søndag 29. mai 2011

The Stills

One of the things that make the Fettercairn Single Malt all that good...

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nmdcE9VuVoo

lørdag 14. mai 2011

Signatory Vintage



Fettercairn 14yo 1996-2011 46% Signatory Vintage cask#4337 btl.314/385

From The Whisky Exchange, I'm glad to see that two of the biggest IB's in Scotland, Signatory and Gordon & Macphail, now have started releasing Fettercairns.



Fettercairn 15yo 1995-2011 59.8% Signatory Vintage cask#402 btl.51/198

Fettercairn is often a real gem when close to or above 60%abv. Signatory Cask at an affordable price.
Fettercairn 16yo 1995-2011 59.9% Signatory Vintage cask#405+406 btl.110/368 This one I've opened and its a real cracker!

fredag 13. mai 2011

Distillery Bottlings for the Italian market



Old Fettercairn 8yo 40% OB for Importato Da Pilla S.P.A. Castelmaggiore

A bottle with a twist cap, italian import 75cl, from back in the 70's or 80's, slight evaporation.



Fettercairn 875 8yo 43% OB for A Orlandi 20139-Milano Via Serlio 8/2 Italy

A twist cap bottle from the 70's. The number 875 on the label stands for 8yo and 75proof. A bottle holding the content of 76cl. Also its a pure highland malt, but back then it meant the same as single.



Old Fettercairn 8yo 43% OB for Liquorama S.A.S. Di R. Orlandi & Co. S. Donato Milanese - Milano

An 8yo with golden gate similar to the one on the recent older OB bottlings. Italy did invest in some Fettercairn back in the days. Very good! Get one while they last, its not getting cheaper nor easier to find.








Old Fettercairn 875 8yo 43% OB

Photo will be added

Standard Distillery Bottlings (of different times)



Old Fettercairn NAS 43% OB

This one could from the 80's sometime as I remember reading somewhere about Tomintoul having bottled some plastic decanters in the 80's. I am a bit surprised to see the evaporation in this one, is it possible that whisky in plastic are far more vulnerable to evaporation than whisky in glass?



Old Fettercairn 8yo 43% OB

Another one from the ongoing Whyte and MacKay era, this was a short-lived expression, and merely a small variation to complement the 10yo I believe.



Old Fettercairn 10yo 40% OB

The old 10yo OB that has been the standard for as long as I can remember, classic easy style highlander, still available at some online shops.



Fettercairn 10yo 40% OB

I don't know more about this than the one above except it has a different label, and therefore most likely was produced at a different year. But as said, I have no idea about when.



Old Fettercairn 10yo 43% OB

This one was the last "Old Fettercairn"-botlling, upping from 40% to 43% before it turned into "Fettercairn 1824", and lowered the standard of quality a bit as far as I'm concerned.. Thankfully Fettercairn has now made a strong comeback with its recent standard OB thanks to the excellent Fior.



Fettercairn 1824 12yo 40% OB

When Whyte & Mackay "old" from the label they replaced it with "1824", the year the distillery got its license. Now they've also withdrawn the "1824", perhaps because this bottling never were truly appreciated by the masses, so the public perception advance was due till another change in the OB range from Whyte & Mackay. Now discontinued, I don't think this ever will be seen as more than a semi-attractive collectors item.



Fettercairn NAS 42% OB Fior

The current affordable alternative when it comes to OB's, some sherried, some bourbon and a small portion of peated Fettercairn in the mix. Considering the price and availability I think this is a really good purchase, hence the 4(3) bottles in my collection.


Gordon & Macphail's Connoisseurs Choice



Fettercairn 18yo 1992-2010 46% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

Gordon & Macphail has recently started releasing some Fettercairn in the Connoisseurs Choice Range, kudos to them, hopefully they have some left for a single cask or cask strength release, maybe even both combined.



Fettercairn 13yo 1997-2010 46% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

Purchased from Loch Fyne Whiskies, an affordable alternative to the current standards of 24, 30 and 40yo, but probably a bit inferior in quality I'd imagine.



Fettercairn 15yo 1992-2007 46% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

From german online retailer Maltsandmore.de. I don't think they have any more left in stock, so I was lucky to get one of these old style labeled CC's before they're all gone.




Fettercairn 11yo 1992-2003 46% Connoisseurs Choice Gordon & Macphail

4th bottling of G&M Fettercairn for me, and third one distilled in 2002 from this series, I wonder why G&M have got a bunch of casks from that year? Maybe more to come then? Let's hope so. I have got other IB's distilled about the same time too. Maybe this particular vintage was extra stellar?

Scott's Selection



Fettercairn 16yo 1989-2005 55.9% Scott's Selection

Apart from some single cask releases from 1975 its getting hard to find proof of older independently bottled single casks of fettercairn. This one is still available from the Lincoln Whisky Shop at a fairly reasonable price.



Fettercairn 1824 Single Cask Distillery Bottlings



Fettercairn 15yo 1989-2006 62.6% OB cask#2224 btl.118/225

Again a fantastic high strength after 15 years in cask, a double maturation finished in spanish white oak sherry cask. I think this one is only available at the distillery, or it was, lucky me!



Fettercairn 15yo 1989-2005 64% OB cask#2454 btl.54/260

I believe this is one of the bottlings that previously has been available only at the distillery, perhaps there's a couple left? Is White Oak the same as Bourbon wood? Hopefully I'll get my hands on more of these.



Fettercairn 1824 23yo 1984-2007 52% cask#241 btl.154/255 Spanish Sherry Oak

I did try another 52% 23yo 1984-2007 Spanish Oak earlier this year when in Aberdeen. And it was amazing. I knew I had to get one before it becomes impossible, because their on the hands of collectors or all swallowed down by lucky connoisseurs.



Fettercairn 1824 30yo 1972-2002 53.6% OB cask# 2895 btl.219

Why Whyte & MacKay has chosen their master blender, the great Richard Paterson, to sign a bottle of single malt single cask whisky, I have no idea. Maybe he has chosen some single casks for bottling as well, if so, it could never be a bad thing.







Fettercairn 23yo 1984-2007 52% cask#511 btl.223/235 Spanish Sherry Oak

No photo of this one unfortunately:(

Douglas Laing Old Malt Cask



Fettercairn 13yo 1991-2005 50% Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing

The good people at Douglas Laing forgot to place a label on this bottle before dispatching it, so they sent the labels afterwards for me to stick. Therefor, to make my own special edition, I have alternated the position of the bottom and top label. One of a kind!:)
Still widely available.




Fettercairn 19yo 1990-2010 50% Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing cask#6382 318btls.

After being on the search of a full bottle of the fantastic 33yo Fetercairn from the same series, without any luck, I guess this is sort of the consolation whisky. But the search will continue, and maybe I'll finally find it somewhere? Well, even if I had the 33yo I think I'd still buy this anyway...




Fettercairn 33yo 1975-2009 50% Old Malt Cask Douglas Laing cask#4939

And the search is over, finally I found it, I have only tried a sample of this whisky from before and it was amazing. Hopefully there will be more great old Fettercairns to come.

James MacArthur's



Fettercairn 11yo 1992-2003 60.5% James MacArthur's

A miniature as I have not found a 70cl of this one, but I believe there is a couple examples left out there. Again a youngster from a bourbon cask at a high strength.




Fettercairn 10yo 1992-2002 60.2% James MacArthur's Old Masters 60.2%

Another one from 1992, and I have to admit tasting a few of the one above of almost same age and strength. And it was FANTASTIC! Let's hope this one holds the same class as I have much more of it. Good looking label as well, red, white, black and some gold, easy on the eye.