Blink and all of a sudden, you're nearly at the end of the month, with a head full of plans and plenty to be getting on with. I'm right in the thick of co-writing a brand new whisky book ('Let Me Tell You About Whisky')with the mighty Gavin Smith, the samples are racking up here and it's high time we got down to the business of looking at a few crackers to put on your late January/February wish list.
Duncan Taylor have come out of the traps early with a couple of new releases from their Dimensions range and what a way to start today off - a gorgeous looking (and smelling) Caol Ila from 1983...
Duncan Taylor - Dimensions - Caol Ila - 1983 vintage - 28 years old- Cask 3625 - 54.3%
(a note must be written on just how...erm... attractive this whisky looks. Colourwise, it is a rich bright copper. Not something we're usually concerned with, but in this instance, it needs to be noted!)
Nose: Not immediately what you would expect from a Caol Ila. Sweet smoked barbecued bananas, vanilla pods, some freshly turned earth, nutmeg, butterscotch sauce and a slight emergence of medicinal/coaltar soap. The smoke is very restrained, but wafting around somewhere in the background. Very nicely balanced indeed.
Palate: A little dry off the bat, but then into classic Caol Ila territory, sweet malty biscuits, a mouthful of sappy pine smoke and coal dust. Given a dash of water and some time, the richness of this dram comes to the fore: the vanillas take a more prominent position, with some cream soda notes and a hint of candied fruit.
Finish: Lengthy fruit sherbet notes, sit alongside the coal dust and a dollop of malt extract.
Overall: What a pleasant surprise. This is certainly a Caol Ila that delivers complexity, but plenty of direct, easy to read notes up front.
Since we reviewed Duncan Taylor'sBlackbull 40yo earlier this year, we've really started to take notice of just how many good bottlings the company are turning out - on a very regular basis too.
The last 3 are no exceptions either. The Rare Auld range represent the pinnacle of Duncan Taylor stocks, with many of the releases bottled at around 30 years, from across Speyside, the Highlands and Islay.
We recently got stuck into a Cardhu, a Bunnahabhain and an intriguingly titled 'Iconic Speyside'. Now what could that be, we wonder...
Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld Collection - Bunnahabhain - Distilled 1979 - 32 yo - 47.1% Cask No: 38408
Nose: Notes of dried coconut, some hints of aromatic dry vermouth, soft brown sugar, some bonfire toffee and a distinct nuttiness.
Palate: Very sweet on the first sip, but calms down after a few minutes in the glass. Again, notes of brown sugar, some slightly zesty grapefruit and soft toffee, almost reminiscent of an aged dessert wine. A true dessert whisky perhaps?
Finish: lingering notes of toffee, chopped hazelnuts and swathes of vanilla'y oak on the death.
Overall: Highly enjoyable - especially sweet, so not to everyone's tastes, but right up our street.
Next up: A rare auld Cardhu.
Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld Collection - Cardhu- Distilled 1984 - 26 yo - 54.4% Cask No: 2873
Nose: Classic oak ageing at its best. Vanilla notes, lots of spiced, cinnamon apple pie, lemon sherbet, cherries mascerated in cognac, furniture polish, Brazil nuts and icing sugar. Warm and inviting, not cold, hard and old.
Palate: Initially sweet, leading into a mouth coating chocolate/cocoa note (think really good quality dark chocolate, with a dusting of muscovado sugar) then, plump raisins, stepped in dark rum, some fresh lemon juice, more Brazil nuts, chocolate covered marzipan and perhaps even a slight barbecue note, although that might be from the Old El Paso taco kit we enjoyed an hour ago. Anyway, enormously open and flavoursome. Lovely stuff.
Finish: Lingering notes of dark chocolate covered nuts and those plump rum soaked raisins. Absolutely gorgeous.
Overall: This is a real find. Balanced, yet old. Open, refined, complex and super-easy to drink. Another very impressive bottling. If you're considering bottlings for your 30th birthday in a few years time, get this and open it on the big day, you'll love it. In fact, hang that idea- just buy it and open it immediately!
And finally.... the dram that dare not speaketh its name (although we suspect it begins with G) (great... big help there... eh)
Duncan Taylor - Rare Auld Collection - Iconic Speyside- Distilled 1984 - 27 yo - 54.8% Cask No: 2033
Nose: Big buttery biscuit base, (not again...) then into more of those Brazil nuts we mention above, some papier mache, notes of Copydex adhesive uncooked pork mince and the very centre of a rosebud!! Sounds absurd, but there you go... that's whisky for you. Given time, more of a digestive biscuit note develops, with a little dusting of dried ginger. It isn't a patch on the Cardhu, but certainly isn't a duffer- just weird.
Palate: A vaguely gingery note pops up first, followed by some savoury meat (honestly, this definitely isn't the Taco kit, we promise!) then into fresh double cream, some light toffee notes and a malty sweetness. Again not a patch on the Cardhu, but interesting nonetheless.
Finish: Quite a drying, lengthy finish, with hints of lavender and something quite bitter and hoppy.
Overall: A little off key if we're absolutely honest, but then compared to the Cardhu, a great many bottlings from anyone's collection would be under par.
If any of these take your fancy, check out the Duncan Taylor online store here:
When you sit on the tarmac at any given airport, you see small vehicles scurrying around the runway the size and shape which never enter real life. Never seen on the motorway or A roads, these tugs are akin to the deep sea blob-fish that are projected in green limelight on TV nature shows; odd shapes and sizes, they scurry around demanding attention, like 1970’s punks.
Flying is a funny old game, especially when you’re going from one part of an island to another. That’s why I’ve chosen to make a trip up to Scotland via train. Nothing new there, we’ve done that plenty of times before. This time however, I’m going further than ever before (Aberdeen, from London) and I’m taking the sleeper train...
As you can see from the video, the trip was pretty good, despite the small cabin, with the added bonus of waking up in the Highlands of Scotland just a stone’s throw from Speyside, my ultimate destination.
The first stop on today’s journey is a quick nip in to the town of Huntly where independent bottlers Duncan Taylor are based. A whistle –stop tour of their small (but well formed) bottling plant just off the main street was a real education. Plenty of interesting stock, including some maturing cask of very old, very rare Speyside malts shows the company in rude health and if their recent Black Bull 40 Year Old is anything to go by, they’ll be churning out quality offerings for a while to come yet.
One nice innovation they are developing is to additionally mature some casks in smaller quarter casks and octaves. This way, bottles can be released in smaller batches with enhanced finishes over a number of different days.
I was treated to some small samples of a Single Cask Cameron Bridge from 1979 (tinned pineapple and huge, gluey grain notes, sweet and syrupy) and a 1972 Caperdonich which left me wanting to discover more about this lost distillery. Look out for them in the near future.
Onward from Huntly to Dufftown, the heartland of whisky making and the real reason for taking the sleeper up from London: a visit to The Balvenie Distillery.
Last year The Balvenie released a very limited edition bottling developed by Malt Master David Stewart Tun 1401, especially for visitors taking the tour of their facilities, one of the only places in Scotland where you can experience whisky making from cooperage, through to malting and the whisky making process itself. A tour well worth taking, if you can get on one (8 people, twice a day, 4 times a week is a pretty limited offer). This bottling was preceded by two other successful distillery only bottlings, Rose Batch 1 and Rose Batch 2, but more on them later...
For the original Tun 1401, Stewart took 6 casks (4 American Oak and 2 Sherry Butts) and married the contents together in a large tun. Just 336 bottles were released at 48.1% ABV and such was the reception for this bottling that Stewart and his team have decided to create a second batch. Using a new selection of barrels, the new Tun 1401 Batch 2 will yield an increased number of bottles with a worldwide release in late May 2011.
The newer batch is made up of 10 barrels ranging from 1969 to 1989, with the majority of the spirit made in the early 1970’s. Let’s have a look at 9 of these constituent parts:
1967, Hogshead:
N. Pineapple chunks
P. More tinned pineapple with Vanilla Ice Cream and Soda Water
F. Lime Cordial
1970, Sherry Butt:
N. Garibaldi Biscuits, Wheat.
P. Copper, Raisin, Digestive Biscuits
F. Sweet Tea
1971, Sherry Butt:
N. Dusty Furniture Polish.
P. Boiled sweets, wood polish.
F. Oaky and dry
1971, ex-Bourbon:
N. Fresh pineapple, cream, white grape juice.
P. Fresh lemon, cloudy apple juice.
F. Oak and dry sherry
1972, Hogshead:
N. Pear soap.
P. Lime juice.
F. Lime peel
1973, sherry butt:
N. rich red fruits
P. Wonderful depth, freshly sliced red apple.
F. Deep and rounded summer fruits
1974, Hogshead:
N. Cream Soda.
P. Cream soda again but mixed with fresh pineapple and green apple slices
There was one final cask, a bourbon barrel from 1989 but I didn’t get a chance to have a nose / taste of that sample, sadly.
My biggest impression from each of these casks (sampled with water) was that they would all make a good single cask bottlings, with a couple being exceptional single casks (1967 and 1978 as my personal picks). So how will these individual whiskies come together to create one Single Malt? Well, let’s hear from David Stewart about the process in this short video:
The Balvenie – Tun 1401 – Batch 2 - ~3000 bottles – Sample strength at 52.2% ABV
Nose: Wow, this is a whisky with a big personality and the nose jumps out the glass at you; citrus fruit juices come through first, followed by a dumbing down of the energy thanks to some runny honey tones and finally oak and wood spices add some last min left turns to the aroma.
Palate: A huge hit of spiced pineapple, as if used in a mild curry with some lime chutney and Seville orange marmalade.
Finish: Very rich with toffee and coffee giving way to soft brown sugar and spices.
Overall: Dave Broom taught me not to confuse power with complexity when judging a whisky, but this is both powerful and complex but equally well balanced. For me, The Balvenie produces very drinkable whisky (the Double Wood was the whisky that got me in to whisky) but occasionally can lack bite and personality. The Tun 1401 makes up for that in bucket loads, with a huge personality that still plays to all the key strengths of what makes The Balvenie such an easy whisky to drink. Fingers crossed this gets bottled as near to this sample strength as possible...
The Tun 1401 Batch 1 which we reviewed here, replaces The Balvenie Rose (two batches, both around 400 bottles per batch, finished in Port Pipes) as the Distillery Only bottling. As well as picking up my very own bottle of the Tun 1401 Batch 1 to sink at home, there were a few bottles of the Rose Batch 2 left on the shelf at the distillery shop. What to do? Ignore the last credit card bill, dive in to purchase a bottle and have a taste. Let's see how it compares to the Tun 1401...
The Balvenie- 16 Years Old - Rose – Batch 2 – Distillery Only Bottling - 50.3% ABV
Nose: Copper notes, rich summer fruits, rose petals, runny honey and sweet cure bacon.
Palate: malty and sweet, poached pears in syrup, tinned apricots. Soft.
Finish: Very sweet, crème brulee topping, sugared tea and some wood spices to round it off.
Overall: A solid Balvenie with the Port Wood giving loads of character to the classic tones of honey and sweet sugar. A good dram, but the Tun 1401 Batch 1 wins this battle for me. A note for the presentation of this, which is stunning, with the bottling coming in a velvet-lined box. Very fancy indeed!
All-in-all, a cracking day at The Balvenie. A huge ‘thank you’ must go out to Malt Master David Stewart for his time, as well as to David Mair, The Balvenie Distillery Ambassador, for making the day possible, for so much information and drams.
We will get back to you with a firm date for the release of Tun 1401 and any further details should they be available.
I’m off back to the train station but this time not for the sleeper train to London, but a much shorter hop to Glasgow. Who knows what we might find down in the Lowlands...
Sometimes these posts really write themselves. Today's is no exception.
A few days ago, we got a package from the folks at Duncan Taylor, with a little sample of their newly released Blackbull Batch 2- a 40yo blend, put together with Invergordon, Tamdhu, Bunnahabhain and Glenlivet.
But rather than us review it, we wanted to turn it over to someone with an obvious mastery of bulls. No, not the famous Matador Israel Lancho but someone a little closer to home.
Alas, we heard the very sad news yesterday that the Oracle of the Oche himself, Bullseye's Mr Jim Bowen, was sadly unavailable as he is currently recovering from a mild stroke up in Lancaster. So in honour of the great man himself, we'll raise a glass ourselves and hopefully muster up the spirit of a bit of Bully.... This one's for you Jim...
And on Bully's Prize Board tonight....Errrrrrrrrn One!
Nose: Treble 20 to start, with a fantastic mix of aromatic wax, cedar wood, floral honey and fizzy, fruity Refresher sweets. Perfectly balanced. Masses of maturity but not an ounce of dryness or over-oaking. As Jim's sidekick Tony Green would often say as another contestant drew up to the Oche for their first throw - 'take your time, no pressure, at all'. That's how you feel after a couple of sips.
Palate: Another big fat treble 20 again. And by fat, I mean 'fat'. The mouthfeel on this whisky is so oily, so palate coating, you'd swear it was washed with syrup. When you can find your tongue again, you're in for a huge treat. Java coffee, ripe bananas, condensed milk, wonderfully sweetened malted milk biscuits, aromatic virginia tobacco notes and cherry drops. unctuous, but very precise indeed.
Finish: Remember... in darts, you have to finish on a double... And there we have it!! Double Top! The sweet tobacco and malt combine and linger on the palate for a match winning finish.
Overall: If this were a hand of darts, it would have been thrown by the master himself, Sir Phil 'The Power' Taylor. So simple, yet so so precise and...perfect.
In the words of Jim Bowen- it's 'Super Smashing Great...you can't beat a bit of Bully'
Get well soon Jim- the first round's on us...
For those of you who didnt understand a word of this....a glance at this video will tell you all you need to know...
