Youth has no age: Kilkerran Release 3

The new and exciting is a phrase that offers more hype and hyperbole than a story about Katie Price's silicon-to-flesh ratio in the, ever meaningful tabloid, the Sun. It is easy to jump on a bandwagon of exuberant journalism and Internet ecstasy whenever anything new is unleashed upon a world chomping at the bit for something fresher than yesterday's news to derive entertainment and short-term satisfaction from. The consequence is a world motivated by the imminent and short-term. Conversely, the backlash is the cynicism and borderline eroticism of the past. Too often are the good old days referenced, when men were men, women were women and horses were cars. We tend to find comfort in the past and excitement in the future, and for me this leads to an aggravating paradox. I love the idea of rolling fields and old man's pubs but I simultaneously love busy cities and high concept bars.

In the whisky world it is a dilemma I face virtually daily. On the one hand I have ancient whiskies often from distilleries long gone and on the other I have a host of new distilleries and distilling practices offering a step into the future. The balance is hard to maintain, I've had my fair share of over-aged drudge and I've had enough "experimental" drams to turn me into a new-age Michael Jackson (pop-star not critic). So it gives me great pleasure when I find something new that reflects what has gone before. This dram is the latest release from Glengyle, the Kilkerran Release 3. A young whisky that offers something fresh and rewarding with flashbacks to a regional style - the new and old mashed perfectly together.

Kilkerran Release 3
46% - No Age Statement - Bottled at Glengyle
Nose: Gorse puncturing a heathery landscape. Hot cross buns, cardemon and a particular honeyed sweetness follow with salty popcorn and seafood keeping pace behind. Finally gooseberries provide a refreshing vibrancy to a packed nose.
Palate: Spicy, smooth, silky, creamy. A buttery sweetness coats the mouth lightly begging for the next sip.
Finish: A biscuity finish with a coastal quality. A touch of oak is present that doesn't appeal to me greatly but then I never take to oak easilly.
Overall: Spot on, a saltiness and lightness brings me back to the regional style, but its outdoorsy vibrancy keeps me intrigued. A whisky for drinking readily.

Proof reading: Springbank 100 and Glenfarclas 105 Proof

My source of true happiness

I am someone who enjoys a certain robust-ness (if I can coin the word) about life. I've always trekked, climbed and crawled through the Great Outdoors, I like hearty rustic meals and I drink whisky (cue nodding approval). Of course, this is not to say I don't enjoy the finer things in life, like fine cuisine; wines of the Loire valley; and newsnight, but nothing brings me home like rain; bangers and mash; and a glass of cask-strength whisky. The immediate assumption that can and maybe should be made is that I am over-compensating. A scrawny lad inclined towards trivia and unable to drive testosterone enhancing cars needs something to bolster his faltering masculinity. Hanging from ropes and swigging Scotch might seem like a pathetic attempt at a fetish lifestyle, but it is my hook. The thing I hang my somewhat bookish and overly-curious lifestyle on. The thing is if you tell someone over a massive pub lunch that you throw your life to the hands of Fate as a hobby whilst simultaneously chucking back Scotch like the tomorrow you implore you will never experience you can just about compensate for a failure to understand what Manchester United is.

The problem with this mindset is that I become more and more inclined to do stupid things for the sake of respect from men who can place a spherical object at the back of a net, whilst drinking stronger and stronger whisky whenever possible to show off my liver's ab muscles. The day when I finally combine the two could be quite interesting. So... what is it about cask-strength whiskies that appeal so much aside from their testosterone enhancing properties? Well for me they add weight to a whisky, if you drink a cask strength whisky you tend to know about it. The flavour hammers you like a mallet made of lead. Better still that higher ABV pulls the flavour through with a rabid intensity. But I think what is most appealing is attempting to identify flavours through a haze of spirit. Today's review is the Springbank 100 proof and the Glenfarclas 105 proof. Two 10 year old cask strength whiskies offering very different things. Now pass the toad-in-the-hole and that kayak.

Springbank 100 Proof
57% - 10 Years Old
Nose: Butterscotch and marzipan accompany the rhubarb and grape I get from all Springbank whiskies, with a dash of dried apricot and a whiff of tobacco to finish.
Palate: Dried apricots, peat and spice layer on top of burnt toffee notes.
Finish: Robust and going down fighting, a hot mix of toffee and smoked chili.
Overall: This whisky tastes like Springbank invaded. Every thing I could want from Springbank with a fierce heat to match. Now I just need to get some of the 12 year cask strength...

Glenfarclas 105 Proof
60% - 10 Year Old
Nose: Elderflower and caramel give way to chocolate raison and then to fruit bowl notes with an organic freshness present throughout.
Palate: Very alcoholic, honey and malt with a clear sherry presence, takes to water very well.
Finish: A blend of sherry and mead, becoming silky when water is added bringing out lemony notes.
Overall: Big, fresh and fruity, I think this high ABC beast actually benefits from plenty of water, does my manhood hang in the balance because of this dastardly confession?

Tangoed... Four Roses Single Barrel

I have long been searching for orange things from the United States of America aside from Sunny Delight, the Hoff's face and the OC. It has taken me many years and now I have found it. The orange zest notes I get from rye whiskey are the way forward. As I have previously mentioned I struggle with American whiskey. Not because I think it is anyway bad but purely because the flavour disagrees with me in quantities larger than half a glass. So when I discovered rye whiskey I was very pleased indeed. Rye whiskey has a flavour I enjoy very much and I have our cross-Atlantic cousins to thank. In my quest to try more and more of these whiskies I have had to rely on samples kindly donated to me from fellow whisky fans. There was one whiskey that I was very curious to try and that was the Four Roses, then last Saturday the whiskey presented itself to me in a small sample bottle, and here are my thoughts:

Four Roses Single Barrel
50% - No Age Statement - Kentucky Bourbon
Nose: A tango of satsuma and tangerine, orange zest and those classic rye notes coming through.
Palate: Cumin, fresh squeezed orange juice, nice and creamy.
Finish: Orange cream liqueur, sweet and light.
Overall: A fantastic rye whiskey showing me the way forward, now to get my hands on some more Four Roses bottlings!

A dram to please all drammers... Highland Park and Hakushu 12 Year Old

Well, it was going to happen eventually. A review of a Highland Park. For me Highland Park is a masterclass in whisky making. They hit the all the right places virtually all the time. The Highland Park 12 year old is an incredibly accessible dram, it gives you a bit of everything but not so much as to spoil other whiskies for you. It has been described as the 'all-rounder' whisky and with good reason. It isn't too smoky, too fruity, too sweet, too strong, too weak - it is simply delicious. If I wanted to recommend a whisky that wouldn't blinker the subject's future whisky taste it would be the Highland Park, it defines good whisky but doesn't boast.

So with all that in mind, there must be other whiskies that do that. The MacAllan 18 year old is often tooted as a great, although for me it states the minimum a whisky should be rather than the maximum. I think the Dalwhinnie 15 year old is a fantastic introductory whisky for those with a more cautious palate. Or there is my Dad's approach to whisky, "This is Laphroaig, drink it 'til you like it." I think this explains my eternal struggle with Speyside and ease with the peat smoke. So, there is one whisky that for me hits all the right notes albeit differently from the Highland Park 12 and that is from the other side of the world. This whisky, and I believe this is my first Japanese review, is the Hakushu 12 year old. Despite tasting very different to the Highland Park this co-12 year old demonstrates exactly how whisky should taste. It may not be an eye-opener but it tastes like whisky should, great and with structure. Now here's the comparison:

Highland Park 12 Year Old
40%
Nose: Honey and pear waltz in together through a trial of light smoke, onto a grassy dance floor edged with heather.
Palate: A silky mix of stewed pears, smoke and ripe fruits with a pleasing sweetness.
Finish: Banana, and that recurring smoke and Autumnal breeze with a hint of spice.
Overall: As I have already said, everything but none too much, an accessible whisky you don't have to be ashamed of. Recommend at will!

Hakushu 12 Year Old
43%
Nose: Initially floral with sawdust from a pine workshop arriving next, followed by sticky toffee and citrus undertones.
Palate: Smooth and dominated by toffee, with other confectionary adding bulk to this full-flavoured whisky.
Finish: Marmalade at first but becoming creamier towards the finish, also fairly punchy.
Overall: A 12 year old whisky standing triumphant; strong with full mouth-filling flavours. An execution in whisky making and perfect structure.

What Women REALLY Want... Inverleven 1991 (pt.2)

After reading my blog post yesterday, my girlfriend Ellen has written a retaliation...

Drinking wine in a box on moving day

I have always enjoyed the company of blokes. I am proud to call myself a tomboy, and am forever suspicious of girls that look like they might be eyeing up my position as token female in the friendship group. So living with me had to be a dream come true didn’t it? After months of anticipation, moving day came, and Angus and I filled our tiny flat with boxes, and our heads with ideas for an effortlessly cool ‘professional couples pad’. As the weeks went on, it started to happen. I was turning into a woman, or more specifically – my mother. The honeymoon period came to an abrupt halt as piles of dirty boxers began to line the floor like an obscure carpet, the washing up piled out of the sink and my borderline OCD love of neatness was bombarded with clutter and cluelessness. So this is what it’s like to be a man?

Milking my girly-
ness with a rose on
Valentines!

Suddenly my need to buy dresses and do-up my hair become more important than I ever dreamed. We’re not students anymore! I scream at my ever-suffering boyfriend who is avoiding a day of cleaning whilst simultaneously trying to pick off the nail varnish I forced upon him the night before. Almost all of our hard-earned money is going on the rent and bills to this little abode, so it is important that it looks good at all times for potential guests. They will walk in and be blown away by our chic and sophisticated décor, our eclectic mix of literature on the bookshelves and the endless gadgets in our kitchen. Either that or they’ll be blown away by the impressive amount of empty bottles of alcohol yet to be recycled by my “better” half.

When I was a teenager I would have denied that I could ever turn into my mother, but now it’s started I see no reason for it to stop. Every woman loves a project, and Angus is mine. Perhaps the better I get at whisky tasting, the better he will get at cleaning and tidying. The uphill struggle starts here…

Inverleven 1991
40% - Bottled in 2010 by Gordon & MacPhail
Nose: Slightly dry and musty, like lingering hair spray. Apple and kiwi add a sweet, if slightly watered down quality.
Palate: Light and refreshing. Quite creamy and sweet – Campino’s spring to mind (the strawberry and cream sweets).
Finish: A tang that coats my mouth for some time, although the light fruitiness is lost early on. There is a slight bitterness that comes through at the end, which reminds me of a cup of tea with too little milk in. (Angus tells me this could be the tannins!)
Overall: A light and easy to drink whisky that could easily substitute a pot of tea for those days when all you need is a stiff drink. The Inverleven 1991 would be most welcome in a bubble bath with a good book, whilst I contemplate my next tactic in mission ‘tidy boyfriend’!

What Women Want... Inverleven 1991

Living with girls is always a challenge, scratch that, it’s a war. That’s why I didn’t write: ‘Living with the fairer sex,’ because that implies there is balance. Those of us who abide with them will know that it is a battle hard fought. I have drawn my battle lines carefully: I have a one-cushion-on-the-sofa-only policy; I have set fire to two throws; and I have a blanket ban on pink bed sheets (no pun intended). However these trenches that I have dug have easily been flanked, I have had discussions on the technical differences between a cushion and a pillow, skirmishes on the distinction between a throw and a quilt and I have engaged in heavy artillery fire over the similarity of pink and magenta. Furthermore there is a calculated campaign of psychological warfare being launched simultaneously. I start to doubt myself, is the smell of beer, dust and trench foot really better than flowers and cleanliness? I tell myself it is yet I still put the loo seat down.

This is not to suggest that the war is lost, I have made noticeable gains. Notably at the Battle of Tea-Pot Pass (I refuse to drink tea, it all tastes like stale water, even if my girlfriend has two dozen boxes of so-called different flavours) and again victory at the Fall of the Vindaloo Embargo. Of course I have been to the UN over these human rights atrocities and over the others; such as being forced to put things back in their place at gunpoint (okay not gunpoint but her eye was twitching) and worst of all being coerced into the ‘girly day’ where my face was plastered with a clay-and-pumice mask, and my nails varnished.

So where does this leave me? With one final bastion. Whisky remains the source of my power it is with whisky that I can fortify my troops, while drinking it plan my advances and I have even got my girlfriend drinking it. Whisky represents the dugout from which I will launch my retaliation. Except for one problem, I have found a whisky that is taking on the characteristics of the bath bombs that fall about my position… and I like it.

Inverleven 1991
40% - Bottled in 2010 by Gordon & MacPhail
Nose: Heather and flowers combine with caramel and summer fruits to create a potpourri essence with further notes of biscuit and lavender and a touch of orange.
Palate: Intense parma violet sweets with a light mouth feel and just a smidgeon of sherry.
Finish: A burst of red fruits with that parma violet character coming through again and maybe a touch too short?
Overall: A very floral Lowland whisky from a closed distillery. The nose was fascinating reminding me of floral heather in the summertime and the flavour was immensely drinkable. If the battle of the sexes is leading us here then I am willing to admit defeat. I might even get Ellen to review this whisky tomorrow (although bizarrely she likes big smoky whiskies defying any notion of effeminate drams).

Sláinte!

The Subjectivity of Tasting… Glendronach Revival

Do you see faces or a glass?

Subjectivity is something that makes the world a more vivid and vibrant place. It is a force that drives discussion and debate and forms the context of the world we live in. A concept both flawed and personal, we wouldn't be human if we didn't form our own opinion of the world around us. For me, the most interesting facet of subjectivity is our perception of what we sense. Green Blob Theory is something that sums this up quite nicely: How do we know what you see as a dog and we both call a dog, doesn't look like a green blob if you looked through my eyes. Or put more simply, is what we both call orange the same colour?

I think this is very interesting and after some thought I came to the realisation that I could test this. Writing tasting notes for alcohol demonstrates it quite nicely. The reason for this is because what we taste in whisky and wine are esters and acids that form the flavour profile. For example, if you taste lemon in a dram then it is probably the citric acid content of the drink that is giving you that flavour. Of course tasting high alcohol beverages isn't as clean cut as that. There are so many chemicals knocking around in a glass of whisky that it is quite difficult to differentiate between them. This is the reason why tasting notes can differ so much. Some flavours are obvious; an Ardbeg tastes smoky to everyone, except those with the most warped palates, because of its high phenol content. So in essence, tasting notes become buzzwords that remind us of a particular flavour. Some aren't particularly pleasant, cat's piss is a common one for some sauvignon blancs, and it isn't even a critical tasting note. Conventions do occur, this is why you'll see similarities across tasting notes until you get occasions such as a conversation I had recently when one person got a complex leathery quality and the other (me) got car tyre.

So back to my test…

On hearing that the irrepressible Robert Manning who judged my tasting competition a few blogs back (see here), had tried the Glendronach 15 year old a couple of nights back, I went out to get a sample for myself. We then both wrote our tasting notes down ready for comparison. The idea being to see what similarities and differences there would be. Clearly there isn't much experimental control going on here but for the sake of whimsy we persevered. Here are our notes, starting with my own:

Glendronach Revival
46% - 15 Years Old - Sherry Cask 
Nose: A fruit driven nose of raisins and sultanas with raspberry and blackcurrants. Cabernet sauvignon is also present giving this woody whisky a stern backdrop.
Palate: The sherry wood is very apparent with dark fruits, dry leaves and a hint of ash adding to the Revival's rich intensity.
Finish: Port is the flavour that jumps to mind with that cabernet sauvignon appearing again with a dose of red currants.
Overall: Richer and more overpowering than the 'Dronach 12 year old. Maybe a touch too much wood for my liking although I'd say that is personal preference only. A masterclass in whisky making.

Rob's:
Nose: Dry sherry, and the bitter sweet aroma of cherries and summer fruits complimented by a biscuit-like maltiness.
Palate: Fruit cake, dried fruits with fresh citrus undertones and sweet toffee abide alongside a small hint of oak.
Finish: Fresh summer fruits and chewy toffee accompanied by a crescendo of malty liveliness.
Overall: Unlike any other whiskey in my tasting arsenal to date. Probably the smoothest dram I've had in a long while. Very fruity and sweet with a nice malty flavour. Christmas cake is the analogy of choice when describing this particularly morish dram.

Us camping above Dalwhinnie
with a cigar (midgie repellent!)

So in conclusion you can see some obvious differences: I got dry fruits whereas Rob got summer fruits on the nose; and on the palate I got that very dry woody quality whereas Rob was gathering citrus undertones and lots of toffee. Despite this there are some clear similarities; the dried fruits I got on the nose appear on Rob’s palate. Also, those summer fruits that keep recurring for Rob do pop up in mine in the form of raspberries and red currants. The unambiguous sherry presence was identified by the pair of us. What is most interesting is that Rob got a much sweeter flavour profile than mine. For me there are a few interesting factors that can be deduced from this. Firstly, the similarities didn’t necessarily occur to us at the same time, where one of us got a note on the nose the other would get it on the palate. Secondly, the sweet to dry ratio of the tasting notes clearly is subject to individual perception. Although I would say I was comparing quite to the 12 year old, which is sweeter still, so maybe this explains part of the difference. Finally, what is most interesting for me is the different language we both use to describe the whisky. Rob and I discovered whisky together so I assumed we would have picked up the same buzzwords for the same flavours, this clearly wasn’t the case. Then again perhaps all that is important is that we both enjoyed it. The Glendronach 15 year old is a fantastic whisky as indeed all the Glendronachs are. So, where to go from here? Clearly one whisky isn’t enough to draw absolute conclusions from so in the interests of science I have posted Rob a Glendronach 18 year old, so watch this space for the next chapter of this experiment! I would also be interested if anyone has any conflicting tasting notes and welcome them to comment below.