I thought I’d share this article from one of our featured links, scotchwhisky.com, listing out the exciting list of distilleries set to open in 2017.
In June, 2016 Brother Bluff opened his spirit armoire to an unofficial tasting for all those able to attend. By no means representing the full extent of the wonder contained therein, his generosity for this tasting focused on his largesse of new and unusual expressions which, outside of perhaps Ardbeg Alligator, were completely new experiences for all in attendance. Bluff may very well be the premiere single malt purchaser and consumer in the Chicago area when perspective, experience, creativity, dedication, and personal means are all factored together.
Ardbeg Alligator
Ardbeg Dark Cove
Balblair 1999
Craigduff 32 Signatory Cask Strength Collection
Longrow 18
Lagavulin Islay Jazz Festival
Lavagulin 8
Macallan Whisky Maker’s Edition
Finlaggan Old Reserve Islay Single Malt
Wolfburn Initial Release (3 yo)
The Duncan Taylor Octave Collection
Circled back to Delmonico in The Palazzo on my recent Vegas excursion. I wanted to have the seared ahi with the bone marrow Bearnaise (wasn’t on the menu, had Rambler’s bbq salmon over andouille hash; also amazing) and, of course, I wanted another crack at their “book of whisky”. It took me about 20 minutes, given the scope of their book, but I decided to try an expression from a distillery I hadn’t had before and one caught my eye: MacDuff. MacDuff is interesting to me because they sometimes release expressions under the brand “Glen Deveron”, which I find quite unique in the industry, yet here was a MacDuff branded expression:
The specific expression was an independent bottling from Duncan Taylor’s “Octave Collection”. An “octave” is a cask that is 1/8th the size of a standard cask and contains approximately 50 litres of whisky providing a higher wood to spirit contact ratio developing more character.
The 1998 Vintage is cask strength yet I didn’t even notice. What was remarkable to me was the light orange in the nose and the palate and, in short, that the nose, the palate, and the finish were all tremendous. Any one of those is a welcome experience. Getting two of three is the sign of something special. But, to get all three made this a truly memorable single malt. I enjoyed the dram pre-dinner along with my beef carpaccio which turned out to be an inspired pairing.
The GREAT news is this expression is widely available including at all Binny’s. To all of the upcoming Fear ‘an Tighs please, PLEASE consider putting this expression (and possibly other Octaves) in your tasting lineup!
15Q3 lineup L-R, Springbank 21, Ledaig 18, Talisker 18, Balblair 1983, Glenglassaugh 30, Macallan 18
![Jazz at KOTQ 15Q3, Bop and Terry playing Vince Guaraldi's 'Cast Your Fate To The Wind' [Listen]](https://keepersofthequaich.org/kotqblog/wp-content/uploads/Bob-and-Terry-playing-tunes-BW.jpg)
Jazz at KOTQ 15Q3, Bop and Terry playing Vince Guaraldi’s ‘Cast Your Fate To The Wind’ [Listen]
Here is a recap of our KOTQ meeting in Las Vegas January 16-17th, 2016. First, thank you for allowing me to serve as Fear ‘an Tigh for this special event. I had a blast picking out the tasting lineup and making the arrangements. Also, I’d also like to thank everyone that was able to make the trip. In total, 7 members of the KOTQ Chicago Chapter were present, and we also had 6 guests join for the festivities. So, in total we had 13 that were able to attend the tasting, and although it sounds like an unlucky number, I would say that our trip was anything but unlucky. All of our single malt scotches survived the flight, and I think most of us ended Saturday evening on the positive side in the casino! I remember yours truly on a heater at the Venetian craps table that most of us were able to ride. Unforgettable!
To recap, the tasting lineup for the evening included six well-received, other-worldly expressions of at least 18 years of age. After 1/2 oz tastings and a discussion of each distillery, I asked each of the guests in attendance to rank sort the expressions in order of preference from 1 to 6. The lowest cumulative score will be crowned the favorite of the night. The rating scale is more a reflection of our matter of preference than a deep evaluation about the quality or taste profile of the spirits. Each whisky has a different taste profile, and I wanted to see how our group profiles against these six outstanding single malts.
The 6 single malts in the lineup, in order of tasting, were:
- Springbank 21 (2015 Release)
- Ledaig 18
- Talisker 18
- Balblair 1983
- Glenglassaugh 30
- Macallan 1989 18 yo
In the end, the group favored the Ledaig 18 most. It also garnered the most first place votes with Macallan 18 right behind. However, Glenglassaugh 30 wins second place in the tasting this evening based on having the most second place votes. The Macallan 18 takes 3rd place.
To my surprise, Balblair 1983 fell a distant 6th. Balblair may have suffered from being stuck in the middle of the tasting and following Talisker 18. In fact, I suspect that the complexities and subtle fresh and floral nose of the Balblair were washed away by the prior three big-nosing whiskies. Nearly everyone who came back for a secondary tasting on day 2 were stunned by how different and enjoyable the Balblair was when not competing in this lineup. It’s an exceptional complex whisky that lost out to bolder expressions for our challenging evening, but given a different day and tasting order, the results could have been reversed.
The Ledaig 18 was really the only heavily peated whisky of the evening, and combined with the oloroso sherry cask finish, it was an immediate winner with our group. It was a bit of a surprise that the Ledaig 18 came out on top over all the others, but I would contend that it was because the taste profile of the Ledaig 18 was exciting and the most memorable. None of us had experienced the 18 before. Did the ‘discovery’ of the Ledaig 18 sway your vote? I would not be surprised if there is a run on Ledaig 18 at the Chicago-area Binny’s while they are on sale for $120.
Mostly, what we found is that it is terribly difficult to rank sort these particular single malts because the ordinal ranking does not do these equally important single malt scotches any justice. The distance between 1 and 6 really isn’t fair….maybe more like 1st is 1, 2nd is 1.1, 3rd is 1.2, etc. Again, just a reminder that these results are not intended to be a measure of spirit quality but instead an attempt to profile our group preference. You’d be a fool to pass up on the Balblair 1983 or a Talisker 18!
My only regret of the evening is that we did more of a ‘speed tasting’ than a methodical evaluation before we voted on our favorites. We could have spent a little bit more time analyzing each whisky and taking meaningful tasting notes. That’s not to say that we did not analyze the taste profiles, but I think we would have taught the guests of the KOTQ a little bit more about nosing and discovering palate notes had we tasted fewer expressions and discussed them more methodically. If there’s anything I learned from this, I’d say that we should return to the discipline of taking better tasting notes so that we can share our experience online and offline.
Now that you have had time to reflect, do you have any comments about the results of the tasting that you’d like to share? What did you like best about the Ledaig 18 or the Glenglassaugh 30 that justified their ranking within the lineup?
