This is another top class Aultmore from Adelphi. They believe it to be one of their best and describe it as a perfect breakfast whisky.
Nose: Underripe bananas. Then the bananas ripen and become banana cheesecake. After water, estery notes of warm polythene or vinyl. Faded dried mixed herbs and muesli.
Taste: Sweet and syrupy. After water, smooth, sweet with rolled-oats.
Finish: Dusty malt and green banana skins in the finish.
It's been a long time since Adelphi last produced a Benriach and it has been worth the wait.
Nose: Tinned peaches in syrup and white grapes with zesty orange peel. Behind this, hints of sphagnum moss [peat moss]. Almonds.
Taste: Oily mouthfeel. Light sweeteness. Water introduces mint toffee (Murray Mints). Musty grape skins. Soft, creamy texture. A trace of spice at the back of the tongue.
Finish: Honeycomb in the finish. An aftertaste of maturation warehouse. A lovely dusting of chocolate.
Nose: Straight away, sweet highland toffee - a thick and creamy nose that develops with Caboc (highland cheese rolled in toasted oatmeal), and traces of butterscotch and chocolate malt. On the nose, the smoke is apparent, but never overpowering.
Taste: Surprisingly sweet to taste as well, and now very smoky, with hints of warm railway sleepers; lingering creosote smokiness. Water makes it more mineralic; bath salts, and a trace of carbolic soap.
Finish: The McCowan's highland toffee returns in the finish, now swathed in hessian sacks.
We are still catching up after The Autumn Speyside Festival so there will be a little spree of shorter updates.
Here is our clutch of new release Adelphi’s. The majority of them were tasted at the Adelphi tasting during the festival and all were superb. Our tastings during the September festival now come under the banner of “The Whisky Shop Dufftown Autumn Festival†to give our events a bit of a separate identity.
During the tasting, which was ably hosted by Antonia Bruce, the Lochside was probably the talking point and it is very sherried and unctuous. The current Breath of Islay, which has some Laphroaig characteristics, is probably the best of this style of whiskies I have had for some time. The Clynelish is a stunning example from that distillery and the Linkwood is about as good as you will find. The Dailuaine, not featured during the festival, is a fabulous sherried whisky and is the sister cask to the one from the previous release if that is possible.
I also need to give a special mention to a very lovely sherried unpeated Bunnahbhain which is The WSD’s latest bottling and is an exclusive in partnership with Adelphi.
Here are the latest releases from Adelphi - most where previewed at The Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival in May. This is the first bottlings from Adelphi which have been processed through there own bottling line at their new warehouse - getting even more independent. This should mean that they can be more fleet of foot going forward so except more releases and more frequent.
This whisky is from a refill bourbon hogshead which produced 179 bottles. Lots of baked apples and apple pie notes show the quality of this aged Speyside.
This whisky is from a first fill sherry cask which produced 632 bottles. A big sherried whisky with lots of dark chocolate and toffees with a hint of match boxes.
This whisky is a refill bourbon hogshead which produced 247 bottles. It's all about a biscuit tin in a sweet shop with the door open to a summer day in the Highlands.
This whisky is from a refill bourbon hogshead which produced just 113 bottles. It's like an English country village of the 1950's probably in the Cotswolds - the country church, the sweet shop, the green grocers, coal fires and the village school.
The fifth annual Whisky Shop Dufftown challenge for Independent Bottlers was run during the Spirit of Speyside Whisky Festival this last weekend. With more entries than ever before it was a hotly fought contest. Entries came from Adelphi, Duncan Taylor, Douglas Laing, Wemyss, The Creative Whisky Company and Gordon & MacPhail. This remains one of the few whisky competitions where the result is decided by the public and from all of the entries.
In the Speyside Category the overall winner was a Gordon & MacPhail Longmorn 30 Years Old which also took the prize for the best whisky over 18 years old in this category. The runner up was an Old Malt Cask Glen Grant 1990 20 Years Old. The winner of the best Speyside 18 years old or under was a Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 15 Years Old.
In the Rest of Whisky category the overall winner was a Duncan Taylor Octave Cameronbridge 1978 31 Years Old which also took the prize for the best whisky over 18 years old in this category. The runner up was an Adelphi Bunnahabhain 1979 31 Years Old. The winner of the best Rest of Whisky 18 years old or under was an Exclusive Malts Macduff 2000 10 Years Old (from The Creative Whisky Company).
Sherry cask whiskies faired very well again this year but it is excellent to see a grain winning and also David Stirk winning a prize in the first year he has entered. Only 1 of the 19 whiskies entered did not have anyone voting for it as their favourite which underlines that peoples tastes are different and there is a whisky for everyone.
The winner of the best tasting note was from Canada. Her favourite whisky was the winning Cameronbridge and the tasting note was:
Nose - Very sweet. Like a warm summers afternoon on a terrace.
Taste - Quite strong. Like a burly Highlander - rough but gentle.
Finish - Like the Highlander had his way with me.
Some other quotes from the winner’s tasting notes: "Mushy. Like a mid-Eighteenth century gentleman", "Warm yet tingling down the centre of my tongue. The tingly feeling of being in love" and "Bananas. Tanning lotion sizzling of the six pack of a golden tanned volleyball player (or Brazilian pool cleaner)". But our favourite note was from another entry, “Finish: Couldn’tâ€.
Not tasting notes Charlie MacLean might write but certainly one that appealed to our judging panel. I personally feel Erika's mind may have been on something different to whisky and possibly a new judging panel next year! Congratulations Erika, a bottle of the Cameronbridge is on its way to you.
Thank you to the companies that entered the competition and all those people that tasted the whisky and cast their vote.
The full list of entries:
Wemyss Benrinnes 1996 "Ginger Compote"
Gordon & MacPhail Linkwood 15
Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Glen Elgin 1996 14 Years Old
Duncan Taylor NC2 Balmenach 2000 9 Years Old
Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Mortlach 1997 13 Years Old
Gordon & MacPhail Longmorn 30
Adelphi Linkwood 1984 26 Years Old (#5266)
Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Tamnavulin 1989 21 Years Old
Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask Glen Grant 1990 20 Years Old
Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Caol Ila 1997 11 Years Old
Adelphi Breath of Islay 1999 11 Years Old (#5882)
Exclusive Malts Macduff 2000 10 Years Old
Duncan Taylor Auld Reekie 10 Years Old
Douglas Laing Big Peat
Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Royal Brackla 1991 19 Years Old
Wemyss Dalmore "Mocha Spice" 1990
Adelphi Bunnahabhain 1979 31 Years Old (#8893)
Duncan Taylor Octave Cameronbridge 1978 31 Years Old
Douglas Laing Clan Denny Grain Girvan 1990 20 Years Old
This Adelphi Ardmore 2003 7 year old is quite a peated example of Ardmore. Certainly do not be put off by the age. Great whisky is great whisky. This is from a refill Bourbon hogshead. Although Adelphi have listed this as a Speyside, the SWA has Ardmore in the Highlands so that is how we have categorised it.
This Adelphi Bowmore 1998 12 Years old is a fireworks party or a sea battle caught on the wind. This is all balance out with some nice sherry notes. Excellent. From a refill Sherry butt.
This Adelphi Breath of the Islands 1995 15 Years Old is another one in the run from this unnamed Island distillery. It shows how the whisky from this distillery does age well and it has great depth and character. Refill Bourbon Hogshead.
This Adelphi Bunnahabhain 2998 11 Years Old is yet another stunning Bunnahabhain from Adelphi. This one has quite a lot of sherry behind being from a first fill sherry butt.
This Adelphi Caol Ila 1982 28 Years old is a well-aged Islay making it more subtle on the peat and has all the tropical fruits that you get from long maturation on bourbon casks. From a refill Bourbon Hogshead.
This Adelphi Glen Garioch 1990 20 years old is described by Adelphi as a warming tea time dram with ginger cake - may be just the job after digging the car out of snow! From a refill bourbon hogshead.
This was another very competitive competition. Independent Bottlers entered their whiskies in to 2 categories: Speyside; and The Rest of Whisky. The winners, voted for by attendees at The Whisky Shop Dufftown during the Spirit of Speyside Festival were:
The winner of the competition for the best tasting note was by Ed Velthuizew from Holland. His prize was a bottle of his favourite whisky from the challenge which was the Adelphi Bunnahabhain.
The latest release from Kilchoman. This one has been matured in a combination of fresh and refill bourbon barrels for 3 years then finished in 'very active' oloroso butts for 3 and a half months.
On the nose tomatoes, peaches. A background wisp of smoke. On the palate it is rich, creamy with treacle and toffee. Probably the best Longmorn I've had.
A great Benrinnes from a refill sherry hgshead. Probably my favourite of the bunch. On both the nose and the palate there's just different layers of spice and apples.
This is the Wemyss bottling that so many are raving about. From a first fill sherry butt. The nose is Brandy snaps and fig rolls. The taste is chocolate cake in Cognac.
What's a good Christmas whisky? We've asked a few industry experts to select their best single malt for Christmas:
Mark Watt of Duncan Taylor & Co
Anyone who has met me for more than three and a half seconds would be expecting me to pick Caperdonich for the best Christmas single malt, but I thought I would go with something a little different. The dearly departed Black Bull 30yo would be a great choice or its younger brother the 12yo [more] however this year my Christmas pick would be our (DTC’s) Glen Grant 1970 [more]. A dram to savour something to sit back relax after a healthy Christmas dinner and put the world to rights. A nice creamy dram with a touch of spiced oak, some delicate stewed fruits and a hint of spice! Cracking stuff!
Alex Bruce of Adelphi Distillers
The best Christmas dram is “the free one†or “the one in the biggest glassâ€, but if I was to select one from the Adelphi stable then BREATH OF SPEYSIDE 1991, 18 year old Speyside 54.3% vol, 1 of only 612 bottles from cask no. 5142 [more] is my best Christmas single malt. Hot on the heels of its sister cask (no. 5145), this is the 4th sherry butt in the Breath of Speyside range from Adelphi. A rich amber hue, we were immediately struck by how clean this whisky was. A lovely nose of well-aged balsamic vinegar with marmalade, plums and Maraschino cherries in the background. The whisky keeps opening, now revealing prunes, marinated in Armagnac; then hints of Calvados and plenty of brown sugar. To taste, the sugar is now more burnt and caramelized, with a thread of dark chocolate and Christmas cake wrapper. A rich, viscous texture to finish with Old English marmalade, and no tannins. Christmas in a glass. Reasons: kind of puts its own case forward…
Steven McConnachie of Whyte & Mackay
I recommend My Winter Warmer - Jura Prophecy [more] as the best Christmas whisky. If you like the darker/smokier side of whisky but not necessarily some typically heavy islay malts, then try this. Uncharacteristic of what is expected of Jura, its peatier than the sumptous Superstition with slightly more of a raw edge to it. Sit in front of a log fire and enjoy! Slainte.
Mike Lord of The Whisky Shop Dufftown
The above are all good suggestions for the best Christmas single malt. If you want to go with the sherry theme then ADR Benrinnes 13 [more] and Wemyss Barbeque Sauce [more] are both outstanding drams. If you want something old then I still have a couple of bottle of Duncan Taylor Caperdonnich 36 years [more] old which is phenominal. And if you want to go with the peat there are peated Bunnahabhain's in the NC2 [more] range and from Adelphi [more].