Glenmorangie Quinta Ruban

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12 years old, 46% ABV, American Oak and Ruby port pipes, Northern Highlands, Scotland

Around 2008, Glenmorangie released what we now know as the current range of  ‘extra-matured’ whiskies. The range of three includes Lassanta (finished in ex- oloroso sherry casks), Nectar d’Or (finished in sweet French sauternes wines casks) and this one, Quinta Ruban which has been finished in Portuguese ruby port pipes.

Quinta Ruban

To arrive at these ‘extra-matured’ whiskies, Glenmorangie start with their standard 10 year old, which has been resting away for ten years in American white oak (first fill and refill casks).

They re-rack this whisky into the wine casks mentioned above for a further two years of maturation, bottling each expression at 12 years of age. The other big difference between the extra-matured range and the standard 10 year old is that they’re each bottled at 46% ABV (instead of 40%). They’re also non-chill filtered – preserving loads more of those delicious oily flavours.

Quinta Ruban label

Did you know…

Glenmorangie have long been considered one of the pioneers of cask finished or ‘extra-matured’ whisky. Well before the current extra-matured range was released, Glenmorangie were re-racking their whisky into various wine casks, as far back as the late 1980’s. Some of these casks were pretty exotic too! Truffle Oak anyone?

Often referred to as one of their best and one that collectors regularly pay big dollars for is their 1975 Tain L’Hermitage. Distilled in 1975, it was moved into Côtes du Rhône wine casks in 1999, then bottled in 2003 at 28 years old (there was also an original version bottled in 1995, but it’s as rare as hen’s teeth).

Nose

The first thing I got was more spirit than usual, not surprising given it’s bottled at 46%. Sweet vanilla bourbon notes from the American white oak are there, but they’re dominated by a rich sweetness. Not super fruity, but more sugared plums, cherry and wine notes. I got a hint of spice and also some curious fresh/cooling notes – butter menthol of some sort?

Palate

On entry, this has a reasonably oily mouth feel and is quite sweet and creamy. I also got a fair amount of spice on the side of my tongue, but it dissipates rather quickly, leaving behind a second wave of creamy sweet plummy notes, some dark cherries and a slightly tingling raspberry jam flavour. The port has had a big influence on this one.

Finish

The spice on the palate fades as fast as it arrives, leaving behind a really curious tingling sensation, almost fizzy or carbonated in a sense. Can’t say I’ve experienced that sensation in a whisky before! Some light oaky bitterness, nice medium length warmth and some traces of that cooling butter menthol from the nose start to emerge.

Comments

Even though the port finish is pretty heavy on the nose and palate, this is still unmistakably Glenmorangie. I love the fact it’s non-chill filtered and that they’ve bottled it at 46% ABV (makes me wish the standard 10 year old was the same).

I personally found the fizzy tingling sensation a little odd and the port dominated a bit too much for my liking, taking away from the more delicate Glenmorangie notes that I really enjoy. In saying that, I can definitely see this being enjoyed by many as a great digestif style whisky.

News for Australian Glenmorangie & Ardbeg fans

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Glenmorangie Companta

If you’re a Glenmorangie fan, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of their annual ‘Private Edition’ release. It all started with the highly-praised Sonnalta PX back in 2009, followed by Finealta and Artein. Then there was last year’s release, Ealanta, which was awarded whisky of the year by the author of the Whisky Bible, Jim Murray. The 2014 Private Edition release – Companta – has just gone on sale in both the UK and USA and is fast selling out by the looks of it.

From what I understand, approx. 60% of the whisky in Companta has been matured in ex-Grand Cru casks from Clos de Tart, with the remaining 40% coming from whisky that’s been matured in ex-Rasteau fortified wine casks from Cotes du Rhone.  These were then married together, producing the amazing crimson-amber hue seen in the photo below.

serlin_32729

Source: Kevin Mackintosh for Glenmorangie

The Australian market missed out on the first few releases, but the folks at Moet-Hennessy (the Australian importers of Glenmorangie & Ardbeg) did bring Ealanta to our shores last year. Will we see Companta arrive this year?

No official confirmation from Moet-Hennessy at this stage, but I’ve heard from someone in the industry that Companta will be reaching our shores around April. Let’s hope they’re right, as I for one am really looking forward to trying it.

Ardbeg Auriverdes

This next one hasn’t been officially announced just yet, but someone did a little digging around online and managed to find these very curious front and rear labels for the new Ardbeg Auriverdes. I have a feeling we’ll be hearing a lot more about this one in the coming months!

Auriverdes frontAuriverdes rear

Along with the name (which I believe translates to ‘Gold and Green’), the wording and imagery on the label has lead many to speculate that Ardbeg’s latest has some association with the 2014 FIFA World Cup in Brazil.  Here in Australia, we’d like to think the green and gold reference has something to do with us – I somehow don’t think that’s the case though.

As with Companta, there’s no official confirmation from Moet-Hennessy just yet, but rumour has it we will see this expression in Australia around June. In time for Ardbeg Day 2014 perhaps? I guess we’ll just have to wait and see.

I don’t know about you, but I can’t wait to try both of these expressions!

ps. I always like to include my own photography in my posts, but until I’m able to get my hands on these gems, these stock images will just have to do! Isn’t Kevin Mackintosh’s photography magical!

Highland Park 12 year old

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12 years old, 40% ABV, European Oak ex-sherry casks, Orkney Islands, Scotland

In the far north of Scotland – off the tip of the mainland – you’ll find the Orkney Islands, home of the Highland Park distillery. Among their core range you’ll find the expression reviewed here, the Highland Park 12 year old.

Highland Park 12

The 12 year old is matured in European Oak ex-sherry casks and is bottled at its natural colour. The flask shape bottle you see in these pictures (and used for the rest of the Highland Park range) was first introduced around 2006.

Highland Park 12 tube

The canister has moved into the new age as well, with interesting use of typography on the back. It even has QR code printed down the bottom, which takes you to the Highland Park’s member’s club, The Inner Circle.

Did you know…

According to Highland Park, they first began distilling whisky in 1798 – that’s just 10 years after Australian was colonised by European settlers! However, like many distilleries at the time, it wasn’t all above board and they weren’t actually granted a licence to distill until some 28 years later in 1826.

Nose

From a freshly poured dram I got an immediate hit of sugary confectionary-like sweetness, closely followed by fragrant smoke. This has quite a rich, creamy sugary nose. Left to sit in the glass for a while, the sweetness seems to fade, highlighting more of the flinty, fragrant pipe-smoke notes.

Palate

I found this to have a pretty oily, creamy mouth coating texture – quite surprising from something bottled at 40% ABV! The sweetness from the nose carries through, followed by some sweet smoky tobacco notes. A chewy palate shows some oaky spice on the sides of your tongue towards the end.

Finish

Sweet and creamy with a fairly short finish (warmth wise). The smoke lingers on the back of your palate and becomes a bit earthier and peatier as the minutes roll on.

Comments

If you search for list of the top ten single malts anyone new to whisky should try, there’s a good chance you’ll see Highland Park 12 mentioned – and for good reason. The quality sherry casks really seem to impart a honeyed sweetness that works well with the gentle peat smoke, creating a nicely balanced dram (albeit a tad on the sweet side for my liking).

If you’re not overly keen on the boisterous peat of a big Islay whisky (like an Ardbeg or Laphroaig) but you’re still intrigued by smokey whisky – I highly recommend giving the Highland Park 12 a try.

Glendronach 1994 single cask

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Batch 9, Distilled 1994, 19 years old, Cask No. 3385, 53.4% ABV, Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon, Speyside, Scotland

If you’re into heavily sherried whiskies, there’s a good chance you’ve heard of Glendronach. Their regular core range is pretty top-notch, consisting of four different offerings ranging in age from 12 through to 21 years.

The bottle being tasted isn’t actually part of their core range though. It’s part of their semi-annual limited release of ‘single cask’ expressions, which are bottled at natural cask strength. You don’t see these too often in Australia, so when a friend suggested I review his bottle, I wasn’t exactly going to say no!

Glendronach 1994

Look at that colour! It’s like treacle or golden syrup! I don’t know about you, but when I see a whisky that colour – and when I know that it’s natural colour – I get pretty damn excited.

Glendronach 1994 - Copper

The presentation of these bottles is pretty special – rich metallic brown packaging scribed in copper coloured lettering. The box is also lined in a sand colour suede-like material. You feel a real sense of occasion when you pick up and open the box on one of these.

Glendronach 1994 - NCF

Apart from being bottled at cask strength, all of Glendronach’s single cask releases are non-chill filtered (NCF) and bottled at their natural colour – something they’re quite proud of. This is as close as many of us will come to drinking straight out of a cask!

Glendronach 1994 - Label

This particular bottle is from batch 9 of their single cask releases. Distilled in 1994 and matured in a Pedro Ximenez Sherry Puncheon – one of the larger casks used in the whisky industry at around 500 litres in size.

Did you know…

When this particular batch of whisky was distilled in 1994, Glendronach still floor malted their own barley (instead of buying malted barley in from somewhere else).

As part of the malting process, they dried their barley over a coal and peat fuelled fire, resulting in a spirit that was peated to around 14 parts per million (PPM). This is nowhere near the ~55-60 PPM of something like an Ardbeg 10 year old, but it’s still pretty peaty for a Speyside whisky!

Nose

Immediately I got classic sweet PX sherry with some tarty notes in there – almost like tarty raisins or apricots.  Sniffing it again (and this might sound a bit crazy), I was reminded of caramelized peaches – you know, when you cut one in half, sprinkle brown sugar on it, add a knob of butter then put it under the grill in your oven. Lovely rich caramelized sugar and fruit notes, with a hint of burnt spice. A really deep nose that you can sniff and sniff and sniff.

If you leave this to sit for a good while in the glass it really opens up and the brown sugar raisin notes really come to the front quite nicely.

Palate

The first thing you notice is how thick, syrupy and tongue coating it is. Just brilliant. Sweet dried raisins, hint of spice, slight oakiness and a really faint sour fruit note – maybe orange marmalade? All of the flavours are really complimentary – no single one jumps out sharply at you.

Finish

The finish is long and warming, not fierce at all, a real winter chest warmer – which is kind of ironic considering I tried it on a 40 degree (104F) summer day in Sydney! Fruity sweetness eventually fades and some of the tannic oak starts to show through after a good few minutes.

Comments

Even though this is bottled at 53.4%, it’s incredibly drinkable and that extra few percent – combined with the non-chill filtering – really locks in a huge amount of flavour.

When I see that kind of ABV, I often consider adding a few drops of water, but I don’t think this needed any all. I did test it out, but I personally think it lost some of its magic. A bit of patience and some glass time is all this one needed to really shine.

The Glenlivet 12 year old

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12 years old, 40% ABV, American and European Oak, Speyside, Scotland

When I was putting together my Christmas whisky tasting kits, I wanted to start everyone off with a really approachable, classic single malt – to provide them with something of a base line I suppose.

Realising I didn’t seem to have anything that met the criteria that well, I tracked down this little 200ml (20cl) bottle of The Glenlivet 12 year old. There happened to be a couple drams worth left after I’d put the kits together, so I thought I’d review it!

Glenlivet 12

Despite being a mini version, the bottle and label design holds true to the 700ml version of the 12 year old – just in miniature form.

Glenlivet 12 notes

Just like the tasting notes found on the back of the 18 year old I reviewed a little earlier, there are some notes on the back of this mini box for the 12 year old. Again, I’m not sure I completely agree with all of them, but they are a nice touch and fun to compare to.

Did you  know…

In my review of the 18 year old, I mentioned that I was looking into the origins of The Glenlivet’s thistle motif. I reached out to some people that work at the distillery’s visitors centre and asked them about the origin of the thistle logo and it turns out that they’re not entirely sure why it’s there either! All I can tell you is that it appeared in the 1970’s and has been there ever since.

It does seem to be a common theme among many business names and logos in Moray (where the distillery is located), so perhaps there’s some connection there?

Nose

I got a big hit of green apples – but in an apple cider kind of way. Quite drying, with some citrus and a light sweetness.  The more I nosed this, the more I kept thinking that it reminded me of a sauvignon blanc – it’s a very delicate nose. When left to sit in the glass, the nose does sweeten up a bit and those crisp dry cider notes fall away a bit.

Palate

Quite thin feeling in the mouth, with sweet and citrusy notes immediately apparent. These were followed by some hints of vanilla and a bit of spicy bitterness – almost like citrus fruit pith.

Finish

Quite short, but also quite a pleasant finish. As the finish fades, I got some stronger vanilla notes (which were nice) and some oaky bitter spice at the front of the tongue, right towards the end.

Comments

This expression is matured in a mixture of cask types, including American and European Oak. It’s fairly one dimensional and not overly complex in flavour, but like all Glenlivet’s I’ve tasted, it’s a good quality, reliable whisky. A really pleasant, light, pre-dinner dram.