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Kensington Wine Market 2017 Whisky Advent Day 20 - Gordon Macphail Connoisseurs Choice Authrusk 2005

Posted on December 15, 2024

KWM Whisky Advent 2017 Day 20 - G&M Auchroisk 2005

We have our second Connoisseurs Choice whisky of KWM Whisky Advent 2017 tonight, for Day 20 we are featuring the Gordon Macphail Auchroisk 2005. We'll get into the whisky, but first a little about Gordon Macphail. The firm opened its doors for the first time on the 24th May 1895 as reported in the Elgin Courant: “in New, Centrical, and Commodious Premises, Nos 38 and 40 South Street - a Family Grocers, Tea, Wine & Spirit Merchants.” The firm was founded by James Gordon and John Alexander MacPhail, and one of their first employees was a 15 year old John Urquhart. One of his jobs was to help select and purchase casks of malt whisky for the shop. John also helped create house blends for the firm's many customers in the north of Scotland.



When Mr. MacPhail retired in March of 1915 John Urquhart was made a partner. Two weeks later he became the senior partner when James Gordon suddenly passed away. The business has been in the Urquhart family ever since, currently in its 4th generation. John continued to grow the whisky brokering side of the business begun by James Gordon and began filling his own casks of whisky from distilleries across Scotland. This is a practice the firm continues to this day, setting them apart from other independent bottlers. Most of the casks were Ex-Sherry casks acquired by the firm through their wine business. John Urquhart also began the practice of laying down stocks of whisky for extended periods of time, an uncommon practice.

[caption id="attachment_3587" align="aligncenter" width="600" caption=""Auchroisk Distillery" by Anne Burgess. Licensed under CC BY-SA 2.0 via Commons - https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Auchroisk_Distillery.jpg#/media/File:Auchroisk_Distillery.jpg"]

 

John's three children joined him in his business beginning in the 1930s, with George and Betty in 1933 and Gordon in 1950. By the 1950s, Gordon & MacPhail had the largest range of bottled whisky held by any firm in the world. Few distilleries bottled their house made whiskies as single malts in that day. In the 1960s distilleries like Glenfiddich, Glenlivet, Macallan, Glenmorangie and Bowmore began bottling their own single malts and promoting them globally. During the same period George Urquhart released a new line of single malts under the Connoisseurs Choice range, which caught on very quickly in markets across Western Europe and the US.



About the Connoisseurs Choice line (Courtesy Gordon MacPhail): "In the 1960s George Urquhart, one of the first of four generations of the Urquhart family to shape the future of Gordon & MacPhail, pioneered a range of single malt Scotch whiskies, which he selected, matured, and bottled. In doing so, he effectively invented a category in a...

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Kensington Wine Market 2017 Whisky Advent Day 19 - Arran 14 Year

Posted on November 12, 2023

KWM Whisky Advent 2017 Day 19 – Isle of Arran 14 Year


Evan is on the keyboard again today, but the photos are Andrew's. He climbed Goatfel Mountain on the Isle of Arran in May of this year, and enjoyed a dram of Arran 14 while at the top! 

The Isle of Arran Distillery is located – unsurprisingly – on the Isle of Arran. The island lies just east of Campbeltown and well east of Islay and the distillery itself resides on the north of the island at Lochranza. Arran distillery is relatively young by Scottish standards. Having started production in 1995 this is relatively true in the grand scheme of things and given the history boasted by many of Scotland’s other distilleries.

Arran Distillery has been in operation for 21 years and has been successful enough for its private ownership group to work on building a second distillery on the same Island – this one in the south overlooking the cliffs at Lagg. A ground-breaking ceremony at the new site took place on February 16th of this year. The plan is to focus on peated whisky at the new distillery once it is up and running.

Kensington Wine Market has been lucky enough to have a very good relationship with Arran and its representatives for a long time. We just bottled our 9th and 10th single casks with them. Joining our peated 7-year-old single casks are two 20-year-old unpeated malts both aged in separate sherry hogsheads and showing different facets of the Arran house style.

The core range of Arran consists of the 10, the 14 and 18-year-old and a few regular cask finish bottlings such as Port and Amarone. They also release the moderately peated Machrie Moor line and the Robert Burns line of Single Malt and Blended Scotch. Today’s Advent bottle is the Arran 14 year bottled at 46% ABV.



Arran 14 Year - 46% - Matured in Ex-Bourbon & Sherry - Evan’s Tasting Note: “Nose: Ginger and lime, pineapple, green mango, pear - such a plethora of orchard and tropical fruit. Vanilla, Elderflower, chamomile, buttercream and almonds, Fruit Loops cereal in milk. Everything is bright and fresh. Palate: Creamy entry with ginger heat before fruit and nut notes join the fray. Chili and lime coated almonds, grapefruit, pineapple, chamomile again, pistachios, walnuts, light toasty oak, passion fruit and more mango. Finish: Both creamy and tangy all the way down. The texture is lovely and the green notes and acidity make the front of your tongue tingle. Comments: As a long time fan of Arran I feel like this is where the rubber meets the road in the regular lineup. The 10 year old is solid notes but this 14 year exhibits my favorite style from the distillery with it’s burst of tropical fruit and ginger notes plus the amazing creamy ...

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Kensington Wine Market 2017 Whisky Advent Day 18 - Ardbeg Corryvreckan

Posted on November 12, 2023

KWM Whisky Advent 2017 Day 18 – Ardbeg Corryvreckan


The Ardbeg Corryvreckan has been my favourite whisky in the Ardbeg core range for the last decade since it was introduced. That was until the Ardbeg An Oa was introduced just a few months ago. Now I’m torn, so here I sit, tasting the Ardbeg Corryvreckan again, to see if it is still my favourite whisky in the core range.

Ardbeg is one of a trio of Islay distilleries to mark their 200th birthdays over the last few years. The iconic Hebridean Island distillery has been on a tear for the last 17 years, and of all the Islay distilleries it has one of the strongest and most loyal cult followings of any distillery in Scotland. Look at the popularity of its annual Ardbeg Day releases (Kelpie, Dark Cove, Perpetuum and so on) if you need proof of this point. Or the sums people are willing to pay for older vintages like the 1974s, recently released Ardbeg 1815 or 17 year old expression. This makes it all the more striking when you consider that the distillery only operated intermittently from from 1981 through 1997, and it could easily have been demolished and lost forever!

Between 1885 and 1887 Alfred Barnard, a beer and whisky historian working for Harper’s Weekly Gazette, travelled across the United Kingdom visiting 162 distilleries (129 in Scotland, 29 in Ireland and 4 in England). He wrote about his experiences and each of the distilleries he visited in his still referenced work, The Whisky Distilleries of the United Kingdom. At the time of Alfred Barnard’s visit Ardbeg was the largest distillery on Islay, producing 1.2 million liters of spirit a year, only slightly less than its annual production today. The distillery first started as most of Scotland’s 18th and 19th century distilleries did as a farm. Although 1812 is the official founding date of the distillery there is some evidence it was operating as far back as 1794.

In 1888 the distillery was acquired by the Hay family in whose hands it would remain for nearly 100 years. In 1973 Hiram Walker acquired the distillery, and Ardbeg’s fortunes turned. The new owners started moving away from barley peated in their own maltings in favour of relying on commercial maltings like the nearby Port Ellen maltings. This shift was most notable in 1974, which is regarded as the benchmark vintage from the distillery. Sadly whiskies from this year are now rarer than hens teeth and commanding huge prices. The onsite maltings closed for good in 1977.

In 1981 Ardbeg was closed. Hiram Walker had a problem, the industry was in crisis, the various whisky companies had vastly overestimated future demand for whisky and there was a glut. Hiram Walker had two Islay disilleries, but they only needed one. That year Ardbeg was closed, while Laphroaig is kept open. In 1989 increasing...

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Kensington Wine Market 2017 Whisky Advent Day 17 - Bunnahabhain 12 Year

Posted on November 12, 2023

KWM Whisky Advent 2017 Day 17 - Bunnahabhain 12 Year


Evan is blogging again today:

Bunnahabhain Distillery is the northernmost distillery on Islay - it lays off the beaten path and is somewhat remote even when compared to the rest of the island. Until the 1960s when they finally built a road to the distillery it was only reachable by boat. Bunnahabhain is one of a trio of Scottish Single Malt Distilleries owned by Burn Stewart (Distell Group), who also own Tobermory Distillery on the Isle of Mull and Deanston Distillery in Perthshire. Like it’s siblings, most of the flagship single malts from Bunnahabhain are bottled unchill-filtered and with no added colouring at the the curious but commendable strength of 46.3% ABV.

This Islay distillery was founded in 1881 and started its life making the heavily peated whisky that the region is famous for. For most of its history its whisky was exclusively used in blends, and even today only a fraction of its production is bottled as a single malt. In 1963 production was increased and at the same time the distillery’s style was changed to the lighter, unpeated single malt whisky it is known for today. Since 1997 there have been small amounts heavily peated (35 PPM malt spec) single malt made each year but it is not what the distillery is known for.

The core of Bunnahabhain’s production and lineup is still not all that peaty as they use a malt spec with a maximum phenolic level of 2ppm. This makes it one of the more gently peated Islay single malts available. The distillery and its whisky are sometimes referred to as the “Gentle Giant of Islay!” What it lacks in smoke and peat it typically makes up for in nuanced and complex character and plenty of sherry cask influence. Older Bunnahabhain tends to be a treat if you can track it down but today let’s partake an introduction to the distillery’s finesse with the Bunnahabhain 12 year old. Bottled at 46.3% ABV.

Bunnahabhain 12 Year - 46.3% - Evan’s Tasting Note: “Nose: Christmas cake. Big sherry cask with dried fruits, salted caramels, and new leather coming through. Black pepper, raisins, dates, dark, dark italian panforte with plenty nuts and fruit in the mix, dark chocolate, well-stocked humidor and even hints of coffee grounds and liquorice. Palate: Rich and mouth coating with some spices and saltiness. Dried blueberries, fruit leather, christmas cake, chocolate covered berries and raisins, hints of nutmeg, salty black liquorice, ground black pepper, heavily steeped black tea, and hints of bitter coffee. Finish: It ends how it begins - with christmas cake, black liquorice, salt and mild spice notes. Comment: It has been a while since I have sampled the Bunna 12 year. I love the 18 year but it is good to be...

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Kensington Wine Market 2017 Whisky Advent Day 16 - The Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask

Posted on November 12, 2023

KWM Whisky Advent 2017 Day 16 - The Balvenie 14 Year Caribbean Cask


Evan Eckersley is taking a spin at the Advent Blog today, in his words:

Balvenie is one of the two major Speyside distilleries owned by William Grant & Sons. It is typically one of the top 10 best selling Scottish Single Malt Brands worldwide - but the distillery’s production and sales are dwarfed by another William Grant & Sons operation that goes by the name Glenfiddich. You could say that Balvenie gets overshadowed by the giant that is its neighbouring sister distillery Glenfiddich, but then again which distilleries in Scotland aren’t?

The Balvenie distillery still operates its own floor maltings on site - though it is only responsible for up to 15% of the malt needed for its own production. The house whisky profile is typically well-rounded and honeyed in style. Hints of peat can sometimes be found, but typically not in amounts great enough to keep it from being a crowd-pleaser.

Both as a distillery and as a brand, Balvenie has enjoyed a great deal of success over the past half century - due in no small part to a gentleman named David Stewart. David is the Malt Master at Balvenie who has played a large role in making this single malt as sought after as it is to this day. He was one of the first to experiment with cask finishing with the introduction of the venerable Balvenie 12 Year Old Doublewood in 1993. In 2017 David marked his 55th year of service in the whisky industry with William Grants.

Cask finishing plays a role in much of the of the current lineup for Balvenie including today’s Advent Whisky - the Balvenie 14 year old Caribbean Cask. Originally matured in ‘traditional oak casks’ before being transferred to barrels that previously held Caribbean Rum. Bottled at 43% ABV.



Balvenie 14 Caribbean Cask – 43% - Evan’s Tasting Note: “Nose: Fruity and floral with honey drizzled on top. Peaches and cream, oatmeal with brown sugar, baked apples, pears and even cherries, vanilla, honey roasted almonds and light wood spices. Palate: Smooth and rich. Honey roasted almonds again, apple turnover, poached pears, preserved peaches in syrup, milk chocolate, angel food cake and a gentle, warming spice. Finish: Tangy rum notes, oak and honey on the fade. Comments: Big, rich, and round but so very, very approachable. No real rough edges on this one, just smooth to the point that you wonder where all of the liquid in the bottle went...” - $107 for 700ml – or - $10 for 50ml

 

Stay Tuned for Whisky Advent Day 17 Tomorrow!
...

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