No whisky enthusiast can fail to have noticed the proliferation of new malts on the market sporting nontraditional names despite being the products of traditional distillers. The Cabinet has delved into this before, but as it is becoming clearer that this is not just a trend but a fundamental shift in the industry it's worth having another look. Or several. We need to at least make an attempt at objective comparisons between the old and the new. With that in mind The Cabinet met last night to sample one of our favorites, the Oban 14 year old, side by side with it's new brother, the Oban "Little Bay", and moreover, to do this blinded. In very rough keeping with this theme we also decided that the time had come to taste the now famous Crown Royal "Northern Harvest" blind beside it's best reviewed older brother, the Crown Royal "Special Edition".
Before we could get to the blinded brothers though, we had the opportunity to enjoy a bottle of Glen Garioch (say "Geery", apparently), a donation to the club from Ivan. This is a well reviewed Highland malt that tastes like... a Highland malt. Nothing much distinguishes it on first pass, although it did enjoy the benefit of the "first dram effect". The first whisky of the evening is always welcome and always draws murmurs of approval, just for being whisky. It's a bit like the first bit of sun that pokes through after days of overcast skies. Nobody complains that the sky isn't instantly blue, they're just happy for those few rays and the implicit promise of more.
Before we could get to the blinded brothers though, we had the opportunity to enjoy a bottle of Glen Garioch (say "Geery", apparently), a donation to the club from Ivan. This is a well reviewed Highland malt that tastes like... a Highland malt. Nothing much distinguishes it on first pass, although it did enjoy the benefit of the "first dram effect". The first whisky of the evening is always welcome and always draws murmurs of approval, just for being whisky. It's a bit like the first bit of sun that pokes through after days of overcast skies. Nobody complains that the sky isn't instantly blue, they're just happy for those few rays and the implicit promise of more.
We decided that we would prefer to save the Obans, so the Royal Crowns were addressed next. Blinding did not end up mattering as there was a blatant difference. One glass held a tasteless substance and the other had something resembling whisky flavour. Given that the Northern Harvest had been scored 97.5 out of 100 points by the illustrious Jim Murray and was thus named by him as best whisky of 2016 we assumed that the one that tasted like whisky must be the Northern Harvest. But here's the thing: tasting like whisky should only take you to a, say, 50 point baseline (below 50 is turpentine, lysol etc.). Where did the other 47.5 points come from? The Cabinet was in a hanging mood, so in the spirit of fairness (or was it the spirit of exasperation?) we decided to leave scoring for another night. For now let's just leave it at "disappointing". And the Special Edition? The one thing we can say about it is that it is "smooth". But smooth is not necessarily a desirable quality, especially when all flavour has been smoothed away. Water, for example, is exceptionally smooth. One member did however pick up a dill note. Once this was mentioned others detected it as well. Fiery dill water. Bizarre and unwelcome.
One glass was sharper, brighter, rougher and the other was rounder, fuller, softer. But both were unmistakably Oban. Which was which? The older would be the latter, correct? Usually yes, but in this case the small cask trick was remarkably effective and the Little Bay had the taste of a more mature whisky, despite likely containing much younger malts than the 14 year old. It was the second glass. And we preferred it. Well done Oban! And at $25 cheaper too. The Cabinet is gradually adjusting its view of tradition.
On to Oban. Thank god. Here the blind pour was more interesting, more challenging and, unsurprisingly, more enjoyable. Oban is a small distillery that has long only produced its justly famed 14 year old. Although The Cabinet's instinct is to favour tradition, we do recognize that the so-called "tradition" of age statement single malts is not that terribly old either and that adherence to it can shackle the malt master. And so it is with Oban. Faced with increased demand they have decided to produce the Little Bay (the English translation of Oban) by using smaller casks to speed the aging process. Aging is, after all, largely a question of whisky to wood contact. Longer time in the casks increases contact, but so does the use of smaller barrels. Laphroaig Quarter Cask is a similar concept, although there they are bottling at cask strength. Little Bay is bottled at the same strength as the 14 year old and it is almost identical in colour, an indication of the effect of the wood.
One glass was sharper, brighter, rougher and the other was rounder, fuller, softer. But both were unmistakably Oban. Which was which? The older would be the latter, correct? Usually yes, but in this case the small cask trick was remarkably effective and the Little Bay had the taste of a more mature whisky, despite likely containing much younger malts than the 14 year old. It was the second glass. And we preferred it. Well done Oban! And at $25 cheaper too. The Cabinet is gradually adjusting its view of tradition.
All in all it was splendid evening. Conversation ranged from dead cat drones to spouting blue whales and many Highland oat cakes were consumed. The rough ones of course.
What fun! Happy to hear Little Bay was a 'hit'... my one and only blind sample of Northern Harvest Rye made me think of rye & ginger...
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