• Macallan 18yo 1955/1973 (Campbell Hope & King)
• Glenlivet 1961 (G&M)
• Laphroaig 1964/1981 (Berry Bros & Rudd)
• Glenfarclas 1964/1995 (Signatory Vintage)
• Dalmore 40yo 1966 (OB)
• Bunnahabhain 1968 Auld Acquaintance (OB)
• Glenrothes 29yo 1969 (SMWS 30.26)

The start of a new year is always a reason to look back. A quick look at Google Analytics reveals a lot of data:

• Ardbeg, Laphroaig and Highland Park were the most visited brands on my blog last year.
• Laphroaig Triple Wood was the most popular release. Ardbeg Corryvreckan came in second (only half the number of visits though).

Personally, I would choose other releases as the highlights of my year. They may not have received the highest scores, but they were surprisingly interesting in some way or another:

• Brora 30yo 1976 by Douglas Laing of course
• BenRiach 39yo 1970 (PX finish cask 1035)
• Mannochmore 18yo 1990
• Glenugie 27yo 1982 by Douglas Laing
• Ardbeg 1998 single cask #1189
• Springbank 21yo (not a 2009 release, but still a discovery for me)

Now they’re launching another undisclosed whisky named Fascadale (meaning “ship’s haven”). It’s a limited release of 3797 bottles. Charles McLean’s tasting notes sound very interesting:

Tobacco pouch, Highland Toffee, smoked bacon, distant peat fires and salty rock pools with a rich creamy texture and a bracing kick of chilli pepper to finish.

Attention, spoiler coming up: it’s a Talisker. They’ve married five 1993 and five 1998 casks, reduced to 46% which is marginally higher than a standard Talisker 10. It will be priced around € 45 which seems good value.

Magnus Fagerström is a Swedish collector with a huge BenRiach collection. At regular times, he’s also hosting tastings so he buys a lot of other brands as well. Each year in November, 24 interesting / old / unique / expensive / rare bottles are selected for his advent calendar. They are divided into 2cl samples that people can buy. The total value of the bottles is around € 8000 so you can imagine it’s not a cheap set of samples. But since I don’t get this kind of opportunity every day, I decided to join the club!

The advent calendar is a blind tasting. The samples simply wear a number, and each day before Christmas, the picture of the corresponding bottle was posted on his website. A fun way to train my senses and test my knowledge. I have to admit that I usually can’t pin down the brand, but hey, there are so many distilleries that I haven’t tasted yet… and some of the bottles were purposely chosen to be different from the regular distillery profile (are those enough excuses to keep my dignity…?).

Read some of my advent calendar tasting notes, and be sure to come back now and then, because the majority of the samples has not been reviewed yet. Thanks again to Magnus for his unique choice of Christmas whisky!

Alligator is the name of the deepest way of charring casks. It refers to the resulting scale-like pattern of burnt wood, similar to a croc’s skin. Almost all bourbon makers use this type of charring, but for Scotch distilleries it’s quite uncommon.

Ardbeg did some experiments with toasted new oak casks (mind you: toasted, not charred) and released two of them for Feis Ile 2009: Ardbeg 1998 cask 1189 and Ardbeg 1998 cask 1190. I liked those casks A LOT because they focused less on peat smoke and more on bourbon flavours (vanilla, cocoa, mint, tobacco).

In stores around September, with a limited Comittee Release on the 1st of June 2011.

Update: the 1998 were toasted casks instead of charred casks (not burnt, just browned). The end result of the Alligator may be different from those experimental casks, but I guess we can still expect a palette that’s based around bourbon flavours.

Update: tasting notes of the Ardbeg Alligator (Committee release)

Anyway this document listed a number of brand registrations owned by Moet Hennessy USA… Corryvreckan is there, Supernova is there,  and Ardbeg Rollercoaster was registered just two months ago.

In the meantime, we already have some details. It’s made from one cask of each year between 1997 and 2006 and it will be launched on February 15 to celebrate the 10th anniversary of the committee. Price: around € 60.

Update/ Here it is

Ardbeg Supernova

Yesterday, Ardbeg announced to launch its own peat monster: Ardbeg Supernova at “over 100 ppm”.

Some official tasting notes: “deep earthy peat oils, smoky coal tar, rolling tobacco, camomile, cedar and heather bloom. Hot, sizzling and gristy sensations effervesce on the tongue while pepper pops with chilli and chocolate.”

Looking forward to tasting it. Looking forward to the Octomore as well by the way. After several months of rumours it has become one of those bottles everyone’s talking about but nobody has been able to buy. Just another marketing trick from Bruichladdich?

Balvenie’s Global Ambassador David Mair and whisky doctor Sam Simmons (now brand ambassador) are hosting 35 videos, and they’re interviewing people like David Stewart, Gavin D. Smith, Sukhinder Singh, Eddie Ludlow and Charles MacLean.

I don’t usually pass along press releases, but this time you should really check it out and dedicate some time to the videos.

http://www.thebalvenie.com/en/whisky_academy.php

Our friend and BenRiach collector Serge Reijnders is behind the tasting.

His collection contains the well-known casks such as #8079 for Craigellachie and #8080 for The Nectar, as well as lesser known casks for Asia (#3029 for Shinoya, #3041 for BBI, #3010 for Auld Alliance…) and of course the casks for Germany and France (#3550 / #3558 for The Whisky Fair and #3551 / #3557 for LMdW). There’s also a couple of 1976s bottled by Signatory and in between the flights there will be a peated whisky to balance the fruit galore.

Quite an unbelievable line-up. The tasting will be held in Mol, Belgium on June 23rd 2012. A barbecue and homemade desserts will round it off.

In case you’re interested, check out the Facebook event page. Even though the entrance fee of € 200 may seem high, it will be a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. See you there!

BenRiach 1976 33yo cask #8795
(53.2% – bourbon hogshead)
BenRiach 1977 33yo cask #1033
(52.2% – Pedro Ximénez finish)
BenRiach 1978 32yo cask #4417
(50.4% – Tokaji finish)
BenRiach 1979 30yo cask #7511
(47.9% – Bourbon Barrel)
BenRiach 1980 30yo cask #2532
(51.1% – Virgin American Oak finish)
BenRiach 1981 28yo cask #2589
(51.6% – bourbon barrel)
BenRiach 1984 25yo cask #493
(54.1% – bourbon hogshead)
BenRiach 1984 25yo cask #4052
(51.7% – peated / tawny Port Finish)
BenRiach 1991 19yo cask #4389
(54.9% – Virgin American Oak Finish)
BenRiach 1993 17yo cask #7420
(5637% – Gaja Barolo Finish)

The new release celebrates the sixth anniversary of the first bottling of BenRiach under its new independent owners. Master Distiller Billy Walker has selected ten highly distinctive casks from 1976 to 1993 for BenRiach aficionados.

Bottled in July 2010, the ten are all  cask strength, natural colour and non chill-filtered. They are individually numbered and presented in a gift tube.

We can expect a multi-vintage sherry bottling, the mature X4 (which can now be called true whisky), a new Octomore with even more peat than the current release (140ppm), the new Port Charlotte PC8 (in a black tin again), a new XVII, Infinity III and a new Renegade series of rum.

More about this on the Bruichladdich blog.

Cadenhead’s

In March 2009, for the seventh time already, Cadenhead’s launched its yearly Single Malt Nosing Challenge.

The concept is simple: in return for
€ 15, you get a sample pack (4×5 cl) of undisclosed whisky. You have to name the region, distillery, age and wood type of each of the samples.

I decided to join the contest. Just for fun, I’m not pretending to have a chance at all. Yesterday, I tried them and made a guess (I found two of them pretty recognizable – or at least those were distilleries I’m quite familiar with, the other two are a guess really). Whatever they may be, they were good quality anyway and I hope they get bottled afterwards. 

The winner will be announced on the 7th of September.

I like the idea of smaller bottles, because I’m more of a taster than a drinker and most of my open bottles take months or years to finish. The complete collection costs around € 450 with single bottles between € 10 – 30.

I’ll be reviewing some of the expressions really soon:

• Glentauchers 2006 (ex-bourbon)
• Tobermory 1994 (ex-sherry)
• Tomatin 1987 (ex-bourbon)

Chwisgi is a social website for whisky lovers. It’s a place to read, review and discuss whisky, with regular articles such as this interview series.

This 192-page book was edited by Ian Buxton and features articles by Helen Arthur, Dave Broom, Charles Maclean, Marcin Miller and several other well-known names.

It starts by investigating the popularity of the brand in different key markets around the world: Madrid (where it is mixed with lemonade, I’ve witnessed that), Lisbon, Lithuania, India, China & Japan, Britain, etc. After that, different aspects of the brand’s history are placed in the spotlight.

One of the most important things is the link between Prohibition and Cutty Sark (you may have read about this in the Whisky Yearbook 2012 as well). It’s no secret that Cutty Sark was intended for oversees markets and Captain Bill McCoy provided the East of the USA with an important amount of Scotch, obviously a much better product than the illicit liquors at the time. No surprise the Americans stayed faithful to their brand even after the liquor ban was put to an end.

Also nice to read is the article about Kirsteen Campbell, the new Master Blender of Cutty Sark. Interesting fact: she makes around 120 batches a year, each composed of 103 butts of malt and grain whisky. Kudos for keeping all these batches consistent!

Of course there’s also a chapter about the components of the blend: Glenrothes (the “home” of Cutty Sark), Tamdhu, Highland Park, The Macallan and Bunnahabhain, as well as some information on cocktail making with Cutty Sark. And much more…

In short: a book that’s well written, with beautiful photographs. A great gift for the holidays, even for people who are normally not blend drinkers!

Cutty Sark: The making of a whisky brand
ISBN: 9781780270265
Ed. Ian Buxton
hardback, around € 35

• Longmorn 13yo 1996 (49%)
• Clynelish 14yo 1995 (46%)
• Glen Elgin 25yo 1984 (43,8%)
• Port Ellen 27yo 1982 (53%)
• Glenburgie 26yo 1983 (48,5%)

Later today, I should be able to taste them and post my first findings. Which one should I open first…?

Update: The Port Ellen review has been published. On the nose, the Glenburgie seems to be slightly disappointing, but the Glen Elgin is very interesting. The Clynelish shows a lot of violet candy and the Longmorn is a bit bubblegummy. But these are just quick impressions, an in-depth review will follow!

There’s a new Daily Dram bottling and it promises to be a very good one. Synch Elli is the anagram for Clynelish. It’s a 1982 vintage, matured for 27 years. The price is around € 100.

You may already know this whisky, because it’s actually the same cask as the Clynelish that The Perfect Dram released a couple of weeks ago.

There are three other new Daily Drams: a Laphroaig Rigah Opal (13yo 1996 – € 70), a Glen Garioch Glaring Echo (18yo 1991 – € 80) and the new Daily Dram Undercover n°4 (19yo undisclosed Speysider, Balvenie maybe? - € 75).
Stay tuned for a review.

Undercover n°1 – Lagavulin 14y 1994
(53,1%, Daily Dram 2008, 196 btl.)

Typical Lagavulin, big and punchy, a tad farmy, whiffs of sea air. Really smokey. An instant classic, better than other independent Lagavulin bottlings. It will cost around € 100 though, which I think is a little pricey compared to a standard 16y or the recent 1995 release for Friends of Classic Malts (both around half the price). Is this Laga twice as good?

Undercover n°2 – Talisker 24y 1984
(51,9%, Daily Dram 2008, 82 btl.)

Very fruity, with a great, peppery attack and a lingering finish. Some lemons, maybe less smokey than most official bottlings (or was this the influence of the other Undercovers which I nosed / tasted simultaneously?). Really good. I had the feeling this one deserved better conditions to taste it properly. Hopefully some other time. Again, not cheap: € 150.

Undercover n°3 – Ardbeg / Laphroaig / Bowmore 15y vatting (57,5%, Daily Dram 2008, 320 btl.)

This is a vatting of 3 Islay malts (according to new laws, we should say ‘blended malt’ now instead of ‘vatted malt’). You can easily tell that the main part is Ardbeg. Lots of peat smoke, quite dry. Some acid notes (lemon). Good balance and very powerful. A vatting which brings out the typical flavours of the ingredients. Price: around € 75.

What can I say? Quality-wise: excellent bottlings, only positive feedback and thumbs up for buying casks from distilleries which are a bit harder to find in independent bottlings. I just fear that they may be a little over-priced. Financial crisis, you know… I hope this is not a permanent evolution in the Daily Dram series.

The bowl is closely related to a tulip / ISO glass, but there’s no stem, not even a foot. It’s rather small and comfortable to hold. I personally don’t like my whisky too cold, so I like the fact that your hand will inevitably warm up your whisky when holding this glass (although I’m sure others will dislike it).

Around € 20 for a six pack.

Good news: Daily Dram has three new bottlings named Undercover. The distilleries are undisclosed, but two of the whiskies are made on Islay (14y and 15y) and one on the Isle of Skye (24y – this should be Talisker because this is the only distillery on Skye). 

Let’s hope they bring some bottles to the Whisky Festival in Gent this weekend!