February 2023

Kildara Canadian Island Triple Distilled Potstill Whisky

/ / Other Whisk(e)ys, Review / ,

Kildara
Canadian Island Triple Distilled Potstill Whisky

Carefully crafted in premium Kentucky bourbon, Spanish Oloroso & Pedro Ximénez, and virgin American casks

46% ABV
$125
Website
Macaloneys Kildara Canadian Island Triple Distilled Potstill Whisky
We would like to thank Macaloney’s Island Distillery for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distillery Says

This island whisky is from our triple distilled single potstill range – triple distilled using only the best unmalted and malted barley available. The patient, yet purposeful, triple distillation produces a complex, layered and balanced new-make spirit. Dr. Swan described our original new-make which trickles off our copper pot stills as “the best that I have tasted in any distillery at this stage, super fruity.” This triple-distillate is even smoother and fruitier!

Kildara, our Whiskymaker’s Signature Expression, was married from a select combination of Kentucky Bourbon, Spanish Oloroso, virgin American, and Spanish Pedro Ximénez (PX) casks. The result is a full bodied, triple distilled single potstill, island whisky with pronounced Oloroso and PX notes including dried fruit cake, vanilla crème laced with cinnamon, demerara sugar, and old seasoned leather notes. Abundant tropical fruits include candied orange, dried apricot, figs, ripe blackberries, blackcurrant jam, dried raisins and roasted nuts. The complexity continues with barley, malt and dried hay, butterscotch, milk chocolate, light tobacco and ocean breeze.

The palate is velvety-soft, resplendent with full bodied Sherry and tropical fruit. Oatmeal develops to oak spices, coffee, dark chocolate orange, nectarines, stewed plums, blackcurrant, red currant and sultana’s, coming together as sweet dark fruitcake and honey. The finish presents dried fruit with a hint of salt and dulse, lingering oak and more Sherry, ending with hazelnut and almond raspberry pie with a drizzle of dark chocolate.

ABV: 46% | 750ml bottle | Natural Colour & Non-Chill Filtered

What Gary Says

Nose:  Rich, vanilla, mincemeat pie with raisins, apricots, cinnamon, malt, molasses and a floral note.
Palate:  Viscous mouthfeel, fruity with plums, apricots, blackcurrant and subtle citrus notes, a bit of oak, vanilla, honey, nutmeg and dark chocolate.
Finish:  Moderate in length, thick and damp with fruit, honey and nutmeg.
Comments:  Really nice, intense flavor and well balanced. Clearly tracks to Irish roots.  While I enjoyed the Killeigh, I like this one more – especially at the same price point (and like the Killeigh, I appreciate the ABV/non-chill filtration but wouldn’t mind seeing a cask-strength offering). The non-chill filtration Also really appreciate the solid tasting notes (often tasting notes are ‘basic’ or entirely imagined, so when they are more detailed and line up with my experience – it stands out because of the rarity!)

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

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Killeigh Canadian Island Triple Distilled Potstill Whisky

/ / Other Whisk(e)ys, Review /

Killeigh
Canadian Island Triple Distilled Potstill Whisky

Carefully crafted in premium Kentucky bourbon, European Moscatel & virgin American casks

46% ABV
$125
Website
Macaloneys Killeigh Canadian Island Triple Distilled Potstill Whisky
We would like to thank Macaloney’s Island Distillery for sending us a sample to review.

What the Distillery Says

This island whisky is from our triple distilled single potstill range – triple distilled using only the best unmalted and malted barley available. The patient, yet purposeful, triple distillation produces a complex, layered and balanced new-make spirit. Dr. Swan described our original new-make which trickles off our copper pot stills as “the best that I have tasted in any distillery at this stage, super fruity.” This triple-distillate is even smoother and fruitier!

Killeigh is a salute to our distillers who love how Kentucky Bourbon wood allows our house style with its plethora of tropical fruits to shine through. Embellished by our Master Whiskymaker with Portuguese moscatel sweet white wine oak casks and virgin American oak casks, the result is a distillers delight.

The nose presents cream soda, soft vanilla and oak, with apricot, pear, hints of banana, sweet pea flowers, milled oats and honey. The white wine is delicate and layered with wet coastal forest and sea breeze. The palate is velvety-creamy with more tropical fruits including sweet lychees, mandarin orange, and delicate banana embellished with honey and barley water. Fresh rose petals and a potpourri of dried flowers and wood spice yield to vanilla, oak and coconut with a hint of linseed, nutmeg and cinnamon. The development includes light moscatel white wine, crème fraîche, toasted hazelnut, and sea salt, drying to a long, lingering oak finish. Superb!

Killeigh won Best Potstill Whisky in Canada at the prestigious 2022 World Whiskies Awards.

ABV: 46% | 750ml bottle | Natural Colour & Non-Chill Filtered

What Gary Says

Nose:  Honey, vanilla, malt, fruity with canned pears and over-ripe bananas, subtle floral notes.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel, sweet with honey, fruit notes of banana, pear, blackcurrant, bit of citrus, vanilla and a hint of nutmeg.
Finish:  Moderately long, damp with fruit salad and a bit of pepper.
Comments:  A really nice, balanced, fruity dram. Appreciate the ABV (although would love to see this higher) and the non-chill filtration. This is non-age stated, so not sure how old it is. Age isn’t everything, and while this seems like it might be a tad young – there aren’t any rough edges or objectionable notes. Of the first three Macaloney’s Island Distillery samples I’m reviewing, this was my least favorite (don’t be like that, there has to be a 3rd place) but if someone is offering to pour – I’m not turning it down. It does seem a bit pricey, but value is in the eye of the beholder.

Rating: Stands Out

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Compass Box Vellichor

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky /

Compass Box Vellichor
Blended Scotch Whisky

44.6% ABV
$400-450
Website
Compass Box Vellichor Blended Scotch Whisky

What the Blender Says

Vellichor, n – the scent of second-hand bookshops

On discovering this marvellous new word, we began a quest to recreate the fragrance using Scotch whisky. Parcels were considered, identified and pursued. The process can be compared to scouring second-hand bookshops for specific volumes.

Our search met with success when a distiller and bottler in the north of Scotland offered us casks of whiskies which had been blended together in the past, before being returned to ex-Sherry butts for further maturation. Whiskies, like old books, contain their own stories.

We combined these Sherry-matured stocks with bold and mature malt whiskies from the Macallan, Highland Park and Caol Ila distilleries. The aroma is highly evocative for anyone with a fondness for books; the taste evolves and intensifies as any good political thriller or historical romance should.

A tribute to the storytelling potential of blended Scotch whisky, and the atmospheres of our favourite book stores.

FLAVOUR PROFILE
Hints of leather, polished furniture and the crackling dustiness of decades-old pages on the nose. The palate is stacked with sumptuous malty notes, tropical fruit and Sherry character, with a delicate but
persistent peatiness.

SERVING RECOMMENDATIONS
The late whisky writer Michael Jackson recommended some whiskies be enjoyed “with a book at bedtime”. This is one of those whiskies.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Bottled at 44.6% ABV | Natural colour | Not chill-filtered
Blended Scotch Whisky
A limited edition of 3,246 bottles; January 2022.
LEAD WHISKYMAKER: James Saxon.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Leather, candied dark fruit notes of plums and raisins, passionfruit, kiwi, grapes, apple, wood polish, pipe tobacco smoke, soft mulling spices and a hint of underlying peat.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel, sponge cake with buttercream frosting, cherries, peaches, apples, dates, coconut, nutmeg, bit of ginger, subtle peat and smoke.
Finish:  Long and damp, fruity with tobacco, honey, fruit and a hint of peat.
Comments: A really delicious, complex, balanced and lovely dram with some fruit, sherry, bit of spice, peat and smoke. This definitely has that ‘old library’ aroma that brings thoughts of sitting in an overstuffed, worn out leather chair in a smoke filled, wood paneled lined room – which I’ve only encountered with well aged Scotch whisky.  With over 95% of the components being 23-26 years old (with a splash of some 37 year old Caol Ila), this has the age – but it would be a mistake to think it is simply a function of age. The combining of well aged stocks in just the right proportions takes a deft hand (and better nose and palate!) and few do it nearly as well as Compass Box. I wish this ABV was a bit higher, but it has a lot of intensity where it is at – and losing ABV is a risk with older parcels as well (had Compass Box waited a bit longer, they might not have been able to bottle some of it as whisky – which sounds like just the sorta tricky thing they’d pull – maybe a “This is not ultra aged whisky” with some 40 yr old “former whisky” casks that dipped below the 40% mark?).

Rating: Must Try

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Compass Box Experimental Grain Whisky

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky /

Compass Box Experimental Grain Whisky
Blended Grain Scotch Whisky

46% ABV
$150
Website
Compass Box Experimental Grain

What the Blender Says

A grain whisky that’s only a pot still away from being a single malt

A grain whisky made only from malt? That’s also smoky? Paradoxical spirits are something of a calling card for the whiskymakers at Loch Lomond Distillery who operate their site with seriously open minds. We managed to source some of their peated, Coffey-distilled whisky to create a blended grain with a difference.

Experimental Grain Whisky is in many ways the alter ego to Hedonism, our signature expression. The smoke notes that the Loch Lomond parcel bestows are unlike anything we have used before: herbal, moss-like, clinging.

The majority of Experimental Grain Whisky is comprised of grains from the Cameronbridge and North British distilleries. They bring notes of fudge, vanilla and set honey. On top of this the younger whisky from Loch Lomond layers impressions of pine forests and patchouli oil.

Experimentation abounds throughout Scotland. For those who thought grain whisky was by default light and creamy, think again.

We have used a special parcel of whisky made at the Loch Lomond Distillery from peated malted barley, distilled in their copper Coffey still. Despite this being 100% malted barley, the use of a column rather than a pot still during distillation means this cannot be classified as a single malt – it is the perfect spirit around which to build a unique blended grain Scotch whisky.

FLAVOUR PROFILE
An appetising aroma of contrasts: banana and toffee mingle with soft, savoury barbecue smokiness and hints of rum and raspberry. Enjoy a soft and oily palate of almond and vanilla before a curiously delicious flavour of burnt pine cones develops.

SERVING ECOMMENDATIONS
A whisky for those rare downpours accompanied by bright sunshine, and other paradoxical phenomena. A splash of room temperature water will lift the unique smoky notes.

TECHNICAL DETAILS
Bottled at 46% ABV | Natural colour | Not chill-filtered
Blended Grain Scotch Whisky
A limited edition of 6,142 bottles; December 2021.
LEAD WHISKYMAKER: James Saxon.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Tropical fruit, coconut, peach, vanilla, grapes, white chocolate, sandalwood, pine, subtle peat with a mineral note.
Palate:  Creamy mouthfeel, fruity with honeydew, apples, coconut, malt, vanilla, hint of caramel, peat with a bit of pepper.
Finish:  Moderately long with honey and melon.
Comments:  Nice, pleasant, gentle, nuanced, layered, balanced – what you hope for, and often get with Compass Box. Few drops of water brings out more pine on the nose and more honey on the palate, and thickens up nicely as well.

Rating: Stands Out

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Compass Box No Name Vol 3

/ / Review, Scottish Whisky / ,

Compass Box No Name Vol 3
Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

48.9% ABV
$130 – $150
Website
Compass Box No Name Vol 3

What the Blender Says

Vibrant and expansive, wild yet graceful peatiness
Our series studying heavily-peated malt whisky reaches a somewhat OTT crescendo with this, the third and final No Name.

Since 2017, we have used the same recipe structure to explore different smoky double acts. Whether it was the crème-brûlée-on-freshly-laid-tarmac effect of the inaugural release or the bonfire-in-a-cherry-orchard style of No Name, No. 2, fans of the series have been treated to radically different expressions of smoke.

No Name, No. 3 marks a further point on the spectrum of peat. It is older, wilder and weirder than the previous No Names. Seaweedy and barbecue-scented single malt from the Laphroaig Distillery takes top billing, with malt whisky from the Bowmore Distillery lending compelling hints of mango and pineapple at the very limits of ripeness.

Seashells and sage; pineapple and allspice; smoke that moves in oily waves. This is the perfect whisky for introducing a little drama to proceedings – and a fitting conclusion to our peaty trilogy.

The final whisky in the No Name series champions seaweedy peatiness from the Laphroaig Distillery, enriched by succulent fruit and smoke from the Bowmore Distillery.

FLAVOUR PROFILE: Even fruitier than No Name, No. 2, and almost as smoky as No Name. The peat character is more medicinal than No Name, with a beautiful heathery and tropical fragrance.

A limited edition of 10,794 bottles. July 2021.

What Gary Says

Nose:  Mossy sea air, peat, coastal campfire, subtle fruit notes of peaches and pears, earthy, cracked pepper with a hint of smoked meat and fish.
Palate:  Thick mouthfeel, peaty, vanilla, subtle fruit with pears and mango, smoky with a hint of grilled pineapple and more savory, herbal spices.
Finish:  Moderately long and drying with peaty pepper, smoke and honey.
Comments: I didn’t have this to try alongside No Name Vol 1 or No Name Vol 2, but this didn’t seem to strike me as well as either of those for some reason. It is a very nice peaty and smoky dram, with layers of complexity. I suppose with any lineup, one has to be last even if all were very good. Looking back at my notes, I’m not sure I got ‘more’ fruit here as they described. It does open up nicely with a bit of water, bringing more vanilla cream and fruit on the palate.

Rating: Stands Out/Must Try

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