Year: 2014

Lagavulin 1995 (FOCM 2008)

Sean Handley Islay

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laga

Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottled: 2008, Distilled: 1995
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 48%
Cask: European first-fill sherry
More Info: WhiskyBase

Here’s another Islay treat. Lagavulin is Diageo’s other Islay distillery (besides Caol Ila), and this particular release is part of their “Friends of Classic Malts” series of special releases.

After a couple of years trying various bottlings, I really feel I’m beginning to understand Lagavulin.

Ardbeg and Laphroaig are big, shouty, extroverted whiskies. The former is full of proud, earthy peat flavour; the latter has that distinctly medicinal, iodine quality. Of the three Islay distilleries in Kildalton, Laga is the quiet and unassuming one in the middle – soft, subtle, and elegantly understated.

As tends to be the way, it’s the quiet ones you should watch out for.

Let’s (figuratively) dive in:

Nose: There’s rich, full, rounded fruit aromas wrapped in the savoury, dry, smoky notes of Lagavulin peat. Plum jam, blackberries, sultanas, pine resin, fresh rolling tobacco, sea salt, and a very definite smell of tea leaves. Thick legs on it, and a dark sherried colour. I’m expecting a lot of sherry influence on the tongue.

Palate: Would never guess this is a first-fill sherry if I hadn’t read it beforehand. Sweet wood smoke leads the way, developing into savoury cereal and wood notes. The sweetness seems to come from the barley, rather than the grape, and so it’s not over-powering at all, revealing more of those savoury notes: liquorice, toasted-oak (with only a tiny hint of vanilla) and some maritime mineral flavours.

Finish: The gentle peat smoke and liquorice notes linger, with a mouth-drying texture akin to black tea.

I could happily just nose this whisky all night – the balance between sweet fruit and savoury peat is spot-on and the subtle notes just keep on evolving in the glass. I’d love to know what kind of sherry was in the barrel beforehand.

The way they’ve got the sherry notes on the nose, but have reserved the palate for those malty, oaky, peaty flavours is a stroke of genius, since it gives you the opportunity to appreciate each set of flavours distinctly.

After the fruity nose, and knowing it was matured in a first-fill barrel, I was expecting a sherry monster… but there’s no monsters here.

Cracking stuff.

Thanks very much to the Blankenstijn family at WhiskySample.nl for the taster.

Port Ellen 1978 (2nd Release)

Sean Handley Islay

Distillery: Port Ellen
Bottled: 2002, Distilled: 1978
Age: 24 years old
ABV: 59.35%
Cask: Bourbon cask

Nose: Leather and old books, sherbet, damp wood. Rain smell. Pebble beach.

Palate: Sweet lemon candy, brine, soft ashy smoke. Oily mouthfeel, like runny honey. A little fragrant floral note too, something like the rosewater flavour of Turkish delight.

Finish: Savoury, nutty aftertaste. Cloves, black pepper, tobacco leaf. A little more sherbet tingle.

Like smoking a mild, sweet cigar by a fire in an old antique shop after eating a lemon meringue pie. Glorious.

Remarkably smooth and mellow for a 59% cask strength Islay. 24 years in barrel have created a really round, soft flavour so the peat shout is now all but a whisper. This has softened the character to one with more ashy, sooty notes than fresh smoke. Sort of like the dry, dusty embers of a beach fire…

As expected with Port Ellen, there’s a distinctively lemon-sherbet nose amidst a pleasant woody dampness, hints of dusty leather armchair. Also plenty of clear coastal notes of sea salt and pebble beach.

Thanks very much to the Blankenstijn family at WhiskySample.nl for the taster. Sadly, there are no more samples of this bottling left now, though there are still some unofficial bottlings available.

Bowmore Feis Ile 2014, 1989

Sean Handley Islay

Distillery: Bowmore
Bottled: 2014
Age: 24 years old
ABV: 53.3%
Cask: Bourbon cask and French wine barrique

Nose: Pithy orange, candy, white chocolate ganache, roses, and a faint whiff of the sea.

Palate: Tart and tangy fruits. Blood oranges, raspberry, a touch of bitter marmalade with sweet fragrant smoke running throughout.

Finish: Parma violets and love hearts – a fruity sherbet explosion.

My gosh, wow. I can see why people queue-up for days outside the distillery to get their mitts on this stuff. It’s absolutely bloody lovely.

Sample came from the lovely chaps at Master of Malt for £29.63. Not bad, given the bottle sets you back £465. Sadly, it’s all gone now…

Lagavulin 12 (2014)

Sean Handley Islay

Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottled: 2014
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 54.4%
Cask: Bourbon Cask

Nose: Wet rocks, fresh peat, sea air – a hint of seaweed and brine. Varnish and lacquer.

Palate: Viscous and oily, zesty and savoury smoke. Woody tobacco flavours.

Finish: Smooth and oaky with a touch of black pepper.

I do love a Lagavulin 12. The 16 is sublime but I like the unsherried character of the younger brother – that lack of sweet edge reveals some very tasty savoury elements. And a cask-strength Islay is always a winner in my book.

Sample came from the lovely chaps at Master of Malt for just £7.72.

Sullivan’s Cove French Port Cask

Sean Handley Australian Whisky

Distillery: Sullivan’s Cove
Bottled: 2013
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 47.5%
Cask: French Oak (Port Cask)

Nose: Vanilla bean, red currants, red apples.

Palate: Muscavado sugar and meadow flowers with more soft fruit. A definite flavour of red wine gums, with a wonderful waxy mouthfeel.

Finish: Honey and spicy oak, cardamon, a touch of clove.

So, this one had a lot of attention after winning a slew of awards in 2013 and 2014 (see Master of Malt for a list). Australian whisky isn’t something you see every day, so it’s a pleasure to try a sample

I do like the very waxy, wine-gum-esque mouthfeel and the notes of soft red fruits – it’s not a combination I’ve come across before as far as flavour profiles go.

I’ve seen the French Oak on sale at staggering prices and it’s nigh-on-impossible to get hold of a bottle unless you’re buying at auction. It’s very nice, but I think the huge amount of media attention it’s received has inflated the expectations (and price) beyond a level the whisky can represent. It’s good stuff, but I think the scarcity and novelty of it is driving the price far more than the liquid itself.

A bar in Manchester is selling 2.5cl measures for £16 a pop. I bought my 5cl sample from The Whisky Tasting Club for a mere £9. Bargain!

Dramming Through The Snow

Sean Handley Australian Whisky, Islay , , , ,

Hope everyone’s having a great Christmas!

I’ve had the busiest December I can ever remember. Our house purchase finally completed so we’ve been frantically moving in and unpacking. Our baby is due any day now so we’ve been buying all the clothes and bits and bobs that little humans need.

Into the mix we’ve had all the usual Christmas business of cooking, wrapping, unwrapping and visiting.

Luckily, I’ve still found some time to relax and enjoy a dram or two here and there over the holidays.

Up first, a popular little number from Down Under:

Sullivan’s Cove French Oak

Distillery: Sullivan’s Cove
Bottled: 2013
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 47.5%
Cask: French Oak (Port Cask)

Nose: Vanilla bean, red currants, red apples.

Palate: Muscavado sugar and meadow flowers with more soft fruit. A definite flavour of red wine gums, with a wonderful waxy mouthfeel.

Finish: Honey and spicy oak, cardamon, a touch of clove.

So, this one had a lot of attention after winning a slew of awards in 2013 and 2014 (see Master of Malt for a list). Australian whisky isn’t something you see every day, so it’s a pleasure to try a sample

I do like the very waxy, wine-gum-esque mouthfeel and the notes of soft red fruits – it’s not a combination I’ve come across before as far as flavour profiles go.

I’ve seen the French Oak on sale at staggering prices and it’s nigh-on-impossible to get hold of a bottle unless you’re buying at auction. It’s very nice, but I think the huge amount of media attention it’s received has inflated the expectations (and price) beyond a level the whisky can represent. It’s good stuff, but I think the scarcity and novelty of it is driving the price far more than the liquid itself.

A bar in Manchester is selling 2.5cl measures for £16 a pop. I bought my 5cl sample from The Whisky Tasting Club for a mere £9. Bargain!

Lagavulin 12 (2014)

Distillery: Lagavulin
Bottled: 2014
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 54.4%
Cask: Bourbon Cask

Nose: Wet rocks, fresh peat, sea air – a hint of seaweed and brine. Varnish and lacquer.

Palate: Viscous and oily, zesty and savoury smoke. Woody tobacco flavours.

Finish: Smooth and oaky with a touch of black pepper.

I do love a Lagavulin 12. The 16 is sublime but I like the unsherried character of the younger brother – that lack of sweet edge reveals some very tasty savoury elements. And a cask-strength Islay is always a winner in my book.

Sample came from the lovely chaps at Master of Malt for just £7.72.

Bowmore Feis Ile 2014, 1989

Distillery: Bowmore
Bottled: 2014
Age: 24 years old
ABV: 53.3%
Cask: Bourbon cask and French wine barrique

Nose: Pithy orange, candy, white chocolate ganache, roses, and a faint whiff of the sea.

Palate: Tart and tangy fruits. Blood oranges, raspberry, a touch of bitter marmalade with sweet fragrant smoke running throughout.

Finish: Parma violets and love hearts – a fruity sherbet explosion.

My gosh, wow. I can see why people queue-up for days outside the distillery to get their mitts on this stuff. It’s absolutely bloody lovely.

Sample came from the lovely chaps at Master of Malt for £29.63. Not bad, given the bottle sets you back £465. Sadly, it’s all gone now…

Port Ellen 1978 (2nd Release)

Distillery: Port Ellen
Bottled: 2002, Distilled: 1978
Age: 24 years old
ABV: 59.35%
Cask: Bourbon cask

Nose: Leather and old books, sherbet, damp wood. Rain smell. Pebble beach.

Palate: Sweet lemon candy, brine, soft ashy smoke. Oily mouthfeel, like runny honey. A little fragrant floral note too, something like the rosewater flavour of Turkish delight.

Finish: Savoury, nutty aftertaste. Cloves, black pepper, tobacco leaf. A little more sherbet tingle.

Like smoking a mild, sweet cigar by a fire in an old antique shop after eating a lemon meringue pie. Glorious.

Remarkably smooth and mellow for a 59% cask strength Islay. 24 years in barrel have created a really round, soft flavour so the peat shout is now all but a whisper. This has softened the character to one with more ashy, sooty notes than fresh smoke. Sort of like the dry, dusty embers of a beach fire…

As expected with Port Ellen, there’s a distinctively lemon-sherbet nose amidst a pleasant woody dampness, hints of dusty leather armchair. Also plenty of clear coastal notes of sea salt and pebble beach.

Thanks very much to the Blankenstijn family at WhiskySample.nl for the taster. Sadly, there are no more samples of this bottling left now, though there are still some unofficial bottlings available.

My goodness, what wonderful whisky…

Much love to one and all and best wishes for the new year – here’s to all the drams to come in 2015.

Sláinte!

 

 

 

The Macallan 24 (Single Cask)

Sean Handley Speyside , ,

Distillery: Macallan
Bottled: 2013, Distilled: 1989
ABV: 49.3%
Cask: Bourbon (refill Hogshead)
Bottler: Whisky Broker

Here’s a little bit of fun! A single cask bottling of Macallan at cask strength from WhiskyBroker.co.uk.

I have to confess that I don’t often drink Macallan. The good stuff’s expensive, and the affordable stuff is… a bit predictable and inoffensive for my taste. So it’s a treat to try a single cask at cask strength, with no smoothing the rough edges or cosmetic tweaking.

Nose: Apple flavoured NutriGrain bar. Rich tea biscuits. Sour apple sweets. Wheat flour.

Palate: More sour fruit flavours, like Granny Smith apples. Sweet malted barley. Quite hot (even at 49%). Mulled cider.

Finish: Charcoal and black pepper, becoming bitter at the end.

It’s like a fruity sour mash whiskey. But…. add some water (about 20%) and it transforms completely. The fruitiness is still there but the sour and bitter notes have softened, revealing the underlying malty, cereal notes. Still appley, but much smoother and cleaner.

Maybe it’s just this cask that’s a bit off, or perhaps Macallan really shines at lower ABV than other whiskies – either way, this one’s definitely better at 40% than 49%.

Interesting stuff from the Edrington chaps. People really go mad for sherried Macallan so it’s nice to have a Bourbon cask for a change. Those hallmark apple and pear flavours really shine through, particularly on the nose.

Caol Ila 29

Sean Handley Islay , , ,

caol_il_29

Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottled: 2013, Distilled: 1984
ABV: 55.5%
Cask: Bourbon
Bottler: WM Cadenhead
More Info: WhiskyBase

Here’s one of those bottles that only comes around every once in a while.

I first tried this Small Batch bottling from WM Cadenhead’s at a whisky tasting with Manchester Whisky Club. It was the last dram of the night and it completely shamed the rest of the line-up (which wasn’t shabby by any means).

With my 29th birthday coming up, I couldn’t resist and bagged myself one of the last remaining bottles whereupon it sat on my shelf until I cracked it open in September. Now it’s down to the very last dram, I feel I need to mark its passing with a well-deserved closer inspection.

Caol Ila is something of a power-house distillery in an industrial-looking installation, which would be downright ugly if not for the incredible view over the Sound of Islay (where Caol Ila takes its name) towards the Paps of Jura, just a few miles away.

Their output is a heck of a lot bigger than every other distillery on Islay, and most of the spirit it produces will end up in Diageo’s blended whiskies. The malt itself is absolutely top-notch, though, and stands up very well by itself as a distillate. Even at very young ages, it’s remarkably well-made stuff.

Diageo certainly thought so in the seventies when they rebuilt the distillery to boost its output and by the eighties, with Caol Ila still going strong, they decided to mothball and eventually demolish the now infamous distillery at Port Ellen.

Having been lucky enough to try a couple of different official and indy bottlings of Port Ellen, I have to say that the flavour profile has a lot in common with Caol Ila. I don’t get the chamois leather with the latter, but there’s plenty of lemon sherbet, damp wood, sea shells and sea-spray.

In some ways, I see Caol Ila as the poor-man’s Port Ellen. No disservice intended there, but when an official bottling can set you back two-grand you’ve got to have a fat wallet to stand any chance of ever owning any.

Anyway, I digress. This whisky waited twenty-nine years in a barrel so I should do the polite thing and do some tasting…

Nose: The typical candied lemon and smoky peat you get with younger Caol Ila has really calmed down and grown up here. The volume of the music at the party’s been set to a mature, grown-up level. You can hear the conversation in the room now. I get sweet smoke, cloudy apple juice, paprika, Easter Egg chocolate, damp wood, tangerine and fresh honeydew melon.

Palate: Very rich and oily. Bitter oranges, poached pears, more cloudy apple juice, with a gentle woody smoke rising through the fruit.

Finish:Becomes waxy and spicy, with a Brazil nut undertone. Extraordinarily long and satisfying. Like a deep-muscle massage for your mind. It unlocks something in the brain that leads to fits of grinning, like some kind of serene whisky Nirvana*.

Wow… Wow.

Cadenhead are consistently bottling some excellent casks, with the Small Batch series being particularly tasty. This is a truly stunning bottling, at a very respectable price indeed.

Diageo have just released an official bottling of 30-year-old Caol Ila, which retails around £400 plus. This 29-year-old bottling was about a quarter of that price (sadly all gone now), and Cadenhead have a 30-year-old available (in limited numbers) in their Authentic range.

I’m not sure how much difference one year makes to the flavour profile of Caol Ila, but I’d guess it’ll be showing a lot of the same qualities. And with the Cadenhead bottling being so tasty at 29, I’m sure you can guess which bottling I’ll be drinking on my next birthday…

I will sincerely grieve the passing of this whisky, it’s absolutely fucking glorious. If you get chance to try some old Caol Ila, don’t pass it up. This stuff doesn’t just age with grace, this whisky is Stacey’s Mom – and my gosh, has she got it going on…

 

* The Buddhist kind, not the Seattle grunge group that Dave Grohl was stuck in before he started making proper music.

Bunnahabhain Ceòbanach

Sean Handley Islay , ,

Distillery: Bunnahabhain
Bottled: 2014
ABV: 46.3%
Cask: Bourbon
Age: Limited Edition NAS
More Info: WhiskyBase

I’m a massive fan of Islay whisky.

For me, the style puts all other whiskies quietly in the corner – you get such strong characterful expressions out of distilleries on the island, the kind of whisky that makes you sit up and pay attention – a provoker, challenging you to react.

For this reason, I’ve always found Bunnahabhain to be something of an odd-one-out with its softly-spoken, mellow, and (largely) unpeated style.

It’s not often I try their releases, as I rarely see them in the shops. We stopped by the distillery when we were on Islay but their gates were closed, no signs of life. All-in-all, this leaves it the least explored of the region’s distilleries for me.

Ever eager for the new experience, I was lucky enough to win their competition for a sample of their latest limited edition, the Ceòbanach (Scots-Gaelic for ‘smoky mist’). I was a big fan of the last peated Bunnahabhain I tried, the very smoky ‘Toiteach’, so I’m looking forward to trying this more lightly-peated expression.

Let’s see what this dark-horse of the Hebrides can do to provoke a reaction…

Nose: No peat reek here! I get straw and sweet cedar wood, play-doh, muscovadao sugar, dessert wine, apple strudel and nutmeg.

Palate: Crème brûlée, lemon-curd, pear drops, black pepper, and green apple skin. The peat is in-evidence, giving the fruit flavours more zest and tingle.

Finish: More spices, earthy peat and antique wood flavours, with a touch of chestnut at the end.

There is definitely a flavour at the core of all Bunnahabhain whisky that reminds me of crème brûlée. It really has something very desserty and sweet-shoppy about it.

The Ceòbanach is sweet, light, and zesty with a quiver of peat-tang and a lot of fragrant, fruity, woody notes. It’s got subtlety and complexity to it, building a lot of aroma around a lightly-smoked core.

Good work, chaps. Get some more expressions like this in your regular line-up and I’m sure they’ll go down an absolute storm.

Port Charlotte PC6

Sean Handley Islay , , ,

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottled: 2007, Distilled: 2001
ABV: 61.6%
Cask: Matured in Bourbon, finished in Madeira wine.
More Info: WhiskyBase

Many feel that Port Charlotte whisky, distilled and bottled by Bruichladdich, is the epitome of modern Islay whisky.

It has all the coastal notes and the peaty pow you expect from Islay, but is also an elegant and complex spirit. Bruichladdich is famous for its slow distillation in Victorian equipment (seriously, their still room looks like a scene from a steampunk graphic novel!) and their standard releases before Port Charlotte were only ever very lightly peated (around 5PPM or less).

Launching as the new kid of peated Islay whisky back in the noughties, the Port Charlotte series has been a cult hit ever since. Bottlings tend to be very difficult to source as they were all limited production, with wide global distribution (and some travel retail), so it’s a real treat to get hold of any.

You can pick them up on the secondary market fairly regularly but they’ll set you back three or four times their original retail price.

I sourced my sample from WhiskySample.nl a wonderful, family-run business in the Netherlands. The site is in Dutch (but most modern web browsers will automatically translate for you) and they do ship internationally. Well worth perusing their stock if you’re on the look-out for something unusual to taste!

Anyway, on to the good stuff…

Nose: Not as fierce as expected. Icing sugar and candy, and a rich buttercream.  The wine influence has imparted a thick and floral honey scent as well – really very rich. Some medicinal TCP, but faint compared to your typical Islay (it’s more like a sherbet tingle than creosote or bonfires). Some soft coastal notes of salt and seashells in there too.

Palate: Madeira’s strong and sweet to start, with a rising peat (and ABV!) burn. Very viscous and luscious mouthfeel, a typical side-effect of Bruichladdich’s slow distillation. I get notes of mandarin, blood-orange and grapefruit running through the middle, with some more icing sugar and peaty sherbet.

Finish: Some soft smoke (as opposed to peat) comes out as the tingle calms down and savoury notes of liquorice, hazelnut, and rolling tobacco develop into a long finish (five minutes later, I can still taste hazelnuts!).

Water: It gets a lot peatier (on the nose and the palate) when you add water! I think I prefer it unwatered, with that lovely, thick, creamy mouthfeel.

This is the second of the PC-series I’ve tried (the first being PC5) and I’m well impressed. Even as a self-confessed Bruichladdich fanboy, I challenge any seasoned peat-head not to enjoy this dram. All I can say is, it’s a big shame that these bottlings are so rare and that I hope the distillery put some more young Port Charlotte out in future.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s still a cracking dram at ten and twelve years old, but these younger releases have brilliant and unusual characteristics that seem to fade as the spirit matures.

Here’s to the power and beauty of youth!