Archive for October, 2011
Kilchoman Summer 2010 3-Year
In the small (yet growing) group of small Scottish distilleries, Kilchoman is perhaps the tiniest. But what else would you expect from a distillery that is only 6 years old, is located on the small island of Islay off Scotland’s southwest coast, and was built on a farm (Rockside Farm)?
I still remember learning about Kilchoman back in 2004, before the distillery had even begun to produce its own whisky. Kilchoman, founded in 2001 by Anthony Wills, was the first new distillery on Islay in 124 years, and they didn’t begin distilling until 2005, after several years of acquiring and installing equipment and hiring staff.
At the time, I was heavily into Islay whiskies, the smokier the better, and so after having fully explored all 7 of them at the time (Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Laphroaig, Caol Ila, and Lagavulin), the thought of one more Islay distillery was really exciting. Unfortunately, their whisky was many, many years away, and so was really nothing more than a figment of our (and Anthony Wills’) imaginations.
In 2006, I did end up getting my hands on some of Kilchoman’s whisky, after they’d released a small batch of 50ml bottles of their new make spirit. What surprised me most was how smooth and very drinkable it was, while still being satisfyingly smoky.
Fast forward to 2009, and Kilchoman released their first Scotch whisky (as the younger whisky couldn’t properly be called Scotch because it was too young – whisky must be aged at least 3 years in oak barrels to be called Scotch), a 3-year old finished in Oloroso sherry butts. They followed this up with another 3-year old, released in (and accordingly named) Summer 2010. Their most recent release was the “100% Islay”, a whisky distilled from barley grown on Islay and malted at the distillery itself.
This last whisky is indicative of the unique path that Kilchoman is taking. They are not only small, they embrace being small. They strive to take advantage of some of the unusual opportunities available to them on account of their size, such as malting some of their own barley, and to capture Wills’ vision of “a small farm distillery that used only local ingredients, malted its own barley, and would benefit from the iconic Islay pedigree.”
Today, Kilchoman produces 100,000 liters a year, up from 40,000 in 2006. They produce a smoky whisky, with the malt measuring 20-25ppm phenols, accomplished by virtue of 12 hours of exposure to peat smoke before the malt is finished drying via indirect oil fire. The young whiskies are quite drinkable, which may have something to do with the shape of their stills. According to stillman Tony Rozga, “[the stills] are a great shape with lots of space to help the vapours calm down before they hit the condenser.”
What with all the good reviews that I’d read, and this being my first chance to taste aged Kilchoman whisky, I was pretty excited to try this dram.
Tasting Notes
This was a small sample graciously supplied to me by Drinks By The Dram*. It was bottled at 46%.
In the glass, the whisky is a pale, shimmery, white gold. The nose is beautifully smoky with lots of charred wood and smoke accompanied by notes of burnt sugar, peppermint, and white chocolate. The palate is rich and warm, earthy and very smoky, with sweet vanilla and brioche. On the finish, the bite of young whisky rears its head, but doesn’t overshadow the cloud of smoke that slowly gives way to a subdued sweetness.
On the whole, this is pretty smooth for such a young whisky, with flavors that are unabashedly smoky, and balanced by a nice combination of mint and chocolate. It very much makes me look forward to an older version of Kilchoman, and I wouldn’t argue against some of that Oloroso finishing they used for earlier releases.
*Drinks By The Dram is actually a pretty neat online whisky shop. I’d seen their site a year or so back and was impressed that they were offering single drams of whisky (e.g. 3cl bottles) for sale, in many cases whiskies that were rather rare. At the time, their selection was good, but today it’s pretty downright impressive. Lots of hard to find bottlings and lots only released in the UK are available by the single dram, which is especially beneficial for those of us here in the US. For a modest cost, we can sample whiskies otherwise unavailable to us. For instance, this and this. Exceptional whiskies both, extremely rare, and bottles prohibitively expensive. But a single dram’s worth is a great opportunity for a whisky lover. They’re definitely worth checking out.
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Hobo Wine Co. Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel 2006
I’ve long been a fan of Zinfandel, and of Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel in particular. I’ve tried Zinfandels from all over California, including those areas where I think it grows best (Paso Robles, Alexander Valley, and Rockpile Road for instance). But in the end, I always come back to Zins from Dry Creek Valley.
The Zinfandels made in this appellation exhibit a degree of character that isn’t quite there in other Zins, however good they may be. I often identify this as a brambly, earthy, rustic element that makes the wines just breathe a sense of place.
Now, there may be a certain degree of romanticism to this belief of mine, but then half the joy of wine is it’s romanticism, isn’t it? A given wine conveys to us its own meaning, a meaning undoubtedly imbued with our own thoughts, expectations, and beliefs. Great wine or not, we enjoy it for reasons beyond merely what’s in the glass.
But I tell you, Zins from dry creek valley really are unique, and delicious too. And this example from the Hobo Wine Company is no exception.
Who is Hobo Wine Company you ask? Good question, and it’s the first question that popped into my head when I saw this bottle. It was a gift from a good friend whose taste is entirely trustworthy, so I figured the wine had a lot of promise. But nonetheless, it was a complete unknown to me. It turns out that the Hobo Wine Company is the name of winemaker Kenny Likitprakong. Begun in 2002, the label was his first foray into winemaking under his own “name”, after having worked in various wine-making capacities at a handful of California wineries.
Initially, Hobo Wine Co. made all of their wine from purchased grapes, establishing relationships with growers throughout Sonoma County. A few years later in 2006, he began leasing vineyards in both Dry Creek Valley and Santa Rosa. Since then, the company’s vineyard holdings have increased incrementally, as has production. Whereas initially Hobo Wine Co. put out a Dry Creek Valley Zinfandel and Dry Creek Valley Port, today the range of releases is somewhat broader, with a year-round lineup that includes two more Zinfandel bottlings and two Cabernet Sauvignon bottlings, alongside special small-lot releases or single-vineyard bottlings.
Their approach is typical of many smaller, more craft-oriented winemakers nowadays, with an emphasis on minimal intervention, selective use of natural yeasts, and a light-handed use of (both French and American) oak.
So the back-story was a good one, but how would the wine stack up? I mean, when it comes to Zins, my expectations are somewhat high…
Tasting Notes
The wine pours a dark, inky purple. The nose is ripe with notes of blackberry and black currant, dark earthy mint, and more subtle notes of French oak and vanilla. The palate is a balanced blend of flavors both earthy and sweet, with ample tannin to boot. In fact, it’s more balanced than the richness of the nose would have you expect. Flavors of sweet and tart black and red berries dominant, with a dark coffee element thrown in for good measure. The tannins dry out the palate and lend a gripping oakiness to it. Over time in the glass they soften, but never fully go away. The finish is medium-length with black fruit left on a drying palate.
I was surprised at how tannic this wine was, and felt that either a) it could have been aged even longer, and b) it should have been opened much earlier. In fact, we kept a couple of glasses worth for the next day, and the tannins had softened considerably by then, making for a much smoother drinking experience. All in all though, a very tasty wine, and I’d be game for looking into more of their wines if I see them in the future.
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Aberlour A’bunadh Batch #32
Aberlour A’bunadh is simply a remarkable whisky, on multiple accounts. On the one hand, it is lip-smackingly good, and is unequivocally one of the finest scotch whiskies available (from any distillery or independent bottler). On the other, not only is it so stunningly good, but it is also a regular bottling from Aberlour, and is very reasonably priced. Taken as a whole, these elements all add up to this being a remarkable, standout whisky.
Aberlour is a Speyside distillery, located – unsurprisingly – in the town of Aberlour. The town, sometimes referred to as “Charlestown of Aberlour” (after its founder, Charles Grant), is also the home of Walker’s Shortbread, a Scottish export likely as famous a Scottish as the product of any distillery. Robin Laing considers this area the “true heart of Speyside whisky country”, as it’s also home to Macallan, Craigellachie, Benrinnes, Glenallachie, and the Speyside Cooperage.
The distillery was originally established in 1826, before being relocated and rebuilt on a nearby site in 1879. The new buildings were designed by the famous (in Scotch whisky circles) architect Charles Chree Doig, and feature the pagoda on the roof of the maltings that he is renowned for. Aberlour has undergone two expansions since then, in 1898 (after a fire) and 1973, and today produces a very healthy 3.5 million liters per year.
A few elements of their production process stand out, including:
- They only use Scottish barley, sourcing it from 3 different locations
- The malt is lightly peated, at only 2ppm
- The ABV of the spirit when it goes into casks is 69.1% (as opposed to the more common 63.5%)
- They use a high percentage of sherry casks, anywhere from 25-50%, with the remaining being bourbon casks
- They use cork bungs for their casks, as opposed to wood, which apparently requires special permission to be granted by Customs & Excise
Their use of sherry casks plays a particularly prominent role in the making of A’bunadh. “A’bunadh” means “the origin” in Gaelic, and the whisky is a tribute to James Fleming, who had rebuilt the distillery in 1879. It’s intended to represent the type of whisky that Fleming would have been familiar with back then. As such, it is a vatted bottling whose average age is relatively young (ranging from 8-15 years old). It is bottled at cask strength, is not chill-filtered, and only contains whisky from Oloroso sherry casks.
Any one of those taken independently would make for a potentially good whisky, but put them together and the end result is nothing short of wonderful. A’bunadh is, in my estimation, easily the best single-malt scotch produced as a year-round bottling in any distillery’s portfolio. What’s more, the batches are remarkably consistent, and consistently wonderful.
Tasting Notes
This is a bottle from batch #32 of Aberlour A’bunadh. It was bottled in 2010 at 60.4%.
In the glass, this whisky is a deep, rich, golden amber with long legs. The nose is wonderful, rich and room filling with notes of polish, beeswax, pears, melons, golden raisins, shortbread, and brown sugar. The palate has a soft mouthfeel, with richly sweet and buttery flavors. The spectrum is similar to the nose, with amplified intensity and power. Flavors of marzipan and oranges are thrown into the mix, as the palate bristles and hums with layers of flavor. The finish is very rich, and very long…
I don’t think there’s much more to say about this whisky. There’s a very reasonable argument to be made that it should have a permanent place on your whisky shelf. Just sayin’.
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