Springbank 15 year old 2000 Jamaican Rum Barrel for Springbank Society

On Monday I reviewed a single cask of 15 year old Springbank that was distilled in 2000. I'm going to go out on a limb here and say the unspecified rum utilized to season that cask was not Jamaican. I come by this uneducated guess because I tried that whisky head-to-head with today's whisky, a Springbank aged in a Jamaican rum barrel.

For the readers out there who think every rum is tooth-rottingly sweet syrup, may I encourage you to try a Jamaican rum or two or three. Jamaican rum, especially Hampden, has more spunk, funk and wallop than nearly any whisky in production. Of course, it's getting tougher to find Hampden now that Whiskyfun lavishes every Hampden release with wild praise. Accordingly one should also anticipate rising prices.

But it's true what you hear. Hampden Estate, it's Esterrific!

There are at least a half dozen Jamaican distilleries other than the big H. So who knows what sat in this barrel first...

Distillery: Springbank

Brand: Springbank

Owner: Springbank Distillers Ltd.
Region: Campbeltown, on Well Close, just off of Longrow

Age: 15 years (November 2000 to October 2016, almost 16!)

Maturation: Jamaican Rum Barrel
Exclusive to: Springbank Society
Limited release: 228 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 51.2%abv
Chillfiltered? No
Colorant Added? No
(from a sample purchased via Sjoerd)

NEAT
The nose is grungier than Monday's whisky, though still sugary. There's a balance to it: limes, oranges, beef, hot dirty hay, subtle peat. It gets brinier and fruitier with time, picking up a brief whiff of sulphur. Woooo, the palate. Think young bourbon barrel Springbank + Smith & Cross + Thai chilies. Rich creamery butter. Cinnamon hot candies and sea salt. A smoke/fuel note. It gets grassier with time. More chilies in the finish, then salt, sugar, ethyl and tannins.

DILUTED TO ~46%abv, or 2/3tsp of water to 30mL whisky
The nose is cleaner, fruitier. A little bit of peat and sugar. Dried herbs and that flinty note. The palate is a lighter, sweeter take on the neat version. Some curry-ish spice rises up to make things more fun. The finish actually improves, with soil and tangy citrus join the heat-and-sweet party.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
While the gnarliest of Jamaican rums was not in play, there be hogo here. And that's fine, because when an aggressive cask is used the rum wins out, like in this Amrut thingy. Instead, this Springbank shows off some balance. The (whisky) spirit comes across more rugged than the usual 15yo Springbank, but that's what was needed, resulting in fruit and fuel and salt and spice. It's far from being an artful Springbank, but I don't say that as an insult. It's a vigorous creation, especially once the chile note kicks in. If you're vigor triggered, then dilution is key. I'd take this over Monday's whisky any day.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 85

Springbank 15 year old 2000 Fresh Rum Cask for The Nectar

This past weekend I had the pleasure of trying two single cask Springbanks — both 15 years old, distilled in 2000 and matured in rum casks — side by side.

Today's Springbank was bottled exclusively for The Nectar in Belgium. It was aged in a "Fresh Rum Cask" (there are lot of types of rum out there) and had an oddly low cask strength of 46.5%abv. So I wasn't sure what to expect.

Distillery: Springbank

Brand: Springbank

Owner: Springbank Distillers Ltd.
Region: Campbeltown, on Well Close, just off of Longrow

Age: 15 years (April 2000 to Sept 2015)

Maturation: "Fresh Rum Cask"
Exclusive to: The Nectar
Limited release: 198 bottles

Alcohol by Volume: 46.5%abv
Chillfiltered? No
Colorant Added? No
(sample from My Annoying Opinions. Thanks, MAO!)

NEAT
Definitely a sugary rum (as opposed to a diesel-y rum) on the nose. Coconut cream, toasted coconut, wood smoke and a grassy note. Smaller notes of cinnamon candy and orange candy. Feels like 75% rum & oak, 25% Springbank. After 30 minutes notes of citrus, fabric and raspberry yogurt sneak out. The rum is subtler in the palate. Decent mouthfeel. Plenty sweet, like coconut ice cream. Chile oil heat. It's the oak that's parks itself in the fore, flaunting sugar and caramel sauce. Later on there's cinnamon, clove cigarettes and black peppercorns. The warm finish summarizes everything that came before: vanilla, caramel, coconut, peppercorns, sugar and clove cigarettes.

Just a little bit of water, since the abv's already low.

DILUTED TO ~43%abv, or 1/2tsp water per 30mL whisky
All the late notes (citrus, fabric, raspberry yogurt) remain in the nose, but nothing else other than coconut cream and mesquite chips. The palate goes syrupy sweet, but also very peppery. Vanilla and coconut. It finishes with sugar and peppercorns. Vanilla and a whiff of smoke.

WORDS WORDS WORDS
When I scheduled this tasting, I'd forgotten that I've had a mixed experience with rum cask Springbanks (see here, here and here). Never had one I loved. This is the third one that was underwhelming.

MAO and I have somewhat different takes on this whisky. I found it the sugary rum to be too forward on the nose, and the oak has the same issue on the palate. He found more Springbank in this Springbank than I did. But we do agree that the rum is louder on the nose, and that water weakens the whole thing.

It's not a bad whisky, it's an easy drinking dessert whisky, though I highly encourage you to forgo dilution. It certainly comes for a different cask than Wednesday's whisky.

Availability - Sold out
Pricing - ???
Rating - 81 (neat only, at least 5 points lower when diluted)

Randy Brandy drinks Darroze 40 year old Les Grands Assemblages Armagnac

Kravitz wants me to keep this brief. Yes, the James A. Michener of whisky bloggers demands a short post. That guy's idea of editing is adding more commas. If he heard the word "brevity" he'd think it was the new Ardbeg release, then camp out overnight and submit himself to a grim sexual encounter just to get a low-res blurry crooked photo of the bottle.

Too far? Good.

Darroze does this series of "Grands Assemblages", or "blends" to be not French about it, in nice round numbers like 20, 30, 40 and 50 years. And 8 and 12 years because they add up to 20. The 40 year old was bottled at the CRAZY Georges Stagg-esque abv of 42%.

I bought this sample.
Just kidding.
What kind of cheap ass--

Here are my notes.

Darroze 40 year old Les Grands Assemblages Armagnac, 42%abv

Color - Reddish
Nose - Great. Almonds, walnuts and cashews floating in red wine. Honey, cocoa powder, cassis and Fig Newtons. Cinnamon raisin bread. A snort of rubber cement.
Palate - Citrus, foremost. Sour cherries, golden raisins and salt. Ladyfingers (the cookies, maybe) in coffee. A nutty sweet loaf. After a while there are bitter herbs and minerals.
Finish - Stone fruits, but less sweet than the palate, maybe more salt. Drying.

There were my notes.

Excellent until the finish. Still, it looks a hell of a lot better than that whisky he drank. What a shame. Brandy wins. This conclusion is getting too extensive. This armagnac probably beats the cognac, but both serve their purpose. I hope Kravitz buys a bottle of this.

Darroze 40 year old Les Grands Assemblages Armagnac
NOT WHISKY RATING: B+

Birthday Booze: MacPhail's 40 year old single malt, Gordon & MacPhail (current edition)

Thank you to Randy who so kindly detailed my Saturday night whisky party. The rest of the weekend was a blur, though not a tipsy one. Weekends pause for no man, no woman, no child. I'm pretty sure at least one of my daughters was crying for 48 hours. But at least I wasn't crying. Or was I?

Our strict dietary protocol collapsed for one night when Kristen baked two Winning Hearts and Minds cakes. She comes from a long line of fierce bakers, and (though she won't admit it) tops them all. Meanwhile, I received much love from family and friends. Especially from Randy, who really liked that cognac. I wish I knew where the bottle was because I would have poured him a sample to take home.

This week on Diving for Pearls you'll find reviews of three spirits, all of a certain age. This is the second spirit. And this is the only one that's a whisky. It's MacPhail's 40 year old mystery meat. Looks like they've been producing this bottling since at least The Glut. The fact that they still bottle a four-decade-old whisky at 40%abv seems somewhere between goofy and criminal. Clearly, I didn't mind it that much when I found a sample for sale...

Distillery: ???
Brand: MacPhail's
Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail
Age: minimum 40 years
Maturation: OAK
Alcohol by Volume: 40%
Chillfiltered? ???
Colorant added? ???
(from a purchased sample)

Its color is bourbon dark. So does the nose take me on a journey? Well, sorta. It starts somewhere inside a barrel, then floats up into a dunnage warehouse. Except, it gets its foot caught between two staves. Forever. There are cashews and almonds and good cinnamon. Dark chocolate and earth and kale. A whiff of incense. Not much development other than hints of vanilla, honey, black raisins and saline. And freshly sawn planks. The palate is gentle, subtle. Except for the oak part. Cherries, currants and lemon pass through, but only momentarily. There's vanilla pudding, salt and a musty dunnage note. It's mostly violently tannic and increasingly bitter. The finish is like chewing on a pencil. There are some hints of oranges and black cherries. Something earthy and bitter. But it's mostly tannins.

OAK. It's been a tough year, and this is a tough whisky. OAK. The key phrase here is "violently tannic." OAK. It's right up there with Pappy 23 and Forged OAK as the most tannic thing I've sipped. OAK. One should obviously expect some OAK in a whisky of this age, but I've had the great pleasure of trying several other whiskies 40 years and up, and none of them were as woody as this. OAK. While not stupendous, the nose delivers some excitement amongst the OAK, coming across nutty and dirty and dark at times. But OAK.

SPOILER ALERT: This is not the best drink of the three this week.

Availability - A few dozen European and Japanese retailers
Pricing - $450-$800
Rating - 81 (I'm feeling generous towards this old thing)

Randy Brandy drinks Dudognon Heritage 40 Year Old Grande Champagne Cognac

I dutifully attended Diving for Perks's Kill Bottle party this weekend. He set out many bottles, unfortunately it was nearly all whisky. Everyone weathered the man's non-stop prattling for hours on end just so we could drink for free. There was much hilarity when he spoke the sentence, "I literally can't even", because he was reduced to articulating like a 14-year old girl. As opposed to his usual 16-year-old girl talk. For reals.

Late into the night, there was much talk of crapping in foreign toilets (he only mentioned Japan eight times) and rum cocktails. But this isn't the Dummy's post, so I'll strut ahead to the main attraction.

By candlelight and everything

There is no age statement on the bottle, but retailers say it's 40 years old, and retailers are always fully informed and never lie to sell things, so let's go with what they say. Plus that'll make Kravitz feel better about himself, and that's always important to me.

Here are my notes.

Dudognon Heritage 40 Years Old Grande Champagne Cognac, Lot G1, 41%abv

I had more than one glass of it. I mean, he left the bottle out, what was I supposed to do? And by "left the bottle out" I mean he hid it under the desk in his office. So I had three pours.

Color - Dark gold, but reasonable dark gold.

Nose - Active right from the start. Lots of apricots, pears, kiwis and fennel. Orange marmalade and lemon zest. A pack of golden raisins. A pack of gummi worms.

Palate - Not much going on at first. Needs 30 minutes and/or three pours. Then it's apricots, pears, kiwis and gummi worms again. More dried fruit and more flowers with more time. There's oak in there, but no vanilla or bitterness. (Sorry bourbon fans.)

Finish - Warm, sweet and fruity. Mostly citrus and pineapple.

There were my notes.

40 years, 20 years, 10 years, whatever — I can say that because I didn't buy the bottle — it's good cognac. I'd drink it again. I am drinking it again. But if Krabs asks you where the bottle is, you have no idea where the bottle is.

Dudognon Heritage 40 Years Old Grande Champagne Cognac, Lot G1

NOT WHISKY RATING: B+

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