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Whisky Advent Day 9 - Hyde 10 Year Sherry Finish

Posted on October 25, 2024

It is Whisky Advent Day 9, and I hope you are all hanging in there and enjoying the ride. I know I am! Today we feature our first of two Irish whiskies in the 2016 Kensington Wine Market Whisky Advent Calendar, the Hyde 10 Year Sherry Finish Irish Single Malt Whiskey. This is a whiskey that's gotten a fair bit of press in recent years, winning some impressive awards. But it is likely one you've never heard of before.

The curious thing about Irish Whiskey, is that even though it was the most respected whisk(e)y in the world in the late 19th Century, by 1975 there were just two active distilleries in Ireland. Bushmills in the North and New Midleton in the Republic. I know some of you will be surprise to hear that, and are about to ask "But, what about: Jameson, Tullamore, Powers, Paddy, Red Breast, Midleton etc... ? Again, I'm glad you did. The reality is these are just brands, some of which were once distilleries, but today they are largely produced by a single distillery.

The whiskey from Hyde is sourced from Cooley, a new distillery that cropped up in Ireland in 1987, converted from a potato ethanol plant. When it opened, challenging the industry that was there, it was just the third active distillery on the whole of the Emerald Isle. In the last few years distilleries have begun popping up like mushrooms after the rain. In just a couple years time there may be as many as a couple of dozen new distilleries. William Grant & Sons has built a new Tullamore Distillery for that brand. The Teeling Family, who opened and then sold Cooley distillery have built a new distillery in Dublin. Will the Hydes follow suit?

[caption id="attachment_4605" align="aligncenter" width="351" caption="Ireland's first President, Douglas Hyde!"][/caption]

About the Hyde Family: (In their own words) The Hyde family have a long tradition of being involved in the Irish drinks business. From 1640 until 1962 the family ran a tavern located just outside the picturesque town of Bandon in West Cork. The Hydes sold traditional Irish Whiskey and draught stout straight from wooden casks, tapped by hand with a mallet and brass tap. The drink business runs through twelve generations of the Hyde family tree. At one stage in 1916, their grandfather, granduncle and grandaunt were all publicans in Bandon. Today, Alan and Conor Hyde are the first generation not to own a tavern, but they continue the family tradition by producing some of Irelandâ€™s finest whiskey."

About the Whiskey from the Producer: "HYDE Single Malt Irish whiskey is made from 100% malted Irish barley, distilled at a single location. It is made in small batches on a traditional copper pot still. Then matured for over 10 years in flame charred, first fill, ex-bourbon casks from Kentucky...

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Whisky Advent Day 8 - Gordon & MacPhail Miltonduff 10 Year

Posted on October 25, 2024

Whisky Advent Day 8 sees us sampling something a little different. It is an independent bottling of Miltonduff, but it looks like an official bottling... what's going on here? Well, I'm glad you asked. It wasn't until the mid 1960's that distilleries began pushing single malts as brands. Prior to that they were almost exclusively in the business distilling whisky for blends. Firms like Cadenhead and Gordon & Macphail filled the void, bottling single malt whiskies under their own labels. Gordon & MacPhail took things a step further with its "Distillery Labels Range". I'll let them start to explain.

About G&M Distillery Labels: "In partnership with each respective distillery, all whiskies in our 'Distillery Labels' range are uniquely labelled. In years gone by many of these unique designs were used 'officially' to bottle the whisky under license from the distillery. Today these trusted relationships with distillers enables Gordon & MacPhail to bottle whiskies at various ages, strengths and vintages - all with their unique distillery label."

Gordon MacPhail continues to do this today, most notably for Glen Grant, Glenlivet, Mortlach, Linkwood, Strathisla Macallan (under Speymalt) and a number of others. The focus is mostly Speyside oriented, which is not surprising as that is where the distillery is located. While Glenlivet and Macallan started promoting their whiskies as single malts internationally in the 1960's, Gordon Macphail has been bottling and selling those whiskies for nearly 100 years. In the case of some distilleries, like Miltonduff, who don't bottle their whisky as a single malt at all, these Gordon & Macphail Distillery Labels are the closest thing to an official bottling.

[caption id="attachment_4591" align="aligncenter" width="440" caption="Gordon & Macphail Speyside Collection of Distillery Labels. Available for a cool $17,500.00. Let me know if you are interested! Glenlivet 1948, Glen Grant 1949, Strathisla 1953, Mortlach 1954, Longmorn 1967 & Linkwood 1972."][/caption]

In the interest of time, as I am running a little late today, here is a brief history of Miltonduff from Gordon Macphail: ""Situated six miles southwest of Elgin is Pluscarden Abbey. Initially a Priory, it was founded by King Alexander II in 1230. Miltonduff is said to be situated on the site of the Abbey's meal mill, two miles from the Abbey. A stone from the original Abbey is retained at the distillery. As well as the distillery, the site is home to laboratories, engineering support, centralised warehousing management and the Malt Distilleries Technical Centre which provides technical and business backup to the other Chivas Brother distilleries.From 1967 to 1981, Miltonduff also produced a Single Malt called Mosstowie, using a &#...

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Whisky Advent Day 7 - Ardbeg Uigeadail

Posted on October 25, 2024

The southern coast of the Scottish Hebridean Island of Islay is a Mecca for whisky lovers. One of the most remote places in Scotland, it is also one of the most hospitable and welcoming. The island has a culture all its own, nurtured by its isolation and in no small part by its rich history of whisky making. Today there are eight active distilleries, a ninth on the nearby Isle of Jura, and two more set to open soon. Of these eight active distilleries, the three southernmost (Kildalton distilleries), generally produce the most heavily peated whiskies. They are iconic and beloved brands, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg. But of the three, none has a more loyal following than Ardbeg.

It might be a coincidence, but Ardbeg is both the most heavily peated of the three and the most remote. The three distilleries, Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg are staggered at roughly 1 mile intervals heading east from the town of Port Ellen. Each distillery would have started as a farm built around a small sheltered bay. Until the middle of the 20th century the only way to get things to and from the distilleries was by boat. Hence the construction of the distilleries in sheltered bays. While Ardbeg uses very heavily peated malt, the spirit is always soft and smooth, owing to a unique feature on the distillery's stills. A "spirit purifier" on the stills line arm acts as a trap door for heavier vapours, drawing them back into the still and encouraging reflux.

Ardbeg, along with its neighbour Lalphroaig, celebrated its 200th Anniversary in 2015 (Lagavulin reached that mark this year). While that may be the official opening date, there are records of distilling on the site going back to 1794. The founding dates of most distilleries are not the day they started distilling but rather the day they took out, or were compelled to take out a license. In the early days, the Ardbeg distillery had its own town, built around the distillery's buildings to house its employees. Fluctuations in demand for whisky and changing production techniques made many of these employees redundant over the last half of the 19th and early 20th centuries.

By 1973, when Hiram Walker bought the distillery, it was a shell of its former self. The next year Ardbeg began using pre-malted barley from the nearby Port Ellen maltings, which lead to the closure of its own floor maltings in 1977. The change would have meant layoffs for as many as half of the distillery's employees at the time. But it was only going to get worse, in 1981 they were all laid off and the distillery was closed. The 1980s were a dark period in the industry with as much as a third of all distilleries closing, some never to reopen. Ardbeg would not suffer this fate. New owners reopened the distillery in 1989, but with only two production employees there was very little production. Things didn't really sta...

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KWM 2016 Whisky Advent Day 6 - Compass Box Great King Street

Posted on December 17, 2024

Everyone loves the underdog! Maybe it is their plucky attitude, their small stature, or the way they sometimes go against the grain. Whatever the truth of the matter is, you can't help but root for them. When I think of Compass Box Whisky, I think of them as the underdog of the Scotch whisky industry, a plucky, small and maverick whisky company. In an industry of giants, they are tiny, but their spirit and reputation are so much bigger!

Compass Box was founded by expatriate American John Glaser in 2000. Having worked for a stint at Johnny Walker, where he had fallen head over heels in love with Scotch whisky, John had a vision of returning artistry to the production of Blended Scotch whisky. Hundreds of millions of bottles of Blended Scotch were being bottled and sold each year, but their style had long since lost its way. Overtime it had become increasingly homogeneous as ownership of brands consolidated into fewer and fewer hands. After failing to convince Diageo, owners of Johnny Walker to let him create a boutique blended whisky brand under their banner he decided to set out on his own. But he didn't leave empty handed, he took with him long term supply contracts of both malt and grain.

John founded Compass Box Whisky Co. with a vision of bottling unique, beautiful and interesting whiskies, by returning artistry to the creation of Blended Scotch. Over the last 16 years Compass Box has built a well deserved reputation on quality, creativity and transparency. The firm is behind a movement (supported by KWM) demanding the opportunity to offer greater Scotch Whisky Transparency. Today the firm is one of the most respected producers of Blended Malt and Blended Scotch Whisky. It's portfolio consists of the Signature Range: Asyla (Blended), Oak Cross (Blended Malt), Hedonism (Blended Grain), Spice Tree (Blended Malt) and Peat Monster (Blended Malt) as well as the Great King Street Range. The Great King Street range consists of two Blended Scotch Whiskies, today's Advent whisky, the Great King Street Artist's Blend and the Great King Street Glasgow (which featured in our calendar last year).

Compass Box is especially well known for its provocative and stunning limited releases. Early in the New Year we are expecting two new ones: Spice Tree Extravaganza and 3 Year Old Deluxe! The latter is a not so subtle jab at the Scotch Whisky Industry, and a part of Compass Box's Campaign for Scotch Whisky Transparency.

But back to today's dram, the Great King Street Artist' Blend. Compass Box on the Great King Street Range: "By applying the same skill, techniques and philosophy that we use for the Compass Box Signature Range of whiskies, Great King Street offers a style and approach to Blended Scotch that has not existed before. Great King Street is a new and compelling alternative for both whisky enthusiasts w...

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Scotch Malt Whisky Society December 2016 Outturn

Posted on October 25, 2024

KWM was the scene for three sold out Scotch Malt Whisky Society tastings this past Friday and Saturday. The assembled parties were there to sample the new December Outturn of single cask Scotch whiskies from the Scotch Malt Whisky Society, the world's largest whisky club. On the occasion we launched six new single malts, and a very well received single grain.

A number of whiskies stood out this month. IncludingÂ 55.38: Flaming red wine punch which was very interesting, but also a bit polarizing. The wine finishing of this whisky imparted an unusual character.Â G8.6: Jazzed up banana split was interesting to me as I don't often find water improves Society whiskies, but in this case the difference was night and day. I found it much improved with a drop of water, and a very enjoyable dram.Â 1.190: Smoky chipotle Bloody Mary was one of my favourites this month, very complex, I feel it really stood out from the pack. It was also interesting to see another legendary release from distillery 3, filled into barrel on September 25th 1997. Weve seen more than a dozen of these over the years, and there has been quite a range of profiles.Â 3.270: Surf n turf in a camel's saddle bag was one of this month's best sellers. But there was one dominant malt, Â 53.236: Culinary cannonballs was the most popular whisky in the Outturn, but beware the SMWS flavour profile, far from lightly peated, it is a beast!

[caption id="attachment_4528" align="aligncenter" width="440" caption="We always taste blind at the SMWS tastings!"][/caption]

Here is the December Outturn:

7.139: Salsa verde - 60.5% - 11 Year - 1st Fill Barrel - Speyside - Outturn: 186 Bottles - Flavour Profile: "Youg & spritely" - Panel's Tasting Note: "The nose neat started off extremely fresh and green; eucalyptus, mint, melon-cucumber smoothie and freshly mown grass, then it moved on to lime marmalade and quince jelly with lemon scented geranium leaves and finished with buttered croissants and strawberry jam. The palate combined all these aromas in a strawberry, basil and mint cocktail which whizzed through the mouth like a whirlwind. With water it became a lot more herbal, but still green like a crÃ¨me de menthe or a mixed herb salsa verde. While in the finish, herbal and spicy flavours of thyme and cardamom with a good dose of cayenne pepper seasoning." Drinking Tip: "A saucy start on a warm summer evening." - $131.99

64.75: Feast of fruits - 60.8% - 12 Year - 1st Fill Barrel - Speyside - Outurn: 126 Bottles - Flavour Profile: "Spicy & sweet" - Panel's Tasting Note: "It was like a feast of fruits on the nose neat; lemon bonbons, dried banana chips, three fruit marmalade on a â&eu...

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