Outturnsweetness balanced by dry tannins; allspice, leather and tobacco in the finish. ... tinned...
Transcript of Outturnsweetness balanced by dry tannins; allspice, leather and tobacco in the finish. ... tinned...
July 2012
Bottling List
Outturn www.smws.ca
Another great
round-up of
whiskies!
www.smws.ca
Each Society bottling is unique. And each can be identified by its markings. The
tasting notes give you an insight into the characteristics of each whisky, and are
the best place to start.
You may find yourself drawn to ‘complex, captivating and Christmassy’ or have a
preference for something ‘a big eye-watering slap.’ Maybe your instincts lead you to
a dram that’s more like ‘an old jazz bar’ or perhaps akin to ‘Sophia Loren in a
mink coat.’
These curious descriptors are your best clue to what you’ll find within each bottle,
and are at the heart of The Society’s raison d’être.
With The Society’s monthly selection of single cask malts it’s not surprising that
some members find it hard to focus on their perfect bottlings. Thankfully it’s not
cheating to ask for help. Just call Kensington Wine Market at 403-283-8000
(within Calgary) or at 1-888-283-9004 (outside Calgary) or email us at
[email protected] or [email protected] for advice of an
expert nature.
How to use Outturn
Welcome to the July 2012 Outturn!
outturn n. 1 The number of Society bottles produced from a single cask. Varies
from cask to cask. A finite number that will, sooner or later, run out.
2 The name given to Society bottling lists, containing Tasting Notes for each
recently released Society bottling of which only a limited number are ever available
(see above).
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Cheshire cat whisky
Cask No ‘Sweet manna from heaven’ – toffee, fudge, caramel, Toffifees, vanilla, honey
– but more – tea chests, spice racks, aromatic smoke, burnt heather and
pencils in a library – we could have sniffed it endlessly. Water opened up the
fruit – sherbet, orange zest, peach, strawberry, tinned grapes, sweet sap and
light smoke – panellists grinning like Cheshire cats. The sweet, oaky palate
had tablet, fudge and bread dough – by an open fire; but it also had a darker
side – woody, earthy, drying, with sticky cassis and treacle. Water brightened
it up – Starbursts, Skittles and spicy Advocaat. From the distillery always
directed by John or George.
1.164 Bottle price
$184.99
It needs time - one for a long journey perhaps - or
for an evening with no pressure
Drinking tip:
Colour: Polished gold Date distilled: October 1985
Cask: Refill hogshead, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 52.1%
Age: 27 years Outturn: 230 bottles
www.smws.ca 3
Speyside (Spey)
Speyside (Lossie)
A whisky to dream about
Cask No We were drawn into this whisky, a dreamlike state descending on the panel.
Our nostrils remembered bananas, toffee and custard in a rose garden. The
blades of grass were red laces. Adding water saw us reading old leather
books, while bananas, pineapples and lemons grew all around. Meanwhile
our tongues recalled oak and spice with liquorice and plum skins before
water introduced mangoes, kiwi fruits and a big box of apples made out of
sandalwood. A dream so real, we could taste and smell every second of it.
Wonderful!
39.85 Bottle price
$198.99
Perfect for an afternoon of daydreaming in the rose
garden
Drinking tip:
Colour: Barley stalks Date distilled: October 1982
Cask: Refill hogshead, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 57.4%
Age: 29 years Outturn: 274 bottles
Has a dark
side!
29 years old!
After skiing with a cheese fondue Drinking tip:
Colour: Blushed apricot gold Date distilled: November 2001
Cask: Refill barrel, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 58%
Age: 10 years Outturn: 211 bottles
www.smws.ca 4
Highland (Eastern)
Scottish Heidi
Cask No Aromas of a rock garden with a variety of herbs like sage, fennel and turmeric
as well as a floral note of Edelweiss, whilst in the background fresh tar being
laid on a road. On the palate smoky Swiss cheese with digestive biscuits then
becoming sweeter, brownies and dark mint chocolates with a trace of teasing
lavender smoke. Adding water, dry and dusty then turning fresh like a Ricola
Lemon mint followed by a nougat note of dark Toblerone. The taste with water
is of pork sausages, water biscuits with peppered cream cheese and a dry
volcanic ashy note to finish. This distillery is believed to be named after a
peninsula between Cardross and Helensburgh.
66.33 Bottle price
$112.99
Speyside (Lossie)
Nicey, nicey, sweet ’n spicy
Cask No The nose was finely layered – old-fashioned, expensive, floral perfume on top;
apple sauce, gooseberry purée and a tin of fruity boiled sweets below that;
the olfactory sub-strata inhabited by patent leather and old books. The taste
was sweet and hot – opinions included tom yam soup, mango chutney, HP
Sauce, chilli, crystallised ginger and leather. The reduced nose added floral
pot-pourri, plum chutney, polished sandalwood and Indian food (ginger,
paprika, etc.). The palate improved but the sweet and savoury profile
remained steady – toffee, honey, sugar-coated fennel seeds, liquorice and
salty lime pickle. This distillery does not draw water from Loch Dhu!
64.35 Bottle price
$160.99
A bit of a talking point whisky - could accompany
an Asian or Indian takeaway
Drinking tip:
Colour: Twinkly gold Date distilled: February 1990
Cask: Refill barrel, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 55.2%
Age: 21 years Outturn: 208 bottles
Premiere of distillery 66 in Canada!
Glazed cashews and lemon lollies
Cask No Stunning for its age! Creamy fudge, condensed milk, Golden Syrup on hot
buttered toast; Caramac toffee/chocolate; ‘Dolcé de Leché’ (Argentinian
pastries). A very sweet taste, then mouth drying, with a thread of smoke in the
finish; caramelised cashew nuts and fresh kindling wood. A drop of water
musters crushed rosemary, beurre noir, ‘lemon lollies in warm sand’, sea-salt
and a trace of struck matches; the taste smooth and viscous, with a light
sweetness balanced by dry tannins; allspice, leather and tobacco in the finish.
A classic old-fashioned example of the make from Campbeltown’s leading
distillery.
27.97 Bottle price
$127.99
In a beach hut Drinking tip:
Colour: Deep amber; cream sherry Date distilled: May 1998
Cask: Refill gorda, ex-sherry Alcohol: 57.6%
Age: 13 years Outturn: 788 bottles
After dinner, with espresso and dark chocolate Drinking tip:
5
Colour: Deep amber Date distilled: February 1994
Cask: Refill sherry butt Alcohol: 52.1%
Age: 16 years Outturn: 660 bottles
www.smws.ca
Highland (Northern)
Campbeltown
Everything under the sun
Cask No The note-taker was bombarded with descriptors for the nose – morello
cherries, tinned pineapple, orange blossom, maple syrup, honey, rum and
raisin fudge, treacle toffee, fruit cake, muscovado, clove pomanders, liquorice,
leather and oaked wine, to name a few. The palate was equally complex, with
raisins, sultanas, dates, fig rolls, Christmas cake, liquorice, eucalyptus,
Fisherman’s Friends, caramel, orange oil, leather and PVC. The reduced nose
had Jaffa Cakes, strawberry jam and coffee, while the palate had orange zest,
dried fruits, Campinos, burnt sugar, pepper, distant matches and smoke in
the finish. The distillery has tall stills and a ghostly White Lady.
125.41 Bottle price
$154.49
www.smws.ca
Islay
Wild west cowgirl dressed in leather
Cask No We identified various typical aromas - sea breezes, shell sand, burnt sticks,
embers, smoke, and crispy duck on the barbeque – but also vanilla, liquorice,
lime, tobacco and fresh laundry flapping on the clothes-line. Mineral notes
increased with water – quarries, flint, crushed rock, lobster shells and distant
tarmac lorries – also nettles, sorrel and thyme. The palate, at natural strength,
was big and busty – a tobacco-chewing, cigar-smoking, Wild West cowgirl
dressed in leather. In reduction, sweet malt flavours came through, along with
tar, ash, liquorice, dark chocolate, rhubarb and German Salbei throat sweets
(sage). From the ‘love it or hate it’ distillery.
29.110 Bottle price
$118.99
For reflective moments, preferably by the seashore Drinking tip:
Colour: Lager and lime Date distilled: February 2001
Cask: Refill hogshead, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 57.2%
Age: 10 years Outturn: 266 bottles
Yahoo!
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How to order from Friday July 6th
Through The Scotch Malt Whisky Society website at www.smws.ca, which will
then take you through to the Kensington Wine Market website for final purchase.
Through the Kensington Wine Market website at
www.kensingtonwinemarket.com - search for ‘The Scotch Malt Whisky Society’
under the Scotch tab.
By phoning Andrew Ferguson at the Kensington Wine Market at (403) 283-8000
(within Calgary) or at 1-888-283-9004 (outside Calgary).
In person at Kensington Wine Market, located at
1257 Kensington Road NW, Calgary, AB, T2N 3P8.
Remember, you have to be a member to
purchase, so please have your membership number handy!
Not for swigging, glugging or knocking back! 7
But not forever!
Here’s a chance to sample some rare treats from our bottle bank of past Society
releases. Remember, Society whiskies are bottled from single casks, so they don’t
last forever. As the number of remaining drams decreases, their rarity increases.
Fortunately for you, the price doesn’t!
Past Bottlings
Wowee!
Cask No Wowee! – a mouth-watering nose – initial waves of teriyaki, soy noodles, crispy
bacon, cough medicine and rum, followed by roast pork with apple sauce and
sultanas cooking in cinnamon, butter and sugar; also some grass, wood glue
and bubble gum. We tasted fascinating flavours of char siu pork, dried figs
and cooked cherries and apples – then a breath-taking finish of liquorice, shoe
polish, wood and posh leather. The reduced nose was sweeter and tamer –
spiced onion jam and Old English Spangles. The palate now suggested brown
sugar on porridge, maple candy and hints of grapefruit. The distillery has a
musical clock tower.
105.17 Bottle price
$189.99
Speyside (Spey)
While waiting for the pork roast to be ready - easy
on the water
Drinking tip:
Colour: Deep ginger Date distilled: September 1983
Cask: First fill sherry hogshead Alcohol: 55.3%
Age: 28 years Outturn: 310 bottles
28 years old!
Only one left!
www.smws.ca 8
Speyside (Lossie)
Sunshine on barley fields and meadows
Cask No The nose entertained us with spicy oak, leather, pepper, polish and glue;
considerable toffee and vanilla kept blossoming in the glass – followed
eventually by dusty tobacco, cigar boxes and saunas. The flavours were dark
and interesting – attractively bitter; hinting at dark chocolate, leather, singed
orange zest, liquorice, tarragon and chipotle chillies. The reduced nose gave
us sunshine on hay bales, barley fields and meadows, Old English spangles,
oatmeal, raspberry and banana, with tutti frutti ice-cream and vanilla
underlying everything. The taste became fruity, floral and perfumed but with
nippy, earthy elements – full and complex. From the distillery next to Benriach.
7.73 Bottle price
$148.99
While riding through the orchard on hot summer
days
Drinking tip:
Colour: Veiled bronze Date distilled: March 1998
Cask: First fill sherry butt Alcohol: 56.8%
Age: 13 years Outturn: 830 bottles
Rabbit, ginger & treacle tart
Cask No Big rich sweet aromas accosted the Panel – ginger cake, strawberry Chewits,
treacle tart, cinnamon, malt loaf but also earthy mushrooms, Marigolds (the
gloves not the flowers), leather and musky horses; this was when one Panellist
pictured herself riding a spice-bag-laden Andalusian horse through orchards
wearing leather chaps. Warm, sweet, savoury on the palate, hot and tannic
with rosemary & sage, saddle polish, rabbit paella, warm chocolate sponge,
dried cranberries and hazelnuts. Diluted, aromas of olive groves, red apples,
hay and grilled rabbit with smooth, creamy tastes of oranges, prunes,
strawberries, apricots and more rabbit. Founded as Kinflat distillery in 1810.
71.34 Bottle price
$121.99
Speyside (Lossie)
A lazy, sunny Sunday afternoon dram Drinking tip:
Colour: Rose gold Date distilled: April 1993
Cask: Refill barrel, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 56.4%
Age: 18 years Outturn: 224 bottles
9 www.smws.ca
Islay
Sweet vs savoury
Cask No
Bacon, maple syrup and waffles vie with Black Forest Gateaux and sticky toffee
pudding, while fried seaweed, spare ribs and black pudding tussle with lint
bandages, and smoke. Sweet, rich, smoky, ashy, thick and herbal on the palate
lent weight to the meatiness (pork covered in caramel). The addition of water
brought forth aromas of smoked goose, salty scallops, toffee, Seville orange
marmalade and fresh minty notes. The taste was chewy and rich but this time
with scorched heather, burnt citrus, barbecued lamb & mint sauce, violet ice
cream and caramelised onions. This distillery’s mascot is Shortie the Jack
Russell.
A definite foodie dram - while spit roasting a suck-
ling pig, perhaps?
Drinking tip:
Colour: Burnished gold Date distilled: August 1999
Cask: Refill butt Alcohol: 56.3%
Age: 11 years Outturn: 630 bottles
33.114 Bottle price
$111.99
Back after a long
absence!
Soft, spicy, rich and intense
Cask No Wonderfully soft and perfumed yet spicy, deep, intense on the nose - hints of
sandlewood, dark cherries, toasted apple, candyfloss, oranges and spices
transported us to a late autumn bonfire (not Guy Fawkes or Halloween though).
On the palate initial intense spicy perfumed woody notes gave way to a soft
creamy taste with a hot spicy almost tannic finish. Water (and it didn’t really need
it) made it waxier with church candles and saddle soap, sweet caramel and rich
apple tarte tatin. To taste it seems even spicy - cinnamon, aniseed and clove but
still very soft and supple with a long sweet unctuous finish.
A4
Bottle price
$170.99
Armagnac
A perfect autumnal dram but would be fantastic as a
digestif
Drinking tip:
Colour: Orange copper Date distilled: January 1983
Cask: Refill hogshead, ex-bourbon Alcohol: 47%
Age: 22 years Outturn: 434 bottles
10 www.smws.ca
Com
ing
soon
!!
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society is on YouTube!
Let your fingers do the walking to
www.youtube.com/user/smwssilverscreen
The London Venue manager enjoys
1.164 Cheshire Cat Whisky (hint: see page 3)
What are the origins of The Scotch Malt Whisky Society?
Members talk about their Society experience
and more!
Share them with your friends!
11 Not for swigging, glugging or knocking back!
Society tasting glasses are now available!
$12.00 each
(plus shipping and handling and applicable taxes)
Go to www.smws.ca and click on ‘Dry Goods’
For members only (contents sold separately).
Curious? Read on!
The Scotch Malt Whisky Society, founded in 1983 in Edinburgh, Scotland, is the world’s largest
single malt whisky club, with 26,000 members in 16 countries. The Society bottles in excess
of 300 casks each year from up to 128 distilleries, all at cask strength, and
available exclusively to members.
Members also receive The Society’s award winning magazine, Unfiltered, and have access to
member’s venues in Edinburgh, London, Tokyo and elsewhere.
The Canadian branch releases new single malt whiskies every month on the
first Friday of the month (“First Fridays!’).
In Canada, The Society’s exclusive retailer is Kensington Wine Market in Calgary. Membership can be
purchased for $230 plus GST (which includes the new member’s kit, pictured above) by calling
Kensington Wine Market at 403-283-8000 or visiting KWM’s website at www.kensingtonwinemarket.com.
Annual renewals are $120 (plus GST).
Only single cask, single malt whiskies that promise to intrigue, entertain and delight
our members are selected, true to our motto:
To leave no nose upturned.
www.smws.ca
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