Whisky Rating

Learning From the Masters or How I Became an Idiot Scotch Snob

Oliver Klimek — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 18:44:22 +0000

Whisky and ice can certainly be an explosive mixture. Renowned whisky writer and bourbon expert Chuck Cowdery published a blog article called Scotch Snobs on Parade taking on the criticism of The Macallan Ice Ball Serve that was expressed in various comments on the publication of the press release at What Does John Know? including myself.

Snobby Soit Qui Mal y Pense

Chuck basically accused all those of being scotch snobs who were trying to express their adversion against scotch on ice or were criticizing Macallan for their marketing strategy:

“Here’s how to tell if you’re a whiskey snob. If you berate other people about the way they enjoy their whiskey and you berate producers when they stray from your idea of whiskey purity, you just might be a whiskey snob.”

I was specifically targeting the marketing issue, as can be read in my post linked to above, so I felt addressed by the second category.

So I guess I am a snob because I don’t approve Macallan’s strategy of drawing new customers from the pool of cocktail-drinking hipsters. My fear that the traditional values behind Scotch whisky might get diluted by explicitly promoting ice balls “to modernise the way single malt can be enjoyed”, as the press release states, seems to make me a patronising know-it-all. Is this really a good way to deal with contrary opinions?

Macallan’s target market for scotch on the balls are people who don’t give a damn if their drinks are pumped out of column stills after having been distilled and filtered to death for five times. They also don’t care if it’s coloured (just look at that Pinky Vodka). For most of them, whisky is just another spirit in their repertoire that happens to be brown instead of pink or blue.

And not even the ice balls are are a new invention. There even is a company called Gläce that is selling their balls for $8 a piece because they are made from ultra-purified water. This is what I call snobbery.

If it is snobbery to defend the traditional quality-focussed approach to whisky making, the artisan way as Ralfy Mitchell likes to call it, then I am happy to be called a whisky snob.

Idiot Savant?

Some further browsing in Chuck’s blog brought up an interesting article about the obsoleteness of the traditional method for measuring the alcohol concentration in proof. Although I absolutely agree with him on this topic, the article contained a passage that struck me:

“I have encountered a few idiots who claim they drink for flavor only and wish they could avoid the alcohol effect altogether, but such delusions are easily dismissed. Of course we enjoy the alcohol effect, but that’s not the same as getting drunk. Many, possibly even most drinkers today want to enjoy some effect short of intoxication.”

I state frankly that I am one of those idiots. More often than not I refrained from pouring another dram because I felt I had enough alcohol and wouldn’t really be able to enjoy it anymore. Which basically means that I wished away the alcohol effect. And I don’t go for that state of “feeling good just before feeling pissed” either. Is this idiocy? Is drinking whisky for the physiological effects of alcohol really the wiser choice?

I could take the easy road and return the compliments by saying that this kind of attiude might be caused by an overexposure to whisky on the rocks, but I won’t. It is not my style to attack my readership, be it globally or personally.

Don’t get me wrong, I don’t feel offended by this statement, I can take a wallop. And I also appreciate when people voice their opinions loudly. But some readers out there might be more sensitive than me and may even consider such statements insulting. I don’t think it is a signature of sound journalism to fire shrapnels at one’s readers.

Or Am I a Whisky Renegade?

The funny thing is, after I had posted my cocktail recipe for The Machattan, the distillery published the link on their Facebook page. Soon it received comments like “No one is adulterating my Macallan with anything!” or “You’d get kicked out of a Speyside pub if you asked for this.” Sounds quite funny for being a scotch snob.

I take it as a good sign being called a snob by one side of the camp and an adulterator from the other. Or am I just doing everything wrong?

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Edradour Caledonia 12 yo

Oliver Klimek — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:58:25 +0000

Buy at the Whisky Exchange

46%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Dark amber
Nose: Rather weak, Prunes, apples, caramel
Palate: Chocolate, prunes, raisins, apples, slightly spicy
Finish: Medium long, spicy fruit
Overall: A rather basic sherry dram, not bad but not overly impressive either.

Score: 78/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Ardbeg Supernova

Oliver Klimek — Sat, 20 Mar 2010 16:21:57 +0000

General Release – 58.9%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Straw
Nose: Black forest ham, a mix of tropical fruit, after a while a hint of juniper can be noticed.
Palate: A pangalactic peat explosion is followed by notes of smoked ham, salty fruit , and a little caramel. Can take lots of water.
Finish: Extremely long, peated salty fruit at first, followed by numbness

Score: ??/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money ?????

Yes, you read right. I honestly don’t know how to rate this whisky. Some components of it are fabulous while others are almost repellent.

The nose is interesting with Ardbeg’s signature Black Forest Ham, but not really sensational, the peat attack on the palate is too extreme for my taste but soon blends into the sensational early finish. Especially the finish shows this paradox. The first few minutes of the finish would deserve a rating in the high 90s, it is just magnificent. But then the aftertaste transforms into a numbing feeling on the palate that lasts for over an hour. It felt a bit like after an unpleasant visit to the dentist. And this feeling persists although you would rather like to get rid of it.

I think the Supernova was bottled way too young. Right now it is mostly about peat for peat’s sake. But given the fact that the phenols in a peated whisky transform into many other aromatics over time, I hope Ardbeg have had the foresight to set some of the spirit aside and let it mature in cood casks for much longer. Give it twenty more years and it should become a whisky from heaven.

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Cardhu 12 yo, late 1970s bottling

Oliver Klimek — Fri, 19 Mar 2010 16:47:40 +0000

75 cl bottle – 43%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Bright gold
Nose: Quite fresh, malt, vanilla, just minimally fruity
Palate: Slightly spicy and a bit waxy with a strange herbal component
Finish: Medium long, dry and herbal
Overall: A rather light-bodied malt, the herbal note is really quite strange and frankly a bit off-putting for me.

Score: 73/100 – No price/value information as this is a collector’s bottle

Rating: 7.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Croftengea 2003/2007 Sherry Butt

Oliver Klimek — Thu, 18 Mar 2010 18:37:30 +0000

The peated Loch Lomond single cask – 45%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Gold
Nose: Farmyard on a foggy day, smoke, hints of lemon, raisins and chocolate
Palate: Peat, citrus fruit, cocoa, dried fruit, a bit of honey
Finish: Long, peaty fruit
Overall: Remarkably smooth and yet very complex for a 4 yo. The unusual taste takes a while getting used to but is not unpleasant. Interestingly strange.

Score: 82/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Cameronbridge 1978/2008 Duncan Taylor

Oliver Klimek — Wed, 17 Mar 2010 17:45:17 +0000

Single Grain Whisky – 50.3%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Gold
Nose: Honey, citrus fruit, peaches, a little vanilla, takes a few minutes to fully develop
Palate: Peaches, apricots, vanilla. Smooth and creamy
Finish: Very long and fruity
Overall: After 29 years, the grain has lost all of its roughness and metamorphosed into a delightful and rich fruity dram. Just marvellous.

Score: 92/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Side Note: The peach notes seem to be a grain trademark because they can also be found in many Irish potstill whiskeys where grain and malt is distilled together.

Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Glenmorangie Lasanta

Oliver Klimek — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 18:21:13 +0000

Buy at the Whisky Exchange

Sherry finish – 46%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Bright amber
Nose: Honey, sultanas, cherries, slightly malty
Palate: Pineapple, honey, chocolate ,vanilla, quite sweet overall
Finish: Long, sweet and fruity
Overall: Very smooth and fruity, perhaps a tad on the sweet side. Enjoyable but not overly complex.

Score: 82/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

The Macallan Ice Ball Serve – Cool or Chilly?

Oliver Klimek — Tue, 16 Mar 2010 17:36:21 +0000

The Macallan officially launched their new “Ice Ball Serve” machine yesterday, a heavy brass device that can mold chunks of ice into spherical shape. It basically is a branded adaption of a Japanese invention already on the market. Some pictured reports had already been published by Macallan representatives, and to finalize the launch, a flamboyantly worded press release was published on What Does John Know?

Normally, this would have been a non-event for me. But the whole circumstances of the launch, along with the blog discussion sparked by the publication of the press release, highlight a topic that I have been wanting to adress for quite a while now.

Ice in Your Whisky?

At the first look, this is just yet another re-incarnation of the age-old discussion about whisky and ice, intensified by The Macallan’s explicit mention of single malt whisky as an object to be adorned by the not-so-new ice balls.

To set things straight: For me it does not matter, if some people prefer their whisky with ice, be it a Famous Grouse or a 30yo Macallan. But I don’t. It’s entirely up to personal preference and I don’t want to play the missionary man.

But hidden underneath the obvious exchange of arguments pro and contra whisky and ice, there is another issue worth to be discussed.

A Dumbed-Down Rolls-Royce

As much as I don’t really care about the whisky-with-or-without-ice discussion, as much I am concerned about what this means for The Macallan in particular and for whisky in general.

Frankly, I don’t like the direction The Macallan is heading to. After the introduction of the Fine Oak range, this is another step towards the former Rolls-Royce of whisky transforming into a Vauxhall Corsa.

Carefully reading the press release and the blog comment of The Macallan’s US brand ambassador, it becomes obvious that this move aims at making The Macallan attractive for a new customer base hitherto mostly untouched by Scotch single malt whisky: bar goers and cocktail drinkers. By promoting their ice ball machine in prestigious bars all around Britain (and probably the rest of the world in the future), The Macallan wants to get the attention of the hip urban people in order to convert them from Margaritas to Scotch on the Rocks.

It is true: The physics behind the big ice balls really acts in favour of keeping the original qualities of the drink as intact as possible because the ball melts slower than your average ice cube. But honestly, this does not really matter at all to this clientele. Cocktail lovers are used to enjoy diluted drinks; they love slowly sipping Mai Tais or Caipirinhas through mountains of crushed ice. No, it’s all about the “I want one of those” effect that these big balls and the machine on the bar are suposed to have on the locals.

It’s not that I am against cocktails, I even created my own Macallan cocktail – The Machattan. But I see major problems with this approach:

Marketing instead of Quality is the Motor of Innovation

Both the introduction of Macallan’s fine Oak range and the Ice Ball Serve have their raison d’être in broadening the customer base for The Macallan. The question was not: “How can we make the best possible whisky?” but “How can we sell as much whisky as possible?”

In my eyes, this marketing-driven approach to whisky making is a real danger for the quality of whisky in general. To appeal to as many people as possible, compromises must be made. The ultimate result would be a generic unoffensive dram that is almost indistinguishable from its competitors. But this also means that it may be replaced perfectly well by a cheaper product at any time, if the price is perceived too high. The doomsday scenariao of a downward spiral in quality lingers in the future.

I don’t want to paint too bleak a picture here, but the question has to be asked if offering Macallan on the spherical rocks to whisky novices really can create a brand awareness fuelled by product quality. Or will they only perceive it as a generic brown spirit that may well be exchanged for any other booze if they feel like it?

Only if novices are properly informed about the true values and properties of whisky, there is a chance that they will stick to it and will even buy bottles of Macallan to enjoy at home without the need for a monstrous machinery.

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Loch Dhu 10 yo

Oliver Klimek — Mon, 15 Mar 2010 17:57:48 +0000

The infamous black whisky from Mannochmore – 40%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Almost black, with a reddish tint
Nose: Vinegar, rum, raisins
Palate: Quite bitter but also watery, liqurish, tar (?), herbs
Finish: Short and herbal
Overall: The nose is stunningly similar to the Mannochmore 1992/2006 Cadenhead. There certainly is a common distillery style. While the nose is not too unpleasant – albeit a bit wierd – the taste pulls it down enormously. It tastes more like herbal bitter as Fernet Branca than like a whisky. But the bitters taste much better (and I am not a big fan of those…). To put it short: Crap.

Score: 15/100 – No price/value information as this is a collector’s bottle

Rating: 1.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Glenugie 1982/2008 Douglas Laing

Oliver Klimek — Sun, 14 Mar 2010 17:42:57 +0000

Bourbon Barrel – DL Old Malt Cask series – 50%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Gold
Nose: Honey, apples, vanilla, a tiny bit of smoke
Palate: Apples, a hint of pineapple, honey, vanilla, quite spicy and minimally smoky
Finish: Long and fruity
Overall: A very nice fruity dram, creamy and rich in flavour. The amount of spice is just about right.

Score: 88/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.5/10 (2 votes cast)

Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Oliver Klimek — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 18:22:52 +0000

Buy at the Whisky Exchange

General Release – 57.1%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Bright amber
Nose: Smoked bacon, honey, vanilla, apples
Palate: Peat, caramel, vanilla, a vague fruitiness, pepper, minmally bitter
Finish: Very long, smoky and slightly sweet
Overall: Some prefer it over the Rollercoaster, but I think it has a certain lack of oomph that is not really made up by greater complexity or better balance. Still very good though, mind you.

Score: 86/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 9.0/10 (1 vote cast)

No Tasting Note: Mortlach 70 yo

Oliver Klimek — Fri, 12 Mar 2010 14:36:01 +0000

Regular readers will know that I usually don’t comment on each an every new whisky bottle on the market. But with the newly released Mortlach 70yo by Gordon & MacPhail I will make an exception for three reasons.

Firstly, Mortlach is simply one of my favourite distilleries because of its unique umami flavour. I never was disappointed by a Mortlach, and I guess the 70yo would be no exception, if I ever had a chance to taste it…

Secondly it is the oldest whisky ever bottled to my knowledge, so it really is something special and deserves an article of its own. And given its extarordinary age, at a price of £10,000 for a 70cl decanter and £2,500 for the 20cl version it is almost a real bargain, if you compare it to recent luxury bottlings of Dalmore, Glenfiddich and others. For such an old whisky it is even understandable to have it piped in by a Scottish Highlander Battalion, as was actually done at the presentation in Edinburgh Castle.

And thirdly – and this is the foremost reason for me putting down these lines – this release leaves me without a doubt that behind the scenes there is a silent race going on who is going to bottle the first 100yo whisky. Will it be Dalmore, Glenfiddich or Macallan? Or maybe Glen Grant? Or Mortlach again? The only thing that I would dare place a bet on is the price tag. What else could it be than a round £100,000?

Glen Wonka, here we come!

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Ardbeg Rollercoaster

Oliver Klimek — Thu, 11 Mar 2010 19:27:30 +0000

2010 Committee bottling – 57.3%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: White wine
Nose: Very intense, smoky, slightly medicinal, sea shore, lemon, orange
Palate: Peat, liquorice, salt, lemon peel, ginger, a bit of honey
Finish: Very long, dry, smoky and a bit salty
Overall: The Rollercoaster received slightly mixed reviews, but I really like it. The vatting of 10 vintages gives is an astonishing complexity. Overall character is rather dry compared with the standard 10yo

Score: 90/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Side note: Read about the launch problems in Ardbeg’s online shop.

Rating: 8.0/10 (2 votes cast)

Glencadam 1991/2006 C&S Dram Collection

Oliver Klimek — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 17:57:42 +0000

Bourbon Hogshead 4751 – 58.4%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Water with a yellow tint
Nose:Mostly vanilla, with a hint of lemon and a tiny whiff of smoke
Palate: Nuts and vanilla, lemon, a bit of orange, ginger
Finish: Long, dry and minimally smoky
Overall: Nice and well balanced, much more complex than the very pale colour suggests.

Score: 84/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Connect to the Whisky Rating Page on Facebook

Oliver Klimek — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 12:10:00 +0000

Yesterday I openend the Whisky Rating page on Facebook. In the first day only, already more than 50 people became a fan of the page. A stunning number that I wouldn’t have expected, although I had sent out some invitations to my existing Facebook friends.

The Facebook page is meant to be sort of a hub for the activities on Whisky Rating. Apart from linking to my recent tasting notes and blog posts, I intend to post about my whisky-related activities if they are not really worth a proper blog entry but still notable enough not to get lost in the Twitter timeline.

You will find a shortcut to the Whisky Rating Facebook page on the right sidebar.

If you have not done so already, I can only recommend signing up with Facebook. It’s free, and it allows you to connect with people you know or share the same interests with you.

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Suntory Yamazaki 12 yo

Oliver Klimek — Tue, 09 Mar 2010 17:50:55 +0000

Buy at the Whisky Exchange

The famous single malt from Japan – 43%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Dark amber
Nose: Dried tropical fruit, mainly pineapple and banana, honey, minimally smoky
Palate: Tropical fruit, vanilla, a bit of smoke, pepper, nutmeg
Finish: Long, first fruity, then smoky
Overall: A delicately balanced mix of fruit, smoke and spice. Sophisticated but still not too complex for casual sipping. Very good.

Score: 85/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Royal Brackla 1992/2005 Cadenhead

Oliver Klimek — Mon, 08 Mar 2010 18:09:29 +0000

Bourbon Barrel – 59%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Bright gold
Nose: Honey, vanilla, apples, a hint of lemon
Palate: More honey and vanilla, lemon zest, a mild spiciness that grows by adding water
Finish: Medium long and quite dry
Overall: A straightforward but quite enjoyable bourbon cask whisky.

Score: 82/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 5.5/10 (2 votes cast)

New at Whisky Rating: Trade Samples in the New Forum

Oliver Klimek — Sun, 07 Mar 2010 14:31:27 +0000

In several months of whisky tweeting on Twitter, I got the impression that it would be nice to have a place where whisky lovers could meet and trade samples of their favourite tipples.

After some heavy pondering I figured out that a forum would be the best method of doing so. There are already some German forums with sample swap sections, so why not go international with this idea?

The forum offers you the possibility to list the whiskies you want to share either for swapping or selling (non-profit only!). There is also the option to share whole bottles or even casks, if anybody is willing to jump onto that. There is also a request sub-forum where you can publish what you are looking for. Of course there are also sections for general whisky discussions. But I don’t excpect this forum to become a serious competitor for the catch-all whisky forums that already exist, as the main focus certainly is on sample trading.

Before posting, please take the time to read through the Terms of Service in the sample and bottle share forums (they are slightly different). They are a bit lengthy, I have to admit, but they are necessary to set a frame in which fair sample trade is possible. Most of it is self-evident anyway.

During the process of integrating the the forum I decided to connect the existing site membership option with the forum. Although quite a few users have put down their star ratings on whiskies on the site, nobody actually had the guts to put up their own drams. Almost all registered users were spammers. So I restricted the membership to the forum where you can post a request, if you wish a specific bottle to be listed.

To join, klick on the forum link in the top navigation bar. You will find a “Register” button there. You will be mailed a random password that you can change after your first login. All your user data is saved encrypted on the site. Nobody, not even the system administrator, can see your password.

When you log into the site, you are taken to the forum section where you first should complete your user profile. Gravatars should autmatically be recognized. The look and feel of the forum might need some getting used to, but this system blends very easily with the blog, this is why I decided to use it.

Please don’t hesitate to contact me, should you experience any difficulties with the forum system. I would also be happy about any comments or suggestions regarding this new feature on Whisky Rating.

And now, let the trades begin!

Rating: 0.0/10 (0 votes cast)

Mannochmore 1992/2006 Cadenhead

Oliver Klimek — Sat, 06 Mar 2010 19:37:31 +0000

Sherry Butt – 54.6%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Cognac
Nose: Acetone, even a hint of vinegar, rum soaked raisins.
Palate: Very fruity, almost like rum soaked gummi bears and yes, vinegar
Finish: Very long and rummy
Overall: This is sherry gone crazy, just too much of it in my opinion. The chemical nose puts me off as well. But I am sure some will love this dram.

Score: 75/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 7.0/10 (1 vote cast)

Ardmore 1993/2005 Douglas Laing

Oliver Klimek — Fri, 05 Mar 2010 19:01:29 +0000

Autumn Distillation – McGibbons Provenance – 46%

My Tasting Notes:

Color: Pale straw
Nose: Smoke, vanilla, honey, a bit of lemon.
Palate: All that’s in the nose plus a little salt.
Finish: Very long, sweet smoke.
Overall: A bit similar to the Benriach Heavily Peated, but doesn’t quite reach it. Still a very nice peated Speysider, though.

Score: 84/100 – Price Tag $$$$$ – Value for your Money $$$$$

Rating: 8.0/10 (1 vote cast)