Single Malt Report: Ardmore 16yo 1981 Gordon & MacPhail

Autumn weather settled in yesterday, finally, so it's time to break out some weather appropriate whisky.  For me, Autumn single malts include Talisker, Kilkerran, Benromach, Springbank, and Ardmore -- the mildly peated but richly flavored earthy spirits.  I'm a particularly big fan of Ardmore and dearly wish there were more well-matured bottlings available.  But if there were then Whiskyfun would review them and ruin the great secret that is Ardmore.

One of the most frequent bottlers of Ardmore is Gordon & Macphail.  Not only do they have a number of single casks from the '90s (see this review of one of my bottles), but they also have an annual vintage series.  It started with the 1977 vintage (released in 1991) and is currently up to 1998.  While these have always been watered down, at least the recent versions have inched up to 43%abv.  Sadly the older vintages were reduced to 40%abv.  I wouldn't say this amounts to murder, but the resulting whiskies feel drained of soul.

With that in mind, here's the version of the 1981 vintage, bottled in 1997.  I was able to buy a pour from the Ardshiel Hotel in Campbeltown, which I then funneled into a sample bottle.  Always prepared for instances like this, I'm earning my boy scout badge for Whisky Miser.

Distillery: Ardmore

Independent Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Region: Highlands (Eastern)
Type: Single Malt

Age: 16 years old (1981-1997)

Maturation: unknown, probably mostly ex-bourbon casks, though maybe some refill sherry casks in the mix?

Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chillfiltered? Possibly
Caramel Colorant? Yes

The soft nose starts out with apricots, canned peaches, and gummi bears.  There's a light dusty ashy peat note that sometimes ventures into tennis ball fuzz.  There are smaller notes of cream soda, cherry lollipops, and something that sniffs like oloroso.  It has a cardboard note up front, but with time it changes (for the better) into old book pages.  The palate balances darker and sweeter notes.  Barbecue ribs, wasabi, a hint of dusty OBE, and a gentle bitter smoke note, along with black licorice, vanilla, and brown sugar.  The brown sugar element grows with time.  Unfortunately the whole thing is very thin and watery, leaving one to ponder what could have been.  The finish is sweeter than the palate, but also has black peppercorns, an herbal bitterness, and a mild cigar note that lingers longest.

What I'm going to say here has been said before about this very whisky range.  It's not that this whisky is a failure, but it could have been a hell of a thing at 46%abv and at least a little more satisfying at 43%.  Alas, all of this teenage Ardmore was diluted to its legal limit.  And colored, according to whiskybase.  What we're left with is a decent aperitif and a tease.  The nose is the best part, soft but mostly lovable.  The palate has the aforementioned balance but one almost needs a microscope to find its parts.  Ultimately it's an easy drinker but Ardmore (and G&M) can do better.  I've seen some of these older G&M vintages up for auction, but I'd say save your pennies for their single casks.

Availability - Auctions
Pricing - probably £60 and up
Rating - 83

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: Lost Prophet 22 year old 1991 Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Having been distilled in 1991 at George T. Stagg Distillery (now Buffalo Trace Distillery), matured for its final seven years in the Stitzel-Weller warehouses, and bottled at George Dickel Distillery in Tennessee, Lost Prophet 22yo is the only Orphan Barrel release I've been interested in thus far.  Part Mr. Bumble, part Miss Havisham, and with more than a suggestion of Fagin, Diageo bussed this orphan from home to home to home, maneuvers that likely resulted in greater than usual overhead costs, which are in turn baked into the suggested retail price.  This pricing is in turn propped up by a marketing story (more overhead costs) that highlights their oops-look-what-we-lost-track-of fish tale and Stitzel-Weller Stitzel-Weller Stitzel-Weller.

What intrigues me about Lost Prophet is its old Age International-style mashbill, since I always enjoy the recent Blanton's and Elmer T. Lee bourbons.  Though this whiskey has the second highest age statement of any bourbon I've sipped, I'd have preferred to have tried The Prophet when it was at least ten years younger.  I'm no fan of oak juice, so the advanced age is a negative to me; for instance, see my review of Prophet's fellow orphan, the ugly Forced Forged Oak 15yo.  Despite my inclinations against Diageo, I sincerely hope Lost Prophet is better than Forged Oak.

Owner: Diageo

Brand: Orphan Barrel

Orphan: Lost Prophet
Distillery: George T. Stagg Distillery (now Buffalo Trace Distillery)
Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Mashbill: 75-78% corn, 7-10% barley, and 15% rye
Age: 22 years (1991-2014)
Alcohol by Volume: 45.05%
(Sample comes to me from the top third of Ms. Sing's bottle. Thanks, Linda!)

The pleasant nose's two main characteristics are vanilla and more vanilla.  There's also some caramel sauce and orange oil.  Praline, nutmeg, and tablet.  Unlike most old whiskies, the nose doesn't open up with time.  Instead it flattens out, trending towards barrel char and Elmer's glue.  The palate is very mellow.  In fact, it feels watery.  It has a good pepper bite that balances out some mild woody bitterness.  Tart berries, a mild sweetness, sea salt, and generic barrel char make up the midground.  It does pick up some caramel, nuts, and vanilla with time.  The finish grows sweeter with time.  There's plenty of citric acid to go with a spicy zing.  Subtle vanilla and generic barrel char.

First, the good news.  Lost Prophet is much better than Forged Oak.  There's less woody bitterness to it and the nose is quite nice at the start, resulting a simple easy experience.  The main problem is its thinness in the mouth.  It feels like one of Diageo's blended scotches, aggressively filtered and watered down.  Is this what they did to it?  And why?  To make more bottles in order to make up for that supposed lost profit?  Overall, it's not a terrible whiskey but I can't help but think it could have been better without doctoring or if it were bottled earlier.  And shouldn't we expect more from an American whiskey that sells for three figures, no matter its age?

Availability - Some specialty liquor retailers, the secondary market
Pricing - suggested retail price was $120, if you find it for 2x that price you're lucky(?)
Rating - 79

Single Malt Report: Longmorn 26 year old 1987 Cadenhead Small Batch

As I mentioned in Monday's review, we stopped off at Cadenhead Whisky Shop in Edinburgh towards the beginning of our Scotland trip.  Their Edinburgh store is surprisingly snug and doesn't appear to be well stocked, but I think most of the bottles are sitting in a closed off room in the rear.  Out front there's a chalkboard menu of what they have in stock, as they do in a few of their other stores.  Though the list was extensive, I could find anything that interested me.  But what did arouse my curiosity was the Cask Ends Cage.

The "Cask Ends" are 200mL bottles of various Cadenhead releases.  Despite the name, these are probably not the final cask drippings that fall short of a 700mL bottle.  I'm pretty sure there were more than 3 bottles of a few expressions (math: 4 bottles would equal 800mL, more than enough for another 700mL bottle) in the cage.  Plus what are the odds that three "Cask Ends" bottles of a 1987 Longmorn were just sitting gathering dust in the cage for the three years since its release?  I have no real complaints about the Cask Ends, in fact they are an excellent idea.  These 200mLs provide an rare opportunity to try out single casks (and small batches) without splashing out for full bottles.  I wish more indies would offer something like this.

Distillery: Longmorn

Ownership: Pernod Ricard
Region: Speyside (Lossie)
Independent Bottler: Cadenhead
Range: Small Batch

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: 26 year old (1987-2013)

Maturation: two(?) ex-bourbon hogsheads
Bottles: 402
Alcohol by Volume: 49.5%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

As with Monday's Tomatin, I tried two pours of this Longmorn side by side, one neat, the other reduced (~43%abv).

NEAT
The nose is simple but solid.  Lemon peel, bran flakes, plain digestive biscuits, and dried heather.  After a while, some subtle notes of orange blossom honey (it's what we have in the pantry right now) and vanilla linger.  The palate starts off super malty, almost chocolatey, with notes of vanilla bean and clementines.  Then in a surprise attack it shifts into an expanding pastel sphere of limes, cara cara oranges, and sweet grapefruits.  The limes and grapefruit remain for the very long finish.  Some orange candy, cactus (a first!), malted barley, and cooling tingle.

WITH WATER (~43%abv)
The nose gets brighter.  More citrus, less grain.  Maybe some white cherries and macintosh apples.  A hint of tar in the background keeps that brightness in check.  The palate keeps most of the malt from the neat version, but it also has a fruit salad of mandarin oranges, pineapple, and white grapes.  Hints of vanilla, caramel, and eucalyptus in there too.  Sweeter than the full strength version.  The tingle in the sweet finish is more citrusy here.  Vanilla simple syrup, malt, and eucalyptus make appearances as well.

COMMENTARY:
What this single malt has that's missing from Monday's Tomatin, Hunter Laing's recent 29yo 1985 Longmorn, and nine out of ten modern whiskies is Capital 'D' Development.  When this Longmorn's palate shifted gears and opened up, not only was I stunned, but I was stunned that I was stunned.  Perhaps I need to be making a habit of drinking better whisky.

Back to this whisky, specifically.  The nose is nice, perhaps better with water, but the palate is where the show's playing.  I recommend it neat, though some of you sweet tooths would prefer it with water.   Great stuff.  I don't think it's available at its original price, which is too bad because I'd recommend it right there.

Availability - A few bottles remain in continental Europe
Pricing - £36 for this 200mL; was originally £130-140 for 700mL, now around £170-£200
Rating - 89

Single Malt Report: Tomatin 25 year old 1989 Cadenhead

Before we went to Springbank and The Cadenhead Whisky Shop in Campbeltown this year (wherein I lost my brains), I stopped off at Cadenhead's in Edinburgh.  A much smaller branch than the one in Campbeltown, the Edinburgh shop does have the benefit of having the Cask Ends Cage, in which one may pick amongst countless of 200mL bottles of dozens of recent Cadenhead releases.  It's a great way to enjoy more than just a single pour of a whisky, but not have to splash out for a full bottle.  I had to keep myself disciplined.  At that point the trip had only just begun and I had (correctly) predicted that Campbeltown would prove to be my credit card's ruin.  So I chose two 200mL bottles; both were distilled in the '80s, both of which were from distilleries whose single malt really hits the mark once it reaches its mid-20s.

First off is Tomatin 25yo from 1989.  It's from a single (probably refill) hogshead.  The now sold-out 700mL bottle went for £120-130.  The Cask Ends bottle I nabbed was supposedly their last one and it cost all of £35.  My hopes were high since I really enjoy the fruitiness of older Tomatin.

Distillery: Tomatin

Ownership: Tomatin Distillery Co
Region: Highlands (near Inverness)
Independent Bottler: Cadenhead
Range: Authentic Collection

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: 25 year old (1989-2015)

Maturation: ex-bourbon hogshead
Bottles: 204
Alcohol by Volume: 51.9%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

In this instance, I compared the whisky at full strength and a lightly watered-down 46%abv side by side for perspective.

NEAT
The nose proves difficult.  The ethyl and solvent notes rumble through on top.  It's also a bit yeasty and has a white vinegar underside, and honestly gets a little farty sometimes.  A bit papery later on.  There's a big barley note throughout.  Plenty of lemon.  Hints of orange creamsicle, melon, and vanilla.  The palate is very hot for the ABV, as if it were 10 points higher.  At first there's an aggressive hoppy herbal note that later turns very grassy.  Successive sips get sweeter, with Country Time lemonade powder and off-season dull peaches.  The ethyl heat dominates the finish.  Plenty grassy, with the lemons and off-season peaches, as well as dried oregano.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
Much more fruit in the nose; white peaches, papaya, lemons, and a little bit of honeydew.  Turkish delight?  The harsh notes are gone.  A good clean barley note remains.  The palate arrives significantly clearer as well.  Though it's still plenty grainy, there are apricots, whipped cream, and a note that starts off like lemon juice and then morphs into fizzy bitter lemon.  It's lightly sweet with a hint of hay and a mild vanilla undercurrent.  The finish keeps the palate's mild sweetness (a bit of brown sugar, maybe); carries along the barley, lemons, and hay; and somehow lasts longer than when neat.

MORE WORDS:
I really didn't enjoy my little bottle much -- likely because I had only consumed its contents neatly -- and was thankful not to have picked up a 700mL bottle.  Having set aside 60mL worth for this tasting, I am now surprised to discover I should have been adding water to it all along.  Even if it never hits any great heights when diluted, it's considerably better.  The nose improves dramatically, while the palate opens up well.  If I were to finger the culprit here, it would be the wonky hogshead.  Many of Cadenhead's current releases are small batches, but this Tomatin is from the Authentic Collection is which are single casks.  I wonder if this could have been pulled up with the addition of a rich cask or two.

The members of whiskybase are, on average, mildly enthused, at least more so than I.  On the other hand, Serge loves this whisky......but finds that water does nothing for its palate......which, sitting here sipping both the neat and diluted versions, I find difficult to comprehend.  That's fine.  I'm sure he'll enjoy his bottle.  I'm glad I only bought a little one.

Availability - Was told it had sold out
Pricing - £35 for 200mL, £120-130 for 700mL
Rating - 82 with water only, at least 5 points lower when neat.

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: W.L. Weller 12 year old Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Such is this cockamamie whisky world that I had to source my sample for this bourbon from The Netherlands.  You see, once upon a time (approximately two years ago) retailers suddenly realized that they were selling WL Weller 12yo for only $30 while they were selling a bourbon (known as Van Winkle 12yo) with the same age and same mashbill by the same company for $300.  Then this happened:

from winesearcher's market data

To put a finer point on it:
Avg price in September 2014 - $26
Avg price in September 2016 - $215
Price increase in two years: 727%

While I have heard unofficial tales about decreased allocations of Weller 12, I have also seen stories in Esquire and Wall Street Journal encouraging their readers to seek out the Wellers if they can't find the Van Winkles.  So with a little less supply, more demand, and even more "let's see what these dopes will pay for this stuff" WL Weller finds itself with a 700% price increase.

As this is a wheated bourbon -- thus uses wheat in the mashbill as its flavoring grain rather than rye -- and I'm not the biggest fan of modern wheaters (though I do ♥ dusty Old Fitzes), I did try the Weller 12 alongside a pour of Heaven Hill's wheated Larceny.  I'll review Larceny at another time.  This post is about Master Weller.

Owner: Buffalo Trace (via Sazerac)
Brand: WL Weller
Distillery: Buffalo Trance Distillery
Location: Franklin, Kentucky
Mash Bill: unknown, but it does use wheat rather than rye as its flavoring grain
Age: at least 12 years
ABV: 45% ABV
(I am reviewing from a purchased sample)

TASTING NOTES:
The nose starts off with vanilla, caramel, and oak (duh).  Oak char, sap, and bark.  With time it gets creamier and desserty, but I'm still sniffin' tree here.  Okay, there's some fresh apricots or apricot jam, and black cherry ice cream.  After a half hour it picks up a barbecue sauce note.  The palate is dirtier and earthier than I expected.  It's austere (oh that word) for a bourbon, at first.  Gradually the sweets (definitely honey) come around as does a peppery zip.  Burnt corn on the cob.  A hint of maraschino cherries.  Something reminiscent of dusty bourbons, like a whiff of metal+vanilla.  Overall it's Tannin City, or maybe Tannin Island since there's water all around.  The muted finish is mostly barrel char with granulated sugar, burnt corn, and orange peel.  Some hints of vanilla and black pepper in the background.

COMMENTARY:
To me, this was an acceptable bourbon, likely worth $30 in this market, though probably had some competitors at $10-$15 in the previous decade.  The nose works, even with the felled forest within, and the palate's earthy and dusty notes keep it entertaining.  But the thinness to the mouthfeel and generic finish keep it from being anything more than okay.  If I magically find a bottle at its old price, I will buy it for cocktails, casual sipping, and maybe even a re-review if it exceeds (or falls short of) this experience.  Otherwise, I liked Larceny more and I even found Weller 107 better than this.

For those who have purchased a bottle of this for $200, have you opened your bottle and consumed its contents?  Did it provide $200 worth of pleasure?  Please help me here with some details because I don't understand it.

Availability - It's still out there, don't be afeared of the scare tactics
Pricing - Be afraid, be very afraid
Rating - 81

Luxury Product Report: Convalmore 36 year old 1977 Special Release (2013)

Speaking of Diageo's 2013 Special Release ultra-luxury products......here's a 36 year old Convalmore.  This was the other 2013 Special Release that interested me.  I knew it would be out of my price range since Convalmore was silenced three decades earlier.  What shocked me was that its suggested retail price was only £100+ less than that year's Brora and £100+ more than the 28yo Talisker.  I was (and still am) unaware that Convalmore was in such demand.  But then again, the following year Diageo priced a Glendullan at $1000.

Just to be fair and not to crap all over Diageo as I usually do, consider the fact that Convalmore is a dead distillery with very few indie or official releases.  Consider the fact that the product is 36 years old and burning in at 58%abv.  With that in mind, also consider Balvenie, which is not a dead distillery, which has a more widely available 30yo bottled at 47.3%abv selling for the same exact price as this Convalmore.  Then there's the Dalmore 25yo, bottled at 42%abv which sells for more than these two.  And yes, there's the 43%abv Macallan 25yo which sells for 50% more than any of these.  So, yes, Diageo is far from being the only culprit, and in this instance their whisky is the rarest, oldest, and strongest of the four products mentioned in this paragraph.  And of these four Convalmore is the only one that interests me.

How about a pause in the opinions for some history?  Built near Dufftown in 1894, Convalmore was sold to the big blender James Buchanan ten years later.  In 1925 it was bought by DCL (proto-Diageo) who then mothballed it in 1985.  At that point they sold the distillery and dark grains plant at Convalmore to William Grant & Sons.  Grant later demolished the plant and cleared out the distillery equipment but left much of the building standing.  They currently use Convalmore's old warehouses to store Balvenie and Glenfiddich casks.  Meanwhile, even they sold off the physical assets, Diageo still owns the Convalmore brand name and are thus able to release the single malt under its distillery's name.

Thanks to St. Brett of Riverside, I have a sample of a real Convalmore to try out!

Distillery: Convalmore
Ownership: Diageo (owner of the brand only)
Range: Special Releases
Region: Speyside (Dufftown)
Age: at least 36 years old (1977-2013)
Maturation: refill European oak
Alcohol by Volume: 58.0%
Limited Bottling: 2680
Bottling year: 2013
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? Yes

NEAT
Like yesterday's Oban, this product's color is worryingly close to DiageoGold™. Ah, yes "mit farbstoff".  Why the hell would they do that to a 36 year old "Special Release"?  At first sniff, the nose shows a funny combination of gummy bears and a moldy dunnage.  But give some time, a lot of time, and those notes are replaced by cucumber skin, yellow peaches, lemon cake, autumn baking spices, and a hint of manure.  The palate begins quirky as well: watermelon candy and burlap.  That is soon overwhelmed by loads of lemons.  Maybe some grapefruits too, and a hint of honey.  A little bit of toffee keeps getting stomped down by all the lemons.  The lemons don't last so long in the finish.  Smoked almonds, watermelon candy, carpet, some drying tannins, and a peppery tingle take the lead.  There's also something dirty and earthy to it which gives it another nice dimension.  Great length.

Going easy on the water here since this is an oldie:

WITH WATER (~50%abv)
The nose is all honeycomb, lemon zest, and autumn baking spices.  The palate is made up of the angriest lemons, like first-presidential-debate-Trump angry.  Likely some bitterness and tiny hands too.  It finishes sweeter, with earth, pepper, and lemons.

COMMENTARY:
What a curio this is.  I wonder what the rich folks would think of this product if Whiskyfun and Whisky Advocate weren't telling them it's magical.  It's certainly quirky and old school, for which it certainly deserves points.  And it's a good thing I like lemons, because this has lemons.  But all its parts are flying around, bouncing off each other, never really merging or balancing out, when neat.  Adding water pulls everything together and intensifies some of the better elements.  It's good to very good, but (to me) doesn't merit hyperbole.  Nor, obvs, the price.

Availability - A few dozen stores worldwide
Pricing - In the US $900-$1000, In Europe $650-$850 w/o VAT
Rating - 86

Luxury Product Report: Oban 21 year old Special Release (2013)

Oban 14 year old was my favorite single malt back in the days when I owned only two or three whiskies at once.  It was more angular than Glens Fiddich, Livet, and Morangie and delivered what I considered at the time a fuller drinking experience.  Years later, when this blog was a toddler, I tried Oban 18 year old and found it to be good but lighter and shier than the 14.  Still, I probably should have bitten back when K&L had it on sale for $79.99 now that the average US price for it is $140.

When Diageo announced their 2013 Special Release lineup, I was very excited to see Oban amongst Port Ellen and Brora and other sexier names, and was even willing to push my bottle price ceiling to get this once-a-decade bottle.  But then I saw the price, more than twice my ceiling.  That was right about the time the rest of the Special Releases were nearly doubling in price from the year before.  That marked the moment the Special Releases no longer had anything to do with whisky.  They became ultra luxury products.  And over the past three years, whisky geek outrage about these prices has turned into bored dismissal as we've recognized the Special Releases are irrelevant to 99.99% of whisky drinkers.  In some marketing circles outrage equals publicity, and silence equals death.  So good luck with that, Dr. Nick.

Three years and three Special Release rounds later, Oban 21 can still be found for its original price on a number of store shelves in the US.  The good news (for me) is that I was very lucky to receive a sample bottle of this product from St. Brett of Riverside (a man who elected to purchase this luxury bottle) this year.  And to be honest, I was more interested in the Oban than much more expensive bottles that were offered.  So I drink this as toast to St. Brett and to my fellow former Oban fans.

Distillery: Oban
Ownership: Diageo
Range: Special Releases
Region: Western Highlands
Age: at least 21 years
Maturation: rejuvenated American Oak and second fill ex-Bodega Casks
Alcohol by Volume: 58.5%
Limited Bottling: 2860
Bottling year: 2013
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? Maybe

NEAT
The color is orange gold.  Umm, I'm just going to hope that's not DiageoGold™ or else this isn't a very special release from you putzim.  The nose starts out with a gorgeous combination of toffee, milk chocolate, canned peaches, and burning leaves.  Yeah, there is a solvent hint occasionally and two pencil shavings, but there are also rich notes of orange oil and dates.  The insanely rich palate is loaded with yellow peaches, yellow plums, vanilla pudding, malt, bitter dark chocolate, toffee, and earth.  The little bit of heat works like a spice behind the main ingredients.  There's a massive citrus note in the finish: limes, oranges, and sweet lemons.  Vanilla bean and a brisk bitter buzz.  Great length.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
Just a touch of caramel sauce in the nose.  Oranges, yellow plums, and jasmine along with an aromatic old musty scotch note.  The palate gets a little sweeter, tangier.  Limes and chocolate ice cream.  The finish now has a combo of metal, tangy citrus, and herbal bitterness that actually works.  Also milk chocolate.

MORE WORDS:
Yeah, there's some "rejuvenated" oak in the mix here, but the fruit and the earth lift it up meeting the new stuff head on, resulting in deliciousness.  When neat, the palate is a true highlight, but the nose rules once water is added.  It's much better than the 18yo and I'm thankful to have tried Oban at full power.  Had I spent $200 on this, I would have been happy with the quality of the product.  But $450?  Heehee.  Ugh.  Next.

Availability - A dozen or more stores in the US
Pricing - $400-$500
Rating - 89