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!

CNY Whiskies

I attended a Lunar New Year whisky event at LMDW over the weekend, and it was great. A limited ticketed event meant that the crowd was of a manageable size throughout the 8 hours of the event. The small crowd added to the experience because it allowed everyone to get some personal attention from the knowledgeable and friendly staff at LMDW. Absolutely top class.

The rules of the event were simple - pay $58, and you get to try 8 half drams from a selection placed on the bar. About half the bottles were limited editions, or unique bottlings for La Maison. I went with PY, which meant that, on top of our own 8 drams, we stole sips from one another's as well. And PY brought a friend too. So all in all, I tried, maybe 16 different whiskies? The ones that I remember are:

Kavalan Solist Moscatel - Thick, syrupy feel, very much in the same style as the Solist Sherry. Sweeter, less raisins, more syrup. Finish is a little more drying, but spicier as well. The wood has done a thorough job, which is pretty much par for the course for Kavalan's Solist series. A little too pricey though.

Compass Box Double Single - Smooth, great, but the contrast between the two doesn't really show up. Or was that the point of the blend? Complex, with many subtle changes in flavour, and blended well together.

Compass Box Phenomenology - This was confusing. Meaty, fruity, smokey on the finish, spicy and sweet on the palate, slight sour note on the nose. Great for experimenting, hard to drink more than a glass. The whisky transforms a lot over time and with water.

Compass Box No Name - Big and smokey, the component parts were obviously from Islay. Sherried too, lending this a dry, leathery note. The sweetness of red fruits didn't really show up, or maybe my tongue was already dead to them.

Compass Box Three Year Deluxe - Bloody fantastic. Smooth, complex, sweet honey, vanilla, the wood tells, but is finely balanced by fresh apples.

Compass Box Spice Tree Extravaganza - A rather fruity and berry-led attack. Think that's the sherry cask talking. There's a touch of rubber, forming a good counter-taste to the fruitiness. Velvety, some notes of butter. Honeyed, sweet, and, not surprisingly, spicy. Though spices hardly lead the way here. This is a very well-constructed whisky.

Linkwood 2008, Signatory Vintage for LMDW - Ok, this wasn't that great. Very sweet on the nose, icing sugar, some heather honey, fruit salad dressing. Palate felt a little thin.

Blanton's, 55% abv - A misadventure. Pretty good bourbon, but was reminded of why I don't really like bourbon.

That Boutique-y Whisky Company, Secret Distillery 9 years - This is bloody amazing. Thick sherried goodness, fresh citrus. Slight meatiness on finish. PY guessed Arberlour, Sarah from LMDW guessed Glenfarclas, and I said Macallan, for academic purposes. Guess we'll never know.

Artist Collective Glenlivet - a rather unusual Glenlivet. Leads on sherry cask fruitiness. This is supposedly a blend of 5 different casks. It's got apples and pears, but also a lot of other notes - spicy, and even some charred oak. Some light tea tannins too. This is Glenlivet with character.

Whew. Did I manage to get everything down? Not quite, but these events are a great way to taste a whole bunch of stuff at a reasonable price. Just realized that half the memorable drams were from Compass Box - the guys there are making blends exciting again. There were other sips of heavily peated stuff I stole from PY - Octomore from the Rest and be Thankful series, Port Charlotte from elements of Islay, etc., but they're just a smokey haze in my memory, so shall refrain from trying to write about them...

And I bought an Amrut Portonova too. Wonder when I'll open that. Hopefully soon. But then, I've got a really long backlog of untasted/unopened whiskies...