Let’s ‘Livet Large!

Taste Review #95 – Glenlivet 12 old vs new

Whisky history. It’s something that has gone through my mind a fair bit when I’ve been reviewing the old vs new drams. In fact it has been something that I’ve been reflecting on for a while. What sparked this mini confession was looking at the older bottle that I’m away to consume tonight. The label was in good condition, the fill level was good and it struck me that this was an almost immaculate bottle of at least 41 years of age. I wished that I was in as good a condition at 41! However, like me, the bottle couldn’t be preserved any longer and was away to meet its destiny. The end of its journey had been reached and had to be opened for the purposes of this review. And while sad as it was to destroy this history after reaching that age without a scratch, it was opened with the mantra ‘its made to be drunk’ running through my mind. After all, it was only a Glenlivet.

This thought of whisky should be destined to be drunk has been going through my mind more and more of late due to the rush on the newest Daftmill, Ardnamurchan and by the end of this week, the inaugural Torabhaig. I don’t mind the frenzy for new bottles. It’s understandable to a point, that perhaps people want to the the first to taste it, to have one for collecting or worse, to flip. As a collector myself, I’m not immune to criticism in this case, but it has saddened me to see Ardbeg ‘Arrrrrrrdbeg’ go on sale for over £100 more than the RRP. That is little more than gouging. A collector will know this and move on, knowing the value isn’t really there and wait for prices to subside, but it takes advantage of those who really want to drink it and forces them to pay through the nose. The distillery doesn’t care as they’ve sold out, but it is potentially damaging to their image. It’s a subject that I am determined to look into in the near future.

Anyway, from what I’ve heard, a source revealed that in his opinion Arrrrrrrdbeg tastes not too different to the 10 year old. I’ll save my money and buy Laphroaig or Octomore instead.

So, thinking of whisky history, It’s been a bit of a while since I last looked at Glenlivet. The Captains Reserve was the last bottle I looked at in 2019. You can read a little about the distillery history and what I thought about it here. Despite its massive output, Glenlivet is a distillery that I rarely look at. Perhaps because I feel their massive output is just ‘meh’. Not that I feel there is anything wrong with it, but my attention gets grabbed elsewhere. Perhaps it is just the ubiquitous nature of the brand that puts me off. I feel the same way about Glenfiddich, Chivas Regal or Johnnie Walker. Not that there is anything wrong with these brands either, I just don’t seem able to engage with them, plus wherever I seem to travel in the world with my work, at least one of these is always obtainable.

The Glenlivet 12 year old was discontinued a few years back, and was replaced by the Founders reserve. This appears to have been a lamented decision, as the Founders Reserve just hasn’t appeared to have been as well received, most reviews I have seen in the passing seem to prefer the 12. Perhaps this makes this age statement a prime candidate for old vs new. Besides, it’s not really enough to write a distillery off just because I don’t pay attention to their product. It is time now to put that to bed, and try what is one of the most popular of the Glenlivet age statements.

Glenlivet 12 (Old 1970’s bottling)

Region – Speyside Age – 12 y.o Strength – 70 Proof / 40% Colour – Deep Gold (0.8) Cask Type – Not known Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Light honey, vanilla, apple, slight leather, milk chocolate Palate – Quite sugary sweet on the arrival, with alcohol burn slowly arriving, golden syrup on toast, chocolate raisins, slightly heathery, creamy vanilla Finish – short to medium. spicy ginger as the last of the alcohol burn goes, chocolate bananas, custard, almonds. Adding 2ml of water only smoothed the spirit out, and has made for me the finish last that little bit longer with less of a gingery kick.

Glenlivet 12 (new / Double Oak)

Region – Speyside Age – 12 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Amber (0.7) Cask Type – American and European Oak Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Creamy toffee, slight hint of bitter citrus – grapefruit or lemon, lightly nutty smell at the end, possibly almonds Palate – Creamy, buttery, toffee, apple, vanilla. Finish – Super short. Blink and you miss it. If I was forced to say something that it is drying, my mouth is left as dry as Mother Theresa’s sandals. Very quick burst of wood spice then nothing but a light hit of creamy vanilla. Adding 2ml of water has increased the spiciness and reduced the dryness slightly. There is a bitter citrus note that builds then fades away. However, at least this has lengthened the experience at the end. But in truth, I took a bigger sip this time.

Conclusions

This has been a bit of an eye-opener, mainly because I never had expected to get such a pristine miniature in an auction. There was very little old bottle effect in the older sample and I have to be honest that so far out of all the older bottles that I have tried so far in this series, this has to be one of the best, if not the best. It is certainly up there with the Glenfarclas 10 and Clynelish Flora and Fauna that I have tried at the start. Don’t get me wrong, I am well aware that the whisky that I am tasting is not the premium sips, but it is still a valid exercise to compare old to new to assess any differences.

Turning my head sadly to the newer Glenlivet, I have to say that nose wise it was fine, palate wise a bit light to my tastes but still an acceptable whisky, although I found it a bit boring, but my other eye was opened when I sampled it a few times and was getting pretty much zero finish. My palate went dry and it was almost like I hadn’t just tasted a whisky. Ok, perhaps zero was a little cruel, and I did get more of a finish once I added a bit of water, but even then, it wasn’t very exciting. Perhaps something I might put into a hot toddy or a cocktail.

***Finish missing in the dram on the left***

I was a bit concerned that I was missing something, so I took it upon myself to trouble somebody in the industry as to what actually is responsible for providing the finish. It was as though there were oils or something missing, my thoughts were the chill filtration had perhaps stripped the newer spirit of the taste. So, I messaged one of the distillers I follow on Twitter, and he graciously answered my plea for answers. I feel that he put my thoughts into a more articulate way, and suggested that in the 70’s there would have been a greater range of ages available to make up a vatting, and it is entirely likely that there was more 1st fill casks used. The more modern version is probably made of product a lot closer to the 12 year old mark, possibly with less first fill casks, meaning the wood has a bit less to give in producing not only the nose and palate, but also the finish.

I’m a bit reticent in naming who helped me lest what I write causes a bit of fallout, but I hope I have interpreted your answer correctly, if not then you can give me a proper hazing on Twitter and I’ll go and sit on the naughty step knowing I must try harder.

Both drams were balanced, but the older one was definitely moreish. To conclude my reviewing session I finished the newer one so I could spend more time with the older dram. The newer dram was pleasant enough, certainly more enjoyable than the Aberlour 12 I recently tried but it just wasn’t really engaging for me, and the length of finish when neat was extremely disappointing. I’d recommend it as training whisky. The older dram was definitely the winner here.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

Don’t Assume – Check!

Why not taking care can be costly at auction

How many of you reading this have been at one stage of their career have been an apprentice? I remember when I started out in the aviation industry I used to be a technician that serviced or repaired a lot of the black boxes that came out of aircraft. For those of you who don’t know, nearly all aircraft electronics boxes are black – only the flight data recorder or the cockpit voice recorder are orange. Ironic that they are known as the black box!

The company I worked for was based in Thornliebank, Glasgow, but had an outpost at Aberdeen Airport where about 8 of us worked. Every so often, we’d get a visit from somebody in head office to see how things were going, and as the apprentice I would get appraised as to how I was progressing within the training syllabus. In an industry littered with acronyms there was always space for one or two more mnemonics, especially when training. Of course, many trainees in the engineering trades may have heard of the 7 P’s – Perfect Prior Planning Prevents Piss Poor Performance, but the one that is relevant to this article was a play on the word ‘Assume’.

Here’s one I fixed earlier (much earlier!) in my career…. former G-PUMI used to belong to Bond Helicopters, but was sold to Bristows and operated in Nigeria. It came to a wet end – I had flown in it the previous trip. The ship I worked on at the time is in the background (Siem Marlin) whilst in the Agbami field, Nigeria

The aviation trade discourages people assuming things, or not reading the manuals. Failure to read a manual by an engineer once saw a pilot sucked out of the aircraft windscreen due to the screws that were replaced being the wrong size. (Look at Wikipedia article on BA flight 5390 if you have a couple of minutes). So it was little surprise that I was told by the training manager that “To assume makes up an ASS out of U and ME“. I did listen, but how I wished I had applied it a bit more thoroughly in this story I am away to tell you. Especially in the ASS region – my ass in particular.

Eventually I found the aviation industry was not for me and started working offshore a couple of years after successfully completing my apprenticeship. I thought I would do this for a couple of years to be able to afford a flat in Aberdeen, but after that purchase and nearly 25 years on, not much has changed apart from more belly, less hair and still having to go to work on a ship. Anyhow, after buying my first flat, it wasn’t uncommon for me to sit on the toilet reading magazines as when not offshore there was rarely anything to be in a hurry for. In my bathroom I had repurposed some vegetable racks for storing magazines and assorted cleaning accessories. It was here here disaster was to strike.

*The offending bathroom set up. Magazines removed as this photo was taken prior* to sale.

I had finished my constitutional, and as I do love my bum in an Andrex way, I reached down to get the moist toilet tissue. Being Aberdonian I was too tight to get the proper box for the wipes, so I had mine in the packet sitting next to the toilet on the magazine rack. I fished a wipe out, did the needful swipe between the cheeks and that is where I found out something was wrong. Very wrong. You see, in my absent minded haste not to put down the magazine and look as to what I was doing, I had inadvertently picked up a Flash antibacterial wipe instead. That is definitely not suitable for sensitive skin. I must admit to it being a bit nippy on my keekywinker for an hour or two. but on a positive note it highlighted the need to strain a little less in the future and for the rest of the morning when I broke wind, it had a note of pine freshness about it.

Translating this to whisky, if you are using auctions, you have to be careful about what you are ordering. It is all to easy to get caught up in the moment, especially as an auction closes and last minute panic bidding mode kicks in. You really need to be sure what you are trying to capture is exactly what you want, and you have to have your eyes wide open. You cannot afford to assume a single thing.

And unfortunately that’s similar to what happened to my friend Nick. The first I knew about it was when I got a message asking for advice. I initially thought it was advice for his blog, Whisky, Aye! which is worth a read, especially if you appreciate a dog as a whisky companion. But no, this wasn’t the case and it was a sorry tale I know well from personal experience. He was on the search for a Hazelburn 8 year old first edition. He put in a bid on a bottle which while wasn’t a lot of cash, it would have resulted in him winning a bottle he didn’t want. The error was caused by the incorrect title being applied on the auction entry – the bottle in question wasn’t a first edition but the second. If you knew exactly what you were looking for then it was clear that something wasn’t right though it is easy to get caught out. Oops.

Sometimes during the prep for large auctions, the entry may be copied and pasted to save the auctioneers the time of researching the same bottles time and time again. While the bottle on the picture was correct, the heading wasn’t. But Nick didn’t notice until too late. It’s unfortunate, but at the bottom of each entry is the disclaimer as in the screenshot below:-

An email was sent to see if the bid could be cancelled. To be fair to Nick, the mistake was the fault of the auctioneers, but in fairness to the auctioneer, they would have been justified by telling him that he should have checked as pointed out by their statement. However, fate intervened and Nick was outbid. Result – problem solved. Hopefully a happy result for everybody involved, but especially Nick.

To their credit, the auctioneer did say when they contacted Nick after the auction had ended that they would double check with the winning bidder to make sure that they were aware it wasn’t a 1st Edition as titled. Now that’s quality service from Scotch Whisky Auctions. Another Glasgow based whisky auctioneer could learn from this as they still have not responded to a query about excessive shipping charges.

***The box that stops me going from clean and refreshed…..***

In auctions you need to be sure of what you are bidding on. This could have had a much different ending had the bottle been more expensive and the error wasn’t noticed until DHL delivered it. By that time it’s probably too late. Then you’ve the hassle of returning it to auction or drinking it, depending if you can afford to. But Nick isn’t the first one to have done this by not double checking, as I’ve fallen foul of it too, although in my case it was bottles I wanted, but the condition was sub-par. And twice I’ve had to suck it up when they arrived. Not the end of the world, as this is why you don’t over pay. I’ll hold onto the sub par condition ones as they will eventually be worth a good bit more than I paid.

And to make Nick feel even more warm and fluffy, I made a similar mistake to him at the same auction, as I bid on a lot with a damaged box. I never looked all the way down the page either. Ah well. I’ve hopefully sourced a new carton already. From Nick thankfully! Not checking carefully is an easy enough mistake to make, but don’t let a lack of attention rush you into an unforced error.

So, top tips for this week is to check, check and check again at what you are bidding for at auction, and keep your toilet wipes well away from your cleaning products. That’s a sheriff’s badge that will never be shiny, so don’t try.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

Auction Entry Photos – Scotch Whisky Auctions

Ditched Puma – saharareporters.com

All Other Photos – Authors Own

A Learner From The ‘Lour (Part Two)

Taste Review #93 – Aberlour 12 old vs new.

In the last review I tasted two drams from Aberlour in which the earlier expression won the head to head. I now turn my attention to the two 12 year old samples that I have in my store. One was a sample from Matteo at The Speyside Whisky Shop of an early – mid 80’s Aberlour 12 he had in store for customers. In a recent auction win, I found that I have another old Aberlour, this one probably from the late 80’s – 1990’s. I really don’t know and am just going by what I can research on the internet. I’m not expecting a big difference, but they were samples to be cleared and could also help us find out if the extra two years in the cask made any difference.

***The attractive building at the entrance of the distillery used to house the visitors centre.***

I didn’t go into the history of Aberlour distillery much in my last review, and I won’t really go into too much depth now either, but here is a quick overview. It’s not really a large distillery, situated at the southern end of the village, and sits beside the Lour burn. Aberlour is the anglicised version of the Gaelic name Obar Lobhair, which basically translates as ‘Mouth of the Lour’. The formal version of the village name is Charleston of Aberlour. It got its name from the current village founder Charles Grant of Elchies (we’ll be hearing of that location again before the end of the series) who named it after his son.

Aberlour was formerly a stop on the Speyside railway line, passenger services ending in 1965, and freight continuing til 1968 when the Beeching axe finally fell. A very limited freight service did continue from Dufftown until November 1971, and I am led to believe it was to a coal merchants in Aberlour who supplied the local distilleries. There are a handful of distilleries nearby, Craigellachie and Macallan to the north of the village, and Glenallachie, Benrinnes, Dailuaine, Imperial (replaced by Dalmunach) and Glenfarclas not too far to the south. And of course the Aberlour distillery itself.

James Fleming was the man who started the Aberlour distillery in 1879, with distillation taking place in 1880. Fleming was previously involved with Dailuaine distillery, close to the village of Carron, so had distilling experience. A man of many talents he was also a banker, Chairman of the School Board, County Councillor and even the Town Provost – the Scottish Equivalent of a Mayor. The distillery was sold in 1892, and James Fleming died in 1895 at the age of 65. But by that time he had really made his mark on the town through his philanthropy. He gifted the town its first meeting place in 1889 – the Fleming Hall. His legacy extended to the building of the local Cottage Hospital in 1900, and a suspension bridge over the Spey to Knockando Parish in 1902. All of these gifts are still fully operational over 100 years later. He is buried in the cemetery directly opposite the distillery entrance.

***The older expression at The Speyside Whisky Shop***

The distillery since 1974 has been owned by Chivas Brothers, now part of the Pernod Ricard drinks giant. I visited the Aberlour distillery in Oct 2019 when I finally got fed up of continually driving past when travelling between Aberdeen and home. It’s a good tour, mine being led by Nicola Topp, a young lady who’s family had an extensive history in the distillery. The tour was fantastic, and I’m happy to hear that Nicola has now moved to be involved in the production side at the Dalmunach distillery.

Compared to some of its near neighbours, Aberlour isn’t a large distillery. It has two wash stills and two Spirit Stills, and only 6 wash backs. In September 2020, Moray Council approved plans to almost completely rebuild the Aberlour distillery in phases, which can be seen by clicking HERE in an article that was published in the regional newspaper, the Press And Journal.

***Maksimus the dog*** ***nonce tried to muscle in on the tasting. At least he wasn’t trying to rape something.***

Aberlour 12 (Early 80s)

Region – Speyside Age – 12 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Yellow Gold (0.5) Cask Type – Bourbon / Oloroso Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Honey, citrus, orange peel. Slight hint of dark fruit, quite sugary sweet, almost like candy. Palate – Quite tame on arrival. Not overbearing, no great spirit rush. Gentler than the nose would suggest. Creamy caramel, apple, bitter orange. Sweet candy note. Finish – medium long, spicy honey, nice gentle warming, hints of coffee, chocolate and raisin. Slight floral note found when a small sip taken and rolled around in the mouth. (Due to being only a 25ml sample, I did not add water)

Aberlour 12 (Late 80’s / Early 90’s)

Region – Speyside Age – 12 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Old Gold (0.6) Cask Type – Bourbon / Oloroso Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Honey, Toffee, Quite a dark fruit sort of flavour, ripe plums raisins, definitely a sherry cask has been used. Fresh pipe tobacco, slight smoke. Palate – Oops. No real alcohol present, no buzz at all. Oh dear. It does give a nice sugary feeling at on the tongue, kind of like candy floss. A slightly bitter citrus (orange) is there as is the toffee and honey with a hint of dark fruit but oh so muted. Finish – Medium. Burst of peppery and cinnamon spice when the spirit does decide to appear, then goes into pineapple, coffee, then back into bitter wood notes, slightly drying. This gets shortened and the spicy burst goes with the addition of water, although there does have a slight caramel note left lingering.

Conclusions

Well, a wee bit of a disaster really. I can see why this is classed as a beginners single malt, as for me there is not really a lot going on here. Of course we can use the argument that these were older bottles, but yet to be honest for the first time in this series, I didn’t notice any of the usual tell-tale signs of old bottle effect, or having been exposed to the waxed cardboard seal of a screw top. Both drams were pretty even if it had to be said but the older expression was definitely the most consistent one.

What really surprised me was the newer one’s palate was just not really there. I had to do some research to see if I was missing something. I’ve seen descriptions such as ‘Full Bodied’, ‘Rich’, ‘Intense’. I have to wonder if they were drinking the same whisky as I was, or if perhaps 40% is perhaps a little too strong for them. Because if I have to be honest, on the younger expression, the palate is as flat and smooth as a dolphins bum. It’s like the beard on a 13 year old – barely there. I could go on with the metaphors. With the absence of a palate and a shorter finish, I thought it was another clear win for the older expression. However, I decided to do something that I hadn’t done yet, and that was bring on some of the big guns.

You see, sitting in my study as a present for somebody I haven’t yet met since I came home on Christmas Eve was a bottle of the brand new, up to date double cask Aberlour 12. I’m not really a fan of opening 70cl bottles when I have so many open already, but I thought that in the interests of research I should get that seal off and try. Besides it only cost me £30 in the Co-op, so not exactly a big loss. I’m sure I will see it on special again, and if I’m lucky, when I go back in the next couple of days it still might be at the lower price.

***Aberlour 12 from 2020. Yes, that is my cooker hob but the only place I could get enough light to photograph the bottle.***

So – tasting #3 for the Aberlour 12 year old.

Aberlour 12 (2020)

Region – Speyside Age – 12 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Russet Muscat (1.3) Cask Type – Bourbon / Oloroso Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Quite Fruity. Strong note of Moray Cup (explanation later), orange fondant, mint, honey, almond. Strawberry jelly cubes prior to melting. Palate – Quiet, a bit more oily than the previous two, wood notes pretty non- existent with a hint of bitterness at the end. Slight taste of almond, perhaps the red fruits and bitter orange. Perhaps a hint of ginger in subsequent sips. Finish – medium / short. Slight wood spice and alcohol burn as swallowed and I get reminded of Cointreau, bitter citrus. Nutty at the end. Disappeared quickly.

Conclusions (Part 2)

Well. I am glad I did not give that as a gift. The person would have thought I had hated them. You know, the colour and the nose excited me. I mean, Moray Cup…… For those who aren’t in the know because they have never lived in God’s Country (The Scottish North East) is a now defunct soft drink that was fruit flavoured, produced by Sangs of Banff. To look at it, you just knew it was artificially coloured, and a look at the range of E numbers in the ingredients list would confirm it. Such as it was, the label also had the warning to be careful in giving to young children. I am sure that a litre of that would give them AHAD so badly that they could be mistaken for a Springer Spaniel in a tennis ball and bone factory. Quite why it had two Caribbean gentlemen on the label I don’t know as Banff is normally as sunny and pleasant as a Siberian Gulag. Anyway, such is my lament for this drink I’ve gone and spouted off a load of rubbish, but those in the know would never bother with Irn Bru to cure a hangover – a bottle of Moray cup and and couple of rowies and away you go.

***Juice of the Gods after whisky. Lamented since 2017.***

Sadly the palate was maybe slightly more prevalent than the early 1990’s bottling. But if I was to be honest, it wasn’t really there either, so that rules out any question that the older bottling had evaporated. It was almost perhaps as flat and smooth as before, but perhaps this dolphin has pimples on his bottom.

In summary, I was erring onto the inconclusive, but let’s look at plain facts. Its a basic 40% abv dram produced in massive volumes. You can’t expect it to be competing with some of the more exclusive brands or higher abv drams. I’m definitely not going to say these drams are rubbish – they are not, and will be a good bet for anybody starting on their whisky journey. Or even as an easy drinker, though I prefer other Aberlour expressions. A’Bunadh is a good start. However, in analysing the three whiskies had just now, taste is really where it is at, and despite the great nose, the lack of a defined palate and short to medium finish rules out the two younger expressions. Old expression wins by a gnat’s hair. Of course this is just my personal opinion. I’m going to enjoy the rest of the 12 year old as a wee nightcap and maybe stick to Aberlour’s more premium expressions which are very delicious in the future.

Oh, and I checked the price at the local Co-op this morning – back up to £40. I think I’ll pass.

Yours in Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

Moray Cup – Pinterest

All other Photos – Authors Own

A Learner From The ‘Lour (Part One)

Taste Review #92 – Aberlour 10 old vs new.

Aberlour. It’s one of those places I just can’t avoid. Due to its location, when I’m travelling home from Aberdeen, the choices are limited. I’ve got the heady decision to go from Huntly to Dufftown, then head to Craigellachie. Before reaching Craigellachie village, turn onto the Bluehills Quarry road that leads past the Speyside Cooperage. I’ve often thought of stopping the truck and helping myself to a barrel, but knowing my luck I’d pick the barrel that collapses the stow. Resisting the temptation of petty larceny and a horrible death under a collapsing pile of casks, you end up on the A95 just to the north of the village of Aberlour.

Alternatively, you can continue from Huntly to Keith, then past Glentauchers (see what speed you can get round the bend outside the distillery at while keeping a clean pair of underwear), then up to Craigellachie, passing by two legendary bars – the Fiddichside Inn, closed since the death of the publican Joe Brandie in 2017 though reputedly has been bought and reopened in 2020. Coronavirus has stopped me dropping in. And of course the world famous Highlander Inn, owned by Tatsuya Minigawa. It’s a great wee pub, and has a full Flora And Fauna set on display. I’ve often wondered if he would open the Speyburn for me…. Regardless, you still end up on the A95 just to the north of the other route, having travelled an extra 5 miles.

Don’t underestimate the heady excitement of the decision I face when I approach Huntly and have to make that split second decision whether I want to go through Dufftown or Keith. It’s how I roll. The only other way home is via Tomintoul with the risk at this time of year being stuck behind a snow gate. That’s not exciting. It’s a much longer journey and unpleasant to do in the dark.

If you are a frequent flyer (or were a ‘frequent flyer’ before the days of Coronavirus) you too probably couldn’t escape Aberlour. You may not realise this, but the tiny Speyside village has two main exports – whisky, of which we will soon come to, and Shortbread. I am a frequent traveller, and I have to say in many airports around the world, and even in many foreign supermarkets, you often can’t avoid seeing the familiar red boxes with the buttery, biscuity snack. I’ve seen it in America, Canada, Poland, Indonesia, India, Singapore, France, Cyprus, Germany and the Netherlands to name a few. They’ve missed a trick, as being an eating enthusiast, I can tell you Deans of Huntly is a far superior shortbread.

As you drive through Aberlour from the north, the first thing you come to is the Shortbread factory, and the depots of Carntyne and McPherson haulage companies. If you are a regular visitor to Speyside, you will know these lorries well, especially if you are on the A95 as you are normally stuck behind them as they take ingredients, waste and produce in and out of the distilleries. Continuing on, there is the Speyside Whisky Shop, the Mash Tun pub that has a great Glenfarclas family cask collection, and lastly, there is Aberlour distillery.

I’ve visited this distillery before, lastly in 2019, but I won’t go onto say much about the distillery right now, as I’ve already rambled enough. Founded by James Fleming in 1879, the distillery has been owned by Chivas (Pernod Ricard) since 1974. I’ve got a couple more old/new drams from this distillery and I thought I would make two posts, and would enable me to kill 4 samples in quick succession. And we could also see in this case if the extra two years maturation made any difference in the next review.

Aberlour 10 has been known as a decent whisky at a very good price. Indeed if you search on Amazon (boo, hiss!) you can get it for £32, and if you are a prime member you’ll get it delivered for free. I bought a full bottle at the Speyside Whisky Shop in September for £33, and it’s now in my store. The 12 year old has recently been on sale at my local Co-op supermarket for £30, and at that price you’d be foolish not to, but both whiskies can often be seen on offer from time to time.

The value of Aberlour 10 is important. It is seen as an easy going whisky that is not particularly strong, well balanced and therefore suitable for beginners to start their adventure into Scotch Whisky. I’ve had it in the past and have to agree with this assessment, and if it is only £30-ish a bottle, what does a learner really have to lose? Aberlour also has a good reputation, so you know you aren’t drinking some random blend that could be used as a substitute for drain cleaner that is on offer at the local Costcutter. Passport Blend springs to mind.

The old 10 y.o sample I have here to taste is from an auction win during January 2021 that also included a 1990’s 12 year old. I already had a 12 year old sample from the 1980’s, but felt the generation gap wasn’t sufficient, and wasn’t wanting to open a full sized bottle to get a more adequate gap. I did however have a modern 10 year old mini which was bought in September 2020 from the Speyside Whisky Shop. I am not sure about the bottling date, as the Aberlour 10 is a dram that was always supposed to be getting discontinued since 2017, yet there is absolutely no problem in obtaining a bottle. Perhaps that shows how much production there has been, as this has been replaced in the core range by the 12 year old double cask.

Aberlour 10 (Late 80’s / Early 90’s)

Region – Speyside Age – 10y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Burnished (1.1) Cask Type – Bourbon / Oloroso Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Quite rich, Malt, Honey, Raisins, Vanilla, McIntosh Red Apples, Caramel Palate – Well balanced. Sweet on arrival. The wood spices are restrained into the development. Nutmeg, Pepper, Malt, Butterscotch, Apricot, Sultanas Finish – medium long, with fruit, caramel and the oak spice fading off gradually. Adding 2ml of water increases the caramel and honey for me, also intensified the spices in the finish.

Aberlour 10 (2017ish)

Region – Speyside Age – 10y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Deep Copper (1.0) Cask Type – Bourbon / Oloroso Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Malty, Tablet (Scottish Toffee) Sultanas, Currants, Sugar Mice, Strawberry Jam Palate – a tad thin on the mouthfeel, slightly oily, creamy malt with a light toffee note and light oak spices (cinnamon) Finish – short, kind of missing in action. Toffee after a while, but mostly cinnamon. Adding 2ml of water drew out a lemon citrus for me, intensified the spice burst on the finish, but did pretty much nothing else.

Conclusions

I’ve often been wary of how I compare these drams. Often it is impossible to compare them blind, as I don’t have coloured glasses and often the colour of the drams lets me know whether I am currently drinking the older or newer sample. I’ve already confessed in previous blogs that I am often swayed by the colour of the whisky, which can be a big mistake. There was only a slight difference in the colour of these whiskies, but I got a pleasant confirmation to my opinion.

As most of you long term followers of my blog may realise (and if you aren’t a long term follower, then why not???) this blog is fairly basic as I write this on my mobile phone. This is an necessity when working offshore where having a laptop out during shift may be a bit awkward. Anyway, typing it out on a phone is also pretty awkward. I had just added some water to the newer sample and decided I was giving up on the phone and would swap over to the laptop. Unfortunately, I didn’t watch where I put the glass, and when I came back, to look at both drams, I couldn’t tell which one was what. My nose told me the most likely situation, but a taste gave me instant confirmation which one was what

This may not seem like a big deal, as many of you people reading this are very used to doing this, however as much as I am as well, it is also nice to have that confirmation that your assessment of the whisky was correct.

Both these whiskies are matured in the same way – Bourbon then finished in Oloroso butts I believe. However there was a pronounced difference in the two. The older dram had a much more defined sherry nose. The richness of dried fruit was there, unmistakeable signature of a sherry cask. It wasn’t as rich on the newer dram, and I have to say there was a lot more sourness in the newer dram when water was added,

The biggest downfall for the newer dram was the lack of a finish. I’m sorry, it was just not there. In my research for this dram, I’ve seen opinions that say that this particular bottling from Aberlour has been prone to batch variation, so I am not sure if my miniature has suffered from the same issues. However, I can only judge on what I have, and to be honest the combination of a richer nose, deeper palate and longer finish means that I have to award the older dram the winner of this tasting.

We’ll see if the 12 year old is any better in the next review, with a 1980’s sample against a 1990’s miniature.

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

The beginning of the end?

Could Brexit hammer on-line auctioneers?

It has always been my intention to keep this blog entirely non-political. I’ll try to keep it this way, however there is an elephant in the room. Usually when I hear this cliche I get up to leave but it isn’t me this time.

Brexit. The gift that keeps giving ‘Benefits’ that nobody wants, and that has fallen firmly on our lap as people are now discovering they have to pay extra fees to import whisky from the UK, although this is happening both ways for UK citizens using European auction sites.

What alerted me to this was a tweet, in which a bidder from the Irish Republic won goods at an auction to the tune of £79. Plus fees, that’s going to be around €105. He now has to pay €94.25 in taxes and shipping charges, almost as much as the cost of the produce he won.

Sadly this isn’t the only case. Another WhiskyTwitter user from France had a similar had a similar surprise in an event that will no doubt have been repeated several times over.

You don’t have to be a genius to realise that quite simply people within Europe are going to stop using UK auction sites. While I do not believe that this will cause a big problem for the bigger auction sites, it may certainly cause issues for the smaller ones. But there are a couple of greater implications for UK auction users.

Less people bidding in the auction could mean less demand for bottles. Less demand could mean falling prices. Ok for buyers, but poorer for sellers. Your little nest egg of bottles if they aren’t in demand may probably lose value.
Less EU people using UK auction sites will potentially mean less chance of seeing rarer bottles.

I use a European auction site, whiskyauction.com. I’ve been very happy with the service and to be honest I’ll still use them as there is one or two bottles I still seek. But what is in the back of my mind is that I cannot bid as high as I might for a UK auction as the spectre of shipping charges is going to be always present at the back of my mind.

Brexit has been proven to have been a self inflicted shotgun blast to both feet as the realist so called ‘Remoaners’ have been sadly proved right. With US tariffs of 25% still hanging over the UK whisky industry, now is not a happy time. If lockdowns continue and the economy stutters, people are not going to have the money to invest or buy luxury goods such as whisky, compounding the problem. If there is a rush to sell to realise cash but no buyers, then there is a problem. However this could be the reset the secondary market needs. There is a glass lake creaking on shelves throughout the UK; will Brexit be the dam-busting bomb that deluges the market?

Time will tell.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

The Name That Couldn’t Be Spoken

Taste Review #91 – Auchroisk 10 Old vs New

The next pair of drams come from a relatively modern distillery and is the youngest distillery on my quest to find out whether or not older generation whisky is any better than its contemporaries in today’s market. The Auchroisk distillery was built in 1972 by International Distillers and Vinters to produce whisky for their J&B blends, and joined their Speyside portfolio of Knockando, Glen Spey and Strathmill. Production started in 1974, but wasn’t until 1986 that it was released as a single malt. Unfortunately it hit one main issue; how do you pronounce the name? Would the target market be able to ask for this whisky correctly? For me as a native Scots Doric speaker of the Scottish North East, I can tell you that there are many ways to pronounce many of our locations, and they’re all wrong. For a quick example, the Aberdeenshire village of Strachan is pronounced ‘Straan’; Finzean is pronounced ’Fing-inn’ and Aberchirder is known as ‘Foggie’. Fraserburgh is called the ‘Broch’. Just don’t ask why. Obviously the head honchos at IDV (that’s heidy-bummers in Scots Doric) decided that they didn’t want to engage an any geographical name nonsense so decided to release the whisky under the brand ‘Singleton’.

***The Little and Large of tonight’s tasting***

Well, that worked for a wee while, but this was retired in 2001 when the distillery became part of the Flora and Fauna range. And now we have to learn how to say Auchroisk; it’s aw-thrusk. Don’t believe any of the non-Doric speakers telling you it’s Orth-rusk. That might be how it sounds to you if you have a silver spoon up your bottom, but it’s wrong. To be honest, even if you get the the pronunciation wrong, you’ll easily be understood should you be lucky enough to see this in a bar.

The Singleton range wasn’t fully retired. By 2006 it was used again for three distilleries – Glen Ord (marketed heavily in Asia), Glendullan (marketed in US and Canada) and Dufftown (marketed in Europe). These are termed ‘recruitment’ malts which get people lured into buying Diageo’s more premium produce such as Mortlach. To be honest, it can’t be used for linguistic simplicity as if you can’t pronounce these three distilleries then perhaps you are either not old enough to drink or maybe whisky isn’t for you. Certainly don’t try ordering a Bunnahabhain; only on grounds of the tongue twisting challenge you’d face. Stick to Bells, it will be directly on your level.

As you may all know by now, I’ve got a wee bit of a fondness for the Flora and Fauna whiskies, but will the older one be better? I’ve not got a full size Auchroisk open at the moment, so will have to use a mini from Drinks By The Dram, along with a miniature which obtained in a multiple bottle auction lot. The older whisky was distilled in 1983 and bottled in 1993, making it 10 years old. It’s time to see how they compare.

Singleton of Auchroisk 1983

Region – Speyside Age – Vintage but believed to be 10 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Amontillado Sherry (0.9) Cask Type – States Sherry on label Colouring – Not known but likely Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Honey, raisin, green apples, smells quite creamy and oily, vanilla, pipe tobacco Palate -A good balanced oak spice, peppery, ginger, nutmeg, honey, green orchard fruit, a note of hay. There is a cardboard note that I am assuming is the seal but does not linger if the spirit is held on the tongue. Finish – medium long. Oak spices slowly dissipate leaving honey and pepper to linger on the tongue. Custard and wet brown paper with a slight hint of sulphur. 2ml of water increases the fruitiness on the palate and almost killed the cardboard note. Got a taste that reminded me of coconut on my second dram.

Auchroisk 10 year old Flora And Fauna

Region – Speyside Age – 10 y.o Strength – 43% Colour – Jonquripe Corn (0.4) Cask Type – Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Subtle honey, vanilla, pears in custard, hint of barley and lemon. Palate – Quite citrusy arrival with a bitter taste, leading into peppery oak and green apple peel. Caramel sweets – Werther’s Originals Finish Short. Burst of peppery spices with a bitter lemon chaser. Herbal. 2ml of water definitely smoothed this whisky out. Strangely it lengthens the finish but didn’t really alter much of the taste profile. Perhaps a bit more caramel in the palate.

Conclusions

It became quickly apparent that these whiskies had only 2 things in common – the place of their birth and their age. The earlier whisky has been finished in Sherry casks, though I have a doubt that it was a full maturation. The 10 year old seems to have a bourbon only profile. I have a source that has told me that Singleton is possibly ony

These whiskies were the only official bottling from this distillery. Its 2001 appearance along with three other Speysiders (Glen Elgin, Glen Spey and Strathmill, in the Flora and Fauna series seems to be a way of adding to the range as other distilleries were closed (Pittyvaich and Rosebank) or sold (Aberfeldy, Aultmore, Balmenach, Bladnoch, Craigellachie, Royal Brackla, Speyburn). The standard Flora and Fauna range is bottled at 43% so this is a positive move to step up from the Singletons basic 40%.

The other noticeable difference was the colour of the spirit. Both drams I suspect are not natural colour, the older one being darker but this had come from a Sherry cask, so it may be expected to have a different shade. Can’t help but think it has a bit of assistance in its colour like Trump. This sample was coincidentally drunk on the day Trump lost his day job to an older man. Fancy that.

***Older dram on the left. Flora and Fauna on right.***

Despite only a 3% increase in abv, the dram did seem a lot brighter, sharper. There was a similar warmth in both drams nose but the sherry notes didn’t come out in the older bottle until I was on the second dram. The older bottle also seemed to have been suffering a bit from old bottle effect, as the cardboard note reminded me of the seal. However this seal was tight and in good condition, so I don’t know.

Here is where it gets hard. I prefer sherried whisky to bourbon only maturation, so to pick a winner between these two is not easy. I preferred the nose and palate on the older dram, yet the newer dram was more punchier, had a bit more bite, and responded to water a bit better.

Going to have to put this one down to being an inconclusive result. If you get either dram, both will give you the same levels of enjoyment, it just depends on your tastes.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

Finding The Ugly Duckling

Taste Review #90 – Glengoyne 10 Old vs New

Once upon a time….. yeah, that’s not how this story is going to turn out I’m afraid. No Hans Christian Andersen here, this is strictly adult story territory here. The emblem of Glengoyne is a Swan, so whether or not one of these whiskies graduates from an ugly duckling to a graceful swan remains to be seen. I tend to like happy endings here at Scotty’s Drams.

***Two ten year olds. At least 30 years between bottling.***

I’ve reviewed Glengoyne 10 before and to be honest I wasn’t that impressed. However it didn’t stop me buying an 18 year old 70cl bottle when the range had a facelift and it was going cheap on Amazon. Of course I know what I’ve said about shopping on Amazon for whisky, but this was a rare occurrence. I still buy the majority of my spirits from independents. But would this time be any different? Would I notice a difference in taste?

Glengoyne is a Highland distillery (only just) as the dividing boundary is on the road outside. The stills are in the Highland Region and the warehouses are in the Lowland region. It is currently owned by Ian Macleod Distillers, who also own Tamdhu. They have owned the distillery since 2003, when they bought it from Edrington. The spirit made here is completely unpeated.

As this is a comparison review, I’m not going to say too much about the distillery history, but concentrate on the whisky. The two bottles I have are both 10 years old and both at 40% abv. The older one has suffered a little evaporation it seems despite having quite a tight seal. This was bottled in the 1980’s so we can forgive a little bit. The modern version was bought in 2020, just before the rebrand. Let’s see what one gives the best dram experience.

Glengoyne 10 (old)

Region -Highland Age – 10 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Deep Gold (0.8) Cask Type – Sherry, possibly Bourbon in the marriage Colouring – Not known but suspect Yes Chill Filtered – Nose – Toffee, Raisins, Vanilla, quite fruity, slight cereal note. Green apple. Palate – Toffee and vanilla continue, with the raisin note decreased slightly. Leather, slight liquorice notes, and a hint of nut. Soft oak with a waxy mouthfeel. Nut and oak increase with water. Finish – medium. Sweet with soft oak spiciness, chocolate, mocha and butterscotch. Adding water increases spices at the end. There is also a slight interaction from the bottle.

***Old style from 1980’s. When music was great.***

Glengoyne 10 y.o (new)

Region – Highland Age – 10 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Yellow Gold (0.5) Cask Type – 30% Sherry, 70% Bourbon Colouring – No Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Toffee, Green Apple, Honey, Lemon, a hint of cereal. Quite crisp Palate – Apples, grass, waxy mouthfeel but not a heavy wax. Almost indistinguishable oak note, faint white pepper. Finish – short. Ginger. Lemon, Apple. Adding water to this dram made little difference to N,P & F.

***The new kid on the block. Since replaced by a newer kid***.

Conclusions

Some fairly damning opinions here. I will hold back from saying that they are ‘facts’ as this is just my experience.

The manufacturer has been quite open about how the new bottling is put together. This should be applauded when many distilleries say nothing about the make up of their whiskies. This one was Sherry cask (15% European Oak and 15% American Oak) and 70% refill bourbon casks. To be frank, I struggled to taste much of the sherry effect in this dram.

Let’s contrast this to the 1980’s version. Despite the obvious effects of age, this dram in the nose alone screamed “I’ve been in a Sherry Cask”. I do believe there has been a touch of bourbon cask involvement, I can’t tell you if the spirit has been re-racked or married with bourbon cask. Whatever it is, the oak notes are a lot more pronounced, where in comparison the new version the oak notes were almost missing in action.

My main thought is whether or not this whisky has fallen foul of poorer quality casks or more reliance on bourbon maturation. The modern 10 isn’t a bad whisky and although I haven’t enjoyed it particularly over the past two reviews, that is just my personal taste. Too many people enjoy Glengoyne for me not to accept it is a decent brand, and perhaps that I’ll enjoy something a wee bit older. I’ve an 18 y.o miniature for that purpose.

You can buy the old style Glengoyne at auction for around £80. Bit pricey for a drinking 10 year old but I’ve tasted a lot worse and paid a lot more for it. Be aware it’s a screw top, so the seal may not be perfect and the waxed cardboard will have an effect if it has been incorrectly stored. The modern Glengoyne retails around the £30 mark.

Despite being from an old bottle and slightly evaporated, the old style Glengoyne wins hands down, mostly due to having a superior nose and palate.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

3 Drams From The Village With 3 Glens

Taste Review #89 – Glenrothes 8 Old vs New.

Rome was built on seven hills, Dufftown was built on seven stills.
anon

When you are asked to think of where the powerhouse of the Speyside whisky industry, Dufftown is an obvious choice. There has been 9 distilleries founded in Dufftown. From the short lived Pittyvaich and Parkmore, through to Glenfiddich, Dufftown, Convalmore, Glendullan, Mortlach, Balvenie and Kininvie. What other village can be thought of as a centre of whisky production? While there is a pocket of distilleries to the south of Aberlour – Glenallachie, Benrinnes, Allt-a-Bhaine, Dailuaine and Dalmunach, but they aren’t in a village. You have to look further north to the Speyside village of Rothes, which once was home to 4 distilleries with one on the outskirts.

Rothes is a small village in Moray, some ten miles south of Elgin. It has a population of around 1400 people. It has 4 operational distilleries, three of which have the prefix ‘Glen’ – Glen Grant, Glen Spey and the distillery I will focus on today, Glenrothes. Of course, we can’t forget Speyburn on the north side of the village. There was another distillery, Caperdonich which closed in May 2002, and was demolished in 2011. The site was taken over by Forsyths, the company responsible for many a malt distillery still and equipment. Almost like a whisky circle of life.

The Glenrothes Distillery started operation in 1879 before the large boom that was to come around 15 years later. The initial investors, all of whom owned the Macallan distillery at the time. James Stewart had obtained the lease of Macallan and rebuilt the distillery in 1868, only selling it to Roderick Kemp in 1892. James Stewart eventually split from the group building Glenrothes, who continued with the plan to build the distillery.

In 1884 it changes its name to Glenrothes-Glenlivet, which was a cheeky way of riding on the coat tails of the original Glenlivet distillery, such was its renown. Rothes is nowhere near Glenlivet, but that didn’t stop them or others from this practice. By 1887 they merged with the owners of Bunnahabhain distillery to form Highland Distillers. This in turn became part of Edrington, the current owners of the distillery. However for 7 years the brand was owned by Berry Bros. (2010- 2017), and it is one of these vintages we will be trying today.

***Anybody up for a threesome? Drams I mean! The three candidates for this review.***

In fact, the distillery in the village with three ‘Glens’ has supplied us with three drams and a bit of drama. First up is an old style Glenrothes bottled by Gordon & Macphail. It is an 8 year old spirit at 70 Proof. This is 40% ABV. The requirement to have the strength in percent originated in 1980, but this bottle does not have the volume on it. I estimate this bottle to be from the 1970’s.

Whisky 2 is at the other end of the scale. It is an independent bottling from the Malt Whisky Co. also at 8 years old, distilled in 2007. This is the other end of the scale at 64.1%.

Lastly for a sense of balance, I’ve got a 1998 Glenrothes, bottled in 2012, so will be approximately 14 years old at 43%. I’m hoping that this will indicate if the newer whisky is any better, taking into account the maturation age difference.

While I am not directly comparing like for like, it is a good excuse to open an old bottle and a new bottle and thus experience a little whisky history.

Glenrothes 8 y.o est. 1970’s

Region – Speyside Age – 8y.o Strength – 70 proof (40%) Colour -Mahogany (1.6) Cask Type –not known Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – not known. Nose – Solventy. Malt, Citrus, dried fruit, red apple peel, weetabix, chocolate Palate – Oily mouthfeel. Highly doubt this has been chill filtered. Malty, honey, slightly floral, hint of lemon. Spicy, nutmeg and a hint of cinnamon Finish – medium long. Spicy notes continue, honey and light sulphur towards the end. 2ml of water accentuated the spice and shortened the finish with slightly less sulphur.

***Glenrothes 8 y.o, estimated from 1970’s***

Glenrothes 8 y.o 2007

Region -Speyside Age – 8 y.o Strength – 64.1% Colour – chestnut Oloroso (Cask Type – not known Colouring – No Chill Filtered – No Nose – Like a Sherry laden trifle. I’m no Sherry expert but that’s what it reminded me of. Chocolate, Coffee, Raisins, Butterscotch Angel Delight. Palate – Chocolate, cinnamon buns, raisins, a hint of tobacco, caramel. Very spirit forward, not a lot of wood influence at all. A bit of a bite from the spirit on the tongue. Water added a cereal note, like eating cornflakes dry from the packet. Finish – the chocolate butterscotch combo continues into a short and relatively disappointing finish. However adding water shortens the sweet portion and increases the spicy blast at the end. Chilli chocolate springs to mind. After falling asleep in my armchair and waking up with half a nip left, there was a more balanced and less fiery finish, with the flavours returning to coffee and chocolate.

***Glenrothes 8 y.o. At 64.1% this is the version for grownups***.

Glenrothes 1998

Region – Speyside Age – vintage, approx 8 y.o Strength – 43% Colour – Tawny (1.4) Cask Type -not known Colouring – No. Chill Filtered – Not known Nose – Milky Tea, slightly sweet, butterscotch, vanilla, apricot. Palate – honey, fudge, the cinnamon, nutmeg, peppery spices dominate, slightly oily mouthfeel which turns dry. Water allowed a cereal note followed by caramel to show through Finish – medium. Spices carry over and fade into honey again with a hint of liquorice. A hint of plantain too. Sweetness increases and spices decreased when water added

Conclusions

It’s impossible to directly compare all these drams directly and I’m not going to try. However there can be a slight comparison between the 1998 vintage and the 1970’s bottle, despite the difference in age. With a massive difference in abv, there is no way I can use the 2007 sample as a comparison, other than a taste of a spirit from the same distillery.

Initially I didn’t expect much from the older dram. There was considerable contamination on the seal, some evaporation and a tell tale old bottle smell. Once poured into the glass, there was a sign of sediment. Now, this is likely to have been from the cap, so I went through the procedure I use if cork has accidentally gone into the spirit. I filter the spirit using a coffee filter paper, funnel and clean glass. I meant to put the glass into the wash but absent-mindedly put the 2007 dram into the dirty glass. Repeat of process and a clean glass required.

***Cap contamination on the G&M 8 year old***

I’d read somewhere that Glenrothes can take an while to open up in the glass, so I gave the 8 year old 30 mins, there was a reduction in old bottle aroma, and I was genuinely surprised by how tasty it was. Nothing spectacular by any means, but it has a bit of bite.

The closest competitor in this line up was the 1998 / 14 year old. It however didn’t have the same bite, and while it had more complexity, I felt it a little bit insipid in comparison. However it’s a 10cl bottle and I have more opportunity to get to know this bottle.

***Contamination being removed -again.***

The 8 year old from 2007 was fantastic. It had an instantly impressive nose, an equally impressive palate, although I felt the finish a little bit disappointing. However if this was available, I’d easily buy a bottle. In fact in a conversation with a fellow WhiskyTwitterite, I asked if it was better to have loved and lost or never loved at all, as if I’d never tasted this, I wouldn’t have the regret of not being able to buy more.

To be honest, despite old bottle effect, the older dram wins, as it was the one I felt more comfortable with, but if we allowed the 2007 to be considered, it would be the winner.

It’s a narrow win for the older bottle.

Yours in Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

A Clydeside Side By Side

Taste Review #88- Auchentoshan old vs new

Ever bitten off more than you can chew? I certainly have. Whilst it seemed like a good idea to compare old and new versions of whisky to see if we did have it better back in the day, I’m now faced with a massive backlog of drams. It’s becoming pretty daunting having to face constant dramming to enable me to complete this series before I head off to work again.

***The contenders for this whisky death match***

Such is the demand on my time, I have had to make the difficult decision to ramp up my publishing to 2 reviews a week. That’s up to 4 whisky reviews. It’s not just the case of sitting with an easy sipper; to review you aren’t just drinking the liquid, but constantly thinking and analysing what is in your glass.

It’s a hard life, eh?

Anyhoo, it’s the turn of Auchentoshan once more, a distillery I last reviewed in Dec 2019. If you want more details of the distillery, click on this link to see the review.

I’m just moving onto the whisky!

Details

Auchentoshan 10 (1980’s)

Region – Lowland Age – 10 y.o Strength – 43% Colour – Cask Type – Not Known Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Rich Toffee, Honey, Heather. Quite fresh considering the age of the bottle Palate – quite a light mouthfeel, not oily but more like syrup from canned fruit. Citrus, slightly floral too. Peppery Finish – medium short. Peppery and malty at the end.

Auchentoshan 12 (2018)

Region – Lowland Age – 12 y.o Strength – 40% Colour – Cask Type – 10 years Bourbon / 2 years oloroso Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose – Malty. Smells as though something has gone off, vegetal note, nutty, toasted bread. Caramac bars. A whiff of smoke. Palate – quite oaky and agressive. Definite taste of smoke, perhaps char from the cask, as I believe this to be unpeated. Mixed spice, honey, a slight sourness such as passion fruit. Finish – medium/short. Bit citrusy and sour with a slight whiff of TCP. Pretty insipid.

***New(er) Kid on the Block***. ***Matched the band in being not to everyone’s taste***

Conclusions

I have to say that I wonder why Auchentoshan decided to move from a 43% age statement at 10 years old to a 12 year old at 40%. It is without a doubt one of the more backward things a company could have done, especially in the age where consumers are more discerning. Both drams were chill filtered, both appear to have colouring added. While the 10 year old is from an era where these things are acceptable, whisky drinkers are wanting more nowadays.

Both drams lacked any complexity and adding water did nothing to them for me. After an hour with the 12 year old after adding water I found to be drinkable. I’m no expert, but I feel that the use of a re-racking for 2 years in Oloroso casks may be as a result of the use of tired, worn out wood. The char in the 12 year old was particularly noticeable to the point I almost thought it was peated. I didn’t get a lot, if any of the sherried barrels. More evidence of worn out wood.

Why they don’t bottle at 46%, natural colour and non chill filtered astounds me. Being triple distilled, you’d expect a smooth dram, but this wasn’t. One thinks the more diluted product at bottling and poor wood means that the distillery are attempting to maximise profits. The assumed re-racking of this offers little benefit. No matter how much you polish a turd, it’s still a turd. However, I’m not saying it this whisky is rubbish because I didn’t like it.

***Newer spirit on the left. They shouldn’t have added colour, but perhaps needed to.***

The ten year old, whilst lacking in complexity was a pleasant, though underwhelming experience and I much preferred this one. Adding water to this made it more relaxed and easy to drink, though I didn’t get any extra tastes from it. The experience was similar to my last review of a 1990’s Auchentoshan, which i did enjoy though this older edition was better.

It’s a shame, as I’ve always been put off slightly by the amount of non age statement whisky Auchentoshan have released. While I am sure they are all competent whiskies, I’m reluctant to try it if this what an age stated whisky is like. I guess I’ve just not had the right nip from this Clydeside distillery yet.

This round goes to the older sample.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

Index of tastings here

Index of articles here

Scotty’s Drams encourages responsible drinking. To find out the facts about drink, and where to find help if you need it visit Drinkaware.co.uk by clicking on the link.

Photo Credits

All Photos – Authors Own

Battle of The Benromach

Taste Review #86- Benromach 12 (Old) vs Benromach 10(New)

We have finally come to the first sampling of two malts from the same distillery that are not comparing apples with apples. This was a little bit harder to find an older edition versus the newer edition as there just wasn’t a lot of easily available older Benromach available. However, this shouldn’t impact our whisky research much. And what if it does? Well, at least I will have the opportunity to re-do the experiment; I mean, I’ll have to drink more whisky. Not exactly a hardship.

The Benromach distillery is located in the Morayshire town of Forres, not too far away from the railway station. It is classified as a Speyside whisky, and is a borderline coastal distillery, as it is not that far away from the sea which is 3 miles distant, however the shores of Findhorn Bay, are less than 2 miles away, so the warehousing on site will be exposed to the coastal air.

Benromach was founded in 1898, and started producing whisky in 1900. By 1953 it had come under DCL ownership. Unfortunately, the distillery did not survive the downturn of the 1980’s and was closed in 1983. The distillery was cannibalised for spares until 1993 when Whisky Merchants Gordon & Macphail bought the site from Diageo in 1993. Due to the incomplete nature of the distilling equipment, G&M were obliged to start from scratch, effectively building a new distillery within the old one. By 1998 the distillery was once again starting to produce whisky again.

The older Benromach I acquired when I bought a job lot of miniatures from a person clearing their late father’s estate. While I sold most of them, I did keep a few, this being one of them as I own a full sized bottle which I haven’t opened. I did want to see if it would be worth it. Let’s see if it was, and at the same time compare it to a contemporary bottle from modern day Benromach.

Details

Benromach 12 (old style)

Region – Speyside Age – 12 years old Strength – 40% Colour – Deep Copper (1.0) Cask Type – Not known. Bourbon with Sherry finish possibly Colouring – Yes Chill Filtered – Yes Nose -light smoke. melon, malt, honey, vanilla, tobacco ash, musty carpet, red apple peel. Lemon rind. Water accents the sweet. Palate -Oily, damp straw, malt, sour citrus, grapefruit, resin. Honey Finish – Medium – short. Mild honey sweetness with a hint of malt and peppery wood spices, returning to a lemony sour must.

Benromach 10 (2018 bottling)

Region – Speyside Age – 10 years old Strength – 43% Colour – Deep Copper (1.0) Cask Type – Bourbon / Sherry Colouring – No Chill Filtered – Yes Nose -Lemon curd. Creamy, vanilla, peach, apples. A hint of smoke and barley. Palate -Light smoked peat. Sweeter than the nose, honey, apple, raspberry. A note of salty liquorice. Finish – Medium. Tropical fruit peaches, apricots, more smoke and a light brine.

Conclusions

What is good about these two releases is that although both have been released by Gordon & Macphail, only one has spirit actually distilled by them. The 12 year old was released in the 1990’s and therefore contains whisky that had been distilled by the previous owners, DCL (of course who became Diageo). And it goes without saying that the 10 year old was wholly the product of the current owners.

The other disparity between these two drams is that I am led to believe (and haven’t had it confirmed) that when Benromach was rebuilt in the 1990’s that the stills had to be rebuilt, so while the distillery may be in the same buildings, and was a near copy of the original, some things will be different and this may show in the finished product,

What I experienced were two quite different drams. Of course, there is more than just the distillery equipment that can make the difference, I have to wonder it things like fermentation time, where the cut was being made and whether or not barley and yeast varieties were all the same, so realistically it is hard to compare the two.

The other thing is that the older Benromach had that peculiar musty character in some of the notes. I initially wondered if this was the result of old bottle effect but this is similar to what I have experienced in the past with other old drams, in particular the 12 year old Glenturret. I decided not to put the rest of the bottle in my infinity bottle (not that it would have fitted anyway) but left it for 3 days to see if more air contact with the whisky would have done anything. It certainly did. The arrival was very sweet in a short honeyed burst, but soon the musty note returned.

The newer style was much more accessible, with a slightly higher ABV helping to give a crisp, clear punch to the dram. There was more sweetness to the dram, with smoke being noticeable, although it was a compliment to the other aromas and tastes, keeping well in balance.

You would think that the 12 year old whisky would be better than the 10, but it is hard to judge for me in my limited experience to decide whether this is the result of the distilling process or the age of the bottle. I’m tending to believe the age of the bottle is playing its part. However I have to say that with all things considered I believe the newer dram to be the better one of this pair.

Since I bought the newer dram, Benromach has undergone a rebrand. Whether or not the recipe has changed I do not know. The new labelling doesn’t appeal to me at all, looking a bit too Soviet for my liking, though looking back the typeface is similar to the 12 year old. I have to say the new BenRiach re-brand is very similar in its lack of appeal to me. However, this shouldn’t distract us from the whisky.

My old 12 year old bottle of Benromach in store is safe. While it was interesting to taste a dram from yesteryear, I don’t think I will be opening that one any time soon.

Yours In Spirits

Scotty

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