Speyside Party

JE came back from overseas, and picked up a couple of bottles from Duty Free. This led to us having a Speyside party last night. The Speyside Party included the following malts: Tomintoul 12 Limited Edition, Balvenie 16 Triple Cask, Inchgower 16 (Old Malt Cask), and just for fun, the Balvenie 30 again. There was also a guest appearance by a young Islay, the Bruichladdich Bere Barley, distilled in 2008.

Tomintoul 12 (40% abv, Limited Edition)

This one was advertised as a "gentle dram". Let's see how "gentle" it is. Gentle isn't euphemism for weak, I hope?

Nose - Opens on marshmallows and icing sugar. Syrupy too. The sweetness calms down a bit to reveal sultana raisins, and some light spices. Doesn't seem to have much else behind it...Definitely gentle. Hmm. The opening was very sweet. Overly so, I think.

Palate - Sultanas, some vanilla. This is a sweet whisky - the icing sugar continues a little at the start. Light spice - a bit of cinnamon and something a bit prickly. A wee bit of leather. Smooth, gentle, but not very much, I'm afraid, even accounting for its age.

Finish - Eh...short and quick. When the official tasting notes describe the finish as "Mellow and Warming", you know that it's not going to be amazing.

Overall - Nice, smooth, inoffensive Speyside to start things off. Thanks JE! Next!

Balvenie 16 Triple Cask (40% abv)

This dram was also provided by JE.

Nose - Woooof. Not a good start. Reminds me too much of corn syrup aka Crown Royal North Harvest Rye. Behind the syrup lies some sherry influence - sweet sherry, but not enough to mellow out the bourbon/corn syrup notes. A bit of a woody influence, but the predominant note is the syrupy scent. Don't really like this.

Palate - This claims to be triple cask, but the bourbon cask seems to have had the strongest influence. The bourbon cask is especially active, while the mystery third cask is simply called a "traditional whisky cask" - "traditional" meaning...refill bourbon? Anyhows. Some wood, very very light spices, and the bourbon notes are the strongest. Coconut perhaps. I don't like. Honeyed, but the honey is too close to the syrup. Eek.

Finish - Eh...unmemorable. Some light spices, a bit of wood, and nothing much else, I'm afraid. The wood is quite robust. I washed this out with water quite quickly. It probably lasts longer that I allowed it to. Oops.

Overall - This could work, but I didn't like the type of notes that came through. Next!

Inchgower 16, by Douglas Laing's Old Malt Cask (50% abv, from a single cask sherry butt, distilled in 1995) (this has been updated since first publication, mostly to add in the effects of water)

Colour - dark gold

Nose - This is good. Marmalade, bitter oranges, orange peel, then raisin/sherry notes and robust spices. Nutmeg and cinnamon. A classic sherried speyside! Slightly herbal - say...thyme? Rosemary? More spice than herbal. Water brings out a touch of vanilla.

Palate - Big, big palate. The oranges aren't really present - just the orange peel and zest. Big raisins - rum soaked raisins. The raisins are countered by strong leather and rubber. This was a powerful sherry cask indeed. The spices build and build. My goodness. This is really, really big on spices. The spices start out quietly in the background behind the raisins and leather/rubber, then it becomes bigger and bigger. Ginger, pepper, cinnamon, nutmeg, saffron/papprika...wow. Spice party! There's a nice wood influence too - some vanilla to balance out the spice. A nice bit of menthol and mint rounds things up for a refreshing swallow.

A few drops of water drags out the raisins a little bit more, and lengthens the spices. There's some burnt/caramelized sugar as well. I think this was on the palate before the water, but a lot more discernible with water. There's also a bit of black tea which makes it a little more drying. The richness of sweet sherry is more present with water. It was probably hiding behind all the spice and rubber prior to dilution. And, oh my, is that one small puff of smoke when I swallowed?

Finish - Spices linger for rather long, as does the mint, menthol and wood. A touch of rubber and burnt sugar. Water drags the finish out. One hour later, I still taste a bit of this finish. Wow.


Overall - This is great. There's actually a story behind how I bought this bottle. Some time ago, I was at Vom Fass, and was recommended this bottle as the "best whisky in the shop". I did not take up the recommendation, and bought the Springbank 12 Cask Strength instead. No regrets, of course, with buying the Springbank, but I did wonder what the Inchgower would taste like. My next visit to Vom Fass, and, alas, the Inchgower was not on the shelves anymore. Sold out. However, thankfully, on my next visit, there was a bottle of this on the shelf again! Apparently, the folks at Vom Fass found one last bottle in their warehouse. Now, it's in my house. Muahahahaha.

At $150, this is, in my opinion, value for money. But, it's probably hard to find another bottle anywhere. Great stuff, really.

With or without water? Personal preference, really. Without water, this whisky is more intense. With water, the various flavours are dragged out, allowing some hitherto hidden notes to become more prominent.

Ok, that's all for the Speyside party for now. I've reviewed the Balvenie 30 previously, and I'll save the Bruichladdich for another time. Have a good evening!