During my membership with SMWS I haven’t seen a Dalmore bottling so I was eager to try this one. It’s also matured in a bourbon cask so it’ nice to see what Dalmore is like without all that sherry influence.
Bottler: SMWS
Distillery: Dalmore
SMWS Code: 13.47
Age: 10 Years
Cask: Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel
ABV: 59.3%
Distill Date: 12 May 2005
Outturn: November 2015
Bottle Numbers: 199
Price: £51.70
I don’t remember seeing a Strathmill from SMWS for quite a while and with this being the 12th SMWS cask from the distillery it seems they don’t bottle it much. Similarly there aren’t many official bottlings from Strathmill since it’s used mostly for blends. So naturally the rarity of it all caught my attention and I just had to try this one out.
Bottler: SMWS
Distillery: Strathmill
SMWS Code: 100.12
Age: 10 years
Cask: Refill Ex-Bourbon Barrel
ABV: 58.7%
Distill Date: 23 February 2005
Outturn: November 2015
Bottle Numbers: 209
Price: £47.00
We all have whisky-lovin’ friends and family. Buying gifts can be tricky at the best of times and buying a bottle can prove a risky business (Ex. don’t know their preference, they already have everything they want, travel restrictions etc etc etc).
Here is my wish list, ahem, list of some great whisky gift ideas!
40 years in the cask! Pretty incredible if you think about. Kind of makes me think of the genie from Aladdin. RMW have released a 40 year old blended malt for just under £200! Ok so let’s pick this apart.
What is cool about this? Well it’s probably the most affordable 40 year old whisky on the market. It’s aged in Sherry casks which is another rare attribute. It contains whisky from 3 well respected distilleries (Macallan, Tamdhu, Glenrothes). It’s at cask strength. And well it’s 40 frickin years old!
How coincidental that SMWS releases a 20 year old Laphroaig from a bourbon barrel just a few months after Laphroaig released their 21 year old FOL. Hmmm. Good timing. Before I delve deeper into this I want to point out that from the SMWS website and emails and tweets, this specific bottling was advertised as being from a first fill bourbon barrel. Which is also strikingly similar to the profile of the Laphroaig 21. However, this was an error. The 29.169 is from a refill ex-bourbon barrel which can be easily verified by looking at the label.
Anyway, regardless of the similarities to the 21, this particular bottling has got enough going for it to be exciting for all of us. Independently bottled Laphroaig’s are not super common, it’s even less common to find one 20 years old or above and at cask strength and for less than 100 quid. So yeah with these powers combined this is one cool cat.
Bottler: SMWS
Distillery: Laphroaig
Age: 20 years old
Cask: Refill Ex-bourbon
Number of Bottles: 205
ABV: 56.5%
Date Distilled: 4th Apr 1995
Outturn: October 2015
Price: £84.50
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.
Adventures in Whisky Land 