Whisky and distilleries

Whisky -Distilleries Tasting Sessions: WDTS

2011-03-27T09:39:00.007+01:00

On one side the producers of whisky (distilleries, independent bottlers, importers,...) on the other enthusiasts amateurs and in between, a website and a forum. These are the ingredients of this new project initiated by the site whisky-distilleries.info.

A harmonious collaboration between these three parties should lead to a collection of honest tasting notes to the first benefit of the whisky consumers in search of information about what bottle they will buy next, for retailers who can guide orders and adjust their stocks according the public taste, and finally for producers who receive direct feedback from whisky fans.

The team of tasters is composed of active members of forum associated with the site. All are whisky lovers, but they have different experience levels. On a panel of twenty tasters, all tastes are represented. Some like fruity whiskies, others have a strong preference for peat, more for sherry, etc.. The set is fairly representative of the passionate public taste.

How are those WDTS sessions organized?

The principle is that the whisky producers who want to see their production reviewed by our team of tast

ers distributed to the 4 corners of France, Switzerland, Belgium, Luxembourg and the Netherlands sent a bottle of their choice.

Once 6 bottles are brought together, these bottles are transferred into vials of a few cl and shipped home to the tasters. They then produce their tasting notes and assign a rating on a scale of 100 to each whisky tasted. In addition, they score more vague, something like excellent, very good, good, mediocre or bad, to overcome the shortcomings of a rating, where each uses a bit its own value. It is not a scientific exercise, but the operation is meant to express their preferences for a whisky to another.

After 3 to 4 weeks, all notes are centralized and published on the site. Besides tasting notes some other data are also published:

an average of the ratings
by whisky, the lowest rating and highest (that is where we see the diverse tastes of participants)
the difference between the lowest rating and highest (the higher the difference, the lower the whisky is consensual)
the personal hit parade of each taster, and some elements of their profile (average the points awarded, etc. ...)

This project has just begun. We have so far received 6 bottles and the top 3 is on the front page of the site. A test session has been conducted before the first session. The principle was exactly the same, except that we ourselves have purchased the bottles for the first time. In the following weeks, the second session will be also published.

Here is the address where you can see the results: http://www.whisky-distilleries.info/WhiskyWDTS/index_EN.shtml

When distilleries select Single Casks: Glenfiddich

2008-07-20T15:24:00.002+01:00

Glenfiddich does not want to be absent of the market of high quality Single Cask bottlings, and they will market their new "Vintage Reserve" at the end of the summer.

The selection has been made by a panel of whisky specialists. Two whisky writers (Walter Schober and Erkin Touzmohamedov) and two head chefs of restaurants in London and New York (Gavin Smith and Jim Bradley). The selected bottling will be presented by the brand ambassadors from begin September and will be sold in the best whisky shops from the begin of the automn.

The selection is based on a pre-selection made by the master blender and his assistent: David Stuart and Brian Kinsman. They selected 6 sherry casks, 3 from 1975 and 3 from 1977.

Pictures have been made during this selection. Just click here to see them.

3 films are also avaibable:

Film 1

Flim 2

Film 3

Tasting some new bottlings for Dutch market

2008-06-01T12:29:00.003+01:00

I just received some samples of new bottlings for the Dutch market. Independent bottlings from Duncan Taylor and Gordon & MacPhail for Van Wees.

Duncan Taylor

Glen Grant 1969-2008

Such a spicy nose is rather unusual. Sherry hints, lots of pepper, some wood, a touch of liquorice and ripe fruit announcing a great whisky.
In the palate, the first impression is some clear acid bitterness, hints of yeast and wood developing slowly on better balance. The first sip is quite deceiving, but fortunately develops well.
The finish is very long, nicely balanced between the memories of the fruit and those of the wood. Nicer than the mouth was.
Nose and finish are excellent, palate is just good.

Gordon & MacPhail (Reserve collection)

Highland Park 1997-2008

Quite a strange nose, dominated by hints of yeast trying to hide some floral smells giving this whisky a clear undergrowth smell.
The palate is relatively more interesting, despite its rather woody taste and its discrete notes of cough drop. A clear presence of alcohol and some fruity notes.
The finish is long and warm. This finish is clearly better than the mouth. Just a pity it is impossible to enjoy the finish without having to get the whisky in the mouth.

Tamdhu 1973-2008

Quite a spicy nose with pleasant hints of malt and a touch of smoke. Interesting nose, but not transcendent.
The palate is very pleasantly complex, developing gently on sherry notes mixed wit nutty hints. Nice notes of slightly acid red fruit (red currant) are present too.
The finish is lingering and warm, marked by notes of ripe fruit and very nice nutty memories.

Rosebank 1991-2008

A typical Lowlands freshness, cut grass and ripe fruits (pear, banana), mentholated notes.
In the palate, a mix of sugared smoothness and citrus acidity, between tangerine and lemon. Very nice complexity and superb development from citrus fruit to much smoother yellow fruits.
The finish is rather long and very fresh with slightly mentholated hints and the fruity notes remain

Glenturret 1998-2008

An unpleasant smell of yeast or powdered insecticide dominates the first nose. And this nose does not develop a lot even if some discrete fruit touches appear after a while.
The mouth is just a combination of yeast and fruit.
The finish is long and warm and still haunted by this yeasty impression and reveals the oily character of this whisky, which was not obvious in the palate.

Benromach 2000-2008

A pleasant mix of peat and smoke combined with some animal hints announce a nice dram.
A beautiful oily peat characterises the palate which is quite pleasant even if not really complex. The high percentage of alcohol does not hinder.
The finish remains very oily and is quite long, prolonging perfectly the nose and mouth impressions.

Tasting 4 whiskies from Alc-hem-ist

2008-05-18T09:49:00.007+01:00

This blog has been inactive for a while now. This is partially due to a crual lack at time... The maintenance of the site www.whisky-distilleries. info and its associated forum are both time consuming activities...
But here are some tasting notes for bottles from an indepedent bottle I just discovered recently: Alc-hem-ist.
Even if Alc-hem-ist is relatively new in the spirit independent bottlers world (not only for single malts, as they market also Calvados and Armagnac), the founder of the society is far to be unknown in this world. It is Mr Gordon Wright. The same Gordon Wright who founded Murray McDavid together with Mark Reynier and Simon Coughlin and who is a member of the new direction of Bruichladdich, after it re-opening in 2000.
Gordon is also a member of the Mitchell family who owns the Springbank distillery.All single malts are bottled at 46%. I have had the pleasure to taste 4 single malts in this series. The general impression is that the whiskies in this range are quality whiskies at fair prices. Which seems to become more and more difficult to find nowadays. Price of the bottles is about 45 euros, with an exception which is the Apple Mac I could find at 60 euros. The prices are those of my liquorist who is getting internationaly famous for his fair prices, Van Zuylen.

The tasted bottles are: Highland Park 15 years, Caol Ila 10 years, and two Macallan: a 15 years old and a 16 years old called Apple Mac... as it is a Calvados finish.

Highland Park, 15 years

The nose is both fresh and smoky. Smells of heather and an amazing salty and minty freshness recalling the "Fisherman's friend" drops make soon room for a very pleasant smell of green apple.
The mouth is very fresh, with hints of freshly (and sweet) cut grass developing slowly on cashew nut notes and then on ripe fruit. The texture of the mouth is particularly oily.
The finish is very long and pleasantly balanced between nutty notes and chocolate.
This Highland Park is an excellent introdution to the series and gives an idea of the potential of the collection.

Caol Ila 1996 (10 years)
The nose is clearly marked by a smell of oily peat and some sea hints.
In the palate, a nice smoke and a beautiful variation on one unique theme: peat., even though rather discrete. Despite a kind of monotony, this mouth remains rather complex. Pleasant and smooth.
The finish is rather long and remains on the same register as nose and mouth, which gives it quite a smooth character.

Macallan 1990 (15 years)

A both fruity and malty nose with quite discrete hints of chocolate.

The mouth is dominated by pleasant notes of cooked plum and chocolate. Amazing mouth, pleasant and rather complex, even if it remains on a quite limited tastes palette.

The finish is lingering and warm, and the memory of chocolate notes remains for long minutes.

The last bottle of the series was also the only deception. But this is probalby due to the fact it is a finition, and that I genarally do not like cask finishes...

Macallan 16 ans, Apple Mac ( Calvados finish)

The nose is very fresh and could be the one of an excellent Lowlands. Hay and green apple, hints of smoke.

The mouth is rather complex, dominated by a smooth mix of apples, malt and toffee, and seems quite far away from the nose impressions. Strangely complex and rather far from traditional Macallans.

The finish is pervasive with its after tastes of toffee intermixed with hints of chocolate and nuts. This finish clashes with the rest of the tasting and is close to be unpleasant.

John McDougall: some samples tasted recently

2008-01-17T16:39:00.001Z

John McDougall is a kind of living legend in the world of whisky. He spent his whole live in the whisky industry. As a distillery manager of prestigious distilleries like Springbank or Laphroaig or in other functions in about 20 other ones. More about John McDougall is to be found on the page dedicated to him on the site.
He is currently also an independent bottler and markets several whisky ranges. One of them is called "Golden Cask". This is quite a reasonably priced range and is not the top of the range of the John McDougall's whiskies.

Caol Ila 1996. Golden Cask. (10 ans, 58.5%)

A very nice nose, very typical of the distillery: plenty of peat and smoke . The sea is not far away neither. Right now, a great classic. In the palate, the traditional warmth of a Caol Ila with its smoky and peaty notes and some fresh citrus notes above. Not an exceptional complexity, but quite a good whisky anyway. The finish is very long, with still this mix of smoke, peat and sea spray in the mind. Unfortunately, alcohol remains dominant during the whole tasting. This whisky deserves some drops of water, and probably another tasting.

Macduff 1984 Golden Cask (23 ans, 55%)

Flowers and malt to characterise the first nose. Nice spicy notes follow soon before making room to fresh hints of ripe fruit and cut grass. A pleasantly complex nose.

In the palate, an amazing mix of acid notes (citrus), slightly woody ones (nut) and a clear background of malt to harmonise the whole. Not very complex but a very good whisky.

A nice finish, very pleasantly warm and relatively long which prolongs the pleasure of the tasting.

Macallan 1987, Golden Cask (19 ans, 54,7%)

A nice nose marked by sherry, on the Macallan way. Some chocolate notes and a touch of smoke. No aggressiveness at all.

In the palate,all the warmth of nice sherry with a slight woody touch. What a pity that the whole is dominated by the alcohol, as this hides all the underlying complexity. Adding some drops of water help a lot.

The finish is lingering and pleasant, marked by a memory of sherry and fine wood. The alcohol feeling remains alas very strong.

A second tasting just a few days later confirmed the nose impressions. Very smooth and pleasantly marked by sherry. A kind of light veil, a touch of moisture smell probably due to the non chill-filtering method seems to even enhance the pleasure.

The palate remains very pleasant too and the dominating character of the alcohol seem to be gone after 2 days since the bottle was first opened. Nice notes, with a light chocolate taste and still the nice sherry feeling.

The finish too seems to be much more "tamed" than the first time.

A good Macallan.

Tobermory 1996. Golden Cask (10 ans, 60%)

A clear animal smell with hints of yeast. A kind of a mix of young leather and stable odours. Very light smoke hints.

The mouth is very pleasant and the high degree of alcohol does not hinder. Nice complexity allying leathery and meaty notes to other sea and peat ones.

The finish is pleasantly long and worm and the memory of this amazing whisky remains for minutes in the mouth.

Bladnoch. John McDougall selection 1990 (17 ans, 54.2%)

A very fresh nose, mixing smells of cut grass, hay and mint. A kind of duff smell seems to hang over this whisky, which enhances the nosing pleasure.
The mouth is first very close to pear alcohol and it develops later on some more bitter notes, without however considerably enhance the taste palette. The nose was really promising but the mouth is a bit disappointing.
The finish is warm and relatively long and fruity hints remain discretely present.Not this spectacular finish some Bladnoch bottles offer us...

WAR on whisky fakers

2008-01-12T16:00:00.000Z

The whisky world is also subject to counterfeiting. Especially on the internet on sites like ebay, some crooks do not hesitate to sell so-called collector bottles... without any collectors content.
The Maltmaniacs decided to fight against this forgers.
If you like to participate in this merciless war against this detestable practices, please join their fight.
For more information, please visit Serge Valentin's website:
http://www.whiskyfun.com/war.html

Winning a legendary Black Bowmore?

2008-01-07T20:09:00.000Z

Morrison Bowmore Launches Prize Draw to Promote Black Bowmore

Digital marketing agency Chunk has launched a new campaign for Morrison Bowmore, targeting Whisky lovers and collectors Worldwide who have been waiting with anticipation for the release of Bowmore’s oldest ever expression the now legendary Black Bowmore. In conjunction with its release one lucky winner will be drawn at random to win one of these limited edition bottles worth £2000.

Each of the 827 bottles have come from a single cask filled on the 5th of November 1964 and are individually hand numbered and come with a wooden presentation case.

Bowmore are offering a unique opportunity to own a piece of distilling history by launching a free prize draw to win one of these exclusive bottles. Entries are only open to those of legal drinking age in their respective countries and participants can enter online at www.bowmore.co.uk.

The prize draw is also part of the build up to the new Bowmore campaign which launches at the beginning of next year. The Bowmore Way website, which is aimed at Whisky enthusiasts, includes a host of never seen before lifestyle video tips, public debate and opinion, competitions and much more.

Ewan Morgan, Online Ecommerce Manager for Bowmore, said, “The Black Bowmore prize draw is just the first of many exciting campaigns on the Bowmore website. I’m sure this will help raise the online communities awareness of Bowmore as a premium Single Malt Whisky brand. This is new, exciting ground for us in many respects and we hope to run many more new and exclusive promotions in the near future.”

For further information, please contact:

Mike Anderson, Chunk, 0141 226 8880 0r mike.anderson@chunk.co.uk

About Chunk

Chunk is a digital marketing agency specialising in design and development of entertaining and engaging digital experiences. Our philosophy is to mix creative design and imaginative technical development to produce truly innovative solutions.

Related Links

www.bowmore.co.uk

http://www.bowmore.co.uk/Register/Page1.aspx
www.chunk.co.uk

SSMWS Awards 2007

2007-10-07T15:05:00.000+01:00

The SSMWS (Scotch Single Malt Whisky Society) awards yearly a whisky retailer and a restaurant owner for their successful efforts to promote Scotch whisky. The jury who is in charge of designating the winners is made up of representatives of the great whisky concerns (Diageo, Pernod-Ricard, LVMH, ...) and of the greatest Dutch importers (Maxxium, etc...)
The winners of the 2007 award are Aad van Zuylen in the category retailers and for the restaurants categroy, J.W.G. Warmenhoven, who is the owner of the hotel Zee en Duin in Katwijk.
The hotel Zee en Duin is kept by a whisky passionate who organizes regularly single malt tastings (once a month).
Aad van Zuylen is a retailer in a popular area in The Hague. He has specialized his shop in the independent bottlers and offers a vast choice of about 1000 bottles to his customers. He clearly choose to price his whisky as low as possible, by reducing his profit margin. His competence in whisky matters has made the reputation of his shop far beyond the frontiers of the town... Quite a close collaboration with the website
www.whisky-distilleries.info contributed to his success story. This collaboration has been mentioned by the president of the SSMWS, Ger Kleinjan during the award ceremony. The term collaboration is probably not the most appropriated one. In reality, Aad van Zuylen has such an offer in his shop that is is very easy for me to buy special and high quality whiskies, and he uses to translate my own tasting note on his website. A kind of symbiosis was born and regular exchanges of ideas and information are beneficial for both of us.
That' s why I was invited to this award ceremony. Both winning candidates really deserve this aware.
It was quite a nice ceremony in a very pleasant atmosphere.
Ad de Koning, a real monument in the world of whisky in Holland chaired the ceremony and earlier winners were present as well, like the owner of the restaurant De Koebrug in Stavoren in the extreme North of the Netherlands.

A main ingredient in the success of a mini festival....

How to make a successful mini-festival...

2007-10-07T12:20:00.000+01:00

Whisky in the Church, The Hague, September 2, 2007

To make a successful mini-whisky festival (or a maxi-tasting), take the following ingredients:

Competent and renowned whisky retailer: 1
Excellent independent bottlers: 14
Dynamic importers: 5
Exceptional bottles: about 50
Place: an old church dating back to the 13th century
Whisky passionates: about 50
Talented painter: 1
Passionate volunteers : a good handful.

Those are at least the ingredients used for the whisky event organised by the forum www.whisky-distilleries.info on September 2, 2007.

The place...

This event has been organized in the oldest church of The Hague (Netherlands): the Abdijkerk in Loosduinen.
The Abdijkerk (Abbey Church) in Loosduinen (now a part of The Hague) is the oldest monument of the town.
Build between 1238 and 1250 the church was the chapel of a cloister. The style of the church is typical for the transition period between Roman and Gothic. At least as far as the oldest part of the church, near the tower. The northern part of the building is typically Gothic. This part has been built later, during the second part of the 13th century.
The church has been entirely restored during the 1960's.

The church, still in activity is a protestant temple, and we just needed the ambulatory, kind of corridor leading to the cult area, as our event was planned to be small-scaled.

The guests

This event was organized in the framework of the annual meeting of the members of the forum (this is henceforth a tradition...) and an invitation was sent to several associations of well informed whisky lovers. Amongst others, a few Malt Maniacs were invited (but unfortunately schedule problems made it impossible for them to be present. The date coincided with their preparation of the Malt Maniac Awards. The menbers of the associated forum Cask Six were invited too, but none of them could manage to be present... Amongst the other clubs, web sites or associations which were invited and present, let's mention Lindores, The Dutch Connection, Les Passionné du Malt (Toulouse, France), the Club o. Mosellan des amateurs de whisky (Metz, France), Whiskycircus (Paris, France), Whisky News (Switzerland). Beside those single malt lovers, some personalities of the whisky world were present as well, like Robin Brilleman, whisky writer ( "Schotse Malt Whisky") and delegates of the specialized press in the Netherlands: Whisky Passion et Whisky etc...

Enthousiast reviews were published on their respective websites by the whisky lovers who assisted this nice whisky event. An article has been published in Whisky Passion as well.
Of course, this event was originally intended for the members of the forum associated to the site www.whisky-distilleries.info. Most of the site editors who were present are also members of this forum. About twenty of them came to The Hague from Toulouse, Paris, Bâle, Genève, Brussels or Liège. Of course, they reviewed this event on the forum. To read their impressions, just have a look on the following pages of the forum :
Premières réactions à chaud, Les gosses à La Haye, Alors...., Compte-rendu d'après le live, et Photos.
As by now, the forum only exists in French. As soon as several people are interested by an English version of this forum, I'll set it up...

Paintings by Jos van den Berg

Some news from whisky-distilleries.info

2007-10-06T15:38:00.000+01:00

It's been a long time since new messages have been published on this blog. This does of course not mean that nothing happened on the site associated with this blog... quite the reverse!
Of course the holiday period was less active (even if in my own case it has been somewhat eventful, because of my first car crash in more than 30 years. Fortunately, no serious consequences for the people in both cars...). But immediately after the holidays, we organized together with my whisky retailer an important whisky tasting in the oldest church of The Hague, Netherlands. A detailed report is to be published soon.
Beside this event, some important enhancement took place on the site.

Performances under Microsoft Internet Explorer
Since a long time, the performances of the site www.whisky-distilleries.info were very poor. Navigation under IE is now more than acceptable. The error has been located and the problems are all solved.

The forum
Another significant enhancement concerns the forum which had become a victim of completely unscrupulous spammers, just like all the popular forums... More than 20 suspicious new members a day. When I came back from my holiday, I had to suppress more than 300 of them. I decided to upgrade the forum to the newest version of PhpBB, which immediately solved the problem. For how long...? But this migration was also full of surprises and disappointments and after a few days it was finaly working correctly. This migration cost me some time, but the result is very good. An userfriendlier forum and no spammer at all since then...
By the way, the forum is the most active one about whisky in French. Should some people like to have an English forum directly linked to the site, please let me know. I is rather easy to set up a second forum.

Maps of whisky production areas
Last but not least, the site is now significantly enhanced with the new production areas maps specially developed for whisky-distilleries.info by a specialist.
Beside the general map of Scotland, Jean-Louis Bertocchio realized a special map for each of the production areas, with the localization of each individual distillery.
Putting those maps online after having added all the necessary links to the related pages on the site took me a great deal of the remaining time.
That's why this blog seemed to be abandoned during the last weeks.
Things will from now become normal again, and this blog will be regularly fed again.
I am actually so satisfied of the new maps of Scotland and the production areas on the site that I would like to add some links here, just to invite you to take a look on them.

Speyside
Northern Highlands
Central Highlands

And if you liked this maps just like I did, please have a look on all of them. There is one per area.

First Cask: A new brand?

2007-06-21T20:16:00.000+01:00

Until one week ago, I never had heard about "First Cask". Perchance, I could get two samples of this brand, and I was immediately convinced.
So, here are the results of my investigations about this new series.
The brand seems to belong to a Dutch importer, called Whisky Import Nederland . The founders of this company are above all whisky lovers. Both of them (Jan Kok and Marcel Bol) are Keepers of the Quaich. The origin of their business comes from a request by Charles Mac Lean (famous whisky writer, Malt Maniac and in charge of the selection of the casks at Adelphi) to import Adelphi bottles in Holland. They accepted the deal.
Besides Adelphi, they also represent Berry Bros & Rudd and James Mac Arthur amongst others.
And they decided to market some whisky directly selected by themselves. So the collection "First Cask" was born...
Long life to First Cask! The two first bottles in the range are really amazing. Here are my first comments about them:

Caperdonich 26 yo 1980-2007, Cask 741, 56.8%

A very nice clear nose, with very nice malty notes merged with all the freshness of mint and cut grass. A touch of yeast behind the spring fragrances. At first nosing, this whisky seems to have a very strong character.
In the palate an amazing mix of sweetness and bitterness. A real firework of tastes. Papilla's have a great job... Somewhere between walnut and wood on the one hand and between malt and aromatic herbs on the other hand> Very complex, very wide taste palette. Really excellent.
The finish is very pleasant as well. A woody domination well tempered by malty notes. This finish is specially lingering. Really a very good bottle.

It deserves a 19/20... I'd say even a bit more !

Caol Ila 25 yo 1982-2007, Cask 741 60.8%

The nose is very clear and direct. Peat and smoke. A nice kind of oily peat which does not really filter out the nice fruity smells champing at the bit behind an impressive veil of smoke. Even a kind of freshness is guessed even if it is rather difficult to qualify behind all this peat smoke.
The palate is really creamy, with no hinder at all from the high percentage of alcohol. A trip between peat and smoke through nice fruity, and others close to chocolate notes. Discrete citrus fruit hints are detected too.
The finish is lingering and warm. Peat is still dominating, merged with a nice smoke and some hints of too ripe fruits. Wonderful finish, just lingering and full of nuances.

This bottle deserves probably more than the 18 points I grant to it.

Will the independent's humour save the single malt?

2007-06-03T13:06:00.000+01:00

We all know Ardbeg produces high quality whisky since ages. And their marketing is more than performant too... A shortage on the popular 10 years old whisky? No problem! Let's have the lovers to wait with younger versions, and let's create a must have for the collectors.
Which collector could miss a bottle in the series announcing the new 10 years old version with great pomp?

...Very Young,
Still Young,
Almost There...

In the meanwhile, prices just increase merrily. And the accession of the luxury world leader in the managing spheres of the distillery will not improve the situation. In the world of luxury, the most expensive it is, the better it is. I know from some indiscretions at the marketing level of LVMH that the group would like to sell the 10 years old Ardbeg for 70 euros. This is a very important inflation.

So I just cannot keep from commending warmly the excellent sense of humour of the Belgian "The Nectar" and the Dutch Bresser & Timmer when they market at a more than reasonable price a cask strength version (62.6%!!) of a young Ardbeg, called Still Very Young Islay Single Malt... Well done! this is what I consider as being great art.
The selection was done for Daily Dram and The Whisky Fair.
The next question is to know if the content of the bottle is as good as it's marketing...

Here are my first impressions:

Quite an "Ardbeg nose"... Nice oily peat, smoke, mice farm smells, warmth of hay mixed with cattle smells, iodine, a touch of citrus fruit hidden behind all this; the whole is nicely balanced and announces an excellent whisky.
In the palate, it does not try to dissimulate its power. Whaou. 62% of alcohol cannot be discrete in the mouth of a whisky drinker. However, if your palate is used to cask strengths, it could survive without to much irreversible damage... Nice complexity, with nutty notes (hazelnut) merged with fruity hints, impressions of coffee, moka. Adding some water is quite a good idea for this dram and also for your papilla's. Water addition reveals fully the smoke notes and the complexity in the mouth is enhanced. This whisky gets suddenly very smooth and the nutty notes develop on fine wood by slow increase of the bitterness impression.
The finish is long and the nice memory of the warm cowshed near the sea prolongs the pleasure for long minutes.

Does the future of Islay whisky depend on 3 centimeters...?

2007-06-02T17:42:00.000+01:00

Following the catastrophic consequences of major ecologic accidents like the one of the Erica a few years ago and so many other tankers which seem to break just like an eggshell in the middle of the ocean, the European Commission has taken some decisions. One of those is the adoption of a rule obliging the tankers to be double skinned by 2008. This will make them much less vulnerable. Another advantage of mandatory use of this recent technology is that old rotten vessels owned by some unscrupulous shipowners will not be authorized to sail anymore. As long as it floats...

But this European rule has some unexpected consequences in domains which seem to have no link with the world of oil.
Anticipating this new security rules, the Argyll and Bute council decided to make some important alterations to the pier at Bruichladdich where the tankers use to berth alongside. The double skin makes the vessels bigger and heavier and they draw 4.97 meter where the sea depth is 5 meter. A clearance of 3 cm... Very dangerous and the tanker ran aground several times already.
So in fact the tanker only can work securely by fine weather and calm sea, which is not so often the case in this part of the Atlantic ocean. Further, the tanker cannot be full loaded. As a consequence, the oil supply has run out three times already this year.
Distilleries are important users of oil and depend on it to heat their stills. No oil, no distillation. No distillation, no whisky.
Another consequence could be a substantial increase of the price of Islay whisky. It did not need this 3 centimeter argument to increase anyway... Whisky prices demonstrate easily this last few months they are able to increase without any artificial boost.
This pier affair will not arrange things. Anyway this pier will have to be checked and modified soon or late. And cost additional money. Somebody will have to pay for this.
Let's hope some distillers will not use this excuse for another price increase, arguing that this pier problems make it more difficult to export their whisky...
I hope this few lines will not give them a new idea...

Another new make spirit: Talisker

2007-05-27T09:14:00.000+01:00

After having tasted the new make spirit of Bladnoch and Speyside, here is the third and last chapter: Talisker.
Another area, a typical whisky from the Isles... Peat and smoke. Are all this elements already present in the new make spirit?
The nose is very close to the one of Bladnoch and Speyside: sugared prominence of the wash. Malt fragrances dominate, and still this heady and characteristic smell which overwhelms everybody who ever enters a distillery. Spicy notes are clearly present at the first nosing, but not strong enough to emerge above the malted hints described before. Is this autosuggestion? This was not a blind tasting. Who knows if the fact I knew it is a Talisker did influence me and made me find some very discrete peaty notes in it... I'm not quite sure I would have mentioned them if this session had been a blind one.

A first conclusion could be that new make spirits are extremely close to each other, whatever the specificity of the whisky that will be bottled after years. This could mean that the aging process releases the aromas contained in embryo in the spirit when it leaves the still. New make spirit would then be more a "whisky-embryo" than a "whisky-baby"... Patience and time, combined with wise choices of casks and warehouses and of course the know-how of the distilleries will make the rest of the job... in fact practically all the job.

The palate is dominated by sweet, sugared tastes but clear (even if still in an embryonic state) peat and citrus fruit notes are present. Some experience is however needed to detect them, as they are very discrete, but indisputably present.
The finish is a bit richer than the two other new make spirits tasted before. Of course, no comparison possible with what will emerge form the cask after 10, 18 or 20-25 years, but again a nice embryo of a finish, with its peppery notes and already quite a nice length.

New make spirit: after Bladnoch, Speyside

2007-05-26T19:41:00.000+01:00

After the comment about the sample of new make spirit from Bladnoch here are my impressions about the Speyside new make spirit. Speyside is a distillery situated in the Central Highlands for some whisky writers, but the owners claim it belongs to the Speyside area. And in fact who could honestly say it is not...? It is settled on the banks of the river Spey, and it is even the closest distillery from the source of the mythic river... For more information about the distillery, please have a look on whisky-distilleries.info site.

The smell of the new make spirit of Speyside is amazingly close to the one of Bladnoch tasted before. The percentage of alcohol is close too, as this spirit is 70.7% vol. Quite normal, as distilleries respect some standards processes. One of those is the degree of alcohol of the spirit coming out of the still. This percentage is an important factor for the further development of the spirit in the cask.

The nose of this very young Speyside is very sweet, exactly as the Bladnoch at the same age. It presents however some differences, like this peppery notes I did not find at Bladnoch. But apart this spicy hints, the same general impression dominates. Wash smells are prominent. But at least one distillery visit is required to understand this pervasive smell.

Bladnoch was as flavoured as Speyside seems to be spicy. Some nuances which will be found later when the whisky will end its aging.
The palate too is quite close to the Bladnoch mouth. May be just a little more complex. Anyway here as well the degree of alcohol does not hinder the tasting at all. Clear malt domination, with an embryo of more complex tastes which will develop to become an nice whisky when it will be mature.

Here also, the finish is rather insignificant, but the sugared taste of malt remains in the mouth for long minutes. But again, no possible comparison with what will emerge from the cask within ten years...

A new experience: Tasting new make spirit (Bladnoch)

2007-05-26T08:43:00.000+01:00

After having recently tasted some very nice old whiskies, especially old Speysiders very marked by sherry, marketed by independent bottlers (like Jack Wieber or Tates Still), I had the funny idea to taste some very young ones, not yet marketed, as it is not yet whisky...

I always wandered how spirit tastes like when it comes out of the still. What they call "new make spirit" in Scotland. Perchance I could get some samples of this very young alcohol during my last visits to distilleries in Scotland. The samples I collected come from Bladnoch and Speyside, and I got some times ago some Talisker new make spirit as well. This represents 3 very different areas, which makes me even more curious.

First of all, the colour of new make spirit is absolutely transparent, just like water. But just like most people, I knew this already.

Bladnoch:
My Bladnoch sample is 71% vol... It represents the first step in the elaboration of whisky. This spirit does not yet deserve the right to call itself whisky, as it did not yet spend the legal three years in a wooden cask. However, this prescribed time of 3 years has not always existed, and in the olden days whisky was sold directly from the still. It was very often flavoured to enhance its taste. But this really was in the olden days, more than one century ago...

At nosing, the Bladnoch new make spirit seems very sweet, sugared, with all the smells of the wash before distillation. Very perfumed and at first sight quite pleasant, despite this very sweet aspect which could quickly turn in something really sickly. Anyway, no need to add aromatic herbs to give it a pleasant smell. Future developments are quite easy to imagine, when aging in oak casks will give it its definitive colour and refine its taste during the long years it will stay in the distillery warehouses.

In the palate the same impression of sugared spirit, with a very rich taste (even if it presents obviously lacks of diversity). One could expect that such a strong spirit could seriously disturb the good working of the papilla's, but despite its 71% vol it remains amazingly smooth. The taste of new make spirit is still very far away from the refined taste this whisky will have in a few years. Barley, sugar and alcohol. The raw material is easily recognized, even concentrated by water evaporation during the distilling process. But once again, this already gives an idea of what it will be within a few years.

It is quite difficult to speak about finish in this case. OK, a taste remains for quite a long time in the mouth. The impression is warmth is obvious (of course, 71%vol...). But it does not go much further than that...

The tasting notes of the Speyside new make spirit will be published soon... And after Speyside, I'll publish my impressions about the precious sample I have from Talisker. As the latter distillery produces a well rendered as a type whisky, the comparison will be extremely interesting.

Conclusion of this apart tasting session is that it is very instructive, but I would recommend it only to trained palates... If whisky would keep this taste when it is marketed, I guess I never would have become a single malt passionate...

Is there a "Best whisky in the world"

2007-05-20T09:52:00.000+01:00

Of course most people have their favorite whisky. Lots of people prefer drinking Johnnie Walker Red Label (according to the market figures...), but I guess nobody dares to say it is the best whisky in the world...
Coming to professional specialists, the things seem to be different. There are some people who actually shameless dare to say there is a best whisky in the world... Of course, it is not the Red Label.
I'm not a professional, but I have (blind) tasted hundreds of single malts, and I regularly discover my new favorite. And probably tomorrow it will be another one...
I was really impressed by the very high quality of some independent bottlings from rather obscure distilleries. There are some articles on this blog about this amazing phenemenon (see for instance, the magic of single malt).
So, when a prestigious magazine like Whisky Magazine declares that they have found the best whisky in the world (sic!), we as whisky lovers are dreaming about legendary versions of Bowmore from the sixties, old sherryish Glen Grants from the fifties or some other treasures from the warehouses of Gordon & MacPhail or selected by Duncan Taylor (or from any of the other great or small independent bottlers, Douglas Laing, Signatory, Berry Bros, Adelphy, Jack Wieber, Dewar Rattray, and many others)...
No, professionals like those of Whisky Magazine estimate the best whisky in the world is Talisker 18 years old...
Of course, Talisker is a marvelous distillery. Of course the 18 years old version is quite a nice version (even if I prefer personally the 10 yo or the 25 yo). If I did not really appreciate the 18 yo version, this does not mean it is not a good or even a very good whisky. In my own ranking, it appears in the 283th position on 485. But this is not the question.
The question is how serious are those awards?
For my part, the answer is: not at all!!!
However, the "best whisky of the world" has been nominated by a panel of great specialists. Some Malt Maniacs were members of the jury.
And the Malt Maniacs awards are very serious. They really make a point to choose the very best whiskies out of hundreds of samples they collect. Their results seem much more reliable...

If I understood correctly the challenge, a panel of worldwide recognized specialists had to make a choice (blind tasting) amongst about 150 whiskies. All of them were official bottlings (bottled directly by the distillery). And this happens in a period where life seems to be more and more difficult for passionate independent bottlers.
Buying casks from distilleries gets more and more difficult. The market is growing very fast, with new markets for single malt like Russia, China, Brazil or India. So prices are growing accordingly for the whisky lovers we are.
It seems war is declared between distilleries and bottlers. Some distillers refuse the right to independent to sell their production, like the Grants in Dufftown, who seem to add a spoonful of Balvenie in their Glenfiddich and vice-versa. No influence on the taste (even if one could expect this would produce a better Glenfiddich...), but those casks cannot be sold as single malt anymore.
In a period where the best whiskies are to be found at independent bottlers, Whisky Magazine publishes its awards... The best whisky in the world! None of the bottlers was invited to participate. Is this honest?
I could perfectly agree on the title "Best whisky amongst 150 official bottlings". This would be correct, but would of course not be an advertising claim.
I can understand Whisky Magazine has to make some clear advertisements in order to increase their own sales.
I even will not comment on the other whiskies selected for the awards.Aberlour 10 ans 16 years... The 10 y.o. is indeed quite a nice price/quality ratio, but the 16 yo, double matured was one of my greatest deceptions in the last years. The 12 yo was really nice, but the 16... Well, I do not want to express my own tastes here. I have my own website for this purpose...
I just would like awards being given to things really deserving them. Far from all marketing considerations.
... I had a dream ...
(all reactions are welcome, of course)

The magic of single malt (3)

2007-05-06T13:10:00.000+01:00

This is the third part of "the magic of whisky"... It remains unclear why I choose this title for this series of articles (see the first and second parts)... Till now, no magic. I guess it will become obvious in this third part...

In the second part of the article, I mention that Glenfiddich was the real pioneer of marketing single malt as such. But the real massive revival of single malt had to wait a few more years to become a reality... In fact, single malt became a real economical fact with the decision of some blenders and other independent bottlers to bottle some single malts without blending them. Signatory Vintage has quite a huge responsibility in the nowadays fancy for single malts.
The great paradox is that distilleries which were built only to produce some raw material for blends, suddenly discover the single malt marketing, and try to impeach the independent bottlers to continue their business by simply not selling their casks anymore... Or even worse, some distillers have found a very tricky way to make sure their single malt will not be on the market under the label of an independent bottler: it is as simple as adding a small glass of single malt from another distillery of the group (for instance, Glenfiddich adds some centiliters of Balvenie in a cask, or vice versa), and it is impossible to sell this as a single malt anymore...
Why? Why do distillers not see that there is a market for independent bottlers... Some say it is because it would be bad for the "image" of the distillery, it would give a false image of the "style" of the distillery... In my opinion, just nonsense.
But this will probably be the subject of another article... Let's come back to the main subject.

The main subject was that many distilleries followed the example of Glenfiddich, and dared selling their own single malt. And this was a great thing for lovers of single malt. And there are many of them.
Obviously much less than blend drinkers, but most of the single malt drinkers are connoisseurs, and perfectly know why they prefer one brand to another one. Some of them even know why they prefer whisky from a given cask to the same from the neighbor cask... Of course, this only applies to single cask bottlings, something no distillery does... This is just a specialty of independent bottlers...

Most distilleries sell (often a very small) part of their production as a single malt. And there is quite a hierarchy of distilleries in the mind of single malt drinkers. Many of them have tasted at least one dram of each existing distillery, or at least have read tasting notes about them.
And honestly, if some are really magnificent, some others are just "OK". Not really transcendent pleasures... At least if one just consider the standard single malt from those distilleries.
My impression is that many of them feel they are obliged to sell single malt, but are not really interested in the quality of it, as it is just a very small part of their business.
For instance, Glen Keith or Macduff (Glen Deveron) make drinkable whiskies, but not great ones.
And here comes the magic of single malt whisky...
Knowing the making process remains mainly unchanged for years and years (same stills, comparable malt, same yeast, etc...) it's magic to notice that some very special bottles appear on the market from those distilleries working quasi exclusively for the blends market. And this are very great surprises for a single malt amateur.
I had recently some of those great surprises. Glen Keith for instance. Gordon & McPhail bottled an very special cask, distilled in 1967 for la Maison du whisky, (I did not personally taste it in good conditions) and Jack Wieber has also found very nice versions from that distillery, (see on this blog). The same is true also for others, like MacDuff or Glen Spey...
This what makes single malt really magic. These great and very nice surprises are not possible with most other spirits. Of course, such casks are unique, and as such the whisky become quickly expensive, as there are mostly only a few hundreds of bottles available worldwide. Isn't that magic?
In fact, the magic comes from the used cask. If you use a magic cask, you will make magic whisky, at least if you have some patience...

The magic of single malt (2)

2007-05-06T12:12:00.000+01:00

After some obscure historical considerations which seem to have no link with the title of the article (see The magic of single malt(1)), this few new lines could make the title of these series of articles some more clear... At least I hope so.
Anyway, the first part of the article ended with the international marketing opportunities offered by both the invention of blended whisky (mix of single malt for the richness of the taste, and grain whisky for the standardization of it) and the French vineyard plague named phylloxera. Till here, no magic at all... Just some economical and historical facts.

With the success blended whiskies encountered rapidly, there was some raw material needed for the production of this new kind of spirit. Some genius "noses" were able to produce very nice blended whiskies based on a mix of different single malts, "diluted" and "equalized" with grain spirit.
The single malt was not anymore a basic consumable produce, but has been relegated to the status of raw material for blends which will be marketed and which will have an unequaled success for many decades.
Many distilleries will be build just to produce a certain flavor needed in the composition of a successful blend. White Horse needed Lagavulin as a base for instance. This might not be a good example, as I'm not absolutely sure Lagavulin has been created just to produce an element of White Horse...
But there are lots of other distilleries which work pratically exclusively to produce raw material for blends, and which are not really renowned for the quality of there single malt, like Glen Keith, Macduff, Glentauchers or Glen Spey...
But let's not go too fast...
The undisputed reign of blends has ruled the world of whisky for more than a century.
The first distillers who dared to market their "raw material" as a product as such were the Grant's of Dufftown with Glenfiddich in 1963. And this was immediately a great succes.
The question is: what made the success of this first single malt on the international market? The quality of the product or the quality of the marketing?
Of course, Glenfiddich is a quality product. It is a good spirit. But sure not the best single malt... But, the shape and the color of the bottle made the difference... And the commercial genius of the company. So, Single Malt saw the beginning of its revival in the mid sixties.
Of course, if a (new) product is successful, the concurrent will not wait too long to do the same... But the first one was undoubtedly Glenfiddich, and so it became the taste to imitate.
Probably a bad thing, as again the pioneer on the market was not the best quality... So commercial goals were more to imitate a succesfull product rather than produce great quality.
Till now, nothing magic yet...
(to be continued...)

The magic of single malt (1)

2007-05-06T09:10:00.000+01:00

When Andrew Usher created the first blended whisky in 1860, nobody could foresee what would happen years and years later.
Please consider this little article as just something issued from my own reflection and imagination, and not as something with any scientific background. This is just the opinion of a single malt passionate...
In the very old days, distillation of beer was a very good way to preserve it, as the hygienic conditions were quite different from now, and because the technology was not as advanced as it is nowadays. And people began to appreciate this uisge beata (water of life) made in the local distillery. Well very often the local distillery was just in their own kitchen. This was in the Middle Ages, where people were confronted with many plagues, but not yet with the taxes on alcohol... Well it is obvious that in those days, lots of other taxes made people's life hard, tax on salt and on everything people needed just for live... But alcohol was free of taxes in Scotland until some guys of the government realized that it could be a good source of revenues to support the many wars in those olden days... and of course they also saw the effect on the health of the population.
But all this has no direct link with Andrew Usher...
Scotch whisky was already very popular in 18th century, and the oldest distilleries in activity (or recently closed) date from this period. A time line on whisky-distilleries.info gives quite a readable chronology of the creation of distilleries, placed in their historical context.
Obvious was that people merely drank the local production. And very often ignored the whisky made in another region. The whisky had (just like now) quite a lot of character, and therefore was not really suited for export outside of the parish...
Things changed when Aenas Coffey (an Irish excise employee) patented his still making continuous distillation possible (after Robert Stein created the ancestor of that type of still for the huge Lowlands distilleries owned by his family). So tasteless whisky was produced for rectifying the English gin originally...
People of those times were just like people now... They do not like to be surprised each time they open another bottle... It must have exactly the same taste as the previous one. Nowadays, this still is the case, if one excepts some crazy single malt enthousiasts, who like surprises.
So why not rectify whisky as well? Why not create a whisky with a constant taste? This was the great contribution of Andrew Usher in the world of whisky. And due to an historic coincidence, this was the start of the international success of Scotch whisky. The coincidence was the little beatle called phylloxera which destroyed nearly all the vineyards in France at the same period. And the disparition of the grapes meant also the disparition of brandy which was very popular in those days...
(to be continued)

Another Jack Wieber's Glen Keith

2007-05-01T16:57:00.000+01:00

The 33 years old version of Glen Keith from Jack Wieber was a very nice bottle. Unfortunately, not available anymore, at least in Holland where I live. This gave me the idea to try another version I could find: the 35 years old version, in the series "Cross Hill", distilled in 1971.
This was a good idea again!

Again, just pleasure. Not that Glen Keith is such a renowned distillery. But again, this bottling is another very great whisky:

If you have ever looked for a real sherry monster, you should give this one a try. Woah, what an incredible sherry nose. But there is much more. Nice complexity. Sherry mixed with dry fruit, plum, discrete wood, some coffee, lots of pleasure.
The first mouth is rather bitter, clearly marked by sherry too, before developing on coffee and woody notes and than back to sherry again. Lots of character. An absolute must have for sherry amateurs.
Would you believe it? The finish is also marked by sherry with nice discrete woody notes. It is lingering and extremely pleasant. Another fabulous whisky.

This bottle deserves a 19/20. It is simply marvelous. Thanks again Herr Wieber.

Jack Wieber's Glen Keith, 33 y.o.

2007-04-29T20:17:00.000+01:00

Here comes the first tasting notes of a Jack Wieber's whisky. A nice cask strength bottled at 51.9% of alcohol, after having stayed for 33 years in a cask.

Glen Keith
The Old Train Line
1971-2005

The nose is deeply marked by sherry, delightful and voluptuous. An impression of "Baba-au-Rhum", but with sherry. No aggressivity at all, no bitter woody hints as it could have been expected for a whisky of that age.
The mouth is slightly bitter, nutty notes quickly covered by cereal hints and nice fruity notes too. Refined sherry, great palate!
The finish is lingering and very pleasant, perfectly prolonging the mouth and the nose.

A real impression of full happiness. After such a dram, nothing bad can happen in your life, except to hear this bottle is not on sale anymore... Despite this cruel deception, it really deserves a 19/20.
Congratulations, Herr Wieber!

See also this other Glen Keith by Jack Wieber...

Jack Wieber, a German bottler

2007-04-29T19:55:00.000+01:00

Although I could not find any valuable information about this bottler, except the fact he is settled in Berlin and has a marvelous collection of nice single casks he puts on the market, I'd like to comment about some bottlings I could taste. I'd like to thank the Dutch importer Ronald Wuijster for the samples he gave me.

Glen Keith The Old Train Line 1971-2005 (51.9%)

About this blog...

2007-04-29T15:25:00.000+01:00

It is sometimes difficult to express momentary impressions on a website. Specially if the website just wants to be as impartial as possible. This is the case of my website, www.whisky-distilleries.info. In addition, the site requires an immediate translation (as it is in both French and English) and is not interactive. I consider it as a kind of (very modest) encyclopedia rather than a place where everybody can read articles and give an instant reaction.
Behind the objective information I can gather and reflect on my site, there are sometimes things I'd like to express, reflecting only my own vision. And therefore, the site is not the right place neither.
That's why I created this blog (a few weeks ago, I already created a Frenchspeaking blog just for the same reasons.
Further, writing the newsletter takes me very much time, and time is a very precious thing. I'd like to replace gradually the newsletter (even if more than 800 people have already subscribed) by the blog, where everybody is free to subscribe to the RSS feed, and so to get immediately informed in case of new messages.
I guess this can favourably replace the newsletter. There will be some short tasting notes (specially of received samples) on this blog, but also general articles about the whisky world. Just like in the newsletter, and just like on the French blog. This does not mean that all topics will be systematically translated. Sometimes, they will just exist in English, and other times only in French, even if the idea is to have most of them in both languages.

To subscribe from now on this new blog, just click on the button and follow instructions.