Well Well Welsh

Penderyn Peated
46% ABV
No Age Statement

In the last two years, I've had whisky from Scotland, Ireland, and England, as well as America, Canada, and even Japan.  But what about that "other" country in Great Britain?  What about Wales?  Well now I can check that one off the list as well.

Wales is a relatively small country, with only 3 million inhabitants (compared to Scotland's 5.2 million) and 8,000 square miles in size (30,000 for Scotland).  Although Wales shares a close political and social history with the rest of Great Britain, it has retained a distinct cultural identity. Wales is officially bilingual, the Welsh and English languages having equal status. The Welsh language is an important element of Welsh culture, and its use is supported by national policy. Over 580,000 Welsh speakers live in Wales, more than 20% of the population.

Although the country shared similar climate and resource conditions with Scotland, whisky production lapsed in the 19th century with the serious rise of the Temperance Movement.  The last of the Welsh Whisky Distilleries closed in 1910.  It was until the year 2000 that the foundation of the Welsh Whisky Company (now known as Penderyn) was announced. A distillery was built at Penderyn in the Brecon Beacons National Park.

Penderyn is a deliberately small distillery - it was designed with a single copper pot still and production is limited to a single cask each day (a lot of distilleries like to advertise the "we produce less in a year than the big guys produce in a day" angle, and Penderyn is one of them).  All of their whiskies are matured in two separate casks.  In the case of the peated whisky that I tried, it's a bourbon cask (Buffalo Trace) to start with and a reused scotch cask for finishing. 

Reused scotch casks usually have most of the coloring pulled from them already, so the peated whisky is bottled very pale.  I read a review which described the color as "chardonnay".  I don't know my wines very well, but OK, we'll go with chardonnay.

Now, usually when I see a "peated" variety of a whisky, I'm expecting the peat layered onto the spirit with a trowel like its Islay cousins.  Not so in this case - the smokiness of the nose is faint, much more welcoming.  It's more fruity and floral than peat monster (which is actually the name of an old Compass Box blend I would highly recommend if you can find it anywhere, but I digress).

There is no age statement on the Penderyn, but with the distillery opening in 2000, we can assume this is a pretty young whisky, and the taste and finish support that.  The peat is more prevalent here with some grassiness and pepper as well.  I found the finish to be pretty short, but with a pretty sharp spirity burn.

Overall, this whisky provides an excellent introduction to Welsh whisky.  I think you can tell you're drinking something different than scotch, and that's OK.  One of things I enjoy most of all is exploring these types of expressions and learning more about the process in different places.  I hope

(special thanks to Derek D. for introducing me to this fine expression)

Like Drinking Angels’ Tears

Johnnie Walker Blue Label

No age statement - 80 proof

One thing I’ve tried to be careful to avoid in this blog is the concept of “better”.  Scotch is not better than Irish Whiskey, Bourbon is not better than Rye Whiskey, and Single Malts are not better than Blends.  These different types of whiskies each have their great expressions and their poorly bottled expressions.
 
This brings me to one of the finest blended scotch whiskies in the world, Johnnie Walker Blue Label.  On Saturday night, I had my first experience with this legendary bottle.  I had thought that my first drink of the Blue would be “like drinking angels’ tears” – and I was not disappointed.

The great challenge of an exceptional blend is to use rare and ever changing ingredients to create a balanced, remarkable, and consistent expression year after year.  In the case of the Blue, that starts with Royal Lochnagar, a rare malt distilled near Balmoral, the Queen’s holiday home.  Add another 15 or so mature whiskies and you have yourself Blue Label.  The inventory of these ingredients is rightfully scarce, so slight changes are required year after year.  While there’s no age statement on the bottle, it’s expected that most of the ingredients are at least 12 years old, with some over 20 years old.

The experience with Blue Label began with the bottle itself.  It is beautiful.  The bottle looks thicker than your standard Johnnie Walker bottle, and with a slight blue crystal tint to it. 

The whisky has a pale amber color, extremely clear.

When I took a whiff of it, I realized I should expect a brief tour of Scotland in this glass with hints of smoke, sea, honey, and vanilla.

The palate brings peaty flavor, with a little bit of salt and pepper, although very light and slight vanilla taste.
The finish is extremely smooth, and relatively long.  Normally, I would say there’s a danger a bottle like this might meet it’s demise in one night.  But for some reason, I don’t think that’s going to happen to this one.

Now I know you probably don’t need some guy’s blog to tell you that if you get a chance to drink a glass of Johnnie Walker Blue Label that you should.  But that’s exactly what I’m going to do.  It’s one of those expressions and experiences I will remember for a long time.

(special thanks to Mark K. for making this happen)