Tag Archives: 2008

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

Allt-a-Bhainne 12yo 1996/2008 (46%, Murray McDavid, American Oak & New French Oak, 1500 bottles)

Allt-a-Bhainne is a new distillery, now owned by Pernod Ricard (through Chivas Brothers Ltd.). It was founded in 1975 to be used for the Chivas blends. Pernod Ricard bought Chivas from Seagram in 2001. The distillery was shortly mothballed between October 2002 and May 2005. Just two years before the foundation of Allt-a-Bhainne, Chivas also founded Braes of Glenlivet (Braeval) for the same purpose, and therefore is considered it’s sister distillery.

Color: Full gold, hint of copper.

Nose: Musty. Pencil shavings. Mocha. Very light. Powdery and creamy. Thick wood. Spicy oak and floor polish. Liquorice-water. A bit salty. Dry meat.

Taste: Paper, cardboard. Sweetish malt. Again thick spicy wood. Not very expressive. Non existent finish. Nothing offensive, but also nothing spectacular in this. Sweet wood. Watery.

Built on wood, but not on tannins as you might have thought. Not a lot happening really. Disappointing, but also quite cheap. I don’t know why this got bottled. It would have gone into a blend without a problem. Buy if you like inoffensive wood.

Points: 76

Caperdonich 35yo 1972/2008 (50.3%, Duncan Taylor for The Nectar Belgium, Cask #7424, 136 bottles)

Duncan Taylor, once Glaswegian brokers in whisky casks. Now of Huntly in the North East of Scotland. These guys have some massive amounts of great casks lying around. I know a lot of bottlings they did that are legendary. For instance: Tomatin 1976, Bowmore 1966 and Bowmore 1968, to name but a few, but there are a lot more. But it’s not only the vast amount of casks, it’s also the quality, and consistency of their whiskies, and grains. Duncan Taylor are definitively among my favourite independent bottlers.

Color: Orange Gold

Nose: Wow, double wow. This is fabulous! Old Bottle and überfruity. Apricots, peaches and sugar-coated oranges. Very organic and even a bit nasty, but all in a very good way. I guess we already have one of those legends on our hand. It has some earwax and wood, but not as much as you would have thought for something that’s 35 years old.

Taste: Sorry, but its wow again! It has a spicy punch after all those years. It’s palate matches the nose. The same fruits for me, and almost no wood and it hasn’t been an inactive cask either, just look at the color. It also reminds me of a very well aged perfect Zind Humbrecht Gewurztraminer. This would have been almost perfect, (because does perfection exist on our planet?), when the finish would remain somewhat sweeter and retain the fruityness and if it could have kept its balance some more. In the finish, the wood plays a greater, drier and a bit sour and thus unbalancing role. But it maybe nitpicking, because this Caperdonich receives a well earned…

Points: 93

Port Ellen 25yo 1982/2008 (50%, Douglas Laing, Old Malt Cask, Refill Butt, DL REF 4112, 589 bottles)

Its raining like crazy outside, and I have this Port Ellen on my lectern, so probably no better moment to have a go at this. Seize the day, the moment is now! There may be no tomorrow! Heed the call of the elements!

Douglas Laing sure did have a lot of Port Ellen ex-sherry casks lying around, and a lot of those casks were from 1982. Even though it wasn’t the best of years for Port Ellen (it closed just a year later), a lot of those 1982 casks turn out to be pretty fabulous. I bought this particular bottle because of the word “creosoted” on the label. I definitively want to find out what that tastes like.

Color: White Wine.

Nose: Wow, always a great peat smell, Sweet and succulent, oily, old puffer, kippers and tar. Citrussy and grassy too. Powdery? This really smells like it’s dived up from the bottom of the sea. Even if this turns out not to be the greatest Port Ellen, this nose is all worth it. Dirty and clean at the same time. Ergo very balanced! Smelling this is great but it’s also intriguing. There is more lying around the bend. I can’t quite put my finger on it, but there is more to it than meets the nose…

Taste: Sweet and rubbery. Ash, liquorice and tarry rope (is this the creosote?). Definitively a fishy note from the peat, what suites this whisky well. Coffee, mocha, very appetizing. For a dead distillery, and a 25yo whisky, this is very lively. Candy with pepper in the finish and some slight bitterness (with tar), from the oak, but it has to be that way.

You might say it’s not up to par to other Port Ellen’s, since you could consider this not to be the most complex example or it’s drinkability and (virtual) lightness. But I’m having a lot of fun with this one, its lively and I’m thoroughly enjoying myself. I’m pouring myself another dram of this.

Points: 89

Short Stories: Navaherreros Blanco De Bernabeleva 2008

Since it seems I’m starting to review almost everything I put in my mouth, why not one little piece about a wine I enjoyed yesterday.  This one accompanied a nice and light fish dinner and boy did this go well with that.

This white wine is made from Albillo grapes combined with some Malvisia and Garnacha Blanca and is married in oak barrels.

Nice color, if it were whisky I would say this has the color of well…white wine. Nice straw yellow, almost looks sparkly. I started to drink this a bit too cold, but even then it was very nice. You could almost drink this as lemonade when properly chilled (ABV is 14.5%). When it got to it’s proper temperature, wow. Not overly complex, but such great balance. Great summer wine which starts with yellow, light fruits with some flowery notes in there too. later on it deepens with some spicy and woody notes, which makes for a fine balance and a acidity I know from wines from Alsace. Recommended!

I have another bottle of this, so I’ll probably add something to the review of this “a bit, technical wine”. What I mean by this I will explain next time around.