Braving The Elements

Next week, Caskstrength are off to Helsinki for the second annual Uisge Festival - Finland's first dedicated whisky festival. We'll be doing a talk on cask finishes so hopefully there will be plenty of discussion points - and some decent drams to analyse!

In preparation for the sub-zero temperatures and snow, we've bought some new clothing: Boots with big laces and thick soles (the Berlin brogues 'debacle' is still firmly in our mind), as well as some decent cardigans (somewhere in-between Val Doonican and Starsky) and new hats. As fur is a little bit non-pc, we went for the soft option of an ear hat, rather than this rather startlingly dressed gentleman!!

And rather like filling your car with anti-freeze, we're topping up the blood levels with whisky, so we don't freeze internally.

Fortunately, a brace of samples from BenRiach has just arrived, so without further ado, time to start warming!!

Benriach - 17yo - Rioja Cask Finish 46%

Nose: Fruit sherbet, whisky steeped raisins, dried cherries, a little waft of liquorice and some mint.

Palate: Ooh! A very nice balance between sweetened liquorice, some clove/all spice and more of the steeped raisins. Some thick malt extract notes develop, alongside a touch of burnt orange, but all in all, rather nice indeed.

Finish: Lingering notes of the raisin and dried cherry.

Overall: Surprising, as we have tried a few wine finishes recently and with the exception of Glenmorangie's Artein they were all quite sub -standard. This really works though - with enough of a balance between malt and sweetness to satisfy even the most demanding of palates.

next up: a heavily peated madeira cask bottling...

BenRiach - 13yo - Heavily Peated Madeira Cask - 46%

Nose: A blast of young peat on the first nosing- confirms the name of this whisky, without question. Some tweed, woollen notes develop and a deft sweetness, but the peat is without a doubt the domineering force here.

Palate: As expected, some bonfire-like smoke washes over the tongue, but brings with it notes of strawberries and cream, some dark toffee and a hint of Java coffee. There is more depth than the nose, but minus the slightly sweet fruit notes, you'd be hard pressed to tell this was matured in a madeira cask.

Finish: lingering sweetness and an ashy peaty coating.

Overall: Straight, direct and luscious peat. Elements of sweetness too, but one for the peat hounds out there for sure.

We'll bring you a couple more of these over the next few days - thus completing our warming preparation for chilly Finland! Stay tuned...

16 Men of Artein. Glenmorangie Artein Arrives...

We're barely 2 weeks into Christmas and bang! the first big contender for 2012 arrives at our door. Glenmorangie Artein (which is derived from the Gaelic word for stone) follows on from the largely successful experiments the distillery have conducted using additional maturation in unusual wine casks. Pride was matured for an additional ten years in casks which held Chateau d'Yquem Sauternes and Nector D'or a similarly sticky experiment, albeit without such long secondary maturation.

Glenmorangie Artein is one of the distillery's 'Private Editions', based on the Glenmo' Classic but additionally matured in 'barriques' containing 'Super Tuscan' Sassicaia wine. According to Dr Bill Lumsden, creator of the whisky, 'two different ages of extra matured Glenmorangie have been married together- some 15 years old from 1996 and some 21 years old from 1990'.

Sounds intriguing. We haven't always been the best of friends with additional wine maturation, but after tasting the excellent Pride, we're more than prepared to take a 2nd look at this increasingly expressive way to create something different in whisky.

Glenmorangie - Artein - 46% - Lab Preview Sample

Nose: Initially a little note of spirit, giving the impression that this is higher in strength than it actually is, but this quickly subsides into a basket of fruit; think fresh red berries, bananas, candied peels, vanilla and floral wax. Wonderfully light and refreshing. Given time, it develops a tinned fruit note, with creamy vanilla custard, sponge fingers and a touch of the sweet wine. Luxurious trifle? Bang on the money. Lovely.

Palate: Sweet, with a hint of unctuous dessert wine, then into ripe plums, some woody spices, green apple peel and the first crusty bite of a festive toffee apple.

Finish: Lingering fruit notes, then a waxy/woody and surprisingly creamy and honeyed aftertaste.

Overall: Hugely expressive and frankly very easy to write tasting notes on. The fruit and cream intermingle in harmony and underneath, the wine influence doesn't take this too far into the experiment-gone-too-far territory. All in all, a cracking whisky for after dinner, in preference to a glass of sticky....