Back in September John Dewar & Sons Ltd. released a new range of bottlings from Royal Brackla distillery. They released a 12yo, a 16yo and a 21yo, all at 40% abv. The fairly tall and slow run stills help to give a delicate and light spirit.
Let’s take a look at the three of them…
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Back in October, John Dewar & Sons Ltd. released The Deveron from the Macduff distillery… a 10yo (exclusive to France), 12yo and 18yo.
Madcuff is located next to the Deveron river which enters the sea just up from the distillery.
Let’s take a little look at the 12yo and the 18yo…
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Compass Box – Flaming Heart 15th Anniversary – 48.9% abvInfo: First released in 2006, Flaming Heart was the first whisky to combine the rich, complex spice of Scotch aged in new French oak with the evocative peat-fired smoke of Islay malt.
Colour: Ripe corn to light gold; no colouring (or chilling) here.
Nose: There’s a light to medium smokey peat note there, amongst bourboney fruits and hints of honey and wax polish.
Palate: Thick, oaky and peaty… yum. There’s a good set of berry fruits at the front, followed up by an earthy clean peat with a good sweetness behind it to make it really enjoyable.
Finish: Slow, long and really warming on your chest, a good tickle of gentle spices to keep the dram going. Crushed berry fruits, raspberries and smoke.
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Compass Box – This Is Not A Luxury Whisky – 53.1% abvInfo: Inspired by René Magritte’s famous 1929 painting The Treachery of Images. Lots of Glen Ord in it.
Colour: Orangey golden.
Nose: Instant hints of old oak and dunnagey warehouses all mixed with seville marmalade, berry notes and some spices.
Palate: Nice and thick oils which cover your mouth in spices which get to a level that they’re fun but not overpowering. It’s enjoyably approachable, even at cask strength. There’s a gorgeous gentle sweetness running through it, hints of toffee.
Finish: The finish shows the most layers to me, fresh, quality old casks, a cola cube, spices, tannins and oak. It’s long and massively enjoyable.
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Royal Mile Whiskies 40 Year Old, Three Cask Blended Malt Whisky – 47.1% abvInfo: A blend of three sherry cask single malts (Glenrothes, Macallan & Tamdhu) bottled at natural strength and colour without filtration. 337 bottles.
Colour: Rich autumnal leaves, plenty of rusty tints.
Nose: Deep, rich and nutty; plenty of malt and aged sherry fruits. Nice and layered with good complexity. Gentle oak notes with a damp dunnage background.
Palate: Gently spiced, but easy and thick on the palate hold it on your tongue for a long while and enjoy. There’s plenty of caramelized brown sugar along with mashed up winter fruits and a very small dollop of cream on top. Old antique malt.
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Bowmore – The Devil’s Casks Batch III – 56.7% abvInfo: “Double the Devil”, so the label says. Matured in first fill sherry casks; both Oloroso and Pedro Ximénez. The third and final release in the series. NAS.
Colour: Dark and rusty, mahogany.
Nose: A fair alcohol nip if you nose too strongly at first. Behind that is a creamy, fruity and lightly smoked malt, backed up by some slightly sappy oaky notes. With some warmth and a little time you get a milk chocolate tone and the smoke notes start to come out more strongly… It’s more smoke than peat with a salty, ozoney, coastal air background, reminiscent of Bowmore’s island location.
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Big Peat Christmas 2015 Edition Cask Strength – 53.8% abvInfo: The now traditional festive Big Peat Christmas Edition is back! No colour, no chill filtration, cask strength… what more could you want from this mix of Islay malts which includes Ardbegg-nog, Coal Ila, Snowmore and Party Ellen.
Colour: A very honest, light straw colour.
Nose: Peat, of course. It’s sweet and fairly fruity (black currants) with some younger new make type sweet notes. There’s a salty ozone quality. Hints of moss, a crack of black pepper and some digestive biscuits. Nice thick legs on the glass.
Palate: The cask strength helps give this some extra spicy kick, but once you’re used to it it becomes warming and creamy. It’s malt-sweet, with various layers of flavour to explore and enjoy.
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The Ardmore – Port Wood Finish – 46% abvInfo: 12 Years Old, matured in American white oak Bourbon barrels and then finished in European half port pipes.
Colour: Bright and golden with a distinct pink Port hue.
Nose: Gentle peat smoke amongst plenty of autumn and winter berries all mushed up. Slight hints of tar. Subtle malt background.
Palate: Fairly thick; the non chill filtration giving this the welly it deserves. It’s fairly gentle and easily accessed with sweet fruits and a fair pinch of spices, all backed up with gentle highland peat smoke. The more you hold it in your mouth the more creamy it seems to become.
Finish: The finish is quite long, as you would expect from a peated whisky. It’s fairly sweet with just a small amount of tannin and spices at the end just to finish things off and bring the sweetness down.
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Glenmorangie’s special edition ‘A Midwinter Night’s Dram’ – 43% abvInfo: A combination of whisky matured in Bourbon casks made from American white oak with liquid aged in Oloroso Sherry casks. Released as a wintery special edition exclusively to the UK.
Colour: Golden with rusty red tints.
Nose: Plenty of young vanilla and a spicy new oak hint giving way to some distillery character. It’s light and heady, slightly heathery, and a handful of hazelnuts. It’s nice, packed with flavours.
Palate: Medium if not fairly thick with oils, even if it is chill filtered. It’s very easy, spices only slightly building when held on the tongue. The lighter floral nature persists, as does the oakiness. Ultimately there’s not tonnes of layers to this, but this is an entry level malt after all.
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Bruichladdich Octomore 7.2 – 5yo – 58.5% abvInfo: Peated to 208ppm and 5 years old. Travel Retail (i.e. airports). Limited edition cuvee that marries spirit matured in classic American oak with spirit matured in casks that once held Syrah created in the great vineyards of the northern Rhone valley.
Colour: Ripe straw.
Nose: Octomore, but with a twist, has it been tamed?! There’s malt, lots of mossy peat and smouldering wood char, but it’s possibly less in your face than you might expect, it’s checked by the sweeter influences from the Syrah casks which seem to helped balance it out perfectly into a nice rounded peaty dram.
Palate: Rich, thick and oily on your palate, but also really easy to take at full strength without overloading your palate. The mossy peat nature comes first, followed by building pepper spices, but all balanced out by a nearly fizzy sweet nature from the wine finish which works a treat.
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