Have just tried - Colonel E.H. Taylor Rye

Rye can be argued to be the original American whiskey and was the most popular type of whiskey produced and drunk in the United States up to the advent of prohibition in 1920. Records show that there were various different Rye whiskies, each named after their area of production (i.e. Maryland Rye, Monongahela Rye etc) which suggests that each area produced it’s own distinctive style. Unfortunately we’ll never know if this is the case as Rye whiskies popularity declined after the end of prohibition in 1933 and many producers never resumed production.

Nowadays though, Rye whiskey is experiencing something of a renaissance with a lots of new different Rye’s now available and distillers struggling to keep up with demand. A lot of these whiskies are hard to come by in the U.K. as a lot of brands are kept for the home market but one such Rye that has made its way over here is Colonel E.H. Taylor.

New Release - Old Pulteney 40 Year Old

Old Pulteney Distillery is the northernmost mainland distillery in Scotland. Located in the town of Wick, the distillery is squeezed tightly into the surrounding streets and buildings and space is at such a premium that the Wash Still has had to be designed with an unusual flat top so as to allow it to fit into the Still Room. Luckily the compromise with the still shape has not adversely affected the quality of the whisky produced and the Old Pulteney 21 Year Old was rated as the best whisky of the year in whisky writer, Jim Murray’s 2012 Whisky Bible.

Have just tried - Yamazaki Bourbon Barrel

Using the government’s alcohol duty rise as a pathetic excuse to buy some more whisky (I persuaded myself I’d be saving money in the long run if I bought a few bottles before the rise!) I decided to purchase a whisky I’d had my eye on for a while. The Yamazaki Bourbon Barrel represents the latest in a number of limited whiskies Suntory release every now and then that, to date, have included heavily peated and sherry puncheon matured expressions.

Located at the foot of a mountain in a bamboo forest just outside Japan’s ancient capital Kyoto, Yamazaki distillery was founded by Shinjiro Torii in 1923. It was his ambition to make a Japanese whisky along the same lines as the Scottish whiskies that were very popular at the time. To this end he despatched his able assistant Masataka Taketsuru to Scotland to learn everything there is to know about making Scotch whisky.

Taketsuru’s time in Scotland makes for an amazing story. In 1918 he turned up alone in Scotland, determined to learn the art of brewing and distilling. A very brave thing to do at a time when people travelled such shorter distances than they do now. Britain must have seemed like a completely different world to him. He enrolled at Glasgow University and at one point travelled up to Elgin in the hope for learning first hand the skills needed for Suntory to start distilling whisky. It was at Longmorn distillery that he found someone willing to take him on and show him the ropes. His course at Glasgow also enabled him to work at Hazelburn distillery in Campbeltown. During all this he also found time to fall in love and get hitched to his landlady's daughter.

Job done, on returning to Japan with his new wife, Taketsuru’s newfound skills and knowledge were instrumental in founding Yamazaki - Japans first single malt distillery. Soon afterwards, he left Suntory to start Japan’s other major whisky company, Nikka.

This Yamazaki was released in 2011 along side a Bourbon Barrel matured expression from its sister distillery Hakushu and is bottled at a generous 48.5% from first fill bourbon barrels.

Our tasting notes
On first nosing there are lots of cereal notes - shredded wheat, malting floors, Japanese tea, mashed potatoes, Rusks. Along side all this there’s also a nice sweet citrus fruit aroma lending a nice balance, a bit like lime cordial and chocolate limes. After a while it gets fruitier and sweeter with a little breathing with aromas of apples, pears, bananas, cherries, refresher sweets, custard powder and milk chocolate.

On the palate, there’s some lovely big first fill bourbon barrel flavours. Starting with some sweet and fruity flavours - Banoffee pie, white chocolate, bubblegum, Belgian tripel beer. The palate gradually gets a little more bitter, oaky and hot with pepper and cloves. The finish is long and tannic with a nice bittersweet blackberry note. Excellently balanced. Lots of estery flavours of fruits and sweet things balanced by an equally large dollop of drying austerity from the oak.

What’s the verdict?
Well, I wasn’t disappointed with my purchase. It’s nearest to the 12-Year-old expression out of the three standard releases but much more complex and intense. An excellently balanced whisky full of character and flavour. As far as I know it is just available in Europe and Japan. It is limited to just 3000 bottles throughout Europe, 1000 of which are for the U.K. You can get if for around £65.

New release - Drombeg Premium Irish Spirit

Being St. Patrick’s Day, we thought we’d celebrate with some Irish whiskey, but then we discovered something a little different and very new – Drombeg Premium Irish Spirit. After a brief meeting with one of the founders, Gerard McCarthy, this spirit caught our imagination. It was the story behind the creation of this spirit, its unique production method and the three men who put inspiration and hard work together to invent and develop it.

The ethos behind the creation of Drombeg was to create a new product for consumers. Most brown/dark spirits on the market, such as brandy, whisky or rum, are released at a strength of 40% ABV or above. Most whisky based liqueurs are released between 18-25% ABV and are highly sweetened or have other elements added, such as honey, fruit or herbs. Therefore, John, Denis and Gerard saw a niche in the market for a pure and lower strength brown/dark spirit that had no sweeteners or other ingredients added.

Drombeg is a spirit that is produced in a small batch process using a second-hand still, local ingredients and still local spring water to bring to bottling strength of a lighter 22% ABV. It is produced using a proprietary method whereby oak shavings are added to the new spirit and aged in stainless steel for around a month. The oak shavings allow the influence of the oak on the spirit to occur far more rapidly than when laid down in an oak cask.

Drombeg was invented by three school friends, John O’Connell and cousins, Denis McCarthy and Gerard McCarthy, with the assistance of the former master blender at Irish Distillers, Dr Barry Walsh. The three friends are small independent distillers based in the pretty fishing village of Union Hall, West Cork, Ireland. They decided to name their product Drombeg, after Ireland’s oldest stone circle which is located near Union Hall and dates back to 150BC. Drombeg was launched April 2011, after a three-year long process of development, extensive research, planning and preparation. Drombeg is the first creation from Glanmara Ltd. They say that new spirits will be released in the near future and that some spirit is being laid down in oak casks for future release as whiskey.

Before starting in the spirits business John worked with technical companies such as Unilever, while Denis and Gerard were fulltime fishermen. They still fish a bit, but with fishing restricted to 100 days a year and the ever increasing expense of diesel, the boys, like many other fisherman, find making a living on the sea very hard. They all decided that diversifying into the whiskey business while staying in their hometown was their next big challenge.

Our tasting notes 
The spirit is a rich amber colour and the nose is sweet and rich but thanks to the lower ABV quite soft and approachable. With vanilla, warm baking spices (like cinnamon and nutmeg), hard butterscotch sweets and grainy cereal aromas the nose is not overly complex but it is pleasant and promising for such a young spirit.

The palate is sweet and, unlike many whisky liqueurs that have sugary thickness, it is quite light and vibrant, verging on the side of thin and delicate in the mouth. The initial flavour is of heavy butterscotch, honey and loads of vanilla. Some of the spirit graininess then refreshes the palate while the wood spices (especially cinnamon and clove) add a level of interest. There is still some of the youthful rawness to remind you that you are drinking a young spirit but this actually compliments the experience and balances the level of sweetness helping to make the finish bitter-sweet. The finish is quite short and uncomplicated.

For us, this is pleasant enough neat but not the way we would choose to drink it. It works well over ice which makes the graininess stand out and pushes back the sweetness. It would also make an ideal mixer or component to a cocktail. It is the type of spirit that would make an enjoyable long drink on a warm summer’s day. As intended, the lower strength makes Drombeg approachable and therefore could be a good introduction for a whisky beginner.

At present Drombeg is only available in Ireland for around €15, but expect to start seeing it in more locations as distribution is rolled out over the next years. For more information on Drombeg, have a look at their website, www.drombeg.org