Whisky Intelligence has reproduced (with permission) The Gauntleys Whisky Newsletter for October 2004; a small sample of scotch whisky archeology. The author, Chris Goodrum, has some excellent insights of whisky, which makes for excellent reading on a Sunday. Enjoy!
Dear Whisky Customers
Welcome to the latest edition of the whisky newsletter. With that time of the year fast approaching when copious quantities of fine single malts will be purchased and consumed, what have I been tasting, that may find its way into your Christmas stocking?
Well first off I was advised to seek out the independent bottling company Duncan Taylor, who duly sent me their list and some samples which meant an enjoyable Wednesday afternoon tasting session. As you know I am always open to new whiskies and love to champion the small independent bottling companies, and with a staff of about 15 they don’t come much smaller – more about the whiskies that I tasted later. Then there are the new releases from Bruichladdich, the 1968 Legacy series 3, and a 20 year old which has been courting controversy and is well sort of pink!
Other highlights from the past month or so was a delightful tasting of John Glazers compass box range, as they have now added a few new products to the range. And in another entertaining evening of food and whisky I was blown away by the latest bottling of Ardbeg, a baby it may be but with a maturity beyond its years!
DUNCAN TAYLOR
Four years ago Euan Shand and his business colleague, Alan Gordon were approached by the trustees of the legacy of Abe Rosenberg and his wife, with the offer of purchasing a few casks of whisky, and what a few they were!
Abe Rosenberg was a whisky fanatic. Just after the Second World War he decided to go into partnership with a gentleman called Charlie Guttman who was the owner of Paddington Industries , importers of J&B Scotch Whisky to the U.S. It was not a prolific brand at the time and had distribution of around 25,000 cases per year. Rosenberg ran the company and Guttman took a backseat. His expertise in wholesaling and distribution grew the brand over 30 years to be one of the biggest in the U.S. with sales in excess of 3.5 Million cases. The business was ultimately sold for many multi million dollars to Grand Met in 1980.
Abe Rosenberg was not only an expert in business he was also passionate about Scotch Whisky and in particular single malts. From the early 1960’s he purchased casks of new fillings (whisky freshly distilled for laying down and maturing in warehouses) from a large proportion of Distillers throughout Scotland, in particular those produced on the Island of Islay. He was also keen on specific whiskies which at the time were favoured as whiskies used for blending, whiskies which are now “the” premium malts selling tens of thousand’s of cases. His vision was extraordinary and his knowledge of whiskies second to none. His holding company for these was Duncan Taylor & Co Ltd.
Duncan Taylor & Co Ltd eventually had stock in excess of 3000 casks of Single Malt and Single Grain Whiskies, averaging 35 years old. This made it one of the largest privately owned collections of aged and rare whiskies in the World. The company was his private investment vehicle which traded as whisky merchants and brokers. In the final years of his life he wound down trade and eventually on his death in 1994 at the grand old age of 85 the business finally was mothballed leaving nearly 4000 casks in bond ranging from 21 to 40 years old.
This is where Ewan and Alan come in. They have bottled a range of Cask Strength Single malt and Single grain whiskies which have received critical acclaim within the industry and from whisky connoisseurs worldwide. Most recently a couple of their bottlings won ‘Golden Thistles’ at the recent Eurowhisky awards in Switzerland, beating some impressive bottlings from the big boys.
Anyway, history lesson over, I know that you want to know about the bottlings. Essential there are three ranges. The first is The ‘Whisky Galore’ Range, all bottled at 46% without colouring and chill-filtration. The second is ‘The Peerless Collection’, these are all single cask bottlings, bottled at natural cask strength, again without colouring and chill-filtration. There final range is called ‘Rarest of the Rare’, and I think you can guess what that means.
So without further ado, these are the one I have chosen to add to our list.
THE WHISKY GALORE RANGE
Aultmore 1987 (15 year old) 46% £29.95
Speyside.
An interesting nose, youthful and heady with cereal fruits heavily laden with oily aromas, a hint of earthiness and a nice touch of sweet creamy oak. Dry on the palate, medium bodied, with lots of deep, mouthfilling, oily cereal fruit. Nicely balanced with a touch of sea air and a tangy shimmer. Lovely length with a slight earthy note.
Rosebank 1990 (13 year old) Re-fill Sherry Cask 46% £31.95
Lowland.
A lovely summer-gold colour in the glass. Soft citrus/ grassy fruit aromas spring from the glass delightfully set against a delicate sherry fruit background, which develops a beguiling candied fruit sweetness. Dry and fairly light in body with initially quite a salty note which is followed by waves of lavishly spiced citrus fruit and a burst of cinnamon coated apples on the middle. This descends into a delicious fruit cocktail with a touch of light syrup and a dusting of icing sugar. Very long and very good.
Auld Reekie (12 year old Islay) 46% £25.95
It seems these days that everyone is offering a vatted Islay Malt, some are exceptional (Blackadders smoking Islay) and some are disappointing (Compass box Peat Monster – more about that later). This bottling falls into the former category. This is superb, it pulls no punches on the nose with a superb peat reek, manure, smoke, earth and a briny intensity. This is not one-dimensional, beneath all that peatiness lies a scented fruitiness. This is very complex with a definite stinky old vegetation/ bog myrtle. Like falling face first into an Islay cow pat!
On the palate it is medium-sweet, quite light in body and texture with buckets of peat, earth, vegetal, boggy manure and smoke character which builds in the mouth leading to a tangy, slightly floral middle, laced with winey apricot, peach and white stone fruits. Superb intensity throughout with a subtle soft, smooth, oily finish.
THE PEERLESS COLLECTION
Glengarioch 1988 (16 year old) Sherry Cask 56.1% £42.95
East Highland. Mothballed in 1995. Cask No 1551
Wow, a stunning nose, clean and full of rich sherried fruits, earth, nuts, orange tea and rich creamy vanilla oak. There is a slight perfume reminiscent of summer flowers and a touch of smoke. I could sniff this all day!
The palate is equally complex, medium bodied, with mature rich fruit, dried fruit cake and nuts. Glorious depth, soft and mouthfilling with a very spicy middle and finish. Great length which lingers on the palate for ages.
Strathmill 1975 (28 year old) 48.7% £71.95
Speyside. Cask No 1891
Michael Jackson refers to this malt as the ‘Orange muscat of the Whisky World’, and he is not wrong! Wonderfully clean aromas of oily orange fruit jump from the glass with subtle vanilla oak, earth, peach, nectarines and a complexity of wine soaked stone fruits. Medium bodied, like drinking orange liquor, deep and spicy with nectarine and peach. Balanced and tangy with a perfumed middle and this winey orange character throughout. Great length, a superb desert malt
Invergordon Single Grain 1965 (38 year old) 51.6% £69.95
Cask No 15537
A lovely perfumed nose of violets and winter flowers, delicate yet pronounced. Followed by an intensity of vanilla dusted sweet citrus fruits, a complex melange of spicy red wine infused fruits and a whiff of toasty oak to finish – simply sensational!
The palate is medium-sweet, with a cognacesque quality to it. Full of dried citrus fruit and grain. This opens into an intense wine infused creamy middle with a slight suggestion of spice and ends with the floralness that the nose evokes. Delicate, interesting and very long.
Springbank 1967 (37 year old) 41.6% £217.95
Campbeltown. Cask No 1942
Ok let’s be honest. I could wax lyrical about this malt all day, but they wouldn’t let me have a sample! Retailing for what it does I’m not surprised. However I have been reliably informed that this is a simply stunning bottling, and if the quality of their other malts is a reliable bench mark, then I’m inclined to believe them. Big, quite woody (as expected) with vanilla custard, honey and cream. Together with a huge malty, fruity character and a long lingering finish with touches of strawberry fruit.
RAREST OF THE RARE
Kinclaith 1969 (35 year old) 53.2% £567.95
Lowland. Dismantled in 1982. Cask No 301455
Sightings of this malt are about as common as the dodo. The distillery was built in 1958 to compliment the construction of the Strathclyde Grain distillery, and was the last distillery to be built in Glasgow. As Strathclyde incorporated vast storage, cooperage and blending facilities, it was natural to have a malt distillery close by. The entire production was used for blending until it was soldin 1975 by Whitbread & Co. It was finally dismantled in 1982 to make way for the new distillery at Strathclyde.
Just as an aside, when it appears at auction it always fetches a high price. For example in 2002 a 5cl minature of 1966, bottled by Gordon & MacPhail fetched ?107, and a cask strength (52.3%) Signatory bottling of 1975 (26 year old) fetched ?800!
As for its taste it has been described as ‘rather perfumed for a Lowland, with light, grassy notes and a whiff of caramel’. Michael Jackson describes it as “melon dusted with ginger”.
BRUICHLADDICH ‘FLIRTS’ WITH CONTROVERSY
Well, by know you will all have heard about the pink laddie called “Flirtation” that has been provoking much discussion. So what is it and more importantly why?
Initially this story seems to have been picked up by the Whisky Magazine, the Independent and the Times. They claimed that this was to aimed at women drinkers, and from the picture in the Whisky Magazine, it is indeed very pink and by naming it flirtation, it seemed to back up this theory. Now I’m sat here writing this looking at a bottle and I don’t know if it was a trick of the Islay light or a bit of judicious use of cyan in the magazines printing process, but extremely pink it is not. Standing it next to the 10 year old it is definitely a darker hue, and one could say it was a partridge eye pink, a la Tempier’s Rose.
So in pursuit of answer’s I spoke to Lynne McEwan. She told me that they [Bruichladdich] didn’t want to cheat those customers that had bought the first release of the 20 year old, by just releasing another 20 year old whisky. “Even if we wanted to make it the same, we couldn’t as the casks chosen for this bottling were considerably different”, she went on to say.
Through his contacts in the wine industry Marc Reynier knew of a small property in the south of France that had some superb ex-mourvedre casks, and along with Jim McEwan they had a brain wave. So into these casks went the prized 20 year old malt, and I’m sure fingers were crossed and maybe a few prayers uttered. Every day In to the warehouse they would troop to check on the babies progress until after a mere five weeks, enough was enough and a pink laddie was born. So why call it flirtation I asked Lynne “Because the whisky had just flirted with the mourvedre oak”.
Now finishing casks of whisky in wine barrels is nothing new. Glenmorangie and Glen Moray to name but two have been doing it for years, so most of the ‘controversy’ seems to have been created by journalists, who are playing up the marketing angle claiming that “The Scotch whisky industry has been battling to break free from the heather-and-golf-clubhouse image for years to reach out to a new generation of consumers.” (The Scotsman) and with Neil Rafferty in the Times going so far as to proclaim. “IT IS pink, called Flirtation and guaranteed to have traditionalists gagging on their malt.” and “… is expected to be popular with women and gay whisky lovers!”
So with Bruichladdich/ Murray McDavid being sort of left of field, they are more than happy about this publicity, as Mark quite adroitly puts it. “We want to show that whisky is not an old farts thing”.
Yes that’s all well and good I hear you say, but what does it taste like, is it a good whisky, is it all hype and no trousers?
Well in a word, no. It is another fantastic laddie, and quite different too. Anyway I think my notes below should give you a good idea. Oh and you don’t have to bat for the other side to enjoy it!
Bruichladdich 20 year old Second Edition 46% £72.95
A clean quite perfumed nose. Lashings of creamy Bourbon oak, cereals, mature wood, dunnage floors and mature fruit rise from the glass, with an additional spicy/ winey note. Dry on the palette. Initially the most noticeable aspect is the slight winey sweetness of the mourvedre casks, followed by a tangy complexity of mature fruit, oak and earth. Then out of nowhere comes this incredible burst of tandoori/ asaian spice spices, finishing with waves of sweet vanilla, smoke, earth and a touch of peat. The finish is incredibly long. Laddie goes to Bombay!
As for the 3rd Edition Legacy bottling I’ll leave Jim to tell you about it –
Bruichladdich 1968 Legacy 3 46% £Price to be announced
Matured in Fresh Bourbon Hogsheads.
The bouquet is a harmony of raspberry and strawberry cr?me, plus a little Kirsch followed by nuances of vanilla extract, chocolate orange and hot mash tun maltings. Add the sweetest oaky vanalin you have ever discovered and you have an intriguing, fragrant spirit that tantalises the olfactory senses like never before. On the palate it is like sweet, malty snowflakes melting on the tongue, succulent and soft. The sweet red fruity flavours flirt with the oaky bourbons and the creamy sweet vanilla, add the coastal freshness and it all makes sense. It?s absolute quality, the Laddie proud and ready to deliver the message of the West Coast. Generous and heart warming, a glorious example of just how fantastic an Islay can be without pillars of peat for support. The body full and voluptuous with a softness of texture that is astonishing, and the finish is luscious, lingering long after the fires have gone out.
COMPASS BOX WHISKIES
As you may or may not know we have been stocking the Asyla, Eluthera and Hedonism bottlings for some time now (new tasting notes follow). John Glazer aim is to revitalise the art of whisky blending. For too long the term blended whisky has been a derogatory one, used to describe a lower whisky life form. John produces these whiskies by blending small batches of painstakingly chosen barrels, to create a range of whiskies that have a softness, a sweetness and a silky mouthfeel.
As far as I can tell there have bee slight changes to the blends of the Asyla, Eluthera and Hedonism bottlings, but the quality of each remains very high. It is however it is the new additions to the range, which I am not overly fond of. The Juveniles is a blend of Glen Elgin, Glen Ord and Clynelish of 10-12 years old and is a fine beginners whisky, smooth and unassuming, and ultimately not overly exciting. The Orangerie is marketed as a Scotch whisky infusion, and I sure that it appeals to a lot of people, but unfortunately not for me. It is rather over sweet and a bit sickly, like an alcoholic white chocolate orange egg.
And finally we come to the ‘Peat Monster’, so with a name like that you kind of expect it to jump out of the glass and beat you about the head with a lump of peat and bite your head off. The reality is that it ambles out of the glass and licks your nose. More of a peat pussycat than a monster! Now there is nothing wrong with this whisky itself, it is pleasant, restrained with a nice fruitiness. The problem is that it has no wild side, it is all nicely polished, and I think the Auld Reekie beats it hands down, and its cheaper too!
Anyway enough about the ones I didn’t like and more about the ones I do.
Asyla 46% £24.90
A blend of Linkwood, Craggenmore and Glen Elgin malt, plus Cambus and Cameronbridge grain, all aged between 11 and 12 years.
Clean and youthful nose, with a nice intensity of straw, cereal, yellow fruits, orange and sweet, creamy oak. All nicely balanced with a saline freshness. Dry, quite light in body, fruity and cerealy with a hint of salt and creamy oak. Soft alcohol and well balanced with a good length and a touch of spice in the finish. An ideal aperitif whisky.
Eleuthera 46% £33.90
A blend of 18 year old Glenlossie, 12 year old Caol Ila and 12 year old Clynelish.
A youthful, pure Bourbon oaked nose. Restrained peat aromas mingle with smoke, sea air and a lovely soft fruit background. Dry on the palate, young, soft and fruity with hints of dry peat. Waves of beach bonfire smoke come through on the middle and finishes with a tangy flourish. Lovely balance, length and complexity.
Hedonism 46% £42.90
A blend of Cambus and Cameronbridge grain, aged between 12 to 23 years old.
A complex, oily nose with a wonderful depth of creme brulee, nutty fruit, creamy vanilla oak. Topped by a slight floral note and grainy crispness. Medium-sweet and quite full bodied. Lots of oily, nutty dried fruit, creme brulee and citrus peel notes. Lovely complexity and a tangy finish.
ARDBEG’S BABY
While on the subject of all things peaty. As I said earlier I had the opportunity to taste this rather new whisky from Ardbeg. I do love Ardbeg, but until recently I have found the distillery bottlings to be somewhat disappointing. The 10 year old was a bit unbalanced, too much alcohol and not enough complexity, and the old 17 year old was again a bit so-so. Only the 25 year old Lord of the Isle’s, and the most recent edition the ‘Uigeadail’ showed how good this distillery could be.
I think that Ardbegs biggest problem has been with producing a consistant quality product. This is not suprising due to its previous owners Hiram Walker and Allied Domecq having little real interest in marketing or stockpiling any malt other than its Laphroaig brand. Most of the Ardbeg that was produced then ended up in blends such as Teacher?s and Ballantine?s. So with no real commitment to quality and with only with only intermittent production in 1990-96, and no production between 1981-89, the distillery was sold to Glenmorangie in 1997 for £7m.
Distillery manager Stuart Thomson says the place was in the worst state of any distillery he had seen when Glenmorangie took it over. “The distillery was dying. It was in awful condition having been semi-mothballed for 15 years.” As a result, stocks of anything between six-year-old malt which dates from after the stills became active again under Glenmorangie’s ownership, and the much older casks ? tend to be in short supply.
I was interested to see if Glenmorangie input of money and know how had paid off. Now you might think that 6 years old is a bit youthful, especially for a whisky that is somewhat powerful in its youth, and is bottled at 58.3% too. If this had been released say ten years ago I would have been a little apprehensive about tasting it. Yet this baby had been extensively road tested by members of the Ardbeg committee, and judged too good to be kept to themselves.
The plan now is to continue releasing limited bottlings of 1998 spirit at 7, 8, and 9 years of age until it reaches 10 and will then replace the current 10 year old. So is it any good?……er…….yes. I think my tasting notes will reveal all.
Ardbeg Very Young 6 year old 58.3% £31.95
Very pale in colour. Very pungent and almost overwhelming aromas of earthy-peat, charcoal, drift wood bonfires, more smoke and all things Islay. This is not mucking about, it’s an ‘in yer face’ Islay malt. Yet it is not all smoke and peat there is a beguiling citrus fruitiness beneath (a quality which set the Murray McDavid bottling above the previous distillery ones).
There is no let up on the palate. Intense, raw (yet smooth), lots of smoke, peat and charcoal fires, combined with a lovely depth of slightly sweet, tangy citrus fruit. If this whisky was a celebrity it would all itself ‘Jordan’ and crash your party.
AND FINALLY…….SPRINGBANK
Aha, you though I’d forgotten. But no newsletter is complete with out a mention of this this prestigious whisky. The latest limited edition release from them is the 14 year old port finish, which has just arrived in the shop, and is of the usual high standard.
Springbank 14 year old port wood finish 52.8% £48.95
The nose is initially very fruity. The rich winey red fruit aromas dissipate quite quickly, bringing forth the creamy Bourbon oak, with hints of salt, spice and a whiff of peat. Dry and quite oily with a subtle intensity of soft red fruits, malt, salt and creamy oak. The mid palate is dominated by its spicy/ peppery character which tails off to leave an impression of peppery tannins and a slight sea tinged perfume note. A lovely after dinner dram.
I think that’s enough for now. If you have any comments to make, or would like to order one of these whiskies I’ve reviewed, please let me know.
Sincerely
Chris Goodrum
Visit Gauntleys of Nottingham at http://www.gauntley-wine.co.uk
