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Issue 35   |  Buy this issue   |  Other issues
Whisky Magazine Issue 35

Whisky Magazine Issue 35

Published on 17/11/2003

Whisky Tastings

Cooper's Choice Black Cuillin 8 Years Old

A substitute for the much-missed Talisker eight year-ol.....

Cadenhead's Clynelish 14 Years Old

Firm, dry, confident. Not quite as expressive as the be.....

Cadenhead's Convalmore-Glenlivet 26 Years Old

A welcome opportunity to taste a rare whisky, though it.....

Cadenhead's Glendronach 13 Years Old

Drier and less rich than the distillery bottlings......

The Glenlivet 1983 Cellar Collection French Oak Finish

The oak does not totally dominate, but is powerful for .....

Glenmorangie Burgundy Wood Finish

Seems simple at first, but then develops stylishly......

Glenmorangie Madeira Matured

One of the most expressive 'Morangies......

Glenturret 1972 Limited Edition

More robust and less finessed than I remember......

Glenturret 1980 Limited Edition

More rounded, and longer, than the 1972......

The Macallan Replica 1876

Similar to the 1841, but not quite as sophisticated......

Scotch Malt Whisky Society Yamazaki 1980, White Oak Cask, 119.1

Elegant, and more flavoursome than Suntory bottlings I .....

Scotch Malt Whisky Society Yamazaki 1979, Japanese Oak Cask, 119.2

A breakfast malt? Splendidly complex, with Japanese oak.....

Chieftain's Choice The Glenrothes 1992, 10 Years Old, Port Finish

More mature than its 10 years would suggest. Fruitier t.....

Cooper's Choice Bruichladdich 1991, 12 Years Old, Portwood

Very appetising. Long, lingering......

Cooper's Choice Glen Grant 1988, 15 Years Old, Portwood

The delicacy of the Glen Grant survives here......

Dun Bheagan Mortlach 10 Years Old, Port Finish

Mortlach is usually a supple, muscular malt. At ten yea.....

Private Collection Caol Ila 1990 Port Wood Finish

No contest, the Inner Hebrides quickly overwhelms the D.....

Private Collection Imperial 1991 Port Wood Finish

More Imperial than Port. With or without Port, I would .....

MacPhail's Collection Highland Park 30 Years Old

More robust and less sophisticated than the distillery .....

MacPhail's Collection Tamdhu 30 Years Old

Tamdhu is a pleasant, polite, whisky. Does it really ha.....

Chieftain's Choice Glenturret 1990, 12 Years Old, Port Finish

Refreshing, appetising......

Contents

p5

The Miller's Tale

This will be the last time I refer to the Ardbeg-sponsored Islay half marathon. Until next year's race, that is. Although it would not be unfair to suggest that the word 'race' is too strong a term fo...

By Marcin Miller in the section The Miller's Tale

p11

Foiling Freckles

Michael Jackson’s summer season, boosted by Bell’s

The first place I recall drinking beer that had been finished in a whiskey cask was Goose Island, the pioneering brewpub in Chicago. Now I can buy Innis and Gunn Oak Aged Beer, from Scotland, in my lo...

By Michael Jackson in the section Musings with Michael Jackson

p12

Searching for sea legs

Dave Broomdiscovers life on the ocean waves

That’s more like it.” Had I really said that? The bosun’s jaw dropped. It takes a lot to render him speechless. Then he grinned – a more common occurrence. “Did you hear that? We have a convert.” I’...

By Dave Broom in the section A dram with Dave Broom

p18

The wonderful world of whisky

Dominic Roskrow reports back from Kentucky and Spain

You couldn't make it up

Dark rumblings on the soccer field The Scottish have always been good at making allies – normally anyone who’s not English – so it came as no great surprise to discover that a special relationship wa...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section World of whisky

p22

Kentucky on our minds

If you’ll excuse the pun, Kentucky whiskey is on a roll at the moment. Dominic Roskrow went on a voyage of discovery that started with selecting his own whiskey and ended at the party to end all parties

It may have been the sunshine heat, it may have been the exquisite bourbon and it may have been no more than standard festival excitement, but in Kentucky in September there was a real sense that some...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Special Report

p23

Mixing it up with George Washington

The distillery at Woodford Reserve is like nowhere else on earth

This is truly surreal. Kentucky’s youngest master distiller, Chris Morris, is standing over a single barrel which is full of a liquid that looks like concrete mix and has the consistency of gruel. Hi...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Special Report

p27

The feast of Bourbon

The Kentucky Bourbon Festival is starting to attract people from across the world.
Dominic Roskrow went to find out why

The party for Tom Bulleit at a private house in the suburbs of Bardstown was dead as a dormouse. We – Whisky Magazine managing director Damian Riley-Smith, myself and a Polish writer we’d adopted cal...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Special Report

p32

Literary Spirit (Iain Banks)

Top author Iain Banks couldn’t believe his luck when he was asked to write a book on Scotland’s distilleries. He tells Dominic Roskrow about his year drinking whisky

When Iain Banks was approached about writing his new book, it was, to coin a phrase, an offer he simply couldn’t refuse. His agent wanted to know if the author of such landmark novels as The Wasp Fac...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Interview

p36

Nothing like a spot of pillaging

As crazy ideas go, pillaging malts on Islay for charity is pretty crazy. Dave Broomtracked down some of the guilty parties and asked them exactly what they thought they were doing

He remembered the barrel roll. The laughs they’d had, the too-late night on Jura and the push up the hill at Port Askaig the next morning with thick ringing heads. The way the island came together, th...

By Dave Broom in the section Whisky Events

p40

Easy does it

The Easy Drinking Whisky Company is taking the selling of whisky to a new level – by selling directly on taste. Dominic Roskrow reports

Quite often the best ideas are the simplest ones. The ones when you say ‘why didn’t someone think of that before?’ So it is with the concept behind Easy Drinking Whisky Company, which has taken the s...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Trends

p42

A dream of a distillery (Arran)

Our Mystery Visitor travels to Arran

Isuppose that most, if not all readers of Whisky Magazine have dreamt of running their own distillery. Back in 1995, after a distinguished career in the industry, Harold Currie did rather more than t...

By Mystery Visitor in the section Mystery Visitor

p44

Some like it hot. Some not

Martine Nouet gathers her thoughts and gives a back-to-basics guide to the cooking methods she uses

It is funny how I fill up my mind with good resolutions when coming back to work after a long summer break. This sudden good-will syndrome gives me an irrepressible energy to tidy up my desk, reschedu...

By Martine Nouet in the section Whisky and Food

p48

It's all Go-more (Bowmore)

Islay’s meant to be all about tranquillity. But when Ian Buxton visited Bowmore it was anything but

Islay is supposed to be quiet. Very quiet. The island’s image is of great peace and tranquillity; empty open spaces, washed by clear skies, a deep silence broken only by the cries of distant seabirds....

By Ian Buxton in the section Distillery Focus

p53

Not so lucky Jim

Jim Thompson died unknown and poor. But his 1952 novel The Killer Inside Me is now regarded as a masterpiece. Jefferson Chase turns its whisky-drenched pages

Jim Thompson is the James Joyce of hard-boiled American fiction. Born in Oklahoma in 1906, his first job was at a seedy Texas hotel during Prohibition, where he was well-regarded for his ability to sc...

By Jefferson Chase in the section Whisky Literature

p54

Frank's wild years (Frank McHardy)

Frank McHardy has given his life to whisky. He’s now installed in the newest distillery in Scotland and he’s a proud man. Dave Broom spoke to him about his exceptional career

It’s hard to recall what it once looked like. The last time. When it was just a vast empty barn with no windows and a thick layer of pigeon guano. Now we walk on a clanging metal floor hanging high a...

By Dave Broom in the section Whisky Profile

p58

Simply a matter of shelf belief

’Own label’ whisky brands are thriving across the world. But how does the market work and how has it developed the way it has? Peter Mulryan reports

The world of whisky has not been unaffected by the growth of the multinationals, in fact, the whisky industry has led the way. As early as the 1920s Johnnie Walker was sold in more than 120 countries;...

By Peter Mulryan in the section Whisky Trends

p72

Mash course

Ian Wisniewski takes us step by step through the mashing process

With distillation and maturation seen as the key partnership influencing the flavour of malt whisky, it’s easy to dismiss mashing as an ‘industrial equation.’ Starch equals sugar, which in turn equals...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky Production

p82

At home with the haydocks

It’s not often you get to see inside the secret life of John Haydock

Whisky Magazine’s Jocasta Eatwell writes: Few men have brought as much fame and fortune to the Scottish whisky industry than John Haydock, that writer whose words bring so much pleasure to drinkers a...

By John Haydock in the section An acidic finish

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