Campbeltown, Springbank

Longrow 18 YO (2019 Release)

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Campbeltown
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 5/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is fruity and phenolic. At first there’s a big bucket of oranges and apricots coming through. The characteristic savory rubbery/oily Springbank note creates a backdrop as a slightly ashy, warm woodfire sits on the edges. It’s very mild and as time goes by the sherry casks start to appear with darker fruit notes and a deeper sweetness. Plums, black grapes and raisins all drizzled with honey. There’s black liquorice and vanilla coming through as well. It feels a bit younger than its age, but it’s a very complex and beautiful nose.

Mouth: Spicy and dusty at first. A coconut note passes by together with a medicinal phenolic note. It takes a while before it settles in the mouth, but when it does it reveals an array of citrus fruits. Oranges are still the main fruit, but clementines, grapefruits and apricots are in there as well. It’s got an oily texture and it’s very juicy. The savory rubbery note sits in the center and the other peat notes circle around the edges together with the darker notes from the sherry.

Finish: An medicinal Iodine note flare up, then the savory note returns together with the peatiness, which now has changed slightly towards tobacco. Once again the citrus fruits return. It’s now leaning towards grapefruits, with a bitterness intertwined with a fantastic oakiness that arrives after a few seconds. The coconut returns together with tropical fruits within the oakiness. There are also assorted nuts appearing down the line. This is an absolutely fantastic whisky.

Additional information
The 2019 release of Longrow 18 YO is a mix of 75 % ex-sherry casks and 25 % american ex-bourbon barrels. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

Famous Grouse, Unspecified

Famous Grouse

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Scotland unspecified
Type: Blended
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 1/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is harsh and sweet. At first the grain distillate is dominating with some butterscotch and honey in the background. It’s very metallic and rather unpleasant on the nose. After a while a layer of vanilla comes forward and makes it a little bit better. A maltiness is noticable when digging deep.

Mouth: At first it’s watery, then an artificial sweetness takes over together with the honey and the butterscotch. There’s a lemon note in the back and a tiny spicyness on the tip of the toungue. A bitterness builds up and takes over. It’s not an especially nice bitterness though.

Finish: Spicy at first, then grainy and sweet. The butterscotch increases and takes a bigger role in the finish. The harsh grain spirit gives an unpleasant alcohol note which lingers when the bitterness returns with an oakiness. The finish is longer than expected, but that is not a good thing. This should be used as a mixer and not consumed beat.

Additional information
The Grouse Brand was released in 1896 and two years later the name was changed to The Famous Grouse because of its popularity. Edrington uses Glenturret malt, but also some Macallan and Highland Park in this blend.

Highland Park, Islands

Highland Park 18 YO

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ABV: 43 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 5/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is dark fruits and leather. Ripe plums, raisins and liquorice comes through as a thick layer sitting on top of notes of new leather and dry garden soil. The whole thing is salty and a savory note can be found in the middle of it all. A small veil of mentholated tobacco hovers like a cloud above everything else. After a while coffee and sweet oranges appear. This is quite complex and has great depth.

Mouth: It’s a mild and fresh lemon/orange based start. It’s salty, yet very fruity and much brighter than on the nose. Dried fruits such as a mix of raisins, coconut and pineapples are in there, but also darker fruit flavours such as ripe red apples and plums. It’s very juicy. A small hint of dust and a complex note coming from the long maturation creates a nice depth. Far away in the back there’s a maritime feel to it.

Finish: The leather and tobacco notes coming from the peat is first, then soil and a mix of fresh and darker fruits. A small bitterness comes through before the oakiness arrives. It comes with notes of coffee and walnuts. The sherry notes and the leather stick around and together with the oak they stay for a long very nice finish. After a few sips a tropical fruitiness starts to appear in the finish. The finish also has the aura of the long maturation. This is an excellent whisky.

Additional information
The Highland Park 18 YO was released in 1997. The ppm is 20 and it’s aged in both american and european Oloroso sherry seasoned oak casks. It has natural colour.

Chivas Regal, Unspecified

Chivas Regal 12 YO

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Scotland unspecified
Type: Blended
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is mild and sweet. Butterscotch and sweet liquorice sit behind a very thin veil of harsh grain spirit. The oakiness is in the background together with some honey. A hint of green fruits peeks through every now and then. This is a bit uneventful and too friendly.

Mouth: It starts out extremely mild with butterscotch, honey and just a small glimmer of fresh fruits arriving all together. A touch of lemon sits in the back while a small spicyness builds up on the toungue, but it never really takes off. A bitter note and the oakiness come through after a few seconds. It is a bit dry, but it takes a few sips to really notice that.

Finish: Mild peppermint and butterscotch lead way to a small hint green apples. There are dry soil notes coming through in the background before it moves over to a very pronounced oakiness. It’s just a tad bitter and the oak feels like old grey wooden planks. The oakiness stays by itself for a pretty long finish. A small metallic note is left when the oak subsides.

Additional information
The content of this blend isn’t disclosed, but it’s revealed that it has a base in Speyside malts like Longmorn, Strathisla, Glenlivet and Aberlour. There are also whiskies from the Highlands and Islay in the blend.

Akashi, Japan

Akashi White Oak NoAge

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Japan
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is fruity and very floral. At first there are baked red apples, marzipan and a bouquet of flowers. The background consists of fudge, vanilla and a thick base of honey. A thin but noticable savory note can also be found in the back. A thin veil of dust covers everything. It’s quite nice on the nose.

Mouth: It’s very mild at first but soon a small spicyness kicks in. Anise and dry soil sit together with apples, honey and fudge. Bitterness comes through quite early and it brings some astringency with it. When the oakiness comes through it sits in the back of the palate. It’s very different from the nose. Not as sweet and quite unpleasant. It feels underaged and a bit harsh.

Finish: The finish is quite uneventful. A small whiff of alcohol with a small visit to all the things the mouth brought and then going directly to the oakiness. There are some bitter notes lingering with coffee and a small bunch of walnuts. A hint of the savory note returns somewhere down the line. It’s a bit disappointing overall since the nose makes promises the taste can’t keep.

Additional information
White Oak is the distillery name and not cask type declaration. It’s called NoAge, but it’s about 5 years old. It’s matured for 3 years in american ex-bourbon oak barrels and 2 years in ex-sherry casks. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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Johnny Walker, Unspecified

Johnny Walker 10 YO Select Casks – Rye Cask Finish

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Scotland unsp.
Type: Blended
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is candy cane and pine trees. The first impact is extremely sweet and the rye Cask finish is very noticable. The candy cane note consists of vanilla, peppermint, spices and honey. The grain distillate sits as a backdrop and gives it a thick layer of added sweetness. There are some Bassett’s allsorts somewhere in the back and a minty layer on top. It is actually kind of nice on the nose and the 10+ years have removed most of the harshness from the grain distillate.

Mouth: It’s very watery at first and then the rye spices and the pine notes take over. It’s not as sweet as on the nose which is a good thing, but there’s a thick vanilla layer sitting in the back. A slight bitterness builds up after a few seconds but it never turns over to become an oakiness. It feels quite light and lacks some depth. The rye spices really build up after a few sips.

Finish: A cloud of menthol fills the mouth and then disappears equally fast. The pine note becomes very pronounced and the candy cane now sits in the back. It stays this way a long time before a subtle oakiness finally arrives. It’s a touch dry and it never really takes front seat until everything else sort of allows it to. This is overall actually a quite enjoyable blend.

Additional information
This is the first release in Johnnie Walker’s Select Casks range. It’s made up by blending whiskies matured in first fill american oak casks for at least 10 years and then finished in american ex-rye casks.

AnCnoc, Highlands, Knockdhu

AnCnoc Cutter

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is leather and fruits. There’s a quite hefty peatiness up front with green fruits in the background. There’s leather and a warm burning wood fire together with green apples and pears. It’s very bright and the oak is clearly detectable from the start. It’s a fresh oakiness. There’s a thin veil of vanilla appearing after some time in the glass.

Mouth: A peat cloud rolls by, then spicyness and yellow pears take over. The peat comes with notes of leather, grass and dry soil. There’s also a medicinal note. The vanilla is more pronounced now and tvhere’s a dustiness on top of everything. It’s well rounded and well balanced.

Finish: The peatiness moves forward once again and it’s got the same character throughout. The fruitiness is now a bit muted. It moves over to a dry, freshly cut oakiness. A touch of vanilla and a tiny note of honey comes through with the oak. There’s a very nice touch of a nutty bitterness. This is a well made whisky.

Additional information
This is made by the Knockdhu distillery and it’s a limited release. The barley used has 20.5 ppm. It’s aged in american ex-bourbon hogsheads. It’s unchillfiltered and it has natural colour.

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Speyburn, Speyside

Speyburn Hopkins Reserve

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is young and fruity. Ripe grapes and apples together with vanilla and honey create a quite thick layer. Behind that, it feels a bit shallow and a little cardboardy. It grows sweeter with time in the glass and the honey is dominating heavily. A hint of cinnamon comes through together with a miniscule hint of earthiness after it opens up in the glass.

Mouth: It’s quite spicy at first before the fruitiness kicks in. It’s very fruity with green apples and pears, much more so than on the nose. It’s dry and dusty and the oak comes through early. It’s a nice oakiness with some bitterness on the sides. It feels a lot more mature on the palate and there’s more depth. Butterscotch comes up after a while as a nice little twist for those who wait.

Finish: A small cloud of menthol pass by. It’s still very fruity now moving towards ripe pears. A very nice note of almonds appear before the oak takes over. The oakiness makes it a touch astringent and it comes through as newly cut wood with inlays of watermelon and hazelnuts. The honey sweetness returns together with a slight touch of butterscotch. There’s maybe a tiny veil of peat in the late finish otherwise the cask influence is not very prominent.

Additional information
The Hopkins Reserve is a travel retail exclusive release. It’s aged in american ex-bourbon barrels which previously also held peated scotch single malt. It’s unchillfiltered.

Islands, Talisker

Talisker Distiller’s Edition 2001/2012

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ABV: 45.8 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is coastal and fruity. At first, the sherry notes come up with darker fruits and red berries. Behind there’s a layer of vanilla and honey with some salt and white sand mixed in. Even further back there are some brighter fruits like green apples. The feint peatiness is creating a thin veil of smoke from mentholated tobacco. A medicinal note comes through after some time in the glass.

Mouth: At first there’s a bitter note together with a touch of spices. After a second or two the peatiness starts to build up with a very medicinal aura. The tobacco is still present but it has strayed from the menthol. The sherry notes are somewhat held back and acts as fillers for the harsher flavours. There’s some vanilla coming through but the honey sweetness is now gone.

Finish: The menthol comes back and together with the medicinal notes the lead way back onto the beach. There’s a quite noticable saltiness and it’s still got an earthy, sandy feel to it. The sherry is still toned down and the fruitiness is much brighter than before. After some time the oak comes through. It’s a mild oakiness. There’s no astringency and it never sits alone. It’s accompanied by the medicinal notes all the way to the end. In the late finish the tobacco notes reappear. This is a dram with a nice fruity twist to an otherwise rowdy experience.

Additional information
This is basically the Talisker 10 YO finished for about a year in ex-Amaroso sherry casks. It has around 20 ppm. It’s aged for 10 years in reconstructed american ex-bourbon oak barrels before the finishing period.

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Highland Park, Islands

Highland Park Cask Strength Edition Batch 2

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ABV: 57.1 %
Origin: Islands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sort of laid back and sweet. There is an ABV spicyness coming through but it’s not invasive. There’s honey and vanilla together with a red fruitiness but the whole thing isn’t jumping out of the glass. There’s a subjective note of how a closet full of old clothes smell. The core flavours tend to move forward over time in the glass with red berries and dark dried fruits. It opens up and improves substantially with time.

Mouth: It starts out sweet and quite ABV spicy. A lemon note flies by before the red berries and dark fruits show up. There’s liqueur-soaked cherries and raisins. There’s a dusty note and just a thin leather note. The cask influence is sort of limited and it’s not a complex dram, but flavourful nontheless.

Finish: The high ABV shoots off a peppery spicyness before the sherry influence and a honey sweetness comes through. Vanilla is residing in the background together with some raisins and there’s not much of an oakiness, just a touch in the end. It comes through together with the thin leather note. There’s no astringency and basically no bitterness. A small chalk note comes through late in the finish.

Additional information
This expression was released in 2013 as an exclusive for the swedish market. It’s aged in european ex-sherry casks for an undisclosed amount of time.

Japan, Kaiyo

Kaiyo The Peated – First Edition

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Japan
Type: Blended Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is young and thin with a hint of peat. The distillate is very much present. There are feint notes of a vegetable peatiness and some honey. An aura of nail polish remover sits over everything. There’s a tonic water note in the center and maybe just a small hint of green apples. There’s also a metallic note and it’s got a layer of cardboard in the back.

Mouth: It starts out with a thin honey sweetness and a peat which is a mix of wet vegetation and smoked meat. The tonic water is also found in the taste. The metallic note is in there as well as the cardboard. It gets sweeter and a little bit better with time in the glass.

Finish: An ABV spicyness comes first and then it returns to the now clearly savory peat and the cardboard note. An oakiness comes through fairly quickly and it’s got a nice newly cut oak feel to it. Together with the smoked meat note the finish is actually not that bad. This feels underaged and it lacks a lot of depth and flavour.

Additional information
This is a blended malt made from undisclosed japanese distillates. It’s aged at sea in fresh japanese mizunara oak casks. The casks are only filled to 80 % to give the whisky chance to move about on the journey. It’s bottled in Great Britain.

Japan, Kamiki

Kamiki Blended Malt – Intense Wood

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ABV: 48 %
Origin: Japan
Type: Blended Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is all about the cedar wood. The wood influence from the finishing period is very pungent and overshadows everything at first. Underneath a thin note of butterscotch fights to get noticed. There’s also a pine note and a tiny amount of percieved peatiness in the back. A veil of menthol sits on top of the wood. A vanilla note comes through after some time in the glass making it a bit more agreeable.

Mouth: It starts out spicy and dusty. It’s quite sweet and some fruitiness like red apples and mulled wine is coming through. Soon the cedar wood takes over again. It’s bitter and very unorthodox for a note found in whisky. It makes the whole thing very perfumey and it’s not a pleasant flavour.

Finish: The dustiness and spicyness is flaring up again and they are quite nice. They soon get overpowdered by the cedar wood again. The fruitiness and the vanilla manages to get through somewhere in the middle but it soon turns over to the perfumey and bitter cedar once again. This is a weird whisky and I really don’t know what to make of it. It’s a dram in a wooden cup in a woodshop.

Additional information
This is a blend which contains whisky from Japan, but also from the rest of the world. It’s not stated from where and which distilleries. The japanese part probably comes from Helios distillery. It’s finished in japanese cedar (Yoshino-Sugi) casks. No information is given about the first maturation part. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

Bowmore, Islay

Bowmore 10 YO – Inspired by the Devil’s Casks

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is dark fruits and new leather. The cask influence is extreme and seems to sit on top of everything else. There are raisins, figs, sweet liquorice, black grapes and a thick brown syryp and it almost feels like they are attacking the nose. Behind the dark fruity wall notes of new leather and smoke coming from a warm, burning campfire. It’s got a salty touch and a hint of lime is peeking through. There’s a cool mint piercing the thick sweetness.

Mouth: It starts out very thick and sweet. Almost immidiately a dusty oak note shows up together with leather. A black pepper spicyness arises slowly. There are dark notes of raisins, anise and liquorice within the dense sweetness. It’s slightly bitter and the mild leather and smoke note has taken a step back. The cask influence is still a bit too close for comfort. A bitter note and some salt is sitting around the edges. The brighter fruitiness normally found in Bowmores is nowhere to be found.

Finish: A big burst of red and dark fruits and some spicyness. The sherry notes are still very much the focal point and the same notes come marching through once again. The red wine with black grapes and a hint of blueberries are coming forward a bit more in the finish. It takes a long time for the oakiness to break through. It’s slightly astringent and very mild and never really steps up in front. A black liquorice note is left in the mouth long after everything else is gone. This is a very good whisky, but the previous cask content is a bit over the top.

Additional information
This is a limited release that was released in september 2016 as a travel retail exclusive. The main part of the maturation is done in first fill european ex-Oloroso sherry casks and then for a finishing period in ex-red wine barriques. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

Cardhu, Speyside

Cardhu Gold Reserve

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Speyside
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 2/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is sweet and fruity. Honey, vanilla and toffee are sitting on top of some baked red apples. It’s very mild and nothing really pops from the glass. It’s dusty and there’s just a hint of oak in the back. The toffee note moves forward with time in the glass. It’s very rounded around the edges even if it has a youthness sitting in the back, which manifests as a thin metallic note.

Mouth: A very sweet start with honey and a lemon note quickly passing by. It stays very sweet for a long time with vanilla and toffee slowly moving forward. There’s a white pepper spicyness, but it never really amounts to anything. When it finally sets some of the sweetness aside it slowly reveals a slightly bitter oak, but it just stays in the back. It’s still extremely mild and round like a marble.

Finish: The finish is just a continuation of the sweet and mild parade. A few seconds of honey, vanilla and toffee goes by before it lands in a bland oakiness. It’s a little dusty, but otherwise laid back and it feels like it doesn’t want to be noticed. The toasted flavours do come through though, but they do not do much to create anything. This is too mild and too well rounded to be interesting. It’s definitely a good dram if someone needs an introduction into scotch.

Additional information
The Gold Reserve was first released in 2014. This is aged in toasted casks. The Cardhu distillate is primarily used in Johnny Walker blends. Cardhu is also very popular, as an example, it’s the best selling whisky in Spain.

Islay, Kilchoman

Kilchoman Sanaig

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is fresh and peaty with a youthness to it. The peat is a warm, burning woodfire and vanilla incense. It’s got a very sweet aura with honey and sherry notes, which are well hidden at first. They never take over but hints of blueberry juice and some plums are peeking through and somehow create a nice layer in the back. The peat delivers some ashy notes after some time in the glass.

Mouth: It starts out mild with a lemon note coming through before the sweetness takes over. It’s vanilla heavy with honey and burning wood accents. The texture is oily and there are savory notes deep within. A spicyness builds up over time but it never covers the other flavours. The sherry notes are still hiding behind the honey, making it hard to pinpoint. It’s very integrated into the honey and vanilla. Some raisins seem to come through after a few sips though. A cardboard note sits in the back of the palate and that brings it down a notch.

Finish: A peppery note comes through before it lands straight into the oak. The sweetness and the peat notes return and they are very consistant throughout. The raisins seem to refuse to come forward from behind the honey, but they do make their presence known. The finish also offer a quite noticable layer of lemon juice around the edges and that note survives when everything else dies down.

Additional information
The Sanaig is part of Kilchoman’s core range. It’s aged in European ex-Oloroso sherry casks and american ex-bourbon barrels separatly. They are vatted together with a higher proportion of sherry casks. The Peat level is 50 ppm. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

Bowmore, Islay

Bowmore 18 YO – Deep & Complex

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ABV: 43 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 5/5

Tasting notes
Nose: A very thick dark fruitiness with raisins, plums and ripe berries creates a thick layer covering everything on approach. Smoke coming from a warm burning campfire creates a nice setting together with a salty seashore note. A tropical fruitiness with pinapple and mangos sits in the middle with vanilla, lime and sweet black liquorice. The oak peeks through but it’s not pronounced. There’s a hint of menthol creating a freshness to the whole. It’s a pleasant nosing, but it feels like there’s a distance between the sherry overtone and the rest of the dram.

Mouth: It starts out very sweet and the vanilla steps forward at first. The texture is thick and oily and it shows its age with a hefty dustiness. There are both ripe and dried fruits together with fresh red berries and a lot of tropical fruitiness. It’s salty and somewhat astringent. The oak is old, grey and weathered. There’s almost no peat flavours, just a hint of leather in the background.

Finish: The finish starts out with a big bowl of tropical fruits and the campfire smoke finally returns. The oak is dusty and got some astringency to it. It’s still grey and weathered and there’s a hint of bitterness with walnuts within. The very long and pleasant finish carries all the fruity flavours all the way through. The menthol returns in the tail end and creates a veil over all the fruits and the oak.

Additional information
This expression was released in 2017 as a part of Bowmore’s travel retail range. It’s matured in a combination of ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry and ex-Oloroso sherry casks.

Campbeltown, Springbank

Longrow Peated (2019 Release)

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ABV: 46 %
Origin: Campbeltown
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is salty and medicinal. There’s a heavy peat layer combined with a sweeter honey note. There’s also a hint of rubber, but it’s feint and hides in the background. A savory and oily note sits somewhere in the middle and there are notes of oak and vanilla sitting on the sides. This is quite complex. The longer it stays in the glass, the more the peat and the oak comes together. There’s a hint of coconut coming through after a few minutes in the glass. With time the savory note moves forward as well as sweet honey and vanilla.

Mouth: It’s spicy at first with some dustiness and white pepper. Then a nice fruitiness comes through with sweet red apples and a twist of lemon. The rubber note, as well as the savory oily note, builds the bulk of the taste the longer it stays in the mouth. A ”leathery” peat resides in the background. A slight bitterness builds up over time.

Finish: The peppery notes are immediate, then the bulk comes rolling through in waves. First comes some sweet fruitiness, then the rubber and savory notes and finally the peatiness. The peat creates a leather pouch surrounding all the other flavours. A slightly astringent and fresh oakiness also gets put into the pouch. The sweetness slowly fades way and the last things to stay are leather, oak and a bitter lemon note.

Additional information
This is a mix of 6 YO, 10 YO and 14 YO whiskies aged in american ex-bourbon barrels. This used to be called ”Longrow CV”. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

Japan, Kura

Kura The Whisky – Rum Cask Finish

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ABV: 40 %
Origin: Japan
Type: Blended malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is ashy, sweet and fruity. There are notes of a big bucket of pears, cold ashes after a BBQ and honey sweetness. There’s a savory note in the dead center. It feels somewhat manufactured and all the different pieces just aren’t put together properly. They kind of float by themselves without touching each other. The peatiness is nice, the fruitiness and sweetness are nice and the savory note is, well… nice. But they seem not to be connected. A small hint of cardboard is also found in the background.

Mouth: It starts out very ashy and spicy. The pears are pushing the ashes aside and the cardboard note is now coming up to the front and that makes it a bit unpleasant. It’s still savory and a dry oak shows up on the palate. Somewhere along the line a butterscotch note appears. It turns slightly bitter after a few sips. It’s still very fruity though. It still feels disconnected and unsettled.

Finish: The fruitiness is now taking control and the peatiness and ashes almost disappear altogether. The oak arrives quite late. It’s dry and a little bit dusty. The savory note returns and just a whiff of the ashes return late in the finish. A vanilla note comes through the oakiness in the end. It’s a decent dram, it just feels like an unfinished puzzle, where the pieces on their own look… nice.

Additional information
Kura the whisky is a blended malt from the Helios Distillery. It’s made from 3-18 YO sourced whisky from Scotland and finished in ex-rom casks in Japan.

Islay, Laphroaig

Laphroaig The 1815 Legacy Edition

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ABV: 48 %
Origin: Islay
Type: Single malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 0
Impression: 4/5

Tasting notes
Nose: This is peaty and oaky. At first there are smoke and ashes from a burnt out campfire together with iodine and salt. Behind that there’s a hay note together with some honey and vanilla. There’s a clear oakiness shining through all the way from the start. A fresh peppermint is peeking through from the back together with a thin layer of fruitiness. It’s hard to pick out a specific fruit, but I get a hint of raspberries and maybe a hint of mango.

Mouth: A wet hay together with burnt out coal makes the peatiness thick and dense. There’s a lemon note piercing through. It’s somewhat spicy and the salt, iodine and the vanilla notes are still in there. It’s very bitter and the oak is spreading out in the background. The honey is in there too and it gets sweeter with time in the glass. The fruitiness is basically nowhere to be found at this point.

Finish: It starts out with a big dip in flavour but soon pick up pace again. The spicyness comes first followed by the heavy bitterness and after that the peat notes follow. The finish is filled with espresso, iodine and wet hay. The oak itself is fairly invisible for a long time. When all other flavours reside a vague honey sweetness reappears together with a hint of fruit and the long sought after oakiness. It’s quite nice in the tail end.

Additional information
The 1815 Legacy edition is first aged in first fill american ex-bourbon barrels and then finished in new european hogsheads. It’s unchillfiltered. Some sources say that this is the same whisky as the An Cuan Mòr.

Glendronach, Highlands

Glendronach 12 YO

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ABV: 43 %
Origin: Highlands
Type: Single Malt
Bottles in collection: 0
Emptied bottles: 1
Impression: 3/5

Tasting notes
Nose: At first there are dark and dried fruits together with some sweet black liquorice and a hint of anise. It’s filled with raisins, dades and ripe plums soaked in liqueur. The sweetness is thick with brown sugar and honey notes. There’s also a more floral side to it. After a while the fruitiness moves more towards fresher red berries.

Mouth: At first there’s a hint of lemon but when it settles it moves back towards red and dark fruits. It’s got some dust on top and a nice vanilla note within. It’s really heavy on the raisins. After a while a thin bitter note comes through with a slightly astringent oakiness.

Finish: The lemon note comes back for a second or two before the fruitiness comes back. It’s now back to more of the red berries and the darker fruits resides in the back. Everything disappears quite fast and that leaves the oak to do a solo exit. It’s a very nice oakiness, but a bit laid back. A metallic note coates the mouth after the oakiness is gone which brings it down a little. All-in-all it’s a nice dram but it’s a bit subtle to be a ”sherry bomb”.

Additional information
The Glendronach 12 YO is matured in both ex-Pedro Ximenez sherry casks and ex-Oloroso sherry casks. It’s unchillfiltered and has natural colour.

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