Coastal Xtreme whisky reviews plus a quickie on an unusual bottle

This post is mainly about the recent Coastal Xtreme tasting at Regional Wine and Spirits in Wellington, but just before that I'll recount some comments about a bottle I picked up from Christchurch last time I was down there (just a wee bit prior to the earthquake, which was lucky, 'cos it was sat very precariously on the edge of an upturned barrel in Whisky Galore).

A cask strength 57.6% Cadenhead bottling of MacDuff East Highland from 1989 (but bottled in 2001 so only 12 yo) limited to 714 bottles from a sherry butt cask (presumably by the amount it must therefore have been more than one). Never had anything quite like it, when I first opened the bottle it was so pungent and intense it was basically undrinkable. Luckily, I kept persevering and cutting it down with water (way more than I normally would) and eventually I found a balance, and it was a pretty stunning one at that.

The funny thing is, it's actually really mellowed out since being opened and exposed to air, much more so than I'd usually find. I would say that was something to do with being in the bottle so long, but I'm not sure that makes any proper scientific sense. Though I guess it's different being in the barrel than the bottle, as in the former it's still 'alive' but in the latter is almost like being in suspended animation - perhaps more staving off deterioration than growing, as such.

Anyway, didn't do it any harm at all to mellow out a bit, but I wonder if other (and perhaps more lowly) whiskys kept in similar conditions would react the same way and age (or benefit) similarly.... but not that there's any chance of that happening with any of my collection.

So, on to the main act, the Coastal Xtreme tasting notes and scores from the group tasting, also briefly annotated with my own comments. It was an awesome session, and really interesting to have a couple of the biggest Islays up against some quite contrasting styles for a change.



Coastal Xtreme Malts 'Full Of Exoticism'

By Daniel McLaren Moon {and me}

The exotic lineup of coastal style malts was just about out of control. From the new spirit quadruple distilled with no peat what so ever to the peatiest malt ever at 140 ppm to a 28 year old Highland Park, there was much to enjoy. For the first night, four malts were voted within a whisker of each other, so the second crew had their pickings for Best of the Best:

Ardbeg ‘Supernova 2’ SN2010 60.1% >100ppm
Score 9.07 Nose: Hello! BBQ smoke peat baconaise! Coastal and sweet, caramel campfire, old smokey clothes, young, woody, salty, chalk, dry ash, meaty sausages, boiled cabbage and smoked salami. Palate: Elves, wood, salt, pencil shavings, alcohol, delicious in the brain. Phenols (more than Supernova 1) Finish: Sweet, smoke, chlorine, detonates underwater. Peppery petrol, cooked bananas, very long. General consensus was that this is superior to the Stellar Release.

{8.9 - Smokey bacon, smoked cheese, rash-uns, baconaisse, acetone, bleached wood and oily burnt paint
This came in second for me, and having been convinced it was the Ardbeg from the start, I eventually (and at the last second) changed my mind and picked this as the Octomore, which scored much lower. Which was odd, as both us and most of the other people around us thought the two were pretty similar, and I rated it my highest at 9.1}


Highland Park 28 y.o. 11.1977 - 8.2006 46% Hart Brothers
Score 8.68 Nose: Sweet, brown sugar, maple and walnut. Honey. Apples, sherried raisins, banana milkshake. Tobacco, Malibu, varnish, aged figs, subtle smoke and caramel toffee. Palate: Caramelly, wood, peat, soft bitterness, bandages, oily prunes. Finish: Floral, roses, smoke, metalic edge, pepper, passionfruit, complex, sweet, medium length. Needed to be at cask strength.

{8.1 - Sherry, raisins, old wood with the varnish peeling off, well balanced, dust, artificial banana
My fourth place. Could taste the age but for me it wasn't anything so amazing, good, but not great}


Talisker 18 y.o. 45.8%
Score 8.66 Nose: Whisky! Bourbon wood, sweet brown sugar, apricots, rum-n-raisin, cigars, arm pit. Dry carob, smoky ‘Bata Bullets’, earthy, pears, juicyfruit, aged. Palate: Sweet, smooth, heathery. Heart warming, nice Island/Speyside balance with honey. Finish: Breakfast malt. Sherry. Long. Hint of salt, some fizz, coke, ends with some smoky peat and pepper. This is class.

{7.4 - dry wood, cigar, rum and raisin ice-cream, very slight peatiness
Picked this one correctly but just didn't rate it much, breakfast drinking really, with it coming in at joint next-to-last place. Maybe it just felt weaker due to not being cask strength, certainly very drinkable but the younger ones are actually better in my opinion.}


Longrow CV 46%
Score 8.58 Nose: Floral, sweet, oily carob. Honey and peat, sweaty sox and salty bandages. Sulphur, frajipani, chlorine, dry rubber, bread, coffee, bacon, oaky old, dusty cereals. Palate: Oily, bitter, perfumed peaches. A Sunday afternoon whisky. Savoury balance, nuts and lemon zest.
Finish: Smoke and chocolate, melons and peat. Orange rind, passive/aggressive, lingers. A mighty Campbeltown.

{8.4 - slight bacon, faint apple, hint of leather and peat, gently smokey.
My third place, this didn't have the balls of the two big Islays but at a lowly 46% it stood up admirably well. More complex than the Tallisker, I was a fan, especially when I realised I'd picked it right then looked at the price list}


Oban 14 y.o. 43% (Served as mystery)
Score 8.02 Nose: Old. Apple tea, sweet varnish, honey melon, blossoms, caramel, boiled sweets, minimal coast, grass, dusty, bit of age, bourbon and musty Jura. Palate: Bite. Pepper. Sweet pineapple. No peat, flat beer, tobacco, wet tweed, apples and a ladder. Finish: Bitter nose prickle, "you've got nuts". Mild, savoury, medium length, wet cardboard.

{7.4 - honey 'n' caramel, pear drops, christmas cake-ish, apple tea, (nose burning), hot chilli, thin, just a bit peppery
Joint last for me, I kind of enjoyed this, then didn't, then did, etc. Probably deserved it's 5th place overall in hindsight, but fluctuated between interesting and just a bit thin and weak tasting, which is why it didn't rate highly with me}


Bruichladdich ‘Octomore 2’ 5 y.o. 62.5% 140 ppm 15000 bottles
Score 7.77 Nose: Smoky cheese, fish and rubber. Coastal meths, alcohol, sweet burn and ‘Rashuns’. Ash. Hospital anaesthetic. Grassy, dry, some sherry, youthful fly-spray, cigars, salty apples, shampoo’d jersey. Palate: Smoky, sweet bitter, thick, oily ashtray. Eggplant. Fridge magnets. Marine rope. Better than nose. Finish: Cigarette ash, dries out, BIG and long. Hot seaweed, yoghurt. "A broad spectrum medicine".

{9.1 - smakey bacon, rash-uns, smoked cheese, baconaisse, acetone, bleached wood, burnt paint, oily ashtrays
Super long, complex and interesting finish, this was the major difference between myself and the majority of the group, as I rated it number 1 and was definitely my favourite (by a nose). Very, very similar to the Supernova, causing me to change my mind which was which at the very last second. Obviously it was just me though, as the former rated top overall, and this only came in sixth. Did it all for me, and it was the complexity that sealed it, every sip giving something different, and changing so much from one second to the next that you could just sit there and enjoy it like the plot of a favourite book unfolding. Bearing in mind there are some self confessed 'peat-o-philes' in the group, I'm astounded this didn't rate higher}


Bruichladdich ‘X4’ New Spirit Quadruple distilled 50%
Score 5.13 Nose: Children who have the flu. Something died. Potato flakes. Schnapps. Modelling glue. Dishwash. tequila, poteen, synthetic soap, cheese, artificial banana, surgical solvent,lavender and garlic. Palate: Better than vodka. Sweet socks. Distilled in jail. Urine. Lavender. Roadkill, air freshener. Finish: Better than nose, has potential. Sweet RTD. Desperate, vaguely dirty, medium.

{6.0 - surgical spirit, sake/motai, tequila infused with cheese and garlic, fake artificial taste of raspberry vodka mixed with potcheen
Tasted better than it's nose, but suffered from the fact it was very obvious which one it was and no-one expected much of it. I have a feeling this was produced to sit in a freezer in trendy downtown bars and be drunk by the shot, for which it very may well work ok. Horses for courses I say, and I've nothing against drinking shots, so why not invent a whisky based one? It doesn't proffer to be a single malt, and in fact isn't (being a new spirit) and as such was always going to struggle in the company of the peers it was put up against. Would be intrigued to knock a few back super-chilled in a different environment.}

Musings on the UK election from a NZ perspective (also submitted as an article for BBC news online)

I really hope that the Lib Dems can form a strong coalition with one of the other two major parties. I'm a NZ resident originally from the UK, and it is interesting to note that there is a wide reaching call for proportional representation in the UK, whereas we've had it here for many years and the popular opinion would be to go back to a first past the post system. Although ostensibly as fairer system, and one that certainly looks like it should work well on paper, it has been found that the former often means you end up with a dominant party forming a government with all the smaller (and often highly unpopular) minor parties to form a majority.
For a classic example, you only have to look back to the election before last here in New Zealand, which was a very similar situation to the current one in the UK. There was no clear majority, but Labour were in the position that the Tories now find themselves in. The National party (our equivalent of conservative) refused to deal with the Green party (who were in a very similar position to the Lib Dems) due to their vastly conflicting opinions on most subjects.
Prior to the election Labour said they would form a colation with the Greens, but it turned out that the public vocalisation of this prior to the election was probably responsible for enough of the vote being swayed in their favour to mean that they didn't have to. Hence they eventually formed government with a wide assortment of the minor parties (ACT and NZ First being the to major players). This turned out to be a very unpopular (and highly undemocratic) decision, and resulted in some dreadful appointments to government.
Possibly the worst example of this was a NZ First politician called Winston Peters being given the job of Foreign Secretary by the then Prime Minister. This was a man so disliked by government that in order that he wouldn't win his seat (and continue to disrupt parliamentary proceedings) both Labour and National joined forces to encourage the electorate to vote for whoever was ahead in the final poll before election time. They duly succeeded, and Mr. Peters lost his seat. However, the Prime Minister appointed him to the aforementioned key position in order to coax the NZ First support she needed. So a politician who was with out portfolio and was was so thoroughly disliked by both his colleagues and the public alike ended up in one of the five most powerful jobs in parliament for an entire term of office. Sure, he did tow the Labour line and largely kept his head down and did what he was told, but it was truly an embarrassment and a very sorry state of affairs for one of the self proclaimed forerunners of modern democracy to have sunk so low.
I can only hope that the Tory's are aware of this sorry little tale and that whether it be with the Blues or the Reds, the Lib Dems become the second component of the next UK government.

ooh, I've got a blog, how exciting

Well, I finally took the plunge and started writing a blog, something I said I'd never do.

I've always held the opinion that blogs by anyone who aren't actually famous in any way nor have any kind of following of people who are interested in them are a bit of a waste of space. After all, I barely find the time to lead my life, let alone read about anyone else's, so to make the presumption that anyone out there has the vaguest interest in anything I might write here would seem a little presumptuous to me. But you never know...

Not that it's even an issue if I don't keep up with writing it. I've never been very good (i.e. totally shite) at keeping a diary, so I don't see any reason why I'd be any better at this. Having used my Gmail account as the source for this isn't good start, as out of four email accounts I hold, that's the one I barely ever check (a couple of times a year if I'm lucky, and I always have to try several different passwords before I figure out the right one). So let's just see if I keep it up, eh? (keep it up... keep it up, I can normally keep it up, oo-er missus. That's an early example of my very poor sense of humour)

Right-o, well that's enough pointless meandering for now, toodle-pip, Dick.