Wait, what’s it called again?

Sheep Dip Blended Scotch Whiskey
40% ABV, Blended 8 Year Old

So, first things first, the name.  Scottish farmers began referring to whiskey as sheep dip in an effort to hide it from the excise man to avoid paying taxes.  The farmers would hide their whiskey in barrels marked “Sheep Dip”.  At the time, that was also a generic term used for an insecticide used on sheep to kill various ticks and lice.  I wouldn’t look in a barrel labeled Sheep Dip . . .

Now, to the whiskey.  This one's pretty good.  It's a really enjoyable blend.  And if you're a bourbon drinker looking for a way in to scotch, this is a good choice.  There's a hint of sweetness that will be familiar to you.

Overall, there's a really nice, rich golden color to the blend.  The nose is very flowery and sweet.  The blend supposedly draws on whiskies from the four main regions of Scotland (Islay, Lowland, Highland, and Speyside).  But I think the Islay whiskey was added with an eye-dropper - it's there, but it's faint.  There's a distinct maltiness to the flavor, as well as the bourbon inspired sweetness, which may be a testament to the barrels (probably not labeled Sheep Dip to throw the tax man off the scent) used to mature the whiskies.  The finish, long and drawn, finally yields a little more of that Islay peatiness I never mind tasting.

You'll remember the name of this whiskey if you see it on the shelves.  It would be a good addition to your collection.

A new year, new opportunities

So, I turned 40 last weekend. Predictably, and wonderfully, I received a number of new whiskies to try. In no particular order, I added to my happy (birthday) inventory:

• Oban 14 
• Macallan 12
• Sheep Deep, which is a top end blend with a pretty cool story
• Glenlivet 18
• Lagavulin 16
• Blanton's Bourbon
• Glen Garioch 

Wow, it feels even better when you list them all. I could get used to being 40. Even better, I feel like there's a review out there for each of them. Coming soon!

Let me know if there's any you'd like me to report on first.

The Dearly Departed

Rosebank (Connoisseurs Choice Bottling)
1991 - 17 years old
43% ABV

One of my goals for 2012 was to sample more whiskies from mothballed (closed) distilleries.  Well, I may have sandbagged that one a bit since I had a lovely sample of a 1991 Rosebank Connoisseurs Choice bottling on top of my liquor cabinet when I wrote that.  Regardless, it was time to open it last Saturday.  Time to sample my little bit of history.

For me, the appeal of a mothballed distillery is that you are, in a way, drinking history.  Mothballed distilleries are closed, they're not producing any more spirits.  Their remaining inventory exists in barrels, maturing either in the distillery warehouse, or more often, purchased by an independent bottler for sale under their label.  Rosebank and Port Ellen are the two most well known mothballed distilleries in Scotland.
Rosebank began operations in the late 18th century (perhaps as early as 1790) on the banks of the Fourth-Clyde canal in the Falkirk area of the Lowlands.  At the time, its position on the canal - the British Superhighway of the era - was an asset to their business.  However, from the moment the canals lost business to the roads, the distillery's location became a liability.  Rosebank's ingredient costs rose.  It cost more to get their product to market.  The fact that the distillery remained open until 1993 is a testament to the quality of the whisky.  Rosebank, according to Michael Jackson, "was the finest example of a Lowland malt.  It was a grievous loss."

To the whisky itself.  I knew it was a Lowland whisky, so I had an idea about what I was getting myself into.  Rosebank had a light, golden color.  The nose was very mild and slightly floral.  What I was really waiting for was the taste - it's a 17 year old mothballed whisky for god's sake!  I was not disappointed.  Even for someone like me, who sometimes struggles with the palate, there were a ton of different flavors.  There was fruit, but more like the non-citrusy fruits like pears or apples.  There was also some spiciness and creaminess.  There was a lot going on.  And then, the finish, the last fleeting taste you get in the back of your mouth after you swallow, was minty!  That was a new one for me.  So new, in fact, that I consulted my Michael Jackson Complete Guide to Single Malt Scotch to make sure I wasn't overthinking it.  Sure enough, he found mint as well.  Vindication.
All in all, this is an excellent whisky, one that leaves you wanting more (when there just isn't any).  And I think I'll be continuing my search for more whisky history.

Finally - a Whisky Tasting

I love a good whisky tasting.  It's a great way to get introduced to a lot of new whiskies in one night.  It's also a good excuse to hang out with the guys for a while.  I've been to a few tastings in the last five years and learned a ton.  So, last Saturday, when I hosted my first whisky tasting, it was like Christmas Morning for me.  I pulled a couple of key elements together and was ready to go:

• Invitation list: for this tasting, I basically invited the local friends that I knew enjoyed some type of whisky, bourbon, or even a beer.  I asked everyone to bring a bottle of whisky or bourbon, if they had one.
• Whisky: I emptied my cabinet, save a couple of airplane bottles.  I organized the whiskies into different regions, along with bourbon, Canadian, Japanese and Welsh.  My six-year old daughter provided the labels for the regions.

 

• Ground rules: I kept this one pretty open ended.  This was not like a wine tasting where everyone goes in some predetermined order and takes notes on tannins and oakiness.  It was basically, "see whisky, try whisky".  That's not to say people didn't have opinions about the whisky, or didn't consider the regions when trying different expressions, but I tried to keep it pretty light. If people had questions, I tried to help.  I also had some whisky guides out to help (thank you Michael Jackson).

The results?  Well let me first say, I was the host, I wasn't driving and everyone asked me to try the whisky they brought.  So I had a bit of a headache the next morning.  Besides that, however, I think a lot of people had their eyes open to some new things. 

• The international section (Welsh Penderyn and Japanese Yamazki) surprised a lot of people not only with the quality, but also with the fact that it existed at all.
• Bourbon is back.  The 1792, Old Van Winkle, and a new one - Bulleit - were all so well received that the Blantons was not even cracked.  Seriously, if you like Bourbon, check out Bulleit Frontier Whisky. Excellent.
• I think I mentioned Crown Royal as one of the whiskies to drink on a golf course (it comes with a bag to keep your keys in!).  I'm going to go ahead and upgrade that recommendation to Crown Royal Black Label.
• Caol Ila - One of the less popular Islay whiskies, Coal Ila is known for it's more subtle peating and its oily finish.  I hadn't had a bottle in the house for a few years, and I didn't realize how much I missed it.
• Winners.  At the end of the night, there had to be a winner - so we voted for our favorite whiskies.  The winner was a Macallan 15 Year Old Fine Oak expression.  It really surprised me how much I enjoyed this.  I've passed Macallan in the shop without stopping for so long, and I'm kicking myself for it.  Second place was a tie between Highland Park 15 and the Bulleit.

All in all, I think it was a successful first tasting.  Everyone learned something, tried something knew, and seemed to genuinely enjoy themselves.  And they didn't drink all of my whisky either!

This blogger's goals for 2012

I'm not really good at New Years' Resolutions.  They tend to be a bit tactical.  Some of my previous gems include, "learning how to sharpen knives" (aced it) and "getting better at doing cool card shuffling" (a little better, I suppose).
But when it comes to this blog - and this hobby in general - there are definitely some goals I have for 2012:

• Write more - I wrote 21 posts in 2011.  I think I can do more.  There is a world of whiskies to explore.  If anyone reading this has any ideas or requests, let me know.
• Expand my audience - I have 3 followers.  3.  Thanks guys.  I'm trying to figure out ways to increase readership, posting articles on Facebook and Twitter.  If you read this, and like this, please follow it.  And please forward it to your friends (or enemies if you don't like it).
• Conduct an interview - last goal for the blog - I'd love to get an expert's opinions out there, to learn and to share.  Keep an eye on the blog to see if I succeed.  

Personally, I also have some goals in expanding my knowledge and experiences with whisky:

• Try a whisky from a "mothballed distillery" - when you drink a whisky from a distillery no longer producing barrels, you are drinking history.  There's no more of this coming down the pike.  Mothballed whisky is, obviously, rare.  It's also highly sought after.  Rosebank and Port Ellen are two great examples - these distilleries produced, according to what I've read, excellent whisky.  But economic conditions made it impossible for them to continue.
• Keep exploring the world - in the last two years, I've had expressions from Scotland, England, Wales, Ireland, Japan, Canada and America.  All of these whiskies are made from slightly different ingredients and processes.  I'd like to keep going: there are a few more distilleries in Japan and Scandinavian whisky out there.
• Bourbon - Small batch bourbon is exploding on the market right now.  I've just secured my first bottle of Old Van Winkle, and I'd like more, please.

Well, I think that's a pretty exhaustive list.  If I achieve half of it, it should be a pretty good year.  What about you?  Let me know what your goals are for the year.  Maybe I can help . . . 

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)