Tastes

Nose: Sandalwood, vanilla, caramel, coconut. Palate: Sweet arrival with mild malt, cereal and orchard fruit. Some Demerara sugar and light pepper as it develops. The texture is good. Finish: Medium. Fruity and lightly spicy, sweet aftertaste. A more than acceptable but straightforward malt from this dependable distillery. Phoenix Rising is matured in refill bourbon before receiving a finish in charred virgin oak casks, which is a first for Glen Moray. It is a NAS with no clue as to its age but I’d guess it is around 6 or 7 years old, and very likely a blending of multiple ages and stages of maturation. It is an uncomplicated malt but what it lacks in complexity is made up for by the verve and quality of its profile. It is, simply, well made whisky for general consumption and the price is very reasonable. Water does it no favours, however. It is bottled at minimum legal strength and falls apart with more than a couple of drops. Over dilution kills the nose stone dead and brings out sourness so I’d recommend taking this one neat. Tasted at the distillery. “Above Average” : 81/100 (3 stars)

Nose: Vanilla, honey, spring flowers, fresh bread, tropical fruit, barley, fresh earth and leather. Adding water does little to the nose. Palate: Barley sugar, orange oil, some slightly bitter honey (or maybe it’s thin molasses?), sourdough bread. With water a lot of bready ale-like notes emerge along with some ginger and clove spices. The mid palate gains depth with malt extract being evident and a sort of grippy orange flavour. The texture is creamy. Finish: Medium. Cereal and malt trailing to a gritty semi-sweet finale. A very enjoyable teenage Linkwood, just a year older than the OB 12 year old and very much in the same ballpark, just more intense and carrying more alcohol. The 12 year old’s bossy older brother. The longer this sat and opened in the glass the better it became, and a small dash of water opened it perfectly. This was a distillery-only dram drawn from a cask of Linkwood matured at Cardhu distillery (and supplied to Linkwood in an unlabelled Cardhu bottle!). “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

Nose: Grass, vanilla, lime, honey, lots of stewed black tea. With water there is diluted honey and tropical fruit salad from a tin. Palate: Very grassy and herbal, pine resin, honey-water, bitter orange marmalade, and with water there is some oak tannin and tropical fruit. The texture is good but not remarkable. Finish: Medium. Honey, fruit and vanilla. A slightly off-kilter malt for me, but it was well-liked at the tasting. It was very tight when neat but just a drop of water seemed to over-dilute it. Maybe it needed a longer time to recompose than I could give it but I thought the distillate and the wood were fighting and there was definitely a sour note that became bitter and intrusive with water. At the same time there was little indication of sherry influence. Still, a nice Linkwood, but certainly not the best I’ve had and frankly not up to the quality level of the OB Flora and Fauna 12 year old. Not available for sale, this was a distillery exclusive tasting. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)

Nose: Cereal, banana, slightly beer-like but delicately floral (distant rose and jonquil). Palate: Semi-sweet, malty, oily and lip-puckering at cask strength but without any sulphurous flavours. Sweeter, softer and oilier when diluted. Finish: Medium. Cereal fading to malt. Not as sweet as some other Scottish new-make I have tasted and with a slightly ale-like flavour. Tasted at cask-filling strength this was a little “hard” but when reduced it gained softness. Like all barley spirit it reminds me of genever, but not one I would particularly want to enjoy neat. The fragrant notes on the nose of this new-make are quintessentially Glenfarclas and they show up in every expression, even the very old caskings. I rate new-make spirit according to how well I think it works as a mixing base, which seems the only valid way to me. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Nose: Grass, banana, cereal, porridge, mint, ethanol. Palate: Sweet, oily and intense when neat from the still with a lip-tingling alcohol burn. No sourness. Much sweeter when diluted. Finish: Moderately long. Cereal fading to slightly off fruit. A standard Scottish new-make profile, although sweeter than some others I have tasted. Off the still this is too intense to enjoy but when tempered down to 40%abv or so it is eminently drinkable. In fact at that strength it is similar to jonge genever, and could easily be used in cocktails. I tasted the sample I took away neat, slightly diluted, and as a mixer with tonic water and it was delicious. It is fascinating how the grassy, tropical notes you notice on this are still present when it has matured into whisky, and particularly how some caskings can even enhance those qualities. Rating new make spirit is questionable because it can mutate dramatically through maturation. Glenfarclas, for example, is not particularly attractive as new make but once it has spent enough time in sherry wood it completely transforms. However this is very pleasant right off the bat. I rate them according to how well they work as reduced spirits for mixing. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)

Nose: Light and grassy, white grape juice, vanilla, pear. There is a sweet but somehow savoury tropical aroma but it’s not heavy like mango or banana. I think pineapple bubblegum is the best way I can describe it, but it’s a furtive aroma. Palate: Sweet but light and crisp like a chilled white wine and there are vanilla, malt, beeswax and lychee flavours as well. A little mixed tropical fruit shows through but less than I remember from previous batches. The texture is waxy and creamy, and a touch oily. Finish: Medium. Cold black tea, pineapple bubblegum again and lychee as the finale. A very pleasant style of whisky. Linkwood is always crisp and grassy and the tropical notes are always there regardless of the casking, but this expression does seem a little more conservative than previous batches. It’s a sweet whisky but crisp, and a great summertime dram. Tasted at the distillery from a 2024 batch. “Good” 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Nose; Raisins, malted honey, marzipan, a curious smidge of smokiness no doubt coming from the rum casks. Water makes the nose a little more fragrant. Palate: Sweet and soft arrival, very easy and approachable. Demerara sugar opening onto toffee and chocolate covered raisins. A light spice note of ginger and clove, and a mild coffee presence but it is all very soft. The texture is light but there is an oily quality. Water turns the texture creamy, which is pleasant, and it also opens the palate by bringing out more sugars but I did not detect much rum character. If adding water don’t add more than a half teaspoon to a dram as this is only 40% abv. Finish: Short. Sweet malt fading to cereal. The rum cask influence on this extremely approachable malt is subtle. The distillate speaks clearly of its Glenfiddich origin and the wood has not been allowed to overtake the proceedings. There is no tannin whatsoever. Glenfiddich does not garner love from hard-core enthusiasts, which is a pity. It may lack the intense character and complexity of some whiskies but I can honestly say that I’ve never had a Glenfiddich that I’ve actively disliked. They can be very good but for me they don’t ever rise to a sublime level. However the two biggest things against this dram are the cost and the measly alcohol level. AUD$275 is the best local price I’ve seen and for that money there are other bottles I’d rather buy, and crippling a nice whisky like this by bottling it at only 40% is criminal. If it was 46% (preferably) or even 43% it would be substantially more impressive and much better value. Tasted at the Glenfiddich Whisky Lounge, from a 2024 batch bottle. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Nose: Enormous, full-bodied and enveloping velvet curtains of rum-soaked raisins, butterscotch sauce, honeycomb, golden syrup and cherry liqueur. There is just a touch of fragrant tobacco, opulent leather jacket and cinnamon brioche, and over time it gets bigger and softer. With patience you will eventually smell sandalwood and cedar. One of the best whisky noses I’ve experienced. 96/100. Palate: Intense arrival balancing exotic spices, nuts (with bitter skins on), and fruits preserved in armagnac. There is a rising dry note that surges towards peppery astringency as the ancient tannins threaten to take over, but suddenly this subsides into an enjoyable buzz that gradually becomes quite sweet and uncannily like Christmas pudding. There is not a trace of the alcohol presence and I feel no desire at all to add water. 90/100 Finish: Long. Very, very long. A fine mild cigar with a cup of sweet, slightly over-brewed Keemun tea and a pistachio baklava. 92/100. This review is based on a bottle of batch 2 of this whisky, the bottle code being 12/09/22 220257. it’s a magnificent thing that like all really great whiskies deserves an entire chapter of a book to describe its prowess. As I sit here with the last sip or two in my glass it is still evolving. This is a drama, not just a dram. Tasted at the distillery. “Truly Outstanding” : 90/100 (5 stars)

Nose: Orange juice, apple juice, apricot, beeswax, turmeric, old leather-bound books in a waxed bookshelf, cedar wood cigar box, fragrant unburnt pipe tobacco. Over time you notice a smoky or ashen note but this is not a peated whisky and the fragrance is of old, old wood char. With water the nose explodes with orange oils. Palate: Crisp dry arrival that is way more like fino sherry than oloroso, and somewhat unexpected given the nose. The flavours match the aroma in lightness of character but not in sweetness. Orange marmalade, roasted almonds with the skins on, wood resin, bitter dark chocolate. The texture is good and just slightly oily. Water makes the palate very soft and approachable. Finish: Medium. Peanut skins, old oak, dry sherry. A very fine old whisky that avoids the pitfall of a heavy oloroso sherry character. It is light, crisp and completely unlike anything currently made by Benromach (this dates from the era prior to Gordon & Macphail’s resurrection of the distillery and the use of lightly peated malt). It is also unlike just about every other 30+ year single malt I have tasted. I went to the distillery and did their “Heritage” tour specifically because I knew that this whisky was on offer as part of the after-tour tasting. I was expecting a lot, and was not disappointed. Highly recommend if you have absurdly deep pockets. Otherwise take a few days off, fly to Speyside and taste a dram at the distillery. It will cost about the same, probably less. “Excellent” : 89/100 (4.75 stars)

Speyburn Distillery post-tour masterclass, 2nd May 2024, whisky #2 Nose: Herbal, grassy, leafy, stewed black tea, wet wood, dates, mustard and treacle. It’s a hefty and “determined” nose. Palate: The arrival is sweeter than you might expect but it turns dry in the later palate as walnut skins, dark chocolate, orange marmalade and other sweet but simultaneously bitter flavours dominate. There are vanilla, raisins and Christmas cake spices as well which balance the palate. The texture is full but surprisingly not heavy. Finish: Long. Dark fruits and oily roasted nuts with a spicy and tannic edge. Very different to the OB 10 year old which is sweet, fruity and drenched in vanilla. This expression has a grippy sherry oak finish which adds cocoa, tannin and walnut skin characteristics in addition to dark fruits. It was also greatly improved by generous dilution (in my opinion) which balanced out the dry characteristics with dark sugars. It was very popular at the tasting session but although it has lots of character and is excellently made it did not particularly appeal to me (I preferred the 10 and 18 year expressions). It was somewhat reminiscent of Glenfarclas 15 which is a good thing, but then again that whisky is my least favourite Glenfarclas. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars)