Whisky Discovery #305

Bally Delicious 23 Year Old Master of Malt (54% abv D:10/03/1989)
Speyside Single Cask Malt Whisky
£59.95 70cl (only available from Master of Malt)

A 23 Year Old, mostly from The Balvenie distillery

Bally Delicious? This is a twenty three year old single cask blended malt whisky from Master of Malt's Single Cask series. It was distilled on the 10th March 1989 and comes almost entirely from one very famous Speyside distillery, though it was "spooned" with a small portion of whisky from a nearby distillery and thus cannot be called single malt.

The Balvenie distillery is owned by William Grant & Sons Ltd and is one of the few remaining independent distilleries in Scotland today. However, William Grant & Sons also own the Glenfiddich Distillery and the lessor known Kininvie distillery, all three are neighbours and 'spooning' prevents single casks being sold as single malts for independent releases. You'll have to search very hard to find independent single cask releases from any of these distilleries

There are just 288 bottles of the stuff, drawn from refill hogshead on the 26th November 2012.

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose: Plums, drifting wood smoke and apple and pear crumble, becoming more floral with time in the glass, or with water.

Palate: A soft silky mouth-feel with notes of chocolate mousse and a development of caramelised pears.

Finish: An oaky finish with a little salt and notes of black coffee.

So What Did We Think?

The nose immediately invites you in with sweet and creamy aromas, baked apples and pears with Demerara sugar melting on the top, there's some fresh oak and spice and a light malty biscuit note. A lovely floral bouquet develops after a little time in the glass. Fabulous stuff!

The baked pears come through on the palate too, wonderfully smooth and soft mouthfeel which develops a light peppery spice which complements the pears nicely.

It finishes with some spicy wood giving a little chili pepper heat which fades quickly leaving a light salty note. This one does exactly what it says on the tin, while remaining tactful and without the use of 'common' language, it is indeed bloody delicious!

Want one? Best be quick as there was just 288 bottles filled. check out Master of Malt 23 Year Old Bally Delicious

Whisky Discovery #304

Glenmorangie Ealanta 19 Year Old (46% abv)
Highland Single Malt Whisky
circa £75.00 70cl

Glenmorangie Ealanta - exclusively matured in virgin American white oak for 19 years

On the 15th January 2013 Glenmorangie announced the introduction of Ealanta, the fourth annual and latest release from it's Private Edition Range. The Private Edition range consists of rare and interesting limited edition whiskies carefully selected from the ‘cabinet of curiosities’ of Dr Bill Lumsden, Director of Distilling and Whisky Creation at The Glenmorangie Company, comprising of the highly sought after Sonnalta PX , Finealta and Artein that are fast becoming collectors’ items. 

Ealanta meaning 'skilled and ingenious' in Scots Gaelic is a 1993 vintage, fully matured in virgin American white oak casks for 19 years

Glenmorangie’s Distilling and Whisky Creation Director, Dr. Bill Lumsden, is an acknowledged pioneer and is known for travelling the world to search out the best oak casks in which to mature his whisky.

Dr Lumsden commented:”It’s no secret in our industry that it’s the ‘wood that makes the whisky’ and for many years my team and I have been carrying out detailed research in this area. Ealanta is in fact one experiment dating way back to just before I joined the company in the early 1990s.

“Having discovered these casks and sampled them, I realised then what a jewel we had and immediately had the casks secreted in a safe place. Over the years I have kept a close eye on their progress, and although the final recipe for Glenmorangie Ealanta is from me and my team, it’s a real pleasure to see the original experiment see the light of day at last…and be still here to celebrate it!”

He continued: “The casks selected way back then from oaks of the Mark Twain National Forest were absolutely top quality and unusually had not previously held any liquor such as bourbon, so it’s the interaction of our delicate floral spirit from our very tall stills directly with this ‘virgin’ wood that makes for many intriguing flavours.

“New wood also imparts a purity of flavour that I think many Glenmorangie aficionados will find an interesting divergence from our previous Private Edition releases. Using virgin oak casks that have been heavily toasted adds huge mouth-filling, buttery, creamy, vanilla flavours – somewhat like a crème brulée topped with almond and marzipan. This makes for a lovely rounded and complex expression of Glenmorangie.

“A light-hearted conclusion to all this serious research in to wood types and Ealanta was that Mark Twain himself reputedly discovered and wrote about his liking for good Scotch whisky on his trip to London in 1873 so it’s nice to think he might even have enjoyed a dram of Glenmorangie in the luxurious surroundings of the Langham Hotel where he is known to have stayed.”

Ealanta has been bottled at 46% abv, and is non-chill filtered. It will be available globally from January 2013 and Whisky Discovery were kindly sent a sample to review.

So What Did We Think?

Reading through our notes you would ask yourself are we both tasting the same whisky? We both had different sample bottles, and tasted them separately, so there were no discussions about our thoughts, but I was surprised just how different we found them. I know that Glenmorangie hasn't always impressed Kat when we have tasted expressions at Whisky Shows, I on the other-hand have enjoyed them, though have only had the 10 Year Old on my shelf so far.

Dave's sample from PR Company

Kat: On the nose I got dark chocolate, specifically Bourneville, sweetness from a ripe fresh nectarine, a hint of the smell of the pink erasers you get at the end of pencils, and a faint hint of fudge. I found with a splash of water it brings out the caramel/toffee notes, orange blossom and damp bark. 

Initially I got zesty orange peel on the palate, then some spices like cinnamon & nutmeg, some vanilla, and caramelised cooked nectarines. With the addition of water, more cereal notes comes through – corn flakes. The sweetness transforms into something closer to clear honey, overall reminding me of a moist Mediterranean polenta cake. 

The finish was floral, orange blossom returning, spices also returning, leaving a fresh almost minty mouth feel. 

Dave: Bright golden in colour and upon pouring this into the glass there was spicy wood, green wood and a faint Bourbon like note, with pine cones and menthol too. After a little while in the glass more fragrant floral notes develop, which even my wife commented on. Creamy vanilla comes through eventually followed by a soft toffee, butterscotch and sugar coated almonds of all things?

On the palate it is sweet and creamy on entry with a spicy build up. Woody, vanilla with a citrus edge, and the sugared almonds from the nose make an appearance on the palate too.

Very spicy finish with hot chili and a drying nuttiness.

This is the first of the Private Edition range that I have come across in my Whisky Journey to date, I'm not sure of how many bottles have been released so can't tell you how long this will be available for. It seems to be reasonably priced for a 'limited edition' 19 year old, however the jury is out at Whisky Discovery, not sure either of us will be rushing out to put this on our shelf, OK I'm sure Kat won't be, but I would like to give it a second looking at one of the whisky shows coming up.

Whisky Discovery #303

SMWS 21.28 'Relaxing in a tropical garden' 1974 (47.8% abv)

Speyside Single Malt Whisky

Not currently available

I came by this sample from The SMWS following a meeting in London. The meeting was not too far away from the Greville Street lounge and I decided it would be good to head over and have my lunch their and catch up with Joe McGirr.

This was one of the four samples I was given, and as far as I can tell, this has not been released, but I'm sure it won't be too long before it will be available.

I've not tried anything from the Glenglassaugh Distillery before and knew nothing about it apart from that it had recently been re-launched. This cask sample would have been distilled by the previous owners and was laid down for around 38 years when this cask sample was drawn. I have no cask data available apart from a cask number, 5374, and this particular sample was drawn on 8th October 2012

A Short History Lesson

The Glenglassaugh Distillery is just outside the Speyside region, close to the small town of Portsoy, Banffshire. The Distillery was established in 1875 by a local entrepreneur James Moir and his two nephews. The site was chosen due to its proximity to the clean and pure water of the Glassaugh Springs, as well as easy access to the nearby barley fields. It was also known locally to have been the site of one of the many illicit distilleries that had operated in the area and which had produced excellent whisky.

In 1892 the company was sold to Highland Distillers and had a chequered history going through a number of closures and re-openings but had been owned by them right up until 2008, despite being mothballed since 1986 until the current owners took over in 2008 and re-established production.

Whisky from Glenglassaugh had traditionally been used in the production of renowned blended whiskies such as Cutty Sark, Laing's, and The Famous Grouse.

So what did I think?

Well I certainly felt very privileged to be tasting this 'liquid history'. This spirit was distilled in 1974, when I was just a lad, and this distillery could quite easily have slipped into oblivion being mothballed just 12 years after this was laid down to mature.

The colour of golden bronze it has a very light and fragrant nose of tropical fruit, sweet, soft papaya, mango and lychee too. There is some honey sweetness, and after some time in the glass more malty notes of granary bread develop. The sweetness evolves and reminded me of the old Fruit Salad chews, four for a penny (an old penny pre-decimalisation!) I also detected something like a light linseed oil note, similar to the smell of artists oil pastels.

It's so smooth and light on the palate with a lemony lime flavour, not a sharp citrus taste, but much more gentle and flavoursome. There's a light watercress spiciness and then the fruit builds, at first crisp apple and pear and then sweetens with a mango and lychee like flavours.

The mango and lychee stays to the very end with a little linseed oil, but leaves a light metallic taste in the mouth, which whilst not totally unpleasant, it was unexpected. I'll be interested to see when this is released by the SMWS to find out cask details and what their tasting panel make of this 1974 vintage.

Mackmyra Tweet Tasting

Kat: I jumped at the chance at representing the UK in a synchronised worldwide Mackmyra tweet tasting on the 23rd of January. For this tasting there were 5 mystery drams which arrived at my desk at work in December. The only information that was offered was that each sample was labelled 1 – 5, that there was 50 ml of each sample and there was a range in colour of each whisky. To keep it a completely mystery I didn't even take a sneaky peak. 

When I opened the package I had to do a double take (quizzically staring at the samples with my head cocked to one side really hoping these were whisky samples and not medical samples that had lost their way to a lab, with some poor sick eagerly soul waiting on the results of what is causing their illness) while my workmates giggled like little kids teasing me that its pee. 

Joking aside, this was only the second time I had sampled Swedish whisky. The first was at the Whisky Exchange Show in October last year. 

Dave: I on the other hand accidentally gatecrashed the #Mackmyra2013 Tweet Tasting a couple of weeks back. A number of participants around the world were invited to take part in this event which was first scheduled for sometime in December, but was rescheduled for January 23rd. 

I came home from work one evening to find Kat (she moved out a while back) and ten Glencairns laid out with five different blind expressions from Mackmyra to taste. When I arrived the event had already started so quickly had to catch up, using dram number one as a palate cleanser after a quick nose (sorry!)

The drams were being tasted blind, so we had no idea what expressions we were tasting, and were not told until the following day. I had already been sent some Mackmyra samples to taste, however was told not to release any notes until after the Tweet Tasting. I had put the samples away safely to avoid temptation and only lined them up while watching the opening games of the Six Nations Rugby on Saturday. All four of the samples I had been sent featured on the tweet tasting, and so had the luxury to really get to know three of the whiskies in my own time.

The order of the Tweet Tasting ran as below and I've added some of the highlight tweets from the participants as well as my own thoughts on each. We were told that the last sample we would be tasting was not a whisky, but a liqueur. In all three were totally new 'Whisky Discoveries' and are registered as such on the 'Liquid Log', however we had both come across the Special 09 at The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show in October were we spent some time with the lovely Angela D'Orazio and tasted both the Special 05 and 09 in the whisky and food pairing section of the show. 

The tweet tasting was hosted by Colin Campbell @TheScotsdreamer and Angela D'Orazio @AngelasShare Mackmyra's very own Master Blender

I thought it would be interesting to hide my original tweets and other notes and re-taste the samples, writing new notes during and have included both sets where applicable.

Whisky Discovery #204

Mackmyra Special 09 Vildhallon NAS (46.1% abv)

Swedish Single Malt

Not found for sale in UK yet

The Special 09 is Swedish malt whisky with intense berry and fruity notes, being finished in casks that have previously stored wine made from wild raspberries. The base spirit was laid down to mature in casks between 2003 and 2006 and stored deep down in the Bodås mine. 

Official Tasting Notes:

The nose is berry and spicy with a complex palette of fruity citrus aromas, prominent sweet raspberry, ripe pears as well as spicy cask notes such as sandalwood, cedar wood, vanilla and toast. The palate is fruity, berry and spicy with raspberry, citrus, pear and roasted oak. The texture is slightly oily and medium rich. The aftertaste is long and berry with prominent spice.

Angela told us that the cask make up of this release contains a lot of Swedish fruit wine casks, some first-fill ex-sherry, some ex-bourbon and Swedish oak, plus some new American Oak.

I came into the tweet tasting halfway through this dram so didn't manage to get hold of all of the initial tweets regarding this expression, however these are the favourites I picked:

@sjoerd972: Palate: pretty hot, less woody than the nose at first. slightly tangy with vanilla and caramel Bourbon sweetness. Good stuff

@PresleyKa: I'm getting marzipan and a hint of talc or baby powder. And getting strong green oak smells now.

@Whiskylassie: The wood influence seems to be well balanced, not overwhelming. Again very clean, crisp!

@angels_share: Palate Nutty/almond, bitter and dry. Oily

@galg: Palate: starting peppery and spicy then moving to sweet cloying apples, some dried papaya. grapefruit too. candy too

@sjoerd972 There's a lot going on, right? no wonder with so many different casks involved!

@Whiskylassie: Interesting polar opposite from nose to palate for me. Buttery sweetness gone, more flat and minty...
@TheScotsdreamer: Impression: Fantastic and complex nose, fruity yet green and woody, with a banana, almond and peppery taste, dry finish

So what did We think?

Kat: The nose was very light, delicate with a wonderful floral bouquet that is not over powering like spring blossoms. There’s a touch of honey, marzipan, hint of talc, dry straw, and green oak.

I wasn't disappointed in the taste. The honey notes came through with a lovely fruitiness of soft berries which is so different from any other whiskies that I have tried so far. It’s got a mix berry jam quality but not sickly sweet as the bitter medicinal herb quality balances out the sweetness. There’s also a pinch of warming spices but this is only there for a brief moment leaving behind a short dry fruity finish. 

Dave: Like I said earlier, I quickly nosed and quaffed this on the Tweet Tasting so was pleased to find that I have been sent a sample of this, so while I have no tweets of this dram, I did have plenty of time to enjoy and saviour this malt on a leisurely Saturday afternoon.

The nose opened up with some sweet honey, but with very little time to air starts giving and much more spicy oak aroma. If you don't get you nose over this the instant you pour you'll miss it! The sweetness returns with some spicy white pepper, with the sweetness developing into berry fruits. There is also a hint of vanilla lurking in the background. Returning to this dram after giving it plenty of time to air the nose is really quite perfumed.

On the palate it is quite sweet on entry, with a sweet and creamy mouth feel, before the gentle spicy build up make the taste a little sharper. Vanilla is more pronounced on the palate that the nose. There's hardwood sawdust notes and a gooseberry tartness. Again returning to this after some time to air there was a lovely spicy aniseed taste to this.

The finish is a combination of many of the above notes before fading to leaving a very dry finish.

Whisky Discovery #300

Mackmyra Moment 'Källa' NAS (53.4% abv)

Swedish Single Malt

Not found for sale in UK yet

The Mackmyra Moment series comes from their most exclusive casks, hand-picked by Master Blender Angela D'Orazio 

Since the number of casks per bottling are so few, the editions in the Moment series are very limited. 

The first editions released were Moment 'Medvind' and Moment 'Urberg' that where launched on 15 December 2010

Källa meaning 'Source' in English is the tenth release in the Moment Series and contains some of the first casks that were filled in the Bruk distillery.

Official Tasting Notes:
The nose is berry and spicy with peppery cask notes

The palate is fruity, berry and spicy with prominent butterscotch and a soft spicy oakiness

The after-taste is long, herbal and spicy.

Some of my favourite tweets for Källa:
@TheScotsdreamer: Nose: definitely Floral, slightly salty and hints of green fruits, little hint of the alcohol at the back
@ulvmane: Chocolate and toffee for me. A mature nose.With the pear and bananas far away in the back. a little woody
@angels_share: Nose: again forest fresh notes, wood, some red fruits, wash, polish, butter
@PresleyKa: Getting damp woodland floor/hot compose heap (sweet musky woody notes) and rich dried fruits
@sjoerd972: Has acetone on the nose for sure! more spirity, musky notes indeed, wet leaves, hay
@Whiskylassie: Calming down now, dried red fruit, like cherries or blueberries maybe. Wood is coming through a bit more then #1
@angels_share: Nose: bit winy and pungent/acetic
@tevenLin1969: High strength, white cocoa,vanilla and butter sweet, kinda smoky bitter.. Like flaming passion
@sjoerd972: It has a pinkish hue, which would make me guess a wine cask of some sort. The nose supports that guess. Red fruits, charcoal
@galg: Nose. Spice and fruit. some marmalade. thick stuff. Guess it's a wine cask.
@angels_share: Palate: sweet, red fruit, sultana, walnuts. Oily, creamy woody with a final freshness. Strength around 55 I guess

So what did We think?

Kat: Initially I got moth balls and over ripe bananas, quite fruity - cook darker berries and plums, sherry notes, dry oak, crème caramel, hints spices (mace & nutmeg), floral bouquet, coriander seeds and there’s some nutty/oil notes like toasted walnuts. 

Similar to the first whisky this is lovely fruity whisky, this one to me is more like mulled wine as its also got some cinnamon coming through. This has got a more syrupy consistency than the previous. The finish is of the mull wine characters. 

Dave: This was another of the samples received, so spent some quality time with this after the tweet tasting  It's golden in colour and a little darker than the Special 09. Checking back through my tweets for this expression when tasting it blind for the first time:

Nose: spicy, peppery, some sweet vanilla under the high octane alcohol content. Getting some fresh hardwood notes too. Sweet butterscotch notes, not as spicy as the first dram, with some water has become more floral on the nose too

Palate: With water a little peppery spice, sweet butterscotch notes and some green hardwood. Spicier on the finish with herbal notes

Finish: Very nutty dryness now, walnuts I think I heard some say (well read your tweets)

So now the leisurely Saturday afternoon notes, and on the nose it's peppery and spicy with toffee notes and some pineapple, not fresh pineapple, but pineapple as it is starting to ferment itself (I like it!) It's woody, oaky and again there is some sweet vanilla hiding in the background along with some nutmeg, the toffee notes evolved to more Butterkist popcorn. Returning to this after giving it time to air more sweet candy notes had developed.

The palate was sweet on entry with a spicy, oaky build-up with more toffee notes. The palate however is not as sweet as the nose and after time in the glass a more lemony flavour lying under the spice giving a spicy sweet tang

Again this whisky has quite a dry nutty finish to it's gentle sweetness and spicy pepper.

Whisky Discovery #301

Mackmyra Moment Glöd, NAS (51,2% abv)

Swedish Single Malt

Not found for sale in UK yet

Glöd meaning Glow is the eleventh release from the Moment series and is defined as a spicy and smoky whisky and finished in Gluhwein (Swedish Mold Wine) casks

Official Tasting Notes:
The nose is fruity and spicy with elements from the spices of Christmas, butterscotch, toast, almonds, raisins, pears, citrus and oak. The smokiness is well integrated with juniper and Swedish peat.

The palate is fruity, smoky, and spicy with dried fruits, butterscotch, citrus, liquorice and vanilla

The after-taste is long and fruity with a soft oakiness

Some of my favourite tweets for Glöd:
@TheScotsdreamer: Nose: herb garden and a bag of bon-bons, honey, banana again and a tiny bit of metal.
@angels_share: Nose: again this "Swedish forest" character with fresh hints. Nutmeg. Dried apricot. Amaretto.
@ulvmane: Cypress, warm garden nursery, fruits and herbs
@galg: We're not in Kansas anymore! are we? this one is very very different
@galg: Am i the only one getting some smoke here?
@Whiskylassie: You have to rub some on your hands! Huge discovery!!!
@sjoerd972: Corsican myrthe, licorice, some wood smoke (not peat), fried bananas (the Indonesian stuff). Very, very different!
@TheScotsdreamer: WOW the palate on this is fantastic, again slightly different to the nose but phenomenal!
@Whiskylassie: You may think I'm nuts but I get grease and smoke, like burgers dripping fat on your BBQ!
@sjoerd972: Sweet pastry, fried bananas, BBQ pork, kind of greasy with a heap of alcohol. lots of spices, marinade, myrtle, WOW!
@galg: Palate is very nice: all those smoked bananas, meat, leather, sausage   and a sherry sort of sweet marinate.
@TheScotsdreamer: Impression: herby and sweet on the nose, bananas and wood. Complex in the mouth, herbs, smoke slightly oily and fruity
@StevenLin1969: A lot of spicy flavour, pepper, cinnamon with sweet, beautiful balance. Powerful strength, can burn the throat

So what did We think?

Kat: The nose of this whisky is definitely more robust of sweet cigars/pipe tobacco, the fruity berry characters is the same this time I make it as blackberries that’s still got some sour acidity to it and pears. With some water it brings out bitter roasted coffee bean aromas.

For the taste, a very interesting one this one, firstly there’s a bitter note similar to pine needles, fruity sweetness which reminded me of a Black Forest Gateau minus the cream. Then you get the peat smoke which changes the character to a BBQ and vinegar flavour for me. These flavours to my surprise created a balance. It’s very spicy at 51.2% so I had to add some water with this one but the finish was still spicy and fruity. 

Dave: My descriptive tweets read as below, but there were a few more agreeing with the other participants notes and well as tweeting how this one had become my favourite of the evening so far, and remained my favourite at the end of the event.

Nose: Definite smoky note underlying on the nose, also getting some kelp, sweet candy, spicy wood. Nice!

Great spicy finish to this one too. I'm not getting the coffee bean note, but a liquorice like note. I also returned to nose this one while nosing the fourth dram and tweeted: go back and nose #3 now, smoky heather and lavender notes now

From my Saturday afternoon notes Glöd is the colour of dark straw. It's  sweet and smoky on the nose, big, rich, meaty and spicy. the initial smoky note evolves to a thick sweet sherry like note, there is lots of fruit including some slightly under-ripe strawberries, mmm delicious!

The strawberry returned on the thick sweet, smoky, peaty palate for me. There's a fair amount of peppery spice and some earthy notes.

Whisky Discovery #302

Mackmyra Moment Skog NAS (52,4%abv) 

Swedish Single Malt

Not found for sale in UK yet

Skog was the seventh release in the Moment series and has an intense, fruity cask notes and character from Mackmyra whisky matured in casks saturated with Swedish berry wine, made from lingonberry and blueberry. 

The flavours of the forest flourish through this whisky, with a rich foliage of fruity notes from the lingonberry and blueberry, gently wrapped in a light veil of smoke. The nose is a complex palette of berries and spicy cask notes.

Official Tasting Notes:
Color: darker golden amber.

Aroma: Lots of forest aromas with tannins, earth, juniper, light peat smoke and spice.
Mouth: Fruity, berry, winy, smoky and spicy with dark cherries, pear and roasted oak. Dry fruit, nutty with well integrated spice and herbs. Medium to thick texture.
Aftertaste: oak, some juniper and peat smoke, fruit and spice. A quite long aftertaste.

Some of my favourite tweets for Skog:
@StevenLin1969: A lot of spicy flavour, pepper, cinnamon with sweet, beautiful balance. Powerful strength, can burn the throat, but we can't forget the most beautiful thing is always born from the fire

@angels_share: Nose: vanilla, yellow fruit/mango?, some winy/muscat notes, corn/malt, burned sugar 

@TheScotsdreamer: Nose: Peaches and Clemantines, lady finger bananas (again) and candyfloss and a bit grassy

@ulvmane: Vanilla as in marshmallows . Sweets. Fruity. A "creamy feel in the nose"

@sjoerd972: Smells a bit more mature. A lot of wood but in a gentle way. Barley, fairly straight forward. slightly spicy, slightly sweet

@Whiskylassie: Back to clean, crisp and traditional Mackmyra.

@galg: Quite woody too on the palate, sweet and perfumed wood that is. goes well with that vanilla ice cream

@angels_share: Palate sweet, malty. Alcohol is strong, will benefit of some drops of water. Became immediately oily, long finish, spices.

@Whiskylassie: Nose about 1 inch from glass: bourbon soaked golden sultanas!

@ulvmane: I find the arrak in here a hint of rum sweetness.The candy floss has turned to burnt sugar.And spices. tannins? Woody vanilla?

@angels_share: Palate woody, peach nut, vanilla. bitter cherries. Dry and long finish inviting for next sip

@sjoerd972: Getting more vanilla as some alcohol evaporates. But mostly barley, burnt sugar, quite some ethanol on the nose.

@Whiskylassie: Again may sound like a strange descriptor, A walk in the woods after a rain storm. Fresh, earthy, clean...

@sjoerd972: Palate: sharpish, slightly bitter like peach stones, barley, bread crust, wood. and then vanilla. and more vanilla.

@TheScotsdreamer: Impression: Peaches, Banana, Candyfloss, a French Patisserie in the morning on the nose, leading to a woody spicy mouth

So what did We think?

Kat: I got on the nose vanilla, toasted granary bread, green mangos or dried mangos with a slight oil quality, and some spices but couldn’t put my finger on exactly which spices. 

The green herb notes came through strongly initially then mellows out to the background. Soft berry notes are also present but I found it hard to make out exactly what they are as this is quickly followed by toast flavour. The toast is more like table water crackers and same as eating to many crackers, it leaves a dry mouth feel. 

Dave: With no sample of this to return to, I only have my tweet tasting notes to go by: 

Another spicy peppery dram on the nose, no smoke to this one though, clean and fresh, some sweet toffee, peach stones, and lots of vanilla. After some time in the glass it became much sweeter with some honey notes. I found that this whisky had the closest profile to a Speyside Scotch

Dram Number 5

Mackmyra Bee Honey Whisky Liqueur (22% abv)
Whisky Liqueur
Not found for sale in UK yet

Bee is a Swedish liqueur with whisky and honey, made from Swedish whisky, malt vodka and organic honey. The honey is produced in the surroundings of Gävle and Valbo, and consists mainly of dandelion, linden and forest honey with hints of raspberry flowers.

The colour is an amber yellow and the nose is fruity, berry and complex with notes of honey, cask wood, vanilla and coffee. The palate is delicious and honey sweet with aromas of demerara sugar, vanilla and butterscotch with light cask notes in the background. The aftertaste is slightly honey sweet with notes of almond, coffee and citrus.Contains local forest honey, dandelion & lime-tree honey from Gästrikland


Official Tasting Notes:
Color: Dark Amber 
Aroma: Honey, demerara sugars, oak, vanilla, butterscotch, citrus, orange, red berries, ginger cookies and bakery spices, almonds, ice tea and coffee. 
Mouth: Honey, vanilla, lightly roasted oak, coffee, oranges and citrus. A buttery and light texture. 
Aftertaste: Butterscotch, vanilla, honey, citrus and bakery spice.

Some of my favourite tweets for Bee Liqueur:

@ulvmane: Brings a scent of tea, lemon ice tea, With honey and ginger, Oh now I know ;) Its ... Horrible ;) Reminds me of Red Stag....
@sjoerd972: Has a lot of sugary, syrupy sweetness on the palate. fruity, berries, the sweetness of wood, but not the woodiness. weird.
@sjoerd972: Thanks for the ice tea note. You're spot on with that. Lots of honey too.
@angels_share: (not whisky!) Nose: jenevrier genepi fresh. Sugar. Maple syrup
@WhiskyBrother: What a nose! Such a sweet spiciness. Reminds me of a sweet and sour Asian dish. Hickory? Slight medicinal note too
@TheScotsdreamer: Nose: Thick and sweet, lots of honeys (Pine Honey, Heather Honey) slightly spicy almost breathable.

So what did We think?
Kat: The nose unsurprisingly is strongly of honey, for me heather honey. There is a medicinal herb quality to it; all I can make out was aniseed and fennel. 

Also unsurprisingly the taste is of honey, the liquid is like very runny honey which coats the tongue with silken dark caramel notes, again like crème caramel with a hint of bitterness towards the end. It also reminds me of my Grandad’s brown sugar Seville orange marmalade as it does leave the same bitter sweet aftertaste. There is a smidgen of allspice berries that peeps through the sweetness every now and then but is hard to make out.

Dave: I never managed to keep my original sample of this one during the tweet tasting  I was fairly certain my wife would enjoy this one and took it to her to try it, she loved it and commandeered my glass.

I'm not normally one for sweet liqueurs but I was pretty impressed with this one, the wild honey notes are fabulous, and there is a light citrus note to it that reminded me of the honey and lemon 'Lockets', although on reflection think that that was a bit of a wild descriptor as it is so much more enjoyable than that. 

The evenings tweet tasters came from all across the globe and were: @Whiskylassie from Canada @angels_share  from Italy @PresleyKa from the UK @StevenLin1969 from Taiwan @galg from Israel @sjoerd972  from The Nederlands and @ulvmane from Sweden. I think there were a couple of others who couldn't make this re-arranged date too.

Many thanks to Colin Campbell @TheScotsdreamer Angela D'Orazio @AngelasShare for hosting this event and for Mackmyra for the samples.

For more information check out the Mackmyra website.

Whisky Discovery #299

Braes O’ Glenlivet 21 Year Old Master of Malt (47.4% abv D:23/08/1991)
Speyside Single Cask Single Malt Whisky
£64.95 70cl (only available from Master of Malt)

Yes I know the photos are getting very repetitive, what do you want me to do?

Braes of Glenlivet is another 'new' distillery for me and I needed to visit my copy of Malt Whisky Yearbook to find out more. It's now known as the Braeval distillery to avoid confusion with the nearby Glenlivet Distillery.

Another very young distillery which was founded in 1973 by the Chivas and Glenlivet Group. Lying in the prime pastures of the Livet Glen, at the heart of Speyside It changed it's name to Braeval in 1994

Braeval is also Scotland's highest distillery sitting at an altitude of 1665ft (and around a 100ft higher than Dalwhinnie), built on a mountain ridge, and shares its water source, the Pitilie Burn, with the highland based Aberfeldy. The distillery was mothballed in 2002 but started producing again in 2008.

No official bottlings have ever been released, with the whole of it's production going to blended Scotch whisky abut there have been two independent bottlings from Aberko Ltd, in their Deerstalker range releasing a 10 and 15 year old single malt.

This 21 Year Old from Master of Malts new single cask range was distilled on the 23rd August 1991 and matured for twenty one years in a single ex-Bourbon cask. It was bottled on 28th November 2012 yielding just 251 bottles at 47.4% abv.

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose: Butter cream, fresh kiwi fruits and clover honey form a sweet and enticing aroma that draws you in.

Palate: The palate is reminiscent of cinnamon infused honey with the faint floral flavour of violets. Beyond this there are notes of lemon meringue pie and vanilla pods.

Finish: Insanely long and buttery with some clove and white pepper for spice.

Overall: This Braeval is incredibly creamy and honeyed. However, within this sweet flavour profile are subtle floral and spice notes which create a complex and intriguing dram. Lovely.

So What Did We Think?

This light and delicate Speysider was the final dram of a Sunday afternoons dramming entertainment, and perhaps in hindsight should have started my session. The nose is everything those chaps and Master of Malt state, and even my wife, who rarely drinks anything vaguely alcoholic appreciated the light floral nose on this one. The clover honey and kiwi fruits are at the forefront but wait and let the whisky breathe for a while and you'll be rewarded with a sweet fragrant summer meadow of flowers, there's also some tropical fruit with pineapple and passion fruit.

It's wonderfully creamy and floral on the palate too, bags of honey and butter cream and a light peppery spice which lasts long into the finish. There's a light lemon cream note too, lovely! The finish is long and sweet with more vanilla butter cream and the light peppery spice.

Want one? Best be quick as there was just 251 bottles filled. check out Master of Malt 21 Year Old Braeval

A Tale of Two Springbanks

I started off writing two single blog posts, one for each of these two 19 Year Old Single Cask whiskies from Master of Malt as I normally would. Then while gathering my thoughts decided that these needed to be brought together as one, as they were both distilled in 1993 and were both matured for 19 years both in hogsheads, yet there was a noticeable difference between the two.

Fortunately I also decided to taste these alongside each other too, however, not only did I line the received samples up in age order, but samples of the same age were lined up in alphabetical order (hence the Deanston being the first nineteen year old to be tasted) and I even established that Cask 129 should come before Cask 410. Now I distinctly remember sorting these out in age order, but was it just lucky that they then followed alphabetically then numerically or does my OCD work on a sub-concious level too?

Whisky Discovery #197

Springbank 19 Year Old Cask 129 Master of Malt (57.8% abv D: 07/05/1993)

Campbeltown Single Malt Whisky

£72.95 70cl (only available from Master of Malt)

Cask #129

This is a lovely Springbank with a beautiful hue, bottled for the Single Cask series. 

Distilled on 7th May 1993 before a 19 year maturation in cask #129, a hogshead. 

It was bottled on the 27th November 2012 and just 221 bottles were filled at 57.8% abv

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose: Toffee brittle, kelp and hints of linseed oil. Coals on a fire, a little camphor.

Palate: Manuka honey and edamame beans. Rhubarb crumble, allspice, sea spray. Cool smoke.

Finish: Muscovado sugar, a little vanilla. Still very smoky with just a hint of something medicinal.

Whisky Discovery #198

Springbank 19 Year Old Cask 482 Master of Malt (55.2% abv D: 26/11/1993)

Campbeltown Single Malt Whisky

£72.95 70cl (only available from Master of Malt)

Cask #482

This is a robust, full-bodied single cask whisky from the Springbank distillery, distilled on 26th November 1993 and aged for 19 years in cask #482, a hogshead.

Bottled exactly 19 years later of 27th November 2012 and 250 bottles were filled at 55.2% abv. 

Expect lots of coastal, smoky flavour...

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose: An oily, coastal nose with hints of heather honey and charred oak. Smouldering.

Palate: Big oak notes to the fore with brackish and crème caramel. Very coastal, just like the nose, this offers a hint of honey, alongside peat smoke and cooked fruit.

Finish: Long, peaty finish. Dark brown sugar and spice.

So What Did We Think?

Unfortunately Kat didn't get to taste these two nineteen year old whiskies either as although on my first tasting of this pair of Springbanks, cask #482 was my personal favourite, I needed to revisit them again the following evening just to make sure (so sorry once again Kat!) 

Just read the two tasting notes from Master of Malt you can quickly see how different these two are. The nose of each offering great flavours. Cask #129 was malty, with vanilla and spice but after a little while in the glass yielded a delicious nose of buttered toast on my second visit, toasted granary bread dripping with butter. When I experienced this I was about to change my mind on these two single cask bottlings until I revisited Cask #429 which is rich and meaty with Balsamic vinegar, dark soy sauce and some honey sweetness, then there is the coastal notes with damp charred wood and hemp rope.

On the palate there are differences too; Cask #129 comes across as slightly tart at first, there's vanilla and oak and a gentle build up of spicy pepper, which settles back to a light honey sweetness and some gentle wood smoke. Cask #429 is the fruitier of the two, with some red berryies, but the spicy pepper comes in waves building up then falling away to sweetness  before building up again and a definite peaty smoke.

What was brought home by nosing and tasting these two Springbank single casks was the skill required by the master distiller blender to bring different casks together to create the 'house' taste of single malt whiskies, ensuring each batch married casks tastes close enough to the previous batch to maintain the brand style.

I wouldn't be disappointed with either of these on my whisky shelf as I really enjoyed both of them. My favourite of the two was cask #429 due to it's rich and meaty notes, but the buttered toast nose of cask #129 almost swayed me for a minute.

Both of these samples came from the new Single Cask Series from Master of Malt.

Want one? Well you have better be quick to get your mitts on one of these two beauties: If it's cask #129 that is calling you click  Cask #129 and if it's my favourite of these two click Cask #482.

Whisky Discovery #296

Deanston 19 Year Old Single Cask Master of Malt (53.4% abv D:16/12/1992)

Highland Single Cask Single Malt Whisky

£59.95 70cl (only available from Master of Malt)

So next up in the selection from Master of Malts Single Cask range is this Deanston 19 Year Old. Now I know very little about Deanston, it's certainly not one you ordinarily come across in the supermarkets and I certainly haven't seen it at any of the whisky shows we went to last year. I remember seeing a Deanston 12 Year Old in Marks and Spencer once and initially thought it was one of their own brands, so had to delve into my latest copy of Malt Whisky Yearbook to find out a little more while tasting this.

Deanston is located eight miles from Stirling near Doune and just forty-five minutes from Edinburgh and Glasgow, and the distillery sits by the River Teith at the entrance to the dramatic Loch Lomond and Trossachs National Park. Having been a cotton mill for 180 years, Deanston was transformed into a distillery in 1965 and has been distilling whisky using traditional methods ever since.

In terms of capacity it is a little larger than Talisker, a distillery that most whisky lovers will have come across on their travels so I was a little surprised not have heard that much about it. I remember reading that a visitor centre was opened last year, but apart from that very little.

The distillery, being once a mill, was located next to a river to make use of the water to power all ofthe weaving equipment. The wheels have since been replaced with turbines and Deanston is the only distillery that is self-sufficient for it's electrical requirements, generating all it's own power requirements

This 19 year old was distilled on 16th December 1992 and was bottled almost 20 years later on 20th November 2012. Just 260 bottles were filled at 53.4% abv and just for the record is naturally coloured and non-chill filtered

Tasting Note by The Chaps at Master of Malt

Nose: Peppermint cream chocolate followed by spearmint with a little fresh-ground coffee and cocoa powder for richness on the nose.

Palate: Peppermint on the first sip, but oaky vanilla and firm malt are the main characters which play off one another with exceptional balance. Beyond this there are elegant notes of exotic spice, kiwi fruit and double cream.

Finish: The finish is incredibly long with notes of Bourbon cask spice, rich toffee and rhubarb crumble in equal quantities.

Overall: This Deanston is a minty dram with a chocolatey richness and subtle notes of juicy fruits beneath this. A grand showing from this Highland single malt.

So What Did We Think?

I had a definite chocolatey note on the nose of this one but wasn't able to find a definitive minty note - I had to go back to this after reading Master of Malts notes and hence drank the 'share' I was saving fro Kat (sorry Kat) Perhaps I'm still struggling with the after effects of New Year manflu and my senses have been dulled? It does come across as gloriously malty and after a while some rich dark fruits come forth, dark plums and black cherry, and was starting to become a Black Forest Gateaux with the chocolate and cherry.

It had a rich and creamy mouth feel, again very malty with building spice. There are some old wood furniture notes with polish too. Overall very enjoyable for my first taste from the Deanston Distillery

Want one? You'd better be quick as there were only 260 bottles of this. For more information and to buy see Master of Malt 19 Year Old Deanston