Strathmill 1991 C&S Dram & 1990 Dimensions Reviews

Hi everyone,

I had met Andrea Caminneci when I was in Frankfurt late last year for another festival. Little did I know, he had his own independent bottler: C&S Drams. You aren’t likely to see them outside of Germany but I was recommended to try this one and I’m always interested by Strathmill. Definitely not a distillery you see often and quite and interesting and undervalued one too.

 

Strathmill 1991 C&S Dram 46.4%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: A very nice musky barrel, soft vanilla, dry oak, a little clean ethanol (the purifiers talking I think), crystallised honey, light florals and wax. A little Clynelish-like.

Taste: Soft, vanilla, juicy golden raisin and green apple, then nice earthy heathery malt and chocolate, dry oak and a little spice into the finish.

Finish: Long length. Very nice soft finish, heather, malt, milk chocolate.

26yo from a Bourbon barrel. Very fresh for 26 years but with complexity.

80/100

Hold on a minute… I’ve found an old review of a Strathmill that I’d totally forgotten! This was the one that tipped me off to Strathmill being a distillery making some great whisky.

Strathmill 1990 Dimensions Duncan Taylor 55%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: Sweet complex honey- Honeycomb and honeysuckle, caramelised brown sugar, huge sherry sweetness. Strongly brewed tea, clove, menthol, melted butter, oily, spice and fruit- Red apple, raisin, date, fig, molasses, spiced rum, beeswax.

Taste: Well behaved for 55%. Sweet and smooth. Lots of honey, brown sugar, waxy, very waxy actually, lots of spice- Cinnamon, ginger and pepper, clove, butter, olive oil, orange and dark chocolate.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Waxy with spice and an ash hit.

Distilled 1990, bottled 2011. 21yo from a Sherry butt. Heavy and rich. Lovely with a drop of water too, more creamy and chocolatey. Great stuff, wish I’d bought a bottle at the time but I was fairly new to whisky then.

83/100

Distillery: Strathmill

Average Score: 78.8

Distillery Ranking: 14th/ 63 places

Up/Down: N/a

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #637-#638

Whisky Network Review #757-#758

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?

Strathmill 22 & 24 Cadenhead's Small Batch Reviews

Hi everyone,

More from the Cadenhead’s table today, but these are two interesting whiskies from a little distillery called Strathmill.

I was introduced to the quality of Strathmill quite early after tasting a great sherry cask from Duncan Taylor’s Dimension range, but it isn’t one you see often and definitely isn’t raved about in whisky geek circles as one to try. But it is. One to try that is.

They use purifiers at Strathmill too, although they’re completely straight unlike others that are normally S-shaped. That gives you a lighter spirit than most others in Speyside, maybe almost a Lowland style to it.

Strathmill 22 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 50.4%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Light

Nose: Very clean, slightly grassy and ethereal. The spirit but not quite spirity if that makes sense (it doesn’t), green apple, toasted malt, roasted nut, some malt.

Taste: Soft, clean, clean spirit, slightly grassy, orange, a little mineral then juicy green apple, then some chilli spice and oak.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Oak stays then some nice chilli. Strong oak.

This one was good but I was expecting more from 22 years in the casks. The spirit has really been preserved well, very fresh stuff.

73/100

 

Strathmill 24 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 45.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Light/Medium

Nose: Deeper and more musky than the 22, but still quite light. Banana, green apple, light fudge, coffee beans, quite ethereal.

Taste: Light, soft, lacking a little power to start but builds nicely with some chocolate, malt, then more fruity, banana and green apple, nice spice, ginger.

Finish: Long length. Lovely, malty chocolate and some heather. A little soap but it works.

1 Hoshead and 2 Bourbon barrels. Great strength. Really nice drinking whisky. Rewards small sips and holding in the mouth for 25 secondsish. Yeah, you could drink a lot of this in a evening. Pretty sure this is still available in the London shop too.

79/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #531-#532

Whisky Network Reviews #626-#627

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?