What I liked last week

Lovers of good whisky think of themselves a bit like we’re members of an exclusive club. We’re a bit smug about the fact that we have a special little world, and we think of out chosen spirit as superior to others.

And of course the French feel exactly the same way about Cognac. But at the risk of sounding xenophobic or even racist, I know Scotch whisky holds the trump card over the French spirit. Time and the again circumstances have proved it – and so it was last week.

I was in London on Thursday for the launch of a new premium luxury gifting collection called The Tantalus Library Collection. Three rare whiskies, three rare Cognacs and three rare ports were being launched in luxury packaging made to look like an old book, complete with leather cover. The liquids were presented in hand blown English bottles and each came with a beautiful booklet sand certificate of authenticity.

The launch appropriately took place in the British Institute Library not far from the new Whisky Shop in Piccadilly, and I was there because I had selected the three whiskies for the set.

I was given a generous budget to work with and I am pleased with my selections – a rare malt from closed distillery Port Ellen, a 35 year of whisky from the iconic Macallan distillery, and a 21 year old Glen Mhor – the core malt in the Shackleton remake.

Port expert and author Richard Mayson was on hand to present one of the ports, Cognac supremo Nicholas Faith was there for Cognac, and I led a tasting of the Glen Mhor.

But I was intrigued by the fact that Faith was presenting a 98 year old Cognac. Did he have a bigger budget than me? Is Cognac a cheaper drink than Scotch single malt? How come malt whisky rarely lasts in the cask past 30 years, or 40 years, let alone 98?

Whisky is very honorable and honest about age and provenance. Whisky stops maturing when it is taken out of the cask and its age is the number of years it matures in the cask. If one drop of 15 year old whisky goes in to my 21 year old sample, that whisky is now all 15 years old, because the youngest whisky determines the age.

I was up first and I blethered about Shackleton and plane flights to New Zealand. Then Richard Mayson introduced port with lots of talk about terroir and soil types. Finally Faith got up to talk about his 98 year old Cognac.

All three drinks were stunning by the way.

Halfway through his talk Faith said ‘this was probability removed from the cask and stored in a container in about 1958.’

But wait, someone said, that means that the Cognac isn’t 98 years old at all, it’s 43 years old because surely it stops maturing when it comes out of the cask?

“Well yes, ” said Faith. “But it was distilled in 1914. It’s 98 years old even if strictly it was only matured for 43 years. I think you’re being far too honest.”

Really?

As I said, we make the superior drink.

Jewel from Jura

Still the great vintage whiskies keep coming. Highlight of last week after the two wonderful anCnoc samples was an absolute beauty from Isle of Jura.

The1977 vintage it is rich in all the grapefruit and sweet citrus you expect from old Jura, but it has  a pineapple, mango, and coconut core and a touch of cherry and mint. An absolute delight.

Weekly Whisky Auction Watch

Andy Simpson

19.02.2013

It feels a little like the quiet before the storm at the moment. There isn’t a great deal of auction activity underway but I can feel an undercurrent of intensity swelling. As we head towards the end of another month we have Bonhams, Scotch Whisky Auctions, Whisky-Online Auctions and a myriad of smaller auction houses about to bring thousands of bottles to market. Quarter one 2013 is looking like being a huge record quarter in terms of volumes. We’ll have to wait and see if values can keep up.

In spite of the absence of any major auctions, there were still some impressive results last week –

Glenmorangie feature again. At the moment it would appear Glenmorangie values are being thrust aloft by the horns of the bull. We’ve seen values crash before and with the pace of increase part of me thinks we may well see a significant downward correction again before stability emerges and values increase at a more sustainable rate. For now, anyway, we’re seeing older bottles achieve new records. Last week a bottle of the Caithness Glass still shaped decanter “Elegance” 21 year old sold for just over £400. These were all hand bottled and sealed with a wide driven cork so the key to buying one of these is to ensure the fill level is well into the neck.

One of the most frequently traded bottles of collectable whisky “Snow Phoenix” saw £150 for the first time. Rather interestingly, the volume of these hitting the open market has been decreasing steadily over the past six months or so. As fewer hit the market and the laws of consumption vs supply govern; we may still see further gains here.

A bottle of Bruichladdich 1991 vintage “Yellow Submarine” sold for £135. This new record was set by the less rare variant of the bottle which doesn’t bare the yellow submarine picture on the presentation tin.

The final bottle this week is another Glenfiddich. The “Don Ramsey” 1991 vintage bottling sold for £150.

The interesting thing about all the above bottles is that none of them were particularly rare/collectable/expensive when they were released. None of them are single casks yielding a handful of bottles from a 1940’s vintage. It just goes to show that if you want to start a collection with the aim of its value increasing, it really can be done with every budget…… as to whether that continues, as I always say, only time will tell.

Until next week.

Slainte,

Andy.

American rock band Journey were formed in 1973 in San Francisco by former members of Santana and Frumious Bandersnatch (yes they were a band).  Don’t Stop Believin’ is from their seventh studio album Escape.  It was recorded in Fantasy Studios in Berkeley, California during mid spring/summer and released on July 31, 1981.  The album features four hit Billboard Hot 100 singles.  What better whisky to accompany you on your musical journey through the1980’s than this stunning single grain.

The super-seventies are way behind us – it’s 1981, and the decade is wondering what musical direction it will take.

Shakin Stevens is knocking at the Green Door, Soft Cell’s love is tainted, and the Human League are left wondering why you don’t want them.

Kool and the Gang are celebrating and Depeche Mode just can’t get enough while Dolly Parton is working 9 – 5.

We go back to the future in 1981 when the first DeLorean DMC 12 – a stainless steel sports car with gull wing doors, rolls off the production line.  The first London Marathon is on March 29 with 7500 runners.  The Boeing 767 makes its’ first flight, and Space Shuttle Columbia lands on April 12 – being the first manned reusable spacecraft returned from orbit.

It was a year of some turmoil – the Pope was shot at (St Peter’s Square), the Queen was shot at (Trooping the Colour) and there were riots in Brixton, then Toxteth and Chapeltown.  This was all quickly followed by the massive feelgood factor of the Royal Wedding (Charles and Diana at St Paul’s) – watched by a worldwide TV audience of over 700 million people, AND of course (who could forget), the skirt twirling antics of Bucks Fizz winning the Eurovision Song Contest with ‘Making Your Mind Up’.

A couple of notable new additions to our entertainment world include Donkey Kong – the first Mario game produced, and MTV – launched on August 1^st – the first 24hr video music channel.  Actors, singers and songstresses you may know born in this year include Britney Spears and Justin Timberlake, Beyonce Knowles, Alicia ‘likes to tinkle the ivories’ Keys and the future Frodo – Elijah Wood.

If you would like to see some urban exploration photography of the Port Dundas distillery as it is now, follow the link – http://www.catchingphotons.co.uk/blog/?p=451

Port Dundas was founded in 1811 by Daniel MacFarlane – a second Port Dundas was established in 1813 by Brown, Gourlie and Co., and in 1877 both distilleries were merged.  Scottish Grain Distillers took over in 1966, and the distillery underwent complete renovation.  In 2010, the distillery closed, sadly with the loss of 200 jobs, as part of Diageo’s restructuring programme – the giant 70m tall chimney, which had stood on the site since 1973, was brought down in a controlled explosion.  There may be redevelopment of the site in the future.  Here’s hoping.  Meantime, this week’s featured whisky from this lost gem is the Director’s Cut Port Dundas 30yr old.  One of only 131 bottles containing the finest single grain bottled at a cask strength of 59.5%.  On the nose, it is sweetly spiced, with a rich cinnamon quality and a bourbon style.  On the palate it is sweet and warming, with a long finish of an attractive oak and milk chocolate character.  In his Whisky Bible, Jim Murray says ‘the slow opening up of the corn oils and accompanying sugars is superb’.

Click here to buy…

So to celebrate the love this month 1981 style, sip a single grain, shake that mullet, and don’t stop believin’!

-          Slainte

When we conducted a small poll of what our W Club members wanted most from their membership one of the things that came out top was the chance to attend some great whisky tastings.

You asked. We delivered! Please see below for a list of some of the most exciting whisky tastings to be held in a town near you. Dont worry if you dont see your local store listed many more to be announced. For further details

please click here

The Nottingham Whisky Shop will be hosting another exciting tasting to be held in-store on Friday 22^nd of February. 7pm while 9pm approx.

We are opening a number of single cask whiskies (Douglas Laing) as well as a few other interesting bottling’s. Some of these expressions are limited to just over 100 bottles so it

should prove to be one of our most special tastings yet!

Admittance will be £5 for members and £10 for non-members. RSVP required. First come first serve!! Please email nottingham@whiskyshop.com or phone 0115 9587080 for more details.

The Norwich Whisky Shop Thursday, Feb. 28th, starting at 6.15pm

Come and bid farewell to the original Norwich Whisky Shop. We’re moving to larger premises shortly, but before we go, why not join us for a final tasting at the old stomping ground. We’ll taste five whiskies demonstrating the range of styles available in the world of malts, and look forward to the exciting range of products that await us in the near future. Tickets are going fast, but there are a few places left. £5 for W Club members, £7 for non-members. Contact Chris at norwich@thewhiskyshop.net or on 01603 618284 if you’d like to book a place.

The London Paternoster Whisky Shop Thursday 28 February – 6.30pm

Join us for a night with Douglas Laing & Co, one of the leading independent bottling companies in the Scotch whisky industry.  We welcome Jan Beckers, the UK Brand Ambassador for Douglas Laing, to the store and will sample whisky from across their different ranges. We hope to see you for what will be an informative and enjoyable evening.

Tickets – £20 per head (£18 for W Club members)

Booking and pre-payment essential.

For further information – contact Matt or Jack on 020-73295117 or london@thewhiskyshop.net

The London Piccadilly Whisky Shop 20th February 7.30pm

A superb W Club whisky tasting here at 70 Piccadilly. The theme is Japanese whiskies where we will be trying some of the following, Yamazaki 12yo

Yamazaki 18yo, Hakushu 12yo, Hibiki 17yo, Hibiki 21yo. The event will be hosted by Tatsuya Mingawat

The Birmingham Whisky Shop Every Friday 4pm-6pm

Come along to our Birmingham Whisky Shop every Friday where you will get the opportunity to a small

tutored tasting – Free for all W club members!

Our tasting panel are back and this time they are tasting a brand new product on the market. This time the Islay Mist Peated Edition a brand new product on the market.

Islay Mist has been around since the late 1920’s and is renowned for its marvellous peatiness. Much of the distinctive character is derived from the addition of Laphroaig with a lighter element from the addition of Highland and Speyside malts.

Islay Mist was originally created on the Scottish island of Islay in 1922 to celebrate the 21st birthday party of Lord Margadale. It was thought that the local single malt scotch, Laphroaig, might be too heavy for all the guests’ taste so this unique blend of Laphroaig with Speyside malts and grain whisky was born.

This new release focuses on the peaty characteristics which have made the Islay mist so famous. So is it any good? Our fisrt batch of tasting panel experts give their feedback below;

Tom Thomson:

Nose: There’s smoke, but for something that says it’s the “peated reserve” it’s certainly reserved, i’m finding some edges of medicinal smoke, like a gentle Laphroaig in the background with large waves of sherried fruit and almost prunes in there too, there’s gentle dewyness from grain whisky just at the very background also.

Palate: the smoke here is once again quite medicinal and definitely Laphroaig-y but it’s still very gentle and has been blended well with a fruity sherried speysider to give it a nice taste. the mix of gentle smoke and prune juice is there along with some raisins and sultanas and some grain like dewy grass characteristics.

Finish: Prunes and gentle medicinal smoke, easy going.

Jon Bryant

A gentle introduction to the whiskies of Islay. Not the most smokey or medicinal blend, but an interesting dram all the same.

Nose: A burst of homemade plum jam, stewed rhubarb and banoffee pie. This faded as the briny tarry notes came through along with dark chocolate, pain au raisins and custard pastry. A touch of smoke but certainly not overpowering.

Palate: Woody with a gentle smokey background. Full of cigar smoke, raisins, coffee dregs and a slight chilli heat. We also thought there was a sherry influence hidden deep within.

Finish: Aniseed combined with brandy cream wrapped in wood smoke

James Otter

Nose – Gristy, treacle with a hint of pear drops. Light smoke makes me think of caol ila.

Palate – honey, pipe tobacco, seaweed and salt.

Finish – warming, slightly oily and extremely pleasant. Liquorice sits on the tongue for a good few minutes after the smoke has faded. Also after about 5 minutes one of those odd flavours appears that you know but don’t know how …pencil shavings. Woody.

I could quite comfortably sip that after a good meal. Quite sweet so perhaps one for those who want an easy introduction to the world of peat smoke.

This blended whisky has a medium golden colour, either denoting some aged sherry whisky in it, or the use of some colouring, it’s hard to tell.

Steve Prentice

It’s a fairly light 40% (as far as I can tell at this point in time) leaving a nose that’s light, buttery and fruity with peaty smoke coming through. Right at the back is some bubble gum flavours.

On the palate, again this is light and fruity with a hint of spice and a dollop of peat and smoke shovelled in. It’s sweet and particularly smooth, easy drinking. There’s a slightly disconnected over sweetness at the end of the finish, with a few wood notes fighting to get out.

Depending on price (unknown at time of review) then this could be really quite a good buy if not too expensive.

Peter Steller:

Nose: Very rich and powerful with a wonderful hint of some tropical fruits

Palate: A very pleasant oily feel to this, the taste is sweet first then the burst of intense peat hits you. Fantastic!

Finish: Just about perfect for a deluxe blend. Smooth and long. I want to sip more!!

Steven Todd:

Wow what a nose – the peat really hits you right from the off, moving onto the taste and it is not what I though sure there is the peat notes

which you would expect but rich fruits, treacle, honey and so much more.

Finish more of the same peaty noetes with soft fruits. I will be buying a bottle when it reaches the shops.

Weekly Whisky Auction Watch

Andy Simpson

12.02.2013

Another McTears passed us by last week in a blur of flying gavels and a little controversy.

It always fascinates me to see bottles from iconic distilleries claiming to be from either the late 1800’s or early 1900’s. These old relics of yesteryear occasionally appear at auction and undoubtedly attract a huge amount of attention. A bottle of Macallan, reported to have been distilled in 1900 and bottled in 1911 was withdrawn from sale following reports claiming it was a fake.

McTears did the right thing by removing it from the auction (pending provenance being proved) but it does make me wonder if any of these old bottles are genuine? I’m sure there are bottles somewhere that are the real deal; however, the vast majority I’ve seen, I just personally wouldn’t touch. It’ll certainly be interesting to see if the bottle is ever re-auctioned as having provenance being proved (as best as can be for these antiquities).

Of the bottles which did go under the hammer, there were some interesting results –

Macallan had two of their Anniversary Malt 25 year olds hit new records. The 1972 vintage sold for £750 and the non-vintage (still in the splintery wood box) sold for £600. Some years ago, I remember seeing the non-vintage bottle for sale in the Whisky Shop (Inverness) for £280 and walking away thinking it was too much. Not one of my better judgement calls!

A wonderful old 1964 Cadenheads bottling of 23 year old Bowmore sold for £750. The old dumpy Cadenheads bottles are achieving good results across the board, especially when they contain whisky from an iconic distillery.

Staying with Bowmore we also saw the joint lowest recorded sale value for one of the official 1955 vintage bottles. £3,200 looked to be a good deal for the buyer.

Another high value bottle to see a significant fall in value was the Glenfiddich 50 year old. Previous sale values have been in the £9,000 – £10,000 price band. It was indeed surprising to witness one sell for £6,000.

This weeks final mention goes to one of our many closed distilleries. A bottle of Signatory’s 1965 vintage ‘Silent Stills’ from Glen Albyn sold for a massive £550. In June 2008 a bottle sold for £150. Further evidence that silence is indeed golden!

Until next week.

Slainte,

Andy.

Exploring whisky with Dominic Roskrow

Welcome to our new W Club feature. The idea is to go on a long journey in to the very heart of whisky and what it is.

Each week Dominic will pick explore whisky in depth and explain why it’s the way it is. There’s going to be no roadmap, so we could be heading off anywhere in any given week. A particular whisky style might be analysed this week, a particular Scottish region the next. Dominic might look closely at rye at one point, and look at the importance of fermentation to the whisky making process at another. If a particular subject dominates the whisky news, we’ll head right over to it and dissect it.

AndDominic’s more than happy to answer questions and deal with issues of specific interest to W Club visitors and members.

We’ll also start a week by week glossary of terms, and A-Z of all things whisky, and if we needs to spend six weeks on one particular letter, so be it.

To get the ball rolling, Dominic looks at why Scotch whisky is doing so well worldwide at the moment.

(intro) Scotch whisky is booming and at the forefront of the surge in demand from a number of emerging markets. But what trends are driving this success?

If you want a snapshot of what’s going on in Scotch whisky right now , then stake a look at the steady flow of premium drinks releases over the last few months

Here, among the glitzy rums, fancy vodkas and imperious Cognacs are a growing number of Scotch whiskies  – and they represent an increasingly confident, stylish and impressive range of traditional Scotch given a makeover and all dressed up for a sparkling future.

Let’s start with blends. Yes, blends.  Whatever you might think or have been told, blended whisky is Scotch’s future. More than 90 per cent of Scotch whisky sales are in the blended category and that isn’t going to change any time soon.

In fact blends are the driving force behind the considerable expansion plans of our leading drinks companies and the the reason’s simple – if you want to grow the whisky category you can’t do it with a single malts. No distillery makes enough malt to meet a world demand. Blends on the other hand, are another matter.

The significant sector here is at the premium end of the blended market. Often seen as single malt whisky’s poor relation, particularly in traditional market places such as the United Kingdom, blended whisky is thriving in emerging markets that have no preconceptions. In countries such as Brazil, Venezuela, Colombia and Brazil are not moving from Scotch blends to single malts but to better blends and blends with an age statement.

Closer to home, The Whisky Shop is now at the forefront of a move to offer its customers something genuinely different. In the last year whisky releases exclusive to the group have given customers the chance to try something new and exciting.  Nor do you have to take out a mortgage to afford special whisky.

There are signs, too,  that another distinctive trend in Scotch is towards unaged whiskies where the emphasis is on taste. Part of this is driven by economic necessity, because the demand worldwide means whisky shortages, so the younger a distillery can sell its whisky, the quicker it can respond to demand pressures.

And while some would argue that we’re seeing a ‘dumbing down’ of standards, the biggest and best suppliers argue that they wouldn’t risk their reputation by selling inferior whisky, and point to advancements in cask standards and a greater understanding of the whisky making process to support the view that great whisky doesn’t necessarily mean old whisky.

The evidence is already there to back this view up. Laphroaig Quarter Cask is a peaty treat and more fiery than Laphroaig 10 Year Old, but significantly younger. Compass Box has consistently released whiskies over the last decade that are outstanding but without an age on them.

Whisky in general is in a good place at the moment. Scotch particularly so. Expect some excitement, some surprises and an awful lot of great whisky in the future.

Ones to watch

Grain whisky

Grain whisky is normally dismissed as malt whisky’s bigger but vastly inferior brother but this is a tad unfair. Grain whisky is the component of a blend which makes the drink smooth, sweet and soft, and it can’t boast the complexity or intensity of flavour of whisky made with malted barley.

Put it in a very good quality cask, however, and the results can be outstanding. The grain picks up all the flavours of the wood, making for some vibrant and colourful aged blends.

“It’s like painting with a blank canvas,” says Euan Shand of Duncan Taylor, which regularly markets award-winning aged grain whiskies.

“You can start with little and create works of art.”

Irish company Cooley has successfully launched a range of grains, and now it may well happen in Scotland. Not just at entry level either. Mahesh Patel, who stages the world’s richest whisky show, includes two grain in his range of four premium single cask whiskies. Whyte & Mackay is also thought to be planning a grain launch.

The other big advantage of grain is that it has the potential to attract 20 something year old drinkers because of its sweetness, and it has the potential to kickstart a wicked cocktail.

Blended malts

There’s nothing new about blended malt whisky. The old timers among us used to call the category ‘vatted malt whisky’ and it’s almost as old as Scotch itself, examples going back to the very earliest days of blending.

Blended malt whiskies are whiskies made using the spirit from various different distilleries. The category is different to blended whisky because there is no grain in the mix.

The category is important because it gives the whisky maker the chance to pursue unusual and exciting flavours and to present them to the customer in a modern, baggage-free way. Monkey Shoulder, for instance, is a mix of the malts from three different distilleries but its stylish packaging, unusual name and irreverent approach to marketing is miles away from the traditional image of malt whisky.

There have been several attempts in recent years to bring Scotch whisky to a new audience through the blended malt route, and Compass Box in particular has taken malt whisky in to new and exciting areas within the category. With more whiskies being released without an age statement and with a greater emphasis on flavor, many expect the blended malt whisky category to get a new lease of life.

What I liked last week

Peat for peat’s sake

At the risk of sounding spoilt, there are times in the life of a whisky writer when the samples start to build up and just about everything you taste is chosen for you and is ‘work.’

There are only so many samples you can taste and analyse properly on any given day, so when there are 30 or even 40 samples to work through, a great deal of focus and effort is required.

There are tougher ways to make a living, I know, but even so, there’s something really special about finishing the work and picking a whisky because you want to drink it. And it’s those moments when you realise which whiskies are your best friends.

After an intense four or five weeks of work, these last few days I’ve had just that pleasure. Among the work that is in the bag is the new issue of Whiskeria, out March 1. It’s not quite ready for the printers just yet, but make sure you get a copy when it’s out because it is quite possibly the best issue we’ve ever done. And in it, among a range of very special features, you’ll find my 35 tasting notes.

I’ve been tasting a lot of world whiskies recently, so it  was a joy to relax with some of my favourite malts. I’ve run out of BenRiach 17 year old Whisky Shop exclusive (note to self: sort it!) so this weekend my line up of whiskies included Glen Garioch Founder’s Reserve, Ardmore Traditional, Laphroaig Quarter Cask and Jura Prophecy. Peat for peat’s sake – and then some.

Opportunity Cnocs

It is great news that there is to be a new expression of Highland whisky an Cnoc. It’s a delightful malt at any age but  few whiskies wear their distillery DNA on their sleeve quite like this one,  with older expressions like brighter and richer versions of the 12 year old.

The new exp[ression is 22 years old – more of that in a moment – but the news was accompanied by the announcement that a limited amount of 16 year old anCnoc is also going to be back on the shelves. Now we’re talking! This is an absolute beauty of a whisky and I can’t wait to reacquaint myself with a much missed favourite.

I was sent a sample of the new 22 year old – though for some reason the public relations company sent it not to me but to Archant, the publishers of Whiskeria. So I wasn’t best pleased by the fact that I had to go and pick it up on a freezing, snowy day in Norfolk. And to make matters worse, the trains were late on the way back.

So I thought I’d take a quick taste of my new whisky sample. It was gorgeous. So I had another swig. And another. By the time the train had arrived and I’d travelled  the 15 minutes it takes to reach my local station, my whisky had all gone. So I had to get my tasting book out of my bag and  sit on the empty platform in the freezing cold and write my tasting notes.

Surprise, surprise – I used the word ‘more-ish’ in my review.

King Richard

Richards played a big part of my week last week.

The discovery of Richard III’s remains in a car park of my home city of Leicester means that if you  add in Engelbert Humperdinck that makes me only the third least liked person from the city.

But the Richard that impacted on me most last week was Richard Paterson, whisky maker and master blender at Whyte & Mackay. It started with a somewhat bizarre telephone call from the industry’s most entertaining whisky presenter and ended with an hour long private tasting with him on the telephone on Sunday morning.

Richard had heard that I was to be given three very old samples of his whisky by a company wanting an opinion as to whether it should buy all three casks. As we’re talking whisky between 46 and 50 years old, that’s hundreds of thousands of pounds of business and a lot of responsibility on me. Richard wanted to make sure I was approaching them from the right angle.

Trouble was, I knew nothing about the plan – or where my name came in to it. So Richard went away more than a little bewildered.

Ten minutes later an email arrived  offering me the work and stating that the samples would be delivered Saturday or Monday. Then the phone rang again and it was Richard announcing he was about to fly to Siberia and could I get the samples through by Saturdasy so he could go through them with me.

They were couriered over to me on Saturday, Richard called Sunday morning, and so it was that I spent a delightful hour listening to the great man talk of scary plane journeys, the occasional drunken heckler at tasting events and lots of other things. And he told me the stories of the three remarkable whiskies I had sample of.

Were they any good? They were excellent. But I didn’t need Richard to tell me that. After all, he had selected the casks in the first place and released them for bottling because he considered them ready. That’s good enough for me.

One final comment. Before you get the view that the life of a whisky ambassador is all glamour, consider this. Richard was up this morning before dawn in snowy Glasgow to start a three plane, 24 hour journey to Siberia where it is  -32c. What a nightmare.

The Dalmore is a sleeping giant but it’s starting to stir. Dominic Roskrow visited one of Scotland’s strangest distilleries

Early summer in the Highlands, and the scene outside the distillery is one of utter tranquillity.

The tide’s out so Cromarty Firth is a mass of sand dune and rivulets. A watery sun casts shadows across the estuary where sea birds are feeding at what turns out to be the end of one of the distillery’s waste water pipes, where fish are attracted by the protein and warmer water. Two boys nonchalantly throw stones in to the water. All, it seems, is well with the world. But not for long.

“We’re all doomed,” someone bellows from the still room in their best Fraser-like manner. There’s a cackle of laughter,  a flurry of activity and a couple of shouts, and then silence falls once more like the whole incident never happened. Welcome to the eccentric world that is the Dalmore Distillery.

It might look like a beacon or serenity with its battered Highland stone walls and imposing coastal facade, but you don’t have to go very beneath the surface to discover that working at the distillery is akin to steering a speedboat through a gale. There are distilleries where the stillman turns up, presses some buttons and sits back with one eye on the computer screen and the other on the day’s sport pages, but Dalmore isn’t one of them.

Making spirit here is an edge of the seat experience, a daily challenge to tame the distillery’s production quirks and to sidestep the restraints nature imposes on it because of its location. Optimists would say there’s never a dull moment;  pessimists, that making malt is a pain in the proverbial butt.  No-one questions whether it’s worth it, though. It’s what makes The Dalmore what it is.

We don’t hear nearly enough about The Dalmore. It is arguably Scotland’s biggest sleeping giant, a spirit that ages better than almost any other malt and has commanded some of the highest prices ever paid for a bottle of whisky. It is characterised by its luxury and quality.

It is the best whisky in the Whyte & Mackay stable, but a succession of management changes and conflicting business strategies have done it few favours. The whisky exudes style and panache but it is rarely mentioned in conversations about iconic malts. And it should be.

Now, it seems, it might be set for a place in the sun. When Indian businessman Vijay Mallya purchased Whyte & Mackay he could afford to be sentimental about acquiring Isle of Jura – it was his father’s favourite malt – but his business head will have been focused on The Dalmore.  The Dalmore range has been crying out for a reappraisal, and now it’s getting it.

And so it is that I’m at the distillery with David Robertson, the former distiller at The Macallan and the man now charged with putting The Dalmore to the fore in the premium whisky sector and with re-introducing it to serious malt drinkers across the world. And he’s about to try and explain exactly why distillation  here is such a challenging and complex experience.

First, though, there’s the small matter of the sudden rush of panic that greeted us as we arrived. There is concern over the distillery’s water supply, but at Dalmore there’s always concern over the water supply. It is one of the first distilleries to be forced to close in times of drought. Last year it shut in early spring because of the lack of snow in the Highlands, though a wet summer saved it.

And it lives on a constant knife edge. Indeed as we stand outside the distillery buildings where the spring water enters the distillery  we can see the water levels fall in the concrete waterways that guide the valuable resource through the plant. A wet water mark of about 15 centimetres shows how rapidly the levels have fallen. It’s like watching a canal lock empty.

The reason is a simple one. All the distillery’s water comes from a reservoir above the distillery and must travel over the top of a wall before descending down the hill and in to the distillery. When the water levels up there fall below the height of the wall the water just stops.

But that’s just the start of the problems because even with plentiful water this is no easy ride, and the reason is contained in the still room. Nothing can quite prepare you for it. It comprises two groups  four stills are separated by a walkway and it’s clear at once that there can be no neat pairing of wash and spirit stills, or a uniform approach to distillation.

The four wash stills are a mix of shapes and sizes but you can see they are related because they have curious flat tops rather than swan necks. In stark contrast the spirits stills are more ordered but stand out as unique because they are coated in copper water jackets.

“This allows cold water to be passed over the outside of the copper,” David Robertson explains. “This helps reflux take place, increasing the amount of vapour that is turned back to liquid rather than pass through the system. The system ensures that the heavier and less positively aromatic spirits are returned to the bottom of the still.”

The mix of wash stills and the unusual cooling system are crucial to the development of the new spirit, which is complex and multi-layered with flavour. But the array of wash still sizes create a challenge to the still man here, and it’s compounded by the way the spirits stills are charged.

“After the first distillation the low wines from all four wash stills goes in to one receiver,” explains David. “The recycled portions from the spirits stills are also stored here. Whenever a spirit still needs filling for the next distillation it will take its charge from this holding tank, no matter what’s in there. But this makes it very complex.”

In practice the contents of the receiver will vary widely in alcoholic strength and it’s a hit and miss affair.  What if, for instance, all four spirit stills are recycling foreshots at the same time? If low wines from the wash still with an ABV of 21% are mixed with the strong foreshots from the previous distillations, the mix will enter the spirits still at a relatively high strength. If, on the other hand,  they are mixed with a high proportion of the relatively weak feints, the strength will be much lower.

It’s like throwing four dice: the scores will tend to even themselves out and fall between 12 and 20, but it is possible for a 24 to come up, or a four.

The end result of all this is that the spirit coming off the still does so at a range of different strengths, making the still man’s job a little like trying to fly a kite in a gale. And it’s possible to have a blank run – when the spirits charge has metaphorically thrown a four and even the very earliest foreshots barely reach the cutting strength, making the middle cut too weak to make collecting it worthwhile.

It’s a strange, archaic and demanding system but it not only works but it produces an oral rainbow of a spirit, one that is complex and aromatic but which can withstand long periods of maturation.

No less care is taken with cask selection, either, and a mix of first fill bourbon casks and aged sherry casks from the bodegas of Gonzalez Byass ensure that the quality of The Dalmore is never compromised.

And it’s just got better. As part of the repositioning exercise master blender Richard Paterson was given free rein to reinvent the Dalmore range and he has so with some aplomb. There are six bottling in the new range, from 12 years old to 40, and only one of them is anything less than truly exceptional.  What started life as a feisty stallion of a malt has been groomed to perfection, and through stylish and luxurious packaging it has been dressed up as a thoroughbred.

The famous Royal stag emblem, bequeathed to the distillery’s owners by Alexander III after one of their clan saved him from a stag during a hunting incident some 750 years ago,  is now highlighted but the bell-shaped bottles give the range a sense of style and gravitas.

Now  David Robertson and his team are targeting the luxury market to put The Dalmore firmly back on the map. in the luxury market. He makes no bones about it occupying the very top end of the premium whisky market, with the 12 Year Old retailing at about £35, and the new 40 year climbing above the £1350 mark.

Anyone who has met David Robertson or Richard Paterson will know they’re not above gimmicks and having fun with their stock, either. In one of the warehouses there is a small sealed off area where some 60 year old plus whisky is being held. Expect to hear more about it later this year as Whyte & Mackay sets about breaking price records. Quite what they’ll do with it remains a mystery but no hair-brained scheme has been counted out yet, so undoubtedly it’ll be spectacular.

“If you look at the way all luxury goods are promoted then it’s normal to focus on the very exclusive top of the range items,” Robertson says. “You highlight the most expensive and luxurious BMWs in the hope that people will aspire to that but buy a car from a lower series because they want to be associated with the brand. So it should be with luxury whisky.”

These are exciting times for The Dalmore, and the deep-set company cynicism seems to have thawed as quickly as this year’s winter snow did. As we wander back through the distillery towards  the offices to taste the new range the silence has returned. There is no further  shouting from the still room. No more panic. The water levels seem to have steadied.

They’re all doomed? The Dalmore? Who do you think you are kidding…

TASTING NOTES

The Dalmore 12   40%

Nose: Fresh oranges, some berry fruits, cake mix.

Palate:  Very clean, with blood oranges red fruits and spices

Finish: Medium and warming

Gran Reserva   40%

Nose: Lemon and orange peel, tangy and more spice, dry fruits

Palate: Fuller on the mouth than the 12 year old, with orange marmalade, wood and spices

Finish: Rich and lingering

The Dalmore 15 year old 40%

Nose: Sherry, juicy raisins, church polish like a church on Easter Sunday morning

Palate: Bucket-loads of citrus and rich fruit, vanilla, cinnamon and sweet spices

Finish: A heady three way battle between fruit, tannins and spices

The 1263 King Alexander 111 40%

Nose: This is made with whisky from oloroso sherry casks, Madeira buts, vintage bourbon barrels and Cabernet Sauvignon barriques. It smells like it. Loads going on with lots of red fruit, vanilla, plum, red liquorice. Amazing.

Palate; definite orange but lots of stewed fruits too, with the red liquorice showing up and some maraschino cherry notes

Finish: Superbly put together. There’s a lovely rounded quality to itand a nice hint of wood. It isn’t in any hurry to leave, either

The 1973 Cabernet Sauvignon  45%

Nose: Oddly restrained with an almost musty note. Quite floral

Palate: Again, not as assertive as you might expect. Grapes, prunes, vanilla and liquorice all popping up in the mix

Finish: Medium, fairly fruity and a touch of wine and wood

The 40    40%

Nose: Rich orange and currants, pruney, venerable

Palate: Remarkably light-footed for its age, but with plum, oranges, nutmeg and dark chocolate. Wonderful

Finish Long, warming and stunning

Two unique and amazing W Club whisky tastings have gone down a treat with locals of the Guildford and London Whisky Shops.

Guildford broke the record for most amount of people crammed into their shop at the same time. A total of 53 people took part in a tasting hosted by Ben Matthews.

Ben was on our “W” Club tasting panel last year and writes “littletipple.com” blog.He is also a dentist, photographer and musician. The whiskies tasted can be seen below with some top tasting notes included…

London Paternoster also showed why it is regarded as one of the finest tasting venues in the UK with a spectacular tasting featuring Colin Dunn of Diageo! a full house of 24 customers and tasted five from the Distiller’s Edition range – Clynelish, Oban, Cragganmore, Talisker & Lagavulin.  In a refreshing way, Colin got everyone to nose each whisky before asking them to vote for which one to start with – the winner was Clynelish.  He told customers about the philosophy behind the DE brand and told many stories and anecdotes!

Matt the store manager in London added;

‘I have to say that it was the most captivated that I have seen a crowd at the shop and four or five regulars commented that it was the best tasting they had ever attended at the store.  Colin brought the whiskies to life – this included pairing the Talisker with dark 70% chocolate and an impromptu sampling of the Lagavulin outside in the cold February evening air (a first I think?).  Both worked a treat.’

Picture of the day has to go to Matt in London also with this stunning effort…

Many thanks to Lynn and Matt our store managers for the reports on two great W Club tastings. If you would like to come along to one of our tastings please contact our store managers directly you can see the contact details listed below.

http://www.whiskyshop.com/Contacts/StoreLocations.aspx