October 28th, 2011

More new releases, and my general thoughts on them

John Hansell

Again, this is from a U.S. perspective…

Starting with Ireland, it looks like Jameson is introducing a new whiskey in their “Reserve” line. I received an invitation to attend an event in New York this Sunday where they will be uncorking the first bottle of Jameson Select Reserve Black Barrel. Black must be the new cool these days, because we’ve recently seen the introduction of Crown Royal Black, Johnnie Walker Double Black, Canadian Mist Black Diamond, Bruichladdich Black Art, and now this whiskey. I guess Black Bush  and Black Bottle were way ahead of their time…

Also, from Ireland, I got my hands on a review sample of the new Redbreast 12 year old Cask Strength, which is supposed to arrive here in the U.S. sometime early next year. Amazing stuff!

You recently saw my review of the new Bruichladdich 10 year old. Well, I also received a review sample of the new Kilchoman 100% Islay release. It’s bottled at 50% ABV (slightly higher than the standard releases), and priced higher too at $100. It’s called 100% Islay because, according to my press release, it’s produced from barley grown, malted, distilled matured, and bottled at the distillery. Only 780 bottle are coming to the U.S.

I’ve tried it and must admit that–as cool as this bottling is with the “all Islay” theme–it’s my least favorite of the Kilchoman releases here in the U.S. It just taste too young and immature to me, which is atypical for Kilchoman. Their 3-4 year old whiskies usually tastes a few years older than they really are. My advice: go and get a bottle of the Spring 2011 bottling if you can find one. That’s my favorite of the releases so far.

Turning to the U.S., Buffalo Trace just announced the third release of their Single Oak project. I’ve tasted all the whiskeys from the first two releases. I must say that, as a whole, I liked the second release more than the first release, which had a lot of whiskeys in the 12 bottle lot with an aggressive amount of oak influence. Round two was tamer and more to my liking. (In fact, I actually thought a couple from the second round to be too tame…!)

The news on the Woodford Reserve Master’s Collection release for 2011 is out. This time it’s actually two releases: both 100% rye whiskeys. One is aged in new charred oak barrels, while the other is aged in first fill Woodford barrels. Details to follow.

The 2011 allocation of Van Winkle whiskeys are coming out. Again, they will be in very limited supply. The collection consists of Old Rip Van Winkle 10 years, available in 90 proof and 107 proof; Van Winkle Special Reserve Bourbon, aged 12 years; Pappy Van Winkle’s Family Reserve Bourbons, aged 15 years, 20 years and 23 years; and Van Winkle Family Reserve Rye Whiskey, aged 13 years.

Feeling a bit overwhelmed and not sure which one to buy? I tasted my way through the 10, 15, 20, and 23 year olds recently at WhiskyFest San Francisco. My favorite was the 15 year old. That’s the sweet spot in the range. Save yourself some money and get this one instead of the 20 or 23 year old.

Finally, I wanted to mention again that Suntory’s Hakushu whisky is finally being distributed here in the U.S. Unlike Suntory’s Yamazaki whisky, which has been available for quite some time here, the Hakushu is slightly smoky. (If you like whiskies like Ardmore or Oban, then you might want to give this one a try.)  I really enjoy the entire line of whiskies from Hakushu and have been asking Suntory to bring this whisky to the U.S. ever since I toured the distillery several years ago. For now, we’re only getting the 12 year old (43%, $60). Hopefully, the 18 year old will follow shortly.

Category: Bourbon,Irish whiskey,Japanese whisky,New Releases,Rye whiskey,Scotch whisky,Uncategorized Tags: , , , , , , 19 Comments

October 26th, 2011

Review: Bruichladdich 10 year old

John Hansell

Bruichladdich 10 year old, 46%, $57

The first 10 year old distilled by the current owners back in 2001. Lovely marriage of both bourbon and sherry casks, and quite fresh, with a maturity resembling a 12 year old, rather than 10. Smooth on the palate, and very drinkable, with creamy vanilla, honeycomb, banana bread, bright lemon, melon (honeydew, cantaloupe), tangerine, candied ginger, and delicate brine. With all the Bruichladdich razzle-dazzle over the past decade, we can embrace this unpretentiously delicious Laddie with open arms.

Advanced Whisky Advocate magazine rating: 90

Category: New Releases,Reviews,Scotch whisky Tags: 15 Comments

October 20th, 2011

A bourbon from Virginia…and Kentucky (sort of)

John Hansell

Truman Cox has moved from the Buffalo Trace distillery in Kentucky to replace retiring Master Distiller Joe Dangler at the A. Smith Bowman (ASB) distillery in Virginia, and he’s wasting no time. This just came in yesterday. (See picture.) It a limited edition bottling under the Abraham Bowman label, barrel proof (69.3%), and over 18 years old.

The whiskey itself also has ties to Buffalo Trace. It was actually distilled at Buffalo Trace, but then spent most of its life maturing in Virginia at the ASB distillery. This was explained to me in the press release that came with the bottle.

I’m pleased to see this distillery reinventing itself, even if in an unusual way. As Truman puts it: “ASB is coming at the micro-distilling level from a completely unique position. While other micros are starting from the ground-up and growing, ASB is redirecting from a large producer to a microdistillery.”

He continues: “While historically a full-scale producer and rectifier with large distribution, we are refocusing our footprint, home place, and marketing efforts at regional levels and practicing the flexibility and innovation that the microdistilling community is known for. We do not hide the fact that we purchase our starting material and source some whiskey from larger distilleries; other microdistilleries do this as well. We do our own distillation for our core whiskey. ASB has the fortunate luxury to source multiple starting distillates, which we will be blending before our distillation for future batches. This will allow us to compose an entirely new starting material to feed our still to come up with a whiskey distinctive to the distilling world.”

He goes on to say that this particular bottling came from Buffalo Trace, but continues by saying “However it has spent the better part of its barreled life aging in ASB’s distinctive warehouse. Since most whiskey men agree that the barrel and aging is where the predominant flavors come from, I believe we are offering an exception bourbon with a rare look at geographical distinction.”

Having just tasted the whiskey, I can say that I like the whiskey a lot. There’s no excessive oak, which I feared there might be for an 18 year old bourbon. It’s nicely balanced and flavorful.

I do not, however, envy Truman and the rest of the team at ASB when it comes to explaining in the future where their whiskies were distilled (or re-distilled), aged and bottled if they truly plan on being open and transparent about the source of their distillate (which doesn’t seem to be the case with this bottle–there’s no mention of it being distilled in Kentucky).  To begin with, the vast majority of the general public thinks that bourbon is only made in Kentucky. And from what I am gathering here, some of the ASB releases down the road could be distilled in Kentucky, Kentucky and Virginia, or only Virginia before being matured in Virginia. (I’ll try to get Truman to clarify or confirm this.)

Good luck with that, because it won’t be easy.

Category: Bourbon,New Releases Tags: , 25 Comments

October 13th, 2011

Some new whiskies I’ve been enjoying

John Hansell

I was in San Francisco most of last week hosting WhiskyFest (More on that in a bit). We’re gearing up for our New York WhiskyFest which is only a couple weeks away. In the interim, we’ve got to put together the Winter issue of Whisky Advocate. So, if you’re wondering where I’ve been lately, now you know. This is the busiest time of the year for me. The moment I get some free time, I will post something up here.

I’ve been tasting a lot of whiskies lately. Formal reviews will follow for most of them. But, in the interim, so you can get a jump on your autumn whisky-buying, I’ll let you know my informal thoughts now.

I was able to taste the new Bruichladdich 10 year old at WhiskyFest. (It’s not in the U.S. yet, but the importer brought me a sample.) As you may know, this is the first 10 year old whisky being sold that was produced by the current owners. It’s a new dawn for Bruichladdich, and I am happy to say that this whisky is very good. Most of it is from bourbon barrels, but there’s some sherry casks thrown in too. I just hope they can keep this profile consistant going forward. If they do, it could become the go-to entry level non-smoky Island whisky (competing with Highland Park 12 year old and Bunnahabhain 12 year old  for that honor). To me, it tastes like a 12 year old whisky.

Another whisky that surprised me was the Kilkerran WIP (Work In Progress) 3rd release. If memory serves me correctly, it’s 7 years old and tasted surprisingly fresh and also nicely mature for its age.

Dr. Bill Lumsden, after his Ardbeg seminar, let me sample a 1975 Ardbeg from a sample bottle (Cask #4714) from a refill sherry cask which I thought was outstanding! My favorite whisky of the night. He said they’ve been using so much from this cask at whisky shows, they won’t have much left when it is bottled. But let me put it this way: when it’s bottled, I am buying a bottle (if it doesn’t cost me an arm and a leg).

I tried some of the Samaroli releases. This independent bottler is new to the U.S. I tasted a 1967 Tomintoul and a 34 year old Glenlivet which were delicious. (The Glenlivet was not identified as such–it had a false name which I didn’t write down. I’ll try to dig that one up and let you know what it was called.). I’m not sure what the prices and availability of these whiskies will be at this time. Details to follow.

I have a bottle of the Shackleton whisky, which I have really been enjoying over the past couple of weeks. Very distinctive for a blend, and with plenty of character. Dominic Roskrow rated it in the lown 90s for us, and I would probably have given it at least a 90 myself if I formally reviewed it.

Another new blended scotch I really like for its drinkability and versatility is Compass Box’s Great King Street. It’s not going to set your world on fire, but it was never intended to do so. That’s what whiskies like Peat Monster are for. Whiskymaker John Glaser continues to impress me.

For the bourbon enthusiasts out there, I’ve been through the new Buffalo Trace Antique Collection a few times already. It’s just hitting the shelves now. The entire line is stellar–as it was last year, and they taste very similar to last year’s release. So, if you liked last year’s offering, you can be confident that you will like this year’s releases if you have a chance to buy them. (They are always hard to come by.)

Heaven Hill has two really nice whiskeys that just came out. This year’s Parker’s Heritage Collection is a 10 year old, 100 proof bourbon finished in Cognac barrels (similar to the old Beam Distillers’ Masterpiece bottling). The cognac doesn’t dominate, adds intrigue, and this whisky is dangerously drinkable for 100 proof. But, if you are a purist (dare I say stubborn?), and don’t want people meddling with your bourbon, you might think differently about this offering.

The second whiskey from Heaven Hill is a Elijah Craig 20 year old single cask bottling (Cask #3735). The good news: I love this whiskey, and will be rating it in the mid 90s. The bad news: it’s only available at Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown, KY, and it will set you back $150.

Finally, for those of you who are budget-minded, I tasted my way through the Pappy Van Winkle line of bourbons (12, 15, 20 and 23 year old). My favorite? The 15 year old. Save your money and get this one!

Category: Bourbon,Independent Bottler,New Releases,Opinions,Reviews,Rye whiskey,Scotch whisky,Special events,Whisky Advocate Magazine Tags: , , , , , , , , , , 65 Comments

October 6th, 2011

The next scotch distillery to be sold?

John Hansell

I was thinking about this on my plane ride to San Francisco to attend WhiskyFest tomorrow night. It’s a pretty dynamic time in the industry right now, with new distilleries being built, distillery expansions, etc. I wouldn’t be surprised if a distillery changed hands sometime in the near future too. It’s pure speculation on my part. I have no insider information or anything like that.

One that came to my mind: Bruichladdich. I don’t know if the owners even have an interest in selling (I have never asked), but now that they have ten continuous years of whisky production behind them (which hasn’t happened in a while), it sure makes them more attractive.

What do you think will be the next distillery to change ownership? And why?

Category: Distillery news,Opinions,Scotch whisky 42 Comments

October 3rd, 2011

More new whiskies coming on the market

John Hansell

(This is from a U.S. perspective…)

The Family Casks from Glenfarclas are finally coming to the U.S. (I’m not certain of the actual list of whiskies and timing.)

Bunnahabhain 18 year old is being phased out and replaced by a vintage offering in 2012.

The Mackinlay (a.k.a. the re-creation of the whisky discovered in the Antarctic from the Shackleton expedition in 1907) is finally being introduced to the U.S. (A very nice whisky, btw.)

Johnnie Walker Double Black is also just now being introduced to the U.S. market this month. More smoke than the regular JW Black Label, and dangerously drinkable. (I brought my bottle to a friend’s house on Friday night and by the time I brought it home 3/4 of it was gone. Everyone liked it.)

On the American whiskey front, the newest Parker’s Heritage Collection is out. This one’s a 10 year old rye-formula bourbon finished in cognac barrels. (Another dangerously drinkable whiskey!) It’s the same cognac brand (and from the same producer) that was part of Jim Beam’s Distillers’ Masterpiece cognac-finished whiskey introduced over a decade ago. (Beam was ahead of their time with those Distillers’ Masterpiece releases.)

Also noteworthy, but available only at Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown, is a single barrel, 20 year old bottling of Elijah Craig that was produced to celebrate the 20th Anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Why do I mention this very limited, logistically-challenged bourbon? I tried it and it’s excellent! If you know someone heading that way, have them purchase a bottle for you.

There’s a low-cost, very smooth Canadian whisky just released called “Rich & Rare Reserve” from Sazerac (Buffalo Trace’s parent company). My guess it’s from the same stock of Canadian whiskies that produced the recent releases of Caribou Crossing Single Barrel and Royal Canadian Small Batch, but just less expensive. It comes in a cool-looking 375 ml flask-shaped bottle.

On the liqueur front, following the successful introduction of Red Stag Black Cherry, Jim Beam is introducing two new flavors: Red Stag Honey Tea and Red Stag Spiced.

Category: Bourbon,Canadian whisky,Flavored whiskies,Liqueurs,New Releases,Scotch whisky Tags: , , , , , 41 Comments



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