It’s National Picnic Week and with the weekend looking sunny, it’s time to grab a blanket, some bottles and a sandwich or three, and head into the great outdoors. Caroline has some tips for how to make sure your picnic is best, forged in the fires of the UK’s most competitive al fresco dining experience: the opera at Glyndebourne

The immensely talented musician Richard Stilgoe has a cuttingly brilliant poem about Glyndebourne, which begins:

We’re going to Glyndebourne – my dear what a treat

With Giles’ fiancée (who’s terribly sweet

And frightfully cultured – she’s seen Hedda Gabler

And Five...

[This is the continuation of an old series. Here are the previous instalments if you’d like to catch up – What was a sherry cask , What is a sherry cask and What goes into a sherry cask ]

What is a solera?

The solera system is at the heart of the sherry-ageing process. It is, simply put, a method of continuously blending younger and older sherries to ensure a consistent character over the years.

The solera system of maturation – confusingly, the last tier of the solera is also called the solera. Picture courtesy of SherryNotes

A solera can...

It’s that time of year again: World Gin Day is almost upon us. I’m a big fan already (any excuse to drink gin is a good thing, in my opinion) but this year things are being kicked up to the next level – not only is the  World Gin Day London  festival starting imminently and continuing until Sunday, but it’s also Negroni week. There’s only one thing I like more than an excuse to drink some gin: an excuse to drink a Negroni.

What is a Negroni?

‘My favourite combination of alcohol, alcohol and alcohol.’ –Adrian Barnett. Lapsed whisky blogger...

This week is the Islay Festival of Music and Malt , aka Feis Ile. For eight days, the small, southern Hebridean island doubles its population with an influx of people from around the world, almost all of them whisky fans. Compared to the rest of the year, the island gets crowded – you will occasionally see another car on the road, you can’t always get a table in the pub and the Co-op runs out of avocados much faster than normal.

One of the tell-tale signs of having become a jaded whisky geek is the desire to avoid the island...

Compass Box Delilah’s XXV is made to commemorate the 25th birthday of the Chicago bar Delilah’s. Compass Box already made a blend for them five years ago, and a small leftover parcel of this recipe was further matured and forms the base of the new release.

The original blend (29%) was made with Teaninich and Glen Elgin , plus grain from Cameronbridge . It was further matured in refill hogsheads. This remaining 71% is a new mix of Maltwhisky whisky from Miltonduff, Teaninich, Linkwood, an undisclosed distillery located close to the town of Aberlour, and Cameronbridge again.

 ...

People keep telling me I should try recent Edradour whisky, especially from sherry casks, to overcome my long-time aversion towards the brand. I tried too many sulphury examples when I became serious about whisky.

Here’s a sherry butt distilled in 2008 , in the Ultimate series by van Wees .

Edradour 8 yo 2008 (60,4%, van Wees ‘The Ultimate’ 2016, sherry butt #118, 696 btl.)

Nose: deep sherry, with truckloads of prune liqueur and dried figs. Raisins. Some caramelized nuts and tobacco. A bit of a damp, earthy undertone as well, and a few struck matches, especially when...

Mortlach 12 / 16 / 20 Year Old

Mortlach is working on a restructuring of its range and they’re expanding / replacing the age statements. We’ve seen labels for a Mortlach 12 year-old ‘The Wee Witchie’, a 16 year-old ‘Distiller’s Dram’ and a top of the range 20 year-old ‘Cowie’s Blue Sea’. All three bottled at 43.4% ABV.

I expect the baseline Mortlach Rare Old to remain and the others to replace existing 18 and 25 years expressions. Now if only their pricing was a bit more reasonable…

Octomore 09.x ‘Dialogos’

A new range of Octomore bottlings has...

Late again… you know, vacation and such.

Ardbeg Grooves was the yearly release for Ardbeg Day 2018 . It is made with some red wine casks that were intensely (re-)charred, resulting in heavy grooves in the wood.

Ardbeg Grooves (46%, OB 2018)

Nose: sour berries, eucalyptus and hints of rubber shoe soles at first. Vanilla pastry, toasted wood and salted popcorn. Strawberries in the background. A bit of a funny mix so far. Pine resin and briny notes. White pepper too. Youngish and you feel the aromatic wood trickery, but nothing’s out of balance so it kinda works....

So, 27 year old Bowmore bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company . Today minus 27 years means distilled around 1991, so if it comes close to something like the Bowmore 1991 ALOS we would be very happy indeed.

The colour makes us think this is a bourbon hogshead.

Bowmore 27 yo Batch #5 (47,6%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2018, 285 btl.)

Nose: coastal notes up front, with sandy beaches, briney sea air, almonds and a hint of sourness (starts as a hint of glue majbe, but becomes more lemony after a while – nice really). Lemon and salt,...

This is the first whisky I’m trying after three weeks of Rias Baixas, Vinho Verde and Port wines. Could be worse, right? By the way I discovered some nice sweet things from Noval, Bulas, Quinta do Vallado, Val da Figueira…

The Whisky Exchange has a history of hand-picking good casks of Glenlivet 1981 from the Signatory stocks (check this or this from 2015). This brand-new release was finished in a sherry butt – actually quite an extensive finish of 76 months.

Glenlivet 36 yo 1981 (47,6%, Signatory Vintage for The Whisky Exchange 2018, sherry butt #12, 702 btl.)...

I tried its predecessor Glengoyne 17 Years but I never reviewed this Glengoyne 18 Year Old which was launched toward the end of 2012. It is matured in refill sherry and first-fill sherry casks.

Glengoyne 18 yo (43%, OB +/- 2018)

Nose: not the classic dried fruits / dark sherry profile but rather a grassy, leafy style. Plenty of orange peel and marmalade, nutmeg and cardamom. Yellow raisins and red apples. Marzipan. Some real vanilla too. Mouth: good, still very malty and less influenced by sherry than I hoped. Brown sugar, pepper, cinnamon. Sweet apples, creamy almonds, orange...

Here’s an Auchentoshan 2001 selected by TastToe from the Signatory Vintage stocks. A while ago, I know…

Two sisters cask #8001.. have been bottled in the Artists series by La Maison du Whisky a while ago.

Auchentoshan 16 yo 2001 (58,2%, Signatory Vintage ‘Un-Chillfiltered’ for TastToe 2017, bourbon barrel #800114, 195 btl.)

Nose: starts on freshly sawn oak, vanilla and honey. Hints of linseed oil, majbe a chalky note. Then more towards fruits, think bananas flambéed, peaches and gooseberries. Mirabelles. Water brings out kiwi and pineapple. Always on the lighter Lowlands style though. Mouth: still quite fruity, now...

Tomahto, Tomajto, Tomatin … the first release of this disitllery by That Boutique-y Whisky Company . A 21 year-old, so we expect quite some fruits.

Tomatin 21 yo Batch #1 (47,4%, That Boutique-y Whisky Co 2018, 50cl, 304 btl.)

Nose: starts in a typical grassy way, with soft chalky notes. Then green apples and yellow plums, as well as some nectarine. Honeysuckle and hints of banana cream. Cake dough. Mouth: a malty, slight green profile, both from the unripe fruits and the wood. Pears, greengages, light honey and apple peelings. A little vanilla custard and shortbread. Sweet gingery...

A favourite of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert, being conveniently situated close by Balmoral Castle. Royal Lochnagar has been converted from a blender’s whisky to a distillery that focuses on single malt. Small and traditional, it is still Diageo’s ‘training distillery’ for staff and potential managers. You know, wooden washbacks, open mashtun, wormtubs and no computers.

We’re trying the base expression: Royal Lochnagar 12 Year Old .

Royal Lochnagar 12 yo (40%, OB +/- 2017)

Nose: simple aromas, some dusty malt with hints of gummi bears and vanilla. Honey biscuits and cake dough. Soft nutty notes. Hints of...

Braeval maj not be the sexiest name in the first batch of the renewed Connoisseurs Choice range from Gordon & MacPhail , but we’ve had quite a lot of nicely fruity expressions from Braes of Glenlivet before.

Braeval 20 yo 1998 (59%, Gordon & MacPhail Connoisseurs Choice 2018, refill American hogshead #26004, 185 btl.)

Nose: slightly heady, with fruity notes but also polished wood, even a hint of nail polish remover (an asset here). Dried flowers and grassy notes. Haribo sweets. Juicy pears, a little kiwi and banana. Touches of white rum and light vanilla. Mouth: honeyed and...

The label for this Tamdhu 28 Year Old from That Boutique-y Whisky Company displays a shadow-boxing Prince Saladin, a reference to the fact that Tamdhu is the last distillery to use a saladin box for malting.

Tamdhu 28 yo 1988 (46,8%, That Boutique-y Whisky Company 2017, Batch #1, 50cl, 270 btl.)

Nose: golden raisins at first, with oranges and melons. Almond cake, a little custard. Some waxy notes too. Dried pineapple and golden apple slices. Buttery touches. Sweet barley and hay. Subtle wood spices in the background. It’s nicely rich and rather complex. Mouth: quite oily, on sweet...

This Highland Park 1970 was part of a special series by Gordon & MacPhail to celebrate their centenary anniversary (1895 – 1995).

I noticed Serge scored this 78 points…

Highland Park 1970 (40%, Gordon & MacPhail Centenary Reserve 1995)

Nose: nice old-style dusty sherry, with impressions of a warehouse in Jerez. Mocha, leather and hay. Whiffs of tobacco leaves. Herbal honey. Pine wood. Library scents. Plums, figs and orange peel. Hint of old metal. Mouth: fairly gentle and rather woody. Herbal honey again, eucalyptus, sour plums, traces of coffee. Dark chocolate. Light hints of smoke too. It’s dry...

Maltbarn is also into cognac these days and they sourced it from one of my favourite houses Vallein Tercinier . I tried a Lot 90 some time ago, I’m not sure how this relates to that one.

There’s now a new release, Vallein Tercinier Lot 89 from the same bottler.

Vallein Tercinier 27 yo ‘Lot 90’ (49,7%, Maltbarn 2018, Grande Champagne, 150 btl.)

Nose: not the tropical fruitiness that we got in older examples. This one has Cantaloup and old rose petals, summery blossoms, raisins, subtle hints of Christmas cake. Szechuan pepper. Candied ginger as well as mint...

Auchentoshan 18 Years is matured in 100% American oak casks. The latest bottle design also has a “limited release” label, not sure how limited it really is.

Auchentoshan 18 yo (43%, OB +/- 2018)

Nose: toffee apples and hints of banana, mixed with toasty and fragrant (newish) oak. Whiffs of bubblegum and vanilla marshmallows. Honey. A little pipe tobacco and grassy notes as well. Crystallised ginger. Mouth: a light fruitiness of oranges and sweetened lemon juice. Brown sugar and barley sweetness. Later more oak spices (clove, ginger) and roasted nutty notes (almonds, chestnut). Finish: medium long, very malty,...

This blended malt was given a finishing period in a specially-coopered 50-litre Moscatel sherry cask.

Moscatel wines can range from a light style (Valencia) over sweet and golden styles (Portugal) to very dark in the sherry region, where it is an oxidized style that comes close to Pedro Ximénez in terms of colour and aromas. There’s always a floral element though, typical for Muscat grapes.

It was bottled not so long ago in the Darkness  series.

Blended Malt 20 yo (46,3%, Darkness 2018, Moscatel cask finish, 100 btl.)

Nose: sweet and oaky, quickly followed by cocoa notes and...