Whyte and Mackay 19 Years Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Whyte & Mackay

Type: Blended Whisky

Age: 19 Years

Alcohol: 40%

Colour: Deep Golden

Nose: More mature than the Thirteen and with notably less Alcohol. Sultanas, Figs, Malt, Licorice, Oak, Sherry, Red Wine. Hints of Honey, Nutmeg and Bourbon. In a blind tasting I could have easily thought that this whisky had been finished in Red Wine Barrels or Port Pipes. I would describe this as a Dark Nose with Dark Fruits, Dark Wine and Charred Oak.

Taste: Rich and Fruity, Sweet Grain, Dark Chocolate, Black Pepper, Nuts, Sultanas, Honey, Toffee and Oak.

Finish: Licorice, Oak, Toffee, Sultanas, Honey, Cherries and light Pepper.

When you add a bit of water, the Nose reveals a bit more Stone Fruit like Pears and more Honey and Vanilla. On the Palate, Honey and Sweet Grain take control while Licorice and Black Pepper dominate the Finish. I prefer it neat but there is sufficient room to experiment with a couple of drops.

Rating: 84 

Nose 21.5 – Taste 21 – Finish 20.5 – Overall 21

General Remarks: Allan & Poynter started as a warehouse in 1843 in Glasgow, gradually getting into the business of storing whiskies as well. The company changed hands various times before it was sold to Whyte & Mackay. Soon afterwards these two partners started to blend whisky. Between 1900 and 1950 the company survived despite the World Wars and the recession. In the sixties things became better. After a large number of take-overs, United Spirits from India took control in 2007. At the moment, the Diageo Group is making a bid for a stake in the company (September 2012).

The blend is made following the Double Marriage process and has a larger Malt content than the Thirteen. First, Single Malts mature in Oak Barrels for at least 18 Years. These Malts are then married and transferred to Sherry Casks from Jerez for another year. Finally, this Malt Blend is mixed with Grain Whiskies before bottling.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Drinking Experience on the Rocks: Good

Conclusion: This is certainly a step up from the Thirteen. There is hardly any Alcohol that hinders the Nosing of this Dram. It’s quite smooth and mature. Despite the 19 years, the Wood is not very dominant. If anything, I find this Blend a little on the dark and moody side. A bit too much Speyside perhaps but in the end that’s a matter of personal taste. As it is, the 19 is a good Blend with a reasonable price tag.

Jan van den Ende                                                        September 27, 2012

Johnnie Walker Green Label Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Johnnie Walker Green Label  

Type: Blended Whisky

Age: 15 Years

Alcohol: 40%

Colour: Amber

Nose: Malted Barley, Heather and Peat are followed by Oak, Sherry, Oranges, Raisins and Caramel. There’s some Alcohol but nothing to get upset about. You have to be very patient and persevering to get round these initial flavors but after quite a while I detected hints of Coffee, Leather and Tobacco. Very light Spices.

Taste: Very smooth and sweet though a bit watery delivery with Honey and Toffee, followed by Cinnamon and Pepper. Much sweeter than I’d expected actually after the nose. A light saltiness appears. Grapefruit, Nuts, Oak and Tobacco. Again I would like to stress that a blend of this quality should be bottled at (at least) 43%.

You may add some water that will release even more Heather, Honey and Peat but be careful! A drop too much and the palate is gone. I prefer it without water to better enjoy the Talisker Pepper that provides a welcome counterbalance for the Honey and Malt from Cragganmore. I would have liked to find a bit more Smoke. Caol Ila does bring (more than) sufficient Peat and a slight saltiness.

Finish: Good, Long but Very Dry. A combination of Honey, Cinnamon and Pepper. Smoke and Ashes from a very distant fire.

Rating: 86,5

Nose: 21,5 – Taste: 21,5 – Finish: 22 – Overall: 21,5

General Remarks: Green Label is the only JW blend made purely of Single Malts. Four of them actually, from all main Scottish production areas: Talisker, Cragganmore, Linkwood and Caol Ila. The blend was introduced around 1995. Unfortunately,Diageo has decided to take the Green out of production. The reason could be that the middle market goes for Black and the Upper Market for Blue and Gold. And Green is too expensive for the Middle Market and not expensive enough for the Upper Market. Result: Disappointing Sales. Well, I do believe indeed that the Green is too expensive when compared to the Black.

But it’s also a quite different blend and as such deserves its place in the JW range. It 's a pity to see it go!

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Conclusion: I really struggled with this one during the last two nights. I heard so much positive opinions about the Green Label that I was really excited about tasting it. Did I set the bar too high? Probably. I have to admit that I was a bit disappointed. Let me start with the good news. The Finish is without any doubt the best from the Johnnie Walkers I’ve tasted so far. And the Blue label is the only one left untested. Nice combination of sweet, salt and Pepper. If anything, maybe a wee bit too dry. As for the nose, it’s nice enough but I found the Barley and Peat too dominant.  On the palate I thought the sweetness to be a bit overdone. Don’t get me wrong, the Green Label is a very good blend but I still think it can’t beat the Black Label in terms of both harmony and adventure. And I also think that the palate of the Swing is more to the point. It is of course all very personal in the end. But if you prefer Honey and Sweet you should go for the Green and the Gold. If you like a bit more Smoke, than the Black and the Swing are your choices of a good blend. Black, Green, Gold and Swing. You can’t go wrong with any of them. In fact they beat many Single Malts and there aren’t that many blends that achieve that. But with the exception of Black, you will need to dig deep in your pocket! However, the Green won't be around for much longer, so it's now or never!

 

Jan van den Ende                                                               January 6, 2012    

Ballantine's 17 Years Review

Country: Scotland

Brand: Ballantine’s

Type: Blended Whisky

Age: 17 Years

ABV: 43%

Colour: Bright Gold

Nose: First of all I must advise you to let the whisky open up in the glass for at least half an hour in order to get rid of most of the wafts of alcohol. If you don’t do that it will be difficult to nose anything besides alcohol, wood and grain. By the way, the alcohol comes mainly from the grain whiskies that form 60 to 70 percent of any blend. But let’s move on. Here’s what I found after letting the blend rest for almost 40 minutes: Wood, Light Peat, Light Smoke and a bit of Leather are the introduction to the nose. This suggests that the blend contains one or more Single Malts from Islay. After a while, the Grain and Malt (think of cold Pancakes) and dried fruits (Raisins) arrive.

In the back I detect a bit of Vanilla and Lemon and some other fruit. Could be green Apples or green Grapes. Almost 1 hour after having opened the bottle, I nosed again and this time I found Raisins soaked in some sweet fortified wine like Madeira or Banyuls from the South of France near the Spanish border. From the above you can see that there is enough variety to be found but it comes in waves rather than forming a well-balanced nosing profile. It’s also difficult to get rid of the raw alcohol that keeps popping up from time to time even after 30 minutes or so of nosing.

Taste: The delivery is smooth with Wood, Spices (White Pepper and Cinnamon), some Milk Chocolate and a touch of Smoke and Leather.

Finish: Middle Long and Medium Sweet. Bit of Honey, Spices and Chocolate.

Rating: 85

Nose: 22 – Taste: 21 – Finish: 21 – Overall: 21

General Remarks: This blend was created for the first time in 1930. Today it’s the oldest blended whisky still in the market and it is said to contain over 50 different malt - and grain whiskies. Key components of the blend are the Single Malts Glenburgie and Miltonduff. But Ballantine’s owner, the French Pernod-Ricard Group, also possesses Aberlour, The Glenlivet, Glendronach, Strathisla, Longmorn, Scapa and Tormore. So we might suspect at least some of them to be part of this blend.

The bottling at 43% allows you to experiment with a bit of water. I added half a teaspoon of still water and found that it accentuates the sweetness of the grain on the nose. It’s not very hard to think of a plate full of cold Pancakes with some Honey. It also reveals additional delicate tones of Smoke and Lemon. On the palate the blend becomes even smoother with some Ginger appearing next to the Milk Chocolate.

I do advise you to try this blend both with and without water. 

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Conclusion: This Blend was elected best whisky in the world by leading whisky writer Jim Murray in his 2011 edition of his Whisky Bible. I simply can’t agree with that. The Ballantine’s 17 Years is a very decent but expensive blend. There are better and less expensive alternatives available in the market, both  blends and Single Malts. Still, the 17 Years is a big step up from both the 12 Years and The Finest!

There are a lot of things happening in this blend and I do identify quite a few interesting components. But I also feel the blenders may have overplayed their hand a bit here. You can use a lot of excellent material to build a road. But in the end it’s important that the road goes somewhere. Somehow I felt a bit lost sometimes when tasting this whisky.

As an alternative try out Single Malts like The Balvenie Double Wood 12 Y or the BenRiach 16 Y. Less complicated but better balanced.

Jan van den Ende                                                             December 1, 2011