Recent releases, October 2006

October saw a slew of releases, both single and blended malts.

Balblair, 1973 Gordon & MacPhail Private Collection (Scotland) As more and more independent bottlers have emerged during the past few years, the general level of excellence and consistency that informs Gordon & MacPhail’s offerings has sometimes been overlooked. The Elgin firm currently has more than 400 different expressions of its own bottlings on its price list, and boasts a stock inventory with incredible strength in depth. Balblair distillery is situated beside the Dornoch Firth in Sutherland, and its single malt has become more accessible in recent times due to a growing range of distillery bottlings. However, this Gordon & MacPhail 1973 expression is hard to beat for sheer character, and just 385 bottles have been released. Gently floral on the nose, with sweet Sherry and a whiff of smoke. Big bodied and confident, the palate offers Sherry, stewed fruits and a pleasing, underlying smokiness. Remorselessly drying Sherry and oak in the finish. Moreish. Something of a Balblair ‘Sherry monster’ that has retained its integrity well for more than three decades in the cask. 45.0% ABV, 70cl, £149.95, specialist whisky merchants.

Balvenie, Vintage Cask 1972 (Scotland) To help choose this latest Balvenie Vintage Cask bottling, Malt Master David Stewart enlisted representatives from the tea and coffee industries to put their extensive nosing and tasting experience to an alternative use. Tim Clifton and Michael Bunston, Vice Chairman and Chairman, respectively, of the International Tea Committee and Angus Kerr, Chairman of the UK Coffee Trade Federation swapped tea leaves and coffee beans for malt whisky casks. Just five casks were chosen, yielding 744 bottles, and Stewart noted “The trademark honeyed characteristics of the distillery are very prevalent, combined with a gentle nutty nose and creamy butterscotch flavour with a hint of spice. The finish is long, lingering and sweet, just what you’d expect from one of our vintage casks.” Apricots, mango and bubblegum on the nose, overlaid with soft malt. Delicious! The palate delivers exactly what the nose promises. A lovely, medium-bodied whisky, filled with tropical fruits and spices, but with a backbone of firm malt and a little smoke. Spices, bubblegum and slowly drying oak in the lengthy finish. Once again, proof that The Balvenie grows old very gracefully. 47.3% ABV, 70cl, £300.00, specialist whisky merchants.

Bruichladdich, Port Charlotte PC5 (Scotland) PC5 is the first release of Port Charlotte single malt whisky, produced on Islay by Bruichladdich. Peated to 40ppm, this is one of the most heavily peated whiskies distilled on the island, and is in contrast to the usually lightly peated Bruichladdich make. PC5 is the first expression to have been distilled since Bruichladdich reopened in 2001, and, according to master distiller Jim McEwan: “From records we know that Bruichladdich spirit was influenced by peat - to some degree at least - before 1961. And, at the same time, this is paying homage, a doffing of the cap, to the old Port Charlotte distillery two miles down the road that closed owing to Prohibition in 1929.” Just 6,000 bottles of the new PC5 have been released, and it offers a nose of uncompromising smoke, with a slightly medicinal quality when diluted. Sweeter notes also come through with the addition of water. Persistent, yet refined, smoke on the palate, while fruit and oak notes also develop, along with a touch of treacle. The finish is long, and, yes, you’ve guessed, smoky! Overall, this is very well mannered for such a young whisky. Nothing grabs you by the throat. Likely to become a cult classic. 63.5% ABV, 70cl, £55.00, specialist whisky merchants.

Caol Ila, 1993 Distillers Edition (Scotland) Diageo’s ‘Distillers Edition’ range sets the benchmark for whisky finishes, and the latest edition, a 1993 Caol Ila, simply serves to emphasise that fact. According to Diageo maturation expert Jim Beveridge, “The new Caol Ila is a genuinely exciting expression. Most of the other Distillers Editions focus on American Oak. For this we focused on European Oak, and the combined effect of the Moscatel cask we used and European Oak works well with a peated, complex spirit of distinctive Islay character. The Islay malt has spent six months being finished in the sweet dessert wine casks, and the result is a decidedly different Caol Ila, with a sweet and gummy nose, filled with cloves and a hint of smoke. Cloves continue to dominate on the palate, followed by sweet, fruitier notes. The finish is long, drying and peppery, with a final hint of reassuring peat. 43.0% ABV, 70cl, £36.95, specialist whisky merchants.

Compass Box, Oak Cross (Scotland) Oak Cross is a new blended malt available this month from the ever innovative Compass Box team. According to Compass Box supremo John Glaser, “We get the best of both worlds by having our coopers create special casks made of new French oak heads and American oak bodies. Using them gives us the perfect balance between the lighter characters that whiskies aged in American oak give and the spice and dried fruit characters from French oak. When we bottle, we choose some of these special casks to deliver extra levels of flavour.” The component single malts in Oak Cross are all from the Highland region of Scotland, and have been aged for a minimum of ten years. Complex and herbal on the nose, with cloves, butterscotch and freshly-sawn wood, Oak Cross has a spicy palate of nutmeg and ginger, along with a faintly herbal note, blending with soft malt. Lingering and slightly assertive in the finish, with ginger and a touch of pepper, set against a background of fresh oak. 43.0% ABV, 70cl, £25.00, specialist whisky merchants.

Glenrothes, 1994 Vintage (Scotland) The most recent Vintage to be released by The Glenrothes dates from 1994, and, according to a Glenrothes spokesman, “For the 1994 Vintage, Malt Master John Ramsay was tasked to create the most stimulating and uplifting expression of The Glenrothes. Through meticulous cask selection and the experience of a lifetime in whisky, John has succeeded in combining the trademark flavour profile of The Glenrothes – the emphasis on citrus, spice and vanilla – with the added twist of lemon zestiness on the finish.” A soft yet citric nose, with vanilla fudge. Fresh and approachable, with more citric notes, especially lemon. The finish is medium to long, fruity and gingery. A lithe, clean-limbed Glenrothes. Yet again, this malt surprises with its infinite variety. 43.0% ABV, 70cl, £37.00, specialist whisky merchants.

The Singleton, of Dufftown 12-year-old (Scotland) Following on from its launch of The Singleton of Glen Ord, Diageo has developed The Singleton of Dufftown, which is initially being launched in the UK duty free market. According to Diageo’s Marketing Director – Malt Whisky, Nicholas Morgan, “There’s a higher proportion of European oak than in the existing Flora & Fauna series bottling of Dufftown. It’s targeting the same kind of drinker as The Singleton of Glen Ord – someone who wants to drink single malts, is interested in doing so, but perceives barriers in the way of doing it. There’s a complexity of language and packaging. The Singleton of Dufftown is a slightly more accessible malt for some people, without being dumbed down.” The nose is sweet, almost violet-like, with underlying malt. Big and bold on the palate, this is an upfront yet very drinkable whisky.. The finish is medium to long, warming, spicy, with slowly fading notes of Sherry and fudge. The much greater use of Sherry wood than in previous Diageo Dufftown bottlings is very evident Dufftown is an elusive malt, and on the evidence of this expression it deserves to be better known. It has certainly come a long way since the late 1970s/early ’80s when it was at the heart of Bell’s blends and was being produced at such a pace as to be barely drinkable. 40.0% ABV, 1ltr, £24.99, Duty Free & Travel Retail.

Weymss Vintage Malts Following on from the release last year of a range of single cask malts, Wemyss Vintage Malts has now launched a trio of blended malts. The company is based in Fife, where the Wemyss family has owned estates for centuries. In addition to its whisky interests, the family also owns the Domaine de Rimauresq Cru Classe wine estate in Cotes de Provence and Fonty's Pool at Pemberton, Western Australia. As with their single cask offerings, these Wemyss blended malts are identified by aroma and taste characteristics, thus we have The Smooth Gentleman, The Spice King, and The Peat Chimney.

The Peat Chimney (Scotland) The Peat Chimney does not immediately live up to its name on first inhalation, having the same elegant and initially rather sweet notes as the rest of the range, but the peat makes its presence felt as the whisky stands in its glass. The palate immediately brings to mind the Skye malt Talisker, with its peat, earth and pepper characteristics, and there is a hint of ginger in there too, late in the extremely lengthy finish. One for the fireside on a winter’s evening 43.0% ABV, 70cl, £23.99, specialist whisky merchants. The Smooth Gentleman (Scotland) The Smooth Gentleman offers a fresh, clean, slightly citric nose with background cereal notes. Malty and slightly mashy on the palate, with pleasingly smoky and spicy notes in the fruity finish, this is, as its name suggests, an elegant, easy drinking dram, though no lightweight. 43.0% ABV, 70cl, £23.99, specialist whisky merchants. The Spice King (Scotland) The Spice King has a beguiling nose of Sherry, cinnamon, cloves and angelica, and its firm, medium body is tinged with peat and something redolent of Caol Ila. The finish is long and sweetly peated. 43.0% ABV, 70cl, £23.99, specialist whisky merchants.