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!

Enter The Dragon: A Taste of Wales - Penderyn and Danzy Jones

Last weekend I took the laborious journey from London back to my homeland of Shropshire. If there is one failing of National Rail it is not providing me with direct (Virgin Pendolino) trains from major cities to my hometown in the rural borderland of the English Marches. I don't quite understand why National Rail hasn't addressed this pertinent issue with the haste and efficiency I associate with this British Institution, but it remains a gripe I cannot put to rest. Anyway... taking the train back after a year away from country pubs, farm food and fresh air was refreshing to say the least, more so because if I associate one of many things with going home, it is the flow of decent drink. From Vouvrey to Rose Port, from Llangollen ale to my local Station Bitter, I was in for some excellent drinkage. More so because my dad brought me up drinking whisky, so of course it was inevitable that he would crack open some interesting looking bottles this weekend, as you will see in this week's blogposts.

It seems fitting, having grown up on the English side of the Welsh border, that on my return I sample some of the alcoholic delights of Wales, a country that has an excellent culinary record and as I was to realise, some great drinks as well. The first is from the (relatively) new distillery of Penderyn and the second is a Welsh whisky liqueur.

Penderyn is a single malt I've been aware of for some time, but can't actually remember trying apart from maybe in a local pub after multiple pints had ruined my palate. So I was interested to try this Welsh whisky. Furthermore I also got to have a healthy glass of Brecon Gin that is also distilled at Penderyn. This juniper-led gin had a fantastic celery character that gave it a freshness that I would love to apply to a cocktail in the future. It was more delicate than other gins I drink and not at all cloying. See future blogs for gin reviews. Back to the whisky.

Penderyn
46% - No Age Statement - Madeira Cask
Nose: Vanilla and toffee followed by red fruits, predominately raspberry. There is a cereal quality that comes to the fore with time in the glass and a hint of cinder toffee.
Palate: Vanilla and cereal hold the ground here with a biscuity edge.
Finish: Spirity but sweet with gooseberry overtones.
Overall: Considering this is still a fairly young whisky it has a fair amount going on. I particularly liked the biscuit flavours and gooseberry finish. I'm excited to try their other expressions, notably the sherry wood finish.

The Welsh whisky liqueur I mentioned earlier was that of Danzy Jones. My experience of whisky liqueurs is fairly limited. When I was younger I regularly mixed Famous Grouse and Drambuie into Rusty Nails, I have tried (and spat out) Atholl Brose, and was surprised by the Compass Box whisky infusion that is Orangerie. So I don't have much to go on, but Danzy Jones had a lot more going for it than other whisky liqueurs I have tried.

Danzy Jones
32% - No Age Statement - Welsh Whisky Liqueur
Nose: There was a linoleum quality matched with chlorine with a thick base of stewed damsens and rich mincemeat (the mincepie kind).
Palate: Sweet mincemeat and rum butter in a very Christmassy flavour profile.
Finish: Burnt Christmas cake, intense if fairly swift.
Overall: The best whisky liqueur I have tried, my associations with it would make it a great Christmas whisky, maybe one to wash down a mincepie with, Wales has done it again!

Fall Into Autumn with the Longrow 18 Year Old

After a brief dalliance with an Indian Summer, where ice cream and shorts became the rage for a week, finally autumn is upon us. Autumn is my favourite season. This is because the mixture of low light and cooler temperatures make autumn a great pub season, scratch that, drinking season. Cider is well suited to the heady browns and oranges that surround us, dark ales are ideal for the falling temperatures and gin is perfect for relaxing on long Sunday afternoons in front of the telly. What I am struggling to find this year is a whisky that best compliments the season. It can't be too heavy as it isn't winter yet, when a powerful dram is needed to warm the belly. It can't be too light as we are no longer in the glorious heights of summer. It shouldn't be a smoky fireside dram or a heavily sherried malt for after a Christmas dinner. What it needs is a careful balance of everything. It has taken me some time but I think I have found it...

Longrow 18 Year Old
46% - Bottled by Springbank
Nose: Oak smoke is immediately identifiable but not so heavy as previous Longrows, ideal for balmy evenings. Next comes the rhubarb I always get from Longrow and Springbank followed by refreshing mint and mild herbs, finished with a sprinkling of sea salt.
Palate: I can only describe this as musky grape, there is an evident fruitiness coupled with light wood smoke that creates a pleasant soothing muskiness.
Finish: A mixture of tropical and berry fruits floating on a layer of earthy smoke. Strong, long and salty.
Overall: Utterly top notch, the fruit gives this dram a vibrancy, the light peatiness gives it structure and its age gives it a long crisp finish. I am a huge fan of Longrow, and I think this is the first to match the incredible C.V. expression. Perfect autumn drinking, a winner!

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.