Is it so terrible that one of my favorite parts of my VMFA membership is that McCormack's Whisky Grill is only a block away? It was after a walk-through of the Rodin sculpture exhibit this particular day, and all of that culture sure made me thirsty. I found myself with an hour left to kill, and I knew my favorite whisky bar had just opened for business. Plus, my wife got me a FitBit for Christmas, and you gotta walk somewhere, right?
I've been trying to get a hold of Bruichladdich for a while now, but while the bartender was up on the ladder looking for it, the other man behind the bar mentioned, "I haven't been able to find any for about three years since ABC quit carrying it." I soon realized this person was the owner of Richmond's two preeminent whisky palaces, 'Mac' McCormack.
"Have you tried Eades Islay?", he asked me. I was pretty sure that Bruichladdich and Kilchoman were the only Islay distilleries I had yet to taste, but the 'Eades' name sounded vaguely familiar. "It's what the Virginia Distillery Company was doing when they first got started. It's a mixture of Caol Ila and Bowmore single malts, finished in wine casks, but it's not a blend." Hmm... Not a big fan of either of those malts, but I was intrigued enough by both the Virginia connection and his insistence that this was somehow not the same as blended scotch, I couldn't say no.
"Probably because I bought it all," replied Mac. Then he actually left the building altogether to go retrieve a bottle from their warehouse. Imagine owning so much whisky, you have to buy the house next door just to have somewhere to keep it all. Now that is an episode of 'Hoarders' I would actually watch.
The Virginia Distillery Company, having just opened its own facility (Lovingston, VA) and now distilling its own malt, has spent the last few years importing malt whisky from an unnamed distillery in Scotland, then finishing it in locally sourced port casks. What appear to be two separate expressions of Virginia Highland Malt Whisky on liquor store shelves, are merely the older/newer versions of their label and bottling.
The roots of the distillery however can be traced back to a series of 'double malts', released under the Eades label (named after 'Eades Hollow' in Nelson County, the VDC's first home. Once discontinued, the three whiskys subsequently developed something of a cult following. There are three varieties: Speyside (50% Longmorn, 50% Glen Moray), Highland (85% Ben Nevis, 15% Clynelish), and Islay (60% Bowmore, 40% Caol Ila). Each malt undergoes a second maturation in a designated wine barrique. In this case, Bowmore 9 is finished in Guigal Côte-Rôtie casks (96% syrah, 4% viognier), and Caol Ila 8 in Ridge zinfandel casks. The finished products are introduced to one another post-cask aging for bottling.
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| Blended Malt Scotch Whiskies (aka 'Vatted Malts') |
Former co-owner Chris Allwood clarified his position in the comment section of the VDC's 'Whisky Advocate' 2008 review: "We do not see Eades Double Malt as being a blended product, we do not use grain whisky or neutral alcohol. It is a balance of 2 excellent single malts from a single distilling region that have a second maturation in hand-picked fine wine casks. The casks are carefully matched to the character of the malts and the three expressions reflect the character of the individual distilleries, the distilling region and the craft and skill of [former VDC Master Distiller] Jim McEwan."
Allwood also apparently addressed the proposed 'double malt' designation with Big Brother at the SWA, and appears to have received their tentative approval. In no way is 'double malt' considered an officially sanctioned designation, nor is it copyrighted or proprietary to the VDC alone. Only two single malt scotch whiskys are used in any given expression, both from the same region, both independently double distilled and matured. Their combination comes just before bottling as opposed to at or during the cask aging stage.
Enough legal semantics, I wanna drink the damn thing already...
Pure Islay on the nose. Unmistakably phenolic (roughly 30 ppm) with its medicinal notes, latex, iodine, fresh tar. Medium peat smoke. Mild citrus, but nowhere near the lemon bomb I experienced with Bowmore 12 by itself. Vegetal musk, seaweed, green olive brine. This is actually reminding me more of Lagavulin than its (twin-separated-at-birth) Caol Ila ever did on its own.
The aromas carry over to the palate, but now the malt steps into the batter's box. Grounder single to left - nothing fancy, but gets the job done. Just enough sweetness to balance the funky notes. The citrus adds an acerbic flavor, like pineapple but milder. The tannic character of the wine casking is coming through, adding richness and depth. Not so oxidized as sherry can taste. Less raisin, more grape. Consistency is somehow thicker than I remember either of these two malts individually.
The finish is a bit drying, but brings out the oak. Very long, the smoke most of all. I can already feel the aromatic phenols leaving the pores of my skin. I'm not really looking for age or complexity with most Islay malts, it's all about the peat. Things are no different here. The balance is the stand out for me. On their own, I found both Caol Ila and Bowmore to be very one note, and in the case of Bowmore, an unpleasant one at that. For what portion of the improvement are the wine barriques responsible, and how much from the selection of these two malts as complementary partners?
Either way, the credit rests squarely on the expertise of the VDC's former Master Distiller Jim McEwan, who subsequently moved on to Bruichladdich (wait...isn't that the one I came in here for?). McEwan retired in July, 2015 after a 50 year career and earning a Lifetime Achievement honorific from industry peers. Having paired these two single malts of which I was originally less than impressed, then finessing them into a malt as delightful as this, blend or not, this tasting experience fundamentally loosened my obstinate stance on appreciating only single malt whiskies.
Loosened, not lifted...
Overall Grade: 88/100, B+
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