Whisky Review – Benromach 15 Year Old

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Once again I’ve been too busy to post reviews on the blog but I had a very good reason: a house move. Barely time to breath and my whisky was stored away during the move, but now it’s back to normal so let’s resume with a review of the new Benromach 15 Year Old.

It comes on the heels of the last year very successful re-launch of the 10 year old and G&M tucked on here additional 5 years, staying with sherry and ex-bourbon casks combo but is it like the 10 yo or does it go in a different route?

Benromach 15 Year Old (43%, £47.99/€79.95)

benromach_15Nose: Soft nose with very G&M like profile. There are nuts and lots of spices with ginger and white pepper leading the pack, soft oak wood, vanilla cream, wispy smoke and sharp menthol. I let it rest in the glass for a few minutes and got chocolate, sherry spices, bit of dried fruits, tangerines and oranges peels fragrance.
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Whisky Review – Glengoyne 21 Year Old (Festive dram for blog birthday)

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I’m taking another break today from the headbangers reviews series. But I have a very good excuse this time: It’s the blog second birthday!

To accommodate the event, I’ve decided to review a festive dram and after debating between a few possibilities, I’ve decided to review Glengoyne 21 Year Old.

Just like last year I intended to have a give-away for the blog holiday but it will be delayed till later this month, so watch this space.

Glengoyne 21 Year Old (43%, £109.79)

glengoyne 21Nose: Sherry goodness with dried fruits, raisins, prunes and plums. It’s a settled and elegant nose, lots of sweetness with demerara sugar and chocolate that strengthen over time. There  is also a lot of cooked nutmeg and overall it’s a real treat on the nose.
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Headbangers Whisky Review: Laphroaig 15 Old vs New

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It’s time to resume the Headbangers series reviews. But as I want to review another Laphroaig whisky before the summer finally settle in here (which is late by normal standards), Let’s do a headbangers review of Laphroaig 15. We’ll pit the old (pre-2009 Laphroaig 15 vs Laproaig 15 the 200th Anniversary version.

Yes, a fight of the same expression but the truth is it’s not exactly the same expression. The old 15 Year old was a very popular, being milder than the 10 year old and more delicate. But in 2009 they stopped producing it and instead we got the 18 yo (which is my top favorite OB Laphroaig).

But since then a lot changed in the whisky industry and as the demand is skyrocketing and stock levels are going down in an alarming rate, it was time to revert to the old lineup and reintroduce the 15 instead of the 18.

But it’s not only time (six years) that differentiate between those expressions. Production and materials may have changed. Perhaps even a conscious decision to change the whisky profile to fit the current demand? Let’s check then!
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Whisky Review – Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength Batch 007 (AKA James Bond Batch)

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I think I’ll prolong the headbangers break for one more day to review another new Laphroaig expression – the latest batch (007) of their ever-popular 10 Year Old Cask Strength expresison. Although it was bottled in January 2015, It arrived to market and webshops without much fanfare in May and the release proximity to Feis Ile and the new new 15 yo and Cairdeas releases made it coast to sold-out state under the radar.

But with all due respect to the new 15 Year Old and the Cairdeas, there’s no doubt that the 10 Year Old CS  does stands on it own as the series bottlings are always a favorite of many Laphroaig fans and the new batch is no exception. So let’s check how good is this batch.

Laphroaig 10 Cask Strength Batch 007 (56.3%)

laphroaig 10 cask strength batch 007Nose: Intense with lots of peat, ashes, smoke and to lesser degree iodine/TCP. Lurking right behind the corner are the fruity notes, saucy smoked meat and some touch of vanilla. Also playing: machines diesel oil, oak wood. With time it’s meatier and fruitier with more honey. With a few drops of water there’s also white pepper and touch of oak Continue reading →

Whisky Review – Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015

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Time for some interlude in the headbangers reviews series. I finally got my Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 liquid and I just had to taste it as soon as possible 🙂

It’s the Laphroaig 200th anniversary bottling, wholly produced in Laphroaig with 100% usage of malting floor barley and according to John Campbell, it should represent how old Laphroaig was used to taste.

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2015 (51.5%)

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Headbangers Whisky Review: Glenrothes 1998 10yo (Bottled 2014) vs Glenrothes Alba Reserve

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Fllowing yesterday ‘fight’ between two Glenlivet whiskies, today will bring you a fight between two expressions from another speyside distillery – Glenrothes 1998 Vintage (10 years old but was bottled in 2014) against Glenrothes Alba Reserve.

It was one of the pairs I tasted recently at Dramming.com age vs NAS bling tasting. This time it’s not a whisky vs its’ replacement but one of the regular Glenrothes vintages releases, although this 1998 vintage is the first bottling made with Gordon Motion as the Glenrothes Malt Master and we pit it against their all ex-bourbon (American oak) NAS release.  Continue reading →

Headbangers Whisky Review: Glenlivet Founders Reserve vs Glenlivet 12 Year Old

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It’s time for a new series on the blog – the Headbangers! No, this is not a series of posts on the WWE wrestling duo or heavy metal band, but a series of posts where we’ll put 2 whiskies in the boxing ring and we’ll see which one fares better, get the laurels and maybe get our approval.

Although it’s a series, I will publish regular posts in between as ‘snacks’ and interludes so you won’t get bored of this too fast.

Anyway, time for the first round – we’ll pit the recently released Glenlivet Founders Reserve against the previous core range lowest offering, the well known and best seller Glenlivet 12 Year Old.

As with other releases in the last year, which some will be covered in this series, Glenlivet released Founders Reserve due to the acute problem of high demand for whisky and not enough good casks for single malt. So we get a new offering, NAS of course, that allows Glenlivet to reduce the consumption rate of those older casks they have in the warehouses. The bad news? Glenlivet Founders Reserve was almost instantly was declared as the replacement of Glenlivet 12 in some key markets such as UK and Germany. Other markets get to keep the 12 Year Old (such as the USA and other European markets) so the question is are they fortunate or maybe the Founders Reserve is a worthy replacement? Continue reading →

Chronicles of a whisky – Tasting and comparing three variations of Glendronach 12 Year Old

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Glendronach is one well loved distillery due to their heritage, sherried profile and the periodical single casks batches.

Glendronach Logo

A quick history lesson: Glendronach was mothballed since 1996 till May 14th 2002 and it operated under Chivas Brothers until Billy Walker and co (AKA Benriach Distillery Company) bought it in 2008 and the core line (12, 15 & 18 yo) was successfully relaunched in 2009.

Now, If you look at that time table you can see some oddity which was a “secret” for a while (although not that well kept “secret” in the last few years) – All recent Glendronach 12 bottles that were bottled until May 14th 2014, were in fact at least 18 years old Glendronach as the available +12yo spirit was distilled before Glendronach was mothballed in 1996.

Glendronach Distillery

Glendronach Distillery

And so you got additional 6 years for free if you bought a 12yo one bottled before that cut day (and maybe even post this cut date but we cannot be sure of that), so a 18yo whisky for the price of 12yo – quite a good deal.

But it’s true for Glendronach 12yo that were bottled post 2008. As the distillery was still in production in 1996, the 12yo bottlings done by Chivas brothers in 2005 till 2008 will still be a ‘true’ 12yo (or thereabout).

The Glendronach 12yo changed when it was re-launched by Billy Walker & co. the old bottling was double matured, first round in ex-bourbon and then finished in sherry casks, or as the label said “double casks matured in sherry wood and traditional oak barrels” and was bottled in 40%.

The Billy Walker era bottlings are full sherry maturated: “matured in a combination of the finest pedro ximenez and oloroso sherry wood”, and so I was curious about comparing the bottlings both comes from that old stock (that was distilled before Glendronach was mothballed) and recently, with the help of two friends, it was finally possible to go ahead and have this kind of tasting.

So let’s go ahead and review three Glendronach 12 from that old stock, one from the old Chivas brothers regime bottled in 2007 and two from the Billy Walker era, bottled a year or so apart – let’s see how those bottlings differs one from each other.

 

Glendronach 12 Year Old (40%, bottled in 2007 by Chivas brothers)

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Whisky Review – Ardbeg Perpetuum Distillery Release

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Feis Ile 2015 was a blast. Or so I was told by friends who attended the Festival. There were many events, lots of music, food and of course lots of whisky. As usual, there were special Festival bottlings by all Islay distilleries and although I wasn’t around, I was lucky enough to secure myself a few samples of them via friends.

This Feis Ile, marked the 200th birthday celebration by Laphroaig and Ardbeg and both distilleries released a special bottling to celebrate the event. Ardbeg bestowed upon the world Ardbeg Perpetuum – a blend of old and young whisky, matured in both bourbon and sherry casks. How special is it? Is it a worthy release for the 200th birthday?

Ardbeg Perpetuum Distillery Release (49.2%, £85)

ardbeg perpetuumNose: Hmm, this one has a young and hot nose but thankfully no new make notes. There’s abundant of cereals, honey and vanilla, leading to a very fresh and oily nose. Of course there’s sweet peat and some ashes but it’s far away from the ashy nose of the Ardbeg 10 and much more delicate and rounded. After a few minutes in the glass it’s getting sweeter with fruits, stewed fruits, hint of lemon curd and sugared cereals. Continue reading →

A very early preview of a new Israeli distillery – Review of Golan Heights Distillery spirits

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Almost two years ago there was a big earthquake here. Well, not a real physical earthquake as you may think but for the local alcohol and whisky scene it was an earthquake of magnitude 9 – the tax scheme on alcohol changed and with it, the doors for larger base of whisky and single malt whisky drinkers got opened wide.

And just like mushrooms after the rain, new web shops selling single malts were born, whisky clubs were founded and whatddoyouknow – a few distilleries were founded as well! Some are already working and some are still in newborn steps, going forward carried on the dreams of their founders.

One of those distilleries is the Golan Heights Distillery. The distillery, sitting in the northern part of Israel (just like another forthcoming distillery) is not in a dream state anymore as it’s already half way to real production. There are stills, equipment, barley, fresh water from a nearby spring, casks from the nearby big wine producer and even some trial whisky already being aged in casks.

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