Tasting: Teeling The Revival 15 yo Rum Cask Irish Single Malt Whiskey

Teeling The Revival 15 yo Rum Cask Irish Whiskey

Dram data:Teeling The Revival 15 yo Rum Cask Irish Whiskey
Distillery: Cooley (undisclosed)
Bottler: Teeling
Distilled: 1999
Bottled: 2015
Age: 15 years
Limitation: 10.000 bottles
Casks: rum casks
Alcohol: 46%
Unchillfiltered; uncoloured
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour:
golden straw
The nose opens with a slight hint of rubbing alcohol, making place for stewed apples, pears, green apples, slightly unripe gooseberries, pineapple, grapefruit, banana chips, slight tropical spices, “fizzers” sweets (don’t know how international these are…) and a light demerara sugar note. Continue reading “Tasting: Teeling The Revival 15 yo Rum Cask Irish Single Malt Whiskey”

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Tasting: Glenrothes 1988 25 yo bottled by Archives

Glenrothes 1988 25y by Archives

Glenrothes 1988 25y by ArchivesDram data:
Distillery: Glenrothes
Bottler: Archives
Distilled: 06.06.1988
Bottled: 06.11.2013
Age: 25 years
Limitation: 213 bottles
Casks: Refill Sherry Hogshead 7318
Alcohol: 53%
Unchillfiltered; uncoloured
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour:
golden straw
The nose opens with vanilla and light, continental fruits – sweet red apples and ripe pears. Also sweet honey melon, light honey, banana chips, vanilla pudding and a slight layer of oak in the background to round things off. Not the most complex nose, but a nice, well-aged refill cask. Continue reading “Tasting: Glenrothes 1988 25 yo bottled by Archives”

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Tasting: Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve – with guest writer Jo Lawson

Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve

Forty Creek Confederation Oak ReserveDram data:
Distillery: Forty Creek
Bottler: original bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: 2010 (Lot 1867-D)
Age: NAS
Limitation: –
Casks: Canadian Oak Finish
Alcohol: 40%
most likely chill filtered and coloured
Whiskybase link

This is a special tasting today in honor of whisky blogger Johanne McInnis’ birthday today. She gave a bottle of this Canadian whisky to my friend Jo Lawson, who in turn gave me a sample so Jo and I decided to do a joint tasting blog post on it.

Ladies first!

Tasting notes Jo Lawson:
Colour: Dark honey
Nose: initial maple syrup sweetness, raisins, buttered popcorn with some underlying spices, develops into banana, vanilla and caramel.
Palate: Rich, soft and rounded, sweet oranges, white pepper, and oak, then marzipan, dates, figs and toffee.
Finish: Long, soft, slightly dry with some light spices.
Overall a rich, well balanced, complex whisky, that needs to be slowly sipped and savoured.

Tasting notes Klaus Doblmann:
Colour:
amber
The nose starts with just the faintest whiff of acetone – a wee bit bourbon’ish. Quite light, but no wonder at 40% ABV. Sweet oak notes, palm syrup, vanilla-toffee pudding, milk chocolate, chocolate chip cookies, banana split, caramelised orange peel and half a cinnamon stick. Continue reading “Tasting: Forty Creek Confederation Oak Reserve – with guest writer Jo Lawson”

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Tasting: Ardmore Triple Wood NAS

Ardmore Triple Wood NAS

Ardmore Triple Wood NASDram data:
Distillery: Ardmore
Bottler: original bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: 2015
Age: NAS
Limitation: –
Casks: ex-bourbon / quarter casks / ex-bourbon puncheons
Alcohol: 46%
Unchillfiltered; coloured
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour:
gold with an orange hue
The nose starts off with a fresh alcoholic note (menthol) paired with light peat smoke poking out underneath. Not getting too much at first here. Mint leaves, very low-alpha wet hops (wait, what?), green mango, grapefruit with kernels, tangerines, green grain and fresh malt. Continue reading “Tasting: Ardmore Triple Wood NAS”

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Tasting: Ardmore 12 yo Port Wood Finish

The Ardmore 12 yo Port Wood Finish

The Ardmore 12 yo Port Wood FinishDram data:
Distillery: Ardmore
Bottler: original bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: 2015
Age: 12
Limitation: –
Casks: ex-bourbon / “half port casks” finish
Alcohol: 46%
Unchillfiltered; coloured

Tasting notes:
Colour:
red-gold
The nose opens with light, fragrant, aromatic peat smoke on sweeter notes – the additional maturation in port casks is definitely very noticeable here. Dark, red, sweet grapes with skin, rose wine, sweet grape juice, nectarines, plum distillate, Port. Vanilla from the american oak barrels is also still present, as is a hint of spices and a dry note. Continue reading “Tasting: Ardmore 12 yo Port Wood Finish”

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Tasting: Kavalan Solist Sherry NAS 20cl bottle

Kavalan Solist Sherry NAS 20cl bottle

Kavalan Solist Sherry NAS 20cl bottleDram data:
Distillery: Kavalan
Bottler: original bottling
Distilled: –
Bottled: 18.04.2014
Age: NAS
Limitation: –
Casks: Old ex-solera Sherry Casks
Alcohol: 57%
Unchillfiltered; natural colour
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour:
mahogany
Finally on my table and in my glass – the much talked-about Kavalan Solist Sherry Oak whisky. Time to find out what all this hype is about! The nose opens with a noticeable alcoholic note – no wonder at 57% ABV. Underneath the alcohol are intense ex-sherry aromas from supposedly real 20-year-old ex-solera system sherry casks! Don’t even bother looking for the distillery character – that’s a dry sherry cask driven dram! Right, about 10 minutes have passed now – the alcoholic note moved a bit to the background, so let’s see what we can get: Very intense! Full-on! In-your-face! Lots of dried dark fruits, mostly dates and figs but with a dry sherry note on top. Continue reading “Tasting: Kavalan Solist Sherry NAS 20cl bottle”

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Scotch Single Malt distillery recommendations from a price/performance standpoint

Many different kinds of casks in use at Ardbeg
Many different kinds of casks in use at Ardbeg
So much whisky, so little time

So my last piece on this blog was more or less a rant about ever increasing whisky prices. Soon after that my Facebook friend and Arran Whisky Ambassador Andy Bell challenged me:

Let’s see an article about the distilleries that sell good whisky at a reasonable price Klaus… 🙂

Right on, Andy – great suggestion! I’ll gladly pick up this ball and run with it. So, here goes. I took a list of all Scottish single malt distilleries and looked at the current officially bottled market offerings of all of them (Austrian/German markets). In the end I came up with a few suggestions of Scottish whisky distilleries which seem to still care for us regular punters looking for quality drams at still reasonable and affordable prices in today’s high-price market.
I tried to stay as objective as possible during the whole process but, of course, there is always personal opinion and preference and not everybody might agree with me – which is perfectly fine as whisky is a very individual drink! Those are just my recommendations – imagine me walking a mate through a liquor store pointing out individual bottles and distilleries as we go along.

The distilleries on the following list stand out because they fulfill all or most of these criteria:
– offer a range of affordable whiskies, not just one affordable entry-level bottling
– do not chill filter or add fake colouring to the majority of their whiskies
– bottle their whiskies (except for bottom-shelf entry-level releases) at higher than the legal minimum of 40% ABV
– still offer a good selection of age-statement drams and don’t overly push no-age-statement expressions
– plus some other reasons, like independent ownership, number of people employed… (stated in the text) Continue reading “Scotch Single Malt distillery recommendations from a price/performance standpoint”

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Blind Tasting: McClelland’s Islay NAS (undisclosed Bowmore)

McClelland's Islay NAS (undisclosed Bowmore)

McClelland's Islay NAS (undisclosed Bowmore)Dram data:
Distillery: Bowmore
Bottler: McClelland’s (Morrison Bowmore)
Distilled: –
Bottled: ca. 2014 (code L142025)
Age: NAS
Limitation: –
Casks: –
Alcohol: 40%
Chillfiltered; natural colour
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour:
gold
Oh, a blind tasting! I love blind tastings! Let’s see what we’ve got here! The nose opens on the fruity and sweet side. Heather honey, caramelised orange peel, vanilla pudding powder, candy floss, baked red apples with cinnamon, cloves and demerara sugar. Mellow oak notes in the background too – I think this dram is in its early to mid teens. Continue reading “Blind Tasting: McClelland’s Islay NAS (undisclosed Bowmore)”

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Whisky prices: Where we are, where we were and where will we go?

This cask needs a medic...
This cask needs a medic...
This cask needs a medic – does the industry need one too?

I love browsing the different whisky retailers’ websites, discovering all the new releases and shiny new bottles on offer. Or should I say “I loved”? Browsing the online shops nowadays leaves me mostly indifferent, sometimes saddened, and with less excitement every single time.

Here’s why, this is a selection of recently released bottles at a German online retailer: Continue reading “Whisky prices: Where we are, where we were and where will we go?”

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Tasting: (Undisclosed) Talisker 10 yo by Adelphi (Fascadale Release 2)

(Undisclosed) Talisker 10 yo by Adelphi

(Undisclosed) Talisker 10 yo by AdelphiDram data:
Distillery: Most likely Talisker
Bottler: Adelphi (Fascadale Release 2)
Distilled: –
Bottled: 2010
Age: 10 years
Limitation: 3746 bottles
Casks: –
Alcohol: 46%
unchillfiltered; natural colour
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour:
hay
An independently bottled Talisker. Don’t see that too often. Let’s see what it’s like! The nose opens with peat smoke and brine, white pepper, the typical chili catch note combined with quite a bit of fresh menthol and some chalk (scallop shells?)
Continue reading “Tasting: (Undisclosed) Talisker 10 yo by Adelphi (Fascadale Release 2)”

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