A hidden Islay.

Taste Review #113 – Finlaggan Old Reserve

Hiding in plain sight. Thats often what I think when I essentially ransack my study or bedroom looking for something that is sitting innocently on a shelf in full view when I am doing my mental calculations as to where I last saw it. Before I left for my last offshore trip I couldn’t find my head torch. I always have a dirty one for work, yet also carry a clean one if I am going to be staying in a hotel or have one in my cabin. Should there be a fire, you never know when you will need help. After wasting a day and a half looking for it and realising that I could have left it in a hotel in Borneo, I was only able to start to end the mental anguish by ordering a new one. And 6 hours after ordering, I found the old one tangled up in the lanyards of my memory sticks. I shook my head, as I tipped that bag out twice. It’s never easy being me sometimes.

The dram that I am going to review just now is the similar, although I haven’t had to waste a whole day looking for it. Sitting on the shelves of whisky retailers and even sitting on the shelves of my local Tesco Extra from time to time, Finlaggan was another of those whiskies I kept clear of because I did not know what distillery it was from and I’ve plenty of other drams to keep going on with. I remember seeing it on the shelves of the Whisky Shop Duffown, plus in their 5cl range, but I decided against it. “I’ll stick to what I know of” I kept saying to myself.

It was a trip into Inverness to a kilt makers of all places that also had a range of tourist souvenirs that prompted me to look in by. It was actually a recommendation of the Edinburgh Woollen Mill across the road, which incidentally also have a good range of miniatures. I know what I said about going into the touristy places in my Loch Lomond review, but it was in the EWM that I found a 16 year old Glentauchers G&M miniature for £7. You just need to be careful but bargains can be had.

Finlaggan is an anonymous Islay Single Malt which is released by the Vintage Malt Whisky Company, formed by Brian Crook in 1992. Brian was a former director from Morrison Bowmore Distillers. Finlaggan was one of its launch brands, which were updated in 2014. Currently the core range is Finlaggan Old Reserve at 40%, Eilean Mor at 46% and a cask strength one at 58%.

As the whisky distillery is anonymous, the brand is named after Finlaggan Castle, which sits on an island in Loch Finlaggan, Islay. There isn’t really a lot to write about it, so I’ll just proceed with the tasting.

Finlaggan Old Reserve

Region -Islay Age – NAS Strength -40% ABV Colour – Old Gold (0.6) Cask Type – Not known Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Peat, hard cheddar, iodine, toasted wholemeal bread, citrus. Palate – Light mouthfeel, brine, lemon, peat, nutmeg. Finish – medium short. Peat, brine, sweet. Strong wood spices going down the throat, but a small splash of water brings it into control. Drying in the end

Conclusions

I don’t like judging things on first tastes, but my first taste of this to be honest was not positive. Not too bad a nose, a calm palate with spice building and the insanity breaks out once swallowed. Hot spices and a weak peat, the sweetness turning to dryness. It became more balanced with a splash of water.

I like peaty whisky, so it’s not that I don’t like peat. In my opinion this is a young Caol Ila. I’ll base that thought on that it is the closest distillery to Loch Finlaggan and it is probably the distillery most likely to have the capacity to keep up with demand for the independent sales. It doesn’t taste anywhere near as nice as other Caol Ila’s I’ve had and that’s being kind. I hate to admit this, but I couldn’t finish it and sadly had to dispose of it down the sink. You can’t like everything unfortunately.

It may be cheap, but I’ll be leaving this one on the shelf though in my opinion it’s best left in a dungeon, never to escape. I’ll be continuing to hunt for something more tasty. However if I see a mini of one of the other drams, I’d love to try for a second go, but this dram was definitely not for me.

*** There will be a following article about this review in the very near future. Be sure to catch it ***

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Photo Credits

Finlaggan Castle – Heikki Immonen (CC BY-SA 3.0)

All Other Photos – Authors Own

Wildcat Whisky Head to Head

Taste Review #75 – Clynelish 14

It gives me great pleasure to write this review. Because contained within this review is the very whisky that actually germinated the seed that was to grow into the blog that you are reading. It was in January 2019 in a hotel in Krakow, totally disillusioned about the current state of affairs in the UK, fed up of hearing political sniping on social media and wondering whether I could do something constructive with my whisky hobby that I decided to start a blog. I had no idea what I really wanted to do and knew I’d probably end up doing what everybody else does, but at least I’d have a creative outlet, something I have lacked ever since I have moved to the Speyside Region. I used to be into photography, but sadly due to personal events and work I have just not been able to make the time to do it and at least I can write a blog offshore.

It has taken far too long to get to this dram, especially given its relevence to the blog, but some good things have to wait. And when I looked into my collection of miniatures and found that I have an older version of this whisky, I just knew that it had to be the first of the drams that I used to compare old and new whisky. For the pre-amble into this series, please click on the link here….

Clynelish is a distillery that was formed out of an absolute tragedy. It was created at a time when landowners in the Highlands wanted to get rid of the tenant crofters that didn’t really make the estates much income and replace them with hill sheep farming. These were known as the Highland Clearances and were a dark stain on Scottish history. Many of the evictions where quite brutal with people getting burned out of their homes, if not to persuade them to leave then to ensure that they wouldn’t come back. Some of the most brutal evictions took place on the land owned by the Duke (and Countess) of Sutherland. It is easy to say that this happened a long time ago, but such is the depth of feeling that for many years there has been a campaign to demolish the statue of the Duke that stands on Ben Bhraggie and overlooks the area around Golspie and Brora. ‘The Mannie’ as it is often is known has had a protest against him a lot longer than Black Lives Matter. I doubt the statue will come down, and I think it should stay as a reminder to the horrific treatment of those who lost their homes, possessions and were separated from friends and family as many were forced to seek new lives in Canada, America and Australia. Just to dig the knife in, some of the land owners even charged those they were evicting for their transport overseas.

The Duke was responsible for building a railway from Golspie, close to his family seat of Dunrobin Castle which eventually terminated in Helmsdale. He also founded a few businesses in Brora; a coal mine, a brick and tile works and lastly a distillery. These were staffed by farmers who had been cleared off the land by the aforementioned clearances. They were paid in a currency that was redeemable in the local shops, also owned by the Duke which meant he received all the profit. It may be easy to understand why he wasn’t popular amongst the locals!

Continue reading →

Taking an Inch doesn’t mean you’ll get a Mile.

Taste Review #70 – Inchgower 14 Flora and Fauna

It’s been a couple of months at least since I’ve reviewed a Flora and Fauna release. Since I’ve managed to bottle kill my full size Benrinnes Flora and Fauna, it was time to move onto the next one and I had a choice – Pittyvaich or Inchgower. It was a simple decision in the end as I’d already reviewed a Pittyvaich thus Inchgower it was.

Inchgower is one of those distilleries that has quite an anonymous life. Currently owned by Diageo, the distillery provides most of its output for blending, although independent bottlings are much more available. This malt is a constituent part of the Bells blend, but don’t let that count against our single malt experience.

The distillery sits just outside the Morayshire coastal town of Buckie and was founded in 1871 by Alexander Wilson. The Wilson family went bankrupt, leaving the Buckie Town Council to purchase the distillery in 1936. As far as I can tell this is the only example of a local authority in the U.K. owning a distillery. In 1938 the site was bought by Arthur Bell & Sons Ltd to provide malt whisky for its blends. Arthur Bell & Sons were later bought by Guinness and after various takeovers and mergers, the distillery came a part of the Diageo empire.

Inchgower isn’t a big distillery – it has 2 wash and 2 spirit stills, and only outputs 1.99 million litres annually. It has quite a short fermentation of 46 hours which should give a more nutty sort taste to the spirit. The distillery location isn’t that far away from the mouth of the River Spey, giving this Speyside whisky a coastal tang.

Inchgower unfortunately does not have a visitors centre, but the local area has some great scenery. The weather in coastal Morayshire experiences a local microclimate, something that was instrumental in setting up the nearby RAF bases at Kinloss and Lossiemouth as training bases. The town of Buckie is mostly fishing town and although there isn’t that much to do there, it is one end of the Speyside Way, a long distance trail that follows the River Spey, often utilising the former railway line that ran between Craigellachie and Aviemore. The Moray Coastal path also passes through the town, and it’s a short walk to the impressive Spey Bay Railway viaduct if you are in the area.

Let’s now take a wander to taste the whisky in question.

Details

Region – Speyside; Age – 14 y.o; Strength – 43%; Colour – Pale Straw; Nose – Quite light and fresh. Malty, biscuity, straw, soft oak with a touch of brine there in for good measure. Vanilla, light toffee notes; Palate – Grapefruit, tannic, apple, ginger, grapes / white wine. Nutmeg. Vegetal in places, but this disappears with the addition of water. Lightly waxy in mouthfeel but not consistent – felt a bit light on occasion. ; Finish – Quite short with a nicer balance of fruit at the end to counteract the bitter tannins from the wood. Notes of brine at the end. Tempers nicely when water added.

Conclusions

Just because it is a component of Bells, don’t judge it by the same yardstick. I’ve been lucky and enjoyed this dram from the start, but samples given to friends have been a bit of a mixed bag. Some didn’t like it, some did. Although it is not that a complex malt, it can be quite light, and the vegetal note I found could put people off. This could be due to the sharply inclined Lyne arms between the still and condenser allowing the meatier parts of the spirit to leave the still. I added water and let it sit for 10 minutes and this took a lot of the less desirable notes away.

Being a coastal distillery, the brine is present, and coupled with a light waxiness this reminds me of another Diageo coastal distillery on the opposite side of the Moray Firth, Clynelish. That too was bottled as a part of the Flora and Fauna range and also as a 14 year old, but has been re-released as a stand alone bottle and the abv upped to 46%, which may give Inchgower a boost if they decide to do the same.

I enjoy the lightness of this dram; in the past I’ve had grassy notes from this which I didn’t get this time. I did get a straw note on this occasion, but isn’t quite the same. It leads me to ask myself what has changed – my sense of taste as I age or is it the whisky making process? Whiskies do change over time, so it’s a point worth considering.

Available at less than £50 a bottle, this isn’t an expensive dram, and is worth what I paid for it. However there are better whiskies available for less. There are bitter components in here that may not be to everyone’s taste, but it’s not that bad. I’d suggest trying this alongside an independently produced bottle to get a decent comparison.

Inchgower isn’t that rare but it’s not one you will see in every whisky shop, but a specialist retailer should be able to get it for you. At 43%, chill filtered and a dose of colouring means you may find better value from an independent bottle, as these are much more likely to have a higher strength, be non-chill filtered and have no colouring added.

I do recommend this dram, but I acknowledge it may not be something everybody will love. The title is a play on the phrase if you give an inch, they’ll take a mile, and while you may get the Inch(gower) but you might not enjoy the full mile of this whisky journey. It shouldn’t stop you giving it a go. After all, I like it, and surely others do. Try it in a whisky bar if you see it is available or alternatively you can get 3cl miniatures from the Whisky Exchange or Master of Malt websites.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

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Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own