Laphroaig Four Oak 40% Review

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Today we’re gonna look at one of the two latest Travel Retail releases from Laphroaig. The Four Oak was released in early 2017 and as the name states, it was matured in four different oak casks: Ex-bourbon barrels. Small quarter casks, virgin American oak barrels and larger European Oak hogshead.

You know the saying “too many cooks spoil the broth”? In our cask it will be: Will too many cask types spoil the whisky? Since it follows two very mediocre and similar releases (Yes, I’m looking at you Laphroaig QA and Select), I was a bit wary of this one. But maybe this time it will work better?

Laphroaig Four Oak (40%, 1 Liter, £66/€51,95)

Nose: sweet, earthy peat smoke, iodine, cereals, honey, not a strong peat reek, quite gentle but feels rounder than QA/Select. After a few minutes in the glass some greenery. cardamom, a tad farmy with metallic metallic, salt water, Lapsang Souchong tea, more sweet smoke, getting sweeter and flatter. Continue reading →

Springbank 10 Year Old Review

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Today’s review is the entry level from Springbank distillery, the 10 year old offering that sometimes sneak below the radar as the 12 Year Old Cask Strength batches catch most of the lime lights.

The review was conducted on a bottle that was bottled in September 2016 (with the older label design), although I think the profile didn’t change much with the newer 2017 batches. And in order to make it interesting, I’ll review the 10 year old from 10 years ago (10 and 10, got it?) to see how did it change over the years.

Springbank 10 Year Old (46%, Bottled Sep 2016, £39.90/€37.95)

Nose: Starts with a sweet buffet with honey, vanilla and cereals. Then some Campbeltown magic enters the stage with a very soft funk. Mix of greenery, petrol, hay and pastry, becoming very oily. With time: fruitier, orchard, red fruit and berries and nuttiness, nutmeg and cinnamon. Continue reading →

Old Particular Glen Garioch 21 Year Old (Douglas Laing) Review

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Another Old Particular from Douglas Laing that arrived here is Glen Garioch 21 Year Old and it was the top of the line offering before getting sold out. It was distilled back in September 1995, just before it was mothballed for a few years so it’s a precious old liquid from an age long gone. It was then aged in refill hogshead and bottled in November 2016. Total of 290 bottles were produced.

Old Particular Glen Garioch 21 Year Old (51.5%, DL11471, £85.49/500NIS)

Nose: Sugar barley, perhaps a wee whiff of peat smoke as it went and never came back, fruity with pears and apples, ginger, almonds and nuts, quite fresh with undercurrent of rich flavour bomb, meadow and hay distilled into oil. With additional time in the glass more nuttiness and cooked cinnamon and becoming oily and fruity (somewhat perfume) with a touch of ginger. Continue reading →

Old Particular Glenrothes 12 Year Old (Douglas Laing) Review

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Back to normal programming after recovering from the summer vacation and reviving the computer and phone who died while on vacation and so we continue with a few more Douglas Laing whiskies that reached our shores. The youngsters single malts were reviewed and now we move up to the older Old Particular single malts, starting with a Glenrothes 12 Year Old that was distilled 2005, matured until March 2017 in a sherry butt that yielded 402 bottles.

Old Particular Glenrothes 12 Year Old (48.8%, DL11601, €78.75/330NIS)

Nose: Starts with porridge along with a big and velvety sherry spices wave, then unsweetened dried fruit, gentle sulphur, lots of chocolate and the smell of an empty espresso cup (after you drink one of course). After a while it gets sweeter and fruitier with strawberries and raspberries, it becomes more nutty along with some sharp spiciness. Continue reading →

Provenance Bunnahabhain 8 Year Old (Douglas Laing) Review

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The second review of the week is another young whisky bottled under the Provenance brand that reached our shores, and this time it hails from Bunnahabhain distillery on Islay.

Yes, Although it’s young and we see a lot of young peated Bunnahabhains (Moine) released around of the same age range, but this is no Moine, just a pure standard unpeated Bunnahabhain. This cask was distilled in 2008 and bottled in May 2016, yielding 451 bottles.

Provenance Bunnahabahin 8 Year Old (46%, DL11561, 245NIS)

Nose: Oily and heavy, malt, gentle honey sweetness, and weak fruitiness, vanilla laced porridge.

Continue reading →

Provenance Mortlach 8 Year Old (Douglas Laing) Review

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After a few years absence, Douglas Laing whiskies are back in Israel whisky market, represented by a new importer, Sipil Premium Alcohol. This time around we get to enjoy the full Regional malts line up and a few single malts, all priced very reasonably, so those are great news for whisky drinkers over here.

The single malts range at launch consists of two entry level Provenance whiskies and two Old Particulars, so naturally we’ll start with one of the Provenances, the Mortlach 8 Year Old.

Over the last few years, since Diageo has started Mortlach premiumtization process ,the count of indie releases of Mortlachs has seriously dwindled, with the rare Mortlach releases priced extremely high which is a pity because the classic Mortlach profile is so tasty (especially when aged in good sherry casks). But lately we’re seeing indie Mortlach back in market, albeit with young age statement releases like this Provenance release that was distilled  in 2008 and bottled in May 2016, but as long as they carry the Mortlach characteristics, we should be satisfied.

Provenance Mortlach 8 Year Old (46%, DL 11257, 245NIS)

Nose: Bready and pastry-y, citrus, cured meat, full bodied, pepper is lurking deep below the surface. After a few minutes there’s lemon and honey and later on there’s cinnamon and red apples, hmm lets call it red apples pie, shall we?

Palate: Malty, thick, fruity with citrusy edge, white pepper, rich sweet fruit, red apples peels, cured meat, gentle oak spices.

Finish: Short medium finish, bitter apples peels, lingering lemon and oak spices.

Thoughts: Young, not overly complex, but oh yeah, it’s so Mortlach-y with those meaty notes and the fruity notes. It’s an excellent summer dram so I’ll be buying myself a bottle (can you have a better buy recommendation than that?). Slainte!

(Official sample provided by Sipil, IL Douglas Laing Importer)

Longrow Red 13 Year Old Malbec Cask Matured Review

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The Longrow Red 13 Malbec is the fifth entry The Longrow Red series and is the third Campbeltown whisky review I post in the last 10 days, I’d say they were busy there in the last few months, ah?

This year edition was delayed and so we earned another year on the age statement going up from 12 to 13  this year (Noticed the creeping up trend? We’ve started with 11 years old statement for the first three releases). It  was aged for 12 years in bourbon barrels and then finished for another 15 months in Malbec casks. I loved the last edition (the Pinot Noir cask) very much so was looking forward trying this very eagerly.

Longrow Red 13 Year Old Malbec Cask Matured (51.3%, £62.50/€89,90)

Nose: Soft peat smoke, lots of red fruit, sour berries and unripe plums, winey, Honey, chimney smoke on the beach, Velvety but has a dry side due to the wine tannins. After a while it’s even more fruity with strawberries and with back-end smoked meat. Continue reading →

Glenrothes 1989 26 Year Old Cask #8172 (Single Malts of Scotland) Review

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Quick tasting notes blog post to close the weekend and we’ll go with a 1989 vintage Glenrothes that was bottled in August 2016 (That’s 26 year old whisky, saved you the calculation). It was matured in Hogshead #8172 that produced 241 bottles when it was bottled by Speciality Drinks Ltd under the Single Malts of Scotland brand.

Glenrothes 1989 26 Year Old (Single Malts of Scotland) (53.8%, £110)

Nose: Malt porridge, quite lemony, generous dose of oak spices, some floral perfume in the background, yes even some lavender, vanilla, honey and pears. Continue reading →

Kilkerran 8 Year Old Cask Strength Review

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Along with the Hazelburn 13 release I reviewed a few days ago, there was another eagerly waited Campbeltown release, the Kilkerran 8 Cask Strength.

The official Kilkerran 12 Year Old is a smashing success with a few batches bottled so far and now comes the younger sibling, the Kilkerran 8 Year Old. But to compensate for its youth, we do get to enjoy it at cask strength of 56.2%

The last cask strength Kilkerran was the Work In Progress 7 Bourbon Cask which was simply brilliant, but this time we’re 3 years short and with far more active casks involved, so let’s see how does it fare.

Kilkerran 8 Year Old Cask Strength (56.2%, £54/€54.99)

Nose: On first tasting it was a bit shy but on the second round a few days later it became very sweet and rich with lots of malt and honey. But there’s dry side with dry and a bit acrid peat smoke and some fundamental Campbeltown funk. Vanilla, again, very sweet, perhaps a bit too much?  Continue reading →

Bruichladdich 2003 11 Year Old Crofter’s Cask Review

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Islay is a small island with a population count hovering around 3,300 people. Many of them are working in the whisky and tourism industry and so it’s logical that some of them rose to fame and can even be celebrities for whisky lovers. But not all Islay celebrities are human, as some would argue that Crofter, a dog owned by Steve Bavin, now of Islay Ales and formerly of Bruichladdich distillery, can also be considered as a local celebrity, especially during the yearly Feis pilgrimage.

Crofter, a dog who entertains his owner Steve and other Islay visitors over the years is featured on a private bottling done by Steve, both in title and label, and I’m sure Crofter contributed a lot to the success of this 11 year old Bruichladdich by sniffing out the right cask. Or maybe it’s just because Steve worked there and knew which cask to select?

Bruichladdich 2003 11 Year Old Crofter’s Cask (61.1%)

Nose: Very clean, lots of minerals, melon and honey, dusty when sniffed neat,  very little peat and smoke, salt. Continue reading →