Partly to celebrate St David’s Day today – but mostly because it was long overdue, Clutch and I decided to try the samples of Penderyn that the Welsh Whisky company had kindly sent us.

Nose:
Custard, vanilla, tangerine, honey-roasted peanuts, tiny touch of smoke.

Palate:
Flumps. Seriously: Flumps. Also, condensed milk, cream toffee… Penderyn is a dessert whisky.

Finish:
Very smooth, rounded, unassuming, a little astringent.

Verdict:
Quite quaffable, very enjoyable. A lovely dram that would welcome newcomers to the world of malts… and a lovely way to finish off St David’s Day.

Nauvo in the Turku archipelago

I’m across in Finland at the moment for a project based on The Kalevala. Luckily for me, I have a good friend, Tomas, who’s kindly putting me up during my stay, thus reducing the not-insubstantial cost of living whilst over here. He’s also responsible for some of the best photography I’ve seen, and having offered to document my trip, I thought it only fair that I bring some whisky over with me. Several bottles in fact.

Here’s what I arrived with:

Old Pulteney WK499
Talisker 57° North
Benriach Curiositas
Bunnahabhain 34 Year Old
Glenglassaugh 1973 Family Silver 25 Year Old
Isle Of Jura Paps The Sacred Mountain Barolo Cask Finish
Balvenie Single Barrel 15 Year Old

Admittedly, the last four on that list were small sample bottles, but as whisky is at a premium here, I was immediately popular in the Whitehouse household.

As we’ve been saving some of each back for Tomas’ girlfriend’s father, who’s a big whisky fan, we’d found it necessary to buy a couple of extra bottles; a Caol Ila 12 and an Ardbeg 10. The only place you’re permitted to buy wine and spirits (other than in a bar or restaurant) is the state run off-licence called Alko. The hike in price, for whatever reason be it import cost or tax, equates to roughly an extra tenner on a bottle, and in a bar a single of Laphroaig, for example, is a shade over seven quid. Make no mistake, Helsinki is an expensive place to be a malt lover.

However, the sub-zero temperatures almost demand a dram. Coupled with the sauna culture, where it’s de riguer to bake yourself to a crisp, then thrash about in freezing snow, no matter how much you drink, you do not experience the drunkeness that you’d expect with such consumption. I must make it clear, that the intention was never to get absolutely ratted, but that in visiting an old friend, you do end up having slightly more than your recommended units.

Whisky is something that should always be treated with respect, and I for one, shall be having an almighty detox upon my return home.

A warming dram in a cottage in Nauvo

But in the meantime, Sláinte!

My housemate came back from the Isle of Man, and brought back a bottle of Manx. At first glance, we thought it was new make spirit – whisky that’s not old enough to be called whisky (3 years), but then we looked into it properly and were surprised to learn that it’s not.

It’s something much stranger.

Manx is re-distilled.

They make whisky – proper whisky, aged properly – and then put it back in the stills for another go. The result is a colourless spirit that is a remarkably smooth, whisky-like drink.

There’s no colour to speak of at all. On the nose, it’s light and delicate. The palate is a little honeyed, but not sweet – and there’s a longish, warm finish.

An interesting dram to say the least, and one we were very pleasantly surprised with.

You can find Manx Spirit on the Isle of Man – or here at their website.

Slàinte mhath! A very Happy New Year to you all.

Although we’ve only just said farewell to last year, I’m going to ask you all to come on a journey with me back through time….

Cast your minds back to seven months ago, and some of you may recall that on the 12th June we staged a mammoth tasting of twelve blends. It was a great night, and although it may have taken us a while to collect our thoughts in the few days following, the feedback that we got showed that a lot of you out there welcomed the chance to get more acquainted with the vatted, the grain, and the blends.

So why the big delay in the blogging? Well, between us we’ve been incredibly busy over the last few months. Dubber’s been globetrotting away like there’s no tomorrow (Holland, Denmark, Canada, Germany, Belgium, India) whilst I have been thoroughly consumed by fatherhood and all that that entails. So I’m hoping that you can see your way to excusing us on these grounds….?

It being the time for resolutions, we’ve got it in our heads to do a power of blogging this year – and we’ve got some big things planned…

In the meantime, below are our tasting notes from “The Night Of The Twelve Blends”:

Whyte & Mackay Old Luxury 19 Year Old

Nose: sherry, almond, rope, butterscotch, almond, vanilla notes, oak
comes through also, redcurrant, guava, chocolate
Palate: interesting unexpected meaty note, toffee, treacle
Finish: raspberry jam, black pepper, more cocoa, a tiny bit of
salt, orange Chewits

Whyte & Mackay Supreme 22 Year Old

Nose: yacht varnish, acetone note – not unpleasant – giving way to loads of nuts, sherry, slight prickle in the nose, touch more smoke, and pepper, cream top note
Palate: Buttery smooth, floral and light, but also solidly nutty… Madeira cake
Finish: get a load of cocoa, carrot, green apple, rhubarb and vanilla custard

Pig’s Nose

Nose: Milk chews, pannetone, heather, vanilla
Palate: oranges, coconut, marshmallow, cheescake base
Finish: cereal notes, bread and butter pudding, lemon and lime, tamarillos

Sheep Dip

Nose: Sawn timber, raked leaves, oranges again
Palate: Tannin, barley sugars, more citrus, wet cardboard
Finish: Woody, medium length, nutty, slight sherry tone, pistachio, quinine

Black Bottle

Nose: smoke
Palate: leather, brine, smoke, tar, charcoal
Finish: long, Smoke, a touch of chili and chocolate…

Monkey Shoulder

Nose: banana
Palate: honey, heather, gooseberry, cereal
Finish: short – more banana, pineapple – astringent – unremarkable (but quaffable).

Compass Box Oak Cross

Nose: Fresh mint, ginger, cloves, honey, toast, cinnamon, grapes and floral notes. Warm & friendly.
Palate: Soft, grassy, fresh and pleasant. Pine and fruit.
Finish: vanilla, vanilla, vanilla. Overwhelming oak – in a good way. Very enjoyable and approachable.

Compass Box Asyla

Nose: Lemon, Pineapple – fruit salad, custard creams. Very light.
Palate: cereal, cream, vanilla.
Finish: smooth, medium, short, meaty note.

Compass Box Flaming Heart

Nose: prickly, leather, vanilla, a touch of peat smoke. Vanilla really comes through because of the new oak. Root beer.
Palate: Beautiful mix of smoke and wood. Horseradish, apple, licorice…
Finish: menthol, wood smoke again, pepper, extremely long finish. Really amazingly good. We like this one a lot.

Compass Box Hedonism

Nose: colour is very pale, nose is very light. Macaroons, chocolate box, grassy notes…
Palate: Vanilla ice cream, strawberry, butterscotch – touch of pepper, a little almond. Really impressive stuff.
Finish: Meringue, floral soap, long…

Compass Box Peat Monster

Nose: TCP, surgical spirit, charcoal, brine, pepper, honey & vanilla.
Palate: smoke, seaweed, barbeque, chili, malt, cereal notes, treacle toffee… Rolos.
Finish: brine, cocoa, sherbet, smoke, lengthy finish.

Compass Box Peat Monster Reserve

Nose: liniment, celery salt, smoke, tar, rubber, cream, cereal, burnt
toast, acetone.
Palate: boiled sweets, cocoa, seaweed, black pepper, a meaty note.
Finish: salt, honey, tarry smoke, hazelnut, coffee, long.

To sum up, we were heartily in favour of all things Compass Box, in particular their Flaming Heart, and all we can do is marvel at the quality of the casks John Glaser and his team have managed to get their hands on. Very impressive stuff. Of course, Whyte and Mackay are old hands at choosing the right components for their drams. Mr Paterson and co have a couple of winners on their hands with Old Luxury and the Supreme bottlings.

If you get the chance, check out the others also; Spencerfield’s Pig’s Nose and Sheep Dip are great, and should be supported for their independence alone, something that’s worth championing for it’s own merit sometimes, but especially when concerning whisky!

Hi – Compliments of the season and all that.

We’ve been having a bit of a hiatus from the online whisky tastings for a little while. I’ve been travelling rather a lot these last six months, and Clutch has been altogether too wrapped up in the whole new dadhood thing.

Plus, when we have been getting together, it’s simply been a case of a casual, unscheduled malt or two for a bit of a catch-up as and when. Tastings – even online ones – take a bit of organising. Something neither of us have had much opportunity for recently.

But even though we’re going to be in different parts of the country, we thought it would be a shame to let Hogmanay (that’s New Year to you) go past without getting online with the whiskies we picked up for Christmas, share a few stories and hear what you’ve been enjoying over this festive season.

Twhisky: 10PM GMT 1/1/2010
Of course, we realise you’re busy tonight, and will be spending much of tomorrow taking it easy – so we’ve scheduled a late one tomorrow, the first day of the new decade, for a Twhisky tasting – 10pm GMT.

We’ve chosen the later time mostly with respect for our American friends for whom it will still only be the middle of the afternoon, but it also gives those of us in the UK time zone a chance to get a good meal in, sit back and relax – and warm ourselves for a nightcap.

I’m at home in Birmingham, and Clutch is snowed in, up in the heart of Speyside – so we’ll be toasting each other’s health at a distance, and the magic of the internet will make that possible. We’d love you to join in on a seasonal dram with us.

We have a few special malts that we’re going to be tasting, but mostly we want to hear from you. How have you been spending your holiday, what did you get for Christmas – and most importantly, what’s the nose, palate and finish like on it?

To join in, follow us on Twitter here. Look forward to chatting then. In the meantime, have a happy and safe New Year’s.

Another tale of European travel.

I was in Genoa in the northern part of Italy a week or so back, and as is my way, I decided to go looking for a single malt. To my delight, it seemed that every bar in town had a genuine Scottish single malt whisky.

To my dismay, they all carried the same single malt whisky, it was cheap, abundant, a mere 5 years old – and not one I’d encountered in Britain.

I was a little surprised to find it somewhat unremarkable. I thought it’d be downright awful. Still – it was 2am, I was hanging out with musicians, I didn’t know the Italian for “no ice, please”, and they were pouring generous measures. I was delighted to find a single malt at all – not least of which one that was perfectly palatable.

And when I say generous measures, we’re talking easily 150ml. With a handful of icecubes on top of that, we were more or less filling the tumbler.

As the reviews mention – it’s fairly insubstantial. Not unpleasant by any stretch of the imagination – but a quaffable malt.

And for some reason, you can be pretty much assured that you’ll find it in any bar you walk into in Northern Italy. But personally – I recommend Mario’s Bar.

Apart from the big, prominent TV, the bar is incredibly relaxing. Mario himself is friendly and generous – and will recognise you and talk to you at length whenever you go back there.

He’ll only talk to you at lenght in Italian of course, so I’d just smile and nod whenever he did that – but it’s all enthusiasm, beaming smiles and welcoming gestures from him, so that’s good enough for me.

I’m sure that bottle in the picture was full when we arrived…

I’ve been doing a little travel lately, and have found myself in some interesting places. And while the travel itself wasn’t whisky-related specifically, I did take it upon myself to at least inject a bit of a whisky theme into the proceedings.

I was in the North of Holland doing some (un)consultancy and was taken out to dinner in Leeuwarden by my hosts. I thought I’d check the wine list to see if there were any interesting drams to be found – and sure enough, Frysk Hynder was on the list.

It’s the only Frisian single malt there is, and production numbers are small – as low as 77 bottles a day. The lid has a distinctive horse statuette sticking out of it, so it’s hard to miss if you do ever encounter it – and there is glassware specifically made for it.

Frysk Hynder is young – so young, in fact, that it can only just legally be called whisky. It’s 3 years and one month old, judging by the hand-written information on the label.

And yet it was really smooth. Heathery, a little honey – and a very light body. Sounds like I was lucky. The general consensus seems to be that it’s usually pretty awful – but the variation on that is enormous.

Personally, I liked it – and next time I’m in Groningen I’ll pick up a bottle. I was pleasantly surprised, and more or less delighted that (at that age) it wasn’t downright paint-strippery.

So, the paternal readership of this will probably be curled up on the sofa with the Sunday papers and a dram in their hand… Doesn’t get much better than that really, eh?

But wait…. Yes it does!

We’ve just been alerted by the lovely people at Jura Distillery, that they’re offering a trip for two to Jura Lodge.

Yes, you too can re-enact the shambolic happenings that we forced the patient locals to endure – or, perhaps you can behave in an altogether more civilized fashion, and restore their faith in humanity…?

Regardless of your course of action, we guarantee that you’ll have a wonderful time amidst some of the most bewitching scenery Scotland has to offer.

There will also be some pretty spectacular whisky involved.

To enter, all you need to do is check out the official blurb:

“Stories, myths and folklore abound on Jura. To sample its idiosyncratic delights first hand we’d like to hear one about you and your father. In 300 words or less weave a tale that involves the pair of you, a little luck and perhaps some Jura. That done and you could be the very fortunate recipient of a stay in the eclectic and unforgettable Jura Lodge on the island itself. It’s a place like no other on an island like no other.”

So get typing, entitle your email “Father’s Day Tale”, and send it to info@isleofjura.com before the 1st August 2009, and if you win, you have to take me. That’s in the rules.*

*It’s not actually in the rules…

Richard’s worked with Bruichladdich, Tamnavulin, Tullibardine and Tomintoul, and now heads up the selection process for what goes into the finest blends in the Whyte & Mackay portfolio, and also cask selection for the single malts of Isle of Jura, Dalmore and Old Fettercairn.

This is a great chance to ask someone with true industry expertise any burning questions you have about the blending or cask selection process.

Richard Paterson will be joining us from 8:30pm GMT online, so make sure you’re there…

You’ll find all the action under the usual hashtag, #twhisky.

We’ve all done it; thinking we know best and turning our noses up at the proffered dram from a bottle that says BLEND on it. But there’s more to it than that.

Vatted, Malt, Blend, Grain – the distinctions will be made, compared and contrasted, and hopefully explained. We’re out to investigate these fickle beasties properly this time, without the aid of cola or Canada Dry, and I already know that there are some that would give even the pricier single malts a run for their money.

As ever, we’ll be tweeting live, going through the tried and tested format of nose/palate/finish under the #twhisky hashtag, so spread the word (and the cost – if you rope a couple of mates in…) and get your weekend off to a sociable start, with a wee bit of knowledge and a couple of opinions thrown in for good measure…

Here are the candidates (you’re bound to be able to lay your hands on at least one of these!):

Whyte & Mackay Old Luxury 19 Year Old
Whyte & Mackay Supreme 22 Year Old
Monkey Shoulder
Pig’s Nose
Sheep Dip
Compass Box Peat Monster
Compass Box Peat Monster Reserve
Compass Box Flaming Heart
Compass Box Asyla
Compass Box Hedonism
Compass Box Oak Cross
Black Bottle

There may be more. There may be special guests.

Look forward to seeing you on the internets.