Tag: three rivers

Whisky 2021 – 1-3

And we’re away for 2021. Hope you enjoy the reviews, they’ll be cross posted to Reddit and Instagram.

1 – Wemyss Bowmore 1990 “Satsuma Soap” 48% for Whisky Fair Takao

Nose is salty, flinty, I ripe plums, maraschino cherries and honeyed… really inviting minerality. Touches of cream.

Palate is intensely floral, salty, peachy, tropical fruit, slight licks of smoke

Finish is grassy, cocoa dusted and salty

5/5 Stars

2 – 1976 Blend The Maltman (Clynelish, Dailuaine, Macduff, Teaninich, Ben Nevis, Invergordon)

Nose reminds me of my grandfather’s garden with dried apricots warmed in the hot sun. Day old cream, spice and cloves.

Palate is gnarled woody apricot trees, apricot kernels and more stone fruit. It is salty and loads of vanilla cream. Goes tannic with bruised apples and slightly thin before the great finish.

Finish is super rich vanilla cream.

4.5/5 Stars

3 – Secret Speyside 1993 26 Years by TWA and Three Rivers 49.3% Ex-sherry hogshead

Nose is inviting deep sherry with apples, salt and stone fruit

Palate is cream, spice, and well controlled rubbery sulphur. It’s got a lightness of spirit with great nuttiness.

Finish is lots of stone fruit and sarsaparilla

4.5/5 Stars

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Whisky 2018 – 13-15

13 – Berry Brothers & Rudd 1997 Ben Nevis Cask 27 bottled 2014
Nose: rich and juicy, intense orange, bitter chocolate, hand cream
Palate: butter, tobacco, mustard fruits, cream, dusty, chocolate, caramel chews
Finish: cream, bitter cocoa, rocks

14 – Hidden Spirits 2004 Ben Nevis 13 Years Cask BN417 “Heavily Peated”
Nose: hand cream, old coals, flint, green grass, potato chips, sweat but not in a bad way
Palate: crisps, savory, cream, juicy stone fruit, banana cake
Finish: smoked cream, ash, fallen leaves

15 – The Whisky Agency and Three Rivers 1998/2016 Ben Nevis 50.9%
Nose: honey, aspirin, salted butter, cake mix, orange zest
Palate: salted butter, cream, passion fruit vine, leather, sight rubber, jasmine tea, pound cake
Finish: burnt butter, churned butter, cream, tea tannins

Whisky 2017 – 204-210, Cadenhead Tasting

Unfortunately since returning from Japan I have been waylaid with influenza… I wasnt sure how my palate would go at this tasting but with these absolute stompers from Cadenhead, it certainly woke up!!

204 – Cadenhead Small batch Cragganmore 1993 22YO 56.3%
Lemon balm, cookies, mint lollies, apricot delight, vanilla essence, cherry syrup, ice cream, really fruity. Cake out of the oven, salt, passionfruit vine, roasted shallots, a touch or grilled stone fruit, juniper.

205 – Cadenhead Single Cask Highland Park 1996 20YO 50.6%
Passionfruit jelly, passiona, apple sauce, raspberry lollies, apples. Waxy, beautiful length with pancakes, prunes, fruit leather, instant coffee grounds, slight rubbery note, honey.

206 – Cadenhead Auchroisk Sherry Butts 1989 24YO 57.5% *
Huge sherry, rubber, sulphur, chalk, cloves, dark chocolate, oatmeal stout, menthol, apples. Huge sherry and then an amazing savory note, cooked down mushrooms, soy sauce and butter, some really beautiful caramel sweetness to begin with, toasted nori.

207 – Cadenhead Small Batch 175th Anniversary Blair Athol 1988 28YO 53.6%
Leather, cloves, wood chips and gum leaves, apricots, rocks, slight waxy note, hazelnuts. Cashew nut butter, loads of tropical fruit, lantana, creamed honey, whipped cream, apricots, loads of chocolate with water.

208 – Cadenhead Single Cask Teaninich 1983 32YO 47.5%
Peanut butter, ice cream, dusty, caramel sauce, rose hip jam, brown butter, chicos, wax. Wax, dust, chocolate, leather, herbaceous, tropical fruits, slight butter.

209 – Whisky Agency and Three Rivers Glen Moray 1994 re-charred Hogshead 54.8%
Maple syrup, raspberries, turps, wood glue, Bourbon like, crushed ants, pound cake. Vanilla, raspberry jam, green bananas, huge vanilla finish – would think Bourbon, crushed ants. (Was this a mislabeled Bourbon?)

210 – The Oceans Whisk-e Westport (Glenmorangie) 1997, 18 Years Cask 1500071
Vanilla, gravox, sarsaparilla, pancakes, maple syrup. Vanilla, bacon and maple syrup, golden syrup, aspirin, raspberries, perfume, soap, coffee, leather, sarsaparilla.

Whisky 2017 – 172-175

Quite an eclectic mix of whiskies here… all were excellent. How good are single cask Teeling? 

172 – The Single Cask Bowmore 2001, 14 years Cask 31931
Banana, malty, band aids, yeasty, proving bread, butter, cream, caramel. Salt, burning grape vines, peaches, preserved lemons, chocolate, lantana, short bread, passion fruit, clear sugars, wonderful mouthfeel, orange zest.


173 – Kingsbury Mhain Baraille 1980 35 Years Blended
Glue, hobnobs, leather, raspberry jelly, hand cream. Cream, passionfruit vine, dried pineapple, pavlova, freeze dried apple. So tasty.

174 – Kavalan Solist Port Cask, Cask 0090908028A 59.4%
Brown sugar, peaches, cocoa, glue, Nutella, apricots, coffee, old butter, maple syrup, boot polish. Woody, stone fruits, glue, melted butter, iced coffee, dried apricots, pine, mushroom pate.

175 – Three Rivers Teeling 23 Year Old Cask 6821
Very dried peaches, leather, shaving cream, sarsaparilla, wood glue. Cream, beef jerky, passion fruit, chocolate, old shoe leather, cream, salt, rubber, pink pepper corns.

Whisky 2017 – 92-99

Some crazy independents here – thanks to my buddies Kelvin and Yao at The Elysian Whisky Bar. The Bowmore and Tomatin were my picks. 

92 – Berry Brothers 1992 Dailuaine 22 for Shinanoya
Apricots, dried fruit, orange zest, vanilla cake, light Xmas spice. Creamy, grilled stone fruit, green grass, roasted shallots.


93 – Three Rivers Whisky Talk Fukuoka “The Statue” Bunnahabhain 22 Years
Vanilla cake, apricots, slight meaty, ice cream, cloves, handcream. Gentle, fruit cake, hazlenut oil, really nutty, buttery.

94 – Kingsbury Auchroisk 1991 Sherry Butt Cask 2555
Dry ginger, orange rind, leather, sarsaparilla, cloves, wood, salted peanuts, plastic. Hairspray, old butter, leather, beef broth, stewed apples, coffee grounds.


95 – Three Rivers Bowmore 1996 Hogshead Cask 960039
Wet cardboard, caramel, LPG, steak and kidney pie, pepper and honey. Green grass, loads of honey, leaves, hot volcanic rocks, cream, ash, green plums, kiwi fruits, gooseberry, pencils shavings, band-aids.


96 – Glenflorres 12 Years 1970/80s bottling
Warm short bread, eggy pudding, mango, orange zest, slight licorice, wood resin. Soap, lavender, lemon balm, air freshener, slight creamy finish… soooo freaking weird.


97 – Tomatin 8 Years Limburg Dramclub 2015 Club Bottling 5
Chocolate dipped bananas, white chocolate mouse, cloves, cinnamon sticks, cherry ripe. Sweet tomato paste, caramel, banana lollies, pepper candy (is that a thing), musk lollies, clove and quince jam. Huge amounts of vanilla cream and spice with water, old butter finish.

98 – Chieftain’s Mortlach 1997 19 Years, Cask 5245 for Drunken Master Bar
Chicos, powdered gravy, Terry’s chocolate orange, vanilla beans, roasted pumpkin, mushrooms and earth. Sarsaparilla, woody, tea and wine tannin, cream, rubber, dusty, dried cherries and old prunes.


99 – Kingsbury Laphroaig 2000 16 Years Cask 3621
Jersey caramel, bacon on a campfire, sweet autumn leaves, plastic. Bone, mulch, burnt bacon, clear sugars, lemon pith, stones in a fire, banana leaf, slight rubbery.

Whisky 2017 – 82-84

Three outstanding drams last night. How do these become independent bottlings? Glenrothes really need to look at what IBs are doing with their casks – heavy and black sherry bombs!

The Glenrothes was bottled for 6 bars across Asia, including my local The Elysian Whisky Bar and my favourite Tokyo bar, The Mash Tun. It’s an incredibly heavy and complex dram – a huge congratulations to Kelvin and Yao and everyone else involved in this bottling. 

82 – Club Qing 1975 40 Years Speyside Sherry Fino Butt, Cask KT518
Wood glue, hazelnuts, vanilla essence, white pepper, cardamom meringue, pound cake, warm Coke. Golden syrup, loads of brown butter, stewed stone fruit, egg white, raspberry, raspberry leaf, milk chocolate mousse, tropical fruit, licorice. Wow!!


83 – Three Rivers Glen Garioch 1995 21 Years Whisky for Whisky Lovers Nagoya
Coconut rough, turps, cold butter, tropical fruit. Green grass, pepper, tropical fruits, peach Melba, salty butter, old pop corn (but not in a bad way).


84 – The Whisky Agency Glenrothes 1997 (for 6 bars including The Elysian and The Mash Tun)
Butter, rubber, musk, lpg, roast chicken gravy, leather, roasted shallot sweetness, grilled pineapple. Rose hip jam, musk lollies, tea tannins, old butter, cola, salt, coffee grounds, ice coffee, fried eggs, camomile tea. With water maple syrup, pancakes, breakfast fruits – watermelon and mint, brown sugar.