New Releases | Winter 2021/22

Reviewed by Charles MacLean

70cl | 50.2% VOL | £695

30 Year Old | Irish Single Malt

A deep amber hue; polished mahogany. A complex nose, with a sour top note of mandarin zest balanced by berry fruits and nose-drying nuts (almonds?); a trace of hard toffee in the development. A little water raises a suggestion of cappuccino coffee. A sweet and sour taste, with blackcurrants in the finish and aftertaste; sweeter at reduced strength, now with some spice.

Bushmills proudly boasts of being ‘the oldest distillery in the world.’ The claim is based upon the fact that on 20th April 1608 Sir Thomas Phillips was granted a license by the Lord Deputy (King James VI and I’s representative in Ireland) “within the countie of Colerane… or within the territorie called the Rowte, in co. Antrim, by himselfe or his servauntes, to make, drawe and distill such and soe great quantities of aquavite, usquabagh and aqua composita, as he or his assinges shall think fitt.”

Incontrovertible, you may think. In truth, the Lord Deputy granted such licenses to people all over Ireland - it was a useful way of applying a royal monopoly to distilling, which had hitherto been widespread and uncontrolled, and also a grand way of earning either cash payments or ‘royalties’ (this is where the term originated). The very month before, Sir Arthur Chichester, the Lord Deputy, had granted patents to distillers in Galway, Munster and Leinster.

Actually, there are references to distilling in this part of Co. Antrim in 1494 – the year of the first written reference to distilling in Scotland. What’s more, the man who may have brought the secrets of distilling to Scotland in 1300, Fergus MacBeatha (or Beaton), came from “O’Cahanes country, otherwise called Colerane”… but that is another story.

This well-aged expression has been finished for no less than 16 years in Madeira casks, after 13 years in a mix of ex-oloroso sherry butts and bourbon barrels.

70cl | 55.9% VOL | £95

3 Year Old | Australian Single Malt

Deep amber with roseate lights, from a fresh red wine cask. Viscous. The nose, initially closed, soon reveals tart berry fruits and vanilla toffee on a subtle base of oak shavings. Water introduces a faintly mentholic note and slightly increases the toffee. A sweet and fruity taste at full strength, with some spice in the long, warming and lightly tannic finish. More mouth-filling and mouth-cooling at reduced strength.

The New World Whisky Distillery, creator of Starward, was founded in 2007 by the hugely talented David Vitale in Melbourne, Victoria. Like other Australian distilleries, it was a small operation, a fact which has limited the ability of Aussie distillers to create enough whisky to sell outside their home market, and which has no economies of scale. Then Starward received significant investment from Distill Ventures, an independent company partnered with Diageo which exists to help ‘visionary drinks entrepreneurs’ – like David Vitale – to enlarge their businesses.

Ian Buxton reports that Distill felt “Starward was adding to and enhancing the world of whisky” and brought “a compelling ambition for global scale [with] the right mix of skills, perseverance and ability to stay optimistic.” The New World board still retains full control of the distillery; the first tranche of investment, in 2016, allowed the build-up of stocks, and then in 2020 to more than double capacity by building a new distillery in Melbourne’s Docklands Precinct.

Barley is sourced from between Hunter Valley in Northern Sydney and the Adelaide Hills and the spirit is matured in active apera (Australian sherry) and red wine casks from Victoria. The whiskies are aged for less time than standard Scotch, since the highly variable climate – Melbourne is famous for having ‘four seasons in a day’ – greatly accelerates the maturation process. The widespread use of small casks (50-200 litres) by Australian distillers also expedites maturation, indeed, when I visited Starward in 2018 they used similar sized casks, but were very aware of the importance of filling larger casks to slow down maturation and build up stocks.

The Australian writer Luke McCarthy sees this as a “huge moment for the industry… signalling the potential for Australian whisky to become a major player on the global stage… but the dream of taking Australian whisky to the world is now a genuine possibility. And if Vitale has his way, it’ll be Starward that turns it into a reality.”

70cl | 59.4% VOL | £85

9 Year Old | Speyside Single Malt

A rich amber hue (the cask is a first-fill ex-sherry hogshead); moderate beading. Initial prickle disguises the aroma, then notes of soft caramel emerge, supported first by a faintly vinous note, then cappuccino coffee. The taste is sweet throughout with a chilli-pepper finish at natural strength. Benefits from dilution: sweeter and more mouth-filling, with toffee and hessian in the aftertaste.

With the purchase of Benromach Distillery in 1993, George Urquhart, chairman of the long-established family owned company, Gordon & MacPhail, realised his lifetime dream of owning a distillery. George has been described as ‘The Godfather of Malt Whisky’ and did more than any other single individual to keep ‘the amber light of single malt’ burning during the post-war decades, when 99.9% of the malt whisky made went into blends.

It had been mothballed in 1983 and all the distilling plant removed, except a spirit receiver. This was not a problem for G&M, since the former Benromach had been much larger than they required, and during the five years between purchase and commissioning the new owners did many experimental distillations before settling on the style of spirit they wanted – classic Speyside, light but with body. After they had gone into production, the former owner, Diageo, sent them a box of new-make samples from pre-1983. The spirit character was almost identical, yet the distillery had been completely rebuilt. As the late Ian Urquhart, who had succeeded his father in the family business, remarked to me: “The only constants between then and now were the location and the water source…”

On this occasion Ian also showed me some spirit samples from the experimental phase, made with different barley varieties. As readers of Whiskeria may know, the general view of the Scotch whisky industry is that the variety of barley makes no difference to the flavour of the spirit; the most important contribution is how much alcohol the barley will yield. We nosed and tasted five samples; four were, to me, undistinguishable, but one was far richer and full-bodied. This turned out to be the famous variety, Golden Promise, which held sway throughout the industry in the 1960s and ‘70s and continued to be used by Macallan into the 1990s, in spite of having been surpassed by other higher-yielding varieties. For me it was an epiphany!

70cl | 50% VOL | £110

21 Year Old | Blended Scotch Whisky

Pale amber in colour; moderate beading. A rich nose, with light initial prickle. A complex and well-integrated aroma combining sweet and savoury notes – apple dumpling and soft leather, on a sandalwood base. A pleasant texture and a sweet taste, with fondant mid-palate and some spice in the warming finish.

Black Bull comes from Duncan Taylor Scotch Whisky Limited, which began as a whisky blender and broker in Glasgow in 1938, and focussed on selling Scotch in post-Prohibition America. In the 1960s the company was bought by the legendary salesman, Abe Rosenberg, who had made a fortune importing J&B Rare into the US, where it rapidly became the best-selling Scotch, and the first ever brand to sell a million bottles per annum. Although his fortune was based on blended Scotch, Abe’s passion was malt whisky and he invested heavily in filling his own casks and laying them down for long maturation.

When Euan Shand bought Duncan Taylor and its stock in 2002, eight years after Abe’s death, he acquired “one of the largest privately held collections of rare Scotch whisky casks in the world” – more than 4,500 casks, some of which remain in the company’s inventory.

He moved the business to Huntly, Aberdeenshire, established facilities for cask storage, coopering and bottling and closed the brokering side of the business to become an independent bottler, also diversifying into gin and rum.

The Black Bull brand dates from the 1860s when it was created by the Dundee firm, George Wilsher & Co. By the end of the 1980s it was well known in the United States and also popular in Italy; the company and brand were acquired by Duncan Taylor in the 1980s, and they have continued to blend it in the same way – with a 55% malt content, no chill-filtration and bottling at a range of ages from NAS to 40 years at 50% VOL. The whiskies have won many prizes in international competitions, including ‘Best Blended Scotch’ at the World Whiskies Awards in 2017.

The company’s website remarks: “We have created blends that we like drinking ourselves and we want to share these with you, so we say throw off the modern day shackles and grab life by the horns!”

70cl | 48.4% VOL | £160

21 Year Old | Islay Single Malt

Deep amber in hue, with a faint rosy blush, the nose is mellow and elegant, savoury overall, with maritime top notes (salt crystals) supported by edible seaweed, on a faintly charcoal base. A creamy texture and a lightly sweet and salty taste finishing with peat smoke. Smoky (tarred rope) with a drop of water and savoury in the mouth. In France, there are five official forests in which oak is grown to make barrels – Limousin, Allier, Nevers, Tronçais and Vosges. Limousin is planted with Quercus robur (‘robur’ means ‘strong’), the rest with Quercus petraea (‘oak of rocky places’). Each has its own characteristics, and imparts different flavours to the maturing spirit. I have been unable to ascertain whether Bowmore French Oak is Q. robur or Q. patraea, so I will describe the flavour characteristics expected of each species and we can make a guess.

Q. robur oak trees like deep and rich soils at low altitudes, often in open country, as a result of which the timber is prone to having knots and twists. The wood is loose grained and difficult to cooper, since it must be split, not sawn, and splinters easily. Being looser grained, it releases more tannins into the spirit, adding colour, astringency and fragrance. It is also higher in eugenol (clove-like flavours), guaiacol (spicy, also burnt flavours) and syringaldehyde (spicy, smoky flavours), than the more common American white oak (Q. alba). Limousin oak is especially favoured by Cognac distillers, and in general Q. robur is preferred for maturing spirits on account of its higher tannin levels.

Q. petraea is the predominant oak in France, where it is a forest species, reaching upwards during the short summer growing season when the sap rises and the plant fights for light and air, with a long, straightgrain trunk and few lower branches. Ideal for coopering, Q. petraea is chosen by French winemakers for their best wines, having a tighter grain than Q. robur which, they claim, lends greater refinement.

Judging by the colour and overall flavour profile of Bowmore 21 Year Old French Oak, I lean towards Q. petraea. The maritime character is quite pronounced, which makes me think the whisky may have been matured in Bowmore’s ancient No.1 Vaults warehouse, which is partly below sea-level, with salt-encrusted walls.

70cl | 44% VOL | £80

15 Year Old | Island Single Malt

Deep gold in colour, the first impression on the nose is of oak shavings, soon joined by a thread of tarry peat smoke and a hint of boat varnish with light vanilla toffee in the development. The taste starts sweet, then faintly salty, the mouthfeel lightly spritzich (fizzy), finishing delicately smoky and spicy. Softer with a drop of water, but the overall flavour is unaffected.

Highland Park adopted the slogan ‘The Single Malt Scotch with Viking Soul’ in 2017. The 18 Year Old became Viking Pride and the 12 Year Old Viking Soul, followed by a slew of other Norse-related expressions, such as Loyalty of the Wolf, Valkyrie, Valknut, Harald and Thorfinn, Ice and Fire, Dark and Light.

In October this year the popular 15 Year Old, named Viking Heart, joined them. The back label poetically describes the whisky as: “A wild harmony of toasted shards, mellow peat smoke, warm vanilla sponge cake, sun-kissed lemon zest, fresh pineapple and heather rich honey.”

It is bottled at natural colour and presented in a cream ceramic bottle, heavily embossed with imagery inspired by wood carvings from a 13th century church in Norway (as are the other Viking Legend expressions), and designed by the Danish artist, writer and occasional TV personality, Jim Lyngvild, who has been described as ‘a modern day Viking’ – as has Highland Park’s heroic senior ambassador, Martin Markvardsen!

The bottle features a complex knot, known as the valknut, a device related to the triskele or triple spiral motif found in Celtic art. This is thought to symbolise the power of Odin to bind and unbind, mentioned in the sagas and elsewhere. The god was empowered to lay bonds upon the mind, so that men became helpless in battle, but he could also loosen the tensions of fear and strain by his gifts of ‘battle-madness, intoxication and inspiration.’

Jason Craig, Highland Park’s Brand Director, writes: “The inspiration for the design came from an ancient ‘Stavkirke’ [wooden church], a World Heritage site in the tiny Norwegian village of Ornes, heavily decorated with extensive and ornate wooden carvings, which we thought would look amazing on a bottle.”

70cl | 55.1% VOL | £75

12 Year Old | Islay Single Malt

18CT gold, with good beading. A mild nose-feel; top notes of malt loaf, with sultanas and raisins, becoming vegetal (sweet potato) and slightly mineralic, with a thread of smoke in the background. A drop of water raises the dry mineralic note (slaked lime) and fills out the dried fruits. A smooth texture and a sweetish, dried fruit taste, enhanced by a little water.

This new cask strength expression of Bunnahabhain develops the flavour profile of the ever popular ‘standard’ 12 Year Old, first released as an official bottling in 1979. I am sure I don’t need to remind readers of Whiskeria that the benefits of cask strength bottling (known in the trade as ‘natural strength’) are two-fold: the liquid does not require to be chill-filtered and high strength alcohol holds together the flavour components in the whisky better.

Whisky bottled at the familiar strength of 40% VOL, as demanded by the Liquor Traffic Control Board during the First World War, can go slightly hazy when diluted, either in the bottle or in the glass, or when ice is added. The haze comes from ‘lipids’ in the liquid (technically, long-chain fatty esters) which precipitate when it is chilled, so can be removed by reducing the strength to around freezing then pressing the liquid through an ‘adsorption’ filter (multi-layers of blotting paper) which catches the particles and ‘polishes’ the spirit.

Some consumers are perturbed by haze, but not connoisseurs, since these lipids contribute mightily to texture (mouthfeel effect) and overall flavour. They are better left in, although you might want to add a little water in the glass. Increasingly brand owners acknowledge this and offer their whiskies at natural or ‘cask’ strength – the latter term is not defined by law and may simply mean ‘higher than usual’ strength.

Bunnahabhain Distillery was founded in 1881 by James Robertson of Glasgow-based blenders and brokers Robertson & Baxter, in partnership with the Greenlees Brothers, distillers and blenders in Campbeltown, on a very remote site on the north-west coast of Islay. Designed for blending, the spirit was much lighter in style than the heavily peated malts from most other Islay distilleries; not only is the malt lightly peated, but the process water, which comes from a spring in the hills above the distillery, is piped down to avoid contact with peat.

70cl | 48.5% VOL | £66

NAS | Highland Single Malt

Opulent gold in hue, with extraordinarily good beading. Considerable prickle initially masks the aroma, then top-notes of fondant and chocolate emerge, perhaps chocolate orange, on a base of shortbread; soft and rounded overall. A drop of water increases estery notes. Surprisingly sweet to taste, with light salty acetone in mid-palate, and chilli pepper lingering after a shortish finish.

Nc’nean’s slogan is ‘Made by nature not by rules’ and it proudly labels its attractive bottle as ‘Organic Single Malt Scotch Whisky.’ Designed by the late Dr Jim Swan, Nc’nean Distillery was commissioned in 2017.

Founder and whisky maker, Annabel Thomas, tells me this is the first of a proposed series of seasonal releases. The vatting comprises six first-fill and three second-fill American oak casks, “then a small combination of interesting wine casks – three Tokaji, one Pedro Ximénez, one rejuvenated red wine cask. It’s safe to say I’m very proud of it!”

Annabel and her team are passionate about sustainability. The distillery was certified as producing zero carbon emissions in 2020 by Environmental Strategies Ltd, it operates on 100% renewable energy, recycles 80% of its process water and 99.97% of all waste generated on site. The barley used is all organic, and even the bottles are 100% recycled glass.

The distillery’s curious name (pronounced ‘Nic-nee-an’ and literally translated as ‘daughter of the little saint’), is an abbreviation of Neachneohain, a queen of the fairies (also of the witches) in Gaelic folklore and sister of Queen Mab, of Shakespearean fame. The distillery cleverly interprets the name as ‘Queen of Spirits’ and claim she was “a fierce protector of nature and a lover of all things wild. Never afraid to walk her own path.”

Nc’nean Distillery is situated at Drimnin on the wild Morvern Peninsula, overlooking the Sound of Mull. The estate was bought by Annabel’s parents, Derek and Louise Lewis, in 2002; they did a superb job of restoring Drimnin House, several estate farms and cottages, and a Roman Catholic chapel commemorating Sir Charles Maclean of Drimnin, who brought out the clan Maclean for Bonnie Prince Charlie and died on Culloden Field, with three of his sons.

70cl | 43% VOL | £180

21 Year Old | Speyside Single Malt

Mellow amber in hue, with a soft nose-feel. The overall nose-feel effect is dry, with bosky top notes (a bramble thicket), backed by red berries and powdered ginger. A creamy texture and a sweet taste, with fondant in mid-palate, finishing with lingering ginger and white pepper. At reduced strength the texture is more mouthfilling and the taste sweeter. Very easy drinking.

70cl | 43% VOL | £330

25 Year Old | Speyside Single Malt

Mellow amber in hue, with a soft nose-feel. A mellange of fresh fruits (apple, pear, passionfruit, papaya), with light acidity (pineapple) on a base of soft sponge. A drop of water introduces faint waxiness. A creamy texture and a sweet, lightly acidic taste. Slightly waxy/teeth-coating with water. Well balanced.

The Singleton brand name was introduced in 1984 by Justerini & Brooks (a subsidiary of Independent Distillers & Vintners) to describe its single malt, Auchroisk, which nobody could pronounce! Ownership of the name passed to Diageo after IDV merged with them in 1997, and they applied it to three single malts, originally targeted at different markets: Glen Ord (Asia), Glendullan (North America) and Dufftown (Europe). The idea was that if any of these markets took off they could be supported by Singletons from other distilleries. These two expressions come from Dufftown Distillery.

The slogan for the brand is ‘Perfectly Balanced,’ and to this has been added ‘Trinity Cask Harmony.’ This is explained on the back of the cartons: “Three different cask styles have been united to create a single malt even greater than the sum of its parts. Maureen [Maureen Robinson is Diageo’s ‘Master of Malts’] and her team painstakingly hand-selected and then harmonised slow crafted whiskies from European oak casks and refill ex-bourbon casks [in the case of the 25 Year Old], Pedro Ximénez oloroso seasoned and refill ex-bourbon casks [in the case of the 21 Year Old]… then marrying the final liquid in American oak casks [25 Year Old] and European oak casks [21 Year Old].”

The results are impressive. Maureen Robinson is a true master with many years of experience and able to draw upon Diageo’s vast cask resources. As the carton says: “It is a labour of love celebrating different whisky characters transformed by ageing and oak, then skilfully united in a symphony for the senses unlike any other.”

Dufftown-Glenlivet Distillery, as it was originally known, was established in 1895/96 within a converted meal mill by a consortium led by Peter Mackenzie, a wine and spirits broker in Liverpool who had been born in Glenlivet and who already owned Blair Athol Distillery.

Mackenzie & Company (Distillers) Ltd. was bought by Arthur Bell & Sons in 1933, so passed into Diageo’s ownership when it acquired Bell’s in 1987.