Whisky Weekend Salzburg 2015

This time I'm going to write about a Whisky venue I just recently visited. Some might think "Wait, didn't he write just about the Whisky Show 2015 in London? Will he write about it again, hoping nobody would notice?" No, I'm not going to write about the Whisky Show in London, I'll write about the Whisky Weekend in Salzburg, Austria which was just a week after the Whisky Show in London.

After having done my first tasting for the Whisky Consultants the Friday evening before - which I really enjoyed although there is room to improve my presenting skills - my first instinct on Saturday morning - despite I haven't drank a sip of Whisky that evening - was "Okay, that's it! I'm not going!" - just like the Grinch when invited to the Christmas party down in the village (One of my absolute favourite scenes of this movie). But then I thought, watching movies in the bed is fine, but I can watch movies on the train to Salzburg (approximately two and a half hours) too. So I packed my stuff (camera, tasting book, iPad, etc.) and hurried to the train station.

Having scouted the program of the event I knew that there would be a Master class from Talisker at 4 p.m. so I called ahead and reserved a spot. Nearly three hours later - to be exact around 3 p.m. - I got to the venue in the so called "Mönchsberg" - literally translated to "Mountain of the monks" - got my badge and was informed that my Master class was delayed because of the Master class before. So instead of one hour at the venue I'll just have two before my Master class would start - which was fine. But then the nice lady asked, if I'm interested in the last spot for the other Master class which is about to start (which had a very unspecific topic on the homepage as I checked beforehand). So I asked for the topic, she replied "Bruichladdich" and I just handed her the fee (which was incredibly low) without any words. A Talisker AND a Bruichladdich Master class in a day? I was glad and happy - as was the Grinch? - that I went to Salzburg.

When I hurried down to the room which was more a cave being that the venue was inside the mountain I was greeted by Jason S. Turner himself - Falstaff International Wine Marketing Manager - how delighted I was! We started off with "The Classic Laddie" followed by the "Islay Barley". These two were followed by another "Islay Barley" namely the "Port Charlotte Islay Barley" and the "Black Art 4.1" While the first three Whiskies were n.a.s. Whiskies, the latter one got distilled 1990(!) and was bottled 2013. So we're talking about an 23 year old Whisky. Interesting fact: I liked all four of them, the last one was maybe a little bit better but not that better. As I always say: "Age doesn't matter (that much)"! I'm happy to taste lots of different Whiskies in various prize categories and ages but nearly 300€ for that Whisky is - IMHO - too much.

But wait there were three other Whiskies to taste. But which Whisky could possible top the Black Art series? If you don't prefer peated Whiskies the answer is possibly "none". But if you do the answer is very easy. Of course the mighty peat bomb "Octomore"! Jason brought the versions 06.1 (167ppm), 07.1 (208ppm) and of course 06.3 (258ppm). What a finish! These three aren't cheap either but they are in a prize range I can relate to.

Of course all of the seven Whiskies were n.c.f. (non chill filtered) and n.c.a. (no colour added). Well not "Of course" because many whisky distilleries add colour (that is E150 - caramel colour, produced by using glucose syrup, sulphuric acid and ammonia) to their finished products so that every batch looks just like the batch before. Nearly every distillery filters their Whisky but it is a difference between "normal filtration" and "chill filtration". But I digress, this is stuff for another post!

The reason I mentioned this is because the second Master class from Talisker presented five of their Whiskies, the "Talisker Skye", "Talisker 10y", "Talisker 57° North", "Talisker Port Ruighe" and the "Talisker Storm". All of them have one thing in common, they were all coloured with E150. The colouring doesn't add any taste, but I like to see the natural colour of the Whisky. One of them was finished in a sherry cask (57° North) another one in a port wine cask (Port Ruighe). The latter one was a bit darker but as you recall all of their Whiskies are coloured... Never the less I enjoyed all of the five Whiskies.

After the second master class I just wondered around the little nice venue as I've done between the two Master classes. I had a very good "Highland Game Stew" - the only difference to the traditional "Irish Game Stew" was - and I quote here: "My man is from Scotland that's why it is a Highland Game Stew"! After a quick chat with Jutta and Thomas from the SMWS Austria (tasted the 4.183 at their booth) I got the chance to taste the World Best Single Malt 2015 at the booth of the Whisky Consultants - the "Kavalan Solist Vinho Barrique Single Cask Strength". Unfortunately Michael just opened the last bottle of this Whisky so I couldn't buy it. On the other hand if he hadn't opened it I couldn't have tasted it and therefore I wouldn't have wanted to buy it...  

Slàinte,
Lukas

My first tasting notes... Kind of...

The box and a personal letter

A few weeks ago I stumbled across an article about an ongoing "Battle of the Blends" hosted by Master of Malt and The Whisky Magazine. You could sign up to be a judge in this battle and I decided to give it a shot. Just short after I received an email telling me that I am one of the judges. And just short after that a small package arrived with my two samples and a nice letter describing what to do.

The two samples

Since Master of Malt announced the winner and some tasting notes on October 12th I decided to compare my notes with theirs. I wasn't that bad although there is no such thing as "right" or "wrong" during tasting - you taste what you taste - but I'm always curious what others can taste so that I can learn from them. And sometimes there is a taste I can describe but I can't name it for sure. Therefore it's always interesting what other people taste!

So here are my tasting notes (you can read over here what Jack Mountain tasted):

Blend A (on the left)

Colour: amber

Nose: At first you notice fruity notes of lemon and pineapple combined with hints of fresh wood and some sweetness from sherry. With time subtle notes of apple, pear, honey and some smoke appear.

Palate: You can taste fresh lemongrass combined with some honey and some nuts. Very complex and refreshing. Are there some hints of gummy bears at the end?

Finish: It's long (especially for a blend) and (heart) warming.

Blend "A" and Blend "B" in the nosing glas

Blend B (on the right)

Colour: light amber

Nose: There are some floral notes combined with some smoky lemon notes and just a little bit of sweetness from toffee. Otherwise it's a little bit flat.

Palate: Smoked meat and a hint of toffee are combined with some toasted wood. A faint hint of some sweetness (Tutti Frutti) appears in the end.

Finish: It's as long as Blend A and (heart) warming just like Blend A.

So that were actually my first two tasting notes! Hope you enjoyed them and keep in mind next year there will be another Battle of the Blends. The exact composition of both blends will be published in "The Whisky Magazine" Issue 131 in December!

Slàinte

Lukas

The Whisky Exchange Whisky Show 2015 in London

Hello there, it's That Whisky Guy again! As I am writing these lines I'm sitting in a train inbound for Salzburg. The reason why I travel to this nice city in the west of Austria is - of course - Whisky. This weekend is "Whisky Weekend" in Salzburg and I'm thrilled to check out this venue I've never been before.

As I mentioned in my fist blog post I visited the THW Whisky Show in London. Now is the time to write a little bit about my trip to the UK. I wanted to visit the Whisky Show last year but due to the fact that I got layed off in my dayjob a few weeks before the Show I decided to safe my money and plan my trip for the next year. I decided to just visit the venue, I'll visit London some time else - if I liked what I saw. The easiest way to do this is to fly in early maybe do just al little bit sightseeing and fly back in the evening. Funny thing is, my trip to Salzburg will take approximatly two and a half hours. That's about 20 minutes longer than the flight to London. But I digress...

Escalators in the Lononder Tube

The flight to London was uneventful and I'm That Whisky Guy, not That Plane Guy, so I'll skip just to the venue. In London I was greeted by a quite typical - stereotypical would be more accurate - weather for London: Rain. Fortunally right across the street of Old Billingsgate was a nice pub and Wolfgang (from the Whisky Consultants) and I decided to get a beer beforehand. In this particular pub a guy just walked up to Wolfgang (for everybody who want's to know: I was on the loo) and started a conversation. He saw the Poloshirts with the "Whisky Consultants" logo and concluded that we were going to visit the venue just as he himself. His name? Dave Alcock, better known in the internet as @whiskyrepublic on Twitter and as "The Whisky Dramalista". I suggest you check out his site thewhiskydramalista.com!

Impression from the Lononder Tube

He told us - and I could not agree more on this - that Whisky and tasting is not only about color and taste. It's about history, stories and personal memories! At that particular moment I decided that I have to start my blog as soon as I get home. Even if nobody cares about what I write or have to say, I'll do it anyway. I want to share my thoughts and memories and if only one person somewhere out there has a better day because of what I wrote I'm happy.

Back to the venue. As the sky started to clear up and the line in front of Old Bilingsgate got shorter we finiehed our beer and started to explore the venue. The very first stop was at the booth of Kilchoman. Kilchoman is a very young (2005) Islay Farm distillery with very young (typically 3 to 5 years) but very good and interesting Whiskies. They had - as I hoped for - the new "Kilchoman Madeira Cask" at the booth! It's just four(!) years old and the color remembers me of Jurassic Park when they found the mosquito in the amber stone. After a little bit of nosing - butterpopcorn an a little bit of toffee - the taste could not hide the origin of this Whisky. It's like walking through a field of barley on a hot summer day chewing on some smoked meat on a rosted bread. A very nicley composed dram and surely in my collection as soon as it arrives in Austria. The new Single Cask Release (with a PX finish) was not bad at all but I had difficulties to find the PX cask in this Whisky. If I didn't know, I would never have guessed that this particular Whisky was matured for six months in a PX cask. Maybe a few more months in the PX cask would have been better for the Whisky but that is soley my personal opinion.

Wolfgang from the L&P Whisky Consultants at the Kilchoman booth

The next stop was at the booth of anCnoc, the Single Malt Whisky from the Knockdhu distillery. Besides their "standard" Whiskies with 12, 18 and 21 years, they had the "rescan" and the "cutter" both slightly peated with 11,1ppm respective 20,5ppm. While those two Whiskies were matured solely in exBourbon cask the other three Whiskies were matured in exBourbon and exSherry casks. The older the Whisky the more exSherry casks were used. My favourite of these five Whiskies was the 22 year old one just shy before the 12 year old. Why? They both are very refreshing and had a nice taste which reminded me of a Cidre! But the 22 year old was a little bit more complex with notes of barley, toffee and some oak wood.

Wolfgang from the L&P Whisky Consultants at the anCnoc booth

Next stop after a lunch break (the vegtable lasagne was very good as was the rosted garlic bread) was the booth of Nikka Whisky from Japan. If you ever have the change to taste a japanese Whisky - do it! Unfortunally they are very rare in Europe and quite expensive. The nice lady presented us two new and interesting bottlings the "Nikka Coffey Grain" and the "Nikka Coffey Malt" Whisky. Both were distilled using a coffey still (as the name suggests) und matured in exBourbon casks. Although they are n.a.s. (no age statemant) Whiskies, we were told that they are matured for 12 years. They only difference between the two Whiskies was - again as the names suggests - that for the latter malted barley was used for the first unmalted barley. The difference in the taste is not that big but noticable. Especially the finish of the Grain version is much shorter and on the palate it is less complex than the Malt version. But I like the idea of bottlings where just one parameter is altered - just like the "Wood Finish Expressions" from BenRiach.

Wolfgang from the L&P Whisky Consultants at the Nikka booth

The last stop of the day was the distillery Amrut from India. There are not many old indian Whiskies because of the hot and humid clima over there. In Scotland the "Angel's Share" is about 2-3% a year. India's "Angle's Share" is about 10-15% which is quite a lot. The typical indian Whisky is matured for just three to five years. Therefor it was a nice suprise and a pleasure the get the oppertunity to taste a ten year old Amrut called "Greedy Angels" reflecting the high loss of Whisky during the maturation. Matured in exBourbon casks you can smell tropical fruits like pinapple, very faint hints of oak wood and an interesting combination of some oriental spices. On the palate the Whisky is quite simple, well balanced and sweet. The color is a light gold as the Whiskies from Amrut are not colored and not chill filtered.

Wolfgang from the L&P Whisky Consultants at the Amrut booth

To be exact we did more than these four stops, but it would be way to much for just one blog post. These four were the most interesing ones and maybe I'll post one or two tasting notes of the other Whiskies I tasted that day. Also if someone is interested in the picutres I've taken that day head over to my Flickr account. I'll post them tomorrow, when I'm back from Salzburg. That's it for today, if you have any suggestions where to go next or which Whisky to tast, please leave them below in the comments section!

Slàinte

Lukas

Welcome!

Hello and welcome to my blog! My name is Lukas Albert. I'm a Vienna/Austria based photographer, Whisky enthusiast and I am "That Whisky Guy"! On this blog I'm going to present you news of the Whisky world, "absolutely unbiased" tastings of different Whiskies I've encountered and will encounter as well as other (fun) stuff related to Whisky.

My first blog post will be a short history of whom I am and the reasons behind this blog. I discovered Whisky over a decade ago, mainly as an ingredient to cocktails. And of course I was that kind of guy who drank Whisky mixed with Coke. But only Blended Whisky, never Single Malt. That is because in the beginning I didn't know about the Single Malts. I started to discover the "other side" of Whisky - the Single Malts probably five years ago, when my brother gave me a ticket for a Whisky tasting. And at this tasting - held by the L&P Whisky Consultants - I heard about Single Malts and fell completely in love with them. During the tasting they mentioned that this is only a beginner tasting. And that they offer a wide range of special tastings covering everything from a "Horizontal tasting" - meaning there will be Whisky from only one distillery to be tasted to workshops like "Whisky and Beer" or "Whisky and Chocolate". Of course I started booking these other tastings right away.

Tastingline at the "Cask matters" tasting

So that is how I came to Whisky, but why do a blog about it? Well, Michael - a good friend and college whom I know probably longer than I drink Whisky - and I started a photo related blog approximately a year ago over at www.LDAMiAb.com. We're both photographers and like to share our knowledge with other people. Since then I was thinking about writing some "Whisky-Stuff" at our site, but it never felt right. So I decided to start a separate blog. But it took me over a year to complete the task. So here I come! I got the last "kick" to start a blog about what I like and care about from a nice guy who I met at the "The Whisky Exchange - Whisky Show" in London last weekend. But that - and the Whisky Show itself - are topics for my next blog post(s)!

Tastingline at the "Kilchoman" tasting

A final word why this blog is in English, even that my native language is German. Lots of the people interested in Whisky are either native speakers or do understand English well enough. That is the simple reason why I keep this blog in English never the less I'm not THAT good at English. But it can be a good way to improve my English. So if you find mistakes, please let me know. We're all here to learn - I'm not the exception!

I'd love it if you check out my other social media accounts! I'm on Instagram, Google+, Twitter and Facebook. And if you're interested in photography, why not check out www.LDAMiAb.com!

Slàinte,
Lukas