Whisky in high places: Arran tweet tasting

Time for some island whisky's again brought to me (and therefore you in words and pics) courtesy of Steve Rush at the Whisky Wire in the form of a Tweet Tasting. This time we get to spend some time with relative newcomer Arran distillery.* Four whisky's of varying ages and strengths, the free keyring and "Enjoy!" label were a nice touch & great size samples...if I'd been more organised I could have invited others around to join the tasting, still plenty left too! So without further ado...the thoughts.

The regular 10 year Old was up first. To me this felt slightly young or perhaps the wood used had an effect but there's fairly fresh woody aftershave up f forest glades, cobwebbed sheds musty apple lofts on the nose Its fairly fiery, sweet, peppery perhaps. A touch of water brings out spicy sandalwood. Fairly dry with woody spice. Not one I'll drink again soon.

Much more complex on the nose the 14 y/o (also 46%) Pearskin, vanilla, cardamom, freshly made paper. Finishing in sherry and bourbon brought a good range of flavours to the table. Its quite subtle - handled well it'd make a nuanced cocktail. Much gentler to taste than the 10 y/o, more rounded rich grape flavours, vanilla but still plenty of fire & oaky swwetness followed by fruity pear. Adding water brings out honey drenched egg custard tart with a subtle orange blossom water finish, nice. Available for a not unreasonable £40 at MoM (with free glass!).

The 12 y/o cask strength (53.9%) is completely different, robust earthy spices,meaty umami notes - could be the 100% sherry hogshead aging. Juniper berries & sea salt encrusted old tarpaulin appear on airing. A rich velvet mouthfeel, plenty of heat, some lemon pith, more of that meaty note from the nose. Rich sweet deep woodiness,leather as it opens up that apple strudel others got on the nose comes through, especially sultanas. Its complex but ultimately rewarding.£50.55 @MoM

The new millennium cask release 53.5% is fairly subtle on the nose, sweet crème caramel and white pepper. Pretty fiery adding water really opens up the nose...Turkish delight, rosewater and oak smoke. Perhaps slightly pricey at £70

 
A really interesting range of similar but different whiskys, the14 y/o pips 12/yo cask strength to the post for me,with millennium cask worth a taste but I was't keen on the 10 year old. Thanks as always to Steve for organising and Arran for the freebies!

But that's not the end of the post. Whilst we're in an Arran frame of mind its time I opened my Brewdog Arran aged Paradox. Its a bruiser of a beer at 15%. Dark ebony brown with Orange tan head. Sweet caramel, vanilla and booze on the nose which I recognise from the whisky. Sweet vanilla, umami, full bodied, medium carbonation. Quite alcoholic but well done.A good digestif!

*Arran being thought to mean "high place"...hence the post title

Jura turns 50

This year marks the 50th anniversary of Jura distillery,  this week being the Fèis Ile whisky celebrations. Today sees the distillery open day, with plenty of tutored tasting sessions, live music and other goodies. I managed to get in on the action from here in Northern Ireland by signing up to a tweet tasting with the Whisky Wire(thanks for the tip off Pete (drinks)!)

There have been distilleries on Jura for almost 200 years, but the current incarnation of Jura distillery dates back to 1963 when architect William Delme-Evans designed the "unusually large" stills that give the whisky its light character.

I'm fairly familiar with Jura, having visited them on my Islay tour last year. Five whiskys this time

 Turas Mara is a new addition to their core range but available only at certain travel retail outfits
. Fittingly the translation is "long journey" and it has been aged in bourbon casks from the USA alongside others from Spain, France and Portugal (I'd assume sherry, brandy and port, but could be wrong). As confirmed by Steve its Spanish sherry butts, French oak barriques & Portuguese port pipes. It's also named for a poem written by former Duirach* Jessie Scott, with her own departure point marked by a plaque on the beach.

At 42% its pretty close to the usual dilution mark of 40% and an attractive mid-golden-blonde colour. On the nose its spicy and boozy with caramel sweetness and some fruity port (?) notes. Its quite sweet with blackcurrant, toffee and a long rich finish.

Adding in some water brought out orange peel plus an earthy spicy quality, cardamom perhaps bringing to mind an imperial wit beer on the nose. The whisky warmth increases in taste and some woody, slightly oxidised cardboard notes appear, that I'm not all that keen on.

With the remainder of the sample I mixed a micro-rob roy, 10ml of vermouth rosso and a generous dash of angostura bitters, stirred over ice. That's a nice way to have it.

Well worth a look in but drink it undiluted!

From jurainfo.com

Another new addition to the range is the 30 year old, bottled at 44% ABV. This spent the latter three years of its ageing process in Gonzalez Byass Olorosso Butts. Named Camas an Staca for the largest of 8 standing stones on the island, this whisky is just a fraction of the age of the stones (estimated at 3000years).

An attractive burnished gold this fella. Nose redolent of a walk in a damp woodland, with some butterscotch notes, quite hot and boozy up front but a lovely woody spiciness and some vanillins and weirdly baked ham after that initial alcohol has subsided.

A splash of water really rounds out the mouthfeel and releases a cloud of peaches and cream to the flavour. The reminds on a sweet shop/ nail bar with sticky pear drops and a hint of nail varnish alongside vanilla and juicy stewed fruits. Its a fantastic drop of whisky, but one I'm unlikely to try again due to its £350 price tag!

From Edinburghwhiskyblog.com

The 1977 vintage is named Juar, Gaelic for Yew Tree symbolising immortality and rebirth. The whisky comes from three bourbon barrels finished for a year in a ruby port pipe. 498 bottles @ 46%ABV were released for this one. It pours fairly pale gold with black pepper and burnt paper on the nose on swirling there's some almond and floral notes. A really interesting burst of fruit in the mouth at first, sweet raspberries and peaches, followed by plenty of alcohol warmth, finishing with some golden syrup and meaty umami notes.
Adding water reduces the fruit and brings out the porridgey nose of a whisky mash accompanied by Christmas cake spices. To taste its a different beast, the fieriness has been tamed revealing a hidden sweet core, well rounded and enjoyable.

From abbeywhisky.com

Delme-Evans was the famed architect that resurrected the distillery in 1963, and a cask strength whisky was released in his honour. A 1988 distillation cask number 1796 was re-racked into olorosso sherry before being released as 586 bottles. It sold out quickly, but a few bottles were retained for tasting and that's what we're privileged to try here.

Another mid-gold pour here with a rich savoury umami nose balanced by undercurrents of geraniums. Its sweet and warming with washed rind cheese, sherry flavours, oak and furniture polish. Adding water to it brings cherry stones, lots of alcohol, spent grains, and sawdust to the nose. Rich parmesan, sea salt and iodine flavours. Still fairly strong to taste and the sherry is right up making itself known. Certainly a sipper but you're rewarded by a long sweet heather honey finish with some green apple notes.

Final whisky to write about is the oldest, soon to be the new 40 year old bottling but currently 39 3/4 years old. As its not being released until 2014, there are no bottle pictures yet! Its a hefty 51.4% matured in sherry and finished in amoroso sherry for a year.
This is a gorgeous dark ruby gold with rummy molasses, strong solvent, weet-a-bix and a big boozy punch here. Very high alcohol with long legs, evaporates off the tongue, strong alcohol, marmite umami, fairly mouth puckering astringency, tannins and plenty of sherry character, a bit of a challenge. No hiding that sherry influence at all here.
With water its still fairly alcoholic but theres smokey campfire, some peaty phenols and tangerine pith. The flavour is completely subdued, but allows it to evolve instead of being overwhelmed by alcohol. Its a seaside barbecue seaspray and smoke. Takes some getting used to but ultimately rewarding.

A completely varied bunch showing how age and different finishes can really change the character of  whisky. For me the Juar was the most enjoyable, though the Delme Evans certainly challenged my perceptions of whisky!
 

Thanks a lot to Steve Rush at @TheWhiskyWire for organising this tasting, its been great fun and tasty too of course. Thanks to Jura @Jura_Whisky for the samples, I hope to visit you guys again soon as my Duirach's own is running low!

*Duirach: a resident of Jura. You can sign up to become an honourary Duirach on Jura distillery website, entitling you to a free dram and reduced ferry fare.

 

A Lowland Distillery

Following on from the fun on Islay over Easter I decided to visit a completely different distillery (albeit still Diageo-owned) the East Lothian based Glenkinchie. Being Diageo I was again able to get free entry with my "Friends of Classic Malts" passport and again "Health & Safety" disallowed the taking of photographs in production areas.

There is however a fantastic exhibition with scale model of the distillery; so can do a "virtual tour". The exhibition is housed in the old maltings. Like the majority of distilleries, malt is shipped in a few times a week, where it is crushed in a mill to give a grist of 20/70/10 husk/grit/flour. The husk creates a filter bed, too high a flour proportion and you end up with a stuck mash. This is a similar principle to milling barley for beer production (which is in essence the first step of whisky production). The old grain elevator is still in place, though its now piped into the mill.

Next we see the mash tun. Mashed in at 63, with a second mash at 72 then sparged at 84, which becomes the first mashing water for the next brew. 6 wash-backs (fermenters) 4 of Oregon pine and 2 Canadian larch IIRC, chosen not for their aromatic attributes, but because their tall trunks have no branches--> no knots to form leaks. Fermentation is 60 hours, the distillery runs on a 12-hour cycle. The yeast is stored live on site and is a specific species suited for whisky distillation that gives high alcohol content and little in the way of esters that ale brewers look for.

 

Another feature from pre-H&S-conscious days is the "dramming bell" so called because when rung all workers would assemble for their measure of new-make spirit at 70%ABV.

Through into the distillation room and only two stills, though the wash still is the biggest in Scotland with a filled capacity in excess of 30,000 litres. With each fermenter taking up 20,000 litres, there's a good third of the space inside available for reflux and this contact with the copper helps to produce a lighter more grassy spirit.

The wash still is a bit smaller at ~20,000 litres but still plenty of space as a good percentage of the liquid is "pot ale" which goes to farmers as cattle feed along with the spent grain in the mash tun. In between the two distilling steps the spirit travels through the spirit safe into two receiver below. The cut for spirit is 73 to 69%, the remaining heads and tails are combined with the ext batch of low wines and redistilled.

Before the spirit safe is another, less often seen step. The whisky must be cooled from gas to liquid phase, and this is done by the means of two condensing "worms" - copper spirals in large tanks of water. The water is held on site for cooling in 3 lagoons before being discharged back into the local burn.

After distillation is the filling of the casks, done next door. There's a four storey warehouse on site but very little of the whisky is actually stored here, just the oldest stock. Most is housed in purpose built racked warehouses elsewhere in Scotland. Only ~8% of the production makes it into single malt bottles, the rest ends up in a variety of blends.

 
After the tour...the tasting! I've recently written about the Glenkinchie 12 y/o but there's a wide selection of single malts available for trying. If you're not driving I recommend paying the slight bit extra for a "flavour of Scotland" tour as you can choose which whiskys to sample and there's some tasty drams. I sampled the distillers edition (cask strength) finished in brandy pipes. Completely different to the regular 12 y/o with some fruity notes and much darker in colour. I prefer it.

 

The exhibition also has a working spirit (water) safe, which gives you a chance to play about with the cuts which is interesting, an illicit still from the distillery's past and a selection of cooperage tools. Its more interesting than the marketing displays at a lot of other distilleries and free entry if you haven't time for a tour. The shop is also well stocked with various special edition whiskys if you're looking for anything unique in Diageo's range and a number of books including a whisky and food cook book, with a few cheese and whisky pairings which caught my eye...watch this space!

The two that got away

As mentioned in my summary post, unfortunately the two northerly distilleries were closed for our visit.

Caol Ila from the Jura ferry

Caol Ila has been having a refit over the last year. With a capacity of 4.7 million litres a year it was already the bigegst player on the island, this refit will enable it to produce a whopping 6.2million litres. It should now be reopened, so pop along to check if you're on the island.

Most of their whisky is tankered off of the island for use in blends and is peated at about 40ppm like its sister distillery Lagavulin. They also produce a small amount of unpeated malt. Very little of their whisky is aged on the island, the space instead used by Lagavulin.

The unpeated variety is interesting, unlike other unpeated Islay drams Bruichladdich and Bunnahabhain there's still some vegetal notes in there that can only come from the water as there's no peat used in the production of the malt. Its quite subtle in flavour and doesn't need any water adding in my opinion.

From the Bunnahabhain website

The 12 y/o Bunnahabhain on the other hand is a product of the sea. Still aged on the island it has briny and seaweed notes with the finish of old ropes. Its quite harsh as it comes and I preferred it with a splash of water to open up the sweeter flavours hidden within. 

They were closed on my visit for their Easter holidays! Well, we all need a break from work; so I don't blame them. Its the most remote of the distilleries; so is a trek down a bumpy track to reach it.

Both of these will be first on my "to visit" list for future Islay visits.

You'll be pleased to here that concludes my write-ups of distillery visits for the time being, but as they've been fairly well received I can't promise there won't  be further whisky related posts in the future. Consider yourself warned!

Bowmore

After an overnight stay in Islay's capital, Bowmore, we awoke feeling refreshed and wondered down to the Bowmore distillery, not five minutes away. One of the oldest on the island, it still traditionally floor malts its own barley. With a busy day ahead of us we only had time for  a brief stop in the shop, but I'd love to return to do the tour.

The shop staff were friendly and those who had returned from the previous tour seemed happy enough. We peeked in at the exhibition, a trophy cabinet full of awards then the next tour group were gathering so we departed. A tantalising first glimpse.

Not having tried Bowmore before I was keen to pick up some samples and a three-pack of miniatures was reasonably priced. I also loved the ceramic water jugs, but decided I'd probably break it on the journey home and left it for another day.

The 12 year old pours a dark honey amber. The nose transports you to a Viking feasting hall: dirt floors sodden with spilt mead and the previous nights' peat fire still smouldering in the hearth. Pick up some of those ashes, mix with mead and you have the Bowmore 12 year old. Honey and fire, brash and boisterous.

The 15 year old (darkest) has an enticing aroma of honeyed peaches. Sweet heather honey and sisal at first and exquisitely smooth it finishes with a brief flurry of peat activity then juicy peaches.

The 18 year old is a musty coat closet with tweed and leather. Fiery at first it soon sweetens. The peatiness has all but disappeared and leaves behind a rich, fruity spirit which is very warming in finish.

A good bunch, which I shall certainly purchase in larger format when my supplis need replenishing. My favourite? Probably the 15 y/o for the blend of peat, fire, fruit and honey.

Also in Bowmore is the fantastic Lochside hotel, with over 300 single malts, the majority from Islay with rare bottlings and even some old Port Ellen stuff. Very pricey however, definitely one for the wealthier tourists.

Ardbeg

The final Kildalton distillery is Ardbeg. Again, no tour for us on this visit but instead a tasty lunch in the old kiln cafe. As with most Islay distilleries they've stopped producing their own malt and instead get hold of it from Port Ellen maltings.

There's a selection of fresh cooked home-made dishes and a well-stocked shop. The tour ends in the tasting room, which has a large variety on offer. Certainly somewhere I'll have to return to!

They've created a few experimental malts, not least alligator (see right), named for the charring technique used on the casks which causes them to resemble alligator hide. As you might expect its very smoky, charcoal, ash alongside a touch of peat from the base spirit, not for everyone but I enjoyed my dram. The Blasda (left) is a different kettle of fish altogether. Distilled with a lower ppm specification on the peat in the malt its much more gentle with a sweet honey note in the mouth.

I was pleased to capture this reflection shot outside of the distillery. As you can see Ardbeg uses different types of cask to achieve different finishes on the spirit.

Lagavulin

View from the main road

Lagavulin is the second Kidalton distillery you come across, regardless of which way you travel. As member's of the classic malt society me and mine get a free tour and whisky sampling, but the tour is worth what they were asking in any case.

There's a big difference in photography rules here compared to Bruichladdich and no indoor pictures were allowed. We were ably guided around the distillery by Ruth, who gave us plenty of information on the specifics of the operation here and atsister distillery Caol Ila.

Old kiln furnaces

The majority of Lagavulin is aged on the island, here, at Port Ellen in the old distillery warehouses and up at Caol Ila and is largely sold as single malt. Conversely most of Caol Ila whisky is tankered off of theisland and destined to be used in blended whisky to addcharacter to cheaper grain whiskys.

Shiny mill.

Lagavulin is fairly modernised by Islay standards with metal mash tun and all malt now supplied by  Port Ellen maltings. We do get to see into the old kiln furnaces though.

In the wash house I experience another whisky distillery first (for me) we're given the chance to try the wash (fermented beer). Its full of smoke. quite malty and pretty thin. Not much sign of those phenolics yet, they must come through on distillation as they're certainly there in the final product! It reminded me of a rauchbier if all of the speciality malts had been stripped out.

On into the still house and the new make is positively gushing out. There's a fair amount of copper sulphate washed through. This comes from the reaction of sulphur with the copper stills and pipework, eliminating potential unpleasant offtastes from the whisky. This is a large fator in why distilleries use copper instead of stainless steel, despite the massive price difference!

We're led to the tasting room, poured a dram each then left to "supervise" the bottles as the Scandinavian occupants of the room from the preceding tour had clearly been fairly liberal with their measures!

We were able to try the regular 16 y/o expression of lagavulin plus unpeated caol ila as well as a variety of special edition releases. As a bonus, we're all given a glass to take home with us. No miniatures on sale; so no whisky for home for me this time around!

Bruichladdich- the tasting!

The first-part of the distillery tour can be found here.

From the heady smells of the still-house we head back across the central courthouse to one of the many Bruichladdich warehouses. They have further warehouses in the surrounding hills and also use the old Port Charlotte dunnage warehouses for their peatier drams. Plans to reopen Port Charlotte continue apace, with stills being rescued from the defunct Innerleuven distillery to avoid the massive expense of making new ones from scratch.

This warehouse we're shown turns out to be where the magic happens, with not only the private-owned* casks stored here, but also Jim McEwan's experimental batches, with finishes in all manner of exotic casks, including rum and wine.

Into the vatting and bottling hall then, a decidedly newer area and a first for the island. The first batches were originally bottled by hand and this kit is still used for small runs, but the star of the show is the brand spanking new bottling plant. Its able to fill extraordinary numbers of bottles a day, essential for fulfilling that new Tesco contract...

 And finally, that part you've all been waiting for - how does the whisky taste? In a word...excellent. Bloody excellent in two! Well worth the wait.

We're all offered the Laddie 10, the first core expression now the whisky is old enough to be sold as a single malt. Its light, full of subtle wood character, a wisp of smoke and almost a "session" whisky in that its very easy to forget the strength and want to drink half a bottle in one sitting! We're then get offered the run of the range, with myself and other toursters doing their best to suggest a whisky they didn't have open behind the counter and willing to hand out: we don't succeed. I try the Laddie 10, Port Charlotte and Octomore in succession. They're peated at 4,40 and 152ppm respectively and boy is there a difference! The Port Charlotte is a bonfire in your mouth, all ashes and wood smoke with none of the subtleties exhibited in the Laddie. Octomore (peatiest whisky in the world!) is a different beast entirely.  Despite its OTT peat rate** it tastes nowhere near as smoky as the Port Charlotte. This whisky alone confirms that I am no longer peat-averse and more truthfully how a peat-head.

Perhaps the star of the show for me was the Valinch. "What's that?" I hear you cry! Well cry no more as I'm about to explain. A solitary cask sits mid-wall in the shop. On request you're handed an empty bottle which you then proceed to fill yourself. The cask is a one-off, only available at the brewery and never available again. The ultimate in whisky geekery. This time around its a bourbon aged Port Charlotte and at a beastly 63.5% ABV.*** Gimmicky perhaps, but still a great experience and more importantly a good tasting whisky that I'm looking forward to receiving the bottle of for my birthday (Thanks Dad!) It seems I got one of the last as they're now onto a new cask...

If you've only time to visit one whisky distillery on Islay (very poor planning on your part!) then make it this one! The enthusiasm of Helen and helpfulness of all the staff, not to mention the generous tasters all contribute to an afternoon well spent.

*Yes, it is possible to buy a cask of whisky!

** Try getting hold of one of those Brewdog!

***More details:

PORT CHARLOTTE - PREDICTION
2002 Cask No 130, Cask Type: Bourbon/La Tour
63.5%, Release Qty: 450 Bottles, Released: December 2011