The Return of the Prodigal Whisky

Don't you just love it when you see a story about whisky in the regular news- kind of legitimises your obsession and tells the world about the spirit, which in your opinion, speaks more elloquently than any other. There is one such story which has captivated the whisky world and indeed the wider world at large as it barely seemed possible. In fact, when we first heard about it and ran our initial feature back in November 2009, we first thought it was a bit of a scam. It all boils down to this. Case of whisky, owned by Earnest Shackleton and encased in ice for 100 years is finally reunited with the distillers, who decided to try and recreate the exact blend.

I honestly don't know anyone who wasn't excited about this and the number of emails and calls we received from friends, relatives and folks wondering and speculating exactly what it would taste like after all that time, was staggering.

So fast forward a nearly a year and a half and we find ourselves in the position to write about this great story again. Master Blender extraordinaire Richard Paterson has taken his time, care and patience in analysing the antique whisky, living with it and delving deep into its make up to recreate as accurately as possible a modern day version. God knows how much pressure he was under to make this work, but we imagine it was a lot and full credit to Richard for being the man with the nose to nail the job.

The newly blended MacKinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt (Shackleton) will be released to the world shortly, bottled at 47.3% (believed to be the same as the original, to stop it freezing in the Antarctic) and includes some Glen Mhor, which was the original MacKinley's distillery, before it finally closed in 1983. The outturn of this replica whisky will be 50,000 and 5% of every sale will go to the Antarctic Heritage Trust, which is the charity organisation who discovered the whisky back in 2007.

Deep breaths Ridley. A card popped through the door yesterday from the postman telling me he'd tried to deliver a parcel but failed. Damn. So this morning, I make my way to the collection office, the weather a sunny but crisp 14%. Then i'm presented with this:

OMG. The horror. A recreation of a whisky, encased in ice, painstakingly defrosted, flown by private plane from New Zealand, recreated at great expense and care by one of the world's great experts and the f**king Royal Mail end up damaging it on its way to Penge!!!

Gotta tell you, I expected the worst when I dived into the parcel. Traces or moisture?? hard to tell, but there, encased in bubble wrap (perhaps the modern day equivilent of ice?) I find our sample of MacKinlay's - intact, unopened and more's the point....Drinkable!!!!

Deep breaths again Ridley.

So here it is- in it's full glory. The weight of expectation on this dram is probably more than anything else we've reviewed. Of course it's difficult to say how faithful the recreation is without trying the original whisky, but I have little doubt that it is as close as damn it, given just how big this story has become. Here goes...

MacKinlay's Rare Old Highland Malt - (Shackleton) - 47.3%

Nose: Incredibly light, with soft, subtle notes of smoked tea, sliced green apple, ripe apricots, heather honey and a little thin cut orange marmalade. There is a very delicate smoke to this, but unlike any blend I've nosed before- it's almost floral. Full marks so far.

Palate: An explosion on the palate- the initial floral smoke mixes with sweetened malt, some citrus'y lemon zest, menthol, bonfire toffee, rich golden syrup and back into a back palate of something resembling a little more smoky- hints of oak chips. But then it's gone- replaced with fresh fruit, plums, nectarines and the sliced green apple of the nose. A little drop of water (sorry Richard!!) releases even more of the sweetened malt and menthol, before the a final dash of sweet peat comes through. Absolutely sterling stuff indeed.

Finish: Lengthy notes of orchard fruit lead into more menthol and the final whisps of smoke as the palate dries.

Overall: A tremendous whisky, in every sense of the word. If this didn't have the weight of a remarkable story behind it, it would still whole-heartedly stand up on its own as a fabulously complex, yet light and very drinkable whisky. But given the glare of the worldwide media attention, this recreation is all the greater for it and again congratulations to Richard and his team for putting this together.

Speyside Blending Trip Day 1: Blend It Like Beckham

The majority of what we write about here at CaskStrength focuses on single malt whisky.

The single malt category has a mind-blowingly large array of offerings, from standard releases (no age statement and named ages) through to cask strength, single casks... and that's even before we've moved to indie bottlers and cask finishing.

Phew!

But now think of the wider market. The most over-used stat of 2010/11 seems to be that the worldwide market for Scotch whisky is made up of just 7% sales of single malt whisky, with the rest, a whopping 93%, being taken up by blends.

"Ah!" we hear some of you cry. "But blended whisky is made up of all the off-cuts. All the stuff they don't want to put in to a single malt. You get me?"

Let's not beat around the bush here, there are some pretty awful blends out there. You can *usually* tell which one's they are, because they'll be, erm...unnaturally cheap.

These particular blends are not really designed to be drunk in isolation. They're there to be mixed, often in cocktails or with a single mixer. They're like the drums in a band: You wouldn't want to listen to a Beatles record of just Ringo playing the drums (Although the break in 'The End' from 'Abbey Road' is pretty damn special) Equally, you wouldn't want a Rob Roy without a blended whisky in it. But you *might* not drink that particular blend on its own.

However, some blends are designed for drinking sans mixer and a lot of hard work goes in to creating them. Once the flavour profile of the blend is nailed, it is then the job of the Master Blender to use a selection of casks from different distilleries to create consistency in the brand. You know, keep it the same time-after-time-after-time-after-time. A bit like making a Coldplay album...

We recently found out just how hard this task is. Along with a handful of other blogs, we've been asked by online whisky gurus Master Of Malt, to design them a blended whisky. Last week, several boxes of samples turned up at Caskstrength HQ. The package included small quantities of different Scotch; base whisky in the form of a blended grain and a blended malt. Then 4 single malts; one highland, one lowland, one speyside and an islay. To finish off, we have four “top dressing” (expensive!) single malts; A very old highland, a very old speyside, a very old grain and a very old islay.

As simple as this task sounds (get a grain and malt base down, whack in some mid tones of highland and speyside and then top dress with something very old and tasty...), it is actually a very tricky game. When the samples arrived, we tried a couple of different approaches, each failing to make something that we would be proud to call a decent blended whisky. What we needed was some coaching. Some training. Some 'proper' advice...

And so it was early one Monday morning we find ourselves in Speyside. This is a place we have visited a couple of times before on whisky adventures, but those times have all been to focus on single malts. This journey was different; it was all about the blends. How, what and why.

One thing you learn when visiting Speyside is that wherever your initial destination, Aberdeen or Inverness, everywhere else is “about an hour away”. That and never, ever eat the cooked breakfast on the flight... but that’s another story for another day. On this trip we were hoping to learn something else- how to compose a decent blend.

Arriving at Glenburgie Distillery, one could be forgiven that you’d actually arrived at Glen Ballantine's, such is the significance of this venue to the blend. The company was founded in 1827, yet another internationally known blender to start from a grocers store in Scotland. Today Ballantine's encompasses a range of six different expressions from a No Age Statement through to a 30 Year Old.

After a brief tour of the distillery with manager Neil Corbett, we were led to a tiny stone cottage on the distillery site where we were greeted by Ballantine’s Master Blender, Sandy Hyslop and a host of samples, empty bottles and scientific measuring equipment. It soon became clear that we were to have an education in how to blend! Once Sandy had given us an overview of what goes in to Ballantine’s and what an exact science (or is it an art? Discuss!) it is, we set off.

For some tips on blending from Sandy, check out the video here. One of the problems we found with 'our' blend was it was way too easy to over use the peated malt, completely drowning the subtlety of the blend.

The whiskies we had been given were some vatted grain, Strathisla single malt, Glenburgie single malt, plus undetermined highland, lowland and islay malts. This time, the aim was not to create our own blend, but to try and match that of the Ballantine's Finest. And with the Master Blender's beady eye on us... so no pressure then!

20 mins later and a couple of attempts down the drain, we’d nailed what we thought was the best match that we were going to achieve in the time allotted. With Sandy’s nose twitching, the thumbs went up as a sign of approval (or maybe he was just being polite) and we felt one step closer to being able to create our very own blended Scotch. To reward ourselves, a dram of Ballantine's much lauded 17yo was in order.

Ballantine’s – 17 Years Old – 43%

Nose: Soft,with buttery notes, backed by vanilla, hints of summer spice, heather and a faint whiff of smoke.

Palate: Sweet vanilla, soft ripe orchard fruit with undertones of creamy fudge. Balanced is a word often over-used in whisky, but having been through the torment of trying to blend a whisky, we can say with confidence that this is truly balanced! The citrus, fudge, dusty chocolate and fruits all sit together complimenting one another. A job well done.

Finish: A fairly short sweet fruit finish with some residue of peat smoke, but this is not a “smoky whisky”.

Overall: An excellent blend which is highly decorated for a reason. Not just “well worth a try”. This is a must for any whisky fan looking to complete their knowledge of the best blends in the world at the moment.

As we leave behind the wonders that lie in the little stone cottage on the Glenburgie estate, one thing still nags me: if you had all the casks in the world to choose from to make a blend, where on earth would you start? I’m not sure, but I know one thing: I’d have a bloody great smile on my face if I did. Unlike the gent in this video:

You Miss Malts? Wemyss Malts!!

Apologies for the weekend's absence but after our last post, both Joel and myself were dragged off to the Tower Of London to await a fate too evil to fully describe - needless to say, it involved a large quantity of rough Sainsbury's 'Basics' blended whisky, some goose grease and an industrial-sized pipette. Fortunately in the nick of time, we smooth talked our way past the Beefeaters guarding our fetid cell and walked off with a year's supply of Ermine topped capes.

We're back at our own towers now and the post was piling up - with some unusually shaped polystyrene boxes blocking the letterbox. On closer examination they revealed themselves to be samples from an independent bottler who we've yet to feature on caskstrength, but on enjoying their contents, we'll be bringing you more of, no doubt.

Wemyss Malts (pronounced 'Weems') are a family run company, whose history dates back to the imposing Wemyss Castle, the family seat in Fife. It was apparently on Wemyss land that John Haig built his first distillery and for centuries, barley grown on the family estate land has been used by numerous distillers to craft their whiskies. The name Wemyss also means caves in Gaelic and one would suspect that the myriad of them around the castle were used to hide many an illicit still from the prying eyes of the exciseman.

The company bottles a range of single cask releases from the Highlands, Speyside and Islay, as well as blending a small range, which are growing in popularity- one of our favourite bars, Bramble in Edinburgh has used their wares in a few innovative cocktails. Rather than dwell on distillery name or style, Wemyss have decided to focus on the inherent character of each cask - something which has obviously worked extremely well for the SMWS and blender extraordinaires- Compass Box.

The 3 samples we were sent are all early-mid 1990's single casks so lets see how they stack up.

Wemyss Malts - Single Highland Scotch Whisky - 'Mocha Spice' - distilled 1990 - bottled 2011 - 732 bottles - 46%

Nose: Sweet spices (nutmeg and vanilla) dance around the nostrils, along with woody cinnamon bark, oak shavings, grated dark chocolate and the merest whiff of tinned tropical fruit salad. Detailed and very open, given this is now over 20 years old.

Palate: Very creamy (highland fudge immediately springs to mind) with sweetened coffee notes (ah! there's the mocha from the name) more of the oak, but tempered with some nice green apple fruit flavour, some fresh butter, sweetened cereal and a dusting of cinnamon. In fact, there's a real hot cross bun thing going on, which is timely, as I fancy one!

Finish: The apple notes lead into a drying oak, with a touch of vanilla, which clings to the palate for a fairly lengthy finish.

Overall: Nicely done chaps- this is highly drinkable, well aged and not too dominated by the oak- a fine balance of fruit, sweet goodies and age is always a winner in my book.

Next up: Wemyss's latest Speyside release.

Wemyss Malts - Single Speyside Scotch Whisky - 'Ginger Compote' - distilled 1996 - bottled 2011 - 767 bottles - 46%

Nose: A big caramel note hits you before anything else, with buttery mashed potato, dark thick cut marmalade and some crystalised ginger.

Palate: Stones Ginger Wine. There it is- massively prominent, with a backbeat of menthol, cloves and dark honey. I'd say this would make for a very flavoursome Whisky Mac.

Finish: The spiced notes linger and rather like the Highland bottling, a sliced green apple note creeps in on the death, for a very fruity, spicy finish.

Overall: Well rounded with detailed malt balancing out the other flavours, this is a much more warming dram and really worth seeking out if you like your drams erring on the side of spicy.

The final dram from Wemyss' new batch of single casks comes to us from Islay, immediately bringing back memories of the great times we've spent there... Not long till Feis Ile now... ;-)

Wemyss Malts - Single Islay Scotch Whisky - 'Smoke Stack'- distilled 1996 - bottled 2011 - 294 bottles - 46%

Nose: Quite citrus'y at first, with plenty of orange zest balancing against a very mild medicinal /lint bandages style peat. Dive in and you'll find Terry's Chocolate Orange, some very pleasant malted almost toasted cereal. Not like some of the more overpowering Islay malts - this has some real subtlety at its heart.

Palate: The peat is far more prominent on the first sip, but still backed with the oranges. given a little drop of water some vanilla sweetness to come to the fore, which can only be a good thing.

Finish: lingering notes of peat on the death with a very mineral note drying on the palate, but balanced with subtle, sweet and delicious.

Overall: Another triumphant bottling from the company and again well worth seeking out if you like your peat without the loudness button pressed in.

For more info on these and other Wemyss bottlings visit their website here:

A Right Battle Royale

As the world whips itself into a frenzy concerning the impending marriage of William Windsor and Kate Middleton, the bods in marketing at some of our favourite distilleries are no doubt in an equal frenzy, trying to swiftly prepare/shamelessly cash in with their take on the Royal Wedding Dram.

First out the blocks was The English Whisky Company with a William & Kate Commemorative Decanter, a whisky 'married together' (see what they've done there...) by their master distiller. All very reasonably priced at £65 for the collectors and hoards of foreign tourists alike- in this day and age, probably cheaper than your average meal for 4 at one of London's world famous Aberdeen Angus Steakhouses.

Next up, come The Macallan with their take on the proceedings- a tad pricier at £150, but purportedly containing whisky from 1996 and 1999 and limited to 1000 bottles. As our friend Tim at the Whisky Exchange alludes to in his splendid post about the wedding, the build up to the big day may well be developing into a hawkers delight, but a very profitable one - especially for the collector with a keen eye for a cheeky investment.

Well here it is folks- we bring you news of another bottle to be released slightly before the actual wedding day, this one commemorating one of the other hugely important events in the royal wedding calendar!

Little-known distillers Highland Stagg are venturing into the 'having it large territory' by producing an (un)official limited bottling to commemorate what is likely to be the 'alternative' party of the year- Prince William's stag do.

Organised by brother Harry, chief mischief maker and legendary bon viveur, William's stag do is unlikely to feature the usual trappings of the traditional stag do; rubber breasts, incidents involving handcuffs, lamp posts and dubious interactions with four-legged beasts. It will undoubtedly be a rip-roaring success and will probably feature some cracking drams. And now you can recreate your own version of the event.

Highland Stagg claim to have produced the ultimate 'stag party whisky' housed in a monstrous 27 litre bottle.

The Bouji's legendary 'top shelf'

The liquid inside is a very specially 'thrown together' (not married) blend, from Stagg's chief whisky maker Gorden McFail, allegedly incorporating all the whiskies available at the Prince's favourite nightclub and celebrity hang out, Bouji's. In essence, it's the perfect (and convenient) way to grab yourself a 'Top Shelf' and will be the gift that keeps on giving, way into the night (and probably the morning after).

Perhaps some of the hilarious scenes that William has to look forward to.

Exact details on the bottling are still a little sketchy, but the RRP is going to be around £27 - absolutely stunning value for money at £1 per litre and with an outturn of only 500 bottles. It also includes a selection of drinking games, clip on antlers for party goers and a pack of jumbo straws for when the evening really starts to kick off. We predict this one to be an instant sellout and will find its way into the collector's hands very quickly.

Happy (stag) Hunting!!

Beauty Is In The Eye Of The Beholder

If you come over to my house, you’ll not only see the aforementioned art hanging on the walls, but you’ll find a fair few objects adorning my sideboards and shelves. Some artefacts I consider beautiful; take for instance my vintage Ricard jug. One of the most beautiful objects, found for mere pence in a local charity shop. And some, memorable; a full Oxford United subbeuteo team from the mid-1990’s, which take me right back to certain moments of my youth.

One new addition to my mantelpiece as of last week is an item that, for me, fulfils two main roles:

The first is utter beauty. We’ve lauded the Japanese on this site before for their fantastic bottles. Take the squared off, stubby Nikka From The Barrel. Not only is the contents stunning, but so is the casing. And then there is the utilitarian, simplicity of the Karuizawa bottlings (from No.1 Drinks). Wax dipped, with the most stunning, simple labels and boxes I have come across. It’s not just a whisky; it’s art. And this new addition is no expectation.

The second, is that of a reminder. For the bottle in question is indeed a Japanese whisky. Yoichi, to be precise. Prompted by the appalling recent disaster in Japan, I wanted to show some support so, along with donating some money to the cause (which you can also do here) I bought myself a bottle that I have wanted to try for a while now. Not only do you get a wonderful, beautiful item but every time I glance at it, glistening away in my living room prompts me to fire up a prayer for the people of Japan, for their future and for a speedy recovery.

On to the whisky itself: I don’t know much about it. In fact, I don’t really know anything about it, aside from the fact it is made at the Yoichi Distillery, based on the Northern Island of Hokkaido which opened in 1934, and that it is 43% ABV. Oh, and a No Age Statement. Aside from that, na-da. All the details, except for the distillery and the ABV on the bottle are written in Japanese. Good job the bottle is do damn pretty... let’s have a dram of this stuff, then...

Yoichi – White Label – NAS – 43% ABV – 500ml

Nose: A lovely level of peat smoke wafts from the glass. We’ve become so used to the “who can make the most peated whisky” competition on Islay, that to encounter a dram with a good hit of smoke, bold but not too over powering, is a real joy. Behind the smoke is some youthful, spirit notes with hint of blackcurrant and liquorice and some gin-style tones.

Palate: The initial hit is youthful; this really isn’t an old base whisky (I’d guess 5 – 7 years old) and the result is a little aggressive but once it subsides, the peat takes over for the middle section and this is joined by the blackcurrants from the nose. Some wood spices develop with time and bbq notes at the death.

Finish: The smoke wafts through with some cardamom, fennel and honey notes. A hint of sweet coffee right at the death.

Overall: At around about £30 a bottle, this is a very solid investment. Just to give some contexts, I’ve now got a glass of Laphroaig Quarter Cask poured next to it. In comparison, the QC has a bigger hit of peat, but is also rounder and more balanced in its wood tones. Not the best comparison in the world, granted, but it’s what is in my cabinet to use.

And there in, lies the key. This bottle of Yoichi is not in my cabinet; it is sat alongside some of my most treasure possessions on my mantelpiece because it is a beautiful piece of design. Unlike the Nikka From The Barrel, the contents doesn't match up quite as well to the aesthetic, but it is well worth a try and, in the same moment, remind yourself to hold the country of Japan in your heart for just a moment; to hope for their future, for their people, for their well-being.