Whisky Festival Spring 2007

Once again, another Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival has been and gone and here is my account of it.

 

As always, each festival begins with the solemn vow, on my part, that every whisky I am given must be finished and that the safest place to leave anything at the festival is my slops bucket as it will never get wet. Because of this, I apologise in advance for any factual errors in my report as I am relying on scribbled notes and a memory not aided by my aforementioned vow, which has never been broken.

 

All of the views expressed on the whiskies available are a reflection of my own ability to nose and taste. Again, I must caution the reader that I am to articulate tasting notes what Luciano Pavarotti is to ski jumping.

 

Whisky and Salmon Tasting

I headed to the whisky museum where Mike Lord, owner of the Whisky Shop, hosted the whisky and salmon talk-and-taste session. Continuing with the increasingly popular ‘whisky and food’ themed talks, Mike explained that we would be having two smoked salmons and two cured salmons with the cured ones being matched with the whiskies used for curing, with all the whiskies being official bottlings from the proprietors. We opened with Inchgower 14-year-old, at 43%abv, was paired with a salmon cured with whisky, basil, parsley and lemon zest. The whisky smelled of acid drop sweets and was slightly bitter, winey and salty to taste with a slightly sharp finish and combined well with the fish.

 

Dailuaine 16-year-old was matched with oak cask salmon, this salmon being Mike and Georgie’s favourite and it came from the Spey Valley Smokery. The rich-tasting Dailuaine had notes of sherry trifle, toffee, fruitcake and a little smoke. Though both the dram and the fish were brilliant, I wasn’t sure that they complimented each other. One cautionary note: avoid the salmon if on a diet as it is dangerously more-ish.

 

Highland Park 15-year-old, soon to be made widely available, was next and used to wash down some Mooreland smoked salmon. The salmon was fantastic and the whisky was sweetish on the nose with smoke, sweetness and a hint of salt on the taste and a wonderful overall warming feel. This was a fine pairing, indeed.

 

To finish was a ‘Distiller’s edition’ Caol Ila, this time finished in Muscatel casks. This was the most complex whisky of our session and the accompanying salmon was cured with coriander, basil, chilli, black pepper, salt and sugar. This went well with the Caol Ila, which smelled of peat and burnt icing sugar with both sherry sweetness and phenol and salt on the taste. I filed this tasting under ‘Mmmmm! Food!’ (This will not surprise those who have seen me from sideways on).

 

The Independant Bottlers Challenge

After a break, I returned for the Independent Bottler’s challenge, which consisted of the Speyside and Rest of Scotland categories. 4 independent bottlers, Douglas Laing, Duncan Taylor, The Creative Whisky Company and Adelphi each entered a cask strength bottling in both sections.

 

The tasting took the format where one speaker would present the case for each company while we tasted a dram. To make matters more interesting for the audience, we were assured that the dram we were sampling did not necessarily ‘belong’ to the speaker whose turn it was. However, the representatives could tell us what whiskies they had entered.

 

Susan Webster spoke for Douglas Laing, Mark Watt spoke for Duncan Taylor while Alex Bruce spoke for Adelphi and Mike Lord spoke for CWC, as David Stirk was not available.

 

The best notes would win a prize and be announced at the dregs party.

 

Below are my notes with the whisky added in brackets as I only found out which was which afterward

 

Speyside A (DTC 1972 Caperdonich, 41.3%abv) was bourbony and slightly sharp with a floral peppery finish.

 

Speyside B (Douglas Laing Platinum 31-year-old Tomatin, 51.3%abv – finished in a Rioja red wine cask) was my favourite and was rich and sweet with a slightly prickly, sherry finish.

 

Speyside C (Adelphi Glen Rothes 6-year-old, 55.6%abv) was incredibly dark, smelling and tasting of Bovril. Also, I could detect a rich toffee flavour.

 

Speyside D (CWC ‘Exclusive Malts’ Tomatin 11 yr 56.6%abv) smelled of treacle and syrup and was similar in taste, with a lemon juice.

 

Rest of Scotland A (Douglas Laing Platinum 28-Year-old Caol Ila) was my favourite, smelling and tasting of peat, phenol, iodine and pepper.

 

Rest of Scotland B (CWC Bladnoch 16-year-old, 51.5%abv) was light and smelled of vanilla sauce with a salty, syrupy taste.

 

Rest of Scotland C (DTC Invergordon grain 41-year-old, 53%abv) was grainy and tasted of bourbon.

 

Rest of Scotland D (Adelphi 34 year old blend of Ben Nevis malt and grain) was dark, smelling and tasting of sherry trifle and shortbread.

 

The world melted after this tasting session but solidified again in time for Saturday’s trip to the Memorial hall where the whisky fair took place.

 

The Whisky Fair

Heading round the fair, I found that Tomatin 12-year-old was much smoother than of old and was light, fresh and fruity with a peppery finish. Indeed, plenty of goodies were to be found at this stall. Antiquary blended whisky has a new 21-year-old worth checking out and the 12-year-old is also much improved. My favourite was the 18-year-old Tomatin, finished in Oloroso sherry casks, and which tasted of oranges, jam, cherry and, still, had a peppery finish. (A little post script: Tomatin’s Culloden malt whisky cream liqueur is the best cream liqueur according to liqueur experts who tasted this after the festival ended and it’s definitely one for the ladies.)

 

Moving on, it was good to meet Alex Bruce, of Adelphi again. Going by the taste, Adelphi’s 1996 Clynelish, at 59.6%, was not distilled from barley but from silk and velvet because that’s how smoothly it went down. This one was matured in a re-fill sherry cask and has a truly luscious sweetness. Curiously, this bottling has the amazing ability to make money jump out of your wallet, so beware.

 

At the Angus Dundee stall, I tried their 15-year-old Glencadam 15-year-old, being well familiar with the company’s high profile bottlings of Tomintoul. This was   smooth, creamy and pleasant though not overly flavourful. To be fair, this whisky is mostly intended for blending which is, after all, the company’s mainstay as Production Manager Tom Gerrie pointed out.

Pausing at Duncan Taylor’s stall, Mark Watt twisted my arm (har! har! har!) into trying their 38 year old blended whisky which was deliciously smooth, sweet, lively, creamy and refreshing.

 

Burn Stewart was next and Donald Colville recommended 1972 Oloroso Matured Tobermory, bottled at 50.1%abv. This was deliciously thick, tasting of very rich   golden syrup and with a salty finish. There are only 900 bottles of this, so anyone who can obtain this is in for a rare treat. Donald also recommends pouring two glasses at the same time so that, by the time the first is drained, the second will have improved still more by exposure to air. I also recommend washing it down with some Bunnahabhain 18-year-old, 43%abv, which is crisp and fresh, with loads of marvellously sweet syrup, honey and toffee notes. If this gives you a   hangover then a bottle of Burn Stewart’s Black Bottle blended whisky will wash it away and if it doesn’t work straightaway, keep repeating until it does.

 

Rounding off the fair, Susan Webster of Douglas Laing poured me a 1991 Provenance Glendullan, at 46%abv, which was fresh, lively and tasted mostly of vanilla and is definitely the best I’ve had from that distillery. Anyone who can obtain a 1980 Old Malt Cask Caol Ila, at 50%abv, should do so. Despite it’s age, it is light, fresh, chewy and oily and has all the flavours one expects from this distillery.

 

As is the case with most festivals, it was good to see some regulars so hello to Xenia and Sascha Lauer of Germany, to Bill and Christine Sharp of South Shields, to Yorkshire trio Warren, Phil and Gemma, to Paul Martensson with his wife Kerstin and his family in tow, to Stephen Lunn and his wife, Pat. Hello, also, to Norwegians Geir and Christian as well as Arve and Ragnhild Lervik who arrived with daughter Oda.

 

Tomintoul Vertical Tasting

After recharging my batteries, it was time to take a taste of the various ages and strengths of whiskies from Tomintoul distillery, otherwise known as a vertical tasting and distillery director Robert Fleming kindly took time out to guide us through the range.

 

The widely available 10 and 16-year-old bottlings are whiskies that I have covered in previous reports so, to save time, I will just add that the 10 is a lovely dram, well named the ‘Gentle Dram’. A drop of water is recommended to open up a cornucopia of fruit on the palate and no home should be without a bottle for long. The 16 is Robert’s favourite and seems fresher to taste than a couple of years ago and is worth checking again if, like me, it wasn’t to your taste first time around.

 

The 27-year-old is a treat, rich in colour and sherry tastes with loads of fudge on the nose and a sumptuously sweet oakiness on the finish.

 

As we were tasting, Robert took us through an entertaining history of Angus Dundee, formed in 1988. The firm specialises in blends for foreign supermarkets and bought Glencadam in 2003 with that in mind, as the distillery had previously been associated with the Stewart’s blend.

 

Also, interesting is the fact that, after Angus Dundee had bought Tomintoul from Whyte and Mackay, they introduce some lively new eye-catching packaging with an address from Robert, himself. Unusually, there are no tasting notes to be found on the bottle as the management feels that these are always subjective. Robert also talked of the distillery’s policy on barley and distillation as well as pointing out that the use of brewer’s yeast in distilling was ceased in 1992 and renowned expert, Richard Patterson could not tell the difference on the clearic.

 

Next was a highly exclusive chance to try a 1966 vintage bottling from Angus Dundee’s ‘McKillop’s Choice’ at 43%abv. Remarkably, this was still fresh and punchy to nose and the taste was sweet and lively with notes of wine. This was a privilege to experience.

 

Saving the weightiest till last, we closed with the un-chillfiltered Old Ballantruan, at 50%abv, which has no age statement and has malted barley at 55 parts per million of phenol. As we were drinking, Robert told us that the distillery uses ordinary malt for 46 weeks of the year and heavily peated malt for 2 weeks. This one had a full, smoky, sweet and fruity taste and, despite the level of peat, did not really resemble a classic Islay.

 

Later, Susan Webster, of Douglas Laing, took the opportunity to demonstrate some of her company’s un-chillfiltered whiskies. 4 were from the Old Malt Cask range (50%abv) and the last from the Provenance collection (46%abv).

 

Reading the notes from the bottle, Susan demonstrated that she had indeed invested in a thesaurus, as we tasted a 1989 Craigellachie (bottled 2003). However, when she asked what flavours we were getting, her body language hinted that she wasn’t pleased with my suggestion that it was rough and smooth with a sweet, sour taste and a short, long, thick, thin finish. In fact, it was smooth, crisp and malty with vanilla being the dominant flavour.

 

A 1990 Braeval, finished in a Rioja wine cask, had a malty nose and a barley sugar sweetness on the palate with a lightly peppery finish. Water revealed dark chocolate flavours. By contrast, A 1994 Mortlach, sherry matured, smelled of honey and tasted of strawberries.

 

Also tasting of chocolate, was a 1990 Benrinnes which had berries and sweet fruits on the nose. The finish was elegant and spicy and there was a pleasing mouth-coating feel about the whisky.

 

Rounding off, we had a 1983 Provenance Port Ellen, matured in a refill sherry butt. This was a warming dram, with plenty of coastal character, saltiness and peat. Susan reckoned she could taste barbecue taste. I found ginger and spiciness on the finish.

Tannochbrae Restaurant

Being in dire need of a good meal (if you believe that, I’ll tell you another one), it was time to go to the Tannochbrae restaurant where Alan and Susie served us up another cracking meal. Between courses, Dennis Henry from Aberlour took us through a series of whiskies from the distillery accompanied by hilarious stories about golf course mishaps, drunken pipers, kilts and Neil Armstrong. The whiskies were Aberlour 10, 12, 15, 16(double matured), A’bunadh and single cask bourbon and sherry matured samples, Anyone who is able to take a tour of Aberlour can re-create this vertical tasting. Those who are lucky will get Dennis as their guide and can hear his dulcet tones and eloquent descriptions of the whiskies’ flavours.

 

As an amusing interlude, Alan served us up a concoction known as whisky fizz, in syringes. This consisted of Aberlour new make spirit mixed with water and lemon liquor. Alan joked that he needed the syringes back to return to the vet and this would have been even funnier if it wasn’t true!

 

Whisky and Cheese Tasting

Sunday brought Mike Lord to the museum again to guide us through his take on whisky and cheese. This time, each whisky would be accompanied with a cheese made nearby.

 

The widely available Glenmorangie Port Wood, 43%abv, finish kicked us off and was accompanied by Brie from Ross-shire. Mike’s view was that this is an ideal whisky to go with cheese and it was hard to disagree.

 

A Corolla cheese, from Forres, followed and was paired with a 1982 Signatory bottling of Dallas Dhu, at 43%abv. The whisky was pale and creamy with an obvious bourbon taste and a spicy, peppery finish. Unfortunately it flattened out with water. These weren’t the greatest pairing and would have perhaps benefited from the whiskies being swapped.

 

A Provenance Scapa, from 1993 came next. This was spirity and astringent on the nose with wine being the dominant flavour. Water opened it slightly to reveal a little pepper and smoke. The Orkney cheese was exceptionally full flavoured and seriously delicious.

 

A 1993 Springbank from Duncan Taylor’s NC2 range went together with a Mull of Kintyre cheese which was punchier than the man who just fought Mike Tyson, Lennox Lewis and George Foreman at the same time. An exceptionally good combination this one and the whisky was thick and salty with a spicy finish. Water livened the dram up and made the flavours more prominent. This was Mike’s favourite and mine.

 

An official bottling of Arran 10-year-old closed the session and came with an Arran cheese, which was salty and smoky. The whisky had a slightly feinty nose and a lightly syrupy and winey taste. Mike views is that smoked cheese goes with most whiskies and this did nothing to dispute this viewpoint.

 

Adelphi Whiskies

Later that afternoon, Alex Bruce dropped in to take us through some whiskies from Adelphi. I must caution the reader that Adelphi are alchemists and the drinks that we all thought were whiskies are, in fact, magic potions which make the drinker spend his life savings on Adelphi bottlings and then recommend that all his mates do the same. Thankfully, I was able to resist.

 

Our first taste was off a 1993 Cragganmore, hard to find as an independent bottling, at 60.2%abv. The nose was light and floral and one drop of water, literally, made the whisky sweet, syrupy and delightfully mellow with loads of honey on the finish.

Interestingly, Alex demonstrated his ‘beading test’; swirling the bottle around and watching the beads form and remain. Alex’s view is that this indicates that the whisky has excellent texture for your mouth. Below 46%abv, a whisky will not bead. Popular whisky writer Charles MacLean recommends this whisky with fish.

 

A 1990 Macallan, 57.4%abv, had a rich and velvety nose with notes of cherry. Tasting revealed that this whisky had stood up well to the sherry cask and I noticed chocolate, marmalade and a little smoke with a dry and sharp finish.

 

Our third was a Glenrothes from 2000, at 56.5%abv, which was very ‘beady’ after it’s test. This had been matured in an Oloroso sherry cask and was quite obviously, the same one I had tasted in the independent bottler’s challenge.

 

Our next three were from upcoming casks, as yet unbottled. Alex noted what flavours we detected though, in the spirit of friendship, I suggested that he burn my tasting notes as I would probably put him out of business in a couple of weeks. (Let’s face it, would you pay to read the rubbish I write?)

 

A 1990 Linkwood, at 49.3%abv, had vanilla and sherbet on the nose. The colour was dark, not through sherry, but through being matured in a re-made bourbon cask. In fact, I think this stuff was not distilled from the usual whisky ingredients but, instead, from Beyonce Knowles on the day she was covered in chocolate sauce. (Yes, it really was that delicious). The finish was of coffee, chocolate, and cough syrup. I may add that I have no idea what this tastes like with water and I have no intention of finding out, should I obtain a bottle, such was the smoothness of this dram. When we finished this, nearly all of us grilled Alex to see where we could get bottles. (See what I mean about alchemy?)

 

A 1990 Glengarioch, at 55.8%abv, had peatiness and smokiness characteristic of the distillery. Alex reckoned lemon meringue pie was on the taste and I certainly got both vanilla and lemon. I also described the finish as like pepper dancing on the tongue, much to everyone’s amusement.

 

Finally, we had ‘Breath of Islay’ from 1992 at 56.5%abv. Adelphi’s ‘Breath of' series is designed to get round the fact that some distilleries do not like to be named on independent bottlings and this had a peaty, pungent and phenolic nose. It was much lighter on the taste, however, with a lively, lightly peaty, smoky palate and a slightly short peppery finish.

I filed this tasting under ‘Does life get any better than this?’ and knocked it on the head for the day, lest my liver declare independence.

 

Macallan Vertical Tasting

Monday began with a late morning vertical tasting of Macallan, taken by Norwegian connoisseur Per Lovlie.

As Per described nosing barrels on a tour of the distillery, we opened with the 10-year-old standard bottling, widely available in the United Kingdom. This was lighter than of old and smelled of toffee and fudge, The taste, unsurprisingly, was of sherry sweetness and the finish was sharp and with a sprinkle of pepper.

 

Second was an 8-year-old from Exclusive Malts, at 54.7%. The nose was peppery and astringent and the whisky was as smooth as gargling with hot sand for two hours and then swallowing a cactus. My notepad, for this one, reads ‘Taste = nil’ and this wasn’t a good sign. It did improve on dilution to reveal cream and a light smokiness on the taste but the finish was as short as the life expectancy of someone who tries to steal my whisky. (Yes, it was that short!)

 

By contrast, Murray McDavid’s 1990 (bottled 2005) version, at 46%abv, was extremely silky. Best with a single drop of water, this went down incredibly easily. It had been matured in a bourbon cask and finished in a Banyuls wine cask, which meant that it was unrecognisable as a Macallan but, though none of the flavours apparent were very big, it had a wonderfully pleasing quality.

 

An official version, known as ‘Forties’, was next. This is an attempt by Macallan to recreate how 1940’s whisky would have tasted. The nose was rich and sherried but the taste was mostly of vanilla and seemed surprisingly tired. However, like Gremlins in the film, it sprang to life with the addition of water and I could detect fruit crumble and shortbread flavours.

 

Very kindly, the wonderful Georgie Crawford had donated a Scotch Malt Whisky Society bottling from 1990, at 56.6%abv. This was obviously very heavily sherried and had treacle on the nose. It had a smoothness I would be able to describe if I hadn’t used up all my references to Roger Moore in previous reports and had a velvety texture with loads of toffee, fudge and syrup on the palate. The finish was long and slightly prickly, this being the only slight indicator that the whisky was cask strength, rather than the possibility that a hedgehog had hibernated in the barrel during maturation.

 

Final Tasting

I took the chance to gather my strength and returned for the final tasting, taken by Mark Watt of DTC. "Whisky runs in his veins" says the advert and if you drink as much as Mark does, the same will happen to you. (Mark denies, as scandalous, rumours that he was once seen having a non-alcoholic drink).

 

Mark’s opening gambit was to tell us that DTC promotes sensible drinking and, once we had all stopped laughing, we kicked off with an 8-year-old Imperial from the ‘Battlehill’ range which offers the chance to get relatively young whiskies at 43%abv. Imperial is Mark’s favourite distillery, bar Caperdonich, and this had some lovely fresh cream and spice on the taste.

 

A 1968 Lonach Glenlivet, at 40.7%, smelled of raspberry syrup and had only a very slight woody character. It was lightly winey and delicate with a creamy finish. Mark added the surreal aside that really old whisky is so woody to taste that you are as well licking a fencepost. Amusingly, DTC launched this cask strength bottling at about the same time as Glenlivet launched their 1969 vintage. (For reference, the Lonach range is composed of old whiskies that have fallen very low in strength and often have two or three casks vatted together to bring the strength above the legal minimum.)

 

Mark likes his blends and offered us a chance to try the 33-year-old ‘Rarest of the rare’ blended whisky. This consisted of a number of whiskies closed for decades, such as Kinclaith and Ladyburn, and was bottled at 43.4%abv. Only 750 bottles of this are available and, though the flavours are not obvious, the whisky is very smooth and incredibly easy going. Mark added, only half-jokingly, that the recipe for the blend is on the label in case DTC forget what is in it.

 

As we tasted a 1989 Pulteney, at 58%abv, Mark slayed us with the story of the only ugly Danish girl in the world – so bad that not even he can drink enough to make her appealing. Despite the high strength, the whisky was smooth and salty with the taste of acid drop sweets present. The finish was brief but warming.

 

Finally, we had a 1992 Caol Ila, from the NC2 range at 46%abv, which was pungent, phenolic, peaty and smoky on the nose and exactly the same on the taste. Mark reckons that this incredibly consistent distillery is the Mortlach of Islay; such is its reputation for quality. The finish was fresh and creamy.

 

The Dregs Party

The festival finished in style, as always, with the dregs party, in the Whisky Shop.

 

Abandoning any attempts at tasting notes, I did make some observations as well as picking off some rather interesting survivors from previous tastings.

 

Mike Lord read out the winners of the independent bottler’s challenge, which were Douglas Laing for the Speyside category and Duncan Taylor for the rest of Scotland section. Mike noted some of the more amusing taste descriptions for us. Apparently, Douglas Laing’s Tomatin tastes of ‘cardigan’, Adelphi’s Glenrothes is like ‘dry ice at a disco’ and Douglas Laing’s Caol Ila is like ‘licking over freshly made road’. (Yes, you really did read that and I really did hear that.) Also, Exclusive Malts’ Bladnoch tastes of ‘Huntly’ and Adelphi Ben Nevis Blend smells like ‘Hull in the morning when ships come in’. Should any of you at home reading this, know what is meant, please avoid me like I am radioactive, as I don’t want to know.

 

With the prizes awarded, it was time to get stuck into the whisky. I found that Connoisseur’s choice  Pittyvaich 1993 and Convalmore 1981 are brilliant examples from those closed distilleries, that Old Malt Cask Benrinnes and Stronachie are well worth tasting back to back and that the second worst thing in the world is when someone makes you laugh when you are drinking whisky. The worst is when someone does it about 93 times during a tasting session. Georgie is a wonderful person, throwing some SMWS Mortlach into my glass. Don’t be seen drinking liqueurs as you will be ribbed mercilessly, just as well not to many people saw me doing it, rather than the unfortunate gentleman who was seen drinking Macallan liqueur. Also, it is a very dangerous idea to call Xenia ‘The Warrior Princess’ even if you and she are friends

 

Finally, I’d like to thank all of those involved in organising and running the festival and, in particular, Mike Lord, Steve Oliver, Georgie Crawford (good luck at Talisker, Georgie) and Alan and Susie at the Tannochbrae. I won’t be at the September festival as I’m off to spend my life savings on Adelphi whiskies and I recommend you all do the same.

 

Bruce Crichton