Whisky Party

The news of the week has to be the release of Highland Park’s limited edition Earl Magnus 1 expression – unfortunately only available in the UK. This absolutely gorgeous looking bottle got some coverage on the Edinburgh Whisky,  What Does John Know, and Whisky Intelligence blogs.

Tasting Notes from Bloggers We Trust:

• John Hansell reviews Tomintoul 33.
• Whisky for Everyone reviews Glenfarclas 21 and Chivas Regal 18. (As Whisky Host notes, Chivas is making the rounds in the whisky blogosphere lately).
• Whisky Fun tastes two Mannochmores and a bevy of Springbanks.
• Whisky Host does a head to head of the first two official releases from Kilchoman.
• Whisky Host is also planning a whisky dinner.  Follow along as he tastes potential drams and picks from among a selection of Balvenie, Tobermory and Dalmore (Part I) or Rosebank, Laphroaig, Benriach and Bowmore (Part II).
• Whisky Intelligence says that this 12 year old Hazelburn is worth every penny.
• Whisky Intelligence REJECTS this 12 year old Tamnavulin from Douglas Laing’s Provenance.
• Whisky Notes enjoys a Caol Ila 1980 and Aberlour 1990 (Malts of Scotland).  He rather less liked this Pittyvaich 20.

Whisk(e)y News on the Web:

• What are your predictions for whisky in 2010?
• The first Islay-malted spirit from Bruichladdich is now available.
• Meanwhile, the stills at Bruichladdich are undergoing repairs.
• Cask Strength announces the 10 nominees for this year’s Best in Glass award.
• Edinburgh Whisky gets into the Christmas spirit with their own guide to whisky gift-giving.
• Speaking of Edinburgh Whisky, the blog is approaching its 1 year anniversary.  Congrats guys.
• John Hansell wants to know what you are drinking for the holidays?
• Binny’s is having a holiday sale on whisky.
• More on the launch of a Glengoyne 40 year old at Whisky Intelligence.

Lots to read on a lazy Sunday, but if you only read one or two, I’d got for part II of Scotch Hobbyists’s review of the Highland Park core range, the recaps of Whisky Fest, or Whisky Apostle’s tour of Tuthilltown distillery here in New York.

Tasting Notes From Bloggers We Trust:

• Part Two of Scotch Hobbyist’s excellent exploration of the Highland Park core range. In this case – the 21, 25 and 30 year expressions.
• Cask Strength tastes four new releases from Connoisseur’s Choice – an Aberfeldy, Caol Ila, Rosebank and Ledaig.
• On the bourbon front, Drink Hacker tastes the limited release seasoned oak finish from Woodford Reserve.
• They’ve also got notes on the entire Balvenie 2009 core range.
• Whisky for Everyone tries Benromach’s Peat Smoke (no age statement),
• Whisky Host puts the new Laphroaig Cask Strength Batch 001 up against the regular cask strength.
• Whisky Notes also tastes the Laphroaig Batch 001.
• I don’t know what it is, but Whisky Notes just cant’ get enough BenRiach.  Here’s their recent tasting notes on the 1977 Virgin Oak Cask, 1970 Pedro Ximenez, and  1984Pedro Ximenez.
• As per usual, Whisky Intelligence has a variety of new tasting notes.  Check out what they have to say about an 11 year old Glenallachie from Cadenhead,  the Classic of Islay 21 year old, and the Black Bull 12.

Whisk(e)y News on the Web:

• Tonight, watch the the History Channel’s “Modern Marvels” at 7pm EST for the history of whisky, featuring Malt Advocate’s John Hansell.
• The Laddie Blog has some interesting stats on the best selling single malts and blends in 2008 (by volume).
• John Hansell has a short recap on the highlights of Whisky Fest NYC.
• Whisk(e)y Apostle has his own review of Whisky Fest NYC, with a lot more detail.
• Whisky Apostle also has a fantastic write up of a visit to the Tuthilltown distillery.
• There’s a new book out – Whisky & Philosophy.  Just in case you were dying to brush up on some Kant or Hegel with your Springbank . . .

Another week, and another bottle (well, two) around which the whisky blogosphere seems to congregate. The first is a special anniversary offering from Macallan, which has “expensive gimmick” written all over it:

A limited edition of only 250 bottles has been produced and it’s envisaged that these will sell out quickly. The liquid comes from two casks chosen by The Macallan’s whisky maker Bob Dalgarno – one from 1997 and one from 1998, both numbered 1759, the year of Burns’s birth.  The significance of the cask numbers was recognised by Bob and he felt it only appropriate to produce a special bottling for the homecoming year. The rarity of the liquid is a fitting commemoration to Scotland’s famous poet.

Hrm.  A rare liquid chosen not on the quality of the cask, but rather because the arbitrary number on the cask marked a specific historical date?  Add in some ultra-lux packaging and this is just an interesting item to sell to the collectors’ market.  Not that exciting, unless you are fortunate enough to get a free bottle to taste.

For more info, check out Whisky Intelligence and Whisky for Everyone.

The second “hot bottle” this week is from the Glenrothes.  It’s a special bottling honoring Malt Master John Ramsay, and Ramsay himself created it using samples from 30 casks.  With only 100 bottles available (and only in the UK), this is basically for the collector’s market as well, but feels like the product might actually be of a higher quality than the Macallan release.

Whisky Intelligence, Whisky for Everyone, and Edinburgh Whisky all have more information on this bottling.

Tasting Notes From Bloggers We Trust

• Whisky Fun seems to be the first blogger live with tastings of the infamous “Manager’s Choice” selections from Diageo.  Most interestingly, he matches them up against other releases from the same distillery.
• Whisky Notes has four reviews this week – an Aberlour 1995 from Duncan Taylor, a Glenfarclas 1968 by Lindores, an Arran Pomerol Wine Finish, Glendronach 1996 single cask, and Bowmore Tempest.
• Whisky Intelligence tastes a Macallan 14 from The Alchemist, and a Rosebank 18 from Douglas Laing’s Old Malt Cask.
• Whisky for Everyone downs a dram of Jameson Irish Whisky.
• Cask Strength gets their hands on a rare Laphroaig Highgrove House bottling.  The 12 year old  is similar to a Springbank, according to their notes.
• Cask Strength also offers some tasting notes on Ardbeg’s latest, the Corryvreckan.
• John Hansell reviews the Eagle Rare 17 year old bourbon from Buffalo Trace.
• Welsh whisky The Penderyn takes a brutal lashing from the Malt Impostors.

Whisk(e)y News on the Web:

• Scotch Hobbyist has a great roundup of the Johnnie Walker Black blending webcast.
• Once upon a time, Maker’s Mark offered three expressions.  John Hansell wants to start a petition to bring them back.
• When is a whiskey a jackalope?  When it is a rye/bourbon blend (bourye) from Utah’s High West distillery.
• The latest edition of Whisky Cast is live.
• John Hansell has a list of the 2009 Classic Malts limited edition releases.
• Glengoyne is launching a 12 year old expression.

The weird and the new abound in this edition of Best in Blog.  Must be a full moon or something.

Tasting Notes From Bloggers We Trust:

• Cask Strength tries some Rosebank on a hot summer’s day.
• Swedish Whisky?  Dr Whisky sits down with the Mackmyra “1st Edition.”
• In a tale reminiscent of pulp-noir, Chris at Edinburgh Whisky details his first experience with “Laphretto” – that would be laphroaig mixed with Amaretto.  (ugh)
• Meanwhile, Lucas of Edinburgh Whisky gets Biblical in his review of three Arran whiskies.
• Returning to normal, the EW crew also try the Balvenie 17yo Madeira Cask.
• Whisk(e)y Apostle reviews an oldie-but-goodie: Laphroaig 10.
• Here’s Malt Advocate’s take on a pricey, 25 year old Rittenhouse Rye.  More in my price range is this Four Roses Marriage bourbon and Jefferson’s Presidential Select 17 year old bourbon.
• Leaving American whiskies behind, Whisky For Everyone has notes on Lauder’s Original (a blended whisky), and  Old Ballantruan, a peated speyside from Tomintoul.
• Whisky Notes downs a dram of Laphroaig 1998 and a 1995 Highland Park (Malts of Scotland).

Whisk(e)y News on the Web

• Scotch Hobbyist has put together an iPhone app that lets you calculate the ABV of your dram when you add water.  It’s pretty cool and we can’t wait for it to hit the app store.
• John Hansell of Malt Advocate is now doing live whisky tastings on Twitter.
• You can also now become a fan of Malt Advocate on Facebook.
• Also from John, he says that these are three, new “must-buy” American whiskies.
• Whisky Cast has a new episode up, covering Douglas Laing’s Double Barrel, a blend of Macallan and Laphroaig.
• Laphroaig will do a live broadcast from the Maker’s Mark distillery on September 25th.

The bender has finally ceased.  Scotch bloggers seem to be giving me a bit of a break this week, and we have far less content than usual, though the quality remains the same.

Tasting Notes from Bloggers We Trust:

• Scotch Hobbyist samples the entire range of Port Askaigs, and makes a first attempt at grading whisky on a 100 point scale.
• Whisky Intelligence previews the much anticipated Laphroaig 18.  He also has notes on a Glen Elgin 12 year (great review; glad to say I have an unopened bottle of this in my collection), and an An Cnoc 12.
• John Hansell at Malt Advocate reviews the Dewar’s Founders Reserve 18, now available in the US, and gives it high marks.
• Whisky for Everyone drinks some Monkey Shoulder, a blend from William Grant & Sons, and also tries their hand at making some Lynchburg Lemonade.  The cocktail trend in whiskies certainly seems on the rise.
• Whisky Fun tastes four Rosebanks from four different decades.
• Finally, Whisky Notes offers tasting notes on Bruichladdich Oirthir Gaidheal and Bowmore 1999, a special bottling at 9 years old for Feis Ile.

Whisk(e)y News on the Web

• At Malt Advocate, John Hansell links to a rather excellent Whisk(e)y 101 Tutorial.  He’s also started quite a discussion about the viability/necessity of a whisky rating system.
• At The Scotch Blog, one guest writer reviews 99 Drams of Whisky, while another offers thoughts on the whole canadian/scottish Glen Breton situation.
• You can also catch 99 Drams of Whisky author Kate Hopkins on the latest Whisky Cast.
• Whiskey Exchange has some info on the newest release of the Octomore.

Before I get into this edition of Best in Blog, I need to point all of our readers to a major discussion happening over at the Malt Advocate Blog. As I noted two days ago, John Hansell posed the question “Who will be the successor to Michael Jackson?” and the discussion has raged on for days. All the major whisky bloggers are participating and there are 45 comments as of this writing. You can see my response in full here, but you should definitely go and jump in with your $.02.  The Scotch Blog has also posted about it here.

Tasting Notes from Bloggers We Trust:

• Whisky for Everyone tries a Rosebank 19 from Old Malt Cask.  They note a perfumed quality, but seem to enjoy it far more than I did my 17 year from Rosebank.
• Whisky Fun reviews no less than eight bottlings of Cragganmore, including the 12 year.  Surprisingly, he doesn’t think much of the 12 year, which I find to be one of the best bang-per-buck whiskies on the shelves.  He also has notes on two Glenallachies and three Tomatins.
• Whisky Intelligence reviews their own, specially commissioned, Highland Park 30.
• Whisky Notes gets their hands on a bottle of 43 year-old Tomatin “Oat Mint” (a curious choice for the name of an expression until you realize its an anagram for the distillery’s name).  They also give high marks to a Balvenie 12 Year Signature.
• After a hiatus, it seems that posting has resumed at Nonjatta – the blog covering Japanese Single Malts.  They have new reviews live of a number of Nikka and Yoichi single malts.

Whisk(e)y News on the Web:

• The Scotch Blog posts about an upcoming “Twitter Tasting” in NYC hosted by Macallan.  An invite-only crowd will be tasting from their core-range and twittering about it under the hashtag #Macallan.  I’ll be at that tasting, and you can follow along @WhiskyParty.
• Whisky for Everyone explains the influence of different types of wood on whisky aging.
• Cask Strength posts the full list of tasting samples offered at last week’s Feis Ile.  It’s impressive and for once I wish I didn’t live in NYC.
• The WhiskyFest blog is offering a Father’s Day discount on tickets to upcoming Festivals.
• Whisky Chat explains the differneces between single barral and small batch bourbons.  The San Francisco Examiner goes a step further and explains the origin of Bourbon Whiskey.
• Finally, ever wonder dream of starting your own distillery?  Read the amazing success story of Lark Distillery, a Tasmanian single malt.  Yeah, Tasmanian.  It was recently rated as highly as a Highland Park 18 . . .

Rosebank is considered to be one of the great, lost distilleries along with Port Ellen and Brora – now-closed distilleries that were considered exemplars of a specific region (Lowlands, Islay, and Highlands, respectively).  The distillery was closed down in 1993 as Glenkinchie – considered by many experts to be an inferior dram – grew in size and prominence.  As a classic lowland malt, Rosebank is one of the few scotches that is triple distilled.  It’s signature flavor, according to Michael Jackson, is chamomile, while others often describe young Rosebanks as “floral,” and older expressions as more spicy.

Rosebank 17 Year; 1991 Vintage

Specialty Drinks Ltd. miniature bottle

ABV – 55.1%

Nose – Very muted (I agree, here, with Scotch Hobbyist). Maybe a hint of spice and toffee, though I think the alcohol content has a higher profile than Scotch Hobbyist suggests.

Taste – This is cask strength, so the dram is slightly hot without a little water. Some spice persists and a semi-sweet floral taste is indeed evident. There is a flavor that is quite distinct – particularly in the middle to the finish – but I’m having trouble putting a name to it. Michael Jackson suggests that chamomile is the “signature” flavor of Rosebank. Since I don’t know what chamomile tastes like, it is entirely possible that this is the unidentifiable taste I’m groping at describing.  Whatever it is, it’s definitely very floral and fragrant and I would even go so far as to say cloying.  I’m not sure I like it.

Overall – An OK if slightly disconcerting dram, as I don’t like not having the vocab to describe the dominant taste. This is only my second Lowland scotch, the other being a Glenkinchie 10 year I picked up in Duty Free in St. Lucia.  The Glenkinchie is a very light dram, also semi-sweat with a nice taste of pears.  The biggest difference (aside from taste) is that the Glenkinchie cost me $30 for a whole liter.   A full bottle of Rosebank 17 is extremely hard to find in the states, and ordering it from a UK whisky purveyer will run somewhere around ₤65, not including shipping.  To be perfeclty honest, this is an occasion where I prefer the cheaper dram and I’m not sure what all the fuss is about regarding Rosebank.

I’m thankful that my wife bought me the miniature rather than springing for the whole bottle, which she occasionally does, though perhaps the taste would have grown on me given the chance for another glass (not possible with the miniature).  One the plus side, the miniature goes for about a tenth of the price of a full bottle on the Whisky Exchange, and I got to sample a rare dram without breaking the bank.

Other Opinions:

• Scotch Hobbyist thought rather more of this dram than I did (tasting from the same miniature bottling).