Elixir Distillers and the Single Malts of Scotland

It was another Zoom tasting.

Our series of remote lockdown tastings continued in July with a selection of whiskies from Elixir Distillers. It's a London-based independent distiller known for being part of the Whisky Exchange empire, and for bottling the Elements of Islay and Port Askaig brands, both of which we've enjoyed at past events.

Julie Hamilton from Elixir took us through a set of five miniatures mostly drawn from Elixir's other main range, called Single Malts of Scotland.

Clynelish 8yo

We tasted them all blind, and the first whisky of the evening had a familiar taste about it. It was very pleasant on the nose, spicy with a hit of flavour although it did fade a bit after that. There was a bit of citrus or pineapple about it, although it tasted a bit different to what the nose would have suggested, with a certain oiliness. A nice easy drinker to start off the evening though.

Some of the club members rightly pegged it as something youngish, and it turned out to be an 8yo from Clynelish. It's 48% and costs £60.

Glen Elgin 12yo

Next was something that came over as very subtle, with pear drops and toasted cereal on the nose. Tasting this revealed a smoother drink with a longer finish than the previous dram, also a bit chewy with some drinkers picking up almonds, and bit of a spice and even bitterness at the back of the throat. Another tasting note was marmalade or orange peel, and those who added a bit of water felt that it softened things up considerably.

Again this felt a touch young, but it was in fact a 12-year-old from Glen Elgin on Speyside. It's 48% and £61.95.

Benrinnes 13yo

The third dram of the evening immediately smelt of peat, although not entirely meaning we doubted whether this was an Islay. Other notes on the nose included menthol or something medicinal, like Vicks rub. Someone else suggested Lotus caramelised biscuits, and we all agreed this was a bit of a mixed bag. It did start like an Islay on the palate but then changed, with a bit of a surprising, dry finish.

Certainly unusual, and our favourite so far, it turned out to be a 13-year-old from Benrinnes. Again it's 48% and £61.95.

Linkwood 12yo

After a short break, Julie invited us to open drink number four. There wasn't too much on the nose, but it had a lovely, sweet feeling on the palate. The sweetness put us in mind of golden syrup, maybe candy floss, and it certainly was very sweet. A bit of water actually unlocked the nose a bit more, although if anything it also served to lessen the palate.

This was another 12-year-old, although on this occasion from Linkwood. We certainly thought it was interesting the Single Malts of Scotland showcased a series of whiskies of similar ages and strengths, but which were all quite different. The Linkwood is again 48% and comes in at £66.95.

Port Askaig 12yo

For the final drink of the evening we moved away from the SMoS range and to Port Askaig, a brand named after a key settlement on Islay, and used to showcase Elixir's range of independent Islay bottlings. And this was unmistakably an Islay from the first nose. Very nice, beautiful and salty, we thought, and almost everyone enjoyed this very much, although one or two drinkers felt it was a touch too peaty for them.

This turned out to be what should have been the spring edition of Port Askaig, although the release was delayed by Covid. Perhaps surprisingly, this was actually less strong than the other drams of the night at just 45.8%, and it's £65.95.

In the dram of the night voting, it was the Port Askaig that took the honours, just ahead of the Linkwood and the Benrinnes. Thank you to Julie for taking us through another great selection of whiskies from Elixir, and to all club members who took part for supporting the event in such numbers.

Best of The Whisky Exchange Show

The November line-up.

Committee members Martin, Anna and Adam came back from a visit to The Whisky Exchange's whisky show in London clutching two bottles each. And so it was that the club membership gathered upstairs at the Briton's Protection on the last Thursday in November to knock through them all in the usual style.

G&M Macduff 18yo

None of the six whiskies on show were standard distillery bottlings with a range of independents represented. And we kicked off with one of the oldest and best-known names in the field, Gordon & Macphail.

This was an 18yo from the Macduff distillery. On the Moray Firth coast, the distillery's official bottlings appear under the name Glen Deveron, named for the local river, so expressions under the Macduff name are the preserve of indies only.

On this occasion we were drinking a 58% whisky that was big and strong straight away. We got pear drops and vanilla, and one of the tasting notes which struck a particular chord was grapefruit. Some drinkers thought this started off well but perhaps didn't quite live up it, with the alcohol coming through a bit much. It was £100 but is now sold out.

27yo Bunnahabhain

We're not necessarily big fans of spending large sums of money on packaging, but even we had to admit the box for our next bottle was very nice indeed. What was inside was a 27yo Bunnahabhain, part of the rather premium Single Malts of Scotland range from Speciality Drinks, which is in turn another part of The Whisky Exchange business.

This went down a storm. Very smooth, with a definite hint of butter - like melting butter on a crumpet as someone put it. There was definitely some citrus around too. A bottle will set you back £230 though! So although a lovely drop, perhaps not quite worth the price tag. It's a very drinkable 48.4%.

Another distillery which relatively rarely appears under its own name is Glen Elgin, and that's where he went for the third dram of the evening.

22yo Glen Elgin

Glen Elgin is most commonly used in the White Horse blend, still one of the biggest sellers worldwide. But we had a 22yo single malt bottling from Signatory to try.

We were told the distillery is noted for producing particularly fruity drinks, in part because of a long fermentation process. And this was certainly fruity, with a waxiness about it too.

Certainly a good drink but trying to follow those opening two drams, which had both been particularly punchy, was always going to be hard. So it maybe wasn't surprising this divided the room a little more. It's 49.5% and comes in at £107.

After a half-time break and a chance to refill our pint glasses downstairs at the Briton's, it was back for the next three whiskies, and we went west to Ben Nevis.

21yo Ben Nevis

This was a 21yo sherry cask whisky, clocking in at 47.5%, bottled by The Whisky Exchange under a range it's calling The Future of Whisky - this particular dram apparently representing 'Past Future' because it was what people used to think the future of whisky would be like.

By the time we'd got our heads around the logic of that, this particular dram was already in our past. We felt that while the bottle looked as snazzy as the concept, the contents possibly didn't quite live up to that promise.

But then again, after a couple of memorable, flavourful whiskies to start the evening, anything coming along later was maybe inevitably on a bit of a hiding to nothing. At £130, we weren't reaching for our phones to order any bottles, although they seem to have sold out anyway.

14yo Hunter Laing Glenrothes

The sherry theme continued with whisky number five, but this was more of a full-on sherry monster. From the Glenrothes distillery, it was a 14yo bottling by Hunter Laing and its First Editions range.

This proved very popular with the membership, although with many having a known taste for big sherried whiskies this wasn't much of a surprise!

A couple of the tasting notes from the drinkers in the room were maple syrup and chocolate which probably says it all. It's 49.8% and at £73 or thereabouts doesn't represent the worst value in the world, especially if your Christmas list is looking a little bare.

12yo Ledaig

The last dram was a 12yo Ledaig from the Tobermory distillery in Mull, again bottled as part of The Whisky Exchange's The Future of Whisky range, this time representing 'Present Future'.

Another sherry cask one here, but much more of a peat king. By this stage of the evening my notes had become predictably short, and all I managed to get down was "we loved it". It's 58.4% and was £80 but has already all gone, sadly.

The voting for dram of the night came down to a straight fight between the Bunnahabhain and the Ledaig, with the Bunna taking it by 12 votes to 11, with three other whiskies getting two votes each.

Thank you to everyone old and new who attended another extremely busy tasting, as well as to the Britons for hosting us and in particular to Anna, Martin and Adam for coming back from the show which such an interesting and excellent range of drinks for us to try. Up next: it's the Christmas party!

Here they all are.