Malt Mission 2008 #260

Port Ellen 21yo 1982/2004
Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask (OMC)
for the Islay Whisky Shop
Sherry cask 477, 182 bottles
$£ Price unknown £$

After 260 Malt Missions, is my palate tired or my tastes more refined? How about after 100 whiskies in a single day (yes, spitting... for most of them)?

Yesterday was unlike any day I have ever experienced, and experience was something that the likes of Mario G and Sukhinder S continuously reminded me that I had in short supply. From a 17-flight judging panel of 54 whiskies in the afternoon to a seemingly never-ending night of everything from Compass Box's original Hedonism through Scott's Selection Longmorn-Glenlivet 1971 to Samaroli's Ardbeg 1973 (Fragments of Scotland) it was a long day that tried my nose and palate in ways I never thought possible. It would be unfair to call it hard work, to the reader it would no-doubt sound like a backhanded boast, but what I am acknowledging is my humility, ALL OF OUR necessary humility in the face of this ever-generous spirit. Additionally, I have yet more evidence that I have no justification to 'score' whiskies outside of blind tasting competitions where any score is only relative against its competitor. I have so much more to say about Thursday February 28, 2008, but I haven't the words... or more importantly, the time.

Port Ellen was founded in 1825, closed after 1929 only to be reopened in 1967 (after some modernisation and renovation), silenced in 1983, and fatally closed in 1987. Today the distillery provides malted barley to Caol Ila and Lagavulin (and others?). The world of whisky connoisseurs have mourned this lost distillery and still sing its praises with every sip supped from finite supplies.

Big thanks to TF for bringing over the bottle and thanks to DB and RA for inviting me for the day, SS, MG, JG, GG, and more for the unforgettable night. Cheers and happy leap year!

TASTING NOTES:

Salty, slightly rubbery, and spiced with sherry. Smoked mussels, salt and dried fruits. Damp, humid, dusty, like desperately mid-night drinking from that glass of water that has been sitting beside your bed since last week. Moldy tobacco, sherry, and fish. Funky and odd but incredibly inviting.

Waves of smoke throughout. Soft red delicious apples, bruised. Sherry, pepper. A new fire, paper and shreds of bark. Very burnt, charred, but coated in cake icing.

SUMMARY:

Totally fun and chewy and worthy of communal drinking with conversation, debate, and differing opinions. That is what whisky enjoyment should be all about, not solitary scientific organaleptic consumption and evaluation, as much fun as that sounds...

Malt Mission #256
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Malt Mission 2008 #259

Brora 20yo, 1982
Rare Malts Selection
Highland Single Malt Whisky
58.1% abv
£120*

We'll have a couple of closed distilleries to finish off this peaty week on the Malt Mission. Built by a real bastard whose exploits in a position of peerage made him the wealthiest man of the 19th century and his family one of the wealthiest landowning families in the UK, Clynelish/Brora has a complex and fascinating history.

Brora is the name of of the old Clynelish distillery once it began to produce spirit alongside the new Clynelish distillery from 1969-1983. When old Clynelish was closed in 1967 to build a more modern distillery just up the hill(which took the same name), there was a surge in the demand for peatier, Islay-style malts. Old Clynelish fired up her stills producing a peaty spirit(40ppm) under the name of the town where the distilleries were located, Brora.Times were good in the 1960s and 1970s for the whisky industry and by the late 1970s it was bursting with maturing stock. The increased production and investment had been miscalculated and the closures came quick and fast, especially with the bigger companies. DCL closed Brora in 1983 and the whisky world has indeed been the poorer since. Let us hope the recent investments based on market predictions in good times do not result in another whisky loch. I suppose one way the companies are ensuring this are the gradual price increases over the past year all across the industry. A small price to pay, I suppose, for greener distilleries and a secure future for the industry; we all just hope they aren't taking the piss by, I don't know, repackaging and charging 10-20% more for their entry-level bottlings...

The Duke of Sutherland, George Granville Leveson-Gower, took active part in the Highland Clearances between 1811-1820(quite late in the history of land-clearances in Britain), a territorial if not ethnic cleansing that began with the forced relocation of farmers to coastal settlements, to new lands(Canada, America, New Zealand) or indeed, into the sea itself (see just one tragic story here). All this was to make room for massive sheep farms, much more profitable than human crofters who could not be trusted to pay their rents nor pay them with their heads as sheep could.

While still the Marquess of Stafford, the prick eventually known as Duke of Sutherland built Clynelish Distillery on a farm in Brora as a way to ensure the use of excess grains and hence deter the farmers selling these excess grains to illicit distillers. This also guaranteed that rent was met, and if it still wasn't, off to Nova Scotia and in with the sheep!!!

This was the last Brora to appear in the Rare Malts range and was released in 2003. See all Clynelish/Brora had on the mission HERE.

* - this figure is my guess at the bottle's worth based on rarity, demand, and precedent and should not be taken as an absolute value.

TASTING NOTES:

Creamy and a bit sweaty, floral and oily with a typical bourbony sweetness. Abv is quite apparent.

Coal and peatsmoke, candied apple, apple-flavoured lollies, some spice and a chewing gum creamy sweetness. Strangely dense but light, like smoke.

SUMMARY:

Not the best Brora I have had, but who knows what sorts of casks they were filling in those final years of production? Pleasant but obviously edgy, like having lunch with an employee that knows you are about to make him/her redundant. A drop that grows on you and still has that special salty, oily, vanilla-ed creaminess that makes the Old Clynelish distillery one of the most missed of all of Scotland's lost distilleries.

Malt Mission #256
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Malt Mission 2008 #258

Benriach 1984, 22yo
Single Malts of Scotland
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
53.2% abv
£65

Seagrams [the Canadian company under whose ownership many distilleries nearly vanished from the earth forever] neglected this speyside distillery when it was in their control (1978-2001) but today, in the capable hands of a passionate team of talented whisky makers, BenRiach is a critically acclaimed and widely well-regarded malt whisky.

Single cask expressions of BenRiach have been available over the past few years and Single Malts of Scotland have released a few now-legendary bottlings, especially those from the peated spirit that BenRiach produced. The distillery was producing peated spirit (since 1983) and unpeated spirit to provide for Seagrams' blended whiskies. I am quite excited to sink my teeth in.

All Single Malts of Scotland bottlings had on the mission can be seen HERE. For more BenRiach distillery (pronoucned ben-REE-akh) info and to see all whiskies from the distillery had on the mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Mmm, sweet and creamy but full of smoke. Peaches, yogurt, vanilla icing, raw chicken, carrot cake, and even a sour note like grapefruits or hard kiwis. With time, some raw fish or pickled cauliflower. Smoke and matches are in the conversation of flavour, but the juicy sweetness is speaking with the loudest voice.

Bam! Big impact that is sweet, burnt, and peaty. Honey, spice, pepper, charred bacon fat, citrus, wood toothpick that you have had in your mouth for too long. A bit of a coffee flavour in there as the finish of peat, brown toast, and marmalade linger. Bacon crisps and beef jerky flavours as well. It goes on...

SUMMARY:

Um... total complete sweet peat treat. Delicious.

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Malt Mission 2008 #257

Bowmore 1985, 21yo
Islay Single Malt Whisky
Single Malts of Scotland
59% abv
£60

From a distillery owned by the company that brought us the McClellands malts from last week, this a single cask offering from the former "Sherriff's" Bowmore distillery. Bottled by the folks at Speciality Drinks (who were nominated for a Drammie... no, not THESE Drammys), the Single Malts of Scotland have limited availability but are loved by most who are able to taste their wares. From odd to awesome, good single cask bottlings are things to be cherished and enjoyed.

Hey, it's almost March. Time to start looking into booking and planning for Feis Isle 2008?

All Single Malts of Scotland bottlings had on the mission can be seen HERE. For Bowmore distillery info and all Bowores had on the mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Grainy and outdoorsy, organic. Horse stables. High abv is gentle, comes off as bakery sweetness, vanilla cakes. Smoked ham, Mr. Clean, and apple juice.

Ashes, soot, dry manure in a damp horse paddock. More pork, pancetta, and chewing the leather straps of new baseball glove. An odd chocolate mint kind of flavour comes out after some time and the finish is chewy, sweet, smoky, and oaky. Does not go quietly into the night.

SUMMARY:

Blind, one would be hard pressed to guess the age and the odd mix of flavours would have even the keenest nose struggling to pinpoint the source distillery. But it works, and takes water well. Water exposes smoke, burnt bits of pastry, and wet hay. A charming oddy.

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Malt Mission 2008 #256

Auld Reekie 12yo
(Vatted) Malt Scotch Whisky
Duncan Taylor and Co.
46% abv
£22

Had a series of mystery malts from McClelland's last week and will start this week of smoke and peat with another unknown malt from independent bottlers Duncan Taylor & Co. This Auld Reekie whisky is a new expression (Jan 2008) and replaces the 12yo that was sold for a while(and was actually made up of mostly 15yo Caol Ila). This is not a single malt but all the constituents are from the island of Islay. Blended malt, vatted malt, or what DTC has gone for: Islay Malt.

The city of Edinburgh acquired the affectionate nickname "Auld Reekie" back when chimneys spewed coal and wood smoke in the heating of its inhabitants' homes. At this same time Edinburgh had become a 'hot-bed of genius' that "coincided with drinking on an unprecedented scale."* There were 8 licensed whisky distilleries but Hugo Arnot, in his "History of Edinburgh" (1779), estimates that there were over 400 illicit stills operating in Edinburgh. Scottish Enlightenment, perhaps, but Auld Reekie was reekin' drunk.

Today, Edinburgh still has a reek about it, but it is the heavenly sweet aroma of barley mashing blowing in from the west(North British), not chimney smoke. In whisky terms, Islay is the capital of smoke (peat) and this release captures that character. I know the Hallowe'en font of the bottle text is a bit off-putting for some, but I am sure this whisky could scare a few folks. Let's taste.

* - Charles Maclean, "Scotch Whisky: A Liquid History" p. 62 (1988)

TASTING NOTES:

Lemon meringue, smoke, honey, sesame snaps, more smoke. The peatiness definitely leads, but there are plenty of sweet aromas in there as well.

Simultaneously gentle and explosive. Coal, butter and flour roux, lemon zest, gummy fruits, some sea salt, and a touch of spicy cinnamon like gum, Big Red. Long coppery finish with peat, earth, wood and a lingering saltiness. Some minutes later, public swimming pool impressions still linger.

SUMMARY:

Pretty exhilarating stuff. A pick-me-up quality about it among clouds of peat and industrial smoke. Relaxing but recharging and the abv is at an ideal level for both high drinkability and impact. A quality drop that deserves a better label, in my mind.

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Malt Mission 2008 #255

McClellands Islay
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40% abv
£14
$31.85(CAD)
$20(USD)

Another week come and gone on the malt mission and my eyes (third eye?) still burn from celebrating the Drammie win on Wednesday. I understand yours might, too.

Today we will have the final malt in the regional series from McClelland's, whiskies created to represent four regions of whisky production available in many global markets and priced fairly.

Can you name all distilleries currently in operation on Islay? *

For all McClelland's had on the mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Earthy, tarry, some chamomile and clementine skins. Gentle smoke, mineral like mud, and a touch of dog poo.

Soft and smoked, like dutch cheese. Burnt bits of pizza crust, with a lovely core of honey and chocolate, Toblerone. Long charred finish, like crispy belly of pork or burnt cheese dripping out the side of a calzone or something.

SUMMARY:

The angriest of the McClelland's lot, but still quite easy drinking and packs more punch than its price point. A little sweet, a little thin, and a little dirty... brings back memories of teenagehood... A good cheap whisky for that Islay mood.

* - Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Kilchoman, Lagavulin, Laphroaig.

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Malt Mission 2008 #254

McClelland's Speyside
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40%
£14
$31.85(CAD)
$20(USD)

Thanks for your emails, posts, messages and comments of congratulations on winning the Drammie. No, thank you. No, thank YOU. But no, thank YOU!

Actually, I am totally BLOWn away that you have been so HARD ON me with such PENETRATING comments. Puns intended, you perverts. I really never thought the SEMI-nudity would be the issue (there's more nudity on tube/subway, newspaper/magazine and TV adverts!!!). I thought there would be anoraks writing "Um, Drammies is plural, DrammY is singular", and "that liquid is too light for Talisker", "too dark for Grant's", etc. Whatever. I think the pics are hilarious and thank K for a fun night of shooting them.

Continuing with our THANKS FOR VOTING week, tasting our way through 4 affordable, entry-level malt whiskies for everyone's budget and palate. Today is the Speyside representative, tomorrow will be the Islay, and next week we will have some celebratory malts. For all McClellands had on the Malt Mission click HERE.

Speyside is a wonderful region of whisky production, too often overlooked by whisky drinkers who get captivated by the intense flavours of Islay and never return to mainland. But for those that do, there are some absolute gems to be discovered in this region of over FIFTY(50) distilleries. Subtle, complex, with great diversity, sometimes even with the same water and barley sources(!), Speyside whiskies are far from boring.

The watercolour paintings on each bottle were painted by British artist, John Caldwell.

TASTING NOTES:

Very aromatic and estery with a bready, malty core. Apricots, lillies, kiwis, synthetic banana. Fruit essence shampoo, Jolly Ranchers, icing sugar, petroleum jelly/Vaseline, and french toast.

Gentle impact with a nice rounded flavour, if a bit perfumy. Russet apples, Ritz crackers, golden syrup before an eruption of oak, walnuts and chocolate truffles followed by a bit of UHU, and a tingling, slowly drying effect. Finish is more made up of sensations than flavours.

SUMMARY:

The nose on all three of these McClellands malts so far have been really quite impressive. But they have also all failed to match that performance on the palate. Perfectly good whisky that is pleasant to sip and distinctly different than the other regional selections in the series.

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Dr. Whisky Wins Drammie!!!

THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU THANK YOU

Dr. Whisky was nominated BY YOU and voted for BY YOU and WAS AWARDED the 2007 Drammie award at The Scotch Blog. Sure, my passion for whisky and talking/typing about the stuff is what drives this whisky blog BUT as a non-cash-generating/ad-free blog, your emails of kind words, compliments and questions give me the motivation I need (some days more than others) to keep this thing going. Winning a people's choice award like this only gives me more fuel and I have every intention of keeping this resource alive as long as the whisky world can use it. THANK YOU!

it has to be done, and this is MY show so no one can cue the music and pull me offstage...

Thanks to:
My Mama and Daddy
Kevin Erskine, The Scotch Blog and Inebrio
Mark Gillespie (who linked and mentioned Dr. Whisky in Whisky Cast episode 91)
Ingvar Ronde and The Scotch Whisky Yearbook 2008
Kris Gilmartin (author of the article on Dr. Whisky that appeared in the Scottish Sunday Post in June)

Thanks to mad-blogging linkers: Sku of Sku's Recent Eats, Malthead, Rocksoff.se, V at Scrapple from the Apple, 't Veemgericht, Emily at Waiting for Dorothy, Douglas Blyde at The Daily Wine, Jysmith at A Perspective and A Jeremiad, Dunford at Bread Party, Cigar Jack, Kristof, Darren Turpin's The Genre Files, Islay Weblog, Armin Grewe (IslayBlog), Johan (WhiskyGrotto), Home of Whisky, Stephen Rowe (Food & Plastics), Inebrio, Sweasel.com, Mattias (WhiskyBlogg), Discover Whisky, Dave and Thomas, The Avondale Evening Mail, Home of Whisky, Whiskymagazin, The World According to Patrick, Chris Taylor (Taylor & Company) Red Hare (Eclectic Elephant), Will (Nose Palate Finish), Chris Bunting (Nonjatta), Colin Ligertwood (For Peat Sake), Colin Campbell (Whisky Blog), Jay Williams' Aphoristic Subplot, all you nuts at EUWOLS, Naresh at Sound of the Cinema, and any more I am forgetting(sorry), who have all linked to Dr. Whisky.

Thanks to loyal returning readers everywhere and to EVERYONE who has forwarded links to friends and colleagues via word of mouth, email, Facebook, web fora, etc.

Thanks to Neil Berrie and Arthur Motley at Royal Mile Whiskies
Friends and folks who have helped me taste drams over the past 14 months, MH, JM, RM, SK, EK, TF...
Dominic Roskrow, Misako Udo, Ian Buxton, Serge Valentin, Gavin D. Smith, Charlie Maclean, Robin Laing, Annabel Meikle, Dave Broom, Tim Forbes and Sukhinder and Raj Singh for being so constistently supportive and forthcoming with information

Those who have sent me/helped me source whiskies:
The Whisky Exchange (Colin(ex-man), Duncan, Matt, Alex, Chris, et al.)
Royal Mile Whiskies (London and Edinburgh crews: Michael, Stuart, Alex, Steve, Alaric, et al.)
Scotch Malt Whisky Society (Cath, Lesley, Jenn, et al.)
Alex and Jane at The Spencerfireld Spirit Co.
Andy Forrester (formerly ofJon, Mark, and Robbo, and Cellar Trends)
Mark Watt at Duncan Taylor
Barry and Barry at Premium Bottlers
Folks at Destilerieas Liber
Robert Ransom and George Grant at Glenfarclas
Iain Baxter, Elaine Mitchell and Derek Sinclair at Inver House
Neil Macdonald at Chivas Brothers
Billy and Alistair Walker at BenRiach
Ashok Chokalingham at Amrut
William Grant and Sons
Andrew Torrance at Morrison Bowmore
Katy Windsor at The Famous Grouse
Alex Bruce at Adelphi
Lizzie James, Deanna Killackey and Wendy Krone at Beam Global
Richard Paterson, Dave Robertson, and Margaret Nichol at Whyte & Mackay
Iain Weir and Alison Spowart at Glengoyne/Ian Macleod Distillers
John, Gregg, and Robbie at Compass Box Whisky
Nick Tilt, Tim Forbes, et al at Speciality Drinks
Marcie Hume who helped me make this video (go watch it! Help us break 20,000 views!)
Anne Knudsen for finding interesting bottles in her travels in the Far East, Espen Knudsen for challenging me to start this mission and Kristin Knudsen for putting up with it.

***Never sent liquid support to Dr. Whisky, why not do so today? I see you lurking on these pages(Diageo, Gordon & Macphail, etc.)... cough up some 'spiritual' support. It is a win-win, mate. Find my email in DEAR DOCTOR on sidebar***

And if I have forgotten you or if you feel you deserve a thank you, then THANK YOU. I raise two bottles to all of you... and proceed to pour them over my head.

Malt Mission 2008 #253

McClelland's Highland
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40% abv
£14
$31.85(CAD)
$20(USD)

Goodbye Castro, Goodbye Musharraf. The world is changing but the Doctor keeps on sipping... Winners of 2007 Drammies to be announced today.

Today we'll have another whisky in the regional series from McClellands. All expressions can (eventually) be seen HERE. This one is the representative of the Highland region, including islands of Orkney, Mull, Skye, Arran, Jura but NOT Islay, which is classed as a region unto itself both by McClellands labels and by the Scotch Whisky Association.

As these releases are called SINGLE MALT whiskies, they are not vatted or blended or mixed, they are each products of just one Lowland, Speyside, Highland, and Islay distillery. So what are the distilleries in McClelland's malts? As Morrison Bowmore (Suntory) owns distilleries in three of these regions, it is a safe guess that the Lowland is Auchentoshan, the Islay Bowmore, the Highland Glen Garioch, and the Speyside ... ? Will hazard a guess when I taste it tomorrow.

TASTING NOTES:

A gentle spice leads with some savory notes and opens up into creme brullée, fruit yogurt, and vanilla.

Soft initially, but firms up mid-palate with cardboard and dairy sweetness, some ginger, paprika, cucumber skin and parsley. Quite a long aftertaste with some more papery notes and tea biscuits, and halva.

SUMMARY:

Nice, easy to drink, with just a slight edge. Simple, even plain, but wholly enjoyable with good highland characteristics of spice and body.

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Malt Mission 2008 #252

McClelland's Lowland
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40%
£15
$31.85(CAD)
$20(USD)

Tomorrow (Wednesday) Kevin Erskine of Inebrio and The Scotch Blog will announce the 2007 winners of his people's choice awards, The Drammies. Dr. Whisky was a nominee for best new product and I want to thank all of you folks out there who voted. So this week, in gratitude, we will have whiskies "of the people," no single casks, no £100 bottles, no limited editions. This week we will taste our way through the popular and affordable regional malt whiskies from McClellands.

McClellands single malts are produced by Morrison Bowmore distillers and are the first stop for many budgeted whisky travellers the world over. We have had the whiskies from Ian Macleod Distillers who also do a regional entry-point series (see HERE).

These are single malt whiskies for people who are new to the world of single malt whisky or who are not prepared to spend more than thirty bucks on a bottle of booze. They are gentle drams that are chosen to be representative of the diversity of each region of production AND they are not expensive enough to deter potential buyers from taking the plunge.

TASTING NOTES:

Gentle and juicy. Apple pie, bubblegum, soft spice of cloves and cinnamon.

Nothing on tip of tongue, all in the back. Strange, but very easy to drink as the impact is so gentle. Grassy, dandelions, tea, even some milk, and a lingering woodiness.

SUMMARY:

Very passive in its expression of flavours, if you know what I mean. A more blunt way to describe it would be "flat." Loved the juicy nose. Very friendly and a great way to enter the world of Scottish whisky... from the south.

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Malt Mission 2008 #251

The King of Scots
Blended Scotch Whisky
40% abv
***more info to come***

Yes, we have experienced 250 different drops on this Malt Mission, but the wonderful world of whisky remains a vast expanse awaiting further exploration and I am no less determined to stick my nose into whatever glass you hand me. "Thank you" to those companies that have supported this whisky blog by sending samples, info, and more. Thanks to retailers and others who have shared drops on various occasions. Thanks to friends for letting me steal minis of takeaway malt. Thank you Scotland. Thank you Aeneas Coffey. Thank you John Barleycorn. May it continue indefinitely.

A blend created in 1886 to start off this week, the regally named King of Scots. Not often seen on these shores, I picked this bottle up in Norway some months ago. It sits on Vinmonopolet shelves among other rarely seen blended treats like The Formidable Jock, Peter Dawson Special, Long John, Royal Castle, and Upper Ten.

Owned by family independent bottlers Douglas Laing and Co., the bottle reads: "Since 1886 the King of Scots Whisky has reigned supreme. Available until recently only in Limited Quantities, we are now proud to extend our guarded supplies through our numbered edition." This was no. 27421.

TASTING NOTES:

Big grainy sweetness, with fresh apples, some sea salt, cinnamon, and vanilla. A slight prickle in the nose.

Creamy taste off the top with a warming sherry impression. Some fudge and licorice add slight accents, but this is straightforward and pleasant stuff.

SUMMARY:

A well rounded and expressive nose and a great, creamy grain mouthfeel. Pleasant, easy-drinking blended whisky without much more to be said.

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Malt Mission 2008 #250

Smokehead Extra Rare
Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky
40% abv
£34

Another week come and gone on the Malt Mission. 250 drams later and I am still loving it. Hope you are. Thanks to The Scotch Blog for posting THIS this week(look forward to Drammies results next week, Wednesday), thanks to YOU whiskynerds for reading, and thanks to you youtubeturds who have helped this video we made get over 15,000 views. Have a great weekend.

I have quite literally had no time for Dr. Whisky this week. Sorry for thin posts as of late, will be back on form soon. We had the original Smokehead back at Malt Mission #72. This "Extra Rare" version is an exclusive for World Duty Free (for now) and we can assume the contents are a little more, um... rare. For more info on Smokehead Extra Rare see Whisky Grotto.

TASTING NOTES:

Yum and wow. Active and exhilarating. Sweet with booziness. Burnt and cheesy. Saganaki (Greek Flaming Cheese)! Very winey, salty, some fresh raw salmon, celeriac, all trapped in a musty closet of peat smoke.

Candied, kind of soapy, and quite smoky. Wine gums, lemon scent dishwashing detergent, green jelly beans, Nesquick. Late nuttiness with smoke persisting among sweet, synthetic orange juice; Sunny D?

SUMMARY:

A departure from the original release of Smokehead, and I would love to know what element in this release makes it "extra rare". Distillery source? Age? Type of cask? Marketing decision? It doesn't, and shouldn't really matter. It is about flavour. I enjoyed the nose, but for me, while certainly smoky and heady, this relies too much on the cleaning-agent characteristics with the cocoa, fruit, and smoke being overpowered by a "lemon fresh" janitor's closet.

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Malt Mission 2008 #249

Auchroisk 12yo Port Wood Finish
Murray McDavid
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
46% abv
£26.50

The polls of the Drammies 2008 are closed but Kevin Erskine has posted the picks of yours truly at The Scotch Blog in the run-up to the official announcement of the winners next week. Hope you all voted and many many thanks if you happened to vote for Dr. Whisky as best new product(non-whisky... though I am certainly full of the stuff).

Here is another whisky that my friend Tommi brought over for Dr. Whisky in little sample bottles from his collection at home in Finland (had another yesterday). Thanks, buddy.

Murray McDavid is an independent bottling company that is now tied to Bruichladdich distillery on Islay. For over a hundred years independent bottlers were the only people bottling whisky from single distilleries as most distillers output went nearly exculsively to blends. It seems hard to believe today but proprietary releases of 'single malt whisky' is actually a pretty recent 'invention', popularised by Glenfiddich who marketed their single malt in1963. By no means was this a new concept, but it had never been done on a large scale. Glenfiddich now outsells its nearest competitor by double. By double? That sentence sounds wrong. Whatever. You can edit it in your mind. I have to get to work.

Quick few points about Auchroisk (pronounced "awe-thrusk"):
-young distillery built in 1974 to contribute to J&B blended whisky
-the site was chosen because of the water source "Dorie's Well"
-they store well over 250,000 casks on site and the stills pump out 3million litres per year... and you probably still have never heard of it
-the first official bottling was in 1986 as a part of the Singleton of ______(distillery name here) range, a series that has been reintroduced in recent years.
-Auchroisk has been a part of the Flora & Fauna range since 2001.
-I am going now.

TASTING NOTES:

Roboust nose of clotted cream and raspberry jam, milk chocolate. Rice vinegar. Some spice like pine, fennel, or the white bulbs of green/spring onions.

Chinese hot and sour soup. Butterscotch with ginger and hot peppers. Brioche and a thin layer of marmite. White pepper. Creme brullée. A very winey finish with some vegetal notes as well.

SUMMARY:

A rich nose that has few comparisons at this price point. While many criticise finishing, this extra time in port pipes has added a wonderful depth of flavour that adds incredible value to this drop. Nice work.


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Malt Mission 2008 #248

Linkwood 1989, 15yo
Cask 3177, 561 bottles
Signatory Vintage Cask Strength Collection
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
57.7% abv
£40

The only other Linkwood I have yet had on the mission (Malt Mission #60) was from an independent bottler and as Linkwood lost out to Cragganmore as the Speyside representative in Diageo's Classic Malts range back in 1989, there has never been a widely available official bottling, Flora & Fauna being the sole standard proprietary release. (Just look at this list!) So Linkwood has been a darling distillery of independent bottlers (especially Gordon and Machpail) and blenders from Johnnie Walker to John Glaser since it was built in 1821.

Time is tight this week. Sorry these recent posts have been so lame.

TASTING NOTES:

Totally breakfast, not full English, but nuts and healthy seed mix, oats, oily and slightly dairy... yogurt. Rotting apples on the grass, full and almost farmy. Potato chips/crisps, apple cider vinegar, stock bone, and a tired sherry sweetness.

Sweet and sour with a HOT impact. Churned butter, late toasty effect like crunchy bits of well roasted potatoes. Ends lactic and creamy with some vanilla and oak.

SUMMARY:

Great body throughout, in the nose and on the palate. Perhaps a bit young (hard and hot) but more time in the cask might have allowed the sourness to dominate and become butyric. A risk the folks at Signatory apparently decided not to take. No idea where you can find this bottle today, but thanks to Tommi for sharing it! Kippis!

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Malt Mission 2008 #247

Glengoyne Burnfoot
Highland Single Malt Whisky
40% abv
£32
$50 (USD)

Burnfoot was the original name of Glengoyne distillery. This new travel-retail-exclusive release was launched in October 2007 and while it uses the 1833 name of the distillery it also boasts some very modern elements in its packaging (fluorescent GPS inspired box design) sharing a conceptual approach with another whisky in Ian Macleod Distillers range, Smokehead.

Glengoyne Burnfoot has no age statement but contains whiskies up to 34 years old. It was created to "represent a cross section of the Glengoyne character," offering a slightly fresher and sweeter taste than some of the other variants in the Glengoyne range. "Glengoyne Burnfoot is a whisky that has gone back to the future," says Iain Weir of Ian Macleod. "Burnfoot combines almost 200 years of whisky-making expertise with a twist of 21st century creativity. The result is a subtle and complex whisky." Let's see.

For more distillery info and to see all Glengoynes has on the mission click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

A very consonant and chordal nose of a flour-dusted wood counter tops, some juniper, lemon, pears, green gummy bears and black tea.

Interesting and divergent. Tight and crisp but also quite rounded in the flavour impact. Some older casks in here, I think, there is some mustiness and a great intermingling of fruit, some gin, almonds, honey and oats.

SUMMARY:

Tasty, but not exceptional, and not exceptionally Glengoyne. It is light but also shows great depth. There is something very familiar about it, it is as clean as I remember the Glengoyne 10 (which we will have on the mission in the coming weeks) but there is more sherry, and the finish is long, dense, and oaky. It is an easy drinking mouthful that isn't obvious or boasting about its quality. So subtle and complex is a fair description, Iain. Worth getting your hands on.

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Malt Mission 2008 #246

Arran First 1995
Island Single Malt Whisky
46%* abv
£32**

Specially selected casks from the first distillations at Isle of Arran distillery (b.1995) make up this limited release of 2784 bottles that was released in 2004 and is hard to find today.

Gordon Mitchell, distillery manager from the beginning, retired this past summer (2007) and was commemorated with the limited release Gordon's Dram. He has been replaced by James MacTaggart, formerly of Bowmore. We all hope that success continues to come to Arran, that the spirit remains as tasty as it has been throughout its young life, and that the peated version(12ppm) of Arran that has been produced for the past three years will continue long enough for all of us to try some when it is ready.

For all bottles from Arran had on the mission and for more distillery info click HERE.

* - at the LCBO there was a sticker amendment on the box reading 45.2%
** - price likely to be higher if you can find this bottle.

TASTING NOTES:

Apples, pears, some green chillies and butterscotch. Malt, oat cakes, and spice. Hard to describe the pepperiness, but it is crisp and vegetal.

Sweet and light, with the tree fruits above now cooked. Some nuttiness, too... hazelnut paste, Nutella. Salt, earth and cinnamon. Fresh and creamy with some woodiness like a sauna (cedar).

SUMMARY:

Light but pungent. Quite an invigorating nose.The Arran bottle reads, "the result has surpassed out expectations." Indeed, this drop is well-balanced and wonderfully promising. We continue to be charmed by the young Arran Distillery.

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Malt Mission 2008 #245

Lonach Caperdonich 1969, 37yo
Duncan Taylor & Co.
Speyside Single Malt Cask Whisky
40.6% abv
£60

Caperdonich is one of those distilleries that was built in the boom of the 1890s and mothballed just over a century later. The distillery was christened with the uninspiring name "Glen Grant #2" and was originally built with a pipeline connection to neighbour Glen Grant. Within five years after opening in 1897, the site fell silent, a fate shared with many distilleries in the wake of the Pattison crash(1898), and would not operate for over SIXTY(60) years!!! It was at this point the the name Caperdonich was assigned. The distillery operated as a part of Seagrams' Chivas and Glenlivet Group and just one year after Pernod Ricard took over the Chivas Group in 2001, Caperdonich was motballed (2002).

This is a cask-strength whisky, but you will note that it comes in at just 0.6% over 40% abv. By law, Scotch whisky MUST be bottled at a minimum of 40% abv. The Lonach collection from independent bottlers Duncan Taylor & Co. are bottlings made up of matured same-distllery vattings of casks that have fallen under-proof(ie. below 40% abv) with casks that have not. Whiskies falling under-proof is more common than many of us realise and most of these casks become constituent parts of deluxe blended whiskies, mixing with casks that are 50-60% abv, thus bringing the median up above the legal minimum. Euan Shand and the folks at Duncan Taylor use the single-distillery vatting method with these under-proof casks and thus create bottlings that, by law, remain Scottish Single Malt Whiskies. Clever.

TASTING NOTES:

Freshly cut pineapples in a wood salad bowl. Oak that comes off like disposable diapers/nappies (yes, clean ones). Some jam. Quite fruity and sweet and not a note out of place.

Warming and buttery eruption in the mouth, some baby powder, gets touch musty at points and even sour before getting incredibly nutty and toasted, roasted hazelnuts. Some raspberry, too. There is a very late flavour of green olives among a very dry oakiness.

SUMMARY:

Fruity sweet and incredibly oaky. Seems to have gone a bit beyond the "sweet spot" in terms of maturation, especially noticeable on the palate, but with a wonderfully constructed nose and such good value for the age, I can't really knock it.

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Malt Mission 2008 #244

Balvenie New Oak 17 "First Bottling"
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
43% abv
£55

Now don't get confused, even if the folks at Balvenie appear to be trying to confuse you. Yes, there was a "limited release" Balvenie New Wood back in mid-2006. This Balvenie New Oak is not the same. And although it apparently replaces the "Limited Release", it is called "First Bottling". And you will also note the abv is 43% rather than 40%. Beyond that I suppose it is completely different. Right?

Retailers' websites don't seem to help the matter much where "New Wood" and "New Oak" seem to be used interchangeably. Gets worse: the Balvenie official website (U.S. one, too)doesn't even make mention of this product, "New Wood", "New Oak", or "Who Knew?"

So I'll just drink it. Besides, it's what's inside that counts. For distillery info and to see all Balvenies had on the mission, click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Apples and honey, cinnamon, pie spices. Bubble gum, warm honey, vanilla ice cream.

Cashews, chestnuts, melba toast, cloves, lemon zest, light and heavy at the same time. More vanilla ice cream, cinnamon, lemon meringue. Eager to have more.

SUMMARY:

Very Balvenie honeyed tones with slightly oak-amplified vanillins. Malty core. Creamy finish. Perfectly balanced or perfectly plain, depending on perspective and/or mood. Clean and tidy whisky from the creative mind of malt master legend, David Stewart.

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Malt Mission 2008 #243

Imperial 1994 13yo
Duncan Taylor, NC2
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
46% abv
£27

First whisky from the mothballed Imperial distillery so far on the mission ... and the people rejoiced ... hooray!!!

This is just one of the 21 distilleries built in Speyside during the whisky boom of the 1890s (b.1897), it is one of four mothballed distilleries in owner Pernod Ricard's stable (we'll have the product of another later this week), and it was the first to be commissioned for sale (subsequently cancelled) to a real estate agency. Although located right on the Speyside Way (by Carron), Imperial never had a visitor's centre partly because it was in operation for just 7 years between 1985 and 1998.

Hard times befell most distilleries built in this boom period, as it was followed by a bust in the aftershocks of the Pattison crash in 1898, but Imperial remained of use to many. Robin Laing tells us that "The distillery dam provided recreation in the 1930s for summer galas of The Caledonian Swimming Club of Aberdeen, and for soldiers during the Second World War, when the distillery was requisitioned by the army to provide accomodation for troops and act as a military store." Today, the site managers make accommodations for toads who, every spring, migrate through the still house. "They seem incapable of going round the building and if the door is not open, they get stuck."(The Whisky River, p. 143)

The NC2 range from independent bottler Duncan Taylor and Co. are single cask bottlings that are Not Chill-filtered and Not coloured (hence N.C. x 2).

In the first edition of his Malt Whisky Companion, Michael Jackson described this whisky as "perfect for bedtime." Let's see if it's perfect for breakfast.

TASTING NOTES:

Incredibly fruity, estery with a creamy bourbon core. Candied, but not too sweet. Ginger. Pineapple. Warm, sweaty pencil after an exam.

Sweeter than the nose with a charred oakiness that keeps it in control. Creamy and toasted with caramel, a bit of tobacco, and a nice long oaky finish. Oat cakes. OaK cakes.

SUMMARY:

Really nice drop that has absorbed lots of oak character in just 13 years. Creamy and fruity without being too sweet. Friendly price, too. Always happy/sad to find a good expression from a mothballed distillery, isn't it?

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Malt Mission 2008 #242

Benromach Organic
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
43% abv
£30

Organic this and that, off-setting carbon footprints, recycling in Hackney borough... the world is changing and we are starting to realise that we are causing some of that change. But is this awareness just a fad? a trend? will it, as a concept, be commodified like everything else in this consumer culture? I remember back in 1989 when the world (at least my little 13-year-old world in one corner of Canada) went GREEN, every product was PHOSPHATE FREE, was BIODEGRADABLE, etc. The term GREEN sold well; Green Shampoo, Green Cereal, Green green vegetables. By 1994 the selling power of the GREEN "brand" had faded. Wasting no time to get in on the Organic game so vogue these days, Gordon & Macphail, owners of Benromach Distillery, have introduced an Organic whisky. (I am sure if there could be 'free range' whisky, someone would try to manufacture it)

As far as manufactring goes, Scotch whisky production is already way ahead of other industries in terms of re-use and recycling of materials and energy efficiciency/recycling. And as if the ingredients of Scotch whisky weren't natural enough, this whisky, the first certified Organic single malt whisky, uses pure spring water, 100% organic Scottish barley, organic yeast, and filled to organic virgin American oak casks from carefully managed forests. I think even the two men who work at the distillery had organic yogurt and porridge oats for breakfast each day of production after doing their yoga and reading chapters from Naomi Klein's new book.

Just east along the devil-horned bit of the Moray coast from Burghead, 4th-7th century Pictish capital and home of the maltings, is Findhorn, an appropriate neighbour to makers of the first organic single malt whisky. The Findhorn Ecovillage is a pioneering village of sustainable living that began back in 1962 with a bunch of optimistic hippies (teachers, scientists, musicians, artists), is one of the largest holistic communities in the world, has a eco-footprint HALF that of the UK average, and my friend HB was born there. Whisky casks, already a re-used product, are usually used to hold new spirit 3 to 5 (or more) times. The pic to the right shows a house at Findhorn made from ex-whisky cask staves when they were of no more use to the spirits industry.

For more distillery info and to see all Benromachs had on the mission click HERE.

TASTING NOTES:

Woody and warm, like a freshly electric-sharpener-sharpened pencil, with a whole fruit basket of aromas: hard pears, pineapples, green grapes, green bananas. Some instant coffee, very sugary tea, and Hershey's Kisses amid yet more oak, honey and nougat, and the smell of soil on your clothes.

Sweet like toffee that builds up becoming more oaky and toasty but is brought back down to earth with honey and the most robust barley taste of any whisky I have every had. Finish gets very grippy with oak, like bourbon, and dries with flavours of dehydrated apple and apricots, a bit of a lemony zest, and even more wood workshop.

SUMMARY:

Dave Broom has described this whisky as "edgy and plain with hard malt and freshly planed wood," (WhiskyMag Iss.58) and while I can understand where his desciptors are coming from, I don't see them as negatives in the least. I totally dig the nose with its distinctively barley-spirit tone just amped up with sanded wood and fruits, love the chewy mouthfeel and the flavour development from butterscotch syrup to hard oak and the richest and spiciest barley can get back to waxy American chocolate (box of Pot of Gold) and museli breakfast cereals to the finish which gets a bit too gripping with oak for my tastes (at least today) to make this a perfect drop. This latter point is a minor criticism, however, demanding that rather than not drinking Benromach Organic at all (which would be a major loss), we just drink it faster or alongside a refreshing lager or a pint of water. It is this drying effect that keeps control of the sweet chocolaty flavours creating a really wonderful balance. Absolutely delicious, in my mind, and without a doubt one of the best whiskies I have yet had on the Malt Mission.

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Malt Mission 2007 #241

Clan MacGregor
Blended Scotch Whisky
40% abv
$15 (USD)*

It has been exactly a year since I installed a tracker that records visits to Dr. Whisky. Looking at traffic graphs of the past 12 months blows my little malt-soaked mind. I never thought this whisky blog would last as long as it has or attract as much interest from so many corners of the globe. I want to thank every whisky nerd new and old for reading and sharing with others, and to the retailers and distillers who have helped keep this site going from strength to strength, week to week, dram to dram. Thanks to you, this remains an AD-free blog, and I am very proud of that. Now, down to business...

In a way, Clan MacGregor is the younger sibling of The Gordon Highlanders blend as both are progeny of William Grant and Sons but only relatives of Grant's line of blended whisky. They have much lower malt content and are not sold globally. Clan MacGregor is rarely found outside of the USA but remains a HUGE seller as the highest selling US-bottled scotch (ie. it is tankered over to the states for bottling) and number 2 of all blended whisky in the US, behind Dewar's. The other major market for Clan MacGregor is Thailand where the brand has been introduced with a promotional push in recent years. A great thing about being bottled in the US of A is that you can find it in those huge-ass bottles with handles. Love it.

There is also some irony in the fact that at the value-end of the whisky range of two competing companies, Wm Grant and Sons and Pernod Ricard have brands named Clan MacGregor and Clan Campbell. "Such was the hatred between these two clans at the turn of the 17th century that the Campbells succeeded in having the MacGregor name outlawed," writes Jim Murray in Classic Blended Scotch (p.126), "to the extent that anyone bearing the name would be removed of it at pain of death." It took over 150 years for this savage law to be repealed but today the battle lives on in sales wars between French company Pernod Ricard's Clan Campbell (13th highest selling blended whisky worldwide) and Scottish company Wm Grant&Sons' Clan MacGregor (14th highest selling blended whisky worldwide).

Bottle text is always entertaining, especially with low end blends. The best part of this bottle text? "It is an achievement of perfection, distilled by skilled craftsmen, aged for thirty-six months, and blended by experts whose many years of experience in their art create a character of smoothness and taste that is unmatched." Unmatched taste is not necessarily a positive and although I like the poetic sonority of "distilled by skilled craftsmen", aged for 36 months is barely legal (whisky MUST be matured at least 3 years, 36 months, to be called "scotch whisky"). Brilliant. Excited to taste this puppy.

* - chances are you will find it cheaper.

TASTING NOTES:

Fresh, new-make element about it (which I quite like), with a bit of white pepper, Wonderbread, and not as much sweetness as I expected. In fact, not really sweet at all. In fact, not really ANYTHING at all.

Palate shows a touch of grain sweetness and the liquid has a pretty good body, not watery or oily, some elasti cresistance, if you know what I mean.

SUMMARY:

Totally surprised. Not hard to swallow or hot, actually quite chewy texture-wise and remarkably easy to drink, but really does lack any character. An absolute challenge to make tasting notes or to note any tastes. This is to be consumed by volume, ie. it is not a whisky to mull over on a late winter's evening, and for use as a budget mixing Scotch whisky. Ice, soda, red Noilly Prat, Crabbies, Coca-Cola, whatever.

Still shocked it wasn't horrid. 19 million Americans can't be wrong.

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Malt Mission 2008 #240

Mackmyra Preludium 06
Svensk Whisky
50.5% abv
£40

We have had the Preludium 03 and 05 so far on the mission (Malt Mission #104 and Malt Mission #239) and today we will be having the newest release, not yet available in the UK, Mackmyra Preludium 06. The style of this release is "frisk svensk rök", fresh Swedish smoke. This is made from barley that has been dried over a juniper and peat fire, matured for 4 years in first fill bourbon casks and then mixed with spirit that has matured in small, 100-litre American oak casks. It is made up of spirit from the pilot distillery (1999-2002) and the contemporary one (2002-now). See their site for more.

This was released at Systembolaget in Sweden at the beginning of December and by all accounts it sold out in about two minutes. See this man's VIDEO of his attempt to find a bottle. All you need to understand is that 'slut' ("SLOOT") means finished/the end/sold out. When I have worked retail, all but one bottle of Mackmyra I sold was to Swedes. Seems Sweden is almost single handedly supporting Mackmyra. Amazing. 12,000 bottles, this release. (Was it all in Sweden?) That is national pride. And an obsessive enjoyment of barley spirit.

Big thanks to Lars for the samples (today and yesterday). Not sure what Mackmyra Preludium 06 will retail for in Britain so will change price once it hits shelves.

TASTING NOTES:

The now signature array of pine, gin/juniper, and dough comes off first with a cloud of Tube dust or stale smoke following. Perfumy like nailpolish, but some nice banana and ice cream sweetness all with a aura of smoke.

Lots of caramel and vanilla initially but upon swallowing the abv explodes with flavours of burnt wood, taste of the smell of (does one even need to say that?) pan toasted pepper and mustard seeds, and a really unexpected tinned fishiness. A bit of hummus earthiness, too. Salt. Finish brings us back into oaky territory with candied sweetness and vanilla tea, with a final breath of smoke.

SUMMARY:

Complex nose matched by a complex palate, though I think either age or marrying would allow the flavours to bind a bit better. Metallic taste surprised me but was kept in line with banana and vanilla. Like a teenager just figuring herself out, the attitude is erratic at best, the clothes don't necessarily match, and they don't necessarily match the individual. But still, she's a good kid and her family loves her. All in all I think it is the best Mackmyra I have yet had. The 02 (not tasted for mission) is probably second favourite. But this stuff needs to grow up and after letting us experience the adolescence of this promising new distillery, that maturity is something to be excited for.

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