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Fahrenheit 173 - Aged Spirits

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

News from Islay and Campbeltown

14-Oct-2009  

On a recent trip to Islay and Campbeltown I picked up a few new bottlings:

Kilchoman 3 y.o. (46%):
Thick peat smoke and malt on the nose, also citrus, chili pepper and (un­for­tu­nately) new make. The palate is more mature and decidedly nicer: power­ful and very peaty, also spicy and "hot". De­velops iodine. Best without water even though it's fairly hot, as dilution emphasizes its youth. (82 p)

Kilkerran 5 y.o. (46%):
Smoky nose with very nice fruity notes of apricot and pear. Rather nice palate: sweet and fruity at first, then de­velops peat, oak and spices. Spicy, slightly dis­ap­point­ing finish though. (85 p)

Ardbeg Corryvreckan (57.1%):
Peaty, malty nose with in­ter­est­ing, unusual fruity notes. Powerful, very peaty palate with a cereal note. De­velops notes of cherries and white chocolate. All in all it's nice but not as nice as the Committee bottling. Compared to the Committee bottling this one's peatier, less sweet and less fruity. It also seems younger. (86 p)

Hazelburn 12 y.o. (46%):
Very nice complex nose with "rich", fruity notes of blood orange, prunes and raisins. Rich, sweet palate, also spicy with a note of gin­ger­bread, de­velops marzipan. It's a little fiery and may need a drop of water. (I've worried about the inconsistent quality of the sherry casks used at Springbank, but they've used ex­cel­lent ones for this Hazelburn - I hope the next Springbank 21 will come out of casks like these!) (87 p)