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Issue 44   |  Buy this issue   |  Other issues
Whisky Magazine Issue 44

Whisky Magazine Issue 44

Published on 25/11/2004

Whisky Tastings

Isle of Arran Rum Cask

Rather cloying......

Benromach 1969

An old-fashioned whisky for an old-fashioned winter's e.....

Old Masters Bladnoch 1992 12 Years Old

Quite assertive for Bladnoch. Not keen on the papery ch.....

Douglas Laing Bowmore 20 Years Old

Bowmore is a great malt. let's see more of it in straig.....

Duncan Taylor Glen Garioch 1988, 16 Years Old

Very sweet but the classic heather honey is balanced by.....

Glen Moray 1986 Commemorative Bottling

Robust. Complex. After dinner......

Duncan Taylor Invergordon 1965 38 Years Old

Such a long ageing has made the bourbon wood very domin.....

Old Malt Cask Laphroaig 17 Years Old, Rum Finish

Confident. Slightly austere......

Compass Box Orangerie

it is not a whisky, so it cannot be scored as one. In c.....

Compass Box The Peat Monster

A monster? As compared to earlier creations from the sa.....

Pendleton 10 Years Old

Very drinkable, but does it have sufficient complexity .....

Compass Box Asyla

A refreshing dram. Straightforward, clean. No complexit.....

Baillie Nicol Jarvie 8 Years Old

A pleasant drink with an interesting freshness. Leaves .....

Black Bottle 10 Years Old

An uncompromising Islay blend. Washes along sea fragran.....

Chivas Regal 18 Years Old

This jewel is bursting with life an joie de vivre, like.....

Dewar's Signature

Quite ordinary. Surprisingly firey for the strength. La.....

Cutty Sark Imperial Kingdom

A smooth and caressing blend. Full of charm. The balanc.....

Famous Grouse Finest

A beautifully mingled aromatic palette. But this whisky.....

Gordon & MacPhail Glen Calder

On the sweet side, although the finish brings out a mor.....

William Grant's 15 Years Old

Quite an assertive blend. The nose delivers to the pala.....

William Grant's 18 Years Old

The nose lets us expect some exotic promises. Did too m.....

Isle of Skye 8 Years Old

Nose and palate seem to be flattened by excess of sickl.....

Langs Select 12 Years Old

A light, refreshing and aromatic blend. To be enjoyed w.....

Matisse 12 Years Old

Quite a complex blend but it takes time to deliver. Wel.....

Royal Salute 21 Years Old

Antique shope aromas. Oak and fruit locked in a sensual.....

Whyte & Mackay 15 Years Old, Premium Reserve

Oak is better expressed on the palate than on the nose......

Whyte & Mackay 18 Years Old, Founders Reserve

A well balanced dram. Rather shy and restrained at star.....

Whyte & Mackay Special Reserve, 21 Years Old, Sherry Wood Finish

Well-balanced and luscious. Keeps talking if you let it.....

Whyte & Mackay 30 Years Old, Rare Reserve

Heavier than the 21 Years Old due to its sweetness. But.....

Contents

p5

The best deal possible

Glenmorangie House lies some seven or eight miles from the distillery, and driving up to it on a dark and windy night is like driving back in time. We arrive late, and already guests are coming down...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section From the Editor

p11

Prince of the road

Michael Jackson crosses paths with HRH Charles

Prince Charles was heading in my direction. It was, indeed, envisaged that we should meet. His People had spoken to My People, in the way that these matters are arranged. The Prince and I would talk a...

By Michael Jackson in the section Musings with Michael Jackson

p12

Cape of great hope

A writer in every port or a port in every writer? Davie Broom visits Cape Town

Apparently the surf was sick, which means good in the same way as bad used to. So there you go. Travel broadens one’s linguistic skills as well as one’s mind. I gamely resisted plunging in – for star...

By Dave Broom in the section A dram with Dave Broom

p17

A distillery well off the beaten track (Tomatin)

Our mystery visitor made the long trek to Tomatin and found a distillery not geared up for the tourist or casual visitor

Whatever else they were thinking about when they built Tomatin, it wasn’t tourists. Located just 18 miles south of Inverness, and handy for the main A9 road from the south, Tomatin is not the tourist ...

By Mystery Visitor in the section Mystery Visitor

p20

That was the year that was

This month's round table looks back at the past year and looks forward to the year ahead

The Panel Ian Buxton, Whisky Magazine writer (IB) Chuck Cowdery, Whisky Magazine American correspondent (CKC) John Glaser, Compassbox (JG) Annabel Meikle, Scotch Malt Whisky Society (AM) Dave Robe...

By in the section Whisky Debate

p22

Celtic Cousins - Reviving part of Welsh culture

The Welsh Whisky Company is in business and impressing whisky experts with its product. Charles MacLean visited it

Like all good whisky tales, the story of the revival of distilling in Wales begins in a pub. It was 1997. Brian Morgan, an economist who was at the time working for the Welsh Development Agency (he i...

By Charles MacLean in the section Whisky Trends

p24

Celtic Cousins - A bit of Cornish spirit

The Celtic fringe of Britain has a long tradition for some of the world’s finest whiskies. Ireland and Scotland have refined their creations over centuries, so why has it taken so long for Cornwall to catch on and produce its first single malt whisky? Jamie Smith finds the answer lies, of all places, at a cider farm

Somewhere in a dark, cobbled cellar not far from Cornwall’s craggy north coast something very exciting and, for many, long overdue is taking place. In a dark, damp cellar, Cornwall’s first malt whisk...

By Jamie Smith in the section Whisky Trends

p26

Celtic Cousins - Made in Bretagne

Martine Nouet looks at the whisky industry in Northern France – and plots its Celtic roots

Aland with a profound sense of identity, Brittany became part of French kingdom only in the 16th century. With its own Celtic language – the exact replica of the Cornish one – its culture deeply root...

By Martine Nouet in the section Whisky Trends

p28

Bardstown remembers Booker

This year’s Kentucky Bourbon Festival was the first since the legendary Booker Noe passed away. But as Dominic Roskrowreports, he was remembered in the best possible way – with a whiskey

Ivan the Terrible, the Mean Jeanie, Karl the Snarl… America’s hurricane season did its best to put a dent in this year’s Kentucky bourbon Festival, but it failed miserably. Indeed by the time country...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Events

p30

Distiller making a spirit of the air (Balblair)

Ian Buxton visits Balblair

As the internal arrangements and vessels are like the other distilleries in the district, it is not worthwhile to recapitulate them” commented an unusually blunt Alfred Barnard on his visit to Balblai...

By Ian Buxton in the section Distillery Focus

p34

A cure for hiccups

Robin Laing takes a gentle stroll with his friend through Speyside

Donald’s career path has taken him to the South East of England, close to the engine room of political power. This path has distanced him, in my opinion, from those magical places in Scotland where ea...

By Robin Laing in the section Whisky tales

p36

Smoking out the spirit of Islay

Andrew Jefford’s Peat Smoke and Spirit is the best whisky book published this year. In this extract, he writes about trhe constitution of peat itself

So what are they exactly, these dark sods which Norrie has been cutting for 44 years, and his Uncle John Campbell cut for a lifetime before that, and which Islay’s farmers have been cutting to keep th...

By Andrew Jefford in the section Whisky Literature

p40

Making all the right moves

As ways of making drinking a cerebral pastime, whisky chess takes some beating. Alex Kraaijeveld explains how it works

Have you ever heard of shot glass chess? It’s a game of chess played in which glasses of different shapes and sizes serve as pieces. The glasses are filled with either a clear (for ‘white’) or a colo...

By Alex Kraaijeveld in the section Whisky Trends

p42

Learning to fly

Grouse and the Gloags, part 1: Charles Maclean tells the history of a bird, a brand and a dynasty. For a profile of a thoroughly modern Matthew Gloag, see page 46.

My great-great-great-grandfather, Matthew Gloag the First, went into the wines and spirits trade in the early 1800s. Actually, he wasn't the first at all, since he had been named after his grandfather...

By Charles MacLean in the section Whisky Profile

p44

Amber gets the green light

Amber is the new restaurant at the Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre, and unsurprisingly whisky features high on its agenda. Martine Nouet visited it

It is hard to think of a better place than the Edinburgh Scotch Whisky Heritage Centre for Scotland’s first whisky restaurant. The news about the opening of Amber restaurant and its dedication to whi...

By Martine Nouet in the section Whisky and Food

p47

A stranger back to the future

Time’s Arrow is a lifetime journey in reverse. And of course,anything so perverse is food and drink to Jefferson Chase

To put the cart before the horse, I must confess I’ve never been a big fan of Martin Amis, son of Lucky Jim author and Macallan aficionado Kingsley Amis. Despite his polished style and sharp eye for h...

By Jefferson Chase in the section Whisky Literature

p48

Whiskey works in the windy city

Chicago has its fair share of whiskey bars. Scott Longmantakes a tour

Let the Italians and the Norwegians fight about who found the place to begin with: it was a bunch of malcontents from Plymouth, England who first settled the United States. And somehow, that early Ang...

By Scott Longman in the section Whisky Trends

p55

Feet firmly on the ground (Mary O’Shea - Heathrow)

In the latest in his series, Richard Jones talks to Mary O’Shea, who is a whisky consultant at Heathrow Airport

My day varies according to the time of year and the different flights that are scheduled at the airport,” begins Mary O’Shea, whisky consultant at Heathrow Airport. “At the moment my shift starts at ...

By Richard Jones in the section A day in the life

p56

Are regional labels a dodgy area?

How important is regionalism to the character of whisky, and can broad generalisations be made? Ian Wisniewski considers

Choice is a beautiful thing, and we’ve never had so much. But choice without guidance can also be counter-productive, as knowing where to start when faced with several hundred malts can be a real chal...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky Production

p74

Thirst for knowledge

Guest writer Andrew Jefford smokes out the truth on the issue of peat in whisky

When I was a lad, I used to look at the books on my parents’ shelves with a sense of wonder. I loved both reading and writing; books were the unhidden treasure of my childhood. The desire to write one...

By Andrew Jefford in the section The Last Word

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