Bea's Birthday Booze: Seventieth Anniversary Malt 41 year old 1967 Duncan Taylor

Duncan Taylor & Company registered their cask brokerage business in 1938, and after passing from Scottish to American to Scottish ownership, they celebrated their 70th anniversary in 2008. To mark the occasion, their blenders created a vatted malt from two casks of 1967 vintage single malt, one from Glenfarclas and the other from Highland Park. At full strength, that combination turned out 375 bottles of 46.3%abv whisky. During a lovely quiet Taste Off this week, that 41 year old malt served as the aperitif to the Port Ellen that I reviewed on Wednesday.

Distilleries: Glenfarclas and Highland Park
Regions: Speyside and Orkney
Bottler: Duncan Taylor

Type: Blended Malt
Age: 41 years old (1967 - 2008)
Maturation: ???
Outturn: 375 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 46.3%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose starts with a mix of rope, brine, apple skins, and lemon cake in the front; barley, cinnamon, and rye bread in the back. After 40+ minutes, the whisky develops subtler notes pear juice, guava juice, and musty old cask.

Menthol, black walnuts, and toasty oak greet the palate first, followed by raw almonds, mint leaf, Good & Plenty candies, and tart apples.

The finish registers sweeter than the palate with sugary apples, apricots, and Good & Plenty. Bitter tobacco, bitter chocolate, and iron appear in later sips.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

A very modest whisky to bottle for the occasion, this 41yo is so gentle next to the 25yo Port Ellen, reading even lighter than its ABV, that I cannot bring myself to dilute it any further. I have a feeling that one of these casks was getting woody, while the other still offered a bit of youth, because those two sides separate here and there throughout the tasting. But it would still be a very nice everyday drinker, as one can appreciate the whisky's lack of bombast.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - ???
Rating - 86

Fail...er...Adventures in Blending: Improving Kilkerran Cask Strength, AGAIN

I love love love Kilkerran's Work In Progress (WIP) single malts, all of them. They're brilliant and possibly the best whisky being produced in Campbeltown at the time. The first batch of Kilkerran 12yo was also a more-than-worthy mate to Springbank 10yo. I'd grab another bottle if I could find one.

So I was very excited to hear that Glengyle distillery was going to release a series of age-stated cask strength Kilkerran batches. I bought a bottle of Batch 1, all ex-bourbon casks, as soon as it materialized. And it took me nearly five years to finish it. It just did not work. Despite being older than half of the WIPs, it read more immature than all of them, very hot and incomplete. I tried to spruce it up with some magical old Famous Grouse 18yo Malt, with mixed results.

In 2020 I tried Batch 4, which was all recharred sherry casks......and I wasn't wild about that one either, as its oak and sherry elements were completely out of balance with the spirit. Then, in 2023, I split a bottle of Batch 7, port casks, and that one went the wrong direction, full-tilt.

Thus I've lost interest in the cask strength batches, especially if Glengyle won't release batches with a mix of sherry and bourbon casks. They blended casks in the first four WIPs (younger whisky may I add) and knocked it out of the park each time.

But what if I did a little blending myself? Well, I did in 2022. And then completely forgot about it. So my two little ~35mL creations sat for 21 months, marrying or merging or cuddling. And now it's time to find out what resulted.

---

Vatting #1

1 part Kilkerran Work In Progress, Sixth Edition, sherry wood, ~10 years old, 46%abv

+

2 parts Kilkerran Cask Strength, Batch 1, bourbon casks, 8 years old, 56.2%abv

Full strength, 52.8%abv

Nose: Walnuts, honey, and oranges. Antiseptic, sandalwood, chocolate, and mild peat smoke.

Palate: Slight sooty with a bit of heat. Sweet oranges and Luxardo cherries.

Finish: Soot, oranges, hint of toffee.

Comments: NAILED IT. Oh wow, this keeps many of the best parts from WIP6, ditching the weakest elements of CS1.

Diluted to 46%abv

Nose: Toffee, almond butter, and date rolls. Peat smoke starts out quiet, then expands with time.

Palate: Weirdly bitter, with almonds and black pepper in the background.

Finish: Sweeter and less bitter than the palate.

Comments: The nose works. The palate does not. I'm surprised by how much it changed.

---

Vatting #2

10mL Kilkerran Cask Strength, Batch 4, re-charred sherry casks, 8 years old, 57.1%abv

+

25mL Kilkerran Cask Strength, Batch 1, bourbon casks, 8 years old, 56.2%abv

Full strength, 56.45%abv

Nose: Brine, barley(!), and almond extract, with hints of blossoms and industrial smoke stack.

Palate: Very floral and hot. Heavy peat. Tart lemons and a hint of soap in the background.

Finish: Floral, salty, sweet, and very peppery.

Comments: Very good nose, but everything else is out of whack.

Diluted to 46%abv

Nose: Brine, black currant jam, and piney peat.

Palate: Orange marmalade. Plenty sweet with gentler oak and peat.

Finish: Oranges, wood smoke, and a touch of bitterness.

Comments: Much better this way. I wish I had another ounce or two to ponder.

---

#1 at full strength is the obvious winner, though I'd be happy with a bottle of #2 at 46%abv. Both are complete whiskies, fashioned with dumb luck. I guarantee you that J&A Mitchell & Company's blenders have the stock and skillset to run circles around me, so why don't they give it a try? There's room to grow with this CS series, and I do not mean tequila casks. Kilkerran can still offer coffee-dark sherried or straw-light bourbon cask batches, while also dropping a masterful mix into the series once in a while. No finishes, just vattings. I know I'd buy it.

Old Perth 21 year old 1996 Blended Malt (54.9%abv)

One more sherried blended malt and then we can call it a week. Almost six years ago, I bought a bottle of Old Perth 21yo 1996 blindly. I'm not sure why I did that, but luckily the whisky was really good! A few years later, my friends, the Doctors Springbank, bought a 22yo 1996 Old Perth. Like the 21yo, it was a deeply hued sherry cask thing. The sample they provided has been sitting in my sample stash for nearly three years. Sorry, Doctors, for the delay!

pic source

Company: Morrison and Mackay
Brand: Old Perth

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: ???

Age: 22 years (1996-2018)
Maturation: single sherry cask, maybe a hogshead?
Outturn: 283 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 54.9%

NEAT

A big nose on this one, with orange marmalade, honey, oregano, leather, and something metallic right up front. Walnuts and dried currants in the back. There's an industrial side to the palate, with coal smoke and that metallic note. Black walnuts and tart citrus fill the middle, heat and a subtle woodiness stay in the background. It finishes with sweeter citrus, dried cherries, a little bit of smoke, and a lot of heat.

DILUTED to ~46%abv, or >1 tsp of water per 30mL whisky

The nose calms down and focuses on oranges, walnuts, applesauce, and canned peaches. Meanwhile the palate intensifies, now much oakier, pepperier, and sourer. And, curiously, hotter. It finishes with oranges, lemons, and tannins.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

My palate really prefers this one neat, thought it smells great either way. The whisky's lack of generic sherry cask notes, and the emphasis on citrus and walnuts, makes me think the vatting's ingredients were from bourbon casks, and the finishing vessel was seasoned with a particularly dry Oloroso. It's good, hearty stuff without water added, then gets consumed by the cask(s) once it's diluted. Keep it neat, and enjoy it during mild winter evenings!

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - was probably below £100 five years ago
Rating - 85 (neat only)

The Exclusive Blended Malt 40 year old 1977 Creative Whisky Company

Some of David Stirk's best Creative Whisky Company releases were his blends — I'd still love to track down a bottle of the 20yo 1994 blended malt someday somehow — so I recently leapt at the opportunity to be part of a bottle split of CWC's 40 year old 1977 vatting. This oldie came from sherry butts and I'm not sure of its ingredients nor its outturn. At 42.9%abv, some elements needed bottling/blending before they were no longer "whisky", but that doesn't mean it those parts were bad, they just needed some TLC ASAP, and CWC was able to provide that service. And now it's time to run that whisky through my liver.

Bottler: The Creative Whisky Company

Range: Exclusive Blends

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: ???

Age: minimum 40 years (1977 - 201?)

Maturation: sherry butts
Outturn: ???

Alcohol by Volume: 42.9%
(from a bottle split)

NEAT

It's like nosing the inside of a gorgeous old cask in a dunnage, an earthy, musty smell that cannot be rushed. The sherry leans towards Palo Cortado or drier Olorosos, so more nuts (walnuts, pecans, Brazils) are present than dried fruits. Candied orange peels sneak in around the edges.

Dunnage and mushroom-ish umami notes lead the palate, with yuzus and limes in the midground. Hints of dates, tobacco, and wormwood float through the background. Oak does edge in slowly over time, but it brings much more spice than generic bitterness.

The long finish offers cloves, dried mint, and yuzu juice, as well as hints of menthol and anise.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This would have been another great bottle to own, and that's not just because the whisky was old. A blend can indeed go wrong when its ingredients have three or four decades on them. The structure may become frail and/or woody bitterness can take over. This vatting was bottled just in time, before those problems set in. So it's extremely drinkable, never too sweet, never too bitter, and a delight to nose.

Up next, a 36 year old blend from another indie bottler...

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - I don't think it was much more than $300
Rating - 88

Bea's Birthday Booze: N.A.S. 30 year old Decadent Drinks

Deep within Signatory Vintage's Pitlochry warehouses, hidden in dark secret corners, casks filled with weird experiments await their freedom. We know this to be true now. Mr. Symington sold one of these mysteries to Mr. Sponge, who then bottled it for the (limited) world. I'll leave it to the Decadent Drinks site to describe their first N.A.S. (Notable Age Statement) release:

A single sherry butt of blended malt. This is vatted stock of numerous old Signatory cask samples and bottling run ends that was married and put into fresh sherry wood with a minimum age of 16 years old.

The composition is by now at least 30 years old, but contains within it many much, much older whiskies, many of which hail from closed distilleries and date back to the 1960s. We've bottled this butt at natural cask strength...

Despite all the raves written by Those Who Decide Things (TWDT), I had only moderate expectations for this vatting. TWDTs long for styles of whisky that are either extinct, or nigh on, so every hint of something resembling a whisky from another era causes tears to well in eyes and scores to find their way to 90+. The same thing happens here at Diving for Pearls, but my skepticism has calcified.

Yet I chose to drink it in honor of my younger daughter's birthday. Evidently, I'm an ass.

Bottler: Decadent Drinks (via Signatory Vintage)

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: ???????

Age: at least 30 years

Maturation: sherry butt
Outturn: ??? bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 45.1%
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose starts off beefy and leathery up front, with Highland peat, flowers, and shoe polish notes just behind. Then there are peaches, yuzus, band-aids, metal antiques, and a whiff of black coffee. There's even a dollop of toffee pudding (like a certain whisky sponge?).

Soil and dead leaves all over the palate. One of the earthiest whiskies that has ever touched this face. Tobacco, burlap, dried herbs, and the righteous tartness of unsweetened yuzu juice fill the midground. A metallic OBE note drifts through the background.

It remains intensely earthy through the finish. Cigarettes and soot arrive next, followed by umami and dried herbs.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

The nose is very good, but the palate wins me over. It's so earthy I've checked my glass twice to see if there's actual sediment present. Nope it's just the whisky. Mmmmmm, soil.

Even some very positive reviews described this 30yo as fragile, I find it quite the opposite. I've had enough low-ABV oldies (and newies) to know the feeling of a whisky that has gone delicate; this ain't it. Yeah, I wouldn't encourage adding water to this malt, but that's mostly because at full strength it's a bruiser, thick and powerful. What else ya got, Mr. Symington?

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 90

Things I Really Drink: Famous Grouse 18 year old Blended Malt (bottled in 2007)

Okay, I've been hiding this for years. I adore Famous Grouse 18 year old blended malt. Flawlessly assembled, FG18 had a better balance of sherry cask and malt than Macallan 18, and sometimes showed more complexity. It was also the perfect blending whisky. Drop it into anything, or drop anything into it, and you'll announce your brilliance after the first sip. Johnnie Walker hasn't had anything like this for at least forty years.

I know this is a super hot take, considering Edrington stopped producing this whisky almost a decade ago. But you know me, always relevant. It wasn't until FG18 was discontinued and stores were trying to get rid of it that I discovered the stuff, around seven years ago, for the price of $49.99. Eighteen-year-old sherried non-Kirkland single malt for fifty bucks? Yes please. I had three bottles. One remains.

Using Edrington's old convoluted bottle code (detailed in this Highland Park post), I figured out that all three of my FG18s were bottled in 2007. Considering that date, here are some possible ingredients: Bunnahabhain, Glengoyne, Glenturret, Glenrothes, Macallan, and Highland Park, all quite sherried.

Here are some tasting notes that are probably quite useless.

Brand: The Famous Grouse

Ownership: The Edrington Group

Type: The Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Age: minimum 18 years
Maturation: mostly sherry casks

Bottle code: L0968G L8 21/11 16:39

Bottling year: 2007
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? Probably
e150a? Probably

(from my bottle)

NOTES

The nose notes arrive in groups: Almonds in toffee. Dark chocolate and dried cherries. Manuka honey and a whiff of musty dunnage. Hints of manure, smoke, and walnuts in the distance.

The palate has a layer of figs, plums, sultanas, and tingly citrus on top. Almond flour, bitter herbs, and lightly toasted oak assemble in the middle. Earth, minerals, and hay highlight the background.

The moderately sweet and tart finish lasts longer than expected, with plums, dried apricots, bitter herbs, and floral sake(!) drifting and drifting and drifting...

WORDS WORDS WORDS

It's delicious, and does anything else matter? It's also surprisingly bold for a filtered 43%abv production, so the blenders must have included plenty of lovely, possibly older, casks in the mix. Can you imagine Edrington dumping those gems into a blend today?! Yes, I'm certainly leaning on too many superlatives right now, but FG18 has been so reliable, and become so familiar, that I can't just say, "yeah, it's a very good blended malt" without waxing romantic a little bit. It's a whisky of the past, and yeah, it's a very good blended malt.

Availability - maybe somewhere out there
Pricing - ???
Rating - 88

Campbeltown Blended Malt 5 year old 2014 Thompson Brothers

When I review a blended malt, it's usually an old whisky. Today I'll review a wee one, all of 5 years old, from the Brothers Thompson. The label has a busy looking Japanese noodle dish (complete with Narutomaki!) and the magic word, "Campbeltown". I've never had ramen on Kintyre (or at Dornoch), but maybe someday...

This whisky toddler was fashioned from two refill hoggies, bearing single malt whiskies from at least one of the three Campbeltown distilleries, and was reduced to 50%abv, possibly for our safety.

(pic source)

Bottler: Thompson Brothers

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: in Campbeltown

Age: 5 years (2014 - 2019)

Maturation: 2 refill hogsheads
Outturn: 816 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 50%
(thank you Doctors Springbank!)

NOTES

Apple and pear juices comprise the nose's clean and bright base, with yeast, moss, and brine layered on top. Notes of anise, wood smoke, and sweaty socks develop with time.

The palate starts with lots of earth and malt, with gentler smoke and sweetness in the back. Salty and peppery Mexican chocolate and bitter orange peels complete the scene.

There's more earth and salt than smoke in the finish, with passing notes of chocolate malt, yuzu, and lemon offering softer character.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Nine times out of 10 I'll complain about whiskies bottled at 3-7 years old, but this blended malt is among the 10% exception. No one will tell you it's not "young", but its earth and fruits arrive and mingle well. The whisky is very drinkable when neat, and sold for a reasonable (in this market) sum upon its release. I do think this could have been fantastic at 2-3 times its age, but it also would have been 4-6 times the price. If you've made a highball out of this whisky, please let me know!

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - €40-50?
Rating - 84

Vega 40 year old 1977 blended malt, North Star Spirits

The North Star Spirits Quartet wraps up with the eldest, a 40 year old blended malt from 1977. It's un-Sirius in that it had a small outturn (400) and was built from sherry cask whiskies. Yet it possesses a matching ABV, 43.1%abv. I'm curious to see if the different casks and extra time gave it more oomph than the 31yo vatting, pushing it into the 90+ point arena.

This is 40

Company: North Star

Range: Vega

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: in Scotland

Age: 40 years (October 1977 - January 2018)

Maturation: "Spanish and American oak"
Outturn: 400 700mL bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 43.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? No
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

The nose feels like old Glenfarclas. Dunnage, furniture polish, antique stores, carob, cloves, dates, very dark chocolate, pipe tobacco, dried currants, dried blueberries and on and on and on.

Meanwhile, the palate is reminiscent of 1970s Johnnie Walker Black Label, but a little thinner and less peaty. There's dust and dunnage and a dash of gooey paxarette. Bitter citrus peels and dried apricots in the middle. A hint of pipe tobacco in the background.

Bold bitterness dances with moderate sweetness in the finish. Baking chocolate meets brown sugar? Hints of clementines and dried apricots drift in the distance.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Though this one is sure to win more fans, I may pick Sirius over this Vega. I will not dispute the utter joy in the whisky's nose. The glories of the casks' old age do not carry over to the palate as the vessels have long overtaken the spirit they'd carried.

(Considering the raves this whisky has received, I drank the second half of the sample while typing up my notes, just to make sure I wasn't crazy. While I can't guarantee my sanity, I can say Vega's finish is shorter and simpler than any other 40+ year old whisky I've tried. Again I wonder if one of the two(?) casks involved had dropped below 40%abv.)

Availability - It might still exist in Europe, or the night sky (recycled joke)
Pricing - somewhere between €400 and €600, maybe?
Rating - 86 (gorgeous nose, though)

Sirius 31 year old 1988 blended malt, North Star Spirits

North Star Spirits Week continues. The 11 year old Caol Ila was terrific, while the 20 year old Clynelish was hard to get a handle on, just beyond reach, slipping beyond my grasp. And so on.

Today it's a 31 year old blended malt, distilled in 1988. I'm unsure of its ingredients, but with its large outturn and 43.1%abv cask strength, Sirius likely included a number of casks that had dropped below the legal strength. That's not a problem as long as the whisky tastes good and the price is under €200. The latter was true. Time to check out the former.

This is Sirius.

Company: North Star

Range: Cask Series 009

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: in Scotland

Age: 31 years (1988-2019)
Maturation: first fill bourbon barrels
Outturn: 3,582 700mL bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 43.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? No
(from a bottle split)

NOTES

Immediately, the nose brings to mind milk chocolate bubbling in a double boiler. Then cassis and Good 'n Plenty candies. Hay and charred corn drift through the background. It gets fruiter with time, gaining nectarines, honeydew, creamsicles and roses. Something slightly meaty too.

The palate first registers medicinal with toasted oak spices around the sides. But then it goes to dessert. Vanilla ice cream, peaches, plums and yuzu candy. Very gentle, though, so I won't add water.

It finishes with lots of honey, peaches and bitter lemon soda.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Sirius would be a great casual sipper, and I do mean casual. That's no sin, but if its ABV went any lower the palate and finish would vaporize. Frankly, it's more like ...... Canis Minor.  *wink*

When I tasted this whisky, I thought it was a blend of refill sherry casks, specifically due to the nose notes but, alas, first fill American oak barrels were its homes for more than three decades. In any case, I really like the style. Sadly we can't expect a matching sequel batch at a higher strength, but perhaps another North Star blended malt...

Availability - It might still exist in Europe, or the night sky
Pricing - less than €200
Rating - 87

Things I Really Drink: Compass Box Orchard House blended malt

Time for the monthly TIRD! The first two TIRDs were of the blended whisky sort, while this one is a blended malt produced by a brand I used to hold in high regard.

If you ever get a chance to meet or watch John Glaser you'll immediately notice the man's patrician style. At first his elegance shone through in his brand's crisp, clean graphic design, and high quality whiskies in the $40-$60 range. But, Compass Box was never going to stop there. Familiarity was a starting point. Luxury malt was the destination.

This sort of observation has been aired previously by Bozzy and Whisky Monster, so I'm not breaking any new ground here. 2017's Three Year Old Deluxe and This is Not a Luxury Whisky names were a good chuckle, but their price tags were much higher than previous limited editions, and they began to make Glaser's quarrel with the SWA start to feel like a marketing scheme. Then, around 2019-2020, CB's limited releases came flying out at an almost monthly rate, which finally caused the bespoke hand-carved Compass Box sign to fall off its gently rusted hook inside my whisky brain. Did you follow that metaphor? I didn't.

It took last year's arrival of Orchard House, the standard range's newest member, for my interest to reawaken. Orchard House's marketing materials describe it as a "Fruit-Forward & Spirit-Driven" whisky. Its ingredients are approximately:

39% ~8 year old Linkwood from first-fill bourbon barrels
29% ~8 year old Clynelish from first-fill bourbon barrels
20% ~8 year old Benrinnes from first-fill bourbon barrels
8% ~6 year old Aberlour from "Revatted Oloroso Sherry-Seasoned Butt"
2% ~8 year old Caol Ila from first-fill bourbon barrels
2% ~10 year old blend of Glen Moray, Balmenach and Tomatin aged in heavily charred French Oak

I like Fruit-Forward & Spirit-Driven whiskies, and this mix sounded nice, so I split a bottle of Orchard House with my buddy, Dr. Springbank.

Brand: Compass Box

Type: Blended Malt

Age: see above

Maturation: see above

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chill-filtered? No

Added colorant? No
(from a 50/50 bottle split)

NOTES

The nose begins with unripened stone fruits, saline, cardamom and vanilla. Barley and candle wax fill the middle. Hints of band-aids, pickle brine and circus peanut candy keep the background lively.

A surprising raw heat roars loudest in the early palate. Once that peels away, the whisky turns floral and sweet. Some malt and tart limes appear occasionally. A woody bitterness appears later, alongside brown butter and salt.

It finishes very tangy and floral, with hints of cayenne pepper and salt around the edges.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

This is the first time I've been disappointed by a Compass Box blended malt. Yes, it was at times spirit-driven, but those first-fill casks still appear in awkward places. Unlike Spice Tree and Peat Monster, Orchard House doesn't feel like a complete piece. Even the company's blended whiskies, which fall far short of their malt cousins, arrive as a single unit on the palate. Thus, for the senses, Orchard House doesn't fit the Compass Box house style.

It's also not that fruity. Though I do list limes in the palate notes, I frequently find lime notes in young malts. What it's missing is the orchard. Where are the apples, pears, or ripe stone fruits?

I ended up drinking most of my half bottle on the rocks, which I've never done with a Compass Box blended malt. Not only will I not purchase a full bottle, I'm concerned about the current quality of the rest of their standard range.

Availability - Europe and the US
Pricing - $50-$60
Rating - 78

Glencoe 8 year old Blended Malt

And so......I begin with Glencoe?

Glencoe:

• is produced by Ben Nevis Distillery
• is sold at the distillery
• was sold on the distillery's official site
• now bears the same bottle and label design as Ben Nevis's single malt range
• was created by the MacDonalds who also founded the distillery

It's Ben Nevis, but not 100% Ben Nevis. Glencoe IS a pure vatted blended malt made up of Ben Nevis and (allegedly) only one other distillery. It's bottled at a burly 58%abv, has loads of sherry cask influence and an actual age statement. And can be found for £40. It's also not swill.

Two years ago, I bought my bottle with the old style label for less than $60 (in total), then opened it for Killing Whisky History, Episode 30, this past March. It's not a casual summer sipper, so the fill level is just below the halfway point as I begin this tasting.

Ownership: Ben Nevis Distillery Ltd.
Brand: MacDonald's Glencoe

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: Ben Nevis plus one other distillery (probably)

Age: 8 years
Maturation: sherry casks and bourbon casks
Alcohol by Volume: 58%
Chillfiltered? Probably not
Color added? No

(from my bottle)

NEAT
Big raisiny sherry notes lead off the nose with hints of gunpowder and seaweedy peat in the background. It picks up Werther's Originals and grape jam with time. The palate proves more complex than the nose. It starts with raisiny sherry, then adds on tart oranges and lemons, minerals, tart apples and a hint of rosewater. It finishes with dried cranberries, stones, cayenne pepper and tart citrus.

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

Somehow the nose becomes hotter and tighter, but the sherry element recedes as citrus and apples advance. The pleasant but simple palate holds raisins, peppercorns, mint and honey. It sweetens with time, as does the finish with its honey, oranges and nuts.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Though it's more approachable when diluted, Glencoe shows more depth at full strength. And while it'll never be as pretty as the more familiar, more expensive, sherried cask strength NAS single malts, it has a dirtier edge which makes it more fun for folks with a palate similar to mine. And I think it's safe to attribute the earthy, mineral, peat-ish side to its Ben Nevis content. A good value if you can buy it in Europe.

Availability - Many European whisky specialists
Pricing - £40-£50
Rating - 84

Killing Whisky History, Episode 30: MacDonald's Glencoe Malt Whisky, two bottles a half-century apart

Well, I'm home. And you're probably home too. And home is where the whisky is. 'Tis a wonder it took only two weeks for a Killing Whisky History episode to be birthed.

Because of the times, this episode is a little light on history but heavy on alcohol. To be more specific, there are two bounteous pours from freshly opened MacDonald's Glencoe Blended Malts. Ben Nevis malt is at the heart of both whiskies, one is a mini from the '60s/'70s, the other is a 750mL bottle from the late Teens.

Please enjoy, THE BOMB SHELTER EDITION.

Old Perth 21 year old 1996 Blended Malt (55.1%abv)

I first saw Old Perth whisky at Shinanoya in Tokyo last summer. There were a half dozen bottlings, all blended malts, most hitting 46%abv, others cask strength. None had an age statement. I'd never heard of Old Perth before, and thought they might be a brand produced specifically for the Asian market.

Then I came back to the states to find European retailers selling Old Perth, many of which had age statements and vintages. And according to Morrison and Mackay, the brand owners, that brand has been kicking since 2013. So I'm behind on this, like most current whisky news.

I'd read heresay that one of the 21 year old sherry cask Perths was mostly Glen Grant with a little bit of peaty Islay malt. But it was unclear which release that pertained to. There were 55.1%abv, 55.2%abv and 55.4%abv 21yo releases, as well as a 55.4%abv 20yo release.

As some of you may know, I do NOT like buying whisky blindly. But I wanted something that was twenty years old, deeply sherried, cask strength and under $100. Hah! Good luck, right? But the 55.1%abv 21yo Old Perth fit the bill.

Company: Morrison and Mackay
Brand: Old Perth

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: Scottish, and that's all I know

Age: 21 years (1996-2017)
Maturation: a single sherry something
Outturn: 335
Alcohol by Volume: 55.1%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? No

NEAT
This thing has the one of the darkest colors of any whisky I've owned. What will that mean for the rest of it? Unexpectedly, the nose leads with honey, green apples, cantaloupe and orange oil. Then comes toffee, Hershey's milk chocolate and a moderate bit of toasted oak. Salty almonds in caramel. It gets a tiny bit woodier with time, while picking up hints of both vanilla and ground mustard seed. The INTENSE palate starts off with ginger, lemon candy and wood smoke. But its spiciness takes the fore throughout. There's black pepper, lemon pepper, cloves and something savory. In the mid- to background, there are limes, tropical fruit juice and Cherry Coke. No generic raisins or prunes. Plenty of spiciness (cloves and dried ginger) carries through the long, warm finish; as does the non-specific tropical fruit stuff. A few wisps of the wood smoke too.

Hoo, that's a big drink. Time to water it down.

DILUTED TO 46%ABV, or 1.25tsp water per 30mL whisky
The nose keeps much of its intensity, but shifts focus. There are dried apricots, lemons, vanilla and the same measure of toasted oak. Now there's cocoa powder, musty basement and a salty seaweedy note. The palate calms and simplifies. Less smoke. A mild fruity sweetness. More tangy citrus. Bitter chocolate, ginger, limes and a whack of chili oil. It finishes smoky, tangy and a little sweet. Ginger and pepper. Lots of limes.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
No, you're not imagining things. All three of my reviews this week were of my own bottles. I don't think I've ever done that, and probably never will again due to how many months it takes me to drink through a single bottle. But wow! Okay, moving on.

Can't tell if this was the batch that was Glen Grant + Islay. The smoke/peat comes across more Highland or Island, but that could just be the mix. Other than the arrival of a seaweed note in the diluted version, the phenolics read more like wisps of wood smoke more than anything else.

I like the lack of raisins and prunes. Not that those particular dried fruits are a problem, but they can be over-prevalent in the bottlings of many popular official sherried whiskies. The cask shows its activity in other ways, specifically with all those spices. But there's no sawdust, no woody bitterness and vanilla levels stay low.

No complaints about the nose, at all. The is palate is quite good, but had it had a bigger fruit nose to lift it out of the darkness, then it'd be looking at a 90+ (or A or 4-star) grade. As it stands it's a dark, intense thing, more suitable for colder weather than the summer. The 20+ year old cask strength sherry options are nearly nil at this price point, so I'm pretty happy with my purchase.

Availability - Europe
Pricing - Still kinda possible to put it in a good-sized order and keep its per-bottle price near or below $100
Rating - 87

Fail...er...Adventures in Blending: Improving Kilkerran Cask Strength?

It pains me to write this, but I was disappointed by the first batch of Kilkerran 8yo Cask Strength. I'd waited and waited for them to release something like it. Then they did, and I bought it. And I found it to be just fine, which is (for me) a letdown because I'm very big fan of their whiskies. Also, the key to making it "just fine" was by diluting the whisky down to 46%abv, which is the strength of their regular releases. Yet, even then it wasn't as good as their regular releases.

At the end of my review of that whisky, I said it "could have used a small percentage of the distillery's good sherry casks to lift it up a bit". After additional sips, I realized it was so raw that perhaps it needed some sherried whisky with more age and less alcohol. This called for my new blending friend: Famous Grouse 18 year old blended malt.

While visiting another one of these United States this year, I found the oldest of the vatted Grouse on clearance for $49.99. So I scooped one up and opened it immediately (but not in the parking lot).

I'll review it on its own another time, but I'll say here that it's deeply sherried and very approachable. As it was bottled in 2011, it contains quality ingredients from the early nineties, possibly Macallan and Highland Park, though more likely it's mostly Glenturret.

Its individual parts were chosen for blending purposes so that the end result would be a good blend. And that good blend, in turn, seems to blend well when applied to other whiskies. Would it work with the fiery Campbeltown youngster?

---

I made two vattings and let them marry for three months. A Vegas marriage, if you will. Here's the resulting Taste Off:

K8CS - Kilkerran 8yo Cask Strength batch 1, full power (56.2%abv)
K46 - Kilkerran 8yo Cask Strength batch 1, diluted to 46%abv
KILL GROUSE, THE YOUNGER - (4:1) 4 parts K8CS to 1 part Famous Grouse 18yo (53.6%abv)
KILL GROUSE, THE ELDER - (2:1) 2 parts K8CS to 1 part Famous Grouse 18yo (51.8%abv)

K8CS
Nose - Yeasty, bready. Citronella candles and fresh apricots. Simple peat. A hint of raspberries.
Palate - Very hot. Sweet and malty. Unsmoked tobacco, chocolate milk, black peppercorns, yeast and paper.
Finish - Heat, peppercorns, sugar, yeast and paper.
Commentary: I'm sad to report that this bottle has gotten less interesting in the eight months it's been opened. While it's of interest to try something that seems like a barely legal Glengyle, it's not worth more than one try at full strength.

K46
Nose - Cocoa, flowers, a few more fruits. Dough and wet cardboard. It fades fast, becoming just yeast and peat.
Palate - Still hot, though creamier and peatier. Peppery and grainy. Hints of tobacco and flowers. Fades quickly here too.
Finish - Hot sauce and apples. Sense memory: unflavored prescription cough medicine from the '80s.
Commentary: My notes here are different than they were in the November review. The dilution also doesn't work as well as it did before. It's still a minor improvement over the neat version.

KILL GROUSE, THE YOUNGER
Nose - Very fudgy. Some dunnage notes and funkier peat. Mixed berry jam. How about brownies with a raspberry ribbon?
Palate - Starts with honey, oranges and lots of fresh ginger. But then the K8's heat comes blasting in. It turns tangy and peppery. With port-like berries and pretzels?
Finish - A gingery sizzle on the tongue. Tangy and sour citrus. Pepper. Less heat.
Commentary: It's an improvement. It's also sort of a mess on the palate. The nose works though. Fascinating how just a little bit of the 43%abv 18yo malt totally turned the nose around.

KILL GROUSE, THE ELDER
Nose - More grapes. Cocoa and baked blueberries. The peat fades into a soil-like note. Chocolate malt, nougat, graphite and a hint of lime.
Palate - Softer heat and more graceful peat. Limes, berries, light florals, milk chocolate. Mothballs. Less ginger. A bit winey at times.
Finish - Big. Ginger, pepper, citrus candy and peat.
Comments: Best mouthfeel and longest finish of the foursome. It's the closest to a complete product, though again the theoretically thinned out older malt still knocks the younger stuff right over in the mix. More of the 18yo would have hidden the Kilkerran entirely. Though that's not the worst thing, it also wouldn't result in a balanced blend.

KILL GROUSE, THE ELDER wins the battle, and that was entirely due to the surprisingly muscular Famous Grouse 18yo malt. But. Kilkerran Work in Progress editions 5 through 7 (all woods) would beat all four of these contestants by some margin. So I'm going to steer clear of the Kilkerran CSes until they pick up some age or a few sherry casks.

Rattray's Selection Batch No. 1, 19 year old Blended Malt

I was really excited when this whisky appeared on shelves in early 2012. Of course, back then I was enthusiastic about every new release. My cynicism was but a dewy glaze at the time, having not yet hardened into an opaque shell.

But I also liked all the Rattray single casks I'd had. The Bowmores were great. The Auchentoshans were.......fascinating. Plus this vatted malt was bottled at cask strength.

My interest waned when I saw the $90-$100 price tag. No other blended malt at the time was priced that high and there was no way to try the whisky before buying. Four years later, many of these bottles were still on retailers' shelves. By then, whisky prices had swollen. A 19 year old cask strength malt under $100 was now a bargain. And when batch two arrived — with mostly low-demand malts in its makeup — it was priced at $150. So, when I found a shop trying to rid itself of batch 1 for $79.99 I nabbed a bottle for an upcoming private whisky event.

Ingredients:
Auchentoshan 1991 sherry butt #495
Balblair 1990 sherry butt #1142
Benriach 1989 sherry butt #50064
Bowmore 1991 sherry butt #2073
55.8%abv

Upon opening, the whisky was difficult, tasting like steel wool in liquid form. Thus it wasn't terribly popular at the event. But it changed with time. This sample is from the second half of the bottle.

NEAT
The nose is great! Molasses, toffee pudding, salty air and a moderate Highlands-like peat. Then apple pastry, baklava and banana pudding. There's something 'old whisky' about it. Yes, I know that's vague. The palate has a thick, oily texture. At times cigar smoke; other times it's sooty herbal smoke. Lots of salt and toasted oak spice (nutmeg?). Flowers and fried plantains. A hint of dish soap. It finishes warm, sweet and salty. A little acidic, a little bitter. The oak notes expand. Dish soap. Ashy peat lingers the longest.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv
Beautiful old sherry notes on the nose. Damp tobacco, salty toffee. Rich honey, ocean air and delicate peat. The palate is much different than the nose. Bitter smoke, lots of pepper. Hints of soap and toasted oak spice. Lemons, shortbread and butterscotch. It finishes with oak spice, salt, soap, fruity sherry and tart citrus.

DILUTED TO ~40%abv
The sherry notes get even heavier in the nose, though so does an acetate note. Cherry candy and caramel popcorn. Thankfully the acetate fades out. The palate is woody and sweet. More vanilla, more pepper oil. Less soap, less peat. It finishes similar to the palate.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Firstly: How grand is that nose? Very grand. It shifts gears nicely when diluted just a little, too.

Secondly: The soap. I'm apparently hypersensitive to soap notes. No one else has found that characteristic in this whisky. So if you ignore the s-word, you may see some positive palate descriptors. Because I can't ignore the s-word, it took a lot of time to see/taste past it. So the palate can't compete with the nose, for me.

Two weeks ago, Jordan reviewed a sample pulled from around the same part of my bottle. He liked the whisky quite a bit. We found many similar characteristics to it, but he enjoyed it more because......no soap. Ralfy liked it too, and no soap for him. So, I'm a putz, I guess.

Because of its age and full strength, Batch 1's original $90-$100 pricing no longer looks as crappy as it once did. And, as Jordan mentions in his review, it would be great to see more moderately-peated, well-aged blended malts like this out here in The States.

Availability - US and European retailers once upon a time
Pricing - anywhere between $90 and $125, if you can find it

Rating - 83 (if not for the soap, this would've been in the high 80s)

Japanese Whisky? Nikka Pure Malt White

On Monday I pondered the definition of Japanese whisky. On Tuesday, I reviewed a whisky blended in Japan, by a Japanese producer, which may have had Scottish-distilled malt in it. The whisky was Nikka Pure Malt Black, and nowhere on its labels was the phrase "Japanese Whisky". Today, I'm reviewing one of its siblings.

---

I'd always thought Nikka Pure Malt White was supposed to have had Caol Ila in it. With no idea where I'd originally heard that rumor, I did some googling. I found a couple European retailers claiming there was Caol Ila in the mix. At least a dozen bloggers' reviews say the same. Nonjatta references the CI rumor, but states quite plainly: "This one, the white, is a bit different: it is based on whisky from Islay in Scotland." The comment section in Whiskynotes's review furthers this discussion. But there's no official source for any of this.

But then there's The Whisky Exchange 2015 interview with Nikka's European brand ambassador, Sayumi Oyama:

"[On rumours there is Ben Nevis in Nikka Pure Malt White] We try to use only Japanese whisky, but I think today it is necessary to use malt from other countries."

First off, what Ben-Nevis-in-Pure-Malt-White rumors are they talking about? The Ben Nevis rumors were about Pure Malt Black. The White rumors were regarding Islay malt.

Secondly, I'd say the brand ambassador's answer is a big YES. About something.

Like Pure Malt Black, there's no reference to "Japanese Whisky" on the Pure Malt White bottle. So what is it?

It's remarkable.

---

Ownership: Nikka
Brand: Pure Malt
Type: Blended Malt
Region: Japan (and others?)
Distilleries: Miyagikyo and Yoichi (and others?)

Age: ???

Maturation: ???
Bottling code: 6/02E400907

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

TASTING NOTES
Avert your eyes. Loquacity approaches.

The nose spins orange peel, mint leaves, dried apricots, almond cookies and damp peat smoke together. Beach air, black licorice, green apples and Kasugai peach candy. A box of Werther's Originals in a dusty closet.

The palate has an consistent undercurrent of baking spices and mizunara(?) wood spice. An exotic smoked sea salt. Umeboshi (yes, that again) and plum wine. A light cherry candy sweetness. Hints of burlap, eucalyptus and malt.

There's a lovely fresh herb and Kilkerran-like forest floor (flor?) combination in the finish, which meets up with a mineral note. The smoky sea salt finds equilibrium with a subtle sweet note. And then at the end of end, a moment of OBE-esque funk.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Yes. I opened this bottle up on Sunday night, took my first sip and said, "Oh. Oh this is fabulous." And I don't say things like that.

What it reminds me of is not Caol Ila or any other Islay malt, but rather Yoichi. Good Yoichi. The Yoichi that corrupted some of us before the age-stated stuff went out of production and quintupled in price. Yet, Pure Malt White also has big time fruit notes on the nose and curious spices everywhere.

Because it's not a cask strength thing, Pure Malt White works best when a father captures a rare silent moment. I won't call it meditative (because it's whisky) but it needs quiet.

I don't know how they did it, nor why no one in Scotland has been able to design a standard blended malt of this quality. At 43%abv.

PLEASE NOTE: I have seen Pure Malt White's reviews around the internet and they all make me look totally insane. So please just pass this review off as hyperbolic nonsense. That's okay. Let me cuddle up within my madness.

Availability - A dozen or so European shops, unsure about its status in Japan
Pricing - $60-$100 in Europe (w/shipping, 500mL bottle)
Rating - 90

Japanese Whisky? Nikka Pure Malt Black

On Monday I wrote about the knotty state of Japanese whisky. Today I'm reviewing the first of three Nikka whiskies which may or may not contribute to that industry's mishmash.

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That Nikka uses Ben Nevis's malt whisky in their Japanese-produced whiskies is no secret. From the Malt Whisky Yearbook 2016:

Ben Nevis is an important supplier of whisky for the owner's (Nikka) blends and for 2015, 50% of the newmake will be sent directly to Japan, primarily to be part of the popular blend, Nikka Black.

Now Nikka Black, or rather Black Nikka, is a blended whisky that's found in probably every corner liquor store and Seven-Eleven in Japan. And there's been a whole series of spinoffs and special blends baring its name over the years. But Black Nikka is not Nikka Pure Malt Black.

Nikka Pure Malt Black is an all malt blend, or vatted malt or blended malt. There has long been a rumor that Pure Malt Black contains Ben Nevis malt amongst its ingredients, but where and when that rumor started, I don't know. And though it is blended in Japan and the bottle exhibits more kanji than English characters (because it is made in Japan), it does not list "Japanese Whisky" anywhere on its labels. So I can't say if there's any subterfuge going on here.

In all my liquor store scouring in Japan this year, I found only one store with Nikka Pure Malt Black in stock. The 500mL bottle was all of $25 (with a great exchange rate). The product can also be purchased from a dozen European retailers for at least twice that price (with shipping).

---

Ownership: Nikka
Brand: Pure Malt
Type: Blended Malt
Region: Japan (and others?)
Distilleries: Miyagikyo and Yoichi (and others?)

Age: ???

Maturation: ???
Bottling code: 6/04G420907

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

TASTING NOTES
The nose starts off mossy and leafy. Nutty liqueur and cherry bubblegum. Fudge and a young-Ledaig-ish peat. With time it picks up lemons and clementines. Dried lavender and umeboshi. The autumnal palate is leafy and lightly sweet. Tobacco and vanilla ice cream. Key lime pie and an ethyl bite. The peat is softer here than on the nose, reading as hints of soot and antiseptic. It gets sweeter and tangier with time. The finish is simple and sweet. Vanilla, limes, ginger beer. Almost no peat.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Picture a mix of Johnnie Walker Black Label and the former Yoichi NAS, but better. Some parts feel young, and others oaky, but none are too loud. There are subtle sherry cask notes, and the peat doesn't overwhelm. I can't tell if there really is Ben Nevis or any other scotch whisky present, but I do think <10yo Yoichi pulls most of the weight. Ultimately it's a well blended thing and I like it.

Availability - Some Japanese retailers and a dozen or so European shops
Pricing - $25ish in Japan, $50-$80 in Europe (w/shipping)
Rating - 84

Good Blend: Exclusive Blended Malt 20 year old 1994 (50%abv edition)

Long time reader (all one of you!) knows I'm a straight-shooter (I can't believe I just wrote that) when it comes to the Creative Whisky Company (CWC). The last time I reviewed one of David Stirk's products, I caught a bit of heat. Will today's post get me into a different flavor of trouble?

During the June 2016 Malt Nuts event, I tried 18 different "Old and Older" blends. My top three favorites were all blends by CWC. And the best was one was a particular 20 year old blended malt. A year later — and you know a whisky's good when you're still thinking about it a year later — I chose this same blended malt to sneak in amongst a bunch of single malts during a whisky event I was hosting here in Columbus. Though I'd found the whisky for $80-something, all other US retailers were selling it for $100+. Anyway, it was my pleasure to share it with some great folks.

Once again, I was too flaky to remember to take a bottle pic. But I do have a photo of what's now left of my two ounce bottle of leftovers:

Company: Creative Whisky Company
Brand: Exclusive Malts

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: from the Highlands and Speyside

Age: 20 years (1994-2014)
Maturation: first fill ex-sherry butt(s)
Alcohol by Volume: 50%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? No

NEAT
The rich nose is more complex than I'd remembered it to be. There's dark chocolate, lots of stone fruits (especially apricots), honeydew, toffee and Ovaltine. Some French oak-like spices around the sides. It has a edgier side to it as well, with horse barn and salty beach air. With time in the glass, the toffee notes swells, while milk chocolate and oranges roll in. The sherry in the palate is lightly sweet here and there, though dry more often. Some raisin and prune. Orange peel, molasses, nutmeg and cloves. Giving it some air heightens the citrus and brings out fresh plums. The long, warm finish has toasted oak, citrus, black raisins, fudge and a slight mintiness.

Lovely stuff. But since I like to try to ruin everything, I'm adding some water...

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
I dare say the nose gets prettier. Apple skins, Ceylon cinnamon, honey, plums and roses. Just a passing hint of gunpowder. Lemons fresh off the tree. The palate has more nuts, fewer raisins. Good mix of sweet and spice. Honey, dried cherries and a little bit of malt. The milder finish reflects the palate, with additional hints of soot and tart fruit.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Monday's bad blend and today's good blend were both better than my previous impressions. In fact, this blended malt is wonderful. I declare this my favorite CWC whisky yet.

The fresh fruit in the nose and the baking spices in the palate are terrific. The very subtle peating shows up at all the right times. (Ardmore or Benromach or olde Glen Garioch?) It dilutes nicely as well. The good cask action is preferable to most of the Glendronach single casks I've tried.

Reviews of this whisky are scarce. In fact it's not even listed in Whiskybase. There's a 51.4% European version, but that appears to be a different creature. Nonetheless, I enjoyed this whisky tremendously. Damn good work, Mr. Stirk.

Availability - It's around, kinda
Pricing - good luck finding it for less than $100
Rating - 90

Speyside 13 year old 2001 Blended Malt, Archives

Aiming for my week with the few pageviews as I report on another blended malt. This time, this one has been sold out for two years! On Monday I reviewed a Islay-only vatting, today I'm reviewing a Speyside-only vatting.

According to Whiskybase Shop's description, this whisky was blended, or left to marry, in a sherry butt in 2001. From what I gather from the description, two of the single malts were distilled well before 2001, while the third malt had been distilled in 2001. Thus the 2001 vintage. That makes sense so far. What's curious is the butt's final bottle outturn (of 180) is about 1/3rd of what one would expect after 13 years. And the abv is all of 44.7%. One answer to the second quandary is that the older malts, or rather "leftovers", were sub-40%abv malt spirit at the time of the marriage, and the new make lifted the % up into the legal category. As for the outturn, I dunno, unless it's a shared cask. If you have any ideas, please share in the comment section below.

We selected this whisky for an OCSC event once upon a time. This sample was pulled from this bottle.

Company: Whiskybase
Brand: Archives

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: Three Speyside-only distilleries (perhaps Glenfarclas, Glenrothes and Tamdhu?)

Age: at least 13 years old (October 2001 - March 2015)
Maturation: sherry butt
Cask: 117
Bottles: 180
Alcohol by Volume: 44.7%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? No

NEAT
Its color is copper. The nose starts with a simple nutty oloroso, then apples and pears. Hints of leather and plastic toys. Buttery. Watermelon rind. The palate has some broad American oak-style vanilla and more heat than I'd expected. Walnuts, tart berries and a hint of funky old cask. Slightly grassy. Slightly flat. It does have a curious finish though. It's slightly meaty, perfumy, inky and tannic.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
Heavier sherry in the nose, with dried plums and figs. Walnuts, polyester and a hint of eucalyptus. The palate is perfectly fine to consume and ignore. Lightly bitter, lightly creamy. Some tannins, some florals. A wee bit of sherry. The mild finish finishes quickly, tannic and briefly stone fruity.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I'm a little puzzled by Archives' choice here. Those fellows usually pick very good casks. This was their first, and (as of this post) only, blended malt selection. And it's not "very good" nor very good. The nose is decent, quirky, though not entirely of one piece. The neat finish is weird in a good way. The palate underwhelms when neat, then goes sub-Glenfiddich-12yo (and sub-Glenfarclas-12yo) when reduced to 40%abv.

My opinion sits at the low end of the scale for this whisky. Serge liked this better than I, though his notes don't seem to be leading to his score. Whiskynotes liked it a lot—though that doesn't surprise me since our palates are dissimilar—but his tasting notes make it look like he consumed something quite different than Serge and I.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - £70
Rating - 79

The Big Smoke 60 Blended Malt, Duncan Taylor

Duncan Taylor has released a pair of The Big Smoke blended malts, one is bottled at 46%abv, the other is 60%abv. I have been told by a reputable source that the two vattings have different recipes, and the 60%abv one has a lot of Ardbeg in it. But both are made up of nothing but Islay malts.

I eyed the 60 many times in the past, especially when it was priced at $50. Couldn't think of too many super high strength peated whiskies at that price range. Alas, I never bought it. BUT, I was gifted a sample of the 60 by Brett of Riverside last year. Let's see how it do.

Company: Duncan Taylor
Brand: The Big Smoke

Type: Blended (or Vatted) Malt

Distilleries: Islay-only

Age: NAS
Maturation: probably American oak
Alcohol by Volume: 60%
Chillfiltered? No
Color added? Probably not

NEAT
The nose actually isn't that smoky. It's definitely peaty though. A stacking of seaweedy, salty, ocean smells. Butter and boat fumes. With time it picks up hints of vanilla, ginger powder and pears. The simple palate is hot, but young-60%abv hot. Peat, salt, barley, and ground pepper. Hints of fresh mint and dried oregano. A little bit of brown sugar. The finish has heat, peat and sweet(ness). Vanilla and peppercorns.

Gonna douse this one.

WITH WATER (~43%abv)
What an improvement! The nose is boldly fruity with more pungent peat. Also molasses, cocoa and figs. The palate has a silkier texture. Tart lemons and limes. Gritty peat and a horseradish bitterness. Some maltiness too. The finish holds tart candy, smokey reside and an effervescent bitterness.

How about a touch more dihydrogen monoxide?

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose gets a little more candied and minty. Still plenty peaty. And the palate stays vibrant. Seaweed, salt, peat and a good herbal bitterness. The finish is leaner, with less sweetness. More focus on the peat and bitter.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I've experienced very few whiskies that improved with dilution to the extent The Big Smoke 60 did. It becomes an entirely different whisky at 43%, and it still feels richer at 40% than it did at 60%. In fact, if I bought a bottle I'd dilute the whole damn thing to 43%abv, thus getting 1050mL of Big Smoke in the process!

So if you have a bottle of this open and you've grown bored of it, add water to see what it does. Gonna guess there's young Caol Ila, Bowmore and Ardbeg in the blend. I read somewhere that there's Bruichladdich in it; maybe baby PC then? I don't exactly know why the average US price has gone up 60% (Big 60!) in the past three years. But at $65, it's probably not the worst deal in the current market.

Availability - A few dozen specialty retailers around the world
Pricing - $65-$90 in the US, cheaper in Europe
Rating - 87 (with water only!)