Håvard Eide

A couple of weeks ago the tasting of the evening was from five closed distilleries, a very enjoyable sitdown with a large crowd at the local nmwl.

Littlemill, 1991, 16 yo, 46 % (Murray McDavid)

Nose: this has to be one of the stranges associations I’ve ever had in a whisky – every year at christmas we eat dried sheep ribs that are steamed on pieces of wood, and when this cools down and you digg in late at night when you get that munchies it has a very distinct smell…. this is what I initially thought when nosing this for the first time! When the initial shock was over it smelled very salt and had a distinct wet/harsh smell. Right now I was worried about the taste!
Palate: eucalyptus, some citrus is there, but then a dry malt cocoa comes through.
Finish: malt, very malty, then some salt and a distinct dried piece of wood finishes up the taste.
A Interesting dram, but nothing more than that.

Rosebank, 1990, 18 yo, 48 % (Dun Bheagan) – sherrybutt 611

Nose: honney and lots of floral smells on this one, the sherry cask have had its influence.
Palate: intense sherry hit on the tounge, then more mellow as it goes over in a much smoother sweetness.
Finish: suprising spice finish after the smoothness experienced earlier.

Dallas Dhu 1975, 1975 31 yo, 50 % (Closed Distilleries)

Nose: starts out as sweet honey, but let this one sit in the glass for a bit: after a while it came through with a cotton candy sweetness that was very intens. Actually it reminded me of the Ardbeg Renaissance after it too had a bit of air.
Palate: oh, the sweet round honney from the nose is there! lots of fruits, especially after adding a couple of drops of water in it.
Finish: it just stays there, a nice long aftertaste that finishes up the very good balance that this bottle gives you.

This was the winner of the evening, no doubt in that! Not too many bottles left in Norway, and the pricetag is a bit high, but who knows, maybe one will find its way here soon….

Brora, 24 yo, 48,5 % (Dun Bheagan) – Fino sherry cask 1424

Nose: round butter-oil and some iodine?
Palate: sherry, no doubt about that, a bit harsh maybe? That put me off a bit. A few drops of water opened it up and made it much rounder around the edges, much more enjoyable.

Not the best Brora I’ve had, shows that Brora isn’t bulletproof all the time ( doesn’t come close to the 20yo that I tried at L&B in Amsterdam a couple of years ago )

Port Ellen, 1982, 46 % (Berry Brothers & Rudd) – cask 2030/2035

Nose: sweet smoke.
Palate: this has what I can descibe as a very long sweet smoke blanket in my mouth that went on and on! Port Ellen is absolutely one of my favourite distilleries!

To finish up after the official tasting a Caol Ila 12yo Dun Behgan ( where can I get a bottle of this!! ), a Linkwood 14yo Dun Behgan and a Longmorn 15. A very good evening for the closed distilleries, and the Dallas Dhu came out at the top, no-one even close to it (ok, the Port Ellen then, it was very enjoyable)

A couple of weeks ago I sat down on a nmwl with 5 10yo whiskies in front of me to taste blind. This is always a good exercise since you don’t pre-judge based on the label of the bottle, everyone should try this from time to time just to see what happens. We got a list of 15 distilleries up front so that we had something to base our decision on. Here are my notes for the evening.

First up was Aberlour: sherry cask here? some vanilla and perfume, lots of perfume. some sulphur and the balance is not very good. Not a bottle I would buy. But: my initial thought that it had to be a Aberlour was correct
The second bottle smelled like green grass, had some pear and apple ( mainly fruity ) and a dry finish. It was a Glengoyne, and I did not guess correct.
The third bottle smelled like green apples and had a intense initial hit, then a salty taste that lingered, must be a burboun cask. This was Longrow 100 proof and I did not guess correct.
Fourth up was a odd one: smelled like a old wet fireplace, peaty and lots of wood. This was a Chieftain’s Choise Bunnahabain peated, I was correct and I bought myself a bottle of this the day after.
Finally Ardbeg was servered, this one I had correct ( Ardbeg is on my top 3 distilleries, wasn’t that hard to guess it ).

So: 3 out of 5 wasn’t that bad I think The suprise of the evening was the Bunnahabain peated that got a safe home the next day. Looking forward to opening that one!

I also got to taste a Glen Scotia 1999-2007 bottle 294/345, nose: dry hay, a liqurish hint and some spices. Mouth: bitter and dry liqurish with a hard liquor taste on it. It had a very short finish, this one should have a couple more years before shining through.
Then I tasted a Teaninich 12yo ( Exclusive malts ) that was a bit anonymous, and finally a Caol Ila Dun Behgan 12yo that was very good! I wish there was bottles of this one still available in Norway, I would get it instantly!

Wednesday the target for the evening was jekylls in Oslo, a wonderful pub with a range of good whiskies and a competent staff that alwyas is there to help you out with suggestions and information on bottles. It’s also the only pub in Norway with a cask behind the bar: a Highland Park 12yo sherry cask ( #1556 ) that holds a good 59% and is a sherry bomb! But, our venture was not to include this cask but rather a couple of Glenfiddich bottles and a bit odd Caol Ila.
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nmwl is the Norwegian Malt Whisky Society, and once a month we meet up 30-40 people or so and taste our way through a lot of good whisky. The first meeting of 2009 took place on wednesday in the new meeting place in Oslo, and the topic of the night was “Old whisky”. Last year my attendance at the meetings was poor at best, they always seemed to be on the nights where I either had to work or something else came up. This year though I’m planning to attend more since the range of whisky you can taste is very good!
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