18 Under 30 Part 18: The Malt Whisky Yearbook

Phew!  Here we are, part 18 of our 18 Under 30.  It's been a long and (very boozy) winding road to some essential purchases this Christmas and we very much hope that you've had an opportunity to try some of the sensational liquids we've featured.

However our final part doesn't concern a liquid at all.  Nor is it edible in any way - unless you happen to be desperately hungry or are an extreme whisky fanatic. No, our final part is arguably the best whisky book out there:  The Malt Whisky Yearbook, which nips the ankles of the whisky world like an enthusiastic Jack Russell.  Packed with the most up to date facts on just about every malt distillery around the globe the Malt Whisky Yearbook is updated annually and has features written especially by some of the best whisky writers around (and one of them there Caskstrength chancers too...)

If you haven't already got a copy of this book and own more than three bottles of whisky in your cabinet, something is seriously wrong.  If you are beginning your journey into malt whisky this Christmas, have some book tokens (can you still get these??)  and fancy some engaging reading about whisky, then look no further.  You'll also have change from £15 quid to buy yourselves a Glencairn glass or two...

Speaking of which... If you have received some sensational liquid wares from Santa this Christmas but don't have any decent glassware, it's perhaps time to grab yourself a six-pack of a different kind.  Hell, you can even invite your mates over to finish off some of that whisky...

You can pick up the Malt Whisky Yearbook here:

And a Glencairn six pack here:




Right, without further ado, we'd like to wish all of you the most merry Christmas, wherever you are... (even those lucky ones who'll probably be on the beach, or eating a tasty barbecue with a dram of something very decent in hand... yes, that means you, Wim ;-) !!)

Happy holidays folks,

Joel & Neil x

18 Under 30 Part 17: Compass Box Asyla

Will someone turn the (Christmas) lights off when they leave?  

It seems that now all of us have survived the so-called Mayan Apocalypse, festive relief has truly set in across the globe and most of us decided to skip off work today, in search of a few last Christmas bargains they can get their hands on before settling back into a week of pure indulgence.

That is certainly the case for the Caskstrength office anyway -  Harrison, decided to clock off last Friday (Bah, Humbug indeed)  and headed for Scotland (alright for some, eh) whilst I ably manned the phones and the company Visa card -  keenly perusing the internet for whisky porn bargains.

And as part of our ongoing 18 Under £30 series, I've sought out another cracker, this time from our pals at Compass Box.

John Glaser and his team have, for over a decade, been putting together some excellent blended whiskies, including sublime grains and essential malt-based bottlings - all under the maxim, 'Above All, Share & Enjoy', which is a sentiment we wholeheartedly second.




So if you fancy something a little bit different over Christmas, remember the versatility of a quality blend: straight up, over ice, with sparkling water or as part of a cocktail, bottlings like Great King Street (£23.99) and the richer, more complex Spice Tree (£37.32) will serve you very well indeed.  However, our 18 Under 30 wouldn't be complete without this little offer: Compass Box Asyla for under £30!

Compass Box - Asyla - Blended Scotch Whisky - 40% 70cl

Nose: Some seriously fruity notes of fresh orchard fruit (red apples, plums) wrestle with some distinct melon freshness, a blast of sweet grain and a waft of subtle smoke.  

Palate: Sweet at first, with plum jam, some sliced apple, sweetened breakfast cereal, vanilla notes and again just a wisp of smoke.  Balanced, yet bold enough to punch through in a long drink or cocktail.

Finish: Lingering notes of vanilla and a little liquorice/anise spice, alongside some malty bread.

Overall:  One of the core Compass Box range and easy to see why - Asyla is well blended, stupidly easy to drink and as we mentioned above, extremely versatile.   Blending at its best. 

Compass Box Asyla is available for under £30 here and here.

18 Under 30 Part 16: The Glenlivet 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky

And so, the end is near... and you should hopefully by now all be on your seasonal Christmas break. If so, let us wish you a very merry Christmas and we're glad you survived the end of the world, Mayan-style. If, however, you're not yet off and you're still out, nose to the grindstone, working then you have our sympathy. Either way, it sounds like you need a good old dram!

Yesterday we brought you the recommendation of purchasing the Highland Park 12 Year Old, a fantastic whisky which give you a gentle introduction to the world of peated and smoky whiskies.

However, if island-style liquid really isn't you bag and you'd prefer something much more relaxed then can we recommend The Glenlivet 12 Year Old for you.

Often neglected due to it's ubiquity on both the back bar and the supermarket shelf, there is a reason why big brands such as this have (and crucially maintain) their success  because they're good! And for the price (often to be found on discount around this time of year) this is a real winner:

The Glenlivet 12 Years Old – 70cl – 40% ABV

Nose: A full flavoured nose of sweet vanilla and apple pie with a sugared topping. Some elderflower notes and a clean, crisp, Champagne tone with hints of other white flowers.

Palate: Easy to drink at the bottling strength, the apple pie notes develop into a cooked apple with hot custard topping. Aniseed and hint of cinnamon complete this very drinkable package. The vanillas from the oak are notable on the end of the dram.

Finish: Long and warming, this gives more of the green apple and cinnamon. Perfect with a block of ice.

Overall: Just a fantastic example of a great Speyside whisky for well under £30. In fact, at certain times of the year you can pick this up + the 20cl bottle of Lagavulin we reviewed earlier in this series for a pound or so over £30. The perfect way to start your whisky drinking journey.

It is bottles such as this which teach us a valuable lesson: just because the brand is a household name, it does not mean you should turn your nose up to. In fact, quite the opposite.

Under £30 here and here 

18 Under 30 Part 15: Highland Park 12 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky (Oh! And our mailing list)

Oi! You! At the back! Can you still hear me? Good. We're nearing the end of our series of 18 great booze related products for under £30 and we finish our final four on three bottles of whisky and the obligatory Christmas book.

However, for a moment let me draw your attention to something that is totally, 100% free. And that is our mailout. All you need to do is stick your email address in the box to the right

and whenever we write a tasty little morsel of a post, it'll be emailed to you at 7pm (GMT) each day, fresh for you to read at your leisure; be that with a dram at home or on the way to / from work the following day.

But back to the whisky. The next three days will see us recommend our last three whiskies for under £30 and as we close in on Christmas we bring you two classics in quick succession.

The first is a must have if you're putting together a whisky cabinet for the first time. The Highland Park 12 is your introduction to island whiskies: once you're involved, it'll have you pushing for more and more expensive expressions of HP (the 18 Year Old is sublime and, personally, I have just added a third whisky to my Christmas collection of drinkers, the 21 Year Old at 40% ABV) as well opening you up to the delights of peated whisky. Not as heavy going as some of the booze from Islay, this is the delicate introduction to that world.

Highland Park - 12 Year Old- 40% vol - 70cl

Nose: Immediate wafts of brown sugar, lavender, parma violets, some waxy, cloudy honey and pencil shavings. Depth beyond its relatively young 12 years.

Palate: Something earthy and very woody- definite influence of sherry casks with a slight charcoal note coming through. Next, hints of sweet malty cereal make themselves apparent, and a richer creamy note similar to malted milk biscuits. Something quite moreish about this flavour, that's for sure.

Finish: Back to the wood and some dark lingering bitter coffee notes on the death. quite lengthy, with a hint of dryness.

Overall: The 12 year old represents a fine standard as the entry level HP on the block. It has enough refinement to stand up to some of it's older contemporaries and demonstrates just where the range is heading. Superb.

For a whisky under £30, this bottle is a must. As for the second, well, you'll have to wait until tomorrow to find out what that is...

Under £30 here and here

18 Under 30 Part 13: Drinks By The Dram (Not Optimum Spirits Blended Whisky)

In this series of our top picks for items under £30, we have looked at some excellent offerings which give you fantastic 'bang for your buck'. However, it can be a total minefield out there, and you have to be very careful when treading the boards at the lower end of the marketplace.

Okay, this is also true at the top end of the whisky world, too. But it seems to be a truism that at the higher end, you're much more likely to get a bottle of excellent booze than you are the bottom end of the scale. It's just that at the very high end, the big question tends to be around 'value for money', because if something has an extreme price tag attached, the key element is 'just how good is the hooch'?

Hopefully this selection of short posts will acts as some sort of a guide when it comes to the cheaper bottles around; your pillars of fire in the night and cloud in the day, to guide you to the best purchases in town. But on this one occasion, we're not just going to give you some advice on what to spend your 'hard earned' on, but also something to studiously avoid...

So our first DON'T EVEN GO THERE EVEN FOR UNDER £30 comes in the form of this hideous monstrosity:

"Optimum Spirits Blended Whisky"

Sitting comfortably on the shelf of my local Tesco store, in the Scotch Malt Whisky section, (you naughty, nautghy people, Tesco, you) the label doesn't mention the word 'Scotch' at all. In fact, one quick glance at the rear of this 'eco refill pack' shows it's actually from a Dutch distillery, the Toorank Distillery (I guess with a name like this, at least there's a modicum of honesty...) to be precise... which most certainly makes this NOT a Scotch whisky.

It's not often that we sing the praises of the Scotch Whisky Association (who can be seen to tie the creative hands of the whisky-making community in Scotland a little). However, it is situations such as this where you'd hope they'd flex some of the muscle of which they so often talk and at least have a word with Tesco to make sure this item is not simply stuck in the middle of the 'Scotch' bottles on the shelf. 

How about some sort of stickering to make the average consumer aware of the authenticity of the 'whisky' inside this pouch? And I've not even begun to describe the giant '14' on the front label. 14 Years Old? Nope, '14 servings of whisky inside'... I think Michael Caine put it perfectly, here, when it comes to this product.

In the interests of good journalism, I decided to purchase a packet for the princely sum of £8. Yes, that's £8 Shall we see what we get for our money:

Optimum Spirits Blended Whisky – 14 Servings – 30% abv - 35cl - £8

Nose: There are the typical notes of heavy grain whisky, with a huge amount of spirit and acetone. This whisky is YOUNG! As a result, some tinned peaches in syrup and a hint of fresh pine are about all you're going to get.

Palate: Ugh, this is simply one of the worst whiskies I've ever tasted. It's like a bad Frankie Boyle joke: bitter, horrible and leaves an awful taste in your mouth. It's like someone has tried to glue my mouth shut using a fixer made not from the whole of a horse, but just from the genitalia.

Finish: If I'm being polite: very young, spirit tones and a hint of bright banana. If I'm being honest: salty and synthetic... utterly awful.

Overview: “Dear Tesco: what the f- do you think you're playing at?! Seriously. With this stuff, I might have to get all Malcolm Tucker on your ass...”

So, what do you buy for your £8 which might be better than this total liquid let down, this purgatory in a pouch? 

Well, not a lot to be honest. 

Yesterday's £10-ish 20cl of Lagavulin 16 doesn't so much as play both Emperor and King over this Jester of an offering, but also plays God to something which tastes like Satan's house whisky from the bowels of hell.

But if £8 is your limit, your absolute maximum for a purchase, then head over to Master of Malt, who do their wonderful 'Drinks By The Dram' selection. Here, you may only get 10% of the size of the pouch above, but you won't feel like you've had Dutch squatters in your mouth, using your tongue for a mattress and your molars as toilets.

18 Under 30 Part 12: Lagavulin 16 Year Old

Each year I choose a bottle (okay, sometimes two) to be my whisky wingman for the festive season.

Last year my choice was a fantastic heavily sherried Glendronach from 1995. A winner of a dram, it really was the perfect accompaniment to Christmas, with its Xmas pudding flavours and rich fruity tones.

However, the one thing I felt was lacking in my selection last year was the presence of peat; that wonderful aroma which, for me, encompasses everything great about relaxing with a dram in front of an open fire at this time of year.

Therefore, my quest for Christmas crackers to have over the next few weeks has taken a turn towards smoke with one small nod, and one very big nod, in the direction of the peat fire.

As a result, my two whiskies which will take up vital space on my travels between now and the new year are the Highland Park 21 Year Old (the 40% abv version) and Lagavulin 16 Year Old. But in order to conserve room for the generous gifts at Chez Harrison this year, the Lagavulin 16 will be the smaller, more compact 20cl version.

Not only handy for throwing in the wash bag (if you've got a generously sized leather companion) but perfect for slipping in to your partners handbag (or manbag) for that overnight visit to the austere relatives who think a pint of mild ale is 'too much fun'...

And, in keeping with our current theme, this tasty little bottle will (in some retailers) weigh in at only just over a tenner. Which means for under £30 you can take two of these pocket-rockets with you on your Yuletide tour...

Lagavulin 16 Year Old - 43% - 20cl 

Nose: The peat in this dram is up front, yet soft with freshly turned earth, carbolic soap, cereals, rich dark brown sugar and a surprising hint of Play-Doh. This current release also has hints of the “old bowmore style” exotic fruits, 5Alive and pinapple juice. A timelessly classic dram.

Palate: The smoke and peat manifest themselves as fresh wholemeal bread. Wisps of burnt brown sugar, some green herbs and dark chocolate covered Turkish Delight. Some crème brulee notes.

Finish: This current edition has a creamy finish which brings salty notes and chopped chillies, still all wrapped up in that delicate peat smoke and lingering fudge.

Overall: Is this the finest whisky in the sub-£40 bracket? (or here for sub-£15 for 20cl) Answers on a Christmas card please...

Available for under £30 here (for the exceptional price of £10.95!!) 

18 Under 30 Part 11: The Ultimate Snowball Kit...

Right then.  I'll throw something out there right at the start of this post.  Some of our regular readers might not like where this series of 18 drinks under £30 is heading. In fact, we've actually only featured a handful of whiskies- but for good reason, honestly.  Of course, there are some absolutely drop-dead-sensational whiskies out there for well under 30 quid and rest assured, we've got them waiting in the aisles. But come on!  As the great be-sidedburned one decreed in his festive 1970's  hit single:  IT'S CHRISTMASSSSSS! Let's mix things up over the next few weeks and aim to try a few new liquid gems, whilst rediscovering some long-since-brushed-under-the-carpet festive classics.

And if we're going to go 'Large' on the jingle bells, let's dive in feet first...

Last night I slapped on the traditional Phil Spector Christmas Gift long player, bought in the Nordman Fir from the garden and cracked out the trimmings:  Christmas has officially begun in the Ridley household.  But something was missing. After a little sharpener of a light Nikka Coffey Grain to enliven the palate, it was time to break out my (not so) guilty pleasure: a bottle of the finest Royal Dutch advocaat known to humanity, from the House of Cooymans.

Imagine triple world champion Sebastian Vettel spraying
Lewis Hamilton with this little lot... 

For me, there is nothing which evokes the Christmas spirit quite like breaking the seal on a fresh bottle of advocaat.  Let me quantify this. There is no known reason on god's earth to EVER drink advocaat at any other point during the year. Sticking to the palate like a lurid custardy limpet, it would be unimaginable to ever see the likes of Bradley Wiggins (despite his penchant for yellow jerseys) Usain Bolt or even good old Daley Thompson reaching for the sweet refreshing and revitalising taste of advocaat, to celebrate another glorious summer Olympian-sized victory.

In fact, in a slightly perverse way, should Formula One ever be reinstated at the notoriously tricky Zandzoort racing circuit in Holland, I would be the first person to petition Bernie Ecclestone for Royal Dutch advocaat to be the celebratory national drink on the winners podium.

But until advocaat gets the international sporting platform it deserves, i'm happy to be its unlikely champion.  And what better way than scoring a festive home run than with a light and fluffy Snowball cocktail.  The classic recipe is to take a coupe glass and add a simple mixture of two measures (50ml) of advocaat, 1/4 measure (12.5ml) lime cordial, topped up with lemonade.  But given a couple of twists, this already delightfully tasty drink can be made into the ULTIMATE version...

Caskstrength's Snow(Ballsy)   

• 2.5 measures (65ml) of Cooymans Royal Dutch advocaat
• 1 Bar spoon of dark Oloroso sherry
• 5 drops clove bitters
• 3 drops orange bitters (optional)
• Squeeze of fresh lime
• Fever Tree ginger ale to top up

If you happen to be making a round of Snowballs (or should that be a 'pile'?) add the ingredients to a mixing glass, but omit the lime juice until diluting with the ginger ale in each glass, as it can curdle the advocaat.  Using a mini electric hand-frother raise a firm creamy head in the glass, but be careful -  it will overflow in no time at all!!  Garnish with a thin piece of lime peel and serve.

Just don't forget your festive soundtrack...

18 Under 30 Part 9: Gonzalez Byass Matusalem Oloroso Sherry

If you read our last musing on port, you'll no doubt be familiar with the predicament faced by sherry. Like port, it's easy to make a huge sweeping generalisation that no one buys it anymore (especially in the UK) but the sad thing is that to many drinkers, sherry will no doubt evoke a few memories, which they would perhaps care to forget. In the UK, one could argue that sherry has been one of those unfortunate drinks to be looked upon with embarrassment and derision; a lingering hangover from 1970’s family Christmas parties, and as well received as the poorly-knitted, itchy festive jumpers a nation of aunties forced us to wear.  

Remember your auntie doing this at Christmas?
Thought not. 

But strip away those images of half drunk, lipstick smeared schooners of Harvey’s Bristol Cream, plus the overpowering alcoholic hit of a 70's trifle and the real inner complexity of sherry comes to the fore. Thanks to some exceptional wines hitting our shores from Jerez, sherry has once again begun to flourish as a very noble drink, like it once did several centuries ago.

One winery currently spearheading the resurgence of sherry is the González Byass bodega.  Known to many as the company who produce the trend-bucking Tio Pepe Fino sherry, (and to a few whisky folks out there as the bodega who supply Dalmore with sherry casks for a number of their high-end Constellation bottlings) we've been lucky enough to fall under the spell of several of their recent offerings.  
In fact our very good friend, wine writer Jane Parkinson switched us onto a range of exceptional sherries that should be top of your list if you happen to be warming to the idea of fortifying one's self in the coming weeks.   

For those who appreciate the huge importance of sherry casks in whisky, it will come as no surprise that sherries such as Palo Cortado and Oloroso represent some of the finest wine making in Jerez and highlight just how the ageing process can produce flavours and aromas which often surprise and delight in equal measure.  From rich, dark earthy palate coating notes to a distinctive aromatic nuttiness, there's nothing quite like a slightly chilled glass of aged Oloroso with a selection of festive epicurean delights to raise a smile from even those who profess to have an abject hatred of sherry - a hatred usually stemming from the aforementioned forceful aunties... 

Anyway, alongside the excellent Gonzalez Byass Leonor Palo Cortado, which is a steal at £12.95 from here 
(think an abundance of roasted caramel-coated nuts, burnt orange zest and a faint waft of anise)  we shall definitely be buying a bottle or two of the bodega's mighty 30 year old Matusalem Oloroso -  a sherry so intensely packed with complexity that if it were a Christmas gift,  it would be one of those fiendish Japanese box puzzles.   

Gonzalez Byass -  Matusalem Oloroso -  30 Years Old - 20.5% - 37.5cl

Nose: An intense dryness, but tempered with rich oak notes, polished mahogany, dried fruit, marzipan and chopped nuts. Given time in the glass a distinct note of brittle caramel comes to the fore, backed up with mature oak notes and dark fruit.

Palate: The dryness of the nose continues, but there is an almost resin-like note to this on the palate- hugely complex, with more dried fruits, further hints of oak and a savoury/meatiness. The dryness subsides into toasted hazelnuts followed by a lovely lingering blood orange citrus note. Quite breathtaking really. 

Finish:  Lingering notes of mouthwatering dried fruit, an oaky dryness and a distinct nuttiness.  

Overall:  This Oloroso demonstrates precisely how far we have come from the world inhabited by the one-dimensional sherries of several decades ago. For those of you who love the uncompromising directness of a heavily sherried whisky, this is a no brainer, but for those in doubt, don't underestimate its underlying subtlety: the complexity of this bottling will leave you wondering just why it took so long to give sherry a second chance.  Stunning. 

Gonzalez Byass 30 year old Matusalem Oloroso is available for £18.95 here 

18 Under 30 Part 8: Ramos Pinto 20 Year Old Tawny Port

Hands up then. Honestly, how many folks out there regularly buy either port or sherry?  One, two, three, four... any more??  The sad fact is that as wonderfully scrumptious as they are, those few of you with their hands up are very much in a minority.  Outside of the festive season, port is rarely seen in anyone's glasses, save for a few ruddy old chaps reclining in wood panelled drawing rooms, after a long, coma-inducing three hour lunch.  And as much as we love gastronomy, something is quite remiss here. 

Similarly, the large proportion of port is bought from supermarket chains in the run up to Christmas to be enjoyed alongside the Christmas pudding and obligatory truckle of ripe Stilton cheese. Nothing wrong with this, but when the damn thing has been left in a steaming hot kitchen for the day, it's never at its best...

Oh the injustice! Or something like that, we snigger.  Seriously, we're not that precious about how, when, or indeed why people buy port, we're just thankful that they do, because we bloody love the stuff and Christmas gives us yet another reason to pick up a couple of unusual bottles, offered at bargain prices.  

To give the supermarket chains their credit, the first shelves worth scouring for interesting bottles of port are the big boys.  Sainsburys, Aldi and Tesco have all recently stocked more than their fair share of fruity, fortified bang-for-buck blockbusters:  Tawny port aged in oak, Late Bottled Vintage, single quinta bottlings and crusted port -  one of our biggest discoveries in the past several years for its layers of complexity at a price that doesn't require a platinum Amex.   

However this edition of 18 under 30 focuses on a rather spectacular wine from a certain port house which we visited several years ago and totally fell in love with: Ramos Pinto. 

Ramos Pinto is one of Portugal’s most highly regarded names in the production of port.  Founded in 1880, RP's vintage bottlings carefully blend together wines made from Touriga Nacional, Tinta Roriz and Tinta Barroca grapes and are then aged for minimum 18 months in oak or chestnut casks.  Alongside their exceptional wines, their artistic bent is very much stuck in the 1920's, which pleases us greatly, as signified by this little gem to the left. But it is the winery's tawny ports that have impressed us the most: oaky, rich and exceptionally balanced they veer effortlessly between ripe red fruit, citrus zest and spicier dried fruit.  

Perfect for a festive tipple then? Oh yes, but given a little time in the fridge, (which we'd urge you to try with any tawny port - especially this Christmas) they're also perfect fare for a long lazy summer afternoon in a hammock, watching your neighbour trying in vain to light his barbecue.  

Anyway, back to the subzero December temperatures, tinsel and festivity.  This Christmas, if you discover just one new drink... make it a tawny port.  It's the gift that keeps on giving... 

Ramos Pinto -  Tawny Port - 20 Years Old - 19.5% 50cl

Nose: Hints of plum, honey and warming spices all mix together with a delicate vanilla note on the first nosing. The oak is very well behaved and in return for your patience, you'll find a continued spiciness, mixed with some orange zest, a little fragrant pipe tobacco and blackberries propping up the rest of the glass. 

Palate: Exceptionally smooth, but with just the faintest note of dryness, your mouth is treated to candied dried fruits, ripe figs, plum jam, some tannic tea notes and and a really pleasant oakiness.  After you've guzzled down the first glass, the second will bring you more honeyed sweetness, ripe vanilla and a very well rounded dried fruit note.  Sensational stuff. 

Finish: Incredibly long, with more dried fruits, cereal and hazelnuts.  All in all, an excellent tawny, which has really benefited from a long, woody maturation.  Everything you'd expect (or indeed- hope for) is in there, alongside so much more.  

Ramos Pinto 20 year old tawny is available for £29.95 at The Whisky Exchange

Stay tuned, as we visit some exquisite sherries in our next round of 18 Under 30!