Christmas 2008
The Twenty Eighth Edition of "A Whiff of Peat Smoke...." , Why ? because i can !
Tis the season to be jolly ......
Once again another year is almost over and it's time to give our thoughts on the years happening and hand out plaudits for the best and that's all this years winners will get or a cheap certificate done on the printer if they desire.....we're in a recession you know !
This year the Committee didn't sit in the Bar of the Port Charlotte Hotel (Shame !) nor did we beg for samples , all the whiskies were either bought by the bottle , Dram at a bar or tried at a tasting . This year we are introducing a few awards for non-Islay things just to prove there are stuff we do away from gods own little Isle . So to the awards........
Best Islay Distillery Bottling of the Year - There seems to have been a slight lack of new bottles from a majority of the Islay distilleries , luckily our good friends at Ardbeg and Bruichladdich haven't let us down ! If you take most of the Festival Bottles out of the equation ( Lagavulin , Bowmore , Bunnahabhain , Port Ellen ) Basically it comes down Ardie and Laddie . The Candidates are ,From Ardbeg , The Renaissance , The New Ten , The Blasda and The Corryvreckan oh and the 2008 Beist..... From Laddie The 1998 Sherry Edition Manzanilla , The 1998 Sherry Edition Oloroso , The 21yo , "Peat" , From Laphroaig The Cairdeas . I was pleasantly surprised by the Cairdeas after a lot of negative reports about the net , The two Laddie Sherry Editions were fantastic , really nice to have them on the shelves . The 4 Ardbegs were all Classics but one of them stood head and shoulders above the rest , The Renaissance is the SOI Winner ! Really outstanding ! The first 10yo from Glenmo's own distillation , at Cask Strength and tasting the best an Ardbeg 10yo has ever tasted .
Best Islay Independent Bottling - Once again a barn full of releases to choose from ! The SMWS hasn't let us down with their releases , 10.61 , 29.67 , 33.64 , 33.67 , 33.68 , 53.124 . This year i've discovered the delights of Berrys own Selection , A great 1982 Caol Ila and a superb Laphroaig . A close second in this section is a Dewar Rattray Bunnahabhain 31yo release , an outstanding release at a very good price . But for the second year in a row Sukhinders 1979 Bunnahabhain SMOS release takes it , this time at 29 years old . I didn't think he'd be able to pass last years 28yo offering but he did ! Classic old Bunnie again at a wonderfully affordable price !
Best Non-Islay Distillery Bottling of the Year - A new part of the awards , i don't normally try many non islay O.b.'s but i seem to have had a few this year , the main one that spring to mind is the Glenmorangie Astar , a wonderful Glenmo , a different class to the Original but my winner comes from one of the distant outposts of the Scotch Whisky World...... Bladnoch ! Raymondo has released 4 1992 Sherry casks this year , all stunning but the original one i tried takes it , Bladnoch 1992 Cask 2615 is this years Winner !
Best Non-Islay Independent Bottling - Another new section for this year given all the ones i get to try at tastings , as with the Islays i've had some great ones from the Society ( 24.101 , 35.22 , 37.33 , 77.14 , all 125s to name a few ) , Also a tasting full of Berrys ( see report !) but it's to the Society i give this years Award , 125.12 ! A 12yo joy of a bottle , Glenmo single cask and at Cask Strength is something else !
Event of the Year (outside a normal tour) - This is one of the first years i've missed the Whisky Fringe , so that's out of the reckoning . So it's down to what happened at the festival , the 4 events i attended are all pretty close , Lagavulin Warehouse Tour , Jims Masterclass , Mickeys Managers tour and Johns Maturation Tour but i think Johns sense of humour shades it ! Mr Maclellan puts his heart and soul into his Maturation and Warehouse tour , always a joy to behold and superb whisky on offer . So John's Tour takes this award !
Best Meal on Islay - As most know there are a load of good places to eat on Islay , but this years winner ( by a mile ! ) is the newest one , Paul and Joan Grahams 'an-taigh-osda' , to pick out one part of the meal would be unfair , it was all of the highest quality in superb surroundings .
Islay Distillery of the year - This year i'm choosing Ardbeg simply because of the quality of this years releases ! But can they repeat it next year ?
Best Non Bottled Cask Sample - Leaving out the Geordie Laddies PC one ( i was gobsmacked by it....) , it boils down to ones again tried at the festival . Jims secret stash of Laddie aced 18yo , 3 Lagas (2000 8yo , 1993 15yo , 1966 42yo ) , Bunnahabhain 2002 6yo Oloroso cask and 1971 37yo and from Ardbeg a 10yo Oloroso Cask and 1975 cask ! A really tough one , so many good casks but there has to be a winner......so......it's the Bunnahbain 1971 37yo !
Best Tasting of the Year - Usually it would be either a SMWS tasting in Newcastle or one of the tastings at the Feis Ile but this year there's a new kid on the Block , Drum roll for The Whisky Lounge Tastings ! A dead heat for two of Eddie Ludlows tastings , The Ardbeg Vs Laphroaig one and the recent Berry Bros and Rudd one . It's good to have a monthly tasting local and at exceptional value for money , very informative and great fun !
Most disappointing thing of the year - Two things really disappointed me this year . First off the price of the Bunnahabhain Festival bottling , BSD Marketing , in my opinion , really messed this up and missed the whole point of the bottle . £219 for a 21yo was excessive regardless of what "Market Forces" say thay can get for it , visitors have usually spent a lot of money to get to the festival and don't want to spend a fortune on a keepsake of the event . The other disappointment is the recently delivered Octomore Futures , don't get me wrong it's a decent enough whisky just not what i was expecting and it , too me , seems too young , would have liked it another couple of years down the line .
Most Welcoming thing of the Year ! - Everyone knew it was the Societies 25th Anniversary but the one thing i didn't expect was the major overhaul of the Packaging , Website and connecting Litrature . The website now looks Modern and The bottles are really sexy (well as sexy as a bottle can look....) with the new look and label !
To the Final award of the year.....
Distillery Personality of the Year - This years winner is a well respected figured who has just reached his 60th year and now qualifies for a bus pass ! Please rise for the Winner .....
James McEwan !
A much respected figure in the industry , he always seems to have time to talk to anyone visiting the distillery ( though he is a very , very busy man !) , always interesting to listen to , his stories are legendary , especially the ones of his time across the other side of Loch Indaal . He even gave up some of his free time to come on to the Wednesday chat earlier in the year and he'll always be welcome anytime in our Stillroom !
So once again that's it , the best on Islay (and elsewhere) have been honoured and they deserve it , have a safe journey home and May the Whisky Gods be with you.....
Spur of the Moment Visit to the Vaults
It's not often we do spur of the moment trips but a hotel room was available and the new list was beckoning ! So oft we headed for an evening of merriment.....
| 35.25 | |||
| Year- March 1998 | Age- 10yo | ABV- 59.1% | |
| Colour- Bright Gold | |||
| Nose- First thing that gets you is the Lemon , then very tart Apples . | |||
| Taste- Loads of Vanilla from the fresh Cask , then a hotness and Creaminess . | |||
| Finish- Long finish and peppery hot but not a hot - hot! | |||
| Comments- From a First Fill Barrel , 1 of 259 Bottles . A Lovely dram (as have been all the recent Glen Morays ) , very easy drinking . | |||
| 125.17 | |||
| Year- Aug 1996 | Age- 12yo | ABV- 57.8% | |
| Colour- Polished Gold | |||
| Nose- Polished wood at first , Wee touch of nail varnish and Cocoa , Mel got a Candy sweetness to this one . | |||
| Taste- Loads of Vanilla no the palate of this one at first , touch fudgy . | |||
| Finish- Long , quite spirity and Vanilla . Touch of Orange as well . | |||
| Comments- From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 242 Bottles . Tastes stronger than what it is , not as refreshing as the 125.16 or as satisfying . Couls possibly have done with more time in the cask . | |||
| 7.48 | |||
| Year- March 1968 | Age- 40yo | ABV- 53.5% | |
| Colour- Deep Mohogany / Ruby | |||
| Nose- Proper Christmas Cake that is loaded with sherry is the best way to describe this ! | |||
| Taste- Really Dry , Oloroso but with a sweetness . Christmas Cake Mix , dried fruits and Treacle Toffee . | |||
| Finish- Long , Sherried Lidened Christmas Cake . Gets Drier with every sip . | |||
| Comments- From a Sherry Butt , 1 of 381 Bottles . Another Outstanding Longmorn , no bad sherry notes at all . Drop of water (and i mean a drop!) takes away sharpness / Dryness of it but opens up the sherry . | |||
| 24.102 | |||
| Year- April 1985 | Age- 23yo | ABV- 54.4% | |
| Colour- Bronze | |||
| Nose- Really Creamy Fudge on the first nosing , Orange chocolate . I could actually sit sniffing this for a very long Time ! | |||
| Taste- Very dry on the palate , not as exciting as the nose but still very satisfying . | |||
| Finish- Long , dry , touch of Orange . | |||
| Comments- From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 234 bottles . Another very good Macallan but not a touch on the 24.101 .! | |||
| 33.73 | |||
| Year- May 1998 | Age- 10yo | ABV- 57.8% | |
| Colour- Light Marmalade | |||
| Nose- Woah ! Really antiseptic ! There is very faint background notes of the usual Ardbeg characteristics and strong Black Coffee . | |||
| Taste- Strong Cinder Toffee , Antiseptic , stale smoke , sulphur but really Antiseptic . | |||
| Finish- Long , Burnt matches......Sulphur ! | |||
| Comments- From a Gorda Cask, 1 of 782 Bottles . Well the Gorda casks strike again ! Probably one of the worst Ardbegs i've ever tasted ! Glad i went for the 33.72 and not this one when purchasing a bottle ! | |||
| 26.57 | |||
| Year- May 1983 | Age- 25yo | ABV- 55.4% | |
| Colour- Gold | |||
| Nose- Nail Varnish at first , Stewed Apples and custard . | |||
| Taste- Apple Strudel. | |||
| Finish- Acetate. | |||
| Comments- From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 177 Bottles . A very strange Dram ! Couldn't get much out of it . | |||
| 29.73 | |||
| Year- October 1996 | Age- 11yo | ABV- 58.6% | |
| Colour- Gold | |||
| Nose- I knew this one was going to be good......Mel smelled this one from yards away (always a good sign with a Laphroaig !) . Iodine , Peat , Smoke , really pungent , Stewed Apples (??) . | |||
| Taste- Wow ! Undoutfully a Laphroaig ! A Laphroaig of yesteryear ! Smoky , Medicinal , seaweedy . | |||
| Finish- Hellishly Long and Medicinal. | |||
| Comments- From a Refill Hogshead , 1 of 295 Bottles . How good ? Mel wouldn't come near me until i'd had a coffee and water ! It hung around a while ! Unfortunately this one was sold out otherwise i would have bagged a bottle !!!!! Edit.....Just found it for sale on the site......Woo-Hoo !!!! Edit 2......Mels told me i can only drink it in the garden LOL! | |||
A bit of a mixed bag off the list , Very disappointed in the Ardie , Loved the Longmorn and Laphroaig !
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