Tasting Reviews

2022-09 – Ron C.

by webnoser

Ron opened up Season 7 this fall after the summer break. A great gathering again, and Ron has been able to keep finding drams we have yet to sample.

Round 1: Wolfburn Aurora

Cost: $108 CDNRegion: Highland

Fun Facts:

Thurso is the most northerly town on the British mainland with records dating back to Viking times, when it was under Norse Orcadian rule and a major gateway to Scandinavia and the Northern Isles. The area is fringed to the north and east by dramatic coastal scenery and is home to internationally important colonies of sea birds.

Thurso Bay and the distillery overlook the turbulent waters of the Pentland Firth towards the imposing cliffs of the Orcadian Island of Hoy – on a clear day the Old Man of Hoy can be seen in the far distance. The Thurso area was inhabited long before the Vikings arrived to give it its name.

NSC Comments:

  • Colour: Amber to Honey to Straw
  • Nose: Citrus, some fruit, Spicy
  • Palate: Sulphury, Powerful, licorice, oil
  • Finish: Long, short, all over the place
  • Not good, harsh, not good echoed again
  • Horrible finish. Smooth start, with water the finish improves, sharp, then sharper
  • Barks all the way down, horrible
  • Drinkability: 3.2,3,3,2,2,6.5,3

Round 2: Deanston 12 Year Old

Cost: $84 CDNRegion: Highland

Fun Facts:

  • In the highlands but only by a few miles, south-west of Perth, beyond Crieff and Gleneagles, is Doune, with a well-preserved medieval castle and an historic former cotton mill designed by Richard Arkwright. The mill was originally water driven, and is on the river Teith. The supply of good water from the river apparently contributed to the decision by Brodie Hepburn (operators of the nearby Tullibardine distillery to turn the mill into a distillery at a time when the whisky industry was doing very well.
  • It opened as the Deanston distillery in 1965/6 with the vaulted weaving shed as a warehouse. The distillery prospered during the 1970s, producing a blend and a malt called “Old Bannockburn” but closed during a difficult period in 1982. At the time it was owned by Invergordon. Following the revival of the industry in the late ’80s Deanston was bought in 1990 by the Glasgow blenders Burn Stewart. It has two pairs of large, bulbous stills with high necks and unusual upwards-inclined lyne arms, arranged to encourage a reflux action and deliver a purer spirit.

NSC Comments:

  • Colour: Copper, Amber, Gold
  • Nose: Sulphury, Fruity, some wood
  • Palate: Nutty, Honey, Smooth, Fruity, Sulphury
  • Finish: Short to Long – (sigh) these people…
  • Fades delicately, water required/essential consensus by all
  • A little steamy, complex this one is
  • Drinkability: 6,5,5,5,4.5,6.3,5

Bonus Round: Bruichladdich Islay Barley 2011

Cost: $96 CDNRegion: Islay

Fun Facts:

  • Bruichladdich (“The brae (hill) by the shore”) is Scotland’s westernmost intact distillery on the north shore of Islay’s loch Indaal.

NSC Comments:

  • Colour: Gold through Honey to Straw
  • Nose: Floral – Whoo!
  • Palate: Nutty, Woody, some Fruit
  • Finish: Short with Honey, Good finish, smooooothh, powerful
  • How is this an Islay, with no peat?
  • Very nice
  • Drinkability: 7.6,7.5,8,7.8,6.5,8,7