Croftengea 11 2007 Jack Wiebers Auld Distillers Collection

I had to take a break from reviewing for a few weeks due to covid crippling my senses, but fortunately they’ve returned more quickly than I’d even hoped for. For a while I’d been intrigued by Croftengea, and Loch Lomond in general. It’s an interesting distillery, and I’ve taken a couple chances on novel expressions I haven’t yet tried, such as a peated whisky from the SMWS with a 100% malt mashbill that was distilled in a column still thus needing to be designated as single grain. As a peat fan, when reading of Loch Lomond the two brands that caught my attention were Inchmoan and Croftengea. I’ve seen Croftengea described as the peatiest whiskt they produce, but have seen ppm spec that indicate Inchmoan is peated a but more, so I can’t really say for sure. All that said, this is my first expression from the distillery so hopes are high.

Croftengea 11, 2007 Vintage, Jack Weibers, Highland Single Malt, 53.5% ABV

Minutia: Distilled in 2007and matured in a bourbon cask for 11 years and bottled in 2018 yielding 220 bottles. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn, also water added later on.

Color: Pale gold; 0.3.

Nose: Mineraly, salty, winey, smoke later. Dank and musty.

Taste: Earthy and vegetal, smoke, salt.

Finish: Musty, salty, peppery. Long.

Interesting one to say the least. Initially, I really disliked it. It was a bit too funky for me (and as a Campbeltown and Ledaig fan, that’s saying something) and it had an overall feel a beverage can have when it’s ‘turned’. That, however, was in the first few drams I had to get a sense of the whisky (when I have a bottle, I make an effort to have a few drams (or more) pretty casually before actually reviewing it). Of course, the process is different in those settings. Whatever was ‘off’ to me when sipping casually wasn’t present when holding the whisky in my mouth to let my tongue get acquainted with it. It performed much better in this context, and while not a revelation, it was a decent dram. Water muted everything a bit. It didn’t drown, and it did help mute some less desirable aspects, but it muted the desirable ones as well. I’m not sure I’d adjust to score based on water.

Score: 77

Amrut Peated Cask Strength Batch 51

My first foray into whisky Asia (for review, anyway, I’ve had a handful of drams of Japanese and Taiwanese whiskies) and a Cask Strength one at that. I suppose I might prefer to have had the standard proof peated Amrut before, but I like the idea of considering it as its own product rather than a version of another. Anyway, here we go. 

Amrut Peated Cask Strength, India Single Malt, 62.8% ABV

Minutia: Distilled from Scottish peated malted barley and matured in India in oak barrels for some amount of time. Bottled in July 2019 as part of batch 51. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Russet, Muscat; 1.3.

Nose: Dusty spice. Nutty.

Taste: Hot and spicy, similar spices as in the nose.

Finish: Smoke cuts through the spice, spice lingers a bit. Long.

This isn’t entirely off-putting, but as is it’s not for me. Even with water I still found it incredibly hot and that heat and spice remained very present even after the palate was feeling diluted. I’m not super motivated to try this again, but it’s worth noting this was reviewed with covid. I haven’t noticed any compromises in my senses of smell and taste, but given an easy enough opportunity I’d give this another shot. At any rate, it’s not enough for me to write off Indian whisky, or even Amrut, and further exploration is warranted.

Score: 71

Musical Evocation: Drudkh – “Indiánská píseň hrůzy”

Talisker 15 Cask Strength Special Release 2019

Finally getting to this almost to the day when the release two years later gets released.

Tallisker 15 Cask Strength 2019 Special Release, Island (Skye) Single Malt, 57.3% ABV

Minutia: Matured for 15 years in freshly charred American oak hogsheads and bottled in 2019. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Burnished; 1.1.

Nose: Smoke under minerally fruit. Malt with a lemony twinge to it. 

Taste: Spice, black pepper into cayenne. Tames to wood.

Finish: Malty, drying, a bit of spice. Ash late. Long. Like, very long.

This is pretty good, it’s nice to try an older cask strength expression from one of the first distilleries I enjoyed. I’ll have to revisit this in the future as the review was conducted with covid. While I don’t notice any loss of smell or taste elsewhere and got most if not all notes I expected from this, that could have been affected.

Score: 87

The Legendary Dark Silkie

I’ve said a number of times here that I’m into peat and really like exploring its use in Irish whiskey, so my apologies if this is the nth time you’ve read that. But it’s true, and I found myself placing and order and during my usual sample/mini inventory check to make shipping a bit more palatable I saw this and added it right to the cart. It’s a pretty interesting mix of spirit in this one, so I’m quite excited to try it.

The Legendary Dark Silkie, Ireland Blend, 46% ABV

Minutia: No age statement, but the website offers more information. Comprised of triple distilled peated single malt peated to 55ppm and left at 22ppm after distillation (really quite high) matured in Sherry casks, double distilled malt matured in bourbon barrels, and some grain whiskey matured in virgin oak casks.

Color: Russet, Muscat; 1.3.

Nose: Creamy banana, bit of apple. Cellar-y. A bit like a light beer/some malt/grain. Buttery Irish note.

Taste: Comes in with spices. Light licorice. Banana again.

Finish: Gone immediately, but returns. Chocolatey malt, butter, light nut. Medium length.

Quite nice, though I didn’t get a ton of smoke in this despite the intent and actual ppm of the peated malt. Other notes I’ve seen on it did all have it to some extent. Over the last few months, of the 38 most recent whiskies I’ve reviewed 36 were peated and only two of those were a Springbank/Kilkerran level of peat. It seems I need to retune my palate a bit. By the looks of it, the next few whiskies I have lined up for review are going to be peaty (though they should be some pretty big hitters and not get lost on habituation) until my Advent calendar, which could or could not have it given the day. But after that I plan on doing a 3 cask side by side in celebration of review #300 of Tobermories and then a Tobermory new make after that. I think I’ll bring in a couple Dalmore samples I have into the mix and some unpeated SMWS bottlings to unpeat my tongue and reserve peated drams only for evaluation and reviews and try to limit peat in my non-critical drinking for a while.

Score: 82

Musical Evocation: Draconian – “A Slumber Did My Spirit Seal”

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2018 Fino Cask Finish

The second of the Cairdeas releases I’ve tried after the 2017 Cask Strength Quarter Cask which I enjoyed a ton. That seems to be one of the less appreciated of them and people told me that if I liked that I’d really like some of the other releases so I picked this up at a shop when I saw it there.. I’ve seen mixed reviews on this between OK and great, and my familiarity with Fino casks is limited only to the Oban Distillers Edition which was a pour at a bar so I didn’t know entirely what to expect.

Laphroaig Cairdeas 2018 Fino Cask Finish, Islay Single Malt, 51.8% ABV

Minutia: Matured in 1st fill ex-bourbon casks and finished in ex-Fino casks, bottled at 51.8% to commemorate its release in 2018. Enjoyed neat in a glencairn.

Color: Chestnut, Oloroso Sherry; 1.2.

Nose: Starts oaky vanilla into medicinal smoke. The medicinal element is slight, at least for Laphroaig. You have to find it a bit rather than it’s usual boisterous presence. The smoke is far more in the leather/tobacco/vegetation family. Coastal air, not on the beach, or even adjacent, but a mile or so inland. Stone fruit syrup and creamy citrus notes come in revisiting after having had a sip.

Taste: Woody, light wine. Iodine. That’s really all I could pick out, but it’s bigger than just those notes suggest.

Finish: Musty, dry, then smoke. Big, tarry, ashy smoke. Not a complete explosion of it, but it really announces itself after a few seconds. An indiscriminate sweetness, perhaps a roasted nut which is sweet. Just shy of medium length.

Damn, I really like this. I was in love from the first whiff. I really regret not trying this sooner so I could have gotten a few more at MSRP. Based on how much people enjoyed it, I’m grateful took some user’s advice here about the Triple Wood Cairdeas to buy two if a shop had it. I have so much whisky to try I expect to have caught up with the Cairdeas releases at or around the time next year’s gets released so hopefully this doesn’t happen again.

Score: 90

Musical Evocation: Guns N’ Roses – “So Fine”