A COUPLE FROM SPRINGBANK

Just when you think you have all you are going to get for Christmas, up pops your best mate with these two.
This is the Springbank malt in my collection, Springbank distillery is in Campbeltown in the Kintyre region of Scotland. The distillery malts its own barley, one of only a few distilleries to do so, it is also the first distillery to produce an organic malt whisky.

Tasting notes,

15yo at 46%vol
Colour:
Light amber.
Nose:
Sophisticated, Dundee cake, vanilla, new leather, pipe tobacco, dried apricot, peat, tea.
Body:
Full, rich, mouth coating.
Palate:
European oak, sweet tobacco, nut, smoke in the background, complex.
Finnish:
Soot, Malt.

10yo at 57.2%vol
Tasting notes to follow

Innis & Gunn

notes later 

ANOTHER 2 FROM TULLIBARDINE

Christmas at my house usually brings more whisky, this year was no exception.
For a start, 2 more bottlings from Tullibardine Distillery in Perthshire. Tullibardine Distillery http://www.tullibardine.com sits only 11 miles from Glenturret Distillery so it has an interesting heritage and popular neighbour.
These 2 whiskies are both distilled in 1993, just before the distillery closed, the distillery restarted production in November 2004 and they were bottled in 2005.
The first is a Portwood Finnish having spent time in port pipes, this 70cl bottle is 46%vol and is unchill-filtered. The second is a Marsala Finnish, again a 70cl bottle at 46%vol, this is also unchill-filtered.
it will be interesting to see what type of casks are bottled in the coming months and as the arrive they wil be added to my collection and will be listed here.

TWO FROM GLENTURRET

Glenturret Distillery just outside Crieff in Highland Perthshire is the oldest working distillery in Scotland.
Sadly it had been re-branded as the Famous Grouse Experience and has lost it's heritage some what.
Very few malt whiskies are coming out of the distillery at the moment and the 2 here are no longer available in this packaging, not even sure they are available at all.
On the left, a 21yo bottled at 40%vol in a 70cl copper lustre flaggon made by Wade. On the right is a 25yo bottled at 43%vol in a 70cl ceramic globe, again made by Wade.
They have become very collectable and sometimes become available on on-line auction sites both full and empty. 

Dallas Dhu 10yo

Originally to be called the Dallasmore in 1898, the plans for the new distillery, designed by local Elgin architect Charles Doig, caused much correspodence in the local paper, the Forres Gazette. This included some verses from a local councillor. The fillings were eventually advertised as Dallas Dhu in November 1899, when it came on stream. One of several distilleries on the land on the local laird, Alexander Edward. Who in 1900, sold the distillery to the proprietors of Roderick Dhu, a whisky blend popular at the end of the 18th century.
The still house was burnt down in 1939 and did not re-open until 1947. It closed in 1983 and the licence was cancelled in 1992. The distillery buildings were handed over by Scottich Malt Distillers to the Historic Buildings and Monuments department of the Scottish Office who now run them as a model example of a distillery on the tourist trail.
It is still possible to get special bottlings from old casks, although supplies of the whisky are now dwindling. Dallas Dhu is a perfectly preserved example of what a small Highland distillery would have ben like at the end of the 18th century. Had its water supply been more plentyful, it is most likely that the distillery would have been one of those chosen for expantion had it still been in operation.
http://www.awa.dk

Dallas Dhu 10yo at 40%vol, bottled by Godon & Macphail

Colour:
Light Gold
Nose:

Spring meadows, flowery with some oak and peat fragrances
Taste:

Sweet, honey notes, syrupy with some spring flowers and some peat and smoke
Finnish:

Dry Oloroso Sherry, crisp and supprisingly long for this 10yo with some smoke and just a hint of oak.

Not sure this can be found any more and that is sad because it can compete well with today's popular malts, if you find it, snap it up.

Young Talisker

 

Tullibardine Whisky Ale

You could say that this whisky ale is a by product of the whisky industry and in some ways you would be correct. When fermentation has taken place and the liquer (at about 7%vol) is drawn of for the first distillation, normally what happens with the spent malted barley (draf) is that it is sent for processing as animal feed, not in this case. It is sent to a local micro brewery at the Bridge of Allan and grain and hops are added and it is re-fermented up to again 7%vol. The resulting beer is then matured in used whisky casks from Tullibardine Distillery for upto 12 weeks and than bottled. Production of this ale is limited to the amount of malt whisky bottled at the distillery, currently, the aim is to bottle about 300 casks a year at 160 bottles of whisky ale per cask. as whisky production goes up then more ale will be bottled but this a long term project and will not change qickly overnight.

The ale has a wonderful whisky aroma when poured and on the nose it also has some citrus notes. you need to remember that this is a strong ale and more than 2 in my opinion is a waste and at £3.50 a bottle its not cheap or a session ale.
It is quite pale, just a little darker than larger but don't be fooled, it has a kick.

For any of you that have been to a distillery you will know the aroma as soon as you walk into the mash house, well this aroma is on the nose of the ale as well as the taste. it has a fruity flavour but this does not overpower the ale, try it with a dram of Tullibardine 10yo, the go together so well

Famous Grouse Scottish Oak Finnish

Tasting Notes:
This is a blended Scotch whisky that has been married and the matured in Scottish Oak for 3 years and then bottled at 44.5%vol.

Nose:
Toffee, butterscotch, a little spirity with a hint of vanilla, spice and citrus, mayme a little smoke?
It is a sweet whisky.
Taste:
Quite rounded and big, lots of flavours going on and on this first tasting their was some honey, a hint of saltyness, some cinnamon and nutmeg, their was also some citrus flavours and some vanilla, may be a splash of water will release some more of the many flavours this whisky holds. The influence of The Macallan and of Highland Park are quite evident. It is a well rounded whisky.
Finnish:
Supprisingly quite long and lingering with pleasant aftertastes of toffee and vanilla.

6.5/10

Tullibardine Distillery

What a wonderful distillery this is, it was re-opened on November 5th 2004 (incidently, the date of my birthday, thank you Tullibardine). The shop and the restaurant are very contemporary, the shop sells many things and not just whisky, they sell food, clothing. art etc and the whisky they sell comes only from the distillery. The restaurant above the shop looks out over tha Blackford Hills and is ultra modern and the food is top class.
The distillery tour is one of the best we have been on, the tour guide was very knowlegable and we were able to sample a number of malt whiskies at the end. We were also able to sample the 'whisky ale', a review of that at a later day.
All in all it was money well spent and highly recommended.
www.tullibardine.com

'3 from Tullibardine

The 3 bottles here are from the Tullibardine Distillery in Highland Perthshire, Scotland. On the left is a bottling from a single cask hogshead no 697 and is bottle no 43 of 264. It checks in at 54.4%vol and is a 70cl bottle.
It was selected by stillman John Black and an exceptionally heavily sherried cask and the bottle is signed by him
In the middle is a malt that was distilled in 1993 just before the distillery was mothballed, the distillery was reopened on November 5th 2004 and this malt was bottled soon after.
On the right is a malt that was bottled in the year the distillery closed, this malt with the packaging design shown is no longer available so eventually will become a sought after item.
Just 3 of the excellent maly whiskies from the Tullibardine distillery

A few bottles from the top shelf!

 

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'My favourite'

Talisker 25yo malt whisky, distilled in 1975 and bottled in 2001. It is a 70cl bottle at 59.9%vol and is number 2925 of 6000. 

Distillery Collage

This is a collage of the Scottish whiskies distilleries my wife and i visited in October 2005 

Famous Grouse Scottish Oak Finnish

This is my latest purchase, 3 bottles of Famous Grouse Scottish Oak Finnish, each bottle comes a nice presentation box with a numbered certificate. The box also contains a piece of the oak from the cask with a name of your choice on it, this piece of oak acts as a permanent entry ticket to the Grouse Experience at Glenturret Distillery.
The whisky comes ina 50cl bottle and is 44.5%vol 

THIS IS MY WIFE SUSAN WITH OUR LOVELY GRANDDAUGHTER,.

THIS IS ME AND MY LOVELY GRANDDAUGHTER, NANCY MARTHA