Category: Scotch

Signatory Vintage, Ardmore 2009, Vine & Table selection

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Bottler: Signatory, Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland, UK

Region: Highlands

Style: Peated single malt whisky.

Age: 8 y/o

Notes: Distilled: 10/22/09, bottled: 7/17/18, bourbon barrel cask, cask #706320, bottle 117/247.

ABV: 59.2% (cask strength).

Price: $94 (Vine and Table exclusive)

Appearance: Light straw.

Nose: Smoky peat, alcohol, sweet malt. With water: Still potent. Tobacco smoke, baked pie crust.

Palate: Full-bodied. Butterscotch, ash, burn. With water: sweeter and creamier. Vanilla icing, smoky dark chocolate.

Finish: Peaty and dry. With water: tamer, but still peaty.

Parting words: I bought this Scotch last year when I was in Indianapolis visiting family. I was looking for a sweet, creamy single malt to sit alongside a smoky one I had open already. This 8 y/o Ardmore was not that, but that’s been more than ok!

I wouldn’t call this Ardmore balanced, but it does have more going on than just peat smoke. There’s a creamy, desserty background to it that comes out with a healthy splash of water.

If I had paid $60 or $70 for this, I would be happy and it would earn a full recommendation. For $94, I expect more, though. More age, more complexity, something more than this.

Signatory Vintage, Ardmore 2009, Vine & Table selection is mildly recommended.

Great King Street Glasgow Blend

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Maker: Compass Box, Edinburgh, Scotland, UK.

Distillers: Undisclosed.

Style: Blended Scotch whisky.

Age: NAS

ABV: 43%

Michigan state minimum: $40.

Appearance: Medium amber (natural color)

Nose: Peat, malt, sherry, rubber.

Palate: Full-bodied and moderately sweet. Toffee, dark chocolate, burn

Finish: Sooty but sweet.

Parting words: Compass Box, known for its blended malts, got into the blended whisky business back in 2011 with their Great King Street Artist’s Blend, named for the Edinburgh street on which their headquarters is located.

What’s the difference between a blended malt and a plain old blended Scotch, you may ask? Well, a blended malt (formerly known as a vatted or pure malt) is a blend of various single malt whiskies. A blended Scotch is single malt blended with grain whisky. Grain whisky is whisky that is made with grains that are not malted barley. It’s usually distilled in a column still (single malts are made in pot still) to a higher ABV than single malts, for less flavor. It’s made to be blended, although it can occasionally be found bottled on its own by independent bottlers. Compass Box actually bottles a grain whisky under the name Hedonism. My review of it is here.

Anyway, Great King Street Glasgow Blend was released in 2014, as a smokier counterpart to Artist’s Blend. It succeeds in that effort. In fact, it was even smokier and peatier than I thought it would be. The result is a blend that is a good, lower cost alternative to smoky Islay Single Malts, for people who enjoy that style. Great King Street Glasgow Blend is recommended.

Signatory Vintage Glenlossie 2009, Un-Chillfiltered Collection. Vine & Table selection.

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Bottler: Signatory, Pitlochry, Perthshire, Scotland, UK (Symington)

Distiller: Glenlossie, Elgin, Moray, Scotland, UK (Diageo)

Region: Speyside.

Style: Single Cask, cask strength, unpeated, single malt Scotch whisky.

Cask: 3376

Age: 11 y/o (distilled April 2009, bottled July 2020).

ABV: 53.2%

Purchased for $100.

Appearance: Medium pale straw.

Nose: Dusty oak, apricot, orange cream hard candy.

Palate: Medium full body. Creamy with mandarin orange, then big burn. Milder with water, but still creamy and fruity.

Finish: Malty and fresh with a little stone fruit.

Parting words: Glenlossie is one of the few twin distilleries left in Scotland. Its sibling is Mannochmore, which flies even farther under the Radar than ‘Lossie does. Both are owned by Diageo and are used more for blending than bottling as single malts, though the occasional independent bottling, like this one, does crop up from time to time.

I’m very glad this one did crop up. I wouldn’t characterize it as complex, but what it does, it does very well. Even at eleven years old, this is an elegant example of unpeated Speyside malt. Once the high ABV is tamed, there’s no rough edges to be found anywhere. Just highly polished sweet malt and fruit.

$100 is above my usual price range, but I don’t regret the purchase at all. When one factors in the cask strength, and skill that went into selecting this whisky, $100 is a fair price. Not a bargain, mind you, but fair. I’m really glad I picked this bottle up. Signatory Vintage Glenlossie 2009, Un-Chillfiltered Collection. (Vine & Table selection) is recommended.

Kirkland Signature Islay Single Maly Scotch Whisky

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Source: Alexander Murray & Co, Calabasas, California, USA.

Distillery: Undisclosed (Bruichladdich?)

Region: Islay.

Age: NAS

ABV: 50%

Michigan state minimum: $57

Appearance: Light gold.

Nose: Smoldering peat. Smells like a smoky custard with water.

Palate: Full and silky. Smoke, dark chocolate covered cherries, caramel. Water brings out buttery toffee.

Finish: Cigarette smoke up the nose, ash, peat, lip tingles. Very buttery with water.

Parting words: Alexander Murray & Co is an US based independent bottler that provides store branded spirits for Costco, Trader Joe’s, Total Wine, and other US retailers. I’ve really enjoyed many of their Kirkland Signature (Costco) bottlings, especially the blended Scotch and Irish Whiskey.

The Islay Single Malt is relatively new, at least at my local store. The online scuttlebutt is that it’s from Bruichladdie, but there’s been no confirmation of that. Having tasted this bottle next to a Port Charlotte bottling, there is definitely a family resemblance, but the PC is a little more rounded and sweet.

The biggest difference between Kirkland Signature Islay and whiskies put out under the Bruichladdich and Port Charlotte labels is the price. $57 is a very nice price for a Single Malt of this quality. If you’re looking for a smoky malt to put into your Burns’ Night lineup, this is an excellent choice. Kirkland Signature Islay Single Malt Scotch Whisky is recommended.

Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2012

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Maker: Bruichladdich, Islay, Argyll, Scotland, UK (Rémy Cointreau)

Region: Islay

Style: Peated Single Malt

Age: 6 y/o

ABV: 50%

Note: Made with barley grown on Islay.

Michigan state minimum: $65

Appearance: Pale straw.

Nose: Hardwood ash, peat, dark chocolate, toasted oak, vanilla.

Palate: Full bodied. Smoky dark chocolate, burn.

Finish: Cigarettes, chocolate pudding.

Parting words: Port Charlotte is Bruichladdich’s heavily peated range of single malts, not to be confused with their Octomore range of super-heavily peated malt. This is the first Port Charlotte I’ve purchased and I enjoyed it more than I expected.

I like young, fiery, Islay malts, but I was skeptical that 6 y/o was going to be too young. It’s not. Port Charlotte 2012 is wise beyond its years. It somehow tasted more mature than some bottles of Laphroaig 10 I’ve purchased. There’s a lot of chocolate and smoke and it pairs very well with the former.

I’d have to do some kind of side-by-side tasting to determine if using local barley makes a difference in the finished product, and I’m generally skeptical of the impact of terroir, especially in spirits. Whether it makes a difference in the glass or not, it’s a very cool thing to use local grain for a product like this. More distilleries should do this.

$65 is a good price for a quality, vintage dated, high ABV single malt like this. Port Charlotte Islay Barley 2012 is recommended.

Glen Scotia 15

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Maker: Glen Scotia, Campbeltown, Argyll, Scotland, UK (Loch Lomond Group).

Style: Single malt Scotch whisky.

Region: Campbeltown

Cooperage: Ex-bourbon casks.

Age: 15 y/o

ABV: 46%

Michigan state minimum: $70

Appearance: Light copper.

Nose: Sweet malt, dried flowers, lemon custard, butterscotch.

Palate: Medium bodied and light. Crème brûlée, Meyer lemon, butter toffee, seaspray.

Finish: Vanilla, light oak, burn.

Parting words: For years, Glen Scotia was the “other” Campbeltown distillery. Springbank was (and remains to be honest) the better known distillery in town. Even when Glengyle returned to the land of the living, it was still the other. In 2015 Scotia’s owners decided to try to do something about this. They remade their product line and expanded distribution. This 15 y/o iteration was one of the products of that rebooting (as was the Double Oak). It’s not too far out of the ordinary for a middle aged single malt aged in bourbon barrels, but it is a very good example of one. Its 46% ABV gives it a nice punch as well.

Glen Scotia may never entirely escape from Springbank’s shadow but this is a solid malt, one I’d buy again without hesitastion. Glen Scotia 15 is recommended.

Aberfeldy 12 y/o

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Maker: Aberfeldy, Aberfeldy, Perth & Kinross, Scotland, UK (Dewars/Bacardi)

Region: Highlands, Central.

Age: 12 y/o

ABV: 40%

Michigan state minimum: $40

Appearance: Medium copper.

Nose: Sweet malt, old oak, apricot.

Palate: Full-bodied, lightly sweet. Butterscotch, peach, apricot, lemon meringue pie.

Finish: Medium hot. Creme brulee, oak, burn.

Parting words: Aberfeldy is Dewar’s flagship distillery, and as one might expect, Aberfeldy is one of the backbone malts of Dewar’s blend. It’s full-bodied and fruity, but it relies on malt for sweetness rather than strong sherry, as befits a Highland (as opposed to Speyside) malts.

Aberfeldy 12 is easy drinking and affordable but not boring. It has a spicy edge that makes it more fun to sip than many other big corporate malts which sacrifice flavor for accessibility. You know which ones I’m talking about. Aberfeldy 12 is recommended.