Caol Ila 30 Special Releases 2014 Review

Hey all,

The other day I reached 300 whiskies reviewed (not all on here yet unfortunately, but we're getting there). I decided to celebrate by cracking this fine sample bought from FineDrams^TM.

At first it was shy and I was underwhelmed but had another taste yesterday and I got a lot more from it.

Caol Ila 30 year old 1983 55.1%

Colour: Gold

Body: Full

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

Nose: The oak speaks first, with liquorice and dry sandalwood, a carpenters workshop, dusty garden shed, rusty tools. Complex fruit starting to appear, dried orange, spiced orange, beautiful lemon, dried pineapple, dried mango, dried banana. Faded old smoke in the background, dry ginger, sea air, smoked lemon juice. Growing more lively over time with lemon sherbet, lime zest, a some more peat smoke.

Water: Classical old Islay. More maritime, fresh and bracing. Fresh sea air, used wetsuit, sea salt, lime zest, ripe fruit, pear, old peat smoke. Great, really great.

Taste: Intense and big. Lots of fruit- Apple, banana, mango, pineapple then building creamy oak slowly coming in, intense and hugely powerful, very mouth coating, a little smoke, dried banana, some faded maritime notes, old sail, old wetsuit, engine oil, salty lemon juice, then some burnt grass and then lime going into the finish.

Water: More balance. Softer arrival, longer more complex development on a dance between fresh ripe fruit, smoke, Hessian, and sea salt air. Marker pen, spiced orange, stewed pear, dried banana, powerful lime oil, oily and a little more peaty into the finish. Beautiful.

Finish: Long length. Oily, lime juice, the powerful oak recedes very slowly on smoked lemon. A peaty puff! About 20 seconds after swallowing.

2014 Special Releases. Not as powerful as the 1983LMDW, reviewed here, but more complex perhaps. Needs a drop of water to reveal it's full complexity, a little shy at first.

I probably wouldn't spend £450 on it though. I'd rather get Cadenheads new 31yo for £150, which is probably just as good.

87/100

Review #77

Network Average: 77.4

Best Score: 91

Worst Score: 44

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Cardhu 12 + Gold Reserve Reviews

Cardhu..... Well, there's not much to say. It's a Diageo workhorse for blends like Johnnie. Recently though they've needed more for single malts, so changed Dailuiane's cut points to make it more like Cardhu. It's a shame really because in my experience Dailuiane makes a much more characterful spirit. There was also a scandle before my time, when they changed it to a blended malt.

Onto the whiskies!

Photo coutesy of Master of Malt

Cardhu 12 year old 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Light

Nose: Light and sweet, oaky spiciness, creamy oak and light fruit- Lots of pineapple, some apple and pear, vanilla, brown sugar, perfumed malt.

Taste: Vanilla and spice, oaky note with delicate sweetness- Pineapple, maybe some pear, bit of roughness, nuts, light perfumed malt, light citrus- Lemon.

Finish: Short length. Drying oaky sweetness with a touch of spice.

Reminds me a lot of Singleton of Dufftown, light Speyside malt.

58/100

Maybe the more expensive NAS will be better?

Photo courtesy of Master of Malt

Cardhu Gold Reserve 40%

Colour: E150a

Body: Light

Nose: Quite sour- Sour fruit, green apple sours, sour cherry, sweet artificial vanilla, a little oak and spice, it's all very vague and very Cardhu. Caramel and toffee (E150a?), some light cake in the background.

Taste: Smooth and a little watery. Quite fruity and sweet- Green apple, sour wood, a little sour cherry, dry wood, artificial vanilla.

Finish: Short length. Sour oak and fruit.

'Easy drinking' NAS at it's finest.

60/100

These are often on deal in UK supermarkets but I don't find them to be to my liking.

Reviews #77-#78

Score Average: 77..2

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Highland Black 8 Blended Scotch (Aldi)

Quick review today,

Yesterday my Father-in-law-to-be hands me a glencairn of whisky and says "So what do you think of this then?"

I, in all my confidence and bluster, take a few sniffs and a taste, stroke my beard thoughtfully and declare that it's a cheap 5 year old Speyside single malt!

Well, I was almost there. It is cheap, it is young, but it is blended.

Highland Black 8 year old Blended Whisky (Aldi)

Colour: E150a

Body: Light

Nose: Very light, fruit, pear, slight floral.

Taste: Soft, light, pear, green apple, some toffee and then some toasted oak.

Finish: Short length. Toasted oak and pear.

This costs £12. Not bad for what it is. It gives Glenfiddich 12 a run for its money. I would have thought that there's lots of Speyside malt in this.

After a bit of time the grain comes out a tiny bit into the finish but there's no harsh alcohol/lemon note that normally gives it away.

61/100

Review #76

Score Average: 77.7

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Aberfeldy 12 + 18 Reviews

Hello everyone,

Aberfeldy is a malt I'd heard of but never really tried. Mainly because I didn't want to fork out money on the low abv and it can be quite obscure.

I had a bottle bought for me for Christmas though, so let's see how it tastes.

Courtesy of Master of malt

Aberfeldy 12 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Heather, honey, a little floral, some heathery smoke, wood smoke, green oak, some lemon, a little vanilla and toffee. More lemon after a bit.

Water: A drop (Not going full Ralfy-Mode) reveals more smoke, ashes, beeswax and orchard fruit.

Taste: Sweet arrival, toffee, going quite juicy with pear, then lemon, fizzy lemon sherbet, developing some harsh sappy oak. Soot and oak into the finish.

Water: More gentle arrival then more smoke with ashes.

Finish: Short/Medium length. Harsh oak and chocolate and a little lemon.

Notes: Batch 2905. Shame about the harsh oak, but still very quaffable. Not as good as the 18yo but more smoke.

68/100

Finished my bottle in a week, which is very unusual for me. Would normally take my a month.

I also tasted the 18yo in Heathrow, so here's my notes from that brief tasting:

Courtesy of Master of Malt

Aberfeldy 18 40%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Heather, honey, rich sweet sherry, sweet fruit- Apple, vanilla, quite cakey.

Taste: Quite rich, heather, honey, some vanilla, fruity sherry, cherry, cherry chocolate.

Finish: Medium length. Cherry chocolate (the natural dark stuff) and a touch of smoke.

Notes: Less smoke than the 12yo but more complex. Pleasant, gentle, nice complexity and fullness for 40%.

74/100

Reviews #74-#75

Score Average: 77.9

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Ailsa Bay: Review

Hey everyone,

Yes, I am a marketing sucker for buying a bottle of this. Everything about this screamed gimmick. The heavy metal and granite stopper, the thick bottomed bottle, all the BS about micro-maturation, spirit ppm and sppm. All trying to hook me. And it succeeded.

To be fair it does sound interesting, and it turns out it is.

Blending different distillates from different peating levels. 21ppm in spirit, so about 36-38ppm in the malt. 11sppm, sweet parts per million, what does that mean? No idea. It pretty meaningless seeing as we've got nothing to compare it against.

Matured partly in Hudson baby Bourbon barrels (very small). The distillery only started in 2007, so the max age is 8 years.

But mainly the high peating level and abv drew me to this, and I prayed to the whisky gods that it wasn't just a gimmick.

Aisla Bay 48.9%

Colour: Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Different. Its neither bonfire nor medicinal peat, but it is somewhat mineral. Its a sweet peat, but no Sherry flavours. Candy floss, sweet shop, candy cane, malt, olive oil, red liquorice, a little vanilla, dirty grapefruit, some lime, chimney soot, slate, sour under ripe fruit.

Water: More olive oil, more green under ripe fruit, apple, lime. More minerality too with some chalk and limestone. Loses some smoke, but gains sootiness.

Taste: Mouth coating, rich and sweet. Soft arrival with under ripe mango and some acidic green apple, developing more sour, building peat, grapefruit, building lime and lemon, then more oily malt.

Water: Softer and smoother, then more soot, more lemon then goes more dry with lots of wet chalk and limestone. Quite white wine-esque. Less complex but more balance.

Finish: Medium length. Heavy peat kicking in with oily malt and then drying. Quite drying and a little longer with water.

It's not really that peaty. I would compare it to Bowmore in terms of ppm and given blind I'd probably have guessed an IB Bourbon Bowmore. It's probably down to the cut points. I think they've cut the feints early to tone down the phenols and medicinal notes.

Reminds me of a Japanese whisky in some ways. It's definitely been very carefully designed, so there are very little flaws, but it loses some exciting character. I tend to find a similar thing with Japanese whiskies.

74/100

I actually really like the mineral notes that come out, especially with the sour citrus but it could do with a few more years ageing I think. Interesting to try but I probably wouldn't buy another bottle.

Review #73

Network Average: 78.1

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

Glen Elgin Signatory 1995: Review

This is the whisky I compared to The Speyside. It was interesting because they both taste older than they actually are, but this one especially.

Glen Elgin 1995 Signatory Unchillfiltered 46%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Oaky and old. I would have guessed 25-30yo. Dignified fruit, red apple, apple peel, red liquorice, juicy oak, a little lemon.

Water: More complexity and balance. More of the distillery character. Lemon, lots of red apple, green apple, hessian, still oaky. More juicy and tropical after a bit.

Taste: Juicy! Fruity arrival, juicy apple and lemon, quickly becoming oaky and old, red apple, a little musty, dunnage, dry oak, tannins, a little dry orange peel.

Water: Much more spicy. Ginger, white pepper, European oak-esque (although I think it's from Bourbon barrels), nutmeg, building tannins, old book and leather towards the finish.

Finish: Long length. Mouth watering actually, quite juicy again with some orange and lemon.

Notes: Bottled 2013 at 18yo.

76/100

Reminds me a lot of MoM's 30yo. Very interesting whisky, if not completely balanced.

Review #72

Score Average: 78.3

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

The Speyside 1996 Old Particular: Review

Another day, another whisky review.

So, normally I compare whiskies. It's what Serge does, it's what Dave Broom does and it's definitely what all the master distillers do.

It's helpful.

This one I did compare to a Glen Elgin (that's up next) but they're quite different, so I'm writing up the reviews separately.

So. What is The Speyside distillery? Not the region, the distillery. Well it's creatively named, it's a newer distillery (1965) and it produces the 'Spey' brand.

I have yet to taste the whiskies but Horst Leuning did an excellent job of that here.

Onto my sample from an indie bottler I got of MoM:

Speyside 1996 Douglas Laing Old Particular 48.4%

Colour: Light Amber

Body: Medium

Nose: Classic refill Sherry, older than it's years. Quite intense and a little sulphury. Cherry, cherry fizz, orange, oaky spice, ginger, PVA glue, barrel sulphur, spicy Euro oak.

Water: More oak, more tannins, aromatic oak.

Taste: Very soft arrival and then slowly builds. Lots of Christmas, lots of spice, lots of cherry, cherry Brandy, cherry fizz, cherry juice, black cherry developing, then PVA glue and orange. Orange juice into the finish.

Water: Spicier with more orange juice and less cherry.

Finish: Long length. Orange juice fading gradually. Some black cherry remains.

Notes: Bottled 2013 at 17yo.

72/100

It's not bad but it's not really balanced. 

There's a nice follow on from the nose to the taste though and if you adore Sherry then add some points.

Review #71

Network Average: 78.3

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent

3 Pale Ones: Braevil, Allt-a-Bhainne & Aultmore Reviews

Hello again everyone,

Still on the explore to taste whiskies from all the distilleries in Scotland I bought some samples of Master of Malt's own bottlings, because they are always a little bit cheaper than other samples.

So I've got 3 today, all very pale, probably young whiskies from distilleries I've never tried.

First up Braevil or Braes of Glenlivet.

Braes o' Glenlivet That Boutique-y Whisky Company Batch 1 47.2%

Colour: Light Gold

Body: Medium

Nose: Immediately intensely floral. Bath bombs, lavender, daffodils, pollen, dried flowers, washing powder, clean clothes, vanilla pods, dry grass, dry oak.

Water: Milk chocolate.

Taste: Intense. Sweet and floral. Juicy to start. Quite dry too, becoming even more dry with classic pear and green apple, some prickling oak building.

Water: Softer and more drying.

Finish: Medium length. A little prickling oak and sour under ripe pear.

Notes: A more floral Bladnoch, quite Lowland.

71/100

Definitely the best of these three although not exactly amazing. Almost quite soapy at points.

Allt-A-Bhainne That Boutique-y Whisky Company Batch 1 49.2%

Colour: Straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Gin. How is this NOT Gin?! Aromatic botanicals, juniper berries, dried orange peel, dried lemon peel, cucumber, tonic, orris root, angelica root, liquorice root.

Water: More gin. Was this in a gin barrel??

Taste: Gin. Aromatic botanicals, all the above, some oak, vanilla, some burnt toffee. Building dry oak.

Water: Softer. More juniper berry.

Finish: Medium/Long length. Dark chocolate and mocha, but a bit of unpleasant bitter tannin.

Notes: Pretty sure Master of Malt sent me a gin sample by accident... Shame I don't like Gin!

66/100

Gin is the Bhainne of my life! Eh? Eh? Oh forget it!

Aultmore 5yo Master of Malt Single Cask 65.4%

Colour: Pale straw

Body: Medium

Nose: Very light. The high alcohol doesn't feel much. Toffee, fudge, some milk chocolate.

Water: More alcohol. More water: Lemon.

Taste: Intense. Alcohol, toffee, fudge, vanilla, some milk chocolate, some herbal, green tea, then a little oak and more chocolate into the finish.

Water: Softer but also intense. Intense toffee and fudge, vanilla, white grape.

Finish: Short length. Lots of milk chocolate.

Notes: Young and intense but lacking any sort of complexity.

67/100

Proves that high Abv does not mean high intensity or lots of flavour.

Reviews #68-#70

Network Average: 78.3

0-49 Terrible

50-59 Bad

60-64 Just About OK

65-69 Ok to Good

70-74 Good

75-79 Very Good

80-84 Excellent

85-89 Superb

90+ Magnificent