Month: October 2014

Longrow 11 Years – Rundlets and Kilderkins

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Distillery/Brand: Longrow | Region: Campbeltown | ABV: 51.7% | Color: Full Gold
Nose: 23 | Taste: 23 | Finish: 24 | Balance: 23 | Rating: 93

Review
There is something strangely fascinating about this bottle. I love the packaging with it’s bronze plaque-ish label on the front and it’s embossed lettering. It’s quite grand.

I picked this one off the shelf along with the CV of the same name to do a little head to head comparison. The CV, now discontinued, had gained quite a reputation along the way and so I was eager to see how this one would stack up against it’s brother.

The Rundlets & Kilderkins (R&K from now on) is a type of very small barrel which can be anywhere from 60 to 80 liters big. Or small, if you like. The idea is that smaller the cask the greater the interaction between spirit and wood and, hence, greater it’s influence.

These casks don’t come ready made and instead get re-proportioned from larger barrels. A Rundlet is basically one seventh of a butt making it one of the smallest cask unit holding around 74 liters and essentially used to mature wine. A Kilderkin, Dutch for small cask, was traditionally used to store beer and can hold around 80 odd liters. Think of it as a quarter-cask if you will, only a bit smaller.

This single malt is 11 years old, distilled in November 2001 and bottled in Januray 2013 and has an alcohol strength of 51.7%

Nose: Whoa! Big! Salty. Briny. Toffee. Chocolate. Coffee. Pine needles. Hay. Heather. Meaty. Boiled sausage. White salt. Black salt. Fortified wine. Soot. A different kind of peat. Ash. Dry leaves. Red licorice. Toffee apples. Medicinal. I love this nose. It’s brilliantly complex. Just layer upon layer of beautiful aromas.

Palate: Grape. Sweet wine. Chocolate. Spice. Cinnamon. Black pepper. Nutmeg. Brown bread. Roasted coffee beans. Rich earth. Butter on toast. It has a lovely crisp charring amid the coffee and the grapes.

Finish: Mocha. Mocha. Mocha. Coffee. Oak. Cinnamon. Dry leaves. Hint of smoke. Tar. Bitter chocolate. Drying.

I prefer this to the CV. Both from a packaging and over all experience and complexity point of view. The flavors are on point. The balance between char and sweet is admirable.

Longrows are notorious for breathing well over time which is why I’ve decanted some to have a go at it in six months. This could quite possibly be my favorite Longrow.

Rating: 93

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Longrow CV

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Distillery/Brand: Longrow | Region: Campbeltown | ABV: 46% | Color: Sunlight
Nose: 22 | Taste: 22 | Finish: 23 | Balance: 22 | Rating: 89

Review
I had picked up a bottle of this, now discontinued, peated expression a few years ago. Having decided I wasn’t ready at the time to savor it’s charms I let it grace my shelf all this while. Until last night, that is.

I have always been fascinated by Campbeltown expressions, especially the stuff that comes out of Springbank. They produce three expressions the year round. The unpeated Hazelburn, the lightly peated Springbank and the ‘heavily’ (by Campbeltown standards) peated Longrow.

For me it was a case of irrational fascination followed by a realization that these flavors were something I could really sink my teeth into. Because the Longrow can take some getting used to I tell you. But when you do it’s oh so worth it.

The CV (for Curriculum Vitae – yes, you read that right) is Springbank Distilleries’ way of introducing consumers to the different flavor profiles that they represent. So in the case of this Longrow the spirit inside the bottle comprises of three different vintages and four types of oak.

Six years old whisky from bourbon casks, ten years old from port and rum casks, and 14 years old from sherry casks blended together to produce this fine expression. My sample is from a brand new bottle and served at 46%

Nose: Mild peat. Lemon. Orange sweets. Hint of salt. Sweet caramel. Touch of sulphur – enough to be noticed and not enough to cause pain. Grass. Greens. Rice pudding. Husk. Cereal. Cardboard. Golden syrup. Black sesame creme brulee. It’s a controlled nose. I like it.

Palate: Starts off savory. Mild peat. Rice husk. Mild peppers. Brown bread. Starts getting sweeter mid-palate. Sugarcane juice. The delivery is medium bodied and I like how it changes while still on the tongue.

Finish: Long. Peat. Ash. Soot. The finish really kicks in the charcoals much more strongly than either the nose or the palate.

I like how it journeys from mildly sweet on the nose to savory on the palate and finally quite charred on the finish. Tells me that the spirit is complex and successfully draws from it’s so many influences.

This has now been replaced by the NAS Longrow Peated which I haven’t had a gander at. Various opinions tell this was not a happy change but I won’t comment on that until I pick one up for my self. Till then I’m quite happy to have this one sitting uncorked on my shelf.

Rating: 89

Mackmyra First Edition

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Distillery/Brand: Mackmyra | Region: Sweden | ABV: 46.1% | Color: Sunlight
Nose: 21 | Taste: 20 | Finish: 20 | Balance: 20 | Rating: 81

Review
I was invited recently to a World Whiskies evening at a friends’ house so among a Japanese, South African, Canadian and Indian sat this Swedish young ‘un.

Mackmyra is Swedens’ first foray into whisky making and was founded in 1999. In December 2002, after 170 recipes, they finalized on two expressions and named them Mackmyra Elegant and Mackmyra Smoke.

That was also the year they moved from being a pilot distillery to a small-scale producer.

The ‘First Edition’ was bottled in 2008 and was the first large-scale production whisky to come out of this distillery.

First let’s talk about the presentation. Nice box complete with slide-out and velvet lining. Lovely colors. The bottle is funky and dumpy with an attractive label.

Unfortunately those are the only positives I’m going to be talking about.

The ‘First Edition’ has been built on the Elegant recipe and uses first-fill bourbon casks combined with virgin Swedish oak. Stored 50m underground in the Bodas mines it is bottled at 46.1%

Nose: Iodine. Lavender. Quite floral. Spicy. Melon. Banana. Jackfruit. Fennel. Aniseed. Hard boiled sweets. The nose is quite fresh with grassy overtones. It has a mild mustiness to it which some may find nice but I don’t.

Palate: Very sweet. White sugar. White melon. Fennel. Aniseed. Jack fruit. Cereals. Grain. Weetabix. Grass. Bran flakes. I don’t like the palate at all. Very watery. Flavors are not solid.

Finish: Medium. Spearmint.

This is a below average whisky which I think needs to be served at a higher strength with an aggressive maturation technique. Cask strength Oloroso sherry anyone?

Rating: 81

Bains Cape Mountain Whisky

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Distillery/Brand: Bains | Region: South Africa | ABV: 43% | Color: Young Sauternes
Nose: 22 | Taste: 21 | Finish: 21 | Balance: 21 | Rating: 85

Review
I like a little variety in my single malt diet so I’m always on the lookout for expressions that are off the beaten path. Recently I was invited to a friends’ place for a World Whisky tasting which was attended by a bunch of enthusiastic newbies.

In my role as overall whisky brand ambassador for the evening I had to do a bit of reading up on the expressions for the evening lest I got blind-sighted.

This expression is the first single grain whisky from South Africa out of The James Sedgwick Distillery located in Bainskloof Pass in Wellington (45 minutes from Cape Town).

Made from 100% wheat distilled in column stills the spirit is then matured for five years in first-fill bourbon casks. It’s named after Andrew Geddes Bain, South Africa’s most famous road engineer who was responsible for building the first roads in Wellington. This has been bottled at 43%

Nose: Quite sweet. Bit bourbony. Must be all those first-fill casks. Licorice. Chocolate. Soft dates. Clove. Cinnamon. Oak. Banana. Men’s aftershave. Candy floss. It’s not bad. Column stills really produce some strong aromas. The chocolate is the strongest here.

Palate: That same mild chocolate. Marzipan. Cinnamon spices. Apricot. Assorted berries. Some wild. Some red. Some blu. Overall the palate’s a bit weak in my opinion. I think a few additional percentage points would have really hit the spot.

Finish: Medium. Oily. That same mild chocolate.

It seems to have won a lot of awards. Maybe it was for earlier batches or I have no idea what a great whisky tastes like. I think it’s not bad. Worth a try, that’s for sure.

Rating: 85

Kilkerran WIP 2 Oak Cask

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Distillery/Brand: Kilkerran | Region: Campbeltown | ABV: 46% | Color: Pale Straw
Nose: 23 | Taste: 24 | Finish: 23 | Balance: 23 | Rating: 93

Review
I seem to be on a bit of a Campbeltown run of late having reviewed around 6 or 7 in the last month alone. It’s been fun, I’ll have to admit. Some nice Longrows, some decent Springbanks and, my favorite of the lot, the Kilkerrans from the Glengyle Distillery.

The name of ‘Kilkerran’ is derived from the Gaelic ‘Caenn Loch Cille Chiarain’ (which translates as ‘head of the loch of Saint Kerran’).

I reviewed two Kilkerrans earlier this month. Both sixth editions of the Work In Progress series. The Work In Progress, or WIP, series is a line of expressions from Campbeltowns newest distillery. Basically what they did was release an expression every year since 2009 when their whiskies reached 5 years of age.

The plan was to release one every year until they hit the standard 12 years. So far I have been a fan. I can only imagine how good the 12 year old will be.

Having tried the WIP 4, 5 & 6 (both sherry and oak finishes) I managed to snag an earlier bottling. This one is a WIP 2 released in 2010 making it six years old, matured in bourbon casks and bottled at 46%.

Nose: Cereal. Barley. Light honey. Grist. Hint of lemon. Green leaves. Fresh grass. Light wood. White grapes. Mild fennel. Cucumber peel. Beeswax. Beautiful nose. Perfectly controlled.

Palate: Smooth. Cereal. Lemon. Spices. Mild herbs. Leafy greens. Wood. Barley. Get’s fruitier mid-palate. Green apples. Lemon zest. Peppers. The lovely delivery feels young and has a nice element of grist.

Finish: Medium. Spices. Oak. Dry grass.

This is what happens when you don’t compromise on the quality of your casks or your trade. No matter the age you can create truly exceptional whiskies if you do things well.

Rating: 93

Longrow Red 11 Years Old Australian Shiraz Cask

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Distillery/Brand: Longrow | Region: Campbeltown | ABV: 53.7% | Color: Young Sauternes
Nose: 22 | Taste: 21 | Finish: 22 | Balance: 22 | Rating: 87

Review
Longrow is the peated brother of Hazelburn and Springbank out of the tremendous Springbank distilleries. If you want to know how I feel about Campbeltown whiskies you can read my other reviews. Let’s just say I’m extremely fascinated by them.

A few weeks ago I had a taste of the new Red series by Longrow. They are peated 11 year olds matured in casks that previously held red liquid. The first one of the series was matured in Cabernet Sauvignon. The second one in Australian Shiraz and finally the third one in Port.

I tasted the Port finish first and quite liked it. The one I have in the glass right now has been matured in Australian Shiraz casks. First six years in a re-fill hogshead and then the last five in the Australian Shiraz.

My sample is from a brand new bottle and has been packaged at an impressive cask strength of 53.7%

Nose: Mild peat. Oak. Aniseed. Hay. Cardboard. Red grapes. Salmon scales. Red licorice. Fresh cherries. Vermouth. Black pepper. Balsamic. Cherry drops. Let it breathe and the peat becomes stronger. Few drops of water really open up the nose and makes the flavors really stand out.

Palate: Bitter. Wood. Black pepper. Dark chocolate. Cinnamon. Dark cherries. Apples. Raisins. Red plum. Vanilla. Nuts. Like on the nose a few drops of water make the delivery creamier. More tart. Spicier. And sweeter.

Finish: Long. Oily. Red licorice. Cough drops. Water made the finish longer.

Overall a decent quality dram which takes very well to a bit of water. Even though it makes it a touch bitter.

Another competent whisky from Campbeltown.

Rating: 87

Nikka Coffey Malt Whisky

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Distillery/Brand: Nikka | Region: Japan | ABV: 45% | Color: Copper
Nose: 23 | Taste: 22 | Finish: 22 | Balance: 22 | Rating: 89

Review
Coffey stills also known as Continuous or Column stills were invented by French born Irishman Aeneas Coffey and are mainly used to distill grain whisky. Whisky made from malted barley is distilled in pot stills.

I could go into the rather lengthy explanation on the difference between the two but I won’t. Let’s just say that copper pot stills require two separate distillations to produce new make and must be done in batches.

Coffey stills on the other hand employ a rather unique method where the wash and the resulting alcohol vapors are run continuously through the two columns (hence, Continuous stills) to create an extremely high strength liquid (as high as 95%).

Nikka decided that it would be a good idea to run 100% malted barley through Coffey stills just to see what happens. This process is unheard of in Scotland making Japan the only place in the world where this kind of spirit is produced. There is also a Coffey Grain Whisky from Nikka to go along with this.

This is actually a rather new addition to the Nikka lineup having only been launched in January 2014.

My particular sample is a NAS bottling at 45%. There is precious little information on it’s maturation or it’s age. But if I was to hazard a guess I would peg it any where between 6-8 years in bourbon casks.

Nose: Bourbon like. Chocolate. Leather. Honey. Maple syrup. Marzipan. Ripe bananas. Stewed apples. Raisins. Figs. Fruit cake. Almonds. Cinnamon. A very sweet nose almost dripping with thick brown sugar and molasses.

Palate: Apples. Black pepper. Fruit cake. Tobacco leaf. Creme caramel. Toffee. Madeira cake. Cinnamon. Coffee beans. Very smooth delivery but which feels a touch under-powered. I would have liked a little zing but it stays soft.

Finish: Long. Oily. Tobacco lead. Cinnamon dust. Mild chocolate.

I think by running 100% malted barley in Coffey stills Nikka have come up with quite a unique flavor profile. The strong tobacco leaf and apple combination is quite nice. I’ll be trying the Nikka Coffey Grain (made from corn) next for a little head-to-head comparison.

Till then I’m quite happy to nurse this one for a while.

Rating: 89

Kilchoman Machir Bay

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Distillery/Brand: Kilchoman | Region: Islay | ABV: 46% | Color: Sunlight
Nose: 23 | Taste: 22 | Finish: 23 | Balance: 22 | Rating: 90

Review
I’ve just got back from a very interesting Japanese whisky tasting event. Some good classic Japanese whiskies (Nikka from the Barrel, Hakushu 12, Yamazaki 18, to name a few) coupled with some delicious food made for an extremely satisfying evening.

But I decided to leave early and come back home to the Kilchoman Machir Bay as my last expression of the evening.

Kilchoman and I have a history. Three years ago I tasted a couple of young releases in the presence of Anthony Wills (founder of said distillery) and it was all I could do to prevent my self from spitting the liquid back out in the glass.

This was followed by a three year program on Kilchoman abstinence which was eventually broken by the Kilchoman 2013 Small Batch Release finished in Oloroso sherry casks.

I was floored. What an absolutely amazing whisky.

Anthony Wills here is another apology from me for writing you off.

This got me interested in other, newer, Kilchoman releases and when I heard good things about the Machir Bay I just had to get my self one of their dumpy bottles.

Machir Bay 2014 is a vatting of 5 and 6 year old ex-bourbon barrels and Oloroso sherry butts and is bottled at 46% ABV

Nose: Very sweet peat. Sugar cane. White wine. Chardonay. Very tart. Crisp. Fresh white oak. Fennel. Lime. Raspberry. Cumin. Cedar plank. Vanilla. Let it breathe and white dough comes wafting through. Finally pineapples. White grapes. A very fresh and lovely nose.

Palate: Very smooth. Extremely smooth to drink. Coffee. Apricots. Pears. Peat. White grape. Black peppers. Macaroon cake. Cumin seeds. Very palatable.

Finish: Smooth. Peat. Mint. Oily. Cumin. White melon lozenge.

This is another extremely accomplished spirit from Kilchoman. Wonderfully smooth and completely thought through.

Rating: 90