Littlemill 20yo (1992/2012) Maltbarn

Divine grapefruit juice from
Scotland's oldest distillery

ewhisky.de

At last, the final lowlander on my list (let's just ignore Ladyburn, Glen Flager, Annandale, Ailsa Bay and Inverleven for a moment).
Didn't know what to expect, within the whisky community no consensus can be found on Littlemill. Some loath it as cod oil, others would sell their own children for a bottle. Thus it took me a while to gathered my courage and put in an order for some Littlemill.
Easy to say, the search wasn't too hard, the market is literally being flooded with a wide variety of independent releases. One has to wonder how such a small distillery could leave a stock large enough to keep selling casks for decades after its demise at reasonable prices. (Diageo is probably just cheating us out of our money with their rare releases from lost distilleries like Port Ellen).

A Trio of Balblair,
The Dauntless
Northern Highlander

Almost two weeks without a single post, looks like I've returned to my bad habits,  though in my defense I've been quite busy with work.
If I don't find the time to properly enjoy a dram or two and write some notes down, I'll usually just go for an easy sipper like Dalmore 12, Jura Prophecy, Glenfarclas 105 or my old and trusty companion the Lagavulin 16.

Therefore many bottles/samples remained unopened: stashed away for future enjoyment.

So I still got a few exciting posts coming up: some rare, some lost and some low profile distilleries will get their chance in the spotlight.

Though I may already have confessed my love for Balblair here before, I owe it to the good people of Balblair, who provided me with these samples for a twitter tasting, that I add my tasting notes to this blog.

G&M tasting: Ardmore, Caol Ila, Glenlossie, Miltonduff & Mortlach

Gordon & MacPhail Tasting 

hosted by the "Whisky & More" shop 

in Hasselt (Belgium) 

Last weekend I attended a whisky tasting in my own hometown Hasselt, where only last year the first whisky shop opened its doors.
As for now they haven't got much to offer the seasoned whisky drinker. But it takes some time for an independent shop holder to acquire a decent stock of exclusive and rare bottles that sets them apart from the local supermarkets.

Glen Albyn 35yo (1975/2010) Gordon & MacPhail

Loch Ness mysteries in a bottle

View of the Beauly Firth at the mouth of the Caledonian Canal,

 100m from the grounds of the former Glen Albyn

Prelude

Last summer,  I stayed in Inverness for a couple of nights, it only came natural to do a bit of whisky relic hunting during my evening strolls.
Nowadays no one would likely make the connection between whisk and Inverness. Only a few of you would probably point out to me that the town is home to Bairds, an important supplier of malted barley.

Up to the 80's Inverness could proudly say it had no less than three small distilleries within the city limits. All was fine with the world until the overzealous industry created the infamous whisky lake that swept away two centuries of whisky production in Inverness.

Port Charlotte PC8 Ar Duthchas

Bold Strokes from Islay

Time to re-taste an old classic from the Bruichladdich stable: tonight's entertainment is brought to you straight from the shores of Loch Indaal.

And it brings back with it quite a few good memories. 
I bought a 10cl sample back in early 2012 going by a few good online reviews. This was the second Port Charlotte I ever tasted and as I was still relatively unfamiliar with single malt whisky back then it simply blew me away.
Looking back now, the PC8 has become somewhat of a cult classic that has gained quite a following. Some even hail it as Port Charlotte's best release ever.

Rosebank 25.59 (1991/2011) Boxing gloves and rapier thrusts

The Sleeping Beauty

This review is for the SMWS 25.59 Boxing gloves and rapier thrusts from the silent Rosebank distillery.

news.stv.tv/tayside/202761-former-distillery-to-be-turned-into-brewery-and-visitor-centre/

When in late 2012 the good people from Arran Brewery announced their scheme to breathe new live into the abandoned distillery, I had good hopes that Rosebank could be revived in one way or the other. But now almost two years later we know sadly enough that the sleeping beauty of the lowlands will remain dormant for a the years to come.

As for now , all we have left is its legacy: a rich heritage in the form of a wide range of expressions from independent bottlers sold at ridiculously high prices at online auctions.

Rosebank is probably the best selling lost distillery after Port Ellen and Brora. But does it live up to its name? Only one way to find out.

Glengyle's Kilkerran Work in Progress VI Bourbon Cask

Apricots by the Sea

I love Campbeltown whiskies, by that I mean everything of the Springbank range, not Glen Scotia.

But it took me quite some time to eventually try the sister distillery of Springbank from the same owners. I'll admit I've been missing out.

whiskymizuwari.blogspot.be/2012/12/glengyle-distillery.html

I'm still often surprised to hear people asking me where the "Kilkerran" distillery is situated, or bluntly stating that Kilkerran is just another range of the Springbank distillery along Hazelburn and Longrow. 

However Glengyle is the name of the beast, and it is an independent distillery by in its own right.

The distillery has some historic roots as it was rebuild on the grounds of an older Cambeltown distillery. In the hollow shell of what once was a mighty Glengyle distillery, a new chapter was written in the early 2000's . 

Inchgower 35yo (1975/2011) The Whisky Fair

Solid but Unimpressive

potstill.org/info/distilleries/3876/

Tonight's dram is from the Inchgower distillery: another workhorse  from the Diageo stable.

Even though it is an important ingredient of both Johnnie Walker and Bell's blends, it still is a fairly obscure distillery and remains uncharted territory even for most whisky drinkers.

Braeval 22yo (1991/2013) Brachadair

Tropical Sensation

This week's dram is a sample from distillery #64 on the list: Braeval (or Braes of Glenlivet, if you please).

http://www.geograph.org.uk/photo/1974453

As far as obscure distilleries go, Braeval is certainly one that perfectly fits the title. Build back in 1973 by Chivas Brothers, this distillery was designed as an highly efficient machine for the blends market. 

A product from the 70's and designed for low cost production: blend fodder you might think. Well you might be mistaken there, although Braeval has no official releases, many consider it to be one of the better Scottish distilleries with a high consistency of quality independent bottlings.

Dalmore 12yo (OB)

More than meets the eye ?

I'll admit at first I wasn't too impressed by the 12yo Dalmore. Granted, I never gave the Dalmore Distillery too much credit, in my mental ranking it was right there at Macallan-levels as an overpriced/overestimated snobbish brand. More than once I called the 12yo an overall bore in my reviews

http://www.whisky.de/archiv/dist/dalmore/dalmore.htm

But now that I got a bottle of the 12yo as a gift, I must admit that I find myself having a tiny sip almost every day of the week. It is just such an accessible whisky, nicely soft and smooth. The more I try, the more I like it, something I would never have acknowledged the first few times that I tried it.

Which begs the question of course, is there more than meets the eye here?

Glenburgie Gordon & MacPhail 10yo

Blender's Fodder

http://blog.whivie.be/#post1589

The Gordon & Macphail bottling serves as a semi-official release of the obscure Glenburgie distillery. 

Glenburgie is ranked in one of the higher tiers when it comes to the annual production volume, due to the fact that, though the distillery may have had a long and interesting history, it was rebuild completely back in 2004.

Though many of you may never have tried the Glenburgie single malt, you probably drank it before, as it is one of the main components of the Ballentine's blends.

Dalmore Cigar Malt Rerserve OB

Is Perfection Boring?

jamstudio.uk.com/projects/commercial/the-dalmore

On today's men, another whisky that seems to split the whisky community in half: time for yet another "love or hate" dram.

I'm talking of course about the 2012 re-release of the popular Cigar Malt, now called the Cigar Malt Reserve. This second coming of the crowd favorite got quite a lot of flak from the fans the old whisky.

Though I'm not sure why Dalmore withdrew this whisky in the first place at the dawn of the NAS single malt era. I'm guessing it had something to do with the name, propably due to the pc-environment or even pressure from the anti-tobacco lobby.

Anyhow popular outrage among the Dalmore crowd brought this whisky back from the dead, be it that the distillers tweaked the recipe a bit.

Tullibardine 1993 Vintage edition

Milk and Cardboard

wikipedia.org/wiki/Tullibardine_distillery#mediaviewer/File:Tullibardine_Distillery_-_geograph.org.uk_-_1801793.jpg

A new week, a new distillery. This week the Tullibardine distillery #62.

The Tullibardine distillery, proudly displays the year 1488 as its founding year, with the slight nuance that the distillery was only erected on former brewery grounds back in 1949.

As one of the few Scottish distilleries that was privately owned,  it ventured into the single malt market, though dare I say, fairly unsuccessful thus far. With a large portfolio featuring a wide range of  various whisky finishes on offering and unbound by the limitations of the blended whisky market, this could very well have been the next BenRiach.

Glencadam 15yo OB

A Sweet Strawberry

My 60th Scottish distillery: Glencadam.

And what better way to get my first taste of this distillery by by skipping the entry level whisky and taking it one step further.

 This is a review of the 15yo whisky, first released back in 2005 and described by Jim McEwan as the next best thing to Bruichladdich (dixit whiskyfun).

Benromach 10yo (OB)

A Quality Dram

http://insidemoray.co.uk/forres-distillery-to-roll-out-the-up-to-15000-barrels/

Ever had a whisky that you simply forgot about? According to my log I had my first Benromach 10 back in 2012. So this is more of a rediscovery, than an actual new experience.
Right from the Gordon & MacPhail Boutique Speyside distillery comes this ten year old 80-20% mix of bourbon and sherry casks with an oloroso finish.

Glentauchers 1990 Gordon & MacPhail

First time, definitely last time

http://www.scotchwhisky.net/images/dist/gltch_dist.jpg

There are mediocre whiskies, there are bad whiskies...

Unfortunately we ventured back into the bad territory, with a whisky that for the time being has the dubious honour of being the penultimate single malt whisky on my list.
Only second to the Drumguish of the Speyside distillery, a harsh verdict indeed.

One could wonder why Glentauchers, being one of the most productive Scottish distilleries with a production of 4.5 million l/year and one of the main ingredients of  Pernod Ricard blends, has such a terrible reputation.

Well let's just dive in and ind out why I granted this poor score to this whisky.

Miltonduff 10yo Gordon & MacPhail

Miltonduff: a pleasant surprise

http://www.axmaltwhisky.co.uk/75.html

Venturing further into obscure distillery territory, today's stop is at the Miltonduff distillery. A disitillery currently owned by Pernod Ricard, though the bottles that you nowadays find were still distilled under the previous management by Allied Domecq.

With a set of six stills and a yearly production 5.5 million liters of pure alcohol this is one of the bigger acts in the industry, standing shoulder to shoulder with other giants like Balvenie, Dufftown, Glen Ord and Tomatin.

 How is it possible that it managed to stay under the radar for so long?

Bladnoch 10yo (2002/2013) bourbon cask

Best of the Lowlands

http://www.undiscoveredscotland.co.uk/wigtown/bladnochdistillery/

As dark clouds gather above the Bladnoch distillery, just three years from its second centennial, how about a review of a 10yo by Raymond Armstrong? (there is a whole range of different 10yo single cask editions, hence the frequent confusion)

Earlier in 2014 the Bladnoch Distillery went into liquidation as two of the four directors wanted to sell. Since its successful revival the distillery had been plagued by problems like the restrictions imposed by former owner Diageo and an apparent quarrel between the Armstrong brothers.
Thus due to the high costs of production was halted in 2009 and early this month rumors about the possible sale to a real estate company started to emerge.
So if your thinking about stocking up before the price of these beauties reaches Port Ellen levels, keep your eyes and ears peeled for news on this distillery. Fingers crossed and lets all hope for the best.

Trip to Islay

Trip to Islay

Well since this blog is all about whisky-related stuff, not solely reviews of bottles that I tried. So let me tell you about my last trip to Scotland, more specifically to the Mecca of whisky.

No not the Speyside, the other one: Westering home of single malt whisky and Queen of the Hebrides, Islay.

Old cemetery of Port Ellen

My gratitude goes out to all the friendly people who helped me along my journey.

Mortlach 15yo Gordon & MacPhail

The Great Disappointment

www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-4085.aspx & www.thewhiskyexchange.com/P-25847.aspx

Don't let the images fool you, this is not a comparison between the old and the new. This review is all about their alternative.: the Mortlach 15yo Gordon & MacPhail, a bottle that is hard to find here in Belgium, but it can easily be found in let's say a Tesco somewhere in the Highlands. 

I picked this one up in Oban, while waiting for the ferry to Port Askaig ( the Islay report will follow shortly, I promise)