Whyte & Mackay No Age Statement ‘Special’ (40%, OB, “Double Marriage Blend”+/-2009)

This is the key to the blend’s success – time allows the aged malts to amalgamate and harmonise. The ‘vatted malt or blended malt’, as it is now known, is held in sherry butts and left for several months during its first marriage. Once again time is called upon. The blended malt is then mixed with six different grain whiskies and returned to another set of sherry butts to complete its second stage of maturation before it is finally bottled.(This bit was lifted, verbatim, from W&M’s website).

The nose is full grain whisky with some light heather, mint and some vague herbs backed by sweet cereals, raisins, pear, vanilla and sherry. The grain contribution is quite evident and is very pleasant. The taste is at first very much like cereal along with the sweetness and sherry notes; the mouth feel is very soft and at times both malty and of grain whisky. It is very flavorful and gentle. The finish is also gentle and sweet with the malt taking a back seat to the grain whiskies however this does not detract; the grain gives way to fruit and even Christmas cake and a ever so slight hint of cured tobacco and some oak notes.

Hmmm, tasty and well balanced for any whisky, well done.

Score 82 points

C$25

At Whisky Intelligence we do not drag out the garlic juice, 1,000,000 candle power arc lights and wooden stakes at the first sign of a blended whisky and generally celebrate them while recognizing the economics of the situation that without blended whiskies there wouldn’t be any single malts. During the next few days we’ll be examining a few blended whiskies but next week it’ll be back to the malts!

Dewar’s No Age Statement (40%, “White Label”, +/- 2009)

What to expect? Especially from the point of view of a malt head…the bottle is embossed with the phrase “Never Varies” and the bottom label is adorned 14 Gold Medals awarded between 1896 and 1930…. and the label is actually almost white… The nose reveals some nice grain notes that one always finds in blends however it is not harsh but is fragrant and sweet along with some light citrus (think grapefruit and oranges) and some spicy wood notes. It is not a hugely complicated nose but is pleasant which is a damn fine start after all. The taste is almost a mirror reflection of the nose along with a back ground of sweetness and also some bitter chocolate and honey, vanilla and some slight hints of raw tobacco, cereal, fresh hay and some ever so slight hint of peat reek (that’s a surprise). The finish is warming, sweet and reasonably long, malty and smashingly good. After a few minutes you’re left with some nice chewy malt.

There’s nothing wrong with this whisky and it’s actually quite good. The absence of off notes is both a surprise and welcome and it’s quite vibrant. Serve it blind to your friends and see what they think.

C$25 which is cheap as chips

Score 84 Points

At Whisky Intelligence we do not drag out the garlic juice, 1,000,000 candle power arc lights and wooden stakes at the first sign of a blended whisky and generally celebrate them while recognizing the economics of the situation that without blended whiskies there wouldn’t be any single malts. During the next few days we’ll be examining a few blended whiskies but next week it’ll be back to the malts!

Gordon Wright

Springbank 10yo 1995/2006 (46%, The Alchemist, D12/’95 B01/’06)

A limited edition Springbank from Gordon Wright, the Alchemist himself and he is part of the family that owns Springbank distillery. This bottling is a vatting of fresh port pipes and 1st fill bourbon casks.  On the nose there is rich fruit along with the very distinctive aroma of Springbank followed by Christmas cake, apricot, very gentle peat reek and some crème brulèe. What a sensational nose. Everything is working well here and is in harmony. The taste is at first very much Springbank and is also very winey  followed by some malt, dried fruit (from the Christmas cake), the peat reek and some really nice oak which is slightly dry but really well enhanced by the sweetness and fruit. The taste is very, very rich and redolent with loads of rich fruit; quite excellent. The finish is of gentle smoke, more fruit and then quickly becomes dry and malty. The finish is quite long and warming, after a minute or two the fruit makes a reappearance which is very nice. After a number of minutes the malt once again emmerges and is quite excellent all the while in harmony with the very gentle peat reek.

All in all a very good example of Springbank with a richness that reminds one of the Springbanks form the early 1990’s. The web address is a disaster; anybody searching for ‘Alchemist’ on google will not find Gordon and his excellent whiskies. You must search under alc-hem-ist  ……..   www.alc-hem-ist.com

C$80

Score 88 Points

A single cask bottled especially for British Columbia; single cask Arran’s are always of interest and this one is of no exception. The undiluted nose is very fruity and spicy along with some pepper and loads of malt and unsurprisingly some prickle on the nose from the alcohol. The fruit after a few minutes is very deep and thick and is very good; this is an exceptional nose and is very pleasant. After a few minutes in the glass the fruit opens up and is more distinct; oranges and lemons. With the addition of water the malt is the prominent characteristic along strong wood notes and more fruit, even some gentle hints of leather. The undiluted taste is both strong, and chocolaty along with fruit, leather, sweetness and dry cedar wood notes, very, very nice. The mouth feel is quite syrupy and reminiscent of cream soda; quite different from many other sherry casks. With water it is much more docile and sweet; mild cedar/tobacco and sweetness all very well balanced and a much better way to enjoy this dram over the course of an evening. The finish is malty, and strong with the afore mentioned fruit and leather along with some slight hints of raw cured tobacco and then a tremendous crash of the malt which comes rolling back in crystal clear and backed by some really good bitter chocolate.

What an enjoyable dram; well done Isle of Arran Distillery. If you want to be slapped around the mouth try it neat, you won’t regret it.

C$110

Score 89 Points

Visit Isle of Arran Distillery at www.arranwhisky.com/

Tamdhu 42yo (43.8%, Dewar Rattray for Calgary Co-op, Hogs Head C#6, 95 Bts., D01/’67 B03/’09)

A single cask bottling exclusively for the Calgary (Alberta, Canada) C0- op Liquor Stores and it has been reported that the lady purchaser who originally nosed the cask sample took all of 5 seconds to buy the entire cask; “sniff…I’ll take it”.

On the sniff there is sweet butter, honey, tropical fruit, toffee, vanilla, very slight hints of bourbon, sweet wine and wood notes all in perfect harmony; this is simply outstanding on the nose. Additionally it is a very similar aroma to many older Speyside single malts that have been matured in ex bourbon casks for a very long period, Glen Grant, Glenfarclas, Strathisla to name a few and a nose that always seems ‘antique’. There is also a stunning layer of malt dust hovering in the background which is exceptional. The taste is strong at first and slightly fizzy in the mouth and then bam!,  the flavours are revealed and are a perfect continuation of the aromas, but slightly less sweet and more assertive and happily not overly oaked which is a pleasant surprise after so long in the cask.  The finish is gentle at first and then there is some oak, butter, sweetness (honey, vanilla and the tropical fruit), tropical fruits and then it becomes dry and sweet and finally some malt appears followed in quick succession by some dry oak. The finish is quite long and warming.

Delicious and well worth the C$299 (if this were an Official Bottling by the distiller it would run about $2,000 (perhaps)).

Score 90 points

http://www.adrattray.com/

Poit Dhub 8yo Unchilfiltered Gaelic Whisky (43%, OB, +/-2008)

The label has a lot of unrecognizable words all over the label; the only English, other than ‘Gaelic Whisky Unchilfiltered’ is malt Scotch whisky which one has to take as a vatted malt or a blended malt but not a single malt. The label has two seahorses, facing each other…and Poit Dubh, the back label reveals (in English), is pronounced ‘Potch Ghoo’. Microsoft Word struggled with those two…..none the less the nose is sweet and mildly smokey with dried tree fruit (think apricots, plums and cherries) along with vanilla and fruit cake. Also some tiny hints of green notes (very briefly),  sherry and some more peat smoke (reek) but it’s very gentle and not overly strong however it’s all well in balance. The taste is gentle at first with some malt and then there’s a wee bit of a peat reek attack intermingled with the sweet sherry and some slight green notes and raw tobacco and leather which all becomes quite sweet at the end. It’s very nice. The finish is at first mildly peaty followed by some malt ad then some chocolate and dryness from the oak, more of the tobacco and leather (although very gentle) and then the sweetness and dryness, end over end. After a short while, the malt shoves through the rest and you’re left chewing on the malt for quite some time.

What a great dram! Not sure it’s worth it to frighten folk with those sea horses on the label however……

C$55 in the  single malt waste land of Ontario. Score 88 Points

http://www.gaelicwhisky.com/ (the absence of sea horses on the website is note worthy and the webiste is in English!).

McCarthy’s 3yo Oregon Single Malt (42.5%, OB, ‘Peated’, Batch #Wo9-01, B3/08/’09)

A plethora of names on the label; Clear Creek Distillery McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt on the front and on the back; Widmer Brothers Brewing Company ferments Imported Peat-Malted Scottish Barley especially for Clear Creek Distillery. Nice looking bottle and label. On the nose it is familiar in reference to Scotland and Scottish malts; smokey and medicinal along with some brine followed by some oak spice, very good malt, very old wooden musical instruments (violins etcetera) and also some very pleasant sweetness. After some short time in the glass the peat and the sweetness intermingle very well; think of warm brown sugar (think of Demerara sugar in a cooking pan just prior to the butter going in) and really good peat reek. This is a sensational nose. On to the taste; a really big mouthful reveals peat reek and red cedar, chocolate, varnish, cold unsweetened tea, a tiny hint of grapefruit and malt. But oh my, the beautiful peat, My God this is really good. The mouth feel is also quite gentle, like it was actually bottled at 30% ABV instead of 42.5%. The finish is very peaty followed by malt followed by chocolate malt followed by dry oakiness and a perfect moment of dry oak bitterness. It goes on and on, this is really quite sensational. The malt, peated, charges on at high speed for quite a very long time…..

Score 88 points

It’s really very good………..

From http://clearcreekdistillery.com/whiskey.html

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey 

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey is of the Islay tradition of Scotch whisky.  Of well-known single malts from Scotland, it resembles the Lagavulin whisky.  It is very peat-y.  Made from peat-malted barley brought in from Scotland, our whiskey would be a single malt Scotch if Oregon were Scotland.  Widmer Brothers ferments the peat-malted barley into a “wash” or unhopped beer.  Using the unfinished wash allows us to get all the flavor and character of the malt when we distill.  We distill in our Holstein pot stills using one pass distillation, but make a small “heads” cut and a fairly large “tails” cut and put about 4 liters of tails into the next still run.  The proof at time of distillation is about 150 (75%).   Then we reduce in proof and barrel-age the rough distillate in old sherry casks.  All the Oregon Single Malt now spends some time in barrels made from air-dried Oregon Oak.  The present bottling is only 3 years old but we think it is remarkably smooth for such a young whiskey.  The result is a smooth, peat-y whiskey with a surprisingly clean finish. Production is very limited because what we put in the barrel doesn’t come out for years.

McCarthy’s Oregon Single Malt Whiskey received attention from its early days in the 1990’s because American Single Malt was a novelty.  In 2000, Gary Regan and Mardee Haidin Ragen noted in the Malt Advocate (March, 2000, p. 24) that in the world of American whiskey, “the times they are a-changing.”  Their article described how single malts have started to gain in popularity over the past decade and “full flavored American whiskey has made a comeback.”  At that time (2000) three artisanal distillers were making American Single Malts, but only McCarthy’s had been released.

McCarthy’s started to receive significant acclaim in 2004, when Jim Murray’s Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s its Best Small Batch Whiskey in the world award and a score of 94.  That same year Michael Jackson put McCarthy’s in his list of The Ten Best American Whiskeys, published in both the Men’s Journal (December 2004) and The Malt Advocate ( First Quarter 2005).  Consistently rave reviews have continued.  In his 2006 edition of The Whiskey Bible, Jim Murray wrote, “McCarthy’s has earned a place among the world’s elite whiskeys.”  His 2008 edition of The Whiskey Bible gave McCarthy’s a phenomenal score of 96.

Laphroaig 10yo (40%, OB, +/-2007)

The single malt from the famed Islay distillery of Laphroaig, the nose is of pest reek right off followed by a back ground of sweetness, seaweed and bandages, iodine, cocoa and the ocean (brine). The peat reek and the sweetness are very well defined and are the defining characteristics of the nose. For lovers of Laphroaig this is it without need for further elaboration. The taste is dry right off and then is quickly followed by malt, peat reek, sweetness and then unsweetened cocoa and then some further expansion of the peat reek backed by the sweetness and cocoa. Brilliant. There is also a smoothness in the mouth feel but it is very big in the flavour department.  The finish is of bitter cocoa (which is stunningly brilliant) quickly followed by some sweetness and then it evens out to become malty and slightly fizzy for a brief moment followed by some more malt. The finish is exceptionally long and is mouth smackingly good.

Laphroaig; Love it or love, there are no other options.

Score 88 points.

Glenfiddich 12yo ‘Caoran Reserve’ (40%, OB, +/-2003)

Glenfiddich with peat smoke, a minor blast from the past, Caoran means Peat Ember in Gaelic. The nose is quite delicate at first and is sweet; think of tropical fruit, pineapple (not chilled), some marmalade and the ever so slightest hint of the advertised peat smoke. After some time in the glass there is also some faint hints or Hessian and oak which is very nice. The taste is actually peated at first however the malt and the fruit are more dominant; the taste is quite good and very much Glenfiddich. After a short while there is short bread and then, pow; some good smoke making a stronger appearance. The finish is a departure from other Glenfiddich; the gentle smoke and the malt are the predominant characteristics. After a short while there is some really good malt and some slightly out of balance bitter chocolate and pepper at the very end that after a few minutes pops into sync and all is well.

An interesting experiment and some fun here to look at a single malt that has not been on most shelves for over 5 years in this livery.

No idea on cost….

Score 80 Points

Visit Glenfiddich Distillery at http://www.glenfiddich.com/

A brand new small batch release from the Islay distillery of Bowmore, bottled in 2009 and endowed with a batch number (something we’ll be seeing much more of in the near future). This bottling is at the cask strength of 55.3% and is from first fill bourbon casks. The nose is very good; delicate peat reek, spiciness from the oak along with honey and vanilla. After a short while in the glass the peat reek becomes much sweeter and the oak becomes slightly scented, think of a cedar lined blanket box but not overly so, all is in balance. After some more time there is some chocolate and earthy malt. With water the aromas expand and the sample becomes much earthier, think of the aroma of a dunnage warehouse, there is also a very faint hint of uncooked pizza dough and cold cooked rice. The taste is strong, earthy, sweet, warming and very much of peat reek followed by sweet wine, vanilla, toffee and the uncooked pizza dough from the aroma. After a short while it changes slightly to bring out chocolate malt. With water the sample is much sweeter and more balanced with the peat reek being in the fore along with some really good malt and spiciness from the oak.  The finish is malty, has loads of spiciness form the oak, chocolate (dark bitter & unsweetened), mild hints of diesel, brine, some maritime and more of the peated malt. The finish is very long, strong and warming, wafting up through the back of the throat. It’s very good.

It’s nice to see Bowmore expand on the standard line with such a high quality and reasonably priced expression.

C$82 at Kensington in Calgary and also available from Loch Fyne Whiskies

Score 87