Lowlands Night: How Low Can You Go?

The line-up.

With several of the group fresh from taking the high road to Loch Lomond for Dramboree 2016, we all took the low road to this month's tasting with a series of whiskies from lowland distilleries.

The Ailsa Bay.

Our first stop was the Ayrshire coast and a bottle of Ailsa Bay, the first release from the distillery of the same name, owned by Grant's.

What's inside is of course always more important than the packaging, but this particular bottle won some early plaudits for a stylish, straight design and a bit of the famous Ailsa Craig granite, better known as the source of the world's entire supply of curling stones, as part of the stopper.

Surprise new club member.

The drink itself is a no-age statement peated whisky. Martin, acting as whisky master for the evening, noted that it was unusual to begin a tasting with something peated, but this certainly isn't the sort of heavy peat monster you'd want to save until the end.

Nice and light, it also tasted on the young side, and there was widespread agreement it would improve further with future expressions. Costing around the £55 mark and bottled at 48.9%, it's one to keep an eye out for.

The Littlemill.

That's not something that can be said for our next whisky, the 12yo Littlemill. This particular distillery on the banks of the Clyde was in and out of mothballs down the years, but finally closed in the mid-90s and eventually burnt down. So to find a bottle is relatively rare these days. Indeed, ours was sourced from a whisky auction site.

Unfortunately, it didn't get a rapturous reception from the members. Good on the nose, it sadly disappointed many with a lukewarm showing on the palate, although it did improve a little after a few sips.

This 40% dram has been well-reviewed elsewhere, so there was some suspicion that this particular bottle's curious history - it had been to Greece and back - may have affected the taste by the time we finally got our hands on it.

Place mat.

Whiskybroker - also known as Martin Armstrong - has long been one of the club's favoured independent bottlers, with an Aultmore of his a particular hit last year.

This month's dram number three was a bit of a family occasion as it was an 8yo Bladnoch, from Scotland's most southerly distillery which was run for some time by Martin's dad Raymond (it's now been acquired by an Australian yoghurt entrepreneur - fill in your own punchline).

The Bladnoch.

The nose on this was quite something, and not really in a good way. "Baby vomit" was about as close to a consensus as we got. It had many of the most experienced club members racking their brains to think of a time they'd smelt something quite so pungent in a glass.

It was much better on the palate, although as someone pointed out, that was setting the bar pretty low. Wine finished, a bit buttery maybe and certainly not unpleasant at 43%. It had its supporters in the room but it didn't really do enough to send anyone online to snap up a bottle for £55.

There were high hopes for the last two bottles of the night though, and they lived up to the billing.

The Glenkinchie.

The fourth dram was a limited release 12yo Glenkinchie, a Diageo distillery near Edinburgh. As Martin pointed out, the standard Glenkinchie bottling is also a 12yo and it's probably available in your local supermarket. But this particular expression is a cask strength 58.7%, produced as part of the Friend of the Classic Malts offer and again on this occasion bought from an auction site for just over £60.

And despite the strength, it was very drinkable. This one got murmurs of approval all round straight away. With 5,000 bottles produced it's certainly worth tracking down, even if it may take a bit of searching.

Auchentoshan excitement.

It was back across the country to Clydeside for the final bottle of the night, a distillery cask sherried dram from Auchentoshan. And it was well worth waiting for.

This is officially a no age statement expression, although the dates on the back gave it away as just over 11 years old. Aged in Oloroso sherry casks, this had a lovely, deep colour with a taste to match, all fruitcake and Boxing Day regret.

For dram of the night it came down to the Glenkinchie and the Auchentoshan and, although there was a good deal of support for the former, the sherry lovers of the club won the day.

Thank you to Martin for running another successful tasting and for everyone who came, it was another busy evening with barely enough whisky to go round. And thanks as ever to the staff of the Britons Protection for being generous hosts.

The voting.

Old & Rare

April was a very special month for the club that saw us meet for the 4th time for this was the night that we held our first 'Old & Rare' night showcasing a selection of rarer and more.. unsual bottlings.

We welcomed 2 of our newest members into our midst on this evening which was a nice addition to the night.





The night's lineup

 So, after everyone got settled in we kicked off with dram 1

Glen Keith 16yo 1996 - Gordon MacPhail - 46%

First up was the Glen keith 16yo bottled by indy bottler Gordon MacPhail. Glen Keith is in ownership of Chivas bros of Regal fame. The Speyside distillery is currently mothballed and has been since 1999.

Andy's Tasting notes were:.

Nose: Slight creaminess, malt,  hazelnuts and dried cranberries, all spice, oak and lemon sherbet.

Palate: An instant tang similar to a sour green apple, sugared pastry, nutmeg and cream again. Quite a waxy mouth feel.

Finish: Relatively long with lots of the aforementioned cream that seems to have covered my tongue! Sticking plasters, quite a dry tail.

Ok so an interesting introduction to the range of whiskies above which was received with a consensual 'Meh'

Next up, another Speysider

Linkwood 24yo 1985 - Mackillop's Choice - 43%

Mackillop's aren't a bottler that you would normally associate with independent whisky releases however they apparently take a vintner's approach to hand selecting the casks they bottle. In this case a 24 year old from Speyside distillery linkwood. Adding to the rare factor, turns out we'd purchased bottle 001!

Nose: Oodles of caramel, boiled sweets, straberry jam, black pepper and citrus fruits

Palate: Initially more black pepper, then moves on to grapefruit, caramel, a slight hint of cocoa powder and vanilla.

Finish: Quite short but during the brief foray there are more citrus fruits that are well balanced alongside a touch of oak and custard keeping them in check.

I can see how this might have been selected in a very wine-like manner especially with the degree of complexity and delicate citrus aromas.

Littlemill 27yo 1985 - Cooper's Choice - 46%

Next up is our first bottling from a now defunct distillery. In this case the late Lowland distillery Littlemill. Littlemill was demolished in 1994 after having a bit of a turbulent history including a fire in 1989. Littlemill took its water from above the highland line despite it being a Lowland whisky. The stocks of Littlemill are yet to run dry so there should be plenty more independent bottlings coming up over the next few years.

Nose: Peppermint tea, vanilla, almond paste, then fresh candy floss with a delicate vanilla and floral note.

Palate: Sharp at first with green fruit and a very new make spirit element despite its 27 years. Sprightly if you will. Then mellows out after time in the mouth to baked apple and cinnamon bread, banana, and toasted granary bread.

Finish: The finish is of medium length but initially quite bitter. However, there are then spiced orange and mulled wine notes with charred oak and caramel that round off a lovely experience.

The Littlemill went down quite well with some giving this their 'Dram of the night'

Chinese Government/Teaching Issue Baijiu - 52%

The glittery label and plastic display case draws you in....

Ok.. now this is where it all gets a bit interesting/hazy. Fellow club member David (who I've since removed from my Christmas card list) brought us a very rare bottle of Chinese Baijiu to try. This particular bottle is rather rare as David says that you can only get hold of this in China and you must be involved in some way with the Chinese Government or teaching....

 

To give you an idea of what this stuff was like I've included a snippet of my original tasting notes from that night below:

Nose: Inexplicably like a vodka & redbull with an intense sour sweetness

Palate: Grim

Finish: No finish of sorts but felt several teeth melting

And the face of evil who supplied this spirit of unquestionable quality:

David knew what we were in for...

After tasting this Baijiu I'm not sure if that bodes well for the future of Chinese global relations or whether this is a testament to the hardship of being part of the Chinese education system.. If you come across this stuff on your travels, then we at The Manchester Whisky Club wish you good luck.

Tormore 28yo 1984 - Master of Malt/Whisky Broker - 60.2%

With everyone now back to normal after reeling from the experience that was the Baijiu we returned to normality. Thankfully this came in the shape of a bourbon matured 28yr old Tormore that was literally a sight for sore eyes. Tormore is one of the lesser well known Speysiders with a majority of its malt contributing to blends including the well loved Ballantine's range.

Nose: Dried herbs, mint leaves, bourbon vanilla extract, thyme and aromatic warmed fruits including brandied pears.

Palate: More fruit from the nose with an immediate transition to a more woodied tang that leaves you with a warm feeling inside, think reading Sherlock Holmes infront of an open fire on a trsuty old leather wingback chair with rain pattering on the windows. Ahem, anyway, back to reality now

with notes of heavy vanilla and blackcurrant fruit pastille alongside a deft touch of plumb crumble.

Finish: Long and silky, notes of Eton Mess and some festive spices. Delicious

This Tormore was a delight to behold. Get one quick before it's too late at an irresistable £99.95 from www.masterofmalt.com

Talisker 21yo 1986 - Gordon Macphails Secret Still Range 1.2 - 45%

We finished off the tasting with a rather special independent Talisker release. This is part of Gordon & MacPhail's 'Secret Still' range where they bottle whiskies from various distilleries without hinting at their origin. However since there is only 1 active distillery on the Isle of Skye, this 'Skye' release oalso known as 1.2 could mean only one thing!

Nose: Sweet and rich nose with a more refined background to Talisker's standard offerings. Tinned peaches, honeycombe ice cream and masses of sherry character and barley. In the midst of these wonderful notes comes the trademark peat and almost savoury like smoke.

Palate: The sherry from the nose reins supreme here alongside charred wood like that from a fire bucket in summer, a fresh and cleansing sea salt note comes through followed by salted caramel.

Finish: The smoke slowly fades with more toffee and apricot preserve ending in a well rounded delicate wooded note.

Overall a lovely whisky and a fantastic showing of what this Diageo distillery can be capable of. The mouthfeel was surprisingly thin but this still offered a lot of depth and flavour.

In some cases I think some of the line up went to show that just becasue a whisky is older or more expensive then it doesn't necessarily make it taste better than a younger or cheaper bottling or offer a more well rounded experience. However there were a few corkers with the Tormore and Talisker going down particularly well closely followed by the Littlemill.

In the case of the Baijiu this certainly puts credit to the phrase 'all that glitters is not gold'