Octomore 07.1 – smoke and mirrors

If you’ve met Bruichladdich’s Jim McEwan, or even heard tales of him, then you’ll know that he’s not a man to do things by halves. His final Islay Festival tasting at the end of last month packed more than 400 people into the distillery’s warehouse, with crowd-surfing the only way to get out once it had started, and he spent the rest of the day surrounded by crowds wanting to get a photo.

Jim McEwan’s final toast. For now…

Now that his retirement is less than a month away, the last releases of his tenure as Bruichladdich’s all-round whisky guy are appearing. The whisky in the distillery’s portfolio that most captures Jim’s attitude to whisky making for me is Octomore, and the latest edition feels like a culmination of his plans.

Octomore is Bruichladdich’s super-peaty whisky. While the distillery is famed for its unpeated spirit, Islay’s reputation for smoke led to the reviving of two old names: Port Charlotte, named after a distillery in the next village to Bruichladdich, which closed in 1929; and Octomore, named after the farm that looks over Port Charlotte, and the source of the water Bruichladdich use to dilute their whiskies before bottling. While Port Charlotte whisky is peaty, Octomore ups the smokiness to ridiculous levels – as Jim told me when I spoke to him recently: ‘I decided to make Octomore to shut everyone up for ever’.

Octomore Farm (Bruichladdich is out of shot to the left…)

Octomore 07.1 is actually a step back in peatiness from the previous releases, with the barley only peated to 208ppm¹, a reduction from Octomore 06.3’s 258ppm. However, as super-fruity 06.3 showed, more peat doesn’t necessarily mean more smokiness in your whisky – how you treat the barley after it has malted can produce a wealth of different flavours. 07.1 continues the trend of the 6th edition, going for complexity and depth of flavour rather than just a slap of peat smoke.

OCTOMORE 07.1, 5 YEARS OLD, 208PPM, 59.5%

Nose: Burning straw, damp grass, freshly crushed grain, liquorice root, sour fruit chews and sweet peat smoke.

Palate: Very sweet, with barley sugar, candy sticks and butter toffee, but also hot – cinnamon, clove and a hint of red chilli. Behind the heat we find the classic Octomore core: maple-glazed ham, baked apple, lime and smoke. The smoke is softer than expected, but covers the whole gamut of flavour: burning logs, peat fires and cold iron stoves.

Finish: Ashy to start, with sweet smoked meat and apple wood lingering.

Comment: Big and smoky on the nose, but much more restrained on the palate, sweetness dominates but is balanced by well-integrated smoke and savoury meatiness.

A fitting send-off for Jim, with the whisky that he created to make a point moving beyond some of the less subtle early releases, and becoming a balanced and complex dram in its own right. Good work, Mr McEwan.

¹ ppm: phenol parts per million – a measure of how much peat smoke has infused into the barley during malting. Most malt used by Islay distilleries is in the 25-45ppm range.

Bernheim Original 7 Year Old Small Batch D&M Exclusive Kentucky Straight Wheat Whiskey 

The palate is clean with tropical fruit notes, pepper spice and a clean wheat and honey dominated finish. If your part of the world sees a hot traditional summer, this could be your summer jam 

$32.99
Buy Now

Kilkerran Work in Progress 7 – Bourbon Cask

Kilkerran 54.1%% vol. / 70cl

NEW EDITION OF TOMATIN 

36 Year Old small batch Tomatin released

The Tomatin Distillery Co Ltd has announced an addition to its range of Tomatin Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky – a 36 year old small batch release – which will be available in all markets later this month.

Batch 1 of this new 36 Year Old expression has been vatted from a combination of ex-Bourbon and ex-Oloroso Sherry casks, producing just 800 bottles. Smooth and creamy, it has been bottled at natural cask strength (46%abv), non chill filtered and natural colour. Packaged in an attractive wooden box, each bottle is individually numbered and comes with its own certificate.

Stephen Bremner, sales director, said: “We are in a unique position to be able to offer a product of this age on an ongoing basis. Following the withdrawal of our renowned 30 year old expression, we expect this new 36 year old to be a welcome addition for stockists, and indeed drinkers, of Tomatin single malt.”

Official Tasting Notes:

AROMA            Pear drops, ginger snaps, butterscotch, vanilla ice cream, sherry notes, milk chocolate.

PALATE            Woody and malty, less sweet than the nose, cloves and cardamom.

FINISH              Elegantly smooth and creamy with just a hint of spice.

Notes

1. The Tomatin Distillery Co Ltd is a producer and blender of Scotch whisky, boasting a strong core range of single malt whiskies along with a range of popular blends.
2. Website: http://www.tomatin.com/   Facebook: www.facebook.com/Tomatin1897         Twitter: www.twitter.com/Tomatin1897
3. The distillery was established in 1897, and while historically the whisky produced was primarily sold for use in other brands of blended whisky, the company is now very focussed on growing the Tomatin single malt brand in its own right.
4. Tomatin Distillery also produces Cù Bòcan Highland Single Malt Scotch Whisky.
5. The company’s most popular blends are The Antiquary, The Talisman and Big ‘T’.

The distillery is owned by Japanese company Takara Shuzo:

Talisker vs Borough Market tasting – Skye Harder

The Talisker tasting line-up

Talisker whisky is fiery, peppery and smoky, but does it work with food? We hosted our first Talisker-themed food-pairing night five years ago at the TWE shop, so a sequel was long overdue. Diageo brand ambassador Colin Dunn was on hosting duties, and began by announcing that of all of the company’s 28 whisky distilleries, Talisker offered the ‘most breadth of flavour’. So, on to the tasting…

The pairings

A few drops of Talisker 57′ North poured on Jersey oysters worked a treat

Talisker 57° North with Jersey oysters
An intriguing start, given the high strength of the whisky, but this turned out to be a great match. Bottled at 57% ABV, the Talisker delivered a fearsome whack of peppery spice, but the saline-rich oyster stood up to it, adding up to a tasty combo of salt and pepper.
Colin Dunn: ‘The DNA of Talisker is red-hot chilli pepper’

Talisker Storm with venison chorizo
Heading into choppier waters now. Storm is a turbo-charged version of Talisker, with more pepper, spice and smoke. And just as well, as the venison chorizo it was served with had a big kick of chilli heat at the finish. The Talisker stood up to the meat, but overall the heat from both sides battled it out rather than complementing each other.
CD: ‘This is spice and pepper in HD!’

My favourite pairing of the night – Talisker 18 Year Old with Stichelton cheese

Talisker 18 Year Old with Stichelton cheese
After all that vim and vigour, this third pairing was a much calmer affair, and many people’s favourite of the night. Talisker 18 Year Old is a thing of beauty, offering a honeyed richness that paired wonderfully with the piquant, creamy Stichelton. The perfect match.
CD: ‘The distillery manager once told me that Talisker doesn’t age – he said it should all be released at eight years old…’

Time for a halftime break, with Talisker Skye served on its own, followed by a Skye Rocket cocktail created by top mixologist Andrea Montague. Skye is the newest Talisker release, and is a gentler expression with less of the peppery heat that typifies the distillery’s output. Combining Talisker 10 Year Old with lemon and apricot, as well as rosemary-and-rocket-infused sugar syrup, what lifted the Skye Rocket was the addition of a rocket-leaf garnish, delivering a peppery hit to balance out the sweetness of the liquid.
CD: ‘Talisker Skye was designed to break people in gently; it’s Talisker with two sugars’

Mixologist Andrea Montague makes her Skye Rocket cocktail with Talisker 10 Year Old

Talisker Port Ruighe with almond and orange cake
We’re pushing the pepper to one side briefly, and trying a Talisker much more on the fruity side. Port Ruighe is finished in ruby port casks, adding a red-berry note and slight jamminess to the whisky. We tried it with a sticky almond and orange cake, and despite my reservations about the red fruits in the Port Ruighe fighting with nutty, citrusy cake, it actually worked well, primarily due to the similar sweetness levels in both.
CD: ‘We’re moving into dessert time…’

Talisker 2002 Distillers Edition with salted caramel praline
Something of a surprise, this one. If you matched a Talisker finished in amoroso (similar to cream sherry) with praline, you’d expect the results to be a sweet, sugary overload. Not a bit of it. What made this pairing was the delicious salinity in both the whisky – juicy and refreshing – and in the salted-caramel praline. Neither were particularly sweet, and the two worked beautifully together.
CD: ‘Talisker in a leather coat on a bed of oaky spice’

Diageo’s Colin Dunn took us on a tour of Talisker

Talisker 30 Year Old – served solo
A fitting way to end. Rather than a long speech, Colin instructed the room to take a mouthful, close our eyes for 30 seconds and contemplate it. Despite a few sneaky peeks, the room did as they were told, with all attention firmly on the whisky. Over those 30 seconds, the whisky was rich, refreshing, lip-smacking and soft, with bitter-orange-marmalade notes blending with the soft, salty peat.
CD: ‘Talisker acoustic. A volcanic whisky from a volcanic island’

Whisky tastings with food always go down well, and this was no exception. Many thanks to Colin Dunn for (another) bravura performance, and also to the top-notch Borough Market team who supplied the delicious pairings and introduced them to guests.

BACK IN STOCK…

Single Malt Whisky

• Amrut “Fusion” Indian Single Malt Whiskey 750ml ($69.99)

• Kavalan Single Sherry Cask Taiwanese Single Malt Whisky 750ml – 4 available ($169.99)

United States – Bourbon and Rye

• Corsair Experimental “Ryemaggedon” Whiskey 750ml – 4 available ($49.99)

K&L Wine Merchants
http://www.klwines.com
Phone: 877-KLWines (toll free 877-559-4637)
Email: wine@klwines.com
San Francisco, Redwood City, Hollywood CA

The Macallan 25 year old Sherry Oak

Matured for a minimum of 25 years in a combination of hand-selected Spanish and American sherry oak casks. The Spanish oak gives a rich, deep and incredibly smooth flavour of dried fruits and chocolate orange. The sumptuous Macallan 25 year old Sherry Oak is becoming harder to find and delivers everything you would expect from an older, sherry-matured expression from this highly-revered distillery.

£700 Buy Now

Hibiki 30 year old 

Hibiki means resonance in Japanese. It speaks to the soul and emotions of the most discerning whisky lover. The legendary Hibiki represents true harmony, the ideal of perfection, the paragon of ‘The Art of Japanese Whisky’ and its artisans. The Hibiki 30 year old is created from a specially selected mixture of spirits, all aged for a minimum of 30 years to create an exceptionally well-balanced whisky.

£1100 Buy Now

Yamazaki 18 year old 

Yamazaki is Suntory’s flagship single malt. The surprising, delicate yet profound experience of a Japanese single malt was born at Yamazaki. Spiritual and deep, its signature multi-layered taste is highly praised by whisky connoisseurs all over the world. Today, Yamazaki is not only the No.1 single malt whisky in Japan, but is enjoyed in more than thirty-five countries. The 18 year old is rich with mature autumn fruit and Mizunara (Japanese oak) aroma.

£170 Buy Now

The Last Drop 48 year old

The Last Drop 48 year old Blended Scotch Whisky is made up of many distinguished malts and grains, including some from long-closed distilleries. The youngest whisky in this blend was distilled in 1965, making this a truly rare and luxurious Scotch whisky. Named Scotch Whisky of the Year in Jim Murray’s 2015 Whisky Bible, described as “an award winner if ever I tasted one. Magnificent doesn’t quite cover it…” One of only 592 bottles.

£2600 Buy Now

Glenfiddich 40 year old 

The world renowned Glenfiddich 40 year old boasts an exceptional, silky smooth and luxurious taste with intense dried fruit flavours of christmas cake, dates, raisins and stewed apples. Each bottle is individually numbered and wrapped in hand-stitched calf leather, accompanied by a leather bound book telling its 40 year old story, with certification hand-signed by the distillery’s longest-serving craftsmen. Only 600 bottles are released to the world each year.

£2300 Buy Now

Ledaig 42 year old

Distilled in 1972 and filled into various types of cask, In 2001 Ian MacMillan, the master blender for Ledaig transferred what liquid was left into high-quality Gonzales Byass oloroso sherry casks to add a further layer of flavour. After five years of close supervision, the casks were transferred back to Tobermory distillery. Ian has since claimed that this Ledaig is “the smokiest whisky of its age he has ever encountered.”

One of only 500 bottles and bottled at 46.3% volume.

£2050 Buy Now

The Balvenie 40 year old

To create The Balvenie Forty, The Balvenie Malt Master, David Stewart, skilfully married together casks that have lain undisturbed in the warehouses for at least forty years. Different cask types impart different characteristics, bringing together a perfect harmony of fruit, spice, sweetness, citrus and oak to create a Balvenie of the very highest order. A silky smooth whisky with an excellent balance of sweet and spicy flavours. The finish is rich, slightly dry and extremely long.

£3000 Buy Now

OUR LATEST AUCTION IS NOW LIVE!

Our latest auction is now live, and will end on Tuesday 7 July. Once again, we have an exciting line-up of bottles, with plenty of single malts, everyday drinking whiskies and a superb selection of miniatures. There are bottles from Feis Ile (the Islay Festival), in case you weren’t able to make it to Islay this year. Once again, our Japanese whisky selection is very strong, with bottles from Karuizawa and Hanyu, as well as some bottles that were only released in Japan. We also have a good number of vintage spirits for your cocktail cabinet and many blended Scotch whiskies. Look out for the following bottles, and good luck with your bids!

• Bowmore 1957 38 Years Old
• Ardbeg Perpetuum – engraved with Dr Bill Lumsden’s and Brendan McCarron’s signatures
• Glenlivet 1968 Reserve Vintage 39 Years Old
• Macallan 1963 Anniversary Malt
• Midleton Distillers Selection Housewarming Edition
• Springbank 1968 Sherry Cask 40 Years Old Chieftain’s

A reminder for all UK customers: we offer FREE insurance on all parcels, with no extra/hidden charges.

HAPPY CANADA DAY, eh?

anCnoc 18 Year Old and 1975 – Modern Tradition

Knockdhu is a strangely anachronistic distillery. Founded in 1894, at the time it was a thoroughly modern facility, with a steam engine, railway sidings, and all mod cons. However, not much has changed since then, with a single pair of stills producing spirit in an old-fashioned way.

Some casks, chillin’

When I visited a few years back, the first thing I noticed was the clash between the approach at the distillery and the more modern way in which it was packaged. From the whisky’s name – anCnoc rather than the more traditional sounding Knockdhu – to its almost monochromatic packaging, it’s a thoroughly modern product, even though it is made at a distillery with little automation. It’s what you might expect from a distillery whose motto is ‘Modern Tradition’.

Their two most recent releases show off the dual nature of the distillery – the modern and the traditional.

First up, is anCnoc 18 Year Old. It starts with 16 years of maturation in ex-bourbon casks, before a two-year finish in first-fill European oak, ex-oloroso casks.

anCnoc 18 Year Old, 46%

Nose: Fresh apple – both sweet and gently sour – grainy vanilla fudge, freshly crushed malt, cooked sweetcorn and a touch of plasticine. Light fruity notes burst out of the glass when freshly poured, with darker flavours developing over time: candied lemon, pineapple, mango cream and dried tropical fruit trail mix slowly turn into flamed orange peel and raisins. Butterscotch sits behind, with spice and nuttiness growing over time, especially after adding a splash of water.

Palate: Sherbert-filled Refresher chews and lemon-zest sharpness to start, softening to toffee and spiced sponge cake. Dry cinnamon bark and ground cinnamon heat are joined by cracked black pepper and orange zest, with a background of stewed fruit.

Finish: Lemon, toffee and gentle spice. Cream and mango develop, making way for nutmeg, cinnamon and a gently dry lingering spice.

Comment: A whisky that does wonders with some time in the glass. Starting with the fruity anCnoc character that is shown mostly in the younger expressions, the two years in oloroso casks make themselves known after a few moments, with darker, richer and spicier flavours building but not overpowering.

Finishes are a relatively new thing in whisky, at least when it comes to telling people about them, and this combination of sweet and fruity spirit, with a richly sweet backbone, is to me a very modern style of dram.

Secondly is something special: anCnoc 1975, bottled at 39 years old in November 2014. It’s a vatting of three American and European oak butts, seasoned before filling with sherry. I’ve talked about sherry casks on the blog before (parts one, two and three), and while the sherry is important, the influence of the type of oak used shouldn’t be underestimated.

anCnoc 1975, 44.2%

Nose: Chocolate-covered cherries and toasted orange peel, with tobacco leaves and fruit, tropical and orchard, creeping out from behind: pineapple, apple, pear, orange and sharp mango. There’s wax polish, dry leaves and soft spice – nutmeg and hint of cardamom – as well as some vanilla, sappy touches and a bit of Jaffa Cake jelly.

Palate: Barrel char and layers of spice dominate at first, with an old spirit rancio character developing behind. Damp leaves, forests after a rainstorm and leafy ponds sit on top of more traditional anCnoc fruitiness, with apples, sour cherries and lemon slowly making their way forward. The richer notes balance things out, with sweetened espresso (maybe a macchiato), toffee and chocolate Rice Krispie cakes joined by a hint of mint.

Finish: Lingering sandalwood and incense, thickly peeled apple skin, apple boiled sweets, green leaves and damp earth. It calms to a gently earthy note, with candied sweetness and lingering hint of Polo mint.

Comment: This whisky tastes old, but with the damp and dark flavours from old oak providing a solid base. However, the anCnoc spirit will not be kept down, and fruitier notes poke their head above the parapet to provide a counterpoint and occasional flash of freshness.

This for me is an old-fashioned dram. Heavy, old-fashioned spirit, produced over a decade before the current owners took over the distillery, matured for a long time in large casks. This combines the influence of the oak with that of time, using casks that will allow the spirit to mature on its own, as well as through interaction with wood. An impressive and weighty dram, thoroughly different to the 18 Year Old, but still containing something that’s unmistakeably anCnoc.