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Fahrenheit 173 - Aged Spirits

"I'm not an alcoholic, I'm an alcohologist"

Mackmyra's best (and worst) whisky to date

28-Jul-2010  
Mackmyra Special:04

The Swedish whisky dis­til­lery Mackmyra continues to make periodic releases, now under the "Special" moniker. Like in the earlier "Preludium" series, each bottling is a vatting of one or more of Mack­myra's six recipes: peated or unpeated distillate aged in ex-bourbon, ex-sherry or fresh Swedish oak casks. These vattings show an in­ter­est­ing variation in style but some of the combinations clearly work better than others... Today I tried the two latest releases, the Special:03 (from late last year) and the 04 (released this summer).

Mackmyra Special:03 48.2%:
Nice nose with sherry, oak and wood smoke, also vanilla and citrus. The palate is another matter: at first there's a musty oakiness, then citrus, then a pang of fresh pepper­mint which fades into the spicy finish. All in all it's in­ter­est­ing but quite splintered. (77 p)

Mackmyra Special:04 53.0%:
Very nice fragrant nose with oak shavings, vanilla, apricot marmalade and pears in syrup - maybe a little heavy on the oak, however. The palate is at first mild and light, quite sweet and fruity (almost tart) then de­velops oak and heat. The finish is peppery and fiery yet quite nice. (85 p)

Related links:
All my tast­ing notes on Mack­myra whisky
Photos of the Mack­myra dis­til­lery
Mackmyra dis­til­lery website


Four old Strathislas from Gordon & MacPhail

30-Jun-2010  
Mackmyra Special:04

Strathisla 25 y.o. (40%):
Wonderful, richly sherried nose with notes of raisins and prunes but also light notes of citrus and pepper­mint. Rich, sweet palate, also quite oaky and spicy - but the oak is nicely offset by notes of lemon and mint. Fairly dry and oaky yet nice finish with notes of orange and gin­ger­bread. (89 p)

Strathisla 30 y.o. (43%):
Dense, a little earthy nose with oak, dried fruits and ginger, also flowery with a hint of citrus. Rich, quite oaky yet very nice palate with light notes of linseed oil, pepper­mint and aniseed. Drying with a very dry, very oaky finish. (88 p)

Strathisla 40 y.o. (43%):
Wonderful, fragrant nose with notes of sherry and oak, also leather, turpentine and citrus fruits. Rich, sweet palate with nice notes of gin­ger­bread and orange. Drying, de­velops oak. Dry, spicy, oaky finish (well, that's understandable after 40 years in wood...) (90 p)

Strathisla 1960 (bottled 2002, 40%):
Amazing, complex nose with notes of gin­ger­bread, prunes, oak, pepper­mint, cinnamon, apple pie and calvados. The palate is at first sweet, smooth and very nice but drying, de­velops spices and a lot of oak. The oak dominates the dry, rather dis­ap­point­ing finish. (91 p)


Amrut - Indian single malt whisky

11-May-2010  
Amrut

Amrut, the Indian single malt whisky, has grown quite pop­ular recently. I've read sev­eral reviews of Amrut that have made me quite curious - Gordon's tast­ing notes on Spirit of Islay are es­pe­cially positive. It's about time I tried Amrut myself, I thought, so I picked up three minis at a visit to a certain German whisky fair...

The Amrut dis­til­lery is situated in Bangalore and was es­tab­lished in 1948. However, it wasn't until 2003 or so that they started dis­til­ling a single malt whisky. The malted barley used comes from the north of India ("grown at the feet of the Himalayas") but their peated whiskies are made from barley sourced in Scotland. The climate is such that the whisky evap­or­ates quite quickly during maturation - the casks apparently lose over 10% of their content per year. In contrast to the conditions in Scotland, the water evap­or­ates quicker than the alcohol thus the alcoholic strength actually increases over time!

Now to my tast­ing notes:

Amrut 46%:
Nice nose with malt, honey, citrus and an oaky spiciness. Without water the palate is quite hot and de­velops a lot of oak. Oaky, spicy, dis­ap­point­ing finish. With a little water added the oak recedes a bit which reveals a nice sweetness and fresh notes of orange and lime. Nice, oaky, peppery finish with citrus fruits. All in all rather nice and moreish although still a bit on the oaky side. (85 p)

Amrut Fusion 50%:
Made from Indian unpeated malt and Scottish peated malt. Peaty, malty nose, also earthy and musty (but that works well with the peat) with a note of citrus. Sweet, peaty palate, de­velops very nice notes of mint and citrus. Dis­ap­point­ing finish with mostly oak. All in all it's nice yet a bit unbal­anced. But an in­ter­est­ing experiment! (84 p)

Amrut Peated 62.8%:
Made from Scottish malt peated at 24 ppm. Rather nice nose - quite peaty with a note of iodine, also a little earthy with a cereal note. Quite sweet, quite peaty palate. It's youngish yet rather nice and de­velops nice notes of mint and citrus. Very nice finish with peat, iodine and a little oak. (85 p)


Tomatin single malt

5-May-2010  
Tomatin

Tomatin (pronounced to rhyme with "satin") lies in the village of the same name a little south of Inverness in the Scottish Highlands. By production capacity, it's one of the largest dis­til­leries in Scotland, although the current rate of production is only a fraction of its potential.

Most of the Tomatin single malt goes into blends - Antiquary and Talisman that I know of - and it's fairly unknown as a single. (Until now, the only official bottling I had tried was a lack-lustre 10 y.o.)

The owners have recently started marketing Tomatin more actively and they have also released sev­eral new ex­pres­sions. At the Limburg whisky fair I tasted four official bottlings, as well as an older whisky from Duncan Taylor:

Tomatin 15 y.o. 43%: (100% bourbon wood)
Nice nose with apricot, orange, vanilla and oak. Rich, fruity, fairly oaky palate with apricot marmalade. Unfortunately the oak and the fruits don't fully agree. Nice, oaky finish (needed a drop of water because of the weak nose and slightly hot palate). (83 p)

Tomatin 18 y.o. 46%: (bourbon wood, Oloroso sherry finished)
Nice, complex nose with gin­ger­bread, caramelized sugar, orange and a nice note of oak. Rich yet dry palate with sherry fruits, oak and notes of honey and mint (too dry and oaky without water but nice with a few drops). (84 p)

Tomatin 21 y.o. 52%: (a vatting of six bourbon casks and one sherry butt)
Nice yet quiet nose with honey and gin­ger­bread. Complex, rather nice palate with honey and gin­ger­bread again, also white pepper, orange marmalade and a little oak. Oaky, spicy finish (perhaps a little too oaky). (87 p)

Tomatin 1995 cask 8510 12 y.o. 58.4%: (refill bourbon barrel)
Rich, thick nose with lots of fruits, among them pear, apple and orange, also oak. Rich, sweet, fruity palate, also spicy and oaky - un­for­tu­nately a little too oaky. Oaky yet nice finish. (85 p)

Tomatin 1976 cask 6816 33 y.o. 51.6% (Duncan Taylor):
Very nice nose: complex and unusual with notes of vanilla, citrus, oak shavings and linseed oil. There's also a hint of musty peat. Light, bal­anced, very nice palate with vanilla, orange and peach - at first sweet, then slowly drying. Nice finish with a note of oak. (90 p)

(Interestingly, I thought all four official bottlings were a bit on the oaky side. On the other hand, the Duncan Taylor bottling had just the right amount of oak, despite being much older...)

Related links:
All my tast­ing notes on Tomatin
Tomatin dis­til­lery website


Four bourbons from the Buffalo Trace distillery

18-Apr-2010  
Buffalo Trace

These four bourbons are today produced at the Buffalo Trace dis­til­lery in Frankfort, Kentucky. The Van Winkle and W.L. Weller brands were originally dis­tilled at the Stitzel-Weller dis­til­lery which closed in 1992. The W.L. Weller brand was even­tu­ally taken over by Buffalo Trace and the Van Winkle family (who used to used own Stitzel-Weller) entered an agreement with Buffalo Trace in 2002 for them to produce the bourbon for the Van Winkle products. (Today's 10 and 12 year old Van Winkle bourbons were dis­tilled before that, so I don't know where they were actually dis­tilled.)

The W.L. Weller and Van Winkle bourbons are "wheated", which means they use wheat as the third grain in the mash bill, instead of the more common rye. (The other two grains used for bourbon are corn and malted barley. A few bourbons are produced from both wheat and rye and are therefore called "four grain".)

Wheated bourbons are usually softer and milder than rye-based ones and Van Winkle claims that wheated bourbons age more gracefully. Van Winkle certainly has some of the oldest bourbons on the market, for instance the 20 y.o. "Family Reserve" and the newly released 23 y.o. "Limited Edition".

The four bourbons I tried the other day are much younger than that though, ranging from 4 to 12 years of age. Here are my notes:

McAfee's Benchmark, 4 y.o.:
Weird nose - musty, dusty (from the rye, I presume), also fruity with a note of avocado. Sweet, fruity palate with green fruits and cucumber but - again - musty. Rather dis­ap­point­ing but the finish is fairly nice. (78 p)

W. L. Weller Special Reserve Wheated Bourbon, 7 y.o. 45%:
Wow, what a nose! Fragrant and very nice with vanilla, arrack, oak shavings and orange peel. Rich, sweet palate with vanilla, mint and citrus. Quite mild at first then de­velops spices and a little fire. Hot, peppery finish. Not particularly bal­anced but very en­ter­tain­ing and moreish! (87 p)

Van Winkle Handmade Bourbon, 10 y.o. 45%:
Faint nose yet nice and complex with vanilla, oak and a note of mint, also a little musty and smoky (burned oak shavings). The palate is quite hot and a little spirity but mellows with a few drops of water. Sweet, spicy and rather nice with notes of vanilla, mint and orange, also herbal with a hint of basil. (85 p)

Van Winkle Special Reserve 'Lot B', 12 y.o. 45.2%:
Nice nose with vanilla, caramelized sugar and mint. Very nice palate with fresh notes of lemon and lime. Balanced, fairly rich and a little spicy. (87 p)

Related links:
All my tast­ing notes on Kentucky bourbon whiskey
Chuck Cowdery on Stitzel-Weller whiskey
The bourbons from Buffalo Trace


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