Glenmoranie has quite a lot of expressions of varying ages and rarities, and I’ve not really reviewed any of them here before now. I don’t know why not, I’ve enjoyed a good Glenmo for many a year now. So let’s take a little look at four expressions that I think it’s safe to call part of Glenmo’s core range, the 10yo The Original, 12yo The Lasanta, 12yo The Quinta Ruban and 12yo The Nectar D’or. All easily available, affordable whiskies.
So without further ado let’s kick off…
Port Charlotte (Bruichladdich) – 12yo – 58.7% abvInfo: This is a Travel Retail release (i.e. you can mostly only get it in airports or at the distillery). It’s being launched tomorrow aboard a Viking Line ferry in the Baltic sea (I hope the storms hold off!).
Colour: Full gold with orangey tints.
Nose: At first maybe slightly closed on the nose; it could be the fairly high ABV, or it could just be that the aging process has given this more of a maturity than you have seen before from Port Charlotte. Given time and warmth there’s a leathery note alongside the gentle beefy peat and thicker oils. A drop of water helps open the nose up a bit.
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Glenkinchie 12yo – 43% abvLet’s start off 2015 with a readily available malt that’s not to expensive!
Info: One of only a handful of lowland whiskies, Glenkinchie is situated near Edinburgh.
Colour: Fairly honest pale gold.
Nose: Quite fragrant, packed full of malt grass and fruity aromas with a base of toffee and hints of oak.
Palate: At first slightly spicy, followed by plenty of malt. Slightly dry with medium oils.
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Ok, it’s the time of year that apparently every whisky blogger publishes a list of his or her “top drams”. Well, blah to that eh? No one really cares I’m sure… But not to be outdone, here’s just the quickest of quick lists of drams I’ve enjoyed this year… nice and short so hopefully you might pass your eye and take something away to try sometime!
Hazelburn 10yo
Glengoyne 25yo
Bunnahabhain 23yo (Abbey Whisky / Rare Casks)
Glen Garioch Vintage 1995
Somerset Cider Brandy 10yo
Bowmore Laimrig 15yo
Pretty much anything by Balblair
(Plenty of others, but I won’t bore you any further)
And that’s it. Simples. Happy New Year yous lot! 🙂
Buffalo Trace – Kentucky Straight Bourbon Whiskey – 45% ABVInfo: The 45% abv version that’s in review here is sadly not so easy to find any more, it was replaced with the lower 40% version that’s now generally available in the UK. You can take the following as a basis for that 40%, but expect it to be a slight shadow of this version.
Further Info: The 45% version was first introduced in 1999 and is a marriage of no more than 45 barrels of 9 year old whiskey and is bottled by hand.
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Released in 2014, I tried this at the distillery a few days before it was due to hit the shelves and really enjoyed it. Part of the Hazelburn core range, this is a 10 year old bottling of Hazelburn single malt Scotch whisky from the Springbank distillery in the Campbeltown region. It is triple distilled, unpeated, matured in bourbon casks and bottled at 46% ABV. Not chill filtered and no colouring.
Nose: Quality and craft pours out of this as soon as you get your nose to it, packed with great oak, the sort of old oaky smell you get in dunnage warehouses. A slight mineral tone and sweet barley. It noses as something slightly older maybe. A tiny bit of salt and some gentle sweet summer fruits. After a bit of time to breath a bit of waxiness also comes through.
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Auchentoshan Virgin Oak Batch 2 – 46% abvInfo: ‘The Auchentoshan Virgin Oak 2 is the second release from this Lowlands distillery that has matured in charred new oak casks. Since 2000 Auchentoshan has matured a limited amount of whisky in such casks of which it releases some every year since 2013. A small batch release that shows that not only maturation in ex-bourbon or ex-sherry casks works with whisky. Time, risk and patience have resulted in a Sienna coloured malt with notes of spicy oranges, maple syrup and a layered complexity.’
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Chapter 7™ is an independent bottler from Switzerland that you may have seen around on the various social medias, good looking bottles in good looking boxes!… But is the whisky also good?! I’ve been lucky enough to have been sent a few samples from Chapter 7™ to find the answer, so without any further ado, let’s take a look at the four samples I’ve been sent…
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Connemara Peated Irish Whisky – 40% ABVInfo: “Inspired by Ireland’s ancient distilling traditions, Connemara’s smooth sweet malt taste and complex peat flavours makes it a truly unique Irish whiskey. Connemara is the most decorated Irish whiskey with a huge collection of Gold Medals and has been honoured as the ‘Worlds Best Irish Single Malt’. ”
Colour: Orangey carmalelly gold.
Nose: Caramel sweet barley with light peat. Slight wine tones. Beefy, flinty, metallic, minerally.
Palate: Light filtered oils cover your mouth with caramel toffee barley and gentle peat.
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Somerset Cider Brandy’s Kingston Black Apple Aperitif – 18% abvInfo: “The outstanding vintage qualities of the rare Kingston Black apple have for generations made it a legend in the orchards of the West Country. We believe that the subtle flavours of this unique blend of apples, spirit and tradition makes a superb aperitif. Kingston Black can also be served ice cold as a dessert wine.”
Colour: Fairly dark crimson red, very wintery looking.
Nose: Autumnal apples, slightly musty and sweet.
Palate: Fairly light and not too thick, sweet, appley with a base that gives it some gravitas.
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