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Issue 46   |  Buy this issue   |  Other issues
Whisky Magazine Issue 46

Whisky Magazine Issue 46

Published on 10/3/2005

Whisky Tastings

Ardbeg 1980 Kildalton

Where's the peat-smoke? Not very Islay......

Berry's Own Selection Auchentoshan 1983

Subtle aromas and flavours, but beautifully composed......

Douglas Laing Benrinnes 1990 14 Years Old, Single Cask Sherry Finish

Beautifully full flavoured whisky. Manages to be both e.....

Berry's Best Orkney, 14 Years Old

Intense salt. Very slight iodine......

Blue Hanger 25 Years Old, Second Release

The nose suggests a winter warmer, but the palate perfo.....

Dewar Rattray Bowmore 15 Years Old

Some of the classic Islay elements are there, but disco.....

Cooper's Choice Caol Ila 1990, 14 Years Old

A middleweight Islay malt......

Berry's Own Selection Glen Elgin 1975

By today's standards, an unusually peaty Speysider......

Cooper's Choice Glen Grant 1977 27 Years Old, Sherry Cask

A Speysider with a rich chestnut colour, plenty of arom.....

Angus Dundee Glencadam 15 Years Old

A very unusual whisky. I liked it, but it would benefit.....

Glenfiddich 1991 Vintage Reserve

Gentle. Accessible. Enjoyable......

The Glenlivet 1964 Cellar Collection

After that sensuous aroma, the palate is subtle to the .....

Isle of Jura Whisky Fair bottling, cask 144

A lot happening. A very lively whisky......

Old Masters Ledaig 14 Years Old

The aroma promises more than the whisky cars......

Old & Rare Platinum Millburn 34 Years Old

Luxurious. An adult taste......

Douglas Laing Mortlach 1992 12 Years Old, Sherry Finish

Urbane. Austere......

Royal Salute 100 Cask

Robust, rather than complex. A sustaining, sweetish, re.....

Springbank 1975 Limburg Whisky Fair

Astonishingly citric......

Dewar Rattray Cask Collection Strathmill 15 Years Old

Whatever its age, this whisky is full Of youthful vigou.....

Scott's Selection Ardmore

Not a model of subtlety but a well-knitted character, i.....

Gordon & MacPhail Ardmore 1990

A pleasant dram, especially with a slash of water but l.....

BenRiach "Curiositas" peated malt, 10 Years Old

A Speyside? The most Islayish of all the Speysides I ha.....

Dewar Rattray Cask Collection Benriach 15 Years Old

Quite an energetic guy which needs water to be tamed. A.....

BenRiach Over 12 Years Old

Herbal in the dry way. Leaves a bitter grassy note in t.....

BenRiach Over 20 Years Old

Muscular. Welcome in a blizzard but don't expect Mozart.....

Connoisseur's Choice BenRiach 1981

The bourbon cask inflluence is obvious. A refreshing dr.....

Cadenhead's Benromach 1976, 27 Years Old Authentic Collection

The nose promised more smoothness. Quite an austere cha.....

Linkwood 12 Years Old

A strange fellow. As if all was delivered in a dash. Th.....

Gordon & MacPhail Benromach 1980

A wake up dram. Not a great deal of complexity but an e.....

Longmorn 15 Years Old

A rewarding marriage of weight and elegancy......

Contents

p3

What a mix up

When is a blend, not a blend? When it’s a vatted malt.

When is a blend, not a blend? When it’s a vatted malt. For the Scotch Whisky Association has decided that the best way to end the confusion over definitions of various styles of whisky is to redefine ...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section From the Editor

p13

Call me a cab

Michael Jackson goes a few rounds by taxi

At dinner with Suntory recently, I was pleased to be seated next to John McLaren, who is always good for an entertaining story. I was keen to hear about his more recent career as a novelist. His firs...

By Michael Jackson in the section Musings with Michael Jackson

p14

In the wrong car park?

Tokyo you expect the unexpected - most of the time

Scene: A shopping mall somewhere in Tokyo. Time: Night. The stores are filled with gangs of Japanese teenagers. Each store is playing a different soundtrack. Neon, eye-aching bright lights, the highpi...

By Dave Broom in the section A dram with Dave Broom

p15

Limburg Whisky Fair 2005

In just three years, the Whisky Fair at Limburg in Germany has established a good reputation and continues to attract excellent visitor numbers.

In just three years, the Whisky Fair at Limburg in Germany has established a good reputation and continues to attract excellent visitor numbers. The omens for this year’s fair, on the last weekend in...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Events

p16

Treat us with respect

How should the industry react over the issue of responsible drinking?

The Panel Abigail Bosanko, author and whisky enthusiast (AB) Chuck Cowdrey, American whiskey writer (CKC) Keir Sword, proprietor, Royal Mile Whiskies (KS) Q. There is a growing view that society is b...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Debate

p18

In search of the world's best whiskies

This is the third time we have held the Best of the Best. But as Dominic Roskrow reports, this is the biggest and most ambitious attempt yet to find the world's best whiskies

Almost 60 great whiskies tasted blind in five countries by more than 100 tasters over four months... the Best of the Best event in 2005 can rightly claim to be the most ambitious whisky tasting ever h...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Awards

p26

Industry 'Oscars' honour the heroes of whisky

The Icons of Whisky recognise the people and companies that have made the biggest contribution to the world of whisky. Dominic Roskrow explains how the winners were chosen

It’s become something of an annual ritual. At an indeterminate time after the summer and before Christmas, Dave Broom will telephone in a bit of a flap. Have we thought about the voting for Icons? He’...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Icons of Whisky

p31

Nothing wrong with Old Fashioned values

In the latest of his series on classic cocktails, Ian Wisniewski looks at the Old-Fashioned

The Old Fashioned is more than just a whisky cocktail, it’s also a concept, as the same principle of sweetening, chilling and diluting can be applied to other aged spirits, such as rum or brandy, to m...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky Cocktails

p34

Unique name, Major distillery (Glen Grant)

Ian Buxton visits the picturesque and constantly surprising Glen Grant distillery in Speyside

One of Glen Grant’s more obscure claims to fame is its name. After all, it should logically be called Glen Rothes, after the small Speyside town where it is to be found. And it does have first claim ...

By Ian Buxton in the section Distillery Focus

p40

Wright On

The Wright Wine Company doesn’t do exactly what it says on the tin. Richard Jones investigates

You could be forgiven for thinking the shop didn’t actually sell whisky at all. Situated on the outskirts of the historic North Yorkshire market town of Skipton, the self-styled ‘Gateway to the Yorksh...

By Richard Jones in the section Whisky Spotlight

p42

One for the tourists... (Tullibardine)

Tullibardine is a distillery crossed with a shopping centre. Can it keep whisky fans happy without alienating the general public? Our man had a look

I had distinctly high hopes of Tullibardine. It’s not every day that you get to see a re-opened distillery and a brand new visitor operation – and one that’s going to be very important at that. I’d b...

By Mystery Visitor in the section Mystery Visitor

p44

Meet the awkward squad

The basic process of making whisky is similar throughout the world. But there are always some who have to be different. Dave Broom meets the misfits

There is something about the misfit which attracts me. Iconoclasts, outsiders, people who challenge the norm, look at it from an original, if skewed, perspective and who by doing so, make the field wi...

By Dave Broom in the section Whisky Interview

p48

The rise of the independents

A couple of years ago there was a spate of takeovers of Scottish distilleries and independent buyouts. What happened to them? Ian Buxton investigates

Once upon a time, almost all Scotch whisky was made by independent companies. Then, over time, the twin pressures of economics and competition forced rationalisation and, one by one, the independent c...

By Ian Buxton in the section Whisky Trends

p52

Whisky à la carte in Belgium

Whisky dinners are becoming increasingly popular in Belgium. Martine Nouet meets a chef passionate about malt on the plate

Whisky is a serious matter in Belgium. Whisky clubs number their members by hundreds, not by dozens. A new distillery has even started operating on old-looking pot-stills in Grâce-Hollogne, a village ...

By Martine Nouet in the section Whisky and Food

p55

Travelling in style

Joe Bates provides a guide to the best duty free purchases and looks at the best stores to buy from. This issue: World of Whiskies

Best Buy Glen Garioch 46 Year Old Morrison Bowmore is best known in travel retail for its smoky Islay malt Bowmore, which has grown rapidly to become one of the top 10 malts in duty-free. However, t...

By Joe Bates in the section Travel retail

p57

Days when they were kings

Jefferson Chase takes a nostalgic trawl through Robert Penn Warren’s political classic

Struggling to maintain my sanity amidst all the sensationalist soundbites, proxy mudslinging and media manipulation of the 2004 American Presidential election, I turned to Robert Penn Warren’s All the...

By Jefferson Chase in the section Whisky Literature

p59

Jack of all trades (Duncan Buie)

He’s here, he’s there... it’s not easy to pinpoint what Duncan Buie does. But Richard Jones has a go

Before I interviewed Duncan Buie, mashman and stillman at Isle of Jura distillery, I was told, “Yes, he’s more than happy to speak to you, but he doesn’t really think there is a typical day in his wor...

By Richard Jones in the section A day in the life

p63

Badge of quality in safe hands (Adelphi)

Adelphi distillery, the top-of-the-market independent bottler, has been bought by a couple of landowners in Argyll. Charles MacLeanlooks at the company’s history and asks the new owners about their plans.

The first thing you notice about an Adelphi bottle is its minimalist labelling: a rectangular postagestamp, fixed low down on a clear glass standard liquor bottle, with an equally small back label tel...

By Charles MacLean in the section Distillery Focus

p66

Women of High Spirits

Some of the best whisky makers and blenders are women. Charles Cowdrey met some of them at a special roadshow.

A couple of issues back Whisky Magazine reported that more women than ever are drinking whisky, a revolutionary albeit welcome development, but women making whisky? If there still is a male-dominated ...

By Charles K. Cowdery in the section Whisky Trends

p80

Respect your elders

While it doesn’t follow that older is necessarily better, great older whiskies are rare and to be respected. Ian Wisniewski reports

It’s hardly surprising that malts aged 40 years, and longer, are a rare and recent phenomenon, as 15 years aging was widely considered the limit for malts up until the 1970s. Consequently, more matur...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky Production

p90

Shake it up...maybe

This issue BBC Radio London DJ and all-rounder Nigel Barden looks at cocktails

Polly’s Special, Blood and Sand, The Vibrators, Rattlesnake, Casanova, Gloom Lifter and Zig Zig Sputnik. I know you’ve spotted it; a list of whisky based cocktails with a couple of 1980s rock bands th...

By Nigel Barden in the section The Last Word

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