Bunnahabhain 12 yo Cask Strength 2022 Edition

 

 

 

56,6°

Distillery : Bunnahabhain - Islay 

1st Fill, 2nd Fill Oloroso Sherry and Bourbon Casks 

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition 

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2022

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength

Totally Unpeated

 

 

 

For the second consecutive year, the distillery is launching a Cask Strength edition of the 12-year-old, which is the distillery's best-known expression. The idea is reportedly inspired by guided tours on the site, where visitors can taste whiskies straight from the cask. This bottling is much richer in Sherry than the original 12 year-old, and we don't know how many bottles are on sale.

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

Nougat, cashew nuts, salted butter caramel. Then the Sherry really takes off. But it's not sweet, it's woody, tinder, Armenian paper, vergeoise. Rhubarb compote, candied apricot. Smyrna grapes. A few crunchy cherries. Puffed rice. Mirabelle jam, with pieces in it. An ounce of smoke, the casks must have been well toasted. Citrus fruits in the background. Finger-licking blueberries. Liquorice stick. Adding water highlights hazelnut and fudge. On the palate, peanut butter, roasted coffee, fairly strong spices, cumin, nutmeg, cardamom. Dark chocolate. Long and powerful finish, peppery, wet bark, tree leaves, rich soil, coffee grounds, cloves. A little vinous at the end. Soft caramel, which melts under the tongue.

 

In Short, 

Superb, and a good value for money. If they overwhelm us with such a masterpiece every year, we will be happy. A must-have for anyone who loves ageing in Sherry casks.

Score : 90 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Richard Ashcroft - A Song for the Lovers

Ailsa Bay Release 1.2 Sweet Smoke

 

 

 

48,9°

Distillery : Ailsa Bay - Lowlands

Hugdon Baby Bourbon Barrels and Virgin, 1st Fill, Refill American Oak Finish

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition 

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2018

Unchillfiltered

Peated around 22 ppm

 

 

 

Ailsa Bay is a young distillery founded in 2007 and Sweet Smoke is their second release. Limited to 9800 copies, but these are not all sold yet, it seems. Yet they doubled down on good ideas to sell it. The product followed a "micro-maturation", that is to say a very short maturation from 6 to 9 months in very small barrels of less than 100 liters, before being transferred to more traditional caskss. In addition, they were not content to calculate very precisely the ppm of peat, they also established the one of sweetness, which amounts to 19 ppm. On the other hand, not a word on the age nor on the use of dyes, with all these experiments it happens to forget the fundamentals.

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

The peat is very light, hazy, airy, it highlights fruit and vanilla, white plum, pineapple, and it's somewhat earthy, branchy, leafy, dark berries, heather, but also melon, lemon, clementine. It's very sweet, and also on the palate, even more with exotic fruits, papaya, banana, lychee. Very light spices, nutmeg, cinnamon, which lead us to a proper finish, quite long, beautiful woody roundness, straw, pastry hints, caramel. Finally, creamy cereals.

 

In Short, 

It is interesting, pleasant, original. We do not feel the youth of the product. Beautiful marriage between light peat and fruit. The price is a little high, it's true that there is creativity and quality, but it's still a NAS.

Score : 86

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Cake - Frank Sinatra

Lindores The Casks of Lindores 2022

 

 

 

49,4°

Distillery : Lindores Abbey - Lowlands

Shaved, Toasted and Recharred Red Wine Barriques

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition 

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2022

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured

Totally Unpeated

 

 

 

At Lindores they use three cask types as standard: bourbon, sherry and STR wine barriques. To highlight the variety of flavours, they have released a series under the label 'The Casks of Lindores', bringing together single malts that have matured exclusively in such a type of cask. This one is the STR Wine Barriques release from 2022. There is no mention of age, but it can't be older than 5 yo, as the distillery was opened in 2017, near the Abbey of Lindores, a monument from the Middle-Age, closed in 1559, where the most ancient known transaction of whisky has occured. The mystery is kept about the number of bottles put on sale. 

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

A little plum touch, very round and fruity, but light, drops of honey that fall on the tongue, vanilla and whipped cream. Fresh mint, banana and soft lemon, cherry clafoutis. Hands smeared with blackberries. Fondant with blackcurrant, goat's milk. In the mouth, it's syrupy, molasses, marshmallow, and of course honey. The spices are very well-managed, cloves, cardamom, nutmeg. It's herbaceous at the end, the finish follows, long, on hazelnut, prune, heather, caramel. A cola nut, malty freshness.

 

In Short, 

Very friuty and honeyed, it's  a good product, whose youth is unnoticeable. No flaws, maybe it's a little light though. The price is still high, but you can find it more or less everywhere. 

Score : 86

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Listened While Sipping :

                                           Mike Love - Let It Rain

Old Ballantruan 15 yo

 

 

 

50°

Distillery : Tomintoul - Speyside 

Ex-Bourbon Casks

Original Bottling 

Core Range

Single Malt 

Launched in 2018

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured

Peated around 55 ppm

 

 

 

Every year, the people of Tomintoul devote themselves to the production of peated whisky for two weeks, and this is what it gives, in the NAS version, 10 years of age, or 15 years of age. Its name comes from the Ballantruan source, which supplies the distillery with water.

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

Nice herbaceous peat, a bit dry, light vanilla and lemon, whitewash and brown earth, it's quite full-bodied but not very complex. Lychee, coconut and banana by digging deep, a cloud of milk, but in fact it remains very vegetal. On the palate, it's more citrusy, still mossy peat, grapefruit, fairly light spices. Clove, nutmeg, white pepper. Forest berries. Proper finish, but less powerful than expected, earthy charcoal, potatoes and turnips, raisins. Cola. Wood a bit charred.

 

In Short,   

It's not bad, but I'm not thrilled either. It has several qualities, but it lacks character. It would have needed a more complex maturation perhaps. Also, the whisky doesn't seem so aged, nor so peaty. Price vary greatly depending on the country, but it's still expensive for my taste.

Score : 85

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Apocalypse Orchestrza - The Garden of Earthly Delights

Bruichladdich 2013 Islay Barley 8 yo

 

 

 

50°

Distillery : Bruichladdich - Islay

1st Fill American Bourbon and French Oak Wine Casks

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition 

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2021

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured

Totally Unpeated

 

 

 

This is apparently the eleventh edition of this annual limited bottling, launched for the first time on the occasion of Feis Ile 2010. It is a whisky made entirely on the island of Islay, from the barley harvest to the bottling. Except the malting which is done in Inverness. For this Batch, seven local farms were involved, as well as French wine casks. The aging lasted 8 years, which is probably the longest for the Islay Barley. The number of bottles produced is not known.

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

Very farmy, with ripe wheat, hay, straw. Young wood. Vanilla and pastry cream, genoise. A drop of caramel, a touch of iodine and salt, sea breeze. On the palate, it's more fruity, white plums and bananas, even more from the orchard, yellow apples and a pear or two. Lemon zest. The spices appear quickly, they are a bit strong, cloves, cumin, nutmeg, then the finish, quite long, woody. Back to the farm, but this time it's more earthy, bushes, heather. Coco.  

 

In Short, 

This is the 3rd Islay Barley I taste, and I think the quality is improving. The wine casks bring more fruit, the longer maturation makes the whole more solid and harmonious. Prices have increased, however, but it's the same everywhere. I recommend waiting for a promotion to get one.

Score : 86

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           The Head and the Heart - Down in the Valley

Glen Scotia 11 yo Campbeltown Malts Festival 2023

 

 

 

54,7°

Distillery : Glen Scotia - Campbeltown

1st Fill American Bourbon Casks and White Port Finish

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition 

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2023

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength

Peated from 10 to 15 ppm

On the occasion of the 2023 edition of the Campbeltown Malts Festival, the distillery offers this limited edition of 24,000 copies, a lightly peated Whisky, having aged 10 years in American Bourbon barrels, then a one-year finish in White Port casks .

Let's Taste It : 

Beautiful smoothness at the start, red but light fruits, damson and lychee, red and white currants. Pomegranate seeds. Then it becomes woody, with black berries and damp bark, undergrowth, but also marine touches, iodine, limestone and foam. On the palate, it's sweet, prune, apricot, oranges, and I also recognize the distillery markers, both mineral and marine, cola and caramel, beautiful spices, intense without being too strong, cardamom and nutmeg, light pepper. Fairly long and ample finish, charcoal, a hint of liquorice, syrupy, almost vinous, a grain of blackcurrant. Clove.

 

In Short, 

The finish brings a beautiful fruitiness, but I also found all the markers of the distillery, which gives a beautiful bottling, pleasant to drink. The price is a little high but still o.k., given the current market. A purchase is possible for lovers of this distillery.

Score : 87

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                          To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Zero 7 - Destiny

Lagavulin The Distillers Edition 2022

 

 

 

43°

Distillery : Lagavulin - Islay

American Bourbon Barrels and Pedro Ximénez Sherry Finish

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition 

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2022

Peated around 38 ppm

 

 

 

The Distillers Editions were launched towards the end of the 1990s, the idea was to finish the whiskies of the Diageo distilleries for a few months. For Lagavulin, it would be in Pedro Ximénez Sherry casks. Originally, each edition was vintage, now that's no longer the case. It's also unclear how many bottles were produced, and it does appear to be chill-filtered and coloured. Moreover, there is nothing on the bottle indicating that it is the 2022 edition. Apart from the barcode, what will differentiate it from the next one to come, already announced in the USA, the 2023?

Let's Taste It : 

Straight away I smell the Pedro Ximénez casks, with crunchy cherries blackcurrant, blueberries, acerola, fresh grapes, green and red, and also undergrowth, heather, elastic leather, varnished wood. The peat is typical of the distillery, muddy, marshy, deep, with notes of liquorice, caramel, but also herbaceous, the whole is very balanced and full-bodied. On the palate, syrupy, velvety, elegant, obviously very red fruits, well-managed spices, cloves, nutmeg, cardamom, black berries. Strong, round and powerful finish, roots, charcoal, a drop of oil and soot. Gooseberries. Pomegranate.

 

In Short, 

I must say that I expected better. It's good and well crafted, but the influence of Pedro Ximénez is a bit strong, it's a bit too sweet for me. In the end, it's barely better than the 16 year old, and the problem is that it's a lot more expensive. The old Batches are certainly much better.

Score : 88

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Sammy Rae & The Friends - Kick It To Me

Highland Park Cask Strength Release N°3

 

 

 

64,1°

Distillery : Highland Park - Islands

1st Fill, Refill Sherry Seasoned American and European Casks

Original Bottling 

Limited Edition

Single Malt 

Bottled in 2022

Unchillfiltered, Uncoloured, Cask Strength

Peated around 20 ppm

 

 

 

For the 3rd Release of the Highland Park Cask Strength, Gordon Motion, the distillery's Master Whisky Maker, used three types of casks, but all Sherry. First American and French oak 1st Fill barrels, and finally Refill barrels. This edition will therefore focus on Sherry. We do not know how many bottles were produced.

 

 

 

Let's Taste It : 

From the outset, beautiful fullness of the Oloroso, flavours of leather, apricot jam, peach, all well caramelized, with barley sugar and pieces of pear. Then the distillery markers crimped with a light peat, thornbush, heather, elegant woodiness, maybe a hint of iodine. On the palate, beautiful spices, between mango and fresh fig, green tea, the peat is a little earthy and the Oloroso is spicy, with applesauce, cinnamon and cardamom. Very strong, long and smoky finish, pepper and cloves, dried banana, stringy liquorice, walnuts and hazelnuts. Nutmeg.

 

In Short, 

I really liked the intensity of the Sherry, which wasn't too invasive, you can really feel the distillery markers. I found it better than the n°2, but not by much, and in any case we remain within proper price criteria, even if it has increased compared to the previous editions. I have already bought it.

Score : 89

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

                                           To Be Listened While Sipping :

 

                                           Noel Gallagher's High Flying Birds - Pretty Boy