Rediscovering The Classics: Lagavulin 16 Year Old

Tonight's review is of another classic; the stoic Lagavulin 16 year old. I have to confess I am no expert on Lagavulin. Aside from it being peated and coming from the south of Islay - I know very little about this Diageo owned distillery. Furthermore I've always avoided trying them. Trapped between its showy brothers at Laphroaig and Ardbeg, it always seemed like the clichéd middle child offering nothing more than a sturdy uninspiring malt. As usual I am very very wrong. Lagavulin offers balance, restraint and a refined spirit. Qualities often drowned out by large peaty gestures at Laphroaig and Ardbeg. The Lagavulin 12 year old may be a balls-out offering, and the Distiller's Edition may be a tad confused, but the 16 year old brings complexity to the table. So with apologies to Lagavulin for my previous ignorance, I give you the 16 year old...

Lagavulin 16 Year Old
43% - Distillery Bottling
Nose: Peat and barbecue smoke with a gristy accompaniment. Then there is kiwi fruit with something orangey beneath.
Palate: Big peat with a thick texture yet refined and larconic.
Finish: The peat has died away to embers and with time baked green apple emerges.
Overall: Absolute classic, excellent structure and balance. The Lagavulin 16 year old isn't about slapping you in the face with a peat shovel it is about restraint and pace, and it is a very hard drink to put down. Slainte!

Shipwrecked with Poit Dhubh 12 Year Old

The slow and horrific realisation that you have made a mistake is deeply unpleasant. It begins in the pit of your stomach and turns into a fireball of dread before travelling upwards. It spreads out down your arms in a cold shudder and constricts your chest and then your throat. Finally your eyes bulge as your brain explodes. This is what I imagine the Captain of the Costa Concordia felt like when he heard the terrible crunch, as the rocks tore along the hull of his cruise ship. This sinking feeling aside, it is the mother of all mistakes. The cost involved is immense, the insurance underwriters are all going into cardiac arrest, governments will get involved and the press is enjoying a titanic extravaganza.

So, today I suggest a medicine for this feeling and that medicine is the Poit Dhubh 12 Year Old. Pronounced 'potch ghoo' and meaning 'black pot' or an illicit still, it is a blended malt whisky from the Isle of Skye. The guys making it are also planning to open Skye's second distillery, joining the already incredible Talisker. So without further ado...

Poit Dhubh 12 Year Old
43% - Blended Malt Whisky
Nose: A thick sweet combination of toffee and peatbog with malty orange foundations. Finally there is the smell of sea surf rolling over a stony beach.
Palate: Maritime with salty grape flavours but with caramel lending this whisky a very sweet character.
Finish: Malt biscuits and the faintest whiff of smoke; notable length.
Overall: A great blended malt from a company that have much promise for the future. I'm excited to try Skye's second single malt whisky!

Merry Christmas! (and a Dalmore Cigar Malt)

Merry Christmas from me and Mrs Peatreek!

Well it’s finally Christmas, marking the end of the busiest two weeks of my working life. So I was well in the need for some Compass Box Hedonism chased with a glass of Last Vatted Grain and some Port in front of the film epic that is Matilda to put me in the festive spirit. This morning Buck’s Fizz was the order of the day with a bottle of 2000 Chateau Lanessan with venison Christmas lunch. The drink will continue to flow with Blackwood’s 60% Gin, 2009 Meursault from Frederic Magnien, then Port and an angelic host of Christmas whiskies.

Choosing a whisky for Christmas is always a challenge but this year there is a clear winner. After years of scepticism of the Dalmore range I am finally discovering their grandiose charms. The 15 Year Old revealed a fantastic finish to me, the 18 Year Old a chocolate smothered palate and the King Alexander the most sensuous nose. However it is the latest release that has topped them all (and it contains no E150a!) this is the Dalmore Cigar Malt, the replacement to the Gran Reserva and an eye-opening dram.

Dalmore Cigar Malt
44% - No Age Statement – Distillery Bottled
Nose: Hoyo de Monterrey cedar cigar box notes with classic Dalmore toffee, rich red fruits, port, leather and a mustiness I associate with old attics.
Palate: Fairly light body with toast and tobacco spice notes.
Finish: Tobacco leaf, rich but with a soft sherried conclusion.
Overall: An aptly named whisky, apparently the ideal cigar pairing is with a Partagas Series P No. 2 although I’d argue a cigar of that calibre would overwhelm the lighter notes of this whisky, but then I don’t smoke, so the allure of cigars is somewhat lost on me. Merry Christmas everyone, Slainte!

Rediscovering The Classics: Talisker 10 Year Old

Some readers of this blog may have noticed that there haven't been many posts this week. Unfortunately I have been taken sick. Drinking, and even the thought of drinking, has been far from my mind. My greatest affliction is an unwillingness to seek help, I come from the school of thought that insists all illness is just a sniffle and people should just 'man-up' and get on with life. The extremity of this became apparent to my girlfriend when I took a fortnight to go to the doctor's when I went down with a rather nasty case of tonsillitis. It wasn't until I realised my tonsils had turned black and were leaking pus did I surrender and took my 'cold' to the doctor. The most horrid part of any illness is the point at which you can't face a drink. Whisky may cure a cold but stomach infections, tonsillitis and chicken pox lay outside of its glorious remit. So having not tried anything new this week I thought I'd talk about the single malt that started it all...

I've drunk whisky for quite a long time, beginning with Drambuie before progressing to Famous Grouse. However the first single malt I tried was the almighty Talisker 10 Year Old. One of my Dad's favourites, it was an introduction to a whole new level of whisky drinking. For years Talisker was my absolute favourite to the extent that my friend Rob and I took a day to train and bus hop to Skye then hike nine miles to the nearest pub for a Talisker 18 Year Old. Talisker was my earliest benchmark for judging whisky. It has a ferocity coupled with flavours that for me define whisky. Although I now appreciate many different whiskies for their different complexities I still have a soft spot for my old favourite. Here's to Talisker!

Talisker 10 Year Old
45.8% - Distillery Bottling
Nose: That trademark black and white pepper with kippers, melon and apple following, closed with ashy coal smoke.
Palate: The smoke continues straight on to the palate with a vanilla sweetness and peaty pepper.
Finish: Malty, long and spicy with waves of gentle smoke.
Overall: A classic malt indeed, excellent with haggis, perfect all year round. I find it pleasing that no matter how many whiskies I try, I still enjoy a good Talisker. Slainte.

Change Is In The Air: The Last Vatted Malt

Drink fuelled fun with friends at Uni...
one of the hardest things to let go of!

All good things come to an end, or so they say. Maybe it's because if we have too much of a good thing it loses its edge and fades into the dismal grey background of the dreaded norm. Or maybe they seem better in the utopia of nostalgia. Either way, what has gone before, or that which is no more, has a habit of seeming greater in hindsight than maybe it was in reality. I am a big advocate of change. If it ain't broke, break it and change it. The world would be a hideously boring and flaccid place otherwise.

Language changes too, old words leave and new words join our vocabulary each year. Who uses 'fallociloquence' (a deceitful speech) these days except in reference to the mutterings of News International executives before Parliamentary Committees; or 'schismarch' (a founder of a schism)? Language changes - and this brings me on to vatted/blended malt whisky. As of the 23rd November 2011, whisky that is a blend of two or more single malt whiskies can no longer be called 'vatted whisky' and must be called 'blended malt whisky'. The Scotch Malt Whisky Association argue that 'vatted' is too archaic a word to be understood by the public. Others argue that 'blended malt' and 'blended grain' sound too similar to 'blended scotch whisky'. I have to say in this instance I agree with SWA's decision, if not for the same reasons. I think there should be a catch-all term for blended malt/vatted malt/pure malt, and I think it does the public a disservice to imply that the difference between blended malt/blended grain/blended is too confusing to be understood, as suggesting the word 'vatted' is beyond them also. What I will say is that I spend as much time explaining what a single malt is as I do explaining blends and blended malt. Things change and 'blended malt' will one day be a term as part and parcel of whisky as 'vatted malt' was. Still, it's an excuse for those rebels at Compass Box to release another excellent bottling!

The Last Vatted Malt
53.7% - Bottled by Compass Box
Nose: Smoke with seabreeze and fishing port scents of menthol, iodine and, with time, toffee.
Palate: Soft smoke giving way to golden syrup and medicinal quality.
Finish: Peppery with sweet phenolic smoke and a hint of stewed strawberries, a little short perhaps.
Overall: A great marriage of peat and sherry cask. Those gutsy Caol Ila flavours rampage about followed by the stroke of sherry. Farewell vatted malt whisky.

Bad Reputation: Blended Malts... Compass Box Eleuthera and Wemyss Peat Chimney

Scandalous

Myth’s and fabrications can make or break reputations. Many a celebrity has been thrown into the lion’s pit of paparazzi exposure and tabloid conjecture that has quashed their careers like the Resistance on Alderaan. It only takes a slight turn of phrase to turn an innocent comment into an insult that strikes the very core of human morality and creates a reputation feeding frenzy that keeps the tabloid beast sated for several months. As soon as a reputation is tarnished it becomes very difficult to scrub it clean - no amount of Brasso is going to help Matthew Kelly reclaim his former fame. The other approach of course is to revel in it, as the indomitable Russell Brand does, so that any misbehaviour can be turned into a ladder to the stars.

Reputation is central to the perception of a whisky; it can win a whisky great favour and allow them to charge increasingly high prices off the back of it. Or, conversely, it can lead to a long hard crawl back to recognition and acceptance. Beyond brand awareness reputation also affects the perception of types of whisky. No other type of whisky has received such a panning as Scottish blends and blended malt. Consistently, and I argue - wrongly, blends (and blended malts) are seen as an inferior product to the more expensive and purer single malts. This myth that blends are somehow a cop-out version of the ‘better’ single malts is in urgent need of reversal. Thankfully a small number of blending companies are trying to overturn the wash of apathy and demonstrate to the world that blended can be better.

When talking about modern blends and blended malts, one company always jumps to mind. That company is of course Compass Box, who I jump at any chance to review. Compass Box are beginning an enlightenment in the world of blended whisky. Their Spice Tree and Hedonism bottlings in particular are testament to the work they have done to show blended can mean better. Alongside Compass Box there is another company doing superb work. This company is that of Wemyss Malts. Their philosophy is that the world’s best wines are all blends so why shouldn’t this apply to whisky? It wasn’t until the other weekend when I finally got to try one of the Wemyss range (and I was very impressed, as you will see) that I have to agree with them. Why shouldn’t a whisky be better than the sum of its parts? The same weekend my dad and I visited a small beer and whisky shop in Ludlow (Shropshire) and, to our luck, we found a Compass Box bottling that as far as I am aware is no longer available. After purchasing a bottle and a fair few beers, we went home to try this elusive blended malt, as well as the Wemyss Malt my dad had purchased previously.

Compass Box Eleuthera
46% - Scotch Blended Malt
Nose: At first peppery reminding me instantly of Talisker. This leads to a soft blend of wood smoke and peat complimented with gooseberry and brine, with time pleasant banana notes introduce themselves subtlety.
Palate: There is a grainy texture I associate with the Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix with honey and red fruits (notably strawberry and raspberry) served on a smoky palette.
Finish: Peaty with salt and fennel concluding with a shot of coffee.
Overall: Why is this whisky no longer made? This for me was an instant go to whisky which unfortunately it can never be. There is peat present without being excessive, pepper without being hot, and green fruit balanced with red. Just excellent.

Wemyss Peat Chimney
40% - 8 Years Old – Scotch Blended Malt
Nose: A fantastic combination of iodine peat smoke and Christmas pudding, or maritime sherry if I can coin the term. This combination that often doesn’t work melds excellently in this blended malt.
Palate: Peat and pepper hold the ground here; the palate is beautifully light and is completely un-cloying.
Finish: A burst of spice topped with clean peat, fresh and to the point.
Overall: Exceptionally pleasant, clear but not overpowering peat, this dram has a bite but doesn’t shake. I have to try Wemyss’ Spice King and Hive soon!

Grant's Twitter Tasting

Last Wednesday evening I was in a hurry. My heart was pounding and my adrenaline soaring as I crashed down the escalators at Tottenham Court Road, knocking tourists and business people to the floor in my mental haste. I tore through the ticket barriers, sidestepped a police officer and leaped onto my train. As soon as the train pulled into my home station I threw myself out of the doors almost bludgeoning an innocent bystander with my bag and I scattered down the stairs executing a combat roll at the bottom purely for style. You may ask why I was making this Jason Bourne-eske effort to get home. The reason for this mad-dash rush was that I was meant to be participating in a Twitter Tasting courtesy of The Whisky Wire and Grant’s Whisky but thanks to an emergency I was leaving work an hour later than planned. While I was on the train I stewed in silence as I realised the world was against me taking part in Twitter Tastings. Last time my computer wouldn’t play cricket so I had to strap two Blackberry’s together and this time I was running late, I think next time I will be staying at home, rigging a Moon Mission array of computers up in my flat and won’t answer the phone until every whisky has been tasted and tweeted. Anyway… Thankfully my girlfriend had Twitter up and running as soon as I got in and had my whisky poured ready so I only missed the first half and was able to jump straight in and taste the eighteen and twenty-five year old Grant’s blends. I was in for quite a treat as these whiskies were well worth a sprint home. For the sake of continuity I will write my notes in the order I should have tasted them starting with the Ale Cask then moving from the twelve to the eighteen to the twenty-five year old. Thanks to everyone who took part and to Steve at The Whisky Wire and Ludo of Grant’s Whisky!

Grant’s Ale Cask Finish 
40% - No Age Statement – Scotch Blend 
Nose: There is the instant suggestion of the influence of hops creating a cereal forward nose with sponge cake and honeyed cream. With time a grassy quality emerges becoming more and more gorse like.
Palate: Creamy with malt biscuit flavours with a bitterness I would associate with beer. Usually this would put me off a whisky but I thought it played nicely with its cask finish.
Finish: A little sharp but refreshing and malty.
Overall: This is the first ale cask finish I have ever tried and I like new approaches. The whisky didn’t have much depth but compensated with it’s beery character.

Grant’s 12 Year Old 
40% - Scotch Blend 
Nose: Heavy on the cinnamon with plenty of vanilla and a hint of lemon curd. Most interestingly there is a charcoal element that is quite intriguing.
Palate: Very light and delicate with wood spice and an earthy quality that draws on the charcoal notes from the nose.
Finish: Brief with notes of spice and vanilla pods.
Overall: Great nose with lots going on, this blend really requires a longer finish to gain the favour it should deserve.

Grant’s 18 Year Old 
40% - Scotch Blend – Port Cask Finish 
Nose: Port leaps out of the glass first with rich cake notes smothered in marzipan and candied orange peel. With time conifer forest notes appear with a hint of peat.
Palate: Very earthy, with rich fruitcake and warming peat adding depth and a satisfying aftertaste.
Finish: Spice and jam go hand in hand here in what I like to call a chutney finish.
Overall: So much more going on here than in the previous two whiskies. The port finish gives the nose delicious fortified wine notes, and the palate is beautifully rich and luxurious. A blend done good!

Grant’s 25 Year Old 
40% - Scotch Blend – Rare malts and early Girvan in the mix. 
Nose: Peaches and ginger in a soft but spicy tango followed by rich brandy sauce and Christmas pudding. The Whisky Review noted cola sweets and I have to heartily agree here.
Palate: A creamy palate once again here but with plain chocolate stirred through. This leads to pulpy dried fruits, notably dates and prunes with an alcoholic cherry flavour following.
Finish: Long and spicy with almonds sprinkled over. Beyond this there is coffee and an essence of wood smoke.
Overall: Packed with interesting flavours that compliment and enhance one another, complexity is the word here. I couldn’t decide between this and the eighteen year old… although in hindsight it had to be the twenty-five, it makes me want to pour another glass.

Lost Distilleries Chapter 4: Port Ellen 1978 and Port Ellen 1982

Ellen & I drinking an altogether
different beverage... bubble tea

There is one whisky above all that I would consider the Elysium of all whisky. I am not being at all original in saying this, but Port Ellen remains the whisky I hold in highest regard. I can only defend this pandering to the old and rare through how I was introduced to this finest of malts.

A little while back when I was still fairly new to whisky I was stood in my kitchen cooking a tasty treat. Then in walks my girlfriend Ellen (no prize for guessing the whisky she had bought) grinning, holding something behind her back. She then produced a miniature bottle of Port Ellen. Now at this point I should have dropped to my knees and kissed the ground she walked on, for this was my first ever Port Ellen. Perhaps not unfortunately, my whisky knowledge was fairly limited. I was aware that Port Ellen was an expensive and well-liked malt but I did not realise how rare and brilliant it is. So a little while later I poured myself a glass and happily enjoyed it. I loved it, its flavour profile and weight instantly appealed to me. Yum...

Of course now I realise how ignorantly I consumed this Port Ellen. However I think the fact that I loved this whisky so much without realising its value says a lot about the actual quality of this superb dram. Since then I have also tried the latest Diageo Special Release and was once again bowled over. This peated whisky is, for me, a fantastic expression of how smoke and body can harmonise perfectly with one another.

Port Ellen 1982
43% - 28 Years Old - Bottled in 2010 by Gordon & Macphail - Refill Sherry Butt
Nose: Linoleum struck me first with floral iodine notes complimented with a smoky, salty and seaweed scent combo.
Palate: Supple mouthfeel (light with some texture), the peat smoke swirls on a coastal grapey saltiness with a touch of sulphur (in no way a criticism).
Finish: Seabreeze with a burst of tropical fruits that hold on for a long time to come.
Overall: Light, saline and smoky; everything I want in a whisky. The peat doesn't overpower nor is it too light, excellent balance, why is this distillery closed?!

Port Ellen 1978
53.9% - 32 Years Old - 2,988 Numbered Bottles
Nose: I get that maritime linoleum character again with peat intricately woven in. The nose is gentle and sweet with soft vanilla and toffee notes becoming almonds over time.
Palate: Light and fruity, like soft fruitcake with a touch of honey and a hint of salt.
Finish: Pepper and smoke cling on to begin with, followed by light pine.
Overall: A great distillery edition, the sweet fruitiness surprised me as I was expecting the more coastal quality of my previous contact with Port Ellen. However the balance of flavour and smoke remained with that light mouthfeel being retained. More please!

And Now For Something Completely Different...

Tonight's blog is a little different. For a change I'm going to review a beer. The beer in question hails from my homeland in the West Midlands - Shropshire. It is a county that easily slips into obscurity despite its rich history of war with the Welsh and its few prestigious alumni including war poet Wilfred Owen, evolutionary scientist Charles Darwin and Peep Show writer Jesse Armstrong. Despite all of this and its beautiful scenery, no-one really knows all that much about it. This is a shame as it is from this rural province that my favourite beer is brewed. The beer in question is the Station Bitter from the Stonehouse Brewery that is located outside the Marches market town of Oswestry. I am fully aware that I am a little biased when it comes to promoting this ale. It is only readily available locally and this causes me great pain as I sit here in London, typing this. I associate this beer with country pubs, banter and most of all a land where a pint costs less that a fiver. Fanatical upselling aside this beer has won multiple awards including the SIBA Wales & West 2011 silver award for Standard Bitter and bronze for Bottled Beer. Enough nostalgia - here's my review:

Copyright: Mike-in-the-Pub

Station Bitter
3.9% - Brewed at Stonehouse Brewery - Malt & Hops (unspecified)
Appearance: Amber coloured with gently receding head.
Nose: Leathery malt provides undertones of nuts followed by green fruit notably apples and pear with a slight raspberry quality. Perhaps a little meaty gravy on closer inspection.
Palate: Light and creamy yet full-bodied with an acidic edge creating a crisp bitterness amidst its fruity flavours.
Finish: Soft, rich and fruity.
Overall: Excellent balance between malt and hops. This is a bitter for drinking, maybe not as complex as some but great beer garden fare. Occasional beer reviews to follow in the future.

The Whisky Wire's Compass Box Twasting

A little while back I received a message from Steve Rush of The Whisky Wire asking if I would be at all interested in participating in a Twitter tasting or more concisely put, a ‘Twasting’. For me this was a no-brainer. All the more so because the whiskies that would be tantalizing our taste-buds would be the ever excellent Compass Box whiskies that I have enthused about before. I eagerly replied to accept my invitation and a few weeks later I received my three precious samples. The first, Compass Boxes new offering - the Great King Street Artist’s Blend, then the stylistic Spice Tree and finally the effervescent Peat Monster. I stored them away carefully for their grand opening on Wednesday 21st September. On Wednesday evening a minor disaster struck. My girlfriend’s laptop that I had been borrowing spectacularly crashed and left me without the internet access I required to participate. Thankfully not deterred I found a solution. With cunning, I strapped two Blackberry’s together, each with Twitter access and with these and my samples I was ready to roll. On one screen I had a feed running for the evening’s hashtag: #CBtwasting, and on the other my own live feed that I could update. As 8pm approached Steve began the countdown, I had my drams poured and my fingers itching to type. Then the clock struck eight and the tweets began to roll. At first I was worried that the sheer number of tweets would cause confusion and make it difficult to keep up, but my fears were quickly put to rest. It became a great game of tasting, writing a note, commenting on fellow Twasters’ own notes and retweeting everything I agreed with. The hour and a half it took passed quickly. Each whisky receiving what seemed short at the time thanks to my immersion in the Twitterverse approximately thirty minutes. So what can I say about them? Well, firstly it was hard to choose a favourite. I am a huge fan of all three, the GKS for me is an excellent aperitif whisky, the history of the original Spice Tree being banned appeals to me greatly, and the Peat Monster is a fantastic smoky blended malt. The second thing I would say is that all of them demonstrate brilliantly the potential of blended whisky. I would happily exchange a Compass Box offering for a single malt whisky any day, here’s to hoping other blenders catch the zeitgeist. As my fingers are still tired from bashing Blackberry buttons let’s jump to my notes, and do keep an eye on The Whisky Wire for any future events he runs, I can promise fun and dram related shenanigans will make for a very fun evening.

Great King Street Artist’s Blend
43% - No Age Statement – Blended Whisky
Nose: For me marshmallows and banana dominate or foam banana as was kindly suggested to me during the Twasting. I also got lemon and syrupy fruit.
Palate: Quite light but with substantial mouth-feel, bananas and cream and citrus fruits.
Finish: Butter icing lasting a surprisingly long time.
Overall: As mentioned a great aperitif and a great go to whisky if you want to settle back and relax with a dram.

Spice Tree
46% - No Age Statement – Blended Malt
Nose: Apples and mulling spices in a mulled cider kind of style with icing sugar on a second sniff.
Palate: SPICE! Is the active word here: Cardamon, cloves, cinnamon, cumin with a vanilla sweetness lurking behind.
Finish: Chewy and spicy clinging on for a long while after. Utterly satisfying.
Overall: Spice and sweetness complimenting each other perfectly, does what it says on the tin.

Peat Monster
46% - No Age Statement – Blended Malt
Nose: Warm embers, soft seaweed notes, gammon and grassy ashes.
Palate: A meaty maritime palate thanks to the presence of Laphroaig. Raspberry and tropical fruits in amidst a creamy quality swiftly follow.
Finish: Salty with a seaweed character but not at all overpowering, allowing the flavours to hold and intermingle pleasantly.
Overall: Excellent, smoky whisky, not harsh or abrupt a whisky to savour and a suitable end to my first Twasting!

Thanks to Steve at The Whisky Wire, Compass Box and all involved for a fantastic evening. See my 'blogs I like' page to follow Steve.