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Hi, you're in the Archives, October 2008 - Part 1 |
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October
14, 2008 |
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TASTING
– NEW TALISKER 25 UNDER PRESSURE!
(isn’t this
headline catchier – and more
blog-style than just ‘Four
Taliskers’?) |
| Indeed,
we really wanted to put the brand
new Talisker 25 under pressure, following
Corneille’s advice in Le Cid
(‘we triumph without glory when
we conquer without danger’)
and that’s why we decided to
try it ‘against’ three
old, err, glories… |
Talisker
21 yo 1951 (43% Gordon & MacPhail,
Connoisseur’s Choice, Pinerolo,
rotation 1972) 
Colour: dark gold. Nose: wonderful
at first nosing, starting on big whiffs
of coal smoke, soot, cold ashes and
dried tangerines. Rather dry and beautifully
austere, wonderfully pure. Develops
then for a long time, getting much
more honeyed. Also mirabelle plum
jam, quinces, fig liqueur, leather,
‘old engine’, motor oil…
Very complex and obviously superb.
Mouth: not exactly powerful but certainly
big and immensely salty. Cough drops,
orange liqueur, malt, grilled herbs,
bitter chocolate, bitter oranges…
Granted, there’s a little less
complexity than on the nose but it’s
still wonderful. And, above all, not
tired at all. Finish: medium long,
all on oranges, salt, peat and tea.
Comments: as often, this is more a
whisky for nosing but the palate really
stood the course. What a stunning
nose! SGP:456 – 92 points. |
| Talisker
21 yo 1952 (43% Gordon & MacPhail,
Connoisseur’s Choice, Pinerolo,
rotation 1973)
Colour: amber. Nose: we’re starting
more or les in the same vein as with
the 1951, except that this is somewhat
rounder and more candied and orangey,
less austere. It’s also a little
more medicinal, somewhat more Islay
style. Bigger notes of oranges in
any case. Develops on more minty and
resinous notes, camphor, metal polish,
cough medicine… Well, this is
absolutely stunning. I like it even
better than the 1951. Mouth: again,
this is different. Bigger, almost
punchy, with a lot of oomph and ultra-big
notes of peppered bitter oranges dipped
into dark chocolate. Or something
like that. The pepper gets really
huge, together with the tannins (but
they never get drying). Also lemon
marmalade and plain peat. Finish:
longer than the 1951’s, almost
hot, very peppery, with also notes
of cloves and always quite some bitter
chocolate. Comments: maybe a little
old Islay style on the nose but definitely
‘Talisker’ on the palate.
A work of art, amazingly big at 43%
and after 35 years in glass. SGP:566
– 94 points. |
| Talisker
24 yo 1953 (43% Gordon & MacPhail,
Connoisseur’s Choice, Pinerolo,
rotation 1977)
Colour: amber. Nose: this one is sort
of between the 1951 and the 1952 at
first nosing, mid-ashy, mid-orangey,
but also with much bigger notes of
shoe polish and soot. There’s
also quite some ‘good’
soap; I mean, not soapy soap, rather
deluxe soap. Oh well… The development
is, once again, beautiful. Certainly
drier than both the 1951 and the 1952
now, with even more shoe polish, metal
polish, ink, gun grease, wet chalk…
Another fabulous nose. Amazing how
these three old Taliskers are similar
yet different on the nose. Mouth:
very coherent, with again these resinous
and waxy notes. I should confess I
never tried shoe polish but that may
well taste like this. Thicker mouth
feel than in the other ones. Gets
then a tad metallic but also very
salty and lemony again. Also a tad
tannic. Finish: long, with again these
metallic notes. Comments: well, this
one is the least impressive on the
palate but the nose was absolutely
amazing, which will prevent me from
going below 90 points. SGP:365
– 90 points. |
| Talisker
25 yo (54.2%, OB, Refill casks, 9,708
bottles, 2008)
A pretty large batch this year. Colour:
pale gold. Nose: the difference with
the oldies is very obvious, and not
only because of the higher proof.
It’s much more ‘coastal’,
with much more notes of iodine, sea
air, oysters, kelp… As for the
fruity side, we left the oranges for
more lemons and green apples. Also
highly unusual notes of green olives
that we never got in any Talisker
as far as we can remember. The peat
is less ‘ashy and sooty’,
and probably grassier and more organic.
With water (at roughly 43% to make
it more comparable with the oldies):
it got even straighter, on a pure
mix of seawater and lemon juice. Make
that a plate of oysters. Mouth (neat):
again, what’s striking is that
there’s much more lemon and
even lime in this ‘new’
one. Very citric and then certainly
peatier than the oldies. Also very
peppery, but it’s different
pepper when compared with the exceptional
1952. Sharper and also more mineral.
With water: it does not get any rounder
but, interestingly, closer to the
oldies, with these heavy notes of
shoe polish that we found in the 1953.
Also notes of fresh almonds and always
a lot of lemon. Finish: long, heavily
‘coastal’ now, with the
‘lemony peat’ striking
at the end. Faint tannins (grape skin).
Comments: these recent 20 or 25yo
Taliskers are all very good and except
for wood type variations (there has
been some sherry versions), they are
all very consistent. What’s
more, even if the 1952 is really out
of this world, they are in the same
league as the oldies and should benefit
from a little bottle aging. Only one
concern, though: will the corks keep
as well as good twist caps (or better
yet, tin/spring caps) do? SGP:457
- 91 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: Michel
Hausser and his vibes
doing Horace Silver’s (from Up in Hamburg,
too bad it was never put on CD) sometime
in the late 1950’s or early
1960’s. Michel, 'our own Milt
Jackson', lives in our valley here
in Alsace and at the age of 81, he’s
doing very well and never, ever lost
it on stage or in studio. Please buy
any music by Michel Hausser that you
may find. |
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October
13, 2008 |
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
JONNY LANG |
| The
House of Blues, New Orleans, October
5th 2008 |
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| It
could be the most disconcerting thing
that’s ever happened to me.
I’m in the urinals, and the
gentleman next to me, eyes pointed
purposefully on the porcelain, says
“Jeez, this one’s gonna
be the hottest I’ve had for
years”. What could I say? After
all, I’m in a foreign country.
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| He
turns to catch my eye. As they say
in these parts, I shoot him a glance.
“I mean the gig. Jonny
Lang. Saw him when he
was a boy in St Louis. Man, he’s
the hottest young guitar player I’ve
ever seen. Plays like a dream, sings
good too, like an old blues man. Me
and my buddies, we’re in town
for the football game, we’re
from up state. Man, we’ve been
drinking like hogs since we got here
Friday night. Can you believe this
place? Where y’all from?” |
| We’re
in New Orleans, thankfully a somewhat
less blighted city than when we last
visited just twelve months after the
devastating Hurricane Katrina, but
still a shadow of its former glory.
We’ve just feasted Cajun-style
in what seems to be the one busy Sunday
night restaurant - andouille, red
beans and rice with smoked sausage,
alligator strips, blackened fish and
smothered turnip greens. And now we’re
in the House
of Blues. |
| It’s
part of the chain originally set up
by Hard Rock Café founder Isaac
Tigrett and actor and sometimes Blues
Brother Dan Ackroyd, which, you may
recall, famously rescued Muddy Waters’
sharecropper shack at Stovall Plantation
from dereliction. But now, like most
things it seems, House of Blues (but
not the shack) is owned by Live Nation.
For many, HOB represents perhaps one
of the worst manifestations of Corporate
Rock, including collaborations with
hotel chains and casinos, And
many might wonder at the expanding
influence of businesses like Live
Nation, with through-the-line interests
from artist management, to promotion,
to venue ownership. Just read the
slogan on the back of the matching
T-shirts worn by the two rather militant
ladies we saw somewhere – “The
home of the blues is in the Delta,
not a restaurant’. But the fact
remains that they’re capable
of bringing medium-name headliners
to venues such as this, which local
promoters would probably find difficult
to do. And despite the burgeoning
economic meltdown, which seems to
dominate every restaurant and breakfast
table conversation we overhear, this
place is absolutely packed. But it
is a football weekend, and without
doubt it’s a football crowd. |
| Jonny
Lang is as described in the restrooms:
a veritable child prodigy of the blues.
Having started to play when he was
around twelve, he recorded his first
major album, Lie to Me, in 1997 at
the age of fifteen. You have to listen
to this one to understand just how
good it is – naturally razor-sharp
guitar playing from the school of
Stevie Ray Vaughan and an astonishingly
mature voice with a soulful growl
reminiscent of Joe Cocker at his best.
Fifteen? Don’t believe me? Buy
the record and see. Sadly, in the
ten years since then, during which
time Lang has toured the USA remorselessly,
his music has veered towards the sadly
predictable watered-down soul-rock
so beloved of American audiences. |
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It’s not that Lang’s prodigious
talents have diminished in any way,
rather that they have been somewhat
wasted on material clearly designed
to seek out a wider audience, and
in particular to win airplay time
on the hugely commercially important
but mind-numbingly anodyne radio play
lists. Just listen to ‘Red light’
to see what I mean. But the songs
from his last two albums, Long Time
Coming and Turn Around, are just the
stuff for a largely inebriated, arm-waving
and whooping New Orleans football
audience. However, I was prepared
to give Mr Lang the benefit of the
doubt – on stage he’s
a charming, modest and genuine sort
of guy, still with the winning smile
of a teenager, and when he plays (and
my goodness, how he plays) a grimace
worthy of the finest blues guitarists.
But the predictability and blandness
of the material was wearing, and the
balance finally tipped against his
favour after a lengthy cover of Stevie
Wonder’s ‘Living for the
city’, which in a sense gave
the game away, and left your reviewer
and companion leaving in search of
some of Scotland’s very finest
midnight wine. |
| Now,
Serge, we’re on the road heading
for the Delta. We’ve taken all
the money that was left in the special
Whiskyfun Icelandic bank account (not
as much, I’m sure, as we deposited)
and bought a fabulous second-hand
Whiskeyfun trailer for our trip, though
I have to admit it’s a bit of
a bugger to manoeuvre. We’re
in the land of real whiskey, and real
food to match. And heading north on
Highway 61 and the Great River Road,
past the half-harvested fields of
cotton and soya beans, and through
largely forgotten and impoverished
communities with isolated churches
scattered on lonely roadsides, I can’t
help wondering whether, that in addition
to being the root of everything that’s
best in music, there isn’t a
prescient and timeless spiritual wisdom
here, that can sort of see what’s
coming. - Nick Morgan (most photographs
by Nick and Kate) |
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TASTING
– OLD AND NEW 15yo GLEN GRANT |
Glen
Grant 15yo (57% 100°Proof, G&M
Licenced bottling, early 1990's, 75cl)
Colour: amber. Nose: rather punchy,
compact at first nosing (praline and
coffee) but going in many directions
after that. Meaty (ham and chicken
bouillon), malty and herbal (parsley),
with very nice notes of dry sherry
and a little smoke. Gets then meatier
and drier, without any fruitiness.
More smoke as well (roasted chestnuts,
BBQ) and whiffs of fresh mint. With
water: keeps developing and quite
beautifully so. Soy sauce, coal smoke,
cooked ham, mulled wine, Comté
cheese (or Gruyère) with notes
of chives and maybe dill and cumin.
Mouth (neat): more classic but not
less big. Malt, old white wine, walnuts…
Liquorice, strong tea, roots…
Gets drier and drier. Huge saltiness.
With water: even more salt as well
as more liquorice and more earthy
tones. Finish: long, almost ‘too
much’ actually, concentrated
like some re-cooked vegetable soup.
Comments: amazing saltiness, we’re
very far from the light and easy young
Glen Grants. Very interesting but
maybe not one to pour to your favourite
neighbours. SGP:372 –
87 points. |
| Glen
Grant 15 yo 1992/2007 (59.9%, OB,
cask #17163, 378 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: more austere
than the older G&M, less meaty
(but it could not have been meatier
on the nose), with unusual notes of
crystallised lemons and plain lemonade
and orangeade. Fanta? Lemon-scented
candles, waxed paper, fermenting hay,
dust, curry and mustard. ‘First
rain after three dry weeks in a large
city’ (oh well…) Not the
average Glen Grant for sure, nor the
average malt whisky. With water: it
gets seriously cheesy and papery.
Not that it’s unpleasant, especially
since it gets then cleaner, more on
apple juice and flints. Mouth (neat):
very classic now, even if rather punchy.
Mashed potatoes, ale, apple juice
and lemon juice. With water: more
of the same. 50% lager and 50% cider.
Finish: long, even more on lager (say
Pils), with hops’ bitterness.
Comments: interesting that Glen Grant
chose this cask as one of their new
limited OB’s, now that they
seem to have gained more autonomy
(under Campari’s ownership.)
Rather demanding but we applaud. SGP:252
– 85 points. |
And
also Glen
Grant 5 yo 1968 (40%, OB, 75cl)
One of these old 5yo’s for Italy
bearing vintages. Nose: starts a bit
spirity and on rather heavy notes
of cut apples. Gets then a little
feintier, porridgy. Mouth: lively,
quite malty and grainy, developing
on apples again. Simple but palatable.
Keyword: apples. SGP:420 –
75 points. |
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October
12, 2008 |
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| WF
FACTS AND FIGURES: NEW COUNTRIES COMING
TO SINGLE MALT INDEED? |
|
We already did that in the past so
why not be even more transparent,
‘lift the bonnet’ a little
further on WF’s figures and
have a closer look at the evolutions
of the numbers of visits from various
parts of the world within one year?
We’ve only taken into account
what we’d call ‘useful
visits’, that is to say visits
that 'stuck' and didn’t ‘bounce
back’. That makes quite a difference
since WF currently gathers more or
less 2,800 visits a day, whilst only
1,500 of them are really 100% ‘useful’
in our opinion. But we’re shooting
for quality anyway, not quantity (proof:
YOU are reading this! ;-)) since we
aren’t selling any ad space,
links, leads, edvertising, high ratings,
whisky, diet food, monkey wrenches,
fake v!agrrRa, replica Rolexes, penis
enlarging pills, online casino games,
debt reductions, pictures of Victoria
Beckham nude or Dell computers. Anyway,
here are these figures for last month
(Sept 2008): |
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|
These
figures do show that indeed, ‘new
countries’ progress much more
than ‘old ones’, that
is to say that these countries seem
to be more and more into single malt
whisky (and high-class music reviews!)
It is to be noted that within Asia,
the Persian Gulf countries are really
skyrocketing. |
| More
globally, it’s Singapore (+732%!!!),
India (+230%), Poland (+212%), Brazil
(+182%), Russia (+144%), Norway (+143%),
Spain (+135%), Greece (+121%) and
Australia (+108%) that are doing very
well among the 'large' countries.
On the other hand, we're sorry to
announce that we lost our unique monthly
readers in Belize, Cambodia, Kyrgyzstan
and Kazakhstan (but where is Borat
?) but gained one in Libya, Suriname
and on the Turks and Caicos Islands.
Now, the crisis may mess everything
up... |
TASTING
– FOUR OLD AND FOUR RECENT
EDRADOURS |
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Edradour
10yo 1972 (40%, G&M Connoisseur’s
Choice old brown label, +/- 1982)
Colour: gold. Nose: very floral and
very honeyed, smelling almost like
pure acacia honey at first nosing,
getting then a bit more ‘tertiary’,
with notes of old leather and dried
flowers (pot pourri) and then mint,
and just the tiniest soapiness. It’s
very pleasant. Mouth: starts very
well, on the same notes of honey plus
quite some dried fruits, but gets
then a little bizarre, unusually salty
and bitter. Notes of cologne and burnt
caramel. Yes, strange. What’s
more, it’s rather powerful!
Finish: long, a tad cleaner now, more
candied and kind of roasted. Comments:
the nose was very nice but the palate
is a tad too ‘wacky’ for
my taste. A collector’s item?
SGP:460 – 68 points. |
| Edradour
1973 (40%, G&M Connoisseur’s
Choice old map label, +/- 1985)
Colour: gold. Nose:
this is very vegetal and starts almost
like olive oil, then quite some mashed
potatoes and beer, and finally ultra-big
notes of thyme and rosemary. I never
got that that loud in whisky. Also
hints of new leatherette, alas. The
rest is similar to the 1972, with
quite some acacia honey. Mouth: better
than the 1972 at the attack. Not only
even bigger, but also very nicely
fruity and honeyed. Alas, that doesn’t
last for too long and these notes
of cologne and burnt caramel are back.
Finish: long and even more on perfume.
Nice notes of crystallised oranges,
that is. Comments: it had its moments.
SGP:360 – 70 points. |
Edradour
20 yo 1976/1996 (50.2%, Signatory,
casks #161/164, 420 bottles)
A pre-Signatory Signatory, so to speak.
Colour: straw. Nose: we’re closer
to the 1973 than to the 1972 on the
nose I’m afraid, but it’s
still much cleaner spirit, without
these plastic-like notes. Olive oil,
rosemary, porridge and wet cardboard.
Little honey here, that is. Mouth:
immensely soapy and perfumy, to the
point where it’s almost pleasant
in its total extravagance. Quite incredible,
these notes really dominate the whole.
Finish: very long and even soapier,
with also a little salt. Comments:
like when you mistakenly swallow shampoo
while taking a shower. Unless you’re
used to drink shampoo, that is…
SGP:380 – 50 points. |
Edradour
10 yo (40%, OB, tall bottle, +/-1990)
Colour: gold. Nose: this is much more
like it. Clean spirit, with a very,
very nice sherry, quite some vanilla,
honey and soft spices and a striking
resemblance with a young Aberlour.
Great notes of orange cake as well,
and even parsley and vegetable bouillon.
But the problem may happen on the
palate… Mouth: no, it’s
a very good attack, extremely honeyed
and malty. Roasted chestnuts, brownies,
mocha and then even more honey. Slight
bitterness after a moment (walnut
skin). Finish: long – all these
low strength Edradours are big drams
– and evolving on even more
honey, caramelised nuts and okay,
maybe a faint soapiness again in the
‘signature’. Comments:
this is good. Worth having in your
collection (collecting whisky? Uh!)
SGP:551 - 80 points. |
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Edradour
10 yo (40%, OB, dumpy bottle, +/-2002)
This is one of the very last bottling
by the previous owners, before Signatory
bought the distillery. Colour: amber.
Nose: we’re back to the soapy
side a bit (washing powder) but much,
much less than with the old indies.
Quite some honey, walnut liqueur,
cigar box and orange cake then hints
of fresh putty and bitter almonds.
Mouth: no! Detergent, plastic, bitter
almonds and Fanta. Finish: yes. Comments:
these batches were rather disastrous
on the palate and it was about time
somebody took over the distillery.
I believe the latest batches can be
recognised by their tiny coloured
drawing of the distillery instead
of the older single colour one. SGP:270
– 60 points. |
Edradour
10 yo 1997/2008 (59.1%, OB, straight
from the cask, Château d’Yquem
Finish, 452 bottles)
This one spent 9 month in Yquem casks.
Colour: gold. Nose: it has troubles
talking at this very high strength,
let’s add water right away (but
it seems that there are nice notes
of apricots). With water: listen,
I’d love to bash this crazy
wine finishing (and god knows Yquem
is great wine) but contrarily to ‘Tokaj’
versions that were really too much,
this is very, very enjoyable. Not
sweetish at all, rather balanced,
kind of phenolic, superbly fruity,
on apricots, ripe bananas, quinces
and herbal tea (camomile) and then
marzipan and nougat. Works very well
(I’m afraid). Mouth (neat):
punchy, sweet and fruity, all on pineapple
drops and hot lemon marmalade. Very
hot! With water: Edradour’s
slightly ‘tricky’ character
shines through for a short while but
then it’s all bananas flambéed,
tinned pineapples, brioche and apricot
pie, with also quite some honey. Finish:
long, a little more vegetal and spicy
now, as well as a little salty. Comments:
this cask managed to tame the fearless
spirit. A success. SGP:541
- 84 points. |
| Edradour
'Port Cask Matured' (46%, OB, 1st
release, cask #378, 2008)
Matured solely in a Port bodega butt,
no finishing. I believe this was already
distilled by the new owners. Colour:
blush wine. Nose: yes! Sure the wine’s
small red and black fruits are a bit
restless at very first nosing but
they quickly get sort of brought back
to heel, mingling with the (very clean
it seems) spirit into something very
fragrant and aromatic. Redcurrants
jelly, kriek, butter cream and cherry
stem tea. Very nice spiciness, albeit
unusual. Indian korma sauce? Whiffs
of coffee as well (coffee-schnapps).
No soapiness whatsoever. Mouth: this
is more ‘winey’ as such
and, above all, more extravagantly
fruity than on the nose, with huge
notes of strawberry drops, bubblegum,
pineapples, light caramel, very ripe
pears and even wild strawberries.
Once again, the spirit is very clean
and hence different from older Edradours.
Finish: long, clean fresh and fruity/jammy.
Comments: if you like fruity whiskies,
this is for you. Very well done and,
again much cleaner than older Edradours
(I know I insist, sorry about that.)
SGP:731 – 84 points. |
| Ballechin
#3 (46%, OB, matured in Port hogsheads,
2008)
Matured solely in Port hogsheads.
After the Edradour ‘Port’,
it’s interesting to try this
peaty version that’s been matured
in roughly similar casks. Remember
Ballechin #1 was matured in Burgundy
and #2 in Madeira. Colour: pale gold.
Port hogsheads, that is to say casks
made in Scotland out of ex-Port wood,
are obviously much less ‘winey’
than plain Port casks. Nose: superb!
Seriously, this is great, very different
from most other peated whiskies but
probably ‘closer to Islay’
than batches #2 and 3. There’s
some iodine (yeah we know where Pitlochry
is), hints of bandages, then marzipan,
quite some nutmeg, ginger powder,
fresh walnuts, light peat smoke and,
I must say, these notes of rosemary
that we already found in older Edradours,
except that they’re much, much
more pleasant here. Very discreet
hints of cow stable. Superb nose,
really. Mouth: excellent, perfect
alliance of the peat and the candied
side from the cask. Farmy, albeit
less so than earlier batches, more
polished, with a fruitiness that’s
more on ripe apricots and plums, lemon
balm sweets (say Ricola) and kumquats.
Not extravagantly complex yet but
the peat/fruits balance is perfect.
Finish: long, with the peat coming
more to the front, which gives it
an Islay side just like at first nosing.
Great notes of almond milk and even
quite some salt. Comments: Ballechin
should not be overlooked. We had batch
#1 at 85 and #2 at 86, and this deserves
87. Yes, French logics. We don’t
know what will be on next year, maybe
Sauternes? As long as it works…
SGP:536 - 87 points.
|
| By
the way, according to James Ross in
his book 'Whisky', in 1969, the prices
for one gallon of new make in bond
were between 13 and 16 shillings for
most distilleries. Five were at 16
shillings (Tormore, Talisker, Ardmore,
Macallan and Laphroaig) whilst two
were at 16.3 shillings (Glenlivet
and Glen Grant) and only one, the
most expensive, at 16.9 shillings:
Edradour! |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: the superb Pearl
Bailey singing Tired.mp3
with the Louis Bellson Orchestra in
1947 ('though I'm not sure it's the
original version.) Please buy Pearl
Bailey's music. |
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| |
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October
10, 2008 |
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TASTING
– TWO 1982 LINLITHGOWS/St.
MAGDALENE |
| Linlithgow
25 yo 1982/2008 (46%, The Single Malts
of Scotland, cask #8902, 245 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: starts quite
austere, on apple peelings and linseed
oil, with hints of wet newspapers.
Not an easy-sexy dram for sure. Goes
on with notes of paraffin, fresh walnuts,
roots and newly cut grass, with just
faint lemony notes in the background.
Also hints of motor oil. A slightly
phenolic St Magdalene, maybe a tad
rigid but interesting in its own style.
Mouth: a tad rounder now and, to tell
you the truth, more appealing. Quite
some cider apples, hints of orange
blossom water, walnut cake, heather
honey (quite a lot, reminding me of
some old Highland Parks) and barley
sugar. Also hints of chlorophyll and
mastic gums. Finish: medium long,
clean, back on apples. Comments: the
nose is a tad shy but the palate is
very pleasant. A good opportunity
to try a Linlithgow/St Magdalene for
a reasonable price (£80). SGP:241
– 84 points. |
| Linlithgow
25 yo 1982/2008 (59.2%, Signatory
for LMDW, cask #2201, 388 bottles)
"Matured in a wine treated butt."
This one dates from the time when
they were still rejuvenating their
wood by pouring wine or concentrated
wine into old casks, something they
don’t do anymore (of course).
Kudos to Signatory for adding these
kinds of data on their labels. Colour:
straw. Nose: it’s not very far
from the TSMOS version, only a tad
rounder and more honeyed. Same notes
of apples, walnuts and paraffin, with
added hints of pollen, beeswax and
apricot pie. Marginally sexier. With
water: we’ve got almost exactly
the same whisky as the TSMOS now.
It got very grassy. Mouth (neat):
once again, we’re in the same
vein, but this is much more powerful
than the TSMOS and quite spirity.
Pear and pineapple drops. Hot stuff
that certainly needs water, so let’s
not waste time… With water:
sweeter and rounder, with a lot of
candy sugar and various kinds of fruit
drops. A little honey as well, as
well as something pleasantly resinous
(cough sweets.) Finish: longer than
the TSMOS but all on apples again,
with just hints of liquorice wood
and lemon zests. Comments: a similar
tipple, maybe a tad bigger than the
TSMOS but also much more expensive.
SGP:341 - 85 points. |
 |
STEPHANE
THE MAD MALT MIXOLOGIST
proposes
his Autumnal malt cocktails
Cocktail
#3:
"The
Hunt is Open!"
|
Pour
into a whisky tumbler:
- 6 cl Glenfiddich 18 yo "Ancient
reserve"
- 1 cl hazelnut liqueur
- 1 cl Jaegermeister
- 4 cl blood orange juice
Stir, then using the back of a teaspoon
along the edge of the glass add carefully
1 cl crème de mûre (blackberry
liqueur) which will drop to the bottom
of the glass.
Finish with a few drops of Angostura
bitter (which will stay at the top),
and a pinch of fresh chervil.
Decoration: Mini hart horns... if
you find some!
Variants: Substitute
the Glenfiddich 18 with another Glenfiddich
(12, 15, Caoran...) or with a Isle
of Jura, or aDalmore... |
 |
| MUSIC
– We are in
New York City in 1984 and FZ
and his band are doing Greg Allman’s
Whippin’ Post.mp3 live (it was on the DVD
‘Does humor belong in music?’),
Robert 'Bobby' Martin being on vocals.
FZ playing straight ahead blues? You
bet! Please buy FZ’s marvellous
music… |
 |
| |
|
October
9, 2008 |
|
|
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
 |
TASTING
– THREE BALVENIES |
| Balvenie
1976/2008 (52.7%, OB, 231 bottles)
Colour: straw. Nose: it’s
clearly an old Balvenie, with the
expected big fruitiness at first nosing
(crushed bananas, acacia honey) but
also with something more animal and
farmy. Rather heavy notes of mead,
old sweet white wine (sweet old pinot
gris), with something delicately smoky
and obvious notes of apricot pie.
More nervous and ‘young’
than other old versions. Whiffs of
crushed mint leaves and gunpowder,
coal oven. With water: more of the
same, with added notes of cooked vegetables,
such as salsify. Mouth (neat): excellent
attack, crisp and fruity yet complex,
‘resinously lemony’ with
a little salt and notes of lemon balm
and ginger. It’s big whisky,
not an old Balvenie de salon. With
water: more lemons and more vegetal
notes. Asparagus? Quite some wood.
Finish: medium long, curisouly dry
and vegetal. Comments: warning, this
one isn’t a swimmer, but it’s
very, very nice when undiluted. SGP:551
– 84 points. |
| Balvenie-Glenlivet
28 yo 1974 (55.3%, Cadenhead, Single
Bourbon Barrel, cask #17710)
Colour: gold. Nose: this is more austere,
grassy and smoky, with notes of motor
oil and wet stones. Balvenie but not
quite. Goes on with quite some leather,
wet herbs, wet chalk, lead…
Changes directions after that, with
more apricots and bananas but also
lemons. Sort of drops after that,
which is bizarre. Thinnish. With water:
green tannins, mint. Rather nice but
not ‘Balvenie’. Mouth
(neat): fruity and even sweet at very
first sipping but soon to get oddly
vegetal and bitterish. Bitter sour
wax. Not too great. With water: bye-bye.
Finish: medium long, thin, grassy
and bitterish. Comments: it started
quite well but never stopped dwindling
down. Way too grassy for Balvenie
– a shame because Cadenhead
had some excellent Balvenies, such
as a 29yo 1974 at 48% ABV. SGP:271
– 69 points. |
| Balvenie-Glenlivet
20 yo 1979/1999 (55.7%, Cadenhead,
300 bottles)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: the biggest
of them all, but also the most spirity.
Quite some varnish, fresh almonds,
wet stones, wet gravel, green tea
and mirabelle plum spirit. Yes, strange.
With water: glue, beef jerky and fresh
paint. Wazzat? Mouth (neat): powerful,
aggressive, bitter and cardboardy.
Yep, doesn’t sound too great
but water may help. With water: indeed,
water helped a bit this time but the
whole is still week and grassy. Finish:
medium long, green, almondy. Comments:
maybe a tad better than the 1974 on
the palate but way ‘under’
the OB – and it wasn’t
the best OB ever. Just between us,
one may understand why some distilleries
don’t like to see their brand
names on such dodgy bottlings…
SGP:261 – 70 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: let's have a bit of 'joyful
electronica' by Madrid
De Los Austrias (Heinz
Tronigger and Michael Kreiner) today.
It's called Viva
La Evolution.mp3 and it may well
not be to the creationists' liking...
But if you believe in Darwin, please
buy these crazy people's music! |
 |
| |
|
October
8, 2008 |
|
|
| 
|
|
As
you may already know, The
Malt Maniacs' Awards 2008
are on! Limited
to 200 'candidates' (we have
198 new whiskies to try this
year, actually) and, as always,
completely free and indepedendent.
When we say free, they aren't
completely free to us Maniacs
as some of our members will
have to fly to Europe to pick
up their parcels (for some
obscure 'customs' reasons)
whilst others may have to
bribe a few local politicians
to be able to gather their
precious samples.Yes, it's
not that easy (but again,
very costly) to ship 198 samples
to 12 Maniacs who are scattered
all over the globe... Anyway,
results here and on maltmaniacs.org
right on Dec 1, 2008! |
|
 |
TASTING
THREE GRAND CAOL ILAS |
| Caol
Ila 16 yo 1966/1982 (46%, Cadenhead,
black dumpy)
Colour: pale gold. Nose: Jesus! Just
the perfect mix of tar, kelp, peat
smoke, antiseptic, flints, oysters,
seawater and spearmint. Totally exceptional
and not far in style from the best
Ardbegs from the 1960’s. Mouth:
please call the anti-maltoporn brigade!
Exceptional again, bursting with almonds,
tar, peat, resin, camphor and very
old lemon liqueur from the greatest
Italian makers’. Finish: long
and majestically peaty, tarry, salty,
liquoricy and lemony. Comments: liquid
History and a work of art. A GTO of
the whisky world, dating from times
when Coal Ila was a heavier and fatter
spirit. SGP:457 - 94 points. |
| Caol
Ila 1969/1985 (59.9%, Gordon &
MacPhail for Meregalli)
Colour: white wine. Nose: too bad
we’re having this one after
the stupendous 1966, it’s having
a hard time competing when undiluted.
A tad sourer and more lemony and buttery,
without the exceptional crispiness
that the 1966 displayed. Some tarry
notes, still. With water: gets very
tarry now, and more maritime as well.
Loads of fresh almonds and raw clams.
Wet newspapers. Mouth (neat): much,
much better than on the nose when
neat. Immensely lemony and peaty,
albeit less complex than the 1966
again when undiluted. Kiwis, lime
juice, lemon balm and fresh mint.
With water: pure liquorice wood and
mastic-flavoured gums. Finish: long,
resinous and salty. Lemon marmalade.
Comments: not as wonderful as the
1966 but still great. Maybe a tad
less compact and aromatically precise.
SGP:446 – 90 points. |
| Caol
Ila 1982/2008 (55.4%, Berry Bros &
Rudd for LMDW, cask #756, 248 bottles)
From a refill hogshead,
with a funny retro label that’s
close to the original BBR label from
the 1970’s (couldn’t find
the old Remington or Underwood in
the basement? ;-)). Colour: straw.
Nose: let’s be honest, it’s
not quite fair to try recent Caol
Ilas after a wonder such as the 1966,
but I must say this one is not ridiculous
at all - much less so than the pleonastically
senile pope anyway (oops). Fruitier,
younger in style even if it’s
already 28yo, probably less complex
but still very clean and pure. Freshly
cut apples, lemon, wet stones, fresh
almonds, coal smoke and apple peelings.
Less tarry than the 1969. With water:
all on lemon and green tea now, then
cigarette ashes, iodine and ‘new’
leather (let’s say a leather
shop in Turkey – whatever).
Mouth (neat): big but rounder and
softer than the oldies, as well as
earthier (roots, celeriac) and probably
more maritime than the 1969. Gets
then very almondy (marzipan) and rather
mineral (Riesling). With water: not
much changes except that it got even
earthier and rootier. Mint and liquorice
sweets. Finish: long and saltier,
rather lemony, with hints of raw peatiness
as if it was much younger. Comments:
right, we really thought this one
would not stay the course ‘against’
the oldies but it did. More or less
in the same league as the 1969, I’d
say, which says long. The 1966 was
out of this world anyway. SGP:357
– 90 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: Colombia’s very wonderful
Claudia
Gómez (she’s
from Medelin) singing and playing
Tierradentro
(Inland, For Jaime).mp3. Superb,
just superb. Please buy Claudia Gómez’
music… |
 |
| |
|
October
7, 2008 |
|
|
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
JAMES HUNTER
Dingwalls, Camden Town, London, September
30th 2008 |
| Readers
may remember that we last saw James
Hunter at Camden Town’s
Jazz Café back
in 2007, since when he’s
released a new album, The Hard Way,
to follow up the hugely successful
People Gonna Talk. He’s also
picked up a couple of new band members,
including a mighty impressive young
man at the keyboards, Carwyn Ellis.
Beyond that it’s hard to pin
down any noticeable differences.
He’s as exuberant as ever.
His voice is a delight and his guitar
playing … well let’s
just call it idiosyncratic, but
wonderful. He wears his debts to
artists like Sam Cooke and The “5”
Royales, like his heart, on his
sleeve. He doesn’t strike
me as being the most sophisticated
chap in the world – you can
take the man out of Essex, but you
can’t take Essex out of the
man, as they say – but that
hardly matters when the music is
simply so accomplished and so enjoyable.
Mr Hunter is at the start of a long
tour, taking him to continental
Europe (I understand he’s
a big hit in Paris), back to the
UK and then over to the US, so I
urge anyone with a love of good
music to seek him out – it’s
well worth the effort. And if you
can’t do that then you should
at least buy his new record, and
the one before that if you don’t
already have it.
- Nick Morgan
(photographs by Kate) |
 |
|
 |
TASTING
JURA
AT ITS BEST |
| Isle
of Jura 1974 (44.5%, OB, 658 bottles,
2008)
Colour: deep amber. Nose: wow, this
is superb! Not much Jura character
– although that may still have
to be defined by somebody –
but a wonderful mix of bananas flambéed,
orange marmalade, very ripe mangos,
figs and dates, macchiato, cigarette
tobacco, baklavas, sandalwood and…
well, even more figs. Cinnamon and
aniseed cookies. Fantastic freshness
and fullness at the same time. Mouth:
maybe not quite as impressive right
at first sipping – we said quite
– but despite a body that’s
not the fullest ever, it’s very
complex and demonstrative whisky.
Loads of soft spices and bunches of
dried fruits such as sultanas, candied
chestnuts, kumquats and papayas, with
kind of a ‘smoky mintiness’
and excellent notes of burnt apricot
pie. Roasted raisins. Finish: very
long, fuller now, mucho candied and
even a tad salty. Comments: a very
wonderful Jura without any of the
winey notes that were in earlier versions.
Now, considering its price tag (600
Euros – yes sir) we’re
simply wondering who’s gonna
drink this. Not the high street traders
for sure… SGP:643 –
91 points. |
| Isle
of Jura 30 yo 1966/1996 (52,6%, Signatory,
cask #1868-1869, 240 bottles)
Colour: full gold. Nose: oh!
The OB was great on the nose but this
is simply stupendous. Before the anti-maltoporn
brigade arrives, let’s quickly
mention smoked ham, old fino sherry,
walnuts, morels and truffles, old
leather (horse saddle), Barbour grease,
50yo pu-erh tea (or older), Havana
cigars, linseed oil, mint liqu…
aargh, here’s the brigade! Mouth:
out of these worlds. Smoky, earthy,
herbal, peaty, resinous, HUGELY phenolic,
walnutty, maritime, medicinal…
Finish: immensely, almost abnormally
long and full flavoured. Comments:
my best Jura ever, by far. Unless
somebody wrongly stencilled a cask
of 1966 Ardbeg – and this is
no joke. Andrew? SGP:564 –
94 points. |
| |
|
October
6, 2008 |
|
|
CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
EMMYLOU HARRIS AND
THE RED DIRT BOYS
Hammersmith Apollo, London, September
14th 2008 |
| I
don’t think country fans get
out enough. Take the party sitting
in our wonderful seats at the packed
Hammersmith Apollo – honestly
oblivious to the fact that ticket
numbers actually mean anything, sitting
there comfortably with spam and sandwich-spread
sandwiches packed neatly in foil,
and a flask of tea, milk on the side
in an old cough-mixture bottle. Very
homely, and given the way they wolfed
it all down, very hungry. Then, judging
by the reception they gave to support
act Kimmie
Rhodes, not only hungry for British
haute cuisine but also for anyone
with a Texan twang and a tragic tale
of woe to sing. |
 |
|
Not that Kimmie, with the assistance
of her partner on bass and son on
guitar, wasn’t anything but
good, it’s just that she wasn’t
quite that good. So it was hardly
surprising that after the interval
(“Do you think there’s
a bar …?”) they greeted
Emmylou
Harris with something
pretty close to a standing ovation,
which was repeated at the end of her
first song, ‘Here I am’,
from her 2003 album Stumble Into Grace.
They simply loved her to death for
the whole night, which was just as
well. Because she was indeed fantastic,
and they were, after all, sitting
in our seats. |
| I
was trying to think if any other country
singer sings with quite the same emotional
intensity as Ms Harris. |
| She
has a voice that plucks right at the
strings of the heart; sorrow, guilt,
pain, regret and lost love all echo
from the sound and intonation of her
singing, and that’s before the
almost universally depressing lyrics
come into play. There’s no room
for funny stuff here – it’s
unremitting hardcore country blues,
without let up, all night. “Here
I am” is pretty heavy stuff,
but nothing compared with ‘Broken
man’s lament’ from her
excellent new album “All I intended
to be”. And that pales besides
Merle Haggard’s ‘Kern
River’ – “This is
my favourite Merle Haggard song, just
because it’s so sad”.
She’s not joking. But this is
country music at its most engaging,
not least because Ms Harris is supported
by a band of the very highest quality,
the Red
Dirt Boys, named in homage to
Oklahoma’s particular genre
of country music. Bryan Owings and
Chris
Donohue, both from Buddy Miller’s
band, are on drums and bass. On keyboards
and accordion, composer and producer
Phil
Madeira, on fiddles, mandolin
and electrifying harmonies Virginian
Bluegrass prodigy Ricky
Simpkins, and on guitars Canadian
singer-songwriter Colin
Linden. |
 |
|
I can’t tell you just how good
these guys were – Linden in
particular dragging every last ounce
of emotion from some sometimes spectacularly
simple guitar playing – take
the guitar part on ‘Broken man’s
lament’ – which adds only
greater piquancy to Ms Harris’s
vocals. |
| As
you might have guessed by now, it
was pretty good. Twenty-three songs,
including almost all of the new album,
and materials from her back catalogue
that went as far back as her collaboration
with Gram Parsons on ‘Return
of the grievous angel’. And
throughout, Ms Harris’s voice,
though sometimes slightly husky, was
as true as a bell, no more so than
on the a capella ‘Bright morning
stars’, with Simpkins, Donoghue
and Linden in harmony. And having
finished the main set with ‘Get
up John’ she returned to encore
with ‘Together again’
and finally the Oakridge Boys’
‘Leaving Louisiana in the broad
daylight’. Ending with lyrics
like this – “Mary took
to running with a travelin' man, left
her momma crying with her head in
her hands, such a sad case, so broken
hearted …” shows just
what I mean by unremitting. But that’s
not the point – it was a privilege
to witness a performance of this calibre
from a performer who was unstinting
in the amount of effort and emotion
that she shared with us. And that’s
what we agreed with our ill-seated
neighbours who were in a state of
near ecstasy when we left, although
that might also have been due to the
two bags of assorted toffees that
they’d managed to eat during
the show. Comfort food, I suppose.
-
Nick Morgan (concert photographs by
Kate) |
 |
TASTING
TWO
NEW GLENROTHES |
| Glenrothes
1978/2008 (43%, OB, 5,600 bottles)
An earlier bottling, done in 1999,
was a bit weak and tea-ish in our
book. Let’s see if this is bolder…
Colour: gold. Nose: it is. Very honeyed
(heather) and very nutty as often
with Glenrothes, with also a lot of
beeswax as well as notes of vanilla,
mint and liquorice (drops). Starts
to smell like an excellent mulled
wine after a moment, with notes of
cloves, Chinese anise, cinnamon and
hints of prunes and chocolate. A complex
yet very coherent and compact Glenrothes
that may remind us of a 30yo HP on
the nose in a certain way. Mouth:
starts almost thick, rounded, very
jammy and honeyed (‘dry’
honey), with again a lot of spices
such as cloves, carvi and badian.
It’s also rather chocolaty,
with notes of Armagnac-soaked prunes.
Maybe a tad dry in the end of the
middle. Finish: long and firm but
maybe a tad too dry and tannic now
(overinfused tea) despite the very
pleasant notes of eucalyptus drops.
Comments: very good Glenrothes, probably
not as majestic as the 1980 C/S or
as the best ones by Duncan Taylor
but still very pleasant. Too bad the
price is so heavy (+/- 380 Euros).
SGP:542 – 87 points. |
| Glenrothes
39 yo 1969/2008 (45.5%, Duncan Taylor,
Rare Auld, cask #12890, 183 bottles)
Cask #12885, bottled in 2006, was
quite superb so this must be nice
as well. Colour: amber. Nose: it is
somewhat similar to the 1978 as far
as the general profile is concerned,
only much more expressive and, to
tell you the truth, exuberant. Loads
of heather honey, prunes, bananas
flambéed, raspberry jam, spices
(mulled wine again) and oranges plus
hints of wood smoke that sort of keep
it ‘straight’. More huge
notes of very ripe bananas and no
obvious oakiness whatsoever. Very,
very demonstrative and very, very
appealing. Mouth: exceptional attack,
vibrant, uber-fruity yet perfectly
structured thanks to a beautiful oakiness.
The bananas are back with flying colours
– I mean aromas – and
so are the oranges. Also coconuts,
then more oranges and more bananas,
then nutmeg and white pepper, then
a little mint and a little liquorice,
then various strong honeys…
Even more pepper after that, which
gives this malt a wonderful strawberry
jam/pepper signature. Finish: a little
more oak at this stage but at 39 years
of age, that’s more than normal.
Superb pepper and fruits again. Very,
very long finish. Comments: one of
these IB’s that are OB killers.
Indeed, the official 1978 doesn’t
quite stand comparison with this 1969
but it’s true that it’s
quite younger. Now, the latter is
more than two times less expensive
(+/- 150 Euros). Frankly, we don’t
like to talk about prices too much
but sometimes we just can’t
avoid mentioning striking differences…
SGP:751 - 92 points. |
| |
|
October
5, 2008 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
TWO
NEW PORT ELLENS |
| Port
Ellen 25 yo 1982/2008 (50%, Douglas
Laing OMC, 589 bottles)
From a refill butt. Colour: white
wine. Nose: rather powerful but maybe
a tad butyric at first nosing, with
also faint perfumy notes that we usually
don’t get in Port Ellen (geranium
and so on). Notes of un-sugared yoghurt,
dairy cream, wet chalk… This
one hasn’t got PE’s usual
tarriness and even the peat is almost
absent. Let’s try to revive
it using water… With water:
it didn’t really get bigger
but cleaner and also unusually sugary
(plain sugar syrup). Whiffs of fresh
mint – nice. Mouth (neat): much,
much (much) better than on the nose
when neat, which isn’t exactly
a feat here. Smoked lemons, lemon
marmalade, smoked tea, green apples,
green tea and cough syrup. Still not
a big Port Ellen but it’ll please
any peat freak. With water: it’s
totally amazing how it got quite beautiful
now, whilst all the earlier ‘parts’
were rather mundane and uninteresting.
Beautifully resinous, peaty, leafy,
rooty… Finish: long and very
liquoricy, which we like. Comments:
no touches of sherry in this refill
butt and a rather difficult tasting.
SGP:346 – 83 points. |
| Port
Ellen 29 yo 1978/2008 8th Annual Release
(55.3%, OB, 6,618 bottles)
Already the eighth release!
My! Feeling old over here… Colour:
pale gold. Nose: this one isn’t
extremely expressive either at first
sniffing but there’s still more
peat and more maritime notes than
in the 1982. It’s also a bit
yoghurty, lemony, ‘walnutty’…
With water: more walnuts, more apple
peelings, whiffs of cold ashes and
used matches. Just like in the 1982,
more mint as well. Mouth (neat): powerful,
very peaty but also kind of candied,
maybe tasting a tad younger than it
actually is. Dried pears, quince jelly,
hints of marshmallows… Then
quite some mint, verbena and liquorice.
Gets better after a moment, it’s
the attack that’s maybe a tad
less impressive than in earlier batches.
With water: gets grassier, maybe a
tad bitter and even slightly tannic.
Finish: long, grassy, on apple peelings.
Quite some pepper as well. Comments:
very good but maybe not the best official
Port Ellen in our opinion, we feel
it somewhat lacks the notes of fresh
tarmac and the zing that were so typical.
Or, gran horror, are the best PE’s
gone for good? We may get the answer
to this existential question in September
2009… SGP:337 –
87 points (still!) |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: yeah, I know, she's hardly
an artiste who deserves wider recognition,
but as she's really a fav of ours,
let's have Patti
Smith doing Gimme
shelter.mp3 (by whom, again?).
That was on her 2007 album 'Twelve'.
Please buy Patti Smith's music...
|
 |
| |
|
October
3, 2008 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
– THREE RECENT OFFICIAL LAGAVULINS |
Lagavulin
12 yo 1995 (48%, OB, European oak
casks, for Friends of Classic Malts,
2008) 
Colour: gold – orange. Nose:
a punchy Lagavulin, starting very
farmy and less sherried than we had
thought. It’s rather on incense,
cigar box and leather polish, with
whiffs of cow stable and even horse
sweat. Develops more on soft spices,
‘red Thai sauce’, curry
and cumin, getting back to more Ileach
notes after a while, such as peat
smoke, dried kelp and seashells. Also
notes of bitter oranges and cinchona.
Very big notes of dry sherry come
though after a good ten minutes. Mouth:
sweet and rounded yet rather nervous,
maybe less complex than on the nose
at first sipping. Peated orange marmalade
(should that exist – you say
it does!), smoked tea, toffee, coffee-flavoured
fudge, prunes and Corinth raisins.
Finish: medium long, candied and smoky
at the same time. Hints of dried mushrooms
and caramel. Comments: actually, we’re
not extremely far from the regular
16 yo, but this one is a tad thicker
and slightly sweeter. It’s very
good whisky, even if one may prefer
either the sharper Lagavulins, or
the (even) heavier ones, such as the
recent 21yo. SGP:536 –
88 points. |
| Lagavulin
12 yo 'Special Release 2008' (56.4%,
OB)
I have found the most recent batches
of the 12 better than the first ones,
which were maybe a tad too rough and
mono-dimensional in my book. Let’s
see if this brand new one is in the
same league. Colour: straw. Nose:
uber-clean when compared with the
FOCM, much more on pure peat smoke,
fresh butter, fresh almonds, sea water
and freshly cut cider apples. Whiffs
of cold coal oven, wet stones and
old books. Very pure. With water:
it got even cleaner and purer. I don’t
know why, it reminds me of Trimbach’s
Clos St-Hune (wine aficionados will
understand.) Mouth (neat): exactly
the opposite of the ‘FOCM’.
Way ‘cleaner and purer’,
sharper, more beautifully austere,
maybe the lesser sweet of all Lagavulins
that were issued within the last ten
years. Lime, almonds, peat, huge smokiness
and green apples. My kind. With water:
it got a tad sweeter again, and a
little resinous as well. More pepper.
Finish: long, clean, with even more
pepper. Comments: maybe I’m
dreaming but I think the 12yo C/S
gets better and better year after
year. You may read ‘purer and
purer’. SGP:248 - 91
points. |
| Lagavulin
1993/2008 ‘Distillery Only’
(52.9%, OB, Warehouse #1, cask #1403,
700 bottles, Feis Isle 2008)
Here it is, the ‘Feis Ile 2008’
version that we forgot to try when
it was still a hot topic. Colour:
amber with bronze hues. Nose: superb
nose! It’s got the best of the
two 12yo’s we just had, and
seems to be a little more elegant
and subtle than the 1993 from last
year. Crystallised oranges, rosehip
tea, rose-flavoured Turkish delights,
and of course all the classic Lagavulin
notes in the background. Smells almost
like the best Habaneros – unlit
of course. With water: water brought
out quite some medicinal notes, rather
unusual in Lagavulin. Camphor, pine
resin and antiseptic. Old leather
as well (horse saddle.) Mouth (neat):
an immense attack, with something
curiously antique (as if it came from
a very old bottle). Very powerful
even if the strength isn’t that
high. Big peat, all kinds of herbal
teas including tea, crème brûlée,
ultra-big notes of Seville oranges,
marron glacé, smoked tea, liquorice
wood, gentian tea, gingerbread…
This is very rich but quite amazingly,
not cloying at all. With water: just
a few drops really unleash a much
bigger peatiness. Bang! Finish: it’s
not that long – but still long,
very spicy, rather herbal, with always
these big notes of orange marmalade.
Comments: concentrated power. SGP:448
– 92 points. |
| PETE
McPEAT AND JACK WASHBACK |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: another great voice of
jazz, Carol
Sloane, singing Sunday.mp3
with a few of Ella's pyrotechnic tricks.
Very good, very good... Please buy
Miss Sloane's works! |
 |
| |
|
October
2, 2008 |
|
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CONCERT
REVIEW by Nick Morgan
THE SEX PISTOLS
|
Hammersmith
Apollo
London
September 2nd 2008 |
 |
| Did
I mention that we went to see the
Sex
Pistols? Maybe not, and
I’m still a bit hard of hearing
as a result. They were playing at
the Hammersmith Apollo and Pistols
anoraks will know legend has it that
Steve Jones stole one of his first
guitars from here, allegedly Mick
Ronson’s. |
| The
Pistols’ original line-up (Jones,
Glen
Matlock on bass, Paul
Cook on drums and John
Lydon on vocals) have been on
a whirlwind world tour following their
sell-out week at Brixton last year
and tonight is the penultimate gig.
They may have peaked too soon; according
to Lydon they’re performing
through hangovers having “drunk
Dublin dry” the previous evening,
but to judge by recent white wine
spritzer-hugging interviews with various
Pistols, I somehow doubt it. The Apollo
is packed with old leather jackets,
tartan trousers, ripped t-shirts,
red-striped braces, Mohicans, the
lot – ‘though mostly sported
by folks who should know a little
better. I guess it’s what you
would call tribal. The throwaway foul-mouthed
language would turn the fucking air
fucking blue. The drinking is prodigious.
No, you don’t understand, the
drinking IS prodigious. The merchandise
store is overwhelmed. It’s pay
day. |
| We’re
up in the circle – but as the
Pistols take the stage at two minutes
past nine exactly (not too much anarchy
there then) we rise from our seats
like puppets on strings – and
spend the whole evening standing “Respect
to the fuckers standing up in the
balcony” says Lydon halfway
through. It’s the Combine Harvester
Tour, which may explain the opening
song, a sort of Adge Cutler-inspired
version of ‘Pretty vacant’.
|
 |
| After
that it’s down to business as
they crash through all the songs you
might expect, and with their final
encore of ‘Silver machine’
and Roadrunner’, some you might
not. The playing is pretty tight –
Matlock and Cook are a rhythm section
of note. When he’s not Pistolling,
Cook, amongst other things, is a regular
drummer with Edwyn Collins, and has
been for a decade or more. Matlock
has his own band, The Philistines,
and an impressive list of collaborators.
Together they fit easily into their
groove, and you get the impression
could play all night. Jones, latterly
a DJ
for an LA radio station, is perhaps
less certain, a bit more of a journeyman.
Certainly ‘subtle’ is
not a word you would apply to his
playing. But if you heard your kids
playing this stuff in the garage,
you’d be well impressed. Whether
it’s really appropriate fare
for a theatre full of around four
thousand over-aged and over-weight
(hang on – we’re in balcony
seats but we’re all standing!)
post-punk primordials is another matter. |
 |
| Of
course, what makes the difference
is John Lydon. Like Jones, the comfortable
life of West Coast USA seems to have
super-sized him somewhat, but he occupies
the front of the stage, leering with
the sort of faux menace reserved only
for the most fearsome of pantomime
villains. He knows the deal, so he
indulges the audience as they subject
him to a constant shower of lager,
showing irritation only once when
a bottle strikes him on the shoulder
– I assume it’s plastic.
His fucking foul-mouthed stream of
comment and invective never really
flows beyond the tame, and though
his jingoism is somewhat disconcerting,
the whole lot seems aimed at promoting
the new Pistol’s DVD, There’ll
Always be an England, recorded live
last year at Brixton. His singing
persona is Mr Lydon of Public Image,
which is mostly effective, particularly
on songs like 'Stepping stone', 'God
save the Queen' and song of the night
'EMI'. And I can’t help noticing
that after each song (and during some
too) he’s gargling and violently
expectorating into a large plastic
box just in front of the drums. Not
pleasant, but a sign that there are
no half-measures on the stage. They
may be taking the money, but they’re
not running. |
| So
it was sort of OK. And did I mention
how loud it was? However, I have to
say that more than any old bunch of
rockers I’ve seen lately (with
the exception of Jefferson Starship,
that is), it left me absolutely cold.
|
 |
I
didn’t know why I was there,
and I couldn’t wait to get home
for a quick glass of Scotland’s
famous midnight wine before an early
bed. And the bizarreness of the whole
evening was confirmed when Lydon goaded
the audience into singing ‘Happy
Birthday’ to Steve Jones, which
the crowd followed with a spontaneous
and affectionate rendition of ‘You
fat bastard, you fat bastard, you
ate all the pies”. Jones was
moved, the crowd laughed and clapped,
and I was left wondering was this
really was the band who seemed to
be on the verge of turning the world
upside-down in 1976? -
Nick Morgan (photographs by Kate) |
 |
TASTING
– THREE BALBLAIRS |
| Balblair
1975/2007 (46%, OB)
This one was bottled in 2007 but issued
in 2008. The 1974/2001 ‘Highland
Selection’ was quite superb
so we have deep hopes now… Colour:
full gold. Nose: typically Balblair,
very fruity and quite floral with
traces of sherry. Notes of tinned
pineapples, bananas, flower nectar,
sultanas and quite a lot of acacia
honey. Add to that a very elegant
spiciness (Chinese anise, nutmeg)
and notes of Gueuze lambic and you
get something very, very pleasant
even if it’s a little less demonstrative
than earlier old official bottlings.
Also hints of ripe strawberries. Mouth:
sweet, fruity and spicy (white pepper),
starting softly but picking up steam
after that. Butter pears and quite
some ginger and cinnamon plus milk
chocolate. ‘Light’ fruitcake.
Finish: rather long, spicier and oakier
but never too oaky. Good pepper and
hints of apple peelings. Comments:
very good, I like it a tad better
than the 1979 from last year. Less
exuberantly fruity than other old
Balblairs. SGP:551 –
87 points. |
| Balblair
1987/2008 (52.8%, OB for LMDW, cask
#787, 201 bottles)
From a refill hogshead. Colour: gold.
Nose: there’s much more wood
and soft spices than in the 1975 it
seems, the whole being really firmer
and drier. Hints of wood varnish,
newly sawn oak, vanilla, then a little
cardamom and curry, ginger, thuja
wood… Get’s back to its
‘origins’ in a certain
way after a while, with more fruity
notes (oranges and bananas) but there’s
always quite some oak. Reminds me
partly of Glenmorangie’s experiments
with plain American oak (Artisan,
Astar and so on). Gets very orangey
after a few minutes. Ultra-clean despite
the obvious oakiness. Mouth: punchier
and certainly more assertive than
the 1975. Starts quite bourbonny,
with a lot of vanilla, coconuts and
lactones but gets then crisply fruity,
with big notes of tinned pineapples
again, blood oranges, bananas flambéed
and vanilla fudge. Silky tannic undertones
and pleasant grassy notes in the end
of the middle (chives, mint). Finish:
very long and balanced, with more
butter pears just like in the 1975.
Comments: a modern-style Balblair,
big fruits and rather big oak. Maybe
not pure magic but it’s perfectly
made. SGP:651 - 88 points. |
| Balblair
15 yo (57% 100°Proof, Gordon &
MacPhail, Licenced bottling, 1970's,
75cl)
Colour: full gold. Nose: my! This
is wonderful, more multidimensional
than the two OB’s. Wonderful
blend of fresh oranges and tangerines
with quite some mint, camphor and
eucalyptus plus whiffs of coal smoke.
Goes on with bitter oranges, marzipan,
hawthorn tea, vanilla crème,
orange liqueur, verbena, then more
grassy notes (dill, celery) and then
we’re back on full tangerine-mode,
mixed with white chocolate. Fantastic
old Balblair, very luscious and unusually
phenolic. Exceptional on the nose.
Mouth: certainly not less exceptional
on the palate. Wonderful attack on
citrus fruits, wet flintstones and
salt, extremely crisp and clean, reminding
me of Didier Dagueneau’s Silex
(RIP). Fabulous development on various
kinds of grapefruits. Amazing Balblair
that will appeal to any white wine
lover (hint, hint). Finish: long and
exceptionally lemony, with various
spices. Comments: maybe not the most
complex Balblair ever but it’s
still a winning whisky. Perfect spirit,
perfect age, perfect strength, perfect
glass maturing… In short, plenitude.
SGP:841 – 92 points
(and thank you mucho, Konstantin.) |
| |
|
October
1, 2008 |
|
|
 |
TASTING
– TWO OFFICIAL LAPHROAIGS |
| Laphroaig
15 yo (43%, OB, small red 15 on neck
label, F&C Torino, mid 1980’s,
75cl)
Official voices claim that the new
30yo is stupendous, so let’s
try to confirm that by ‘opposing’
it to one of the well-known old 15’s.
Colour: full gold. Nose: typically
old Laphroaig, starting on a perfect
blend of medicinal notes and tropical
fruits. Bandages, embrocations, camphor,
bitter oranges, grapefruit skin and
hints of green bananas. The peat isn’t
very bold but it’s well there.
Gets then more vanilled and mentholated,
with also hints of white chocolate
and butter cream. The whole isn’t
quite big but the profile is perfect.
Mouth: full bodied as (almost) only
Laphroaig can be at only 43%. A lot
of peat this time, more than in the
newer 15’s, a lot of pepper
and a lot of orange and lemon marmalade.
Gets even spicier after a while, with
more nutmeg, cinnamon and pepper.
A very big Laphroaig, almost rough!
Finish: incredibly long, peaty and
peppery, maybe just a tad drying.
Comments: a rather gentle Laphroaig
that keeps it quiet on the nose but
that’s a true beast on the palate.
SGP:447 - 90 points. |
| Laphroaig
30 yo 'Cairdeas' (43%, OB, 1,536 bottles,
2008)
A ‘regular’ 30yo that’s
been re-racked into first fill ex-bourbon
barrels from Makers Mark’s.
Priced at £500, which isn’t
cheap, is it! Colour: full gold, slightly
darker than the 15. Nose: much more
marked by new oak than the old 15,
starting on whiffs of varnish, newly
sawn oak and ginger ale, with Laphroaig’s
character being rather in the background.
They come more to the front after
a while, the whole resembling much
more the old 15, only with a little
more peat and maybe more maritime
notes (seashells). Also hints of praline,
bergamots, fresh almonds and quite
some vanilla. Very nice but I’m
wondering if this won’t need
quite a few further years of bottle
maturing so that the ‘new’
oak and the spirit mingle a little
more. Mouth: we get the same feeling
here, as if the ‘new’
oak and the old spirit do not quite
fit yet. Don’t get me wrong,
the whole is very, very good, with
all of the regular 30yo’s characteristics
well in place, but the oaky tones
do mask it a bit (tannins, strong
tea, grape pips). Finish: long but
rather tannic and a little drying.
Comments: well, it’s all a matter
of taste of course and I’m not
even sure these tannins do come from
the bourbon barrels that have been
used for the ‘finishing’,
but what’s sure is that the
regular 30yo is much smoother and
aristocratic in my book – and
the old 15 much wilder. SGP:365
- 86 points. |
| MUSIC
– Recommended
listening: a wonderful little song
called Throwing
Handkerchiefs.mp3 by China's Zhao
Guang, that we found
via the very excellent blog Benn
loxo du taccu. Please buy
Zhao Guang's music! |
 |
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:
Balblair
15 yo (57%
100°Proof, Gordon & MacPhail, Licenced
bottling, 1970's, 75cl)
Caol
Ila 16 yo 1966/1982 (46%, Cadenhead,
black dumpy)
Caol
Ila 1969/1985 (59.9%, Gordon &
MacPhail for Meregalli)
Caol
Ila 1982/2008 (55.4%, Berry Bros &
Rudd for LMDW, cask #756, 248 bottles)
Glenrothes
39 yo 1969/2008 (45.5%, Duncan Taylor,
Rare Auld, cask #12890, 183 bottles)
Isle
of Jura 1974 (44.5%, OB, 658 bottles,
2008)
Isle
of Jura 30 yo 1966/1996 (52,6%, Signatory,
cask #1868-1869, 240 bottles)
Lagavulin
12 yo 'Special Release 2008' (56.4%,
OB)
Lagavulin
1993/2008 ‘Distillery Only’ (52.9%,
OB, Warehouse #1, cask #1403, 700 bottles, Feis
Isle 2008)
Laphroaig
15 yo (43%, OB, small red 15 on neck
label, F&C Torino, mid 1980’s, 75cl)
Talisker
21 yo 1951 (43%
Gordon & MacPhail, Connoisseur’s Choice,
Pinerolo, rotation 1972)
Talisker
21 yo 1952 (43% Gordon & MacPhail,
Connoisseur’s Choice, Pinerolo, rotation
1973)
Talisker
24 yo 1953 (43% Gordon & MacPhail,
Connoisseur’s Choice, Pinerolo, rotation
1977)
Talisker
25 yo (54.2%, OB, Refill casks, 9,708
bottles, 2008)
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