Whisky Discovery #259

Caperdonich 17 Year Old Abbey Whisky (57.8% abv, IB, D.1995)
Speyside Single Cask Malt Whisky
Circa £60.00 70cl

This is the first release in 'The Rare Casks' series by Abbey Whisky, and I was very fortunate to be sent a sample of this magnificent Caperdonich 17 Year Old single cask, single malt Scotch whisky. This limited edition release was distilled in 1995 and left to rest for 17 years before being bottled in 2012 with only 96 bottles filled, in its natural form, at full cask strength, without chill filtering or colour additives.

The 'The Rare Casks' is an exceptional range of limited edition single malt whiskies bottled exclusively by Abbey Whisky, and each release will be available in very limited quantities.

The Caperdonich distillery has a bit of a chequered history, with long periods of closure. When first opened in 1898 it was originally known as Glen Grant #2 it produced single malt Scotch whisky for just four years until it closed in 1902. It remained dormant until it was renovated in the early 1960's and reopened as Caperdonich in 1965 and began producing single malt whisky again until 2002 when it was closed again. Caperdonich was a component of some of the Chivas Regal blended Scotch whisky and as far as I can tell there are no distillery bottlings available, just independent releases from Cadenheads, Signatory, The SMWS, Gordon and MacPhail and now Abbey Whisky.

So What Did I Think?

I loved the way the sample had been packed and delivered to me, and I was very surprised, and fortunate to be asked by Abbey Whisky to be one of the first to taste this and let them know what I thought.

Beautifully package sample dram received

When I first poured the dram into my nosing glass it was initially very spicy on the nose which quickly settled down to become both fruity and floral. There is a light tropical fruit salad going on with papaya, lychee and even a little fresh coconut and bags of fresh vanilla pods before that initial spicy pepper kick starts to sneak back. After a while in the glass malty notes start to develop along with a rich honeyed sweetness. With a drop of water the floral notes seem to come to the fore with a summer meadow of wild flowers, but the vanilla pods remain, and after a little while in the glass becomes more 'winey' on the nose.

On the palate it has a sweet and creamy mouth feel. The fruity floral notes from the nose are very feint on the palate but there is lots of vanilla and custard cream biscuits initially, but then it all gets spicier building into a crescendo which gives an almost horseradish like sensation in the bridge of the nose.

The after the spicy build up it fades back to a light sweet finish with a little citrus zest leaving the mouth watering. The empty glass smells much maltier as the fragrant notes evaporate, but there is still a little white pepper in the background

There was so much going on with the nose, that the palate seemed to play second fiddle in terms of complexity, but don't let that get in the way of things, this is a wonderful playful dram and I loved the spicy horseradish feel. The nose is quite exceptional though, especially when my wife loves it! With only 96 bottles available, I don't expect this piece of 'liquid history' will be around for long.

Many thanks to Abbey Whisky for considering me to taste this rare whisky. For more information visit their website: www.abbeywhisky.com

Whisky Discovery #258

anCnoc Peter Arkle Travel Retail Exclusive NAS (46% abv OB, 2012)
Single Malt Whisky
circa £38 1ltr (from airports)

The Travel Retail Exclusive from anCnoc' Peter Arkle range

This is the third bottling by anCnoc in partnership with graphic designer Peter Arkle and was launched in conjunction with the release of the second edition that I tried a couple of weeks ago (Whisky Discovery #218). The first edition being released earlier this year (Whisky Discovery #143) and if you check on that post you'll find some of the background information on the Peter Arkle series. This bottling as listed as a 'travel retail' expression which means you'll only be able to find it at airports and on ferries ordinarily

The packaging has been once again design by Peter Arkle and is inspired by an old-fashioned traveller’s leather suitcase, and the bottle label a luggage tag. The whisky inside is all the work of anCnoc and has been matured in first fill bourbon casks. Released with no age statement, the whisky is bottled at 46% abv, non chill-filtered and presented at its natural colour.

Official taste notes

Colour Light golden

Nose Sweet and spicy with honey and butterscotch closely followed by oranges and lemons. Rich vanilla is punctuated by green apples. Subtle hints of leather and chocolate float in the background. Complex and satisfying.

Taste Honey, vanilla cheesecake and caramel sweetness are followed by bright notes of pear drops, freshly squeezed lemons and coconut. The finish is long and sweet with hints of toffee and spices.

So what did I think?

This has a lovely fresh and fruity nose; creamy vanilla, zesty citrus with grapefruit and lemon, crisp green apples and even a little orange blossom. With a little time in the glass the malty notes start coming out; malted milk biscuits and shortbread and with the citrus and vanilla, it reminds me of a lemon cheesecake.

On the palate it was fresh and bright too. Sweet and tangy, with light orange marmalade notes, sweet honey. The crisp apples are on the palate too and there is a light peppery spice. The finish is not as long as I was expecting, the honey sweetness remains as does the citrus and light pepper spice notes and remains fresh and bright to the very end. The empty glass however reveals rich malty toffee notes.

Out of the three Peter Arkle expressions tasted this year, I think this one has been my favourite, but without some of the first expression to taste alongside it can't be one hundred percent sure, but if anyone is travelling soon could you pick one of these up for me? Ta!

The Wine & Spirits Show 17th November 2012

The Spirited Wines and Nicolas's Wine and Spirits Show took place on Friday 16th and Saturday 17th November 2012 and was held at 8 Northumberland Avenue, an impressive building just 3 minutes walk from Trafalgar Square

Kat and I made our way down for the early session on Saturday morning, starting at 10:00am, perhaps a little to early for some as we had the Spirits Section, held down in the basement, to ourselves at the beginning of the show.

Meeting Master Distiller, David Fitt, from the English Whisky Company as we entered it was good to catch up and find out how the show had been on the opening day. We also caught up with the news from England's currently only operating Whisky Distillery, and look at the new packaging of the 'Classic' replacing Chapter 6 and the 'Peated' which replacing Chapter 11. Having already tried these previously we decided to start our morning with an Islay distillery that I've very little exposure to in the journey to date, Bunnahabhain.

Our first dram of the day

I have a Signatory Vintage bottling from Bunnahabhain on my shelf, and have also had a single cask bottling from Cambridge Wines, but I've never tasted any official bottlings from this Islay distillery, and knowing that they were going to be at this show, had them on my list. The Bunnahabhain stand was alongside the English Whisky Co. one and  David introduced us to Brand Ambassador Scott Martin, who in turn introduced us to Bunnahabhain.

Starting with the 'entry level' expression, Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old. This edition was launched in summer 2010 when it increased it's strength to 46.3% and declaring non chill-filtration and natural colouring.

Bunnahabhain uses very lightly peated malt, and this 12 year old is matured in a mixture of Bourbon and Sherry casks, resulting in a fresh sweet single malt, with a briny 'beach' nose with a toffee fudge sweetness, a perfect start to our morning.

We followed the 12 Year Old with the next in the core expressions and the 18 Year Old, one that's been on my list since buying Ian Buxton's '101 Whiskies To Try Before You Die'.

The Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old is also bottled at 46.3% and is naturally coloured and non-chill filtered. However the maturation this time is all in sherry casks. Another light and fresh dram, with lots of fruit on the nose, and a lovely rich colour.

I was really impressed with both expressions and certainly want to have both of these in my drinking collection.

A 'vertical tasting' of the Tomatin range of single malt whiskies

Following our introduction to Bunnahabhain we moved across to the Tomatin stand and met Alastair Mutch who had the full range of core expressions on show and took us through a fabulous vertical tasting starting with the Tomatin 12 Year Old, first introduced in 2004 and matured for eleven and a half years in bourbon casks and finished for the final 6 months on sherry casks and bottled at 40% abv. Light and fruity, a lovely everyday drinking dram.

Next up was the Tomatin 15 Year Old, first introduce in 2009 and matured solely in ex-bourbon casks before being bottled at 43% abv. Being all bourbon cask matured there was more of a citrus and spice element to this malt which leaves a crisp, dry and clean finish, until right at the very end when a light smokey char come through.

The 15 Year Old was followed by the Tomatin 18 Year Old which has spent 16 years in ex-bourbon casks, and then spends the final two years in first fill Oloroso Sherry casks. Bottled at 46% abv it's also non chill-filtered and naturally coloured. The nose on this reminded me of the teak wood store in the boat yard I ran in the Far East, lovely woody nose.

The finale of our vertical tasting was the Tomatin 30 Year Old. Also bottled at 46% abv, non chill-filtered and naturally coloured, the cask make up is 80% bourbon casks and 20% sherry. Again there was a teak wood element on the nose and tropical fruits too. This had the longest finish of the four expressions tasted.

Four new Whisky discoveries to register as well as the first from the Tomatin distillery too. All four were great tasting whiskies, with interesting taste profiles in each. My favourites were the 18 and 30 Year Old, but would be happy to have any of these on my shelf.

David had recommended that we stop off at the next stand and try something a little different. Here we met Andy La Fontaine who was manning the Glenmorangie and Ardbeg stand. 

Andy introduced us to the 'Smoky Mary' a Bloody Mary made with Ardbeg 10 Year Old instead of the vodka, and damn good it was too!

While enjoying the Smoky Mary I noticed that Andy had a Bailie Nichol Jarvie (BNJ) on the table, which I knew was in Ian Buxton's 101 and one I had to taste next. 

BNJ is a blended Scotch whisky reportedly to have the highest percentage of single malts in it's make up, and a minimum age of eight years.

Also on the table was a Glenmorangie that I hadn't tried before, the 12 Year Old Lasanta, although I have got a miniature on my shelf from a sample swap, so a full review will be due soon.

The next Whisky stand on our horizon was Benromach, and here we met Richard Urquhart from Gordon & MacPhail. I've come across a couple of expressions of Benromach at The Whisky Lounge London Fest tasting their 10 Year Old and Organic Special Edition, and I'd recently won a bottle of Benromach 10 Year Old from their website competition which I've yet to open. If you haven't been on the Benromach website yet go an have a look, it's a great website.

Richard had a couple of Benromach expressions that he wanted us to try; firstly The Organic Edition, matured in virgin American oak for six to seven years, and bottled at 43% abv. Lots of spicy oak hear and was very good This was followed by Benromach Peat Smoke (Batch 4). Distilled from malted barley with a phenol level of 35ppm this fourth batch of Benromach Peat Smoke has been matured in Refill American Hogsheads for many years. 

The Exclusive Balblair '96

Richard was keen to show us the range of malts from Gordon & MacPhail, a name steeped in whisky history that has been bottling Single Malt Whiskies for over 116 years. Gordon & MacPhail is an independent family owned and managed firm, from its humble beginnings as a retailer, it has grown to become a diverse and dynamic company with a number of different business interests. Today the company is a retailer, wholesaler, exporter, bottler of Single Malt Scotch Whisky and distiller, owning Benromach Distillery.

We started with the Show exclusive bottling a single cask from Balblair, distilled in 1996 and bottled in 2012 at 46%, which gave us wonderful sweet vanilla custard creams with a peppery kick, however with the end of the morning session ending we broke for lunch after this dram.

After a bite to eat we returned to the show and resumed our Gordon and MacPhail journey tasting a few more of their special editions, however with our palates starting to fade, we weren't able to make any real meaningful notes We blamed the dram of gin we tasted immediately after our lunch which we felt stripped our palates.

The full dram list, with links to separate blog posts where applicable and when finished!

• Whisky Discovery #242 Bunnahabhain 12 Year Old (46.3% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #243 Bunnahabhain 18 Year Old (46.3% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #244 Tomatin 12 Year Old (40.0% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #245 Tomatin 15 Year Old (43.0% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #246 Tomatin 18 Year Old (46.0% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #247 Tomatin 30 Year Old (46.0% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #248 Bailie Nichol Jarvie (40% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #249 Glenmorangie 12 Year Old Lasanta (46% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #250 Benromach Organic (43% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #251 Benromach Peat Smoke Batch 4 (46% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #252 Gordon & MacPhail Balblair Exclusive 1996 (46% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #253 Gordon & MacPhail Balblair 10 Year Old (43% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #254 G&M Speymalt Macallan 2003 (43% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #255 G&M Mortlach Speyside 15 Year Old (43% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #256 G&M Connoisseurs Choice Ledaig 1994 (46% abv)
• Whisky Discovery #257 G&M Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila 1998 (43% abv)

Whisky Discovery #241

Penderyn 'Portwood' NAS (41% abv, OB Bottled 2012, 70cl)

Welsh Single Malt Whisky

circa £35.00 70cl

Penderyn Portwood 41

Until recently Portwood 41 was only available in mainland Europe and direct from the distillery, but due to popular request is now on general release and seems to be available at all the usual on-line retailers as well as a good number of Welsh suppliers.

The spirit for this is matured in ex-bourbon casks for 4-7 years and are then filled into Port casks for 8 months. This gives the whisky a distinct rosy hue of tarnished copper.

Official tasting notes

Aromas of rich dried fruits with fresh blackberries and dark chocolate accompany the blush tint of Penderyn Portwood. After these first impressions fresh honey drizzled over mixed tropical fruits emerges and carries on into the taste. This is a powerful whisky, bone dry, yet convincing the taste buds of immense sweetness. The overall effect is one of a fresh, clean and fruity whisky easy to drink and with an attractive lingering finish.

So What Did We Think?

Kat Said: I sampled this alongside another recently released Penderyn; Red Flag. For the Portwood I was able to pick up a dry & wet character all at the same time with a light woody aroma. This reminded me of the smell of a pile of dried autumnal leaves where the top surface is dry but the bottom layers of leaves are still damp. Apart from this, the rich fruity characters of the Port are the only other aromas that I can pick out.

I found the Portwood to be not quite as sweet as the Red Flag and there is a bitter dark chocolate note, like a high 70% cocoa content. There is a kick that’s more like that of a fiery chilli instead of the heat you get from black pepper. as with the Red Flag, the rich Port flavours are bold in this whisky and nicely balanced.

The finish starts and ends with a chilli cocoa mix that fades to the end giving a long finish. I'm already partial to Madeira and Port, so was happy that both of these whiskies delivered the flavours of the finishes very well.

Dave Said: Initially I found the nose to be quite woody; fresh green lumber, but after some time in the glass the fresh blackberries start to come through complete with their brambles. Slowly the fruity notes evolve with more sweet hedgerow berries and some glacé cherries. I'm not sure if it's the pinkish hue, but I was also finding rose petals. There is a good touch of pepper on the nose too

The palate is sweet, although as Kat points out, not quite a sweet as the Red Flag, and with a little vanilla pod, a touch of citrus zest and a good pinch of pepper that bites. The sweet berries return on the palate too. my second glass seems sweeter than the first tasting and notes of  milk chocolate evolve before wine notes and dried fruit. The sweetness starts to fade as the peppery spice builds at the end.

A good length finish with the spice notes balanced by a light honied sweetness along with some slightly drying oak.

Many thanks to Penderyn for supplying the tasting sample. For more information about the award winning Welsh distillery visit www.welsh-whisky.co.uk

Whisky Discovery #240

Penderyn 'Red Flag' NAS (41% abv, OB, Bottled 2012, 70cl)
Welsh Single Malt Whisky
circa £39.00 70cl

Red Flag; the first of the 'Icons of Wales' series

Welsh distillery Penderyn recently announced the launch of a series of limited edition bottlings; the “Icons of Wales” range, celebrating Wales’ impact throughout the world. A total of fifty limited edition single malt whiskies are planned, each of which will celebrate a person, milestone or event from Wales which resonated internationally.

Red Flag, the first edition was launched on the 24th September and commemorates the first time that a red flag was raised as a symbol of social protest: during the 1831 Merthyr Rising which ended in the execution of miner Dic Penderyn.

The 1831 Merthyr Rising is believed to have been the first time that a red flag was raised as a symbol of social protest, and the Red Flag special edition carries a passage telling the story of Dic Penderyn, whose real name was Richard Lewis. The bottle features a specially commissioned print by the artist Andrew Davidson.

Future editions will draw upon other events from Wales’ history.  Each bottling will be strictly limited in number, and the expressions are expected to become collectors’ items, as other Penderyn special edition whiskies have become.

Dr Jim Swan's Tasting Notes

This whisky is finished in Madeira casks to impart a delicate flavour of subtle complexity. Hand crafted to perfection, the unique distillation process at Penderyn produces a single malt whisky that is smooth, light in character and softly golden in colour.

So What Did We Think?

Kat Says: I sampled two new expressions from Penderyn, side by side. Starting first with Red Flag then followed by Portwood. Both of these finishes gave these whiskies their full bodied characters.

The Red Flag being a Madeira finish, it’s not hard to pick up the Madeira notes in this whisky which can be detected as raisins. I can also pick out rhubarb crumble, cotton candy, and a hint of spice from fresh bay leaves.

On the initial sip, there is a medicinal herb quality which disappeared when I tasted it again after leaving the whisky in the glass for a short while. It’s sweet and smooth, like the nose, the characteristic Madeira flavours shines through creating a nice balance of Madeira and whisky.

The character of this whisky wasn't really affected by adding a drop of water, it only took away a bit of the spicy alcohol sting leaving a long finish, with the spice of the bay leaves returning, staying through to the end.

Dave Says: It's quite sweet on the nose, and although I don't think I've tried Madeira yet (Kat loves it apparently) I can certainly find raisins and the rhubarb crumble that Kat picked out. It also had quite a lot of green wood and a touch of the 'pear drops' that is normally associated with a younger spirit, and a herbal note that I think is a little like dried tea.

The sweetness continues on the palate, like a sweet sherry initially and then finishes a little like saccharin. There is a some fruity vanilla notes before a peppery spice kicks in. Overall the mouth-feel is quite full, rich and smooth. The spicy pepper returns right at the very end leaving the tongue glowing for a short while, then fading back to sweetness and leaving an almond like taste. The empty glass however smells quite fresh and grassy.

I'm not certain how limited this is as there is no mention of the number of bottles released, nor have I been able to find out what the difference between the Red Flag and the standard Madeira Finish that's parts of Penderyn's core range, however checking back through my tasting notes I have found them to be a little different.

This limited edition bottling will be available at Penderyn’s distillery, at www.penderynstore.com and at selected stores throughout Wales. A small number of prints used on the bottle’s label will also be available at the distillery.

Many thanks to Penderyn for supplying the tasting sample. For more information about the award winning Welsh distillery visit www.welsh-whisky.co.uk

Whisky Discovery #239

Port Ellen 25 Year Old Signatory Vintage (57% abv D.1982 B.2007)
Islay Single Malt Whisky
Circa £300.00

The third Port Ellen on our journey to date

The Port Ellen distillery on the island of Islay was closed in 1983 and stocks have been slowly released over the years, which must be surely coming towards the end now, the youngest spirit being 29 years old now. Kat and and have been fortunate in getting to taste two of the recent annual releases from Diageo, tasting the 11th release at the Midlands Whisky Festival in September, and then the latest 12th release at the The Whisky Exchange Show in October. 

Both were 32 Year Old expressions distilled in 1979, and they were both simply delicious, 'liquid history' as we were told at the time. At around £700 a bottle, and being highly collectible, it's not often opportunities to taste these rare malts arise, but before we tell you what we thought, a short story on how we came to have a sample of this often revered Port Ellen whisky.

A few weeks back, while we were coming to the end of our five dram vertical tasting of The Glenrothes, I 'tweeted' that we were hoping that we have saved the best to last as we opened the 1978 Vintage. We immediately got a reply from @WeeRockWhisky who told us to look out for sulphur.

Now I've not really experienced sulphur in my whisky journey to date, yet seem to be hearing more and more about it. I've heard about a struck match note and I replied that I quite like the the smell of struck matches anyway. At this point Canadian blogger @Whiskylassie joins in the conversation and tells us that 'they' say only around 5% of the population can actually identify sulphur, and that she didn't think that she was one of them.

The conversation developed around the sulphured whisky and I recalled the Belgian Owl experience of boiled cabbage water note on the nose, which I  was informed at the time was due to sulphur, but the most common note was that struck match, or an extinguished firework, but in some extremes a 'rotten egg' odour was found.

@WeeRockWhisky went on to tell us about a 1982 Port Ellen from Signatory Vintage that he found 'undrinkable'  and that it had been poured out! Shocked we replied that we should have been asked for a second opinion. Although it wasn't his bottle, the owner was immediately contacted and agreed to send both us and @Whiskylassie a sample of this, and the advice "If you haven't known sulphur, this will teach you quickly but try it far away from other drams." We were intrigued!

So What Did We Think?

The sample arrived from @Whiskyintel, the unfortunate owner of the said bottle, last weekend and although I opened it for a quick sniff when it arrived, I didn't really get to know it until the other evening. A quick nose from the sample bottle was really quite pleasant;  The high alcohol content is quite astringent at first, but there's lots of that rich Islay peat, a heavy aroma of tobacco and then that struck match note, it wasn't offensive but I could clearly detect it.

We poured some into a nosing glass, and started to nose it. The struck matches were more evident now, and this wasn't like the Port Ellen releases we had recently tried, the nose was quite aggressive, which we put down to the high abv. Yes the peaty Islay notes were there, bonfire smoke, charcoal, tobacco and old leather.

It was aggressive on the palate too, 57% abv stripping the taste buds? I was starting to think not. I have a lovely Signatory Vintage Heavily Peated Bunnahabhain at 54.6% that does not need water, and have had single grain at 64% abv that you wouldn't have really noticed. We added water to try taming it and it was then that we first noticed a bad egg smell, that hydrogen sulphide note that really wasn't welcome. It wasn't a constant odour, but enough to put us off and we too poured the dram away.

I covered the empty glass and returned to it the following morning. It was not pleasant at all; like a stale stubbed out cigar in an old ashtray.

I conveyed my thoughts back to @WeeRockWhisky who came back to me:

Tragedies like this are painful. Likely, when the whisky was first casked, the barrel was clean. However, somewhere along the line, they must have transferred the contents into a newer sherry cask or wine cask. Newer sherry and wine casks are often treated with sulphur as a way of preserving the barrel, as the alcohol content of wine is low, so it can spoil. Bourbon casks are preserved naturally due to the high alcohol content of cask strength bourbon, so no sulphur is used in traditional barrelling.

Sometimes, you can pick out traces of sulphur, like in the Black Arts and some A'bunadhs, but the number of spoiled casks is minor, so the sulphuric effect is minimal, sometimes almost appealing. Sadly, buying whisky matured in sherry casks is like playing Russian roulette. I seem to want to try them before I buy them.

And finished his email with one of the best signatures I've seen for a while!

May you never lie, steal, cheat or drink,

But if you must lie – lie in each other’s arms,

If you must cheat – cheat death,

If you must steal – steal kisses,

And if you must drink, for God’s sake, drink whisky.

and so endeth our first lesson on the effects of sulphur on a maturing spirit. We also learnt that my wife and Kat's mother has an excellent 'sulphur' nose, as upon nosing the sample she got it immediately, without any prompting from us all. We're going to keep the sample sent as a reference point for future discoveries, and @Whiskylassie are doing exactly the same as I found out when speaking with them last night

Wemyss Malts Tweet Tasting

The Whisky Wire's first Tweet Tasting of November and a new Whisky Discovery for me. Wemyss Malts is an independent bottler owned by the Wemyss family from Scotland, whose family seat is Wemyss Castle in Fife where they've lived since the 1300s.

It's easier to say than read! You pronounce it 'weems' and is the Scots words for caves - as in the caves that pepper the rocky shore of Fife where Wemyss Castle looks out to sea. The family have a long-standing passion for malt whisky and their connection with the industry dates back to the turn of the 19th century when John Haig (founder of Haig's Whisky) built his first distillery on Wemyss land.

As well as this they also have someone with unsurpassed knowledge and expertise on their side, Charlie MacLean, the Scottish authority on malt whisky and star of the 2012 movie 'The Angels Share'.

We were each sent four expressions to sample in this first Wemyss Malts Tweet Tasting, two of their highly acclaimed blended whiskies and two of their 2012 release single casks whiskies.

With preparations in place we kicked off our evenings education at 1900 with The Whisky Wire's Steve Rush and Karen from Wemyss Malts hosting proceedings, all tweets contained the hashtag #WEMYSSTT

Almost Dram o'clock and ready to rock 'n' roll!

Whisky Discovery #235

The Hive 12 Year Old (40% abv)
Blended Malt Whisky
Circa £35.00 70cl

The 12 Year Old Blended Malt 'The Hive' from Wemyss Malts

For our first dram of the evening we started with The Hive. This is a blend of malt whiskies, with an emphasis on 12 Year Old Speyside malts from both fresh and refill Sherry casks.

Official Tasting Notes
The colour is rich and bronze, which hints at the sherry cask maturation. Nosing reveals sweetness and a hint of spice; reminiscent of fresh honey, toffee apples and cinnamon sticks.  The rich, honeyed sweetness continues onto the palate; dominating over aromas of dessert spice and candied fruits.  The lengthy finish is smooth and sweetly satisfying.

Julie told us that 16 different single malts going into the blend of The Hive, and all of them would need to be older than 12 years old

So What did I think?

After swirling my glass to coat the inside of it I had long thing legs running quite quickly down the glass leaving oily like beads around the top of it.

The nose was a little shy at first and needed to be teased out, but once it comes it is immediately sweet and spicy. The sweetness coming from heather honey, but there's a fruity element too, rosy red apples and soft pears, then there's a yeasty, malty flavour; fresh pastry dough and yeasty bread mix as well as malted milk biscuits.

On the palate it was light and fruity, pears being the more prominent fruit now, but jelly beans too! There's a little pepper spice which is softened by the honeycomb sweetness. As it fades there is a dry nuttiness to it. With a drop of water it is much creamier and the vanilla notes come to the forefront.

The finish is a balance of sweetness, a light saltiness and a citrus tartness  at the back of the tongue making the mouth water, very satisfying. A great start to our evening with Wemyss Malts.

Some of my favourite tweets for The Hive 12 Year Old

@TIA568B Honeyed fruit, soft creamy vanilla fudge, maybe a little floral and grassy?
@julie_gwc  Honeycomb for me on the nose - does what it says on the label!!
@steveprentice A rich, sweet, slightly nutty nose. Something seems very familiar about this one, but can't put my finger on it...
@rickfurzer The Hive - spices first, then a wave of honeyed barley & the Sherry then starts to come through - rum & raisin?
@the_josephellis Quite an oily palate, getting lovely sherried fruits now and picking up those pears soaked in honey
@galg Palate: very creamy. lots of fruit, caramel candy, some sherry, dark chocolate, nuts
@whiskyrepublic It just nestles into your mouth, nothing in your face about this dram, certainly not taking my tongue hostage.
@champdenwhite Fabulously smooth and honied on the palate, then a kick of spice with edges of vanilla and even a touch of caramel.
@KirstyChant Now getting salted caramel/toffee on the palate and that pepper is kicking in but it's not too much. Quite fruity on the finish

Whisky Discovery #236

Lord Elcho 15 Year Old (40% abv, Bottled August 2012)
Blended Scotch Whisky
Circa £50.00 70cl

The new Premium Blended Scotch Whisky, 'Lord Elcho' from Wemyss Malts

From The Hive 12 Year Old we moved on to the recently released 'Lord Elcho'. A premium blended Scotch whisky, which is named after one of the Wemyss ancestors Lord Elcho (1721–1787) was the eldest son of the 5th  Earl of Wemyss and was a commander in Bonnie Prince Charlie’s army until his defeat at the Battle of Culloden

Official Tasting Notes
Colour: Rich and golden with copper tones
Nose: Rich and warming with subtle hints of sweet spice and sandalwood coming through.
Palate: Mouthcoating, robust and smooth, imbued with luscious spiced fruit and cloves.
Finish: Long, lingering and uncompromisingly luxurious.

So What did I think?

In the nosing glass this had thicker legs than The Hive, they were much slower moving too, and there was an even coating of the glass with no droplets forming.

This had a much richer nose, with a fudge like toffee sweetness, spiced rum, sherried fruit cake, vanilla ice cream, tobacco and chocolate notes. Spices came with sandalwood and liquorice and there was a richness of polished wood and old worn leather.

Rich and creamy mouth feel, luxurious even. With sweet plump grains and toffee fudge, spicy pepper which quickly fades leaving a dark chocolate note.

Much spicier finish than The Hive and with espresso coffee and hazelnuts. This is a really nice quality blend which I would love to have on my shelf. Dear Santa, I have been a very good boy this year.........

Some of my favourite tweets for Lord Elcho 15 Year Old

@the_josephellis Nose, battenberg soaked in spiced rum

@champdenwhite Nose stewed apples, and a touch of marzipan, the marzipan then becoming amaretto biscuits. Some ceder then bit of spice

@AWReviews Nose - Peanut brittle, salted caramel, maybe star enise or clove? slightest touch of wood, balsa wood maybe

@LRWhisky We're getting chocolate fudge and raisins, followed by a little liquorice and vanilla.

@rodbodtoo Nose is soft, with a bit of everything - malt, dried fruit, fudge, a wee echo of smoky salt

@TheWhiskyWire Oven baked bramley apples & grilled peaches, dusted with crushed pink peppercorns

@whiskyrepublic I'm getting a citrus "shimmy", sweet warm dry tobacco wafts, & flirty sherry notes

@julie_gwc Elcho is like stollen cake - marzipan and dried fruits - yum! Bit of caramel cake too

@DramStats Nose: closed. Furiously warming the glass! Opens up to reveal rich raspberry ripple ice cream with raspberry sauce

@galg taking a sip from this lovely Elcho nectar ; sherry galore, creamy, fudgy, chocolaty, cocoa  wood, fortified wine

@DramStats 

Palate: Sweet , creamy vanilla, and raspberry sauce (raspberry ripple ice cream) Black Cherry, dark chocolate, Szechuan pepper

Whisky Discovery #237

'White Chocolate Torte' (46% abv D.1988 B.2012)
Single Cask Speyside Malt Whisky
Circa £84.00 70cl

White Chocolate Torte - a 24 Year Old from Tormore Distillery

Our next dram “White Chocolate Torte” is one of this years' five single cask releases from Wemyss. This is a 24 year old from the Speyside distillery, Tormore. Distilled in 1988 and laid to mature in ex-Bourbon barrel which produced 251 bottles at 46% when bottled earlier this year.

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Golden Honeycomb

Nose: Creamy white chocolate truffles, watch your calories with this one! Presence of delicate fruity notes such as glacé cherries, lychees and Seville orange marmalade (with orange peel)

Palate: Instantly warning in the mouth, chocolate note still evident but now as dark chocolate and bitter orange. Fresher than expected from the nose, lingering on the tip of your tongue. The addition of water harnesses the fresh notes and brings a slight sweetness (can we detect dessicated coconut?) which makes this dram truly irresistible.

Finish: Delicate with hints of citrus freshness

So What did I think?

Thick slow legs in my nosing glass and a very even coating of the glass. Wow! Another nose I have been surprised at - I was a little cynical when I rad the label and official tasting notes, white chocolate? from a single ex-bourbon cask? How is this even possible? The nose on this is just like a white Magnum ice cream! There is the 'Milky Bar' white chocolate notes clearly evident. There's a light fruity note of light oranges, satsuma-ish, rich spicy oak notes before the creamy bourbon cask vanilla kicks in.

A lovely sweet and creamy mouth feel with bags of vanilla and white chocolate, the posh ones that seem to come out at Christmas (I'm not a big chocolate lover ordinarily and rarely buy any). The spicy oak slowly building into a crescendo before gently fading back allowing the creamy vanilla and white chocolate to return.

The finish was a great balance of sweetness and saltiness with some citrus freshness. This appeared to be the favourite of the evening for many, and surprisingly for a couple of 'peat heads' (me included too). I'm probably be too late to snap one of these 251 bottles up unless I have a bonus payout or a lottery win this week!

Some of my favourite tweets for 'White Chocolate Torte'

@dvdbloke Hold on. can't talk. minigasm over this nose!!
@AWReviews Massive wave of raspberry ripple ice cream, intense vanilla, icing sugar, glace cherry and apple crumble
@TIA568B Nose: Wow... Just wow, spot on with the name, I was a bit cynical, but yeah, white chocolate, milkybar, lovely!
@julie_gwc White Chocolate Torte - bashed up hazelnuts and almonds with a bit of citrus and wood!
@champdenwhite After that blast of white choc, there are lots of crystallised fruits, then fresh oranges.
@whiskyrepublic Those legs are walking down the side of my glass! Rich, pungent nose, dense fruit flavours, chocolate melted over marshmallow.
@dvdbloke Nose - don't know where to start, rich white choc, all things fattening and sumptuous.
@LRWhisky Summers ice cream by the beach (with a white 99) - what a palate
@the_josephellis A luxurious bittersweet mouth coating dram. Spicy oranges hit the back of my mouth but the front is all creamy and sweet!
@TIA568B Apricot and peaches, kiwi fruits in pavlova, more of that white magnum taste, a digestive biscuit cake base, love it
‏@whiskyrepublic This is a "comfort blanket" of a dram. Wrap it round yourself & sit in front of the fire! A definite favourite.

Whisky Discovery #238
'Beach Bonfires' (46% abv D.1998, B.2012)
Single Cask Islay Malt Whisky

Circa £75.00 70cl

Beach Bonfires - a 14 Year Old from Laphroaig Distillery

Our final dram of the evening was a second expression from the latest Single Cask release, this one being from Islay's Laphroiag Distillery. Distilled in 1998, matured in an ex-Bourbon hogshead yielding 357 bottles at 46% when bottled earlier this year.

Official Tasting Notes

Colour: Chenin Blanc

Nose: A good honest, reliable instant nose of minerals and earthy smoke. Reminding us ofthe location of this distillery there are huge notes of salty coastal, wet fishing net and tarred ropes. The slat note of a newly opened bag of nuts. Sweet BBQ sauce, coal and beach bonfires.

Palate: IFull bodied. This whisky is loaded with toasted cereal and dark stout malt. The lively smoke smoulders in your face at a beach bonfire. It fells like walking in to a smokehouse, intense smoke covering your eyes.

Finish: Sweet, sweet smoke, lasting a lot longer than a finish expected of a 14 year old whisky.

So What did I think?

Thick slow legs again, and a good even coating  which eventually leaves some oily droplets around the top of the glass.

The nose on this is just as the label tells us, and after the last whisky, I was ready for it too. Beach bonfires, salty driftwood freshly washed up on the high tide line and still covered in damp seaweed, charcoal from last nights BBQ, damp tarred hemp ropes, memories of rock pooling in Cornwall with the kids when they were younger. Salty beach pebbles drying in the sun, the smell of the cinder tray when cleaning the fireplace out in the morning after a wood fire, and ah! Those Laphroaig medicinal notes....

On the palate it was peaty but sweet, malty notes of a fresh granery loaf, peppery spice and chili heat, the beach bonfire charcoal was back and finishing with salty brine, coffee grounds and gentle smoke. It's truly mouthwatering.

I was sure this was going to be my favourite of the evening. The first whisky I ever bought was Laphroaig 10 Year Old, but the previous white chocolate surprised me and just pipped this overall on the evening, but then you never forget your first love ;)

Some of my favourite tweets for Beach Bonfires:

@LRWhisky Beach Bonfires This is my whisky. Memories of the beach at Port Ellen, of sunshine on Islay and of fine beachside whisky

@champdenwhite Lovely earthy nose with big dollops of smoke. wet seaside rocks.
@dvdbloke I'm getting that bacon fat roasting on a beach thing going on! crispy
@KirstyChant Reminds me of being down at the harbour waiting for my uncles' boats to come in.
@AWReviews Lovely salty driftwood, damp pebbles and oodles of lovely cinder ash smoke with nutella spread and malt
@TIA568B Seaweed and smoke, not overly strong though, smoky baccon pringles, still quite sweet, but that iodine's creeping in.
@DramStats TCP, Sticking plasters, Very coastal and salty. Lobster traps, Crabs (the crustaceans), sweet BBQ sauce, fennel, seaweed rocks
@rickfurzer Scallop shells n seaweed - with iodine coming through like a cut mouth. Then salinity comes through and makes your mouth water
@whiskyrepublic A dram that embraces, surely a challenge to those averse to Islay's charms. Seductive, mellowing, softening, with more air,
‏@TIA568B Nutty and woody, dry, salty, burning kelp - lovely!

As per previous Tweet Tastings there was a great deal of tweeting going on and to see what happened search on the #WEMYSSTT hashtag on twitter for the full story!
Yet another great experience and another highlight of my whisky journey, registering a fabulous four new ‘discoveries’ A massive THANK YOU to Steve Rush at @TheWhiskyWire and to Karen from @WemyssMalts

This events tweet tasters were: 

@TheWhiskyWire @WemyssMalts @WhiskyRepublic @EdinburghWhisky @KirstyChant @champdenwhite @Whisky_Demon @rickfurzer @WhiskyDiscovery @LRWhisky @dvdbloke @TIA568B @DramStats @mohler @AWReviews @julie_gwc @rodbodtoo @PMaitlando @the_josephellis @galg @steveprentice

If you want to be included in the next Tweet Tasting make sure you are following @TheWhiskyWire on Twitter to find out what is happening.

For more information see: www.thewhiskywire.com and for information about Wemyss Malts see www.wemyssmalts.com