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Kitchen Chat and more…
Clynelish – a name that resounded with Brora – is an underrated whisky that whisky drinkers do not talk about. The irony of the phenomenal is the fact that Brora was the old Clynelish. How? The original Clynelish distillery completed construction in 1819 and ran its stills until 1967. The original distillery closed as the owners built a new distillery for Clynelish. Unfortunately, (or should we say, fortunately), there was a shortage of peated whisky for blending in 1969, and hence, Diageo reopened the old distillery, renamed it Brora and distilled a heavily peated spirit between 1969 to 1973.
This expression of Clynelish is exquisite. Distilled in September 1970, it slept in an oak (bourbon?) cask for 31 years before getting a finish in a sherry cask for a minimum of 6 months. Bottled in September 2001, it is officially a 31 years old whisky at cask strength. It was so exciting to try it finally!
Let’s check out the review!
Colour: Gold
ABV: 48.4%
Nose: Liquorice and mineral notes lead the way while caramel, vanilla and sweet barley lurk in the background. Spice moves around like a roving circus on a good day. It has a fascinating nose. (18/20)
Palate: Ooo…this is oily! There is a perfect combination of minerals and spice at the first sip. The second sip reveals liquorice and sweet barley as they coat the palate. Caramel and vanilla come last, completing the different layers of flavours together in a complex and excellent mouthfeel. (18/20)
Finish: Long and tannic like a lovely wine. Sweet barley, caramel and vanilla close the finish perfectly, bringing the complexity to a satisfying conclusion. (18/20)
Body: Superb balanced dram! I love the touch of sweet barley that lingers on and on from the palate to the finish. The sherry influence is evident in the liquorice nose that appears consistently in the nose, palate and finish. This expression seems to support my theory that bourbon-matured whisky finished in sherry casks are some of the best whiskies around. (38/40)
Total Score: 92 points
Geek Flora: Oh my God, this is possibly one of the best Clynelish that I had tried. The other Clynelish expression that I love is from Douglas Laing’s XOP series Clynelish 1995 21 Years Old.
Geek Choc: Hmm…this is a very good Clynelish to be sure. The flavours blend so well together that I think I might have fallen in love without knowing it!
McDonald’s launched their famous chocolate pie on March 1st in Singapore and long queues formed outside many of the outlets for the next few days. While many fans choose to queue for this decadent chocolate pie, lazy me decided to order for McDelivery instead. So, the chocolate pie came, and I was so excited to try it that I decided to leave the “Fish & Fries” (also new) aside. I needed to try this pie first while it was piping hot!
The first bite into the crust confirmed what I suspected all along. I needed to pair this with a peated whisky! The pie’s crust was slightly bitter when I took the first bite, but the delicious flow of molten chocolate made the whole experience great! So, I hunted around for a peated whisky to pair it with. I rejected a Laphroaig bottle because it is a PX cask, and finally settled on the Omar Peated Cask Strength Whisky, which matured in a bourbon cask.
I was fully aware that what I was about to do was crazy, perhaps even sacrilegious!
Now, let’s see what happened.
The Omar Peated is a gentle, lightly peated whisky full of creamy vanilla and some coconut. When I took a sip of the whisky after eating the pie, smoke burst forth in the mouth and enveloped the palate thoroughly. Then all the bourbon flavours followed after – creamy vanilla, coconut, malt and some tropical fruits danced happily together in the palate. The finish was spicy but elegant. I figured the spice was just the high abv showing its character.
Wow, that was quite an experience! I never thought that I would pair McDonald’s with any whisky, but there is always a first time!
The whisky, unfortunately, did not improve the pie much, except to make it less sweet. Nonetheless, I had an enjoyable dessert before eating my lunch properly, and that was what matters most! Hahaha!
Now that I opened a floodgate of pairing McDonald’s with whisky, I am looking forward to pairing something else from McD with whisky. What would be a good choice? Suggestions anyone?
We hardly heard of Arbikie Distillery in this part of the world, but they are doing a lot of fantastic stuff over in Scotland. The Stirling brothers, John, Iain and David, are fourth-generation farmers on the Arbikie Farm. Their forefathers started farming at Arbikie since the 1920s, so their history is long indeed. In 2013, the brothers decided to build a small distillery on the farm after coming up with a farm to bottle process. They aimed to produce the finest malt whisky in Scotland using the barley they farm and the water on their estates. Scotland hails the distillery as one of the most experimental distilleries due to the various projects and experiments that the master distiller does.
When Arbikie first ran its stills, they produced a potato vodka using Maris Pipers and King Edwards potatoes. They grew both species on their farm. After that, they created a gin in August 2015. Then the distillery began producing single malt spirits. They determined that these spirits will lay in barrels for a minimum of 14 years before getting bottled as single malt whisky.
However, Arbikie released something interesting recently – Arbikie Scottish Rye Whisky. Distilled in December 2015, the Scottish Highland Rye Whisky is two years old when bottled. This is batch one of their experimental pot distilled Scottish Rye spirit. Arbikie Farm grew a variety of rye since 2014 and experimented with both the variations and production techniques. The first release consisted of two versions of Rye Whisky. There is a Scottish Rye, which is in line with the Scotch Whisky Regulations 2009 and an American version, in line with techniques used in North America.
As you can see from the label of the bottle, all the essential information that a discerning drinker would like to know is there. It is exciting to know that more experiments are happening all over Scotland. While the younger distilleries such as Arbikie are leading the way, well-established distilleries like Bruichladdich are not far behind either. As to how these experiments will help the industry as a whole, we will have to wait and see.
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