WhiskyNotes » 53.4%

Tormore 1995 (Whisky-Doris)

Ruben — Fri, 20 Jan 2012 00:37:00 +0000

I’ve never tried a modern Tormore. It’s a new release by Whisky-Doris. The bottle is released in memory of Horst Manthée, the artist who made all the illustrations (views of distilleries) for the bottles of Whisky-Doris. He died in December 2011.

Tormore 16 yo 1995 (53,4%, Whisky-Doris 2011, bourbon hogshead #20213, 132 btl., In memoriam Horst Manthée)

Nose: a mixture of youngish, fruity sweetness (pear drops, apple juice, oranges, pineapple) with buttery malt and a little vanilla. Soft pepper dust. Water makes it a little more grassy. Mouth: fairly thick. Sweet and fruity again (apricot, orange marmalade, citrus candy) with a big dash of honey. Some toffee. Then it grows spicier (mainly pepper again, maybe even a little mustard cress). Finish: long, sweet and peppery.

A nice profile, very sweet and very spicy at the same time. Pleasantly vibrant. Around € 70.

Score: 85/100

Inchgower 1974 (Master of Malt)

Ruben — Thu, 28 Jul 2011 01:14:00 +0000

Last year several independent bottlers released one or more Inchgower 1974 casks (Whisky-Doris and Thosop as well as Dewar Rattray, The Whisky Agency, Douglas Laing, Daily Dram…).

You may say Master of Malt is coming late with their Inchgower, but it has to be applauded their version was available for around € 85 while the others were around € 150!

Inchgower 36 yo 1974 (53,4%, Master of Malt 2011, refill sherry hogshead)

Nose: nice old-style Speyside, with a little more vanilla than other 1974 releases. A lot of lemon balm and paraffin. Honey. Old oak. Dried flowers and soft spices (cinnamon, mint). A little leather. There’s also a lovely chalky dampness to it, even some coastal hints. Great complexity. Mouth: starts with a zesty fruitiness (oranges, lemon) and punchy spices (pepper, ginger, aniseed, mint). Big citrus notes. Still some waxy notes and leather. Hints of herbal tea towards the end. Even better (slightly rounder) with a drop of water. Finish: long and warming with citrus and spices standing out.

A high quality Inchgower again, very complex and certainly on par with the ones we’ve seen before. Think about the price and you know this was an unbelievable bargain! It was sold out, then it came back (06/08/2011), now I’m pretty sure it’s sold out completely…

Score: 90/100

Glen Garioch 20yo 1988 (SMWS 19.44)

Ruben — Sat, 06 Feb 2010 23:00:23 +0000

This 20 years old Glen Garioch 1988 is my first review of a SMWS bottling. The Scotch Malt Whisky Society was founded in 1983 in order to promote whisky by bottling casks of nearly every distillery in Scotland. They’re all single casks at cask strength, and every bottling has a unique number (distillery code + bottling number).

19.44 is the 44th cask of Glen Garioch (distillery n°19) by SMWS.

Glen Garioch 20 yo 1988 ‘Old Grandad Whisky’ (53,4%, SMWS 2009, 19.44, 251 btl.)

Nose: sweet start with a winey touch. Rum / raisins. Dried apricots. Strawberries with white chocolate. Vanilla. The ‘old granddad’ should come from notes of tobacco and leather. The hints of pipe tobacco are certainly there but the leather is less detectable. Very nice overall, although there are also some savoury / herbal notes (cup-a-soup powder with whiffs of sweet mustard) that I found a bit distracting. Mouth: candied start, growing surprisingly floral. Lots of flowery notes, in the direction of lavender and geraniums (both of which I don’t like). A bit too close to perfumy notes for my taste. Lots of toffee. Again some tobacco. Finish: rather short with toffee and pine wood.

Quite an unusual dram. Strawberry notes are not very common and the combination with herbal notes is strange but interesting. I was a bit disappointed by the flowery profile on the palate. Around € 90.

Score: 81/100

Bowmore 26 Years old (Master of Malt)

Ruben — Thu, 14 Jan 2010 23:00:55 +0000

This is the most recent addition to the Master of Malt range.

When I see the combination of Bowmore and 1980’s, an alarm goes off inside my head. You can expect all sorts of things from that period, with lavender soap and eau de cologne probably being the worst. Have a look at this Bowmore 1983/2008 by Douglas Laing if you don’t know what I’m talking about. On the other hand, this 26 years old Bowmore was matured in a refill sherry hogshead, and I don’t think I’ve had many 1980’s vintages from that type of cask.

Bowmore 26 yo 1982
(53,4%, Master of Malt 2009, 195 btl.)

Nose: hmmm… what’s this? It’s not soapy Bowmore, but it’s not like their regular stuff either. Very candied, with some marshmallow and cherry fruit gums. Hey, I like this, although it’s still faintly floral and I wouldn’t possibly recognize this as a Bowmore. Soft vanilla / white chocolate underneath. With a drop of water it becomes very lightly peaty and quite grassy. Mouth: very sweet attack. Violet candy appears, balancing on the edge between fruity notes and hints of lavender. But it never crosses the line. Citrus. Some peat in the background, with whiffs of cinnamon. Finish: still quite candied, with vanilla and just a hint of peat.

Ever wondered how a Bowmore lollipop would taste like? Once you get over the prejudices, this is very enjoyable. And I never thought I would write that about a 1982 Bowmore. In any case unique. Around € 120.