Allotment Drams / Glen Grant 10 years old & Black Bottle 'Island Smoke'

We have two further episodes from our increasingly popular Allotment Dram series for you. This is where we sit and review different whiskies in the surroundings of our north London allotment. Firstly, Matt takes a look at a classic Speyside single malt in the form of Glen Grant 10 years old. Watch to discover about the distillery and then hear his thoughts and tasting notes on this multi award-winning whisky.

Then on his next visit, which is a pretty warm Spring afternoon, he cracks open the new Black Bottle 'Island Smoke', a blended Scotch whisky that forms part of the famous old brand's new Alchemy Series. Find out more about the new bottling and a little bit about the history of Black Bottle before he then gives his thoughts and tasting notes.

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Inbox - The Week's Whisky News (January 17, 2020)

Welcome to Inbox, our weekly round up of whisky news and PR material that has found its way in to our WFE email. It was created as we cannot write full articles or do justice to every piece received. It features items from around the world of whisky and is published by us each Friday.

News ... The Boutique Bar Show 2009, London

We attended The Boutique Bar Show 2009 in London the other day and in between sampling lots of quality whisky and other spirits, we found out a couple of interesting pieces of whisky news. We have not seen these interesting bits of news anywhere, so thought that we would share them.

Glenrothes, the large Speyside distillery owned by the Edrington Group, are to shortly replace their 1985 vintage with a new 1988 vintage. They select a vintage, rather than a fixed age (eg. 12 years old), as they believe in bottling a whisky when it reaches the optimum level of maturity. The 1988 will sit alongside the current whiskies in the core range - the Select Reserve, 1991 and 1994 - and was pitched as being rich, smooth and full of dried fruit, citrus and spicy notes. Unfortunately, there was none available to sample :(

The lady promoting Black Bottle, the popular smoky blended whisky, told us that they have some whisky from the new Kilchoman distillery maturing in a warehouse and that it is to be included in the blend from next year onwards. Black Bottle has the claim of 'including whisky from each of Islay's distilleries', so as from next year this will again be true. She also confirmed that Lagavulin is to remain in the blend, despite some industry rumours to the contrary.

The Boutique Bar Show 2009, London

The Boutique Bar Show in London's Royal Horticultural Halls is one of the UK's biggest shows for the spirits industry. The two day show is now in its third year and boasts a fine collection of products, including new releases, aimed at both the on and off trades. Whisky For Everyone was in attendance for the first day of proceedings and sampled a number of whiskies that we had not tried before. The list below looks long we know, but it has to be pointed out that each one was served in a thimble sized sample glass (honest!). We are also writing another post highlighting some of the other quality spirits that we tried during the day and this will be available shortly.

Bunnahabhain 25 years old
This is the oldest release from the core range of the non smoky Islay distillery of Bunnahabhain. The colour is dark and golden and the nose is rich with a mix of caramel, nuts (think of almonds) and dried sherry fruits (imagine sultanas and raisins). On the palate, these are replicated and are joined by some spices (cinnamon and nutmeg), a slightly bitter woodiness and a distinct salty tang (think of sea water). The sweetness is counteracted by this bitterness and saltiness. The finish is soft and slightly dry, being of reasonable length with the dried fruit and spices prominent. Very nice and a rare treat to try something of this age at such a show.

Chivas Regal 18 years old
This 18 years of version of the famous blend contains over 20 different single malts from all over Scotland. The colour is a dark amber and the nose is rich and sweet with elements of dried fruit (imagine raisins and candied orange peel), butterscotch and just a whiff of chocolate (think of cocoa powder). The palate is rich and creamy with the fruitiness and butterscotch predominant and some woody spice (imagine cinnamon) and honey coming through. The finish is long and fruity with maybe just a hint of peat smokiness appearing at the end. A very pleasant dram.

Cutty Sark
This world famous blended whisky is named after the tea clipper ship 'Cutty Sark'. The brand is one of the biggest selling around the globe, selling a staggering 14 million bottles per year. Cutty Sark was served to us chilled over ice like a bottle of white wine. The colour was light and golden yellow with a lovely nose packed with vanilla and cereal grains. On the palate, it feels richer than the nose suggests and is refreshing, with lots of vanilla and grains again. These are joined by a pleasant woodiness, some sweetness (imagine honey) and some buttery toffee. The finish is light, crisp and uplifting. Enjoyable.

Cutty Sark 12 years old
The older sibling of the world famous regular bottling of Cutty Sark contains whisky from some of Speyside's most famous distilleries. It is packaged in a black box and is slightly darker in colour with a richer, sweeter nose. There is a pleasant mix of vanilla, woody spice (think of nutmeg), cereal grains and some sweet honey. The palate is rich, sweet and silky with the vanilla and grains prominent and the spiciness and a slight woodiness balancing this. The finish is long, sweet and smooth. A more exaggerated version of the regular Cutty Sark really, that is very good and enjoyable.

Glenlivet Nadurra
The 'Nadurra' appears in a number of forms. We have previously tried the lower strength Duty Free bottling, so the comparison with this cask strength (57.7% ABV) UK market version was interesting. The colour is golden and the nose has a mixture of vanilla, some toasted nuts (think of hazelnuts) and some wood spices (think of nutmeg and cinnamon). On the palate, this Nadurra is quite dry and full of vanilla oak, yet powerful and complex. The elements from the nose are present. Upon adding water, the palate becomes a touch sweeter and more floral (imagine honeysuckle). The finish is long, rich and dry yet very refreshing. Very very good stuff.

Glenrothes 1991
Glenrothes is a Speyside distillery and they use vintages for its single malts rather than a fixed age, as they believe in bottling the whisky when it has reached peak maturity rather than a certain age. This 1991 is golden brown in colour with a nose that combines vanilla, coconut, dried fruits (think of sultanas and candied orange peel) and butterscotch. The palate is sweet and packed with malty cereal grains that combine with those elements stated for the nose. The finish is long, rich, fruity and spicy (imagine nutmeg) with the butterscotch at the forefront. Classic stuff.

Glenrothes 1994
The younger housemate of the 1994 is a slightly different beast. The colour is similar (golden brown but slightly lighter) but that is where it ends. The nose is uplifting due to a prominent citrus element (think of lemon zest especially, although there is also some orange peel in there) and this combines with some lovely dried fruit (imagine raisins and sultanas) and sweet toffee. On the palate, this feels lighter with that definite zingy citrus present and a balanced combination of toffee, woody spice (think of cinnamon) and cereal grains. The finish is long and fruity with a nice tangy quality. A lovely dram.

Longmorn 16 years old
Longmorn is a Speyside distillery that is situated close to the town of Elgin. This 16 years old is golden yellow in colour with a classical bourbon cask matured nose. There is vanilla, coconut, woody oak and a touch of a herbal note (imagine dried grasses). The palate is light and enjoyable, again with a lot of vanilla, some toffee style sweetness, honey and some malty, almost yeasty, cereal grains (think of digestive biscuits). The finish is reasonably long with sweetness being balanced by some spices (think of nutmeg) and the returning grassiness.

Macallan Fine Oak 15 years old
The Macallan distillery is located in Speyside and is one of Scotland's largest and most famous distilleries. The Fine Oak series combines Macallan's traditional sherry cask maturation with some time in a bourbon cask. The colour is golden with a lovely nose that combines vanilla, dried fruits (think of sultanas), sweet honey and some toasted nuts (imagine almonds). This is warm and sumptuous on the palate with a lovely combination of the elements from the nose, malted cereals, caramel and spice (think of cinnamon with a hint of star anise). The finish is complex and fruity with the vanilla and spices coming through well. A superb, smooth and well balanced whisky.

Mekhong Whiskey
Although Mekhong is marketed as a whiskey in its native Thailand, it is actually made from a secret traditional recipe combining sugar cane, rice and local Thai herbs and spices. It is produced at the Bangyikhan distillery and is being officially launched in the UK for the first time (this version is bottled at 35% ABV rather than the Thai version which is closer to 60%!). The colour is a reddish amber with a nose that is much more reminiscent of a rum. The sugar cane is particularly evident with lots of caramel, spices (think of ginger) and some citrus cutting through (especially lemons). These notes are replicated on the sweet palate that is sugary (think of honey and toffee) and smooth. The finish is long and rounded. It maybe too sweet for some people but would be ideal to use with a mixer or cocktail. Interesting to try.

The Whisky For Everyone 'Dram of the Day' - a tough choice but it goes to the Macallan Fine Oak 15 years old.

Have just tried ... Black Bottle

Black Bottle is a blended scotch whisky. It is unique as it contains single malt whiskies from seven out of the eight distilleries on the famous whisky producing island of Islay. These are combined with a number of grain whiskies to produce the blend. Islay is famous for its smoky, peaty whiskies and can be found off the south western coast of mainland Scotland. The seven distilleries included in Black Bottle are Ardbeg, Bowmore, Bruichladdich, Bunnahabhain, Caol Ila, Lagavulin and Laphroaig. The exception is the new distillery Kilchoman which is small and has only been in production for a couple of years.

The brand is currently owned by Burn Stewart Distillers and the blending of Black Bottle is based at Bunnahabhain (pronounced bunna-ha-ven), its only distillery on Islay. It was first blended in 1879 by a company called Gordon Graham & Co (whose name still appears on the bottle and cap) and got its name as it was originally filled in to bottles made from black German glass. This was changed to the green bottle in 1914, due to the outbreak of the First World War and the boycotting by many companies of German products.

The colour is light and golden with an intriguing nose. It feels fresh with some dried fruit (think of sultanas), sweet vanilla, some cereal grain notes and a powerful whiff of peaty smokiness (imagine damp, freshly dug soil). On the palate, this is again light and refreshing with an interesting mixture of three main elements - sugary caramel immediately on the tongue then earthy smoke and gorgeous vanilla. Other notes that come through are some further sweetness (think of honey) and a strange hint of spice (reminding me of cloves). The finish is long with a herbal grassy note (think of dried grasses) joining the sweet cereals and vanilla, with the smokiness burning away and fading gradually.

Black Bottle is an extremely well rounded and enjoyable whisky. It is smoky but not a smoky as expected, considering a number of the world's smokiest whiskies are included in the blend. The balance between the non smoky single malts, the grain whiskies and the smoky ones is very good and gives a surprisingly light refreshing feel at all stages of tasting. An excellent dram, especially considering it only costs around £15 a bottle, and one of the best smoky blends that I have tried to date.