Hello everyone

Four tasting notes this time. There could have been more but I reckoned one from the Tomatin Italian Collection would do for now and I‘ll try to do the others soon. We also have a new Timorous Beastie from Douglas Laing & Co. just in time for Halloween, Loch Lomond‘s Steam & Fire and another toothsome bottling from Kilchoman.

Tomatin first of all. The three new expressions are Amarone, Barolo and Marsala. I‘ve tried Benriach from Marsala and Bruichladdich from Barolo but couldn‘t remember when I last tried a whisky finished in an Amarone wine cask, hence that choice.

Tomatin Amarone Cask (46% vol). This one was bottled in June 2023 (NCF/NAC) following distillation in 2010 and moved to an Amarone cask for finishing in February 2021.

Appearance: Tawny/light amber with pale brass highlights. Almost a pinkish-orange tint too.

Nose: Quite sweet and citrussy too. A touch of oak and a little bit of soft caramel; a fleeting rubber note ( a note you can find in certain Italian wines). With water, a wisp of struck match, barley sugar and soft toffee. A dab of orange oil and even a touch of butter. All quite subtle, rounded and sweet.

Palate: Sweet spices, citrus skin. A pleasant balance, warming and mellow. It‘s quite light on the palate and in the mouth. No harshness or astringency.

Finish: Medium length, sweet, lightly spiced and lightly fruity.

I have a tiny bit of this left so will look forward to comparing it with the two others in the collection. Price around £70.

Just in time for Halloween comes Timorous Beastie Meet the Beast Limited Edition 2023 from Douglas Laing. This range and their Scallywag offerings are two favourites for me from this company. Bottling strength is 53.4%. It‘s also not chill-filtered and has no added colour.

Appearance: Pale straw, Chablis-like colour. Watery lemon highlights. Tears very clingy and fairly close together.

Nose: Sweet icing (frosting) and soft sweets like Dolly Mixtures (UK sweeties!) + vanilla. Sugared almonds as the packet opens; fresh-cut grass. Light sultana fruit and a touch of damp earth. Very sweet floral and oak. With water, softer and flatter at first then vanilla custard plus sugars and oak reappear. A little bit of sweet spice and then a zesty/candied citrus almost grapefruit note.

Palate: Sweet barley; some herbal dryness; citrus zest. Slightly mouth-coating. Soft cake spices and warm ginger. [They say honey but I didn‘t really get that on first sampling].

Finish: Medium length; some powdered sugar, finishes tingly and dry with some lightly toasted barley.

The packaging for this is fun. The sample came with some red lenses and when you look at the label through them you see the scary beast on the label rather than the usual cute mouse. You can always rely on Douglas Laing & Co. for out-of-the-ordinary packaging as well as a fine dram. Price around £65.

Let‘s have a tasting note break here and mention something some you may have read in recent weeks – that Pernod Ricard have plans to build a distillery on Islay at Gartbreck. There was a dispute some time back around this land between Hunter Laing and an French owner who wanted to build a distillery. Of course, Hunter Laing took themselves away to build Ardnahoe. Years ago Pernod Ricard bought part of the company I used to work for, the other part going to Fortune Brands in the US. Fortune‘s owner was keen to have Laphroaig and drove a hard bargain to get it so PR have had a glaring Islay gap in their portfolio ever since. Obviously, they‘ve now found a way of plugging that (wonder why it took them so long) but it will be a number of years before whisky is released. I recall writing when Islay‘s 10th distillery was mooted – this latest will be something like the 14th when built – that I wondered how the island infrastructure would cope, including housing for employees and the Islay water supply. I‘m rather more concerned now especially since Calmac‘s ferries have performed so poorly this last year or so and that‘s how supplies get to Islay and whisky gets back off. I also wonder at the wisdom of those local authorities who’ve already given several planning permissions in recent years and I ask myself if they will permit another one. This site was approved before but PR’s plans are yet to be submitted.

On another Pernod Ricard matter, there are threats of strike action by Chivas Bros staff with some media saying this could affect festive season supplies. Well, when I was at the company they bought, Christmas stock was usually bottled in August to make sure it got to the right places in time. The strike ballot is open till 20th November so it can‘t happen before then and I‘d expect most of the Christmas/New Year stocks to be out of the door  or at least bottled before that. I dare say someone will tell me if that‘s incorrect.

Whisky number three is the latest from Kilchoman – Kilchoman PX Sherry Cask Matured at 50% vol and 50ppm. This one released hot on the heels of the one covered last column.

Appearance: Rich barley gold with light orange and brass highlights.

Nose: Richly peaty and smoky. There‘s that damp wool sock in front of a fire again! Burnt caramel and iodine; plain chocolate caramels; sea air saltiness. Smoked ham and richly malted. Quite a sweet and savoury dual personality but it hangs together well. With water, still plenty of smoke and peat but a little softer; a little hint of struck match. Surprisingly not rich with overt vine fruit though the fruit is there – it‘s rather more subtle with good depth and a bit earthy.

Palate: Immediately smoky and peaty but with a background bitterness and sweetness of burnt sugar. Rich roast coffee grounds; smoky honey and crisp honeycomb. Distinctly medicinal too.

Finish: Long, smoky and some warm tar like its flavour catching the throat when you walk past it ; residual sweet, toasted barley.

Another one I like from Kilchoman. It was fully matured in PX casks for minimum five years, their thinking being that casks that have contained a liquid as rich as PX don‘t need the whisky in them for a very long time. Price about £85 – £90.

Last sample for this column is one I wasn‘t expecting – Loch Lomond Steam & Fire (46% vol; NCF/NAC) which came out a month or two ago. This one contains spirit from the their straight neck and their swan-neck stills. It began maturing in first-fill bourbon barrels then refill US oak casks was finished in heavily charred American oak casks for 10 months.

Appearance: Ripe barley gold with brass and sunshine yellow highlights. Tears quite swift at first then slower and more widely spread.

Nose: The Loch Lomond Distillery includes some tall straight-neck stills which should mean a lighter spirit. This is lighter on the nose than expected given the heavy cask char finish. A touch of burnt sugar and the char starts to come through. Slightly tarry as well as some plain (dark) chocolate notes. With water, char disappears at first then returns more subtly. Lightly honeyed with icing sugar and a hint of almond.

Palate: Lightly spritzy which was surprising. Black and green pepper; some char, dark chocolate and maltiness. Apart from some pear skin I didn‘t get other fruit. No clue on the packaging as to age but it does have youthful notes about it.

Finish: Medium – long; malty and dry with a touch of sweet fruit at the rear.

It‘s not one that immediately knocks the socks off but it is a pleasant and relaxing dram. Price is around £45.

I had to smile recently at a story about French winemakers in the south smashing thousands of bottles of Spanish wines coming in to France, complaining about their cheaper prices and damaging sales of the more local wines. Destroying the Spanish output isn‘t at all funny but it‘s exactly like a cartoon I have in a book of Searle cartoons from years ago where he‘s drawn that year‘s first foreign wine imports being welcomed into France – the truck is driving over nails in the road bursting its tyres and wine is spilling everywhere. I wonder if that was an inspiration!

What are we drinking at home at the moment, apart from wine? Well, there‘s a bottle of Fettercairn 12 Y.O. open as well as a bottle of Jameson‘s Triple Triple and I‘m about to start working my way down the Steam & Fire (above) over the next couple of weeks.

Till next time, happy dramming.

Slainte,

Caroline

Hello everyone

Various tasting samples have turned up including one that wasn‘t expected from Loch Lomond Distillery. I‘ll leave that one and the Tomatin Italian Collection till next time as I haven‘t yet had time to try them.

First of all, however, I‘d like to say a massive congratulations to the Worshipful Company of Distillers’ charity for the results of their One of One auction held at Hopetoun House near Edinburgh recently. The total hammer price the lots fetched was £1.8 million from aficionados and collectors from around the globe who dug deep for this good cause, the Youth Action Fund, supporting young people aged 16 – 25 in Scotland. Certainly tables 10 and 16 and paddle number 746 seemed to be having a good, if expensive, day! You may have read in other places that the sum raised was a whisker below £2.25 million. That was including buyer‘s premium (I.B.P.)which is always added on by the auctioneer. In this instance I understand that buyer premium or the vast majority of it, is returned to the charity. One of the good things about this sale is that it allows some smaller names to get themselves more visible on the world radar especially when some of the larger names aren‘t in there to grab so much of the attention. Therefore it was good to see Isle of Raasay, Glen Scotia and Tomatin plus a few others getting good exposure. Okay, I know Tomatin is owned by a larger company but it’s not a top of mind name for everyone …yet.

A number of world record selling prices for certain brands were broken on this occasion The two super-expensive lots were a 55 year old Bowmore which went for £562,500 (I.B.P.) and the Brora Iris which netted £400,000 also I.B.P. All except two lots surpassed their minimum estimate. I was particularly vexed for one of those as it deserved to sell for a lot more. The beautiful and unique cabinet containing the bottles of excellent whiskies is a work of art and must be worth several thousands on its own. Indeed, many of the containers here can be admired as works of art once the whisky is finished – and I do hope the new owners actually drink it. Surprise of the day was a Glen Grant The Visionary 68 Year Old estimated at £50k- £90k which went for £212,500 I.B.P. (£170k hammer price). I’m not dissing the whisky at all – it simply went for so much over estimate. Again, the packaging (shown here) is a stunner but you really needed to see it in the flesh, as it were.

Let‘s move on to tasting notes. This year‘s collection of Octomores was released a few weeks ago and my samples arrived only last week (delayed thanks to Royal Mail / Parcel Force). We have Octomore 14.1 at 59.6% vol and peating level of 128.9ppm, 14.2 at 57.7% and 128.9ppm and 14.3 at 61.4% vol and a massive 214.2ppm. All are distilled using Islay barley. They say, „Octomore 14.1 is the backbone of the series and offers a necessary comparison from which the other expressions alternate.“ It‘s been matured in first fill ex-American whiskey casks. 14.2 has been matured in a combination of Oloroso and Amarone casks and the colour does have an interesting pink tinge. The 14.3 spirit has matured in a combination of bourbon casks and second fill wine casks (not specified). All expressions have been matured for 5 years.

The complete Octomore 14 series, including the 14.1, 14.2 and 14.3, is available online at bruichladdich.com and in specialist whisky retailers. Octomore 14.1 is priced at £140, Octomore 14.2 is priced at £155 and Octomore 14.3 is priced at £195.

Rather than show all three notes, I‘ll share my favourite of the three which was 14.1 though a close run with 14.3. I just got more out of it. 14.2 I found a little bit flatter on the palate but do intend to try it again. I‘ll mention it again if I change that view.

Octomore 14.1 (strength and peating levels above)

Appearance: Bright, barley stalk gold; lemon juice highlights. Tears cling really hard to the sides of the glass and are fairly close together.

Nose: Fresh, sea salt air; malty and slightly „sweaty“; smoky. A touch of citrus zest and melon; a little yacht varnish. Grassy and vegetal notes if nosed from the bottle. With water, a bit more varnish or wax at first then brioche dough and cream cheese. Some oak and vanilla plus ripe melon which fades.

Palate: Quite mouth-coating and astringent; smoky and malty with a peppery spritz on the tongue. Citrus oil/zest bitter notes; some wood char and salt.

Finish: Long, smoky, dry and heathery.

14.2 had a lighter mouth feel and a shorter finish for me. There are vine fruit notes plus some barley sugar sweetness and sugared almonds on the nose. 14.3 I found more akin to 14.1 but a touch more vanilla and different fruits on the nose as well as some elements on nose and palate being a bit more intense. Water seemed to damp down the aromas a bit yet I added no more than to the other two. There‘s something for most palates in this year‘s selection unless you simply don‘t like peat and smoke.

My other tasting note this time is Bruichladdich‘s neighbour up the road a few miles – Kilchoman. I find myself wondering how far it is to walk between the two over land without using the roads, if it‘s even possible. Must ask an Ileach! Anyway, this is Kilchoman 100% Islay Barley 13th Edition at 50% vol. distilled from barley (variety – Publican) grown on the farm at Kilchoman in 2012, 2013 and 2014. The spirit was matured for a minimum of 8 years and 44 bourbon barrels were selected for this year’s edition.

Appearance: Barley straw with lemon/pale yellow highlights. Slow, sticky tears.

Nose: Smoke but not in-your-face. Fresh aroma with slight vanilla and ripe stone fruits. Richly toasted barley plus some barley sugar and malt sweetness. Hint of nuttiness; dried grass and some waxy notes. With water, it‘s a bit more waxy at first; a little bit of caramel; touch of ginger and warm, mixed spices; slightly smoky honey.

Palate: Slightly unctuous; smoke and char; rich toasted barley, warm and peppery plus a slight bitterness. Nicely balanced.

Finish: Long and smoky with toasted barley sweetness.

I find myself liking more of Kilchoman‘s output these days. There‘s an occasional one which doesn‘t tickle my palate but you can‘t like everything. It‘s the same for all other distilleries too as far as I‘m concerned. You‘ll find this one in good spirits stores at around £85 (or equivalent where you are dependent on taxes and duty).

I promised last time that I‘d share the cocktail recipes from the Cutty Sark 100 celebrations at end of September once I had the recipes and photography. Well, they and their PR agency have come up with the goods for the cocktails created by the talented guys from Wet & Dry. The apple one delighted everyone, I think, from listening to comments at their daytime event and there was also praise for the Salty Seadog using grapefruit – I particularly liked that one. The third one, with pineapple leaf, I covered last time – delicious. Do try these in your bar/restaurant or at home. I’m going to have a go at making them myself.

Salty Sea Dog (1 serve)

25ml Cutty Sark 12 y.o.

80ml grapefruit juice

20ml grapefruit oleo saccharum

10ml grapefruit salt rim

0.05ml lime

Serve long (see photograph – right). Garnish with a slice of grapefruit.

Berry Bros. & Rudd Welcome Cocktail (1 serve)(no other name supplied)

35ml Cutty Sark Original

55ml Appletiser

5ml Fevertree Clementine Tonic

1 Apple Slice 

This one was served in a whisky nosing glass.

That‘s us for this time. I‘ll be back at the end of the month with more tasting notes and any other interesting snippets that come up.

Till then, happy dramming.

Slainte,

Caroline

30th September, 2023

Hello everyone

Last time I promised a write-up of the Cutty Sark Centenary celebrations in London. The blend was created at Berry Bros. & Rudd, fine wine and spirit merchant, in London on March 23rd, 1923 in a spirit of adventure (no pun intended) and has been carefully crafted ever since via only a few owners, the current one being La Martiniquaise-Bardinet who also own Glen Moray and Glen Turner. Like Berry Bros. & Rudd, they are a family-owned company. Although BBR no longer own the brand, there is still collaboration and it seemed fitting that their historic premises in London were chosen to launch the first part of the celebration this last Tuesday.

A few dozen of us who are whisky scribes, bloggers or long-term distribution partners from Europe to Japan were invited to BBR to hear more about the brand and learn about the Cutty Sark Centenary Edition (pictured further down the page). We were treated to some very tasty canapes and even tastier cocktails created and prepared by the mixologists from Wet & Dry and using the standard Cutty Sark blend (above).  I‘ll try to get the recipes for next time as they‘re very worth trying if you have the facilities to make them. One featured apple and clementine and one used grapefruit four ways. The other was an Old Fashioned but I’m sure you all know about those. Will also request photography as my phone camera isn’t the best. I was busy in London after these events with no decent wifi to download any more info or official pictures. One recipe is shown here but no measure detail was given.

Cutty Julep Centenary Cocktail

Cutty Sark Original

Mango tea infused

Pineapple leaf

Mint sprig.

Crushed ice

Once the liquids are assembled scoop in crushed ice to the top of the glass or mug and stir for some dilution. Garnish with the mint (releasing the oils a little) and the pineapple leaf.

The high point was the big reveal by Master Blender, Stephen Woodcock, who explained he was given a fairly loose brief to create this special bottling. He finally settled on a theme round the number 23 and had alighted on a parcel of a few casks noted in inventory as „Sherry to Port“ which had been in sherry casks for 18 years before being transferred to port wood for a further five. He tried the liquid and says it knocked his socks off but it wasn‘t a blend at this stage and needed a little more balance. He had access to some special casks of grain whisky and once all liquids were blended they went back into cask for 100 days to marry. He had trialled five different blends and his own favourite was also the one chosen in blind nosing/tasting by others in the company.

Stephen and recently retired Cutty Sark Brand Ambassador, Ronnie Cox, then uncovered the centenary bottling to show us and what a beauty it is, wrapped in a sail-like cocoon to echo its heritage in being named after the 18th century tea clipper, now permanently on display in London. Even better, a dram each was brought round for us to try. It really is an exquisite creation and as I wrote on the cards provided, it tantalises all five senses. I didn‘t hear it being poured but can well imagine the sound and the appearance, aromas, mouthfeel and taste were all well satisfied.

On first acquaintance, my initial observations were:

Appearance: Glowing amber with tawny and orange marmalade highlights.

Nose: Richly raisined; tea which has soaked dried fruit; baked demerara sugar, spices and caramel; coffee grounds. With water, more caramel and dried fruits; a wisp of sulphur; candied nuts.

Palate: Mouth-coating and luscious; spicy with rich, dried fruits (fruit cakes and Christmas pudding); chocolate raisins, sugared almonds; coffee and malt.

I didn‘t get as far as deciding on finish other than that it‘s long but hope to get another chance to try it soon. The company‘s own notes are:

Colour: Tawny

Nose: Gentle aromas of lemon frosting ebb and flow with raisins and demerara sugar. Ripples of subtle spice and caramel are cut through by hazelnuts and a splash of oak and spice.

Palate: A mouth-coating storm of spice and sweetness. Gingerbread surges with polished oak, alongside waves of dark fruits, caramel and chocolate. Ever-present are sherried undercurrents of nuts, polished leather and tobacco.

Finish: Long and lingering, as autumn leaves, tannins and candied orange drift into soft spice and berries.

ABV: 52,2% , non chill filtered

Key markets are Spain, Portugal, Greece, Japan and the USA.

The evening part of the celebration was on board Cutty Sark itself which makes an impressive sight against the sky as it darkens. Following a boat trip down the Thames over 200 people were treated to a reception and banquet at the ship. La Martiniquaise had managed to gather key people for the brand to attend from even more countries than at lunchtime. Well, who would refuse such an invitation?  We had the opportunity to tour round this famous vessel at our own speed, read and hear about its rich history. Part of the museum is built round the underside of the ship so the event space actually sits under the hull and you can look up at its gleaming copper, apparently used when in service to deter barnacles from attaching to the ship and slowing it down. It did have a reputation as the fastest clipper in existence in its heyday until steam power came along.

Iain Allan, normally based at Glen Moray, was Master of Ceremonies for the evening which also featured speeches from senior directors from La Martiniquaise and Berry Bros.  plus an even more spectacular reveal of the Centenary Edition bottling by Stephen Woodcock. Only 1435 numbered bottles of this exquisite blend are available at a price of around Euro 1000/ £900 so you may find it hard to get hold of one but if you get a chance to try it anywhere I urge you to do so. It‘s yet another lesson to all malt snobs, who dismiss blended whisky, that blending is an art and a craft and the best are an utter delight, so much more than their individual parts. This is one of those.

Till next time, happy dramming. I can‘t believe we‘ll be into October already!

Slainte,

Caroline