Tasted at Casc in Aberdeen.
Nose: Oak and vanilla, liquorice.
Palate: Oak, orange marmelade and orange peel, furniture polish, hemp used to caulk the barrel.
Comments: Well. Ok, but hardly anything to shout about.
Tag: single malt
Port Ellen PE5 Elements of Islay 57.9%
Nose: Vanilla, baked apples and light smoke. Water turns the apples tarter and adds wax, salt, slate and a little seaweed. A bonfire on the beach and malt.
Palate: Smoked meat, vanilla, unripe melon and smoke. The smoke becomes more obvious with water, which also adds waxy malt and a hint of pepper.
Comments: A Port Ellen that goes a long way towards confirming the legendary status of the distillery. There is something a little off on the taste, which keeps me from scoring it as a bullseye. But it’s not bad, and it’s complex enough to keep me searching for words to describe what I’m smelling and tasting until the dram is done and beyond. Probably one of the last Port Ellens I’ll ever had, unless I get hold of more samples. The prices for Port Ellen nowadays has entered the ridiculous sphere, and I can’t even be bothered thinking about it.
Thanks to Håvard for the sample.
Ardbeg Auriverdes 49.9%
Nose: It smells like Ardbeg. Well, ok, smoke, a little banana, log cabin, a little varnish and some dark chocolate. Water brings out a bit of wax and rosemary and leaves a lot of smoke.
Palate: Smoky log cabin and dark chocolate. Cold rock on the finish. With water the smoke is still dominant, but I find some tropical fruits and a hint of menthol. A little bitterness develops on the finish, and I conclude I prefered it without water.
Comments: For a peathead this is obviously not bad, but it’s not exactly worth the asking price, either. You get smoke, and plenty of it, cheaper from other sources. The nose is best with a little water, the taste without. I will probably drink the rest of my share (I split the bottle with a couple of other people) without adding water.
Kilkerran Work in Progress 5 Sherry Wood 46%
Nose: Lemon-scented detergent (but more lemon than detergent, thankfully) and dry sherry. Water does not really change much, though less obvious alchohol lessens the impression of detergent.
Palate: Dry wood, citrus and a somewhat sickening sweeteness. Wood varnish. With water I get bitter orange peel.
Comments: I strongly prefer the bourbon wood. This one is just a decent dram, there’s nothing special about it at all.
Kilkerran Work in Progress 5 Bourbon Wood 46%
Nose: Young wood, lime, juniper wood and vanilla. With water I find more citrus and lemon, dry herbs (rosemary?) and malt.
Palate: Dry wood, vanilla, spruce needles and citrus. Water brings out a more bitter woody note, but also malt and dusty wooden floors.
Comments: Not exactly unpleasant. I like WIP 1 the best, and regret not buying more. However, this is quite pleasant enough to make WIP 6 tempting.
Bunnahabhain Eirigh Na Greine 46.3%
Well, I can’t say I was jumping for joy when I discovered that Bunnahabhain have discontinued Darach Ur and replaced it with another Travel Retail Exclusive. I would have liked a little forewraning, at least, so that I could stockpile some bottles of one of my favourite whisky bottlings EVER. Well. Since I have liked what Bunnahabhain have done with their NAS bottlings in general, I picked up an Eirigh Na Greine when I cam through Aberdeen Dyce on my way home from the Orkneys (more, much more, on that later).
Nose: Malt and sweet plums, dryish wood fire, milk chocolate. With water I get chutney made from tropical fruits, with more water the fruity impression becomes fresher.
Palate: Malt, spices, orange peel, tropical fruits, milk chocolate. A lightly bitter finish. Water brings out digestives with orange marmalade.
Comments: Slightly too bitter on the finish for my palate, and it does not hit the mark in teh way the Darach Ur did. Still, it’s a pretty good dram, with a lot of action both on the nose and the taste considering the price.
Bunnahabhain 24 years 1988 Signatory Cask Strength 55.9%
From an ex-sherry butt #2800. Tasted at Casc in Aberdeen.
Nose: A lot of alchohol, chocolate covered cherries. With water it turns more towards orange marmelade.
Palate: A lot of alchohol, oak and dark chocolate. Water brings out orange marmelade spiced with ginger.
Comments: There is something vaguely smoky both on the nose and palate – dry and ashy – I’m wondering whether it comes from the oak or whether the spirit is actually smoky. A very good dram, but worth the money (GBP 13.10 for one dram)? Well, considering what Bunna is doing with NAS bottlings at the moment… probably not.
Bladnoch 6 years Lightly Peated 58.5%
This completes the series. The first bottlings of Bladnoch from Armstrong & Co: Bourbon Matured, Sherry Matured and here Lightly Peated.
Nose: Subtle smoke, wood fired sauna, vanilla and vanilla sauce. With water the vanilla is emphasised, but not in a good way. It is most reminiscent of vanilla sauce made from powder that has been somewhat burned and then left to coagulate in the pot over night. There is something artificially intense over the vanilla.
Palate: Cloying wood, vanilla, and wet, rotting, singed wood. More vanilla sauce with water, though lightly smoked vanilla sauce.
Comments: The advantage of owning one’s own distillery is being able to experiment. The disadvantage is that, unless you have access to unlimited means, you sooner or later have to bottle and sell the results of your experiments. This particular bottling is not a complete disaster, it’s drinkable, but only just. The palate is all right once the water has removed the rotting wood note, and again I’m left wanting some sort of complexity.
Bladnoch 6 years Sherry Matured 59.6%
So this is the sherry variety of the botlings released by Bladnoch in 2008. Tasting notes for the bourbon matured here, Lightly Peated to follow.
Nose: Butterscotch and dried cranberries, hints of oak. Water brings out yellow flowers and resin, but the main impression is still butterscotch.
Palate: Caramel sauce with a side note of burnt rubber. Did someone use the wrong kind of implement to stir the hot caramel? The burnt taste is emphasised with water, but the rubbery note fades a little.
Comments: No skimping on the cask influence here. When I tasted these three the first time, I seem to remember prefering the Bourbon Matured, but that has changed. This Sherry Matured is no star, but I wouldn’t mind drinking a few drams. It lacks complexity, and both nose and palate is dominiated by butterscotch, but the young age is camouflaged by the cask and it would work as a session whisky.
Dailuaine 1973 30 years First Cask 46%
Distilled 14 Desember 1973, cask number 15933. First Cask is a series of bottling from Direct Wines Ltd.
Nose: Lemon and lemongrass, goosberries and oak. With water my mind turns to jasmin and incence, but there is still quite a bit of lemon.
Palate: Oak, heather and mildly rotting fruit. More bitter with water, but also more vanilla and fresher fruit.
Comments: This must be ex bourbon, and not a very active cask, either. Not bad, but not so good that I will mourn its passing, bottle kill will happen this evening, there are only about two drams left in the bottle.