Category Archives: Island

Highland Park 12 year 40%

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I will admit to being wary about trying Highland Park. Once upon a time the Highland Park 18 year was a favourite and regularly found in my whisky cabinet. However first the prices shot up, then it simply could not be found readily. What I could afford from the vintage series was a disappointment, the last of which kicked around in my cabinet was the Highland Park 1998.

Since then, I’ve watched as a whole series of Viking theme related NAS prance around and have been… well… reluctant… Breaking my Highland Park drought only with a mini of MacPhail’s Orkney 8 year, until this Highland Park 12 year arrived as part of our monsoon malts evening…

Highland Park 12 year 40%

  • Nose – Sweet water, honey, fruits, cashew feni, faint esters, an almost chemically fruity, then started to open up to reveal fragrant heather, light spice and a puff of smoke
  • Palate – Light on the body, warm smoke. If you hold in your mouth for some time reveals sexy peppers, chocolate and more, honey, fruits and mildly malty
  • Finish – Bitter, spice, smoke… long finish
  • Water – Though sounds like a contradiction, a few drops improved the body and mouth feel, tames the spice, reveals sweet coffee

It honestly has been many years since I sipped a Highland Park 12 year, with my earlier impression of a decent dram but the 18 year? Oh the 18 year! That was a beaut!

And yet, as I continued to sip the 12 year, could find shades of those memories of the early favourite 18 year. Which was part of that tipping point from “Yeah, sure, I like whisky” to “Hmm… let me take some time to really pay attention to the different elements.”

So the verdict on the Highland Park 12 year? It is definitely a decent dram and worth a revisit.

Here’s what they have to say about it:

The heart and soul of Highland Park, VIKING HONOUR is a perfect harmony of aromatic smoky peat, sweet heather honey and rich fruit cake.

  • Flavours – Heather honey | Rich fruitcake | Winter spices | Seville oranges | Aromatic smoky peat
  • Try with – Haunch of venison, chocolate ginger biscuits, soft cheeses such as French Brie and even Japanese sushi and wasabi (yes, really!)

Other whiskies sampled in our Mumbai monsoon malts evening included:

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Monsoon malts and more…

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I love this part of monsoon – the temperature dips, the rains have a wildness and for a bit of time, we have just the right conditions to curl up indoors and enjoy a good dram.

So one fine Friday night, I and two whisky afficianados found ourselves free to explore a few interesting whiskies… just because.

What all did we sample?

Oh yeah, and an absolutely undrinkable chilli rice-whiskey from Laos… Plus an impromptu chilled cocktail playing around with the Eddu’s unique qualities.

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The Arran Port Finish 50%

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Funny how sometimes chance encounters lead to wonderful discoveries. I happened to meet a Scot who keeps criss-crossing between India, UK and other ports of call.

He ever so kindly offered (or did I weedle an offer?) to pick up something on his next trip to Edinburgh. He asked if there was anything specific I had in mind and rather than rattle of a series of well known options, suggested he take a peak at the list of whiskies tasted til date and surprise me!

That he did indeed… with my first Arran whisky from Lochranza in the Highlands.

This particularly bottle joined a special NAS evening with our original tasting group, sampled blind before the great reveal..

The Arran Port Finish 50%

  • Nose – Starts with tight dry berries, then rounds out into a bouquet of fruits, shifting from berries to summer orchard fruits then slipping into tangy citrus orange, finally settling into stewed fruits like plums with a drizzle of dark molasses, even a hint of toasted hazelnut, gives the impression of body just on the nose
  • Palate – After such a sweet nose, such an unexpected SPICE! With dried red sour plums or gooseberry. A nice oily element too.
  • Finish – Bitter spice finish, stays surprisingly long
  • Water – Adds a little something – much spicier in a good way that brings out a nice cinnamon spice

As we speculated what this whisky could be, we realized it didn’t neatly fit into standard categories. The colour had hints of ruby to the extent that one wondered if it was “suspect”…

With the reveal there was quite a bit of surprise – it was remarkably smooth for 50%, the port cask finish helped explained many of the different elements – including the colour which has nothing beyond the cask involved!

We even had a member quite familiar with Arran in our midst who hadn’t connected the style of the Port Finish with the standard age statement Arran’s or their peaty Machir Moor.

Here’s what else the Arran team have to say about this whisky:

After initially maturing in traditional oak casks for approximately 8 years, the Arran Single Malt in this bottling was finished in the highest quality Port wine casks from an artisan producer of this iconic Portuguese fortified wine. Our Master Distiller, James MacTaggart, has carefully monitored this period of secondary maturation to ensure the perfect balance is struck between the Port casks and the intrinsic sweet-fruity character of The Arran Malt. The end result is a Single Malt full of charm, complexity and quality and an extremely popular part of our range.

  • Colour: Deep Bronze
  • Nose: Vanilla spice and ripe citrus running into dried fruits and nuttiness. With a splash of water more depth of mandarin citrus with fudge and honeyed notes
  • Palate: Layered fruits and spice combine, with cinnamon baked apple wrestling with raisin and plum pudding. The dram opens out to reveal warming barley and a hint of sweet pear
  • Finish: A classic Single Malt with punch that dances on the palate. The trademark Arran barley-sweetness shines through the layers of complexity

What else did we try in our NAS evening?

Pssst – In Mumbai, you can get Arran 14, 18 & Machir Moor in India through The Vault.

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Exploring NAS whiskies – Guillon, Oban, Arran + Kavalan

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Sure folks still bemoan the days where “No Age Statement” whiskies were few and far between in the world of single malts, however NAS whiskies are here to stay! And frankly, some of them are rather good.

So it was rather apt that one of our retired whisky club members for his birthday (of years we shall not say!) turned to a quartet of NAS whiskies… which turned out not to all be whiskies… as there is a new avatar of ‘malt spirit’ which joins the fray.

Guess which one of our 4 bottles wasn’t a whisky after all?

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Whisky Exchange – Mini malts…

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My June 2016 trip to London meant I brought back not only the delightful Finnish Teerenpeli… I also acquired an array of miscellaneous malt miniatures from The Whisky Exchange in Covent Garden, London.

Miniatures

What caught my fancy?

  • The Arran 14 year 46% – To contrast with a Port matured expression waiting to sample in a set of non-standard casks (i.e. not bourbon / sherry)
  • Auchroisk 1996/2014 46% (Gordon & MacPhail) – Tried a 20 year old last year however a G&MP bottling is always a good sign…
  • Glencadam 15 year 46% – Purely as have yet to try one from this distillery… later the Whisky Ladies also tried it
  • Glen Keith 1993/2011 46% (Gordon & MacPhail) – Ditto… haven’t tried so curious
  • Longrow Peated NAS 46% – Loved what I had years ago… couldn’t spare the space for a full bottle yet couldn’t resist a mini!
  • Wemyss Peat Chimney 12 year 40% – Again… simply curious… and know there are more from this range to explore…

Tune in over the coming weeks as some of these wee beauties will be revealed…

Thanks to my London whisky shopping companion, we’ve also dipped into a few other minis too:

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Whisky Archives – Oban 14 year, Deanston 12 year, The Six Isles and Yellow Spot

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Another from the archives… from June 2013 and my 1st whisky post on EverydayAsia. Hope you enjoy!

Tasting Notes from 20 June 2013

Following our standard format, we blind tasted before revealing the whisky. This month featured: Oban 14 year, Deanston 12 year, The Six Isles and Yellow Spot.

“Oh us fortunate few! What an evening it was!”

Oban 14 year – Golden amber colour. A light fruity sweet nose. Unexpectedly oily, chewy body with a spicy bite yet smooth. Short finish. Felt familiar, nice yet not exceptional.

Oban 14 year (photo: Carissa Hickling)

Deanston 12 year – A little ‘extra’ brought out by our host for those who missed trying it in an earlier meeting. Nuanced nose with over ripe fruit, sweet and spicy on the palate, lovely finish with a hint of spice that slowly dissipated. Delightful!

Deanston (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

The Six Isles – A vatted malt with single malts from the Scottish Islands: Islay, Jura, Mull, Arran, Skye and Orkney, this one kept us guessing! Quite peaty on the nose with hints of spice and other elements. Burnt ash, rich, oily on the palate yet with only a drop or two of water transformed into an exquisite smooth sweet whisky that would even pair well with desert. A lovely mellow finish. What a wonderful surprise!

The Six Isles (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

Yellow Spot 12 year – From Ireland, a single pot still Irish whisky produced for Mitchell & Son of Dublin, matured in bourbon, sherry and Malaga casks. The nose was fresh and sweet with hints of a complexity to come. On the palate, initially a blend of sea salt and honey, it rounded out with chocolate to fruit, supported by a woody robustness. The finish was particularly superb! Complex, with a gorgeous flavour that lingered…

It has garnered some very well deserved praise from Jim Murray (and us)! An exceptional whisky that hit all our favourite counts for a wonderful malt.

Yellow Spot (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

Any different opinions? Any recommendations along the lines of Yellow Spot?

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Whisky Archives – Food Pairing with Cragganmore, Talisker, Lagavulin, Springbank 18 year

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Another from our archives, this time a special pairing of food and whisky from Dec 2013.

For the last tasting of 2013, we celebrated with a special whisky-food pairing. Tasting notes were provided to the chef in advance and he was given full license to indulge his creative culinary talents to craft morsels to be complimented by the selected whiskies.

Our approach was to first sniff, swill and sample the whisky then to sip further with food. The idea was to savour both together and distil the flavours. Only after we ate and drank our fill of each course was the whisky revealed. The key was – could the whisky both stand ‘on its own’ and did it enhance the flavours of the food?

Good to the last dram! (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

1st whisky – Cragganmore 12 year, 40%

  • Nose – It was like sniffing an entire fruit basket, banana, citrus, caramel – unmistakably bourbon cask
  • Taste – Leathery with distinct woodiness, slightly smoky
  • Finish – Smooth, warm, mild

Paired with a beetroot crêpe roll filed with two cheeses, a peppery surprise and sprig of parsley.

  • Pairing pronouncement? Complimented fabulously! The chef shared that the tasting notes he received made the whisky sound rather insipid. So he opted for softer flavours with just a bit of pepper kick.
  • Whisky verdict? Young dude, with a bit of fuzz not yet manly stubble…

Cragganmore 12 year (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

1ST WHISKY: CRAGGANMORE 12 YEAR

1st pairing with beetroot crepe roll filled with cheese, pepper & a sprig of parsley (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

2nd whisky – Talisker 10 year 45.5%

  • Nose – Peat, smoked bacon, heather, moss… one member was reminded of the glycerine of life boy soap
  • Taste – Spice, little harsh
  • Finish – Nothing to write home about

Paired with two options:

  • Non-Veg – Peppered chicken with fresh pineapple chunks in a reduced pineapple juice and coriander salsa
  • Veg – Bruschetta with tomato, parsley, emmenthal cheese

Pairing pronouncement? Not so much complimenting as finishing. We admitted to the chef, this was not an entirely successful pairing. Some preferred chicken, some preferred veg.

Whisky verdict? Huskier, gruff guy… a bit rough around the edges but not a bad sort.

2nd whisky - Talisker 10 year (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

2ND WHISKY – TALISKER 10 YEAR

2nd course: Chicken chunks with pineapple salsa (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

3rd whisky – Lagavulin 16 year, 46%

  • Notes – Oily, brine, smoke, early morning jasmine… bacon again but saltier, wet earth smell
  • Taste – Wood, leather, strongly peated, not harsh unless breathe it in
  • Finish – Long smoky

Paired with a deconstructed vegetarian lasagne with pasta rounds made fresh that day and filled with a mix of vegetables, cheese added on top. Mix in the pesto – perfection!! We also declared that complimenting with pepper was very much a “now we are talking” kind of combination with whisky.

  • Pairing pronouncement? Yum! Cheesy, peppery, add the pesto and voilà! A perfect match with the smoky whisky.
  • Whisky verdict? Universal surprise. Lagavulin’s 16 year is a familiar favourite however we found the character quite different when paired with food.

3rd whisky: Lagavulin 16 year (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

3RD WHISKY: LAGAVULIN 16 YEAR

3rd course: Deconstructed vegetarian lasagne (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

4th whisky – Springbank 18 year 46%

  • Nose – Sweet, citrus, a light peat, reduced orange peel, for me – an instant flashback to my father’s chemistry lab and others also discovered a medicinal whiff or two
  • Taste – Woody, bitter sourness, chewy, oil, rubber
  • Finish – Long, hint of sea salt, citrusy orange

Paired with chocolate orange mud cake followed by a sampling of Pierre Marcolini’s chocolates with the ‘saveurs du monde’ collection.

  • Pairing pronouncement? Brilliant – the orange burst from both the Springbank and cake – delightful! And the chocolates? An utterly sinful and blissful combination!
  • Whisky verdict? A bit of a loner, has seen life, strong character and opinionated. One member joked it is a bit like the distillery which is staunchly independent, take weeks to reply to communications, slightly cantankerous but worth persisting to check out!

4th whisky: Springbank 18 year (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

4TH WHISKY: SPRINGBANK 18 YEAR

4th pairing's extra special treat - Pierre Marcolini's journey around the world in chocolate! (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

4TH PAIRING’S EXTRA SPECIAL TREAT

Mmmmm...... (Photo: Carissa Hickling)

MMMMM……

A few learnings for us included:

  • Just because you’ve had the whisky before, doesn’t mean the next time you’ll have the same experience – our tasting with food brought a fresh new set of insights.
  • Food very much influences the palate and experience.  As one member put it:

“What a rich robust red wine does for beef, peaty whisky does for peppery lasagna.”

  • Courses also have an impact – as another member put it:

“One cannot assume if the third course is with Ardbeg or Lagavulin, it is going to be very peaty and therefore plan the food to compliment the smokiness. We need to understand that the palette is already coated with the first two courses, and therefore there is going to be less peat on the palette, and so the food needs to compliment this and not the Lagavulin we have from our memory.”

  • We were reminded that cheese and chocolate are known to combine well with most whiskies. Our discovery was that cracked black pepper does too – at least with the whiskies we sampled.
  • Our next challenge is to try a pairing with flavours that have no cheese or chocolate – perhaps a four course Indian meal?

Have you ever paired whisky with food? What is your favourite combination?

PS – Apologies for the poor photo quality – camera settings went wonky and replacement phone’s camera isn’t ideal with the flash going on over-drive in the otherwise perfect mood and lighting of our evening. Clearly I’m NOT a photographer!

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Whisky Archives – Glenlivet Nadurra, Scapa, Mitcher’s Straight Rye, Kilchoman Spring 2011 + Caroni

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Another from the tasting archives… This time the post is truly a ‘blast from the past’ – Oct 2011.

This month we were back to our standard format and blind tasted before revealing the whisky. The session featured: Glenlivet Nadurra, Scapa 16 yr, Mitcher’s Straight Rye, Kilchoman Spring release followed by an extra treat Caroni 18 yr rum.

It was an exceptionally lovely evening in Worli with perfect hosts. A comfortable setting, the right music, glasses, spitoon and cucumbers all laid out, followed by the most fabulous nibbles… yum!

The contrast between the different single malts was also a wonderful learning experience… which was, naturally, the real focus of our evening.

Awaiting the revelation!

AWAITING THE REVELATION!

Glenlivet Nadurra 16 years – Batch 1010K Bottled 10/10. Cask Strength 54.9%. Non Chill Filtered. Wood – not stated.

The legs were slow though closely spaced, colour bright gold. The nose was sweet with a hint of honey, grass, a little “woody”. Not off to a bad start… and then we sipped, spit and then sipped and swallowed. While not ‘knock me down’ harsh, the first hit definitely had an edge. Spicy was a word bantered around a bit. The finish was also… well.. not so impressive.

Our overall conclusion was this perhaps wasn’t a keeper… Unveiled we were surprised this is one of the few Glenlivet’s non-chill filtered considered to be ‘good’. The distillers notes included words like ‘fruity’?! Puzzled, we chocked it up to a mass production distillery and moved on… til somewhere along the way a discussion about ambient temperature in Scotland vs India with an impact on flavour led to an inspired idea – why not chill the Nadurra and see if it makes any difference?

PS The debate on alcohol strength was lost by all thinking it was lower than 54.9%.

Scapa 16 years 40%. Wood not stated.

The legs were broad and a little faster than the Nadurra. The nose was certainly also sweet, with a more pronounced heather honey aroma than the bolder Nadurra. First savour was clean, was there a teasing hint of peat? Perhaps a little of the ocean? Neat was clearly best – any dilution simply detracted from its gentle dance on our palates. The finish wasn’t notable however this Oarkney Islands contribution was deemed light, lovely every day enjoyable. Scapa is slightly ‘cultish’ whiskey and we were a bit disappointed about such limited details on its maturation process.

Mitcher’s Straight Rye 10 years 46.4%. Wood – Charred White Oak, Single Barrel.

What a contrast to go from the Scapa to a Rye… Colour very dark – distinctly so. The notes were apple pie… comments were that it is non-whisky or almost wine-like. Our first American offering, it was a fabulous addition to our tasting journey. We learned later is that this is quite a rare bottle with the Mitchers team’s comment “You have tried one of our best!” Lucky us!

Kilchoman Spring 2011 release 46%. Age not stated – estimate 3 years.

Caramel notes… In your face peaty… smokiness of a cigar or pipe. Adding water transformed it – toned down the peatiness and opened up the whisky.  Then some fruity flavours emerged with a nice lingering smoky finish. The surprise post unveiling is that it was quite sophisticated for what we understand is only a three-year old from Islay region. For a few, the Kilchoman Spring 2011 release was the clear favourite. We also experimented by adding a twist of a mosambi peel. What an exceptional combination!

Now back to the Nadurra… Was it the booze in our collective systems, or just residual disappointment from our earlier quaffing? All one can say is there does indeed seem to be a clear correlation between temperature and taste. Cooled – the Nadurra was a delight! The earlier harshness was chilled into submission, allowing the fruity flavours in the distillery’s tasting notes to actually emerge.

Our evening closed with a little ‘extra’… not a whisky but instead a remarkable rum – yum yum!

Caroni 18 years  55%, Heavy Trinidad Rum.

Another special surprise our host pulled out of his marvellous liquor cabinet was a Caroni. Clearly no ordinary offering, it was rich, layered, full of flavours and soooo smooth going down. The alcohol content was deceptively much higher than it seemed – so one to add caution if doing more than sampling! It is also a fascinating story of an Italian so passionate about this rum that he bought the entire distillery just to not be deprived of his favoured Trinidad rum. The packaging is also superbly stylized. Naturally we also added a hint of mosambi to this too… mmm mmm good!

Anyone have other comments on these whiskies and rum?

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August Miniatures – TWE Speyside + Islay, MacPhail’s Orkney, Tomatin Legacy

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A fellow whisky adventurer based in Mumbai regularly traverses the globe and has taken to picking up miniature tasting treats.

More importantly, he ever so kindly has invited me to partake…

We began in July with a Tomintoul Trilogy…

August Minis

And continued in August with a duo from The Whisky Exchange‘s Covent Garden Reserve collection:

Plus another two:

With the balance reserved for another session…

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Winnipeg’s Cabinet Talisker Storm NAS 45.8%

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Talisker jumped on the NAS marketing bandwagon some time ago… and has its fair share of fans and detractors for their expressions.

Recently, we sampled the Talisker 57° North 57% and were not massively impressed with the ‘sardines on saltines’ experience.

A few years back, I took a gamble on the travel retail Talisker Dark Storm – Storm’s deeper charred sibling. Sampled blind when first opened, it was found rather yummy. Sampled later, less flattering… but as time went by, strangely it’s burnt wood medicinal quality became a popular party favourite til the last drop.

So what then of its earlier Stormy avatar without the extra ‘dark’ barrel charring?

I just so happened to sample it as part of a peaty themed evening with the lads over at Winnipeg’s The Cabinet.Talisker Storm

Impressions from the evening?

  • Nose – Some sea breeze with our peat, iodine sweet, surprisingly ‘fresh’ with a hint of pepper
  • Palate – Watered down sweet peat, strangely not smokey, pleasant though a little ‘rough’ around the edges, back to the briny quality
  • Finish – Sweet, dry with vestiges of peat

Overall? Sweet peat, understated with a ‘raw’ alcohol quality, a sense of being under developed.

For myself? I found myself wishing I could try Dark Storm and Storm side by side… Which would win out?

What did the lads over at Winnipeg’s The Cabinet have to say:

It was with a great deal of trepidation that I selected a bottle of Talisker “Storm” for this evening. Don’t get me wrong, Talisker is a true classic, but their forays into marketing department driven branding make The Cabinet nervous. Storm? What does that actually mean in a whisky context? Only rainwater collected in winter gales used? Distillery now placed on a herring trawler? Fie.

But no matter. We decided that the poor master distiller had this name forced upon a product that he still created with the same care, attention and craftsmanship as its more sensibly named predecessors. And we were right.

Here was balance. Here was complexity. Here was the sea and the land and the peat and the wood and everything we love about scotch whisky. 7.7; high up in the Three Drams range.

And oh, the medicinal effect? Talisker is well known for its ortho-cresol content. Ortho-cresol as in creosote. As in coal tar. Toxic, corrosive, kind of nasty and oh so tasty. And quite the opposite of healthy. We just had to cap the evening by being contrary.

Read on for more Talisker tasting experiences….

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