2014 - A Year of Excitement

And we're back. After a very leisurely Christmas break, it's nice to pick up the reins again and excitedly look towards 2014 as a year of exceptionally fine spirits. You'll be seeing a few changes to this website during 2014, alongside the release of our forthcoming book, The Spirits Explorers, which is due to be published later this year. After six years of bringing you news, releases and opinions on primarily whisk(e)y, we'll be bringing you a lot more on other unmissable spirits from around the world. Stay tuned with your glasses primed! 

Back in 2013, half of the Caskstrength team saw in the new year with a particularly fun theme: 

A Fawlty Towers party. 

A Damn Good Thrashing awaits...

Alongside turning Ridley Towers into Fawlty Towers, several games featured for the assembled guests (aka Polly, Sybil, the Major, Manuel, Miss Tibbs and Miss Gatsby and other cast members): 

The Gin & Orange, Lemon Squash and Scotch & Water Challenge (where contestants have to make the aforementioned drinks in as quick a time as possible against an opponent - a ref. to the episode 'A Touch Of Class')

Thrashing an Austin 1100 Piñata, which was swiftly despatched with a tree branch to reveal its contents. 

Stupidity aside, New Years Eve was a great opportunity to do a round up of a number of new (old) whiskies which have recently arrived in the post and in our trolleys: Cutty Sark's brand new Prohibition-inspired release, a brace of exceptional 'old' White Horse blends, an Auchentoshan 1975 vintage and perhaps the most prestigious, a 50 year old Bowmore.  

We won't be officially reviewing the White Horse blends, but suffice to say that if you see any cropping up at auction (especially from the 70's and 80's) you will face some stiff competition from us.  Any respective whisky cabinet should contain an old blend in our opinion. Not only do they provide an insight into whisky making of the yesteryear for a less than premium price, but also highlight some very unexpected flavours. The penultimate drink of the evening was an Old Fashioned, made using the White Horse bottle to the left of the picture (thought to be from the early 80's) and its sweet, delicate smoke and malty, creamy fudge notes were absolutely stupendous. Perfect for Basil and Manuel to put their differences aside... for a few minutes anyway.   

The first sample of the evening was a new(ish) offering from Cutty Sark. Commemorating the 80th anniversary of the repeal of Prohibition this robust blend harks back to Cutty's coming of age in the US, and continues the blend's innovative approach. Prohibition will now be available outside the US for the first time, so let's hoist the anchor and set sail...

Cutty Sark - Prohibition -  50%  

Nose: Toasted almonds, battenberg cake, some fresh mint and marzipan, plus a hint of smoke. There is a solid balance between smoke, vanilla, hot buttered toast, dark chocolate and hazelnuts. Pure smoked praline in a glass.

Palate: With the 50% abv this gives a delicate, yet prickly mouthfeel. First up is fresh apricot, followed by mango chutney, toasted oats and tinned pineapple.

Finish: Some spices, cinnamon, oak and a nip of sherry.

Overall: A complex dram. I accompanied this sample with a craft American IPA and the rich, bold flavours of the whisky stood up to the yeasty/hoppy notes of the beer. The opposite of the usual delicate Cutty: bold, rich and malty- yet with bags of fruit.

Next up was Auchentoshan's latest release- a 1975 vintage, bottled at 45.6% exclusively for travel retail. This vintage sits alongside the distillery's other previous vintage releases from the 70's and the 500 bottles are drawn from ex-American oak casks. We reviewed a previous '75 release back in 2011 and quelle surprise, this offers many of the same delicious characteristics.

Auchentoshan 1975 - 45.6% - 500 Bottles

Nose: Wafts of toasted coconut, milk chocolate, light lemon zest and creamy vanilla. The classic complex-yet-inviting bourbon cask notes make this irresistible. No need for any water here- it would be very easy to drown the subtleties on offer.  

Palate: A continuation of the beautiful aromas above. Sweet and creamy, vanilla custard hits first, with a touch of oaky dryness creeping in, but not in an overpowering way. Alongside the cream comes toasted almonds, a smattering of citrus zests, gooseberry fool and a surprisingly fresh sliced green apple.  

Finish: The green apple is smothered in patisserie cream, which sticks to the palate with an after taste of soft brown sugar. Sensational.

Overall: Yet again, this 70's offering demonstrates Auchentoshan at its very best. It will set you back £500 and a flight somewhere (we're unclear as to which airports you'll be able to find it.) But chances are, it's unlikely you'll still find its similarly aged sibling any longer. Scanning through various online retailers we also find that the closer to 2015 we get (and a 40th birthday looming large) whiskies of this nature are becoming more pricey as the months tick by. 

And Finally... We make it towards midnight, with a sing-song from Gary Barlow on BBC1 and Kevin Costner's 'Waterworld' on ITV (really... Why??) 

Following on from Morrison Bowmore's Lowland distillery comes the latest release from the company's Islay powerhouse. Bowmore continues to innovate, despite being one of the oldest distilleries in Scotland. The 50 year old, distilled in 1961 is currently the oldest commercially available single malt from Islay.  Two ex-bourbon hogsheads have yielded just 200 bottles, each one priced at an eye watering £16,000.  

Old Bowmore always offers up a wealth of extraordinary discoveries. Take their last benchmark- the 1964 Fino cask release from 2012. Intense tropical fruits, divine creaminess and a waft of the most subtle sweet perfumed smoke. Bowmore of this age ceases to be just a whisky, but is something far more beguiling- as we shall see below.  

Bowmore 50 Year Old - Distilled December 1961 - 40.7% 

Nose: Where to start. The most intense Bowmore nose yet, jam packed full of tropical fruit notes and so much more. Passion fruit, papaya, mango and ripe kiwi fruit mix with plump vanilla pods, parma violets, a wonderful light, floral lavender-influenced smoke, white chocolate and sweet patisserie cream. Quite where the mysterious 'Bowmore fruit' actually comes from is up for debate, but it makes Bowmore arguably the most distinctive distillery on Islay, and for that matter, probably in Scotland too.  

Palate: More of the same beautifully detailed tropical fruit notes. The classic Bowmore parma violets are powerful, but flavours of tinned peaches and cream, vanilla and mandarin segments sit nicely alongside, with a backbone of dry, floral smoke. Exceptional.

Finish: Lingering tropical fruit and a slight oaky dryness lead the light smoke in what is a deeply expressive and complex tongue twisting finale.  

Overall: It's difficult not to sound like a pretentious tit when writing reviews of whiskies like this. But you just can't sum them up fairly using simple reference points. What we have here is one of the truly great whisky releases of the decade, with effortless balance and charm. If money were no object, this would be a whisky that could simultaneously start and end one's journey into malt whisky. It's the equivalent of discovering the end of the masterpiece tome by a venerated author, the playback of a classic album that defined a generation or the photo finish to a world-record breaking 100 metre final (or perhaps a much longer race for that matter!) 

All in all, a stunning way to see in 2014. Quite where the distillery goes from this expression remains to be seen, but here's hoping that Warehouse No.1 contains even more blinding discoveries. 

Now - a few Caskstrength predictions and observations for 2014: 

• Grain Whisky to finally get the recognition it deserves from major distillers -  in its own right. 

William Grant & Sons had the foresight in 2013 to release a single grain whisky as a proprietary brand and it is inevitable that others will follow suite.  Let's never forget just how important grain whisky is in blended whisky and it is great news to see the whisky begin to gain momentum under its own steam. Legendary William Grant & Sons pioneer and former chairman Charles Gordon sadly passed away over the Christmas period, but he leaves his company in vibrant shape, full of innovative ideas and enthusiasm for developing the whisky category.  

• More companies to receive a public hiding for dubious marketing campaigns.  

The Dewar's Saga or 'Barongate' (read about it here if you're unfamiliar) demonstrated an acute and frankly baffling misunderstanding of who the company assumes whisky drinkers are, whilst providing the whisky community with a relatively easy target to bark at. Importantly it also gave everyone a reason to move forward, away from the ass-slapping masculinity of tired whisky campaign ideas several decades old, that still seem to rear their ugly head from time to time. The reputation of the brand took a big dent (rightly so) but we suspect this won't be the last time that a brand gets a marketing campaign catastrophically wrong. We watch and wait with eager excitement... Sharpen your pitch forks. 

• World Cup Fever hits the whisky world.  

The biggest sporting event of the year is bound to have a knock on effect everywhere and given the growing demand in the host nation Brazil for whisky, it is inevitable there'll be a flurry of World Cup themed whiskies.  We recently read that one well-known Islay distiller has allegedly planned something featuring the colours of the Brazilian flag, but until we hear it from the horse's mouth, we'll say no more. 

• Seasoned whisky drinkers get fed up with whisky and move on.  

Previously known as 'The Whisky Shop'

Slightly OTT this one, but given the constant negativity surrounding new No Age Statement releases, price rises and new emerging markets, spirits like Armagnac, rum and mezcal will begin to sound their Pied Piper tunes, proving irresistible to connoisseurs whisky obsessives, thanks to their accessible price points and bold flavours. Whilst you'll still find us at the front of the queue when it comes to reviewing new whiskies, we're also going to be writing a great deal about the aforementioned spirits, simply because we love them and the possibilities they offer.

...And a few shorter predictions...

• The most staggeringly brilliant release from a distillery/distilleries beginning with E. 

(probably... ;-p )

• Your Grandma asking you which whisky she should put her money into. 

(highly likely and slightly scary)

• Another swathe of new whisky auction sites open for business.  

(including 'Japanese only' perhaps?)

• A massive celebrity endorsed whisky...

(who knows who, but probably on the cards somewhere...) 

• The word 'Dram' to be made illegal, especially during over enthusiastic whisky-related conversations and even more likely when used as an annoying prefix.

( ;-p )

2013 was a blast for us, hope it was for you too.  Keep reading and exploring great spirits in 2014...

Joel & Neil 

A Thank You Plus Auchentoshan Virgin Oak Single Malt Scotch Whisky Review

We don’t keep count here at Caskstrength Towers. We couldn’t tell you how many posts we’ve written over the years, nor how many whiskies and other spirits we’ve reviewed, but needless to say, it has been a fair few.

A labour of love, running a blog can often fast become a way of life; like those lycra-clad folk (I belive called 'mamils') who manage to make going to the gym a regular part of their life. We’re not exercise-shy by any means (Ardbeg Half Marathon, anyone?!) but somehow sitting down at our laptops, with a dram in hand, seems unusually to take the place of the locker room and dumbbells. Goodness knows why...!

If you are signed up to our mailing list (and if you are a regular reader, why wouldn’t you be?) you’ll know that each time we post on here, at 8pm GMT that evening, our scribblings are sent out to your inbox, for you to read on the bus, in bed or on the loo. If you’re not signed up, just stick your email address is the little box on the right; all you’ll get is this blog. Honest.

Once the email goes out, we often receive replies to it, with comments, questions and general feedback. (A special mention here for Wim, with his regular replies) We really appreciate all your comments and kind words.

This week, we found out that we have made one of the five finalists for The IWSC Blogger of the Year award, along with wine blogs Matt Walls, Deby Berd and the Wine Folly and the Sherry Blog WorldSherryDay.com, all wonderful places to read about grape-based products.

It is lovely to be nominated for awards, especially one with such a great international reputation, but what really makes writing this worthwhile is your feedback, comments and questions. If a tree falls in a wood and no one is there to hear it, does it make a sound? Similarly, if a blog is set up and posts written, yet no one visits the site to read it... you get the picture. So, before we start today’s post, we’d just like to say a huge thank you to those of you who keep this blog alive, by giving us a reason to write it.

Exception to the rule - Auchentoshan Virgin Oak

There are always rules in life. And there are always exceptions to those rules. “I before E, except after C” is probably the most famous of the lot and one which, to be frank, is a heinous rule which seems to have become sovereign in our teachings on grammar, confusing not only those foreign to our language but also our neighbours, too.  Unscientific and downright weird, this rule should neither be taught nor learnt.

Can you see what I’ve done there...? Answers on a postcard to Caskstrength Towers (or a simple reply to your email, if you’re on the mailing list, will do).

When it comes to explaining whisky, there is one rule which is usually trotted out, that Scotch whisky is double distilled, whereas Irish whiskey is triple distilled.

Having just returned from a lovely trip to the new still house at Midleton distillery in Cork (home to Jameson, as well as Red Breast, Green and Yellow Spot and Midleton single pot still Irish whiskeys), it is great to see this powerhouse of triple-distilled whiskey production booming, but to say that this is the main difference between Scotch and Irish whiskey is simply untrue. In our next blog post, we’ll focus on what some of those differences are, but for the time being, let’s have a look at that most simple of rules: that Scotch whisky is always double distilled.

Aside from Springbank and their reflux-heavy stills which give not thrice, not twice but somewhere in between levels of distillation (famously their Hazelburn brand is triple distilled), there is one small single malt Scotch distillery which proves an exception to the rule.

Auchentoshan distillery, located just on the outskirts of Glasgow, produces triple distilled single malt Scotch whisky. As a result, the spirit taken for cask filling, from their third still, is at 81% abv, reputedly the highest in Scotland.

Their latest release sees Auchentoshan mature their whisky in virgin oak casks, untouched by any other spirit before use. In theory, this should show up the true DNA of the spirit, giving just a hint of North American oak to the whisky, but let’s find out:

Auchentoshan – Virgin Oak - NAS – 46% abv – RRP £69.99

Nose: Cinnamon dusted apple strudel, with hints of vanilla ice cream, Lily of the Valley and some lemon juice. Over time, the nose develops a more earthy quality which adds depth and complexity. Some tropical fruits after a while.

Palate: Big and fruity (tinned fruit salad), there are certainly elements of pineapple and ginger here, with peach melba, apricot and more pineapple. There are flourishes of lavender and sugary shortbread, but overall this is a very fruity dram and really quite lipsmacking.

Finish: The earthy notes from the nose give good ‘oomph’ to the passion fruit and pineapples found in the palate.

Overall: Right up there for me with some of the best releases this year. My only criticism is the price, which seems a little steep at nearly £70. All in, this is a solid release from the team at Auchentoshan.

Well worth a try (and well worth a visit if you’ve never been), let’s hope this sets a high standard for new releases from them and doesn’t prove to be an exception to the rule.

The Wemyss Medal Table

Ok, so we're one day off now, weather looks great, Boris has just given a suitably rousing, but slightly xenophobic speech at Hyde Park and we got the first gob-smacking, hum-dinging mistake out the way with the Korean flag f**k up.  Having been down to see the Olympic torch relay hit my manor on Tuesday, to witness the reaction it got from the usually cynical South Londoners, I think the Olympics and Team GB are going to be a huge success.

But what to drink?

Is there a gold, silver and bronze line up of booze out there, to enjoy in times of triumph - and perhaps a commiseration dram to lift one's spirits when diving sensation Tom Daley comes 6th, due to suffering fatigue from all his pre-Olympics media commitments.

Of course it is completely subjective, but here at Caskstrength, we've worked out a little drinking game to mirror the actual games themselves.

In-keeping with the actual medals table, we'll be trying to consume beverages produced by the top ten medal winning nations during the next two weeks.  Now as you will see below, this immediately presents us with a continent-sized problem.  Looking at the huge success of China in the 2008 Beijing games, I think we'll mostly be drinking shochu for a fortnight.  However, we've come up with a strategy to combat this, due to the lack of  readily available domestic Chinese spirit in the Caskstrength office. As whisky is now hugely popular in China, and often consumed with green tea, we'll use this as our oriental caveat. 


So Russia...erm...vodka?


 And South Korea?... Oh forget it. What a bloody stupid idea this was.

Joking aside, we will be bringing you whiskies from a few international nations over the Olympic period and, when we can be bothered, a fun, national-themed cocktail too.  Tonight though, we'll start with our first offering in the shape of a trio of excellent new releases from indie bottlers, Wemyss (or to apply the ludicrous-Olympics-theme-we've-mistakenly-saddled-ourselves- with, 'Team GB')

We last featured a batch of their interestingly titled releases last year and in that time, the world seems to have gone a little bit gaga for their flavoursome offerings.  This current batch is in keeping with the creative naming policy, working on dessert themes.  So seeing as my supper of tuna and lime fishcakes, steamed anya potatoes and peas has now gone down, I might as well prepare for afters...

Wemyss - Campbeltown -  Glen Scotia - 1991 - 'Strawberry Ganache' - 46%

Nose: Waxy notes, dark honey, malt extract, floor polish, honey comb and dark chocolate. It's very rich, malty and heavy- more Black Forest Gateau, than a ganache.  

Palate:  A lovely silky, oily mouthfeel, giving notes of woody sherry, cinnamon bark, black treacle and tobacco.  Given a bit of time, mint humbugs and rum-soaked raisins coat the whole of the mouth.  

Finish: Lengthy, malty, bittersweet and heavyweight. In fact, as heavy as an olympic medal, no doubt.  

Overall: If this were a medal, colour wise, it has to be bronze, but don't let the colour influence your decision- this is a top step of the podium whisky. Superb.

                                     

Wemyss -  Highland -  Clynelish - 1997 - 'Fresh Fruit Sorbet' - 46%  

Nose: Wow, now we've finished our ganache (or gateau) it's on to a palate cleansing fruit salad and what a bowl of loveliness we have here.  Papaya, blood orange, fresh strawberry, lavender, parma violet, fruit sherbet and freshly cut red apple.  There's also a waft of cedarwood if you dig deep enough.

Palate: Quite hot, but then an explosion of fruitiness on the tongue, tinned peaches and cream, mango, raspberries, more sherbet (citrus this time) and American original chewing gum (think Hubba Bubba or Bazooka Joes)

Finish: The fruit notes linger, with a touch of green apple peel, giving way to some lighter liquorice spiciness. Not hugely lengthy, but pleasant and very summery. 

Overall:  Unusually fruity for a Clynelish, lacking some of the waxy notes one would ordinarily expect, but making up for the absence with that stonking fruit bowl effect. Golden in colour, but perhaps running a close second or silver to the Glen Scotia. 

Our final contestant is the youngest of the trio, coming from the Lowlands.  Will it be Usain Bolt on a good day... or a 2012 Daley Thompson comeback?  Let's find out.

Wemyss - Lowland - Auchentoshan - 1998 -  'Lemon Sorbet' - 46%

Nose: Unusual at first, sappy pine freshness, pea shoots and clean linen all spring to attention off the bat.  Given time, some pencil shavings, followed by a touch of basil start to develop. It's hard to pin this one down and it is a little closed.  A drop of water brings out some more mineral-like notes and some cherry sherbet.

Palate: Sweet, with a touch of vanilla, more cherry sherbet but quite short in the character department, compared to the other two. A touch of pepper rounds out the experience.

Finish: Short, with notes of vanilla again.

Overall: The weakest of the three releases, this has moments where it tries to grab your attention, but is just a little too polite, compared to the might of the Glen Scotia and the fruity charm of the Clynelish.  

To stick with the Olympic theme (sorry) the Auchentoshan is probably a little way off being selected for Team GB, needing more time to find its feet, whereas the Glen Scotia is the already experienced  gold medal shoe-in Sir Chris Hoy and the Clynelish a confident, talented and very feminine Jessica Ennis. 

Promise i'll stop now.  Let's hope the lighting of the opening ceremony Olympic flame goes more smoothly than this shocking fire lighting attempt:

French Kiss

Yesterday, I was travelling back to London on the train. A busy carriage was filled with all types of people, but I was astonished to see a young chap, probably in his mid- to late- 20's listening to some music on a CD walkman.

A CD walkman. Who still owns a CD walkman these days?

I remember fondly the time I bought my first CD walkman. It was an amazing day, having saved up for weeks. I was spending the cash saved from my part-time job at Toys R Us Oxford, where I earned the newly-enforced minimum wage, to upgraded my old tape walkman, an AWIA (whatever happened to them?) which seemed attached to me like one of Pullman's Dæmon's.

Coming away with the box (I think it was a Technics), it was one of the first watershed moments in my life where I equated hard work, earning money and eventually spending those earnings; economics in full-flow. Ripping open the box, I remember finding 2 AA batteries, slotting them in and choosing the first CD to be played from this pinnacle of audio technology.

It wasn't until about 3 weeks later that I actually decided to offer this dreaded machine up for sale to one of my classmates. The batteries ran down faster than Brit Pop bands were being signed, the slightest jog caused whichever CD was playing to skip, often whole songs, leading to this 'portable device' being about useful to take out on a journey as a Sinclair C5 and to top it all off, just to hear your favourite tunes, you had to carry around a bunch of CD's in a specially designed "CD Wallet" which didn't just double the size of the Techinics player, it quadrupled it.

No, no, no. This was not the device for me. Pass me back my trusty tape player with batteries that lasted months. Which could be swung around, dropped and carried with no skipping of tunage. And my two, just two, C120 tapes full of the best tunes from Supergrass, Lush, Elastica and Blur...

An expensive lesson in commerce, was that poor portable CD player. I pretty much made my money back on it, selling it on to Andrew Truman, a classmate who was getting a car and needed a CD player for it. I'm sure it had a happy time in that second-hand red Ford Fiesta, more than it was ever going to have in my Sergio Tacchini school bag. A happy end for a shocking piece of kit.

Now-a-days of course it's all iPods and the like. Fantastic inventions which you can cram literally thousands of songs on to. What this does for us as music consumers, is to widen our scope of music.

When I was a teenager, the evening session on BBC Radio One would consist of Steve Lamacq and Jo Whiley playing pretty much pure indie music from the moment the clock-hand hit 7pm, for a two hour stretch. Now you have Zane Lowe spinning many different genres of music, playing everything from hip-hop to acoustic singer-songwriters to chill-out dance tracks. Yet all he is doing is reflecting the public's taste for the wider selection of music which they have filled their 80GB iPhones with. Why? Because there isn't 80GB worth of Brit Pop acts out there. Or Punk acts. Or Bob Dylan songs. Well... maybe Bob Dylan songs.

Back in the day, whisky used to taste just like whisky. The stuff your granddad drank or that you had from your parents drinks cabinet when no one was looking. Now it comes in all shapes (erm....) and sizes (50cl, for goodness sake!) and lots of different flavours, too.

How come? Well, the advent of cask experimentation, especially cask finishing has been thrust to the fore over the last ten years or so. This can give some exciting new flavour profiles to whisky and expand the plate of the traditional whisky drinker, which we think is always a good thing.

Like my mix tapes of indie music which have morphed into an eclectic mix of different genres on my iPod, I'm no longer satisfied with a whisky selection made up of a blend, a well-aged Scotch single malt and some Irish whiskey. I want a cabinet that encompasses a Port wood finish, a rum cask finish, a virgin oak matured, the list goes on....

The folk down at Auchentoshan have released two new whiskies upon the world. One is a straight, old fashioned, single malt at cask strength called The Valinch, basically a limited edition (2,000 cases worldwide), cask strength version of the Auchentoshan Classic, to be released annually.

Auchentoshan - Valinch - NAS - 57.5% ABV (£39.99 RRP)

Nose: A very strong and robust nose of cream soda, crushed custard cream biscuits, a really big hit of freshly cut pine, some wood polish and over ripe banana. With water you get vanilla and coconut.

Palate: The palate gives us some lemon zest, bruised mint a hint of ginger and the pine-wood again. With water the palate gives off more yellow flowers, honey and orange blossom.

Finish: A shorter finish than I expected but it develops in to rich red cherries and then on to some BBQ sauce. With water, the finish becomes a little more like vanilla ice cream with a slightly bitter orange after taste.

Overall: Neat, I really enjoyed the powerful explosion of flavours, but this is possibly too strong at full strength and when you add water, isn't it just the Classic? I think some experimentation to see how little water you can drop in to still keep the power of the flavours, without turning this into the Classic (which is £10 cheaper).

The second whisky to be released is a whisky matured exclusively in French oak. But not just any old French Oak. This is a Bordeaux Cask from the Medoc region of France and it is unusual to find a whisky 100% matured in French Oak, especially one that is 11 years of age. Another release at full cask strength (58% abv), let's see if this is the Underworld, the Prodigy, the Chemical Brothers to break in to the indie-exclusive mix tape that is bourbon matured whiskies...

Auchentoshan - 1999 Bordeaux Cask Matured - 58% ABV (£46.99 RRP)

Nose: Caramelised brown sugars, unmilked hot tea, rich cherry jam or plum chutney, cheery drop sweets.

Palate: Initially the flavour hit is of cough sweets, syrup and cookie dough. Increasingly drying on the palate the flavours are heavy, strong and a little overpowering. Cinnamon jellybelly jelly beans leads to the finish. With water, the palate calms down a little increasing the cinnamon and cherry drops.

Finish: Sweet, long, cinnamon-spiced. This is almost Christmassy in the way it comes in to land. Dip a Chelsea Bun into a glass of rich Bordeaux and you'll get the same effect as this finish. With water the finish is less bitter and more balanced, but still spicy and fruity with a good dollop of tannin giving it body.

Overall: I'm seriously divided by this whisky. There is so much flavour and personality to it, I think it may be a little *too* much. It could be the Colin Hunt (who? see here) of whiskies. But then again, it might be that friend you see three times a year, but each time you see them, you have the most amazing night out. Something you couldn't do every week, but once every four months is fine. If you like powerful and full of flavour, then try this but don't blame me if you come way thinking that this whisky should be wearing a wacky tie...

All in, what Auchentoshan have done here is offer whisky drinkers something different: a cask strength edition of a usual release and something a little more, er, off-the-wall, which they should be applauded for. After all, if you don't shoot, you don't score.

The Bordeaux Cask is a good attempt at remix of the Auchentoshan style, but I can't see it making its way out of the specialist clubs on to Radio 1's playlist. But maybe that's the point. The Valinch on the other hand, is the live lounge version of an Auchentoshan hit that should get plenty of day-time play and end up on your Spotify playlist. It's just a shame they chose the Classic and not the Three Wood to beef up, our pick of the Auchentoshan releases.

Right, I'm off to buy some blank C60's and start a new mix tape. Anyone want one? If not, we've put a small playlist together of some of our top drinking songs, on Spotify. Have a listen here.

The Road To Islay. Day One: This Jacket is great. I look like Bill Oddie in this jacket.

Imagine taking all your personal possessions and trying to shove them in to a cigar tube. That’s what travelling on the London Underground with luggage is like. If you take that cigar tube full of your worldly goods, stick it in a microwave and heat it up until it explodes... well, that’s like travelling with luggage, on the tube, in rush hour. In short, it’s a bloody nightmare.

But it seems worth it as currently we’re sitting on the dock waiting for the Calmac ferry over to Islay for the 2011 Feis Ile.

It has been a long journey, rising at 5.45am on Thursday to drive from our digs in Oxfordshire to Glasgow, the first stop on our journey this May. Hitting the town at lunchtime (after filling up on pork pies) we headed to The Good Spirits Co. Glasgow’s newest Whisky shop.

Set up by Mark Connelly of Whisky Whisky Whisky and a couple of others, the shop is a fantastic mix of great indie bottlings, old favourites , as well as some top flight sherries, vermouths and a walk-in humidor. If you’re in town, you HAVE to check it out- you’ll not be disappointed. They will also start hosting tasting at the premises, located at 23 Bath Street. I’m sure if you’re around locally and want to know more details, if you pop in to the shop then they’ll be happy to help you.

Last month, we had an introduction to Auchentoshan’s latest release the 1975 vintage at a launch hosted by master blender Jeremy Stephens but we sadly didn’t have time to visit the actual distillery, so this time, with the rest of the day to kill, we thought it high time to head on over and see the award winning visitors centre. Our tour guides were the irrepressible Jeremy Stephens once again and this time Distillery Manager Alistair MacDonald, who had the unenviable task of explaining Scotland’s only three still triple distillation method to us.

A wonderful tour which doesn’t require you to dress up like the builder from the Village People, we spent an unhealthy length of time discussing yeast and how it works, looking in depth at wash backs and discovering the intricacies of condensers. You even get to knock a bung out from a cask using a hammer with the reward of a dram from the cask, a real highlight.

Seeing the triple distillation process was fantastic. They have even taken samples of the fore-shots from the Spirit Still. This is basically the first part of the third distillation which is removed before the middle-cut is taken and matured in barrels. It contains a huge amount of copper and as such is a incredible turquoise-green colour which eventually settles into a murky-white liquid with the vibrant greens condensed on the top, like a ghost wearing an photo-negative coloured halo. Not something you would ever wish to ingest. Lucky then that is gets re-distilled and eventually has the impurities removed, become perfectly drinkable along the way.

One can see just why their tour and visitors centre has won so many awards and it should be even better after a refurbishment which is taking place later this year.

As we were en route to our fifth (fourth for the blog) Islay festival, the chaps at Auchentoshan told us about their own whisky festival which they host once every two years where they brew their own beer. In fact, they are the only distillery in Scotland to hold a licence for the brewing of their own beer, as well as a licence to distil. Bravo! You’ve got most of the ingredients so why not give it a go. In this case of the guys at Auccy they used the mash from distillery and it has turned out rather well:

Auchentoshan Real Ale – Summer Gold – 5.6% ABV

The aromas are pure mash house, malt and big hops notes. On the palate the beer gives Malty notes, well cooked bacon and then turns into vanilla ice cream drenched in maple syrup. The palate comes to an end with toffee and banana. Overall, this is a very easy drinking beer which maintains so bold flavours without being too stout.

The evening started and ended with drams of our favourite Auchentoshan, the Three Wood which crowned an incredibly informative day in the Lowlands and set us up very nicely for our trip to Islay.

One distillery down, only another eight to get through (plus Islay Ales and the Chocolate Shop) before we return to the south, to try and lose some weight...

Standing at the Auccy...

Hot on the heels of our recent trip to the Lowlands where we visited Cameron Bridge and Glen Kinchie, we find ourselves in Glasgow for a tasting of Auchentoshan, including a sneak preview of their soon to be released 1975 vintage bottling. As some of you will remember 1975 happens to be my birth year and it always seems to take on an additional resonance to drink something produced in the year you just so happened to pop out.

Our tasting began with an introduction to the core range of malts from the distillery's Senior Blender, Jeremy Stephens. What we find intriguing about Auchentoshan is the relationship between the range of expressions 12 Year Old and Three Wood. At their hearts are a series of very prominent key characteristics, despite the type of maturation or age. Tonight's tasting also highlighted just how much of a forward thinking company Auchentoshan have become; in a few short years the brand have considerably increased their output and now sell around 60,000 cases worldwide per year. This might not sound like a lot, but they seem to be appealing to a new, previously untapped group of whisky drinkers - by way of example, Mrs Ridley recently proclaimed Auchentoshan Three Wood as her pathway into enjoying whisky...a big bold statement... and something I have been hoping would happen for nigh on a decade now!!

You can view Mrs Ridley's tasting notes on the Three Wood here.

Auchentoshan - 12yo - 40% - 70cl

Nose: Very distinct aromas of dried coconut, unblanched almonds and cherry drops all greet the nostrils on the first sniff- it is light, but not in the same way perhaps Glenkinchie or Bladnoch is (not remotely zesty, or floral) and definitely has plenty of individual character.

Palate: A slightly off kilter coal/oil like note first hits you, not what I was expecting, but not unpleasant- this subsides into ripe pears, more almond notes and perhaps the deftest hint of sherry wood.

Finish: Lingering fruit notes with a hint of woody oak creeping in on the death.

Overall: A very solid starting point from the distillery's key malt. It perhaps lacks the character demonstrated so eloquently in the brilliant Three Wood, but nonetheless a easy and enjoyable single malt.

Next up and a real coup- a sneaky dram of the brand spanking new Auchentoshan 1975 vintage. We reviewed the distillery's last 2 vintage bottlings (the 1977 and 1998) back in December, with the older whisky showing off a different side to intense sherry cask maturation.

The 1975 is a different beast altogether. It's not clear exactly what type of casks this has come from (we suspect refill Bourbon, rather than 1st fill) ) but with only 500 bottles in the outturn and around 30 for the domestic market, it probably isn't going to be around for long. Looking at the label and packaging- simplicity a great thing indeed... Rest assured, there will be no Lalique decanter here...

Auchentoshan 1975 - 46.9% - 500 bottles- 70cl

Nose: Quite remarkable. Although this is quite the middle-aged gentleman, it exhibits elements of the dried coconut and unblanched almonds found in the 12yo. But then it really starts to come alive. Wow- stewed rhubarb, marshmallows, melted brandy butter and gingersnap biscuits are all there in abundance. Balanced, rich, moreish, wonderful.

Palate: A huge hit of tropical fruit takes you by surprise - very unexpected indeed. It's mango and passion fruit, but then a little smoked pork begins to take over and we're off in a different direction, with white pepper, hints of aged tobacco and then back to some sweetened tinned peaches and cream. Utterly brilliant.

Finish: The fruit lingers nicely, with the peaches being the overriding force.

Overall: An absolute delight of a whisky. Make no mistake, I am probably harder on whiskies from this year than any other, but this one is totally spot on. The birthday collection I have been slowly building when I can afford to is developing nicely but now it has an Auchentoshan shaped hole in it. Damn it...

Lowlands trip Day Three: How 'Low' can you actually go??

Technically, this isn't really 'Day Three', as we were only in the Lowlands for 2 days, but we wanted to conclude our mini odyssey with a little round up from the other Lowland distilleries, as well as tasting notes from a few, both open and closed.

There feels like a bit of a buzz in the air about Lowland whiskies presently. As well as William Grant's huge operation Ailsa Bay, We have the opposite end of the spectrum with Daftmill (www.daftmill.com) the newest functioning Lowland distillery in Fife, Who have been producing spirit since 2005, but not bottling for at least another 4-5 years. We may well soon have a brand new one to contend with, in the shape of The Falkirk Distillery Co. who look to have got their licenses in order and are busily developing their plans for a brand new Lowland single malt. We reported this last year and now the company has a fully up-to-date website with a little more detail... www.falkirkdistillery.com

Time will tell if the project gets off the ground, but any new distillery is good news in our eyes so best of luck to the owners. Hot on their heels are another group of new contenders Kingsbarns Distillery (www.kingsbarnsdistillery.com) who are looking to locate a distillery, not far from St Andrews and a short distance from the aforementioned Daftmill. They've teamed up with pioneering Tasmanian distiller Bill Lark so the results look promising on paper. More info as we get it.

Now for something a little different. It gives me great pleasure to introduce Mrs Carrie Ridley, Mrs Caskstrength for her very first whisky review! Carrie was so taken with Auchentoshan's Three Wood that we asked her to put her thoughts down and her own style of tasting notes. Go girl....

Don’t be alarmed. It’s not that caststrength.net have opted to balance the sexes by opening the floor up… to a ‘girl’. But I was invited by Neil Caskstrength (my other half) to explain my partial whisky ‘epiphany’ that I had recently experienced.

You see, I’d been asking for a bottle of Auchentoshan Three Wood for a while when Neil Caskstrength presented me with one as a Christmas present last month. This being most unusual for me since I don’t proclaim to be a ‘whisky drinker’, far from it. Over the years I have struggled to enjoy the fine flavours and complexities of whisky on my palate, despite many efforts to overcome this. But there was something different about this Three Wood release when I tasted it last summer at the Taste Of London Festival. Something that actually made me think I could claim this as the one whisky I would like to taste more of and savour on a regular basis.

Auchentoshan - Three Wood - 43%

On first nosing, it seemed so different to the previous drams I’ve tried. Soft, fruity (orange zest, anyone?) and buttery, not that overwhelming kick-back, that a novice whisky drinker senses when approaching a glass. I felt suitably intrigued to go in further and see if this might be something I could enjoy more of. And indeed it was. More of that butter smoothness on first taste, almost a whole Werther’s Original in there, followed by the subtle smoky textures you would expect from a bottle called ‘Three Wood’. Lots of dried fruit notes also grabbed the taste buds, reminding me of some of the Oloroso and Pedro Ximenez sherries I tried on a recent trip to Porto.

Finally, a Whisky I can definitely envisage myself curling up on the sofa with. It’s been a long time coming but well done Auchentoshan, hopefully this will be the turning point for me and I’ll be able to sample a few more from the Caskstrength vaults with a more open mind to see what all the fuss has been about over the last 3 years!!

Thanks Carrie- hopefully we'll be bringing you a few more 'Mrs Caskstrength's Recommendations' over the coming months...

Next up- The Lowland's 'lowest' distillery- draw a line out east from Bladnoch, next to Wigtown and you'll hit Carlisle. We recently tasted Bladnoch's 8yo, bottled at caskstrength and was mightily impressed by its vibrant fruitness and bite.

Bladnoch - 8yo - 55%

Nose: Very fresh notes of nectarines, ripe plums, fresh bread/yeast, marzipan, fudge and clean cereals.

Palate: Warming, with a mild fruitiness, wheat and grass notes with a mild oily texture and citrus notes on the front. With a dash of water, the cereals open up, to reveal some sweet, barley sugar notes. Very satisfying indeed.

Finish: Short, but clean and malty.

Overall: For a youngish whisky, this has some solid fruity depth, coupled with a clean, refreshing palate. Definitively Lowland and certainly a distillery we'll be visiting soon, with a view to exploring the more mature whiskies in their portfolio.

Our final dram from this wonderful trip has a special resonance for me. In the past year, i've been putting together a list of birthday whiskies, to enjoy with friends on my 40th birthday. Although it's still 5 years away, i'm a bit of a hoarder and I certainly feel like buying a few decent bottlings now, before the price goes through the roof, just in time for all those folks who turn 40 in the same year. So I picked up a bottle of Linlithgow or, using its alternative name, St Magdalene. The distillery, based in the town of Linlithgow, not a million miles from Glenkinchie fell silent in 1983, along with that other long lost great from the Highlands, Brora.

This Murray McDavid 'Mission' bottling was distilled in 1975 and bottled in 2004, making it 29 years old. The last time I tried a St Magdalene/Linlithgow was in a bar in Cape Town and, to be honest, I was a little disappointed. I decided to open this now for a sneaky dram, as my curiosity got the better of me. Let's see where it takes us...

St Magdalene - Murray McDavid Mission bottling - Distilled 1975 - bottled 2004 - 46%

Nose: Very dry and grassy at first, but then leading into some quite pronounced floral notes (jasmine, lillies). A hint of dry oak begins to dominate, but with a drop of water, we return to the floral fruitiness with the merest dash of Rowntree's Fruitgums.

Palate: Initially a little bitter, with the oak again taking precedence, but given a few minutes in the glass, this evens out giving more of the Fruitgums, some vanilla sweetness and a dash of green apple skins. Not very developed, but with a bit of vitality hidden away behind a big oak door.

Finish: The palate dries off to a slightly bitter tannic note, with the remnants of the grassy/fruitiness remaining for a short while.

Overall: I can't help but feel a little let down, although it does possess lots of lighter, softer qualities, which are beaten down by the heavy oakiness. I imagine a younger bottling of this would be rather excellent, in a similar fashion to a younger Rosebank, a distillery which, in my opinion also seemingly doesn't age particularly well. Fortunately, I have a trump card up my sleeve when, a few years ago, I bought an extra bottle of The Whisky Exchange's phenomenal SMS 14yo Rosebank, as modelled here by Mrs Ridley. What a corker, eh... ;-)