Santis Malt Edition Dreifaltigkeit CS Peated Review

Country: Switzerland

Brand: Santis Malt Edition Dreifaltigkeit  (Cask Strength Peated)

Type: Appenzeller Single Malt Whisky

Age: NAS (I would guess 3-5 years)

ABV: 52%

Date: 11/05/2013

Colour: Dark Ale

Nose: Smoked Ham! Did you ever visit a German Butcher Shop in a small country village? If you did, you know what I'm trying to express here! There's Peat as well but it's completely different from the Islay variety. It's more like Cold Charred Oak. I also get German " Rauchbier", a dark beer with a distinct Smoked Ham taste and on top of that German Dark Sour Bread. It's almost a Schwarzwalder Schinkenplatte, a plate of Black Forest Ham and Dark Bread. After half an hour or so the Smoke lifts a bit and I get some Malt, Red Fruit, Caramel, Aniseed, light Medicinal tones and Wood Spice. It sure does not smell like your regular Speysider but it's a very interesting experiment!

Taste: The Smoked Ham continues and is accompanied by Sweet Barley, Dark Red Fruits, Herbs, Pepper, Caramel and Dark Ale.

Finish: Quite lasting with some slightly bitter Oak, Cooked Red Fruits and of course the Smoked Ham! 

I added a few drops of Water and the Smoked Ham gets the more refined aroma of sliced Black Forest Ham of superior quality. A bit of Caramel and Sweet Barley as well. The Palate and Finish get more of the Cooked Red Fruit. You can certainly play with a bit of Water here.

Rating: 85.5

   

Nose: 21.5 - Taste: 21.5  - Finish: 21- Overall: 21.5

General Remarks: The Brewery in Appenzell (Switzerland) produces beer since around 1830 and was purchased by the Locher Family in 1886. Today they produce a wide range of beers, with or without Alcohol. In 1999 the Brewery started distilling whisky that was presented to the market for the first time in 2002. The Dreifaltigkeit uses water from the Alpstein Mountains and Peat from the Upland Moor. It matured in used Very Old Oak Beer Casks that were smoked with Oak Wood again. The Malted Barley was smoked twice over. Four expressions are named after Alpstein Mountain formations. They are Santis, Sigel, Dreifaltigkeit and Marwees. The Dreifaltigkeit is priced at around 75 US Dollars.

Drinking Experience Neat:  Very Different but Good. An experiment you're not likely to forget.   

Conclusion: This is amazing stuff. Quite an experiment! Certainly not your daily to-go-to whisky but it's worthwhile to give it a try. Even if it's only once in your life. This is probably a very young spirit but the combination of the very old (60-130 years) charred Beer Casks and the local Peat makes this a very powerful whisky. It makes you wonder what would happen to this spirit if it was allowed to mature for 12 years or so!

Jan van den Ende                                                                        May, 2013

Cragganmore 1991 Review

Country: Scotland 

Region: Highland - Speyside

Brand: Cragganmore

Type: Single Malt Whisky

Age:  20 Years

ABV:  53.4% 

Date: 09/05/2013

Colour: Pale Straw/White Wine  

Nose: My first impressions were Buttered Toast and Apricot Marmalade, Malt, Vanilla, Hazelnuts and Marzipan. But they fade away quickly and the Cragganmore becomes quite Mineral, Woody and Nutty. There is some Alcohol present which is normal given the high ABV.  I also get Lemon, Honey, Raisins, Apple-Syrup, Cinnamon and maybe a hint of Leather. The Buttered Toast and Apricot Marmalade return after a while.

Palate: Quite Floral with Honey, Lemon-Pepper, Vanilla, Sweet Barley, Oak, Ginger, Cloves, Pineapple and Banana.

Finish: Rather Short and Dry with Lemon-Pepper, Herbs, Pepper, Sweet Barley and Cloves.

I added a bit of Water and I get more Malt, Toast, Apples, Honey and Nuts on the Nose and Lemon-Pepper on the Palate. You can perfectly experiment with a couple of drops here without overdoing it of course.

Rating: 84.5

Nose: 21.5 - Taste: 21 - Finish: 21 - Overall: 21

General Remarks: The Cragganmore Distillery was founded in 1869 by John Smith and is located in the village of Ballindalloch in Banffshire. It's now part of the Diageo Group and Cragganmore is part of their Classic Malts Selection. This specific Cragganmore was distilled on March 8, 1991 and 80 bottles were bottled at Cask Strength by Whiskybroker Co. UK on October 14, 2011. I believe that Masters of Malt bottled the rest of this cask. The Cragganmore matured in a refill Hogshead with Cask # 1146. This Single Malt is not coloured artificially and is non chill-filtered. It was for sale at around 60 US Dollars but it will be difficult, if not impossible, to get it by now.

Drinking Experience Neat: Good.

Conclusion: The first impressions on the Nose were excellent but they faded away too quickly. On the Palate and in the Finish this Cragganmore is quite Floral with a strong presence of Lemon-Pepper. It's a well-crafted whisky but I had expected much more depth and complexity of a 20 Year old Single Malt bottled at Cask Strength. Wouldn't consider buying a full bottle of this!

Jan van den Ende                                                                            May 2013

Neil Young - Harvest - Review

This is a difficult Album for me to review. Everybody knows most of the songs well and they still get a lot of airplay. They are sort of okay I guess but still... ! Neil and his band the Stray Gators go commercial here. Everything sounds smooth and polished and the public loved it. Both the Album and the single Heart of Gold (with Back-Up vocals from James Taylor and Linda Ronstadt) went to # 1 in the Billboard Hot 100 in 1972. And Heart of Gold  part II called Old Man also reached the Top 100. So the public loved it and much later Neil even told the press that Harvest was his best Album. But is it and did Neil really mean what he said? And what does a die-hard Neil Young fan like myself makes of this Album?
It´s mainly a country album with tunes like Out in the Country and Harvest. And they are quite nice actually. There are also two songs with the participation of the London Symphony Orchestra, namely A Man Needs a Maid and There´s a World. I´ve always cared for the words of the latter song but the arrangements are sweeter than Brazilian Sugar. Both Alabama with backing vocals from Stills & Crosby and the drugged out jam Words (Between the lines of Age) with backing vocals by Stills & Nash sound like Southern Man rip-offs.

All songs are written by Neil and they deal with a lot of his problems. With women, with drugs, with getting old. Don´t we all? Get old I mean.

Everybody knows The Needle and the Damage Done but listen once more to Till the Morning Comes on the Gold Rush album and tell me it´s not basically the same song. The whole album sounds a bit tired. Neil´s back problems at the time might have influenced that.

To me Harvest is the main stream version of After the Gold Rush. It worked commercially. It failed artistically in my opinion. Neil never recorded an album like this again. Even Harvest Moon, recorded some 25 years later sounds more authentic. But that´s still in the future.

In the present only Are You Ready For the Country holds the promise of Tonight´s the Night.

So yeah, most people will probably like Harvest but it is certainly not Neil's best album and although it's not bad, it ain´t my favourite!    

Songs: Out in the Weekend, Harvest, A Man Needs a Maid, Heart of Gold, Are You Ready for the Country, Old Man, There´s a World, Alabama, The Needle and the Damage Done, Words (Between the Lines of Age)

Type of Music: Mainstream Country(Rock)/Folk/Pop

Rating: ******* (7 out of 10)

Black = Good Songs

Green = Great Songs

Red = Could Be Better

Who should buy this Record: Everybody that likes Heart of Gold probably already owns the Album. It´s not really essential though.