Objects of Desire: The Diageo Special Releases 2014 Single Malt Scotch Whiskies

There are many things in life that I’d like to have, but simply can’t afford. I think that must be true for all of us. But in my list of ‘objects of desire’, most are items that I already own. For example, I have a watch. I’d like a nicer one. I own a car, but would bite your hand off to trade in a seven year old Volvo estate for a Bentley Continental. Quite frankly, I can still tell the time as accurately as the next man, and I get stuck in the same traffic jams as the chap in the posh car next to me.

None of this quenches the thirst for ‘want’, however. And once again the carrot of desire is being dangled in front of the Scotch drinker with the annual release of Diageo’s ‘Special Releases’.

This year, eleven different single malts have been chosen from the rare stocks of casks across Diageo’s warehouses, some from closed distilleries, others from ones very much alive and kicking. So let’s have a look at the list of releases and, as we attended a pre-release tasting of all eleven single malts on offer last week, have a look at which of these are 9 carat gold and which are simply just 9 carrots...

DISTILLERY	AGE AT BOTTLING	YEAR DISTILLED	UK RRP	% ABV ON BOTTLING	VOLUME RELEASED (BOTTLES)
THE SINGLETON OF GLENDULLAN	38	1975	£750	59.8%	3,756
CAOL ILA UNPEATED	15	1998	£75	60.39%	10,668
CAOL ILA	30	1983	£425	55.1%	7,638
CLYNELISH	SELECT RESERVE	1999* (apparently youngest whisky in vatting)	£500	54.9%	2,964
CRAGGANMORE	25	1988	£299	51.4%	3,372
LAGAVULIN	12	2002	£80	54.4%	31,428
PORT ELLEN	35	1978	£2,200	56.5%	2,964
ROSEBANK	21	1992	£300	55.3%	4,530
BENRINNES	21	1992	£240	56.9%	2,892
BRORA	35	1978	£1,200	48.6%	2,964
STRATHMILL	25	1988	£275	52.4%	2,700

Quite a line up, when you sit back and look at exactly what has been chosen to go into glass this year. Turning up at the tasting was a mind-boggling affair, faced with 11 cask strength single malts is always a challenge, no matter how used to flights of that nature you are. But kicking off with a quick nose of the range, there were certainly some stars emerging from the pack.

The first one to call out, is the Cragganmore. At 25 years old, this carried an unusually buttery and sweet nose, with red apple, orchard fruits and popcorn. The palate was sweet with a big marmalade hit and the vanilla (from the new ends attached to the casks, perhaps?) gave it a vibrant finish for such an old whisky.

For those of you that love a heavy malt, the Benrinnes 21 year old was all Bovril and steak pies (not far off the one I had the night before) and delivering venison in a chocolate sauce on the palate. Very odd. Not for me, but I can see fans of this heavier style of whisky really going bonkers for it.

Of the rarest selection of closed distilleries, there was a return to Rosebank, with another 21 year old release, a step back in age from the 25 year old of a few years ago. This gave everything you want from a triple distilled Lowlander, matured in refill American oak casks: a palate of upside cake, vanilla marshmallow and candied orange peel showed well on the night, punching hard for such a light spirit.

There was the traditional Brora... a distillery over which an extreme fuss is always made, but personally, I just don’t know why. Like Morrissey and The Smith for me: I can see why people love ‘em, but I just don’t get it (oh, don’t let Morrissey anywhere near that Benrinnes by the way- too much beef in it for even him!) Yes, Brora is closed and yes, there have been some amazing releases from certain years in the 1970s, but overall, I’ve always felt my money (for my taste) could be better spent. This year’s Brora release will no doubt delight those Broraphiles, and I marked it down as one of my top drams of the night, but my two headline acts for the evening were...

...the latest Port Ellen release (of course) and the fantastic Caol Ila 30 Year Old. Let’s start with the PE. Oh, my it is good. We are finally seeing some increased use of European oak casks here, giving a wider flavour range than we have seen in the past. This is moving away from the peated grapefruit we know and love so well, to actually nodding in the direction of its ‘still alive sister’ Lagavulin, up the road. The nose was bacon bits, the palate giving almost light rum tones and mossy peat. Fantasy stuff, really.

But cracking on from the north of the same island is an amazing offering from Caol Ila. A 30 year old matured in refill American oak casks, the stock from 1983 is incredibly light with peat, toffee and peaches. One of the best for taking water, as well opening up to reveal that wonderful Caol Ila coal dust and bigger toffee notes. Simply wonderful.

The big question as always is over price and this year the big hitting single malts come with big hitting price tags (over £2k for the Port Ellen, for example) but they do have some for under £100, and you can pick up both the Caol Ila unpeated and the Lagavulin 12 for a combined cost of less than a flight to Scotland in the week of the referendum. I vote yes for staying at home with bottle of each.

As much as these are shiny desirable jewels,  with some absolute corkers in there, I just can’t afford the two I really loved. Never mind, my watch still works and it tells me it’s time for a whisky: someone pass the Johnnie Walker Black label. Bloody good stuff, you know. And less than £30 a bottle. What’s not to like about that?

The Secret Life of the Pensioner: Master Of Malt 60 Year Old

Old age is a funny thing.

In life, we look at old age as something to be fearful of. Things stop working the way they should. We slow down, most likely become more intolerant of the things that irritate us and reminisce about the 'good old days'. In fact, the archetypal pensioner in the UK comes in for a lot of stick really.

In whisky however, people seem to think that older is definitely better. Whilst it is fine to applaud complexity and wisdom, championing the well-seasoned and the mature, simply using age as the be-all- and-end-all indicator of quality seems absurd.

But as we all know, both life and whisky are full of surprises.

What. A. Legend. 

When Fauja Singh first ran the London Marathon back in 2000, he was one year shy of his 90th birthday and clocked a time of six hours and 54 minutes. Impressive stuff. By the time he had completed his 5th London Marathon he had shaved nearly an hour off that time and became the world record holder for his age range - aged 93. Now aged 102, his achievements keep getting all the more remarkable -  he can still run 10k in an hour and a half.

We couldn't find a suitable
picture of an rubbish old whisky,
so here's Flavio Briatore in a thong. 

Conversely, there are some truly terrible old whiskies. Bitter, brittle and well past their best, they coast ungracefully into an oaky retirement home of obscurity, still thinking they're as vibrant as they were 20 years their junior.

Likewise, there are some excellent age-defying whiskies that continually challenge the logic of older is better.  Consider the recent Brora 40 year old we reviewed a few weeks ago. Stuffed full of complexity, yet still as vibrant as a Hoxton hipster's moustache. In the same post, we referenced Overeem's magnificent sherry cask bottling which is likely to have only just seen its 5th birthday, yet has a startlingly broad array of complex flavours. Go figure...

We continue this theme with the launch of yet another old-aged head turner. (Thankfully not wearing a thong)

Master Of Malt continue to surprise and delight with their diverse portfolio of releases: from the brilliantly constructed barrel aged cockails, gins and other maverick gems, through to some serious single cask releases.  Their latest is no exception, this time weighing in at 60 years old.

Carrying the banner of the Secret Bottlings Series, this ancient Speysider (no real clues to which distillery it comes from, although we have a couple of ideas) allows the chaps to bring in some very old stock for a very decent price. £999 is what this will set you back  - yes, still a lot, but clearly a fraction of what this would have cost if the distillery name was included on the label.

With anything this age, one has to leave any preconceptions aside:  If whisky were measured in dog years, this would weigh in at 420. Lucky it isn't, but our impressions of the majority of whiskies the wrong side of 50 have left a lot to be desired - save for Highland Park's initial batch of 50 year old and the absolutely stellar Bowmore 50 year old which was released at the end of last year.  How will this fare?...

Master Of Malt  -  60 Year Old - Secret Bottling Series -  42.2% - £999

Nose: White grapes, some apple sour sweets, quite distinct herbal notes and then a nice waft of polished oak furniture. The age is present in a dusty, hot landscape-style aroma, but is still surprisingly restrained. Given a little time in the glass, toffee apple and sweet tea notes begin to come to the fore, giving this a very complex aroma.

Palate: Milk chocolate and rich sticky flapjack coat the mouth with a swathe of leather bound books and some dark cherry notes. Given a little more time to open up we find Black Forest gateau with a large dollop of vanilla sweetened cream, which makes for a palate both spicy and sweet - with a good vibrancy for its age. The oak is there, but again mercifully, not cladding the walls of the glass, like a Highland Castle drawing room.  

Finish: The cherry notes leave their mark, this time backed with nutmeg and cinnamon spice alongside some sweeter vanilla notes. 

Overall: An OAP whisky who has wisdom, wit and can probably run a marathon quicker than most middle aged posers in their expensive sportswear. Keep an eye on it too...it'll probably have charmed the pants of your missus within five minutes of being introduced. A truly surprising elderly gent with the physique and personality of a whisky 30 years its Jr. If it were a real person it would clearly be this person...

Flight Of Fancy - Brora 40 Year Old Single Malt Whisky Travel Retail Exclusive

As I sit down to type this, may I refer you to our last post on Caskstrength. Whisky is truly an extraordinary thing. After all, it has for the past seven years filled pretty much my every waking hour in some capacity. It has helped form wonderful and lengthy friendships and it has also fuelled many a lengthy debate- in person and online.  But the bottom line is that there is clearly no other spirit in the world like it for bringing people together in anticipation of what delight they are about to try.  

The first time this happened for me was over 16 years ago now, with a group of several close friends.  We selected three single malts that we felt would be the pinnacle of excellence: the gateway into genuine appreciation for a drink, which I had never experienced before (being a reckless teenager and all that- then at university trying to emulate the life and times of Withnail.)  

In most cases, single malt opens one's eyes to a genuine respect for a spirit. It has that air of intrigue and the hand of genuine craftsmanship firmly upon it -  regardless of whether it carries an age or not. The night we selected three different single malts (a Cragganmore 12 year old, a Laphroaig 10 year old and a Glenmorangie 10 year old) I realised that something had changed. Over the course of three or four hours, I developed an understanding of how to really enjoy drinking without actually getting drunk. Each of these exceptional whiskies had a completely unique personality- for my other co-drinkers, the Laphroaig's bold, abrasive fiery temperament being the anthesis to the Glenmorangie's smooth and understated delicacy. Personally, I loved then all and to this day, those same three whiskies (different bottles of course) still grace my drinks cabinet as well as the one here in our office.  

Today, that drinks cabinet has one additional bottle; one much smaller in size, but equally profound.  

It contains a sample of 40 year old Brora, drawn from a single cask filled in 1972. For those of you who don't follow this blog regularly, Brora has become one of the trio of near mythical whisky distilleries (along with Port Ellen and Rosebank) closed down and long forgotten, until perhaps the last decade or so. Releases from these three are scarce, with Diageo owning the remaining (fast diminishing stocks). This Brora sample comes from a bottling done especially for Global Travel Retail in the Middle East and only 160 bottles will be available, each coming in a decanter and carrying the price tag of a shade under £7,000. So extremely rare and extremely expensive.  

Today, I am reminded of that very same sense of intrigue that first drew me into whisky and undoubtedly what led me to find a career in writing about it. Samples arrive at our office on a daily basis and every now and again, they genuinely stop you in their tracks: from the fantastic Overeem whiskies of Tasmania that arrived out of the blue (and totally blew us away) to an as-yet unreviewed and very, very old whisky, which we shall unveil later this week.  This sample of Brora is one of those moments. In fact, as I open the sample, I genuinely don't know what to expect...

Brora - 40 Year Old - Single Cask 1972 Vintage -  160 Bottles  - 59.1%

Nose: Where to begin.  'Lively' is a word that usually applies to whiskies only a fraction of the age of this elder statesman. But this has a real fire from the get go. Hugely peated (easily the most peated Brora I've come across) this could pass as a Caol Ila or perhaps even a younger Lagavulin. But underneath the peat lies some soft malt, linseed oil, Brazil nut shells, sweet vanilla and a cloud of white pepper - alongside a familiar slightly wet hay note that Brora often has. Would you really peg this as a 40 year old whisky though, if nosing it blind? I doubt it. The extremely high ABV helps to keep your nose guessing and only a little water reveals its true character. With a dash, stewed summer fruit aromas come to the fore alongside a little liquorice, carbolic soap, fresh mint and leather.  

Palate: Initially very sweet with a powerful chewy wood smoke. Buttery notes follow with some ripe bananas, more tingling white pepper and the first signs of oakiness. The strength is still right up front and in all honesty, is slightly distracting- again you wouldn't peg this as a whisky in its 4th decade. The water brings things down perfectly with dried ginger notes, rich shortcake and summer fruits, dark brown sugar and a beautifully aged peat note. That's more like it.  

Finish: A wash of wood smoke stays on the palate, alongside a tingling pepper, some traces of oak and a little creaminess, dusted with icing sugar and coated in dark honey. To say this is lengthy would be an understatement, thanks in part to the peatiness, but the mouthfeel (with water) is truly excellent.  

Overall: A huge surprise. This really won't be for everyone's tastes. Rather like that first encounter my friends and I had with Laphroaig, the smoke in this Brora is extremely dominant and not for the faint hearted. But dig past this and you'll be dazzled by what lies underneath. There are layers of complexity here which only an old whisky can deliver, but still signs of youth too, given the spritely ABV. It is, in essence, a very challenging whisky - and like that very first proper encounter I had with single malt, almost impossible to put down as a result.  

Turn the lights off and lock up will you, Joel... I may be here for some time yet...

   

If You Like A Lot Of Chocolate On Your Biscuit, Join Our Club: Talisker and Royal Lochnagar Friends of the Classic Malts 2014 Single Malt Whisky Editions

Before you start asking us even more questions, the answer is: yes. The question: did we get to try the 2013 batch of Diageo’s Special Release whiskies. And very good they were to. As usual, there was the regular releases from Lagavulin (the always grand 12 Years Old), Caol Ila, Port Ellen (now on to number 13) and Brora.

Unusually, however there were some extra old offerings from Talisker (1985 vintage), along with a 37 Years Old Lagavulin, a 21 Years Old Oban and, the pick of the bunch for us, a 36 Years Old Convalmore. Not something you see a lot of these days.  

Now, there is no denying that this lot are excellent whiskies... but anyone who has tried to buy a bottle of the most sought-after of the collection will know quite how quickly they disappear. Trying to bag one is about as easy as finding rocking horse poop.

Couple this with the new pricing structure where a bottle of Port Ellen, previously sold for ‘just’ three figures, will now set you back £1500, and you'll see how many of these top end offerings are out of reach for a lot of consumers. 

(As an aside, unlike a lot of other people, I don’t see an issue with these prices. Diageo are just following the residual market in what it feels these bottles are worth; I wouldn’t sell you my house for 50% of its market value, so why should Diageo sell you their whisky for half the price the residual market deems it is worth?)    

However, these limited edition high value bottles do create an air of exclusivity, which is where Diageo have balanced out, to some degree, their portfolio of interesting single malts with a series of new expressions for their Friends of the Classic Malts club.

  

On offer, initially, are two highly interesting, triple matured single malts: one from Talisker and one from Royal Lochnagar which will be available in the UK, Germany and Switzerland. In total, across five expressions, there will be 24,000 bottles released.  

Talisker – Friends of the Class Malts 2014 Release – NAS - Triple Matured – 9,000 bottles only – 48% abv

Triple matured in: “refill casks, charred American oak hogsheads, European oak refill casks”

Nose: Big and strong, with some smoke, salt and a hint of toffee. It takes a while to open up, but once fully in bloom, the Talisker sea-salt notes are clearly there, with the triple wood maturation giving more body, with some light honey and heather notes coming through at the death.

Palate: Lemon and lime mix with peat smoke and salted caramel toffee. White pepper and some coal dust appear to give a full flavoured dram which just seems a little out of sorts. It’s like smoked lime pickle in a glass.  

Finish: Sour cherries, unripe kiwi fruit and a hint of peat smoke.

Overall: Well, we love Talisker 10, Talisker 18, Talisker Storm and Darkest Storm. This, however, goes into the same file as Talisker Port Ruighe... lots of flavour but, like a child whose family has moved around a lot, this seems to be a bit unsettled, a bit misdirected. NB: it did settle with time (and we mean a few hours here) in the glass, but was still running around the palate with a little too much enthusiasm...)

Royal Lochnagar - Talisker – Friends of the Class Malts 2014 Release – NAS - Triple Matured - 3,000 bottles – 48% abv

Triple matured in: “refill casks, charred American oak hogsheads, European oak refill casks”

Nose: A vibrant nose of granola drizzled with honey, milk chocolate and honeycomb. Some linseed oil, blackcurrant bush leaves and malted milk biscuits.

Plate: Rich and rounded, this whisky has taken well to its three different homes, picking up something interesting in each environment. There is honey, spices (cinnamon and cardamom), toffee again and a hint of red apples.

Finish: A really lovely dram whose spirit has been enhanced by the triple maturation and given a rounded balance of sweet and spicy.

Overall: A great example of how triple maturation can really enhance a tipple.

Friends of the Classic Malts can purchase these offerings for £80 per bottle at a friendly local retailer in the aforementioned countries, or you can pick up a bottle at Alexander and James, here.

Continuing in their theme of unusual bottlings for the FotCM club, which has seen an excellent Talisker 12 Years Old and an utterly brilliant Lagavulin 12 Years Old too, this Royal Lochnagar is one to add to your collection. Let’s hope the other three releases live up to this one and, at £80, it is a very fair price for an unusual limited edition. A very fair price indeed.

Talisker, Royal Lochnagar... you guess the rest, but I’m just hoping that Lagavulin features, especially at this price point! Sadly, we’ll have to wait to find out...