March 2007
The Eighth Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
Where is this year going to ? March already ! Not long till the Easter Break and then the Feis Ile ......
With Just a month till the launch of the Next step in the Glenmo Distilled Releases , I've Kindly being allowed to sample it prior to release . My first tasting Thoughts.....
Coming in at 54.1% , it is pale straw in colour , it is very peaty on the nose with a touch of sweetness . It is also very medicinal and nose hair tingling . At fullstrength on the palate it is again peaty but peppery and spicy . It , on first trying , doesn't seem to have the fudginess of the Still Young , the finish is long and very peaty but peppery again .
With a wee drop of water (just to see the difference ) it's characters change slightly , it becomes a bit floral ( the purifier playing it's part ?) on the nose but nothing like the Bowmore floweriness ! There is also a slight green fruit smell . The Taste goes closer to that of the ASY , almost a sweet creaminess .
My initial thoughts are that this has gone the opposite way i was expecting it to ! The Very Young was peaty , then the Still Young was creamy , i was expecting this one to be softer and creamier but it isn't , it seems to have gone back to peatiness , so a H-T-H of the 3 seems in order , More later ...... have a look here.....
Still a cracking Ardbeg , a nice peaty youngster which seems actually to be more akin with a Talisker , worth a few bottles i dare say !!!
Another SMWS tasting , another 5 drams ! Once again we returned to the Vermont Hotel (i say we , i just went along on my own to this one ) . First up was a Speysider , 44.30 , (Craigellachie , 11yo , 58.7% , 220 bottles , £36 ) bright gold in colour this was a very strange one , Grassy , Vanilla , very Lowlanderish . Sugar coated sweets when water was added , my final notes said “A Cross between a Bladnoch and a Bunnahabhain” . A Delightful dram .
Second up was a Islander but before i start i’ll point out that when i first tried a 4yo from this distillery it had promise but since then i’ve never had one that’s lived up to that promise and this was one of the worst examples ! 121.17 (Arran , 8yo , 57.8% , 253 bottles , £33 ) from a sherry cask and what seems to have been not a very good one at that ! Burnt Sugar , Burnt Nuts , Sulphur , Burnt matches , i tried drowning it but still it was awful . Another one that was added to the list of not finished drams !!8"
Third up was a Highlander , a one from the owners of the SMWS . 125.9 ( Glenmorangie , 11yo , 56% , 314 Bottles , £43 ) the first Society Glenmo i’ve tried and for anyone who associates Glenmo with Bland/Boring / etc / etc thay aint had one of these ! In big letters i wrote “Supercharged Glenmorangie” , Digestive Biscuits , toffee , very buttery on the palate , a stunning example of Glenmo ! certainly a lot better than the Arran....... I tied to buy one of these but they’d sold out , hopefully Nick can get one for me to pick up at the Vaults.......
For the next one it was back to Speyside , 7.34 (Longmorn , 37yo , 56.9% , 347 bottles , £103 ) , A huge sherry monster ! The old Christmas Cake Dried fruits , spices , oloroso dryness , very dry on the palate . A huge long dry finish . I’m not a huge sherry casked whisky fan but this one is excellent but not as good as it’s sister cask the 7.36 .
As usual for the last one it’s off to Islay , a wonderful Caol Ila (53.103 , 13yo , 60.7% , 492 bottles , £43 ) . What can you say , the society hasn’t let me down with a Caol Ila .....yet . Carbolic soap , loads of smoke , bags of peat , medicinal . Long lovely finish , perfect end to the evening . So in the end it was 4-1 to the society , shame Arran let the team down.....
R23 Mentioned on Bruichladdich site.....Kind of !
Just noticed on The Bruichladdich site that they've put on Jim Murrays tasting notes of the R23 Bloodtub .....only minus the fact that it is the R23 Bloodtub , in the Latest News and Blog page , a mention by name of the bloodtub would've been nice !
1 + 1 = 1 Green Distillery (Bruichladdich Press Release)
The Distillery Phoenix
In a move straight out of Mary Shelly’s Frankenstein two defunct distilleries are coming back from the dead to become a new living distillery on the whisky Isle of Islay.
Maverick private distiller Bruichladdich, has announced plans to build on the site of a long departed distillery in the seaside village of Port Charlotte.
The original distillery was built in 1829. Shortly after, it’s name changed to Lochindaal and in 1929 due to Prohibition it closed for ever.
Mark Reynier, CEO of Bruichladdich Distillery – itself a reborn distillery as recent as 2001 – explains the project:
“As progressive Hebridean distillers, we believe strongly in the Islay Appellation, and artisanal distilling. One set of stills was never going to be enough for us.”
“This new distillery will allow us to diversify our skills, provide new options and allow further scope for our new ideas. We rather enjoy distilling.”
The distilling equipment for the Port Charlotte project, already acquired, comes from another closed distillery.
“It was Jim’s idea. In 2003 Inverleven Distillery was to be demolished, so why not bring it to Islay? Obvious really…”
The entire single malt plant was dismantled, bolt by bolt, by a team of ten of Bruichladdich’s finest “engineers” (crofters) under Duncan McGillivray.
The machinery was shipped to the island on barges where it has been in storage ever since - with some parts used for spares.
The new full-sized Port Charlotte distillery, once re-erected within existing distillery buildings, will have a maximum capacity of 1.2m litres. This is no micro-distillery.
“We have the chance to create an entirely ‘green’ distillery, with a genuinely zero carbon footprint by using all the latest environmentally sustainable concepts.”
“The environmental movement is strong on the theory, but weak in the practice. It will be quite an engineering challenge to see what really is possible.”
In a further twist, when a distillery is built usually a decade passes before there is anything to sell. In this case when the stills run there will already be eight years’ stock in the warehouses.
The far-sighted folk at Bruichladdich have been distilling Port Charlotte whisky, a heavily peated single malt, since 2001 down the road at their own distillery.
With Diageo, the industry’s biggest player, announcing a whopping £40m plan for a new mega distillery in Speyside, some fear the dawn of an era of distilling centralisation.
Bruichladdich, with their Port Charlotte project, appear to be going in the opposite direction. Entirely true to form.
“We like to be original. Our distillery, of course, will be an altogether more modest affair.”
The First Turf will be cut on Bruichladdich open day Sunday 27th May during the Islay Whisky Festival.
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