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| Hi, this is one of our (almost) daily tastings. Santé! |
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June 20, 2021 |
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Summer Duets
Today Grande Champagne |
| Indeed this is Malternative Day at Château Whiskyfun. Since we'll have only two Grande Champagne today - remember Grande Champagne is NOT another name for a magnum of champagne – let's focus on masters of selection and "élevage" Jean Grosperrin, if you don't mind. |
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Grande Champagne N.33-39 (47,4%, Jean Grosperrin for Wu Dram Clan, 2021) 
We have absolutely no doubts about the fact that this was distilled in the 1930s and that consequently, this Cognac is at least eighty years old, but the small outturn (26 litres) may suggest that it's spent a part of that time in a paradis, so in a demijohn. We'll have to enquire (well I think we won't). Maybe is it to be remembered that Grande Champagne is possibly the finest of all Crus and that it's entirely located in the Charentes. Where they also make excellent butter, by the way, but that's another story. Yeah great, I'll find notes of butter now… Colour: rich amber Nose: tiny whiffs of cellulose and varnish at first, then perhaps a little bourbon (Pappy's best, anyone?) before the pendulum would stop swinging above a stunning, firm and rather tight combination of ripe apricots, peaches, melons and mirabelles. Then many ripe figs and touches of menthol, liquorice, glazed chestnuts (marrons glacés) and old pineau. Superb fruity freshness and tightness here. Mouth: oh, sucking cigars, cinnamon bark, coffee beans, tarry lozenges, then it would unfold towards more fruits and an obvious floral side, on those flower jellies that go so well with foie gras (are you guys really going to ban foie gras in the UK?) Once again this is a firm combination, with heavy liquorice, perhaps a touch of molasses, maybe a few drops of old Neisson (believe me). In short, this one's firing on strictly all cylinders while it's got quite a few of them. Finish: long and tight. Superb wood, extremely well integrated. More coffee in the aftertaste, a drop of brown beer (say Paulaner's Salvator, had one last night, great stuff I think, although I'm no beer guy at all.) Comments: I've been looking for flaws and found none.
SGP:462 - 91 points. |
Alright, back to the Roaring Twenties… |
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Grande Champagne N.24 (42.8%, Jean Grosperrin, L 846, +/-2021)
I'm not sure this is the right picture as the great people at Grosperrin seem to be putting much more effort into selecting and maturing great cognacs than into providing 'the world' with appropriate pictures of their new releases. But shh, don't tell them but I believe it is better and smarter that way, you need to deserve these, they're never 'obvious' and I believe their marketing budget must be equivalent to the price of a bottle of Macallan NAS for Venezuela. Anyway, this is a 1924, not a 1824 (ha!) Even Keith Richards wasn't born… Colour: deep amber. Nose: fascinating, as fresh as the Wu Dram Clan, as fruity, perhaps a notch more on peonies and peaches, with a little more incense, cedarwood, various stewed fruits and 'dark' honeys, plus very old vintages of Sauternes, with sublime botrytis and 'grilledness'. Rose petals after a few minutes, old perfume (I'm often quoting Joy), ylang-ylang… This is really fabulous. Mouth: more 'classic' Cognac than the 1933-1939, with raisins, preserved peaches and plums, some old rancio, a touch of old amontillado, some coffee, chocolate, walnuts, tobacco, liquorice… It tends to become a tad more 'closed' and dry, a little more on coffee, and I cannot not think of that genuine Luwak that my daughter brought back from Indonesia. Old walnuts and other nuts. Roasted pecans, perhaps. The low strength does not feel, it's got good body and texture. Finish: medium, rather more on black tea, Russian-style, tobacco, filter coffee… A little more sweetness in the aftertaste, around prunes and raisins perhaps. Comments: it's not impossible that this one would have spent more time in wood. Splendid very old Cognac that you could quaff just like that. Which is dangerous, we agree.
SGP:461 - 90 points. |
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June 18, 2021 |
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Seven Teaninich on the table |
Because Teaninich is pretty close to Clynelish… architecturally. |
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Teaninich 9 yo (46%, James Eadie, Small Batch, 1084 bottles, 2020) 
From three casks, barrels and hoggies. We do know that James Eadie are extremely good at bottling young malts that would be 'ready'. Colour: pale white wine. Nose: they did it again. Immaculate, totally barley-driven, gristy and doughy malt, with good structure and just the right amounts of sweet yeastiness and ripe apples. A perfect beer, just a wee bit stronger. Mouth: excellent. Touches of coffee (dregs), earth, fresh baguette, then bread indeed, vanilla fudge, ale, beeswax… A very warming dram that, having said that, you could quaff like Champagne. So, careful… Finish: pretty long and extremely barley-y. That's the whole point, is it not. These coffee-ish notes in the aftertaste, café latte, cappuccino… Comments: perhaps a tad Starbucksian, but in the words of Pete Rodriguez, I like it like that.
SGP:551 - 86 points. |
James Eadie had another proposition last year… |
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Teaninich 12 yo 2008/2020 (51.5%, James Eadie, 1st fill oloroso hogshead finish, cask # 354556, 246 bottles) 
So, the opposite I suppose… Colour: coffee. Nose: not that extravagant, rather well-mannered, rather on coffee and pipe tobacco, then rather on herbs such as parsley and coriander. A little rosemary too, mole sauce, hoisin… With water: sawn oak and walnut stain, I would say. Not sure it needs water. Mouth (neat): some dry Jägermeister and a large bag of cocoa and coffee. Walnuts as well, of course, and touches of pencil shavings. I suppose the finishing time has been relatively short. With water: very fine but I believe we're touching the limits of this set-up. Some bonbons, oily herbs, liquorice cordial, Ricola (do you know of Ricola?) … I have the feeling that we've left Whiskydom. Finish: rather long, on coffee and herbs, which is not, mind you, as emetic as you would think. Comments: I'm a little lost here. What to think of this? Some kind of readymade coffee-schnapps? And who would recognise Teaninich? The Distillery Manager?
SGP:461 - 80 points. |
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Teaninich 1999/2019 (49.7%, Dutch Connection, Michiel Wigman, They Inspired, 238 bottles)
With his bottlings our friend Michiel is paying tribute to people who really counted, Gandhi, Mandela, Churchill, Kennedy, Jim McEwan… Colour: white wine. Nose: light, clean, almost diaphanous malt whisky, on crushed bananas, bread, pastries, oatcakes, porridge… I'm not sure you could come any closer to 'the barley'. With water: wonderful earth, flour, concrete dust, paper... Mouth (neat): a wee dusty/cardboardy feeling at first, then rather a lot of coffee and kirschwasser. Raw in the good sense. With water: sour juices, weissbeer, cherry juice… Finish: medium, pretty yeasty and sour/sweet. Comments: this one's very close to nature. Excuse me, to Nature.
SGP:351 - 85 points. |
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Teaninich 12 yo 2008/2021 (48.5%, WhiskySponge, refill hogshead, 257 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: even more natural and raw than Michiel's, this is almost ink mixed with chalk and M&S's pancake mix. Do M&S make any pancake mix? Then paraffin, plasticine, limestone, lambswool and fresh-broken branches. Perhaps a little intellectual? Do sponges have brains? Mouth: understood. The cask having its say now, with café latte and roasted hazelnuts, sesame oil, touches of triple-sec, curaçao, then more herbal and spicy touches, thyme perhaps, juniper… Finish: rather long, rather herbal and rather bitter. Comments: very intellectual but I kind of like it. Same feeling as when you would read War and Peace in German, only much faster. So all in all, this wee whisky saves you time!
SGP:351 - 85 points. |
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Teaninich 11 yo 2008/2020 (60.4%, The Single Malts of Scotland, Elixir Distillers, hogshead, cask #715790, 313 bottles) 
I've called my lawyer, we may proceed… Colour: white wine. Nose: no really, bread, ink… Are we supposed to destroy our olfactory bulb and brain to try to detect any clear aromas or even molecules here? Wood alcohol, grasses… With water: no. Whisky for masochists, which we are not. Mouth (neat): raw, ethanoly, harsh, unethical, dictatorial, unsexy, grassy, almost fascist whisky. No really, try this one, we'll talk later. With water: a little better, fruitier, but frankly, we would indeed only drink this if we would have run out of Absolut, Jägermeister, Tanqueray and Havana Club. Finish: medium, grassy, sour, unnecessary. Comments: good fun, but these are the limits of malt whisky. You could intellectualise anything but at the end of the day, would you have another glass? The answer is a clear and resounding 'no' here. For once, but London, everything alright?
SGP:451 - 70 points. |
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Teaninich 13 yo 2007/2020 (55.8%, Adelphi for Hotmalt Taiwan, cask #301265, 522 bottles) 
Looks like this is coffee liqueur… BTW we don't hear much of our dear friends at Adelphi's these days, hope they're doing fine! Now they must be very busy with their own distillery… Colour: reddish coffee. Nose: wood oils, teak, balsam, gianduja, café latte, Bulldog sauce, fresh-sawn MDM or plywood, prunes… With water: rather similar, only with more meaty and herbal touches. Chicken broth, bouillons, miso and stuff… Mouth (neat): very thick, extremely extractive (nice, S.!) and really pretty harsh. These high-extraction whiskies can be fun, but this time we're in doom-metal-black-hard-rock territory. Even Ozzy would be afraid; no, of course not Keef. With water: meat and chocolate. A new business idea, some chocolate flavoured with beef, chicken, veal, pork, shrimp, foie gras… What would you say? Good, let's do it 50/50… Finish: very long, bitterer, brutal, green, salty… Comments: funny and even motivating, but extreme; would we take another glass? Is it really moreish? NO.
SGP:672 - 79 points. |
A much older Teaninich and we're done. Boy, Teaninich! |
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Teaninich 27 yo 1958/1985 (46%, Cadenhead, dumpy)
This one from when Cadenhead were still in Aberdeen. Was the 'old lady' still at the helm? By the way, while we're at t it, many entities are claiming that they've pioneered the whole 46% vol. idea. Yeah right. It is also to be noted that this was distilled before Teaninich doubled its capacity of production, in 1962. Maybe also that Teaninich is an extremely modern Distillery, but that wasn't the case back in 1958. Colour: straw. Nose: that's the thing, all these 'black dumpies' by Cadenhead do share some common traits and after 30 or 35 or 40 years in glass, it's hard to say whether some aromas or flavours were there when the casks were disgorged, or If it was all generated during bottle aging. In this very case, we've got big notes of metal polish, old copper coins, old toolbox or even 'old motorcycle'. But is this Teaninich or is it Cadenhead? Mouth: old broths, oils, ointments.. Some inks, herbs, bouillons, some saltiness, some meat, marrow, cold cuts, leek soup… No easy malt whisky for sure, and no fruits to be seen. There's even something oxidative, dry sherry style. Finish: rather long, rather on salt, paraffin, marrow, putty, walnuts, oloroso and bitter oranges. Is this a little unlikely? You bet! Comments: this was bottled 35 years ago. It's beginning to nosedive, I'm sure. Secure your investments, friends; bottles of whisky, whether the level is okay or not, are not eternal!
SGP:263 - 85 points. |
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