Month: March 2017

Whisky #468: Adelphi Glenborrodale 8 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

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Adelphi Glenborrodale 8 Year Old Blended Malt Scotch Whisky (Batch 1). Scotland. ABV: 46%. Tasted at home, $152 (bottle).

A blended malt with an age statement…something a little different here.

Colour: It’s like licking a toffee with your eyeballs.

Nose: Rich blackcurrant jellies, freshly baked Anzac biscuits, liquorice, and an unexpected hint of earthy peat.

Palate: Blackcurrants again, but this time it’s blackcurrant jam on freshly toasted bread. Chocolate tart, the kind with the crumbly chocolate biscuit on the outside and then chocolate ganache on the inside. Maybe topped with some honeycomb and raspberries.

Finish: Caramel, chewy toffees, and a cool smokey finish…like some smoked biltong. Medium length.

Comments: For this batch of 1,226 bottles, Adelphi have put together a vatting in an ex sherry butt containing plenty of 8-year-old first-fill sherry from Glenrothes.  The remaining single malts that make up this vatting are reportedly 14 years old, with their distilleries of origin being from all around Scotland.

The Adelphi Glenborrodale has a lot more character than your typical blend, which is not surprising given it’s a blended malt (a blend of single malts) rather than your typical blended whisky containing a blend of both single malt and single grain whisky (which tend to be slightly more mild in both flavour and mouthfeel). Sweeping generalisations, but worth mentioning for those readers who haven’t come across a blended malt before.

It’s an interesting drop, one that makes you really sit up and try to work out what the hell those familiar flavours are that you’re tasting and smelling. Enjoyable and a little different to many typical run of the mill whiskies. Certainly an interesting addition to the bar at Whisky a Day HQ.

Whisky #467: Heartwood Calm Before the Storm

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Heartwood Calm Before the Storm. Tasmania, Australia. ABV: 66.4%. Tasted at home, $285 (bottle).

Heartwood are one of the most innovative independent bottlers out there in the world of whisky. For the Heartwood Calm Before the Storm, they’ve sourced new make originated from Lark Distillery, matured it in a first fill Australian Oloroso sherry cask, and then had a load of fun placing it around Heartwood HQ in positions with the greatest temperature fluctuation. And what a creature they’ve created…

Colour: Glowing copper.

Nose: Fresh sultanas, golden syrup, blackcurrant jelly and cabernet paste. Geez that sounds a bit wanky, but damn it I could sniff this all day – it just keeps revealing more and more layers. Cigar box, burnt butter caramel and a slight nose prickle at the end to warn you that this dram packs a punch.

Palate: Intense honeycomb, raspberry sherbet and some dark chocolate. The sweet notes are balanced out by some amazing char-grilled steak flavours. A full mouthfeel, yet with a surprisingly gentle warmth given the 66.4%ABV.

Finish: Blackcurrant pastilles, sweet smokey beef jerky. A long, tantalising finish.

Comments: Stunning.

This is the drink you pour yourself when you get home after you’ve had a stressful, fucked off day at work and you need to have a balls-out whisky to get you out of your funk and make you feel alive. It’s like being kicked in the head by a stray boot of someone crowd-surfing at a gig – it’s a jolt to the system, it gives you a buzz, and yet you’ve got this crazy grin on your face from the energy of the moment. I’d had one of these days and was playing Rage Against The Machine’s “Killing in the Name” on the way home from work just to get some of the stress out. Having just received this Heartwood in the mail, I thought it fitting to crack it open. Lots of parallels…don’t stick to the script, be unconventional. Apt given the Heartwood approach to making whisky. In the words of Rage, fuck you I won’t do what you tell me! Instant calmness.

Hats off again to Heartwood, another amazing whisky.

Whisky #466: The Arran Robert Burns Single Malt

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The Arran Robert Burns Single Malt. Isle of Arran, Scotland. ABV: 43%. Tasted at home, $75 (bottle).

Colour: Pale straw.

Nose: Much like the colour – soft, hay-like notes.

Palate: Quite thin on the palate with a dry mouthfeel. Gentle honey to start and then some bigger malty flavours.

Finish: Soft pepper and fresh white bread. Some faint flavours of sweet lemon and pineapple jellies in the fade.

Comments: A simple, no nonsense whisky. What you see (or taste) is what you get. It’s not overly complex, which is good if you’re trying to analyse it whilst being distracted…say by chatting to a cute girl on Tinder. Hi Kyla! 😉

It’s a little different to what we’ve come to expect from an Arran whisky – it doesn’t have a heap of the light, floral, tropical fruit flavours that many other Arran whiskies are known for. But it’s still a very pleasant, easy-drinking whisky all the same.

Whisky #465: Glenfarclas Whisky & Wisdom 9 Year Old Single Cask

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Glenfarclas Whisky & Wisdom 9 Year Old Single Cask. Speyside, Scotland. ABV: 60.5%. Tasted at home, $229 (bottle).

Now this is a special drop. Fellow Sydneysider, Andrew Derbidge – Director & Cellarmaster of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society in Australia, and also the man behind one of my favourite whisky blogs, “Whisky & Wisdom” – personally selected this cask for a special Whisky & Wisdom bottling. The man has some damn fine tastebuds, this one is a cracker!

Colour: Boiling caramel.

Nose: Dried cranberries, sultanas and a freshly opened block of dark chocolate. Leather-bound books and rich mahogany…must resist the urge to quote Ron Burgundy…

Palate: The intensity of the flavours is amazing; it’s rich without being overpowering. Strawberries and raspberries – rich and syrupy with a bit of tartness. Rich, creamy toffee with chocolate biscuits. The alcohol isn’t too much either, more a gentle wave of heat that builds along with the berry and some toasted oak notes.

Finish: A gentle warmth that slowly fades, drying woody notes too. Front of the tongue gets most of the joy.

Comments: This really is the kind of whisky you pour yourself when you get home after a tough day, slump into a comfy leather chair and put on some music to drown out the world. Don’t even think of talking to me, this whisky is taking me places. It’s so well balanced, smoother than it’s 60.7% ABV would suggest, and eminently drinkable. Bucketloads of flavour and subtle power, it really is one of those whiskies that has the ability to make the mind drift off and unwind. Which also made it a challenge to review, as I was enjoying it so much and just wanted to drift away with each sip.

I won’t hesitate to say this is one of my top 10 whiskies I’ve ever had, hands down.

Andrew selected this cask at the Glenfarclas Distillery. It must have been a tough job to taste all those contenders, but he eventually settled upon a 1st-fill European oak sherry butt that was distilled in 2007 and bottled as a 9 year old cask strength single malt in January 2016. If you want to hear more about how Andrew decided on this particular cask, check out the Whisky & Wisdom page.

Whisky #464: Heartwood Devil May Care

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Heartwood Devil May Care. Tasmania, Australia. ABV: 67.1%. Tasted at home, $70 (100mL bottle split from the International Beer Shop in Perth).

Colour: Disarmingly golden.

Nose: Rose water, strawberry marshmallows and raspberry tarts. Not too much of a nose prickle, despite the high ABV.

Palate: Sea salt, flame grilled steak notes too. Fresh raspberries – it’s got some berry notes, but quite tart. Like sucking on a lemon Fruit Tingle and feeling it buzz on the tip of your tongue.

Finish: Sweet smoked paprika and a touch of turmeric. Looooong fade, some meaty saltiness (think salty biltong) with the tastebuds getting all excited by the tingle of flavours and a satisfying warmth.

Comments: A real savoury beast in the finish. Unlike other recent Heartwood releases, where independent Tim Duckett has gone a little mad scientist (in the true Heartwood way) with all manner of blending and syrupisation (I made that word up) of the whisky, the Heartwood Devil May Care is a 14 year old single malt. Cask strength of course. And yes, I finished all 100mL in one sitting. It’s bloody delicious.

Heartwood whiskies truly are in a class of their own – in style, quality and innovative creation. Long may you continue to produce such gems, Mr H.