Kilchoman 100% Islay, the 4th

It is snowing. As it is usual in the Nordic countries during winter days. The harsh wind stacks snow into piles and waves. The sun was briefly seen yesterday, but generally is grey and dim. The spring is far away, but there moments during winter which makes this a pleasant time of the year. As long as you have the fire available internally and externally. Your pet bear looks curiously when you sharpen your Skrama and Axe in the camp. It also knows, that soon is the moment to taste the burning peatfire and off to the hunt we go.

Kilchoman is still a young distillery. It has not lived during the ages of legends, but it is surely becoming one. The peatfire it produces is into my liking and has been so for many years already. It has a different characteristics of Nordics weaved into it’s chant, which reminds me about the summer. The perfect contrast for deep winter moments, which can chill the life out of you.

Kilchoman has been producing their 100% Islay series for four years now. It is Islay barley, manufactured and produced in Islay. Lightly peated, but comes with a 50% kick nicely. The color is light, but not as clear as in the photo. It is however very transparent which makes the color easily invisible in the smaller amounts. 

The nose promises of the smoke, freshness and peat. It brings in memories and brings out the sun during a grey day. The nose is actually balanced, with the edge on the smokiness.

The palate is Kilchoman. The pure, smoothed fire of the Kilchoman. It ends up with sweet weaves, but begins with a freshly put out campfire under a sudden summer rain. Ash and coal, peat and smoke dominate the start, but soon the sweet ex-bourbon vanilla and spices emerge. This one is a really good dram. I regret that I did only could get a sample of this. But I am glad I was able to taste this one!

50% potency is a good level for this one. The burn and the peatfire are extremely lovely during a winter day. The smokiness inside and the smoke coming from the stove really complement each other. This is pure and this one is tasty! Well done, distillery masters! You made my day! 

Winterladdie on a dramfire

It is always fun to take a few bottles of these wonderful drams near campfire. The firesmoke accompanies peatfire really nicely. This one is about those fun and memorable moments. And if you wonder about the big knife in the photos. That is a Varusteleka Skarama bushknife. Skrama is a scramasaex,  which dates back to middle ages. A big knife, and useful as a small axe or a carving knife. But that is enough about knives, let’s get onto whiskies.

Finland has again been marvelously present in whisky media. UISGE was banner by authorities to sell advance tickets to whisky tastings.  This means very bad news to those, who were considering attending tastings – since you can only buy tickets to them inside the festival. Previously the fair was called the whisky festival, but of course they had to drop the name whisky out. So, I think it is nowadays just Uisge Festival. I wonder when these shows start just going by a name “Event” or “Show”. Alas, I can’t attend the fair but I hope those who can will have a great time and experience new drams.

But enough text, it’s time for Bruichladdich dram photos!

    

UISGE 2015, Octomore 7.2. and Port Charlotte PC12

The winter storm and wet snow is causing all kinds of trouble in Finland, but at least the whisky goes on.

UISGE 2015

The Finland’s biggest whisky festival is approaching steady. It happens 6.-7.2.2015 in Helsinki. The place is, as it was last year, Vanha Ylioppilastalo, http://www.vanhaylioppilastalo.fi/en/about. Doors will open at 15:00.

A lot of traffic will be expected there. However, personally I can’t attend this year (which is a shame) but in case you are in the neighborhood check it out. My blog post about it last year can be read here: http://savuista.blogspot.fi/2014/02/memories-of-uisge-2014.html

New from Bruichladdich

I read about amazing and unexpected news from Bruichladdich. No, it hasn’t been bought again but instead they are launching two new heavily peated whiskies: Octomore 7.2. and Port Charlotte PC12.

The Octomore 7.2. will be pumped up to 208PPM which makes it the second in peat level championship. Octomore 6.3. (which I have not even tasted yet!) did 258. I hope I’ll get my mouth onto these both as soon as possible. Just one question.. Where is 7.1.? What happened to it? Read more about 7.2. from the official source: http://www.bruichladdich.com/the-whisky/octomore/072-208ppm

The Port Charlotte PC12 is out too. I have always loved this series too, they have lots of character and keen planning. This seems to be a cask strength and will provide a nice peatsmoke experience, with a twist. I haven’t tasted this one yet so that is a speculation based on earlier years. Check out more info from their web site: http://www.bruichladdich.com/the-whisky/port-charlotte/pc12

Both new releases are coming on sale to travel retail.

Uigeadailish Christmas!

Merry Christmas and Holidays! Ardbeg Uigadail is my choice for the Christmas Dram, due to it’s smoke, peat and sherry taste. A wonderful combination and a great dram any time of the year.

Rye Rye time for Rye Juuri (Root) of Kyrö

I didn’t go through square one here. I have been following news about the Finnish Kyrö Distillery Company and even got to taste their one dram earlier (the #, the story can be found here ) . I think it was not a good step to skip first two stops. The good is that I’ll have now a fairly good guess where this dram is heading. The bad, is that the starting point is not that satisfying.

This is about the unaged root. This is the root for whisky that is coming out 2017, about three years from now. This is the stuff they put into barrels and then start a long wait. Or actually, I don’t think this one is being put to barrels since this is only 46.3% in the boost. It’s perhaps missing around 20 %-units of it’s strength. But this is what we’ve got. It is a small batch product, made with passion and love. And they use rye of course. Basically, this is a foundation for something very Finnish.

The nose is not into my shelf of books. It has rye, yes but also rawness and dullness of the moonshine. I can’t say it is pleasing – far from it. But since we are bold we sip it.

There is a big amount of rye in the taste. Lots of it. And also brutal rawness of booze and moonshine. It feels like a fresh booze that has been filtered through a rye bread. It will curl lots of hair in your body. If this were full strength, I don’t think there would be any hair left since they’d be running. I do like strong vodka. Strong whisky. Strong taste. But I am frank and I say, that this is not in my favorites.

Then why do I taste it again then? Since I’ve tasted the # hush hush and I know where this root is heading. It has a lots of rye and it has a story. And if you drink enough of it, you will eventually like it.

I am waiting for their next versions… and especially the final product. This tells you that much. You should taste this – just to get the comparison.  And when compared to many whiskies – you can taste the rye a long afterwards the last sip.

I also have heard, that people like to use this in drinks to get a intriguing (in a good way) taste of rye.

Bowmore Small Batch , a Bourbon Cask matured dram

The whisky scene is liek a transforming and living entity. More and more drams come out from distilleries and more of those are being sold around the world. The demand for new and exciting packages is high. Thus, the distilleries are producing a lots of limited editions, rare bottling and small batches. Bowmore has done many travel retail / low cost bottling in history, so this is not a surprise.
In their web page they say the following “Exclusively matured in first and second fill ex bourbon casks, then blissfully married together, Small Batch exhibits the best qualities of both. First-fill bourbon offers delicious vanilla sweetness, subtle spices and bourbon oak smoke to complement Bowmore's gentle peaty smokiness, while the second-fill cask enhances Bowmore's fresh fruity complexity and showcases its trademark honey and creamy malt character. “ The source: http://www.bowmore.com/whiskies/small-batch/
This dram is aimed as a entry level drink. You can tell it by a price (low), exclusive looking package and words like balanced. Of course there is nothing wrong with that, except perhaps that if you get deep into whiskies you will encounter a lots of these. Some maybe good too.
The nose has a lots of Bowmore in it. The lemon pepper and slight peatiness (on my scale) combined with spices. The spiciness comes out strongly here but the nose could be more balanced.
The palate strikes with salt, citrus and spice. There is some peat too, but I can’t say this is a soft dram. It has a strong taste, yes, but mostly about spices and bitterness. The second sip is better one than the first, but it is very single dimensional experience today. The first time I tasted this, I’d had a few drinks before so it tasted a lot better back then. Perhaps this would suit nicely at a bar, to enjoy with some conversation. On a third sip some oiliness emerges, with more sweet ingredients. Citrus and spice is what remains here for me, not peat and smoke.
Then would you buy this one? It depends what you are after. A bottle to hotel room on a trip? Definitely yes, beats blended malts easily. This would also work in a tasting nicely, to bring out spice and citrus contrast. But don’t buy this if you are after a strong smoky and peaty dram, because then you will be disappointed. Not my favorite, but I’ve had a lot worse too.

Side trek for today: Money Shoulder

I feel like a happy Monkey who travels on other’s shoulders. Another side trek into the world of Speyside. And not just one Speysider, but three. Monkey Should is a mix of three different malts: Balvenie, Glenfiddich and Kininvie. I have never tasted Kininvie, but the other two malts are familiar. Nothing smoky about this dram but it surely has a Monkey’s kick’s worth of price-quality in it. The bottle is relatively inexpensive but yet tasty. And it is tasty enough to beat most of blends and Irish whiskies in the price category.

 

How does the taste feels like? The palate has spiciness, malta, peat and vanilla oak. It has some sting of the Speysider drams (like Glenfiddich) but it is not bad. Relatively soft and yes, this would be a easy bottle to share and drink with friends. The finish is smooth. It does not last long, but it is smooth.

In their web pages ( https://www.monkeyshoulder.com ) they say this would go well with rocks or in drinks. With this pricing it is definitely worth a shot to try those some day. They have suggestions also, packed with humor https://www.monkeyshoulder.com/recipes/  Perhaps I’ll try Monkey Coffee, that is not in the list.

After a few sips the vanilla and spice are the most dominant tastes. And this is a sweet vanilla, with sugar on top. With the season’s spices and sweetness, this is not a bad dram during winter time. Not a bad dram, not at all.