A Load Of Old 'Toshan....

Recently, I was going through the cabinet at Caskstrength towers, wondering whether I should categorise all the bottles into their respective regions. I'd seen my pal do this and create a rather fetching leather-bound menu, which I liked the look of. So like trying to order one's music collection into genres (which starts out like fun, only to descend into absolute misery)

I set about the task, only to quickly realise that 1 region, the Lowlands was pretty poorly represented. I have a couple of nice Rosebanks, which i've been rationing out, but are becoming severely depleted. I also picked up a bottle of Auchentoshan Three Wood, as Mrs Caskstrength tasted it at a food festival earlier this summer and proclaimed it to be 'the whisky that MIGHT start her enjoying whisky'... High praise indeed.

It was somewhat timely then, that earlier this week, we received a couple of small samples of 2 new Auchentoshan releases, namely their 1998 and 1977 vintages.

Auchentoshan - 1977 vintage- 49% - Oloroso Sherry Cask - 249 bottles

Nose: Moist Christmas cake, slightly earthy and musty, with some pine resin, aged leather, big fat juicy raisins and some freshly cut oak. Quite surprising that this has been in Oloroso for its entire term, yet doesn't show any signs of over-age or dryness/dark fruit.

Palate: Hot and quite firey, with ginger, lemon zest, a hint of chilli, then extinguished with some creamy milk chocolate, some herbaceous /almost vermouth notes. Lingering sweetness from those big juicy raisins and all spice come through on the death.

Finish: Not a hint of dryness, the palate is left feeling juicy and peppered with fruit and spice.

Overall: Altogether, a bit of a minx. The nose has lots of juice and leather, the palate is very spicy, but the whole thing is very pleasingly balanced. This works as a wintery whisky, but differently to most other older sherry casks, in that it certainly isn't dominated by overly woody flavours and still retains a zesty, spicy sense of youth.

Auchentoshan - 1998 - Fino Sherry Cask - 54.6%

Nose: Toffee, with peanut brittle, honeycomb, oak sawdust, white pepper and lemon zest are all noticeable on the first nosing. With a little water, summer fruits including gooseberries and elderberries make themselves known, coupled with a malty cereal undercarriage.

Palate: Not as open as the 1977. There is a similar spiciness, with the ginger and lemon zest, but it's not quite as appealing as before. Water really gives this a lift, with a much more fruity edge coming to the fore.

Finish: Clean, with a residual malty note developing as the palate dries.

Overall: Nothing inherently wrong here- a very well put together Auchentoshan, but perhaps not as developed and as exciting as the 1977. The Fino sherry notes really compliment this style of whisky, heightening the spice and citrus. Overall, well worth seeking out if you have a penchant for discovering a hidden depth to Lowland whiskies.

I think I already have one resolution for 2011. A bigger cabinet.

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!

A fine pair of Spanish siblings

We always look forward to our next batch of samples popping onto the door matt and our most recent acquisitions come in the shape of a pair of young Spanish twins.

Bruichladdich's recent form has seen them impress us with the splendidly drinkable 'Peat' expression, which typified the level of whisky making Jim McEwan and his passionate team have attained. The next releases date from casks filled in 1998, which was a tricky time for the distillery- the only period any spirit was produced between 1995 and 2001, by which time the current owners had taken over and planned a course to become one of the most well respected and revered independently owned distilleries in Scotland.

These 2 releases are from very different types of sherry cask; The dark and richly flavoured Oloroso which is considered much sweeter and robust than its lighter and dryer sibling, Manzanilla, which shares many characteristics of a fine chamomile tea.

Both bottlings are identical, but as history has taught us with twins- what is apparently the same on the outside can turn out radically different on the inside...let's get acquainted, shall we...

Bruichladdich 1998- 10 year old - sherry cask (Oloroso) - ncf - 46% - 70cl - 6000 bottles only

Nose: Slightly floral, with sherbet lemon, dry white wine and a damp mustiness, with an almost burnt sugar/buttery note too. Also hints of white pepper and parmesan shavings. Quite closed but gentle, not as heavily sherried as expected.

Palate: Very dry, more wine and then the Oloroso comes through, hints of mollases, then green herbs (parsley) and grapefruit.

Finish: Long and drying with hints of spent matches, tea and menthol.

Overall: Not as full on and sherried as expected but a refreshing and delicate dram.

Bruichladdich 1998 - 10 year old - sherry cask (Manzanilla) - ncf - 46% - 70cl - 6000 bottles only

Nose: Noticeable hints of spent matches and- dare I say it... sulphur. It has a slightly yeasty note, then more mustiness and an interesting pine freshness if you dig deep enough.

Palate: Surprisingly, much sweeter than the Oloroso version, but there's a lot of rubberiness and a slight hint of leather and tobacco on the death.

Finish: Not a particularly lengthy one, with hints of something floral then a tiny amount of smoke (maybe Lapsang Suchong?)

Overall: A little disappointing when placed against other sherried whiskies of this age.

The Oloroso comes out as a clear winner here and would certainly be a strong consideration in the sub- £40 market for a decent sherry expression.