Tag: 2015 | MaltKlaus' Daily Drams

August 31, 2016October 7, 2016

Tasting: Kilchoman 100% Islay 5th edition / 2015

Dram data:
Distillery: Kilchoman
Bottler: original bottling
Distilled: 10.2009
Bottled: 06.05.2015
Age: 5 yo
Limitation: 10.000 bottles
Cask: ex-bourbon
Alcohol: 50%
unchillfiltered; natural colour
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour: straw
A whisky made from 100% Islay ingredients. Barley grown on Islay, malted in Kilchoman’s own floor maltings, dried over Islay peat, distilled, matured and bottled on site. Well, bottle, cork and cardboard box are not from Islay, but everything else is. Let’s stick our nose in!
The nose opens with a whiff of alcohol, but you can already taste barley sweetness and (comparatively) light peat notes underneath. Let it breath for a minute or two. Now we get the gentle side of the peaty Islay drams. Sweet wort going into the fermenters with a splash of lemon on top, ginger, tangerine peel and canned tangerines, physalis, unobtrusive vanilla, a hint of honey, Werther’s Original sweets, a mineral, chalky note, and, of course, light peat. Nowhere near as loud as the south coast Islay drams or the Kilchoman whisky made from commercial peat, but still rather noticeable, it’s definitely an Islay dram. It seems to be a sweeter style of peat too, if such a thing even exists. Yum, this is exquisite! Young, but already very, very good! Continue reading “Tasting: Kilchoman 100% Islay 5th edition / 2015”

June 14, 2016October 7, 2016

Tasting: Glentauchers 1996 / 2015 by Gordon & MacPhail

Dram data:
Distillery: Glentauchers
Bottler: Gordon&MacPhail
Distilled: 1996
Bottled: 2015
Age: 18/19 years
Limitation: –
Casks: first fill sherry butts
Alcohol: 43%
chill filtered and uncoloured
Whiskybase link

Tasting notes:
Colour: light honey
The nose opens on the rich, fruity-sweet and spicy side. The first impression reminds me of mulled apple wine with loads of rock sugar. Sweet baked apples with cloves and cinnamon powder, heather honey, dried pineapple, dried apricots, dried orange zest, reduced orange juice, roasted almonds and a very well-integrated oaky richness in the background. A rich, fruity, spicy delight! Continue reading “Tasting: Glentauchers 1996 / 2015 by Gordon & MacPhail”

December 31, 2015October 7, 2016

2015 in review, my personal whisky awards and an outlook of what’s coming in 2016

Wolfburn: The two whiskies we got to taste

2015 in review

2015 was a schizophrenic year. It was a great one and a bad one. Let’s start with the good stuff, shall we?
I managed to churn out 117 whisky reviews – that amounts to about one review every three days. I’m quite happy with that and although other bloggers get much more done I prefer to take it easy and be thorough – and that can mean taking two hours just to write about one whisky. Quality, not quantity, both in my writing and in my consumption of alcohol.
I attended only two whisky festivals, the biannual Vienna whisky festival and the Finest Spirits in Munich. Both are fantastic ways to meet fellow whisky enthusiasts, try good malts and make new friends, but at least Munich was so crowded it was almost too much to bear. At times one couldn’t even move. Talking about crowded: I expected Feis Ile 2015 to be much more crowded than it was. Sure enough, there were many people there, but the limited housing and ferry capacities put a cap on the number of visitors – and that’s a good thing. My first Feis and probably not my last, though I prefer visiting Islay in the quieter months. Nonetheless, Feis Ile was a big party, meeting many people – old friends and new ones – and bonds for life were formed. Not a day goes by when I don’t think back! Continue reading “2015 in review, my personal whisky awards and an outlook of what’s coming in 2016”