Whisky: Dreams of Dramfest '23 #1

 Some drams from the recent Dramfest, which reminds me I still haven't done the full list and rough ratings. I mean, I can see the bits of paper from here, but ... 

This is likely to be a two parter of dramfest, which seems a good thing.

Mystery: Tomatin 18yo Oloroso 46%

Nose: sweet, sherry, ginger, lemonade, treacle, demerara sugar,

Palate: sweet, honey, coffee, chocolate, sherry

Finish: long, salty, dry

8.5/10 This came 5th (8.12) really nice, nose was amazing and the rest of the whisky wasn't too bad. I'd guessed GlenAllachie based on the ginger and citrus on the nose..

Glen Scotia 'seasonal release' 2022, 12yo, 53.3%

N: sweet, woody, leather, vanilla milkshake, cedarwood, balanced, parma violets

P: sulphur, peppery, wood, cognac

F: long, astringent, 

6/10 it came 7th (7.69) I really didn't like this one.

The Whisky Cellar Series 5 Glentauchers 14yo 53.8%

N: dry, creamy, apple, spritzic, lemon, honey, toffee, vanilla, marshmallows

P: citrus, complex, lemonade, fruit salad

F: medium, 

8/10 Came 6th (8.03) I liked it.

Ben Nevis 25yo Blackadder 1996 Raw Cask 51.9%

N: coffee, sherry, dark chocolate, liquourice, black treacle

P: long, passionfruit dark chocolate, burnt sugar (in a good way)

F: long, sweet moving to dry

9.5/10 Perhaps unsurprisingly it came first (9.05). Fantastic whisky.

The Whisky Cellar Series 5 2012 House Malt 57.1%

N: sherry, woody, bananas, soy sauce, sausage rolls, dark chocolate

P: dark chocolate, miso, brown sugar, beef boullion, tiramisu

F: hot and long

9/10 Again, a win from me. Came second (8.89) aiming to pick up a bottle of this one.

GlenAllachie 10yo Cask Strength Batch #8 57.2%

N: lighter, mild sherry, caramel, chocolate, seemed lower alc., medicinal, ozone

P: chocolate, soapy, vanilla, coconut rough

F: medium, very sweet

7/10 a bit sweet on the finish for me. Came 4th (8.31)

Bunnahabhain Moine 16yo 2005 59.4% Blackadder Raw Cask

N: salt, peat, bacon, smoke, iodine, apple

P: smoke, bacon, soot, fire, sweet

F: long, hot, sweet

9/10. Tasty stuff, ticks all the Islay boxes very nicely. Came 3rd (8.85).  

Outside of the tasting, I've been enjoying a Tomatin 12yo and a Clynelish 14yo. 

Whisky: Campbeltown tasting

 Our band of intrepid boozehounds skipped the previous whisky tasting at Regional (fiscally responsible sherry finishes), but there was no way I'd miss a Campbeltown tasting. It's a region that seems to divide whisky drinkers, but I'm a fan.

Springbank 10yo 46%

Nose: apple, bourbon, dry, apricot, hint of mint?

Palate: apple, warm, custard, liquorice, earthy, 

Finish: hot, med-long

8/10 an excellent opening evening dram, it came 4th over all with 8.0 

Glen Scotia 46% 16yo (mystery whisky)

N: dry, lemonade, heavier nose, chocolate, salt, earthy, vinegar crisps, 

P: light, nicely balanced, apples, sulphur

F: med, but grows, dry

7/10 quite quaffable without being over the top or amazing. It came 5th with 7.64

Springbank Local Barley 10yo 51.6% (Belgravia barley)

N: salt, straw, ash, green apples, dry, sponge cake, ozone

P: ash, not much else

F: dry, long sulphur

5/10 yeah not a fan, I wasn't that blown away by the local barley tasting we did last year either. Over rated, and very over priced. It came 7th with 6.85, although it polarised the group with some very high scores and some very low ones.

Springbank 15yo 46%

N: sweet, sherry., chocolate, cough syrup, ash, liquorice

P: warm, apple, hint of peat, ash, creamy, cake, sherry

F: med, peppery

7.5/10 again nice enough, and a good drop. Came 3rd with 8.31

Longrow Red 15yo 51.4% (11 bourbon casks, 4 pinot noir)

N: rubber, sweet, vigorous, sour, burnt toffee, ash, sulphur, demerara sugar

P: long, sour, complex, pinot, chocolate, creamy

F: long, and interesting

9/10 loved this, again one that divided the audience. some almost failed it, which is why it came 6th with 7.06. 

Kilkerran Port Cask Matured 8yo 57.9%

N: age complex, sherry, tobacco, malt vinegar and salt, dettol, medicinal

P: medium sulphur, bacon, blue cheese, musty, meths

F: medium, medicinal

8/10 a nice vigorous dram this, interesting and complex, and appeared older than it was. It came 2nd with 8.73

Kilkerran Sherry Cask Matured 8yo 58.1%

N: Sweet, caramel, rich creamy, pencil shavings, complex

P: oaky, dark tea, old, chocolate

F: hot x buns, long

9/10 another really good dram, complex and again not reflective of its age. Came 1st with 8.81

Whisky: Dramfest GlenAllachie tasting

 

Dramfest (I think 2021? 22?, it'd been delayed ... a bit) happened 4-5th March. I had some whisky. Possibly a reasonable amount. 

Have no faith in my ratings, outside of the two official tastings. Of course, if you agree, then they were the product of deep and insightful tastings.

GlenAllachie Tasting

I might be a little in love with this distillery, so given all the other options for tastings I could have gone to, it was always going to be this. 

Hosted by Andrew Mustard...

GlenAllachie 'Scottish Virgin Oak' 9 yo 48.5%

First fill Scottish Oak and was in there for 12-15 months. 

• Nose: citrus, custard, smooth, vanilla, toffee
• Palate: citrus, oaky, vanilla, ginger
• Finish: long, smooth leading to pepper, butterscotch (initially)

This was amazing. the complexity, the depth, it couldn't have been better balanced. 

9.5 or 10 /10 for me. Which did mean it set a rather high bar for the next two drams.

 GlenAllachie 'Champagne Cask Finish' 8 yo, 50.5%

• Nose: wine notes, spritzic, ginger, lemon,
  
• Palate: ginger, butterscotch, creamy, ?limes
  
• Finish: relatively short

I did give it a 9, but this was the disappointing one (!). I liked how the ginger and butterscotch continues to show through as a house style (?) no matter what they're finishing the whisky in. Again, beautifully balanced, but lacking some of the depth of the other two. Would definitely drink again. 

GlenAllachie 'Mizunara Cask Finish' 17 yo 50.56%

• Nose: custard,spicy, chestnuts, chocolate, orange, hint of ginger
  
• Palate: honey, sugar, berries, hazelnuts, ginger
  
• Finish:chewy, very long, complex, spices (?ginger),
  

 Before you ask, Mizunara is Japanese oak (thanks Andrew, and Wiki), it is, apparently a prick to make barrels from. 

If the whisky it produces is this good, I'm ok with that. This was perfection in a glass. 

10/10

Look, my love for GlenAllachie (well ok, anything BW makes) is pretty clear, but these were exceptional whiskies. None are available, yet, as they haven't decided when to bottle (I helpfully suggested 'nows good'). 

-B

 

 

Whisky: Dramfest Arran tasting

Dramfest (I think 2021? 22?, it'd been delayed ... a bit) happened 4-5th March. I had some whisky. Possibly a reasonable amount. 

Have no faith in my ratings, outside of the two official tastings. Of course, if you agree, then they were the product of deep and insightful tastings.

Arran Tasting

hosted by Mariella Romano, exploring two drams from Arran. A distillery we haven't had much of in NZ for a few years. 

 

Arran 17yo Rare Batch Calvados Single Malt 52.5%

• Nose: salt, spiky, apple (lots!), pears
• Palate: apples, complex, smooth, 
• Finish: long apple, very complex

an experiment that worked very well. I haven't seen many (well ok, any) calvados finishes for scotch, but this worked really well with lots and lots of apples (and pears) everywhere.

9 or 10 /10

Lagg 'Release One' ex Bourbon single malt 50%

• Nose: dry, smoke, ash, complex, [and some word even I can't read]
• Palate: crisp apple, complex, salty, smooth, bacon, massive, spicy
• Finish: long, smooth, salt/dry on finish

9/10, the Lagg distillery is at the other end of Arran, and replaced the Lochranza label.

 

Whisky Tasting : SMWS

 First organised tasting of the year, and we're starting with the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS). I was a member of SMWS while in the UK, but the lack of support and availability in NZ meant I'd let membership lapse. But things seem to have turned around with WhiskyGalore taking over organisation and support. Which is great news.

 

105.40 8yo 66.2% "The sweet kiss of leather splinters" 

• Nose: apples, spice, sweet, dry, bouillon, bourbon, treacle
• Palate: treacle, apple, spices, papaya, oaky
• Finish: hot, long, spicy

8/10 Liked this one, complex, interesting. Think it's first dram I've had from the Tormore distillery.

41.149 11yo 57.8% "Merry Cherry Sherry"

• Nose: sherry, caramel, salty, vanilla, coriander
  
• Palate: guava,pear, cinnamon, fruity, coriander
  
• Finish: long, smooth, sherry

9/10 Quite a stunner, from Dailuaine, who do seem to nail great whisky.

55.70 15yo 57.7% "Royal Barley-bree"

• Nose: pears, apples, thyme, malty, ginger
  
• Palate: ginger, spicy, peppery, star anise, oranges, pears
  
• Finish: peppery, ginger, long

8/10 again, another lovely dram. ginger dominated with other spices hovering around. From Royal Brackla.

68.78 13yo 60.8% "Smoking bananas in a Frankincense den"

• Nose: dried apricots, oranges?, eggs
  
• Palate: lemonade, spritzic, marzipan, complex, smoked ham
  
• Finish: complex, spicy

9.5/10 dram of the night for me, really complex and interesting. a lot happening in nose and palate. From Blair Athol.

4.296 17yo 56% "Uplifting and life-affirming"

• Nose: apple, pear, bourbon, sweet, hint of smoke
  
• Palate: seafood, peaty, honey, manuka
  
• Finish: med, complex

9/10 subtle smokey/peaty which did give away the distillery, Highland Park.

108.48 10yo 62.7% "Fire in the Hold!"

• Nose: iodine, salt, bacon, lemon, medicinal
  
• Palate: dry, salty, heavily peated, jalapenos
  
• Finish: med
  

 8/10 Another good whisky, this time from Allt-a-bhainne, again somewhere I don't think I've had anything from.

 

Great tasting, all really good whiskies, with one stunning dram. Really fun tasting and nice surrounds (Roxy Cinema).

Slainte, B

 

 

 

 

Waiheke Whisky #2

 Morena all, second tasting set from Waiheke whisky. the first set was reviewed here and overall I liked them. This time it was the Dog Years Tasting Set - available here.

Here's the tasting notes:

New spirit
Nose rubber, astringent, paint stripping
Palte rubber, not much flavour,
Finish short, hot
3/10 Didn't like this as much as last time, although the last one was the peated new spirit

Sweet water
Nose pva, blue cheese, lollies, sweet,
Palate sweet, honey, ash, no complexity
Finish short, but of heat at end
5-5.5/10 Nose was good, but it seemed a bit one dimensional after that

Dyad
Nose sweet perfumed vanilla pods, Chardonnay, cut grass
Palate bourbon creamy Chardonnay spritzed, apple
Finish med hot

6.5-7 /10 Liked this more, interesting flavours coming through.

Cantankerous
Nose dark choc, sweet, watermelon , caramel,
Palate bourbon, choc, honey, maple, sweet
finish med long warming

7.5/10 (5.5) Divided the audience a bit, but I liked it. Interesting, if sweet, whisk which grew nicely on the finish.

Overall, similar scores to tasting set 1, there's some interesting things happening in their casks, and it looks like the complexity is growing nicely. Will continue to keep an eye on them.

Slainte

Divergence Whisky (NZ) tasting

 While down in Christchurch I was tasting some curiosity gin from The Spirits Workshop, and noticed they did whisky. So tried some of that too, admittedly with some trepidation as NZ whisky is very hit and miss - more miss for me. In theory we should be making stunning drams, but alas not so much. But signs are positive with some excellent stuff starting to pop up.

I liked it. Enough that I bought the tasting set here (I also got some gin, but none of you care about that, I can tell you it disappeared very quickly which is a good sign). 

I don't seem to have taken a picture of the tasting, so I'll stolen this from their website (soz!)

Virgin French Oak

• Nose: coke cola, vanilla, caramel, Benadryl, aniseed
• Palate: aniseed, caramel, Coca-Cola lollies, orange,   
• Finish: smooth med _ long aniseed

Very easy drinking, nice
7.5

Px Sherry Wood

• Nose: caramel, chocolate, oak, aniseed, peaches/nectarines, marshmallow, vanilla
• Palate: tingly, choc, aniseed, nectarine preserved oranges, ginger
• Finish: med long v warming dram

7/10 nose is great, palate good. This is the one I tried at the Riverside market...

Port Wood

• Nose: black berry, cinnamon nutmeg, apple  
• Palate: cinnamon spicy smokers lollies port soft 
• Finish: med sweet peppers

8 soft and interesting

All in all, I liked them. The Port wood was my favourite, but all good. I still have some left (200ml tasting sets are the best) so will be revisiting.

Last.FM 2022 summary

 Hi all, last.fm is a helpful wee site that collates (via an app) all the music you listen to. They then helpfully, summarise that each year for you. 

For those of you with addictive personalities, this can become an issue, I couldn't possibly comment, but some people have been known to replicate their vinyl playing on an mp3 player, just so the tracks are added to the last.fm site... 

No real surprises this year, I listened to fewer new artists, the top 10 artists is rather predictable (although note, they are not huge numbers...as there's a lot of diversity in the list). The most music was on Thursdays (huzzah, Thurs Night Music Night), and, err, I quite like the new Marillion album.  

Untappd, the drinking continues

 As none of you were asking for it, here's an update on how Alec and I continue to support local breweries.

Things are still pretty close, quantity wise I'm winning, variety-wise it's Alec.

Slainte, B

Whisky tasting: Best of the Best 2022

 Another year, another Best of the Best. Although this year we managed a reasonable number of tastings without Covid being a dick, and the format was changed to have the top rated whiskies of the year, rather than just the winner of each tasting. 

Usual crew assembled at the Basin reserve, which seems to be turning into a preferred whisky tasting venue for Regional Wines - which is great, more room, less temp fluctuations :)

Glenlossie 15yo 58.2% Signatory 2006

• N: sweet, cloves, apple, violets, vanilla, tannins, perfume
• P: apple, melons, sweet, long, truffles, bourbon
• F: long, sweet

8.5/10 for me, really liked this one (it came 7th overall 8.35, originally 8.71 in Sept). 

Ardnamurchan Cask Strength AD/02.22 58.7% NC2 sherry/bourbon

• N: sweet, salt, peat, bubblegum, banana
• P: apple, peppery, salt, ash
• F: med-long, hot

9/10 definitely liking where Ardnamurchan are heading at the moment, all of the recent ones we've had have been good (and there's a few in my cupboard now). Came 8th (8.26, was 8.61 in Oct).

Glendronach Cask Strength Batch10 58.6%

• N: sherry, old, subtle, leather, xmas cake, cognac
• P: very quick, hint of honey
• short, boring

7/10. It's not a bad whisky, but just not much happening for a cask strength, weird. Came 3rd 8.89 (8.68 in Sept).

Edradour Straight from the Cask 2011 58.5%

• N: sherry, sulphur, sweet, subtle, aged, lightish
• P: warm, honey, xmas cake, lovely
• F: smooth, long

8/10 came second (9.13, originally 9.23 in Sept). annoyingly it sold out before I could grab it (or the Ibisco) when they eventually reached NZ. oh well.

Mystery : Cotswolds

• N: sweet, citrus, nutmeg, bananas, fruit salad/melons
• P: warm, bourbon, honey, salt, pepper
• F: medium, peppery, warming

9/10 this was all very nice. I don't seem to have written down which Cotswolds it was, but I've had a couple this year and both were very good, there's a bottle of one of them sitting around here ...

Glendronach Parliament 21yo 48% oloroso/PX 2020.06.15

• N: lemonade, spritzic, sweet, apricots
• P: lemon, bourbon, sherry, decr alc., yeasty
• F: medium, warm honey

8/10 hey it's a Glendronach, you can be pretty sure it'll be drinkable. Possibly slightly overrated (aside from the gold/brown) at the moment, but still very good. Came 5th with 8.72 (was 8.81 in Aug)

Laphroaig 25yo 52% NC2 cask strength 2018 ex bourbon

• N: yum, salt, bacon, iodine, bring, complex, medicinal, strong, aged
• P: salt, bacon, iodine, strong
• F: long and complex

10/10 (I did give it 9.5/10 originally). Something magical happens to aged Laphroaig, it becomes very veyr drinkable. I'm not alone in this as it came 1st with 9.43 (was 9.13 in Aug) 

Talisker 15yo 2019 57.3% Special Release

• N: salt, sweet, medicinal, light, aged, peaty, apricots
• P: citrus, ash, peppery, cloves, salt
• F: peppery, long

8/10 I keep wanting to like Talisker more than I actually do. But this one is good, came 4th with 8.86 (8.88 in Aug). 

so there you go, pretty reasonable lineup of drams, bit of beer, a haggis, 

Slainte, B