Merry Christmas and very Happy New Year 2018/19
Dear Whisky Collective, or to be more precise this time, Whisk(e)y Collective,
Welcome to your first set of five whiskies to see you over the festive period with style, quality and a certain pleasant feeling about the cockles! (See the previous post for a reminder about how this all works).
So! What have we got in our stockings this year?
Before reading on, I sincerely hope you will try a blind taste test. The reason for that is that the price range of whisk(e)y in this set of five is considerable and, well, wouldn't it be very interesting to know if you can spot the difference when the whisky is judged entirely on its own merit? So, if you haven't done it already, I suggest a grand opening of all bottles and an evening with five small glasses and a pencil and paper... and don't scroll down on this page past this paragraph just yet. I would probably recommend drinking them in order from 1 - 5, with a small glass of water in between.
The five whiskies are, I hope, all good and all different from each other. Variety is the spice of life, as the farmer said when kissing his cow...
.
.
.
.
If you are satisfied that you now want to know what the five whiskies are, read on.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1. Abrachan, Clydesdale Scotch Whisky Co. A NAS 42% Blended Malt. Straight away some explanation may be required: NAS means a 'No Age Statement' whisky. An NAS single malt means that the distillery can use any of their own whisky in it (because that is what a single malt is - a blend of barrels of malt whisky all produced within one single distillery) providing it is more than three years old (it is not legally whisky until aged in a barrel three years). This particular whisky is a blended malt - a selection of single malts from more than one distillery mixed (or 'vatted') together by an independent bottler (and so is number 4, below). This is not the same as a 'blended whisky', which is made through an entirely different process). Sorry to start with the confusing stuff! The bottler of this whisky, 'Clydesdale' is a front for the very famous and old independent bottler, Whyte and Mackay, and this whisky is sold exclusively... at Lidl. Yup, this first one of the five is the wildcard! It is Lidl's own brand and I paid just £12 for the bottle. See the snobby but good Malt-Review website for more details. As you will see, he rates this one more that the other Lidl offerings.
It is very much a 'sherry casked' whisky. I may as well get this explanation out of the way early too (forgive me if you know all this): As above, whisky is not legally whisky until matured for 3 years. However, it must be matured in a barrel that has already been used for something else. I do not know what the origin of that law is. Typically there are two kinds of casks that are used. Sherry casks (i.e. they have previously be used to age sherry) and American bourbon casks (previously been used to age bourbon). Since it is illegal to produce bourbon with anything other than a brand new cask, there is a ready supply of used bourbon casks available for the whisky industry. Not only does the taste of the spirit that was previously in the cask go on to affect the flavour of the whisky (which is why you'll taste 'sherry notes' with this whisky) but American oak and European oak impart a different flavour profile, with European oak being richer in tannins and 'spiciness' and American oak having more vanilla.
All this means that distilleries have to employ full time coopers - because they are constantly having to receive a steady stream of old barrels (taken apart into planks for flat-packed shipping) and remake them into barrels. That said, once they have done that they can reuse a whisky barrel several times (which then gets labeled as a re-fill). A re-fill is not poorer quality, but the wood itself will impart less flavour a second-time around, so re-fill barrels are used for a purpose and not simply to save money.
2. Auchentoshan Three Wood. This is a single malt whisky from a distillery in the Lowlands area of Scotland, in fact, just outside of Glasgow. See the ever useful map of Scotch. They have been making whisky at Auchentoshan since 1825. See the entry on the maltmadness website for some history (and tasting notes for the Three Wood a little further down the page).
I got hold of this for £32.90 in April. It's more usual price is towards £40 and it is regularly more like £45, so I think we did pretty well here. 43% and it is another NAS. However, this one won't be full of really young whisky because it is all about getting the flavours from three different types of barrel and that takes time. It retails at a considerably higher price than the 10 year or the 12 year and is considered to be better than either of those.
3. Redbreast 12, Midleton. 40%. Ah now to be sure to be sure - this is the seriously highly regarded one of the set of five (it is my intention that each year the set of five will contain at least one whisky that is considered an absolute go to classic). It is not a whisky but a whiskey - it is from Co Cork in Ireland and that is how it is spelt over there. Irish whiskey is characterised in many ways but I would say, from my limited experience of drinking only about five different ones, is that they go for smooth smooth smooth smooth shortbread biscuits. When Geoff and I were buying whiskey in Belfast last year, the only recommendation that anyone seemed to give us was 'try this... it is really smooth'. Most reviewers of Redbreast 12 point out that one of the flavours is grass, apparently because only 50% of the barley in this is malted, the other half being fresh, which is also characteristic of Irish whiskey (and originally part of a tax dodge on behalf of the Irish against malted barley tax levied by the English!).
This is as good a moment as any to introduce you to the world of Youtube reviews of whisky, which range from the ludicrously serious to the just plain ludicrous. Somewhere in the middle is the rather charming 'The Whisk(e)y Vault', a duo from Texas with a penchant for things this side of the pond as well as bourbons and ryes and the other American stuff that, like so many American things including most of their food, is a bit like ours only they make it with corn syrup. Here they are, comparing two top Irish whiskies, of which one is Redbreast 12. Don't ever watch a youtube whisky review if you are in a hurry. I find they are better when you are some way down a dram yourself...
I also got hold of this bottle in April for a good price. It rarely goes for less than the low £40's and is sometimes pushing £50, but I got it for £37.90, which is partly why I decided to go for the Lidl option to balance things out a little, price-wise.
4. Johnnie Walker Green Label, 15 year old blended malt, 43%. Unlike most (I think maybe all) of their other offerings, there is no grain malt here (that is, the whisky made by a continuous process and usually of lower quality), this is four well-aged single malts blended together. Linkwood (Speyside), Craggenmore (Speyside), Caol Ila (Isle of Islay and also component of Johnnie Walker Black) and Talisker ('maritime' malt from the Isle of Skye). If you've ever tried the latter two, then you'll know that this will be smokey. For example, Caol Ila 12 tastes like burned pork charcoal bbq (but in a good way). Most agree that this is one of the best from Johnnie Walker, and it is often £40+, but yours truly got it for £30 in the middle of the year. The Red Label is basically a grain muck mixer and I haven't tried it. The Black Label is considered one of the better blends - and well known as the late Christopher Hitchens' favourite breakfast - but in my opinion if you try it against many half-decent single malts you really learn what people mean by whisky having a long or a short finish - for me the Black Label tastes reasonably good and then just suddenly disappears in about a couple of seconds. Who knows what the Blue Label is like because it is well-over £100 a bottle, which is a lot to pay for a Blended Scotch. Neither the Gold Label nor the Platinum Label generate much interest, it seems, and one suggestion I read that the Gold label is best enjoyed with ice and apple juice... doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. So this is the Green, undoubtedly the only offering from Johnnie Walker I would be interested in, and I'm looking forward to trying it for the first time.
See this video for an entertaining attempt to recreate this whisky from the four single malts (well, they can't be the exact ones, because the youngest malt in this blended malt has to be 15 years).
See this rather nice one-take video advert made by actor Robert Carlisle on the history of Johnnie Walker.
5. Benriach Birnie Moss, NAS, single malt, 48%. Well... I aimed for a contrasting set, and I hope this couldn't be more different from the others - certainly from 1, 2 and 3. I haven't tried this either so I'm looking forward to this. Some reviewers (including very respected ones) say it is excellent, others say it does need to be aged more. Some say that this compares to Kilchoman Machir Bay, which I have had and thought was wonderful (and the oldest whisky in that is probably about 7 years, proof that age really isn't the most important factor in a whisky). And Machir Bay is more expensive. At £35 this was a pretty good deal because it is usually over £40, but it is quite a lot to pay for a NAS. It is strongly peated but, being a Speyside whisky, the peat will have a slightly different character to Islay - my guess is that although smokey this will retain a sort of clean or sharp feeling. At 48% it could probably handle a teaspoon of water.
About water: my own personal preference is to assume that the distiller does know what percentage they wanted and so watering down is sort of like telling him you know better... but this is a big contentious topic and plenty of reviewers suggest that you should try a whisky neat first and also try adding a small amount of water (a teaspoon in a 25ml dram is more than enough) to bring out different elements of the taste. I think probably more important is a little rule-of-thumb about it being worth pouring a whisky and waiting one minute for each year of casking. You can cover the glass with a saucer (or keep the clean lid of a Pringles tube and use that). Most reviewers agree that a whisky changes after a short time in the glass, making the individual different flavours come out and be somehow more accessible.
So...
£32.90
+12.00
+ 37.90
+ 30.00
+ 35.00
divided by 5
= £31.56
Plus £3 towards the glass bottles, which I want back to reuse, please.
= £34.50
26th November update about prices: This last week has seen price reductions on whisky that are almost unprecedented, with some items at the lowest they have ever been recorded. The result of this is that some of the whisky here has been briefly available at less that these prices. I had hoped to have bought all of these at the best prices through the year, but I guess that is always a little unpredictable. What I have done is bought one bottle for next year this week, and I'll see how I play things during the 2019 - it seems that 'Black Friday' is now affecting the world of whisky to a greater extent than before.
Welcome to your first set of five whiskies to see you over the festive period with style, quality and a certain pleasant feeling about the cockles! (See the previous post for a reminder about how this all works).
So! What have we got in our stockings this year?
Before reading on, I sincerely hope you will try a blind taste test. The reason for that is that the price range of whisk(e)y in this set of five is considerable and, well, wouldn't it be very interesting to know if you can spot the difference when the whisky is judged entirely on its own merit? So, if you haven't done it already, I suggest a grand opening of all bottles and an evening with five small glasses and a pencil and paper... and don't scroll down on this page past this paragraph just yet. I would probably recommend drinking them in order from 1 - 5, with a small glass of water in between.
The five whiskies are, I hope, all good and all different from each other. Variety is the spice of life, as the farmer said when kissing his cow...
.
.
.
.
If you are satisfied that you now want to know what the five whiskies are, read on.
.
.
.
.
.
.
1. Abrachan, Clydesdale Scotch Whisky Co. A NAS 42% Blended Malt. Straight away some explanation may be required: NAS means a 'No Age Statement' whisky. An NAS single malt means that the distillery can use any of their own whisky in it (because that is what a single malt is - a blend of barrels of malt whisky all produced within one single distillery) providing it is more than three years old (it is not legally whisky until aged in a barrel three years). This particular whisky is a blended malt - a selection of single malts from more than one distillery mixed (or 'vatted') together by an independent bottler (and so is number 4, below). This is not the same as a 'blended whisky', which is made through an entirely different process). Sorry to start with the confusing stuff! The bottler of this whisky, 'Clydesdale' is a front for the very famous and old independent bottler, Whyte and Mackay, and this whisky is sold exclusively... at Lidl. Yup, this first one of the five is the wildcard! It is Lidl's own brand and I paid just £12 for the bottle. See the snobby but good Malt-Review website for more details. As you will see, he rates this one more that the other Lidl offerings.
It is very much a 'sherry casked' whisky. I may as well get this explanation out of the way early too (forgive me if you know all this): As above, whisky is not legally whisky until matured for 3 years. However, it must be matured in a barrel that has already been used for something else. I do not know what the origin of that law is. Typically there are two kinds of casks that are used. Sherry casks (i.e. they have previously be used to age sherry) and American bourbon casks (previously been used to age bourbon). Since it is illegal to produce bourbon with anything other than a brand new cask, there is a ready supply of used bourbon casks available for the whisky industry. Not only does the taste of the spirit that was previously in the cask go on to affect the flavour of the whisky (which is why you'll taste 'sherry notes' with this whisky) but American oak and European oak impart a different flavour profile, with European oak being richer in tannins and 'spiciness' and American oak having more vanilla.
All this means that distilleries have to employ full time coopers - because they are constantly having to receive a steady stream of old barrels (taken apart into planks for flat-packed shipping) and remake them into barrels. That said, once they have done that they can reuse a whisky barrel several times (which then gets labeled as a re-fill). A re-fill is not poorer quality, but the wood itself will impart less flavour a second-time around, so re-fill barrels are used for a purpose and not simply to save money.
2. Auchentoshan Three Wood. This is a single malt whisky from a distillery in the Lowlands area of Scotland, in fact, just outside of Glasgow. See the ever useful map of Scotch. They have been making whisky at Auchentoshan since 1825. See the entry on the maltmadness website for some history (and tasting notes for the Three Wood a little further down the page).
I got hold of this for £32.90 in April. It's more usual price is towards £40 and it is regularly more like £45, so I think we did pretty well here. 43% and it is another NAS. However, this one won't be full of really young whisky because it is all about getting the flavours from three different types of barrel and that takes time. It retails at a considerably higher price than the 10 year or the 12 year and is considered to be better than either of those.
3. Redbreast 12, Midleton. 40%. Ah now to be sure to be sure - this is the seriously highly regarded one of the set of five (it is my intention that each year the set of five will contain at least one whisky that is considered an absolute go to classic). It is not a whisky but a whiskey - it is from Co Cork in Ireland and that is how it is spelt over there. Irish whiskey is characterised in many ways but I would say, from my limited experience of drinking only about five different ones, is that they go for smooth smooth smooth smooth shortbread biscuits. When Geoff and I were buying whiskey in Belfast last year, the only recommendation that anyone seemed to give us was 'try this... it is really smooth'. Most reviewers of Redbreast 12 point out that one of the flavours is grass, apparently because only 50% of the barley in this is malted, the other half being fresh, which is also characteristic of Irish whiskey (and originally part of a tax dodge on behalf of the Irish against malted barley tax levied by the English!).
This is as good a moment as any to introduce you to the world of Youtube reviews of whisky, which range from the ludicrously serious to the just plain ludicrous. Somewhere in the middle is the rather charming 'The Whisk(e)y Vault', a duo from Texas with a penchant for things this side of the pond as well as bourbons and ryes and the other American stuff that, like so many American things including most of their food, is a bit like ours only they make it with corn syrup. Here they are, comparing two top Irish whiskies, of which one is Redbreast 12. Don't ever watch a youtube whisky review if you are in a hurry. I find they are better when you are some way down a dram yourself...
I also got hold of this bottle in April for a good price. It rarely goes for less than the low £40's and is sometimes pushing £50, but I got it for £37.90, which is partly why I decided to go for the Lidl option to balance things out a little, price-wise.
4. Johnnie Walker Green Label, 15 year old blended malt, 43%. Unlike most (I think maybe all) of their other offerings, there is no grain malt here (that is, the whisky made by a continuous process and usually of lower quality), this is four well-aged single malts blended together. Linkwood (Speyside), Craggenmore (Speyside), Caol Ila (Isle of Islay and also component of Johnnie Walker Black) and Talisker ('maritime' malt from the Isle of Skye). If you've ever tried the latter two, then you'll know that this will be smokey. For example, Caol Ila 12 tastes like burned pork charcoal bbq (but in a good way). Most agree that this is one of the best from Johnnie Walker, and it is often £40+, but yours truly got it for £30 in the middle of the year. The Red Label is basically a grain muck mixer and I haven't tried it. The Black Label is considered one of the better blends - and well known as the late Christopher Hitchens' favourite breakfast - but in my opinion if you try it against many half-decent single malts you really learn what people mean by whisky having a long or a short finish - for me the Black Label tastes reasonably good and then just suddenly disappears in about a couple of seconds. Who knows what the Blue Label is like because it is well-over £100 a bottle, which is a lot to pay for a Blended Scotch. Neither the Gold Label nor the Platinum Label generate much interest, it seems, and one suggestion I read that the Gold label is best enjoyed with ice and apple juice... doesn't inspire a lot of confidence. So this is the Green, undoubtedly the only offering from Johnnie Walker I would be interested in, and I'm looking forward to trying it for the first time.
See this video for an entertaining attempt to recreate this whisky from the four single malts (well, they can't be the exact ones, because the youngest malt in this blended malt has to be 15 years).
See this rather nice one-take video advert made by actor Robert Carlisle on the history of Johnnie Walker.
5. Benriach Birnie Moss, NAS, single malt, 48%. Well... I aimed for a contrasting set, and I hope this couldn't be more different from the others - certainly from 1, 2 and 3. I haven't tried this either so I'm looking forward to this. Some reviewers (including very respected ones) say it is excellent, others say it does need to be aged more. Some say that this compares to Kilchoman Machir Bay, which I have had and thought was wonderful (and the oldest whisky in that is probably about 7 years, proof that age really isn't the most important factor in a whisky). And Machir Bay is more expensive. At £35 this was a pretty good deal because it is usually over £40, but it is quite a lot to pay for a NAS. It is strongly peated but, being a Speyside whisky, the peat will have a slightly different character to Islay - my guess is that although smokey this will retain a sort of clean or sharp feeling. At 48% it could probably handle a teaspoon of water.
About water: my own personal preference is to assume that the distiller does know what percentage they wanted and so watering down is sort of like telling him you know better... but this is a big contentious topic and plenty of reviewers suggest that you should try a whisky neat first and also try adding a small amount of water (a teaspoon in a 25ml dram is more than enough) to bring out different elements of the taste. I think probably more important is a little rule-of-thumb about it being worth pouring a whisky and waiting one minute for each year of casking. You can cover the glass with a saucer (or keep the clean lid of a Pringles tube and use that). Most reviewers agree that a whisky changes after a short time in the glass, making the individual different flavours come out and be somehow more accessible.
So...
£32.90
+12.00
+ 37.90
+ 30.00
+ 35.00
divided by 5
= £31.56
Plus £3 towards the glass bottles, which I want back to reuse, please.
= £34.50
26th November update about prices: This last week has seen price reductions on whisky that are almost unprecedented, with some items at the lowest they have ever been recorded. The result of this is that some of the whisky here has been briefly available at less that these prices. I had hoped to have bought all of these at the best prices through the year, but I guess that is always a little unpredictable. What I have done is bought one bottle for next year this week, and I'll see how I play things during the 2019 - it seems that 'Black Friday' is now affecting the world of whisky to a greater extent than before.
There was a rather dreadful moment in David Bowie's illustrious career when he provided a sountrack for a film called 'Absolute Beginners'. Somehow I bought the album (vinyl in those days) but neb=ver saw the film. Anyway the title song was the one running in my head as read through your info above. I enjoyed all the whiskies and will be glad to use up the supply over the coming few months. I found #3 (the mick) almost impossible to taste! This may be because a glass of water isn't enough to expunge the effect of two tastings in a row. In the end I resorted to breadsticks as well as water, but I still can't tast the Redbreast 12, so may come back to it on its own another day.
ReplyDeleteThis is a great club to be in, Jonathan, I really appreciate the love that you have put into it. I really ought to pay you at some point.