Tasted #302: Ardbeg 1973 15yo bottled by Sestante Imports (#101drams)

It's been far too long since I posted tasting notes for a #101drams charitable challenge, and while the tally currently sits at 69 whiskies, the actual number sits about 15 or so higher. The backlog of posts continues to grow unfortunately...

Helping me tick off #99 on the list, "A Scotch bottled in the 80s", is this stunning independently bottled Ardbeg, distilled in 1973, and bottled 15 years later (at a cask-strength 53.4%) by Sestante.

"Big deal", you might think - "an Indie Ardbeg from a Bourbon cask with a boring label..."

Ahh...but you see, this is no ordinary Indie. Whiskies from the Italian independent bottler Sestante are legendary, and even more so since they stopped releasing whiskies in the 1990s. This cask-strength bottling in particular seems to have caught the eye of whisky lovers over the years, as can be evidenced by its price tag whenever it does pop up (it was £995 on Master of Malt, when it was available, still sells for £1,500 at TWE, and in March Platinum Wines in Hong Kong were selling 3 bottles at $13,000HKD each). That's more than Sestante's 21yo Ardbeg from 1974, on the rare occasion it pops up for sale.

So not your average ex-Bourbon Ardbeg then...

The opportunity to taste this (from a recently-opened bottle) came up at Malt Masters Hong Kong 2016 recently, and it was an opportunity I wasn't about to miss...

Ardbeg 1973 15 Year Old, bottled by Sestante (54.3% ABV, 15yo, Islay, Scotland, £1,500 / $13,000HKD)

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Colour: Yellow gold.

Nose: Wow...such tropical fruitness. Loads of pineapple, some rockmelon. Some oat cakes, and minimal, minimal peat. A little creamy honey. Some sweet stewed apples. Such incredible balance..all notes working well together and in perfect harmony. Time to dive in....

Palate: There's peat, but it's subtle. It's more about the fruitiness (still tropical - peaches, nectarines, and the pineapple and rockmelon from the nose), but drizzled with honey and a light dusting of icing sugar. It's sweet, but not cloying in any way. In its relatively short 15 years, this whisky has taken on some incredible characteristics from its (no doubt) bourbon cask maturation, and presented them all in perfect harmony. Stunning.

Finish: Medium to long. BBQ pork with grilled pineapple on top. Brilliant.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 94/100. The phrase "they don't make 'em like they used to" gets thrown around a lot, so I won't use it here, but suffice to say I've never tasted an Ardbeg like this before...

Cheers,
Martin.

Compass Box's Transparency Campaign & Tasted #266 - #268: "This is Not a Luxury Whisky", "Flaming Heart (15th Anniversary)" and "The Peat Monster" (#101drams)

Compass Box, much like WM Cadenhead, Gordon & Macphail, Samaroli and many others, are an Independent Bottler who bottle (and blend) Scottish whisky under their own label. 

Unlike the others though, Compass Box are known for pushing the boundaries - the boundaries of expectation, of flavour, of experimentation, of marketing, and more recently - the boundaries of the UK and EU Law. I'm talking of course about Compass Box's "Transparency Campaign", which Founder and "Whiskymaker" John Glaser explains in this brief video:

In a nutshell, Compass Box would like the laws changed to allow whisky producers the option to better describe the contents of their whiskies, including the ages of all the whiskies that make up a particular whisky.

Currently under EU law, if a whisky chooses to display an age (which increasingly, they don't) the bottle/marketing must only state the age of the youngest whisky in the mix. Which is fine - it's what stops a bottler from filling a bottle with 99% 12yo whisky, 1% 50yo whisky, and calling it a "50 Year old Whisky".

What it doesn't allow though, is whisky producers to state the age of all the whiskies that make up a particular whisky. For example, Balvenie TUN1401 is a NAS whisky that includes some seriously old malts. In some cases, the age of the casks are known, but wouldn't it be nice to list them on the bottle, and even, should Balvenie decide, to list the % makeup of each cask?

That's really all Compass Box are seeking to do here - change the law to allow whisky producers the option to let consumers know more about what's in their whisky. In today's market, with an ever-increasing consumer thirst for knowledge, that just sounds like common sense to us.

Take for example their latest limited release, "This is not a luxury whisky". We know it's a blend, we know it's Scottish, we know it's NAS and we know it's non chill filtered, but wouldn't it be great to know a little more? Luckily, Compass Box have been transparent with us, and told us the whisky is made up of:

• 79% 19yo Glen Ord malt
• 10.1% 40yo Strathclyde grain
• 6.9%  40yo Girvan grain; and
• 4% 30yo Caol Ila.

How cool is that? Now if the bottle carried a big ** 40 YEARS OLD ** label on the front, we'd have an issue with it, but we think the sort of openness Compass Box are looking to introduce can only be a good thing.

Compass Box were kind enough to send through two samples of their latest (2015 release) limited editions recently - "This is Not a Luxury Whisky" and "Flaming Heart 15th Anniversary Edition". We've also included our tasting notes of "The Peat Monster", which we've been sitting on for a while (a #101drams dram).

Compass Box "This is Not a Luxury Whisky" (53.1% ABV, NAS, Blended Scotch whisky, one of 4,992 bottles, bottled by Compass Box, Scotland, £124.75)

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Designed to make people re-define their definition of "luxury whisky", and remind people that whisky is for drinking. We love the design of the bottle, in particular the cap/closure. No elaborate foil covering here, just a cork and a thin paper strip. It's almost saying "rip out the cork and pour a dram, NOW!"

Colour: Vibrant, deep dark gold.

Nose: Oh wow, there's a lot going on here. We've tried some incredible blends in recent months and this absolutely continues that trend. Marzipan, sherbert, lots of rich sherry influence (walnuts, glacé cherries, sherry-soaked raisins) with the slightest hint of peat smoke (which is interesting considering only 4% of the blend is peated, and at 30yo, that peat should be fairly subtle).

Palate: A hint of earthy smoke, a lot of sultanas, then citrus-driven Christmas cake. There's a definite sweetness too - icing sugar dusted milk chocolate truffles. Delicious.

Finish: Long and sweet. Lemon cream, a little peat smoke which lingers to the very end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. A brilliantly-constructed blend, and testament to John Glaser and the Compass Box team's skill at constructing complex and fantastic whiskies. Is it a luxury whisky? In terms of taste, absolutely. Is it a bottle you should buy and leave on a shelf unopened? No, drink the bloody thing!

Compass Box "Flaming Heart 15th Anniversary Edition" (48.9% ABV, NAS, Blended Scotch whisky, bottled by Compass Box, Scotland, £83.12)

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A blended malt this time, with Caol Ila making up the majority of the blend. Also non chill filtered with no spirit colouring.

Colour: Light gold.

Nose: "Medicinal sweetness" best sums it up. Iodine and milk bottle lollies. Taiwanese pineapple cake and freshly cut grass.

Palate: Sweet and juicy peat. Some mocha, lots of milk chocolate, yet still medicinal. I would have guessed there was some Laphroaig in the blend if I didn't know better. There's a slight meatiness too, like an aged, oily piece of Jamón ibérico. Simply excellent.

Finish: Long, lingering woodsmoke with an underlying confectionary sweetness - boiled lollies predominantly. 

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Another winner. It's not hard to throw a few Islay whiskies together and produce a blended (or blended malt) Islay whisky, but to produce one with the complexities that this has? That takes skill.

Compass Box "The Peat Monster" (46% ABV, NAS, Blended Scotch whisky, bottled by Compass Box, Scotland, $720HKD / $74.99AUD / £31.99)
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Part of the "Signature Range", another blended malt composed primarily of Laphroaig, Caol Ila, Ardmore and Ledaig.

Colour: Very light straw.

Nose: Peaches, apricot, pineapple. Tropical fruit peat fest!

Palate: Relatively thin, but loads of flavour. Tropical flavours mostly - passionfruit, vanilla cream, sweet, slightly tannic, with smouldering ashes in the background.

Finish: Medium to long length - those smouldering ashes to continue to the end, accompanied by a hint of spice.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. A nice, easy sipping Islay dram which, whilst not overly complex, is 1) certainly not one-dimension like some other peat-heavy whiskies and 2) a bargain at its price-point.

TimeforWhisky.com would like to thank Compass Box for the generous samples sent all the way from the UK. If you agree with Compass Box's Transparency Campaign, consider adding your support by signing the petition.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #264: 1959 The Macallan 18yo (#101drams)

At the recent Dragon8 Hong Kong auction a few weeks ago, I mentioned that we were treated to some incredible old drams, including Bowmores, Highland Parks, and of course, Macallans.

...and when I say rare, I mean r-a-r-e. Like this little selection:

When the youngest bottle is a Macallan 18 from 1985, you know you're in for a treat...

I was lucky enough to try two of these, and I'll kick off the tasting notes with the younger of the two - a 1959 The Macallan 18yo, bottled by Campbell, Hope & King of Elgin, and imported by Flli Rinaldi, Bologna for the Italian market. Being 1959 distilled spirit bottled 18 years later also happens to put it squarely into the #101drams category - allowing me to tick off #98 "A Scotch bottled in the 1970s". Winner - it's time I started ticking off a few more.

But hold up...this was the "younger" whisky? Well yes, the other was a 1938 31yo The Macallan - tasting notes up next!

Now sure, old Macs come up at auction somewhat often (always accompanied by lofty price tags), and occasionally you see an old bottle pop up for sale (like this 1976 Macallan 18yo, which was recently available but sold out in a matter of days), but how often do you actually get a chance to try these rarities? For the vast majority of us, it's probably fair to say "not every often".

So in summary - a rare treat indeed. But how did this spirit, distilled 57 years ago and bottled 39 years ago, hold up?

1959 The Macallan 18yo Pure Highland Malt Scotch Whisky (80˚ Proof aka 46% ABV, 18yo, bottled by Campbell, Hope & King, Highlands, Scotland, try your luck at auction)

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Colour: Dark, dark copper.

Nose: Quintessential sherry. Toffee, burnt orange, a nuttiness. There's also some cola lollies, and a hint of furniture polish. Makes you want to dive right in...but you don't. You wait, you enjoy the nose longer, longer. This liquid's been waiting 57 years...you can wait a few more minutes.

Palate: OK, can't wait anymore. Zesty - lots more of that burnt orange. A slight hint of smoke. More citrus - not bitter, but getting there (in a good way). Plenty of toffee, hints of mocha, more orange (whole oranges now), and some more nuttiness. Glacé fruits, walnuts, it's all here, and it's all delicious. So far, pleasingly, no signs whatsoever of oxidation or "old bottle effect" either.

Finish: Long (LONG), a little more smoke. More citrus (orange zest this time), some leather, a little bitterness, and somewhat surprisingly, some butter menthols.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 95/100. Honestly a stunning dram. If this is how "Old Macs" are, then I wish I was a whisky drinker back then (or at least, I wish I had the foresight to stock up when whiskies like these were within the realms of affordability!)


Cheers,
Martin.

Kininvie 23 year old Australian Launch party (Tasted #221 - 224) (#101drams)

We have a soft spot for William Grant & Sons here at TimeforWhisky - not only for the great range of whiskies they put out, nor because of the fantastic events they run, but because of the truly awesome people who make up the brand. So it goes without saying that when an invite arrived for the launch of the 23 year old in Sydney, at a time I was actually going to be in Sydney, I was going to be there without hesitation. The fact that it would be the first whisky event that both Hendy and I would cover jointly just made it even better.

Kininvie has been a distillery of personal interest to me for years. Back in 2009 when I was starting my whisky adventures, dad and I toured Glenfiddich, and learnt about Kininvie, which began distilling in 1990 and, at the time of our tour, was only available as a single malt to a select few (distillery workers, or those who paid a pretty penny for a bottle on the secondhand market). When I started my #101drams charitable challenge, a Kininvie had to feature.

Fast forward a few years to 2013, and Kininvie was released as a commercial (albeit still reclusive) single malt. Available as a 17 year old in the travel retail market, and a 23yo (in very limited quantities) in Taiwan, word quietly spread that Glenfiddich and Balvenie had a sibling, which neatly nestled in between the two both physically and in terms of flavour profile.

(I have to be honest here - despite being on my #101drams list, I actually tried Kininvie 23 year old Batch 001 exactly 12 months ago, thanks to the very generous folks at Whisky+Alement in Melbourne, but hadn't yet added the tasting notes to the blog. I've included them at the bottom of this post, along with the Batch #003, which is the release recently launched in Australia.)

The theme of "reclusiveness" was to feature heavily throughout the night, starting with the choice of venue - Magazin. The brainchild of the team behind Grasshopper (Sydney's first Small Bar), the underground private members' bar, located on Darlinghurst's William St, is known (or rather not known) as one of Sydney's most reclusive and exclusive bars. Just don't call it a speakeasy (truly, think classy, futuristic underground cocktail den with a smart layout and quality, modern finishings).

Upon entering the bar, we were handed a delicious Old Fashioned (made with Monkey Shoulder and chocolate bitters), and were warmly greeted by Laura and Mark of William Grant & Sons, who were hosting the night. A brief glance at the menu revealed a few goodies in store - including two single cask Kininvies.

After greetings and our fantastically-chocolatey cocktails, it was time for Laura to introduce the crowd to Kininvie, which William Grant & Sons designed to give grassy and floral notes, to provide a malt whose profile nestled neatly between the fruitier Glenfiddich, and the richer, more honied Balvenie. Laura also explained that Kinivie (whose stillhouse is also physically nestled in between Glenfiddich and Balvenie) means "end of the field", and was a personal favourite of Janet Sheed Roberts, granddaughter of William Grant, and who lived to the ripe old age of 110.

The Kininvie stillhouse - taken during Steph's and my visit to Balvenie in July this year.

Before long, drams were handed out (along with matched canapés) and it was time to start tasting...

Kininvie 1999 single cask American Oak (55.7% ABV, 15 to 16yo, Speyside, Scotland, not commercially available)
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Nose: Light and floral, with a slight earthiness.
Palate: Citrusy-zing initially, with some contrasting meaty BBQ notes. Sweet. A drop of water toned down the sweetness and amped up the earthy notes.
Finish: Long, meaty and earthy
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. It's pretty special to be able to try a Kininvie, let alone a single cask Kininvie. Off to a good start!


Kininvie 1990 single cask European Oak ex-sherry cask (59% ABV, 24 to 25yo, Speyside, Scotland, not commercially available)
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Nose: A lovely sherry bomb. Rich red berries and Christmas cake, with some hints of furniture polish and the same earthiness from the 1999.
Palate: Citrusy still, but more oranges and tangerines this time. Still very earthy. Cherries and some cocoa. Coffee and more Christmas cake.
Finish: Medium to long with Brazil nuts and cocoa.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. Interestingly, this reminded me a LOT of a very heavily sherried cask-strength 11yo Yamazaki single cask I tried recently.

After a short break and a dram of the 17yo Kininvie, it was time to try the whisky we were all at Magazin to celebrate - the Kininvie 23 year old Batch #003.

Kininvie 23 Batch #003 1991 (42.6% ABV, 23yo, Speyside, Scotland, $210AUD / £120)
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Nose: Sweet toffee apples and some vanilla. This has definitely had a fair bit of American Oak maturation.
Palate: Smooth. Sweet toffee apples dipped in rich caramel. A hint of oak.
Finish: Short to medium, with notes of toffee apples to the end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. A lovely dessert whisky.

So how did the Batch #001, tasted 12 months ago to the day, compare?

Kininvie 23 Batch #001 1990 (42.6% ABV, 23yo, Cask #4107, Speyside, Scotland, no longer available) - tasted in October 2014.
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Colour: Orange gold
Nose: Slightly more Glenfiddich than Balvenie, with citrus, pears, orange peels, boiled lollies, and after time, stronger apples and pears.
Palate: Orange marmalade on burnt toast. Spicy (paprika). Nutty.
Finish: Long, drying and tannic. Spice, pepper and tabasco.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 90/100.

With the tasting officially over, it was time to catch up with the many Sydney whisky folk I used to see regularly, but now hadn't seen in over a year. A really great night spent enjoying a rare and little-known whisky in the perfect setting.

Kininvie 23 Batch #003 is available in Australia at specialist bottle shops, priced at $210AUD (350mL bottle). If you miss out on getting a bottle in Australia, we notice Master of Malt still have both Batch #002 and #003 releases available (the latter by the dram too), as well as the older Hazelwood 105.

Cheers,

Martin (words) & Hendy (photos).

Tasted #211: Pappy Van Winkle 23yo Family Reserve (#101drams)

After a run of recent #101drams posts, it's time to continue...this time with one of with the big guns...


Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23yo, from the "Old Rip Van Winkle Distillery" (which is actually not a distillery, but a company who contract distillation and bottling to the Sazerac Company at its Buffalo Trace Distillery in Kentucky) doesn't need a whole lot of introduction. Retailing for $249.99USD each year, and selling out approximately 3 seconds after it goes on sale each year, this is about as rare and sought-after as Bourbon gets. If you found one for 3-4 times that price, you'd be doing incredibly well. Just look at how much a few bottles went for at the recent Bonhams Hong Kong auction.


I knew it wouldn't be easy to find when I added it to the list in February 2013, and it only got more difficult as time went on. I found it (for a reasonable price) on the menu at the Macallan Whisky Bar & Lounge, Macau, but sadly they ran out the week before.


Then when I heard that Archie Rose, who we visited back in April had a bottle, I knew that was my chance. It wasn't cheap, but this whiskey isn't exactly decreasing in price or rarity...





Pappy Van Winkle's Family Reserve 23yo (47.8% ABV, 23yo, Bottle # F-2233, Kentucky, USA, maybe try your luck at the auctions. Bring your chequebook.)
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Colour: Deep, dark, almost impenetrable copper. Some of the longest legs you've ever seen.

Nose: A big bouquet of floral, caramel vanilla at first. This is definitely a bourbon, and an exquisite one at that. A second nosing brings out some faint earthy notes - vegetation, with a slight dustiness.

Palate: Earthy, nutty, big caramel but also nougat. Leather and some oak (the latter being remarkably refined for such an old bourbon). The slightest hint of chlorinated pool water(?) - that was an odd one, but it was unmistakably there (no there were no cleaning solvents around me at the time...) - quite a lot going on here.

Finish: Long, lingering, vegetal notes with some boiled sweets. Cheese cake with a side of banana nougat. Lots going on here too - right to the very end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 94/100. An experience, for sure. A complex and delicious one, too.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #198: Millstone French Oak 8yo (#101drams)

We're powering through the #101drams list at the moment. Next up, a whisky from a country we haven't yet featured in this blog - the Netherlands!

Millstone Whisky comes from the Zuidam Distillery, a family run distillery in operation for 40 years. I picked up a sample of their 8yo French Oak a while ago from Master of Malt, and finally got around to trying it recently...


Millstone French Oak 8yo (40% ABV, 8yo, Netherlands, No longer available)
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Colour: Slightly dull orange.

Nose: Oranges, lime and lemon zest. Some grains, and freshly-cut grass.

Palate: Young, but not "hot". Loads of citrus. Light but flavoursome. Oat cakes, short bread, tangy but not overly sweet.

Finish: Medium length, with oats and a hint of salt.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. Not bad.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #197: Octomore Orpheus 2.2 (#101drams)

When I wrote my list of #101drams whiskies in very early 2013, I kind of shot myself in the foot with a few of them. They were relatively available at the time, but after procrastinating (or rather, getting through others on the list), some of them became very, very difficult to track down.

#24 Ardbeg Alligator, for example. I tried it soon after compiling the list, but didn't take very comprehensive notes, figuring I'd find it again relatively easily - ha! Luckily I did manage to find it at a bar in Tokyo this year (and finished the bottle!) so notes will be up soon.

#41 Balvenie TUN1401 (any release) also became significantly more expensive and hard to come by than when I wrote the list, but luckily I did manage to track down a dram at Melbourne's Whisky + Alement.

#7 though, Octomore Orpheus, was looking increasingly difficult to track down. With bottles going for $500AUD+, and any bar that previously stocked it long since sold out, I wondered if I'd ever get to try this one...

...and then, just a few months ago, came a very kind offer from @gr8whisky, who offered to send me a dram, noticing that it was still outstanding on my list. This was the second time something like this happened, and was a perfect example of #whiskyfabric in action in my opinion. Cheers Grant!

With the dram safely back in HK, I whipped out a Glencairn and got to tasting....


Bruichladdich Octomore "Orpheus" 2.2 (61% ABV, 5yo, Islay, Scotland, good luck finding a bottle these days)
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Colour: Dirty, coppery brown.

Nose: At first, a big whack of peat, but then HUGE BBQ notes. It transported me straight into my fridge, where a bottle of Sweet Baby Ray's was sitting. I don't usually get this specific with my tasting notes, but it was actually smack bang on the Sweet Vidalia Onion sauce, which I'd tried a few weeks earlier. With water it became a different whisky, and a lot more typical Islay notes - fishnets and iodine.

Palate: Lemon zest and more BBQ. Some cherries, smoked ribs with dry-rub. Drying and mouth-puckering. Water again amped up the peat and iodine, making it more of a typical Islay peat-monster (which it is, at 140ppm).

Finish: Long and smooth, with a fire at the very back of the throat.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100. Unique, that's for sure. Not sure I loved it, but it was certainly different, and while it did have some of the characteristics I typically get from red wine-finished whiskies (drying, tannic), it had plenty that I don't typically get, too!

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #196: Laphroaig PX Cask (#101drams)

Another day, another #101drams whisky. I've been sitting on this bottle for a while, purchased duty free somewhere or rather, and finally got around to tasting it when I was back in Sydney recently.

Laphroaig PX Cask (48% ABV, NAS, Islay, Scotland, $100AUD (duty-free) / $768HKD)
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Colour: Dull copper

Nose: Maritime smoke - more Bowmore than Laphroaig. There's a rich sweetness - ripe cherries, mixed into a Christmas cake, along with glacé cherries. It wasn't Christmas time when I tried this, but it may well have been...

Palate: Now we're looking more like a Laphroaig. Iodinic (is that a word? It is now..), medicinal peat with a meaty undertone. Not too sweet. Hints of...jamon? Would pair well with a well aged hard cheese, like a Parmigiano-Reggiano I think (note to self - try that pairing one day). Just the right amount of sweetness.

Finish: Long, peaty and medicinal. The sweet PX influence makes a final stand at the very end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. A very enjoyable dram - still very much a Laphroaig, but different enough to the rest of the range to pique my interest. At $100AUD for a litre (duty free), it's worth consideration.



Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #195: Four Roses Single Barrel 100 Proof (#101drams)

Time to get stuck back into the #101drams list, and why not kick things off after a few months' break with something American?

I first heard about Four Roses when reading the recipe for a Benton's Old Fashioned at PDT New York, and after trying it in the cocktail, wanted to try the various Four Roses releases on their own. It's a pretty ubiquitous Bourbon in the states, but not as common in Australia, and even less so in Hong Kong.

This is their single barrel 100 proof release, tasted by way of a sample bottle from Master of Malt.


Four Roses Single Barrel 100 Proof (50% ABV, NAS, Kentucky, USA, $110AUD / £39.70)
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Colour: Orange gold

Nose: Marmalade, creamed honey with a huge backbone of spice.

Palate: Buttery, but surprisingly light for it's 50% ABV (100 proof). 100 proof isn't huge (not when compared with the likes of some SMWS releases or a Heartwood), but this drank more like a light 40% ABV whisky. At first anyway. With a bit of air it opened up, and big spicy notes (I guessed a high rye content, and Google later told me this Bourbon has one of the highest rye contents of any Bourbon on the market, at 35%). Butter menthols and Werther's Originals round out a tasty, if only slightly lacking palate.

Finish: Oak and a slight bitterness, with toffee notes through to the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. Very sippable, though I expected slightly more "oomph", and a bit more complexity on the palate.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #181 to #184: Yamazai 18, Yamazaki 25, Ballantine's 17 and Bowmore 18 (#101drams)

When Steph and I visited the Hakushu Distillery we made the most of the ridiculously good value tasting bar on offer (twice), but couldn't taste everything we wanted to (else they'd be rolling us out the door...)

So when we visited the Yamazaki Distillery a week or so later, we made up for it, including, conveniently, two #101drams whiskies (for a combined total of $7AUD / $43HKD).

...but before those, it would have been rude not to try the malt made at the very distillery we'd just visited...and heck, while we're at it, why not try the entire standard age range - 12, 18 and 25? When the 25yo is around $25AUD ($155HKD) for a dram, why not indeed?

Yamazaki 18yo (43% ABV, 18yo, Japan, $399AUD / $2,680HKD)
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Colour: Deep copper-gold
Nose: Rich sherried notes. Christmas cake, with strawberries on the side.
Palate: Thinner than expected. Spicy. Slight peppery. Quite malty and slightly oaky.
Finish: Long and dry. Some leathery notes.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100. Very different to the 12. More complex, without a doubt, but I think I prefer 12 overall.


Yamazaki 25yo (43% ABV, 18yo, Japan, Not currently available in AU / $16,800HKD)
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Colour: Dark, dark (DARK!) copper. Look at it!
Nose: Rich thick chewy Christmas cake. Raisins soaked in sherry for days. Put simply - Christmas in a glass.
Palate: Slightly earthy at first. Then raisins and fruit compote, and still loads of Christmas cake. This dram has soaked up every inch of Sherry notes from the cask over its long 25 years. At a guess, I'd say ex-Oloroso.
Finish: Drying, oaky, with some malt. Medium to long finish. Dry to the end.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. Not an every day dram. Big, intense, special. All the hallmarks of a big sherry bomb.

Ballantine's 17yo (40% ABV, 17yo, Blend, Scotland, $88.99AUD / $820HKD)
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Colour: Dull yellow gold.
Nose: Bananas at first. Then sherbet and strawberries, with a slight mustiness.
Palate: Smooth and oily. Light on the palate. Malty, with a slight taste of...Sao biscuits??
Finish: Short to medium length, slightly spicy.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100.

Bowmore 18yo (43% ABV, 18yo, Islay, Scotland, $149.99AUD / $1,380HKD)
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Colour: Orange gold
Nose: Equal parts peat smoke and seaweed. Like a campfire on the beach.
Palate: Muted peat, and very sweet - honey and caramel, with hints of vanilla and crème brûlée.
Finish: Some initial floral notes, ending in a long, sweet finish with a hint of peat.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. A beautiful dram - could easily double as a daily sipper or a special occasion dram (depending on your wallet)!

Cheers,

Martin.

#101drams Charitable Challenge - third $100 donation (drams 41-60)

I need to pick up the pace...only 20 #101drams drams in the last 13 months...

As I promised in my #101drams challenge, for every 20 whiskies I tick off the list, I'll donate $100 to Cancer Council Australia. Having made my way through 60 drams now, here's the third $100 donation:

Again, having seen first hand the devastation that cancer can take on a person (not to mention their loved ones), I'd really encourage everyone to consider donating to a charity like Cancer Council Australia.

Cheers,
 - Martin.

Tasted #174: Georgia Moon Corn Spirit (#101drams)

Years ago, when dad and I first visited Scotland and the UK, we noticed a curious-looking "whiskey" called "Georgia Moon"at The Whisky Exchange in London (a shop I recently returned to and was pleased to see it was as much an enthusiast destination as before).

The "whiskey" caught my eye because:

1. It came in a jar (and this is before drinking alcohol from a jar became de rigueur in Hipsterland)
2. It was clear (so presumably a new make or very close to it)
3. It proudly boasted that it was "Less than 30 days old" (0 is less than 30, right?)

..and so, despite the fact that it's effectively a Heaven Hill-distilled Bourbon new make, and surely a joke more than a serious product (designed to look, feel and taste like "moonshine"), it was deemed interesting enough to be added to the #101drams list.


Georgia Moon spirit (40% ABV, "less than 30 days old", Kentucky, USA, £3.61 for a sample)
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Colour: Clear as water.

Nose: Spirity, doughy (as in bread-like), with some slightly pleasing corn notes and some far less pleasing detergent notes.

Palate: Smooth enough (though some burn at the back of the throat presents after a while), oats, Kelloggs Nutri-Grain, and an off-putting chemical taste I couldn't quite put my finger on.

Finish: Chemicals, stale bread, corn flakes. Not too long (thankfully).

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 77/100. Unsurprisingly - not very good.

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #167: Glenfiddich Age of Discovery "Dawin Edition" Red Wine cask 19yo

Considering this whisky is the first in my #101drams list, and I actually purchased this bottle around two years ago (and took these notes about 9 months ago), it's taken me way too long to get this post up (2 years and 2 months after tasting the Age of Discovery Bourbon Cask, in fact).

Oh well, better late than never...


Glenfiddich Age of Discovery "Dawin Edition" Red Wine cask (40% ABV, 19yo, Speyside, Scotland, $158AUD)

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Colour: Dark gold
Nose: Instantly recognisable as a 'fiddich. Pears (stewed this time), but slightly dusty and more earthy than other 'fiddichs. Sweet too - would have guessed there'd be some bourbon-matured stock in it if I'd nosed it blind.

Palate: Big, sweet, citrus zest. Fills the mouth well for 40% ABV. Quickly changes to a drying, berry flavour, with mouth-puckering tannins

Finish: Dry! Relatively short. Tannic but smooth to the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 93/100. I really enjoyed this. It starts off like a regular Glenfiddich, then takes a massive detour, while remaining just as enjoyable.

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #166: Elements of Islay AR 4 Ardbeg (#101drams)

First tasting notes from our visit to Campbelltoun Loch are thanks to the Elements of Islay series - specifically Ardbeg Release #4.

Having tried a few of Elements' full strength, NAS, small batch releases (sometimes from single casks, sometimes not), I was keen to try one of their Ardbeg expressions - so much so, that I put one on my #101drams challenge. So here we go...


Elements of Islay AR4 (58.1% ABV, NAS Islay, Scotland, no longer available)
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Colour: Vibrant coppery gold.
Nose: Subtle peat smoke and some raspberry notes. Fruity sweetness, but not overpowering.
Palate: Still subtle smoke. Campfire smoke mostly - mossy, earthy, grassy smoke. Some sweet shortbread notes towards the end.
Finish: Long, smooth and campfire-smoky.
Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 89/100. A nice dram but there are no real standout characteristics.

Cheers,
Martin.

Tasted #165: Johnnie Walker "The Royal Route" (#101drams)

The third, final, and most expensive release in Johnnie Walker's at-times controversial "Explorers' Club Collection" - "The Royal Route"* released after "Spice Road" and "The Gold Route", was unleashed on travel retail markets around the world in October 2013.

In my #101drams - a charitable challenge, I mentioned that I hoped to tick this one off after a May 2013 trip. Well, it took a little longer than that, but after countless trips I finally saw it for tasting at a duty-free shop in Japan's Narita Airport, in January 2015...


Johnnie Walker Explorer's Club Collection "The Royal Route" (40% ABV, NAS, Scotland, $159USD)
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Colour: Light gold.

Nose: Butterscotch and caramel. Some pineapple.

Palate: Grainy at first, with more pineapple (pineapple cakes more than fresh pineapple). Sweet toffee and caramel.

Finish: Short, sweet and smooth.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 88/100. A fine and fitting end to the collection, though unlikely to challenge a die-hard Single Malt fan.

Cheers,
Martin.

* Could have sworn I saw this called the "Royal Silk Route" prior to its release, so perhaps it had a name before being released. Either way, it's officially called "The Royal Route".

Tasted #157: Old Pulteney 21 (#101drams)

There's a wonderful, magical place in the maze that is Tokyo station, called Liquors Hasegawa, the whisky shop of your dreams.

Actually there are two, and a "Sake Hasegawa", but one of them is more wonderful and magical than the others, for you see, not only do they have an absolutely incredible amount of whisky crammed into a tiny, tiny store, they also offer very cheap 10mL tastings (and not just of the regular stuff - plenty of rarer single cask whiskies too, like BlackAdder Raw Cask bottlings - notes up soon).

The excellent Nonjatta explains how the rules work, but basically, anything with a small red and white sticker (see below) has a price. You pay that price (rarely more than a few Aussie dollars or $20HKD) and you taste 10mL of that whisky (or other spirit). Simple.

When I started the #101drams Charitable Challenge I knew that I'd have to be creative about finding different ways to try all 101 whiskies, but I didn't expect to tick one off at a small liquor shop in a subway station. But then again, this was Japan...

The first whisky I tried was Old Pulteney 21, which was on the #101drams list along with the 17 (tasted here) and 40yo (unsurprisingly, one I've yet to taste). For ¥150, it was pretty hard not to....

Old Pulteney 21 (46% ABV, 21yo, Wick Scotland, $200AUD / $2,168HKD)

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Colour: Light straw.

Nose: Sweet, and very smooth and composed. Strawberries mixed with salty sea air.

Palate: Smoke, hints of spice and lots of orange peel.

Finish: Long, smokey with plenty of sea salt. Some citrus (orange) notes at the end.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 92/100. Enjoyable and quite "sessionable" (though perhaps not given its pricepoint...)

Cheers,

Martin.

Tasted #129 & #130: Ardbeg Supernova 2014 & Supernova 2009 (#101drams)

A few weeks ago we brought word of the upcoming release of Ardbeg Supernova 2014 in Australia, and gave a bit of a background to Supernova, from the original 2009 release through to 2014's release.

As mentioned, the good folk at Moet Hennessy Australia were kind enough to send a sample of the "SN2014" Supernova, and it's finally time to taste it.

Now, before I continue, I should point out that this isn't just any mini you can buy from a bottle shop, or even the distillery. As with the Gold Auriverdes bottling, these samples are primarily for media only, and are never for (official) sale. Which means, of course, in our current frenzied global whisky market, you have people making statements like:

@dontgiveadram - I'm willing to pay £400 for that mini.

— Liam Barker (@MiniMalts) September 19, 2014

Truly crazy. Of course this didn't interest me at all, because 1) Us bloggers are sent these whiskies to review, not to make a profit on, and 2) I actually really wanted to try the SN2014 (and to make it even more enticing, Supernova is a #101drams dram!)

So with that out of the way, let's get onto the tasting notes....

Ardbeg Supernova "SN2014" (55% ABV, NAS, Islay, Scotland, $240AUD)
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Colour: Light, much lighter than I was expecting (call it a psychological thing, being a heavy, strong, peated whisky with a high ABV). Apple juice-like.

Nose: Rich and creamy, with citrus undertones - grapefruit most notably. A serious whisky, no doubt, but one with approachable, lighter elements in both the sweetness and citrus characteristics. Mind you this is all with a big whack of peat in the overshadowing the aforementioned notes.

Palate: The peat isn't as pronounced or "in your face" as the nose might suggest. The palate keeps the citrus notes and introduces rich, caramel notes with a hint of maple syrup. The peat lingers, but it's the citrus and sweet dessert-like notes that play the dominant role.

Finish: Long and lingering, with peat and interestingly, notes of breakfast cereal.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 91/100. After re-reading my notes, I realised it may come across as a tamer, lighter Ardbeg. It's not. It's still a peaty, 55% ABV beast of a dram, but manages to also be approachable and simultaneously peaty, sweet and citrusy. A one-trick pony it ain't.

If you've read reviews of the SN2014 from other bloggers, you may have noticed there's become a bit of a trend of destroying these bottles after tasting. I get it - keep them out of the hands of those who just want to profit, and keep them out of the hands of the counterfeiters who may fill them with Ardbeg 10yo (if you're lucky) and on-sell them. I get it, I do....but I won't be destroying my empty. Simply because it's a cool bottle, unique, rare, and I personally want to keep it in my Ardbeg collection (which though modest, is growing).

So that's that.

...but wait, there's more! </Tim Shaw>

I mentioned recently that I stumbled across the 2009 Supernova release at a bar here in Hong Kong, and while it wasn't cheap (no whisk(e)y in Hong Kong is, it wasn't as over the top as other drams I've seen, so I decided to dive in. Not too many of these bottles left...

Ardbeg Supernova "SN2009" (58.9% ABV, NAS, Islay, Scotland, Difficult to find these days)
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Colour: Light gold.

Nose: Sooty, ashy smoke. I was instantly taken back to my old school camping days. Not so much the smell of a fresh campfire, but the next morning. This was interestingly mixed in with some raspberry notes!

Palate: Ashy smoke at first, but then, almost drastically, a change to sweet desserts. Ice cream, peacans and condensed milk (made me a little bit hungry it did). Delicious.

Finish: Not as long as I'd expected. The peat sticks around to the end, as does the sweet, almost sugary notes, but it doesn't seem to linger for as long as say,the Ardbeg Coryvreckan does.

Rating (on my very non-scientific scale): 95/100. High score for a great whisky. Wish I first tried it when it was more readily available!




Cheers,
Martin.