Glencraig 1976 33-year-old

Bought: English Whisky Company, 6^th November 2015

Ratings:
88.17/100 – Whiskybase (average from 20 member votes)
81/100 – Malt Maniacs (from 1 member vote)

Glencraig was a distillery within a distillery as it was the name give to whisky produced by two Lomond stills installed at the Glenburgie distillery in 1956. Miltonduff had the same idea with their Lomond stills installed in 1964 with the output named ‘Mosstowie’. Both Glencraig and Mosstowie ended production in 1981 as the demand for Lomond whisky dwindled away. Some say it was no loss because the majority of alcohol produced wasn’t up to much but if you do your research, good examples can be found.

Over 88/100 on Whiskybase from 20 member votes is a clear indication that this Glencraig by Signatory is an excellent dram. Comments include “very tasty”, “very interesting” and “a whisky with a-typical herbal and spicy profile, but very special though. Delicious and well balanced.” Tasting notes mention herbs, honey, beeswax, ashes, campfire, vanilla, citrus, apple syrup, cinnamon, green vegetables, pineapples and charcoal. It certainly sounds complex!

Time for a grumble! When this bottle of Glencraig arrived from the ‘English Whisky Company’ I opened the tube to be greeted by a strong smell of whisky. The bottle wasn’t broken, the plastic around the top was intact and the cork was firmly driven in. All I can think is that the stopper isn’t tight enough and some whisky had seeped through during transit. I didn’t complain because no whisky was missing but this bottle is an obvious candidate for evaporation. I was hoping to keep it as an investment but not if the level drops dramatically in the next few years (it looks low already). At least if that happens I know it’s going to be a nice one to drink! Some problems have a silver lining.

Glen Albyn 1976-2012 Gordon & MacPhail

Bought: English Whisky Company, 6^th November 2015

Ratings:
96/100 – Whisky Bible 2013
84/100 – Malt Maniacs (average from 3 maniac votes)
85.45/100 – Whiskybase (average from 13 member votes)

This vintage bottle of Glen Albyn was a new addition to the Whisky Bible in 2013 where it scored an amazing 96/100. This put it in the category of “superstar whiskies that give us all a reason to live”. The author, Jim Murray, says about the taste “I’m shaking my head in disbelief. Not through disappointment, but wonder! How can something of this antiquity still fill your month with so much juice? The barley still offers a degree of grassiness, though this is camouflaged by the softest bourbon characters I have seen in a long time. The honeycomb is in molten form, as is the vanilla which appears to carry with it a fabulous blend of avocado pear and ulmo honey.” He summaries with “wow!” and concludes with “the delivery really does take us to places where only the truly great whiskies go.”

85.45/100 on Whiskybase is an excellent mark, as is 84/100 on Malt Maniacs where one reviewer gives the tasting notes “Dry smokiness, in quite gentle doses however. Then a fruity berried style beneath. Taste gets that dry raspy smokiness, in a very interesting mix with the berries and fruit. This is a quite special whisky”.

Glen Albyn was sadly one of the distilleries that closed in 1983 so whisky casks for new bottlings are getting rarer and rarer. It’s certainly a good investment but it’s also nice to know that a lot of the remaining casks from the distillery are delicious, should the desire to drink it take over!

Banff 1976 – 2005

Bought: Whisky Mouse, 4^th November 2015

Ratings:
76/100 – Whisky Bible 2006
86.9/100 – Whiskybase (average from 12 member votes)

Poor Banff distillery, if it wasn’t catching fire it was being blown up or bombed. The distillery had quite an eventful life from its beginnings in 1863 before finally closing in 1983. It has subsequently been demolished but single malt examples can still be procured from auctions and certain whisky shops. It makes a good investment as well as a tasty tipple.

My example, distilled in 1976, was bottled by the independent bottlers Gordon & MacPhail in 2005 so it was a new addition to Jim Murray’s Whisky Bible 2006. Sadly the author only has 4 words to say about it, which are “soft with chalky oak”. His score of 76/100 classifies this Banff as “average and usually pleasant but sometimes flawed”. Contrast this with nearly 87/100 on Whiskybase from 12 member votes, which is a fantastic score. Perhaps Mr Murray had a bad sample because the majority of tasters appear to love this dram.

Below is the end of a You Tube video by John “Whiskyman” Loftus, who is said to have the largest private whisky collection in the southern hemisphere. Here he discusses Banff and tastes a typical example from the distillery:

The Singleton of Auchroisk 1976

Bought: Online Whisky Auction, 19^th June 2015

Ratings:
82.43/100 – Whiskybase (75cl version. Average from 9 member votes. My 5cl here)

These days we tend to think of ‘Singleton’ as a whisky from the Dufftown or Glen Ord distilleries but from 1986 until 2001 the name was used by the Auchroisk distillery to describe their single malt. The distillery was constructed between 1972 and 1974 so my bottle is an early example, being distilled in 1976. The intension behind Auchroisk was to provide malted whisky for the J&B blend (still its principal blend today) but it was soon discovered that the output made delicious single malt. The name ‘Singleton’ was only used because the distillery name was considered difficult to pronounce. ‘Oth-rusk’ doesn’t seem that difficult, not compared to some distilleries, which is probably why Auchroisk eventually dropped the use of ‘Singleton’.

The house style for Auchroisk whisky is sweet, fragrant, honey, medium-bodied with a hint of nuts and some smoke. The whisky is distilled in ex-bourbon casks and finished in ex-sherry casks if destined to become a single malt. Definitely a Speyside whisky worth trying!