A Whiff of Peat Smoke...

August 2009

The Thirty-Sixth Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !

Islay once again beckons......

Well not quite to the day , it was this month a quarter of a century ago that two significant events happened to me , my first holiday in Scotland and my first ever tasting of a Single Malt Scotch Whisky ! Both involved a friend of the time , Dave Embelton , he suggested going camping as we didn't have any Holidays planned and i happened to have inherited camping equipment from the breakup of a relationship . He also introduced me to the delights of SMSW , which i'd never heard of but i was acquainted with Blends after having to suffer them in various Hot Toddies from well meaning parents !

Our first stop on the camping trip was in the field next to the original Clachaig Inn (not the Swiss Chalet type thing that's there now) , After several pints of McEwans IPA ( a regular drink on this trip as it turned out ) he asked me if i wanted to try a SMSW , giving him the excuse that i hated whisky due to the aforementioned Hot Toddies , he assured me that this was different , so he got me a 10yo Macallan and i liked it ! Needless to say a few more drams were quaffed on the way through Applecross , Portree and Ullapool , we had a particularly heavy session in "The Inn" at Applecross that involved 8 pints of IPA with whisky chasers and i think one of the best nights sleep i've ever had in a tent ! The Best dram of that trip was a Macallan 18yo (Distilled 1965 ?) in The Ferry Boat Inn in Ullapool , i wasn't going to get one of these as Dave had spotted it behind the bar and the barman said " there's only enough for one dram....." So Dave thought Bugger him i'm having it but the Barman continued " .....I'll get the other bottle !" Dave came back a bit of a jibberish wreck muttering "They've got 2 bottles of the 18yo !"

Many a malt has been drunk since then !

SMWS Summer Preview Tasting , Newcastle 24th July

The First SMWS tasting in Newcastle for 6 months , once again it was in the Northern Counties Club and hosted by local Society Ambassador John Kirk . 5 Cask Strength Society Drams , a meal and a few surprises !

The drams in tonights tastings are from the August List and had been chosen for their summer taste .

First up was a 77.17 (Glen Ord , 9yo , 53.6% , Outturn 194 , £38) , From a Bourbon Cask this was pale gold in colour , On the nose very sweet (Confectioners Sugar) , Fresh Meadows and Citrus . The palate was Sweet Grapefuit very Citric and Lockets (Honey/Lemon Cold sweets) .The finish was Long and sweet . All i can say about this dram was it was very Sweet ! Not at all Glen Ordish in my opinion

Second along was a 121.28 (Arran , 11yo , 53.3% , Outturn 533 , £41 ) , I have a problem with Arran , I've never had would i would class a a good Arran , never said to myself , i must dash off and buy this Arran and it wouldn't change tonight ! Polished Gold in Colour on the nose it was Apple Pie and Custard , Cinnamon and Candied fruit . The palate was Sweet Toffee pudding but when water was added sherry appeared . The finish was medium , fruit Cake with a touch of mint . As i said nothing to write home about and make you buy one .

At this point we were served a very nice Roast Chicken Dinner , very nice it was too with plenty of seasonal Vegetables . After the meal i had a surprise dram thrust into my hands , the only peated one of the night , which i sampled throughout the evening , more at the end.....

Number Three was the best of the night , unfortunately the small supplies they had of it sold out before we got to taste it . It was a 64.19 ( Mannochmore , 8yo , 61.5% , Outturn 238 , £36 ) , From a Bourbon barrel it was Bright Gold in Colour . On the nose it was another sweet dram , Toffee , Caramel , biscuit , and with water Eucalyptus . On the Palate it tasted exactly like Millionaire Shortbread ! The finish was Long and sweet , Banoffee Pie . This one really surprised me as all the Mannochmores i've tried have been awful , it was excellent ! Ican see this one flying off the shelves when it's released .

Fourth up was one of my Favourite Non-Islay Distilleries , 7.52 ( Longmorn , 18yo , 56.4% , Outturn 257 , £57 ) , Pale Gold in Colour this was was a bit removed from the previous Society Longmorn , 7.51 , Slight Perfume on the nose with Edinburgh Rock , ginger and candy . The palate was peppery , again sweet and light perfume (not of a certain Islay variety !) . The finish was long and sweet . Definitely not as good as the 7.51 but a bottle was purchased as i love Longmorn.

Last official dram was a 4.133 ( Highland Park , 13yo , 55.3% , Outturn 235 , £50 ) , This was not your standard Highland Park , infact i thought it was very disappointing ! Pale Gold in colour , it carried on the theme of the night at being very sweet , on the nose was vanilla , honey and Confectioners sugar , it was very spicy on the palate with that carrying through to the finish which was also long .

I had another Mannachmore given to me at this point , it would have been rude to say no....and it was definitely the best of the night !

So back to the surprise dram , it was an American Society bottling 29.64 ( 18yo Laphroaig ) , now i've had some weird and wonderful drams in my 25 years of drinking Malts but i've never had anything like this one . From a sherry cask , at the start it was really sherried and medicinal on the nose , a lovely mixture of the two , Christmas cake and spices as well . On the palate it was pretty much the same with a long , medicinal finish . Now i've had Sherry bottlings that start Sulphury and it gradually dissipates but i've never had one that starts out as a perfect example of sherry and spirit but then as the night goes on it gets incredibly sulphury ! Weird ! shame as it started out a great dram.....

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