Single Malt Report: Talisker 18 year old 1979 Cadenhead's Authentic Collection

Today I'm reviewing a 18 year old Talisker, distilled in 1979, bottled by Cadenhead in their old tall green bottle "Authentic Collection".  It comes to this blog courtesy of the most generous Cobo.

My experience with the Authentic Collection is about 50/50.  Half of the time I find these very high ABV whiskies to be intensely hot and tight.  Water tames the heat, but does little to open up the whisky.  The other half of the time, these whiskies prove to be excellent.  Let's see how this one -- which I've been waiting to find an excuse to open -- fares.

Distillery: Talisker
Ownership: Diageo

Independent Bottler: Cadenhead's
Range: Authentic Collection

Age: 18 years old (July 1979 - April 1998)

Maturation: "Oak Cask", yup
Region: Isle of Skye

Alcohol by Volume: 61.1%
(Thanks to Cobo!)

NEAT
The color is of pale straw, which is often the color of the whiskies in this range.  The nose starts off with just ocean, burnt wood, and a seaweed-peat combo.  Then suddenly there are peated cinnamon buns, shortbread, lemon, and smoked toffee.  The palate leads with peat cinders and a generous helping of chili oil.  Behind that, there are smaller notes of smoked almonds, fruity shisha, and cherry candy.  Lots of smoked salt in the finish.  Then lemon juice, shortbread, and barley.

Okay, this whisky feels closed.  Adding water...

WITH WATER (~50%abv)
Out come the lemons in the nose, and some faint limes and tart peaches. Then paste, seaweed, and white frosting.  The palate has cinnamon, salt, cigars, and black peppercorns.  In the finish the pepper goes more cayenne.  Still the salt, cinnamon, and tobacco.

Trying a little more water to see what happens...

WITH WATER (~43%abv)
In the nose, the peat gets slightly farmier.  Still lots of ocean air.  Now some brown sugar and a hint of jasmine flowers.  A better bitter peat smoke shows up in the palate.  Gentle notes of brown sugar and vanilla get somewhat corrupted by a cardboard note.  The finish is fading, now tingly, sweet, and salty.

I can't believe I'm writing this, but I'd take the new Laphroaig 15yo (reviewed on Tuesday) over this 1979 Talisker without a second thought.  Thanks to previous experiences, my expectations for older Taliskers are set pretty high.  So while this is not a bad whisky, I'd be lying if I said I wasn't disappointed.  As referenced earlier, like many of the green bottle Authentic Collection whiskies, this Talisker bottled at a high ABV and shows very little oak.  The latter is a good thing.  The former, not always a good thing.

At full strength it felt tight, but the nose was decent and I enjoyed the big chili oil heat in the palate.  The nose picks up some new complexity at 50%abv, though the palate gets simpler.  At 43% the nose remains nice though simple, while the palate and finish seem to be falling apart.

Had I not known what this was a '70s Talisker perhaps I'd be less critical.  But still, I don't think I'd find it any more expressive or complex.  It's still a peppery barnburner, full of ocean and barley.  And that's about where it stops.

Availability - Auctions?

Pricing - ???

Rating - 83

Single Malt Report: Laphroaig 15 year old 200th Anniversary

200K views for me, 200 years for Laphroaig...

Many long time whisky fans reminisce fondly about the old Laphroaig 15.  I am not amongst their number.  The 15 was fine but I always preferred the rawer 10yo and Cask Strength.  In 2009, the 15 was replaced by an 18 year old.  Imagine that, an official bottling replaced by an older whisky.  Again, I found the 18 to be decent though unremarkable, brighter than the 15, though quieter.  But in 2013, Laphroaig changed the design of all of their labels, and I was told by friends with reliable palates that the 18 had changed and improved.  I tried it and I agreed.  But now, in 2015, there's an undying rumor that the 18 year old is on its way out, to be replaced by a 15 year old.  IF, if, if that is true then that is some very quick turnaround/turnover.

Meanwhile, Laphroaig celebrated its 200th anniversary (1815-2015) earlier this year by releasing......you guessed it, a limited edition of a 15 year old.  Perhaps, I should put the limited in quotes.  It's a 72,000 bottle "limited" release.  (If someone mocks Diageo for their 50000+ bottle limited bourbons, then it would be hypocritical of him not to mock Beam Suntory for their 72000 bottle limited scotches.)  As of the day I am writing this post, neither this release nor the 2015 Cairdeas has made it to the West Coast, though they are both for sale in much of the rest of the country.

The reviews of this new 15yo have been very positive, so I purchased a pair of samples of it from the Whiskybase Shop to see if the whisky is worth the hubbub.

Distillery: Laphroaig

Owner: Beam Suntory
Type: Single Malt
Region: Islay

Age: minimum 15 years
Release Year: 2015
Maturation: ex-bourbon barrels
"Limited" Release: 72,000 bottles
Alcohol by Volume: 43%

Chill-filtration? Possibly
Caramel colored? Possibly

Drinking Laphroaig on a 95ºF summer's day was a little unusual for me, so I switched on The Flaming Lips' Christmas on Mars soundtrack for this tasting because it made sense.

NEAT
The color is light gold with an orange hue.  The nose's first notes are mango, vanilla, shortbread, and a very soft peating.  Then comes grapefruit, Campari, dried grass clippings, and orange gummi bears.  But after a good 20+ minutes in the glass, the whisky emits some good Laphroaig stink and a whole pile of citrus peels.  The peat moss is much bigger on the palate.  A nice bitter edge to the smoke.  There's the grapefruit and Campari from the nose.  Then some smaller notes of lime, caramel, and peppercorns.  The finish has quite a bite for a 43%abv whisky.  Tart citrus, an herbal bitterness, and lots of pepper.  A moment of tropical fruit punch.  Smoke and sweetness lingers longest.

Since Laphroaig 10yo is often bottled at 40%abv overseas, I thought I'd check out what this 15yo would be like at that level.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose is full of orange peel and peated orange marmalade.  Vanilla and the seaside.  The palate is still pretty bold.  Wet wool left by the fireplace.  Very green peat.  Sharp peppery spearmint leaves.  A good bitter nip in the finish, along with some dirty peat and soft sweetness.

I'm uh...um...impressed.  All of Laphroaig's recent tootling around with oak in their NAS and AS stuff had resulted in my low expectations.  But this is good whisky.  While the oak is present, it never intrudes.  It's a mellower version of the 10, but still loaded with character.  Plus the whisky thrives with a few drops of added water.

If this is the stuff that would allegedly replace the new 18, then that wouldn't be a total tragedy.  Just a small bummer perhaps.  Pricing for this whisky starts at $80 in the US.  Personally, I won't pay that price for a 43%abv 15yo from a conglomerate.  You may feel differently.  Perhaps 72,000 bottles is super limited in your opinion, and thus the pricing is reasonable.  I would feel differently.  But as for the liquid itself, the quality is there.  If only we could have a world where the 10, 10CS, 15, and 18 would live together in harmony.  Maybe next decade?

Availability - apparently all over the US, except for the Best Coast

Pricing - $80-$100

Rating - 88

200,000+ Views (as per Google Analytics)! Thank you!

Lady and Gentlemen!

This blog somehow just zipped past another nice round-numbered milestone.  Thank You Thank You Thank You to all of my readers no matter how you found this site or how frequently you visit.  I appreciate stealing your attention while you're at work or in bed or on the can.

This second 100K happened much quicker than had been expected thanks to one fateful series of posts written in early January.  What Was the Scotch Whisky Boom series has been viewed 10,000 times (by actual humans).  That number is astounding and frightening and sexually invigorating.  Perhaps the series told people what they already knew or what they wanted to hear or what they already feared.  Whatever the reason, those posts struck some sort of chord and has kept me rechecking my charts out of sheer paranoia that I've gotten something wrong.

While it's now no longer a secret that the so-called-Boom is in the past tense, I still witness so many whisky geeks buying out of scarcity fears.  And I still see prices rising.  Next January, I'll update the spreadsheets and graphs, as long as the figures are still being made public.  At that point I'll also update the pricing spreadsheet and share that with you all as well.  If any one of my beloved readers has access to industry data that is more granular and specific than that released by the SWA, and is willing to provide it anonymously so that I may apply deeper analysis, together we may be able to create something of interest and assistance to many Scotch drinkers.

---

There were also 90,000 views that weren't connected to the Boom series.  The Top 25 All Time posts hasn't changed a whole lot since last May, so if you want the old long list you can click over there.  But let's see what's happened since then.

Firstly and most importantly, my daughter was born.  Everything else is sorta quiet compared to her.

Also, I went to Japan.  My brother got married.  Mathilda turned one.  I went through a long buying freeze.  I left the dusty hunt.  And this stay at home dad squeezed out over 140 single malt reports whenever his daughter allowed him.

Aside from the Scotch Boom stuff, here are the Top Dozen new posts:
1. A Friendly Reminder to Kill Your Whisky Gods
2. The original Suntory Royal SR review -- okay, so this was posted the month before the 100K marker but the number of clicks this review gets baffles me
3. Grangestone Double Cask review
4. Usquebach Old-Rare review
5. Whisky Observations from Japan (or Where the Hell is the Japanese Whisky?)
6. Glen Scotia 12 year old (old label) review
7. Talisker 25 year old (2012 bottling) review
8. Four Roses Single Barrel OBSK barrel 37-1B review
9. Balcones Rumble, batch R12-3 review
10. Karuizawa Spirit of Asama 48% review
11. R.I.P. Willett 4 year old Family Estate Single Barrel MGP Rye
12. Hello, Loch Dhu and Cu Dubh. Goodbye, 2014.

Some odd ones in there.  Um, Glen Scotia 12?

And the ten countries with the most views were:
1. United States of America, making up 52% of the total views
2. Canada
3. United Kingdom
4. Germany
5. Australia
6. Netherlands
7. India
8. France
9. Sweden
10. Finland

While blend reviews made up 18% of my first 100K posts, they only accounted for 12% of the second 100K. While the big four malts (Macallan, Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, and Glenmorangie) made up 14% of my first 100K, they made up less than 7% of the second 100K.  So even if I discount the Scotch Boom views, it's clear that people are coming to my site for things other than the super popular whiskies.  And if you look at that list of Top Dozen new posts above, readers are clearly going for some of the quirkier things.  And that's great because that's the path I prefer to travel as well!

One final thought regarding the Boom's demise.  If whisky's popularity continues to shrink then will my pageviews -- and those of other whisky bloggers -- do the same?  Probably.  That's how it goes.  As industries contract, so do peripheral businesses.  I guess that's one good thing about running an independent site, I won't be losing revenue.  Can't say the same thing about blogs and publications that directly rely on an expanding industry for financing and content.

---

This week I'll celebrate this recent milestone with one relevant whisky and one irrelevant whisky and then a WTF? whisky (super irrelevant!).  And the following week will be a whole bunch of stuff that I'm sure will be brilliant.

Thank you!

WTF Is This? Pride of Orkney 12 years old Vatted(?) Malt

Last Friday, it was Pride of Islay 12yo.  This week is its cousin, Pride of Orkney 12yo.

A similar starting schpiel to last week's:  This is a Gordon & MacPhail product from the '80s and early '90s, and part of a range of Prides, such as Islay, Lowlands, and Strathspey.  And almost verbatim... I'm 75% sure this is a vatted (or blended) malt.  Most online resources say as much.  But whiskybase shows it as a single malt, so I'll leave that parenthetical question mark in the title.  If you do google Pride of Orkney, you'll mostly find auction listings and most of those are of this very mini (50mL) version.  Not a lot of reviews of it out there, other than one from a certain prolific Frenchman, so hopefully this post will help someone on this planet.

The label does state "Highland Malt", which is funny because just two weeks ago my chosen WTF whisky had labelled another Island whisky a "Highland Malt".  So the usage of this vague, marketing/branding terminology goes back long before the recent whisky craze.  The label also displays a photo of St. Magnus Cathedral in Kirkwall, which is right up the street from Highland Park distillery.  So, that may have folks thinking this is a Highland Park, if it is indeed a single malt.  But Scapa distillery is also in Kirkwall.  The difference in distance from the distilleries to the cathedral is all of 1 kilometer (2.8km for Scapa, 1.8km for Highland Park).  Thus again, I'd be happy to accept that this is a vatted (or blended) malt of the two Orkney distilleries.

Brand: Pride of
Pride of what? Orkney

Ownership: Gordon & MacPhail

Type: Scotch Vatted (or Blended) Malt

Age: minimum 12 years
Bottling year: most likely somewhere in the 1980s or 1990s

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

(Many thanks again and again to Cobo for this opportunity!)

The color is a dark brownish gold.  Like the Pride of Islay, it leaves one wondering: is it big on sherry or big on e150a?  The nose has much less sherry in it compared to the Islay.  More cereal notes.  More American oak, though not nearly as much as current whiskies display. There's something grungy and dirty on top (sorta Campbeltown-ish, if we can call that a region).  But underneath there's orange zest and vanilla.  With time in the glass, the whisky picks up some green apples, maple wood, and a hint of soapy florals.  The palate is loaded with tobacco and cocoa powder. More sherry perhaps? Minimum sweets at first.  White fruit essences, especially those green apples. It's lightly grassy with some mint leaves.  A little vanilla balanced with a little bitterness.  Gets sweeter with time.  The finish is sweeter than the palate.  Still has that balance of vanilla and bitterness. Menthol and sherry.

This is a satisfactory whisky.  Its pleasures are the reverse of the Islay, wherein this one's palate is much better than the nose.  Like the Islay, the finish is the Orkney's weakest point, possibly the result of the ABV.  Then again, the whole package is so acceptable that I can't imagine it getting that much better at 43% or even 46%.  The peat is nearly silent and the sherry restrained as the spirit pads about casually.

Again, if you have a 70cL bottle in your stash, or one of these minis, you're sitting on an acceptable whisky which I can't imagine would be worth the effort to flip on the secondary market.  So drink it and be moderately satisfied.

Availability - Auctions, I s'pose

Pricing - ???

Rating - 82

The Life of a Whisky Bottle: Ledaig 15 year old (2001 bottling)

This whisky and I have some history.  It was introduced to me three and a half years ago at a most formative tasting, one that introduced me not only to Ledaig, but also early Corryvrecken and Willett's single barrels of LDI/MGP rye.  It left me wondering, what is this weird Ledaig stuff?

It also left me searching for my own bottle of the now extinct white-labelled 15 year old.  My online searches took me as far as Yorkshire, UK.  Lucky me, for my wife had a business trip near the retailer around that time.  Lucky me, for my wife received the whisky parcel at her hotel.  Lucky me, for my wife couriered it back to our home.  Lucky me, for my wife.

My plan was to open the bottle this past winter.  But then Long Beach had late summer heat until November.  Then we were traveling in December.  So it wasn't opened until January of this year.  Thus the bottle's winter was short, as was its open life.

As an experiment, I took samples from the top of the bottle, the mid-third, and the bottom of the bottle, in January, February, and April.  I've done Life of Bottle posts before where I've done tastings throughout the bottle's life, but this time I would taste various points of the bottle at the same time in order to compare and see how much it changes and oxidizes or oxygenate in the bottle.

One thing to note before I dive into the results, this whisky was bottled in 2001......which means that the whisky in the bottle is older than 15 years.  In 1982, Tobermory distillery (which makes Ledaig single malt) was closed and turned into apartments and (yes) cheese storage by the real estate company that owned the facility.  Production restarted in 1989.  This means the whisky in my bottle was 19-20 years old, or possibly older.  If that sounds a bit nutty, consider the entry in The Whisky Monitor for the 2003 bottling, which was 21 years old or older.  These are the sorts of things that happen when whisky industries have gone through a long term down period, and also when companies are establishing an age stated range (like current GlenDronach).

Now, onto the tasting.  My Annoying Opinions and Chemistry of the Cocktail will be posting simul-reviews of the whisky from this very bottle.  I'll include links to their reviews as soon as I am able...

And here they are!
MAO's review: http://myannoyingopinions.com/2015/08/12/ledaig-15-43/
Cocktailchem's review: http://cocktailchem.blogspot.com/2015/08/whisky-review-ledaig-15-year.html

Distillery: Tobermory
Brand: Ledaig
Type: Single Malt
Region: Isle of Mull

Age: minimum 15 years old, though actually 19 years or older in this case

Maturation: probably ex-bourbon barrels
Bottling year: 2001

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

Colored? ???

Chillfiltered? ???

This bottle's usage:
24% - Swaps and shares
0% - Whisky experiments
20% - Graded tastings
56% - Casual drinking

---

FIRST POUR FROM THE BOTTLE, January 2015
Color - Gold
Nose - A cheerful green/herbal note; think anise and cucumber skins.  Wood smoke and gentle peat moss.  Raspberry candy and rhubarb pie.  Dry leaves, grilled fish/seaweed, and wet sand.  With plenty of air, the candied notes remain, but not the herbal note.  A farmy hint appears as does a louder cinnamon note.
Palate - Pretty peppery and lightly sweet.  Barbecue and charred meat.  Salt and toasty barley.  A hint of tobacco.  With time an herbal bitter note grows and grows.  The peat expands.  The cinnamon note arrives, along with hints of tropical fruit punch and peach liqueur.
Finish - Sweeter and more vanilla-ed here.  Beachy and salty.  Slight lime tartness and herbal bitterness.  With air, the cinnamon shows up here too, as does the peach liqueur.

MID BOTTLE, February 2015
Similar to the 1/15 notes but with the following differences: 
Nose - More citrus and rhubarb pie.  Some dark chocolate and citronella candles.  With air, it remains bright and fruity, but also a little floral. Maybe a note of floral soap.  Salty cheese and butter.
Palate - Much more vanilla now. More direct overall. Bigger sweets, bigger bitter.  Some anise and pepper, less charred beef.  With time, a butter note develops. Cinnamon. More peppercorns and wormwood. Peat's a little dirtier. 
Finish - Peat is louder, as are the sweets and bitter.  Oddly, it feels longer.  With time, the peat and bitterness vanish, replaced by butter, cinnamon, and dried herbs.

BOTTOM THIRD OF BOTTLE, April 2015
Similar to the 1/15 and 2/15 notes but with the following differences: 
Nose - Fruitier still. More grassy, more anise, less smoke, less grilled fish/seaweed. Peat feels cleaner, saltier.  Hint of cardboard.  With time, it gets a little farmier.  Maybe some lime candy.
Palate - Mildest peat yet. Mild overall. Vanilla, pepper, and hay.  Picks up some more spice and florals with time, but also awakens that cardboard note.
Finish - Sugary vanilla, salt, and lots of cracked pepper.

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Observation #1: The first thing that struck me was how subtle and graceful this was compared to my experience with it three and a half years ago.  Back then I was seduced by its big weird smoke and strength.  Now, after having tried quite a number of modern Ledaigs, I'm fascinated by this whisky's calm.  It's certainly the mellowest Ledaig I've ever tried.

Observation #2: Usually I find the first pour from a bottle to be closed and a little jumbled.  The middle third is often my favorite part.  This time the top of the bottle proved to be the most complex.  The mid-bottle pour from this bottle was definitely the friendliest and brightest.  But really there wasn't a heck of a lot of change between the two.  Oxygen didn't do too much work over that first month.  But after three months, and with the bottle spending most of its open life less than half full, oxidation had started to affect the whisky.  The edges were gone, the palate had begun to flatten out, and the finish started to vanish.

Observation #3: As I'd mentioned in the intro, I searched for this bottle long and far, finding it 5,500 miles away and buying it at a considerable price.  Two years later, I discovered two stores in my neighborhood still carried that very bottle and at almost half the price.  Two facepalms transpired.

Observation #4: I don't know if there's anything on the market quite like it, but at the same time it is not worth $100+.  If you do have one of these and you do open it, I recommend hitting it with some Private Preserve (or something like it) once you get to mid-bottle.

Observation #5: It's not a 92-point whisky, but it's still very good.  I'm glad I opened it rather than keeping it tucked away all crowded in with other lonely bottles.

Availability - Happy Hunting!!!

Pricing - $60-$120

Rating - 87

WTF Is This? Pride of Islay 12 years old Vatted(?) Malt

A Gordon & MacPhail product from (I think) the '80s and '90s, the Pride of Islay is part of range of other Prides which include Orkney, Strathspey, and Lowlands.  I'm 75% sure this is a vatted (or blended) malt.  Most online resources say as much.  But whiskybase shows it as a single malt, so I'll leave that parenthetical question mark in the title.  If you do google Pride of Islay, you'll mostly find auction listings and most of those are of this very mini (50mL) version.  Not a lot of reviews of it out there, other than one from a certain prolific Frenchman, so hopefully this post will help someone on this planet.

The good news is that it has an age statement, and if my math is right it possibly contains Islay malt that was distilled in the 1970s.  The less-good news is that it was bottled at 40%, which makes me wonder if it was a sort of budget bottling by G&M.  If the whisky optimist in me was still alive, he would hope that this whisky was produced during a glut and thus has rare and old and magical sh*t in it.  But he's dead, so the realist just hopes this'll be a reasonable drink for the night.

(As always, if anyone out there knows more about this whisky, please let me know in the comment section below.  Thanks!)

Brand: Pride of
Pride of what? Islay

Ownership: Gordon & MacPhail

Type: Scotch Vatted (or Blended) Malt

Age: minimum 12 years
Bottling year: most likely somewhere in the 1980s or 1990s

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

(Many thanks to Cobo for this opportunity!)

The color is a very dark gold with orange highlights, a curious shade for a 12 year old whisky.  This is either a sherry Fat Man or a colorized product.  And in fact, in the nose, there is a gorgeous first burst of fruity musty chocolatey sherry.  Or perhaps those fruits, those tropical fruits, arrive courtesy of the mature spirit itself.  Then there's a note of men's cologne, you know, floral yet masculine.  Occasionally there's an odd mustardy egg note in the far back, but it's so faint and elusive that I may be imagining it.  What I'm not imagining is a nice yellow nectarine note, though.  After some time in the glass, the nose is primarily toffee and tangerines.  The peat reads sort of twiggy and herbal, rather than straightforward smoke or moss.  The palate is very citrusy and sweet, with a big caramel hit halfway through.  The sherry is much softer, as is the floral note.  It gets tarter and saltier with time.  There's a hint of soap and the texture is a little thin.  And there's a tiny bit of cardboard box in the far back, though that dissipates quickly.  The shortish finish picks up that musty moldy sherry cask note from the nose.  There's some salt and lime.  After a while it gets zestfully clean tart and picks up a peep of peat.

This is quite unlike most current blended malts and Islay single malts.  The peat is very gentle registering as a slight seasoning.  I know Monsieur Valentin gives the peat level (from 0-9) a '6', but compared to modern whiskies it feels like a '2' to me.  It also has that old funky sherry note, which I've always enjoyed.  And it's much fruitier than the most of the current peaty distilleries' products.

But that's all in the nose.  The palate is fine but not much more.  The thinness is of more concern than the subtle soap and cardboard notes.  The finish is shorter than I'd hoped, though I liked its tart zip.

I have no clue what went into this.  Assuming it was vatted (which I am assuming) I'd guess there's probably Laphroaig and Caol Ila, maybe some sherried Bunnahabhain.  I've never had young Port Ellen so I have no idea if that's swimming in here.

If you have a 70cL bottle in your stash, or one of these minis, you're sitting on a perfectly acceptable whisky (with a very good nose) which I can't imagine would be worth the effort to flip on the secondary market.  So when you open it, perhaps set moderate expectations.

Availability - Auctions, I s'pose

Pricing - ???

Rating - 83

Single Malt Report: Kilchoman 5 year old 2008 cask #74 (K&L exclusive)

Well, I've written plenty of stuff about Kilchoman this week already.  There was the Loch Gorm on Monday, Sanaig on Tuesday, and a murder of whiskies yesterday.  So I'll keep the intro short.  Today, I'm reviewing of one of their single casks.

Cask 74 from 2008 is being sold exclusively through K&L Wines.  It was originally priced at $110.  It did not sell out after a year on the shelf so K&L chose to add it to their sale/clearance section (also known as Insider's Advantage), selling it for $83.  As mentioned yesterday, I enjoyed it when I tried a sample, but due to the price I wasn't so moved to buy a whole bottle on my own.  Luckily I was able to split one with Florin, My Annoying Opinions, and Chemistry of the Cocktail.  MAO and Jordan will be posting their reviews today as well.  I'll post links to them once I am conscious...

And here are their links:
-- MAO, a snippy man who has lost every breakdancing competition he's entered, posted his review here.
-- Jordan, who has won all of those dance-offs, but only because he owns the judges in Portland, posted his review here.

Distillery: Kilchoman
Region: Islay
Type: Single Malt Whisky

Exclusive to: K&L Wines

Age: five years (Feb. 22, 2008 - December 16, 2013)

Maturation: ex-bourbon barrel

Alcohol by Volume: 58.4%
Cask: 74/2008

Colored? No

Chillfiltered? No

NEAT
Color - Bright amber

Nose - Starts with lemons, brown sugar, vanilla, and barley.  Baked potato, dried thyme, and dried oregano follow.  Then burnt plastic, saline, and vanilla-tinged smoke.  It's a little rooty, and has some Laphroaig-like medicinality (not a word!), which is balanced by a subtle nectarine note.  But it keeps returning to lemons or lemon creme.  After 15 minutes, here comes the cow poo.  And rainbow candy canes, of course.

Palate - The peated malt feels both green and floral, as opposed to smoky.  Lots of lime and fresh yellow stone fruit.  Vanilla bean, white sugar, anise, and a hint of something savoury.  It gets very candied at times.  Picks up some cinnamon candy and cracked pepper notes later on.

Finish - Smoke, salt, Underberg, and lemon gummi worms.  A brief whiff of cow.  Hint of cinnamon gum (Big Red).  It's quite sweet.

WITH WATER (~46%abv, from two tastings)
Nose - It gets leaner with the oak receding and the peat moving forward.  Some pepper, oyster-y salt, and confectioner's sugar.  Burnt hay, anise, and new carpet.  Hint of cinnamon.

Palate - The sweets are still there but it's a little farmier and bitterer.  Sweet basil, mint, and anise.  Tart citrus and lollipops.  More mossy than smoky.  Still pretty rich; more vibrant than Loch Gorm and Sanaig.

Finish - Shorter, but not short, if you follow.  Here the smoke comes totally to the fore.  In the background are smaller notes of sugar, bitterness, farm, and a peppery zip.

As noted, I tried this with water twice.  First when comparing it to Loch Gorm and Sanaig, then again on its own.  Happily my notes were nearly the same.  One thing I realized immediately was that when reduced to around 46%abv, this single cask is more enjoyable than Loch Gorm 2014 and Sanaig, from nose to palate to finish.  And when tried neatly, it's even better.

I found less cinnamon and less oak than David Driscoll notes on K&L's site.  But I'll agree with him that it is very good whisky.  I don't think it's "more flavorful, satisfying, and exciting than anything I've tasted from any Islay distillery over the past year" since, just off the top of my head, I know that I liked K&L's own 2001 Signatory Bowmore, the newer Laphroaig 18yo, and a couple of Kilchoman's single sherry casks better.  BUT I like this cask, and at the ripe old age of 5 years 10 months it might be the oldest Kilchoman single cask I've had so far.

At its current closeout price of $83, it's about a cheap as a Kilchoman single cask bottling gets nowadays.  If you think $83 is cheap for a 5 year old whisky, that's sorta up to you.  But I'm really happy I had a chance to split this with some good fellows.  I hope they liked it too... (Update: I liked it the most, so I guess I win.)

Availability - K&L Wines only

Pricing - $82.99 if you're signed up for their Insider's Advantage

Rating - 88