Monthly Archives: Mar 2013

Review: Highland Park Loki

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HPLokiHighland Park Loki – OB – 15yo – 48.7%
(Sherry casks and heavily peated casks)

This is the second release in the Valhalla Collection series from Highland Park (previous was Thor last year).

Golden yellow in colour. Great nose, buttery and creamy, with tonnes of stewed summer and winter berry fruit notes along with costal aromas and a definite peaty smoke whiff.

The mouthfeel is light to medium oily, but full and mouth coating. Spices kick in straight away, a really big spicy dram is this big boy, it’s soon tempered a little however by sweet fruity malty notes with a good background of peat and lashings of smoke. Holding it on your tongue for a while allows you to get used to the spices and then wood notes happily come through.
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Blog: Five Independently Bottled Bunnahabhains Reviewed

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Bunnahabhain

IMG_5436I’ve recently posted a mini series of five reviews of independently bottled Bunnahabhains, all of which have their own charm. Please see individual reviews for tasting notes.

The bottlings featured were:

21yo Oloroso Cask – The Maltman
23yo/1989 – The Rare Casks/Abbey Whisky
23yo/1989 – Master Of Malt
Bn1 – Elements of Islay
10yo – Adelphi

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Review: Bunnahabhain 10yo – Adelphi

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bunnahabhain-10-year-old-2000-adelphi-whiskyBunnahabhain – 10yo/2000 – Adelphi – 59.8%

Dark gold to copper in colour leading you to prepare yourself for a nicely sherried dram, presumably from a first fill cask.

The nose has a strong spirity quality, this is over 10 years younger in age than others reviewed in this series. It’s beautifully fruity and strongly sherried with slight gingery notes and hits of smoke and a drop of citrus.

The mouth feel is medium thick with warming oils washing around your mouth. It’s the highest ABV in this series of reviews, but it’s still very smooth on way down, nice and fruity with a wee bit of a peat tickle right at the end of the finish. Continue reading →

Review: Bunnahabhain / Bn1 – Elements of Islay

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bn1-elements-of-islay-speciality-drinks-bunnahabhain-whisky
Elements of Islay – Bn1 – 55.7%

Colour: Golden.

The nose is salted buttery vanilla nuts (if such a thing existed) and peat, lashings of peat, smoke, iodine and more peat, good sweet Islay peat (similar to southern Islay style drams).

A good oily mouthfeel that covers your palate with spicy and peaty sweet malt. Slightly hot from the fairly high abv and possibly some younger whiskies, it’s hard to tell as this has no age statement. The tcp notes are nicely evident. Continue reading →

Review: Bunnahabhain 21yo Oloroso Cask – The Maltman

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07 Maltman Range-1-1Bunnahabhain 21yo Oloroso Cask – The Maltman / Meadowside Blending Co – 49.5%

Golden in colour.

An unpeated glorious nose on this Islay drop of beauty. Salt hits your nose at first followed by gentle fruits and malt. By the colour and nose it would seem like a second fill sherry cask which has added a little depth over the normal bourbon matured Bunnas.
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Review: Bunnahabhain 23yo/1989 – Master Of Malt

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Bunnahabhain 23 Year Old – MoM – 46%.

bunnahabhain-23-year-old-single-cask-master-of-malt-whiskyLight straw in colour.

A light vanilla nose with malt and wisps of smoke leading to light summer citrus fruits – this is unpeated (as are most Bunnas).

The abv works well here, a wee bit of a spicy sweet kick. A fairly full oily mouthfeel allowing the sweet summer fruits to come through. The finish is warming, sweet and long with faint smoke wisps returning on the finish.

A great middle aged island dram presented without the usual Islay peat that you’ll most certainly enjoy.

Sample provided by Master Of Malt – £74.95

Review: Bunnahabhain 23yo/1989 – The Rare Casks/Abbey Whisky

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the-rare-casks-release-bunnahabhain-1989-abbeywhisky-380

Bunnahabhain 23yo – The Rare Casks / Abbey Whisky.
44% Medium peated.

Light straw in colour.

Similarly light and delicate on the nose, a little citrusy with some lovely smoke notes because of the peat which sits there patiently waiting… It’s a delicate peat, not full on Islay iodine, but a gentle nose inviting you in. There’s some vanillary butter notes holding up the background. Continue reading →

Article: Malt Whisky and Place – Part Four

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This article is part four of the Malt Whisky and Place series. Please refer to parts one, two and three if you haven’t yet read them yet.

Georgie Crawford

lagavulin-16yoThe last speaker for the evening was Georgie Crawford, manager at Lagavulin Distillery. The dram here was a Lagavulin 16 for us all.

From past experience in places such as the Scotch Malt Whisky Society (SMWS) Georgie starts to talk about whiskies and their regionality; customers like to know what region their whisky comes from so that they could know what style to expect, be they Lowland, Highland, Speyside, Islay, etc. Continue reading →

Article: Malt Whisky and Place – Part Three

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This article is part three of the Malt Whisky and Place series. Please refer to parts one and two if you haven’t yet read them yet.

Jim McEwan

ISLAY_BARLEY_200_505994399cd3dNext to speak was Jim McEwan from Bruichladdich (and previously Bowmore amongst others), this time with a dram of Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2006 for us all. Bruichladdich is well known for strongly being identified with ‘place’, and Jim quickly points out on a map where the island of Islay is located and where the distillery is on the island, showing that if you go west from Islay you come to Newfoundland, meaning that most days you get the wind and the salty rain coming from the west coast.
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Article: Malt Whisky and Place – Part Two

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This article is part two of the Malt Whisky and Place series. Please refer to part one if you haven’t yet read it yet.

Dr Nicholas Morgan

Lagavulin Ernst J. Scheiner Copyright 2010 051First up to speak was Dr Nicholas Morgan, along with our first dram of the night, Lagavulin new make spirit. Thanks to Ernst J. Scheiner from Gateway to Distilleries for the picture of new make running from the stills at Lagavulin. The sample was principally for us to get our noses in gear (to get our organoleptic senses started, or so we were told) and it came with a big health warning that we may not want to drink it (who’s he kidding?!) as it’s new spirit that comes directly from the stills. It was only around a month old and not matured in any way in wood, and came in at a hefty 68.5%. For me a fantastic deliverance back to the Lagavulin Distillery where I first tried this as part of a warehouse tour in 2012. It’s wonderfully fruity and powerful.
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