Garnheath 42yo TBWC Review

Hi everyone,

Ever heard of Garnheath?

No, me neither.

What about Glen Flagler or Killyloch?

No?

I mean, I’d seen some indie bottlings but never really looked it up or bothered because they’re out of my price range. And obscure. Really obscure. All the names above are from the same malt/grain facility called Moffat in Airdrie. Glen Flagler and Killyloch were malt whiskies and Garnheath was the grain. The site was closed in 1986 I believe.

I happened to be at the Whiskybase Gathering in Rotterdam and was lucky enough to try a load of epic/old/rare stuff, of which, this was the first.

 

Garnheath 42 TBWC 44.3%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Really oaky, very dry, a little fruit but much more floral, dried pressed flowers, quite light. Old Bourbon-like salted caramel.

Taste: Oaky, very spicy, black pepper and ginger, orange peel, quite intense here, very oaky actually, old Bourbon-like levels of oak.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Old Bourbon-like caramel and salted toffee.

Looking for a more affordable 23yo Pappy? Look no further! Old corn whisky-like notes I think. Yeah, very very oaky and old. Really overwhelmed by the cask at this point. Older isn’t always better, especially when it comes to the single grain’s I’m finding.

77/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #549

Single Grain Review #11

Whisky Network Review #644

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?

Ledaig 2005 Hermitage G&M & 2008 Black Corbie Sherry Reviews

Hi everyone,

How many more Ledaig’s can we try?!

Loads thankfully. Because there’s always plenty of IB’s and even some new OB’s (the new 13 Amontillado looks great!). So here’s two newish ones I tasted in The Netherlands recently.

Ledaig 2005 Hermitage Gordon & MacPhail 45%

Colour: Redish

Body: Full

Nose: My kind of stuff! Dirty and amazing. Dirty red fruit and berries. Great sulphur and smoke.

Taste: Great. More of the same style as the nose. Soft arrival, builds with ashy and sulphury and sooty and smoky notes. Dirty red fruit.

Finish: Long length. More smoke and a little spice and oak.

A great example of dirty Ledaig. A well chosen one from G&M. Easily could go into too sulphury territory for most people. I asked for a bottle of this for Christmas and Santa delivered, so a re-review may be in order at some point.

84/100

 

Ledaig 2008 Black Corbie 59.9%

Colour: Amber

Body: Full

Nose: A little sulphury, barnyard style, blood orange, grapefruit, light florals, sooty smoke, some vanilla. Very Signatory CS style, wouldn’t surprise me if this was their stock.

Taste: Intense, big smoky and sooty brute, mineral slate and sea salt, black pepper, red berries, slight sulphur.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Some soap, lavender, spice and dry oak.

9yo, from a Sherry cask. A new release from the whiskybase guys I think. At least, it was in their shop and on their stand at the Whiskybase Gathering. Anyway, another great Ledaig. Much more brutish and powerful than the G&M but not quite it’s equal.

82/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #547-#548

Whisky Network Reviews #642-#643

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?

Highland Park Dark 17 & 1999 Full Volume Reviews

Hi everyone,

I can’t say I’m a huge fan of the direction Highland Park are going. They’re still on of my favourite distilleries when it comes to the age statement range (which I think is great, although was better priced a few years ago).

But a multitude of NAS and ‘collectors’ editions riding on as much Viking themed marketing as possible has left me a little disillusioned. The latest in this seemingly endless stream of new whiskies is Dark and (the yet to be released) Light. I was lucky enough to get a taste of the Dark in the Whiskysite.nl shop and managed to write some notes.

Next then was the new HP Full Volume, which has a vintage, a higher strength and a reasonable price.

Highland Park Dark 17 52.9%

Colour: Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Really dark fruit and spices. Rich Sherry, fig, plum, dark chocolate, heather, sweet honey. Great nose.

Taste: Rich and intense. Spicy, red apple, dark orange, plum, dark chocolate, syrup, Sherry and coffee.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Espresso, dark chocolate.

Best thing from HP in a while. The balance is there, it is heavy but not overly Sherried. The HP character comes through. All in all this was great whisky but remember these babies don’t come cheap. Because, you know, Vikings.

85/100

 

Highland Park 1999 Full Volume 47.2%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Underripe mango, melon, very fresh and clean, clean malt, austere for an HP, almost Irish-esque with that 'green' fruit and oak, lemon peel.

Taste: Soft arrival, melon, underipe mango, green oak, sappy, clean lemon, orange peel, dry oak, vanilla, quite dry though.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Slightly sooty, melon, very dry finish. Nice though.

Distilled 1999, bottled 2017. Not a super 'full volume' HP (the Dark is much more FULL VOLUME HP) and I'm not a massive fan of this style but good on 'em for age statement, colour and abv.

75/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #545-#546

Whisky Network Review #640-#641

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?

Clynelish 1997 Whiskybase Gathering 2017 & Wolfburn 2013 Single Cask for Whiskysite.nl Reviews

Hi everyone,

After finishing at The Haig whisky festival, I was back in The Netherlands only a few days later for the Whiskybase Gathering in Rotterdam.

If you haven’t heard of whiskybase.com, get over there right now. NO, wait. After you’ve read this instead. Great resource over there, filled with reviews of almost every whisky that’s ever existed. Also, you can add bottles to your collection and build a virtual picture of what bottles you have. You know, if you’ve lost track in reality. It also keeps a handy estimate of how much your closed bottles are worth, if you need a reminder of how much money you’ve throw into the rabbit hole.

We popped over to their shop for a look and got to try a new Clynelish released for the Gathering then headed to Whiskysite.nl and a taster of a Wolfburn single cask. Both are completely sold out long ago, but here are my notes anyways.

Clynelish 1997 Archives 55.8%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Spicy red apple and waxiness. Honey.

Taste: Nice level of heat, black pepper, red apple, heavy wax.

Finish: Long length. Spicy and intense.

Release for the Whiskybase gathering 2017. Great Clynelish but a little hot at times. Only 80 bottles!! And all sold out long ago.

81/100

 

Wolfburn 2013 for whiskysite.nl 55.9%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Cherry, loads of ripe cherry. Then mint and liquorice. Spearmint.

Taste: Cherry, some raisin but very fresh Sherry style, not too rich but not youthful either. Could be 9yo.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Nice, more soft cherries.

The first ever Wolfburn single cask pick, for The Netherlands. A real cherry bomb. Lovely young stuff.

78/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Reviews #543-#544

Whisky Network Reviews #638-#639

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?

Ma2 Elements of Islay Review (Peated Bunna)

Hi everyone,

More whisky today, again from Elements of Islay. Who have been building a solid reputation for good casks.

The mysterious codes are always fun to try and work out too. From the obvious Lp to the more difficult ones like this. Ma stands for Margadale, which is not a distillery but a style of whisky from a distillery. It also happens to be the name of the river that Bunnahabhain uses for it’s water source.

 

Ma² Elements of Islay 55.2%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Subdued Bunna peat, some tropical fruit, lots of banana, greenish oak, wet leaves, sea salt, samphire.

Taste: Soft arrival then big, really intense, very peaty, mineral, salty, medicinal, cough sweets, some orange, very oily and quite spicy with white pepper.

Finish: Medium length. Mineral notes stay, with some white pepper tingling.

A 13yo peated Bunnahabhain. For some reason me and Bunnahabhain don’t seem to get along too well. This is very good whisky, but I’d be expecting more from a heavily peated Islay malt at this age. It’s that spiciness that’s holding it back, just a little harsh.

76/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #542

Whisky Network Review #637

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?

Mortlach 1973 OMC (2004) Review [FIRST 93!!]

Hi everyone,

Very occasionally you find something that makes you question everything you knew about something.

When you start in that particular thing, it can be quite common to find something that wreaks havoc on your understanding and takes you to a new level. But as you go on, it happens less and less. Sometimes to the point where you think it might never get it again.

You may have noticed that I’ve been trying some pretty epic whiskies lately. The reason behind that was mainly because I wanted to explore the upper end of my grading scale.

My 100th whisky was perhaps the best I had tried and I had found nothing to surpass it almost 700 whiskies later. Either I got lucky or there was something I was missing.

Having already made a list of my highest scored whiskies, a breakthrough came when I had a calculate of the average age and strength. Apart from a few outliers, many were around 30 years old and at a strength of just over 50%abv. This almost gave me a formula for finding high scores. Just find something fitting that criteria seemed to really help exploring the upper limit.

Grading is a funny thing and personally I would never feel comfortable giving a 100/100 score. Mainly because I could never be sure there wasn’t something better out there. But only getting to 92? Was there something wrong with my grading scale because I wasn’t getting to a higher score? Was I being too harsh?

But exploring the upper limit has helped me solidify my grading I feel. More than that, it has helped me question it and myself and then solidify my understanding of what (in my mind) makes a truly magnificent whisky stand out from something that is fantastic but not quite there. It’s a thin line sometimes, but tasting some of these outstanding whiskies has restored my faith that there are higher scoring whiskies out there, its just a case of finding them (and being able to afford them).

SO, with that out the way. I went over to the collector’s stand at The Haig and had a look. Something around 30 years and around 50%. Hmmm. How about an old Mortlach? It fit the bill, but I also had a good feeling about it.

 

Mortlach 1973 Old Malt Cask (Bottled 2004) 50%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium/Full

Nose: Great balance of Sherried fruit, some tropical too, some soot, old school oak, deep, complex but quite an enigma, hard to unravel but opens up slowly. Dried raspberry, some chocolate, floral- Dried flowers, tobacco, old leather, red apple, musty, dusty furniture, orange oil. Develops these amazing medicinal notes! Which actually remind me a little of that Laphroaig 30 I had recently.

Taste: Deep, intense, great balance of soft red apple, some spicy European-esque oak, gingerbread, black pepper. Develops in waves, keeps going and going. Floral, musky cologne, leather and tobacco, AMAZING zingy dried raspberry, dark chocolate. Complex spices, ginger beer, nutmeg, a little cinnamon, orange oil. Sherried-like notes too.

Finish: Long/Very Long length. Fucking great! Really long. Leathery, dark chocolate, lovely coffee and a little of that dried raspberry. AND that elusive emotional hit I long for. Bloody good stuff.

The system works! 30 years old and 50%. A massively impressive whisky. Balance, complexity and power spot on. All over, it’s just fantastic from beginning to end but the finish separates this from the 1987 Bowmore and 1983 Karuizawa that I’ve scored 92’s. After 700 whiskies, I thought maybe that 92 might be the limit. The highest score attainable, but tasting this really has opened up my understanding and given me that motivation to keep trying.

93/100

Epilogue: Not even a week later I was back in The Netherlands for the Whiskybase Gathering and tasted my second 93 (review coming up). Furthering my hope for a 94 and maybe even 95 at some point.

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #541

Whisky Network Review #636

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?

North British 31 Cadenhead's Small Batch Review

Hi everyone,

More old whisky today, again from those gents over at Cadenhead’s. I don’t review a lot of grain whisky, mostly because not a lot of it comes across my path but the older stuff like this one always intrigues me. And normally it’s much, much cheaper than malts at the same age.

Remember it’s also barrelled at a higher strength so they normally keep their strength quite well over longer maturation too.

 

North British 31 Cadenhead’s Small Batch 55%

Colour: Straw

Body: Light

Nose: Very light, very delicate, slightly tropical, gin, juniper, orange zest, cassia bark. Very gin like actually! Lemonade too.

Taste: Nice! Creamy, vanilla, oak, some spice, but mainly cream soda, orange zest, some juniper, lovely creamy mouthfeel. Nice sharp zesty lemon.

Finish: Medium length. Drying, dry oak, soda, some lemonade, ginger beer but a little spicy.

1985, bottled 2016. Very nice grain whisky here, a really good age where the spirit is still fresh but the oak hasn’t overwhelmed it yet.

78/100

Thanks for reading!

Scotch Review #540

Single Grain Review #10

Whisky Network Review #635

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?