Whisky Review – Bowmore 1991 16 year old Port Matured

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Feis Ile 2014 is going strong on Islay, and today is Bowmore open day. I visited Bowmore back in October, having a de facto private tour as we were the only ones taking that tour and we loved it a lot (see the recap here).

To celebrate Bowmore open day, here’s the matching dram for today: Bowmore 1991 16 year old Port Matured in cask strength.

This is an older release from 2007 while last year saw a 23 year old Port matured release (which is priced way beyond mortal people like me). But this release can still be purchased from some European shops for still reasonable price (considering it being a 7 year old release), so let’s see the tasting notes: Continue reading →

Whisky Review – Creative Whisky Company Laphroaig 1996 14 year old

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Today is the fourth day of Feis Ile 2014 – kinda of a midpoint of the festival but I also consider it as a peak as it’s the open day at Laphroaig, and if you know me, you’re probably ware of the fact that Laphroaig is my favorite distillery.

I have a couple of Laphroaig drams waiting for review but decided to go with yet another indie bottling – the Creative Whisky Company (CWC) Laphroaig 1996 14 year old which I got from the folks of @WhiskyCorner when I visited Scotland.

It’s part of their The Exclusive Malts brand, Distilled on 17.10.1996, then aged for 14 years in cask 7317 and bottled at cask strength of 50.8%. I won’t delay you anymore – let’s roll into the tasting notes: Continue reading →

Whisky Review – Douglas Laing Provenance Young and Feisty Caol Ila 2009

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Feis ile is entering its 3rd day and the focus shifts from the west side (Bruichladdich) to the east side as today is the open day for Caol Ila distillery. Unfortunately I didn’t have any new Caol Ila whisky to taste and post tasting notes for you, my loyal readers, but then again, #whiskyfabric is here to rescue me. I’ve asked my friend Tom (of Toms Whisky Reviews), a top bloke and a #whiskyfabric cog, to write here a guest post on Caol Ila for this day and he agreed, so thanks Tom and happy reading!
The whisky community, especially those who partake in the online #whiskyfabric, really do take an active part in each others lives and at times each others blogs, so when Yoav asked if i would write a guest review for his blog I was over the moon.
Yesterday, 25th May, I was at Whisky Stramash and along with catching up with some of the Twitterati and #Whiskyfabric superstars like Johanne McInnes (@whiskylassie) and Rob Bruce (@robster38) I used it as the opportunity to select a dram for which i would write a review.
That dram was the Caol Ila Young and Feisty from the Douglas Laing Provenance range, one of my favourite ranges and one of my favourite whisky companies.
this dram is 5 years old being distilled in 2009 but it has so much more to it, such lovely character, the sweet and sour mix that works really well with smoke.
This may be young, but it’s very upfront about that, and i love it, young peaty whiskies are the way to go and i could easily sit and sip this all night (preferably with an open fire and a big buffalo steak).
thanks to Yoav for the opportunity to present my review here and to Douglas Laing for producing such lovely whisky.

Douglas Laing Provenance Young and Feisty Caol Ila 2009 (46%)

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Whisky Review – Bruichladdich Cuvee 640

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Feis Ile 214 has started last Friday and I’m not there. Sad but inevitable as I was on Islay last October and will be visiting UK/Scotland again this summer so no budget for another visit at the moment. So instead of visiting Islay physically, I’m there in my spirit and soul.

In order to celebrate the festival, I’m starting a series of whisky tasting notes for the coming week, pairing every distillery open day with a matching whisky review of that distillery which will be called “Feis Ile 2014, Wish I was there“, and the first victim distillery is Bruicladdich.

The selected dram to celebrate Bruichladdich open day in Feis Ile 2014 will be the Bruichladdich Cuvee 640.

From the distillery page:

THIS AMERICAN-OAK-AGED BRUICHLADDICH HAS BEEN FURTHER MATURED IN LIMOUSIN OAK CASKS FROM ACQUITAINE THAT FOR MANY YEARS CONTAINED ONE OF THE GREAT EAUX DE VIE. THESE CASKS’ TANNINS HAVE ADDED NEW LAYERS OF RICH COMPLEXITY TO OUR OWN ELEGANT, FLORAL BRUICHLADDICH WHISKY. THIS IS A SPIRIT TO GIVE PAUSE, TO REFLECT ON. A SPIRIT AS MUCH FOR THE MIND AS FOR THE PALATE

Well, what isn’t mentioned there that the Limousin casks are Eroica Cognac barrels and it’s 21 year old whisky. Should be an interesting pairing, right? Continue reading →

Whisky Review – Wemyss Malts Peat Chimney 8 year old

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Don’t know about you, but at the moment I’m in a peat whisky mode. Had some great peated whisky lately (including 2 fabulous whiskies last night), and I’m trying to enjoy it as much as I can before the too hot summer season settles in pushing me into the lighter & fruity side of whisky.

So let’s check today another peated whisky – Wemyss Peat Chimney 8 year old. It was the fourth and last whisky in the WemyssTT3 Tweet Tasting that took place 1.5 weeks ago, closing out the event on a high (peated) note.

Peat Chimney is a 100% blended malt (vatted malt) with no grain whisky, and the core malts here come from Islay so we should expect some sweet smoke and peat.

Wemyss Malts Peat Chimney 8 year old (40%, £28.35)

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Whisky Review – The Glenrothes 1988

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My experience with Glenrothes whiskies is somewhat limited. I’ve tried the basic Select Reserve (which I didn’t like) and the Robur Reserve but not any of their vintage releases, so it’s time to fix that.

Glenrothes 1988 vintage is aged for over 20 years in Spanish and American oak barrels so I expect it to be better than those I’ve mentioned above. Let’s see if it delivers:

The Glenrothes 1988 (43%, £108.9)

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Whisky Review – Tomatin 1988 Vintage

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This is the second recent addition to Tomatin core range along with the 14 year old I reviewed yesterday here. It’s replacing the 30 year old expression and is vatted from ex-Bourbon and ex-Port casks.

The sample I received was generous so I felt like sharing it. So I called a friend and a fellow blogger and we tasted it together, so if you want to compare our tasting notes of the same sample, read Michael take on it here and mine right after the break. Continue reading →

Whisky Review – Tomatin 14 Port Wood Finish

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Recently Tomatin distillery revamped their core range whiskies, dropping out the 15 year old and the 30 year old expressions while adding instead two new expressions: 14 year old and a 1988 vintage. Both are with port ‘touch’ – the 14 year old is finished in port while the 1988 is vatted from ex-bourbon and ex-port casks.

The Tomatin 15 year old was a bit of a foster child in Tomatin core range as it was fully matured in ex-bourbon casks while all other expressions have sherry involvement. I did tasted and compared the 12 year old to the 15 year old with the 12 winning over (see my review here), so I was very curious to see what Tomatin did with the 14 year old.

Tomatin 14 Port Wood Finish (46%, £48.95)

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Islay Feis Ile Festival 2014 Bottlings Summary

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Update (2/7/2014) – Most of the bottles can be found on auction sites, so no further updates with shop links. If you find a bottle available on a web shop, let me know and I’ll update the post.

Update (2/6/2014) – I’ll update the post in the coming few days (or weeks) with shopping links where available. Be warned there are good chances it will be expensive. Also, I’m sure most of the bottles will show up in the next auctions round so you may want to try your luck there too.

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The 2014 Islay Festival Feis Ile is almost upon us. It will run from 23rd to 31st of May 2014 and unfortunately I won’t be there 😦

As a whisky geek I’m very interested in the special Festival bottlings and created this post to centralize all available information on them. I’ll update this post once more details on the bottlings will be revealed.

If you look for the full festival information, go to the Festival site at islayfestival.com and you can find the full Islay Festival Distillery Programmes 2014 here

Here’s the list of Feis Ile 2014 bottlings:

lagavulin-feis-ile-2014Lagavulin – Open day Saturday 24th May 2014

  • Lagavulin Feis Ile 2014, 54.7%, 3500 bottles, £99

Drawn from casks filled in January 1995. Matured in European Oak Sherry Butts, the liquid was personally selected by Lagavulin warehouseman Iain McArthur.

 

ocotmorediscoveryBruichladdich – Open day on Sunday 25th May 2014

  • Octomore Discovery – 69.5%, 1,695 bottles, £150

Quadruple distilled and matured for seven years in Oloroso sherry butts.

 

 caol ila feis ile 2014Caol Ila – Open day on Monday 26th May 2014

  •  Caol Ila Feis Ile 2014 – 55.5%, 1500 bottles, £99

It’s a 12 year old whisky, distilled in 2002 and bottled in 2014 from Refill American Oak Hogsheads. Will go on sale at 10am on Monday 26th May 2014. (From @IslayStudios Twitter feed. Thanks Billy for pointing me at this!)

  • Buy here for £150 (Green Welly shop)
  • Buy here for £137.6 (Master of Malt)

 

laphroaig-cairdeas-2014Laphroaig – Open day on Tuesday 27th May 2014

  • Cairdeas 2014, 51.4%, £65

Based on the text printed on the back label it’s a double matured Laphroaig from bourbon casks and Amontillado seasoned traditional hogsheads. (Amontillado sherry is darker than Fino but lighter than Oloroso)

  • Buy here for £90 (Green Welly Shop)
  • Buy here for £88.3 (Master of Malt)

Bowmore – Open day on Wednesday 28th 2014

  • Bowmore Feis Ile 2014 – 56,1%, 1000 Bottles, £50

1st fill American oak bourbon barrels. 700 bottles will go on sale at the Distillery Visitor Centre from 10am on Saturday 24th May. The remaining 300 bottles will go on sale on Wednesday 28th May.

  • Bowmore Feis Ile 2014 1989 Vintage – 300 Bottles, £350

1989 1st fill American  bourbon barrel and a 1989 1st fill French oak wine barrique

In addition there are 2 more Fill your own bottle:

Bowmore Hand-Filled Red wine cask, £100, distilled 22 July 1998, 57,1%. (SOLD OUT)
Bowmore Hand-Filled 1st Fill Oloroso Sherry Cask, 49,4%, £95, distilled 1995, Cask No’1572.

jura tastivalJura – Open day on Thursday 29th May 2014

  • Jura Tastival – 44%, 3000 bottles, £75

A concoction of seven finishes: Jupilles, Les Bertanges, Limousin, Troncais, Allier, Vosges and American White Oak, married in Sherry butts.

  • Buy here for £75 (Jura webshop, UK only)
  • Buy here for £84.95 (The Whisky Exchange)

 

kilchoman feis ile 2014Kilchoman – Open day on Thursday 29th May 2014

  • Kilchoman Feis Ile 2014, 58.7%, 525 bottles, £79.50

Matured for over 5 years in two fresh bourbon barrels and finished in a fino sherry butt for 3 months. (Picture found via Abbey Whisky Blog here). Will go on sale on Thursday 29th May.


Bunnahabhain-Dràm-an-StiùreadairBunnahabhain – Open day on Friday 29th May 2014

  • Dràm an Stiùreadair (The Helmsman’s Dram)  – 56.7%, 632 bottles, £95

This is a 10-year-old single malt which was first matured in ex-American Bourbon casks for nine years before being finished for one year in a Marsala cask.

  • Bunnahabhain-Westering-HomeWestering Home – 53.4%, 301 bottles ,£250

A 17-year-old single malt matured in a rich ex-Cognac cask and then finished in a Sauternes wine cask

aruiverdesArdbeg – Open day on Saturday 31st May 2014

  • Ardbeg Auriverdes – 49.9%, £80

Matured in American oak casks with specially toasted cask lids which were tailor-made for this whisky.

Buy here for 155,00 €

Whisky Review – Wemyss Malts ‘Merchant’s Mahogany Chest’ Glen Scotia 1991

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Another Wemyss Malts single cask from the #WemyssTT3 Tweet Tasting event last week – a Glen Scotia from 1991. It’s my 2nd Glen Scotia and I didn’t like the first one I had (A single cask from Kintra) but I hoped this one change my opinion on the distillery.

Wemyss Malts ‘Merchant’s Mahogany Chest’ Glen Scotia 1991 (46%, £90)

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