Pre-Birthday Whisky: Glenugie 31 year old 1977 Signatory, cask 7

A Glenugie! My only Glenugie. What is a Glenugie?

Glenugie was a distillery on the east coast of the Highlands that permanently shuttered one year short of its 150th birthday in 1983. The facility was closed at least five times during that period and once had a brewery tacked on. The distillery had one whole pair of stills and was once owned by Whitbread & Co. (aka Long John Distillers) who also owned Ben Nevis and Laphroaig at the time.

Glenugie single malt is scarce. Like really scarce. I don't think there's been a release in six years, which makes one wonder if there's any more Ugie left to Glen. Is it endangered or extinct? Either way, I am going to drink this one from Signatory. It had a secondary maturation of seven years in a sherry butt after spending its first 24 years in (2?) hogsheads.

Distillery: Glenugie
Region: Eastern Highlands
Independent Bottler: Signatory Vintage
Age: 31 years (December 20, 1977 - September 14, 2009)
Maturation: 24 years in hogsheads + 7 years in a sherry butt
Cask #: 7
Outturn: 577
Alcohol by Volume: 58.1%
(Sample from a paid event, years ago)

NEAT
Its color is a rich reddish brown. An active sherry cask? The nose begins with a riot of exotic fruit, like mango and papaya and things I don't know the name of. That's followed by sea brine, hot fudge, purple Mr. Sketch scented marker and in-season dark red cherries. With 30+ minutes in the glass, the whisky picks up coffee ice cream and prune notes, then focuses on chocolate-covered cherries and the sea. The palate goes in a different direction. A filthy sherry cask direction. Sooty and grungy and metallic. But it's also loaded with sweet oranges and blackberries. Hard ginger candy. A little bit of heat. Simple overall, but big. The long, warm finish is mostly metal, soil and tobacco with a hint of pears.

That was a lot of words. How about a little bit of water?

DILUTED TO 50%abv, or 1tsp of water per 30mL whisky
This shifts the nose into classic sherry cask territory. Dried stone fruits and dried berries, with some oak spice and tobacco. Then halvah, pencil graphite and a hint of vanilla. The palate gets oakier, bitterer and drying. It feels as if the water closed it up. It's salty and tangy. Limes and a little bit of that pencil graphite. It finishes sweeter and tarter than the palate. Still some wood bitterness in there, along with metallic moments.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
The good news first. This was a hell of thing when neat. It has one of the best sniffers I've sniffed this year. The palate's dual dimensions are both pretty darn solid. The finish has a great length to it, but not much else, which is curious considering the age, strength and mix of oaks.

Adding water sunk it, though, unveiling both generic sherry notes and aggressive oak. A bummer. And the less I say about it the better.

At full power it delivers a full experience, and never reads as hot as one would think with its big ABV. The contrast between the nose and mouth works as a strength, I only wish there was more to the finish. It's a fine whisky, though. I wish Glenugie wasn't limited to the Serges, Sukhinders and White Fedoras of the world, but that's where we are and there's no going back now.

Availability - Secondary market in Europe
Pricing - probably north of $500
Rating - 89 (neat only!)

Pre-Birthday Whisky: Benriach 32 year old 1979 Adelphi

Twenty-seven months ago, I led a private whisky event that was more luxurious than anything I'll probably host in the future. (Unless I go full nihilist and just start opening up all my gems in one night.) Here's that placemat, once again:

I've reviewed 9 of the 12 whiskies from that event. Today I'll do the 10th, a Benriach that may have been my favorite of the set when I bottled little samples for myself the next morning.

For the official sample tasting (last night), I paired it with this official 19 year old single cask BenRiach. That teenager did not make for a good sparring partner since it had mutated into a oaky mess over the past three years. Or was it always an oaky mess? The Benriach of real interest, the 32 year old, was a much different character, curious in its own way.

Distillery: Benriach
Ownership: Brown-Forman

Independent Bottler: Adelphi
Region: Speyside (Lossie)

Age: 26 years old (1979 - 2012)

Maturation: see concluding section below
Outturn: see concluding section below
Cask #: 515

Alcohol by Volume: 48.4%

NEAT
Its color is 1st-fill-sherry-cask dark. But it's supposedly not a 1st fill sherry cask. The delicate nose takes a while to lift off. First it's very bready and nutty. Then there's an earth and orange combo, followed by hints of anise, menthol, pine sap and rye seeds. The palate is more aggressive. Fresh mint, fresh ginger and tangy limes. Light on the oak and sweets. A few moments of incense. The finish holds onto the mint and limes. Aromatic oak spices and a puff of smoke. Decent length.

DILUTED TO 46%abv, or 1/3tsp of water per 30mL whisky
Add just a little bit of water......and it's a different whisky. Golden raisins, mango, raspberry fruit leather and applesauce on the nose. The palate is creamier, saltier. But also kinda sherried, with lots of dried fruit and nuts. The ginger and limes have receded. Some grassy and herbal notes sneak in. Now the finish reads like a sherry cask. Dried berries, berry jam, salt and savory herbs.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Let us (I am us) talk about this cask. Whiskybase says it's "Ex-Bourbon American Oak Barrel". One WB reviewer says it's a refill. The other WB reviewer says it's very active. Meanwhile, if I'd tasted the lightly diluted version blind, I'd have thought it was from a refill sherry cask. Meanwhile, WB lists its outturn at 151 bottles, and the reviewers list it as 78 and 171 bottles. At least the 78 count would make sense for a split cask, but, um, I have no idea how many actual bottles came out of this "barrel".

Ignoring all that, I'm happy to say the whisky is good. Good, but not as superlative as I'd anticipated or remembered. Its nose is the most fun, with or without water. The palate and finish are fine, but (other than the incense notes) there's nothing really unique going on. That's significant because the palate has the bigger punch, while the nose needs to be teased out. But but but it's still a quality whisky, especially since its oak is much more under control than just about every much-younger modern whisky thing around.

Availability - ???
Pricing - Binny's had it on closeout for $300-ish two years ago
Rating - 87

Life changes, the blog continues. Unasked questions answered.

I used to fill my posts with personal news and photos. This practice decreased gradually as each of my children arrived, as I realized that most of my readers were people I don't know. While I'm sure that the vast majority of my readers are awesome folks, you know as well as I do that there are a lot of very strange individuals on the Internet. And they all drink whisky.

I'm kidding. Some drink brandy.

But I'm going to get into a little bit of personal stuff now because it affects the way I experience whisky and this blog.

The past four years have been very full. Mathilda arrived in 2014. I traveled alone to Japan in 2015. My wife and I traveled to Scotland in 2016. We sold our house and moved across the USA in 2016. I traveled alone to Japan, again, in 2017. Beatrice arrived in 2017.

2018 has been the year of sickness. Some ailments have been quickly curable, some have not. This has resulted in an abrupt dietary change in our home, as well as a significant decrease in the consumption of alcoholic products.

These changes have been shifting the way I experience drinking and buying whisky. Four years ago it was probably already clear that I was no longer interested in The Chase for the newest whisky thingamabob. That philosophy has only deepened since then. Some of you are more informed of the whisky scene than I am, but I promise I always do my best to make sure my whisky scribblings are informed.

Meanwhile, with two beautiful children and the most stressful desk job I've ever had, I've been rethinking about how I want to spend my recreational time and money. I no longer have two consecutive hours to myself, so the film world has passed me by. Reading puts me to sleep almost instantly thanks to constant eye strain. And every time I fall down an internet rabbit hole, I get angry that I let myself die for an hour like that.

My free time is better spent with something more interactive, more compelling. That's why this blog is so important to me. I hope to do more in-depth studies of brands or distilleries in 2019 to keep things interesting for you and me. I've already made some recent changes to add variety to the Diving for Pearls experience. I brought in two guest reviewers for brandy and rum. And I started the Killing Whisky History monthly video series.

Killing Whisky History also emerged because it was time to start opening up my older stuff. Those bottles do no good collecting additional dust. I'm also having a Kill Bottle event for my birthday because all my open whiskies need to be shared and emptied. Those half-finished bottles are doing no one any favors, either. It's time for a refresh.

Where does that leave that whole casual drinking thing? Well, I do much less of it than I used to. When I do drink casually, I want to it be casual. And I don't see the logic of spending $100 for a casual sipper, let alone $200. When I do shop, I'm looking for a bottle that's under $70. Six years ago, my casual bottles were $40 or less. Add that in as one more reason why I've made only four whisky purchases this year. The inhuman emotionless force of the market has failed to change. But I have. At some point along this timeline I'll leave the market to its fate, as I abandon whisky purchases altogether, and just open the bottles I already have.

But samples, though...

Lagavulin 21 year old 1991 (thank you, Brett!)

Today's sample (and many other samples) comes from Brett, a very good man who will travel great distances, through Southern California traffic, just to share a drink and hang out. He took over the reins of the OC Scotch Club, even though he lives in Riverside.

(For those of you not from the LA area, the distance between Riverside and the usual OC Scotch Club event is roughly that of Milwaukee, WI to Uranus, Uranus.)

Just before I left California, Brett invited me over to his housee. I walked through the door and exclaimed, "OH MY GOD YOU HAVE LOT OF WHISKIES."

Actually, that's not totally true. I knew he had a lot of whiskies because he sent me a list beforehand and offered up samples. So, true to self, I arrived with a dump truck full of sample bottles. Because if I'm anything, I'm a mooch. What I did exclaim when I walked through the door was, "OH MY GOD YOU HAVE LOT OF DOGS." Brett and his awesome wife, Linda, have a jubilance of doggies. A zealous of wagging tails. A fete of little noses.

Here's the whisky:

Distillery: Lagavulin

Owner: Diageo
Type: Single Malt
Region: Southern Islay

Age: minimum 21 years (1991-2012)

Maturation: 1st Fill Ex-Sherry European Oak Casks
Outturn: 2772 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 52%

NEAT
Leather, earth and dark chocolate take the fore in the nose. Cherry sno-cones, root beer barrel candies, banana bread and fruity cinnamon. The peat has grown very rich over the years, abandoning gloom for the daylight. Plums, salt and peat start off the palate. Then tart limes, cayenne pepper and paprika. A wee bit of other fresh stone fruits in the background. It gets leaner and saltier with time. It finishes meaty and very smoky, with some salt and a light stone fruit sweetness.

DILUTED TO 48%abv, or .5tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The nose gets beachier and earthier. Ginger, mint, cinnamon and orange oil. The palate intensifies. Big charred meat notes. Jalapeños and honey. Tar and hot cinnamon candy. The finish keeps its good length. It has that jalapeño and honey combo, but also a fresh fruity side.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
Two observations. First, the whisky seems to get younger once water is added. Secondly, there are no routine sherry cask notes here. Both are good things in their own way. It's probably a lovely drink during a cold winter or a rainy autumn (frequent happenings in Riverside). It never fades even after 45 minutes in the glass.

The only issue is that Lagavulin makes superlative whisky. Is that an issue? Well, the 12yo cask strength releases are consistently killer. And the 2016 Feis Ile was a stonking honking flonking gem. And let us speak not but in hushed tones about the previous 21yo. So this 21 has a lot of competition from its own distillery's recent history, and it now goes for £1000 on the secondary market. Thus, I say, go find your Brett and try a sip of this whisky before paying a mortgage on the bottle.

Availability - Europe, primary and secondary, here and there, if you have the coin
Pricing - ££££
Rating - 89

Glen Ord 28 year old 1975 (thank you, MAO!)

Thank you to M.A.O., the guy who knows the guy who once talked to the guy who came up with the name for the blog called My Annoying Opinions, for this sample of Glen Ord 28 year old.

When I first started reading his online opinions he went by another nom de plume. Unless his real name is Mongo. Or Mao. Or Michael. At first he seemed like a particularly prickly pear about everything whisky-related. But then I started actually reading what he was writing and found it all......reasonable. Then one day, in a private group of whisky bloggers, MAO attempted to discuss "the soft corruption" in the relationship between whisky bloggers and the industry, resulting in a chorus of the self-unaware calling him a troll. Not only was MAO correct, but he was being gentle. The corruption was and is hardcore. (It's just accepted now, I guess.) And the fact that no one in the group could admit to the slightest snuggling up made it all very discouraging. Well done, MAO. Thanks to you I hate whisky.

But I like Glen Ord. The Tri-Ords (25yo, 28yo and 30yo) that Diageo released when we were all younger have become a piece of whisky history, with the beautiful whisky inside the clonky bottle inside the shoebox. I have a bottle of the 30 year old that will be opened when I turn 130-something. My wife and I had the 25yo at Fiddler's in Drumnadrochit. And here's the 28.

Thank you, Masked Man

Distillery: Glen Ord

Owner: Diageo
Type: Single Malt

Age: minimum 28 years (1975-2003)

Maturation: ????????????

Region: Northern Highlands
Outturn: 3600 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 58.3%

NEAT
Oh my. The nose. An old musty wine cellar. Then fresh peaches and apricots. Moss and roses. Almond cookies. Hints of hot oregano, coastal peat and lemon cake. The palate is big and warm. Immense citrus levels. Spearmint gum. Vanilla cake, lemon candy, ginger powder and just a bit of fustiness. There's fruit (fresh and candied) in the finish. Some oak spice. Very warm.

Just a little bit of water here...

DILUTED TO 52%abv, or .75tsp of water to 30mL whisky
The nose is similar, with a little more citrus. Lemons, specifically. A bit chalkier, too. Lemon cake turns into angel cake. The hints of oregano and coastal peat remain. The fruit becomes more focused, more specific in the palate now. Think lemons and limes. A good tartness. More minerals, more chalk. Moments of coconut cream, vanilla pudding and nutmeg+molasses. That baking spice note continues into the finish, and leads to ginger snap cookies. Then lemons and a hint of vanilla. Great length.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
The noses on the Tri-Ords exude near magnificence. They reveal levels and dimensions and themes and facets, and they also smell good. As MAO mentions in his review, dilution helps the palate out. There's a lot of citrus and (good) oak in the palate. Between that and the assertive ABV, perhaps the palate is held back — just a smidge — from greatness. But the nose can't be shackled. And that will push it up one point to 90, just so that I can be 1% more positive today.

Availability - Oddly not too difficult to find at online European retailers
Pricing - all over the place, but mostly $350-$500
Rating - 90

Black Bull 30 year old Blended Whisky (thank you, Jordan!)

In addition to being reviews of well-regarded whiskies, this week's posts are thank-yous to three fellows whose generosity have helped keep this blog going. Sadly, I have yet to figure out how to offer a proper thank you to Florin. Perhaps it would be a ten-part whisky tasting lasting until 4am, as how it usually goes when I visit him. (Damn, that gives me a stupid idea!)

There are many other people who have been very charitable during sample swaps or who have just handed me great stuff from the excellence of their hearts (and whisky bunkers). I can never thank you folks enough.

---

First up, thank you to Jordan of Chemistry of the Cocktail for including Black Bull 30yo in a sample swap. Apparently, Oregon is its own planet when it comes to liquor retailing. Twice I saw Black Bull 30 selling for $160 in California, but the following year those same bottles were priced above $300. Meanwhile, Oregon had them for closeout under $100.  ¯\_(ツ)_/¯

Jordan is indeed a chemist and his long-form posts are a hell of a thing — and easily readable for those of us who are not scienticians. Whether he's writing about The Physics of Double Retort Pot Stills and Thumpers or questioning the "uncritical valorization of cask strength whiskies", Jordan challenges us to think about what we drink. Also his cocktail recipes are pretty sweet.

As for Black Bull 30yo......The blend of 50% malt and 50% grain was married at birth in the late '70s, then aged in sherry casks for three decades. I'd say that's a damned good approach to making whisky. Serge thought they whisky was "top notch" and "top shelf". Nearly the entire parliament of LAWSers went a step further, declaring it among the best blends in existence (in 2009).

Brand: Black Bull
Ownership: Duncan Taylor

Type: Scotch Blended Whisky
Parts: 50/50 malt/grain
Maturation: Sherry casks

Age: minimum 30 years

Alcohol by Volume: 50%
Bottled: 2009

NEAT
Mmmmm, dunnage nose. Nutty sherry, orange peel, watermelon rind, and grape jelly. Chocolate covered roasted almonds. Sticky candy meets salty sea air. Something about the palate reminds me of Springbank single sherry casks. Maybe it's just that these were good sherry casks. Anyway, there's citrus, musty oak and French oak baking spices. Limes, toffee, salt and pepper. Light bitterness and a gentle herbal note. It finishes with oranges, salt, grapey sherry, honey and toffee. There's also some bitterness to it, as well as a mineral edge.

DILUTED TO 46%abv, or 1/2tsp of water to 30mL whisky
Baskets full of dried fruit on the nose. Hershey's syrup, roasted nuts and bananas. Ah, but there's earth underfoot. Toasted nuts and toasted oak in the palate. Chocolate + coffee. Lightly sweet. Possibly denser and richer than when neat. The finish has coffee, salt, oranges and minerals.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
I tried this up against Old Perth 21yo 1996 vatted malt, which it beat, though not by a lot. It comes pretty close to the 20yo 1994 Exclusive Blended Malt I so adore. All three are examples of very good sherry cask whisky. The Old Perth and Exclusive were all malt, while this was 50/50. As with the Old Perth, the sherry cask(s) dominate Black Bull 30's content. The Exclusive vatting wins out because it's a little dirtier, while also revealing a variety of fresh fruits.

That's mostly nitpicking. Blending a blend from the start is a smart approach. Using good casks is...well...kinda the point. The 50%abv works in Black Bull 30's favor because tinkering with dilution may in fact improve the experience. Overall, the whisky should appeal to any sherried-whisky lover and would taste quite fine on a cold winter night.

Availability - Sold out worldwide, probably
Pricing - it was anywhere from <$100 to >$400
Rating - 89

Glenlossie 22 year old 1992 van Wees The Ultimate, cask 3447

I paused a day between the two 1992 Glenlossies because I was concerned you were getting burned out on Glenlossie. Goodness knows, I was burned out after trying four in two days. Also, I only had four Glenlossie samples in total, so I had to skip a day. And I don't want to leave everyone without a whisky review on Friday.

Time for full disclosure. I tried four ex-bourbon cask Glenlossies this past weekend because I've been considering buying something from this distillery. The result? I'm not going to buy something from this distillery right now. Though today's 'Lossie was my favorite of the bunch, none of these showed signs of a thrilling spirit / distillery character / whathaveyou. There's a lot of competition in the Speyside area, hell, even on the distillery grounds. Mannochmore has been more my speed thus far.

Anyway, on with the winner of the week.

Distillery: Glenlossie
Ownership: Diageo
Independent Bottler: Signatory

Age: 22 years (November 18, 1992 - August 20, 2015)

Maturation: hogshead
Cask number: 3447
Outturn: 348 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 46%
Chillfiltered? No
Colored? No

NEAT
Like the other whiskies this week, today's Glenlossie's color is pale. Yet it also has a slight peach tint to it that sets it apart. The nose releases a burst of very ripe very musky melons. Then cherries, vanilla, toasted coconut and roasted marshmallows. Something between lemon custard and lemon-scented soap. And something between cotton and burlap. It has a zippy fruity palate. Peach and grapefruit. Amaretto and flowers. Saltines. A slight bitterness. Its simple finish holds peach pits, salt and flowers. Sweet and lightly tangy with a warming bitterness.

DILUTED TO 40%abv, or <1tsp of water per 30mL whisky
The fruits have abandoned the nose. Barley, honey mustard and toasted oak are what remains. The palate gets much simpler. Sweet, tangy and salty, with ginger and black pepper. The finish is very similar to the palate with, perhaps, some bran flakes and more oak.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
A perfectly acceptable aquaphobic whisky. Nothing is really wrong with it when neat. A good flourish in the nose. The palate proves friendly and shows little-to-no oak. It finishes moderately and agreeably. It fits perfectly in an amicable Speyside style (if that really exists). It would've been great if it could swim better, but it would be great if I could swim better too. It was nice to have two ounces of it and now I'm done. Thanks to MAO for the sample! He had a similar overall opinion of it. The whiskybase community is, as ever, more enthusiastic about it than we are.

Availability - Maybe on the European continent?
Pricing - €90ish
Rating - 85 (neat only)