Keepers of the Quaich

April 6, 2005

Laphroaig is launching a new whisky called Quarter Cask. It’s not out yet and when it is it will only be available in Duty Free shops! The description of the whisky is vague/missing. Does anyone have any info? Whoever is traveling overseas, be on the lookout and pick me up a bottle. Brother Ville?

May 25, 2005

Here’s an update on Quarter Cask: Distilled in casks a quarter the size of a Butt. Makes for more wood contact and more evaporation (by volume). It’s also been aged less than 10 years (not sure how many). Their result is an edgy spirit at 48% alcohol. Here’s their cool site. I want a bottle!

Just like to share that I finally had the chance to enjoy a dram of Laphroaig 30, and what a great treat it was. I went out last Saturday for my 8th anniversary (with Linda, of course…heh!) and went to Carlos’ in Highwood. Very excellent experience, and I started off the evening with Lagavulin 16. The Lagavulin made for a great aperitif and just confirmed for me how great that scotch is.

But, the real story is after dinner. We went to Froggy’s…a pleasant French bistro on Green Bay Rd known for being a pretty good value for the money. They had a small collection of fine single malts…and, to my surprise, they had Laphroaig 30, and I couldn’t resist. At $22 a dram, it was not exactly one to become committed to for the night, but it was a nice finish to the night out.

The nose was impressive…fantastic whiffs of smoke and peat as you normally expect from Laphroaig. The body has great depth and dare I say, rotund. It lacks the slight bitterness of the 15, and instead has toasted, rich sweetness and salt, a smooth and slightly warm finish. Quite enjoyable.

The bottle currently retails for $220 at Binny’s and is rumored to be the last that they’ll have for some time.

Ok, in the spirit of offline experiences, Brother Bop, I found some recipes created with scotch whisky. Both the Aberlour salmon and fudge sauce recipes sound fabulous. They were featured at a recent Spirit of Speyside festival. We need to take these for a test drive!

Yet another treat at the Sam’s tasting was Dahlwinnie 29. This weighed in at 58% alcohol. It’s a very limited production, bottled in 2003 from American oak casks. It goes for $356. What I like about this dram is that it’s was different. After cutting to ~40% the nose is quite fruity with a hint of cinnamon. Pallette is peppery, iodiney, spicy (think spice rack). Finish was buttery, warm with a hint of honey. Overall is was a dynamic experience–quite a treat.

…let me lobby for a couple of single malts to be included in our next tasting.

First though, I’m acting on some assumptions/rumors. Namely, that we will be having our next tasting at the private club up north where they have some ungodly huge single malt selection and that our tasting will be themed around the Northern Highlands.

Anyway, given the above, please let me lobby for:

BRORA, BRORA, BRORA!!!

Brora is the silent still sister distillery to Clynelish. It is the heavier peated of the two. So, since it’s silent and heavily peated, if it’s available at this private club I say go for it even above and beyond Clynelish. Think of Brora as the Port Ellen of the Northern Highlands. If they only have Clynelish go with that.

My final lobbying effort is:

Balblair!

Ironically, for the opposite reasons of Brora. Balblair is an active distillery, actively marketing it’s single malts and not just being a ho to the blenders. Just because we don’t see it on the shelves on Sam’s doesn’t mean we should overlook distilleries like this. If this private club has such a great selection of single malts then Balblair should be on it and we should seize the opportunity to taste it ahead of other Northern Highlands such as Dalmore and Glenmorangie.

Ok…one more while we’re at it.

Old Pulteney

This one is available at Sam’s but it’s retail price point scares off us snobs in the KOTQ – too low, must not be good. Well I say let’s find out!

In summary, if we are doing a Northern Highlands at a place with a great selection I would love to see:

Brora
Balblair
Old Pulteney

Thanks Brothers Bluff and Irving for listening

Here’s a reason to participate on our blog – we can cover topics here throughout the year and not spend scotch-tasting time talking…

For those of you who might think that this topic isn’t official KOTQ business – it doesn’t have to be…this is a blog:

Could someone tell me if that cask we bought a share in was a scam and it’s (pure spring) water under the bridge -or- it really is a slow-to-develop, maddeningly poorly communicated scheme from our friends across the pond? If answering, please note that those are your only two choices.

If it is actually a scheme please reply with the specifications so that we have them in writing in this blog:

Distillery
Current Age
Next voting period
# of bottles each KOTQ member invested will receive
etc, etc.

Yet another Sam’s Spirit Night whisky brother Bluff and I chose to sample was Bruichladdich 20. Bruichladdich 15 got average scores from KOTQ so I wanted to see how the 20 yo stood up, particularly after the disappointing 3D experience. We learned that the 20 yo is a Second Release–they are not perpetually cranking out 20 yos so this is a limited offering. They gave it another stupid nickname “Flirtation”–but let’s look beyond that. The first thing you notice is that the color is atypically (or is that typically) rose color–distinctively red-brown. The whisky is aged in bourbon casks and then “finished” for 5 weeks in Mourvèdre casks. Mourvèdre is a red grape native of Spain and also grown in France and California. It is known for making rich, intense, inky, leathery wines. So clearly this is where Bruichladdich 20 picks up some of its color. The whisky has an earthy nose, floral with a hint of mint. The pallette is soapy and sweet with a little bit of wood–no discernable peat. The finish is clean and easy. Oddly, none of the experience says “Islay”. This is nice mid-afternoon scotch. Good, not too challenging but still flavourful. It retails for $169 at Sam’s. This is the tipping point for me. While I like the drink, $169 buys a lot of HP18 or a really nice bottle of Glenfarclas 35 yo. I’m finding with all the Bruichladdies, the price/value relationship is a little out of whack–they’re overpriced.

You want a great way to learn about anything over the Internet in a relatively short period of time? Then, participate in forums. I regularly read (and subscribe to) forums for Heroclix and Board Games. I have learned immense amounts of useful information just by reading and participating in these forums.

I’m starting to get excited about Whisky Magazine’s forums as well. There is an opportunity to gain access to a hugely valuable resource on what is happening in the Single Malt Scotch world, not from the industry perspective, but from the single malt enthusiast’s perspective, by reading (you don’t even have to contribute) the forums at Whisky On-Line.

I have set up direct links to the open-ended Whisky Q&A forum and the Whisky Tasting Notes forum in our sidebar area under Whisky Magazine On-Line. I highly recommend both, but, note that Whisky Magazine On-Line also has many, many, other forums for you to use.

The Q&A forum covers the full gamut of single malt enthusiasm and experience from what to do when you visit Scotland, to the FWP (French Whore Perfume) problem with current Bowmores, to what gift to give a friend with a $300 budget. The topics are wide ranging and relevant all at once.

As a teaser I invite you to go straight to this thread on single malts and music. Read through the whole thread, and you’ll see that many, if not all, of us are in good company when it comes to opinion on this!

The Tasting forum is an excellent supplement and extension to our own tasting notes area. I recommend it as well.