Three Old Dusty Cadenhead Caol Ilas

September 15, 2015 Sean Handley Islay Cadenhead, Caol Ila, Independent Bottling, Old, Single Cask

Very much following in the footsteps of Ben Cops, here’s three old and delicious Caol Ila bottlings from WM Cadenhead.

I’ve been saving the 30 year old for my 30th birthday and now that the bottle’s open it’s time to revisit last year’s 29 year old and get stuck into a taster of this year’s 31 year old release (again, thank you to Mr Cops for this!).

All three are full term Bourbon cask matured and great examples of how lovely Caol Ila can be when well-aged.

Caol Ila 29

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

Nose: 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.

Verdict: I love this whisky so much. A really active cask (I think a first fill) has given this a lot of punchy flavour. The citrus smoke element of Caol Ila has moved from lemon notes in the younger bottlings to orange and melon flavours. Utterly glorious.

Caol Ila 30

Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottled: 2014, Distilled: 1984
ABV: 56.2%
Cask: Bourbon Hogshead
Bottler: WM Cadenhead
More Info: WhiskyBase

Nose: Fragrant lime skin, earthy moss, sawdust, wood lacquer, sherbet, vanilla, orange pith, candy brittle.

Palate: Gloriously sweet shopp-y. Salty toffee, liqourice torpedos and sour zingy sherbet with a whole lot of fruit on the side – melon rind, guava, strawberries and tangerines. After the fruit there’s drying sweet tobacco leaf and a little Cadbury’s Chocolate Buttons.

Finish: Oak and black pepper with wafts of soft wood smoke and black tea. That Brazil nut taste is there again, too.

Verdict: Different to the 29. Still fruity and smoky but there’s none of that cloudy apple juice or pickle juice character. Still wonderfully balanced between the fruit and zesty smoke. Elegant, juicy, delicious.

Caol Ila 31

Distillery: Caol Ila
Bottled: 2015, Distilled: 1984
ABV: 54.3%
Cask: Bourbon Hogshead
Bottler: WM Cadenhead
More Info: WhiskyBase

Nose: Spiced custard, wax crayons, marker pens, salty dust, marmalade, candied lemon and lime.

Palate: Zingy, sour and oaky with bitter pepper and more fresh citrus. Sherbet, chalky refresher sweets, green apples and redcurrants.

Finish: Mellows after the peppery bite of the palate leaving a long and lingering taste of ripe pears and smooth, buttery oak.

Verdict: I think this one’s got a lot more tanin from the wood but it settles down nicely to a lovely and unusual finish. The 29 and 30 had more going on in the middle but this is all about the long end.

Summary

Three fabulous whiskies here – really showing off both what Caol Ila can do over time, and what good cask selection you see from WM Cadenhead.

For me, the winner’s got to be the 29 – that juicy, punchy, fruity quality is rowdy compared to the more elegant dust of the 30 and 31 but it absolutely charms my palate.

The lesson? Taste old Caol Ila as often as you can – the chances are that you’ll be delighted.

Benromach 30

September 7, 2015 Sean Handley Speyside Benromach, Old

Distillery: Benromach
Age: 30 years old
ABV: 43%
Cask: 1st Fill and Refill Sherry
More Info: WhiskyBase

Here’s one of my 30th birthday treats! I was lucky enough to win the bottle from Aston’s of Manchester. Time to crack it open…

Nose: Rich cereal tones, blended with honey and dark orange marmalade. Sweet ripe fruits – apples, blackberries, lychees. Big Red cinnamon chewing gum. Earthy, mossy and mineral-rich with a touch of coastal rocks. Good whiff of oak, too.

Palate: Thick and oily on the tongue. Rich and malty with tangy lime, grapefruit, and blood oranges. A soft touch of tart raspberry, too. More cinnamon and honey melding into dark, rich coffee and cocoa solids with a slab of marzipan.

Finish: Long and oaky with peppercorns and a savoury wisp of drying, gravelly smoke.

Mmmmm, thirty years well spent. Benromach core Speyside character shining through, with that lovely mix of sweet barley with a touch of savoury smoke.

This one’s readily available online for about £250-£300. Not cheap, but not horrendously expensive for a thirty year old single malt.

Jura 1984 (30 Year Old)

August 11, 2015 Sean Handley Islands Jura, Old

Distillery: Jura
Distilled: 1984, Bottled: 2014
ABV: 44%
Bottles: 1,984
Cask: American White Oak, Amoroso and Apostoles
More Info: WhiskyBase

“He who controls the past controls the future. He who controls the present controls the past.” — George Orwell, ‘1984’

Last year as Winter began to crank up, a strange presence appeared online. Twitter grew dark with strange and cryptic messages. The [REDACTED] was evident and soon [REDACTED] became clear.

Jura launched an extremely limited edition thirty year old expression, matured in some fantastically decadent sherry casks. This expression was in celebration of George Orwell’s masterpiece, “1984”, the dystopian novel in which Big Brother is always watching.

The book itself was written by Orwell in the 1940s while he enjoyed the tranquility and isolation of living on the Isle of Jura, an island less than half the area of Greater Manchester where there are 35 wild deer per permanent resident(!).*

The bottling itself is gorgeously presented with reference and homage to the author and the text itself. The sample itself came similarly adorned:

Jura Sample — Secret dossier, with whisky vial

Better get tasting anyhow – Big Brother is watching…

Nose: Herbal, spicy and syrupy. Cola cubes, floral dessert wine, banana loaf, juicy sultanas and dusty oak.

Palate: Deep, dark caramelised sugars – very reminiscent of spiced rum. Thick and luscious with more fruit and spice – cinnamon, raisins, nutmeg, dark cherry, figs and ginger.

Finish: Long, sweet, and spicy with drying oak.

Not your typical sherry bomb – there’s clearly a lot of cask influence but the sherry hasn’t imparted chocolatey/nutty notes; it’s much more a wine-laden affair with floral and herby high notes, complemented by the oak spice of thirty years in the barrel.

Rich, comforting, satisfying and different enough to be interesting without being weird or unbalanced.

Big brother approves – nice work, Jura.

This bottling retails for around £650 on WhiskyExchange. Thanks very much to Jura for the sample!

* In spite of a brush with death in the Corryvreckan whirlpool to the North of the island, Orwell completed his work and published it in 1949.

Benromach 15 Tweet Tasting

July 8, 2015 Sean Handley Speyside Benromach

Benromach have always sought to produce a Speyside whisky that’s in keeping with the true historic way of making whisky in the region.

As a result, their whiskies are all non chill filtered and colouring free; and, unusually for Speyside, their whiskies are made with a lightly peated barley since historically the distilleries of the region used peat in the drying process as it’s so readily available in Scotland.

Tonight we celebrate the release of a 15 year old into their fixed line up! The distillery have kindly sent out a pair of samples: the entry-level 10 year old, and the brand new 15.

Let’s taste!

The 10 Year Old

Distillery: Benromach
Bottled: 2014
Age: 10 years old
ABV: 43%
Cask: Bourbon and sherry
More Info: WhiskyBase

Nose: Lots of fresh Bourbon notes to start: vanilla custard, varnish, cinnamon and spicy ginger. Fragrant spices: cardamom and turmeric stirred into golden syrup. Chocolatey sherry notes once it’s had a bit of time to breathe… There’s a wood-smoked honeycomb thing going on too, becoming salty and mineral-rich.

Palate: Definitely get some smoke on the palate! Builds slowly among those rich, malt caramel notes. Little bit of hard orange-flavoured candy in there too with caramel wafer and more ginger spice.

Finish: Spicy oak develops through the sweet smoke with lots of black pepper and dark cocoa at the end.

Lovely solid dram this, really rich and well-rounded with plenty going on. All you want from a Speyside, plus a bit extra on top.

You can pick this up online for a mere £35 – absolute bargain!

The 15 Year Old

Distillery: Benromach
Bottled: 2014
Age: 15 years old
ABV: 43%
Cask: Bourbon and sherry
More Info: WhiskyBase

Nose: Opens with wood smoke, some ester-rich pear, and a heap of sea salt! Wax pastels and acrylic paints. Salty peat smoke and chocolate covered raisins.

Palate: A spoonful of Muscavado sugar mixed with dark rum, cinnamon and ginger. Progresses to sticky sultanas, banana bread, malt loaf and a little woodsmoke kiss on the tail. Bitter peppermint and dark chocolate. Like a fancier version of Viennetta ice cream.

Finish: Lovely dry chocolatey ashiness on the finish of the 15 year old.

A much more refined character than the 10 year old – more pronounced chocolatey sherry character and a drying oakiness. This is absolutely lovely and definitely on my shopping list.

A bit more expensive, the 15 year old goes for about £50 online.

All In All

This is a really solid pair of drams. I’m not very familiar with Benromach whisky but I’ll be endeavouring to try a lot more of it!

Thanks so much to Benromach and to Steve Rush for organising the tasting ❤

Ardbeg 17

June 21, 2015June 29, 2015 Sean Handley Islay Ardbeg

Distillery: Ardbeg
ABV: 40%
Cask: Bourbon Barrel
More Info: WhiskyBase

Here’s one of those mythical creatures of days gone by: the much-loved, and missed, Ardbeg 17. I’ve heard stories of this whisky for years now, and finally (thanks to Alex Blankenstijn at WhiskySample.nl) I’ve sourced myself a wee dram…

Nose: Honeyed vanilla coal dust. Permanent marker. Clean malty boiled sweets. Salty mineral-rich air with faint, light peat acridity. Some dusty tropical fruit and melon rind. Banana custard.

Palate: Light and delicate mouthfeel. A soft malty sweetness gives way to coastal notes and tangy, peppery peat. Then comes the fruit: leathery apricots smothered in honey with limes and nectarines soaked in brine, followed by a kick of sooty black pepper.

Finish: Chalky with lip smacking salt, more pepper, and creamy oak. Metallic tin right at the end.

Well that’s not what I was expecting! That mix of creamy, fruity salty flavour really reminds me of Bruichladdich. This is a much lighter whisky than the peaty engine-oil of a whisky that the distillery tends to produce nowadays.

No tour-de-force here, but a subtle, soft, fruity dram. Shame it’s so hard to source… If you see some, give it a taste!

Ardbeg Perpetuum Distillery Release

June 15, 2015June 29, 2015 Sean Handley Islay Ardbeg, Feis Ile, NAS

Distillery: Ardbeg
Bottled: 2015
Age: NAS
ABV: 49.2%
Bottles: 12,000
Cask: Ex-bourbon and ex-sherry
More Info: WhiskyBase

Another year, another Ardbeg Day release!

Only this time it’s a special year for the distillery at the end of the Kildalton road – they’re celebrating their bicentenary. So just to confuse everybody, they released not one special bottling but two! I guess that’s one each for both centuries?

This one is the distillery-only version released for the Feis Ile. Oddly, they changed their mind and decided to put it on sale on their website, causing havoc as their servers went down under the heavy traffic.

They also did the anniversary edition, bottled at a slightly lower 47.4% ABV and to the tune of 72,000 bottles.

Both releases promise elements of classic Ardbegs throughout the ages, with old and young spirit and a nod to the future as well as the past.

But beyond all the marketing spiel, what’s it actually like…?

Nose: Big flakes of sea salt on pretzels with air-dried ham. Dusty sherry notes of ripe plums, backed by briny iodine. Thick, sticky molasses with Jamaican ginger cake and malt loaf. Chewed rubber-tipped pencils, with fireplace hints of dry wood ash and old coal dust.

Palate: Sweet iced coffee with lots of salt and pepper. Creamy sherry trifle. Glacé cherry, bananas, juicy sultanas with rich malt syrup. More briny iodine notes swirled into chocolate sauce.

Finish: Super long and dry with oily espresso foam, salty ashes and sticky liquorice. Creamy, buttery oak.

Absolutely delicious. It’s desserty but not over the top – a really excellent balance of salt, sweet and bitter. It definitely tastes old and dusty with classic elements of more mature Ardbegs, and vintages from days gone by. I love the sherry influence – not as knockout as Uigeadail, more restrained and subtle.

Top notch, this. Thanks so much to Ben Cops for the sample.

The distillery edition’s long sold out on the Ardbeg site, but you can still find it on other retail sites and in auctions. Just don’t pay £400 for it like some people have!

Glen Moray Tweet Tasting

June 4, 2015 Sean Handley Speyside Glen Moray, Tweet Tasting

Wednesday night and time for another Tweet tasting!

This time we’ve got five drams lined up from that quiet gem of Speyside, Glen Moray. The distillery’s been in business since 1897 and produces a fairly classic Speyside style of spirit but without heavy sherry maturation to detract from the light, fruity distillate. All standard releases are matured full term in Bourbon casks and generally bottled at 40% ABV with chill filtering and caramel colouring.

We’ve got the Classic, Peated Classic, and the Port Cask Finish as well as peated and unpeated new make spirit. It’s very rare to be able to try new make so this really is a pleasure.

All the drams we’re trying are on sale in the UK (except the new makes, of course) for £25 or less per bottle so the distillery core range is really aimed at the low budget end of the market.

Let’s try them!

Dram 1: Glen Moray New Make

Distillery: Glen Moray
ABV: 69%
Age: N/A
Cask: N/A
More Info: N/A

Nose: Very, very creamy. Brandy butter and icing sugar. Dried banana chips in thick custard. Juicy sultanas, with a good waft of grappa. Bubblegum.

Palate: Oof! It’s smooth but it packs a wallop at 69%. Needs water. Fermented fruit – sweet cider apples. Sweet shop flavours of pear drops and rhubarb and custard. White rum. Waxy, like eating a Crayola. Not that I know from experience, of course…

Finish: Tingly and numbing, with the strength. But the fruit notes linger and settle nicely. Stewed rhubarb crumble at the end.

This definitely needs the water adding, but once you bring it down to around the 50% mark it becomes very drinkable with a lot of those lovely Ester-rich sweet shop flavours you expect from Speyside spirit.

Dram 2: Classic Glen Moray

Distillery: Glen Moray
ABV: 40%
Age: NAS
Cask: Bourbon
Color/Chill Filter: Yes/Yes
More Info: WhiskyBase

Nose: Hard fruit candy. Barley sugar sweets. White wine. Apple blossom. Juicy fruit gum. Pineapple cube sweets and fruit salads. Green apples.

Palate: Very clean and light. Oodles of vanilla bean. Fermented apples, again. Sweet cider. Malty barley and honey.

Finish: Middle length and smooth. Slightly peppery with lots of oak.

I have to confess, chill filtered whisky at 40% is usually a “Thanks, but no thanks” from me, being more of a “straight from the cask” kind of whisky drinker. However, for the price (around the £20 mark in supermarkets), this actually delivers a lot of very nice fruity and barley notes and is a perfect easy-going sipping dram.

You can pick this up for £21.95 at Master Of Malt or a similar price in your local supermarket.

Dram 3: Port Cask Finish

Distillery: Glen Moray
ABV: 40%
Age: NAS
Cask: Bourbon + 8 months in Tawny Port
Color/Chill Filter: Yes/Yes
More Info: WhiskyBase

Nose: Cherry and lime skins. Muscavado sugar and ripe banana. Egg custard tarts and Jammy Dodgers. Marzipan-rich wedding cake. Calvados and blackberries. Yankee candle.

Palate: Oily and soft on the tongue. Jammy with red wine gums. Soft toffee leading to oaky red wine notes. Tart and tangy.

Finish: Oaky red wine lingers – reminiscent of Beaujolais.

Here’s a port finish that definitely complements the spirit. It gives it a heavier, plummier profile but without being overpowering. Well worth a taste if you like your lighter style red wine flavours.

You can pick this up for £26.95 on Master Of Malt, or cheaper still at your local supermarket. Keep an eye out for the Chardonnay finish as well.

Dram 4: Peated New Make

Distillery: Glen Moray
ABV: 69%
Age: N/A
Cask: N/A
More Info: N/A

Nose: Salty and starchy – like a packet of ready salted crisps. Strong breathmints. Smoky cured ham. Sourdough toasting over oily barbecue charcoal.

Palate: Holy moly that’s hot! Needs water. It’s smoky but also thick, sweet and syrupy. More peardrop but with coal tar and wood ash. American cream soda. More grappa again. A hint of wet dog, but that’s not a bad thing. Mossy.

Finish: Drying and ashy – a little chewy, to the point where you feel you could pick bits of peat from out of your teeth.

This is really very nice indeed. You need water, of course, but it’s packed with barbecued bread flavours and an oily, sticky peat that’s dry and wood-smoky, rather than medicinal.

Dram 5: Peated Classic

Distillery: Glen Moray
ABV: 40%
Age: NAS
Cask: Bourbon
Color/Chill Filter: Yes/Yes
More Info: Distillery Shop

Nose: Wet paint, marker pens and coal dust. Salty sea air and fresh straw. A little lemon drizzle cake. A bit more of that ready-salted crisp smell from the new make.

Palate: Pear drops and salted caramel with a zingy lemon meringue kick. Cardomoms and liqourice.

Finish: Salty charcoal

Calmer than the new make, with more fruity and ester-rich aromas making their way through the peat bog. I’d say it has a lot in common with Caol Ila – that lightly peated yet fruity flavour, except very firmly from Speyside and not Islay.

This seems to just be available on the distillery website’s shop – a bargain at £25!

Thoughts

When drinking whisky, it’s important to keep an open mind. It’s the common wisdom among whisky-philes to steer clear of drams that are released with chill-filtering, added colouring, and no age statement. I’d normally do the same, but I was curious about Glen Moray having been lucky enough to try a 1960 vintage at a whisky festival – a truly beautiful dram that was.

And I’m very glad I have. These whiskies, for the price, represent very good value for money. I’d recommend them as good introductory drams for whisky newbies, or as an easy sipping weeknight dram.

It may not fit their business plan of being a budget whisky, but I hope the distillery considers releasing higher ABV versions without colouring and filtering. Having tried the new makes, it’s clear that they have very good stills that produce a high quality distillate. It’d be a pleasure to see what the whisky’s like when cranked up a gear or two…

Thanks very much to Steve Rush and the folks at the Glen Moray distillery.

Port Charlotte 2002 (Whisky Broker)

May 28, 2015 Sean Handley Islay Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte, Whisky Broker

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottled: 2015, Distilled: 2002
ABV: 55.8%
Cask: Gran Callejo wine cask
Bottler: Whisky Broker
More Info: WhiskyBase

An absolute treat tonight! Whiskybroker have released a single cask Port Charlotte aged for twelve years in a Gran Callejo (Spanish) wine cask.

Nose: Salty and herbaceous, with dry earthy peat mud. Well-seasoned roast potatoes and sweet fried cabbage. Ready-salted crisps. Waxy jelly beans. Red apples, and juicy plum flesh. Fruit-flavoured rolling tobacco.

Palate: A sweet-yet-salty malt biscuit flavour starts, with a pronounced peppery peaty tang. Orange candy and citrus pith. Dry savoury notes of old bitter tobacco, leaf litter, and hazelnuts. With water the peat calms right down, the texture becomes soft and silky, and sweet white wine grape flavours come through.

Finish: Long, tingly and salty with a chewy mouth-coating peat residue, and a little cigarette ash. A touch of soap foam at the very end.

Mmmm, very more-ish! Another lovely wine-matured Port Charlotte with all those earthy, salty, sweet tobacco-rich notes.

These were £55 but snapped up within about 36 hours of release – sorry, but it’s all gone! 😦 Keep an eye on Whisky Broker’s website, Twitter and Facebook for details of releases. The good ones do tend to go fast.

Ardbeg Auriverdes

May 26, 2015June 29, 2015 Sean Handley Islay Ardbeg, NAS

Distillery: Ardbeg
Distilled: 2002, Bottled: 2014
ABV: 49.9%
Bottles: 6,660
Cask: American Oak
More Info: WhiskyBase

Is 12 months enough time to let the hype of an Ardbeg Day release subside?

Hard to say, given the social media fever pitch (football pun intended) flying around whenever the distillery at the end of the Kildalton road sends forth a new shimmering green emissary into the foamy-mouthed, wild-eyed, peat-worshipping pandemonium.

With the spotlight firmly on the two slightly different Perpetuum releases, I felt it was time I really got to grips with last year’s Auriverdes, the world-cup bottling in honour of Brazil’s flag “Auriverdes”.

By all accounts, consensus from those who shout loudest is that this is a bit of a flop. Someone described it to me as being more a Schmeichel than a Gascoigne*. I’m not sure I’d agree there but it’s fair to say it’s atypical of Ardbeg bottlings, with the peat-junkies getting all rattly and agitated like Mark Renton after a disappointing miniature paper cup of methadone.

Let’s see if I can manage to be objective:

Nose: Very medical. Savlon cream and bandages. Lemon juice with cracked black pepper. Crispy smoked bacon fat. Vanilla pods in dark honey with a synthetic peach aroma. Thick black liquorice sticks.

Palate: Briny, but fruity. Smoky pineapple and grapefruit juice with peaty vanilla ice cream, cinnamon wafers, and a thick, oily espresso foam. Thinner and lighter than expected but still mouth-coating.

Finish: Long and dry, quite woody with ashy smoke. At the very end, a waxy/fruity/jelly sweet residue coats a medicinal, iodine-rich aftertaste.

Very interesting, this one. And very comforting to drink. I’d describe it as lightly peated (by Ardbeg standards). It has a lot in common with Caol Ila, though it retains an oily, tarry Ardbeg signature rather than the light and delicate Caol Ila zing.

In all honesty, I really like it. I’ve had a bottle open a few days now, and wasn’t sure at first, but it’s growing on me more every time I take a sip. The lack of punchy peat smoke really lets out the fruity side.

All in all, then, this is a winner. Maybe not what the peat-freaks wanted, but it’s a very drinkable and interesting dram all the same. I can see this going down well with a big salty slab of Brazilian beef steak.

After selling out last year, Ardbeg have made some more of this available on the Ardbeg shop for £79.99.

* That’s to say, a keeper not a drinker.

Bruichladdich Fishky

May 24, 2015 Sean Handley Islay Bruichladdich

Distillery: Bruichladdich
Bottled: 2007, Distilled: 1992
Bottler: StupidCask.de
Age: 14 years old
ABV: 50.2%
Cask: Bourbon, Sherry + 3 months salted herring cask
More Info: WhiskyBase (fish) and WhiskyBase (pre-fish)

Here’s a well known weird (and rare) indy bottling of Bruichladdich.

This was bottled in Germany as two different bottlings. Both spent time in a single bourbon cask and a single sherry cask with half being bottled and the other half spending an additional 3 months in a salted herring cask!

First, the pre-fishy version:

Nose: Ozone and salty air. Sour cranberries in custard with dried apricots. Thick treacle and golden syrup. A whisper of mint fondant.

Palate: Vanilla custard and bursting fresh raspberries with salt, and a light hint of peaty earth. Chocolate and espresso grounds and some juicy spiced sultanas.

Finish: Creamy with black pepper and dessert spices.

Mmmmm this is a lovely Bruichladdich. Creamy, fruity, salty and sweet. Classic.

Let’s see how the herring cask changes it:

Nose: Much oilier and dirtier. Salty wet leather. A little vanilla but the fruit notes are gone.

Palate: Nicer than I expected! Salty and maritime still but sweet with toffee and vanilla notes. Very oaky.

Finish: Drying and leathery with no hint of fish at all. Spicy wood flavours. Slightly ashy.

So the fish barrel didn’t ruin the whisky but the wood definitely imparted a strong influence, very similar to virgin oak matured whiskies. Surprisingly good!

The pre-fish is the winner for me though, in spite of how surprisingly drinkable the fish cask is. The pre-fish is fruitier and much more delicate and interesting.

You’ll struggle to find these bottlings anywhere now. Probably occasionally at auction but they’re more a curiosity than a serious investment. One for the keen Laddie fan-boy at least…

Dramming UK

Sean drinks whisky and blogs about it

Author: Sean Handley