Category: Scotch
Rosebank 20-Year SWMS Cask 25.50
The “connoisseur” in me often thinks that whiskies from closed distilleries represent the holy grail. That tasting a whisky from one of these distilleries is almost like tasting a piece of history, snatching a fragment of the past from the jaws of time. No doubt, this is a distinctly romantic notion. But an exciting one nonetheless.
In part, the idea, and the excitement surrounding it, stems from scarcity: whiskies from closed distilleries become rarer by the day. Each year that passes is one year farther from when they shut their doors for the last time, and the number of barrels or bottles in existence steadily dwindles. Independent bottlers work hard to secure barrels of this increasingly unique whisky, and collectors race against one another to stow away bottles.
So, scarcity breeds romanticism, and in some cases the result is difficult to find and wildly priced whiskies. Just look at recent bottlings of Port Ellen or Brora, two long-since closed distilleries prized by whisky enthusiasts today. Bottles of these distilleries’ whisky, now reaching 30-years old, fetch $300-$400. Not only are they pricey, but there are only a handful of them to go around. The reputation of these whiskies precedes them, but in (sadly) too many cases their price tag puts them out of reach of most folks.
Herein lies one of the best elements of whiskies from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Not only do they consistently bottle stellar whiskies from a great range of distilleries – all of which are single-cask and non-chill-filtered -, but they regularly offer rare and hard to find gems at (all things considered) reasonable prices. Every couple of months when their list of available bottlings is sent out, it invariably includes at least a couple from closed distilleries. Alongside these are the whiskies offered from distilleries rarely, if ever, seen in independent bottlings. Take, for example, the Glen Elgin that I tried recently.That the Society makes a point of offering bottlings from closed distilleries is a wonderfully bittersweet pleasure. On the one hand is the joy of tasting such a unique and tasty whisky. On the other is the awareness that these opportunities are increasingly limited.
This bottle of whisky is an excellent example. Rosebank closed in May of 1993, 153 years after being founded by one James Rankine. Alongside St. Magdalene, Rosebank was one of the most highly regarded Lowland malts, and sadly both are closed today (St. Magdalene closed in 1983). This particular whisky was distilled in April 1989, and spent 20 years aging in a refill bourbon hogshead before being bottled at a cask-strength of 56.7%.
Tasting Notes
This Rosebank is darker than others I’ve had, certainly a result of its greater age. The color is of lustrous, polished gold. The nose has notes of heather, sugared citrus, custard, lemon curd, and a hint of vanilla bean. The palate is rich and velvety, with mouth-coatingly sweet layers of poached apples and pears, custard, creme anglaise, and a hint of light caramel, wispy smoke, riding atop a viscous, malty body. The whisky really shines on the finish, with increasingly deep flavors of caramelized sugars. Think tasting the flavors of turbinado sugar as it’s slowly melted atop a creme brulee, finishing with just a hint of dark, burnt sugar.
What I enjoyed most about this whisky was the way in which the flavors deepened and opened up from the nose, through the palate, and on to the finish. The other Rosebank that I’ve tried recently was not quite as old, and not nearly as rich. It had a much stronger citrus and heather element taking place. It was excellent, and this bottle represents another side of this (sadly closed) distillery’s excellent whisky.
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The Singleton Of Dufftown 12-Year
Dufftown is one of the distilleries included in the famous saying,
Rome was built on seven hills, but Dufftown is built on seven stills.
Named eponymously after the town it resides in, Dufftown (the distillery) was the 6th distillery to be established in town. The saying initially referred to the following distilleries: Balvenie, Convalmore, Dufftown, Glendullan, Glenfiddich, Mortlach, and Parkmore. After three of these distilleries closed (Convalmore, Glendullan, and Parkmore) and three new distilleries opened, the saying came to mean: Balvenie, Dufftown, Pittyvaich, Glenfiddich, Mortlach, Glendullan, and Kininvie. Today, five distilleries remain in Dufftown, so I suppose that we should sadly give up on the wonderful saying altogether.
Dufftown (the distillery) was founded in 1895 when it was converted from a meal mill into a distillery. The conversion took a little over a year, and the stills began running on November 10th, 1896. The distillery then experienced a rather uneventful couple of decades before its owners went bankrupt during the Prohibition period in America, and were forced to sell the business, lock, stock, and barrels (literally, both the distillery and all existing stock were included in the purchase).
The distillery was purchased by Arthur Bell & Sons, and quickly became a principal component of the Bell’s blend, leading to decades of busy distilling. In 1968 the stills were increased from two to four, in 1974 from four to six, and in 1979 from six to eight. Today, the distillery has an annual capacity of 4 million liters, making it the 12th largest distillery in Scotland.
Interestingly, despite that massive production, a mere 1% of the whisky goes for single malt bottlings. The vast majority goes into the Bell’s blend, with a substantial amount going to other blends. This bottling, named The Singleton, is rather new, and was introduced a couple of years ago.
Tasting Notes
All in all, this is a classic Speyside-style whisky. Not a classic whisky, but in the classic style. The color is rich, burnished gold. The nose has poached pears, almonds, custard, wheat, and a slight grassiness. Quite round and pleasant. The palate is soft, slightly oily and very mellow, with flavors of hazelnuts, almonds, honey, vanilla wafers, and a subtle fruitiness. Very drinkable, in a pleasant, unexciting way. The finish is quite brief, with soft flavors of clotted cream, pears, and hints of citrus.
I like Royal Mile Whiskies description best: “a pleasant but undramatic whisky”. I think this really captures this dram perfectly. It’s thoroughly enjoyable, in an easy, unchallenging, friendly kind of way. Similar to my Maker’s Mark post of a couple days ago, this would make a great every day whisky for the scotch drinker (although, I have to admit that Maker’s Mark impressed me much more).
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Glen Elgin 10-Year SMWS Cask 85.20
This bottle highlights my favorite thing about being a member of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society. Having access to single-cask, cask-strength bottlings of rare and unusual whiskies, or rare and unusual expressions of not-so-rare whiskies, is a real treat. The fact that all of the bottles are so uniformly good, and some simply outstanding, is just the icing on the cake.
The bottle in question tonight is a 10-year old Glen Elgin aged in a refill sherry butt. This is a distillery whose inauspicious start and the many bumps along the road that it has experienced during its history perfectly illustrate the very ups and downs of the Scotch whisky industry as a whole. That today it appears in the guise of a special bottling from one of the most reputed Scotch whisky bottlers is a testament to both its tenacity and the wrinkles that good fortune can bring.
This Speyside distillery was founded in 1898 at the height of the late 19th-century whisky boom. It was designed by noted distillery architect Charles Chree Doig, famed for the pagoda-style roofs he built atop several distilleries at this time, including Aberlour, Dufftown, Balblair, and of course Glen Elgin. After two years of work, the distillery began operating in early May 1900, only to close 6 months later when the whisky bubble burst and worldwide demand plummeted.
In 1930 the distillery was purchased by the major conglomerate Scottish Malt Distillers, and became a principal component of the White Horse Blend. As a result, the distillery experienced sustained success for several decades (barring a brief closure during World War II). It was thoroughly rebuilt in 1964 when the number of stills was increased from two to six, and has been in continuous operation ever since.
Until recently it’s rarely been found in single-malt bottlings. Instead, the vast majority of the whisky goes into various blends, most notably White Horse. Overall production amounts to 1.8 million liters a year, which is certainly a respectable figure. It’s owned by United Distillers who market the Classic Malts series that includes distilleries such as Oban and Talisker. Word is that they’ve chosen Glen Elgin as one of the next whiskies to begin including in this series. Their website does indeed include Glen Elgin, but I don’t recall having seen it in shops as of yet.
As most distilleries do who produce whisky largely for blending purposes, Glen Elgin uses both bourbon and sherry casks for aging their whiskies. Their four dunnage style warehouses are all onsite.
Tasting Notes
This is bottle number 85.20 from the Society, and has been named “Woweee!” by the tasting committee. It’s been bottled at 60.2% and is 1 of 650 bottles from a refill sherry butt that was filled in September 1999.
In the glass the whisky is the color of polished gold, with alluring amber highlights. The nose has inviting notes of fresh forest air, followed by light citrus notes that lead to vanilla custard, grade A maple syrup, and lastly some dry, oaky notes. The dram takes time to open up in the glass and reveal all of its nuances, but it’s worth the wait. Don’t rush this one! The palate is velvety, warm, and viscous. The flavors are rich and warming, and include caramel custard, candied orange peels, warm brown sugar cookies, and an undercurrent of citrus and maltiness. The finish is medium length, tantalizingly lingering, fruity, and sweet.
Another impressive bottling from the Society. The whiskies I’ve loved most from them have been their single sherry casks, most notably a 24-year old first-fill Inchgower named “A Farmer’s Friend”. What a whisky it was! Deep, deep sherried whisky flavors – caramelized brown sugars, glazed spiral ham, red raspberries and rum-soaked strawberries. Wow, I still remember it vividly.
One note on the Society’s new bottles – I’m not sure I’m sold. The shape is not really to my liking, a bit too eccentric to me. Reminds me a lot of the Bowmore bottles that also turn me off a bit. But, what I do like is the design of the labels and the info they’ve included. Now is included the type of cask, the name and number of the whisky, the Committee’s tasting notes, the bottle count, and on the back, a pithy little statement that reads,
We, the Tasting Panel, verify that the Scotch Malt Whisky inside this bottle has been passed under some of the most scrupulous noses in the world and approved for release as a Society bottling. Only single cask whiskies that promise to intrigue, entertain, and delight our members are selected, true to our motto: ‘To Leave No Nose Upturned’
I’ve always loved the tasting notes the Society includes in their newsletters and bottling lists, and this statement sums up quite aptly the Society’s tongue-in-cheek style.
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Gordon & MacPhail Longmorn 30 Year
This Gordon & MacPhail Longmorn was one of the whiskies that we featured at last weekend’s tasting at Amherst Coffee. The event came off really well, full of great whiskies and great people. I definitely think fun was had by all. In the end, each whisky showed very, very well – even the “palate warmer” that we threw in to start things off. But then, a Murray McDavid 11-year Isle of Arran is no slouch!
I was very excited to include an old Longmorn in the tasting. All of the older specimens of Longmorn that I’ve been lucky enough to try have been outstanding. It’s undoubtedly a whisky that ages very gracefully, which is no surprise given its pedigree as a top-class malt.* And so it was with no lack of excitement that we placed this whisky next-to-last in the tasting, in order to give it some room to shine. (Our last whisky was a cask-strength, 25-year Strathisla. But more on that later…)
This whisky was distilled in 1979, and bottled in 2009. It was bottled at 40%, which I can’t help but feel is really a shame. It’s the one downside to Gordon & MacPhail’s otherwise excellent lineup of single malts, most of which are wonderful bargains given their great quality. But their tendency to bottle at such low percentages, 40-43%, is a disappointment. They also chill filter many of their whiskies, this one included. You can’t help but wonder how the whisky would have tasted otherwise, how much flavor and character was lost.
But, that being said. What we’ve got here is a very fine whisky nonetheless.
Tasting Notes
The whisky is the color of light gold. The nose has lemon drops and pears alongside sweet, grainy, floral notes. The palate is soft and delicate, with a buttery, mouth-coating roundness. Lightly sweet, oaky flavors of resin, honey, and vanilla are balanced alongside warm, malty notes of beeswax and brioche. Subtle citrus notes float around in this mix of flavors. The finish is dry and only lightly sweet, with prominent flavors of beeswax and bread. The finish is quite long and smoothyl transitions from initially subtly sweet to very malty and mellow.
All in all, this is a very balanced whisky, with it’s age showing in the combination of oaky dryness, balanced sweet and malty flavors, and buttery, mouth-coating texture. Actually, the thing I liked best was how dry it was. The flavors of brioche, bread dough, and beeswax were wonderful, and those were the ones that really lingered on your palate.
I would love to see this whisky bottled at a few points higher, and not chill-filtered, but in the meantime have to say that this is another good bargain from Gordon & MacPhail.
*In his Miscellany of Whisky, Charles MacLean cites a small group of top-class malts, whiskies that were highly regarded by blenders for their ability to add that last little bit of something to their blends. The full list included: Aultmore, Benrinnes, Cragganmore, Glen Elgin, Glen Grant, Glenlivet, Glenlossie, Glenrothes, Linkwood, Longmorn, Macallan, and Mortlach.
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Laphroaig 10-Year Cask Strength
For me, Laphroaig will always represent the most elemental aspects of whisky that first blew my mind several years back when I was just getting to know scotch. It was the first crazily smoky, peaty whisky that I drank, and the first cask strength too. On both accounts, my palate was altered for good, and to this day I’m still not sure if it was for the better!
It’s with good reason that each bottle of Laphroaig carries the seal of the Prince of Wales himself, as this is no ordinary whisky:
By appointment to HRH [His Royal Highness] the Prince of Wales, distiller and supplier of single malt Scotch whisky, D. Johnston & Co., (Laphroaig) Isle of Islay.
I still remember giving my mother a taste of Laphroaig 10, and hearing her horrified remark that it tasted like someone had filled her mouth with charcoal. Definitely not everyone’s cup of tea, or whisky for that matter. Laphroaig is one that you have to adapt to and be ready for, not the other way around. In contrast to many whiskies, Laphroaig is an uncompromising malt. It’s really love it or leave it.
The 10-year cask strength embodies the Laphroaig character more so than any of their other bottlings. Bottled at 55.7%, it captures Laphroaig at the height of its youthful exuberance. It’s tempestuous and fiery, and threatens to knock you around a bit if you’re not ready for it. It’s the deepest night compared to its more mild-mannered 10-year old non-cask-strength sibling.
The whisky pours reddish gold with tight beads. Leaping out of the glass is that characteristic Laphroaig smoke, reminiscent of a smoldering woodfire. The briny smoke dominates the nose, with undercurrents of burnt caramel and seaweed thrown in for good measure. The palate leads off with mouth coating sweetness, followed by waves of peat smoke and char. The flavors then swing back round to caramel, bits of toffee, and sweet bready flavors. The whisky is medium bodied, not as thickly textured as some cask strengths are, with bracing, hot alcohol. To really experience it to the full, it definitely asks to be toned down. In fact, adding water really brings out the smokiness in the palate. The finish has a lingering bit of smoke, burnt sugar, and custard, warming and sweet.
Overall impression: very tasty, and great for sipping while sitting in front of a fire. Hot from the alcohol, but much more pleasant after toned down with water. Definitely for the lover of smoky whiskies, who can stand up to the brutish challenge brought on by the cask-strength bottling.
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