Tasting Notes: Connoisseurs Choice: Royal Brackla 1991

Gordon and MacPhail: Connoisseurs Choice: Royal Brackla 1991 (Scottish Highland Single Malt Whisky: 20 Years: 46% ABV)

Visual: Thick gold.

Viscosity: Only a few streaks. Medium sized and slow.

Nose: Toffee. Planed wood. Mild lime influence. Shortbread. Heather. Slight sulphur. Water makes the heather more emphasised.

Body: Moderate oak that grows quickly. Slight alcohol is noticeable. Custard. Walnuts.  Water makes smoother. Adds lime and chestnut honey.

Finish: Quite dry and oaken. Acorns? Light nuts and moss. Water makes sweeter, adding chestnut honey again.

Conclusion: A whisky that has escaped review for a while based on the misapprehension that I had already reviewed it.  Thankfully the old green tree nearly always has a bottle in. So I dropped by to correct my mistake.

Let’s talk about the whisky as it is with water added, as without that it is an overly oak dominated and touch fiery whisky. So not at its best to say the least. Water allows it to show its best elements, that of a more mellow nutty style which mingles with a light sweetness to give a kind of chestnut honey element which is quite soothing.

Now it does always keep that oak dryness around the edges. When you finish a sip the mix of alcohol and the oak leaves you quite dry and parches. It is soothing, but one that leaves you thirsty.

It doesn’t vary much from what I’ve just described. It is quite single note, pretty much a nut cluster of a whisky. Despite that it is quite reasonable. Straightforward but with a finish that just doesn’t, well, finish. You can take your time with this one, let the flavour just hand there without needing to sip again. It is one that I would imagine would suit a distinguished evening party. You do not concentrate on it, but allow the flavour to hang there as you converse with others, possibly with a wood fire beside you to add to the aromas you experience.

So not a favourite whisky, but I can see its place in the whisky world.

Background: Bottled in 2011, this Royal Brackla whisky was drunk as part of a relaxing day, wandering the whisky pubs of Bath and sampling a few spirits in a leisurely fashion. Taking a photo of this bottle resulted in a few jokes from the locals, resulting in a quick explanation of doing the reviews. It’s odd how rarely I need to do that. Royal Brackla is one I’ve had a few times, but only independent bottlings. I will have to seek out an official bottling at some point to compare. This was a brand new bottled, opened before my eyes.

Tasting Notes: Connoisseurs Choice: Littlemill 1991

Connoisseurs Choice: Littlemill 1991 (Scottish Lowland Single Malt Whisky: 19 Years: 43% ABV)

Visual: Slightly banana hued gold.

Viscosity: Medium quite thick streaks.

Nose: Planed wood. Banana skin and vanilla. Toffee. Slight alcohol air. Lime. Grain fields. Cream. Dry roasted peanuts.

Body: Wood. Chestnut honey. Light custard slice influence. Nutmeg. Chestnuts. With water becomes more nutty and even more water brings out malt loaf.

Finish: Honey. Perfume that has been breathed in. Light oak. Roasted nuts. Milk chocolate. Light alcohol burn. The nuts really last. More water adds raisins.

Conclusion: So, another closed distilleries spirit hunted down and sampled. This one is a very light whisky, as is oft expected from the lowlands. What isn’t as expected is the flavour being predominantly dedicated to exploration of rounded nuttiness. It seems like a smooth lowland take on the Strathisla spirits. In fact the nuttiness last impressively on the finish. For such a light whisky it manages to hold the flavour for an age after you have finished sipping.

It is a whisky that works better on larger mouthfuls than smaller, and enjoys just a drop or two of water to get it set right. Taken like that the sweetness and nuttiness seem to have much more room to grow.

Not the most complex whisky, but it does have a few notes of chocolate and lime to round it out. Overall very easy to drink, and while straightforward in style it is very much a whisky that knows what impression it wants to give and delivers it well. In its ideal few drops of water state the flavour just floats through the air of your mouth perfectly.

A dead distillery that will be missed on the basis of this whisky.

Background: Bottled 2010 and aged in refill bourbon casks.  Littlemill is a closed distillery. I had seen this at the Rummer Hotel a while back and kept meaning to give it a try as it’s a new distillery on me. It was a friend’s birthday recently and we decided to enjoy some whisky there; it seemed a perfect time to give it a try. Connoisseurs choice has always been a hit with me for bringing good priced bottles of rare and closed distilleries to the market which gives me a chance to try a lot of distilleries that would otherwise pass me by.

Tasting Notes: Gordon And Macphail: Imperial 1991

Gordon And Macphail: Imperial 1991(Scottish Speyside Single Malt Whisky: 15 Years: 43% ABV)

Visual: Light yellowed gold.

Viscosity: Takes a moment for streaks to pucker from the spirit, then they come down fast.

Nose: Floral and potpourri. Custard sweetness. Butterscotch. Lightly oaked. Orange peel and pomegranate. Very little alcohol feel. Water makes shortbread biscuit come out.

Body: Thick and tarry with a big oak back initially. Lazy aged beef and stew styling come out. Dried apricot. Custard. Very sweet with water, more dried fruit and maybe some kiwi and lime.

Finish:  Cured beef slices. Oxo cubes. Maybe some peat.  Water adds a hint of lime jelly. Lightly cinnamon dusted.

Conclusion: Since trying a beer aged in this whisky’s casks I’ve been keeping an eye out for some of the original product, and here it is.

With whisky in hand I find a booming meaty product with sweet and fruit overtones. If I had to compare it I would say it was somewhat like a non island character Highland Park. Lots of power, little to no alcohol burn and lots of flavour.

Balances brilliantly between power and drinkability. It’s always there, but never so much that it gets annoying. That light lemon and kiwi surrounding the main body keeps it very fresh.  The body is defiant, especially in comparison to the aroma, which sees light and floral in contrast to the massive main body.

Overall very impressive. Powerful, drinkable, and flavoursome. Smooth texture and little burn makes it characterfull whisky. This is a good dram to sip through the day. I hope the new owners are turning out as high quality whisky.

Background: The Imperial Distillery has been up and down in recent years having been mothballed in 1985 and 1998 with a short run inbetween. It is now back, but this version I presume is from the short open period between the two mothballings. If tried a few Imperial influenced beers and found its influence very appreciateable, so was glad of the chance to grab a mini to try of it.

Tasting Notes: Gordon and Macphail: Old Pulteney: Cask Strength 1995

Gordon and Macphail: Old Pulteney: Cask Strength 1995 (Scottish Highland Single Malt Whisky: 15 Years: 59.9% ABV)

(Bottled 2010)

Visual: Burnished gold with somewhat of a cherry red influence.

Viscosity: Deathly slow streaks for the most point with the occasional outburst.

Nose:  Brandy cream and raisins. Mild liquorice and a touch of shortbread. Light planed wood. Fruitcake. Water relaxes it slightly giving planed wood prominence and adds a slight tar.

Body: Treacle and alcohol burn. Fruitcake, plums and oak.  Water makes sweeter. Toffee style. Very slick. Somewhat of a charring touch, though this lightens to light coffee with more water.

Finish: Charring and alcohol at first. Tongue numbing. Bitter chocolate. Water makes much more chocolate and toffee and much more appealing. Slight salt and raisins here.

Conclusion:  It’s always fun having a cask strength whisky. Spending time adding water drop by drop trying to reduce the burn whilst keeping as much flavour as you can.   This keeps very close to the influence of its choice of casks and wears it proudly.  The sherry gives a huge amount of fruitcake and toffee, with raisins and alcohol punch to end it. This really punches home the difference using a first fill cask can make as the flavours are potent indeed.

Fun as that is, and boy is it fun, it does make it feel more of a display of the cask than of the spirit.  The spirit struggles to show its house character. There is that slight salt evident in the finish that is a Pulteney trademark, but apart from that it doesn’t manage to fight the sherry enough to stand out from the plethora of sherry heavy whiskies on the market.

So it is a nice whisky, but it isn’t that distinctive and thus doesn’t really get the full advantage of its cask strength.  A mixed blessing then.

Background: From a first fill sherry butt. Don’t know if it is single cask as that would indicate. I’d imagine so but wouldn’t want to say for sure.  Drunk at the Rummer hotel after the Ardbeg reviewed previously. Had a lot of water in-between to try and refresh the senses. I have had Old Pulteney official bottling before this independent bottling, but it has never been one of my favourite whiskies. Still it looked fun enough to give a try, and I do love playing with a cask strength. Oh, I got so caught up in doing the tasting notes I only got a photo of the bottle this time and forgot the glass. My bad. Oh and yes that is a ladder to reach the higher shelves of sprits you see there in the photo. There is quite the selection.

Tasting Notes: Connoisseurs Choice: Caol Ila 1997

Connoisseurs Choice: Caol Ila 1997 (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 12 Years:43% ABV) (Bottled 2009)

Visual: Reasonably dark toffee gold.

Viscosity: Initially quite solid, but forms into fast thick streaks.

Nose: Smoke, treacle and slightly tar like. Salt, vanilla and oak. Liquorice. Water opens it up heavily to a floral style, adds more vanilla along with raisins and orange peel.

Body: Salt and golden syrup mix with toffee. Light peat grows throughout, Meaty. Water again makes large changes. Custard sweet, more salt, yet still slightly tar influenced.

Finish: Milk chocolate, dry oak and again slight tar stylings. Water makes salty yet sweet with a good dose of peat.

Conclusion: Another Caol Ila! As a big fan of them, I love comparing the different bottlings to explore the range, so jumped on this one at a tidy 12 years of ageing or thereabouts.

This one is quite a heavy duty expression for the spirit, initially quite thick and tarry with a bit more peat than usual.  That said the extra weight does it good and doesn’t harm the spirit at all.  The difference may put off people who enjoy the normally more mellow restrained Islay character of Caol Ila, but for them there is still hope.  With water you get a large change, with massive sweetness coming out to counterpoint, resulting in a dulled, but not completely overpowered Islay character.

So a very nice take, with two competing styles when with or without water, a tale of two whiskies as it were. Tarry, peaty and sweet, it’s very distinctive and enjoyable.  A very interesting take on the spirit and a fine independent bottling for anyone who wanted just that touch more force to the spirit.

Background: I’m a big fan of Caol Ila and love the fact that Connoisseurs Choice make available a mix of their bottlings to sample quite cheaply.   Drunk at a local pub which has Michael Jackson’s whisky guide behind the bar, and an ever rotating stock of CC bottles.  Caol Ila is often viewed as one of the more subtle Islay whiskies, though I find it still has enough of the style to stand out, it only seems mellow compared to say Ardbeg and Laphroaig.  Note: If you look carefully, you can see my god awful handwriting in my current notebook in the photo.

Tasting Notes: The Macphails Collection: Highland Park 8 Year

The Macphails Collection: Highland Park 8 Year (Scottish Island Single Malt Whisky: 8 years: 40% ABV)

Visual: Clear light straw to gold.

Viscosity: Quite fast streaks of medium thickness.

Nose:  Light peat smoke, vanilla and grain. Alcohol prickles. Beef stew. Slightly marshy.  Cooked onions.

Body: Sweet Dill pickles and gherkins.  Lime. Golden syrup. Banana. Water weakens the front but makes sweeter and adds custard. A broth like back is also added.

Finish:  Charring. Smoke, cigars and a tongue tingling feel.  Custard sweetness with water into malt chocolate and fudge.

Conclusion: Dill pickles and gherkins in a whisky tasting note? Never thought I’d see the day.   Highland Park is a fine spirit and this youthful version comes in with the expected light smoke and sweet touch.  Then you get the aforementioned pickles, which is oddly actually quite cool, giving a tingle instead of a full on alcohol burn.

I find myself preferring this without water. The water does make it smoother and into an absolutely lovely finish, but that manic middle is lost, and it is that quirkiness that I find so fun.  That said, the finish with water is very much welcome, so it is a bottle that’s worth a good experiment with.

Lively and joyous, Highland Park can do no wrong by me it seems.

Background:  Highland Park from Orkney is one of the spirits that seems to be able to pull off many styles well and I have had a grand history with its products so far.  Similarly Gordon and Macphail do a wonderful range of odd whisky’s, closed distilleries and own the Benromach distillery which has found favour with me. All in all I go into this tasting with high hopes.

Tasting Notes: Gordon and Macphail: Scapa 1993

Gordon and Macphail: Scapa 1993 (Scottish Island Single Malt Whisky: 11 Years: 40% ABV)

Visual: Pale yellowed grain.

Viscosity: Slow but thick streaks with some areas coming down in sheets.

Nose: Toffee, quite smooth. Vanilla. Touch of banana. Slight noticeable alcohol. Grain. Water makes for a distinctly more floral whisky.

Body: Big golden syrup comes in after several moments of distinctly light front. Toffee. Water adds sugared almonds, chocolate and honeycomb.

Finish: Charring and chocolate. Truffles. Slight rum filled chocolate liquors.  Water makes even more chocolate filled, but into a drier end. Buttered malt loaf, hint of syrup, lime and chocolate orange.

Conclusion: This is a really sweet whisky, with lots of chocolate, syrup and a very smooth texture. A big counterpoint to the stereotype of the harsh and briny island whisky, and very different to its island brother Highland Park.

This would get sickly fast as the only drink you have for an entire night, but does work well as a one off. It is all sweet flavours with nigh nothing offsetting it.

I did enjoy this as a simple and joyful whisky, distinctly non complex.  It plays with a similar chocolate finish as Bowmore 15 but without the slight harsher edge that keeps that one so very interesting

A cheerful whisky, but not a favourite,

Background: Oddly the bottle lists this as Highland Whisky, when research says this is from the Orkney Islands, the same islands that house the Highland Park distillery.  This particular bottling being matured in Refill Sherry American Casks.  I’ve seen Scapa whisky in the pubs a few times, but have never sampled it before today. Possibly due to the remarkably bland labelling never really catching the eye or the imagination.

Tasting Notes: Gordon and Macphail: Connoisseurs Choice: Glen Keith 1993

Gordon and Macphail Connoisseurs Choice: Glen Keith 1993 (Speyside Scottish Single Malt Whisky: Closed Distillery: 16 Years: 46% ABV)

Visual: Light banana mixed with grain.

Viscosity: Medium speed but comes down in a sheet more than in streaks.

Nose: Banana, dust and lime. Potpourri, vanilla. Water brings out thistles and hawthorn. Sugared almonds.

Body: Light lime and golden syrup. Sweet and fresh. Water adds toffee front, but more noticeable the floral and lime grows quickly. oak and burnt pastry with light peanuts.

Finish: Light grain and syrup air. Apricot. Water makes more wood evident, and strangely make the alcohol more evident in the air. Light malt drink and spice.

Conclusion: A very light whisky with a sour touch.  Initially seemed odd in that the alcohol  on the finish seemed to increase with water, which was somewhat counter intuitive.  After a bit of research into distillery it became clearer.  Glen Keith was one of the few Scottish triple distilled whiskys, which I would guess provided that distinctive feel and the oddity of the end.

As you can guess from that digression this was my introduction to this distillery and it didn’t really put itself on my must have list. The middle is sharp and the end malty, but it doesn’t get you excited.

The flavours are hidden by the sharp and lemon influence and that doesn’t let it roam.

Ah well.

Thanks To Dylan Ransom for his assistance with this tasting note

Tasting Notes: Gordon and Macphail: Rosebank 1991 Connoisseurs Choice

Gordon and Macphail: Rosebank 1991 Connoisseurs Choice (Lowland Single Malt Scottish Whisky: Closed Distillery: Bottled 2009 (18yrs?): 43% ABV)

Visual: Light but striking pale yellow like shimmering morning dew.

Viscosity: Torpid slow thick trails.

Nose: Grassy, slight mintyness. Aniseed. Quite light.

Body: The flavours shift like quicksilver over the tongue. Pot pourri when breathed over your tastebuds. Light lime and floral character. Water makes it sit lighter and somewhat thin. Sweetness and grain comes through.

Finish: Toasted buns (hot cross buns?). Charcoal, grain. Slight alcohol punch. liquorice again? Sourness and honeycomb.

Conclusion: A bit too light and thin for my tastes. Quite simple for its age and water thins further without removing the few ill tasting elements.

It’s my first encounter with Rosebank and in has not impressed so far. It seems to wish to hide away and yet leaves a dissatisfying snails trail of ill flavour.

Not one I can recommend.

Tasting Notes: Gordon and Macphail: Caperdonich 1994 Connoisseurs Choice

Gordon and Macphail: Caperdonich 1994 Connoisseurs Choice (Speyside Single Malt Scottish Whisky: Closed Distillery: Bottled 2009 (15yrs?): 46% ABV)

Visual: Thin coloured pail grain. Very light and colourless.

Viscosity: Fast forming thin and quick streaks.

Nose: Quite a heavy musky experience with planed wood and fine dust balancing it out. Vanilla and cream, the flavours are light but the effect is punchier than you would expect.

Body: Vanilla pods comes through strong. Slight sourness. Sweet – mixed jam and whipped cream. Doughnuts. Water adds more citrus and some toffee syrup.

Finish: Dancing sharp and bitter. Rock dust and oak wood. Sweet. Very mixed in the flavours simmering underneath. Icing sugar and burnt wood. A dry end. It does not change much with water.

Conclusion: A very mixed whisky. What seems at first to be a standard sweet floral whisky gets unexpected elements rippling through its finish to make you question what you have just experienced.

It does not rate at the high end of the spectrum but the solid main character and the oddities that come through holds the attention throughout the length of the dram.

The main vanilla notes are very pleasing and well done and I can’t complain, in part it suffers due to the high quality set by the CC range that it does not quite live up to.

But as I say, I cannot complain.