Glenfiddich - The Guilty Pleasure

We all have guilty pleasures. Some are quite standard such as liking the X-Factor, the Spice Girls and Lambrini. Whereas others are down-right weird, like making a culinary cocktail of baked beans, pickle and spray-on cheese. Guilty pleasures are those secrets we keep to ourselves and it is this secrecy that makes the object of our pleasure all the more delicious. They are something that clashes with the image we project to others. They are dark, dirty and dangerous. Yet somehow, no matter how much we may try to ignore them, to strive to watch BBC4 and not E4, they always come back to haunt us, and we crumble before them. I have a few, and I cannot forgive myself for them. They include Waterloo Road, Ronan Keating and Glenfiddich. Waterloo Road just captivates me with its plot holes and poor story planning. I can’t help but enjoy Ronan Keating’s songs, and as much as I want to reject Glenfiddich’s big brand image, I can’t help it, I love this accessible pub whisky. So when I got the chance to taste the limited release of the Snow Phoenix I was very excited indeed.

The Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix has a story I quite like, and if you have read my Shackleton Whisky review you will know by now that I am partial to a good story. These whiskies could easily be described as gimmicky or simply a marketing ploy, and don't get me wrong I am well aware that these whiskies are largely a sales push. But I don't think that has to be a negative point. A story gives the whisky a sense of place and time. It helps make the whisky more than just a drink. The key is to match a good story with a good whisky. Having tried the Shackleton again, the glow has worn off somewhat. So when I tried the Snow Phoenix I was much more wary. So anyway back to the story...

In January 2010 after extremely heavy snowfall, the roof of a warehouse at Glenfiddich collapsed showering the casks waiting in sombre maturation in snow and ice, leaving a phoenix shaped (although I think angel-like) hole in the roof. Glenfiddich, not one to miss an opportunity, bottled a selection of the casks (aged between thirteen and thirty years) to create the Snow Phoenix, a commemoration of an event in Glenfiddich's rich history that could have been a disaster. I genuinely love this whisky and find it incredibly hard to stop drinking.

Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix
47.6% - No Age Statement (13-30 years) - Bottled 2010
Nose: Toffee and pear instantly grapple with the nose with cherries and dry sherry lend a more complex charm, offset wit soft notes of cox apples and rosewater.
Palate: A busy mix of blackcurrants, caramel and apple with an underlying spiciness. Full-bodied and mouth coating it has an almost grainy dry texture that is somewhat moreish.
Finish: Apple pie with cream drizzled on top that doesn't rush to end.
Overall: Weirdly reminds me of the Shackleton despite their obvious differences, maybe it's the snow-laden story of the two. An absolutely brilliant whisky, I think I may be too smitten to offer a more impartial summary. Normal service resumed next time!

On Second Thought... Mortlach 16yrs

Olives, The Office and quite surprisingly gin, are all things I tried initially and wasn't completely won over by. They didn't offend me in anyway, indeed it would be quite a spectacle to see an offensive olive - but they didn't instantly bowl me over and make me scream out in jubilation. They didn't seem to be a missing component from my otherwise satisfactory life. To side track; Irn Bru is something that I had never tried until recently, and now I cannot imagine what sick and twisted world I was living in without it. However, I could have gone on living having never tried olives, The Office or gin again, and died happily not knowing what joy they could bring. What I am rather cackhandedly beating at, is that these things required a second try. I now positively adore olives putting them in any meal they can feasibly go with or clash with. I crease up in mirth during any awkward moment in The Office and I drink gin with a religious tenacity. So from all of this I should of course learn to try things at least twice before I give up on them. So the other day I gave the Flora & Fauna Mortlach 16 year old bottling another go. Mortlach as a rule fails to wow me so it took some audaciousness to prioritise this dram over others I perhaps feel would more imminently impress me. Nevertheless I gave it another shot. I'm not sure if it was because the bottle had been open a little longer, or the company I was with at the time or if it was a genuine change of opinion, but this time I was much, much more impressed and who knows maybe Mortlach is a drink that could rival other whiskies I would more readily jump to...

Mortlach 16 Years Old
43% - Flora & Fauna (Diageo Range)
Nose: Vimto surprisingly annouced itself first followed, rather pleasingly, by dried apricot that became a part of a fruity sherried character. On a second pass a floral dimension morphed into fresh apricots.
Palate: Stewed plums and plenty of spice give this whisky the body it needs to satisfy.
Finish: Classic sherried whisky here: wood and dried fruits. A fitting conclusion.
Overall: The apricot character was not something I had noticed the first time I tried this whisky, but it is what has made me reconsider Mortlach. Expect a bourbon-finished Mortlach review soon by way of comparison.

What whisky turns your head? Laphroaig Quarter Cask and Arran Amarone Cask Finish

We all get that subconscious desire to turn our heads when we catch something out of the corner of our eye when we are shopping. For some it is the cut of a dress, for others it is the tabloid red of a 'sale' sign, and for others it is a shop in the midst of a riot. There is always something we have a material weakness for. A weakness that operates from our peripheral vision and forces our eyes to turn and our wallets to shed weight like a celebrity on Strictly. I have a few myself: Winegums, HMV sales, coleslaw and of course... Whisky!

So what is it that turns our heads when we are staring at a shelf of whiskies? This is a question I always ask myself, often the answer is fairly simple. For example, when I discovered cask strength whiskies it was the ABV that pulled my eyes to the bottle like a liquid magnet, likewise the old sherry finish whisky has turned my head a few times, but for me, it is something original that makes me look at a bottle and think, 'I need to drink that', and believe something is missing from my life until I do. The thing is, finding something original, or to be more precise, original and worth investing time and money in, can be quite difficult. Two whiskies jump to mind that have done this for me since I started taking the nectar of life. One is very well known the other perhaps less so, but it isn't ambiguity that attracts me to whisky, its weirdness. The first is the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. Aged in smaller casks, the whisky inside gets much more contact with the wood and hence ages faster (in a way). This simple idea really appealed to me when I first started drinking whisky and to this day I still think it is the best jump in quality for the smallest price gain you can get in the whisky world. The other whisky is the Arran Amarone finish. I did a vertical tasting of the Arran range and it was the Amarone that made me think, 'this is different', and that is no criticism of Arran's other malts that I also enjoy immensely. So the question is what whiskies turn your head?

Laphroaig Quarter Cask
48% - No Age Statement
Nose: All that medicinality and seaweed you'd usually associate with Laphroaig but with a fantastic scent of rum truffle, nuts and a slight flame of sulphur.
Palate: This is a strong mix of flavours: chili, seaweed, salt and tar. Not for the faint hearted!
Finish: Cigar smoke creates a fug here with a gentle, sweet miasma of cola floating behind, and such a long finish for such a well priced whisky.
Overall: Powerful flavours here, everything a Laphroaig should be: mean, unrelenting and uninterested in your opinion. A great whisky at amazing value.

Arran Amarone Cask Finish
50% - No Age Statement
Nose: This is incredibly potent and quite literal. It smells like chocolate and raisins with a slight afterthought of cherries. Very intriguing.
Palate: Fairly sweet with those notes from the nose carrying through, in particular that chocolatey flavour.
Finish: Smooth unsurprisingly with its sweetness, with a fruitiness adding complexity.
Overall: A cask finish that really works with the whisky, creating strong obvious flavours. A match made in heaven.