January 2008 . Bottle No. 103 of 317 . What can you say about these casks , superb ! | |||
| Bladnoch 16yo (Christmas Spirit Label) Cask 2610 | |||
| Year - 1992 | Age - 16yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Amber | |||
| Nose - Absolute pure Christmas cake in the Glass ! Cake dough dried fruits , spices , Glace Cherries . But still the Grass of a lowlands Meadow comes through..... | |||
| Taste - Again Liquid Christmas cake , Coats the palate beautifully , a real pleasure to have in the mouth , very pleasing....... | |||
| Finish - Long and slightly more sherried than the previous ones . Seems more Menthol on this one or is it Humbug sweets ? | |||
| Comments -Distilled 15th July 1992 , bottled 2008. My oh my (to quote Slade....) another exceptional Dram from the 1992 26xx parcel..... | |||
| Bladnoch Forum Bladnoch 18yo Cognac Finish | |||
| Year - | Age - 18yo | ABV - 53.5% | |
| Colour - Polished Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very sweet , honeyed , eventually Green fruits come through and a touch of malt . | |||
| Taste - Again very sweet , seems as though the Cognac cask has taken over the Bladnoch tastes . | |||
| Finish - Long , sweet/ honeyed . | |||
| Comments -Cask 2643 , Finished for 2 years in a Cognac Cask , 1 of 234 Bottles . Not a bad dram but......not a lot of Bladnoch left in the taste though i must say i haven’t tried Cognac so i have no idea what it tastes like . | |||
| Bladnoch 19yo | |||
| Year - | Age - 19yo | ABV - 55% | |
| Colour - Bright Gold | |||
| Nose - Very fresh on the nose , a lot of sweetness along with fresh cut meadows , also a touch of malt in the background . | |||
| Taste - Again fresh cut meadows , stewed apples , slight spices and lemon citric . | |||
| Finish - Long , citric and stewed apples . | |||
| Comments -A fantastic Bladnoch , very refreshing , ideal summer dram . | |||
I recently had an E-mail from my Friend ,the well known Whisky Bard , Robin Laing . He said he was currently writing a new book for the North British Distillery for their 175th Anniversary , apparently every 25 years they do a book about the distillery to be distributed amongst their workers , shareholders , pensioners etc . What has this to do with me ? He want's to use a tasting note of mine about the very first SMWS Grain Bottling which happens to be a North British . Chuffed to bits to be given this privilege.....even though i'll probably never seea copy of it !
The Tasting Note - "First off was the first grain bottling by the Society G1 (North British, 16yo, 61.3%). I can see why this one flew off the shelves, it’s a stunner, pale straw in colour, it had a beautiful nose of vanilla, cereal and summer meadows. On the palate it was very fresh and clean, again very grassy. Its finish was long and fruity, pity there was none left as I would have bought a bottle; it was beautifully smooth and went down very well"
Two more Bladnoch Forum Bottlings.....
| Bladnoch Forum 25yo Glen Elgin | |||
| Year - 1st Nov 1984 | Age - 25yo | ABV - 42.3% | |
| Colour - Bright Gold | |||
| Nose - Very fruity with a honey sweetness . A dusting of Confectioners sugar and light heather . | |||
| Taste - Very sweet again , the palate seems a bit weak (wishy-washy), very weak opal fruits taste . | |||
| Finish - Not very long and sweet and fruity . | |||
| Comments -Dist 1st Nov 1984 , Bott 11th March 2010 , From Hogshead No. 2850 , Bottle No.108 of 211 . An ok dram nothing startling , a bit weak imo . | |||
| Bladnoch Forum 27yo Teaninich | |||
| Year - 1st Dec 1982 | Age - 27yo | ABV - 49.2% | |
| Colour - Golden Syrup | |||
| Nose - Very sweet nose , Icing Sugar at first then Honey . A touch flowery but Green apples soon take over . There’s also a touch oakiness and vanilla. | |||
| Taste - Again very sweet on the palate at first , very peppery and also Apple pie with cinnamon . Lovely mouthfeel and maybe a hint of smoke..... . | |||
| Finish - Long , fruity (juicy opal fruits....) and sweet . | |||
| Comments -Dist 1st Dec 1982 , Bott 7th July 2010 , From Hogshead No. 7697 , Bottle No. 136 of 147 . A very nice Teaninich , very drinkable...... | |||
Recent Purchases.....
Bladnoch Forum 27yo Teaninich
More Bladnoch Forum 24yo Cambus
DTC Rare Auld 28yo Carsebridge
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