Ledaigathon: 1994 G&M, 20 Cadenhead's, SMWS 42.22 & 42.21, 2008 Archives Reviews

Hi everyone,

A while back, um, at the beginning of May, I was in Canada for work and was able to meet up with the wonderful people of the Toronto whisky society. What follows are reviews that are their fault.

Knowing that I loved Ledaig, they’d secured as many as they could and greeting me on the table were a row of them. Of course, I felt obliged to review them (Its a hard life sometimes), although I didn’t get to them all because I wanted to try other stuff too.

Thanks to everyone for an amazing night!

Ledaig 1994 Gordon & MacPhail 53.9%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Ah yes, clearly not Ledaig just as we expected after the other 1994 G&M. Clean with ozone, salt, green apple and a little cheese, some seaweed, light on the complexity.

Taste: Soft then spicy, ginger and black pepper, salt coming in, dried seaweed, losing power into the finish.

Finish: Short length. Lacking power here, very soft salt, ill fitting dry oak. Doesn't really work.

Bottled 2012. Mislabelled Tobermory again. The second time I've had this from G&M which makes me distrust all early 90's Ledaig.

71/100

 

Ledaig 1997 Cadenhead's 52.8%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Lovely complexity of lemon, aged smoke, epically oily, buttery but also salt crusted sailing ropes, leather and a little green grape.

Taste: So so oily, salt and smoke building up, spicy black pepper, white pepper, great leather and chocolate coming in.

Finish: Long length. Power, white pepper, mineral smoke, a white wine thing going on which is cool.

Gold label, 20yo. Very similar to the 19yo that I have a bottle of, but I prefer that one by a point I think.

85/100

 

Ledaig 2006 42.22 SMWS 59.3%

Colour: Straw

Body: Full

Nose: Very clean nose, a little abv, pure salt and white pepper, lemon juice, not a huge amount there but very pure and clean.

Taste: Soft, then a great balance of pure salt and white pepper, lemon juice and stem ginger. Again, compelxity isn't massive but the balance and purity is super impressive.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Salty and spicy, stem ginger and white pepper.

9yo.

78/100

 

Ledaig 2006 42.21 SMWS 59.4%

Colour: Light Straw

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Even cleaner and lighter... As in water. A tiny bit of green apple, a tiny bit of salt, Tequila.

Taste: Soft arrival, great saltiness, great balance again with the smoke, minerality, raw ginger and white pepper.

Finish: Medium length. Clean again, a little ginger and white pepper left.

I prefer the nose on this actually than the 42.22, but the taste isn't as good.

77/100

 

Ledaig 2008 Archives 60.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Dirty AF, burnt bacon, creamy vanilla, not a huge amount of smoke but a great balance, white german sausage, smoked sausage. Lots of sausage. Very savoury nose.

Taste: Clean arrival, great balance, salty, the Sherry comes through with dirty raisin, unami, bacon, so oily, mouthfeel for days.

Finish: Medium length. Creamy, sweet raisin and more overt peat.

Bottled 2016 I think, from a Sherry cask. Fan-fucking-tastic young Ledaig. Love it. Should have bought one when I had the chance.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #779-#783

Whisky Network Reviews #924-#928

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?

Ledaig 20 Sestante (Bot. early 90's) Review

Hi everyone,

Despite Ledaig being the favourite whisky of this particular reviewer, a Ledaig has yet to enter the 90 Club…

Until today.

At Limburg, there’s a stupid amount of crazy insane whisky to try. Pretty sure a 1920 Rosebank was part of the mega collection opened without a second thought. Shared with us all.

Me, unable to spend mega-bucks on pre-war Rosebank, spied a redish Ledaig sitting across the aisle from my stand. When it was a little quieter, I wandered over for a look. Only 40%? Nah, I’ll pass.

But it nagged at me. Only 10 Euros, maybe I’ll try it anyway… So the next day I went back. Glad I did.

 

Ledaig Tobermory 20 Sestante 40%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Soft sweet old school Sherry, honey, no peat really but almost old Macallan-like, some florals, perfect cask I think, old leather, rich, dark tobacco. A little smoke starting to reveal itself, chimney soot. Old Highland Park notes now too, funky earthiness and old herb box coming through. Complex stuff.

Taste: Sweet, very old school Sherry, builds without lacking a single trace of power despite the low strength! Oily, malty, not much smoke but dark tobacco, rich, cherry, some soot now, orange, blood orange, white pepper, funky oak, honey, long and complex development. Heather too. More smoke as it opens up.

Finish: Medium/Long length. A beautiful finish that fills you with hope for all whiskykind! Emotional, a little more smoke, more oak with dark chocolate, some coffee, dry oak and cherry.

Such a surprise as I didn't think the strength would manage it! Bottled in the early 90's and possibly distilled in 1971ish. Apparently this is quite a rare one with the castle label.

90/100

Distillery: Tobermory

Average Score: 80.2

Distillery Ranking: 9th/ 66 places

Up/Down: Stayed the same

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #645

Whisky Network Review #768

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?

Talisker 20 (1982-2003) Review

Hi everyone,

Talisker has always been a favourite of mine. It was the second bottle of single malt I bought and my first experience of peat. I’ve been a fan ever since and it pains me that I don’t currently have a bottle.

One of my Talisker goals has always been to try something at cask strength. Something I’ve somehow managed to somewhat fail at. Not just because I can’t be bothered with 57 degrees, but also because there isn’t a lot of it apart from old releases like this next one.

And before you start getting crazy jealous, no this isn’t the Sherry cask release from 2001 that gets collectors wet and heaps of money poured on top of it. No, this is the much less hyped refill version from 2003.

 

Talisker 20 (1982) Refill 58.8%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Intense, classic red apple, black pepper and smoke, burnt thyme, some alcohol poking through.

Water: Opens up with more herbal notes, more fruit and less smoke.

Taste: Intense, peaty, mineral, sea salt, sea spray and wet rocks, red apple, black pepper, then quite soft.

Water: More balance, more red apple and black pepper. More Talisker-esque, oily with lemon citrus.

Finish: Long length. Softer, red apple, dry refill oak. Water makes it more oily, more lemon, tobacco and oily chocolate.

Swims well, almost the more water the better. Gets better and better with time and water, so give this one time! A little disappointing though, I was expecting bigger things from this and it didn’t really deliver. Much prefer the 30yo 2011 release myself.

85/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #558

Whisky Network Review #661

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 am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Ardmore 20 (2017) Review

Hi everyone,

There aren’t that many official Ardmore bottlings really. Traditional was discontinued, replaced with Legacy. And there’s the 12yo Portwood. But no others come to mind.

And then this one came out of nowhere, at a sensible strength and an even more sensible price! I was shocked. So shocked I almost bought one. Especially as Ardmore has become a distillery on my watchlist and that this would have been produced on their direct fired stills as it’s pre-2001.

Anyway, finding myself at Inter. Whisky Frankfurt with a tonne of awesome whiskies ahead, I tried this first thing.

 

Ardmore 20 (2017) 49.3%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Full

Nose: Sooty and smoky, oily, Campbeltown-esque, some seaweed, lemon and white grapefruit citrus, waxy vanilla. Soft minerality and some funk after time.

Taste: Sweet start, orange peel, then intense citrus and smoke combo, white grapefruit again, gingerbread and ginger biscuit.

Finish: Long length. More of that white grapefruit and ginger beer.

Matured in Bourbon barrels and Laphroaig quarter casks. A little spicy mid-palate but the white grapefruit is unique, not sure I’ve tasted that in a whisky before. Very nice stuff and a great price for a 20yo, only £60 in some places.

81/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #555

Whisky Network Review #650

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 am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?

Aultmore 1997, Glenlossie 1993 & Glen Moray 1992 Cadenhead's Small Batch Reviews

Hi everyone,

More reviews today, this time from the independent bottler Cadenhead’s.

I happened to have a stand next to them at The Haig whisky festival in The Netherlands and therefore got the chance to try pretty much everything they had to offer. Which was mostly their Small Batch stuff because the other stuff tends to be single casks.

So, what they do with this range is take a small batch of casks (could be 2 or 5 but rarely more than that) and vat them together. Always from the same vintage too.

Serge is often quoted as saying that a small vatting of casks can be superior to single casks but I tend to disagree. Single casks can be more variable, while vattings tend to be more consistent but more variable can mean superb.

Anyways…

Aultmore 1997 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 53.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Chalky, lemony, spritzy and tropical. Dry oak, lemon peel, paprika, floral complexity, sponge cake and vanilla. Spiced porridge?

Taste: Floral, fizzy sweets, orange, dry oak, spice then suddenly very tropical with lots of mango and pineapple.

Finish: Medium/Long length. More oak and a nice level of spice. Dried mango.

From 2 Bourbon Hogsheads. 20yo. I quite like this Aultmore, I wasn’t wildly impressed by the official 18 but this I could get behind.

78/100

 

Glenlossie 1993 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 54.8%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Very grassy, freshly mown lawn, tropical fruit, vanilla, lemon, lemon sponge cake, austere chalky/slatey minerality. A little earthy too.

Taste: Intense, grassy, mineral, slate and chalk, some mango, calms a little then softens with malt, oak and some grass.

Finish: Long length. Grassy, very mineral and a little spirit at the end.

22yo. A really interesting one, I did not expect those mineral notes at all. Note to self: Try more Glenlossie.

76/100

 

Glen Moray 1992 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 50.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: A little closed, fruity, oak, green apple, lemon peel, spice box, green grape.

Taste: Quite soft, green apple citrus, then quite sour and acidic, dry oak too.

Finish: Medium length. Very acidic and some acrid rubber.

24yo from 3 Bourbon Hogsheads. A shame it goes too acidic, not my thing. Glen Moray seems to be a funny one. When it’s good, it’s really good but too much of it seems to be very average.

67/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #528-#530

Whisky Network Reviews #623-#625

Network Average: 74.6

Best Score: 92

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 am sorry I can't say only nice things. Please keep in mind that I am ethically compromised and am unable to produce 100% unbiased reviews.

Why is this here?