Littlemill 21 y.o. The First Editions 1991, 47,7%

This is a great Lowland malt right from the start, mostly on vanilla, American oak (with quite some Bourbon traces) and thyme. I also find other mediterranean herbs, soft smoke, green tea, nettles bark, big marshmallow sweetness (almost like a liqueur in moments), lemon zest, caramel and almonds (Amaretto, especially on the palate). It is powerful in the mouth and less woody than the nose would suggest. Water helps this but adds bitter notes. 88 points.

Bladnoch 21 y.o. The First Editions 1990, 58,3%

Don’t rush this one. It is a very green (herbal) and lemony altogether. I am getting a sharp grassiness on loads of alcohol, some nettles, blue cheese (indeed also the aromas of a fondue with cheese and beef), vanilla and lemon, lemon balm, verbena, orange zest and caramellized orange skins, grapefruit, cardamom and soft smoke. Water releases more orange power and improves the sharpness. 86+ points.

Miltonduff 17 y.o. The First Editions 1995, 59,4%

Andrew Laing and his First Edition Releases

My title on this one would be ‚Apricot Heaven‘. Miltonduff always offers interesting drams that can deliver, and this one is no exception. It starts off very fruity (infusion, tea-like in general) and intense (great concentration). The big aroma is apricot (liqueur, fruit, canned fruit, schnapps, etc.) accompanied by peaches lemon zest, white pepper and vanilla. No water is necessary (but can broaden the mouthfeel) and the sweet Miltonduff maltiness coats the tongue along with wonderful fruit oiliness. Maybe not overly complex but simply nice. 89 points.

Caperdonich 20 y.o. The First Editions 1992, 55,5%

This one didn’t fully convince me but still is a nice but shy dram. It is rather malty with honey, heather, aromatic smoke, cider, white chocolate, ginger and some zestiness (lemon and orange). On the palate it is too hot for my taste (ginger and spices going wild in the ethanol), so I add water: a rounding off-effect takes place but no gain in complexity. 82 points.

Glen Elgin 26 y.o. The First Editions 1985, 46,6%

Nicely concentrated on bergamotte and Asian spices (nutmeg, ginger bread, white pepper). In the second row we find pears, yellow apples, figs and pistachio. The palate shows huge complexity and fruit oils in perfect balance (no water!). I love it but it is hard to pin down the aromas here, maybe spinach and all the aromas above with fruits of all kind … well, let’s say loveable and unique, tightly knit. 90 points.

Bunnahabhain 23 y.o. The First Editions 1989 ‚Bordeaux Finish‘ 50,2%

My favourite dram in this session is this one, although I hadn’t expected the finish to work so well. Well, never judge a book by its cover … . This Bunnie is austere and very complex at the same time, revealing amazing maritime aromas (salt, fresh sea air, ozone-laden sea spray, mossy peat whiffs, etc.). The complexity goes on with jamon on melon, polished leather, black pepper, Roquefort cheese, lemon drops and the notes from the wine (red grapes, raisins, etc.) which really fit here. To me it noses like an old elegant Islay dram from a time gone by, and the palate matches this experience. Soft peat and spice round off the excellent show. Kudos! 91- points.

Clynelish 23 y.o. The First Editions 1988, 50%

This cheesy Clynelish is a funky one with unusually big notes of caramel, (blue) cheese, milk coffee and leather along the typical profile with candelwax, green apples and Atlantic depression moving in. I can’t fully decide if I like this mix in the nose. However, it turns way more classic Clynelish on the palate (plus a little cheese again). This dram screams for a piece of Cheddar. Nice spices in the finish. No water necessary. 88+ points.

Macallan 21 y.o. Malts of Scotland 24.01.1990 – 27.05.2011, MoS Fino Sherry Hogshead 1135, 51,5%

Comment: It starts with the typical Macallan balance, this is fab. I find this dram to be quite typical in other aspects too: We got a decent sweetness (from malt and a little from the sherry), crystallized oranges, cherry jam in chocolate-covered gingerbread (Christmas hearts), apple kirsch liqueur, ripe plums, apples, tobacco and a hint of smoke from earthy peat. All these aromas appear in good Macs regularly. In addition to that there are black pepper elements and caramelized lemon skins with a chemical touch. The palate is very smooth despite 51,5% abv. Great balance again and pretty similar to its nose with discrete oakiness. Water isn’t necessary but doesn’t hurt the dram either, but I couldn’t find improvement – so better leave it. The finish is lovely and long, full of gingerbread, cherry pie, sweet malt, chocolate and  Fino sherry. What’s not to like here? But never forget, taste is personal.

Score: 89+

Laphroaig 13 y.o. SMWS 29.102, ‚Cowboy’s Campfire Dram‘, 1998, Refill Sherry Butt, 64,1%

Comment: Holy cow! This reminds me of the sherried Signatory version from 1974, or even 1979 Talisker Cadenhead or the famous Brorageddon, all of these with their crazy flinty and sulphury aromas – I love this nose to death! Despite a lot of sherry influence, this isn’t flawed at all. Dark wood, cooked dark fruits (led by morello cherries and tons of baked plums wrapped in bacon), tobacco, pepper, freshly ground coffee, nougat and anything good that is dark can be found. I refuse to destroy this miracle by tearing it apart. Oh my God, it tastes like it noses with that good sulphur-, iodine- and peat action going on. Fabulous and close to perfect, also in the finish! Time travel? I kid you not when I say that this is probably one of the finest young whiskies I had in a very long time. This Monster-Laphroaig is a show stopper and today’s headliner. Encore! Get a bottle of this, it might become legendary.

Score: 93

Laphroaig 13 y.o. Malts of Scotland 3.1998 – 9.2011, MoS Sherry Hogshead 11007, 52,5%

Bottle on the right (find the typo!)

Comment: Quite hard for this one with such an opponent in a head-to-head – but it can hold its own! Again, much fuller than the recent Bourbon Cask versions without losing its balance or the wonderful distillery character (some Laphs are becoming too dominated by the Sherry or turn ‚blue-cheese-fungi-like‘ in sherry casks – as mentioned above). It is fresh, spicy (pepper, chili) and herbal (camphor), but also retains lemon and lime notes. The sherry is totally unobtrusive but clearly there and paints impressionist dots of distant dark fruits on the colourful canvas of this bottling. Coffee whiffs, minerality and chalk make it complete. The taste is equally as wonderful as the nose and a classic young Laphroaig from a less active sherry cask.

Score: 90+

According to participants of the Orcadian Vintage tasting in Frankfurt, Gerry was very entertaining and straightforward. Her shared his opinions about the new releases openly. Among many interesting remarks he mentioned was, that you can use old HP bottlings as ‚weather-backcasts‘. The less peaty a dram is, the windier it must have been during the days when the malt was in the kiln, because in that period of time, wind could enter the malting floor/kiln area somehow and partly blow out the phenolic smoke. I can neither confirm nor contradict this as pure B.S. – it just sounded very interesting when a friend told me about his words. Please ask Gerry for the details.

We are not into weather history today, all I do is try this stunning whisky with its heavy price tag:

Highland Park ‚Orcadian Vintage‘ 1964 – 2009, 290 btl., 42,2% (from two refill-hogsheads, one American Oak, one European Oak ex-Sherry)

Comment: This one is the inaugural release of the series and comes with a heavy box with wood inlays and a silver amulet on the front (Viking design, yeah right, I forgot). Nice but … I guess such packaging is necessary to sell it for almost 4.000 squid.Let’s just judge the spirit. An amazing cristalline nose with beautiful balance awaits the chosen few to sip it. The mix of the two different casks is a success, because one gets the best of both worlds, Bourbon (exotic fruits like passion fruit, caramel) and Sherry Casks (wonderful dark aromas of excellent Sherry, dark wood, slight mustiness, etc.). It is all the way high-class with orange-liqueur, sourish notes of rhubarb pie, marshmallows, coffee, heather, Sauce Bolognese and a little peat smoke. On the side, there is a lovely competition between the freshness of cristalline dextrose, which is so typical for the 1964 vintage, and the slight mustiness from old and forgotten Sherry casks. Let’s taste this baby now: No ‚bad‘ woodiness, just a spot-on delivery of mahogani and fruit at first, then the aromas from above ride in gloriously. A whiff of mint joins the delicate nectar on the mid-palate, leading over to a complex finish that only an old whisky like this can deliver. Nothing is in your face here, all is just hinted at. I stand in awe, this piece of liquid art is among the best 50 drams I ever had. Worth a high price for sure, but not the one they charge – hence, not many whisky lovers will get the chance to drink it.

Score: 94+

Tomorrow the German chapter of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society will present their new releases for Christmas time. Our friend Ralf Dänzer and I don’t want you to find any bad drams underneath the X-mas tree – that’s why he sent me some samples via the reindeer express yesterday. Blitzen looked kind of hammered, maybe it tried from the Port Charlotte .

As the most-wanted-distillery bottlings sell out quickly, I tasted them right away to give you a notion. Good luck in filling your stockings with these releases. I couldn’t find a bad one yet.

Highland Park 26 y.o. SMWS 4.151, 1984, Refill Sherry Butt, 53%

Comment: Quite spicy in the nose at first, the Sherry is talking loud and clearly,  then it smoothens out with maritime freshness and gets much rounder. Soft smoke, honey, Turkish delight, apples and cider, peaches, Werthers Original toffee, café au lait, nice dark wood and a spicy backbone of white pepper and chili. Nice but incomparable to the amazing palate. It drinks beautifully and is a dream of balance that still has power, the Sherry is well-integrated, heavy and light at the same time. Water makes it creamier and more accessible. Long finish.

Score: 90

Clynelish 25 y.o. SMWS 26.71, 1984 – 2010, Refill Sherry Butt, 57,3%

Comment: Very typical Clynelish (apples, candlewax, tropical fruit, quince, maritime air with a hint of peat smoke and all that jazz) in the nose. A fine balance with the fruit as spearhead hits the palate, also vanilla now. A soft and fruity Clynelish with a medium finish. Water is not necessary but makes it a bit more spicy and interesting.

Score: 89

Laphroaig 20 y.o. SMWS 29.97, 10.1990 – 2011, Refill Sherry Butt, 608 btl., 59,1%

Comment: Tyrolian bacon and a red Passito, that’s what I would call it. Rooty peat, camphor, herbs, juniper, Stilton cheese, sulphur, dirty machine oil, and other unusual notes for a Laphroaig. The Sherry really changed the spirit to a great extent – into a profile not everybody likes (lost identity, lots of personality). The palate also is Sherry- and sulphur-dominated, gunpowder, roots, camphor, blue cheese again, not bad but different. It reminds me a bit of the 1974 Singatory Sherry bottling, but without the old Laphroaig characterstics. Really hard to judge…some will love this, some might call it flawed. I would have liked more Laphroaig in my glass but enjoyed the dram anyway.

Score 90+

Ardbeg 12 y.o. SMWS 33.97, 09.10.1997, Refill Bourbon Hogshead, 55,5%

Comment: Recent Ardbegs from the Society were convincing and this is not an exception. It is a textbook example of an Ardbeg of that particular time, a really well-balanced one again. More old than new style in the nose but on the palate you discover, among typical Ardbeg characteristics, the newer notes of eucalypt, methol and cactus that came into the distillate after 1996 in general. Green Ardbeg so to speak – with a great finish.

Score: 90+

Caol Ila 10y.o. SMWS 53.147, 11.1999, Refill Bourbon Hogshead, 66,6%

Comment: Very intense and herbal, big Islay power, flints, but it needs some drops of water to be tamed. No offnotes, simply great Caol Ila with depth. I recommend this for anyone who loves young South Coasters that do their job well.

Score: 91-

Port Charlotte 7 y.o. SMWS 127.11, 8.2003 – 2011, Refill Sherry Butt, 67,1%

Comment: Smells a bit like one of those PCs out of a Sherry Bloodtub, broodingly intense on rooty peat, camphor, herbs, tar, ox tail soup and Sherry. Blue cheese, dried flowers, moss, toffee, pepper and coffee complete the bouquet. You might not believe this, but it is drinkable at 67,1% without needing water. Anyway, it can swim too. The power on the mid-palate and the endless finish are ridiculous. Another stunner PC – how excellent will these monsters be with more maturity?

Score: 91+

Stuart Nickerson and Peter Krause

At the end of our wonderful visit at Glenglassaugh Distillery, Managing Director Stuart Nickerson held a nice and very generous tasting session. Among many drams (e.g. New Make, a young Californian Zinfandel Cask and an incredibly mature Bourbon Cask from 2009), about which I am going write soon in an article about the visit, he let me try the new 45 y.o. and two real stunner cask samples that will be released soon. They have just been filled into bottles some days ago. My intention is to inform you in time so that you can get your wallets ready and make an ‚early-bird-order‘ not to miss them, because they absolutely are Must-Have-Drams.

What a View!

These whiskies really left me speechless – again the case with old Glenglassaugh. Like old Bowmore, Lochside, BenRiach or Longmorn, they display a complexity, cristalline fruit and smooth texture which is only to be found in legendary bottlings from the past.

Old Cask in the Warehouse

Despite their age no woodiness occurs in these masterpieces that are surprisingly light on their feet. Here are some quick notes I could take:

Glenglassaugh 1975 – 2011, 36 y.o. (Over 30 years old-Series) Sauternes Cask Finish, Cask No. R10/02/01, 43,00%, 280 Bottles

Comment: A very unique style that is owed to 18 months in Sauternes wood after the regular maturation in a Sherry Cask. Reminiscences of the 1964 Bowmore Fino Sherry come to mind – overripe fruits led by pineapple and passion fruit meet Creme Brulee. The traces of fine Sauternes noble rot grapes enhance this ‚uber-fruitiness‘ even more. It gets you addicted with every sip you take. Wow!

Score: 93+

Glenglassaugh 1972 Sherry Cask No. 2900 (to be bottled in 2012, maybe by Andrea Caminneci, Germany)

Comment: This is a sister cask of Andrea Caminneci’s 2010 bottling, which is promising for a start. After pouring it needs time to develop – it is tightly-knit – but after some minutes it becomes quite expressive and shows the profile described in the

Glenglassaugh Still(wo)men

introduction. Lead aromas are plum, cherry, exotic fruit, marzipan and almonds. It is hard to say if it is better or worse in comparison to the Sauternes-finished 1975, we are in a really high league here. I call it almost a tie, but the unusual style of the 1975 settles the fight.

Score: 93

Glenglassaugh 45 y.o. / 1966 OB Decanter, Refill Sherry Hogshead, 49,2%

Comment: This already released beauty might have a much higher price than the predecessors will cost but keeps the promises and fully delivers pure drinking joy. It is not fully on a par with the 40/41 y.o. release from the year(s) before, but it comes really close (a statement agreed to by Stuart Nickerson) and in a similar style (see my notes of the 40/41 y.o. here on www.slowdrink.de or use fellow Malt Maniac Serge’s recent descriptions on both on www.whiskyfun.com). Simply put, it is old style Sherry-casked whisky at its finest. Name an aroma and you will find it in this amazing dram.

Glenglassaugh 30 and 45 y.o. Decanters

I will post more detailed notes about it – and about Andrea Caminneci’s new bottling – right here when my sample from The Whisky Show will be delivered to my house by my friend Michael (along with White Bowmore, Auchentoshan 1957, Springbank 1968, Isle of Skye 50 y.o. and other monsters). How could we all have ignored these old Glenglassaugh Malts in the past? A crying shame.

Score: 94

New Legends in the Making - Glenglassaugh's Spirit Safe (the only one with beach view in Scotland)

Balmenach 22 y.o. / 1988 SMWS 48.24, Refill Bourbon Hogshead, 49,3%

Comment: Very fruity (green apples, pineapple, lemon zest) and mature in the nose, kept at bay by some spice (white pepper) and wonderful white oak influences (vanilla, caramel, wood, charcoal). On the palate it bursts even more with  fruits (local and tropical) and displays a honey-infused sweetness, herbs and roses in addition – this has really been stored in a good Bourbon cask (refill?). No water needed, but this is a swimmer indeed.

Score: 89+

Glenturret 22 y.o. / 1988 SMWS 16.30, 2nd-fill Bourbon Hogshead, 51,6%

Comment: Highly unusual, not to say weird in the nose, but not at all unpleasant. Cheese roll with pickle, berry liqueur, Amarena cherry sauce from Italy (Maraschino and Morello), heather, dandelions, moss, creme brulee, honey, white dessert wine (Riesling Auslese or Passito), wet socks after a walk in the woods. The palate is a tightly-knit mix of the notes above, concentrating on moss, berries and wine, but also wonderfully mineral. Awesome, seems older than 22 years. What a cristalline fruitiness that resembles dextrose! No water, please! The finish juggles with all these aromas at great length. This ranks among the best Glenturrets I had. It has a unique character, perfect maturity and a satisfying taste that makes you beg for another glass. STUNNER!

Score: 91

Glenrothes 20 y.o. / 1990 SMWS 30.63, Refill Sherry Butt, 55,8%

Comment: Sweet and christmas-cakey (or the German ‚Christstollen mit Marzipan‘). Tea, peat and Sherry, lots of raisins (too dominating), plums, maraschino cherries, orange zest, rubber, sugared nuts and marzipan complete the nose – this is perfect for the advent or X-mas coffee table. Later some tobacco and figs emerge from the glass. The sweetness in the mouth is overwhelming and a bit monodimensional (raisins again), but we have a long finish on the same notes and noble rot on dark grapes. Unfortunately, the palate couldn’t hold the promises of the nose. Not bad, but you have to like the rubber-raisiny Sherry profile mainly on primary notes, which can be really persistent.

Score: 86

Glen Albyn 31 y.o. / 1979 SMWS 69.14, Refill Sherry Butt, 56,3%

Comment: Herbal at first, licorice and honey, loads of flowers, lemons, orange peel, plums, kraut salad with black cumin, Sushi roll in Nori, whiffs of peat, old gardening earth, Chinese roasted duck and kola nut. A little water helps opening the complex elixir. Slightly dry arrival on the palate, rather light, oak, flowers, gentle peat, honey and herbs lead into an earthy finish with echoes of the nose and some ginger. The nose was better than the rest. Nevertheless, this is an enjoyable dram in the classic light but complex style without lots of ‚in-your-face‘ wood influence.

Score: 88+