Michel Couvreur Whisky

[skywalker]

Hello,

does anybody have tasting notes/recommendations about the following Michel Couvreuer Whiskys?

- Single Single Bere Barley 13y
- very sherried Single Single 30y
- vatting 3 hogsheads
- pale single single malt

It seems as "bere Barley" is a whisky produced with a old barley strain.

thanks

Torsten

P.S. Maybe these whiskies are worth an article in Whisky Magazine??

[Mallime]

After 2 years without drinking Cragganmore, I was recently offered some in Australia by a friend who had bought some on my recommendation. It had a distinct smoky aftertaste that I did not like and that I had never tasted in Cragganmore 12 yr old before. The Australian friend's bottle mentioned the smoky taste but I'm sure I never would have come to like anything with a smoky flavour (following a drunken experience in my youth, smoky-flavoured food makes me want to throw up). Are there 2 Cragganmore 12 yr olds out there or is there a new, smoky-only recipe? I note from the Michael Jackson whisky guide that the Connoisseurs Choice versions of Cragganmore are supposed to be smoky.

[skywalker]

I have a similar experience with Cragganmore, I think it depends on the daily performance of the tastebuds. On some days the smoky aftertaste is very clear, on other days not.

Torsten

[Admiral]

As an Australian who's been drinking Cragganmore downunder for quite a while, I believe the bottlings here have been fairly consistent over the last 3 or 4 years. Certainly the label and packaging has remained unchanged.

I believe Cragganmore is a unique malt in that one's appreciation of it is very much affected by what is or was already on the palate. Try a Cragganmore after dinner one night, and then the next night, have a dram before dinner. I have done this frequently, and found the "post-dinner" dram to be much more smooth, balanced, and "relaxed". Drunk before dinner, I notice more sharp elements (possibly the smoke or peat) that seem to be less obvious after a meal.

This has also been my experience with the Cragganmore Distiller's Edition. However, I haven't tried any independant bottlings to test my theory on!

I would be very surprised if UDV were shipping different bottlings of Cragganmore to different countries around the globe?

[Ize]

Skywalker has a point. Some days it just useless to taste whisky, Johannes van den Heuvel ( www.maltmadness.com ) calls it "bad nose day". When I have new whisky to be tasted and tested, I usually start with a reference whisky to make sure my tastebuds are functioning. For heavy whiskies, like Islay whiskies, I use at the moment Longmorn as a reference. For lighter whiskies I currently use Springbank.

Kippis,
Ize