Longrow Red 13 years Malbec

Part of the yearly crazy release from Longrow. Some years are brilliant, others are misses that didn't work so well, but when the base spirit is that good, how wrong can you get? Ok, maybe the wine clashes with the spirit, but I trust the folks at Springbank to get it right more often than not.

This bottle can hardly be found in stores, so it was a minor miracle that PY and I spotted one on a website that sells whisky here in Singapore. But they only had 1 bottle left. After an intense arm wrestling match to rock the ages, PY won the right to the bottle, and he's been generous enough to give me a dram from it.

Image from The Whisky Exchange

Longrow Red 13 years Malbec (51.3% abv)

Colour - amber, with a strong reddish hue. This is one of the reddest whisky I've seen (the Kavalan Solist Sherry cask was more mahogany and brown)

Nose - Very meaty on the nose, followed by lots of tannins and liquorice. There's a peaty character to this, though the peat is more vegetal and herbal than ashy. Cherries, prunes, and maybe some dates too. The wine is unmistakably Malbec, with Malbec's meaty character coming through. The nose is meaty, leathery, with suggestions of coffee. This is a really big nose.

Palate - Ooomph. The peat comes through more heavily, but doesn't dominate. The wine is still having a big voice here. Leathery, dark red fruits, meaty, with a slight touch of savouriness. There's some honey, and you taste the oak a little. There's quite a lot of spice on this too - ginger, cloves, pepper. Despite being more alcohol than water and fairly young, you don't feel much of a tongue-burn. Texture sits between being waxy and oily.

Finish - Spices, liquorice comes back, together with the leathery, oaky finish one gets on a good Old World red wine. Fairly long too, though the meatiness on the finish may put me off having more than 1 dram.

Overall - While not as rounded as last year's Longrow 18, this is big, rich, and more than holds its own. It's not got the velvety feel of its elder sibling, but the Malbec adds a lot of character to an already good, young whisky. Think the extra year in the wine cask (compared to the past 2 years' release) helped, whereas for some of the previous years' Longrow Reds, some reviewers say that the wine (fortified or otherwise) had too much of a say. One to sip on a day when you only want one solid dram.

Tomatin 18

A bottling that has been phased out for fancier packaging. Tomatin has given itself a bit of a makeover in recent years, though the focus of the whisky is still on what it knows best - slightly sherried Speysider with a fruity characteristic. The sherry doesn't hide the fruit underneath, and this un-sherry-bombness helps the distillate to shine.

This Tomatin won a best in category at the 20145 World Whisky Awards.

Tomatin 18 (abv 46%)

Image courtesy of the Whisky Exchange

Nose - Honey, grapes, some raisins. This is somewhat spicy too, with a light dusting of cinnamon. There's also a light suggestion of smoke and meatiness. Promising!

Palate - This reminds me a little of a Craigellachie - there's a meatiness under all the fruitiness that's quite distinct. Not quite sulphurous yet, but it's there. On top of this meatiness, there's quite a lot of fruit - grapes, apples, figs. Grape peel. A light, lingering tendril of smoke comes through.

Finish - Fairly long, with some tannins and spice. Clove and black tea, my guess.

Overall - PY split this bottle with me, and it was quite worth it!