Tuesday 31 January 2017

Glen Scotia 12 Review

Hi everyone,

If you're wondering where the disclaimer has gone, I've put it down the bottom to cause less disruption. Onwards.

Glen Scotia is known as the other distillery in Campbeltown, always a bit overshadowed by the epic Springbank. This is the only one I've tried but it seems like a bit of a difficult malt.

Glen Scotia 12 46%
Colour: Very Pale Gold
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Very fresh. Lovely mix of pastry yeast, fruit and vanilla. Croissants, butter, toffee, dusty apple, pear, a little rubbery leather, coffee beans, a little chocolate.
Water: Bitter grapefruit, green grapes and more of the leather and coffee beans. Some porridge and chalk coming out.
Taste: Gentle arrival, lovely zippy fresh fruit and citrus- Green apple and lemon, some pear, yeast, pastry then much more coffee and rubbery leather building and going into the finish.
Water: Less sharp citrus, more gentle pastry, porridge and yeast. Bitter development with new tyre rubber and rubbery leather.
Finish: Medium/Long length. A little bitter with coffee and chewy leather.
Shaded black bottle with a cow on the label. A lot of Refill hogsheads and feints with this one, however there's lots of older notes for a 12yo.
69/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #319

Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and am sorry I can't say only nice things (unless they are actually present). Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am completely unable to produce unbiased reviews. -2nd Ed.

Network Average: 74.4
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

Monday 30 January 2017

Caol Ila 1996 Hunter Laing x2 Reviews

Disclaimer: I currently work as a Brand Ambassador for Penderyn Distillery. The views expressed here are purely my own and do not reflect the views of Penderyn Distillery or The Welsh Whisky Company. I try to maintain as much objectivity as I can but feel free to take my reviews with as big a pinch of salt as you like. Furthermore, I have never accepted free samples from anyone in the whisky industry, but have bought bottles or samples with my money, bringing a different set of biases. Also, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. -1st Edition of this so feel free to suggest things to add/change.

Phew, now that’s out the way.
Today I’ve got two Hunter Laing Caol Ila’s from 1996. Caol Ila is the biggest of the Islay distilleries and you can find my visit to the distillery here. Hunter Laing is an independent bottler, separate now from Douglas Laing who have their own thing. Their Old malt Cask range is pretty famous for bottling some epic 1970’s Ardbeg back in the day but is still bringing out some gems. Like these.

Standing in The Whisky Shop in Guildford, England, I always want to buy stuff and support it but it’s just a bit overpriced. So I was looking for something unique. An amber coloured Caol Ila caught my eye, butit was expensive. A £125 I wasn’t willing to gamble. Asking to try it, the (very nice) lady told me she didn’t have a sample of that one but a previous bottling from a Bourbon hogshead.

Caol Ila 1996 Old Malt Cask 50%
Colour: Pale Gold
Body: Full
Nose: A very peaty Caol Ila. Peat smoke, bonfire smoke, a medicinal edge with cough sweets, creamy vanilla, sea salt.
Taste: Earthy and a little oily, very creamy and chewy with vanilla and salted toffee. Peat smoke, bonfire smoke, medicinal cough sweets again. Great mouthfeel and balance.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Creamy and peaty.
Distilled Sept 1996, bottled March 2014. 17 year old from a Bourbon Hogshead 10387. Very impressed with this, enough to buy the Sherry hogshead version.
82/100

Caol Ila 1996 Old Malt Cask (refill Sherry Hogshead) 50%

Colour: Amber
Body: Medium
Nose: A little closed at first. Tasting notes are bang on. Vanilla custard! A lot of it, behind there is fruitiness, fresh and dried, peach, apricot, raisin, prune, date, biscuity malt. Oily smoke coming through, Ardbeggian.
Water: More expressive. More of the fresh fruity side, peach, dried peach, Ambrosia custard. More obviously Islay after a bit with more smoke, soot, earth, rubber and malt. Smoked kippers!
Taste: Soft arrival, vanilla custard again, biscuity malt, oily peat coming in, lifting citrus, orange, lovely!, lemon juice, sooty, oily, engine oil, going more dirty, god it's great, damp peat, peaty malt, a little oak throughout. Really sings into the finish!
Water: Softer, lime zest, candied lime, candied orange peel, a little spiciness building from the oak, light white pepper, creamy custard, growing more oily then lovely olive oil and lime juice into the finish.
Finish: Long length. Very oily, mouth coating, engine oil and peaty malt. Lovely.
September 1996-October 2015. 19 year old Sherried Ardbeg? Laphroaig? It's believable. A lovely Caol Ila from an incredible barrel.
87/100

Thanks for reading!

Reviews #317-#318

Network Average: 74.4
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

A rant about low scores and why they are important.

(This article was written for Reddit's r/Scotch community and is just an opinion)

Hi everyone,

The other day a well-known whisky blogger called me out on Facebook, telling me that my very low score for Jameson Caskmates was unjustified, suggesting that I had scored it so low for ‘blog hits’ (whatever those are) and that if I don’t like a whisky, then I shouldn’t say anything.

Another famous whisky blogger liked the comment, suggesting he agreed.

When I said that I was just sharing my opinion, the commenter went as far as to suggest that it looked like I scored it low because of where I work (at another Distillery).

I decided not to reply back straight away, but actually think about what had been said and what I would say back.
I could have started a childish Facebook argument, perhaps pack my bags, never to blog again or just ignore it.
What I will do instead is to give some more low scores and explain why I think they are important.

Skip down for the rant

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt
Balmenach 2002 Provenance 46%
Colour: Pale pale straw
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Young and pungent. Quite in your face, musky, moss, olive oil, green and a little earthy, verging on stale but there's some young esters keeping it at bay. Pear drops, green apple, some vanilla, some American oak.
Taste: Gentle arrival, smooth and fruity with apple and pear then spice kicks up with strong oak coming through, tannins, chocolate, green sappy oak, coffee.
Finish: Medium length. Unfortunate, green, sappy, tannins, cheap coffee, a little hot alcohol.
Bottled 2012 at 10 years old. Cask 9864.
51/100

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt
Strathisla 2005 Malt of the Earth 46%
Colour: Pale pale straw
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Ultra clean, distillate style. Bubblegum, some young fruit- Green apple, lots of pear, pear drops. Sour building now, sour spirit, lemon, vodka, slightly stale with sweaty socks.
Taste: Sharp and sweet. Zingy with loads of lemon, lemon juice, lemon sherbet, a little spice developing then some chocolate. Again, slightly stale in development and finish.
Finish: Medium length. Young but with chocolate, spice and coffee.
Bottled 2014 at 9 years old.
53/100

Reviews #315-#316

THE IMPORTANT BIT

Should we score whisky?
Well, I can’t give an answer for everyone but for me it works. As Serge of Whiskyfun says, I haven’t found a better way of showing (to myself) which cask of 2005 Ledaig I liked better, 900160 or 900159. For a long time, I didn’t score whisky. I wrestled with starting to score when I started posting here. In the end, Serge’s post here convinced me that it was a good idea. I then thought about it a lot and developed my system over a few months.
Some people use a 0-10 system, some A-E. Some people don’t score whisky at all. That’s fine.

Are low scores important?
If you are scoring, then yes. If you didn’t, none of your scores would mean anything! If you score everything 90/100 or even just between 90-99 then 90 is a low score for you. Just because I give stuff 40/100, doesn’t mean that it’s 40 for you. A 40 for me might be your 60 or 70 or whatever.
If you got a shite pair of headphones from Amazon that broke the first time you wore them, would you give them 1 star? Another part of low scores is trying to help people not to make the same mistake you did.

Does it matter that I work at another distillery?
Yes. Of course, it does. And it doesn’t matter if I say I’m going to be unbiased in my views or as truthful as the virgin Mary because how can you believe me. You don’t know me. It doesn’t matter if you are Jim Murray or John Doe though, everyone is biased. Some more than others of course. In the end, use your judgement and experience.
Am I rating Ledaig and Ardbeg highly to lure you into buying stuff from the distillery I work for? Am I rating Jameson and Tamnavulin low to put you off them, and instead buy stuff from the distillery I work for?

Should I keep my mouth shut?
Hell no! I’m not going to stop my passion because anyone tells me to. I love reviewing whisky, I love the nuances and flavours. I love being critical and if I don’t think something is up to scratch, I’m going to bloody well tell you about it.

If daveswhiskyreviews gives a low score, does it mean I won’t like it?
No. NO. Everyone’s tastes are different. I am only 1 person. I can only give one person’s opinion. That’s why I contribute to r/Scotch archive and whiskybase.com, because alone I mean nothing. Together, we can build a picture of views from many people from different backgrounds and different tastes from all over the world and that means something.

Now if you excuse me, I’m going to sit back and watch my huge blog hits roll in and make me a tonne of money from all the advertising I run, then open some exclusive samples from all the companies that send me free stuff. Sláinte

I’ll leave you with this quote from Serge.
It’s just a way of summing up impressions and opinions. Scores are opinions, expressed in a numerical form. They have to be put in relation with the taster who came up with the scores (and his experience as well as his possible commercial links to the bottlers), otherwise they are worthless. MOST IMPORTANT: in my view a high score doesn't mean you should rush out and buy a bottle or a palette, it means that in my opinion, you too should maybe try the whisky in question, provided we have similar tastes. Always try to taste a whisky yourself before you buy - if you can. – Serge Valentin (Whiskyfun)

Update: What has come out of a few comments made on this article is that I will be putting a disclaimer on all my reviews, stating who I work for and being more open in general so that people can make their own opinions about my reviews and biases.

Friday 27 January 2017

Tobermory 15 Review

Hi everyone,

Today it’s Tobermory from Tobermory. A 15 year old, presented in a lovely wooden box. My 101 whiskies tells me that this is matured partly on the mainland and partly on the isle of Mull (where the distillery is) and also informs me that this is finished in Sherry casks.

Now, I love Ledaig, which is the peated version. Tobermory though, seems to be very different, although this is the only one I’ve tried.

Tobermory 15 46.3%
Colour: Amber
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Rich and sticky Sherry. A little of the butteriness I find in Ledaig- Butter, rich toffee, clotted cream and vanilla fudge. A little 'off' sour cherry and a cakey note- Birthday cake (Icing and sponge cake). Not much dried fruit sherry notes, more- figs, orange marmalade and cherry stones and flesh.
Water: Bitter orange marmalade, a little salty chocolate, blown out birthday candles (from the cake), slight hint of smoke. Orange peel, clove and eventually a little wood smoke and pancakes.
Taste: Big, rich, a swelling sherried sweetness with loads of raisin, dates, but more fig drenched in fresh sweet PX-esque sherry, fruit cake. The spices are rich and tingling with the oak joining them. Some coffee and cheap dark chocolate into the finish. Some salt here too.
Water: Much creamier arrival, steady sweet development then a sherried coffee/oak hit! Very nice. Then the 'off' sour sherry note becomes apparent.
Finish: Medium length. Creamy coffee and some sea salt chocolate with a delicate sweetness in the background.
I really wanted to like this but truth be told it doesn't quite work for me. A shame, because I know that the peated stuff is fantastic.
However, there seem to be 2 versions of this bottling! One with very good reviews and a collectors version with reviews similar to mine, that came with a vintage postcard and wrapped in a paper.
69/100

Thanks for reading!

Review #314

Network Average: 74.6
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

Thursday 26 January 2017

Bushmills 10 & 16 Reviews

Hi guys,

Today I’ve got some more reviews of Irish whiskey, not quite the disaster from Jameson. Nope, today it’s Bushmills in Northern Ireland. Bushmills is normally a cheap blended whiskey like Jameson but both of these ones are Irish malt whiskey.

That’s unusual because Irish whiskey normally uses malted and unmalted barley even within single pot still whiskey… I think. Not too confident on my Irish whiskey yet.

Bushmills 10 40%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: Sweet and fragrant. Sugary with jam and marmalade, fragrant oakiness.
Taste: Sweet and oaky. Jam, barley sugar, marmalade, strong sappy oak with building spice.
Finish: Medium Length. Sappy oak.
It’s just on the boarder of ok. The sappy oak notes taking off a lot of points in the finish. The Irish normally use some virgin oak barrels and I think that’s where it’s coming from.
60/100

Bushmills 16 40%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium/Full
Nose: Quite full and oily with fruity jam, icing sugar, sweet vanilla and fruit juice. Plum jam, blueberry jam, fig, apricot, some apple juice, sweet fragrant oak, floral note- Violets and lavender. Peach water with clove, juicy pear, apple, date, raisin and apricot. Marmalade and fairy cakes too.
Taste: Creamy then spicy oak turning very juicy and a little oily. Lots of fruity jam, blueberry, blackberry, fig, some building oak with young Ruby port, some spice and sweet floral oak.
Finish: Medium length. Blueberry and blackberry juice with Port-y tannins.
Bourbon and Sherry barrels then finished in Port barrels. Quite unbalanced, the Port has a very obvious influence. For me, I prefer Greenspot at less cost.
69/100

Thanks for reading!

Reviews #312-#313

Network Average: 74.6
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

Glenkinchie 12 & Distiller's Ed. 1996 Reviews

Hello everyone,

Some Glenkinchie today for you. Just the officials, there aren’t really many indies of Glenkinchie. Diageo keep most of it to themselves.

It’s a Lowland distillery (one of the few left), but unusually they double distil and have worm tub condensers. However, like Cragganmore, I don’t think they let it shine in the whisky.

Glenkinchie 12 43%
Colour: A lighter version of Diageo GoldTM
Body: Light
Nose: Sweet and malty. Fruit- Apple, creamy apple pie, fresh pear, malt, creamy cereal, chocolate raisins, raspberry tea. Some Sherry influence, nut, polished wood, fruitcake, rum and raisin, banana and cherry.
Taste: Very gentle. Lots of malty cereal, grainy, soft fruit- Apple, raspberry, bit of toffee. Malty spice and vanilla pods.
Finish: Short length. Fades quickly with chocolate malt.
Lovely nose, bit too soft on the taste.
66/100

Glenkinchie 1996 Distiller's Edition 43%
Colour: Diageo GoldTM
Body: Light/Medium
Nose: A sweeter one. Artificial sherried sweetness- Raisin, cocktail cherry, some menthol and green apple, some very sweet oak, creamy vanilla.
Taste: Nuts, wood polish, creamy oak, mellow and creamy, fruity- Cherry, raisin and dates.
Finish: Medium length. Creamy toasted oak with some bitter tannins, coffee.
Distilled 1996, bottled 2011. Light, fruity and smooth. Very quaffable whisky.
71/100

Thanks for reading!

Reviews #310-#311

Network Average: 74.7
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

Tuesday 24 January 2017

Linkwood 15G&M + 1985 Signatory Reviews: A boring story of Linkwood 'A' &'B'

Hi everyone,

Got some older Linkwood for your reading pleasure today. As with most of them, it is an interesting distillery I didn’t really know enough about.

It’s owned by Diageo and actually I have visited it, briefly sitting in the car park. It doesn’t have a visitor’s centre, or really many official bottlings. Mostly because they need it for the blends. Luckily, there does seem to be a good availability with the independent bottlers.

So, the interesting part. There are 2 distilleries at Linkwood. Not unlike Clynelish and Brora (Now I’ve got your attention). In 1971 a second distillery was built and called ‘Linkwood B.’ It was not an exact replica of the old ‘Linkwood A’ because Linkwood A had worm tub condensers.

They closed Linkwood A in 1985, but kept it as an experimental site doing occasional distillations. It also ran from 1990-2012 a few months a year. I think the old Linkwood A has now been demolished and a new part of Linkwood built, but details are hazy.

Now, I not sure Diageo would have wanted to use the experimental spirit distilled around 1985 at Linkwood A, as it would be different in character to ‘normal’ Linkwood B, possibly they would have sold it. Maybe to an independent bottler? Who knows?

Linkwood 15 Gordon&MacPhail 43%
Colour: Gold
Body: Full
Nose: Intense sherry nose. Very appley, menthol, creamy oak, sweet red apple, sharp green apple, apple crumble, bit of strawberry, brown sugar, vanilla, lots of honey, bit of pineapple, herbal note- Mint, olive oil?, sweet sherry, oaky tannins, coffee, bit of fruitcake. A little bit of heat.
Taste: Intense sweetness. Sweet red apple, sharp green apple, sharp unripe pear, bit of cranberry, brown sugar, aged sweet sherry, lots of oak interaction- Old wood and sweet oak, drying spices build, cream, fruitcake.
Finish: Medium length. Drying sweet oaky spices fade, then sweet sherry kick to end.
A lovely Speyside malt. Enough character to separate it from the 50 or so other Speyside distilleries.
75/100

Linkwood 1985 Signatory Cask Strength 58%
Colour: Dark Gold
Body: Full
Image courtesy of Master of Malt
Nose: Heavy, intense and rich. Scented candles, candle wax, struck match, elderflower, camomile and jasmine, honey and vanilla, exotic spice- Saffron. Huge waves of perfume, good quality vanilla ice cream, molasses, brown sugar, brandy, rum.
Water: More biscuity, Jaffa cakes, some lighter citrus notes- Orange, lemon. More floral- Grassy/hay note, herbs and spices, dried banana.
Taste: Big, explosive sweetness. Pineapple, peach, brown sugar. A lovely building waxiness with a good amount of oaky spice. An incredible mouthfeel with an oiliness and creaminess.
Water: Honey, lots of brown sugar, sharp citrus fruit too- Red apple and lemon, some spice- Pepper and some ginger. Developing spicy oakiness with tannins, orange, going more drying with spiced dry fruit- Raisin, dry cinnamon, dry oak.
Finish: Medium/Long length. Coffee with exotically spiced fruit tea. With water, you get brown sugar.
Distilled November 1985, bottled 2012. 27 years old, cask 4539 a refill Hogshead. I like to think this was one of those experimental distillations from Linkwood A. To me, this has notes of worm tub distillate.
83/100

I think Diageo really missed a trick here. They could have renamed Linkwood A to Clynora or something and started releasing it with slowly increasing prices like Brora or Port Ellen (although those are peated).
Hell, I would buy it.

Reviews #308-#309

Network Average: 74.7
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

Westland American Single Malt, Peated & Sherry Wood

Hi guys,

I was standing in The Whisky Exchange’s new shop in Covent Garden, London, when I noticed a Brand Ambassador standing by a small stand with some whiskey on. What whiskey? Westland Single Malt American Whiskey.

That intrigued me. Firstly, because I love single malt Scotch and drink/review a lot of it.

Second, because I don’t normally drink that much Bourbon or American whiskey in general.

This seemed like a good go between and something different. Worth giving a try, albeit from little plastic cups. Accordingly, the reviews are quite limited.

Some great info on their website, including fermentation time of 144 hours(!), which is a lot for single malt normally. Minimum age of 24 months, but I think to be sold in Europe as ‘Whiskey’ it has to be aged at least 36? Also, they are using a combination of virgin oak/ex-Bourbon which should give less oak.

Westland American Single Malt 46%
Colour: Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Toasty, nutty, almond, hazelnut, vanilla.
Taste: Toasty oak, vanilla, nutty.
Finish: Medium length. More toasted oak.
Oooo, like this style. Toasty and nutty, enough going on to make it interesting. The proof helps pull this off.
70/100

Westland American Single malt Peated 46%
Colour: Light Gold
Body: Medium
Nose: Slight Islay peat smoke, vanilla, toasted oak.
Taste: Very little peat here, more on the toasted oak and nuttiness.
Finish: Medium length. A bit more peat.
Currently using Scottish peat I believe, although I think they said they would start using their own peat soon?
68/100

Westland American Single Malt Sherry Wood 46%
Colour: Amber
Body: Medium
Nose: Sweet, very sweet. Sherry, maple syrup, sweet toffee.
Taste: More maple, maple syrup, toasted oak.
Finish: Medium length. Coffee and dark chocolate. Mmmmmm
Yeah, more my style. Really nice sweet notes with the maple syrup, etc. A mix of ex-Bourbon and ex-Oloroso & PX Sherry Hogsheads and Butts.
74/100

Thanks for reading!

Reviews #305-#307

Network Average: 74.7
Best Score: 92
Worst Score: 44
0-49 Terrible
50-59 Bad
60-64 Just about OK
65-69 Ok to Good
70-74 Good
75-79 Very Good
80-84 Excellent
85-89 Superb
90+ Magnificent

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