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Macallan 1988 cask no. 8426
Duncan Taylor Rare Auld
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
53.3% abv
???PRICE???
Been a few days since my last post. Apologies. Was in Scotland earning the "Dr." in Dr. Whisky. Yes, that's right, I can call you Betty and Betty, you can call me Doc. As a result, next string of Malt Mission posts we'll be delving into the 'spency stuff to celebrate.
So we're back with another Macallan, this time a single cask from the good folks at Duncan Taylor. For other Duncan Taylor bottlings had on the mission, click HERE. For all Macallans, click HERE.
And if you see Mark at the pub in Dufftown, thank him for the sampler!
Tasted with TF. His notes appear in quotes.
TASTING NOTES:
Fruity, leathery, very sherried with a touch of smoke. "Very forward. Apples, varnish, brown sugar, I think also some rosehip and apple blossom." Perfumy? I find it musky, or like bad breath from a scolding school teacher. "Maybe. But sweeter. Toffee apple. Golden syrup." Sour cherries and dark melted chocolate. All in all a smokers car, 1984 Audi. With a lingering flatulence. Soggy tea biscuits, cardboard and a chocolate sundae.
Oaky and sherried with lots of candied character; ginger, raisins, licorice. "I'm getting the chocolate, sort of cocoa."
SUMMARY: Abv kicks, but it is the oak that grips. Lots of fun to chew on. "Its got a nice sweetness, cake spice, a sherryheads malt." Yeah, not subtle, but has what a sherry lover might be after with a lot of enjoyable and varied sweetness.
Malt Mission #306
Malt Mission #307
Malt Mission #308
Malt Mission #310
Malt Mission HOME
Lonach "A Confidential Distillery in Speyside"
41 yo, 1966
Duncan Taylor
43.9% abv
£129
Yeah, I know. I disappeared for a bit. Get used to it. Things are changing in Dr. Whiskyland but I assure you that for no matter how many days this site remains silent, the clinic will always remain open. Now here's the doctor with a 41 year old... um... with a 41 year old...
So, from what distillery does this whisky come? Here are some clues.
- This is one of the few family controlled distilleries in Scotland
- Their stills are direct fired (by gas)
- I have not had a drop from this distillery for over 100 malt missions (although I have enjoyed it a few times with friends since November).
- The family behind this distillery shares their surname with other distilling family patriarchs William, John and James.
- This distillery famously forbids others from releasing their product under the distillery name, though it has certainly happened on occasion. The working title for this particular release was "Far A Bouts".
For all Duncan Taylor bottlings had on the mission, click HERE and for all products from this distillery had on the mission click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Deep and inviting like a cool lake in the sweat of summer. Has a toasted or baked character, cherry turnover, subtle oakiness. Hints of sherry, grape candy powder (Fun Dip?) and perfumy like shoe polish.
Much more toasty than the nose indicated, pleasantly fungal and oily verging on rubbery. Early sweetness is shortlived. Celery, pickled turnips, slightly metallic or even bloody. Good balsamic vinegar, oak, and the taste of eating carnations.
SUMMARY:
Hard, tired oak, but with a great nose. Not unpleasant, but certainly challenging on the palate after the initial sweetness and like a 41 year old athlete after an injury, it never really recovers.
Malt Mission #291
Malt Mission #292
Malt Mission #293
Malt Mission #294
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Glenrothes 1968
cask 13498
Speyside Single Malt Scotch Whisky
Duncan Taylor and Co.
48.2% abv
£110
It is ridiculous that I have not yet had a Glenrothes for the malt mission. I suppose it is a bit nuts to imagine that someone could have almost 300 whiskies and still have negelected a whole distillery. Well it is not my fault, I have visited Ronnie Cox et al at whisky tasting events and tried their old and new vintages, just never in the controlled environment of the malt mission. To be completely honest, this is mainly because I have never received any samples through the post, and its not cuz the owners don't don't know this whisky blog exists; I have see Berry Brothers and Rudd (or their server, anyways) and the Edrington Group reading Dr. Whisky many times over the past year. Oh well. I try not to solicit and this is getting to that point, so enough. Sorry, I'm writing like an idiot today. Just not feeling it.
Thanks to the nice folks at Duncan Taylor and Co. for sending the sampler of their Glenrothes bottling along. I might as well tell you that between them sending me the drop and me getting around to posting on it over the past few tumultuous months, all bottles have been sold out. Nonethless...
Rather than having only a graveyard of casks at the distillery, Glenrothes is unique in having a still house that overlooks a cemetery. The distillery was off to a shaky start when the initial investors behind the construction of Glenrothes withdrew (to open a neighbouring distillery and begin a dispute over the water source). The financial difficulties led to the construction of a distillery much smaller than had originally been planned. Joining forces with Bunnahabhain to become Highland Distillers in 1897 and doubling its size in 1898 created a more secure future for the distillery. Today it is one of the largest distilleries in the industry with much of its produce finding its way in to Famous Grouse and Cutty Sark blended whiskies. It was a year after a distillery fire in 1922 that Cutty Sark was created.
God, what stilted prose today. Sorry.
Tasted with TF.
TASTING NOTES:
Raspberry, strawberry-tinged baby power. Smells like a place, i just can't pinpoint where, but it fills me with guilt -associated feelings. A brothel? The ladies room? The apartment of the other woman? Oak, some sour sherry notes, butter and crepes. "Quite fruity, red apple, cheesecake base, do you know what I mean? Biscuity. There's a sort of... you know, Haribo fried eggs." Laughter. Totally, says I. "Green oak, broken twigs, less fruit as it develops." Time in the glass lets out more estery high notes again."I like the old mahogany church pew you get off these oldies."
Soft, then bright, cloves, Brio chinotto, sweet soda fountain syrup, butterscotch. Floral notes and then tons of oaky grip. A sugary (muscovado?) sweetness lingers low among ginger roots and twigs. "Pruny, sort of like old cognac, raisins. Ginger, or gingerbread maybe, baked apple. The oak comes out so much on the finish, it becomes slightly astringent, wood tannins, that sort of almost resiny taste that you get."
SUMMARY:
A tasty mouthfull, with an emphasis on full. Less interesting on the nose, "yeah, but we've had it for like twenty minutes. Its still got it on the palate, maybe just a touch too woody. I like it." Tim was surpirsed to learn it was Glenrothes.
Malt Mission #291
Malt Mission #292
Malt Mission #293
Malt Mission #295
Malt Mission HOME
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.
Malt Mission #255
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Malt Mission #258
Malt Mission #259
Malt Mission #260
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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.
Malt Mission #241
Malt Mission #242
Malt Mission #243
Malt Mission #244
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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?
Malt Mission #241
Malt Mission #242
Malt Mission #244
Malt Mission #245
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