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Balvenie Sweepstake and Madeira Cask launch

November 27th, 2009 Bill
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Regular readers will recall my tasting notes on the Balvenie 17 year-old Madeira Cask a little while back. This whisky has now been launched in the US with a two-night event at New York’s Eleven Madison Park Restaurant where invited guests were given tastings of the entire 17 year old range with the Madeira taking pride of place.

I’m heading back to Madeira myself in a few weeks so I might develop even more of a taste for it by the time I get back!

They are also offering a sweepstake on their website at the moment with a very interesting prize of an exclusive Scotch Whisky nosing and tasting kit containing 24 separate aromas and a dedicated nosing guide, along with a Balvenie hipflask. Go to Discover Rare Craftsmanship Sweepstakes if you fancy taking part in that.

The sweepstake seems to be part of a number of developments on their site with the Warehouse 24 members area and their Whisky Shelf - which is a place to record and compare your tasting experiences of all whiskies, not just the Balvenie, with other members.

Nice to see an attractive looking site making some enterprising additions. They should do well with it.

SMWS November tasting (part 2)

November 8th, 2009 Bill
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Continuing the tasting notes we come to the third (not counting the bonus one) of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s offerings.

Bottling 35.32

34 years old, 55.1%, 183 bottles

Colour

Light

Nose

Pear drops, liquorice, someone mentioned spangles - a real blast from the past. I immediately started to feel that this one would not match my preferences.

Taste

Initial taste
Complicated and confusing rather than complex, my impressions were of a fiery, coarse nature. On this one I found the society’s tasting notes completely at odds with what I was getting from the whisky. Pear drops again, a sourness, flavours of allspice (which is a spice I don’t like), and a type of bitter citrus rind that I couldn’t pin down.

Later taste
Water improves it (not something I often say) but it’s still a very back of the throat taste that I found quite unpleasant.

Finish

More of that pear drops lingered rather  too long

Conclusion

After about three tastes I gave up on this one as it was not to my taste at all. While there are malts that I am not keen on I honestly have never disliked one as much as this. I suspect it was probably at the lower end of most of my fellow taster’s preferences too, although one of them rated it her favourite of the night. It takes all sorts - you couldn’t pay me to drink this one!

It was a relief to move on to the fourth.

Bottling 28.22

19 years old, 57.8%, 631 bottles

Colour

Very pale

Nose

Spirity, wood, and a curious scent that eventually reminded me of ham and pea soup.

Taste

Initial Taste
Front of the tongue, warm, rich,  nutmeg, dark. The flavour improves with time, with hint of charred steak and bitter orange. Quite drying though. Once again I found the supplied notes a little different to my own impressions with none of the Thai curry they mentioned or apples. Though it was interesting that someone had mentioned that pea soup that I got in the nosing.

Later Taste
Water produces a very palatable taste with lemonish notes and gets rid of that dryness. I wouldn’t go quite as far as the chocolate limes one of the original tasting panel had mentioned but it was certainly quite sweet.

Finish

Not the longest but very satisfying.

Conclusion

If drinking it neat I can imagine an Ardbeg drinker quite enjoying it, although it comes from a very different area, but if you don’t like a dryish palate then you’ll probably want to use a little water at which point it opens out into a sweeter character altogether.

On to our last of the evening and it was a really interesting choice, not at all what we were expecting from knowing the name, an Islay generally associated with maritime imagery.

Bottling 10.70

11 years old, 55.7%, 283 bottles

Colour

Very pale

Nose

A flashback to a childhood smell of swimming pool towels, lanolin, and after discussion with Mike we settled on a hint of potassium permanganate.

Taste

Middle of the tongue, rising up the gums. A strong pungent taste which, while not the normal taste for this distillery, was identifiably that complex signature that Islay drinkers love and others seldom come to terms with.

Later Taste

More of the traditional saltiness that this malt is usually associated appears with a little water, but it holds up very well and I can agree with the notes mention of leather and heather.

Finish

Substantial

Conclusion

You’ll either love it or hate it. If you like Islay then I’d definitely recommend giving it a try.

Our thanks again to the Society for their hospitality and another interesting selection.

SMWS November tasting (part 1)

November 7th, 2009 Bill
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Rating: 10.0/10 (1 vote cast)

On Thursday Mike and I met up at the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s rooms in Edinburgh’s Queen St for their second tasting for whisky bloggers. This matched up with their quarterly release of new bottlings - always a major event for their members. Our fellow bloggers were a mix of familiar faces and new, and soon showed themselves as having a range of different palates.

Olaf was again our host and regaled us with more stories of his early membership (he was the first overseas member before moving to the UK and later Edinburgh) and the beginnings of the Society. The selection of whiskies for our delectation was his choice and promised to give us a fresh perspective on some different distilleries’ production. The one thing you soon learn at these events is that the casks that the Society gets bear little relation to the standard shop-bought output from these distilleries.

So, on to the whiskies themselves.

Whisky 1

Cask 37.45 - 22 years old, 56.5%  (230  bottles available)

Colour

Light honey

Nose

Leather, marzipan.

Taste

Initial taste
Front of the tongue. Spicy, intense. The society’s panel mentioned Victory V losenges and I can agree with that. There are also flavours of spicy duck as you’d get in a Chinese restaurant and hints of the dark sauce that’s usually served with crispy duck.

Later taste
No change in character, just a rounding of the flavours

Finish

Long, warming

After a little water

Sweeter, more light honey, later hints of lemonade.

Conclusion

Very nice. Very interesting, I could definitely enjoy an evening with this. Most of my fellow panelists agreed. Way better than anything I’d tasted from this distillery

Whisky 1a

This was a  surprise bonus from Olaf - same distillery as the first but this time it had spent 15 years in Sherry casks.

Strength was a surprising 60.4% though there was little sense of overpowering spirit. A lovely rich nose that immediately suggested festive celebrations. Tastes of slightly singed Xmas cake; very rich, smoother than the first version despite the additional strength but even more spicy. A touch of Rum coming through.

Rather surprisingly water really draws the strength out of it,  makes it sweeter. Later on it’s still rich.

You probably couldn’t drink much of this at its full strength but you’d enjoy what you did. Definitely a malt for special occasions. Diluted it’s a different dram, still interesting but not with the same character.

Whisky 2

Cask 26.63 - 12 years old, 58.7% (580 bottles)

Colour

Pale

Nose

Nail polish immediately - everyone seemed to agree on that. Hints of Rosemary, something I couldn’t immediately identify but which was probably the Chartreuse mentioned in the society notes, plastic.

Taste

Spicy toffee! Yeah, strange concept isn’t it? The initially puzzling background taste resolved itself into oak wood chips.

Finish

Oily, oaky.

After a little water

Water smooths it off, more pleasant but less character.

Conclusion

This is an odd one. There are aspects that are interesting but it doesn’t really hang together properly for me. There’s too much oiliness and the nose is confusing - it doesn’t seem to match the taste.

(Tasting notes will continue in the next post)

Speyside classic benefits from an island connection

August 16th, 2009 Bill
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But not a Scottish island. This one lies off the coast of Africa but is part of Europe and run by Portugal. The delightful island of Madeira is famous for its mild climate, excellent seafood and the wine which takes its name. I was there myself over New Year and enjoyed it immensely, so when I was asked if I wished to sample a single malt which had been finished in Madeiran wine casks I was immediately intrigued.

The whisky in question is The Balvenie, a Speyside noted for its smooth taste. Now regular readers will know that I’m not really a Speyside afficionado; generally favouring the wilder and more complex flavours of the west coast, though I do have fond memories of an evening spent drinking Balvenie in the company of the historical novelist Dorothy Dunnett, herself an expert and appreciative malt drinker; but the prospect of a combination with the rich taste of Madeira easily persuaded me to lay aside my normal preference for smoke and peat.

The Balvenie - Madeira Cask, 17 years old, 43%

Colour

Medium-light honey

Nose

Soft, smooth, a suggestion of honey with a slight hint of cough medicine. The Madeira comes through well. Leaving it for a few minutes produces a vanilla note with the Madeira fading back.

Taste

Initial taste

Warm without being spirity. Front of the tongue tastes predominate, redolent of one of the richer honeys such as Manuka.

Later taste

The honey dies back and a spicier taste appears - very reminicent of Christmas cake with flavours of dark dried fruits and cinnamon.

Finish

Medium length. Not essentially different from the flavours of the second taste, but while in a west coast malt I would find that slightly disappointing, here it is much more appropriate for it to maintain consistency.

After a little water

A touch of water releases some lighter vanilla notes and the taste lightens too, becoming sweeter and finally producing the Madeira cake flavour that I’d been expecting might be present. I seldom prefer watered versions but here it’s a satisfying counterpoint.

Conclusion

The marriage between smooth Speyside spirit and the rich flavours of Madeiran wine works very well. While Balvenie isn’t as complex a spirit as one from Islay or Skye, its smooth refined palate provides an ideal base for the addition of the rich spiciness provided by the wine casks. Had this approach been applied to a more complicated malt it might well have resulted in a clash, here it blends the respective flavours to produce something that exceeds both. If you like smooth Speysides and especially if you also like rich, spicy fortified wines then I’d recommend that you give this one a try when it’s released in September.

One of Dorothy Dunnett’s books involves the hero’s Scots father owning a plantation on Madeira in the 15th century - it’s a connection that now makes perfect sense.

Maritime Wizardry in Wick

July 16th, 2009 Bill
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I have to confess to never having previously tasted any of the output from this most northerly mainland distillery, so I came to it with no preconceptions, save perhaps wondering if it would be anything like the well known distillery on the facing islands of Orkney.

Old Pulteney - 30 year old, 44%

Colour

Pale gold, lemon or maybe acacia honey

Nose

Sea air, green leaves, light and airy

Taste

Initial taste
After the colour and nose this was unexpectedly warm and rich, redolent of caramel chocolate. Not the false “added caramel” taste you get with some cheaper malts though, rather a luscious but light flavour, and maybe that acacia honey thought wasn’t far off the mark. Darker chocolate notes increase later.

Later taste
A citrus tang  - perhaps bitter Seville orange - creeps in as the whisky warms up. This seems to help it remain relatively light for such a venerable malt.

Finish

Long and delicately rich - light honey predominating

Conclusion

Well balanced and satisfying. Although it’s a 30-year old it retains a freshness more associated with the 12-15s that I usually favour, with none of the over-rich cloying tastes that you sometimes see in older Speysides. The fact that there has been no additional finishing with wine or sherry casks, and plain white bourbon casks have been used throughout, means that the quality of the spirit has been allowed to predominate. Given the fashion for experimental finishes this could be seen as either brave or just very sympathetic to the nature of the whisky. Whichever it was it’s been the right decision and very worthwhile.

Again and again when I’m doing these tastings I’m amazed at how often the whiskies encapsulate the feelings of the places where they are distilled and matured. Even in a blindfold tasting I would know this was a north-east whisky without a shadow of a doubt.

This is a gentle dram, subtle rather than complex, but pure rather than simple. It has an understated but undeniable quality which is refreshing, like the air on the north coast from which it comes.

I would expect it to be a good match for fish, particularly something like the herring which Wick was once so famous for, where the citrus taste would match with the sweetness of the fish. But it would also stand alone as a perfect after dinner dram. This is not a cheap dram but it is a very good one. If you like sound of the descriptions or are already a fan of the northern malts then I can heartily recommend it to anyone with the budget. I’m quite taken with this and I’ll certainly be watching out for some of the other single malts they produce to see if they reflect the same fine qualities.

SMWS Cask no 25.47

May 4th, 2009 Bill
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This is the first tasting note from my recent visit to the Scotch Malt Whisky Society’s rooms in Queen St in Edinburgh. The Society has a tradition of not referring to their bottlings by name, but only by cask number, but they do give hints that enable you to identify them with a little research. I’ll continue that tradition here. For those of you who are Society members they can be bought at www.smws.co.uk/shop/ (though I imagine you’ve all been there already!) and all of you can see the full selection there.

The first whisky in our tasting was from a distillery in Falkirk that is sadly no more. Mike has long had a soft spot for this one so he’ll be annoyed that he couldn’t make the tasting. Regrettably my original tasting notes disappeared from my Palm Pilot, so these are based on recollections a few days afterwards with hints from the Society’s own notes. Sometimes I agreed with them, sometimes I didn’t…

Cask no 25.47

Described by the Society as A Sunny Flower Meadow Picnic
19 years old, 59.7%

Colour

Pale yellow

Nose

Spirity to begin with, as might be expected from this strength, with floral scents coming through and a hint of what might be a resin.

Taste

First taste
Not really what I’d expected at all - much better than the basic malt that used to be sold in the shops. Softer and more subtle, floral notes - maybe elderflower - but with hints of spice - probably Cinnamon - and wood.

Later taste
Rose begins to come through along with a taste that reminds me of the smell of old leather furniture. The Society tasting panel mentioned chocolate and marshmallow although I can’t say I noticed those.

Finish

Some of my fellow tasters thought the finish was long but I found the opposite. What was there was good though.

With a little water

I have to say that I overdid the water a little, and as a result I probably missed the effect somewhat. However there was no sense of the sudden release of aromatics that I’m familiar with from the western distilleries. A little more rose and maybe a touch of pineapple-type citrus. The Society notes mentioned lemon and cut grass and I could see where that might be the case if I’d used a little less water.

Sometimes leaving a whisky for 10 or 15 minutes can bring out more flavours. We checked back on this one later and found that it wasn’t one that benefited from this approach. Personally I’d drink it at cask strength.

Conclusion

While this lowlander wasn’t my usual style of malt it was a satisfying dram, light and subtle with some excellently blended flavours. Because it is no longer made it has rarity value - at the price quoted I probably wouldn’t buy it myself, but for those of you who favour this style I can imagine it being a must-have and I suspect it’ll sell out quickly.

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