Suntory Yamazaki to debut 1984 Single Malt Whisky

For the first time ever, Suntory will be selling a vintage single malt in the U.S. It’s a 1984 vintage, and it will be available here in October. I have a sample and will be posting up my review shortly. The press release, along with a nice background on Japanese…

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New Glenfiddich 50 year old

At $16,000 for a bottle, it’s a little out of my price range. I’ll see if I can twist some arms and get a sample. If I do, I’ll let you know my thoughts. I think there was a press event in the UK, maybe someone has tasted it over there and can chime in here…

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The new Kilkerran and the new Hazelburn

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Big Brother: Yamazaki 1984

I am ashamed to say that I have been slow with my coverage of the Yamazaki 1984. Shame is not too strong a word because I am convinced this whisky is destined to win some very big plaudits indeed. My only excuse is that I am in the final stages of writing my book about Japan…

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Malt Mission 2009 #357

Ardbeg 17yoIslay Single Malt Whisky 43% abv$£ variableArdbeg 17yo was a whisky revered by whisky lovers everywhere, a phenomenon that only increased when it was discontinued. Subsequent releases have satisfied the mourners, but Ardbeg 17 remains a malt martyr.Have a bottle? Don't open it! I found a few of these bottles for their original prices (in USD) when I first moved over here. I now notice that The Whisky Exchange is asking £200 for a bottle. Wow. Our bottles will taste even better knowing that they are worth over 5 times what I paid for them. Cheers to that!For all more distillery info or to see all Ardbeg had on the Malt Mission, click HERE.TASTING NOTES:Soft and seaweedy, a vanilla and malt interplay that reminds of oatmeal cookies. Cereal notes with boiled kale and smoked gouda.Soft again, sweet and oily. Some banana and applesauce before a dark and heavy weight of peat upon swallowing. Brightens up with some lemon but all the while maintaining that gentle rumble of peat smoke. Shorter finish than might be expected but typical Ardbeg length with that unique peatiness sticking around for ages.SUMMARY:Toronto Islands (Centre Island, to be precise), south shore. Most readers will not get that reference, but this Ardbeg is like finding a secluded spot near the city to enjoy the sunset not quite in silence, but seemingly so with the out-of-sight-out-of-mind phenomenon; you can still hear the hum of the metropolis but nothing you can see or smell or taste would indicate that it was, all the while, lurking behind you.Not the big bad Ardbeg one might imagine, but at no point NOT Ardbeg. Elegant, wonderful, beautifully restrained stuff.Malt Mission #356Malt Mission HOME Check out the original article.…

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Big Brother: Yamazaki 1984

Update: John Hansell also has a review of this up. He liked it too.I am ashamed to say that I have been slow with my coverage of the Yamazaki 1984. Shame is not too strong a word because I am convinced this whisky is destined to win some very big plaudits indeed. My only ex…

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Summary of Box Distillery whisky festival

I had the pleasure to visit the Box Distillery whisky festival this year.  Me and my girlfriends dad went to the festival that was about one hour drive from their home. The whole day ways a real treat and I had the chance to try both new and old whiskies.

History

Box distillery is a newly started whisky distillery based in northern part of Sweden. It’s about one hour drive from Härnösand and is lovely situated in Bjärtrå, Marieberg, close by the water. The distillery hasn’t started to produce anything yet but they have imported whisky to Sweden and branded it with the name Box Selected. The project has a close team with names as Anders Jonasson and the whisky legend, John McDougall. The distillery have now gained resources to start building and importing equipment.

The day

I first read abou…

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Elmer T. Lee is turning 90. Wish him a Happy Birthday!

For those of you who don’t know, Elmer T. Lee is  Master Distiller Emeritus of the Buffalo Trace Distillery, a true living legend, and man who has his own single barrel bourbon named after him.  He is turning 90 years old in a couple weeks. There will be a small b…

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Four old official Benriachs

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Summary of Box Distillery whisky festival

I had the plea­sure to visit the Box Dis­tillery whisky fes­ti­val this year.  Me and my girl­friends dad went to the fes­ti­val that was about one hour drive from their home. The whole day ways a real treat and I had the chance to try both new and old whiskies.

His­tory

Box dis­tillery is a newly started whisky dis­tillery based in north­ern part of Swe­den. It’s about one hour drive from Härnösand and is lovely sit­u­ated in Bjärtrå, Marieberg, close by the water. The dis­tillery hasn’t started to pro­duce any­thing yet but they have imported whisky to Swe­den and branded it with the name Box Selected. The project has a close team with names as Anders Jonas­son and the whisky leg­end, John McDougall. The dis­tillery have now gained resources to start build­ing and import­ing equipment.

The day

I first read about the fes­ti­val when me and my girl­friend came up the Härnösand on our  vaca­tion this year. I already knew about the dis­tillery but was not aware that there would be a whisky fes­ti­val. So I took my girl­friends dad with me to the fes­ti­val, great to have a dri­ver so I could try some new gems… The drive was about an hour from their home so it was not too long, I just got my GPS up and we where off. When we came to Bjärtrå, the fes­ti­val had just started and there where already quite a lot of folks there.

I read on their web­site after­wards that there was about three hun­dred peo­ple vis­it­ing the fes­ti­val so they must have been sat­is­fied. I signed up for a tour of the dis­tillery his­tory and the area around.

First we got some his­tory about the build­ing, an old elec­tric mill which laid beau­ti­ful by the river stream.

We walked to the place where and old fac­tory laid which pro­duced wooden boxes for Eng­land long time ago, this is where they have got their name, Box Distillery.

We then we went to see where they would take their water, their water source called ”Fru  Vibergs källa” which was just some hun­dred meters from the com­ing dis­tillery.  We also had a chance to try their water which tasted very well.

After the tour me and PO (my girl­friends dad) had a lunch, they had a restau­rant out­side the dis­tillery who grilled sand­wiched and other stuff. Great stuff. After­wards I talked to the own­ers and decided to get some shares in the com­pany. Just one lit­tle B post but still. Now I am a proud share owner of a dis­tillery in Swe­den. After­wards I read that the dis­tillery achieved the goal of sign­ing shares for a mil­lion SEK that day, and that there was about hun­dred new share owners.

As a share owner I and the oth­ers had access to their VIP lounge. There we got to lis­ten to Anders and John talk­ing about the dis­tillery, the plans and taste some really nice whiskies from Bow­more and Caol Ila.

After­wards there was a whisky tast­ing ses­sion which I had signed up for.  John and Anders talked again about the dis­tillery and about whisky in gen­eral. For about an hour we had a chance to taste four whiskies and have a really nice time. We sat in the upcom­ing dis­tillery build­ing, a big room with high in roof and large beau­ti­ful win­dows which you could see the water outside.

We got a chance to see the plans how it would be built and exe­cuted, excit­ing stuff. The tast­ing was real nice and fun, John is a great speaker and it was even easy to under­stand a Scott, hehe.

The whiskies

I had the plea­sure to try six dif­fer­ent whiskies dur­ing the day. Both really fine and high qual­ity, a char­ac­ter­is­tic for both Box dis­tillery and John McDougall.

Cao Ila 28yo

This gem was really really nice. The whisky is at 53% quite golden at the colour. Lots of taste of honey,  lots of flavour, smok­i­ness and pleas­ant sweatiness.

Long­morn, 1996

This piece has at first lit­tle aroma but the taste is full and broad taste of marzi­pan and vanilla. Quite light and golden at colour and is quite stingy in the cor­ner of one’s mouth. Lots of sweets, honey and choco­late. Could this be one of my new favourites?

Bow­more 8yo, 1999 Cask Sin­gle Malt

Has a good char­ac­ter for it’s age,with lovely smoke and peat. I think it really needs water to blos­som as it is has lots of per­cent, 61%, this must be one of the whisky which I have tried that has most alco­hol in it. Amaz­ing how good it works even with­out water! Quite oily and has a light colour, like hay. Bit­ter and sweet and fruiti­ness. John Mcdougall thinks it is well bal­anced with a good fin­ish and long aftertaste.

Box Vat­ted Malt

This is a vat­ting of ter­rific malt whiskies from the recog­nised dis­till­ing regions of Scot­land. Bot­tled at 47% it demon­strates all of the regional char­ac­ter­is­tics pulling them together in a mas­sively exhil­a­rat­ing mouth­feel. It has lots of tof­fee flavours, smoky and herby, pos­sess­ing a good big fin­ish and after­taste. Per­fect for pre din­ner and after din­ner drinking.

Tullibar­dine, 19yo, 1989

An extremely well rounded and devel­oped dram from the High­lands. Full of char­ac­ter and com­plex­ity at 57.2%. It’s a Refill sherry (Oloroso) and it’s peaty, noses also a lit­tle like scorched earth, is spicy and a tad dry. It has a lovely mouth feel and pos­sesses a huge fin­ish and a long lin­ger­ing after­taste of marzi­pan and almond.

The best of the day

I had a great day. Nice peo­ple with the same inter­ests. Inter­est­ing to hear about the dis­tillery, both the his­tory and the plans for the future. The tast­ings where fan­tas­tic and lots of fun to hear John talk. Hope­fully every­thing will go fine with their plans and that there will be a new fes­ti­val next year again.