Day 9 is a dram I received with a bottle of SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society) whisky and I’ve been really looking forward to trying it. Whilst they specialise in single cask whiskies, the independent bottling club also produce small batch whisky several times a year, including Black Oak, an 8 year old from an undisclosed Speyside whisky. It was matured in refill Gascon black oak ex-Armagnac barrels with 1,007 bottles produced.
Their small batch and blended whiskies all have colourful or distinctive labels which stand out on the shelf, very different to their single cask offerings which, apart from festival specials, have uniform labels with style-related colour coding bands on the front, as well as neck and stopper wrappings (eg greens for peated whiskies).
All drams are tasted using a Perfect Measure glass and a small pipette of Larkfire water which is wonderfully pure and doesn’t add flavour to the whisky, unlike some tap water, depending where you live. Drams are left to breathe, covered with a whisky coin, for 30 minutes before tasting.
SMWS Black Oak Single Malt Whisky, 8 Years, 50% ABV The colour of heavily-oaked Chardonnay, there’s Manuka honey on the nose and gentle spices with ginger, cloves and thick cinnamon bark. There’s a hint of leather, plus copper coins, toffee, toffee apple, vanilla latte, butterscotch Angel Delight, marmalade, HubbaBubba bubblegum and an oak log basket.
Water suppresses the honey on the nose initially but there’s Lyle’s Golden Syrup, icing sugar on beignets, custard doughnuts, gingersnaps, ginger syrup, maple syrup barbecue sauce, cherry lips, fresh pea soup, glossy jackets from hardback books, Bronnley lavender soap and a little caper brine at the back. Tilt the glass and borage honey emerges.
On the palate, there’s orange blossom honey, marmalade on hot buttered crumpets, prickly pears and spice prickle with ginger, cardamom and nutmeg, plus white pepper. There are marshmallows and marzipan, a little nougat and a finish of crystallised ginger, cherry lips and honeyed vanilla latte. Finally, orchards flow in. It tastes stronger than the 50% ABV suggests and would benefit from a little water to reduce the slight spice prickle.
With water, it’s very chewy, there are jelly beans, rum and raisin fudge, lavender honey, ginger syrup, black pepper, cardamom, mace, marmalade, honeydew melon and strawberry shortcake, plus dark chilli chocolate. The finish is spicy with orange blossom honey, brandy snaps and butter biscuits. It’s delicious!
I loved it and would definitely have bought a bottle or two if I could. It’s no longer available on the SMWS website but you might be able to find a bottle at auction or via one of their members’ bars, which is what I’m hoping to do.
I think this is Aberlour, it reminds me so much of my first ever SMWS bottle which was my mystery bottle when I originally joined the society – 54.70, The Manuka from Uncle, a play on the famous TV series. The first numbers before the decimal point are the distillery number, Aberlour in this case, and the numbers afterwards denote how many single casks they’ve bottled from that distillery – that particular one was their 70th.
SMWS drams are renowned for their quirky names, some more descriptive than others…
Only members can buy SMWS whisky and other spirits, including Armagnac, direct from the society. I recommend buying membership with the mystery bottle if you can, it’s the best value, in my opinion, especially if you sign up via a referral code from a member. For more details about SMWS, go to https://www.smws.com.
It’s Day 7 and the Dram Tree has revealed an exclusive sample from SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society), a specialist cask strength whisky and spirits club which holds events, has members’ bars and an online shop which only sells to members. Whilst, as their name suggests, the society mainly produce single cask whisky from international distilleries, they also bottle other spirits, including rum.
SMWS never list the distillery name on their labels, instead, theys use codes, R2.11 in this case. R means it’s a rum, 2 is the distillery code, 11 shows it’s the 11th SMWS bottle from that distillery, and the name which appears on the bottle – ‘Goat Farms, Esters & Vinyl Funk’ – is a tasting note. It’s going to be wonderfully musky and meaty with funk and rubber notes. I can’t wait!
The 16 year old rum is from distillery R2, Demerara Distillers in Guyana, known for their El Dorado brand and once the world’s second largest producers of rum. It’s cask strength at an impressive 59.1% ABV and was moved to a charred wine cask after being matured in a Bourbon barrel for 15 years. I really enjoyed the core range rums I’ve had from this distillery thanks to an El Dorado Tweet Tastings organised by Steve Rush (https://twitter.com/TheWhiskyWire) on Twitter. But this single cask SMWS tot is going to be a step above that – dial up the funk to 100 with that quirky name!
I love being a member of SMWS. The members’ bars aren’t near me but I really enjoy the biannual local tastings and having the opportunity to buy single cask whiskies and spirits whenever I want from the regular outturns – if they don’t sell out before I remember to log on. The use of codes, instead of distillery names, plus quirky descriptive names, has introduced me to whisky outside my ‘comfort’ zone of peated, more peated and most peated drams. The bottles are also colour-coded and, instead of greens for peated, I realised that the names, cask types and tasting notes have drawn me to sweeter drams. I also love not having to pay postage on top of already mostly well-priced single cask, cask strength drams, often for better prices than some distilleries’ core range whisky. As well as single cask and blended whisky, I’ve enjoyed some great single cask rums and Armagnacs.
I tasted this tot thanks to a Cyber Monday deal at SMWS where I bought their Single Cask Spirits Five-dram Discovery Pack (https://smws.com/single-cask-spirits-five-dram-discovery-pack/) for 20% off the usual £35 price, including free delivery, for 5 x 25ml drams. I don’t know if all of the spirits tasting packs are the same, as the contents are not listed individually on the website, unlike the monthly whisky tasting sets. That said, I’d recommend buying the box and seeing what’s available There are 38 boxes left at the time of writing and I’ll admit that I’m tempted to buy another one. The set also contained Armagnac, Cognac and gin. R2.11 has now sold out online in the UK but was available for £79.50 and can possibly be found at auction, either rum specific ones or whisky auctions, or even ringing one of the SMWS venues (https://smws.com/venues) or, if you’re not in the UK, your country’s SMWS as it’s an international society. But will I be adding more funky rum to my collection? Let’s get pouring!
All drams and tots are poured into a Perfect Measure glass around 30 minutes in advance of tasting, covered in a whisky coin and nosed and tasted for a second time using a small pipette of Larkfire water, the purity offering consistency, no matter where you live.
SMWS R2.11, Demerara Distillers (El Dorado) Rum ‘Goat Farms, Esters & Vinyl Funk’ 16 Years, 59.1% ABV
The colour of apple juice, the nose is sweetly funky with pear drops, heavy duty rubber gloves, olive brine, still lemonade, camphor in a vintage metal camphor burner, borage, Benylin cough mixture, Army and Navy sweets, lipstick oils, fatty meat frying with slivers of fresh ginger and lemongrass.
This soaks up water on the nose – photography film burning on a bonfire, dehydrated lemons, ginger and cinnamon cough syrup, lemon meringue pie with burnt crusts and top, pear drops and fresh magazine ink on the high gsm glossy paper. Damp lacrosse sticks after a frenzied muddy game in the rain, shin pads, rubber balls, plus rosewater, honeysuckle – and screaming funk!
Oh hello! Pure filthy funk with a rubber wetsuit, goggles, snorkel and flippers in the sea on the palate. It’s so spicy. There’s camphor on top of ginger, cloves, star anise, cinnamon, mace, cardamom, white pepper and ground cumin. Fatty spicy mutton (I’ve never tried goat) dripping onto rye bread, plus dark chocolate enrobed ginger and there’s caramelised banana and pineapple, followed by a deliciously rubbery finish – get out your washing-up gloves! Ginger follows the snorkel rubber and those flimsy, not-quite-vinyl, colourful single records given away as covermounts on glossy pop magazines in the 1980s, complete with the glossy paper and fresh ink taste of new publications fresh off the press and stacked in a magazine publishing office.
It’s smooth and creamy with water, which soaks up the slight alcohol burn, but it did benefit from two small pipettes, instead of the usual one. The mouthfeel is oily, there’s ginger tea with lemon, cough sweets, camphor, capers in brine and ashy bonfires with herrings spitting on them. Cherry lips and floral gums, a vintage toy Paddington bear in his duffle coat with toggles, his leather suitcase – and a real marmalade sandwich. The finish has pear drops, ginger sweets and aniseed twists with buttered banana bread right at the end. Delicious!
Let’s hear it for the esters with all those fabulously funky and rubbery notes! A wetsuit in a tantalising tot
This is a dram that will appeal to whisky drinkers, especially funk or even peated whisky fans, as well as rum connoisseurs. It’s a wonderful sipping rum but would also work in cocktails, including a classic Daiquiri and rum Manhattan. I love it and would have bought a bottle immediately if it weren’t already sold out but, to see other R2 Demerara Distillers (El Dorado) rums by SMWS which are only available for members, go to https://smws.com/search.php?search_query=r2.
I love Christmas, I love everything about it and that includes counting down the days until Whisky, Rum, Gin and Champagne Santa arrives, his sacks bulging with great bottles. And the Christmas season truly begins, months after I start singing Christmas songs, with the opening of the Advent calendar. You can buy readymade ones and I’ll add a couple of suggestions at the end of today’s piece.
I’ll be posting an entry every day, not in the same post but new ones every day so you don’t miss out on just what I discovered in my homemade Advent calendar. This year, I’m using The Tipsy Tree – other versions are available on Etsy and other sites and you can also buy pre-filled gin versions plus a different style of tree which contains small bottles of Champagne and Prosecco.
The Tipsy Tree was designed to hold official 50ml miniatures, not the 30ml Drinks by the Dram/tasting sets bottles as I had originally intended to do, a great chance to open many of the samples I’ve been sent by friends or for tastings/festivals which I didn’t get around to enjoying at the time. But I realised something when loading the tree, they also hold the longer 25ml bottles used by The Dram Team for their own monthly tasting sets (they currently have a Christmas sale at https://www.thedramteam.co.uk) and for SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society) tasting sets which are only available for members, including this Single Cask Spirits Five-Dram Discovery Pack https://smws.com/single-cask-spirits-five-dram-discovery-pack/. Details of membership and their own Advent calendar are available at the end of this post.
My Dram Tree will have a mix of 25ml and 50ml whiskies, plus a few rums and a festive spirit. And, because it’s only got 24 holes, I’ve added a special small sample from one of my monthly tasting packs from The Dram Team, the extra dram in each set, a smaller 10ml measure, which can be worth over £120 a bottle, the other five whiskies in the monthly tasting sets are standard 25ml drams. It’s an aged whisky for Christmas Day. Follow this blog to discover just what’s in my Dram Tree this year, including the very special dram on Day 25.
Regardless of ABV, I’ll be adding a few drops of Larkfire water which is wonderfully pure and means my tap water, which is different to yours, won’t be an issue when I write tasting notes with added water. I decant cans into pipette bottles and dram bottles, using a pinch of the pipette for each dram. Currently sold out but keep an eye on https://larkfire.com/shop/p/150ml-cans.
This continuity is important, it’s also why each dram will be tasted using a Perfect Measure glass from The Whiskey Exchange, the glasses used at their Whisky Show (https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/46180/perfect-measure-whisky-glass-in-gift-box or buy 6, currently on special offer with a £10 saving https://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/p/46181/the-perfect-measure-whisky-glass-6-pack). This means differently shape glasses won’t influence my tasting notes. People have experiment trying the same dram with different glasses e.g. Perfect Measure, Glencairn, Túath, Neat, copita and tumbler (old-fashioned glass) and there is a slight difference. It’s a bit nerdy but I wanted to be fair to each dram and taste them the same way.
But what’s important is what’s in the glass, so let’s open the Drinks Advent Calendar Day 1!
Day 1 – Stauning El Clásico, 70cl, 45.7% ABV, £59.95
I discovered this Danish distillery at The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show in 2019 and have been very excited to see their increasing range and use of casks. This is the first rye whisky to be aged in vermouth casks and it’s crying out to be mixed in a Manhattan. I was given this sample by a friend from The London Whisky Club (https://thelondonwhiskyclub.com).
This dram is bringing back so many memories of childhood holidays in Denmark, including eating pigeon (squab) for the first and only time on a farm stay, plus the Danish candles we used to buy both from there and the Danish Centre in London with their distinctive waxy smell.
A rich amber colour, the nose has lemon, rye, sweet vermouth, wormwood, seaweed, Danish squab in a cream sauce, Danish candles, aniseed balls, hay, seed cake and poppy seed. The sweet vermouth is very front and centre.
With added water, it’s much spicier on the nose, the rye is drier and prickly, there’s a slight doughy element to it but not quite rye bread. There’s lime juice, funnel cake, poppy seed cake, chia seeds, waffles band hairspray. The sweet vermouth is there but downplayed and there’s sweet raisin wine over it and a little saké. It’s warm and comforting.
Such a smooth and creamy palate with spicy rye, cinnamon Hot Shots, vanilla latte, strawberry laces and blueberry liquorice, wormwood aplenty and a prickly spicy finish with ginger, cloves, cardamom, cinnamon, black pepper, sage and creamy latte. The vermouth is there more in wormwood form than the winey element of the nose.
Water reveals a quick hit of sweet vermouth which eases away to reveal rye bread and pumpernickel, lemon mousse, strawberry shortcake, orange sorbet, pineapple cubes, mango pudding and cola cubes. Rye dominates the finish with Port, crystallised ginger, cough sweets and clove balls.
It’s tempting to mix this in a Boulevardier, a Negroni but with whisky if you haven’t already encountered one. The sweetness of this whisky with its vermouth cask will counterbalance the bitterness of the Campari, the same reason I make Negronis with Old Tom gins.
I really like it and will be asking Santa for a bottle! Yes, it’s a rye whisky but the vermouth cask adds all these wonderful rich winey elements to it. Even if you’re not a rye drinker, give it a go, it’s not like any rye whisky I know, including Stauning’s own rye whisky and I’m already a huge fan of that but this is so much more mellow. Delicious and a great opening dram for my Drinks Advent Calendar 2021. See you tomorrow to reveals what’s in Dram 2.
The exclusive SMWS Advent Calendar, reduced from £160 to £145, available to members only, has 24 x 25ml samples, including some which were specially bottled for the Advent calendar – https://smws.com/smws-advent-calendar-2021/. For details of membership, go to https://smws.com/whisky-club-membership or ask whisky friends for a referral code. I recommend the option to join with a bottle instead of just membership, I’ve always found it better value and I love their Advent calendar, worth joining now to buy it – gift memberships are also available if someone wants to buy you something special
Secret Spirits Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar 4th Edition is a very special calendar and the one with the most impressive presentation. There are 25 x 50ml quality drams in total (50ml is twice the size of most whisky calendars), 11 of them over 20 years old, plus a unique glass, collectors’ pin and other treats. It’s 10% off for new customers when you sign up to the Top Whiskies newsletter, reducing it from £239 to £215.10. Definitely worth the money, if you have it, especially as they’re double drams. There’s a list of the whiskies on the website so you know just what great quality it is. Go to https://topwhiskies.com/products/premium-scotch-whisky-advent-calendar-4th-edition for more details
I’m going to be 50 this year. Yes, I’m that old and I don’t know how. Oh, I know the real answer but I don’t feel almost 50, although I feel 70+ some days, and it seems just yesterday I was celebrating my 40th by planning a trip to Vegas (cocktails, food, shows and day trips to unforgettable places, including Death Valley. Where I was also told that ladies don’t drink whiskey – oh yes, they do!) and felt that I was so very old but 50 is quite something and I’m going to mark it with a birth year whisky – 1971, the year of decimalisation.
I didn’t think that I’d make it to 50. I once had to ask a consultant if I would, as I needed to make plans for my dogs (two chocolate Dobies back then) and know if it wouldn’t be wise to adopt any more (four greyhounds since then). And my consultant told me that no, I wouldn’t reach that vast age… I’d be run over by a bus. I have obviously been very nervous around buses ever since! I asked because I have half of a condition where you don’t live to 50 if you have it in its purest form,. Luckily, it’s combined with another form which means I spend extra time on the sofa drinking peated whisky for pain. Fortunately, I love peated whisky.
Does that mean I want a peated for my 50th? Actually, no. My taste, like my choice of music, is broad. Looking at my SMWS bottles, I realised that I have more fruity Speyside than maritime Islay and, whilst I have distilleries that I prefer, I’m open to anything – within my budget and that’s the catch. I don’t have a spare £37,500 for The Macallan’s Red Collection 50-year-old which is the wrong year, anyway.
I discussed a bottle split when talking about this with my mum but she wisely pointed out that that would mean I wouldn’t get to keep the empty bottle. And that’s important to me, I want a bottle to open and drink, not collect or admire on the shelf, still stoppered. That’s also a factor in my budget. I didn’t expect to make it to 50, especially last year when I struggled to breath with Covid and turned blue, the colour I was born when they didn’t know if I’d make it to 18 months, let alone 50 years. I was fine after that as my heart recovered but knowing the story of my early days meant I’ve always appreciated life and marked birthdays in style. It’s another reason why this birthday is so special and I want a memento of it. That empty bottle will be kept and treasured but I will share at least a dram of it with another friend who is celebrating their half century this year. We’re from an old and rare vintage.
A friend suggested that I started a GoFundMe so I could have what I wanted but, to be honest, whilst I’d absolutely love an incredible aged bottle for my 50th, it’s a pandemic and others need far more vital things. But, if you are feeling generous, please donate to Drinks Trust (https://www.drinkstrust.org.uk) which is helping those involved in the drinks industry, including whisky, in these very difficult times when this blog post is, I admit, frivolous. But it’s also a time when we need to think ahead, to have something exciting in the diary and to dream of better things which, for me, is a dream bottle. It’s how I’ve got through the last almost 50 years, think of better times, escape the harsh reality of this time and have a dream, something which makes you happy. Life, like whisky, is meant to be cherished and enjoyed.
I saw a 50-year-old Armagnac for £200 recently and was tempted but I really want a whisky. One which has quietly matured through all the landmarks of the last 50 years, including the drought, Silver Jubilee, first woman PM (politics aside, that was huge for me, the idea that women could actually be elected), wars, the disbanding of the USSR and the fall of the Berlin War, creation of social media (which, whilst it has its issues, huge ones, is a good thing. It’s how I’ve met most of you, after all), the London Olympics and a pandemic. We need to mark those big years because, no matter what, we made it. And I do love excuses to pour a great dram!
I’d love to know what bottles are being produced this year. Realistically, I’m probably going to buy a grain (I adore grain whiskies – I did cave and buy the SMWS 16-year-old Invergordon, Delightful, Dreamy mentioned in a previous blog post) but some of you have much larger budgets than I have so let’s see what’s available. Please join me in my journey as I try to discover the perfect whisky to celebrate such a big year, tell me about what 1971 50-year-old whiskies you know about or about your own birth year bottles.
And Happy Birthday to all turning 50 this year. Hope we can all celebrate properly when the world is opened up again – and toast each other at a whisky festival.
My name is Fiona and I’m a hoarder. I hoard whisky. I don’t actually mean to do so but I can’t resist a bargain or those tempting first and later releases. Or recommendations from friends and whisky groups, specific distilleries, my favourite IBs, great labels, wonderful shaped bottles or… any other excuse that I can think of for buying more whisky. If I can, when it comes to inaugural releases, I try to buy one bottle to drink now and one to drink later. I don’t collect whisky but I have rather a lot of unopened bottles and it feels a little like hoarding.
My dad was a hoarder and it was awful. I published the photos of what used to be our dining room in one of my books. Everything piled, poorly kept and no room to move. His pleasure had been sourcing, not owning, his collections. In fact, it was so bad that, without permission, the BBC sent a camera crew to my childhood home, not to film but to teach them to work in confined spaces. Dad found it hysterical, mum and I were mortified. It’s no accident that, years later, I worked on several house clearance TV shows as a consultant. Even the dogs were disgusted as they didn’t have space to turn round in the hall but had to walk backwards. I’m not that bad. Yet!
My boiler leaked and I had to clear the access for the engineer. That lovely big space in front of the cupboard is just so handy for whisky! I ended up boxing my ‘spare’ whisky to get it out of the way as all of my shelves are full. It’s now neat and safely tucked away but the bottles aren’t in the same room with me, they’re not open. I’m hoarding.
I saw the latest SMWS outturn and I wanted a couple of bottles – there’s a grain whisky! But I asked myself a serious question, do I really need another bottle of whisky? There will be times that the answer is yes, especially certain distilleries or IBs (there’s a grain!) but I have to think, not just in terms of money and whether or not I can even drink as much whisky as I already have (the answer is absolutely not), but, vitally, whether I actually have space for any more bottles. I don’t.
It’s tempting to acquire, to treat myself to something in lockdown or to cheer myself up when I’m too tired to drink anything but I need to be sensible, to look at my whisky shelves and to accept that enough is enough. But there is a grain whisky on sale next week…
There’s only one solution, time for some bottle kills.
It’s that time of year again and we need this Whisky Advent Calendar more now than any previous year. It’s not just a countdown to a much-needed, albeit strange Christmas but to the end of this awful year – and 2020 has been horrendous. I’m celebrating still being here, toasting those who aren’t and sharing my discoveries with whisky friends, including you.
Join me every day, including Christmas Day itself, when the virtual door is opened to reveal the mystery dram. There’s even a special offer for readers of this festive post on Day 5 of the Whisky Advent Calendar.
And that’s it, I’ve shared my final tasting notes of my Christmas 2020 Whisky Advent Calendar and discovered some fantastic drams to help bring this dreadful year to an end. But 2020 hasn’t been all bad, I’ve loved talking whisky with you all on social media, at virtual tastings and festivals. Here’s to 2021, may it bring us all wonderful whisky and good health. Wishing you all great comfort and joy – and drams, plenty of drams.
Day 25, Christmas Day Samaroli Linkwood 1984 30 Year Old, 45%
I love Christmas and wanted a special dram to mark the day. My 30-year-old Macallan dram which I won from TopWhiskies thanks to a North-East Whisky Appreciation Society (NEWAS) tasting with them was caught up in the Christmas post so I opened another 30 year-old whisky, the 1984 Samaroli Linkwood, the 25th dram in my Secret Spirits Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar and a different shape to the other 24 bottles. I opened it at night so there’s no photo to show how stylish it was before with its Christmassy red wax extending down the long neck but I loved the plaque and special Secret Spirits 50ml bottle and was excited to open a Samaroli whisky, especially on Christmas Day. My day, like most people’s, wasn’t my normal way of celebrating but I had a wonderful time regardless and wanted a quiet time to think back on my year and celebrate being around to enjoy it. Plus Santa brought me loads of whisky so I was very happy!
Samaroli is highly collectable because of the exceptional quality casks sourced by the independent bottler, this one dates back to when the founder, Silvano Samaroli, was buying the whisky. Older bottlings can be found in whisky auctions.
The single American oak cask (#5297) was distilled in 1984 and bottled in 2015, producing 340 bottles, some of which were used for the 2,000 Second Edition Scotch Whisky Advent Calendars.
The colour of Pinot Grigio, the nose has orange blossom honey, orchards which are heavy on the pears, ripe red fruit, Victoria plums, apricot, mango, pineapple cubes, Hawaiian pizza, musk and, bizarrely, sea air.
With water, cherry lips emerge, plus menthol, dunnage, funk, an antique furniture warehouse, musty leather desk, chalk and Weetabix.
The palate has a burn and needs water. There are orange Fruit Gums, mango, charred wood, spices and it’s dry. The finish has orange posset and pomanders with all that Christmassy spice.
With water, liquorice is revealed, more spice, felled oaks left in the forest, lichen, and a finish with spice and oak.
A taste of history to toast a very strange Christmas 2020 and I raised a toast to you all to thank you for following my Advent calendar. Hope you were tempted to buy some of the drams and discover new whisky in 2021. A new start with plenty of tastings and festivals ahead, some might even be in-person again.
I absolutely loved my Secret Spirits Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar Second Edition and look forward to opening a different edition next year – three different ones are in stock and I’ve already bought the Third Edition. I’d recommend buying one now (they’re 20% off with an extra 10% discount for first-time buyers) so you have something to look forward to in these very strange times. I’m hoping Christmas will be back to normal for us all next year and, if not, there are always great drams to open and the excitement of seeing what’s behind the door of the Advent calendar. I’m celebrating Christmas properly in July if it’s safe to see friends again, so might even open mine then! https://topwhiskies.com/collections/secret-spirits
Day 24, Christmas Eve Cadenhead’s Club 2020, 40-Year-Old Blended Scotch Whisky, 44.7% ABV
This was a dram I received courtesy of a friend in The London Whisky Club and definitely not a bottle I’d have been able to source myself as I don’t belong to the Cadenhead’s Club – but I’m tempted to join after tasting this! That’s one of the joys of whisky clubs, sharing great whisky, as well as making friends with like-minded, friendly people. It was especially supportive in lockdown when confined to the sofa but also perfect for winter days when I’d rather hibernate than catch a late train home, surrounded by people hacking and sneezing away, even if there weren’t a pandemic.
A beautiful copper colour, the nose has raisin wine, freshly sawn MDF, grapes, mangoes, coconuts, jasmine, cinnamon and icing sugar.
It doesn’t need water but I was curious. A few drops of water reveal dark chocolate and spices, there’s hot oil with spices spitting in it, and musk.
The palate is much lighter than expected, it’s smooth with rum and raisin fudge, dark chocolate enrobed ginger, aubergine hotpot, crème brülée with a burnt sugar top, and a finish of ginger ale. A very easy quaffer, almost too easy for the age. This should be a sipper but tastes like a session whisky.
Water makes it even smoother, there’s more chocolate, gentle spices, rum and raisin ice cream and Cointreau. The medium finish has chocolate pudding oozing warm chocolate from the centre when you cut into it. Just a beautifully balanced dram.
Many of the outturn of 468 bottles will have been flipped at auction, I’d love a bottle at a decent price. Distilled in 1980 and matured in sherry butts, it was originally released in November, 2020 for £140 which is good value for its age and exclusivity but I wouldn’t want to pay much more than that. It’s a light and quaffable dram with a low-ish ABV but a beautiful dram at that.
It’s just £50 for a lifetime membership of the Cadenhead’s Club which provides access to Club bottles, free club tastings, two free warehouse tastings a year (excluding festivals) and advance notice of new releases, amongst other perks. For details, go to https://www.cadenhead.scot/connect-with-cadenheads/join-the-cadenheads-club/
For more information on The London Whisky Club, which also has exclusive bottles for its international members, as well as reduced rates for virtual tastings in lockdown, go to https://whiskyclub.london
Day 23 Whisky Broker Cambus, 25 Year Old, 56.9%
I love how sociable the whisky community is on Twitter and have made some wonderful friends through it, they’ve kept me going this year through Covid-19, Long Covid and the joys of lockdown. Before then, though, we would be able to get to the Post Office easily and safely and send each other drams. This is one of the samples I was lucky enough to receive from one of my whisky friends. I really like Cambus, it’s a grain distillery and that also means it’s more affordable – ideal when buying older whisky. Expect a soft and creamy dram.
Whisky Broker sells whisky casks but also bottles quality single cask whisky and sells it to the public at an affordable cost – because their focus is on the whisky and not what I will admit always appeals to me, the packaging. The bottles are plain, labels frankly ugly but all that means the whisky is far cheaper than similar casks which they sell to other indie bottlers. And, if the labels bother you, decanting it is another option. Or just share the bottle with friends. When new bottles are released, it’s an event, friends message each other and we want them – not a case of FOMO but these are affordable bottles worth buying, just allow for a fight on the website with the bottles showing as sold out before they truly are. Just keep refreshing and grab them when you can but sign in to your account first to speed up the process. It can be a little frustrating if your timing’s wrong – but it’s worth it, especially at their prices.
I suspect that this is a sister cask to the Chorlton Whisky Cambus 25 year old, 56.9% ABV. Distilled in a sherry butt in August 1991, it produced 555 bottles and was bottled in 2017. The colour of gold, bordering on copper, it’s a lovely rich hue. Out of respect to its age, I let it sit for 30 minutes before sampling it.
The nose is rich Cantaloupe melon, there’s resin, pear drops, rich freshly hewn oak, HubbaBubba bubblegum, Armagnac and fresh paint. Melon dominates but I can’t wait to open it up with water.
The water quashes the melon and increases the chemical side – resin and paint. The oak kicks up, there’s more bubblegum and cereal is introduced. There’s light lemon and pencil sharpenings, lemon-scented felt tip pens and beeswax. I prefer it without water.
It needs water to remove the bite but the palate is beautiful. Melon juice with Lyle’s Golden Syrup. It’s thick and juicy. Spices follow with wood, pineapple cubes and fresh mango. The finish is golden syrup covering porridge and, at the back, melon. Beautiful!
Wonderfully smooth and creamy with a little water. There’s honey Toblerone, beeswax furniture polish, furniture varnish, hay, monkey nuts, Crunchie bars, thick glue and a finish of Lyle’s Golden Syrup, porridge and cream. It’s glorious!
In an ideal world, I’d like the nose without water and the palate with. An absolutely lovely dram and I’m going to be looking for a bottle of this at auction.
Whilst the Cambus 25 year old is no longer available on Whisky Broker, other single cask bottles are, including a Blair Athol 10 year old and a Tullibardine 13 year old, plus a selection of miniatures so you can try several different drams which are otherwise sold out. Postage isn’t cheap, I hold my bottles there until I have several, then save money by arranging for them all to be shipped together. For more details, go to https://www.whiskybroker.co.uk/bottles-c-1
Day 22 Hunter Laing The Sovereign North British 26 Year Old 1989, 63.1% ABV, £130
This is a single cask (#11372) from North British Distillery, bottled by indie bottler, Hunter Laing, at cask strength as part of their The Sovereign series. Distilled in a single refill hogshead in September, 1989, it was bottled in February, 2016, part of an outturn of 199 bottles.
It’s a 26-year-old whisky so I’m going to let it sit for up to half an hour before tasting it. It’s a golden colour with salted popcorn on the nose, lemon drizzle cake, seawater, corndogs, Coco Pops, vanilla essence, oak and spice.
With water, hot black Ceylon tea with a slice of lemon emerges, there’s buttered popcorn, butterscotch Angel Delight and strawberry blancmange. There’s peanut brittle, lemon curd, custard doughnuts, vanilla cupcakes, Charbonnel et Walker’s Rose and Violet milk chocolates, plus a pile of glossy magazines. It’s much sweeter than before reduction, I could nose this for hours!
Wow, this is incredible! The palate is creamy with a slight burn. There’s dunnage, shoe, silver & furniture polish, strawberry pencils, Maltesers, Crunchie bars and hazelnuts. I love it and am curious to see what water adds.
Water reveals peanut brittle, Charbonnel et Walker’s Rose and Violet milk chocolates, Fry’s Turkish Delight, purple carrot juice, buttered toast, Port and a milky hot chocolate finish. Delicious!
Day 21 Girvan Patent Still Proof Strength, 57.1% ABV, £76
Girvan is one of those whiskies I keep meaning to try and I bought this dram in another Master of Malt Flash Sale and then completely forgot I had it, then saw that Southport Whisky Club included it in their William Grant & Sons tasting in their Winter Whisky Festival and bought the bottle then, using my 10% member’s discount. It’s a single grain whisky distilled using a Girvan Continuous Patent – or Coffey – Still and is a NAS (no age statement) whisky.
The colour of heavily-oaked Chardonnay, the nose immediately hits with lemon handwash, so much so that I smelt my hands in case I’d used lemon soap! Unsalted cashew nuts follow and windscreen de-icer. It’s a very light nose, especially for the ABV.
With water, the lemon note become creamier and changes to lemon meringue pie, there’s antiseptic hand wipes, Quaker’s Puffed Wheat and toffee popcorn.
The mouthfeel is creamy, there’s a bash of alcohol, then peanut butter, industrial cleaner, Ready Brek Original, honey and nut bar and a honeyed finish. This would benefit from water to take away the alcohol bite on the tongue.
Water softens the burn and opens up to reveal porridge with warm milk and Lyle’s Golden Syrup, there are Liquorice Allsorts and coconut ice cream. This is definitely a dram to drink with a few drops of water.
Buy it from Southport Whisky Club and click on the option ‘Yes – With Tasting Set’ to add a free tasting set (while stocks remain) for the William Grant & Sons session at their Winter Whisky Festival, it will be posted after the festival but you can watch it online in the first session of the event at 2pm on Monday, 28th December https://www.southportwhisky.co.uk/product-category/winter-festival/swwf20-wiliam-grant-and-sons/
Day 20 Langatun Old Deer Classic Cask, Proof Swiss Premium Single Malt Whisky, 62.2% ABV
I actually bought my mum a miniature of this whisky for her Advent calendar last year because of the label with a howling stag on it – if stags even howl. The label design doesn’t scream serious whisky but That Boutique-y Whisky Company released their indie bottling of Langatun and a group of us were talking about it on Twitter which made me want to buy my own and try it. This is my first Swiss whisky and it’s an unusual cask combination – sherry and Chardonnay.
I used to be a wine rep when heavily-oaked Chardonnays were the wines of the moment and it was hard trying to convince people to try ones which weren’t, which is why I’m curious but not filled with instinctive loathing for a Chardonnay-casked whisky, although I have yet to meet one I like…
When buying your own bottle, check that it’s the cask-proof, 62.2% version as it also comes in 40% and 46% versions and other cask-proof versions, including 58.5% and 62.8% ABV.
It’s a rich amber colour, the sherry cask influence shining through. The nose of the cask-proof whisky is very milk chocolately, almost thick chocolate milkshake, with milk chocolate-coated raisins, HubbaBubba bubblegum, window cleaner, pears and cherries.
It’s much lighter and fruiter with water, there’s orange blossom honey, furniture polish and hairspray, plus Reese chocolate cups.
The palate is very soft with a bite, the window cleaner is joined by dunnage, Cadbury’s Milk Chocolate, a chocolate mousse topped with squirty cream, rum and raisin fudge. The finish is chocolate milkshake. One for chocolate lovers!
I ended up doubling my normal amount of water to reduce the bite (two small pipettes instead of one) and it made the difference. Blueberry milkshake was revealed, butterscotch Angel Delight and Lindt chocolate animals for the finish and, after about five minutes, marzipan comes through.
This is a lovely Old Deer, give it time and water – and don’t be deterred by the idea of a Chardonnay cask. I didn’t even get wine gums as a tasting note.
Day 19 The Malt Whisky Company Craigmills Sauterne Glenglassaugh Distillery, 59.3% ABV
Another dram from Secret Spirits Advent Calendar, 2nd Edition, this Highland whisky was finished in a Sauternes cask. The Malt Whisky Company, an independent bottler, was founded by Stuart Nickerson, formerly of William Grant & Sons (amongst others), who reopened Glenglassaugh before selling it to BenRiach and this is one of the casks he kept to launch his new company. Craigmills is the location of the distillery.
The colour of stewed Indian tea (think Tetley’s or PG Tips). The nose is very winey, the smell of wine left in the glass and sniffed the morning after. There’s ripe plum, oak and spices, plus those chocolate Snowballs covered with coconut flakes.
Add water and there’s Wrigley Fruit chewing gum, mint chocolate chip ice cream, cardamom and garam masala, coconut cream, mangoes, pineapple and cola cubes and baked apples with the wine softened to a more manageable level at the back.
The palate has heavy oak and spices with exotic fruit and a heady finish of oak but it’s crying out for water, not a dram for drinking neat.
Water softens the dram, creating a beautifully soft and creamy mouthfeel with juicy baked apples studied with cloves and raisins. There’s nougat and marzipan and a finish of raisin wine. This is a great example where a few drops of water transform a whisky, so much so that I want to pour another dram.
Buy the Secret Spirits Scotch Whisky Advent Calendars Editions 3-5 from TopWhiskies where they’re currently reduced by £60 to £239 BUT first-time buyers have an additional 10% off. There’s a ‘sneak peak’ list detailing what’s included, as well as a very handy list showing how many double drams over 21 years of age, for example. The calendars contain 25 rare and/or single cask 50ml drams (double the amount sold with most whisky Advent calendars), as well as a special commemorative glass, different style of glass for each edition and a sturdy container, plus vintage-style paperwork so it has the feel of an old travel trunk as the two main doors open outwards to reveal the secret calendar within within https://topwhiskies.com/collections/secret-spirits
Day 18 Berry Bros. & Rudd Blue Hanger, 11th Release, 45.6%, £69.95
A blended malt from the Royal Family’s favourite wine merchants, and indie bottlers, Berry Bros & Rudd, this blended Scotch whisky was named after a loyal client of the renowned wine merchants, the dandyish politician William Hanger, 3rd Lord Coleraine (1744-1814) who was renowned for his blue clothes when he was younger, hence his nickname of Blue Hanger. This 11th batch was first released in 2014 and blends eight casks of peated and unpeated Bunnahabhain, consisting of four hogsheads, three sherry butts and one puncheon.
It’s a lovely golden colour, the nose nose oozes rum and raisin fudge, rubber tyres, peanut and cashew butter, over-ripe bananas, slight smoke and orange and clove pomanders.
Adding water suppresses the nose, there’s thick vanilla milkshake and flaked almonds.
The palate is creamy with a slight bite. The finish is almost immediate on first sip, going straight into dry hay. Giving it a longer sip, the palate has orange Fruit Gums, light smoke, Lapsang Souchong tea and vanilla essence. The finish now offers vanilla angel cakes.
With water, the palate becomes creamier and fruitier. There are plums and red berries, orchards and burnt tyres and a far smokier finish with a hint of orange blossom honey. All wrapped up with a stylishly regal label.
Day 17 SMWS 53.332, Storm-Tossed Kelp on an Islay Beach, 11 Year Old, 58.8%
This came from my SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society) Advent Calendar, only available to members – I’ll be writing a blog about the whisky club soon but I love their Advent calendars with their 24 x 25ml drams.
Their single cask whiskies have interesting/silly names (opinions vary) and, instead of naming the distilleries on the labels, they use codes – 53, in this case, which is Caol Ila, the first distillery number I memorised. The 332 after the dot is to show which number bottle for the society this is from that distillery. This is their 332nd Caol Ila, I always expect to see a bottle or two in their monthly outturns. The names often give clues about the tasting notes, this one is perfect for a maritime-tasting dram such as Caol Ila. It’s very evocative and you immediately know to expect seaweed and sea air notes, plus an old favourite tasting note of mine for Islay whiskies, pebbles on the beach. At other times they display the panel namers’ love of popular culture, often Doctor Who-related names such as A Leather Cyberman (a 23-year-old Glen Grant). I still regret not buying that one but single casks mean numbers are limited and some bottles and distilleries sell out faster than others.
Single casks cost from just under £45+ and P&P is free/included in the price but it is a members-only club so you can’t buy the bottles direct without joining and auction prices aren’t at all competitive from what I’ve seen. It’s cheaper to join. A bottle of the Caol Ila was £65 when it was released in August 2020 as a preview outturn bottle for the Global Gathering, which united SMWS members from around the globe during the pandemic instead of the planned annual in-person events around the world, and is no longer available – except at auction. The Advent calendars are a great way to try different drams and distilleries, as are the monthly virtual tasting packs, one of the positives of lockdown, where this dram also featured. The flavour profile for this one is colour-coded green (one of three variations of that colour), part of their Peated range. I love how they use the colours to unite the different types of whisky.
Matured in a refill ex-Bourbon hogshead and with a release of 308 bottles, it’s the colour of Chardonnay, the nose transports you to Islay where there’s a bonfire on the beach, ash blowing everywhere, sausages and mackerel spitting over the fire onto the pebbles on the beach, and sea spray is added to the mix by a flinty fisherman’s cottage where there’s a medicine cabinet containing TCP, Germolene and bandages. Those wonderful medicinal Caol Ila notes.
With water, shoe polish glides in, the smoke and sea recede, sausages replaced with a bacon butty and seaweed salad. There’s tinned tuna in brine and a slight sulphur note.
The palate is smooth and creamy with smoke which expands in the mouth to blow smoke rings. Warm engine oil under a leaking vintage tractor is added to the mix and there’s melting tar outside, kippers cooking on the smoky coal-fuelled range and Hot Shots cinnamon sweets. There’s a fire burning in the grate and marjoram drying above it.
It’s just a wonderful Caol Ila. The finish has smoke dragons eating sausages straight off the beach bonfire.
Water adds a hint of orange but smoke still rushes in and there’s raw steak, coated with spice rub. The finish has extra spice, oak, smoke – and a storm-tossed beach with kelp.
I love it! I wish I could buy a bottle but this is now only available at auction for a higher price. Tempting, though! I’d love to do a tasting one day with just different Caol Ilas. The core spirit will unite them but the use of wood and ageing will add other tasting notes. This is a particularly intense dram which I would drink neat. I only added water because I’m tasting this for the Advent calendar – and to see what was revealed.
I prefer it without water but would happily drink it either way. A very more-ish dram which has convinced me to buy the next SMWS Caol Ila when the new outturn is released on the first Friday in January. This one was perfect for finishing the night – with or without friends.
To join SMWS, go to https://smws.com/whisky-club-membership but you’re welcome to use this referral code for a 20% discount on membership (disclaimer, I get a £20 referral fee for anyone who joins using this code – and all members have their own referral codes so you could contact friends who belong to the club and ask for their link if you’d prefer) http://smws.refr.cc/fionashoop
Day 16 Artful Dodger Bruichladdich Riversaltes Cask, 2010 9 Year Old, 64.2%, £75 for 50cl
This was another dram that I received thanks to the generosity of a fellow member of The London Whisky Club. I really like indie bottler Artful Dodger and their range of whiskies. The presentation is always very stylish including their squat 50cl bottles, perfect for sharing with friends.
Riversaltes are sweet wines from the Roussillon region in Eastern France, made from Grenache grapes and a popular choice of cask for Bruichladdich. This independent bottling had an outturn of 371. To be honest, I’m surprised that it’s still available.
A glorious mahogany colour, this is the type of whisky I would buy based on colour alone. Purists might tell you never to judge a whisky by its colour but I edited a national glossy food magazine and reviewed restaurants for several publications, of course appearance matters. It draws you in and I really want to drink this dram based on colour alone.
The nose has raisin wine and saké. There’s quality shoe polish and the oils of expensive lipstick, orchard and dunnage, Edinburgh rock, coq au vin, aeroplane seats, an antique furniture warehouse and sea air.
Add water and strawberries emerge on the nose, a whole set of body wash, body butter and body spray, there’s peat, liquorice and more dunnage, moss, lawnmower petrol and light smoke.
The palate is spicy. Ginger mixes with paprika, cardamom, cloves and cinnamon, plus dark chocolate enrobed ginger There are aniseed balls and dunnage, pear drops and stewed pears in Port and a bite to the tongue, followed by a Porty finish and, at the end, a waft of gentle smoke. If I were a smoker, I’d be lighting a cigar after this.
Much smoother and creamier with water, the spices are still front and centre with the oak hitting close behind and old leather golf balls. There’s biltong and jerky, Italian sausages and Peperami, and a spicy finish which gently dances on the tongue, leading to oak, Port, dank earthiness in an alley, and herby sausages.
It’s a fascinating dram, I want to pour another to see what’s revealed further but this is a dram for sipping, not a session drinker – not because of the ABV, although its cask strength might be a factor for some, it’s just such a complex dram and needs to be sipped slowly to fully appreciate it.
To join The London Whisky Club or discover more about this friendly, informative and very sociable, international whisky club, including future virtual tastings, visit https://whiskyclub.london
Day 15 Duncan Taylor Octave Invergordon 2007, 12 Year Old, 53.1% ABV
I was meant to drink this as part of The Spirits Embassy All Hail the Grain tasting back in the first lockdown but, again, Covid-19/Long Covid got in the way and I’m only just opening it now as part of my Whisky Advent Calendar. I love grain whisky, apart from the sheer flavours (expect basics like a creamy mouthfeel and porridge with Lyle’s Golden Syrup), it’s great value for money, especially for older bottlings which are a fraction of the price you’d expect to pay for a single malt whisky.
Originally available from The Spirits Embassy for £55, you would now need to source this from auctions thanks to it being a very limited run of just 52 bottles, some of which were used for the tasting. Matured in oak casks for 12 years, it spent its last four months in Octave cask #5221794.
The Octave range is experimental, deliberately using smaller, octave casks to allow for more interaction with the wood. Expect extra spiciness and very small outturns. Ideal for collectors, as well as drinkers.
The colour of golden tobacco, the nose is a revelation. There are freshly-ground coffee beans, sandstone, camphor, boric acid/Borax soap, linseed oil, Lyle’s Golden Syrup and toffee popcorn, all wrapped up in cedarwood.
With water, there’s HubbaBubba bubblegum, foam bananas, honey, orange Chewitts, roses, strawberry laces and mint shower gel.
The palate is not what I expected at all and desperately needs water. This is no soft grain, it rears up and bites you before pelting you with camphor and cedar mothballs, followed by lemon cleaning spray and sulphur, fading quickly to a light hay finish. It needs opening up.
Water softens but those mothball notes are still there with added smoke, spices and a forest of wood. The finish is smoke bonfire with cinnamon bubblegum. A curious dram, I’d be interested in trying other bottles from this range.
Day 14 Mackmyra Moment Körsbärsrök Swedish Single Malt Whisky, 43% ABV, £99
I love this Swedish distillery and their creative use of casks, including green tea or cherrywood. This is their latest release in the stylish Moment range. I discovered on a Zoom tasting with The London Whisky Club last week (thanks, Richard!) that the rubber ring around the bottle is because of Sweden’s high recycle rate. Remove the band after bottle killing the whisky and the metal plaque comes off as a reminder of what you’ve enjoyed drinking, then the bottle’s ready to be recycled. That’s such a great idea!
I can’t even begin to pronounce this whisky, even after hearing various attempts on the entertaining and informative tasting. I love how the company is very proudly Swedish but it does make for an interesting life if trying to order over the phone! I talked about their Scorpions, Mando Diao and Motörhead licensed whisky on a recent Cocktail Hour radio show and am a big fan of those bottles, definitely worth buying, regardless of whether or not you’re a fan of the music.
Before sampling the dram, I want to mention a very recent discovery when typing which you’ve probably been doing for years but, as I’ve only just realised this shortcut, I want to share it with anyone who doesn’t already know about it. When typing accents on a Mac, hold down the letter which needs an accent and a choice of different accents will appear. Either use your other hand to click on the relevant one, ¨ in this case, or type the number under it – generally number 2, for the umlaut. Much quicker and less fiddly than holding down the Option button and trying to get the right timing. But I digress, back to the whisky…
Körsbärsrök means cherry smoke and 1,500 bottles were distilled using a combination of both smoky and unsmoked new make. Distilled in ex-Bourbon casks in 2010, they were finished in ex-Bourbon American oak casks seasoned with German cherry wine.
The Körsbärsrök is a light tobacco colour, the nose has rosewater and geraniums, vanilla buttercream icing, HubbaBubba bubblegum, wet Dulux paint, banana Toffos, there’s very light smoke like old cigarettes, Werther’s Original, butterscotch Angel Delight, a peppery Virgin Mary and blueberries. Despite its name, I’m not getting any cherry notes.
The palate is thick and creamy, there are chewy cherry sweets (not cherry lips but the larger chewy sweet moulded as two cherries on a leafy twig), cherry ice cream, Wood (birch?) and spices follow, along with Brazil nuts, Caramel chocolate biscuits, Penguin chocolate biscuits and banana custard. The finish has light smoke, sweet peat and blueberries.
It’s a very quaffable, quality dram which gets smokier as you drink it until the finish turns into little smoke rings, floating in the air. Beautiful!
Day 13 Copper Republic Single Grain Bourbon Cask Whisky, 43% ABV, £39.99
This is my first ever African whisky and it’s from South Africa, one of my competition prizes from Rusty Rabbit International at The Whisky Exchange Virtual Whisky Show. I’m setting that it context, not just for good manners and appreciation but because I wouldn’t have discovered their brand in my favourite whisky shops or even thought to look for South African whisky, otherwise. I’m intrigued, especially as it’s a grain whisky, 100% South African yellow Maize (corn), an often overlooked style thanks to whisky snobbery where too many people only consider drinking single malt whisky, not even blends, let alone grain whisky.
It’s a small batch whisky, matured in two ex-Bourbon casks, freshly charred and aged, then bottled in 75cl handblown bottles.
The colour of caramel, the nose has astringent glue, daffodils and dandelions – not the vanilla and toffee you’d expect of a Bourbon cask. It’s intriguing and I’m letting it sit for a while to breathe. Johnson’s baby powder then emerges, along with rooibos and chamomile teas, banana Toffos, crème caramel and Angel Food cologne by Library of Fragrance/Demeter, based on a cake which originated in Pennsylvania and contains coconut and vanilla. Leave it longer (30 minutes) and musk emerges, plus the vanilla is stronger and there’s a woodiness.
The palate is very soft and creamy, the rooibos tea is front and centre, Angel Food cologne follows, there’s porridge and a whole vase of Alpine flowers and brought yellow fresh butter. It’s spicy (ginger, cardamom and cinnamon) and there are big oak tables. The finish has pipe tobacco, a slight waft of smoke and more of that rooibos, then a smooth and creamy vanilla latte takes over and lingers. I love it!
It’s intriguing and dangerously more-ish. I need a bottle or two of this. A perfect easy drinker for listening to music on the sofa. Beautiful and great value, especially as it’s a 75cl (750ml) bottle. Just remember to give it time to sit and breathe to get the most out of it. I’m not adding water to this, time is the answer to reveals here.
I love Library of Fragrance (UK and EU) and Demeter (US) colognes with their unusual scents, including Irish Cream, Pipe Tobacco, Gin & Tonic and Angel Food. To discover more, visit https://uk.thelibraryoffragrance.eu or their American site which also has Whiskey Tobacco, a personal favourite https://demeterfragrance.com/whiskey-tobacco.html
Day 12 Chapter 7 Monologue Ledaig 2009 10 Year Old, 51% ABV, £74
Chapter 7 are an interesting indie bottler with distinctive bottles, and label fonts influenced by street signs, I love this attention to detail. I took part in a tasting with The London Whisky Club, they have superb tastings which are open to everyone if they haven’t already sold out to members before going public. Membership includes tastings at a reduced price and is open to whisky lovers from around the world, not just London. I listened to Selim Evin talking about his company but wasn’t well enough to sample the whisky at the time – joys of Covid-19. Their book-related name is a theme, with series of whiskies named after types of books and writing, such as Anthology and Monologue.
Ledaig seems to have many different pronunciations, even from people within the whisky industry, including lay-chick and ler-chig. I tend to think the first and say the second. It’s not a case of say what you see, it’s not pronounced Leh-daig.
Matured in a refill Bourbon hogshead, the outturn of 351 bottles was distilled in May 2009 and distilled in March 2020, just before it turned 11. The pale colour of Pinot Grigio, the nose is all things maritime – pebbles on the beach, mackerels spitting over a smoky bonfire, seaweed and sea air, plus TCP and bandages. Right at the back is rosewater. I love it, this is my type of nose!
Add a few drops of water and the nose is flattened, there’s cinnamon icing sugar, baked potatoes with butter and Aero chocolate bars.
The palate is so creamy but it’s hardcore. Smoke fills your mouth, there’s Germolene, burnt sugar dusted with nutmeg, cinnamon hot chocolate and a finish of smoke dragons puffing smoke rings.
With water, the palate is soft and creamy but the smoke is fading, an extinguished bonfire. The finish is spicy alongside a soothing sweet lassi. Despite the ABV, this is so much better drunk neat.
Day 11 Filibuster Single Estate Bourbon, 58.05% ABV, £55.99
This American distillery was another one I discovered thanks to the competition by Rusty Rabbit International at The Whisky Exchange Virtual Festival. They have some very interesting brands on their list and it’s great to find something new. Filibuster Distillery’s name is based on its political location, the company was founded in Washington DC, only a few blocks from that home of the filibuster, Capitol Hill, and ingredients are sourced from around Virginia.
They were influenced by both Scotch whisky and American whiskey, and mature and blend whiskey, finishing it in casks, including California wine. Their Single Estate Bourbon has a mashbill of corn, rye and barley with different ages per batch. It’s matured in air-dried white American oak and the colour is a rich natural caramel – no colouring allowed for American whiskey.
The nose has heavy wood and spice, it reminds me of Old Spice cologne which I used to give dad in gift packs at Christmas when I was a child, although I only ever remember him wearing cologne once. There are toasted marshmallows, slightly charred, that old-fashioned Christmas decoration of pomanders (oranges studded with cloves and dried to preserve them). There are dusty shelves filled with antique books and just a hint of old cigars the morning after they were smoked, plus a little toothpaste on a flannel.
Add water and there’s heavy wooden, varnished Thai furniture on the nose and cinnamon bubblegum.
The palate is incredibly smooth and creamy – liquid mint toothpaste with heavily-carved wooden boxes, old documents tied with dusty ribbons, and spices. The finish is breath mints, wood and spices the day after cooking.
The palate is soft but less creamy after water has been added. Spices are front and forward, including ginger, mace and cardamom. Vanilla follows when you swirl the liquid around your mouth, then cinnamon Hot Shots and butterscotch.
Early-bird tickets are available for The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2021 in London, both in-person and virtual, with over 650 whiskies and whiskeys ready to taste over the October weekend https://whiskyshow.com/london/
Day 10 Spey Spirit of Speyside Festival 2020 Single Cask, 59.5% ABV, £79.99
This was another whisky festival discovery, this time from Southport Whisky Club’s Summer Festival – and look at their website (link at the end of this entry) for their Winter Whisky Festival. I love how theirs works, you buy a whole bottle of whisky and get a free tasting pack in return. Members get 10% off orders and, despite living hours away, I’m a proud and active member – you don’t have to be local to belong and that’s been the positive side of lockdown. I’d seen tweets about the club for a while and loved what they did but lockdown opened up the club – and tastings – virtually. I’m really looking forward to their Winter Whisky Festival, there’s still have time to order bottles and join in.
I’d attended a virtual talk by Speyside Distillery’s Paul Dempsey and was delighted to see him at the Southport Summer Festival and taste more of their drams. Confusingly, Speyside is the name of the distillery, as well as the region in which they’re based. Their Spey whiskies with their tall bottles are very quaffable drams and my favourite of the event was this Spirit of Speyside Festival 2020 dram, one of the cancelled in-person Scottish regional whisky festivals this year. It was so good that I bought it that day. I’m also looking lovingly at the 2018 bottle which Southport Whisky Club are selling…
It might seem strange or cheating to open a whisky for the Advent calendar which I’ve tried before but I had Long Covid badly during the Southport festival and had to miss some of the events as I crashed out on the sofa, utterly exhausted. I know that I loved this dram but genuinely remember nothing beyond that. This is me reclaiming that time months later. I was very lucky that I never lost my sense of taste or smell but it’s reassuring to try it again now with a fresh palate.
The 21st annual Spirit of Speyside Festival was supposed to take place in May 2020 but Covid-19 got in the way and it had to be cancelled. Spey’s special festival whisky, bottled especially for the event should only have been available to those attending it in person but, thanks to the cancellation, they were released to select retailers and events such as Southport’s online festival. I hope the Speyside festival can take place in-person next year, I know how disappointing it was for both the distillers and whisky lovers that they couldn’t be there, it is a very popular event and is set to take place from 28th April-3rd May 2021. Fingers crossed.
Distilled in January 2015, matured in a Bourbon cask and bottled in April 2020, just before the festival that never happened. only 300 bottles were produced.
A lovely golden colour, There’s an immediate hit of pears on the nose, followed by iodine and a trip down memory lane to school glue and swimming pools which goes beyond mere chlorine. There’s Harmony hairspray and Flake chocolate, plus Terry’s Chocolate Orange and that 1970s restaurant favourite, orange sorbet served in the frozen orange shell. A nut and granola bar next, along with seeded wholemeal bread, then pencil shavings and freshly varnished furniture. I could nose this for hours – and will leave my glass on the side today, out of the reach of the dogs, to sniff it again in the morning.
Water reveals fresh resin and nail varnish remover, plum tart, raspberries, Danish butter biscuits and thin Swedish ginger biscuits from IKEA. Those elusive smells come rushing back to me – toffee apple from Halloween and candy floss from the fairground. There’s freshly cut MDF, plus paint thinner – a flashback to consulting on one of those TV house improvement shows.
The palate has a creamy mouthfeel with pears galore and porridge soaked in Lyle’s Golden Syrup. There are ripe plums and apricots, a hint of dunnage, waxy red apples, mint toothpaste and a finish of cereals and mint.
The palate after water is added is even creamier, with lashings of lemon curd on buttered croissants, crème brülée and lemon meringue pie. The finish has hot buttered toast with cashew butter on it. Absolutely delicious!
If I didn’t already have a bottle of this, I’d be buying one now. I have sampled or bought over 200 drams during lockdown thanks to whisky tastings and festivals. I didn’t try them all because of Covid-19 but this is one I wanted to relive before opening the others. One thing to note, Spey bottles are stylish and tall, these are ones to sit on top of your whisky shelves – alongside Bimber.
Join and/or shop at Southport Whisky Club – members receive a 20cl bottle with their membership, early access to tastings, festivals and special or club exclusive bottles and 10% off purchases, as well as being able to attend member-only online tastings https://www.southportwhisky.co.uk
Southport Whisky Club’s Winter Festival has some great events and some tasting sets are still available to receive for free with a bottle, although the Spey tasting set has now sold out https://www.southportwhisky.co.uk/winter-festival-2020/
Day 9 A.D. Rattray 1999 Tomintoul 15 Year Old, 61% ABV, about £108
This was part of my Secret Sprits Advent Calendar, the second edition, which I bought from Top Whiskies. Unusually, it’s from a Fino sherry butt, the single cask produced 374 bottles. Distilled in November, 1999. It was bottled in June, 2015 by indie bottler, A.D. Rattray who are renowned for their quality whiskies at good prices, including their Warehouse Collection which is where they sell ‘bin ends’ (limited quantity whisky) at bargain prices.
The sherry cask makes for a beautiful heavily-stewed green tea colour. The nose has dunnage, dust and orchard, icing sugar, blueberries and bluebells. Terry’s Chocolate Orange emerges when it sits for a while, plus mango, Blu-Tack, raw steak and creamed horseradish follow.
This definitely needs water. Without, it bites the tongue but there’s a great rush of flavour, including orange blossom honey, thick marmalade sandwiches (Paddington Bear would love this), mango sorbet and spice with a woodiness at the back. The finish has honey and orange.
With water, there’s rum and raisin fudge, lighter dust, dried orange rind in one-day-old Bath buns, school chalkboard and lime marmalade on the nose. The palate opens up to reveal dark chocolate, felt tip pens, Crayola crayons, the musty earthiness on a late-autumn orchard floor where the sun doesn’t reach. The long finish has milk chocolate raisins, that lovely sherry note.
And buy the Secret Spirits Scotch Whisky Advent Calendar from TopWhiskies where it’s currently reduced by £60 to £239 BUT first-time buyers have an additional 10% off. I opted for the 2nd Edition but the others are definitely worth considering, too. There’s a ‘sneak peak’ list detailing what’s included, as well as a very handy list showing how many double drams over 21 years of age, for example. The calendars contain 25 rare and/or single cask 50ml drams (double the amount sold with most whisky Advent calendars), as well as a special commemorative glass, different style of glass for each edition and a sturdy container, plus vintage-style paperwork so it has the feel of an old travel trunk as the two main doors open outwards to reveal the secret calendar within within https://topwhiskies.com/collections/secret-spirits
Day 8 That Boutique-y Whisky Company Speyside #3, 8 Year Old, Batch 1, 50.7% ABV, £39.95 for a 50cl bottle
I love indie bottler That Boutique-y Whisky Company and their quirky labels. This is a cask strength whisky from an unnamed Speyside distillery, one of 4,221 bottles. These secret distilleries where the indies aren’t officially allowed to name them, can sometimes be identified from clues on the label. In this case, by working out the connection to ghostly figures toasting each other on the label… Incidentally, did you know that Speyside distillery Glenrothes has a toast to the ghost, Biawa Makalaga, the phantom of Byeway? The other ghosts represent the spirits seen at other distilleries, none of which are in the Speyside region.
Following tradition, I’m raising a toast to the ghost before drinking this dram which is the colour of heavily-oaked Chardonnay. The spicy nose has star anise, Kaffir lime leaf and ginger, school glue, nail varnish remover, spearmint pips and vanilla essence.
With water, orange blossom honey emerges, along with banana Toffo and foam shrimps, plus coconut, pineapple cubes and mango.
The smooth and creamy palate has vanilla puffs, hazelnuts, creamy fudge and a nutty finish with buttered toast. I’m going to add water but could drink it without, although there’s a slight alcohol burn.
Very soft with water which might not appeal to everyone, water reveals tropical fruits, milk chocolate, Fruit Mentos and floral gums with a finish of vanilla latte and Werther’s Original. I prefer it without the water but, with that level of ABV, always worth trying both.
A lovely quality dram and an easy quaffer, one for drinking with friends or on the sofa during lockdown.
Day 7 Old Bakery, Small Batch London Single Malt Whisky, 60.3% ABV, £64.95 for 50cl bottle
Exclusive to Gerry’s in Old Compton Street, Soho, a wonderful specialist shop selling not just whisky and gin but a great selection of miniatures and cocktail goods. I’ve bought fantastic bitters and syrups from there over the years, as well as whisky, gin, rum and liqueurs. This is another whisky I discovered thanks to a very generous friend at The London Whisky Club.
Old Bakery are a London-based distillery run by plumbers and distillers who are renowned for their award-winning gin, they launched their first whiskies this year, including this single barrel, cask strength whisky which has been matured in rum casks. The back of the label depicts Allen from Gerry’s. The standard release is 49% ABV and costs £51.50 at Gerry’s so you could, you should, buy both to compare and contrast. If you need an extra incentive, there’s free postage for orders over £100 – and how many of us have used that excuse over the years to buy extra whisky?
The colour of apple juice, the nose has bread dough, Jacob’s Lemon Puffs, orange Fruit Gums, strawberry jam, dunnage, orchards in autumn on a rainy day, oak desks with beeswax polish, antique books and liquorice.
Water reveals almond hand cream, hazelnuts, acorns, roast chicken, compost, coconut pie and apricots.
The palate woofs, this does need water but there are jammy doughnuts, crisp autumn leaves, roast chestnuts and a finish of hay and oatcakes.
Water softens and delivers a creamy mouthfeel with crème caramel, walnut whip, Charbonnel et Walker Maple Brazil Nuts and butterscotch Angel Delight with a finish of rose water and frangipane tart.
Another whisky I was lucky enough to experience thanks to a bottle split, I’m tempted to order a whole bottle, plus their standard version to compare the two. Definitely a dram where I’d advise adding water, then it becomes a lovely, easy quaffable whisky which belies its tender years. A distillery to watch.
And don’t forget to join The London Whisky Club where you’ll not only discover great whisky and enjoy virtual tastings (at the moment) but make great friends. The club has an international membership, you don’t need to be based in or near London to be a member https://whiskyclub.london
Day 6 Blinking Owl Distillery California Straight Rye Whiskey, 45% ABV, £42.99
I discovered Blinking Owl at The Whiskey Exchange virtual festival after I was lucky enough to win a sample of their whiskeys, including this rye. Whilst there’s a celebrity angle for this new Santa Ana distillery, the very first craft distillery in Orange County, California, named after a mid-century bar whose owl sign used to blink, what matters most is the quality liquid itself.
Founders Brian and Robin Christenson were joined at the virtual whisky festival by their ‘creative muse’ and investor-partner, Kirsten Vangsness, instantly recognisable as the computer genius, Penelope Garcia, from Criminal Minds. I have never laughed so much at a whisky event, it just made me want to buy their whiskey – and be BFFs with Kirsten, of course. Their session was my favourite at the festival but what intrigued me was the spirit itself – will it make me smile as much as their session did? Huge thanks to Rusty Rabbit International for letting me share my most embarrassing story in a Zoom session and sending me samples in return, including this one. And, no, I’m not repeating my story here!
The first ever legally distilled barrelled American rye whiskey from Orange County, California, they use local Santa Ana water, plus rye, wheat and malted barley (from Admiral Maltings), all of which is organic and from California, and then age their whiskey in charred new American oak barrels for two years to create a smooth and quaffable rye whiskey.
A lovely caramel colour, the nose has vanilla, rye, nail polish, freshly hewn oak joists, Dunlop Green Flash plimsolls, Play-doh, Crayola crayons, rubber ducks, cinnamon, nutmeg butterscotch, freshly printed documents and a pile of newspapers with that old-style pulpy paper.
Oh, that’s lovely. I’m getting old papers and rye, cinnamon, mace and a salt beef sandwich with pickle and American mustard on freshly baked buttered rye bread on the palate. There are freshly strung green beans, white pepper and ginger. Lots of oak ships and varnish. The finish is light rye and vanilla sprinkles. This is a beautiful dram, light and so very more-ish. I need a bottle or two of this!
Day 5 The Single Cask Auchroisk 2008, 11 Years, 56.5% ABV, £60
I love The Single Cask and their decanter-style bottles. and I received my 25ml sample as part of my membership of The Dram Team which costs £29.99 a month. They send an email just before they take your next subscription fee so, if you already have some of the drams, want a break or prefer a different style of whisky, you can skip that month. And you don’t have to have monthly boxes, you could also opt for bi-monthly or quarterly. I think it’s a great club and love being a member. You get five 25ml drams with your membership, plus the ‘dream dram’ 10ml of a special bottle generally worth over £100, even up to £200. This particular sample came from a box where all of the drams were from The Single Cask, one of my favourite independent bottlers. I’ve loved all of their bottles and enjoyed a couple of tastings with them, a chance to try even more whisky before opting to buy whole bottles.
This 11-year-old Auchroisk is from a single cask which produced 286 bottles. It was distilled in an ex-Bourbon hogshead on 11th April, 2008 and bottled on 7th August, 2019. The ever-helpful TopWhiskies website where I bought my full-sized bottle handily gives a pronunciation guide, alongside tasting notes – Auchroisk is pronounced orth-rusk. The Speyside whisky can be found in the J&B blend but shines here as a single cask whisky.
The colour of Riesling, the nose is luscious – I actually purred when I smelt it. There are wine gums, HubbaBubba bubble gum, barley sugar, lemon bonbons, buttery pastry base, dunnage and pears.
I personally don’t feel it needs water but, at 56.5% ABV, others might, water reveals cherries on the nose, plus orange vitamin C tablets in water, magazine inserts wrapped in plastic and orange blossom honey.
There’s a soft and creamy mouthfeel with musk, dunnage, elderflower and a real meaty earthiness, plus heavy oak bookcases full of antique books. The finish has a plum tart and white pepper, plus a lingering orchard floor on an early-spring day. It’s delicious and I’m going to buy a bottle of this!
Water opens it up to add walnut whips, Scotch broth and nuttiness with a zesty orange, dunnage and chalkboard finish. I prefer it without water but it’s a beautiful dram either way and I really want it.
And, in case you’re looking for Christmas presents, including for yourself, I love their Final Cut Tasting Sets, with special 100ml regional bottles, including Speyside (Benrinnes), The Single Cask Glencairn glass, pipette and 100ml of Uisge Source spring water, plus a chance to get active on social media and win free whisky! https://topwhiskies.com/collections/the-single-cask/products/the-final-cut-speyside
To join The Dram Team and their monthly, bi-monthly and quarterly boxes of six different whiskies, go to https://www.thedramteam.co.uk BUT there’s a special discount for you as a Christmas gift for listening to me on my Cocktail Hour radio show or reading this Whisky Advent calendar. One offer per customer
Use code QUAFFED5 for £5 off any 3 month gift subscription (Christmas or normal) (£99 down to £95), or £5 off the first box in a normal tasting club subscription https://thedramteam.co.uk/discount/QUAFFED5…
Day 4 Signatory Ben Nevis 9-year-old, 2010-19, cask #129, 46% ABV, £42.20
My favourite part of lockdown has been how incredibly sociable the whisky world’s been with tastings, festivals and clubs. Even when I was too ill with Covid-19 to drink, I still enjoyed discovering new whisky and interacting thanks to the tastings. I belong to six whisky clubs and the WhatsApp groups are very active for those who have them. Through these groups, you’re often offered the opportunity to share drams, which enables you to try hard-to-get or more expensive bottles. I was lucky enough to be sent a couple of drams of this Ben Nevis, part of the Signatory Un-Chillfiltered Collection thanks to a generous member of The London Whisky Club.
For a single cask, it’s a low ABV. It’s very pale, the colour of Pinot Grigio. The nose has an immediate hit of jelly beans, there are pear drops, orange Starbursts, butterscotch, barley sugars – I feel like I’ve raided a sweetshop here, foam bananas, banana bread, icing sugar, dried mango, Victorias sponge with strawberry jam filling, and vanilla buttercream. Plus greengages, ginger and maple syrup over waffles. It’s deliciously sweet.
I added water (all hail, Larkfire Water, a wonderfully soft water which I add via a pipette, just a couple of drops) and it opened it up to reveal tropical fruit, custard doughnuts, apple turnovers, plus a flashback to primary school. There’s passata, basil and lemon meringue pie.
The creamy palate has crème caramel, bananas, burnt sugar, orchards, apricots and a smoky finish which tingles on the tongue, plus white pepper.
Water completely quenches the smoke and reveals a football pitch at the end of the game, gamey meat, hay, flaked almonds and a finish of tahini and pine nuts.
A lovely quaffable dram, I’m tempted to buy a bottle. Perfect for whiling away lockdown on the sofa.
I used to hate the idea of adding water to whisky but it’s always worth trying controlled measures in tastings, especially as it can reveal so much. I use Larkfire Water which is beautifully soft and pure, no chemical taste or chalkiness, it doesn’t interfere with the whisky, just opens it up and reveals its hidden secrets.
Purists might (and do) argue that a 46% ABV whisky doesn’t need water but it’s worth seeing what, if any, difference it makes. I can also drink some whiskies at 60%+ without even a drop of water but, after a few sips of this 9-year-old Ben Nevis, felt that it would benefit from a couple of drops. I do recommend buying a pipette so you don’t accidentally drown the whisky – you can always add water but you can’t remove it once it’s in your glass.
For Larkfire water, which really does make a difference, you can even drink it without whisky! https://www.larkfire.com/buy
Join The London Whisky Club and discover great whisky through their friendly tastings (online these days) and whisky chat. One of my favourite whisky clubs, it’s a fun and informative group from all around the world, not just London, who all love whisky https://whiskyclub.london
Day 3 Ben Bracken, 16 Year-Old Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV, £34.95
One of the annual supermarket Christmas releases from an undisclosed distillery, this is Lidl’s offering. The label says matured in oak casks, as though that’s not a pre-requisite to being a Scotch whisky, as per the SWA rules. But this whisky isn’t just aimed at whisky drinkers, it’s also targeting people in the supermarkets who want to buy an affordable but impressive-looking whisky and ‘matured in oak’ sounds like a quality option, despite being the industry standard for all Scotch whisky.
The label reads, ‘Distilled in copper pot stills in the centuries-old manner, it is then laid down in oak casks and matured, undisturbed, for sixteen years’. Marketing fluff but, for whisky people, what really matters is that it’s a 16-year-old Islay at a great price.
Ben Bracken is the Lidl brand name, not the name of the distillery which is likely to be either Caol Ila or Lagavulin – and a great price for either.
A rich amber colour, bordering on ruby (which I have a feeling owes more to E150 caramel food colouring than the casks themselves), the nose has school glue, roast chestnuts, fatty sausages cooking over an old range, sage, bubblegum, Harmony hairspray, dried apple, chocolate truffles, pebbles on the beach, flint houses, salt water taffy and sea air. More subtle than I’d expect of an Islay.
The palate is soft with sweet peat and an immediate smoke dragon. There’s Edinburgh rock, school glue, tannins, moo shu pork, sweet & sour with extra pineapple, and a leather tannery. The finish is long and lingering, the heavy smoke fading to a herby finish with sage and thyme, plus caramelised pineapple but I’m still blowing smoke rings five minutes later.
It’s not complex, the ABV is low but it’s an easy, quaffable dram and not bad for the money. There are better drams out there, of course there are, but it’s a great value option and a generous gift.
It’s chill filtered and the label doesn’t mention it being a natural colour which means that it probably isn’t but it does look oh so very Christmassy.
Day 2 Burnt Ends Blended Whiskey, 45% ABV or 90 Proof, £29.95
Small Batch Smooth Tennessee Rye Whiskey and Peated & Sherry Finished Single Malt Scotch – that’s a bit of a mouthful and seems a similar idea to High West Campfire Whiskey which, likewise, blends American whiskey with Scotch whisky
This is a 50cl bottle of whiskey (note the ‘e’, it’s American) that was recommended by several whisky friends and often pops up in the Master of Malt Flash Sales – which is where I bought mine. Hardly surprising as it’s by Atom Brands, the team behind That Boutique-y Whisky, Rum, Rye and Gin Companies, Ableforth’s, Drinks by the Dram, The Character of Islay Whisky Company and Darkness – and Master of Malt.
Let’s talk appearances. I love the medicinal bottles. You can just picture a cowboy swilling this back after purchasing it from a snake-oil dealer in America’s Wild West – and there’s a hint of danger with the devilish skull. I love the faded red colour and old-fashioned style. It looks vintage and, with its lozenge shape, it feels vintage. The perforated paper seal over the brown bottle is a minor sign of cheapness so just quickly break it and ignore it.
The colour was not what I was expecting at all, the Scotch influence dominates to create a golden hue, not a shoe polish brown. It’s very woody on the nose, I’m getting horse chestnut and sycamore more than oak, there’s sesame seeds, rubber balloons, raisin Danish and fresh ink from an ink pen, as well as freshly-printed glossy magazines. Leave it to sit and delicate Lapsang Souchong floats out of the glass with a side order of freshly-mown grass and strawberry Starbursts. They’ll always be Opal Fruits to me.
Ooh, the palate has a lot going on. Firstly, this is not a rye-dominant whiskey. It’s spicy (ginger, cinnamon and cardamon with a hint of fennel), menthol and pine. There are waxy wooden tables in a New Orleans bar with that vanilla element of American whiskey, plus cherryade and barley sugars and that meaty barbecue ribs in a smoky, hickory sauce cooked over wood chips. The sweet peat pops by on the finish with a faint whiff of smoke right at the end.
This was not what I expected at all. Forget the blending list, this is more than the sum of its parts, it’s a comprehensive whole that I could not have broken down without reading it – you get the vanilla of American whiskey with the spiciness of rye, the raisin Danish is a quite note but that’s the sherry and the peat shows more in the finish than the palate, as well as the Lapsang Souchong on the nose.
This is a great value ‘session’ whiskey. One for easy drinking with friends and with or without food. Perfect with steak or an evening in lockdown on the sofa.
I’d happily buy another bottle – at an RRP of £29.95 – and even cheaper in the regular sales, I’d happily buy two. Don’t forget that these are 500ml/50cl bottles.
Day 1 Douglas Laing Old Particular Craigellachie 12 years old, 48.4% ABV, £59.99
I got this bottle as part of my Summerton Whisky Club membership where you receive a bottle of whisky every other month for £50, including P&P, some of which were worth over £90. It’s a great way to discover new whisky and stretch your comfort zone and I’ve bought some repeat bottles because of it, all at higher prices than my original membership deal. They also have some exclusive bottles, including from the likes of The Whisky Baron and The Single Cask. I love being a member.
I’m a big fan of the independent bottler, Douglas Laing who bottle whiskies by distilleries and also create their own blends, including Big Peat, Scallywag, Rock Oyster and Timorous Beastie, each representing the different whisky regions. They produce different ranges of distillery bottles, including the Old Particular single cask series.
Single casks would be called limited editions in any other business. They have a set amount of bottles, 358 bottles in this case, and are usually a higher strength, although 48.4% is on the lower end of the scale. Still a decent enough strength.
Matured in a refill hogshead, distilled in 2006 and bottle in 2018, this 12-year-old Speyside whisky is the colour of heavily-oaked Chardonnay. The nose has wine gums galore (so much so that I opened a packet and ate some after finishing the dram), rose water, celery salt, hazelnuts and pears.
There’s a soft and creamy mouthfeel with more wine gums, hazelnuts, birch, hot buttered corn-on-the-cob, ginger and a dry and woody lingering finish with plenty of hay on a hot summer’s day and a waft of light smoke.
A light and quaffable dram, perfect for people who, like me, love wine gums. Allow it to sit and the smoke kicks in, deeper notes prevail, more wood, more spice, tangerines at the back and wormwood. Pour and set aside for 30 minutes to truly appreciate it. This is a dram where you need to take your time and it will reward you. Take that half an hour to eat wine gums. I did.
I know that I still owe you tasting notes from my Advent calendar which never quite came together last year. A confession, previous calendars have been ‘opened’ for radio shows with the reviews prepared in advance. Last year, I was ill, then alcohol-free for an op which threw my timing completely but I’ve been quietly drinking and will post updates soon.
But, until then, I wanted to talk to you about whisky auctions because there can be some real bargains or the chance to buy whisky you might not normally be able to source eg travel ranges or vintage whisky. I will admit that I’m a collector at heart but I buy whisky to drink, not as an investment or something to hoard. That said, I’ve got some very collectable bottles, including 1970s full-sized and miniatures but that was down to luck, not collecting at auction.
I’ve written books on auctions, hundreds of articles and talked about them on TV and radio but no auction has ever made me as stressed as a gin or whisky auction. As I write this, my heart is pounding from a successful purchase of a Taiwan exclusive bottle of Big Peat, my favourite go-to whisky. I was convinced that I’d lose it in the last seconds and had to keep reloading the page as the website didn’t update automatically except for that countdown. That’s such a stressful way of auctioning, I wish they all had self-updating pages, especially if they have slow refresh speeds.
Drink auctions don’t always follow the rules of traditional ones and I will admit to being caught out when impulse went before research but I was still delighted with my (overpriced) bottle of whisky.
Firstly, do what I didn’t on that one occasion and read the Ts and Cs which will reveal four vital elements:
Do you have to pay to register before bidding? Something I personally don’t agree with so choose to steer clear of those specialist websites
How much is the commission charge – and is there also VAT on the hammer price, in addition to any VAT on the commission (think of the latter as a service charge)? Expect to pay 10-15% commission on top of the hammer price
How much is the shipping fee? Don’t forget to calculate this into your bid so you don’t overpay, especially if you have to use a shipping company should the auction house not send parcels of bottles themselves
And how do they take bids? Traditional auction houses will bid in increments and, if a lot is currently £20 and you leave a bid of £60, they will start your bid at £22 or £25. Gin and whisky auctions will often go straight to £60 so decide if you want to pay the full whack before bidding
And don’t get carried away by bidding as soon as you see the lot you want. Do your research:
Is it cheaper elsewhere? Check the distillery’s own website for availability and price, as well as websites such as Master of Malt, The Whisky Exchange and Amazon, as well as specialist shops
If it’s an SMWS (Scotch Malt Whisky Society) exclusive, is it cheaper to buy on their website if you’re already a member – or even with the added membership if opting for more than one lot? I’ll be writing about SMWS in a later post when I’ve had a chance to explore it more but I highly recommend having a look at their website. For 20% off membership, you’re welcome to use the following referral code https://go.referralcandy.com/share/39C78VL
Then plan your bidding carefully. Some auction houses add an extra 15 minutes to lots if a bid is placed within the last 10 or 15 minutes (check the websites for details) so plan on bidding a minute before that – if your nerve will hold – or a couple of minutes so you don’t have that extra 15 minutes, warning other bidders that they’ve been outbid and giving them time to react.
I write my bid in the box minutes before bidding so I can react quickly and I tactically bid, trying to deter anyone else from outbidding me – try to push them over the 0 or 5 figures, that can make people rethink as £50 or even £50.50 feels so much more expensive than £48 or even £49 – it’s the old psychology which see shops charge a penny under a full figure ie 99p instead of £1. 50ps are great for throwing some bidders as they sound so much more than they are. Before bidding, check to see the increments charged for that lot, it does vary between auction houses but also figures so a £10 miniature will have increases of £2 but a lot expected to fetch over £50 could set bids at £5 higher than the current highest bid – and some increments are £100 or even higher, if the whisky is particularly valuable. Check before getting too involved. I’ve often set a maximum figure, logged on and seen that it’s either already higher than I want to pay or the increments push it over. That’s the way of auctions.
And practise beforehand. I bid low figures on lots with higher reserves so I won’t accidentally get stuck with a lot I don’t want. It gives you a chance to see how it works eg do you have to reenter your username and password to confirm the bid and is there a delay when bidding before the page updated with your bid? Have your username and password to hand just in case you need to repeat them, and allow for extra time when bidding if your details need confirming before your bid is accepted. That delay could cost you a lot, especially if you hadn’t expected it.
The auction I used was very slow and I had to bear that in mind when bidding, it didn’t allow for fast reaction time but I was poised, trying to figure out what any competitor – for that’s what fellow whisky lovers become during auctions – might bid and I was ready to react, my figures already written in the box, just waiting for those last seconds to count down before being told that I was the highest bidder – and quickly paying.
When the Gin Festival went into administration, there was an auction of gin and festival paraphernalia. The auction house decided not to ship any bottles so you couldn’t get a delivery price from them and that also made it a lot more expensive than in-house shipping. It took work to find someone as they also didn’t recommend anyone local but I used the wonderful Pack Send (https://www.packsend.co.uk) who collected the bottles from the auction house for me, wrapped them safely and couriered them to me using a national courier, not their own vans. I estimated what I hoped to buy in terms of number and size of bottles and was given a quote based on that, and I added that figure to my calculations when working out maximum bids.
And my heart raced as I secured some fantastic gins for a fraction of what it would have cost to have bought them via the usual websites or specialist shops. Even allowing for commission price and P&P.
Auctions are fun, they give you access to spirits you might not otherwise be able to find – or afford, in some cases. Just be prepared to do your research, set maximum figures in advance – and don’t be tempted to increase them if you get competitive or caught up in the bidding process – and prepare to be very, very nervous. I am every time.
Quaffed 