The Cadenhead Warehouse Tasting

A man awaiting his drink.

My past four international trips have all concluded with a magnificent final act.  In 2010, our Italian honeymoon finished with a dazzling three days in Positano.  Our 2011 Ireland trip wrapped up with a real Irish wedding.  I walked into the bar of my dreams on the ultimate night of my Kyoto voyage last year.  And on our final full day in Scotland, Kristen and I went to Campbeltown.  We toured the Springbank and Glengyle distilleries, did a tasting in one of Cadenhead's warehouses, knocked over Cadenhead Whisky Shop, then walked to the Ardshiel Hotel bar to relieve them of their best Springbank-related single casks.

I didn't travel to Scotland to buy whisky bottles.  But because the whisky selection in that small nation embarrasses that of this large nation, and the Pound was its weakest since the early reign of The Baroness Thatcher, I was going to buy a lot of whisky.  My restraint was admirable -- I declare -- at the beginning of the trip as I departed shop after shop after shop empty handed.  I knew Cadenhead was coming.

Some of you seasoned whisky vets can tut-tut, but I actually didn't know that the whole purpose of the warehouse tasting was to buy bottles.  I just wanted to try casks alongside my beautiful wife.  I thought the whole point of this whisky thing was to appreciate the experience, rather than possessing glass bottles.  But just before I left for my trip I started hearing stories of people walking out of the warehouse with a case or more of single cask bottlings under their arms.  These claims may have just been masculine bluster, which seems to be in generous supply these days, but having seen the whisky buying addiction consume many intelligent healthy individuals firsthand, I knew there was some truth behind the tales.  I don't have that desire to own every last thing.  In the Cadenhead casino, I am not the whale.  I'm a hedonist guppy.

Our warehouse chaperon was Ronan, Mr. Business, rocking the suit.

A sterling guide, Ronan was relatively new to Cadenhead at the time, doing a lot of work as a sales rep to Western Europe.  And though Scotland is his home, he spent a few years in Georgia (USA), not too long ago, playing footie for a local university (Emory, I think?).  Here are the casks we generously tapped:

1.  Glenlivet (bottled at Glendronach!) 19 year old 1996, ex-bourbon cask, 51%abv
A super duper fruity summer malt with a serious bubblegum note. Perfectly drinkable at this strength, no water needed.

2.  Arran 19 year old 1996, ex-bourbon cask, 44.7%abv

Light as a feather (note the ABV), this could be consumed very quickly.  Fresh pears, vanilla, and cherries.  Kristen liked this one.

3.  Caperdonich 20 year old 1996, 17 years in ex-bourbon + 3 years in ex-sherry hogshead, 48.9%abv
Excellent.  My second favorite of the bunch.  Loaded with rich malt, with the sherry cask perfectly integrated, it felt as if it spent its whole life in a 2nd-fill sherry cask.

4.  Auchentoshan 17 year old 1999, 10 years in ex-bourbon + 7 years in ex-Chateau Lafite cask, 53.8%abv
Long time readers know I have issues with this sort of wine cask.  Yet I wanted to give it a go since, perhaps, my palate had changed.  But, nope nope nope.  Kristen liked it even less than I.  It's not the worst use of a Lafite cask (thanks Murray McDavid!), but due to the length of the secondary maturation the wine was very aggressive, stomping down the light spirit.

5.  Springbank 19 year old 1996, ex-sherry cask, 59%abv
WINNER!  Full power Springbank spirit meets full power sherry cask, it rips through senses and nerve endings.  Everyone wins.  Probably the best whisky I had during the entire trip.  Kristen liked it too.  I bought a bottle.  There's a video of me filling the bottle by hand, but I decided not to include it here since it's mostly two minutes of my rear end.  Also, the dunnage is too shadowy to get a real good look.  At the whisky, you dog you.

6.  Bowmore 15 year old 2000, ex-bourbon, 60%abv
Herbal, mineral, and with a lighter peat than most indie Bowmores, it couldn't compete for my attention after that Springbank.

7.  Guatemalan Rum 8 year old, 60+%abv
Salted caramel ice cream and a cigar.  Impressive and not grossly sweet.  But, again, Springbank.

8.  Mark Watt's secret aged gin in a kilderkin, approx. 80%abv
Gorgeous.  Maybe the most aromatic booze I've ever experienced.  Sadly not for sale.

So, yes, I bought a bottle of the Springbank for less than half the US price of the current 19 year old cask strength sherried OB Springbank releases, maybe even 1/3 the price if I get my full VAT refund back.  I do slightly regret not buying one of the Caperdonich, but I regret more the fact that I didn't buy 74 more bottles of the Springbank.  The Glenlivet and Arran are very nice too, though because they're only available through this warehouse tasting it's kind of silly for me to recommend them.  If they're still there when (not if) you go then you'll get the opportunity to judge them as per your own palate.

After the tasting we did indeed go to Cadenhead Whisky Shop where I bought a number of other bottles.  It's impossible to be fiscally responsible after consuming eight cask strength spirits, but don't worry, I left a few bottles on the shelves.

If you make it to Campbeltown, try to give yourself one full whisky day with no driving on either end.  Schedule the Springbank/Glengyle/Cadenhead tour combo a few months in advance.  Hydrate well on the day of, eat a full Scottish breakfast beforehand, and hide your good credit card.  You will have a quality experience.

The Glengyle Distillery Tour

Having read a number of descriptions of the recent state of Campbeltown, I was expecting to see upon our arrival a rundown beaten up gray fishing village.  But we instead found a thriving town with a bustling Main Street.  Though there were a few dinged up empty storefronts on the main row, almost all of the shops were bright, clean, and busy, owned by local folks.  But it was block after block of beautiful pristine old buildings, tall beacons of the prosperity the town had enjoyed more than a century ago, that impressed Kristen and I the most.  Between the local stores, good customer service, and dramatic architecture Campbeltown seemed like a place where we could buy a summer home if we had a few million quid just lying around.  But we don't.  And, despite our experience on this trip, the sun doesn't burn bright every day in Scotland, bleaching out the shadows and filling the heart with the possibility that every day is Spring(bank).

Immediately after the Springbank tour, Mitch the Guide took us on a five minute walking tour to Glengyle distillery, through a graveyard of a half dozen fallen warehouses.  We were on the grounds where at least two dozen distilleries stored spirit during a previous scotch whisky boom.  Two dozen dead distilleries.  At Campbeltown's peak, that long row (*cough*) of dunnages was among the most valuable square miles in the UK outside of London.  But stone and green overgrowth (albeit quite lovely) is all that remains.  That and Springbank.

And Glengyle.

Just after the turn of the millennium the Scotch Whisky Association announced that any whisky region with fewer than three distilleries would lose its designation.  Clearly the SWA has nothing better to do.  At the time Campbeltown had two distilleries, Springbank and Glen Scotia, so its designation was endangered.  To remedy this, Springbank's owners (J&A Mitchell) bought the defunct-since-1925 Glengyle distillery and announced they would spruce it up and start production.

Former Master Distiller Frank McHardy was tasked with Glengyle's restoration.

Beginning production in 2004, they began releasing "Work In Progress" bottlings in 2009, ultimately leading to a 12 year old this year.  The quality of the WIP single malts range anywhere from very good to fabulous.  Some of the best single malt in Scotland is being made there, but it's not sold as "Glengyle".  The rights to that name are owned by Loch Lomond DCL, as they used to produce a Glen Gyle blend.  During the tour, I was told that Mitchell & Co offered to buy the rights to the name but were quoted a laughable price.  (I'm inclined to believe that story since Loch Lomond is possibly the oddest whisky company in Scotland.)  The owners instead went with Kilkerran since it was the name of the original religious settlement in the area, the Church of Saint Kerran.

Glengyle's revival was partially successful due to luck.  The long extinct Ben Wyvis distillery's stills were available and were functional after some service.  At the same time, Craigellachie was in the process of disposing of its old small mill so Glengyle swooped in and picked it up.

As per Mitch, this mill is a newer model than the old unsinkable Porteus behemoths, and it can do a 60kg run when needed.

Unlike the spread out nature of Springbank's distillery, Glengyle's production happens all in one place.  So the mill, mash tun, washbacks, and stills are all in one relatively small room, making it feel like a little more artisan (yes, I know that word is now meaningless) than most scotch whisky factories.

Above, Mitch demonstrates a piece of somewhat computerized machinery.  Yes, this is space age stuff for the Springbank folks.  And it certainly appears Space Age, as in from the 1960s.

Unlike Springbank, Glengyle does use a closed mash tun, another somewhat modern choice.  Also unlike Springbank's mash, which takes four water runs, Glengyle uses three waters.

The distillery is in production for only six weeks a year, which has actually caused warping issues with the washbacks during the long rest periods.  There are four 30-litre washbacks in total.  While we were there, one washback was off-limits and empty because the wood needed to be replaced.  That leaves three washbacks...

Midway through our tour we were standing near the top of one of the functioning washbacks when from beneath us we heard a crack crack WHAM! SPLASH!  drip drip drip drip drip.

By the look on Mitch's face, I'm just going to guess that leaves them with two washbacks.  Sounds like the plot to a Scottish children's book, The Four Little Washbacks.

Four little washbacks were fermenting one day
Over in Kintyre, far away

Below, the reanimated Ben Wyvis stills catching some rays.

The angle of the lyne arm incline is greater than that of Springbank's, creating a lighter spirit.

Since I forgot to include photos of a Springbank dunnage, here are a couple photos of Kilkerran stuff.

You see those four huge port pipes above?  Yes, those are the wombs of Kilkerrans to be.  Don't you just want to pop the bung out and take a taste?  Well, I didn't.  But.  But.  But, I can't tell you anymore until the next post about the next tour.

The Springbank Distillery Tour

My plan to get us from Islay to Campbeltown in time for the Springbank tour was risky to the point of being stupid, a fact I downplayed when sharing the trip schedule with my wife.  We had to get from Port Ellen to Springbank Distillery by 1pm; and we had all of a 30-45 minute buffer.  Dozens of elements could have gone awry and made us miss our Springbank tour (and the other two connected tours for that day).  The Islay ferry -- the vessel which delivers us to our hopes and dreams as per its whims -- could have arrived late, departed late, or taken too long. There could have been a problem loading or unloading the boat with its dozens of dopey tourists and their cars. One of a multitude of tractor trailers, which pin in the cars, could have stalled out.  There could have been Scottish weather.  The A83 could have had construction, car traffic, bike traffic, sheep traffic, or boulder traffic.  And as I planned this trip three months in advance, I was unaware of a bonus factor: the impressively crap GPS that came with our rental car; worse than useless, it had gotten us lost plenty of times each day.  So I was leaving a lot to chance.

You know who else leaves a lot to chance?

SPRINGBANK!

As you can tell by the photo above, we made it to Springbank.  We arrived in Campbeltown in time, though the GPS led us in loops around town until we had to spot the Grammar Lodge B&B by eye.  The lodge was in fact a grammar school many decades ago, and is now a very nice modern bed & breakfast.  The friendly helpful owners were there to meet us and chatted us up a bit to the point that the little boy in my brain was hopping around like he had to pee saying "Springbank, Springbank, Springbank, Springbank, Springbank, Springbank".

The tour started at Cadenhead Whisky Shop, a quick three blocks away from the B&B.  I made brief eye contact with the single cask bottlings that lined the walls, but elected to play hard to get because I had a date.  His name was Mitch, and he was our tour guide.  I say "our" because this was the day that Kristen was also attending all the tours.  Which was awesome.

MALTINGS

Springbank has two malting floors.  One has a 12 ton capacity, the other 10 tons.  The floors are slanted, not for any technical advantages, rather because the building is old.  All the barley turning is done by hand, not by machine, so it's only as precise as an overworked man hauling a heavy-ass shovel can make it.  The malting takes place for six or seven days (judged by eye, not by math) at temperatures ranging from 16ºC-20ºC (61ºF-68ºF).  The light is not controlled by lamps or timers, but by some dude (or dudette) opening the windows.

All of their barley comes from Scotland, usually the Highlands, usually the Concerto strain.  When they do unpeated drying, they use hot oil.  When doing peated drying, they first use dry peat from the Tomintoul region for heat and wet peat from Inverness for smoke.

Dry peat from Tomintoul

Wet peat from Inverness

Useful data

NO computers, just lists and notepads

MILL, MASH, AND WASH

Another one of these super sturdy mills from post-WWII

While most distilleries use closed mash tuns to prevent stuff from floating down into their wort, Springbank uses an open mash tun which does allow for native yeast and other airborne microflora to enter the mix.

They do 3.5 ton batches in the tun using four different rounds of water, ranging from 63.5ºC-82ºC (146ºF-180ºF).

Their washbacks are over 50 years old, but not without some recent servicing.

Mitch told us they actually will do up to 110 hours of fermentation if necessary.  This sort of length results in a very low ABV wash, lower than at most other distilleries.  Apparently once Springbank's fermentation goes over 48 hours, the alcohol content begins decreasing rather than increasing.

DISTILLATION

I believe I was told that in actuality the distillery is doing more like 100K-120K litres per year right now.

Firstly, I apologize for the crap photo of their stills.  Secondly, I don't remember if Mitch mentioned if Springbank still does partial direct firing.  If they do, that's yet another element of potential inconsistency.  Thirdly, here are the photos diagramming the distillation of the Springbank, Hazelburn, and Longrow spirits.  I'll be danged if I can explain Springbank's 2.5x in a concise fashion:

Longrow 2x (click to embiggen)

Springbank 2.5x (click to embiggen)

Hazelburn 3x (click to embiggen)

THE WOOD

Your eyes aren't deceiving you. This is not wood. It's the spirit receiver
from which the spirit is poured into the casks.

Mitch was excellent.  I harassed him with questions throughout and he answered everything.  There is no fear at the distillery that one of us is going to take this information and start fashioning Springbank in a bathtub.  He told me the majority of their bourbon barrels come from Jim Beam and Jack Daniels.  And they do not use virgin oak casks.  They also rarely re-char their barrels, thus a refill is a refill.

THE BOTTLING

Their regular range bottlings are married in a big vat for 6 months at a starting strength of 50%abv.  Meanwhile, their bottling facility, manned (and womynned) by locals, was located right on site near the vats:

We were encouraged to not enter the bottling area out of concern for someone getting a finger or other appendage lodged in the foil mechanism.

THE END, FOR TODAY

This distillery tour ended right here because another distillery tour was to immediately follow.  The one theme I'd noticed throughout the tour is the one I keep coming back to in this post.  Springbank, like an anti-Diageo or anti-Macallan, leaves a lot up to chance and thus embraces inconsistency (from the malting, to the wort, to the fermentation, to letting refill casks be refill casks).  This results in a whisky that is never exactly the same from bottle to bottle, but is of a quality without compare in the industry.  Now about that next tour...

Birthday Booze: Rosebank 7 year old 1989 Signatory, cask 1739

It is done.  We closed on our new house!  As you read this we're (hopefully) moving all of our boxes and furniture into an actual permanent residence.  We've lived in temporary housing for two months.  And we're tired.  Really tired.  On a related note, we'll be without home internet for five days, so I might have to go to the *gasp* library to do any further posts.

And yes, I have also reached the end of my birthday boozes, and the end of my Signatory set of six minis, all of which were bottled in June/July of 1997.  I'm growing weary of the mediocrity of most of this set.  I mean, it's still batting .400 as of this typing, but those three outs never even made it out of the infield.  Baseball.  The Cleveland Americans are looking really good this year.  I've already jumped on their bandwagon and have securely fastened my seatbelt.  Man, I remember when Brook Jacoby played for Cleveland.  But I refuse to drink Cleveland Whiskey.  Whisky.  I'm reviewing a Rosebank today and I've been looking forward to this one ever since I bought the set.  I'm really hoping the group winds up going 50/50, and since it's old whisky wouldn't a free throw percentage be a more apt comparison?  Basketball.  This one guy plays basketball in Cleveland.  He often sports an ugly beard and a receding hairline like me.  We're so much alike.  I'm weary.  Fathers, they do get weary.

Distillery: Rosebank
Ownership: A cadre of buttholes
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 7 years (October 4, 1989 - July 1997)
Maturation: probably a refill ex-bourbon cask
Cask#: 1739
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

NEAT
It's the color of sauvignon blanc.  The pretty pretty nose is malty with LOADS of lemons and a few limes and some cucumber water.  It's a little green and grassy.  Morning dew on a field of wildflowers (No, it's not going to be one of those reviews, probably).  Peach skin and orange blossom honey (that one's for Tom K., if he's reading).  The palate is soft, but bright, fresh, and lemony.  A mild dryness later gives way to a subtle sweetness.  Malt, chili oil, tangerines, and sweet limes.  The lightly sweet finish has lemons, peppercorns, as well as toasted and creamy notes.  The lemons remain for a long time.

Going to go gentle on the water.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose gets grassier, more herbal.  Maybe even a little phenolic.  Still plenty of lemons and honey.  Hints of dijon mustard and floral tea.  The palate is sweeter, going from a aperitif to a digestif.  Malt, lemon candy, and a green herbal grassy note that peeks out here and there.  It finishes with limoncello and chili powser.

COMMENTS:
Soft, pretty, herbal, and utterly lemony.  A little tenderness, if you'll allow.  This is without a doubt my favorite Rosebank (out of 4!) I've tried.  It can't be accused of complexity but it nails the simple style with grace.  And Kristen likes it too.  So it must be good.  I want recommend this whisky, especially to fans of dry white wine, but this stuff is loooooong gone.  Don't worry, I'll be easing my reviews back into relevance next week.  In the meantime, let's all have something nice to drink.  We're home.

Availability - ?
Pricing - ?
Rating - 87

For Jim

Birthday Booze: Bladnoch 16 year old Signatory, cask 89/591/20

Ah, the oldest of the Signatory mini set's six whiskies: Bladnoch.  Almost 17 years old!  I've had split luck with my Bladnoch experiences.  Either they're pretty good or pretty mediocre.  Its United Distillers era seems to have produced the good ones.  But this particular cask was pre-UD, back when Inver House owned the place.  So I have no idea what to expect from it.

Distillery: Bladnoch
Ownership at time of distillation: Inver House
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 16 years (June 30, 1980 - June 1997)
Maturation: probably a refill ex-bourbon cask
Cask#: 89/591/20
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

NEAT
The darkest of this set's six whiskies, this Bladnoch's color is almost gold!  At first the nose sniffs like a bowl of oatmeal with cinnamon and dried apricots.  But then there's carob bark and carpet.  Then dried pineapples and cherry sauce.  Meanwhile it also has a meaty/savoury thing going on: soy sauce, Worcestershire sauce, and mushrooms.  Once it's aired out for more than 20 minutes it sheds everything but fruit and spice.  Think cardamom and mango.  The palate starts off decently.  Whipped cream, strawberries, cream of wheat, milk chocolate, and caramel.  Then whoooosh, those notes vanish by the third sip.  A bright bitter note remains, followed by carpet fibers, and an edgy off note similar to yesterday's Glenallachie.  It's admirably un-sweet, but it's also un-good.  The finish has that decent start for the first two sips.  Milk chocolate, caramel, and lots of salt.  But subsequent sips leave behind only cardboard and over-steeped black tea.

Um, okay.  Some water perhaps?

WITH WATER (~35%abv)
The nose has become quite faint.  There's some of the cardamom and mango.  Maybe some lychee, honey, and cilantro.  Roses?  The palate is cardboard dipped in sweet cream and over-steeped tea.  Kinda barley-ish at times.  There's nothing but mleh in the finish.  Endless mleh.

CLOSING WORDS:
The nose is strange, but grows enjoyable when it settles down.  Though as the nose gains focus, the palate goes to seed.  Completely.  It's fair to call the resulting finish terrible.  Even though the whisky has its positives, I'm going to be extra tough on it because it's never balanced and I'm still having sense memories of the finish's crapulence.  And if I can't drink the damned whisky, then what good is it?

Availability - ?
Pricing - ?
Rating - 69 (the nose keeps the score from heading to sub-Cutty levels)

Birthday Booze: Glenallachie 11 year old 1985 Signatory, cask 4063

My first Glenallachie review, Woo-hoo!  I guess I should say something about the distillery to celebrate the occasion.

The distillery's name means "Glen of the Rocky Place", which if you've been to Scotland you may know there are almost as many Glen-of-the-Rocky-Places as there are sheep. With such an imaginative name, it was unsurprisingly built in the latter half of the 20th century.  In fact, next year will be its 50th anniversary.  But don't be surprised if the owners won't release anything to mark the occasion since The Chivas Bros would rather no one know about Glenallachie, judging by the effort they put into its non-existent official range.  But Chivas/Pernod didn't build the distillery, rather it was Scottish & Newcastle Breweries.  Yep, the makers of the ubiquitous brown ale.  And, in one more piece of random trivia, Glenallachie distillery received two of Caperdonich's washbacks after that Speyside distillery closed.

On to the whisky.  This is the fourth little number from that fun mini set I busted open for this double birthday booze week. Two out of three have been very good.  How about this one?

Spot the mold spores!!!

Distillery: Glenallachie
Ownership: Chivas Bros / Pernod Ricard
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Age: 11 years (October 11, 1985 - June 1997)
Maturation: probably a 352nd-refill ex-bourbon cask
Cask#: 4063
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

NEAT
Its color is the lightest of the bunch, almost clear.  The nose is all new make, ultra sugary, almost white rum.  Then some orange oil sneaks out, honey, whole wheat bread, and corn flakes.  Finally honey mustard and Belgian witbier.  The palate is hot, bready, yeasty.  A sizable melting plastic note floats above sugar, salt, and chewed grass.  It's a little minerally, metallic, and bitter.  A combo of notebook paper and sour beer.  It finishes slightly buttery and metallic.  Hay and sour beer.

Maybe this needs water or something.

WITH WATER (~35%abv)
The nose holds onto the honey mustard note.  It's more herbal now, more barley focused too.  Lemon juice.  Breakfast cereal box.  The palate remains mineral, metallic, and bitter.  There's a moderate sweetness to it, and it stays grassy.  Maybe a hint of earth and synthetic oil.  Still, it's an improvement.  Unfortunately (or fortunately?), the finish is neutered.  Just lightly bitter and earthy at first, growing spicier with time.

WORDS AND STUFF:
There was a marked improvement once water was added, as in a markup from a D- to a C-.  But if you don't like a mineral and grass filled whisky then this would probably be a big F in your book.  While at times seeming near clearac, this whisky isn't totally free of oak influence.  I think a really crappy barrel was responsible for the palate problems.  A barrel can only be used so many times before the felled tree gets its revenge by pinching an afterlife loaf right into the whisky.  That's a scientific fact right there.

Availability - ?
Pricing - ?
Rating - 73 (with water only, when neat it's around 10 points lower)