Five-week Kilchoman Cluster begins

The Glen Grant cluster was inspired by several ancient samples in my stash. This Kilchoman cluster is more personal, or as personal as a branded tempered poison can be. The distillery's development follows my path as a whisky enthusiast. To a point.

A Timeline:

2005 - The Wills family opens Kilchoman distillery. Meanwhile, single malts smite me, and smite me goodly, now and forever.

2007 - The distillery and its warehouses expand. My single malt experience grows beyond the bestsellers as I join my first whisky club.

2010 - Thanks to bars in LA and shops in London, I tumble down the rabbit hole known as single casks. At the same time, Kilchoman sends its first single malts to the US market.

2011 - Kilchoman rolls out its first 100% Islay single malt. Whisky reviews begin popping up on Diving for Pearls.

2012 - It's almost all whisky reviews here, going forward. Kilchoman bottles its first standard release, Machir Bay. 

2014 - Kilchoman travel retail bottlings and $150 single casks begin to appear. My enthusiasm for the distillery — and the industry in general — ebbs. The Diving for Pearls modern era begins.

These clusters are not about whisky pricing, rather they're studies of actual whiskies. So let us remember the pre-2014 era, when the Kilkerran WIPs, Port Charlotte PCs and Kilchoman vintage releases ascended and we enjoyed the remarkable quality of the very young single malts coming from these new brands. I noticed at the time that nearly every reviewer of these whiskies spoke of the future, as in "I can't wait until we see this stuff at 12 years old." Meanwhile, I thought about the present. Since the late James Swan had designed the Kilchoman spirit to be more approachable at a young age, via super-skinny cuts, no one knew how the whisky would change with time. Were we seeing the potential or the peak?

Or, to quote an awkwardly shoehorned line of dialogue from a badly dated film, Is this as good as it gets?

(photo source)

Though I've written about eighteen(!) Kilchomans since 2014, I've purchased only three Kilchoman bottles during those seven years. On the other hand, I amassed a lot of samples. So it's time to catch up a bit and see what's happened during the first decade of Kilchoman single malt releases. This series will include seventeen Kilchoman reviews, stretched out over five weeks. Two of my bottles will be included in the mix and something appropriate will start off the series tomorrow. But I can neither confirm nor deny that a 56-year-old Kilchoman will conclude the course.

Welcome to the Kilchoman Kluster.

1. Kilchoman New Make Spirit from Port Ellen Maltings - "Goddamn I love newmake."
2. Kilchoman Machir Bay, bottled 2013 - "It's young, but neither rough nor raw, and it still seems older than its age."
3. Kilchoman Machir Bay, bottled 2018 - "Though Kilchoman Machir Bay remains one of the best of Islay's NAS entry-level malts, it seems to be acting its age now more than it used to."
4. Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength, UK Tour 2014 - "As bottled, the black walnuts, citrus and truffle salt work delightfully in the palate......I have little positivity to share about the 46%abv version"
5. Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength, UK Tour 2015 - "It's a better, and seemingly older, whisky at full power."
6. Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength, USA West Coast Tour 2017 - "Don't reduce this stuff to 46%abv. In fact, this whisky gets damned near unpleasant at that strength. Keep it at full power..."
7. Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength, Meet the Peat Tour 2019 - "...the nose's angles and the palate's brutality are qualities a number of Islay distilleries wish they could achieve with their official releases."
8. Kilchoman Machir Bay Cask Strength, 2020 edition - "The nose was the best part......it keeps the whisky from dipping into the C-grade range."

Assessing the Kilchoman cluster at the halfway point

9. Kilchoman 2007 Vintage - "As I've found with most young whiskies, this one's excitement descends with each aspect."
10. Kilchoman 2008 Vintage - "There's a quality here I had really hoped I would find during this cluster..."
11. Kilchoman 2010 Vintage - "It has a cracking start with an engaging nose, but the palate feels stunted and doesn't air out well."
12. Kilchoman 100% Islay, 9th Edition - "A Kilchoman that swims......It's still the least-formed of the distillery's standard or annual releases..."
13. Kilchoman 9 year old 2008 100% Islay, cask 549 for K&L - "Another 100% Islay that takes water well......the whisky feels like it's almost there."
14. Kilchoman 7 year old 2011 100% Islay, cask 622 for Impex - "This is mostly cask, though I enjoyed it. Had there been a burlier spirit......to stand up to the cask, this would have been a hell of a thing."
15. Kilchoman Loch Gorm, 2020 Edition - "...this whisky has the big spirit to stand up to the big casks."
16. Kilchoman Summer 2010 Release - "It does smell delightful......But the palate is very one dimensional......it needs friends and happy casks and time."
17. Kilchoman 14 year old 2006, cask 18 for Impex - "The "Mediterranean" style of the neat nose works very well, while the neat palate makes this feel like the first-ever Kilchoman for summer weather."

Concluding the Kilchoman Cluster

Laphroaig Càirdeas Port & Wine Casks versus Laphroaig Càirdeas Port Wood

I said I wasn't going to review this 2020 Càirdeas, then I wound up enjoying 2019's Cask Strength Triple Wood more than I'd expected, then My "Surprisingly Legitimate" Annoying Opinions sent me a sample of the 2020 Càirdeas. So here I am.

Laphroaig's subtraction by addition has been covered a few times on Diving for Pearls, with my last rant being the most thorough bit.

I'll get straight to the......well, I'll let them tell it:

TWO REDS ARE BETTER THAN ONE. INTRODUCING THE 2020 CÀIRDEAS - AN INSTANT CLASSIC CRAFTED WITH RUBY PORT BARRIQUES AND RED WINE CASKS 

Our 2020 annual release of Laphroaig Càirdeas, Port & Wine Casks, continues our long history of innovation. A unique marriage of our classic Laphroaig whisky rested in second-fill Ruby Port ‘barriques’ along with whisky double matured in ex-Bourbon barrels followed by ex-red wine casks.

Is that so? 

A.) They have a very short history of innovation. They have a long history of sticking the fucking landing with their core expression. Or they had.
B.) The official description details the port maturation but leaves the wine part vague. "Red wine"? What is it, a Bordeaux or a pruno? That's like saying "scotch". Is it Brora or Duggan's Dew?
C.) If you're voluntarily mixing "red wine" and port in your glass then it's 1:00am, the party sucks and you know you're going to vomit anyway.
D.) Anyone who mixes peated whisky, bourbon, port and "red wine" should probably avoid alcohol altogether.

Nonetheless, I have a sample of the whisky. I was going to pair it with the 2015 Càirdeas, but decided that would be too cruel. Then I remembered I'd saved one last ounce of my 2013 Càirdeas bottle. Yep, the Port Wood finish, a whisky that really shouldn't have worked but did. It would serve as a better point of reference. It was meant to be.

Port Wood Finish versus Port & Wine Casks

2013 versus 2020

Pinkie Pie versus The Purple Nurple

It's On.

Laphroaig Càirdeas 2013 Port Wood Finish - 51.3%abv	Laphroaig Càirdeas 2020 Port & Wine Casks - 52.0%abv
The nose balances notes of roses and almonds with a wallop of mossy smoke. Antiseptic, old band-aids, iodine, chimney smoke and ruby chocolate fill the midground. Once the whisky is diluted to 48%abv, the nose takes on new characteristics. The roses and iodine are still there, but now they're joined by raspberries and ocean water, with hints of nectarines and gumdrops in the background.	New blue rubber ball. That's all I get from the nose for the first few minutes. Then there's lavender, sage, pork ribs with a sugary glaze and burnt kale chips. Plum jam and Dove soap in the background. Diluting it to 48%abv mellows things out. Straightforward peat and almond extract perch on one level, with berry jam and plum wine underneath.
Lots of seaweed in the palate, followed by sea salt and an industrial note. It registers more tart than sweet, with limes above and a hint of flower kiss candy beneath. The whisky tilts towards dark chocolate once it's reduced to 48%abv, but the seaweed note (dashi) remains. It has a berry essence, without the sugar.	I'm getting a lot more salt than peat on the palate. There are tart berries and tart oranges, toasted oak staves, fizzy mineral water and a whiff of bitter smoke. The berries get much sweeter and more floral when reduced to 48%abv. A little bit of smoke and tartness remains.
The finish holds a mix of savory dashi, lime juice and machine shop. A burst of cask strength Laphroaig hits late. The dashi stays put after the whisky's dropped to 48%abv, now joined by roses and blackberries	It finishes salty and peppery with a dash of tangy white balsamic vinegar. A little bit of smoke and lime, but nothing else. At 48%abv, the finish is shorter, sweeter and more floral.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

Nearly seven years needed to pass before I understood why the 2013 Port Wood Finish works. Though it takes on flowers and berries from the casks, it never gets very sweet. As referenced in the notes, it's the essences that are passed along, not the sugars. The seaweed notes work much better than I'd remembered, and I'm becoming a sucker for that flavor. Perhaps the whisky needed the right sparring partner for me to see this.

The 2020 Càirdeas does take on the sweetness of its casks' former inhabitants. Dilution boosts the sugars, though luckily not too much. Unlike Glenmorangie's finishes, this Laphroaig's cask effects never seem pasted on. But they do overwhelm the palate and bring A LOT of rubberiness to the nose. The finish is a bit of a *shrug*, but I'm not sure that's due to the wine casks. It's not a bad whisky overall, but that's not the sort of praise to which this famed distillery should aspire. Though Ardbeg seems perfectly satisfied when their special releases underperform their standard whiskies, I wish Laphroaig would aim higher.

RATINGS:

Laphroaig Càirdeas 2013 Port Wood Finish - 88
Laphroaig Càirdeas Port & Wine Casks - 81

Dallas Dhu 33 year old 1979 Gordon & MacPhail

Welcome to my first and last Dallas Dhu review! The blog has barely even mentioned this deceased distillery. I wish could say something hip like I've always enjoyed Dallas Dhu's underrated single malt, but I can't. This will be only the second Dallas Dhu I've tried; the first one was kinda bleh. Anyway, the distillery was up and around for about 85 years (minus two closings) before DCL shut it down in 1983. It's one of the few dead distilleries that has not been plowed into the ground, and currently serves as a distillation museum in its home of Forres, Moray. Many thanks to Sir Brett of Riverside for this sample!

Distillery: Dallas Dhu
Region: Speyside (Moray)
Ownership at time of distillation: Distillers Company Limited

Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail

Series: Licensed bottling





Age: 33 years (1979-2012)
Maturation: probably a refill something or other

Alcohol by Volume: 43%

Chillfiltered: ???
Colorant added: ???

The nose is a bit blank at first. Needs 20+ minutes. Aluminum baseball bat appears first, then steel wool, then anise and cardamom. It starts gaining steam. Peach crumble, caramel, rosewater, pine needles and wasabi. It peaks at 40-ish minutes then starts to fade again.

It has a good mouthfeel, which leads me to think it hasn't been chillfiltered. Like the nose, the palate needs time. It starts out bready, with some caramel and dried apricots around the edges. Then it picks up some bitter greens, copper and a fresher stone fruit sweetness.

It finishes peppery and dusty after the first two sips. Subsequent sips have the fruity sweetness and some caramel. The tannins begin to escape after the final sips.

This surpassed my low expectations, though the whisky needed time to perk up. On the positive side, it has a distinct imperfect old school character, so I'm very glad I tried it. The finish was its weakest element. I'm not sure if a higher ABV would have helped or revealed more issues. It's a bit creaky and bitter, a little fruity but not enough. It's tired, starting to fray near the seams, teetering on the edge of collapse. I can relate to this whisky. I'm an 82 on my best days too.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - Still in the three-figure range as of today
Rating - 82

Highland Park Cask Strength, Release 1

Highland Park entered the NAS burly sherried Cask Strength marketplace — one that includes distilleries such as Aberlour, Glendronach, Glengoyne, Tomatin, Tamdhu and (occasionally) Macallan — with a thunderous first release weighing in at 63.3%abv. Though I do not tend to enjoy ultra-high abv scotch whisky, Highland Park's single malts are often very good, so I'm willing to take a little punishment. In an attempt to get a fuller appreciation of Release 1, I've elected to try it at three different strengths, in this order: 43%abv, 50%abv and 63.3%abv.

Distillery: Highland Park

Ownership: The Edrington Group

Region: Kirkwall, Orkney

Age: ???

Maturation: sherry-seasoned American oak casks
Release #: 1
Release year: 2020

Alcohol by Volume: 63.3%
Chillfilltered? No
Colorant added? Possibly not

Diluted to 43%abv, using water and maths

The nose starts out with barbecue potato chip powder and an alcoholic nip. But after 10 minutes it takes a quick turn toward sugarier territory: milk chocolate, caramel and peach gummy candies. It starts fading out after 20 minutes.

Lots of candy on the palate, too: milk chocolate, dark chocolate, peanut butter and marshmallow fluff. Black pepper and a touch of good bitterness give it some needed angles, and it has a nice mouthfeel as well.

It finishes with peanut butter and golden raisins on the first two sips. Subsequent tries bring out metal and earth notes.

It's a comfy, easy whisky at this strength. The peat is either shy or absent here, and the nose peters out way too quickly.

Diluted to 50%abv, using water and a sundial

The nose is fruitier, prettier at this strength, with red plum skins, jasmine and lilac. Smaller notes of burlap and Frosted Flakes float in the background. An ashy note appears after 30 minutes.

Mildly peaty and floral, the palate holds onto the peanut butter note while gaining orange gummy slices and fresh ginger. The bitter bite now trends towards oak.

Some vegetal peat and tangy berries comprise the finish during the first few sips. It gets hotter, bitterer and more peppery with time.

Great nose! The palate starts out pretty well too until the bitter oak creeps in. It remains very drinkable at this strength.

63.3%abv naked, I mean I'm naked, the whisky is in a glass 

The nose reads closed for quite a while. Maybe 20 minutes? Almost one-by-one, each element peeks out then ascends. Manure, Hampden funk, charred beef, gummy bears, flowers and tangerines.

The sweeter and (obviously) hotter palate leads with blood oranges, dried cherries and a dose of soot. Those oranges get tangier and sweeter with time, and are joined by toasted almonds and a touch of barbecue sauce.

Not as hot as expected, the finish holds an orange-y custard, honey, jalapeños and a subtle sootiness.

WORDS WORDS WORDS

It's not the most complex thing, but it's quite good. I'm not sure which abv level to recommend. The palate is best at full power, the nose is gorgeous at 50%abv and the mouthfeel is silkiest at 43%abv. So perhaps one may get a lot of whisky out of this whisky. At a similar price point, the Full Volume would still get my pick over this whisky. And since I'm done with getting my ass kicked in general, I might even roll with the 12yo instead. But that's me. Enjoy, you masochists.

Availability - USA and Europe
Pricing - $80-$120
Rating - 86

Concluding the Glen Grant cluster

I unwittingly set myself up for trouble with this first cluster. Comparing the old 100% direct-fired Glen Grant spirit with the contemporary mixed- or steam-fired spirit seemed like a good approach, but of course it's not that simple. The older whiskies were in fact older, spending more years, or even decades, in oak before being bottled, resulting in longer, more complex interactions between the cask and spirit. That doesn't even factor in the number of sherry casks in the group: 2 out of 7 for the contemporary GGs versus 3+ out of 6 for the direct-fired GGs. And then there's the Caperdonich. Great job, me!

A fair amount of repetition was found among the more modern bottlings, perhaps due to less time in oak, or similar cask types, or just a narrower spirit. On the other hand, the oldies had nose and palate notes across the sensory spectrum, either due to more maturation time or a livelier, more expansive spirit. I'll still attempt to list the common notes for both groups below.

I made one more discovery, important to me personally. In my rough draft of this post, I wrote about how "citrus" was the only common note between both whisky eras. But despite being a Genus within the Plantae Kingdom, citrus isn't just one note to our noses and mouths. Grapefruits are not the same as limes, which are different than blood oranges, which ain't yuzu. So I'm going to blow up the whole citrus thing and refer to the specific fruits.

---

The most common tasting notes found:

THE NOSES

1988-1995 distillate	1955-1972 distillate
Apples - 5x Barley - 4x Florals - 4x Peaches - 3x Oranges - 3x Yeast/wort - 3x	Peaches - 4x Oranges - 3x Candy - 3x Yuzu - 2x Florals - 2x Dunnage - 2x Honey - 2x

OBSERVATIONS: Hooray for peaches and oranges and flowers, the overlappers! Apple and barley notes, so prevalent in the more recent bottlings were absent from the older whiskies. Also, please note the happy lack of "vanilla" here.

THE PALATES

1988-1995 distillate	1955-1972 distillate
Pepper - 5x Bitter herbs - 4x Limes - 4x Nuts - 4x Apples - 3x Mineral - 3x Sweetness - 3x	Bitter herbs - 4x Earth - 3x Salt - 3x Sweetness - 3x Toffee - 3x (seven others at 2x)

OBSERVATIONS: A wide variety of citrus appeared in the older segment but individual fruits didn't repeat much. Overall there was less lime, less pepper and probably less "nuts" (a category I should probably blow up next time too) in the older distillate. Very nice bitter herbal notes registered through both groups compared to very little bitter oak, probably 8 (herbs) versus 2 (oak).

THE FINISHES

1988-1995 distillate	1955-1972 distillate
Bitter herbs - 4x Mineral - 3x Limes - 2x Metal - 2x Pepper - 2x	Bitter herbs - 3x Tobacco - 3x Grapefruits - 2x Lemons - 2x Smoke - 2x Sweetness - 2x

OBSERVATIONS: As mentioned at the halfway point, there were not a lot of repeating notes across the finishes. Tobacco and smoke started to show up in the oldies, possibly due to sherry casks and mild peat levels. Each whisky, though, usually had its own unique finale.

---

I enjoyed drinking my way through indulging in this series. On the logistical level it was easy to plan and organize. The side-by-sides were logical, with the 25yo 1988 + the 12yo from the 1970s + the 25yo Royal Marriage Reserve taste off being the most educational. The 50 vs 56 wasn't half bad either. I embraced pretending I'm a baller blogger while also making a dent (or maybe a tap) in my sample stash. Most importantly, I didn't get sick of Glen Grant single malts, unlike the 16-part Ben Nevis series from which I am still recovering.

Next week will be cluster-free (huzzah!), instead filled with three reviews — two relevant and one irrelevant — before I set off on another cluster, one I've had in the works for a few years. Cheers!

Glen Grant 56 year old 1955 Gordon & MacPhail

(Glen Grant cluster homepage)

You ask, but Michael now what are you going to drink when you turn 56? Malört. I'm going to drink Malört.

I just wanted to reference Malört in my introduction to a 56 year old whisky.

That's it for the short paragraphs, people. I'm going to write a longer paragraph now, starting with some details about where the following sentences are going, testing your attention span. Then I'll awkwardly pivot to half-formed opinions about what makes a whisky beautiful and why whisky's not really important in the general scheme of things. Quickly I'll contradict that, cuddling with hypocrisy as if it represents depth rather than my terror of being insignificant. I'll follow that up with a sentence trying to hide the fact that it's just filler. Then, of course, I'll admit I'm wasting your time.

And now a 56 year old whisky, a thing that was consumed intermittently one afternoon while I also drank a 50 year old whisky. That's 106 years of whisky. What?

Also purchased from an LA Scotch Club event two lifetimes ago

Distillery: Glen Grant

Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Ownership at time of distillation: The Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distilleries

Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail

Series: Distillery Labels





Age: 56 years (17 February 1955 - 1 August 2011)
Maturation: one first fill sherry cask, one refill sherry cask

Cask #: 828 & 860

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

The nose has a brighter, simpler fruitiness than the 50yo, imagine peaches, figs and dates. Anise and honey. Peppery basil leaf and spicy cigar wrapper. Though it develops a note of Rolos after an hour, the figs last the longest.

Raw cocoa and carob bark strike first in the palate, followed by gently sweet pipe tobacco and just a hint of wormwood. After 30 minutes: grapefruits and tart nectarines. 45 minutes: earth and stones. The tart fruits gain strength and the bitterness retreats with time.

It finishes with unsmoked mild cigar tobacco, tart lemons and grapefruits in the early sips. Later on, wormwood and incense appear providing some dimension to the tart bite.

Though less intergalactic than the 50yo, this 56 reads like an excellent sherried whisky half its age but with just a bit more bite, weighing in around 46%abv. Nothing about it announces five decades, rather just great extensive sherry cask maturation. I know I'll get the stink eye from many folks for saying this, but I'd rather drink the 12yo that was probably distilled around the same time as this whisky. If price was of no concern......well, I'd be wondering why price is of no concern.

This 1940s-1960s Gordon & MacPhail range is likely loaded with gems, and I'd bet many are operatic even at 40%abv. They're all far out of my price range, but I'm glad G&M had the foresight and commitment to produce these pieces of history.

Availability - A few European retailers
Pricing - north of $2000
Rating - 90

Glen Grant 50 year old 1958 Gordon & MacPhail

(Glen Grant cluster homepage)

As bloggers more knowledgable than I have written: Aged spirits tend to converge in style after four or more decades of maturation. Though my limited experience leads me to agree with that statement, I'd like to amend it. After 40+ years of maturation, aged spirits take one of two paths.

I call the first path, Liquid Furniture. Leaving a whisky or a brandy in oak for such an extended period of time does give it a lovely color, a riotous nose and a high price point, but it also risks turning the liquor nearly undrinkable if the spirit and cask interaction isn't well managed. Think over-steeped tea that is also half poison. That first path is a damned tragedy.

The second path lies beyond simple description, and to capture it may require different syntax than a normal whisky review. Most of my contact with ultra-aged spirits comes from cognac rather than whisky. Once upon a time when one could enjoy grandpa-aged brandy without taking out a bank loan, I experienced a few pours which I cannot describe because they press me to the limit of language. So I anticipate handing out a hundred-word description and a numeric score will not do a 50 year old whisky justice.

Purchased from an LA Scotch Club event two lifetimes ago

Distillery: Glen Grant
Region: Speyside (Rothes)
Ownership at time of distillation: The Glenlivet and Glen Grant Distilleries

Bottler: Gordon & MacPhail

Series: Distillery Labels





Age: 50 years (1958-2008)
Maturation: sherry cask(s)

Alcohol by Volume: 40%

The nose. I'm wading through bushels of dried oregano and thyme, around damp moldering tree stumps covered in furry moss and yellowing polypores. Waves of pumpernickel, browned ghee, date rolls and wormwood reach through, while in-season peaches and loquats rise from beneath.

Radiantly bitter herbs and roots meet mangoes, figs and blood oranges in the palate. A mix of salty roasted almonds and toffee chips color the background. Wormwood and maté appear late, meeting the sweet fruits well.

The finish glows with bitter herbs, tobacco and blood oranges. Soft smoke carries maté and salted toffee on and on. It concluded but I can't remember when.

105 words. I tried. The roaring nose never weakened during the whisky's 90 minutes. That stamina — at 40%abv! — feels either mystical or radioactive or something in between. I write about balance in the final paragraph of my reviews so frequently that it's probably getting tiresome. But. The equilibrium of the palate's salt, bitter and fruit has rarely been topped in my whisky experience. This whisky was a thrill, and I was happy to set it free.

Availability - Secondary market
Pricing - a lot more than it was in 2008
Rating - 94