Torabhaig 2017 - The Legacy Series (Inaugural Release)

 

From the moment I found out a new distillery was opening up on Skye I was excited. Finally it came into production and aged stock long enough to legally be whisky and I was fortunate enough to be able to buy it at MSRP from a shop. I also ended up with a second bottle due to a preorder delay making me nervous and going to another shop. I wonder how much I’ll care about that second bottle?

Torabhaig 2017 - The Legacy Series (Inaugural Release), Island (Skye) Single Malt, 46% ABV

Minutia: Heavily peated in 2017 from concerto barley peated to 55-60 ppm, fermented with MG+ yeast and matured in first-fill bourbon barrels before bottling in 2020/2021 as the inaugural release from Torabhaig, the first of their 4 part Legacy series, at a phenol level of 16 ppm. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn. 

Color: Pale straw; 0.2.

Nose: Smoke (light), green wood, earthy. 

Taste: Sour fruit, but sweet. Some bitterness. 

Finish: Warming, kind of a bridge from where the taste is to what the nose led you to expect, with a sweetness still in there. Medium.

This would be pretty nice for a regular whisky; it’s really nice for a 3-year-old first release. I’m extra happy I managed to grab a bottle of the Allt Gleann over the weekend, really keen on following this distillery as its stock ages to core release ages and beyond.

Score: 80

Musical Evocation: Lana Del Rey – “Young and Beautiful”

Elements of Islay Ma3

I’ve been wanting to get my hands on something like this for a while. Margadale is evidently the name for the malt from Bunnahabhain peated to 35-45 ppm. I;m unsure if that’s just what the Elements of Islay series calls it, or whether it differs from Staoisha or Mòine (or what the difference between those is). Whatever the case, I’ve been impressed with that Bunnahabhain turns out, particularly with peated malt. 

Elements of Islay Ma3, Islay Single Malt, 55.2% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2004 and matured in two ex-bourbon barrels for about 15 years and bottled in 2019 yielding 734 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Old gold; 0.6.

Nose: Ashy smoke, sweet in nature. Delicate fruits (fruits which are delicate, not in reference to the level of their presence here).

Taste: Sweet and smoky and woody and ashy, tarry. Earthy, vegetal. 

Finish: Bonfire smoke/ash. Tannic. Medium.

Really quite good. Peated Bunnahabhain still impresses. As a fan of smoky whisky, I’m on the more acclimated-to-it side of things, so sometimes aspects that people regularly find smoky I only find other notes, but here I got smoke throughout and really appreciated it. There are a couple notes that aren’t necessarily bad, but do hold this back from being truly great. That said, it’s still a rather enjoyable dram.

Score: 87

 

r/Scotch Ballechin 11 2009

 

As soon as I’d heard r/Scotch had chosen a heavily peated cask to bottled, I was interested. When I’d read it was a brand/distillery I’d barely heard of (at best), I was invested. I grabbed a bottle when it released, and about a year later I’ve finally gotten the chance to give it a review. The Wardhead was alright even though peat is my preferred profile, and the Ardmore was pretty good, too. Let’s see if this selection tickled me, too.

Ballechin 11, 2009 Vintage, The Ultimate, Highland Single Malt, 58.3% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on August 7, 2009 and matured in cask number 180, a fist-fill Sherry butt, for 11 years and bottled on September 30, 2020 yielding 615 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Auburn, polished mahogany; 1.5.

Nose: Smoky red fruit, nutty. Slightly medicinal. 

Taste: Spice and fruit, oak, smoke.

Finish: Hot, spice, musty, nuts, ash. Long.

I quite like it. It’s always nice to try a spin on peat different than your standard Islays. I’m glad it put Ballechin on my radar, and I definitely think it’s worth exploring more. I’m also interested in getting to know unpeated Edradour, as well.

Score: 86

Smokehead

Not exactly something I’ve been excited for, but something I’ve wanted to try for a while. As a hobbyist, my collection is relatively substantial and not exactly of well-spirit-level value, but I’m still always on the lookout for great budget options in my preferred flavor profile. The kind of thing you can buy often and have regularly rather than buy now and again and have when you get to it. Fortunately when placing an overseas order a mini happened to be in stock so I picked it up and opened it for this review.

Ian Macleod Smokehead, Islay Single Malt, 43% ABV

Minutia: No real information about its distillation and maturation. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Amontillado Sherry; 0.9.

Nose: Smoke, sweetness underneath. Some tar in there.

Taste: Smoke, wood, tarry. Honeyish sweetness, nuts.

Finish: Oaky smoke, sweet nuts. Shorter.

Nothing to complain about, though the mouthfeel is pretty thin. I’ve been spoiled by my recent choices, though. My last 5 reviews have been of whiskies over 50% ABV, and only one of those was in the low 50s. Compared to that it’s a negative, but overall I don’t think it’s a mark against this whisky, particularly given its price. It does what you want it to, Islay flavor that isn’t overwhelming and doesn’t break the bank. I have a number of samples from the range and I’m looking forward to trying them, though it could be a while as they’re all in my Advent calendar sample pool so I can’t even guess when they’re coming.

Score: 81

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019 Triple Wood Cask Strength

 

I’ve been looking forward to this one for ages. So many comments about how great this is, plus the fact that I simply love Laphroaig, left me pretty eager. I grabbed a bottle, and before even trying it based on reviews I picked up another when it happened to be on a local shelf. As has happened with so many whiskies I’ve bought, it ended up behind others already owned in line and sometimes even got leapfrogged as I work to get my temporally relevant reviews caught up, but finally it got it’s chance to shine. Did it?

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2019 Triple Wood Cask Strength, Islay Single Malt, 59.5% ABV

Minutia: Matured in ex-bourbon, ex-Oloroso, and quarter casks for some amount of time before bottling in March 2019. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Auburn, polished mahogany; 1.5.

Nose: Smoke with a medicinal twinge. Mostly industrial, tar/blacktop, but definite fruit. All behind a musty overlay.

Taste: Big oak, spice, dry smoke. Chemical.

Finish: Musty smoke. Oak. Salt.

Classic Laphroaig. A lot to like. Tastes great, but the nose is the star of the show. Very happy I trusted you fine people and grabbed that second bottle.

Score: 86

Octomore 7.3

 

After having covid, my whisky consumption – and thus capacity for reviews – declined somewhat (in part due to taste/smell implications) so it’s been a bit since I’ve posted a reivew, but I’ve gotten to this one (expect a few reviews in pretty quick succession prior to starting my Advent calendar in December). I think this was the second Octomore I bought a couple years ago after reading some really great things. Between that time and opening it I’ve had the pleasure of enjoying a handful of them, and thus far the floor for an Octomore has been pretty high, but so has the ceiling. I’m wondering where this falls as I’ve been looking forward to it for a long time.

Octomore 7.3, Islay Single Malt, 63% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2010 from grain harvested from a single field, malted to 169 ppm. Matured on Islay for five years in ex-bourbon casks and Ribera del Duero Spanish wine casks and bottled in late 2015. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished; 1.1.

Nose: Smoke with a nutty, malty sweetness. Homemade popcorn. 

Taste: Sweetness in the tropical area, chili spice. Green wood and smoke.

Finish: Dry, woody smoke. Bitter coffee. Long.

It’s quite good, and I enjoy it, but the palate is a bit too bitter for it to be a homerun for me. The nose is much nicer than the limited specific notes mentioned above would suggest, that would fall in the 90s with the palate elements in the mid to high 80s. On the lower end of Octomores for me, if you can believe it, but I’ve had some that were just tremendous so it’s a tough act to follow (7.2, 9.3, and 10.3 come to mind).

Score: 88