Malty's very own "Whisky for One"

[Malt-Teaser]

Cragganmore, 29y, 52.5%

Nose: Faint hints of rubber and germolene over fresh hay and malt.

Palate: Very smooth and gentle, not what I expected (in a pleasant way!) The flavour starts slowly but gently builds on the palate to include marzipan and alpine cheese.

Finish: Long and smooth.

With water: A little more hay on the nose as the palate becomes fresher and more tingly, with enhanced marzipan.

Overall Impression: I don't really know what I was expecting, but this wasn't it. This is much smoother than expected and yes, much more pleasant than I expected thanks to a few rumours about this bottling not being so good. Not a great, but I like it.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

A lovely old, classic label, 1979, 18y 43% Macallan

Nose: Wonderfully rich raisins, sultanas, oak and a little hint of walnuts

Palate: smooth and creamy texture with a melody of oak, raisins and sweet English Christmas cake fighting for prominence.

Just 3 drops of water allow the raisins to win prominence as they now linger long and luxuriously on the tongue.

Overall Impression: I am tempted to say they don't make them like this anymore, but in fact, they do .. thankfully!
A lovely rich typically sherried classic from Macallan

**

[Malt-Teaser]

A distillery only bottling, 50cl dumpy bottle (Valinch style), 16y, 1990-2006, 57.8%, label also states 'Chivas Brothers'.

Nose: Sherry with hints of disinfected wood

Palate: Very hot currants and raisins. Very intense but also very short finish.

With 7 drops of water: Softer nose with less disinfectant. It's also much smoother, not so aggressive and now includes a pleasant marzipan flavour.

Overall Impression: Too much alcohol and disinfectant burn without water, much better with water.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Aberlour A'Bunadh Batch #24, 60.2%

Nose: Rich deep currants along with a slight freshness and bitterness.

Palate: Delightfully smooth but not too sweet. Currants and marzipan with faint hints of something floral.

With 5 drops of water: Excellent. This has now opened into something delightful.

Overall Impression: Along with many others I rate batch #20 as one of the two best batches of all. This one may not be quite so good, but it isn't far away and is truly magnificent with just a few drops of water.
Buy some and try it!

**

[Malt-Teaser]

The Glenlivet XXV, 43%

Nose: Very slightly menthol oak

Palate: Exceptionally smooth, walnuts and pecan nuts with a background of butterscotch. Very long and gentle finish.

Overall Impression: Delightfully drinkable. The best dram of the day at the recent Munich whisky festival. Only the price prevents me from running out and immediately buying a bottle or three.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Dalmore king Alexander III, 40%

Nose: New, expensive young leather shoes.

Palate: New leather with a very faint taste of slightly bitter raspberries.

Overall Impression: "Not as good as I expected for a price of around €140". Dalmore are capable of some great whiskies, unfortunately, this is not one of them.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Tomatin 1990, bottled 12.11.2008, 58.6%, Cask 16352

Nose: A fresh swimming pool in the middle of an Alpine meadow

Palate: Warm and glowing very flowery liquorice

With 4 drops of water: Lighter and more floral, but slightly better without the water.

Overall Impression: Although slightly expensive with a normal price of €139, it was on offer at the recent Munich whisky festival and I have the chance of one at €20 less. I am seriously considering this as it is a pretty good and unusual whisky.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Part 1:
Glenfiddich 21y. This was tasted as part of a 'Glenfiddich & Chocolate Master Class

Nose: Heather, vanilla and melon-flavour ice cream

Palate: No heather, but the vanilla and slightly bitter melon-flavour ice cream are there.

Chocolate: This was matched by 'our expert' with a truffle and then with some very pure, bitter chocolate.
With the truffle the combination was quite bitter.
With the pure chocolate the chocolate was too overpowering.
Sorry, but much better without the chocolate.



Part 2:
Glenfiddich 15y Solera Reserve

Nose: Fresh oak, herbs and kiwi fruit

Palate: New oak and quite a dry impression

With water: The kiwi fruit joins the oak on the palate.

With Chocolate: The chocolate was a dark, quite bitter example (Marrakaibo 65%), but this combination worked well. One of the best Glenfiddich / chocolate combinations of the day.



Part 3:
Glenfiddich 18y

Nose: Slightly smoky, leather and pears

Palate: Watery (thin) and quite short finish. Pears and malt.

With 68% Chocolate: Alone, the chocolate was quite bitter, but together they harmonised into a fruity and pleasant surprise.
With 48% Chcocolate: OK, but not as good as above.



Part 4:
Glenfiddich 30y

Nose: Dark chocolate, ginger and raisins

Palate: Very smooth and gentle, but quite short. Very nice soft raisins.

With chocolate: The offered chocolate was again quite bitter and far too strong for the Glenfiddich. However, I went back to a truffle originally offered with the 21y and this combination of G30 with a truffle was a good combination.


Overall Impression of Master Class: This class was led by Alois Immoos of a leading Swiss chocolate company and yes, this was fine chocolate, but most of the combinations just didn't work.
Whisky & chocolate can work in combination, but they have to be better matched than these were and perhaps more account be taken of the whisky, rather than just showing us how good the chocolate is.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Glenburgie, a CS 'Distillery Only' edition at 58.8%

Nose: Finest Stollen (German Christmas cake which is light fruit and marzipan) and those wonderful little Vanilla Christmas biscuits.

Palate: Light fruit, marzipan and vanilla (as per nose), but this one is smooth and long with the flavours hanging from the roof of the mouth.

With 5 drops of water: Even longer!

Overall Impression: I once ran a tasting where I offered a Glenfarclas QC as my definitive Christmas dram. This is also a typical Christmas dram, but for a German as opposed to English Christmas where the flavours are fruity, but softer and gentler with more marzipan.
An excellent whisky!

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Loch Lomond Organic, Wine Cask 37700, 2000-2005, 45%

Nose: Still quite faint, but there is definitely some red wine behind the feinty alcohol.

Palate: Quite spritely and tingly, with the tingle remaining long, but the taste very short. The flavours are of a cross between Port and Sherry, perhaps a fino sherry as opposed to a rich creamy one, with hints of butterscotch and almonds.

Overall Impression: Quite unusual, quite insignificant and unfortunately, quite forgettable too.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Cameron brig, 40%

Nose: Very weak, almost nothing, even in my super-nosing Spiegelau! The only thing I detect is very faint dry hay.

Palate: Smooth and creamy by feel, but again quite insignificant. It lingers a while, but just what do I taste? I really don't know! So I try to instil life into it with 3 drops of water and the tingle lasts longer, but there is still almost no flavour.

Overall Impression: Maybe I take back my insignificant comment about the Loch Lomond. This is really insignificant and the Loch Lomond is suddenly looking pretty good.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Lochside 1963, 42y, 45.2%, Clan Denny (DL)

Nose: The strongest and best nose of the grains so far. Hints of liquorice, wild flowers and straw.

Palate: Delightfully smooth but with quite a short finish. Some liquorice immediately hits the front of the tongue, spreading to the middle then fading away to leave a dry aftertaste. Just a drop of water lengthens the finish and brings out the straw elements, also making the finish a little longer.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Invergordon, 1971, 35y, 49.5%, Bladnoch Forum

Nose: The nose of an olde-worlde sweet shop. Nothing in packaging, just different sweet aromas all muxed-ip together.

Palate: Not quite so creamy as the other grains and certainly not as sweet as my summary of the nose suggests. It is almost a mixture of nuts and wine, with just a little hint of redcurrant and maybe even banana.

Overall Impression: This is quite different again, but I think I like it and want to return to it.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

I just checked and at the moment I have something like 12 more samples to write the notes for, busy times ahead


One of them will be for tonight and was a gift from Peat-Chaser. I think it's a 40y Ledaig. Very rich in colour and nose. Interesting!

[Malt-Teaser]

So, I'm home late from the pub and have here, as promised, what I think is a Ledaig 40y:

Glass: My beloved Spiegelau

Colour: Rich dark brown, beautiful.

Nose: Prunes with a slight hint of antiseptic cream and vomit (must be Ledaig!)

Palate: Initially wishy-washy, not what I was expecting. But the flavour kind of grows on the palate over time. It has raisins, cream, just a little peach in there too and thankfully, none of the vomit from the nose.

Overall Impression: Even age can't cover that typical vomit-stained nose, but the taste does grow on the palate and although unusual and slightly weak for the age, it is quite palatable, although I wouldn't rush out to buy a bottle.

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Of course all in the name of research, the following drams have recently been sampled and will eventually be added here as well as into the tasting notes section:

Ardbeg 1974, 24y Signatory
Ardbeg Oogling
Ardbeg Spirit of Scotland 11y, 1990-2001
Ardbeg Blasda
Bruichladdich PC7
Bowmore 17y sherry cask AD Rattray
Glenallachie 18y, 1989-2008
Glen Garioch 8y, old 1980's bottling
Lochside G&M
Macallan 17y, 1985 Pseymalt
Milton Duff Glenlivet, green tube & label, late 1980's early 1990's bottling
Rosebank 1990, 16y OMC
Auchentoshan 10y
Bladnoch G&M
Hazelburn 2nd Ed.
HP12
HP18
Jura 14y, MMcD
Talisker 18y


It's strange because I already knew what many of these taste like, but hadn't written sufficient notes the first time around so I unfortunately have to re-visit them in order to put the right notes together.

[Malt-Teaser]

Sorry for going so long without updates, but I have been busy elsewhere.
I just tried a kilchoman new spirit;

Kilchoman, new spirit, distilled 23.4.2008, bottled 23.3.2009, 63.5% ABV

bourbon cask, 50ppm, Optic barley


Glass: Spiegelau

Colour: Extremely pale yellow, only just coloured water

Nose: Beneath the alcohol burn (well it is 63.5%) is a sweet summer-fruit salad in a bowl of peat, dressed with heather. After a few minutes the peat recedes to leave a little apple, pear and a fine chardonnay grappa, with just a faint hint of new rubber. (That reminds me, it's almost time to pet the winter tyres on the car)

Palate: Smooth, oily and huge. The apple, pear and grappa immediately assault the palate and refuse to leave, tantalising the tongue for an eternity, although this does turn quite dry after just a few moments.

With 3 drops of water: The peat immediately returns and dominates the nose, whereas the palate is even smoother and longer with a perfumed mixture of peat and fruit.

With 3 more drops of water: The rubber returns to dominate the nose and a little almond joins the apple and grappa on the palate.

Finish: Extremely long and if anything, it gets longer with each addition of water.

Overall Impression: I am impressed! In fact so impressed, I'll be back to this one soon!

**

[Malt-Teaser]

Finally, after 3-4 weeks of solid typing and Front-Pageing I have more or less caught up with most of my tasting notes. My full notes can be found online on my website;

http://www.whisky-emporium.com/UK/TastingNotes.htm

along with some features like my glass review, whisky & chocolate and whisky & food, plus a couple more in planning stages.

This doesn't mean I am deserting WWW, just trying to get everything in one place. I will also add occasional new notes here on WWW, but probably in the tasting notes section as opposed to this thread, we'll see.
I also had many notes on loose bits of paper as well as some in a little notebook. All are added.

Finally, I am suffering immensely from losing something like 130 open bottles from the pub as they have been held by the owner I rented from (another story, elsewhere), but my lawyer has written asking for them to be returned as they are open. We'll see what happens in the next week or two. I am reliant upon these for a few more notes and for a very many bottle pictures needed for my existing notes.

Malty

[Malt-Teaser]

Just a quick note to let you know I'm still here and still tasting. In fact last night I reached the milestone of having tried Single Malt Whisky from 100 different Scottich distilleries.

Yesterdays two which marked this milestone were;

Ardmore 1990-2006 G&M 43%


Benrinnes 15y F&F


Malty

[Malt-Teaser]

One further update from me to say that I have now announced my own whisky awards for 2009.

http://www.whisky-emporium.com/Blogs/2009-12-Dec/Blog.htm

Basically, the deserved winners are;

Distillery of the Year Glengyle
(with Kilchoman as runner-up)

Best new release of 2009 Hazelburn 12y

Best whisky glass Classic Malt
(With Glencairn a very close 2nd and Spiegelau an equally close 3rd)

On my link there are other awards for drams tried in 2009 but not released in 2009 and finally my 'dud' of the year goes to Bruichladdich Waves (original presentation) which has a tendency to go 'off' after a new bottle has been open for as little as 5-10 days.

There are two other awards which I considered announcing on my blog, but which I didn't because they are more trade as opposed to general consumer ones, but which I shall announce here and are as follows:

Best Importer / Wholsesaler to deal with: HaWe Bremen
No request or enquiry is too much trouble and all staff are always friendly. Delivery times and quality of handling are second to none.

This next one may seem a strange category, but I have had much direct contact with distillery staff and also the corporate marketing bodies of the large companies, so I feel it only fair to give credit where it's due. This also gives an insight to how good some companies are behind the scenes, which is just not seen by most of the general public who buy their whisky direct from an internet shop or the local whisky store.
Most helpful Distillery / Trade people There are joint winners in this category as I cannot fault or separate their commitment to help and the quality of help received, so congratulations to Pernod Ricard and also Springbank Distillers. Especially Ian Logan and Peter Currie respectively, but also to the whole Pernod Ricard 'Gastronomy' marketing team who were so helpful when I was running the bar.

Congratulations to all my winners!

Malty

[C57]

Must try that Hazelburn, Malty!

For your non-new best of 2009, Glen Mhor 1969, I agree what a great malt that was. Mine is sadly missed

[Malt-Teaser]

I was not the biggest fan of the Hazelburn 8y. It was a good Summertime dram, but a little too much citrus and light orange for my personal taste, but the 12y has matured into another dimension; rich, complex and almost unrecognisable from the 8y.

A special tip from me is to combine it with a dark chocolate which has some orange flavour, I used Hachez Cocoa D'Arriba, but I guess even A Terry's (dark!) chocolate orange would work as well.
A sublime combination!

[Ian Logan]

Keith,

Thank you for the kind words. I hope you and your wife have a wonderful 2010, you deserve it.

Ian

[Malt-Teaser]

Ian, thank you! The help and commitment of yourself and the PR local marketing team was faultless. If only more companies would show this type of customer service and help many of our lives would be made much easier.

The same comments go to Peter Currie and his colleagues at Springbank too.



As for my awards, I am making up some certificates which will be sent to all winners in due course.

Malty

[Malt-Teaser]

Meanwhile, I feel a foray into my samples coming on this evening as I will choose between;

Tamnavulin 12y
Glendullan 12y F&F
Deanston 12y
The Speyside 12y

Dufftown - an old 1991 bottling from James McA.
Strathisla - a 1970's G&M edition
Glen Albyn - G&M 'CC' old map label
Cardhu 12y Highland Malt - a 1970's Italian edition
Coleburn 26y 1983-09 Whisky Agency
Strathmill 12y F&F

Malty