Tag Archives: Apricot

A.D. Rattray, Craigellachie, Craigellachie, Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar dram # 17 – A.D. Rattray’s 2008 Craigellachie, Cask # 900861

 

Region – Speyside – ABV – 58%

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015Today’s whisky is the second Craigellachie in the Advent Calendar however this one is bottled at full cask strength by A.D. Rattray. The first one being a 12yo bottled at 46% by Weymss Malts.

A young sherry cask matured whisky (this at 6 years of age) is likely to excite the senses. Perhaps even wake you up – especially given the ABV of 58%. The youngest Craigellachie I’ve had was 8yo and that, too, was a single sherry cask from A.D. Rattray. It was a killer release.

Let’s see what this one does.

On the nose — Peanut brittle masks the most unusual note of bile upon first sniff.

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015After a minute or so, that bile note goes far away and we are now presented with a series of very strong scents such as: leather wallets, grilled apricots, burnt popsicle sticks, cotton candy, hot vinyl seating in a 70’s Chevy Nova, hot wax, and childhood memories.

In the mouth — VERY spirit forward here, almost new make-y. Sour pear, salted licorice, nectarine pit, dry hay on a humid summer day.

I would never have guessed 58% ABV. As youthful as the flavors are, this is a very easy whisky to hold in your mouth.

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 2015A few more notes before we get to the finish — green bar printer paper, printer ink cartridges, and more hot vinyl seating.

Finish — Medium in length, pears and nectarine pit hold out.

In sum — Surely a fun whisky but one that I think would have benefited from a few more years in the cask. The spirit character is great to experience here. However, more time in cask to develop would have been the best choice in my opinion. It’s worth your time in a line up of various whiskies but nothing to just sit and relax with.

Autumn, Cold Winter, Kilchoman, Let's celebrate!

A single sherry cask, cask strength 5yo Kilchoman bottled exclusively for Royal Mile Whiskies.

 

Islay region – 59.6%ABV – £70 (available only through Royal Mile Whiskies)

Total spoiler alert here, dear reader.  I fell head over heels for this whisky I’m about to share my notes on.

This is easily one of the best Kilchoman single casks I’ve tasted to date.  The only one I enjoyed more is one yet to be released (details on that to follow, no teasers though as the focus NEEDS to be on this lovely wolf among whiskies).

At only five years old, this sherried Kilchoman covers all the bases for the true lover of peaty whiskies: Peaty, sweet, balanced, powerful, invigorating, lovely.

I can’t stand it any longer, I need to share my notes:

On the nose — Very sweet and with a good deal of soft peat.

Don’t let the word “soft” scare you away, dear Peat Head.  It’s massively peaty but has a soft approach.  Better put, at 59.6% ABV, it noses like a much lower ABV peat monster.

The sweet Kilchoman character of the spirit shines through and mixes well with the sherry cask.  Not as medicinal as the Kilchoman Sherry Cask however that canvas sneaker element is here.

Burnt apricots and black pepper.

Star anise (subtle and well integrated with the peat smoke).

Chocolate covered espresso beans.  Yum!

On the mouth — Oily and peaty.  There is a great mix of sweet and medicinal happening here.  This is a peat monster and the sherry influence is lovely here.

Briny, raisiny, sea-influenced goodness.

Untamed and making me wish I bought a second bottle.

Molasses cookies, minus the cookie.

Black licorice goodness.

Finish — Medium length and slightly effervescent.

In sum —  A single cask of Kilchoman that shows just how good a fully sherried Kilchoman can be.  Yummy from beginning to end.  One for the cold winter for sure.  But, heck, the colder wether is coming…  This would be fine on a cool night by a bonfire.

A great, great single cask of whisky!

A World of Discovery, All You Need Is Love, Lagavulin, Let's celebrate!

Islay distilleries explained thru Rock and Roll comparisons – Part 7 – Lagavulin and my review of their 30yo expression

Islay distilleries and their whiskies explained through Rock and Roll – Part VII (of VIII)

One of life’s true treats – Lagavulin Islay single malt whisky!

Lagavulin was actually my gateway whisky.  G-d bless him, one of my synagogue’s congregants (recently turned rabbi and now leads his own congregation) used to take whisky bottles to services quite a lot – usually for our “Kabbalat Shabbat” Friday evening service for our post-worship “oneg.”

Well, one night he brought a bottle of Lagavulin 16yo and damn, if I didn’t fall in love straight away!  The sweet smoke, the campfire… I loved it and, wham-bam-thank-you-ma’am, that set me off on my whisky adventure and I never looked back.

I was going to hold this review as the final Islay/Rock review but decided to do it now because, well, it’s my blog and I decide to make an executive decision.  Also, I reviewed the below whisky nearly a year and a half ago and I should have posted it… a year and a half ago!

We’re nearly there.  Six down and today is the seventh Islay/Rock review and then only one more to go (can you guess which one that is?).  Here’s what’s been reviewed in this series to date:

  1. Part one:Bruichladdich as The Sex Pistols
  2. Part two: Ardbeg as Slayer
  3. Part three: Caol Ila as The 80′s (They get their very own decade!)
  4. Part four:Bowmore as David Bowie
  5. Part five: Kilchoman as the Jackson Five (somewhat fitting, in retrospect, with them both bearing the number five).
  6. Part six: Bunnahabhain as R.E.M.

Today we’re reviewing:

Lagavulin 30yo bottled at 52.6% ABV – You can find a bottle here at The Whisky Exchange for £1295 or here for €499 (now sold out at the €499 price).

On the nose — Well, I smelled the stuff from two feet away (I ordered this whisky at a bar in Seattle – can’t remember the name of the bar, sorry).

Jamming my nose into it further and yup, no doubt about it, it’s Lagavulin!

Floral, smoky and even fruity.

Notes of peach and rhubarb.

Salted caramels and a touch waxy.

Fragrant oils.  The smell of a well used wood panel study.

Rolos – chocolatey.

Less campfire smoke than what I’m used to with the 16yr.

On the Mouth — Hot fire-fueled fruits.

Think golden raisin and apricots.  Golden fruits abound.

Waxiness from the nose translated to the taste however, the mouth feel is not as supple as the standard 16yo expression.

Light & fresh green herbs and lightly honeyed.

The wood is well integrated adding layered notes of vanilla and coconut.

Finish — A wild flower field on fire.  More coconut and lasting vanilla.

In sum — The Balance is superb!  Not what I expected (of course, I was expecting some sherry influence as with the 16yr but then again, I knew *nothing* about this whisky before it was put in front of me).  However, it was just plain lovely.  Well worth the $$ I shelled out for the ample dram.

~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~*~

Lagavulin – The Band!

Is it any surprise that Lagavulin is the Led Zeppelin of Islay whisky?  The rock band powerhouse is the Islay powerhouse.

Like Led Zeppelin (the “Coda” album and the song “The Bridge” excepted), I can not think of one release that didn’t wow me in some way.

Think of the very successful Distiller’s Edition (some of which are legendary) and their great, 12yo cask strength yearly release.  Again, cracking stuff!  Lagavulin rocks and seems to have hit after hit after hit.

Is it the quality spirit, the cask choices… both?  Who knows.  But, like Page, Plant, Jones and Bonham, when you mix the spirit of Lagavulin and mature it in their chosen casks, it’s pure magic.

Good work, Lagavulin.  Like the unparalleled Led Zeppelin, there is no whisky like you!

Autumn, Cold Winter, Glenglassaugh

Glenglassaugh 45yo bottled at 49.2% ABV

Highland region – 49.2%ABV – Best of luck finding a bottle.  And if you do, expect to pay about $2000/bottle.

With release after release of old Glenglassaugh, there would seem to be no shortage of the stuff.

The previous sentence could not be further from the truth.

What makes a whisky such as this so very precious is that it’s from Glenglassaugh’s stocks of 400 (more or less) older casks.

True rarity – hence the hefty price tag.

People go nuts over older whiskies – the older the better right?  Not true, good people.  Sometimes a whisky an hit its prime at the young age of 3, 4 or 5 years old.  Or, if not at its prime, still damn tasty, complex and balanced.  However as whiskies get older they run the chance of getting over oaked, too drying and just… blech.

I’ve yet to run into that problem with the older Glenglassaughs I’ve had so far (in fact, they’ve all been *quite* stellar – especially the first Chosen Few release).  Let’s see how this one held up to the test of time:

On the nose –  A wonderfully sweet nose, if not a touch hot, with other scents mixed in such as Connecticut shade tobacco leaves, sugar cane and near ripe white flesh peach.

Chocolate covered marzipan.

(Good) oak and spice, spice and (good) oak.

A slight wine-like note that was floating a top it all but now seems a bit more forward.

On the mouth – Oily texture yet drying fairly quickly.

Not hot like the nose initially suggested.  I love the strength of this whisky.

Oak and grape skins are evident but lying just beneath those flavors is a stone fruit compote.

Perhaps a touch of cola syrup and the slightest amount of fennel (slight).

Finish – Shiraz like spice – not sure why I keep getting these wine like notes in here but, I like it.

In sum – A bit drying but not overly so, especially for a 45 year old whisky.  Very enjoyable, warming and balanced quite well.  Something to enjoy with a good book.

Special thanks to RS for the sample!

A World of Discovery, Glenfarclas, Let's celebrate!

Glenfarclas 1953 Single Cask

 

Highlands Region – 47.2% ABV – $9479.71 | £5995

I’m going to keep the typing down to a minimum because, as you’ll see below, I’ve hand written this post and all of the tasting notes to accompany it.  It was suggested to me by a good friend to write the notes as if I was actually in 1953 so, I grabbed a pencil and paper and, viola!

What I am about to review is the oldest whisky to EVER be released by Glenfarclas.  A 58 year old whisky, this was distilled in 1953 and is one of 4 cask of its age – the oldest in all of Glenfarclas’ stock.

The single cask rendered just about 400 bottles and all of them are available exclusively through Master of Malt.

A 1953 Glenfarclas, 58 years old… I have very lucky taste buds and they are all thankful.  Very thankful.  I mention it in my review but a HUGE thanks goes out to the folks at Master of Malt, George Grant of Glenfarclas and Michal Kowalski for the generous sample!

And now, the review – there are two jpgs you can click on to view the pages in full size on a PDF if the type is too small or difficult to read – the PDFs are about 8mb each so they may take a couple of moments to download for viewing: