The Ultimate Christmas Spirit - Part 1

Apologies for the lengthy absence. Both of us have been travelling extensively, all in the name of Spirits Exploration and we have come out the other side, blinking in the December sunlight, filled with knowledge from the world of fine, well crafted spirits. 

As it’s the first of the month (assume you all have your Master Of Malt Advent calendars… if not, get cracking and play catch up!) we’ve decided to take a leisurely look at the spirits you should be drinking this Christmas. 

We start off with a definitive winter warmer; something to ease you into the month helping banish any chills you may be experiencing and set up your palate firmly for the numerous log-fired, lazy family filled holiday dates that are coming later this month. 

The spirit in question is a whisky. It’s name is Glendronach and for those in-the-know, it’s a distillery that in recent years has begun to excel at producing hugely powerful-yet complex sherry cask monsters - but for a fraction of the price of a 'Marque' brand like Macallan. This particular bottling was selected by our friend David Margulies, owner of the Grapevine retail website and it’s an absolute cracker…

GlenDronach – 1994 Vintage – Pedro Ximinez Sherry Puncheon – 52.1% - Cask No: 279 (£80)

Nose: An initial hit of rich caramel toffee, some woody spice and then a syrupy fig/raisin laden fruit cake. The spices are amplified with a little water and the sherry notes become slightly sweeter – more like bonfire toffee, with a Manuka honey topping. 

Palate: Much like the nose, the dried fruit, spice and drying oak come through on the first wave, with a very sticky, unctuous mouthfeel.  With water, the sherry becomes more dominant and the spice a little more pronounced, but for us, this is absolutely superb straight, at its full 52.1%.

Finish: Lingering notes of toffee, oaky spice and raisins.

Overall: A stellar sherry cask choice, highlighting that for the money, there’s plenty more options out there than just diving in with the big bucks for a massively well known brand costing twice the price.  

The Twelve Drams Of Christmas - Part Two

Following on from Charley Boorman's fab suggestion of Talisker 10 year old as his choice of festive dram, our 2nd dram of Christmas comes from Canadian alternative music legends Arcade Fire. The band have enjoyed an incredible 18 months with their Grammy and Brit Award winning album 'The Suburbs' and we were fortunate enough to work with them on a whisky project in conjunction with their sell out Hyde Park show, earlier this year.

Jeremy Gara, drummer with the band (far right), gives us his idea of the perfect winter warming whisky:

"As my festive dram, I would definitely pick Lagavulin Distiller's Edition from 1994. This is a whisky that was gifted to us by some amazing guys in a Canadian band called Karkwa, that we played with this past September. It's a real curveball favourite of the last long while and a great warming dram in the winter."

Lagavulin - Distillers Edition - Distilled 1994 - bottled 2010 - 43%

Nose: Sweet peat, stewed apple, mixed with a very dry and fruity thick sherry note, courtesy of the Pedro Ximinez casks it is finished in. Very complex and refined.

Palate: Demerera sugar, some hickory wood smoke notes, creamy fudge, some milky cereal and more stewed apple with raisins. Really festive and simply delicious.

Finish: The smoke lingers alongside the dried fruits/raisins. Warming and mouth filling.

Stay tuned for the 3rd instalment of our Twelve Drams Of Christmas. The next one may contain nuts... ;-)

Highland Lark

Bloody hell it's cold.

We're sat at Caskstrength.net HQ in South London as the icy northern breeze whistles through our fresh Shoreditch haircuts. It's certainly time to warm up and there are only two ways we really know of upping our internal thermometer;

Pour a large dram or book a holiday.

Well, as luck would have it we've managed to kill two birds with one stone (don't worry, readers... this isn't Ipswich c.2006...)

After a warming £2.99 Weatherspoon's lunchtime special, we picked up the post and what should we find, but 3 very new and exclusive Highland Park bottlings, especially for the Duty Free market. They will be commercially available from April onwards, so keep an eye out.

The Vintage Editions come off the back of the St Magnus bottling, which Highland Park have just released and which we reviewed here.

4 expressions make up the range, dating from 1998, 1994, 1990 and 1973, (which we don't have a sample of) with the emphasis on the difference between maturation in European and American Oak. Apparently the sweeter characteristics of the distillery are prominent in both the '94 and '73 versions, whilst the '90 and '98 expressions detail the more smoky notes.

Fortunately for us, that trip to Heathrow Airport 's 'World Of Whiskies' can wait a little longer.

Let's see how they fare:

Highland Park - Vintage Edition - 1990 - 40% (but we'll get the info asap) 70cl

Nose: Classic fragrant Highland Park, with a tiny hint of sweet smoke and buttery richness. It has all the hallmarks of a well balanced whisky, which Highland Park seem to do so well. Dig a little deeper and some slightly fruity notes (with almost a Ribena like syrup) emerge.

Palate: Sweet malt, barley sugar, swirls of spice, Cream soda, vanilla ice cream and back to sweet sherbets all in the space of a few seconds. Very good indeed. A dryness descends after a little while, revealing some slight parma violet notes, but nothing out of character.

Finish: The dryness continues into the finish, with a resonance of slightly milky coffee, spices and wood smoke.

Overall: Very, very Highland Park. If, like me, you have a huge soft spot for this distillery, you'll sniff this out a mile off. slightly dryer in the finish than, say the 18yo, but there's certainly masses of flavour to recommend it. I feel like jumping on the Gatwick Express right now and grabbing a bottle.

Highland Park - Vintage Edition - 1994 - 40% 70cl

Nose: A very different beast to its older brother. Notes of butterscotch sauce hit you first, followed by just-baked apple crumble, freshly starched linen and some demerera sugar. The sweetness certainly comes through!!

Palate: Slightly spiced, with the unmistakable flavour of Highland park squarely underneath. This distillery has so much character, they'll never be able to stray far away from it, which is a great thing. Hints of fresh fruit, (apples) and some hazelnuts round of a pleasing flavour.

Finish: Relatively long, with the fruity notes outlasting any drier characteristics.

Overall: A close second to the 1990 IMHO, but still worth exploring, especially for that crumble on the nose.

and finally....

Highland Park - Vintage Edition - 1998 - 40% 1L

Nose: Slightly soapy sherry cask notes are immediately apparent, but tame, with an sweeter aroma of foam banana sweets and some oak smoke following up immediately. Not as characterful as the 1990 or the 1994. Most definitely the smokiest of the 3.

Palate: Ooh, some lovely vanilla hits your tongue, with a pleasant sweetness. But it's only fleeting, as a drying wood note takes over the palate. Tiny hints of cream soda fight to come through but the wood keeps a firm grip.

Finish: Dry, with and relatively short, with a hint of rye bread on the death.

Overall: The least impressive of the trio and the youngest of the bunch. It has a way to go before it eclipses its older brothers, but is certainly not the runt of the litter.

To use a simple analogy- each of these whiskies represents a certain grade of flight.

The 1990 has all the hallmarks of 'First Class' travel; Elegance, variety and refinement.





The 1994 still has the luxury, but without some of the trappings- perhaps akin to a seat in Business Class.



The 1998, whilst not in the 'Easyjet' category, lacks the finesse of the previous 2, but does the job well- you also get a little more for your money with a 1 litre bottle. Shall we say
Premium Economy??



As we didn't taste the 1973, we can only surmise that it's like owning your own plane.... hopefully we'll be able to take it for a test flight very soon!

Glenrothes visit part 2- 'The Breakfast Club'

As we left you in part one of this epic thriller, Caskstrength were heading off to bed, full of roast dinner and the excellent 1978 Glenrothes, safe in the knowledge that Obama was about to wrestle away all the previously red states on the election map from McCain.
One thing I didn't mention however was the house rules concerning breakfast at Rothes House. For the uninitiated, it is customary for the guests to cook an impeccable breakfast for the hosts, on this occasion Mr Ronnie Cox and Mr Marcin Miller.

Now this isn't something to be taken lying down, which I was planning to do (in the shape of a lovely lie-in) that is, until I saw the 'Breakfast Book'- a tome full of reviews for the triumphant and the fallen. It contained a detailed critique from both Ronnie and Marcin on every aspect of breakfast- from the laying of the table, crispness of bacon, seasoning of tomatoes and most critically of all- timing!
Yikes- 'we need a plan' I thought and decided to hit the kitchen at 7.30am with my two fellow breakfast crusaders, Miss Malt and Miss Juniper. The Breakfast Book rules were going to be re-written that day and our names etched into the annals of Rothes House history!!...
well, something like that...
Our timing was crack on - and with a table fit for a Scottish Monarch, complete with Miss Malt's place names, came our starter; Bucks Fizz and a fruit salad, steeped in Berry Bros & Rudd's King's Ginger liqueur
So far, so good. Next, a full cooked breakfast, complete with last nights leftover roast veg re- cooked as bubble & squeak, which hopefully caught the eye of our discerning judges- a few points at least for ingenuity??

With our breakfast (hopefully) well received, it was time to head to the distillery for the serious business of a tour of the facilities and tasting.

The Glenrothes is an impressive site developed around 1879. It now houses 5 pairs of wash/spirit stills, producing nearly 4.5 million litres of spirit annually. Glenrothes house style gives a very light, fresh and clean new make spirit with an abundance of vanilla, hints of spice, citrus notes, dried fruit and ginger.
Ronnie recounted a notable incident in the history of the distillery when in 1922, fire broke out and casks were bursting open right left and centre. It is reported that a river of whisky ran down the nearby streets and people were chaotically trying to bottle what they could before it made its way to the fields and streams. It was later reported that cows were seen swaying and that the local fish were much easier to catch...

We later entered the Inner Sanctum, Glenrothes dedicated tasting room and our home for an extremely pleasant couple of hours, sampling a selection of the distillery's core range and a couple of very special drams. Here are the findings:

The Glenrothes 1967 - single cask - American oak (ex sherry) - 47% -

Nose: Seville oranges, minty/Polo hints, golden syrup, aromas of cereal and slightly waxy, polished furniture notes. Excellent and well constructed.
With the addition of a little water, you find more of the orange zestiness.

Palate: A dry start, but leading into fruity sweetness, more cereal, then hints of hard fruit gums and spice.

Finish: Lovely, lengthy and warming. This was an incredibly comforting dram, like sitting in front of a roaring fire.


The Glenrothes 1966 - single cask - european oak (ex-sherry) - 47%
the tasting of this pair of whiskies gives a clear example of how the type of oak ultimately affects the maturity of the spirit- especially the colour, with the 1966 vintage taking on a much darker hue.

Nose: Lots of dried figs and vine fruit, something slightly musty and oily, (old garages with vintage cars!), hints of drying oak and cracked leather. The age has really made a huge statement on this whisky.

Palate: Spice!! Lots of it. Hints of fudge, vanilla and a glorious sweetness. Delicious.

Finish: Again, long, fruity and sensational. We had a break until this had diminished!

Overall: Two very old but very different aged Glenrothes expressions that set us up nicely for the rest of the range.

The Glenrothes 1985- 43%

Nose: Very clean, with estery notes and a creaminess, reminiscent of Werthers Originals, slight waxiness, but then into fruit- plums and dried vine fruits. Excellent.

Palate: Amazing mouth feel, sweet oily and rich, with more of that Werthers butterscotch flavour combined with cereal, toffee, hazelnuts and sultanas. Sounds like a damn good granola doesn't it!

Finish: Warm and autumnal, with more hazelnuts on the death.

The Glenrothes 1994 - 43%

Nose: Esters, hints of ginger, floral notes, toffee notes and hints of fresh berry.

Palate: Cereal then into a sweetness of demerara sugar and drying spices, perhaps even hot peppers before the mouth is enveloped with sherry and licorice notes.

Finish: More summery, lighter and shorter but echoes of an excellent fruity dram. This would be an great pre-barbeque aperitif.

Overall: Both these expressions sit brilliantly among the others from the range of Glenrothes, all have their own distinct characteristics but offer an individual take on a great Speyside distillery, which we urge you to check out!

Special thanks to Ronnie Cox, Caroline Hendry and the team at Glenrothes Distillery/ Rothes House for their wonderful hospitality, knowledge and time, also to Marcin for his excellent hosting, witty banter and James Lock & Co eight-piece flat cap...