Strathmill

Released under the Daily Dram label in cooperation with The Whisky Agency.

Strathmill 37 yo 1974 (44,4%, Daily Dram 2011, joint bottling with The Whisky Agency)

Nose: excellent start – sweet and buttery (fresh croissant, vanilla) with huge beehive notes (honey, mead, beeswax). Very fruity as well – first ripe banana, melon and apricot, then moving to crispier oranges. Hints of praline, coconut and dried flowers. Great nose, very thick and honeyed. Mouth: gentle and elegant. Almost completely on honey and oranges (fresh and liqueur). Backbone of malt, medium oak and spices (soft pepper, cinnamon). Nice vanilla, apricot and coconut. Finish: slightly drier, with some tannins and spices, dried oranges and faint nutty notes.

What an excellent, luscious nose! The palate is less unique but certainly high quality. Soon in stores. Around € 150 if I’m not mistaken. Recommended.

Score: 92/100

Bowmore 21 yo 1989 (48,1%,
Nectar of the Daily Drams 2011)

Nose: clean, with peat, seaweed and wet wool. Quite maritime. A little sharp in my opinion and a bit too narrow. Some grassy notes, brine, pepper and mint. A faint vanilla note but very much in the background. Water makes it slightly fragrant (luckily not too flowery though). Mouth: rather dry, very peaty, eartht, with secondary grassy notes and a little lemon. Again a faint vanilla note. Pleasantly salty. Faint hints of Schweppes tonic. Finish: medium long, in line with the palate.

This is not the horrible kind of early 1980’s Bowmore, but I don’t think it’s as good as many 1990’s vintages either. A lukewarm expression in my opinion, very focused but lacking some roundness in addition to the peat and brine. Around € 110.

Score: 82/100

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

Longmorn 35 yo 1975
(50,8%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2011)

Nose: holds the middle between the Daily Dram Germany and the Whisky-Fässle releases. Banana and papaya mixed with soft grassy notes, citrus and oak polish. More beehive notes and wax I would say. A slight nose prickle which seems to come more from the spices than from the alcohol. The same mint, nutmeg and soft pepper. Water makes it more citrusy in the style of the 1976 Longmorns. Mouth: very fruity (do I need to repeat the oranges, apricots and tangerines?) with a spicy kick. Honey and marmalade. On par with the Whisky-Fässle bottling, with added hints of aniseed and liquorice. Water seems to make it a little sweeter. A second wave of fruits in the aftertaste. Finish: long, spicy with lingering fruits.

This Longmorn is certainly up there and it has the advantage of being able to play around with water and bring out different elements. I still prefer the 44% bottling and it’s a little more expensive than the others: around € 200.

Score: 91/100

We’ll have it side-by-side with three other Longmorn 1975 releases published in the next couple of days.

Longmorn 35 yo 1975 (40,5%, Nectar of the Daily Drams for Germany, bourbon hogshead)

Nose: sweet and fruity Longmorn, with honey, tangerine and apricots. Lots of papaya and ripe bananas. Spanish membrillo. Almond cookies. Very sweet and rounded, with hints of white chocolate and a little mint and pepper to add to the complexity. Mouth: a fair amount of oak which adds a sourness to the otherwise great fruitiness. Oranges, apricots, passion fruits…  Then showing some more oak juice, fruit tea and grapefruit. Finish: not too long, citrusy and minty with traces of fruit compote.

A great nose with a slightly oaky palate. I started with a big 92 score but the palate brought it down to 87. Still an interesting malt, no doubt. Available from eSpirits, around € 180.

Score: 87/100

Bowmore 9 yo 2001 (46%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams for Germany 2010, bourbon cask)

Nose: Oily and mildly peaty, with charcoal rather than actual smoke. Clear sea-breeze notes. Quite malty as well, with notes of hay and fresh barley. Hints of carbolic soap (nice and harmless). A faint buttery note. Overall quite dry, no particular sweetness to be noted. Mouth: creamy with a peppery kick and some salt. More pronounced peat now. Oily and slightly grassy development. Cold ashes and clean lemon. Finish: medium length, briny with lemon and pepper.

A clean and simple Bowmore, getting close to Coal Ila with its faultless medium peated style. Around € 50.

Score: 84/100

Clynelish 15 yo 1995 (52,7%, Nectar of the Daily Drams for Germany 2010, ex-bourbon)

Nose: starts a little raw maybe but it settles down nicely. Quite maritime, with brine and seaweed. Sweet pineapple and vanilla. Over time it shows notes of hay and paraffin. A little less typical than I hoped it would be. Mouth: sweet start with the typical waxiness now. Lemon balm. Nicely rounded with honey, citrus and marzipan but quickly developing more austere grassy notes and an interesting saltiness. A little pepper. Spiced oak. Hints of peat? Finish: quite long, with Seville oranges, punchy spices and a salty edge. Still hints of peat, or is that my imagination?

A nice Clynelish which combines typical and less typical elements. Available from German web retailer eSpirits. Around € 65.

Score: 86/100

This 18 years old Ardmore 1992 was a joint bottling of The Nectar of the Daily Drams and La Maison du Whisky.

Ardmore 18 yo 1992
(47%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: a smoky nose with charcoal. Some apple / pear notes and ripe banana (maybe papaya even) but what sets it apart are the waxy / oily overtones (candle wax). Nicely integrated whiffs of oak and vanilla. Some heathery notes. A bit austere maybe, but I love the wax. Mouth: sweet and remarkably soft, with honeyed lemon juice, green apples, peach and sugared almonds. Some cereal notes. Earthy peat, still some waxy notes and a faint salty note. Finish: clean and long but not very intense, with a nice almond / banana combination, soft brine and lingering smoke.

This Ardmore shows a nice interplay of dry soot and sweeter fruity notes. The nose is the best part for me, as it looses some subtlety on the palate. Around € 70 (which means good value for money). Still available from LMdW – hard to find in other shops.

Score: 87/100

Laphroaig 20 yo 1990
(52,8%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: a fragrant Laphroaig with a nice peppery side (Szechuan) and a medicinal / herbal side (menthol, antiseptic). Faint fruity notes in the background, with sweet smoke and some farmy notes / wet dogs. I’m picking up notes of green tomatoes as well. With water the farminess grows stronger while it also turns to lemons. Nice – well balanced (read: not very peaty) on the nose. Mouth: slightly kippery, then growing more medicinal for a few moments but sweeter as well, with sugared lemon juice. After that, there’s a late burst of peat with some liquorice and pepper again (chilli). Finish: long, quite rounded with sweet smoke and soft hints of green peppers in the end.

Laphroaig of this age shows a little less peat on the nose, but still displays it with full power on the palate. I like the balance of this all-rounder. Limited availability. Around € 125.

Score: 87/100

It was probably a finish as red oak is very open-grained and prone to leaks, it simply can’t be used for 20 years. A sister cask #378 was bottled in the Ichiro’s Malt series last year.

Hanyu 19 yo 1991 (56%, Nectar of the
Daily Drams, cask #377, Red Oak heads)

Nose: very spicy, a little oriental (cinnamon, ginger, mint). Big notes of cigar boxes. Some tangerine and cloves (hints of a high-end vermouth). Butterscotch and fruit cake. Pancake syrup. Nice hints of beeswax and leather. Mouth: powerful and pleasantly oaky with intense spices again. Pepper, some liquorice, a little ginger. Faint hints of aniseed. Sweet dried fruits as well (prunes to name just one) but overall quite savoury. A few smoky undertones. Finish: long but only the deeper spicy notes seem to stand out, most of the freshness disappears. Not too dry.

Hanyu traditionally shows a high oak influence with plenty of spices. This is no different, and I know for some people it will be “too Japanese”. Quite a hefty price as well: around € 180. The combination of its particular profile and price means this will probably be on the shelves a little longer.

Score: 88/100

Tomatin had a very active period between 1975 and 1980 and was the largest distillery in Scotland at that time (more production than Glenfiddich today). With the recent revival and broadening of the range, the future of Tomatin looks good.

Tomatin 34 yo 1976 (51%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010, sherry butt)

Nose: very smooth and feminine, with an intense fruit basket. Tangerines, white peach. Tropical fruits like guava and mango. Some apricot marmalade. Pink grapefruit. A hint of vanilla. Lots of honey. Lovely whiffs of mint as well. Fruity but not too sweet as it also shows a warm herbal side. Excellent. Mouth: starts spicy (a little pepper), which made me expect a fair amount of oak, but it doesn’t break through. After a few seconds it goes back to fruit candy, sweet grapefruit, vanilla, oranges, marmalade, a little banana… Then some fresh herbs and cinnamon. Finish: medium length, a tad more woody dryness but still very fruity and warm.

A Tomatin that’s well-aged while maintaining its juicy fruitiness. Recommended. Around € 145. Be quick if you want a bottle.

Score: 91/100

Highland Park 24 yo 1986
(51,8%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: mixed fruity notes and coastal elements. Not wham-bam candied fruit but a nice, elegant sweet layer of oranges and ripe apple. More fruits than usually found in this distillery. Nice eucalyptus and wax. Vanilla. On the other hand quite some dry flinty notes and a hint of chalk. Very good. Mouth: oily, mineral and slightly resinous. A hint of peat as well. Quite dry, the sweeter layer with vanilla is now in the background. Grapefruit. Develops on leafy / grassy notes with a hint of bitterness and liquorice. Still pretty coastal (oyster, lemon). Finish: medium length, with hints of herbal liqueur, dry resin and earthy notes.

A high quality dram with different elements: very fruity but also mineral, waxy, coastal elements… An nice all-round Highland Park. Very different from distillery releases though, so be careful if you’re only searching for that kind of profile. Around € 105.

Score: 89/100

The Nectar of the Daily Drams (formerly called Daily Dram – much easier) released this 35 year-old simultaneously with The Whisky Agency who bottled a similar cask at 52,5%. Instinct tells me these casks are all from the 394x or 395x series that were also released by Whisky-Fässle (recently) and Three Rivers (some time ago).

Longmorn 35 yo 1975 
(44%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: very elegant and rich. A big amount of peaches, tangerines and almond cookies. Hints of papaya and banana. Lots of honey notes. Lovely beeswax. Also quite some esters: shoe polish, even some hints of marshmallows (these notes fade after a while). Nougat. Subtle mint and spices. Altogether pretty brilliant and hugely attractive. Mouth: starts on wood and spice (soft pepper, nutmeg, some aniseed and mint) but quickly regains its fruitiness, mainly oranges. Less harmonious than on the nose, but punchy and entertaining. Fades on lovely tangerines and pink grapefruit. Finish: long, rather sweet, with citrus candy and honey. Drying in the end.

Great selection by Daily Dram. I would say this is anything but a daily dram though! I’ve also tried the Whisky Agency version (sadly not directly head-to-head) and I had a slight preference for this one. Around € 200 but it will be difficult to find as I was told it was very very limited.

Score: 92/100

ps/ Yet another Longmorn 1975 cask will be bottled by Daily Dram. It will be the last cask of the series, this time with more bottles available. Keep your eyes open at the beginning of February. Other upcoming bottlings by Daily Dram: Tomatin 1976, Ardbeg 1998 and Laphroaig 1990.

The Whisky Agency has a new Anatomy series which features sketches of Leonardo on the labels. This is the line-up:

• Inchgower 36 yo 1974 ex-sherry
  (very citrusy with little sherry)
• Glenlossie 35 yo 1975 ex-bourbon
• Lochside 29 yo 1981 refill hogshead (quite a grainy nose and truckloads of citrus, mainly grapefruit)
• Bowmore 15 yo 1995 ex-sherry

Reviews of the Bowmore and Glenlossie are coming up.
On top of this, there are new additions to the Perfect Dram VI series:

• Linkwood 36 yo 1973 ex-bourbon
• “A Speyside” 41 yo 1969 ex-bourbon (Glenfarclas?)
• Glen Moray 36 yo 1973 ex-bourbon
• Glen Elgin 35 yo 1975 ex-bourbon (review coming up)

It’s interesting to see a lot of joint bottlings and similar casks, a concept that has become very popular lately (more exposure, or a cheap way to have more limited releases?). The Lochside and Bowmore bottled by TWA are also available from Daily Dram which means you can buy the same whisky in different bottles. Note that their Bowmore is bottled at 46% whereas TWA bottles at cask strength. Although both are releasing a Linkwood 1973, there is no mention of co-operation so it’s probably just a similar cask.

Daily Dram also shares a few casks with
La Maison du Whisky:

• Linkwood 36 yo 1973
• Banff 34 yo 1975
• Clynelish 27 yo 1982

I was able to try the last two recently (thanks Jeroen). The Banff is really good and highly recommended but the Clynelish didn’t seem to be on the same level as other Clynelish from the same year (this one was pretty sharp and mineral, I like them rounded with more vanilla). As far as I know, the LMdW versions are yet to be announced.

Conclusion? A lot of new and promising (premium) expressions to choose from, many of them with a label of your choice!

Ledaig 8 yo 2001
(61%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: leathery peat with hints of seawater and tarry boat rope. Quite oily with a sweet background. Candied lemon peel. A hint of toffee. When compared to peated Islay whisky, it’s probably closest to Ardbeg or Kilchoman. Very clean but fairly mono-dimensional. Water makes it slightly fresher and adds hints of lemon. Mouth: straightforward peat (much more than expected), quite sweet and rounded, with a nice lemon/salt combination. Peated margarita? More candied with a few drops of water – hints of sweet tobacco in the aftertaste. Finish: peat, peat, sweet peat.

Well-made with a big peat blast and a coating sweetness. Promising for the future of the distillery but nothing exceptional and still quite youngish in character. Too focused on peat for my taste – a slightly lighter alternative for Kilchoman fans maybe? Around € 40 and readily available in this part of Europe.

Score: 83/100

In 2006, this was one of two releases in the first Daily Dram series ever. You may think it is diluted, but it’s actually cask strength.

Rosebank 1981 (43%, Daily Dram 2006)

Nose: classic Rosebank lemons. Tangerines and other citrus fruits. Juicy pears. Really fresh. Buttercups. Some tropical notes as well: passion fruit, pineapple. Buttercups. After a while, there’s a peaty note in the background. That’s not completely uncommon for old Rosebank (Rosebank 25yo OB also has some). Develops on slightly grassy, waxy and minty notes. Fruit tea. Mouth: fruity (oranges) but slightly sour at the same time. Lots of (pink) grapefruit and green tea. Apple. Hints of cloves. Finish: medium length, on lemon candy and tangerine.

Impressive, certainly because other distilleries generally need more years to develop a similar profile. It shares similar elements with old Clynelish or some 30-40 year-old Longmorns. Not available any more.

Score: 89/100

ps/ Re-tasted at a Fulldram tasting in May 2011. Added one extra point.

It would have been interesting to have them all in a direct comparison, but for now it’s just this Daily Dram vs. the Malts of Scotland version.

Glengoyne 37 yo 1972
(52%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: very fruity with tangerine, lemon, pineapple and hints of strawberries. A bit of mint. Very tropical and honeyed. Obviously in line with the Malts of Scotland version, but maybe a tiny bit fruitier, with a higher degree of vanilla. Less oaky spices as well. I prefer this Daily Dram version for having a wider array of flavours, but it’s close. Mouth: an oily attack, fruity with a pleasant acidity. The pineapple and honey are supported by more spices (ginger and cloves) and hints of resinous oak, but less so than in the Malts of Scotland release. Very nice integration. Water brings out soft coconut and some dried prunes. Slightly grassy aftertaste. Finish: long, spicy and drier.

An admirable Glengoyne with a delicious fruitiness and well balanced oak influence. I have a slight preference for this one over the 1972 Malts of Scotland version, although the differences are small. The lower price makes it even more interesting: around € 145. Recommended.

Score: 91/100

Longmorn 13 yo 1996
(49%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: a fresh youngster. A few hints of new spirit which disappear after a while. Lots of pears and apples. White fruits. Candied citrus. Gummy bears. Honeysuckle. Hints of almonds. Quite light and fruity. Mouth: very sweet attack. Pear drops. Flower honey. Slightly waxy. Interesting hints of peat smoke in the background, they add quite a lot of depth. Cocoa notes. Finish: oily texture, with nutty notes and subtle smoke.

An uncomplicated but perfectly nice summer dram, this Longmorn.  There’s a BBR bottling with similar specs for less than € 50 and a recent Signatory bottling for € 35 , so its price (around € 60) is perhaps the only thing speaking against it.

Score: 84/100

Glenburgie is rarely seen as a single malt because most of the production goes to the Ballentine’s blend (the same goes for Miltonduff). This made the 26 years old bottling highly anticipated among the recent The Nectar of the Daily Drams releases.

Glenburgie 26 yo 1983
(48,5%, The Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: first there are notes of paraffin that are quite remarkable. Lots of apples and pears. Soft grassy notes. Walnuts. Fresh profile with orange blossom water and a slight minerality. Very natural as well, with a pleasantly dusty side to it. Mouth: sweet attack with ripe pear, butter cream and vanilla. Malt. Marzipan and a touch of mocha. Orange marmalade. Apple. Gets drier and a lot spicier, mostly on ginger and pepper. Rather bitter towards the end, and water amplifies this bitter side, so I like it better undiluted. Finish: long with hints of tonic and marzipan.

An interesting dram that balances between fruity and bitter notes. Not really easy-going.  Around € 100.

Score: 83/100

This is a 25 years old Glen Elgin distilled in 1984. Did you know the Glen Elgin distillery was designed by an architect named Charles Cree Doig who designed a whopping 56 Scottish distilleries and co-designed a similar amount? He’s also the inventor of the pagoda roof.

Glen Elgin 25 yo 1984
(43,8%, Nectar of the Daily Drams 2010)

Nose: juicy and fruity in the great Speyside tradition, with quite some citrus and pear, peach and a dash of honey. There’s also a crisp spiciness and hints of heather and orange blossom. Soft wax as well. Malt and grains. Punchy enough despite the slightly lower strength (note that it’s probably still cask strength?). Mouth: starting fruity but not overly sweet, quickly getting drier and developing on a sourish wood / lemon skin combo. Citrus again (grapefruit rather than oranges). Hints of ginger and mint. Growing quite malty, oaky and salty, balanced by tangerine and a faint hint of smoke (or is that just imagination?). Finish: warm, malty and oaky with hints of cider apples.

A diverse Glen Elgin. The nose is definitely the part I like the most. Around € 95.

Score: 85/100