Caol Ila 16 yo 1991/2007 Cask Strength

Caol Ila 16 yo 1991/2007 Cask Strength

Single Malts of Scotland, Specialty Drinks Ltd
Single malt - Islay
White wine
57.5% ABV
Bottle

Nose: Smoke and peat. Soya sauce, honey and lemon. Fresh-cut grass lurking around the edges.
Mouthfeel: Medium body. Gritty and sandy, quite rough in the mouth. Can't really taste all that alcohol (!).
Tasting: Salty and sweet. Preserved Moroccan lemons. Cinnamon and cloves. More grass, drier this time (hay?).
Finish: Salty, long and warm. The cloves and honey linger longest.

Comments:

Cask ref 610, 235 bottles. This whisky won the Malt Maniacs' best bourbon cask matured award in 2007. Very nice indeed. Great at the bottled strength; the smoke doesn't overpower the rest of the flavours, very well balanced.

Verdict:

I like this a lot!

Glenrothes 20 yo 1985/2005

Glenrothes 20 yo 1985/2005

Official bottling
Single malt - Speyside
Warm amber
43% ABV
Mini

Nose: Raisins, vanilla, malty beer. Oat bread and hot cross buns. Dried cranberries.
Mouthfeel: Thick, full-bodied, creamy, very static, no expansion.
Tasting: Sweet salty, pepper and cloves, Sultanas, honey and banana. Rich, deep and complex.
Finish: Short but intense. Malty beer, raisin bun, hint of marmite on toast.

Comments:

Good mix of sweet and savoury flavours. Nice little Speyside, and very attractive little grenade-shaped bottles. Glenrothes does vintages instead of age statements, in 100ml bottles. Great for testing and tasting.

Verdict:

I like this.

Clynelish 15 yo 1992/2007 Cask Strength

Clynelish 15 yo 1992/2007 cask strength

From the cask, The Whisky Exchange
Single malt - North Highlands
Golden
57.9% ABV
Mini

Nose: Sweet toffee. Toasty, biscuity notes. Burning paper and woodsmoke. Big prickle from the alcohol, not surprising at this strength.
Mouthfeel: Thick and full, heavy bodied. Expands in the mouth.
Tasting: Sweet and rich. Ginger biscuits, wheat beer, spiced apple. Waves of hot honey. Corn on the cob.
Finish: Long and very warm. Fig jam on rye toast. Fades very slowly.

Comments:

This is an identical whisky to Specialty Drinks Ltd's Single Malts of Scotland bottling (Clynelish 15 yo 1992/2007, 46%, bottled September 2007). This expression is of course at cask strength, directly from a sale cask at the Whisky Exchange in Vinopolis. The whisky was aged in refill bourbon casks (cask #1617). Tastes great wherever it came from - I keep thinking "jam sandwich" every time I drink this. All manner of sweet delicious things in it.

Verdict:

I like this a lot!

Tomintoul 10 yo

Tomintoul 10 yo

Official bottling
Single malt - Speyside
White wine
40% ABV
Sampler

Nose: White wine, chardonnay grapes, bananas, oak, malt, grass after rain.
Mouthfeel:Thin, light body, refreshing.
Tasting: Sour. Corn mash, malty, clay, cornflakes, pumpernickel, rye.
Finish: Short. Sharp, citrus fruit.

Comments:

Light and winey, doesn't really taste 40% at all. Tastes like a Lowlands whisky. This is their flagship bottling; they also have a peated version that was apparently experimental. That would probably taste quite strange.

Verdict:

Not bad.

Bunnahabhain 27 yo 1978/2006

Bunnahabhain 27 yo 1978/2006

Signatory Vintage, Signatory
Single malt - Islay
Orange gold honey
55.6% ABV
Dram

Nose: Burnt sugar, walnuts, sea salt, dried fruit, hint of driftwood smoke.
Mouthfeel: Thick, heavy body, a little foamy.
Tasting: Sweet. Toffee, papaya, lime, tangy, fermented fruit, malt.
Finish: Long. Sweet, hint of seaweed, hint of fresh cut grass.

Comments:

Refill butt 2541, 483 bottles. Sherry casked? Kindly shared by FM (his birthday whisky). I like the combination of fruit, peat and smoke. I like the papaya and lime, reminds me of days spent munching on papayas from the tree in the garden (although I only found out about squeezing lime on later).

Verdict:

I like this a lot!

Scapa 14 yo

Scapa 14 yo

Official bottling
Single malt - Islands (Orkney)
Straw gold
40% ABV
Dram

Nose: Sea salt, lavender, wet stones, pineapple, hint of citrus.
Mouthfeel: Syrupy, thick, not heavy. Medium body.
Tasting: Salty sour. Tangy, sweet pineapple, beefsteak tomatoes, salt caramel, malty, clay.
Finish: Medium. Salty, seaweed, nori, something sweet.

Comments:

More maritime, saltier and less fruity than the younger expression (but with the same pineappley notes). Feels more luxurious somehow, yet this isn't reflected in the price! I believe this is going to be the flagship official expression from the distillery, and they are going to discontinue the younger one.

Verdict:

I like this.

Kilchoman New Make Spirit

Kilchoman New Make Spirit

Official bottling
Single malt - Islay
Very very pale gold
63.5% ABV
Sampler

Nose: Peat, hay, fresh cut grass, dates underneath.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, watery.
Tasting: Sweet salty. Fish sauce, tangerines, dried citrus peel, butterscotch.
Finish: Long. Hot, peaty, smoky, hint of sweet pear.

Comments:

Wow. Strong and tasty, best way to enjoy whisky. This is new make spirit, not yet aged 3 years, and therefore can't be termed whisky officially. It's the way people used to drink it anyway (maybe diluted with a little water - this stuff needs a little to bring out the butterscotch note more), before they discovered that if you stuck the stuff in wood it would taste more interesting. However, this tastes interesting enough - I can't wait for the real wood-aged stuff to appear. Kilchoman must be one hell of a distillery.

Verdict:

I like this a lot!

An Cnoc 12 yo

An Cnoc 12 yo

Official bottling
Single malt - Speyside
Light gold
40% ABV
Sampler

Nose: Oak, boiled carrots, apples, broccoli, hay, grass.
Mouthfeel: Medium body, slightly syrupy.
Tasting: Bitter sweet. Minty, baked potato, dried fruits, grass, spring flowers.
Finish: Short. Oaky, lemons, peanuts, starchy.

Comments:

The starch and the oak don't make for a very interesting combination. The floral notes and the fruit don't quite help out enough. I do like vegetal flavours in my whisky, but they don't meld very well with the other flavours here. A little too one-dimensional - the oak dominates. Still an acceptable dram, just doesn't reach the heights others have.

Verdict:

Not bad.

Rosebank 17 yo 1990/2007 Cask Strength

Rosebank 17 yo 1990/2007 Cask Strength

From the cask, the Whisky Exchange
Single malt - Lowlands
Straw gold
55.2% ABV
Mini

Nose: Spring grass, lemons, fresh orange juice, not the peel. Rhubarb and custard sweets. Slightly medicinal from the high ABV.
Mouthfeel: Light body. Evaporates quickly. Like getting poked in the mouth.
Tasting: Salty sweet. Jam doughnuts, lemon curd on toast. Magic marker and pear drop lurking underneath.
Finish: Medium length and warm. Something sweet and spicy, like mulled wine (although that's not very summery). Fades to sweet.

Comments:

This is identical to a whisky sold by Specialty Drinks Ltd as part of their Single Malts of Scotland range (Rosebank 16 yo 1990/2007) but at cask strength of course. I bought this from the sales cask at the Whisky Exchange. First taste of Rosebank, and I really enjoy the light, summery, "brassy" character.

Verdict:

I like this a lot!

Glenfarclas 10 yo

Glenfarclas 10 yo

Official bottling
Single malt - Speyside
Amber, tinge of pink
43% ABV
Mini

Nose: Sherry sweet, clotted cream and fresh milk, oranges and dried apricots. A little oak underneath.
Mouthfeel: Watery. Very liquid but not thin.
Tasting: Sweet. Big hit of spice, cinnamon and nutmeg. Strawberry jam, vanilla cream, tannin. Cream tea!
Finish: Medium to long. Loses intensity quickly, but hangs around. Spice cake and orange peel.

Comments:

Cream tea whisky. Milky sweet notes, very enjoyable. This is Glenfarclas's flagship official bottling. If it's this spicy at this strength, the cask strength and Family Cask bottlings must be very good indeed.

Verdict:

I like this.