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Hi, you're in the Archives, August 2007 - Part 2 |
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August
22, 2007 |
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| TASTING
– TWO
OLD GLENLIVETS... |
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Glenlivet
27 yo 1955/1982 (43%, Duthie for Samaroli)
No need to tell you how great it is
to be able to try an oldie with such
a pedigree – yeah, what a useless
comment. Colour: dark amber. Nose:
an astounding sherry as expected,
all on all kinds of roasted nuts (lots
of pecans), high-end fruitcake, truckloads
of dried figs and that fabulous smokiness
that one can fnd in some old Glenlivets.
There is some OBE, a beautiful one
(metal, soot, shoe polish). Goes on
with balsamico, very old pu-erh, then
parsley, chives and dill, then pine
resin, wax polish… Endless development.
Just fab. Ah, also fantastic notes
of old walnut liqueur… |
| Mouth:
amazingly thick, creamy, concentrated,
starting on old walnuts just like
before, roasted coffee beans and bananas
flambéed. It’s more winey
than on the nose, maybe just a tad
drying (quite some tannins) but it’s
still spectacular sherry matured whisky.
Notes of pepper (reminds me of the
famous sherried Talisker 1955 CS by
G&M) and lots, really lots of
cinnamon. Hints of mint. Finish: rather
long, dry, balanced, absolutely fresh…
Pure joy. And so drinkable! Another
old masterpiece selected by Mr. Samaroli.
And only 43%, really? 94 points
(the nose alone was worth 96 in my
books). |
| Glenlivet
38 yo 1968/2007 (50.9%, Duncan Taylor,
cask #8227)
No, this isn’t obligatorily
the death seat. Colour: full amber.
Nose: it is, of course, quite different.
Less sherried, less ‘antique’,
but it certainly does stand comparison.
It starts all on different kinds of
cherries (as well as cherry plums)
and quite some almond milk and marzipan
and then swings to a very pleasant
oakiness (nutmeg, cinnamon) before
it gets very nicely winey (Pomerol
anyone?) Maybe not the Duthie’s
magnificence but it really plays its
game well. Mouth: that’s funny,
it starts on these big bold notes
of black cherries again – all
kinds of northern stone fruits in
fact. Very good balance, it’s
punchy but not overpowering at all,
getting even fruitier with time (blackcurrants).
Other than that we have a little coffee,
butter toffee, Corinth raisins…
And red sweet wine (more Port than
sherry as far as I can taste). Finish:
very long, getting a little drying
and oaky but way below the limits,
with a slightly peppery and ‘nutmeggy’
signature. Another very good old Glenlivet
with lots of oomph. 90 points. |
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...
AND ANOTHER TWO
Glenlivet
16 yo 1978/1994 (43%, Milroy’s)
Colour: amber with orangey hues.
Nose: starts quite nicely on a little
smoke, crystallised oranges and
something pleasantly mouldy. Also
nicely toasted but there’s
also discernible sulphur that gives
this ‘livet a rather soapy
nose (in a certain way). Not vinous
but it is sherry matured. Improves
after a few minutes, the soapy –
sulphury notes vanishing a bit.
|
| Mouth:
not bold and a little rubbery this
time, but the rest is classic and
pleasant. Light toffee, liquid caramel
(the one you pour on custard tart),
honey, roasted nuts… And not
much else. Finish: quite short, mostly
on candy sugar, with an aftertaste
of middle-of-the-range rum. Better
than it sounds but not worth spending
too much time on eBay hunting it down
I’d say. 80 points. |
Glenlivet
1975/2006 (46%, Berry Bros & Rudd,
Cask #10825 / 10827 / 10843 / 10845,
948 bottles) 
Colour: fill gold. Nose: this one
is much more honeyed and apricoty
at first nosing. Little sherry as
such if any but definitely something
delicately winey (sweet whites, Tokaji).
Maybe that’s sherry after all…
Other than that we have nice notes
of quince jelly, acacia honey, vanilla
crème, golden rum, incense…
Not a bold Glenlivet, rather something
to sip in the afternoon while playing
chess or backgammon (note to self:
what a useless comment!) Mouth: much
punchier now (forget chess, backgammon
is okay), very honeyed, candied, ‘roasted’
(pecans, peanuts). Something slightly
muscaty, Turkish delights, raisins
(sultanas)… Quite some ‘good’
oak. Gets more winey with time (blackcurrant
leaves tea), slightly acrid but in
a rather nice way. Finish: long, bold,
‘wide’, with the spices
playing their part now, pepper, cloves,
lambs lettuce… It’s funny
how gentle the nose was, whilst the
palate was quite, well, not ‘brutal’
but certainly punchy. Very good whisky,
quite ‘chewable’ (do you
say that?). 86 points. |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK in Saint-Tropez
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MUSIC
– JAZZ - Recommended
listening: a stunning jazzy version
of What's
new pussycat.mp3 by the excellent
Lisa
B. Please, please buy
her music, especially her new record
about... cats! |
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August
21, 2007 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW - by Serge
THE SMASHING PUMPKINS Foire
aux Vins, Colmar, France, August 19th,
2007 |
Billy Corgan |
I
need to confess that my career in
rock and roll (as a simple listener)
has been put between parentheses from,
say the mid-eighties until the late
nineties, a period where I’ve
been much more into jazz. That’s
why, even if I had heard about the
Smashing
Pumpkins of course, I
couldn’t claim that I knew them.
Even the name of ‘Billy
Corgan’ didn’t really
ring a bell to me – Who? Billy
Cobham? Are you sure he’s
playing with the Pumpkins, Arthur?
-, so I had to trust my son when he
told me that I should go see them
at the Foire aux Vins. “They
play hard but not always” was
his teaser. Well, indeed, not always… |
| So,
here we are again in the coquille,
surrounded by 7000 guys and girls,
most dressed in black, which is a
bit scary as black is now really out
of fashion, except among the fans
of hard rock and its numerous variants.
So it ought to be ‘hard’
tonight. There’s a guest band
for a start, a funny bunch of locals
called Los
Disidentes del Sucio Motel (how,
err, Spanish is that?), and god they
are… err, hard. Guitars almost
on the knees, Ray-Bans, black shirts
- white ties… And their music,
extremely noisy, all songs sounding
like rehashes of Black Sabbath’s
Paranoid, only louder and faster.
I wrote 'humorous pneumatic drills'.
Now, they had a brainwave, a guy dressed
up as a sheriff patrolling the stage
and checking that the band played
loud and fast enough every two minutes.
Yes, that was quite funny. Anyway,
after their song ‘Pirrrattts
and sunglasseezzz’ (in English
in the original), a faster copy of
something by Blue Oyster Cult I think
- or was it Steppenwolf? Bad Co? Arthur
says 'Queens of the Stone Age' - they
are stopped by the organisers who
still have to prepare the stage for
the Pumpkins. Smart decision. I ask
Arthur how this kind of music is named;
he answers ‘dad, it’s
a mix of hardcore, metal and hard
rock’. Okay… The local
press calls it ‘stoner’.
Alright, alright! I’m feeling
more and more like Alfred Barnard
visiting Islay for the first time,
or maybe rather Zululand. |
| But
it’s time for the Smashing Pumpkins.
From what I gather, the band used
to be very successful in the early
nineties, selling something like 16
million CD’s in the US alone,
but internal problems (and, of course,
drugs) led to several changes of line-ups,
especially the girls at the bass.
There has been the rather famous Melissa
auf der Maur at some point…
And then the band was disbanded in
2000, only to be reunited early this
year by singer, guitarist and leader
Billy Corgan and drummer Jimmy
Chamberlin, all other former members
having turned the offer down. The
new band performed live for the first
time since 2000 on May 22, 2007, in
Paris, and all tickets have sold in
a flash. Yet, the coquille is only
two-third full tonight, but it’s
true that we’re very far from
Paris… Now, I’ve also
read that the band pulled mixed feelings
when they decided to sell four different
versions of their new album Zeitgeist
through three different networks on
one side (iTunes, Target and Best
Buy), each getting a different bonus
track, and all other networks on the
other side, all getting only the ‘official’
twelve-track version. Which meant
that die-hard Pumpkins fans ‘had’
to buy the album four times (any resemblance
with any whisky company is purely
coincidental). Well, one shouldn’t
be puzzled with the rise of illegal
music downloading after that kind
of move… |
 |
Anyway, on the stage are Billy ‘Yul
Brynner’ Corgan (guitar, lead
vocals and lider maximo), Jimmy
Chamberlin (very excellent drummer
I must say), Jeff
Schroeder (in charge of the
apocalyptic rhythm and solo guitars),
Ginger
Reyes (aka Ginger Sling, girl
– and bass) and Lisa
Harriton (keyboards –
and girl). And there’s a sixth
member, consisting in the hundreds
of spotlights that sometimes make
the whole set look like a fireworks
show accompanied with music rather
than the contrary. The good thing
is that it’s easier to take
notes as the hall is sometimes lit
as if it was daylight, but the band
is too goddam loud for me to even
think of reading the tasting notes
in the latest issue of Whisky Magazine
I’ve brought in my pocket
just in case.
So, they are all playing the five
or six first songs extremely loud
and heavy - I insist - except for
the keyboards that are much less
to the front than on the records
(yes I’ve listened to some).
Billy Corgan has a nice voice I
must say, which he sometimes pushes
to the limits. I’m thinking
of Billy Idol, well.... Corgan is
also a very good guitar player and
likes to quote several other bands,
including Pink Floyd in Umma Gumma
if I’m not mistaken. He also
does the Star-Spangled Banner thing,
not ala Hendrix that is but now,
it is to be wondered why so many
American artistes seem to enjoy
making their international audiences
boo and hiss their national anthem.
Is that some sort of self-mortification?
Or does it simply sell? Corgan also
likes to make his guitars sound
like whales, which is always a hit.
Not simply rock and roll postures,
he’s really good at all that.
But
sincerely and just between us, why
the hell are the Pumpkins playing
so loud? Now, good news, since the
Chemical Brothers, I’ve got
my set of earplugs in my pocket
(yeah, next to Whisky Magazine)
and believe me, they didn’t
stay in my pocket for long, but
our foolhardy neighbours had to
leave it to simple cigarette filters,
which proves that plain cigarettes
can be really harmful to your health.
On stage, after the apocalypse of
St. Billy, that is to say the six
first songs, the latter suddenly
picks up an acoustic guitar and
starts to sing a very nice ballad,
with only Lisa Harriton’s
keyboard in the background. I think
it’s called ‘On my own
(not worth asking)’. Really
pretty! And then another excellent
and slightly folkish ballad, only
voice and guitar… And then
another one, with the full band
this time. A bit dark and sort of
haunting, nice. But we’re
soon back to much heavier businesses,
all guitars handled like Tommy guns
again, including the diminutive
Ginger Reyes’ bass. Are they
getting better or am I getting used
to the Pumpkins’ elephantine
sound? There are several other very
loud songs, and then I ask Arthur
how this genre is called. He answers
‘… ea… y …
ar… o… ee…’.
Bloody earplugs.
It’s already the encore (you
say they have been playing for one
hour and a half, really?). Just
the piano, no guitars, no drums.
Lisa Harriton starts to play…
Too early for Billy Corgan, who
orders her to start it all again.
Gosh, I hope he won’t fire
his brand new keyboardist right
after the show! It’s another
ballad, she plays it very well,
but leaves her keyboards when the
second song from the encore starts,
while the rest of the band is back.
Wait, there’s kind of a heavy
(of course) larsen somewhere…
What is it? Billy Corgan jumps onto
the podium where the keyboards are
located. Dammit, she forgot to shut
them down when she left! Please,
Billy, don’t fire her, she’s
been great tonight!
The
band starts the very last song of
the gig, it’s called ‘Muzzle’. |
| “I
knew exactly where I was and I knew
the meaning of it all and I knew the
distance to the sun and I knew the
echo that is love and I knew the secrets
in your spires and I knew the emptiness
of youth and I knew the solitude of
heart and I knew the murmurs of the
soul.” I’m not far
from thinking that this is the best
song of the show. Too bad, it’s
also really the last. The band leaves,
only Corgan stays on stage, saluting
the cheering crowd for at least ten
minutes. Okay, maybe five. Time to
remove my earplugs, now only half-deaf,
for exchanging a few words with my
enthusiastic progeny. ‘So, Arthur,
was that a mix of hardcore, metal
and hard rock as well?’ |
| ‘…
ot e...ac… ly, dad, …
was …ust … mashing pumpkins!!!’ |
| Mashing
some pumpkins? That idea never occurred
to me but maybe I should pass it to
some friendly brewers next time I
fly to Scotland! - Serge (including
the crappy photographs) |
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TASTING
– THREE FAB OBANS |
| Oban
30 yo 1963/1993 (52%, Cadenhead)
Colour: straw. Nose: what’s
striking at first nosing is the rather
obvious peatiness as well as the bold
notes of fusel oil and motor oil.
Very smoky, ‘phenolic’
in the broadest sense of the world,
it develops on quite some camphor,
cough syrup, eucalyptus, fresh putty,
candle wax and marzipan. Also something
slightly metallic. Gets then lemonier
and somewhat grassy. Lots of green
tea, whiffs of pine forest, shoe polish.
The whole is just superb I must say,
this is very much to my taste. Mouth:
oily, thick mouth feel. Absolutely
fabulous attack, with an extraordinarily
perfect balance between the fruits
and the waxy, woody and ‘phenolic’
notes. Superb pepper, high-end tea
(both green and black), notes of herbs
(mostly sage and bay leaves), mint
drops, liquorice of the highest sort,
hints of cumin. As for the fruits,
it’s pretty much on plums again,
citrons, something like medlars (it’s
sort of chestnutty), beeswax with
a little honey left inside the cells…
Fantastic whisky. Finish: very long,
assertive, waxy, more resinous now,
with a little salt at the end…
Perfect. ‘Wow!’ 94
points. |
| Oban
32 yo 1969/2002 (55.1%, OB)
It’s not the first time I enjoy
this one but it’s the first
time I publish notes. Colour: straw.
Nose: this one starts very close to
plum spirit, kirsch… Big notes
of fresh almonds as well, fresh walnuts,
crystallized citrons, lemon marmalade…
Less phenolic and peaty but fruitier
than the 1963 and perhaps a tad woodier,
but it’s just as superb. Faint
whiffs of sea breeze but that may
be just my mind. As close to a great
wood matured plum brandy as whisky
can get – just better. Mouth:
we’ve got the same differences
with the 1963 as on the nose, albeit
in smaller proportions. Plum brandy
(or any stones fruits for that matter),
sorb apple spirit, good marzipan (without
too much sugar), bitter chocolate,
teas, lemon marmalade… Not gentle
at all I must say, this one is rather
a beast and I’d say it’s
for true aficionados only (but what’s
a true aficionado? you may ask). Finish:
as long as the 1963’s, still
on plum brandy, with a little tar
now and again that faint saltiness.
I had this one at 93 points
and I can’t see any reasons
to lower that score, even after the
stunning 1963. |
| Oban
16 yo (64%, OB, The Manager’s
Dram, 1994, bicentenary bottling)
These old Manager’s Drams by
UD/Diageo are always total beasts,
it’s to be wondered if they
didn’t hire their managers from
a tae kwon do school at some point.
Colour: full amber. Nose: yes you
can nose it, provided you take quick
and short sniffs. In that case, you’ll
get a lot of chocolate and coffee,
fab notes of oloroso, orange marmalade
and something beefy in the background.
But let’s not take any further
risks and add (quite) a few drops
of water… And it got superb!
The same classic aromas of a well-matured
sherried malt but also lots of tobacco
and leather, smoked tea, orange blossom
honey, a little incense, faint whiffs
of peat smoke, a little soy sauce
and balsamico… And these beefy
notes again. Just superb. Mouth (neat):
bang! Well, it’s drinkable but
we need our throat for other malts,
so let’s try it with water right
away… Okay, maybe it’s
not as totally stunning as on the
nose but what a great malt whisky.
More resinous than on the nose, maybe
just faintly winey, with quite some
raisins and notes of old dark rum.
And a very long finish all on salted
liquorice. Top notch again, congrats
Mr Williams (Oban’s manager
when this was bottled). 92
points. And now the obligatory
rant: ‘but why did they close
Ob…’ wait, no, rather
this one, ‘it’s a dreadful
shame that we can’t have more
versions of Oban these days!’ |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK in Saint-Tropez
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August
20, 2007 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
FESTIVAL SPECIAL: FAIRPORT'S CROPREDY
Cropredy,
Oxfordshire, August 9,10,11th 2007
- Part One |
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Stop!
Before you turn away thinking “Not
another year’s worth of this
Cropredy rubbish” let me explain
something. It’s a special year,
and we’re all here for a reason.
And I don’t mean that we’re
celebrating the fact that it’s
Fairport
Convention’s fortieth
anniversary, nice ‘though that
might be, or that Fairport bassist
Dave Pegg (who also spent sixteen
years with Jethro Tull during Fairport’s
somewhat fallow years of the late
seventies and eighties) is celebrating
his sixtieth birthday this year. Neither
are we simply celebrating the fact
that somehow the weather gods relented
and the floodwater that had covered
much of the festival site receded
just in time to allow the bash to
proceed, nor that we somehow survived
a three and a half hour journey in
blistering heat over the last six
miles of heavily congested roads to
our campsite. No – it’s
far more important that that. You
see, on Friday night the original
1969 line-up of Fairport (minus the
sadly departed Sandy Denny, who is
replaced by Chris
While) are on stage playing Liege
& Lief, the album that is widely
considered to have written the rule
book for folk rock music, and which
is also rightly considered to be one
of the defining albums of the era.
And by way of a bonus, Richard
Thompson will be on stage
afterwards playing with his band.
As Friday nights under the stars go,
it doesn’t get much better than
that. |
| What
about Thursday? Well – as a
result of the Festival being sold
out (for the first time in 30 years)
and the obvious anxiety that many
had to be there in good time for Friday
evening, the journey in a gridlocked
North Oxfordshire is a nightmare –
and the site is already almost overflowing
(as are many of the lavatories). We
could hear Wishbone
Ash (not to be confused
with original vocalist Martin Turner’s
Wishbone
Ash) as we prepared dinner on
our modest van. They’re led
by founder guitarist Andy Powell.
You may remember they were famed for
their double lead guitar sound –
pioneered I always felt by the Allman
Brothers – and were managed
(along with a raft of other highly
successful bands of the time) by Miles
Copeland. From where we are they
sound pretty much like, well to be
frank, Wishbone Ash, bashing out tunes
like ‘Warrior’ from their
hit album Argus in perhaps a slightly
more folky way than in the past. They
were followed by Seth
Lakeman, whose set, again
from a distance, got more interesting
as it progressed from predictable
folk-rock stuff to more contemporary
sounding folk stuff. I wish I could
have seen the set. But we are down
in the mosh in time for Jools
Holland and his Rhythm
and Blues Orchestra who play a
thoroughly enjoyable, if rarely challenging,
ska-tinged set. |
| The
Orchestra are about sixteen strong,
and in addition to Holland on piano
and a surprisingly impressive guitar,
include veteran trombonist Rico Rodriguez
(who played that trombone solo on
the Specials ‘Message to you
Rudy’) - who ably led a willing
audience through ‘Enjoy yourself
(it’s later than you think)’.
The Orchestra also featured the hugely
impressive Birmingham vocalist Ruby
Turner (who sang an excellent
version of ’Sitting on top of
the world’ accompanied by Holland
on keyboards), and the remarkably
well preserved Lulu,
who naturally yelled her debut 1964
hit ‘Shout’. Very entertaining. |
| The
Liege and Lief album was recorded
in the wake of the road accident in
May 1969 that cost the lives of Fairport’s
then drummer – Martin Lamble,
and Thompson’s girlfriend Jeannie
Franklyn. The album was put together
in that summer, with fiddler Dave
Swarbrick and drummer Dave
Mattacks joining Thompson, bassist
Ashley
Hutchings, guitarist Simon Nicol
and singer Sandy
Denny (who died in 1978). The
musical background was the realisation
that the country rock style that the
band had toyed with on their earlier
albums wasn’t going to work,
particularly in the light of the music
coming out of the States from groups
like the Band. |
 |
| Interviewed
recently for the Guardian, Thompson
explained “Music from the Big
Pink showed us that Americana was
more suited to Americans, and we needed
to explore Britannicana, or whatever
the equivalent of that was”.
As a result the new album, recorded
in October and released in December,
was a combination of traditional tunes
dug from the archives of Cecil Sharpe
House, and new compositions in a traditional
mode, such as Thompson and Swarbrick’s
‘Crazy Man Michael’. The
result was an engrossing combination,
joyful but dark, and musically pathbreaking. |
 |
The
1969 Fairports took the stage following
a rousing set from Roots folk duo
Show
of Hands who preached
an infectious sort of anarchy in the
safe confines of this rustic time-warp.
Of course they’re older but
wiser – Denny, Hutchings and
Thompson had all left the band within
two years of Liege and Lief –
a delayed reaction, some said, to
the traumatic accident. All forged
successful careers, Denny’s
being cut short by an untimely death.
|
| Swarbrick,
one of the few musicians to have survived
having his obituary
published in the Daily Telegraph back
in 1999, had been confined to a wheelchair
for many years due to lung disease,
but a recent transplant now sees him
in sprightly form. He and Thompson,
not always the best of friends despite
their outstanding collaborations,
spend the evening sparring musically
from opposite sides of the stage.
|
| The
music sounds as though it could have
been written yesterday – and
hearing the album live in its entirety
reveals just how complex and challenging
many of the arrangements are –
Thompson had said “I don’t
actually need to rehearse it. I could
sit down and play it today …”
but it’s clear that a lot of
preparation has taken place. And probably
because the set is being recorded
for a live
broadcast no-one wants to hit
a wrong note – and by and large
they don’t, although Swarbrick’s
fondness for his wah-wah pedal does
occasionally get a little intrusive.
While’s singing is superb, and
Thompson’s guitar – warming
up for his own set – often more
intricate than on the album. Tinged
with sadness and not a little nostalgia
the result is an enchanting hour or
so under the Cropredy stars. |
Chris
While |
| The
start of the Liege and Lief set was
delayed by microphone problems that
not only put some pressure on Thompson’s
set, but also emerged during his opening
song, ‘Needle and thread’
from his new ‘Sweet Warrior’
album, when we couldn’t hear
a word of the lyrics. That apart,
the set was faultless, with Thompson
supported by Danny Thompson on the
double bass, Pete Zorn on rhythm guitar,
mandolin and horns and Michael Jerome
on drums. |
|
 |
| Highlights
– well it’s difficult
to pick – but I was engaged
by ‘Mingulay boat song’,
the simply magnificent solo on ‘Take
care what you choose’ (which
I think left most people speechless
it was so good – certainly my
son was open mouthed), ‘Dad’s
gonna kill me’ – the story
of a soldiers experience in Iraq,
and favourites such as ‘Read
about love’, ‘Wall of
death’ and the cheekily misogynistic
final encore ‘ Tearstained letter’.
But I’ll leave it at that as
we’re off to see him at the
Roundhouse in October and will report
back fully then. In the meantime it’s
back to the luxurious mobile home,
bed and preparation for another days
worth of Fairport fest. - Nick
(photographs by Kate) |
| Thanks
a bunch, Nick, but do we notice whiffs
of reverence? Ah, you say we should
wait ‘till part two! Well, we
can’t wait, so in the mean time,
let’s Row,
boys, row.mp3 (by almost-resident
reviewed artiste Richard Thompson).
|
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK in Saint-Tropez
|
| TASTING
– FIVE OLDIES FROM THAT FAMOUS
FAMILY-RUN SPEYSIDE DISTILLERY |
 |
Speyside
Malt 32 yo 1969/2001 (43%, Chieftains
for Taiwan, 1,360 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: starts on a beautiful
sherry, maybe a bit spirity (raspberry
eau-de-vie). Gets rounder with time,
very pleasantly oaky (quite some vanilla
and soft spices). Quite winey as well
(strawberry jam). Hints of ham and
fresh parsley as well as a little
wax polish. Fairly complex, keeps
developing on old walnuts and old
furniture. Mouth: punchy, very nutty
and malty, without the expected sherry
blast. Toasted brioche, orange marmalade,
orange squash… Goes on with
funny hints of sausages and chilli
(merguez!) with more oak presence
with time. Quite some tannins, mustard,
green curry… Unusual for a sherried
malt. Finish: medium long, more tannic
and more peppery. The spirit itself
fades away quite quickly. A very interesting
whisky, I’m wondering if they
selected this vatting for its ‘spicy-Asian’
flavours. 88 points. |
|
Speyside
Malt 32 yo 1973/2005 (43%, Chieftains
for Taiwan, 720 bottles)
Colour:
amber. Nose: this one is very different,
much fruitier at first nosing (strawberries
and raspberries) and more directly
winey. Notes of blackcurrant and blackberry
jellies. Goes on with sultanas and
prunes. Less complex and somewhat
more ‘easy’ than the 1969
but still very nice. Notes of armagnac.
Mouth: quite fruity at the attack
(the same strawberries and various
berries) but it falls apart a bit
after a moment, leaving quite some
drying tannins on your palate (grape
seeds, black tea). Quite some toasted
bread as well. Bizarrely, it takes
off again near the finish, with more
prunes and raisins as well a little
salt and toffee. Saved by the bell!
Finish: quite long, balanced, nicely
oaky and jammy (oranges and blackberries).
This one isn’t as interesting
as the 1969 and probably simpler but
it’s still an excellent sherried
dram at low strength. 86 points. |
Ballindalloch
35 yo 1967/2002 (48.5%, Hart Bros)
Colour: gold. Nose: completely different,
much less sherried and starting much
more on vanilla and bitter oranges
with also whiffs of oriental pastries
(orange blossom water, baklavas, a
little eucalyptus). Gets more vegetal
with time, sort of grassy, with also
hints of roses and lily of the valley.
A little liquorice. Quite nice but
not that interesting I’d say.
Unusually unsherried. |
 |
| Mouth:
a rather strange attack, very woody,
greenish and mustardy, with a rather
weak mouth feel. Unusual indeed…
Then we have serious drop, with just
the oak as the backbone, and it’s
only at the finish that we have more
structure again (orange marmalade,
pepper and ginger). Not bad actually
but a little disappointing for a 35yo
Speysider, to the point where we're
wondering if this one is well from
'that' distillery. 78 points. |
| Ballindalloch
40 yo 1966/2007 (51.3%, Whisky-Doris)
Colour: dark amber. Nose: much more
typical. Beautiful sherry, starting
all on Corinth raisins, old rum, prunes
and praline, with also a little coffee
and chocolate. Goes on with the usual
strawberry jam, ripe blackberries,
a pleasant smokiness and notes of
old rancio as well as a little mint,
camphor and eucalyptus. Archetypical
old sherried Speysider. Flawless,
and so is the oak. Mouth: superb dryness
at the attack, making for a spectacular
contrast with the nose. Lots of chocolate,
including bitter. Gets then quite
herbal (is that rosemary?) and liquoricy,
with the oak really playing the first
part now. Toasted brioche. Pleasant
saltiness. There are some fruits (prunes)
but they’re fully integrated
with the oak. Finish: very long, more
caramelly and toffeeish now, with
also quite some cloves. I told you,
totally flawless and superbly dry.
91 points. |
| Blairfindy
35 yo (53.7%, Blackadder, cask #BA
2004/203)
Bottled in 2004 so from the late 1960’s.
Colour: amber. Nose: quite similar
but even drier and smokier, really
on toasted bread and roasted nuts.
Also a little meatier (barbecued beef)
and with more fresh herbs (chives).
Just as great as the 1966 I’d
say, maybe even straighter and a little
sharper. Mouth: excellent, punchy,
fruitier now, slightly kirschy and
less ‘straight’ than the
1966 this time. Hints of rubber. Old
rum. Really develops on green tea
and something resinous and tarry (strong
cough sweets). Finish: very long,
maybe a little less clean now and
slightly indefinite (fruit tree leaves,
cherry) but there’s also a lot
of salt. A restful old one. Isn’t
it just incredible to see so many
great old Glenfarclas these days?
90 points. |
| |
August
19, 2007 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
FESTIVAL SPECIAL: THE RHYTHM FESTIVAL
Twinwood
Arena, near Bedford, UK, August 5th
2007 |
 |
Phew,
what a scorcher! It has to be the
hottest day of the year so far,
and for some reason we’re
stuck in the middle of a field (again)
listening to music. Actually it’s
not so bad. You see, the Rhythm
Festival, brainchild
of Jim Driver, sometime promoter
of excellent R&B
nights at the 100 Club, is really
a bit of a deluxe festival. So for
a few extra of Whiskyfun’s
quids we’ve got ourselves
a nice picnic table in a breezy
marquee with a great view of the
stage. And we’re on the edge
of a wonderful little natural auditorium,
sometimes known as the Twinwood
Arena – it’s all
dragonflies, pirate-fairies and
teddy-bears.
|
| We’ve
driven up with a pair of rock-chicks,
who along with the Photographer spend
most of the day in the shade guzzling
Eccles
Cakes, superb Lancashire
Cheese, and copious quantities
of red
wine, with occasional pauses to
take in a band. Me, I’m the
designated driver, so I can only watch
this spectacle with awe. Round the
corner there are two more stages,
a digital funfair, a cinema and a
circus for kids. The ‘facilities’,
are quite excellent. And there’s
a control
tower too, because the site is
a former airfield – in fact,
band leader Glenn Miller flew out
of here on his last fateful flight,
so the restored control tower houses
a museum, and is something of a shrine
for his fans around the world. The
festival runs over three days, but
prior engagements have kept us away
‘till today (which means we’ve
missed the likes of the Levellers,
Hot House Flowers, Dr John, Joe Bonamassa,
Steve Harley and many many more).
I have to observe that prior engagements
seem to have kept a lot of folk away
altogether as the audience is frankly
quite thin on the ground. |
Somehow
we don’t get away from the main
stage (no one wants to get too far
from the Eccles Cakes) so we miss
acts like John Cooper Clarke, Dr Feelgood,
and the excellent Tiny Tin Lady (whom
you may remember we enjoyed very much
at Cropredy a couple of years ago).
And once the initial feasting is over,
our entertainment really begins with
John
Otway, teamed up on this
occasion with his original partner
and co-hit-maker Wild
Willy Barrett. It is a predictably
chaotic set. Barrett spends most of
his time grumbling about Otway, pleading
to the audience for help (“for
God’s sake sing along so I don’t
have to listen to Otway’s violin”)
and finally gets his revenge during
‘Head butt’ (which mainly
comprises Barrett banging Otway’s
head on the microphone). “Was
that real blood?” asked one
of the rock chicks.
|
The Blockheads |
Otway
is followed by the
Blockheads, who apart
from a rather belligerent Derek
the Draw on vocals, were in as good
a form as I can remember. Norman
Watt-Roy’s driving bass playing
was as impeccable as ever, and Dave
Lewis on saxophone was outstanding.
They’re celebrating their
thirtieth anniversary, and have
been touring for most of the year,
and on to December. It shows –
in the best possible way. They’re
as tight as ninepence – a
phrase which I fear I may have made
up – but you know what I mean.
And
then, after more Eccles Cakes of
course, it’s time for some
sweet motherfucking country acid
house music from Whiskyfun favourites,
the Alabama
3, now sadly without
Mr Segs, but with Stevie Nicked
(Steve Finnerty) on guitar and Devlin
Love on vocals. |
 |
Alabama
3 |
| They’re
embarking on a tour to promote upcoming
album MOR (released in September)
– which is why they’re
all dressed in a sort of beige (well,
a creamy, whitish beige), apart from
the black-clad, shorn and highly articulate
Reverend D Wayne Love. By the way
they hit the stage and tear into ‘Woke
up this morning” I deduce that
they’ve fortified themselves
with something more than pastries
from Lancashire, and they’re
in a hurry too because they’re
late on stage (problems miking up
the drums). Well – although
they all looked a bit surprised by
the penetrating sunshine beating down
on them they delivered an electric
set, as good as if it were night time,
featuring two new songs ‘Locked’
(the new single) and ‘Way beyond
the blues’, in addition to favourites
such as ‘Don’t go to Goa’,
‘Speed of the sound of loneliness’,
‘U don't dans 2 tekno anymore’,
‘Mao Tse Tung said’ and
a blistering ‘Up above my head’
to finish. |
 |
Keyboard player Spirit of Love,
who had partaken of much sustenance
during the set, collapsed spectacularly
onto his keyboards, only narrowly
avoided joining the startled audience,
and had to be helped off stage.
Quite how he made it back to play
on encore ‘Peace in the Valley’
I don’t know – but they
finished in fine style.
<
Who said what? |
| Ike
Turner was supposed to play but pulled
out at very short notice leaving “the
father of the British blues”
John
Mayall and his Bluesbreakers
as the remaining headliner. This was
a sorry affair. I mean it’s
remarkable that he can still look
so well and perform at the age of
74 but he’s really milking his
reputation. Let me just quote you
what a fellow festival goer said to
me in the ‘facilities’
– “I’ve been here
for over 48 hours waiting to see something
I first saw forty years ago. And it’s
fucking crap …” Well,
a tad harsh perhaps, but it’s
certainly a soulless, shallow and
sterile affair. Guitarist Buddy Whittington
is note perfect, but he looks as though
his mind is more on his next plate
of pies (quick – guard the Eccles
Cakes) than his playing. And why do
we have to endure his over-long sequence
of Led Zeppelin riffs? |
| Mayall’s
singing is pretty poor- it’s
hard for a man of his age to make
the sort of high notes that were his
trademark in his heyday – and
his keyboard playing weak. Surprisingly
he does a good job on harp, especially
on his old war-horse ‘Room to
move’. But I think we’re
all glad to see him leave the stage,
with his final farewell of “Remember
to check out the merchandise booth…”,
which rather summed it all up. And
after that, to finish, we had a breathless
Neville
Staples Band. You remember
Neville – “the original
rude boy” - one time singer
with the excellent Specials and Fun
Boy Three, who raced nicely through
old Specials songs at such a pace
that it was impossible to get a picture
of him. Oh yes – and what an
excellent trombonist. |
John Mayall |
|
Before Staples took the stage Jim
Driver came on to thank us for being
there, and to tell us that like last
year, he’d probably lost a shed
load of money on the event. Since
then he’s e-mailed his list
asking people to buy bonds for next
year’s event (“I'm not
disheartened because everybody seemed
to have such a great time and I'm
sure that the formula is basically
right…”) to help defray
some of the cost of this year’s.
It’s a great pity – this
is a fantastic, well organised and
happy festival on a really interesting
and intimate site, with a great line
up of performers. So if you’re
making plans for August 2008 I urge
you to keep an eye on Jim’s
website and pay your
money down to make sure it happens
next year. I’ll see you there.
Thanks Jim. - Nick (all photographs
by Kate) |
| Thanks
Nick, and thanks Kate for the beautiful
pictures. I must say I quite liked
John Mayall’s ‘not too
wheezy’ 70th Birthday DVD (with
the obligatory Eric Clapton and Mick
Taylor as main guests), mostly because
it sort of proved that nobody’s
too old to rock and roll. But maybe
he should start to sit at the piano
indeed. As for this Rhythm Festival,
I propose they transform it into a
‘Whisky and Rock and Roll Festival’
(sort of what’s happening in
Colmar with wine and music). It’s
often easier to kill one bird with
two stones, and I’m not sure
an ‘Eccles Cakes and Rock and
Roll Festival’ would work…
As for music, why not have Joh Otway
doing BTO’s famous You
Ain’t Seen Nothing Yet.mp3?
Very funny I think… (but 'sort
of' a cover again…) - S. |
| TASTING
– FOUR OLD FETTERCAIRNS |
 |
Old
Fettercain NAS (40%, OB, White &
McKay, oval label, 1980’s)
Colour: brown. Nose: starts all on
honey and apricot, milk chocolate,
nougat… Goes on with a little
bergamot (earl grey tea), orange liqueur
and chamomile. Hints of orange blossom
water and rose water. Lots of character!
Mouth: faint dustiness at the attack
but then it’s all on oranges,
toffee and ripe apricots, with a nice
maltiness and whiffs of freshly toasted
cake. Sweet but balanced. Finish:
maltier, just a tad drying (cardboard)
but the orangey notes are still here.
Very nice surprise! 84 points. |
| Fettercairn
8yo (43%, OB, bottled 1979, white
label, 75cl)
Colour: straw. Nose: much grainier,
quite malty, porridgy and fruity (white
peaches, oranges). Gets then quite
perfumy (lilac, hints of lavender)
and slightly milky. No winner but
pleasantly fresh. Mouth: quite some
body! Quite malty again, with lots
of dried fruits (figs, raisins) and
toasted bread and brioche. A little
praline, milk chocolate… Excellent
balance in this one. Finish: rather
long, a little more caramelly but
still pleasantly malty, with a nice
oaky signature. Rather a surprise
again – a good one. 83
points. |
| Old
Fettercairn 10yo (40%, OB, early 1990's)
Colour: gold. Nose: much grainier
and milkier, extremely porridgy this
time. Heavy notes of yoghurt, yeast…
Slightly toasted as well. Less complex
I think. Mouth: better than on the
nose but a bit weakish. Other than
that we have roughly the same malty,
toasted notes as in the 8 yo. Gains
oomph with time. Quite some vanilla,
notes of apple pie. Finish: medium
long, malty and a little toffeeish.
Pleasant freshness. 79 points. |
| Fettercairn
22 yo 1962/1985 (46%, Cadenhead dumpy)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: quite austere,
smoky and medicinal (bandages), with
notes of paper, ink, wet newspaper.
Develops on mint, hints of cod oil,
motor oil, matchsticks… Little
fruitiness in this one. Mouth: sweeter
and fruitier, starting on orange juice,
nutmeg and vanilla crème. More
spices after that, something cardboardy
and slightly drying. White pepper.
Finish: medium long, spicy and still
a little cardboardy. Very, very good,
just a tad too dry for my tastes.
87 points. |
| |
August
18, 2007 |
|
|
| TASTING
– THREE YOUNG GLEN ORDS AND
AN OLDIE |
 |
| The
Singleton of Glen Ord 12 yo (40%,
OB, Asia)
Let’s try this interesting recent
bottling ‘for a new generation
of malt whisky drinkers’ (according
to owner Diageo) despite my old age.
Colour: deep gold – orange.
Nose: rather powerful at 40%, malty
and grainy with touches of honey and
chocolate, sort of reminding me of
the current Cardhu. Gets a little
more beerish with time, with also
a little parsley and even hints of
metal after a good ten minutes. Maybe
not Glen Ord’s usual zing but
it’s pleasant and keeps developing
with time (was that in the brief?)
Mouth: soft, candied, honeyed, malty,
orangey, biscuity… Exactly where
you’d want to go, had you had
only blends before. Finish: longer
than expected, on the same flavours.
I like it better than Cardhu, actually.
I guess one could drink litres of
this (and then sing like Frank Sinatra
at the karaoke… Okay, like Tony
Bennett.) By the way, I tried the
Glen Ord 28 yo (58.3%, OB, 2003) again
and lifted it from 85 points to 88
(maybe partly because it was in the
company of the exquisite Mr Renwick).
Anyway, 80 points
for this good Singleton. |
| Glen
Ord 1998/2006 (43%, Jean Boyer, Gifted
Stills)
Interesting what the bottlers wrote
on the label: ‘The method of
distillation has been improved in
many of Scotland’s Distilleries
over the last 20 years, in order to
produce young malt whiskies with greater
flavour’. According to my modest
tasting notes, I can’t agree
more, especially when comparing ‘the
nineties’ with ‘the eighties’.
Let’s try this one now…
Colour: pale white wine. Nose: as
fresh and fruity as it can get, starting
on litres of blueberry juice (beware
your teeth) and developing on muesli
and vanilla crème. Distinct
smokiness and faint hints of olive
oil. Mouth: starts on truckloads of
blueberries (bilberries?) again, soft,
fresh and very clean and gets then
more yoghurty (but it’s blueberry-flavoured
yoghurt). Pleasant cereally notes
in the background. Finish: rather
long, still very fresh and fruity…
This one leaves your mouth as fresh
as a baby’s. 81 points. |
| Glen
Ord 7yo 1999/2006 (46%, JWWW Scottish
Castles, cask #304157)
Colour: straw. Nose: almost exactly
the same whisky, just with a little
more wood influence (vanilla) and
maybe added whiffs of Provence herbs
as we call them here (mostly thyme
and rosemary). But it lost freshness
‘in the process’. Mouth:
even closer to the 1998, just more
candied and a little smokier. Faint
hints of mustard, then pepper and
ginger from the wood. Longer finish,
much spicier and less fruity than
the Jean Boyer, with a feeling of
‘peatiness’. ‘Bang
for its age’. 81 points. |
| Ord
22yo 1962/1985 (46%, Cadenhead for
Auxil, France)
Interesting to know that the people
who used to import this wonder are
now behind Jean Boyer (see above).
Colour: full gold. Nose: guess what,
there are some similarities with its
much younger bros, such as the notes
of olive oil and herbs. Other that
that it’s all on a superb Old
Bottle Effect (‘good metal’,
metal polish, herbal teas especially
chamomile, mint, eucalyptus, camphor…)
Also hints of kumquats. Gets quite
beautifully dry, like a very old amontillado.
Mouth: still lots of body, with an
amazing oiliness. The attack is on
quince jelly, kumquats again, orange
zests, then loads of dried fruits
(bananas, figs, pears, dates) and
then it shifts towards more ‘phenolic’
flavours such as peat (yes), resin,
mastic, my beloved argan oil…
And there’s always this OBE,
with notes of chamomile and hawthorn
teas. Finish: medium long, candied,
waxy and slightly resinous. Top notch
Glen Ord, different but in the same
league as the excellent recent official
30 years old. 91 points
(and thanks, Hubert). |
 |
MUSIC
– Recommended listening:
more African music, this time with
Senegal's king of the 21-string kora
Mandy
Kouyate playing Bangyereye.mp3.
Please buy his extraordinary music
and support African music! |
| |
August
17, 2007 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
PRINCE AND THE NEW POWER GENERATION
The 02 Arena, London, August 3rd 2007
|
| We
went u know where 2 c u know who. |
It’s
Prince
Rogers Nelson (his father played piano
in the Prince Rogers Trio, something
of which he was patently very proud)
sometimes known simply as Prince,
and 4 a while known only as  ,
which roughly translates in dingbat
language to ‘the artist 4merly
known as Prince’. While most
of London seems to have gone in search
of the sun, Prince has come in search
of London, and he’s camped out
in the metropolis 4 21 nights. Oh
yes – and it’s 31 years
since the diminutive one’s first
album – so as a result the tickets
are £31.21, 4 which u also get
a free copy of his new album Earth,
which is almost impossible to buy
in the UK since it was given away
with the Daily Mail, 4cing his UK
distributors to withdraw it from sale.
And where r we? Well it’s the
national disgrace 4merly known as
the Dome (or should I say Millennium
Dome?). U remember - that political
hospital pass of all time that the
outgoing Conservatives handed to Tony
Blair’s bushy-tailed Labour
boys and girls in 1997. The place
where the twice-resigned cabinet minister
Peter Mandelson famously promised
we would play ‘Surfball’,
the sport of the twenty-first century.
The site of the fiasco on the night
of 31st December 1999 (hang on, is
that why Prince chose the venue?),
when a promised river of fire turned
out to be nothing more than a damp
squib, preceded by huge transport
delays 4 all the high society liggers
who had tickets (including, naturally,
Tony Blair and Her Majestyness). And
of course the scene of a ten month
debacle when punters failed to materialise
to visit a hugely over-budget exhibition
that was talked up by Tony Blair as
"a triumph of confidence over
cynicism, boldness over blandness,
excellence over mediocrity".
But in a masterstroke of Orwellian
manoeuvring worthy of 1984 history
has been rewritten, the Dome (I think
there will soon be a law preventing
Citizens from using that word) disappeared,
2 b replaced by the O2
Arena, “a world class entertainment
destination” – and “the
first purpose built music venue since
the Royal Albert Hall in 1871”. |
 |
It’s
absolutely huge inside. We’re
sitting almost centre-stage (the auditorium
is seated in the round, but we’re
happily at the ‘front’)
high in the vertiginous upper tiers.
Amazingly there are rows and rows
of seats behind us. It’s rather
like being inside the bowels of a
Sci-fi B-Movie space station –
if u peer into the dark distance,
u can see columns of tiny figures
endlessly marching to and fro (it’s
the beer-swilling hoards heading to
bar and bog) – with a roof that
disappears into a futuristic metallic
superstructure. It is of course packed.
And it’s Friday. And it’s
only the second night of the residency.
So to say there’s an air of
excitement in the place would be something
of an understatement. It’s more
like frenzy, fuelled I have to say
by the weeks of hype that have led
up to these gigs and, I observe, copious
amounts of booze. When the inevitable
dancing (I use the word loosely) starts,
it’s a wonder that someone doesn’t
take a serious tumble (there are a
few brave attempts). |
| The
gutted Greenwich fishwife next to
the Photographer is a whirlwind of
flaying arms and legs and gets more
dangerous (and abusive) as the night
goes one. We have two young companions
to our left whom we’ve brought
along as a birthday treat –
“I can’t believe it –
we’re going to see Prince”
they squeal to each other hysterically. |
| But
not b4 a long rendition of ‘’Down
by the riverside’ from Prince’s
band, the New Power Generation. They’re
a slick outfit, with bass player Josh
Dunham, drummer Cora Dunham, a horn
section led by Maceo
Parker and Mike Phillips, Renato
Neto on keyboards and Morris Hayes
on organ. On backing vocals is Shelby
J, and the
Twinz who specialise in the booty-shaking
department, though such is their expertise
that from this distance u need binoculars
with a dual stabilizing mode to get
a decent view of the action. They
dance and stride round the stage with
the horn section whipping the audience
up into even more excitement. Then
– in a puff of smoke the little
fella appears from beneath the stage
(a trick that he likes so much that
he repeats it frequently) and breaks
into ‘Satisfied’. At this
point a mayhem of Friday night funk-filled
madness commenced. |
| Did
I mention that part of the pre-tour
hype was that Prince would be “per4ming
his greatest hits 4 the last time’?
And that he’s promised to play
a
different set every night? The
first night’s set list was awesome
(I would have only wanted ‘Alphabet
Street’ to have been transported
to weeks of Prince heaven) but tonight’s
– well let’s say some
of us struggled to recall some of
the tunes. So over the twenty-one
nights it’s a bit of a lottery
as to what u get, and how long u get
it 4. But that’s not really
the point I suppose. This is simply
a wonderful show put on by a first
class showman, who taunts and teases
his audience, and plays with them
like putty in his hands – “Now”,
he says holding his finger to his
chin in a quizzical gesture, “Shall
I play….”. It goes on
4 about four minutes b4 the band launch
into ‘Kiss’, with the
audience doing most of the singing,
the wee man doing the absurd lewd
posing (don’t we love it?) and
yelping. There are some low points
– a very well-played instrumental
version of ‘What a wonderful
world’ was a bit of a mystery
– a chance 4 Prince 2 get a
cup of t? The fishwife was driven
to distraction – “Where’s
fucking Prince, I want fucking Prince,
this is shit, Prince, Prince, Prince,
where’s fucking Prince”
(u get the picture?). Why have covers
(‘Play that funky music white
boy, ‘Crazy’) when we
were being starved of originals? And
although Prince worked the stage the
guys at the back spent most of the
night looking at his … back.
No doubt those are the seats u get
if you’re not an O2 subscriber,
with a special code to use when u
buy your tickets. |
|
But have no doubt, it was fantastic,
‘though 4 some it finished a
tad too early. Of course a lot of
folk had tickets 4 the legendary aftershow
in the adjacent Indigo venue, but
he didn’t show up 4 that which
led to a lot of grumbling too. Well,
I’m not sure that I could do
almost twenty-one nights, shows and
aftershows, and as we are almost the
same age (hah!) I have to give the
vertically-challenged purple one my
full respect. This is funk 4 u. Just
love it. - Nick (concert photographs
by Kate) |
| Thank
U, Nick! I agree all these covers,
even by the most prestigious artistes,
are getting slightly boring. It's
like if popular music was sort of
stammering these days. We remember
times when the bands were doing only
one cover per gig, usually the last
encore and it was usually a way of
paying tribute to an elder musician...
- S. |
| TASTING
– THREE OLD PITTYVAICHS |
 |
Pittyvaich
25 yo 1979/2004 (49.4%, Duncan Taylor
Rarest of the Rare, cask #5637, 113
bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: starts slightly
spirity and very ‘youngly’
fruity (pears, peaches) and develops
on touches of vanilla, treacle, porridge,
soaked grains and then plain oak with
also hints of mint. It’s also
slightly grassy. Not too much happening
I’m afraid, but it’s not
bad whisky at all. Just a little underwhelming.
It’s true that most great Pittyvaichs
we had before were markedly sherried.
Mouth: quite fat and oily mouth feel,
starting extremely malty and toasted,
with quite some cane sugar. Very sugary
in fact. Marshmallows, honey, jam,
caramelised peanuts… Finish:
rather long but still extremely sweet
and candied. ‘Arranged’
rum? 79 points. |
| Pittyvaich
28 yo 1979/2007 (51.4%, Duncan Taylor
Rarest of the Rare, cask #5639)
A sister cask. Colour: pale gold.
Nose: more marked by the oak, which
makes it a little nicer in this case.
It’s roughly the same spirity
‘inside’ (obviously) but
there’s much more toasted bread,
roasted nuts and praline ‘wrapping’
it, giving it also whiffs of wood
smoke and rather bold notes of nutmeg.
Apple skin as well. Mouth: same as
above, just a tad lighter in style.
Extremely sweet. 80 points. |
| Pittyvaich
30 yo 1976/2006 (50.3%, Signatory
for Vinotek St. Stephan, cask #10234,
211 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: please read
just above and replace nutmeg with
olive oil. A tad more interesting
because more unusual. Mouth: even
fatter and oilier than the 1979’s,
certainly in the same style but a
tad more complex, with these notes
of olive oil again. Also odd notes
of violet sweets. Well, I must say
this extreme sweetness makes it a
bit tiring, even slightly sickly.
Let’s leave it at that. 78
points (for the olives). |
 |
| |
 |
Okay,
this kind of news isn't really Whiskyfun
stuff but here's Glenmorangie's new
livery (found on Whisky Magazine's
forum where a distinguished reader
pointed us to). What's interesting,
besides the new names and general
'feeling' is the way they present
the finished versions. For instance,
it went from 'Port Wood Finish' to
'Port Cask - Extra Matured'.It is
to be wondered if the whole concept
of 'finishing' won't get progressively
hidden by all bottlers, and sort of
confused with full maturing. Not yet,
not yet... |
| |
August
16, 2007 |
|
|
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK
in Saint-Tropez |
 |
TASTING
– THREE STRATHMILLS |
| Strathmill
11 yo 1988/2000 (45%, Signatory, Stills
of Scotland, hogshead, cask #3532)
Colour: straw. Nose: a very pleasant
and very ‘different’ attack
on the nose, with a mix of vegetables
(asparagus) and unusual fruits (I
get lychees, dried longans, bitter
oranges). Goes on with whiffs of beeswax,
fir honey, sultanas and hay as well
as quite some marzipan. Also something
meaty and smoky in the background
(smoked ham?) and maybe a little new
plastic and tyres. This one is very
interesting to say the least. Mouth:
all on apple juice, curry and pepper
with a little candy sugar, with a
pleasant attack but a weakish middle
and a very short finish (if any).
Strange, everything happened at the
attack. One of the quickest malts
I ever had! But other than that, it’s
a very nice Strathmill. 79
points. |
| Strathmill
31 yo 1975 (48.1%, JWWW Auld Distillers
Collection, 150 bottles)
The label states that it was fully
matured in a Burgundy cask from Châteauneuf
du Pape. Frankly, I don’t know
what that means, as Châteauneuf
is exactly 366 km away from Beaune,
capital city of Burgundy. Maybe the
winemaker from the Rhône Valley
did use a cask that was made by a
cooper in Burgundy? Or an ex-Burgundy
cask? Sounds a little fishy but after
all, we’re used to odd statements
about wine made by whisky people,
and what counts is what’s inside
the bottle. So, let’s cast a
veil over all this and try this old
Strathmill now. Colour: deep gold.
Nose: a strangely dusty and oddly
fruity start (the same dried longans
as in the 1988 but also very overripe
oranges), with also quite some ginger
beer and whiffs of old empty barrel.
Goes on with quite some honey, old
red wine, notes of old books…
Gets cleaner after a moment but there’s
still hints of wet dog and vase water.
It’s nicer that it sounds, that
is… Just quite, well, ‘twisted’.
Mouth: very good attack this time,
very honeyed, spicy and enjoyably
winey (although it’s more on
sweet Muscat than on Châteauneuf-du-Pape,
I mean Burgundy, I mean… whatever).
Mulled wine, sultanas, roasted peanuts,
strawberry and blackcurrant jam, capsicum…
Finish: not too long but still jammy,
with more oak now as well as a little
rubber. Well, this one is sort of
an UFW (Unidentified Flying Whisky)
I think. Rule difference! 80
points. |
| Strathmill
16 yo 1991/2007 (61.3%, C&S Dram
Collection, cask #1287, 189 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: hot, grassy,
spirity, with a little smoke. Hard
to nose this one without water, so
let’s reduce it now. With water:
little fruits but more grains, oat,
ashes, still quite some wood smoke,
milk, fresh butter… The cleanest
of the three. Mouth (neat): raw alcohol,
grapefruits, pears and pineapples.
Quite pleasant I must say, very clean
this time again. With water: just
like a good fruit salad. Funny that
there weren’t any fruits on
the nose but lots on the palate. Finish:
medium long, clean, fresh, fruity…
Another one that should stand ice
(and certainly water). 81
points. |
| SHOPPING
- The only problem with glass is
that it breaks, whilst PET isn't
that romantic. The good news is
that India's UB
group (new owners of
Whyte and Mackay) came up with a
new, trendy way of packaging whisky:
Tetra Pak! According to the group's
website, Bagpiper isn't an 'economy'
whisky, rather a 'regular' brand.
We
don't quite know what W&M's
Richard Patterson thinks about it,
that is. |
 |
| Another
interesting 'bottling' by UB is McDowell's
No. 1 Diet Mate, 'World's
first diet friendly whisky. For the
health & fitness-conscious drinker.
The smoothness of a reserve whisky
is combined with the goodness of 'Garcenia'
- an ancient Indian herb, which has
the rare ability to burn excess fat
and control cholesterol levels in
the human body.' Of course this
is Premium, and we certainly
hope that we'll soon see Isle of Jura
10yo 'Omega-3 enriched' and Dalmore
12yo 'Multivitamins' on our shelves.
Yeah, drop the claret! |
| MUSIC
– Recommended listening:
and now for something different, Steve
Howe and P.
P. Arnold doing Bod Dylan's
Well,
well, well.mp3 (on Howe's CD Portraits
of Bob Dylan, 1999). For this one
I say yes. And please buy Mr. Howe's
music... |
 |
| |
August
15, 2007 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW - by Serge
THE CHEMICAL BROTHERS
Foire aux Vins, Colmar, France, August
12th, 2007 |
| When
Mrs Serge asked me to choose a few
gigs from the program of this year’s
Foire aux Vins, I picked the
Chemical Brothers as
one of my choices, much to my offspring’s
surprise. ‘Do you know them?
Are you sure you wouldn’t prefer
to go to Norah Jones?’ asked
an astonished Arthur to whom I immediately
answered, ‘but of course!’
while the girls were looking even
more doubtful, rightly so. Actually,
I knew them only by name, but hey,
it sounded cool, and I was definitely
convinced when, one or two weeks later,
Nick told me that our good friend
Mr
Segs had left the excellent Alabama
3 for working with the Chemical Brothers,
which led me to believe that logically,
the Bros had to be even better than
A3, and probably make the same kind
of excellent music. Blessed are the
poor in spirit… |
| So
here we are in the ‘coquille’,
surrounded by 4000 thirty-year-old
kids of various styles. A young girl
next to us rolls her first joint and
shares it with her boyfriend at the
speed of light, while others make
soap bubbles filled with weed smoke
and send them all over the place (charming
custom, innit?) On stage, the band’s
official DJ plays some Daft Punk and
the hall instantly resembles a giant
discotheque, everybody jigging about
like if there was no tomorrow. Am
I the only one to keep unruffled?
So it seems… |
| While
our neighbour starts to roll her second
spliff, I decide to detail what’s
on the large stage. That’s strange,
there are no drums, no bass, no guitars,
no horns, not even the obligatory
cello or double bass, nor the tiniest
bongo, but rather three piles of synthesizers
and various other keyboards or pieces
of electronics. |
 |
| Exactly
like when we’re wondering ‘but
when are you going to drink all this?’
when being at a whisky friend’s,
I’m asking myself ‘will
they have enough time to play all
this machinery?’ Especially
since Arthur just told me that the
chemicals consisted in just two players.
Barely a band, if you ask me…
|
 |
The
DJ plays some more tekknoh now. It
all sounds like tekknoh to me anyway.
I notice a piece where they used lots
of Lee Morgan samples, almost the
whole Sidewinder album drowned into
200bpm bass and drums. I ask Arthur,
‘are the Chemical Brothers playing
the same kind of music?’ He
won’t answer to me, little bugger!
The girl rolls her third joint. The
Bros are late. More tekknoh. I decide
to detail the machines on stage a
little further… Don’t
they look just like the cockpit of
an Airbus? |
| In
the hall, it’s Ibiza. The girl
rolls her fourth joint. Even more
tekknoh (samples borrowed from Cannonball
Adderley this time I think.) On stage
they are adjusting the smoke machines.
More smoke, that’s clever. The
girl rolls her fifth joint…
|
| All
of a sudden, the lights in the hall
are turned off and there’s a
ballet of spotlights while a pulsating
bass line arises… Here they
are on the stage! Two little guys,
perfect sons in law - ha-ha-ha, they
look pretty harmless! They go behind
their machines, push a few buttons
and BANG! A huge maelstrom of sounds
starts to blow in gusts. The crowd
is ecstatic. The girl next to us,
as white as a sheet – aren’t
we wondering why - yells at her boyfriend
that she’s not feeling too well
and that she wants to leave immediately.
They move. |
 |
| On
stage, it’s Marilyn Manson meets
Kraftwerk, just louder than the addition
of both. Or should I say ‘avant-garde
techno’? Shouldn’t be
my cup of tea but I must confess I
quite like it. I notice that they
barely play any ‘instruments’.
Sometimes, they leave their keyboards
and the wall of sound just goes on,
unchanged. There’s a huge LED
screen behind them, displaying clever
artwork in synch with the apocalyptic
beats. Animals, clowns, policemen,
churches, dancing figures, psychedelic
arabesques… Do I notice a few
political messages? Pink Floyd’s
The Wall comes to mind… And
of course everything dada… And
also the early Père Ubu, both
in the aesthetics and in the use of
‘industrial’ noises. Devo?
Pierre Henry? They also use quite
some oriental samples… Isn’t
there some oud somewhere? And there,
a few typical violin riffs from the
middle-East! |
| As
I can’t really stand the beat,
way too permanently binary for me,
I focus more and more on the samples
and on the ‘general’ sound,
and frankly it’s all very cleverly
done, even if very little of what
we hear is made on the spot. Maybe
nothing at all, actually, but who
cares? Most of the crowd is here for
the beat anyway… Not me. It’s
quite hypnotic I must say. The loudspeakers’
breath makes our trousers stick to
the front of our legs, like when you
walk on the beach on a windy Scottish
day. Really! Sometimes my mind starts
to wander. I’m thinking, ‘what
they are doing is to music what photography
is to painting, not better, not worse,
just different…’ Another
time, I’m wondering if the Bros
aren’t the Gilbert
and George of music… |
|
Riddle:
who are the Chemical Brothers and
who are Gilbert and George? |
All
of a sudden, the beat stops and there’s
a huge ‘Love us all’ written
on the screen. Arthur scrutinizes
me… ‘Did you like it,
Dad?’ ‘But of course,
son!’
And now I have tinnitus in my left
ear. Serves me right! - Serge |
| Listening:
excellent sound collages on the Bros'
MySpace
page. |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK in Saint-Tropez
|
 |
TASTING
– ANOTHER TWO OLD GLEN GRANTS
Glen
Grant 40yo 1965/2006 (52.5%, Norse
Cask, hogshead #QW 1611, 83 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Not a heavily
sherried old Glen Grant for a change.
|
| Nose:
what’s quite amazing is this
one’s freshness at 40 years
of age. It smells like young whisky!
Quite powerful, just short of being
spirity, starting on orange squash,
tinned pineapples (really unusual
in such old whisky), green tea, various
sorts of herbal teas (rosehip, chamomile)
and a little wax. Gets then more and
more complex, with quite some waxy/honeyed
notes first, and then notes of ashes,
stones and metal. Gets finally quite
lemony and even a little grassy. I’d
have never said this one is 40yo,
never! Mouth: what strikes first is
the wood now, with loads of spices
(white pepper, black pepper, green
curry) and quite some tannins (some
green). Quite hot, unexpectedly raw
and sharp, grassy… And very
lemony again (including the skins).
I feel I should add water despite
the ‘PC’ strength…
(while the nose is more on shoe polish
and metal polish now). With water:
it’s the waxiness that stands
out now, walnut skin, apple skin,
crystallised citron… Finish:
it’s long, smoky, waxy and lemony
like a true highlander from the north.
In short, nowhere near most 40yo Glen
Grants I know but certainly excellent.
Just very different! I’d really
like to know how many other whiskies
this cask had held before.
90 points. |
Glen
Grant 42yo 1964/2006 (51.2%, Cadenhead,
Chairman's Stock, 180 bottles)
Colour: amber. Nose: yes, this is
a much more classic old Glen Grant,
starting on roasted nuts, varnish,
Corinth raisins and a little smoke.
A rather delicate sherry I must say,
much more on the wood than on the
wine. We’ve also oranges, smoked
ham, hot butter, very ripe strawberries,
something like ripe kiwis and apples,
various honeys, milk chocolate…
Beautiful freshness I must say, no
lumpiness at all. Great cask, probably
second fill sherry. Mouth: excellent
even quite woody again, with something
very varnishy at the attack. Boatloads
of oak actually, heavily infused tea,
tannins, ‘pencil shavings juice’…
This is a little too much I must say.
Too bad, the whisky was still very
vigorous but it’s the cask that
had the last word here. Extremely
drying, a serious flaw here. One to
nose but not to drink (hence approved
by the A.A.A., I guess). 70
points (for the nose). |
Check
the index of all entries:
Whisky
Music
Nick's Concert
Reviews
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Best
malts I had these weeks - 90+
points only - alphabetical:
Ballindalloch
40 yo 1966/2007 (51.3%,
Whisky-Doris)
Blairfindy
35 yo (53.7%, Blackadder, cask #BA
2004/203)
Glen
Grant 40yo 1965/2006 (52.5%, Norse
Cask, hogshead #QW 1611, 83 bottles)
Glenlivet
27 yo 1955/1982 (43%, Duthie for Samaroli)
Glenlivet
38 yo 1968/2007 (50.9%, Duncan Taylor,
cask #8227)
Oban
16 yo (64%, OB, The Manager’s
Dram, 1994, bicentenary bottling)
Oban
30 yo 1963/1993 (52%, Cadenhead)
Oban
32 yo 1969/2002 (55.1%, OB)
Ord
22yo 1962/1985 (46%, Cadenhead for
Auxil, France)
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