Whisky & Wisdom 2008 Glenfarclas

Glenfarclas single cask exclusive for whiskyandwisdom.com

A little over two years ago I wrote this post on a special single cask of Glenfarclas bottled exclusively for someone I’d describe as Australia’s single biggest Glenfarclas fan, Andrew Derbidge. He also happens to be the author of the ever-informative Whisky & Wisdom and thanks to the success of his first Glenfarclas bottling, he’s gone to tremendous effort to bottle and bring in a second release, exclusively for the Australian market.

Whisky & Wisdom Glenfarclas Edition 2 - Bottle shot_1.jpg

Why this isn’t any ordinary single cask selection

These days it seems that everyone is an independent bottler and with a little internet hype and a clever label design, it seems as though you can sell anything. But anyone who has tasted their fair share of single cask whisky will tell you that they’re not all created equally, and neither are the palates and the experience of those who select them.

Apart from being an avid author, Andrew has been an avid whisky appreciator for well over two decades and has been very active in the local industry for nearly as long. He’s the cellarmaster of the Australian branch of the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, has presented more whisky tastings than I’ve had hot dinners and truly has a killer palate. So when he selects a single cask of whisky and brings the whole thing to Australia – not because it’s a lucrative investment, not because it was simply ‘available’ – but because he genuinely loves it, you know you’re in for a treat.

During an afternoon spent at Glenfarclas distillery last year, Andrew pored over a large selection of butts and hogsheads aged between 9 and 14 years old. The whiskies sampled that day included a range of 1st fill and refill casks, but it was this particular one that got his attention. Distilled in July 2008, cask 1270 – a 1st fill, European oak, ex-oloroso hogshead – has been bottled at the ripe age of ten years, at natural cask strength of 59.8%.

The nose is everything you could want from an ex-sherry cask whisky. It’s clear and confident with dried fruit (raisins, apricots, figs and cherries), sticky orange liqueur, Christmas cake, tiramisu, baking spice and dark toffee.

The palate is just as convincing; a perfect reflection of the nose. I point that out, as it seems to be rarely the case these days where a fruity, rich nose translates to a juicy, sweet, balanced palate. But it does so here. Immediately oily and chewy, you get a brief reminder that this weights in at nearly 60% alcohol before the prickle explodes into juicy sweetness. Plump dried raisins, sweet chewy prunes and plum jam up front, followed by golden syrup and a rounded, lingering warming spice. It stays pleasantly sweet and fruity on the finish as some dark chocolate and marmalade notes start to creep in.

How you can buy your own bottle

As I wrote back in 2016 when I tasted his first release, not all sherried whisky is created equally and it’s increasingly rare these days to come across a truly harmonious cask free from flaws (such as sulphur taint or an abundance of drying, tannic oak). It’s also tough to find a single cask of whisky that is balanced through the nose, palate and finish – but yet again he has nailed it with this selection.

Whisky & Wisdom Glenfarclas Edition 2 - Christmas_1.jpg

If you’re looking for one single whisky that embodies Christmas in a glass – look no further – I can confirm that this is definitely it and the best part is that you can claim your very own bottle. Follow this link to Whisky & Wisdom’s webshop to grab yours today. I can’t think of another bottle currently available in Australia that delivers this level of quality for the price, so I’ll be putting my money where my mouth is on this one!

24Nov2015

The Last Drop: 1967 Glen Garioch

by The Whisky Ledger

Nineteen sixty-seven. It was the year the Shelby GT500 Mustang first rolled off the production line, Rolling Stone published their first magazine and Nirvana front man Kurt Cobain was born. It also happened to be the year Glen Garioch filled an ex-bourbon hogshead with some new-make spirit and set it aside to slumber.

Bottle

That cask then sat there in a dark warehouse, quietly maturing for 47 years before luxury independent bottlers, The Last Drop, decided to bottle it and release it to the world. It also marks the first time that The Last Drop have bottled a single malt whisky, with all previous releases from the company being super luxury blends (like the 1960 blend, or The Last Drop 50 year old blend).

Brochure

Although the industry moves at a comparatively slower pace to the rest of the world, a fair bit has changed at Glen Garioch in the last five decades too. Their malt is no longer peated, they no longer floor malt their own barley and their stills are now gas fired (they were actually the first distillery to switch over to gas-fired stills back in 1982). 47 years of maturation aside, the actual base Glen Garioch spirit would be quite different today compared to what they were making back in 1967, so getting the chance to taste this is a rare treat indeed.

So without further ado, let’s give this a whirl.

The Last Drop

The nose is dense, rich and round with a lovely depth of sweet fruit, malt and oak. Ripe stewed stone fruit (like caramelised peaches, nectarines and apricots), thick sweet honey, malt and oak with an underlying kiwifruit tang. For me it invoked thoughts of a warm bowl of porridge, drizzled with honey and topped with fruit. A surprising amount of sweetness and balance for something so old.

The palate really caught me by surprise, primarily for its disconnect with the nose. I found it immediately oily and silken. Flavour-wise, the delivery caught me by surprise with everything seeming to arrive at once; sweet honey, tropical fruits (mango and papaya) and a hefty amount of peat presenting as coal and iodine. The sweet fruits fade to a long, drying peated finish.

The Last Drop 1967 Glen Garioch is available exclusively through Dan Murphy’s and carries a recommended retail price of AU$9,000. So you can do the math on the 10ml sample you see in these pictures (that’s right, you’re looking at more than AU$120 worth of whisky in that glass!)

With just 118 bottles in the world, I think it’s safe to say that many are likely to remain unopened in collections or shops around the world, so to get the chance to taste this is pretty special indeed. A sincere thanks to The Last Drop and DEC PR for providing the sample pictured here.

9Jul2015

The Balvenie Craft Bar, Sydney

by The Whisky Ledger

A winter wonderland of all things whisky

One thing I’ve always liked about The Balvenie is their proud association with all things ‘craft’. They take pride in telling us that they still craft their whisky in many of the same ways as they did over a hundred years ago. They also take pride in helping showcase and recognise the crafts of other artisans through their global ‘craft bar’ series.

We last saw the craft bar in Australia late last year when The Balvenie took over a warehouse space in Sydney to launch the TUN 1509. This time around things were a little different when they recently returned for a four day pop-up series in the heart of the city’s shopping district, in the characterful Strand Arcade.

I’ve always loved this building (it’s looks magical at Christmas) so I was rather excited to hear that this would be the location for the latest Balvenie Craft Bar.

At the launch on a recent Thursday evening, guests were greeted on The Strand’s lower level by Brand Ambassador, Mr Richard Blanchard, who was manning the brass-topped craft bar and greeting the public with samples of The Balvenie.

We said our hellos and he graciously revealed this bottle from under the counter. I’m not sure that this one was meant to be photographed, but it’s too cool not to share. A number of other people have let the cat out of the bag already, so if anyone breaks the internet, it wasn’t me!

Yes, you’ve read that correctly. It’s a 1973 single cask, aged for at least 41 glorious years in what I suspect was an ex-Bourbon cask. Remarkably lively on the nose and palate, I found this to be brimming with beeswax, vanilla honey, varnished-wood notes and a vegetative earthiness. It was such a tremendously rare treat getting to taste something like this.

Moving upstairs shortly thereafter, we were invited to take a seat at The Balvenie’s Winter Picnic – A tasting of drams from The Balvenie’s core range, paired with artisanal food produce available from some of the many small retailers within The Stand. Brand Ambassador Laura Hay expertly walked us through The Balvenie 12 year old Double Wood, 14 year old Caribbean Cask and finally the 17 year old Double Wood.

Each was paired with the likes of candied macadamia nuts, crème brulee tart and the finest Haigh’s dark chocolate, really highlighting some intriguing notes in both the whisky and the small food items.

Along with imparting her extensive knowledge of all things whisky and Balvenie, Laura also explained one of the reasons why The Strand was chosen as the venue for this year’s pop-up bar. Not only is The Strand a characterful building brimming with artisanal wares, it also happens to have been founded, completed and opened in the very same year as The Balvenie. Serendipitous? Maybe. A venue befitting The Balvenie? Most definitely.

The Balvenie Craft Bar ran from Thursday to Sunday, 25-28 June in Sydney and fans could attend the three whisky masterclass for just $15 with proceeds going to charity. To stay in the loop and find out more about these events – before they happen! – sign up to The Balvenie’s Warehouse 24 program, it quick, easy and free!

4Jul2015

The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve

by The Whisky Ledger

Official launch, Sydney Australia

The Glenlivet – Australia’s best selling single malt – recently launched their newest expression in style at an intimate gathering held in a private penthouse in Sydney’s Elizabeth Bay. The Founder’s Reserve is a new, No Age Statement (NAS) single malt which has been introduced to replace the classic 12 year old expression as the entry point into The Glenlivet’s extensive core range.

The evening’s guests ascended to the penthouse in a mirrored elevator. The doors opening to reveal a lavish space filled with oversized art, the flicker of a fireplace and floor to ceiling glass offering up stunning views across Sydney harbour.

Around the corner, our private bartenders whipped up trays of ‘Founders Keepers’ cocktails. Think of them as The Glenlivet’s homage to the classic Tom Collins. Served tall, the recipe comprised of The Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve, peach liqueur, Lillet Blanc, apricot jam and lemon juice, topped with a splash of soda. They were refreshing and balanced and I can already see this recipe being featured a lot as the months get warmer.

DJ Alice Quiddington set the mood, whilst a duo of chefs appeared to work effortlessly in the penthouse’s stone-clad kitchen, serving up some amazing canapés throughout the evening. The likes of which included herb crusted ballotine of salmon with Avruga caviar, milk fed veal crudo, and quince star anise orange tart tartin.

An hour in, Pernod Ricard’s Marketing Manager, Sladjan Maksimovic offered guests an official welcome before The Glenlivet’s brand ambassador, Ben Davidson, took centre stage. Ben walked us through a private tasting of the Founder’s Reserve, putting it into context by offering up historical overview of The Glenlivet brand.

So with a raise of the glass we toasted ‘sláinte mhaith’ (to good health) and welcomed The Founder’s Reserve into the fold.

The nose presented me with tart apples, tinned pears and sweet tropical fruits, on a bed of sweet vanilla pastry. I also got a hint of citrus and some wood-bark oak notes at the back. I found the palate creamy and juicy, offering up more of those tinned tropical fruits, toffee sweetness and vanilla, with hints of bitter pith and a fair amount of drying wood.

As the evening drew to a close, guests were invited to sample some of The Glenlivet’s finest.

I’ve been fortunate enough to taste many of the expressions in this lineup before, but there were two that had eluded me, the new Nadurra Oloroso (at 60.7% ABV) and the elder statesmen, the XXV.

Some have griped at the loss of the 16 year age statement found on the ex-bourbon cask expression, but age statement or no age statement, this new Nadurra Oloroso really is a fantastic whisky, especially when you consider the price point. A casual conversation with Ben and Sladjan revealed that fans of the cask strength Nadurra range can look forward to further one or two expressions in the near future, including one that really breaks with tradition – it’s going to be mildly peated!

Finishing the evening with a dram of The Glenlivet XXV, I stepped out onto the penthouse’s terrace, surrounded by fellow whisky lovers and had a few good laughs whilst looking out at the rippling waters of Sydney Harbour as the moon sat full in the sky.

The Glenlivet XXV is a truly luxurious and decadent whisky and it was an absolute treat to sample it. You know what though? At that moment in time, it would have made no difference to me whether I had the new entry-level Founder’s Reserve, or the range-topping 25 year old in my glass, as after all, simply sharing a tasty dram in great company is what whisky is all about, isn’t it?

The new Glenlivet Founder’s Reserve is available in Australia now at a recommended retail price of $64.99. A sincere thanks goes to The Glenlivet for having me as your guest.

28Jun2015

Eigashima Sakura

by The Whisky Ledger

A quick glance at the label on this bottle confirms that this is a bit of an interesting one.

Distilled in July 2010, the Eigashima Sakura was matured in an ex-Shochu cask and a hogshead for a combined period of three years, before being finished is a red wine cask for a further one and half years before being bottled at 58% ABV.

I don’t know about you, but there are a few words on this label that I wasn’t immediately familiar with, namely the words Eigashima and Shochu. I have heard of both, but I must admit I had to hit the books (aka Google) and do a bit of research to really understand and appreciate this one.

Eigashima

We’ll start with Eigashima. You may not have heard of Eigashima, but you may have heard of another small Japanese distillery called Akashi. Well, in basic terms, they’re kind of one and the same.

Located just our of Kobe, Japan, Eigashima is the parent company that runs the White Oak Distillery, who produce whisky bottled under the Akashi brand. Interestingly, they only produce whisky for two to three months a year and with a team of just four people, they’re the smallest whisky distillery in Japan.

So if they’re only making whisky for a couple of months a year, what are they doing the rest of the time? Well that leads us to that second word I wasn’t overly familiar with..

Shochu

You see, Eigashima’s core business is producing two of Japan’s favourite distilled drinks, sake and shochu. Sake is essentially a brewed rice wine, but shochu is quite a bit different. It’s first brewed, then distilled and can be made from a variety of different ingredients including sweet potatoes, barley, buckwheat, rice, sweet corn or even brown sugar. After distillation it’s then matured for a relatively short time (compared to whisky), in either stainless steel tanks, clay pots or – you guessed it – wooden casks!

There’s a lot more to it and the history and production is quite fascinating, so feel free to check this out for further info.

Eigashima Sakura

Now that we know a bit more about Eigashima and Shochu, I’d say it’s time we taste. Kanpai!

When first poured, I’d say that the Sakura isn’t immediately recognizable as whisky. I get more of a plum wine and Slivovitz top note on a bed of raw white grain spirit and as it sounds – it’s not great. Air is its friend though. Fifteen minutes in the glass opens this dram right up to reveal a rich, thick nose of runny toffee, marmalade, balsamic reduction and heavily charred figs. I get a hint of potpourri, char and dark soy. It’s not sherried, it’s almost like an older complex Armagnac, but that grainy vodka-like spirit notes pokes it head through here and there.

On the palate it’s immediately oily giving rise to a burst of spirit heat which quickly fades to deliver sweet, chewy berry notes, brown sugar and a slight fizz. The residue is almost savory though, with a saline tang turning very dry and tannic on the finish with a slight bitter waxiness.

I would never pick this as a sub-five year old whisky and despite the young age and high proof, I have no desire to add water to this one. There’s so much going on which makes me think Eigashima have been very clever with their cask selection here. However, as is often case with heavy wine finishes, the drying bitter finish isn’t quite the crescendo I was looking for.

Having never tasted Shochu, I can’t really comment on the influence the shochu cask has had on this whisky. However, even before reading up on it, I did get a distinct white grain/potato spirit (almost vodka-like) note on the nose. I don’t know what type of shochu cask was used in the finishing (sweet potato, barely, brown sugar etc.), but this was a really interesting note, in a really interesting whisky.

The Whisky Ledger

Whisky Reviews, News, Articles and Photography

Tag Archives: Single Malt Whisky

Whisky & Wisdom 2008 Glenfarclas

Glenfarclas single cask exclusive for whiskyandwisdom.com