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Issue 55   |  Buy this issue   |  Other issues
Whisky Magazine Issue 55

Whisky Magazine Issue 55

Published on 14/04/2006

Whisky Tastings

Berry's Own Selection Longmorn 1990

A perfectly pretty dram but it is almost too light. Eve.....

Dewar Rattray Mortlach 15 Years Old

The lack of interaction between oak and spirit makes th.....

Duncan Taylor Glen Grant 1970, Speyside Region Selection No 2

A lot of cask here but strangely subtle for such a heav.....

Glenkeir Treasures Ben Nevis 12 Years Old

A slightly uneasy balance between cereal, fruit and oak.....

The Glenrothes 1985

This is head and shoulders above everything else in thi.....

Rare Malts Millburn 1969 35 Years Old

The mental picture is of an old library filled with lea.....

Special Release Caol Ila 25 Years Old

Not instantly welcoming, this takes time to get to know.....

Special Reserve Glen Ord 30 Years Old

A successful and intriguing balance between fragrance a.....

Aberlour 15 Years Old, Old Double Cask

A well balanced dram. Would have got more nerve with a .....

Ballantine's 17 Years Old

Quite a rustic profile, warmed up when aerated. Seems t.....

Berry's Own Selection Glencadam 13 Years Old

A pleasant freshener. Delivers a lot. To be enjoyed on .....

Dewar Rattray Balblair 1990 15 Years Old

The nose is more attractive than the palate, rather res.....

Dewar Rattray Craigellachie 15 Years Old

On top of a maturation in poor wood, seems to have unde.....

Dewar Rattray Bowmore 1990, 15 Years Old

Straightforward and uncompromising. Very good balance. .....

Dewar Rattray Caol Ila 15 Years Old

An enticing young beauty. Matches subtlety with charact.....

Dewar Rattray Glen Grant 1985 19 Years Old

A definite sharpness which hides a sweeter character. W.....

Glenfarclas 15 Years Old

Classic sherry. well balanced. A perfect companion for .....

Glenfarclas 17 Years Old

A bunch of interesting flavours displayed in an elegant.....

Glengoyne 17 Years Old

Quite a complex character for its age. The palate is we.....

Glengoyne 19 Years Old

A nice fresh feel. But alcohol is not tamed. Water cool.....

The Glenlivet 15 Years Old

A very pleasant summery dram. Quite fragile though. Wat.....

Highland Park 15 Years Old

Oak is present all the way. A bit dull. Lacks vividness.....

Longmorn 15 Years Old

That frisky Speysider judiciously bottled at 45% has a .....

Duncan Taylor Glen Garioch 1988

Has the X factor......

Famous Grouse Scottish Oak

Seamlessly put together. Best drunk neat......

Smokehead

Not subtle, but is it meant to be? Just needs a little .....

Old Course Hotel 12 Years Old Speyside Malt

The sweetness fails to mask a whisky that hasn’t mature.....

Sullivans Cove French Oak Cask

Here’s oak being used as a Romulan cloaking device to h.....

Wemyss Vintage Malts Dried Fruit Basket

That raw sulphury edge suggests an immature whisky or o.....

Cadenhead's Classic Range, Campbeltown

Seems simple at first, but gradually reveals subtleties.....

Contents

p5

A stupid move

Plans to ban drinking from a glass in pubs and clubs in Scotland are wrong,says Dominic Roskrow

Once upon a time the drinks trade went through a quiet stage just after Christmas until Spring, and again for a month during summer. No more. Such is the success of whisky at the moment that it’s not...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section From the Editor

p11

In the footsteps of Twain

An invite to speak at a prestigious club sends Michael Jackson in search of a literary giant

Did the letter really say: “Our club’s past speakers have included Mark Twain.” Yes it did. Would I now accept their invitation to speak? I can imagine no request less resistible. Before I had reache...

By Michael Jackson in the section Musings with Michael Jackson

p12

Education is the key

Dave Broom on why whisky needs to broaden out

Verviers Live consisted of an extraordinary journey through malt whisky’s upper reaches: a 1966 Bowmore which sat delicately on the tongue and slowly expanded across the palate; a 1959 Highland Park t...

By Dave Broom in the section A dram with Dave Broom

p14

And over in the Blue corner...

Piers Morgan is one of Britain’s leading media personalities and he’s promoting whisky. Dominic Roskrow met him

On the day I am to meet Piers Morgan, a row has erupted in the press between pop impressario Louie Walsh and singer Ronan Keating. Keating has apparently criticised Walsh in an interview. And Walsh’s...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Spotlight

p16

View from the other side of the bar

In this issue we asked three people who stand against snobbery in whisky how they view the industry

The Participants: John Clotworthy (JC) Drumchork Lodge, Aultbea, Scotland Mike Hayward (MH) Nurse, malt collector and Whisky Magazine reader Dave Robertson (DR) John,Mark and Ro...

By in the section Whisky debate

p18

Miles of Isles

What better way to visit the distilleries on Islay and Jura than on foot? Dominic Roskrow and a Whisky Magazine team have done just that

If you’ve ever followed the coast tour of Port Ellen on Islay and visited the distilleries of Laphroaig, Lagavulin and Ardbeg you’ll know what a special experience it is. If you do it on foot after t...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Islay

p22

Where next for peat?

Peaty whisky has been enjoying a long spell in the limelight.But are there new territories to explore? Ian Wisniewski reports

Being called names doesn’t bother me, and I’m sure the rest of the gang are fine about it too. After all, ‘peat freak’ or ‘peat head’ only indicates a passion for peated malts, and there’s nothing der...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky production

p25

Not quite a case of teenage kicks

Fountains of Wayne are not your archetypal whiskey band. And, says Lew Guthrie III, they’re all the better for it

If you’ve been reading this music page for the last three issues or so you’ve probably spotted a trend. Lots of songs about sad lonely guys sitting in depressing bars crying in to their whiskey, remin...

By Lew Guthrie III in the section Whisky and Music

p26

A balance of tradition and efficiency (Speyburn)

Deanston Distillery is something of a hidden gem. Ian Buxton visited it

“We need to work smarter,not harder” That’s the view of Graham MacWilliam, Inver House’s Distilleries general manager, and you can’t argue with that. After all, in Speyburn Inver House has taken a ...

By Ian Buxton in the section Distillery focus

p30

Scotch on the rocks

Hard rock and whisk(e)y have been bedfellows for 40 years.Dominic Roskrow lets his hair down

It’s become the iconic rock star image: hair long and flowing, leather trousers or jeans, shirt open to reveal muscular torso and chest hair, jewellery, sunglasses. And there, in the right hand, a hal...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky and Music

p34

Kentucky swoon

In the latest in our series,Rob Allanson looks to bourbon country

From the hills and hollows of eastern Kentucky through the rolling bluegrass of its heartland to the massive lakes and flatlands of the west, Kentucky has much to offer, although for the bourbon afici...

By Rob Allanson in the section Visitor Guides

p38

Rail splitter,emancipator, whiskey seller

Charles Cowdery looks at how Abraham Lincoln’s time in the whiskey trade could have cost him his political career

Bill Clinton’s carefully constructed confession that he tried marijuana while a post-graduate student in England, but “didn’t inhale,” dogged him throughout his presidency. So has George W. Bush’s you...

By Charles K. Cowdery in the section American Whiskey

p42

Shop to find a drop

The Whisky Shop is bringing whisky to a new market by mixing High Street marketing techniques with outstanding whisky. Dominic Roskrow spoke to Ian Bankier

It’s a wet day out of season in the English tourist city of York. There are few people out and about but at The Whisky Shop, nestling in the city centre next to the Jorvic Centre, there is a steady st...

By Dominic Roskrow in the section Whisky Spotlight

p44

Taste first, taste second and taste last

No whisky company has taken the field of malt whisky and food matching more seriously than Diageo. Richard Jones uncovers the company’s latest ideas and thinking.

The document is 119 pages long. It is A4 portrait in size and produced in glorious Technicolour. The chapters include: ‘Around The World With Malts, Some Winning Combinations with Regional Foods’; ‘T...

By Richard Jones in the section Whisky and Food

p47

Noir is the new black

Jefferson Chase delves in to some under the radar reading material

More often than it should, the best writing is that which flies under the radar screens of self-appointed literary experts. Case in point: paperback-original ‘noir fiction’ in the United States. Reiss...

By Jefferson Chase in the section Whisky Literature

p48

Fully committed

How do you guarantee customers will love your whisky? Get them to do the selection for you,
that’s how.Richard Jones joins the Earl Grey Whisky Committee in Leek, Staffordshire, for a night
of conversation, whisky and dubious decor.

Committees don’t enjoy the best of reputations. In little more than 30 seconds on the internet I managed to come up with following musings on the subject: “Committee - a group of men who individually ...

By Richard Jones in the section Whisky Spotlight

p50

Easy! It’s a drink of two halves

Ian Wisniewski looks at the Rusty Nail

Various cocktails exert their own particular appeal, with the Cosmopolitan offering supreme fashionability, while the Dry Martini epitomises an ultimate sophistication. But actually having to prepare...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky cocktails

p54

Ask the expert

John Rose answers another selection of readers’ letters

Q. Could you give me some more information about the regulation of Scotch whisky? Is there an obligatory minimum period of ageing whisky? What is the difference between single malt and blended whisky?...

By John Rose in the section Whisky Questions

p55

Oasis in an ice desert

Joe Bates with the latest from travel retail

Store focus: Iceland For some mysterious reason the nearer a country is to the Arctic Circle, the higher its taxes on spirits. Prices in Iceland, for instance, are some of the highest in Europe. Un...

By Joe Bates in the section Travel retail

p56

With the angels

Ian Wisniewski looks at evaporation and how it varies

Losing around two per cent of a cask’s contents through evaporation can seem a depressing annual statistic for distillers (and even more so for accountants). But this type of regret is a pointless emo...

By Ian Wisniewski in the section Whisky production

p59

It’s the whisky stalking

Aberko is a small independent bottler, Ian Buxton investigates...

The life of the independent bottler seems all but ideal: stroll round a few of the more interesting distilleries tasting their whiskies, select a particularly fine cask, develop your own distinctive p...

By Ian Buxton in the section Whisky Spotlight

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