October 2022 - More drams, less drama

Compass Box The General

28th October 202228th October 2022Coldorak

The General is unusual as far as how expressions are made at Compass Box. Usually, and as we’ve seen in previous Compass Box reviews here, John Glaser or his other whisky makers select single malts of different profiles and assemble them themselves. Here, Glaser bought casks of whiskies already blended at a young age and left to marry in those casks for a very long time. Two parcels were bought, one being 33 years old at the time of The General’s final blending, and one rumoured to be 40 years old. John Glaser describes the whisky as having an “antique character lovers of old whiskies will seek out”. So let see what we think of this Compass Box The General.

Tennessee Rye Batch 4 TBWC

21st October 202221st October 2022Coldorak

We’re back to That Boutique-y Whisky Company with another whisky from their 10th anniversary lineup. But this time it is something quite different from the previous one (a Chouchen-cask finished Armorik). This time, we’re going to Tennessee, and not for that good ol’ N°7. We’re going to an unnamed distillery, for some rye and some sherry! So we should I think expect something quite different from that Tennessee Rye Batch 4 TBWC!

Benromach 2011 Single Cask for LMDW

18th October 202221st October 2022Coldorak

I realize it’s the first Benromach I’ll be covering here on More Drams. And that I don’t even own a bottle of Benromach even though they produce some very good whisky. I visited the Gordon & Macphail-owned distillery back in 2019 during Spirit of Speyside festival. It was the closest distillery from where I was staying, as I had rented a house with friends in Forres for our stay for Spirit of Speyside. I remember having a very good time at the distillery. I regret we were not allowed to take pictures inside for safety reasons. I remember they did everything by hand, at the opposite of some other distilleries I’ve visited where everything was computer-controlled. And that even though our days were filled with whisky already, the bottle of Benromach 10 at our disposal in the rented house took quite a hit during our stay! We’ll come back at some point for a core range review, but not today. Today, we introduce this distillery with this Benromach 2011 Single Cask selected and bottled for LMDW.

Glenfarclas 1971 All Malt Unblended

17th October 202217th October 2022Coldorak

Don’t judge a book by its cover. This famous adage is so often verified, in the normal life as well as in whisky. This metaphorical phrase means one should not judge the worth or value of something by its outward appearance alone. For a bottle of whisky, because well, that’s the only thing that matters in this humble blog, the outward appearance can be many things. The colour of the liquid, the packaging, the label, the shape of the bottle, its embossing, or the label’s embossing. And in a way, even the name and the price. All these elements can influence your opinion about a whisky before having even nosed it and had any drop pass your lips. Whisky makers, be it distilleries, bottlers, blenders, all know that, and for many of them, the marketing departments run full steam in order to find the perfect combination. They hope that the untrained whisky drinker might judge positively a bottle he or she is yet to try, and then loosens the purse strings in order to acquire this bottle. If the bottle is beautiful, or its label, it might be good whisky, right? And that deep dark colour must mean it’s old or heavily sherried, right? Or a nice looking bottle, with a wooden box or any other expensive looking packaging might lead you to expect something as premium inside the bottle as it looks on the outside. Why am I talking about this? Well, read my review of this Glenfarclas 1971 All Malt Unblended and you’ll know.

Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19-year-old

14th October 202214th October 2022Coldorak

Ardbeg introduced in September 2019 a new expression to its core range, featuring an age statement: Traigh Bhan. Aged 19, Traigh Bhan (pronounced try van), is a yearly batch expression, where Ardbeg does not seek regularity. Each year, they clearly show the batch number on the label, with a code showing when it was distilled, as well as short tasting notes giving the profile of this batch. Whilst Ardbeg’s marketing is running full steam with its Ardbeg Day (both Committee and Regular releases) expressions, with each expression’s backstory more over the top than the previous one, the marketing for the 19yo is here quite soft, and I must admit I like that they don’t invent crazy stories to justify the difference of each Ardbeg Day release, be it a fermentation length or a cask char or what the cask held before or whatever. Here, it’s just new Traigh Bhan batch, slightly different profile, and that’s it. Since the release of this expression, we’ve had now four batches, so let’s compare all four of those Ardbeg Traigh Bhan 19-year-old whiskies.

Two Chouchen-Finished Armorik (Official & Boutique-y)

11th October 202211th October 2022Coldorak

Chouchen (or in Breton, Chouchenn) is a kind of mead (‘hydromel’ in French). It is made using honey and water, with either apple juice, apple must or cider added (for the latter, it is then called chufere). What distinguishes chouchen from hydromel is that yeast from apples is used to speed fermentation, whilst for hydromel it’s only honey, wine or beer yeast that do the fermentation. Chouchen is aged in wood casks for several months, before being filtered then bottled, with an ABV between 12 and 15%. Depending on the residual amount of sugar in it, it can be called from dry to sweet, dry being for the one having the less sugar remaining. As chouchenn is a traditional alcohol from Brittany, it is not unexpected that its casks would be used to finish whisky coming from Brittany as well, and that’s what Warenghem distillery has done for some of its Armorik single malt. So let’s try two chouchen-finished Armorik whiskies, an official single cask and one bottled by That Boutique-y Whisky Company for its 10th birthday range.

SMWS Global Gathering 2022

3rd October 20225th October 2022Coldorak

Yesterday 30th of September was the Scotch Malt Whisky Society Global Gathering 2022 event. It’s virtual tasting with John McCheyne, SMWS’s global brand ambassador, and he was joined by five people who were part of the selection of the five drams of the night. Each dram was selected by a tasting panel from a specific country, and chose a name for it in their own language. Then, each dram’s tasting was led by the local brand ambassador, starting… in his or her native language. As it started with the whisky selected by the French panel, some people who joined a bit late were quite surprised to hear the tasting in French, before realising it would switch back in English a few minutes later. Obviously, I had ordered a tasting pack in order to join, so let’s go review those five whiskies chosen for the SMWS Global Gathering 2022.