[Scotch Review] Benriach Single Casks 2006 Sauternes, 2005 Oloroso and 2005 Peated Port Pipe

Thanks to my buddy Adam for letting me try these ones!

This is a 3 way review that I'd like to aptly name "3 Bens, 1 Riach" because I have extremely juvenile humour when the opportunity arrives. But that's also because this triplet of Benriach single casks take me back to a time when I was just starting out reviewing whiskies and I had the good side of Benriach's unpeated whiskies and more specifically how good the peated whisky was, especially the 17 Solstice, and I was a big fan instantly both of Benriach and of the peat+port combo. So while I haven't really had the same level of experience with Benriach since then I'm hoping today will change that with 3 single casks to review, so let's get started!

Benriach 2006 Batch 15 #1855 Sauternes Cask

I haven't had a huge number of whiskies aged in Sauternes casks and certainly not one that's been fully matured in it that I have the ability to review. This unpeated Benriach was aged in a Sauternes barrique for 11 years and is bottled at cask strength, so let's see how this one turns out as the first dram of the day!

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Age: 11 Years 

Region: Speyside

Cask Type(s): Sauternes Barrique

ABV: 56.5%
 
No. of Bottles: 277

Maturation Time: Apr. 2006/2018

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• Color: Light Amber
• Nose: Some very juicy sweet orange, lemon, peaches and mango pair with a nice whiff of allspice, ginger and brown sugar at the front of this nose with some accompanying caramel and vanilla, there's also a nice amount of oiliness and oak tannins that make the nose bold but outside of the mango there isn't a huge amount of complexity here.
• Taste: More sweet ripe mango and peaches, lemon and then a huge blast of honeycomb paired with some strong vanilla, butterscotch and tea tannins along with toasted oak, red apple and then some big whiffs of allspice and ginger
• Finish: Medium to long with gingerbread, tart lemon juice and toasted oak

There's some really nice and interesting notes here, it's also a very fresh palate and has a lot of ripe fruits that I really enjoyed. However, the oak seems to have impacted too much tannic qualities that kind of throws off the delicate sweetness of the stone fruits to where it hurts the experience a bit too much. For a whisky that’s only 11 years old I'm almost surprised as to why this whisky has become so tannic, but outside of that it's still very interesting. Adding water helps quell the tannic qualities however the ginger starts to take more prominence which is nice but also minimizes the stone fruits which are the most interesting part of this whisky. In the end I'd say this one is worth a try for trying an interesting single cask of Benriach from an unorthodox cask but for about $134 CAD I still think there are some better whiskies out there but if you're okay with the oak it might just be worth a buy for you.

79 pts

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Benriach 2005 Batch 15 #5014 Oloroso Sherry Cask 

 

 

For round 2 I now turn the clock a year forward and go for an unpeated Benriach that's been aged in an Oloroso sherry butt. It's been a couple years or so since I last tried the Benriach 12 Sherry OB, which is currently being brought back to stores as a core range release, so I'm curious to see how a single oloroso cask of Benriach at cask strength will go. Hopes are high for this one!

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Age: 12 Years 

Region: Speyside

Cask Type(s): Oloroso Sherry  Butt

ABV: 58.1%
 
No. of Bottles:600

Maturation Time: Oct. 2005/2018

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• Color: Light Amber
• Nose: An opening duet of Sea salt and candle wax is offset by a touch of sulphur with some more complementing red fruits, raisins, vanilla, caramel and treacle following after. There's a light oaky element to the nose with some lingering allspice but for the most part it’s a very subtle and after a while starts to open up into more milk chocolate flavours.
• Taste: Light at first until some big orange, lemon, pear and plum notes burst in along with more caramel, allspice and sultanas rush in after, the spices here are a tad stronger along with a faint candle wax yet again along with what seems like foot sweat but it doesn't take too much out of the big fruit notes I get from the start
• Finish: Medium with beeswax, light sulphur, salted plums and macadamia nuts

It's a solid sherried whisky overall, although the stinky candles kind of throw the delicate sweet and spicy elements off a bit. Adding water quells some of the wax but loses the power of the dark fruit notes in the process. I also with the sea salt combined with some more oily elements in order to balance out the sulphur a tad better but sadly it's just an interesting young oloroso cask that tries to do it's job but is held back by the waxiness, which I really think should be left to be paired with peated malts as they sometimes work really well. It's a very good dram no doubt about it but the little imperfections cost it some points and for that reason I think it's safe to say that this one is just not for me.

73 pts

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Benriach 2005 Batch 15 #2682 Port Pipe Cask

So now we finish off this set with some peat and port. Like the Oloroso cask, this one is also aged for 12 years but in a port pipe that yielded over 700 bottles. Pretty crazy yield right there after 12 years. So let's see if this can bring back some of the old Solstice magic!

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Age: 12 Years 

Region: Speyside

Cask Type(s): Port Pipe

ABV: 53.9%
 
No. of Bottles: 729

Maturation Time: Feb. 2005/2018

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• Color: Amber
• Nose: Right away you get some big meaty peat, bbq and Texas BBQ spiced ribs galore, there's that Solstice flavour I've been looking for! Some nice sweet prunes, caramelized sugar, apple, dry lemon, sea salt and mesquite wood chips round up the palate along with a nice coating of brine and oiliness to make this a really balanced, although not super complex, nose.
• Taste: The mouthfeel on this one reminds me a lot of Kilchoman Port Cask, it's nice and sharp and straight to the point. A nice whiff of brown sugar meats tender pork rib meats lathered with sweet and smoky bbq sauce paired with some nice barley sugars, lemon citrus, prunes, raisins, tea tannins and paprika. A nice dash of nuttiness also comes around in the background that pairs well with the meatiness and sweet bbq flavours.
• Finish: Medium to long with lingering allspice and cooking spices, sharp oak, dark fruits and a hint of earthy tobacco

This whisky, while not as old as the 17 Solstice, comes very close in how quality it is at 12 years old. While I would've liked to see some more of the darker fruits come into play at times the balance is quite good and the bbq peat is very easy to drink although maybe not as much as some X.3 Octomores and Laphroaig cask strength bottlings. Even then for a peated Speyside it's definitely quality stuff for its age and for $158 CAD while there are some better deals for peated whisky in Canada its still quite good and might be worth a buy if you want something that drinks nice and has a good deal of complexity.

85 pts

 

Overall there's a good amount of variety among these three single casks but I'm only really tempted to buy the peated port pipe single cask. I think I've just found myself being more attracted to Benriach's peated stuff as from past experiences my highest marks for Benriach distillery bottlings have been their mid teens aged peated malts so if you're looking for something different from Speyside I'd recommend taking a deeper look into Benriach's peated stuff a bit more over their unpeated stuff as it just has more interesting qualities to it. Out of the Beam Suntory owned Speyside distilleries unpeated stuff should honestly be left for Glendronach and peat to Benriach and the now revived Glenglassaugh because they're both making some nice whiskies and I'm excited to try some more of them in the future.

Current Review Scoring System:

 

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

 

*Note that all images are owned by their respective owners, The Whisky Laddie does not receive financial compensation for this site's content. If this changes any copyrighted images will be replaced with originals made or solicited by the author of these posts.

[Scotch Review] 2 Old School Mortlachs: Mortlach 1987 Gordon and Macphail Connoisseurs Choice + Mortlach 1975 Signatory

Thanks to Jeremy from Sippers Social Club for letting me try this one!

So for today's reviews I wanted to look into a couple of Mortlach bottlings I had a while ago as I feel this is a good example of me exploring my tastes for this distillery because it is one of my favorite's. Mortlach is a Speyside distillery known as the "Beast of Dufftown" and one of the seven stills of Dufftown aka the 7 distilleries that Dufftown built its prestige on (Glenlivet, Glenfiddich, Balvenie, the long closed Parkmore, the more recently closed Convalmore and Dailuaine are the others), although some other distilleries were built after this hymn was written and passed on (Glendullan, Dufftown, Kininvie and the now closed Pittyvaich). However, out of all the distilleries in Speyside none have hit a tune with me more then Mortlach has (although some older Convalmore definitely come close.) So when I had a chance to try a couple of interesting older Mortlach's I jumped on it, one of them was because buying a bottle at $900 is not as good of a choice as getting a sample and the other because I can't buy a bottle of 70s Mortlach anymore without forking over $1000 for it and especially since it was the 300th tasting note I ever have done for scotch whisky.

So first things first, let's try the 1987 Gordon and Macphail bottling shall we?

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Age: 31 Years 

Region: Speyside

Cask Type(s): Refill Sherry Hogshead

ABV: 54.0%
 
No. of Bottles: 200

Maturation Time: 1987/2018

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• Colour: Dark amber
• Nose: Cocoa, brown sugar, allspice, vanilla bean, toffee, kosher salt, white pepper, plum, cherry, coffee bean, orange, lemon
• Palate: Mint, ginger, cocoa, plum, cherry, vanilla, cherry, nuts, toffee, white pepper, sea salt
• Finish: Medium to long with fresh red fruits, brown sugar and barley sugar

The nose is nice and bold with some great red fruit and coffee notes while the palate has some of that old school sherry quality but doesn't seem to have those old dusty kind of notes that I've found on some other sherried scotches from the 70s and even the early 80s. I'm guessing this whisky was a PX hogshead given the focus on sweeter notes and that it didn't have the sulphuric or salty quality of the usual oloroso that you'd imagine would be picked up after 31 years in the cask. In the end for me personally it was kind of underwhelming given the age but I'm very happy I got to try it and it's still a very good whisky even though I don't think I'd pay over $900 CAD for a bottle of this as this kind of sherried maturation just isn't for me.

85 pts

 

So now let's try the 1975 Signatory bottling of Mortlach! This one is a bit younger, almost a decade at that, at 22 years of age in an "oak cask" which most likely means a hogshead of some sort or a bourbon barrel. Either way, it's fun to compare two different styles as well as two different decades of Mortlach so let's take a peek! I had a dram of this at Allen's in Toronto (if you like steak definitely give them a look!)

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Age: 22 Years 

Region: Speyside

Cask Type(s): Oak Cask

ABV: 57.7%
 
No. of Bottles: 260

Maturation Time: Sept. 1975/Sept. 1997

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• Colour: Bronze
• Nose: God this nose is powerful, a huge blast of oil and vanilla, apple, pear, grass, cereal, caramel, cherry, allspice, grapes, cocoa powder, Strong woodsmoke
• Palate: Silky Alpine milk chocolate like being in a chocolate factory in Switzerland, vanilla cream, marzipan, butter apple, pear, cherry, raisins, caramel, yeasty pastry, oak tannins
• Finish: Long with almond butter, cocoa, apple chutney and baked bread

This whisky is a trip, a Ritter chocolate factory meets a French bakery with fresh almond pastries. It reminds me a bit of a Bruichladdich Single Cask with its almonds but this whisky adds in a lovely apple and chocolate complexity that makes this such a multi-dimensional treat. A great way to have toasted 300 tasting notes and this whisky ended up being one of my favourite drams of the 2018!

 91 pts

 So taking from this 2 part review I think it's a good analysis to show how sometimes certain styles from a distillery you enjoy may not always be for you. In Jeremy's case, the 1987 was his whisky of the year and I can definitely see why because for some people who love old school dry styles of sherry that whisky does all the right things, but compared to some sherry styles I like (such as a 1966 Tamdhu and 1979 Ardmore I had last year that I reviewed a bit ago or will be reviewing shortly!) it just didn't do as much for me as I wanted it to. It is still an excellent dram, but compared to the 1975 Signatory it missed hitting certain areas for me although this may be entirely different for you too as everyone is very different, so regardless of age explore the different styles of the distillery you enjoy because they can become as diverse as the world of single malt whisky itself!

Whisky is a story of exploration, so even if they're not all winners go out and seek adventure especially if its of a distillery of such quality as Mortlach because you won't be TOO disappointed!

Thanks again for reading and make sure to follow me on instagram for newer updates @whiskyladdie!

Current Review Scoring System:

 

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

 

*Note that all images are owned by their respective owners, The Whisky Laddie does not receive financial compensation for this site's content. If this changes any copyrighted images will be replaced with originals made or solicited by the author of these posts.

[American Whiskey Review] Heaven's Door Tennessee Bourbon Whiskey

Big thanks to my friend and fellow Toronto whisky man of mystery Adam for letting me try this one!

I first heard about Heaven's Door whiskies from Mark Gillespie's podcast when it got announced sometime last year. It's a collaborative project produced by Angel's Envy creator Marc Bushala, the brand COO Ryan Perry and Breckenridge distiller Jordan Via using the celebrity endorsement/input of singer-songwriter Bob Dylan. I'm a very big lover of Bob Dylan as a musician myself, but you know when a celebrity endorsed product comes out that you can always imagine that it's likely not something made for those interested in trying something good and more for the collectability aspect or just the name attached to a sub-par whiskey (I'm looking at you Virginia Black!)

But while the brand, which is named after the famous song Knockin' On Heavens Door, is already dealing with some early legal troubles surrounding the name bearing too close to Heaven Hill Distillery, I now have a chance to give a mostly unbiased look at this bourbon whiskey which is made in Tennessee. However, even if it's 90 proof it does have an age statement of "nearly 7 years" which is nice although the "nearly" part makes me wonder if they mean by months or by years or by what metric. But for now I'll assume it's 6 years and a bit and give them the benefit of the doubt. The mash is apparently 70% corn to 20% rye, according to The Whiskey Wash, so let's see how if this has some merits or if it tastes like a rolling stone.

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Age: 6-7 Years 

Region: Tennessee

Cask Type(s): Charred Virgin American Oak

ABV: 45%
 
No. of Bottles: Not Available

Maturation Time: Not Available

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• Color: Very light amber
• Nose: Very light nose, caramel, vanilla, roast corn, apple, allspice, brown sugar and a bit of oiliness in the background
• Taste: Caramel, raisin, vanilla, rye cereals, apple, allspice, tea tannins, fresh lemons
• Finish: Medium to long with candy apple, lemon juice and roasted corn

Wow this is surprisingly good. The nose, while a bit light, has some nice heavy sweet notes lying in the back and while the brown sugar didn't play big into the palate the big caramels, rye cereals and black tea and lemon elements really work well with a tiny bit of oiliness that's gone along with this whiskey. The finish is also decently long which was the biggest surprise as I thought that this was just going to be yet another young boring whiskey with a celebrity attached but I guess I'm totally wrong and fortunately so! It's really drinkable too at 90 proof but has enough body to where you'd think it was a bottled in bond bourbon so hopefully they keep this age the same for future bottles because its good stuff. However, at the price point of around $45 USD you're competing with some good budget barrel proof bourbons like Wild Turkey Rare Breed and Stagg Jr. but if you can find this for around the 25-30 USD range I think it's absolutely worth picking up. Hopefully they do a barrel proof of this stuff because the nose I think will be fixed from that which is the biggest thing that sets this whiskey back. But overall it's a really enjoyable bourbon and one of my biggest surprises this year so far! Well done Bobby D. and The Band!

82 pts

 

Thanks again for reading and make sure to follow me on instagram for newer updates @whiskyladdie!

Current Review Scoring System:

 

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

 

*Note that all images are owned by their respective owners, The Whisky Laddie does not receive financial compensation for this site's content. If this changes any copyrighted images will be replaced with originals made or solicited by the author of these posts.

[Scotch Review] Glenfarclas 105 22 Year Old

So recently I had some new bottles I split with a friend (big thanks to him for the half bottle of this!) and I'd say that this whisky was definitely the big one that I wanted to have at least part of a bottle of. I'm a big fan of what Glenfarclas is, they're a family owned independent scotch distillery that have been cranking out some beautiful sherried whiskies over the decades and I can only imagine that this dram will definitely be one of the best I'll have tried yet from this distillery.

It's been 50 years since Glenfarclas first released their 105 Imperial Proof cask strength single malt so to celebrate the distillery decided to do another age stated release of the 105, this time at a nicely mature 22 years of age. Only 3600 bottles were made of this whisky, with only 200 being put up for sale in Canada, so after having reviewed the 20 year old 105 release last year I'm very excited to own a half bottle of this and am very interested to see how this one compares in my notes to that one.

Christmas may have passed, so hopefully this one toasts the coming end to this long icy winter! Let's begin!

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Age: 22 Years 

Region: Speyside

Cask Type(s): Sherry Casks

ABV: 60%
 
No. of Bottles: 3600

Maturation Time: Not Available

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• Color: Amber
• Nose: Creamy vanilla, sweet cherries, raspberries and plums, cocoa, caramel, allspice, toasted oak, raisins, orange, lemon, apple, melon, a really nice old school sherry nose
• Taste: Orange marmalade, apple jam, pear, lemon, cherry, salty plum, marzipan, raspberry, sultana, baking spices, baked bread and roasted treenuts
• Finish: Long with cream, sherryfruits, coconut cream and powdered cocoa

Now this is what I call a dessert dram! Going back to my old notes it appears this is not as spicy and intense as the 20 year, and not as much of a pure sherrybomb either, but it’s a nicely composed dram with a lot of complexity and for 60% ABV it drinks amazingly. The nose is nice and pleasant with some good whiffs of baking spice and oak meshed into the red fruits, citrus and sweeter elements and the palate is an overload of fruit marmalades and jams, buttery and toasted nuts as well as some light touches of oak and spice. To me it's almost as good as the 20 year 105 and for less than half the price of the 20 year 105 (or at least until this hits the secondary market), it's a darn good sherried Speyside and is a great new addition to the age stated 105 limited editions of Glenfarclas! While I wish there was a tad more richness on the mouthfeel it's still a very solid sherried cask strength Glenfarclas and it's absolutely worth a try and buy.

86 pts

 

Thanks again for reading and make sure to follow me on instagram for newer updates @whiskyladdie!

Current Review Scoring System:

 

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

 

*Note that all images are owned by their respective owners, The Whisky Laddie does not receive financial compensation for this site's content. If this changes any copyrighted images will be replaced with originals made or solicited by the author of these posts.

[Scotch Review] Bruichladdich Octomore 9.3

Hello once again everyone! It's been a while since I've posted some reviews here even after I promised to update this blog a bit more regularly but unfortunately my last semester doing my undergraduate degree has been a bit more reading and writing intensive then I expected so unfortunately I haven't done a review since January and hopefully I'll be able to do this a bit more regularly once mid-April comes around so until then I'll be posting a few newer reviews before I approach any reviews of brand new whiskies I've tried.

2 years ago I tried the Octomore 7.1 and thought that while it wasn't as intensely peated as the ppm suggested it was still a quality dram. But the price in Ontario was sadly not very quality. So I put off ever getting an Octomore until my friend asked if I wanted to split a few whiskies that he ended up grabbing in Calgary a while back. One of the whiskies we ended up splitting was a bottle of this, which is the 9th release series of Octomore. However, unlike the X.1 Octomores this one is a X.3 release which is a vatting of heavily peated spirit matured in American oak and French oak wine barriques. The cask breakdown is as follows:

• 25% 1st fill Ex-bourbon casks
• 25% 3rd fill Virgin American Oak
• 20% 2nd fill Rivesaltes barriques
• 20% 2nd fill Syrah barriques
• 10% 2nd fill Ex-bourbon casks

So let's see if this mix of bourbon, virgin oak, Syrah red wine and Rivesaltes fortified wine casks make this big peaty Bruichladdich shine.
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Age: 5 Years 

Region: Islay

Cask Type(s): American Oak and French Oak

ABV: 62.9%
 
No. of Bottles: 18,000

Maturation Time: Not Available

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• Color: Straw gold
• Nose: Greasy back bacon, vanilla bean, caramel, cherry, leather, smoked brisket, earth, woodspice, big peat but not overwhelming.
• Taste: More bacon grease, creamy vanilla and caramel, lemon citrus, cocoa, toasted oak, light touches of leather, treenuts and pastry bread
• Finish: Medium to long with lemon candy, caramel, BBQ smoke and sea salted pork

The nose on this whisky is like being in an old school diner for lunch when they're making a the most cholesterol filled food they could possibly make. The palate loads on the bacon even more and its dangerously drinkable even at over 61% ABV. The heavy bourbon influence is there too that adds some nice sweet elements along with the wine influence which gives a touch of leather, pastry elements and nuttiness. This is basically a peated whiskies take on Epic Meal Time during the better episodes when it didn't get boring. It's a wonderfully peated Islay and I can't wait until the 10.X series comes out to see if they do something special because for me this whisky has made me an Octomore fan for life!

88 pts

 

Thanks again for reading and make sure to follow me on instagram for newer updates @whiskyladdie!

Current Review Scoring System:

 

0-49: Horrible

50-59: Bad

60-69: Mediocre to Average

70-74: Average to Good

75-79: Good to Great

80-84: Great to Excellent

85-89: Excellent

90-94: Superb

95+: Masterpiece

 

*Note that all images are owned by their respective owners, The Whisky Laddie does not receive financial compensation for this site's content. If this changes any copyrighted images will be replaced with originals made or solicited by the author of these posts.