Celtic Cask - Ocht - Review

Hello there and let me begin by wishing you all a very happy New Year.  A touch late I know but I better late than never.  In honesty though, I've been a little absent over the last month as I took the festive period to truly unwind and spend quality time with friends and family, as I hope did all of you.

Not to worry though, with all that relaxation I had plenty of time to enjoy a lot of all things whisky and have plenty to be writing about as we move swiftly through the first month of 2015.  Furthermore I fully intend to crank this whole blog up a notch or two and look forward to expanding and pushing myself on to bigger things.

For now though I'll jump straight in with something new and Irish.

Roughly this time last year I typed out a review highlighting a latest release from The Celtic Whiskey Shop, which is based in Dublin City Centre.  That review looked at a bottling from their very exciting "Celtic Cask" range - the Celtic Cask Sé.

To recap the Celtic Cask Sé was a 22 year old, single malt whiskey that was born in September 1991 and bottled in November 2013.  It was double distilled and came from from an unnamed distillery that normally practices triple distillation.  The cask, number 1916, came to the company courtesy of the increasingly awesome Teeling Whiskey Company and was finished, for about 4 months, in one of their Anima Negra wine casks.  It was bottled at 46% ABV and another interesting note was that the initial spirit had been distilled from crystal malt, which is more commonly used in brewing to add colour and body to ales.

Back then I suggested that the spirit itself came from Bushmills but now I'm completely certain.  

Fast forward a year or so and here we have their brand new Celtic Cask Ocht.  The Celtic Cask Ocht, at 23 years of age, is quite simply the same whiskey as Celtic Cask Sé but with a year or so longer in the fantastic Anima Negra cask.

Further information provided, for the anoraks amongst you, told us that the cask was 225 litres, made from French Alier oak and the wine, it held previously, was in the barrel for 20 months. 

When I received this sample I did wonder how much more influence the extra year was going to put into the whiskey and I looked forward to getting stuck in as I had really enjoyed the Celtic Cask Sé.

Without further ado here's my notes:

Nose - Deep red and black fruits, blackcurrant, strawberry and redcurrant.  There's a lovely buttered nuttiness running through this which is creamier than I recall in the Sé.  Ripe banana and Christmas spices.  Some menthol and a hint of peppermint.  Deep dark chocolate orange.  In the background you do get a slight sense of age with some dusty citrus lemon and orange coming through.

Palate - As with the Sé, this is a huge juicy arrival.  Tons of rich red fruits which are extra sweet with the malt.  Light clove spice and some red apple.  Dusty leather comes towards the end with rich orange.  Drying towards the very end with more creaminess throughout.

Finish - Lightly spiced red fruit that drys and lingers wonderfully.

Overall this is still a big red fruit beast of a dram!!  Fantastic berry flavours run throughout this whiskey as it has clearly taken to the cask extremely well.  The Ocht for me is every bit as good as the Sé and then some.  What I found surprising with the Ocht is that it displayed a layer of creaminess, that wasn't obviously apparent to myself in the Sé, and this has easily added an extra dimension to the whole experience.  

As with the Sé this is not a heavy sherried style whiskey but is beautifully light and fresh for 23 years of age.  The Bushmills spirit works wonderfully when treated with the respect it deserves........COME ON BUSHMILLS, SORT YOURSELVES OUT!!!

The Ocht comes in at roughly £170 compared to roughly £150 for the Sé and for me if you're willing to spend £150 you may as well throw in an extra £20!!  

Yet again the Celtic Whiskey Shop have pulled out all the stops to bring us high quality Irish whiskey that's been finished to high, high standard!!

Well there you have it, the first review of what promises to be a fantastic and exciting year.  I hope you all stick with me for the journey.

As always I've thrown in a few relevant links below for you to peruse at your leisure and if you fancy another look at my review of the Celtic Cask Sé you can do so by clicking right here.

Until next time,

Sláinte

SI

Celtic Whiskey Shop - http://www.celticwhiskeyshop.com

Celtic Whiskey Shop Facebook - https://www.facebook.com/Celticwhiskeyshop

Celtic Whiskey Shop Twitter - https://twitter.com/Celticwhiskey

  

Ardbeg - 23 year old - Director's Cut - Douglas Laing - Review

Well here we are, the final update from the Big Peat tweet tasting that has taken over a good chunk of the whisky blogging world over the course of the last week.  As the previous four updates have shown Douglas Laing treated all those taking part to some absolutely stunning drams and the last one was no exception.

For the final sample of the evening we were privileged to have in our hand an unreleased single malt from none other than Ardbeg, arguably the most popular distillery on Islay.

Coming from Douglas Laing's "Director's Cut" range this was a 23 (YES 23!!) year old Ardbeg which was bottled at 53.1% ABV.  Other information provided stated that this was from a single cask which yielded 114 bottles and that the spirit was distilled in 1991 before being bottled in 2014.

Seeing as all whiskies were revealed after we had tasted them we all were absolutely stunned to learn that this was from Ardbeg.  Usually known for it's big peaty notes this Ardbeg just blew us away with it's stunning flavours and deep complexity.  As I nosed the whisky  the peat didn't arrive and as a result it reminded me a lot of the new Balblair '90 vintage which I previously reviewed here.

Onto the notes:

Nose - Tropical beyond belief. Banana, pineapple, coconut deep orange, bubblegum, banana on toast.  Banoffee pie and slight touches of blackcurrant cordial.  With time the age begins to show itself with distinct notes of sweet tobacco and leather dustiness.  Truly amazing.

Palate - Sweet, fruity with huge blackcurrant, strawberry, raspberry and in fact all berries seem to be present.  More tropical banana with definitely more of the old dustiness hiding within the whisky.  The strength is perfect, not too much at all and allows the spirit to completely open up in the mouth.

Finish - Long, lingering and completely fantastic!! Old and rich fruit combine with great wood spice complexity.  Totally moreish.  

Overall this is simply out of this world.  In my opinion this is very un-Islay like but still breathtakingly brilliant.  The fruitiness from the spirit has combined so perfectly with the cask to produce one of the finest drams I've ever had the pleasure to sample.  The fact that this comes from Ardbeg just impressed me even more.   It just goes to show that they don't always need to mess around with fancy, sometimes gimmicky, releases and instead they should treat us all to these utterly gorgeous whiskies that are lying dormant around their warehouses.  If they don't then thank goodness we have Douglas Laing who will.

Incidentally, if you wish to get your hands on this whisky you had best save up and keep your eyes on "Master of Malt".  With the price still to be confirmed I can only imagine this will cost a pretty but believe me it's worth it.

As with the last four updates, all relevant links can be found below.

Well that is that.  All five drams sampled and reviewed and I'm sure you can all agree what a set of whiskies they were.  

All I shall finish with is to once again thank Douglas Laing, "Big Peat himself" and of course Steve Rush at @TheWhiskyWire for this amazing opportunity.  I can highly recommend to any new whisky fans, or experienced connoisseurs, to get themselves onto Twitter and check out @TheWhiskyWire.  The tastings that Steve Rush manages to set up are nothing short of fantastic.  Thanks to social media, @TheWhiskyWire allows us all, experienced or not, to get involved in the world of whisky while making new friends, expanding our knowledge and trying some of the best drams around.  Can't argue with that.

Until next time,

Sláinte.

SI

The Whisky Wire - http://www.thewhiskywire.com

The Whisky Wire Twitter - https://twitter.com/TheWhiskyWire

Douglas Laing & Co. - http://www.douglaslaing.com/home.php?DOC_INST=1