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Hi, you're in the Archives, June 2007 - Part 2 |
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June
28, 2007 |
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| TASTING
– FOUR RARE OLD GLEN GARIOCHS |
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Glen Garioch 1966/1997 (43%, Samaroli,
casks #1309-1299, 696 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: as wild (not
only peaty) as any true old Highlander,
with an immense complexity right at
first sniffs. It all starts with quite
some wax and metal polish (Old Clynelish
anyone?) mixed with tangerines and
bitter oranges, getting then temporarily
very mineral (wet stones after a first
rain). Then it’s a more classical
peatiness with also a little farminess
(wet hay, clean horses) and then all
the complex aromas start to shine
through more brightly: leather, cigar
box, wax polish but also freshly cut
radishes, maybe even turnips. In no
way are the 43% a problem on the nose.
A little OBE starting to appear. Mouth:
excellent attack, both citrusy and
minty, with again a slight waxiness
and something pleasingly bitter (‘green’
spices). Quite some peat, chlorophyll,
green tea, candied lemon zests…
Then pepper. Some tannins but not
too many. Keeps developing on different
kinds of mint (drops, chewing gum,
tea) and gains body and assertiveness,
even if I wouldn’t say it does
not get a little too tannic on the
back of your tongue now. Finish: long
– longer than expected -, frankly
tannic now and minty again, with something
funnily muscaty in the background.
Less peat than expected on the palate
but a truly excellent old Glen Garioch,
even if it’s not quite in the
same league as the excellent official
21 yo 1965’s. 88 points.
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Glen
Garioch 46 yo 1958 (43%, OB, 336 bottles,
2004) 
Colour: gold. Nose: much, much more
wood at first nosing and more oomph.
Huge notes of wax, thuja wood, camphor
and incense pack (unlit), with also
lots of spices (pepper, paprika, curry,
cardamom – no cloves and nutmeg
this time). It calms down quite quickly,
though, getting beautifully vegetal
and more freshly resinous. Moss, fern,
pine needles… And then it’s
the tangerines and bitter oranges,
the whole getting closer to the 1966
but still more ‘nervous’,
even if probably less peaty. Superb
oakiness (milk chocolate), let’s
hope the palate won’t be drying
and tea-ish. Mouth: it’s waxier
and more resinous than the 1966 again
but never drying indeed. Beautiful
notes of blood oranges and kumquats,
ginger, green pepper, earl grey tea…
Lots of presence and strictly no tiredness
despite the old age and the 43%. Sure
it gets more seriously tannic after
a moment but, again, never really
drying this time. Excellent long finish
on chlorophyll, oranges and pepper,
with also something slightly mustardy.
I’d have loved to try this one
at 20/25 years of age. 90
points. (and thanks,
Iain) |
Glen
Garioch 37 yo 'Bicentenary' (43%,
OB, 1997) 
A very rare version, probably distilled
around 1959 and before. Colour: straw.
Nose: we’re closer to the Samaroli
now, although there’s less OBE
despite the fact that it was bottled
at the same time, roughly. We do have
the tangerines and these whiffs of
wet stones plus that slight farminess
again, but it all gets more lemony,
citrusy after a while. Probably the
fruitiest of the three, and the least
peaty and phenolic, even if we do
have quite some thuja wood coming
through after a moment. Mouth: very
close to the 1958 but with a little
more zing this time and a slightly
thicker body. Maybe a little more
bergamots and kumquats, even if you
have to wait a bit before ‘the
cavalry arrives’. More obvious
peat after a moment but maybe still
a little less complexity than in the
1958. Finish: rather long, oaky but
not excessively tannic and quite resinous.
Nice liquorice too. 87 points.
(and thanks, Hubert) |
| Glen
Garioch 20 yo 1957/1977 (80 Proof,
Cadenhead's Black Label, 26 2/3 Fl
ozs)
Colour: straw. Nose: ah, this is clearly
different now, starting on the same
notes of metal polish as the 1966,
only much bolder and even dominant.
Something yoghurty as well for a while…
Then it starts to smell just like
over-grilled beef, with also a little
mint and fresh parsley. Very unusual
and maybe not too enjoyable I’m
afraid, even if all that settles down
after quite some time and gets more
classical (quite some lemon). But
there’s always these notes of
metal polish, and even iron and motor
oil (old car’s engine). Mouth:
much better now, fruitier, more on
fresh orange juice, peat and pepper.
Loads of pepper actually… Even
wasabi! Then it’s these slightly
metallic notes that strike back, the
whole getting a little cardboardy.
Lots of oomph, though, more than with
all previous ones, which proves that
twist caps work beautifully. It gets
better and better with time but not
enough to compensate the rather weird
nose. Finish: it’s the longest
of the four and maybe the wildest
(quite some salt in this one) but
it’s a little harsh (and too
metallic) again now. But it’s
good and very interesting whisky.
85 points.The oldest
won, it was probably the freshest,
at 46yo! And this is very good news. |
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| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening:
this is very "wow", it's
Andrew
Bird and his Oh
so insistent.mp3 (from his 1997
album 'Music of Hair'). Let's quote
Mr Bird: 'It is sort of a relic from
the time before I got my conceptual
shit together'.”This guy's a
genius, you should buy his music... |
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June
27, 2007 |
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| CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
GRINDERMAN, SUICIDE, SEASICK STEVE |
The
Forum, Kentish Town, London, June
20th 2007
The
term ‘Special Guest’
is one that needs to be taken with
a big pinch of salt when it comes
to many gigs, but not, I have to
say, tonight’s. Whether by
design or coincidence we have two
Mojo Awards winners on stage before
the main event. Whiskyfun favourite
Seasick
Steve begins his set
in typical style by strolling through
the still half-empty stalls playing
bottleneck on his bashed up acoustic
guitar before climbing to the stage.
It doesn’t feel like quite
the venue for him but he makes a
fair fist of enchanting those who
are prepared to pull themselves
away from the bar or noisy idle
chatter. He’s won, by the
way, ‘Breakthrough Act of
the Year’, and well worthy
of it he is. |
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| Following
him on stage are New York’s
controversial synth and vocals duo
Suicide,
who’ve snatched the ‘Innovation
in Sound’ award. Controversial?
Well, not really. It’s just
that they seem to have had a polarising
effect on audiences ever since they
started in 1970, and tonight is no
exception. They are of course much
admired and cited as inspirational
by bands as diverse as the Chemical
Brothers and Nick Cave’s Bad
Seeds, but I guess that doesn’t
mean that people have to like them.
There is a kind of compulsion about
the keyboard playing, Martin
Rev finding bass notes lower than
you might have thought existed. And
to give him credit he does look as
though he’s playing with his
tongue at least half in his cheek
(do you have this saying in French
Serge?). Alan Vega’s echo driven
vocals (more ranting than singing)
are virtually unintelligible, and
though he has forsaken his trademark
chain wielding, he still goads and
baits the audience. Once sinister,
he now holds all the threat and menace
of an arm-waving crazed old man at
a wind-swept bus stop on a deserted
South Shields sea-shore. But like
the old man he does manage to piss
almost everyone off big-time, which
is perhaps the intention of this alienating
stuff. It’s nasty, brutish,
and not very short, but either way,
the audience isn’t going anywhere.
By now the pace is pretty rammed and
no one wants to lose their spot. Oh
yes – no chance of pictures
as the Photographer has her hands
pressed to her ears for the whole
set. |
| We’re
really here to see Nick Cave’s
new band, Grinderman
(who didn’t win a Mojo Award),
a stripped down version of the Bad
Seeds featuring Cave, Warren Ellis
on violin and guitar, Martyn Casey
on bass and the pink suited Jim Sclavunos
on his pink drum kit. Now you might
think that in these days of ‘unplugged’
and ‘acoustics sessions’
that this would mean a gentle and
reflective version of the Bad Seeds,
full of tender violin and piano. Not
a bit of it – Grinderman is
a brutal back-to basics distillation
of Cave’s sound. You could almost
think it’s a melody free zone
(of course it’s not). Cave plays
electric guitar on many of the songs,
with only occasional forays to the
keyboards. In some respects this is
clearly inhibiting, certainly on his
movement, but it also gives his vocals
more immediacy, and less consideration.
His playing is ‘primitive’
– fractured, spare and loud.
Behind him is Ellis – switching
between bouzouki, violin (mostly strummed
and plucked, rarely bowed) and a small
red guitar whose size belies the noise
it generates (could this be the mysterious
Fendocastor listed on the Grinderman
album sleeve notes?). I’m not
sure if he plays his Hohner Guitaret.
He certainly never stops - with an
array of percussive instruments at
hand for idle moments. Casey and Sclavunos,
as befits their garage style sound,
provide the engine-power. |
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‘Grinderman’
is the opening song – a crotch
hugging Cave, guitar slung behind
his back, almost chanting the lyrics
to a spare backing that like many
of the songs is reminiscent of the
Cave/Ellis soundtrack to the Cave
written film The
Proposition – particularly
so ‘Electric Alice’ with
its jarring loops. Ejaculating with
sexual innuendo ‘Grinderman’,
according to Sclavunos, also represents
the way the band play – “we
grind songs out” – hence
the name of the album. And from Grinderman
to the organ grinder’s monkey
– the band’s nut clutching
logo. Actually it’s a bit of
a nut clutching collection of songs
– many having a recurrent theme
of the inadequacies and frailties
of modern man. Listen to the Johnny
Dowdesque ‘Go tell the women’
or ‘Love bomb’ (in which
Cave manages a triumph of writing
by getting both the BBC’s ‘Woman’s
Hour’ and ‘Gardeners
Question Time’ into the
lyrics) and you’ll quickly get
the point. The songs, said Cave, “are
all deeply personal” –
none more so, I would imagine, than
the wonderful ‘Man in the moon”
which dwells on childhood loss. This
is a really enchanting piece that
would not have been out of place on
The Boatman’s Call, and is probably
the nearest to a Bad Seeds piece.
Otherwise it’s full on Grinderman,
and when some one calls for a Bad
Seeds song Cave is dismissive –
“wrong band – that’s
another band”. |
| The
set comprises the album in a slightly
reworked order. Cave is in captivating
form – it’s hard to take
your eyes off him, and the ears have
no choice as the volume and intensity
grows. It climaxes with the penultimate
song – ‘No pussy blues’.
“Nick” asked an interviewer,
“Is there a deeper meaning to
‘No Pussy Blues’?”.
“No, it’s about getting
no fucking pussy”. And it’s
hardly surprising as the miserable
and misogynistic self-loving protagonist
of the song works his way through
a series of rebuffs to his advances
– and I notice that it’s
the ladies in the audience who cheer
most loudly when Cave whispers the
chorus line at the end of the song.
But before that we’ve all had
to endure the ear-splitting visceral
instrumental sections between each
verse – louder than the Bad
Seeds I’d say, and I’d
guess if you wanted to hear the influence
of Suicide on Cave and his cohorts
then it’s somewhere in here.
They finish with the screaming ‘Love
bomb’. |
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|
And then Cave dropped his own bombshell
– “Thank you. We’ll
be back in a few minutes with Suicide”.
There was a visible rush to the door.
The band remerged with Vega and Rev,
the former sparring vocals with Cave,
‘though I have to say what they
were singing about I couldn’t
tell – the song, I believe,
was ‘Harlem’. The audience
dwindled in direct proportion to the
noise, a shame really as the set had
been so good. Cave eventually left
the stage, exchanging grins and raised
eyebrows with Casey as he did so,
but Vega had to be persuaded off by
his roadie about four minutes later,
otherwise I suspect we might still
be there. Suicide? Well it’s
a deeply personal choice, but personally
I wouldn’t. However I can commend
Grinderman who delivered a five star
high-nineties performance. - Nick
Morgan (photographs by Kate) |
| Thank
you Nick. Ah, Suicide… Yes,
I remember… We were listening
to them and to Wyatt’s Rock
Bottom alternatively and guess what,
that heavy treatment used to put us
in a good mood. Yes, youth must have
its fling, I guess… Now, I agree
the music line on Grindernman’s
website
is very Suicidesque (don’t open
the page if you’re at work!)
Also lots of music on these fellows’
myspace pages: Seasick
Steve, Suicide
(have a try at Martin Rev's Jaded)
and Grinderman
indeed. Bad, bad boys... Oh, and about
that 'tongue in cheek' expression,
no, we don't have it in French I'm
afraid. It's just like 'French kiss',
which we don't have either, although
some chaps may think it's sort of
the same thing. Isn't that ironic?
- S. |
| THE
FEIS ILE SESSIONS – FOUR 1972
ARDBEGS |
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| Ardbeg
28 yo 1972/2001 (48.8%, DL OMC for
Alambic Germany, 252 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: extremely
fruity, starting boldly on dried pears,
apple liqueur (manzana) and crystallized
tangerines. Then the peat arrives
together with notes of oysters and
fresh kelp, lemon juice and green
apples. Rather brilliant I must say.
Mouth: bold, powerful and archetypical.
Candied lemons and green tea, fir
honey, propolis… A beautiful
‘fruity’ peat (as opposed
to the drier peat in some earlier
Ardbegs dating from when they were
using the distillery’s maltings).
Lemon liqueur (slightly ‘easy’).
Perfect balance and a long finish,
candied and peaty. Extremely good.
92 points. |
| Ardbeg
29 yo 1972/2002 (50.4%, Douglas Laing
Platinum, 235 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: punchy and lemony,
with ‘the sea’ quickly
coming to the front (kelp) and a superb
peatiness (garden bonfire). We have
also fresh almonds and walnuts, apple
skin, cake, kumquats… Classic.
Mouth: rich, peaty, candied, lemony…
And bold. The rest is censored by
the anti-maltoporn department. 95
points. |
| Ardbeg
18 yo 1972/1991 (58.9%, Signatory,
cask #3444, 275 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: a tad sharper,
more mineral and also peatier and
less rounded. All sorts of smoke (wood,
coal, peat), lots of lemon, pine resin,
black pepper, oysters… Quite
rougher than the Platinum but maybe
also more demonstrative. Really a
‘peat monster’. Mouth:
extremely powerful, punchy, peaty,
peppery and lemony. Extraordinary
zing. Fabulous mouth – and fabulous
finish. No need to say more. 94
points. |
| Ardbeg
1972/2004 (44.2%, OB, Belgium, cask
#3038, 148 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: rather soft,
starting on marzipan, maraschino and
a slightly subdued peat. Notes of
wet paper and wet earth. Lightly medicinal.
Goes on on almond milk… Rather
a whispering Ardbeg. Mouth: sweet,
starting on smoked tea and mastic,
with quite some tannins. Crystallised
lemons, macaroons… Hints of
stone fruits spirit. Stays quite tannic.
Finish: medium long, on lemons and
smoke (more smoke at the finish than
before) as well as a little nutmeg
and cinnamon. I feel oak starts to
dominate this one but it’s still
an excellent Ardbeg. 88 points. |
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June
26, 2007 |
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| CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
FOREST OF NO RETURN, MUSIC FROM
THE FILMS OF WALT DISNEY
The Royal Festival Hall, London
June 17th 2007 |
| The
Royal Festival Hall, fulcrum of the
much-reviled Southbank
Centre, the Festival of Britain’s
gift to post-war London, has just
re-opened following an extensive refurbishment.
It’s a pity that this didn’t
include air-conditioning in the public
areas because as we wait for over
an hour before a delayed entrance
to the still-spectacular auditorium,
the place heats up like an oven. |
 |
| We’re
here for the second night of this
year’s Meltdown
– the Southbank's annual avant-garde
musical bash, curated this year by
Jarvis Cocker (“Cunts may be
running the world, but a cock will
be controlling the South Bank for
one week in June” he declared),
following in the footsteps of Patti
Smith, Nick Cave, Morrissey and Scott
Walker and suchlike. It’s a
characteristically eclectic assembly
including Motorhead, Melanie, John
Barry, Iggy and the Stooges, Devo,
Roky Erickson, Jerry Dammers, and
of course Mr Cocker himself. But tonight
we’re here for Forest of No
Return, Music from the films of Walt
Disney produced by Hal Willner (responsible
for, among other things, last year’s
marvellous sea shanty collection,
Rogues’ Gallery) and for Jarvis. |
 |
The
audience are varied and restive. There
are the hideously-dressed and cruelly
self-obsessed and self-conscious fashionistas
– Meltdown hardcore. Then we
have the dreadfully loud chatteratti;
over-privileged, over-educated, over-fed
and over-opinionated. And, if I may
observe, the first to start being
rude to the attendants and bar staff
as our long steamy wait continued.
Not used to waiting I suppose. And
of course we have the Mummies and
Daddies with their Matts and Mollies.
Already over-tired and over-excited
the little fuckers
darlings cause havoc playing with
the lifts and running themselves into
states of utter exhaustion. And with
half of the audience getting quietly
pissed in the evening sunshine, things
look set for a lively evening. Oh
- why are we waiting? Well, with a
cast of hastily-assembled stars set
up for the evening, including the
likes of Pete
Doherty and Shane
MacGowan, you won’t be surprised
to learn that they’re rehearsing
until the very last minute (well,
very last sixty minutes to be honest).
We’re told that our patience
means that we’ve been “part
of the creative process”. Yeah
– right. |
| Willner’s
been here before – in 1988 he
released Stay Awake, a collection
of Disney songs featuring luminaries
such as Tom Waits, Aaron Neville,
Bonnie Raitt and James Taylor. |
| But
tonight’s affair is on a much
grander scale, with 38 tunes and songs
(‘though in the end several
were cut as time ran out) with twenty
guest performers and an orchestra,
featuring amongst many others Chris
Spedding on guitar, David
Coulter on musical saw and Kate
St. John on oboe and Cor anglais.
She was responsible for the pretty
‘Little April showers’,
sung by former Morcheeba vocalist
Skye
Edwards and Ed
Harcourt, but the majority of
arrangements are shared between composer
and pianist Steve Weisberg, Steve
Bernstein (who also plays trumpet
and flugelhorn) and Jun
Miyake, who each lead the band
for their own pieces. On stage for
much of the evening is pianist Terry
Adams, sometimes of NRBQ, whose apparently
casual playing adds both breadth and
edge to many of the arrangements –
his vocal contribution on ‘Whistle
while you work’ suggests his
career should remain firmly with the
keyboards. Also frequently present
is veteran Sun Ra Arkestra saxophonist
Marshall Allen, whose lightning and
jarring solos helped to paint a different
perspective of many of these Disney
classics. For with such heavyweights
on stage this certainly wasn’t
Disney lite – more like Disney
dark, as the Glums in the row in front
of us soon discovered, |
| Did
I tell you about the Glums? Maw, Paw
and the two weans – who spent
most of the night (well until their
early departure) feasting on a malodorous
popcorn and peanut picnic and guzzling
down gallons of the brown fizzy stuff.
Quite what they had expected I don’t
know. You could see their unease as
David
Thomas, bare-footed like a St
Kildan, dragged his heavy black-clad
bulk onto the stage and broke into
‘I’m late’, pausing
only to fix the audience with a menacing
Cheshire Cat grin. Maw Glum held her
hands to her ears as Nick
Cave sang a remarkably expletive-free
‘An actor’s life for me’,
and I’m sure the wee girl was
crying when Cave and Thomas dueted
on a wonderful ‘Heigh ho’
(is it possible to have two such Grumpies?).
Thomas singing ‘When I see an
elephant fly’ followed by ‘Pink
elephants on parade’ with Adams
and Allen at full tilt was enough
to see them pack their bags altogether,
having I think only really enjoyed
the wonderfully hammy rendition of
‘Feed the birds’ by veteran
British comedic actress Fenella Fielding.
Needless to say, they left all their
rubbish littering the seats and floor. |
David Thomas |
| I
had anticipated (no – hoped)
that Thomas would steal the show,
but good though he was, there were
others who were equally impressive.
After Cocker, Cave, Doherty and MacGowan
had howled their way through ‘Home
sweet home’, Richard
Strange took the stage. “Who
could follow that – me!”
he shouted, as he Boris Karloffed
his way through ‘Headless Horseman’
from Disney’s take on Sleepy
Hollow, the 1949 movie The Adventures
of Ichabod and Mr. Toad. Equally impressive
was Gavin
Friday singing ‘Siamese
cat song’ and ‘Castle
in Spain’. And a surprisingly
melancholic yet impressive Pete Doherty
made a boyish chimney sweep as he
strummed and sang his way through
‘Chim Chim Cheree’. Beth
Orton was characteristically tuneful
on ‘Baby mine’. ‘Stay
awake’ and ‘Second star
to the right’. Cocker, of course,
was not to be upstaged on his own
night, with ‘I wanna be like
you’ and the show closer ‘When
you wish upon a star’, but it
was hard for anyone to compete against
a glistening Grace
Jones with her simmering ‘Trust
in me’, or the uplifting Baaba
Maal singing ‘Bare Necessities’. |
 |
Grace
Jones |
|
Perfect it wasn’t, but entertaining
it certainly was. I only had one real
complaint (apart from the Glums).
How can it be entertaining to watch
someone with a chronic illness display
the symptoms of their disease on a
public stage? I’m sure a younger
and sober Shane MacGowan would have
been the perfect choice for a Pogue
Mahone version of ‘Zip-a-dee
Doo Dah’. But his shambolic
and drunken careering around the stage
should have been a source of embarrassment
and concern, not of the shameful laughter
that he got. Never mind – everyone
has to make a living, and no doubt
there are a few making a living out
of Shane. Well here’s a final
thought and a strange coincidence.
Just count how many of the artistes
performing here were involved with
Willner’s piratical ‘Rogues’
Gallery’. Don’t you just
sense a barnstorming double CD on
the way? - Nick Morgan (concert
photographs by Kate) |
| We
don’t thank you, Nick. Such
an array of stars on one single stage!
This is not fair, we’ve even
considered not publishing the review…
But here’s our spectacular revenge.mp3.
Sorry, I didn’t have anything
(even) crappier at hand. - S. |
 |
THE
FEIS ILE SESSIONS – THREE
VERY OLD ARDBEGS |
| Ardbeg
30 yo 1964/1995 (40%, Gordon &
MacPhail for John Gross & Co,
Baltimore, USA)
A rare G&M CC bearing an age statement.
Colour: deep amber. Nose: smooth,
starting on wax polish and dried oranges,
resin, old orange liqueur, cedar wood
(very delicate here), cigar box, linseed
oil, old turpentine, mint… Quite
a symphony even if it’s more
delicate than bold. Hints of smoked
ham. Entrancing beauty. Mouth: just
a tad dry at the attack, then we have
quite some bitter chocolate and tea,
mint drops, cough syrup, apple skin,
old walnuts… Maybe less fresh
than on the nose but still very entertaining
and without any of the flaws usually
associated with these old whiskies.
A Boticelli. 96 points. |
Ardbeg
13 yo 1965/1978 (80°proof, Cadenhead’s
dumpy) 
Colour: full gold. Nose: starts rather
fruitier than expected, on bananas
and butter pears. Then we have a little
wax and linseed oil, then tea (both
black and green), then wet paper and
cardboard. Also something like metal
polish (obvious OBE). Nice mint in
the background but the whole is a
little tired. Slight soapiness. Mouth:
dry and fruity at the same time (bananas
again), quite tea-ish, gaining momentum
with time but never getting totally
satisfying. Finish: quite short, dry
and woody. Little peat in this dry
and rather tired Ardbeg. 81
points. |
| Ardbeg
17 yo (46%, Cadenhead's dumpy, Sutti
Milano, circa 1985)
Colour: white wine. Nose: much nicer,
starting more on grapefruit, white
pepper and wet stones as well as a
little metal polish again. Wet hay.
Another very dry version, cleaner
and more elegant than the 13yo. Mouth:
richer, creamier, starting on kumquats
and developing on white pepper and
a little mastic. Cough sweets, lemon
marmalade, a little ginger…
Very nice mix of peat and crystallised
citrus fruits. Finish: medium long,
more and more citrusy, slightly resinous
and candied. A little icing sugar.
Way better than the 13yo. 90
points. |
| |
June
25, 2007 |
|
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| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
 |
THE
FEIS ILE SESSIONS – THREE
1982 PORT ELLENS + TWO
Port
Ellen 21 yo 1982/2004 (50%, Douglas
Laing OMC for Fortnum & Mason,
ref #1282, 305 bottles)
Colour: full gold. Nose: lots of
sherry in this one, but also quite
some sulphur I’m afraid. Otherwise
it’s cooked strawberries,
blackcurrant buds and blackberry
jam, the whole managing to dominate
the peat. The sulphur gets a little
more bearable after a moment, that
is, but you really have to like
H2S. Also quite nutty. Water makes
it hugely tarry. |
| Mouth:
much, much better! Round, creamy,
with some great sherry mingling with
the peat as well as quite some honey
and caramel. Finish: very long, coating,
honeyed and peppery. A big sherried
Port Ellen, you just have to give
it some time so that the heavy sulphur
can vanish from the nose. 90
points. (and thanks,
Hans) |
| Port
Ellen 12 yo 1982/1995 (60.5%, Milroy’s)
Colour: white wine. Nose: this is
pure lemon juice, really. Also flints
and kiwi. Ginger tonic, something
chemical (scouring powder). Rather
hard I must say – when undiluted,
at least. With water: alas, it gets
cardboardy and even more chemical.
A bad swimmer, this one. Mouth (neat):
more drinkable than expected, simple
but very compact and nicely lemony
and peaty. Enjoyable purity –
but it’s hot. With water: it
works better than on the nose, developing
on lemon pie and lemon marmalade but
it’s still quite simple. Finish:
very long, lemony and candied, the
peat being unexpectedly absent. Hot
and simple but very interesting, there
aren’t that many young Port
Ellens around. Keyword: lemon. 85
points. |
| Port
Ellen 22 yo 1982/2005 (61.7%, Jack
Wieber, Auld Distillers, 228 bottles)
Colour: dark amber. Nose: an immense
sherry but again a little sulphur,
although much less than in the ‘Fortnum’.
Loads of milk chocolate and blackberry
jam, Chinese plum sauce, smoked ham
and balsamic vinegar. Also a little
parsley and lovage, roasted nuts,
bananas flambéed, old rum,
all kinds of raisins… The peat
does give this one a beautiful structure
and I must say it’s big and
stunning whisky. What’s more,
no water is needed. Mouth (neat):
punchy, immensely fruity (very ripe
bananas and litchis) with an unusually
delicate peatiness (unless it’s
buried deep under the heavy yet beautiful
sherry). Loads of chocolate, prunes,
orange marmalade, ripe strawberries,
apricot jam… |
 |
|
And also the spices, ginger, cinnamon,
curry, nutmeg, cloves... What a thick
beast! Finish: as long as it can get,
chocolaty and peppery, with a bold
tannic structure (never drying). Well,
this a perfect example of a peat’n’sherry
monster. Spectacular! 94 points.
(oops, I even forgot to add water…)
(... and thanks, Fred) |
| And
also Port Ellen
23 yo 1982/2005 (50%, DL Old Malt
Casl for The Islay Whisky Shop, 240
bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: rather farmy,
mashy and grainy. A little sour and
milky. More lemon and peat after a
moment also faint whiffs of chemicals
(scouring powder). Mouth: bold, sweet
and peppery, much cleaner than on
the nose. Very good actually. Lots
of grapefruit. Finish: long, maybe
a tad youngish (spirit) but nicely
clean. 85 points. |
 |
Last
minute - Port
Ellen 25yo 1982/2007 (46%, Berry Bros
& Rudd, cask #2469)
Colour: white wine. Nose: this one
seems to be a rather balanced, almost
delicate Port Ellen. There’s
really a little everything of what
PE should be: tar (and brand new tyres),
smoke, ashes, kelp, pepper, ‘clean
wet dog’, grapefruits…
Perfect! Nose: oh yes, it’s
just the same, with maybe just added
notes of crystallised oranges upfront.
Dangerously drinkable – the
strength is perfect. Finish: long,
still very balanced, with a huge saltiness
arising as a perfect signature. Top
notch Port Ellen offering lots of
pleasure at an ideal drinking strength
(as they say). Watch the level if
you buy a bottle, unless you never
ever entertain guests (or have no
problems with the other you). 92
points. |
| |
June
24, 2007 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
- FOUR MILTONDUFF
Miltonduff
10 yo (43%, James MacArthur, 2005)
Colour: straw. Nose: light but delicately
flowery (wild flowers like buttercups,
nectar, a little pollen), developing
on fresh apples and pears as well
as yellow melon. Hints of stones.
Uncomplicated but very pleasant,
fresh, clean. Mouth: very sweet
but much more on caramel and cornflakes
this time, orange cake… More
and more caramel actually, caramel-coated
peanuts, praline. Finish: rather
long, still mostly on caramel, with
notes of toasted brioche. Simply
good, a perfect everyday dram. 82
points. |
| Miltonduff
36 yo 1967/2004 (40.1%, Duncan Taylor,
cask #5418)
Colour: gld. Nose: typical old ‘refill’
Speysider, with lots of bananas, tangerines,
vanilla and soft spices from the wood.
Lots of apricot jam as well, light
caramel, hints of Sauternes wine,
crystallised quinces… Very elegant,
not too far from some very old Benriachs
or Balvenies. Mouth: very good news,
the wood does not have the leading
part here – at the attack, at
least. Again these vanilled and fruity
notes (banana split, oranges) at the
start, pollen, all-flowers honey…
Then the oak does arrive, with quite
some white pepper, nutmeg and cinnamon
and also a faint cardboardiness. Very
nice pepper but the whole starts to
get a little drying after all these
years. Finish: not too long but pleasantly
orangey and oaky, gingery. Still a
bit drying but nothing excessive.
Another good old whisky that’s
still got all his teeth. 87
points. |
 |
 |
Miltonduff-Glenlivet
17 yo 1984 (57.9%, Cadenhead) 
Colour: pale gold. Nose: shy, dry,
austere at first nosing, getting hugely
vegetal, grassy (newly cut grass,
cut cactus)… Quite sharp now,
water needed I guess. With water:
it got nicer indeed, with some pleasant
notes of coconuts and vanilla crème,
but it’s still no total winner
on the nose. Mouth (neat): very strong,
very sweet (sort of sugary), hot,
almost burning. Not meant to be drunk
without water I guess. With water:
the tannins are coming through now,
the whole getting quite drying. Lots
of cinnamon. Rather long finish but
a little indefinite, although very
tannic. Just a little mint. 76
points. |
| Miltonduff
12 yo 1993/2005 (61.8%, G&M Cask,
sherry butt, cask #9400)
Colour: gold. Nose: starts similarly
but it gets then mashier, milkier,
closer to raw spirit. The development
is much nicer, though, with touches
of sherry, very ripe strawberries,
a nice sourness from the wood, yoghurt,
apple skin… And then lots of
toasted peanuts and coffee. Really
playful at that strength but let’s
try it with water: a little ‘nice’
sulphur now but also an interesting
development on rosehip and hawthorn
teas, coffee, gooseberries…
Mouth (neat): much rounder, creamier
and more drinkable than the Cadenhead
when neat. The sherry’s even
more obvious, with also lots of lemon
marmalade and pepper from the wood.
With water: it’s the spices
that wake up now as well as a little
liquorice and quite some honey. Dried
ginger, cloves… Very nice, long
finish, rich, honeyed and nutty. An
excellent dram, nice wood and clean
distillation (or reversely). 86
points. |
 |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: let's have more 'avant-garde'
today with WF favourite Meredith
Monk, this time doing
her beautiful Core
chant.mp3. You should really buy
Meredith's music. |
 |
| |
June
22, 2007 |
|
|
| TASTING
– THREE GLENFIDDICHS |
 |
Glenfiddich
32 yo 1972/2005 ‘Bond Reserve’
(46.9%, Cadenhead’s, circa 2005)
Colour: gold. Nose: it’s starts
all on old bourbon, varnish and vanilla.
Freshly sawn oak? Gets then grassier
and liquoricy, with hints of ham.
It’s actually quite complex
old whisky, with also probably more
oomph than most old OB’s. Nice
hints of mint. It looses balance after
a while, getting heavily oaky (and
the ham got bolder too). Mouth: a
bold mouth full, starting dry, on
dried grated coconut and quite some
cinnamon. Then it’s the roasted
coffee beans, then sultanas and finally
a little salt from the cask. Finish:
medium long (it lost power), toasted
and on quite some bitter caramel.
It’s a good dry Glenfiddich,
an interesting alternative to the
OB’s, not worn out at all but
maybe lacking a little extra-charisma.
84 points. |
| Glenfiddich
1982 ‘Private Vintage’
(58.7%, OB for the Craigellachie Hotel,
cask #3672)
Colour: white wine. Nose: starts on
full porridgy mode, grains, with also
lots of mashed potatoes and beer.
Extremely punchy. One of the most
porridgy malts I ever had, as far
as I can remember. Gets then spicier
(white pepper, nutmeg). Quite some
breadcrumb as well. Incredibly young!
Mouth: the attack is very sweet and
very peppery at the same time (heavy
oak). Then it’s all on pear
spirit… And pepper again. Some
lovers of the genre should, well,
love this but it’s not my style.
Goes on with notes of green tea. Finish:
long but getting too bitter, with
always these extreme porridgy notes.
On grains and oak all the way. 80
points. |
| Glenfiddich
37 yo 1964/2001 (58.7%, Ian McLeod
& Co, cask #10791, 200 bottles)
Colour: amber – mahogany. Nose:
starts on spoonfuls of strawberry
jam and buckets of wax polish as well
as quite some pineapple flambéed.
The sherry wood is rally dominating
here, which is unusual with Glenfiddich.
Goes on with quince jelly, guignolet
(cherry liqueur), then espresso…
It doesn’t lack elegance in
fact but not much remains from the
distillery character. Mouth: the attack
is on a very waxy and very resinous
woodiness, with a nice bitterness.
Alas, the tannins are starting to
strike after a while. Lots of bitter
almonds and raw quince (I now, that’s
hard to eat). Finish: long, even more
bitter and concentrated, with quite
some amaretto and walnut liqueur.
This one grew bolder and bolder with
time – again, unusual for a
Glenfiddich. 88 points. |
| |
June
21, 2007 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
ALLEN TOUSSAINT AND THE PRESERVATION
HALL JAZZ BAND
The Barbican, London, June 4th 2007 |
 |
| Fact:
January 14th is Allen
Toussaint day in New
Orleans. It’s also his birthday,
in 1938. He is one of the giants of
New Orleans rhythm and blues, as writer,
performer, producer and arranger.
And he’s in London at the Barbican,
on its huge stage, shrunk to a more
intimate feel by shrouds and clever
and pretty lighting (“you want
to see what it looks like from up
here”). Actually I thought he
was top of the bill (maybe should
have been as it turned out) but apparently
not. The tickets were largely booked
as a result of the Photographer’s
enthusiasm for his contributions to
the Katrina benefit album Our New
Orleans (which surely every Whiskyfun
reader has a copy of?), and even more
so his impressive 2006 album with
Elvis Costello, The River in Reverse.
He’s at the Barbican’s
Steinway, which is so miked up it
looks like a patient in intensive
care. But he makes good use of it.
Here is a pianist who learnt at the
feet of the great Professor Longhair,
but who mixes hard New Orleans syncopation
(this is the man who produced the
Meter’s syncopated masterpiece
‘Cissy strut’, so believe
me he’s a master of the art)
with a flowing lyricism that gives
him a quite unique style. And he’s
written for, played with and produced
a who’s who of twentieth century
music. |
| His
set reads like an autobiography as
he talks and jokes us through his
career with his own compositions like
‘Fortune teller’ (covered
by the Rolling Stones – “I
love the Rolling Stones, they showed
me the way to the bank for the first
time”), Lee Dorsey’s massive
hit ‘Working in a coal mine’
and ‘Mother in law’ and
‘A certain girl’, both
hits for ‘Emperor of the World’
Ernie
K-Doe. It’s charmingly self-depreciating:
“This is a song I wrote for
myself, it sold five copies, then
the Pointer Sisters recorded it and
they sold lots of copies”
– he’s talking about ‘Happiness’.
By the way, the Pointer Sisters’
first hit was ‘Yes I can can’,
which you can hear Toussaint singing
wonderfully on My New Orleans. |
Elvis Costello and
Allen Toussaint |
| He
plays his instrumental from that album,
‘Tipitina and me’, which
is a must have for any New Orleans
piano enthusiast. He tells us about
Frankie Miller “one of the most
soulful people I’ve ever met
– but dyaknow, he always used
to carry warm beers ‘round in
that valise of his” before singing
‘Brickyard blues’ which
famously rhymes ‘mellow’
with ‘Jell-O’ –
nice. Mr Toussaint ended up in serous
reminiscence mode, first singing Prince
Partridge’s ‘Lazy Man’
– “I remember I used to
listen to that at home on the radio”
– and then (as the sound desk
waved frantically at him to stop)
a long narrative (with melodious keyboards)
of childhood visits to relatives in
the country, and sultry evenings on
the porch, which slowly turned into
‘Southern Nights’, from
the 1975 album of the same name. Despite,
or perhaps because of, its laid-back
fashion this is a thoroughly engrossing
hour, during which it would be easy
to miss the remarkable yet understated
keyboard playing. It certainly didn’t
deserve the gratuitously racist remark
made by one rather fat (and I may
say rather ugly) south Londoner who
was sitting nearby. He should have
been thrown out. |
 |
|
I
assume he’d come to see the
‘main’ act, the Preservation
Hall Jazz Band, although
I’m sure they would have found
his remark equally offensive. Maybe
they’d heard it and that was
why they chose to delay their arrival
on stage by ten minutes or so while
they played a poorly made film on
the history of the Hall and the band,
or maybe it was just bad judgement.
Either way, it quickly had the audience
wriggling in their seats (they were
suffering from a severe dose of tedium
tremens) and pretty much killed a
nice atmosphere. To make it worse
I would have to observe that when
the band did slowly take the stage
they didn’t look particularly
pleased to be there – they were
smiling by the end, but it did take
some time. As for the music, well
its predictability - tradition and
predictability are not the same thing
– its predictability confirmed
that I’ve been right not to
visit the Hall when in New Orleans.
|
| It’s
one of the must-see tourist venues,
and whilst everyone would endorse
its mission to educate children in
the City’s musical heritage,
no one really needs to endure a rather
turgid and formulaic work-through
of old favourites such as ‘If
I had my life to be over’, ‘Down
to New Orleans’, ‘Shake
that thing’ and the like. Nope,
it really didn’t press my buttons,
or at least not until Toussaint joined
them for a splendidly soulful ‘Closer
walk with thee’. And then it
ended with an unsurprising encore
as the band marched round the Barbican
gathering a desultory following of
badly-coordinated exhibitionists who
all ended up strutting their stuff
(London style I should add) on the
stage. |
|
Such a shame. Toussaint could have
carried the show on his own and frankly
the Preservation Hall Jazz Band did
little other than steal an hour and
a half of my fairly busy life. But
you take the rough with the smooth,
something we should remember when
we consider that most of these guys
lived through Hurricane Katrina and
in their own ways are trying to rebuild
the city of their birth. For that
they should all enjoy our support.
- Nick Morgan (concert and city photographs
by Kate) |
| Thank
you Nick. We’ve found a nice
tune by The
Meters, produced by Allen Toussaint
(who, I’ve seen, was inducted
into the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame
in 1998). It’s Talking
about New Orleans.mp3 (from their
1975 album ‘Fire on the bayou’).
– S. |
 |
TASTING
- THREE TOMATINS + ONE |
| Tomatin
1984/2006 (43%, Daily Dram)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: starts extremely
fruity, like some much older versions
from the 1960’s. We have mostly
bananas, guavas and papayas. Then
it’s the wood that plays its
part (wet branches, a little moss,
fern… hints of soft mustard)
and then it’s back to fruit
(more oranges this time). Not exactly
complex but a joy to nose this expressive
Tomatin. Mouth: just as fruity (bananas
again, oranges) but also spicier (nutmeg,
cloves, pepper). Really full bodied
despite the low strength. Notes of
orange peel. Gets woodier with time
but it’s more structure than
dryness. Finish: surprisingly long,
fruity and delicately tannic. Well,
this proves, once more, that the huge
Tomatin distillery should not be overlooked.
86 points. |
| Tomatin
30yo 1977/2007 (48.6%, The Whisky
Fair, 223 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. more discrete,
more shy than the 1984 at first nosing,
with maybe faint whiffs of rubber,
but then it’s the same kind
of fruity cavalry that assaults your
nostrils (maybe more citrus fruits,
blood oranges, grapefruits). Hints
of yoghourt, vanilla custard…
Quite some fresh parsley as well,
chives… The rubber makes a comeback
after a while. Mouth: very interesting!
Extremely expressive, with a whole
bunch of dried fruits (first citrus
and then figs and dates) and something
like fresh pomegranates. Also fruit-flavoured
yoghurts, fruit sweets (do you know
Sugus?)… This is pure pleasure
but beware, one could swallow a pint
of it just like that. Okay, half.
Finish: rather long, still as fruity,
a little more on kiwis, blackcurrants
and icing sugar. Excellent on the
palate – nicer than on the nose.
Same comment about Tomatin in general.
88 points. |
| Tomatin
17 yo 1989/2006 (56.4%, Cadenhead)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: unusually
smoky at first nosing, with bold whiffs
of bonfire, ashes, a little incense…
Incredible, it gets even smokier with
time! I mean, smokier than any of
the Islayers form the south shore.
It’s not exactly peat but truly
wood. Not much else, that is, except
notes of mashed potatoes and grains.
Very surprising. Mouth: again there’s
a rather huge smokiness here, mingling
with wet grains and pear spirit. Less
extreme than on the nose. Gets grainier
after a moment, porridgy, a little
orangey… The finish is very
long, more balanced now, sweet and
malty, with also a little apple juice.
Really a surprise on the nose, the
palate being more mundane. But there’s
always something happening with Tomatin
it seems! 82 points. |
| And
also Tomatin
14 yo 1989/2004 (57.7%, Norse Cask,
Hogshead #8383, 257 bottles)
Colour: full gold. Nose: this one
is more on porridge and wine sauce,
with a rather heady sourness. Did
they use sherry staves? Goes on with
lots of milk chocolate and roasted
nuts but the sourness is still there
(‘light’ baby vomit –
I know, I know…) Also lots of
fermenting fruits, getting somewhat
acetic. Not my cup of malt I must
say but maybe the palate will be nicer.
Mouth: really better now. Bold, punchy,
extremely close to the Cadenhead in
fact, with just an added layer of
‘something like sherry’.
Finish: very long, fruitier now (fruit
spirit). Slightly rubbery. Oh well,
we’ve had Tomatins that we liked
better – and certainly much
better malts by the gents at Norse
Cask’s. 76 points.
Now, it seems that Tomatin lost its
extreme fruitiness after 1985 or thereabouts.
|
| |
June
20, 2007 |
|
|
| TASTING
- FOUR ALLT A BHAINNES |
 |
Allt
A Bhainne 10 yo 1989 (43%, Dun Bheagan)
1989 is the year when Allt A Bhainne
was expanded by Chivas but I don’t
know if this one is pre or post-expansion.
Colour: pale gold. Nose: very grainy
and very cereally, with a little sherry
in the background (refill) and hints
of wet earth and fresh mushrooms.
Quite musty indeed. Also notes of
cooked butter, freshly baed croissants…
Mouth: rather oily mouth feel. Starts
on hints of caramel and gets then
very malty and, again, cereally (cornflakes).
Notes of toasted bread, something
slightly burnt. Something of a blend
– I’m not saying Chivas.
Finish: medium long, still very caramelly
and malty. Not bad at all I must say.
78 points. |
Allt
A Bhainne 12 yo (43%, The Still Man
Selection, ‘500 years of distilling’
1994) 
A sub-brand by James MacArhur it seems.
Colour: pale straw. Nose: a little
hotter, just as grainy but getting
more on fruits and porridge. Less
cask influence, obviously. Faint whiffs
of cologne. Mouth: quite unpleasant
at the attack, cardboardy and sort
of chemical (rotting orange). Gets
bitter with time, with quite some
pepper. Doesn’t deliver. Finish:
quite long but still very bitter and
sort of chemically ‘deviant’.
A poor version I think, to keep as
a commemorative bottle indeed.
64 points. |
| Allt
A Bhaine 1979/1994 (56.1%, Graf Beissel
von Gymnich, cask #26332, 247 bottles)
No typo, it’s well ‘Bhaine’
on the label. Colour: straw. Nose:
much, much better although we’re
well on these grainy and malty notes
again. Goes through hints of kirsch
(and any plum spirit) to caramel and
butter (apple tart). Also hints of
violets and cranberry juice. Not exactly
interesting but pleasant. Mouth: creamy,
thick (one could use a spoon), rather
hot and much fruitier now. Really
like tutti-frutti spirit with a little
caramel and quite some pepper. Finish:
long, getting more and more peppery.
There’s even chilli! Well, the
Earl used to be a thrill-seeker! 78
points. |
| Allt
A’ Bhainne 14 yo 1992/2007 (58.3%,
C&S Dram Collection, hogshead
#27)
A new series by German bottler Caminneci
and Schrauth. Colour: straw. Nose:
again a very grainy version, getting
quite mashy and porridgy with time.
Interesting notes of apricot spirit
(it’s usually forbidden to distil
apricot because of the prussic acid
that’s in the stones but one
can find some in Switzerland –
it’s often very good). Again,
quite pleasant even if not a kick-ass
malt. Quite raw. Mouth: extremely
close to the ‘Graf’ version,
even hotter, quite spicy and very
fruity. Develops on honey, kirsch,
apple juice, notes of baklavas…
Always quite hot but water isn’t
really needed her. Finish: long, more
on kirsch now as well as plum spirit.
Just a little rubber in the aftertaste.
In short, a punchy, simple but pleasant
malt, a bit raw at the edges but pleasantly
straightforward. 79 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: they call this background
music and Serbia's Alexander
Blu sure is good at it,
as his piece After
all.mp3 will testify. Well, I
guess it all depends on what's in
the foreground... Anyway, please buy
Mr. Blu's music. |
 |
| |
June
18, 2007 |
|
|
 |
THE
FEIS ILE SESSIONS – PORT ELLEN,
A 1976-1981 VERTICALE
Port
Ellen 25 yo 1976/2001 (50%, Douglas
Laing OMC, 522 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose:
a fresh, powerful, clean and buttery
attack on the nose. Apple juice
and vanilla, white pepper, hints
of chives… Then it’s
more on cocoa, malt, milk, mashed
potatoes… Hints of lavender.
Slightly porridgy. |
| Mouth:
a very sweet attack, almost sugary.
A lot of vanilla, orange marmalade,
sugared apple compote, marzipan and
nougat, all that backed with a nice
bold peat. The whole is unusually
sweet, that is. Little tar or rubber
this time. Finish: long, sweet, fruity
and peaty, actually better at this
stage. Nice compactness. 89
points. |
| Port
Ellen 23 yo 1976/1999 (55.6%, Signatory,
cask #4797, 296 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: even fresher,
starting with less vanilla but more
pea t, sea air and hints of diesel
oil, wet stones and gunflints. Also
grassier. A little mint, fresh apple
juice and skins. Gets more phenolic
and slightly medicinal (mercurochrome).
Very elegant. Mouth: just as sweet
as the DL but with a better backbone.
More pepper, more peat, more lemon.
It’s also a little rougher but
that brings to the whole here. Hints
of kumquats and crystallised oranges
– it’s also quite tarry
this time. A more classic Port Ellen.
Finish: very long, very peppery, peaty,
almost wild, with notes of liquorice
sticks. Very good. 91 points. |
| Port
Ellen 1977/1999 (52.5%, Scott's Selection)
Colour: straw. Nose: an ultra-clean,
pure version, sharp like a blade,
ultra-flinty and ultra-lemony. That’s
all I can say. Mouth: it’s all
on crystallised lemons and lemon marmalade
with quite some peat and lemon skin
but that’s pretty all. Finish:
ditto. Very good but simple, simple
but very good. 87 points. |
 |
| Port
Ellen 25 yo 1978/2004 (61.1%, Douglas
Laing OMC for Alambic Classique, advanced
sample, cask REF655, Refill butt)
Colour: straw. Nose: a very interesting
attack on all kinds of herbs, mostly
parsley but also lovage and rosemary.
Gets then rootier (liquorice sticks)
and a little more candied and fruity
(ripe plums). Quite beautiful I must
say. It’s also quite medicinal
ala Laphroaig (bandages, iodine, creosote)... |
 |
Maybe
more complex than usual. Great news.
With water: more diesel oil, flints,
apple skin, wet clay… Superb.
Mouth: creamy, rooty, earthy, punchy
but drinkable at such high strength
(should I start to worry?) Lemon pie,
kumquats, ginger, notes of rhubarb,
blood oranges… The peat is of
the highest quality and we have no
tar, no rubber and no sulphur. Let’s
try to add a few drops of water again:
that doesn’t bring anything
new this time, it just got even more
drinkable. |
| Finish:
long, sweet and peaty, compact…
A great version that’s got everything
except the distillery’s trademark
tarry and nicely rubbery notes. 92
points. |
| Port
Ellen 24 yo 1978/2002 2nd Annual Release
(59.35%, OB, 12000 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: austere,
stony, flinty and grassy. Cold ashes.
A little difficult without water.
With water: the tar comes out a little,
a little paraffin, fusel oil, butter,
smoked tea. Classic austerity. Mouth
(neat): sweeter but still a little
aggressive. Candied oranges, dried
pears, sugared lemon juice…
With water: nice farmy notes, dried
apples and pears. Unusual notes of
figs. Finish: long, rather sweet,
peaty… Not the very best Annual
Release I think bit still an excellent
peaty Islayer. 90 points. |
| Port
Ellen 24 yo 1979/2004 (43%, Signatory,
Sherry butt, cask #6771, 572 bottles)
Colour: full gold. Nose: unusually
fruity at first sniffs, with quite
some bananas, tangerines and then
fresh butter. There’s also a
pleasant oakiness (newly sawn oak),
quite some vanilla, notes of chardonnay
(amusing)… Then we have a little
smokiness, sea air and the faintest
hints of tar. A gentle Port Ellen,
quite lively. Mouth: sweet, fruity
and easy going. Pear juice, apricot
juice, quite some nutmeg, a little
liquorice… The peat is subtle
and so is the tar again… Goes
on with sweetened almond milk and
a little marzipan. Certainly not bold
but one of the most drinkable Port
Ellens I could come across and the
finish is quite long, balanced, delicately
peppery and candied. Full of pleasure.
89 points. |
 |
 |
Port
Ellen 16 yo 1980/1997 (59%, Signatory,
cask #89-589-19, 352 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: powerful,
with a green, vegetal peat. Extremely
grassy in fact, not very enjoyable
when neat. With water: no changes
except that it got a little mashier.
Very little peat. Mouth (neat): pure
alcohol, with the associated sweetness.
With water: sweeter, rounder, saltier
but still very simple. Gets a little
cardboardy. Well, it’s not bad
whisky actually but it’s very
simple. 78 points. |
| Port
Ellen 1980/1995 (64.7%, G&M, Cask,
casks #5088+5089+5091-5093)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: same as
the 16yo, just even more burning –
please see above. With water: a little
chocolate and vanilla come through
but there’s little peat. Pear
juice. Mouth (neat): ouch. With water:
sweet and rounded but a little indefinite.
Maybe a little lemon. Little peat
again – did they make very lightly
peated batches in 1980? 81
points. |
| Port
Ellen 18 yo 1981/2000 (43%, DL Provenance,
Winter-Spring)
Colour: amber – orangey. Nose:
lots of sherry in this one but also
a little rubber and sulphur (not excessive
here). Otherwise it’s all on
plum jam, orange marmalade, cloves
and nutmeg, cinnamon, parsley…
Also quite some gunflint and burnt
coal. Typical of many sherried Port
Ellens. Mouth: rather soft, candied
and nicely organic (mushrooms). Then
we have quite some tannins, cocoa,
orange marmalade. Very pleasant and
not as overpowering as many other
versions. Finish: medium long, slightly
meaty now, peaty, chocolaty…
A very drinkable version. 88
points. |
 |
| Port
Ellen 18 yo 1981/2000 (52.7%, DL OMC
for Alambic Germany, 210 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose:
the profile is similar but it’s
more powerful, obviously. The rubber
and sulphur grow bolder with time,
together with notes of burnt wood,
matchsticks and coal again. Quite
some chocolate as well. Ham. Now,
it gets much cleaner with water, less
sulphury. Mouth: rubbery and slightly
dirty, very sulphury and very dry.
Notes of cherry liqueur (guignolet),
burnt bread, burnt caramel…
Not bad at all but a little hard,
and you have to like this profile.
Finish: long but mostly on bitter
cocoa, very drying. Water didn’t
work too much on the palate. 83
points. |
| |
June
17, 2007 |
|
|
| TASTING
– TWO DIFFICULT 15 yo LONGMORNS |
 |
Longmorn
15 yo 1991/2006 (56%, JWWW Scottish
Castles, cask #12851)
Colour: white wine. Nose: a rather
spirity, coffeeish start, developing
on apples and pears with quite some
rubber and a little sulphur as well
as wet hay. Hard to enjoy, maybe water
will do it some good. So, with water:
it got farmier but that’s all.
This one is aromatically handicapped,
I’d say. Mouth (neat): punchy
and very spirity, grainy, rough and
raw. With water: right, it got a little
fruitier (bitter oranges) but it got
also quite dirty, curiously oily,
fat… And bitter. Finish: long
but rough, grassy and pearish at the
same time. Well… 71
points. |
| Longmorn
15 yo 1989/2004 (57.3%, Signatory,
cask #15910, 276 bottles)
Colour: white wine. Nose: even more
spirity, really like fruit spirit
like they make in the mountains over
here (they would distil just anything
and are even more yield-obsessed than
our friends the Scots.) With water:
this one got grainier and a little
more coffeeish – but less farmy
than the ‘Jack’. Strange
notes of good old tinned sardines.
This one isn’t any nicer than
the 1991 but at least it’s funny.
Mouth (neat): punchy and very spirity,
grainy, rough and raw (rings a bell).
Marginally fruitier than Jack Wieber’s.
With water: roughly the same evolution
than with the Jack, maybe just a tad
cleaner and fruitier. But the finish
is rough, spirity and pearish again.
Longmorn can be ultra-great, especially
the old ones, but it can also be a
little pain in the hat when it’s
immature – and coming from rather
inactive casks. 72 points. |
| |
June
16, 2007 |
|
|
| TASTING
- TWO GLENKINCHIES |
 |
Glenkinchie
17 yo 1987/2005 (57% , Signatory,
cask #2834, 237 bottles)
I’ll spare you boring comments
like ‘but why didn’t they
choose Rosebank as the Lowlander within
the Classic Malts’ (still, but
why did they?…) but I must say
Glenkinchie never put me in high spirits…
Colour: white wine. Nose: quite powerful,
with something funnily coastal at
very first sniffing but it’s
soon to get austere, grainy, developing
mostly on green apple and newly cut
grass. Lacks roundness and expressiveness.
Faint hints of sulphur and green tannins.
Let’s try it with a little water:
the green tannins are more obvious
now, the whole getting even mashier
(mashed potatoes, mashed turnips).
|
| Mouth
(neat): powerful, with a rather nice
fruitiness (ripe apples) but also
a little sulphur and rubber. Sharp
and not the cleanest. Low shelf kirsch?
With water: better now, rounder, sweeter,
toffeeish… Not bad actually.
Finish: rather long, simple, liquoricy,
grassy but quite sweet. Not the most
interesting malt I’d say, but
it’s not too bad actually. An
indie Glenkinchie is something interesting
anyway, for it’s quite rare
– but don’t forget to
add water. 78 points. |
| Glenkinchie
10 yo (43%, OB, circa 2004)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: much more
malty, toasted and even smoky than
I remembered at first nosing. More
powerful as well. Other than that
we have a faint soapiness and quite
some cereals, oatcake, newly cut grass
and something slightly flowery (not
too fragrant flowers – daisies?)
It gets then rather buttery, with
hints of mashed potatoes. Not especially
interesting I must say but less ‘harmless’
(okay, bland) than anticipated. Mouth:
sweet and malty, really on cornflakes
and apple juice, light honey, orange
drops and brioche with a little caramel.
There’s also a little salt,
candied ginger and hints of bubblegum.
The whole is rather lively…
There’s also these toasted notes
and quite some candy sugar as well
as hints of lavender sweets. Finish:
medium long, maybe more spirity now,
caramelised, with a signature on caramel-coated
cornflakes. Perfectly drinkable and
certainly not just innocuous. 78
points. |
 |
| |
June
15, 2007 |
|
|
| THE
FEIS ILE SESSIONS – ONE PORT
ELLEN (bottled at two strengths) |
 |
Port
Ellen 1983/2006 (46%, Best Casks of
Scotland, refill sherry)
Colour: straw. Nose: starts very fresh
and clean, with little sherry influence
that I can get. Notes of fresh almonds,
freshly peeled apples and fresh butter.
Keyword: fresh (I case you didn’t
notice). There is some tar and a little
‘clean’ rubber but all
that is quite discreet. Gets slightly
fizzy after a moment (gin fizz, lemonade).
Faint hints of orange marmalade, probably
from the cask. |
| Mouth:
sweeter, more candied, with a little
more pepper and a pinch of salt. Other
than that it’s all crystallised
lemons, oranges, tangerines…
And a rather bold and clean peat,
of the spicy kind. Finish: long, fruity
and peaty. Not the most complex Port
Ellen ever but I like this cleanliness.
What’s more, it’s highly
drinkable whisky. 88 points. |
| Port
Ellen 1983/2006 (55%, Best Casks of
Scotland, refill sherry)
The same cask bottled at cask strength
this time. Colour: straw, slightly
darker. Nose: a little hotter, with
the tar and the rubber being more
noticeable. Also more spirity, obviously,
as well as more orangey. I must say
I like the ‘46’s’
freshness a little better. Mouth:
really closer to the ‘46’
on the palate even if there are more
tannins and more pepper, as well as
something a little rubbery again in
the background. The finish is very
long, punchy, peppery and orangey…
And also quite ashy. Again, I liked
the first one’s freshness better.
Rule water! 86 points. |
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: we've got a request for
more old French chanson. Right,
right... Like, Juliette
Greco singing Paname.mp3?
Please buy Mademoiselle Greco's
music, she's still around and doing
great. |
 |
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:
Ardbeg
17 yo (46%,
Cadenhead's dumpy, Sutti Milano, circa 1985)
Ardbeg
18 yo 1972/1991 (58.9%, Signatory,
cask #3444, 275 bottles)
Ardbeg
28 yo 1972/2001 (48.8%, DL OMC for
Alambic Germany, 252 bottles)
Ardbeg
29 yo 1972/2002 (50.4%, Douglas Laing
Platinum, 235 bottles)
Ardbeg
30 yo 1964/1995 (40%, Gordon &
MacPhail for John Gross & Co, Baltimore,
USA)
Glen
Garioch 46 yo 1958 (43%, OB, 336 bottles,
2004)
Port
Ellen 21 yo 1982/2004 (50%,
Douglas Laing OMC for Fortnum & Mason, ref
#1282, 305 bottles)
Port
Ellen 22 yo 1982/2005 (61.7%, Jack
Wieber, Auld Distillers, 228 bottles)
Port
Ellen 23yo 1976/1999 (55.6%,
Signatory, cask #4797, 296 bottles)
Port
Ellen 24 yo 1978/2002 2nd Annual Release (59.35%,
OB, 12000 bottles)
Port
Ellen 25 yo 1978/2004 (61.1%, Douglas
Laing OMC for Alambic Classique, advanced sample,
cask REF655, Refill butt)
Port
Ellen 25yo 1982/2007 (46%, Berry Bros
& Rudd, cask #2469)
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