September 2008
The Twenty Fifth Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
Autumn Blows in ......and so does my Birthday......
Just Received a nice little package.....
A really sexy Black Box , very cool
Two Nice little Minis....
A new little symbol for phenol content....
Nice Minis ! Wonder what they taste like ?
Hang on ! there's something different about the new Mini on the right....
The Blasda.......Very pale in Colour ( Chardonnay Wine) , Very fruity on the nose , Very light . Not until it's on the palate does it say Ardbeg , Very light Ardbeg peat with a touch of vanilla , lemon and Floral . Finish , gets better with every taste , not as long as the Ten or intense as the Kildalton , slightly warming . VERY easy drinking , will not be popular with the Peetheeds but it's a lot better than the Serendipity , something to drink when you're not in the mood for the full TEN hit !
The Ten......smoke , peat and very creamy on the nose . A touch Floral as well . Light on the palate at first then it kicks in , Peated Creamy Fudge ! Peat Smoke , touch chocolate , on the finish it's the same , a Peated Creamy Fudge ! Tasting against the TEN from a "Peat Pack " it , the "What if " one , is much more relaxed , not as intense but it's perfectly balanced , i'm starting to like the creaminess of the new stuff......
(What if....? is/will not be commercially available so don't ask !)
The Whisky Lounge , 5th September Tasting
Ardbeg Versus Laphroaig !
Another Whisky Lounge Tasting by our host Eddie , this time perhaps one of the best you could come up with in your mind . 6 Whiskies , 3 from Ardbeg , 3 from Laphroaig all for the bargain price of £20 , who could ask for more ! To the Battle.......
First up the Laphroaig 25yo ( 40% CF.....why ? ) I approached this with some trepidation as i was never impressed with the old 30yo , quite a reasonable nose touch sherry , iodine , smoke and damp peat (all not abundant but there....) . On the palate sweet , peat smoke , liquorice . Not a bad finish , sweet , longish but a touch woody . Definitely better than the 30yo ! My Score 7/10 - Group Score 7 1/2 out of 10 .
First of the Ardbegs was The "Lord of The Isles" (46%) , Wonderful Ardbeg Nose , Iodine , Cocoa and Coffee . On the palate pretty much the same , Ardbeg-dine , Coffee and a touch of nuts ( pine) . The finish is long and of iodine (the Ardbeg Variety !) , Wonderful stuff , nuff said . 8 1/2 - 8 1/4 .
Third Malt of the night was the Laphroaig Cairdeas (57%). After reading on other forums about this bottling i'd never bothered opening the one i bought , Mistake ! This was like Laphs of old , Pungent Peat , smoke and Weaweed on the nose . Very peaty on the palate , slightly woody but very chewy . Long on the finish with Germolene , A very good Laphroaig , i can hear my bottle calling me........ 8 - 8 1/4
The Uigeadail (54.2%) was the next Beg , Smoke dominated by Christmas Cake was what i got on the nose with a touch of spirit . The palate was Chocolate , peat spices and dried fruit with a fairly long and sherry . Not one of my favourite Ardbegs , a touch overly sherried for me . 7 1/2 - 8 1/4
The next Laphroaig was the 10yo Cask Strength (57%) , i've never really took to this one in the past but it seemed better tonight ! Germolene and Damp Peat on the Nose , Really antiseptic (germolene ) on the palate with dry peat .The one thing that spoilt this whisky was the finish , not a lot of it , nothing , very disappointing ! 7 1/2 - 8 1/4
Last of the Ardbegs.....and the night....... The Renaissance (55.9%) ! where do you start , Bags of peat on the nose , creamy Fudge , Cocoa.... More of the same on the palate with chocolate . Finish......Yes ! and it was shame i had to...... 9 3/4 - 8 1/2
Wonderful Entertaining night , Eddie was on top form , the whisky was superb and i got to meet Rob (r900p) from the forum . To the next one......
It's been a long time (since we rock and rolled.....) since we visited the Vaults , technically last year i think . So when we saw that North Sea Gas were once again playing on the Sunday Night of the August Bank Holiday , a hotel was booked ! We arrived on the lunch time to partake in the Sunday lunch , Mel went for the Beef Lunch , i went for the Lamb , Both were superb ! Both of us decided that the Summer Berry Cranachan seemed like a good idea for pudding and it was ! The first dram of the day with the lunch was 125.14 (Glenmorangie , 13yo , June 1995 , 55.9% ) , Bright Gold in Colour , Honey , fudge and Vanilla on the nose , the palate was honey with oak . The Finish was oak and long , another very good Society Glenmorangie . Once again we ran into our old friends from Islay , Louie and Sylvia , seems to be getting an annual Event !
After going to the hotel to book in and freshen up we returned to The Vaults for a night of Dramming and good musical entertainment . Had a few drams and a bite to eat ( Can recommend the Venison burger and hand cut chips ) before Willie and his wife Audrey showed up . The Drams of the night were.......
5.23 ( Auchentoshan , 8yo , June 99 , 56.8% ) - On the nose Condensed Grass infact nearly Silage , Sweet (Starbursts.....what used to be Opal Fruits) . On the palate it's very lowlanderish but spicy as well , long and hot on the finish . Not the best lowlander and definitely not a patch on Bladnoch !
84.10 ( GlenDullan , 10yo , Sept 97 , 58% ) - Grassy and floral on the nose with an icing sugar sweetness . Very sweet on the palate (Icing Sugar again ) , The finish is long , sweet with a bitter spicyness . This was a bit of an odd dram that got even sweeter with water .
76.58 ( Mortlach , 23yo , Apr 85 , 60% ) - This was the perverbial Christmas Cake on both the Nose and palate , Spices, dried fruit , vanilla . Long and Christmas Cakey on the finish as well .
33.68 ( Ardbeg , 9yo , May 98 , 57.4% ) - A very unusual Ardbeg at first , really smoky on the nose and germolene on the palate . But with the addition of water it's almost the Almost There ! A very nice Ardbeg .
76.57 ( Mortlach , 8yo , June 99 , 60.2% ) - The second Mortlach of the night and it came highly recommended . Very Citric , almost a lowlander . After this i stopped taking notes so this is all from memory.....
29.67 ( Laphroaig , 16yo , Oct 91 , 53.5% ) - A very different Laphroaig for me , from a sherry cask (can't remember ever having one....) , not at all medicinal , a wee drop of smoke and a touch rubber but not enough to spoil it , very nice !
104.10 ( Glencraig , 33yo , June 74 , 45% ) - Another Cracking Glencraig , very similar to the previous ones i've tried , smooth as anything , vanilla , fresh fruit , touch spicy . I do like Glencraig , none of the ones i've had from the society have been below very good !
59.37 ( Teaninich , 24yo , Nov 83 , 55.8% ) - We had a laugh with this one , trying to pick out the elements from the official tasting notes and not getting any of them ! Can't remember anything about the malt itself but i wasn't very impressed with it !
50.31 ( Bladnoch , 15yo , Oct 92 , 56.2% ) - I've never had a really good society Bladnoch and this carried the tradition on , ok it was lemony , grassy , fruity but it wasn't a patch on Raymondos own bottlings !
10.61 ( Bunnahabhain , 10yo , Apr 97 , 57.1% ) - Bit of a rarity on the Society front , but a good rarity , lots of sherry but the Bunnie characteristics shine through , malt , butterscotch , confectioners sugar .
The band , as usual , were superb , mixing in a few new songs with old favourites . It was nice to meet Audrey and as ever it was good to spend a bit of time in Willies company . Another good night in The Vaults !
A Peat Proposal....or Peat , where did you dig him up ?
With the recent Release of the new Bruichladdich "Peat" it's about time to do a H-T-H with 2 of the previous releases . There have been 3 but i've only got two open , The original "The Peat Proposal"and the 3D3 " The Norrie Campbell Tribute Bottle" .
The PP is Golden Syrup in colour , the other two are Burnished Copper (Sherry Casks in the case of the NCTB ) . The nose on the PP is Very Smoky , sweet peat , touch Vanilla and Apples . The NCTB is smoke at first then Citrus (Lemon) , then the Peat . The Peat has An unusual peat on the nose , mossy , also the Laddie fruit (gooseberries , apples....) .
Getting to the Palate , the PP has Peat ! The Peat seems to mask everything else bar a slight honey sweetness . The NCTB has Huge peat mouthfeel , touch sherry , very hot on the palate , probably the young Octomore coming through . The palate of the Peat is like taking a deep breathe of peat smoke while standing over a peat fire or possibly what it would be like to drink a glass of water with ashes mixed in it !
On the Finish the PP is Quite Long and Sweet , The NCTB is Long and Smouldering ! The Peat has a long and peaty finish . Conclusion - The "Peat" is the best balanced , the NCTB has the biggest bang for the bucks and the Peat Proposal is the mildest . All have an unusual quality compared to the South Shore Peat Monsters .
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