Bladnoch is dead?

Sad stuff, in many ways. Can't be good for Whiskybroker, either, I would think.

Someone buys all the casks, for sure, but does someone want the distillery?


from Spirits Journal:

What's our plan for today? Well, things have changed a bit. I haven't seen any mention of it online, but Bladnoch distillery is no longer in the hands of the Armstrong brothers. I heard from both Raymond and Colin on Friday and they've allowed a liquidator to come in and take control of the company. We were set for our appointment Tuesday to select new casks, but we're not sure if the new director is on board with the idea yet. That remains up in the air at the moment.


update: (long live Bladnoch?)

from here, via here

Hi P77 the distillery and other assets are entirely in the hands of the receiver. I have no more knowledge than you but it is highly probable that it will be sold as a going concern. Raymond 

Review #70: Isle of Jura 23yr 1989/2013, "Heavily Peated," 46%, Van Wees/Ultimate, ex-bourbon, C#30713, 230 bottles

another one like the last one?

after this one appeared, much to my liking, some similar ones seemed to pop up here and there: heavily peated Juras from 1989. This one, in fact, like the Signatory, was distilled on 17 December, so it's safe to say they're from the same run.

this one, unfortunately, is proofed down to 46% -- like most of "The Ultimate" bottlings, but here's hoping it's otherwise a twin to the Signatory.

nose: some sweet orchard fruit on top of an oily/coastal base. Where's the "heavy peat"? I sense a little black smoke, but nothing like the phenols and licorice and tar of the other one. The fruit (dessert apples and peaches) is a nice surprise, along with some white chocolate, and the coastal elements are there (brine-soaked rocks and sardines), but no peat.

palate: sweet at first -- more apples and peaches, and then charred oak takes over. A little too drying, but the fruit holds up well.

finish: maybe a little dry ashy peat on the finish? Some licorice? But I'm really looking for it. Otherwise more of the same: fruit, coastal oiliness, dry oak.


This is a nice fruity dram, which complements the Jura oiliness well. If there's any peat, it helps the oak hold up the body, but in any case, this is completely different from the other one. Very good in its own right, though.

score: 87

Review #69: Auchroisk 22yr 1990/2013, Whisky-Fässle, 49.8% abv, sherry cask

how is this pronounced anyway?

I've done some research, and I think it's "oth-ROOOSK." Reviews of some independent botttlings have popped up recently, but not this one, I think.

Nose starts off solventy, and stays a little grassy-varnishy. Some interesting spices -- cinnamon and anise -- mixed with soup stock, and some creamy orange. Pepper and oak. Some wet rocks and dusty old library books. The individual notes are faint against the malty-woody-grassy-fruit, which is fortunate after all. (Spicy creamy orange soup stock would be terrible.) It becomes more candied over time -- honey and almonds. (It takes a while.)

Wow, the palate has a much more mentholated/tonic feel to it than I expected. Otherwise it's pleasantly sweet and oily, starting on candied fruit and ending up sort of meaty. Finish is nice, but a little more mentholated than I'd like.

This is nice. Whatever sherry influence there is/was gives it complexity instead of big flavors, and that complexity is well-integrated with the malt.


score: 86

Review #68: Mortlach 22yrs 1989/2011, Kintra, 47.9% abv, ex-bourbon hogshead, C#2379, 45 bottles

another Mortlach, from a leaky cask

This one didn't produce too many bottles. Maybe that's why the OB's are going to cost so much.

I probably should find an ex-sherry one to look for the full meatiness, but this one was handy.

nose: fairly nondescript. maltiness and malt sugars give way to some creamy fruit (pears and cherries) and hay. a little pepper. it's pleasant but unremarkable. after ten minutes charred oak and dried herbs -- a little skunky -- come out. The fruit is nice

palate: oily. same pleasant fruit. the grassiness is a little sharp, but ok.

finish: wow, skunky. sure, the malty fruit is there, and hangs around for a while, but the skunkiness makes itself known on the finish.

I kindof like #67 better: it seemed a little rougher around the edges, but for me that mixed well with the perfume and the stale cigarettes. This one is smoother, but I'm surprised it's older.

Close enough, though; same score.

score: 83

where the special releases go?

that's Cognac, I think, next to the Cristal, but I assume the Brora and the Laga are in the bubble wrap.

review #67: Mortlach 1995/2012, A. D. Rattray, 49.1%, ex-bourbon hogshead, C#2437, 276 bottles

in celebration of new spending opportunities

Apparently there will be some new official bottlings of Mortlach soon. The bottles are pretty. I won't be buying any, however -- not that they'd sell to me, anyway.

Here's one that's about 18 yrs old -- so it would cost about $450 for a 750ml bottle at the official rates. I suppose they must be picking casks from a pretty good selection for the OB.

nose: a little odd -- curiously young and old, and conventional and unusual at the same time. So: malty and even a little beery, then stale cigarettes, then some sweet orchard fruit (Asian pears, I think), a little vanilla, wood smoke, new carpet, cherry cream cheese cake. It takes a while to open up, but gradually becomes more perfumed, albeit with wood smoke still in front.

palate: malty, sweet, and a little phenolic

finish: weird! stale cigarettes and vanilla, very clearly, and maybe a little poached pair.

It's hard to get a measure on this, but I think I'll settle on: conventionally pleasant, but with an interesting twist.

score: 83

Review #66: Old Pulteney 21yr, 46%, OB

award winner

This won the special Whisky Bible prize a couple years ago, so I guess I'm late in getting around to it. It's bound to be disappointing, of course, but I like their bottles.

I believe this is an outlier in the Whisky Bible sweepstakes: it's the only Thai-owned distillery to win, and one of the few more or less standard bottlings. (I think it's more or less disappeared, though, even if it's not strictly a limited edition.) I looked at the old winners, and it looks like there are some patterns. It should be an exclusive bottling, but not too exclusive that no one who buys the book can possibly get it. (No single casks, obvs!) It should be from LVMH or Buffalo Trace, or, if it really has to be, from Pernod Ricard. It should be available in all the markets that the book sells in. (So no Kavalan, for now.) Given the recent polemic against sherry casks, I'm thinking it should be wine-finished at all, at least not without a really story about exemplary security measures against sulfur. Without a wine-finish gimmick, it'll need a wood-based gimmick or an overproof gimmick I think. It should cost about 100+/-30 bucks. And it should be worth 97.5 points. So I think I'm now in a position to predict the next couple of winners:
2014: Ardbeg Auriverdes, 97.5
2015: William Larue Weller, 97.5
By 2016 all whisky will cost so much that Evan Williams or Wild Turkey will have to win. If we're lucky.

but back to the review ...

Nose is surprisingly sweet and rich. I was expecting some smoke, some seawater, and bourbon cask flavors. It's all those things, but better -- everything's become honeyed, floral, and nutty -- it smells like a well-aged whisky. The fruit really comes through: peach pie filling and some spicy pear compote. Marshmallows, coconut, a little paint thinner, wet hay, and vanilla toffee. Oak.

Palate is nicely balanced between creamy/oily and slightly bitter smoke.

Finish is curiously sweet and oily -- tongue-coating. It's so sweet it might be off-putting, but I think it might be fairly bitter from the oak and smoke otherwise, so it all works out. Some salinity comes back, too. The finish really, really lasts, too. With the oak maybe a little too long.

This is a nice whisky -- better than I expected. The flavor profile doesn't really stand out -- it seems like it could be just as well another bottling from another distillery -- but back when you could buy it it would have been a good buy.

score: 88