Best Shot Whisky Reviews : Classic Selection

“Dirty Water”

Whisky Review # 992

Country: Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Region: North-Eastern Highlands - Hallkirk (Caithness)

Brand: Gerston - Lost Distilleries - Classic Selection

Produced, Matured and Bottled in Scotland by: The Lost Distillery Company

Type: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

Age: NAS

Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 43%
Maturation: Refill Ex-Bourbon Casks

Chill Filtration: No

Price Range: US$ 45-55 (June 2023)
Price/Quality Ratio: 😑 Borderline Okay
Buying Advice: 👎 Too Thin and Watery to really enjoy. Try the Gift Box first!

Colour: Golden Sunlight (Natural Colour)

Nose:

Young with Sweet, Sour, Smoky, Mineral & Salty Notes. I can almost touch the Refill casks. It's not too bad but I can't get excited I'm afraid.

Main Aromas:

Sweet Barley Sugar, Vanilla, Sugared Breakfast Cereals, Straw, Burnt Toast, Green Apple, Citrus Peel, Dirty Earth, Factory Smoke, Pepper and Ginger.

Supportive Aroma Accents:

Honey, Salted Caramel, Toffee, Mixed Nuts and Dried Fruit, Wet Sand, Unripe Pear, Mandarin, Melon, Nectarine, Imitation Leather, Charred Oak, Olive Oil, Mustard and Sea Breeze. A hint of Phosphor.

Palate:

Young, Light and Thin. A mix of Bitter, Sweet, Sour, Salty and Mineral notes. It's a bit Dirty as well. A Watered-Down version of Ledaig from the isle of Mull.

Main Flavours:

Toasted and Malted Barley, Salted Caramel, Straw, Green Apple, Citrus Peel, Olive Oil, Licorice, Charred Oak, Dirty Earth, Factory Smoke, Dark Chocolate, Wet Rocks, Pepper and Ginger.

Supportive Flavour Accents:

Honey, Vanilla, Dried Herbs, Unripe Pears & Bananas, Mandarin, Melon, Nuts & Nut Shells, Iron, Cinnamon and Mint.

Finish:

Medium-Long. Bitter-Sweet, Thin & almost Watery. A little Hot towards the Dry end. I find Toasted Barley, Salted Caramel, Vanilla, Straw, Charred Oak, Factory Smoke, Dirty Earth, Citrus Peel, Mandarin, Green Apple, Nuts & Nut Shells, Dark Chocolate, Cinnamon, Pepper, Menthol, Licorice & Ginger. A hint of Old Iron and Peanut Butter.

Drinking Advice:

Added Water kills this Gerston.

Rating: 6.5 (******1/2)

Nose: 7 - Taste: 6.5 - Finish: 6

*** Important Note with respect to Rating.

If the Final score is above 8 you can safely buy the whisky in question if and when it fits your Aroma/Flavor profile. If the score is between 6 and 8 you might want to try it out in the form of a sample or if offered at a good price. Anything below 6 should be left alone when you are looking for a nice sipping whisky. You might still like it of course & I realize pricing is an important item for many whisky fans especially when you are used to enjoy whisky in a cocktail or a mixed drink.

Drinking Experience Neat: Okay

Conclusion:

There were in fact two distilleries operating under this name. Gerston I was a family owned Farm Distillery that was founded by the Swanson Family in 1796 and closed in 1875 after a Water dispute with one of the neighbors. Swanson subsequently sold the distillery. Gerston II was founded in 1886 and was 10 times as big as Gerston I. The new owners hoped to build on the success of Gerston I but could not repeat the taste and the quality of the original distillery. Gerston II closed after nearly two decades in the year 1914. Only Gerston I used Peat to dry the malted Barley so this recreation is based on that Distillery.

Of course there is no way of telling if this version smells and tastes like the products of Gerson I or II. On a stand-alone basis I'm not overly impressed with this fifth Lost Distillery item out of a gift box of 6 miniatures. The last one, Towiemore, will get its Review later this year. This Gerston is very Young and Thin almost to the point of being Watery despite the 43%. It's okay as a miniature but I would not advise to buy a full bottle of this. I have no idea what Distilleries are part of this Blended Malt but I'm pretty sure it contains Old Pulteney & perhaps a bit of Ledaig. If you guys have additional info, please let me know!

Cheers!

Jan van den Ende June 15, 2023

“I Don’t Love It But I Think I Like It”

Whisky Review # 979

Country: Scotland 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

Region: Border Lowlands/Southern Highlands

Brand: Stratheden - Classic Selection - Styled on long closed distilleries
Bottled and Blended by: The Lost Distillery Company, Kilmarnock
Type: Blended Malt Scotch Whisky

Age: NAS

Alcohol By Volume (ABV): 43%
Maturation: Unknown. Probably mostly Ex-Bourbon casks & some Sherried Wood
Chill Filtration: No
Price Average: US$ 55 (February 2023)
Price/Quality Ratio: 👍
Buying Advice: 😐 It's okay. I think you should go for the more mature expressions

Colour: Golden Sunlight (Natural Colour)

Nose:

Light, Young, a little Edgy and mostly Sweet. Lots of Bakery Aromas with some Peat and Smoke in the background. I would like to try the more mature versions of this Malt being The Archivist Selection and The Vintage Selection. They should be quite nice. The Nose of this Classic Selection is not bad but a bit Young and Immature.

Main Aromas:

Sweet Barley, Salted Caramel, Puff Pastry with Warm Apple and Pear Filling, Soft Peat, Smoke from a Distant Fire, Grass and Hay, Orange-Flavored Chocolate, Dusty Wood, Cinnamon and Ginger.

Supportive Aroma Accents:

Toffee, Buttered Toast, Vanilla, Floral & Green Notes, Tropical Fruitcake (Pineapple, Mango, Sultana), Lemon Peel, Toasted Nuts, Tobacco, Leather, Wet Newspaper and Pepper.

Palate:

Light, Young and slightly Thin but Oily at the same time. The Alcohol is noticeable at this point. It's a little Rougher than the Nose would suggest. The Palate is a mix of Sweet, Sour and Salty notes. Only a slight Bitterness here.

Main Flavours:

Malted Barley, Salted Caramel, Grass and Straw, Seville Orange, Lemon, Grapefruit, Green Apple, Orange-Flavored Chocolate, Dusty Wood, Soft Peat, Factory Smoke, Pepper, Ginger, Menthol/Mint and Tobacco.

Supportive Flavour Accents:

Vanilla, Honey, Toffee, Toasted Nuts, Floral and Green Notes, Mandarin, Tropical Fruitcake (Banana, Pineapple, Sultana, Mango), Wet Rocks and Sand, Cinnamon & Iron.

Finish:

Short-Middle Long and slightly Hot. Sweet at first but showing Sour and Salty notes towards the Medium-Dry to Dry end. I find Sweet Barley, Salted Caramel, Vanilla, Honey, Seville Orange, Grapefruit, Lemon, Honey, Hard Candy (Berry Flavor), Wet Peat, Factory Smoke, Ashes, Wet Rocks & Sand, Red Apple, Tobacco, Pepper, Mint and Cinnamon. Traces of Chocolate and Iron.

Drinking Advice:

This Stratheden does not improve with added Water.

Rating: 7.5 (*******1/2)

Nose: 7.8 - Taste: 7.5 - Finish: 7.3

*** Important Note with respect to Rating.

A few of my loyal readers have pointed out that every once in a while my final Rating note did not seem to be totally in line with the written text. I recognize that. When I started this Whisky Blog back in 2011, I was not at all experienced in tasting and scoring Single Malts & Blends. Looking back I realize that during the early years I probably scored the good Whiskies too low and the not so good Whiskies too high. Ever since the beginning I try to remain consequent in my rating, always comparing the outcome to the rating of comparable whiskies in terms of quality and taste and adjusting the final rating if necessary. This might lead to the discrepancy I mentioned before. As a result I have decided to use a new rating system this year. I will still give a rating for Nose, Taste and Finish but now on the scale from 1-10 whereby 1 represents the worst and 10 the best. The sum of these numbers will be divided by 3 to get the final score. I hope this new scoring makes it easier for you to understand what I thought about the whisky I'm reviewing.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good

Conclusion:

The Stratheden Distillery was founded in 1829 by Alexander Bonthroe & was located in the little village of Auchtermuchty near Cupar in Fife. The distillery worked with Beer Barley and Sherry casks and imported Peat from Orkney. The main reason for closing the distillery was the Prohibition in the USA that cancelled the main export market. It ceased production in 1924 and closed for good in 1926.

First of all I like the purpose of this Series created by Scott Watson and Brian Woods of The Lost Distillery Company. Both worked at Diageo before that. It's nice to try and recreate Single Malts from long closed distilleries based on the information still available on the Water Supply, Barley, Yeast and the distilling process. It's not easy to do that I suppose. The Stratheden is the fourth in a series of six that I bought as a Sample Gift package. All with Natural Color indeed and without Chill-Filtration as it was done in the days.

The Lost Distillery Company usually uses between 5 and 10 Single Malts to try and recreate the lost distilleries. I don't know the contents of this Blended Malt but I suspect it contains some peated Malt from Glen Scotia.

There's of course no way we can tell if this Blended Malt really resembles the old Stratheden Whisky. It's a little Young & Rough at places and I think I probably would like the more mature versions better. But this Classic Selection is not bad and reasonably priced. Try a sample or miniature like I did before buying a full bottle.

Cheers!

Jan van den Ende 🥃 February 23, 2023

The Still Existing Bonded Warehouse

About this site

There are a lot of people writing about whisky. There are few people that write independent reviews. If you have to believe the first category, there are only excellent whiskies. That just is not true. There are a lot of excellent whiskies yes. As there should be because whisky today is expensive! But there is a lot of indifferent product and some stuff is just not good enough. There is a clear need for independent reviewers. I am one of them. I have nothing to do with the industry. I don't sell anything. I don't have the perfect Palate. My opinion is as good as yours! I just taste whiskies and tell you what I think about them. That's all.

Gerston (Lost Distillery Company)

Stratheden (Lost Distillery Company)