The Whisky Duke

Springbank Distillery.
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Today is peat day! 😎

The Big Peat series is nothing special in my opinion, but who likes to give himself the peat pack for little money, always a welcome whisky.
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Even though I am happy that the Port Ellen Distillery will soon be reopened, it is unfortunately safe to assume that Diageo will sell the new whisky as a sinfully expensive super premium whisky due to the legendary brand name ... not for the faint hearted.
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According to rumours at the end of 2022, the Port Ellen Maltings, which can also be seen in the photo, will only supply third party distilleries to a very limited extent from 2023 and possibly not at all from 2024 due to the Diageo distilleries' own high demand. Does anyone know whether this has been implemented?
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When I drive through Scotland, it's often a stop-and-go trip, because every hundred meters I see another photo motif. Like this tree and the Paps of Jura in the background. There I was just on the way to the Caol Ila Distillery on Islay.
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CalMac Ferries are as much a part of a Scottish vacation as whisky. Every trip is always an experience. Here a ferry shortly before its arrival in Oban.
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Waterford Ballybannon Edition 1.1 (50.0% ABV, Barley peated at 47 ppm).
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Another whisky from my favourite Irish distillery. Mark Reynier has not disappointed so far.
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Nose: very fat mix of peat bomb (not necessarily smoke!) and fruit - salty peat mixed with wet earth, served with almond biscuits with apple and a dash of lemon. The whole thing comes across as very oily and heavy on the nose. Great!
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Taste: but now comes the very strong peat smoke, plus we have the apple pie again, roasted almonds with malty-spicy notes. But here, in contrast to the nose, you can still feel the young age.
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Conclusion: Astonishingly mature and balanced for a 4-year-old whisky, a lot of love, knowledge and work has gone into it. Another hit, Mr Reynier (89 out of 100 points).
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What is your favourite Irish distillery?
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Malting floor of Laphroaig distillery.
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Malting barley is a labor-intensive process with many challenges. One major obstacle is capacity, as distilleries often produce more whisky than their original sites were designed for. This requires maintaining large malt stores and increasing staffing and space accordingly. Cost and quality are also important factors, as the quality of the malted barley can vary based on climate conditions. Floor malted barley, while traditional, can result in lower spirit yield compared to commercial maltsters, resulting in significant cost differences of 5-8 liters per ton.
And so only a few Scottish distilleries malt their barley on their own malting floors, for example, Ardnamurchan, Balvenie, BenRiach, Bowmore, Laphroaig, Highland Park, Kilchoman, Springbank. Springbank is the only distillery malting 100% of the barley itself.
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Portnahaven, Islay … magic places where the sky seems to be painted with whisky.
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Loch Lomond, 46 years, you only get something like this in the glass at a whiskey fair. Great complexity with sherry, leather, old wood and the other typical flavors of such a whisky. But a whole bottle would definitely be too expensive 🥳😬.
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There are also good and interesting whiskies outside Scotland, such as from the Stauning distillery in Denmark. Founded in 2005 as a hobby of friends, it has long since earned a good international reputation, and in 2015 Diageo acquired a minority stake. Then in 2018, the distillery was rebuilt and massively expanded with an impressive functional architecture. Interestingly, 24 small stills are used here, and they operate their own malt floors. And the distillery tour with tasting was excellent! 😊
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Where ist this place in or near Edinburgh?
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anCnoc Peatheart Batch 2 (46%, 40 ppm). As with the previous batch, this single malt was aged in ex-bourbon American oak barrels.
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Nose: Initially smoky notes of burnt wood and grilled meat, but quickly gives way to fruity flavors, starting with grilled apricots, pear and mango. Very nicely balanced between smoke and fruit.
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Taste: Decent smoky notes with some fresh hay, malt, moss, vanilla fudge as well as fruity notes. A bit ordinary compared to the nose.
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Finish: Very voluminous with oak notes, smoke and barbecue.
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Very successful for a smoky Speyside whisky, nothing extraordinary, but a nice alternative to the classic Islay whiskies (84 out of 100 points).
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The best in the Laphroaig range, but now simply too expensive. This is my last bottle and I'm waiting for the right moment to open it.
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A 15 minute sketch of the Lagavulin distillery. I need more practice again!
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In my opinion, Torabhaig is one of the better new distilleries on the market. For its young age, the whiskey is already very balanced and complex. Definitely a recommendation!
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A photo from and old whisky road and the Lecht Mine (between Tomintoul and C**k Bridge):

Between the 1780s and the 1830s the isolated Braes of Glenlivet were home of numerous illicit whisky stills. To evade government regulations many of these stills were hidden in seduced parts of the Braes and the illegal whisky was smuggled south and east using remote hill tracks. The path on the picture was one of several whisky roads used by smugglers of that period. The grey building is part of the old Lecht Mine, a former iron and manganese mining site.
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My favourite HP, the Highland Park 18. A perfect combination of heather honey, earth and fruity notes.
What is your favourite HP?
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Ailsa Bay Release 1.2 Sweet Smoke - currently my favorite peated whisky that does not come from Islay. The range of opinions on the whiskey is very high, I personally like the balance of Peat and Sweet very much. Slainte!
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Balvenie Distillery, 2020.
I like the 21 and the Peat Week expression the most. What are your favourites?
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My weekend whisky is the Kilchoman Loch Gorm 2021. Nice dram, definitely one of their better ones. Perfect balance of smoke and sherry.
It makes me think fondly of my visit to the distillery 10 years ago. Hopefully next year again!
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Oh no, the wonderful Crannog Centre on Loch Tay was completely destroyed by a fire yesterday. 😳😞 The wooden building was a perfect replica of an Iron Age water dwelling. I really enjoyed the tour and learned a lot about Scotland in the Iron Age. Hope they will rebuild it!
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TASTING CANVAS Teeling Brabazon Bottling Series 03 (14 years old, 49.5% ABV).
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This time something from my favorite Irish distillery! This single malt whiskey is aged for 14 years, initally in American bourbon barrels, then sherry and finally matured in 90 years old PX casks. Teelings Brabazon series is dedicated to the Brabazon family, which were the lords of the Libirties who presided over the area of the Liberties in Dublin from the 16-19th century (where the current Teeling Distillery has been built).
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👃🏻Nose: Very nice nose! Very elegant and classy with fruity notes of red apples and pears, raisins, dried plums to sweet plum jam. The whole is reminiscent of a rich fruit cake in its complexity. This is joined by roasted almonds.
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👅Taste: very luxurious mouthfeel, very oily and rich. Mixture of fruitcake, caramel, burnt cinnamon sticks, cloves and dark chocolate cookies (reminds me a lot of Oreo cookies). This whisky really needs to be savored over a long time, it has something thoroughly old-fashioned about it, something tradional in the best sense.
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🏁Finish: brown sugar and cinnamon sticks, long-lasting waves of plum flavors. Terrific.
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A real fruit bomb; not a cheap NAS designed fruit gr***de, but an elegant, dense potpourri (90 out of 100 points).
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Sorry for my time out, but there was too much private stuff to do in the last few months. I will slowly come out of hiding again in the next few months!

Edinburgh at night...
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@ Edinburgh, Scotland, UK

When I had some time and peace at Christmas, I tried my hand at another ink drawing, this time of the Dalwhinnie Distillery. I hope you like it! Cheers!
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The little guy knows what he wants ... a space whisky!

I've been a Star Trek fan for 30 years, but with the disaster that is called ST Discovery and the fantastic Mandalorian series, I favor Star Wars over Star Trek for the first time in my life...
but The Expanse is the best SciFi series currently!
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TASTING CANVAS Waterford Bannow Island 1.1 (4 y old, 50% ABV) and Waterford Sheestown 1.1 (4 y old, 50% ABV). Both aged in first-fill bourbon, French fresh oak and sweet wine casks.

Mark Reynier and his Waterford distillery aim to do no less than prove that terroir has a tangible impact on whiskey. They work with > 70 local farms that grow barley on different soil types. In this way, the terroir of each farm is to be captured in the spirit, which is shaped by soil and microclimate.
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So it makes sense to compare two whiskeys directly, in this case with malt from farms on Bannow Island and near Sheestown. In the photo, flavors that both whiskeys share are positioned in the center, flavors that only one of them has are on the respective side.
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👃🏻Nose: Bannow Island - aromas of milk chocolate, custard, fresh grass and hay, with lemons, pears, fresh malt, flowers and raisins and a hint of clove spice behind. Sheestown - also chocolate, grass, hay and malt, but much less floral aromas; it shows darker, stronger notes of moss and much more clove spice. The Sheestown is less flattering and shows more edge.
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👅Taste: Bannow Island - malt, marzipan, raisins and fresh fruity flavors are clearly in the foreground, clove spice and wild honey in the background. Sheestown - clearly maltier, more mossy as well as more marzipan; especially more clove spice, and instead of fresh fruit flavors rather dried fruit (fruitcake, dried apricots). Also a touch of fudge.
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🏁Finish: Bannow Island - long lasting, light and fresh. An oily mouthfeel lingers on the finish, with grassy notes. Sheestown - also long lasting, but stronger with more clove spice and earthy flavors.
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Yes, there are clear differences between them. I'm not a expert to judge whether these differences have to do solely with terroir. But regardless, I find both excellent - especially for their young age - though I like the Sheestown (86 out of 100 points) a touch better than the Bannow Island (85 out of 100 points) because of its rough edges.

Ballindalloch Castle is located in the Scottish county of Banffshire. It is the seat of the Macpherson-Grant family since 1546 and is known as the "the pearl of the north". Anyone traveling in Speyside should definitely make a detour there, it's well worth the visit.
Nearby is also the Ballindalloch Distillery, newly founded by the MacPherson-Grant family. However, the Macpherson-Grant family has a longer history in the Whisky business. Sir George Macpherson-Grant leased part of the Ballindalloch estate to distiller John Smith to build Cragganmore Distillery in 1869. After Smith died in 1923 the family became joint owners of the distillery with White Horse Distillers. The Macpherson-Grants remained involved with Cragganmore for the best part of the 20th century, eventually selling their stake in the distillery to DCL in 1965.

Whiskyworld: My first attempt at a miniature landscape photo, the lake of whisky (Ardbeg), the beach of yeast and barley, the little path of oak and the mountains of peat.

I hope you like it! I wish you all a hopefully better year 2021!Whisky is not the solution, but it helps immensely. Slainte!

TASTING CANVAS Benromach 15 years (43.0% ABV).
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The last tasting post this year, so don't waste time and get straight to the glass!
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👃🏻Nose: a full, round experience from the first nose. Ripe apples, dried pineapple, prickly pear, plus dark raisins (sherry barrel) and a good dose of walnuttiness. Quite a sweet, yet complex aroma. In the back, a fine but still clearly discernible smokiness also picks up. The whole is completed by subtle notes of menthol candy, peppermint and a very strong waxiness like old candles in church. The Benromach-typical waxiness is clearly more noticeable in the 10-year-old bottling, but also still emerges here.
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👅Taste: very lush with rich fruit cake, plus dark chocolate, cocoa beans, caramel cream and fudge. Waves of malt underneath. The smokiness now goes more in the direction of burnt toast. I like it very much!
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🏁Finish: very oily, soft and waxy with a delicate hint of smoke. Very subtle, very nice.
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Benromach belongs for me, like Deanston or Ben Nevis, to the distilleries that have successively gained in quality over the last few years. The new Benromach 15 confirms this again impressively with a very wide and harmonious range of aromas (86 of 100 points).
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This is the way, Benromach! An excellent bottling for every day.
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What is your opinion on Benromach?
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„My heart's in the Highlands, my heart is not here,
My heart's in the Highlands, a-chasing the deer;
Chasing the wild-deer, and following the roe,
My heart's in the Highlands, wherever I go.“

Robert Burns
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A picture from 2010 of the Port Ellen malting plant on Islay. Can‘t wait for the reopening of the distillery. Slainté!

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TASTING CANVAS Arran Lochranza Castle - Malt Explorer Series Volume 2 (47.2%, 21 years old)
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This 21-year-old single malt is the second whisky released in Arran’s Explorers series, named after the beautiful Lachranza Castle on the Isle of Arran. Matured in sherry hogsheads and finished in Amontillado sherry casks.
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👃🏻Nose: Oh yes, 21 years, how wonderful. Very complex, very deep, it takes some time to sort out the aromas. Fruity sweet notes of dark raisins, roasted sugared almonds, dried apricots, dark chocolate and brown sugar. Spicy notes of ginger and vanilla beans are added. And then there is old book leather.
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👅Taste: Fruity with apple pie and whipped cream, honey, vanilla toffees, pineapple and banana. The oak barrel is noticeable, but without disturbing. Overall impression: velvety soft and incredibly elegant.
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🏁Finish: Very long and intense, spicy-fruity with the hint of mineral that distinguishes Arran whiskies. A certain woodiness remains in the mouth, maybe a bit too much.
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Well done, well done! Great dram from Arran (89 of 100 points)!
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There is still hope in this dark times ...
Cheers and I wish you all a nice and relaxing weekend!
Photo: Warehouse at Blair Athol Distillery
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Men at work ....
Cheers!

A thirtyseven year old Clynelish ... a special bottle I will open for a special celebration next year.
Cheers!
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The day Sean Connery passed away. A sad day. I will raise my glass tonight to this great Scotsman. With a great Scotch whisky.
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TASTING CANVAS Deanston 12 years old (46.3% ABV, ex-bourbon casks, un-chillfiltered).
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👃🏻Nose: Wild flower honey with pleasant fruity notes of orange and lemon. Sweet vanilla cream, toffee, oat cookies and hay. After some time also earthy and spicy notes of ginger and liquorice. I even have light to***co notes in my nose.
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👅Taste: More vanilla cream and orange (more like orange marmalade) at the beginning, then also shoe polish, barley, honey and a hint of oak spice. Also cinnamon sticks and mineral notes towards the end. Very round and harmonious.
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🏁Finish: very dry and direct with orange marmalade and honey.
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A great entry level malt (86 out of 100 points). Deanston is for me one of those distilleries (like Benromach or Ben Nevis) that have successively improved their quality over the last years. Keep it up!
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What does influence the colour of whisky?
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🥃Oak type: American white oak gives a reddish hue, while the European oak has a more intense yellow colour. Depending on the degree of charring of a barrel, the colour extractives in the surface layer inside the barrel decrease.
🥃Previous cask content: for example, sherry casks tend to give a whiskey an auburn-like look, while bourbon-matured whisky is often much lighter in colour.
🥃First-fill or refill: the more often a cask is used, the less active the wood becomes, and the less colour it will give to the spirit.
🥃Length of maturation: the longer, the darker.
🥃Caramel colouring: fortunately, the bad habit of colouring whisky with E150 is diminishing more and more.
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Colour is important, but don’t be too quick to judge a whisky by its appearance. The only way to really judge is by tasting it.
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The Blair Athol distillery is located on the outskirts of the village of Pitlochry, a well-known spa town at the foot of the Highlands. Due to its good location, Blair Athol has therefore been used to visitors and tourism for a long time and has adapted to this with an interesting visitor center and distillery tours. Blair Athol today has four stills available, two wash and two spirit stills. This enables the distillery to distill 2.8 million liters of whisky per year. Most of the whisky is used for blends of the parent company Diageo, only 1-2% are bottled as single malts. Due to the beautiful distillery it is still worth a trip.
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@ Pitlochry, Scotland

Tasting Canvas SPRINGBANK 10 (46.0% ABV)
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One of my top 10 standard bottlings! What I love so much about Springbank 10 is the very wide range of aromas, which are nevertheless harmoniously interwoven. It's also a wonder bag. When I read 10 tasting notes, it feels like 10 different whiskies are being discussed. Springbank 10 means something different for everyone.
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👃🏻Nose: First I take a complex combination of leather, furniture polish, straw, old moss and fresh yeast dough. These are joined by subtle fruity notes of pear, apple and lemon. Smells of an old farm kitchen where a fruitcake is being baked. The whole is completed by a very light smoky note, which goes later towards to***co, toasted bread and roasted malt. It also drifts easily into medical, plastic-like notes, like a rubber tire over which I have dumped a bottle of iodine. It is very complex for a 10 year old whisky. I can hardly get my nose out of the glass.
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👅Taste: Slightly sweetish with oak, very fresh and oily. Then the whisky becomes nutty and also waxy. Notes of heather, honey and marzipan. Afterwards also a breeze of peppermint. The aromas of roasted malt, toasted bread and to***co, as well as subtle fruity notes, are also present on the palate.
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Finish: Long, smoky finish that unfolds its full power once again with roasted malt, moss and peppermint.
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What can I say, a real classic! (89 of 100 points)
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