Black Bull 30 Year Old Blended Whisky 50%

Those good people at Duncan Taylor sent me a wee sample of there new bottling so I thought that I best try it. Hint hint to anyone else that would like to send me stuff please email me at petelamb1970@aol.co.uk Well you got to try!

Any the Black Bull is 50% ABV and is a mixture of 50% malt whisky and 50% grain whisky. The whisky was married together shortly after distillation and then married together for 30 years in sherry butts. I am not sure how well Red Bull will take to them promoting a brand called Black Bull though!

Anyway lets try it and see what I think:

Nose: Warming, sherry, orange, hint of treacle toffee, stewed fruits and bizarely corned beef. Also flat warm cherry coke.

Taste: Big sherry, touch of oak some aniseed and cinammon. Becomes creamier with time. Doesn't taste 50% ABV. Definate chocolate notes (maybe cause I am just getting over easter eggs!).

Finish: A real mixture, slighty drying almost salty, becoming more creamy and a little bit spicy.

Comment: I like this a lot! The grain just adds a cracking creaminess that tames the the sherry. An ever changing dram one to take your time over.

Score: 92/100

Duncan Taylor Invergordon 1965 Cask 15532 52.7%

I love old grain whiskies so was delighted to get a chance to try this ancient (43yo) Invergordon. Plus I have been writing to much rubbish on here and not trying enough whiskies!

Nose: Big rich and oily, lots of caramel and buttery notes. Big vanilla and a touch of spice. A rather moreish nose. Some dried bananas emerge along with brown sugar.

Taste: Equally big in the mouth, but also very rounded and chewy, wow this really is chewy, some creamy notes and some floral type notes. Freshly butter toast with lashings of golden syrup on it. There is some a sweeter manufactured taste like Irn Bru bars (A Scottish Treat to rot your teeth but so good!)*

Finish: There could be a touch of salt in the finish (or maybe I am mad!) warm leather and a little bit of nutmeg.

Comment: Wow wow wow this is stunning one of the best whiskies I have tasted in a long time. Doesn't taste 52.7%. Not just a great grain whisky but a great whisky overall.

Score 95/100

Price Check

Royal Mile Whiskies - £94.95

This is a fairly new bottling as this is the only place I could find it on the net.

* Whilst looking for a picture of Irn Bru bars I discovered they have now been rebranded as Wham Brew Bars - this is surely an attempt to stamp down on Scottish Identity - I think a facebook group may need to be started in protest!

Lonach Caperdonich 1969 39yo 42.2%

A new Lonach release from Duncan Taylor. I usually am a fan of Caperdonich so lets see how this goes.

Nose: Sweet vanilla, lemons and honey. Sour apple sweeties and a hint of rhubarb rock.

Taste: That sour apple sweet note comes sweeping through. A touch of drying oakiness and a bit of orange rind. Then more grassy and herbal notes.

Finish: Fairly short and quite drying with a touch of aniseed.

Comment: A very good dram but just not quite up there with the best of the Caperdonichs. Mind you I will still drink another of these!

Score: 88/100

Glen Grant 1972 Cask 1641 53.5%

Was having a look at this blog last night and while looking at two of my favourite sites Whisky Fun and Dr Whisky (first checks every morning) I had to think what an amature at this I am. I haven't added a whisky for months and all my stuff is fairly standard. What I makes me think there sites are even more amazing is how the hell do they get to try all this whisky. Don't get me wrong I try a lot of whiskies but am not always able to take notes etc no way I would be able to seriously do over 200 whiskies in a year like these guys do!

Any way I thought I would try and put things right by starting with a 1972 Glen Grant Cask from Duncan Taylor so here goes:

Nose: Sweet, lots of vanilla a touch of spice, really creamy with pepper notes and maybe some pineapples! Cracking Nose!

Taste: Big coating mouth feel and initially spice comes through warming the mouth, some lime and and then creaminess coming through and maybe a touch drying

Finish: linger spice a touch of oak and then some of the zesty lime and some lemon coming through and maybe god forbid a salty note!

Comment: This is bloody stunning - I would definitely recommend this. If that slight dryness wasn't there then this really would be really really top drawer. Try it!

Score 89/100

Glenrothes 1985 43%

Glenrothes is usually a big favourite of mine and it is good to see that they are begining to push this more - thanks to the help of Ronnie Red Socks and Company making it in their own words "the fastest growing single malt!"

The 1985 is described on the label by John Ramsay as being "Rich, Creamy, Dried Fruit" in Character. This bottle was distilled on 21/7/1985 and Approved on 31/5/05 making it just shy of 20 years old. Well enough yapping lets see how it tastes!

Nose: Sweet, caramelly and a little perfumed. A mixture of citrus and dried fruits.

Taste: Rich, a little touch of orange notes and almost a little bit plasticy? Maybe some dried appricots in there and a little bit of sherbert.

Finish: Short and a little bit air freshener!

Comment: Actually a decent whisky but perhaps I was expecting a little bit too much.

Score: 80/100

I would like to say is that I will always push Glenrothes as it is one of The Great Speysiders. however I would say that they are beginning to take the piss a bit with some of there prices on there older vintages (all of which I would love to try) but on costs I will stick with the Independent bottlers for the old stuff. Check the prices on The Whisky Exchange Distillery bottling 30yo £249.00 - Gordon & Macphails 30yo - £67.99 and Duncan Taylor 1969 at £85.00.

Then again somebody must be paying these prices!

Duncan Taylor Gets Green Light for Distillery

Duncan Taylor have been given the green light to build their distillery by the planners in Huntly. It appears that there is only one hurdle left before building begins in the old creamer buildings.

http://www.thisisnorthscotland.com/displayNode.jsp?nodeId=149235&command=displayContent&sourceNode=149218&contentPK=19235668&moduleName=InternalSearch&formname=sidebarsearch

DTC Carsebridge 1979 28yo Cask 33026 52.4%

I love grain whisky (to be fair I love all whisky) and it annoys me when people don't give it the respect it deserves. Ok compared with malt whisky it is hugely mass produced just looking at the cask number on this confirms that! But put it in a decent cask and give it time and amazing things can happen! Go on you malt snob give it a try!



Nose: Cheap yellow vanilla ice cream. Caramac bars and digestive biscuits with melted butter.



Taste: Rich, velvety a touch spicy with lots of toffee notes and maybe a touch of cheesecake.



Finish: long, very long a touch rye like and a little dry.



Comment: Stunning whisky, if it wasn't for the slight dry note on the finish this would score even higher.



Score: 92/100

Macallan 1969 Duncan Taylor Cask 8373

Another old Macallan from DTC this one is at 44.6% so it had a year or so left. They have this on http://www.singlemaltsdirect.com/ at £211.00 a decent amount of money but when you consider the distillery bottling on http://www.thewhiskyexchange.com/ is selling for £1700.00

Anyway lets try it:

Nose: Soft, sweet fruits and a touch grassy and oily. Tropical fruits, kiwi fruits and bananas. A great nose with a whiff of orange sherbet.

Taste: A little zesty to begin with, then deeper richer oily nutty notes with and a touch of parma violets briefly enters the mix. Then more typical chocolatey orange notes.

Finish: A hint of spice, orange peel and nutmeg!

Comments: An excellent example of an old yet vibrant whisky that hasn't been over powered by the cask. As they say in the Lilt adverts - A totally tropical taste!

Score 96/100

Strathisla 1967 Duncan Taylor Cask 1894

Was very lucky to be given a sample of this today to try - not everyday you get the opportunity to try a 40yo Single Malt so here goes:

Nose: Sweet, rich touch of rum and softer citrusy notes. Warm oranges!

Taste: Wow, orangey, oily, mouth coating, slim trace of wood this is so full of big lively flavours it almost defies its age bar the faint trace of smoke.

Finish: Slightly nutty, with more big oily fruity flavours coating the taste buds long after this is drunk.

Comment: I had to drink this fairly quickly but would far prefer that I could spend a good evening nursing a few of these - someday maybe I will get a bottle, well I know its only June but I hope Santa Claus is reading this! Great Whisky!

Score: 97/100

Bruichladdich 1966 Cask 199

Got the chance to try this the other day, and was very glad to get the chance - I think that this may be the first time I have reviewed a whisky that has been on the legendery website of Serge www.whiskyfun.com all be it he did it in April.

Any way here goes:

Bruichladdich 1966 - cask 199 - 42%

Nose: Sweet, lots of vanila with a touch of Liquorice and Lemon
Taste: Dry peat smoke, coastal with zingy cirtusy notes.
Finish: Lingering lemon coastalness - with a fresh oakiness
Comment: An old whisky with a young heart.

Score: 91/100

An absolutely top drawer whisky and ok so well out of price range per bottle I would say that it is certainly value for money if such a thing can be said for a whisky just shy of £200.00 a bottle.

For a far better review read Serge's review, http://www.whiskyfun.com/archiveapril06-2.html#180406

Duncan Taylor Glengarioch 1988 17yo

Tonights wee dram a DTC Glengarioch 1988 - 17 year old at a nice 54.6% ABV - I had heard that this was from a sherry cask but doesnt state it on the label. This is from cask number 1555 have tried some of these when they were at 16yo so lets see.

Nose: Initially sweet, bannanas and a touch of spice, cardammon. background hint of mint!
Taste: Warming, mmm, drying lots of spiciness again at cask strength, can take a wee splash helps it along. More rummy flavours come through with water.
Finish: Slight hint of parma violets quickly fades to leave a rummy finish.
Comment: A nice spicy wee dram, that takes a splash just to let the rich spicy flavours out. A nice dram but perhaps more one for a winter night than a hot stuff summer night!
Score: 87/100 If it didn't have such a hot spiciness it would perhaps score higher - or if i taste it in December.

Duncan Taylor 35 Year Old Blend

35 Year Old Blend Duncan Taylor

With all the recent talk on various places about home vatting I thought that I would crack open my bottle of 35 year old blend from Duncan Taylor. I tried this at whisky live London and ended up having to get a bottle. So we all know that blends are dull and boring or stupidly overly priced! - (Johnnie Blue anyone!) Ok I don't mean this at all (well I do about the Johnnie Blue bit) but this is the impression that a lot of people get when they hear the word blend - Well this is a cracking wee dram, lots of sherry cask influence but also a great creaminess coming through in the finish. Lots of spiciness and good to see that they have had the balls to bottle this at 46% rather than dumbing it down at 40%.

This blend was put together about 20 years ago, the malt and the grain was married together when the whisky was about 15 years old and then placed into sherry butts and left to mature for a further 20 years. I think that this is fairly unique I believe that most blends are only given about 6 months to marry together if that ( I had heard that some blends marry the grains and the malts separately before marrying the two together - but I have no definitive examples).

The result is a cracking whisky and at about £50 a bottle it is great value for money something that we often forget about when getting caught up in the latest extra expensive bottling.

Anyway enough waffling on here are my tasting notes:

Nose: Rich, lots of sherry - but balanced. Bitter chocolates and sweet creamy fruits.
Taste: Creamy oakiness in background, Vanilla. Really velvety and chewy, with lots of heavy fruits and glazed cherries. There is also a coastal saltiness that comes through.
Finish: Long, initially fruity and then the soft creaminess builds up along with a spiciness.
Comments: This is very well put together difficult to describe with no one flavour overpowering the whisky. A great blend but more importantly a cracking whisky.
Score: 93/100 Scores extra marks for value for money.

The label says that this is made up of four speyside malts, an islay and a highland malt and obviously some grain. I don't know which ones but the islay certainly adds a salty character.

For an alternative view (and a better written view!) check out http://mproberts.co.uk A fellow fan of the Duncan Taylor Blend.