The Malt Cask

A quick review of a sample of Ardmore 9 years old bottled by Chorlton Whisky. Ardmore is not a very popular distillery. It is in the Highlands to the east of the Speyside region. You do not come across many official bottles apart from the Legacy, the Port wood and the 20 years old released a couple of years ago. Even amongst independent bottlers, it is not a name you will see frequently on labels. I reviewed the Legacy a couple of years ago and though that for the price it was relatively good value for money. I tried the Port wood which I enjoyed and now my first single cask. This whisky was drawn from an ex-Bourbon barrel and only 153 bottles are available. As it is only 9 years old, it is quite pale in colour. It is bottled at natural colour and strength (60.1%) and it has not been chill-filtered.  Nose: Sweet and smoky, a little bitterness/spirit driven (young + 60.1% abv...) There is quite a bit of fresh citrus notes in there, hints of ginger and a bit of white ...

For the last review, I tried a youngish (probably) sherried blended malt from Berry Bro's and Rudd. Today, a bit of the same but this time the sherried blended malt is a little old and it's from Chorlton Whisky. This is a bottle which was due to be released for Christmas but ended up being delayed and was finally out a couple of weeks ago. So what is it? First, where is it from? The bottle is produced by Chorlton Whisky a small independent bottler based in south Manchester. David, the owner is keen to present whisky he likes in the best way possible so his single casks bottles are offered at cask strength, in their original colour and without chill-filtration. A pretty good start. Next, the name? Còig Deicheadan means Five Decades in Gaelic so you get where this is heading.  The components? The information available for this bottle give us 4 names for this blended malt: Glenturret, Highland Park, Macallan and Bunnahabhain (looks like an Edrington mix!) T...

A bit more sherry this month with a bottle I had never come across or even heard of before. This is a blended malt whisky from Berry Bros & Rudd, which means it is a mix of more than one single malt without the addition of any grain whisky. It was aged in ex-Sherry casks and all you get from the label on the bottle is that it is "blended from the best Sherry butts". No more information on the types of sherry or the age of the whisky. It is pretty rich in colour, nose and palate so I would go for a mix of Pedro-Ximenez and Oloroso. I doubt the liquid in the bottle is too old but that does not necessarily matter (still wish they had put an age statement on the label!) The bottle was very reasonably priced at £32 and the presentation was very good -I am guessing no chill-filtration or addition of E150 took place (despite the dark colour)- so I did not hesitate long before taking the plunge. But was it worth it? As I mentioned above, the presentation for this blen...

A new distillery for me to discover today: Glengoyne. I actually went to visit the distillery in August as it is just north of Glasgow and well worth a visit in my opinion. I had never really experienced any Glengoyne before my visit, and even whilst there, I did not really try anything as I was unfortunately driving. I should have bought a bottle but wasn't really sure of what to go for, so (for once) left empty-handed. A couple of weeks later I came across a bottle of the 14 as I was in my local Marks and Spencer and decided to give it a go. The 14 is an official bottling released only for M&S so it might be harder to track if you do not have one around.  Glengoyne work a lot with ex-sherry casks which heavily influence most of their whiskies. In the case of the 14, a lot of 1st-fill and refill Oloroso casks.  Glengoyne pride themselves in bottling whisky with its natural colour "from time and sherry casks alone" and this 14 is a lovely gold colour. It is...

Glen Marnoch? Is that a Scottish distillery? No it isn't. It is the name the German supermarket Aldi give its own single malt. And every year around Christmas time they release an older Glen Marnoch. The first one they released was a 28 year-old malt a couple of years ago and it created quite a stir in the new. Last year it was a 29 years old (which was not as good apparently) and this year they dropped the age statement and replaced it with a vintage year: 1988, making this single malt 30 years old. The price of these bottles is actually the main talking point as after charging around £40 for the previous bottles this 1988 is priced sub-£50. There is no disclosure of the original distillery, all we learn from the packaging is that it is a Speyside single malt with the following tasting notes: Aroma: "Rich and fruity with ripe red apple notes and a deep oakiness." "A rich and complex flavour layers of fresh fruits, vanilla spice and mellow oak." Finish "Lo...

I am no rye expert but I remember trying this Woodford Reserve Rye a while back and really enjoying it. Having focused on scotch more than anything else from over the pond, I never pulled the trigger on a bottle of rye until a few months ago when I came across this very bottle in one of my local supermarkets. The bottle was incredibly good value and I thought why not. I already owned the standard Woodford bourbon which I really like and decided to open this rye straight away to see if it was still as good as I remembered it to be. Woodford state that their mashbill for this whiskey contains 53% rye (the minimum being 51% to be able to call it a rye) which I guess is not the highest rye content around (you'll find bottles with a 95% rye mashbill) In my (short) experience with rye whiskey, I tend to expect much 'greener' and spicier flavours than with bourbons.  Woodford Reserve tend to release their whiskey in batches with a batch/ bottle number. Mine is batch 00...

Springbank is one of these names you hear mentioned quite a few time when you start your whisky journey. It is not a name everyone knows like Glenfiddich, Macallan or Laphroaig, but it is one whisky enthusiasts tend to look for and recommend. Springbank is one of three distilleries in Campbeltown, alongside Glen Scotia and Glengyle. Springbank also make three different types of whisky all bottled under different names: Springbank is their slightly peated two-and-a-half times distilled single malt, Longrow is their peated twice distilled single malt and Hazelburn is their non-peated tripled distilled single malt. I didn't get to try any Springbank for a few years before I decided to purchase a bottle of the 10 years old. Strangely enough, I didn't open this bottle straight away as I had too many already opened and it has actually still been sitting on my shelves unopened since. The reviews I read online were very positive about the 10 but people's favourite seemed to be...