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Glenfiddich 1976
Vintage Reserve Selection 2007
Single Malt Scotch Whisky
51.9% abv
£299
$550(USD)
Merry Christmas.
During the week of Malt Mission 200 celebratory posts I wrote about Christmas offers and made an addendum. In that post I asked Santa for the Glenfiddich 1976, a new release from my year of birth carefully selected by David Stewart, Brian Kinsman and six other talented noses (for more info visit Glenfiddich's page on the selection of the 1976 cask HERE.) Only days later "Santa" emailed me to say that he and the elves would be pleased to make my Christmas wish come true. [Yes, Ian Buxton, this was someone at the Red Consultancy (see Ian's related piece HERE)].
Within the week I had received a sample of the vintage. This morning we opened it with my other Christmas presents. I chose to share this gift with Kristin's brother Espen, another 1976-er (his notes appear in quotes below). The cask was an European oak third fill ex-sherry cask. There are only 549 of these babies available worldwide from the year of the dragon, filled to cask January 16, 1976, and only 33 of these bottles are available in the UK.
For all Glenfiddichs had on the mission click HERE.
Again, Merry Chirstmas... and big thanks to BM for sending the drop.
TASTING NOTES:
Light and fresh, with some mentholic whiffs that hit with strength. Sweet with a very pleasant bitter edge. Fruity (apples) and floral (lillies or something... I don't really know flowers). Like a flowershop, a little bit of vanilla, and "still a bit spirity, spicy." Great development with time in the glass.
Luscious mouthfeel, slightly minty, sweet, "and very smooth". Warming sherry shift upon swallowing, getting more oaky and slightly toasty with fruity sweetness, some orange, apricots and apples, among others. "I just had a teeny bit and it lasts forever. It makes the texture in my mouth... different."
SUMMARY:
A sophisticated old whisky, that is rich but light, tender but strong. Like many great aged whiskies, this cannot be quickly consumed and judged, it demands we slow our lives down and consider the whisky for a good length of time. Charlie Maclean has written that whisky is Scotland's most generous gift to the world and this Christmas season, as ever, we are all infinitely thankful.
Malt Mission #216
Malt Mission #217
Malt Mission #218
Malt Mission #219
Malt Mission HOME
Laphroaig 12yo Oloroso Cask
Islay Single Malt Whisky
53.1% abv
£35
This version of Laphroaig is a World Duty Free(UK) exclusive. Like all Kildalton malts, whiskies on the south coast of Islay (Ardbeg, Laphroaig, Lagavulin), this release has attracted much whisky-nerd interest sparking forum discussion and debate (HERE and HERE, to cite just two).
We bought a bottle on the way out of Heathrow. TO DRINK with FRIENDS and FAMILY. I emphasize this because some complete shmuck(s) have already posted bottles for sale on eBay and the like (I will not put links here). One has a BUY NOW price of £250 and the other has been bidded on and is currently at £145.
I have mixed feelings about collecting whisky as it is, but to each their own. Who am I to judge? But this kind of profiteering is absolutely disgusting. Go buy and collect stamps and baseball cards and Nazi paraphernalia... please leave the water of life alone. DON'T SUPPORT THIS BEHAVIOUR!!! Drink, be merry, and be kind to others.
The kind folks at Beam Global tell me that this 12 year old "was specially selected 1994 Laphroaig – selected by Master Blender Robert Hicks, from 3 ex-bourbon barrels. It was then filled into a sherry butt for 14 months, the same sherry butt which had held the 1974 fully finished Laphroaig (31yo) we had bottled for Maison du Whisky in 2005." (Thank you HK and LJ for answering my questions)
Tasted with SK amongst candles and beer in Oslo (and again this morning with Kristin under more controlled conditions... in bed). For other Laphroaigs had on the mission, click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Very viscous, and I usually don't mention this, but it has extremely slow legs. Big sweet bouquet. Strawberry gum and vanilla tobacco, licorice and cigarette smoke. Coca cola bottles (gummies). Sweet and quite yummy while simultaneously being carbolic/phenolic, smoky. Soft and welcoming. Dirty, angry, and somehow charming. Italian 'confetti', white candy covered almonds.
"Strong, fairly lightish colour. For me it is a very classic peatish, definitely not a blended one. Interesting actually," said Svein. "In a way the taste is de-coupled from the smell. I think. Suddenly it smells, kind of a sweetish, interesting." Salty and dry, suddenly, but still candy/lozenge sweet. "Smells like good memories. It's very sweet, isn't it? Mmm... that smells lovely." - Kristin
Sweet, melons and Sprite. Cashew nuts and Coca Cola. "It is not as peaty as that Skye malt," said Svein. "Talisker," I say. "Yes, it feels lighter but sure, you can feel the peat. The alcohol flavour somehow subdues to the, sort of, the flavour." I find it very pleasant at cask strength. Great, clean initial fruity impact that expands mid-palate with syrupy and oily flavours and textures. Long sweet fruity finish with some ammonia, freshly cut wood, and the taste of the smell of new cotton t-shirts.
SUMMARY:
Kristin says, "Everything you're expecting from Laphroaig but it its just more subdued." An interesting Laphroaig. It is a more refined, elegant Laphroaig. More Ardbeg than any Laphroaig I have ever had. Kristin enthusiastically agrees, "yes, like drinking in the warehouses at Ardbeg with Stewart, the feeling of positive memories that was brought back with my first smell." Kristin is the peat freak in this family, so her enthusiasm is to be expected with this dram. Espen, her brother, took one whiff ans said, "whew... for advanced users."
It's not worth £250. "Not at all." But worth every penny Laphroaig charges for it at UK Duty Free. Enjoy it, don't pirate it.
Malt Mission #216
Malt Mission #217
Malt Mission #218
Malt Mission #220
Malt Mission HOME
Macallan Elegancia 12 yo
Speyside Single Malt Whisky
40% abv
£28
$55(USD)
Elegancia. Hmm... what could it mean? Is it Scots? Gaelic? Nope; Spanish... naturally.
I can tell you that while the environment where I consumed this whisky provided fun and laughs, grace and dignity were almost nowhere to be found. Indeed, 'elegant' would be an ill-fitting descriptor for the DFDS boat from Copenhagen to Oslo, lovingly refered to as "Danskebåten" by Kristin and her friends, but it sure can be an arseload of fun.
With the sun rising over a frosty Norwegian fjord's shoreline we sat next to a starbord window in pleather chairs. Surrounded by bus-loads of blue-hairs, the cheesiest versions of jazz standards were squeezed from the bar speakers. Yes, we fell well below the average age, but this whisky made me feel at least 50% less out-of-place. I don't know what that means, but it did.
Launched in 2002, Macallan Elegancia is a Duty Free exclusive matured in ex-Fino and Oloroso sherry casks. My friend MC posted me some back in 2005 in plastic contact lens case. Gotta love him for the thought and creative method, but it did taste a bit like petroleum when it arrived.
For other Macallan's had on the mission click HERE
TASTING NOTES:
Lots of oak, apples and cinnamon, marmalade, breakfast cereal (corn flakes?). Malty, oaky sweetness. Almonds, oranges, chocolate ice cream.
Gentle impact, sweet before gripping with oak. Toasty sherry characteristics with dried fruits before crême brulée and leather glove flavours.
SUMMARY:
Elegant indeed. Lighter than the standard (as opposed to the Fine Oak) Macallan range, but it has a delicate richness... if that is possible. Great nose, soft, clean and tasty with a short-ish finish.
Malt Mission #216
Malt Mission #217
Malt Mission #219
Malt Mission #220
Malt Mission HOME
Ardmore Traditional Cask
Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky
46%
£25
$45(USD)
Built in the year of the Pattison's blending crash, Ardmore distllery has survived hard times and is still pumping out tasty, tasty spirit.
After 109 years as an operational distillery Ardmore has (finally!?) been released as a single malt by its owners. It has been a darling distillery of the independent bottlers for many years, a quiet workhorse producing over 5million litres per annum, and has been the heart of Teacher's blended whisky for over a century. The distillery has produced both peated and unpeated malts specifically to supply the blending market and this expression of Ardmore is of the peated variety. Further, it has undergone a second maturation, or has been 'finished', in smaller oak casks, traditional quarter casks.
Some of us have heard the phrase 'quarter cask' in reference to a new product from Laphroaig (Malt Mission #128). Since the break-up of Allied Domecq in early 2006, Beam Global has owned both Laphroaig and Ardmore. We can only assume that the treatment of Ardmore Traditional Cask is similar to that of Laphroaig Quarter Cask: Whisky that has spent 5 or 6 years in ex-bourbon hogsheads or barrels that is then transfered to smaller casks where it can be exposed to more oak, absorb more of the flavours that come with maturation and is then released with no age statement, first at Duty Free, then the UK, then the world. Now, I have to wonder, are these quarter casks first fill, or have they perhaps held something before... Laphroaig? Let's taste.
Tasted with LDLJ in Copenhagen, Denmark. Her notes appear in quotes.
TASTING NOTES:
Baked sweetness, flour, butter, ginger and/or cinnamon and brown sugar, some honey and black tea, with a dampness, a kind of moist, earthy, sweet peat smoke. "There is something Laphroaig about it."
Wow, big burst of a smoky impact, slightly fishy, more baked sweetness with canned peaches, "mmm... apples." The big impact becomes gentler upon swallowing into shortbread and a bit of vanilla and bubblegum. But wow, smacks of smoke.
SUMMARY:
A really impressive whisky with a huge peat presence that does not overpower the luscious baked sweetness that lies at the heart of this malt. Line was right, this is very Laphroaig, perhaps they DO use the same quarter casks? Hmm...
Malt Mission #216
Malt Mission #218
Malt Mission #219
Malt Mission #220
Malt Mission HOME
Discouraged by the state of democracy where you live? Feel your voice is never heard? Get involved in a grassroots voting scheme where you pick the candidates and have a real say in who can become a winner and who can become a wiener... in the nation of Whisky.
Kevin Erskine (The Scotch Blog) is running another year of whisky awards cleverly titled 'The Drammies' (a play on 'The Grammy Awards' or 'Grammies', an American music award). Categories this year include awards for best innovations, marketing, bang for buck, and more.
With the Malt Mission launched January 1 2007, perhaps you should think of Dr. Whisky for the Best New Product (non-whisky) category!!!
Visit The Scotch Blog's Drammies page, get read-up, nominate, and vote!
Grant's Sherry Cask
Blended Scotch Whisky
40% abv
£14
$25.15(CAD)
$18(USD)
I figure that over the coming cRaZy pre-Christmas and New Year weeks I will get through at least 5 Malt Mission posts. They will be irregular, but will be representative of my juletide travels to see friends and family. And January 1 will be the first anniversary of this Malt Mission! Wild. This drop was shared with MC in Toronto.
This is one of Grant's Cask Reserves (we had the Ale cask back at Malt Mission #78). These are variations on the standard Grant's blended whisky that undergo a second maturation or 'finish' in ex-sherry or ex-ale casks. This expression was put in first-fill ex-Oloroso sherry barrels in order to add sweet, warming, sherried and fruity impressions. Let's taste it.
For all William Grant and Sons products had on the mission click HERE.
TASTING NOTES:
Thin, not in a bad way; tight and compact. Coconut, licorice, and sweet sherry.
Toasty oakiness, toffee, coffee, cinnamon and biscotti. Even an impression of smoke in the finish.
SUMMARY:
Great blend with good depth of character with enough of interest for frequent sipping. Affordable, in fact great value considering the cost of sherry butts these days. Wholly pleasant stuff. I am still tasting its toasty charms minutes later. I imagine this didn't spend too long in the Oloroso cask as it only has accents of sherry and is not dominated by characteristics that might be expected. This is a good thing.
Malt Mission #215
Malt Mission #217
Malt Mission #218
Malt Mission #219
Malt Mission #220
Malt Mission HOME
Ichiro's Malt Ace of Hearts
Japanese Single Malt Whisky
American Oak Sherry Wood Cask #9004
Dist 1985 Bott 2007
56.5%
First of all, I have no idea how much this stuff costs or if you can even find it where you live. If you can understand THIS then let me know if it offers any information.
Again, no time to say much else today. See Malt Mission #105 for another whisky from Ichiro's card series or Takeshi Mogi's site for info on Hanyu. For other posts on Japanese whiskies click HERE.
This ends three weeks of international whiskies on the Malt Mission and the mission will be active but irregular over the next three weeks. Thanks for reading and have a Happy Merry everything.
TASTING NOTES:
The aromas seem to slide down the nose, you get hit up high and the senses seem to slide their figurative fingers down the edge of the blade-of-steel aromas. Poppadoms, pickle, ginger and sherry. Some smoke, mint, fudge and lager. Complex and busy, like some new flavour of bubblegum wrestling your senses as you wonder, "what is this?" Water opens up a flower shop with dozens perfume-wearing yummy-mummies and a smoke saturated stroller. Evocative, to say the least.
Eruption! Panama! Jump! Ladies and Gentlemen, it's Van Halen whisky!!! Gummi bears, boiling brown rice, fennel, wax candles, flowers and perfume all before the explosion of the abv%. Oak, sherry, cheap advent calendar chocolate, hops, smoker's fingers, all ending in sugar, soot and wet wood.
SUMMARY:
Fun and rockin', this stuff is guaranteed to exhilarate. At around £150 a bottle and packing an exhilarating punch, this stuff is the 1980s poolside-cocaine-party of malt whisky. Dance the night away.
Malt Mission #211
Malt Mission #212
Malt Mission #213
Malt Mission #214
Malt Mission HOME
Nikka Whisky from the Barrel
Double Matured Blended Whisky
51.4% abv 24F30C
£21 (gift pack shown in image is £32)
Nikka is one of the biggest whisky producers in Japan and was founded by the godfather of Japanese whisky, Masataka Taketsuru. Nikka pioneered the single cask release format in Japan and owns Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries. I have no time to write anything more today. I will update as soon as I get a chance.
Tasted with Tante Anne. Her notes appear in quotes.
TASTING NOTES:
Bubble gum, dry sherry, and a zip of orange zest. Solo. Evaporated milk, sweet caramel chews.
"Smells Japanese. Like old wooden Japanese homes" (She has spent a lot of time in Japan).
Minty sherry oak and plastic bags. Walnuts, raspberry seeds, delicious bittersweet notes like slices of Gala apples. Very dry finish with some pine and a cocoa smokiness.
SUMMARY:
Nose opened up with time and patience and made varied impressions. Water dulled the impact on the palate but helped discriminate between flavours. A very impressive package in a very impressive package. And another rich but affordable Japanese whisky. There is something Aberlour and Teaninich about it.
Tried it as a MIZUWARI and it was gentle, but with a surprisingly complex array of flavours from brioche to cherries to chocolatey smoke.
Malt Mission #211
Malt Mission #212
Malt Mission #213
Malt Mission #215
Malt Mission HOME
The Tyrconnell
Single Malt Irish Whisky
40% abv
£22
Another Irish today. We'll head to Japan tomorrow.
Named after a racing horse, The Tyrconnel (tire-kon-ill) was the flagship brand of the Watt distillery (1762). It was a bestselling whisky in the US before prohibition and didn't survive into the post-war period. Ireland's only independent distillery, Cooley Distillery, has recreated the brand and it is now the fastest growing Irish single malt and a real award winner, most recently having its 10yo Sherry finish win "Top Irish Whisky for 2007" at the Malt Maniacs Awards.
TASTING NOTES:
Sweet fresh apricots, oats and malt. Slightly phenolic with magic markers and ash.
Big maltiness, rich breadiness that is quite toasty. Grilled cheese sandwich. Hay.
SUMMARY:
Simple, malty, and easy drinking. Feels like it is on the verge of exploding with heights of flavours, but never really takes off. But this is not necessarily a bad thing. Rounded, straighforward, very pleasant and hearty whisky.
Malt Mission #211
Malt Mission #212
Malt Mission #214
Malt Mission #215
Malt Mission HOME
Tullamore Dew
Irish Whiskey
43% abv
£17
$29.15(CAD) $25(USD)
Now we'll have a couple Irish whiskies, an under-represented sector of the whisky market here on Dr. Whisky, but the country of origin for many extremely popular and often excellent whiskies.
Tullamore Dew was first distilled in 1829 and takes its name from its town of origin and the initials of an early owner, Daniel E Williams (DEW). After 1887, the line "Give every man his dew" appeared on every bottle. Irish whiskey was extremely popular the world over, but a combination of American prohibition and trade/economic fallout following the Irish War of Independence(1922) effectively killed the prominence of Irish whiskey on the world market. Today, many distilleries and distilling companies have made great strides towards once again becoming a force to be reckoned with on the world whisk(e)y stage. Tullamore Dew is no longer produced at the original distillery in Tullamore, but in Cork. It sells in excess of 2.5million bottles per annum.
TASTING NOTES:
Odd whisky nose. Copper, envelope glue, herbs(basil). Cigarette smokers' breath. Very faint cherries. Polish Vodka-like.
Soft cherry ice cream and vanilla to start, soft, um, dew-y or misty impression upon swallowing that goes from flavours of juicy stone fruits to a drying oakiness.
SUMMARY:
Odd stuff. Very particular. Unlike anything else I've had on the mission.
Malt Mission #211
Malt Mission #213
Malt Mission #214
Malt Mission #215
Malt Mission HOME
