single malt – Page 2 – drikkelig.no

Old Pulteney 1989 25 years 54.1%

Distilled 15 November 1989, bottled at the distillery by Leif Olav 23 May 2015, cask number 4148.

Nose: Fruity. Candied oranges, passionfruit, dried apricot, vanilla and oaky perfumes. With water it gets a faintly perfumed smokiness, incense, perhaps?

Palate: Chocolate confectionery. Dark chocolate with a pssion fruit filling, brittle and i touch of salt. Engine oil shows up when water is added, as does old, dry oak. The finish is long and consists of oak, dark chocolate and dark cherries.

Comments: Very nice indeed. Classic Old Pulteney in many respects, and age has weathered it nicely without letting the oak take over. I’ve only got a sample, unfortunately, I’d really like a bottle – or five – of this one.

Mackmyra Preludium: 03 52.2%

This edition of Preludium is from Mackmyra’s smoked newmake variety that has matured in ex sherry casks.

Nose: Malt, slight smokey character and liquorice. Water brings out fruit, both fresh tropical and something dried, possibly apricots. A somewhat sharp, young off-note is also present.

Palate: Liquorice and a slight smokiness, but also a somewhat woolly, murky “chemical” feel. With water the liquorice is still present, but also raisins and some congeners.

Comments: This is probably the best Preludium I’ve tasted, though that is not neccessarily saying much as my impression of the series as a whole is not very good (though I AM a fan of much of what Mackmyra has released in later years). Smoke and sherry does a lot to conceal any off-notes, so that even though this also has a “young and unfinished” feel, it’s far from undrinkable.

Springbank 12 years 43%

In a ceramic jug, from the 1990ies.

Nose: Raisins, milk chocolate, caramellised something, fried butter and a little eucalyptus. Water brings out the sherry and some congeners, a hint of cellar, possibly some mould.

Palate: Burnt sugar and oak cask. With water the wood tastes rawer, there are a fair few congeners, but also toffee and sherry notes.

Comments: Somewhat strange on the nose, but not at all unpleasant. The congeners are a pluss, they help make the dram more interesting. I prefer the roughness of this to the elegance of the 17 year old. It’s ovbiously worth keeping a look out for these old bottlings.

Springbank Sherry Wood 17 years 52.3%

Nose: Sweed Panda liquorice, Allsorts also, orange marmelade. With water the buttery part of butterscotch and after a while in the glass a hint of smoke.

Palate: Oak. Water opens it up and I find liquorice and eventually the familiar Springbank bitterness, but on this one it’s not overwhelming.

Comments: Very clean and elegant, not a sherry bomb at all. A little too clean and elegant, in that it gets a little boring after a while, but very nice, by all means.

Dufftown Glenlivet 8 years 40%

Like the Aberlour Glenlivet, this is an older bottling, bottled in the 80ies.

Nose: Dark toffee and dried cranberries. With a lot of water it acquires some maltiness and a hint of fresh fruit.

Palate: More dark toffee and some milk chocolate. Negligible development with water.

Comments: Does nothing to change my impression of Dufftown distillery; They make perfectly decent, but incredibly boring whisky.

Aberlour Glenlivet 8 years 43%

An Aberlour bottled in the 1980ies, when adding “Glenlivet” to your label was still in vogue.

Nose: Butterscotch, some dry oak. Water brings out a little fruit; apples and some pineapple.

Palate: Fudge with rum-raisin flavour. With water, slate and more fudge.

Comments: Not the most complex of whiskies, but definitely a nice every-day sort of dram. Just the tiny hitch of it being unavailable nowadays, of course.

Lille Gadegaard Bornholmsk Whisky Nr 3 51.5%

Lille Gadegaard is a vineyard, but in 2005 they also started distilling malt whisky. The spirit is matured in french oak casks that have been used for maturing the vineyard’s red wine first.

Nose: Relatively rough, with oaky notes and acetone. With water burnt rubber takes over the nose and blocks any other aromas.

Palate: Tobacco, some acetone, oak and burnt rubber. Raisins or other dried fruits on the finish. Hardly any development with water.

Comments: This is an example of how wrong you can go with “speed maturation”, this is both too young (which the nose proclaims loudly) and at the same time the cask influence is too heavy. I think the spirit in itself is pretty decent, but it’s hard to tell, because it’s not been given the chance to shine. The taste is better than the nose in this one, the tobacco saves it from being totally undrinkable.

Box The Explorer 48.3%

Nose: Singed juniper wood and juniper berries. Lemon. Vanilla and coffee, and spices; chai? More of everything with water, but also chalk and mineral notes.

Palate: A lot. Let’s see: Immediately a little burnt rubber and liquorice, then herbs and after a while oak planks and one the finish coffee. The chalk makes and appearance on the palate as well with water.

Comments: I’ve poured a The Challenger in another glass to compare the two, and I still find Challenger closed on the nose. Explorer has more of a full in-your-face-nose. But they are both good. Very good, in fact. In six months the fourth and last bottling of The Early Days Collection will be released. I will be ready and waiting on the date of release, and once I’ve got it I will, of course, have a quadrupel paralell tasting. I’m already looking forward to it.

Audny Series 3 4 years Cask 1000 46%

Nose: Menthol and Knott (a sort of sweet with mint and liquorice flavours). Vanilla and malt, and green wood. More (sharp) herbs with water, but water also brings out the (very) young character of the whisky.

Palate: Young malt spirit. Congeners and malt. Some menthol and something pussy willowish. A little more bitterness with water, vanilla bitterness and dry oak. With even more water I get black tea.

Comments: Too young. Since I actually kind of like newmake that doesn’t necessarily scare me off, but as “whisky” this is too unfinished even for me. But it’s fun to keep an eye on the progress of the Norwegian distilleries, and I’m kicking myself for failing to purchase a bottle of Audny Series 2.

I poured a dram of the Series 1 to compare them, and can report that it has developed somewhat in a half-full bottle. The nose is now more toffeeish, and has improved, I think, whereas the palate is sharper and immediately somewhat unpleasant.

Imperial 1976 35 years Old Malt Cask 50%

Matured in a refill butt, bottled 2011, DL Ref 7431.

I’m expecting to find this too oaky, considering its age, so let’s see if that’s a self-fulfilling prophesy or not.

Nose: Vanilla and orange peel, malt and melon. With water oak and bitter, dark chocolate. After some time in the glass it develops more fruitiness and I am put in mind of Jucy Fruit chewing gum.

Palate: Tobacco smoke, oak, cinnamon bark. More bitter with water, still with a rather strange smokiness. The bitterness disappears after some time in the glass, but is replaced by something plastic-ish.

Comments: An odd thing. Not too oaky in the way I expected, at least, but still not entirely pleasant.

Thanks to StianT for the sample.