SPRINGBANK 18 years old 46%

Nose:
Top quality sherry in raspberry guise, freshly baked bread and trademark Springbank saltiness. The latter becomes more visible when the whisky reaches body temperature.



Palate:
Outer sphere: raisiny and syrupy sherry of top-notch quality. Middle sphere: the expected saltiness. Inner sphere: delicious nutty bread. Intermittent oaky spices add a little robustness to the overall picture.



Finish:
Self-confident sherry lifts off like a rocket from a bed of vanilla bread. Soon joined by cloves and nutmeg. Perhaps a bit dry at the end. An authoritative yet relaxed finish.


Comment:
The Springbank revival continues unabashed. In the wake of the 1997 vintage comes another goodie. As far as my understaning goes, only 3500 bottles made, so hurry up!

Rating: 8 3/4

SPRINGBANK Vintage 1997 55,2%

Nose:
Excellent fruit/malt interplay. Rich fruitcake and powerful potent malt. The longer you warm the glass in your hand, the more obtrusive the malt becomes.



Palate:
A fruit extravagaza served up with a tasteful creamy texture. Aggressive and buzzing malt together with some modest white peppers acts as a good counterbalance.




Finish:
Extremely powerful finish. From a bed of heavy malt, the fruit sends out estery stings on an almost eye-watering level. Stunning.


Comment:
Together with the recently released 18yo, this indicates a genuine return to form for this legendary distillery. All of which must come as a true relief to all those fans who lived through earlier bottlings that haven´t really managed to reach the heights most people crave from this whisky. Outstanding balance between fruit and malt. Top quality sherry casks, to boot. Batch No. 1

Rating: 8,5/10

EAGLE RARE Single Barrel 13 years old 45%

Nose:
Criminally seductive honey sweetness. Fruitiness that switches between cherries and blueberries. Cinnamon-laced corn. A light touch of woodsmoke adds to the mesmerizing palette.



Palate:
Magnificent melt-in-the-mouth liquid honey with crystal clear rye fruitiness floating on top. Chewy oak and coconuts. After a minute or so, a chocolate toffee character with faint echoes of liquorice takes over.





Finish:
Honey in pole position with some fragmented corn and rye trying to get a foot in amidst a wave of spicy oak.


Comment:
Produced exclusively for the renowned French whisky shop La Maison du Whisky. Bearing in mind that the folks at La Maison and them guys at Buffalo Trace know their stuff, it hardly comes as a surprise that this is a goodie. Perhaps not as distinctive as Blanton´s or Stagg, what this whiskey lacks in individuality it more than enough compensates for with both elegance and sheer hedonism. BT-collectors note: this bottle is more or less identical to the ER 10yo. The only difference being a silver sticker on the neck and the number 10 being drawn over on the back label. Cask No. 23.

Rating: 8,5/10

JAMESON Pure pot still "Millenium" 15 years old 40%

Nose:
Light strawberry sweetness and soft honey. Polished, almost cuddly oak offers a pinch of woodsmoke.




Palate:
Vibrant yet gentle pot still character, aided by sweet sherry and soft almost apologetic oak. The latter produces some modest but appetising spices.




Finish:
Medium length. Fruit and sharp spices interweaved.


Comment:
A limited edition produced for the Millenium shift. I guess they chose to call it Jameson instead of Redbreast for marketing reasons. Not bad at all but somehow comes across as flat compared to the Redbreasts. A little more dynamics wouldn´t have gone amiss. My third bottle of this and most definitely the last I will get for a humane sum. For the price it commands today, I can only recommend it to pot still and Jameson completists. Bottle number: 07040

Rating: 8/10

VERY OLD BARTON 8 years old 43%

Nose:
Very appetising nose. Good corn/rye interplay produces creamy fruitiness, cinnamon and flavoured tea.





Palate:
Vanilla fudge with wood extracts supporting sweet oily corn, melons and a little sharp-ish malt.





Finish:
Dry aggressive spices at first, followed by exuberant corn and marmalade-sharp fruitiness.


Comment:
Haven´t got the foggiest what period of time this hails from. From its looks I would say the 70´s but the Barton distillery has a penchant for old-fashioned labels so it might very well be of a more recent date. Not too recent, though, since 8-year olds haven´t been produced for quite a while. No matter what, this is a little gem. A surefire sign that quality bourbon wasn´t invented with Blanton´s.

Rating: 8,5/10

MACALLAN Fifties 40%

Nose:
Slightly floral at first.Then a modest cranberry fruitiness develops allowing cinnamon and caraway-seeds to break through. A restrained nose.


Palate:
Creamy texture. Sherry more active here, showing off both violet and raisiny qualities, residing around a core of bread and chewy oak. Just the slightest hint of peppers in the background.

Finish:
Sharp raisins all over the place, accompanied by buzzing spices and chewy oak.


Comment:
An attempt to re-create the distillery character of the 1950´s. Not that far removed from the average Macallan, however. Those who yearn for something more exotic might feel a bit let down but this is still a very good whisky. Highly suitable for the incoming summer season.

Rating: 8/10

LAPHROAIG 10 years old cask strength 55,7%

Nose:
A nose that hits you yards away from the glass and yet, at the same time, curiously calm and relaxed. Like a heavyweight champion who knows he´s gonna win and doesn´t need to fool around. Tar in extremis, sweet-ish peat, leathery oak and a sniff of blood oranges. After warming, a pleasant sea-saltiness emerges from the bottom of the spices.


Palate:
Decidedly medicinal in character.Less sweet than the standard 10yo. Heaps of tar. After a while, fat chilli-like waves laced with blood oranges enter the stage. All held together by confident, spicy oak.

Finish:
Dry and complex peat hits you like the paw of a grizzly. Fades out with discreet bursts of salmiac.


Comment:
It´s been quite a while since I last had this one at home. Back then I remember it as extremely powerful and very good. Now it is extremely powerful and extremely good. To describe it as world class would not be an exaggeration.

Rating: 9/10

FAMOUS GROUSE Malt whisky 12 years old 40%

Nose:
Enticing fruitcake eventually fails to conceal a potent biscuity malt.




Palate:
Mouthfilling and well-rounded. Intensive fruitiness battles it out with the malt. Sporadic outbursts of spices. A little gingery.




Finish:
Understated yet potent mixture of malt and minty oak. A faint whisper of chewy fruit sees the whisky off.

Comment:
Forget whatever prejudice you might have when it comes to vatted malts. This is a tasty morsel indeed. The balance between fruit and malt is exceptionally well done.

Rating: 8/10

BLANTON´S GOLD Edition single barrel 51,5%

Nose:
Bananas, British toffee and caramelised oranges. Glue-ish. Perhaps a bit more closed than usual.




Palate:
Perfect marriage between rye and corn produces a sublime marmalade toffee that switches enticingly between sweet and sour. White peppers grab for attention in the background.




Finish:
Long and complex with chewy oak and explosive bursts of white pepper, followed by hard candy and hefty liquorice.


Comment:
When this is on top form it is one of the best whiskeys in the world. Here it is merely very, very good. Which, for the moment, will do just fine. Dumped on 12-2-05 from Barrel No. 132. Stored in Warehouse H on Rick No. 8.

Rating: 8,5/10