Whisky Gems: Get Them “Doon Yer Thrapple”
Posted on | October 13, 2011 | No Comments
Our Whisky Gems evening last Friday in the Banbury high street shop was a chance to get together with some customers and sample a few things that have stirred our interest in recent months.
We kicked off the evening with the malty but also quite fruity Royal Lochnagar 12-Year-Old (£32.99). Mixed opinions on this: one or two people felt it could have been a bit smoother, others enjoyed the malty element. Lochnagar is reputed to have been Queen Victoria’s favourite distillery (and tipple?), probably as it’s a close neighbour to Balmoral. As a point of interest, it’s also one of Scotland’s smallest distilleries and uses only two small copper pot stills.
Next came an alternative for Islay aficionados. The Jura Superstition (£33.99) is a blend of older and younger, more peated, malt. A touch of honey sweetness, a touch of spice and a touch of smoke made it decidedly easy to sup and there was a general thumbs up from the samplers.
Mackinlay’s Highland Malt (£100.00) followed. A tribute by White & Mackay to Antarctic explorer Ernest Shackleton, whose whisky was buried under his abandoned hut and lay undiscovered for over a century. The rich flavours replicate faithfully the whisky style of yester-year (pretty much everyone agreed it was “rather good”, elegant and surprisingly complex) and even the original strength of 47.3% has been maintained. They’ve packaged it beautifully too in a replica box and wooden case.
Then the Glenfiddich Snow Phoenix (£69.99). Bottled in 2010, this whisky commemorates the dramatic moment at the distillery when four warehouse roofs collapsed under the weight of snowfall in January 2009. The finest casks were selected from the snow damaged warehouses and the whisky is a blend of some very old Glenfiddich married together with younger casks, some ex-Oloroso and some ex-bourbon. It was smooth, creamy, with a bit of sweetness and hints of apple, toffee and vanilla.
Glenmorangie Signet (£130.00) was next. Made using heavily toasted chocolate malt, this was rich and sweet with lots of delicious dried fruit flavours. It is a blend of Glenmorangie’s old malt (some over 30 years) with their younger, as well as a mix of casks, including ex-oloroso and new oak.
Finally, Ardbeg Alligator (£69.99) for the peat heads amongst us. My colleague Simon has posted an excellent description of this under the title of “In the Lair of the Alligator”. Suffice to say that the Banbury tasters couldn’t get enough of it either and it has now sold out!
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