March 2009
The Thirty-First Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
Spring is about to Sprung ......
I have a Great liking of this Speyside distillery , mainly due to some excellent Society Bottlings , This is a chance to put some others to the test , 2 Distillery releases and 2 Independents.....
The Distillery H-T-H.......
| 15yo | |||
| Year - | Age - 15yo | ABV - 45% | |
| Colour - Copper . | |||
| Nose - Apples , Lemon , Wet Moss , Biscuit . | |||
| Taste - Very Smooth , Fudge , Citrus and a slight Chocolate late on . | |||
| Finish - Longish , Spicy and Biscuity and Toffee . | |||
| Comments - A very good , Longmorn , well balanced , glides over the Tongue . | |||
Vs
| 16yo | |||
| Year - | Age - 16yo | ABV - 48% | |
| Colour - Golden Syrup . | |||
| Nose - Honey , Digestive Biscuits , Malty . | |||
| Taste - Honey , Very Chocolatey , Very Smooth and Spicy . | |||
| Finish - Very long , Chocolate and Spicy . | |||
| Comments - Absolutely fantastic ! Well balanced and a beautiful Finish . | |||
The Result......I'm afraid i'm going to fly in the face of everyone else and say the 16yo is the better one , definitely has more oomph ! But the 15yo is still a very good Longmorn !
The Independents H-T-H.....
| Berrys Own Selection 1996 | |||
| Year - 1996 | Age - 11 or 12 yo | ABV - 56.7% | |
| Colour - Chardonnay Wine . | |||
| Nose - Again Lemon , Slight Sherriness , Wet Moss , honey and Malt . | |||
| Taste - Very sweet , Spicy , Fresh Green Apples , Biscuity . | |||
| Finish - Long , warming and slightly Spicy . Also a touch of Green fruits . | |||
| Comments - Bottled 1996 . Another fantastic Berrys Bottling , a Really nice , young Longmorn , very refreshing . | |||
Vs
| Bladnoch Forum 11yo | |||
| Year - 1997 | Age - 11yo | ABV -60.2% | |
| Colour - Chardonnay Wine . | |||
| Nose - Very Strong on the Nose , Honey and Lemon , Digestive Biscuits , very fresh. | |||
| Taste - Very Fresh , Green Apples and Spices ( Apple Strudel ? ) , Coats the palate wonderfully . | |||
| Finish - Long , warming and Spicy . Slight Toffee and Chocolate . | |||
| Comments - From Hogshead 163304 , Distilled 25th Nov 1997 , Bottled 8th Jan 2009 , Number 55 of 200 . Another great Bladnoch Forum Bottling and yet another wonderful Longmorn . | |||
The Result.....Nearly a Dead heat but i think the Bladnoch would just shade it on a re-count !
A Week-end in Edinbugh usually means just one thing , A week-end in The Vaults ! So timed to co-incide with the First Friday released we headed up to Auld Reekie , unfortunately for us this months releases were only 6 ! So at least i got to try the entire list in one sitting then could fall back on the older bottlings from previous lists . After booking into the Premier Inn we decided just to eat at the Brewers Fayre next to the hotel , i can thoroughly recommend their Thai Red Curry , on par with the Port Charlotte Hotels one ! Also decided to give Jack Daniels a try , it went down very well with the Curry ! so onto the Friday night Whisky......
| 50.38 | |||
| Year - Oct 1992 | Age - 16yo | ABV - 54.4% | |
| Colour - Pale Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very Fresh , green grass and Lemon Sherbet . | |||
| Taste - Very clean on the palate , a bit of Vanilla and Slightly spicy and peppery . | |||
| Finish - Long , warming and slightly Spicy , also Lemony . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 292 . Distilled Oct 1992. One of the nicest Society Bladnoch s i've had , Extremely Drammable but still not a patch on the wonderful 1992 sherry cask one's Raymond puts out . | |||
| 63.22 | |||
| Year - Dec 1989 | Age - 18yo | ABV - 53.8% | |
| Colour - Orangy-Gold . | |||
| Nose - Orange with a dollop of Chocolate , also a bit of Vanilla . | |||
| Taste - Another one that is Very Chocolate Orange but this one has Tobacco as well . | |||
| Finish - Long and Orangey . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Barrel, 1 of 205 . Distilled Dec 1989. A n excellent Glentauchers , very much like the 125.18 . As soon as we'd bumped into Dean the Barman he said i'd like this one.....A bottle was purchased..... | |||
| 27.73 | |||
| Year - May 1996 | Age - 12yo | ABV - 55.5 % | |
| Colour - Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very Sweet (Confectioners Sugar) , Fruity and Turkish Delight . | |||
| Taste - A cross between School Jam Roly-Poly & Custard and Bakewell Tart ! . | |||
| Finish - Long , Sweet and Jammy . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 228 . Distilled May 1996 . A bit of a different Springbank in my opinion . Still not my thing though..... | |||
| 4.131 | |||
| Year - Nov 1988 | Age - 20yo | ABV - 60% | |
| Colour - Amber / Light Mahogany . | |||
| Nose - Quite a strong Nose....Furniture Polish , Acetate , Peppery and Dried Fruits . | |||
| Taste - The Perverbial Fruit cake / Christmas Cake but a smoky one. | |||
| Finish - Long , Warming and Christmas Cake . | |||
| Comments - From a Sherry Butt , 1 of 542 . Distilled Nov 1988 . An Extremely well balanced , sherried , Highland Park . One of the few Sherried whiskies i tried this week-end with no nastiness to it . | |||
| 10.66 | |||
| Year - Aug 1997 | Age - 11yo | ABV - 57% | |
| Colour - Pale Gold . | |||
| Nose - Slightly Perfumed at first , then Smoky Bacon (Crisps Mel added...) Slightly sweet note as well . | |||
| Taste - Bags of Smoke and Iodine , again Smoky Bacon . A sweetness seems to come through as well . | |||
| Finish - A Longish , Sweet , Peaty Finish . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 289 . Distilled Aug 1997. An Unusual Bunnahabhain even for a peated one . Extremely nice , came close to buying a bottle..... | |||
| 78.38 | |||
| Year - Dec 1997 | Age - 10yo | ABV - 58.7% | |
| Colour - Amber . | |||
| Nose - Sulphur /Stink Bomb at First , then a wee touch of Christmas Cake . Unfortunately the first nose dominates.... . | |||
| Taste - All the worst of a sherry cask , Sulphur , Burn't matches , Burnt cinder Toffee etc etc . | |||
| Finish - Long and Sulphury . | |||
| Comments - From a Sherry Gorda, 1 of 786 . Distilled June 1995 . Another Awful Gorda cask , i wish they would give up on them , i have ! | |||
| Mystery Dram | |||
| Year - ? | Age - ? | ABV - ?% | |
| Colour - Pale Gold . | |||
| Nose - Loads of Acetate at first , Slight sherry , Smoked Mackerel (Oak Smokiness) . | |||
| Taste - Bubble Gum at first , Apples (Appletizer) , very Tarte . | |||
| Finish - Medium , Again Apple Tarteness( Not Apple Tart !) . | |||
| Comments - This was thrust in my hand by Nick the Venue Assistant Manager , wanted to know my opinion of it . Was very surprised when he said it was 9 month old Peated New Make from St Georges in Norfolk , didn't think it was peated..... | |||
| 52.18 | |||
| Year - June 2001 | Age - 7yo | ABV - 66.3% | |
| Colour - Pale Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very Fresh on the palate , Maritimey and Stewed Fruits . | |||
| Taste - Again Very Fresh and Fruity on the palate . Also very citric (Lemon and Limes) . | |||
| Finish - Very Long , Cirtusy and Spicy . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Barrel , 1 of 228 . Distilled June 2001 . I wouldn't have noticed this one if it wasn't for Steve behind the bar , Cheers Mate , the lesson is these guys know their stuff don't be afraid to ask their advice , My first Society Old Pulteney , Dangerously Drinkable for 66%+ . | |||
| G6.1 | |||
| Year - 1980 | Age - 28yo | ABV - 51.9% | |
| Colour - Pale Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very Spicy with Vanilla . | |||
| Taste - Again Very Spicy and Vanilla but sweet . | |||
| Finish - Long , Spicy and Vanilla . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 223 . Another Superb old Grain this time from Port Dundas , Extremely Drinkable . | |||
An Extremely Enjoyable night in The Vaults , lots of very good drams ! So onto Saturday......
After a bit of a lie in we headed back to the Vaults for Lunch , can't get too much of a good thing , especially when it's a Venison and Beef Burger ! Needless to say a few drams were enjoyed......
| 7.46 | |||
| Year - Oct 1984 | Age - 23yo | ABV - 57.8% | |
| Colour - Bright Gold . | |||
| Nose - Pine Needles , Essence of Orange and a touch of Chocolate . | |||
| Taste - Quite Strong on the Palate for it's age , again Orange and Cola Cubes . | |||
| Finish - Long , Warming , slight Acetate and Citric . | |||
| Comments - 1 of 215 . Distilled Oct 1984 . Another good Longmorn but not as good as........ | |||
| 7.51 | |||
| Year - Oct 1984 | Age - 24yo | ABV - 57.4% | |
| Colour - Polished Gold . | |||
| Nose - Ripe Bananas , Sweet Pastry and Green fruits . After a while Chocolate and Orange Comes flooding Through . | |||
| Taste - Wow ! Another Terrys Chocolate Orange Whisky ! Chocolate and Orange but with a Citric Tarteness .. | |||
| Finish - Long and Cocoa but with a Lemon zing that hit's you at the right spot ! . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 184 . Distilled Oct 1984. Wow another superb Longmorn , a one now sits on my shelf...... | |||
| 35.26 | |||
| Year - March 1998 | Age - 10yo | ABV - 58.8% | |
| Colour - Polished Gold . | |||
| Nose - A real Buttery Pastry Nose , eventually Apples and Spiciness comes Through as well . | |||
| Taste - Apple strudel on the palate, with Custard and Currants. | |||
| Finish - A very long finish , Spicy , spicy and spicy !. | |||
| Comments - From a 1st fill Barrel , 1 of 217 . Distilled March 1998. Another high class Society Glen Moray , they've definitely changed my opinion on this distillery . | |||
Also returned to 63.22 just to make sure i wasn't dreaming last night.....Luckily i wasn't !
After a freshen up and change of clothes at the Hotel , we started off the Saturday Evening catching up with Stuart Thomson over some food and drink at the Waterline on Shore street .He had to head off home so didn't come up to The Vaults with us . Thankfully he didn't witness the bad start to the Evening.....
| 66.28 | |||
| Year - March 1998 | Age - 10yo | ABV - 58.7% | |
| Colour - Amber . | |||
| Nose - Lots of Smoke , Sulphur . Water Deadened the sulphur a little bit and brought forth the smoke a bit . | |||
| Taste - Burnt Marmalade and Cinder toffee , sulphur . Water done nothing for the palate . | |||
| Finish - Long and Sulphury ! | |||
| Comments - From a Sherry Butt , 1 of 803 . Distilled March 1998 . I did originally write this is probably the worst Ardmore i've ever had , but i think it's safe to say this is the worst....... | |||
Things did improve Rapidly !
| 53.127 | |||
| Year - Dec 1989 | Age - 18yo | ABV - 55.9% | |
| Colour - Gold . | |||
| Nose - Huge Medicinal and smoke Nose ! then wood ( Pine Forest ?) . | |||
| Taste - Really peaty and Medicinal . Adding water made this one really explode on the palate . | |||
| Finish - Long , Very Peaty , Smoky as well . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 281 . Distilled Dec 1989 . Now this is more like it ! A really good example of a Coal Ila , shame the 18yo O.B. isn't as good . | |||
| 105.2 | |||
| Year - Jan 1980 | Age - 16yo | ABV - 61.7% | |
| Colour - Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very Sweet , Chocolate , Coffee and Citric (Orange) . | |||
| Taste - Confectioners Sugar and Orange Sherbet . | |||
| Finish - Long Sweet and warming . | |||
| Comments - Distilled Jan 1980 , Bottled Sept 1996 . I was surprised by this one , not just taste wise but it still been on the shelf ! I was going to try the Brora that was on the shelf as well but it was one i'd had and it was £11 a pop ! So the kind Barman pointed me in this ones direction , thanks again ! Haven't had that many Tormores but this one was really nice ! | |||
| 77.16 | |||
| Year - Aug 1987 | Age - 21yo | ABV - 55.8% | |
| Colour - Light Gold . | |||
| Nose - Very Closed nose at first but then Puff Pastry , Confectioners Sugar . With a drop of water it became quite Lemony. | |||
| Taste - Very hot on the palate and sweet . Again became quite Citrusy with water . | |||
| Finish - Not too long but very spicy and peppery . | |||
| Comments - From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 275 . Distilled Aug 1987. Decent enough Glen Ord , very hot on the palate but water seems to calm it down . | |||
At this point we were joined by Willie and his wife Audrey , we had a few more drams but i didn't take proper notes , we had a few that i'd already visited ( 7.51 , 52.18 , 50.38 and 63.22 , Willie seemed to really enjoy them !) and we also had 36.39 (a really Sulphury Benrinnes) and 1.143 ( another really good Society Glenfarclas ) . We had a really good night with great Craic .
On the whole a fantastic set of Drams over the week-end and 3 excellent bottles added to the shelf !
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