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!

Welcome to Speyside - Strathisla 12 & 30 Year Olds

The location of my favourite
distillery tour (to date).

Of the limited number of distillery tours I have had the pleasure of joining, one has stood out as a favourite. Not because it was the most in-depth or the most wide-ranging but because it was the most charming. This tour was at the much-underated Speyside distillery of Strathisla, whose product principally goes into Chivas Regal and the excellent Royal Salute. The distillery is located to the east of Speyside and claims to be one of the oldest Highland Distilleries. It is certainly picturesque enough with cobbled pathways cherry trees, pogoda roofs and a waterwheel, but it was the tour that made it. The chap leading us around had worked in various roles at the distillery and had taken on the tour in retirement. He gave us a brilliant impression of what a working distillery was really like. Furthermore he let us try the malt that would open my eyes to the potential of Speyside. Strathisla is ever so lightly peated and it was this trace of smoke that appealed to my then peat-obsessed taste buds. So here's to Strathisla!

Strathisla 12 Year Old
43% - Distillery Bottled
Nose: Raisins, stewed pears, malt and fresh-cut grass play with a subtle smokiness, like burning hay with a phenolic chlorine edge giving another dimension to this dram.
Palate: Viscous malty aniseed with a touch of spicy smoke.
Finish: Full and wonderful; licquorish and burnt raisins with medium length.
Overall: A dram I link to a place and time so I am a little biased, but for me it is a great whisky to sit and relax with. Happy days!

Strathisla 30 Year Old
43% - Bottle by Gordon & MacPhail
Nose: Raisins and drifting wood smoke leading to pear and rum. Beyond this rich fruity nose there is chocolate and coffee cake with echoes of cumin and anise.
Palate: Sweet oily pear, smoke, malt and mocha in a lip-smackingly delicious combination.
Finish: Raisiny wood notes with a burst of pear drops with superb duration.
Overall: Fantastic: Complex, long, balanced, where can I buy more of this old bastard?

Of Whirlpools and Vikings - Ardbeg Corryvreckan

The whirlpool at Corryvreckan

Well once again it seems the economy is turning its back on us. Having gorged itself on sub-prime mortgages it fancies a more continental treat and is pulling its emaciated frame towards the Eurozone like a thirsty man towards a mirage in the desert. It smacks its lips, revealing teeth as jagged as the peaks and troughs in a chart in the FT. It bears more claws than all the backbenchers in parliament and its sight is as blurred as any fiscal strategy seen this quarter. What treat will this monster fancy? A Bassatt's Double Dip or a QE Gobstopper? Who knows? But I can tell you that you could be worse off, you could be a viking called Breacan.

Techno Viking

Breacan was the kind of chap that would do stupid, life endangering things to impress the fairer, and let's face it - compared to Breacan, more intelligent sex. Breacan being a hopeless romantic fell in love with the beautiful daughter of the Lord of the Isles but he knew like any boy in a teen flick that she could never love him. So he decided to show off his bravery and sailing prowess in one foul stroke. So one day he sailed out to the mighty, churning whirlpool ominously named the Corryvreckan. He pledged to stay three whole days within its surf. So in he went and in he tossed the first of three anchors to hold him in place. An entire day passed until the rope could no longer take the strain and snapped. With not a moment to lose Breacan threw in the second anchor and another day passed before it too gave in and the third and final anchor was deployed. Then as this foolhardy viking approached his deadline with the wind ruffling his mane of hair, the final anchor broke free and Breacan was swept down into the eye of the whirlpool never to be seen again.

So although the economy may be tumbling down to a watery demise like Breacan at least you're not the one swallowing water like there's no tomorrow. There is however a whisky from the guys at Ardbeg, aptly named the Corryvreckan, that could make financially hard times more bearable. This whisky is a tidal force of smoke and flavour surfing down the gullet on some cask staves lashed together. Definitely a dram for stormy times.

Ardbeg Corryvreckan
57.1% - No Age Statement
Nose: Peat and pepper battle this one out using sugar and vanilla as shields.
Palate: Masses of smoke rising from a fiery bed of red peppers and chilis with peaty water lapping the edges.
Finish: A charcoal pit in a peat bog. One to make you cough.
Overall: Very peaty, a stormy malt that would appeal to peat-lovers out there. I'd argue the Uigeadail or the Supernova have more structure. However this dram has more teeth. Here's to Breacan, slainte!

Vertical Limit - Bruichladdich X4+3 and Octomore Release 4

Mankind has an inbuilt urge built into our psyche to test and push the limits. From a mischievous four year old prodding the house cat repeatedly with a screwdriver to NASA putting a man on the moon. Humans have an inclination to see how far they can go. Events such as the Olympics demonstrate how far the body can be pushed in activities extraneous to everyday living. Games like Jenga emphasise how far we can push the laws of physics; and TV shows like Geordie Shore push the boundaries of bad taste. So why do we have this inherent desire to go where no man or woman has gone before? My theory is that we are naturally competitive and territorial so claiming any ground, no matter how abstract, is seen as a primal gain.

This of course leads me to whisky. The whisky world is rife with pushing the limits of what is possible. One distillery in particular is renowned for doing this, and that is those progressive Hebridean distillers over at Bruichladdich. Jim McEwan and friends are not afraid to attempt things that few others would dare to do, and of all of their experiments, two jump to mind that highlight how far they are prepared to go to lay new ground. These two whiskies are the Bruichladdich X4+3 and the ferocious Octomore Release 4.

The X4+3 is a not twice, not thrice, but quadruple distilled whisky. With each distillation the ABV of the new make spirit rises and with each distillation the risk of an explosion also increases. What is left is new make that clocks in an ABV in the early nineties. The X4+3 is the first release that can legally be called whisky and is an intense dram. The hope is that in seventy plus years it will still be strong enough to be labelled whisky even after the angels have had their greedy share.

Bruichladdich X4+3
63.5% - 3 Years Old
Nose: Candy sticks and sugar syrup arrive first with a jammy scent swiftly following. Then comes the spirit with a slight methynated spirityness and notes of sweet potato.
Palate: Very spirit forward like poteen with a nuttiness that becomes more jammy with water.
Finish: Very hot, spirity and clean with a longer finish than I expected.
Overall: An accomplishment in what can be done with a pot still but not something I would quaff regularly. It did have a warming quality that wasn't unpleasant.

The Octomore Release 4 builds on the already impressive work of its predecessors and can claim to be the peatiest whisky to date with a scorching ppm of a meagre 167 (compare this to ppm's in the mid-40s from other highly peated malts). This whisky is pure ash and frightfully huge.

Octomore Release 4
62.5% - 5 Years Old - ppm 167 - Distilled and Bottled by Bruichladdich
Nose: Muddy wellies sinking into a peat bog of eternal stench (forgive the labyrinth reference) that increases the longer it sits in the glass. Under this smoky shell there is a brine and vanilla that added a depth I foolishly doubted would be there.
Palate: Well my notes simply say: "F***ing smoky!" More eloquently put there is every layer of smoke imaginable: peat, ash, soot, oak smoke, more peat. An orchestra of peat smoke. A peat troll lighting a cigar in a burning building. Smoky.
Finish: Powerful, a touch of vanilla before steam erupts from your ears. Massive, like the Ardbeg Alligator, taints your palate and sinuses for some time to come!
Overall: This is a whisky like no other, it is a record-breaker that rises out of the glass, forces its way up your nose and roars down your throat. Huge, peat-ridden and powerful.

Glendronach Single Casks - 1990

As you may have gathered if you have perused my blog before, I am a huge fan of the Glendronach Single Casks. My first encounter was with last year's 1989 offering, then recently I reviewed last year's and this year's 1994 bottlings. Unfortunately this only heightened my desire to try them all so when I was offered a glass of the 1990 I couldn't refuse.

Glendronach 1990
50.1% - 20 Years Old - PX Puncheon - Bottled 2011
Nose: Lots of chocolate with candied orange peel and nutmeg leading to roasted nuts and raisins. With water milk chocolate ganache becomes dominant and makes this dram simply mouth-watering.
Palate: A soft mouth-feel with those PX raisins and sultanas merging with cocoa and spice for a Christmas feast.
Finish: Hazelnuts floating on a glass of Sherry, rich and rewarding.
Overall: For me this was a softer expression of the whisky than this years 1994. It had a nutty lightness about it that added another dimension to those classic chocolate orange notes. With water this became even more silky and I reckon could well match many a chocolate dessert.

New Directions... Laphroaig Triple Wood

Not long ago I visited the whisky shop at Gatwick Airport on a trip out to the island of Guernsey in the English Channel. This was the first time I had visited a duty-free and paid close attention to the whisky sold. Of the various export-only whiskies one alone caught my eye, the Laphroaig Triple Wood. At the time I wrote it off as one to buy in the future when I didn't have a holiday budget to cling to. Little did I know that shortly afterwards the Laphroaig Triple Wood would be made available to the UK market and this was an opportunity I couldn't miss.

This dram is another triumph for this Islay distillery. It builds on the fantastic groundwork laid by the Laphroaig Quarter Cask. Like the Quarter Cask it undergoes aging in both Bourbon and nineteenth-century style quarter casks but then it benefits from additional ageing in sherry casks. The result is profound, what you get is a whisky undeniably Laphroaig but with an uncharacteristic fruitiness that lends this whisky a new direction that fails to disappoint. I may have to get another bottle of this bizarre malt.

Laphroaig Triple Wood
48% - No Age Statement
Nose: There is that clear Laphroaig medicinality that reminds me in this case of Karvol, the decongestant. This is followed by tropical fruits and a touch of cinnamon that I was not suspecting.
Palate: The palate was more remarkably Laphroaig although softer and more rounded with medium-body and that fruit presence recurring again.
Finish: Peaty, maritime and strong. Everything I could want from a Laphroaig.
Overall: Very impressive, this builds on the already fantastic Quarter Cask, the use of sherry casks just adds another dimension of complexity. Oh and I forgot to mention, great value too!

Rediscovering The Classics: Oban 14 Year Old

I had a minor revelation the other day. In my eternal quest to sample as many different whiskies that I possibly can I have forgotten that some of the all time classics have their own charm that is often blown out of proportion by expensive marketing campaigns. The thing about these whiskies is that some of them are really rather good, it's just a case of working out which ones.

One such whisky is the West coast malt that is Oban. This is a whisky I had completely forgotten about but thanks to a piece of trivia imparted to me, I rediscovered it. So what is this little fact you ask me? The other week I was speaking to a friend of the graphic designer who created Oban's packaging, when he pointed out his friend had drawn a man walking a dog on top of the cliff in the background on the cardboard tube packaging. Yet when you look at the bottle label the dog is no where to be seen and the man is peering over the cliff trying to find him. It was this canine tragedy that opened my eyes to this coastal whisky again and I had to have some.

Oban 14 Year Old
43%
Nose: Brine defines this seaside malt with cedar and mascerated fermenting berries following.
Palate: Light oily mouthfeel with a clean sweetness washing over the tongue.
Finish: That saline briny quality again with a vague fruitiness from a little sherry presence perhaps?
Overall: This dram has a light mouth coating aspect and is certainly an accessible whisky. It didn't have the complexity I really desired and didn't possess any panache. A stand-up whisky but nothing to get excited about.