SMWS London January 2014

I love being a member of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society. I don't get down to our nearest venue in Farringdon nowhere near enough, but I try to make sure it features on each trip I make into the city as it is conveniently located just across from Farringdon station.

Farringdon also happens to be on our mainline in and out of London, so very easy for us to get to. My only 'gripe' is that it's not open on a Sunday (yet?) although I see the Edinburgh venues are, but that might be due to it's 'city' location where many places close for the weekend in this area

It was my youngest's 16th Birthday just before Christmas and big Sister Kat bought her some tickets to a ballet show in London for the fourth of January, informingg me that I would have to 'chaperone' this time as Kat wouldn't be able to make it due to college commitments.

I quickly checked where the theatre was and too my delight, found out it was just a fifteen minute walk away from 19 Greville Street. Ideal! So while the girls (she took her best friend with Kat's ticket) were at the show I could spend two hours in our favourite waiting room.

I've had a couple of good days out with Twitter pal Adrian Barnett (@mynameisgone) having first met him at last years Whisky Live London. We've since done a couple of shows together, Septembers Midlands Whisky Show and last November's Wine & Spirits Show which is another story.

I asked Adrian if he'd be able to get a 'pass-out' for a couple of hours to join me for a New Year dram, and over the Christmas break a couple of other local #WhiskyFabric decided they would like to join us, and meet for the first time too, so it was all set. A short afternoon session at the London headquarters of the SMWS, 19 Greville Street.

After dropping the girls off at the theatre I arrived on the dot at 2 o'clock. Adrian and Scott Saunders (@Saunders_AFC) were already installed when I arrived, just settling in for their first dram. It was the first time I'd met Scott who had recently joined the SMWS and this was just his second visit. I joined them with their first dram.

Matt Veira (@mattveira) arrived a little later and joined us and long time SMWS member Philip Storry (@philipstorry) who was split between two groups which all became one as the afternoon went on and after I left.

The Dram Team; Phil, Adrian, Dave, Matt, Scott behind the bar at 19 Greville Street

I had to run at 4 o'clock to pick up the girls, but in the two short hours I managed to meet two more of the wonderful #WhiskyFabric out there in the Twitterverse, register six new whisky discoveries on the Liquid Log including a new distillery, and taste some spectacular whisky.

Whisky Discovery #679

SMWS 48.38 'Sparkling Summer Effervescence' (58.2% abv)
Speyside Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
Only available by the dram at The SMWS

So for my first dram of the day was this nine year old Balmenach, and as the Liquid Log states was my second ever Balmenach, the first being another SMWS release, 48.33

Distilled on the 8th of March 2004 this spent nine years maturing in a first fill ex bourbon barrel and just 249 bottles were filled at 58.2% abv. This was a very refreshing light and fruity dram and a great start to the afternoon. I'm not sure who chose this one,but I've got a feeling it was Adrian.

Whisky Discovery #680

Brora 30 Year Old (2005)
Highland Single Malt Whisky
A 'money can't buy dram'?

A treat courtesy of Philip Storry for my second dram and this 2005 release of the 30 Year Old Brora. Philip has been an SMWS member for 10 Years and I've met him a few times in 19 Greville Street previously, and he also had the best name badge at The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show this year 'Grain Hoover' of Storry Whisky Disposal Inc. This sounds like the forward thinking company I ought to be working at!

This Brora was one of the Diageo special releases from 2005, a 30 year old from a closed Distillery. Left to breath for a while, this gives out some great oily anthracite notes which I particularly liked.

Whisky Discovery #681

SMWS 84.12 'Party in the Vineyard' (58.2% abv)
Speyside Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
Only available by the dram at The SMWS

My first ever Glendullan, a distillery I'd not even heard of until I'd rechecked Malt Whisky Year book, which reminded me I had heard of it, from The Singleton of Glendullen although I haven't ever actually seen a bottle of it. Matt Vierra had joined us for this dram, so not quite sure if this was Matt's or Scott's choice.

Glendullen is now owned by Diageo and is almost exclusively used in blended Scotch though once the favourite whisky of King Edward VII and Betty Boothroyd, the first female Speaker in the House of Commons

Distilled in September 1997 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years yielding just 296 bottles at 59.3% abv this was another light fruity and fragrant dram, totally different to the dirty smoky Brora.

Whisky Discovery #682

SMWS 2.84 'Katherine Hepburn in a Vintage Jaguar' (53.3% abv)
Speyside Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
Only available by the dram at The SMWS

This was from the January Outturn and there had been quite a bit of interest on the twitter feed and had been asked by a few friends to sample and let them know what it was like. Joe McGirr loved this dram, and may have been the main perpetrator of the twitter interest. In any case releases from The Glenlivet are fairly unusual, and one as dark as this one almost unheard of.

This 20 Year Old was served up in one of the Society's nosing glasses, perhaps one of the prettiest in my opinion and I certainly need to get a set of these for home going forward. Distilled on 11th May 1993 and matured for 20 years in a first-fill ex-sherry hogshead it yielded just 77 bottles at 53.3% abv

This one has a most delicious nose, and an incredible depth of colour. With a little time to breathe I was picking out flavours that were very similar to a 30 Year Old Matusalem sherry I had over Christmas, lots of walnuts, as if they had been liquefied with figs and sticky dates. I needed to have a bottle of this.

Whisky Discovery #683

SMWS 53.200 'A Day at the Beach' (59.8% abv)
Islay Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
Only available from The SMWS £71.70

Another preview from the January Outturn and one I had every intention of buying when I left home that morning being a big Caol Ila fan. Unfortunately the other drams that I had around me at the time were distracting me and after The Glenlivet, Bruichladdich and Bowmore I was more interested in securing a bottle of 2.84 than this one unfortunately.

This is a good Caol Ila and one I hope is still around for a little while longer and I would like to add this to my shelf if still available when funds are sufficient.

Whisky Discovery #684

SMWS 23.52 'Teenage Dreams' (55.9% abv)
Islay Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
A 'money can't buy dram'?

Another treat from Phil Storry and a older release from Bruichladdich. Distilled in 1986, this would have been the Bruichladdich Mark Reiyner would have been enjoying before realising his dream and reopening the distillery in 2001.

Bruichladdich is another distillery that rarely crops up in SMWS Out-turns so the chance to taste this 19 Year Old was a real treat, and one of the highlights of the afternoon

Whisky Discovery #416

SMWS 3.193 'Baby Faced Arsonist' (58.2% abv)
Speyside Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
Only available by the dram at The SMWS

Not a new whisky discovery as I'd enjoyed this 14 Year Bowmore before when I spent a few days working in London. You can see what I thought of it then (as well as all the other drams enjoyed) here SMWS 3.193

This was my final dram for the afternoon, my choice, albeit my second choice as I was looking for an Ardbeg that had sadly run out. This has a lovely balance of sherry sweetness and earthy peat and I really wish I'd bought a bottle of this at the time.

Slàinte! Dave

Bruichladdich Tweet Tasting

Hot on the heels of last weeks Irish Whiskey Tweet Tasting, Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire has treated us to our first trip over to Islay to explore a bounty of progressive hebredian delights from the Bruichladdich distillery.

Checking back through my 'Liquid Log' I've only tried one Bruichladdich on my journey to date, which is really quite shocking! I tried the Laddie 10 last year as part of a sample swap and Skype tasting with @whiskyrepublic

I must admit I don't recall seeing a great deal of Bruichladdich at the whisky shows attended last year and although I know they were exhibiting at last weekends Whisky Birmingham festival, I foolishly kept clear of their stand so tonight's tweet tasting would be the first real exposure to this distillery. 

A fabulous line up of four 20cl samples from Bruichladdich

I read a really interesting article about the re-birth of the Bruichladdich Distillery a couple of weeks back in The New Yorker entitled 'A Letter from Islay' which tells the story of how Mark Reynier managed to get his hands on the distillery, eleven years after first setting eyes on the place in 1989. 

Last summer the company made the announcement that it was selling out to Rémy Cointreau, the French company whose products include Rémy Martin cognac and Cointreau liqueur.

The generous samples arrived at Whisky Discovery, four 20cl (quarter) bottles, one each of The Organic, Islay Barley 2006, The Laddie Ten and Black Art 3.

As usual the proceedings started at 7:00pm and all tweets should have been tweeted with the #Laddie10TT hashtag

Whisky Discovery #340

Bruichladdich The Organic NAS (46% abv)

Islay Single Malt Whisky

Circa £38.00 70 cl

This latest Bruichladdich Organic follows on from the 2003 edition. There are few current production single malts that are certified organic. It has been made with organic Scottish barley which is certified by the Biodynamic Agricultural Association. It's a lightly peated multi vintage vatting in which Jim McEwan has brought together the finest organic barley from their own and partners farms, the distillate being matured in ex-bourbon American oak casks 

So What Did We Think?

Kat: Kat is still suffering with cold symptoms so has not tasted these yet. We'll update the post as soon as she had gathered her thoughts

Dave: The nose opened with sweet grapes for me, this was followed by green apples, Robinson's Barley water, it's malty, with soft citrus notes and with time fragrant floral notes, jasmine like develop. The nose of this evolves with notes of kiwi fruit, a light touch of honey, a subdued white pepper and the smell of a recently harvested wheat/barley field with some earthy tones. With a drop of water the sweetness of the nose is enhanced and vanilla notes are more prominent

On the palate it was sweet on entry with a light brine taste. It has a very smooth and gentle mouth-feel. There are flavours of malted milk biscuits, barley sugar, sweet pear drops, almonds, and a very gentle spiciness. The gentle sweetness slowly fades with some more summer harvest notes, lovely! he Organic is velvety smooth, very drinkable! 

A very light delicate dram, velvety smooth and gentle in it's approach with sweet barley water, honey and lemon flavours. This is very drinkable and would be a great summer picnic dram

So what did everybody else think?

@rodbodtoo: First sniff and I got a big whack of pears! And Eau-de-cologne!
@mattveira: Nose: Bags of cereal character, hints of lemon and buckets of vanilla! 
@ifotou: Definitely has a grape like quality, lots of nice oak and vanilla custard, touches of the fruity malt loaf that my wife likes too
@TheWhiskyOracle: On the palette, a hint of sandalwood or nutmeg
@mynameisgone: Palate citrus fruits, peppery but with a sweet note running behind it 
@champdenwhite: Honey almonds and sweetness up front. Barley sugar and then pears (drops, not tinned this time).
@sjoerd972: Finish is light and crisp again. Wild flowers, barley, some crisp grape like quality on a backdrop of malt, wood and vanilla.

Whisky Discovery #341

Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2006 NAS (50% abv)

Islay Single Malt Whisky

Circa £38.00 70 cl

This is the second release of their 'Uber-Provenance Islay Barley Series' I have a bottle of the original 2004 release (and the proof plate that I won last year) which I have still not opened yet!

This spirit has been distilled from barley grown by partner farmers on Islay specifically for Bruichladdich. This release has been made from Barley grown on the eastern side of the island in Jubilee field at the place known as the 'Headland of the Gallows' on Dunlossit Farm.

@Bruichladdich: The 2006 Islay Barley is about as Uber-provenance as you can get. Single vintage, single farm, single field

So What Did We Think?

Kat: Kat is still suffering with cold symptoms so has not tasted these yet. We'll update the post as soon as she had gathered her thoughts

Dave: The nose opened up with some oak wood, it's spicy and has a dusty barley quality, like following the combine during harvesting. The honey and lemon notes are there again, but this  time more zesty. There's some soft apple and buttered shortbread and after a little longer in the glass it becomes more like a grassy summer field with lots of dandelion flowers. I had to dig deep to find the sweet vanilla notes of a soft fudge. This has a very interesting nose.

The palate gives honey with a squeeze of lemon, fresh barley, apples, crisp conference pears, and some faint vanilla notes. On my second sip and the sweet barley water is very clear, a peppery spice follows which fades becoming dry, almost nutty with some orange peel too, then right at the very end a touch of brine. The palate of this is just as interesting as the nose and I'm looking forward to crack the 2004 I have soon.

So what did everybody else think?

@LRWhisky: The nose is astounding. Bags of cereal and barley, topped off with orange peel and a dusting of cocoa
@LaCaveDeCobalt: Once again I got pears on the nose from this 2006 Islay Barley
@DramStats: Fingerprint of malted barley on a farm, green apple, custard creams, crumble topping again and a clotted cream note.
@champdenwhite: Gorse flowers and some heather. Intense but not heavy, a little honey and a little sea breeze with zesty lemon
@whiskytube: This is very grassy with a slight lemon sweetness coming through. Lovely fresh hot barley too!
@abbeywhisky: Taste: wow, big thick honey, lemon zest. Spice/pepper. Oak, vanilla. Fresh grass
@Little_Tipple: Great combination of both creamy chocolate and sweet orange on the palate, superbly complex!

Whisky Discovery #138

Bruichladdich The Laddie 10 (46% abv)

Islay Single Malt Whisky

Circa £35.00 70 cl

The very first ten year old whisky to be wholly distilled, aged and bottled following Bruichladdich's resurrection in 2001. In many ways this marked the beginning of the new era.

I have tasted this before, after trading samples with fellow whisky enthusiast Dave Allcock, the Whisky Dramalista (@whiskyrepublic)

So What Did We Think?

Kat: Kat is still suffering with cold symptoms so has not tasted these yet. We'll update the post as soon as she had gathered her thoughts

Dave: I haven't looked back at my previous notes yet, but remember being impressed the first time I tasted this during a Skype whisky tasting with @whiskyrepublic. 

This time I was getting a struck match note at first, which was followed by some medicinal notes, Germolene, Deep Heat, and TCP. After a very short while it softens to be more like charred wood, and the smell of rain after a warm dry day, slowly sweetening the longer it's in the glass. Then it starts to become spicier with some salt marsh notes, a little earthy, brine and samphire and there was a light peat reek too. With water white pepper tickles the nose.

The palate started sweet, the struck match note from the nose is there, and I love it. There are notes of malted fruit loaf with lots of sultanas, some ginger comes across towards the end and there is a wisp of wood smoke, like well charred wood gently smouldering.

So what did everybody else think?
@whiskytube: The Laddie Ten has an almost tar like thickness on the nose. I can almost smell the viscosity
@abbeywhisky: A lot going on, but all quite light and rather hard to pin down. Slightly medicinal, getting lemon and ripe banana and honey
@TheWhiskyOracle: Light, Light, Light Hint of seaweed and coastal aromas
@petedrinks: Mellow; not so sweet as the previous two, hints of the sea, definite TCP, has me stood on a beach on Loch Indaal
@mattveira: It's weird, as this is an unpeated whisky.... but I smell it somewhere. Possibly from casks used to hold peated whisky?
@TheWhiskyWire: The first two things I picked up were varnish & brine. I like varnish & brine! 
@ifotou: Definitely has a peatyness to the palate with malt loaf and banana skin in there too, there's a sweet floral taste also.

Whisky Discovery #342

Bruichladdich Black Art 3 1989 22 Year Old (48.7% abv)

Islay Single Malt Whisky

Circa £95.00 70 cl

Our final dram was a little bit of a treat. This is the third release of the Bruichladdich Black Arts series.

So What Did We Think?

Kat: Kat is still suffering with cold symptoms so has not tasted these yet. We'll update the post as soon as she had gathered her thoughts

Dave: The darkest of the whiskies tasted this evening and the nose opened up with notes of Oloroso sherry, big red grapes, fresh if slightly over-ripe Victoria plums, very fruity. Fry's chocolate cream with a touch of mint, Balsamic vinegar, dark soy sauce, and some leather too.

The plums lead on the palate which are accompanied with some tinned peaches. It has the feel of a rich red Bordeaux and has some lovely aniseed notes coming through when swallowing which leaves a very dry Amontillado hazelnut finish, very drying with lots of tannins.

So what did everybody else think?

@DramStats: Raisins, oloroso, treacle, date crumble, touch of cough mixture
@WHISKYILEACH: Dried fruits, Oak wood spices, lots of sherry and christmas spices and apples
@abbeywhisky: Slight mint notes ? maraschino cherries. Nice Port notes
@sjoerd972: Port for sure, raisins, leather and furniture polish, dried prunes, mint, slightly salty, sticky toffee pudding, some white oak
@champdenwhite: even a touch of cigar box, once the sweet flavours abate. Are there Bordeaux casks at play?
@TimothyAlcock: Nose sherry, raisins, Jamaican rum, sultanas, yacht varnish, school hall floor, Christmas, marker pen, pipe tobacco
@rodbodtoo: balsamic, and leather, and old pipes, chocolate (a ganache, to be precise) endless red fruits

So what was my favourite? Again it is difficult to pick just one as all four are great drinkable whiskies. If I've got the money in my pocket and I have to buy one for my shelf, I think it will be the Laddie 10 for my first buy, but if it was a warm summers day I might easily have been persuaded to pick up The Organic.

As per previous Tweet Tastings there was a great deal of tweeting going on and to see what happened search on the #LaddieTT hashtag on twitter for the full story

Yet another great experience and another highlight of our whisky journey, with three new discoveries for me, and it was the first time Kat had tasted anything from the Bruichladdich range. Tweet Tastings really are a great way to taste whisky.

A massive THANK YOU to Steve Rush at @TheWhiskyWire, The Bruichladdich Distillery  @Bruichladdich for the exceedingly generous samples and for making sure we all got our drams and of course the tweet tasters.

This events tweet tasters were:

@TheWhiskyWire @Bruichladdich @abbeywhisky @WHISKYILEACH @ifotou @petedrinks @TimothyAlcock @DramStats @WhiskyDiscovery @LRWhisky @champdenwhite @WorldWhiskyDay @Smokiechops @rodbodtoo @Little_Tipple @mattveira @whiskytube @TheWhiskyOracle @caskfinishcom @sjoerd972 @LaCaveDeCobalt

For more information see: www.thewhiskywire.com and www.bruichladdich.com

Whisky Discovery #138

Bruichladdich 10 Year Old / The Laddie Ten (46% abv OB)
Islay Single Malt
Circa £38.00 70cl

Skype Tasting #4, Bruichladdich 10 Year Old 'The Laddie 10'

For the fouth dram of our Skype tasting I chose this 10 year old from the Islay distillery of Bruichladdich. This was my first taste of anything from this distillery that I have heard of, but know so little about, so decided I ought to do a little research online.

Bruichladdich was built in 1881 by the Harvey brothers, on the shore of Loch Indaal, on the Rinns of Islay, the westernmost part of the island. At the time, the distillery was a state-of-the-art design unlike Islay's older distilleries, which had developed from old farm buildings. It was built from stone from the sea shore and has a very efficient layout, built around a large, spacious courtyard.

The uniquely tall and narrow-necked stills were chosen to produce a very pure and original spirit, the opposite of the styles produced by the older farm distilleries. Over the years it subsequently changed owners several times as a result of corporate take-overs and rationalisation of the industry, narrowly avoiding closure until 1994, when it was shut down as being 'surplus to requirements'.

The distillery was subsequently purchased by a group of private investors led by Mark Reynier on 19 December 2000. Jim McEwan, who had worked at Bowmore Distillery since the age of 15, was hired as production director. Between January and May 2001 the whole distillery was dismantled and reassembled, with the original Victorian décor and equipment retained. Having escaped modernisation, most of the original Harvey machinery is still in use today.

 The ‘Laddie’, as it is affectionately known, is often considered to be the fruitiest, most inventive Islay malt and, indeed, there has been some contention as to whether it has truly attained Islay-status. Bruichladdich countered this with the introduction of the Port Charlotte range and later with the 2008-released Octomore, the world’s most heavily peated whisky with a phenol content of 131ppm.

The Bruichladdich distillery is one of eight distilleries on the island, and until the recent opening of Kilchoman farm distillery, was the only independent one, and the Laddie 10 is said to be the most important release in the history of the distillery since re-opening in 2001. The spirit was malted from only Scottish barley, was cask filled at 70% abv and laid down to sleep for ten years on their loch-side warehouses, and as they proudly say, a true beginning of a new era.

So what did I think?

The Laddie 10 is bottled at 46% abv and is naturally coloured and non chill-filtered. It has a lovely clear golden colour and the nose is delisiously soft and floral, with vanilla creams oozing out of the grassy, sweet barley sugar notes. There's fruit too, melons and a citrus zing. On the palate the sweet barley and vanilla is first, but then there is a malty oakiness to it too. I found the finish quite short and sweet, with a light peppery zing to it.

Overall I was impressed with this light fruity malt, and it wasn't what I was expecting knowing that it was an Islay. I was expecting some peaty smoke, but there's non of that here. You won't miss this in the shops as the packaging is very distinctive with its bright baby blue tube. I think I must get a bottle of this little piece of history in the making.