Summer Suntory Releases

Having just returned from Islay, where the daytime mist and drizzle meant that a waxed jacket and cap provided perfect cover for the country walks, I find myself back in London, where the temperature is nearly 30 degrees. I'm laden with a case, several bags and of course, various bottles, which I picked up on Islay including the Lagavulin Distillery Only bottling. If you are over on the island, make a beeline for the distillery and pick one up, whilst they have some left...it is well worth it.

This was the view before the rain decided to return...

Returning to London on the tube with luggage and a waxed coat in sweltering summer temperatures is one of my pet hates, especially that uncomfortable feeling of a slightly sweaty back. It is made all the worse when coupled with very precarious paper carrier bag handles, which threaten to give way at any moment on a packed tube carriage, emptying your precious whiskies out onto the floor.

Despite delays and my blood boiling over, I managed to get home, bag intact, but needing a shower... and almost certainly a big drink.

When we're lucky enough to be blessed with hot weather in the UK, to enjoy whisky in a Mizuwari style or as a highball is certainly the sophisticated way to unwind and Yamazaki 12yo, Hibiki 12yo or a light and fruity Hakushu work a treat. So I whipped one up, using plenty of Yamazaki 12, ice, topped up with soda, with a nice-sized piece of lemon zest thrown in for good measure.

Suntory have recently released 2 new Bourbon Barrel expressions, in time for the UK summer market. whiskies are non-aged, but are matured in fresh, first fill bourbon casks to heighten the sweet, fruity flavours. Around 3,000 bottles will be available across Europe of each expression priced at £69.99. We reviewed the Hakushu earlier on in the year, (which you can read here) and recently got a sample of the Yamazaki Bourbon Barrel release. On initial nosing, both whiskies are very similar - layers of sweet, candied fruit, but here are our more detailed thoughts....

Yamazaki - Bourbon Barrel - limited release bottling - 48.2% - NAS

Nose: Immediate hints of vanilla, white chocolate, heather honey and toffee apple. Given time in the glass, a drier note comes through, something similar to Yamazaki 12yo. Notes of light wax polish and lavender follow, with a touch of water.

Palate: Very sweet, with more white chocolate, coconut macaroons, vanilla sponge cake, carnation milk and a hint of strawberry jam.

Finish: Lingering creamy notes and a drying flavour, reminiscent of dessicated coconut and a touch of spice.

Overall: A hugely enjoyable dram. Sweet and fruity with layers of creaminess, which linger on the palate. If you fancied a rather luxurious Mizuwari, you could use this, but it's such a nice sipper, a couple of blocks of ice or a dash of water will work perfectly for a great summer's day dram.

Easter Treats

5pm on Good Friday and I can't think of a more apt name for a national holiday. The sun is belting into every corner of my little south London garden, i've put the dartboard up and some close friends are coming round for an evening at the Oche, accompanied by a choice of warm weather whiskies... But what to go for?

Well see, here's the dilemma. At Caskstrength towers, the Rosebank is usually placed behind a sheet of glass with a sticker on the front, which reads 'Break me at the first sign of summer'. Do I risk cracking it out now and finishing it all off this weekend? (it's forecast to be a belter here) Kind of feel that if I do, i'll pretty much hex the whole of the summer period and summon up the usual weather we get in South London (rain, with the occasional sideways gale)

So i've held back on the majestic Lowland masterpiece and gone for a choice of 2 drinks for tonight: Firstly, a Yamazaki 12yo served 'Sonic style'...

50ml, into a Hi-Ball glass, topped with ice, half filled with chilled soda water and them topped up with tonic. To garnish, a slice of lemon zest and a sprig of mint. Give it a quick stir and you can confidently parade across your veranda, without a care in the world, except for running out of ice.

My second choice tonight is a Tropical Fruit Whisky Sour, using another cracking Japanese whisky- Hakushu Bourbon Barrel.

40ml of Hakushu (you can use any light, fruity whisky really, but this is great)

10ml lemon juice, 10ml vanilla sugar syrup, a dash of lime juice, 5ml of pineapple juice and if you have any, a little kiwi fruit juice (yeah, ok, so we have lots of fruit to use up, ok!!)

Add the ingredients to a shaker with half an egg white and ice, shake till your hands turn blue and strain into a rocks glass with fresh ice. drop a few dashes of bitters onto the top and garnish with a small piece of lime and a cherry.

A (non) typical view across the plains of South London

The Rosebank remains intact, but I feel my friends and I will be more the merrier as the sun sets in glorious Penge.

Happy easter everyone...

B**locks to Smoothies, Fetch Me A Drink

Fruit is a wonderful thing indeed. Life-giving, wholesome and refreshing. But it's just so damn tedious.

Is it really possible to have a legitimate rant about fruit? Or am I an idiot??

Here's the story. I ended the year, rather enjoying myself a little too much. My cousin had a spectacular wedding on NYE and to see in the celebrations, I enjoyed several drams with my solid as-a-rock 88 year old Grandmother, Joyce. Soon it was 4am by a fireside and I was conducting and impromptu whisky tasting of whatever I had in my Christmas overnight bag- Highland Park, Arran, Ballantine's and a Rye whisky from what I can remember.

And then it was apparently 9am. We had to check out of our hotel and return home.

It suddenly hit me that:

A: I was diabolically hungover

B: Not a single piece of fruit had passed my lips since the 22nd of December.

I had the pallor of Withnail. Also, rather more scarily, my attention span had become so limited that even a programme containing James Corden seemed wildly intellectual.

Surely no way to start 2011. So I went and bought a massive trolley load of fruit. Pineapple, kumquats, kiwifruit, blueberries, mango, bananas, starfruit, Chinese pear, pomegranate, even a bloody papaya.

My intention was, for a week, to cleanse my body using the restorative power of the mother of all smoothies. An explosion of the exotic, bringing together flavours that probably didn't really belong together. In my haste to obtain smoothie perfection, I decided to throw in raw beetroot, milk thistle and some sliced up left over butternut squash. A small dollop of Manuka honey and my drink was ready for blitzing.

It tasted absolutely vile, but undeterred, I gulped down a pint. 10 minutes later, I could feel it working! Well, working its way through me. Not the start to a healthier life I was expecting...

You find me 5 days in and 2 x mega-tropical-smoothies a day have certainly had a profound effect on me. Do I feel remotely healthier? Hard to tell. Do I feel remotely lighter? I cannot tell a lie.

A valuable lesson learned them. Best stick to what you know. So tonight, I've decided to open one of the fruitiest bottles of whisky I think I own.

On my travels last year, I picked up a bottle of the Hakushu Bourbon Barrel from the distillery shop, which has yet to be commercially released in the UK, but which i'm told will hopefully be hitting these shores later on this year, no doubt spurred on from the success of the heavily peated cask bottling. I remember it oozing exotic fruity goodness, due to the influence of particularly fresh first-fill bourbon casks on this usually light and floral whisky. Hakushu was originally built in 1973 and then considerably updated in 1981, with a 'sister' distillery site to concentrate on single malt production. The distillery also boasts a bird sanctuary and to sit outdoors in the sun, sipping a fabulously fruity dram, surrounded by exotic sounds made me feel about as healthy and vibrant as humanly possible.

Will it then, have the same effect some 7 months later in a cold, but sunny Penge, surrounded by Starlings and the occasional plump wood pigeon....

Hakushu - Bourbon Barrel release - NAS - 48%

Nose: Well... you've guessed it. Masses upon masses of fresh tropical fruit. Bananas, mango, raspberries, fresh coconut, zesty lemon, slightly crushed blueberries, vanilla and white chocolate. Absolutely superb in every way. With water, the nose almost resembles fruit/wine gums (especially the orange ones)

Palate: Swathes of sweet creamy coconut milk, strawberries dusted in sherbet, some sharp lemon notes and very clean cereal notes. Similarities to The Glenlivet Nadurra Triumph, but this has a little bit more depth, a little bit more colour. A few drops of water serve to bring out a hint of spice (nutmeg)

Finish: The creaminess subsides, but the palate feels refreshed, with lingering notes of cereal and a return of the tropical fruit notes.

Overall: This is my first dram of 2011. Ok, not so if you take into account the numerous Highland Park 18yo's that seemed to keep disappearing on the morning of the 1st Jan, but you get my drift. My first whisky in 5 days and an absolutely cracking way to start the year proper.