Objects of Desire: The Diageo Special Releases 2014 Single Malt Scotch Whiskies

There are many things in life that I’d like to have, but simply can’t afford. I think that must be true for all of us. But in my list of ‘objects of desire’, most are items that I already own. For example, I have a watch. I’d like a nicer one. I own a car, but would bite your hand off to trade in a seven year old Volvo estate for a Bentley Continental. Quite frankly, I can still tell the time as accurately as the next man, and I get stuck in the same traffic jams as the chap in the posh car next to me.

None of this quenches the thirst for ‘want’, however. And once again the carrot of desire is being dangled in front of the Scotch drinker with the annual release of Diageo’s ‘Special Releases’.

This year, eleven different single malts have been chosen from the rare stocks of casks across Diageo’s warehouses, some from closed distilleries, others from ones very much alive and kicking. So let’s have a look at the list of releases and, as we attended a pre-release tasting of all eleven single malts on offer last week, have a look at which of these are 9 carat gold and which are simply just 9 carrots...

DISTILLERY	AGE AT BOTTLING	YEAR DISTILLED	UK RRP	% ABV ON BOTTLING	VOLUME RELEASED (BOTTLES)
THE SINGLETON OF GLENDULLAN	38	1975	£750	59.8%	3,756
CAOL ILA UNPEATED	15	1998	£75	60.39%	10,668
CAOL ILA	30	1983	£425	55.1%	7,638
CLYNELISH	SELECT RESERVE	1999* (apparently youngest whisky in vatting)	£500	54.9%	2,964
CRAGGANMORE	25	1988	£299	51.4%	3,372
LAGAVULIN	12	2002	£80	54.4%	31,428
PORT ELLEN	35	1978	£2,200	56.5%	2,964
ROSEBANK	21	1992	£300	55.3%	4,530
BENRINNES	21	1992	£240	56.9%	2,892
BRORA	35	1978	£1,200	48.6%	2,964
STRATHMILL	25	1988	£275	52.4%	2,700

Quite a line up, when you sit back and look at exactly what has been chosen to go into glass this year. Turning up at the tasting was a mind-boggling affair, faced with 11 cask strength single malts is always a challenge, no matter how used to flights of that nature you are. But kicking off with a quick nose of the range, there were certainly some stars emerging from the pack.

The first one to call out, is the Cragganmore. At 25 years old, this carried an unusually buttery and sweet nose, with red apple, orchard fruits and popcorn. The palate was sweet with a big marmalade hit and the vanilla (from the new ends attached to the casks, perhaps?) gave it a vibrant finish for such an old whisky.

For those of you that love a heavy malt, the Benrinnes 21 year old was all Bovril and steak pies (not far off the one I had the night before) and delivering venison in a chocolate sauce on the palate. Very odd. Not for me, but I can see fans of this heavier style of whisky really going bonkers for it.

Of the rarest selection of closed distilleries, there was a return to Rosebank, with another 21 year old release, a step back in age from the 25 year old of a few years ago. This gave everything you want from a triple distilled Lowlander, matured in refill American oak casks: a palate of upside cake, vanilla marshmallow and candied orange peel showed well on the night, punching hard for such a light spirit.

There was the traditional Brora... a distillery over which an extreme fuss is always made, but personally, I just don’t know why. Like Morrissey and The Smith for me: I can see why people love ‘em, but I just don’t get it (oh, don’t let Morrissey anywhere near that Benrinnes by the way- too much beef in it for even him!) Yes, Brora is closed and yes, there have been some amazing releases from certain years in the 1970s, but overall, I’ve always felt my money (for my taste) could be better spent. This year’s Brora release will no doubt delight those Broraphiles, and I marked it down as one of my top drams of the night, but my two headline acts for the evening were...

...the latest Port Ellen release (of course) and the fantastic Caol Ila 30 Year Old. Let’s start with the PE. Oh, my it is good. We are finally seeing some increased use of European oak casks here, giving a wider flavour range than we have seen in the past. This is moving away from the peated grapefruit we know and love so well, to actually nodding in the direction of its ‘still alive sister’ Lagavulin, up the road. The nose was bacon bits, the palate giving almost light rum tones and mossy peat. Fantasy stuff, really.

But cracking on from the north of the same island is an amazing offering from Caol Ila. A 30 year old matured in refill American oak casks, the stock from 1983 is incredibly light with peat, toffee and peaches. One of the best for taking water, as well opening up to reveal that wonderful Caol Ila coal dust and bigger toffee notes. Simply wonderful.

The big question as always is over price and this year the big hitting single malts come with big hitting price tags (over £2k for the Port Ellen, for example) but they do have some for under £100, and you can pick up both the Caol Ila unpeated and the Lagavulin 12 for a combined cost of less than a flight to Scotland in the week of the referendum. I vote yes for staying at home with bottle of each.

As much as these are shiny desirable jewels,  with some absolute corkers in there, I just can’t afford the two I really loved. Never mind, my watch still works and it tells me it’s time for a whisky: someone pass the Johnnie Walker Black label. Bloody good stuff, you know. And less than £30 a bottle. What’s not to like about that?

Cheap As Chips: Cadenhead's 1973 Glenfiddich and 1976 Dalmore Single Malt Scotch Whiskies

Those of you who have read this site for a while will remember back to my 30th birthday. In the years leading up to it, I had assembled a collection of bottles from the year of my birth, 1979. Doing so wasn't too difficult (this was in the days when one could purchase a bottle of 1979 Port Ellen from an indie bottler for under £100, and an OB for little over that) and the army of drams which were opened on my celebration day would grace any high end hotel nowadays.

I'm not one of those people who perpetually complain about the price of whisky rising. I understand that it is a finite product and if demand rises, so will prices. Doing so, is like complaining about the current house prices in certain parts of London. 20 years ago, I could have probably afforded to live in, say, Notting Hill. But not these days. Do I complain? No, I just go and live somewhere that is nice and affordable. Move on. Literally.

The price of a bottle of whisky is not determined just by the demand for mature stocks, however. As discussed in a post from last week about the possible shortage of casks coming over from America (legislation tbc), cash-flow plays a major part, too. If more money is needed now to lay stocks down for the future, then you'll more than likely see an uplift in the cost of your beloved dram.

All of this is going to have an effect on whiskies from the year of my birth, 1979 especially when people like me actually go and open the damn things. More so, any Scotch from the 1970’s seems to have seen a fairly hefty price hike in the last few years and my thoughts go out to you if you were born in the 60's, 50's or, god forbid, the 1940s and you’re looking to purchase birthday bottles! My advice would be: stockpile now if you want something to drink on your special birthday in the future.

However, there is hope! The indie bottler often rides to the rescue of those indeed of a rare, old dram and we feature a few of them on this site every so often. But one bottler who we hardly ever talk about (in fact, I don't think we ever do) is Cadenhead’s.

The last time we had a wee drop from these chaps was down in Campbeltown after a visit to Springbank distillery. They have a shop locally and sell some quite astonishing stuff at exceptionally low prices. I used to frequent their shop in London's Covent Garden (before rent price hikes forced them out to Marylebone- see what they did there? When faced with a price hike, they just moved on...) but have sadly not taken the time out to check out their new London store.

Silly me.

Why? Because of bottling such as this:

Cadenhead's 43 yo Glenlivet

I discovered this wee treat behind the bar at the Royal Oak  pub in Dufftown a few weeks ago. Not many people have whisky dating back this far. And not many sell it for well under £200 a bottle. Yeah, you heard: under £200 a bottle.

So, what do Candenhead’s have in store for future release? Well, one of them is their most expensive bottling ever, a 41 year old Glenfiddich from 1973 which comes, as Brand Ambassdor Mark Watt excitedly tells me "in a cardboard box!" and is a single cask which yielded just 96 bottles, retailing for £450.

Glenfiddich - 1973 – 41 Years Old – Wm. Cadenhead – 96 bottles only - 43.1% abv

Nose: A complex nose of sandalwood, petrichor, old diesel locomotives, school desks and furniture polish. This is like sticking your nose into a 1960's ercol cabinet. Some orange peel, fig, angostura bitters... this would be brilliant in an Old Fashioned.  

Palate: Rich and oily, it starts off with apricot jam, dark chocolate-dipped candied orange, some more sandalwood, cinnamon sticks and ginger. Rich and mouthfilling, this could have been dry and woody, but it is as refreshing as a dewy walk through an autumnal wood at dawn.

 

Finish: Apricots, old armagnac and a hint of menthol.

Overall: Rich with great woody notes, a full body and lots of fresh fruits. Fantastic.

Alongside this release is a single cask 37 year old Dalmore, retailing at an astonishing £170.

Dalmore - 1976 – 37 Years Old – Wm. Cadenhead - 150 – 46.4% abv

Nose: Brandy butter, rich clotted cream, some marzipan and toasted almonds give way to the oak, which takes a while to lift from the glass, but once it does it provides a good spicy topline, finally resting on fresh pine needles.

Palate: Vanilla again, rounded with cinnamon and green apple, which quickly develops into toffee apple and light, runny honey. The palate also has an element of watermelon and pear drop sweets. Some custard notes, too.

Finish: Rhubarb and custard sweets.

Overall: A great dram at a stella price, this is all about the vanilla, cinnamon spice and rhubarb & custard.

So, if you look hard enough, you'll find the odd bottle out there which is extremely good value for a well aged product. Just keep your eyes peeled.

Sauce-ages. The Future of Meat Products. Bunnahabhain & Lagavulin - Feis Ile Day two

Hello deer! 

Having spent a great couple of days on Jura, experiencing the island to its fullest (including a three hour bus tour- something we didn’t think possible on an island with just one road, but boy was it informative and fun) it was time to head back to an island we’ve spent a lot more time on: Islay.

Arriving at Port Askaig it seemed only sensible to visit the pair of distilleries which sit just around the corner from Islay’s second port, Caol Ila and Bunnahabhain. We popped in to the former, for a quick hello with the chaps there and to take in that wonderful view back across the Sound of Islay to the Paps of Jura, a must for anyone visiting the island.

If only we’d had our speedboat again, instead of driving back up the hill, along the road and down again, we could have simply nipped around the corner to Bunnahabhain, who were having their Open Day.

Always good value, it has been a wonderful place to hang out over the past few years with some excellent events (last year’s caber tossing even made the back page of our limited edition newspaper, The Daily Cargo, which came with our recent Cutty Sark release), this year proved no different, offering a small stall holders market, band, events and a bar serving a slushie-style cocktail. A nice turn of pace during the week.

Before the event really kicked in, we took some time to sit down with Andrew Brown, the distillery manager at Bunnahabhain. A local chap, he’s worked there for over 20 years and is now the man in charge of making the spirit. Andrew kindly took an hour out of his busy schedule to give us a highly informative lowdown about the history of the distillery, casks, flavour, spirit quality and, of course, a dram or two...

Bunnahabhain – 35 year old – 1971 – 750 bottles only – 44.9% abv – bottle no. 123 – 70cl

Nose: Sweet coconut, vanilla, blood oranges and spices. Creamy with banana notes and soft caramel.

Palate: Dry, but very malty, with dry menthol, fresh mint, buttered toast, cornflakes, liquorice root and some rose notes.

Finish: A light dryness, very fruity with kiwi and peaches and cream. The blood orange from the nose comes back at the death.

Overall: We’d go as far as to say, this is the best Bunnahabhain we’ve had in a long time. Two others were two bottling from Speciality Drinks, sister casks filled on the same day in 1979 (our review from the start of this century can be found here). All of these are really lovely drams, sadly all now long gone...

As is now tradition, Bunnahabhain also have their own festival bottling out. This year it is a 10 year old from a sherry butt and it’s a huge hitter, coming in at 60.1% abv...

Bunnahabhain – Sgeul Na Mara  – 10 Years Old – 606 bottles – 60.1 % abv – 70cl

Nose: Slated caramel, ginger cake and butterscotch. It opens up with water to reveal stewed fruits and a tangy, mandarin note.

Palate: Initially, it is drying with layers of sherry and liquorice, moist oak and stewed apple. With water, it opens up in to more tinned pineapple and the bananas, which we’ve come to love this distillery for.

Finish: The finish gives both green and red apple skins and a big hit of dry oak.

Overall:  A big hitting whisky which needs water to fully open up, but when it does, you won’t be disappointed.

After leaving Bunnahabhain, we took the high road across the island to Port Ellen and onwards up to Ardbeg, our resting place for the next couple of nights. En route, there was time to pop in and see our old friend David Wood, now the Brand Home Manager for both Caol Ila and Lagavulin distilleries, where we were able to share a dram of the excellent Lagavulin festival bottling with him...

Lagavulin – 18 Years Old - Feis Ile 2013 – 3000 bottles – 51% abv – 70cl

Nose: Surely this can’t be right… Earl Grey tea? Yes, there in all its glory is a stupendously fragrant bergamot note, backdropped with all the hallmarks of a classic Lagavulin: sappy woodsmoke, carbolic soap, a rich sherry oakiness and hints of Playdoh and almond marzipan.  Sensational.  

Palate: Again, a fragrant Earl Grey note continues, with a sweet, slightly stewed tea note, wonderfully rounded smoke and a lighter, spicy richness.  It has big similarities to the 16yo, but has an additional power and complexity to it. 

Finish: Lingering wood smoke and fragrant top notes. 

Overall: Another outstanding Feis bottling from Lagavulin, who set the bar stupidly high for themselves nowadays, this delivers... and then some. Some armchair whisky anoraks and Twitterers (or 'Twats' as we like to call them) have been critical about the fact that Lagavulin have discontinued the tradition of releasing a festival single cask, but this whisky squarely bats any criticism back and the larger outturn at least offers a wider global audience a chance to grab a bottle at a sensible (non-grossly inflated-auction) price.

After settling into our Islay accommodation (more on that tomorrow...) we received a visit from our good friends at Master of Malt. Here on their own annual trip, with bags full of goodies, they were en route to iPed2013... International Port Ellen Day 2013. Hosted by @MaltWhiskyBar this has seen some astonishing tastings in the past, including this one (here) from 2011, where every single official Port Ellen release was available to try. 

This time around, Jon Beach led the assembled Port Ellen-ites through a number of indie bottlings in a variety of locations, including outside the maltings, the Oa lighthouse and a sneaky peek into the old malt kiln buildings, now home to an unofficial gym of weightlifting equipment. The distillery may be well and truly dismantled and gone forever, but its liquid legacy remains very much in the hearts (and mouths) of whisky aficionados.