Advent 2022 #23 - Ledaig 10 2009 Bordeaux Red Wine

With how much I love Ledaig and how well wine casks seem to have done for me, this was never something I wasn’t going to buy. Incidentally, I waited long enough to open it and ended up getting this sample bottle in a pack ordered from the distillery, so decided to save it for its day in an Advent calendar, which has now arrived.

Ledaig 10 2009 Bordeaux Red Wine, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 56.9% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in February 2009 and matured for 10 years in ex-Bordeaux Red Wine Casks before bottling in January 2020. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn.

Color: Auburn, polished mahogany; 1.5.

Nose: Smoked brisket, wine, marshmallow.

Taste: Great feel. Smoke, wood, pepper. Ash, coffee. Tar.

Finish: Tobacco, pepper, musty. Medium-long.

Guess: Ledaig Bordeaux

I have been looking forward to trying this since the moment I heard of it, and boy was I right to feel that way. So many notes that weren’t quite novel, but presented in a more concentrated way that I really enjoyed. It reminds me a bit of how in the first year the final dram was an unbelievably good Ledaig. Missed it by a day for the same thing here, but good enough for me.

Score: 92

Ledaig 8 2012 Warehouse 1 Bourbon Cask (Skotchtoberfest #9)

The follow-up to yesterday’s unpeated version on this expression, one I’ve been looking forward to for a while.

Ledaig 8 2012 Warehouse 1 Bourbon Cask, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 62.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on November 28, 2012 and matured for 8 years in an ex-bourbon cask numbered 564 before bottling on November 28, 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Yellow gold; 0.5.

Nose: Beneath smoke and char and a seaside triage tent, something intensely sweet tries to break free. Aromatic tobacco, leather. Once the whisky’s been in the mouth, a return to the nose shows that sweet note having appeared in the form of an ice cream/cookie shake/blizzard type treat, albeit with a smoky flavor to it.

Taste: Smoke and ash. Spice, salt.

Finish: Char, smoke, burnt meat. Long.

What a treat. The nose was great and made better after a sip. The finish was great. The taste is fine, but compared to how good the other two it’s almost a let down. The taste actually kept the score down a fair bit, even though it gets a rather high score. A damn shame I don’t have a bottle of this one, it’s a real winner.

Score: 90

Tobermory 8 2012 Warehouse 1 Bourbon Cask (Skotchtoberfest #8)

What got me checking out Tobermory’s website where I ended up with these samples in the first place was a glowing review on an 8-year-old bourbon cask Ledaig. It was sold out so I went for sample packs that contained it and other things, always happy to try more different expressions. In this case, I thought the idea of comparing something almost identical aside from the peat would be a fun one. The Ledaig’s coming up tomorrow, and here’s the Tobermory review.

Tobermory 8 2012 Warehouse 1 Bourbon Cask, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 57.8% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on April 4, 2012 and matured for 8 years in an ex-bourbon cask numbered 706 before bottling on November 6, 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Jonquil, ripe corn; 0.4.

Nose: Very malty, yellow apple, mineral, green tea.

Taste: Malt, honey, big pepper. Settles to sweet and spicy. Salt.

Finish: Malt, hoppy, chocolate. Cayenne powder. Long.

It’s good. Super malty, so if that’s something you like this will hit big. I’m very much looking forward to the peated version of this.

Score: 81

Tobermory 24 1995 Manzanilla Finish (Skotchtoberfest #7)

Of the Tobermory samples in the pack that I didn’t buy the pack for, this is the one I was most please happened to be in it. So far my only experience with Manzanilla casks has been Ardbog which I enjoyed, so I’m keen on trying more of it, plus it’s got some nice age to it.

Tobermory 24 1995 Manzanilla Finish, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 52.7% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on December 16, 1995 and matured in an ex-bourbon casks for about 14 years before a finish of about 11 years in an ex-Manzanilla casks totaling 24 years before bottling on November 28, 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Brown sugar, molasses. It feels like how I imagine it would be to sniff a rummy syrup. A musty feel overall, but not so much that I’d use that word outright.

Taste: What I like in whisky that saw a Sherry cask. Chocolate/dark fruit combo. Some spice from the ethanol. If only it were peated.

Finish: Mineral. Otherwise a musty version of the taste. Medium-long.

This is very nice. For me, it seems that significant aging once again gets an unpeated dram up to my liking. I’ll have to venture more into this space as time goes on. Nice as it is, however, it would be a home run if it were Ledaig. Thinking back on it, I think I remember a Manzanilla Ledaig being well regarded and I’m not a bit surprised. This is a perfect example of a whisky with a score in that range of my scale. The options to better suit my tastes are indeed limited, in this case pretty much only to the barley having been peated. A pricy one, but a good one.

Score: 86

Musical Evocation: Wintersun – “Time”

Tobermory 16 2004 PX (Skotchtoberfest #6)

Another one from a sample pack from the distillery. This is similar to the prior one, but spent its whole life (and 4 extra years) in a PX butt.

Tobermory 16 2004 PX, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 56.7% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 8, 2004 and matured for 16 years in a PX Sherry butt before being bottled on October 6, 2020. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Mahogany, henna notes; 1.6.

Nose: Musty, sweet, minerally wine.

Taste: Sweet (big one first sip). Woody wine. Spice. If there’s such a thing as berry toffee.

Finish: Birght, malty pop at the get go. Settles quickly into dried fruit and spice. Char. Long. Nutty late in the finish, like after you think it’s gone but realize it’s still there and then on by the way you notice it’s nutty.

This is nice. It’s not amazing or anything, but it’s very interesting. It felt like I knew what it was offering pretty quickly, but it kept my interest. Comparing this to yesterday’s, to me it seems Tobermory wants to spend its whole life in a Sherry cask, not get a finish in one, at least in the case of PX Sherry.

Score: 83

Tobermory 12 2007 PX Finish (Skotchtoberfest #5)

I love Ledaig, so a while back I was order direct from their website and they had a handful of sample packs. This came in one of the sets I ordered.

Tobermory 12 2007 PX Finish, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 62.1% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in September 2007, matured for 21 years in a refill hogshead and finished in a PX hogshead before being bottled in January 2020 yielding 1324 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.

Nose: Musty dried fruit, some spices. Maple.

Taste: Spiced wine. Warming and hot. Maple and wood later.

Finish: Fruity malt, some heat that fades. Nutty fruit, like some kind of trail mix liquid? Long.

It’s tasty. It’s not terribly complex, but it’s not too simple. It’s simple in the right way. Not quite like a dram that does very little but does what it does spectacularly, but one that does some and does it well. It’s a bit more enjoyable than my memory of the core expressions I’ve had. A downside though, is that I don’t get anything really maritime, and it’s not quite as funky as it could be.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation: Folkearth – “The Wine-Sacks of the Emperor”

Top 10 Whiskies of 2021

It's a bit late in the game, but I forgot to post it earlier this year. This post is about the Top 10 Whiskies I tried over the course of 2021. It is all about when I took the notes, not when the whiskies were released, and they are in no particular order.

1. Talisker 8 Special Release 2018
2. Ledaig 13 2005 Single Cask Nation
3. Bowmore 23 1989 Port Cask Matured
4. SMWS 129.1 Kilchoman
5. Caol Ila 18
6. Port Charlotte MC:01
7. Longrow 18 2020
8. Caol Ila 7 2009 Signatory Vintage
9. Laphroaig Cairdeas 2018 Fino
10. Springbank 21 2020

SMWS Ledaig 9/12/13 2008 Sister Cask Side by Side: 42.43 “Smoky spicy red rye ale”, 42.44 “Winter warmer”, 42.53 “Mull me(n)tal”, 42.60 “Sensationally sensual”, & 42.63 “Thirst aid kit”

 

The SMWS has recently had a fair amount of casks from Ledaig coming out recently, and I happened to have a couple others from years ago from the same distillation, so I decided to do the five of them side by side.

Ledaig 9, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.43, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 59.7% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in an ex-bourbon hogshead for 9 years and finished in a 1st-fill wine barrique charred and refitted with heavily toasted lids yielding 302 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Smoky spicy red rye ale”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.44, 42.53, 42.60, & 42.63.

Color: Tawny; 1.4.8

Nose: Burnty, musty, meat.

Taste: Smoky bacon, spiced fruit.

Finish: Smoky, a fruity wave of flavor right after swallowing, smoky toffee. Long.

Really awesome finish, very long. Overall a great dram.

Score: 92

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Ledaig 9, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.44, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 58.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 9 years yielding 232 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Winter warmer”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.53, 42.60, & 42.63.

Color: Deep gold; 0.8.

Nose: Salty smoke, seafood. Industrial.

Taste: Custard, industrial and earthy.

Finish: Smoke, toffee (very crispy/almost burnt), burnt. Long.

A very interesting and fun dram. I did not expect something as light as custard to come in here, but it did.

Score: 87

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Ledaig 12, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.53, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 60.2% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years yielding 303 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Mull me(n)tal”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.44, 42.60, & 42.63.

Color: Jonquil, ripe corn; 0.4.

Nose: Salty smoked meat.

Taste: Some sweet; bitter vegetation; burny.

Finish: Salt, smoked meat. Long.

A solid dram with a very powerful finish.

Score: 86

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Ledaig 12, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.60, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 59.4% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 12 years yielding 162 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Sensationally sensual”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.44, 42.53, & 42.63.

Color: Pale gold; 0.3.

Nose: It took a while to figure out what it was, and it was tough to do without consider what it was like relative to the changes in the nose. It went from grilled seafood to beachy tar to light smoked fruit. Really interesting.

Taste: Light fruit. Peppery malt. Spice.

Finish: Light smoke and malt after a peppery start. Long.

For something like a Ledaig, this was surprisingly delicate, and a fun dram to have.

Score: 87

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Ledaig 13, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.63, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 58.3% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on February 21, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon hogshead for 13 years yielding 164 bottles. This is part of the Peated flavor profile named “Thirst aid kit”. Enjoyed side by side with its sister casks 42.43, 42.44, 42.53, & 42.60.

Color: Pale straw; 0.2.

Nose: Seaside factory, petrichor.

Taste: Green wood, smoked cream (?), a beachy factory.

Finish: Funky, rice pudding, salty.

A really nice one, with a very interesting rice pudding kind of note early in the finish that’s hard to find again.

Score: 90

This was a really fun sister cask side by side. They are all squarely there own thing, but collectively can be accurately described as just really dirty. If you like that profile, any of these will not disappoint. Really interesting how the color got lighter as the age went up, and the ABV wasn’t going slightly downward, either.

Tobermory Clearic (New Make)

I initially intended this to stand entirely on its own, but it just so happened to be in my lineup right after these other Tobermorys so I decided to post them at the same time. Since it’s not technically Scotch (or even a whisky) due to its lack of barrel maturation - and because it’s really more of a little tidbit for those interested than a proper review - the score is not included in my statistics so it won't impact them in a way that would be significant and anti-meaningful.

Tobermory Clearic, Island (Mull) Malt New Make, 63.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled at Tobermory in March 2016 and bottled on November 10, 2020. Reviewed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Gin clear; 0.0.

Nose: Nutty ocean breeze. Smells like a sweet, musty vodka.

Taste: Hot and peppery, that fades and lets the same notes from the nose come in.

Finish: Kind of rough at the start, It kind of fades into a somewhat pleasant maritime note.

It’s not terrible, but it’s certainly not something I’d choose to drink. I am glad to have gotten to try new make, though I’m a little disappointed that the bundles I ordered contained two Tobermory new make samples instead of one each of that and Ledaig. Oh well, something to try to do during and inevitable visit to the distillery.

Score: 65

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “Through the Orb of Swirling Mist”

SMWS Tobermory 9/10 2008 Side by Side: 42.34 “Slytherin potion flask”, 42.46 “Seahorse to air missile”, & 42.47 “Oblivious to genius”

A personally “meaningful” set of reviews for a milestone review. After the first side by side I did, I decided to do it for all milestone reviews that don’t occur during ‘events’ such as my Advent calendar. Number 300 just so happened to (read: was contrived to) fall right after the Advent calendar for this year. As soon as I heard of it, “Slytherin potion flask” became a unicorn whisky for me. The names shouldn’t matter, but I’m a big Harry Potter fan and a Slytherin at heart and Ledaig is my favorite distillery, and I also really like 42 as 7 is my favorite number and it’s a multiple of that and I also really enjoyed Hitchhiker’s Guide, so it almost felt made for me (or at least marketed directly toward me). Unfortunately it was bottled before I got into whisky and the society, and it wasn’t even released in what would have been my chapter, so it went onto the wishlist and life went on. 

A while later I was bidding in an auction and saw 42.46 and bid and ended up winning it. I wanted to try a society bottling of my favorite distillery. Turns out, since the SMWS doesn’t differentiate Tobermory and Ledaig, different sites have different standards for listing those bottles. Whiskybase has every 42 as a Tobermory, peated or not, and evidently Scotch Whisky Auctions has every 42 listed as a Ledaig. Unfortunately peated whisky can easily fall into the Oily & Coastal flavor profile, so you can’t even rely on that cue. Anyway, I was mildly disappointed, but it’s not like Tobermory makes garbage when they’re not using peat. I put it on the shelf for another time, and life went on.

Then I joined the society and a 42 came up (42.47). I called in to order it, and Tom made sure to point out which type of 42 it was without me having to ask (stick tap to Tom for that), but I figured “What the hell, I’m already on the phone, plus I really want another bottle to group with my held order to ease the shipping.” That got delivered, I put it on the shelf for another time, and life went on. 

Months later with a stroke of luck only Harry Potter himself and his plot armor could hope for, 42.34 popped up in an auction and I made sure to get it. I finally got the bottle I had resigned myself never to have, and my unicorn list was empty (other than the bunch of others that went on it between this going on and coming off, of course). But the bottle was too special to just open, so it went on the shelf for another time, and life…you get it.

Then I ended up with enough SMWS bottles that I decided to track details (like the rest of you I ended up with a lot more spare time than I had ante-covid, and my OCD ran out of amok) and I discovered these were sister casks. Since I had decided to do sister cask reviews these got penciled in for the next available slot of significance. And now, here we are, with the text you actually clicked on this post for:

Tobermory 9, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.34, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 61.2% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 25, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel for 9 years yielding 221 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Slytherin potion flask”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister casks, 42.46 & 42.47, with water added later.

Color: Old gold; 0.6.

Nose: Sweet malt, salty. Floral, a little honey. With water, softer, gains an almost smoky note.

Taste: Leather, spice/salt intensity. A bit of salty sweet malt. With water: amplified spice & salt.

Finish: Coffee beans, cacao. Salty. Medium-long. With water: loses the non-salt note.

Very nice for an unpeated malt for my tastes. I’d have liked some smoke, if course, but as my appreciation for unpeated malt has grown, it’s nice that this whisky which appealed to me was enjoyable and not a stinker.

Score: 84

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “Love Song for a Serpent”

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Tobermory 10, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.46, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 61.9% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 25, 2008 and matured in a refill ex-bourbon barrel for 10 years yielding 207 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Seahorse to air missile”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister casks, 42.34 & 42.47, with water added later.

Color: Amber; 0.7.

Nose: Dark, hidden aromas to start, lemon after. Gets coastal. With water: sharper, some malt.

Taste: Sweet into very salty/briny. Hot. With water: earthy and briny. Still hot not not quite so much.

Finish: Hot. A berry note late. Settles into chocolate after that berry flourish. With water: not quite as hot but still potent. Chocolate and malt notes dance in and out with each other.

It’s quite hot, which makes it a bit harder for me to enjoy, otherwise it’s quite good. I’m looking forward to spending more time with it as it feels like a lot is masked by that heat.

Score: 81

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “Salazar’s Treasure”

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Tobermory 10, 2008 Vintage, Scotch Malt Whisky Society 42.47, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 60.1% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 25, 2008 and matured in a 1st fill ex-bourbon barrel for 10 years yielding 184 bottles. This is part of the Oily & Coastal flavor profile named “Oblivious to genius”. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn side by side with its sister casks, 42.34 & 42.46, with water added later.

Color: Old gold amber; 0.6.5.

Nose: Subtle. Apple, and more pear, they step aside to reveal the malt. With water: easier to find the fruit, with a bit of vanilla sweeping through.

Taste: Salt into spicy. A savory note tries to peek through. With water: it stays softer, and a light nutty flavor is there.

Finish: Heat at the top. Fades to salt. Some chocolate late. Medium. With water: A light heat gives way to chocolatey malt with a kick. Cereal later.

Another dram that’s decent if unastounding. The finish improved a good deal with the water. It’s another one I’m looking to spend more time with as it seems like a dram that rewards it with subtle notes that won’t jump out at you every time. It’s not as hot as the other one, so it doesn’t feel like that’s masking the other notes in the same way, more that you really need to tease and coax them out here.

Score: 83

Musical Evocation: Muggle Death Camp – “The Crown of the Grey Lady”

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A fun side by side to mark review #300. I’m glad I made it here and I’m glad I’ve finally opened this bottle. Far too many bottles in the “I have it but haven’t opened it yet, category” and with some restructuring to my process, I think I’ll be able to speed that up (in a way that doesn’t entail endangering my body more than I already am). Three is a lot for a side by side, I think I prefer two, but I’ll be back in 25 reviews with 5 of this distillery’s peated brother. Of course, if between now and when I get to them (I’m guess sometime around April) I end up with one or more other sister casks, I might just split them like I did with the ten Bunnahabhains, TBD.

Advent 2021 #20 - Tobermory 12

As a big fan of Ledaig, I missed out on an opportunity or two to order some highly recommended bottles from their website during a time they didn’t have shipping to the States, but they ended up coming along in some sample packs they had available, so I ordered those and this was a part of it. It wasn’t the main reason, but I wasn’t upset it was in there or anything. A handful of other, more interesting Tobermorys were in their, too. It feels appropriate this turned up toward the end of the calendar as after it’s done, my next review will be for some Tobermory sister casks side by side for review #300.

Tobermory 12, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 46.3% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 12 years in 1st fill bourbon and virgin oak casks. Reviewed blind, neat in an opaque glencairn.

Color: Russet, Muscat; 1.3.

Nose: This was fruity before getting it up to my nose. From then, malt, honey, fresh wood/grass.

Taste: Malty, honey and toast, a bit of spice/heat.

Finish: Mostly malt, some red pepper. Medium. A faint maltiness lasts quite a bit longer.

Guess: Bunnahabhain, doesn’t feel strong enough to be an IB. Could be Jura, maybe.

Ah, Tobermory. It certainly fits as it did feel “islandy” but I didn’t think I had an Arran in there and didn’t detect any peat. I prefer Ledaig so much, I forgot about half of the distillery’s output. This is quite nice for a dram without smoke, and it’s nice to try some more Tobermory expressions as I’ve only had the 10 thus far. It’s quite nice as far as something without peat goes, though it’s not very complex (not that that’s a mark against it, necessarily). I find myself now rather eager to try those older and differently finished Tobermory samples I have in my inventory. 

Score: 81

Here are links to the other posts from this calendar:

Ledaig 13 2005 Single Cask Nation

Finally getting to my first ever swap to review. Thanks to robbentheking over at speak-easy for the swap on this one. I haven’t had the chance to try an SCN bottle yet and they seem to be on the better received end of bottlers from what I’ve seen online. I couldn’t pass up and opportunity to try this Ledaig I had already wanted to purchase but could find available for shipping to me.

Ledaig 13 2005 Vintage, Single Cask Nation, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 57.1% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in October 2005 and matured in 2nd fill Sherry but #900165 for 13 years and bottled in March 2019 yielding 575 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Tawny, 1.4.

Nose: Dirty, earthy, woody smoke, with a tinge of fruit. After a while it smells like a pepper/coffee-rubbed steak.

Taste: Dirty/earthy. Spicy, woody. Char/smoky.

Finish: Earthy, smoky, maillard flavor. Medium-long.

Man, this was excellent. It was almost like falling in love with Ledaig all over again as I felt similarly to the first time I ever had it. A lovely dirtiness to this dram that makes me thing of the Alexander Murray 20 I had, but whatever that was missing to bring it over the edge to loving it, this has (or whatever this has, that lost).

Score: 91

2020 Advent #18 - Ledaig 8 v2010 Signatory Vintage

I’ve loved Ledaig since the moment I tried it. After that point I was eager to get my hands on as much as I can. Finally one turned up in the calendar. How was it?

Ledaig 8 v2010, Signatory Vintage, Island (Mull) Single Malt, 60% ABV

Minutia: Distilled on June 12, 2010 and matured for 8 years in a 1st fill bourbon barrel, cask #700389, until bottling in April 2019. Bottled for The 20th anniversary of The Whisky Exchange, resulting in 2019 bottles.

Color: Pale gold, 0.3.

Nose: Peat, green smoke, some medicinal/maritime astringency. Vegetal. Chalky (texture, not a smell of chalk). White wine fruit (reminiscent of a dryer Chardonnay), very subtle white chocolate later. 

Taste: Maritime smoke, sharp. Pepper (black mostly, hints of cayenne).

Finish: Smoke, wood, dry must, salty. Beach late. Medium.

Guess: Laphroaig, maybe Kilchoman, Caol Ila or Lagavulin or Ardbeg could be. Leaning Bourbon cask, Lagavulin, maybe Elements of Islay.

As I was writing down my guess, I got a slight sense of funk that had me thinking “Maybe Ledaig?”, but nothing else brought me enough in that direction to formally include it. The ABV was a bit higher than I thought (probably low 50s) but makes sense with that astringent quality in the nose and a pretty strong heat on the palate. This was nice but not spectacular. A young peater, more akin to Islay for me than Ledaig. Despite me getting more notes than usual this felt simpler than others, but not in a bad way. The nose was a bit better than the rest, otherwise all elements were pretty much in line with each other enjoyment-wise. If that white chocolate hint developed into something more than a fleeting hint, the nose would have been quite remarkable.

Score: 81

Here are links to the other posts from this calendar: