GlenAllachie 12 Year Old 46%

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Until 2017 GlenAllachie distillery was a modern ‘boring distillery’ in the Chivas Brothers portfolio where 99.5% of the produced whisky going into blends (mainly Chivas Regal) and just a few casks here and there were bottled as single casks by independent bottlers.

But then came Billy Walker who sold BenRiach Distillers (owning BenRiach, Glendronach and Glenglassaugh distilleries) to Brown-Forman a year before, and the distillery immediately came into the limelight and everybody was curious to see what will Billy do with the distillery and the extensive stock maturing in the warehouses.

A few months ago it started with a wave of single casks and two months ago, GlenAllachie launched their core line up and we’ll cover it here, starting with the cornerstone of the line up and the probable best seller of the distillery – GlenAllachie 12 Year Old.

GlenAllachie 12 Year Old was matured in a combination of Pedro Ximénez, Oloroso and virgin oak casks and bottled at a great strength of 46%.

GlenAllachie 12 Year Old (46%, £40.95/€37.90)

Nose: Mellow maltiness, oranges, tangerine rind, honey, hardness below (rocks, stones and limestone), honey glazed pears. After a few minutes, fruit orchard, pears and apricot and some bubble gum. Then the sweet candies come along: pear drops and hard candies. Continue reading →

BenRiach 10 Years Old Triple Distilled Review

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A few months ago BenRiach distillery released a new expression exclusively in global travel retail market segment, a 10 Year Old Tripled distilled. Triple distilled whisky isn’t too common in the Scottish whisky industry with only Auchentoshan and Springbank (with their Hazelburn brand) producing such whisky on a regular basis. But other distilleries do play with triple distillations and it’s even not the first tripled distilled coming from BenRiach.

The third distillation usually produces a further refined new make, which usually leads to a lighter flavor and body profile for the aged whisky.

This BenRiach 10 Year Old Triple Distilled was matured in ex-bourbon and PX casks and bottled at 43%, a strength shamelessly targeting casual and newbies drinkers in the duty free shops.

BenRiach 10 Years Old Triple Distilled (43%)

Nose: Light and airy fruitiness, pears, honey, peaches. slowly getting green unripe fruitiness variants with melon and kiwi. With some time croissant dough and sweet barley with gentle white pepper in the backseat. Continue reading →

Bowmore 1996 21 Year Old Dramfool

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In the last few years I have troubles enjoying Bowmore whiskies. It’s not the distillery fault that my taste and preferences has changed over the years, but I do keep tasting them, hoping to encounter one that I’ll like and as a service to my readers 🙂

The latest Bowmore I tried was the 15th release from the independent bottler Dramfool. It was distilled in September 1996, matured in a refill bourbon hogshead and bottled in May 2018, producing 299 bottles at 52.9%.

Bowmore 1996 21 Year Old Dramfool (52.9%, £125)

Nose: Starts very floral, gentle peat, lactic, wisps of smoke. With time more peat lactic and balanced, vanilla, with even more time less lactic, more sour vanilla and tropical fruitiness laced with the floral peat. With water, tropical fruitiness, less intense floral, more orchard. Continue reading →

Ledaig 13 Year Old Amontillado Finish

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Distell, the owners of Tobermory, Bunnhabhain and Deanston distilleries (after purchasing Burn Stewart Distillers back in 2013), has announced last week a formal collection of limited editions for 2018 with six whiskies from those distilleries.

In 2017 we had a similar collection from Distell although it was not officially announced as a global and unified series. The 2017 collection included two Bunnahabhain whiskies (Moine Brandy Finish and PX Finish), Deanston in Bordeaux wine casks and a few more releases from Tovermory and one of those ‘extra’ releases was the Ledaig 13 Year Old Amontillado Finish which became a big hit that largely flew under the radar but was coveted by many whisky lovers.

Ledaig 13 Year Old Amontillado Finish (59.2%, £74.99/€102.78)

Nose: Sweet pears and cured meat, soft earthy sweet peat, then big grapes and fuzzy white wine (Cava) notes with pears interwoven with the Ledaig sweet peat, vanilla, soft subtle smokiness. Continue reading →

Syndicate 58/6 12 Year Old

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A review of a blended whisky? Sure, why not? Especially when it’s a blended whisky with a pedigree:

All the way back in 1958, a rare blend of Scotch malt and grain whiskies was found in 10 casks in a warehouse owned by William Muir Bond 9 Limited. Having been distilled in 1954 and made to a recipe that dates back to the 1800s which was enjoyed by royalty, it’s safe to say it was quite a good find indeed.

In 1966, when the whisky was 12 years old, a quantity was bottled for the Directors of William Muir Bond 9 Limited and a close group of friends. A total of 6 accountants and lawyers made it possible, forming Syndicate 58/6.

The Syndicate blend contains 18 Single Malt Whiskies and 4 Single Grain Whiskies. A ‘Solera’ system is used and additional 12 year Old whiskies are added so they are reblended with older stock (Thus it still contains small quantities of the original 1958 blend). The blend is then married and finally matured for up to 2 years in 4 year old Oloroso Sherry casks from Andalucia.

Syndicate 58/6 12 Year Old (40%, £30)

Nose: Sweet, fruit and grain, pencil shavings, oranges and dried fruit, raspberries and strawberry, cinnamon, a bit of wood glue, then it becomes fruity again with the addition of green melon, harmonized and balanced. After a while develops some fruity perfume. Continue reading →

Glenmorangie Signet

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Another day, another review of whisky I liked in the past up to the point I had a bottle but never took notes and this time it’s Glenmorangie Signet.

Glenmorangie Signet is the only NAS whisky in the core line up (the annual Private Edition notwithstanding) and it features some percentage of heavily roasted chocolate malt in the recipe.

The chocolate malt is used a lot for beers but rarely for whisky as the yield is far below the commonly used barley strains in the industry. But it does add some different flavors to the whisky.

Glenmorangie Signet (46%, £135/$163/€149)

Nose: Light and gentle fruit sweetness (as expected from a Glenmorangie), malt, charred malt, and dark chocolate, floral fragrance and honey. It’s rich but could be a real bomb with an higher ABV (not that 46 is bad mind you).

Continue reading →

Highland Park 14 Year Old Cask #3376 (Distillery Exclusive)

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Highland Park offers a distillery exclusive but only if you shell out enough £££ for one of the premium tours and then you have to spend another £120 for the actual exclusive bottle.

In the last few months the distillery exclusive bottling was a 14 Year Old offering from a Refill Butt #3376 that yielded 582 bottles at 57.8%.

Highland Park 14 Year Old Cask #3376 (Distillery Exclusive) (57.8%)

Picture source: whiskybase.com

Nose: Dried dates and figs, cinnamon and some nutmeg, demerara sugar with a touch of brown sugar. After a few minutes there are some dried berries with gooseberries as the dominant variant. It’s very smooth (gasp!) and even perhaps a bit bland at first but it does get better with time and oxidization. Continue reading →

Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old Vs. Dalwhinnie Winter’s Gold

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It’s time for another post on those entry level classics I drank in the past before starting blogging. A few months ago we had a Dalwhinnie event at our local whisky club, going over the full official line up of the distillery, giving me a perfect opportunity to check out again the Dalwhinnie 15 Year Old after not tasting it for a while. But this time I’m going to spar it with a review of its younger sibling, the 2015 NAS variant Dalwhinnie Winter’s Gold.

Dalwhinnie resides on the spot between the western highlands and Speyside regions. if you drive from the south to Inverness you can easily stop there (or see the distillery and the pagodas from the railroad if you’re on the train going north).

Dalwhinnie Winter’s Gold was distilled in the Scottish winter (between October and March), when it’s cold so the whisky went through quicker condensation with less copper interaction, making the new make heavier. (Diageo offers to serve it from the freezer but I’ll stick to the regular method of tasting it at room temperature.)

Dalwhinnie Winter’s Gold (43%, £39.95/€35.95)

Nose: Malty, sweet with gentle nuttiness, honeyed citrus with lots of oranges and mandarins, heavy and full bodied, cake-y and bread-y, Continue reading →

Glenmorangie ALLTA is the 10th Private Edition Release

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A weekend full of Glenmorangie news. After we reported on the new label design of Lasanta, a new Glenmoangie label reveals the Tenth Glenmorangie Private Edition: Glenmorangie ALLTA is the next edition and we probably can expect it in January 2019.

This time the focus shifts from casks to yeasts – in this edition wild yeasts from barley fields near the distillery were used in the process.

Also notable that the ALLTA label shows a deviation from the standard Private Edition ABV of 46% and sports ABV of 52.1%.