Whisky of the Week

Mackmyra Svensk Rök Whisky

On 01/26/2015

Since they launched their first limited edition around 2002, Mackmyra has consistently been producing fantastic whisky. I have tried the Mackmyra First Edition and loved it. So imagine my excitement when I got my hands on a Mackmyra Svensk Rök single malt whisky at Wild About Whisky.

Introduced in 2013, Mackmyra whisky Svensk Rök (Swedish Smoke) is a single malt and the first commercially available peated expression in the standard Mackmyra range.

Mackmyra ages their whisky mainly in new Swedish oak. The Swedish oak grows slowly in the harsh climate and gives the whisky a harsher flavour than American oak.

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In Sweden, juniper has been used for generations to season and flavour food. The smoky notes from the Svensk Rök are from using moss and juniper wood in the process.

Together, these flavours unite in a uniquely Swedish flavour. Swedish Smoke is the only smoky single malt whisky made with Swedish ingredients only.

Mackmyra Svensk Rök Whisky Review

COUNTRY: Sweden

ABV: 46.1%

COLOUR: A golden wheat colour. It is lighter than most of the whiskies that I have. It is not a very oily whisky.

NOSE: When first opening the bottle, it is lovely. Smoke, oak, cereals, florals and hints of sweetness. There are bits of citrus and juniper drifting round. The nose is delicate and complex. After adding some water, peat appears on the nose, and the more earthy notes come to the fore.

PALATE: Without water, the palate has mild spice notes with vanilla and butterscotch. The Mackmyra Svensk Rök whisky has a light mouthfeel and is a medium-bodied whisky. Adding water smooths out the whisky and releases notes of smoke, fruit and florals. The water enhances the oak and the peat in the Mackmyra Svensk Rök.

FINISH: It has quite a short finish leaving me wishing for more. It ends in notes of oak and citrus.

RATING: EXCELLENT

The Mackmyra Svensk Rök single malt whisky is refreshingly different and something that Mackmyra should be proud of. An enjoyable, drinkable dram. It is well constructed and very Swedish. It made me think of pine forests, snow and Scandinavian structure when I drink this.

I bought this bottle from Wild About Whisky in Dullstroom. Hopefully, there are still a few in stock, as these are a must in any whisky collection.

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WL Weller 12 year old Bourbon Whiskey

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 01/12/2015

In Bourbon whiskey

In honour of good friends from America visiting, I start 2015 by opening a new bottle of bourbon. WL Weller 12 year old is a brand of wheated bourbon whiskey produced in Frankfort, Kentucky.

The Stitzel-Weller Distilling Company originally owned the brand. Currently, it is owned by the Sazerac Company and made at the Buffalo Trace distillery.

Distilled from a mash composed of at least 51% corn, WL Weller is similar to most bourbons. Wheated means the mash recipe uses wheat and not rye as the secondary grain. The majority is still corn and a little malted barley to convert the mash.

The first person credited to use wheat as the flavouring grain for Kentucky straight bourbon was WL Weller. He also managed to build a successful business on the idea. The resulting recipe makes for generally a sweeter and milder whiskey.

The character isn’t directly related to the use of wheat as much as the lack of rye. Also, a wheated bourbon ages better. His wheated bourbon was first produced in 1849.

Both the WL Weller 12 year old bourbon and the famous Pappy Van Winkle bourbon whiskey is made at Buffalo Trace’s distillery since Stitzel-Weller closed down in 1992. The WL Weller whiskey has won numerous awards. Most recently, a 2014 Double Gold Medal at the San Francisco World Spirits Competition.

Jim Murray has given this wheated bourbon a 93.5 in his Whisky Bible. Understandable, I am excited to try this exciting bourbon. In South Africa, this is probably the closest I will come to anything remotely resembling a Pappy van Winkle.

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WL Weller 12 year old Bourbon Whiskey Review

COUNTRY: USA

ABV: 45%.

COLOUR: Dark copper colour with hints of red. It is a thick and oily spirit and points to great dram.

NOSE: The WL Weller 12 year old bourbon has a pleasant, sweet bourbon aroma on the nose. In the background, there are notes of butterscotch, rich vanilla and cereals. There are faint hints of wheat and creamed corn on the nose.

PALATE: Without water, the palate is rich and creamy with hints of spice. After adding some water, it is still very smooth, with cinnamon and ginger spices coming through. Some of the bourbon sweetness disappears, and the wheat and oak take over. The vanilla and honey sweetness lingers in the background.

FINISH: Medium length finish that ends in notes of oak and hints of spicy citrus marmalade.

RATING: VERY GOOD

This bourbon whiskey from the Buffalo Trace distillery is a good start to a busy year. With all these spicy notes, I wonder if this bourbon will pair well with an apple pie? I might bake one for dessert and try it with the WL Weller 12 year old bourbon again.

The WL Weller works well with a creamy French Camembert cheese. The spices does not overwhelm the delicate cheese and the creamy cheese smoothes out the whiskey.

Also Read:Heavenhill Old Style Bourbon

Glenlivet 15 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 01/08/2015

In Single Malt whisky

At the beginning of this year, I got the chance to taste something extraordinary. WhiskyBrother, the iconic speciality whisky store in Hyde Park, sent me a sample of their new, personally selected WhiskyBrother Glenlivet 15 year old single malt Scotch whisky.

I could not wait to try this little gem. I decided to have a special early tasting just for this. Marc Pendlebury, the founder of the WhiskyBrother store, chose this Glenlivet 15 yo whisky on behalf of the store. It is a Glenlivet 1998 single malt whisky release, and it was bottled exclusively for WhiskyBrother.

Earlier in 2014, Marc travelled to Scotland. He spent some time with the independent bottler, Signatory. The benefit of an independent bottler is the huge selection and variety of whisky that they can offer.

It is often a misconception that independent bottlers produce whisky. Independent bottlers buy casks from distilleries and bottle it under their own label. They are also not restricted to a core range, style or age.

Out of the several whiskies that Marc tasted at Signatory, he brought three samples back to South Africa for final selection. The winning cask was chosen solely on the whisky Marc thought was best. He didn’t concern himself with which distillery it came from or how old it was

Related Article: Whisky Ratings

Glenlivet 15 year old Whisky Review

The selected 15 yo Glenlivet cask was distilled on the 28^th of August 1998 and bottled on the 24^th of March 2014. The Whiskybrother Signatory Glenlivet 15 year old whisky is individually numbered and presented in a beautiful bottle. It was matured in a 500-litre butt, which previously contained Oloroso sherry. The Glenlivet is not chill-filtered and naturally coloured.

REGION: Speyside

ABV: 54.8%

COLOUR: What an amazingly dark whisky. It has a dark copper, nearly amber colour. It is a very oily whisky making long slow fingers on the side of the glass.

NOSE: You can not miss the sherry notes on the nose. There are notes of raisins and sherry soaked plums and cherries. Closing your eyes, you get Christmas pudding sweetness and hints of vanilla mixed with the oak. When you add a few drops of water, you get more hints of toffee and caramel.

PALATE: It is surprisingly spicy on the palate. The nose suggested fruit sweetness, but the palate delivered spice and oak. There are hints of ginger, cinnamon and cloves before the sherry sweetness comes through.

FINISH: This smooth whisky has a medium length finish that ends in leather and citrus marmalade notes.

RATING: EXCELLENT

The Glenlivet 15 year old is exclusively available at WhiskyBrother, and there is a limited number. If you live in Johannesburg, make a plan to head over to WhiskyBrother. Marc, please keep us a bottle of this special WhiskyBrother Glenlivet before they all disappear.

WhiskyBrother regularly releases their own special bottlings. Lately, some of these special releases have even won prizes, so it is worth keeping an eye on the shop to see what else they have.

Also read: Glenmorangie Sonnalta PX whisky

The Balvenie Roasted Malt 14 year old Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/22/2014

In Single Malt whisky

One of my favourite distilleries is Balvenie. I have quite a few of their releases and have published tasting notes on the Balvenie Doublewood 12 yo and the Balvenie Single Barrel whisky in the past. Today I look at something somewhat different, the Balvenie Roasted Malt 14 year old single malt Scotch whisky.

Balvenie lies in the Convals in Dufftown in the Speyside region of Scotland. William Grant built the distillery in 1892 just below the Glenfiddich distillery.

It shares its water source, the Robbie Dhu springs, with its well-known neighbour. Despite having the same owner, The Balvenie is hugely different in character from Glenfiddich.

Over the last few years, Balvenie has become the ninth bestselling single malt, and demand is growing. William Grant & Sons still own the distiller. In the summer of 1992, as part of an experimental process, a batch of barley was germinated over 24 hours before being kiln-dried, heated in a roasting drum at a temperature of 200C.

The normal germination period is usually around five days. This batch was then mixed with traditional malted barley before the mashing stage. The barley was roasted to between 1600 and 1800 European Brewing Colour (EBC) units.

Regular malted barley only reaches around 30 units. This dark roasted malted barley is more commonly used in the production of stout beer. Balvenie subsequently made a single batch of just 34 casks from this toasted barley.

When it was finally bottled in 2006, this became the first single malt Scotch whisky to use such a heavy roasting procedure. It was named the Balvenie Roasted Malt whisky.

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The Balvenie Roasted Malt 14 year old Whisky Review

This limited edition Balvenie Roasted Malt 14 year old whisky is not chill-filtered.

REGION: Speyside

ABV: 47.1%

COLOUR: Dark amber, almost copper colour. It is a thick oily whisky in the glass.

NOSE: On opening the Balvenie Roasted Malt, sweetness and caramel come through. On the nose, there are rich notes of cocoa, honey and vanilla. After adding a few drops of water, the nose has some additional floral and fruity notes. There are little hints of toasted oak and oak spices.

PALATE: The Roasted Malt is a very gentle dram. On the palate, there are notes of caramel and roasted nuts. There are hints of oak and spices intermingling with vanilla. It is a medium-bodied whisky. It starts slowly and builds up to notes of sweet spice and oak.

FINISH: Medium length finish. It ends in notes of nuts and orange marmalade.

RATING: EXCELLENT

It is a wonderful addition to my growing Balvenie collection. The taste is unique and inviting, and I will be sorry to finish this bottle. I paired this Roasted Malt 14 year old with the Anthon Berg Chili & Honey Almond fair trade Dark Chocolate. It made for a delicious pairing.

Also Read: Glenlivet 18 yo whisky

Laphroaig An Cuan Mor Whisky

By Jeannette Wentzel

On 12/15/2014

In Single Malt whisky

Today I look at something peaty, the Laphroaig An Cuan Mor Islay single malt Scotch whisky. Laphroaig is a whisky distillery on the beautiful Islay. It is named for the piece of land at Loch Laphroaig’s head on the south coast of Islay. Islay’s history is a timeline of people who can be traced back to the earliest recorded communities.

The granite hills behind Laphroaig are scattered with the Neolithic standing stones that the ancients used to predict the seasons. Laphroaig even has its own Laphroaig menhir behind the distillery. The Laphroaig distillery was established in 1815 by Donald and Alexander Johnston.

Laphroaig’s distinctive flavour comes from its proximity to the coast and its peat’s high moss content. The Laphroaig distillery and brand is owned and operated by Beam Suntory, the American subsidiary of Japan’s Suntory Holdings.

The Laphroaig An Cuan Mor whisky is the final release in a series of three travel retail exclusives. It follows on from the Laphroaig QA Cask and Laphroaig PX Cask. An Cuan Mor means ‘The Big Ocean’ in Gaelic. This Laphroaig An Cuan Mor single malt is double matured, first in first-fill-only ex-American white oak bourbon barrels, then in European oak casks.

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Laphroaig An Cuan Mor Whisky Review

REGION: Islay

ABV: 48%

COLOUR: A dark, almost smoked, amber colour. It is a thick oily whisky with long fingers in the glass.

NOSE: Brilliantly Islay. The salt, the sea, the iodine, and peat smells pour from the glass. Classic Laphroaig on the nose. There are notes of leather that also comes through. Hints of honey sweetness with bits of spice and rich fruits make this Laphroaig An Cuan Mor whisky special.

PALATE: Without water, the palate has notes of spice on the tongue, but the peat is mild with sweet hints. Some medicinal tones in the background. Adding water makes it surprisingly sweet in addition to the classic peat. The Laphroaig An Cuan Mor Scotch has faint orange notes with iodine and fruit. A rich, smooth whisky.

FINISH: Bold and quite lingering. It warms the soul as few whiskies do. The An Cuan Mor ends with notes of oak, spice and honey.

RATING: EXCELLENT

It is a wonderfully complex whisky that even non-peat heads can appreciate. The peaty Islay style is front and centre in this Laphroaig An Cuan Mor, but it is not overwhelming. It allows the other aromas and notes to come out gently.

I have also tried someLaphroaig and Stilton Cheese before, and it is a fantastic combination.

Update: These Laphroaig releases are not limited to travel retail any more and are now widely available in trade. You can even get it here in SA.

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