Don't Caol Ila chickens before they hatch...

I missed this year's Whisky Live as I had to bring kids overseas. This was what PY bought on my behalf, after strong recommendation from the LMdW staff. He bought for himself an Ardmore 9 years from the same series, but I think the informal tasting I had of it isn't good enough for note publishing. Maybe next time!

This continues my quest for peat in the lead up to Christmas in sunny Singapore, where there are no fireplaces to sit around sipping Lagavulin, so I'll have to make do.

Caol Ila 6 years, Artists' Collective by LMdW (abv 43%)

Colour - Very pale

Nose - Cucumber, zucchini, honey dew, pears. That's all the green stuff coming out straight at me. Strong malty backing. Brioche moistened by wet scrambled eggs. This is a good, balanced breakfast, completed with some jasmine tea notes. Then breakfast ends, with smoke from burning incense. An odd lingering scent of shaven oak. This one stands out if you look for it. Maybe the cask is a little active?

Palate - Oysters, salt. Lemon. Oily without too much viscosity. A touch of smoked ham. Lots of spices - pepper, lots of ginger. Seaweed. A nutty middle, almost like praline. Hazelnut syrup. The sap from a cut ladies' finger/okra. This is a little odd; didn't pick it up the first time round at PY's place. Smokey, without being overbearing.

Finish - Charred oak and lemon juice. Pepper and cloves. The skin of a roasted almond. This roasted almond stays with you for a really long time.

Overall - This is very green, and very good. Clean but complex, apart from the slightly off-putting okra sap. Odd. The bottle alone is worth some money, if you intend to collect this as part of a set. Alas, LMdW Singapore has already run out of most of the bottles in this collective.

That bottle arts looks like some flower illuminati, but I guess it could also mean that all colours converge on one flower (what?)

Signet

This is not peated, but, chocolate/toasted malt counts too because it's sort of burnt. Any case, this interrupts the peaty series because XT kindly opened a bottle of this at our quarterly catch-up. This had cost him $250 at DFS. Beautiful bottle. I'll get down to a special and limited Caol Ila soon. Definitely before Christmas. Oh, and the Kilkerran 12 that I've been putting off too.

Glenmorangie Signet (abv. 46%)

Colour - Between gold and mahogany

Nose - Complex and layerd. Sweet on honey, and a clear sherry note. Wonder what cask was used. Hm. Vanilla, cloves, ripe plums. Then coffee and dark chocolate. A hint of butter, but that was just a small whiff.

Palate - This is non-chill filtered, and the difference can be told in the texture, if you compare it to other Glenmorangies. This is immediately oilier and chewier. More nut oils on this. Tasty. Very sweet, honey, ripe peaches and pears. Some notes of chocolate and coffee, but I had to search for it to find it. Gets spicy, cinnamon, nutmeg, cloves. There's some depth to this, especially with the chocolate and coffee notes. The texture is a big plus too.

Finish - Sweet and some ginger. Fairly long, with a tannic feel coming through at the end.

Overall - I would place this above the Glenmorangie 18 for quality, but below it in terms of value for money. Unless you want to pay about $80 for that sweet bottle and box. Then this is about right.

A little something different

This one is lightly peated. Purchased last year at Whisky Live, drank in commemoration of me missing this year's. It was bought for a pretty penny at just shy of $200 after discount, but the prices have since dropped.

This was bottled for LMdW, on the occasion of their 60th anniversary. It is a little something different, because it was the first bits of sherried Wolfburn that the market would be seeing. This was, I believe, the second or third bottling of Wolfburn, and all prior releases were pure bourbon casks. Of course, the Aurora has since been released, but this still has some collector value.

Wolfburn A Little Something Different (abv 50%)

Colour - dehydrated man's piss.

Nose - Peaches and minerals. Limoncello. Slightly metallic, like iron/steel in air-conditioning. Some crushed herbs - mint and parsley. Yeasty baked bread - like sourdough.

Palate - This starts sour, with lemon, and grapefruit. A huge wave of sweetness comes next - manuka honey, I think, though it recedes to leave a light bitterness. Fairly nutty, though I wasn't quite able to place the exact nut. A little rubber and leather. Prunes. Pepper and nutmeg. Pretty well-structured, with clear transitions between flavours.

Finish - Light smoke and peat. Black pepper and coriander. Almonds. A short, sweet malt sugar note. Minty too, but bitterness stays with you. Fairly long finish that dries your mouth.

Overall - As a first glimpse of what sherried Wolfburn could look like, this was not bad. I found the bitter note a little off-putting after a while. And, while well-structured, the sweetness didn't always come across coherently, yet isn't as dramatic as Talisker that leaves you breathless. Compared to the usual Wolfburn, what's different? The sherry inputs some notes of prunes and spices, and maybe added that rubbery touch.

On the whole, good, but I think it's still lacking a little something to be great.

Peat from yesteryears

EP found a small sample bottle of a Laphroaig 10 in her home, and we finally got down to opening it to try. The level of liquid in the bottle appears to have receded a little. Perhaps screw caps aren't the best way to keep a bottle closed if you intend to keep it for long. This is an excellent addition to the series of peaters we're doing in the lead-up to year end.

The bottle and tube both lack the warrant of the Prince of Wales, which was granted in 1994 (see picture below). This is now standard in all Laphroaig bottlings. Hence, this bottle comes from pre-1994.

Other clues as to the dating of this bottle includes EP's mum's recollection that it was probably bought before EP was born, placing it pre-1992. Online searches show that the bottle design probably came from 1990s, for example at this auction site. The label also says "Islay Single Malt", instead of "Unblended Islay malt", like in some other years.

There's also an enigmatic number at the back of the label, which says "90 55". Is that the year and batch? 

After narrowing down the provenance, next comes the tasting. Will it be good, great, or disappointing due to oxidation? The bottle was not kept in perfect conditions, being in a room that was exposed to both heat and air-conditioning. So...let's see.

Laphroaig 10 c.1990 (abv 43%)

Colour - Light gold

Nose - Take a deep breath. This is complex. Very layered for a ten year old. There's iodine, ash and peat in the first sniff. Yes, this is a Laphroaig alright. Notes of liquorice and almond. So that's the full set of usual pungent scents in a Laphroaig accounted for. Develops a slight meatiness seasoned with some parsley. There's a lot of sweet honey, oranges and unripe mangoes, giving it an acidic kick. Gentle spices, like cinnamon and cloves. Lots of them. This is a blockbuster of a nosing!!

Palate - Drying ashes, which gives way to lots of juiciness just before your mouth dries up. There's a big pear note that transits well into tannic notes. I'm thinking of grape seeds and orange pith. Lemon peel too. Mm. Lots of oils - Eucalyptus, I'd wager. Almond and hazelnut gives it a nutty depth. Reminds me of lemon schnapp! There's a touch of iron and copper running through the whisky. Malty background. Spicy, but not straightforward cinnamon and cloves this time. More like a spice combination you get in Indian dishes. A masala mix, with cumin and cardamon standing out.

Finish - Peaty, peppery, with slight hints of ginger. There's also some mint and eucalyptus - are we all koala bears now?

Overall - This is stellar. This is Laphroaig living up to its boast that it is the most richly flavoured Scotch. This is what earned its royal warrant. This is what weak bottles like "Laphroaig Select" cannot live up to. This is what Laphroaig can be, used to be, and it is bloody brilliant.

Next up in our peaty series is probably a Caol Ila bought at Whisky Live this year (which I had to miss due to a work trip overseas), chosen by PY. And then, probably a lightly peated Wolfburn, bought at last year's Whisky Live. Or should we do it the other way round?