A Couple of Days in Scotland

I had a couple of days up in Scotland this week. Unsurprisingly whisky featured rather heavily. I didn't do in-depth tasting notes, but here's the ones I tried and any thoughts looking back:

Bruichladdich 1990 (20 yo) Chateau Margaux Cask. Not as heavily wine-influenced as I thought it might be but beautifully smooth and you hardly notice its hefty 50.2% abv.
Compass Box 'Great King Street.' A rather good 'aperitif' blend.
A very clean, extremely smoky Ardbeg 17yo from Cadenhead's. I think this one was from the 'Authentic' collection, bottled at 55.7%.
Ardbeg 1976. This was a lot more earthy than the Cadenhead's bottling. I didn't have a lot of information on this one but it was absolutely superb.
Benromach 10. Steady Speysider.
Two Cask-strength Bowmores, one at 12 and one at 17 years old. They were quite different, the second showing a lot more citrus fruit which surprised me since it was the older of the two, but both were lively and fiery.
Longrow 14. I was, somewhat heretically, on Kelburn's excellent Pivo Estivo by the time we got to the Pot Still, home of the whisky drinker's dream come true back bar (pictured above) but I did a have a cheeky sip of a friend's peaty Springbank.
Isle of Jura 21 yo from the Glenkeir Treasures range. Almost ethereal it was so light.
Isle of Arran Sauternes Cask. I enjoyed this one, great sweet lemon sherbet flavours coming through from the wine cask.
Compass Box 'Spice Tree'. I think the best was the '76 Ardbeg but for the money I thought this was brilliant, and it's one I might go for in the future since by budget doesn't stretch to seventies Ardbeg bottlings!

I'd also recommend the Chaophrya Thai restaurant on Buchanan Street in Glasgow. Good food in a really beautiful setting.

Whisky. A LOT of whisky.

My stay up there was all too brief, although a chance meeting meant I did get a quick look at the Claive Vidiz collection at the Whisky Experience in Edinburgh. By way of contrast my journey back was unfortunately far too long because I was sitting on the train for an hour and a half, looking at the Angel of the North, waiting for some points to be fixed. I began to wonder if the Angel was doing it on purpose, maybe wondering where its share of all those whiskies was?

What's in an age?

I've not long started working for The Whisky Shop. I don't consider myself an expert in whisky; while I do have qualifications in wines and spirits through the Wine and Spirit Education Trust, wine is the dominant part of the syllabuses and whisky is only a part of the spirits components. Much of what I have learnt about whisky prior to working in the Whisky Shop is through working in wine retail, reading around and, of course, drinking it! So my new line of work is very much a continuation of that learning process, and it's one reason I enjoy it; I get to learn every day.

A gentleman came in a while ago asking about Jura Superstition. It's a whisky that's obviously highly regarded by Whisky Shop customers, having just won the whisky of the year award, but because it didn't carry an age statement he had his doubts. I offered a sample but it was a bit early and he declined, and so the 'proof of the pudding' adage couldn't be applied.

In that gentleman's opinion the age statement on a whisky is a vital thing. Even as a fan of Jura he wasn't prepared to buy a version that didn't carry that all important statement. This raises an interesting question about whisky in general, but to use a specific example; does a heavily peated whisky such as Ardbeg need to be ten years old before becoming a fantastic drop? Well, if a scientific sample of the rate of how quickly a bottle of their Still Young got drank round at my house a few years back is anything to go by, then it's a resounding no! It's a whisky that's all about the peat, and I would argue that a much older version, while being more expensive, may well lose that freshness and vitality that makes Ardbeg the purest expression of what Islay is all about. However, an expression that could mix that freshness with older cask character? Well, that would be a different animal indeed.

As was pointed out in a comment after a post I wrote back in October about blended whiskies, even single malts are blended, even if they're not referred to as 'blended whiskies' per se. It's becoming conventional wisdom that whiskies can be great at younger ages than ever before, and so it follows that younger whiskies can contribute an important character and complexity to a single malt. The flip side, and this is why it's interesting that sherry barrel advocates Macallan have come out and rejected age statements in their younger (below 18 yo) whiskies, is that if much of the whisky's character does come from the cask, then that point of maturity becomes crucial, because I sure as hell don't want my whisky to have 'character' that comes from caramel colouring.

The problem is one of reassurance. How can consumers be convinced that age statements aren't being removed as a short-cut, a way of getting the same money out of a customer whilst reducing costs? Well, I'd say take the time to pop into your friendly local whisky specialist and they'll let you try some to prove it one way or the other, and I'm not even going to attempt to claim a lack of bias with that one.

Ardbeg 'Renaissance'

This post, like many, was inspired by a conversation on Twitter, in turn inspired by a post by Ghost Drinker, who had been thinking about whisky.

As I mentioned before on my post for this month's session, I'm a malt fan. When I've had the money I've amassed something of a collection of the weird and (hopefully) wonderful, some of which I've drank, some of which I have lurking in the cellar.

Since the discussion revolved around Ardbeg, I was reminded of a couple of things. The first was was the Lord of the Isles, which I was lucky enough to try after we'd managed to get a bottle in for a customer. To show his gratitude he brought in a sample for us to try in the shop - which was much appreciated! The other story didn't have such a happy ending, we had limited runs of Cask Strength Ardbeg 'Renaissance,' which was a ten year old bottling that was also released at three previous stages of development; the 'Very Young,' the 'Still Young' and the 'Almost There.' These being new and exciting I parted with my hard-earned £30 or so, grabbed myself some of this stuff from the shop and consumed it with relish (well, a drop of water anyway). Current price of the 'Very Young' is now a cool £325 in Royal Mile Whiskies. Still, to quote the over-quoted Tennyson poem, 'tis better to have loved and lost' etc...

I've still go two of the expressions. The question is, should I drink them? Especially since now I know they're worth more a lot more than I paid for them (looks like being about £100/bottle), I no longer have ignorance's bliss as an excuse.