February 8th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Speyside Single Malt of the Year

John Hansell

Macallan Royal Wedding Limited Edition, 46.8%, £150

Okay, this is long gone, and is now either an investment or another whisky fueling the speculative bubble, but rarity isn’t the reason I’ve chosen it as my top Speyside release. Neither is it because of fealty to the Royal Family. Rather this, for me, was a whisky that countered the sniping which has been targeted at Macallan for a number of years: that it was too expensive, that it was pursuing the luxury market to the detriment of quality, that it wasn’t as good as it used to be.

This bottling showed that Macallan continues to do what it has always done best: use high-quality sherry wood to produce a single malt with resonant depth of flavor — and intent. Great Macallan is one of those drams whose presence forces you to pay attention to the slow unfolding of flavors in its depths. This bottling had that quality, and in doing so it eloquently answered its critics. —Dave Broom

Join us tomorrow for the announcement of Whisky Advocate’s Islay Single Malt of the Year Award.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 6 Comments

February 7th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Blended/Blended Malt Whisky of the Year

John Hansell

Compass Box Great King Street, 43%, $45

Two outstanding contenders battled it out for this award this year: The Mackinlays ‘Shackleton’ whisky and The Compass Box Great King Street blend. Both tasted great, both took the category into new territory, and both showed what can be achieved through clever and thoughtful blending.

The Mackinlays ‘Shackleton’ whisky is a blended malt whisky — a mix of malt whiskies with no grain — and recreated the whisky found in the Antarctic camp abandoned by Ernest Shackleton. It was well packaged, was relatively well priced, and tasted great.

But the Mackinlays is all about history and the past. Compass Box Great King Street, a sweet citrusy and vanilla-doused blend, is all about the future. John Glaser and team don’t make bad whiskies, but often they have been esoteric, small batch, and all but unavailable to many of us. This blend is different, and is an attempt by Compass Box to introduce quality blends to a new generation. It had a relatively modest price point and brought the artisan skills of Compass Box to a new audience. It’s that rarity: a blend that drinks well on its own but tastes great when mixed. More than that, it’s perfectly placed to bring blends back into vogue. Anyone for a highball?  —Dominic Roskrow

Tomorrow, the Speyside Single Malt of the Year will be announced.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 8 Comments

February 6th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: New World Whisky of the Year

John Hansell

Amrut Two Continents (2nd Edition), 50%, $100

It’s been a great year for whiskies from less traditional whisky territories, both in terms of new distilleries coming on line, and for distilleries bottling quality spirit for the first time. Choosing one winner has been a challenge, and honorable mentions should go to Glann ar Mor in France, Mackmyra in Sweden, Kavalan in Taiwan, and St. George’s in England for each releasing more than one outstanding whisky this year, and to Lark for continuing to produce stunning and impressively different single malt whisky.

But the award goes to Amrut for its second batch of Two Continents.  In fact, Amrut released four whiskies that could have lifted the crown, but two were very small scale and were all but gone before they were released. This one, which was first released a couple of years back to widespread acclaim, reappears in a slightly different format, and is even better than the original.  It’s an absolute peach of a malt and combines spirit made with Indian malt matured in Scotland with Scottish malt matured in India. The innovative approach to whisky making across the portfolio, the diversity of flavors, and in this case, the rich, complex, unique, and exciting oral explosion would impress anyone. Honorable mentions, too, for Amrut Portonova and Amrut Fusion, which would feature in any New World top ten for 2011. That’s some achievement for the distillery. Can’t wait to see what they come up with next. —Dominic Roskrow

Whisky Advocate’s Blended/Blended Malt Whisky of the Year will be announced here, tomorrow.

Category: Awards,Indian whisky,Writers Tags: , 13 Comments

February 5th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Japanese Whisky of the Year

John Hansell

Chichibu The First, 61.8%, £90

It has been a quiet year on the Japanese front. Stocks at the larger distillers are under pressure, the result of short-term production twelve to eighteen years ago, and while this is being managed capably by producers, it also means that they aren’t exactly embarking on a program of multiple new expressions. With Mars only just reopened, Gotemba extremely quiet, and Karuizawa silent, there was one distillery that rose above all of this. It’s Japan’s newest, and the smallest.

2011 was the year when Chichibu came of age. Owner Ichiro Akuto built the distillery after the enforced closure and demolition of his family’s previous plant, Hanyu, and did so in the same town where his ancestors started making sake 500 years ago.

He and his young team are crafting a new presence, or rather, by exploring all parameters of whisky making, are allowing a new being to come into existence. Three styles are made, light, heavy, and peated, and there are plans to malt on-site (using local barley and peat) and build a cooperage.

This first official release of whisky (rather than maturing new make) is of the quicker-maturing light style and shows typical Japanese clarity along with genuinely ‘Eastern’ aromas of citrus and fragrant spices, and a soft, unctuous feel. It shows enormous promise and demonstrates that there is hope for smaller distillers in Japan. Important in so many ways. —Dave Broom

Be sure to visit here tomorrow. We’ll be announcing our New World Whisky of the Year Award.

Category: Awards,Japanese whisky,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 5 Comments

February 4th, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Irish Whiskey of the Year

John Hansell

Redbreast 12 Year Old Cask Strength, 57.7%, $65

In a normal year, any one of the six Irish whiskeys released in 2011 could have staked a claim as Irish whiskey of the year. But 2011 wasn’t normal, not least because in a normal year it’s not likely there would have been six releases in total, let alone six potential award-winning contenders. Unsurprisingly, given the last decade or so, Cooley was never far from the headlines, and the company bookended the year with Kilbeggan 18 year old and Greenore 18 year old at the beginning of it, and Connemara Bog Oak toward the end.

But it was the stunning triple whammy of single pot still whiskeys from Irish Distillers in between that provided the greatest surprise in a generation for the Irish whiskey category. All three were wonderful, but it was the last of them, the cask strength version of the much-loved 12 year old Redbreast, that carried off the honors.

A rich, bittersweet plummy, red berry, oaky-spiced delight, the increased strength gives an already great whiskey a richer, fuller, fruitier dimension, and makes an already complex whiskey…even more complex. For me that makes it not just the best Irish whiskey of this year, but of any. An utter joy. —Dominic Roskrow

The recipient of Whisky Advocate’s Japanese Whisky of the Year will be announced here, tomorrow.

Category: Awards,Irish whiskey,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , 13 Comments

February 3rd, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Canadian Whisky of the Year

John Hansell

Wiser’s Very Old/18 Year Old, 40%, $65

Some folks always suspect that food or drink exporters keep the best stuff for themselves. I’ve heard it about cheese, beer, fruit…but when I’ve looked into it, the export markets are indeed getting “the good stuff.” Why not? You’d want to send the best to get the highest price, given that shipping costs are the same for great or mediocre products.

But after enjoying this bottle of Wiser’s Very Old (also sold as Wiser’s 18 Year Old), I’m starting to think that the Canadians really are keeping the good stuff up north. There are small amounts for sale in the U.S. (though that’s slowly increasing), but almost all of it stays home.

That’s a hardship for us non-Canadians, because this is a very nice whisky. After years of thinking of Canadian whisky simply as fuel for highballs and sweet Manhattans we’re looking for something else, something that can stand on its own and intrigue us, or something that could make a more robustly Canadian cocktail, and this Wiser’s would very much fit the bill. You can really taste rye and oak, without a lot of gloppy sweetness, and there’s a finish to reward sipping contemplation.

We’ve seen innovation in this category from John Hall’s Forty Creek whiskies, and rare elegance from limited bottlings like Canadian Club 30 Year Old. Wiser’s Very Old delivers classic Canadian smoothness with a rich extra helping of well-integrated flavor and complexity. Keep it coming, Canada; we’re ready for more.—Lew Bryson

Tomorrow’s announcement will be the Irish Whiskey of theYear.

Category: Awards,Canadian whisky,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , 17 Comments

February 2nd, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: American Whiskey of the Year

John Hansell

Elijah Craig Barrel No. 3735 20 year old bourbon, 45%, $150

If there is one thing Heaven Hill has proven on numerous occasions, it’s that they know how to cherry-pick great whiskeys for their single barrel bottlings. They’ve been doing it for seventeen years now with their vintage-dated Evan Williams Single Barrel releases, many of which we’ve rated very highly. They also proved they can do it with rye whiskey, when they released their 25 year old single barrel Rittenhouse rye a couple years back (which we rated a 96).

In 2011, they did it again with a new bourbon. This time, it was a single cask, 20 year old Elijah Craig bottling, released to celebrate the 20th anniversary of the Kentucky Bourbon Festival. Since it is a single barrel bottling, very few bottles were made available to the public, and they were only sold at Heaven Hill’s Bourbon Heritage Center in Bardstown, Ky. However, those of you who read the Whisky Advocate blog (whiskyadvocateblog.com) on a regular basis had a chance to procure a bottle of this special whiskey when we published our review of it back in early November.

What makes this whisky so great? It’s seamless, richly textured, and impeccably balanced. It’s complex too, with nutty toffee, pecan pie, apricot, berried jam, and nougat, peppered with cinnamon, mint, cocoa, and tobacco. It’s warming, with polished leather and dried spice on the finish.

This is an outstanding whiskey from a distilling company that continues to prove that they know how to make a wide range of excellent products, from great value whiskeys all the way to some of the finest whiskeys America has to offer. —John Hansell

Join us tomorrow for the Canadian Whisky of the Year announcement.

Category: Awards,Bourbon,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , 36 Comments

February 1st, 2012

Whisky Advocate Award: Artisan Whiskey of the Year (North America)

John Hansell

Low Gap Whiskey, 42.7%, $40

There are an increasing number of whiskeys coming from small distillers. At first, a small number of distillers bottled unaged distillate as a somewhat hokey packaging of moonshine-like white lightning; some were flavored, some were spiced, but almost all of them were meant for mixing (maybe a more accurate description would be ‘spiking’). But over the past eighteen months, a new interest in white whiskey has led to a batch of more carefully made, more flavorful bottlings — or maybe it was the other way around, it’s hard to tell which caused which. Even the big distillers like Heaven Hill and Buffalo Trace got into the act, and some folks were buying white whiskey to custom age in small barrels. 2011 was the Year of White Whiskey.

That’s why a whiskey I gave an 80 rating is walking away with this award. Of all the white whiskeys that came across my tasting table in 2011, Low Gap was the solid winner, and this is recognition that there are some white whiskeys out there that are worth drinking on their own for more than the once-or-twice novelty of it.

Low Gap, distilled from malted Bavarian hard wheat, is a round, fruity spirit that smells like fresh flour and crisp crackers, but drinks like brandy — aromatic and vaporous — with a real grain-laced finish, not just an alcohol wick-up. That’s hardly a surprise coming from Craft Distillers, who make Germain-Robin brandy; they know their way around a still, particularly the 16 hectoliter cognac still they use to make Low Gap.

There were aged whiskeys from small distillers this year that I liked better, but this was exceptional in its niche…and I can’t wait to see what it’s like when it has had a chance to age. —Lew Bryson

Tomorrow, the recipient of Whisky Advocate’s American Whiskey of the Year Award will be announced.

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , , 29 Comments

January 31st, 2012

18th Annual Whisky Advocate Awards to be announced daily, beginning tomorrow!

John Hansell

The Whisky Advocate Awards recognize excellence in the world of whisky. Now in its 18th year, the program is still simply about the world’s greatest whiskies and distilleries, and the individuals who make and promote them.

In response to the continually evolving world of whisky — the industry, the consumers, the worldwide market — we have updated our awards. First, we’ve expanded the number of awards for Scotch whisky in recognition that there are so many different expressions available from so many different distillers and blenders. We’ve made an award for each of the regions regularly featured in our Buying Guide. We also have more closely defined the Artisan Whiskey award (now for North American whiskeys) and the New World Whisky award (for whiskies made outside North America, Scotland, Ireland, and Japan).

But perhaps the two biggest changes in this year’s awards reflect the widening scope of Whisky Advocate. Previously, products had to be available for sale in the U.S., but we have thrown the doors open wide; eligibility has been expanded to the world markets, and a whisky need only have been offered for sale to the public during 2011.

The other change is in who is involved. As we expanded the number of tasters writing reviews in our Buying Guide — magazine founder John Hansell was joined by Dave Broom, Lew Bryson, Dominic Roskrow, and Gavin Smith — we included the new reviewers in the awards selection process, and they have written the awards narratives for their respective areas.

What hasn’t changed is that these awards are not simply awarded to the whiskies that get the highest ratings in our reviews. The winners might be the highest-reviewed, but they might also be the most significant, the most important, or represent a new direction for a category or niche. The awards process is not, in short, a mere numbers-based formula.

These awards are the oldest and longest-running annual whisky awards program. We taste and sample over the course of the year, at year’s end we consider and confer, and then we make our decisions based solely on the merits of the whiskies…as we have done for eighteen years. We give you our word: that’s how it will continue to be. Enjoy!

Category: Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine,Writers Tags: , 2 Comments

January 23rd, 2012

18th Annual Whisky Advocate Awards: daily posts beginning February 1st

John Hansell

The Whisky Advocate Awards program is the longest-running annual whisky awards program, now in its eighteenth year. The awards recognize excellence in the world of whisky.

The awards are announced annually in the spring issue, which subscribers receive in early March. But the 2011 award recipients will be announced here, first, beginning February 1st. The daily posts will also reach my Twitter feed (@JohnHansell) and the Whisky Advocate Facebook page.  (More details on the foundation of the Whisky Advocate Awards program–how they are chosen and why–will precede the awards announcements on January 31, 2012.)

Why are they announced here first? The daily announcements reach a larger audience far faster by way of social media than in print media. This blog also offers an interactive element between whisky enthusiasts, industry personnel, and press. Previous year’s postings prompted a lot of discussion and I’m certain that will continue with this year’s award announcements.

Beginning February 1st, visit this blog daily to read the award winner, the magazine write-up, and the comments that follow. The dates the award winners will be announced are as follows:

February 1st: Artisan Whisky of the Year (North America)

February 2nd: American Whisky of the Year

February 3rd: Canadian Whisky of the Year

February 4th: Irish Whiskey of the Year

February 5th: Japanese Whisky of the Year

February 6th: New World Whisky of the Year

February 7th: Blended/Blended Malt Scotch Whisky of the Year

February 8th: Speyside Single Malt of the Year

February 9th: Islay Single Malt of the Year

February 10th: Highlands Single Malt of the Year

February 11th: Lowlands/Campbeltown Single Malt of the Year

February 12th: Distillery of the Year

February 13th: Lifetime Achievement Award

Category: Administrative,Awards,Whisky Advocate Magazine Tags: 8 Comments

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