The Orcade Fire

When it comes to shopping, I’m usually set on “default”. For food it’s Tesco, Sainsbury or Morrisons, depending on where I am in town. For clothes, it’s H&M if I’m feeling brassic, Zara if it’s looking good on the work front and something special... when the sales are on! But I never venture in to Harrods.

Actually, I did once. It was the first place in Britain to have a Krispy Kreme outlet. Anyone who knows me, knows that if you’d have put that first KK outlet anywhere, I would have made the effort to go. Even, gasp... Swindon.

However, tonight Harrods was to play host to the most wonderful of events; a whisky launch. And a whisky which was certainly not to be missed... Highland Park 50 Year Old.

Arriving at the little corner shop in Knightsbridge, we were ushered through the food hall to the wine and spirits department where a small room had been set aside for the unveiling of the bespoke bottle and a tasting of the rare liquid.

As is now so often the case, the bottle design for top end whisky is taken very serious. Anyone who has ever ventured into the world of eBay whisky will be familiar with their legislation that sellers (and buyers) are trading “the bottle, not the contents” to enable them to circumnavigate local licensing laws. It begs the question which came first, eBay rules or the ultra-premiumization (and we’ll get on to that hideous word in another post soon) of whisky where a four or five figure sum must be overly justified...

In the case of Highland Park, they have called on the services of Maeve Gillies, a talented young Scottish designer based in New York, who worked alongside a silversmith to create what can only be described as a masterpiece. Recent forays into this sector of the market have thrown up some interesting bottles. Macallan’s Lalique series. Bowmore’s beautiful handblown bottle for their 40 Year Old. But if I was to choose to have one of these three on display at my house, it would be the Highland Park.

Encased in silver “seaweed”, the distillery logo is etched onto a piece of Orkney Sandstone. On the reverse, a picture of a stain glass window from the St Magnus Catherdal in Kirkwall can be viewed from the rear once the bottle is empty. One hopes that at least one of the 275 bottles will be emptied at some stage, so this can be seen in it’s full glory, but at £10,000 a throw I’m not sure how likely that is. (Oddly, this price is the same for 70cl and 75cl bottles... given the price per cl, you’d be daft not to get the “bigger bottle”!).

It’s a shame, as the stuff inside is pretty bloody good (as you’d expect...). Distilled in January 1960, the first detailed record of the whisky’s make-up being in 1978 when it was filled into first -fill sherry seasoned hogshead casks, until 2009 when it was filled into five refill casks to allow the flavors to ‘vat’ and marry together. The natural cask strength of 44.8% has been retained for the bottling.

It also comes in a massive wooden box with a sort of “port hole” on the front.

So, what about the liquid. Let’s take a peek:

Highland Park – 50 Years Old – Bottled 2010 – 275 Bottles – 44.8% vol

Nose: Initially some sweetened, spicy Java coffee, Damson jam, Madeira wine and a wisp of delicate smoke. Then it develops- leather, mint/menthol lozenges, fruit compote and something slight fishy/seaweed- Lobster pots perhaps? All wrapped up with plum jam richness.

Palate: This is where the age plays it’s biggest card, with woody dryness being the first thing to hit, but followed up with hazelnuts, light peat, liquorice, hints of musty casks, polished mahogany and some salt. Unmistakably HP. It sticks to the glass like glue. Very, very rich in texture.

Finish: lingering heather notes, dry sherry, sea salt and a little coastal spray.

Overall: A fantastic dram. Having been immensely privileged over the last two weeks or so to try the Bowmore 40 Year Old (£6,500 a bottle), the Dalmore 45 Year Old (just £3,000 a bottle) and this Highland Park 50 Year Old (£10k per bottle), I find myself in the relms of the utterly ridiculous. If money was no object, then you’d buy all three. But if I could only have one, it would be the Highland Park. Delicious, but utterly, utterly ludicrous.

This whisky has been released before, 15 years ago in 1995 when a few bottles were made available to mark the retirement of a key member of the Highland Park team (good luck finding that bottle. If anyone has that and buys this and wants to do a comparison tasting, our email is info@caskstre.. Oh, forget it. It’ll never happen.)

Back to reality now as I sit down to write this piece. I’ve nothing over £100 a bottle in the cabinet and even that seems expensive. Today in Duty Free I pushed by bank balance over the edge with a £70 bottle of Douglas Laing Platinum Selection Caol Ila 25 Year Old (260 bottles, 54.9% Vol, Duty Free Only), down from £90 due to a 20% off promotion on malts. Reality will really bite tomorrow when I finally open the two utility bills that are sat on my desk… but until then, I shall sit here and nurse a Four Roses Single Barrel. I don’t want to pretend it’s anything other than what it is, as great whisky can come at any price, in any guise and can be whatever you want it to be.

Islay Jazz Festival 2010: Day One

Once again I find myself on the platform at Hammersmith, waiting for a tube train to Heathrow Terminal 5. As I mentioned in a previous post about Islay, Bowmore-on-Thames, I’m not the greatest flyer in the world. The idea that you have to go to somewhere entitled “terminal” before you get up in to the air just about sums up the whole experience for me. However, the pay off for the hour long flight to Glasgow and then the tiny turbo-prop to Islay Airport is more than obvious- 3 days on the whisky island to attend the Lagavulin Jazz Festival.

As the Feis Ile Festival of Malt and Music becomes an ever more established event in the whisky calendar, it seems the importance of malt has overtaken the desire for music to feature in any big way (I should think the always excellent Skerryvore must make more money out of the Feis Ile than The Old Kiln Cafe at Ardbeg does!) so a dedicated Jazz festival seems like the perfect opportunity to keep the artistry of the musician firmly alive on the island.

Jazz and whisky also seem like comfortable bed fellows. Sometimes jazz is very good, with fantastic subtlety, depth and interesting complexity. Sometimes it’s very bad; over complicated, confused and unstructured. Both being accusations we could level at certain whiskies we have had in the past...

Day One of the trip began early for the travel portion in which, I’m pleased to report, none of us lost luggage, missed flight or indeed died. Very much a result in my book! In fact, the whole affair was smooth and our plane actually landed early at Islay Airport. Something that is pretty much unheard of.

First stop of the day for our party was the Port Ellen Maltings. As a self confessed whisky geek, it is always fascinating to spend time looking at the minutiae of certain sections of the process and malting is something that has passed me by a little in the past. However, this time I learnt a great deal about malting and peating of barley; I even got to stoke a peat fire (dressed in a fetching high-viz jacket and hard hat. I’m assured this is exactly how it was done over 200 years ago in the Scottish Highlands. Those ‘elf and safety execs get everywhere...).

Afterwards we even had time to pillage some stones from the beach at the front of the distillery which, having been thoroughly washed, are now cooling in my freezer, ready to be dropped in to a dram when I feel the need to chill but not add water. You should all try this at home.

After visiting the legendary ex-distillery, it was time to meet a familiar face and all round whisky legend. Ladies and Gentlemen, I give you... Iain McArthur.

Having just completed his 40^th year in the business, all on Islay, Iain took us across to some of the peat bogs opposite the airport where we *tried* to cut our own stock of peat. The traditional Scottish weather made the process even more authentic and Alex Huskinson from The Whisky Exchange was totally fooled by the right handed nature of the tools used. I’m not sure there has ever been a left handed peat cutter on Islay...

Thoroughly windswept, peaty and moist it was time to make our way to the first concert of the trip, Jesse Davis, a fantastic saxophonist from NYC & Paul Harrison, a British jazz pianist. The old Malt Mill Distillery at Lagavulin was being used as a venue and the room worked perfectly; excellent acoustics, relaxed atmosphere and a free glass of 16 Year Old on entry. What’s not to like?

Lagavulin – 16 Year Old – 43% vol

Nose: The peat in this dram is up front, yet soft with freshly turned earth, carbolic soap, cereals, rich dark brown sugar and a surprising hint of Play-Doh. This current release also has hints of the “old bowmore style” exotic fruits, 5alive and pinapple juice. A timelessly classic.

Palate: The smoke and peat manifest themselves as fresh wholemeal bread. Whisps of burnt brown sugar, some green herbs and dark chocolate covered Turkish delight. Some crème brulee notes.

Finish: This current edition has a creamy finish which brings salty and chopped chillies through, but still all wrapped up in that delicate peat smoke. Fudge lingers.

Overall: Is this the finest whisky in the sub-£40 bracket? Answers on post card please...

The gig was a fantastic but the highlight of the day for me was the second show, also at Lagavulin. The bill listed Graeme Stephen Quartet, an artist I’d never heard of until I saw the festival brochure and I’ve certainly found a favourite new band. 4 lads doing a mix of In Rainbow’s era Radiohead, Mogwai and Deus. Not something I would have ever pegged as jazz, but this acts eclectic, electric show proves the rich lexicon of the jazz language.

The band finished at around 9.30pm and by 10pm we were in Duffy’s bar with a couple of pints of Islay Ale and some selected drams.

Ahhh... two more days of Islay bliss before getting back to the big smoke.

Drinking Songs...

Rockstars and whisky.... infinitely brilliant bed-fellows. From the iconic imagery of 'Zeppelin's Jimmy Page necking Jack Daniels from the bottle, to the raw emotion laid bare in Robert Johnson’s seminal recordings of the late 1930s, whisky, of some kind, seeps with abundance from virtually every pore of a rockstar's body.

But hellraising seems so tedious these days, especially when all the best stunts have been done, to a far greater degree by legends of the yesteryear, who most modern day rockstars just couldn't hold a candle to. So it's heart warming when you hear about a few musicians channeling their love of whisky into something all the more wholesome and creative for a change, rather than just p***ing it up the wall.

One such fellow is the sensational Richard Hawley, whose solo career has gone on to achieve superb success over the last few years. Hawley's breakthrough album, 'Coles Corner' was highly acclaimed by the press and received a coveted Mercury Music Prize nomination (narrowly losing out to local Sheffield lads, The Arctic Monkeys)

Taking time out of his schedule to promote his new album, Truelove's Gutter, Richard recently visited the Glenfiddich distillery, using the trip as inspiration for writing a new batch of songs, which will be released later this year in collaboration with Glenfiddich.

I got to chat to Richard recently about his experiences and it was amazing to hear just how influential the visit was- from observing the journey whisky takes from the still, to full maturity in a cask, as well as the experiences and stories of the distillery staff, some who have been working there for upwards of 40 years.

The material was recently recorded at a studio in Manchester and we for one (as huge fans of Richard's albums) are very keen to hear the results.

For those of you who would like to know more- there's a couple of youtube links Here & Here.

There is also a competition for fans to win tickets to an exclusive gig planned at the distillery in the near future. Click here for more details:

You can of course hear Richard's wonderful music Here. Stay tuned for a longer interview with the man himself in the next issue of Whisky Magazine.

Rosebank Rises From The Ashes?

Not an entirely new story (in fact, recently reported on Rob Allanson's excellent new blog) but a story that we felt compelled to share with you. We'd been hearing all manner of reports about the proposed new Falkirk distillery (from way back in 2008) apparently purporting to call itself Rosebank, which was making a few people very unhappy indeed. But now it seems that the distillery has been given the backing of the Scottish planning authorities and will see the light of day after all. The £5 million distillery had applied for the erection of a new distillery premises, bonded warehousing space, a visitor's centre, restaurant and 6 retail units and the picture below gives you some idea of their proposed layout.

All well and good. Great, a new Lowland distillery. But a new 'Rosebank'? Purists will argue that the distillery died, the day the original distillery was mothballed back in 1993, the final nail firmly driven into the cask when the original stills were apparently stolen and broken down into scrap. But according to recent reports, the distillery group have now also obtained the right to buy up all the remaining equipment, owned by the previous owners of Rosebank, DCL. The name Rosebank is a massively valuable asset (legally owned by Diageo) and we suspect the majority of whisky fans out there will be uncomfortable with any tenuous association to the new facility, despite the acquisition of original distillery gear, especially if it creates a 'Rosebank 2.0' situation. Remember folks...remakes are seldom better than the original... The Italian Job and Get Carter immediately spring to mind.

And what of the remaining stock? Clearly, the value of whatever is left will rise, probably creating some sort of gold rush of official and independent bottlings. Potentially good in one respect, as we dearly love Rosebank, but potentially bad, as the last few bottlings we've tried were in their late teens- and in our opinion, a little tired, over oaked and lacking in that wonderful zesty, floral note and the rich buttery charm younger bottlings have had.

Some things are best left long lost and sorely missed...despite the unfairness of their demise.

On a positive note- if the distillery group get the project right, a brand new Lowland whisky will be born- and in this day and age, that much is worth championing, just so long as it isn't poorly dressed up in someone else's outfit.

Aurora Of The Lion

It's been quite a week in the life of Richard Paterson. Firstly congratulations to him for an extraordinary 40 years working in whisky, a sentiment, which i'm sure most of you will share. Secondly, congratulations on winning Whisky Magazine's Icon's Of Whisky 2011 Ambassador Of The Year. I'm told that there were a few 'tashed up impersonators spotted floating round Whisky Live and clearly 'The Nose' (and 'tash') has become a whisky institution.

But facial hair elegance aside, last week Richard was back doing what he does best and introducing a small assembled crowd gathered at London's Selfridges to another of his recent creations- Dalmore Aurora.

Richard, with one of

Dalmore's 'big' stills

After taking the group through several other Dalmore expressions, including the 15yo (lots of dark orange peel and drying spices) and the sublime Gran Reserva (a superb balance of woody, cigarbox cedar n' spice and fruity undertones) it was time for the main event, which saw Richard mounting a table, regaling attendees with the story of the distillery, its stills (described by Richard as 'big bastards') and the behind-the-scenes making of Aurora- taking its name from the Aurora Borealis or the Northern Lights. The spirit began life on the 29th April 1964 and the remaining contents of the cask (which we believe was originally an Oloroso sherry butt?) are now decanted into just 200 bottles. Would Aurora be a delightful 'Dance Of The Spirits' on the tastebuds, or a limp version of David Brent's Disco moves....

Dalmore Aurora - 45yo - 45% - limited to 200 bottles

Nose: Superb sweet, floral plums, into sweetened licorice, rich bonfire toffee, ferns and ripe red apples. There is also a hint of musty dunnage warehouses, indicating that this is an old beast indeed. (the whisky, not RP... ;-) )

Palate: Very dry, mouth coating with cocoa beans, lavender floral notes, wax, leather and spicy tobacco notes. There could also be a hint of something peaty in here, just a wisp mind...

Finish: Huge, powerful and lengthy, with a crescendo of mint humbugs.

Overall: Impressive, not too over-oaked or woody, with a very eloquent spicy story to tell. Very much like its creator then... ;-) At £3000, this isn't going to be on everyone's bottle lists at christmas, especially with so many super, super premium bottlings available- including the Highland Park 1970 vintage, forthcoming 50yo Highland Park and Bowmore's 40yo. There's now another competitor in this field, dancing to a merry tune.