Tasting notes – Page 5

Lagavulin 3 Years Cask Sample

Nose: A hint of barnyard on this one, too, but mostly quite clean smoke. Less fruity than its baby brother, but some pear peel and winter apples. The barnyard disappears entirely with water, and I’m left with smoke, iron, slate and a hint of sulfur.

Palate: Now we’re talking! Too much alchohol at this strength, but still smoke, roots and coriander seeds. A little fruit appears with water, but mostly there’s smoke and more smoke.

Comments: They could bottle this, but I think I will advise maturing it for another 9-13 years. It’s nice now, but it gets better.

Lagavulin Newmake

Nose: Sulfur, apricots and recently extinguished match. With water I find more tropical fruits, “grønnsåpe” (a traditional soft soap) and ashes, and a barnyardy note.

Palate: Barnyard, ashes and apple peel. The most intense barnyard character luckily softens with water, and I’m left with red apples, peat and ashes.

Comments: I can’t remember the rather intense barnyard notes from the last time I tried this, but then that was in the warehouse at Lagavulin and I don’t know how clear-headed I was (not that I’d drunk much, neccessarily, but just being on Islay can turn your head, you know). Once it’s softened on the palate after a sufficent amount of water has been added, this is a pretty good dram, but not so good that I wouldn’t rather have them mature it for a few years. I’ve tasted far better newmake (even this week just gone) considered from a “drinking it as it is” point of view.

Myken 12 days 50%

Newmake from Myken, matured for 12 days in a heavily toasted virgin American oak cask of 5 liters capacity.

Nose: Butterscotch, yellow apples. A lot of butter. Underlying oak. Mango. Malt makes its appearance with water, so does a faint citrussy note.

Palate: Oak, butterscotch, vegetation. Slightly more bitter with water, and some sweet mango appears, otherwise much the same.

Comments: A very active cask. Not bad at all, the butterscotch is pretty dominating, but also rather nice.

Myken newmake 63.4%

In order to really test the sample of Myken newmake, I lined up two other newmakes to try in parallel. One was not even a sample, Mackmyra Vit Hund is available at Systembolaget in Sweden for 319 SEK for 50 cl bottle. The other spirit I let Myken test its mettle against was a sample of Glenburgie newmake. To my delight (yes, I will happily admit to rooting for the Myken project) the sample from Myken stood its own. The Mackmyra is perhaps more polished, but it’s also a product meant to be sold and drunk as is. The Myken spirit is intended for maturation (so is most of the spirit off the still at Mackmyra, of course, but I suspect they chose the batches for Vit Hund with care). The Glenburgien had a pleasant nose, but was unfortunately undrinkable once water was added, and that’s simply not good enough in this company.

But enough waffle, here are my impressions of the Myken newmake:

Nose: Malt, milk chocolate and wet concrete. With water sulfur emerges, but also green grapes and apples and Wasa Husmann crackerbread.

Palate: Lemon, concrete, malt and a chemical pine needle character. A little sharper with water, but the malt/barley character is also emphasised.

Comments: Pretty good, on the whole. Less fruity than the other two, but it tastes nice enough to leave me wanting more. The impression of concrete interests me (it’s an aroma I rather like), and I’ll be interested to see if it follows through in the maturation.

Mackmyra Vit Hund 46.1%

Nose: Malt first and foremost. Citrus and Haribo peaches, congeners in appropriate amounts. With water comes orange peel and orange blossom. Grilled chicken breast and apricot chutney.

Palate: Malt, a hint of sulfur, yellow apples. With water the malt turns doughy, and I get strong associations to a “Full Scottish Breakfast” without managing to pinpoint why… White pudding, perhaps? Or haggis?

Comments: Quite my cup of tea. There’d be no point in maturing this, except it results in another product entirely and so why not have the best of both worlds?

Kilchoman New Spirit 5 months 63.5%

Distilled 27 Juli 2007, 50 ppm in the malt, matured in an ex-bourbon cask, bottled 26 February 2008.

Nose: Railway sleepers and rusty iron. Apple sauce, apricots and cucumber. With water jasmine and cardamom.

Palate: Soot-covered iron construction. More ashy with water, with an underlying fruitiness.

Comments: Where can I get a proper bottle rather than this puny 5 cl? Makes me wonder what the point is to years of maturation, when this is perfectly delightful as is.

Penderyn Ayr Cymru NAS Cask 5 to 99 46%

In honour of St. David’s Day, which falls on March 1st every year, I’ve opened a bottle of whisky from Penderyn. It’s from the very first batch that was commercially available, and is no age statement, finished in Madeira casks.

Nose: Tinned peaches, honey, vanilla and spices. The spices turn towards cumin with water, and I find some yellow apples, otherwise the honey is emphasised.

Palate: Heather honey, fruit chutney, vanilla and cinnamon. A little bitterness with water, but otherwise not much difference.

Comments: I’ve sort of lost sight of Penderyn lately, it’s not available in the Nordics, so we don’t hear much about it. But this is a very drinkable “baby” (it’s NAS, but I seem to remember it being not much more than three when it was bottled around ten years ago), a pleasant sipping whisky. I am denitely taking note to try some of the more recent, older bottlings from Penderyn if a chance offers.

Glenburgie Newmake

Nose: Cinese cabbage (that’s a first), fruity, but with some strange fruits, like carambola and kumquat. Green apples and malt. With water it turns tarter and balances on a knife’s edge between fresh and …silo? Carbonated orange juice. A little mint, I get toothpaste. After a while in the glass it suddenly smells of Bamsemums (chocolate covered marshmallowy things).

Palate: Green apples and apple peel, congeners, malt and red brick. With water it develops an unpleasant, bitter note.

Comments: Exceptionally active nose, and it’s mostly all good. Unfortunately the taste collapses with water added, and it becomes undrinkable (and no, you cannot drink newmake without adding water. Sip and taste, yes, drink, no).

Spirit from Gammelstilla

We had time for a couple of quick samples of the various spirits Gammelstilla are producing, here are my hasty notes:

Gammelstilla newmake

Nose: Malt! Citrus, melon and generally a lot of fruit.

Palter: Congeners, citrus and lemon.

Comments: A very clean nose.

Gammelstilla “Nysprit” 15 months 57 %

Matured in five litre casks made from new and first fill American oak.

Nose: Vanilla, bourbon, citrus, malt, wood and sauna.

Palate: A little too heavy on the cask side, at the same time a little too young.

Comments: The nose is still impressive, promising stuff.

Gammelstilla “Nysprit” 11 months 63,1 %

Matured in 15 litre casks made from new Hungarian oak for 5.5 months and then in 15 litre ex-bourbon casks for 5.5 months.

Nose: Different. Sweeter vanilla, wood (sauna), tropical fruits; pineapple, possibly grilled.

Palate: Vanilla, wood. Bitter on the finish.

Gammelstilla Aquavit 46 %

Cask matured for up to a year. Available at Systembolaget.

Nose: Liquorice and fennel.

Palate: A lot of dill on the palate, also fennel and… rosemary?

Comments: I’m imagining it would go well with fish because of the dill.

Glencadam 10 years 46%

Nose: Lemon, malt and sour jelly sweets. With water it aquires a vague herb garden feeling, it smells like herbs, but not of a specific type and not very intensly.

Palate: Malt and vanilla. Sour jelly sweets, again, green ones. It gets a little more woody with water, but the malt is dominating throughout.

Comments: Glencadam is marketed as “Rather Delicate” (™ even), and that’s quite fitting. A good example of a light highlander with very understated cask notes. And very nice it is, too, but perhaps a little boring in the long run.