Glenmorangie Astar

In a previous Glenmorangie review I noted my partiality to the house style, in particular to the reliable 10 year old throughout the heat of summer. While we're still a couple of months away from summer here, somebody forgot to tell The Weather this little fact and we're enjoying the hottest October on record (so far) in these parts (but as it is most certainly cold somewhere in the world, we can be certain that climate change is definitely not happening. No way.) So, time to revisit an old favourite.

I really enjoyed this when first released, so when I saw it again at my local recently (at pretty much the original price, too, actually) I felt compelled to jump on it.

Astar. Virgin oak. Cask strength. NAS.
Peak Glenmo.

Glenmorangie Astar, 57.1%

Nose: Oak, natch. Sweet vanilla and coconut. Lots of all that. Some of the more aggressive wood characteristics blow off a little after some time in the glass. Water perhaps adds the faintest hint of ripe peach.

Palate: Heavy wood up top, sweet coconut and vanilla underneath. A bit of heat too. Quite noticeable layering here. The oak is pretty aggressive and easily the dominant layer. Water adds a hint of honeyed fruit.

Finish: Drying oak spice continues for quite a while, becoming increasingly metallic on the tongue, as the vanilla fades. Water sees the sweetness continue a fraction longer maybe.

Well, it's certainly more woody than I remember, but accusing Glenmorangie - this Glenmorangie - of being oak driven would seem to be a pretty futile exercise.

In any case, it hasn't given me as much fruity pleasure at it once did. Yet on these unseasonably hot nights I have found that the oak can be partially tamed by drinking it over some ice, and so that's how I've enjoyed the bulk of this bottle. Refreshing and thirst-quenching.

But I can of course also get that anytime, quickly and cheaply, from the 10 year old, too.

Springbank 2000, 13 Year Old, SMWS 27.106 "A boiler suit in ballet shoes"

A Springbank from what must be the most active refill bourbon cask in the history of history. And casks.

Springbank 2000, 13 Year Old, SMWS 27.106 "A boiler suit in ballet shoes", 50%

Nose: Quince jam, peat smoke and a touch of ash, too, perhaps. Hint of something herbal in the background.

Palate: Luscious, thick and oily texture. Sweet red fruit and figs. A hint of cabbage-y sulphur too, actually, which I haven't noticed on previous tastes to be honest. Salt and maybe a touch of aged balsamic.

Finish: Peat on the initial swallow, and this lingers through the sweet, thick and rather long finish as the salt becomes increasingly licorice-like.

Well, the label says refill bourbon so I guess it is, but it really is presenting a lot like an ex-sherry.
Anyway, nice "drinking" whisky. Not very complex, but it does have a lovely texture and mouthfeel.

Springbank 17 Sherry Wood (2015)

Forgive me Communist heathen Pope, it's been some time since my last entry.


Springbank 17 Sherry Wood (2015) 52.3%

Nose: Leather, ginger ale, mild and sweet heathery peat, and chocolate. After a while some fruit emerges - papaya mainly, with perhaps a hint of peach too.

Palate: Chocolate, papaya, salt, along with the ol' Springbank tells of  earth and engine oil.
Water doesn't seem to add too much, although perhaps now it serves to heighten both the sweetness and the salt.

Finish: The papaya and salt pulsate through the finish, with the chocolate reappearing before the dirty oil swirls back to the top at the death.
Water seems to add a bit of spice at the end as that increased saltiness from the palate follows through on the finish.

To be honest I was expecting more - or at least something different - from this sherried Springbank. While I have enjoyed it and it has certainly grown on me - this review is from the last quarter of the bottle - I had hoped upon release that it may be a full-sherried (first fill) experience as opposed to the largely re-fill barrel notes this seems to me to offer.

Glen Ord 1983, 31 Year Old, Cadenhead Single Cask

You (and by that I suppose I mean I) don't tend to see a lot of Glen Ord around (although I note that Signatory have just recently released another single cask), the bulk of the 162 independent bottlings listed on whiskybase coming from Signatory and SMWS, with Cadenhead a distant third.

[This, incidentally, will be the second of Cadenhead's gold-labelled Single Cask series that I've tried, the first being this really bloody good Glen Keith.]

I have, though, never actually tried a Glen Ord before this, but from what I've read of the profile, it should fit comfortably up my alley - amongst other euphemistic mixed metaphors.

[For the record, I'm sticking with the more recognisable "Glen Ord" in the title rather than Cadenhead's Glen-less "Ord" - the arcane and eccentric distillery naming system that Cadenhead utilise for their labels goes way above the head of one such as myself, so I wont even bother trying to work this one out.]

Glen Ord 1983, 31 Year Old, Cadenhead Single Cask, 51%

Nose: Sweet honeyed barley at first, soon becoming quite waxy. After a little while some fruits gather - rock melon, kiwi and a hint of orange citrus. Oak spices emerge after even more time.
Water accentuates the fruit a touch, bringing in some sweeter stonefruit like peaches and nectarines, and after a while some less sweet stuff like papaya and cocoa.

Palate: Powerful, mouth-filling arrival, with lots of spice, malt, wax and salt. A touch of Clynelish about it. Something herbal - rosemary? - along with vanilla, passionfruit and milk chocolate.
Water turns down the heat a fraction and releases a whole lot more fresh fruit - orange, peach, melon, mango, pineapple - along with honey and maybe cinnamon. Beautiful bourbon cask notes. The mouthfeel remains creamy yet prickly and lively as it expands across the palate. Maybe a touch of smoke here, too, now?

Finish: It remains quite spicy as it develops, with the salt lingering into the chocolate-laden finish.
Water sees the fruit - oranges, clementines, mango - extend further into the long salty finish with the chocolate now prominent only right at the very death.

Great whisky.
For me, an absolute highland classic. Salt, bucket-loads of (tropical) fruit, spice and a hint of smoke.
The kind of whisky I wish I could drink forever.

Clynelish 1997, 17 Year Old, Maltbarn, 48.6%

Maltbarn would have to be one of my favourite bottlers at the moment. Great selections (I haven't yet tried - in my somewhat limited experience - anything that I'd classify as a complete dud), great labels and great people.

This is the second 1997 Clynelish I've tried from Maltbarn - the first was very good so I was very much looking forward to this which, like that first one, is drawn from a bourbon cask.


Clynelish 1997, 17 Year Old, Maltbarn, 48.6%

Nose: It's really quite reticent at first. Eventually there's hints of butterscotch, salt and wax.
Water releases some menthol (see below), and that distinct Clynelish-y maltiness begins to emerge.


Palate: Butter-Menthol. So much Butter-Menthol. (Butter-Menthol is an Australian throat lozenge comprised primarily of sugar, sodium ascorbate and, yes, you guessed it, menthol and butter. I'm sure there are similar products around, but it's a very familiar taste to an Aussie palate - well, certainly to this one anyway.) Salt builds through the development, as do some sweeter citrus notes. Yellow fruits appear underneath that salt after some more time in the glass.

Water enhances all of the above, perhaps increasing the saltiness above all, as it works in tandem with the menthol to expand and prickle the palate.


Finish: Medium length. It finishes as it began, salty Butter-Menthols.
Water extends the finish dramatically and, as for the palate, increases the saltiness.


It may seem, from these notes, that this whisky is a little one-dimensional and lacking in complexity, but that could just be my palate fixating on the familiar at the expense of everything else. (The nose was also nearly absent at this sitting, so perhaps my senses are just a little dulled at the moment.)

Regardless, this is a deliciously lip-smacking Clynelish. So salty and buttery (and of course menthol-ly). Extremely more-ish.

Ben Nevis 1996, 18 Year Old, Whiskybase

A Ben Nevis tonight, bottled by Menno and CJ at Whiskybase.com to mark the 60,000th whisky added to the Whiskybase database. The first Ben Nevis on this blog too, it seems.

Ben Nevis 1996, 18 Year Old, Whiskybase.com "60,000 Bottles on the Wall", 50.6%

Nose: Heavily oxidised wine, beef stock, BBQ sauce, hoisin, sweet soy. A hint of sweet citrussy stuff too, nestled in some really nice powdery oak tannins holding it together. After a little longer some plums emerge, together with walnuts.
Water lightens the nose, emphasising the citrus amid the still dominant oxidised wine, and turning the plums into something more like red berries perhaps.

Palate: Initially a burst of plummy sweetness which is soon joined by that lovely citrus element again. There's some spices - cinnamon and cloves - and some of the savoury stuff promised by the nose - beef stock and something funky and fungal - lurking at the back as well.
Water heightens the citrus - and brightens the palate in general with perhaps a hint of those red berries - at the expense, though, of some of those savoury notes.

Finish: Long  finish, heavy on salted licorice amongst the palate's sweeter notes. There's also notes reminiscent of top-end grappa that linger longest on the finish, (further) evidence, I suspect, of some top quality European oak.
Water does not drastically alter much, but it does perhaps extend some of those plum and red fruit notes further into the finish.

This is a very good drink. I really like it. Great nose and finish. Complex, delicious, interesting and just a bit different, this is a super choice as commemorative bottling by the guys at Whiskybase. Long gone now I think though.

Glentauchers 2010, 4 YO, C&S Dram Collection

If you're stupid brave enough to embark on one, you can learn a lot about yourself on a family road trip. Having just arrived back from a two week holiday that culminated in a final day, ten-and-a-half-hour drive home from the south coast of NSW - our five month old and three year old maniacs strapped in but by no means subdued - I can confirm, though, that a lot of it aint pretty.

I wont bore you (too much/any further) with any of the lessons I learned that day (and will endeavour to unlearn until the next time the lunatics hit the road in pursuit of a "holiday"), but suffice it to say that at one point I found myself muttering "I'm making time" in response to an unasked (but implicit in the white knuckles of my equally desperate better half) question as I planted my foot and overtook three semis at speed on a sharp turn (the stereo belting out not Voodoo Chile, but a continuous loop of tracks from the Brandenburg Concerto, Bringing It All Back Home, and The Very Best of Toots and the Maytals).

So, Glentauchers then. I know absolutely bugger all about Glentauchers. But this is the kind of dram that one might need after such a journey. A very young, strong, sherry butt whisky. I bought these samples from Whiskybase.

Glentauchers 2010, 4 Year Old, C&S Dram Collection, 66.6%

Nose: Caramel, chocolate and chilli at first. Surprisingly, there's not a massive alcohol burn in the nostrils, even as it prickles the lips. After a while, we get BBQ sauce, Thai yellow soy bean paste and white pepper.
The addition of water douses the caramel a little and introduces a bubblegum note as it becomes slightly floral and even a little herbal.


Palate: Here's that alcohol! Fiery heat, naturally, but it's actually not overwhelming at this stage. Milk chocolate, chilli - sort of reminiscent of the chilli pepper I find in Nikka From the Barrel. Gum leaf, menthol.
Water releases some more sweetness as it brings the caramel and chocolate to the fore.

Finish: Long, hot, prickly finish, with some chest burn. Chilli pepper, black pepper, chocolate. Water extends the caramel and chocolate here as well.

An interesting whisky. Brutally strong and young in many respects, but also kind of approachable and enjoyable in others. Not particularly complex. It sure can take a lot of water, so I guess there's plenty of bang for your buck.

I wonder if they decided to bottle it when they did - four months shy of its fifth birthday - so as to release it at 66.6%?