Whisky Advent Calendar Part 3 (Dec. 14th to 20th)

We almost reached Christmas and here is part three of my Whisky Advent Calendar summary.

The next 7 Whiskies of the Advent Calendar

December 14th - Irish Single Malt Whiskey "Brothers in Arms"

This Whiskey is made by Jack and his brother Stephen Teeling. After last week's „Jacks Choice“ which was created by Jack alone both brothers contributed to this Whiskey. Last week I suspected that this Whiskey is not from the Teeling Distillery but I may have been wrong. Just because the distillery is younger than a Whisk(e)y has to be it doesn’t mean anything. When BenRiach was bought they bought all the warehouses with the distillery. They were able to sell Whisky right from the beginning. Despite the fact that the Teeling Distiller Company just opened their doors this year they owned the Cooley Disillery which thy sold to Beam Global (Suntory). So the Whiskey may be from the old warehouses from the Cooley Distillery. Because Jack and Stephen choose two Whiskeys from 2000 and 1991(!). Technically they do here the same as I wrote in my first part of this summary („Compass Whisky“ and „SWA“), if you remember. Now their aid in helping the INSERT DISTILLERY NAME HERE makes perfect sense. Stephens Whiskey from 2000 is matured in a first fill Bourbon cask, for Jacks Whiskey a Sherry butt was used! Let’s see what they created here.

My Tastingnotes

Age: 14yo

ABV: 43%

Distillery: maybe Cooley (or Teeling?)

Colour: dark gold

Nose: Some Lemon and floral notes but also some "New Make" and some spices.

Body: little bit flat

Palate: There is toffee and oak wood. With time there are some spices, maybe pepper and ginger?

Finish: long and warming

My score: 63

December 15th - Scotch Speyside Single Malt Whisky Benrinnes Distillery Cask Strength

Cask Strength Whisky number two. This one is again from the Speyside but this time the distillery is more in the heart of the Speyside. The last one was quite close to the shore. The distillery was built frist ain 1826 but was destroyed by a flood only three years later. 1835 the distillery was built again but called „Lyne of Ruthrie“. The distillery changed it’s name to „Benrinnes“ 1838. Most probably because the distillery is located at the foot of Mount Ben Rinnes, a 840m „high“ mountain. It was sold a few times and today the distillery belongs to Diageo. The yearly alcohol output is around 3.5m litres. They use a slightly peated malt and use – like Auchentoshan – three distilling stills. In Scotland the typical number is two – a wash still and a spirit still – that’s the reason I bring it up. I myself just learned during my research that they use a triple distillation. I thought only Auchentoshan uses it. Interestingly they use a „standard“ double distillation too. There are just a few bottlings from the distillery itself but there are some independent bottles who sell Whisky from there too.

My Tastingnotes

Age: 14yo

ABV: 54.5%

Distillery: Benrinnes

Colour: golden

Nose: Fruity but also some rotten oak wood and a hint of "New Make".

+H2O: With water there is less "New Make" and oak wood but lots of sweetness from toffee emerges!

Body: full, has some edges

Palate: Pepper, very intense, some oak wood.

+H2O: With water it becomes a little bit less intensive but not flat. Oh, and there is lots of toffee there too.

Finish: long and warming

My score: 62 / 68 (without / with water)

December 16th - Scotch Speyside Peated Blended Malt Whisky

Not much there to tell about this Whisky. It's a blend, peated and from the Speyside. All used Whiskies are at least 10 years old and they may be from different distilleries. Interestingly this is a peated Blend which is quite untypically for the Speyside. Two Whisky regions are known for their unpeated Whiskies, the Lowlands and the Speyside. But of course there is a exception to every rule. Well, there is no rule that a Speyside Whisky has to be unpeated as for example BenRiach has some peated Whiskies. But for these two regions it's quite untypically. Just like a unpeated Whisky from Islay, they are usually (heavily) peated. And to fortify my argument with the exception from the "typical usus": "The Classic Laddie" from Bruichladdich (a distillery on Islay) is unpeated. On the other hand they have the "Octamore" - the most heavily peated Whisky worldwide! As I wrote in both preceding articles the SWA doesn't allow to tell from which distilleries the blend is made. Little strange but it is what it is. On the other hand I think a distillery should be allowed to tell if they want to. Let's see what this blended Whisky tastes like!

My Tastingnotes

Age: 10yo

ABV: 41%

Distillery: no information

Colour: bright gold

Nose: There's peat and some iodine. If you wait a little bit you can nose some toffee.

Body: unfortunately quite flat

Palate: Quite spicy with some meat, peat and salt.

Finish: warming but not for long

My score: 63

December 17th - Scotch Highland Single Malt Whisky Macduff Distillery

The Highlands! Well kind of, the distillery is located in Banff, Banffshire. And Banff belongs to the Speyside. Nevertheless the distillery is often put into the Highlands. Whatever. The distillery belongs to Bacardi and is capable of producing 2.8m litres alcohol per annum. Single Malts from this distillery are available but if you are searching for Macduff you will find only independent bottlers. Whiskies from the distillery itself are labelled as "Glen Deveron". "Glen" is Gaelic for valley and the Deveron is the river the distillery is built next to. If you find a "Glen Deveron" it's from the distillery itself, if it's called "Macduff" it's from a independent bottler. But the Whisky is also used for various Blends in the Bacardi company. Let's see if this Whisky is indeed a "typical" Highland Whisky or more a Speyside Whisky.

My Tastingnotes

Age: 16yo

ABV: 43%

Distillery: Macduff

Colour: light gold-yellowish

Nose: Very floral and fruity. Some oak wood, spices and peach. Very typical for a Speyside Whisky.

Body: round and smooth

Palate: Very fresh, some spicy and nutty flavours but also some oak wood. More Speyside than Highlands!

Finish: warming but not that long

My score: 71

December 18th - Scotch Highland Single Malt Whisky Blair Athol Distillery

Till today I knew every distillery used in this advent calendar - at least by name. The distillery from today's Whisky was a new name to me. The distillery is located in Pitlochry in the Highlands. This time it's a Highland distillery for real. It belongs to the Diageo company and produces around 2m litres alcohol per annum. Very large amounts of this Whisky is used for the Blend sold under the name "Bell's". This Whisky is sold mainly in the UK but also South Africa, Spain and Brazil. But there are only very few Single Malts from this distillery. That may be the reason for me not knowing this distillery. I had to look it up but the SMWS has this distillery on their list. Maybe I'll taste one from this distillery in the future at a tasting from the SMWS. But now let's see how this quite old (19yo!) Whisky tastes.

  

My Tastingnotes

Age: 19yo

 

ABV: 43%

Distillery: Blair Athol

Colour: amber

Nose: There are lemons and pears, very fruity and fresh. Also there is some sweetness from honey.

Body: smooth and soft

Palate: A little tingling followed by some spices (pepper?) but also sweetness from toffee.

Finish: long and warming

My score: 73

December 19th - Irish Single Malt Whiskey

Well this Whiskey is a mystery. I couldn't find hardly any information on this one. Not even on the homepage of the company I bought the advent calendar. But I found a paragraph about a "Special Edition" Whiskey from Cooley for the 20 year anniversary of "vom Fass (Germany?)". Maybe this Whiskey is from the Cooley distillery. It is 20 years old that is for sure. As there are not many Whiskey distilleries left in Ireland (the reason for this is still "The noble Experiment" from the 1920s in the USA) the possibility that this Whiskey is from Cooley is quite high. So let's see how this Whiskey tastes.

My Tastingnotes

Age: 20yo

ABV: 41%

Distillery: no information, but Irish probably Cooley

Colour: golden

Nose: Sweet, quite simple, some oak wood, some floral notes and a hint of dried fruits.

Body: soft and well rounded

Palate: Sweet and fruity (cherry?, peach) but there are some spicy flavours and even some oak wood.

Finish: long and warming

My score: 72

December 20th - Scotch Blended Malt Whisky Two Casks Caol Ila & Tullibardine

In "the good ol' times" this would have been called "Vatted Malt" (just like the Whisky in December 16th) but nowadays it's just a Blend. The Caol Ila distillery is located on Islay and known for their quite heavily peated Whiskies. The Tullibardine distillery is located more or less in the heart of the Highlands. Interesting mixture. The first distillery is owned by Diageo and produces around 6.5m litres alcohol per annum the second one is owned by Picard Vins & Spiritueux (a French company if you didn't guessed it from the name) and produces 2.7m litres alcohol per annum. The first one is known widely the second one isn't. From both distilleries some Single Malts are available but for the latter one you may have to visit the Potstill in Vienna to get a bottle. Caol Ila 12 for example is available nearly everywhere. Let's see what this Blend from Islay and the Highlands is capable of.

My Tastingnotes

Age: n.a.s.

ABV: 41%

Distillery: Coal Ila & Tullibardine

Colour: light amber

Nose: Smoked meat and iodine are very present. But there are some faint notes from toffee.

Body: soft but otherwise flat

Palate: Smoked meat again but less than before. There is some sweetness from toffee which is much more present that while nosing the Whisky.

Finish: long and warming

My score: 68

Wow, just four more days (and therefore Whiskies) left till Christmas! I can't belief how fast the time flows. I'll post the next four Whiskies on December 25th because I'll be celebrating - as we do here in Austria - Christmas in the evening of December 24th! As it is not possible for me to taste the last Whisky an December 24th as I have to drive after the Christmas dinner and I'm a strict "If I have to drive I don't drink" person I decided to taste and post the last part of my summary on December 25th. Well I could taste the Whisky in the morning of the 24th and after the dinner in the evening I surely can drive but we will see. In case I post the last summary on Christmas Day I wish you and all your loved ones a very merry Christmas. Enjoy the holiday season with a good dram of Whisky!

Slàinte,
Lukas