Haig Club ‘Clubman’

Bought: Tesco, 6^th October 2016

Ratings:
4/10 – Whisky Wednesday (video review below)
2/5 – Master of Malt (from 9 reviews)
0/100 – Whiskybase (no member votes yet)

It’s been over 2 months since the Clubman was added to Whiskybase but still no reviews. If it were a new bottle of Ardbeg there would be over 100 ratings by now but that’s because Whiskybase is more about single malts. The Clubman on the other hand is a cheap single grain and, unlike the original Club, the Clubman is priced correctly for its use in whisky-based cocktails. At £15 it’s a bit more expensive than a Lidl or Aldi basic grain but you’re paying more for the marketing and stylish blue bottle. Indeed, comments on Amazon suggest it’s being bought as a Christmas present, which has more to do with the presentation. In fact, stick a light in an empty Clubman bottle and you’ve got a festive bauble for Christmas 2017!

Although scores from most whisky drinkers aren’t great there are some fans of the Clubman. Comments online include “superb for a mixer drink”, “smooth, sweet and light” and “not particularly complex or deep in flavours, but just a really nice light whisky to sup.” Remarks about the taste say it’s sweet and the bourbon ageing give it vanilla notes so it sounds perfect to mix with cola, lemonade or ginger ale.

Here’s Whisky Wednesday with their review on You Tube (October 2016):

Cameron Brig

Bought: Master of Malt, 3^rd August 2016

Ratings:
4.5/5 Stars – Master of Malt (average from 11 ratings)
71.97/100 – Whiskybase (average from 34 member votes)

If you think of ‘Master of Malts’ score as representing the average (or new) whisky drinker and the Whiskybase score representing the more dedicated dramsters you realise where Cameron Brig falls. As you can tell from the tasting notes below, this is a simple, no nonsense whisky. As a single grain it’s hardly going to be complex but very few alcoholic drinks are (or drunk as if they are). Sometimes it’s nice to kick back with a whisky that doesn’t need to be left for 10 minutes to ‘open up’ and then requires 30 minutes with a notebook as you jot down every taste bud experience. Comments on ‘Master of Malt’ include “beautifully clean and soft”, “slides over the taste buds like double cream” and “this is not whisky, this is nectar”.

For an established single malt drinker, trying Cameron Brig is more like a science experiment as neatly summed up in this comment on Whiskybase “recommended for educational purpose on blended whiskies. Taste and learn.” And I admit that’s why I bought a sample rather than a full bottle. When I finally get more serious about drinking blends I’ll try this Cameron Brig to educate my pallet on detecting the grain notes. Other comments on Whiskybase include “best way to introduce a newcomer to whisky…very palatable. easy drink” and “way better than Haig Club and less than 1/2 the price”.

Tasting notes from Master of Malt:

Nose: Light, subtle. Honey, spice.
Palate: Caramel, mixed peels, a touch of sherry, sultanas.
Finish: Medium length, oak and honey, more peels.

Here’s Jo of Whisky Wednesday with his You Tube review where he scores Cameron Brig 7/10 and suggests using it in a Highball cocktail (August 2013):

Hedonism – Compass Box

Bought: Amazon, 5^th February 2015

Ratings:
84/100 – Whisky Bible 2015
89/100 – Ralfy – His review on You Tube here (March 2012)

Trust the independent bottler Compass Box to come up with a whisky that needs its own special category! Hedonism isn’t a single grain, nor is it a blend, it’s a vatting of different grain whiskies! Cameron Bridge and Cambus to name but two of the possible 15 in the mix. I’ve had to create the new category heading “Scottish Vatted Grain” just for this entry. Compass Box clearly have no consideration for whisky bloggers! 😉

I first came across Hedonism in the book ‘101 Whiskies to Try Before You Die’ back in 2013. It’s unusual nature and great reviews put it firmly on my wish list. At the same time the Whisky Bible 2013 ranked the bottle 91/100. The year before, Ralfy had rated the version he tried with an excellent score of 89/100.

Fast-forward to 2015 and the latest edition of the Whisky Bible reviews a batch of Hedonism bottled in February 2013, and the score has dropped to 84/100. My bottle is from a batch created in July 2014. I’ve downloaded the information about the batch from the Compass Box website, and it’s hardly surprising that reviews vary from release to release. The tasting notes given are “deep aromas of vanilla pastry cream, toffee and lightly toasted nuts with elegant, rich flavours of creamy coconut and milk chocolate.” This is very different from the tasting notes given for the release of Hedonism earlier in 2014.

I suppose, since ‘hedonism’ is the pursuit of pleasure, there’s always an element of uncertainty to what you might encounter along the way. At least with Compass Box you know they’re very consistent with their ability to create wonderful whisky. Each batch of Hedonism might be different but it seems that quality is always lurking in every sip.

Haig ‘Club’

Bought – The Whisky Shop, 14^th October 2014

Ratings:
89/100 – Whisky Bible 2015 (added after my comments below)
62.93/100 – Whiskybase (average from 56 member votes)
88/100 – Scotch Test Dummies (their video review below)

And before you ask, no I’m not a fan of David Beckham. I wasn’t aware he was part of Haig’s marketing strategy for the ‘Club’ until after I’d purchased my bottle. I must confess, I fell for the bottle shape and colour. If I’d read any reviews about the ‘Club’ before seeing it, I might have shied away. Comments have not been very favourable. But it’s almost as if Haig don’t really care what it tastes like, it’s more about the imagine. The ‘Club’ is single grain whisky from the Cameronbridge distillery. Generally speaking you can find independent bottlings of Cameronbridge, matured for 20+ years, for about the same price as the ‘Club’. But it seems the ‘Club’ is NAS (non aged statement), exactly like a bottle of ‘Cameron Brig’ from the same distillery. The ‘Club’ comes in a funky blue bottle and is drunk by David Beckham with actors paid to be friends, all for the princely sum of £45. A bottle of ‘Cameron Brig’ is £21, less than half the price.

Not that the idea is for people to purchase the ‘Club’ by the bottle. This whisky is clearly designed to catch the punter’s eye in trendy bars and to be drunk with mixers in a variety of different ways. The Haig Club website (here) says the whisky can be enjoyed neat (we’ll see about that!) or as part of several cocktails, the recipes for which they supply on their “Drinks Menu” page. To be fair on Haig, they’re doing their best to try and change their image. I generally think of the Haig Gold Label blended whisky as old fashioned, so who better than David Beckham to inject a bit of modern TOWIE-style appeal?! Watch out for next year’s release of the Haig ‘Spice’ fronted by Victoria Beckham. You read it here first!

Here’s Scotch Test Dummies with their review on You Tube (June 2015):