Single Malt Report: Craiglodge 8 year old 1998 Distillery Select, cask 139

On an oddly warm evening in mid November of last year, Andy Smith (of LASC, OCSC, and SDSC fame) and I were having an earnest discourse about fatherhood as we picked through the leftovers from the recent Peatin' Meetin'. Not being emptied during the Meetin' was usually not a good sign for a whisky bottle. Among these unfinished whiskies was a Craiglodge. Upon this discovery I asked Andy if I could take a sample home for deep study.  He said, "Take the bottle, please."  And that's how I wound up with this:

As I mentioned in yesterday's post, Loch Lomond's lack of candor over their different brands can result in confusion. For instance, though Craiglodge is a peated Loch Lomond, it's not the same as Croftengea which is also a peated Loch Lomond.  And neither of these should be confused with Loch Lomond Peated, which is a different peated Loch Lomond. A little bit of openness from the distillery would be nice, because it isn't as if one of us could recreate this stuff in our garage. Nor would most of us want to.

There don't appear to be very many Craiglodge bottlings out there. Whiskybase shows a grand total of four, which doesn't include this one. The cask that has received the most digital ink is #223, which the Malt Maniacs HATED. Johannes gave it a 32, Luc Timmermans graded it a 15, and Serge was the most generous out of the six reviewers, calling it a 68. This level of public shade makes me feel all tingly inside. Bring on cask 139!

Distillery: Loch Lomond
Owner: Loch Lomond Distillery Company
Brand: Craiglodge
Range: Distillery Select
Type: Single Malt
Region: Western Highlands
Maturation: Spanish oak hogshead
Age: 8 years old (March 26, 1998 - June 12, 2006)
Cask #: 139
Bottle: 101 of 330
Alcohol by Volume: 45%
Chillfiltered? I think so
Colorant added? I don't think so

NEAT
The color is bourbon brown. At first whiff the Loch Lomond Garbage™ note rings true in the nose. Luckily(!) it vanishes after a couple minutes. Once that dissipates, large quantities of vanilla and oloroso sherry sit up front. Then fresh mint and chocolate peat. Cinnamon and chlorine. Then, out of nowhere, gunpowder bursts forth, followed by cheap perfume. With more time the vanilla and chocolate take over again. The palate starts with ashy peat, bitter chocolate, and bags of gunpowder. Lots of black pepper. Big sweet grapey action. And an occasional manure note. Bitter ash and moscatel in the finish. Gunpowder on vegetables. Quite sweet.

Dare I add water to this?

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
Melting cheap plastic toys and milk chocolate on the nose. Then mesquite and black cherries. The palate is bitterer and more peppery. More veg, more savoriness. A hint of perfume. The sherry and ash retreat to the far back. The finish is very bitter, to the point it's a stamina test. Somewhere underneath that is lead, dirt, and grape sweetness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS:
Hot damn, it's no wonder they didn't bottle it at full strength, as it would have resulted in fatalities. It's not just ugly, it's the absolute zero of balance and comfort.

But, here's the thing. I like it. The cask imparted a considerable richness. The palate is zesty in its earthiness and bitterness. And its total dissonance makes the whisky so bad it's...it's...It's like one of those impressively frightful dogs that win awards. It resembles nothing lovable, but in that absence one discovers surprisingly warm feelings. And one starts to think, "Man, I want one of those." Gotta respect this little brown snowflake, the antithesis of Balvenie Batch 1401, the ugly dog.

Availability - ???
Pricing - ???
Rating - 79 (Mind you, some drinkers may give this whisky a fat F, and they wouldn't be wrong either.)

Single Malt Report: Inchmurrin 12 year old Unpeated (2014) and what is Inchmurrin single malt anyway?

On Monday, I reviewed the new Loch Lomond NAS Original.  In that post I referenced that the Loch Lomond distillery makes a number of different whisky styles and brands in house, thanks to their unique (pot, Lomond, and Coffey) stills configuration.  Today I'm reviewing a 2014 bottling of another one of their brands, Inchmurrin, named after an island in the loch itself.

Inchmurrin?

Now what Inchmurrin is (style, brand, production process) exactly, I don't know. The internet hasn't been very helpful in my searches. Whiskybase does call it "Unpeated". And Charlie Maclean references a couple of things in his Whiskypedia book: Inchmurrin was originally made from the Lomond stills, and the spirit was designed to age quickly.  The former may no longer be true, while the latter is of course the Great Big Hairy Candy-Coated Grail all of whiskydom continues to chase.

To add to the confusion is the ever-changing Inchmurrin packaging design.  See below for the 5 versions that have existed over the past 10 years.

To be fair, or more confusing, that first bottle type -- the "Distillery Select" -- was actually for all of Loch Lomond's single malts since it was designed for the single casks (not at cask strength) they'd release. All the Distillery Select bottles appear exactly the same from a distance, with the info on the little white label marking the only difference between each release.

Five different bottles, one decade.  From a marketing or (more importantly) the customer's standpoint, what does an Inchmurrin look like? A little visual consistency goes a long way to help a brand. For instance, we all know what a Glenfiddich or Ardbeg bottle looks like from across the shop. Johnnie Walker's bottle & label helped create and sustain the largest whisky brand in history. Thus it wouldn't hurt if Loch Lomond Distillery Company picked a visual style and stuck with it.

Now for the actual review...

The Inchmurrin I'm reviewing today is the fourth bottle from the left (above), probably the artiest of the bunch, though difficult to photograph, and a little difficult to read. While I like that bottle design the best, it lasted all of TWO years before they changed it again.

Distillery: Loch Lomond
Owner: Loch Lomond Distillery Company
Brand: Inchmurrin
Type: Single Malt
Region: Western Highlands
Maturation: refill ex-bourbon?
Age: at least 12 years old
Bottling year: 2014
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Colorant added? No
(Thank you to Florin for the sample!)

Its color is a very light straw.  A remarkably clean nose for a Loch Lomond product. Roasted barley, lemon juice, fruit cocktail juice, rock candy, and apple juice. A little bit of polyester and new car. Small notes of vanilla, honey, and moss.  The palate holds bitter melon rind, lemon peel, and barley. An intense earthy note meets up with fresh arugula. A hint of peaches. This all gets delivered with a nice oily mouthfeel.  The finish registers as soil, grass clippings, and hay upon first sips. Later on it's burnt barley and fresh ginger.

Ta-da! A good Loch Lomond single malt. Hell, it's the best I've had. Even if it is unpeated, it's very earthy and organic. It's also nearly devoid of oak influence, with lots of barley dancing around in lieu of the cask. It also does a good job balancing fruit notes with the industrial stuff.  I won't say this is a world beater, but it sure can compete with (and beat) most official 12 year olds from better-loved distilleries.  Hopefully the producers kept the whisky the same when they changed the label last year.

Availability - Specialty retailers
Pricing - $55-$60 in USA, $30-$45 (w/o VAT or shipping) in Europe
Rating - 84 (Keep in mind, one's enjoyment of it depends on one's palate. So please read the notes.)

Single Malt Report: Loch Lomond Original

Some of us think we're hardcore hipsters for liking Glen Scotia and Ledaig before it was cool to do so. But how many of us dig on Loch Lomond for kicks? I cannot be counted amongst that crowd. While I do respect that distillery for continuing to make whisky without adapting to the times, their company's management (destruction of Littlemill and near abandonment of Glen Scotia) and the frequent packaging revisions (enjoy Google image searches of Inchmurrin Single Malt and Glen Scotia), on the other hand, seem to be some form of satire funny only to the ownership.

Thanks to Loch Lomond distillery's unique set of stills -- four pot stills with rectifying heads, two pot stills without, and a Coffey still for grain and malt -- they can make a plethora of whiskies right in-house.  This week I'll be reviewing three of these whiskies, all single malts.  Today it's the newest iteration of NAS Loch Lomond, the Original.

Distillery: Loch Lomond
Owner: Loch Lomond Distillery Company
Brand: Loch Lomond
Type: Single Malt
Region: Western Highlands
Maturation: paint cans
Age: at least three years old
Bottling year: 2015
Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chillfiltered? ???
Colorant added? Probably
(mini purchased by the reviewer)

The orange gold color doesn't look even remotely natural for this baby whisky.  The nose treads right between new make and cheap blend.  Apples, rotting veg, margarine, and a chemical note that's something between methanol and turpentine.  YET it's not entirely terrible.  It gets earthier and picks up more barley notes with time. The palate starts with brown butter, caramel, dirt, and a vague bitterness.  There are hints of dark chocolate, dry cheese, dried sage and Loch Lomond's ever present chemical note. It does have a remarkably oil texture which makes me think it wasn't chillfiltered. The finish has a cheap cigar aftertaste to it, then some margarine and burnt toast bitterness.

Loch Lomond National Park is beautiful. Loch Lomond single malt is not. Its producers don't seem to strive for drinkability, subtlety, or brilliance. And, you know, there's something admirable in that. You get what you get without much woodwork or futzing.  And if their whiskies weren't usually lousy with turpentine or garbage notes, I'd say they were on to something.

The good news is that this Loch Lomond Original is probably the best "Loch Lomond" brand single malt I've tried.  The bad news is that's not saying much. What works in its favor is the thick mouthfeel, earthy palate and near absence of oak. What doesn't work is the constant chemical note running throughout keeping me in constant fear that I'm drinking something unsafe. And I can do without all the margarine notes too. Overall, the whisky is more or less of the quality of an NAS blend and, thankfully, priced almost the same.

Availability - Specialty retailers
Pricing - $20-$35 (w/o VAT or shipping) in Europe, $30-$35 in USA
Rating - 72

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: High West Rendezvous Rye, Vine & Table Barrel Select (barrel 957)

Something else was on my calendar for today's review, but circumstances call for this whiskey. If you hadn't heard, High West was purchased by Constellation Brands for $160 million of money.  The Perkinseseses are staying onboard, which is good.  The funny(?) thing is that High West made hay due to their barrel picking and blending. Meanwhile, distilling is a very different business and science. No one really knows how their High West's aged spirit will fare. Like Willett, they'll have to segue from high-quality products sourced from long-running distilleries to their own distillate. And that's at least one strike against them. I am rooting for them though. It takes guts to open a whiskey business in Utah.....and then succeed. And I do love me some Rendezvous Rye.

Today's bottle isn't the usual Rendezvous. High West has (or had, depending on Constellation) a Barrel Select program, wherein retailers could get an exclusive barrel of Rendezvous or Double Rye with extra maturation. In this instance, High West poured the blended contents of regular Rendezvous -- 6yo MGP rye + 16yo Barton rye -- into an ex-bourbon (American Prairie?) barrel and let it age for another two-and-a-half years before bottling at barrel strength. Thus it's a different whiskey than Rendezvous and, as to be expected, more expensive. Ignoring the older component, consider that this Barrel Select is mostly 8 year old MGP stuff, so $70 is a reasonable price in this market.

Since High West is in the news and I attended Vine & Table's Expo this past weekend, I figured it's time to taste this stuff officially.

Product: Rendezvous Rye
Producer: High West
Distilleries: Barton and MGP

Type: Blend of Straight Rye Whisky
Region: Utah (High West), Indiana (MGP), Barton (Kentucky)

Mashbills: Barton - 80% rye 10% corn 10% malted barley
MGP - 95% rye 5% malted barley
Maturation, part 1: Barton 16yo and MGP 6yo, separately, in new white oak barrels
Maturation, part 2: 2.5 year marriage together in an ex-bourbon barrel

Barrel #: 957
Bottle #: 40

Alcohol by Volume: 53%
(notes taken from my bottle's midpoint)

NEAT:
The nose starts off with a surprising dried fruit note; think apricots, pineapple and golden raisins. Plenty of creamy vanilla notes. No pickle juice (for those who fear it). Some fun notes of root beer and hazelnut liqueur poke out here and there. Eventually it develops a big Rolos candy note that nearly takes over. A lot of ethyl heat blocks the palate for the first couple of sips. But then the aggressive high-rye spices rush in, followed by an old bourbon character (lots of corn and vanilla). Its sweetness is of the brown sugar and maraschino cherry sort. Some black cherry soda. With time the spices shift towards jalapeño pepper. It also picks up some plain oak notes as well. At first the finish is all maraschino cherries on vanilla ice cream. Then there's plain sweet & heat, along with dried fruit. After later sips, it trends towards bitter oak and pencil shavings.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose is all dried fruit at first. Then vanilla takes over, followed by smaller notes of root beer, peanut dust, and orange oil. Something darker and grungier lurks in the background. The palate gets saltier. Plenty of zing remains, though it's more pepper than ethyl. Fruit punch. Kind of a peppier version of Canadian rye. The finish is sweet and tannic, with notes of vanilla and bananas.

WORDS WORDS WORDS:
I was actually prepared to pan this rye. Upon opening the bottle, Kristen and I found it too hot to drink. Even when reduced to 43%abv, the ethyl stayed put. Thus I had planned to reduce it to 40%abv to see if I could break through the heat.  But now that the bottle is at its halfway point, the whiskey has calmed down considerably, and thankfully, so I could take proper notes. Now I prefer it neat!

With the joyous nose as its strong point and the finish its weakest, this Barrel Select proves to be unique and different than the regular Rendezvous. If it were priced above $100 like most 8yo MGP ryes, I'd say skip it. But if you're already out $60+ for the regular Rendezvous, this is worthwhile at $70, especially if you favor dried fruit over MGP's pickle juice.

Availability - Vine & Table only
Pricing - $69.99
Rating - 85 (when neat)

Single Malt Report: Ardmore 21 year old 1992 "See me, Drink me" The Whiskyman

I'll keep this brief. Early 1990s Ardmore is one of my favorite things. So if someone wants to buy me presents, make them all early '90s Ardmore.  Okey doke?

The sad thing is there have been a grand total of three 1990-1993 Ardmores released anywhere on the planet over the past three years. Though I have plenty from this Ardmore era in my collection, I'd be interested to see how these casks fare with more age.  Hopefully there are some still resting in a dunnage somewhere, and hopefully their prices will be *gulp* reasonable upon release.

I bought two of these samples from the former whiskysamples.eu because the bottle itself was hard to come by. Also, naming it after a song by The Who was an easy cheap way straight to my deaf, dumb, and blind heart.

Distillery: Ardmore

Independent Bottler: The Whiskyman
Region: Highlands (Eastern)
Type: Single Malt

Age: 21 years old (1992-2013)

Maturation: probably refill ex-bourbon barrel
Bottle Count: 175

Alcohol by Volume: 49.7%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

Its color is a very light straw.  The nose leads with a Laphroaig-like peat, but at half strength. There's also a yellow coconut curry thing going on. Then Ceylon cinnamon bark, fresh peaches, along with hints of milk chocolate and anise.  With a half hour of air, it picks up notes of farm and panettone. As for the palate, I was all nom nom nom cat on my first sip. Succeeding sips......It has a juicy sweetness, more fructose than sucrose (if that makes any sense). Its tingly spiciness is full of cinnamon and ginger, reminding me a little of a red curry. With time in the glass, the whisky discovers its beloved second gear: wood smoke, peaches and pound cake. More of the gentle smoke in the finish, along with oranges, Tapatillo, cinnamon, metal, and dark chocolate.

I can say I'm a Happy Jack because I'm Free to make Much Too Much of this Empty Glass since I'm a Whiskey Man Drowned in the Sparks of a Sensation. But I'll make my conclusion A Quick One lest you Run Run Run until I Can't Reach You and Melancholia sinks in.

With its balance and development, this is a very good whisky, perfect for autumn. The refill cask lets the spirit stay spry without any oak interruption. The peat townshend frames the spice and fruit throughout, never letting any one aspect read too loudly. But I'm not going to give it a 90 because I'm arsehole and also because I'm aware of my Ardmore bias and also because the finish was a slight letdown.

Availability - Happy Hunting!
Pricing - originally was about €100 (I think), probably much more than that now
Rating - 89

Top Ten Deepest Thoughts After Attending Indy's Whisky & Fine Spirits Expo

1. Redbreast 21yo > Glenmorangie 25yo > Talisker 30yo > Port Charlotte Islay Barley > Westland's regular range > Port Charlotte Scottish Barley > Port Dundas 42yo 1973 Duncan Taylor > Taketsuru 21yo > Wolfburn Aurora > Getting Kicked in the Junk > Dalmore King Alexander III

From the bottom up:  Dalmore's current regular range competes with Glenrothes's as the most mediocre in the biz.  King Alex III was the one I've always wanted to try.  I was optimistic.  I was foolish.  It was awful.  Wolfburn Aurora is just as young and unformed as their regular release.  Having greatly enjoyed Nikka's age-stated single malts, I must say I don't get the Taketsuru blended malt series.  Both the 12 and the 21 are very disappointing, thin, and watery.  When it comes to Glenmo 25 being better than Talisker 30, my opinion is probably in the minority.  Glenmorangie 25 really beat my expectations, with a rich palate and a long finish.  Probably reasonable at $150-200, but it's $600, so ha!  And finally, Redbreast 21 kicks ass.  I expected it to be soft and subtle, instead it brought brawn and loads of tropical fruits.  ❤️

2. But one rum ruled them all.

Caroni 16yo 1997 Duncan Taylor, cask 87, provided a dynamic drinking experience unmatched by any of the single malts at the show.  Tar, barbecue, leather, black licorice, and mustard seed. Holy moley. If I were to have bought one bottle of something I tried at the event, that would have been it. Oh wait, I did buy a bottle.

I also tried a half dozen rhum agricoles from JM and Clement, all of which were more interesting than many of the whiskies I've tried this year.

3. And the Cognac outclassed all of the scotches.

Cognac Park's selection was so much fun that I happily sampled six of their products.  Their XO Cigar Blend, Extra Grande Champagne, Chai #8 21yo Single Barrel Petite Champagne, and Fins Bois 1976 were better than everything except for the Redbreast and Caroni.  None of these cognacs were barrel strength, in fact they're all 40%abv, but they were delightful.  Of course they all cost over $100, but if one were so motivated one could buy all 4 for about the same price as one Glenmorangie 25 or one Talisker 30.

4. Ledaig 18yo is weird, as it should be.

Intensely dirty and rougher than the 10yo, Ledaig 18 also dries out the mouth as if it were loaded with tannins.  But it doesn't taste or smell oaky at all.  Very confusing.  As I drank it, I couldn't figure out if it was terrible or awesome.  Just the way I like Ledaig.  Too bad it costs $150-$200 in The States.

5. Knob Creek 2001 Batch 3 bests Four Roses Elliott's Select, and it's not even close.

I went back for a second pour of Elliott's Select in order to compare it to Knob Creek 2001 batch 3, just to make sure my palate wasn't shot.  Sure enough the Knob Creek was richer and landed a much better finish.  I'm becoming a fan of these 2001s (see my review of batch 1).  Meanwhile it seemed as if someone poured Four Roses's Small Batch into the Elliott's bottle.

6. Both of Vine & Table's Signatory single casks are good.

Denis Lynch & Co. selected a 19yo 1995 Imperial and a 24yo 1991 Glen Keith from the Pitlochry people.  With the Imperial coming across bigger and oakier, and the Glen Keith subtler and fruity, I preferred the latter.  Both are very solid and will each have its fans.

7. Attend the classes or presentations offered at major whisky events.

The opportunity to get utterly shitfaced at these big whisky-a-thons is difficult to dodge, especially when there are 500+ pours available.  If classes are offered during drinking time, go!  It'll give you a chance to sit in one place and sample a couple things over 45-60 minutes.  Imagine how many pours you could quaff in that time frame if you were just going from table to table and then imagine your vomit.  So, in addition to education and special spirits, the classes allow you to pace yourself.

The Indy Expo had two classes.  The first was led by Peter Currie, formerly of Springbank, now of Duncan Taylor, who brought along three of DT's products, none of which were single malts.  It was at that session I discovered the Caroni rum (winner!).  Knowing I'd probably overdo it if I went back out to the pouring floor, I got right back in line for the second class which was lead by Cognac Park's Anaïs Brisson.  See item #3 above regarding how that turned.  Again, education + fun drinks + pacing = smaller hangover = success.

8. I've discovered a good way to pare down my Glencairn collection.

I've attended four $100+ whisky events over the past four years.  In those four events, I've had five Glencairns stolen.  This has nothing to do with the events themselves, rather the drunken kleptos who attend them.  When I put my mini-glencairns (obtained from the Laphroaig and Lagavulin distilleries) down with my bag as I grabbed food for less than a minute, some a-hole walked off with both.

9.  I am now much more motivated to explore other brown spirits.

I've bought exactly one bottle of scotch in the three months since I returned from Scotland and am not motivated to buy another one any time soon......though I have picked up a few bottles of bourbon and rye during that time period.  Meanwhile, I've been drinking more cognac than I used to, plus I've been impressed with all of the rhum agricoles I've tried.  This event has led me further down that path.

10. I met great humans!

Aside from going to a whisky event for the whisky, I also went to meet people.  I chatted with a dozen reps, sharing our misery over the mess that is Ohio's state run liquor business.  Shared a drink with a few more.  But what I enjoyed most was the chance to hang out with two of my readers!  Thank you Fletcher and Vik for agreeing to meet up with me and for politely suffering through my vast assortment of opinions.  It was a pleasure!  Thanks, gents!  Hopefully we can do this again some time.

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