February 2011 Archives

This sample of Islay single malt was provided courtesy of Saverio Schiralli Agencies Limited. Bowmore Tempest 10 Year Old is the second in a series of small-batch releases from Bowmore Distilleries of Islay, Scotland. Only after putting a good dent in the bottle did our panel realize this was cask strength. Surely, this speaks volumes of its character.

Nose: Starting with a gentle hint of sweetness, peaty salt is prominent which bleeds into pencil eraser upon a deeper whiff. Dried candied fruit is somewhere at the bottom of the glass along with black licorice. Wonderfully complex and not at all muddled. Nearly, and surprisingly, void of alcoholic vapours.

Palate: Wow - big bold flavour! Honey sweetness with earthy peat and smoke. After the initial punch, it turns tart, if not simply sour. Rather warm from its young age but this is not a detractor. Fairly viscous for a great savory mouthfeel.

We were recently invited to spend an evening sampling a range of The Balvenie's fine scotches with Dr. Samuel Simmons, the Global Ambassador for The Balvenie, who also as it turns out was a fellow Torontonian.

Dr. Simmons moved from Toronto to Scotland in 2002, and is now residing in London England. A poetry / language geek by education, Sam makes it a personal goal to read as many whisky related books at possible. Sam's interest in Scotch whisky developed in Scotland to the point where for a time he was president of the Edinburgh Water of Life Society.

The reason for our gathering was primarily for a sampling of The Balvenie's newest expression, the Caribbean Rum Cask release. Aged 14 years and finished in Jamaican Rum casks, we were interested to experience this latest of a number of rum cask finishes by David Stewart. Sam noted David Stewart's predisposition to rum as his drink of choice outside the "office". Good rum has a wonderful rich sweetness almost as if you could pour it over ice cream. It is with this in mind that Stewart sets out to enrich his speyside malt.

The Balvenie was one of the first distilleries doing cask finishes to impart unique flavours since back in the 80s. In fact, the Balvenie DoubleWood (which is finished in a Spanish oak sherry cask) was originally branded as the Balvenie Classic back then.

Another historical tidbit we learned while chatting with Sam is that The Balvenie's cooperage is actually shared with Glenfiddich, though it's on The Balvenie's property. The jury is still out between them on whose name to put on it, though Sam hinted that the coopers themselves might prefer to drink The Balvenie.

On this eve, we were happy to work through five different Balvenie expressions with Sam.

The rule of thumb is that whisky will taste better when you haven't paid for it.  My first experience with Craigellachie was this bottle given to me for my birthday by a close friend.  The label states it's 11 years old, but it also specifies that it was bottled just a month shy of 12 years.

The spirit is a pale gold colour with dewy heather, green apple and dried fruit on the nose.  The palate is a total departure with marine elements of salt and seaweed preceding a measure of sulphurous smoke.  I found the finish to be relatively short and dry with some lingering spice and heat.