WhiskyNotes » madeira

Glenfiddich Age of Discovery Madeira

Ruben — Sun, 23 Oct 2011 23:22:00 +0000

Age of Discovery is a new series by Glenfiddich, celebrating the Portuguese explorers in the 15th Century. The first release is this 19 year-old finished in Madeira casks which were brought over from the Canterio warehouse of Henriques & Henriques, a famous Madeira producer.

Glenfiddich 19 yo ‘Age of Discovery’ (40%, OB 2011, Madeira finish)

Nose: fresh and quite luscious. Starts with plenty of sparkling fruity notes: apricot, peach, juicy pear, gooseberries. After a while it moves to sweeter notes of vanilla, a little marzipan, honey and fruit pies. Subtle oak. Also a very soft earthy hint of moss or tobacco leafs. How nice! Mouth: smooth but very lightweight and slightly winey. Not overly sweet. Lots of oranges, with spicy hints of ginger, pepper and cinnamon. Balanced oak. Hints of toffee towards the end. Silenced by the lack of strength. Finish: still fairly dry and gingery. Marmalade, vanilla and nutty notes. Medium long.

It started with a lovely nose and plenty of freshness, but it’s lacking oomph to really stand out in the mouth. A complex Glenfiddich, probably one of the best finishes I’ve ever had. Too bad it’s so soft! Around € 100.

Score: 85/100

Bruichladdich Waves

Ruben — Tue, 03 Aug 2010 07:00:40 +0000

Bruichladdich Waves is part of the series Waves / Rocks / Peat. Waves is moderately peated (15 ppm) and ACE’d in Malvoisie madeira casks, after being matured in ex-bourbon wood.

Bruichladdich Waves (46%, OB 2008)

Nose: soaked raisins and vanilla. A little more peat than I expected. Some maritime / grassy notes. A fruity, sweet edge coming from the madeira wine. Mouth: malty start with quite a lot of spices. Another wave of vanilla. Sweet liquorice in the background, and something slightly minty. Finish: medium-long on mellow peat, spices and berries.

A fresh, fruity and easy Bruichladdich. Kind of a summer Islay malt.

Score: 80/100

Penderyn Madeira finish

Ruben — Thu, 11 Feb 2010 23:00:04 +0000

Penderyn was founded in 1998 by four private individuals. It’s the one and only Welsh distillery and quite different from Scottish or Irish whisk(e)y because the complete process from wash to new make is done in a single still. Also, they buy their wash from a regional beer brewer instead of preparing it themselves.

At the moment there are three core expressions. This standard Penderyn is matured in bourbon barrels and finished in madeira casks. There’s also a sherried and a peated version, together with a few limited editions such as a “rich madeira” bottling.

Penderyn ‘Madeira finished’ (46%, OB 2008)

Nose: fruity and mildly perfumed. Big notes of white wine and oak. Some juicy vanilla as well. Slight apple and peach. Not bad. Stranger, dusty notes as well, mixed with hints of new-make (artificial banana). Let’s say it’s different. Mouth: malty with a few young bourbon notes: pine wood, sweet vanilla. Blood oranges. Also lokum (turkish delight) with rose water. Hints of bubble gum that are not really integrated. Gets spicier towards the finish. Finish: honeyed and sweet. Creamy toffee.

Well, I think this Penderyn would have been a lot worse without the Madeira finish, because underneath is basically rather immature whisky (probably around 4 or 5 years). With the wine, it’s more interesting but really focused on sweet notes and a bit mono-dimensional. Young whisky is already sweet and a Madeira cask exaggerates this. I’m sure a sherried version (reviewed tomorrow) will offer more flavour variation. Around € 40.

Score: 74/100

Please note that there seems to be a significant batch variation in Penderyn releases. Even though the bottles look identical (apart from a bottling code), Jim Murray scores the April 2007 batch 76/100 and the June 2007 batch 95/100 with everything in between. Maybe I had one of the lesser batches (my 5cl sample didn’t mention a batch code).