Springbank 18 & 11 Refill Sauternes Single Cask Reviews

Hi everyone,

Another duo today! This time it’s Springbank’s turn.

It has taken me far too long to get round to trying the 18yo. I can get pretty expensive and although I’d heard that it was great, I didn’t want to risk forking out on a bottle. So I waited patiently but just never got round to it or saw it many places.

I also recently tried a official single cask for the USA.

Springbank 18 46%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Robust and chiselled, smoky coals, dried apple, musty leather, a little tobacco and cigar smoke, subtle dried banana, standing outside a smoking room, old cigarette smoke.

Taste: Oily with building spices tingling and dry oak, lots of black pepper, a bit industrial with concrete dust and chalky minerality, some dust and leather and old smoke.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Softer, more tobacco and leather here but fades quite quickly.

Shame about the short finish. Everything else is pretty well balanced and interesting, if a little austere.

79/100

 

Springbank 11 Refill Sauternes 57.2%

Colour: Dark Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Soapy but in a really cool way, raisin and passion fruit, rich apricot, dirty orange, good sulphur, dried lavender, bath bombs, intense and full on.

Taste: Soft and oily, orange and mango, super good balance on arrival, great mouthfeel, fruity and intense, soapy again but again it’s good and interesting. Some spices come through towards the end, black pepper and a tiny whiff of smoke.

Finish: Medium/Long length. More soapy here, almost overwhelming it, softer then comes back with the oils.

Nov 2007, bot Nov 2018 from a single refill Sauternes cask, bottled for USA. Some people are gonna hate this, but I love it. Really interesting and full on, in-your-face whisky that grabs your tongue and won’t let go until it’s done with you.

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #851-#852

Whisky Network Reviews #1023-#1024

Network Average: 75.2

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?

Port Askaig 33 Single Cask [Road to #1000, Review #989]

Hi everyone,

I’ve been lucky enough to taste a bunch of the Port Askaig range; 15, 16, 19, 28, 30 & 45. Most of which have been Caol Ila or Bunnahabhain.

The Importer of Port Askaig to the USA is ImpEx Beverages and this sample is another one I have to thank them for, specifically Jared Card. Thanks buddy!

There was also a 25yo from a batch of casks, which I was lucky enough to taste but didn’t make notes. I thought that one was a Laphroaig.

This on the other hand is a single cask, presented in one of those big sturdy wooden boxes that we love to pay for…

Port Askaig 33 Single Cask 50.3%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Interesting, complex nose with a lot of different facets. Soft salty smoke, soft fruit and oils, white pepper, white florals, faint smoked meat, interesting moss and a minty note-spearmint. More leathery as it opens up.

Taste: Soft and complex, great arrival, great mouthfeel on silky oils, smoke then salty with lemon juice, white pepper, white florals, white peach then darker into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Delicious. More overtly peaty with malt and some leather, a bit minty at the end. A little dry here.

American exclusive single cask. This is an expensive whisky (doesn’t come into my scoring but it’s worth mentioning) and although it is interesting and complex, there has also been something lost. Don’t get me wrong, this is great whisky but I think I was expecting more from it.

84/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #827

Whisky Network Review #989

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?

Imperial 1989 Carn Mor [Road to #1000, Review #983]

Hi everyone,

Last year I was working a lot in Germany, which meant tasting a lot of cool German exclusives that are only released there. Unfortunately I wasn’t able to spend a lot of time there this year as I really like it there.

Despite being a closed distillery, Imperial was more affordable and pretty readily available when I first started in whisky. There were Signatory Cask Strength 1995’s for about £85 then.

Now it’s a different story but I know there are plenty of casks out there because I visited some warehouses of a certain independent bottler and they have racks of the stuff.

Imperial 1989 Carn Mor 44.7%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Tropical fruit along with the classically Imperial dusty dunnage and leather, some pear, lemon peel, cigar box, green and red apple, particularly dusty this one. Oh, also beeswax.

Taste: Soft, dusty and old, leather, dunnage, then more fruity with red and green apple, some lemon, sour oak. Not as much complexity as I would have expected for almost 30yo.

Finish: Medium length. Very soft. Green apple, some lemon and dusty something?! Dust?

Bourbon barrel, bottled 2018 at 28yo as an exclusive for Schlumberger in Germany. Good but it is quite dusty. Perhaps too much. This dusty note is normally encounter with Glen Scotia so it’s interesting to see it here with Imperial. Not sure if it’s something coming from the spirit or cask but I might guess the cask in this case as it isn’t something I’ve had with an Imperial before or since.

75/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #825

Whisky Network Review #983

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?

Glen Scotia 1989 Manager's Tour Sample [Road to #1000, Review #975]

Hi everyone,

Welcome. I while back I realised that I had hit #1000 whiskies that I had tasted and written notes on and decided to keep some in reserve for an epic build up of insane, rare and crazy whiskies that I had tasted. 26 whiskies in fact.

1972 Brora cask sample, Hibiki 30, Yamazaki 25, Cadenhead’s Sherry cask Talisker, Longmorn 1964, Scotia 1969 and two 1968 whiskies, some bourbons, Karuizawa, my first Convalmore. You’ve got it all to look forward to.

To kick things off I’ve got an almost 30yo Glen Scotia from the most expensive tour you can do there, the Manager’s Tour. (Yep, we’re starting with that)

Many thanks go to the ever amazing Ibon for the sample.

Glen Scotia 1989 Cask Sample 53.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fruity and very interesting, orange chewing gum, banana, cold dunnage, dried leaves, leather, some lime, wonderful balance though. I don’t normally like chewing gum as a note in whisky as it can be quite artificial but it works here.

Taste: Soft and oily, soot, dunnage wood then more fruity with banana, some pineapple, a little cream soda. Pretty fresh for 30yo without too much oak at all. I expected it to be much darker.

Finish: Medium length. Very soft, oils again, not a massive amount of complexity here.

Cask sample from the managers tour at Glen Scotia, refill American oak cask 316. I was probably expecting too much from this. I thought 30yo Campbeltown and the red mist of OMGITMUSTBEAMAZING descended. The taste is a little flat with the quite simple finish. Still it should be said that this is great whisky.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #818

Whisky Network Review #975

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?

Wardhead 1997 & Ardmore 2008 for r/Scotch Reviews

Hi everyone,

Okay, bit of back story first… Last year we managed to get two samples from Hunter Laing (Sherry cask Blair Athol and an Inchgower, both over 20 years old). They were rejected for not being good enough.

I organised two more samples from The Single Cask to be sent to u/scotch_fanatic. Once again, not good enough.

u/t8ke then gets Morrison MacKay on board and they send us 9 samples from casks they have that we could bottle. They are sent out blind and we (the tasting panel) taste them, rate them, etc.

Our favourite being an older single grain, we decided that the best course of action was to bottle the second and third favourites.

To be perfectly honest, I didn’t rate anything in the blind tasting super high and I gave both of these 7.5/10. I have lost my notes from the blind tasting but I remember guessing the Ardmore was a Croftengea and the Wardhead as some young Speysider. But blind tastings can be deceiving and stuff changes sometimes when it’s bottled as well as changing as it opens up and you spend more time with it. So let us see what the r/Scotch bottlings offer!

Also, this was a huge load of fun and I have to thank u/t8ke and u/scotch_fanatic for generally being awesome, organising this and including me as a part of it. It has been a privilege and an honour and I can’t wait for more bottlings in the future!

Wardhead 1997 for r/Scotch 54.7%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Fresh nose, younger than its years. Green apple and malt first off, grassy, very clean, milk chocolate, hot chocolate froth and some heather, honey. Creamy with vanilla after a minute. Under ripe orange and green grape appearing. Malted milk biscuits too.

Taste: Really wonderful clean arrival, lovely mouthfeel with oils and malt, then a burst of fresh fruit with green apple and lemon, milk chocolate, heather, some oak and spices, some white pepper, stem ginger, softening again into the finish.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Darker and more malty here, malt biscuits, a little cocoa powder, more oak.

Hogshead #40, bottled at 22yo. The nose and the beginning of the taste here are a lot better than I remember from blind tasting. The mid-palate goes into some average territory with the spices and oak just a little flat. Still, a great release worth picking up. Water made the nose much fresher and fruitier but I found it lost body and depth on the taste.

77/100

 

Ardmore 2008 for r/Scotch 57%

Colour: Straw

Body: Full

Nose: I remember first tasting this blind and then the first taste out of the bottle thinking that this was just another pretty average peated whisky. But the nose keeps opening up more... Creamy, lemon citrus, the malt is there quite gristy giving a complexity and body, an Agave note- maybe kinda Mezcal-like, some ash, a little white grapefruit, maritime notes of cold seafood buffet, lobster and crab flesh with cracked black pepper. The more you dig and pay attention, the more you get.

Taste: Clean arrival, oily, lemon citrus and then BIG peat, lots of intense minerality and rocky seashore notes, licking the inside of old shells, chewy mouthfeel. Great, and again, very different from my blind tasting and first pours.

Finish: Medium length. Not as long as the Wardhead but still plenty going on with salt, peaty malt and the oils coating away. Quite dry too.

Bourbon barrel 702430, bottled 11yo. Love Ardmore and very happy to have a bottle of this. I also have to say that this is supremely drinkable at full strength but doesn’t seem to do well with water.

80/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #813-#814

Whisky Network Reviews #969-#970

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. In this case, I was also a part of selecting these whiskies, so may be even more biased than usual... 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?

Glendronach 2007 N&P Single Cask Review

Hi everyone,

Today I've got another exclusive single cask whisky, this time in the form of Glendronach.

Glendronach have had a bit of a hyped reputation in the last few years, especially for the single cask stuff but I’ve noticed (as have others) that the quality seems to have declined more recently. Perhaps this is the delayed effect of Billy Walker selling and leaving, perhaps they just don’t have the casks they used to.

Glendronach 2007 Nickolls & Perks 60.1%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Fresher than expected, apricot and some peach, malt and chocolate, creamy, a little spirity, apricot yoghurt.

Water: Sweeter with chocolate cake and a mossy vegital thing going on.

Taste: Quite robust and spirity, vegital moss, some vanilla, ginger and black pepper spice, a very little raisin towards the end.

Water: A bit flat, plain oak with more chocolate.

Finish: Medium length. Sweeter here with raisin, chocolate and malt.

1st fill PX cask. 11yo. Quite spirity and fresh version of Glendronach. You can see why the spirit does well with time, similar to Macallan. But I’ve found these younger Glendronach’s to be disappointing compared to the more standard 15/18yo at around the same price. Still available for £75 on their website.

74/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Review #804

Whisky Network Review #958

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?

3x older Ledaig's: 1993, 1994 & 1997 Reviews

Hi everyone,

The heavily peated Ledaig wasn’t officially re-produced until 1996, meaning that there isn’t a huge amount of the older stuff out there.

What there is is sometimes mislabelled Tobermory, and at other times, only lightly peated. Here’s a few today that I’ve tasted recently.

Ledaig 1993 Wilson & Morgan 51%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: The smoke has had time to oxidise giving it more fruit- More like a Talisker really, red apple, black pepper, sea salt, some orange, smoke backing it all, nicely balanced. More funky with time, some cheddar cheese, something slightly savoury.

Taste: Sharp and sour start, acidic red apple and spiky oak, green and black peppercorns, again quite Talisker-like, quite spicy, maritime smoke and sea salt and lemon.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Power gone completely, a little red apple, dry oak and spice left. Bit of a disappointing finish.

Bottled 2018 at 25yo. A Ledaig in my year! Could easily be an old Talisker. Great nose but it gets more and more tired as the taste goes on.

74/100

 

Ledaig 1994 Gordon & Macphail 47.1%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Lemon, grapefruit and sea salt, ozone, a little light cherry and some light cheese lurking in the background, rock pools and sea wind, gives a sense of open space.

Taste: A little weak to start, salt and lemon, grapefruit and cherry, then it gets going with dirty soot and orange, very oily, funk-mozzarella?, green olives and brine.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Fades quite quickly with some salted chocolate, black pepper and green olives.

Bottled 2017 as an exclusive for Germany. Unpeated Ledaig the rep told me... Soooo NOT Ledaig then?

75/100

Ledaig 1997 Cadenhead's 53.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Salinity at first nosing. Sea salt, coastal with a far off beach bonfire, oysters, grilled prawns and green olive. Also leather and classy oak, chocolate powder. A little more chocolatey over time with milk chocolate and praline. Very nice and really interesting nose. Not full of the usual Ledaig powerful smoke, but more restrained.

Water: Fresher, more coastal, oily and a little fresh rubber. Pencil eraser. Not such a fan of this style, preferred it neat.

Taste: Citrus arrival, lemon and then a wonderful transition into a more active development. More of that citrus, lemon, orange and lime juice all mixed together, some smoke but more complex coastal flavours coming through. A little green olive, sea salt, salt rimmed margarita. Oily.

Water: Softer and less citric, less acidity, builds slowly with some lemon, earthy notes, some vanilla, leather, then more and more salty with that salt rimmed margarita.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oily citrus juice continues then more gristy malt and leathery smoke.

Aged 19 years, from a Bourbon hogshead. Better neat IMO. So glad I bought a bottle of this when I spied it in the Netherlands.

86/100

Thanks for reading!

Updated Distillery Rankings

Scotch Reviews #740-#742

Whisky Network Reviews #878-#880

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?