Ardmore 1996 BBR & 2002 Hidden Spirits Reviews

Hi everyone,

Do we love Ardmore? Yes, we do.

Why, I hear you ask? Because its good whisky young, its good old. Its peaty and smoky and savoury and buttery and fishy and fruity and everything else you could want from a peaty highlander. Yes, I’m a little biased because I own a barrel of the stuff…

Anywho, these are two expressions that I tried recently, both independent bottlings and both slightly older bottlings. Both pretty expensive but both very good.

What is interesting with the comparison between these two is that the 1996 would have been distilled using direct fired stills, while the 2002 is from steam heated stills (Ardmore converted in 2001).

Ardmore 1996 Berry Bros & Rudd 60.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Quite a clean nose, spring onion, caramelised green apple, light smoke wisps, heather, dark chocolate. Darker as it opens up actually with plum sauce and roast duck joining the spring onions. Literally, I could be sitting in a Chinese takeaway waiting for my food!

Water: More savoury and smoky, more green apple.

Taste: Clean arrival, lemon and lime, green apple, that savoury spring onion note again, lovely heather-y spice, burnt heather, a little burnt wood. Great mouthfeel.

Water: Much softer start, green apple, more dry oak and less of the savoury notes. Brighter and fresher.

Finish: More smoke here. Mineral, lemon peel, oily and then dry at the end.

Exclusive for the Old & Rare Show 2018. Love the nose on this, very unique. Preferred it neat.

79/100

 

Ardmore 2002 Hidden Spirits 52.7%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Buttered kippers! Delicious and unique, battered whitebait, fishy to say the least, clean spirit and a little meaty too. Again, Ardmore showing off its insane complexity and unique spirit.

Taste: Clean arrival, soft oils, dry, wood then smoke and peat, salty and malty, builds with plenty of power, a charred BBQ meat note.

Finish: Long length. Amazing here, very oily and viscous, dark malt, some chocolate and ginger.

Bottled 2019 at 17yo. Mid-palate is a tad clean for my tastes, but the nose and finish are stunning. Another awesome whisky from Andrea! Hidden Spirits has, quite rightly, been thrust into the limelight at the moment because Serge of Whiskyfun gave the 26yo Clynelish a huge score but they select some great stuff.

83/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #801-#802

Whisky Network Reviews #953-#954

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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

Full Disclosure Disclaimer: I currently work as the Global 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Bowmore 1987 Dimensions, 1996 SMOS & 1995 Carn Mor Reviews

Hi everyone,

Ever heard of the French Whore Perfume Bowmore’s (FWP for short)? Have a read of this if you require some background, but essentially there seems to be a perfumy off-note in Bowmore’s from the 1980’s until the early 90’s.

The distillery denied that such a thing existed and the whole problem spun out of control thanks to the internet.

Now, I don’t think I’ve encountered one of those whiskies that are undrinkably perfumy as some would suggest but I have encountered a little bit of an off-note which comes in the form of a Parma Violet floral note that is quite artificial and odd.

I tasted two recently with this and thought I’d share…

Bowmore 1987 Dimensions 58.4%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Quite intense and peaty, mineral too, light florals in the background, some malt, chocolate and heather, earthy like the SMWS 3.2, pressed flowers, a very vague off note lurking... Rancid, like very far away vomit. The Parma Violets come out over time.

Taste: Intense arrival, smoky and mineral, tannins from the oak, some florals but the minerals have them overwhelmed, oily and earthy, dark chocolate and then a soapy note into the finish.

Finish: Long length. The FWP rears its ugly fishnets, Parma Violets are out in force, lavender. More earthy as it gets some air.

Bottled in 2006 at 18yo. The FWP isn't very bad here until the finish where it kinds of intrudes but this very much balances on a tightrope between brilliance and disaster, ending up being neither.

75/100

 

Bowmore 1996 Single Malts of Scotland 50.4%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Clean nose. Malt and sea spray at first nosing giving a Talisker vibe. Floral under that with Parma Violets, some lemon and cured meat. A bit of a slack nose, the meaty and malty notes are great but the Violets are fighting it, making it kind of 'spongey.'

Taste: Clean, lemon citrus and malt, some smoke building with dry oak and woody spice, ginger and some clove, oily texture, a little chocolate and sea salt, black pepper nearer the end. After a bit there's that floral undertone that is present in the nose, not quite an off note but it’s holding it back.

Finish: Long length. Chewy and oily, lemon and malt, some chocolate and black pepper. Nice finish.

Some of the 80's floral notes here, which I haven't found in many others (even from the 80's). This really took me by surprise because the guys at Elixir Distiller’s (or whatever they call themselves nowdays) are normally really good. This wasn’t cheap either…

72/100

And now let us remind ourselves that Bowmore is amazing:

Bowmore 1995 Carn Mor 48.3%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Ah, a tropical one. Mango, pineapple, soot and ash, cooling mint, cold fireplace, really good nose. Light malt, clean white sugar, pear and apple too. Complex chocolate and engine oil after a bit. Old style Bowmore.

Taste: Soft then building this tropical smoky flavour, mango and pineapple, oily mouthfeel, quite an intense taste, oak and spice balanced awesomely with lifting orange toping it all off!

Finish: Long length. Juicy! Pineapple juice, orange juice and lime juice! So good! A little salt.

Bottled 2018 as a German exclusive. Expensive but 'Old style Bowmore' should be the only note needed to sell it. Remember that the Morrison in ‘Morrison Mackay’ is the same as the Morrison is ‘Morrison Bowmore’ and you might start to see a connection between Carn Mor and stunning Bowmore casks…

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #713-#715

Whisky Network Reviews #850-#852

Network Average: 75.1

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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

Full Disclosure 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Arran 1996 Alembic Rum Finish Review

Hi everyone,

Arran seems to be putting out some good stuff at the moment, and is a bit under my radar actually. I should give them more credit, as some of the stuff is getting really good. Like this one.

In retrospect I should have taken a bit more time to appreciate this one. I should have told the guy who gave it to me “Slow down a minute, this is good shit” but I didn’t. That’s my bad, but even from a small sample, I manage to make a few notes.

Arran 1996 Alembic Rum Finish 50.6%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Lovely tropical nose with a very delicious white sugar note. Great nose.

Taste: Sugary hit first then fresh fruit, pineapple, green apple, long development.

Finish: Long length. Dry oak and another white sugar cane hit.

A 4 year finishing in a Barbados Rhum barrel, bottled @ 21yo. Seriously delicious stuff. My second favourite Arran I’ve had so far. It seems to work better with the sweeter flavours, as a long PX finish was my other favourite.

82/100

Distillery: Arran

Average Score: 76.4

Distillery Ranking: 25th/ 62 places

Up/Down: 28>25 (Up 3)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #629

Whisky Network Review #749

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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

Full Disclosure 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Bowmore 2002 & Ardbeg 1996 Cheiftain's Reviews

Hi everyone,

Two Islay’s from Cheiftain’s today.

It’s funny that I would always expect Ardbeg to be more smoky in taste/smell than Bowmore, even if the Bowmore was younger, as it has about half the ppm content. But it turned out the other way round with these two. I would also expect most modern Ardbeg’s to beat most modern Bowmore’s but again, I was proven wrong.

Bowmore 2002 Chieftain’s 46%

Colour: Light gold

Nose: Lightly smoky, ashy, lightly tropical with pineapple, a little floral, lemon soap. I quite like the lemon soap here, although I could see others hating it.

Taste: Soft, lacking a little power first then the smoke comes in with pineapple backing, soot, a little floral. More peaty than I expected actually.

Finish: Med. A little rubber, some pineapple, soot and oak.

Bot 2016 @14yo. The rubber on the finish was holding this back, as well as lacking a bit in the delivery. At cask strength it might have been better.

75/100

 

Ardbeg 1996 Chieftain’s 46.5%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: A sooty and slightly off form Ardbeg. Green apple and lemon, very little smoke here, ash, a bit closed too.

Taste: Soft, acidic, citrus with lemon, some green apple and a little smoke, ash. Again, barely any peat notes. Lacking structure and, come to think of it, everything that makes Ardbeg awesome.

Finish: Medium length. Way too acidic here, oak and ash.

Bottled 2016 @ 20yo. Not a great one. Too acidic. Too little complexity. Too little Ardbeg.

71/100

Distilleries: Bowmore/Ardbeg

Average Scores: 83.3 & 78.4

Distillery Rankings: 4th & 16th/ 61 places

Up/Down: 3/15> 4/16 (Both down 1)

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #624-#625

Whisky Network Reviews #742-#743

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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

Full Disclosure 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Laphroaig 1996 Adelphi Review

Hi everyone,

Many thanks go to Lucy of Adelphi for this wonderful sample of older Laphroaig.

 

Laphroaig 1996 Adelphi 57.1%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: The twenty years have really done a good job of toning down the smoke and bringing out complexity but not the usual tropical old Laph. Instead there's wet leather, slightly rotten oranges (in a good way), campfire ash, cordite/gun smoke, still some lemon and lime citrus lurking back there too. More rotting seashore notes after a bit. Oh and stale cigarette smoke (which should never be a good thing but somehow is here!). Really interesting and complex nose.

Taste: Soft start with orange, then lemon and lime, very soft but building up and up with these very maritime notes of seaweed, rotting seashore, the bay at Laphroaig at low tide, wet leather, campfire smoke, a confusing but delicious combination of wet leather and petrol, then more oily into the finish.

Finish: Long length. You'll have to swallow a couple of times (C'mon guys, no jokes please) as it suddenly gets very oily and viscous. Powerful smoke here with big mineral notes. Firm, strong finish.

Bottled 2017 at 20yo. A pretty stunning modern Laphroaig. It's Adelphi so it’s going to be expensive but it’s a good'n. Some great aspects of old Caol Ila, Bowmore and Lagavulin here too. If I could bend the rules, I’d give it 88.5.

88/100

Distillery:

Average Score: 81.7

Distillery Ranking: 6th/ 62 places

Up/Down: No movement

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #609

Whisky Network Review #721

Network Average: 74.9

Best Score: 94

Worst Score: 12

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

Full Disclosure 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Deanston Decennary (Network Review #700)

Hi everyone,

700 reviews in the bag! Never really thought I’d ever taste this much whisky, or start my own blog, or anyone would actually take my opinions seriously. And some of those things have happened, which is pretty cool.

More whisky to be tasted shortly, but I did realise recently that I had a few samples lying about and not many interesting reviews in the pipeline. So this one is courtesy of a trip to Scotland and a very quick tour of Deanston. A pretty traditional distillery that always seems to taste quite woody to me. I was quite happy to not buy anything from the shop, but did spot an interesting looking bottle that turned out to be this. I love multi-vintage stuff and this is a great example. Technically, by the laws of Scotch whisky it shouldn’t be allowed but seems to be tolerated and the mix of young and old can be done very well. They had samples too, so I didn’t have to fork out for the full thing. Although if you’re a Deanston fan, you need the full thing.

So, this is a Multi-vintage, four cask vatting. 1977 refill, 1982 American oak, 1996 port pipe & 2006 PX, released late 2017 to mark the 50th anniversary of the distillery.

 

Definitely wrong and very approximate maths: 1400 bottles total

1977 (40yo Hogshead)- 150 bottles-ish (10.5%)

1982 (35yo Barrel)- 150 bottles-ish (10.5%)

1996 (21yo Pipe)- 600 bottles-ish (43%)

2006 (11yo Puncheon)- 500 bottles-ish (36%)

Deanston Decennary 46.3%

Colour: Dark Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Soft, complex and woody. Restrained Sherried sweetness, raisin and sweet cherry, some cinnamon pastry, thick creamy vanilla really stands out, double cream, old worn leather, soft chocolate, coffee shop (Costa in particular). Quite a delicious nose. Strawberries and cream after a bit.

Taste: Gentle arrival, builds spice and oak, then the creamy vanilla with some strawberry and blackcurrant from the port pipe, leather, chocolate and classy Balvenie-like oak and orange oil develop, the chocolate and cocoa notes build very nicely indeed.

Finish: Medium length. Fruit from the Port, blackberry and a little floral note with some average oak but it is a little shorter and vaguer than I had hoped. Reminds me of the Balvenie 21 Portwood here.

Ah, I see why they vatted these casks together now. Great marriage of flavours here. The port influence isn't too much, the older casks are bringing complexity but it isn’t over-oaked. Every cask has a say. Which is great to see. A great Deanston and if you're a fan, you need one. buuuuuuut it does come undone a bit in the finish unfortunately, which loses it some brownie points.

84/100

Distillery: Deanston

Average Score: 71.3

Distillery Ranking: 47th/64 places

Up/Down: 60>47- Up 13

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #591

Whisky Network Review #700

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 12

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

Full Disclosure 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Glenburgie 1997 OMC & Glentauchers 1996 Sig Reviews (PLUS blind review video)

Hi everyone,

Glenburgie is a distillery that’s been quietly gaining a few fans in the last couple of years. Partly down to some epic Sherry casks but perhaps also because its got a great character too.

This was another one I blind tasted for my YouTube channel and I guessed it was an 18yo Glentauchers (although I got mixed up with Glenturret) at just under 50%, which I was pretty happy with! You can watch the vid HERE.

This was my first Glenburgie I tasted, thanks to a sample from FineDrams.

 

Glenburgie 1997 Hunter Laing 50%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Malty and creamy. Vanilla, vanilla ice cream, malt, cereal, double cream.

Water: More aromatic, more oak, more malt. A little oak char, chocolate and a green wood note.

Taste: Gentle arrival, very creamy mouthfeel. Malty, cereal, vanilla, some oak coming in after a while.

Water: Even more creamy. More spice with nutmeg and cinnamon. Some oak char.

Finish: Medium length. Coffee and dark chocolate.

Mouthfeel is the main event here, although the spirit is clearly very good quality. Will definitely be keeping an eye out for more Glenburgie in the future.

73/100

 

Eh, for the hell of comparison, here’s my notes for the Glentauchers that I guessed it was in the blind review:

Glentauchers 1996 Signatory Cask Strength 48.8%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Quite vibrant and oak-driven. Sealing wax, melon, lemon, lemon juice, a little vanilla, oak perfume (If there was such a thing), floral notes- Dried flowers, lavender, home-made paper, bath bombs, a little dusty, dry oak.

Water: More floral, looking through a dusty book of pressed and dried flowers.

Taste: Big and oaky. Mouth filling, dry and juicy, cardboard and home-made paper at first then lemon juice with building oak, going quite dry, lots of complex dark chocolate and coffee beans, also going into the finish.

Water: More gentle arrival, more gradual development, more balance, but still big and oaky into the finish.

Finish: Long length. An oak hit then 90% dark chocolate lingers.

Bottled 2014 at 18yo. Cask 185, Bourbon barrel. Tastes older than 18 years, more like 20 or 25. Now that I think about it, there’s quite a few Signatory’s like that. Something to do with their warehousing maybe?

72/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #573-#574

Whisky Network Review #678-#679

Network Average: 74.7

Best Score: 93

Worst Score: 22

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

Full Disclosure 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, my rating scale is NOT based on a Parker type wine scoring scale or a school/college/university % or A-F grade score. You can find more on my scoring here. I apologise for any seemly low or 'bad' scores given with my system and I am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and I am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?