The Cabinet assembled last night to take on the Orkney Islands. Or at least the whisky produced there. This has long been on our radar as a theme for an evening's tasting, but up until recently in Manitoba it would have meant drinking only Highland Park, which, make no mistake, is a fine prospect, but not fully representative of the islands. This is because there is another distillery, half a mile south of Highland Park, called Scapa. It was closed between 1994 and 2004, but since re-opening has produced well reviewed 12 and 14 year old expressions (obviously from pre-1994 casks). These have not been available here, but as of recently their newest, "Glansa" (no age statement), has appeared on local shelves. So finally, we were ready for a proper Orkney night.
We shouldn't have waited. Out of shear eagerness we began with the Glansa (which sounds disturbingly anatomical, but apparently means something like stormy skies in Norse). Scapa tells us that this is only peated by filling the spirits, from unpeated barley, into casks previously used for other heavily peated malts. They needn't have bothered. Peat is barely detectable here. It is not a terrible whisky, but it is not an especially good one either. Faint honey and flowers on the nose, sweet on the palate, thin in the mouth and then a bit of a rough and short finish. Maybe it's a case of having had unhelpfully high expectations. Maybe it's a case of rushing product to market to pay off the capital outlay involved in reopening a shuttered distillery. But, good-hearted as we are (and unwilling to waste even marginal whisky), we will eventually give it another chance.
Scapa out of the way we could happily address ourselves to the two Highland Parks. For the occasion we brought out the 15 year old, which had we loved in February, and the new "Dark Origins" (no age statement). I won't revisit the 15 y.o. in this post. The "Dark Origins" is worth a word or two though. The name is apparently a nod to the founder of Highland Park, but why or how he was "dark" goes unexplained. The bottle is black though and the whisky itself, very... dark. This is because they used 80% fresh sherry casks, which is double the normal number. Usually cask are used multiple times, but the first time imparts the most sherry character. Highland Park is a flavour bomb already, so the sherry notes can be hard to pick out, but the overall effect is very pleasing. In February I had said the following about the 15 y.o.: "medium dark, full, rich, chewy and very malty. It also has that long lingering finish we always look for." This all applies here as well, only more so. More dark. More full. More rich. More chewy. More more more. And a relative bargain at $101.
We finished the evening with a guest selection: the Tullibardine 20 year old, a very fine highland malt (previously reviewed April 2014). And speaking of guests, we had the good fortune to host two lively and entertaining guests, Ben and Leif. Whisky was sipped, cheese was eaten, tales, light and dark, were told and my ukulele found itself in far more expert hands than mine. A splendid evening.
We shouldn't have waited. Out of shear eagerness we began with the Glansa (which sounds disturbingly anatomical, but apparently means something like stormy skies in Norse). Scapa tells us that this is only peated by filling the spirits, from unpeated barley, into casks previously used for other heavily peated malts. They needn't have bothered. Peat is barely detectable here. It is not a terrible whisky, but it is not an especially good one either. Faint honey and flowers on the nose, sweet on the palate, thin in the mouth and then a bit of a rough and short finish. Maybe it's a case of having had unhelpfully high expectations. Maybe it's a case of rushing product to market to pay off the capital outlay involved in reopening a shuttered distillery. But, good-hearted as we are (and unwilling to waste even marginal whisky), we will eventually give it another chance.Scapa out of the way we could happily address ourselves to the two Highland Parks. For the occasion we brought out the 15 year old, which had we loved in February, and the new "Dark Origins" (no age statement). I won't revisit the 15 y.o. in this post. The "Dark Origins" is worth a word or two though. The name is apparently a nod to the founder of Highland Park, but why or how he was "dark" goes unexplained. The bottle is black though and the whisky itself, very... dark. This is because they used 80% fresh sherry casks, which is double the normal number. Usually cask are used multiple times, but the first time imparts the most sherry character. Highland Park is a flavour bomb already, so the sherry notes can be hard to pick out, but the overall effect is very pleasing. In February I had said the following about the 15 y.o.: "medium dark, full, rich, chewy and very malty. It also has that long lingering finish we always look for." This all applies here as well, only more so. More dark. More full. More rich. More chewy. More more more. And a relative bargain at $101.
We finished the evening with a guest selection: the Tullibardine 20 year old, a very fine highland malt (previously reviewed April 2014). And speaking of guests, we had the good fortune to host two lively and entertaining guests, Ben and Leif. Whisky was sipped, cheese was eaten, tales, light and dark, were told and my ukulele found itself in far more expert hands than mine. A splendid evening.
Anna admitted she blew a big chunk of this month's tasting budget on the last dram of the night, but we couldn't go through a whole evening of peaty whiskies without having an Octomore. red wine
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