The Dusty Vat, my only great blend

Blending scotch whisky is an art form. Blending scotch whisky is an art form at which I have failed. Blending scotch whisky is an art form at which I have failed, repeatedly. Blending scotch whisky is an art form at which I have failed, repeatedly, damn it.

But then, this past August, I was in possession of several partial ounces of unexciting single malts. These were reviewed samples that I just could not finish. Amongst these samples were three dusties. Since I had little desire to drink them on their own, I thought what the hell, I might as well blend them. Plenty of lessons had been learned from my previous failures with scotch blends and I hoped to apply them to this mysterious alchemy.

The end result was exactly 6 fluid ounces of a blended malt, with ingredients from Speyside, Highlands, Lowlands, Islay and Campbeltown. I named it The Dusty Vat.

Ingredients

18mL Glenallachie 11yo 1985 Signatory cask 4063 (43%abv)
19mL Bladnoch 16yo 1980 Signatory cask 89/591/20 (43%abv)
19mL Port Ellen 14yo 1983 Signatory cask 266 (43%abv)
20mL Glenturret 10yo official bottling (40%abv)
39mL Tomintoul 16yo official bottling (40%abv)
5 mL Laphroaig 10yo official bottling (2016 UK release, 40%abv)
25mL Kilkerran 12yo official bottling (2016 UK release, 46%abv)
25mL Macallan Cask Strength (60.1%abv)
7mL filtered water, applied to Macallan CS before adding to the vatting

So, yes I sorta buried the lede. There's Port Ellen in the mix. But it wasn't particularly good whisky, so I hope nobody gets the vapors over me putting it in a blend.

As mentioned in the ingredients, I proofed down the Macallan CS (for 48 hours) before blending it in, to make sure it didn't overwhelm the other ingredients.

Speaking of overwhelming a blend, Laphroaig. If you're going to do your own blending, please please please be gentle with the Laphroaig because its character easily dominates everything else in the recipe. Personally, I recommend keeping Laphroaig at 5% or less of the vatting. In this case it makes up 2.8% and is fully present, bringing a lovely layer to the mid-palate.

The Highland/Speyside contingent makes up 61.5% of the malt. Ex-bourbon cask whisky makes up at least 80% of the vatting, and most of those casks were likely refill. Even the Macallan CS felt more like American oak than European when drunk on its own. My goal was to focus on the spirit and not oak, much like whisky producers of earlier times ⇐ admittedly a romantic notion.

THE DUSTY VAT blended malt, 43.05%abv

The nose is full of "barley barley", as per my notes. A hint of woody peat smoke. Peated Good & Plenty candy. Fried plantains, grilled pear and oxidizing/browning apples. Hints of vanilla bean and oloroso sherry cask. There's also an actual dusty note lingering about. 

On the palate there's LOVELY peat, WTF?! Then lemons, caramel candies, toasted marshmallows, graham crackers and a nice sharp bite. It's malty, has a bit of musty warehouse to it and a bright plummy foreground.

Wood smoke and earth lead the finish. Some peppery heat, barley and scorched marshmallows. An almost total lack of sweetness.

Wow. It's now gone and I am sad. I'm just going to lie to myself (and you) and say this is what '50s Teacher's must have tasted like. Though the majority of the blend's ingredients are mediocre-to-OK Speyside, the dusty and old school style whisky transforms the thing. That touch of Laphroaig also goes a really long way (as mentioned above). I'm staring at the empty bottle now. I don't know if I can ever top this vatting, but in my heart I'll always have The Dusty Vat.

Availability - Gone. :-(
Pricing - Buying the individual ingredients would cost hundreds of dollars or pounds or euros nowadays
Rating - 88

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: Two scenes from High West's A Midwinter Night's Dram

Corporations and independent distilleries

Our favorite indie distilleries are getting bought up, one by one. And I don't expect it to end any time soon. In some cases, the distillery had already proven to make a high quality product (see: Westland), thus a future was clear and the purchase had promise. In other cases, the distillery had created overpriced low quality product (see: Hudson Whiskey), and, well, I don't know why William Grant bought them.

In yet other cases, the wisdom behind the purchase is questionable because the distillery had not yet proven to distill a product of quality but instead gained notoriety from good blending of great sourced whiskies. For instance, High West. This is not meant as a poke at the Perkinses. There hasn't been enough time for their own whiskey to come to the market. But that's not their problem now, and they made out with a nine figure sale.

My question to Constellation Brands is...why buy them now? High West's great success was from blending together purchased barrels to create Rendezvous Rye, Bourye, and their brethren. How do you scale that up? Is there some sort of scheme to push ahead in line to grab more MGP distillate? How do you plan on making teenage Barton rye appear upon demand? Or are you banking on as-of-yet unproven products?

I've been thinking about this a lot recently, because it'll probably be only a few months before Smooth Ambler is scooped up too [UPDATE: Holy crap.] . And then another half dozen companies that did well thanks to MGP distillate. Willett, perhaps?

Awkward segue

Anyway, this has (hopefully) little to do with today's whiskey review. Rendezvous Rye is a favorite in my house, and I've enjoyed seeing High West tinker with their formula by doing extra maturations for private barrels. A Midwinter Night's Dram takes this to a more committed direction as the producers create a widely(-ish) distributed Rendezvous varietal by sticking it in port barrels and French oak barrels for an unspecified amount of time. Is it a short finish or an extended secondary maturation? I don't know.

So there's my intro, or my two intros. And sure enough I have tried two editions (or "scenes") of A Midwinter Night's Dram. Thank you to WhiskyWithRyan and Florin (a prince) for these opportunities.

The Stats

Product: A Midwinter's Night's Dram
Distillery: Barton/Tom Moore and MGP distilleries

Producer: High West
Ownership: Constellation Brands
Type: Blend of Straight Rye Whiskies
Region: Utah (High West), Indiana (MGP), Barton (Kentucky)

Age / Mashbill: 16 years, 80% rye 10% corn 10% malted barley (Barton) + 6 years, 95% rye 5% malted barley (MGP) -- more of the latter than the former in the mix

Primary Maturation: charred white oak barrels
Secondary Maturation: "port and french oak barrels"

Alcohol by Volume: 49.3%

ACT 2.6, SCENE 1120

I recently met with a pair of local whiskey geeks to do some public drinking. One of these gentlemen, Ryan, brought his bottle of AMND. Because I took my notes in outside my usual hermetically sealed tasting location, and spent much of the time in conversation, I'm going to give this a grade range rather than a specific score.

You can see the rosy brown color in the accompanying photo. The nose has a vanilla + smoked toffee shell with a lemon + cocoa interior.  The port is subtle in the palate, at first. A few scattered red berries. Peppery rye, dark chocolate and mint. Then the port influence expands with time as a nice tart berry fruitiness moves to the fore. The finish brings the nose and palate together. Vanilla, mint, tart raspberries, lemon candy and black licorice.

I wasn't blown away by the whiskey's nose, but the finish was so layered and lovely that I'll happily ignore the weak link. I'd expected this to be a port-soaked soaked thing, but instead the elements held a good balance most of the time. Good stuff.

RATING RANGE: 86-89 (B/B+), for Act 2.6, Scene 1120 only

ACT 2.9, SCENE 1322

This second scene/batch's nice sized sample comes to Diving for Pearls courtesy of Florin. I've been looking forward to trying it for, what, two years? Now's a good time.

Since I am tasting this in my hermit zone, it will get scientifically precise score, rounding up to the nearest ten-thousandth.

The nose is the opposite of Corti Brothers Exquisite Whiskey's schnozzola. One can actually smell the whisky part. But there are plenty of blackberries and blackberry jam. Also black pepper, wood smoke and orange peel. Burnt grain and soil. A little bit of milk chocolate in there, and a small flower blossom note. Okay, more chocolate's coming; it's sort of hot fudgy.

The palate also has plenty of well-aged, but still peppery, rye. There are some tart berries, sour limes and a zippy bitterness. I'd expected chocolate, but found toffee instead. Also some fizzy raspberry schweppes. Fresh ginger and cayenne pepper. Ah, bitter cocoa. Hints of clove, cinnamon and nutmeg. Grape juice tries to poke out but the spicy rye hammers it down.

The zippy bitterness runs into the finish, as does the pepper, nutmeg and clove. It has weird glue and notebook paper notes at first, but those vanish with later sips. There's some grapey sweetness, toasted marshmallows, and wood smoke, but a youthful rye rumble continues underneath.

Perhaps the port is slightly louder in this scene, but a desserty Rendezvous Rye is an acceptable Rendezvous Rye to me. I liked this batch better than my high strength Barrel Select bottle I reviewed in October, and it stands up pretty well to the regular Rendezvous. Which is all good news. I hope High West keeps produces subsequent scenes.

A Midwinter Night's Dram distinguishes itself as a different product than the RR, is more expensive to produce and is legitimately scarcer. The question is, how much of a premium would one be willing to pay for it? If I find it for $80 or less, then I'll go for it. But I can't say its quality calls for most of the prices I'm seeing online. It's very good American whiskey, but I'm not paying three figures for very good American whiskey.

Availability - A few dozen specialty retailers in the US
Pricing - $70-$140, a few idiots are charging $200+
Rating - 87 (for Act 2.9, Scene 1322 only)

Single Malt Report: Benromach 25 year old (2004)

On Monday, I reviewed Benromach 10 year old 100 proof.
On Tuesday, I reviewed Benromach 1999 Origins batch 2.
Today, I'm reviewing the discontinued Benromach 25 year old release.

HISTORY

Benromach distillery has been mothballed and passed around quite a bit.

• It was built in 1898 just before the Pattison's disaster took its toll on the industry, but its owners (who also owned the now-forgotten Glen Nevis distillery in Campbeltown) kept the place open.
• Thirteen years later, it was sold to Harvey McNair.
• Three years later, it was mothballed.
• Five years later, it was reopened.
• Then it was sold to John Joseph Calder...
• ...who immediately flipped it to a group that called itself Benromach Distillery Limited
• Twelve years later it was mothballed.
• Six years later it was reopened.
• The following year Joseph Hobbs bought the distillery...
• ...then immediately flipped it to National Distillers (yep, the US folks)
• Fifteen years later ND sold it to proto-Diageo (DCL/UD).
• Thirty years later, 1983 (if you're keeping track), it was mothballed again.
• Ten years later, Gordon & MacPhail bought it.
• Five years later, it was reopened.

It's been eighteen years since then, and Benromach has not been closed or resold. Thank goodness. The 25 year old single malt I'm reviewing today was bottled by the Gordon & MacPhail ownership, but was distilled and casked by United Distillers. Thank you to Florin (a prince) for this generous sample.

REVIEW

Distillery: Benromach
Ownership: Gordon & MacPhail
Ownership at time of distillation: United Distillers
Region: Speyside (Findhorn)

Age: minimum 25 years

Maturation: refill American oak hogsheads
Bottling year: 2004

Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? ???
Caramel Colored? Not much, if any

Its color is a mild yellow gold, which has me thinking there's a minimum of e150a in here. Lovely musty warehouse notes arrive first in the nose. Then caramel, farmy peat and a little bit of roasted malt. Some smaller notes of peaches, yogurt, popcorn and buttery (American) biscuits. It's all quite delicate. The palate is malty, spicy and mildly sweet. Oranges, cinnamon, powdered ginger, cayenne pepper and vanilla extract. It really improves with time. The citrus gets bolder and tarter. There's a nice transition: bitter bite → toffee kiss. The finish is a bit short. There's the musty warehouse and a whiff of smoke. Lemon candy, malt and gingery spice.

A much gentler mammal than this week's other two Benromachs, the 25 year old's rough edges have been mostly trimmed off with time and down proofing. Its peating is very subtle, but there is more oak present than I had expected. It's not particularly complex, but it hits most of its notes well. The finish is the one disappointing part, and I wonder if that's mostly due to it being watered down. Long-aged whiskies don't swim well, and had this batch originally had a mid 50s abv, then a not inconsiderable amount of water would have been applied before bottling. Even though that's just speculation, it's time for you to sing the song with me...Had they bottled this whisky at 46%abv...

Availability - Auctions/secondary market
Pricing - ???
Rating - 84

Single Malt Report: Benromach 1999 Origins Batch No. 2 (Port Pipes)

If you were left scrambled by yesterday's post, I'll clarify: I'm reviewing a few Benromachs this week. Yesterday was the 10yo 100 proof and tomorrow will be the out of production 25 year old. Today, it's batch 2 of the Benromach Origins series.

The good folks at Gordon & MacPhail decided to do some experimentation with the Benromach single malt once they purchased the distillery. Aside from all the winey "Contrasts" bottlings, they have also done a series of heavily peated and organic whiskies. The Origins are sort of their own range. Each batch represents a little tinkering done to the production process as a way to alter the end result. Batch 1 was distilled from Golden Promise barley and was matured in sherry casks. Batch 2 spent its entire life in port pipes. Batch 3 was from Optic barley. Batch 4 was the next round of port pipes. Batch 5 was the next batch of Golden Promise.

The releases started in 2008 and seemed to have ended in 2013. I hope the experiments haven't ended because Benromach tends to do good work, and it would be great to see them push the envelope a little further. Batch #2 was released in 2010. Thank you to Florin (a prince) for this sample.

Distillery: Benromach
Ownership: Gordon & MacPhail
Range: Origins
Region: Speyside (Findhorn)
Age: either 10 or 11 years old (1999-2010)
Maturation: Port pipes
Peating: 8ppm (I think)
Alcohol by Volume: 50%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

NEAT
Its color is rosy gold. The nose starts off with grape Bubblicious, milk chocolate and tangerines. Beneath those notes lie clay and smoldering hay. Then a raisiny sherry-like note shows up, followed by blackberry jam and cassis. The palate is quite malty and peppery. Tart berries, tawny port, fresh ginger, burnt grains and a growing horseradish bitterness. With time in the glass, it picks up some almonds and dark chocolate. The bitterness gets pretty raw in the finish, though there's plenty of sweet port and raisin residue to provide dimension. There's also some cayenne pepper and "burnt stuff".

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose gets earthier. Some cocoa powder. Blackberry jam, plums, and bread pudding full of raisins. The palate hasn't changed much. The sweetness is a little richer and the bitterness slightly tamer. There's a chocolate-coffee stout note showing up now. The finish is less bitter as well, with more fresh stone fruits and a hint of moss.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
While I can't say that all the disparate elements (wine, oak, peat, barley) have fully merged in batch 2 of Benromach's Origins experiments, the whisky is still good and fun. It doesn't come across as heavily produced or tweaked to appeal to every drinker. The bitterness might turn some palates off, but I dig it. The port notes are most appealing in the nose, unless you hate wineskies. Adding water does seem to pull things together a bit and tone down the noise. This has left me interested in the other Origins, so I might pick one of them up if the price is right.

Availability - Not easily found in the US or Europe
Pricing - $70+
Rating - 83

Single Malt Report: Benromach 10 year old 100 proof

Rating - 90
Pricing - $80-$100 in US, about half that price in in Europe (w/o VAT or shipping)
Availability - Easily found at European retailers, a bit scarce in the US

I don't know. All I can say is that this and Springbank's Green 13 year old are my favorite sherried whiskies right now, and they both have the same pricing problem in this country.

I think the regular Benromach 10 year old is tremendously underrated. If you disagree then that doesn't necessarily mean you won't like the 100 proof because it's a different animal. The regular 10yo doesn't have the ultra-sherry wallop the 100 proof hauls with it. I don't understand why the hell it costs $90 (almost twice the price of the 10yo) in the US when it can be had for half that price on the European continent. Maybe the word Imperial is expensive to print here.

And you know what? I love this whisky. I dig it so much I absolve all those assholes who loved this and told us that Bruichladdich Ten was the shit. When I brought my bottle to my final OCSC event it was wiped out almost instantly. So I bought another (from the UK, again).

Okay, I'll cut the crap and conclude this thing. A lot of people raved about Benromach 10 year old 100 proof when it came out last year. And by "came out", I mean it was released in Europe. So I waited for it to get released in the US. And I waited. And waited. And waited. And then it arrived with the name "Imperial Proof" and was price almost twice what it went for in Europe. Plus it only seem to come in to a handful of states. So, I said screw it and bought a bottle from the UK.

I'm sure you've run into this problem. One or more well-known relatively-independent whisky reviewers goes of his/their gourd(s) raving about a Whisky of the Year. I try it and it's......okay. It's better than mediocre, nothing exciting, well made, but nothing of which I'd ever buy a full bottle. Unless I've already bought a bottle based on the recommendation(s), and now I'm none too happy.

THE CONCLUSION:

The finish leads with rich sherried notes like the old red label Macallan Cask Strength, that are then matched with a heap of peat smoke. There are hints of grape jam and green herbs. It's the sweetest part of the whisky, but that's kept in balance by a lovely earthy aftershock.

The palate is loaded with tar, burnt tobacco, peat ash and dried berries (leaning towards blueberries and currants). Some of that rubber ball note. Malt! Hot chocolate with a sprinkle of cinnamon and cloves. A gorgeous wormwood bitterness ripples underneath.

Big bold sherry and big bold peat in the nose. Leather, iodine and moss. Dried dark cherries, dark chocolate, dark plums. Blue rubber ball. Hints of cassis and a jammy PX.

Its color is dark gold.

(Sample taken from my own bottle)
Colorant added: Doubtful
Chillfiltration: No
Alcohol by Volume: 57%
Maturation: 80% bourbon, 20% sherry, then is married for a year in (first-fill?) oloroso casks
Age: minimum 10 years
Type: Single Malt
Region: Speyside (Findhorn)
Ownership: Gordon & MacPhail

Distillery: Benromach

THE REVIEW:

I'll be reviewing Benromach single malts this week!

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: James E. Pepper 1776 Barrel Proof Straight Rye

To begin with, this whiskey has nothing to do with the actual James E. Pepper, nor his old brands, nor the year 1776. It's a two year old MGP-distilled rye bottled by a non-distiller producer. So I'm not going waste your time with another American 'craft' whiskey company's fish tale; I'll just focus on the liquid, which was distilled by the funnest whiskey factory on these shores, The Midwest Grain Products WonderFactory™. The regular Pepper rye, also from MGP, is bottled at 50%abv. They did a smaller batch of "barrel proof" rye and, thankfully, it was priced under $40. Thank you to Florin (a prince) for this sample!

Distiller: Midwest Grain Products
Bottler: James E. Pepper (via Georgetown Trading Co.)
Type: Straight Rye Whiskey
Region: Lawrenceburg, Indiana
Age: 2 years
Mashbill: 95% rye, 5% malted barley
Maturation: New American oak

Alcohol by Volume: 58.6%

NEAT
There's a lot of pickle juice in the nose which clashes with an aggressively perfume-y floral note. Brown sugar, vanilla and Old Spice aftershave. There's a root beer note that swings toward cream soda after a while. The palate is hot. Hot. And also hot. White, unaged rye. Peppercorns. Brown sugar syrup. Rice pudding. The aforementioned heat starts to turn bitter and acidic on the tongue, soon going metallic and bloody. It does seem to mellow after 30 minutes, though perhaps my tongue is dead. The finish is hot, sweet, metallic and ashy. An undercurrent of paint fumes.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
Fewer pickles on the nose, more perfume. Pine needles and orange candies stuck to the carpet. Gives the illusion of smelling more mature because the roughness is watered down. The palate is milder, with some new Brazil nut and earthy/rooty notes. But it's also turning more chemical by the minute. Still bitter. A hint of caramel sweetness in the background. The finish is the same as the palate with the addition of some pickle juice and paint.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I am going to assume the tasters over at J.E.P. found something special in this rye that I did not. Though I am a rabid MGP rye fan, I'm having a difficult time finding something positive to say about this whiskey. Why they didn't give this very very very very young rye a few (or several) more years in oak to let it finish baking, I don't know. At this point it's hot, metallic, chemical and ashy. Again, MGP rye is the easiest whisk(e)y to sell me on, but I doubt I'd ever drink this one again. In fact, this makes me not want to try the regular 100 proof version. (FWIW, I wasn't a big fan of their barrel aged brown ale either.)

Availability - A couple dozen US retailers still have it
Pricing - $35-$40
Rating - 71

Single Malt Report: Auchroisk 34 year old 1975 Old Malt Cask, cask DL5522

Auchroisk looks like it's pronounced like some you say when you burn your toast, but instead it actually sounds like oh-thrusk, which I hope helps to explain some of my bad Auchroisk jokes strewn about social media this week.

I'm closing up the two-week five-part Auchroisk reviews with the oldest of the batch, a 34 year old from the Laing's Old Malt Cask range. The Man in the White Fedora gave this cask an utterly-hyperbolic review in his 2012 tome. Of course, he reviewed a 50%abv version of this bottling that's never been seen before or since. So if you're looking to buy that one, you may find it on a shelf next to the magical Ardbeg Uigeadail he proclaimed the 2009 Whisky of the Year, a bottling never seen before or since. The actual cask DL5522 was bottled at 47.7%. Thank you to Cobo for this sample!

Distillery: Auchroisk
Ownership: Diageo
Region: Speyside (Central)

Independent Bottler: Douglas Laing
Range: Old Malt Cask

Age: 34 years (April 1975 - September 2009)

Maturation: refill hogshead
Cask number: DL5522
Limited bottling: 228

Alcohol by Volume: 47.7%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

The nose starts off with quite a bit of overripe melon up front, then anise and peppery mint leaves in the back. Lots of grain and little oak, except for a hint of vanilla. Tangerine juice. After 40 minutes, it picks up a plum wine note.  The palate is similar to the nose, but with more toffee. The overripe melon and tropical fruits have moved into the background. There's a tart austere (oh that word) edge to it, as well as a young green note. Was this a 5th refill? After a half hour, citronella candles take over. The short-ish finish has roasted malt, salt and a hint of cocoa. A little bit of lemon, some bitterness. The citronella candles are the loudest.

This one gets brownie points for not being over-oaked, nor trying to please the crowd. The citronella note gets abusive after a while, but that can be avoided by finishing the dram before the 30 minute mark. On the other hand, the nose takes quite a while to lift off. My main gripe with it is the oddly brief finish. Yesterday's 18yo Auchroisk had such a long vibrant finale, that it put this oldie to shame when tried side-by-side. Overall this 34yo is certainly a decent whisky, and I'd be happy to drink it again and again, but it definitely exhibits proof that age and price do not necessarily determine quality.

Availability - Secondary market?
Pricing - was £175 back in 2009, dunno what it goes for now
Rating - 84