Auchroisk Old Malt Cask K&L Excl., 24yo (1994/2019)

Rating28.3/40
OriginScotland, Central Speyside
DistilleryAuchroisk
OwnerDiageo
DistilledFebruary 1994
BottlerDouglas Laing
SeriesOld Malt Cask
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt
CaskRefill Hogshead HL15186
BottledJune 2019
Bottles239
Strength54.5% (106.8 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

Auchroisk is not exactly a well known distillery with a significant presence on store shelves. And so it’s always a pleasure and interesting to find some expression, especially an older one like this. Let’s see how it stacks up!

Nose: Purple flowers. Why purple? I don’t know. But it does smell like purple flowers. Not lavender though. Some other purple flower. It’s not easy getting past that floweriness and diving deeper into the nose because it’s quite snappy like a tense cat. Approach at an angle it doesn’t like and you get bit. Quite pretty but flowery noses aren’t generally my thing. (6.7/10)

Palate: The flowery notes don’t go away but they cease to be flowery. Probably because someone has set the bouquet on fire and then tried (and failed) to put it out with honey water. (7.3/10)

Finish: A quite wonderful heat spreads down the back of the throat toeing but not crossing the line to discomfort. The flavors however do not keep up with the heat leaving little but prickly sparkles of mild bitterness along the roof of the mouth. (7.1/10)

Balance:  I think some folks would like this a lot more than I do but it’s just not well aligned with my preferences. For me it’s a decent dram that doesn’t quite manage to deliver on its innate potential. (7.2/10)

Glen Garioch Old Particular K&L Excl., 8yo (2010/2018)

Rating30.4/40
OriginScotland, Eastern Highlands
DistilleryGlen Garioch
OwnerBeam Suntory via Morrison Bowmore Distillers
DistilledJanuary 2010
BottlerDouglas Laing & Co
SeriesOld Particular
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt
PeatedNo
CaskRefill Hogshead DL12556
BottledAugust 24th, 2018
Bottles290
Strength59.5% (119 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

A powerful rough little gem from the purportedly oldest legal producer of whisky in Scotland dating back to 1797. This youngster may be a bit off balance here and there but it certainly provides for a very interesting and enjoyable experience.

Nose: Bleu cheese? Just for a moment anyway. Though a certain sour note does hang around, as the nose shifts towards notes almost reminiscent of a cask aged vegetable pasta sauce that’s too light on tomato. It’s a bit… weird. But I don’t dislike it. Later on there are some hints of very dry wood and then something else that’s reminiscent of wine or at least white wine vinegar. (7.3/10)

Palate: Well, whatever happened to that pasta sauce, it did not make it through to the palate. Instead there is vinyl flooring and rubber coats, clean sheets of fresh paper and a generous sprinkling of coarsely ground pepper that’s been sitting out in the open for a couple of days. It’s geometrically quite flat and really, stubbornly clings to the tongue instead of relaxing and opening up. (7.5/10)

Finish: A bit of deliberate chewing and swishing of this stuff does finally open and spread its flavors far and wide, just as the liquid goes down. My entire mouth is radiating with those notes, including some dry apple that is so desiccated that it’s almost turned bitter and dusty. After a minute the flavors start fading only to be replaced by a lightsaber shaped column of heat down the center of my chest. (8.0/10)

Balance: A bit off center perhaps but there’s enough very interesting stuff going on to make this a very entertaining dram moving from sip to sip. (7.6/10)

Auchroisk Hepburn’s Choice K&L Excl., 21yo (1996/2018)

Rating32.8/40
OriginScotland, Central Speyside
DistilleryAuchroisk
OwnerDiageo
Distilled1996
BottlerHunter Laing & Co.
SeriesHepburn’s Choice
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt
CaskRefill Hogshead
Bottled2018
Bottles283
Strength52.6% (105.2 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchant

This cask strength Speysider came out of a refill hogshead hotheaded and with a temper even after 21 years of ageing. Auchroisk doesn’t do a lot of official releases and most of it seems to go straight into J&B so it’s usually only available in this form of an independent bottling. I find them to generally be on the brighter and sharper side but, of course, it’s hard to tell if that’s the real distiller profile with such limited exposure.

Nose: Hothothot! Ok, phew, that was just the first hit fresh out of the glass. Now I can actually smell something… lemon batter mixed with straw? Hard to get much out of this… after that initial violent burst of alcohol it settles into a somewhat restrained state. (7.8/10)

Palate: A small, fiery, angry black hole centered on the middle of my tongue seems to draw everything around it inwards while refusing to give anything up. There’s a compact, spatially contained fierceness to it. Then some bright flavors. But everything seems to want to stay low following a flat profile across my tongue. I would have expected this one to expand upwards but it’s simply not wanting to do anything like that until much later. Some chewing and swishing finally unleashes this beasty and releases it to freedom. It still doesn’t want to expand upwards but rather drives a heated cloud of flavor straight into the back of my throat.  I can’t pinpoint the notes but it’s good and still vaguely related to the batter from the nose. Perhaps we’re baking the lemon-straw tart now? (8.6/10)

Finish: A few sips in I become aware of a burgeoning heat in the back of my throat that later fills up with flavor as well. The heat manages to push and plow its way down behind my sternum until it reaches almost all the way to my solar plexus. (8.2/10)

Balance: There’s a bit of a struggle involved in coaxing this one out of its fiery, angry shell. But it’s worth it. If only the nose gave up a little more of the treasures and secrets hidden deep inside its tense and fiery little heart. (8.2/10)

Springbank K&L Excl. Sovereign, 22yo, 1995/2018

Rating37.5/40
OriginScotland, Campbeltown
DistillerySpringbank
OwnerMitchell Family
DistilledDecember 1995
BottlerHunter Laing & Company
SeriesThe Sovereign
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt Whisky
CaskRefill Hogshead HL15295
BottledMay 2018
Bottles108
Strength52.5% (105 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

I have not acquired this one for myself but thanks to a generous friend (thanks IFLS!) I’ve been lucky enough to get to try this amazing whisky. There was a reason I had not purchased it myself. It’s just not what I usually go for. And, while being right about that evaluation, I was also utterly wrong about not getting any of it. File this one under R for regret. What a stunning expression of Springbank!

Nose: Linen sheets, still warm, fresh out of the dryer after having been washed with meadow flower scented detergent. The pages of old, heavily used books that haven’t pulled out of a tightly packed shelf in a long time. Lemon zest arches far above a slow river of mild honey. My only complaint is that I desperately want to turn up the volume. (8.5/10)

Palate: Can you extract liquid from the pages of an old book? It’s very dry, almost dusty, but underneath all of it there is that quiet slow river of honey again, which at the end, subsumes all the other stuff, except the bright flurry of dust above it all, sparkling in the light of a reading lamp. This is not at all in my general ballpark. But, holy crap, it is amazing! A whisky to stay with, pay attention to, sink into like when one is getting lost in the stories found inside an old, well-read book. (9.5/10)

Finish: At first, after coming back up from the mysterious depths of this book, there is just this coating of honey, left behind by that river. My tongue is rough from all the dry, ancient paper. There is gentle yet deep and rich, dusty smoke permeating my throat and chest. And then, for a time, the lemon zest shows up again, albeit in a rehydrated form of blended lemon zest and juice. Just wonderful. After a long time a single fruit emerges under the roof of my palate and it is… a plum! (10/10)

Balance: This is… so unexpected. None of this is what I typically look for. It is not loud but it is powerful.  Best enjoyed alone. Let this envelope you and permeate you undisturbed and in silence. I suspect one might miss most or all it has to offer if surrounded by a crowd. Wow. (9.5 /10)

Ardbeg K&L Excl. Chieftain’s, 15yo, 2004/2019

Rating35.1/40
OriginScotland, Islay, South Shore
DistilleryArdbeg
OwnerLVMH Moët Hennessy – Louis Vuitton SE via Glenmorangie
DistilledMarch 2004
BottlerIan Macleod Distillers
SeriesChieftain’s
StyleSingle Malt
PeatedYes
CaskEx-Bourbon Barrel 700177
BottledAugust 2019
Bottles162
Strength58.8% (117.6 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants
WhiskybaseWhiskybase

The mere 162 bottles of Ardbeg yielded by this particular ex-Bourbon cask turned out to be a very unique expression of a fuzzed out, warm blanket of peaty comfort. Come on in from the biting cold, kick back and relax. A forceful Islay take on what the Germans refer to as Gemütlichkeit. Almost as much of a meal as it is a drink.

Nose: Wait, is my backyard burning down? No. It’s probably just this nose right here. Meaty chunks of sweet peat drizzled with Bordelaise sauce, roasting in a cast iron frying pan over an open fire. Just what the doctor ordered after getting a vigorous back rub with heavily charred wood blocks wrapped in plum skins. I should really check on the backyard though. But that would mean getting up and walking away from this whisky. And that’s just crazy-talk. Over time the nose diminishes just a little. Or maybe it’s simply numbing my sensory apparatus.(8.6/10)

Palate: Prickly chocolate-peat cactus. Spikey bursts of peat bob around in a sea of chocolate milk. The chocolate milk has a thick, almost oily and rather coarse texture to it and leaves a similar coating on my tongue. Clearly whole, perhaps even raw milk was used, and the chocolate wasn’t ground too finely. You can almost eat this with a fork. Later bursts of smoke rise up, nearly a little bitter, as if the whisky has smoldered its way through all of it’s wood and peat resources.(8.9/10)

Finish: A vigorous burn develops on the sides of my tongue and the very back of my throat. Chocolate smoke rises from the depths and fills my head like a balloon. Breathing out is fun with this one. Everything alights and all the embers bloom. I wish it showed more presence deep in my chest but that’s really the only complaint I have. (8.8/10)

Balance: This is quite something. Beautiful. It has a much broader, deeper, warmer and fuzzier structure of peat than I’d usually associate with Ardbeg. I tend to perceive Ardbeg peat as a powerful, sharp blade slicing through my skull like a masterfully crafted Katana. This, however, is big, satisfying and comforting. I love it. A lot. (8.8/10)

Aberlour, Old Particular K&L Exclusive, 25yo 1995/2020

Rating34.7/40
OriginScotland, Central Speyside
DistilleryAberlour
OwnerPernod Ricard via Chivas Brothers
DistilledMay 1995
BottlerDouglas Laing & Co.
SeriesOld Particular
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt
CaskRefill Hogshead DL14246
BottledAugust 2020
Bottles211
Strength58.4% (116.8 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

Independent bottlings of Aberlour single malts are less common than those of other distilleries. Even more atypical is the absence of any sherry aging or finishing. As such this particular release represents a wonderful opportunity to experience the true heart of Aberlour’s spirit, laid bare, undecorated and without the fanfare of, say, an explosive A’Bunadh. Not that those aren’t great. Don’t get me wrong.

Nose: A mild spring breeze, carrying the scent of high quality hard orange candy, wafts along a linen sheet, just out of the wash and still minty fresh, hung out to dry on a pale bleached wooden rack in the early sun. A light breeze is all there is though. It never grows bigger or bolder than that even if one covers the glass. The only noticeable change is that, over time, the minty notes gradually morph into citrus ones, mostly fresh cut lemons. (7.5/10)

Palate: Oh, wow… damn… what??? The nose did *not* give that away. Like at all. Kaboom! This took the mild sunlit spring breeze of the nose and turned it into a glorious spectacle of a psychedelic spring storm, as if you’re experiencing all the same things while on mushrooms. Rich, flavorful, assertive, it overwhelms your unsuspecting senses. The orange candy is still there. So is the citric acid. So is the bright light. But all of it has been dialed up to 11 without losing any of its internal balance. Amazing… (9.5/10)

Finish: After that cosmic cataclysm of a palate the finish requires conscious effort just to remember there is one and to register its presence with your senses. On any other whisky it would be a grand finish but here it can barely make itself heard over the ringing echoes of the palate in my mind. Not as much warmth spreading through the chest as one might expect from a whisky of this strength. Most of the whisky’s heat seems to want to form a glow at the  top and back of the throat. The orange candy theme steadily continues and ultimately settles into a lasting, pleasant coating. (8.5/10)

Balance: What a palate! But make sure to sit and focus on the finish as well. It takes time to assert itself but inevitably it will. And it’s worth the wait. This is good. Very good. Which is a good thing because this bottle ain’t exactly cheap. (9.2/10)

Dailuaine, Old Particular K&L Exclusive, 12yo, 2007/2019

Rating33.5/40
OriginScotland, Central Speyside
DistilleryDailuaine
OwnerDiageo
DistilledMarch 2007
BottlerDouglas Laing & Co.
SeriesOld Particular
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt
CaskSherry Butt DL13293
BottledAugust 19th, 2019
Bottles573
Strength57.6% (115.2 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

A delicious single sherry butt cask strength bottling of a single malt from one of Speyside less known distilleries, Dailuaine, which mostly produces component whiskies for Diageo’s portfolio of blends and rarely gets bottled as single malt, comes to us courtesy of Douglas Laing.

Nose: A friendly neighborhood flower shop that stocks nothing but pretty meadow flowers on the main floor. Though I get a sense that they’re keeping a few buckets of roses stashed away in a backroom somewhere. And I’m fairly certain the owner had grilled Branzino for lunch. Much later there are passing whiffs of freshly watered grass in the sun. (8.5/10)

Palate: A hot wave spills through my mouth and finally breaks, foaming with bright and tangy notes more reminiscent of top shelf oranges than flowers. Quite lovely. (8.5/10)

Finish: Echoes of orange juice and bitter herbs are hovering high above a growing and comforting heat right behind my sternum. Ultimtely the warmth doesn’t last all that long but it’s wonderful while it lasts. (8/10)

Balance: Very pretty but not as timid as one would expect. A mellow, pleasant late spring and early summer filled with plenty of joyful times. Very nice. (8.5/10)

Longmorn, Old Malt Cask K&L Exclusive, 14yo, 2003/2018

Rating34.5/40
OriginScotland, Speyside, Lossie
DistilleryLongmorn
OwnerPernod Ricard via Chivas Brothers
DistilledNovember 2003
BottlerDouglas Laing & Co.
SeriesOld Malt Cask
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt
CaskRefill Barrel HL15146
BottledJune 2018
Bottles243
Strength54.9% (109.8 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

A K&L exclusive single barrel cask strength bottling of a delicious single malt distilled at one of the lesser known hidden treasures among the numerous Speyside distilleries.

Nose: Every so often I encounter a whisky where I have an absurdly hard time identifying specific notes. There’s stuff. And also a few things. Mostly stuff though. Both are good. Hah! Finally! A faint note I can put a name on that seems to permeate both the stuff and also the things. It’s cola. Oh and then some old furniture that was rubbed with cola. Anyway, it’s somewhat static but I like it. A drop of water flattens the nose beyond recovery. (8/10)

Palate: Ah, much more going on here. A big bold hit, at first spatially contained but continuously inflated with each subsequent sip. I still can’t really name specific notes here. Very, very nice though. Oddly enough a drop of water converts this from water of life to oil slick of life. I like that. Too bad adding water ruins the nose. (8.5/10)

Finish: Deep and warm. I just love a whisky that fills my chest cavity with flavor and heat. Apparently I have olfactory receptors buried in my lungs. I still can’t name notes though. Maybe my brain has finally short-circuited. Luckily I’m still capable of immensely enjoying this. Water dials back the warmth which makes me sad. (9/10)

Balance: Somehow this whisky defeated my ability to name flavors. But it is great. Seriously. I really liked the palate with water but the cost in terms of losing the nose and the warmth of the finish is just too high as far as I’m concerned. Don’t put water into this. Unless you want to know sadness and regret. (9/10)

Bowmore Old Malt Cask K&L Excl., 21yo, 1996/2018

Rating33.5/40
OriginScotland, Islay, Loch Indaal
DistilleryBowmore
OwnerSuntory Holdings via Beam Suntory via Morrison Bowmore Distillers
DistilledDecember 1996
BottlerDouglas Laing & Co.
SeriesOld Malt Cask
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt Whisky
PeatedYes
CaskRefill Hogshead #HL15197
BottledJune 2018
Bottles120
Strength52.8% (105.6 Proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants

This bottle came and went quickly at K&L and I had missed my opportunity. Luckily a great friend brought his personal bottle to one of our gatherings and let us try this absolutely wonderful Bowmore. Thanks so much, Andrew! This one made me think deep thoughts.

Nose: A freshly showered mildly bite-y fish, perhaps a low-odor salmon that is resting on a bed of steamed parsley root and other sweet root vegetables. The fish in questions likely swam past Bowmore distillery last year, probably a sightseeing detour through Loch Indaal on the way to the spawning grounds, because there is only the very faintest echoes from far, far away and barely perceptible of that old lavender perfume so typical of the distillery. (7.5/10)

Palate: A sanded unfinished wooden board upon which the fish is going to be served, in anticipation of that happening to it. Perhaps some smoke is rolling in through the windows from one of the other Islay distilleries… it’s hard to tell for sure. Some thin high quality chocolate splinters around the edges. The realization of all the things the wooden board has seen. It has a functional and utilitarian perspective on life. It just does what it does. And I like it. Old school palate. Unapologetic. No frills. (8.5/10)

Finish: Layers in quietly. This wooden board has an unassuming manner that only initially succeeds in hiding its real power and solid structure. I like hanging out with this wooden board. Sitting next to each other on deck chairs, quietly watching the waves roll in under a darkening sky. I want this wooden board to be my friend. I think it likes me. I’m happy. (9/10)

Balance: This just keeps getting better and better and better as it goes though there is a price to pay because eventually the lavender does being to appear on the nose. Not as annoying as usual luckily. The rest is glorious. But not obvious. Who knew stoic, sanded, unfinished wooden boards could be such good friends and companions. (8.5/10)

Bunnahabhain K&L Excl. SVUC “Staoisha” Heavily Peated, 4yo, 2014/2019

Rating31/40
OriginScotland, Islay, North Shore
DistilleryBunnahabhain
OwnerDistell Group
DistilledOctober 23rd, 2014
BottlerSignatory Vintage
SeriesUn-Chillfiltered Collection
StyleSingle Barrel Single Malt Whisky
Peatedyes
CaskDechar/rechar Hogshead #10723
BottledJun 10th, 2019
Bottles284
Strength60.6% (121.2 proof)
RetailerK&L Wine Merchants
Price$70

Nose: The peat appears in the form of compressed chocolate harvested from ancient bogs. The best such chocolate is often apparently somewhat fuzzy. (8/10)

Palate: The fuzzy chocolate from the nose melts into some mild Oolong tea served alongside it. Also, the table legs appear to be on fire. (7/10)

Finish: Heat stings the flanks of my tongue. These peripheral sensations meet up like the arms of a rather strangely shaped tuning fork back down in my esophagus. A hamster appears to have stored chocolate pudding in my cheeks. For the winter one assumes. (8/10)

Balance: A bit bumpy as a ride perhaps, which is not at all surprising for a 4 year old. Nevertheless absolutely enjoyable and well in line with Bunna’s recent push into bolder and peatier territory. (8/10)