Clynelish - Signatory 1991

Clynelish - Signatory Unchillfiltered 1991 etc.

There are few people I have met who would ever turn down a Clynelish. It's a lovely dram - pungent, sweet but with a spice/salt edge to kick it all back into shape. A fave go-to malt. I've been drinking a couple recently, the standard 14, an Adelphi bottling (which I'll talk about later) plus tonight's gem from Signatory - 1991.

Ok. It's easier to define this dram by what it's not, than what it is. It's not fruity. It's not oily. There is a touch of rising spice. But all of it is battered down by the ever present smack of salt. In fact, this may be one of the saltiest drams I've ever tasted - and there is nothing wrong with that.

It starts with a thinish, cereal, malty nose but all of it held in check. Waiting to be released out of the traps. It's like a boy racer revving up.
Straight into gear and bang a whack of spice but smashed down against the lemon citrus tang and the salt. Oh yes, it's smooth alright. Oh yes it's silky. There's a touch of caramel, vanilla sweetness but again held against the ropes by that tangy salt. It reminds of a lemon roast chicken - citrus, salt and white meat flesh.
On the finish - there is an attempt at the spice to rally but it's fighting a losing battle. The final result like stuffing your mouth with candy floss before a gulp and swallow of sea water. Fresh, brine, sweet, spice but above all salt.

More swerve than the standard bottling, less sweet, more ballsy, Lacking refinement compared to the Adelphi but doing what this distillery does so well. Not as briney as the CC Inchgower 1993 but up there in the top 10 of salty malt. Loves it me.

Glen Scotia 12

Loch Lomond Distillers outpost in Campbeltown. Founded in 1832 then from 1928 onwards a history of opening and closing and changes of ownership (and a suicide in 1930!). Production re-started by the owners of Springbank on 5th May 1999 and then continued in May 2000 by Loch Lomond. A 12 year old was released in 2005.

A very clean nose, barely present when served in a tumbler, it was hard to gain the full range of aromas, some citrus.

Thin but incredibly clean on the palate. Malt, orange squash with a menthol-like cleanness to it that reminded me of Green Spot. Then a bit of mid-palate spice and a tiny lick of salt.

On the finish very tangy. Tickles the sides of the mouth and sides of the tongue, making it incredibly refreshing and very, very more-ish. Very inviting, wants you to go back for more.

Although not huge on flavours, a really well crafted spirit - one that I wouldn't usually associate with the Campbeltown region. One that I'll need to try again in isolation.

www.glenscotia-distillery.co.uk

Mortlach - Signatory bottling.

Hmmm. Not overly sure which Signatory bottling this comes from....but I reckon it's the 1991 - 20 year old - Unchillfiltered. Distilled October 1st 1991 in a Sherry Butt until October 6th 2011.

Nose: Deliberate and self-assured. Sherry from the off with raisin and nut aromas. Chocolate fudge in there too. Opens to a more medicinal aroma - touches of swimming pool chlorine - ozone, that smell after the thunder-storm has passed.

Taste: Starts smooth with citrus and a touch of sweet marzipan then sharpens up a bit with a grassy, stalky nudge before swinging round with just a vague hint of saltiness to keep it all balanced.

Finish: There's a touch of Orange Tango and a suggestion of a rye-like bubble-gum with Coconut Bounty bars before a slight bitterness that keeps it from going too soft. Falls away fairly quickly at the end.

An interesting bottling that varies from the F&F - in some places lighter and not as full bodied.

Fazenda Sertao - Coffee

This months grind from the Square Mile Coffee guys is from Brazil from the Sertao Estate in the Carmo de Minas region. It's a family run estate of which the Sertao is the largest at around 519 acres - which according to the accompanying letter is a bit of a larger estate than they usually deal with. The one I'm drinking is a Yellow Bourbon (Lot 24) and it's particularly tasty. Fairly different from last months offer - this one is clean, buttery, round and filling - with some lovely toffee and chocolate aromas and flavours. Perfect for a mid afternoon tipple.

Sommerset Cider Brandy.

A little while back I hosted a Brandy tasting. There were a couple of Cognacs, one Armagnac, one from Spain and also a Calvados. Whilst brandy comes from a grape base, Calvados (if you apply a broader use of the term brandy) comes from apples. So talk moved on to the possibility of English apple brandy, or brandy itself. The south of England is well known for it's apples and cider and so it's only a short step to distil to make an English apple brandy. We also have a few vines down there too and so making brandy from wine should also be possible. Although I've never drank any brandy from England I had done a bit research in case this question arose and I noted that Bertram Bulmer was first to restart brandy production in the 1984.

Sommerset Royal came next from Julian Temperley, a Sommerset cider maker who started distilling from Brympton d'Evercy House near Yeovil in 1989. They are still going strong today. To celebrate a 4 year legal fight in Brussels to get the grant of a PGI - Protected Geographical Indication (like an Appellation Controle in France) - so they can actually use the words Sommerset Cider Brandy on the bottle - they commissioned Damien Hirst to design a label for their 20 year old.


Well it turns out one of the guests at the tasting has been able to procure a sample of the 10 year old from the Somerset Cider distillery for me. Thanks Richard! And when we do another brandy tasting I'm sure to include one of these.

Deep golden in colour.

Distinct apple from the off. Slight oiliness. A slight hint of toffee or butterscotch. Clean. Fresh and vibrant. The nose opens up after a while in the glass and becomes softer.

Clean then sharp and spice. Crisp apple fruit with a hint of balancing bitterness.

The spice pools and dries in the middle of the tongue whilst salivating at the sides. A long clear and clean finish.

Very impressive stuff. Need to spend some time with it to appreciate the balance and depth of flavours. Will visit it if in the area.

Balvenie - Double Wood

I had an old bottling of Balvenie Double Wood kicking around from a few years back (perhaps 5 years ago). Kind of forgotten how tasty this was. So will have to check recent bottles to see how they compare. This was altogether a lot sweeter and certainly smoother than I remember. Here's what I wrote...

Nose - Cute, bib, but refined, maltly, orange, doughnut, citrus, sawdust, rounded, cream-sherry choc-orange, dusty spice edge, biscuit, model railways

Taste - Rhubarb and custard, naughty sweets, sweet and smooth - almost rum like qualities, custard cream biscuit, citrus touches, Corn-flakes with milk, so willing to please, charm personified, a dram willing to give up it's seat for you.

Finish - Skipping into mid distance reverie. Pleasant, nothing shocking, perhaps too willing to please? Beautifully constructed. Smash Hits style repeat to fade. Those "O" shape selection box biscuits. School boy Demerara sugar and rice pudding.


Model railways? Hornby I suppose?

Auchroisk

Not a particularly well-known malt - but one from the Diageo stable. Auchroisk apparently means "ford of the red stream" in Gaelic, referring to the Milben Burn which the distillery uses as it's process water. It mainly goes into blends, including the J&B brand. It's a back-up production site for Gordon's gin, should anything too bad happen to Cameronbridge and it's still room, constructed in 1972, was used as a model for Diageo's Roseisle distillery.

I'm guessing this is from the Flora and Fauna 10 year old bottling, which replaced the Singleton in 2001.

Kicking off with quite a closed nose. Hints of clove and nut. Rounded and full.
Immediately quite thin with a spicy hotness on the palate. Waking up to a oilier mid-palate with a touch of salt, perhaps a bit of baked fish. A chance of olive oil and chilli spice or trace of hot pepper sauce. Clean and not overtly complex with a reasonably short finish that ticks off some apple and green stalks with a faint bitterness counterbalancing the initial sweetness.
Slightly one-dimensional but plays a reasonable riff throughout.