Bowmore seems to be picking up awards here and there, and mostly from pretty recent bottlings from the end of the nineties and later. Of course, they also pick up credits for really, really old bottles, from the sixties and such. Unfortunately, those usually don’t find their way into my humble home.

Nose:
Straw and moss at first, with prominent but not overpowering smoke. This particular Bowmore has a pretty bit hint of lavender wafting from the glass and the FWP alarm is going off right away. There are some spices too and the scent of laundry softener is not too big compared to the other scents. On the verge of being too perfumy.

Taste:
Sweet with vanilla, with big floral hints that were present on the nose as well. It’s rather sharp for a 51.8% dram, but again, not overpoweringly so. I also get some fresh juicy apple.

Finish:
The finish veers of in an entirely different direction. The flavours get warmer all of a sudden with a lot more cask to be tasted. The oaky notes are pretty big here. Also the vanilla again with maybe some dried flowers in the background.

The first scents I got were pretty good, with the farmy and forest like notes getting there first. Unfortunately the perfumy scents were quick to follow and they do put their stamp on this dram. After that the flavour and finish aren’t really that interesting. A decent Bowmore, but there are better ones out there.

Bowmore 12, 1998-2010, The Whisky Agency / Liquid Library, Ex bourbon barrel, 51.8%, available for € 63 at Whisky-Doris.

The book is about Absinthe, a bit of history, the current situation, cocktails you can make with it, and more cocktails you can make with it. When reading the back cover (poorly) I got the impression it would be more about the booze itself, production process, origins, which herbs and spices are used in making different kinds of absinthe and such. More or less like most whisky books available. In the end it was much more about Absinthe cocktails than anything else.

This I found strange since I got the impression that the writers were Absinthe afficionados and would be more interested in pouring the perfect absinthe, with proper louching and how much water to add, maybe even about the pros and cons of adding sugar too. I barely read anything on that topic.

There are really cool bits of trivia in the book though, about Absinthe in the late 1800s, its ban in the 1910s and legalization a few years ago, the different kinds of wormwood and much more. Those bits are very entertaining to read. The cocktail recipes, however, are the biggest part of the book by far, and unless you really want to read recipes on the train, you’ll fly through the pages and finish the book in an hour or so.

So, all in all: a very nice read, albeit a bit too focussed on the cocktails. I did get some inspiration though! Very easy to read as well!

I just had a taste of my first home brew. Of course, it’s all very basic and from a kit. That will probably be very unsettling to more experienced home brewers, but I have to start somewhere, right? And since I haven’t done anything slightly related to biology, chemistry or physics in the last decade, I thought to take it slow at first until I get the hang of it. Baby steps and such.

My first kit is a Belgian dark abbey style beer. It still has to stay in the bottle for a couple of weeks, about six to eight, according to the guidelines, but I think I am tasting one a bit earlier to see what the changes are over the weeks.

Of course I tasted quite a bit to see where it is at now, and allthough I was quite sceptical about my brewing skills and the fact that it hadn’t had its extra sweetening yet, it was pretty OK!

Apparently it keeps improving over time according to some online reviews, so I’ll probably keep a couple of bottles for tasting after a few more months or even a year! The next kit will be a London Porter and I’ll be looking into the process itself a bit more. Now it was just following the rules laid out in the leaflet.

All I have to think of now is a name for the beers and it’s probably going to something like Rooster Brew or anything in that range (My last name is ‘the rooster’).

This samples from The Whisky Agency had been lying around for a while and I thought it was time to add the review to this here blog. It’s from the ‘bugs’ series.

Nose:
Quite a lot of sherry at first, with just as much oak in there. This is weird since its a bourbon cask… Big flavours with fruit and some spices to follow that up. Raisins, cinnamon, clove and dry roasted peanuts.

Taste:
The palate is rather smooth with a little teasing fizziness to it. It does build up nicely and is never specifically fruity while there are flavours of dried apricot with heaps of spices.

Finish:
I get mostly some nuttiness, wood with some fatty flavours. It goes down smoothly, almost too much so.

This is weird. I’m almost thinking that the label on the sample wasn’t correct since I would swear this one comes from a sherry cask. Apparently not, but I’ve been mislead more often with really old bourbon casks. Apart from which kind of cask it’s been drawn from, it’s a bloody good whisky!

Macduff 1973-2011, The Whisky Agency, Bugs series, 47%, Bourbon Hogshead, available at Gall & Gall Van der Boog for € 169.

The setup was quite similar to that of last year with a few more stand than last year and somewhat more visitors. Still all well under the numbers there were in Den Haag in November. The second thing that is highly interesting is that all stands are of equal size. So no half church for Diageo while some smaller importer has to display twice as many whiskies in half the space. I think that is a brilliant call from the organization.

I didn’t take any tasting notes, since I really didn’t feel like it. The night was more focussed on chatting with friends and whisky people. Between the three of us we tasted 17 whiskies:

1. Macduff 2000, Creative Whisky Company, Drinks & Gifts Krommenie, 56.5% (*****)
2. Glenlivet 15, 1996, The Ultimate, 46% (****)
3. Linkwood 15, Gordon & MacPhail, 43% (***)
4. Glen Scotia 19, Kintra Whisky (****)
5. Mortlach 22, Kintra Whisky, 47.9% (*****)
6. Macduff 29, 1978, Scott’s Selection, 44.4% (****)
7. Macallan 22, 1989, Scott’s Selection, 49% (***)
8. BenRiach 20, 1991, Scott’s Selection, 53.4% (***)
9. Inchgower 29, 1982, Duncan Taylor, 54.6% (*****)
10. Bunnahabhain 10, 2000, Adelphi, 59.8% (*****)
11. Springbank 17, Berry Bros & Rudd, 46% (**)
12. Octomore Comus, 5, 61% (****)
13. Tomatin 30, 46% (review will follow)
14. Ardbeg 1994, Murray McDavid Mission, 56.5% (***)
15. Caol Ila 1991, Port wood, Dun Bhaegan, 53.6% (****)
16. Mortlach 16, 1992, Milano Whisky Festival, 58.7% (*****)
17. Longmorn Glenlivet 1971, Scott’s Selection, 57.8% (*****)

For my friends the Longmorn-Glenlivet was by far the best, but I’m a bit in doubt about that. If not the best, it would be second best to the Inchgower 29 by Duncan Taylor. Both terrific whiskies and on opposite sides of the spectrum, which I actually like.

I had some nice chats with Hans Offringa, who brought a sample of Jack Daniel’s Tennessee Honey with him from The States, so I could review my review. I tasted that one from a paper cup in a motel and didn’t like it (no surprise there). He thought I had to retry in a better setting. Jock Shaw was kind enough to let me taste the Octomore Comus which I really like as well. Only bested by the Orpheus from a few years ago, in my opinion. Octomore and wine casks work very well!

All in all, a terrific festival and one I am bound to visit again next year! And with that Inchgower, my wishlist is a little longer again!

The distillery was erected in 1957 but after only 18 short years it was demolished in 1975. Well, the Kinclaith stills were removed from the Strathclyde distillery.

Nose:
Very old fashioned with old dusty barley, cherries and heavy vanilla and caramel. Very nice and complex and something that touches all of your taste buds. Also some mint after a while!

Taste:
Very rich and rather sharp for something at 40%. Crushed black pepper, some wood spices and it gets a little bit sweeter after a while. More and more vanilla and quite the ‘warm’ whisky. The spiciness becomes a bit sweeter after a minute and a floral hint pops up.

Finish:
The finish is a little off with some kind of a fishy flavour. Sweet vanilla and floral again, but that fishy edge isn’t too nice.

I read on the Malt Madness site that they think most Kinclaith’s aren’t worth the high price they command. I think I agree since, apart from the fact that it is so rare, there are many cheaper and better whiskies available. It’s nice to have tasted this, but it won’t be anywhere near my top whiskies. It’s still better than average, but I can’t wrap my head around the price of a bottle.

Kinclaith 1966, 40%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseur’s Choice, available at auction. Master of Malt has some samples available.

Nikka whisky from the barrel is a high strength blend from the Nikka distilleries in Japan. Since the Japanses aren’t big on trading casks it is highly expected that all the whisky in this blend comes from both the Yoichi and Miyagikyo distilleries. At those distilleries they make multiple kinds of whiskies to varying recipes including grain, coffey still and single malt to different levels of peating.

Nose:
Liquorice and vanilla with big hints of white oak and coconut. There’s also some nutmeg and sweet cereals. After a minute or so it becomes a little bit more ‘green’, as in, it smells more like plants.

Taste:
It’s quite sharp, but that’s not really surprising for a blend at 51.4% ABV. Lots of white pepper but also something crisp. The wood flavour is quite heavy with a hint of furniture polish and waxed leather.

Finish:
The finish is rich with pepper, caramel, wood and coconut. Rather medium in length but the vanilla and caramel remain. Like creme brulee.

This is a very terrific blend. I always have liked what the Japanese are doing with whisky and the flavours their bottles bring. This one is a rather typical one with many of the flavours you can also find in other bottlings, maybe apart from the heavily sherried whiskies like Karuizawa.

The blend in batches and double mature their blend as well, so there might be slight taste differences from one batch to another.

Nikka Whisky from the Barrel, 51.4%, batch #04G54A, available from Master of Malt for about € 30 (50cl).

You won’t find a lot of Carsebridge however, since they stopped producing in 1983 and the plant was dismantled in 1992. Because of the massive operations necessary to be profitable most big blending companies have concentrated their grain whisky production on just a few sites who produce some 60 million litres each year.

Nose:
It starts off sweet with vanilla cream and a hint of coconut. It does get a bit sharper after a few seconds and releases some of the alcohol to prickle your nose. After a couple of minutes I also started to smell nutmeg.

Taste:
Slightly peppery, but mostly sweet again. It feels pretty clean on the palate. Quite light and slightly spicy with caramel and vanilla pods. Creamy as well.

Finish:
The finish quite unexpected. I taste a lot more spices than I expected, mostly focussed on ‘friendly’ spices you would find in pastries and cakes. A bit grainy, but very full flavoured. It lasts for quite a while.

This is a more or less quintessential grain whisky that has been properly aged. They usually are ripe with vanilla and almost too easy to drink. The depth of flavour is not as big as with Single Malts, but it’s very nice to try one of these every once in a while.

Carsebridge 29, 1981, Clan Denny, Bourbon Hogshead #6609, 53.1%, available at DH17 Slijterijen for € 90

Again, thanks Elise!

The restaurant itself is a sight to behold. Traditionally pub-like decoration and several hundred whiskies line the walls. Guns and swords decorate tables and ceiling.

As usual with our wee bunch of lads and lasses we were late. And being a ‘guided’ dinner everyone else in the restaurant was waiting for us (sorry, everyone). We started at about 7 o’clock with the first whisky and the first course. Haggis with Wemyss’ Spice King. Most of us never had Haggis before so that was interesting! The Haggis was pretty spicy and the Spice King whisky fitted wonderfully well with it. On the palate it didn’t do much but the nose and finish were prolonging the magic.

The second course was a creamed truffle soup with a glass of Benromach to go with it. The Benromach was bottled for the Craighellachie Hotel, but I don’t remember what the brand was. The soup was terrific and full of earthy flavours. The whisky was rather smooth, but combined nicely to give the it that extra boost. After that it was time for Wullie‘s famous smoked salmon. He poured a rather terrific Bowmore 11 by Hart Brothers with it. A smoky whisky with smoked salmon is an easy pick, but the whisky was terrific although I mostly forgot about it while eating the salmon. That good.

The main course was duck breast with a sweet sauce, sauerkraut and mashed potatoes. To my surprise he poured a single cask Connemara Irish Whiskey with it. I cheated a little and started with the whisky before the duck was served and got nice wood and pineapple flavours. Very fruity. The duck was cooked to perfection too.

Dessert was my least favourite course, a Scottish trifle. I’m not too big a fan of those and was silently hoping he made Cranachan. The whisky (Auchentoshan 12) was rather nice but was overpowered by the dessert’s sweetness.

After that coffee and a Glenlivet 13, bottled by Adelphi for the Ben Nevis club. A damn fine whisky with heaps of flavour. I might be wanting this one for my collection! Of course we talked a lot about Wullie’s festival next week, whisky in general and had wee tastes of some other Ben Nevis Club bottlings (Laphroaig, Springbank, Mortlach). I really wished we had more time because I wanted a glass of that Springbank, but our train was leaving and since there was snow a week before, Dutch public transport was still in panic mode.

Five star dinner for sure! Maybe not the finesse of French haute cuisine, but this is more my style of great dinner. With good drinks, good food, good friends. Highly recommended.

I’ll post some pictures if I can get any from my friends.

The shop itself is not just a whisky shop, but a more general booze shop. There are massive amounts of wine and liqueurs, port, sherry, mixers, you name it. Through a door in the back you enter Valhalla, though. I don’t know how many bottles there are, but a 1000 would be an estimate. Loads of collector’s editions, special packagings, independent bottlers that you can hardly find anywhere else in The Netherlands.

All kinds of rare stuff was just lying around. The new Chichibu 3 year old, Karuizawa Noh series, Glenlivet 70 year old, Glenmorangie Pride, you name it. Of course, to the slight dismay of Anneke who joined me on my trip there, we talked shop for about an hour and a half. New bottlings, price changes, packaging gimmicks.

Of course, I also tasted a couple of drams of things he had open anyway. Glenmorangie Artein, in my opinion the best in the private range from Glenmorangie (next to the Finealta and Sonnalta), and the new Longmorn 23 from Whisky Import Nederland’s own series ‘First Cask’. Beautiful stuff and very fairly priced at € 100.

In the end I wound up buying another Single Cask BenRiach, this time from 1981. I just couldn’t resist and I feel an evening coming up when I’ll be doing a BenRiach vertical tasting

Definetly a five star shop!