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Whisky & Music, Zurich, 22-23 November 2024

http://whiskyandmusic.com/

For the photo gallery, click here

Whisky & Music is a nice event taking place at the Volkhaus in Zürich, at 15 min walking distance from the main train station.
This year, the event took place under a white cover, as heavy snow felt in Zürich during the last 24 hours.

The stand of Whisky Racing Lau, with his Manager's dram and Racing Team bottling range.

My first stop was at Lau (whisky racing), a whisky enthusiast with a very nice selection of distillery exclusive bottlings.  I had not time to stop last at is stand last week at the Swiss Whisky Festival in Baden. My first dram was a 1989 Cragganmore from Malts of Scotland, a very good and rich Cragganmore, with rather intense sherry flavours, slightly meaty and on humus, before becoming more aromatic, grassy and waxy, with some dried fruits and light mineral flavours. It was followed by a 16 YO Auchroisk Manager’s dram, a very smooth, round and rather silky whisky, with light round floral flavours, some leather, sultanas, orange juice, tangerine and various berries. A very good surprise. Then I tasted a 1987 22 YO Laphroaig from Sestante, a mildly peated Laphroaig, smoky, with nice light round syrupy flavours, candied citrus and some leather and honey, Very good. The next whisky a 1996 Ben Nevis 22 YO from Golden Cask with nice grassy flavours, initially rather sugary, before moving more to nice fruity flavours, some icing sugar and light aromatic flavours.as well as some honey. Very good. As part as its own bottlings (Lau whisky racing) made in collaboration with Jack Wiebers, I tasted a very round and charming Bunnahabhain 15 YO with a light seabrine and an excellent round sherry influence. This was followed by a lightly peated, round Lochindal, with some sea salt, a nice mild peat smoke, vanilla, and light fruity flavours. Very good too.

The McConnell's single malt 20 YO and the two blencds in the back at Best Taste Trading

Moving to Best Taste Trading, I tasted a rather thick, winey and chewy Lakes Whiskymaker N°7, an English whisky with an intense round sherry influence on red berries, leather and toffee combine with some rather intense winey flavours from the ex-wine cask. The whole is very smooth but thick- This was followed by a McDowell’s 20 YO Single Malt, a round, malty, rather fruity (yellow fruits) and slightly sugary Irish single malt distilled at Bushmills distillery. Matured in a bourbon cask, it was then finished in a port cask. Their distillery started production this year, so we will need to wait for a couple of years, before we can taste their single malt.

The new skiers series of Acla Selection at Acla Da Fans

It was time to move to Acla Da Fans and to taste their new Skiers series, starting with a nicely spicy, gingery and grassy 11 YO Secret Highland, with some aromatic herbs, oak spices, candied ginger, light floral flavours, vanilla and a hint of smoke. Very pleasant. The Ben Nevis 1996 was a mellow, round, well-made, grassy and on mellow yellow fruits and honey. A rather flawless Ben Nevis showing the typical character from aged malts from this distillery. Not surprisingly, it was selling very well.  The Highland Park Whitlaw 20 YO was a smooth, clean, slightly malty and grassy Highland Park, on heather honey, vanilla, and light floral flavours, more smoky than most official Highland Park. A very enjoyable whisky to drink. These 3 whiskies shared in common a rather light influence from the cask, allowing the distillate to be very apparent, thus to taste the more subtle flavours from their respective distilleries. The last from the series was an excellent 19 Y0 Port Charlotte, complex, maritime, with a long and intense peat smoke, some seabrine, sea weeds and a touch of tar. The whisky showed a remarkable maturity, with a rather oily peat smoke, not as dry as some younger Port Charlotte. Port Charlotte works well with age, and reminding me somewhat of the old Ardbeg from the mid-1970, with more roundness.  I tasted then a very good Old Pulteney 13 YO Traveller’s exclusive, a maritime malt, with nice round leather notes, fudge, some candied orange, cinnamon and dried fruits. A well-made and excellent value whisky. From Liquid Treasures, I tasted then a 48 YO Armagnac from 1974, a rather woody, tannic and bitter spirit. I tasted then a special Talisker 17 YO from Cadenhead’s distilled in 1979, freshly after it was opened. It tasted then rather smoky and peaty, with a gentle sweetness, wax, sea brine, some citrus and nice mineral flavours. Talking at the end of my evening with Stefan Wolters from Acla, he was very disappointed by this bottling. So about 4 hours my first taste of that whisky, the profile had changed markedly, becoming more on mushrooms, humus, marmalade and rubbery. I remembered a decade ago with some Glengoyne 1972 which changed dramatically of flavour profile within a few hours. Fortunately, such cases are rare.

The new blended Scotch from C. Dully as House of Single Malts

At House of Single Malts, I tasted then the new C. Dully selection  1999 Blended Scotch whisky coming from the Edrington stocks, with some Macallan, Glenrothes and Highland Park blended at birth with some Cameron Brig grain, if I recall correctly. The result is a very nice, fruity, very smooth and easy drinking blend, with lovely sweet fruity flavours.

The Whisk Hood own bottling from Riegger's selection at Whisky Hood

At Whisky Hood, Roger was as dynamic and enthusiast as ever. His passion for whisky is impressive, like his new products. I started there with a 13 YO Ardmore 2024 Whisky Hood bottling matured in a sherry bloodtub. I enjoyed this whisky very much, as the whisky was very smooth, almost silky, with lovely light round fruity flavours, on fresh orang and tangerine, with a nice peat smoke,  moderately aromatic and very meaty, with a very long finish on bacon and smoked meat. Highly recommended. The new Ardmore 2011 Riegger’s selection was a sharp contrast to the Whisky Hood bottling, light, elegant, with a rather aromatic dry peat smoke, some vanilla and light floral flavours. It was very good and complex, with a different smoky profile. The Glen Garioch 2011 from Brother’s in Malt was a nice fresh, rather juicy and grassy Glen Garioch, with nice fresh ginger flavours, some sweet barley flavours and light notes of vanilla. Very enjoyable. Finally the Stoisha Riegger’s selection 2024 matured in an ex-Rum cask was a very playful whisky. Some might call it a difficult whisky, but I like to taste such whiskies. It was indeed not a straightforward whisky, but more like a flip-flop whisky. On the nose, it is a heavily dry and maritime whisky, on soot, tar and some seaweeds,  but on the palate, the initial attack is on strong sugary Rum flavours, before the maritime peat smoke becomes more apparent, shortly afterwards fresh fragrant pineapples flavours are released, then a more elegant peat smoke and light meaty flavours, thereafter some green pineapples and finally all these flavours equilibrate to result in a very nice, heavily peated and rather sooty malt, with a pleasant sugary sweetness from the rum rounding the edges. In conclusion, a very good whisky that needs some time to be fully enjoyed.

The Ardnamurchan at Paul Ullrich

At Paul Ullrich, the new Adelphi did not arrived and I focused my attention to the Ardnamurchan, starting with a nice 10 YO, an unpeated version, light, salty, rather maritime, on vanilla, some ginger, sea brine, some seaweeds, light round and slightly mineral flavours. Very nice and well matured, with a nice complexity. The sherry cask release is a mixture of peated and unpeated malt, resulting in an average of 30 ppm at the malting stage, and the whisky is matured in ex PK and oloroso sherry casks for approximately 5 to 6 years. The 10 YO was a one off and they don’t intend to have age statements in their core range, but the customer will be able to get the details by scanning the QR code at the back of the bottle. The whisky was a nice combination of meaty flavours (bacon and smoked ham), sultanas, dates, figs, fudge and cocoa.

On the stage, there was a range of Angus Dundee whiskies (Tomintoul and Glencadam), as well as other brands. Talking to their brand manager, I was informed that a distillery centre is being constructed at the distillery and it should be open next year. Since I knew most of the range, I tasted the Ballantruan 15 YO, a peated tomintoul, made with malt peated to 55 ppm. The results is a nice and rather complex and gentle peated whisky, with a nice and rather dry aromatic peat smoke, some light floral balance and light vanilla flavours.

Back to Acla, I tasted the recently opened Tobermory 1972 De Viris from Moon Import, with a nice elegant maritime peat smoke, tar, some iodine, light farmy flavours, citrus and seaweeds.

The two new bottlings at Dramcatcher

At Dramcatcher, I tasted their bottling the Festival Bottling, a nice spicy, rather intense and complex Glen Moray 2011, more spice and expressive than their previous Glen Moray bottling. The Secret Islay 2009 distilled at Ardbeg distillery with a rather peated and subtle whisky, with a light influence of the cask, various maritime flavours, including seaweeds, as well as some disinfectant and iodine. I like very much the Ardbeg as this one, as it is not dominated by fresh oaky flavours or any winey aromas, as many official bottlings.

           
At World of whisky (Waldhaus am see), I tasted the Edradour 23 YO Sygminton’s choice, a very round and floral malt, soft and mellow, with dark berries, light round and mellow floral and malty flavours. A well-made round whisky, with an intense sherry, without being rubbery or dominant. Very nice. I tasted then two very good Ballechin OB cask strength, a rather sweet, fruity, slightly meaty 13 YO, with some bacon, soot, tar, orange, tangerine and other light fruity flavours, while the 18 YO was cleaner, mellower, more subtle, with a nice peat smoke, mixing tarry, meaty and slightly farmy flavours, with a nice long and elegant peat smoke. From Lindores, I tasted their Thiron 2024, that I found rather unbalanced, as the flavours from different casks (wine, bourbon and sherry) were fighting against each other, with the winey flavours leading. It was rich and fruity, but too winey to my liking. On the other hand, the Lindores Single Cask for World of Whisky matured in ex-bourbon was light, rather intense and expressive, with lots of exotic fruits such as mango or passion fruit. A very good fruit basket, reminding me somewhat of some Benriach 1976.

With that, and almost 7 hours spent at the fair, it was time to take the train home.
The choice of whiskies was very good, with a wide range of different whiskies, not only Scotch, but also from Asia, USA, UK, Switzerland and at different prices, including just released products as well as rarities. I tasted whiskies only at about half of the stands, as the  event was rather crowded and you needed sometimes patience to get your dram. The staff was continuously refilling the water bottles, so access to water was easy. Unfortunately, there was no spittoon and the music at times very loud. I went twice upstairs to the stage, but quickly left, as the sound was extremely loud.

I learnt that next year that both the Swiss Whisky Festival and Whisky & Music will take place at the same time, which would be catastrophic. I wish that they can find a solution until then.

Slainte,

Patrick, 23 Nov 2024