September 2009
The Thirty-Seventh Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
Autumn arrives and lots of tastings ......
This month saw the release of Kilchomans First Whisky (They had released New Spirit previously...) , a 3yo which has matured for 3 years in Bourbon Barrels then finished for 5 months in Oloroso Sherry Butts
I wasn't going to bother buying one seeing it flew of the shelves in the UK but seeing it was my birthday and i needed to see what it was like to get whisky Delivered from La Maison Du Whisky i went for one from them......
The Packaging is very Swish , the blue box with the gold stands out very well . So to the Whisky....... Colour - Ripe Straw . Nose - Very young smelling , smoke , a touch of peat , green fruits , Lemon and a hint of humbugs (Sherry Casks ?) . Not as peaty as i was expecting and still quite immature on the nose given all the comments elsewhere on the web about how mature it was . Palate - Again quite immature , more peaty than the nose , Creamy chewy toffee and a touch of lemon again . Finish - Very long , peat , a tad toffee and right at the end a citric kick . Comment - Must say a tad disappointing after the right ups on the web , still drinkable but needs a few more years , will be interesting to see what it's like in another 3 years and compare it to the great Very Young Ardbegs . So how does it compare to the Anticipation ?
The 2yo New Make is slightly lighter in Colour , the nose seems more complex on the Anticipation but does have a bit more of a nip due to the higher ABV and seems peatier . Both are Pretty much the same on the palate except the 2yo does show it's youth more , And the finish is more youthful on the 2yo . Trying the 3yo next to the 2yo does make it seem more mature . Which do i prefer ? On First tasting together , The Anticipation !
Usually when you hear them words it's late at night after a session on the beer and it involves a trip to the local Curry House ! This time though it's about a Single Malt Whisky from that very Country ......
On Friday 4th September i attended one of Eddies Whisky Lounge Tasting , this one was Indian Versus Scotland , or to be a bit more precise Amrut Vs Scotland . I can't put the report up about the tasting yet as Eddies got another two to do and i don't want to give away what's on it , so return later in the year for a write up ! BTW of the two whiskies tasted here one is in the tasting and one is not , so that shouldn't spoil anything......
At the tasting was Amruts Global Brand Ambassador , Ashok Chokalingam , a thoroughly nice bloke , who gave us an insight into the world of Amrut . The distillery is in Bangalore , the Garden City of India at 3,000ft above sea level . It was opened in 1948 , the year after independence , it didn't start life as a Malt distillery , that didn't come till much later , it has 4 stills (2 wash , 2 spirit) with a capacity of 5,000 litres . The Barley for their Unpeated Malt is sourced from the North of India (at the feet of the Himalayas...) , The Peated Malt (at 24ppm) is fetched in from Scotland (Inverness) as they don't have the facilities to do the peating on site . They use a mixture of Old and New American Oak Barrels to mature their stock in , they never use larger Casks than Barrels . They are matured in Rack Warehousing where the "Angels Share" runs at an average of 12% per year (up to 16% at the top of the rack and over 10% at the bottom ) , this is due to the extremely high tempeature differences during the year , very cold in the winter , very hot in the summer ! The oldest cask they have in the warehouses is just over 6yo , The malts are actually bottled younger than this but one of the posive outcomes of the high temperature is that the malt Matures very fast ! Ashok gave me a try of a Cask sample where the ABV had went up from 63.5% filling strength to 68.9% ! I'm not going to even think about that one......
So to the Whiskies , i bought 2 at the tasting and here are my thoughts on them.....
| Fusion | |||
| Year - | Age - | ABV - 50%? | |
| Colour - Golden Syrup . | |||
| Nose - A light Fishermans Friend at first , then Vanilla , oak and peat . a very nice clean nose , not over-powering and very pleasant ! | |||
| Taste - Really oily on the palate , again Fishermans Friends , also Liquorice , salt , spices and oak . | |||
| Finish - Long , seashore , peat , liquorice and Vanilla . | |||
| Comments - Batch No.01 , Bottled March 2009 . A "Fusion" of Unpeated Whisky made from Barley from India and Peated Malted Barley from Scotland . Matured seperately then married for bottling . An outstanding malt for a one of such a young age , this can stand up against anything from Scotland ! (Glass - SMWS Tasting Glass) | |||
| Peated Cask Strength | |||
| Year - | Age - | ABV - 62.78% | |
| Colour - Golden Syrup | |||
| Nose - Smoked Barley , Kippers , a touch of peppermint , chocolate and Creamy Coffee . | |||
| Taste - Again Peppermint , Fishermans Friend , Chocolate Digestives , very thick and chewy across the palate . | |||
| Finish - An incredbile , long finish , Strong Humbugs (mint) , liquorice , oak . Goes on and on and on...... | |||
| Comments - Batch No. 01 , Bottled 29/04/2008 . At over 62 % it should be overbearing but it ain't ! Again i'd put this up against any Scottish malt , an unbelievable Dram for such a youngster ! (Glass - SMWS Tasting Glass) | |||
If you haven't tried these malts , give them a go ! More information can be found at Amrut Distillery...... Oh and the Head distribution office outside of India is in Newcastle Upon Tyne !
SMWS September Preview Tasting , Durham 28th August
Myself and Mel headed down to Ol' Durham Town for a preview tasting of the new SMWS list at Oldfields Restaurant with Society Ambassador John Kirk and his Wife Sharon . The venue was a new one for the Durham tasting and very nice it was too ! It was in the Upstairs room of Oldfields in what turned out to be the Old Board Room of the Durham Gas Company .
As usual there were Five drams off the next "First Friday" list plus a surprise dram and a lovely meal on offer .
First of the night was a 5.25 (Auchentoshan , 9yo , 57.8% , Outturn 206 , £38) , this was pale Lemon Cordial in colour , at first the nose was heavy on the Nail varnish , then Apples , cut grass and a touch of tobacco , it definitely tingled the nasal hairs . The palate was Apple Juice a tad sweet and a touch peppery , it was also a tad feinty .The finish was Long and apple juice . A very young tasting Auchie , still prefer the other lowlanders to this one .
Second up was a 125.19 (Glenmorangie , 13yo , 56.3% , Outturn 244 , £52 ) , Polished Gold in Colour , on the nose it was Vanilla , spices and toffee . The palate was again toffee , vanilla and spices but there was also chocolate . The finish was Long , vanilla and Danish Liquorice ( We wouldn't have known this if it wasn't for Ulla kindly giving us some when we met on islay !) . Another great Glenmo from the society , although no cask detail was given this bore a remarkable resemblence to the Astar , which was New Oak . Mel thoroughly enjoyed this one .
We had a slight break here for food , it was Mr Hirst’s Braised Shin of Beef which just melted in your mouth , served with New Potatoes , Clapshot , Braised Cabbage and a portion of Chips . It was a superb meal , hit the spo between the drams !
Number Three Dram was a 123.3 ( Glengoyne , 8yo , 59.5% , Outturn 792 , £37 ) , a very weird rose pink colour , if John hadn't of said it was from a sherry cask i would have put money on it was from a port pipe. On the nose it was loaded with Red fruits , a touch of smoke , a kind of toffee which at first i couldn't put my finger on but later on when someone said Cinder Toffee i knew that was it . On the Palate i got Strawberries , punnets of them ! Also Toffee and cherries . The finish was Long and red fruits . Mel thought the finish was like Topical anesthetic spray at the dentists , well she should know ! A very unusual Whisky but not really my thing .
Fourth up was 7.50 ( Longmorn , 24yo , 58.8% , Outturn 219 , £66 ) , probably my favourite Speyside distillery, Bright Gold in Colour , this was a classic Longmorn in my opinion .Vanilla , spices and a touch of honey on the nose . The palate was again Vanilla with cherries , stewed apples and cinnamon , almost like an apple pie . The finish was long and spicy and went on and on and on.... Another incredible Longmorn , the best of the night for me and it hit the spot with Mel as well .
Last official dram was a 29.76 ( Laphroaig , 18yo , 51.3% , Outturn 306 , £63 ) , by this time i had 2 on my wanted list and thought this one might be added as well . Gold in colour , all through the notes i wrote down for this one , one word kept re-occuring in big letters.....KIPPERS ! The nose was smoky bacon crisps , KIPPERS , and erasers , it was incredibly smoky . The palate......KIPPERS , smoky . The finish long smoky and KIPPERS ! An unusual Laphroaig in my opinion loaded with......well you work it out.......Even Mel wrote down Kippers , very intense smoky nose , finish very smoky too with a taste of the Malted Barley on a distillery tour . Now if this had been very medicinal like the last 18yo Society Laphroaig i had , i would have bought one but it wasn't so i didn't !
During the evening i had a 15yo Caol Ila , 53.111 , thrust into my hand ! This was very medicinalon the nose with seashore and Carbolic soap . the Palate was your typical Caol Ila , Medicinal as was the finish . A very nice dram !
We had a cracking night and went back to our hotel in a very happy state , it was a very good tasting again well hosted by John and Sharon , thanks again ! The spoils ? Came away with one of the Glenmorangies and went to two of the Longmorns ! Well it would have been rude not to........
Ardbeg Corryvreckan , Standard release
As far as i know all details of this was supposed to be announced later in this month but Tims Blog has tasting notes on it now (very good they are too Tim !) and there's a trailer for it on the Ardbeg Site . I've had a try of this and it's a very good whisky but i don't think i'll be buying a bottle of it to try it against the Committee for one reason.......
They are taking the Michael with the price ! £70 a bottle RRP , £35 more than the Committee one !!! Now i expected a little more on the committee price like the Supernova but £35 ! Someone at MHUK is having a laugh as far as i'm concerned , i don't know what's behind the price , whether they are looking for a new customer base as one poster on the site forum has suggested , or something else , but i know a few people are already upset by the hike in price and i think a few more will be .
If it's coming to the point of having to pay a hefty premium for my Beloved Ardbeg i won't be buying anymore , luckily i have a good stock built up in the cupboard to use !
Edit : The distillery RRP has been dropped to £59.99 , so hopefully the Whisky Merchants will come in under that !
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