Yamazaki 10 yo, 40%

Another Suntory product in a glass. Yamazaki is Japan's first and oldest malt distillery. These Suntory bottlings are very hard to find nowadays, I bought this bottle many many years ago on a ferry from Denmark to Sweden.  

Color: Gold.

Nose: Grassy, vanilla, yellow ripe exotic fruits. Heavy honey notes. As I opened the bottle the first note on the nose was quite a strong aroma of Finnish wood glue (Eri keeper), but fortunately after a few hours that aroma had totally vanished. After an hour a whiff of demerara sugar emerges. I have to say that there are certain similarities with the Dalwhinnie 15 yo in this dram, maybe the grassy vanilla honey combo makes me think about it.

Palate: Sweet, spicy and fruity. Bitter oak and sweet honey. Orange marmalade. Light coffee notes towards the end. Mouthfeel is surprisingly strong at 40% - just wondering how great this could be at 46% or at cask strength.

Finish: Oak and soft spices.

Kudos to Yamazaki, a very well executed whisky, lovely stuff.

www.suntory.com/yamazaki

The Hakushu 12 yo, 43%.

Let’s start the new year 2022 in this blog with a whisky from Suntory’s mountain forest distillery Hakushu.

Hakushu means “white sand banks” named after the mineral deposits in the streams that feed the distillery. I believe that this fairly young Hakushu release is fully matured in American oak, please correct me if I’m wrong. 

Colour: Straw with a orange hue.

Nose: The nose is extremely green and grassy – superbly fresh indeed. Sniffing crushed dried mint from the palm of your hand. Also some bitter new oak & toasted oak with some minty fudge. There’s some peat smoke, but I must emphasize that the smokiness of this dram is not at all like the coastal Scottish smokiness, it is very gentle and well integrated. The green apples and pears bring Glenfiddich strongly to my mind, which is in my opinion always a pleasant thing. 

Palate: Spicy bitter oak. Citrus fruits with a mixture of herbs. Herbal ice tea. Yes, this is a very zesty and fresh dram. Warning to the sweet tooths out there, this is not in any way a sweet dram. Peat smoke is there and it’s bubbling under. Smoke is even more discreet on the palate than on the nose. Somehow this dram reminds me of some zesty bone dry Gewürztraminer white wines, perhaps due to some acidic apricot stone fruit notes. 

Finish: Quite short, notes of green tea and bitter oak.

Comments: Fresh and excellent aperitive for the spring. It is literally a verdant whisky as the Suntory’s slogan states. Great job from Japan.  

whisky.suntory.com

Ballantine’s Deluxe Scotch Whisky. 18 years old. Bottled in the 80’s. 43%

I found this miniature among another exciting miniatures in a tiny liquor store in Torremolinos Spain about 15 years ago. My first encounter with the Ballantine’s goes back to the golden 80’s when my brother shared a bottle of Ballantine’s 12 yo on our vacation in Benidorm Spain – as a teenager our goal was get drunk. As you can guess it all ended up in our hotel bathroom, talking to the toilet. Since that I haven’t touch Ballantine’s 12 yo, oh those fond memories.

Colour: Gold.  

Nose: Nice mellow aromas of oloroso sherry. A hint of crushed coriander seeds and curry powder. There is also some Highland peat in the mix. Malted barley & beef stock. Dark chocolate and vanilla extract. Very nicely balanced nose. 

Palate: Feels quite a bit stronger than 43% ABV. The palate follows the nose:  Nutty oloroso sherry. Middle part of the palate is quite spicy with nice nippy oak tannins. 90 % dark chocolate and cooling mint & cocoa powder. All in all, good strong balance.

Finish: Green oak, strong spicy minty notes.

Yeah, a fine old blend – From now on I will not avoid the Ballantine’s finest.

www.ballantines.com

Mortlach, Douglas Laing's Old Particular 12 years old. Distilled December 2002 and bottled February 2015. Refill Hogshead. Cask number DL 10696. Number of bottles: 348. 48.4 % Vol.

It was a beautiful day in May 2015 when I bought this bottle in the Whiskyshop Dufftown, just a stone’s throw away from the distillery itself where we had a stroll after shopping in the whisky shop. A dozen of blackbirds were singing in the distillery courtyard in the setting sun – Oh those were the days it’s almost painful how much I miss traveling…

Colour: Gold

Nose: Ok, let’s have a sniff. The first thing that hits you is a strong vanilla flavour, almost like an ice cream sensation.  Followed by waxy honeycomb and fizzy citrus. A pinch of dried red berries such as strawberry and red currant, especially strawberry jam comes to my mind. Well, that was not quite something that I was expecting from a dram from the beast of Dufftown. No beef stock, no sulphury notes, no meatiness, you know. This dram shows just how versatile and exciting fun single cask bottlings can be. 

Palate: Very nice thick and oily consistency, you can almost chew the dram. Starts with notes of salted butter and zesty lime. Nice sweet notes of Crème brûlée and Scottish fudge. Ahaa, now there’s Mortlach’s signature meatiness appearing – it’s funky in a discreet way, but it’s still there. No sulphur detected which is good news in this matter, don’t get me wrong, there is a time and a place for the sulphur in whisky. I just love the palate, it’s extremely palatable.

Finish: Scottish fudge and cooling mint.

As I said, quite a different Mortlach but terrific stuff anyways.

www.malts.com/mortlach

www.douglaslaing.com

Redbreast 15 yo, 46%, (matured in Bourbon and Oloroso sherry casks)

As it’s St.Patrick's day, I thinks it’s appropriate to have a dram from the Emerald Isles today. As the Redbreast is on of my absolute favorite Irish whiskey brands out there, it is a no brainer for me to pour a glass of something from the Redbreast range of the Midleton distillery. Almost every whisky connoissuer in the world is more than likely familiar with the 12 yo Redbreast, so I decided to go with the 15 yo version of the range.

Color: Pale copper.

Nose: Mint chocolate and nutty dry Oloroso. This is something rather different comparing to the 12 yo RB. The sherry character is kind of old-school type of sherry – it’s more nutty and leathery than for example the soaked raisins / sultana type of aroma which you’ll find in the 12 yo RB. The spicy potstill characteristic goes hand in hand with good quality toasted oak aromas. Great nose indeed. Oh! I almost forgot: a hint of Leprechaun. 

Nosing this dram reminds me a of one fond experience from past; A few years ago I paid a visit with my lovely wife to the Bushmills distillery in the Northern Ireland. In the distillery tour there was a chance to nose an empty cask which was earlier filled with 10 yo Bushmills whiskey, the cask has been emptied several years ago. The nose was as vibrant as the cask would have been emptied last week, it was amazing how the aromas were still so strong after being empty for all those years. The reason I’m telling this story is that the smell was quite close to this 15 yo Redbreast, except some sweetness.

Palate: Whisky fudge, brown sugar. Brown worn out leather jacket or should I say a shoe polish. A hint of liquorice in the middle. Sweet figs dusted with cocoa powder. Dried red berries such as cranberries.  Around the palate there is hovering this beautiful aromatic toasted oak scent which I think is the backbone to the whole experience here. 

Finish: Minty & tannic. Gets spicier towards the end.

I must say that you cannot go wrong with the Redbreast, it’s always a delight to sip a quality dram, no matter what. 

Lá Fhéile Pádraig sona duit!

www.jamesonwhiskey.com

Ben Nevis aged 20 years. Cadenhead’s (miniature). Vintage 1992, bottled 4/2012. Bourbon hogshead, 56,2%.

I bought this miniature in the Cadenhead’s whisky shop Berlin a few years back. An excellent shop, by the way – pay a visit if you’re visiting the neighbourhood.

Color: Straw.

Nose: Oh yes, very typical bourbon hogshead nose: Vanilla for sure and Walker’s shortbread (in case you didn’t know this shortbread factory is in Aberlour, Speyside). Fruits are yellow, apricots come first to my head.  I have to say that this is rather fierce stuff to nose as neat – so you have to be a little bit careful not to nose it too eagerly. After a while in the glass, dried apricots & strawberries pop up. With water, strawberry notes get stronger.

Palate: For some reason it brings some quality riesling white wines to my mind, I guess it’s the apricots and the acidity that make it happen. A selection of nuts, peeled almonds in the front.  The yellow stone fruits (apricots and yellow plums) make the whisky more mellow to the palate. White pepper, nippy oak with some ginger. 

Finish: Sour and nutty. As it develops it turns herbal – freshly crushed mint.

Summary: Quite average dram but still fairly enjoyable.  Summery whisky for the sunrises & sunsets.  

www.bennevisdistillery.com

www.cadenheads-whisky-shop-berlin.de/

www.walkersshortbread.com

Dailuaine aged 8 years. Hepburn’s Choice. Distilled in 2007. Bottled by Langside distillers. Single cask. 46 %

Let’s start the new year 2021 in this blog by a Speysider youngster. I bought this tiny bottle a couple of years ago in the Drinkmonger in Pitlochry Scotland just out of curiosity. 

Colour: Gold (the label of the bottle states not colored). 

Nose: Fruity with hint of smoke & wet cardboard. Some fresh pineapple and vanilla. Overall the nose is fairly green, it feels almost like a tequila in some sense, if you know what I mean.

Palate: Nice mouth-coating oily texture. Bittersweet with notes of ginger, mixed herbs, bourbon wood and ripe sweet mango. Hint of smoke and vanilla & dried spices - it is also a little bit metallic, especially in the finish. It’s funny that in the palate there’s also something that reminds me of tequila.

Finish: Grassy and slightly metallic. Short.

Verdict: Mediocre easy drinking stuff with no obvious faults. A summery dram for a holiday in Mexico. Vamos a la playa!

www.malts.com/dailuaine