A Whiff of Peat Smoke...

March 2010

The Forty Third Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." Why ? because i can !

We march on......

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The Amrut Exclusive Launch Dinner and Tasting , Gateshead Hilton , 27th February 2010

It's not often you get to go to a Launch of a New Whisky Expression and it's even rarer that it happens this close to your home !

So last night we headed over to The Hilton Hotel for The Whisky Lounges Amrut Launch Dinner and Tasting , a pretty good place to have it i must say , we congregated in the "Windows on the Tyne" Bar . This Bar must have the best selection of malts south of the border along with the best views of the Bridges over the River Tyne . We were greeted by Eddie with a dram of the Standard Amrut (46%) , then "Mr Amrut" himself Ashik Chokalingam took us downstairs for the nights festivities . We were joined at the Tasting by Eric Winters from Gordon and Macphails (Amruts UK distributors) and Robin Winterschladen , the manager of the Wines and Spirit Department at Fenwicks Newcastle Store .

To get the Evening off Ashok showed us a short film about Amrut Distillery , showing us every aspect of the process in India from where the Crops grow to their warehousing , i think the biggest shock were the stills , never seen anything like them in Scotland . While enjoying the film we were given 3 spirit samples to try , New Make (62.5%) , a 1yo (62.5%) and a 2yo (62.6%) . I never know how to describe new make , all i ever get is fruit and malt or if peat.....peat . The 1yo had a fantastic nose , huge Vanilla and spices , very Amrut , in fact the noses on both the 1yo and 2yo were very similar , i could smell them for hours ! As i would have expected the palates of both were still very spirity but the 2yo was definitely getting there !

Ashok

Ashok then took us through 6 Amrut expressions starting off with the Standard Amrut at 46% , Consisting of Malts aged 4 to 6 years ( as most of the Amruts seem to be ) from Ex-Bourbon Casks , it was Bright Gold in Colour , all the Amruts have a lovely bright livelyness to them all natural colours , the nose was Vanilla , oaky , coffee and a very clove spiciness to it . The palate was very similar but with a nice fruitiness to it . It had a medium finish and was spicy . It was a lovely smooth , easy drinking Dram and Mels favourite of the night .

Next up was the reason for our Gathering , the New Release , The "Double Cask" ! The two casks were 180 litres each when filled at 62.5% , the end result was a total of 159 litres at bottling and the ABV had went up to 69.8% ! The bottling was filled at 46% and the out turn was 306 bottles ( 42 destined for the UK ) , it seems the Angels in Bangalore are even more Happy than those in Scotland........

Colour - A really nice sparkling Gold .

Nose - Incredibly complex nose , a lovely warm oakiness , Candied fruit (the type that go into Christmas cakes) , a hint of pepper and smoked meat . Also a hint of grass , liquorice , vanilla , if you keep putting it down and picking it up you get something different everytime . I'm almost reluctant to taste it as it's got such a lovely nose , but i will !

Palate - Lovely velvet texture to the palate , Very orangie at first , peppery , spicy , really complex again , oak and vanilla come in at the end .

Finish - Long and Orangie with spicy oak .

Comments - A Fantastic Amrut , The oldest yet released (7yo plus) , Mel remarked how "Chewy " it was on the finish , you just wanted to carry on chewing when it was gone ! She was right !

Ashok presented Gordon and Macphail with Bottle No.1 , The release date is April in the UK .

We then went onto taste 4 other Expressions......

The Standard Cask Strength - 61.9% , C Golden Syrup , N Highland Toffee , Creamy , very creamy after a while Green apples . P Very spicy , slight peatiness (thugh there's none...) Liquorice . F Medium with a sharp Pepperiness . Another excellent dram , very smooth and to damn drinkable for a CS !

The Fusion - 50% , C Bright Gold , N Dark Chocolate , Vanilla and Fudge , P Peppery , peaty and Millionaires Shortbread . F Long and Spicy , peppery , smoky Bacon . Yet another great dram !

The Peated at 46% - C Bright Gold , N Oak and Vanilla mingle with a light peatiness , almost a slight hint of apples in the background , spiced apples ? P peat , smoke , vanilla and oak . A really nice mix of all ! F Quite long with a peaty spiciness to it . An orangie citrus drifts in from somewhere at the end...... A lovely peated dram. The level is 24ppm .

The Peated at 62.7% - C Golden Syrup N Smoked Barley , Kippers , a touch of peppermint , chocolate and Creamy Coffee , P Again Peppermint , Fishermans Friend , Chocolate Digestives , very thick and chewy across the palate , F A long finish , Strong Humbugs (mint) , liquorice , oak . Well what can you say ? 4 excellent Drams !

After all that whisky there was only one thing to do.......have a Curry !

We had an indian buffet consisting of a Chicken Curry , a Vegetable Curry , Pilau Rice , Naan Bread , Mini Poppadoms , Onion Bhajis and Samosas , washed down with a Cobra Beer ! Just what we needed ! There was also a Chocolate pudding available but Mel and Myself gave that a miss.

A fantastic night was had by all , Ashok as usual was highly informative about his products and highly entertaining , one thing that tickled us was the photo he had up at the end , it had the caption " one thing you never see at a Speyside distillery" , it was a photo of a monky in the Amrut Distillery Roof trusses , A rival for Shortie perhaps ? Once again thanks to Ashok and Eddie was arranging a special night , i think we've already got a winner for this years Tasting of the year in the Spirit of Islay Awards and it's only The end of February !!!!!

Related Links......

Amrut Whisky

The Whisky Lounge

Ashok Presents Eric Winters from Gordon and Macphail with Bottle No.1 of the "Double Cask"

The New Bottling......

Back When....

A SMWS Tasting from 2002 in Newcastle

Newcastle 05-04-2002

We started off with a lowland 97.2 , a rarity in SMWS circles this one only the second cask ,a 24yo Littlemill / 48.5% / 188 bottle outturn / £50 a bottle.It was decidedly average a little on the dry side in its finish. Next up was a Speyside 36.21 ,a 13yo Benrinnes /58% / 300 / £39 , not a bad little whisky ,very nice neat chocolately/sweet. then came the Highland Pinapple(their words!) 26.19 , a 11yo Clynelish / 56% / 211 /£38 ,a great dram fruity with a hint of smoke,nearly bought this one ,2nd in the heat! The 4th one along was another Speysider , a 30.36 ,a 29yo Glenrothes /54.9% / 562 /£71 . For you sherry nuts this would have been the top dog , to me i just got the burnt toffee/caramel associated with Macallan! A bit heavy as well. Finally was a 29.24 ,a 10yo Laphroaig /58.8%/260/£41 ,people were turning this one down and asking for a dram of something from earlier ! (??!*$??) The fools , this was a full frontal from the Big L , i'll print their tasting notes to give you an idea :- "This particular sample is pale in colour with an initial nose of abandoned rained on barbecues. The taste at full strength is wonderfully warming with a finish that conjures up the outdoors-the peculiar smell-taste one experiences tramping over a bog in a wintery mist with a rich smoke of peat fires heavy in the air At this point romantics may want to shut their eyes and think of Scotland. Returning to reality , dilute your dram cautiously because over-watering will result in it taking the nose of a chemical fire in a plasticine factory-which we know some members adore. Leave for 30 minutes (patience,patience...) and you will be rewarded with a delicate fruity sherbet note just discernable through the coal tar soap with a strong , peaty finish. a bold characterful whisky" Couldn't have put it better my self!!!!

A Visit to the Vaults in 2005

The Vaults 19-02-2005

1. 1.122 1966/38yo Farclas - not a patch on the 1.110 but still a damn good whisky , couldn't get the "Black Forest gateau" of the tasting notes but got an overwhelming taste of Cola Cubes (the sweets) .
2. 45.13 1975/29yo Dallas Dhu - this was my first ever dram from this distillery and boy what a dram ! Not what i was expecting (typical Speysider) , a stunner , lots of fresh fruit and creamy , tasted like a young un rather than a 29yo . On another day i might have bought this one .
3. 44.26 1982/22yo Craigellachie - I went for this one as one of my all time Favourite Speysiders is a 1973/22yo Craigellachie RM , it didn't disappoint , wasn't up to the RM release but probably a very close second .hint of polish with smoke and very warming again on another day (and budget!) i would have bought this one .
4. 27.55 1989/15yo Springbank - Once again i can't work out what the fuss over Springbank is (got to be a cult thing !) yeah it's an ok dram but so are lots of others..... it was better (a whole lot better !) with water , quite smoky , Orangey (Citric) but not worth the money IMO.
5. 53.89 1993/11yo Caol Ila - If it wasn't for Ardbeg and the totally disappointing O.b.'s Caol Ila would be my all time favourite dram .Where do the SMWS get these casks from and what the hell does Diageo do with theirs ? Another stunning CI , bags of Germolene , hellish long smoky finish , a delight , a perfect Caol Ila !
6. 50.19 1993/11yo Bladnoch - Having tasted most of Raymondo's offerings i decided to leave this to last on ground of i thought it might be to put it mildly ,not very good ! What i mean is a might be a perfectly good Bladnoch compared to other Bladnoch bottlings but not a patch on the "Sheep" and "Coo" of Mr Armstrongs bottlings and i was right ! For some reason it was very soapy (a la Edradour) and i couldn't find anything to match the supplied tasting notes .

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