Category Archives: 80 Points

Lochside 1991/2003 (43%, Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseurs Choice, JC/FG)

I once tasted the 2007 version of a 1991 Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Lochside and really wasn’t too happy about that. It was very light as opposed to the Lochsides chosen for the Gordon & MacPhail Reserve range. I don’t know if its only reduction that shows the difference, or maybe better casks are chosen for the Reserve range. I said ‘better’ as opposed to ‘different’ since I know that in both ranges Refill Bourbon Barrels were used. If you want to compare this 2003 Connoisseurs Choice bottling with a Gordon & MacPhail Reserve bottling, Please take a look at Cask #15217 I reviewed earlier. There is a difference of almost 17% in ABV between these two!

Lochside 1991/2003 (43%, G&M, CC, New Map Label, JC/FG)Color: Light Gold.

Nose: Fruity and light, maybe slightly sweet. Hints of distant smoke. Slightly waxy and more yellow fruits. Peach, apricots that sort of fruit. Not banana’s! Slightly malty, but its a young Whisky. Besides this, it also has a powdery and dusty side to it. Hardly any wood and very clean and easy. Still I can’t get rid of the image of diluted sugar in the back of my mind. Clay and a little bit of wood after a few minutes in the glass.

Taste: Well this starts with, …wood and some clay! Something I would have never guessed smelling this. It starts with wood and some character building bitterness. Than a quick brake-down and very short finish. This all happens very quickly. Let’s try again and see what else is in this. Very malty and watered down yellow fruit syrup, again in the apricot part of the garden, but not very sweet. Floral again. Do I detect some smoke in the taste of this Lochside? It isn’t a rounded out Whisky. It has some markers and that’s it really. Unbelievably short finish, with more bitterness than expected.

Your un-complex and summer malt this is. Very light and inoffensive. light, clean and fruity and dare I say, feminine? It the Whisky worlds answer to Lemonade (just without the acidity). The sour part is replaced by some fruity sweetness and a floral perfume. On the palate the wood does its magic. Spicy and a bit bitter.

For me this Whisky really did suffer from reduction. When compared to other 1991 bottled by Gordon & MacPhail (at cask strength), this can’t match up to those. Is it the reduction, or the casks chosen for use in the Connoisseurs Choice range and the Gordon & MacPhail Reserve range?

Points: 80

Rum Week – Day 5: Malecon 12yo Reserva Superior (40%, Panama)

Well this will almost be a short story, since there is not a lot of information around about Malecon. The label states that it is made the Cuban way.

One from the grape-vine is that it made by an Italian importer, who uses predominantly Panamanian Rums, but not exclusively. So I’m not sure what this is and where it’s from. Sorry…

Color: Orange copper.

Nose: Spirity and woody. Smells a bit like a Single Malt Whisky, with added sweetness. But the wood also gives this a sense of a dryness. Vanilla cola. After some air, more powdery and less balanced as at first nosing. The spicy wood plays a very important role in keeping this together.

Taste: Fruity sweet and very reserved. Nothing pops out. Only in the finish, the wood shows a little spice, and oak. That’s remarkable, since it played such a big role in the nose. Actually this has a slight bitterness towards the end, and the fruits are lovely. An elegant rum. Light.

Some time ago Erik and I did a rum tasting. When this was put in a row of eight whiskies we tasted, this was probably too light to be truly noticed. When I try it on its own it’s a very nice elegant and restrained rum. It is much better now, than I remember from the tasting. It’s light and easily overshadowed by other heavy hitting rums. When you would try this after a Demarara, this would get lost. But on its own it shows it’s lovely quality. So very light, that even the Barbancourt tried earlier blows this out of the water! Elegant, and definitely worth a try!

Points: 80

Fattoria La Vialla Passito 2009

Fattoria La Vialla Passito 2009Here is another bottle from Fattoria La Vialla that found its way into my castle. Click here for the review of the NubeRosa 2010. This is exactly why I keep the draw-bridge down a lot, so things like this come my way. It was brought in to accompany dessert. This Moscato di Sicilia is a dessert wine @ 14.5% ABV. The bottle here is a 375 ml. which is a fine size for many über-sweet wines. The bottle I’m about to review is from lot 29 17082011.

Color: Copper

Nose: Sweet (obviously). Musty, but also has a distant acidic freshness to it. Gravy, with a little bit of smoke and cold tea. Some small hints of peaches. The nose is nicely balanced. Over time it becomes less sweet and maybe somewhat more acidic.

Taste: Not as syrupy or sweet as I’m used to. Again nicely balanced between the sour and the sweet. Dried apricots, but no sign of raisins. Due to the acidity, the whole is rather fresh.

It’s a dessert wine, but less sweet as one might think. Absolutely better than I thought. The whole comes across as being honest.

Points: 80

Thanks go out to Nicole for bringing the wine!

Tomatin 19yo 1989/2008 (40%, Master of Malt, Refill Sherry Hogshead, 399 bottles)

I caught a cold last week, which is very unfortunate when you try to write tasting notes. Fortunately my nose is back in business now, and in the process ‘got a rest’. Let’s start whisky reviewing again, with an example of a whisky that should be light and is ‘low’ in ABV.

There are two versions of this, one reduced to 40% ABV (this version) and one at cask strength, that was 57.6% ABV. This example was bottled by Master of Malt, maybe the biggest competition for The Whisky Exchange. Just have a look at their website for quite a nice collection, just don’t be fooled, a lot is sold out and stated as such. Looking around the net a bit, I already got a sense that the cask strength version should be much better. Those of you that are used to my reviews, know already that I don’t like reduction a lot, but I do admit that it sometimes cán work, let’s see if that is the case with this Tomatin.

Color:  White wine.

Nose: Toffee with some acidity. Seems sweet at first, but quickly turns into something dry. Cardboard like woodiness. Fern with a hint of licorice, toast and ash. Quite floral later on, but the cardboard doesn’t give way. Not bad, but atypical Tomatin, for this lacks the (tropical) fruityness, we all know. Apart from the cardboard it is powdery and slightly mouldy.

Taste: Again dry, woody and mouldy. Ear wax. Wood spice and slightly bitter. Watery. Nothing more to it really. I hope the cask strength version is (a lot) better, because this is nothing special. Maybe this was reduced to death? Very atypical for a Tomatin, since it lacks all forms of fruityness…

For me a completely uninteresting Tomatin. This must be a cask that was sold off for blending. Would be interesting to try the cask strength version though, because at 40% ABV… well you get the picture…

Points: 80

Glenfiddich 12yo “Special Reserve” (40%, OB, Circa 2003)

Looking back I’ve reviewed here a lot of old, priceless or impossible to have malts. Let’s counterpart that decadence a little bit with some malts that are interesting when crossing over from blended whiskies or other types of distilled drinks. The first that comes to mind of course is Glenfiddich. Glenfiddich is up there with their Single Malts since 1964. Already in 1964 they have sold 48.000 bottles of Single Malt Glenfiddich and today they still outsell anybody. Today they sell around 12.000.000 bottles annually. That’s a share of about 20%! Lets have a go at this Glenfiddich 12yo. A bottle that was bought ten years ago. Today the “Special Reserve” doesn’t exist but it is replaced by a normal 12yo in the same colours. It’s probably the same.

Color: Gold

Nose: Very malty and grain alcohol. Grass and lemons. Hay with mocha. If I had done this blind I would have said that it’s almost like a blend or a Lowlander. In part very clean, but sometimes also some hints in the depth that make it a bit dirty, syrupy and waxy. Soap-like perfume. Fresh apples and light peppermint. Not very complex, but it has its balance.

Taste: Green and grassy. Grainy again. Hints of tarry toffee and apple compote. Very light and fruity. Easy drinkable. Finishes a little bitter. Altogether the finish is short. There is more to the nose than the palate.

Perfect start for people wanting to cross over from blended whiskies into Single Malts. The transition will be a smooth one and no shocking differences will emerge. People who scoff at this are wrong. This is not a bad whisky. I have tasted far worse than this. It’s completely inoffensive and yes, not a high flyer. But it isn’t here to fly high. It’s here to get you there…  Often the only single malt whisky in a bar, but easily the best drink available. An honest product.

Points: 80

La Guillotine (8.5%, 330 ml)

La Guillotine, a heavy beer, is made by brouwerij Huyghe from Melle, Belgium. It was first issued in 1989 to commemorate the 200th anniversary of the French Revolution. Huyghe is better known for their Delirium Tremens beer. La Guillotine is a multigrain beer, and one of their more bitter offerings. La Guillotine won a gold award in London at the Brewing Industry International Awards in 2011. Almosts 800 beers were entered in the competition, so we can have high expectations for this beer. Again this is an aged bottle.

Color: Orange Gold with lots and lots of yeast.

Nose: Citrussy and perfumy. It smells rather clean and doesn’t have a lot of smell to it.

Taste: Again citrus. Orange and a bit of sourness that makes it a wee bit refreshing. Warming alcohol, in combination with the orange. There is a lot of light floating yeast in the depot, which makes it hard not to pour it into the glass. Luckily the yeast itself doesn’t have a lot of taste by itself, so it doesn’t overpower the palate. Overall rather fresh with some distant sweetness. The bitterness is confined to the finish only.

Well it’s not hard to imagine what happened over time. A new bottle is sweeter and has more bitterness. The sugar was fermented off, and even the bitterness isn’t all that present. Ageing gives this beer a more sour and refreshing edge and complexity. Since those beers are abundant, I guess it’s probably best not to age this beer for too long beyond it’s best before date.

Points: 80

H. Upmann Magnum 48 Edición Limitada 2009

Considering all things nice and beautiful, there’s certainly more than whisky alone to enjoy, well, there’s a lot more actually, and why not try a cigar this time. Winter is over, sun starts to come out  more often, and it’s great to sit outside with a cigar again. But beware. I’ve never reviewed cigars before so let’s see how this goes.

First up a Cuban Edición Limitada 2009 version by H. Upmann (48 x 110mm, Corona Extra or Short Robusto, Box Code Unknown).

H, or Herman for friends, was a banker who was interested in cigars for personal use. After seeing the possibilities for a cigar business, Herman decided to start his own brand in 1844. Much, much later, Prez John F. Kennedy liked Herman’s Petit Corona’s so much, he had his assistant buy all of Herman’s Petit Corona’s they could find the day before announcing the embargo on Cuba.

Upmann used to be famous for their stellar Churchill. More recent is the popularity of their Magnum 46 (46 x 143mm, Corona Gorda). Two more Magnums saw the light of day. First the Magnum 50 Edición Limitada 2005 (50 x 162mm, Double Robusto) and of course our Magnum 48.

Color & Looks: Colorado, maybe Colorado Maduro. Small veins, nicely cut, without frays. Good build, was easy to cut.

A cru: powderish, hints of stable odor and fertilizer, dusty, green, now fat powder and finally; sour.

Taste: Combustion and draw were good. The burn was a bit uneven but it let itself be corrected easily with the laser flame lighter. No tunneling and keeps burning without any problems. It took the Magnum 48 about a centimeter to find its balance. It is spicy, full body and again a bit sour. After the first centimeter the taste became deeper and more refined (leather, slightly bitter), and stayed there. It turned out to be very linear and not very complex, again hinting at its youth (ammonia). It produces a medium amount of smoke, and nice and firm white ashes, which fell off halfway through.

There was still a third left, when the cigar announced, with lot’s of leather and harsh bitterness that it was time to leave… A bit of a shame though, since it’s a rather short cigar. Well this is a cigar that should be smoked slowly, to keep it balanced and if you want to control the amount of smoke. When it burns hot, a lot of smoke (and taste) will disappear. I tried this with double burnt, dark roasted coffee and water and both worked very well.

A good friend of mine suggested recently, that the Edición Limitada series could be made for instant gratification, so it has to be good immediately and may not win a lot of character spending some time in the humidor. After three years I found the Magnum 48 to be still young, and would certainly be patient with it. It may not win a lot over time, but why rush it.

80 points (of course not to be compared with an 80 point whisky)