Our selections this month are all cask-strength single malts.  Some are single-cask expressions, some not. All are intensely flavorful.

Our star whisky is a private bottling done for Beltramo’s, a wine and spirits shop in Menlo Park, California. It is a single-cask, cask-strength bottling, in one of their old style bottles, aged exclusively in sherry casks. Highland Park 15-year old, distilled 1990, bottled 2006, 53.6%ABV, Cask 10146  A rep from Beltramo’s traveled to Orkney Island and sampled single casks at the distillery, personally choosing this amazing dram for bottling. 

Founded 1798, by David Robertson on the rugged Island of Orkney, this is the northern-most distillery in Scotland. This single malt is a key part of one of our most recently tasted bottlings, Famous Grouse (#1 blend in Scotland) and is also part of Cutty Sark. In 1999 Highland Park Distillers was bought by Edrington Group and William Grant and Sons. Edrington also owns The Macallan, Glenrothes, Glenturret (where Famous Grouse is blended) and Tamdhu single malts as well as Cutty Sark and Famous Grouse Blends. William Grant and sons, a family owned distiller, owns Glenfiddich*, Balvenie and Kinninvie single malts as well as Monkey Shoulder, (a bonus tasting at our last meeting) a vatted malt** .

Highland Park’s official distillery bottling range (12-, 16-, 18-, 25- and 30-year old) was repackaged in 2006 as part of an eighteen million pound effort to get Highland Park into the top ten selling single malts. Highland Park still malts 20% of its own barley with the balance from Tamdhu and independent maltsters. A large portion of their spirit is aged in sherry butts, while bourbon barrels are also used for aging in the dunnage warehouses on the island.  Because of its exposure to the sea air, Highland Park has a hearty maritime quality similar to some Islay whiskies, though not as heavily peated.

The deep mahogany color and nose of our single-cask bottling does not mislead one in anticipation of the pleasure on the palate. What is amazing is that even though it is quite strong, it does not burn the tongue with its mouth-coating flavors.

Reviews:

John Hansell, editor and publisher of Malt Advocate has these notes on our single-cask bottling, which he rates an 87: The darkest and most decadent of the three 15 year olds, (Highland Park, Cask #10140, 1990 vintage, Highland Park, Cask #10132, 1990 vintage, Highland Park, Cask #10146, 1990 vintage, 15 year old). Notes of molasses, demerara, rum, apricot, and dates. More subtle notes of mixed nuts, sap, tobacco, and fig, with just a hint of Moroccan spice and leather. Surprisingly complex, for a whisky this young.

Jim Murray gives the distillery bottlings of the 12- and 18-year old very high marks with a 92 and 95 respectively.  Official distillery bottlings would be a marriage of the sherry barrel- and the bourbon barrel-aged stock. In describing the 18-year old he notes: an enormous nose of excellent consistency with salty butter and burnt honeycomb; beautifully chewy, a touch oily and wholly substantial.

Awards:

Named “Distiller of the Year” at San Francisco World Spirits Awards 2007

In 2005 US spirits authority and whisky enthusiast– F. Paul Pacult, named Highland Park 18-Year Old single malt Scotch whisky “Best Spirit in the World”.

Several Highland Park expressions won numerous sliver and bronze medals in the 2007 Malt Maniac Awards

Double Gold at the 2005 San Francisco World Spirits Competition

Gold Medal winner – International Spirits Challenge 2006

(available only thru Beltramo’s)

*Glenffidich is the #1 selling single malt in the world; Macallan and Glenlivet are in a close race for #2

**Monkey Shoulder is made up of the three single malts. “Vatted malts” are also called “blended malt Scotch whisky” (not to be confused with “blended Scotch whisky”, which also include grain whisky with the single malts).

                                                                     

Our next single malt is one of the most well known single malts in the world and is the #1 single malt in the U.S. (#7 in Scotland). The Glenlivet was the first single malt to be promoted in the U.S., just after Prohibition ended in 1933. This dram has a reputation as one of the smoothest and mildest of the single malts and I believe it is its mildness that has made it #1. Remember, when single malts first made their way into the drinking public’s consciousness and taste buds, most Americans had only tasted blends, which by definition were concocted to take the rough edges off of single malts and make Scotch palatable to the largest possible audience. Glenlivet

12-year old, fit perfectly into that flavor profile.

Tonight our drink is not that same mild single malt.  We are sampling The Glenlivet Nàdurra 16-year old, natural cask strength, 57.7%ABV, non-chill filtered, no-color added, Batch 1007D, Bottled 10/07 aged in first fill bourbon barrels. Nàdurra is Gaelic for natural. Other distillery bottlings are at 12-, 15-, 18-, and 21-year old.  In 2007 Glenlivet XXV was launched, a 25-year old that spends its last two years in olorosso casks.

The Glenlivet was the first legal distillery in Scotland and its name means the valley of the Livet, which is a nearby stream, though their production water is from Josie’s Well. The Livet flows into the famous river Spey and thus puts us in the Speyside region. In 1824, George Smith founded The Glenlivet distillery. Its single malt became so popular that other distilleries in the area began to call their whisky, Glenlivet. Finally in 1884, in a lengthy court case, Glenlivet won the exclusive right to The Glenlivet. Even up until last year there were some who called their bottlings by the Glenlivet descriptor (the Longmorn 15-year old we tasted on 1/18/07 was subtitled Longmorn Glenlivet). The Glenlivet is currently owned by Pernod Ricard, which also owns Aberlour, Glendronach, Strathisla, Longmorn, Scapa and Tormore among other spirits. It is used in the blends Chivas Regal and Royal Salute.

Reviews:

Jim Murray rates Nàdurra a 94.  Of the nose he says: caramelized ginger wrapped in bitter chocolate. Of the palate he states: enveloping, spell binding, shocking...an immediate outbreak of Demerara sugar before the taste buds are crept up on by stealthy malt and coshed by a voluptuous outbreak of Fox’s ginger chocolate biscuits; the middle arrival of faintly chili-ish spice combines beautifully with the warming ginger.

Serge, of the Malt Maniacs gives it an 89, and 4.5 out of five stars. He says, “Nose: starts on an interesting smokiness and hints of natural lavender plus lots of vanilla. Quite powerful but balanced. Then it switches to rather heavy notes of liquorice and aniseed as well as small cider apples and walnuts. Keeps developing on toasted oak, nougat, a little toffee and hints of nutmeg… Also thyme and rosemary, chives, fresh coriander smoked tea… The smokiness keeps underlining the whole. A very, very nice nose, playful and very entertaining. I like it! Mouth: the attack is bold, oily and powerful but not pungent, extremely sweet and fruity with lots of ripe pineapples, bananas flambéed and a little kiwi that makes it quite playful (slight acidity). Goes on with lots of vanilla crème and all sorts of fruits liqueurs (apricot like they make in Holland, Parfait Amour, triple-sec…) with a nice oaky backbone and quite some spices coming through after a moment (green curry). Also crystallized ginger. Finish: very long, with a nice and unexpected bitterness that counterbalances the sweetness (strawberry sweets). Lots of pepper as well. This ‘new style’ woodsky has been perfectly ‘crafted’, that’s for sure. A success, much better than the first version I think.”

Awards:

In the ’13-20 Year Old’ category, Nàdurra won a Gold at the 2008 Spirit of Speyside Awards, following its win of a Gold at the 2008 San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Won a Whisky Magazine Gold Award in 2008.

                                                                     

Our last whisky takes us out of Speyside and back to the islands. From Orkney Island in the north we travel the westerly shore of the mainland south to Islay.  There are 8 distilleries currently on Islay, with two coming on-line shortly.  One of the new distilleries, Kilchoman (pronounced kilhoman) has been in production for a just under three years. It is a tiny distillery, growing some of its own barley, run by three people. Its 2006 output will not be bottled until 2011. The other new distillery is a resurrection of the defunct Port Charlotte Distillery*, which was originally called the Lochindaal Distillery, established in 1829. Port Charlotte new spirit has actually been made in the last few years at Bruichladdich, which is opening Port Charlotte and bottled under the labels PC4, PC5, and PC6 as it ages each year.  Bruichladdich also is making a spirit called Octomore, which is the name of another defunct Islay distillery. One more former distillery, Port Ellen closed in 1983 to become Port Ellen Maltings, malting barley to individual specifications for all the distilleries on Islay. 

Likewise, Ardbeg was decommissioned in the mid to late 90’s until it was bought by Glenmorangie, plc in 1997 and brought back to life, hopefully for good. Glenmorangie itself was bought by Moet Hennessey, in 2005. Ardbeg was originally founded in 1815 by the MacDougall’s. As you know most Islay whiskies are quite peaty (Bunnahabain and Bruichladdich being the exceptions) and our choice for tonight, since it is cask strength, is especially potent. It is Ardbeg Uigeadail cask strength, non-chill filtered, 54.2% ABV (no age statement…reputed to have 10-, 8- and 6-yr old components). This dram is named after its water source, Loch Uigeadail (pronounced Oog-a-dal). In their literature, Ardbeg describes itself thusly, “Ardbeg stands alone as the most delicate and complex of the Islay Malts. It does not flaunt the peat; rather it gives way to the malt, the natural sweetness of which subtly intrudes and produces the perfect balance.” Now of course, here they are talking about their flagship 10-year old, bottled at 40% (tasted 1/18/07), which was recently named 2008 World Whisky Of The Year by Jim Murray, not the more intense Uigeadail.

They go on to say, “The unusual spirit wash still with its ‘purifier’ the only one of its kind in Islay, significantly contributes to this complexity and balance giving a subtle smoothness to the final spirit.”  The ‘purifier’ is a reflux tube that comes off the lyne arm and returns some of the spirit back to the pot still to be re-distilled.

Reviews:

Murray rates Uigeadail a 96.  Describing the nose he says, “a touch of fruit, a little detracting soap, serious barley sugar and prickly peat.  That’s just the first layer…” The palate, “Sumptuous, near perfectly weighted delivery with molasses peat dried with some real toasty oak. Big and bordering on bruising, though the smoke does hold back slightly even if the spices don’t; light oil keeps the wheels turning. The star turn in the late middle is the Quality Street candy hazelnut caramel – watch out for it.”

John Hansell, editor of Malt Advocate magazine rates a Uigeadail from 2004 a 95. 

He states of this batch, “Uigeadail consists of a marriage of younger whisky (from 1990 and 1993) with much older whisky matured in sherry casks. The marriage works exceptionally well, with the younger whiskies providing the classic Ardbeg intensity many of us have come to expect, while the older whiskies contribute depth, maturity, and complexity. And bottling the whisky at cask-strength without chill-filtration ensures that none of the flavors are stripped out. This is an incredibly complex Islay whisky, with its bonfire smoke, brine, and peppered olive notes balanced by a taming sweetness of vanilla, marshmallow, and toffee. Interwoven notes of candied fruit and sugared almonds round out the palate. Incredibly long finish.”

From a Whisky Magazine tasting come these ratings and notes:

Michael Jackson  9.25

Nose: Intensely smoky. Dry, clean, tangy smoke. Like standing downwind of the barbecue while steaks are char-grilled on the beach.

Palate: Firm, very smooth, then explodes on the tongue.

Finish: Hot. Alcoholic. A shock to the system.

Comment: The elemental opposite of the sophisticated Lord of the Isles [another Ardbeg offering].

Dave Broom  8.5

Nose: Sweet yet pungently smoky: lime marmalade and peat fires on the beach, malt, cocoa powder, salted herring.

Palate: Rich, concentrated and powerful. Sooty with light tarry/liquorice touches. The lime returns. Great presence but subtle in its own way.

Finish: Long. Biscuity malt.

Comment: Some dram!

Awards:

2003 Gold Editors choice award, Whisky Magazine

SILVER MEDAL 2004 INTERNATIONAL WINE & SPIRIT COMPETITION

“For a bad hangover take the juice of two quarts of whisky.”  -Eddie Condon, jazz banjoist, guitarist, and bandleader.

*In the 80’s and 90’s many distilleries were mothballed, dismantled, or demolished because of over capacity for production.  Now in the boom times of the mid 2000’s, many of the mothballed distilleries are being refitted and rebuilt to meet the current demand.

Highland Park 15-year old, distilled 1990, bottled 2006, (53.6%ABV), Cask 10146. natural color, non-chill filtered

The Glenlivet Nàdurra 16-year old, (57.7%ABV), Batch 1007D, Bottled 10/07, natural cask strength,  non-chill filtered, no-color added,

Ardbeg Uigeadail cask strength, non-chill filtered, (54.2% ABV)