Deconstructing Sheep Dip

A new Scotch malt whisky vatting* came on the market in 2009 that I think deserves some close attention. It is a vintage bottling of Sheep Dip.

Sheep Dip has been around, in one form or another, for nearly 40-years, but usually bottles in a no-age statement,  non-vintage bottling.  This unique 1990 vintage bottling was “married” for 15-years in Hogsheads, combining

19-year old Dalmore, 21-year old Fettercairn and 25-year old Ardbeg.  First of all, most vattings are not aged together for a period longer than a year or so and usually much shorter.  Second of all, this has some very mature high-quality whiskies.

The “normal” Sheep Dip on the market is marketed as, “a hand crafted scotch malt whisky made from sixteen single malt whiskies aged between eight and sixteen years in first fill oak, perfectly balanced and joy to drink.”

We’ll be sampling Sheep Dip “Old Hebridean”,

1990 vintage, 40%.

John Hansell of Malt Advocate rates this bottling at 92, with these notes, “A marriage of Dalmore, Fettercairn and Ardbeg, and their personalities certainly show. The whisky was blended and then aged for an additional

few points.)”

Gavin D. Smith and Tom Cannavan of web site, whisky-pages, had this to say about this release, “Rich and distinguished on the nose, with rounded peat smoke, engine oil, plums, Sherry and brine Fruity on the textured palate, with vanilla, spice, coffee and wood smoke.

It becomes more citric with time, and the addition of water releases flavours of brittle toffee. The finish is

medium in length, with black pepper, sea salt and lingering peatiness.” They rate it 4 stars out of 5, denoting an “excellent” rating.

Sheep Dip is bottled by Spencerfield Spirit Co., which also bottles Pigs Nose blended scotch.  According to the bottler, “The name came about because British farmers have long referred to whisky as Sheep Dip. There was a time when farmers distilled their own “home-made” whisky and in order to avoid paying taxes to the revenue man hid the whisky in barrels marked ‘Sheep Dip’.

“Farmers’ merchants continued this tradition by entering cases of whisky as ‘Sheep dip’ on farmers’ bills and so ‘pulling the wool’ over the farmers’ wives’ eyes.”

In corresponding with Spencerfield Spirit Company founder, Alex Nicol, he stated, “Regarding the 1990 Sheep Dip, it was originally vatted by Richard [Patterson, master blender at Whyte and Mackay] and he tipped me off about it sitting for the last 15 years at Tullibardine distillery. Sitting and marrying for this length of time is highly unusual and I feel has really added to the whiskies smooth lack of spirit taint, all rough edges being taken out by the length of time in the wood. Very few vatted malts will be able to claim this.

“Mike Dowdswell, gentleman farmer and publican, introduced the original Sheep Dip in 1970 for his pals to enjoy and it just snowballed from there.  The first [Big-whisky, corporate] attempt came from Morrison Bowmore and was a vatted Islay, too much for most drinkers! Our version is mainly Highland and Speyside – apart from your 1990, which is the first vintage and a nod towards the early incarnation.”

Alex Nicol of Spencerfield, previously worked at Whyte and Mackay as COO, before buying Sheep Dip and Pig’s Nose and starting Spencerfield in 2005. Before that he was marketing director for Glenmorangie and with

Jim Swan developed the Glenmorangie range of finishes in the early 1990’s.

The Whyte and Mackay Company own Dalmore, Isle of Jura, Fettercairn and a range of blends sold in the UK. This blending firm was established in 1882. An interesting aside: In February 2010, it was reported that Whyte and Mackay whisky from Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton’s 1909 expedition, had been recovered.  Richard Patterson is trying to get a hold of one of the bottles so that he can try to duplicate it in new production.

Limited availability,  $65-75

                                 

For this evening’s tasting, I’d like to deconstruct the 1990 Sheep Dip, by offering an. Ardbeg and a Dalmore.  The specific component parts are not available, but two new bottlings from those distilleries will be our stand-ins.

The new Dalmore bottlings were released last year when they also redesigned their packaging.  They now have a range that has more depth, age wise, but unfortunately have made all their bottlings at 40%. Nevertheless, Dalmore is a highly rated, sherry influenced standard of the whisky world.  We tasted Dalmore 12, previously (1/17/08), but will be tasting The Dalmore 15-yr. old, 40% ABV tonight.

The Dalmore 12 is aged half in bourbon barrels and half in sherry.

Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible, rates the 15 at 83.5 while the 12 is rated a 90.

(Here’s a repeat of the distillery info from our tasting on 1/17/08)

Established in 1839 by Alexander Matheson, Dalmore Distillery sits on the banks of the Cromarty Firth (Bay) overlooking the rich and fertile Black Isle (actually a peninsula), the “big meadowland”, from which it takes its name. The distillery was bought by the Mackenzie family in 1886, and the ‘twelve pointer stag’ was introduced from their clan crest - a symbol that still adorns the bottle.  Pure, clean water taken from the local River Alness is used to create this Highlander, The Dalmore.

During the WWI the warehouses were requisitioned to manufacture mines and all the whisky was moved with not a single barrel missing when returned. Some of the old stills have survived and are still in use today with their unusual outline, with flat tops and cooling system made of a water jacket on the outside of the still necks which encourages reflux, leading to a lighter spirit. About 85% of the whisky produced is aged in bourbon casks, the rest in sweet oloroso (usually dark and nutty sherry) and amontillado (an expensive variety of sherry that is darker than fino but lighter than oloroso), but is all married in sherry butts (source: Michael Jackson, MWC, 4th ed.)

For over 160 years, the distillery has produced malts of great distinction. Some 100,000 casks can be found on site with the oldest one from the 1939 distillation.

Widely available,  $70-80

                                                                        

For our Ardbeg dram tonight we have a new limited release, Ardbeg Corryvreckan, 57.1% ABV.  Most local merchants are sold out of this intense dram, but it can still be had at a limited number of liquor stores.

“Powerful, muscular, well-textured, and invigorating. Even within the realm of Ardbeg, “ says John Hansell of Malt Advocate magazine,  “this one stands out. The more aggressive notes of coal tar, damp kiln, anise, and smoked seaweed are supported by an array of fruit (black raspberry, black cherry, plum), dark chocolate, espresso, molasses, bacon fat, kalamata olive, and warming cinnamon on the finish. Quite stunning!”  John rates this a 96!

Ardbeg’s other super smoky release of last year, Supernova, 58.9% ABV, he rates an 89, although Jim Murray gave Supernova his Scotch Whisky of the Year Award in the 2010 Whisky Bible, giving it a 97 and Corryvreckan a 96.5.  So much for splitting hairs, but John Hansel felt that Supernova’s peatiness overpowers its subtleties.

Whisky Magazine’s World Whisky Awards, named Corryvreckan , World’s Best Single Malt Whisky for 2010. Malt Advocate magazine named it one of its top ten whiskies of the year and gave it its coveted Single Malt of the Year award.

Both super-smokers are at a very high peating level.  Corryvreckan replaces the 1990 Airigh Nam Beist release, which is depleted. Corryvreckan stocks, they reckon, will last for about three years.

Corryvreckan takes its name from the famous whirlpool that lies to the north of Islay.  It is claimed that Corryvreckan and Supernova have peating levels in excess of 100ppm.  Ardbeg 10 is usually cited as having about 50 ppm of peat. Peat lovers rejoice!

First, I have to say that Jim Murray REALLY LOVES Ardbegs.  It is also speculated that he had something to do with the formulation of these latest releases.  With that in mind I quote his opinion of the Corry as follows: “Nose- Excellent thick, not entirely un-penetrable – but close – nascent smoke and a vignette of salty, coastal references save the day. Taste- Amazing: here we have Ardbeg unshelled.  Just so many layers of almost uncountable personalities with perhaps the citrus leading the way in both tart and sweet form and then meaningful speeches from those saline-based, malty sea-spray refreshed barley notes with the oak, in vanilla form, in close proximity.  The peat, almost too dense to be seen on the nose, opens out with a fanfare of phenols.  It is slumping-in-the-chair stuff, the enormity of the peat taking on the majesty of Cathedral-esque proportions, the notes reverberating around the hollows and recesses and reaching dizzying heights; such is its confidence, this is a malt which says: ‘I know where I’m goingÖ!’”  He goes on from there, but I’ll spare you.

Whew baby!  Waxing rhapsodic indeed!  This really is a stunner, but gosh I’m really glad someone else took a whack at putting it into words. 

We tasted Ardbeg Uigeadail in July of 2008 and Ardbeg 10 way back in January 2007. These are the distillery notes from that tasting:  The Glenmorangie Company owns Ardbeg distillery, founded in 1815.  Ardbeg was closed in 1984 and reopened in 1989 by Allied Domeq, closed again in 1996 and reopened under the Glenmorangie ownership in 1997.  Many believe its current spirit production is much less peaty than its former product, but it is still an excellent single malt and is said to be made from the most heavily peated malted barley in Scotland at 54 ppm peat [in 2007].

In 2009 Glenmorangie was bought by Louis Vuitton Moet Hennesy (LVMH).

Since then we have several distilleries trying to make the peatiest dram in the 80-100 ppm range and beyond. Dr. Bill Lumsden, master distiller of Glenmorangie (and Honorary BUM), is also the master distiller for Ardbeg and is responsible for the recent super peaty releases. These non vintage, no age statement whiskies also are part of the new philosophy at many distillers so they can be flexible in what goes into each batch without those restrictions. Ardbeg’s newest peat monster is Roller Coaster.

According to the Edinburgh Whisky Blog , quoting Dr. Lumsden:

“Like the whirlpool, Ardbeg Corryvreckan is heady, intense and powerful. Its ‘finish’ is long and deep, leaving the connoisseur with a lingering thought of a mysterious and daring journey. Experiments initiated in 1999, and continued ever since, have created parcels of Ardbeg stock slowly maturing in French oak casks on Islay. These are at the heart of Corryvreckan’s perplexing character, teasing spicy and sumptuous sweet fruity notes from the maturing whisky.”

As we know from our last tasting (Compass Box), French oak imparts a delightful spicy flavor.

Limited availability, $94.99

                                                                        

*The Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 formally define five categories of Scotch Whisky:

Blended Malt Scotch Whisky:  a blend of Single Malt Scotch Whiskies, which have been distilled at more than one distillery. (Used to be called Vatted whisky, tonight’s Sheep Dip 1990, a blend of three single malt scotch whiskies. Other examples are Monkey Shoulder and Johnnie Walker Green.)

Single Malt Scotch Whisky:  a Scotch Whisky distilled at a single distillery (i) from water and malted barley without the addition of any other cereals, and (ii) by batch distillation in pot stills. Single Malt Scotch Whisky must be bottled in Scotland. (This is what we taste, most often, in our group)

Single Grain Scotch Whisky:  a Scotch Whisky distilled at a single distillery (i) from water and malted barley with or without whole grains of other malted or unmalted cereals, and (ii) which does not comply with the definition of Single Malt Scotch Whisky. (From out last tasting, Hedonism contained three of these single grains, to put it in the Blended Grain Scotch Whisky category)

Blended Scotch Whisky:  a blend of one or more Single Malt Scotch Whiskies with one or more Single Grain Scotch Whiskies. (Used to be called Blended whisky, your Dewar’s J&Bs, Johnnie Walker Reds, the most consumed whiskies by volume)

Blended Grain Scotch Whisky:  a blend of Single Grain Scotch Whiskies, which have been distilled at more than one distillery. (From our last tasting of Compass Box, the Hedonism was classified here)

Dalmore 15, 40% ABV

Sheep Dip 1990, 40% ABV

Ardbeg Corryvreckan, 57.1% ABV