Tasting Notes: Ardnamurchan AD/10:22: Madeira Cask Release

Ardnamurchan AD/10:22: Madeira Cask Release (Scottish Highland Single Malt Whisky: 6 Years: 58.2% ABV)

Visual: Lovely deep gold colour with medium speed thick streaks coming from the spirit.

Nose: Christmas pudding. Brandy cream. Plums. Vanilla fudge. Warming. Lightly salty. Salted fudge. Pencil shavings. Water adds menthol, green grapes and a peppery character.

Body: Fudge. Warming. Dry oak. Madeira cakes. Sugared orange. Lightly waxy. Fatty butter. Peppery. Water makes smoother. Thai 7 spice. Sultanas. Apricot and apricot syrup. Apples.

Finish: Drying. Madeira cakes. Pencil shavings. Port soaked raisins. Vanilla toffee. Light dry, black liquorice. Thai 7 spice. Sweet orange. Menthol. Water adds peach syrup and sultanas. Slight sulphur and smoke.

Conclusion: This is a surprisingly complex dram for something that must be quite young based on how long the distillery has been open. I was expecting it to be very Madeira led and the cask strength combined with youth making it a bit burning before water.

So, basically neat I was expecting some strong flavours but fairly simple. What I got was this initially booming with plum pudding/Christmas pudding notes along with associated spirity cream notes. A delicious start. It is warming but not numbing, it is dryer Madeira cake style in the main body as the alcohol strength does make it pretty drying overall but along with those spirit and vaguely Christmas themed dessert notes there are also a good set of woody notes and peppery spice as grounding. A tad more than what I expected and definitely not as burning, but generally in line with expectations and decent. It feels stewed fruit thick, drying and very heavy. There is a waxy touch and some fatty butter feel giving it some nice play in mouthfeel, but the dryness limits how much it can express that. Then you add water, and this is when things get surprising and very interesting.

The texture is smoother and shows that waxy and fatty better mouthfeel much better. What is the big change is the peach, apricot and associated syrup notes that come out,which I presume is spirit character as it sure isn’t the Madeira. There is still spice, dark fruit and such but now with a real soft, sweet fruit against it. It is an impressive balance and a radical change from what I expected.

It is spirity, fruity, and with a tiny smokey note despite being an unpeated spirit, it may be more a sulphur note, but it is there. Lots of spicy character comes in there, and with that a fatty butter sheen that makes for a very distinct mouthfeel.

This really shows what the spirit can do and I hope for more like this as the years pass as I am very impressed.

Background: Well, this is one that vanished quickly from stock. I’d been told it had been getting some buzz so picked one up quickly. Then took until now to finally do notes on it. I am not lazy honest. My first encounter with Ardnamurchan was interesting but not a must have, but had enough that this Madeira finished release definitely was one I wanted to try. There were 5,781 bottles of this cask strength, unchill-filtered release but they still vanished quickly. It is using their unpeated malt, and a quick google says it spent five years in first fill bourbon then one year in Madeira hogsheads so I’m guessing six years full age unless there are rounding issues at play .This was grabbed from the ever helpful Independent Spirit and drunk while listening to the Best Of Mel and Kim album – feeling a bit 80s pop throwback at the moment.

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Tasting Notes: Murray McDavid: Safe Haven 2014 – Mystery Malt

Murray McDavid: Safe Haven 2014 – Mystery Malt (Scottish Island Single Malt Whisky: 6 Years: 50% ABV)

Visual: Pale darkened gold spirit. Generally slow puckering comes from the spirit with some slow, thick streaks coming out as well.

Nose: Beefy peat. Alcohol tingle. Wet moss. Thick. Christmas pudding and sherry cream. Salt. Heavy. Dry smoke. Brandy cream. Dried beef slices. Water adds grass, and sulphur. More water brings out raisins.

Body: Warming and thick. Treacle. Brown bread. Peppery. Beef slices. Peat. Malt chocolate. Christmas pudding. Vanilla toffee. Charring. Water adds cherries. Sulphur. Raisins. Fudge. Smoother peat. More water adds alcohol soaked raspberries. Strawberry. Brandy cream.

Finish: Malt chocolate and brown bread. Thai seven spice. Warming. Smoke. Christmas pudding. Sherry soaked raisins. Water adds fudge and glacier cherries. Peppercorns. More water adds brandy cream.

Conclusion: Ok, short version. This is Christmas Pudding, covered in brandy and sherry cream, peat smoked and pushed out with a good hit of alcohol character. That last bit is not a surprise considering that this is a tidy 50% abv.

Neat this thing is intense, not overly harsh, but visibly wearing its alcohol weight. The youth of the spirit means that the peat is still fresh and full of force and can easily be seen past the strong flavours. It has a mossy, Island character and a touch of salt that similarly calls to the sea, but front and centre is the Christmas pudding style and associated spirity creams. (The brandy cream starts out lighter but becomes very noticeable with water) It is heavy, slightly spicy, and lovely.

Water smooths the alcohol, but never the weight of the peat, or the Christmas pudding character for that matter. The sweetness alters from darker malt chocolate to lighter vanilla fudge, adding in cherries and other brighter fruit notes to work with. These are lovely rounding notes that come out from using water, but that heavy weight is still front and centre to the whisky.

More water makes this a bit sulphurous but also balances that with some more dark fruit, showing that, at 50% abv, this has a lot of room for exploration. This is such a booming whisky, using the unusual cask finish well to to either cover up, or work with the issues you can get with younger spirit, while also taking advantage of said youth to utterly work the peat character to its potential.

This is a lovely, heavy, peaty, spirity, Christmas Pudding dessert of a whisky. I love this one.

Background: When this first turned up in Independent Spirit, it vanished quickly. When it turned up again I decided to grab a bottle as it sounds very nice. I don’t think I’ve tried any Murray McDavid bottlings before, but they seem to be doing some very interesting and different things recently. So worth keeping an eye on. This lists itself as from a “Trade Secret” region. So I am guessing they do not have the rights to label the distillery. However since, most places list this as “Isle Of Mull” whisky it is not hard to guess that it is Tobermory, to be specific the peated Ledaig expression. I’m not sure why they didn’t just list region as “Island” as that would have been vague enough but give an idea of where it was from. At only six years this should be interesting peat wise, and peat can fade quickly as a whisky ages, so this should be pretty big. Also it spent it’s last six month in a Ximenez – Spinola PX casks, which is its big selling point, the rest of time was in a bourbon hogshead. Music wise I had recently seen that youtube musician Jonathan Young had put out a very 80s feeling album called “ Starship Velociraptor” under the band name Galactkraken, it is a wealth of fun so I put that on in the background.

Tasting Notes: That Boutique-y Whisky Company: Three Ships: Batch 1

That Boutique-y Whisky Company: Three Ships: Batch 1 (South African Single Malt Whisky: 6 Years: 53.7% ABV)

Visual: Deep, rich gold. Fast thick streaks come from the spirit.

Nose: Thick. Stewed dark fruit. Waxy leaves. Partially melted brown sugar. Slightly oily and slight smoke. Waxy in general. Banana skins. Water brings out cake sponge. Toffee and light peppercorn.

Body: Thick and oily. Kind of oily peat. Stewed apricot. Golden syrup. Shortbread. Brown bread. Charcoal touch. Water adds fudge. Charred oak. More waxy,

Finish: Stewed apricot. Milky chocolate. Slight banana. Charcoal and charred oak. American bread. Water adds noticeable alcohol. Slight apples. Treacle. Golden syrup. More milky chocolate.

Conclusion: Wow, this is thick and chewy, but despite that and a high abv this comes across far smoother than the low number of years ageing would indicate. As mentioned in the background, I’m guessing this is at least partly due to ageing in high temperatures. This has such a smooth mouthfeel, especially considering the over 50% abv, but you can really get your teeth into it.

Flavour-wise it is very different to most whiskies I have encountered out there. It feels like it hints at a waxier take on a sweet and big Highland whisky at the base, but far chewier, and even has what tastes like a decent amount of oily smoke underneath it (I have no idea if this is peated at all, but something definitely gives an oily peat like character in there – the whole thing is a bit outside my standard set of reference points, so I’m working without a net here).

It is a very gripping, kind of waxed leaves feel and even hints of flavour, and that grip means that all the other flavours stick around as well. The highland like impressions come across as a heavy, weighty sweetness – burnt brown sugar, fudge and what tastes like a relatively restrained sweetness version of golden syrup. These become especially evident with water – the alcohol is never burning, and never really obscures, but it does open up brilliantly with just a few drops, and can cope with a lot more.

Its unique character is that waxy greenery, an element I don’t recognise from any other whisky and adds a real savoury weight to this, mixing well with the oily, charred notes to make for a dark, savoury undertone.

A lovely mix – Highland meets a dash of Islay, meets elements I have only previously encountered in Indian whisky and makes for something really rewarding, multifaceted, recognisable as whisky but different. Well worth trying.

Background: This caught my eye a while back at The Hideout. I’d not tried any whisky from South Africa before, and I wondered what it would be like. So after an amazing Paul John whisky tasting held there I grabbed myself a measure. Was very impressed so went back later to do notes on it. This has been aged in American Oak and PX sherry casks (or so a quick google tells me). Six years is not old for a whisky, but I’m guessing that similar to ageing whisky in India (as the Paul Johns guide told us) the higher heat means a much higher loss to the angel share, and a much more rapid ageing. Three Ships is one of the brands of whisky from the James Sedgwick Distillery that also does the Bain’s single grain whisky. Again, so google tells me.

Tasting Notes: Ichiro: Chichibu:Single Cask: No 2650

Ichiro: Chichibu: Single Cask: No 2650 (Japanese Single Malt Whisky: 6 Year: 59.3% ABV)

Visual: Deep rich gold.

Nose: Cherries and black cherries. Rich red wine. Slight darker red wine notes as well. Shortbread. Red grapes. Water makes lightly tarry and oily.

Body: Creamy. Cherries. Sweet red wine. Water brings apricot, plums and light sulphur. Chewy feel. Fudge.

Finish: Black cherry. Creamy. A mix of rye and bourbon whisky notes. Apricot. Water adds plums, lightly grassy. Light charred notes and greenery.

Conclusion: It is odd, looking at these notes, I am using a lot of the same words that I used to describe the port pipes Chichibu whisky, but when you examine them holistically rather than point by point they are very different whiskies. For example. This leans heavier on the darker fruit, and less on the lighter fruit, which instantly creates a darker, heavier impression on the tongue and in the mind.

It is heavy on the dark red wine notes, sweet but with the harder charred oak notes below. Again most of the base spirit character is lost to the weight of the barrel ageing, but the greenery notes do come out with a lot of water added. It is a lot creamier than the other Chichibu I tried tonight, giving a nice, smooth mouthfeel.

This is a rewarding dark whisky, but does not really stand out from the other similarly sherry aged whiskies around and you can get them a lot cheaper than this. This is a very good whisky, but despite that it is not a stand out one. If you like sherry, then this does sherry ageing very obviously, utterly laden with dark fruit, but from that the base character is overwhelmed.

Glad to have tried it, but there are better examples of sherry you can buy for less.

Background:. One final Chichibu whisky of the tasting – this one a single cask – cask no 2650 to be exact, aged from 2010 to 2016, so, six years aged I guess, ish. This one is a travel exclusive, so I presume only available at certain airports. Again, a bloomin’ hard one to get hold of then. This was aged first in bourbon casks then finished in oloroso sherry casks. Due to this being from a tasting, with the usual distractions coming from cool info being given by the host, chatting, smaller measures, etc my notes will be a tad shorter than usual. However the chance to try and do notes on these five whiskies that would set me back silly money if I tried to buy them all individually meant that I gave it my best shot. This Chichubu tasting was done at Independent Spirit but the whisky was provided by James, a private collector who did the tasting itself. At twenty five quid it was ridiculously good value. Chichibu is a tiny distillery that started operating in 2008 and I think is the newest Japanese distillery still. Never tried their stuff, but had heard many good things about them before going in.

Tasting Notes: Kilchoman 2007 Vintage

Kilchoman 2007 Vintage (Scottish Islay Single Malt Whisky: 6 Years: 46% ABV)

Visual: Greened grain. Very light in colour.

Viscosity: Quite fast thick streaks.

Nose: Dry earth. Peat. Astringent.

Body: Beef stew. Golden syrup. Peat. Sweet lime. Dried banana. Smooth. Charred oak. Water softens and brings barley, malt chocolate, some peat and energy still, and a tar like touch.

Finish: Dry. Smoke and warmth. Sweet syrup. Maybe a raspberry syrup like touch at one time? Possible psychosomatic. Peat. Beef slices. Malt chocolate. Salt. water adds a custard sweetness.

Conclusion: The newest Islay has always impressed me in prior encounters, and here is the first time I have managed to put the impressions of being impressed on indents (or impressions if you like) on the paper.

It is a whisky that really shows the Islay character, you can feel a barley like texture running across the tongue, the smoke rising, and a robust peat warmth the builds up inside you. It doesn’t just define itself by the expected character though – there is a mix of sweeter notes from dried banana to several sweet syrup notes, and they give a more subtle set of lower notes that back against the big Islay beef broth of the main character. The subtle elements are what makes it stand out from the pack.

It is still a booming whisky, especially neat, yet for all its youth in years it manages to give you all of the warmth and yet none of the fire. Even at this point it is showing very distinguished characteristics, and that bodes well for the future. It will be interesting to see what happens, as in later years peat tends to drop slightly, and I wonder how the lighter elements will progress.

This is balanced, big, intricate and evolved. The barley character grounds it, and gives a texture you don’t see often with whisky these days, the peat lets it boom and the sweetness lets it mellow. A great whisky already, and a promise of special things ahead in the years to come.

Background: Bottled 2013. With this I get to call full house on Islay bingo. I have now reviewed one expression from each distillery there. Which was not the reason I bought a measure bit it didn’t hurt. I’ve tried a few Kilchoman’s at whisky shows over the years, but have yet to do a review from this, the newest Islay distillery. A quick bit of research shows that the distillery not only does its own floor malting, but also has all parts of the process from growing to bottling, on Islay itself. Yes by research I mean “I looked on wiki”. Yes, I know that doesn’t count. This was drunk at Brewdog Bristol in their new, slightly rolling tumbler glasses.