Secret Spirits Advent Calendar - 5th Edition - Eighth through Twenty-Fifth!

Before reading, check out part one.

Secret Spirits asked me if I’d like to participate with their advent calendar this year. I don’t know why, but previous years I haven’t even shown an interest in advent whisky calendars, and this year I’m all about them.

With many whisky advent calendars, you’re not going to be drinking the distillery exclusive Ledaig or an Alberta Distillers Cask Strength. But you will be drinking a lot of cask strength whiskies. Many of them single barrels. Some of them, terrific for their flaws. Others terrific because they’re great barrels. And others yet, just a bit flawed. Barrels are like people. They come with a great variety. Blending barrels together (it happens with most single malt scotches), rounds out the edges and makes them a little less fun to drink (sometimes). 

So anyway, the Secret Spirits Advent Calendar! I have a fifth edition. It’s been a terrific experience. If you have the opportunity, grab the latest advent calendar and follow along with a great many other whisky critics as we take these for a sip. 

This is eight to twenty-fifth, plus notes from Jonathan that has the history for each of these whiskies plus some great tasting notes. 

Day Eight: Balmenach Aged 13 Years Distilled in 2004 (50% ABV)

Balmenach Distillery makes single malts that most often go to blends. It’s my first time tasting a whisky from this distillery, but my understanding is they’re highly prized because of their prominent single malt profile and how well that works in blends. I’m really impressed. This is a terrific whisky. 

This particular barrel was bottled by Old Malt Cask:

As you may be aware Old Malt Cask is a brand owned by Hunter Laing. They always bottle at 50% alcohol for this brand and always do single cask expressions. No chill filtration or caramel colouring ever touches these whiskies so you can be happy that every ounce of deliciousness is still in the bottle.

Nose: A very distinct candied apple note, sorta like a light Apple Martini (haven’t had one of those in decades, I promise!). There’s a nice creamy note that compliments the apple. It’s a fun nosing!

Palate: That creamy apple sour note continues through to the palate, but it’s gentle sweet and rewarding. The spice note is ginger, and there’s a nice buttery custard note that dominates toward the finish. The malty sweetness really comes through on this, but the refill American oak is gentle and present. 

Conclusion: It’s a gentle 50% ABV that takes the best of the cask, with complimentary scotch notes that I really respect. The level creaminess is hard to come by at this age statement, and that it’s present, really makes it a terrific drink! 

Score: 93

Day Nine: Glen Moray Aged 10 Years

I’m a sucker for the lemon candy and ginger note. It’s usually found in older scotches, and so to have it in this ten year old, I was quite happy with it! A lot of that likely has to do with the cask strength nature of this single barrel. Great stuff!

Nose: Lemon candy and ginger, and a crispy cookie dryness. A lemon tart is along the same vain, with the rich sugary lemon note and the crispy crust part. It’s really lemony! The only break in that lemon note might be the sweetness from brown sugar. Bust mostly lemony. 

Palate: Startling lemony, but it’s not as sweet as the nose indicates, because the cask influences makes this whisky quite dry. It’s creamy, and zesty, and a continued sugary sweetness. Tastes like it noses. 

Conclusion: It’s a lemon tart at 57.7% ABV, so it’s delicious! 

Score: 90

Day Ten: Royal Brackla Aged 11 Years 

I loved Jonathan’s write-up of Royal Brackla! I didn’t know much about this distillery, beyond that they’ve just started releasing official single malts. This isn’t one of those, though, as it’s been bottled by Single Malt Scotch Whisky. Jonathan’s writeup:

Today we head to the Highlands and are filling our glasses with a dram from the Royal Brackla Distillery. It is one of only 3 distilleries to ever bear the name Royal. Royal Lochnegar is still in production however the other, Glenury Royal was unfortunately demolished. The Brackla distillery was built in 1812 on the grounds of Cawdor Castle and received it’s royal warrant from the King in 1833 becoming the first distillery to receive this lofty title. As is the case with a lot of older distilleries Royal Brackla has been closed and opened a number of times including during the second world war. A training airstrip was even built alongside it for aerial gunnery practice. After reopening in 1991 following a closure of 6 years it has now remained in continuous production. It is owned by alcohol powerhouse Bacardi. Independent bottlings are still somewhat rare so I was pretty pleased to get the chance to grab this cask for a Secret Spirits bottling.

Nose: Smoky caramel. It’s rich. It has that charred bourbon cask profile, though not quite the color. Interesting! There’s a dark chocolate fondue note, with lemon zest. 

Palate: Discontinuity between the nose and the palate. To taste, it’s honey sweet, paprika spice, and plenty of funky leathery notes. I didn’t get the funkiness on the nose, but it’s definitely there on the palate. Plenty of dried fruit lead into the finish, along with a continued spicy candied buttery finish. 

Conclusion: It’s a dazzler. It noses and tastes like a different whisky. Usually that’s a flaw, but here it all works well. The nose is so damn inviting, and the palate is surprising because it’s not-so-sweet, and more oak spice driven (where as the nose is caramel oak driven). I don’t actually know what happened here, but this is a surprisingly fantastic cask of whisky. Possibly my fav so far. 

Score: 94

Day Eleven: Delicious Burst Wemyss Malts 

Originally named Vanilla Burst, this ended up being named Delicious Burst. Why? Because of regulation. You can’t put a food product on the label. Here’s some more background:

This whisky from Wemyss Malts is actually called Vanilla Burst but we could not put vanilla on the label so instead we chose Delicious Burst. Hope that no one is as confused as I am. Vanilla is delicious right? Wemyss has been fighting this battle with the TTB for over a decade and still have not really gotten anywhere. It is surprising to me that the Scotch Malt Whisky Society seems to be able to get their bottles into the US as every label is even more apt to include all sorts of non-whisky flavors than Wemyss. Hopefully sanity will prevail and at some point the Wemyss line of delicious single casks will be available in the US market. 

Nose: Dusty barnyard note. Light caramel. Corn husk. It’s got one of those earthy notes, but it’s not an intense earthy. It’s not in your face. It stays at a polite distance. The sweetness is that of vanilla ice cream, and there’s some zest, but all at distance. 

Palate: Vanilla sweetness collides with lemon candied zest, and the candy sweetness wins. It remains lemon-forward up until the pepper spice takes over the palate, that leads into a nice buttery spicy finish. A syrupy honey finish is left on the palate, and it’s in no rush to leave. 

Conclusion: Like many in this whisky calendar, this scotch can be appreciated over time. It’s a fantastic pour. I’m digging the American oak influence, but also the character fo the distillery. Nicely done! 

Score: 91

Day Twelve: Stratheden Classic Lost Distillery 43% ABV

Nose: Wafting smoke, present caramel, and a nice earthiness. Despite the quiet nose, it’s a welcoming bouquet. 

Palate: The peat isn’t as present on the palate, but it translates nicely to an earthiness when combined with the other flavours. There’s a vanilla sweetness (and bitterness), it’s buttery, and there are there’s generally a nice sugary sweetness note that makes it all work. 

Conclusion: Maybe this isn’t as complex as the others, but it has plenty of give when allowed time. A great daily sipper. 

Score: 87

Day Thirteen: Auchinderom Peat

I didn’t know anything about Auchinderom, but I learned from Jonathan’s blog that it’s a peated Glenglassaugh single malt. That raises an interesting question. What do I know about Glenglassaugh Distillery? Absolutely nothing! It used to be owned by Edrington, then picked up by the Sceant group, only to be later sold to the same folks that own Benriach and Glendronach. This is a single barrel offering from Stuart Nickerson. Great stuff!

Nose: Nice orange chocolaty citrus goodness. Some caramel. A barnyard funk to it. It’s peated! Lightly peated on my scale, so it’s probably really peated for many. That meaty funkiness is adds a great layer of complexity. 

Palate: Damn. It’s heavy on the palate. It rolls on through with a weight. It has a peaty volatility to it that I like, along with a big hit of tobacco, leather, and dried up shrivelled cranberries. It has some ginger candy to it, and black tea, and lots of spice (almost paprika spice). The finish is zesty, spicy, and buttery. 

Conclusion: It’s a good pour of whisky. Like many in this advent calendar, it hits you hard with flavour and it doesn’t let go. A memorable pour of single malt. 

Score: 90

Day Fourteen: Knockdhu Aged 9 Years

What’s Knockdu? Jonathan writes about the history of the distillery. It’s more commonly sold under the name of anCnoc, and this is bottled by an independent bottler. It has those subtle notes that I’m familiar with from the distillery. At 59% ABV, it’s a boozy one! But it doesn’t taste too boozy. That’s another common element of the series.

Nose: Subtle caramel. Touches of anise. Hard candy sweetness. It’s a quiet one. 

Palate: There’s a toffee salty element that sweetness the otherwise forward peppery spice pour of scotch. It’s got a nice buttery layer thick with flavour. It has herbal notes, but they’re gentle on my palate. There’s a nice honey sweetness that slowly comes through, and an orange zest. The orange zest is like a candy flavouring orange note, and not fresh orange. I like it! 

Conclusion: Lots of terrific elements combine into a fine pour of whisky. I can’t imagine anyone would be disappointed with this pour, and most will love it. I did! 

Score: 89

Day Fifteen: Caol Ila Aged 8

Much of the whisky Coal Ila makes goes into Diegeo’s Johnnie Walker brands of whisky. This is considered the heart of the portfolio. However, there are barrels of whisky that don’t quite fit with the profile Johnnie Walker is looking for. Those get sold to independent bottlers. I’ve enjoyed a great amount of variety in this range. While this is listed as a bourbon cask, it seems to be all-over-the-place on flavour. I liked it!

Nose: Hard to believe it’s a bourbon cask. It has a nice caramel candy note to it with char elements. It has elements of European oak from the dryness on the nose, but I’m guessing these casks were re-charred. Either way, loving this nose. Oh right, and it’s definitely peated and earthy and all that. 

Palate: More American oak on the palate, with vanilla spice and lemon zest, a lingering smokiness, and a nice earthiness. It’s incense burning, but a few doors down, so you’re getting the lightest herbal elements. 

Conclusion: Tastes like a young cask strength Caol Ila in many ways. Which is great! But it’s too much of a bruiser, with not enough reward, and still a delicious whisky all the same. 

Score: 84

Day Sixteen: Garden Grove Blonded Malt Scotch Whisky 

Finished in Madiera casks for nine months, this takes on some nice weirdo flavours. fuzzy peaches. Herbal. Vanilla bitters. It’s got plenty of honey notes. It’s not a typical juicy sweet and dry Madiera finish, though. The base juice is taken from two Highland Distilleries. Maybe that’s what makes this weird, because the distillery notes are competing against the cask for attention. Ultimately, everyone wins, because this was really enjoyable. And weird.

Nose: The artificial sweetener in fuzzy peaches, especially the green colour flavour, along with plenty of honey sweetness and young oak spice. Orange sweetness, herbal spice. It noses like a delicious candy! 

Palate: There’s a beautiful buttery layer from front to back that borders on caramel sweetness. Upon this canvas, you get a nice gentle herbal black tea note, some liquorice, with a vanilla bitter note. It’s honey-soaked, and the orange zest in the nose is more of an artificial orange note. 

Conclusion: The nose and palate told of a good story. There were nice fun elements here that made it all work. 

Score: 84

Day Seventeen: Glentauchers Aged 10 Year Old

Glentauchers Distillery is located in Speyside and is owned by Pernod Ricard. Most of their whisky gets blended elsewhere. This is a rare pour of single malt. The distillery characteristics come through from start to finish. Its tropical fruits are crazy. I could see this being fun to blend, because it’ll stand out.

Nose: A nice candied apple sweetness, with a sugary note atop, and straight-out oak spice. It’s somewhere between mango and pine apple, but the acidity and sweetness isn’t there for either fruit. What’s in-between?? 

Palate: So fun on the palate. Orange zest. It’s overpowering. It’s wonderful. There’s a buttery spicy push, and that candied apple note takes over. Dry finish. 

Conclusion: This is a fun drink. It has so much character, and while there’s not a lot of complexity, it makes up for it in intensity. Enjoyed it muchly! 

Score: 86

Day Eighteen: Genallachie Aged 9 Years 65.6% ABV

Nose: Corn pops! Burnt sugar caramel candy. Dusty. Super briny. It’s intense. Almost too briny. Jonathan describes it as a dirty martini, and after reading that note, I can’t get that tasting note out of my mind. It’s that. 

Palate: I can’t get corn pops out of my mind. It has that sweetness, but at 65.6% ABV, it’s got so much more to it in terms of boldness. There’s an herbal element there (anise, I think, but oh man it’s overpowered by alcohol) plus the sticky caramel bits, and there’s a buttery and nice oaky style to it. The finish is intense, lingering, like when your arm falls asleep and you can’t quite shake the feeling. It lasts a time. 

Conclusion: Intense poor of high proof single malt scotch. It softens and sweetens with a little bit of water, but I think I prefer it in its insane high proof point. 

Score: 88

Day Nineteen: Williamson Aged 13 Years (Laphroaig)

Nose: Less abrasive, for a Laphroaig. This has an almost Ardbeg mineral by-the-see sort of note to it. The medicinal note is there, but it’s obscured enough enough the caramel sweetness and natural smoke of the peat. If not an Ardbeg, it’s almost like a Caol Ila with attitude. It’s a heavy, but light for Laphroaig, Laphroaig. Still, though, definitely a Laphroaig. 

Palate: A lot more Laphroaig like on the palate. Peaty, medicinal, earthy, rubbery, and all that good stuff. It’s really enjoyable. It’s a Laphroaig 10 with messy hair, or a Quarter Cask with a slight attitude adjustment. It’s in that same range of flavour profile, though. 

Conclusion: Pretty fantastic Laphroaig. A great single barrel, and a wonderful day nineteen in this series. 

Score: 89

Day Twenty: Stones of Stenness Orkney Aged 18yo

Shhh. This is Highland Park. It was either that, or Orkney, but Jonathan revealed the source. It’s got a big name and a big age statement (for a Highland Park!), but it’s not quite the memorable notes I’d find in Highland Park 18. I was expecting to score this one far above 83, but it only had flashes of that 90-level brilliance. Fell short for me. But just barely!

Nose: Ginger, lemon candy, pencil shavings, leather. If there’s Orkney (aka Highland Park), it’s mostly medicinal. Those HP salty marmalade notes are there. It’s a highland peat. But so so so light. 

Palate: That char peated element is on the palate, and it’s complimented with a beautiful caramel note. The caramel note is beautiful, but brief, because the zesty spicy (white pepper) note takes over the rest of the palate toward the buttery finish. 

Conclusion: I loved this whisky for a moment, and liked it for the rest of the period. It just just just fell short of being exceptional. It’s still pretty good though! 

Score: 83

Day Twenty-one: Inchgower Aged 21 Years Aged Distilled 1995

I’m becoming a huge fan of this distillery. It seems to hit my palate perfectly. One of my favourites in this advent calendar!

Nose: Red flavoured sorbet (so, I guess, strawberry? Somewhere between cherry and orange). White cake, strawberries, some whipped cream. A lot of fun inviting notes on the nose.

Palate: Dried fruit, some lemon tart, a fantastic paprika hot spice, and under a layer of vanilla sweetness. It’s not so dry, the sherry influences are light, and so you get a touch of cinnamon and dark chocolate, but it’s all very gentle.

Conclusion: I haven’t tasted an Inchgower I have’t liked. Some I loved. This is closer to the loved category. It’s not wow different from other single malts, but it has that burst of character and complexity that you’d expect from an old scotch. 

Score: 92

Day Twenty-Two: Lost Distillery Company Towiemore Archivist Blended Malt Scotch Whisky – 46% ABV

I have complex thoughts on this that might be better served in their own post. Lost Distillery Company remakes old distilleries. Is it a gimmick? Is it an excuse to make delicious whisky? I don’t know. I did really enjoy this particular release, and I’m curious to try more. But it is kind of weird, to make blends in honour of distilleries that haven’t been opened for decades.

Nose: Ooooo what a beautiful char caramel note! There’s orange spice, a wonderful olive oil note, and some great cask influence. The sweetness combined with these nice coffee notes is terrific. I like the younger oak notes on this, but curious how it’ll translate on the palate. 

Palate: All honey (both sharp and sweet), and there’s this spoiling strawberry note that I like. The olive oil on the nose translates into a very oily and buttery base layer. The finish is beautifully soft, subtle, and complex. It’s orange, and a nice gentle wood spice, and a touch of pepper. 

Conclusion: A gentle pour of a beautiful drink that I liked a great deal. 

Score: 87

Day Twenty-Three: A.D. Rattray North British 30 Year Old Single Grain Scotch Whisky – Sherry Butt # 24767 – Lowlands – 56.7% ABV

This is likely mostly corn, with some malted barley. That might not sound like a big deal, but corn is on its way out from the scotch blend world. Everyone is starting to use wheat. From what I’m hearing, we’re going to be missing these single grain scotches that are corn-based. Another terrific showing from A.D. Rattray!

Nose: Youthful peppery spice oak, cinnamon, saffron. Lots and lots of saffron. Paprika spice. I can’t get over the oak spice from a 30 year old scotch. Was it a double barrelled? There’s a lot of complexity of an old whisky here, but it’s so damn youthful on the oak spice elements. Hmm! Let’s taste. 

Palate: Toffee sweetness, orang zest, a nice oak spicy note, with plenty of peppery spice and buttery notes that trail off into a long finish. The cinnamon spice is nice, but this reminds me of the brown sugars found in rum casks. A bitter note is all vanillin. 

Conclusion: Sure, this isn’t a single malt, but at this age statement you’ll hardly tell. It’s missing out on malted barley notes, but you’ll get a thicker mouthfeel that helps draw through a ton of flavour. 

Score: 87

Day Twenty-Four: Inchmurrin 21 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky – Sherry Hogshead # 407 – Highland – 45.2% ABV

You should check out Jonathan’s full review, but the highlight:

Today’s dram was probably the most drama we have ever had in bottling a whisky. Needing at least 105 bulk liters to fill 2000 mini’s we of course only chose casks that have all of that and some to spare. When this cask arrived at our warehouse it was substantially lower than what we needed. How do you at find more Inchmurrin 21 year old at the last minute? Well it’s almost impossible but luckily for us the ABV on our barrel was above 60%. Extremely rare for a 21 year old cask that had actually leaked as well to still have such a high ABV. Saved by this anomoly we were forced to reduce the strength to 45.2% to eek out enough whisky for all the calendars. This little hiccup believe it or not almost caused everyone to miss out on getting their calendars altogether.

Fun times when everything comes down to devil’s cut and angel’s share.

Nose: Captivating! If you read Jonathan’s website, you’ll see this one needed to be watered down to make it to the calendar. Even watered-down to 45.2%, the nose is unreal. It almost makes me think this is a fortunate accident. It’s all cedar, caramel, the funkiness of a barn (manure and hey and damp grass, and dry wheat and all that!), along with that candied orange zest note. 

Palate: Apple pie, with boozy soaked apples in a delicious crust, and cinnamon and brown sugar covered top layer. The cinnamon spice is that “cinnamon and white sugar” mixture. While not as complex as the nose, it’s really satisfying. 

Conclusion: I feel like this gained so much by being watered down on the nose, and lost a little punch on the palate. Either way, I’d have this as a daily drink. Or the occasional rare pour. It’s quite versitile. 

Score: 86

Day Twenty-Five: A.D. Rattray Glen Grant 30 Year Old Single Malt Scotch Whisky – Sherry Butt # 9173 – Speyside – 55.1% ABV

As rare as thirty year old single malts are, they’re also pretty damn expensive. I was a little sceptical as to whether or not this would be a ‘good one.’ So the obvious question remains. Was the best saved for last? It just squeezed out the others in my scoring. This is an excellent example of a Glen Grant and aged scotch. It was a close scoring, though! I could have gone up or down a .5 point on this one, but scored it at the upper range with a 93.5.

Nose: Mango sweetness, banana sharpness, pineapple (the over-ripe bits), tobacco leaves, touches of cinnamon spice, dried flowers, and incense. Apple candy flavour. Beneath all that, it’s the nose of rich butter. Ever have fancy butter at a fancy restaurant where they cover it with a bunch of spices? Anyway, noses like that. Plus the tropical fruits on the side. It be an odd plating, for sure. 

Palate: Many layers of sweetness and spice on a gentle layer of butter smoothness. Dried fruit, cinnamon spice, brown sugar, pineapple sharpness, distant cigar smoke, and those gummy chewy green and yellow flavoured candies. 

Conclusion: The oily and buttery note carry across so much terrific flavour. Sure, this is old, and it’s Glen Grant. It’s a winner from the start. But it delivers on that lineage, and more so, in a unique way that wouldn’t be “commercial” for a large brand, and yet terrific. This JUST edged out my favourite whisky of the group (Balmenach Aged 13), but barely. A fantastic final pour! 

Score: 93.5