Monkey Magic!

Apologies for our slightly tardy posting this last week... Both Joel any myself have been off exploring various sweaty music venues around the country, where the whisky has been bad and the music worse still. Still - happy times again descend on Caskstrength towers and we have a plethora of new treats to taste and start smiling about...

First up and a blended treat. We had intended April to be a blended whisky special, but had a few cracking single malts to get through (including the superb Balvenie 21 year old Port Wood finish) that demanded presidence. Stay tuned for some interesting blending reviews and 'experiments'!!

I must be the only whisky drinker out there who has never tried Monkey Shoulder- don't ask me why- it certainly isn't because i've been avoiding it... for some reason, it has just never crossed my path- until now that is...

Batch 27 of this highly regarded whisky is a blend from 3 Speyside distilleries; Glenfiddich, Balvenie and Kininvie, utilising 27 casks.

Let's see where this bottling takes us- Monkey Heaven, or the smelly ape enclosure of Twycross Zoo??

Monkey Shoulder - Batch 27 - 70cl - 40%

Nose: Pasturised apple juice, chopped pears, toasted cinnamon buns, something slightly oaky and woody, with swathes of some rich fudge. So far and the trip to Monkey Heaven looks set...

Palate: A surprisingly thick and viscous mouth feel for a blended whisky! You can immediately taste the influence of the 'fiddich casks, which I would hazard a guess at being fairly young and vibrant. A nice ending of drying spices, pepper and cereal completes a hugely palatable dram.

Finish: Fresh green apples, leading into more cereal - nothing too lengthy, but that's clearly not to be expected here.

Overall: A thoroughly drinkable and enjoyable whisky- I can now see why this is a serious force to be reckoned with in the sub £25 market.

Oh... to be 21 again...

Just perusing the recent film releases for this easter and I keep coming across the fresh face of a polite and eager young American gentleman called Zachary Efron. His current feature film appears to revolve around an older and equally polite American gentleman, Matthew Perry realising his life didn't turn out quite how he wanted- and wishing he was a teenager again.
Through the magic of the wishing fairy (aka Hollywood) he miraculously awakes one morning as said teenager (Efron) and gets the chance to re-write his life.

Don't worry, you haven't come to the wrong page- this isn't an advert for what is probably a diabolical film, which clearly rips off the plot from Tom Hanks' excellent 'Big', albeit in reverse.

It's amusing however that the current trait of 'modern life' - be it with film or indeed philosophically, appears to have become a constant state of looking back and wishing for what we don't have now, or wanting to change the very essence who we are.

I turn a youthful 34 this year (Joel is turning an even more youthful 30!!) and films like this don't make much sense to me at all. Looking forward is infinitely more exciting - and that fuzzy, tingling sense of trepidation about what's going to happen in life is far greater a thrill than dwelling on what might have been.

Still, thinking back to when I first first got into malt whisky, I was 21 and full of enthusiasm about a subject I knew nothing about, but passionate to learn as much as I could. Back then, I looked forward to a time when I could confidently visit my 'malt memory-banks' and recall a particular dram that totally knocked my socks clean off. 13 years later, i'm slowly getting there- and still have that same hunger to keep learning and filing away those great malt memories...hopefully this will never change!

So time to add another to the collection and ironically, this one happens to be a 21 year old.

Balvenie isn't a distillery I have had huge experience with, but this expression is a belter...

Balvenie 21 year old- Port Wood Finish - 40% vol - 70cl

Nose: An intense waxy note jumps straight out at you, rather reminiscent of an old Clynelish and undoubtedly, one of my favourite aromas in a whisky !! This is followed up by a zesty whiff of stewed oranges, dried figs, some lighter florals and old wood. The malt memory-bank is soaking it all up like a whisky filled sponge...

Palate: Sweet dried fruit (like raisins and apricots covered in honey) is the first flavour to arrive - and it's delightful, followed by a very natural tasting home-made marzipan nuttiness. It tastes fresh and vibrant, yet balances this with a real elegance, which only a well matured whisky can. Rich malty notes start to develop as the whisky gets between your teeth and spreads across the tongue. Superb.

Finish: A touch of pepper, leading into traces of that zest and waxiness. Lingering and brilliantly crafted.

Overall: Isn't it great when you find a whisky which you have no preconceptions about and it just totally delivers, without any hint of a fanfare or hype. This really did surprise and delight me, which I imagine, probably wouldn't happen with Mr Efron's new feature film, but I shall remain the optimist and open minded!

Here's to the future and more of life's great discoveries!

Organic Orgasmic...

There are certain buzz words/phrases that i'm pretty sure we've all heard just about enough of over the past few months. They start out being witty and probably on the money, but start to get over-used, tired and very irritating. The term 'credit crunch' is one such particular phrase which starts my vitriol and bile working their way swiftly skyward.

which brings me onto another word which is perhaps overused and misunderstood - Organic.

A marketing man's dream if there ever was. 'Organic' conjures up all manner of positive images immediately; the rolling green countryside full of fresh crops, fresh air, clean running water, animals leaping around huge fields with gay abandon... I could go on, but you get the picture.

So how come it's suddenly relevant in the whisky business? Well, think about it for a second. With the exception of the animals above, the other imagery goes pretty much hand-in-hand with a perfect mental picture of rural distilling, a far cry from the fairly industrialised process which actually take place.

Organic whiskies are now cropping up, using malt grown under organic farming conditions.
The world's first organic single malt whisky was distilled at Springbank distillery in 1992.
since then, Bruichladdich have got in on the act and more recently Benromach Organic are the first to be rubberstamped by the soil association.

'Organic' perhaps alludes to a level of dare I say it...purity or freshness, so to test this out, we've decided to run a simple blind test- 2 glasses labeled A & B.

With a comparably priced single malt and blend as our controls, we've pitted the Benromach Organic and another highly regarded organic whisky, Highland Harvest Blended (under Royal warrant from Prince Charles!) against them. Let's see what the score is - and if there's anything really different with an organic whisky!!

Highland Harvest - Organic blended whisky - 40% vol - 70cl
VS
Johnnie Walker Red Label - 40 % vol - 70cl

Nose A: Toffee apples, slightly buttery and with a hint of spirit. Some mild spiced notes come through with white pepper and a hint of aniseed. All quite pleasant and civilised.

Nose B: Slightly more spirity with more cereal and a touch of peat. More earthy and humble than nose A.

Palate A: Quite thin on the initial hit, but leading into a nice ginger tang, with notes of coffee and green beans and salted potato crisps. Not much by way of mouth feel, but fairly uncomplicated at the same time.

Palate B: Definite traces of grain and some sweeter, nutty notes- plenty of toffee flavour, which is a little off-putting, leading into desiccated coconut.

Finish A: Dry, with more of the white pepper coming back, balancing the ginger, which is slightly bitter.

Finish B: Cloying, with a meatiness anda more cereal/vegetative feel.

Overall: Ok, my impressions were that both were very reasonable whiskies, not hugely characterful, but drinkable with pleasant elements. Glass A was my favourite, with a smoother and slightly more enjoyable palate.

Next up: Could the Benromach make its organic presence known above a worthy competitor - Glenfiddich's 15 year old.

Benromach Organic - 43% vol - 70cl
VS
Glenfiddich 15 year old - 40% vol - 70cl

Nose A: Earthy, with some very sweet fruit aromas, (flambe'd bananas) coming through and lots of rich malt & toffee notes.

Nose B: Honey, some pronounced spiced notes and more bananas again, with a waft of dark musty casks.

Palate A: Fresh fruit, (green apples) with a vanilla'y, spiced flavour developing on the tongue, some hints dried vine fruits thrown in for good measure.

Palate B: More malt on this palate, then leading into a honeyed sweetness and more dried fruits. Both have quite similar characteristics!!

Finish A: A good length, leading into some sweeter toffee elements.

Finish B: Slightly drier and more oaked, but with hints of golden syrup on the death.

Overall: Very tricky this one...! both drams were superbly drinkable and offered lots of lovely fruit, toffee and spice. I'm plumping for glass B this time as my favourite.

Results time: did any of the whiskies jump out as being 'organic'? Well no, not really. But i'm not sure what to expect- there were fresh and fruity aspects to all of them, but nothing that screamed organic.

In round one- my favourite, glass A was revealed as.... The organic Highland Harvest!!

in Round two.... The Glenfiddich turned out to be glass B!

So there you have it- there is nothing particularly unusual about organic whiskies, they happen to taste like damn good drams- and, on a different day, the Benromach might have triumphed as well. With my testing inconclusive, I decide to make a sandwich for lunch - ham with 'organic' tomato.... AGGGHHH!!!

Trick me once...

As is becoming tradition across the web, April Fools Day saw a plethora of creative and interesting press releases and postings. Not that we here at caskstrength.net would ever get involved in anything like that...

So here is a little round up of things we've seen that made us chuckle. If we've missed stuff, add a comment with links etc as we'd love to see more!

Highland Park Press Release:

HIGHLAND PARK TO UNVEIL ANTARCTIC DISTILLERY

Orkney-based Highland Park, Scotland’s northernmost distillery, has announced plans to open a distillery in the South Orkney Islands, Antarctica, creating the southernmost Scotch whisky distillery in the world.

The South Orkney Islands have been part of the British Antarctic Territory since 1962 and because of its British ownership the Scotch Whisky Association has agreed to allow the whisky to be labelled ‘Scotch Whisky’.

Gavin Hewitt, Chief Executive of The Scotch Whisky Association, said: “The team at Highland Park are so passionate about creating a distillery on the British Antarctic islands, we simply couldn’t resist giving them the seal of approval. The Orcadians seem to thrive in extreme weather conditions and I’m sure they will have many adventures in the Antarctic. In the meantime, we’ll continue to enjoy whisky from northern latitudes.”

Gerry Tosh, Highland Park Head of Brand Education, has travelled the world but this is by far the most remote location he has visited. Gerry comments: “I am just back from my second trip to the South Orkney Islands and still amazed by the rough elements and extreme weather conditions with gales reaching 120 miles per hour – just like Orkney!

“The islands are ice-locked from April to November so you can only travel there three months of the year. During my first visit in early December 2008 I spent weeks searching for the perfect spot to set up the distillery.

“In high summer there is no shortage of water in the area and we are currently analysing its suitability. Some treatment may be required to remove fish detritus. However, barley will be shipped in from our sister distillery Tamdhu and Distillery Manager Russell Anderson will bring a quantity of yeast with him as hand luggage. I’m hoping Still Maker Richard Forsyth can join me on my next trip to plan the plant.”

The South Orkney Islands are located at almost the same latitude south as the Scottish based Orkney Islands are north (60°S vs 59°N), although it is not known if this was a factor behind the naming of the islands.

With a similar climate to Orkney, the Antarctic islands are generally wet and windy, however much colder than the Scottish islands. Summers are short and cold (December to March) with average temperatures reaching 2°C which can fall to -39°C in winter months.

The distillery will be based on Coronation Island, the largest of the four islands that make up the South Orkneys, and named after the coronation of King George IV in 1821. Initial forecasts propose that the new distillery will produce 200,000 litres of alcohol per year.

Highland Park is currently working out relocation packages for key workers. Workers will also undertake emergency survival training, including sourcing local foods from marine life as well as being provided with thermal clothing specially made for extreme weather conditions.

After growing up on the Orkney Islands and hardened by its strong elements, Distillery Manager, Russell Anderson, is not fazed by temporarily moving to South Orkney Islands to impart the 210 year long Orcadian whisky-making tradition. Once up and running, Russell will pass on the Distillery Manager role to the Deputy Manager, as part of a career development programme at the new distillery on the Antarctic islands.

Gerry Tosh, Highland Park Head of Brand Education, comments: “At Highland Park we are extremely excited about this project. It allows us to take Scotch whisky to a new level, adopting our skills to colder conditions, and developing a true taste of Antarctica. Some whisky enthusiasts enjoy Highland Park with ice and this will be the ultimate expression to be enjoyed on the rocks."

Due for completion next year, the southernmost Scotch whisky distillery can legally enjoy its first dram in 2013, when the spirit will reach the age of three years maturation in oak casks. The cold climate on South Orkney Islands will mean a longer maturation period is needed so the spirit will be filled into small 30 litre casks to increase the interaction of spirit and wood. Following sampling at three years, the spirit will be left to sleep and shiver for another 12 years to achieve peak perfection.

Highland Park’s Distillery Manager, Russell Anderson, comments: “At our distillery on Orkney we have a lot of geese and use them as 'guard dogs' due to the fact that they are very noisy at signs of intruders. To maintain security at our distillery on Coronation Island, I suppose we could use either penguins or elephant seals to provide the early warning system as apparently they too are very noisy when disturbed.”

To continue Highland Park’s trademark balance of aromatic peat and heather honey sweetness, malted barley will be shipped from the Highland Park distillery on Orkney. This will be combined with the South Orkney Islands extreme elements, creating a mild salty aftertaste – the result of aging in a cold sea sprayed climate.

There are currently no plans to offer guided tours for visitors at the distillery.

Bruichladdich Press Release:

New Cask Finish

A hebridean distiller has been inspired by Scotland’s other national drink for maturing its whisky.

Buckfast is a 15% fortified wine made by Benedictine monks and known affectionately as ‘electric soup’, ‘old buckie’ and ‘commotion lotion’ due to its low price per unit of alcohol.

Bruichladdich distillery is to experiment using some of these casks for maturing Islay single malt whisky

The iconic tonic was the favoured tipple of Rab C Nesbitt, the celebrated Scottish sitcom character based on an angry, alcoholic, street philosopher from Glasgow’s Govan area.

Scotland’s Lanarkshire area, which includes the City of Glasgow, is claimed to be the largest market in the world for the popular drink accounting for 11% of sales.

The cask choice, in honour of a new series of Rab to be shown early 2010, was inspired by Joshua Cheyne, a Glasgow resident with a keen interest in Scotland’s drink culture.

Scotland's Justice Minister Cathy Jamieson launched a campaign to ban the drink, a vanilla rich, red wine based tonic drink based on an 1880 French Benedictine recipe.

Edinburgh Whisky Blog:

God bless 'em.... the top lads over at EWB did what we very nearly did and took the Bruichladdich press release seriously. I mean, it was a good 'un... you could see it being done! Special points go to Mark and the team at Bruichladdich for that one! However, Lucas and Chris got their own back with an excellent posting about the 2010 Whisky Bible, which can be found here.

Whiskyfun.com:

Serge is always good value for an April Fool, and this year was no exception. Following on from the releases of Octomore and Supernova, Serge found a bottle of Kiss Of Death, an ultra peated number that comes in a bottle that looks like a Damien Hirst piece of art. This was all preceded by an article about the Scottish Parliament and biofule!

Whiskystuff Blog:

A lovely little piece here about a "Blended Single Malt Whisky" for £50,000. I'd very much like to meet the Brand Ambassador, one "Tabitha Tittyworth-Rojer" whose Father, I assume, could keep me in Ardbeg Single Casks for the rest of my life...!

Dr.Whisky:

Sam sees what I am doing with the aforementioned Mr. Tittyworth-Rojer and, using his considerable charm, tries to wheedle his way in to a wealthy, old, female New Yorker's will once he discovers she owns the worlds most expensive bottle of whisky. Good luck, Sam! Let me know what else is in her drawers...!

The Whisky Exchange Blog:

Tim opted not to write one this year but instead took his entire whisky allowance down to the local turf accountant and, in a feat that made us laugh the hardest of all, put it on Liverpool FC to win the Premier League! Ha ha ha ha ha ha...

Morning Wood!!

Ok, something a bit special for you...when Caskstrength was recently up in Scotland, we were lucky enough to stumble on some sensational news, which will knock your bed socks off... literally....

Whilst in an un-named persons office, we managed to catch sight of a draft press release, casually lying on the desk - and had to do an immediate double take, before secretly whipping out our phone camera, to document what is certainly find of the year.

an Ardbeg in NO PEAT shocker!!

Take a look at the pictures above (apologies for the poor quality, but we were pressed for time!), which reveal an extraordinary bottling, no doubt destined to draw in the lucrative market of whisky drinkers who are adverse to a spot of the black, smoky stuff.

Following on from where Blasda left off, this new bottling called Fealla-Dha (meaning 'light-hearted & playful') will literally be bottled at ZERO ppm... and from what we could make out from the press release before it was hastily filed away by our embarrassed guest, limited to around 104 bottles. This could potentially be described as the ultimate morning dram, or 'a dram to enjoy with ye porridge', which to us, sounds like a marriage made in heaven for those early risers!

We were quickly ushered out of the office after our chance encounter, so could only get what scant information on the new Fealla-Dha we could, but the close up pic reveals the whisky is very lightly coloured, almost see-through.

Who knows where this will surface and what the future plans are for the Fealla-Dha, but one thing is certain, the 104 bottles released this month, will undoubtedly become hugely collectible. Good luck in hunting one down!!