Single Malt Report: Glen Ord 17 year old 1997 Signatory for K&L Wine Merchants

Last Monday, I said I was doing eight K&L whisky reviews in a row.  I have no idea what I was talking about because I only have seven of their whiskies to review.  At one point in my life I was good at the maths.

I like Glen Ord and really wish Diageo would give it a good release here in The States.  "The Singleton" version they do in Asia isn't bad, but a 12 year old 46%abv (or 45.8%) would be much preferred.  There's some good whisky coming out of that distillery and I do believe they expanded its annual production to 10 million liters (unless that expansion was nixed with the rest of their big investment plan last year), additionally blend sales are falling.  So maybe someday?  Right.

It's a good thing several dozen casks from the '90s made their way to the indie bottlers.  This one in particular was bottled by Signatory for the US retailer K&L Wine Merchants.  Like yesterday's Glenburgie it's from a hogshead, but unlike yesterday's single hogshead there are still some bottles on the shelves.  How or why people bought more Glenburgie than Glen Ord, I don't know.  Let's find out...

Distillery: Glen Ord
Ownership: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Retailer: K&L only
Age: 17 years (April 30, 1997 - August 1, 2014)
Maturation: Hogshead
Cask#: 800089
Bottles: 272
Region: Northern Highlands
Alcohol by Volume: 58.3%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Thanks to My Annoying Opinions for the sample!

(source)

NEAT
Its color is light gold, again.  The nose is HOT.  Takes a while before I can sort through it.   There's caramel and oranges first.  Then vanilla and peach.  Powdered sugar donuts and apples.  There are also rubberbands and an unmistakable something that exists right between earthy and sulfurous.  Enormous heat in the palate.  Beneath that is vanilla, almonds, and caramel.  Equal parts sweet and salt.  Cream of wheat.  And again that in-between earth and sulphur note, though smaller here.  It finishes with the sweet and salt.  Long and hot.  A light bourbon with hints of citrus and rubberbands.

It calls, desperately, for water.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose gets more honeyed now.  More floral as well.  The oranges, peaches, and vanilla are still there.  A hint of the sulphur thing.  The palate becomes tangier.  Vanilla, pepper, a little nutty.  A bitter wood note.  The sweet and tangy finish has vanilla, cherries, and wood pulp.

More water...

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose has been trimmed to oranges, peaches, vanilla, and honey.  The pleasant lightly oaky palate feels a little oaky, but there's still plenty of fruits (lemon and dried apricot).  On the finish it's caramel, wood pulp, and dried apricots.

The charms of this one are largely, though not entirely, lost on me.  Firstly, for a more enthusiastic(!!) take on this whisky, see MAO's review from May.  Also a few folks on whiskybase liked it better as well.  None of them mention the curious note that kept floating to the surface (for me), one that I couldn't figure out if it was a dirty earthy thing or a sulphur note from the spirit (rather than the cask).  I didn't mind it much; in fact it was the most entertaining part of the whisky.

Overall, I don't dislike this whisky.  I found it to be hot when neat.  Adding water improved it and I think its money spot is somewhere between 40% and 46%abv.  In that range, it's a decent drinker, comfortable, free of oddities and noise.

Of all the 2015 K&L exclusive whisky releases this was the one I was considering getting first.  And at $80, it is what passes for an excellent deal for a 17yo Highlands single cask.  But I'll be letting this one go.  More for y'all.  20+ bottles still available as of Halloween.

Availability - K&L Wine Merchants only

Pricing - $80

Rating - 81 (with water only)

Single Malt Report: Glenburgie 19 year old 1995 Signatory for K&L Wine Merchants

Glen Whatsit?  Glenburgie.  It's a thing.  It's actually a big thing, a Pernod Ricard-owned Speyside distillery that cranks out over 4 million liters of alcohol a year.  Since they don't release regular official single malts of it, where the heck does all that whisky go?  The Ballantine's monster.  And the Old Smuggler littler monster.

Now technically, the Glenburgie distillery that made today's single malt no longer exists in the same form.  In 2003 its previous owners, Allied Domecq, knocked the whole thing down and rebuilt it.  It reopened in 2004, then expanded in 2006.  That old distillery had a pair Lomond stills (courtesy of Hiram Walker) from 1958-1981, which produced the Glencraig malt, a rare whisky though not one of the romantic ones.

The thingy I'm reviewing today is a regular potstill-distilled Glenburgie bottled by the reliable Signatory folks for K&L Wine Merchants.

Distillery: Glenburgie
Ownership: Pernod Ricard
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Retailer: K&L only
Age: 19 years (June 13, 1995 - August 1, 2014)
Maturation: Hogshead
Cask #s: 6449
Bottles: 258
Region: Speyside
Alcohol by Volume: 54.9%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Thanks to My Annoying Opinions for the sample!

NEAT
Its color is light gold.  The quirky nose starts normally with lots of fruits: apricots, oranges, and peaches.  In the background are notes of stale bread and old milk.  Then fresh parsley and ground cardamom.  There's a farty note, more from the spirit (probably) than the cask.  After 15-20 minutes it straightens out a bit.  Rum balls, pencil lead, hints of flower blossoms and toffee pudding.  At the 30 minute mark it's dried grass clippings and fresh lemons.  The palate begins with a lot of caramel sauce and fresh herbs.  Roasted nuts and malt.  There's a fruity orange candy sweetness that starts out mild then grows with time in the glass, eventually taking over entirely.  The finish stays mildly sweet throughout.  A nutty burnt/browned butter note.  Some citrus peel, malt, and mushrooms.

(source)

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose is more focused.  A fruit and crème fraîche dessert.  But more canned fruit cocktail than fresh fruit.  A little vanilla, a little pencil lead.  In the palate it's oranges, caramel, vanilla, brown sugar, malt, and cayenne pepper.  The finish is much briefer.  But it's orangey and malty.  Some caramel and pepper.

The palate is pretty straightforward, nothing mindblowing but nothing offensive.  Solid "Speyside" (whatever that means at this point in time) stuff.  It's the nose that's more challenging, but I like it better than the palate for that same reason.  Still, I doubt its sniffer will scare any single malt fan away.  I would have recommended this with water had the finish hadn't been cut so short.  But if you do find oddities in the whisky when it's neat, have confidence that adding water will clear those away.

Since whisky grading is totally an exact science, I'm going to give this one more point than the K&L Dailuaine, because it is exactly one point better.  Or because of the Glenburgie's fascinating nose.  Or because it's Monday.  For a more enthusiastic(!) take on this whisky, see MAO's review from June.

Availability - Sold out

Pricing - $60-$70

Rating - 85

Single Malt Report: Craigellachie 18 year old 1995 Hepburn's Choice for K&L Wine Merchants

In 2014, Bacardi started releasing a range of single malts from all of its distilleries.  It was a very cool idea and something that I looked forward to.  But I haven't purchased any of these bottles because many of their prices are on the higher side of things.  Also, I don't buy full bottles blindly and I don't know many folks who have bought any of these whiskies, so I haven't been able to mooch.  But there's one exception, Craigellachie 13yo.

A few months ago, a friend had me blind taste a few things.  The last thing I tried was odd.  The first thing I said was, "It's scotch......right?"  It's was that weird.  It almost seemed like an American craft single malt, but one that was very low on oak.  My friend (who has much more whisky experience than I do) had me declare on the spot how I'd grade it.  I said borderline C+/B-, though its weirdness made me lean closer to B-.  He confirmed it was scotch and that it was Craigellachie 13.  And that he didn't understand why certain reviewers were raving about it.  I anticipate that if he ever publicly reviews it, it'll be graded less than a C+.  I won't review it in full until I do a larger, more official tasting.  But in the meantime, I'll lean much closer to the grades & notes from whiskyfun and whiskynotes than those of thewhiskeyjug and drinkhacker.

Anyway, this review has nothing to do with that whisky.  It is instead about a VERY different Craigellachie.  It's a single sherry cask, bottled by Hunter Laing under their Hepburn's Choice label for K&L Wine Merchants in the US.  It was amongst K&L's 2015 single cask exclusives and there are still some of these bottles on the shelves.  I've been pretty happy about K&L's 2015 picks, let's see if this one continues the positive trend.

Distillery: Craigellachie
Ownership: Bacardi
Independent Bottler: Hunter Laing
Label: Hepburn's Choice
Retailer: K&L only
Age: 18 years (1995 - 2014)
Region: Speyside
Maturation: Sherry Butt
Bottles: 580
Alcohol by Volume: 54.3%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Thanks to My Annoying Opinions for the sample!

NEAT
Its color is brown gold.  Well, if I didn't know what sort of cask it came from beforehand, the nose told me right away.  Prunes, dried cherries, dark chocolate, Nutella, and sulphur.  There's a small farmy note reminiscent of Tobermory.  Could that be peat moss in there too?  More chocolate with time, like a hot fudge spill on a forest floor.  It's not a pretty or polished nose, but I like it.  A nice moderately fruity cask (probably more the oak than the sherry) show up on the palate.  Grapes/raisins, dried blueberries, and prunes.  But not too sweet.  The sulphur's lighter here.  Milky chocolate and toffee.  Some heat and a malty rumble underneath.  Dark chocolate and cherry pie filling on the finish.  Black raisins and slight bitterness.  No sulphur here.  The chocolate gets milkier with time.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
Wham! Cannon powder on the nose.  Chocolate cherry cordials.  Milky milk chocolate.  Black Mission figs (what a f---ing snob).  A little of that possible peaty thing and some orange oil.  The palate is much milder.  A little cleaner and more Glendronach-y.  Fruity but not sweet.  Small notes of mint, milk chocolate, raisins, and soil.  The raisins and chocolate continue into the finish.  Some pepper.  Maybe a little bit of that farm note.

(source)

How about this for cuteness: you can just hop on over to My Annoying Opinions's's's review and witness almost the same exact whisky experience.  And, in an unexpected twist, I also agree with thewhiskyjug's review.  Plus, Sku and I agree about this one, and the Hepburn's Bowmore too.  With all of this positivity, bottles still remain in stock as of today.  Why?

Well, this isn't for fans of the Macallan 18yo style of sherried malt.  It's a rougher or "dirty" (as per MAO's note) sherried style.  Likely the kind of thing that pisses off Jim Murray something terrible.  I did some snooping and discovered that Craigellachie does indeed use lightly peated malt, so that mossy note wasn't just my imagination.  In any case, if your palate likes a little bit of an ass-kicking -- as opposed to a foot rub -- from a sherried single malt then this may be your flavor.

Availability - K&L Wine Merchants only

Pricing - $100

Rating - 88

Single Malt Report: Dailuaine 16 year old 1997 Signatory for K&L Wine Merchants

This site has a sad lack of Dailuaine reviews, something I need to remedy next year.  I like Dailuaine.  It doesn't put out one of the Great malts, nor often the Very Good malts, but it's pretty reliable and I like to site it as an example of a whisky with a positive floral element.  The nose is so often full of fresh flower blossoms, that I can almost pick a Dailuaine out at a blind tasting.  But I'll need to try twenty more just to be sure.

Like Royal Lochnagar, the Dailuaine distillery is owned by Diageo and used primarily for blends.  After its expansion in 2012, it produces almost 12 times the alcohol that Lochnagar does, much of that also goes into Johnnie Walker.  There are some old Flora & Fauna bottlings floating around out there and also a super-expensive 34yo "Special Release" coming out this year.  Today's Dailuaine is a single cask from the very reliable indie bottler Signatory, and was released exclusively through the American retailer K&L Wine Merchants.

Distillery: Dailuaine
Ownership: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Signatory
Retailer: K&L only
Age: 17 years (May 21, 1997 - April 28, 2014)
Maturation: Hogshead
Cask #s: 7195
Bottles: 224
Region: Speyside
Alcohol by Volume: 54.6%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No
Thanks to Florin for the sample!

NEAT
Its color is amber.  The nose begins with orange blossoms and lychee.  Then there's caramel, barley, putty, and a slight papery note.  There's also some fruit, from peach nectar to something reminiscent of Power's whiskies (pears and melons).  After 30 minutes in the glass, the whisky's fruit notes get funkier and overripe.  More vanilla and caramel too.  The orange blossoms become oranges.  The malty palate is quite sweet.  Toffee, tangerines, and tropical fruit cocktail juice.  A little bit of cocoa and plenty of heat.  Man, it gets even fruitier and sugarier with time.  More tangerines than tropical fruits in the extensive finish.  Peach candy, a little bit of caramel.  Some malt and a peppery zing.  It also gets fruitier and sugarier with time.

(source)

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose gets very malty.  The fruit element recedes.  The orange blossoms return.  Some baking spice like a bright old rye (cinnamon, sugar, and butter?).  Toffee and tobacco in the palate.  Very malty again.  Whipped cream.  Toasty French oak-like notes.  The mild finish is sweet and creamy.  Reminiscent of Compass Box Spice Tree.

Super fruity.  On the sweeter side as well.  I will agree with David O-G of K&L that this is light on oak and can take water well.  Much easier to recommend than yesterday's Royal Lochnagar, this Dailuaine is a solid whisky if it fits your palate, and if you picked it up when they dropped the price to $59.99 you certainly caught a good deal.

Availability - Sold out  :^(

Pricing - $60-$70

Rating - 84

Single Malt Report: Royal Lochnagar 10 year old 2002 Faultline (K&L exclusive)

After last week's OF THE MOMENT reviews, I'm shifting gears.  The next eight (I cannot count) seven reviews will be of K&L exclusive whiskies.  Now, because I can't be timely with all of these, this first whisky was probably sold out a year ago.  But I'm just warming up.

Royal Lochnagar, Diageo's smallest distillery, goes into the Pinch, Windsor, VAT 69, and Johnnie Walker blends.  And I've heard third- or eighth-hand that it's one of the main malt components for Blue Label.  So there's a chance that many folks have had it, but not on its own.

I'm not sure if I've ever had a Royal Lochnagar single malt before, so I'm just going to say that this is my first.  Though K&L drew rightful criticism for overstating the rarity of independent Lochnagars, indie RLs can be a challenge to find.  Whiskybase has 110+ RL indies, but only 10 have been released since 2013.  And this Faultline was the only one of those to make it to the US.  The only other one I've seen on the shelves is the Dewar Rattray one that BevMo! released 4-5 years ago.

(source)

Distillery: Royal Lochnagar
Owner: Diageo

Independent Bottler: Faultline
Retailer: K&L only

Age: minimum 10 years

Region: Middle Eastern Highlands

Alcohol by Volume: 58.2%
Chillfiltered: No
Colored: No
Thanks to SmokyPeat for the sample!

NEAT
Its color is very pale.  The nose starts with a load of ethyl with buttery oak behind it.  Give it a couple minutes...and......Floral perfume.  Lots of soap.  Lots of vanilla.  Lemons.  A little bit of saltwater.  The palate is REALLY hot.  A little bitter and soapy.  Lots of sticky sugars, flower petals, and vanilla.  The finish is heat. Barrel char, vanilla, and woody bitterness.

Okay, that was not what I'd identify as pleasant.  I'm going to water it down...

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The nose is still perfumy, but clearer now.  Limes, roses, a hint of malt.  Kasugai peach candy, caramel, and confectioner's sugar. Still some ethyl in there.  The palate is pretty malty and mild now.  Sugary and grassy.  Some lime zestiness and a slight farm note.  The finish is clearer too.  Better bitterness.  Lots of woody vanillaness.  Perfumy.

As noted above, I received this sample from Smoky Peat.  Mr. Peat is more of an optimist about current whiskies than I am......and he gave this whisky one of his two or three lowest scores ever.  The reddit review of this Royal Lochnagar is not kinder.

I'm not sure if I've ever written the following: I do not recommend even trying this whisky neatly.  Water is a must.  While that still doesn't turn it into a great whisky, hydration does cool its crazy heat and washes away the soap.  It still seems like a very young malt once it's reduced, which while that is not a bad thing, it may not be to everyone's taste.  It's sugary, grassy, and perfumed.  It's drinkable at 46%abv, perhaps even more so at 40%.  So keep that in mind if you have issues with your bottle once it's opened.

Availability - Sold out  :^|

Pricing - $50-$60

Rating - 74 (with water only)

NOT Single Malt Report: Haig's Dimple Tin Cap Blended Whisky (bottled in 1950s)

To cap off this week's old blend reviews, I'm skipping right over the '60s to get to the '50s.  I've reviewed two of Haig's 1970s cheaper blends, finding one much better than the other, but neither were of the Dimple/Pinch (Dimple in Europe, Pinch in U.S.) variety.  I've had the somewhat current version of the 15yo Pinch (or, again, "Dimple" outside of the US), I found it to be an acceptable blended whisky and hope they can keep it in the $35-$40 price range as long as possible.  This, though, is different.

Photo not of actual bottle sampled,
instead the image is from this page

I really don't know how to continue an intro to a whisky like this so I'll just end it with saying thank you to Sir Cobo for this sample!!!

(Also, please see that previous Haig post for a summarized history about the brand!)

(Also, if you do have an old Haig in your collection, the Haig site does something rare for an official site by providing a little bit of assistance with figuring out your dusty's age.)

Brand: Haig
Ownership at the time: Distiller's Company Limited (DCL)

Current ownership: Diageo

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: minimum 3 years

Alcohol by Volume: 40% (or 70º UK proof)
Bottled: 1950s

The color is a moderately dark gold.  The nose begins with wood smoke and orange oil.  Almond cookies and ocean water.  Grapefruit.  A minerally white wine.  After 20+ minutes in the glass, a fragrant mossy peat note appears alongside vanilla beans and rope.  The palate is a little dusty and musty but not much; the '70s Ballantine's was much mustier.  Instead it's loaded with a gorgeous bitterness and tart grapefruit.  Lots of salt.  Some oily greasy Springbanky stuff in the midground.  A mellow sweetness in the background.  After a while it develops a very literal mineral note, like licking a rock.  Not a long finish, but it's impressively free of sweets.  Lots of citrusy tingle, like lemon and grapefruit.  The rocky-mineral note.  And the bitter note, now reading sort of IPA-ish.

Can I say "they don't make them like this anymore" without sounding cliché?  No?  Well, they don't make them like this anymore because no one bottle ages their blend for sixty years before releasing it to the public.  But really, a load of tartness, bitterness, and rocks with a minimum of sweetness?  I'm assuming that can still be done by someone somewhere.  Right?  I'd buy a bottle of that.

While the palate was my favorite part, the nose was also very good.  It's a shame the finish finished fast, but while it lives its notes are consistent with the rest of the experience.  I'm liking some of these old Haigs, so I have a feeling there may be more posts about them here......maybe in 2016?

Availability - The occasional auction and/or European retailers who sell dusties at premium prices

Pricing - ???

Rating - 86

NOT Single Malt Report: Ballantine's Finest Blended Scotch Whisky (bottled 1970s)

One of the most exciting moments for a dusty hunter is when he or she sees the word "QUART" on a whisk(e)y label.  That means the bottle is from the 1970s, at the latest.  I'll be honest, I've rarely had that pleasure.  On one of those rare occasions, I found this bottle.

I was pretty geeked out about this.  I love old cheap blends from the whisky glut era.  One never knows what one's going to find in 'em.  Also, it feels like one's drinking something old, a creaky but vibrant, sometimes sort of moldering, likker that our grandfathers used to drink after long day of beating up scabs.

The fill level wasn't perfect in my Ballantine's, as you may be able to glean from the photos.  The bigger challenge was that the tax strip was virtually gone.  The screw cap was certainly sealed, that wasn't the issue.  The issue was how old was this damn bottle?  After researching a zillion Ballantine's ads from the past 50+ years, I was able to conclude that this specific label (with standard measurements) was used from 1968-1979.  So I'm going with 1970s.  More importantly, the whisky was entirely drinkable.

Brand: Ballantine's
Ownership at the time: Hiram Walker Gooderham & Worts

Current ownership: Pernod Ricard
Distributed by: 21 Brands, Inc.

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky

Age: minimum 3 years

Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Bottled: probably between 1968 and 1979

Its color is a yellow gold.  The nose can be a bit of an adventure.  At first it's very musty.  Some mild cheese, salty buttery potatoes, and oats.  But after than comes the limes and lemons and vanilla.  A mild maltiness (though not young stuff).  With time (20+ minutes), the citrus moves to the forefront.  Some orange creamsicles now.  A peep of prune juice and wisp of wood smoke.  Lemon creme filling in the palate.  Slight occasional musty moldy note.  Still has a little ethyl bite to it after all these years.  Mild smoke.  Some vanilla and sugar.  As it opens up, it gets very peppery on the tongue.  Some brief oaky moments here and there.  Its finish is shorter than yesterday's '80s Famous Grouse.  It's all Boston creme, toffee, a hint of sawdust, and a spicy nip.

Yeah, it's weird at times.  So are most of the dusties that sit on sunny Southern California shelves for 30+ years.  It takes time open up and let go of the funk, much like my old '70s JW Black Label.  But it's never boring and makes for a pleasant mindless sipper once the weird stuff fades out.  It's also better than the current Ballantine's Finest but not as drastically so as the Grouse issue noted yesterday.  There's definitely plenty of grain filler here and I do wish there was more fruit going on.  But I'd happily buy this for $20 or less (okay, maybe $25 for historical value) any day.

Availability - Happy Hunting!

Pricing - ???

Rating - 78 (needs a little breathing time)