Pre-McEwan Bruichladdich: 10 year old (2002)

Master Distiller Jim McEwan was quite lionized by the whisky industry long before his retirement last year thanks to his extensive career and large personality. While he likely created a considerable number of very good whiskies during his five whisky decades (though I'm having a difficult time naming anything other than Port Charlotte and Octomore, partially because I'm from a more recent anorak generation and partially because well...), he also was responsible for the ugliest non-Loch-Dhu non-Loch-Lomond single malts I have ever consumed -- FWP Bowmore, the Murray McDavid sweet wine casks, Kool-Aid finished young Bruichladdich, and Wine Spit Cup Luxury 'Laddie (aka Black Art). But I'm not going to spend my time besmirching his name because that's mean and pointless. It takes a village to raise a whisky, good or bad. What I will say is I enjoy the Bruichladdich single malt distilled by Invergordon Distillers much more than the non-peated stuff made by the Bruichladdich Distillery Co. Ltd.

There were a number of different 10 year old releases in the '80s and '90s by Invergordon Distillers (and Whyte & Mackay), but this version of the 10 year old was released in 2001 by Bruichladdich Distillery Co. utilizing the stock picked up from the previous owners. Because the distillery was mothballed from 1995 to 2001, this 10yo had a limited existence, expiring in 2006 and then semi-replaced by a 12 year old (watch this space!). A new 10, distilled by Jim McEwan & Co., was released in 2011 to extensive fanfare, but was then retired less than three years later. At the moment there are no official 10yo Bruichladdich's, though an 8yo came out this year.

Today's sample was acquired via sample swap with Jordan of Chemistry of the Cocktail. His bottle was from 2002 and had a bottling code of 02/0072.

Distillery: Bruichladdich

Ownership that released the whisky: Bruichladdich Distillery Co. Ltd.
Whisky distilled by: Invergordon Distillers

Region: Islay

Type: Single Malt Whisky
Age: at least 10 years old

Maturation: 40% ex-bourbon casks + 60% ex-sherry casks

Bottled: early 2002

Alcohol by Volume: 46%

The nose starts off a little raw. Sap, yeast, and wort. But then canned peaches roll in, along with European oak-inspired dried fruits. A bit floral (blossoms, not perfume) around the edges. A hint of grilled meat. Roasted marshmallows. The oak feels more toasted than charred. With a few drops of water the floral notes rise up a bit, as does some wort. Then brown sugar and honeydew.

Barley, butterscotch, and a spicy zing in the palate. Some nice oak notes of vanilla and honey. A small peep of horseradish bitterness. Oh, maybe orange bitters. An easy drink. With a few drops of water it gets sweeter. Caramel starts to appear, but also a bigger bitterness. Vanilla bean. Butterscotch candy.

It has a simple finish. Barley, apples and ground black pepper. A little of that rooty bitterness. With a few drops of water it gets a little more complex with more sweetness to match the pepper, as well as additional vanilla and butterscotch.

This is a nice balanced young whisky. It never WOWs, but there are no false steps. Oak is present but it never smothers the youthful spirit. There's no ethyl heat despite the youth and strength. I'd say the palate is the best part, delivering a little something for everyone (except peat lovers). It would be great slotted into the $30-$35 range, as I believe it was 14(!) years ago. If you can find it near that old price (and not much more), I'd recommend it.

Availability - mostly at auctions
Pricing - ???
Rating - 83

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: Jefferson's Ocean Bourbon, batch 19

There's a whole story behind Jefferson's Ocean bourbon, but it doesn't matter. It's a non-age statement, non-distiller producer, diluted whiskey. The rest is a diversion. It's there to put you off the scent, to hypnotize you into paying irresponsibly for non-age statement, non-distiller producer, diluted whiskey. If you want the marketing tale then google "Jefferson's ocean". Even Fox News has a page on it.

Since it's whiskey, what matters is quality. That's what I'm going to try to suss out of my sample provided to me by The Recent Sku, MGPhD.

And that's it for the intro. I had an angrier one queued up, but it ain't worth it.

Brand: Jefferson's Ocean

Ownership: Castle Brands, Inc.
Distillery: Since they dropped "Kentucky" off the label, who knows where the bourbon is from. Many Great Possibilities.
Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey

Age: due to the lack of age statement, it should be at least 4 years old
Mashbill: I'm going to go out on a limb and say it has corn, rye and barley in it

Maturation: in charred white oak barrels coopered in Billy Ocean's backyard
Batch: 19

Alcohol by Volume: 45%

The nose runs thick with vanilla, cinnamon and wheat bread. Very floral, but it's not roses, nor jasmine (helpful!). A hint of dried apricots in the back. Mild green herbal notes (between oregano and chives). With 30+ minutes of air, it opens up into orange blossoms and Ferrero Rocher. Its palate starts off mildly, with some heat, green pepper, and a little bit of sweetness. After a few minutes it picks up rye-like spice and, ooh, lots of cherry sweetness. A bitter bite keeps it from going overboard (as it were). It expands with more air. More vanilla, more hot spirit, but also some limes and oranges. Bitter dandelion stems. Again, not much going in the finish at first. But then the cherry sweets arrive. Brown sugar. Orange candy. A slight bitter oak note.

That was much better than I had expected. The nose is cuddly, the palate never offends, the finish is a sweetie. The bitterness is necessary to balance things out. As can be corroborated by Sku and MAO (who, I've just learned, stole my Billy Ocean joke), this batch of Jefferson's Thing is perfectly bourbon bourbon. I'd be happy to pay $25-$30 for it. I don't know what the current batch number is but one can find Jefferson's Ocean for $65ish if one is lucky. Otherwise a number of retailers are selling batches for $150 BECAUSE POLLS SHOW THAT 100% OF GODS BLESS AMERICAN RUGGED INDIVIDUALISM. Keep up the good work everyone.

Availability - this batch and others can be found at many US specialty retailers
Pricing - $65-$150 (because if it's that expensive it has to be amazing)
Rating - 83

Single Malt Report: Glen Scotia 14 year old 1999 SMWS 93.61

So wait...

You're telling me I can pay a huge cover charge in return for the privilege to overpay for my drinks once I'm inside? I ditched this crap in the LA night scene two decades ago and I have zero tolerance for it now in the whisky scene(?). No live music or even a DJ? No thanks. Oh, I'm allowed to pay for $100 dinners? Yeah, no.

Yes, Scotch Malt Whisky Society has picked a number of very good single casks over the years, but so have dozens of other independent bottlers that don't make one join a "society" nor charge a $229 fee so that one can then spend $125 on a 12 year old Balmenach, $135 for a 14yo Inchmurrin or $115 for an 11yo Mannochmore. This may be where you and I part ways. SMWS makes no sense to me. I can buy some great whisky for $229 and then pay much less elsewhere for similar young single casks from the referenced distilleries.

Are you finished?

I guess so.

I do have the occasional friend or three to whom the SMWS does makes sense. And that's fine with him and me. I won't be competing with him to buy the next $150 bottle of Royal Brackla. And sometimes he ignores what an asshole I am and then shares samples from his bottles. I love him for it. Makes me want to belong to a club that would have someone like him for a member.

In this case, Saint Brett gave me a sample of this Glen Scotia (and a zillion other things, really). I'm pretty optimistic about a Glen Scotia from a refill ex-bourbon hogshead. Gimme gimme crazy Scotia.

Review

Distillery: Glen Scotia (SMWS 93)
Ownership: Loch Lomond Group (via Exponent)
Region: Campbeltown
Type: Single Malt
Independent Bottler: Scotch Malt Whisky Society
Funny name: Calmac welder’s tea break
Age: 14 years (June 1999 - 2014)
Maturation: refill ex-bourbon
Cask#: 93.61
Alcohol by Volume: 58.3%
Chillfiltered? No
Caramel Colorant? No

NEAT
At full strength, this nose is all over the place. Sawdust, lavender, ham, industrial chimneys and grape drink. Really. The palate proves to be less adventurous. It starts with raw cocoa, salty ocean air, ashy peat and a pinch of granulated sugar. That's followed by Frangelico, dried apricots and burnt notes. The finish tastes like a mouthful of gravel...along with some burnt, bitter, sweet, and malty notes.

WITH WATER (~46%abv)
The ashy peat moves up into the nose, where it's joined by wood chip mulch, synthetic fabrics and plastic. There are some coffee grounds, slight floral notes, and a newly opened bag of rubber bands. The palate has become very malty and salty. Brown sugar and subtle smoke meet a wormwood bitterness. Mmm, more good sharp bitterness in the finish. There's the salty coastal note. Hints of smoke and sweetness, along with the rubber band bag.

COMMENTS:
Without the water, the whisky had me going, "Hmm. Pretty weird, pretty cool." But once I added water I was all "OH YEAH!" like the Kool-Aid Man. At 46%abv, it sits somewhere between good Talisker and older odder-era Ledaig. If you were bananas courageous enough to buy a bottle of this for $135 and the aforementioned style doesn't appeal to you but you'd love to give your bottle to someone for free, email me. Cheers!

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - original price around $130
Rating - 88 (with water)

Single Malt Report: Glen Scotia 15 year old (2015)

Goodbye purple cows, Hello vanilla oak

Like Loch Lomond, its stable mate, Glen Scotia's bottle designs keep changing every couple of years. Three years ago they gave us the disco cows (thx Jordan!), a range with festively fugly packaging design, but a range WITH age statements. Last year, the LSD coos were replaced with mild mannered modern labels. And a majority absence of age statements.

The new range consists of Double Cask, Victoriana, and the 15 year old. I tried the Double Cask this May and found it to be fine, though generic. With all the cask influence it could have been any malt. On the other hand, my experience with Victoriana last year was not good.

#Quicktastes Glen Scotia Victoriana. Princess & The Pea whisky. A hint of Scotia under 40 caramel-vanilla mattresses. Princess wants peas.

— Michael Kravitz (@kravitz_hubris) November 12, 2015

For some reason Glen Scotia's twitter team liked that post.

The common theme with the two NASes was the submersion (subversion?) of the Glen Scotia character underneath the cask influence. Since Glen Scotia was never a popular whisky, I have a feeling this throttling of its style is no accident as the producers attempt to make their whisky friendlier. To top it all off, the official website keeps listing "vanilla oak" in the notes for each whisky, and claims "vanilla oak" is part of Glen Scotia's signature style. That's wrongheaded on so many levels.

In any case, the 15 year old was aged only in "the finest American oak barrels". I'm really hoping these "finest" barrels include some refills because I actually like Glen Scotia's spirit.

The Review

Distillery: Glen Scotia
Ownership: Loch Lomond Group (via Exponent)
Region: Campbeltown
Type: Single Malt
Age: minimum 15 years
Maturation: "American oak barrels"
Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? Yup
(Mini purchased somewhere around Ben Nevis.)

NEAT
One can see the e150a in the color, sadly, because the stuff looks sherry cask dark. The nose is piney and fruity. Peaches and mangoes. Quite nice, actually. More spirit-forward than the previous 16yo. There's some brine, rosemary and ginger candy, almost like some kooky international rye. A dark, sort of tarry note lingers in the far back. With time the fruit trends towards roses, meanwhile some fun industrial funkiness shows up.  The palate is fruity as well, mostly sweet stone fruit. There's a moderate malt note in there. Some peppery sharpness. Vanilla is lightly present. It all picks up some hot cinnamon spiciness with time. The vanilla note grows but meets with the stone fruit pretty well. The finish is uncomplicated but long. Malt, salt, sweet, a little bit of vanilla and a peppery tingle.

WITH WATER (~40%abv)
The nose gets buttery and floral. Caramel, oranges and a distinct burnt note. The palate becomes syrupy sweet with a slight bitter edge to it. Loads of caramel and vanilla. Sugar cookies. A touch of malt. More sugar, vanilla, and caramel in the finish. Hints of pepper, toasted oak, and bitterness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS:
This is a full step ahead of their NAS bottlings, at least for those of us Glen Scotia fans. It's not awe-inspiring but the oak is kept in check, when neat. It also carries more oomph than the disco cow 16 year old. The fruit notes are great, reminiscent of well-matured Highland malt. Yet at the same time, the palate is nearly style-less and could really be from any decent quality balanced single malt. But it's the zany nose that was my favorite part, always entertaining, never boring. Oh, and do yourself a favor by leaving water out of this!

A 15yo 46%abv for $50-$60?! That's getting pretty rare. But that's the Glen Scotia 15's price range in Europe. Here in the US it's $75-$90 and I would frankly never recommend it at that price. But for $50, yes. Who knows how long its age statement will last?

Availability - Prevalent in Europe, though much less so in the US
Pricing - $50-$60 (w/o VAT or shipping) in Europe, $75-$90 (w/o VAT or shipping) in USA
Rating - 85 (neat only)

Bourbon and Rye Day Friday: Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel Bourbon

Buffalo Trace Mash Bill #2

Buffalo Trace has three bourbon mash bills at the moment. Their wheated (using wheat rather than rye as the flavoring grain) mash bill is the one which has gained some infamy over the past few years as it's used for the Weller and Van Winkle whiskies.  The low rye (~8%) mash bill (aka Mash Bill #1) is used for the regular Buffalo Trace products including Buffalo Trace, Old Charter, the Taylors, the Staggs, the Eagle Rares, and the Benchmarks.  Mash bill #2, or the higher rye (~15%) mash bill, is used for the Age International whiskies: Blanton's, Elmer T. Lee, Ancient Age, Hancock's President's Reserve, and Rock Hill Farms.

Ignoring the wheated mash bill (forever, if possible), Mash Bill #1 bourbons seem to be easier to find throughout the US, especially Buffalo Trace, Eagle Rare Single Barrel, Benchmark, and at least one of the EH Taylors. But, aside from Blanton's Single Barrel and Ancient Age Sputum, Mash Bill #2's bourbons are difficult to find in most states. I've been told Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel and Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel used to be easy to find (and much cheaper) once upon a time. And I hadn't even heard of Hancock's until this year. Much of what Age International makes is distributed widely abroad since its brands are owned by a Japanese corporation. That's why it's easy to find four different versions of Blanton's in Japan and increasingly difficult to find one in the US.

I like Mash Bill #2's results quite a bit. Blanton's Single Barrel can be excellent, or at the very least reliably good. Two bottles of Elmer T. Lee vanished quickly in my home last year.  And Ancient Age with some actual age on it can be pretty decent. That's why I was looking forward to trying my sample of Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel. I've never bought a bottle of it myself because I can't remember the last time I saw it on a retailer's shelf for less than $60. Hell, I can't remember the last time I saw it on a retailer's shelf, period.

Single Barrels?

Rock Hill Single Barrel suffers from the same problem as two other popular Buffalo Trace brands. Eagle Rare Single Barrel and Elmer T. Lee Single Barrel are labeled as single barrels but their bottles provide no information about that single barrel. Not even a barrel number. On the cynical side of things, this leaves one wondering if these really are single barrels or a BS marketing ploy. On the logical side of things, this prevents a customer from tracking down another bottle of the barrel he or she might have enjoyed. To me, neither of these things are good for a brand. But people keep buying this stuff, so there's no motivation for Buffalo Trace to change anything. (Oddly, Blanton's labels print all sorts of information about its single barrels, except the age of the whiskey.) Rock Hill Farms Single Barrel does not provide information about what barrels its bottles come from, thus there isn't a single review you can read about Rock Hill Farms (RHF) that will be relevant to the bottle you have open. Including this review.

Review

This is a rock. I don't have a photo of my sample bottle.

Distillery: Buffalo Trace
Brand: Rock Hill Farms
Brand Owner: Age International
Region: Kentucky, USA
Type: Straight Bourbon Whiskey
Mashbill: Buffalo Trace #2 (higher-rye; about 15%)
Age: unknown
Alcohol by volume: 50%

(Many thanks to Ms. Linda for the sample!)

The nose starts off very lightly, mostly of blossoms and almond extract. Once it opens up, it's one BIG vanilla bean. Moderate notes of vanilla fudge, sandalwood and toasted oak spice linger around the edges. The flowers turn into grandma's perfume. Vanilla bean proves to be the main component in the palate as well. There's also brown sugar, grenadine, tart limes, ginger ale, cream soda and a hint of woody bitterness. But where's the rye? The finish itself is sweet sweet sweet. Kool Aid, corn syrup and cream soda. A bite of jalapeño oil. And plenty of vanilla bean.

This bears no resemblance to Blanton's nor Elmer T. Lee. Instead it's a like a better version of Ancient Age. Yet there's little to no rye character to balance out this sweet vanilla bomb. This left me nonplussed for the first half of the tasting. But by the end I recognized that this bourbon was a nice simple drink, maybe a bit on the desserty side of things, but offered up no fight nor harm, inoffensive unless vanilla offends.

This could be a reliable sipper at $30. But it's not $30. You may be able to find it for $50ish if you're willing to do some hustling, but $60-$70 seems to be its home, or twice that when sold by parasites. If I find a bottle for less than $50 during a dusty hunt, I'll get it. Oh, and the bottle is cute with its horsies, if that's your thing.

Availability - At random retailers
Pricing - $55-$75
Rating - 81 (for this mystery barrel only)

For more posts on other single barrels of Rock Hill Farms see Chemistry of the Cocktail, Recent Eats (wherein Sku devotes a whole paragraph to the review!), and LAWS (wherein Tim hates it). Also, Bourbon Scout did a good Mash Bill #2 blind taste test last year.

Single Malt Report: Glen Moray 10 year old Chardonnay Cask (43%abv)

Pronunciation

If you want to be hip, you should pronounce the 'Moray' in Glen Moray like murry, as in Eddie Murray, Brian Doyle Murray, or the last name of that creepy guy in the white fedora who drops annual press releases that screw with the whisky market.

A what cask?

Yeah, I had the same feeling as many of you when I saw the 10 year old Chardonnay Cask on the shelf. Though I don't hate wine cask finished whiskies, I also do not seek them out. And I don't always drink Chardonnay, but when I do I drink the unoaked sort.

But three things led me to buy a bottle of this whisky blindly. First, I discovered the whisky wasn't finished in wine casks, but instead spent its entire maturation there. That sounded odd enough to be worth trying. Secondly, the price was right. I had no problem finding it for $35-ish. And finally, it received positive reviews from two gents whom I wouldn't have expected to like it, Ralfy and MAO.  And you know what? I liked it. My wife liked it. And I almost forgot to salvage a sample to...

Review

Distillery: Glen Moray
Owner: La Martiniquaise
Type: Single Malt
Region: Speyside (Elgin)
Maturation: Chardonnay casks
Age: at least ten years old
Alcohol by Volume: 43%
Chillfiltered? Probably
Colorant added? Possibly
(review sample comes from the lower third of my bottle)

There's some orange in the color's gold. Hopefully that's not farbstoff.  A lot of peach and apricot in the nose, followed by fruity chewing gum. No, wait...Strawberry Bubble Yum. Dried grass clippings, roses, and lime sorbet. Whipped cream, marshmallows, and a creamy maltiness.  A surprisingly vibrant palate led off by coffee + toffee. Pineapple juice and marshmallows, yet not super sweet. Malt and a gingery zip. Some extra ripe melon in the midground. Very moreish (as I used to write). The coffee + toffee remains in the finish. Then a roasted note, a subtle herbal thing and a hint of oranges.

Utterly charming. I have no idea where the chardonnay is hiding in all this, but the cask steered the whisky in a completely different direction than the regular 12 year old. If I'm going to gripe then it would be regarding the short-ish finish, but that's it. Though there's minimal complexity to it, the whisky is, dare I say, very tasty. And it can still be found for $30. Unfortunately I'm seeing the new NAS "Chardonnay Finish" showing up more often, so perhaps we're all looking at our last opportunity to buy this little old gem.

Availability - A few dozen specialty US retailers
Pricing - $30-$40
Rating - 85 (It gets an extra point because the wife likes it. Important.)

Single Malt Report: Glen Moray 12 year old

History

Glen Moray-Glenlivet Distillery Co. Ltd. built Glen Moray on the site of the former West Brewery, in the midst of the Pattison-era whisky craze, in 1897. The whisky market crashed the following year, but Glen Moray kept chugging along until 1910, when it closed. Macdonald & Muir, then owners of Glenmorangie, bought the distillery in 1920, reopening it 1923. Due to the malt's success in M&M's Highland Queen blend, the owners doubled the still count in 1958, also replacing the floor maltings with a Saladin box. (Note: I've seen a conflict between reliable sources saying the stills were actually doubled in 1979. It's Chuck Maclean vs. Johannes.) Macdonald & Muir released the first official Glen Moray single malt in 1976. It was right around the late '70s when they ditched the internal maltings altogether for a third party's unpeated malt; so if you have one of the old 20yo or 30yo, those were distilled from the distillery's own maltings.  In 2004, Macdonald & Muir (now Glenmorangie plc) sold their distilleries to Louis Vuitton Moët Hennessy. Then four years later LVMH sold Glen Moray to the current La Martiniquaise ownership.

For more than a decade Glen Moray has produced a number of well priced aged-stated single malts, including a 10 year old Chardonnay Cask, 12 year old, and 16 year old. They had the NAS Classic for years, but that was clearly priced to be their starter whisky. As of 2016, they entered the NAS parade with a Classic Peated, Classic Chardonnay Finish, Classic Port Finish, and Classic Sherry Finish. Thankfully, those price tags have been kept under £30.

Brief Commentary

With most of their malt going to the Label 5 brand, the 10th most popular blended scotch in the world, I get the feeling there was a bit of strain being put on their malt reserves. Either that or they bought into the artificial boom too late, because they just doubled the distillery's capacity to 6.5 million liters per annum last year. Whisky Yearbook says there are plans to increase it further to 9 million liters/year. Yes, you just heard me sigh. I hope their ownership looks back to the beginning of the distillery's history to determine the wisdom of that additional expansion.

Review

Distillery: Glen Moray
Owner: La Martiniquaise
Type: Single Malt
Region: Speyside (Elgin)
Maturation: ex-bourbon casks, with unknown quantity of first fills
Age: at least twelve years old
Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chillfiltered? Probably
Colorant added? Not much, if any
(Sample comes to D4P courtesy of a sample swap with My Annoying Opinions)

Its color is as light as straw, often a positive in my book. The nose is very grainy; think cream of wheat, oats, or rice. Actually, a bit of sake in there. Then hay, carpet, apple cider and a young weird buttery note that may be more from the spirit than the oak. The palate starts off well with a gentle toffee note and a raisin-like thing.....which vanishes after the third sip. What starts off as light acidity grows with time. Add that acidity to a fizziness, and one's left with a 7-UP note. Some anise. Hint of potato vodka. A thinness in the mouthfeel makes this come across like a mid-shelf blend. The finish has barley, anise and vanilla. That 7-UP note. The acidity remains, giving off a feeling of grappa, almost.

Well, that was curious. Having had other Glen Morays before (though oddly this is the first I've reviewed) I knew I wasn't going to get some average boring malt. There's always a kick of something quirky in their whisky. I liked the graininess and the whole young aspect of the nose. The palate began with promise then was overtaken by the acidity, and that's where it buried itself.

It works a little better as a tumbler whisky, as opposed to a Glencairn whisky. And that's how I'd recommend one drink it. The acidity mellows and more of the youthful barley notes stick out. You could do much worse in the vanishing $30 single malt tier, especially if you're not an oak enthusiast.

Availability - Specialty retailers
Pricing - $30-$40
Rating - 78