More whisky my way!

Ah, now this is looking better and better!
After my absolutely brilliant visit to Midleton, a few different Jamesons and a Redbreast landed at the office the other day.

I must say, though the heavily sherried 18yo is impressive with all it's nutty, chocolatey flavours, I find myself lingering back to the 12yo to get my kicks.
A perfectly balanced dram of bourbon and sherry influence with both the toffee and vanilla from the bourbon mixing gently with the raisiny, fruity notes of the sherry. I've already been on about the eye-opening Jameson experience earlier, but I am liking these more and more.

I am also liking the fact that, yes, I did finally win a bottle of Glen Esk 1971 at Whisky Auction.com. And, not only did I win it,  I also payed less than the same bottle that was auctioned in the previous months! I liiiike...

To make matters slightly better yet, I loved the sound of the doorbell in the office when my single cask 1971 Glendronach was delivered from The Whisky Exchange. As whiskies go, this seems to be one of the top bottlings yet.
You'll have to wait for the tatsting notes for that one, as it'll be opened for my fortieth birthday-tasting I'm planning (now, that's taking the whole cliff-hanger-concept one step further, I know!) but, as Carlsberg so brilliantly put it; Worth waiting for.

Over and out.

jealous - moi?

One of the greatest whisky-collections yet is now on sale after the poor collector turned his toes up before getting a chance to sample them. Willard Folsom lived in California, discovered the virtues of malt whisky at 48, collected for 18 years, and now they're all up for auctioning at Bonhams.

Now, Mr. Folsom - despite being californian - had an impeccable taste in malt whiskies. Have a look at the collection here: http://www.bonhams.com/cgi-bin/public.sh/p...FreeText=folsom and dream on about a few different bottlings of Springbank Local Barley, or why not a few bottles of ultra-rare Kinclaith?
The Ardbeg collection is beyond belief, and I warn you. Clicking on the link will lead you to extreme forms of what we swedes would call "ha-begär".

Google that, friends.
Meanwhile, I'm eyeing a few Glenfarclases...

Sherry Casks Galore

Considering Cork is the city where Viagra is produced, it might not come as a big surprise that Jameson Whiskey is the other major export from this area. After a full day yesterday with Kevin O'Gorman at the distillery, I had a good chance to try some exceptionally good whiskies.

As with all big brands (ie Glenfiddich, GlenGrant), they are rarely what ticks the boxes for the extreme malt-talibans. Same with the regular Jameson I guess.
But, it takes no more than to go to the 12yo expression to realise that something intersting is going on. Then hit the Gold Reserve which is roughly 10yo but with added casks of virgin oak, and another dimension opens up.
If those two wouldn't convince you to give Jameson a chance, why not try the 18 yo or the exceptional JRVR. Truly fantastic whiskies there.

But nothing could beat the feeling of entering warehouse 26, and opening a sherry butt with Kevin and sampling the 1993-vintage malt on location. Magic, my friends. Pure magic.

And, interestingly, for a plant with the capacity and size of Midleton, I was pleasantly surprised to find that they do more or less everything on site.
No shipping off new-make to some anonymous warehouse, not to be seen again by the distillery's own force until it returns bottled 10 or so years later.
Rather a case of storing whiskey on site, with a small panel nosing and tasting to get all the right casks in place for special bottlings or older issues.

Now, that's the type of distillery I love (specially as the malt-taliban I would consider myself to be...)

Cork, Ireland

A subject as good as any, as today I find myself in the very same city. Here on a mission to visit Midleton and write a piece for Allt om Whisky; the swedish magazine which is great on all things whisky, provided you know swedish.

Tour, discussion and tasting with the guys there, and guess where you'll be able to read it first.

I am just getting better and better at the whole cliffhanger thing, aren't I.

A night at Akkurat.

One of the best aspects of meeting with friend and colleague Anders F is the fact that it gives us a legit reason to spend a few hours at Akkurat, Stockholm bar extraordinaire. As Anders is home for a few days before hitting the road again, we wasted no time in finding an excuse for a meeting at the auxilliary office.

If you've never been to Akkurat, there are a few things one doesn't want to miss. They include the mussels, the myriad of beers and the 600 or so malt whiskies in the bar.

Yesterday I can assure you we missed nothing. A few different pints were had (where the Golden Seahawk was a winner), mussels and then of course a couple of whiskies.

First off was a Douglas Laing bottled Pittyvaich from 1993. With a distinct fruitiness, a peat tone that isn't that clear in the Flora & Fauna bottlings and a finish that bordered on exotic fruit, it made for an excellent expression of this semi-lost Dufftown distillery. Anders found the finish a bit woody for his liking, but I wouldn't agree with that too much.

An hour or so later, and I decided to prove my point to Anders on the greatness of japanese malts (if you wonder, read a few earlier posts). The Hibiki 17yo was ordered, by which time we'd been joined by Daniel T and his sister, so we had a good tasting of them.
An interesting mix of new wood and sherry gives the Hibiki (which is a blend, believe it or not) a complex, but intriguing nose and taste.
Like a few japanese malts, there is a hint of polish and wood which is very pleasant...

After the Akkurat sessions, we headed off to see Titiyo at Strand. Not bad at all.
All in all, a good night out and about.

Cliffhanger Bonanza

The other day, I got a package of samples of four Adelphi bottlings... including the 1974 Bunnahabhain.
Now, THAT's what I call a promising tasting waiting ahead of me.

So, make sure to return and watch this space intensely for the results from that tasting.
How's that for a cliffhanger?

Dan Brown? Amateur.

Wine casks... can we stop now?

At a very nice party the other night, my good friend, and fellow whisky collector (though he would never admit to it) Robbe brought along a few bottlings of good malt. Now, this is something he often does, and yet another reason to love him even more.
This particular evening, he brought along a Glengoyne Claret Cask among a few others, and while tasting it blind, one could pick out the wine-cask immediately.
Unfortunately, because it tends to produce a nose that is very, shall we say, un-whisky?

Now, this is an aeon-long debate on whether or not to dabble in re-casking, or ace-ing or whatever you want to call it. I can definitely see the fun and experimental side of it all, and the need to take whisky down from the high piedestals some bearded men (for they are always men, and often bearded) put it on.

But the truth is, when we get down to it; it very, very seldomly tastes good.

Just take a glass of whisky, then have a glass of wine straight afterwards.
See?
The flavours just don't mix. Sorry.

Of course there are a few exceptions to the rule. The Glenmorangie Nectar D'or made with ex-Sauternes Casks is very good, but still nowhere near as good as the bourbon-casked or sherry-casked expressions of the same malt.
Interesting? Yes. A great experience? Well, eh, maybe not.

Yes, I know these opinions have been voiced a million times before, and I know it is an inevitable road down which the whisky industry will all go (a bird whispered in my ear that even Glen Grant are moving towards finishing with different expressions).

But... I have yet to find a wine-casked expression that blows my mind. So be it.

Whiskyauction.com

Got home today just in time to see the courier drop off my package from Whiskyauction.com.
The way I like this website is that I can put my bids in early on for interesting bottles, then just sit back and see which ones I get, and which ones I lose.

Hopefully, I get a couple of really good value bottles, and this month was no exception. A 1976 Douglas Laing Glenugie for 120 euros and a Coopers Choice Glenlivet 1971 for 125 euros was a good catch I think.

Though, I must say, I am a bit disappointed I missed out on the 1971 Benrinnes and the Glenesk, distilled in august 1971 - my month of birth.

Ah well, I'll just have to get right back in there and see what's up there this month.

Mackmyra - single cask

After a very, and I do mean VERY nice dinner last night, I had the opportunity to try a bottling of Mackmyra - the swedish single malt which has caused a few raised eye-brows around the world. Ask a swede, and they will dismiss the whisky as undrinkable, but yet the whisky sells out immediately whenever it is released, and the line-up outside swedish boozer Systembolaget goes on forever on the mornings of such releases.

Travel to Scotland, and the whisky itself actually receives some very good reviews, but they can't sell a single bottle to anyone not called Svensson. Go figure.

Anyway, be that as it may, I tried a single-cask bottling of Mackmyra - bottled in november 2007, distilled april 2004. Very young then, but surprisingly vital and energetic. A bit like a teenager who is kicking and screaming all over the place, calling for attention. Without water, the punch was way too alcoholic (given it's 55% abv, that's not too surprising) for my pleasure. Add the water, and a whole world of fruity, flowery and pleasant perfumey notes appeared.
Still a vibrant, youthful malt, but with more nuance, this bodes very, very well for the future.

It's only three-year-old swedish single cask bottled single malt, but I like it.

What's up with the japanese?

Sitting the other evening with a few friends listening to music, and a number of malts are served after dinner. The usual suspects which all are good, steady malts and we all enjoy.

Then there is one that gets everyones attention. One that rises above and surprises us all with a complex taste, depth and balance that is unrivalled among it's competitors.

It's 12 years old, it's a blended whisky and it's japanese.

Hibiki 12yo. Try it and discover why you always will want to taste something from the land of the rising sun from now on.

Funnily enough, we had a tasting a year back or so with only japanese malts, including some really exclusive ones, and the result from that was "ok". Good but far from fantastic. Throw one or two japanese malts in with a bunch of scots however, and they will steal the show. Every time.

This phenomenon was confirmed by Micke Nilsson, whisky-man-extraordinaire at Stockholm bar Akkurat. Anyone got any theories to how and why it is so? Let me know.