Old Malt Cask

The full line-up

For our March tasting at the Seven Oaks, we had a selection of whiskies to enjoy from well-known whisky bottler Hunter Laing, all from their Old Malt Cask brand.

Royal Brackla 12yo

The Laing name has been associated with whisky for decades through Douglas Laing, the family business and its impressive catalogue of whisky splitting in two back in 2013, with the new Hunter Laing keeping Old Malt Cask as part of the bargain.

We got going with a 12-year-old Royal Brackla, which has had a royal warrant since 1833 and the days of William IV (Royal Lochnagar are the johnny come latelies in this particular battle, having won over Queen Victoria a little later on). This expression was from a single refill hogshead.

Sweet on the nose, we got Parma Violet and Fruit Salad sweeties, along with a creaminess and citrussy notes, like grapefruit. There was quite a strong and distinctive taste, more powerful than we might have expected. Water brought out the oiliness, as well as doses of apples and pears.

Old Pulteney 20yo

At £79 we thought this was a good start to the evening, although the jury's out on whether the extra expense over the distillery bottling would really be worth it.

Sticking with Highland whiskies, Old Pulteney is a distillery we've visited relatively rarely at the club. We've had a few over the years, but none for a while. This was a 20-year-old expression, which set us back a cool £150.

There perhaps wasn't much on the nose here but it had a great flavour. Citrussy again, oranges and grapefruit, the sorts of notes Old Pulteney is often noted for. There was also an oily element, almost like parmesan someone suggested. Lime marmalade was another shout (I can't say I've ever had lime marmalade by way of comparison, but I knew what they meant) as was a peachiness. A nice, easy drinker, but most members felt they wouldn't pay the price tag.

Mortlach 14yo

Off to Speyside for dram three and Mortlach, with a 14-year-old fully matured in cream sherry casks. Harvey's Bristol Cream? Almost certainly not. Besides, we cannot hope to match these levels of refinement in Manchester Whisky Club.

You could smell the sherry a mile off though. It should be sweet and it was. It should be creamy and it was all of that too. A "turbo sherry" as someone described it. A bit of coffee on the palate as well. One for your nan, or perhaps to keep to yourself. It was £100.

After a break to recharge our beer glasses downstairs, it was back for the second half.

Linkwood 22yo

The fourth whisky was a Linkwood, a distillery known for producing a relatively light spirit. We were intrigued by this bottling, which after 22 years of full maturation in refill Pedro Ximenez sherry, might offer something different.

Lots of people liked this one a lot. The PX was a good addition for many, with drinkers feeling it helped smooth things over and tie the dram together very well.

Others who knew Linkwood well reckoned it was a little bit overpowering and something was lost in the maturation. As someone else concluded: "It's not shit though". It was £159.

Ardmore 12yo

Time for peat with dram five and a 12-year-old Ardmore, from a refill bourbon cask, courtesy of Paul the brand ambassador (thanks Paul!), who had been due to join us for the tasting but sadly couldn't.

We liked this one. Subtle and easy to drink, but you got the peat on the nose and it carried through to the palate as well. A consistent drink throughout from the nose onwards. It was £79.

Whisky: model's own

Which brought us to the last dram of the night. A sherried 12-year-old Caol Ila, offering the always alluring promise of a blend of sherry and peat.

This was matured in a Manzanilla cask and certainly didn't taste like a normal Caol Ila. A little bit sweet with a consistent hit of peat throughout, this was well balanced and very nice all round. It cost £109.

The dram of the night voting was quite evenly split, with only the first whisky of the night not picking up at least four votes. But it was a win in the end for that Caol Ila, with ten votes, just one ahead of the Linkwood.

Thank you to Martin for leading us through the whiskies and to all club members and guests for attending another sold out evening.

Mythical Beasts From Spiritfilled

 

The evening's line up

For October's meeting of the Manchester Whisky Club, we were treated to our first brand tasting since the pandemic. Ross and Russell from cask broker and independent bottler Spiritfilled were on hand to share their story so far, and to allow us to try some of the expressions they've released under their Mythical Beasts label.

Ardlair 11yo

We had four to try (the fifth, a forthcoming Port Charlotte, was delayed in the post, but we're looking forward to having it next month instead). 

The opening dram was an Ardlair. Not a name that is seen all that often - it is in fact an unpeated Ardmore, a Highland distillery best known as the key component of the Teacher's blend. An 11-year-old, this was finished for the last 18 months in a PX sherry cask.

And at 53.5% it was certainly a bit fiery. "Don't be afraid to add water" was some early advice. We got green apples on the nose, then pears and toffee apples when it was tasted, so a good dram for the time of year. The finish was quite long as well, and citrussy. Very flavourful all round, you certainly know you've tasted it. It was dry too, almost like a dry white wine as someone suggested. It's £68. Not bad value for a whisky with plenty going on.

Glenrothes 15yo

More sherry next, in the shape of a Glenrothes. This spent the full 15 years in a first fill sherry butt. A Speyside, Glenrothes also has a long association with a particular blend, in this cask Cutty Sark.

Ross and Russell said this tasted so big out of the cask, they had to "bring it down a bit" to 55% before bottling. This had chewy sweets (like Fruit Salad) and ginger biscuits on the nose, and a bit of vanilla too. On taking a sip, this was thick and unctuous, with dates and fruitcake. Very Christmassy. Some water brought out some orangey notes as well. It's £120.

After a short break to recharge our glasses downstairs at the Britons Protection, we were back for dram three and the most expensive bottle - at time of purchasing - we've ever had, in almost ten years of the club.

Fettercairn 32yo

It was a 32-year-old Fettercairn, bottled from a cask which had been held by a Birmingham woman all that time. It went into an ex-Bourbon hogshead in July 1989, when Margaret Thatcher was Prime Minister, the Berlin Wall was still standing, and Soul II Soul were at number 1. Just 98 bottles exist and we had two of them in the room, and at £425 a pop that's some seriously valuable liquid.

The distillery itself is officially considered a Highland, although in reality the village from which it takes its name is just a short distance from the North Sea.

On the nose we got some rich, dried, fruit, like raisins and apricots. It was sweet to taste, and there was a very pleasant maltiness about it. This was very special to try and we liked it a lot although, sad to say, it was more than a little out of reach in terms of price. It's 48.6%.

Kilchoman 15yo

That brought us to the last dram of the evening and a visit to the Islay distillery of Kilchoman. A small, independent, farm-style distillery, Kilchoman is a real favourite of club members.

This particular Mythical Beasts expression was a 15-year-old private cask release, which spent its entire maturation in a bourbon cask. A little bit of pepper and spice on the nose, and then when tasted a lovely, subtle peated flavour with some vanilla too. I thought this was particularly outstanding (although as we'll see, the membership as a whole had a different favourite). Although at £190 again it's one to push the boat out for. The ABV is 55.5%.

So that brought us to the dram of the night voting, and all four whiskies gained some support from the members in the room. The Kilchoman, in fourth place, still had six votes. But the winner was that sherry bomb Glenrothes, with ten.

Special thanks to Ross and Russell for bringing us such a special selection of whiskies and telling us all about a business that is already going from strength to strength (having been founded in - of all times to do it - March 2020). Thanks also to club members old and new for joining us, and the Britons for hosting us once again.

Speyside Special

Six Speysiders.

Matthew lined up a series of six whiskies from Speyside for our blind July tasting. It's by far the largest of Scotland's whisky-producing regions, with more than half of the country's distilleries squished into the area around the River Spey in the north-east. Among the best-known Speysides are Glenlivet and Glenfiddich. But perhaps unsurprisingly, we didn't drink either of those.

Monkey Shoulder.

Well, actually we sort of did. Our first dram was a bit of a warm up for the evening. With notes of chocolate and burnt orange, it turned out to be none other than Monkey Shoulder. Widely available and often used as the basis of whisky cocktails, it's a blend of three Speyside whiskies, including Glenfiddich, and acts as a pretty decent benchmark for what a middle of the road Speyside might taste like.

It's £27 (although you can often find it cheaper in the supermarket) and 43%.

14yo G&M Tormore

On we went to something a little further up the whisky scale, and a dram that certainly split the room. For some it had a sticky sweetness, reminiscent of Scottish tearoom favourite Millionaire's shortbread. But in another corner this "packed a mouth punch" and was "a bit gut rotty".

It turned out to be a 14yo Tormore, bottled by Gordon & MacPhail, clocking in at £65. A finish in a wine cask and some slightly peated barley gave this a bit of a dry feel, certainly a bit unusual for a whisky.

Whisky number three tasted perhaps the most obviously Speysidey of the drams so far, with quite a lot going on: sweet on the nose, notes of fruitcake and honey and a long finish, although perhaps not quite as distinctive overall as the Tormore was.

18yo TBWC Mortlach

And it was another independent bottling, this time by That Boutiquey Whisky Company. The distillery was Mortlach, not a name you often see in its own right as its output generally ends up in Johnnie Walker.

It was an 18yo whisky which helped explain the £93 price tag, but as it was 50cl rather than the standard 70cl (as is always the case with TBWC's bottlings), we felt this was a bit overpriced.

G&M Cask Strength Ardmore

There was time before the mid-tasting break to squeeze in a fourth whisky, and this was a bit of a departure: an immediate blast of peat giving way to lots of contended murmuring around the room. Tasting notes ranged from "barbecued gingerbread" to the perhaps less likely "Germolene and Frazzles" which is probably best avoided.

Some thought this might have been a Ben Riach, in mind of some peaty Speysides they've produced in the past. But in fact, it turned out to be an Ardmore, once again from Gordon & MacPhail, from their Cask Strength range. At 57.5% and just £62, this sent some drinkers reaching for their phones to snap up a bottle (or even two).

25yo Hunter Laing Braeval

After the break we had another taste of the Monkey Shoulder as part of a little experiment planned by Matthew. The first whisky of the night often seems to be forgotten by the end of the night, once we've had a few more powerful and memorable drams. Revisiting it after a gap it certainly did taste better, and notably sweeter.

A few people suggested it had developed some butterscotch notes, which led us to a side discussion about why butterscotch was undoubtedly the best flavour of Angel Delight. Yes, it was that time of the evening.

The peated Ben Riach

The next whisky was a much lighter drink. "Incredibly light" in fact, while someone else suggested it would do for breakfast time. The official tasting notes proposed brownies and caramel, although one suggestion in the room - a nearly-banana sort of sweetness, like plaintain - got plenty of nods of agreement.

Another independent bottling, on this occasion from Hunter Laing, it was a 25yo Braeval. Another less familiar name on the whisky scene, the distillery used to be known as Braes of Glenlivet. At 44.7% and £100, this was good but a bit on the expensive side.

The last whisky of the evening went down extremely well. Smoky, peated, again reminiscent of a barbecue, everyone seemed to like it very much.

And it turns out we were drinking a Ben Riach a couple of whiskies later than we'd thought. This was a 56% no age statement expression, romantically called Cask Strength Batch 1 Peated. We fancied at least some of this was probably quite young indeed, but it worked well, and at 56% and £58 it was decent value.

The dram of the night voting came down to a battle between whiskies four and six, with the Ardmore taking 9 votes to the Ben Riach's 5, and a smattering of support for the others. Matthew had thought the Ben Riach might take it, but either would have been worthy winners. Thanks not only to Matthew but to everyone who attended yet another successful evening!