I had planned 2 more Craigellachie reviews in this round but we’ll have to settle for just one as the Craigellachie 7 bottle from Whisky Live TLV didn’t arrive yet. So the last indie Craigellachie in this round is another Old Malt Cask but this time it’s 15 year old with different profile. It was distilled in 1997 and bottled in 2013 after it was matured in a refill hogshead.
The second Craigellachie review in the series and this time a 11 year old offering from Hunter Laing, matured in a sherry cask and was bottled exclusively to the duty free store in TLV airport. As it was priced decently it was an easy choice to buy by many malt-heads here.
Nose: Malt with young fresh berries, cherries, meaty and chewy with light sulphur note of unlit matches, sour apples, all those with sweet forest berries on the side. With water added spices of nutmeg and cinnamon. Continue reading
I have some fond memories of Craigellachie. I slept there while touring the Speyside region, tasted my first Craigellachie dram there and I liked the new lineup released last year.
I got this sample of a young Craigellachie single cask from Wemyess and while I sat down and wrote my notes for it, I realized I have a couple more of indie Craigellachie reviews to publish and so, expect some heavy dose of indie Craigellachie reviews in the coming few weeks from this unheralded distillery.
Let’s start with the young Craigellachie that triggered this reaction, the Craigellachie 2002-2014 Dark Treacle Fondant from Wemyess Malts. Like most of their single casks releases, it’s NCF and without caramel, bottled at 46%.
Nose: Big malt note and very spirity at first. After a minute or two in the glass it’s sweet dark golden syrup (Treacle name playing psychological havoc on me) and stewed fruits lurking underneath it all. Not bad at all but I did get annoyed from recurring sprity whiffs. Continue reading
After reviewing the basic NAS offering from the Singleton of Dufftown line up let’s go to the very top of the lineup: Singleton of Dufftown 18 Year old.
Nose: Cereal, creamy, rich fruity notes, soft vanilla, apples, spice, toffee, lively and fresh yet soft,. Overall it has a very rich nose. Continue reading
From two very peated Bruichladdichs to the other edge of the scale. Today’s review is a mellow Speyside whisky: Singleton of Dufftown Taifire.
An expression released in 2014, it’s a NAS whisky with a supposedly fruity touch due to “higher proportion of European oak casks”.
Nose: On first sniff it’s very creamy with lots of malt cereal and light sweet honey. Further on there’s a dash of fragrance/perfume, vanilla, peaches and weak candied oranges. After it spends a few minutes in the glass there’s some white pepper spice.
Continue reading
Last review was a Bruichladdich Port Charlotte and on its heels is another peated Bruicladdich review. This time, the latest offering in the Octomore series – Octomore 7.2
Like in previous Octomore releases, the x.2 suffix means some fancy/special wine finish (For example: Octomore 6.2 was Cognac finish) and this time it’s a Syrah wine (from the Northern Rhone Valley) finish.
Nose: Restrained and smooth peat, vanilla, sweet red berries that slowly develop into a formidable dry red wine impact but the it’s beautifully balanced with the peat. There’s a strong back-end of cereals and fruity notes supporting this all. Due to the high ABV I tried it with a few drops of water and it’s showing more cereal and barley, lighter peat and weaker wine impact. Continue reading
I’m too busy with work and big life projects, so there wasn’t much activity on the blog, so a big apology to you my readers. In the meanwhile, until load is back to normal (sometime in September), I’ll probably stick to quick reviews and tasting notes posts.
The Port Charlotte Islay Barley was released last October and is a logical next step after the very successful and liked Scottish Barley version which I reviewed here. This time it’s pure Islay product.
Nose: Starts with a strong peat note but without much bonfire smoke and then an attack of flavours. Cereal pudding, lemon, vanilla with moist fruits. After a few minutes, the peat is more refined and sharper with more smoke but it still keeps the cereal and fruity character. Continue reading
It’s been a while since I last said it so it’s time for a repeat: Gosh I love the whisky community on the internet!
I was gifted a few Irish whiskey samples from a mate as I have to expand my Irish whisky knowledge. When I opened the package, to my delight I found another sample tucked in and on the label there was only one character: ?
Ah..a blind dram! Obviously I didn’t have enough of blind drams lately 😛 so I set out to try it. My first thoughts were it’s a young whisky yet it felt quite complex. So it has to be either a Scotch vatted malt or non-scotch whisky. I guessed it to be a 5-6yo bottled at 55%.
Then the truth was revealed and I was happy to see I did managed quite well and to see I finally made my first venture into Swedish whisky as the dram was Mackmyra Svensk Rök.
Svensk Rök, which means Swedish Smoke, is a NAS whisky although I was told the casks used here are 4-9yo. The official tasting notes says there’s strong influence of Juniper here but that’s one aspect I failed to detect. Well, I’m not perfect 😉
Nose: Youngish, malt, cereal, mellow peat smoke, some citrus whiffs (orange peels and lemon). There are sweet honey and fruits notes, dough and creamy. With more time it becomes brighter, fruitier & sweeter without much peat yet still keeping a smokey flavor. Fizzy sweet candies. Quite a transformation! Continue reading
As part of the recent boom of new craft (and large) whisky distilleries, we’ve also seen new distilleries pop up in major urban centers. There’s a new distillery in London and a new distillery in Glasgow – the first one in many decades. As with other new distilleries, they already produce Gin and whisky will be produced soon as well.
To celebrate the rebirth of the first Glasgowian distillery in ages, they acquired a batch of aged single malt Speyside whisky casks and the first one was released recently, a 26 years old whisky from unknown Speyside distillery branded Prometheus.
It was laid down in first fill sherry cask and bottled at 47%. Lets check how much fire this one bring to the table.
Nose: Strong punch despite only 47%, Fresh notes of honey & dried fruits, berries, a bit of color thinner, nail polish remover, vinegary, cream, dusty library, ripe sweet banana (like rum), touch of smoke, very crisp and sharp nose. With some time in glass, cinnamon and sweet cranberries, milk and cranberries chocolate.
Continue reading
Again too busy with work so today, again we’ll have to be content with a quick whisky review. This time: Macallan Select Oak from the 1824 series. Upon release it was destined at the Travel Retail market, exclusively at first although now you can find it in many online stores.
The Select Oak is a combination of first-fill European oak casks seasoned with oloroso sherry, and American oak casks seasoned with oloroso sherry or bourbon.
Nose: Sweet sultanas, whiffs of young spirit, lots of malt, vanilla, toast, weak nutmeg cinnamon, sourness of unripe berries. Continue reading
Whisky Gospel 