Review #76: Auchentoshan 17yrs 1995/2013, whiskybroker, 53.5%, refill sherry hogshead, Cask # 657, 261 bottles

first 'Toshan

Probably the first Lowlander on tastingstuff. This one from whiskybroker.co.uk, which appears unaffected by the sale of Bladnoch, for all I know. It (the whisky, that is) looks sherried, and indeed it is.

nose: white and green fruit shine through for a split second, then raisiny and medicinal (aspirin, camphor) notes. it stays dry and grassy for a long time, but eventually some café crème and figs show up. a little cocoa powder. overcooked apple sauce and a tiny bit of sulfur. it's mostly pretty nondescript, though.

palate: sweeter than anticipated, but it comes with quite some sulfur burn. It wouldn't be that much, actually, but this spirit doesn't stand up to it.

finish: mild sherry fruit with a kind of ashy burn.


There's some good stuff in here, but this one isn't for me. Someone less sensitive to sulfur might find a bargain here, but I'll have to look for a better example of Auchentoshan.

score: 78

Review #75: Balmenach 24yrs 1988/2013, Van Wees (The Ultimate), 55.2%, Cask #2795, 252 bottles

three-quarter century

I've made it to 75 reviews. I'll try to make it to 1000, maybe. I'm hoping to know everything by 800 or so, though.

This is Balmenach, about which I know almost nothing. It is part of the Inver House group, which includes OP and Balblair, so I guess it's Thai owned. I think it mostly goes into blends; this page also says that they make gin. I mostly associate it with an overpriced bottle from Chieftain's that came out a few years ago. But I'm optimistic! This very whisky has been listed as a "hot seller" for a few weeks now.

nose: starts on juicy apples, but then takes on crunchy forest smells: moss, thatch, dried leaves, that sort of thing. a little yoghurt with lot of honey on top, some lemon, and then the inside of a barrel. the sweet fruit comes back, but with a lot of eucalyptus. somehow both familiar and strange.

palate: surprisingly sweet and oily. the eucalyptus and lemon and honey come marching back: it's a cough drop, a really good, slightly malty cough drop. it would be cloying, or numbingly harsh, or tart, if not for the combination -- that must be why they make the cough drops that way. it's not so much balanced as it is stable.

finish: more cough drop, a little wood. the fruit comes back a little once everything else dies down.

In the end I have to search myself to find bad things to say about it: the profile is simple, apart from the eucalyptus the flavors aren't that intense, it reminds me of a cough drop. it's still tasty and interesting, though.

score: 87

Review #74: Linkwood 16yr 1997/2013, C&S Dram Collection, 59.0%, C# 7186, ex-hogshead, 288 bottles

expecting to be pleasantly surprised ...

even though I'm expecting it. In my limited experience, Linkwood surprises on the upside, so I hope the streak continues, even as it becomes more difficult to do so.

This is from the C&S Dram collection, which I think is a German indy that uses other bottlers (in this case the Scottish Liqueur Center (or 'Centre', actually)) to do their bottling. I'm not sure who C or S is.

nose: very herbaceous. starts on dry hay but turns to green herbs and wildflowers -- yarrow, mullein -- and eventually turns sweet -- apples cooked in sweet cream butter.

palate: a little too much burn -- time to stand up a find a couple drops of water. The nose seems to become sharper and grassier with water. The palate becomes smoother, even if still aggressive -- apples and oak. It's a nice, rich, spicy apple, but not much else going on.

finish: long but somewhat drying.


I think there was good spirit here, but it never quite came into balance for me.

score: 81

Review #73: Knockdhu 18yr 1978/1996, Adelphi, 58.8%, Cask #1888, 638 bottles

also known as An Cnoc

This is from Knockdhu, which the distillery is still called, even though the OB's are now called An Cnoc, to avoid confusion with Knockando, I guess, because none of this is confusing. They've had some pretty labels in duty free, but haven't established much else of an identity yet, I don't think. They're an 80's whisky crisis distillery in Speyside that managed to re-open.

This one smells sherried -- although not too much so -- right out of the bottle, which makes sense given the output of 638 bottles at 58.8%

nose: it starts very grassy, actually, with a touch of smoke and aspirin, before it nicely turns into soft cider and raisins with a hint of marshmallow. all sorts of very subtle sherry notes in the background: dusty old leather, cocoa, honey ...

palate: nicely balanced between sweet and bitter, with a little saline nip, too. cider apples, vanilla, dried fruit, and cocoa. a little bit of a burn, too (58.8%1), but not particularly full bodied.

finish: longish, but the alcohol takes over where the fruit and spices leave off.  I should probably add water, but I like it fine like this.


This strikes me a nice, well-made, Speyside malt from a very good refill sherry butt. There's nothing spectacular here, but also nothing wrong. I really should add some water, but I like it a lot.

score: 85

Review #72: Lot No. 40 Single Copper Pot Still Canadian Rye Whisky, (Hiram Walker), 2012 release, 43% abv

I've heard about this one.

It was good to see this in stores. Of course, since this is upstate NY in 2014, I'm finding the 2012 release. That must be about right. Excited about this one -- I suspect there are a lot of good Canadian ryes that don't make it down here (Whistlepig excepted).

nose: take a while in the glass to open up. at first it's like nosing tree bark -- some pine, eucalyptus, and cinnamon, but mostly just tree. Rye bread. Could be a little leather and tobacco in there, too. Nettles. Then some spicy cinnamon and orange blossom comes in. But it's definitely more woody and medicinal than spicy and sweet.

drying palate. it's curious: it doesn't have a big extracted oak feeling, and it's not particularly bitter, but it feels very dry. otherwise, like sucking on shoe leather soaked in cherry cough syrup.

finish: drying and a little spicy, with a little vanilla at the end.


Suddenly I find myself in favor of blending. This is certainly a quality product, but I don't find it enjoyable in any particular way. It feels like an experiment, or a lesson, or an obligation.

score: 80

Review #71: Clynelish 14 yr 1998/2012, 49.5%, Maltbarn, ex-bourbon, 123 bottles

I had a cold.

Haven't reviewed anything for a long time -- I had a cold, and even after I recovered, nothing smelled quite right. (And there might have been some other things I fell behind on.)

So now I'm eager to get back to new (to me) whiskies. I'll start off with a Clynelish distilled in 1998. There have been a lot of amazing Clynelish from 1997. Let's hope '98 was as good.

nose: powerful orchard fruits -- apples and nectarines, along with something underripe or sour -- like quince or sour plums. a lot of white chocolate in the background, plus dried hay and light smoke. a nice floral note, too -- like alyssum or something.

palate: surprisingly rich -- white chocolate, with some beehive notes. the fruit's there too, somewhere, but I'm really amazed at the mouthfeel -- velvety and rich.

some oak comes in on the very long finish, but otherwise more of the same.

I wouldn't mind seeing the more typical Clynelish flavors -- or at least the ones that I associate with Clynelish -- but it has a sharp and distinctive nose and an amazing palate, esp. for its age. It might have been better with a few more years in the cask, but I guess they were down to 123 bottles already.

score: 87