You Can Not Be Sirius

So, London 2012, the Olympics, has finally hit us. Living so close to the middle of London has proved, against all odds, to be a total and utter joy. The streets are deserted; you can get in to any restaurant, bar or theatre and hotels seem to be dumping rooms at discount prices, like they're going out of fashion. Live anywhere near London? Come on in! You won't find a better time to visit...

And with this smorgasbord of sport available, why would you stay away? Well, one main reason: it's all on the telly. And when I say 'all', I mean ALL! The BBC have done an amazing job covering the event so far with a mind-boggling selection of ways to watch your chosen sport, support your nation live or even catch up on the action from previous days. It really is a joy to behold.

But all has not been plain sailing for this whisky writer. Oh, no. When the time came to apply for tickets, I decided to have a go. Throw my credit card in the ring and see what I got.

The plan was simple: go for big ticket items such as the Men's Tennis Final at Wimbledon, Opening and Closing ceremonies, 100m final... but to add a touch of realism in the mix, I also chose some more 'attainable' tickets: anything at the tennis and football were my two picks... especially the football, as I was advised that I would get two matches over the course of an afternoon / evening. What better way to spend an August afternoon than kicking back with a couple of mates and watching four international teams play on the world stage?

Or so I thought. When the draw for tickets was made, I came away with just one pair of football tickets, for Wed afternoon at Wembley. "Excellent", I thought "I might get a Team GB match and then something else as an entree."

But, just a few weeks before the official start to the games, the draw for the football was made. With great anticipation I waited until the conclusion of the draw and, with bated breath, looked up which games I had got for my money.

The result? Just one match. And that match? Gabon vs South Korea. Oh, dear.

Well, this is what I was given in draw by the Olympic gods so, taking it on the chin, I awaited my tickets. But the punishment from the Olympian deities didn't stop there. 

Oh, no. 

Each set of tickets is hand delivered, to be signed for by the recipient and my tickets chose to turn up, with a loud knock at the door, at 7am on a Saturday. 

Great. Thanks.

When the day of the game came around, I duly made my way across the ghost town and found myself with 76,000 other people, watching Gabon play out an incredibly dull nil - nil draw with South Korea. And thus ends my Olympic experience.

But think for a moment of the chaps from Gabon. Running out to a stadium well over three quarters full (total capacity of Wembley: 90,000). A situation, without being disparaging, that many of those players may never find themselves in again, in their sporting careers. Because that is what the Olympics is all about: providing a world stage to many athletes who you may have never heard of, but who have put themselves in a position of attaining glory through a mix of talent and sheer hard work.

Many new names have appeared just in the last 24 hours. Rowers Heather Stanning and Helen Glover, Shooter Peter Wilson, Gemma Gibbons (left) in the judo... all new names to me, and all new superstars in the UK.

In a similar fashion, there are many indie bottlers out there in the whisky world, trying to battle weekly against the giant single malt and blended brands on our supermarket shelves.  Maybe they don't have the budgets or the resources of their gigantic counterparts, but occasionally someone you have never heard of can turn in a gold medal performance.

Two weeks ago, I headed over to The Whisky Shop in London's Patanosta Square for the launch of a new range of independently bottled whiskies, under the banner Sirius.  This series of bottlings has been put together by Mahesh Patel, the man behind the Nth Whisky Show in Las Vegas, a seriously top-end event which its bottlings aim to replicate.

Having chosen his casks with great care, Patel has gone not for the common man here, but for serious collectors and drinkers, with his bottles starting at £1,000 and going up to £3,750, with all the hooch (two single grains, two single malts) coming from casks in the 1960's.

Working backwards in price, the collection hails a 1967 Dalmore from a rum cask, yielding 89 bottles, for £3,750.

The Dalmore - Sirius Collection - 1967 - 89 bottles - 64.3% abv

Nose: Cocoa (chocolate mousse), strong notes of dark sugar and rich oak.

Palate: Rich fruits, honey-heather, dark chocolate and a hint of candied orange.

Finish: Sweet, unctuous and delicious.

Overall: A great whisky but second on the rostrum with silver in this competition...

The continues with a North British from 1962 (138 bottles, £1,250 bottled at 44.5% abv) and a Fettercairn from 1965 (39 bottles, £1,750 bottled at 52.6% abv) but the real star of this show is a new name to me: Carsebridge, the grain distillery which was closed in 1983.

Carsebridge - Sirius Collection - 1965 - 63 bottles - 41% abv

Nose: Figs and honey, orange and the lovely subtle tones you always get from a grain whisky of banana and pine. This is very well aged and has a simply wonderful nose.

Palate: Fantastic oddly malty tones with cooked banana and maple syrup. Smooth and incredibly drinkable.

Finish: Orange creams, milk chocolate.

Overall: Simply stunning. A gold medal winner of a whisky. Seriously awesome.

As a collection, this series does a great job of showcasing some great old malts and, more importantly, some great old grains. It may not be aimed at people with a limited income, but for those out there with some serious (sirius) cash to splash, it'll be a great education as to what sort of quality can be attained from the right casks at the right age, especially with the grain examples here.  

And if this is what a grain from 1965 tastes like, I'm off to find some more undiscovered superstars...

Double Dip

London's public transport can be as complicated and efficient as elections in Zimbabwe, with as many potential daily fatalities and a price inflation to rival the Bread Basket of Africa. Add to this that London's richest natural resource, its workforce, relies on a public transport system as stable as Kerry Katona, it seems to underline the old adage that

"It doesn't matter who wins the rat race; you're still a rat"

Fed up with scurrying underground like a human-sized rodent, I've recently picked up the gauntlet thrown down by mop-topped Mayor of London Boris Johnson and joined his new "shared bike scheme".

For those of you who live outside the Capital, a network of bikes and bike docking stations have been install across Central London. £45 a year gets you unlimited use of a bike, in 30min portions, for free.

Sounds wonderful.

And it is... when the docking stations have bikes.

And when you can find a docking station with space to drop off your trusty two-wheeled steed.

Oh and of course the imminent threat of death at every traffic light, roundabout and junction. I predict London to have its own "angles share" soon: 2% p.a. loss of cyclists...

Aside from the above, the scheme works a treat and I have been taking full advantage of it in the last week. I always saw the sights of London when travelling by bus, but now I can slow down when a stunning view wheels in to sight. I can stop and gaze in to shop windows. I can woolf-whistle attractive ladies. Anyone got a number for Sky Sports? I hear there are some jobs going...

Earlier in the week I was using a Boris Bike to make a short hop from Waterloo to London Bridge. Trying to avoid a major junction and thus certain death (!), I opted to take a side street and found myself slap bang in the middle of a small Farmers Market.

Swerving to avoid a Guardian reader who had heard about the market's existence, probably via a tweet from The Green Party, my eye caught a stand selling whisky and so I weaved across the pavement to pull up by the stand. I was greeted by a lovely gent selling 3 blended whiskies. Well, 1 blend and 2 vattings, to be precise.

The blend on offer was Pigs Nose, the sister whisky to the more well known vatting Sheep Dip. These two were joined by a newer bottling: Sheep Dip 'Old Herbridean' 1990 Vintage, an intriguing vatting of 25 Year Old Ardbeg, 21 Year Old Fettercairn and 19 Year Old Dalmore, all married together at a young age and left to mature for 15 Years in an ex-American Oak cask.... sounds like a match made in heaven to me.

Sheep Dip 'Old Herbridean' 1990 Vintage – 40% ABV

“25 Year Old Ardbeg, 21 Year Old Fettercairn and 19 Year Old Dalmore”

Quick question: I thought that if you added a vintage on to a bottle of whisky, all the whisky in the bottle must be from that year. With all this whisky at different ages, which is the 1990 Vintage? Anyone know?

Nose: The Ardbeg flies directly up the nose and the peat smoke is use to power through classic sherry whisky notes such as dried fruits, dates and figs. The American cask used to additionally mature hasn’t detracted from the orginal sherry notes, which is surprising. Totally Ardbeg on the nose, however.

Palate: This is where it starts to get a little weird. The Ardbeg from the nose is certainly still there, but this time the rounded Highland Malts grab the limelight away from the smoke. After an initial hit, the smoke is all but gone, leaving the sweet honey notes of the Dalmore and Fettercairn behind. The smoke lingers, but delicately burning away in the background, like a cottage in the distance with their peat fire burning away.

Finish: The smoke dies quickly and the dried fruits hangs around just long enough to remind you that they’re still there.

Overall: An excellent vatting which has turned out to be a real corker for this company. 15 years ago who would have seen this turning out as it has? £50 isn’t cheap for this bottle, but in today’s prices it seems worth it. The closest thing I’ve had to Ardbeg’s excellent Nam Beist since it was discontinued.

This whisky is clearly Sheep Dip’s jewel in the crown. So let’s check out their other, more standard bottling

Sheep Dip – Vatted Malt Whisky – 40% ABV

“Woven from 16 single malt whiskies” this was originally blended by Richard Patterson.

Nose: Soft on the nose, this gives cinnamon and toffee apples. Some cloves and the slightest hint of wood smoke and wood spice. Orange peel gives the whole thing a hint of Old Fashioned.

Palate: Toffee hits first, backed with pears in syrup and some wood spices. Sweet tea with no milk and a hint of lemon finish this palate off. Slightly unusual but nicely complex, it takes water very well.

Finish: The wood spices linger to leave cinnamon and some wood smoke and tree bark. Ice tea returns for a lingering, spicy finish.

Overall: A pleasant drink that benefits from a splash of water to open up those 16 single malt whiskies. Occasionally they each fight a little too hard for attention, but the overall experience is sweet, spicy and easy drinking.

Pig’s Nose – Blended Scotch Whisky – 40% ABV

“A backbone of Invergordon grain which is enhanced by specially selected aged Speyside, Highland, Islay and Lowland Malts” – that’d be a full house, then!

Nose: A massive hit of toffee comes though then backed by soil or petiole (patchouli). A hint of smoke at the back. Simple, but effective.

Palate: Less sweet tea and more sweet, milky coffee for this one. Classic grain in there with that slightly gluey nature (PVA) that grain whisky has, but the main job is to hold together the rest of the flavours, which this does well. A robust, warm and ever so slightly smoky palate with hints of green apple.

Finish: A big hit of spice (Chinese Five Spice) and back to the green apple for the death.

Overall: This also holds together well with water. In fact, I’d go as far as to say that both the Pig’s Nose and the Sheep Dip are better with a fair old splash of H2O. A well constructed blend but I don’t think it is going to set the world on fire. Very much the Jamie Murray to the Old Herbridean's Andy Murray.

And so my cycling experient of London has been deemed a success. Not least because of the accidental discovery of a small Famers Market selling whisky, but the effect of shrinking my waist line whilst not shrinking my bank balance means there is more room (in all senses) in my life for extra whisky drinking.

Unfettered At Last

So far, it's been a busy week for new whisky launches. (and, it seems, for twitter rumours... yawn) Bowmore's 40 yo, Dalmore's 45 yo Aurora (see tomorrow's post) were officially launched and on Wednesday, a distillery, which has yet to feature on Caskstrength decided to open its doors to a few guests. Fettercairn, named after the gaelic for 'wooded copse' was shrouded in darkness and a hint of rain, as we pulled up on Wednesday evening. But that didn't dampen our anticipation- tonight we were promised an insight into the re-birth of an oft-maligned brand... and a hearty dinner in some unusual distillery locations.

Our starting point was Fettercairn's 24yo, which was heartily thrust into our hands as Distillery Manager David Doig regaled the assembled guests with some history about the distillery. We were surprised to find out that William Gladstone, erstwhile Prime Minister of the UK once owned it and, being the good soul that he was, abolished the tax which used to be levied on the angel's share....
Truth be told, the 24yo really didn't sit that well on our palate- quite hot & rubbery, with a oaky/bitter note, which left us feeling slightly ill-at-ease about what was to come, but we needn't have worried- the whisky we were about to try was brand new in its inception, the handiwork of Richard Patterson, AKA The Nose...



Fettercairn's Fior (meaning 'Pure') is the distillery's re-birth bottling. Limited to 1,500 cases, it is essentially a NAS vatting of 3 styles of Fettercairn; A large proportion (60%) comes from 15yo casks, 25% from 14yo casks (both sherry and first fill bourbon hoggies) and 15% - and rather importantly, the most interesting note comes from a 5yo heavily peated whisky.
Fior was to provide the pairing to our starter course, (distillery 'Come Dine With Me' perhaps??) smoked salmon served in one of the warehouses (possibly the where the cask filling takes place)

Fettercairn - Fior - 42% - Limited Edition - 1,500 cases

Nose: Treacle toffee, dark orange peel, smoked ham and some very fresh fruity bourbon/vanilla notes. Then more peat smoke, gentle but enveloping. A really delightful balance.

Palate: Tropical fruits, sweet cereals, cherry sherbet and Hubba Bubba bubble gum (the original, fruity pink version)

Finish: More sweetness, leading into a nice orange citrus note.

Overall: Robust, but wonderfully light in places, backed up with the peated notes. Fettercairn has most defintely come alive with this brand new bottling. With any luck it'll be introduced as a regular bottling.

Next up and we were whisked away from the filling warehouse to our next culinary destination. David explained that we might want to remove our coats at this point... as we mounted the stairs to the stillroom!!

Yes, that's right- a fully set dining table had been laid out within the stillroom, which was in operation as we took our seats. Extraordinary stuff!



Anyone who has visited Fettercairn will notice something unique about their stills. Around the neck of each, lies an irrigation ring, which gives a continuous cascade of water (heated to 93 Centigrade) running down the outside of the neck, aiding reflux. In essence, it's like a little waterfall for the still and Fettercairn are the only distillery in Scotland to use such a technique- dating back since their inception.

A pile of wholesome meat pie was our next course, washed down with the next dram- Fettercairn 30 yo. Sleeves rolled up and with a slightly fevered brow, we got stuck in...

Fettercairn - 30 yo - 43.3 %- 70cl

Nose: Immediate tropical fruit notes, giving an almost irish whiskey aroma. Licorice, some slightly waxy oiliness, fruit pie and cream, fudge and then a little Demerara sugar. Absolutely cracking.

Palate: More fruit (Passion fruit) tropical sherbet, classic lemon sour sweets, menthol and that licorice from the nose all unite for a very complex palate indeed. With a little water, a mandarin orange note emerges.

Finish: The tropical fruit lingers, with a slightly soapy back flavour (reminiscent of older Bowmores)

Overall: This really is a very impressive dram - incredibly fruity and lingering. Highly recommended.



Once again, we were whisked off to another location (but not before we'd managed to finish our generous dram of the 30yo!) to enjoy dessert and the final drams of the night. The dunnage warehouse was considerably cooler than the stunning backdrop of the stillroom, but nonetheless thrilling.



The room was thick with the classic aromas of maturing whisky- musty oak, dry sherry and a fruity topnote of bourbon, all of which combined beautifully with our pud (a slab of chocolate mousse) and the Pièce de résistance - Fettercairn 40yo. Aged in Apostoles palo cortado sherry casks, 463 bottles have been produced of this malt from 1969, highlighting the huge ambitions that Fettercairn clearly have.

Fettercairn 4o yo - 40% - 463 bottles - 70cl

Nose: Highly polished mahogany surfaces, Playdoh, some very malty cereal, honeycomb, leading into tannic oak, and some freshly laundered linen. Mightily complex- perhaps not as exciting as the 30yo but still very beguiling indeed.

Palate: Similar tropical fruits (clearly something of a distillery character) big oak influence (dry, but not bitter) hints of bourbon vanilla/citrus, sweet milk chocolate and caramel.

Finish: Although this is bottled at 40% a few drops of water really did broaden the palate out, with the fruit firmly taking the lead.

Overall: Perhaps not as impressive as the 30yo, (which really oozed absolute class) this bottling is an indication that the distillery has produced some fabulous casks in the past. Long may that continue.

With a postprandial drop of Fior to help us on our merry way, We can report that Fettercairn is most definitely a distillery in the frame for further greatness. We can only hope that Whyte & Mackay's investment will continue to be healthy. Many thanks to David and his team for a most entertaining and highly insightful evening!!