Murray McDavid Ardbeg Sherry 14 Year
$92.24
Bruichladdich 18 Year First Edition
$107.54
Glenfarclas 105 Aged 40 Years
$1,145.69
One of the things that is so unusual about this whisky is its strength. Given that on average 2% of spirits evapourate from the casks each year during maturation this is an unusual strong whisky at 40 years of age. 893 total bottles, from 2 sherry butts. Nose: very nutty, with big sherry notes, softly sweet, treacle sauce and no hard edges: Palate: starts a touch hot, more treacle sauce and walnuts, sweet and spicy, ginge and clove, and apple crumble.
Bruichladdich Peat
$56.69
Bruichladdich house style is only faintly peated, with the exception of a few of their products: Port Charlotte, Octomore, the old 3D Peat Proposal series and now the simply named Peat. Peated to a phenolic level of 35ppm it is on par with Lagavulin and Caol Ila. While there is peat a plenty for a reasonable price, it is not as medicinal as some other Islay malts. Loads of vanilla, pear, mellon, black pepper and smoke.
Bruichladdich Black Art 19 Year
$149.39
Duthies Cragganmore 15 Year
$85.49
Duthies Copper Stills is a new range of independently bottled whiskies from WM Cadenhead, Scotland's oldest independent bottler. The whiskies are all bottled at 46% without colouring or chill-filtering. Nose: Highland toffee; fruity; milk chocolate. Hints of cinnamon and fudge. Palate: Powerful; dried fruits/oranges; fudge and caramel. A perfect body with sweet lingering notes.
Kilchoman Summer 2010 Release
$70.64
Kilchoman is an Islay Distillery that opened in 2005. At the time of construction it was the first new distillery on Islay in over 120 years. It is a farm scale distillery with a production level equivalent to Edradour, Scotland's smallest distillery. The distillery malts some of its own barley on site, and grows a proportion of it on its own estate. Kilchoman is a distillery to watch!
Port Ellen Douglas of Drumlanrig
$224.99
SOLD OUT!
85pts Serge of www.whiskyfun.org
A wonderful label that makes me think of a Soviet officer’s cap – personal pathos I guess! Colour: straw. Nose: a crisp, clean lemony Port Ellen, medium peated at first nosing, evolving towards notes of fresh oysters and butter, then fresh almonds, grass and a little nutmeg, getting just a tad paraffiny and papery (wet newspaper). Whiffs of ginger tonic, gin fizz… Little wood influence it seems, a rather gentle and soft Port Ellen. No sherry that I can smell. After fifteen minutes: more burnt caramel. Mouth: good, compact, lemony and peaty at the attack, drops a bit in the middle (a little cardboard), takes off again towards the end (lemon marmalade and ginger) and ends up on something such as lemon-flavoured marzipan. Something slightly dusty/chalky. Finish: rather long and quite lemony, with some salt. Comments: a Port Ellen of good quality, no more, no less. Not a big one.
Signatory Bowmore 1972 36 Year
$571.49
I call this whisky the poor man's Black Bowmore, and although it doesn't quite match the Blacks legendary palate, at 1/9th the price it comes damn close. My tasting note: Nose: marmalade, chewy toffee, chocolate-walnut fudge, smoky raisins and burnt dark fruits and soft dry peat; Palate: rich, sweet and chewy, more burnt fruits, milk chocolate and dry heathery peat; there is some tropical fruit here but its drier and not as moist as that with the Black; Finish, drying, sweet, fruity milk chocolate and some clean salty smoke.