Octo 9

Are there two kinds of people: those with a plan and those without? If I have any plan it is often to not make a plan. Going with the flow and seeing what happens can be rewarding, and therefore sometimes not. Are two plans better than one – if there is a plan at all? Well surely yes.
Plan one was to be ferried across the river Torridge from Appledore to Crow point, which is basically a sand dune jutting into the river Taw as it joins the Torridge. But to no avail as the tide was too early; the second plan was to borrow two Kayaks from a friend. This meant carrying them a couple of hundred yards downhill before they could be launched in Appledore. The tide was coming in so we drifted up stream. I was advised not to paddle across to Crow point ourselves as the currents are strong and, as we are novices to both the estuary and kayaking, it was felt we would be foolish to do such a thing so we went with the flow. Half way to Bideford, I saw a stony beach and that’s where we landed in order to open our bottle of malt.
The whisky in question was a single barrel, cask strength, 28YO Balmenach bottled by Signatory for their Vintage Cask Strength collection in a limited release of 155 bottles. The distillery was closed in 1993 and re-opened in 1998, so our bottle, distilled in 1998 must have been one of the very first batches since the re-opening. Balmenach doesn’t release under its own label; nearly all of the output of the distillery goes into Johnnie Walker’s blends.
There is no doubt that received wisdom is that whiskies are not at their best when just opened. They have to be allowed time to breath and develop, not just in the glass, but in the bottle – and yet none of our recent whiskies have tasted better than when first opened and that is down to two things – location and company. Sipping whisky on a hillside, or on a cliff edge over the sea, or on a rapidly disappearing shingle beach on a north Devon river with a good friend enhances the whisky experience beyond anything that I get subsequently on the sofa on my own, no matter how well deserved after a hard day plastering.
This one was excellent: a real mouthful of flavour. In the glass, it clung like a climber to the side of the glass, refusing to slide down. After a dram without water we had another with water and not the stuff lapping at our feet. The taste was remarkably different and less good. It became sour and drying with over brewed tea and tannins being dominant. It was definitely better without water and it doesn’t appear to improve with time in the glass. So maybe this was the perfect whisky for the occasion, especially as now we had run out of beach as the tide continued to rise and we were up against the cliff hastily packing up and climbing back into the kayaks.

A bit rushed perhaps but very enjoyable nonetheless.

Paddling back to Appledore was easy enough. Then came the realisation that we had to carry the two kayaks back up the hill. But I had an idea, and borrowed a set of wheels to put the kayaks on, and so we where to were able to avoid having to carry the kayaks back up the hill and were able to drag them up instead. By the time we had done that and got showered it was time for a well-earned dram.
Many thanks to Mark for lending us the kayaks. Many thanks to the Ferryman for cancelling the boat trip; we wouldn’t have had anywhere near as much fun and, in fairness, he did offer to make a special trip to run us out there. Many thanks to Balmenach for a fine whisky and, finally, many thanks to Signatory for making it available.  (and many thanks Sean for choosing it – John)

Sean:
I had expected to fall out off the canoe as soon as I attempted to get in, but miraculously managed to alight without mishap, albeit a little clumsily. When I say clumsily, think of Biffo the bear with vertigo, dancing whilst wearing roller skates. A wave akin to a minor Tsunami emanated from the region of my canoe. John, being somewhat more sprightly, leapt into his canoe in in a single impressive bound, the water barely rippling.
In the interests of self-preservation, we wore flotation aids that are cunningly designed to be just short enough to sit ever so slightly above the point where one’s back presses against the transom of the canoe, thereby maximising the level of discomfort.

My tasting notes are based on a second tasting after the bottle had been opened and some air had got to the whisky. I found the nose, taste and finish had all improved even though the first glass on the shingly beach wasn’t half bad. As John has already stated the Balmenach has amazing ‘legs’ and clings to the side of the glass giving a very viscous appearance. Initial sweetness on the nose is followed by honey and almonds; clean and fresh. Slightly buttery in the mouth, sweet with honey and spice to follow, finishing with some lemon and a little salt. Although this Balmenach is bottled at cask strength (49.1 % ABV), it is very smooth and easily drunk without adding water. When we tried adding a few drops of water whilst on the beach, it seemed to develop a drying finish somewhat reminiscent of bitter lemon, but on my second tasting a few drops of water brought out more honey and almond and introduced a slightly damp hay aroma as well. This is a very classy and complex whisky right up there amongst my favourites.

Sean suddenly realises that he is an old dog and this is a new trick

The tasting beach – but did we bring the bottle?

ah yes – here it is?

John wants to know why we are posing with empty glasses

Some whiskies are best enjoyed lying down

Sean looking cool as he tries to  escape with the bottle

Octo 8

WHISKY ON THE ROCKS
We had been planning a trip to Islay, the Queen of the Hebrides, for some time, and in April of this year we loaded our bags into the car and set off on our 500-mile journey (if we had walked it would have taken a bit longer, but there is a song) (bet you can’t sing it Sean). We stayed in Seaview Cottage, part of the Ardbeg distillery complex for our three-day visit and cannot recommend this self-catering cottage highly enough – very spacious and luxuriously furnished. Fantastic sea views, a complimentary bottle of Ardbeg 10YO and a selection of foodstuffs greeted our arrival.It would have been rude not to visit some of the other distilleries on the island and so, not wishing to offend, we visited Lagavulin, Laphroaig and Kilchoman.

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As part of the Islay visit we decided to do Octomoron 8 but It would have been far too obvious to go for a native Islay whisky, wouldn’t it? A peated Speyside appealed to our sense of humour and John duly selected a Loch Fyne Whiskies Macphunn branded cask-strength bottling of 16YO Ardmore for the occasion.

There is a nice little legend behind the Macphunn brand –

Years and years ago, Archibald Macphunn of Drip – a local rogue – was hanged ’till deid’ for sheep-stealing. On the way back across the water with the corpse, his wife, who was nursing an infant bairn, noticed her husband’s body twitch. Putting the baby aside, she raised the man up, and plied him with mother’s milk laced with a wee dram of whisky she had on board. The colour began to return to his cheeks, and Macphunn of Drip revived. Since, by law, he could not be hanged twice for the same crime, Macphunn  was thereafter known as “Half-Hung Archie” and lived on to a ripe old age.  (No relation to Well-Hung Archie, I presume?)

The next question was where to raise our glass in toast of Half-Hung’s miraculous recovery. Various locations were muted and abandoned for one reason or another until the logistics of going to Kilchoman and the time constraint suggested we look for somewhere interesting in the same location. The most appealing place was the westernmost point of the island, in an area called The Rinnes, with only open sea between it and the shores of Newfoundland. As far as we could tell from the map, there was nothing there, although it did show a wave-powered electrical generator not too far away – got to be worth a look eh? As it turns out it wasn’t – just a concrete lump, some iron grilles and bright yellow signs warning against climbing onto the structure. Somewhat disappointed, we headed off to the westernmost point of land and found it consisted of really amazing Palaeoproterozoic igneous rock cliffs (I looked that up), a coarse-grained gneiss cut by large intrusions of deformed gabbro (I looked that up as well). If I was to try and describe it without looking at the ‘I Spy’ book of geology, it was lumpy, black with lichen, gritty, grippy, rocky stuff. Whatever it was, it presented an ideal opportunity to do some scrambling and get into some interesting positions high above the sea. We clambered a few metres down the face of the cliff to an exposed ledge and set up tasting camp perched on a rock ledge about the size of a sherry butt lid and sipped the Macphunn. An empty bottle of what looked like Johnny Walker bobbed around in the waves below. Was this a sign, a portent from above? Had someone met an untimely end, the result of drinking JW on a rocky ledge? Maybe one really shouldn’t drink whisky on the rocks? Just as well there were two of us then.

The views, the exposure, a little bit of sunshine and survival made for a wonderful and truly Macphunn tasting experience

Spot the Octomoron (I’ve made it easy)

How about that for a selfie? (I’ve just noticed that John has more whisky in his glass than mine)    – I have the bottle as well Sean.

 John’s justification for the choice of whisky.

• Islay is full of whisky, so what better than to take a Speysider. As a nod to the general character of Islay malts, bar one or two exceptions, I took an Ardmore, itself going against the general character of Speysiders by being peated. 
• I chose a single cask indie by the name of Macphunn. I liked the name I must admit.
•  It is named after a chap with connections with Loch Fyne, which we drove along to get to the ferry.
•  I did not buy it from Loch Fyne whiskies. (I am trying to be logical and perverse all at the same time). 
• The westernmost point of Islay appealed because it is further west than any Scottish distillery (or so I thought, but apparently it isn’t – there is a new one on Lewis) – but at least we were further west than any Islay distillery.
• We stayed at Ardbeg, we had an Ardmore. Ardmore is owned by the same people as Laphroaig, in between Laphroaig and Ardbeg is Lagavulin and apparently, that distillery absorbed another distillery called Ardmore which comes from the Gaelic ‘Aird Mor’ and means great height or big headland. We opened our bottle on a big headland high above the waves. I think that all makes sense.

The whisky was bought from Jeffrey St, – beer, whisky and cigars (https://jeffreyst.com)

When I placed the order they quickly sent me an email to say that it was out of stock, but they had also sent me another, before I saw the first, to say they had found more stock, but it would be delayed by a day or two. Now this would not have mattered, but I had procrastinated so long that I had only a week before going to Islay. Anyway the whisky arrived with one day to spare. Phew. But hold on, when I opened the parcel there sat a Benromach eek! They got the order wrong? – no of course not, they had simply put the Macphunn inside an empty box they had kicking around just to fool me and keep my whisky bottle safe.

 John Tasting Notes

Lovely flavours, A bit of sherry character, a bit of peat character. It’s from a single cask and it was a good one. I like it. On the nose straight from the bottle is peat smoke, but not that soapy, medicinal Islay peat smoke. After a while this subsides to reveal the sherry cask influences. I wasn’t sure so I compared it to a Benriach 10 year old peated malt, and yes, the sherry is obvious in comparison, I need to do that, I need to compare a malt with another to get some bearings. And to triangulate, I added some Ardbeg 10 to some Mortlach 15 (G&M) and the two are similar, but the MacPhunn doesn’t have that soapy smoke. So the MacPhunn is really an excellent balance of sherry and peat, meatier than  the Benriach 10, less medicinal than the Islay/Speyside blend.  Hopefully you know where I am on the map which is more than can be said for my efforts at finding the westernmost tip of Islay, which I missed by 100 yards. It looked so western as well but we were just a tad too far south – sorry Sean. We better go back and do it again – and by the way I added a drop of water.

Sean Tasting Notes

I had never heard of Mcphunn until John mentioned it a few weeks before we set off to Islay, so was looking forward to trying it. First of all, the colour is rich, dark copper suggesting a good length of time in the sherry butt – the bottle assuring us that there isn’t any caramel being used. The nose is light sherry, then a little smoke and a slightly bitter woody note. In the mouth, there is initially a fruity sweetness, a hint of peat followed by an intriguing spiciness that increases in intensity before fading into a medium length finish. A very enjoyable, smooth drinking whisky, which doesn’t need any water to reduce alcohol burn (that is b-u-r-n, not b-u-m). Adding a few drops of water brings out a little more of the smoke and mellows the spicy finish, but I preferred the waves of undiluted spiciness, so neat it will be for me.

OCTO 7

December 2016 – This time we selected the intriguing Glenlivet Cipher which Jim Murray recently awarded it 96.5 out of 100 – a very impressive score from the whisky guru. An intriguing whisky because Glenlivet, gives virtually no information about the whisky and instead issues a challenge to work out the key aromas and flavours for oneself. We are aware that there are clues hidden in a cipher on the bottle label; wet goose, paint, tulip and sweat are some of the ones we found. That might suggest our cipher-solving skills leave more than a little to be desired and probably explains why my job application to Bletchley Park failed.  Rather than leave us totally in the dark the Glenlivet people provide a ‘solver’ on their website where you select 6 key aromas and flavours and input an intensity for each. A percentage score is then generated that tells you how close you are.  At some point in the future they will release full information.

Some questions crossed my mind as I parted with the hard-earned readies –

• Is this just a marketing ploy to sell inexpensive whisky at a premium price?
• Why did Jim Murray award such a high score?
• Have I just wasted a lot of money?
• How close will I get to guessing the components?
• What does wet goose smell like?
• More importantly, how does wet goose taste?

(I must apologise to our readers, but at the time of writing I didn’t have access to a goose of either the wet or dry variety, so some questions will have to be answered at a future date).

To accompany the Cipher, we felt that Octomore 7.2 would be highly appropriate as this was the 7th outing of the Octomorons. By now, if you have read our previous scribblings, you will have figured out that we like to have an event of some sort to augment the tasting. Somehow this nearly always involves nasty weather conditions, but this time we were favoured with relatively good conditions albeit cold, windy and cloudy. At one point I did spot a curious yellow thing in the sky and I am reliably informed that this is called a sun (Wikipedia has quite a big section on this phenomenon).

As Glenlivet kindly asked one and all to guess the ingredients of their Cipher whisky we would like to issue a challenge to Glenlivet (and anyone else who can be arsed) to figure out where we were. To start you off here’s a cryptic clue – HARRY QUART YO on DRAM ROOT. Here’s some visual clues –

John on the right track (also on the left track)

Are you sure this is the right way?

John can barely contain his glee. (Actually Sean I was wondering when I was going to get a glass)

The restorative power of a wee dram ( I’m gleeful that Sean let me have a glass after all )

 

John : It may have been a cunning plan to make sure we had untainted palates when we got to our secret whisky secret opening location but I forget to take the pasties we had bought for lunch. Sean was very restrained in his reaction to the news as we huddled in the lee of a large rock out of the gale force wind, Sean might have seen the sun but that’s because the wind blew all the clouds away and nearly us with it at one point. Anyway, with no pasties to pollute our taste buds we set too on the whisky. Out in the fresh air after a few miles walking and clambering Whisky really does taste good .

Glenlivet Cipher – The first mouthful was powerful and full of flavour, quite what flavours I am reliably informed by Glenlivet still elude me. The nose is rich and (to me) features pear (to be polite) or young spirit (to be rude) but does have hints of liquorice which comes after the oak. I think I have written before that I have a sensitivity to the smell of oak. ( probably because I am so rugged )  (or thick as two short planks).  I wondered if this had been aged in a new oak cask as it tasted young but was very dark and oaky. I really don’t know. But I liked the whisky.

I think its a very clever publicity stunt of course, but it’s a bit of fun, I have done the wheel of flavours three times now and my best score was 47% . I got 42% before I had even tasted it, but since then I have done the wheel again and my score went down to 37% a full 20 points down on Sean who is by far the better whisky taster of the two of us – obviously. Is this scotch too good for me I wonder or am I being toyed with?

Footnote:  This weekend I visited Lanhydrock (NT) and as I walked along the corridor I could smell the glenlivet, it was the same smell. but alas old corridors and furniture polish don’t feature on the Glenlivet aroma wheel. better have another glass and try again then.

Octomore 7.2 – Well not as subtle as the 4.2. Still very pleasant. although very peated, the spirit and the cask peek out like two black boots in the fireplace giving a hint of what’s in the chimney but maybe a dram for charcoal burners, blacksmiths or indeed that mad lover of soot himself – Santa Claus.

Sean:
Glenlivet Cipher – For me the predominant smell was acetone (as in pear drops), also some honey and wood with lesser notes of banana and liquorice. The biggest taste component was a warming spiciness, bucket loads of it in fact, followed by some pear and vanilla from the wood. A long complex finish tailed off into saltiness and a slightly bitter, but not unpleasant aftertaste. This is a very, very pleasant dram and, in my opinion, does justify its high rating. My guess is that it’s a 5-year-old single malt and I would agree with John that it could have been finished in small new oak barrels. A big thank you to Mr Murray for bringing Cipher to my attention and to Glenlivet of course. My score on the Glenlivet challenge was, if I say so myself, a very respectable 57%.

Octomore 7.2 – A five year old peated to 208 ppm (phenol content) and in common with earlier releases claims to be the most heavily-peated whisky in the world. I opened this bottle 6 months ago, and was a little disappointed as the peat overwhelmed the other components in both nose and palate. A few weeks after that I had another dram and felt that it had improved; probably the result of letting a bit of air get to it. How did it fare this time? Initial aroma is still like being smacked round the side of the face with a lump of peat inside a bottle of TCP, but eventually some light fruity notes do develop – pear or apple maybe. The taste is initially peat and warming spice, possibly some cloves. The finish is lingering peat fading away to saltiness and just a hint of sweetness. I certainly like this much more than I did initially, but still feel that Bruichladdich have just gone a bit too far in constantly striving to increase the phenol ppm and the balance that was a key feature of some of the earlier releases of Octomore is not there.

OCTO 6

Sitting together one evening,sipping a whisky, we mulled over what to do for Octo 6. A “Lady of the Glen” bottling of Glen Garioch 21 YO had already been selected and it was easy to agree on Appledore as the general area. For a start John lives there and secondly, my financial director and I like the place a lot. A maritime adventure then? Perhaps a canoe or a sailing dinghy to some sandy destination cut off by the high tide? Do you know any places like that? John does. How about a cove with a beach that is cut off by the high tide and only accessible at low tide for a few minutes. Do you know any places like that? John does.

Not having a canoe or a dinghy didn’t help with the first idea, so the idea of abseiling down to an isolated cove at high tide was born. Do you know anyone with a long rope? I do (thanks Neil). John’s son Oscar joined us for this jolly jape, eager to escape big city life for a few days and, just possibly, to escape reality for a while. Dangling off a sea-cliff on a piece of string would do that okay.  Having studied tide tables (now you’re impressed eh?) we selected a day in August 2016 and duly found ourselves standing at the top of a sea cliff with a rope and various bits of climbing ironmongery. An ancient oak post sticking forlornly out of the ground, a remnant of some ancient fence, was chosen as our anchor point and I, being more generous of proportions than John and Oscar, was tied onto the rope and sent down as the test weight. All went well until around 3 metres from the beach. That was the point where the rope ended. Do you know anyone with a longer rope? We don’t. Employing a technique learnt in the Italian Alps, I slid down the last three metres on my backside; not elegant, but effective.

Next down was Oscar and then John. We all arrived safely on the beach with limbs intact. Did I mention that the weather was bl**dy awful? It was. Strong winds and persisting down with rain; actually the rain didn’t just come down … it came at us sideways from the Atlantic. Fortunately, there was a demi-cave at the base of the cliff, so we managed to shelter there and enjoy the Glen Garioch. When I say demi-cave, what I mean is we could get the top halves of our bodies inside, but from the waist down we were exposed to the elements. Do you know any imbeciles that would enjoy this? We do.

During the weekend we also tried a peated French whisky from Breton called Kornog and a Scottish blended malt, Poit Dhuibh 21 yo.

John just swinging in the rain

The debate rages on as to whether the rope would have been long enough if we had untangled it first

If you look really carefully you can see the sea in John’s glass, and if  you hold the glass to your ear…….

The Drams:
“Lady of the Glen” Glen Garioch 21YO
Poit Dubh 21YO
Kornog 3YO

John:  I will let Sean tell you about the whiskies whilst I sit back and sip my GG and contemplate coming to terms with being smaller than my son, just look at that photo with the rope – I look like a small boy !

Sean:
Glen Garioch: This was billed as having “Immense Sweetness and nuttiness with subtle toffee”. I expected an almost Bourbon like experience, but for me the initial taste was fruit and lots of spice, with a buttery mouth feel and although bottled at 56.4% ABV it didn’t give the alcohol burn I was expecting. There is some toffee in there, but the sweetness only came through at the finish. The finish is long, warming and satisfying. Another very good bottling from Lady of the Glen.

Poit Dhuibh: Pronounced Potch Ghoo and hailing from another multiple award winning independent bottling company, Pràban na Linne (don’t ask me how to pronounce that). This is a 21 YO blended malt finished in a sherry cask and the sherry comes to the fore in both aroma and taste, followed by some spiciness and mild peat. This is a well balanced whisky and the little bit of peat just adds to the complexity without detracting from the overall sherry experience. Also at a very agreeable price point for a 21YO.

Kornog:  If you look up “French Whisky” on Wikipedia it tells you that French whisky is produced in France; I am still recovering from the shock. I haven’t tried a lot of French whisky, so a French peated whisky just had to be given a try. It felt somewhat thin in the mouth and although some citrus fruit was there it was overpowered by the medicinal and peated flavours. The peat lingers through to the short finish. This is a 3 YO and it has the brashness of a young whisky; a few more years in the barrel might make it much more interesting.

 

 

 

Octo 5

Where we opened the bottle – on the edge of Zulu Bank.

 

The safety and warmth of Appledore in the distance as we bravely set forth into the gloom.

we made it to the sea. Raise a glass. Do I have a flag in that rucksack or am I just pleased to be there?

 

Are you sure it’s only a mile back to the car?

It was the last afternoon of 2015, there appeared to be a storm brewing somewhere over the atlantic, we had a New Years dinner to go to so instead of getting ready on that cold and windy evening, in the gloom of a winter storm, with the gale whipping up the sand we set forth from the shelter of Appledore, round the Skern and across the pebble ridge and into the teeth of the storm.

In our survival pack, we carried two tasting glasses, a hip flask full of an aperitif of some now forgotten tot and the bottle of the day: Longmorn 15 year old. Sean, self-appointed expedition photographer, also carried a camera and tripod.
Arriving at the sea edge, after a mile of bleak sand, feeling very remote and alone, with the sun sinking away, we set up the camera on the tripod, poured the Scotch and watched as the tripod blew over and the camera bag skittered away into the distance. Repeated attempts resulted in a salt encrusted lens full of sand, so sadly, the only pictures recording the event are from our phones. It was windy, it was loud, it was cold, it was now dark … and the tide was coming in.

The whisky was good, all warming and rich, enticing us to linger, if we dared, savouring the Longmorn and the conditions. With the wind ever increasing and the incoming tide now very close we started our race back to the safety of shore, our legs trying to keep up with the force of the push, trying to use the rocks as stepping stones over the water, the wind blowing us off the rocks into the water. Soaking wet, with boots full up to the brim, we made it back. A couple of fools the coastguards would probably shake their heads at. But hey! we would have shared our Longmorn with them. And we were in plenty of time for the dinner and none the worse for our escapade. 

notes:

John:  One of the risks of sharing a bottle is that if you don’t put a label on the bottle your half goes in and then you put it in with the other half bottles you can forget which it is. And so it is that I have an excellent, but very small collection of mystery drams,  of which, this is one. At the time it was warming and rich and welcome.  You know when you are in the presence of  a good dram, it’s like listening to Frank Zappa, complex music with depth, whereas your lesser whiskies are like listening to the new romantics – they’re a bit one dimensional.  If I come clean on this, I don’t have a great nosing ability, all this stuff that people smell and taste passes me by, the most prominent smell for me is oak in abundance, but there are whiskies I like and whiskies I don’t.  At the STROUD WHISKY CLUB I would arrange all the drams of the night side by side and then compare the aroma of each, the variety is amazing, but I still didn’t get food smells, I tended to experience images of depth and colour – not the colour of the whisky, but the colour of the smell – some were darker than others, heavier, deeper.  Is it not slightly bizarre to search for individual olfactory notes and on that make a judgement? (And that judgement is often of my lack of whisky knowledge not the whisky itself). I don’t sit there listening to a piece of music trying to judge it on what instruments I can hear. That said, one of the whiskies we were trying definitely smelt of hosepipes. (Or was it bagpipes?)  But that’s not necessarily a bad thing – I got plasticine at a Lagavulin distillery tasting.

Sean: I agree with John that the pursuit of individual aromas and flavours shouldn’t determine what is and what isn’t a good whisky and, as John started the musical allegory, I would say that  whisky is like a concert orchestra where the tastes and flavours can be likened to each individual instrument – which on their own do not always make sense, but together they combine to create a wonderful experience. It is true that the prime measure we should use is “Do we enjoy the whole experience?”, but I think that having some idea of the individual elements and the roles they play enhances the enjoyment. That doesn’t mean I am blowing my own trumpet (I couldn’t resist that), as my senses of smell and aroma vary from one day to the next and even in my ‘finest moments’ I can fail to detect significant components. Okay, that’s enough of the heavy stuff – let’s get on with my tasting notes.

Longmorn 15YO – This is a highly rated single malt distilled in the Speyside region, yet the bottle boldly says Highland Single Malt. The reason for this, I am unreliably informed, is that Longmorn distillery has been in operation since early 1900’s and the Speyside region was only created in 1972. I am not aware of any other Speyside malt stating a Highland heritage, but maybe Highland Malt has more appeal overseas? Who knows? Who cares? Longmorn obviously.
This whisky has a very pleasing and complex nose and for me the initial aroma is sherry, with some floral scented notes, followed by wood and some citrus fruits. Tasting is equally pleasing with sherry, dark fruits and spiciness before a slightly citrus taste come through. The finish is warming spice and remains for a good length of time. This whisky improved quite markedly with time after a little air got into the bottle. A few drops of water also opens it up nicely. Drinking Longmorn on a windswept sand bank in a salt-laden howling gale doesn’t do it justice. Next time John and I will take a responsible adult with us ….. or maybe not .

 

 

Octo 4

Some time before this event John and I had gone underground into an old limestone quarry, a fascinating piece of industrial history, and discovered a large cavern. The thought occurred to us that this would make  an excellent venue for the next tasting. And so it came to pass in November 2014, John, Tom and I accompanied by a Lady Of The Glen bottling of Bunnahabhain re-entered the mine and set up camp in the cavern. We had been looking forward to this event with some anticipation and it far exceeded our expectations; the total dark and the silence, only disturbed by the sound of water dripping down through the limestone, really enhanced the tasting experience.

Tom is founder of Stroud Whisky club (see our links page) and, at one of the club meets, had foolishly eagerly accepted our underground invitation  – after having quaffed several wee drams it has to be said. John and I would like to reassure our readers that no SWC founders were harmed during the experience – that is if we ignore the mental scars.

We rounded the day off by finding our way out of the mine – eventually – and then walking across the valley to The Weighbridge Inn for a 2 in 1 pie which is their speciality: one half a pie with excellent short crust pastry and the other half filled with cauliflower cheese. We probably had a pint or two as well.

Anyone seen the light switch?

That’s better, but why does Tom look 8 ft tall, why does Sean have a red nose, why does John look so timid, why are we all looking so happy?

John: I became enamored of Lady of the Glen after buying a bottle of their Benrinnes  single cask. This was meaty and very very good stuff and still remains the very best whisky I have had and so although I was not expecting anything like that here I was expecting something strong in character. Maybe the activity of the day being so memorable the whisky was upstaged but I didn’t get a great rush of wow when i tried it. This is why whiskies should not be opened with lots of preconceived ideas of what it will be like. And why they should be given time. Once taken home and given that time the intrinsic quality of the dram became apparent and the subtle flavours came out of hiding. I thought the sensory deprivation of a cave would help the whisky but in this case, on the day, the day won out. At home chilling out after trowelling all day the whisky definitely proved a mine of flavours and aromas

Sean: John’s penchant for single barrel cask strength whisky continues unabated, and this 26 year-old Bunnahabhain from Lady of the Glen met that brief. My first impression was of dark fruits and vanilla sweetness followed up by some woody notes. A lot of complexity in the taste and a lingering spicy finish rounded it off very nicely. This is a lovely whisky underground, overground or even, dare I say it, Wombling free.

Octo 3

Our next event was in March 2014 and took us to the Shropshire hills. We stayed in the Shropshire Camping Pods, which is conveniently placed next to a superb pub excellently geared up to cater for people who like beef and beer. So that’s us. The steaks are fantastic and so was the whisky. We took quite a collection although the Octo bottle was The English Whisky co. Rum cask Chapter 7. Other bottles we took were :

Glenmorangie Signet.   Lady of the Glen Benrinnes.  

Of course we took to the hills and it was glorious weather with no snow anywhere to be seen.

The crowd could barely conceal their astonishment as John tops out on Octomoron Buttress

if you tell him there’s a Yami at the top, Sean will climb anything!

Sean searches for his bottle…

Shocked to discover it’s actually a Bells!

The Drams:

John: I do remember that you could really taste the rum, like rum and raisin chocolate. The bottle was of the decanter style and the whisky in it was pale and straw coloured. It was a very pleasant dram with that lovely distinct rum flavour being carried by an excellent spirit.

The signet tasted of coffee beans and it has just struck me that we did not try a blend of Signet and the rum cask – might have been very good indeed.

Sean: Rum and raisin certainly sums up the Chapter 7 with a bit of vanilla thrown in for good measure. A very drinkable dram indeed. I tried to convince a Scottish friend that it is worth trying – I didn’t fully understand the response, but the words arse and downwards were in there and, call it intuition, but I don’t think he will be trying it anytime soon. I still like it.

The Glenmorangie Signet is a very unusual whisky in a liquified, chocolate coated, Christmas pudding sort of way. Distilled using a heavily malted chocolate malt and finished in “bespoke American oak, designer casks” apparently.  Ooh – the hours I’ve spent racking my brain trying to figure out what a designer cask is – I don’t suppose they could be barrel shaped  by any chance? Signet is, in my opinion, one of the best whiskies out there and is certainly in my top 5. 

Another excellent whisky tried  from John’s personal stock was a 14YO Benrinnes from the independent bottler “Lady of the Glen”. Single barrel, cask strength, limited release, sweet and spicy are good words to use here. Very impressive stuff.

Octo 2

In March 2013 we were joined by Paul and opened our second bottle in an old quarryman’s cottage in North Wales, just across the lake from Llanberis. There was deep snow on the hills and in the valleys.

 

We tried walking to the top of Elidir Fawr, but the wind was too strong and the ground so thick with ice we were in danger of being blown along the path like a curling stone and off down the mountain into Llyn Peris. Instead we retreated to  explore the lower levels of the Dinorwic slate quarry before going back to the cottage for a dram in front of the log fire.

The journey home on Sunday was also exciting; the result of an overnight dump of snow closing roads in the area (including the main A5).  Seriously short of fuel for the car and unable to find an open garage, we had got as far as Ruthin and, by then, running on fumes we had to consider over-nighting there. Our deepest gratitude goes to the owner of the petrol station on the A494 who opened up the pumps specially for us, allowing us to continue our epic journey home.

The Dram:

Yamazaki 18 year old.

John: much praise has been given to this whisky and probably deservedly but at the time I wasn’t initially enamoured, maybe I was still in Islay mode and not yet converted to sherry cask whisky. But the point of this venture is to have time with the whisky at home and not have to rush it in a limited time tasting event so, after a few drams by the fireside and then over a longer period at home the whisky grew on me. I am not going to consult my notes (there are none) and start going on about ripe pears and muscavado suger and prunes and sawdust at the back of leather bureaus. I didn’t like it as much as the Octo but I liked more than a very long list of other whiskies tried before and since. 

Sean: This had been a whisky on my ‘must try’ list for some time. Fortunately we decided to try a bottle before the infamous Jim Murray review when it was still available and at a very reasonable price. Unlike John, I wasn’t in peat mode and this rose straight to the top of my favourite whiskies. A very smooth, hugely drinkable tipple with rich, complex fruity aromas and a long luxurious finish. Like John, I didn’t take notes, but my abiding memory is  a whisky you could just go on sniffing and sniffing and sniffing. It is no longer my No 1 whisky, but that doesn’t take away from this superb Japanese – it’s just that I have tried a lot of really excellent whiskies since then ……………………….. and I’ve gone into peat mode.

 

 

Octo 1

The very first Octomoron event took place in February 2013 at Polperro, Cornwall.  The whole thing began when one of us came across Octomore Comus 4.2 – advertised as the world’s peatiest whisky. We were both tempted but at £110 neither were that tempted so we split the cost.

Of course we thought that we ought to mark the event in some way so we rented a cottage on the quay in Polperro and turned the bottle opening into a weekend event.

The Dram: Octomore Comus 4.2

John: The whisky itself was a pleasant surprise and not as overpoweringly peated as expected. The finish was long and that was where the phenolic levels flexed their muscles. Once the bottle is opened and a few drams enjoyed on the day the rest is shared out to be explored at home. In the course of my ‘studies’ i found that this whisky was really quite economical even at £100 because for my taste I was able to add water at 1 to 1 . Thereby halving the cost of the whisky. The spirit in this whisky was really good stuff and  at 61% needed reducing to levels my taste buds could handle without being anesthetised. It is this aspect of the more expensive whiskies that we were looking for: Good spirit, good casks, high strength.

Sean: What a cracking way to start off our little club; this 5 year old out of the Bruichladdich distillery is the world’s peatiest (shouldn’t that be most peated?) whisky. For those with a scientific bent this was distilled from barley peated to 167ppm – phenol levels that is.  Most of the so called  heavily peated whiskies come in at around 45ppm, so I can be forgiven for thinking that Octomore would be similar to chewing on a block of smouldering Scottish peat bog dipped in tar. It was therefore with some surprise that the peat, smoke and antisceptic notes didn’t overwhelm the light fruitiness and spice – I even found some floral notes in there. At 61% ABV it’s not a neat drink for me and it does happily accept a lot of water taking some of the alcohol sting out of it and allowing the fruit and floral notes to develop. Octomore 4.2 is a very well-balanced whisky that is a real pleasure to drink and certainly seems less peaty than your typical Ardbeg, Lagavulin, Laphroaig etc. I haven’t figured out how that can be, but maybe you scientists out there can shed some light?