LCBO Vintages Release for August 2012

Back once again, with more whisky in tow.  This month has a rather short list of bottles coming in to the LCBO, but there are a few interesting items (some good, some not so good) that are on the shelves that will get posted in a separate review.  So without further adieu, let's get down to brass tacks.

August 04/2012 Release:

Well this is more of a 'we had nothing new to get out yet, so here is something we found on ours shelves' release.  The LCBO proudly re-releases Longrow CV.  This is a heavily peated version of Springbank's distillate (we're not talking Islay smokey heavy here folks, more like manageable amounts of peat).  Springbank Distillery has a very fond place in my heart as they are one of the few distilleries that still do it all by hand.  I mean all of it: there are no computers, no complex machinery in the production line, and nothing to get between you and the final spirit.  Longrow came about as an experiment in making an Islay style whisky on the mainland.  It was so successful that by 1992 the distillation became a regular part of the Springbank family, and adopted the now silent distillery name of Longrow (c. 1824).  The double distillation process used is true to it's name and the distillery itself is a true relic, resurrected from the ashes of many years of neglect.  Now, it might seem a little worrisome in regards to quality control issues to not have any machinery or intense scrutiny of the distillate, however there is actually very intense scrutiny, from the senior production staff.  They are quite frequently nosing and tasting the distillate to monitor the quality and changes.  Think of it this way: this is based on an agricultural product which will change with the seasons, ambient conditions and even the soil quality it's grown in.  This makes it a challenge to continually make the same flavour profile, which requires blending single malts into a 'super-malt'... I'm looking in your direction Macallan & Glenfiddich.  It's not the the quality that changes (in fact Springbank is one of the best quality whiskies on the market IMO), in fact the spirit itself changes ever so slightly.  Batch variations are the subtle differences that make it so good.  It shows that if Joe on the production line cuts the tails coming into the spirit safe a little early on one day to catch a football match, and later then next day to avoid cutting early 2 days in a row, the changes in the final product produce subtle variances.  That aside, this is a great whisky and an excellent intro to Campbeltown region whiskies  (there's only about 4 of them... Hazelburn, Springbank & Longrow in one distillery and Glen Scotia being the other).  The CV variation (curriculum vitae), is exactly that:  a resumé of sorts showcasing what Longrow is all about in a single bottle.  It's a blend of Longrow finished in a variation of casks (including Port, Sherry, Bourbon and Rum), giving this malt a fantastic creamy nose and slow developing peat.  On the nose you'll find things like vanilla marshmallows, subtle wood fires, heather, sweet spice cake, minerals chalk or ground limestone, subtle brine and hints of medicinal iodine, with peat being ever present throughout.  In the mouth, spice and peat right upfront.  Notes of dried tobacco, candied lemon peel, smoked fish, sweet grains and vanilla (like oatmeal and vanilla pudding together), dried cocoa powder (the regular, not dutch process... which is less acidic) and sweet oak.  The finish is long and slow, bringing waves of peat, limestone, brine, oak and caramel all over the place.  It seems sort of unorganized but also incredibly complex akin to a brilliant scientist's notebook.  There are notes in the margins, notes written in other languages, newspaper articles glued in, pictures stapled onto pages and such.  In the whole sense of things it seems like a notebook of random jottings, but really it's a window into the scientist's head and their inner workings.  This is a great starter to get into the peats, and also into Springbank's large collection of malts.  This comes highly recommended, and at only $82.95/bottle for a unchillfiltered, no colour added premium mega-blend.... this is a great deal.  Check your local LBCO <HERE> for your bottle today.

August 18/2012 Release:

Up next is... wait, what?  You thought there was more?  No, sadly that's all they gave us that round, and only another single bottle for  this round too.  Isle of Arran Amarone Cask Finish makes a glorious re-appearance at the LCBO for this release.  This beautiful pink whisky (like seriously Rosé pink), is a fragrant and richly finished Arran whisky.  Jim Murray called it 'pehaps the best Arran nose of all time' (which is the Madeira finished CS IMO), and awarded it a 96.  Jim Murray is an over-reference whisky writer in my opinion.  He has both a great nose and palate, but just because he's toted as the next Michael Jackson doesn't make his word law (Editor's note:  expressions are my personal opinion so feel free to take this with a grain or three of salt; especially should you actually be Jim Murray).  That being said, I do love the Arran malts and I really love this finish!  This one is a trifecta of excellence: Served at 50% ABV (this is an old school drinkers preference referred to as The Golden Strength by die hard Scotch fanatics), 100% natural colour, and no chill filtration takes place on any Arran malts (See ref: HERE).  These are the things that get me excited (yeah, as I write that I realize my life may need more excitement), and get my mouth watering.  In the glass, it's a gorgeous pink colour.  On the nose the whisky is quite subtle to start.  Notes of rose petals, toasted almond cakes, sweet chewy candies, chocolate covered orange peel, hints of subtle floral notes, cranberry, dark cocoa and dried cherries all intermix creating a fantastic breath.  Then you put it in your mouth.  Holy!  This goes from soft an subtle to incredibly complex and deep.  This list here is long: Turkish delight candy, dark chocolate covered cherries, toasted almonds, cooked fruits, honeydew melon, brine, butterscotch like a salted caramel, dark plums (very ripe and fruity), a dash of cinnamon and a twist of nutmeg make for something other-worldly in the mouth.  The finish is medium in length, but rich and rewarding.  The cooked fruit, almond and cherry, and brine go on and mix with worked oak, subtle wood smoke and more dark fruits but also don't detract from the whisky at the same time.  Great balance, great body and flavour and a great bottle.  Check you local LCBO <HERE> soon as these don't last long once someone has tried it.  Even at $77/bottle this is a great buy.

So there we go, 2 bottles re-released, and what great bottles at that!  I strongly suggest that you look into one or both of them should you be interested in trying real artisan made whisky.  The 2 distilleries mentioned above are 2 of just a handful that make astonishingly good spirits among the many that are controlled by the beverage giants.  So as usual I wish you happy dramming, and as always: Keep your stick on the ice, and the ice out of our glass.

ScotchBlog.ca Tasting Event @ Quinn's - January 28th/2012

This past January, I was invited as a reader and good friend to the ScotchBlog.ca group to join a tasting party held at Quinn's steakhouse.  Not willing to miss the chance at having 6 tastings for under $24, I jumped at the occasion.

2 flights were offered - First up was the aptly named "Smoke Ladder". We moved from lightly smokey up to full on roaring bonfires of peat with Longrow CV, Jura Superstition, and finally Ardbeg 10.  All drams were accompanied by a chef approved item to accent the natural flavours within the Scotch.  I chose to jot notes about the 2 that I don't have in my collection, Longrow CV and Ardbeg 10.

Longrow CV:

• Colour:  Very light straw, slight hints of orange/gold in the highlights.


• Body:  Thin and light, medium drops form; legs run at a medium rate.
  


• Nose:   Soft notes of heather, peat and vanilla cream.  Accents of spice cake and sweet barley.


• Palate: Spicy wood smoke, Hints of peat and candied lemon peel.  Vanilla highlights.


• Finish:  Short.  Hints of wood smoke and grainy sweets permeate. Herbal vanilla notes, and rubbed/worked oak.


• Empty Glass:  Here the barley grain and peat show up!  Roasted oats with honey, salty brine (just a hint like movie theatre popcorn).


• Paired with an chocolate bon-bon (orange creme centre), making this an excellent after dinner treat.

Ardbeg 10 Year Old:

• Colour:  Very light, in fact surprisingly so!  Certainly doesn't look like any colour added.  I'll call it sun bleached straw.


• Body: Medium, and slightly oily.  Medium sized drops; legs run slowly.  Hints at lots of flavour here, but you should know that already (you can smell the peaty fires from 3 feet away!).


• Nose:  Peat (duh!), lots of peaty fires.  Coffee grounds, fruity notes. Licorice, and dark chocolate. Real mint (like in a muddled drink)


• Palate:  Spice and smoke dominate.  Ashes mix with strong quality coffee fruitiness (not that Starbucks crap; real barista pulled stuff in a place where they care what coffee tastes like!).  Chocolate notes and hints of toffee in the background.


• Finish:  Sharp and biting.  Dry smoke and espresso.  Hints of sour peat permeate the finish.


• Empty Glass:  Smoke galore! Wood smoke, campfires, ashes and peat!  No actual notes of the oak here, the smokiness sort of takes over.


• This was served with smoked salmon on Irish soda bread.  Excellent pairing with all that smoke, almost overwhelmed the fish.

So the reasoning behind the smoke ladder was to be able to allow ourselves to genuinely enjoy monster peats without being overwhelmed by the smoke.  Moving from low to medium to high allows your senses to adjust to the amounts of peat in the Whisky and thus allows your nose to mare easily drift through the peat and smoke to find the other scents and tastes within the dram.  Excellent stuff, and a great way for anyone to get into peated whiskies!

The second flight was sweet and smoky.  This gave us a chance to calm our taste buds and enjoy some different types of smoky notes within the whisky.  This flight featured Springbank 10, Oban 14, and Connemara Peated Irish (a personal favourite of mine).  I chose to jot notes for the Springbank and the Connemara, I'm still not a great Oban fan (but I'll work on it I promise).

Springbank 10 Year Old:

• Colour:  Golden Hay


• Body:  Medium.  Large drops form with legs running slowly.


• Nose:  Worked teak (interesting of all things wooden), dried grasses, bread, dried herbs, and olives.


• Palate:  Hot and sweet on the initial rush. Sour notes like old coffee mixed with a mossy-ness and toffee candies.


• Finish:  Medium length with smoke and sharp notes.  Gentle oak and roasted almonds.


• Empty Glass:  Slight sulphur notes and roasted nuts. Worked oak and wood shop floors (like sawdust form a wood shop).


• This was served with an incredible hand made Irish blue cheese. Cashel Blue is a semi-soft mild blue cheese made from Cow's milk.  It emphasizes the salty/briny notes in the whisky and amplifies the smoky notes while providing a wonderful creamy palate for the whisky to bloom in.  Find this cheese, and have it with something smoky/briny like an Islay and see what I mean!

Connemara Peated Irish Whiskey:

• Colour:  (Try not to laugh at this one, but I have written) Honey Nut Cheerios gold.  That roasted golden colour with some brown highlights.


• Body:  Thick. Tiny drops seem to form, legs run very very slowly.


• Nose:  Pink rubber school erasers, and soft peat bogs. Sweet grains (like mashed corns, or fresh harvested wheat).  Rubber tires in the hot sun (seriously! not bad, just something astringent to bring contrast to the sweet notes). Sweet honey notes, with floral hints in the background.


• Palate:  Wood smoke and gently smouldering peat fires.  Roasted nuts and


• Finish:  Short but great!  Smoke and vanilla notes intertwine with rubber in a drawn out way through the finish.


• Empty Glass:  Sour peat and coffee grounds,  Oak and a musty note like grape mash after fermentation/extraction (or like the smell of a wine maker's cellar).


• This was served with shortbread and chocolate covered raisins, but was switched up at the last minute to what little was left of my Cashel blue.  That rich creamy and salty cheese melts and compliments peat and smoke so well.  In the case of the Connemara, the sweet pot still Irish malt lends itself even better to the cheese providing a sweet nutty note to compliment the cheese.

Vintages Release for October 2011

Well here we go again!  Another belated but good round of releases for October!

First up: Longrow CV makes a return to the LCBO shelves (although I don't really recall it ever leaving at any of my stores).  With a lightly peated, peppery and iodine notes on the nose.  This Campbelton malt features a fantastic finish with a depth that is hard to match.  Check your local LCBO for SKU#180158 and grab yourself a bottle for $85.  My personal suggestion though is to hold out and shoot for the Longrow 10 year old single malt (LCBO Sku #735688 for $125/bottle).  I find it a bit less structured and a little more enduring as it's not quite as intense as the CV blend.  The CV blend features a mix of the 7, 10, and 14 year old singles with the finishes varying from Port casks to rum finishes.  Either choice is an excellent foray into a small, family run distillery that showcases the hallmark of an independent distiller - unchillfiltered and higher proof allowing the end user more flavour and better value.

Second to the purchases list is not actually a Scotch at all, but rather a Cognac.  Léopold Gourmel is a well known Cognac house that is renowned for its embrace of the natural process.  No additives, no colour, no caramel... nothing.  this is pure unadulterated Cognac from non-toasted barrels.  This allows the user a chance to peek into the realm of the spirit itself and experience the spirit for what it is, not the aging process or the special French wood used, or the super rare colonized bee with gold feet that taste like angle tears which pollinates the grapes.  With no chill-filteration and no colour added, this became my next step into the world of spirits and I'll let you know what I think of it soon enough.  The 6 Carat (for 6 years), VSOP is a prize to behold in a quite pretty decanter with a gift box.  Tasting notes show a rich and varied spirit with vanilla bean, coffee and smoke wrapped in dried fruits and chocolate.  Check your LCBO for availability at your local shop ($66 SKU #258848).

The second release features a mix of old and new whiskies.  We have the return and price increase of the Glenfiddich 21 Rum Finish (albeit never leaving the shelves, just increasing again by $10).  Check this LCBO SKU#981381 for available locations.  At $174.95, I don't feel like this is such a good value anymore, you might be more inclined to try the limited edition Snow Phoenix release for $89.50 (Check this SKU #236752).  Don't get me wrong, it is excellent whisky, but at that price there are many other bottles I would choose over that first.

LCBO pricing aside, the other returning bottle is the legendary Eagle Rare 10 Year old Single Barrel.  It has returned to us at only $47.95/bottle this time ($2 dollars cheaper), and what a bargain for such a monster bourbon.  This was my second bottle of single barrel bourbon, and what an introduction it was!  Sweet cherry, butterscotch, oranges and vanilla permeate the nose with spice cake, apricot/orange marmalade, rich heavy American oak and dark corn syrup building the body.  The finish is long and incredible, soft and slow with pepper and ripe fruits permeating the finish.  This is a definite purchase for the bourbon lover in your life, and if you aren't one, this whisky may change your mind.  Check your local stock using LCBO SKU#604785.  At less than 50 dollars, this is a must have for any whisky enthusiast.  Just writing about it makes me want a glass, and I really want to get my hands on the 17 year old version!

What's new in this round (although I admit I've seen this before on the shelves), is Royal Canadian Small Batch.  This is from the masterminds at Sazerac Distillers.  They brought us the Buffalo Trace lineup, Old Rip Van Winkle's Bourbon, and many other incredible American bourbons.  The Royal Canadian is an offshoot of the greater project in which Sazerac purchased a lot of Canadian whisky barrels.  They have since been releasing small batch and single barrel releases.  The first one I saw was Caribou Crossing Single Barrel hit the LCBO shelves late last year.  On a whim at an LCBO tasting bar, I got my chance to taste the spirit.  It was really something!  When time and patience meet Drew Mayville's nose, magic happens.  It was a real eye-opener for Canadian whisky.  This second bottling is a blend of some more of the selected barrels to create an iconic Canadian whisky flavour.  With rich oak and fruits hitting your nose right away, it really is a heck of a whisky.  Sweetness carries through the spirit bringing hints of oak, hot pepper, spice cake, rich fruits and so much more.  This is a rich and robust example of what Canadian whisky really can be  (now if only the other manufacturers would allow the spirit to age longer into something like this instead of bottling it young and harsh).  Check your local listings using LCBO SKU #224071. A bottle at $37.95 with this kind of flavour is a rare find indeed.

Also in the mid October release is Springbank  CV Single Malt.  A single malt from the Campbelton region, the CV is a no age statement bottling.  This allows drinking without the prejudice of the number staring you in the face ('Was that 10 year old really as good as a 10 should be?'  'That 25 year old was excellent, but the 18 was better.').  These are the things I hear all the time, and this bottling allows the user to attest to the spirit without judging the book by it's cover.  That being said, Springbank is a vibrant spirit.  The CV shows a subdued sherry nose interspersed with peat, menthol and eucalyptus.  Leather and sherry on the tongue with notes of hard oak, spice and pear in the mouth.  The finish is medium, but reveals many layers of sherry, fruits  and leather.  This is a heck of a dram for $74.95/bottle.  Check your local LCBO using SKU#250142.


Also included in this release is the Johnnie Walker Blue mini bottle.  Now I'm not a huge advocate of mega-produced over priced malts, but for a 200 mL sample of the good life, I think it might be worth the $69.95 asking tag.  It really showcases the art of the blender with incredible depth, smoothness and balance - something to be tried and savored.  Check the LCBO using SKU #255778 for locations near you; it's worth a snap up, if for nothing more than a rewarding dram.



In the final release (yes, 3 releases for October!), there are a few more malt mentions.

First up is a Canadian single malt of a special pedigree.  Glen Breton Ice 17 Cask Strength.  This is a real malt monster, and something I've been looking forward to trying all year.  The 17 Year old Canadian malt is finished in Jost Wineries award-winning Icewine casks,and served at cask strength.  This gives incredible rich and bright fruits to the nose, but expect a heck of a bite when served at 57.5%.  This will be added to the collection for sure, and will definitely be sampled and reviewed at a later date!  Check SKU #250183 for the product information.

Also released in this issue is a newcomer to the Canadian scene, Deanston 'Virgin Oak' from Burn Stewart in Scotland.  Finished in virgin American oak barrels, I'd expect the oak to play a front-runner to the Scotch.  It sounds like it would be worth a try, and at only $39.95/bottle, it would be a pretty safe bet for a good fall dram.  Unchillfiltered and served at 46.3%, this looks to be a good independent style bottling.  All that heavy oak mingling with the honey sweetness of the barley is sure to please.  Check SKU #254235 at your local LCBO.

Last and most certainly not least, is another release from Edradour.  The 10 Year old distillery edition.  If their other lineups are anything to go upon, this is a real cracker.  This is the smallest distillery in Scotland (check out their website for the quick virtual tour HERE), is still family owned and run.  Producing some excellent scotch in the way it should be produced.  By hand, with no chillfiltration and no colour added.  The distillery edition at only 10 years is a fresh and rich dram, that should be hunted down for a taste.  Almonds and sweet barley sugars take centre stage, with hints of sherry in the background.  An excellent dram, and well worth the investment.  Check your local LCBO for stock #904995 for a bottle  ($79.95).



Well that sums up the massive release for October!  In fact, this post has taken me a week to create off-and-on, due to the size of the release.  I will be off too Whisky Live and hope to see some of you there, and will post about that again soon.  Until the next post, keep your stick on the ice, and ice out of your Whisky.