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Hi, you're in the Archives, June 2008 - Part 1 |
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June
14, 2008 |
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| WHO
ARE YOU? (Who, who,
who, who?) |
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It’s
been exactly one year since we installed
google’s wonderful free statistics
tool on Whiskyfun and since we don’t
sell any ad space or anything else
on this humble little website, we
thought the best would be to share
our figures with you, dear reader.
Because after all, they would otherwise
be totally useless!
So,
on the left you’ll find the
25 first ‘visiting’
countries, out of 177 in total.
By the way, #177 are the Turks and
Caicos Islands with, err, one single
visit. Hope you enjoyed it, lad
;-). Maybe it is to be noted that
the emerging countries such as India
(#27 with 935 visits), Brazil (#32
with 733 visits) and China (#37
with 520 visits) aren’t so
high yet, but it’s also true
that Whiskyfun seems to attract
hardcore malt freaks rather than
the average Chivas or Johnnie Red/Black
drinker. By the way, there were
exactly 153,470 AUV (Absolute Unique
Visitors) within one year. What
else? Ah, yes, the highest day has
been April 1st, 2008, with 1,687
visits (no joke), and the weakest
one May 3, 2008, with only 228 visists
(but I seem to remember that our
server was down for the largest
part of that day.) |
As
for the distilleries, and since we
have pages that index all tasting
notes per distillery, here are the
ten most visited ones: Ardbeg (20,166),
Laphroaig (16,158), Port Ellen (14,724),
Macallan (14,387), Bowmore (14,147),
Caol Ila (12,628), Lagavulin (12,132),
Talisker (11,883), Springbank (11,492)
and Bruichladdich (11,401). The last
one is Ben Wyvis with only 36 visits.
A bunch of peat heads, I tell you…
And finally, let’s talk about
global figures: the number of visits
per month has risen by exactly +73.40%
within on year. Since quite lazily,
we didn’t change one iota to
WF’s “concept” (yup,
how bold a word), that may mean that
the global interest in malt whisky
is growing bigger and bigger these
days - not sure it’s good news
to us aficionados, that is…
It also certainly means that our dear
readers really do enjoy Nick's 'trashy,
ill-informed, opinionated and (I hope)
quite funny concert reviews' (his
own words) as much as we do! |
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June
13, 2008 |
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TASTING
– THREE 1983 CLYNELISHES |
Clynelish
19 yo 1983/2002 (43%, Jack Wieber’s
Scottish Castles, cask #2560, 108
bottles) 
Colour: pale gold. Nose: ha-ha, this
is as flinty, waxy and mineral as
Clynelish can get – almost mineral
in fact. Diesel oil, linseed oil,
fusel oil, graphite, paraffin, pencil
eraser, seashells and wet stones.
Need I say more? One for Clynelish
lovers – not the old fruity
ones this time. Luv’ it. Mouth:
far from being weakish at 43%! Maybe
just a tad too dry and drying, but
other than that it’s a salty,
waxy, mineral and slightly resinous
dram. Typically Clynelish. Finish:
medium long, with added pepper. Comments:
too bad this one is a little drying
on the palate, because the rest is
quite superb. For aficionados. SGP:263
– 85 points. |
Clynelish
1983/2002 (47%, Samaroli, cask #2685,
306 bottles) 
Colour: pale gold. Nose: of the same
high-class breed as the JWWW, only
at a higher strength and with maybe
more ‘wildness’ (hare,
kelp) and a slight fruitiness (grapefruit).
I adore this, it’s one of the
recent Clynelishes that’s closest
to the ‘old’ Clynelishes
that were distilled in the late 1950’s
or early 1960’s. Mouth: oh yes.
Crystallised grapefruit, pepper, wax,
clams, salicornia, ginger… and
more peppery wax (or waxy pepper.)
Finish: long, zesty and mineral. And
waxy of course. Comments: this is
why we love Clynelish, and not only
the 'old old' ones or the 'old new'
ones. Archetypical. SGP:364
– 91 points. |
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Clynelish
1983/2006 (53.1%, Scotch Single Malt
Circle, cask #1351)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: more of the
same, maybe a tad sharper and flintier.
Also a little more peat it seems.
Let’s see what happens with
a little water: ho-ho-ho, it’s
even more splendid! Extreme zestiness,
hints of patchouli, more seashells,
green tobacco, pu-erh tea, sticky
rice, wet wool, wet gravel…
Mouth (neat): very, very close to
the Samaroli, only a tad harsher when
neat. With water: astonishingly good.
Please call the anti-maltoporn brigade…
Finish: same as the Samaroli’s.
Comments: another brilliant Clynelish,
it seems that 1983 was a pretty good
year up there… SGP:364
– 92 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: the versatile Olu
Dara's music recently
really grew on me... I especially
like a tune called Rain
shower.mp3 - despite the very
rainy early June we had over here!
(it's on his excellent CD 'In The
World From Natchez To New York'.)
Please buy Olu Dara's music! |
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June
12, 2008 |
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TASTING
– THREE 12yo BLAIR ATHOLS |
| Blair
Athol 12 yo (43%, Flora & Fauna,
+/-2005)
Colour: amber. Nose: starts very nutty
and caramelly, with a big maltiness
and hints of liquorice, developing
more on notes of sherry, Seville oranges
and a little peat, leather and tobacco.
Rather concentrated and oily on the
nose, despite the slightly ‘blendish’
character. Pleasant for sure. Mouth:
the attack is even more sherried,
not exactly bold but certainly satisfying.
Classic fruitcake, coffee-schnapps,
liquorice and orange liqueur, with
hints of cherry stem tea in the background
and maybe just faint hints of rubber
and walnuts. An assertive dram, half-sweet,
half-dry. Finish: medium long, very
balanced, with an added spiciness
(spices for mulled wine, cloves, Chinese
anise and cinnamon.) Comments: perfect
balance and profile at 43%, excellent
cask selection I think. SGP:443
– 85 points. |
| Blair
Athol 12 yo 1965/1977 (80° Proof,
Cadenhead's Dumpy, Black Label, 75cl)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: this one
is completely different from the FF,
much more austere and brutal at the
same time. Ultra-sharp, without any
sweetness or nuttiness. Cut grass,
lemon zests, metal, wet paper…
Then we have some very nice whiffs
of rubbed mint leaves, fresh almonds,
putty, linseed oil… No ‘compromises’
here, which may be unexpected from
Blair Athol’s usual light profile
(now, the FF wasn’t light, for
sure). Mouth: sweeter and a tad rounder
than on the nose, and curiously much
closer to the FF albeit more nervous
and sharper again. Bunches of candied
citrus fruits (your pick), pine resin
(cough syrup), mint, white pepper,
ginger… Not too complex but
vivid and very nervous, with superb
hints of peat coming through after
a moment. A perfect complement to
this one’s ‘resinous mintiness’.
Finish: very long, even more focused
on pine resin, with also even more
peat and lemon. Comments: 12 years
in a cask + 30 years in a bottle +
a perfect screwcap = a perfect combo
it seems, and probably a nightmare
for all bean counters up there in
Scotland. SGP:553 –
91 points. |
Blair
Athol 12 yo 1995 (59.2%, Douglas of
Drumlanrig) 
In case you don’t know, these
Douglasses are by Douglas Laing. Colour:
gold. Nose: oh, but this is rum! Seriously,
this smells just like rum, with notes
of bananas flambéed, candy
sugar, maple syrup and then pure ale.
Extremely unusual – was this
a rum cask? No mention of that on
the label. With water: gets hugely
vegetal – sugarcane? Mouth (neat):
honest, it’s rum! With water:
almost as ‘rummy’…
With a little more liquorice. More
fruits as well, but fruits that you
seldom get in whisky. Japanese red
bean paste (azuki) and extremely ripe
bananas. Stroh? Finish: more Stroh.
Comments: is Blair Athol such a chameleon
malt? I’m sorry, I’m lost
here, but this gives me the opportunity
to urge you to buy Dave Broom’s
fantabulous book ‘Rum’
(publisher Mitchell Beazley). I’m
not into rum at all but I thoroughly
enjoyed this book, which may say long
about its utter quality. Back to the
whisky: if you like rum you may like
this 1995 much more than I did. SGP:720
– 75 points. |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
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MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: sure the music sounds
much, much too 'house lounge' to
our ears but Gothenburg's sweet
Elsa
Hedberg sure can sing
a tune, as you may check by listenting
to her Open
the door.mp3. Please buy Elsa
Hedberg's music! |
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June
11, 2008 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
BRUCE SPRINGSTEEN AND
THE E STREET BAND
The Emirates Stadium, Highbury,
London, May 31st 2008 |
| We’ve
come to North London’s home
of football to see the Boss. And how
fitting it is that the fantastic new
Emirates Stadium, rising into the
sky like some huge intergalactic behemoth,
should play host to such a brilliant
and lauded personality. Rarely has
anyone excelled so greatly in his
or her chosen field, rarely has anyone
imposed his sense of the beauty in
his art so formidably. Here’s
a man who could fill this imposing
stadium to the rafters every Saturday
afternoon of the year. In fact he
does. But sadly Alsatian football
genius Arsene
Wenger (a former Mulhouse United
player unless I’m mistaken,
Serge) isn’t at home, but it’s
a lovely late Spring evening so we’re
more than happy to make do with that
other Boss, Bruce
Springsteen, and his
reformed E Street Band, minus of course
the very recently deceased Danny
Federici. |
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| Springsteen’s
two nights at the Emirates are the
first concerts at the Stadium since
it opened two years ago (“We’re
gonna test the foundations”
he promised the audience on the evening
before). It’s packed. We’re
standing on the ground (well not quite,
as the hallowed turf is protected
by robust flooring). There’s
a smaller enclosure in front of us
that’s clearly housing the Springsteen
Maniacs (they’ve got green armbands,
we’ve got orange). Some of them
look as though it’s a rare unaccompanied
outing. But they’re going to
get their money’s worth . |
Emirates gig
, the setlist
(from official website) |
Many
of them recognise each other from
other gigs, other years, and as the
guys just in front of us point out,
they’re sporting an interesting
range of veteran Springsteen merchandise
(“Look dad, there’s a
flag from the ’88 tour”).
These aren’t the Maniacs, just
the mildly obsessive. The two boys
behind us have just been to Manchester
(an inferior venue called Old Trafford),
were here last night, and will be
at Cardiff in a few days’ time.
Then they’re spreading their
wings to continental Europe. With
eagle-eyes for detail they take me
through the set lists of the previous
nights and share their expectations
and hopes for tonight (“as long
as there isn’t any of that Pete
Seeger crap. That was just shite”).
That was encouraging as I’d
left the black notebook at home, but
then I was introduced to a veritable
Max Cady, who had Springsteen set
lists for concerts he’d attended
tattooed all over his body, just like
Robert De Niro in the remake of Cape
Fear. Scary stuff indeed. |
| Now
I have to confess that I’m not
a big Springsteen fan - I mean I admire
him for what he does, but in my mind
it’s somewhat repetitive in
both subject matter (one disenchanted
and under-achieving blue-collar no-hoper
after another can wear you down a
bit, as can all those waitresses who
do – or sometimes don’t
– the car rides, the highways,
the dingy suburban streets, the garages,
the whistling trains etc. etc. etc.),
and musical structure. Tonight, as
Bruce and the band crash through 24
songs (four less than last night –
we’ve been short-changed), and
play against a strict curfew, the
tunes run into each other, Springsteen
counting them in before the chords
of the previous song have finished,
and it becomes really hard to know
when one starts and another finishes.
But that’s not the point –
it’s the show that counts, and
it is quite extraordinary. I don’t
know how he makes it seem so intimate.
His moments sitting on the edge of
the stage or perched on a stool singing
to the Maniacs as they gaze in adoration,
some gently stroking his shoes or
legs, others just desperate to get
a touch as if it would cure some malignant
ailment, are beamed onto huge screens,
sucking even the people in the furthest
seats (I think they’re almost
in Seven Sisters Road) into the closeness
of it all. And when he does this (he
spends a lot of the night down there)
there’s no security –
there has to be somewhere but it’s
not the ear-pierced monkeys who stride
alongside the Stones as their mini-stage
pushes into the audience). All his
gestures – to the crowd or deliberately
to the cameras are inclusive –
you certainly leave knowing who you’ve
spent the night with. I’m sure
he goes through the same routine every
night, but it works, because it’s
here, tonight, now. |
| Of
course there’s a downside to
these big screens, particularly if
you’re as close to them as we
are. Thirty years or more of rock
and roll ravages doesn’t look
too good on guitarist and sometime
Soprano Little
Stevie Van Zandt for example (‘Little’?
Which bit of little is that?). But
it doesn’t stop him from playing.
Saxophonist Clarence
Clemens barely makes it on the
screen. And the petite Nils
Logfren doesn’t look so
hot blown up to ten times his normal
size, but his guitar playing is sensational,
including a solo to die for on ‘Because
the Night’. Bruce is just irrepressible,
from opener ‘Out in the street’
to the end (by which time, I admit
we were heading for Arsenal station
to avoid the post-match mayhem). Jeans,
shirt, waist-coat, suspiciously dark
hair and enough energy to play ninety
minutes in the Premiership, he barely
stopped. |
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He
takes time out to collect written
requests from the Maniacs –
including a nice one for ‘Downbound
Train’, which read ‘No
job, no girl, Downbound Train’,
which he gently placed against his
mike-stand before playing the tune.
He spoke for a while about the departed
Federici before playing ‘Sandy’,
and declared his closely-attuned sense
of social justice and injustice, before
‘The promised land’, but
for the most part it was high-energy
performance of the finest calibre,
even down to his cross-stage knee
slide (ouch!). |
|
As we rode the train home, we found
that we’d left the relative
safety of the Maniacs and the obsessives
(and the tattooed man) for a rowdy
festival of drinking on the London
Underground, marking Mayor Johnson’s
first edict, which outlaws alcohol
on the public transport system. Good-humoured
in intent, it had clearly reached
the stage where alcohol had overtaken
good sense, and I almost missed the
cocoon of our new friends and Bruceland,
a surrogate world to lost souls and
the rootless. It’s a nice place
to visit but just make sure you buy
a return ticket. - Nick Morgan
(concert photographs by Kate) |
Thank
you, Nick. As for our fellow compatriot
Arsène (we’ve always
been wondering if Arsenal hired him
because of his first name –
aren’t alliterations cool? I
mean, Arsène+Arsenal), yes,
he’s been playing with the FCM
(Football Club Mulhouse – not
quite United) but he’s been
more successful with the Racing Club
Strasbourg, winning the French premier
league championship in 1979. - S.
Listen:
Bruce
Springsteen's MySpace page
Nils
Logfren's MySpace page |
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TASTING
– TWO INVERLEVENS |
| Inverleven
29 yo 1978/2008 (45.5%, Duncan Taylor,
Rarest of the Rare, cask #1878)
It’s now well known
that Inverleven’s equipment
has been bought by the Bruichladdich
team and will be used at the new Port
Charlotte distillery (picture: pieces
arriving at Bruichladdich, courtesy
Bruichladdich’s website.) |
| Colour:
straw. Nose: as fresh and citrusy
as a 30yo malt… can’t
get. No traces of excessive woodiness
at all, rather a big and complex zestiness:
lemon pie, lemon balm, then wet stones
and chalk, kiwi juice, then whiffs
of raw wool, aniseed, oysters and
other seashells, hints of wet dog
(hi again, dogs), garden bonfire…
An excellent surprise. Superb complexity,
yet a perfect ‘compactness’.
Let’s only hope the palate will
match this beautiful nose. Mouth:
indeed, this is a beautiful old Lowlander,
even if it’s just a little less
zesty than on the nose here. Lemon
with a little salt, lemon crème
and, err, lemon pie. Goes on with
more spices (Chinese – or star
– anise, a little cardamom),
a slight toffeeness, and then notes
of coconut and dried ginger. Extremely
good. Finish: rather long, a tad drier
now, with hints of oak coming through.
Comments: Inverleven should never
be forgotten when we’re talking
about Lowlanders! Top notch and very
‘idiosyncratic’, highly
recommended (but beware it’s
drinkability.) SGP:642 –
90 points. |
Dumbarton
(Inverleven Stills) 18 yo 1987/2006
(57.9%, Cadenhead, 276 bottles)
From a bourbon hogshead. Colour: pale
gold. Nose: oh, this reminds me of
an Auchentoshan by Signatory that
I had the other day, as it really
smells like good old grain whisky,
with a lot of vanilla and coconut
and then café latte (litres
– Kramer won’t be too
happy) and pollen. It gets then more
citrusy, with a very pleasant zing.
Quite some spices as well (nutmeg
to the front). Great freshness again
but it’s still rounder and less
zesty than its older sibling. A very
nice Lowlander anyway, not overpowering
at all at 58% ABV. Yet, with water:
like often, there’s a bigger
and persistent grassiness arising
now. A great mojito? |
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|
Mouth (neat): much closer to the 1978
but certainly more ‘wham-bam’
and more ‘focused’. A
lot of coconut and grapefruit plus
pepper, almost a tropical cocktail
at cask strength actually. Also strawberries
with ginger… Very, very demonstrative.
With water: something more oriental
now, Turkish delights and bubblegum.
Rosewater? Also more of the expected
notes of lemon. Finish: excellent,
long, still very playful, with more
wood and more spices (same notes of
cardamom as in the 1978. Comments:
again, an excellent surprise, even
if the fruitiness may sometimes be
a little ‘too much’ on
the palate. Great stills you have,
Laddie gang, hope you’ll fire
them up soon! SGP:731 –
88 points. |
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June
10, 2008 |
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TASTING
– ANOTHER FOUR OLD STRATHISLAS |
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| Strathisla
21 yo (40%, Gordon & MacPhail,
+/- 1985)
Colour: gold. Nose: not the expected
‘sherried creaminess’,
rather something flinty, dry and resinous
at first nosing, just before some
big floral notes arrive (pollen, nectar,
yellow flowers). Strawberry jam. Goes
on with hints of furniture polish
and wax and then goes back to something
very pleasantly mineral (wet limestone).
A fresh and excellent old Strathisla
on the nose despite the 40% ABV. Mouth:
sure, it’s no monster but the
mouth feel is excellent – no
weakness. Starts on peppered strawberries,
vanilla fudge, getting then spicier
and drier (white pepper, cinnamon,
nutmeg)… A little liquorice
as well, burnt cake… Gets drier
and drier, that is, but never cardboardy.
Bitter caramel and un-sugared black
tea. Finish: maybe a tad shortish
but balanced and pleasantly dry (coffee).
Comments: interesting evolution, from
sweetness (strawberries) to dryness
(un-sugared coffee). SGP:431
– 86 points. |
| Strathisla
40 yo 1967/2008 (47.6%, The Whisky
Agency, 60 bottles)
Colour: old. Nose: amazing how this
one is close to the G&M in style,
with rather big waxy, mineral and
grassy (and minty) notes besides the
yellow flowers and pollen. Also hints
of old leather, cigarette tobacco
and eucalyptus, with the oakiness
growing a little bolder after that.
We get even more eucalyptus after
a moment, as well as a little camphor
and marzipan. This one is complex
and pretty ‘sculptural’
– that is to say excellent.
Let’s see whether the palate
will match the nose… Mouth:
starts on quite a lot of oak but an
excellent one, mingling perfectly
with notes of cough medicine, eucalyptus,
resin, soft spices, apricots…
Perfect tannins and perfect balance.
Finish: the oak really takes the lead
but as it’s very good oak, we
won’t complain. Mentholated
aftertaste. Comments: an excellent
example of a big oakiness that’s
extremely pleasant, which doesn’t
happen that often. Deserves one or
two extra-points just for that. SGP:461
– 91 points. |
| Strathisla
40 yo 1967/2008 (48.6%, Duncan Taylor
Rare Auld, cask #2716, 160 bottles)
Colour: gold. Nose: extremely close
to the TWA, just a tad drier and oakier.
Please read above. Mouth: ditto. Finish:
ditto. Comments: sister casks, obviously.
This one is maybe even oakier, actually.
SGP:461 – 91 points
(but warning, this one is for oak
lovers only!) |
| Strathisla
1955/2003 (59.2%, Gordon & MacPhail
Private Collection, cask #407, 148
bottles)
Colour: dark mahogany. Nose: full
sherry this time, and with flying
colours at that. Absolutely not overpowering
despite the stunningly high strength
– at almost 50 years of age,
imagine! Prunes and old rancio, vin
jaune (flor, old walnut), old precious
wood, thuja, balsamic vinegar, pine
resin and high-end soy sauce. High
class, but the alcohol starts to attack
your nostrils after a while, so let’s
add water. With water: truly outta
this world now, as it got extremely
complex, with loads of added aromas
such as old leather, incense, butter
crème, cigar box and prunes
to name but a few. An extraordinary
olfactory voyage. Mouth (neat): how
thick and concentrated! A true maelstrom
of wood extracts, all things resinous
and minty, red and black fruits and
tannins (grape pips). Not too far
from the best Armagnacs, but it’s
bit hot so let’s add water straight
away. With water: best of news, it’s
the fruitiness that comes out now
(strawberries, blackcurrants, blueberry
pie) whilst the rest remains in place.
Finish: okay, maybe the tannins are
a bit ‘too much’ at this
stage (cherry stems tea, orange peel)
but at 50 years, no wonder. Comments:
brilliant very old sherry monster
despite the heavy tannins. SGP:572
– 91 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: they were really fun!
It's in 1987 that the English spoof
superband Bad
News issued their cover
of Queen's Bohemian
Rapsody.mp3. Please don't listen
to it at work, you may well burst
into laughter. And please buy Bad
News' music... |
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June
9, 2008 |
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| CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan |
 |
SPARKS,
KIMONO MY HOUSES
Islington Academy
Islington, London
May 18th 2008
Do
you remember Sparks,
Serge? You know, the two weird brothers
from LA, Ron and Russell Mael. Ron’s
the funny one with the weird stare
and the Adolph Hitler moustache
who does all the piano playing,
and Russell’s the can’t-keep-still
high- pitched singer. |
| They
came to the UK in 1973 and blew everyone
away with their, er, weirdness, scoring
a huge hit with ‘This town ain’t
big enough for the both of us’
from their third album, Kimono My
House. It was one of those albums
that everyone had when I was at college.
Why I even went to see them play it
in Lancaster. Boy, they were weird.
And then almost as soon as they appeared,
they disappeared, back to the States
to relative obscurity (by which I
mean they had a hit record in France)
and a dramatic change in musical style
incorporating what was then called
‘Disco’ and electronic
– all frankly quite weird. |
| And
it was probably only a few years ago
that they came back to my attention
seriously when the press started talking
about their 2002 album Lil’
Beethoven (according to their website
a “genre-defying opus”),
which was followed by a number of
one-off appearances in London, and
the equally well-received Hello Young
Lovers (“quite simply an extraordinary
masterpiece” says their website).
Now, in a gesture of genre defying
weirdness Ron and Russell have decided
to perform all their albums live in
London over a period of twenty-one
nights, finishing with the premiere
of their new release, Exotic Creatures
of the Deep (“Should it be possible
for two people to be so fresh, so
vital, so unpredictable and so incomparably
individual?” says you-know-what).
|
 |
| That’s
right, twenty-one albums in twenty-one
nights. How weird is that? If you
do the math (the brothers did on their
website) it comes out as over 250
songs, or 4,825,237 notes. And as
the brothers said themselves, “Only
Sparks would dare to take on this
challenge, this mammoth undertaking,
this melodious epic, this ground-breaking
concept, this celebration of musical
greatness past and present.”
Weirdness epitomised. |
| Actually
it’s not weird at all. The
21-night series has been a huge
PR coup for the brothers Mael, who
for the past month have hardly been
off the pages of the broadsheet press,
off both popular and ‘highbrow’
radio shows, or off the culture programmes
on the box in the corner. And as the
gigs are being streamed live, they
have a world-wide audience. They’ve
certainly sold out the Academy tonight,
and I would think will be taking a
fair revenue from these gigs, in addition
to the anticipated boost in sales
for their new album. All very clever
and very calculated. Why, even Ron’s
wacky appearance was apparently conceived
as a way of capturing the attention
of television cameras. |
| Shame
to relate that they’ve chosen
to perform the first twenty albums
at the Carling Academy Islington,
a small rectangular and soulless concrete
box in the middle of a newish shopping
development bordering posh, middle
class Islington and tough gangland
Islington. When it was first opened
Eurythmic Dave Stewart had promised
it would be a revival of the famous
Soho Marquee
Club, but that lasted barely four
months before it closed, eventually
reopening under the tutelage of the
brewery-sponsored Carling Academy
chain. We did hear Jim White perform
an almost studio- perfect rendition
of Drill a Hole in that Substrate
there, so there’s nothing particularly
wrong with the sound. But then it
was only about two-thirds full at
the very most. |
Russel Mael |
Tonight
it’s about one hundred and twenty
per cent full. It’s night number
three, and it’s Kimono My House.
We’re tightly packed like suffocating
sardines in a claustrophobic hot and
jostling crowd. It’s not fun,
and it’s slightly frightening.
Next to me is apparently one of Islington’s
famous rock stars (I haven’t
got a clue who he is, but with long
hair, too many pounds and a Yorkshire
accent I suspect a heavy metal bass
guitarist). He’s drinking iced
vodka by the half pint and regaling
wide-eyed civilians (who appear to
be buying most of the vodka) with
tales of touring in LA, whilst evading
his wife’s calls on his mobile
‘phone. |
| There
are Sparks fans of all ages, sizes,
genders and trans-genders in this
increasingly unpleasant place, which
is becoming reminiscent of the infamous
Black Hole of Calcutta. |
| After
what seems like interminable trash
from a DJ whose only applause was
earned when he put on his jacket to
end his set, the brothers take the
stage. |
| From
a distance, their appearance has changed
little since my last encounter with
them in 1973. But it’s really
hard to say as I can barely see a
thing (which means the diminutive
Photographer might just as well be
witnessing a soccer match for all
she knows). Occasionally I manage
to get glimpse of Ron, and whenever
I do he’s staring straight at
me with a disapproving glower, just
like one of those old paintings in
a horror B-movie. |
 |
His brother is jumping energetically
round the stage and working hard to
make his high notes. Their band, none
of whom could have been born when
the record was released, are surprisingly
loud and heavy (with initially, a
very over-bearing bass, as vodka rock
star and I agreed). And as they break
into the first track, ‘This
house’ many of the crowd start
exhibiting dervish-like tendencies,
which only adds to the unpleasantness
of the experience. We last seven songs,
all very well executed, before fighting
our way out to the cool air of a London
spring night. Inside, Sparks went
on to finish the album and play as
a special track (one is promised as
an encore for each night) ‘Barbecutie’,
the B-side of ‘This House’.
And I couldn’t help thinking,
as we drove back west, that I’d
heard enough to convince me that Sparks
really were very, very clever, but
like English footballer Martin Peters,
were probably ten years or more ahead
of their time. And perhaps victims
of their own ‘weirdness’
too, with punters failing to see the
real substance in their work through
the novelty. So a worthy time then
for twenty-one nights of reassessment.
It’s just a shame that they
chose such a shithole
poor venue to perform in. - Nick
Morgan (concert photographs by Nick) |
 |
TASTING
– TWO NEW INDIE AUCHENTOSHANS |
Auchentoshan
9 yo 1999/2008 (46%, Duncan Taylor,
Whisky Galore) 
Colour: white wine. Nose: this one
starts fresh and a little estery (pears
and tinned pineapples), with also
notes of liquorice and burnt caramel.
Toasts. Slips more towards aniseed-flavoured
vanilla crème, custard, muesli
and crushed bananas after a while
but with a constant freshness. |
| Okay,
let’s say it: it’s rather
a summer malt. Mouth: hyper-fruity,
to the point where it tastes almost
like pineapple liqueur. Not much wood
influence here and a very clean, albeit
simple profile. Also kirsch. Finish:
more of the same for a rather long
time. Comments: one to drink in a
chilled snifter like some do with
fruit eau-de-vie, or a bottle to put
straight into the freezer? Mucho pleasure
in any case… SGP:620
– 80 points. |
| Auchentoshan
24 yo 1984/2008 (58.4%, Signatory,
cask #263, 178 bottles)
From a bourbon barrel. Colour: pale
gold. Nose: this one is very spirity
at very first sniffs but the oak is
soon to play the major part here,
with whiffs of warm sawdust and quite
some vanillin on top of the usual
fruity notes (pears and pineapples
again). Shifts towards a more coffee-ish
profile after a moment, and gets finally
quite grassy (white tequila, freshly
cut grass.) Probably more austere
than the usual Auchentoshan but let’s
see what happens with water. With
water: the general profile doesn’t
change much, except for a little more
grass and more aniseed/celery and
liquorice. Mouth (neat): starts quite
thick but fruity like an old grain
whisky, if you see what I mean. Coconut,
banana and vanilla, with the oak giving
it a good backbone. Something Irish
as well. Gets then more bubblegummy,
with hints of marshmallows. Now, it’s
very powerful whisky so let’s
add water again. With water: it got
a little more complex but still a
bit rough around the edges. Alsatian
pear spirit running from the still
(yeah I know) plus salty touches.
Finish: medium long but back to coconut
spirit. Comments: again, this could
be mistaken for grain whisky. The
effects of triple distillation I guess.
SGP:641 – 82 points. |
 |
ONE-OFF
WHISKYFUN COMPETITION!
Somebody owning a car named
'jazz' bearing such a wonderful
license plate (while waiting for
the ferry to Islay) must
have impeccable tastes altogether.
If it's you, please email
us a picture of your car's rear
and you'll win a free, extremely
rare bottle of whisky! (thanks,
Kate) |
| June
10 update - Owners found! Congrats
Rainer and Sabine... |
| |
June
8, 2008 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
- TWO
GLEN SPEY |
Glen
Spey 15 yo 1992/2007 (53%, James MacArthur,
bourbon, cask #927175)
It’s not that often that we
can try Glen Spey... Colour: straw.
Nose: powerful and very spirity I
must say. Also very mashy, with big
notes of something like vanilla flavoured
yoghurt and sour cream. Add to that
honey, beer... Not too much character
but it seems that it was a rather
good barrel. With water: gets more
cardboardy and grassy, whilst vanilla
disappeared. |
| Mouth
(neat): sweeter and rounder than on
the nose, with a little aniseed and
banana sweets. Vanilla. Quite good
but again, not much personality. Liquorice.
With water: much nicer, with quite
some candied fruits as well as dried
pears. Finish: long, with more marzipan
now. Comments: not bad at all but
again, little personality. Middle
of the road Speysider. SGP:241
– 79 points. |
Glen
Spey 28 yo 1977/2005 (58.9%, The Whisky
Chamber, cask #245, 287 bottles) 
Colour: gold. Nose: very powerful
but quite curiously, it’s rounder
than the 1992 despite a big oakiness.
Walnut skin. Also very vegetal, growing
grassier by the minute. With water:
even more oak but it’s enjoyable.
Whiffs of carpenter’s workshop
and a little aniseed like we had on
the 1992’s palate. Shoe polish.
Rather complex! Mouth (neat): big,
rich and creamy attack. Mucho pineapple
liqueur, pina colada (yes), coconut,
vanilla fudge... Certainly more complex
than it’s younger bro. With
water: even more on honey, oranges
and vanilla fudge, with also notes
of chlorophyll. Something ‘green’
indeed. Finish: long and a little
almondy like the 1992. Comments: good
whisky. SGP:331 – 83
points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: right, let's issue a
warning, we're just taking up a
bet here. Indeed, a good friend
said that we'd never put some Michel
Delpech on Whiskyfun
(we're way too elitist, he said.)
Pffff! Here's Que
Marianne était jolie.mp3
(from the very early 1970's I think.)
You may even buy Michel Delpech's
music, he's still around and doing
very well... |
 |
| |
June
6, 2008 |
|
|
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
 |
|
|
MALT
MANIACS NEWSFLASH
THOMAS TRIES MOST FEIS ILE
BOTTLINGS
The
whisky part of the Whiskyfun
crew didn’t make it
to Islay this year (we were
in Marrakesh instead, actually
– not quite the right
direction - did you know that
Moroccan wines keep improving?)
but fellow Malt Maniac Thomas
Lipka kindly handed his tasting
notes over to us and here
they are, short, but efficient!
Over to you, Tom… -
S. |
| Bruichladdich
‘X4+1’
To be honest with you, this
still seems like a joke to me.
Nothing against testing/tasting
new make and 1yo whisky babies
to experience the development
of a whisky but to bottle them
at that price and as a festival
bottling... ridiculous. And
by reading Jim McEwan's official
tasting notes you'd get the
impression that you'd get the
Legacy I or so! However, in
all fairness, I have to say
that this is a promising SPIRIT
(not whisky) and I'm looking
forward to the first real bottlings.
Still, at this point there's
no reason to drink barely matured
new make, which is what it still
tastes like. No rating. |
| Ardbeg
‘Corryvreckan’
and ‘Renaissance’
I was quite surprised about
the Corryvreckan as I did not
expect that much from it. What
special could it be with no
age statement and all... Mickey
Head told us that it's made
up from partly 12yo first fill
bourbon casks and partly from
relatively short matured fresh
French oak casks - an I really
loved the result. The profile
is close to the mellower versions
of the early 70s Ardbegs than
to the other newer Ardbegs we've
had in the last few years. It
even showed some beautiful cowstable
in the end. I actually scored
it at 90 points
on my scale. Maybe it was the
contrast in style but I wasn't
that excited about the Renaissance.
More powerful, smoky and spicy
with hints of liquorice this
bottling was kindly greeted
by the majority of the participants
of the masterclass we attended.
A solid 85 points
in my book, however clearly
beaten by the Corryvreckan.
Definitely a matter of preferences
in this case. |
| Lagavulin
‘Vintage 1993’ 15yo
THE festival winner IMHO and
this sentiment was shared by
my four friends I was with on
Islay, even those who usually
aren't Laga aficionados. All
the great traits that make up
Lagavulin, a complex nose, wonderfully
balanced with a creamy mouth
feeling and a very long finish.
Take a bottle, climb Dunyvaig
Castle with a few friends, really
take your time with this one
as it develops beautifully,
add just a few drops of water
so it gets smoother still and
be at peace with yourself. Amazing
stuff and a great deal at 60
GBP. Preliminary score: 93
points. |
| Bowmore
8yo Clean, good
young FWP free Bowmore as we
are getting used to again the
last few years. I'm actually
quite fond of that style ever
since I had the masterclass
at the distillery back in 2005.
This one is no exception, however
some of my friends complained
about some overly sweet notes
and even sticky mouth feel (from
the Limousin casks?). I didn't
find them over the top, however.
I scored it at 85 points,
but at 80 GBP way it was overpriced
for an 8yo. |
| Laphroaig
‘Cairdeas’
Solid Laphroaig, not dissimilar
in style from last year's festival
bottling as far as I could tell
from the small sample they poured
us at the distillery but not
just as good. Nice sweetness
to go with the peat and smoke
but not that much development.
Still a bargain at shortly above
40 GBP. 86 points. |
| Bunnahabhain
21yo Vintage 1986
What an uproar before the festival
about the price. 219 GBP - are
they crazy or what? As far as
I've heard even John MacLellan
wasn't amused at all and supposedly
convinced the bean counters
to lower the price to 197 GBP
during the festival. I still
had the feeling that the Bunnahabhain
staff was somewhat ashamed about
the developments. Maybe that's
why they had an open bottle
under the table which they pured
from once you've asked about
it... The whisky itself was
quite good, a classical Bunna,
a little bit shy and fragile,
yet full of nice fruity and
sherry aromas. Nothing REALLY
special for the money they are
charging, however. 87
points. |
| And
last but not least.... Jura’s
Series of 4 "Elements",
4 elements, 4 whiskies (Earth,
Air, Fire, Water). With the
'Earth' being the only heavily
peated, the three other were
yet all quite different from
each other in character and
actually more interesting as
the Earth was more or less a
good 'Islay' whisky. However,
all three showed some off-noted
(some soapiness in the finish,
unpleasant mustiness in the
nose etc.) which brought them
all up to one level in regard
to the scores (Earth
86 points, Air 86 points, Fire
85 points, Water, 84 points)
And again, don't even mention
the price for the package, leather
suitcase or not. - Thomas
Lipka, MM |
|
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: we haven't been to Brazil
since a long time, so let's listen
to one of this country's greatest
mult-instrumentists, Egberto
Gismonti. This time
he's playing his stunning Baiao
malandro.mp3 (from his 1987
album Alma). Please buy Mr Gismonti's
music. |
 |
| |
June
5, 2008 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
– THREE 1998 BOWMORES
|
| Bowmore
9 yo 1998/2008 (46%, The Whisky Agency,
90 bottles)
Refill sherry. Colour: straw. Nose:
a rather discrete, but very elegant
Bowmore, starting on a straight mix
of grains and smoke, needing a little
time to develop it seems. Starts to
take off only after a few minutes,
passing by notes of ‘wet newspaper’
and getting then to the expected ‘coastality’
(yup, we’re masters at stupid
barbarisms.) Wet limestone and kelp,
with very light notes of summer comté
cheese (absolutely lovable.) Doesn’t
stop getting more elegant. Pencil
lead and almonds. Mouth: it’s
not the first time that I say that
I love the current young Bowmores
and this is just another proof of
their high quality. Uber-martime,
salty, smoky, peaty… One to
sprinkle over smoked salmon! Extremely
straightforward (but not complex at
all – do we really always need
complexity?) Also notes of fresh almonds
and a little grapefruit. Finish: medium
to long, a little more mineral now.
Comments: perfect and at a perfect
drinking strength. One to sip while
playing chess or backgammon wit a
good friend (better prepare two bottles.)
SGP:336 – 86 points. |
| Bowmore
9 yo 1998/2008 (58.1%, Villa Konthor
Limburg, Germany)
Colour: white wine. I had thought
this one would be the CS version of
the same cask as the TWA’s but
that’s impossible, as this one
is much lighter in colour. Nose: much
more spirity ‘of course’,
slightly lactic/acidic at first nosing,
but getting then superbly smoky and
mineral. Used matches, burnt gunpowder…
What’s strange is that it gets
then very ‘fishy’ (kippers).
Freshly opened box of sardines? Iodine,
seashells. With water: gets more medicinal
(antiseptic, iodine) but certainly
not less ‘fishy’. Sardines
indeed (did you know that there are
very little sardines in Europe this
year?) Mouth (neat): a burst of peat,
smokiness, salt and lemon. Much cleaner
at the attack than at first nosing.
Any peat lover will like this ultra-zesty
Bowmore, but beware the strength.
With water: classic, ultra-clean young
spirit. Salt, peat, smoke and candied
lemons. Finish: more salt. Comments:
classic and absolutely flawless. Very
close to the Whisky Agency version
when reduced. SGP:337 –
88 points. |
| Bowmore
9 yo 1998/2007 (62.3%, Dewar Rattray,
cask #800037, 629 bottles)
From a sherry cask. Colour:
gold. Nose: the sherry is very obvious
at first nosing but the whole is too
powerful to be properly assessed (but
the big notes of gunpowder are great.)
With water: more gunflints, cabbage,
phosphorus and our beloved wet dogs
as well as unusual whiffs of rosemary
(unusual in Bowmore, that is.) Mouth
(neat): amazingly ‘swallowable’
at such high strength but quite anaesthetic
I’m afraid. More flinty and
zesty than the Villa Konthor. With
water: pretty much the same high-grade
stuff as the Whisky Agency. Maybe
a tad rounder and a tad saltier at
the same time. Finish: long, salty,
maritime… Comments: my advice
is “buy the best current young
Bowmores and forget them in a dark,
damp cellar for forty year.”
Was that useful or what? No need to
say that I’m a sucker for these
young Bowmores from the end of the
1990’s. SGP:337 –
88 points. |
| And
also Bowmore
15 yo ‘Glasgow Garden Festival’
(40%, OB, ceramic, 1988)
Nose: passion fruits, grapefruits
and a very light peatiness, rather
typical of the early 1970’s.
Hints of white chocolate – very
nice nose. Mouth: excellent attack
on ‘peated grapefruits’
but gets then much drier and austere.
Also a bit dusty and peppery. Comments:
thinnish development on the palate
but the rest was rather great. Don't
we know that ceramics usually don't
keep too well? SGP:525 –
85 points. |
 |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: did you know the supremely
elegant pianist George
Wallington? Have a
try at his Morning
dew.mp3 while sipping a very
old Speysider (your pick), we're
sure you'll love it - even if you're
not into jazz.And then please buy
his records... |
 |
| |
June
4, 2008 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
– TWO NEW OFFICIAL AN CNOCS |
| An
Cnoc 1994/2008 (46%, OB)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: starts as
malty as, err, malt can get. Also
a lot of chicory, toffee, toasts,
pollen, strong honey (chestnut) and
café latte, with something
slightly wild coming through at the
development. Black tea, fermenting
hay and pipe tobacco and finally whiffs
of wood smoke. |
| Very
nice overall profile, it seems that
this vintage expression gets bigger
year after year. Not exactly the round,
slightly middle-of-the-road malt An
Cnoc used to be in our opinion. Best
of news! Mouth: a very creamy, almost
thick mouth feel, all on malt, caramel
and baked pears. Quite some honey
as well, roasted nuts, vanilla…
Maybe a tad less ‘interesting’
than on the nose but it’s still
most enjoyable. Finish: medium long,
honeyed and nutty, with hints of liquorice.
Comments: one to pour your friends
who aren’t into whisky but who
are true friends. Good, easy stuff.
SGP:531 –
84 points. |
| An
Cnoc 16 yo (46%, OB, bourbon barrels,
2008)
Colour: straw. Nose: this one is rather
fruitier and less malty/caramelly
than the 1994. Notes of pears and
apples, mint-flavoured tea, then straight
strawberry sweets and orange liqueur
and finally a little honey and camomile
tea. Maybe not the most complex malt
ever but the whole is fruity, fresh,
clean and balanced. Mouth: once again,
this one starts fruitier than the
1994 but certainly not ‘weaker’.
More light honey as well, pear syrup,
maple syrup, faint hints of orange
blossom water, oriental pastries…
A little caramel as well but less
than in the 1994. Finish: a tad longer
than the 1994’s but getting
closer to that one in style. Honey-coated
nuts and a slight roughness in the
aftertaste (tannins?) Comments: very
good again but marginally less ‘satisfying’
than the 1994 in our opinion. SGP:521
– 83 points. |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: it's sweet, it's fresh,
it's quite frenchy, some say it's
for girls... it's Albin
de la Simone and his
J'ai
changé.mp3 (that was
on his 2005 album 'Je vais changer').
It won't make you scratch your head,
that is... But (so) please buy Albin
de la Simone's music. |
 |
| |
June
3, 2008 |
|
|
TASTING
– VARIOUS PORT ELLENS |
 |
|
Port Ellen 19 yo 1977 (43%, Hart Bros)
Colour: straw. Nose: fresh, peaty
and flinty but probably not very complex.
Porridge and warm milk, wet wood and
pepper sauce. Quite austere but still
rather expressive at just 43%. Lemon
juice and dill, maybe even mint. Mouth:
a little too cardboardy at the attack
but the saltiness is pleasant. Peat,
nutmeg, dry cinnamon and white pepper.
Not as bold as it sounds! ;-) Finish:
medium long, peaty but a little indefinite.
Comments: I think this one is a rather
weak version of Port Ellen. The nose
was nicer than the palate. SGP:134
- 78 points. |
| Port
Ellen 1983/2006 (46%, Jean Boyer,
Best Casks of Scotland)
Colour: deep gold. Nose: this one
is one of these flinty and ‘sulphury’
sherried Port Ellens it seems. Not
H2S at all, that is, rather gunpowder
and used matches, phosphorus…
Very pleasant notes of orange marmalade
behind all that, bitter chocolate,
white pepper, saltpetre, orangeade
(good Fanta)… rather beautiful
in its own genre, a style that is
only to be found in Port Ellen I think.
Mouth: starts creamy and fudgy/orangey,
with less flint and ‘good sulphur’
than on the nose. Good body. Grows
very spicy after that (mainly cloves
and cardamom). Not a very big middle
but gets bigger again towards the
finish (oyster water.) Finish: medium
long, on ‘peated Seville oranges’,
toffee and seawater. Comments: not
a monster but one of the most drinkable
sherried Port Ellens I ever tried.
Sip, don’t collect! SGP:346
– 88 points. |
| Port
Ellen 1980/2006 (54.2%, Whisky Freunde
Essenheim, cask #2562, 144 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: starts rather
Laphroaigish (antiseptic, peat) but
it’s soon to get rather lactic,
porridgy and cardboardy. Slightly
stale lemon juice. Not unpleasant
at all but not my cup of malt as far
as the nose is concerned. Mouth: much,
much better than on the nose. Maybe
a tad simple but as big, punchy, lemony
and peaty as PE can get. Peated grapefruit
juice. Finish: long, in the same vein.
Not too far from some of the official
Annual Releases on the palate. Comments:
too bad the nose was a bit so-so.
SGP:247 – 81 points. |
| Port
Ellen 25 yo 1982/2007 (58.2%, Dewar
Rattray for Jack Wieber for Monnier,
cask #2643, 60 bottles)
A cascade of bottlers; UK -> Germany
-> Switzerland, isn’t that
funny? Colour: deep amber. Nose: starts
less expressively than the colour
suggested, and rather straighter/sharper.
Gets then very meaty, beefy (grilled
steak). Balsamico, ham, prunes…
Encapsulates the peat in a certain
way. Same notes of burnt matches and
gunpowder as in the Jean Boyer, also
notes of cassis jelly and leather
(horse saddle). With water: it got
even meatier and wilder! ‘Hare
belly’ as we say in the wine
world (not Hare Krishna), freshly
opened box of 8-9-8’s (make
that Lusitanias), leather… Just
superb now. Mouth (neat): excellent
attack, blending big peat and big
sherry, with a coating fruitiness
this time. Apricot jam, cherry jam
and liqueur, green tea… This
is big, big whisky. Touches of rubber
(rubber band). With water: the rubber
vanished but the rest got even more
beautiful. Peated prunes (who’s
gonna try to make that?) Finish: as
long as an US invasion - but very
perfect. Comments: only 60 bottles?
Life is unjust. SGP:457 –
91 points. |
| Port
Ellen 24 yo 1983/2008 (58.6%, The
Whisky Agency, 240 bottles)
From a refill sherry cask. Colour:
full gold. Nose: this is more chocolaty
and pleasantly coffeeish at first
nosing. ‘Peated orange marmalade
over a baked pheasant’ (well...)
Goes on with leather, cigar tobacco
and maybe hints of dill. With water:
more of the same, which is excellent
news. Mouth (neat): ah yes, now we’re
talking. Punchy PE, better balanced
than all the former ones, even if
there’s quite some rubber again.
Also the fruitiest one (cherry jam,
cassis, even ripe gooseberries.) Big
spices in the background and also
a lot of pepper. Very, very big, not
for the faint-hearted as they say.
With water: it got almost perfect
now. Peated, spicy orange marmalade.
Impressive cleanliness for a sherry-matured
whisky. Finish: long and superb. Totally
satisfying. Comments: impressive selection
by our German friends (hope their
Mannschaft will be less good in a
few weeks.) SGP:558 - 91 points. |
|
| BONUS
- And no, we won’t try the Port
Ellen ‘Feis Isle 2008’
yet, but here’s a nice picture
of many friends lining up at Caol
Ila Distillery - just like the stills
line up in the background - early
in the morning of May 26, trying to
get a bottle of it… RU on the
picture? |
|
MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: the good Eddy
Mitchell aka Mr Moine
does his C'est
la vie, mon chéri.mp3
live at the Casino de Paris. Yes
we have great old rock and rollers
too in France! Please buy Eddy Mitchell's
music. |
 |
| |
June
2, 2008 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
ROBERT PLANT
AND ALISON KRAUSS |
 |
The Cardiff
International Arena, Cardiff
May 8th 2008
We’ve
taken a train on Mr Brunel’s
railway to come to Cardiff, the very
heart of the Principality, and of
course, of the land of my fathers,
or at least some of them. It’s
a handsome city - half heritage, half
building site, dominated by its castle
and a stone’s throw away from
the Millennium Stadium, home at the
moment to the best
national Rugby Union team in Europe
(‘though sadly, not the world).
And so it should be for a warrior
race for whom sport has substituted
the ancient art of war. So the finely-
honed and fearsome physiques of the
male savage are now dedicated to the
twin temples of rugby and soccer –
and when we arrived the capital was
in the grips of football mania as
the eponymous Cardiff City was about
to head for Wembley (bad luck boys).
And at a time when the world’s
headlines are dominated by unimaginable
natural disasters, by doom-laden predictions
of economic implosion, by deep-seated
fears of drought, flooding and all-purpose
ecological meltdown, and by the money-
grabbing antics of a certain ex-prime
minister’s wife, it’s
good to know that the local newspaper
really goes after the story that counts
for the Cardiff man (or woman) in
the streets.
We’re
here to join Robert
Plant on the latest leg
of his musical journey, but not before
we’ve dined in style in the
company of one of my many ‘cousins’.
Then it’s off to the Cardiff
International Arena, a sort of charmless
modern multi-purpose structure in
the middle of what appears to be the
biggest building site in the world
outside of Beijing (more shops apparently
– hooray!). The place is blessed
with wonderful acoustics – or
so it seems, as the sound is very
good. And the very friendly and orderly
crowd (some of whom have tethered
their sheep neatly outside) listen
with an eagerness and attentiveness
that one rarely experiences in the
Metropolis. |
| Indeed
towards the end of the show it almost
feels as if we could be in a chapel,
which is fitting for such a God-fearing
country, but for a couple of guys
who are clearly brainless on Brains
and persistently attempt to ‘dance’
under the noses of a flock of disapproving
stewards. |
| If
you don’t know, Plant has deserted
his adventures in the East and instead
turned his attention west, to Americana
and a delve into the Great American
Song Book, in the company of singer
and fiddle player Alison
Krauss, perhaps best
known among non-Nashville aficionados
for her singing in the Cohen Brothers’
Homeric classic ‘Oh Brother
where are thou?’. The album
they released, Raising Sand, was probably
one of the best of last year, but
it’s a ‘grower’
that needs to be given a little time
to release its full power and complexity.
At its heart is guitarist and producer
T
Bone Burnett (who was also the
musical director for ‘Oh Brother’)
and a group of astonishing musicians,
most of whom are here tonight, including
Burnett, drummer Jay Bellerose (with
a quite unique style), and acoustic
bass player Dennis
Crouch. They’re joined on
fiddle, banjo and guitar by Stuart
Duncan. Sadly, Marc Ribot, an unusual
choice for a country album, isn’t
on stage, but he’s replaced
by Nashville guitar legend Buddy
Miller. The band are simply sensational. |
| I
had puzzled how Plant would make one
album into a show. The device was
that in addition to performing almost
all of Raising Sand, he gave a lot
of room to Krauss for her own work,
and T Bone piled in with a couple
of numbers of his own. Then, of course,
there was the banjo-fuelled rendition
of Led Zeppelin’s ‘Black
Dog’, (the audience responding
to Plant’s “Oh yeah, oh
yeah” in a carefully-constructed
six-part harmony) and later, the charming
‘Battle of Evermore’,
with Kraus adeptly taking Sandy Denny’s
original vocal part. But with one
exception, the highlights were the
wonderfully-chosen songs from Raising
Sand – with Plant’s unusually
delicate and sensitive vocals pairing
perfectly with Krauss’s soaring
harmonies and the tremolo-tinged guitars
of Burnett and Miller. |
 |
|
It’s almost as if Krauss is
Plant’s long-lost brother Phil
or Don, and it’s quite fitting
that they ended the show with the
Everly Brothers’ ‘Gone
gone gone’. They had started
with the playful ‘Rich Woman’,
the album’s opener, Krauss sang
excellently on ‘Let your loss
be your lesson’ , ‘Sister
Rosetta goes before us’ and
the absolutely haunting ‘Trampled
rose’ (when you could have heard
a pin drop). Plant hammed up ‘Fortune
Teller’ in a way that only he
could, but was hugely powerful in
his delivery of Townes Van Zandt’s
‘Nothin’, a no-holds-barred
performance by the whole band. And
together they harmonised beautifully
on Plant and Page’s most Everlyesque
composition, ‘Please read the
letter’. As you can tell from
the adjectives, Serge, it was a very
special show indeed, but the moment
of the evening was when Krauss, with
Plant, Miller and Duncan on backing
vocals, sang an ‘a cappella’
version of ‘Valley to pray’,
which, thinking about it, could almost
be an alternative Welsh national anthem. |
Dining
in style in Cardiff
|
They
say that Plant turned down zillions
of dollars for a Led Zeppelin reunion
this year in order to tour with Krauss.
I can only admire his steadfastness
and resolve – he’s made
a brilliant album and the live performance
is even better. What next, I wonder,
from this travelling
minstrel who also demonstrated
an uncanny mastery of the native tongue.
Fel i mewn ateb Ddeuda , " ddiolch
'ch Rhobert , achos an agos 'n arddun
berfformiad "? - Nick Morgan
(Cardiff photographs by Kate and Nick's
iPhone) |
Listen:
Robert
Plant and Alison Krauss MySpace page
T
Bone Burnett MySpace page |
TASTING
– ANOTHER FLIGHT OF LAPHROAIGS |
 |
| Laphroaig
1990/2007 (46%, Montgomerie’s,
cask #M586)
Colour: pale straw. Nose: starts with
a straight burst of peat smoke and
develops on the trademark medicinal
notes (antiseptic, iodine) as well
as whiffs of ‘the sea’,
asparagus and wet wool. Archetypical
– more than the officials actually.
Very little fruitiness here. Mouth:
a salty and liquoricy attack, with
a medium smokiness but quite some
peat. Clean and pure development,
not far from the regular 10yo but
with more zing and a slightly bigger
peatiness. Lemon and peppered apple
compote. Finish: rather long, ‘simply’
on peat, lemon and pepper, which is
more than enough. Comments: maybe
not the most stunning Laphroaig ever
but balance and character are perfect.
Very sippable. SGP:247 –
86 points. |
| Laphroaig
16 yo 1987/2004 (52.6%, Helmsdale
Bar, Japan)
Colour: full gold. Nose: more a mix
of coffee and peat. Big but subtler
and less straightforward than the
Montgomerie’s – probably
a sherry hogshead (even if the label
only states ‘hogshead’.)
A lot of orange marmalade on top of
the peaty and medicinal notes. Also
milk chocolate… and then we’re
back to ‘a coffee shop’.
Mouth: creamy, sweet, peppery and
gingery at first sipping, with the
fruits chiming in after that (lots
of bitter oranges and candied lemons.)
Hints of cardamom and Moroccan all-purpose
spice mix (for lazy cooks, they say.)
Half sweet, half peaty. Finish: long,
on peated ginger and orange marmalade.
Comments: maybe the spirit’s
big character and the cask’s
relative sweetness don’t mix
at 100% here, but the end result is
still of high quality. Slightly ‘divergent’
on the palate in our opinion. SGP:436
- 85 points. |
| Laphroaig
11 yo 1994/2005 (52.9%, Hart Bros)
Colour: white wine. Nose: less peaty
and much more on vanilla crème,
yoghurt and beer. Smoked vanilla-flavoured
yoghurt? Lacks something in a certain
way, even if it does improve over
time. Orange and grapefruit salad,
used matches. Mouth: sweet and lemony
attack, rounder than expected, sort
of closer to a young Ardbeg than to
a Laphroaig. Ripe apples with a little
pepper. Improves after a while, the
peat managing to overwhelm the sweetness.
Still a bit simple. Finish: medium
long, slitghly sugary. Comments: obviously
good but maybe a tad dull. There are
many better ‘phroaigs around.
SGP:425 – 80 points. |
| Laphroaig
17 yo 1979/1996 (53.5%, Glenscoma)
Colour: straw. Nose: this one is much
more lemony, almost sour (in a nice
way.) Chocolate-dipped candied lemon
zests. Unusual notes of passion fruits
and mangos ala old Bowmore (granted,
ala old Laphroaig.) Superb smokiness
(peat but also coal.) Top notch but
you have to like lemony/acidulated
notes in your Laphroaig. Mouth: wowie,
this one reminds us of much older
official versions. Beautifully citrusy
and ‘tropical’ (pick your
fruit), with the spices and the peat
forming the most enjoyable showcase.
Let’s not elaborate too much
if you please. Finish: long and superb.
Comments: well, the most beautiful
whiskies can hide behind the ugliest
labels (I know, a matter of taste!)
A gem. SGP:546 – 92
points. |
| Laphroaig
‘Cairdeas’ (55%, OB, 2008)
‘Created to celebrate their
friends worldwide’. Well, in
that case, I’d have given the
bottles for free ;-). Colour: straw.
Nose: starts sort of shier than all
the other ones, drier, less aromatic
and curiously less ‘Laphroaig’.
More vanillin, white chocolate and
orange marmalade. Faint dustiness,
wet newspaper, seawater… Nice
nose but not a big development. Gets
more almondy and liquoricy over time,
though. Mouth: compact, sweet and
peaty, somewhat like a mix of the
regular 10yo with the Quarter Cask
(hints of bourbon). Notes of rum.
Round, soft spices (yellow curry),
white pepper, liquorice and hints
of dried ginger. Maybe a tad too ‘rounded’
and undemanding. Finish: rather long
but gets much drier at this point,
as if there was some new oak involved.
Comments: good Laphroaig, maybe a
little rounder and more ‘rummy’
than most other official versions.
Sort of aromatised? Again, it’s
good but I wouldn’t swap one
bottle of 10yo CS for two bottles
of this ‘friendly’ version…
SGP:437 – 83 points. |
 |
| BONUS
- Here’s an exclusive picture
by our friend Marcel
van Gils (Undisputed Master of
Laphroaig): the Laphroaig crew tidying
the place up a bit for HRH Prince
Charles' visit that’ll happen
right on Wednesday this week. There
is white and there is whiter white
(sunglasses de rigueur). |
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:
Blair
Athol 12 yo 1965/1977 (80°
Proof, Cadenhead's Dumpy, Black Label, 75cl)
Clynelish
1983/2002 (47%, Samaroli, cask #2685,
306 bottles)
Clynelish
1983/2006 (53.1%, Scotch Single Malt
Circle, cask #1351)
Inverleven
29 yo 1978/2008 (45.5%, Duncan Taylor,
Rarest of the Rare, cask #1878)
Laphroaig
17 yo 1979/1996 (53.5%,
Glenscoma)
Port
Ellen 25 yo 1982/2007 (58.2%, Dewar
Rattray for Jack Wieber for Monnier, cask #2643,
60 bottles)
Port
Ellen 24 yo 1983/2008 (58.6%, The Whisky
Agency, 240 bottles)
Strathisla
40 yo 1967/2008 (47.6%,
The Whisky Agency, 60 bottles)
Strathisla
40 yo 1967/2008 (48.6%, Duncan Taylor
Rare Auld, cask #2716, 160 bottles)
Strathisla
1955/2003 (59.2%, Gordon & MacPhail
Private Collection, cask #407, 148 bottles)
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