Numero uno. The first whisky in the original “101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die” book is the Aberfeldy 21. Albeit it’s first because the whiskies are alphabetically ordered but none the less it makes quite an impression. Ian Buxton wrote a good review extolling it’s virtues so I won’t do too much with this intro. You should check out the book. It’s a fun read if you like whiskies.
Distillery: Aberfeldy Distillery
Age: 21 Years Old
ABV: 40%
Price: £116.76
The famous Highlander Inn! If you are into whisky (I mean really into whisky) then there is a good chance you know about the Highlander Inn and also a good chance that you’ve already been. If you are into whisky and have not been to the inn, prepare to put it on your speyside itinerary.
First let’s get some details out there:
Aberfeldy Distillery was built in 1986 by John Dewar & Sons to supplement their booming blended whisky business. If you visit the distillery (between Perth and Pitlochry) you’ll learn all about the Dewar’s and how they built their whisky empire. These days, Dewars is owned by Bacardi, a powerful rum family. Makes you think of the Godfather. Anyway, along with Aberfeldy, Dewars/Bacardi own Aultmore, Craigellachie, MacDuff, and Royal Brackla. Prior to this year only Aberfeldy and MacDuff were regularly bottled as official single malts. MacDuff is marketed as Glen Deveron. But I guess because of the whisky boom, they have now released the 3 other single malts. The pricing on those however is somewhat astonishing (expensive that is). It’s all in the fashion of this modern gold rush of single malt madness. Well Aberfeldy has the most single malt experience in the lineup and the prices seem to be staying reasonably sane. So let’s see how it fares.
Distillery: Aberfeldy Distillery
Age: 12 Years Old
ABV: 40%
Price: ~£30 (£29.89 from Master of Malt)
Update! For tasting notes click here.
The first general release of a Madeira cask matured Kilchoman has just been announced! At least I just got the email.
Some people may remember that late last year Kilchoman released a Madeira Cask whisky but it was limited to 600 bottles and was only available to members of the Kilchoman Club. Needless to say it sold out pretty quickly.
For this release, Kilchoman whisky from 17 Madeira casks were vatted to make 6100 bottles that will be distributed worldwide. This expression will have an ABV of 50% (not cask strength like the club release). The casks were filled in 2011 and bottled this year. So although there is no age statement it is 4 years old more or less (similar to the club release). Note that this is a full maturation in Madeira casks! Albeit a short one but young Kilchoman whisky is nothing to scoff at.
Oh Clynelish! Ever since trying the Distillery Only Clynelish bottling, I’m always on the lookout for new Clynelish! Luckily SMWS have been pumping out quite a few recently. This particular bottling was spruced up and presented with the release of their whisky ice creams. That’s right! SMWS made ice cream using single cask whiskies. They were as delicious as they sound. They also promoted this bottling quite a bit at this years Whisky Solstice. As a result, the bottles sold out quickly. But lucky for us and strangely enough they seemed to have found more bottles of this. So as of today they are selling this again on their website. Not sure how long they will last. I’ve been watching the page and the bottles remaining count seems to be dropping fairly quickly. Well anyway, it just so happens that we got a sample of this and it seemed like a good day to review it.
Update! If you want to see our tasting notes click here.
Well the time has come for the final release of Ardbeg Supernova. The Supernova is advertised as the peatiest of whiskies. There is some debate over this however due to the Octomore expressions from Bruichladdich, some of which claim to have peat levels higher than 200ppm. However, being all whisky geeky I’d like to say that measuring peat levels is a tricky thing. Most distilleries measure the peat levels of the malted barley instead of the final spirit.So how much of the peat makes it through to the actual whisky is contested and highly variable.
There are also different methods of measuring peat in malt which can return very different results. So really it’s hard to say which is peatiest without taking the whiskies to a lab and running them through a barrage of tests. But all that aside, does it really matter? There are some who say that humans cannot differentiate peat levels beyond a certain ppm and that the doubling of ppm’s does not equate to a doubling of peaty experience on the palette. It is also well known that as whisky ages it loses peat concentration. Whisky Science has a good article on this.
Royal Lochnagar is one of three distilleries allowed to use “Royal” in their name. The other two are Glenury Royal (closed) and Royal Brackla. The story goes that Queen Victoria visited Balmoral castle and the neighboring Lochnagar distillery in 1848. She was so impressed with the “new” distillery built in (1845) that she granted it a royal warrant, hence the Royal in Royal Lochnagar. See Malt Madness for more info.
Royal Lochnagar is one of the “Classic Malts” of Diageo and you can take a tour there for free if you sign up to their “Friends of the Classic Malts” scheme. There aren’t too many (currently available) official expressions from Royal Lochnagar, but there are a few independent bottlings kicking around.
Distillery: Royal Lochnagar
Age: 12 years old
ABV: 43%
Price: ~£35 (£34.07 from Master of Malt)
Before the Longrow Red Pinot Noir and before the much loved Longrow Red Port, came the Longrow Red Shiraz. It is however not the first in the Longrow line up, that would be the Longrow Red Cabernet Sauvignon. For a full list of the Longrow Red series see our Longrow Red Pinot Noir post.
In case you are unfamiliar with the Longrow Red series or with Longrow in general, Longrow is a range of expressions that is distilled at the Springbank distillery. However, unlike the usual Springbank spirit, Longrow is heavily peated and distilled twice (“Springbank spirit” is distilled 2.5 times). The Longrow Red series contains expressions that were matured partially or fully in red wine casks. Hence the “Red” in Longrow Red.
With that uber fancy packing and the Glenlivet name, you can bet that this expression is going to cost you. I first tried this expression at the Whisky Stramash 2014 in Edinburgh. I have to admit that I tried it out of pure curiosity and with a bit of skepticism but I was pleasantly surprised along with my friend from the Whiskyphiles. I managed to acquire some more samples so that AliceInWhiskyland and I could have a proper review.
Distillery: Glenlivet
Age: 25
Cask: Olorosso Sherry Finish
ABV: 43%
Price: £198.49 from Master of Malt
This particular expression (and line of expressions) is named after Masataka Taketsuru who is widely regarded as the father of Japanese whisky. He also happens to be the founder of Nikka and he built both the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries from which this spirit is derived. The Taketsuru line up includes the new NAS, 12, 17, and 21 years old. There are rumours that the Taketsuru 12 will be discontinued which would be shame. If you’ll notice in the picture at the top, the packaging consists of a lovely origami inspired card paper box. On the right side is a portrait and small description of Masataka Taketsuru and on the left side is a portrait and small description of Rita Taketsuru (Jessie Roberta Cowan). I really like these design touches and I wish all whisky packaging could be so well thought out. Unfortunately the US versions do not come with the box.
Anyway, onto the reviews!
Type: Blended Malt
Distilleries: Yoichi and Miyagikyo
Age: 17 Years Old
ABV: 43%
Price: ~£95 (£94.95 from Master of Malt)
Adventures in Whisky Land 