Time to try some more single grain whiskies. I think that my last tasting of single grain whiskies proved to be somewhat of an eye opener, and I will not be surprised if there are some more winners in this tasting.
Caledonian 45yo 1965-2010 46.1% Clan Denny by Douglas Laing
Clan Denny is as far as I know a single grain only series by independent bottler Douglas Laing. Kinda pale for a 45yo, light orange hue. It smells vanilla, oak and polyester. Different unnatural fabric, different work clothes, polyester and acrylic. Weird and rather unpleasant. I have to add that this distillery were closed back in 1988 and there are as far as I'm aware of no official bottlings still around, and IB's are few and really far between. The taste is more bitter, again this rubbery, polyester notes, really weird, kind of reminds me of some younger Glen Scotia bottlings. It's not that its bad or anything, it just very short and very light, with some rubbery notes that I'm still not able to compare to those that are found in certain sherry bottlings. It has some nice rubber notes if such a thing exists.
Kind of boring and, well, unlikely for a whisky this age: 3
North British 26yo 1974-2000 50% Scott's Selection
I think that the founding of North British Distillery, britain's biggest Grain Distillery were over the years the demise for many other grain distilleries such as the aforementioned Caledonian Distillery. With a 1.25m liters capacity each week, it makes for enough grain whisky a year to satisfy the needs of many of the blends produced in Scotland altogether. But how is it when bottled single? The color is golden, the nose is licorice, spirity, oaky, vanilla, honey, diet milk, cardboard, turmeric, another grain that needs some "wood polish" to really shine. The taste is sour and bitter, lemon rind and herbal tea and some earthy notes. The aftertaste is sour fruity, grapefruit, kiwi juice, dark grapes.
A good palate, but not very interesting: 4
Cameronbridge 30yo 1979-2009 51.9% Duncan Taylor cask#3585 btl.114/206
The only Single Grain Distillery that has fetched a 8+score in my book is Cameronbridge. That were a dark sherried one, which is quite unusual for a grain as they're almost exclusively matured in bourbon casks. As is this one. Golden color. It smells thick, vanilla, butter, chocolate, pistachio, toffee, extremely well developed over its 30 years in #3585. The taste is thick and syrupy with an oaky and drying side that's perhaps needed in this one as it easily could get a bit too tame if lacking. It needs a bit of water I think. The taste is now more on the bittersweet and soapy side, I would not recommend adding water to this one, but I will score it only on the neat tasting.
A good one, seems Cameronbridge may be one of the most distinctive blends: 6
Carsebridge 28yo 54.7% James MacArthur's
From the Fine Grain Selection, another grain distillery that incidentally was a founded and operated as a single malt distillery, but later went on to producing single grain. I don't think I have seen to many distilleries going in the opposite direction. This is the darkest one so far, somewhere in between orange and brown hue. Probably from a sherry cask, but I couldn't say that for sure. The nose is rich and honeyed and spirity, the spirityness takes a leave after just a couple of minutes. More cinnamon, dried fruits, very good one. The taste is all on sweet cinnamon, honey, pineapple and green peppers. Sun-dried tomatoes alongside some bold and rich cinnamon, chilies, curry and sweet licorice. This one needs no water, it's just a perfectly smooth and sweet sherried whisky.
Beautiful stuff, one to be on the lookout for: 8.5
Lochside 31yo 1962-1994 Cadenhead's Single Grain
A rare single grain bottling from Lochside Distillery, a distillery that, when in business used to produce both single grain and single malt whisky. There's still two distilleries left that does this, Loch Lomond and Ben Nevis, but I think there's been a decade or two passing by since any grain spirit were produced at the Ben Nevis Distillery. Lochside has seen some of a revival since they closed, and perhaps this also will underline that the closure was a mistake. About the same color as the Carsebridge. The nose is spirity and foul, oaky and spirity, very much like paint thinner and nail polish remover. It is very spirity for such an old whisky. The taste is much better, again cinnamon, honey, leather, butter, burnt sugar, smoked ham, amazing, a really rich and mouth-filling grain whisky, although the nose prepared me for so much worse. The aftertaste is chili and gorgonzola, very dry.
Another one that makes me wonder why they closed this distillery down: 8
Ingen kommentarer:
Legg inn en kommentar