Since I’ve tried a nice Glenburgie 1988 Duncan Taylor and the Glenburgie 1997 Asta Morris, I’m on the lookout for other versions.

Glenburgie 11 yo 1998 (43%, Dun Bheagan 2010, cask #4980 + 4983, 642 btl.)

Nose: starts a little undefined and overly malty, but after a few minutes it becomes nicely rounded with plenty of vanilla and some toffee sweetness. Apple, lemon candy, sugar cane, Frosties… Also hints of buttercups and some waxy notes. Tiny hints of marshmallows after fifteen minutes. Excellent development for such a young malt. Mouth: sweet and malty again, with some sweet citrus, apple and gooseberry flavours. Fresh oak and gentle spices (vanilla up front, but ginger as well). Some cocoa. Slightly less wide than the nose, but still nothing to complain about. Finish: medium long, spices from the oak and a little toffee.

Another well-made Glenburgie. These youngsters are really nice and offer excellent value for money. Around € 40. Thanks Mars.

Score: 86/100

Springbank 13 yo 1998
(46%, Duncan Taylor NC2 2011)

Nose: settles nicely on sweet, almost marmalade aromas (peach jam, oranges, plums, even strawberries) while also displaying a maritime character of salty seawater. Some apple and ginger. Hints of yeast. Simple but nice enough. Mouth: curiously fruity. It’s a kind of a fruit compote but I have difficulty describing it. Orange syrup. Yellow raisins. Rhubarb jam? Overripe tangerine or figs? Melon sweets? Molasses? Many question marks but it’s actually quite enjoyable. Reminds me of certain Sauternes / Moscatel finishes. Again a salty / bitter twist and hints of sticky sweet toffee. Finish: not too long, with the sweet fruits having the last word. Hints of ginger again with a faint bitterness.

Much sweeter and rounder than most recent official Springbanks. A sweet wine finish that’s in fact not a wine finish? Worth trying. Around € 60. Available from Whisky-Doris among others.

Score: 82/100

Clynelish 13yo 1998 (51,7%, The Whisky Agency ‘Liquid Library’ 2011, ex-bourbon hogshead, 214 btl.)

Nose: starts a bit musty and mossy, hiding the usual Clynelish vibrance. Leather notes. With some water it seems to find its character, with apple peelings and a little paraffin. Still not the freshest Clynelish. Mouth: sweeter and fruitier now, with very nice pear drops, oranges and almond notes. No obvious waxy notes on the palate. Quite some leather again, a hint of rounded oak and very soft spices. Not very different after adding some water. Finish: medium long, quite fruity. Faint grassy notes as well.

Not the most typical Clynelish in my book, but decent drinking whisky nonetheless. Around € 65.

Score: 83/100

It is composed of 22 oloroso sherry hogsheads from 1998.

Arran 12 yo 1998 ‘The Westie’
(46%, OB 2011, 6000 btl.)

Nose: fruity and slightly acidic, with sour cherries, orange zest and lemon sherbet. Something of a soda lemonade as well. Hardly any oloroso influence if you ask me. Fresh oak. Hints of honey. A few floral notes too. Mouth: a malty centre with spicy and nutty overtones. Again a zesty kind of citrus flavour. Growing warmer with vanilla, apricots and more noticeable oak. Lemon pie. Finish: medium long, drier, with leather and spices. Traces of mocha.

Quite a smooth Arran, this Westie. Fresh, fruity and convincing as a whole. The oloroso casks must have been second fill or rather third fill, because there’s hardly any sherry to be found. Around € 40.

Score: 84/100

ps/ There’s another limited edition Arran ‘The sleeping warrior’, 10 years old and released to help The National Trust for Scotland. It’s more expensive (around € 60) but it’s cask strength and remember part of your money goes to Scotland’s natural heritage.

Ardbeg 12 yo 1998 (55,4%,
Nectar of the Daily Drams 2011)

Nose: clean, peaty and medicinal. Sea air. Hints of green olives. Less grassy / earthy / peaty than a standard Ardbeg 10yo though, with added almonds and floral notes. Adding water highlights the fruity side, with pear drops and a hint of vanilla. Mouth: very deep peat smoke with a nice layer of sweet fruity notes. Very focused. Almonds, sweet lemon. Liquorice. Big marzipan notes. Smoked fish. Nicer, even sweeter and more aromatic when brought down to 46%. Finish: very long, sweet, smoky and peaty.

A nice variation on the traditional Ardbeg Ten. Slightly rounder, sweeter and slightly wider as well. Play around with water to bring out all of its layers. Around € 80 in Belgium and € 90 in Holland.

Score: 88/100

Laphroaig 12 yo 1998 (59,6%,
Malts of Scotland 2011, bourbon hogshead 700272, 152 btl.)

Nose: it’s remarkable how similar this is: deep smoke, seaweed, antiseptic – the same ingredients and the same result. If we’re really splitting hairs, then this version has less citrus notes and something lightly fragrant (like a vanilla floweriness). But maybe it’s just the higher strength? Anyway very clean and without surprises. Mouth: just as powerful but a tad less sweet. It shows more lemon and other citrus fruits. Big peat and big lemon. A little liquorice. Very fresh but a tad less complex than the Whisky Agency cask. Develops an earthy grassiness as well. Finish: sooty, long, with some pepper and cocoa.

I have some difficulty writing about these Laphroaig, because the distillery has such a small deviation! Apart from a few details, bottles from a certain era can be really interchangeable. Around € 65.

Score: 86/100

Laphroaig 12 yo 1998 (52,4%,
The Whisky Agency ‘Liquid Library’ 2010,
bourbon hogshead, 158 btl.)

Nose: everything you’d expect from medium aged Laphroaig: big smoke (slightly bigger than normal), coal, car workshop aromas, coastal notes (seaweed, oysters), medicinal notes (iodine, antiseptic). It’s rather dry, although there are faint sweet almond notes in the background as well and a hint of citrus. Laphroaig’s recipe is still perfectly accurate. Mouth: powerful, quite sweet now with marzipan notes and barley sugars. Earthy peat and big smoke. Getting salty with hints of liquorice. With some water, the sweetness is replaced with typical lemon notes. Mouth: long with a nice balance of rounded sweetness and dry peat. Some liquorice.

This is a perfect daily dram for peat lovers, not too complex and simply faultless. In fact I think you can never go wrong with this kind of Laphroaig. Around € 65.

Score: 86/100

The Whisky Agency has brought us some outstanding casks already, let’s check this new 11 years old ex-bourbon cask released in the Liquid Library series.

Laphroaig 11 yo 1998 (59,6%, The Whisky Agency 2010, Liquid Library, ex-bourbon)

Nose: clean Laphroaig with smoke and ashes and some antiseptic. A bit of grapefruit in the background. Some marzipan and fruit as well, but very subtle. Water works like a magic trick: it switches almost completely to engine oil and wet newspaper. Curious. Mouth: impressive strength, very very punchy. Starts slightly bitter and zesty, then getting “wider” with some citrus sweetness and pepper. Full of ashes. With water: more gentle and a lot sweeter. Not the most complex palate, but good. Finish: clean, smokey and slightly resinous. Hints of salted fish.

Laphroaig from this era is never deceiving, although there can be some differences in coastalness and sweetness. Still available in most stores – around € 70.

Score: 85/100

Saint Magnus

Saint Magnus was matured mainly in Spanish sherry oak, of which 20% were first fill casks. It is bottled at 55%.

The third edition in this series, Highland Park Haakon, will be bottled as an 18 year-old. Expected in the second half of 2011.

Highland Park 12 yo 1998 Saint Magnus (55%, OB 2010, 12.000 btl.)

Nose: starts with a few unfresh smells, especially in comparison with yesterday’s 1986 by Daily Dram. Hints of rubber and meat. This is not uncommon for sherry releases, but I have troubles with it sometimes. After a while it fades and shows more classic dried fruits and honey lacquered meat (overall not very sweet though). A little yeast. Apples and cinnamon. Heather. Subtle peat. Some barbecue smoke, leather and plenty of spices. Mouth: very spicy (cinnamon, ginger, nutmeg) with toffee notes, apples and a hint of wax. A little pepper. Some bitter liquorice. In the end there’s something like burnt oranges and still some rubber. Finish: rather long, dry / bitter and sherried with peat smoke.

I had high hopes for this, but they’re not entirely fulfilled. It’s nicely coastal and relatively peaty but I’m more a fan of fresh, juicy (second fill?) sherry influence. Quite expensive as well: sold for € 100.

Score: 80/100

With 6 active distilleries (Mortlach being one of them, and the Glenfiddich / Balvenie / Kinivie group being the best known) in a town of merely 1200 people, Dufftown is said to be the whisky capital of Scotland.

Mortlach 12 yo 1998 (59,1%, Gordon & MacPhail Exclusive for Whisky Shop Dufftown 2010,
cask #14438)

Nose: instead of the expected sherry notes, the first things I get are herbal tea and lots of mint and pine needles. In my opinion, Mortlach is often blemished by sulphury off-notes (not from bad sherry casks, but probably due to to a lack of copper contact during distillation and/or the usage of worm tubs), but this one is (almost) clean, with nice raisins and fruit marmalade. Burnt sugar and hints of bread crust. Water highlights red fruits. Mouth: again an unusually mentholated profile. On a second level there is strawberry jam and chocolate coated nuts. Well spiced. Rounder and fruitier with a few drops of water. Still rather herbal. Finish: quite long, peppery with a repetition of the herbal sherry theme.

Considering the fact that I’m not a big fan of Mortlach, this is definitely enjoyable and rather unique.

Score: 83/100

Glengoyne 11 yo 1998 (55,2%, Malts of Scotland 2010, cask 1132, 272 btl.)

Nose: totally different from the #1131 cask. Much more dirty, with notes of mushrooms and beef stock. Hints of soy sauce and moss. I’m afraid this isn’t free from sulphur. I know a lot of people like this kind of profile, and it seems to be filtered out after some breathing, so let’s move on. There are hints of walnuts but the red fruits are much more subdued here, although there are hints of candied fruit and water helps to bring out fragrant raspberry. Mouth: interesting and very much in line with the old Macallan 18’s. No sulphur, just beautiful chocolate, coffee, figs and dried orange skin. Raisins. A touch of menthol. Not as dry as its sister. Cloves and cinnamon. It also shows hints of dusty oak with light whiffs of smoke. Finish: long, drier now, and very chocolaty. Some spicy notes.

At the beginning of my tasting, I smelled both whiskies side-by-side and because of the sulphury notes, I never thought this #1132 cask would come close to #1131. But once you’ve tasted them, and once you add water, it becomes clear that the palate of this cask is really interesting and makes you forget about the nose. In the end they both have their qualities. Same price: around € 60.

Score: 86/100

A few weeks ago, two new casks were bottled, both sister casks of the former Glengoyne 1998’s. Their colour is again quite remarkable.

Glengoyne 11 yo 1998 (54,8%, Malts of Scotland 2010, cask 1131, 295 btl.)

Nose: very much on dried apricots, tangerine liqueur and toffee. Some raspberry candy. Overripe cherries and plums. Nutty notes. Hints of coffee and mint. Very soft vanilla as well. Very big with the oloroso in the front row. Adding water makes it fresher and fruitier. Mouth: again some heavy sherry but perfectly palatable without water. Starts rather fresh and dry with plum cake, red fruits and dark chocolate. The dryness gets in overdrive after a while, with the kind of mouth-feel you get from eating walnut skins. A bit of water helps to make it rounder. Finish: dry and persistent, with notes of chocolate, oak, tangerine and spices.

You need to love heavy sherry influence to appreciate this, and even then some people will probably find this slightly overdone. I think it’s really good, especially if you add a bit of water. Around € 60.

Score: 88/100

Arran 1998 (56,5%, OB 2008, bourbon cask #700, 223 btl.)

Nose: clean and fruity. Vanilla with some honey. Yellow apples, pineapple and kiwi. Violet candy. Lemon marmalade. Very light oak influence. Sweet and very enjoyable. Mouth: good attack. Citrusy with hints of plums. Hints of cherry liqueur and peaches. A bit of lemon. Slightly spicy (ginger, pepper) with a bittery edge (liquorice?) towards the end. Finish: medium length, on creamy moccha and fruits with hints of saffron.

A solid Arran with a sweet vanilla nose. Not very complex but really drinkable.

Score: 84/100

It is the first bottling to carry the signature of Gordon Motion, the new Malt Master, after the retirement of John Ramsay. It is also the first available vintage that was specifically laid down to become a vintage. Previous releases were selected out of the existing cask stock in the warehouses. Note that the 1995 vintage was the first to be designed as a vintage, but that year’s production is not ready to be bottled yet.

Around a third of the selected casks were seasoned with oloroso sherry by three bodegas in Jerez de la Frontera. The other casks were ex-bourbon.

Glenrothes 1998 (43%, OB 2009)

Nose: initially hints of dry flowers, cereals and butter caramel / toffee. Easy to see this is a sibling of the Glenrothes Select Reserve, but with a more refined character. Quite fresh with a slight nuttiness. Notes of vanilla and citrus fruits. Lemon grass. Sweet honey. Mouth: starts gently on honey, fruity marmalade and apple. Quite sweet and vanillated. Some coconut. More depth when the spices kick in (mostly cinnamon). Finish: medium length with a lovely spicy profile (nutmeg, cinnamon, vanilla).

This Glenrothes 1998 has more depth than you would expect from a 10 year-old. Not overly complex but fresh and well-made! Around € 42.

Score: 84/100

As you know, independent Glengoynes are very rare, so we should thank Malts of Scotland for their Glengoyne 1972, Glengoyne 1973 and this new Glengoyne 1998. It comes from a first-fill sherry hogshead and the colour is quite fabulous. Blacker than Black Bowmore?

Glengoyne 11yo 1998 (54,5%, Malts of Scotland 2009, sherry hogshead #1130, 292 btl.)

Long, slow legs announce a great spirit. Nose: a truly classic oloroso nose with sultanas, dried prunes and dried oranges. Slightly prickly but
spot on! Sweet black cherries, raspberry and hints of tobacco. Some vanilla toffee and lovely pine resin. Mouth: bold sherry again: prunes, honey, fruit cake. Hints of liquorice and dark chocolate. A very clean cask without rubber or sulphur. Finish: long, on raspberry jam and raisins. Fading out on cloves.

An excellent Glengoyne for “dark sherry” lovers, although you could argue that the sherry dominates the distillery character. This will be a hit anyway. Great price as well: € 60.

Score: 89/100

Laphroaig is generally matured in bourbon barrels from Maker’s Mark. Sherry oak is only used as a short additional finish (e.g. Laphroaig Triple Wood) or for occasional (but usually exceptional) bottlings such as the legendary 1974/2005 for La Maison du Whisky. Based on the cask reference, I guess Malts of Scotland picked their own sherry cask to mature it.

Laphroaig 10yo 1998
(55,5%, Malts of Scotland 2009, sherry cask #MoS 15, 201 btl.)

Nose: great balance between peat smoke and sherry. The result is a big, fruity dram with notes of blood oranges, coffee beans and light hints of matchsticks. Sweet liquorice. Marzipan with a chocolate coating. Some hints of tropical fruits after a bit of breathing (mango) which can usually only be found in older Laphroaig production. Faint hints of cinnamon and insence as well. Mouth: sweet attack, again quite sherried. Fruit tea and almonds. The peat doesn’t win the fight here. A wave of salty liquorice as well. Chocolate. Finish: more classic Laphroaig now, on tar, sweet mint and caramel coated peanuts.

A bold dram but very drinkable at cask strength. Excellent stuff, certainly at less than € 60.

Now for the bad news: although this was released very recently (2nd half of July), the German economy has been rising again and our friends bought all of these bottles within a few days. Google results will only lead to “page not found” messages… If you’re into Laphroaig and you happen to find one for sale, don’t hesitate!

Score: 90/100

Highland Park is one of the two distilleries on Orkney (together with Scapa). The island is located at the northern edge of Scotland, at the same latitude as Stockholm, Sweden or Anchorage, Alaska. Because of the rather extreme climate, there are very few trees to be found and the peat is very gentle (just soil, no wood).

Highland Park ‘High Dark Plan’ 10yo 1998 
(46%, Daily Dram 2009)

Nose: taking off on estery notes. Peach, pear candy, grapefruit. Fruity honey and vanilla. Yellow apple. Very sensual in a way. Developing on more grassy / mineral notes, with delicate peat after a while, but still quite sophisticated. Whiffs of heather as well. Hardly any smoke. Mouth: punchy and just as fruity. Some syrup and vanilla, but soon to be replaced by growing peat. More smoke towards the finish. Spices emerge as well (cloves, ginger). Vibrant. Finish: Smokey, rather sweet and spicy (some peppery notes even). Hints of coffee beans. Slightly metallic.

This is very good stuff, and again it proves the all-round qualities of Highland Park, even at young ages. A fruity nose, growing more powerful on the palate with spicy wood influence in the finish. Around € 45.

Score: 86/100