Day 23 of the Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 3rd Edition Day 23 Blog #158 – Samaroli Peaty 20 Year Old

Welcome to the night before Christmas Eve. Something warming this evening to help with the persistent chill that has settled over Alberta for the entire month of December. Coldest that I can remember for a while for this long without one of those lovely Chinook winds that keep us sane.

Today’s lovely blended malt from Samaroli consists of 17% 1995 Laphroaig, 28% 1995 Highland Park and 63% undisclosed Speyside Single Malt. We should be in for a treat here if past Samaroli blends are anything to go by.

Highland Park is a distillery that has some mystery surrounding it’s founding. As the gate says though they have hung their hat on 1798. Highland Park does it’s own malting and mixed heather into the peat before malting begins. They use 20 parts per million phenol which is a fairly heavy peat infusion. The distillery is on the island of Orkney and is at the moment the most Northern Whisky Distillery in operation (this will all change once Stuart Nickerson gets the Shetland Whisky still up and running). Owned by the Edrington Group Highland Park is seldom seen as an independent bottled whisky. No doubt this is one of the reasons why Samaroli are using this rare resource to add some interesting Island complexity to their Peaty expression.

Samaroli Peaty Blended Malt aged together in a refill Sherry Butt # 54 for 20 Years. Islay (Laphroaig), Island (Highland Park) and Speyside (undisclosed). Bottled with no caramel or chill filtration at the Samaroli strength of 45%.

Color: Even being a refill Butt there is a nice antiqued golden age to this after 20 years.

Nose:   Sweet and savory BBQ sauce on a side of Ribs. The fabulous part of this nose is that there is instant peat recognition but no smoky overtone. Heavily char grilled Cinnamon crusted Pineapple slabs. Earthy sweetness here reminding me of Manuka Honey.

Palate: The earthy peaty notes carry the weight of this whisky that now throws in bitter citrus and roasted turnip. The sweetness was certainly more about the nose as there is oily coating brined beef jerky making a play and the sweetness is all but gone.

Finish: The bitter citrus lingers, floating on a layer of slowly dwindling meaty flavor. Really full and palate filling for 45%. Even a touch of spark that numbs the sides of the mouth would make me think that this is more like cask strength.

This is a delicate slowly warming dram that gets larger as you get more into it. I would like to spend more time with a full bottle of this just to get to know it a lot better. I’m still tasting more on the finish…

The good news for the whisky hunters among us is that this will be available in very limited quantity and you can find out where from jonathan@secretspirits.com.

Lets see how Whiskylassie unraveled this Samaroli puzzle.

In the 2nd edition on this day we had the A.D. Rattray Bunnahabhain 27 Year Old.

Tomorrow we have the second installment in the 3rd edition from those awesome boys at Single Cask Nation. Make sure you get your Christmas Eve spirit going as we enjoy the excitement and family time and also say Happy Hannukah to Joshua and Jason at the Jewish Whisky Company.

Really looking forward to joining you tomorrow night

Cheers

Jonathan – taster of secrets

http://www.singlemalting.com/category/whisky-advent-calendar-2016/

As the weather turns colder, we find ourselves drawn to warm and inviting spaces – such as peacefully overlooking the bay from our Island lodge nestled in the grounds of our distillery, or tucked away in our one and only hotel bar raising a glass with fellow islanders.

That’s what the festive season is all about to us Diurachs. Enjoying a special dram in a unique setting.

To ensure that seasonal drop is all the more special wherever you choose to escape, your favourite Jura expression is once again available to give – or receive – in our crowd-pleasing and collectable festive gift tins.

Carefully sourced ingredients and our hand-crafted approach to whisky making means that every bottle of Jura is exceptional, and with a variety of delicious flavours in each expression, there’s something for everyone to enjoy.

Andy at Malt Box reviews Aldi’s Glen Marnoch 28yr Old @maltbox 

https://youtu.be/VYu9FdKvMwc

Day 22 of the Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 3rd Edition Day 22 Blog #157 – Adelphi Cambus Single Grain 27 Year OId

Welcome to a very exciting addition to our Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar story. Firstly we have the pleasure of having Jason Johnstone-Yellin from Single Cask Nation sitting here with me tasting this dram and secondly we were able to secure our first ever closed distillery cask from Alex Bruce and the fabulous team at Adelphi.

Cambus is a Lowlands Grain distillery that opened in 1836 and was unfortunately closed in 1993. Anything bottled from Cambus now is always going to be over the 20 year old mark which is a bit of a benchmark for us so far in adding Single Grain offerings to our calendar editions. During its time in operation it was considered by many to be the finest grain whisky in all of Scotland. Located near Stirling in what some called “the midlands” it was just below the Highland/Lowland dividing line. Owned by the Diageo group it was deemed to be surplus to requirements as is so often the major factor in a distilleries closure.

So lets get into the whisky

Adelphi Independent Bottlers – Cambus 1988 – 27 year old Single Grain Scotch Whisky at the cask strength of 48% cask number 59353 and aged in a Bourbon Refill cask.

Colour:     Pale gold which is a definite result of the refill Bourbon cask not really imparting that much colour at all.

Nose:     Sweet Marzipan icing like wandering past the head table at a wedding after the cake has been sliced. Fresh farm cream like the kind that my nana used to serve over her famous apricot pie which was a staple in my youth complete with the apricot pie note. The marzipan almond piece really kicks in and some other nutty characters emerge including what I would call white chocolate covered macadamia’s. Wow lovely start to this whisky.

Palate:     Savory note here that takes a bit of a diversion from the nose by adding in some fresh rolling in the hay action (in the best way possible)

Finish:     Some earthy char coming into play here with a bit of a brand new tire note. Seriously like when you just pick up a brand new set of tires and that sweet clean rubber jumps out at you and lets you know that you have something bright and shiny in your possession.

Wow this kind of feels like I was just given a new car at my wedding and am driving away with that new rubber meets marzipan package all in one. This is an amazing experience and I have never had a Single Grain with this many layers before. Right at the death when everything is almost fading away the apricot comes back once more complete with that delicious pie crust.

Super cool stuff and thanks so much to Alex at Adelphi for agreeing to part with it just for us. There may be a few bottles that were filled once we had taken our share but not many and probably only to be found in Scotland so good luck hunting one down.

So here below are the extremely enlightened and expert tasting notes from Jason Johnstone-Yellin.

It’s Grrrreat!!

Nose: Cereal notes lead the way with dehydrated pineapple and mango behind, there’s a heavy sweetness while the wood rests quietly behind (but still present) – after a bit of time a chili heat comes through.

Palate: Woody with wet barley to the front of the palate with a pleasant oiliness, a flavor like sandalwood runs across the center of the palate before the dehydrated tropical fruit from the nose manifests itself towards the back of the palate.

Finish: Good length with warming ginger and lingering hints of the tropical fruit.

Overall: One of my favorite things about Cambus whisky is the weight of it. Combined with that it bypasses the vanilla notes of a grain distillery like Invergordon and instead embraces heavy fruit and mature oak notes. This is a really cracking cask.

So there you have it the first closed distillery done and dusted (literally). Head on over to Whiskylassie to see her take on this Cambus.

On this day in the 2nd edition we had a fantastic Island Tobermory (non peated) from Malt Whisky Company that you can catch up on again here.

Tomorrow as the big hitting week continues we head back to those crazy Italians for something old and peaty.

See you then whisky peeps

Slainte

Jonathan – taster of secrets

http://www.singlemalting.com/category/whisky-advent-calendar-2016/

THE GLENTURRET 10YO PERSONALISED LABEL  

The Glenturret 10 Year Old Single Malt whisky, produced at Scotland’s oldest distillery, the Brand home of The Famous Grouse. On the palate, spicy citrus and orange with a soft malty finish. Comes with a unique printed label that they can treasure for a lifetime. Purchase your personalised bottle here.

THE FAMOUS GROUSE PERSONALISED

Scotland’s favourite whisky is a blend crafted from the finest malt whiskies, such as The Macallan and Highland Park, married with exceptional grain whiskies, for the smoothest possible taste. Make someone famous by personalising a bottle of The Famous Grouse with a name and message of your choice. Get your personalised bottle here

THE GLENTURRET FLY’S 16 MASTERS EDITION

Inspired by a photo, unearthed from the back of a cupboard at Scotland’s oldest working whisky distillery, dating from 1905 and featuring 16 stillmen, along with a collie dog this whisky is the winner of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible Liquid Gold Award 2017 and comes beautifully presented in a handmade tweed gift bag. Purchase your bottle here.

Every Wednesday at 10am, members of the new incarnation of our famous W Club get a personal invitation to take advantage of some outrageously good deals.

With a very limited number of bottles available discounted by up to 50%, offers last for a maximum of 24 hours or until stock runs out.

Only available to members of the new W Club, you can join in the fun this Whisky Wednesday and bag a bargain in time for Christmas by signing up to The W Club today.

JOIN NOW

For just £20 a year you’ll have access to a host of brilliant benefits, including: Exclusive members-only offers at The Whisky Shop Priority notice on rare and restricted releases A quarterly copy of Whiskeria magazine, delivered to your door Special W Club competitions Members-only bottlings and opportunities to join the tasting panel Behind the scenes news, reviews and Q&As

Here’s a sneak peak at some of the deals

Pikesville 6 Year Old 100 Proof

World’s Best Rye Whiskey 

World Whisky Awards 2016

Double Gold San Francisco World Spirits Competition

95 Points  Ultimate Spirits Challenge

American Rye Whiskey of the Year The Whisky Bible 2016

Only £73.50

Hello everyone! Continuing our Xmas theme, here I have another sherry colossus for you! Most of us on this channel both know and love, GlenDronach. This wonderful liquid is from their most recent, Batch 14 release of Single Casks and it’s one of the bigger, sweeter styles of Dronach that’s available. All Pedro Ximinez matured, it’s rich, silky, rounded and wonderfully sweet with some awesome drying qualities towards the very end of the finish. Twenty-two years old, cask strength, non-chill-filtered and natural colour. Enjoy!

https://youtu.be/Km7yr5QeXHY

Whisky Reviews every Wednesday

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Day 21 of the Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 

Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 3rd Edition Day 21 Blog #156 – Wemyss Malts Marmalade Appeal Glenrothes 27 Year Old

G’day everyone and welcome to another comparison tasting. As you know we like to do one or more comparison casks from the same distillery so that you can appreciate both age and cask differences. Today we try a Glenrothes that is 19 years older than the Malt Whisky Company expression we tried earlier on day 8. Wemyss also tend to bottle all their casks at 46% which no doubt will make a big difference as well.

I’m sure that the whisky is not why they have so many permanent residents.

No need to rehash distillery details as you can just re-read the previous blog. I will say that Wemyss have provided some really sensational older casks of Glenrothes in the past few years. We even converted Joshua Hatton who is not normally a Glenrothes fan to concede that the Aromatic Orange Tobacco was “drop dead gorgeous”.

Wemyss Malts Marmalade Appeal Glenrothes 27 Year Old aged in a Sherry Butt cask # 5376 and bottled at 46% with no caramel or chill filtration.

Color:   Light for such an old Sherry aged whisky but no doubt being a butt and potentially 2nd or refill (3 or more fills) we only get a shadow of what we might have if it was a first fill. I actually really like refill for older sherried expressions as a sherry cask can very quickly overwhelm especially delicate malt.

Nose:   Orange oil furniture polish, clove and Terry’s dark chocolate orange.

Palate:   Orange sponge cake and there is that slight bitterness that could be marmalade semi sweet icing that tops and forms a layer right in the middle.

Finish: A slight burnt character leading me to flamed orange rind topping a rye based Manhattan or maybe just pouring Grand Marnier over the top and lighting it all while you stand back and bask in the stunning beauty of it all.

Yummo again Wemyss. Certainly the cache of delicious Glenrothes casks you managed to acquire have been good to you and also thankfully for me. We have increased with age each edition and now sit at 27 Years Old. Does this mean we may yet have a 30+ year old at some point?

For those that love this delicious old Glenrothes the good news is that there is some available and if you email me at jonathan@secretspirits.com I will be more than happy to point you in the right direction.

In the 2nd edition we had the truly epic A.D. Rattray Glentauchers 22 Year Old that you can re-visit here.

Let’s see is Whiskylassie loves old Glenrothes as much as Joshua and I do over at her blog here.

Now that we are rolling with the old stuff lets see what tomorrow brings from a fantastic independent bottler that is gracing our cubby holes for the first time. The fantastic Alex Bruce from Adelphi is to thank for tomorrow’s whisky and thank him you will.

So all I can tell you is that tomorrow we head South to the Lowland’s.

Until then have a fantastic evening. Only 3 more sleeps till Christmas.

Cheers

Jonathan – taster of secrets

http://www.singlemalting.com/category/whisky-advent-calendar-2016/

FESTIVE FAVOURITES

For the whisky connoisseur in your life

THE GLENTURRET BOTTLE YOUR OWN  

A personalised, single cask edition complete with a hand written label detailing the name of the person the bottle was filled for and the bottling date. Our latest exceptional cask has been named after the Scottish actor Gerard Butler who has close connections to the local area. Get your bottle of bottle your own here.

THE FAMOUS GROUSE 40YO DECANTER

Just 276 decanters have been created. Each whisky in this rare blend was carefully selected for its unique character. Hand-engraved with a Scottish silver stopper and luxury wooden gift box, the bottle comes complete with a certificate of authenticity. Get your limited edition decanter here.

THE GLENTURRET FLY’S 16 MASTERS EDITION

Inspired by a photo, unearthed from the back of a cupboard at Scotland’s oldest working whisky distillery, dating from 1905 and featuring 16 stillmen, along with a collie dog this whisky is the winner of Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible Liquid Gold Award 2017 and comes beautifully presented in a handmade tweed gift bag. Purchase your bottle here.

DON’T FORGET

To guarantee delivery in time for Christmas, orders have to be placed online by December 20th 2016.