Tastes

Repeat tasting: Octomore Series 15 Tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney. November 13, 2024. Whisky #2 The nose was more floral than I had remembered with greater orange blossom aromas, but the smoke note description from before is accurate (see below). The green vegetal notes I picked up previously reminded me this time round of linen cloth, which is interesting as both are common off-note aromas. Other than that the rest of my notes were the same although I did spend more time reducing the dram this time. I noted an absence of rubber or plastic on the watered nose and an overall improvement from reduction. I’m feeling generous so I’m increasing my rating by one percentage point. “Good” : 84/100 (3.75 stars) --------------------------------------------------- Octomore 14 Series Tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 21 February 2024. Whisky #3 Nose: Lemon juice, lemon curd, orange-blossom water, chalk-dust and a curious peat-reek that is mild but deep – like a huge bonfire that has burned out and then been rained on. Let’s call it “residual enormity”. Adding water brings out green vegetable water (boiled Brussels sprouts and asparagus but it’s only a mild vegetal quality) and also some sweet cotton-candy notes. Palate: A surprisingly soft and mildly peated arrival that gains some sharpness and an edge as it develops, with ashen citrus notes and brine coming forward as the dominant character. Adding water produces a herbal quality and makes the texture notably creamy. Finish: Medium/Long. Citrus, herbs, olives and grassy notes together with a lot of ash. A good Octomore - not one of the best I’ve tasted but better than some I’ve had in recent years. The “.1” expressions are always the most honest and revealing of the distillery character and that is certainly true here. However, it’s a little scalpel-sharp and glittering for my preference, with the citrus and an almost mescal-like sweetness battling for supremacy. It has a raw, untamed quality which is admirable, but not immediately likable. “Good” : 83/100 (3.5 stars)

Octomore 14 Series Tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 21 February 2024. Whisky #2 Nose: Freshly milled barley grist with a musky, vanilla aroma. A light touch of oak in the background but the cask is well contained. Not overly smoky, although some peatyness is present and this enlarges with the addition of a little water. On the dry glass a whiff of gunpowder is sensed, which is probably some sulphur from the fermentation finally showing through. Palate: A heavy, oily texture with peat-reek, stewed apricots and apples in the arrival. As it develops, chili spice, pepper and ginger appear to add complexity to the fruity, smoky profile and these are emphasised by a few drops of water. Dilution also changes the oily texture to a more creamy consistency. Finish: Medium/Long. Cereal and light smoke with wine-cask notes showing through in the aftertaste. Initially this was very tight but rest in the glass and a few drops of water opened it up nicely. I’d certainly recommend dilution as it is quite spirity when neat and there are some chemical, acetone notes apparent. This all resolves into a harmonious, smoky character when watered. PC8 Ar Dùthchas is a unicorn whisky nowadays, although you can still find it on the secondaries. The Oak Barrel generously provided a bottle for this tasting and there were even a couple of bottles available for sale, but at AUD$700 it was a pass for me. I certainly enjoyed this expression, and it was superior to the 2013 Islay Barley that opened the evening’s tasting, but in the end I had the impression that this 8 year old PC represents a snapshot of the distillery back when it was still finding its way. Great stuff, but they have since produced many equally good or superior whiskies. “Very Good” : 87/100 (4.25 stars)

Octomore 14 Series Tasting, The Oak Barrel, Sydney, 21 February 2024. Whisky #1 Nose: Fragrant, flowery peat with notes of honeysuckle, musk, rose, red grape juice and red fortified wine. With the addition of water the peat is more noticeable but despite the words “Heavily Peated” on the label this is a soft and demure Port Charlotte and nothing like the barbecue aromas of some other peated whiskies or earlier PCs. It’s definitely no peat monster … or at least it’s a charming monster with impeccable manners, in evening dress. Palate: The arrival immediately shows more peat than the nose and much less of the floral vinous presence. This is accompanied by lemon, ruby grapefruit and slightly tart orange. There is a shy barley sugar note along with brine and green olive in the later development, but this is balanced by a citric sweetness. The texture is good and oilier than it may first seem. Water brings out just a hint of sour peat and the texture becomes creamier. Finish: Medium/Long. Green vegetables and yellow citrus, trailing to brine and a puff of smoke in the aftertaste. A very fine start to the evening’s tasting. This is not a hugely complex Port Charlotte and it certainly seemed less prominently smoky than some past expressions, but you can’t argue with the fresh honesty of the profile. The wine influence is particularly subtle but I did notice a disconnect between the nose and palate which, together with a touch of unmistakable youth on the palate, made me deduct a couple of points. It is also not improved by the addition of water, which did nothing positive at all really, so I’d suggest taking this one neat. “Very Good” : 85/100 (4 stars)

Nose: Mild malted cereal with soft orchard and citrus fruits, a smidge of vanilla, honey and a suggestion of cask. There is an overall sweet quality to the nose, like dilute honey, and in general this is very mild and straightforward, but pleasant. It reminds me of smelling a fresh croissant with butter and a smear of honey. Over time as it rests in the glass the honey notes enlarge. Palate: Cereal with a good deal of sweetness – here it reminds me of porridge with white sugar. There are some citrus notes, again a dab of honey and just a pinch of ginger spice but these flavours are subtle. The texture is very pleasant with good weight but I would not go as far as calling it creamy or oily. Silky, maybe? Finish: Short. Un-toasted cereal flavours that fade quickly into a neutral aftertaste with residual sweetness. Aberfeldy 12 is arguably the ultimate easy-drinking scotch single malt, and its character is distinctly noticed in Dewar’s blended scotch, for which Aberfeldy provides most of the foundation. This is an utterly unchallenging and gentle dram, and almost kittenish in its adorable simplicity. However that should not be taken as a criticism. Aberfeldy (and this expression in particular) is hugely popular with good reason. It’s impossible to dislike the spirit or to fault the distillery for presenting such an honest, down-to-earth, approachable refill bourbon matured expression. The price has been rising steadily in our market – not long ago this was only $60 – so it’s not quite the bargain it used to be, and against the competition in the $80-100 niche it is hard to recommend unless you favour gentleness above all else. Then again, that sweet gentle cereal character is compelling and it's certainly worth a try at least once. “Above Average” : 82/100 (3.25 stars)

Nose (neat): Big leathery rancio from the obviously active and rich sherry cask. Some positive sulphur aromas (as opposed to intrusive and pungent), like a whiff of burnt match-heads or the smell of heavily sulphured dried apricots. Also, an aroma of oxidised dried fruits (figs, dates, raisins, etc that have turned brown). Walnut bread and a complex but subtle waft of something smoky, but it’s not peat. It’s more like the smell of a discharged firearm (so there's that pleasant sulphur note again). The nose continues to develop over time in the glass and is seemingly endless. Nose (with water): Adding a teaspoon to 30ml did no harm at all, merely developing further complexity and softness. It took a fraction of the bite off the alcohol and, after a rest to recompose, allowed subtle fragrances of pipe tobacco, dusky rose, vanilla and grass clippings to emerge. There was some sprightly fresh apricot juice as well. 92/100 Palate (neat): Semi-sweet old dried fruits, malt extract, blackstrap molasses and oxidised sherry to start with. This initial profile gains astringency as it moves into the development and the palate becomes more and more drying over time as old slightly sour walnuts, bitter orange and dark unsweetened chocolate come through. The palate teeters towards being overly dry but the strong presence of sherry keeps things just sweet enough for balance. The texture is full but not too dense and has a creamy quality. 89/100 Palate (with water): Very similar to the neat palate but with less extremes and more interplay between the flavours. Some minty notes and a touch of salmiak. The progression from semi-sweet to dry and back to sweet is still there, but it’s a more relaxed and mature experience. The longer you let this sit and rest once watered the more sweetness and balance it gains, and over time a definite sensation of quite sweet, almost vanilla-ish oak is apparent. 92/100 Finish: Long. The palate itself has considerable persistence but after the lovely exploration between sweet and dry finally passes there is a relatively fast fade into the finish. However, many minutes after this whisky seems to have ended you find you still have an excellent aftertaste of malt, sherry and dried fruits and a final lingering touch of menthol. This progression is unchanged in character with dilution – it just feels like the volume has been turned down a notch and the overall profile is a hint sweeter. 95/100 This is a beautiful Balblair, one of the best I've tasted, from back when the distillery still released proper vintage whiskies instead of age statements. Oloroso cask #77 was filled in 2006 and discharged as a single-cask special release for La Maison du Whisky in 2020, producing just 573 bottles. The nose has far more depth than most other teenage whiskies. I could easily believe this was 20 years old or more – it’s like a 25 or 30 year old Glenfarclas in many ways but without the floral notes. The presence of the cask is immediate and profound but it never swamps the distillate. There is a partnership between distillery character and cask management going on here and it works magic. The whisky is masterfully sherried with the oloroso character singing clear and strong, and at times it veers towards a drier style of sherry (most likely tannin extraction from the cask showing through). In my book this is precisely how a fine sherried whisky should present. It's not a sherry-bomb, it's your sherry mistress. I bought this a couple of years ago but the price I’ve listed below is the current secondary average and almost twice as much. Even at this price it's a steal and I'd highly recommend it if you can obtain it. “Estimable” : 92/100 (5 stars)

Nose: Green apple, barley sugar, gooseberries, a little vanilla and balsa wood sawdust. There is a strong spirit quality to the aroma. Palate: Spicy, somewhat hot arrival - cereal and barley sugar with hot cinnamon and a little chili. Some orchard fruit on the mid palate but little else. The texture is neutral. Finish: Medium/short. Not much apart from a sharp, lingering hot spice. I bought this bottle a while back when Glasgow Distillery was releasing their first products but unlike the “Original” and “Peated” expressions (both of which I liked) I’ve only now got around to opening this one. It’s my least favourite Glasgow Distillery “1770” series bottling so far. The fruity, unctuous nature of the distillate I have sensed on everything else is missing here, most likely because of the extra round of distillation, I guess. The hot, sharp spice notes cut through mixers and betray a sour aftertaste when diluted. It’s young, bright, hot and metallic overall. There have been subsequent Triple Distilled expressions, but on the basis of this batch I don’t feel interested enough to try them. “Adequate” : 74/100 (2.25 stars)

Nose: Hay, green grass clippings, green apple skins, lemon sponge cake, pencil shavings, ethanol. Palate: Slightly sweet and mildly spicy arrival but without a great deal of presence. It’s very light with some citrus, apple and barley-sugar in the mid-palate but it lacks depth and feels diluted, with a vodka-ish neutral grain spirit flavour clearly apparent. The texture is uninteresting. Finish: Short. Muted cereal and green fruits that fade quickly into an aftertaste of neutral spirit. Although Australia does not have “blended whisky” as a legal classification, this stuff is what anyone would understand to be the equivalent of a blended scotch. It is a mixture of about 40% single malt whisky from Manly Spirits and 60% grain spirit from the huge Manildra industrial distillation plant at Bomaderry on the southern NSW coast. However, don’t confuse the “grain spirit” component of this with Scottish grain whisky, because Manildra’s grain spirit is neutral alcohol primarily sold to local gin producers as a base spirit. It has virtually no aroma or flavor of its own and relies entirely on cask contribution for any character. And that’s the big issue here. Manly Spirits distillate is pleasant but it has a light, grassy quality and needs time in a forceful cask to really shine. However, when you blend that distillate with neutral alcohol and then age it for just the legal minimum of two years you get a whisky with very little presence. It’s OK in a highball with lots of ice and soda water, but anything with flavor like Coke or dry ginger completely swamps it and it is practically undetectable as whisky in a cocktail. It has no glaring faults or off-notes so it’s not a bad whisky as such, but it is extremely light and thin. It is outclassed by any cheaper priced blended scotch and I will be amazed if it is still available in a year's time because I just can’t see many people buying this more than once. It’s adequate, just, but completely ignorable so don’t bother. “Adequate” : 74/100 (2.25 stars)