The Balvenie 12yo “Doublewood” (40%, OB, Circa 2014)

Somehow a lot of Balvenies were already reviewed on these pages. However not the most popular one, the entry-level 12yo “Doublewood”, yes not a NAS bottling yet. Before the 12yo, the 10yo “Founder’s Reserve” was the entry-level Balvenie, but that one was discontinued in favour of this “Doublewood”. As I said before, Balvenie is a Single Malt I like to like, or like to love if you prefer, but somehow I don’t buy a lot of them anymore. Sometimes a bit weak and if they are really good, they are also really expensive. Once I had my own bottle of “Doublewood”,long, long ago, and it was very nice. I had several “Doublewood’s” since, but just like the 15yo “Single Barrel” I found the quality to be somewhat slipping, but they always stayed true to the Balvenie style, and for me that is elegance. Time to fill in one of the gaps on these pages and finally review the 12yo “Doublewood”. I can only hope this recent bottling does the trick for me again…

The Balvenie 12yo DoublewoodColor: Bright ocher gold.

Nose: Lots of caramel to welcome you, and hints of sugared orange skins. Creamy with slightly spicy oak. Sweet sawdust and sweet whipped cream. Hints of Cream Sherry, but the American oak donated a lot of vanilla to this Balvenie. It’s almost like there is also some virgin oak in this one. Hints of dried crushed leaves in autumn and a tiny burnt note. Smells fresh and well-balanced, although it does remind me of a heavily caramelized Whisky.

Taste: Nice but also rather thin. Sugary sweet and again caramel and cream. Yes, loads of vanilla are present as well as fresh almonds. It’s an ice-cream of a Whisky. The creamy aroma’s are quite big so it seems ok at 40% ABV. The lowest possible ABV to call itself Whisky, does show in the short finish. It hardly leaves any after taste. The finish itself seems to be built around a toffee flavour.

So this is probably a very nice entry-level Whisky. Very appetizing and sweet, with all the sweet markers. Toffee, caramel, Sugar and vanilla. Nothing to scoff at. Pretty good balance, but also quite simple. Not for analyzing, but for drinking without giving it too much thought. The only beef I have with this one is the short finish.

Points: 83

Wild Turkey 12yo (50.5%, OB, 2007)

It’s still september, so why not add another Bourbon to our collection of reviews. This time, we’ll focus on a Wild Turkey 12yo 101 proof, that was bottled a few years ago. Today’s version looks somewhat different and more blue. According to the Wild Turkey website, todays 12yo (as well as a 13yo) is only meant for the Japanese market. Over here, we still have a 101 proof, but that is one without an age statement (NAS).

Wild Turkey 12yoColor: Orange gold.

Nose: Fatty and full of aroma. Candied oranges with lots of toffee. Quite sweet-smelling. It almost smells like a dry Rum. Very appealing. Right after this (and not before), the smell of the wood. New oak with lots of vanillin obviously. Lots of nuts. Almonds combined with rather new thick leather. All aroma’s are big in this one. Also some hints of dust and vanilla powder and cookie dough. Pushed even further in the background are small, small hints of red fruits and toasted wood. Big and tasty smelling. If this tastes like it smells, this really is a winner. It’s all about toffee, vanilla and nuts.

Taste: Not as big on the toffee now, but still a big aroma. Wood plays a bigger role, and that is no surprise, considering the age of this Bourbon. Vegetal wood with a slight hint of soap. That sounds worse than it actually is. Vanilla combined with sugary sweetness. Sweet corn even. Not overly complex, but nice and big and very tasty. Quite a big finale of toffee and some big aromatic sweetness, but aided by the toasted wood note quickly balancing out the sweetness, also showing its age.

I always liked Wild Turkey’s Rare Breed, but this is another winner! I will have to return to Rare Breed for a comparison. If I remember correctly, Rare Breed shows more Rye compared to this sweetish 12yo. I also did a quick comparison with the Four Roses Single Barrel I have on my lectern, and they are quite similar in quality, and not even that far apart in taste. Four Roses has a different kind of sweetness though. It’s sweetness isn’t all that big and more focused, but very present as well. Wild Turkey has a broader kind of sweetness. Maybe the sweetness is more integrated because of its age?

Points: 83

Jim Beam “Signature Craft” 12yo (43%, OB, Small Batch)

Marketed as the super premium “Top Shelf” Bourbon in the Jim Beam range of Bourbons. No don’t worry the Small Batch series isn’t discontinued, just they are seen as Bourbons for aficionado’s and less for the “people”. Second the Signature Craft’s will bear the Jim Beam name as opposed to the Whiskies released in the Small Batch series. Bearing the Beam name is also the reason this Signature Craft Bourbon doesn’t break the bank. It’s an easy access brand. For those who don’t know The Small Batch series, it comprises of: Bookers, Baker’s, Basil Haydens (Old Grand Dad recipe and yeast strain) and Knob Creek.

Jim Beam Signature Craft 12yoColor: Copper gold.

Nose: A lot of honey and the typical Jim Beam yeast strain. Wow, really very honeyed. It’s hard to get past that. This needs to breathe for a while. Quite mellow for a 12yo Bourbon that has spent all of its life in new wood. The wood starts to work here, and adds vanilla and a teensie bit of spiciness to the whole. Honey still, but becoming more dry. Hints of a Cognac-like fruitiness. Hints of dry powder and old leather. More hints can be found, but in the end it’s all creamy vanilla with loads of honey.

Taste: less sweet than expected. More (new) wood influence here and quite warming. Runny caramel with hints of burnt sugar. Added character by the honeyed, woody bitterness in the finish. Toffee. Also a hint of menthol seems to be here, chilling my lips. The finish itself isn’t very long, and that’s quite surprising for such an old Bourbon. Well balanced though.

Somewhat sweeter than the Four Roses Single Barrel and Buffalo Trace. Super Premium, well maybe. I have to say that this is a well-balanced and very easily drinkable Bourbon. Sometimes surprising to be 12yo, since the wood isn’t always there overpowering the whole by it prolonged maturation. Although not super premium by my book, I do still like it. It stands shoulder to shoulder with both Bourbons mentioned above. By the way The Signature Craft series do remind me a lot of Four Roses. The look and feel, not the taste that is…

Points: 83

Buffalo Trace (45%, OB, Circa 2013)

A new month, and maybe it just is time for something different. Different from Single Malt Whisky that is. More than three years ago, I reviewed a Single Barrel version of Buffalo Trace, selected by Binny’s. A barrel that otherwise would have been used for the standard bottling of Buffalo Trace. Up untill now, I even haven’t tried the standard Buffalo Trace bottling, so here it is, maybe long overdue on these pages, so without further ado, straight from Frankfort, Kentucky, USA, here is Buffalo Trace.

Buffalo Trace 45%Color: Orange Gold.

Nose: Yeasty with lots of honey. Hints of bread and some great fresh and sappy oak. Glue and corn. Toasted cask, sweet and spicy and slightly soapy. Hints of red fruits and dried apricots in white chocolate and a tiny hint of cherry liqueur. Next some dried leaves on the pavement (in November). Glue and soap don’t sound very nice, but I can assure you, it all fits together quite nicely. It smells quite modern and fresh, although some old planks from an old grocery shop are there.

Taste: Sweet and toffee. Creamy vanilla. Yes, toffee and caramel, with some prickling wood spice, soon to be countered by the initial sweetness of the Bourbon. However, this sweetness seems to come and go, switching places with a dry oak sensation. Hints of acidic red fruits, and some light candied oranges. It is quite mellow and much simpler than the nose was. I no way would I have guessed this to be 45% ABV. It seems lower, mellower. In the taste there isn’t a lot of evolution and there isn’t a lengthy finish, but it does leave a nice aftertaste. Don’t get me wrong. This is a nice Bourbon, that is easily drinkable. Definitely a very good entry-level Bourbon.

Here I will compare this Buffalo Trace to the Binny’s Single Barrel version I reviewed earlier. On the nose, The Binny’s version seems to me to have more depth and has an addition of florality to it (Lavender, fresh, not lavender soap). It also has more caramel and smells sweeter. Heavier on the fruit too. It simply has more aroma. Much less virgin oak but it does have some paper in stead. The rest of the nose overlaps with the standard version. In the taste it seems more similar to the standard version. Not a lot of difference in age or “thickness”. Just a little bit more added depth and slightly sweeter. The wood has a tiny hint of pine that is quite nice. The wood itself is less of the virgin type, and more of the old grocery shop plank type. It seems to be mellower and it doesn’t have the attack and the glue of the standard version. In the end, the Binny’s version offers a different take on the standard Buffalo Trace, but the quality is there in both.

Points: 82

Glenallachie 11yo 1995/2007 (59.4%, The Scottish Liqueur Centre, Beinn a’Cheò, Bourbon Hogshead #33, 273 bottles)

And here is already the third Glenallachie of 2015. Earlier contenders for the Glenallachie award were a 2007 distillate of Dewar Rattray (83 Points), and not so long ago an 1995 offering from Kintra (82 Points), so both scoring low 80’s, which makes them nice, but not great in my book. This time around we’ll have a look at a Glenallachie bottled by The Scottish Liqueur Centre. Yes I know, they are not the most widely known independent bottlers around. The Scottish Liqueur Centre is owned by Morrison & Mackay. Still no bells ringing? What about one of their other brands: Carn Mor, surely you have heard about that! More recent bottlings of Beinn a’Cheo (mountain of mist) no longer have The Scottish Liqueur Centre on their labels, making Beinn a’Cheo a true brand of Morrison & Mackay, just like Carn Mor is.

Glenallachie 11yo 1995/2007 (59.4%, The Scottish Liqueur Centre, Beinn A'Cheò, Cask #33)Color: White wine.

Nose: Spicy and fruity and lots of other traits you know from typical Refill Bourbon casked high strength Whiskies. Remember all those Cadenhead bottlings? Fresh and slightly soapy. Old lavender soap, which only adds to the nose, not disturbing it. Whiffs of rural organics. And nice warm barley. Typical oak. Hints of vanilla from the American oak. When all that is out-of-the-way and the Whisky settles down in my glass, some nice fruits emerge along with a nice fatty creaminess. I won’t say it’s simple, but it is typical, well and it’s not really complex either. Not bad though. The oak really gets out when you warm it up in your hand. Wait a minute, warming it in your hand and giving it some time to breathe it really opens up. Finds balance. Nice fruit agian, but the sweeter fruits are now accompanied by citrus fruits. Sometimes this nose reminds me of Angostura 1919, a Rum.

Taste: Sweet. with almonds and fruit. Quite a surprise after the “typical” nose. This goes to show, that nosing isn’t everything. It’s sweeter than usual, but never crosses the line. However it’s sweet enough never to make it your daily drinker, the ABV is too high for that anyway. The wood is here too. Bit mocha and oak, milk chocolate. The wood forming a spine for the big sweet fruity body of the Whisky. Lovely stuff. I also like the almond that returns for the finish, although the oak plays a bigger part, turning herbal with air. After the heat passes your throat. The finish is nothing more than the fruity sweetness, some paper and overall “shortness”. The finish is definitely the weak part of this Glenallachie. Not a lot remains.

There is a lesson to be learned here. This is no spectacular Whisky when freshly opened. It’s closed and seems very simple. This is maybe thé example to let a Whisky breath to unlock its full potential. If you do, this ugly duckling turns out to be quite special after all.

Points: 86

Port Charlotte 7yo 2001/2008 PC7 “Sin An Doigh Ileach” (61%, OB, 24.000 bottles)

Since 2006 with the release of PC5, once a year a PC edition is released. All distilled in the first year of distillation. As we know by now, the first distillation of Port Charlotte was done on the 29th of May 2001. In 2007 we saw the release of PC6 and in 2008 we saw the release of PC7, which we’ll review here. At this moment, I don’t have any more PC editions around, but it would be nice to follow the evolution of PC’s someday…

Port Charlotte PC7Color: Full gold.

Nose: Funky and meaty. Can this be Sherry influence? Pudding. Pencil shavings and mild fatty peat. Very creamy with small hints of banana. Nice interaction between the wood and vanilla. Cold black tea. Perfumed tea mixed with breaths of fresh air. Hints of sweetish yellow fruit yoghurt, what? Peach, passion fruit & maracuja. Heaps and heaps of aroma carried by a menthol/mint concoction. Hints of, wood, hay, ashes and again licorice like the An Turas Mor I reviewed last. Again good stuff to nose.

Taste: Powerful ABV yet not as warming as the An Turas Mor. It’s ABV does dry out the throat a bit. Creamy. It’s all there again. Lets call this vanilla pudding, shall we? Vanilla pudding with salt and pepper, that is. The way the peat comes across in Port Charlottes, makes them very tasty. Aloe Vera lemonade and hints of florality. Nicely integrated wood. Here we have some more wood to function as a backbone. Vegetal notes whiff in and out and the wood is somewhat floral. Slightly salty. Latex paint and mocha. Hardly any bitterness at all. Port Charlotte is growing more and more complex. Still its quite youthful and that shows in the weaker finish compared to other Islay Whiskies. But don’t worry, there is a lot going on before the finish.

Really nice distillate Port Charlotte. Well made stuff.

Points: 88

Port Charlotte “An Turas Mor” (46%, OB, American Oak Casks)

In 2000 Murray McDavid bought Bruichladdich for £6.500.000 (from Jim Beam, current owners of Bowmore and Laphroaig). After acquiring the distillery guess what was the first distillate made? Yes! Port Charlotte, not the unpeated Bruichladdich itself. The guys behind Murray McDavid are no fools. We all know Mark and Jim to be very shrewd guys. So the first stuff they wanted to make with their new distillery was peated Whisky. On the 29th of May 2001, the first Port Charlotte was made. The first Bruichladdich under new ownership was somewhat later distilled in July. (2001 which was also the year the first newly bottled Bruichladdich was released; the 10yo I just reviewed, the 15yo and the 20yo). Finally on the 23rd of October 2002 the first Octomore was distilled.

Port Charlotte "An Turas Mor" (46%, OB, American Oak Casks)Color: Pale gold.

Nose: Mild, fatty vegetal peat, with butter and vanilla, pepper and salt. It smells like lavas was one of the plants that makes up the peat. Quite soft and unobtrusive. Some smoke and a tiny hint of burnt plastic and traces of soap. Sappy licorice twig. Wood lying around in the forest. Fresh (air) and un-complex. Dry kippers with hints of tar. Dusty vanilla and some paper. Nice to smell. The nose is worth the price of admission.

Taste: Sweet and peat. Sugar water with slightly bitter peat. Sweet licorice and black and white powder (yes, licorice again). Slightly warming. Licorice and licorice twig. Very tasty (the sweetness helps it along), but not very complex, but who cares when it’s so drinkable. Reduced, brooding peat that resembles coffee a bit. After a decent body, comes alas a sort of weak finish. A finish full of paper, barley, hints of soap and sweet licorice, but I guess we can blame its youth for that.

Lots of young Whisky is noticeable in An Turas Mor, but it shows a lot of potential though. This will become a great peated Islay Whisky when it becomes of age. I feel that Port Charlotte is a sweet Whisky that can be high on aroma, but struggles a bit with its length when it’s young. Highly drinkable, likeable and definitely worth its money. Get it, it’s not as expensive as the PC’s.

Points: 84

Bruichladdich 10yo (46%, OB, 2003)

Earlier I reviewed the most recent, standard range, Bruichladdich from the Dumpy OB era: the Scottish Barley bottling. Today we’ll have a look at the one that started it all for the previous owners. A short recap is in order I guess. In 1994 Bruichladdich was closed (again) since not a lot of Malt Whisky was needed back then. In 2000 Bruichladdich was taken over by a group of people fronted by Mark Reinier (of Murray McDavid), who in turn, asked Jim McEwan to take on the post of master distiller and (progressive) production director. Who would have thought Jim to ever leave the Bowmore building. In 2001 Bruichladdich was reassembled, without making it a computer driven modern distillery and without disturbing the Victorian bits as well. If memory serves me correctly, by 2001, three bottles were released as some sort of core range. A 10yo (this one), a 15yo and a 20yo. So this 2003 bottling, is one of the next batches after that. Yes no NAS bottles back then yet!

Bruichladdich 10yo 2003Color: Light gold.

Nose: Light, sweet barley. Extremely dusty. Paper. Dishwater citrus, but also perfumy wood, otherwise not a lot of wood noticeable. Pretty fruity. Thick sugared yellow fruits. Some pineapple and papaya with a slight hint of mint and cardboard. Somehow it smells sugary with hints of toffee and caramel. No peat.

Taste: Paper and a sweet woody note. Also something metallic. Perfumy too. It tastes almost the same as it smells. A bit hot on entry, but quickly dissipating the heat. Citrus fresh, but not of the dishwater kind. Rhubarb and again some caramel, which moves into toffee towards the finish. Hints of mocha and wood. Some woody bitterness helps the Whisky along. To my amazement, the dishwater component returns.

The current entry-level Bruichladdich is the NAS Scottish Barley and as luck would have it, I still have that one here too! The Scottish Barley has a lot of butter on the nose, but the fruit reminds me of the 10yo (but only the fruit). Definitely a younger Whisky. More raw and closer to new make spirit. It even has a tiny amount of smoke (and a wee bit of peat and oil, since it resembles Springbank a bit), which is nice. Tastewise the NAS is even simpler than the 10yo, more on barley and lacks some of the off notes of the 10yo.

I was never a fan of the 10yo, and after more than ten years, I still don’t like it that much. The Scottish Barley however, reminds me of Springbank, and even though it is simpler, less complex, in this case I prefer the NAS over the 10yo. (The “Yellow Submarine” I had next, was definitely better than both)

Points: 78

Bunnahabhain 35yo 1976/2012 (48.8%, The Whisky Mercenary, 80 bottles)

500I almost missed it, but this is already the 500th post on masterquill.com. Three and a half years have passed since the moment I wanted to see with my own eyes how a blog was made, so I never intended to continue after the first few reviews. The next few months no new posts were written, but after a while I picked it up again, never to let it go again. It’s too much fun to do, and it still is. It is a never-ending quest for the nicest of drinks that are available on the planet. So much more to discover.

I don’t have to post every day, but I try to have something up every other day. Once in a while I let it be, due to sickness (a.k.a. the nose doesn’t work properly), WiFi-less vacation or other reasons, and I don’t feel bad about it, so it doesn’t feel like something I must do. I have no plans of getting bored with it, or plans to retire after a while. There are so much more drinks around, and so much more to explore and learn, that I fear I will never get bored with it at all. Still, you never know, there have been others I loved to read that have stopped (and some have continued after a while). Here’s to the next 500. Let’s take it one step at a time.

Bunnahabhain 35yo 1976/2012 (48.8%, The Whisky Mercenary, 80 bottles)Time for the 500th post then. I had to pick something special, so why not a nice and old Bunnahabhain. Islay is hot, and so are the picks of Jürgen Vromans. Our beloved Belgian independent bottler. Nothing wrong with his nose, so I have high hopes for this 35yo Bunna. Cheers!

Color: Light gold.

Nose: Soft vanilla and wood, Definitely slowly matured on a slightly active cask. Some sweetness and a tiny hint of what seems to be a sort of waxy peat. light old elegant wood. Hints of chalk and a nice restrained fruitiness (yellow fruits). Old dried out paint dust and a great deep vegetal note. Excellent wood, creamy wood almost. Nothings really sticks out. It all is light and elegant and held back. Tread tenderly with this one. Old skool with excellent balance. Lovely. Should have come with a label in Paisley motif.

Taste: Quite spicy with a burst of sweetness coming from a dried licorice twig. Otherwise the Whisky has a great dry/sweet balance to it. Dry on the nose and dry on the mouth too, with some nice sweet and fatty touches to it. Creamy wax. Vanilla and half-dried pudding. Again a delicious fruity taste, again yellow fruit, mixed with a hint of sweetish black tea. Well integrated woody notes with just a small amount of woody bitterness.

This is a lovely old Whisky, well worth its initial Retail price. Jürgen picked a wonderful old and delicate or even fragile Bunnahabhain. Wonderful stuff. No heavy hitter and lots of nice details. Good balance with decent complexity. I should have gotten me one of these when I had the chance…

Points: 90

Isle Of Jura 13yo 1989/2002 (46%, Murray McDavid, MM 1564)

Here is the third and final bottle in our trilogy of Murray McDavid bottlings. Don’t worry there will be more. After the Rhoshu and the Glendullan, this time we will have a look at a (Isle of) Jura. Both of its fellow Murray McDavid bottlings have proven themselves to be reasonable Whiskies and not so long ago I reviewed a very good Jura as well. So we’ll start this review with high hopes…

Isle Of Jura 13yo 1989/2002 (46%, Murray McDavid, MM 1564)Color: Light gold.

Nose: Sweet malts, but also lightly spicy, frankincense, with lots of vegetal and waxy notes. Highly fruity. Sugared apples, with even some licorice and cinnamon, and some sweet red berries. Reminds me a bit of Calvados. This is a very appetizing nose. Vanilla and dusty, yet not dry. Full of aroma, and warm sugar-water. When smelled to vigorously, a note of paper emerges as well as a tiny hint of old, worn out jasmine soap, a bar you find in the back of granny’s closet, amongst the over sized… well, you know what I’m talking about. Actually this does smell like a Whisky not from these times, but more from the era of black coal. Granny’s era. Sweet and lively. Fruity without a lot of wood. Nice complexity and ditto balance. Lovely.

Taste: Sweet, thin apple water and bitter apple skins. Here the wood does show itself with quite the wood and bitter sap notes. With hints of charred oak. A bitterness we are quite familiar with, reminding me of some nuts. Remember the thin brown skins on walnuts and hazelnuts? If you can get past the bitterness there is a fruity lightness behind it. Malts again and some hay on a summer’s day. Lacks the complexity of the nose though. The finish is another of its weak points. Too short and a bit mono-dimensional. Lacks development from the body, well into the finish. The aftertaste makes you wonder if you haven’t drunk an I.P.A. earlier, for its slight hoppy bitterness left behind in your mouth.

Not a highly drinkable dram, it’s simple, and a wee bit too bitter for a daily drinker. The nose makes you a promise of something special. The nose is actually pretty stunning, and I’m really, really sorry, I can’t say the same for its taste.

Points: 82