E-Report # 8 - Amsterdam, the second time
Date: Wed, 31 Jan 2001

We, that means Marlou, Michael and me, were invited by Johannes a second time for a malt-tasting. This time on a Thursday. We didn't want to challenge our luck or pay the horrible parking fees in the city. And we also needed a really safe parking for our car because malts for Johannes worth more then 300 Euro were packed neatly in the boot. So we parked near Johannes flat in the outskirts of Amsterdam. From Johannes' place, the city of Amsterdam is easily accessed by public transport. You can see the arena of Ajax Amsterdam and the meeting place of the Hells Angels (Dutch section) during the ride with the metro. (By his own testimony, Johannes doesn't frequent either place.)

We strolled through the city for 2 hours. Again the streets were crowded like on the Saturday in august with the big tourist attraction going on. But this time the people of Amsterdam were busy shopping and doing their regular work. Having bought a map we could identify some tourist attractions, for example the Nieuwe Kerk and  the queen's palace. Being used to Hamburg dimensions, we realized how small the old core of Amsterdam is when we reached places three times faster than we had suspected from the map.

The main tourist attraction of course is the city itself with its old houses, some beautiful, some funny, and always interspersed with water. Some streets reminded us of a set of bad teeth, crooked, old and irregular, some slanting to the left, some leaning to the right, so opening gaps in the row, and some even hanging over to the front, seeming to tumble into the ever present water. Really a funny sight!
When the hour of dusk was near we went to the bar "De Kroon" at the Rembrandt Square. This bar has a large glass front and you can watch the life on the square from above (second storey) while sipping on a drink. The cooking, too, was excellent. I can highly recommend this place when you want to give your feet a rest while you are exploring Amsterdam.

Johannes picked us up there at 18 h and then we went back to his flat where all his delicious malts awaited us. Unfortunately I had caught a real nasty cold. Nosing was impossible  and I felt a little bit weak. Very bad, - now I had only half of the fun. But this was only true from the malty point of view. I enjoyed the discussion, the jokes and Johannes' hospitality very much. Because of the bad state of my nose and taste I won't give any scores and perhaps you shouldn't take my descriptions too serious.

We started with a head to head tasting of an 8y Signatory Campbeltown 40% and the Glen Scotia 14y 40%.
Signatory Campbeltown 8y 40%
This is a relatively new bottling and both Johannes' and my liquorist say that it contains Glen Scotia. The price (~ 20 Euro) is very attractive. The malt is very pale (white wine). Tasting notes: sweet, fruits, cinnamon. Nice malt.
Glen Scotia 14y 40%
Very strange: there is no age statement on the bottle. But it must be 14y old because it is everywhere sold with that designation. The malt has the colour of full gold. Even with my bad nose I could smell something. So it must be very aromatic. I detected fruits and lilac. The taste is very balanced and pleasing: malt, toffee, fruits (pears) and sherry.
The Glen Scotia 14y is the winner of this head to head tasting. But you have to pay 10 additional Euros for it. A considerable amount of the GS 14 seems to come from sherry casks whereas the SC seems to have aged in bourbon casks.

The next distillery which we wanted to explore was Glenmorangie.
I am a great fan of the Glenmorangie 10y, a really nice malt for only 26 Euro.
Glenmorangie Cellar 13 10y 43%
This malt comes from the cellar of the warehouse which lies closest to the sea. So I expected that the fresh sea breeze which is an undertone in 10y would be more pronounced. Maybe my taste betrayed me (No, it didn't ! says Marlou) but I found that it went to the opposite direction. It tasted more speysidish: clover honey and  fruits, mint (?) and spice (pepper) still there but to a lesser degree than the 10y. Bear this in mind if you are willing to pay 6 additional Euros for that bottling.
Glenmorangie Madeira Wood Finish 43%
I was very curious about this malt because I had already tasted the port wood finish (hmm, -  very nice) and the sherry wood finish (brrr, - I want to drink a single malt, not a dry sherry). Unfortunately my nose and my taste failed completely. I could smell nothing. In the taste I could only detect sweetness and some ripe and overripe late summer fruits (no fresh apples or pears). Very sad, - I think I missed a malt which under normal conditions I would have greatly enjoyed.

I think the next malt was the wonderful Macallan 100 proof 10y 57%.
Johannes was kind and had organized a bottle for me and Michael at his liquorist because it is not available at  my whisky shop. This malt was a good benchmark for my taste buds because I had immediately fallen in love with on our first visit. Well here we had it. Shit!- the Mac only seemed to be a nice malt this time. In my mind I crossed this tasting session from my serious malt experiences.

Because our visit to Amsterdam was a special occasion Johannes allowed us to choose an unopened bottle from his reserve stock. I left the job to Michael and he had golden fingers. He selected the St. Magdalene Rare Malts 63.8% distilled 1979 bottle 1031.
St. Magdalene is or I should better say was a distillery located in the Lowlands. Nowadays some of the buildings are converted into apartments. I can only hope that an unfriendly distillery ghost haunts these lodgings to take revenge on the reprehensible fact of closing the distillery.
Everybody said that this full golden malt was definitely the winner of the evening. Such a rich and wonderful aroma: flowers, fruits (plums, apricots). Always something  new to discover yet very balanced. You should read Johannes contribution to get an impression from someone who had a nose this evening. In my tasting notes a multitude of items are marked: fruity, flowery, toffee, nuts, wood, coffee. The undiluted malt can be drunken in small sips but it is more fun to enjoy it with some water. Then you can contemplate on the complex aroma without being disturbed by the high alcohol content.

Because Michael had such a lucky hand in choosing from Johannes' stocks he was allowed to pick another unopened bottle to celebrate the evening.
This time it was the Dailuaine 16y 43%, a bronze coloured Speyside malt. As the colour indicated there was a lot of sherry in the malt. Sherry, wood and earthy notes in the nose. Sherry, fruits, wood and toffee the taste, not dry at all. This malt was also a good pick but not so excellent as the St. Magdalene. (Marlou's comment: Such another would have been hardly possible! Poor Klaus, you really missed something there.)

Another malt which wanted to be tasted was the Blair Athol 12y Flora & Fauna edition 43%. The nose of the amber coloured malt from the Midlands reminded me of the Macallan, damp dark notes of ripe and more than ripe notes. The taste lacked a distinct expression. There was some citrus and some toffee. Nothing very pronounced.

The other malts of the evening:
I tried a Talisker 10y and let Johannes confirm that this was a real Talisker. I think I like it and I will buy a bottle here at home because it is reasonable priced (less than 30 Euro for the 0.7 l bottle). For medical reasons (so much peat!) I had a Lagavulin 16y. A Tomintoul 12y from Speyside out of a bottle which looked like an expensive bathing essence container was served. Then I tried Johannes "torture" malts. The Tobermory 10y from Mull was not so bad and the Glenesk from the eastern Highlands which gets considerable low scores from Michael Jackson didn't scare me. I guess I was in a state where even Loch Dhu, Johannes most "cruel" malt, would have gone down my throat.

We all enjoyed our second visit at Amsterdam very much, even though Johannes and I had to pay the bill for our exuberant malt consumption. Back at home I went immediately to bed and had learnt that oral administration of alcohol does not help against viruses. Johannes, who had to get through the day at his job, also had a big hangover. But as we say in Germany and in the Netherlands: "Shared misery is half the misery, shared joy is double the fun". We now hope that Johannes will some day come to visit us at Hamburg so that we can have a lot of fun again and I think then we can do without the misery.

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Subject: E Report #7 - HarLeM pre-christmas tasting sessions
Date: Sun, 17 Dec 2000

We have been very busy in the last month here in Hamburg. 3 Tasting session and 12 new malts sampled. Here come the tasting notes in alphabetical order:

Aberlour a'bunnadh 59.6% - We tasted this malt when we had a tasting session at our new HarLeM member Christophs home.  He has many interesting malts in his shelves, - so there was a lot to "plunder". Aberlour a'bunnadh is a very dark almost copper-red malt in cask strength. It comes in a nice bulky bottle.
Nose: A lot of sherry, sandalwood, raisins, vanilla. Water added to dilute the malt to drinking strength intensifies the aroma.
Taste: In undiluted form this malt was too sharp for my tongue. Strange, normally I don't have problems with c/s malts. With water: very balanced and smooth. Not a single edge, round as pebbles. There is a lot of sherry and a somewhere in the first third and island of citrus and spice rises and softly sinks into the sherry and malt sea. Finish – not very long.
Score: I can't get a grip on that malt. It is by no means artificial but I always get the impression of a beautiful face but with heavy makeup. Such balance it not natural.
79 points in the malt madness matrix rating system.

Ardbeg 10y 46% - Much fuzz on the Ardbeg webpage about the Ardbeg 10. If you read the description there you could come to believe that you are going to taste something directly from heaven. The malt is rather pale.
Nose: The malt from the fresh opened bottle is very fresh and grassy. There are also the typical Islay notes: peat, smoke and medicine.  Strange things happened when I tasted the malt 3 weeks later. The nose had changed. In addition to the aromas mentioned before I detected a strong alcoholic note and far worse the smell of gastric acid.
Taste:  sweet and fresh notes with citrus when you start. Then comes the punch of medicine combined with tar and peat which never seems to stop. The fresh sweetness changes to a lasting molasses sweetness and I also detected hints of bitterness. When I tasted the malt the first time I didn't really like this combination. I found that it was very unbalanced. 3 weeks later when the nose had grown worse the balance had drastically improved. Suddenly there was a kind of balance.
Score: I guess that I will need a few more drams and I will think about my rating in the matrix. Probably the malt will get a few more points. But one thing is sure: I prefer the peatiness of the Laphroaig 10 which is not disturbed by sweetness.

Balvenie Doublewood 12y 43% - I tried the Balvenie Founder's reserve a year ago and was slightly disappointed. It was pleasant but it lacked the edges. Nothing to hang on to. The Doublewood is far better. It comes in the nice bulky Balvenie bottle which lies in the arm like a baby. The malt has the colour of full amber.
Nose:  aromatic, fruity, flowers, honey, fresh honey. Really delicious but you have to wait approx 5 minutes until an unpleasant esther-note (adhesive) is gone. This observation is at least true for a fresh opened bottle.
Taste: sweet, toffee, fruits, malt, honey and maybe tangerine. A very pleasant combination. You can have a lot of sips and every time you detect something new
Score: A really good malt with a preliminary score of 83. This 8 points more the Founder's reserve.  I can only recommend that you spend the additional 3 Euro and buy the Doublewood.

Brora Signatory Vintage Millenium edition 43% (distilled 1981, bottle 213/628, butt 1081, sherry cask 18y). A very interesting golden malt from Christoph's shelves. Surely one of the peatiest ones beyond Islay.
Nose: fresh, moss, smoke and medicine, some spice.  It reminds me at Clynelish (who wonders, - it's the same distillery) and Caol Ila.
Taste: strong citrus notes  and spice in combination with a lot of peat and smoke with a long finish. The synthesis of the fresh and peaty notes is just a pixel away from perfect.
Score: I think this malt is more interesting than delicious. The combination of very pronounced very different aromas gives food for thought. The taste is quite good but there are malts which caress my palate more. 80 points preliminary score.

Caol Ila Mackillop's choice Single Cask 1989 43% (bottle 131, cask 1894, bottled may 1999). Another pale gold jewel from Christoph's treasures.
Nose: surprisingly reserved, fresh moss and grass and only a hint of smoke and peat
Taste: the start: sweet and fresh, even a touch of mint but then peat and smoke take over the command in perfect very long lasting harmony. The only flaw for me: there is a hint of sweetness in the peat symphony
Score: Whow! What a great malt. Feels like Laphroaig 10 and Lagavullin 16 have married and this is the child. If only the nose would have been more pronounced. So I only score preliminary 90 points on the grounds that it is difficult to get and the feeble nose.

Caol Ila 3385 days old 55.7% Signatory Vintage - A very pale cask strength.
Nose: peat and tar in the foreground, some moss. When diluted to drinking strength the fresh mossy notes increase.
Taste: undiluted: sweet but also peat, smoke and tar (Islay of course). Drinking strength: extraction of old rigging in sugar water almost like the Ardbeg 10. Seems to be more harmonic. Maybe because the citrus notes are missing.
Score: peat and smoke together  with some molasses sweetness is not really my cup of tea. This means 79 preliminary points.

Glen Garioch 15y 43% - The Glen Garioch a golden malt from the eastern highlands is not filtrated. Small particles like bits of plastic foil were swimming in the malt.
Nose: The fresh opened bottle smells like smoke dried ham. This aroma suppresses all other notes. 2 week later I could also detect some fresh notes.
Taste: smoke, some wood, some peat, and bitter citrus notes, very dry. There is also some kind of sweetness which increases with every sip.
Score: nice but I don't really need that malt. 69 points on the malt madness scale.

Highland Park 18y 43% - The 18 years old Highland Park is a little bit darker than the 12 years old one (full amber).
Nose: very intensive fruity sweetness, honey, heather and honey, malt. The nose is not so sweet as the 12y
Taste: delicious, malt, toffee, spice, a hint of citrus and mint, wood and peat/smoke in the finish. Long taste development. Compared with the 12y HP the taste is definitely more satisfying.
Score: I rate the malt with 92 points. Only 2 points more than the Highland Park 12y but very often I think it is worth to pay a 50% higher price.

Laphroaig 10y c/s 57.3% - The full amber coloured Laphroaig c/s comes in a bottle which looks almost similar to Laphroaig  10y.
Nose: alcohol, peat, smoke, tar, medicine, rotting leaves in water, wood. Diluted: as in c/s but some fresh and fruity notes arise.
Taste: c/s: a sweet start (?!!!) but then the phroaig tar, peat and smoke arise. Really strange the sweetness fights a long struggle but it is finally overwhelmed by the peat.
diluted with a lot of water: tastes like extracts of tar ointment and burnt wood with some sugar.
Score: The Laphroaig 10y c/s is not a standard version the 10 year in higher concentration. It has its own face. I had the impression that this malt is a Laphroaig 10y on the way to the 15 years old Laphroaig, Maybe 2/3 10y and 1/3 15y. It scores 90 points on the MMM scale because of the "bad" influence of the 15y.

Longmorn 15y 45% - A golden amber malt in a bulky bottle with long neck.
Nose: My first impression was apple spirit. There are strong fruity notes (apples, maybe pears), nuts, vanilla and honey are also present
Taste: sweet, citrus, spice, some spice and pepper. The finish is peaty and smoky and relatively long.
Score: I think this malt shows very marked characteristics for a Speyside malt. It is not the one dimensional  fruit – sweetness you often find in that region. Score 82 points.

Springbank 12y 46% - This dark amber coloured malt came from a 1/3 l bottle from Christoph. He said that this bottling was far better then the 1 l bottle he also owned. Too bad that this malt tastes so different in different bottles.
Nose: Overwhelming sherry. It took some time until could assign the impression to sherry. My first notes were, malt and wood cream (this means whipped cream with wood sandal wood aroma)
Taste: very nice sherry, toffee, citrus, hints of coffee, all in perfect balance.
Score: very good malt. I like it although it is very much sherried, too bad that it has such a large variation. 83 points on the MMM scale.

Talisker 10y 45.8% - My second approach with Talisker 10y. My first encounter with that malt was  a total catastrophe. I had a bad bottle and the guys at United Distillers wouldn't believe it although I sent them a sample to verify my judgement. It seems that I have bad luck with Talisker. Although this time the malt was excellent this time I don't trust my senses. My impressions are not in accordance with the tasting notes I have read about it. Could it be because we just opened a new bottle and then enjoyed the malt? Anyway, - here you can read what I detected.
Nose: very reserved. First I could only detect alcohol. After a few sips the aroma unfolded: fresh, fruity and malty very interesting.
Taste: Sweet with spice and citrus, pepper. No smoke or peat. I had the impression of a Glenkinchie which had grown to manhood (more lively and bolder) but all said I was crazy.
Score: I don't dare to rate the malt yet. If my tasting experience is reproducible it will surely be in the upper 80s.

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Subject: E Report #6 - Malt Minion, Connoisseur, Expert?
Date: Sat, 9 Dec 2000

If you look at the malt madness matrix you will see there are several degrees of malt lore.  I haven't reached the heights of  Michael Jackson, Craig Daniels or Johannes. Just been promoted to 'malt aficionado', I still think that my life as 'malt minion' was the most interesting part of my malt career.

When I started there was a whole new world to explore. Hundreds of malts, - the promised land and a lot of them at reasonable prices. I was a lucky guy and found my true loves very soon. Now when I explore the malt land  I rarely find shining gems. Most of the time it's "hmm, - nice stuff", rarely "aahh, - can I have another one" and my last moment where something very special and marvellous was revealed is more than 9 months away.

Why is this so?
Islay seems to be my preferred malt regions and there are only 7 distilleries on the island. Speyside offers a wider range. But the Speysiders – sweet and fruity, sometimes interesting (e.g. the Macallan) – that's not the region where I hope to find the holy malt grail. Ok, there is the opportunity to stay on Islay: 13 different Ardbegs available at my shop and 29 different Caol Ilas. This should be enough to keep me busy for some time. But then I would have to switch to independent bottlers. Every bottle unique and all too soon no longer available. To lose a malt with which you have fallen in love is like the death of a pet. There is also another disadvantage with the independent bottlers. They are almost twice as expensive as the standard distillery bottling. To pay more than 70 Euro for a malt hurts my purse. And there are also bottles of known and favoured malts which have  to be replaced when they are empty. This too sucks my account.

Well, I think I will upgrade to malt connoisseur someday. But I can foresee the time when the attraction of known and valued malts overwhelms my passion to find something new.  My personal malt universe will slowly collapse. And maybe it will explode in another big bang and I will be reborn as a malt minion.

Reply by Johannes:  I completely know how you feel. My latest genuine 'Amazing Discovery' was the UD Rare Malts Caol Ila 1975 C/S, a bottle I opened over 6 months ago. Since then, most of the new bottles I opened failed to tickle my fancy. Nevertheless, I keep reminding myself that even 'mediocre' single malts like Glenfiddich Special Reserve or Isle of Jura 10 yrs. are better than your average blended whisky or bourbon.

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Subject: E Report #5 - Islay Classifications: Laphroaig 10 vs Ardbeg 10
Date: Thu, 23 Nov 2000

Johannes put in his last maltmadness newsletter a recommendation for some malts which could be purchased for christmas. No discussion about his recommendation, but one sentence let a shiver run down my spine: " Ardbeg 10 yrs - A relatively new bottling. The first alternative for Laphroaig 10." This can't be true! I love Laphroaig. The ten years old malt is my number one. And I love Arbeg, especially the 17 year old and the 8y SigVin are wonderful. When I visited the Ardbeg webpage and read about the Ardbeg 10 I thought this malt would be something like a miracle. Other people were also enthusiastic about it. So I had to try Ardbeg 10 asap. I had my first dram an was disappointed.  Second dram: also disappointed. Some weeks later we bought a bottle of Ardbeg 10 for my  single malt tasting club and again Arbeg 10 could not convince me.

Now whats the matter? Laphroaig 10 is extremely smoky and peaty. Tar and medicine, salty. The impression of a campfire from driftwood at the sea. Ardbeg 10 on the other hand  is also very smoky and peaty. It also has tar and iodine components. But it is sweet and that makes the difference. I get the impression of used rope and rigging dissolved in sugar water. Result: I always need a bottle of Laphroaig in my shelves but Ardbeg 10 will not make it. Anyway if someone gave me a dram of Ardbeg 10  I would drink it and also finish another one if offered.
If I had to classify the Islay malts the following systen would come out.

1. strong. very smoky, peat, tar, medicine no sweetness:
I love them. Laphroaig 10y, Ardbeg 8y Sig Vin. Some Caol Ilas (Caol Ila 15y UD, Caol Ila 1982 16y SigVin and Caol Ila 1975 21y 61.3% (UDRM) may also be counted to that groups. The Caol Ilas have a wonderful fresh mossy note in the nose additional to the peat, smoke and tar which I love. The taste falls a little back behind the nose. Bowmore 56% is a nice cask strength with the attributes mentioned above. Another c/s malt  (Lagavullin) Vintage Islay malt  58% is very young an extremly strong malt. It is unchillfiltrated and will knock you out of your socks.  Even though it fullfills the taste description above, this malt is too heavy for me and I don't really like it.

2. strong, very peaty, smoky:
I mean the various incarnations of Lagavulin. All of them symphonies in peat. I prefer the predominance of smoke. So if I have to choose between Laphroaig 10 and Lagavullin 16 I select Laphroaig.

3. balanced, smoke, peat, tar, some sweetness, some fruits, sherry:
I love them. Ardbeg 17 which tells you a long story when tasting it and Laphroaig 15 are in that group. These malts have lost a great deal of their bite. But they have gained complexity. Something to enjoy when you want to tickle your taste buds and don't want to punch them with sheer power. Bowmore 12y and Bowmore 15y (Mariner) are less complex but they can also be put into that group.

4. strong. very smoky, peat, tar, medicine, sweet:
I have found the Arbeg 10y and the Caol  Ila 3385 days old 55.7% SigVin belonging to that group. This arrangement is not really my cup of tea. The sweetness and the peaty and smoky notes are in disharmony for my taste.  I believe a perfect balance can only be reached with more resting time in the cask.

5. the rest:
Bruichladdich,  Bunnahabhain and Port Ellen don't appear in my system. The reason: These malts are not so powerful as the other Islays and I have only tried the standard Bunnahabhain 12y and one dram of Bruichladdich 10y. The younger Bowmores don't appear in my system because I haven't tried them yet, but I think that they would belong to group one.. The newer editions of Bowmore (Darkest, Voyager, Dusk) don't appear because a tasting of Bowmore Darkest gave me a terrible shock. Pfft, - such a terrible malt. I don't think I don't want to get involved in Bowmores latest single malt experiments.

Hoops, I just wanted to write some lines about why I think that Laphroaig 10 and Ardbeg 10 don't play in the same class and now a small characterization of Islay malts has come out.  Well, I think that doesn't matter. Although the subject Islay would deserve more space.

Slainté
Klaus

Comment by Johannes: Klaus is right in commenting, because my remark should have been 'The lighter alternative to Laphroaig 10'. If I had to choose the Islay that comes closest to the Laphroaig 10 in character (amongst the ones I've tasted) it would be the Ardbeg 10, although it is indeed much sweeter than the 'Phroaig 10.

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Subject: E Report #4 - A visit to Amsterdam
Date: Sat, 02 Sep 2000

Amsterdam, the capital of the Netherlands, is a beautiful city and well worth a visit. But apart from the wonderful architecture, the ducts and the museums there is one thing which is especially challenging: The single malt shelves of Johannes van den Heuvel. Johannes invited all members of my malt tasting club HarLeM, but only Michael and my girl friend Marlou decided to join me.

Less than 5 hours with the car from Hamburg to Amsterdam, no traffic jams and sunny weather. Excellent conditions. We arrived at Amsterdam at about 14h. The city was very crowded because two big tourist events were going on. We parked our car near the centre. Holy cow, those parking fees are really expensive in Amsterdam. We neither had any guilder coins nor the plastic card the people of Amsterdam use. So we decided to challenge our luck, hoping that the police had better things to do. Later on Johannes informed us that the contrary is true. When big events happen the Amsterdam traffic police swarms out in force to fill the purses of the city's administration.

Four hours in the city gave us a good first impression of the atmosphere. At 18h we phoned Johannes who met us in a bar where we sat outside. He guided us to his home. On arriving I immediately inspected the malt shelves. From my reading of the website I assumed that there would be one big shelf with the top malts in the first row, the medium nice stuff in the second row and so on. Nothing like that. Malt shelves are distributed on every wall of the room. Some of the most interesting malts are hidden deep within cupboards to shelter them from thirsty but unprofessional eyes. (Can eyes be thirsty? Maybe a malt madman's eyes can!)

But now let us begin with the tasting notes. My friend Michael and I were willing to seize the opportunity and try as many malts as possible. In this case it was too bad that whisky contains alcohol, so there was a natural limit. Marlou, my girl friend, never drinks alcohol, but she likes to sniff at the malts. Apart from her many other advantages this fact is especially pleasing: she doesn't reduce my malt stocks and she can drive me home when I come from a tasting session.

The Ultimate Glenturret matured 19 years in oak cask, distilled 1978 – bottled 1998
We wanted to start with a lighter malt. Pleasing the palate with a heavy Islay malt at the beginning could ruin the taste experience for the more flowery malts. The Glenturret is very pale for a 19 year old malt, the colour of white wine.
Nose: slightly pungent, but the main impression is a stroll through a birch wood where someone has placed citrus fruits cut open on the ground after doing some chopping. A promising summer breeze tingling in the nostrils.
Taste: The palate can't keep the promises the nose makes. Sweet citrus fruits, spice, a hint of maltiness and fresh wood. Nice and soon over.
Score: Altogether the malt is too light for my liking. And I suspect it will be heavily overprized.

Balvenie port wood finish 21y 40% comes in the nice bulky bottle which is typical for Balvenie. I had already tried Glenmorangie port wood but the Balvenie was still missing. So I was rather curious about it.
Colour: Amber
Nose: a very balanced fruity and flowery note, hints of wood, port, vanilla and malt in the background. Very nice to sniff at.
Taste: First there is a sweet and fruity note but then toffee takes over the command. Some spicy elements and coffee in the overwhelming toffee symphony, maybe some port too, but it is far in the background. Small glowing peat fires in the finish which lasts medium to very long.
Score: One of the winners of the evening and better than the Glenmorangie port. Could it be that I prefer the Balvenie because the port taste is almost absent? Glenmorangie has a taste which reminds me on rose hip tea at the beginning, and the port finish seems to be responsible for it. I don't really like it.
I read in Johannes' report that the Balvenie he served was almost 2 years in an open bottle and that the port taste had almost vanished. This means, I will have to purchase a bottle to give it a fair judgment. Unfortunately the Balvenie (60 Euro) and the Glenmorangie (45 Euro) don't have the same price in Germany as in the Netherlands. So it may take some time until my palate will be pleased by this malt again.

I detected the Singleton (of Auchroisk) 1981 in Johannes's shelves. A Speyside malt I had put my eyes on for more than a year. Unfortunately it is not available at my whisky store at home. Now here was the opportunity examine it.
Colour: amber
Nose: Very fresh and flowery, fruits and some sherry. There was also an artificial, synthetically note which I could not classify. Maybe that are the aniseed and liquorice tones which my fellow tasters detected.
Taste: Sweet, citrus fruits and spicy notes inflict some kind of sharpness but there are also woody and toffee tones which calm down the palate. Again I couldn't detect aniseed and liquorice which must be there. At least my fellow tasters detected it.
Score: Nice malt! For me I think it ranks in the upper 30% of the Speysiders. Not a must, but very delicious.

Caol Ila 21 y 61,3% Rare Malts 1975
Time to approach a the true heavy weight of the evening, a 21 year old Islay malt in cask strength. I am very fond of the Caol Ilas and I like especially to smell the beautiful aroma. My friend Michael is crazy about the taste too.
Colour: pale gold
Nose: fresh grassy and mossy notes in a continuo of peat, medicals, smoke and seawater. When a good deal of water is added the peaty tones become dominant.
Taste: Pure: very pleasant medical aroma but the alcohol is too strong.
Diluted: some sweetness, but overwhelming is the symphony of peat, smoke and medical notes. Very long aftertaste. The sweetness still holds on and becomes equal in strength to the peat. Must be some kind of long chained ester (not sugar) which is responsible for it.
Score: An excellent malt. As I already said I prefer to smell it. The taste doesn't really hold what the nose promises. Those beautiful fresh green notes vanish in the mouth.
Back at home I examined my malt store price list. I thought that the Caol Ila 1982 16y Signatory vintage had had an equal impact on me. 5 additional years in the cask hadn't changed the character of the stuff we tried at Johannes's. Now, - oh wonder: you can have 2 bottles of Caol Ila 1982 16y for the same prize as the Caol Ila 21y Rare malts cask strength! There is no discussion which malt I would choose.

After a short pause with some snacks to get rid off, no – I should say to neutralize the Caol Ila taste, we approached another highlight: Macallan 10y 57% 100 proof.
Colour: full amber
Nose: Yes, that's truly a Macallan, typical fruitiness with sherry. Raisins, wet leaves, resin and honey form the darker tones. A wooden note from damp oak forests almost a bit harsh plays its tunes. Johannes says that the woody note is characteristic for the 18 y old Mac. I have to believe it because I must confess I haven't tried the Macallan 18y yet.
The malt reacts very well to water. With each drop another layer unfolds. When the c/s is diluted to normal drinking strength it resembles the Macallan 12y. The woody notes are reduced in favour of the fruits and the sherry.
Taste: Pure: A Macallan with strong wood notes. The wood dominates but fruits and sherry are also present.
Diluted to normal drinking strength: fruits, toffee and sherry. The wood falls behind. Some peat and smoke in the finish.
Score: A malt to fall in love with! You have at least 2 different Macs when you own the bottle. The 18y (so Johannes says) in pure stage and the 12y in the diluted form. It just depends on the amount of water you add. Unfortunately this malt is difficult to get. But I think it is available at the whisky store of Theresia Lüning http://www.thewhiskystore.com/index.htm for about 50 Euro. Must place an order there as soon as possible.

I think Johannes planned that the opening of the Bowmore Darkest bottle should be a major event of the evening. Instead it turned out to be a disaster. Never tasted such a terrible single malt before. And I won't revoke unless I am threatened by methods of the Spanish inquisition.
Colour: full amber
Nose: some sweet sherry notes accompanied by burnt wood and peat. Nothing wrong with it but far from brilliant.
Taste: to reduce the risk of getting killed at Bowmore when I visit the distillery I will start with notes of a Bowmore Darkest tasting I had only 5 days before our visit at Amsterdam. It was a bad day for my nose and palate but anyway the judgement is better than the notes from Amsterdam.
Hamburg tasting: very dry, sharp and a little bit rough. Smoke and wood, some sherry sweetness. Some peat in the background.
Amsterdam tasting: Pfui Deibel! Only my good manners prevented me from spitting the stuff right back into the glass. Someone must have filled at least 20% cheap perfume into the bottle. The taste of violet flavoured liquorice. I demand that this kind of liquorice should be forbidden but to find that taste in a malt in the 50 Euro region gives me a terrible shock.
Score: Well, the malt I tasted in Hamburg seems to be OK although it is not my cup of tea. I prefer the Mariner, the 12y and even the Surf. What happened in Amsterdam was a kind of catastrophe. Even if a malt needs time to breathe in an open bottle the first impression should not be so terrible. Who wants to buy a malt, open the bottle, gulp a few unfriendly drams and then let it breathe for 1 or 2 months? I can only hope that Johannes's Bowmore Darkest develops to a more friendly impression.

Arran (no age statement) 5y?
Johannes had a bottle of Arran. Arran is a new distillery which started in 1995. I was curious about this malt because a friend owns whisky bonds of Arran. He will surely need some help when his bottles arrive.
Colour: white wine
Nose: sweet and smooth, lots of fruits, especially dried banana chips
Taste: Very fruity! With some artificial notes. Tastes like a pear spirit. Some maltiness in the background
Score: This malt definitely needs some additional time to develop. But with an age of 10-16 years it could become a big one.

By now I had reached a level where I stopped making notes. But tasting went on. For our justification I have to say that we only took one dram of the malts we tasted. At home in Hamburg we have two or three rounds of the malts in tasting progress. But then there are only 3-4 malts on the program.
The rest of the evening as far as I can remember it.
Glenfarclas 105: a nice Speyside malt in cask strength but no match for the Macallan 10y c/s.
Suntory Kakubin and Aberlour 10y: None of these malts found grace on Michaels tastebuds. I tried the Dallas Dhu instead.
Dallas Dhu: nice Speyside malt with delicious fruitiness. But this malt will never make its way into my top 10.

Three self made blends from Johannes: one with stress on citrus fruits, one nutty and spicy one and one almost good one. Johannes tried if we could guess the components of his blends. Each vatted malt was composed of 5 single malt whiskies. Given the degree of our drunkenness and the fact that some malts he had used were unknown to us it is pardonable that our hits were only slightly above the statistics.
1 real time blended malt: Johannes blended five malts in a measuring cup. No great success this blend, although the components were quite good if I remember right.

Ardbeg 17y: A great malt and one of my favourites. I remember that I enjoyed it very much. But that late in the evening it was pearls cast before swine.
Glen Scotia: I have only vague memories of it. Must have been a nice malt but no revelation.
Loch Lomond: Johannes has done me wrong when he reported that it took a while for me to detect that the L L is bullshit. I was busy with the nose and I think the nose really is OK. The taste is terrible indeed. I detected a barely readable note of my own hand on one of my tasting forms. It says: Beware of Loch Lomond. Even if the malt is cheap you should not drink it. Better use it as gasoline substitute.
There might have been a Connemara from Ireland in our tasting session. Maybe after the blends, but neither do I have a memory about it nor Marlou, the only person who was totally sober. One thing I am sure of is that we didn't taste Laphroaig 15y. I love Laphroaig and I would have remembered it under all circumstances.

The next morning we left Johannes at 11 a.m. He was invited to a wedding and so there was no extra time available. Since the weather had changed (rain) we started back home to Hamburg – the taste of a fresh spicy and fruity malt still on the palate. I hope that some day Johannes will visit us in Hamburg so that we can requite his hospitality.

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Subject: Malt Madness E-Report #3
Date: Sun, 09 Jul 2000

Hamburg 7/8/00:
Strathisla 12 y, Glengoyne  10 y,  Dalwhinnie 15y & several others

First session of my whisky tasting club after the holidays. I was a little enthusiastic. More than 6 week without my malt friends. Time of abstinence. Only my personal stock  of malts to rely on. The project for this evening was a hop over the highlands starting with Glengoyne in the south and ending with Glen Ord  to the north (see Johannes' beautiful interactive map of Scotland), all in a very civilized atmosphere. But there were some changes.
1. One whisky replaced: Glen Ord, which ranks high in Johannes' value for money list, was no longer available at my whisky shop. They had problems with their supplier. So I decided to buy a Strathisla from Speyside instead.
2. Civilized atmosphere? : When we had finished our regular two tasting rounds with the three malts all of us were still thirsty. So we decided to finish three other half empty bottles. Soon one after the others dropped out. I managed to stay awake till the end but my memories are a little bit dim.
Ok, - enough of the preliminaries. Here comes the report.

Strathisla 12y 43%
I think almost every malt fan has seen pictures of the Strathisla distillery. The pagoda style malting floor is really beautiful. Another interesting point is the whisky bottle. Strathisla doesn't use the standard whisky bottle type. They have flat bottles (almost like amaretto). I like this design, its my number three after the bottles of Glen Rothes and Balvenie. A slight disadvantage is bad pouring behaviour.
Colour:  full gold. Like many other distilleries the guys at Strathisla use colouring  (something made from sugar. I don't know the English term) to get a reproducible hue.
Nose: Very intense aroma. Malt and fruits, sweet but not the typical pointed Speyside sweetness. There is also a clear note of fresh pipe tobacco (unflavoured stuff).
Taste: first sweet, some peat  and maybe  some toffees. This is what happens on the tongue. Not very impressive but that's the best part of the malt. When the liquid reaches the throat it is sharp and burns (even after the second 4cl glass). Now to the  praised finished: in almost every whisky book I read about a long soothing finish. Bullshit! There's nothing like that. The only noticeable  impression was an unpleasant bitter note which luckily soon vanished. My friends can confirm this judgement.
Score: Nice bottle, nice aroma, but the taste is hardly acceptable. Definitely not a winner. There is just one small hope for the Strathisla. This judgement is made on a  fresh opened bottle. I have made the experience that the taste and the nose gets better when you give the malt 1- 2 weeks to breath.  I received my best results on 80% full bottles, 3 weeks open.

Glengoyne 10y
The distillery of Glengoyne lies on the imaginary border between Highlands and Lowland. Glengoyne is the only distillery which uses unpeated  malt and unpeated water for the  production of their malts. Colour: Pale gold
Nose: very pleasant fragrance. Fruits (ripe and more then ripe ones), honey and toffee.
Taste: very simple sweet and fruity taste. Some hints of toffee and coffee.  Vanishes quickly.
Score: Again a whisky whose smell is better than the taste. This stuff tastes like a Lowland whisky (no wonder) and I don't like the Lowlands either. If someone gave me a bottle as present, I would use it as aperitif but not for stand alone tasting.

Dalwhinnie 15y
Dalwhinnie comes in a nice bulbous bottle. The distillery lies in the middle of the Highland. Colour: full gold
Nose: sweet and fruity, honey, citrus and bergamot notes. The citrus notes are responsible for a slightly pungent impression.
Taste:  sweet, the fruits are citrus fruits maybe some mint too. There is also a spicy note  but I can't describe the spiciness. It reminds me of the Christmas cookies named "Spekulatius" which are available in Germany. The finish is slightly smoky and peaty
Score: Best whisky of the three ones officially tested during this session. Scent and taste was ok.  I said ok, and this means I would like to have this malt in my collection but spending money for it at the whisky shop, - no chance!

After we had finished two rounds with the three whiskies on the program all were thirsty for more. And there was the half empty Ben Nevis in the shelves. It seemed to whisper: "Release me. I want to please your taste buds."  We couldn't withstand this request. So here it comes:

Ben Nevis Signatory Vintage 1990 bottle 139/775 9y old
Ben Nevis comes in the typical SigVin sheet metal tube and standard whisky bottle.  The distillery gets its water from Scotland's highest peak in the Western Highlands.
Colour: intensive old gold
Nose: hard to define – surely there is fresh wood to be smelled (sandalwood not pine, oak or cedar). Then there is a spicy impression and a reserved fruity note (raisins?) finishes the bouquet. 
Taste: The first impression is sweetness followed a spicy note. Sandalwood (a wood note which lacks bitterness), nuts and toffees are also present. The taste is a bit unbalanced and the worst of all, you swallow the malt and everything is over within seconds. No aftertaste!
Score: The Ben Nevis 1990 SigVin is an interesting malt but it should have stayed for some years in the cask. A 12 or 16 year old Ben Nevis should have the potential to become a really marvellous whisky. Some day I will try to verify this assumption.

By now everyone had finished 8 well filled glasses of malt. Time to discuss the ranking before it was too late.  Here comes the result. 
- no whisky with state of art status tested this evening
- ranking: Dalwhinnie and Ben Nevis are the best ones ( 2 people voted for Dalwhinie 2 for Ben Nevis). Strathisla and Glengoyne are the loosers (also 2 times Strathisla and two times Glengoyne)

Walter, our philosopher, left the tasting team. He feared he would violate our tasting society rules (no puking allowed) and decideded to go homes. To be true, when I went to the balcony to smoke a cigarette I too had the impression of heavy seas. But me  and the two remaining members were brave.
We put an eye on the Bunnahabhain 12y. Time for the trinklied "Westering home".
Concerning the Bunnahabhain there is a short story I want to tell you.

When I was at the university my friend Carsten graduated and made his PhD. Me and some other guys from the university were invited for the celebration. There was the problem of the present for the party and I had a nasty idea. I knew that Carsten loved Bunnahabhain single malt and so I bought a bottle for him. Now comes the mean part: I also bought a bottle of Mümmelmann, a low cost version of the terrible German herb-flavoured liqueur named Jägermeister. I exchanged the content of the bottles after washing them out thoroughly. When we handed the presents to Carsten some of my bolder friends asked for a Mümmelmann. Graciously Carsten filled the glasses but rejected biddings for a Bunnahabhain. The poor fellow hadn't noticed our trick yet. For our vindication I must confess that we pointed out to Carsten that he should take a closer look at the "Mümmelmann" drinks (golden liquid instead of  brown almost violet colour) and maybe sniff at glasses. When he realized what had happened he immediately confiscated the "Mümmelmann" bottle. But he was man enough to let us finish our drinks although I fear every drink was a wound to his heart.

But now back to my HarLeM malt tasting session with three members almost drunken as a lord. My report relies on an earlier tasting session of Bunnahabhain since my tasting buds and my conciousness were far from perfect.

Bunnahabhain 12y - Nice bulky bottle (almost like a port wine) with a cord on the cardboard tube. So the container is a very easy to carry. The text of the song "westering home" is printed on the container. This whisky comes from Islay my favourite region for malts.  But I don't think that Bunnahabhain is typical for Islay.
Colour: full gold
Nose: interesting and very aromatic. Sweetness and the impression of rotten leaves, the stickiness of honey and resin.
There is also a distinct  aldehyde  note and some wood.
Taste: It starts with sweetness. The middle tones are more complex: toffees, coffee and some wood  form the main impression. The finale is written in soft smoke and peat notes. Score: This is not the kind of whisky I would expect from Islay. It lacks the pronounced peatiness and smokiness. Maybe the water which is used for the production of the malt is the reason. Bunnahabhain imports its water from the main land.

I have to confess that I gave myself the biggest share when it was my turn to divide the remaining content of the bottle. Bunnahabhain is really nice, although not in my Top Ten.

Now it was Heino's turn to leave. The reason ,- not the degree of his drunkenness but the last train to his home in the suburbs of  Hamburg. Only Doc Michi and me remained. His girl friend was still away visiting a friend. He secretly told me: "Dagmar (his girl friend) always tells me that I'm soo sweet when I have drunken a bit too much.." "You're right", I replied , "same is true for Marlou (my girl friend). Well- let's make our girl friends a bit happier. There is the bottle of Speyburn, almost finished, just enough for a final drink for us."

Speyburn 10y
No real report about this one. Every time I've tried  this malt it was late in the evening. Just a few words: seems to be a typical Speyside malt, - sweetness and fruits, - lasts not very long but the price is ok (20 ¥ for the 0.7 l bottle)

Home at last. I have finished this report. It turned out to be longer than expected. Hope you are not bored by it. As I read the lines again I fear one could get the impression that my malt tasting society HarLeM is a club of heavy drunkards. This is not true. You might say that we pursue our efforts on the field of malts with German grundlichkeit as Johannes stated, but to get drunk in style is not our main goal.

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Subject: Malt Madness E-Report #2 - Ardbeg 8y
Date:  Mon, 26 Jun 2000

Hi Malt Madnes fellows,

Greetings from Hamburg. The reason why I mail you (and the others)  is a description of a special tasting session which I had together with a friend:
Ardbeg signatory vintage 1991 8y in different flavours:

a) Ardbeg Signatory vintgage 1991 8y 43% cask 611-615 bottle 2261/2360
b) same cask 624&626 bottle 1086/1688
c) same - don't know the other values
d) Ardbeg Signatory vintage 1991 8y 60.2% cask 616 bottle 96/320

The 8y old Ardbeg is a real winner. "Smoke!"  it says a little cheeky. "I am a real Ardbeg." Well, - this might be true considering the smokieness and peatyness. But the young one lacks the developement of his older brothers. This stuff tastes more like the Laphroaig 10y. Crazy, you might say, 3-4 times the same whisky. But there was the influence of the casks:

a) is by far the best:
Colour: very pale and slightly green
Aroma: smoky, peaty, medicine. A mixture of ashtray and sticking plaster. But there is also an unobtrusive fresh grass note.
Taste: comes immediately to the point: extreme smoky and peaty, a night at the sea with a campfire from tary oily wood.  No other nuances. Real afterburner!

b) and c) resemble the winner a)  but  the delicate smoke and peatyness is less pronounced. An unpleasant spirity note comes to life. I guess that the bigger casks (this is at least true for b)) might be the reason.

d)  I expected that the taste of the cask strength Arbeg would be more intense than his 43%-brothers.  But to my disappointment nothing happened. The only difference to b) and c) was  the strong presence of spirit. Well there is 30% more alcohol in it. A dillution had no influence on the malt except for a decrease in taste. The cask strenth dilluted to 43% tasted not half as good as Arbeg 8y a) and was poorer than b) and c).  Altogether the cask strength was a disappointment. Perhaps an 8y old whisky should not be aged in the hogshead (250 l cask).

Tschüs, Klaus

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Subject:  Malt Madness E-Report #1
Date: Mon, 5 Jun 2000

OK, here comes the story anbout the foundation of our club and the manifest

Hamburg 1998, foundation of HarLeM
Autumn 1998 – birthday party of Doc Michi:

In a quiet corner three people met who shared the same secret pleasure – the love for single malts. But the tasting of single malts is an expensive hobby. 10/bottle is normal. Due to that fact they had consumed only a few well known malts. But this soon became history. They planned the foundation of a private whisky tasting society. And their plan for the years to come was to boldly go where no whisky-taster has gone before.

11/14/98, apartment of Doc Michi, first tasting session

When we started we had only the book from Michael Jackson, the Edinburgh malt whisky tour in the WWW and our own small experience as guiding lines. Contact to whisky shops with a large range of different malts was not established. And there was also the problem to get good tasting and nosing glasses.
Anyway, things had to get going. We solemnly signed our foundation manifest (see later) and sharpened our pencil to fill out the tasting forms (see later).
Macallen 12y – Oban 14y – Laphroaig 10y were on the program – a short visit to Speyside, the Highlands and Islay.

We started with the Macallen 12y which is known to be the sweetest and fruitiest malt. Colour: dark amber
Fragrance: very complex composition of fruits and wood with notes of sherry, grapes and malt, a hint of vanilla and honey
Taste: a liquid poem, beautiful development
the start: Easy going. A stroll on a fruit market. I can't put my finger on a special fruit
middle: sweet with sherry and malt, toffees
finish: glowing peat fires - the taste lasts very long. Score: one of the most delicate fruity whiskies I know. Pure fun, especially on campfires in summer. The 12 y old Mac should be in the vaults of every serious malt fan.

The next whisky was a western highland malt Oban 14y
Colour: gold
Fragrance: fruity, malty, fresh wood, a note of tobacco and a hint of rum-aroma, very alcoholic. Doc Michi said that he didn't like the smell at all. "Smells a bit like a fart and like rubber", was his judgement.
Taste: After a rather expressionless malt note there is a short flicker of fruits and mint. Finish with smoke and peat and pronounced wooden bitterness. Score: This malt is no winner. Ok, – I would drink it but never would I spend my money for it.

The last whisky was a true heavy weight, – Laphroaig 10y, – no half measures!
Colour: amber
Fragrance: smoky, peaty, tar, seaweed, a very reticent fruity note
Taste: smoke, tar medicine, a bit peaty. This is like a campfire of driftwood on the sea. Very heavy and long lasting. When you intend to kiss your wife or girlfriend after consumption of Laphroaig (even on the next morning) then she should either like the taste/smell or drink her own share. Score: marvellous – I love it – those heavy smoky notes. On the other hand I fear an equal share will hate it. There are no half measures.
The ultimate whisky for rainy days in Hamburg. By the way, during the prohibition Laphroaig was not forbidden. It was tolerated as medicine. Many people with stomach problems (i.e . they had overeaten) told me that their complaint vanished immediately after a glass of Laphroaig.

- - - - - - - - -

HarLeM Founding Manifest

Hamburg's ruhmreiche Liebhaber erlesener Malts
(Hamburg's famous lovers of exquisite malts)

· Hamburg's ruhmreiche Liebhaber erlesener Malts (HarLeM) is a private association of friends of scottish single malt whiskies.
· The aim of the association is the tasting of whiskies and the provision of  sufficient numbers of different malts for the tasting by the members.  HarLeM encourages the exchange of knowledge in the following areas: production of  whisky,  history of whisky, distillery knowledge and sensual judgement of whiskies. Furthermore the members encourage the training of palate and nose. So the tasting of whisky will be an even more satisfying experience.
· Every second Saturday in the month the members meet. Conference venue is the apartment of a member. The host will always be chosen in  the previous meeting.
· The meetings will take place in a friendly  and calm atmosphere. Raising hell, smuggling of blended whiskies and vomiting in cause of excessive alcohol consumption can be punished with immediate  expulsion from HarLeM..
· During the first  3 months after the foundation of "Hamburg's ruhmreiche Liebhaber erlesener Malts" (HarLeM) the  admission fee is one bottle of good single malt. After that period  two bottles must be supplied to become a HarLeM member. Associate members pay only  1/3 of the fee for  full members.  Of course the associates don't have the same kind of access to our whisky vaults.
· The HarLem members commit themselves to pay reasonable amounts  for the enlargement and maintenance of  the whisky stocks. Concerning the whisky stocks it has to be kept in mind that HarLem is not willing to tolerate decrease of quality by oxidation in half empty bottles. These bottles must be finished soon.

Planned projects:

· A short survey "scottish single malts"
· a tour around the isles (Islay, Skye, Orkney)
· Glemorangie (sherry, port, madeira) simultaneous tasting  in one session
· Speyside: a paradise for whisky friends
· specialities (independent suppliers)
· age research (the taste of the  same whisky at different age)

Hamburg 11/14/.98, the founders

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Subject:  Has getting drunk in style become more expensive?
Date: Wed, 17 May 2000

Hi Johannes,

Here comes mail from Hamburg, Germany, the small single malt tasting society Harlem. In your last newsletter you reported  that the prize for many single malts has drasticilly increased.  We made the same observation here in Hamburg.  To our luck the stuff we prefer (Islay Whiskeys, Maccallan, Highland Park) is almost stable. It is very praiseworthy that finally someone informs the world about this serious problem.

Two other points, dark clouds on the delicate peaty whisky horizon, are alarming. We can only hope that the same things don't happen in the netherlands.

1. and by far the worst:
Our whisky shop informed us some month ago that the 1 liter bottles will soon vanish from the market. Some destilleries i.e. Glenmorangie don't  sell them anymore. Other companies will follow. The result: you get a 0.7 l bottle for the same price as a 1 l bottle. This happened to me when I wanted to try the Edradour  (nice stuff, but too expensive and not the taste I like).
I think those bloody eurocrats at Brussel are responsible for that developement. They should be drowned in Old Smugglers or something like that.

2. bloody rotten corks:
In the last year we had 10-20% of our whisky bottles with rotten corks. Of course our whisky dealer exchanges the bottles but you get no compensation for the disappointment. I think many wouldn't believe it, but a rotten cork can ruin even the heavy taste of a Lagavulin. The bad cork problem is not related to special distilleries.  We had Lagavulin, Bunnahabhain, Laphroaig, Dalwhinnie and one or two other bottles which were ruined. I think there should be a law that whisky distilleries get the best cork. Then come the other liquors and wines. And the manufacturers of girly plateau shoes, isolating stuff for walls and floors have to make the best out of the rest. Perhaps they could use recycled whisky corks (nice scent!).

Bye and may your whisky bottles ever be at least half full.

Klaus

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