Auchentoshan 13 year old 2000 SMWS 5.40

Despite my misgivings towards official Auchentoshans, I'm always interested in trying independent bottlers' takes on the Lowlander. They're usually entertaining, and sometimes very good. Today's single cask of the Clydebank distillery's spirit comes from whisky's own No Homers Club. It was bottled before the SMWS started fully committing to secondary and tertiary maturations. Indeed, this Auchie spent its life in a refill hoggie. Lemme see what happened to it...

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Distilled by: Suntory Holdings
Current Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Lowlands (Glasgow-ish)
Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Age: minimum 13 years (October 2000 - ????)
Maturation: refill hogshead
Cask #: 5.40, "Soft, Sweet and Fluffy"
Outturn: ??? bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 56.7%
(Thank you, Brett!)

NEAT

Citronella, passionfruit, and cardamom drift through the nose, with a little bit of lemon basil in the background. It becomes more floral with time, while also gaining notes of brine and white chocolate. It's hot and sweet on the palate, but also very fruity, with apricots lemons, and yellow nectarines. Notes of green peppercorns, barley, and metal stay in the back. It finishes tarter, with more lemons and peppercorns and a light floral note.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or < 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

Lots of fruit on the snoot, particularly apricots, so many apricots! A few oranges here, some lychees there, hints of malt and oak spice in the distance. The gently sweet palate brings lemons, barley, mint and limes. It finishes mildly tart with the citrus and mint combo.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Another SMWS name that works! It's soft and sweet, though I don't know about fluffy. It's such a pleasant whisky, a drinker, not a thinker. I'm not sure why the OB Valinch wasn't more like this style, especially since that one was from a sizable batch. Maybe this hoggie was just a pretty freak. Whatever the case, this is a simple fruity pour that works well in the summer.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 85

Auchentoshan Valinch, 2011 Edition

In 2011, no one was asking for an NAS cask strength Auchentoshan, but also no one was not asking for an NAS cask strength Auchentoshan. Then Suntory gave us an NAS cask strength Auchentoshan, The Valinch, named after everyone's favorite whisky scooper.

Though I'd had no real issue with Auchentoshan's 40% or 43%abv releases, they were all sort of figuratively vanilla at that strength, except perhaps the 18 year old. So I was one of the folks interested in the Valinch releases. Unfortunately they only lasted for two years, disappearing before I could indulge. Thankfully, St. Perkins of Riverside hooked me up with a sample from his bottle, many moons ago.

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Distilled by: Suntory Holdings
Current Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Lowlands (Glasgow-ish)





Age: minimum 3 years (no age statement)
Maturation: all American oak

Bottling year: 2011

Outturn: ?????
Alcohol by Volume: 57.5%

(Thank you, Brett!)

NEAT

At first, the nose is all apples, vanilla cake, vodka, and bubblegum. Some actual barley peeks out later on, but is quickly submerged by cinnamon candy and confectioner's sugar. The raw palate is full of heat, cinnamon red hots candies, rock candy, lemon candy, and malt. Hints of coconuts and orange candies stay in the background. It reminds me of Westland's malt, but sourer and younger. It finishes aggressively sweet, with malt, cinnamon, and coconuts in the back.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or 1½ tsp of water per 30mL whisky

It noses of sugary new make, cassia, bubblegum, and dry cheese. The palate has a similar sugary new make style, with plenty of malt and ethyl, and hints of cinnamon and lemons in the background. It finishes sweet and slightly salty, with lots of cinnamon.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is certainly not an improvement over their standard releases. In fact, it's arguably worse. It's hot, raw, and (horror of horrors!) boring. Reminiscent of cheap Irish (3x distillation!) and Canadian blends at times, this version of Valinch demonstrates why this expression disappeared quicker than it had materialized. Perhaps this would have been good for home blending, in lieu of grain whisky. Tragically, it was sampled next to yesterday's 1965.

Availability - Sold out?
Pricing - ??
Rating - 73

Auchentoshan 31 year old 1965, cask 2497

The trio of Auchentoshan samples remaining in my collection are being consumed as I type this, each one quite different than the next. And what the hell, I'll start with the grand oldie.

Yes, Auchentoshan used to dish out official very old single casks back in the early Suntory years. I had seen them in folks' collections, but never tried any of the whiskies, until a generous gentleman (initials: PT) opened his bottle for a split. There were at least 18 of these 1965 casks bottled in 1997, with cask 2497 possessing the beefiest ABV. Tennent's (yes, that Tennent's) ran the stills in the 1960s, so I wasn't sure what to expect.....

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Distilled by: Charrington's / Wellpark Brewery
Current Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Lowlands (Glasgow-ish)





Age: minimum 31 years (1 November 1965 to 1997)
Maturation: Hogshead

Cask #: 2497
Alcohol by Volume: 55.1%

(from a bottle split)

NEAT

At first it noses of an old leather chair, Havdalah spice box, green curry, and ocean air. Then comes the green chartreuse and candied pecans. Then sweet vermouth and moss. Yeah, it is wild. Dunnage, snuffed cigar, peaches, and pineapples lead the palate, with moss, wormwood, bitter citrus, and Luxardo cherries in the mid- to background. The finish offers variety as well: moss, horseradish bitterness, soot, Luxardo cherries, and very tangy pineapple.

Careful with that water, Kravitz...

DILUTED to ~50%abv, or 3mL of water per 30mL whisky

The nose arrives intensely herbal, with an emphasis on tomato leaves. Milder notes of mango, brine, and hot tar remain in the back. The palate has a mix of bitter & tart & herbal & subtle sweetness. After plenty of air, it tastes of grapefruits, oranges, wormwood, and a Kilkerran-ish forest floor. It finishes with more herbal bitterness than sweetness, with a light earthiness that lingers longest.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

An adventure! The A-grade nose is its own trip, with a plethora of curiosities that somehow work together. Tomato leaves, mango, and tar? Yes, please. The palate is bit less wild, but the almost-medicinal bitterness delivers a workout for the tastebuds. The whisky is a thinker, rather than a drinker, in the best sense. One could imagine every pour from the bottle offering its own experience.

I wish I could say the next Auchentoshan offered the same pleasures, but...

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - ???
Rating - 90

Life of a Whisky Bottle: Auchentoshan 20 year old 1991 AD Rattray

No one will remember this post. But I will never forget this whisky.

I first tried it at an OC Scotch Club event almost six(!) years ago. Its palate was unlike anything I'd tried up to that point in my life. The shock of its vegetal, sandy ugliness startled me into giving it a high rating afterwards. It was a punk whisky. The guitarist didn't even know three chords and the drummer had been snorting NoDoz so the rhythm was shit.

At the end of that post, I wrote: "It's so strange. Kind of haunting actually. I need some closure. I need a whole bottle of this stuff to sort things out."

So I promptly bought a bottle, and it sat in the dark until I opened it 18 months ago. I set aside a sample from the very first pour, mid-bottle and the bottom of the bottle. And now I'll tasted them side-by-side. Will this help me sort things out? Like, things in general. Life, the universe and everything?

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Lowlands
Bottler: AD Rattray
Age: 20 years (February 20, 1991 - September 15, 2011)
Maturation: Sherry Butt What
Cask#: 484
Outturn: 545 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 57.5%
Chillfiltered? No
Colorant added? Absolutely not

This bottle's usage:
I forgot to keep track of the percentages this time, but 0% was for casual drinking.

FIRST POUR, February 2017

NEAT:
Nose - Barley and roses. Burnt (hazel)nuts, rice vinegar, fried plantains, bark and cabbage.
Palate - Hot and burnt. Sand, bark and cabbage. Dirt and rubber. A weird artificial nut note.
Finish - Vinegar, salt, sand, ash and terrifyingly bitter.

DILUTED TO 46%abv:
Nose - Pool and beach. Chlorine and bleach. Ashy and floral (Kristen says: tar and banana). Cucumber skins. New make.
Palate - Very sweet, very bitter, very ashy. Vinegar and weird nut note.
Finish - Ash, salt and palate-ruining sweetness.

---

MID BOTTLE, November 2017

NEAT:
Nose - Bright young barley note, as if this were 8 years or younger. Vanilla, soil, raw cocoa and mint gum. Roses, ash and rice vinegar.
Palate - Hot and ashy. Intensely grassy. Urine. Soap.
Finish - Dried grass, ash, salt, urine, heat and Nutrasweet.

DILUTED TO 46%abv:
Nose - Bananas, dogs, orange blossoms soaked in white vinegar. Burnt things. Vanilla, cotton candy, sand and urine.
Palate - Burnt and ashy to the point that it feels unsafe. Weird bitterness. Simple syrup and soap.
Finish - Heat, ash, bitterness, soap and Diet Sprite.

---

BOTTOM OF THE BOTTLE, July 2018

NEAT:
Nose - Cabbage or garbage? Loch Lomond, is that you? Rotting stone fruits buried under burnt hair. Peanuts and fruity handsoap. And honeydew, because WTF.
Palate - Hot. Grass, mint, sand and vinegar. Brussels sprouts and Nutrasweet. Hint of ginger powder.
Finish - Burnt bark, burnt Brussels sprouts. Salty and grassy. Burning. Terrifyingly rancid aftertaste.

DILUTED TO 46%abv:
Nose - Loch Lomond's fermenting garbage note. Old cauliflower (aka sewage). But also fruity handsoap. Mint, lemons and vinegar.
Palate - Bitter, hot, salty and tangy. Very veggie. But also very very very sweet.
Finish - Burnt kale, ash, vinegar and Nutrasweet.

---

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Life is too short, and I just shortened it.

I thought this would be a philosophical tasting. It wasn't. The use of this cask was a crime.

There are difficult whiskies that serve as studies of the vast range of matured spirits. Then there are whiskies that are inexcusable cockups. Six years ago, I thought this was the former. It's the latter.

The only thing that kept me from punching in a lower rating was the at times approachable nose. The palate would be tragic were it not so foul. The finish will ruin your face and your evening. I'm embarrassed I ever graded this whisky positively, and I'm pissed off that I suffered through a bottle.

At least I found closure.

Availability - Mercifully, it is now unavailable
Pricing - This should not have cost money
Rating - 56

Auchentoshan 1983-2004 Scott's Selection

More often than not, I find officially bottled Auchentoshans to be sleepy, while independently bottled Auchentoshans burst fully awake and loony. Even when they spiral out all wrong, they're at least interesting. That's why I couldn't resist splitting this whisky bottle with my trio of whisky-bottle-splitting-people.

I reviewed the Glenlivet 1977 on Monday and the Bunnahabhain 1988 on Wednesday. The Glenlivet had a great sniffer, but the Bunny appealed to me more. Let's see where today's Lowlander lands.

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Distilled by: Eadie Cairns Ltd. or Morrison Bowmore
Current Ownership: Beam Suntory
Region: Lowlands (Glasgow-ish)
Bottler: Scott's Selection (R.I.P. 😿)





Age: 21 years or so (1983-2004)
Maturation: "in Oakwood casks" (great)
Alcohol by Volume: 52.4%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

Remember what I said about loony?

NEAT
The color? Five beer piss. Oh yeah. The nose is all the cereals: oats, barley, spelt, farro, emmer and effer. Lemongrass, chives and pickle brine. These awesome Japanese ginger cookies I can't stop eating. The palate is really herbal and grassy. So many lemons. Spearmint gum. Malty and briskly bitter. More grass and lemons in the finish. Minty, bitter and malty.

Hmm.

How about I lower it to the usual OB strength?

WITH WATER (~43%abv)
The nose is the olfactory equivalent of the pretend salads my daughter makes for me. Oregano, bay leaf, cocoa, white rice, toffee, barley, lime yogurt and sidewalk chalk. The palate is still grassy and herbal. Slightly floral, with a softer bitterness. Barley and a mild sweetness. Kind of ashy. It finishes super herbal. Ashy, bitter, and malty, with hints of mint and malt.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I can't even.

This stuff is a riot of sensations and not a single one belongs together.

Some people would HATE this whisky. I am not some of those people. In fact, I'm sorta sad to see this one go. Count my boat rocked.

Availability - It's around
Pricing - $100-$200
Rating - 86 (maybe)

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.

Single Malt Report: Auchentoshan 23 year old 1990 Archives #6850

On Wednesday and Thursday I reviewed Auchentoshan whiskies and today I will again review an Auchentoshan whisky.  And then that's it for Auchentoshan here, for the foreseeable future.  There ain't no samples of it left in my stash.

Today's Lowland single malt is the oldest of this week's three, but also has the lowest alcohol-by-volume.  The good folks at Archives, who are also the proprietors of the Whiskybase shop, selected a hogshead which may have been losing more to the angels (or devils or thieves or rats) than the cask owner may have desired.  Archives and Whisky-Fässle split the cask which was weighing in at a total of 47.7%abv and had an outturn of only 142, which means it had a loss of around 60% of its contents.  That's a lot of empty cask space.  These sorts of casks can be pretty fun, though they can also be pretty gross.  Having enjoyed a number of Archives's whiskies, I'm betting on the former.

Distillery: Auchentoshan

Independent Bottler: Archives
Range: The Indian ducks and their allies

Age: 23 years old (11/11/1990 to 9/2014)

Maturation: Hogshead
Cask #: 6850
Limited bottling: 71

Region: Lowlands

Alcohol by Volume: 47.7%

NEAT
The color is the lightest of the three whiskies, a nice straw color.

That straw comes through on the nose.  Oats, barley, rice cakes.  Lightly earthy.  Soon it develops a nice cookie dough note that lingers throughout.  That's followed up cherry Jolly Ranchers, fresh raspberries, and sesame seeds.

The softly layered palate has some earth, honeyed sweetness, something savory (beef stock?), white fruits, lemons, and limes.  A nice barley delivery.

The lightly sweet finish shows honey, lemons, and toasted oak spices.  Despite the fragility of notes, it lasts for a long time.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The fruit gets louder in the nose, with stone fruits joining the berries.  Black licorice.  Still lots of cereal grains.

The palate becomes surprisingly complex.  Moss, barley, fresh herbs, something metallic (copper?), and a nice compact white fruit and honey concoction.  Yet the sweetness is kept mild and steady.

The finish has the fresh herbs and moss.  Mild honey sweetness again, now encased in a menthol glow.

COMMENTS:
It was Jordan of Chemistry of the Cocktail who convinced me to try this.  And the really weird thing about this whisky -- considering my experience with indie Auchentoshans and this cask's strange outturn -- is that it's not at all weird.  Between the hay, earth, grains, berries, and green herbs it proves to be a very rustic whisky.  Something nice and light for a country spring evening.

What is unusual about it is its youth and the prominence of the barley spirit.  I'm going to guess that may have something to do with the mostly empty cask.  Time has softened the rougher parts of the new make, but left its heart.  CJ and Menno and whomever else has the good nose over there, have done it again.

Availability - Only through Whiskybase Shop
Pricing - €135 pre-shipping
Rating - 89

Single Malt Report: Auchentoshan 15 year old 1997 Old Malt Cask #HL9807

This is the second of three indie Auchentoshan reviews this week.  As I mentioned in yesterday's post, I enjoy independently bottled Auchentoshan better than the official ones because the indie Auchs are consistently odd, in a good way.  This whisky, whose sample was provided by Florin (a prince) is from the Laing family's Old Malt Cask range.

Distillery: Auchentoshan

Independent Bottler: Hunter Laing
Range: Old Malt Cask

Age: 15 years old (12/1997 to 5/2013)

Maturation: refill hogshead
Cask #: HL9807
Limited bottling: 211

Region: Lowlands

Alcohol by Volume: 50%

NEAT
Though older than yesterday's 13yo, its color is noticeably lighter.

Once again, the nose fires all sorts of notes out at once.  Peach nectar, anise, menthol, whipped butter, strawberry candy, and cookie dough.  Giving it some time in the glass......it gets rosier, picks up some lemon candy, and something moss-like without actually being peat.

The palate starts out with a pleasantly dirty earthy note.  A bit of a pepper sting up front.  Ginger beer.  The third sip suddenly produces a massive floral note.  Violets, perhaps?  And then the curious mossy note from the nose.

The finish is long and citrusy, growing more sweeter with time.  Smaller notes of caramel and green herbs appear here and there.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
Now there are band-aids in the nose.  Dirty hay, too.  Then berry jam and a solid malt note.

The farmy note shows up in the palate too.  But it's also sweet and lemony with some baking spice around the edges.

The finish is sweet, spicy, citrusy, and farmy.

COMMENTS:
Again, an indie Auchentoshan that keeps cranking out simultaneous dissimilar notes, and then changes course, and then does it from a different angle.  I don't know what to say other than, it usually works.  If you're looking for a well sculpted consistent whisky, then this won't do it for you.  Though I like it, I wouldn't actually go out and buy a bottle of the stuff because I can imagine it gets exhausting pretty quickly.

Availability - Perhaps some specialty European retailers
Pricing - $60-$80 (without shipping)
Rating - 82

Single Malt Report: Auchentoshan 13 year old 2000 Exclusive Casks

Going from triple-distilled Irish whiskey to its mate a triple-distilled Scotch Whisky 150 miles away by air.  I'm not the biggest fan of Auchentoshan's regular official range, yet I've always enjoyed independent releases of its whisky.  And I have to ask, am I the only one who finds every single indie Auchentoshan odd?  Will this week's three bottlings continue the weird streak?

First up is the youngest and strongest of the three, a 13 year old from The Creative Whisky Company's Exclusive Casks line.  My last post about one of their whiskies caused some hubbub.  Let's see if this one will do the same.

I actually wrote about this whisky a year and a half ago while doing an eight-whisky tasting.  The whisky was weird (as usual, as mentioned), but not my brand of weird.  I was promptly told privately, by two people whose palates I respect, that I was out of my Vulcan mind.  Try it again, they said, it must have been the sample!  Okay then somebody give me a new sample, I said.  Nothing.  So I went out and got the sample myself, grabbing THE LAST bottle of it anywhere (according to Total Wine's website) for March's OCSC event.  And, indeed, the whisky elicited some "That's interesting" comments from club members.  I tried a half ounce and found it most......drinkable.  Here's a review of a larger sample, nosed in the dark confines of my whisky cave.

Distillery: Auchentoshan

Independent Bottler: The Creative Whisky Co.
Exclusive to: Total Wine & More

Age: 13 years old (2000 - ???)

Maturation: likely (2) refill American oak casks
Limited bottling: 488

Region: Lowlands

Alcohol by Volume: 53.6%

NEAT
Its color is light yellow.

Its nose begins with a pleasant mix of barley, lemon zest, and spearmint.  And then a blast of white rye spirit slams through.  Giving it a few minutes......now there's papaya and cloves.  Black cherry soda.  Big League Chew (bubblegum).  Okay then.

The palate is barley spirit-forward as well, though never too sweet.  Some Ceylon cinnamon and clover honey.  Suddenly it develops a rooty earthy note.  Some mushrooms too.  And here's the bubblegum.

The finish gets sweeter than the palate.  Some sugar in with the cinnamon.  It's bold and fizzy.  Fudgey at times.  Rich and sticky.  And the bubblegum.

Dear god, what'll happen if I add water...

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
Oooh, the nose gets super fruity and totally nails the candy shop thing better than Glenmorangie Milsean (and without the wine cask futzing, mind you).  Bubblegum, gummy bears, Big Red chewing gum.

The palate remains rich at this strength.  Big Red gum, honey, fresh ginger, and rock candy.  Still has that slight earthy thing underneath.

It finishes sticky sweet.  Bubblegum, oranges, and a fragrant floral tea.

COMMENTS:
It's a cracker.  And damn it, Andy, I found the Big League Chew note too.

It's the nose that wins here, with or without water.  It's all a bit schizo, especially the neat palate, but it usually works.  It may even work best *glup* with water, which pulls things together as best as possible.  But trying to corralling its separate parts is like herding two-year olds, yet slightly less stressful.

So what about that original mini-review?  I caught all the candy and barley notes in both instances, but I didn't get the fetid cheesy notes this time, which definitely helped it out.  Perhaps six months in a half empty sample bottle did the whisky no favors the first time.  I still say this is some weird whisky, but this time I can see what the fuss was about.

Availability - Gone
Pricing - $80
Rating - 86

Notes from a Tasting: Exclusive Casks from Total Wine & More

In February, David Stirk's Creative Whisky Company (CWC) released a series of single casks exclusively through Total Wine & More, via CWC's Exclusive Casks label.  On February 16th, Southern California Whiskey Club held an event that allowed folks to taste eight of the dozen or so Exclusive Casks.  I was unable to attend the event but was able to arrange getting samples of the eight single malts.  (Ethics note: I paid the event fee in order to receive these samples.)

Many of these bottlings are still available at Total Wine & More's California stores.  Unlike single casks sold exclusively at other California retailers, this set received nearly no hype online.  As you'll see below, I don't think my notes count as hype, but I don't think it would hurt to get some digital ink running in case you've been eyeing these chaps.  Due to the size of the samples I'll be using a grade range (as I did for the last tasting) rather than a number rating.

I sampled these 1/2 ouncers here at my dining room table, a pair at a time, over a two hour period.  During this tasting, two mysteries arose, one I can solve and one I cannot.

1. Invergordon Single Grain Whisky, 25 year old 1988.  378 bottles, 53.9% ABV
Color - Light amber
Nose - Light, bright vanilla. A little grassy. Chicken stock, anise, and orange juice.
Palate - All coconut and caramel.  Coconut flavored rum.  Very pungent though somewhat thinly textured.
Finish - More coconut! Then crème brûlée with a little sea salt. Lengthy.

Thoughts: The nose is the best part, substantial enough to almost fool one into thinking that it was a Lowland malt. How one feels about this whisky depends how one feels about coconut, both the real and artificial flavoring versions.  It was a bit too Malibu Rum for me.
Grade range: C+

2. Auchentoshan 13 year old 2000. 488 bottles, 53.6% ABV
Color - Pale amber
Nose -  Twizzlers, cheddar cheese, and hospital disinfectant.  Yep.  Kinda fleshy, new carpet, paint, cinnamon.  After a lot of air.....candy and puss.
Palate - Goes from sweet to grainy. Candy canes without mint.  Barley and notebook paper.  Coconuts again.
Finish - Supermarket cake frosting, cherry lollipops, very sweet. Gets weirder as it goes.

Thoughts: Here was the first mystery.  I've found many indie Auchentoshans to be weird -- there's an AD Rattray one that was all roots and clay, which I adored -- but this one is not my type of weird.  Here's the catch, the LAWS guys loved it.  But I don't recognize most of their notes.  Did something weird happen to my sample?
Grade range: C-

3. Glen Spey 11 year old 2002. 186 bottles, 56.7% ABV
Color - Light amber
Nose - All kinds of American oak and (relatedly) lots of butter.  Then butterscotch, black licorice, cardamom, and flower blossoms.
Palate - Pleasant, lightly sweet, lightly creamy.  Here's the oak again: vanilla, butter, and caramel.  A little meaty savoriness and sweet spices.
Finish - Geraniums. Salty and savory. Some tartness.

Thoughts: Could have been of interest if not for all of that aggressive oak.  This is a CWC song I've sung twice before (here and here).
Grade range: C+/B-

4. Ben Nevis 14 year old 1998. 258 bottles, 53.2% ABV
Color - Light gold
Nose - Leather. Very dry sherry, but a funky moldy old school sherry.  Or, is it finally time for this blog to use the ultimate snoot word......rancio?  Then bacon, hay, burnt grains, cardamom.  Then floral soap (but good!), industrial grease, and grapefruit peel.  Yes, that bizarre.
Palate - Strange and herbal.  Cannabis meets orange peel, and it gets more candied with time.  And there has to be peat in here -- at least Bowmore levels.  Very silky texture.
Finish - More peatiness. Light toffee sweetness. Hazelnuts and walnuts. Intensely herbal.

Thoughts: Wut?  Very very strange.  There's the moldy sherry, tons of herbs, the Springbank industrial character, and peat.  There's another review of this whisky online and it lists bourbony characteristics and no peat.  So, seriously, what the f**k?  How could this be a sample issue?  Thus this is mystery #2.  I know that some Ben Nevises have noticeable peating and I've smelled the industrial and bacon thing in the other Ben Nevis I've tried.  Also, this bottling is the most difficult to find of all of these eight as it has sold out at almost every Total Wine location.  Ben Nevis selling out quickly?  I can't be the only one who found this to his liking.  So I bought a bottle.
Grade range: B+/A-

5. Arran 16 year old 1997. 595 bottles, 51.2% ABV
Color - Rosy gold
Nose - Cleaner sherry than in the Ben Nevis, sticky toffee and chocolate. Toasted barley and almonds. Pine sap and beef jerky.
Palate - Perky malt shows through the sherry. Toffee and taffy. Peach and menthol. Medium sweetness. Creamy in texture and taste.
Finish - Sherry is subtle. Sugar and pepper. Marshmallow and peach.

Thoughts: I was happy that the sherry didn't choke out the malt, but nothing really superb occurs otherwise.  I prefer the younger official sherry cask I tried this year.
Grade range: B-/B

6. Bruichladdich 22 year old 1991. 222 bottles, 50.6% ABV
Color - Medium gold
Nose - Orange glaze, dried apples, cinnamon, nutmeg, golden raisins, pears......it keeps going......vanilla ice cream, pencils, and honey.  It's purdy.
Palate - Lightly floral, lightly citric, lightly vanilla-ed, lightly tropical fruit-ed, lightly buttery. Some shisha, too.
Finish - Apricots, vanilla, mild sugars, lychee, and bubblegum.

Thoughts: Prettiest of the bunch. Probably no real flaws, but after the lovely nose, the palate was sort of vague.  Also, please see my notes in the final paragraph about a potential issue.
Grade range: B/B+

7. Glen Garioch 23 year old 1989. 198 bottles, 54.1% ABV
Color - Amber
Nose - Pencils, dried grass and grains, light caramel. White fruits emerge after some time. Sugar cookies, subtle rubber and herbs.
Palate - Tons of barley, toasty and bready. A suggestion of peat smoke. Tart, salty, gets grassier and sweeter with time.
Finish - Smoke increases here, though more like wood or cigar smoke.  Mango and sugar.

Thoughts: Everything is very delicate. The finish is the best part.  The barley forwardness makes it feel more old school than most of these other malts.
Grade range: B

8. Bowmore 11 year old 2002. 596 bottles, 56.8% ABV
Color - Five beer piss
Nose - Stinky skunky peat encased in a load of American oak (weird vanilla and slightly-off butter, almost chemically so).  Mossy, baseball card ink, cinnamon candy.
Palate - Very sugary peat. Vanilla, hay, hot cinnamon spiciness.
Finish - All peat and sugar.  Of significant length.

Thoughts: Sigh. It has the potential of being a half step better than the K&L Exclusive Malts Bowmore due to its brutish peat, but that oak again...
Grade range: C+/B-

A final ranking:
Ben Nevis 14yo**
Bruichladdich 22yo**
Glen Garioch 23yo
Arran 16yo
Bowmore 11yo
Glen Spey 11yo
Invergordon 25yo
Auchentoshan 13yo**

** -- So, mysteries sit at the top and the bottom of the rankings.  With a lot of hindsight, I'm noticing that my Bruichladdich notes are very similar to LAWS's Auchentoshan notes.  Perhaps the wrong whisky was poured into two of my sample bottles.  If that was the case, then what the heck was in my Auchentoshan?  Was that the Bruichladdich?  Meanwhile, there's the strange instance of Ben Nevis.  That was a mystery I was willing to pay to solve.  And now that my full bottle has been emptied, I'll report my findings in Wednesday's post...

Three whisky events in four days: Part Two

(Part One here)

And then there was...

SUNDAY -- GLEN GARIOCH & BOWMORE

If you are on the western coast of the United States and Johnnie Mundell is holding a whisky event in your town, be there.  He is and has been a rep for Morrison Bowmore and Campari America.  Like Martin Daraz, he's a hardy Scotsman who can handle a room, weave a tale, educate the mind, and pour whisky all at the same time.  I've been to three of his Bowmore events, one Glenrothes event, and now this Glen Garioch + Bowmore event.  I'm such a fan of this guy that I'm going to stop gushing before this gets awkward.

Too late!

On this particular evening, Johnnie climbed on tables...

...read Burns's "John Barleycorn"...

...and poured the following:

Glen Garioch 1797 Founder's Reserve
Glen Garioch 12 year
Glen Garioch 1994 Vintage
Glen Garioch 1991 Vintage

Auchentoshan Three Wood

Bowmore Legend
Bowmore 12 year
Bowmore 15 year Darkest
Bowmore 18 year
Bowmore Dorus Mor

He had these paired side by side as such:
GG Founders Reserve and Bowmore Legend
GG 12 year and Bowmore 12 year
GG 1994 and Bowmore 18 year
Auchie Three Wood and Bowmore 15 year Darkest
GG 1991 and Bowmore Dorus Mor

I've reviewed a number of these already, in fact I think I've reported on most of the Bowmores multiple times.  The only Garioch that I'd reported on before was the 12 year and I still find it bloody fantastic (maple syrup, vanilla beans, and dried apricots this time).  I'll try to focus on stuff newer to me.

Bowmore Legend ($25, 40%) and Glen Garioch Founder's Reserve ($35, 48%) are both in the 8 year range and carry their youth well.  Legend is a lot better than I thought it would be: some light peat, light on the sweet, and very drinkable neat.  The Founder's carries more oomph, due to its ABV and no filtration.  It's bready and full of cereal notes, some white fruits on the nose and a touch savory in the palate.

Likely my second favorite of the night, the Glen Garioch 1994 ($120, 53.9%) has a gorgeous nose:  a massive hit of salted taffy and butterscotch.  The malty palate has a touch of peat and salt.  The Glen Garioch 1991 (54.7%) isn't available in the states (yet) but was the softest and most graceful of the bunch.  Also lightly peated, there was a similar butterscotch character as well as some citrus juice notes.

The Bowmore Dorus Mor was the biggie, for me.  The limited release Bowmore Tempest bottlings are my favorite official Bowmore bottlings.  They are 10-year-old cask-strength first-fill ex-bourbon-barrel bruisers.  A year ago, a California winery named "Tempest" threatened suit if Bowmore was to release another Tempest whisky in The States.  So Bowmore responded by changing the name of Tempest Batch 4 to "Dorus Mor" on the US bottles.  The Dorus release will be even smaller than the previous Tempests and it's the first by the great Rachel Barrie since she moved over to Morrison Bowmore.  It's going to be released here very soon and it's not going to be cheap.  But it's very good.  I will have an official report on Dorus within the next week or so.

Many many thanks to Johnnie for all these great things!

For part three, we head West...

Single Malt Report: A flock of Indies (Part 2) courtesy of OC Scotch Club

This is the second of three posts covering the whiskys I tried on July 12th with the OC Scotch Club.

You can find Part 1 here.

PART 2:

Whisky #3 - Aberfeldy 13yr 1998 (Chieftain's)

Sorry, no decent bottle pics.
Had to nab this label from whiskyintelligence.com

Distillery: Aberfeldy
Ownership: Bacardi (via John Dewar and Sons)
Bottler: Chieftain's
Age: minimum 13 years
Maturation: refill American Oak
Region: Eastern Highlands
Chillfiltered? Nope
Alcohol by Volume: 46%

Ah, my first Aberfeldy and my first Chieftain's.

That Aberfeldy is called the home of Dewar's isn't just due to its use in their blends.  The Dewar family actually built the distillery in 1896.  After a two-year closure, the distillery was purchased by DCL (proto-Diageo) in 1925.  In a rare move by Diageo, the giant sold the distillery to Bacardi in 1998.  Unsurprisingly, Diageo had made little effort to promote the Aberfeldy single malt.  Since the acquisition, Barcardi/Dewar's immediately began promoting and bottling the malt.  It's still mostly used for the Dewar's blends, but a several percent of the output makes it into the bottle without any grain whisky additions.

Meanwhile, Chieftain's is an independent label owned by Ian MacLeod Distillers (who, just to confuse you further, owns their distilleries: Glengoyne and Tamdhu).  I've noticed that their pricing tends to be higher than parallel official bottlings, though sometimes they have moderate prices on their cask strength releases.

At the event, I sampled 0.5 ounces of Aberfeldy neatly in a Glencairn glass.

The color is strikingly similar to a Sauvignon Blanc.  The nose though, is NOT like a Sauvignon Blanc.  It's quite salty (if one can smell salty), cheesy, and nutty.  There's some caramel sauce in there too.  It's a little oaky but not as much as the first two whiskys I'd tried.  The palate packs some generous heat, more oomph.  Brown sugar, black pepper, and sugar cookies lead the way.  Its finish has a medium length and buzzes with freshly ground black pepper.

Because I've never warmed up to any of the blends in the Dewar's range (for instance, this one), I'd set my expectations low low low for the Aberfeldy.  I won't say that this was a great single malt, but it was better than the first two whiskys of the night.  It's not that demanding and shouldn't offend any drinkers.    Its palate is its strength.  My biggest issue with it is the price, which is almost TWICE the standard 12 year bottling.

Availability - Some liquor specialists
Pricing - around $75
Rating - 76

---

Whisky #4 - Auchentoshan 20yr 1991 (A.D. Rattray)

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Ownership: Suntory (via Morrison Bowmore)
Bottler: AD Rattray
Age: 20 years (1991-2011)
Maturation: refill ex-sherry
Region: Lowlands
Chillfiltered? Nope
Alcohol by Volume: 57.5%

Now we're talking.  This was an individual cask bottling, burning at full strength, from an indie bottler I like and a distillery I would like to like.

I'll get right down to it.  This one is a weirdo.  And I'm weirdo.  We're made for each other.  Out of the 20+ people at the whisky tasting, only two of us liked this whisky.  Most people REALLY didn't like it, which I can totally understand.  I could imagine someone tasting this and thinking, "This is totally wrong."

Well, if it's wrong, I do not want to be right.

(Like the others, I sampled 0.5 ounces neatly in a Glencairn glass.)

The color is a simple pinot grigio.  So this must have been a 12th-refill sherry cask.  The nose begins with roses, then goes to white pepper.  Slowly it gets sort of oaky, then very green vegetal.  Then there's the palate.  Sandy, chalky, clay, tree roots, and wet cigarettes.  It's almost smoky, but perhaps it's hot cracked white pepper meets a high ABV%.  It delivers a singular sizzle.  The finish is huge, full of that peppery thing and bunch of dark green vegetables.

My last note reads, "Me gusta!"

But you can see why this would get promptly spit/spilled out.  It's so strange.  Kind of haunting actually.  I need some closure.  I need a whole bottle of this stuff to sort things out.

Availability - Some liquor specialists
Pricing - SUPER at $70-$80 (almost the same price as the 13yr lower ABV Aberfeldy!)
Rating - 87 OKAY I'M WRONG, I BOUGHT A BOTTLE AND THE WHISKY IS DISGUSTING. *sob* I'M SORRY FOR THIS POSITIVE REVIEW. Please see this more accurate post. Cheers.

Part Three to follow soon...

Single Malt Report: Auchentoshan Three Wood

Here's the scene:

Exactly one month ago, I meet up with a friend for lunch at The Bowery, a Hollywood restaurant with a very impressive whisky selection -- about two to three dozen single malts.

So I go with the Auchentoshan Three Wood, figuring that it would be reasonably priced.  When the waiter tells how much it was going for, I was surprised.  Doesn't Auchentoshan tend to run a little cheaper?  But with the drink now in my hand, it's too awkward to turn down.

And, well, the pour is irresponsible.  It had to be about 4 ounces.  About 1/6th of a bottle.  Well okay then.  I'll drink it.  Luckily my friend is okay with taking a long lunch.  Like 2 hours.  I have a lengthy drive back to Long Beach that I'd prefer to do soberly.

So, the brandy snifter of whisky is in front of me.  A new issue arises.  Is this whisky?

It's a dark drink.  Really dark.  Like Newcastle dark.  Looks more like a brandy or cognac.  I give it a sip.  Brandy and cognac flavors.

I seriously wonder if this was what I ordered.  The waiter had me repeat "Auchentoshan" a couple of times, which is understandable.  But I decide not to make a weird thing of it and do tasting notes anyway.

Immediately after lunch, I pull up other online reviews of Auchentoshan Three Wood and sure enough, that's what I'd just been drinking.

---

Auchentoshan, which sounds roughly Germanic to my ears, is Gaelic for "corner of the field".  The distillery is right outside of Glasgow so, like Glenkinchie, it's a Lowland distillery.  It has a much better website than Glenkinchie, full of videos, pictures, and distillation descriptions.  It proudly flaunts its triple distillation process, though it is not the only "only Triple Distilled Single Malt In Scotland".  As I'd mentioned in the Glenkinchie post, normally Scottish single malts are distilled twice.  The classic Lowland style incorporates a third distillation of whisk(e)y (as usually done in Irish whiskies) which smoothens and lightens the malt texture considerably.

The distillery was founded in 1800 (though there are reports that 1825 was when it opened).  It was fully rebuilt after World War Two, then refurbished and overhauled when Morrison Bowmore bought it in 1984.

Auchentoshan has many official bottlings.  There's the very affordable Classic, which replaced the Select a couple years ago.  There's a 12 year, which replaced the 10 year in 2008.  There's an 18yr, a 21yr, a Bourdeaux-finished 11yr, and a cask-strengthed Valinch.  And then there's this Three Wood...

Distillery: Auchentoshan
Bottling: Triple Wood
Age: minimum 11 1/2 years
Maturation: 10yrs in American Oak, 1yr Oloroso sherry casks, 1/2 yr Pedro Ximenez sherry casks
Region: Lowlands (Western)
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

I'll get straight to the notes:

NEAT:
The color is very very dark brown with a bit of underlying rosiness.  Probably the darkest whisky I have every tried, with Oban's Distillers Edition being a close second.  Such a cognac-ish nose on this.  In fact it smells like cognac tastes.  There's some vanilla from the American Oak.  Rich sherry from......two different sherry casks.  And a squeeze of maple syrup.  The texture is very thick and heavy.  For the taste, here are my notes verbatim: "BIG NUTS, Big Vanilla, Big Amaretto, and a dollop of whip cream."  The finish was short but sweet and creamy.

WITH WATER, DOWN TO 30-32% ABV:
The cognac is gone from the nose.  Maple syrup and nougat is what remains.  The texture actually remains pretty thick through the added water.  The palate is all hazelnuts and almonds and Coca Cola.  The finish is short and quite chocolatey.

It sat very heavy in my stomach like a rich dessert.  While drinking it, I was reminded of a Petit Syrah as it's so dark and bursting with enormous flavors.  But it's the first time since I've started doing tasting notes that I could not find any malt in there at all.  Donde esta mi uisge beatha?

I don't expect every whisky to be peaty and smoky.  I don't expect every sherried whisky to taste like Macallan or Glenfarclas.  The range of flavors and scents derived from new make malt and oak casks is so broad that its exploration has just begun.

But still, this one left me wondering when does a whisky stop being a whisky?  The Three Wood follows the whisky production process; it was distilled in Scotland; it was from a single distillery.  So it is technically a single malt scotch.  But what a strange bulky being it is.

To prove I'm not crazy (Ed.: I'm always trying to prove this, am I not?) here are some notes from the big boys:

Jackson - "...the whisky struggles to assert itself among the woods..."
Valentin - "...frankly, this is a tad bizarre...Not unpleasant even if it’s still sort of a ‘strange mix’..."
Master of Malt - "...a rum-like quality and notes of Bas Armagnac..."

The bottle price since is double that of the Classic bottling, and 30% more than the 12yr.  I'm assuming that's due to the higher quality sherry casks.  Yet, it doesn't fare well when compared to other whiskies in and below its price range (including other malts released by Morrison Bowmore).

Here's a positive spin: If you don't like whisky, you might like this.  If you like brandies, cognacs, and amarettos this might be your thing.  It's probably DELICIOUS in highballs and mixed drinks.  Very desserty.  So as a liqueur it's not bad.  As a whisky, it's odd.

Pricing - $60-$65 - Huh?

Rating - 73