The Long and Winding Road to Campbeltown

 

The full line up

For our March tasting, club member Ian took us down the A83 - the fabled 'long and winding road' - to one of the great traditional centres of whisky in Scotland, Campbeltown on the Mull of Kintyre.

Hazelburn 10yo

He had half a dozen drams for us all connected to J&A Mitchell, owner of Springbank and Glengyle distilleries in the town, as well as the Cadenhead's independent bottler and whisky shop.

The opening whisky was a 10-year-old Hazelburn, one of the collection of brands produced at Springbank that uses a name associated with the town's long whisky-making heritage. It was a triple distilled and unpeated dram, acting as our calibration for the evening.

Enigma 25yo

And it did a pretty good job. Easy drinking and fruity we thought, apples or even toffee apples on the palate. Almost like a summer cider. Delicate with a floral finish. A real easy drinker all round and very pleasant. It was £52 and came in at 46%.

Next it was something from the Cadenhead's stable, a 25-year-old blend matured in refill sherry casks and released under the Enigma name last summer.

With not much information available as to what was actually in it, this was a little bit of a step into the unknown. Prunes and strawberry sauce perhaps. Definitely sherry characteristics and a nice texture. Oily and a bit woody. Had it spent too long in the cask, perhaps?

Enigma 15yo

The fact it had been bottled at 41.4% indicated that it may have been in danger of slipping below the magic 40. It did have a little bitterness about it, along with peppery notes and aniseed as well. It cost £70.

Another Enigma bottle which Ian was able to secure for us was the sister expression, a 15-year-old, and we had it in our hands for whisky three. Less mystery about this one, a blended malt mixing Hazelburn and Kilkerran and coming in at 48.2%.

"Very nice, can we have another?" This gave us tropical fruits and was juicy and oily. Salty notes too, also peppermint and possibly a bit of melted butter as well. Nice and smooth all round. Well worth the £65.

Ord 13yo

After a half-time break and an opportunity to refill our beer glasses downstairs at the Britons Protection bar, it was back for the second trio.

Dram four was another Cadenhead's, this time an Authentic Collection bottling from Glen Ord, a name generally only seen in conjunction with Diageo's The Singleton brand. The special twist here was the finish in Armagnac.

Delicate on the nose, but with a real punch in the mouth, suggested someone. There was lots of enthusiasm for this - "delicious" and "glorious" - we felt. A lot of dried fruits were in evidence, and it was also strong enough to take a bit of water. No surprise really at 56.4% and plenty of folk felt they'd be interested in buying it at the price tag of £70 (you can still buy it online from Cadenhead's themselves).

Glen Grant 14yo

Sticking with Cadenhead's and we had a monster of a sherry dram waiting for us next, a 14-year-old Glen Grant finished in a Pedro Ximenez hogshead. Incredible on the nose, this was very chewy and big tasting on the palate. It tasted all of its not inconsiderable 59.9%.

Again it took a bit of water and we also thought it was excellent value at £75. 

Union 5yo

If the colour of number five was impressive, our last dram of the night looked even more distinctive. We were tasting it blind and on first impressions it was thick and oily like treacle. "I love this but it's not quite as good as five" was one widely held view.

On revealing the identity, it turned out to be a Cadenhead's bottling of a whisky from Brazil and the Union distillery - our first ever from the country. The colour came from the Oloroso sherry hogshead and it was another chunky dram at 56.9%. Sharp tasting and good value at just £45, we felt this could be even better with a bit longer. A great effort though and incredible for a whisky so young.

Which brought us to the dram of the night voting. All whiskies got at least one vote, but in the end it was an easy triumph for the Glen Grant with no fewer than 19 votes. The Ord was second and the Union third, making it a Cadenhead's 1-2-3.

Thanks to Ian for putting on such a great tasting for us, and to all club members and those on the waiting list for attending, as well as to all at the Britons for hosting us again. 

Raiding The Club's Cellar

This month's line up

For the leap day tasting on February 29th, Martin went burrowing around club stocks and selected six bottles that have been sitting on the shelf for long enough. The extra part of the theme was that they were all from independent bottlers, too.

Glen Scotia 9yo

We started off in Campbeltown with a 9yo Glen Scotia, bottled for the Southport Whisky Club having been picked out for them by the distillery's master distiller. This unpeated expression had the sort of spicy, peppery notes that are a theme of Glen Scotia whiskies. Adding a bit of water changed the game, and brought out a real creaminess too. Indeed, we felt as though it needed a bit of water.

A nice, long finish and hints of apples and pears as well. Mostly people really enjoyed this in the room. It was a chunky old thing first off at 57.1% and was £58.

North Star Dalmunach

We went to Speyside next and a newer name on the whisky scene, Dalmunach. This began distillation in 2014 as Pernod Ricard's answer to Diageo's similarly big, shiny and new facility at Roseisle. The output mainly goes into the company's blends such as Chivas, so it's relatively rare to spot a bottling in the wild. The one we had was from independent bottler North Star. and was a 6yo fully matured in a ruby port cask.

That port maturation gave it a remarkable colour, almost like a glass of Ribena. It was big on the nose too with definite hints of cola, but on the palate arguably didn't even really taste much like whisky at all. Very spirity we felt, and more like a Cognac. Worth trying once but not everyone was convinced. It was 56.4% and cost £54.

Bunnahabhain 5yo

Off to Islay for dram number three and a Bunnahabhain. This was a 5yo, bottled by the legendary Cadenhead's as part of their club membership scheme.

This was spicy! Very nice, you wouldn't peg it for a young, cask strength whisky (it was 59.6%), and it was much more drinkable than that. It was a bit "angry with water" but at the same time had a smoky finish, and had an element of being light at the same time. We paid £50 for this.

After a break for half-time and a chance to recharge our glasses downstairs at the bar of the Britons Protection, it was on to the second part of the tasting and dram number four.

Glentauchers 20yo

We were back to Speyside for a Glentauchers, bottled by Bartels, known for their brands such as Highland Laird. At 20 years old we had high hopes for this one, Glentauchers being a favourite distillery of many club members, so much so that we even did one of our club bottlings of the stuff.

This was subtle and creamy at first, and for some it was maybe even - whisper it, softly - a little bit plain. But others thought it absolutely superb. As one member commented "if you don't like that, what on earth are you doing here?". So the room in general certainly gave it two thumbs up. It was 53.2% and cost us £62,

Linkwood 13yo

For number five we went to another distillery normally used in blends, this was a 13yo Linkwood, owned by Diageo and more often tasted as part of Johnnie Walker. We had a bottling from Thompson Bros, run by brothers Philip and Simon who are based in Dornoch in the Highlands, where they run their bottling brand along with a micro-distillery and bar.

This smelt terrific, like cream soda. It was light and floral and very drinkable. Others felt it had a little bit of artificial sweetener about it, almost reminiscent of aspartame. This cost £71.50 and was 54.6%.

Glen Elgin 11yo

For the sixth and final dram of the evening, we stayed in Speyside once again for Glen Elgin and a bottling from James Eadie, an old brand that was revived by the family in 2015. 

We had an 11yo matured in a first fill Madeira hogshead. It was 59.1% but if anything tasted even stronger. A bit spicy at the back, and certainly worked well with water. The finish lasted and lasted, and didn't fade. This cost £60.

Which brought us to the dram of the night voting. All the whiskies got at least one vote, a sign of a tasting of great strength in depth. But the clear winner was the Glentauchers, dram four, which picked up no fewer than 19 votes. Tied for second were drams one and three, the Glen Scotia and Bunnahabhain,

Thanks to Martin for putting on such a great tasting, all club members and those from the waiting list for joining us, and to the Britons for hosting us once again.