Assassin's Tweed

Highland Park: Dark Origins - 46.8%

Highland Dark

It was only a matter of time. Macallan went there. Glenmorangie went there. Ardbeg regularly go there. Et tu Highland Park? Et tu? The inevitable march towards NAS continues, it would seem.

Well, hold on a second; let's not be too hasty. Yes, this expression comes without an age statement. Yes, it comes with a cool bottle design and a mystical backstory (although that's hardly new ground as far as Highland Park are concerned) but what are these magical words I see on the bottle? Non chill filtered.

Yeah, yeah Stumbler but with a name like Dark Origins I bet it's loaded with caramel.

Admittedly, it doesn't say anything concrete on the bottle but it does allude to being naturally coloured. There's 80% first-fill sherry casks in the mix and the whisky isn't as dark as some of the cask strength sherry monsters out there. Whiskybase certainly have it down as being free of E150a. Plus it's a bit weightier than your standard Highland Park fare, coming in at over 46% abv.

Shall we do something crazy and judge it on its merits?

Nose:
I immediately get what I think is a hint of young spirit. Oh balls, is it really going this way? Well, actually, no. On second sniff what I'm getting here is a huge amount of milk chocolate followed by rum and raisin ice-cream. After a little while there's that trademark Highland Park heather-smoke. It's all rather delicious and multi-layered. Given half a chance to open up, there's butterscotch and almond biscotti. Great nose on this.

Palate:
Initially, not as sweet as the nose would have you believe. There's a carnival of spice and smoke and the chocolate is richer and darker with a hint of bitter orange zest. There's oak in the mix but it's light and not overpowering. After a while you come across something herbal and woody...I'm stuck between cardamom and mild clove, something along those lines. All the way through this there's a hum of incredibly gentle peat and not-so-gentle smoke but it does nothing to affect the balance.

Finish:
The sweetest part of the whole affair. Not absurdly long but creamy, spicy and smoky. There's something missing though and I'll be fudged if I can think what it is.

Thoughts: 
This is good whisky. It's a step up from the 12 (although not quite as balanced on the finish and a lot more expensive) and stomps all over the 15. Is it as good as the 18? On first tasting, no. However, I didn't really rate the 18 until I got to the last third of the bottle. A little time to breathe and who knows?

Grade: B
I recommend you try this, although don't expect a sherry bomb. Very capable but falls short of greatness. I may have to come back to this one.

The Pitlochry Pentathlon

Edradour: Straight From the Cask (Various)

Small distillery, big ideas

Edradour has always struck me as a bit of an odd duck. My first taste of what this distillery has to offer was the standard 10yo bottling; to be honest, I thought it was a bit crap. Not terrible, mind, just a little worse than average. For ages I pretty much blocked Edradour from my whisky radar.

The years pass. I got a little bit older (not much wiser) and I happened upon a video review of the 2003 Bourbon Cask release. Being a sucker for a good-looking decanter, I snapped up a bottle and was blown away. Every so often I would stumble upon another expression here and there and, to my surprise, they were all pretty damned good. We get to Christmas 2013 and a friend rocks up to my house with a gift of the SFTC Eilean Dubh. Zero subtlety but hugely entertaining, I promised myself I would check out the rest of the SFTC range, and so here we are; five examples of what that petite, picture-postcard, Pitlochry distillery can do.

Aiding me on my journey of discovery, fresh from an eight week tour of Osama Bin Laden's favourite hiding spots, is the ever elusive Agent X.

10yo - 2002 - Sherry Cask #459 - 57.3%

Nose:

Immediate sting from the high alcohol content but settles into chocolate, cherries and sweet sherry. Give it a chance and it turns herbal with basil and sweet sage.

Palate:

Caramelised red peppers and a touch of soapiness. Flecks of chilli for the main course with drying oak for dessert.

Finish:

Long, spicy and warming with a generous amount of wood.

Thoughts:

Feisty, a million miles away from complex but unmistakeably Edradour. Fairly similar to the Eilean Dubh but a little sweeter and less soapy. Overall, it's big but not terribly clever. Over to Agent X for some words of wisdom.

12yo - 2000 - Sauternes Cask Finish - 56.8%

Nose:

Again, the strength attacks your nostrils at first but soon clears away, leaving a distinct aroma of Eiswein. Honeysuckle and other floral treats but there's nothing really dominating.

Palate:

Buttery with ripe vine fruits and warming cinnamon. A little one-note and muddled, although it's rich, sweet and pleasant enough.

Finish:

Sweet, sticky and medium in length. Very light wood and even lighter spice; the kind you'd find in a summer pudding.

Thoughts:

Very agreeable, especially with a few drops of water. Hard work if you want to pull out individual notes; there's quality in there but so difficult to put your finger on anything too specific. What does our guest reviewer have to say?

11yo - 2002 - Chateauneuf-du-Pape Cask Finish - 58.5%

Nose:

Pungent balsamic note with a surprising amount of butter toffee. A little surprised here as the red fruits I would normally expect from a red wine finish are conspicuous by their absence.

Palate:

Sharp sweetness with thick, treacly vine fruits. Eton Mess with fizzy strawberry chews. Evidently the red fruits were hiding at first; they're making up for lost time now.

Finish:

Slightly savoury and drying with red wine tannins (surprise surprise) and black pepper. Exceptionally long.

Thoughts:

I like this. It's not bowling me over but there's a subtle quality to it. My favourite thus far. What about you, X?

10yo - 2002 - Marsala Cask Finish - 57.6%

Nose:

Oozing with thick,creamy toffee and aromas of nutmeg and speculoos biscuits. Candied fruits and a quick flash of orange sorbet.

Palate:

Chewy and sticky with a nod to decent Cognac. Caramel (the good kind), a smidgeon of coriander and bags of wood shavings. Hide the hamster.

Finish:

Lingering sweetness with contrasting woody astringency. It ebbs and flows and shows great poise and balance.

Thoughts:

Very capable. There's sweetness, certainly, but an underlying earthiness and enough wood to complete the picture. A few steps short of greatness but I'd happily have a bottle. This probably pushes the spirit as far as a cask finish can. Still conscious over there, X?

11yo - 2002 - Barolo Cask Finish - 58.9%

Nose:

Dry, spicy and savoury with huge amounts of red berries. A little patience rewards you with pomegranate seeds and, strangely, green peppers.

Palate:

Dark fruits, walnuts and tea. Tannins aplenty but surprisingly little wood. I'm starting to think that my palate is suffering from Cask Strength overload.

Finish:

Spicy fiesta of chilli and cayenne with dry, dry, ever-so-dry, grape skins. Medium in length and savoury right at the death.

Thoughts:

A good one to finish on. I dare say this may have been a little full-on earlier in the batting line-up. Admittedly my palate is a little shot but I'd still say this shows real quality and is possibly the most complex of the evening. I wouldn't say this is first past the post but you'd certainly get your money back on an each-way bet. Let's see if Agent X will stop harassing the TV presenter for a moment and give us his verdict.

Final Thoughts:

What strikes me the most here is just how bloody versatile the Edradour spirit is. It lends itself very well to experimentation and I can see a Ballechin tasting in my immediate future.

I've avoided giving grades to these whiskies because, truthfully, there's not a great deal to separate them. Each has its own positives and negatives and which one appeals to you depends very much on personal taste. 

If you want complexity, go for the Barolo. The Marsala gives the most balanced experience and the Chateauneuf-du-Pape has an understated quality to it that makes me want to go back for more. If I had to be brutal, I'd say the standard sherry cask is the weak link in the chain; it's nothing you won't have had before and there are plenty of other good CS sherry bombs out there at the same price (and in 700ml bottles).

My thanks to Agent X for his words of wisdom.

We Don't Need No Education

Cragganmore 12 - 40%

About bloody time

Ridiculously, I have never (until now) tried this whisky. Don't ask me how. Despite being a good few years and 550+ Stumbles into my whisky education, clearly I was playing hookey the day they taught 'Introductory Speyside 101'. It's bloody well embarrassing.

It's not like I've never heard of Cragganmore. It's the Speyside representative in Diageo's Classic Malts of Scotland range, for heaven's sake, and I was virtually weaned onto its five counterparts. To make matters worse, I've tried the Cragganmore DE and I'm talking more than one vintage here. I imagine it's the dramming equivalent of running before you can walk. Mercifully, a great whisky warrior appeared from the mists of the Twittersphere to lower a rope into my pit of ignorance, thereby relieving me of my shame.

Many thanks to Scott Saunders for the sample.

Nose:
Straight away there's an aroma of light sherry followed by malt and crisp apple. Milk chocolate makes an appearance and there's an ever-so-subtle wisp of marzipan. A few mintues un the glass produces a creamy beurre noisette note.

Palate:
Very gentle on the arrival and the mouthfeel is a little thin but it soon starts to flex its muscles as a few moments on the tongue brings hints of ginger and tobacco. A moment more and creamy milk chocolate appears with subtle toffee.

Finish:
Moderate in length and mildly warming. Not particularly interesting and a little 'one-note' for my liking but certainly not bad. The Cragganmore '93 DE had an outrageously long finish (admittedly, it had bugger all up front), so I must say that I find this a little disappointing in comparison.

Thoughts:
Yes, it's an entry-level Speyside so I wasn't expecting to be swept away by it, although I've tried cheaper, less well-known Speysiders that are head and shoulders above this. Very drinkable but otherwise a bit 'meh'.

Grade: C
Not quite sure how this edged out Mortlach to be Diageo's "Classic Malt" for Speyside. I'd go for the DE every time.