Category: Tasting notes

Highland Park 12 years old times two

A parallel tasting of the old version of Highland Park 12 years old, bottled in the late eighties at 43% abv, against the current version of Highland Park 12 years old, also bottled at 43% abv.

Highland Park 12 years 80ies to the left, Highland Park 12 years 2013 to the right
Highland Park 12 years 80ies to the left, Highland Park 12 years 2013 to the right

Colour: The old version is considerably darker than the new one. But as they are both undoubtably coloured with E150, this doesn’t tell us much (except, perhaps, what impression the distillery wants us to get when looking at the whisky).

Old version

Nose: Sweet woodiness, wax or Play-Doh, milk chocolate, plum in Madeira and ashes mixed with grain dust. Water brings out citrus, lemon and lemongrass, but also some other herb. Thyme?

Palate: Play-Doh, orange peel and orange marmelade, honey.

New version

Nose: Wooden notes, but lacking the sweetness of the other. Somewhat barren vegetation, juniper trees and non-flowering heather. After a while in the glass it releases some congeners and appears younger, but with a little water this disappears and I get citrus and a hint of smoke. After even more time I suddenly get “krumkaker”.

Palate: Rougher than its older cousin. Oak and some sort of dried spice. Orange marmalade on the finish. With water I get chocolate, but a dark and somewhat bitter variety. Some lemon and citrussy notes.

Comments: It is interesting to see how different these are, but that there are still common threads. For example they both react to water by releasing citrussy notes. The new version gives the impression of being younger, which will count against it for a lot of people, and it is wholly lackig the waxy notes I found on the old version. To someone who loved the old version, the new “design” will probably seem all wrong, but I think I prefer it (marginally). Both are excellent “standard whiskies”, neither is a perfect ten. I would not complain being served a dram of Highland Park 12 years old (no matter what decade you purchased the bottle) but somewhere with a wide selection I would be likely to look for something more exciting.

Thanks to Morten and Håvard for the samples.

Glen Spey 17 years Cadenhead Small Batch 46%

From 2 ex-bourbon hogsheads. Blind tasting.

Nose: Immediately some gin notes, juniper and a hint of liquorice. That disappears after a while and instead I get orange, milk chocolate and eventually malt. Water brings out pear ice lollies and vanilla.

Palate: Orange chutney (is there such a thing?), in other words: Spiced orange marmalade. Grain dust and a little metal.

Comment: I like it. I’d love a top-up and would even buy a bottle if the chance offered.

Old Pulteney Noss Head 46%

From Old Pulteney’s Lighthouse series, which is only available at Travel Retail. Noss Head is from ex-bourbon casks. Blind tasting.

Nose: Curry, coriander and garam masala. With water I also get green apples, malt and rock dust.

Palate: There is something curryish on the palate as well, but also malt and vanilla.

Comment: An unexpected nose and taste combination, I must say, but I rather like it. I need to try to get hold of another sample and try it again to see if it’s just my nose that’s out of whack today. And if this is how it appears to me consistently, I will probably try to get hold of a bottle, because this is unusual – but good – stuff.

Box The Pioneer 48.1%

box_pioneerNose: A bit rough, you can smell its age. Pear lollies and spruce. Water adds bay leaf and lemon, rosemary and some congeners. More water tames the congeners and brings out the malt.

Palate: There’s something undefinably young on the palate as well, but it’s a well-balanced dram, with black pepper and wood, a hint of acetone and something fruity. Plums, perhaps? Water emphasises the acetone, but also provides peach jelly and more wood. With quite a lot of water it blossoms. The pepper is still there, but otherwise I get vanilla ice cream with lemon balm.

Comments: It presents as somewhat too young, but with enough water it’s quite nice. I remeber the Försmak edition I tasted at TWF as less congener-affected, but then that was a peated version and peat does conceal rather a lot. I’ve poured another and let it stand for half an hour or so to breathe, and that has helped a lot. I doubt I’ll add water now, it’s nice as is. The overall judgement is promising rather than perfect, but then I guess the destillery would agree, they have, after all, released it as an early days edition.

Lost Spirits Leviathan II 53%

Leviathan II, according to Lost Spirits, has a ppm of 110 (measured in the malt, I assume) from American peat and has been matured in ex-Semillion casks, casks that have been used to mature white wine, in other words.

Nose: Newmake (sulfur and malt spirit). Sweet yeallow raisins. Apple pie and custard.

Palate: Smoke, but wrapped in interesting ways. Raisins, peat smoke and dark chocolate with coffee notes, especially on the finish.

Comments: First and foremost: Weird. A somewhat split personality, as if it needs more time, either in the cask (well, the newmake character would suggest that anyway) or in the vat. Did they skip the marrying period? I’d also seriously consider other casks for further maturation, or at least some other casks in the mix.  However weird, though, I don’t dislike it. Rather the opposite. Once you get past the newmake on the nose it’s rather nice in its way. Smoked dark chocolate with raisins? Who wouldn’t buy that? The VERY young nose detracts, though. And who knows where the 110 ppm ended up, not in the bottle, that’s for sure. Peat monster it ain’t.

Thanks to Daniel for the sample.

Eagle Rare 10 år Single Barrel 45 %

Nose: Dark chocolate, cardamum and oaky perfume. Water brings out citrus, especially orange, some lilacs and lemon curd. Somehow I end up thinking about old fashioned ladies’ soap.

Palate: Wet, warm wood (as in a wet sauna) with a vague rotting note (an old sauna, obviously). With water I get soap, citrus and perfume.

Comments: The nose is quite nice, though perhaps a bit too perfumey. On the palate I can choose between rotting wood without water and soap with water and my answer has to be “I’ll pass”. Not undrinkable, but teetering on the edge.

Thanks to Daniel for the sample.

Mackmyra Vit hund Newmake 46.1%

The newmake bottled as Vit hund is of the variety Mackmyra calls “Elegant”, distilled from unpeated malt.

mackmyra_vithund

Nose: Sulfur, a touch of apricots, clear malt notes, like a grain store. Almonds and a little fennel. With water I get lemon and a bit of acetone, then honeydew melon and almond essence. Sulfur and congeners throughout.

Palate: Spice, peaches, hint of pineapple. Grainstore as well. A sharp note on the finish. With water there are more spices; cardamum and coriander, as well as baked, mealy apples.

Comments: This is nice enough to beg the question of whether maturing it is really neccessary. On the other hand it’s nice in a very different way than whisky, so perhaps, “Both, please” is the correct response. There is a lot both on the nose and the palate, and it opens beautifully with water. There is newmake roughness, of course, but that is to be expected and personally I rather like it (if you like your whisky smelling of tar I guess you may like sulfur as well, though there will probably be a lot of people who like one or the other and some will like none). Clear malty and grainy notes leave you in no doubt what sort of spirit this is, also a good thing.

 

Bunnahabhain Bn2 Elements of Islay 56.1%

The Elements of Islay series is bottled by Speciality Drinks.

Nose: Light smokyness, green wood burning, with rather a lot of leaves still on the branches. Banana and honey. More fruitiness and sweetness with water, barbequed peaches and rosemary.

Palate: Cold fireplace, ashes and coal. Maltiness and sweetness. Water lights the fire (strangely enough), the smoke becomes warmer. Underneath there is banana toffee and yellow apples.

Comments: I can only state (categorically) that peated Bunnahabhains are nice. Very nice.

Thanks to Daniel for the sample.

Bunnahabhain Liddesdale Batch #4 21 år Adelphi 46%

Nose: Plum in madeira, green herbs, burnt wood and a hint of burnt rubber, orange marmelade. With water I get mint and aniseed, but still a lot of marmelade and burnt wood.

Palate: Warm wood, hints of burnt rubber, candied orange peel. A little more bitterness with water, otherwise much the same.

Comments: The nose is nice, the palate a little boring, but it’s a nice enough dram overall.