The distillery is owned and operated by independent bottler Gordon & MacPhail. It’s small (only 2 employees) and had a history of ups and downs – between 1983 and 1998 it was closed altogether.

This 1977, bottled for the Belgian importer Premium Spirits, is pre-G&M distillation, made with equipment that has been replaced in the 1990’s.

Benromach 34 yo 1977 (48%, OB for Premium Spirits Belgium 2011, refill American hogshead #1470, 249 btl.)

Nose: elegant nose on raisins and honey with some polished furniture. Jammy, juicy fruits (peach, pear, melon) and some floral notes. Notes of honeysuckle. Distant hints of library dust, cinnamon and vanilla. Fresh and attractive, although not very complex. Mouth: smooth, fruity start (citrus, peach again) with some waxy notes – not as sweet as the nose suggested. Barley. Evolving quickly on spices from the oak (ginger and pepper). Roasted notes, even a vague hint of smoke. Finish: medium long, on natural caramel and a herbal touch of oak.

A nice surprise. Not much to complain although it’s not exactly unique. G&M is probably not doing enough to promote Benromach, this deserves some praise. Around € 165.

Score: 88/100

Glen Grant 39 yo 1972 (53,2%,
The Whisky Agency ‘Perfect Dram’ 2011, ex-sherry cask, 119 btl.)

Nose: big big notes of cherries (dark cherries as well as Portuguese Ginjinha liqueur made from Morello cherries). Lots of dried fruits like figs. Bramble and plums. Dark honey. Precious woods and hints of leather and eucalyptus. Heaps of oriental spices as well (which blend into a kind of incense profile). A drop of water brings out beehive notes and makes the fruits a little more tropical. Just great. Mouth: more oak in the attack, but quickly the fruits take over. Still plenty of cherry notes, plums and mixed red fruit jam, this time combining nicely with a chocolate coating. Fruit cake. Finish: long and elegant, fading on Mon Cherie and soft spices.

This Glen Grant 1972 is clearly more sherried than the MM Awards winning Glen Grant 1972/2009 by Duncan Taylor or any other (mostly refill sherry) expressions of GG72. The oak is well controlled. A real beauty. Recommended. Around € 210.

Score: 92/100

Merry Xmas everyone!

Their range features a lot of common brands (Glenmorangie, Bruichladdich, Balvenie, Laphroaig, Highland Park, almost the complete range sometimes) but also foreign names like Mackmyra, Belgian Owl, Amrut or Yamazaki. The most expensive ones are Royal Lochnagar 30yo 1974 Rare Malts and a Nikka Yoichi 20 years old.

Apparently the person responsible for whisky wasn’t there (on a Saturday evening), so the waitress spent 15 minutes trying to match her (phonetic?) notes to something from the menu. At first she brought me a white wine that also started with “fi” and it took another 15 minutes to get an actual Glenmorangie Finealta. Let’s suppose it was an off-day.

Location: St. Bavoplein 19, Boechout
Range: +/- 100 single malts
Price: € 5 to € 40 (for a 3cl dram)

What I’ve had: Glenmorangie Finealta (€ 12 – attractive nose, disappointing palate) & Bruichladdich 16yo Bourbon (€ 10 – a good, natural dram)
Glass: Schott Wiesel Pure (ice in a separate glass)

Pros: balanced selection, nice atmosphere, friendly
Cons: slow service, no product knowledge, no music?

The Glengarry is one of the few dedicated whisky pubs in Belgium. It’s located in Gent and run by Bob Minnekeer who has years of experience in tastings and Scotland trips. He’s also the author of several books on whisky.

Other than the Medieval vaults and Bob’s Bowmore collection, the pub’s atmosphere is a little disappointing. There’s a big selection of whiskies though, with a few hundred bottles to choose from. I saw many standard bottlings (including some very recent ones), lots of independent releases, a couple of really old ones, some Japanese whiskies, etc. so it’s certainly a must for whisky enthousiasts in Belgium.

Location: Sint-Baafsplein 32, 9000 Gent (Belgium)
Range: +/- 250 single malts
Price: € 4 to € 30 (for a 3cl dram)

What I’ve had: Ben Nevis 14yo 1992 ‘double matured’ cask #2623 (€ 10)
Glass: ISO tulip (with an engraved Johnnie Walker logo…)

Pros: great selection, quality advice available
Cons: rather dusty atmosphere

Sister casks #564, 565, 567, 568, 569, 571, 572, 573 (filled on the same day as this #570) have all been bottled in the Signatory Un-Chillfiltered Collection in 2010 and 2011, in twin cask releases. The cask for Belgium has been selected in 2 masterclasses hosted by Signatory’s Des McCagherty while he was in Belgium at the end of April 2011.

Bowmore 17 yo 1994 (48,8%, Signatory Vintage for The Nectar Belgium 2011, hogshead #570, 227 btl.)

Nose: clean and fresh but not very mature. There are coastal notes to be found (kippers, seashells), faint medicinal notes and pleasant  fruits (lemon, apple, some green banana). Hints of eucalyptus and very nice tobacco. Medium peat and a little wet wool. Quite gentle and not extremely expressive, but I like it a lot. Mouth: again not extremely powerful. Starts sweet, slightly rooty and herbal with pepper and peat. Lots of coastal notes. Smoked tea. Lemon candy. Also flowery hints and some carbolic soap (bummer). Finish: long, salty (liquorice) and peaty with the bitterness of lemon zest.

Around € 70 while several UCF releases are still available for around € 40.

Score: 82/100

While we’re tasting the 2010 release, be prepared for the 2011 edition next week (starting June 20 at TastToe and ending June 25). This time it will be a 2002 Pedro Ximenez finish.

GlenDronach 8 yo 2002 (58%, OB for
Cask in a Van 2010, cask #4521,
Virgin oak hogshead finish, 312 btl.)

Nose: spicy like a new oak cask can be. Vanilla, a little mint and pepper. Some green banana. Also a few toasted notes (burnt sugar, burnt plywood). With water, it becomes very lightly tropical although the spices are still in the lead. Mouth: hot and gingery. Buttered toast and nuts. Slightly too sweet, a bit artificial (like commercial vanilla & cinnamon sugar). Quite some wood again with nutmeg and pepper. Hints of cake. Burnt sugar again. Finish: rather long and sweet.

A bit peculiar and uncommon for this distillery (although GlenDronach 14yo Virgin Oak was similar). The usual qualities of GlenDronach are not really present here, so I’m expecting more of the sherry version this year. Around € 50.

Score: 82/100

Greenore 10 yo (52,9%, OB 2011 for Belgium, cask #87, 394 btl.)

Nose: typical banana ice cream aroma (banana, whipped cream and vanilla) with hints of Pïsang Ambon or chocolates with banana filling. Nice and quite unique. There’s also a honey coating and a corn sweetness that you don’t find in many other grain whiskies. A little coconut. Certainly attractive but I feel it doesn’t speak loud enough – underneath the alcohol the aromas are quite soft and fluffy. Mouth: sweet vanilla with freshly cut wood kicking in. Banana. Coconut milk. Hints of barley and caramel. Again quite creamy although there’s a slightly spirity bite towards the end (a drop of water helps). Finish: medium length, with dark sugar and a little Malibu.

A nice expression of this Irish single grain, which reminded me of certain rums. I like the nose better than the palate. Around € 50.

Score: 83/100

When I started collecting whisky, this was a must-have bottle, certainly after it won a silver medal at the 2006 Malt Maniacs Awards.

Caol Ila 21 yo 1984 (58,5%, Dewar Rattray
for The Nectar 2006, bourbon cask #6266,
251 btl.)

Nose: moderately peaty with sweet lemon juice, candied zest and vanilla. Some dried hay and liquorice. Nice balance of pastry notes (butter cake) and drier hints of limestone, minerals and seafood. There’s a great farmy side to it as well, which grows stronger with a few drops of water. Quite rounded and gentle but very complex. Mouth: oily and mouth-coating. A much bigger peatiness now. Bread crust. Caramelized apples. Becomes drier and spicy in the end. Finish: very long, sweet with peat and coastal hints.

One of the best Caol Ila I’ve had. I feel lucky to have secured a bottle back then. Around € 110 but probably impossible to find now, except in auctions.

Score: 91/100

Note the enormous 74% alcohol. It’s probably the strongest drink I’ve ever had. By the way, are there rules about maximum strength or can you just distill 99% of alcohol and claim it’s whisky as well?

Belgian Owl 53 months
(74,1%, OB 2010, cask #4275986)

Nose: freshly cut oak and hay, lots of mint and lemon. Some vanilla custard. Spiced honey. Hints of apricot sweets and dried banana. Water brings out a slightly dusty muesli aroma. Mouth: sharp, grainy / grassy attack. Develops a bubblegummy flavour after the alcohol fades. Difficult to taste straight of course, so let’s add water. Much more creamy, but still quite grassy and gingery, with a bitterness that I find a little disturbing. Citrus again. Oak and nutmeg, other spices as well. Pears and vanilla. Not the fruity spirit I expected. Finish: long, half fruity, half bitter. And grainy.

Not bad, but no highflyer either (not yet?). Around € 65 but very limited so it’s hard to find.

Score: 71/100

While the first batches (like the 2009 release) were made in column stills, they’re now reconstructing an old genever distillery which features pot stills from Forsyths (at a mere 200 meters from the place where I’m about to build a house, what a coincidence). It’s the first dedicated pot still distillery in our country and we can expect the new single malt somewhere around 2013.

Gouden Carolus ‘2009 release’
(40%, OB 2009)

Nose: indeed very reminiscent of the Gouden Carolus Triple beer. Big banana aromas (slightly synthetic though) with coriander seeds. Rather flowery. Hints of lemon and lemon grass, on the edge of becoming soapy. Faint yeast. Mouth: artificial citrus and pear. Tinned lychee. Coriander seeds and orange peel. Gumball. Now also lavender soap I’m afraid. A shame. Finish: short, with plain alcohol and banana skin.

At first I was charmed by the distinct smell of beer mash, which I found unusual and interesting. But once tasted, the same beer associations become a big disadvantage. A curiosum at this point, but I’m sure the pot stills have a bright future ahead.

Score: 60/100

This single cask was bottled for the Belgian whisky festival Spirits of the Sea. It was distilled on the 10th of October 2007 and bottled on the 14th of October 2010, perfectly timed to call it whisky.

Kilchoman 3 yo 2007
(62,4%, OB 2010, bourbon cask #334)

Nose: starts peaty and sweet with remarkable notes of olive juice and mild green chilli pepper. Quite oily as well. None of the synthetic sweetness that we disliked in earlier Kilchoman. Water brings out ashes and walnuts. Mouth: hugely peaty and smokey with a citrus sweetness and big briney notes. Salt water. Olives again. Water highlights the smoke again. Like a concentrated Laphroaig. Finish: long, half sweet, half briney with a few hints of dark smoked tea. Ashes.

This is one of the best releases I’ve tasted from Kilchoman. It’s also one of the first to hide its age. I would say they’re on their way to success if not for the price: around € 75 seems to be a standard price for recent single casks.

Score: 85/100

ps/ Even though the original price was very heavy already, soon after the festival it was being offered on different websites for € 149 and € 170. You have to be out of your mind to pay such prices. It’s not worth it and I seriously doubt it will become a valuable collectors item if so many are dumped on the market and collected by so many people.

Cocktails at Nine

Location: Lijnwaadmarkt 9, 2000 Antwerpen (Belgium)
Range: +/- 10 single malts
Price: € 6 to € 16
(€ 16 for a Highland Park 18yo)

What I’ve had: Blood & Sand
cocktail (€ 12)
Glass: martini

Pros: professional staff,
good selection of Japanese whisky, nice atmosphere with fireplaces
Cons: cocktails are more interesting than their single malts

Blood and Sand cocktail (with Laphroaig)

This Blood & Sand cocktail was quite a revelation because I hadn’t seen many cocktails based on Laphroaig 10yo (although it can be made with any kind of Scotch whisky). It’s a slightly hazy drink with an impressive red colour.

The smokiness of Laphroaig complements nicely with the sweetness of the Heering cherry liqueur and the bitter edge of the vermouth.

If you’re interested, mix 3 parts of Laphroaig, 3 parts of fresh orange juice, 2 parts of sweet red Vermouth and 2 parts of Cherry Heering. Shake over ice cubes, strain into a chilled martini glass and serve.

This festival is special because you won’t find distributors presenting new releases. Instead, expect to find collectors and specialized sellers (Massimo Righi, Diego Sandrin, Lothar Langer among others) with a whole range of rarities, antiquities and legendary bottles. Some of the Lindores members (Geert Bero and Luc Timmermans) will also present their impressive collections.

Another part of Lindores Whisky Fest are the tastings. There’s a 50’s, 60’s and 70’s Bowmore tasting, a Japanese dinner accompanied by 60’s and 70’s Karuizawa and an After-Breakfast with the 40yo Millennium Glenfarclas.

Let me know if you’ll be there as well, maybe we can meet.

Glen Scotia is rare, and a 37 years old Glen Scotia is even rarer. It was matured in a bourbon hogshead.

Glen Scotia 37 yo 1972 (45,1%, Malts of Scotland 2010, cask #1926, 197 btl.)

Nose: great start on nice notes of dried fruits (figs especially, also apricots) and gentle waxy / beehive notes. Yellow apples. Old white wine. There’s also a mustiness but a very nice one, kind of an old library smell. Old roses. Warm polished oak. A very light ashy undertone and faint hints of menthol. Ginger tea. This could have been the nose of an old-style Springbank. Really good. Mouth: a slightly bitter attack, perfect strength, with dried fruits, a bit of sour wood and hints of tequila. Walnut skin. Resin. Liquorice. It fades with a soft honeyed touch. Finish: a bit short and surprisingly coastal, with hints of salt water.

This Glen Scotia is definitely from another universe than the Glen Scotia 1992 but they share the attribute of not being a beginners whisky.

The nose is really high-class and probably the closest we can get to the old Campbeltown style nowadays. The palate had to grow on me: at first I thought it was a little austere and harsh (I scored it 88) but after a second tasting it became clear this is quite special and more complex. This should have been in my WWWF 2010 highlights. Around € 190.

Score: 91/100

Have a look at the previously reviewed Goldlys Limousin cask.

Goldlys 21 yo 1989 Sherry wood
(46%, OB 2010, 680 btl.)

Nose: the first thing I pick up – and quite strongly so – is Nivea cream. You know, the white, fat cream that our grandmothers use to moisturize their skin. Not bad, but rather unexpected. This fades after a while and makes place for notes of rye, oak polish and dried banana. A whiff of mint. There’s a sweet, fruitier side to it from the sherry, but overall it’s not really my kind of profile. Mouth: quite oaky and peppery with a big emphasis on the rye, so it seems. Green banana skin. Some eucalyptus and cloves. Not much sherry influence here. Finish: smooth but it drops very quickly.

This single cask Goldlys should arrive in stores as we speak, just in time for Father’s Day. If your dad likes rye whiskey (or some bourbons like Woodford Reserve), this could be an interesting gift with a nice wooden box. If he’s into single malts, then you’re taking quite a risk. Around € 30.

Score: 71/100

Let’s be honest, most of the Belgian whiskies are curiosities hardly worth buying, but a couple of weeks ago, I received an e-mail from Bert Bruyneel telling me I would be surprised by this one!

Limousin is a French region around the city of Limoges. It’s not a great wine producing area but Limousin is well known for their oak barrels, used in other regions for maturing white wine.

Goldlys 1994 ‘Single cask Limousin’ 
(55%, OB 2009, 440 btl.)

Nose: starts on white wood glue but it gets better. The oak stays very present, but it is balanced by fruity notes (yellow apples, unripe banana). Burnt sugar. Vanilla. Some waxy notes. Nice but there’s something artificial that kind of spoils it for me. Mouth: certainly not as sweet as I would have expected. Very very resinous, is this liquid pine tree? Similar to some bourbons in that respect (Pappy Van Winkle 20 years old pops to mind). Herbal notes. Lots of spices (nutmeg, ginger and pepper). Some notes of burnt caramel as well. The fruit seems to be buried somewhere. Finish: rather short and dry, mostly the wood that’s talking.

My fellow reviewers really like this and there’s not a single bottle left in stores. Still I don’t really get the hype. Sure, it’s different and probably the best Belgian whisky to date, but when tasted blind I would say this is closer to a mediocre bourbon than to a quality Scotch. € 30.

Score: 77/100

Thanks for the sample, Bert!