Malt Mileage Rating: 
Type: Brandy
Origin: South Australia, Australia
ABV: 43%
Category: 5stars
Jack Daniel’s Sinatra Select
Recommended use: Serve neat/with ice and a dash of water
Malt Mileage Rating:
Type: Tennessee whiskey
Origin: Tennessee, United States
ABV: 45%
Price: AU$200 / US$150 / £140
Glenlivet 21 year old
Recommended use: Serve neat
Malt Mileage Rating:
Type: Single malt Scotch whisky
Origin: Speyside, Scotland
ABV: 43%
Price: AU$250 / US$200 / £150
Highland Park 30 year old (revisited, 3/1/2016)
Recommended use: Serve neat, for God’s sake!
Malt Mileage Rating:
Recommendation: Buy it!
Type: Single malt
Origin: Orkney island, Scotland
ABV: 48.1%
User rating for Highland Park 30 year old:
Highland Park 30 year old is the epitome of fine Scotch whisky in my opinion, find a labyrinth of notes including an oak driven entry, dark chocolate, refined and aged peat smoke, leather, herbal tones (eucalyptus), earthy truffle oil, spice (cinnamon, nutmeg), fortified wine (sherry), dark toffee, dark fruit (plum, raisins), blueberries, orange peel, dark honey, and, lingering spicy oak with faint caffè mocha on the finish. This is one powerful, complex whisky.
You could bribe your way into heaven – or, perhaps more fittingly, Valhalla – with this stuff. Admittedly over 30 long years of maturation much of this liquid would have, through evaporation, made its way to the angels. Luckily, that having been said, they’ve probably acquired a taste for it. Sin away.
Highland Park 30 year old is available for about $1,000 per bottle.
Bruichladdich Octomore 7.3 Islay Barley
Recommended use: Serve with a splash of spring water
Rating:
Recommendation: Buy it
Type: Single malt
Origin: Islay, Scotland
ABV: 63.0%
User rating for Octomore 7.3 Islay Barley (VOTE HERE):
Bruichladdich Octomore 7.3 is a heavily peated single malt whisky that boasts a PPM of 169. Having been distilled from a wash that is made from barley grown on the Isle of Islay in Scotland, and then matured in American oak barrels by the sea on Islay, I am expecting a salty jab in the face and a knockout blow of peat from this whisky. What I found, as the below tasting notes show, was that this whisky is not dominated by salt and peat; rather, the salt and peat buoys flavours from the American oak and malt – it is complex, balanced, and yet seriously ferocious.
Nose:
Peat smoke, coastal notes, rubber gloves dusted with talc, powered vanilla and chocolate, apple, peach, green pineapple, mars bar, fudge, caramels and denser milk chocolate emerge with walnuts, leather and freshly varnished pine with white chalk.
Taste:
Served neat at an alcohol by volume of 63.0%, the ethanol snaps at the palate like grandpa’s perfectly executed moonshine. Then the palate adjusts. It is astringent, and as the vapours evapourate off the palate like a hot steam, find sea salt, heavy peat, maritime notes, toffee apple, caramel, honey, fresh apricot, cigar tobacco and wood tannins.
Finish:
Curiously, vanilla cupcakes emerge on the finish with heavier notes of salt than on the entry and a twist of minerality. There is plenty of peat smoke and underlying smoked notes, very Russian Caravan and lapsang souchong, with candied ginger and a lingering metallic taste and the faint glow of eucalyptus.
Bottom line:
Buy it! Bruichladdich Octomore Edition 7.3 is a peaty sea monster, a Godzilla of a dram, bashing its way out of coastal waters to bombard the palate with all the unbridled anger you would expect of a youthful Islay malt – peat, sea spray, smoke – but with the calming sweetness of American oak.
Bruichladdich Black Art 4
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Spirit Name:
Spirit Type:
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Bruichladdich Black Art 4
Single malt whisky |
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Rating:
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ABV:
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49.2%
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Region:
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Islay, Scotland
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Body:
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Medium-full
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Intensity:
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Medium-high
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Texture:
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Smooth
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Balance:
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Superb
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Best served:
Cask:
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Neat, with water
American and French Oak |
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Theme(s):
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(N) Citrus, buttery barley, hazelnut, chocolate, toasted coconut, vanilla, polished mahogany, drying wine (T) Powerful, assertive and bold, almond noughat, glazed cherries, chocolate, mild smoke, salt, Asian spices (F) sizzling sweet and sour, chilies, smoke, salt, apricot danish, cinnamon
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Thoughts:
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Black Art 4 is the fourth release of Bruichladdich’s popular “Black Art”, which is comprised of whisky from a selection of casks that are kept a closely guarded secret. The only information released about this mysterious whisky is that it was distilled in 1990, aged for 23 years during which American and French Oak casks are used and bottled at 49.2% alcohol volume. All other information appears to be suppressed, just like the recipe for the Big Mac sauce, the Colonel’s herbs and spices or what on Earth my girlfriend wants for Valentine’s day!
Bruichladdich is a distillery located on the island of Isay in Scotland, where hundreds of years ago the island natives learned the art of distilling from Irish monks.Over the next hundred years demand for whisky gradually expanded, and to service this demand Bruichladdich was founded in 1881. It closed in 1994, and aging stocks of whisky were left to do what they do best – absorb phenolic compounds from the oak. The distillery was subsequently purchased by private investors and re-opened in 2001. Jim McEwan was signed on as Master Distiller and the team has been keeping a lot of people very happy ever since. This history therefore explains how the distillery, having re-opened in 2001, can offer whisky that was distilled in 1990.
Bruichladdich state that ‘Black Art is Master Distiller Jim McEwan’s personal voyage into the heart of Bruichladdich’ and that he worked ‘with the very finest American and French oak to explore that most esoteric relationship between spirit and wood’. That relationship between spirit and wood is probably the most important aspect of whisky making, because the oak either imparts flavour compounds into the spirit or alters those existing compounds. New make spirit is not as interesting as an aged whisky, because it needs to draw out flavour and have its own flavours altered by being aged in the wood and exposed to oxygen. The Black Art 4, in my opinion, is a great example of the complex aromas and flavours that oak can impart into a whisky beyond the usual suspects – sherry, bourbon, vanilla… WOOD! To get even more out of the experience I highly recommend you read Whisky Chemistry.
Black Art 4 offers some very fascinating twists and turns, and very complex flavours which are not overly oak dominated. This explains Jim’s quest to seek balance between spirit and wood. What I love about Black Art 4 is that despite its age of 23 years the barley still shines within subtle nuances of wood driven character and on the palate the complex sweetness morphs without warning into a smoky haze of salt and bristling Asian spices – a very interesting and unique twist! I think the team at Bruichladdich have done a superb job.
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Tasting notes:
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Nose: Burnt citrus peel (orange and lime in particular) accompany buttery barley and bitter hazelnut which develops more sweetness and into Nutella, dark chocolate cherry ripe and toasted coconut with deep vanilla notes softening the bite of drying polished mahogany. There is a wine theme in this bouquet, quite dry with oak driven sugars providing balance. Water softens the burnt citrus peel into orange cake and seems to release more lemon and dill aromas.
Taste: This whisky has a great mouth-coating texture, and it coats every crevice of the palate. It is powerful, assertive bold and sweet. Almond nougat develops first with licorice, glazed cherries and chocolate, but then the sweetness gradually recedes at mid-palate into a smoky haze of fresh salt and oriental spices. This is where it gets really interesting. Finish: The haze of salt and oriental spices then resembles a sizzling sweet and sour hot plate with chilies. The smoke, which began to develop on the palate, is now more noticeable. The finish therefore offers mild smoke and spice with salt and a moderating sweetness of an apricot danish with cinnamon. |
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Likes:
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Complex, interesting, innovative, salt notes within sweetness – a real charmer
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Dislikes:
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Price:
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£180 (UK)
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Sullivan’s Cove French Oak HH0423
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Name:
Type: |
Sullivan’s Cove French Oak HH0423
Single malt
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Rating:
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 |
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ABV:
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47.5%
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Region:
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Tasmania, Australia
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Video review:
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Tasting notes:
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This whisky is drawn from cask HH0423, which was made of French oak and previously held fortified wine. This whisky is balanced, elegant yet assertive with beautifully integrated flavours showcasing dense Christmas cake, malt loaf, dark chocolate, caramel, sticky date pudding, surges of barley and a rounded warning glow on the finish especially of ginger bread, mild menthol and sweetened pickled spice.
Nose: Lashes of barley are softened by layers of caramel, sticky date pudding and hints of vanilla spiced English style pot still rum. Flecks of cocoa and freshly polished wood balance against that sweetness, which begins to thicken into dark chocolate, rich dense fruit packed Christmas cake and shards of toffee with a slice of malt loaf. The bright caramel and vanilla infused sticky date pudding flickers on and off randomly, giving way to the other character then returning at unexpected times with the occasional sprig of mint and burst of menthol. Such a complex bouquet, and one that radiates all the classic aromas of ex-fortified wine matured whisky with a distinctive Sullivan’s Cove twist.
Taste: Thick, mouth-coating, viscous and rich. This whisky offers a beautiful balance. The nose suggests sweetness will flood the palate, but once this whisky hits the tongue the flavours balance out -.the initial burst of winy sugars are moderated by the oak which are then whipped into line by the flash of barley. An initial wave of thick honey, caramel and vanilla cake merges with dried dark fruit (dates, raisins, fig), and as the whisky rests on the palate the sugars recede into malt loaf with mild hints of filtered coffee and the buzz of barley which is accompanied by dense dark chocolate coated Christmas cake that is packed with dried fruit.
Finish: The finish is long and progressively showcases sweet rounded spiciness. Ginger bread and mild menthol drops glow on the palate with very mild notes of sweetened picked ginger, but acting as a counterbalance to that spicy sweet “heat” on the tongue are soothing waves of vanilla and that BIG, RICH, DENSE Christmas cake that bursts with cocoa and cereal notes.
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Price:
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£90 (UK), $137 (Aus)
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Glengoyne 35 Year Old
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Spirit Name:
Spirit Type:
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Glengoyne 35 Year Old
Single malt
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Rating:
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★★★★★
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ABV:
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46.8%
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Region:
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Highlands, Scotland
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Body:
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Full
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Intensity:
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Strong
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Texture:
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Oily
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Balance:
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Near perfect, with big oak driven character and a drying finish
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Best served:
No of bottles:
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Neat
Limited to 500 globally |
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Theme(s):
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Big, rich and powerful with an oily mouth-coating texture releasing: oak, German marzipan pastries (stollen) and bittersweet black forest, stone fruit, honeycomb, cherries and sherry with dusty pure cocoa emerging into a drying oak driven finish with sherry, raisin, wood spices and grappa glazed prune with an anise seed nip.
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Thoughts:
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Humphrey Bogart must have reflected on his charmed life before uttering his following last words: “I never should have switched from Scotch to Martinis”. These words came flooding into my mind about the same time Glengoyne 35 Year Old set my taste buds blazing with the flavours of three and a half decades of maturation. I get the feeling that Mr Bogart was simply saying that we should, when opportunity knocks, try something new (a Scotch, which changes from batch to batch) rather than something familiar (a boringly consistent Martini). Glengoyne 35 Year Old is one of those whiskies that I can fondly look back on and say, frankly my dear, I gave a damn. It makes me think that Mr Bogart was onto something – variety and memorable moments are the spice of life.
A bottle of this whisky will set you back £2,850 (approximately $5,175). Not only is it sublime for drinking, but it is incredibly rare – only 500 bottles are available worldwide. Knowing its rarity makes savouring this whisky a very special experience, where sniffing and sipping a small dram can last an hour. This is one of those whiskies that you can appreciate, with a sense of feeling lucky and a big smile on your face. Unpacking the sample, I felt like a little boy on Christmas day! That has to be a big part of the whisky experience.
For more information about the Glengoyne 35 year old you can read Glengoyne’s responses to a few of our questions by clicking here. If you would prefer to watch a video review, please click play below (note: the colour of this whisky is better captured in the below photo). |
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Tasting notes:
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 Nose: Faultless! All the different notes whizz around in the glass to create a bouquet that is soft, fresh, musty, sweet and oaky. That sweetness (glazed cherries, sherry) wafts up with dark chocolate, vanilla fudge cake, crushed walnuts, German marzipan pastry (stollen) and whipped cream. This almost smells like a fresh bag of stollen, with the sugars, marzipan and pastry all intermingling. Soft calf leather and polished mahogany develops, and as the whisky rests marzipan pastries dusted with icing sugar emerge with boiled sweets and a subtle shade of mint and nutmeg. This is one of those bouquets that cannot be faulted, no matter how much one tries – it has ideal intensity, alcohol volume, balance, complexity.
Taste: With a delightful mouth-feel and rich oily texture this whisky glides down the palate as though it is liquid velvet. The dense and slightly viscous texture coats the palate with layers of flavour – big rich bursts of oak intermingle with waxy honeycomb, red cherries, sherry and bittersweet black forest as a dusting of cocoa, nutmeg and the spritz of soft citrus (tangelo and lemon biscuit) begin to add a drying bitterness that proceeds to the finish.
Finish: Long. The pure cocoa intensifies into a warming glow of dry wood, and then sherry, raisin and grappa glazed prune begins to pierce through that layer of oak with nutmeg and wood spices accompanying the nip of anise seed.
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Likes:
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Big, rich, vibrant, complex, mouth-coating
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Price:
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£2,850 (approx $5,175)
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Malt Mileage Whisky & Spirit Reviews 