It’s that time of the year again. Lots of giving thanks, lots of fun times.
It’s also the time of the year where I get to make frankly ridiculous wishes to no one in particular. It just so happens that my wish list contains many whiskies. It also just so happens that most of these are way out of my price range. But hey, I can dream!
These whiskies are not chosen based on how expensive they are, but because they are something special in their own right. Or at least, I hope so.
[teaser image=”http://highestspirits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/longmorn15.jpg” align=”alignleft” style=”boxed” title=”Number 5: Longmorn 15 Year Old” animation=”fade-in”] Starting off a bit more realistically, I’m looking at a now-extinct expression from a tiny distillery. Longmorn has stopped producing this dram, replacing it with the 16 year old. Yet, many connoisseurs who have compared both expressions have given the 15 years old the thumbs up, including Jim Murray, who gave this 93 points in this Whisky Bible.
According to sources on the internet, the nose is woody and leathery with roasted grain. The palate is well oaked with a buttery mouthfeel and a balance between spice, sweet fruits, heather, oak and malt. The finish is long and full of barley and developing aridity.
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Verdict: Hard to get
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Japanese whisky is gaining increasing prominence in the modern world. Using similar philosophies and methods, the Japanese now have some very celebrated whiskies. And no distillery is more prestigious right now than its oldest one, Yamazaki, hailing from Osaka.
Singaporeans are no doubt familiar with the more commercial expressions such as the 12 year old. Reminiscent of a Speyside for most part, you can really taste the fruits of Japanese attention to detail and quality. This particular expression is a especially notable one: it was awarded the title of Best Whisky in the World by Jim Murray in 2014. More than that, he described it as “near indescribable genius” with a ‘nose of exquisite boldness’ and a finish of ‘light, teasing spice’.
Sadly, I’m not going to be able to judge for myself what all this fuss is about. Since Murray awarded it the best whisky title, this particular bottling, of which there are only 18,000 bottles, has magically disappeared from all shelves and online shops. Picked up by speculators and whisky aficionados alike, it is impossible to obtain now. I’ve tried. Really.
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Verdict: Pretty much impossible to get
[/teaser][teaser image=”http://highestspirits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/portellen34.jpg” align=”alignleft” style=”boxed” title=”Number 3: Port Ellen 34 Year Old, 2013 Release” animation=”fade-in”] There are quite a number of dead distilleries in Scotland. For various reasons, mostly economic, the distilleries have been shut down or mothballed. Yet, with the way that whisky is produced, dead distilleries live on in the casks that are still maturing. Port Ellen, which used to be on Islay, is one such distillery. Closed down in 1983, international alcohol giant Diageo bought up the remaining stocks.
From what I’ve been reading, Port Ellen whiskies had a distinctive, extremely peaty taste. They were mostly used to blend with other whiskies, so single malts carrying the Port Ellen brand are rare indeed. Even worse, since no more is being produced, the world will never see its like again. Diageo has been releasing an expression annually, but they are “down to their last few casks”. What’s left of existing stock, however, is apparently the very, very best, and makes my list of fancy.
According to the merchants, the Port Ellen 34 year is an incredibly complex dram, with a toffee, wood smoke nose, with eucalyptus and bruised apple fruit traces, developing into a savoury, meaty scent, then sweet honey, toasted cereals and various oils. The palate is sweet and intense, with smoke ,fresh lemons and butter, finishing with smooth dark chocolate, smoke, mint and bergamot and cloves.
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Verdict: Going to need to trade an arm and a leg for this
[/teaser][teaser image=”http://highestspirits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/brora35b.jpg” align=”alignleft” style=”boxed” title=”Number 2: Brora 35 Year Old, 2014 bottling” animation=”fade-in”] Brora is another dead distillery, hailing from the Northern Highlands. Known originally as Clynelish, the name was changed to Brora after its owners opened a new distillery right across the road- which inherited the Cylnelish name. Across its chequered history, Brora has stopped and started productions many times- and no one seems to know for sure how many! What’s known is that it closed for good in 1983 in the great whisky slump of the late 70s and 80s, and Diageo buys out some of the remaining stock. As with other dead distilleries, there simply isn’t much Brora left anymore – not even enough to blend many casks together.
Brora is quite special. The style of the whisky depends greatly on the year in which it was made. Before 1969, there was no peat in the whisky. From 1972 till 1976, the whiskies were heavily peated. After that, the amount of peat used went down, but the recipes used were not always the same. So, the provenance becomes incredibly important if you want to know what exactly you’re getting!
This particular expression is not a heavily peaty one. It has a nose of vanilla, fruits and smoke, with a waxy tea, vanilla, tropical fruit palate and vanilla finish.
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Verdict: Need to trade an arm and 2 legs for this
[/teaser][teaser image=”http://highestspirits.com/wp-content/uploads/2014/12/balvenie50.jpg” align=”alignleft” style=”boxed” title=”Number 1: Balvenie 50 Year Old, 2014 Bottling” animation=”fade-in”] Balvenie is one of my favorite distilleries. Its whiskies are blended by one of the foremost masters in the industry, David Stewart, and tend to have honeyed, vanilla accents. It also uses the double or even triple wood method, which involves maturing whisky in typical oak barrels for most of the process, then transferring them to finish maturation in different wooden casks. The results are whiskies that share similar Balvanie characters, but with unique tastes of their own imbued by the flavours in the finishing casks, such as sherry and port. I’ve greatly enjoyed the 14 year Carribean cask and 21 Portwood expressions, which are both so delicious I could drink it for breakfast.
Occasionally, a distillery with such long histories create special releases. Balvenie recently released a supremely rare 50 year old expression in 2014, and are all filled from one of two single casks. The sweeter of the two expressions are filled from cask 4570, and there are all of 88 bottles available in the whole wide world.
According to Balvenie, the 50 year old has a nose with “Citrus notes of lemons and orange peel, followed by honey and vanilla and finally a gentle hint of cinnamon and subtle oak”. The taste is velvety sweet with fruit, citrus, spice and honey balanced with oak, and a smooth, citrus finish. Wish I could find out, too; each bottle costs a whopping 20,000 Sterling Pounds.
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Verdict: Have to trade in my liver, kidney and spleen to get it
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So that’s it. My whiskies of desire – the really rich among you will be happy to shell out the dough for this. Could I just ask that you give me a wee tasting portion? ;p
Images courtesy of The Whisky Exchange
