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.