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The WSD Challenge for Independent Bottlers 2012

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This is the first in a series of blogs on the festival.

During this year’s festival we again held a challenge for Independent Bottlers to find the best independent bottling of Speyside whisky and the best from the rest of whisky. The competition was hotly contended with entries from Adelphi, Berry Brothers & Rudd, Cadenheads’s, Douglas Laing, Duncan Taylor, Gordon & MacPhail, The Scottish Liqueur Centre (Carn Mor) and Wemyss. Both Berry Brothers and the SLC were new to the competition this year.

In both categories we had whiskies from the same distillery but were very different highlighting the craft of the Independent Bottler in selecting unusual casks from that distillery. And again this year almost all of the whiskies had people voting for them as their favourite showing that there is a whisky for everyone and every whisky has someone – the flavours in whisky are as broad as people’s palettes are different.

This year, luckily for once, we had very clear winners in each category!

Speyside Category

We had 7 entries in the Speyside category:

Adelphi Glenrothes 1969 42 Years Old

Benromach 2001 Cask Strength entered by Gordon & MacPhail

Berry’s Glenlivet 1973 38 Years Old

Douglas Laing Old & Rare Glen Grant 1985 25 Years Old

Duncan Taylor Octave Linkwood 1991 20 Years Old

Gordon & MacPhail Glen Grant 25 Years Old

Wemyss Cragganmore 1989 Lemon Grove

The results are:

Third – Berry’s Glenlivet 1973 38 Years Old

Second – Douglas Laing Old & Rare Glen Grant 1985 25 Years Old

First – Adelphi Glenrothes 1969 42 Years Old

Antonia Bruce of Adelphi

Rest of Whisky

We had a whopping 10 entries in the Rest of Whisky Category:

Adelphi Caol Ila 1983 28 Years Old

Amrut Fusion entered by Gordon & MacPhail

Berry's Bunnahabhain 1990 21 Years Old

Cadenhead's Royal Brackla 1992 19 Years Old

Carn Mor Bowmore 1996 16 Years Old entered by The SLC

Carn Mor Highland Park 1994 17 Years Old entered by The SLC

Douglas Laing Old & Rare Caol Ila 1980 30 Years Old

Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Cameronbridge 1979 32 Years Old

Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice Royal Brackla 1995

Wemyss Bunnahabhain 1991 "Honey Spice"

The results are:

Third – Douglas Laing Rare Old Caol Ila 1980 30 Years Old

Second – Wemyss Bunnahabhain 1991 “Honey Spice”

First – Duncan Taylor Rare Auld Cameronbridge 1979 32 Years Old

Mark Watt of Duncan Taylor

Congratulations to Adelphi and Duncan Taylor!!!

Best Under 18's

In previous years we have also given an award to the best whisky under 18 years old. We only had one entry in the Speyside category that met this criteria and unfortunately this was not an independent bottling so did not qualify but was very well received in the under 18’s as was the Carn Mor Highland Park and Carn Mor Bowmore who share the prize for the under 18’s in the Rest of Scotland category.

The Owner's Award

After analysing the voting and comparing that to price to obtain a measure of popularity for price The Owner’s Award (that’s me) goes to the Octave Linkwood as the best buy in the competition with a Crichton coefficient of 0.57. And a very special mention for the Berry’s Glenlivet as I am torn between this and the Adelphi Glenrothes for my personal favourites.

Best Tasting Note

As usual an independent panel reviewed the tasting notes to find the best ones. I stress they were independent and I had nothing to do with it. The winning tasting notes were from Teun van Wel and we will be featuring his tasting note in a later post. Well done to Teun who won his favourite whisky which was the Berry’s Glenlivet. The runner up yet again was Ed Velthuizen. Ed has been either winner or runner up so many times we have decided to appoint him judge for the best tasting note going forward.

Thank You

A big thank you to all the companies that entered and the hundreds of festival goers who took part. This remains one of the few competitions where all of the judging is done by members of the public!!

The Autumn Speyside Festival

For anyone coming to the Autumn Speyside Festival and wishing to attend our events at The WSD Autumn Festival 2012 then it is more than likely than tickets for our events will only be available from our website.  There will be no change for the Spirit of Speyside Festival 2013.


The Whisky Shop Dufftown Challenge 2011

This entry was posted in Other Whisky News, Whisky Tastings and Events News and tagged , , , , , , , , , , on by .

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’t”.

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