Hello World, We're Back! The Dalmore 25 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky

Ahhhh, it’s nice to be back in front of the computer writing for fun. Not that all the writing we do isn’t fun, but there is something liberating about writing a piece for this site which doesn’t require a word count nor a deadline!

Recently you may have noticed a slight, erm, scarcity to the level of posts we’ve been penning. Never one to shirk away from our duties, our eyes, hands, ears and, most importantly, taste buds have been kept busy in a different direction, finishing off a book (a proper physical one with paper pages and everything) due out next year and meddling with this wee beast: www.3dwhisky.com 

But here we are again, back in the game and ready to bring you some tasty wee morsels in the lead up to Christmas.

And a bloomin’ good job too as the samples are piling up on our desk here at Caskstrength HQ. So, what better way than to kick this week off with than a new release from Whyte & Mackay.

As I sat down to write this piece, my inbox pinged with news from leading drinks industry fact-mongers Just-Drinks. It informed me (and the rest of the world, too) of what Diageo, now ‘owners’ of Whyte & Mackay, were planning to do with the host of whisky brands acquired since their take over earlier in the year of then Indian-owned United Spirits.

Until everything is confirmed about who the parent company will eventually be in this liquid custody battle, refereed by the Office of Fair Trading, the folk over at W&M have been busy expanding their core range of The Dalmore, adding to the already existing 12, 15, 18, Cigar Malt Reserve and excellent King Alexander III (our personal fav) with a 25 year old offering.

We first tried this new release about two week ago when the sample arrived in our office. Dave Broom had popped in to say hello ahead of the annual IWSC dinner where he was to be bestowed with his much deserved Communicator of the Year award (well done, Dave), but we didn’t get a chance to really sit with the whisky, take notes and savour the whole experience, so we were looking forward to a quite time when we could really relax and give this new experssion our full attention.

So what of theliquid? Well, once fresh from the stills, this Dalmore was matured in American white oak casks before being divided into Palomino Fino sherry butts and first-fill bourbon casks. Once matured, the whiskies were married together once again into bourbon barrels before finally being transferred into Tawny Port pipes from Portugal.

Quite the international journey for a humble Scottish spirit! It sounds complicated, but nowhere near as complex as the King Alexander, which is a blend of Dalmore matured in French wine casks, Madeira drums, Sherry butts, Marsala barrels, Port pipes and Bourbon barrels. Over complicated? Not in the case of the King Alex, but let’s see how the 25 year old fares...

The Dalmore – 25 Years Old – 3000 bottles only – 42% abv – RRP £600 Available here or here

Nose: Toffee fudge is the first note to rise from the glass, followed by some marzipan and strong bergamot. These orange notes develop in a rich marmalade smothered on hot toast. With a hint of water tropical fruits come through.

Palate: Rich and rounded, the bergamot flavours take the driving seat with burnt sugar, toasted almonds and a hint of black pepper and cinnamon spices on top. Very rich mouthfeel With water the whisky opens up a little to give all the previous flavoured a much more rounded and sweet tone. Personal preference, at the risk of being chastised by The Dalmore’s Richard Paterson himself, is with ever such a small drop of H2O.

Finish: The spices and dried orange peel tingle away at the back, but with water this is rounded off for a more subtle, quite frankly, delicious.

Overall: A unanimous decision here in the Caskstrength office that this is, wait for it, “a really excellent whisky”. A great way to get us back in the swing of things, as we head towards the prime whisky drinking time of Christmas and the New Year.

Music, Malt and Maturation: Bushmills Live 23 Year Old Irish Whiskey

I’ve been very lucky in life: at an early age I started promoting and managing bands and a few years later I had my dream job in the A&R department at Island Records. I spent nearly a decade discovering, signing and developing new acts and in that time I was consistently asked one question: how do I discover a great artist?

  

Now working in a different industry as whiskey writer, I am still asked one question consistently: how do I discover a great whiskey? Simply, the best way to discover great whiskey, is with friends.

In my previous working life I discovered that there is no simple formula to finding new musical talent, but there are key ingredients, two of which are friendships and experience. Add to these the luxury of time and a solid understanding of the wider cultural landscape and you tend to have a winning formula.

One can draw parallels here with whiskey; it is the experience of the farmer that lets him grow the best barley, the Master Distiller to create the best spirit and, of course, the experience of that spirit in oak casks. Similarly, if you speak to any musician about the art of song writing, they’ll tell you the same is true in their field (excuse the pun) - emotion and experience are the ‘barley, water and yeast’ for them; their very own raw ingredients.

Alongside these key ingredients, time is a vital element to the development of both whiskey and music. When crafting a song, it is rare for an artist to be suddenly hit by inspiration like a bolt of lightning. Most work hard and collaborate with friends to perfect their craft; the results can often take years, sometimes decades, to hone.

In the same way, time allows whiskey to mature. Keeping an eye on the maturation process is one of the nicer jobs at a distillery. Nosing casks, assessing which need more time to develop and eventually which ones are ready to be released into the world surely rivals most dream jobs I can think of.

An ability to understand the lay of the land is also crucial for music and whiskey crafting: at any record label, it is the role of an A&R Manager to have an intimate knowledge of the landscape of current talent, deciding who’s worth investing in and eventually releasing at the right time. This demands knowledge of unsigned acts which are self-releasing records, touring, recording, getting press and radio play, tweeting, selling merchandise...you get the picture.

It is a skill akin to understanding the maturing stocks at a distillery, except the artists are casks and the warehouse, the world. At Island Records, my former home for many years, we had a formidable roster, ranging from Bob Marley to U2. Being tasked with adding to this list, I felt less like a talent spotter and more like the custodian of a legacy. 

Last year Bushmills Irish Whiskey brought the music and whiskey worlds together in a unique event, inviting a mixed group of up-and-coming and established artists to play live at their distillery, helping people to enjoy whiskey and music in the best way possible: with friends.

As a result, ‘Bushmills Live’ was born and this year the distillery opened their gates once again, as the next generation of acts arrives to ply their craft alongside the next generation of whiskey, both maturing as they do, side-by-side.

Musicians and whiskey makers both have a very similar approach: preparation now for future success. So where better for these two to meet than in a location which, for centuries, has been doing one thing brilliantly: preparing today for success tomorrow.

The list of acts at this year’s event included some big name acts, such as Of Monsters And Men, Jake Bugg, Iain Archer (a personal friend of the blog) and a band I have been meaning to catch for a while now: Bear’s Den.

Bear’s Den is a new band, signed for a few EP’s to Communion, Mumford & Son’s label. We had the pleasure of seeing them again when we ran some whiskey tasting for the bands at Mumford’s recent sell out show at the Queen Elizabeth Olympic Park (and something we’ll have the pleasure of again on Saturday in the wonderful town of Lewes) and quite wonderful they were, too. If you’ve never heard them play, I strongly suggest you click on this link and listen to their track Agape; a truly beautiful tune.

Bushmills created a bespoke whiskey for the headline act, Of Monsters And Men, using casks from sherry and bourbon barrels, from the years the band members were born; 1987, 1989 and 1990 making it a 23 year old single malt.

Bushmills – Of Monsters And Men – 23 Year Old Irish Single Malt Whiskey - 40% - 70cl

Nose: A big hit of vanilla and maple syrup, icing sugar, some figs and dates. Lighter, grassy tones gives this whiskey some vibrant energy.

Palate: Milk chocolate gives way to rich sherry tones, dark cherry and some sponge cake with strawberry jam and vanilla icing.

Finish: Lasting malty tones, with a hint of fresh kiwi and the strawberry jam again. Some mint.

Overall: An excellently constructed whiskey where the age shines through but with some extra, vibrant energy, too.

As we saw in our Jam & Dram exercise in May, music and whisk(e)y go hand-in-hand. Next time you put on a record, or go to a gig, forgo your usual pint and choose something altogether more in line with the work, effort and artistry on stage: a whiskey.

Caskstrength And Carry On: Bottle 'C'

Ahoy, Mateys!

Okay, we’ll admit it... the frequency of posts on Caskstrength.net has not been as regular as we would have liked so far in 2013. The number of samples piling up on our desk is beginning to resemble World of Whiskies at Heathrow T5 and we will, we promise, get rolling on these very soon, so expect a landslide of entertaining, educational and irreverent posts later this month and on in to the new year.

One of the reasons we’ve been slightly distracted recently is due to us working hard on getting everything sorted for our new bottling in our series of A – Z whiskies.

You’ll remember that we started our A – Z with a single cask Arran release in 2011 for 'A', followed up by last year’s BenRiach, for B. Both of which were highly limited and sold in a heartbeat... and so, as night follows day, our ‘B’ bottling will be followed by our ‘C’ offering.

In order to have this next release lined up, Neil and I have been up and down to Scotland, like a crazy whisky yoyo, making sure each and every detail of this next release has been covered and so far it’s looking ship shape and Bristol fashion...  We’re very excited about it, so much so, that we’ve shot a little teaser video to give you a taste for what is on the way, with a slight twist: we’re not actually going to tell you what it is, just yet.

And this is where you step in. 

If, after watching the video, you have an educated guess as to which ‘C’ we are bottling, then you can send us your guess, along with your age and country of residence, to carryon@caskstrength.net and we’ll pick TWO winning entries to send a free bottle to. Closing date for the competition is 15^th March 2013 and the usual T&C’s apply (over legal drinking age, etc).

Caskstrength And Carry On / Teaser Trailer from Caskstrength Creative on Vimeo.

(for those of you on our mailing list, the video can be found by clicking this link here)
(for those of you on an Android device, you can watch on youtube by clicking here)

The whisky will be officially released on March 27th at 10am though Master of Malt. We are yet to finalise the RRP, but as with the last two, will be priced at a level which makes us look a little bit mental...