I won’t go into details but last Friday around 13h25 I received their promotional e-mail about the new Karuizawa single casks. I ordered one of these and received a confirmation at 13h52.

My brother in law wanted to order the same bottle as well, but around 16h they were already out of stock. He clicked the “send me an e-mail when new stock arrives” button. On Saturday morning 7am he received an e-mail claiming that indeed new stock had arrived but by the time he saw the e-mail, they were out of stock again. Bad luck.

Today, about an hour ago, I received this e-mail from their client support:

Dear Sirs, We want to thank you for your order. Unfortunately the product Karuizawa 1981 cask 2634 is out of stock. Do you want to replace the product or to be refunded? Best regards, Audrey – La Maison du Whisky

Funny. How can a product be out of stock for a customer who ordered on Friday if you send an e-mail to customers on Saturday that new stock arrived? How hard is it to have an accurate (if not real-time) stock indication anyway, if you’re a proclaimed specialist since 1956 with an emphasis on online sales?

Is LMdW selling bottles only to preferred customers regardless of the ordering queue? Or is their logistics really that terrible? Beats me.

La Maison du Whisky

I suppose all these single casks will be quite limited.

Miyagikyo 23 yo 1988
(57%, OB 2011, cask #92414)

Nose: exotic fruits (ripe pineapple, banana) and mirabelles come out first, together with cigar boxes. Then a lot of vanilla, sawdust and beeswax. Hints of eucalyptus and white pepper. Lusciously warm. Mouth: punchy with a fine layer of oak. Still quite creamy and fruity at first (blackcurrant, apricot, plums, hints of Turkish delight) but quickly developing on spices (vanilla, pepper, light ginger). A slightly sharp peatiness as well. Light grassy / leathery notes in the end. Finish: long, spicy with vanilla and light peat. Again these notes of oak shavings.

A very fine Japanese malt, with traces of peat and some very prominent new oak notes. Exclusively available from La Maison du Whisky but I’ve noticed a few bottles are on their way to Holland as well. Around € 145.

Score: 88/100

GlenDronach 19 yo 1991 (50,4%, OB for The Nectar & LMdW 2011, Pedro Ximenez sherry puncheon #3181, 624 btl.)

Nose: nice sherry, powerful and round. Dried fruits, some nutty notes. Very polished with some waxed furniture, similar to the great GlenDronach 1992 cask #161 in that respect. Blackberry jam and figs, maybe even some black cherries. Sparkling top notes of orange liqueur and mint as well. Rum & raisins. Plenty of good sherry associations. Mouth: rather oily, not really thick or powerful. Starts on dried fruits again, with some added herbal notes and polished oak. Plums. Cocoa. Not extremely complex, but very pleasant. Nice gingerbread and aniseed in the end. Finish: quite long, a little drier, with some tobacco now and some oak and spices.

This cask was a safe choice. It has a few nice touches (oak polish, gingerbread) while remaining within the “classic” profile everyone has come to expect from GlenDronach single casks. Around € 105.

Score: 88/100

Glenfiddich Private Vintage 34 yo 1973 (46,6%, OB for LMdW 2007, hogshead #28563, 209 btl.)

Nose: starts fruity (big apricot aromas, oranges, grapefruit) and oaky (polished oak). Orchard fruits, some honey as well. A gentleman but really wide and complex. Soft spices (pepper, vanilla, subtle gingerbread) as well as some waxy notes. Very light nougat. Mouth: smooth and citrusy (grapefruit) with a herbal oakiness (soft tannins). Develops on dried fruits. Bittersweet with a minty edge. Bergamot tea. Finish: rather long, fruity with a bitter touch.

Starts great but the score is brought down by the slightly oaky palate. Around € 390 at the time, now sold out.

Score: 89/100

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

A 39 years old Macallan bottled by Gordon & MacPhail for La Maison du Whisky. Here we go!

Macallan ‘Speymalt’ 1970 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail for LMdW 2010, first fill sherry hogshead #10031)

Nose: (old) Macallan + sherry = magical richness.  Apricot tartlets, prunes and dates. Some fresh red fruits. Mint, cinnamon and hints of sweet ginger. Some heather and fir-tree honey. Dusty books in the background – lovely. Mouth: vivid, with plenty of dry spices (cloves, cardamom). While initially rather rounded, it quickly becomes leathery and a lot oakier. Blackberry liqueur. Some resinous notes. Walnuts and liquorice. Roasted coffee. Very rich. Finish: medium length (only), with forest fruit, resin and spices.

In line with last year’s excellent cask although maybe a tad less sparkling. Not cheap, but acceptable for this age: around € 210. Now sold out.

Score: 90/100

It’s a series of ten expressions, each representing a certain style of whisky rather than a region. It’s marketed as an “initiation” to Scotch whisky.

The bottles are ordered from light
(00, a single grain) over medium
(05, a sherried Speysider) to heavy
(09, a heavily peated Islay malt). The whisky comes from the Signatory Vintage stocks.

All of them are pretty young (2000 to 2005 vintages) so this time it’s really the style that makes the difference rather than the age. Priced from € 29 to € 46 or € 340 for the complete series.

As an introduction series, I think 50cl or even 20cl bottles could have been more successful (people would more easily buy multiple bottles to check the differences). Also, mentioning the distillery name instead of just the style and region would help starters to find their way in their quest for a great dram. Anyway, an innovative idea.

Karuizawa 1968 (61,1%, OB 2010 for LMdW, sherry cask #6955, 210 btl.)

Nose: starts on notes of sandalwood, plum liqueur and oak polish. Quite huge. Very fragrant with some solvent notes and wax. Very Karuizawa, yet unmistakably different from the 1967. This one is smoother, more elegant but also less wide, less of a labyrinth. After a while, it shows fabulous notes of tangerine and apricot and it becomes quite floral. Some leathery hints. Great with some water too: the fresh, slightly sour fruity notes stand out. Mouth: immediately quite dry, with hints of black tea. Very high on tannins. Then a remarkable wave of (light) tobacco comes out, with cedar wood and other oaky associations. Orange peel. Cinnamon. Some vegetal / forestal notes. Overall the oak is a little too firm for me. Finish: long, still very dry with a little pepper, clove, dark chocolate and Seville oranges. 

Excellent nose, on par with the 1967. On the palate, it shows a lot of oak and tannins which takes down the overall complexity. This leads to a rather conservative score, but Karuizawa has a due date too, you know. Around € 285 – sold out.

Score: 90/100

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!

It’s safe to say this single cask Karuizawa 1967/2009 is the most legendary Japanese whisky to date (the oldest as well by the way). It was bottled in August 2009 and the cask was split between La Maison du Whisky and The Whisky Exchange (a total of around 450 bottles).

It wasn’t cheap (retail price around € 240-280) but it already fetches three times as much in auctions. An excellent investment, that is.

Karuizawa 42 yo 1967 (58,4%, OB 2009 for LMdW & TWE, cask #6426)

Nose: like walking into a high-end cigar store. Magnificent notes of pipe tobacco and cigars. Lots of polished oak, a few hints of solvents even. Amontillado sherry. Menthol. Musty earth. Fermented Pu-erh tea. Leather. It needs a bit of breathing, but it’s superbly complex, with an amazingly fresh side as well (whiffs of raspberry jam, strawberries and plums). Also a soft vanilla coating that I didn’t expect in a heavy sherry bottling. None of the matchsticks of the 1976/1977 releases though. Anyway you can really get lost in such a nose. Mouth: very powerful, dry and oaky at first (without being too resinous or tannic). Dark chocolate. Roasted coffee beans. Mint. Tobacco again. Toasted bread with dark forest fruits marmalade. Finish: very long, chocolaty with spicy dry oak.

No need for an elaborate conclusion… My favourite release of last year. Dark sherry maturation doesn’t get much better than this (unless you add some peat maybe?).

Score: 95/100

ps/ There have been rumours about an even older Karuizawa… I can’t wait.

This Longmorn won a Gold medal in the 2006 Malt Maniacs Awards.

Longmorn 34 yo 1972 (45%, Gordon & MacPhail for LMdW 2006, cask #1088, 607 btl.)

Nose: obviously first fill sherry, but very fresh and lively. The usual raisins and dark chocolate are present, but there’s also fresh raspberry, apricot, banana and a few tropical notes. Gentle smoke. Really heavy sherry with beefy notes. A drop of water makes it slightly more herbal but it also amplifies the lush red fruits. Mouth: more smoke now, a few earthy notes and much more wood. Lots of kirsch and Mon Cherie. Moving to liquorice and almonds. Water adds bitter chocolate. Finish: more liquorice, plain salt and Ginjinha (Portuguese cherry liqueur). Long but a bit too dry and rather oaky.

A great Longmorn. The beefy nose and oaky finish will probably appeal to sherry lovers only, but it’s perfectly clean and pretty complex. Long gone.

Score: 91/100

It’s a 37 year-old, matured in an oloroso sherry butt.

GlenDronach 37 yo 1972 (53,3%, OB 2009 for LMdW, oloroso cask #705, 399 btl.)

Nose: pretty similar to the markethouse bottling. More red fruits (raspberry rather than blueberry / blackcurrant. Citrus as well (blood orange). Water brings out hints of exotic fruits (papaya, mango). Dark chocolate. Some toasted notes. Less oak polish than the OB. Less farmy notes, more the meaty kind of sherry. Ginger, pepper. The LMdW nose is great but compared directly with the OB, it is slightly less complex and less expressive. Mouth: still those very nice red fruits but they are almost drowned by big waves of resinous notes and mentholated oak. Chocolate coated oranges. Tobacco leaves. Getting  quite tannic and dry with a salty hint of liquorice. Finish: woody and dry but very rich with notes of tangerine and milk chocolate.

I guess 1972 already is a legendary year for GlenDronach, in the same way  BenRiach 1976 are all great. I prefer the original bottling though. Still available from La Maison du Whisky at around € 310.

Score: 89/100

This 18 Years old Yoichi 1991/2009 was matured in a virgin oak cask, which should make for a spicy dram.

Nikka Yoichi 1991 (58%, OB 2009 for La Maison du Whisky, new oak cask #129374, 453 btl.)

Nose: Houston, we have a winner! Really, just smell this and you’ll be instantly intrigued. Very waxy and honeyed, with floral notes as well as sweeter notes of peaches. Vanilla scented candles. Big big notes of honeydew melon! There’s also a woody side to it (sawdust), with spicy notes of cinnamon and ginger lemonade. Curiously farmy as well. Hints of leather armchairs. Mouth: rather hot at first and very spicy, with a peppery kick. The peat is more noticeable now, but not predominant at all. A touch of smoke. Salty undertones. Getting sweeter with nice hints of yellow raisins. Well balanced with the wood. Finish: long and warming. A round chocolate sweetness with tangerines and the lightest hint of peat.

Very complex and beautiful. It’s intense in different ways: the sweetness, the spiciness, the wood… they’re all very powerful and coated with gentle peat. Impressive. Around € 120.

Score: 92/100

Ben Nevis 34 yo 1975 (63%, Prestonfield for LMdW 2009, cask #7439, 146 btl.)

Nose: quite bubblegummy at first. There’s also a waxy side to it, but a rather sharp one (like hair spray) but this seems to evaporate very quickly. Excellent development on coconut milk, tropical fruits and honey. Lots of vanilla. Superb raspberry jam. Gooseberries. Intense and warming. Mouth: very powerful (duh) and spicy. Some citrus. Coconut and vanilla again. Raisins. Oranges with cloves in the aftertaste. A drop of water brings out herbal notes and something bourbonny (pine resin). Overall a tad too sharp maybe. Finish: long on vanilla, cloves and a touch of menthol.

A great Ben Nevis that combines elements of Scotch, Irish and American whisky and creates an interesting mix. This particular cask is sold out, but La Maison du Whisky now has a second cask that should be closely related (I’ll review that one head-to-head in the future). Price: € 180.

Score: 92/100

Strathisla 40yo 1967 
(50%, Gordon & MacPhail for La Maison du Whisky 2007, cask #6112, 400 btl.)

Nose: very different – fruity but more dried fruits than the Whisky Agency bottling. Dates, figs, some tangerine. Less sweet, much more resinous (fir needles) with a few earthy notes as well (forests, cellars). Reminds me of some kinds of toilet spray (sorry, I guess we have high-end sprays at home?). Leather. Mouth: very spicy, again lots of oak influence. Some pepper, ginger, liquorice. More fruit in the aftertaste (soft peach). Finish: sweet and fruity, apricots and pears.

The amount of oak in this Strathisla for LMdW is probably on the same level as in the Strathisla for Whisky Agency, but this one has a more interesting evolution and regains its fruitiness in the finish. Good complexity, but not the cracker I expected. Still available if you look around. Actual price: € 235.

Score: 89/100

While the regular 3yo was finished in sherry casks, this is the first bourbon version of Kilchoman.

Kilchoman 3yo 2006
(61,1%, OB for LMdW 2009, cask #232)

Nose: amazingly different. Almost none of the banana / rhubarb smell that is so characteristic of new-make. More iodine this time, much more vanilla as well. A great farminess that was completely absent in the regular release. Big peat of course. Mouth: even bigger peat, now accompanied by smoked fish with a generous pinch of salt. I don’t know many whiskies that are this salty, but it works well. Quite unique. Less pepper than the general release. Not much fruit either, some apple maybe in the aftertaste, but certainly on a very low level. Finish on medicinal notes and peat. The smoke stays active for a very long time.

Now we’re talking! This is more or less what I expected from Kilchoman. Kudos to LMdW for making this cask available and to Whiskysamples for sharing their bottle.

Score: 85/100

ps/ I’ve just found out that this spirit was distilled on my birthday!

Lochside 28yo 1981 (56,1%, G&M for La Maison du Whisky 2009, refill sherry hogshead #803, 205 btl.)

Nose: very aromatic and complex. There’s so much going on that it was difficult to write everything down before another association came up. A rather sharp, mineral start. After two minutes, there is lovely lemon grass. Fruits as well, starting on grapefruit and tangerine but evolving into the tropical fruits (mango, pineapple). Obvious waxy notes as well (rather close in style to Clynelish). A few flowery notes. The sherry is rather shy. Mouth: very assertive. More oak influence now, fruity marmelade, still some wax. Lemon. Slightly peppery. Dried oranges. Finish: quite long on grapefruit. Drying with a spicy edge (pepper, liquorice).

A Lochside with a terrific nose that can entertain for a long time. On the palate, it’s less of a kameleon but still very very good. At around € 115, very good value for money.

Score: 89/100

I’ll compare it to the Lochside 1987/2008 by The Whisky Agency (Perfect Dram series) in a few days.

La Maison du Whisky often has exclusive Gordon & MacPhail releases, like the recent Linkwood 1990/2009 for LMdW. They’ve proven to pick some very interesting casks.

Macallan ‘Speymalt’ 1970 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail for LMdW 2009, sherry butt #8326, 530 btl.)

Nose: following the tradition of the great 18yo sherry bottlings. Big on prunes, hints of a chocolate store, blood oranges and tangerine. Raisins, nuts and fig jam but at the same time fresher, younger fruit, like raspberries. Bananas glazed with rum. Heather honey. Very interesting hints of ginger, cumin and other fresh herbs. This was obviously a wonderful cask. Mouth: very elegant and coating. Dried fruits, figs again, baked apples and notes of bergamot tea.Oranges. Strawberries. Hints of natural caramel and smoke. Roasted coffee beans. Some nutmeg and pepper. Finish: light wood influence, slightly drier. Hints of toffee, dried fruits, tobacco and liquorice.

A very noble dram. This Macallan is lively and perfectly balanced. Not too woody for me. Recommended, certainly because the price is acceptable (€ 195).

Score: 91/100

This first-fill oloroso cask was bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, exclusively for La Maison du Whisky. They already had a similar Linkwood 1990 in 2006. A few hundreds of bottles are available.

Linkwood 18yo 1990 (46%, Gordon & MacPhail for La Maison du Whisky 2009, cask #6962)

Nose: heavily sherried. Lush notes of plums and raisins. Kirsch. Some balsamic syrup. Hints of meat (tajine lamb) and soy sauce. Dark chocolate. Very exuberant, thick sherry. Mouth: quite uncommon. Starting sweet on orange marmalade, but getting more woody and very sweet & sour. Rather sharp. Very dark, bitter chocolade. Hints of sweet vinegar. Roasted nuts, even slightly tarry. Finish: long and drying, with hints of candied lemon and walnuts. Some espresso. Quite some liquorice as well.

Difficult whisky, very intense and a tad sharp. But very interesting and as sherried as whisky can get. We’re really on the edge of tasting an old (dry) oloroso here. Still available from LMdW at this moment. € 78.

Score: 86/100