Category Archives: Whisky from Master Quills Travels

Bowmore Week – Day 4: Bowmore 10yo “The Devils Cask” (56.9%, OB, Small Batch Release, First Fill Sherry Casks, 6.000 bottles, 2013)

Bowmore WeekThis year the little brother of the four sisters Tempest was born. Both the Tempest’s and the Devil’s Casks are small batch releases, and hopefully are with us to stay. Each batch of the tempest counts at least 12.000 bottles and of this first Devil’s Casks only a measly 6.000 bottles were made.

The story behind this release can be read on the Bowmore website: Legend has it that the devil once visited the church in Bowmore. Now if you’ve ever seen it,you’ll know that the church is circular, built that way (so it’s said) so there would be no corner in which the devil could hide. The local congregation spotted the devil and chased him down through the village, into the gates of Bowmore Distillery. Here, the warehousemen were filling casks and loading them aboard the paddle steamer, The Maid of Islay. Gates and doors locked tight shut, every inch of the distillery was searched, but to no avail. As legend goes, the devil escaped in a cask of Bowmore bound for the mainland.

Bowmore The Devil's CasksColor: Copper brown.

Nose: Dusty dull Sherry nose. Lots of tar and some wood. Deep underlying fruits. Cherries and blackberries. Fresh air, steam, coal and tar. This just goes to show how well Bowmore does with the right sherry casks. Again slightly perfumy and floral, without the FWP. FWP is something that suits the profile of Bowmore and is part of it’s identity. The problem Bowmore had in the past is that it had way too much FWP. Today it is brought back to an amount where it add to the spirit. I love the cola, tar and toast that goes with this young Bowmore, since this is something only encountered in old stuff from the 60’s and 70’s (and before). Loving this, because a lot of the nose shows hints of stuff that could be found only in old Whiskies.

Taste: Tarry and woody, with some bitterness. Darkest chocolate, ashes and pretty sweet actually. It somehow has a dry top layer, with wood and ashes, tar and chocolate, but it’s not completely dry, since underneath there lies this bed of sweetness. Well balanced stuff. Again tar, ashes and coal. Great profile. I like that.

Well, this for sure became a cult Whisky overnight. The 6000 bottles sold out in something like three minutes. Lots of people bought cases of this. Rachel Barrie strrrrrrikes again 🙂 Let’s hope there will be a batch 2 and if so, it will be just as good albeit slightly different probably. Would I pay a silly 350 Euro’s for it as can be seen on Ebay, nope, I wouldn’t because for that kind of money there still are some old bottles of Bowmore to be had, that are equally great as this one is…

Bowmore is now definitly something to look out for (again)!

Points: 89

Bowmore Week – Day 2: Bowmore 14yo 1998/2013 (46%, Cadenhead, Small Batch, Bourbon Hogsheads, 792 bottles)

Here we are, into day two of Master Quill’s Bowmore Week. This review will be about a Bowmore from Cadenhead’s new Small batch series. Just like with the Original Series (46% ABV) and the Authentic Series (cask strength), the small batches come in at 46% or cask strength. The 46% versions in this new Small Batch Series come in this round dumpy bottle as depicted below, whereas the Cask strength versions come in more square dumpy bottles. Like Glenfarclas used a long time ago. The only difference between the Original and the Authentic Collection and the Small Batch bottling is that the latter is in almost all the cases a bottling of two casks where the former were single cask bottlings. This may be a golden opportunity for Cadenheads to mix two casks that can complement each other, where single cask bottlings will always show the flaws of that one cask. A year prior (2012), Cadenheads have already bottled two Bourbon Hogshead Bowmore’s in the Authentic Collection, which could be nice for comparison.

Cadenhead Bowmore 14yoColor: White Wine

Nose: Butter, cookie dough and flowery peat. A very feminine profile. It’s flowery and perfumy without it being FWP or soapy. Citrussy and very light on peat. Hints of (tarry) wood and salt. Fat light peat and licorice. Quite “simple” on the nose compared to yesterday’s standard 12yo. This one has to breathe a bit and needs a bit of warmth to fully release its aroma’s. The longer it stands the more smoky it gets, kippers. Coastal.

Taste: Very well integrated Bowmore. A sweet and very full body, yet not heavy and quite un-complex. Good sweetness. Hints of mocha and cappuccino. A nice peppery bite and citrus with custard. Lemon sherbet. Nice hints of wood. Extremely drinkable, but also quite simple. The pepper is an added bonus. The finish is not too long though, and the pepper stays with you longer than the finish does.

Where the nose needed a little time to show itself, the taste is immediately up front without a lot of evolution. But when its good from the start who needs evolution? Very nice and simple profile, but as I said before, not very complex, but immediately likeable and extremely drinkable. I do like it.

Points: 85

Bowmore Week – Day 1: Bowmore 12yo (40%, OB, Circa 2013)

Bowmore WeekYes this is the start of a new “Week” at Master Quill. This time it’s december and the weather is still pretty good for this time of year. Still the cold should be not too far away and I most definitely have an itch for something more peaty. Bowmore, as Caol Ila are known as the more medium peated Islay Whiskies, as opposed to Ardbeg, Lagavulin and Laphroaig that have a more heavy hitting reputation, and Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain which are even lighter in peat than Bowmore is. Not to forgetting about Kilchoman (new) and Port Ellen (closed).

Bowmore itself had a little problem in the eighties and nineties with some of their Whiskies being called Badedas of heavily soapy, or even full of FWP (French Whore Perfume). I once had a Bowmore from 1989 that had so much of this it made me physically ill (on two different occasions when tasted blind). It made me ignore Bowmore for a long time (and the independent bottler that bottled the stuff as well…)

But after way more than a decade, and hearing Bowmore of late are very good it is time to have another go at Bowmore and look at some of their newer bottlings and maybe some old, who knows? Lets start the Bowmore Week with the newest version of the standard 12yo.

Bowmore 12yoColor: Full Gold.

Nose: Peaty, sweet and animalesk (smell it and you’ll know what I mean). Salty, smoky and vegetal. The peat gives off this typical coastal character. Burning off garden waste (not everything is dry), but also a clean wood fire. These two different kinds of fires coexist in this Bowmore! Hidden (sweet and aromatic) fruits come next, very nice! Little bit of toffee, vanilla and caramel. Fresh, sea air. But the whole is very elegant (for something from Islay). Not in your face. But Bowmore isn’t about heavy peating anyway. Cold tea. Good balance and quite complex, especially for such an entry-level Bowmore @ 40% ABV. Smell it for a while because not all is released at once.

Taste: Sweet, with lots licorice, peat, cardboard and black & white powder. Hints of vanilla ice-cream and wee bits of yellow and red fruits. Waxy, peppery and a funky kind of sugary sweetness underneath (ever so slightly too sugary sweet sometimes, but the fruity sweetness is good). Again an association with garden leaves, but this time just lying there (before being burned off). Very good Whisky. Alas, the palate can’t keep up with the more than excellent nose. To be taken in big gulps for maximum pleasure. Medium finish, but the aftertaste is very pleasant.

This is great Whisky, and has a lot of potential. I would have liked this very Whisky also being bottled at “the new export strength” of 46% ABV, I would be very curious how it would have turned out, also at cask strength it would be a blast. It smells fantastic, the taste is a wee bit simpler but still well made, very well made. It’s almost too good for an entry-level malt. It just is too watered down, which (alas) makes it an entry-level malt.

Points: 85

Amrut Intermediate Sherry (57.1%, OB)

Amrut (अमृत) means something in between elixir of life and nectar of the gods. Amrut Single Malt Whisky is made by Amrut Distilleries which was founded in 1948, but just as with Paul John, it took them some time (untill 2004) to release their first Single Malt Whisky, with that, they were the first indian distillery to do so. In 2004 Amrut released its first Single Malt Whisky in Glasgow Scotland, (in the lion’s den you might say). Today and that isn’t even a decade later, Amrut already released a lot of different Single Malt Whiskies. Peated and non-peated, matured in Bourbon, Sherry, Brandy, Cognac, Port and all sorts of different casks. Amrut have even released in one bottle, Whisky matured in India and in Europe, or using malts from different continents. Lots of thinking out-of-the-box.

Amrut Intermediate SherryColor: Full ocher gold.

Nose: Sweet, buttery and creamy at first. Hints of malt and yoghurt. Even smaller hints of licorice and tar. Big bold fruity Whisky. Extremely likeable nose. I’m guessing this particular Sherry cask did some good work. But there is more, it also has a flowery element mixed in with the vanilla. Quite sweet and has a little smoky bite. Nice and complex, well balanced nose. Sometimes vegetal and smells of a little piece of lit cedar (to light a cigar with). Pencil shavings. The floral part gives of whiffs of floral soap, which adds to the complexity without making the Whisky soapy. The nose gives away the Indian origin.

Taste: Sweet, sherried, fruity and has a bite given by the high ABV, but I still won’t water this down, far too nice already. Fruity and cookie dough. The sweetness dissipates and gets more drying towards the oak. Sherried and toffee. Cask toast. Good long fruity finish, with a slight hint of bitter wood, which fits perfectly to the initial sweetness this Whisky has. A little bit less balanced, so it could have been even better than it already is!

Again a perfect example of the level the Indians got to. The Paul John Edited is already a great Whisky, and shows how a relative newcomer can make good Whisky. So I’m guessing the still is a lot of room for improvement there. Amrut is at it for a longer time, but as a Single Malt Whisky producer not even 10 years. Amrut are showing with this Sherried Intermediate that they already are giving a lot of Scottish Whiskies a run for their money. I consider this one is a must buy, I already secured myself a bottle. Great Whisky. I’m expecting great things from this distillery (as well as from John Paul). Way to go India!

Points: 87

Thanks Ashok Chokalingham for the sample, unfortunately I only had one sample bottle with me…

Paul John “Edited” (46%, OB, Batch 1, 2013)

Being a big fan of the Scottish tipple, I somehow ignored the products made in other countries for a long time. OK, I started out with Whiskey from the United States and very early on, some stuff from Ireland and Canada made its way onto my lectern, but that’s about it. If I tasted something else, I didn’t like it very much back then. Yes, back in the day the Whiskies from other countries, just weren’t all that good. More than a decade has passed now, and visiting the odd Whisky Show, I’m more and more exposed to whiskies from those “other countries” and guess what, they actually became pretty good! As we all have read earlier, Cyril Yates made some pretty good Whisky in New Zealand and here we have a Whisky from India. Whisky is getting really global!

Paul John Single Malt Whisky is made at the John Distillery in Goa, India. The distillery only started in 1992 and in just 20+ years became a big player on the Indian Whisky market. Paul John Single Malt Whisky is a more recent addition (presented to the world on the 4th of October 2012 in London, England) to the portfolio that also contains the regional brand Original Choice, which sells 10.000.000 cases annually. The company also sells another brand of Whisky, but also Brandy and Wine. According to the distillery they only have one thing in mind doing business, to make the best product possible…

The core range of Paul John Single Malt Whiskies consists of the unpeated “Brilliance”, this lightly peated “Edited” and up untill now three Single Casks. The peat for the Whisky I’m reviewing here was sourced from Aberdeen and Islay, and I guess there is no better island to source one’s peat from than Islay! 25 to 30% of the Whisky in this vatting is peated to a level of 35 ppm (parts per million) of phenols, resulting in a Whisky that is has a peating level of 8 to 10 ppm. Yes, that’s lightly peated alright. The Whisky has matured for 4 to 5 years in first fill American oak. If you are expecting a (heavily) peated Indian Whisky than this is not for you. If you’re open to a peated whisky where the peat is not about…in-your-face peat, then you’re in for a treat, if you let it.

Paul John EditedColor: Light ocher gold.

Nose: Malty and the slightest hint of peat. Perfumy and needs the warmth of your hand holding the glass. Hints of oily sowing machines. Powdery. Hints of citrus and vanilla ice-cream. A wee bit of drying wood, but when it gets to the right temperature is shows great balance. The powdery element is connected to some late fruitiness, that reminds me of vanilla yoghurt with apricots and mango. Mellow.

Taste: Malty again, and here the perfect sweetness does show up with toffee, mocha and vanilla. It was less sweet on the nose. This is nice! Extremely drinkable and 46% seems perfect for the profile. The ABV delivers a nice bite, but not alcoholic. Again a little bit of wood, but not typical oak, more like cedar or even plywood. I know this does sound horrible here, but it absolutely isn’t. The wood is in a curious way spicy and it delivers another type of bite or character, that sets it apart from most Scottish Whiskies. In the (medium) finish a little bit of paper and smoke appears (not peat).

Elegant stuff with a lot of potential. It is already a great start for Paul John, but I have a feeling they will make this even better over time. It’s time for the Scottish to wake up. The days of extreme pricing might soon be over and the consumer will wise up and turn to other whiskies, like Paul John and Amrut from India, amongst many, many others.

Points: 84

South Island 18yo (40%, The New Zealand Whisky Company)

Earlier I reviewed the DoubleWood blend of the New Zealand Whisky Company (NZWC). Please have a look at that review for some more history of the NZWC. Here we’ll move on to the first single malt of the NZWC on these pages. They call it the South Island 18yo, because it’s made in the Willowbank distillery in Dunedin on the South Island and its age is no less than 18yo. The Whisky was originally intended to be Lammerlaw single malt. But a new owner stepped in and there is no Lammerlaw in the collection anymore, but what is?

First of all the NZWC has some blends. The DoubleWood 10yo we know, but there also is a DoubleWood 15yo. Both blends had some extensive finishing in New Zealand wine casks. The Water of Leith is another blend by the NZWC, that one is 70% Single Malt, and 30% Grain Whisky.

Another speciality is Diggers and Ditch which they call a ‘Double Malt’ Whisky. Once we all called something like this a Vatted Malt and nowadays we should call this a Blended Single Malt or something if it were Scottish, which it isn’t so Double Malt it is! Diggers and Ditch is a vatting of NZ Single Malt and Tasmanian Single Malt.

Next in the collection is the Milford Range. Here we have a 10yo, a 15yo, a 18yo and a 20yo. All bottled at 43% ABV.Only two series left. First the South Island range of Whiskies. Here we have a 18yo, a 21yo and a 25yo. The 18yo and the 21yo are bottled at 40% ABV. and the 25yo is bottled at 46% ABV. Hurray!

Last but not least the Cask Strength collection. Finally some examples of single casks that are bottled like it sits in the warehouse, at natural strength. For the time being the following Single Cask bottlings are released (the list may not be complete):

  • 1988: 23 year old (casks #70 and #72)
  • 1989: 22 year old (casks #58 and #148)
  • 1990: 21 year old (cask #90)
  • 1993: 18 year old (casks #21 and #32)

Color: Light gold.

Nose: Fresh, lively and fruity. Hints of cream butter, toffee, flower and cookie dough. Very rustic, light, sunny and fruity. Apple compote. Tiny hints of creamy wood. It smells like a summer’s day in the country, where a warm wind moves the curtains, and a freshly baked apple pie sits on the window sill.

Taste: Light, fresh and fruity again. Chalk and the slightest hint of malt. Apples in all its guises. Apple skins, apple compote, warm apple pie. The sugary sweetness tastes a bit watered down, but the nice fruity acidity keeps the whole fresh. The apples taste fantastic in the finish. A happy Whisky!

I wasn’t a firm believer of the “summer dram”, but if they exist, this is one of them! Extremely happy I bought myself a bottle of this 🙂 This gets the same score as the DoubleWood but it is a completely different Whisky.

Points: 84

Bruichladdich 32yo 1970/2002 (44.2%, OB, First Fill American Oak Casks, 4200 bottles)

Let’s step things up a bit with this legendary Bruichladdich. Bruichladdich was founded in 1881, and the distillery was built by Barnett Harvey with money the family got from an inheritance from his brother. It is not the Barnett family’s first distillery though. In 1881 they also own the well-known distilleries: Yoker and Dundashill. Between 1929 and 1936 the distillery is closed. Much later in 1983 the distillery was closed as many others were, but fortunately it was saved (in the same year) and didn’t get demolished. Next the distillery was again closed between 1995 and 2000. In 2000 the distillery was bought for £6.5 million, by a group of investors. Quite a good investment since this group sold the distillery again for £58 million in 2012. The new owner being Rémy Cointreau.

Color: Full gold.

Nose: Old bottle. Waxy and very full and heaps of character. Vanilla with some nice acidity. There is also a fantastic woody note. Smells a lot like a 1972 Caperdonich (from a Bourbon cask), but fresher, less heavy, but don’t make the mistake thinking this is a light nose. Very drying nose, dusty and powdery and full of fresh air. All written here isn’t released by the Whisky in one go, it is released in layers. This nose alone would score sky-high. Absolutely stunning.

Taste: Fruity vanilla which is transported by a fabulous bed of wood. Sugared yellow fruits, again apricots (I get that a lot lately), but also a nutty part, almonds, but nothing bitter. A hint of toasted cask (sweet wood). Perfect big bold body with a mouthfeel to match. Good finish, it leaves a taste in your mouth that should have gone on forever.

This is a Whisky that fetches a pretty penny at auctions today. I should have bought this when it got out. In today’s market, Whiskies like this would be put in some sort of crystal decanter or another polished over the top packaging and would go for 1000 or 2000  Euro’s easily. Having said that, it’s probably worth the 500 Euro’s it costs today. Go and get it, I’ll vouch for it. I had this at 91 up untill now, but that was a grave error on my part. The new score is…

Points: 92

Glenlochy 1977/1994 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail , Connoisseurs Choice, Old Map Label, ID/AHD)

And here is the first Glenlochy on these pages, and only the second Glenlochy I ever tasted. (Amateur!). Glenlochy was founded in 1898 (some say 1897), during the Whisky-boom, but only started distilling in 1901. Glenlochy was closed in 1983 when a lake of Whisky was forming. Many others like Brora, Banff and Saint Magdalene, to name but a few, were closed during that year. In 1992 most of the Distillery was demolished. Now only Ben Nevis survives in the region (Fort William).

Glenlochy 1977/1994 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail , Connoisseurs Choice, Old Map Label, ID/AHD)Color: Gold.

Nose: Fresh, citrus and wax. Hints of smoked kippers and old stale water. Old damp storage room from the 19th century. Clay, some smoke and alas quickly fading at first, but getting better after some breathing. Some menthol (light) and heavy esters. A little bit of latex paint and the most minute traces of bitterness. From the wood obviously, but also connected to the waxy part.

Taste: Old wood, and some clay. Very fruity and also due to its low ABV, very drinkable. Vanilla and toffee. Wet leaves. Actually this takes me by surprise. After some extensive breathing inside the glass, it gets better and better. Probably a nice candidate to try in a big balloon glass. I quite like it, more than anticipated.

I would have loved it, to be able to taste this undiluted, because it oozes potential quality. The quality is here too, but a bit watered down. Very interesting dram this is, but it also shows why I didn’t buy a lot of Connoisseurs Choice bottlings in the past. I know, I know, there are a lot of stunners in this range, but I feel a lot were done some harm when diluted to 40% ABV. By the way, again this is a Whisky that needs a lot of air to open up. needs a bit of work, to show all of its beauty.

Points: 86

The Macallan ‘Fine Oak – Whisky Maker’s Selection’ (42.8%, OB, 1 Litre, Circa 2006)

I come from the times when The Macallan may have been the best Sherried Speysiders around. Almost all Macallans were made of Oloroso Sherry cask, well controlled by the distillery. Who doesn’t know the old back label with the famous last words: “FOR REASONS NOT EVEN SCIENCE CAN WHOLLY EXPLAIN, whisky has always matured best on oak casks that have contained sherry.” or the famous last two words on this very back label: “the tumbler” Well I for one was very disappointed tasting the very first Fine Oak range back in the day, having expected something like the quality of the old Macallans. For me the Fine Oaks had to be of the higher ages to get a high rating. Also the pricing has put me off back then. Some time has passed, some ten years, and here is finally another Fine Oak. Let’s give it another chance…

Color: Honey gold.

Nose: Fresh wood and fresh overall. A bit like a nice Fino Sherry. Waxy (ear wax) and slightly soapy. Apricot and bitter orange marmalade. Heather and a lot of toffee. Quite syrupy smelling and promises of a full body. Seems young with some added depth from some older casks.

Taste: A bit thin at first, but highly drinkable. Again some heather and maybe even a little bit of honey. I can’t shed the feeling this actually is a full bodied Highland Park with lots of Fino Sherry. Hidden bitterness surrounded by fruity sweetness and custard. Towards the end of the body and into the finish it gets drier with more wood and it’s bitterness. Even the toasted cask is here in minute amounts.

This reminds me of the old wide neck Highland Park 12yo, with even the same sort of bitterness in the finish. In fact, if I would have tasted this blind I most definitely would have said this was a Highland Park, who knows, same owner 😉

Points: 85

Ardbeg 10yo 1993/2004 (57.3%, Cadenhead, Refill Bourbon Hogshead, 252 bottles)

Wow, unbelievable, this is just my second Ardbeg review on these pages! I have this distillery up there with the greats, so what happened? This is an Ardbeg from 1993 bottled by independent bottlers Cadenhead’s. This is most definitely not the first Cadenhead’s on these pages, no it’s actually already the tenth, so for more information about Cadenhead’s, please have a look at all the other reviews of Cadenhead’s bottlings.

Color: White wine.

Nose: Sweet and mellow peat. Smells older than it actually is. Very nice, refined and balanced. Vegetal. Lemon sherbet. Fatty and smoky. Definitely citrus fruits this one, and some tropical fruits too. Not an in-your-face Islay monster, but with a lot of Islay character. Freshly cut peat. After a wee bit of breathing, some butter emerges, and it picks up a bit in oomph. More oily and smoky, ans even the citrus (lemon) is more dominant. The peat on the other hand recedes even more. Breathing adds something fishy and some vanilla to the mix. Somewhat more sea influence.

Taste: Sweet, sweet and light young peat. The smoke comes later. Nice effect. Hardly any wood. Whereas the nose showed me some light (old) peat, on the palate this Whisky does show its youth. Just as in the nose, very restrained lively and fruity Ardbeg, again not a kick in the head. With some air and time, it even gets a wee bit floral and ashy and slightly more pungent.

The offset and the body are nice and full, or round, if you prefer. The tastes fit together and show a more elegant side of Ardbeg. Towards the finish it does start to break down a bit. I said a bit. For an Ardbeg the finish is rather short and again light at first, but breathing lengthens the finish (and adds a little woody bitterness, finally). Typical Islay, not typical Ardbeg is you ask me. Probably not a very active cask, since there isn’t any wood detectable, nor has it picked up a lot op color.  It reminds me of an Ardbeg Bond Reserve I still have, so I’ll review that shortly (also from Cadenhead’s).

Summa summarum, nice Ardbeg that needs to breathe!

Points: 86